Q 01/05

Charleston, on the Ashley, Cooper and Wando rivers, is the largest city in which state?

A) North Carolina

B) Georgia

C) Virginia

D) South Carolina

Answer · why

D) South Carolina

It sits on a harbour formed by the Ashley, Cooper and Wando rivers; locals like to say the two big rivers meet there to form the Atlantic.

Q 02/05

Charleston was founded in 1670 under what name, honouring the reigning English king?

A) Carolina Town

B) Kingston

C) Charles Town

D) Port Charles

Answer · why

C) Charles Town

The first site at Albemarle Point was abandoned in 1680 for the present peninsula, and by the 1690s it was the fifth-largest city in North America.

Q 03/05

The first battle of the American Civil War was fought at which harbour stronghold?

A) Fort Moultrie

B) Fort Sumter

C) Fort Johnson

D) Castle Pinckney

Answer · why

B) Fort Sumter

Shore batteries under P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on 12 April 1861; the garrison surrendered after 34 hours.

Q 04/05

Which Union officer at Fort Sumter, later tied to baseball's origin myth, fired the first return shot in 1861?

A) Ulysses Grant

B) Abner Doubleday

C) George Meade

D) Winfield Scott

Answer · why

B) Abner Doubleday

He missed; the fort's shells had no fuses, so only solid iron balls could be fired back at the Confederate batteries.

Q 05/05

Which Confederate vessel became the first submarine to sink a warship, off Charleston in 1864?

A) H. L. Hunley

B) CSS Virginia

C) CSS David

D) CSS Alabama

Answer · why

A) H. L. Hunley

She sank the USS Housatonic and then went down with all eight crew; raised in 2000, she is displayed in North Charleston.