Civil War News
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July 2016
– Civil War Events In The Area – Through 2016, Pennsylvania. Vice & Virtue
“Tell Mother I’ve Been Good: Vice & Virtue in the Civil War” exhibit at National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg. Stories, images, artifacts about moral challenges faced by servicemen. Info: www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org
July 1-3, Pennsylvania. Reenactment
153rd Anniversary Battle of Gettysburg Reenactment at “Gettysburg” movie site on Pumping Station Road, Gettysburg. Daily battles with pyrotechnics, living history village, activities tents, Saturday dance. Horse & cannon bounties. Registration fee. Reenactors may stay till July 4. For information, registration, gac42comcast.net; www.gettysburgreenactment.com
July 1-3, Pennsylvania. Anniversary Activities
Annual Gettysburg Battle anniversary activities at Seminary Ridge Museum, Gettysburg. For information, 717-339-1300; seminaryridgemuseum.org
July 9-10, Maryland. 152nd Monocacy
152nd anniversary of Battle of Monocacy & 25th anniversary of Monocacy National Battlefield park. Civilian & military encampments, hands-on activities for kid, battle related programming, infantry & artillery firing. For information, 301-662-3515; www.nps.gov/mono
July 9-10, Ohio. Civil War Weekend
Annual Civil War Weekend at Heritage Village Museum, Sharonville. Focus on 1861 with early war scenarios, daily battles influenced by battle of Ball’s Bluff. Civilian & military activity in 19th century village, speakers, hands-on activities, building tours, Saturday dance. For information, 513-563-9484; www.heritagevillagecincinnati.org
July 14-17, Virginia. National Teacher Institute
Join the Civil War Trust for free workshops, behind-the-scenes tours and
battle walks with some of the best historians and teachers in the US. Event will be based at the Omni Richmond Hotel, 100 S. 12th Street, Richmond. For information visit www.civilwar.org
July 16-17, Maryland. Living History
Civil War Encampment & Living History at Union Mills Homestead, Union Mills, along Meade’s Pipe Creek Line & skirmish sites. Living history, infantry & artillery drills, skirmishes. For information, 410-848-2288, info@ unionmills.org
July 16-17, Maryland. Monocacy Open House
Open house at Worthington Farm, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, 11-4. Farm was staging area for the Confederate Army’s attack. House tours, living history life in the 19th century. For information, 301-662-3515; www. nps.gov/mono
July 22-24, Virginia. 155th Bull Run
155th Anniversary of 1st Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) Reenactment on Cedar Creek Battlefield, Middletown. Hosted by Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation. For information, 540-869-2064, info@ccbf.us; www.ccbf.us
July 23, Virginia. Evening Tours
You Are There: Witness the Chaos of Pringle House Hospital at Ben Lomond Historic Site, Manassas, 7-9 pm house and grounds guided tours every half hour telling story of First Manassas field hospital. Reservations suggested. $10, blood donors $5. For information, 703-367-7872
July 23-24, Virginia. Living History
Pringle House Hospital Weekend and Red Cross Blood Drive at Ben Lomond Historic Site, Manassas, 11-4. Site of First Manassas Confederate field hospital. Portrayals of period medicine and hospitals. $5 per person, free for blood donors. For information, 703-367-7872
July 25-29, Virginia. Leadership Camp
Leadership Camp at Virginia Military Institute, Lexington. For young men 13-17 to learn & live life as a VMI Cadet in the 19th century. For information, www.vmi.edu
July 27-31, Pennsylvania. Seminar & Tour
“Gettysburg Day Three & Beyond” Chambersburg Civil War Seminars & Tours, based in Chambersburg. Speakers include Ed Bearss, Jeff Wert, Carol Reardon, Eric Wittenberg, Wayne Motts, Steve French. Tours of Gettysburg off the beaten path, East Cavalry Field, the Retreat. For information, www. CivilWarSeminars.org
July 30, Pennsylvania. Civil War Day
Civil War Day at the Reamstown Memorial Park, Reamstown, 9-4. Battles, living history. Reenactor meal. Sponsored by Reamstown Historical Society & Museum. For information, Rick Jacobs, 717-4134179, lakeside_drive@yahoo.com; Martha Sweigart-Brunner, 717-3640865, Masb51@gmail.com
C iv i l Wa r B a t t l e Re e n a c t m e n t The Actual Anniversary Dates!
Event Location: “The Gettysburg Movie Site” 965 Pumping Station Road, Gettysburg
F o r T i c k e t s & Ad d i t i o n a l I n f o r m a t i o n Vi s i t . . . . O r C a l l 1 - 8 0 0 - 5 1 4 - 3 8 4 9 ( Ti c k e t S a l e s ) Event Schedule Subject to Change
July 2016
Civil War News
Through The Lens By Stephanie Hagiwara
Halting Pickett’s Charge “In every battle and on every important field there is one spot to which every army [officer] would wish to be assigned – the spot upon which centers the fortunes of the field. There was but one such spot at Gettysburg and it fell to the lot of General [Alexander] Webb to have it and to hold it and for holding it he must receive the credit due him.” U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. On July 3, 1863, during the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., II Corp’s U.S. Gen. Alexander Webb’s Second (Philadelphia) Brigade, held the Union line at the center of Cemetery Ridge. The Brigade became the focal point of what became known as “Pickett’s Charge.” “Pickett’s Charge” was Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s plan to send 12,500 men to punch through the center of the Union’s line and move deeper into the North. Only six days earlier, 28-year-old West Pointer Webb had replaced the popular commander of the Philadelphia Brigade, and the men didn’t like it. He was pegged as an unproven staff officer who had ridden U.S. Gen. George Meade’s coattails to get his command. Webb understood he would need to prove himself in battle to earn his men’s trust. About 1 p.m., Lee began bombarding Cemetery Ridge. Immediately, “the air [was] filling with the whirling, shrieking, hissing sound of the solid shot and bursting shell;
all threw themselves flat upon the ground, behind the little stone wall; nearly 150 guns belched forth messengers of destruction, sometimes in volleys, again in irregular, but continual sounds, traveling through the air, high above us, or striking the ground in front and ricocheting over us, to be imbedded in some object to the rear”, recalled Pvt. Joseph McDermott of the 69th Pennsylvania. Webb was spotted standing “in the most conspicuous and exposed place, leaning on his sword and smoking a cigar, when all around him the air was pierced by screeching shot and shell”. Webb ignored his men’s shouts to seek cover. “That was enough for us,” said Lt. John Rogers of the 71st Pennsylvania, “General Webb was no longer the dress parade soldier that we supposed him to be at first.” The prolonged bombardment convinced Webb, “that an important assault was expected.” He seized the time to prepare for the upcoming battle. At 2 p.m. Webb sent Capt. Charles Banes to find Gen. Henry Hunt, the Chief of Artillery for the Army of the Potomac, to get the authority to replace his batteries with fresh units not already engaged with the enemy. Authority granted, Banes appealed to the 13th New York Battery of the 11th Corps and Captain Andrew Cowan of the 1st New York Independent Battery of the 6th Corps to
move to the endangered area. Webb went over to talk Lt. Alonzo Cushing, commander of Battery A. Webb, who had taught mathematics at West Point, already knew the 22-year-old West Pointer. According to Webb, Cushing had one functioning gun, a U.S. 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, 26 men dead or wounded, 65 dead horses and had been wounded in the shoulder and thigh. Webb told Cushing that he thought his position would be a hot spot in what he believed was an imminent infantry assault. Cushing did not hesitate. He responded that he would run his remaining guns by hand up to the stone wall in front and pile canister, his only remaining ammunition, beside the guns. He and his remaining men would fight it out with the infantry.
