1. The famous Minute Man Statue is located at ______ in Minute Man National Historical Park.
a. North Bridge
b. Hartwell Tavern
c. Concord Armory
d. Lexington Green
2. One of the early American victories in the Revolutionary War occurred on 28 June 1776, when Americans defending a palmetto log fort repulsed an attack by British warships. The site is now protected at
a. Fort Sumter National Monument
b. Fort Pulaski National Monument
c. Fort Union National Monument
d. Fort Necessity National Battlefield
3. Valley Forge National Historical Park gets all the publicity, but in January 1777, and again in 1779-1780, Washington’s Continental Army made winter encampments of vital importance at what is now
a. Fort Stanwix National Monument
b. Thomas Stone National Historic Site
c. Morristown National Historical Park
d. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
4. Boston National Historical Park’s Freedom Trail links all of the following sites EXCEPT:
a. Paul Revere House
b. Dorchester Heights
c. Faneuil Hall
d. Old North Church
5. Independence Hall is the main attraction of the Independence National Historical Park. All of the following statements about this building are true EXCEPT:
a. It was formerly the Old Pennsylvania State House.
b. It is where the Liberty Bell is housed for public viewing.
c. It is where the Continental Congress adopted a declaration of independence on July 4, 1776.
d. It is where the U.S. Constitution was thrashed out in the summer of 1787.
6. Cowpens National Battlefield commemorates the Battle of Cowpens, a decisive American victory over a powerful British force commanded by the hated Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton (“Bloody Tarelton”). This battle, one of the most important of the Revolutionary War, occurred
a. north of Albany, New York
b. just east of Philadelphia
c. in northwestern South Carolina
d. near Greensboro, North Carolina
7. We like to commemorate our victories, not defeats or draws. But ______ preserves the site of a star-shaped earthen fort that Loyalist troops successfully defended when 1,000 Continental Army troops under General Nathaniel Green mounted a 28-day siege against it in 1781.
a. Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial
b. Kings Mountain National Military Park
c. Fort Bowie National Historic Site
d. Ninety Six National Historical Site
8. Many people take the seven-mile self-guided Battlefield Tour while visiting the Yorktown Battlefield unit of Colonial National Historical Park. By selecting this auto tour, these visitors are able to visit
a. the American Artillery Park, where siege guns were gathered
b. the Surrender Field, where Cornwallis’ troops laid down their arms
c. General Cornwallis’ Headquarters
d. General Washington’s Headquarters
9. Federal Hall National Memorial, where the Second Continental Congress met in 1785 and George Washington took his oath of office as first president on 30 April 1789, is located on
a. Wall Street in Manhattan
b. Independence Square in Philadelphia
c. the Inner Harbor in Baltimore
d. the National Mall
10. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial is
a. listed on the National Register of Historic Places
b. comprised of a house, gardens, statue, and observatory
c. situated in the center of Franklin Square in Philadelphia.
d. an Affiliated Area, not a National Park System unit
Bonus question
11. To visit the place most closely associated with Benedict Arnold’s treachery, you need to go to West Point, the site of the vital American fort that Arnold tried to help the British capture. But if you want to visit the place where Arnold made his greatest contribution to the cause of American freedom, you need to visit Saratoga ______. It was there in 1777 that Arnold’s courage and leadership helped American troops defeat a British army and gain the victory that convinced France it should join the war on America’s side.
a. National Military Park
b. National Battlefield
c. National Battlefield Park
d. National Historical Park
Super bonus question
12. Though best known for its role in the onset of the Revolutionary War, the little town of Concord, Massachusetts, was an amazing place in the 19th century. Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and ______ all lived in Concord, and all at the same time (1840s).
a. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
b. Frederick Law Olmsted
c. Ralph Waldo Emerson
d. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Answers:
(1) a -- Fort Moultrie is an administrative unit of Fort Sumter National Monument.
(2) a
(3) c
(4) b
(5) b
(6) c
(7) d
(8) b
(9) a
(10) d
(11) d
(12) c
Grading: 9 or 10 correct, rest on your laurels; 7 or 8 correct, pretty darn good; 6 correct, passable fair; 5 or fewer correct, nothing to brag about.
Comments
The Freedom Trail in Boston does not actually go to Bunker Hill. It starts (ends) at Bunker Hill Monument, but that is actually on Breed's Hill, where most of the fighting of the Battle of Bunker Hill took place. [Ed: Nice catch! The Hauptquizmeister has edited the referenced item to remove the glitch. BTW, the official line is that the Freedom Trail starts at the Boston Common and ends at the Bunker Hill Monument, but visitors can certainly choose to begin at the Bunker Hill Monument.]
