Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About The South’s Reasons For Secession?

Q#1 – During the election in 1860, Abraham Lincoln ran on a message of leaving slavery to where it currently existed, which should have been viewed by Southerners in a positive way. What were the two reasons Southerners still did not vote for Lincoln?

Q#2 – What was the legal basis by which Southern states believed that they had the right to secede from the United States?

Q#3 – What was the complaint by Southern states regarding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

Q#4 – There were some inconsistencies among the Southern states regarding the reasons they included in their individual ordinances of secession. Three states—Texas, Alabama, and Virginia—specifically mentioned one obvious condition; the rest made no mention it; what was the condition?

Q#5 – What was the prevailing belief among the Southern states that slaveholding was a constitutional right and that the movement to abolish slavery and that movement’s influence over the politics of the northern states justified secession?

Q#6 – In the Texas Ordinance of Secession there was condition unique to that state that did not exist in the other Southern states, which Texas believed was another reason that justified secession. What was that condition?

Q#7 – The Supreme Court 1857 Dred Scott decision in effect declared unconstitutional one critical requirement of the 1820 Missouri compromise that the Federal government refused to honor. What was that requirement that was declared unconstitutional?

Q#8 – What was the adverse political impact regarding prohibiting slavery in the new western territories that was another reason justifying secession by the Southern states?

Q#9 – What was a main reason that the Southern states thought that if their secession from the Union led to civil war, France and Britain would intervene on their behalf?

Q#10 – There was a last ditch effort to end the secession crisis through a Constitutional amendment. What was the effort and its result?

Q#11 – How did the “Homestead Act” of 1860 serve as another reason for Southern states to secede from the Union?

Q#12 – How did the Pacific Railway Bill of 1860 provide additional justification for the South to secede from the Union?

Q#13 – Why were the implementation of tariffs one of the root causes that Southerners used to justify secession?

Q#14 – Why was the effort to create a system of banks that would be chartered and regulated by the federal government a reason Southern states believed helped to justify secession?

Q#15 – While most states in the Confederacy simply passed Ordinances of Secession, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia included what other justifications in their ordinances?

Civil War Quiz: What Happened During the Month of September 1861-1865

Q#1 – On September 6, 1861, General Ulysses S. Grant captured which city in Kentucky unopposed?

Q#2 – On September 11, 1861, who did President Abraham Lincoln have Secretary of War Simon Cameron order the arrest of?

Q#3 – September 12-15, 1861, what was the name of the first battle in which Robert E. Lee led troops into combat?

Q#4 – On September 1, 1862, what was the name of the battle where Union Major General Phillip Kearny was killed when he crossed Rebel lines while riding his horse?

Q#5 – September 5, 1862, what military maneuver did Robert E. Lee perform with his Army of Northern Virginia?

Q#6 – On September 22, 1862, what policy action did President Lincoln perform?

Q#7 – On September 27, 1862, the Confederate Congress passed what significant legislation that directly affected the Confederate armies in the field?

Q#8 – Also on September 27, 1862, what was the significance regarding the formation of the First Regiment Louisiana Native Guard?

Q#9 – During the period September 3-5, 1863, what specific action by the British government dashed any remaining Confederate hopes of British support during the war?

Q#10 – On September 9, 1863, Federal troops entered what major Southern City after it was abandoned by the Confederate Army of Tennessee?

Q#11 – September 9, 1863, after consultation between General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis regarding the war effort in the Tennessee/Georgia theater, what action did Confederate General James Longstreet begin?

Q#12 – On September 15, 1863, using the authority granted him by the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863, what conditions did President Lincoln use for suspending the writ of habeas corpus?

Q#13 – On September 1, 1864, the Confederates began the evacuation of what major Southern City?

Q#14 – On September 4, 1864, what significant event occurred regarding the Confederate General John Hunt Morgan?

Q#15 – On September 27, 1864, a small Confederate force under “Bloody” Bill Anderson was involved in what action?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the American Civil War in the Movies?

