Chapter 11 Quiz: A Region Divided — Appalachia and the Civil War
1. What was the primary economic reason that mountain counties were less supportive of secession than lowland plantation counties?
A) Mountain counties were wealthier and had more to lose from war B) Mountain counties had fewer slaveholders and less economic investment in the slavery system C) Mountain counties had stronger trade relationships with Northern states D) Mountain counties had already abolished slavery before the war
2. West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863. What was legally unprecedented about its creation?
A) It was the first state admitted without a constitution B) It was the only state created by splitting from an existing state during wartime C) It was the first state to grant voting rights to formerly enslaved people D) It was the only state admitted by executive order rather than congressional vote
3. The Wheeling Convention established what entity to provide legal justification for West Virginia's creation?
A) The Western Virginia Republic B) The Appalachian Union Government C) The Restored Government of Virginia D) The Mountain Free State Assembly
4. What was the East Tennessee bridge-burning campaign of November 1861?
A) A Confederate strategy to isolate Union forces in Kentucky B) A coordinated Unionist sabotage effort that burned five railroad bridges in a single night C) A Union army operation that destroyed bridges across the Tennessee River D) A civilian protest against railroad construction through mountain communities
5. The Confederate Twenty-Negro Law exempted from the draft any white man who:
A) Had already served one year of military service B) Was over the age of forty-five C) Owned or oversaw twenty or more enslaved people D) Worked in an essential war industry such as salt production
6. The Shelton Laurel massacre of January 1863 involved:
A) Union soldiers executing Confederate prisoners in western Virginia B) Confederate soldiers executing thirteen men and boys in Madison County, North Carolina C) A battle between two rival guerrilla bands in Kentucky D) The destruction of a Unionist town by regular Confederate army forces
7. Why were the salt works at Saltville, Virginia, strategically critical during the Civil War?
A) Salt was necessary for manufacturing gunpowder B) Salt was essential for preserving food and feeding armies before refrigeration existed C) The salt works were located on the only railroad connecting Virginia to Tennessee D) Salt was the primary currency used in mountain communities
8. The phrase "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight" expressed mountain resistance to:
A) Federal taxation policies B) Union conscription of border state residents C) Confederate conscription that exempted wealthy slaveholders D) The seizure of mountain farmland for military use
9. The chapter argues that the "myth of Appalachian Unionism" is too simple because:
A) Mountain people were actually unanimous in supporting the Confederacy B) The real motivations were mixed — some were Unionist, some Confederate, many just wanted survival C) Appalachian Unionism was entirely manufactured by postwar politicians D) Mountain people had no political awareness of the secession crisis
10. What did the chapter identify as the Civil War's deepest and most lasting damage to Appalachian communities?
A) The destruction of railroads and infrastructure B) The loss of agricultural land to military occupation C) The shattering of community trust and networks of mutual obligation D) The economic cost of supporting the Union army
Answer key is available in Appendix: Answers to Selected Exercises.