Q 01/05

Which 1775 battle near Boston was a British victory so costly that it encouraged the American rebels?

A) Brandywine

B) Bunker Hill

C) Long Island

D) Concord

Answer · why

B) Bunker Hill

Bunker Hill was fought mostly on neighboring Breed's Hill, where colonial troops had dug a redoubt overnight. The British took the ground, but the pri...

Q 02/05

Which national nickname does legend trace to a New York meatpacker who supplied army rations in the War of 1812?

A) Yankee Doodle

B) Brother Jonathan

C) Johnny Reb

D) Uncle Sam

Answer · why

D) Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam, the story goes, began as a joke about the U.S. initials stamped on meatpacker Samuel Wilson's ration packages. Historians call the true ori...

Q 03/05

Which abolitionist led Union soldiers on an 1863 raid up South Carolina's Combahee River that freed over 700 people?

A) Harriet Tubman

B) Sojourner Truth

C) Frederick Douglass

D) John Brown

Answer · why

A) Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman led 150 Black soldiers of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry on the raid, and many of the people they freed went on to join the Union Army...

Q 04/05

Which US decoration descends from the Badge of Military Merit that George Washington created in 1782?

A) Silver Star

B) Soldier's Medal

C) Purple Heart

D) Bronze Star

Answer · why

C) Purple Heart

The Purple Heart, now given to troops wounded or killed in action, revives Washington's award: a heart of purple cloth that he gave to only three Revo...

Q 05/05

Which bugle call did Union general Daniel Butterfield arrange in 1862 as a new signal for lights out?

A) Reveille

B) Taps

C) Retreat

D) Tattoo

Answer · why

B) Taps

Taps began as Butterfield's lights-out call. That same summer an artillery captain, unable to fire the usual three volleys so close to the enemy, had ...