Q#1 – This 2003 movie starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman depicts the Battle of the Crater. Name it.

Q#2 – This 1965 film saw the character played by Jimmy Stewart save his captured Confederate son-in-law played by Doug McClure from a train. Name it.

Q#3 – In the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, this person has a cameo role playing Colonel Waller Tazewell Patton. Who is he?

Q#4 – Speaking of cameo appearances, who played Hancock’s aide in Gettysburg?

Q#5 – Ang Lee is a director famous for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He also directed a Civil War movie starring Tobie Maguire. Name the movie.

Q#6 – In the movie True Grit, Rooster Cogburn had a cat named after a Civil War general. What was its name?

Q#7 – The Spaghetti western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, depicts three gunslingers competing to find a fortune in Confederate gold during the New Mexico campaign of 1862. Who played the Good, who played the Bad, and who played the Ugly?

Q#8 – The first part of this controversial 1915 film takes place before and during the Civil War. Part II depicts Reconstruction and shows the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force. Name it.

Q#9 – This 1940 movie stars Errol Flynn as Jeb Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer, and Raymond Massey as John Brown. Name it.

Q#10 – The 2015 film Field of Lost Shoes depicted what famous group at what battle?

Q#11 – Who did John Wayne and Henry Morgan play in the movie How the West was Won?

Q#12 – This 1951 Civil War potboiler stared Barbara Payton. Name it.

Q#13 – This 2016 movie starring Matthew McConaughey shows the true story of a revolt against the Confederacy in Mississippi. Name it.

Q#14 – Besides the attack on Fort Wagner, what other battles are depicted in the movie Glory?

Q#15 – This 1991 TV movie starring Virginia Madsen depicts the naval battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack. Name it.

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Generals to Politicians and Politicians to Generals?

This quiz was created by Roundtable member Mark Costin.

Q#1 – This Civil War general was very significant in the history of the Whig party. Who was he and why was he significant?

Q#2 – This general finished second in the 1880 presidential election. Name him.

Q#3 – This former congressman was appointed as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Tennessee and then was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. He was killed commanding troops at the Battle of Mills Springs. Name him.

Q#4 – John C. Breckinridge was the 14th vice-president of the United States and became a Confederate General. He was commander at what Confederate victory and what position in the Confederate government did he hold at the end of the war.

Q#5 – Of officers without previous military experience, he was one of three to achieve the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate army. He was elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1852 and served as a state Senator from 1858 to 1861. After the Civil War he narrowly won the bloody 1876 election to became governor of South Carolina. Name him.

Q#6 – This professor and Civil War general was elected governor of Maine 4 times (1866, 1867, 1868, 1869). Name him.

Q#7 – This Civil War general and author made two unsuccessful bids for a seat in Congress (in 1868 and 1870) and was appoint territorial governor of the New Mexico Territory, where he served from August 1878 to March 1881. Name him and his most successful novel.

Q#8 – This Confederate cavalry commander in 1880 was elected from Alabama as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. He later served as major general of volunteers in the Spanish-American war. Name him.

Q#9 – Future president Rutherford B. Hayes ended the war as a brevetted major general. In which campaigns of the war did he mainly serve?

Q#10 – Future brigadier general and president James A. Garfield only personally commanded at one battle. Name it.

Q#11– General George B. McClellan, as the democratic candidate, lost the 1864 Presidential election to Lincoln. Did ever he compete for any other political office?

Q#12 – This Civil War general was a member of the House of Representatives and an important ally to Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. His commission as a general was based on Lincoln’s desire to retain political connections with the Democrats of Southern Illinois and he eventually became second in command under Ulysses S. Grant. Who was he?

Q#13 – How was General John C. Frémont, Union commander at the battle of Cross Keys, very significant in the history of the Republican party?

Q#14 – This Civil War general was a Republican member of the House of Representatives for Missouri prior to the war. He was appointed a colonel of Missouri volunteers in July 1862. He was promoted brigadier general of volunteers in August 1862 and then to major general in November. He commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign and in the fighting about Chattanooga, and was one of William T. Sherman’s corps commanders in the final campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas. After the war he opposed the Congressional Reconstruction policy, and on that issue left the Republican Party. In 1868, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for vice president, running with Horatio Seymour. Who was he?

Q#15 – He was an attorney, the first Chief Justice of Kansas and leading free state advocate and Union Army general during the American Civil War commanding the defense of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob, Missouri during Sterling Price’s raid. After the war he became a two-term United States Congressman from Ohio, 1877–1881 and narrowly lost the 1880 campaign for Ohio Governor. Who was he?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About President Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment Trial of 1868?

Q#1 – What policies by President Andrew Johnson began to sow the seeds for his impeachment?

Q#2 – At an impasse with Congress over Reconstruction, during the summer of 1866, President Johnson offered himself directly to the American public where he asked his audiences for their support in his battle against the Congress and urged voters to elect representatives to Congress in the upcoming midterm election who supported his policies. What name was given to this effort?

Q#3 – What was the Tenure of Office Act?

Q#4 – Johnson wanted to get rid of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. In an attempt to circumvent the Tenure of Office restrictions, Johnson suspended Stanton and tried to replace him with what person?

Q#5 – Who was Lorenzo Thomas and what was his role that helped influence Congress to draw up Articles of Impeachment?

Q#6 – What were the names of the two Congressmen who introduced to the House of Representatives the impeachment resolution?

Q#7 – On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted in favor of the resolution to impeach the President for high crimes and misdemeanors. What was the vote tally?

Q#8 – The House of Representatives adopted eleven articles of impeachment against the President. These were group into three categories – what were the categories?

Q#9 – When the Senate convened as the Court of Impeachment, what was the name of the Presiding Officer?

Q#10 – The President’s Defense team consisted of five individuals. What was the name of the person who led the team?

Q#11 – The Senate Prosecution team issued a summons for President Johnson to appear at the impeachment trial. What was the reason he did not appear?

Q#12 – The impeachment trial was conducted mostly in open session, and the Senate chamber galleries were filled to capacity throughout. Public interest was so great that the Senate took what action in this regard?

Q#13 – During the testimony portion of the impeachment trial, how many prosecution witnesses were called; how many defense witnesses were called?

Q#14 – There were three separate votes taken during the trial, each resulting in a vote of 35 senators voting guilty and 19 not guilty. What was the breakdown by political party of the not guilty votes and why was Johnson not impeached?

Q#15 – What is Republican Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas famous for?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About These Obscure Facts of the Civil War?

Q#1 – While rifles and cannons were the deadliest weapons during the war, disease killed more men. Camps became breeding grounds for measles, chicken pox, and mumps. One million Union solders contracted which disease?

Q#2 – What was the age of the youngest soldier in the Civil War who came from Mississippi? What was the age of the oldest soldier in the Civil War who came from Iowa?

Q#3 – What was the original name for Memorial Day?

Q#4 – A Union prison camp had two observation towers constructed for onlookers. Citizens paid 15 cents to look at the inmates. Concession stands by the towers sold peanuts, cakes, and lemonade while the men inside starved. What was the prison camp’s name?

Q#5 – The Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg is known for what bloody statistic?

Q#6 – During the Civil War, more Civil War soldiers died from what disease than were killed in battle?

Q#7 – What happened to President Lincoln’s personal copy of the Emancipation Proclamation that would be worth millions if it were still in existence today?

Q#8 – General George Gordon Meade was the victor at the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle ever fought in North America. Where was Meade born?

Q#9 – An estimated four million slaves lived in the South by 1860. What was their estimated worth at the time?

Q#10 – What was the name of not only the first woman surgeon in U.S. Military history, but she was also the only woman in the Civil War to be awarded the Medal of Honor?

Q#11 – What was the criminal offense that produced over 100,000 Court Martials during the Civil War?

