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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Right before the battle of Gettysburg, a lieutenant in the 53rd Georgia wrote to his wife, that Pennsylvania was the greatest country he'd ever seen; what was his wife's name?
(a) Mollie.
(b) Mary.
(c) Cellie.
(d) Callie.

2. While attempting to define the "glorious institutions" that kept men fighting during the Civil War, a soldier from which state defined it as "the guaranty of the rights of property, liberty of action, freedom of thought, religion...that kind of government that shall assure life liberty & the pursuit of happiness"?
(a) Virginia.
(b) Ohio.
(c) Michigan.
(d) Kentucky.

3. From which state was the major whose letter home during the summer of 1862 contained the line "slavery must be cleaned out," from which the title of the chapter was inspired?
(a) Ohio.
(b) Massachusetts.
(c) Tennessee.
(d) Wisconsin.

4. After the Seven Days battles, a private in the 58th Virginia wrote that through August and September his regiment had waded the Potomac how many times?
(a) 6.
(b) 4.
(c) 12.
(d) 2.

5. In "Chapter 7: On the Altar of my Country," how did soldiers frequently misspell the word "altar"?
(a) Alttar.
(b) Alterr.
(c) Alter.
(d) Atlar.

6. During the discussion of the hardships for soldiers' wives, how many married men does McPherson say voluntarily enlisted to fight the war?
(a) 800,000.
(b) 60,000.
(c) 300,000.
(d) 100,000.

7. The November 8, 1865, diary entry of a sergeant in the 8th Ohio cavalry noted that how many members of his regiment had voted for Lincoln, as opposed to sixteen votes for McClellan?
(a) 243.
(b) 367.
(c) 25.
(d) 158.

8. In the discussion of the psychological and physiological issues soldiers faced in 1864, modern studies have shown that a unit is exhausted if it twice suffers what fraction of casualties?
(a) 3/5.
(b) 1/3.
(c) 1/4.
(d) 2/5.

9. Which individual won the nomination for governor of Ohio on an antiwar platform in June 1863?
(a) James Vernon.
(b) Chauncey Welton.
(c) Marcus Speigel.
(d) Clement L. Vallandigham.

10. As "Chapter 12: The Same Holy Cause" opens, McPherson says that Civil War soldiers never heard of all BUT WHICH of the following terms?
(a) Shell shock.
(b) Battle fatigue.
(c) Courage.
(d) Psychiatric casualties.

11. As McPherson explains Southern bitterness toward the North, from which state was the soldier who wrote in June 1863 that he felt his regiment should take horses, burn houses, and cause chaos?
(a) Kentucky.
(b) North Carolina.
(c) Georgia.
(d) Virginia.

12. From which state was the private who wrote in January 1862, after speaking to a slave whose husband had been beaten, that he was convinced of the "cruelty and inhumanity of the system"?
(a) Louisiana.
(b) New York.
(c) Pennsylvania.
(d) Kentucky.

13. A forty year old captain of the 18th Massachusetts wrote his wife in August 1862 that he'd rather fight for years than for his sons to continue it. In what battle was he killed four months later?
(a) Shiloh.
(b) Bull Run.
(c) Malvern Hill.
(d) Fredericksburg.

14. After discussing how the language of soldiers in letters home is cliche today, McPherson says that which writer noted that World War I made words like "glory" mock-heroic?
(a) Walt Whitman.
(b) John Steinbeck.
(c) Henry James.
(d) Ernest Hemingway.

15. From which state was the sergeant, three times wounded, stationed near Vicksburg who described debates in his brigade during the winter of 1863-1964?
(a) Virginia.
(b) Illinois.
(c) Texas.
(d) New Jersey.

Short Answer Questions

1. By 1864, when a captain in the 5th Alabama wrote of the burning of Chambersburg, how much money did he say soldiers demanded from their victims' houses?

2. When talking about how some soldiers' wives felt they had greater responsibility to their families than the founding fathers, a lieutenant from which regiment received letters from his wife complaining about raising three children without him?

3. In the discussion of Southern bitterness toward the North, from which state was the corporal who wrote it would be best "if the whole Yankee race could be swept from the face of the earth"?

4. When discussing the assertions of patriotism as a motivation for fighting, what percentage of the 429 Confederate letters and diaries used as sources affirmed this motivation?

5. In 1863, when an infantry colonel said he began "to think no Soldier ought to be married," readers learn that he is from state?

(see the answer keys)

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