Room 167: Civil War Interactive and Comprehension Questions

History Channel Civil War Interactive

True or False?

180,000 African Americans fought for the Union.

Over 10,000 Native Americans fought in the war on both sides.

Over 400 women disguised themselves as men and fought in the war.

The average age of a Civil War soldier was 15-21.

The average monthly salary of a Union private was $10.

The average monthly salary for Black Union soldiers was $7.

The Civil War is considered the deadliest conflict in American history.

Two-thirds of the soldiers who died in the Civil War died of illness.

Diarrhea was the deadliest illness for soldiers in the Civil War, resulting in over 34,000 deaths.

100,000 soldiers  died in prison camps during the Civil War.

The deadliest battle of the Civil War was Gettysburg.

Gettysburg lasted 5 days.

Robert E. Lee lost a 1/3 of his army at Gettysburg.

During Pickett's charge, the Confederates lost more than 6,500 men in less than one hour.

The estimated cost of the Civil War was $6.19 million.

Civil War Topics: (True or False)

Border States
Lincoln's need to keep the border states in the Union influenced many of his decisions throughout the war including his refusal to abolish slavery in these states in the Emancipation Proclamation.

Jefferson Davis
Davis, a moderate secessionist in 1861, sought the Confederate presidency, and happily accepted as his patriotic duty after the Confederate Congress unanimously elected him.

New York Draft Riots
Both Union and Confederacy relied on conscription to maintain sufficient numbers of troops. Many urban workers resented a provision allowing more affluent draftees to pay $300 for an exemption. 

Clara Barton
After the Battle of Bull Run, Barton began organizing relief programs for Union soldiers, traveling to field hospitals and battlefields to nurse the injured and search for the missing. Barton's wartime experiences inspired her to organize the American branch of the International Red Cross in 1881.

54th Massachusetts 
The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry led an assault on the Confederate stronghold of Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. Though the regiment suffered nearly 50 percent casualties in the failed attack, it decisively answered those in both North and South who had doubted the will and ability of black soldiers to fight courageously for the Union cause.

Antietam
The battle stands as the bloodiest single day of fighting in American history, with more than twice as many soldiers killed and mortally wounded than in the War of 1812, Mexican War and Spanish-American War combined.

Emancipation Proclamation
Soon after the Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation declaring that on January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."

Ulysses S. Grant
After hard-won victories at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, Lincoln made Grant general in chief of all Union armies in 1864. His relentless campaign against Petersburg and Richmond forced the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in April 1865, effectively ending the war.