instruction:
In this task, you're given a question, a context passage, and four options which are terms from the passage. After reading a passage, you will get a brief understanding of the terms. Your job is to determine by searching and reading further information of which term you can answer the question. Indicate your choice as 'a', 'b', 'c', or 'd'. If you think more than one option is plausible, choose the more probable option to help you answer the question.
question:
Question: Was Robert Hoke older than George McClelllan the year Wessells was promoted to major of the 6th US Infantry? Passage:On June 6, 1861, he was promoted major of the 6th US Infantry, and on Aug. 22 of that year he received the colonelcy of the 8th Kansas Infantry. After serving on the Missouri border he resumed his commission in the regular army Feb. 15, 1862, and in March was transferred to the Army of the Potomac. He was made a brigadier-general of volunteers April 25 and served in the Peninsula, receiving the regular army brevet of lieutenant- colonel for gallantry at the Battle of Fair Oaks, where he was wounded. In Gen. George B. McClellan's change of base he commanded the rear-guard, and then engaged in the defense of Suffolk, Va., afterward serving in North Carolina. After serving at Kinston, Goldsboro, and New Berne, he was placed over the sub-district of the Albemarle, taking command May 3, 1863. On April 17, 1864, he was attacked at Plymouth, North Carolina, where he had a garrison of about 3,000 men, by Gen. Robert F. Hoke with about 15,000 Confederate troops and the iron-clad CSS Albemarle After a gallant defense which lasted three days Gen. Wessells surrendered the town. He was taken to Libby Prison, whence he was transferred successively to Danville, Macon and Charleston. At the last-named place he was one of the officers that were placed under the fire of the Union batteries on Morris island. On Aug. 3, 1864, he was exchanged, and on Nov. 11 he became commissary of prisoners, which post he held until the close of the war. He was also placed in charge of a conscription center in New York. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel Feb. 16, 1865, and brevetted colonel to date from April 20, 1864, "for gallant and meritorious services during the rebel attack on Plymouth, N. C." On March 13 he was given the regular army brevet of brigadier general.
 Links: a. Army of the Potomac b. CSS Albemarle c. Robert Hoke d. Conscription
answer:
c


question:
Question: How many years did the war last that coincided with Bracton's retirement? Passage:Plucknett describes Bracton in this way: "Two generations after Ranulf de Glanvill we come to the flower and crown of English jurisprudence – Bracton." Bracton was born around 1210 in Devon and had a great deal of preferment in the Church. He either derived from Bratton Fleming or Bratton Clovelly. Both villages are in Devon. It was only after his death that the family name appears as Bracton; during his life, he was known as Bratton, or Bretton. This originally may have been Bradton, meaning "Broad Town". Bracton first appeared as a justice in 1245. From 1248 until his death in 1268 he was steadily employed as a justice of the assize in the southwestern counties, especially Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. He was a member of the coram rege, also called the coram ipso rege, later to become the King's Court. He retired from this in 1257, shortly before the meeting of the Mad Parliament in 1258 at Oxford. It is unknown whether his retirement was related to politics. His leaving coincided with the onset of the notorious Second Barons' War in 1264. At that time Bracton was ordered to restore to the Treasury the large store of plea rolls (case records from previous trials) that had been in his possession. He was also forced to surrender the large number of rolls from his predecessors Martin Pateshull and William Raleigh, also known as William de Raley. It cannot be determined whether he disgraced the King or the barons in this affair, but it is speculated that some kind of political intrigue was involved. The practical result was that his major work, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae ("The Laws and Customs of England"), was left unfinished. Even so, it exists in four large volumes today. He continued to follow the assizes in the southwest until 1267. In the last year of his life he filled another prominent role, as member of a commission of prelates, magnates and justices appointed to hear the complaints of the "disinherited" – those who had sided with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester.
 Links: a. Second Barons' War b. Somerset c. Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester d. Second Barons' War
answer:
a


question:
Question: How old was the company that established an outpost for the provision of timber in 1776  near the western end of York Street? Passage:The town of George was established as a result of the growing demand for timber and the wood used in building, transport and furniture. In 1776 the Dutch East India Company established an outpost for the provision of timber; its location is thought to be near the western end of York Street. The Timber Post had its own Poshouer (manager), some 12 woodcutters, a blacksmith, wagon maker and 200 oxen plus families. After 1795 and the British occupation of the Cape, a caretaker of the forests in the area was appointed. After the second British occupation in 1806, it was decided that the Swellendam magistracy was too large and needed to be sub-divided. George was chosen because of the availability of good water. In 1811 George was declared a separate district and Tiaan Swart was appointed the first Landrost (magistrate) and the town was proclaimed by the Earl of Caledon, governor of the Cape Colony on St George's Day, 23 April 1811, and named after the reigning British monarch, King George III. One of Van Kervel's first acts as Landrost (Mayor), was to dig a furrow to supply the first thirty six plots in George with water. An 1819 map shows the original furrows and storage dam where they remain to this day in the Garden Route Botanical Gardens. The first Furrow originated from the Rooirivier (Red river) and later a diversionary weir was built at the Camphersdrift River. George gained municipal status in 1837.
 Links: a. Dutch East India Company b. Magistrate c. Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon d. Saint George's Day
answer:

a