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The American Civil War

Can you guess these facts about the U.S. Civil War?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 22, 2015
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First submittedJuly 17, 2013
Times taken43,952
Average score65.0%
Rating4.59
4:00
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Answer
U.S. President during most of the war (1861–1865)
Abraham Lincoln
President of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis
Capital of the Confederacy (1861–1865)
Richmond
Confederate general who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia
Robert E. Lee
Village where the above commander surrendered
Appomattox Court House
First state to secede from the union
South Carolina
Location of the war's first battle
Fort Sumter
First major land battle
First Battle of Bull Run
Pennsylvania battle that was the bloodiest of the entire war
Battle of Gettysburg
Foolhardy Confederate charge at that battle
Pickett's Charge
Bloodiest single day in American history, and the first battle on Union soil
Battle of Antietam
Union general who "marched to the sea"
William Tecumseh Sherman
Abolitionist who raided Harper's Ferry in 1859
John Brown
Name for the era after the war (1865-1877)
Reconstruction
"Do-nothing" commander of the Union Army who ran for President in 1864
George B. McClellan
Final commander of the Union Army
Ulysses S. Grant
Proclamation that freed the slaves in the rebelling states
Emancipation Proclamation
Dueling ironclad ships at the Battle of Hampton Roads
Monitor
Merrimack
Nickname of Confederate general Thomas Jackson
Stonewall
+5
Level 17
Aug 15, 2013
I can't believe I missed the Monitor!!!! Great quiz.
+2
Level 67
Aug 15, 2013
I typed in "emanciptation" and it didn't work!! What gives??
+42
Level ∞
Aug 15, 2013
I don't know. What the heck is emanciptation?
+13
Level 88
Aug 5, 2020
A guy did that on Jeopardy in the Final Jeopardy round...they didn't accept it either. I wonder where people are getting that extra T from...it's not pronounced with the extra T.
+10
Level 47
Aug 15, 2013
20/20...hooray for the history nerds!
+9
Level 49
Aug 17, 2013
May be the first time that I have have ever gotten 100% working from top

to bottom w/o skipping and going back.

Thirty years teaching US History in the south has finally paid off!

+1
Level 35
Mar 10, 2014
If it takes 30 years to get a denouement, and just winning an online quiz at that, then I'm not sure if I want to be one of those...
+9
Level 51
Nov 29, 2017
What does that even mean? 'Denouement' doesn't even mean anything there, and even if it did, it sounds like you're implying that all @pamu has gotten out of being a Southern US history teacher is doing well on this quiz, which they never said.
+2
Level 66
Aug 5, 2020
pamu literally said that teaching "finally paid off," meaning that it had not paid off until then. Denouement is appropriate here. What are you confused by?
+3
Level 79
Aug 6, 2020
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, denouement can mean:

1) the final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved; or

2) the outcome of a situation, when something is decided or made clear.

+2
Level 59
Jul 6, 2022
I think it’s worth it
+4
Level 82
Aug 17, 2013
Got most of these. Spent the first 8 years of my life a few miles from Bull Run. Used to go there in the winter to go sledding.
+4
Level 37
Oct 10, 2019
Manassas* not bull run ;)
+11
Level 82
Aug 5, 2020
I lived in the city of Manassas. Bull Run is where we went sledding. I didn't claim to have participated in the battle. Nobody has ever tried to rename Bull Run the Manassas Creek. It's still Bull Run.
+1
Level 75
Jul 9, 2022
I also lived in Manassas! The North named battles after a terrain feature. The South named it after the town or nearest railroad crossing. To a northerner it was the Battle of Bull Run. To a southerner, Manassas. I guess another example of history being written by the winners LOL.
+2
Level 59
Aug 19, 2013
I only got 10/20. Pitiful! Although I did get one right because I watched the "Who Do You Think You Are" episode with Kelly Clarkson yesterday and she was researching a relative who'd fought in the war. :)
+3
Level 68
Sep 6, 2013
Anyone who's studied the Civil War in detail for just a few months should easily ace this. I went to Gettysburg once and saw the sights. Excellent place. I'm somewhat obsessed with this era lately . . . perhaps I'll make a quiz about it someday.
+3
Level 75
Jun 8, 2016
G'burg was great as long as you stayed with the historic areas and didn't get caught in the tourist ripoffs in town.
+2
Level 88
Jun 29, 2018
Pickett's Charge Buffet with the windows literally 5 feet from the field? Very solemn. (No, I'm not making that up as a joke.)
+2
Level 75
Aug 5, 2020
It's been nearly fifty years since we were there but I remember on the main drag everything was "Betsy Ross Ice Cream Parlor" or something similar, and it all seemed to be tourist traps in town. Glad to hear things have changed for the better. (Too bad I didn't eat at that restaurant - it was the only answer I missed.)
+1
Level 71
Apr 17, 2021
Wow, I never would've thought I'd find someone else referencing the Pickett's Charge Buffet online!

I live about 2.5 hours from Gettysburg, so I've been there several times. The battlefield tours are pretty good and there's also a really beautiful cemetery and a fantastic painting of the battle at the Visitor's Center. The town itself is pretty quaint. There isn't a whole lot to do otherwise (other then an Eisenhower Museum that I've been meaning to see), but I highly recommend if you're passing through the area and need something to do for a day.

