Civil War Battle Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Civil war trivia questions and answers about civil war battles.

Civil War Battle Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

In July 1861, a march by Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell on the Confederate forces led by Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard near Washington was repulsed at what battle?
A: The First Battle of Bull Run.

The Union had the upper hand at first, but Confederate reinforcements arrived from where?
A: The Shenandoah Valley by railroad, and the course of the battle quickly changed.

What did a brigade of Virginians under the relatively unknown brigadier general, Thomas J. Jackson do?
A: It stood its ground, which resulted in Jackson receiving his famous nickname, "Stonewall".

At the Battle of Ball's Bluff who suffered a defeat?
A: McClellan.

Also at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, what happened to Lincoln's close friend Edward Dickinson Baker?
A: He was killed.

Upon the strong urging of President Lincoln to begin offensive operations, McClellan did what?
A: He attacked Virginia in the spring of.

Also in the spring of 1862, in the Shenandoah Valley, Stonewall Jackson led what campaign?
A: His Valley Campaign.

Employing audacity and rapid, unpredictable movements on interior lines, Jackson's 17,000 men marched 646 miles (1,040 km) in how many days?
A: 48.

They won several minor battles as they successfully engaged three Union armies (52,000 men), including those of Nathaniel P. Banks and John C. Fremont, preventing them from what?
A: Reinforcing the Union offensive against Richmond.

The swiftness of Jackson's men earned them what nickname?
A: Foot-cavalry.

Johnston halted McClellan's advance at what battle?
A: The Battle of Seven Pines.

Johnston suffered a wound which resulted in what?
A: His death, and Robert E. Lee assumed his position of command.

General Lee and top subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson defeated whom in the Seven Days Battles and forced his retreat?
A: McClellan.

The Northern Virginia Campaign, which included the Second Battle of Bull Run, ended in what?
A: Another victory for the South.

McClellan resisted General-in-Chief Halleck's orders to do what?
A: Send reinforcements to John Pope's Union Army of Virginia.

That made it easier for Lee's Confederates to do what?
A: Defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.

Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first what?
A: Invasion of the North with the Maryland Campaign.

General Lee led 45,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across what river?
A: The Potomac River into Maryland on September 5.

What did Lincoln then do?
A: He restored Pope's troops to McClellan.

McClellan and Lee fought at what battle near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862?
A: The Battle of Antietam.

It was the single “what”, in United States military history?
A: Bloodiest single day.

Lee's army, checked at last, returned to Virginia before what?
A: Before McClellan could destroy it.

Antietam is considered a Union victory because it did what?
A: It halted Lee's invasion of the North and provided an opportunity for Lincoln to announce his Emancipation Proclamation.

When the cautious McClellan failed to follow up on Antietam, he was replaced by whom?
A: Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside.

Burnside was soon defeated at what battle?
A: The Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.

In that battle, how many Union soldiers were killed or wounded during repeated futile frontal assaults against Marye's Heights?
A: More than 12,000.

After the battle, Burnside was replaced by whom?
A: Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

Despite outnumbering the Confederates by more than two to one, Hooker’s Chancellorsville Campaign proved ineffective and he was humiliated in what battle?
A: The Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.

Why is Chancellorsville known as Lee's "perfect battle" ?
A: Because his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force resulted in a significant Confederate victory.

Gen. Stonewall Jackson was shot in the arm by what?
A: Accidental friendly fire during the battle.

He subsequently died of what?
A: Complications.

Lee famously said what about Jackson?
A: "He has lost his left arm; but I have lost my right arm."

The fiercest fighting of the battle—and the second bloodiest day of the Civil War—occurred on May 3 as what?
A: Lee launched multiple attacks against the Union position at Chancellorsville.

That same day, John Sedgwick advanced across the Rappahannock River, and defeated whom?
A: The small Confederate force at Marye's Heights in the Second Battle of Fredericksburg.

The Confederates fought a successful delaying action at what battle?
A: The Battle of Salem Church.

In June Gen. Hooker was replaced by whom?
A: Maj. Gen. George Meade during Lee's second invasion of the North.

Meade defeated Lee at what battle?
A: The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 to 3, 1863).

This was the bloodiest battle of the war, and has been called what?
A: The war's turning point.

Why is “Pickett's Charge”, on July 3, is often considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy?
A: Because it signaled the collapse of serious Confederate threats of victory.

Lee's army suffered how many casualties?
A: 28,000 (versus Meade's 23,000).

The Union's key strategist and tactician in the West was who?
A: Ulysses S. Grant.

Grant won victories at what forts?
A: Forts Henry (February 6, 1862) and Donelson (February 11 to 16, 1862).

Those victories allowed the Union to seize control of what?
A: The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.

Nathan Bedford Forrest rallied nearly 4,000 troops and led them to what?
A: Escape across the Cumberland.

Nashville and central Tennessee thus fell to the Union, leading to attrition of what?
A: Local food supplies and livestock and a breakdown in social organization.

Leonidas Polk's invasion of Columbus ended Kentucky's policy of neutrality and turned it against the what?
A: The Confederacy.

Grant used river transport and Andrew Foote's gunboats of the Western Flotilla to do what?
A: Threaten the Confederacy's "Gibraltar of the West" at Columbus, Kentucky.

Although rebuffed at Belmont, Grant did what?
A: He cut off Columbus.

The Confederates, lacking their own gunboats, were forced to what?
A: Retreat and the Union took control of western Kentucky and opened Tennessee in March 1862.

At the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), in Tennessee in April 1862, the Confederates made a surprise attack that did what?
A: Pushed Union forces against the river as night fell.

Overnight, the Navy landed additional reinforcements, and Grant did what?
A: He counter-attacked.

Grant and the Union won what?
A: A decisive victory.

One of the early Union objectives in the war was the capture of what?
A: The Mississippi River, in order to cut the Confederacy in half.

The key to the river was what?
A: New Orleans, the South's largest port [and] greatest industrial center.

In April 1862, the Union Navy captured what city?
A: New Orleans.

Where did U.S. Naval forces under Farragut run past Confederate defenses?
A: South of New Orleans.

Confederate forces abandoned the city, giving the Union what?
A: A critical anchor in the deep South.

Memphis fell to Union forces on June 6, 1862, and became what?
A: A key base for further advances south along the Mississippi River.

Only the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, prevented what?
A: Union control of the entire river.