February 2003 Answers

1 - Union Colonel Frank A. Haskell wrote "The Battle of Gettysburg". What was unusual about the writing of this book? It may well be the longest letter ever written to a brother.

2 - All U. S. presidents from 1865 until 1901, with one exception, were Civil War veterans. What president's name is noticeably absent from the following list because he bought a substitute? Grover Cleveland.

3 - The Union Army unit some of whose men were issued Medals of Honor for staying in the army for the battle of Gettysburg was the 27th Maine. These were later revoked during the Great Medal of Honor Revocation of 1915. By then most of the "winners" had gone on to the Great Reunion in the Sky.

4 - While the Federals overran the Confederate positions at Five Forks, where were the top two Confederate commanders, George Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee? Off at a fish bake.

5 - What major battles occurred these months and years?
July 1861 Bull Run July 1863 Gettysburg
April 1862 Shiloh May 1864 Spottsylvania
May 1863 Chancellorsville Jan 1865 Fort Fisher

6 - What tiny detail doomed the career of the "C.S.S. Neuse"? She needed eight feet of water to float, but the Neuse River, where she was built, was not that deep. Sort of like building a sailboat in your basement and not being able to get it out the door.

7 - What was the name of the ironclad ram "C.S.S. Neuse's" more famous sister ship? The "C.S.S. Albemarle", which was sunk in October 1864 in a brave attack that would make a wonderful half hour film.

8 - U. S. fractional currency (face value under a dollar) notes issued during the Civil War and later had what derisive nickname? Shinplasters.

9 - What was Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's affectionate nickname among his troops? Uncle John.

10 - This three times wounded Civil War soldier was, many years after the end of the war, the Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. Name him. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

11 - At the time of the Civil War an estimated ____ percent of Southern whites had at least one black ancestor. What was the percentage? 25 percent. (From "The Civil War Notebook".)

12 - This Union general later became governor of Mississippi. He was Adelbert Ames.

13 - She was called "the Angel of the Battlefield". She was Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross.

14 - Place these generals according to the country for which they fought, North or South:
Galusha Pennypacker - North
States Rights Gist - South
Albert Sidney Johnston - South
Nelson A. Miles - North
"Tardy George" Sykes - North
Darius N. Couch - North
John B. Gordon - South
William Barksdale - South
Felix Zollicoffer - South
Jefferson C. Davis - North

15 - John Wilkes Booth came from a famous family of Actors.

16 - Once it's been fired, the time period during which it is possible for an unexploded Civil War cannon ball to explode is: six months, five years, forever. (It can always explode if mishandled.) Answer: FOREVER!

17 - Mishandling of the above cannon ball is considered be five of the following ten: Dropping it from a Boeing 747, Using it as a bowling ball, Carefully placing it on top of a red-hot barbeque grill, Placing it beneath a five-ton drop hammer, Hitting it with an armor-piercing incendiary .50-caliber machine-gun bullet. What's unusual about this list of possibilities? Answer to "What's unusual...": There were only nine possibilities offered instead of ten.

18 - How old at the time (September 1862) was Barbara Fritchie, who, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, dared Stonewall Jackson to shoot her "old gray head"? She was 95 years old, and would die the following December. It's an interesting fact that Whittier immortalized the wrong lady. Barbara Fritchie probably never even saw Jackson, but there was a lady with the ironic name of Mrs. Mary S. Quantrill who actually did wave the American flag in front of Jackson's troops, and who was probably the person who gave Whittier his inspiration.

19 - This month's Hard Question: Following the battle of Gettysburg, the U. S. Government paid what price per pound for recovered lead? 13¢ a pound.

20 - This Month's Impossible Question: What reason kept Prussian war hero Prince Salm-salm from being appointed a general by Lincoln? He couldn't speak English.

March 2003 Quiz

Civil War Index