# U.S. History trivia quiz **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 26, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091 "2007-10-26T12:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/121 "2007-10-27T17:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] 62. What words did John Wilkes Booth utter (by _most_ accounts) after assassinating President Lincoln? [/QUOTE] _Sic semper tyrannis_–“Thus always to tyrants,” if memory serves. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/122 "2007-10-27T17:44:39Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] 62. What words did John Wilkes Booth utter (by _most_ accounts) after assassinating President Lincoln? [/QUOTE] _Sic Semper Tyrannus_. Imagine my surprise when I found out that that’s written on the Virginian flag. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/123 "2007-10-27T18:01:07Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Name the Russian Jewish immigrant and Marconi operator who founded RCA and would eventually become 52’s archrival/nemesis in the creation of television. David Sarnoff. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/124 "2007-10-27T19:02:05Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] 59. Ronald Reagan kicked off his presidential campaign with a speech on states’ rights in what small-but-symbolically-significant Southern town? [/QUOTE] I’m going to guess Pulaski, TN. > [@](#): > > 1. Which US President had an adopted Native American son named Lincoya? This I know from 4th grade Alabama history class: Andrew Jackson. (He was a Creek Indian baby orphaned at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and no woman would take him because they were starving themselves, so Jackson took him home and raised him. He died young and Jackson is said to have been in tears at his funeral. It’s one of those “doesn’t quite fit” things that humanizes the bastard.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/125 "2007-10-27T19:08:12Z")
1. What were John Wilkes Booth’s _last_ words? (Backstory: he was paralyzed from neck down by the bullet and had asked to see his hands, so two soldiers lifted his hands to in front of his eyes.) 2. Easy one: what were the last words of John Adams and why were they ironic and erroneous? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/126 "2007-10-27T19:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=tarragon918] … 54. Where was George Washington first inaugurated as President? Think that was NYC… [/QUOTE] Correct. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/127 "2007-10-27T19:52:20Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] …59. Ronald Reagan kicked off his presidential campaign with a speech on states’ rights in what small-but-symbolically-significant Southern town? 1. The pivotal Revolutionary War battle of Cowpens was fought in which US state?.. [/QUOTE] 1. Philadelphia, Miss. (near where the three civil rights workers were kidnapped and murdered in 1964, a la _Mississippi Burning_). 2. South Carolina, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/128 "2007-10-27T19:54:00Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] 64. What were John Wilkes Booth’s _last_ words? (Backstory: he was paralyzed from neck down by the bullet and had asked to see his hands, so two soldiers lifted his hands to in front of his eyes.) 1. Easy one: what were the last words of John Adams and why were they ironic and erroneous? [/QUOTE] 2. “Useless, useless!” 3. “Thomas Jefferson still lives!” - July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had actually died a few hours earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/129 "2007-10-27T19:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=tarragon918] Drat! Now I know the answer to #46 [re: British surrender at Yorktown], but I looked it up, so can’t post it. :smack:… [/QUOTE] No sweat. Already correctly answered by **OtakuLoki** ; see posts 101-102. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/130 "2007-10-27T20:22:00Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Fort Jefferson, which was and is in the Dry Tortugas. And I agree with you about Dr. Mudd’s level of culpability (I’ll be taking a “Booth’s escape route” tour next spring and expect to learn more). [/QUOTE] Be sure to have an [egg roll](http://sampiro.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album02&id=Booth_s_House_of_Egg_Rolls) while you’re in D.C.. (Such a travesty that nothing’s been done about that house- for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, that pic is one I took last year of Mary Surratt’s boarding house, one of the most significant sites in U.S. history to host a 5.95 Chinese buffet.) Have you read [Sarah Vowel’s ASSASSINATION VACATION](http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-Vacation-Sarah-Vowell/dp/0743260031/ref=sr_1_1/002-1616260-0997647?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193514655&sr=8-1)? It’s on my list but I haven’t read it, but I know that she (or the character, but Vowell made the trip) goes to Tortugas and follows the assassination trail. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/131 "2007-10-27T20:47:03Z")
I actually meant that I now know the answer to #44 (Which President pardoned Robert E. Lee?), sorry about getting my question numbers confused! In other news, now I get to ask a question, since I did correctly guess New York City as the place Washington was first inaugurated (woo hoo, btw, my aging brain hasn’t forgotten everything!): #66. Who was the first African American to fight for the Colonies in the Revolutionary War? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/132 "2007-10-27T21:45:23Z")
[QUOTE=tarragon918] I actually meant that I now know the answer to #44 (Which President pardoned Robert E. Lee?), sorry about getting my question numbers confused! In other news, now I get to ask a question, since I did correctly guess New York City as the place Washington was first inaugurated (woo hoo, btw, my aging brain hasn’t forgotten everything!): #66. Who was the first African American to fight for the Colonies in the Revolutionary War? [/QUOTE] Crispus Attucks, I believe. Since I answered #53, I guess I get to ask one: 1. Who was (ironically) present at two Presidential assassinations? Who were the Presidents? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/133 "2007-10-27T21:54:13Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] Crispus Attucks, I believe. [/QUOTE] I don’t think that’s right. Crispus Attucks was the first one killed during the Boston Massacre. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/134 "2007-10-27T23:01:00Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] 1. Who was (ironically) present at two Presidential assassinations? Who were the Presidents? [/QUOTE] Robert Lincoln (the only son of Abraham to reach adulthood) was present at the assassinations of Garfield and McKinley. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/135 "2007-10-27T23:09:41Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Miskatonic] I forget the name of #49, but Nixon said it about her, and got the nickname ‘Tricky Dick’ in return. [/QUOTE] Correct ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/136 "2007-10-27T23:11:38Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Helen Douglas. I agree with the Nixon/“Tricky Dick” answers given earlier. [/QUOTE] Correct ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/137 "2007-10-27T23:12:09Z")
I’m in a bit of a dilemma here - question #66, Who was the first African American to fight for the Colonies during the American Revolution, meant for the answer to be Crispus Attuks, however he was killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770, well before the Rev. War! So a revised #66 here: #66 Name an African American present at the Battle of Bunker Hill (should be fairly easy …)? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/138 "2007-10-27T23:16:22Z")
[QUOTE=Governor Quinn] Robert Lincoln (the only son of Abraham to reach adulthood) was present at the assassinations of Garfield and McKinley. [/QUOTE] Correct. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/139 "2007-10-27T23:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=RandMcnally] _Sic Semper Tyrannus_. Imagine my surprise when I found out that that’s written on the Virginian flag. [/QUOTE] It should be pointed out the use of _Sic Semper Tyrannus_ as the state’s motto preceded the Civil War, lest someone get the impression it’s there to needle the Yankees. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091/140 "2007-10-27T23:46:29Z")
The question I answered being already answered, here’s another couple of answers: [QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] 1. What senator, later to gain greater notoriety/fame after Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential term, was his best friend? [/QUOTE] Henry Cabot Lodge. The answer to #44: Gerald Ford, I believe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-history-trivia-quiz/424091.md?page=8)