Q#12 – Although both the North and South did not allow women in the army, how many it is estimated actually fought disguised as men?

Q#13 – What were “Quaker guns”?

Q#14 – The first U.S. Medal of Honor was awarded during the Civil War on March 25, 1863. Who was it awarded to?

Q#15 – In 1860, which two states actually had more slaves than free people living in them?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Medals Awarded in Connection with the Civil War?

Q#1 – How many Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to US Colored Troop army soldiers during the Civil War?

Q#2 – Most of the Medals of Honor awarded to US Colored Troop soldiers were the result of valorous actions in just one battle – what was the name of the battle?

Q#3 – Which Union general nominated more US Colored Troop soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor than any other?

Q#4 – How many Medals of Honor were awarded to African-Americans sailors of the union navy?

Q#5 – Most of the Medals of Honor awarded to African-Americans sailors of the Union Navy were the result of valorous actions in just one battle – what was the name of the battle?

Q#6 – How many Medals of Honor were awarded to US Colored Troop army soldiers during the Battle of Fort Wagner?

Q#7 – In total, how many Medals of Honor were awarded to African-Americans for actions during the Civil War?

Q#8 – Why is Mary Edwards Walker significant in terms of the Medal of Honor?

Q#9 – The first Medals of Honor were awarded for action in what engagement?

Q#10 – The youngest Medal of Honor recipient was how old during the engagement for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor?

Q#11 – How many medals for valor were awarded by the Confederate States?

Q#12 – What is the Confederate Medal of Honor?

Q#13 – Was the Purple Heart awarded to any Civil War participants?

Q#14 – What medal was awarded to both Union and Confederate soldiers?

Q#15 – How many Medals of Honor were awarded during the Civil War?

Civil War Quiz: “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” About the Civil War

Q#1 – Why did the combat death of Confederate Brigadier General Ben Hardin Helm result in him becoming the only Southerner to cause conspicuous mourning in Washington during the Civil War?

Q#2 – What was the name of the very famous Union General who, coming upon the mansion of a woman he had once courted, put the place under guard and left a message for his erstwhile sweetheart which read: “You once said that you would pity the man who would ever become my enemy. My answer was that I would ever protect and shield you. This I have done. Forgive me all else. I am but a soldier”?

Q#3 – What was the name of Mary Todd Lincoln’s closest confidant during the war and her principal comfort on the death of the president, who was also a black seamstress who had once been employed by Mrs. Jefferson Davis?

Q#4 – What was the name of the Union general who in 1861 had accompanied Abraham Lincoln on his journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington and in 1865 accompanied Lincoln’s body when it was returned to Springfield for burial?

Q#5 – What was Union Major General William T. Sherman’s estimated dollar amount worth of damage on Georgia resulting from his “March to the Sea”?

Q#6 – Confederate General John B. Hood lost his right leg at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863. In what country was his fine cork leg manufactured?

Q#7 – When some of his men cheered news of Lincoln’s assassination, what was the name of the Confederate general who became noticeably angry and shouted the following: “Shut those men up. If they don’t shut up, have them arrested”?

Q#8 – What wife of a most senior Union political official had three relatives that served in the Confederate Army?

Q#9 – What famous Confederate general lost 29 horses shot out from under him during the war, probably a world’s record?

Q#10 – During the War Between the States, what happened to Robert E. Lee’s hair?

Q#11 – Of the 245,000 wounds treated in Union hospitals during the Civil War, what number and percentage were inflicted by bayonet?

Q#12 – In 1860, what was the reason given by Federal ordnance officials for turning down the Spencer repeating breech-loading rifle?

Q#13 – What makes 70-year old Hugh McVey, who served in Company D, 4th Kentucky Infantry in the Confederate Army, and was killed at Shiloh an oddity in the Civil War? (Hint: Think something European.)

Q#14 – As the armies from both sides surged to and fro in the Northern Shenandoah Valley, how many times did the town of Winchester, Virginia, change hands during the war?

