Trivia Archives

1) A quartermaster, he disdained the safety of his headquarters when the  important city where he was stationed was threatened by the enemy. He  organized both civilian and military departmental employees and led  them in the cities defenses. Name him. ....Montgomery Meigs

2) Upon graduation from the USMA he was assigned to the same military  discipline in which his Great Grandfather had distinguished himself  in the civil war. He soon transferred to a 20th century  specialty. He  was Killed in German Airspace in 1943. Name the 20th century officer  and his great grandfather. .....Nathan Bedford Forrest III and Nathan Bedford Forrest

3) The order to burn the town was signed by a recently promoted  Lieutenant General but this officer refused to comply. The town was  burned anyway. For his act of defiance the officer was placed in  arrest. Name the officer who preferred arrest to incendiary warfare  against civilians. ...... William Peters

4) This Union General was born in one of the three " Grand Divisions " of a Southern State.  Prior to the Civil War he was a U.S. congressman and a state senator as well as a veteran of both the Seminole and Mexican Wars. He died in 1867. Name him as well as the Grand Division and  State in which the Division is located. ......William Bowen Campbell who was born in Sumner County, Tennessee which is the " Middle Grand Division " of the State of Tennessee.

1. WHAT.  What Union general got his nickname from both his great booming voice and a legend that a musket ball once bounced off his head?  Name the general and the nickname.   Edwin Vose "Bull Head" Sumner

2.  WHERE.  Where did the incident take place that earned him this sobriquet?   Cerro Gordo, Mex.

3. WHO.  Who was his son-in-law who became a Confederate General?    Armisdead Lindsay Long

4.  WHEN.  On what date did answer to number one become a brigadier general in the regular army and what distinction did his appointment hold at that time? Hint it was a " first ".     March 16, 1861, to replace David Twiggs who was dismissed for  alleged treason, thus becoming the first Brigadier General created by  the impending war.

1.) WHO? Having a somewhat varied military career, this gentleman graduated from Annapolis in 1850, but was soon expelled from the Navy. During the war, he was, at various times: a lieutenant in the South Carolina State Navy, a second lieutenant in the Confederate States Marines, a Captain in the 21st South Carolina and. finally, an officer in the Confederate States Navy, rising to lieutenant. Name him. ......Edward C. Stockton

 1) He had an interesting political career. In just a 10 year span, he served as a legislator in Florida, Arkansas, and as mayor of Memphis, TN. Appointed a Confederate district judge, he would resign that post in 1861 to become a private, although he rose rapidly in rank. After the war he served 3 terms in the US Congress, and was refused a seat in the US Senate. Name him. ...Jesse Johnson Finley

2) This officer was kicked out of West Point for disciplinary reasons.  Nevertheless he preformed creditably in many of the major battles in  the east, commanding a regiment and a brigade until an 1864 wound  forced him to end the war in district command. Post war he was a  governor. Name him. ....Benjamin Grubb Humphreys

3) This foreign born Crimean War veteran preformed scouting and spying  services in the early months of the war in the western theater at the  request of a famous general. In 1861 and 1862 he received two  separate payments for these services totaling $2,300. The second  payment was supported by statements by another famous general and a  famous flag officer asserting that information provided by the scout  led to the capture of an important place in Kentucky. Years latter he  attempted to collect $100,000 from the Government for these services  and was denied by the Supreme Court. Name the Scout. ....Charles De Armaud

4)  In 1864, this man succeeded Gen Jeremiah Boyle in command of the District of Kentucky, and would receive the brevet of Major-General for repulsing an attack of that state. Despite that, he was hated by most residents. Name him....Stephen Gano Burbridge

