Ohio's Role in the Civil War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Johnson's Island

The island housed over 15,000 Confederate men, mostly officers. The prison had one of the lowest mortality rate of any Civil War prison on either side.

South Bass, Kelleys, and Gibraltar Islands are all islands in Lake Erie.

Answer: Edwin M. Stanton, Salmon P. Chase

All were members of Lincoln's administration

Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase 1861-1864
Secretary of State William H. Seward 1861-1865
Secretary of War Simon Cameron 1861-1862
Edwin M. Stanton 1862-1865
Vice President Hannibal Hamlin 1861-1865
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles 1861-1865
Attorney General Edward Bates 1861-1864
Postmaster General Montgomery Blair 1861-1864

Answer: New York, Pennsylvania

Roughly 320,000 troops from Ohio served in the war.

Answer: John Hunt Morgan

Gen. Morgan was captured, detained in Columbus where he and some of his troopers tunneled out of the prison and escaped.

"Jeb" Stuart is perhaps the best known of the Southern cavalry officers, serving in the east with Gen. Lee.
Nathan Forrest was one of the more feared cavalry generals, even though he was relatively uneducated. After the Civil War he founded the Ku Klux Klan, but later tried to disband the organization.
John Singleton Mosby, the Grey Ghost, was a partisan cavalry commander for the South. He successfully captured a Union general, allegedly in his pajamas, and several of his sentries.

Answer: William T. Sherman

Sherman allegedly said during the "march to the sea" that he would "make Georgia howl". He also captured Savannah on December 24, 1864 and sent Lincoln a message saying that the city was Sherman's Christmas present to him.

Answer: Colt revolving rifle

Upon being captured the Confederates were intrigued that so few troops put up such a large amount of fire. Despite its success in this battle it had an occasional problem of firing all its cylinders at once, often removing the shooter's hand. The accounts of the battle indicate that the 21st fired 43,550
rounds of ammunition that afternoon.

Answer: William McKinley

Ohio and Virginia are the two state with the most presidents born in their borders.

Virginia claims eight and Ohio has seven. A claim can be made to sharing one with Virginia as William Henry Harrison lived most of his life in Ohio and is buried there.

Answer: George A. Custer

Sheridan was born in New York State and raised in Ohio. Morgan and Stuart were both cavalry commanders for the Conferderates. Stuart in particular was said to be very flamboyant as a cavalryman. Custer was born in Ohio and raised partly in Michigan. He commanded Michigan troops during the Civil War. Later he was killed during the Battle of the Little Bighorn by the Sioux.

Answer: 100

At least 100 were awarded the "Medal of Honor" during the Civil War. A rumor is that a one point Lincoln asked on the eve of a battle about how many Ohio regiments were involved. When asked why he responded "Because I know that if there are many Ohio soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle, for they can be relied upon in such an emergency."

Answer: The General

The Chattanooga Choo-Choo was a song popular during the big band era.
The Orange Blossom Special and the Southerner are named passenger trains from the 1940s onward.

The General was stolen on April 12, 1862. The raiders tried to destroy bridges and otherwise destroy train utilities until they ran out of fuel. Andrews and all 23 of his men were captured. Andrews and seven others were tried and hung as spies. The rest were imprisoned, but eight of them escaped. 19 of the 22 men from Ohio were among the very first medal of honor recipients.
Buster Keaton made a movie about this raid as did Disney. Disney's starred Fess Parker, better known for playing in the Disney series about Davy Crockett.