Excavated U.S. 3-inch Hotchkiss canister with some of the iron canister balls exposed. It contained seven rows of 1.15" diameter cast iron balls for a total of 28. This was the canister ammunition for a U.S. 3-inch Ordnance Rifle. (Jack Melton)
Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb. Colorization © 2016 civilwarincolor. com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn (Library of Congress)
To the fill in the gap left by Cushing’s battery, Webb moved in the troops of the 71st. Some of the men took position behind the stone wall running along the crest of Cemetery Ridge. They immediately began loading up the 300 abandoned firearms they had previously collected from the field. As the wave of Confederates approached, Webb went to his reserves, the 72nd Pennsylvania and told them “not to fire or get up until he gave orders.” He proceeded to the left and center of the 69th. He gave the men “all the encouragement in his power” to withstand the approaching assault. Now Cowan’s battery came thundering up. His lead gun overshot the clump of trees and ended up near Cushing’s guns. As Confederate Gen. Richard Garnett’s Brigade came within 250 yards of the stone wall the Philadelphia Brigade unleashed their firepower. Overwhelmed, “the fight
3G soon became awful. We mowed the rebs right and left but still they came on. We had to retreat,” wrote Sgt. William Burns of the 71st. Webb was appalled. “When they [Garnett’s Brigade] came over the fences, the Army of the Potomac was near being whipped than it was at any time of the battle. When my men fell back from the wall I almost wished to get killed,” he confided to his wife after the battle. Then, he added, “I was almost disgraced.” Garnett’s men surged forward capturing the wall. The 72nd began firing, their volley hitting Garnett, who fell dead. Webb sprinted over to the 72nd and gave the order “charge bayonets”. But over the racket of battle his order, “couldn’t be heard, I don’t suppose ten feet away.” Webb dashed to the Color bearer, Sgt. William Finnecy, and ordered him “as forcibly as a man could” to advance the colors. In the confusion, the sergeant may not have recognized his new commander. Resolving to lead the charge himself, Webb grabbed the staff and the two struggled. Finnecy would not relinquish his colors or budge out of the regimental line. Convinced the 72nd would not move, Webb set off towards the 69th who were still fighting at the wall. As he left, 13 bullets riddled the Color bearer and he fell down dead. The Confederates, catching sight of an officer targeted Webb. Webb survived the hail of bullets with only a graze to his thigh. Confederate Gen. Lewis Armistead, twirling his hat on his sword, then led the way to his death as men followed him over the wall. Webb ordered three companies to change front to right to combat the tide. Cowan’s battery mowed the enemy with their guns and the 71st fired their 300 scavenged rifles into the sea of gray. Nonetheless, Webb’s position was being overwhelmed. U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the 19th Massachusetts and 42nd New York to go in quick. They charged into the breach, pushing the Confederates out of the clump of trees to the wall. Into the fray, the 72nd charged and the 71st joined them. “[Webb] went right in front of us and led us when we gave a yell and charged on them and drove them back with great slaughter,” asserted Sgt. William Burns of the 71st. The fighting turned into pandemonium. According to Cowan, “... I do
Alonzo Herford Cushing. (Library of Congress) not think ...there was such a thing as regiments. The men were fighting pretty much at will.” As more Federals poured into the area, the Confederates realized the fight was futile. The men held up their hands as token surrender. The “sharp, quick huzza of the Federals told of our defeat and their triumph,” wrote Lt. George Finley of the 56th Virginia. “I ordered no man to go when I would not go myself,” Webb wrote in a letter to his wife. For their actions at Gettysburg, Gen. Alexander Webb, and very belatedly in 2014, Lt. Alonzo Cushing, were awarded the Medal of Honor. Stephanie Hagiwara is the editor for CivilWarinColor.com and CivilWarin3D.com. She also writes a weekly column for HistoryinFull Color.com that covers stories of photographs of historical interest from the 1850’s to the present. Her articles can be found on Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest.
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July 2016
Civil War Trust – Battlefield Restoration at Lee’s Headquarters The Civil War Trust moves forward with its restoration of a key portion of the Gettysburg Battlefield known as General Lee’s headquarters For decades, the site of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters at Gettysburg was a sort of lost attraction, outside the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park and surrounded by hotels and restaurants. Yet the one-and-a-half story Mary Thompson house and the 4-acre surrounding plot was central to the three-day battle in July 1863. With the help of thousands of members and supporters, the Civil War Trust acquired the site in 2014 with the intent to restore the property to it wartime appearance and craft a new interpretive experience. Nearly two years later, the Lee’s Headquarters site looks more like 1863 than it has in a century. The house and property have a historic pedigree that precedes the Civil War. Built in 1833, the Mary
Thompson house is situated just northwest of town on Seminary Ridge. At the time of the battle, it was occupied by Mary Thompson, a 70-year-old widow, though the property’s co-owner is more notable: radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. On July 1, 1863, Mary Thompson found her house and property in the epicenter of fierce fighting between Confederate and Union forces. As Union troops retreated from McPherson Ridge to the west, they formed a new defensive line on Seminary Ridge. Guns of Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery occupied the area around the Thompson house with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin regiments to the north, south and rear. The cannons, smoothbore 12-pounder Napoleons under the command of Lieutenant James Stewart, rained canister on North Carolina regiments under General Alfred Scales as they advanced toward the Union lines.
Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg. Photographer Mathew Brady can be seen standing wearing his hat in the center. Digital file: http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.33002 (Library of Congress)
The guns were ruthlessly effective; the 13th North Carolina alone lost more than half of its men. Green troops of the 143rd Pennsylvania, part of Colonel Roy Stone’s 2nd Brigade, also made a stand “at the old stone house.” As Union positions to the left and right of the property buckled under bloody combat, the Pennsylvanians held firm for a time. The position around Mary Thompson’s house was the last to fall before a general Union retreat through the town to high ground on Cemetery Hill. Even as the fighting raged, General Lee’s staff selected the Thompson house as the Confederate chieftain’s command post. Soon Lee’s sprawling headquarters complex dominated the ground around the stone house. Confederate guns also unlimbered just east of the house, taking advantage of its height and central location. Throughout the rest of the battle the Thompson house and the tents around it served as the headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee is known to have used the house and the grounds around it to direct Confederate efforts during the battle. All of the early maps denote the Thompson house as General Lee’s Headquarters. Mary Thompson’s own role throughout the battle is also noteworthy. Although she sympathized with the Union, she responded to the crisis unfolding literally all around her by offering her home as a hospital to wounded Union and Confederate soldiers after the fighting of July 1. Using her clothes and bedding as bandages, she cared for the wounded and wrapped the dead in her carpets. Her own sacrifice may have saved many men from needless death. In the aftermath of the battle, relatives of the wounded and fallen poured into Gettysburg after the battle, along with visitors curious to see the sites associated with the titanic conflict. The Thompson house was a
particular draw for these early tourists. Thompson did not particularly enjoy the home’s newfound fame, but lived in the house for most of the time until her death in 1873. The home has a varied post-war history. A fire consumed its contents in 1896, but the stone structure was undamaged. In 1907, its proprietor, Emma Feister, was arrested for running a “bawdy house.” Later stories claimed the house was not the site of Lee’s Headquarters at all, and a marker still stands across the Lincoln Highway claiming that distinction. Tourism associated with the battle
made it a popular visitor attraction. The house became the General Lee’s Headquarters Museum in 1921, with cottages and a hotel later built on the adjoining property. In July 2014, the Civil War Trust publicly announced an ambitious fundraising campaign to acquire the site for $5.5 million, and the Trust’s members and supporters from coast to coast responded with generosity and enthusiasm. Their donations were matched with financial support from the American Battlefield Protection Program, corporate donors such as FedEx, and other leadership gifts
The Civil War Trust is restoring the landscape to reflect Lee’s Headquarters appearance on July 1, 1863. The modern structures adjacent to his headquarters have been removed. (Civil War Trust)
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July 2016 including a commitment to cover the cost of the property’s restoration made by John and Bobbie Nau of Houston, Texas. With the home and surrounding grounds under the stewardship of the Civil War Trust, the site and house will be faithfully restored to their wartime appearance. Partnerships with the National Park Service, Pennsylvania Historical
Civil War News and Museum Commission, the Gettysburg Foundation and local officials will help guide the restoration process. As of spring 2016, the Trust has secured permits and completed asbestos abatement. All of the modern structures adjacent to the property have been removed, including a restaurant, the 1960s-era hotel and
its swimming pool, and a putting green. Restoration has begun on the Thompson house itself. With the help of contemporary accounts, period photography, and early maps, we can reconstruct the house’s roof, fences that adorned the property, and rebuild the period porch. The postwar dormers will also be removed. The Trust and the Journey Through
5G Hallowed Ground Partnership will replant the historic orchard that existed on the property. By the fall of 2016 the Civil War Trust aims to complete and open to the public a new interpretive loop trail that will tell the story of the battle, the role of the property as Lee’s Headquarters, and the fascinating postwar history of the
site. The restoration of the house, apple orchard, period fencing, and original landscape grade will add a serenity that belies the ferocity of the battle and the momentous decisions made during the Civil War’s bloodiest battle. For updates on the Lee’s Headquarters restoration project, visit Civilwar.org/LeesHQ.