 1) This officer's distinguished military career began with the War of 1812 and ended on active duty in the Civil War.  He served in the Seminole Wars, the Mexican War and the Utah War.  [He commanded a division in one battle in Mexico, when his commander overdosed on a laxative.  While marching into Mexico City at the head of his troops, a Mexican sharpshooter shot him in the chest, wounding him severely].  His ties to the Confederacy were strong, his son-in-law would become a Confederate corps commander, who named his firstborn son after this man.  His nephew was a Confederate general killed in an 1862 action.  He is probably the only Brevet General of the Civil War promoted for reasons other than Civil War service.  Name him. John Garland

2) A copperhead, not a member of the military, was arrested, tried. convicted and sentenced to be hung by an army tribunal. President Johnson commuted the sentence and the courts overturned the conviction on constitutional grounds. Subsequently the copperhead sued several members and former members of the military who had been
involved in his arrest and conviction. A Brevet Brigadier General, who had commanded a regiment and brigades in the Western Theater and then a lawyer in the state where the suite was filed was appointed by the president as defense consul. The copperhead won but the award was so small that it was considered a defense victory. The Brevet Brigadier would latter achieve national prominence in another field. Name both the copperhead and the Brevet Brigadier.  Lambdin P. Milligan and Benjamin Harrison.

3) He was the highest ranking colored line office in the Union Army during the civil war.  He was mortally wounded in February 1864. Name him. Lt. Colonel William N. Reed

4) This Confederate - the son of a famous man - was commissioned a Major, CSA in March of '62. He served as Price's Chief of Artillery for a time, and then as Col. of Artillery under Bragg. After the war, he was commandant of cadets at the Kentucky Military Institute. Name him.  Meriwether Lewis Clark

 1) A veteran of the Texas war for independence and the Mexican war he  commanded divisions and a corps during the civil war. Post war he was  an unsuccessful candidate for governor and served in congress. He  died in Virginia. Name him. ...... George Washington Morgan

2) This officer, while in temporary command of a militia division, disobeyed orders not to engage advancing Union troops. In November, 1864, near Griswoldville,GA, he launched an attack and got his division slaughtered. Some say he was drunk at the time. Name him. ......Pleasant J. Phillips

3) This officer enlisted 5 days after Fort Sumter and fought until Johnston surrendered at Durham Station. Before the war he was an editor/publisher and chief clerk of the Ohio house of representatives. After the war, he was in charge of Ohio's railroads and telegraphs, and also an Ohio Congressman and Ohio's secretary of state. Name him. .....James Sidney Robinson

4) Who served as the CSA's Attorney General from 1864 until the end of the war ? .......George Davis

1) This New England native was among the first to volunteer and despite  several wounds in 1862 in Virginia and Maryland he remained in the  service until war's end. Due to his wounds he preformed various non  combat duties until he again took the field in 1864 for a short time  commanding a negro unit. He served in the Regular army for a few  years after the war. He was breveted in both the Volunteers and the  Regular Army. His last name on his gravestone contains the letter "c"  which is absent in the O.R. Name him. Edward Winslow Hincks or Hinks

2) In the beginning of the war it was readily supplied to the regiments. It weighed twenty-four and one-half pounds and was twenty-seven inches wide. The canvas consisted of two pieces, five feet ten inches long, sewed in the center with a flat seam, and with a hem on either side seven and one-half inches wide, through which the poles were passed; there was an inch and a half hem on each end; on one end were three tarred rope loops to put over the pins on the cross-bar. It was effective though tended to be rather bulky and soon was replaced by a lighter and more efficient model. What was it? Satterlee Litter

3) A Northerner raised in the South, his writings on field fortifications and related topics were considered standard text for military officers in both the Mexican and Civil Wars. His son, a Union naval officer, would later become a famous naval historian. Name him. Dennis Hart Mahan

4) When this future Union general's brother resigned from Federal service to join the Confederates, it was considered "a blot on the family honor". He himself, although a midshipman during the Mexican War, would excel in the Union Cavalry during the Civil War, eventually losing a leg in a Virginia battle. He retired as a B.G. in the Reserve Army in 1870. Name him. John Baillie McIntosh

 Q.  This Mexican war and filibustering expedition veteran was convicted  of 12 charges, including allowing men in his regiment to appear on  parade with their drawers and body parts exposed. He was ordered  dismissed but permitted to resign. His long military and civilian  career also included service in the U.S. House of representatives,  leading a unit in an invasion of Canada and command of a vessel which  delivered military supplies to Ireland. Name him.

