Monthly Archives: November 2014

Meeting of November 25, 2014

Tom Roza presents the video, “Ulysses S. Grant and the Virginia Campaign in 1864”

Brooks Simpson at CWI 2014

Brooks Simpson at CWI 2014

As part of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute hosted its Annual Summer Conference. One of the featured events was “U.S. Grant and the Virginia Campaign in 1864,” presented by Brooks Simpson, an American historian and History Professor at Arizona State University.

Simpson is the author of six books, the coauthor of two more, and the editor or coeditor of eight other books and is perhaps best known for his work on Ulysses S. Grant. At the Gettysburg College Civil War Institutes’s Summer Conference held in June 2014, Professor Brooks Simpson discussed Union General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, which was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June of 1864.

Simpson discusses numerous little known facts such as how Grant’s initial plans for taking over command in the eastern theater of the Civil War were vetoed by then Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The presentation discusses how Grant’s role as commander developed and evolved in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War during the 1864 period.

The presentation will be a video streamed from C-SPAN’s web site.

Quiz for November 25, 2014

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Ulysses S. Grant?

Q#1 – What was Ulysses S. Grant’s birth date?

Q#2 – What was Ulysses S. Grant’s birth name?

Q#3 – What town and state was US Grant born in?

Q#4 – How did Grant’s name get changed to Ulysses S. Grant?

Q#5 – What nickname did Grant go by when at West Point?

Q#6 – Grant graduated from West Point in 1843 with a class of 39 – where did Grant rank in his class?

Q#7 – Grant fought in the Mexican War. In his memoirs, what did Grant write about his thoughts on that war?

Q#8 – What was the maiden name of the woman that Grant married?

Q#9 – In 1856, Grant and his family moved to a section of his father-in-law’s farm and, to give his family a home, built a house. What name did he give to the house?

Q#10 – Early in the Civil War, how did Grant earn the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant?

Q#11 – What was the month and year when President Lincoln named Grant commander of all Union armies?

Q#12 – What was the reason Grant declined President Lincoln’s invitation to attend together a play at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865?

Q#13 – What was the name of the Democrat Party’s candidate that Grant defeated in the Presidential election on 1868?

Q#14 – After leaving the office of President in 1877, what did Grant and his family do?

Q#15 – What was the medical condition that Grant eventually died from?