Civil War News
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July 2016
How A Professional Split Enhanced Photography At Gettysburg By Bob Zeller
The Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest clash of the Civil War, led to the finest photographic documentation of any fresh battlefield of the war, due in large measure to a professional split between the country’s greatest documentary photographers. Mathew B. Brady and Alexander Gardner were no longer working together when they came separately to Gettysburg, Pa., with their cameras and assistants after the battle of July 1-3, 1863. Gardner arrived first, probably on the evening of July 5, when hundreds of bodies still littered the battlefield. In the next several days, he and his staff photographers Timothy O’Sullivan and James Gibson captured some of the war’s most gruesome and memorable photos, including “A Harvest of Death” and “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter.” The team produced at least 87 glass plate negatives, including at least 52 stereoscopic views. Brady joined his staff photographers Anthony Berger and David Woodbury around July 15, and together they made some 36 negatives, including 20 images in 3-D. Brady was too late to photograph any bodies. His elegantly composed images are distinctly different than Gardner’s hard-boiled scenes of death. Brady had better atmospheric conditions than Gardner, and some of his images capture panoramas of the battlefield. His images of John Burns emphasize heroism, and other photos show Brady himself and/ or an assistant gazing at the scene, allowing viewers to form their own impression of what the battle must have been like. Another bonus of Brady and Gardner working separately at Gettysburg was that they mostly focused on different things. Although both photographed Little Round Top (from different vantage points) and the Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse, Brady’s output featured scenes of the first day’s battlefield and Culp’s Hill. Gardner missed those areas, but captured the Rose Farm, the Trostle Farm and Devil’s Den, all with scenes of death. When the war started in 1861, Gardner was Brady’s Washington gallery manager. Both men were eager to go in the field and photograph the conflict. Brady went to Bull Run with a team and fled in the retreat with only a couple of photos of
Fairfax Court House. Gardner took the lead at Antietam and captured the first images of American dead as they fell in battle. By the end of 1862, Brady and Gardner together had produced for Brady’s Gallery at least 425 glass plate negatives of scenes in the field, including battlefields. The vast majority – at least 335 – were taken in 3-D and provided a stereoscopic viewing experience that was the ‘video’ of Civil War America. But with the advent of 1863, or in its early months, Gardner resigned as Brady’s Washington gallery manager and set out on his own. In May 1863, he opened his own brand-new Washington gallery, festooned with advertising signs. One of the most persistent myths of Civil War photography is that Gardner quit, along with O’Sullivan and Gibson, because they were not getting credit for their photographs. The large plate prints and stereo views Brady’s Gallery produced from Antietam shatter this myth entirely. Both names – “Gardner, Photographer” and “M.B. Brady, Publisher” appear on Brady’s large plate prints from 1862. In fact, Gardner’s name appears twice as it is also printed in the copyright line on the mount.
This Brady image, taken from half of a stereo negative, shows citizen hero John Burns sitting on the porch of his house. At right, sitting on the steps is the straw-hatted Brady. To his right, mounted on a tripod behind the water well, is Brady’s portable darkroom. (Library of Congress) The Brady Antietam stereo views were affixed with a “Brady’s Album Gallery” label on the back, but Gardner’s name appeared on the front in the copyright line. It is quite possible, if not probable, that Gardner and Brady remained on good terms after the split. In a military telegram Gardner sent to O’Sullivan after leaving Gettysburg, he used more than half of his 34 words to say that Brady’s men – Woodbury and Berger – were at Gettysburg and “I hope you will give them every attention.” What caused the split? No hard
evidence exists, but Gardner likely resigned because he wanted to strike out on his own, believed he could do it better and probably felt hampered by Brady’s chronic financial problems. This theory is reinforced by the fact that Gardner took with him the vast majority of the 1861-62 negatives and thereafter printed and marketed them as his own. Brady did keep some of the Manassas and Peninsula Campaign negatives, but Gardner took the rest, including one stereo negative taken in Harper’s Ferry in 1862 with Brady
Carl Sell will be at the Gettysburg Heritage Center on July 1, 2 and 3 Unpublished letters with each sale! “Who Were Those Other Heroes With Armistead At The Guns”
“A Harvest of Death,” perhaps the most famous Gettysburg battlefield photograph, was taken by Timothy O’Sullivan for Alexander Gardner’s photographic gallery. This is a print from Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War. (Library of Congress)
by Carl L. Sell, Jr.
“Taking Battery A” - John Paul Strain
Another insight into Gettysburg’s final attack by some of those who survived
“Thank God He Survived Pickett’s Charge”
A Confederate Private’s Long March This novel by Carl L. Sell, Jr., James Farthing’s great-grandson, tells of two gunshot wounds, two illnesses, capture and imprisonment nine days before the war ends and death in a railroad bridge accident 23 years later. This is the full, 4x10 inch, twin-image stereoscopic negative published by Alexander Gardner of a scene commonly known as Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter. In fact, Gardner’s original caption read: “Rocks could not save him at the Battle of Gettysburg.” (Library of Congress)
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himself posing in the photo. On his own, Gardner became much more prolific. By the end of the war, his negative archive had swelled to almost 2,200 negatives, including some 950 large-plate (7x9 inch) negatives and more than 1,230 stereo negatives. Another myth is that many of these precious Civil War documentary negatives, including several thousand more produced by other photographers during the war, ended up as greenhouse glass, with the sun slowly burning off the very image it had created. In fact, this vast treasure trove of the original Civil War photographic
negatives has survived largely intact, and the glass plates are preserved at the Library of Congress and National Archives. All of Gardner’s Gettysburg negatives, both large plate and stereo, as well as all of Brady’s Gettysburg stereo negatives, are at the Library of Congress. You can instantly download high-resolution scans of these amazingly clear scenes for free and use them as you wish. Just go to this page, http://www. loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/ and start searching “Gettysburg” or any other subject. The scans that appear in black and white are largely from the original negatives, while
the sepia-toned scans come from vintage albumen prints made from the negatives. Bob Zeller is the president and co-founder of The Center for Civil War Photography, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and promoting the visual documentation of our country’s greatest conflict. www.civilwarphotography.org
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Near McPherson’s Farm, Mathew B. Brady gazes at part of the first day’s battlefield at Gettysburg in this albumen print that combines the scene captured in two different stereo negatives. (Library of Congress)
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– Andersonville Revisited: –
July 2016
Encountering Fact And Fiction In Popular Culture By Hank Segars
Most travelers have heard of Andersonville, but few seem to understand the full story of the Civil War POW camp. The breadth of knowledge about this historic site, situated on Georgia Highway 49 near Americus in Sumter County, Georgia, could be summed up in a simple statement: Andersonville was a dreadful place where thousands of Union prisoners died. While this fact is well known, as one of our greatest national tragedies there’s more to the story . . . much more.
Andersonville The Southern Perspective. Edited by J. H. Segars. Book cover of wartime image of Captain Henry Wirz. The very name of Andersonville brings to mind a place of infamy where thousands of emaciated captives lived and died in pitiful, inhuman conditions. Yet, beyond this, little else seems to be remembered: The collective memory of the nation has grown dim, almost to the point of amnesia. For Southerners it appears that a national jury once convened, intently listened to the prosecution, and quickly announced a verdict of guilty—all on the testimony of questionable witnesses and without viewing the full scope of evidence. This terrible chapter of American history had been opened and shut, all in one swift motion. Many of the details about the camp are largely forgotten; even the official name of the prison—Camp
Sumter—is no longer recalled. This site in southwest Georgia, along with other locations in the lower South, was chosen by Confederate officials to relieve the crowded facilities in and around Richmond, Virginia. The idea was to move prisoners away from the threat of Union cavalry raids and near openly accessible rail lines. Warmer climes would be beneficial to captives and guards alike; and by relying on crops grown locally, hard-pressed military commissaries could be spared the additional burden of feeding captured Union soldiers. It also seemed logical that the Confederate government wanted to construct stockades in areas where natural resources were in abundance, especially timber for firewood and shelter, and clear running streams for sanitation and food preparation. Consequently, the site selected at the tiny railroad crossing near Americus seemed ideal for holding Yankee prisoners until they could be exchanged. But, then again, things don’t always work out as planned— especially during times of war and when dealing with governmental officials. Andersonville prison was open for only fourteen months from February, 1964, to late spring of 1865 and the death rate was high: 12,912 Union prisoners and an estimated 250 Confederate guards perished. Over 45,000 captives passed through the gates of the POW camp, and many soldiers were already in a weakened condition upon arrival. The 26 ½ acre open stockade was designed to hold no more than 8,000 to 10,000 men; yet, in August of 1864, the inmate population swelled to 32,000 as the death rate continued to climb. The most frequently mentioned reasons for deaths were the scarcity of food and contaminated drinking water; inadequate shelter and lack of sewage control; the absence of essential medicines and the constant outbreak of diseases; and, the overall stress of living in crowded, life-threatening conditions. All of this, of course, a recipe for disaster. Although other Civil War prisoner-of-war camps were guilty of similar living conditions and high death rates, Andersonville is the name that
Andersonville prison photograph taken on August 17, 1864. (Library of Congress)
remains infamous in our nation’s memory. And there is good reason for this: No other Civil War POW camp received as much sustained, negative publicity. “Even before the war ended, the Northern Press had started publishing sensational stories on the horrors of Andersonville,” writes Peggy Sheppard, a transplanted New Yorker and local resident since 1946 in her popular book entitled Andersonville, Georgia, USA. The U.S. War Department stoked the flames of anger after the war by circulating photographs of emaciated prisoners which were reprinted over and over again. Harper’s Weekly and other Northern publications printed critical articles and inflammatory illustrations which produced the same effect. People became aroused and historical fact began to break down into mythology, fiction, or legend. Public opinion began to take shape and, ultimately, after a hundred years of Northern interpretation, Federal orthodoxy became the official explanation for all that happened at Andersonville. American history books—the majority being edited and published above the Mason-Dixon Line—had little need to include Southern interpretations; thus, the war of words over Andersonville be-
View of prison grounds towards Providence Spring and Stockade Creek. (Hank Segars) uments located within the site.” Thousands of closely aligned headstones gleam ivory white in the bright Georgia sunshine; sprinkled throughout are impressive state monuments portraying mythic imagery, grieving goddesses, and emotive language signifying Honor, Peace, and Tranquility. A narrow roadway brings visitors through a piney forest into an open panorama where the prison camp once stood.
