Shelter Yourself from the Sound and the Fury Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Let's go West, young men, let's go West in the state of Arkansas. There, on March 6-8, 1862, was fought the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, which is often called Pea Ridge. In this battle, the Confederate Army of the West, led by Earl Van Dorn outnumbered its opponent, the Union Army of the Southwest under Samuel R. Curtis. The death toll was high, including three Confederate Generals killed and mortally wounded. Which of the following was NOT among them?

Answer: Henry Little

Henry Little survived the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern and his reputation was bolstered by his achievements there. Most sources acknowledge that, at Elkhorn Tavern, he was the actual commander of Sterling Price's Missourians.
There is a dispute about the casualties suffered by the opponents. Curtis's losses are estimated at around 1,500. Van Dorn's are a field of a hot debate. While some modern scholars say they were heavier than his opponents', many Civil War historians, including Shelby Foote, agree with Van Dorn that they were around 1,100.

2. The Eastern Theater of the Civil War has also room for taverns. One of them is Yellow Tavern, where General J. E. B. Stuart fought his last battle, being mortally wounded there and dying the next day, May 12, 1864. When Stuart fell wounded, who took temporary command of the Confederate cavalry?

Answer: Fitzhugh Lee

The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864. Stuart's opponent was Union General Philip H. Sheridan. The latter had persuaded his superiors, generals Grant and Meade, to go on a raid in the Confederate rear and threaten Richmond. General Robert E. Lee ordered Stuart to stop Sheridan.

They met at Yellow Tavern. The initial Union attacks were resisted by the Confederates and a countercharge, led by the 1st Virginia Cavalry forced the Federals back. However, at the height of the engagement a dismounted Michigander, named John Huff, shot Stuart and wounded him mortally. Fitz Lee assumed command and the battle raged until sunset.

Sheridan's raid resulted in the death of Stuart, but accomplished nothing more, since Lee's communications were not cut and no significant threat was posed to Richmond.

3. The most famous flank attack in American history is none other than Stonewall Jackson's attack at Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. His attack forced the Union XI Corps, under O. O. Howard, to flee in disorder. What was the name of Howard's headquarters, which was occupied by the Confederates?

Answer: Dowdall's Tavern

Stonewall Jackson's troops simply annihilated their enemy. The Union XI Corps lost one quarter of its strength and more than half of its regimental commanders. The Union right flank was teetering near collapse, which General Lee was eager to exploit. On May 3, the next day, The Army of Northern Virginia completed the triumph at Chancellorsville, termed by historians "Lee's masterpiece" - a masterpiece which cost Jackson's life, who was wounded by friendly fire, had an arm amputated and succumbed to pneumonia ten days later.

4. There were many lopsided battles during the American Civil War. The Battle of Fredericksburg, on December 13, 1862 is perhaps the greatest example. Yet, on June 1-3, 1864, General Robert E. Lee achieved another substantial defensive victory against Grant. The name of that battle is identical with the name of a nearby tavern, which provided shelter but no hot meals. You guessed correctly, it's Cold Harbor. What other battle had been fought nearby, during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862?

Answer: Battle of Gaines' Mill

The Battle of Gaines' Mill was fought on June 27, 1862 and was part of the Seven Days' Battles. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia achieved their first full-scale tactical victory against the Army of the Potomac led by George McClellan.

Despite the fact that the early Confederate attacks achieved almost nothing more than a stalemate, the attack launched almost at dusk achieved a penetration of the Union front and inflicted heavy casualties. McClellan's defeat compelled him to withdraw from his basement near Richmond to Harrison's Landing, relieving the Confederate capital.

The Battle of Cold Harbor, fought almost two years later, was by far more lopsided and a more complete Confederate victory.

5. The Siege of Petersburg was one of the last, but not least campaigns of the Civil War. From June, 1864 until early April, 1865 Grant tried to cut Lee's communications with Richmond or force him out of the city. In one of his advances, known as the Battle of Globe Tavern, he sent Gouverneur K. Warren to cut Lee's communications with Richmond. Whom did General Lee send to oppose Warren?

Answer: A. P. Hill

The Battle of Globe Tavern was fought on August 18-21, 1864. On August 18, Warren's men started tearing up the Weldon railroad, but they were contested and pushed back by Henry Heth's Confederate division. On August 19, General Hill's troops assaulted the Union rear, forcing Samuel Crawford's Union division to flee and taking two brigades as prisoners. Warren's attempts to counterattack didn't accomplish anything significant. On the next day, Warren pulled back and the Confederates attempted to pursue him, but they were checked. On the next day, Warren occupied a part of the railroad. Grant was not satisfied with the results of the battle. Warren had lost nearly 4,500 men, compared with Hill's losses of fewer than 1,700.

