Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Union Naval Blockade?

Q#1 – Which came first: the naval blockade of the South or the Anaconda Plan?

Q#2 – At the beginning of the war, President Lincoln considered issuing an executive order closing for commercial purposes all harbors and ports under Confederate control. Why did the government of England prefer that Lincoln issue a naval blockade versus the closing of ports?

Q#3 – What was the name of the US Secretary of the Navy who was placed in charge of setting up the Union blockade of the South and what nickname was given to him by President Lincoln?

Q#4 – What was the name of the Confederate Secretary of the Navy who was charged with breaking the Union blockade?

Q#5 – What two foreign ports were used extensively by blockade runners as cargo transfer points?

Q#6 – What were the names of the three Union commands that made up the blockading fleet and where were they located?

Q#7 – Initially, the Confederate government relied on issuing “Letters of Marque” to privateers to break the Union blockade. What was the name of the first Confederate approved privateer?

Q#8 – In December 1861, what action did the Union Navy take to blockade the port of Charleston, SC?

Q#9 – What famous racing yacht took an active role in the Union blockade off the Charleston, South Carolina coast?

Q#10 – The captain of a Confederate blockade runner could earn how much money for each successful voyage?

Q#11 – What English city built many of the Confederate naval vessels including the Alabama?

Q#12 – How many Union ships of any type is the Confederate warship Alabama credited with capturing?

Q#13 – As the Union fleet grew in size, speed and sophistication, more ports came under Federal control. After 1862, which three ports remained open for the blockade runners still in business?

Q#14 – On June 19, 1864, the Confederate warship CSS Alabama was sunk by the Union warship USS Kearsarge near the port of Cherbourg, France. Despite the superior gunnery displayed by Kearsarge and the deteriorated state of Alabama’s contaminated powder and fuses, what event prevented a possible battle victory for the CSS Alabama?

Q#15 – By the end of the Civil War how many Confederate blockade runners were either captured or destroyed?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Little Known Facts Regarding Fort Sumter?

Q#1 – Why was Fort Sumter Built?

Q#2 – How did Fort Sumter get its name?

Q#3 – On what was Fort Sumter Built?

Q#4 – What were the basic design requirements for housing the number of soldiers and guns?

Q#5 – In which direction were all the guns pointed?

Q#6 – What caused a 7-year delay in the construction of Fort Sumter on?

Q#7 – What was the construction status of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861?

Q#8 – What were the names of the three Charleston Harbor Shore Batteries that Fort Sumter was designed to reinforce and provide protection for?

Q#9 – How many sides did Fort Sumter have and how thick were its walls?

Q#10 – What Southern military unit performed the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861?

Q#11 – During the attack on Fort Sumter, the American flag was shot down. What was the name of the Union soldier who raised the flag back up?

Q#12 – How many casualties resulted from the attack on Fort Sumter that began on April 12, 1861?

Q#13 – What happened to the American flag that flew over Fort Sumter?

Q#14 – What was the result of the Second Battle of Fort Sumter that occurred on September 8, 1863?

Q#15 – What is the official name of the Fort Sumter Medal and why was it awarded?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Events Leading to the Civil War?

Note: Some of the events contained in the quiz have many aspects to them.  The answers to the questions must be in the context of how these events contributed to the Civil War.

Q#1 – What Do You Know About the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

Q#2 – What Do You Know About the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798-99?

Q#3 – What Do You Know About the Missouri Compromise of 1820?

Q#4 – What Do You Know About the Tariff of 1828 (aka) Tariff of Abominations?

Q#5 – What Do You Know About the Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion (aka the Southampton Insurrection)?

Q#6 – What Do You Know About the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33?

Q#7 – What Do You Know About the United States vs. The Schooner Armistad Court Case?

Q#8 – What Do You Know About the Texas Annexation?      

Q#9 – What Do You Know About the Mexican–American War?

Q#10 – What Do You Know About the Wilmot Proviso of 1846?

Q#11 – What Do You Know About Manifest Destiny? 

Q#12 – What Do You Know About the Nashville Convention of 1850?

Q#13 – What Do You Know About the Compromise of 1850?

Q#14 – What Do You Know About the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

Q#15 – What Do You Know About the Ostend Manifesto of 1854?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About The Copperheads?

Q#1 – What were the Copperheads?

Q#2 – What historical political set of values was the Copperhead Movement based on?

Q#3 – Where did the name “Copperheads” originate?

Q#4 – Why did those individuals and groups accept being called Copperheads?

Q#5 – While many Democrats opposed the war, hat title was given to those who supported the war?

Q#6 – What were the names of two Democratic Congressmen from Ohio who were considered leaders of the Copperhead movement?

Q#7 – How did the Copperheads view President Lincoln and the Republican Party?

Q#8 – What were some of the more drastic actions taken by Copperheads?

Q#9 – Who was John Mullaly?

Q#10 – What was the name of the Copperhead Wisconsin newspaper editor who referred to Lincoln as: “Fungus from the corrupt womb of bigotry and fanaticism” and a “worse tyrant and more inhuman butcher than has existed since the days of Nero. The man who votes for Lincoln now is a traitor and murderer. And if he is elected to misgovern for another four years, we trust some bold hand will pierce his heart with dagger point for the public good”?