Replicated stockade on site of original prison. came just another Southern defeat. The negative portrayals of Andersonville never subsided and became a part of popular culture, continuing well into the twentieth century and beyond. Today, visitors to the Andersonville National Historic Site will encounter lovely scenery in total contrast to those dismal days of 1864 and 1865 when the POW camp was operational. Located only twelve miles northeast of Americus, a serene pastoral setting has replaced the scarred landscape where once stood the stench-smelling stockade bounded by the rough-hewn timbers that held too many desperate and dirty men. The National Park Service maintains 515 acres of beautiful, manicured grounds with a stated mission to “provide an understanding of the overall prisoner of war story of the Civil War, and to interpret the role of prisoner-of-war camps in history, to commemorate the sacrifice of Americans who lost their lives in such camps and to preserve the mon-
(Hank Segars)
The stockade and deadline are now outlined by governmental markers and, in the distance, gentle hillsides descend into the little branch that once held unfathomable amounts of disease-causing filth and human excrement. Also visible are Providence Spring and some of the Confederate earthworks, escape tunnels, and surviving well pits. For those intent on discovering the true story of Andersonville, the search is not always easy. This historical topic is submerged beneath years of sensational reporting, strong sectional feelings, and a lack of objective research. The basic understanding of the general public seems to be derived from the imagination of writers of historical fiction and, in particular, from MacKinlay Kantor’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Andersonville (New York, 1955). Also, the 1996 televised (TNT) broadcast of the movie Andersonville presented the story to millions of Americans with a noticeable bias and questionable interpretations, especially in the
characterization of Captain Wirz. The debate about the treatment of Civil War prisoners had begun with the old veterans and members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Women’s Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic. Each side made charges against their captors of gross mismanagement, intentional neglect, and purposeful cruelty. Former prisoners published detailed narratives about their tribulations in POW camps, and, understandably, many were bitter and partisan. There remains a shortage of contemporary studies about Civil War POW camps, especially those operating in the North. William Marvel’s Andersonville: The Last Depot, published in 1994, remains one of the best and most recent. Ironically, some of the best accounts that substantiate Southern perspectives were penned by former Union prisoners to include John L. Ransom’s Andersonville Diary (The Author, 1881); John Maile’s Prison Life in Andersonville (Los Angeles, 1912); and James Madison Page’s The True Story of Andersonville (New York, 1908). Kate Cumming, a Confederate nurse, wrote a notable diary is entitled A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee From the Battle of Shiloh to the End of the War (Louisville, 1866). What seems to be most forgotten is the North’s adopted policy of retaliation against Confederate prisoners. This is documented in U.S. House Resolution 97 which says as preamble: “Rebel prisoners in our hands are to be subjected to a treatment finding its parallels only in the conduct of savage tribes and resulting in the death of multitudes by the slow but designed process of starvation and by mortal diseases occasioned by insufficient and unhealthy food and wanton exposure of their person to the inclemency of the weather” (Congressional Globe, 38th Congress, 2nd Session, 1/16/1865, 26726). “Though moderate senators argued against HR 97, declaring it legal murder of prisoners of war,” said Mauriel Joslyn, history professor at Georgia Military College, “it passed, and was put into effect.
July 2016
Civil War News
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GBPA Targets Greatest Threat To Hallowed Ground In Years
Union headstones of the National Cemetery.
Sketch by John L. Ransom, Union prisoner. Thousands of Southerners died in Northern prisons simply because the North chose not to provide the necessities of life.” William G. Burnett tells in his National Park Service booklet entitled The Prison Camp at Andersonville (1995) about the 17% death rate at Point Lookout, a Union prisoner-of-war camp in Maryland, and said: “The deaths came from bad management, lack of adequate supplies such as clothing, blankets, wood and food, failure to establish sanitary conditions and brutality and senseless killing by the guards (p.35).” Burnett also says that the photographs of Andersonville prisoners “were later published in Northern newspapers and used as propaganda against the South and used as evidence to help convict Captain Wirz (p.38).”
(Hank Segars)
(Library of Congress)
Today, misunderstandings and provocative debate in America’s popular culture about Andersonville continues. Yet, inside the park, things remain about the same. As the sun beginning to descend behind the distant Georgia pines, a lonely wind whispers gently over the land and visitors are sensing a feeling of uneasiness and reverence. For many of us, it now seems that the tears of twelve thousand sleeping prisoners have cleansed the dirty soil beneath our feet. And, of course, this place remains as hallowed ground. Hank Segars is the editor of Andersonville: The Southern Perspective (Pelican Publishing Company) and a popular speaker on Civil War topics. The author can be contacted via e-mail: hsegars@ymail.com.
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GETTYSBURG, PA.—Calling it the greatest threat to the hallowed ground of the Gettysburg battlefield in many years, if not decades, at a May 18 news conference at the Historic Daniel Lady Farm, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association made known its opposition to a proposed roadway extension designed to place big box stores and other commercial development on open land that was directly involved in the battle and its aftermath. GBPA President Barbara Mowery said ”we and many others are alarmed at the proposal in Straban Township to extend Camp Letterman Drive through what presently is open land, all for the purpose of enabling big box stores and other permanent buildings.” The road and planned development would destroy a key battlefield area and potentially wipe out any remaining portion of where the famed Camp Letterman Field Hospital was situated. Previous commercial development in Straban Township has already obliterated other parts of the Camp Letterman site. “This development scheme will wipe out actual battlefield land; violate the view-shed of the northern portion of the Gettysburg National Military Park; encroach on the fully-restored historic Daniel Lady Farm, which is an 1863 Civil War site; and obliterate any remaining part of the remaining Camp Letterman site” said Mowery. “This land is where the Confederate Army set artillery, and from this battle line launched thousands of soldiers to repeatedly attack the Union right flank on Culp’s Hill.” Most were Louisiana infantry regiments of Williams’ (Nichols’) Brigade; the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 14th and 15th Louisiana. Mowery said the big box construction and other planned commercial development along the extended Camp Letterman Drive would ruin the view-shed from Culp’s Hill, Benner’s Ridge, Lee’s headquarters, Herr’s Ridge and other locations within the northern portion of the Gettysburg National Military Park, as well as for the Historic Daniel Lady Farm. “It reminds us of the tall modern observation tower that was later removed because it was a blight on the view-shed of the entire park,” said Mowery. The extended Camp Letterman Drive would pass within 15 feet of the property line of the Historic Daniel Lady Farm. The GBPA has spent 17 years restoring the farm, including an 1843 barn and an even older fieldstone farmhouse that were used by Confederates as a field hospital and divisional headquarters. The Confederate Army battle line in the proposed commercial development site extended southeast to the Lady farmhouse. The Daniel Lady Farm hosts American living history and Civil War events, public tours and Boy Scout encampments while still
providing agricultural use. Mowery said the GBPA will seek the support of historic preservation groups nationwide in the effort to stop the roadway extension and big box store construction scheme and noted that the effort may require legal action. “Gettysburg draws hundreds of thousands of Americans annually by its place in our history, not for having big box commercial development,” Mowery said. Miller is quoted in the Patriot-News article as saying “Everybody knows that it was, eventually, going to be commercial, it’s zoned that way.” In an article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Marty Miller of Miller and Associates Real Estate, which is involved in the proposal, claimed the GBPA is acting “prematurely.” Mowery said the GBPA has learned through past experience that opposition to development of historic property must be exerted at the earliest time possible. “About 20 years ago, this organization opposed construction of a supermarket that was smack-dab in the middle of the land that held Camp Letterman hospital for wounded and dying Union and Confederate soldiers,” said Mowery. “Ultimately, we learned that we couldn’t stop the development because we got involved too late in the process. “That’s not going to happen this time.” Mowery contends the land should not have been re-zoned commercial
in the 1990s. “If part of Pearl Harbor was rezoned commercial, would that make it right to put a water park near the Arizona Memorial,” Mowery asked. Citizens can express opposition to the project by signing an on-line petition that can be reached through the GBPA website at www.gbpa. org. In addition, a “hard” petition can be downloaded from the site for circulation and return to the GBPA. Individuals and groups can also express direct opposition by writing to Tony M. Sanders, Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Straban Township, 1745 Granite Station Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325. Faxes can be sent to Sanders at 717-334-0061 and his office at the township can be reached by phone at 717-334-4833. “We sincerely hope the project for this site is shelved, “added Mowery. “Development in this historic Gettysburg area should take place on non-historic sites and not on hallowed ground. “We can have both historic preservation and private development through smart planning by all parties.” Formed in 1959, the GBPA is the nation’s oldest Civil War battlefield preservation organization. President Dwight Eisenhower was an early member. Over the decades, the GBPA secured hundreds of acres of privately-owned battlefield land that is now part of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association board member Michael Cassidy describes the troop movements across the battlefield land that is proposed for roadway and commercial development.
Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association President Barbara Mowery announces the organization will fight roadway and commercial development proposed for a prominent sector of battlefield land.
Civil War News
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July 2016
Zooming Into Gettysburg Photography By Garry E. Adelman
Within months of the Battle of Gettysburg, documentary cameramen captured some of the most compelling photos of the Civil War. And yet, even in the most well-known photographs, details are hidden within, just a few clicks of your zoom button away.
The extremely high-resolution scenes captured on the Civil War’s large glass plates exceed that of even today’s best digital cameras and the cool details you can detect are not merely curios – they can actually help teach us about the Battle of Gettysburg, the Gettysburg Battlefield, the Civil War and American history.
You can, for instance, start with one photo and not only zoom in, but connect the details within with other photos, and glean details from those! For the past 15 years, since high-resolution scans of the original negatives went online at the Library of Congress, members of the Center for Civil War Photography have been
exploring the depths of the war’s documentary photos, discovering countless exciting mini-scenes and details from the photos that expand our knowledge about the conflict.” Here are just a few of the scores of 1863 photos you can explore, but you can do it yourself by downloading some of the 10,000 high-resolution
photos available at www.loc.gov/ pictures/collection/civilwar. Just enter whatever battle or person interests you in the search field and download what you’d like. Garry Adelman is director of history and education at the Civil War Trust and vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography.
Left: The photo at top is just one portion of a two-plate panoramic photo taken by Mathew Brady’s crew in mid-July 1863. It provides a beautiful view of the town from Seminary Ridge as it appeared during the battle and also shows the very routes of retreat of the Union First Corps from Seminary Ridge southeast toward Cemetery Hill. I have denoted just some of the visible features as described by photo historian William A. Frassanito, which help to link and pinpoint the locations of other photos recorded that month, year, decade, and beyond. See the close-up details of the house of John Burns – known as the Hero of Gettysburg for aiding in the Union defense of McPherson’s Ridge on July 1 – and of East Cemetery Hill, scene of heavy fighting on July 2 and Gettysburg’s most iconic Civil War-era structure, the Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse. (National Archives)
Right: John Lawrence Burns, a veteran of the War of 1812, was a 69-year-old civilian who fought with the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was wounded, but survived the battle. (Library of Congress)
In the same series that included the Gettysburg panorama, Mathew Brady’s crew recorded photos on the First Day’s Battlefield, at Lee’s Headquarters, of three Confederate prisoners and at least three views of John Burns and his house on Chambersburg Street, including that shown here. We see the grizzled old warrior just weeks after he sustained battle wounds just a mile from his house. Others were not so lucky as to be simply wounded and the thousands of decaying corpses and horse carcasses created a fertile breeding ground for flies, which were said to have covered everything in Gettysburg, even weeks after the battle. Using the high-resolution scans of the original glass plates, photo historians John Richter and Steve Woolf spotted the four flies that had landed and stayed long enough on Burns’ knees and chair to appear in the several-second exposure. The flies do not appear in the other close-up photo of Burns taken in the same sitting. (Library of Congress)
Photographer Alexander Gardner and his assistants actually covered the Gettysburg battlefield in advance of Brady’s crew and recorded two photos from atop the Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse. The view looks northwest – not quite back toward Brady’s panorama – but the images share numerous visible features, some of which are denoted on both. The detail views show blurred traffic on the Baltimore Pike, a stone wall constructed into the pike to better protect Cemetery Hill and soldiers milling about the Union militia encampment, known to have been situated on that spot for roughly one month after the battle. (Library of Congress)
July 2016
Civil War News
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Meade Made A Name For Himself At Gettysburg By Joan Wenner, J.D.
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania at the end of June 1863, soon after his “great victory” at Chancellorsville, Va. The Richmond Daily Dispatch of May 6, 1863, reported Lee’s brief message “so glorious for Southern valor” that the enemy “was dislodged from all his positions...and driven back towards the Rappahannock” was in keeping with the “distinguished
• • • • • • •
military leader whose modesty is equal to his merits unless the triumph was of a character to make the announcement most scrupulously and religiously true to the letter.” Lee’s Pennsylvania target had been the state Capitol at Harrisburg. Historians say he could not have guessed the significance of his stop in Gettysburg say historians. Earlier in the Spring of 1862, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had told George Gordon Meade that “Wherever Lee went Meade would go also.” Hooker resigned from command of the Army of the Potomac and on the morning of June 28, 1863, Lincoln appointed Meade to assume command of the Army of the Potomac as Hooker’s replacement. He would soon be where Lee arrived. This appointment was only days before the battle at Gettysburg. When Lee learned of the appointment, fully understanding the competency of Meade, he was said to remark, “He will commit no blunder on my front, and if I make any he will make haste to take advantage of it.” Meade justified caution regarding Lee’s movements after the battle as concern for the weary Union troops, huge logistical problems as well as the many killed, wounded and missing especially among his officers. He repeatedly told his staff, a senior aide
recalled, “I’m not Napoleon.” When the two Generals clashed, Meade had 92,000 soldiers under his command and would prevail amid a horrific “frenzy of smoke, yells and exploding shell.” Though at times maligned, the Union’s ‘Hero of Gettysburg’ had the ability to accomplish results for the North when it mattered most is what he left as his legacy. Even a harsh critic, William Swinton of the New York Times, wrote long after the war that Meade “in his judgment was singularly the one who truly earned the fame he had achieved.” Learn about Meade by contacting the General Meade Society, PO Box 45556, Philadelphia, Pa. 19149. Visit its website at www.generalmeadesociety.org The State Museum of Pennsylvania, a flagship destination along the Pennsylvania Trails of History, has Civil War exhibitions that include artifacts and works of art that commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg and Pickett’s Charge and much more. They are located at 300 North St., Harrisburg, Pa.. See also their website at www.statemuseumpa.org and a magazine published by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission by visiting www.paheritage.org
Major General George Gordon Meade was nicknamed “Old Snapping Turtle”. Meade was born in 1815 in Cádiz, Spain. In 1835, Meade graduated 19th in his class of 56 from the United States Military Academy (West Point). Colorization © 2016 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/ cwn. (Library of Congress)
Gracious Victorian Accomodations Civil War Dining Experience Beer Garden with Entertainment & Outdoor Dining Patio Guest Services, Gift Shop, Antiques & Collectibles Historical Tours & Programs Ghost Tours & Mourning Theatre Group Menus & Tours Available G Check our website for Specials & Promotions 401 Baltimore Street • Gettysburg, PA 17325 • (717) 334-8838 www.farnsworthhouseinn.com • email info@farnsworthhouseinn.com
Civil War News
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July 2016
Minié Ball Holes And Legendary Stories Invite You To Visit The Farnsworth House Inn By Nancy Jennis Olds
GETTYSBURG, PA.—Visiting Gettysburg is an adventure back in time in a still vibrant town. It is filled with battlefield sites, historic homes, businesses catering to Civil War enthusiasts, Civil War living historians and reenactors alike all of whom are undoubtedly rejoicing that Gettysburg is witnessing many commendable changes in restoring and retaining the familiar 1863 landscape that witnessed an epic battle lasting three days. Not only can a visitor explore the many battlefields, Little Round Top, Big Round Top, The Peach Orchard, Seminary Hill, Devils Den, Culp’s Hill and more, one might consider trying an alternative adventure, such as finding lodging at an historic place right in the heart of Gettysburg. One such location is the Farnsworth House Inn located on Baltimore Street. I have long been attracted to historic homes and their fascinating history. Last year, on the 152nd anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, I returned to Gettysburg to cover several events despite the postponement of the annual Civil War reenactment until August. I followed a group of Confederate infantry filtering into the backyard behind the Farnsworth House Inn with a tour group in tow led by Brian Schade, portraying Major Eugene Blackford in command of Blackford’s Sharpshooters, the 5th Ala-
bama Infantry. Schade gave the tour group a thorough presentation on Blackford’s Sharpshooters and their vital role during the Battle of Gettysburg. Afterward, the infantrymen staged a skirmish. Civil War history is an essential part of the Farnsworth House Inn experience, both outside and inside the several buildings that comprise the Farnsworth House Inn. I met with the Farnsworth House Inn’s longtime owner, Loring Shultz, who with his wife Jean, acquired this house, in 1972 from the Black family who had formerly called the place the “Sleepy Hollow Inn.” It is on the National Register of Historical Places (October 7, 2004). The original wooden structure of the building was most likely constructed in 1810. The brick structure of the main building was built in 1833 while the original owner, John McFarlane, still owned the home until he passed away in 1851. After his death, the house became the property of the Bank of Gettysburg and subsequently passed through many hands until the Black family bought the house in 1908. Further construction on the house followed in 1929. The house remained with the black family until they sold it to Shultz. Loring Shultz is an amiable man who appears younger than his eighty plus years. The B&B, or bed & breakfast, the tavern, the gift shop and the restaurants have prospered under his direction to
