The U.S. Civil War Trivia Quiz

Answer: $2.5 million

According to a report released by U.S. Congress in 1863, the financial cost of fighting the war was $2.5 million a day.

Answer: John T. Ford

John T. Ford owned the theater, and after the assassination he was imprisoned for more than a month until the government admitted it had no evidence that he was a conspirator. Following the assassination of President Lincoln, the U. S. government seized the Ford's Theater in Washington and later converted it into a government office building. John T. Ford was eventually awarded $100,000 from the government as compensation for the confiscation of his property.

Answer: 217

Of the 583 generals in the Union army, 217 were West Point graduates and of the 425 Confederate generals, 146 had graduated from West Point.

Answer: 'All Quiet Along The Potomac'

The song 'All Quiet Along the Potomac' was written as a poem by Ethelind Beers and was based on a dispatch from McClellan which reported a lack of enemy action near Washington. It was also where Lincoln stayed for ten days prior to his 1861 inauguration, in Parlor 6.

Answer: Simon Cameron

Former Pennsylvania senator Simon Cameron served as the Lincoln adminstration's first Secretary of War until he resigned on January 11, 1862, under accusations of corruption in the War Department. Two days after Cameron's resignation Lincoln nominated him to be minister to Russia and chose former Attorney General Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War.

Answer: U. S. Senator Benjamin F. Wade

U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio was the chairman of the committee, itself controversial, which investigated selected military campaigns from Ball's Bluff to Fort Fisher.

Answer: Edward Everett

Noted orator Edward Everett of Massachusetts was the principal {speaker;} after Everett's two-hour oration, Lincoln delivered his brief Gettysburg Address.

Answer: Kentucky

Confederate President Jefferson Davis and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln were both born in Kentucky--barely 100 miles apart and within eight months of each other.

Answer: Willard's Hotel

She penned the famous Civil War song while a guest at Willard's Hotel during a visit to Washington.

Answer: Six

The six men were: LeRoy P. Walker, Judah P. Benjamin, George W. Randolph, Gustavus W. Smith, James A. Seddon, and John C. Breckinridge.

Answer: U. S. Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt

U.S. Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky, a former cabinet member in the Buchanan adminstration, presided over the trial of the assassination conspirators and handed down the sentences to those condemned to death.

Answer: Professional gambler

He was a professional gambler.

Answer: 11

They were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Answer: Priest

When Union General Philip Kearney was killed in action during the war, his family barred members of the press from his funeral. However, New York Times reporter Joseph Howard got the story by attending the funeral disguised as a priest.

Answer: 12 percent

Of the 194,000 Federal troops in Southern prison camps approximately 30,000 did not survive. Of the 214,000 Confederates imprisoned in the North, approximately 26,000--12 percent died in captivity.

Answer: Hannibal Hamlin

Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was Lincoln's first Vice-president. He was dropped in 1864 in favor of longtime Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.

Answer: Battle of Belmont

Grant's first Civil War engagement was the Battle of Belmont, fought on November 7, 1861. Grant, a brigadier general, captured a fortified confederate position at Belmont, Missouri, overlooking the Mississippi River, but was later forced to retreat.

Answer: Red River Campaign

Concerned about French Emperor Napoleon III establishing a puppet government in Mexico, Lincoln ordered the Union occupation of Eastern Texas in 1864, which resulted in the controversial Red River Campaign.

Answer: 2,200 feet

Erected to cross the James River during the Petersburg Campaign in 1864, the James River Bridge was the war's longest pontoon structure. It was 2,200 feet long, used 101 pontoons, and required 450 Union engineers for its construction.

Answer: Battle of Cold Harbor

Grant's massive frontal assault against Lee's entrenched line at the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, resulted in approximately 7,000 Union casualties and 1,500 Confederate casualties within eight minutes--the bloodiest eight minutes of the Civil War.

Answer: Battle of Malvern Hill

Confederate General D. H. Hill used this phrase to describe the Battle of Malvern Hill, which produced 5,355 casualties on July 1, 1862.

Answer: Battle of Missionary Ridge

The two fought together last at the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863. Soon afterward, Grant dispatched Sherman on the Atlanta Campaign and assumed command as General-in-chief in Virginia.

Answer: Winchester, Virginia

Winchester, Virginia, held this distinction by changing hands 52 times during the war.

Answer: April 12

At 4:30 AM Confederates under General Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.

Answer: 8`

At the Battle of Sayler's Creek, during the Appomattox Campaign, Robert E. Lee lost almost one-third of his depleted army among those captured were Generals Montgomery D. Corse, Richard S. Ewell, G. W. C. Lee, Eppa Hunton, Joseph B. Kershaw, and C.S. Generals Barton, Simms, and Dudley M. DuBose.