+5
Level 63
Apr 29, 2015
As people have already pointed out, this quiz is very slanted to the northern terminology. I happen to myself be a northerner, but the south had different names for the Battles of Bull Run (1st and 2nd Manassas) and Anteitam (Sharpsburg). In both cases, the Union terminology is more famous (while the southern names for certain other battles, like Shiloh, are the names most commonly used). The biggest issue is that you should change the answer to the Merrimack question to CSS Virginia. Merrimack should definitely be acceptable, but that ship was renamed by the Confederates and turned into an iron-plated ship very different than the Merrimack had been when it had been a Union ship. The Confederate name, CSS Virginia, should suffice as it was the name the ship was going by during its famous battle with the Monitor.
+4
Level 67
Jun 2, 2015
I agree. The North tended to name a battle after its geographic location, while the South favored using the name of the nearest town. Most historians count both as correct.
+9
Level 88
Jun 21, 2015
Agreed. Also, the name of the quiz ought to be "The War of Northern Aggression Trivia" instead of "American Civil War Trivia." :)
+2
Level 63
Feb 1, 2022
I know you’re joking, but I still wish to give an earnest answer. Different names of battles or ships don’t change the narrative. Whether the Battle is called Antietam or Sharpsburg doesn’t change how one thinks of or teaches the battle or the war. The same goes for whether one says the monitor fought the Merrimack or the Virginia. Changing the name of the War to paint the Union as the aggressor obviously alters the understanding of the entire thing.
+5
Level ∞
Sep 22, 2015
CSS Virginia will work now.
+5
Level 44
Jun 21, 2016
History is written by the winners. The North won the war, so we use the North's names for the battles.
+3
Level 61
Jul 19, 2018
You must be great fun at parties.
+3
Level 63
Feb 1, 2022
I honestly don’t know how that line works here. Anyone who has studied the war knows about the different nomenclature of the 2 sides. The reason Virginia should be accepted for Merrimack is that it was literally a very different ship: the original was not an ironclad. Calling it the Virginia helps teach those new to learning about the war that the Confederacy made alterations to the Union weapons/ships in their possession. They didn’t just run a new flag up the flagpole for the Virginia, they made it a far more effective warship.
+3
Level 67
Aug 5, 2020
Then they should have been better fighters.
+3
Level 61
Jun 8, 2016
I got fourteen or fifteen right without reading the questions.
+4
Level 59
Jun 8, 2016
20/20 with 1:59 left. Didn't really study civil war history...just learned it since grew up surrounded by it. The "dirty" Yankees burned our family home but the brick ground floor survived. The 2nd floor was rebuilt and, yep, we still live there.

BTW, dirty Yankees was said by Scarlett O"Hara, so I used it for fun. It would be ungentlemanly of me to cast dispersions upon my northern brethren.

+2
Level 28
Dec 20, 2019
I am so sorry about what happened to you house. Hope y'all are doing better.
+2
Level 66
Nov 17, 2022
I doubt VAbumpkin was alive then...
+3
Level 58
Jan 1, 2017
Dammit. Typed Sumpter and it didn't take. Thought there was a P in there.
+2
Level 68
May 12, 2017
Just finished "don't know much about the civil war", so naturally I got 20/20. John brown took me a minute though
+2
Level 55
Jul 26, 2018
Could be renamed American Civil War Basics.
+2
Level 63
Mar 17, 2019
Got them all with 2:48 remaining at 11:16:51 AM on March 17, 2019. A fun but easy quiz.
+3
Level 71
Aug 5, 2020
Nothing civil about it lol. Kinda like how there's nothing gentleman-like about gentleman's clubs.
+3
Level 35
Aug 5, 2020
Ah, man, I tried Merrimac, but didn’t have enough confidence in my answer to fuss about with different spellings
+2
Level 74
Aug 5, 2020
Me too. You know you're correct with your spelling but I'm just not brave enough to start experimenting with incorrect spellings.
+7
Level 74
Aug 5, 2020
I think the reason the Merrimack and the Monitor have such different percentages (10% different right now) is because many people probably guessed Virginia for the question about the first state to secede.
+4
Level 81
Aug 5, 2020
Sumner, Sumpter, Sumter = Swimmy, Swammy, Swanson, Samsonite!
+4
Level 66
Aug 6, 2020
I remember watching the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War, and practically screaming at the TV, George McClellan is such a frustrating figure.
+2
Level 71
Jan 11, 2021
If anyone wants to try a quiz on civil wars in general (include the American one), please check out my quiz here!
+2
Level 46
Apr 13, 2021
fun and easy
+2
Level 50
Apr 3, 2022
Does anyone watch Oversimplified American Civil War video
+2
Level 94
Apr 29, 2022
I know this is pedantic, but there's no apostrophe in "Harpers Ferry." Most people think there is, but no. I even thought that before I moved there...
+1
Level 63
Jul 6, 2022
The Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA has been working on restoring most of the interesting parts of the Monitor, like the turret, engines, propeller, etc and they have a full size replica as well. There is also a pretty well used bridge called the Monitor and Merrimack. Hampton Roads will never forget those ships!
+3
Level 67
Jul 6, 2022
Soon to be known as the First Civil War.
+2
Level 46
Jul 7, 2022
15/20, should've been 16 but I could not remember john brown's name. im canadian and only know anything about the civil war because of oversimplified :P
+1
Level 54
Jul 8, 2022
Good, straightforward quiz with (end of) elementary school knowledge base. Appomattox is a hard spelling, but that's fair and as far as bloodiest civil war battles I always associated that with Shiloh, but I guess the caveat here is bloodiest 1-day battle -- that's a nit-pick.
+1
Level 34
Jul 9, 2022
Just typed in "Lincoln" "Gettysburg" and "Ulysses Grant" without even looking at the questions. Those were the only ones I got right! (Should have got Robert E. Lee also but I forgot his name)
+1
Level 59
May 9, 2023
Pretty Simple. The only one I could not think of was the dueling ships one.
+1
Level 62
Dec 23, 2023
20/20

Thank you Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales