Civil War advanced quiz

[usmcsgt65]

Careful with this one. I got the correct answer for # 1, and the quiz master marked me wrong. Even my total stated one score and the quiz master takes away ten points from my total.
I do not look up the answers before I mark my answer. As a former US History teacher I take pride in answering from memory, or lack of it. The quiz master does find some very interesting questions for us.

[David]

Not sure were your stats come from but I would like to examine the source as the stats I have are apparently in conflict with them. The stats I have are as follows:

#1
Battle of Gettysburg
Date: July 1-3, 1863

Location: Pennsylvania
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George G. Meade
Confederate Forces Engaged: 75,000
Union Forces Engaged: 82,289
Winner: Union
Casualties: 51,112 (23,049 Union and 28,063 Confederate)


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#2
Battle of Chickamauga
Date: September 19-20, 1863

Location: Georgia
Confederate Commander: Braxton Bragg
Union Commander: William Rosecrans
Confederate Forces Engaged: 66,326
Union Forces Engaged: 58,222
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 34,624 (16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate)


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#3
Battle of Chancellorsville
Date: May 1-4, 1863

Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Joseph Hooker
Confederate Forces Engaged: 60,892
Union Forces Engaged: 133,868
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 30,099 (17,278 Union and 12,821 Confederate)


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#4
Battle of Spotsylvania
Date: May 8-19, 1864

Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate Forces Engaged: 50,000
Union Forces Engaged: 83,000
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 27,399 (18,399 Union and 9,000 Confederate)


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#5
Battle of Antietam
Date: September 17, 1862

Location: Maryland
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate Forces Engaged: 51,844
Union Forces Engaged: 75,316
Winner: Inconclusive
Casualties: 26,134 (12,410 Union and 13,724 Confederate)


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#6
Battle of The Wilderness
Date: May 5-7, 1864

Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate Forces Engaged: 61,025
Union Forces Engaged: 101,895
Winner: Inconclusive
Casualties: 25,416 (17,666 Union and 7,750 Confederate)


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#7
Battle of Second Manassas
Date: August 29-30, 1862

Location: Virginia
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: John Pope
Confederate Forces Engaged: 48,527
Union Forces Engaged: 75,696
Winner: Confederacy
Casualties: 25,251 (16,054 Union and 9,197 Confederate)


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#8
Battle of Stone's River
Date: December 31, 1862

Location: Tennessee
Confederate Commander: Braxton Bragg
Union Commander: William S. Rosecrans
Confederate Forces Engaged: 37,739
Union Forces Engaged: 41,400
Winner: Union
Casualties: 24,645 (12,906 Union and 11,739 Confederate)


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#9
Battle of Shiloh
Date: April 6-7, 1862

Location: Tennessee
Confederate Commander: Albert Sidney Johnston/ P. G. T. Beauregard
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate Forces Engaged: 40,335
Union Forces Engaged: 62,682
Winner: Union
Casualties: 23,741 (13,047 Union and 10,694 Confederate)


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#10
Battle of Fort Donelson
Date: February 13-16, 1862

Location: Tennessee
Confederate Commander: John B. Floyd/Simon B. Buckner
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate Forces Engaged: 21,000
Union Forces Engaged: 27,000
Winner: Union
Casualties: 19,455 (2,832 Union and 16,623 Confederate)

[David]

Just got another email on this and looked into it further. The question had a typo in it. Although it said the answer was incorrect it was indeed correct and proper credit was issued. I apologize for the confusion and appreciate you pointing this out to me.

[Tamaroa]

Just out of curiosity, who posted Sharpsburg as a Union victory? All my life I have studied the Civil War. Antietam was always considered a draw. On the evening of the 17th, the Confederate left was bending under pressure from Burnside. The Georgians in he rifle Pits gave way. Then Kemper's men started to bend. Shortly thereafter, A.P. Hill arrived and with the assistance of the rest of the Confederate left shoved the Union forces back.

So how is it a Union victory if the Confederacy forced the Union back at the close of the day, then the next day left of their own volition? Both armies were practically in the same place they were at the start of the day.

Bill

[David]

If McClellan had not been incompetent ( some say under secret orders to keep the war going until slavery could be worked back into the saving of the union as the emancipation proclamation had just been issued after sitting for some time waiting for a union victory to make it easier to swallow ) he would have crushed Lee's army right there. It would have effectively been the end of the war as the western front mattered little in comparison and could have been wrapped up by the Army of the Potomac rather quickly had they been free to do so. As is was, McClellan sat back after Sharpsburg saying his troops needed the rest. He is probably (in my opinion) one of the slowest, least effective generals in the history of armed conflict unless you buy the before mentioned theory he was under secret orders and thus was doing his job rather well. He never decisively crushed the enemy after any engagement and his correspondence was only half intelligible and bordered on treason over 50% of the time. When Lincoln went to view the battle field after Sharpsburg he was quoted as saying the Army of the Potomac was McClellan's private body guard and nothing more and this played into the delay of the long expected but shortly coming relief of McClellan as the commander of that army. I honestly do not see how anyone could view Sharpsburg as a confederate victory. Lee's men fought well and had superior strategy but they were no match for the union forces gathered to crush them. The numbers engaged listed above do not paint an accurate picture as the confederates were sorely outnumbered until late in the battle. In fact Lee himself stated in correspondence after the battle he knew staying was going to be suicide but decided to make his stand regardless.

Interesting note, after McClellan was relieved it took a few days for Lee to realize what had happened and when he did get word of it he said it was too bad because he understood McClellan and worried the union might keep trying generals until they found one he could not understand

[Tamaroa]

David, there is no question that it was not a Confederate victory either. It is a stalemate period. When you look at the battle there are two telling points that you must consider. 1) McClellan's idiotic strategy of attacking piece meal first by the Dunker Church, then in the center then at the lower bridge did not allow his force to congregate and defeat Lee by driving a wedge through the center and turning the flanks of the Confederate lines.

The other point is that while numerically, the casualties were not much different, the percentage of Confederate casualties was really high due to one thing. Each place that McClellan attacked piecemeal, he attacked with a formidable force. Lee was forced to pull reinforcements from other areas of the field for each phase of the Union attack.

It wasn't as if the rebs who fended off the first attack got to rest the remainder of the day, they were shifted down line to help beat back another threat. Consequently, a soldier who should have seen fierce fighting only once during the battle, saw it three times to parry each thrust, thereby increasing his chance to die for his country.

I have one word for the battle:STALEMATE

Bill

[David]

Not to mention McClellan had reserves that never even saw battle that day and Lee was comming close to being out of ammunition. Yes I can see your point of view, I just lean toward it having been a (unrealized) union victory. In light of the good points you make I changed the above post to read "Inconclusive" in regards to that battle.

[Tamaroa]

Thank you,
One of the Regiments that he held in reserve was the 17th New York Infantry. Several companies had men from my area in it. They were by the middle bridge. One of the reasons why they were in reserve was because they got shot up very badly at 2nd Manassas. The 17th NYV lost over 200 men as they charged toward Jackson's troops at the RR cut. So they caught a break at Antietam.

Bill