A. James E. Kerrigan

 Q. A musician in the 3rd Vermont Volunteer Infantry had an unusual distinction that remains to this day. Name him and the distinction.

A. Willie Johnston who received the Congressional Medal of Honor when not quite 12 years old which makes him the youngest to ever take the nation's highest honor.

 Q.  This organization may have been organized as early as Dec. 1861, though by whom and where is uncertain. Active in North Carolina, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee, it protected deserters, aided spies and escaped prisoners, and supplied Federal authorities with information about Confederate troop movements and strength to bring about a Confederate defeat.  Name it.

A. Heroes of America or "Red Strings"

Q. This was an architecturally unique estate made up of as many as twenty structures, many of them built of rugged stone, individual in purpose and design. A number of buildings still stand, and the remains of others may be seen by visitors who visit what is now a State Park in Maryland.. It is named for the pen name of a famous civil war correspondent. Name the estate as well as the real name of the correspondent.

A. Gathland State park. The correspondent was George Alfred Townsend.

Q. This War of 1812 veteran served throughout the war at the highest  level of a branch of the Federal Government. His son resigned from  the U.S. army before the war and served as Adjutant General of a  Confederate State. Name the father.

A. James Moore Wayne

Q.  A great question considering what primaries are today....Name the only Indiana soldier to receive the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg for capturing the battle flag of a North Carolina Regiment.

A. Oliver P. Rood, 20th Indiana, Company B, captured the flag of the 21st North Carolina, 3 July 1863. Awarded 1 December 1864.

 Q. Company F of an Indiana regiment was composed of 105 men all of whom were six feet tall or over and were likely the tallest unit in the Union Army.  What is the nickname given to this company and who was the tallest man in the unit?

A. The Monroe County Grenadiers and the tallest man was David Van Buskirk at 6' 10 1/2 " tall. Also accepted several other nicknames - "The Giants", Giants of the Corn, etc.

 Q. Although he graduated 4th in his class at the USMA, this Virginian’s greatest service to the Confederacy did not come while he saw action as a Brigadier General from 1861 to 1862. He was wounded at Frayser’s Farm and returned to his pre-war occupation. He died in New Hampshire in 1892. Name him.

A. Joseph Reid Anderson

 Q. This one armed foreign born officer was arrested for assaulting his Corps commander and a fellow division commander. He was acquitted by a Military Court. Name him.

A. Thomas William Sweeney

Q. He was born in 1830 in South Carolina and served as a private in the 4th Missouri under Colonel John Burbridge. Wounded at Poison Springs, he survived his wound and lived into the early 20th century. He had an unusual physical distinction among his fellow Confederate soldiers which is verified by numerous sources. Name him and the distinction.

Q. In mid-1867, this former Civil War officer was appointed Governor of a Reconstruction Military District and made his HQ in Atlanta. In late 1867 or early 1868 (sources vary), he was removed from that command and replaced by another former Civil War officer. Name both officers.

 Q. During the Civil War, the first (and only) execution of a man convicted of slave-trading (under the prevailing Piracy Acts) took place. Name the executed man and the prison where the hanging took place.

 Q. Name the last officer to receive the Thanks of the Confederate Congress.

 Q. It was supposed to happen after the War Dept. issued an order on June 7, 1887, and President Cleveland approved it. A week later, because of popular opposition by some Union Civil War veterans, the order was revoked. It finally did happen in 1905, under Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. What happened?