Q#11 – What was General Ambrose Burnside’s 1863 General Order Number 38, issued in Ohio as it related to Copperhead actions?

Q#12 – What was The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC)?

Q#13 – What was the Charleston Riot?

Q#14 – What Congressman declared the war was being fought not to save the Union, but to free the blacks and enslave Southern whites?

Q#15 – The 1864 Democratic convention in Chicago. This convention adopted a largely Copperhead platform and selected Ohio Representative George Pendleton (a known Peace Democrat) as the vice presidential candidate. However, it also chose a pro-war presidential candidate—who was that?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Border States?

Q#1 – What are the names of the original four Border States?

Q#2 – Which state became a border state in 1863?

Q#3 – What main social/economic element did all the border states share in common?

Q#4 – Which Border State provided the Union Army with approximately 50% of its gunpowder during the Civil War?

Q#5 – Which of the Border States voted for Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential election of 1860?

Q#6 – Which of the Border States voted for Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential election of 1864?

Q#7 – Besides formal combat between regular armies, the border regions saw what other type of combative action?

Q#8 – Did Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation apply to the Border States?

Q#9 – What was the main political concern by the Border States in 1861 that might have led to them seceding from the Union?

Q#10 – What was the Maryland Legislature’s position on secession and the Civil War?

Q#11 – Which Border State did President Lincoln see as strategic to Union victory in the Civil War?

Q#12 – In 1861, what action was taken by President Lincoln against which Border State that was ruled unconstitutional by Chief Justice Roger Taney, at that time acting only as a circuit judge?

13 – What was Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson’s reaction to the Missouri Constitutional Convention voting to remain within the Union, but rejecting coercion of the Southern states by the United States?

Q#14 – In 1861, after a series of military defeats, the Missouri secessionist forces retreated to southwestern Missouri where Governor Jackson and his exiled Confederate sympathizing took what political action?

Q#15 – The Kentucky legislature did not vote on any bill to secede, but passed two resolutions of neutrality, issuing a neutrality proclamation May 20, 1861, asking both sides to keep out of the state. What action broke that neutrality?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Little Known Facts Regarding Stonewall Jackson?

Q#1 – What was Stonewall Jackson’s middle name?

Q#2 – How did Jackson’s Paternal Great Grandparents John Jackson and Elizabeth Cummins meet and end up in America?

Q#3 – Where was Stonewall Jackson born?

Q#4 – How did Stonewall Jackson learn to read and how was a Negro slave involved?

Q#5 – What was the reason that Jackson began his studies at West Point at the bottom of his class?

Q#6 – Jackson graduated 17th out of 59 students in the West Point Class of 1846. What reason did his classmates give that could have resulted in Jackson graduating first?

Q#7 – While on duty in Florida during the Second Seminole War, what future Union general was Jackson’s commanding officer who Jackson frequently disagreed with and each filed numerous complaints against each other?

Q#8 – After leaving the Federal Army in 1851, Jackson became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. What did he teach?

Q#9 – What was Jackson’s view on slavery?

Q#10 – Brig. General Barnard Elliott Bee Jr. gave Jackson his nickname of Stonewall. Where on the battlefield of First Bull Run/Manassas did Jackson earn that nickname?

Q#11 – In his exceptionally successful 1862 Valley Campaign, what Union commander did Jackson repeatedly defeat in the Shenandoah Valley?

Q#12 – What breed of horse was Jackson’s Little Sorrel?

Q#13 – When Robert E. Lee took over command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862, he created two command structures; one assigned to James Longstreet, the other to Stonewall Jackson. What was the first official designation for these two command structures?

Q#14 – What day of the week did Stonewall Jackson die on and what were his last words?

Q#15 – What was Jackson’s sister Laura Jackson Arnold’s reaction to learning of her brother’s death?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Presidential Election of 1864?

Q#1 – Which political party elected Abraham Lincoln as its nominee for President in the 1864 election?

Q#2 – Which political party split off from the Republican Party and who did it nominate as their candidate for President for the 1864 election?

Q#3 – What were the two major ideological elements that fractured the Democrat Party in 1864?

Q#4 – What was the main reason that Andrew Johnson was nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln?

Q#5 – George B. McClellan was the Democrat Party’s nominee for President. What was the name of his Vice Presidential running mate?

Q#6 – What was the political platform regarding the Civil War that was adopted by the Democrat Party and what was George McClellan’s position regarding it?

Q#7 – True or False: The Presidential election of 1864 was the first to be held during wartime.

Q#8 – For much of 1864, Lincoln himself believed he had little chance of being re-elected because of one significant human factor. What was that?

Q#9 – Several political and military events eventually made Lincoln’s re-election inevitable. First, the Democrats had to confront the severe internal strains within their party. Second, Frémont’s withdrawal from the campaign was based on his decision that winning the Civil War was too important to divide the Republican vote. What was the significant military event that influenced Lincoln’s chances for victory?