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become a cornerstone in the town of Gettysburg. Every Remembrance Day, when Union and Confederate Civil War reenactors convene to Gettysburg for the Remembrance Day Parade in November, the Farnsworth House Inn is located directly on the route of the parade, which is a very special celebration for residents and visitors alike. According to Shultz, Farnsworth House Inn has several historical connections to the Battle of Gettysburg. The garret, or attic of the original main building was most likely the factor of a tragic incident on July 3, 1863. Mary Virginia, “Ginnie” or “Jennie” Wade, twenty years old, was kneading dough to make bread for the hungry Union soldiers at the home of her married sister, Georgia Anna Wade McClellan. Georgia had recently given birth and needed her mother, sister “Ginnie” and her two much younger brothers to help her while she took care of her newborn. The Mother and child were not immediately evacuated despite a fierce battle raging around the home. Confederate sharpshooters, possibly Dole’s Brigade from Georgia, were stationed in the attic of the Farnsworth House Inn. Ballistic experts have visited the Farnsworth House Inn and have measured from the attic to the door where “Ginnie” Wade was bending down to knead the bread for the hungry soldiers, determining it to be 610 feet. The shot that passed through Wade’s left shoulder blade and pierced her heart, killing her instantly, was very likely from one of the sharpshooters in the attic. Such was the heartbreaking fate for the only civilian killed during the entire battle. The basement in the Farnsworth House Inn was converted into a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg. Bedding was ripped up for bandages and a list of items including a saddle, were discovered to be missing afterward. As Shultz recalled, Harvey Sweney, the owner of the building then, left a document, a requisition list of items for reimbursement by the federal
Loring Shultz, the proprietor of the Farnsworth House Inn, kneels next to a portrait of Union Major General Dan E. Sickles and next to his glass enclosed display of Civil War period artifacts. Minie balls have been discovered in the mortar in the attic. (Nancy Jennis Olds) government. Harvey Sweney, whose name is synonymous with Sweney’s Tavern, one of the additional buildings forming part of the Farnsworth House Inn, is noteworthy for being an eyewitness during a momentous day on November 19, 1863. As Sweney stood on the front steps of his place, President Abraham Lincoln passed through the streets of Gettysburg on his way to make one of the most memorable speeches ever given, the Gettysburg Address. Sweney, evidently touched by the event, wrote an eloquent account of his experience to his brother. It is remarkable that the two-story brick building survived the continuous musket fire and shelling that rained down on the town of Gettysburg for three excruciating days. On the south side and front of the building are remnants of over 135 minié ball strikes and at least one artillery shell perilously stuck in the side of the house. Sara Black Gillean told Shultz that her father had the artillery shell pulled out for fear that it would one day fall on a pedestrian! Perhaps one of the most dramatic and intense stories about the
LONGSTREET
E A R LY
LEE
Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won
E D WA R D H . B O N E K E M P E R , I I I The Myth Of The Lost Cause book cover. See the author’s Smithsonian talk on this controversial topic at www.cspan.org (search “Bonekemper”). Buy the book at amazon.com, bookstores, or directly (signed/personalized) from author (ebonekemper@ comcast.net).
The Farnsworth House Inn on Baltimore Street in Gettysburg. The inn was originally wood framed and built circa 1810. The brick exterior was constructed in 1833. Farnsworth House Inn is actually a cluster of buildings including restaurants, a tavern, a gift shop and a B&B. (Nancy Jennis Olds)
Farnsworth House Inn is revealed in its namesake, Brigadier General Elon John Farnsworth. Farnsworth, born in 1837 in Green Oak, Michigan, was a rising star as a first Lieutenant for the 8th Illinois Cavalry at the outbreak of the Civil War. His uncle, John F. Farnsworth was a prominent politician with the Democratic Party, who switched to the Republican Party and saw service as a Union general as well as his nephew. On June 29, 1863, Elon John Farnsworth was promoted to brigadier general just as two other noted cavalry officers, George Custer and Wesley Merritt, were promoted. Brigadier General Farnsworth took command of the First Brigade, 3rd Division, Calvary Corps, Army of the Potomac, which was under the overall command of Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick. General Kilpatrick was aptly nicknamed “Kill-Cavalry” Kilpatrick for sending cavalry into reckless charges with huge casualties. On July 3, 1863, as the Union army repulsed Pickett’s Charge, Brigadier-General Kilpatrick ordered Brigadier General Farnsworth to send his cavalry brigade over rocky terrain toward Big Round Top to rout the Confederate infantry, part of General James Longstreet’s First Corps. Captain A.C. Parsons of the 1st Vermont Cavalry was present during this exchange of orders. Farnsworth initially argued against this attack, considering this assault a hopeless mission sacrificing good and seasoned cavalrymen. General Kilpatrick, almost accusing General Farnsworth of cowardice, offered to lead the charge if Farnsworth refused to. Brigadier General Farnsworth then “rose in his stirrups, with his sabre half-drawn; he looked magnificent in his passion, and cried, Take that back!’’ General Kilpatrick quickly retracted his statement with an apology, but “Farnsworth spoke calmly, General, if you order the charge, I will lead it, but you must take the awful responsibility.” Following his orders, General Farnsworth led his cavalry troops to Big Round Top by way of the Slater Farm. Two horses were shot under General Farnsworth, and he was struck five times, succumbing to his wounds on the field. There were about
July 2016 sixty-five Union casualties and the insurmountable loss of a promising young general. Farnsworth’s final resting place is in Rockton, Illinois at the Rockton Township Cemetery.
Civil War News paid a visit to the Farnsworth House Inn. Shultz can also claim Civil War Confederate heritage on his maternal side of the family and a fasci-
One of several encased displays in the attic of the Farnsworth House Inn. Note the two authentic Ketchum hand grenades center right. These grenades were invented by William F. Ketchum and patented on August 20, 1861. (Nancy Jennis Olds) There are many circumstances that probably led Loring Shultz to become the current owner of the Farnsworth House Inn. As a boy of seven or eight, Shultz lived on Liberty Street in Gettysburg, which gave him and his friends ample opportunity to find minié balls whenever they visited Gettysburg’s battlefields. One of his friends dug into a dead tree trunk and found seven minié balls in the hollow of the dead tree. Those were the days when a friendly park service ranger would ask, “what did you find?” instead of confiscating those historical treasures! A devoted fan of Ron Maxwell’s movie “Gettysburg”, Shultz has amassed a notable collection of uniforms, hats, props and other memorabilia from the movie set. These items are on display in Sweney’s Tavern. Segments of the movie were filmed on parts of the Gettysburg battlefield. On occasion, actors who appeared in the movie “Gettysburg”, Tom Berenger, portraying Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Stephen Lang, portraying Major General George E. Pickett, and Patrick Falci, portraying Lieutenant General A.P. Hill have
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nating story about a confrontation involving a pro-Union ancestor on his father’s side. His great grandfather, Trooper J.J. Starkey, served in the 18th Virginia Cavalry, Company H under the command of Captain Frank Imboden, the brother of Confederate Brigadier General John D. Imboden. Another great grandfather, Captain John Pyles, served in the 18th Virginia Cavalry, Company K. General Imboden and his troops were instrumental in guarding the retreat of a train of wagons carrying the wounded from Gettysburg to Williamsport. Imboden’s forces, including the 18th Virginia Cavalry, successfully halted Brigadier General John Buford’s cavalry from occupying Williamsport and capturing the wagons and taking more prisoners. Massive rainfall and flooding in the region prevented the Confederates from continuing until the river level fell and a new bridge could be built for crossing the Potomac River. The retreating Confederate forces narrowly escaped Major General George Meade’s pursuit. The Shultz connection in Cashtown, Pennsylvania during the Civil
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War involved a relative, John Shultz, Loring Shultz’ father’s uncle, and it was a case of “getting even”, according to Shultz. Before this incident on June 30, 1863, there was already bad blood in the region after Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry organized small raids into Pennsylvania in 1862, reaching as far as Chambersburg. The wife and two kids of a Cashtown citizen were driving their horse-drawn buggy when some of General Stuart’s men approached them and captured their horse. The wife and kids were left helpless in a horseless buggy. Their husband and dad never forgot this injustice, and he would bide his time to seek vengeance. Just before the Battle of Gettysburg, he and his gang of Jayhawkers, a pro-Union vigilante force, including John Shultz, got their wish. They attacked Confederates coming through the pass and mortally wounded a Georgia soldier who succumbed from his wounds in the Cashtown Inn. John Shultz was a wanted man but was able to elude capture. Shultz enjoys his family’s connection with Civil War history and is an active member of the Private John Wesley Culp Memorial Camp #1961, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Three of his four children still live in Gettysburg and are involved in the family business, and his daughter Patti initiated the “Ghost Walks and Presentations” in 1986. Presently a staff of twenty, all wearing woolen uniforms or civilian period clothes, are involved with the ghost tours, which
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Outside of the Farnsworth House Inn-Blackford’s Sharpshooter, the 5th Alabama Infantry Civil War reenactors. Facing the front: Major Eugene Blackford as portrayed by Brian Schade. Schade tells the spectators how Blackford’s Sharpshooters were involved in the Battle of Gettysburg as the Confederate reenactors attempt to defend themselves. (Nancy Jennis Olds) has generated media coverage on the Travel Channel, A&E, the History Channel and the Syfy Channel. Some of the bedrooms, the Sweney Room and the Sara Black Room have been known to cause high levels of paranormal activity. I was permitted to explore a large part of the Farnsworth House Inn including the attic, basement and some of the bedrooms, and observing Loring Shultz’s vast collection of Civil War era artifacts throughout the many rooms in the Farnsworth House Inn. What came to mind is how do his visitors respond to being guests in a historical B&B? Shultz,
who has kept guest books enriched with comments from his visitors over the years, replied that fifty per cent of the guests plan to visit the Farnsworth House Inn for the ghost stories, and fifty per cent want to be there to learn more about the Civil War history. Either way, they are certainly welcome to sleep on it! FURTHER INFORMATION: Farnsworth House Inn 401 Baltimore Street Gettysburg, PA 17325 Phone: (717) 334-8838 info@farnsworthhouseinn.com www.farnsworthhouseinn.com
Civil War News
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July 2016
German World War II POWs At Gettysburg Battlefield By John Punola
GETTYSBURG, PA.—In the spring of 1944, America was heavily engaged in World War II, and men of the armed forces were fighting on many fronts in Europe against the Germans and in the Pacific against the Japanese. Times were tense as the world awaited the anticipated Allied invasion of the European Continent which hopefully would lead to the end of the war. The Germans were offering stiff resistance and progress was slow and costly. In America, people were working hard to support the war effort and were praying for an early end of the war. In the quiet, sleepy town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, there were little signs of war. The town continued to maintain its place as a popular tourist attraction, and thousands came to see the battlefield and Civil War sites.