As I am sure others will point out, the Continental Congress declared independence on July 2, 1776 and adopted a declaration to that effect on July 4. The parchment we now see was then prepared and the first signatures affixed on August 2. Some signatures were placed on it up to years later. John Adams wrote that "The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." Unfortunately, Adams was wrong. Americans decided not to celebrate the day we declared our independence from Britain, but rather the day we adopted the paper wording describing why we declared independence. Come to think of it, maybe celebrating the bureaucratic activity instead of the momentous decision itself is an American trait!
Also, as I am sure you realize, the current Federal Hall National Memorial is on the site of the Federal Hall where Washington was inaugurated. It is not the same building. It was not only the site of the Continental Congress, but the first capital of the United States under the Constitution.
[Ed.: The Hauptquizmeister has said aaaaaaargh! and is pondering retirement.]
Rangertoo: I’m not sure I understand your first point. Guess I’m feeling a little dense today. (Maybe I’ve caught the National Geographic best list disease?) I thought I had my bases covered when I said “…signed in 1776” without specifying day and month. Or were you referring to something else?
Your comment about Federal Hall National Monument also leaves me a bit frustrated. In my vocabulary, “where” means “site”. If you replace the original building once or twice or a hundred times, that site retains the property of “where."
Note that the Park Service agrees that "where means site means where." Here is the first sentence of the lead paragraph on the Federal Hall National Monument home page:
As you can see, the Park Service charges right in there with a site-specific declaration that doesn't mention the building or buildings -- whether still there or long gone -- in which the events of interest took place.
OK; enough of the weaselspeak. .” I did tinker a bit with the question stem, and I hope you can live with the new version.
Bob - I was not criticizing, just clarifying. You do a great job with this site and great service to the public in promoting national park issues.
I do have a hard time with the site/place issue, though. I have been to and worked in Federal Hall and I think the NPS doth protest too much in its effort to justify preserving this former Customs House. I once heard a guide at Williamsburg describe Patrick Henry’s “give me liberty or give me death speech” as having occurred in the room she was in, except it was a recreated building not more than 20 years old at the time. I then got a description of “historic airspace!”
I think that in the case of Federal Hall, there is nothing there that remains from the original building and that building did not look like the current building. In terms of public understanding, to say the “place” where something happened is to imply the building or edifice in question. I think that one could really only justify place as a synonym for site when it is unbuilt upon land like a battlefield. It would seem odd to visit Grand Central Terminal in New York and say this is the place where Nathan Hale was hanged. It was the site of the farm where he was hanged, but not the place in my mind.
My point with the signing of the Declaration is just that people misunderstand what “signing the Declaration” means. We celebrate July 4 as the date of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. We do not celebrate its signing. As I noted, it was signed over the course of years. Many signers were not members of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 and did not vote for the Declaration (although they obviously supported it and risks their lives just as much by signing it).
This country has a rich and exciting history. Unfortunately, the public too often confuses history with myth or are just plain wrong about events of the past. In the words of historian Richard Shenkman, “"Not only have (Americans) forgotten what they should remember, but they have remembered what they should have forgotten."
BTW Bob, love the quizzes. Also, the Freedom Trail from the Bunker Hill Monument to the Common is an easier walk -- all downhill.
[Ed.: There is a nice map of the Freedom Trail at this site. You can zoom to 50% for greater clarity and and still see the entire trail.]
Rangertoo, your comments highlight at least two quite troubling issues. One is the need to quit perpetuating historic myth. Here at Traveler we want to avoid passing along bad information, so we really appreciate it when you help us sort fact from myth. I really mean that. Another problem is the need to somehow deal with the temporal ambiguity inherent in the concept of site. I'm not sure you can provide us with a hard and fast rule to follow. Site can mean a place where something is located or was located. Hell, it can even mean where something is scheduled to be located ("the future site of...") or should be located ("that would be a great site for ....") In historic context, the site where something happened can mean the precise spot or the general setting. So, just exactly what is it that a national park preserves when it preserves the SITE of something important? I'm getting a headache, so I'm going to stop for now.
Bob--
Now that you have dusted off Harry Yount's name in your previous quiz. can you name the only 5 recipients of the career Harry Yount award for service to the ranger profession? PS--they are all retired save one although he works for another agency.
Rick Smith