Q#10 – Because the eleven Southern states that had declared secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America were not eligible to vote, only twenty-five states participated in the 1864 election. What were the names of the three new states that voted for the first time?

Q#11 – What were the only three states that George McClellan won?

Q#12 – Not every non-secession state allowed its soldiers to cast votes in the 1864 Presidential election. California, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan were five of the seven states that did. What were the names of the other two states (Hint: They are located east of the Mississippi River).

Q#13 – Out of the 40,247 army votes cast, Lincoln received 30,503 (75.8%) and McClellan 9,201 (22.9%), with the rest (543 votes) scattering (1.3%). What was the name of the one state that the soldiers gave McClellan a majority of their votes?

Q#14 – Which state gave Lincoln his largest margin of victory?

Q#15 – Which state gave Lincoln his smallest margin of victory?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Attack on Fort Sumter?

Q#1 – Fort Sumter is a sea fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Was it constructed on a real or artificial island?

Q#2 – Why was the fort originally built?

Q#3 – We all know that the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and eventually captured it. There was a second battle fought there; when was that and what was the result?

Q#4 – On December 26, 1860, only six days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson abandoned what fort and transferred his command to Fort Sumter?

Q#5 – The attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, has traditionally signaled the start of the Civil War because the first shots were fired. This is incorrect. When were the first shots fired as they relate to Fort Sumter and what were the circumstances?

Q#6 – After realizing that Major Robert Anderson’s command on Fort Sumter would run out of food by April 15, 1861, President Lincoln ordered a fleet of ships to attempt entry into Charleston Harbor and supply Fort Sumter. Who commanded this fleet?

Q#7 – What was the name of the Confederate fort that fired the first cannon shots at Fort Sumter?

Q#8 – Edmund Ruffin, noted Virginian agronomist and secessionist, claimed that he fired the first shot on Fort Sumter and his story has been widely believed. But who actually fired the first shots?

Q#9 – What was the reason that only solid iron balls could be used by the Union cannons in Fort Sumter against the Confederate batteries?

Q#10 – During the attack, the Union colors fell inside the fort. What was the name of he Union officer who risked his life to put them back up?

Q#11 – How many deaths were attributed to events at Fort Sumter?

Q#12 – Where were the Union soldiers transported after the surrender of Fort Sumter?

Q#13 – We all know that President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, But, what significant event occurred earlier that day at Fort Sumter?

Q#14 – After the Civil War ended, what was done to Fort Sumter?

Q#15 – One hundred and forty-seven years after it was sent, a rolled up telegraphic message was found and eventually given to a museum in Charleston, S.C. The telegram was dated April 14, 1861, from the Governor of South Carolina to Gazaway Bugg Lamar in New York. In part, what did the telegram state?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Little Known Civil War Trivia?

Q#1 – What percentage of the population of the United States died in the U.S. Civil War?

Q#2 – What Union spy worked as a servant in the Confederate White House?

Q#3 – Who was the first black war correspondent?

Q#4 – Who was the only U.S. President to serve the Confederacy during the Civil War?

Q#5 – African Americans made up what percent of the Union army?

Q#6 – What Confederate spy was known as the “Siren of Shenandoah”?

Q#7 – Who was the youngest general in the Civil War? For the person or persons who get this one correct, you can pick out a book from the raffle.

Q#8 – Jefferson Davis believed the death of what Confederate general was the turning point in the Civil War?

Q#9 – What type of pet did General Robert E. Lee keep with him during the Civil War?

Q#10 – What did Civil War veteran John Stith Pemberton invent?

Q#11 – Who blamed Sir Walter Scott for the American Civil War?

Q#12 – How much were Union privates paid per month during the Civil War?

Q#13 – Who was the first Union general to be killed in action?

Q#14 – What Civil War figure defined an honest politician as one who “once bought, stays bought”?

Q#15 – What was the longest single battle of the American Civil War?

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About the Underground Railroad?

Q#1 – What Federal law passed in the late 18th Century spurred the birth of the Underground Railroad?

Q#2 – What were the origins of the Underground Railroad?

Q#3 – What man is sometimes called “The Father of the Underground Railroad”?

Q#4 – The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad with locomotives and train cars. What did it consist of?

Q#5 – There were four main routes that the enslaved could follow: what were they?

Q#6 – The Underground Railroad operated mainly in the Free States. How did slaves get to the Underground Railroad?

Q#7 – What was the role of “Conductors” on The Underground Railroad?

Q#8 – What was the role of “Stockholders “on The Underground Railroad?”

Q#9 – Many biblical references were used as secret code terms for the Underground Railroad. What did the term “Promised Land” refer to? What did the term “River Jordan” refer to?

Q#10 – What facility was deemed the “Chief Place Of Entry” for slaves seeking to enter Canada?

Q#11 – Which Canadian province ended up with the largest group fugitives?

Q#12 – Upon arriving in Canada, what did most fugitive slaves encounter?

Q#13 – Operators of the Underground Railroad faced their own dangers – what were some of the major ones?

Q#14 – How many slaves actually escaped to a new life in the North, in Canada, Florida or Mexico?

Q#15 – Following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery, what happened to the Underground Railroad?