 Q. This future Brigadier General was dismissed from the Military Academy for breaking a plate over the head of a future Major General. Name both.

 Q. During the Gettysburg Campaign, this officer was to demonstrate against Richmond, thereby drawing troops away from Lee's army to reinforce the capitol. But at a place east of Richmond, against what his commander thought was an inferior force, the officer withdrew instead. He was removed from command by his superior. He asked for a review of the accusations, but never got it. Name the removed officer.

Q. This small tug boat was built in PA. in 1859. It came under control of the Confederate Inspector General of Naval Ordnance at Norfolk Navy Yard in 1861. In August of 1861 Commander Fairfax took command, armed her with a rifled gun and attacked the sloop-of-war Savannah, riding at anchor off Newport News. She inflicted considerable damage on the  Savannah who was unable to train her guns effectively upon her attacker. Name her.

Q. This Confederate ship was built in England in 1864. She was captured off the North Carolina coast in 1864. Condemned by a court, she was then bought by the US Navy, repaired and commissioned under a new name. In late April, 1865 she was renamed again, becoming the 5th US warship to bear the new name. She was decommissioned in late 1865 and sold to private ownership in 1869. Name her.

Q. This Virginia native was a Civil Engineer prior to the war. He belonged to a TN regiment as a Lt. Colonel, then Colonel. Promoted to Brigadier General in 1863. Led a brigade at Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta campaign. He would lose a limb on the Fourth of July. He died in Indiana near the end of the century and is buried in TN. Name him.

Q. This Confederate had 2 children with his mistress (an ex-slave) as well as one with his wife. He fought under Jackson at Malvern Hill and Cold Harbor. Appointed Brig. General in 1862 but never confirmed. Never resumed command position again after being accused of cowardice at Antietam and another battle. Captured in 1863, never exchanged and held till end of war. Died in the 20th century. Name him.

Q. This rebel was the only officer jumped directly from Confederate  Captain to General (Brigadier). Name him.  

Q. This young man lost a leg as the result of wounds incurred at Philippi, in 1861. Upon his return home, he devised an artificial limb of such superior quality that he was able to found a firm for their manufacture that still exists. Name him.

Q. He was born in Indiana and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated 5th in his class. He became a lieutenant in the Artillery  and fought in the Seminole War in Florida. From 1841 to 1844, he was an Assistant Professor at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). He also served in the Mexican-American War in 1846. He became the Commandant of a camp of instruction in Richmond. His manual proved to be the ideal book for the training of these young men. He briefly commanded a brigade in the field in 1861 and 1862. His highest rank was colonel. He died in the 1870's. Name him.

Q. Name the first Confederate officer to die in combat. He was a Lieutenant Colonel. Some sources say his rank was Captain.

 Q. The daily postal-mail service he ran between two important cities in the 1830's was the basis for the nickname given to this Confederate general. For one point, name him and the two cities.

 Q. A month prior to his assassination, plotters intended to kidnap Lincoln. It had been reported that he was to attend a play matinee. The conspirators laid in wait, but Lincoln was a no-show. Name the play he was supposed to attend and the building in which it was to be performed.

 Q.  This Mass. native and USMA graduate (7th in his class) spent most of  the conflict years in Europe buying war supplies. Post war he was in  business and then operated a school for over 20 years in NY where he  died in the 20th century. Name him.

 Q.  Born in Maine, she went to Costa Rica in 1853 as a teacher. In September, 1861 she was nurse to a Maine regiment and later that fall took over the brigade hospital. In May, 1862 she went to the Peninsula as a Sanitary Commission worker. In September of 1862, she went to Commission’s Soldier’s Home in Washington. In December of 1862 she was placed in charge of "Camp Misery" and shortly transformed the place, to the benefit of its inhabitants. Name her

 Q.  This officer saw action in all campaigns of the AoP (except for the Peninsular campaign). He seconded Cleveland's nomination in 1884 with the words "We love him for the enemies he has made". He would serve as a congressman, Minister to Mexico, Consul-General to Havana, and Consul-General to Hong Kong. Name him.