Q#15 – Of the 425 Confederate generals, 77 were killed or died of wounds during the war. What is the name of the last surviving general of the Southern armies who lived until 1914 and whose son and namesake was killed as a general in World War II?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Union Admirals David Dixon Porter and David Farragut?

Q#1 – David Farragut was the first person to reach three ranks in the United States Navy. What were the titles of these ranks?

Q#2 – Who was David Dixon Porter’s adoptive brother?

Q#3 – When David Porter began his naval service as a midshipman at the age of 10 years, what was the name of the relative he served under?

Q#4 – After the war, David Farragut oversaw the construction of the first U.S. Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. What was the name of this base?

Q#5 – In 1824, Farragut was placed in command of USS Ferret and served in the Mosquito Fleet. What was the purpose of this fleet?

Q#6 – As part of the Navy Department’s plans to open the Mississippi River during the Civil War, what where the names of the two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River that Porter bombarded beginning on April 18, 1862?

Q#7 – In February, 1862, as part of the Union “Anaconda Plan”, what was the name of the command that Farragut was given command of?

Q#8 – The March 15, 1863, attack on Port Hudson failed and resulted in Farragut’s flotilla incurring heavy damage to his warships because of what unilateral decision made by Farragut?

Q#9 – Porter was not held in high regard by which of President Lincoln’s Cabinet secretaries who called Porter “a gas bag … blowing his own trumpet and stealing credit which belongs to others”?

Q#10 – What was the reason that Porter was not in favor of the March 1864 Red River Expedition led by General Nathaniel P. Banks?

Q#11 – On August 5, 1864, Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay and is famous for being quoted for the phrase “Damn the torpedoes….. full speed ahead”. What incident during the battle caused Farragut to make this statement?

Q#12 – By late summer 1864, what was the name of the only Confederate port open for running the blockade that Porter was ordered to close?

Q#13 – As part of the January 13, 1865, attack on Fort Fisher, Porter imposed what new methods of bombardment for his warships?

Q#14 – In 1890 Porter became the founding president of what organization?

Q#15 – What was the name of Farragut’s last active naval command and what special honor was he accorded after he retired?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Civil War Battlefield Preservation and National Cemeteries?

Q#1 – When did the U.S. Congress authorize the creation of military burial places during the Civil War?

Q#2 – What were the first three efforts at Civil War memorialization during the war itself?

Q#3 – What battlefield and cemetery that were established in 1862, but title to the land was not transferred to the War Department until 1877?

Q#4 – Who began erecting markers on battlefields beginning with the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861?

Q#5 – What is the oldest surviving monument Civil War monument and where is it located?

Q#6 – In the 1890s, the United States government established five Civil War battlefield parks under the jurisdiction of the War Department. Two were: Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland and Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania; what were the other three?

Q#7 – The modern Civil War battlefield preservation movement began in 1987 with the founding of what organization?

Q#8 – In 1991, the original Civil War Trust organization was initially created in the mold of what other organization?

Q#9 – From 1987 through late 2017, the Civil Trust and its predecessor organizations saved more than 40,000 acres at how many Civil War battlefields and sites in 21 states?

Q#10 – The American Civil War was the defining event in our nation’s history. Between 1861 and 1865 approximately how many battles and engagements were fought across the continent from Vermont to the New Mexico Territory, and beyond?

Q#11 – Starting in 1991, what event caused interest in the Civil War to soar and led to major donations to various preservation battlefield organizations?

Q#12 – Whose efforts 25 years after the Civil War resulted in the creation of these national military parks: Gettysburg, Shiloh, Antietam, Vicksburg, Chickamauga?

13 – In the mid-1890s, what planned action led to a Supreme Court decision that established the government’s right to acquire and condemn land in the interest of historic preservation?

Q#14 – What was the “Antietam Plan” that was developed in the second half of the 19th Century related to how battlefield preservation specifications were defined?

Q#15 – What is thought to be the first monument to be erected on a Civil War battlefield?