Nitty-Gritty Civil War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Historicus

To this day the true identity of "Historicus" remains a mystery. At the time of the letters publication, George Meade and Henry Halleck believed that the author was Daniel Sickles (Union Third Corps commander at Gettysburg). While the letter was highly critical of Meade (and Halleck) it praised Sickles' actions on 2 July 1863.

Although the letter did not reflect Sickles' writing style, Meade and Halleck both believed that the content of the letter did reflect Sickles' attitude and opinions. Today, historians tend to agree with Meade and Halleck, and believe that Sickles may very well have been involved in its creation through a second party author. Meade and Halleck never pressed the issue and Sickles never admitted any involvement in the incident that has come to be known as the "Historicus Letter".

Answer: New York

Confederate saboteurs attacked New York City on November 25th, 1864, with the intention of setting it ablaze. The plot had been concocted a few months earlier by Robert Martin, a former colonel under Confederate cavalry commander John Hunt Morgan. In 1864 Martin traveled to Canada to take part in the Confederate espionage operations being planned there. Like most acts of terrorism, the Confederacy hatched the New York operation as an act of retribution, a way to seek revenge for the Union'sravaging of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, the breadbasket of the Confederacy.

The plot was a simple one. Colonel Martin and seven other agents, dressed as civilians, would cross the Canadian border to aid in an uprising by Copperheads (Northerners who sympathized with the South).

At a predetermined time, the agents would set fire to several of the hotels along Broadway, and the Copperheads would begin an uprising similar to the Draft Riots. Once they had captured General Dix (in command of the New York Military District) and placed him in irons, they would raise the Confederate flag over the city and declare it an independent entity. All of the fires they started were quickly extinguished and the plot failed.

Answer: Patrick R. Cleburne

The letter, written on January 2nd, 1864, presented strong arguments why the manpower drain of the war demanded that the pool of slaves be tapped for service in the army. The letter, among other things, advocated giving the slaves their freedom and abolishing slavery in the south after the war was successfully won (removing the North's moral justification for continuing the struggle).

The letter argued that the cause of Southern independence was more important then maintaining the institution of slavery. No action was ever taken on the Cleburne (et. al.) letter.

It would be more then another year before the Confederate Congress would pass a law allowing black enlistment, but by then it was far too late to help the Southern cause. One of the great "what if's" of the Civil War is what might have happened if the Southern leadership had acted on this letter a year earlier? With the huge manpower pool of slaves to draw from, could the Confederacy have eventually fought to a negotiated settlement? Well, we'll never know, but it's interesting to speculate on what MIGHT have happened if Cleburne's advice had been taken.

Answer: Vidette

A Tampion was a specially designed wooden plug pushed into the barrel of a musket to keep out water and dirt. A Lunette was a 3 sided, earthworks fort, with an open and vulnerable rear, used early in the war. A Gabion was a tall, cylindrical, wicker basket that was filled with rocks and dirt to create reinforcement points in field fortifications.

Answer: It was the first battle in which black soldiers fought.

The First Kansas Colored Volunteers engaged Confederate troops in combat at the Battle of Island Mount, MO. Eight members of the regiment were killed and another 11 were wounded. They represented the first casualties sustained by a black regiment in the Civil War, eight months before the casualties suffered by members of the Massachusetts 54th at Fort Wagner, the black regiment made famous in the movie, "Glory."

Answer: He ordered his men to open fire and they accidentally shot Stonewall Jackson

Barry died two years after the war at age 27 due to depression over the fact that he had given the order to fire on the night that Jackson was shot. Of course, Barry really wasn't responsible for Jackson's death. "Stonewall" Jackson was actually recovering from his friendly fire wounds when he contracted pneumonia and died.

Answer: Ruffin and Waddell

Edmund Ruffin supposedly pulled the lanyard that fired the first shot of the Civil war at Fort Sumter. Within a couple of months of Lee's surrender, Ruffin wrapped himself in a Confederate battle flag and committed suicide rather then accept defeat. Lt. James Waddell, skipper of the CSS Shenandoah, ordered the last shot of the Civil War fired on June 22, 1865 in the North Pacific.

He didn't get the word that the war was over until August. He sailed the Shenandoah to England where he surrendered to British naval authorities.

Answer: The 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry

The 15th PA Cav (better known as the Anderson Cavalry) was organized as an independent Company specifically to act as escort and bodyguard for General Robert Anderson (former commander of Fort Sumter). Buell retained them in that capacity after he assumed command of the Department of the Ohio from Anderson, and was so highly impressed by their abilities that he ordered a full regiment to be raised. Men joined this new regiment assuming it's function would be that of the origional company. Actually, the origional company was never officially incorporated into the new regiment and remained a separate and independent formation.

The new regiment was looked upon as a regular line unit rather then a camp guard. So, it came as a surprize to the men of the regiment when they were ordered to the line at Stone's River.

Many refused to go, arguing that they had not enlisted for that purpose. There were arrests and detentions, but the entire matter eventually faded away with no prosecutions.

When Rosecrans assumed command from Buell he mustered the Anderson Cavalry out of service in March of 1863.

Answer: Creating a modern system of battlefield medical care.

Late in 1861, Letterman was assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac. Named Medical Director of the Department of West Virginia in May 1862, was the next month appointed Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac with the rank of Major (Surgeon).

In that post he completely reorganized the Medical Service, devising a system of forward first aid stations at the regimental level, mobile field hospitals behind divisions and base hospitals, all linked by a proficient ambulance corps under the control of medical staff rather than the Quartermaster Department, and arranging an efficient system of medical supply.

At the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, in which the Army of the Potomac suffered 12,000 casualties, he proved the efficiency of his methods.

His system was subsequently adoped by other Union Armies in the field and was established officially by an Act of Congress in March 1864.

Answer: True

Yes, the answer really is TRUE. General Beauregard's command at time of 1st Manassas was called the Army of the Potomac. The name of the formation wasn't changed to the Army of Northern Virginia until June of 1862. (See http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Staff-Rides/ballsbluff/organization.htm)