View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. During the discussion of the desire to punish treason and "clean out" the rebels, a soldier from which state wrote his sister "I want to fight the rest of my life if necessary"?
(a) Michigan.
(b) Wisconsin.
(c) Illinois.
(d) Texas.

2. 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?
(a) 43%.
(b) 27%.
(c) 84%.
(d) 66%.

3. As "Chapter 7: On the Altar of My Country" begins, McPherson quotes an analysis of surviving Tennessee soldiers that showed they weren't really aware of the South's goals during the Civil War. Which decade was the analysis?
(a) 1920s.
(b) 1910s.
(c) 1870s.
(d) 1890s.

4. After the three month Peninsula campaign, a Pennsylvania private wrote that he had lived on how many crackers from Thursday through Monday?
(a) 4.
(b) 9.
(c) 17.
(d) 25.

5. In 1862, after two friends had been killed in an ambush in the Shenandoah Valley, a soldier from which state wrote "we are to take no prisoners after this"?
(a) Arkansas.
(b) New Jersey.
(c) Michigan.
(d) Ohio.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. During Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1862, some of his men fought five battles in addition to marching how many miles in a single month?

3. As "Chapter 11: Vengeance Will be Our Motto" ends, McPherson says that no army broke until the Army of Tennessee after which of the following battles in 1864?

4. In the discussion of Bell Wiley's study of Billy Yank, how many Union soldiers were interested in emancipation out of every ten surveyed?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. What types of letters did Confederate soldiers begin sending home toward the end of "Chapter 11: Vengeance Will be Our Motto"?

2. What difference did class and education make in terms of support when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

3. McPherson denies, in the discussion of liberty, that Southern soldiers were obsessed with slavery. What statistical evidence does he supply to support this?

4. Why are there no letters from black Union soldiers, according to "Chapter 9: Slavery Must be Cleaned Out"?

5. In "Chapter 10: We Know That We are Supported at Home," why did some officers worry that married men made bad soldiers?

6. In what way did the Confederate soldiers identify with the Founding Fathers in the discussion of the concept of liberty?

7. How did Northern soldiers initially respond when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

8. When McPherson discusses the extra incentive Confederate soldiers had to keep fighting, what does he say about the Northern opinion of Southern soldiers?

9. What can be considered ironic about the Confederate fascination with liberty, as discussed in "Chapter 8: The Cause of Liberty"?

10. In Lincoln's discussions of democracy, what fear did he express if the South should be allowed to secede?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,174 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample