Michigan-Ohio War Trivia Quiz

Answer: An area of land about 468 square miles.

Tensions had been running high for decades over the disputed land. Legal documents dating back to 1787 were clearly on the side of the Michigan Territory, but Ohio, being a full-fledged state had more political power and continued to dispute the matter.

Eventually Ohio Governor Robert Lucas declared the land for his state, named a new county after himself and appointed a judge and sheriff. However, Michigan already had officers governing the area. That was the final straw that ignited the war.

Answer: Zero

The "war", as it became known was very brief, only had one brief skirmish and no casualties.

The only real fight was in a bar room when an Ohio resident stabbed a Michigan police officer causing minor wounds.

Several members of a survey crew from Ohio were arrested by Michigan officials in a separate incident that involved no fighting.

Answer: Stevens T. Mason

Mason was removed from his role as territorial governor by president James Monroe when he failed to resolve the dispute.

He remained popular and was elected to the position after the territory set up a constitution and served two terms becoming the first governor of the state when it was finally admitted into the union in 1837.

Answer: Maumee River

Michigan's more than 250-member strong militia gathered on the north bank of the river while Ohio's equally sized militia gathered on the southern bank of the river.

No disputes, other than name calling, happened between the forces while they were on the river banks.

Answer: John Quincy Adams

Only John Adams had served as president at the time of the conflict.

Adams was a firm supporter of Michigan in the conflict based on the Enabling Act of 1802 which set the boundary as the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

Answer: Iowa

Robert Lucas showed he had a tendency for conflict, starting the Honey War, with Wisconsin and Missouri over another territorial dispute.

It was during the war of 1812 that Lucas first rose to prominence.

Answer: False

There is a county in Ohio named for Fulton, it is named for Robert Fulton.

Robert Fulton rose to prominence after he invented the steamboat.

John Fulton is the man who surveyed the Toledo Strip in 1787. The placement of that line was at the heart of the dispute between Michigan and Ohio.

Answer: 1915

The boundary was set by the "re-survey" completed in 1915.

While normally surveyors would follow the old line exactly, slight variances were made as to not cut property owners' parcels into two states, and also to not force people into changing their addresses to a different state despite not moving.

The survey line was marked by more than 70 granite markers, many of which survived into the 21st century.

Answer: True

It took a Supreme Court ruling in 1973 to officially end the dispute over who controlled the waters in Lake Erie.

That court ruled that the boundary in the water was at an an upward angle, not straight east-west like the land boundary. The result moved a small part of Turtle Island into the control of Ohio, where it had been completely in Michigan up to that point.

That was the final adjustment of the two state's border in the 20th century.

Answer: Western 2/3 of the Upper Penninsula

Michigan conceded the few hundred square miles of land in the dispute, but in exchange the territory was given more than 9,000 square miles of property rich with copper, iron and timber.