the surrender of the famed Afrika Korps and 275,000 German and Italian prisoners were taken. These POWs were transported to holding camps in Algeria to await further movement to prisoner of war camps in America. As soon as transport ships were available, the prisoners of war (POW) were loaded for the trip to America and then to designated POW camps scattered thru out the forty-eight states. Once the transports arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, the prisoners were transported via rail to camps at numerous locations and many states. To the surprise of Gettysburg citizens, a temporary tent camp was erected right on the sacred grounds of the battlefield. The first arrivals entered the camp on June 20, 1944. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire and carefully guarded by military troops.
The present day site of Pickett’s Confederate assault places the POW Tent Camp near the center of the charge. The greatest and most decisive battle of the Civil War was fought on the fields around Gettysburg, and numerous tourist and descendants of men who fought there July 1-3, 1863 came to pay homage to the dead and visit the countless monuments that were found on all parts of the battlefield. However, the situation was soon destined to change. As Allied armies turned the tide in Europe, it would soon have an effect on the town of Gettysburg, Pa. The North African campaign had come to a victorious conclusion with
The camp measured 600' by 400' and contained 56 tents plus four guard towers, the tent camp housed about 500 prisoners. The tent camp was located just West of Emmitsburg Road, in the field close to the High Water Mark. The disturbing thing about the location of the tent camp was its location, which was on hallowed grounds, the site of General George Pickett’s immortal, but failed charge on July 3, 1863. The tents were relatively close to the clump of trees that served as the aiming point of
A drawing of the German POW Tent Camp made by one of the army personnel in 1944. No known photos exist. the attacking Confederates. The very thought that a German POW camp would occupy the exact ground where thousands of Confederates and Union soldiers bled and died was shocking to the historians and the general public. The United States War Dept. was granted permission by the National Park Service to locate a prisoner of war work camp on the battlefield just West of the high water mark, along the Emmitsburg Road. On May 31, 1944, fifty war prisoners from Camp George G. Meade, MD, under the guard of U.S. Army troops began work placing poles for the stockade to surround the tent camp. The fifty German prisoners were housed temporarily in the National Guard Armory, Confederate Ave., Gettysburg, Pa. Soon another hundred prisoners arrived and finally an additional three hundred fifty.
canneries, both fruit and vegetable, three orchards, seventeen farms, one stone quarry, one fertilizer plant and a hide plant. The prisoners were escorted by Army guards to and from their assigned locations, Littlestown, Hanover, Chambersburg, Middletown, Biglerville and Emmitsburg, Pa. Farmers welcomed the prisoners and soon and a good relationship was established. The purpose of the camp location within the boundary of the historic Gettysburg Civil War battlefield was to provide badly need workers to harvest the crops in that area. The 1944 farm crop was abundant, and a shortage of farm hands could have resulted in the loss of much of the ripening crops. The POWs were immediately put to work and began with the pea harvest plus other crops as they ripened. In the fall, there was
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Work on the new tent camp was completed on June 20, 1944, and all prisoners moved in. Any farmer, fruit grower or packing plant in need of help could make application to the local employment service in Gettysburg. The man in charge of the prisoner work details was E.A. Crouse. It was his responsibility to coordinate the contracts with local farmers and industries, then coordinate with the military. The original group of prisoners was assigned to fourteen
a huge apple crop and the harvest carried on into the middle of October. With the approaching winter season, the tent camp was not suited to cope with the cold weather of Pennsylvania, so a permanent camp was needed. This problem was solved when an abandoned CCC camp, later a Boys Scout camp, was chosen for the new prisoners’ quarters. The converted camp was located on Seminary Ridge, just beyond Confederate Ave. and was given the name Camp Sharpe. About two hundred prisoners
moved into this permanent location on November 15, 1944, where they remained until the end of the war. The remaining prisoners from the tent camp were sent to other locations in Pennsylvania. With the harvesting completed for the year, the prisoners housed at Camp Sharpe would now spend the winter months cutting wood pulp for the nearby mills, and working in the stone quarry and hide factory. The prevailing wage scale was one dollar per hour paid to the employers by the U.S. Government, with the prisoners receiving ten cents per hour that could be used to purchase miscellaneous items at the camp. There was another kind of picking performed within the sacred Gettysburg battlefield property. There was an acute shortage of scrap metal, and the National Park Service was called upon to donate surplus metal from the battlefield. In 1942, the battlefield contributed 18 tons of scrap metal and was asked to survey the vast battlefield for possible future donations. As a result, further scrap drives removed the many pyramids of cannon balls, a large number of cannons, metal fences, anything that could be spared. Cannons used during the battle of July 1863 were spared, but those build after the time of the battle fell victim to the smelting mills. It is interesting to compare the conditions and the treatment that the Americans presented to the German prisoners. They enjoyed relative comfort, were well fed and were paid for their hours spent gathering crops from the nearby farms. After the war, they were returned to their homeland. Many prisoners later made return trips to visit the site of their wartime confinement. Some remained to become American citizens. On the same grounds of the Gettysburg Battlefield, during the battle between General George Meade and General Robert E. Lee, there were a large number of prisoners taken by each side. These prisoners were ultimately located in distant prisoner camps in the North and South, and a large number of them never lived to return to their homes after the war. How times have changed. Can you imagine the surprised look on the faces of visiting tourist who came to Gettysburg during 1944-45 and saw a “tent city” prisoner of war camp in the middle of the spacious grounds where General George Pickett made his valiant charge hoping to win the battle for the Confederates. The permanent prisoner of war camp would have been behind Confederate Avenue in the assembly area for the troops preparing for the charge. After the war had ended, Camp Sharpe POW camp was dismantled and sold as scrap to local farmers. Presently, the former grounds of the camp serves as a youth campground. The only remains are the large fireplace that stood inside the mess hall and meeting place. Our thanks to the Gettysburg National Park Service for their assistance with this article. Information from local newspaper files also provided historical content.
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Civil War News
16G
July 2016
Brigadier General Elon J. Farnsworth By Carl Sell Jr.
GETTYSBURG, PA.—Brigadier General Elon John Farnsworth is the only high ranking Union officer killed in the Civil War at Gettysburg who is not remembered on the battlefield by either a statue or individual monument.
