American Civil War Quiz (Test Your Knowledge)

  • The first engagement of the American Civil War, on April 12, 1861, happened at which location?

    Battle of Fort Sumter
    • Appomattox Court House
    • Port Royal
    • Fort Sumter
    • Bull Run

  • True or false: the Emancipation Proclamation officially abolished slavery in the United States

    Emancipation Proclamation
    • True
    • False

  • Which civil war general later became President of the United States?

    • Robert E. Lee

      Robert E. Lee

    • George McClellan

      George McClellan

    • William Tecumseh Sherman

      William Tecumseh Sherman

    • Ulysses S. Grant

      Ulysses S. Grant

  • What famous phrase was said by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address?

    Abraham Lincoln
    • "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"
    • "A house divided against itself cannot stand"
    • "solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom"
    • "the better angels of our nature"

  • Chief Justice Roger B. Taney issued his famous ex parte Merryman legal opinion in 1861. What did it say?

    Very Rare Photo of the Supreme Court
    • The secession of the Confederacy was illegal
    • Only Congress and not the President could suspend habeas corpus
    • Military tribunals could not be used to try civilians
    • The death penalty was legal

  • True or false: South Carolina was the first state to declare its secession on December 20, 1860

    South Carolina
    • True
    • False

  • Which of these men was the President of the Confederate States of America?

    • Robert E. Lee

      Robert E. Lee

    • Alexander H. Stephens

      Alexander H. Stephens

    • Jefferson Davis

      Jefferson Davis

    • Zachary Taylor

      Zachary Taylor

  • True or false: Several foreign nations officially recognized the Confederacy

    • False
    • True

  • In what year was Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth?

    John Wilkes Booth
    • 1866
    • 1865
    • 1867
    • 1864

  • True or false: the Articles of Confederation was the agreement that established the Confederacy in 1861

    Articles of Confederation
    • False
    • True
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