Small Talk-Trivia

Union Generals in the Western Theater

By Stephen Davis · Originally published March 2019 · pp. 39–45

Union Generals in the Western Theater 1. Who sent the following message to the Confederate commander at Fort Donelson: “I propose to move immediately upon your works”? 2. Who wrote President Lincoln, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift, the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition”? 3. This Union officer, a son of Irish immigrants, started out serving in Missouri, then distinguished himself as an infantry brigade commander at Perryville and Stones River. He ended the war as commander of all cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. Who? 4. The preceding officer moved from west to east. Just the opposite occurred with this Federal major general. His mediocre leadership of Hooker’s cavalry in spring 1863 led to his being relieved; he was later reassigned to Sherman’s army in Georgia. In his raid toward Macon in July 1864, he was pursued and overwhelmed by Confederate cavalry, and forced to surrender himself and much of his command. Who? 5. In May 1862 this Northern general was sent to New Orleans after Federal capture of the city. Southerners excoriated him, calling him “Spoons” for alleged thievery of silverware and “Beast” for his famous “Woman Order.” Who? 6. The arrival of this U.S. major general’s army during the battle of Shiloh is widely seen as saving Grant from defeat in April 1862. But he allowed Bragg and Kirby Smith to maneuver him out of middle Tennessee later in the summer. After the battle of Perryville, Ky., on October 8, 1862, Bragg retreated, but this officer failed to pursue. Within two weeks he was canned. Who? 7. This Virginia-born career U.S. Army officer earned the famed nickname “Rock of Chickamauga.” Who? 8. This intellectually brilliant Union general commanded Federal forces from St. Louis early in the war. After Shiloh he assumed command of Grant’s Army of the Tennessee, Buell’s Army of the Ohio and Pope’s Army of the Mississippi, some 110,000 men. But his advance to Corinth, Miss., was so cautious and lethargic that in July 1862 Lincoln kicked him upstairs to become general-in-chief in Washington. Who was this officer, nicknamed “Old Brains”? 9. After his lines were broken during the battle of Chickamauga, this commander of the Union Army of the Cumberland was later accused by James A. Garfield of having fled the field. Who? 10. Recommended by Halleck and Grant, this Ohio-born officer was promoted to brigadier in August 1862 and to major general two months later. He led the XVII Corps at Vicksburg and the Army of the Tennessee in Sherman’s Georgia Campaign until his death near Atlanta. Who? Answers found on page 45. Steve Davis is the Civil War News Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at: [email protected].

Small Talk Trivia Answers

1. Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885). 2. William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891). 3. Philip Henry Sheridan (1831–1888). 4. George Stoneman (1822–1884). 5. Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818–1893). 6. Don Carlos Buell (1818–1898). 7. George Henry Thomas (1816–1870). 8. Henry Wager Halleck (1815–1872). 9. William Starke Rosecrans (1819–1898). 10. James Birdseye McPherson (1828–July 22, 1864).