 03/13/08

Q.   Born in Wisconsin, he was appointed to the USMA from New York, graduating 12th in his class. He fought at First Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Although receiving brevet promotions, he was killed at Gettysburg with the permanent rank of 1st Lieutenant. Name him.

 03/12/08

Q.   This surgeon was born in Virginia, and received his medical degree in Canada. He would serve as surgeon to a unit before being put in charge of an army hospital in Georgia. He would be brevetted Lt.Col. prior to the end of the war. Post-war, he served on the faculty of a D.C. university. He's buried in Arlington. Name him.

 03/11/08

Q.   Some sources claim that this Confederate, a major during the Battle of Chancellorsville, gave the order to fire that resulted in the death of Stonewall Jackson. He would also lead a regiment during Pickett's Charge. After the war, he would become a newspaper editor only to die at the age of 27. Name him.

 03/07/08

Q.   A Brevet Brigadier General turned Bureaucrat was accused of  conspiring with an Artillery Captain turned carpetbag Federal  Legislator and others to defraud the  Federal government. While both served primarily in the western  theater, O.R. organization charts do not ever list them in the same  Corps and the Artillery Captain wound up in the Army of the Potomac.  A sensational trial which consumed many weeks and included W. T.  Sherman as a witness for the defense resulted in a hung jury as to  both men. An equally long and sensational 2nd trial with Nelson Miles  appearing as a defense witness resulted in both men being acquitted.  Name both men, must have both correct.

03/06/08

Q.   This General was in command of federal forces at Natchez , and was with Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign.  During the war he was  wounded and forced to retire . The wound left him lame for life.  After the war he was Postmaster General, Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of State.  A town in Oregon is named for him. 

 03/04/08

Q.   This Civil War figure attained the rank of brevet-brigadier general. He was also a diplomat and a newspaper editor. After the war he became Secretary of State, a position his grandson also held. Name him.

 02/28/08

Q.   Even though this Confederate officer was elected to the Second Regular Confederate Congress shortly after Chancellorsville, he remained with the army until the fall of 1864. After the war, he was offered the post of Sec. of the Navy by President Hayes but refused it. Name him.

 02/27/08

Q.   This artist's painting concentrated on the everyday camp life of the Union soldier. Many of his works are housed in two different Washington buildings. He was born in NY and died in Brooklyn. Name him.

 02/26/08

Q.   Expelled from his state legislature for striking a member, he was a Captain in June of 1861. In March of 1862, as a Colonel, he engaged the enemy in battle, against his superior’s orders, and was victorious. He was commissioned a BG USV in August of 1862. He was mustered out in August of 1865 and became Chief Justice of a Supreme Court out West. In 1867 he challenged a detractor to a duel and was killed. Name him.

 02/22/08

Q.   After serving in his brother's brigade, this Carolinian would succeed his brother as commander of the brigade. After the war he would practice law, become a U.S. Senator, and serve as Minister to Mexico. Name him.

 02/21/08

Q.   This man was the youngest general officer in the Confederate Army at the time of his appointment. He became the first to be buried in the yard of the Harrison House in Franklin, TN. Name him.

 02/20/08

Q.  Three brothers from Maine, all graduates of Bowdoin. The youngest went to fight for freedom in "Bleeding Kansas" even before attending college. He returned to volunteer at the start of the War. While positioning a regiment on the field of Second Manassas, he was mortally wounded, dying a few days later. His other two brothers were both lawyers. One saw action at Shiloh, where he was wounded and then served in garrison duty near Centreville. He was mustered out in July, 1863 and re-commissioned as Colonel in June 1864. He lost his right leg at Monett’s Bluff. Although breveted as MG, he retired in 1865 as BG USA to return to the law. His other brother, who also achieved the rank of MG, was injured in a fall from his horse in the Carolinas. He later served from Lookout Mountain through the Atlanta campaign, then in Winchester, VA. After the war he was a lawyer and legislator. He wrote a two volume biography of his father that was published in 1907. Name their father.