A part of the Weldon Railroad had been captured or destroyed, but Warren's conduct was purely defensive. Also, Lee's communications were not entirely cut.

A member of Lee's staff wrote about the loss of the railroad : "Whilst we are inconvenienced, no material harm is done us".

6. Apart from taverns, houses are also a place to find shelter. A house in eastern Tennessee, owned by a relative of his wife, was the place where Confederate General and raider John Hunt Morgan spent the last night of his life. In which city was the house located?

Answer: Greeneville

Morgan decided to spend his night there because the widow Catherine Williams was a relative of Martha Ready, the girl he had married in Murfreesboro in December 1862. Unfortunately for him, an informant told Federal General Gillem the place where Morgan was staying.

At sunrise on September 4, 1864, a large part of Gillem's troops surrounded the area. Morgan had sent his soldiers to guard other approaches into the city and had only his staff at home. His men tried to save him many times, but the Federals were too many to be dislodged.

Although Morgan raised his hands up and surrendered, a Federal private named Andrew Campbell shot and killed him instantly. They stripped his body of his clothes and valuables, until Gillem stopped them. Then, the widow was granted permission to retrieve had bury the Kentuckian raider's body.

7. Everybody knows that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Of course, he couldn't be left unpursued. He was found by Federal soldiers at Garrett Farm on April 26, 1865. What was the name of Booth's companion, who surrendered to the Federals?

Answer: David Herold

Despite Herold's surrender, Booth tried to leave the farm, which was set alight by the Federals. A sergeant named Boston Corbett detected him and fired at him, wounding Booth mortally. Booth, paralyzed from his wound, uttered "Tell my mother I died for my country" while his last words were "Useless, useless".

It has been claimed that Corbett shot the fugitive without orders, as the commander of the Federal squadron told US Secretary of War, Edwin McMasters Stanton. Several conspiracy theorists claim that Booth managed to escape and it was a lookalike that was killed at Garrett Farm, yet there is little or no credence to those claims.

8. The Battle of Fort Donelson was the battle that made Ulysses S. Grant a common household name in the North. The loss of the fort prompted Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate commander of Tennessee to abandon Nashville, the first state capital to fall into Federal hands. What was the name of the inn where Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendered the fort to Grant?

Answer: Dover Inn

Simon Bolivar Buckner was left in command of the fort and was given the unhappy task of surrendering it to Grant because of the escape of his two superiors, Generals Floyd and Pillow. Alongside Buckner, more than 12,000 CS soldiers were captured. Later, Buckner was exchanged for Union General George McCall, who had been captured by General Lee's soldiers in the Battle of Gaines' Mill. Buckner was commissioned a Major General and achieved the capture of the Federal garrison at Munfordville, Kentucky on September 17, 1862.

At the Battle of Perryville, on October 8, 1862, Buckner's personal gallantry was acknowledged by his superiors. He joined many of his colleagues in criticizing General Bragg's decision not to exploit the Confederate tactical victory at Perryville.

Afterwards, he served in several department commands and became the governor of Kentucky two decades after the end of the Civil War.

9. One of the most famous hotels with a Civil War related history in a hotel in Washington, known as "the residence of presidents", because every US president since Franklin Pierce has either spent a night or attended an event there. Ulysses S. Grant, when assigned overall command of the Union armies, met there with the US Government for the first time. What's the hotel's name?

Answer: Willard's Hotel

A rumor, in a large extent promoted by the administrators of the hotel, says that the term "lobbying" comes from Grant's habit of drinking whiskey and smoking cigars in the hotel lobby, where he was approached by office-seekers and others asking him favors. Yet, this is probably untrue, as the verb "to lobby" appeared in a dictionary as early as 1837.

10. There is a hotel in Richmond which is in rich Confederate history. Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee gave speeches there. A review of prisoners captured by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Peninsula Campaign was held there. What was the name of this hotel, which bears the name of an early Virginia governor?

Answer: Spotswood Hotel

The Spotswood Hotel was declared open in January 1861. Its proprietor, for most of the war, was a young man named J.W. Hoeninger. Many members of the Confederate Government, such as Attorney General R.M.T. Hunter spent time there. Many banquets honoring Confederate heroes, like John Hunt Morgan took place there.

The Spotswood Hotel was also the place of a Confederate veterans' reunion in 1894.

Source: Author DeepHistory

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Taverns, hotels and houses are places where someone can find shelter and enjoy the bright side of life. Yet, in the American Civil War, many of these were battlefields, places where every concept of safety was gone and your main was to survive.

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