Small Talk-Trivia

E-words

By Stephen Davis · Originally published April 2018 · pp. 35–46

1. What is the large exotic animal whose “sight” was commonly used by green Civil War soldiers to describe their first combat experience? 2. “To many of the Confederate survivors of the prison camp, the site of the county fairgrounds would be bitterly referred to as ‘Helmira.’” What Northern prison camp, in what state? 3. The day after Virginians voted to confirm their state’s secession, on May 24, 1861, Federal troops marched across the Potomac to occupy Alexandria. Colonel of the 11th New York proceeded to a prominent hotel of the city to strike down the Confederate flag flying at

its top. Coming down the staircase, he was shot and killed by James Jackson, the proprietor. Who? 4. The formal decree by President Lincoln, issued preliminarily after the Union victory at Antietam, announcing the liberation of slaves in territory still held by Confederate forces, was called the _____ Proclamation. 5. In April 1861, Confederate Maj. Caleb Huse was sent to England to buy thousands of these rifles. 6. This officer, nicknamed “Jube,” rose to corps command in Lee’s army. “His fighting record from Cedar Mountain to Salem Church is second only to that of Jackson himself,” Dr. Freeman writes. Who?

7. A shoulder strap on an officer’s dress uniform was called this e-word, from the French. 8. Inventor of the USS Monitor was Swedish shipbuilder John _____. 9. This Northern shipbuilder constructed a number of Union gunboats used on western water. His shipyards were located at Carondelet, Mo., and at Mound City, Ill. James B. _____. 10. “Turning movements were _____ movements, aimed at attacking the flank or rear of the enemy” (Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones, How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War [1983], p. 24 n. 14. What infantry tactic are the authors referring to? (Hint: think of mailing a letter.) Answers found on page 46. Steve Davis is the Civil War News Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at: [email protected]

Answers 1. Elephant – (Joseph Allan Frank and George A. Reaves, “Seeing the Elephant”: Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh [1989]). 2. Elmira, New York – (Michael Horrigan, Elmira: Death Camp of the North [2002], p. 4). 3. A “double E” Col. Elmer Ellsworth (1837–1861) – (George G. Kundahl, Alexandria Goes to War [2004], p. 15). 4. Emancipation Proclamation, which took official effect on Jan. 1, 1863 – (Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln [2005], pp. 499–500). 5. Enfield Rifles – (William A. Albaugh III and Edward N. Simmons, Confederate Arms [1957], p. 60). 6. Jubal Anderson Early (1816–1894) – (Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, vol. 2 [1943], p. xxviii). 7. Epaulette – (Timothy D. Johnson, Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory [1998], 73, 141, 231, 236, showing how General Scott loved epaulettes). 8. John Ericsson (1803–1889) – (A.A. Hoehling, Thunder at Hampton Roads [1976], p. 16 [born “in a mining village of central Sweden with the improbable, virtually unpronounceable name of Langbanshyttan”]). 9. James B. Eads (1820–1887) – (Jack D. Coombe, Thunder Along the Mississippi: The River Battles That Split the Confederacy [1996], pp. 17, 19). 10. Enveloping or envelopment – “Flank envelopments have been basic techniques of war for thousands of years, but some soldiers have more success in carrying them out than others” (Bevin Alexander). Another possibility is enfilading.