The Civil War in Missouri: 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: He freed Missouri's slaves

In the fall of 1861, John C. Fremont, the Republican presidential candidate in 1856 and now commander of the department of Missouri, issued an order freeing the state's slaves. President Lincoln quickly revoked the order, because Fremont did not have the authority and Lincoln, at this early stage of the war, needed to make certain that the border states (all slave) stayed in the Union. Radical Republicans and abolitionists were sharply critical of Lincoln for rescinding the order.

Answer: Belmont

Grant fought an indecisive engagement at Belmont, across the Mississippi River from Columbus, Kentucky.

Answer: All three fought in Missouri

Joseph Shelby was a hard-riding cavalry commander who led a raid into Missouri in 1863 that inflicted 1,000 Union casualties and destroying $2 million in supplies. John S. Marmaduke's untrained force was easily whipped by Nathaniel Lyon at Booneville in 1861. Transferred to Virginia, Marmaduke returned to Missouri in time for Sterling Price's 1864 Missouri raid. M. Jeff Thompson became known as the "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy" for his exploits in Missouri and Arkansas.

Answer: Some women died when a prison collapsed

The absolutely worst incident in the Missouri theater occurred in August 1863 when guerrilla chieftain William C. Quantrill and his men sacked Lawrence, Kansas, and killed between 150 and 200 men. One of the justifications given for the sacking was retaliation for several female relatives of Quantrill's men who died or were injured when a building used for a temporary Union prison collapsed.

The sister of William Anderson, one of Quantrill's lieutenants, was among the dead.

Answer: Ordered the evacuation of four counties along the Kansas border

In response to the attack on Lawrence and other guerrilla activities, Ewing issued General Order No. 11, which ordered the immediate evacuation of four Missouri counties bordering Kansas. Anyone who could prove loyalty could move to a Union stronghold. Anyone whose loyalty was suspect had to get out immediately, and their farms and crops would be burned. Lincoln later approved the order.

Answer: Bloody Bill

Anderson earned his nickname, "Bloody Bill," for his bloodthirsty ways, most notably the massacre of 24 unarmed Union soldiers in 1864, and the mutilation of their bodies.

Answer: He massacred Union soldiers in 1864

In September 1864, "Bloody Bill" Anderson and his men murdered 22 unarmed Union soldiers in Centralia, scalped and mutilated their bodies, and burned the town. Anderson and his men ambushed a Union force sent after them, killed 124 Union soldiers and mutilated some of the bodies. Union authorities eventually hunted Bloody Bill down, killed him and then photographed his body as proof that he was dead.

Answer: Westport

Price "toured" Missouri, as novelist/historian Shelby Foote described it, in September and October 1864 with an army of up to 12,000 men. Price fought 11 engagements and battles while first heading northeast to St. Louis, west to Kansas City and then south back to Arkansas. The biggest and most decisive fight occurred at Westport, now part of Kansas City., Mo., on October 23.

Answer: They fought under Quantrill and William Anderson

Frank and Jesse James, the notorious post-war bank robbers, got their start in Missouri fighting under William C. Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson.

Answer: William T. Sherman

It's Sherman. Price was also buried in St. Louis (in 1867), but in nearby Bellefontaine Cemetery. Lyon was buried in his native Connecticut in 1861. Johnston was buried in Maryland. Johnston caught a fatal pneumonia while marching in Sherman's 1891 funeral. Someone requested that Johnston put on his hat, but out of deference to his former adversary, Johnston said that if it were he in the coffin, Sherman would have his hat off. Johnston died a few weeks later.