02/19/08

Q. This bureaucrat held the same post in the executive branch of both the U.S. and the C.S. governments. Before becoming a government worker he was admitted to the bar and edited a newspaper. Post war he worked for a bank and then became U.S. Consul in a southern hemisphere country. He died in that country and is buried there. Name him.

 02/15/08

Q. A native of Maine became the 4th Governor of a north-western state. He also represented that state in the US Senate for one term. His brother was a Civil War officer who would end the Civil War with a brevet Major-General rank. Name both brothers.

 02/14/08

Q. This officer, born in Indian Territory, was the step-son of a Mexican War general. He graduated from an Academy in Massachusetts. By the time the war started, he was a Union Captain in the cavalry, and fought at 1st Bull Run. He would later serve as a staff officer to at least 2 Generals, and became a Brigadier-General in early 1863, and led a cavalry division at a famous East TN battle. After the war he served as a US Indian Inspector and Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs before dying in Maine. Name him.

 02/13/08

Q.  In the early days of 1862, a force of 800+ Confederates camped near a creek in north-central Missouri. A force of about 450 Union troops found them despite heavy fog. After less than an hour of fighting, the Confederates were routed. Total number of men killed in engagement was just less than 50. Name the battle.

 02/12/08

Q.  He finished last in his USMA class. In this fight he had to defend so many sectors of his line at the same time that he fought in a complete circle, a formation that anticipated another battle he would wage twelve years hence, against opponents in war paint rather than Confederate gray. Name the officer and the Civil War battle. Must have both correct.

Question by Dennis Conklin

 02/08/08

Q.  It was built during the War of 1812, on an island named "Cole's". It guarded the Stono River and was designated Battery No. 7. Now protected by an easement, the site still remains nearly inaccessible. Name it.

 02/07/08

Q. He was a Quaker born in the South and served as a delegate in the International Anti-Slavery Conference in Paris. He moved to Indiana, where his home is now a National Historic Landmark. He was known as the President of the Underground Railroad. Name him.

(Question by Dick Clark)

 02/05/08

Q. This native of a cotton state and Graduate of the University of Va. entered the war as a private in an infantry regiment, left that regiment and enrolled in another. In the fall of 1861 he became a staff officer and served on the staff of his uncle until that general was killed in 1863. He served as a staff officer in Richmond for most of the rest of the war and was captured at Sayler's Creek. Post war he published an article about an important event in the war's closing days, practiced law and served in the legislative branch of his state government. He died in the 20th century. Name him.

02/02/08

Q. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on October 5,1861, at Salem, Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, he was mustered into Company F, 23rd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers where he served as a clerk and occasionally drew military maps. He was first sent to Annapolis, Maryland and then to North Carolina. While stationed in North Carolina, he took part in the expedition against Roanoke Island, the New Bern campaign, and other engagements. Later in the war, he served in South Carolina in the vicinity of Port Royal, Hilton Head and St. Helena. In Virginia, he served at Cold Harbor and took part in the siege of Petersburg. He chose not to re-enlist and was discharged on October 16, 1864. One of his names is synonymous with a February Holiday. Name him.

 02/01/08

Q. He was a teacher, lawyer, and Confederate Soldier. Served under General Sterling Price, General John Marmaduke. After the war he  set up a law practice in St. Louis, Missouri. There he had an ongoing feud with the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. One day he and a fellow attorney  stormed into the editor's office with the intention of slapping him and demanding an apology. The editor picked up a revolver and shot him  in the heart killing him instantly., stating later he had acted in self defense. Prior to his demise he had written a famous poem about the burial of a certain general's flag in Mexico. Name him.