Small Talk-Trivia

Small Talk — September 2017

By Stephen Davis · Originally published September 2017 · pp. 37–45

Small Talk By Stephen Davis 1. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederates attacked and overran a Union fort on the Mississippi, Apr. 12, 1864, half of whose garrison were Negro troops. The Confederates inflicted such heavy casualties that Northerners called it a “massacre.” Name the fort. 2. One of the four stone bridges across Antietam Creek on the battlefield of Sept. 17 was the Rohrbach Bridge, but since the battle it also bears the name of a Union corps commander. Who? 3. In the fall of 1861 the United States and Great Britain got into a diplomatic argument after a U.S. naval commander boarded a British steamer in the Caribbean and seized two Confederate envoys heading for Europe. Who was the U.S. naval officer, and what was the name of the English vessel? 4. This formidable fortification of logs and sharpened stakes, designed to obstruct infantry assaults, commonly carried a French name translatable as “horses of Friseland.” What do we usually call it? 5. After Federals broke Bragg’s line at Missionary Ridge, they pursued the retreating Rebels until stopped by the division of what Confederate general? Where? 6. This Southern spy had her life ended in Oct. 1864 when, attempting to re-enter the Confederacy from Europe by blockade runner, she drowned off Wilmington. Who? 7. In the Confederate attack at Second Manassas, Aug. 30, 1862, this New York regiment was virtually destroyed. In about ten minutes, nearly 300 men were shot—120 mortally (Hennessy, Return to Bull Run). Which regiment? 8. Who was the large-statured Prussian who served as a major on Jeb Stuart’s staff? 9. After Lincoln’s death, Walt Whitman entitled his mournful poem, “When ___ Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” Fill in the name of the blossoming flower. 10. John Ford directed a feature film, starring John Wayne, based on Col. Benjamin Grierson’s raid through Mississippi in April 1863. Name the movie. See page 45 for answers. Steve Davis is the Civil War News Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at SteveATL1861@ yahoo.com

Fort Pillow, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, IX Corps commander. Capt. Charles Wilkes; HMS Trent. Chevaux de frise. Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne at Ringgold, Ga. Rose O’Neal Greenhow. Fifth New York Zouaves, organized by Col. Abram Duryee. Heros (Johann August Heinrich Heros) von Borcke (1835-1895). 9. Lilacs. 10. The Horse Soldiers (1959).