Brig. Gen. Elon John Farnsworth. That’s probably because at first it was rumored that he took his own life rather than face capture. As it turns out, Farnsworth apparently opened fire when called upon to surrender. He then was killed by a barrage of shots from surrounding Confederate forces. Confederates at the scene claimed that Farnsworth “blew his brains out” rather than surrender at the base of Round Top in the late afternoon of July 3. An examination by Federal surgeons who recovered his body showed that he was shot four times in the abdomen and once high up in the thigh. The information was contained in a letter written in 1888 by P. O’Mania Edson, assistant surgeon for the First Vermont Cavalry. Edson said he and Surgeon Lucius Woods of the Fifth New York Cavalry found Farnsworth’s body the next morning and carried it to the hospital of the Third Cavalry Division. “General Farnsworth certainly did not blow his own brains out, nor did anyone do it for him,” Edson wrote. Confederate fire killed two horses under Farnsworth, and he died while surrounded on the battlefield. He refused to surrender and was said to have killed one of his would-be
attackers before being killed himself. Another report said he swore he would not surrender and turned his pistol on himself and shot himself in the head. The surgeon’s report debunked that explanation of his death. Farnsworth had been promoted to brigadier general along with George Armstrong Custer and Wesley Merritt on June 29, just four days before his death. He was given command of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Cavalry Corps under Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick. His command included the Fifth New York, Eighteenth Pennsylvania, First Vermont and First West Virginia. Custer commanded the Second Brigade and Merritt a Reserve Brigade that participated in the ill-fated charge at Round Top. Custer was with Brigadier General David Gregg and fought Confederate cavalry under Jeb Stuart to a standstill behind Cemetery Ridge earlier that day. Farnsworth’s attack happened at the base of Round Top after General Kilpatrick learned that the Confederates had failed to take Cemetery Ridge with Pickett’s Charge at the center of the Union line. Kilpatrick ordered his cavalry to attack a stout line of Confederate infantry that was battling the Union defense at the top of the hill. At first, Farnsworth questioned his leader’s order to attack the dug-in Confederates, fearing slaughter of his command. An angry Kilpatrick questioned Farnsworth’s bravery and offered to lead the attack himself. With that, Farnsworth wheeled his horse, ordered a charge
by the First Vermont and led the way. The Union horsemen galloped through two Confederate units and turned right toward those attacking the heights. They were flanked on both sides and Farnsworth’s horse was killed in “no man’s land” between the enemy units. He commandeered another mount, but he and the horse were killed as they neared the Confederate line at the base of Round Top. They were only yards away from the guns of the Fourth and Fifteenth Alabama. A sergeant with the Fifteenth Alabama reported that Farnsworth had killed himself rather than surrender as ordered. Ironically, one of the Confederates serving with the Fourth Alabama that day was Major William McKendree Robbins, who would be appointed as the southern member on the first Gettysburg Commission by President Grover Cleveland in 1894. Robbins, a lawyer, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1873 to 1879. During that time, he chaired the House committee on Expenditures in the Department of War. He died in 1905 and was replaced on the Commission by Lunsford Lindsay Lomax, who was a colonel who led the Eleventh Virginia Cavalry at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. A monument to Major William Wells, who led a battalion of the First Vermont in the charge, is located on Confederate Avenue. Wells, who was wounded, escaped captivity and would become a Medal of Honor recipient almost 30 years later, just months after his death, for his her-
oism that day. He would rise to the rank of Brevet Major General. A second monument to the First Vermont is nearby. It includes the fact that Farnsworth led the charge and fell near the spot on the monument. The First Vermont suffered 67 casualties in the charge. In 1888, the National Review published a story that suggested a Farnsworth/First Cavalry Brigade Monument at Gettysburg, but it never came to fruition. The monument was to consist of a mound of boulders collected from the area on which a statue of Farnsworth would be erected. Farnsworth began his career in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, which had been organized by his uncle. He then was an aide to Brigadier General Alfred Pleasanton, the Union Cavalry Commander at Gettysburg. Farnsworth first was buried at Gettysburg shortly after the battle. Within a month, his uncle, Congressman John F. Farnsworth of Illinois, retrieved his body and took him home to be buried in Rockford Illinois Cemetery next to his mother and father, James Patten Farnsworth and Achsah Hudson Farnsworth. He was 25 years old at the time of his death. John F. Farnsworth had organized a Union cavalry brigade which fought against Confederate commander J.E.B. Stuart during the Maryland campaign in 1862. He became a brigadier general in December 1862, but resigned to return to Congress in March 1863. Major General John F. Reynolds is the highest ranking Union officer to be killed at Gettysburg.
There are three monuments to General Reynolds on the battlefield and his statue is included on the Pennsylvania Monument. There also is an equestrian statue on Chambersburg Pike. Major General Reynolds was killed by a sharpshooter’s bullet while astride his horse on July 1. He is credited with delaying a Confederate advance that day that allowed Commander George Meade time to arrive with the main Union army. A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he is buried in his hometown. A monument to Brigadier General Samuel Zook stands on Wheatfield Road, south of Gettysburg. He was mortally wounded on July 2 while leading the Third Brigade of the First Division of the Second Corps in an attack on the Wheatfield. He died the next day and is buried in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Brigadier General Stephen Weed of the Ninety-First Pennsylvania was killed by a sharpshooter July 2 near Little Round Top. His monument nearby also honors Captain Charles Hazlett, who was struck and killed by a bullet while leaning over Weed’s body. A monument to Strong Vincent stands on the south slope of Little Round Top where he was mortally wounded on July 2 while leading the Third Brigade of the First Division, Fifth Corps. He died five days later. A colonel at the time he was wounded, General Meade later backdated his promotion to Brigadier General to July 3. His brigade included the Twentieth Maine.
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Civil War News
18G
July 2016
An Army On The Move: Robert E. Lee & His Confederates In June, 1863 By Dr. Allen C. Guelzo
“We are on the move...to Maryland and Pennsylvania,” wrote Jerome Yates, a soldier in the 16th Mississippi on June 17th, 1863, and “I am in hopes that we will gorge Lincoln with his own blood and put an end to the war.” Or if not gorging Lincoln, then “it is my honest wish that my rifle may draw tears from many a Northern mother or sighs from many a father.” Not everyone among his fellow-soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia nursed quite the same bloodthirsty intentions. But in that summer of 1863, Confederate soldiers like Yates had every reason to expect that they were on a campaign which would bring the Civil War to an end by bringing its costs directly to Northern homes, Northern politicians and the principal Northern army, the Army of the Potomac.1 Clearly, all the political balances in the North seemed to be dipping in favor of a negotiated peace. The previous September, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been met with something less than enthusiasm. “While commendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks have declined, and troops come forward more slowly than ever,” Lincoln admitted to vice-president Hannibal Hamlin. “This, looked soberly in the face, is not very satisfactory.”2 In the off-year elections that fall, Lincoln’s party had lost over thirty seats in the House of Representatives because of the Proclamation, and seen two key Northern governorships fall into the hands of rabidly anti-war Democrats, Horatio Seymour in New York, and Joel Parker in New Jersey. Coming up over the horizon in 1863 were two more key governors’ elections, in Pennsylvania and Ohio. If those states were lost to anti-war Democrats, then that solid block of hostile governors and legislatures could demand that Lincoln open negotiations with the South. “I fear our country is on the verge of anarchy and despotism,” wailed John A. Geary, a division commander in the
Army of the Potomac’s 12th Corps, “God save us individually and our country from the treason which surrounds us on every hand.”3 The fragility of the Union’s politics was appreciated by no one more keenly than by the Army of Northern Virginia’s commander, Robert E. Lee. “We should neglect no honorable means of dividing and weakening our enemies,” he wrote to Jefferson Davis on June 10th, and for Lee, the most direct way to weaken and divide the North was to strike into Pennsylvania. Invading the Quaker State would paralyze the political hand of Lincoln’s Republicans still further, and “give all the encouragement we can...to the rising peace party of the North.” True, the “peace party” imagined that it was merely promoting peaceful reunion of the country, not Confederate independence. But Lee did not care. Once peace talks began, nobody would be eager to go back to war, and the result would, by default, be “a distinct and independent national existence” for the Confederacy.4 Lee’s soldiers were even more contemptuous of Northern political stamina. Southerners had no respect for what Stephen Dodson Ramseur, a division commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, called the “cold distrust and mean deceit, which is inborn with the Yankees.” A Catholic chaplain with the 14th Louisiana was “sensibly struck” by how Northerners had “none of that grace of manners, high-toned sentiment, or intellectual culture that you find in old Virginia.” David Johnston of the 7th Virginia regarded “Mr. Lincoln” as “a very homely, ugly man...not at all prepossessing...the ‘Illinois Ape.’” Johnston rejoiced that he “lived in the South, among a southern people in thought, feeling and sentiment.” Another Virginian, William Henry Morgan, admitted that his fellows of the 11th Virginia were “quite green and inexperienced in military affairs generally.” But unlike their opponents, they were “as brave and faithful soldiers as any...always ready to their duty, to go wherever ordered; standing firm in action.”5
This was an army that was not shy about understanding its mission as the defense of black slavery. Slavery, said Dodson Ramseur, is “the very source of our existence, the greatest blessing both for master and slave, that could have been bestowed upon us.” More than one in ten soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia actually owned slaves. And if we remember that three-quarters of the army were young, single men who were not yet old enough to have acquired substantial property and that we might better base our calculations on whether they came from slave-owning households, then the number of those with personal involvement in slave-owning rises to nearly 40%, and the percentage among the officers rises to fully half.6 Nor did the Army of Northern Virginia show much sign of the war being a ‘rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.’ Of the 1,900 men who served in the 9th Virginia during the war, 205 were farmers, 56 were carpenters, 18 were house-painters, and 30 were “mechanics.” But the 9th also listed on its rolls 20 merchants, 7 professors, 6 doctors, 5 lawyers, an editor, an accountant and a piano maker. The 19th Virginia, recruited mostly from Albemarle County, listed the usual farmers (299 of them) and forty laborers, but also 38 clerks, 8 lawyers, an “ambrotypist,” a dentist, a distiller, a well-digger, and a carriage-maker. Four of the company commanders were farmers, two were lawyers, one was a teacher and one was a merchant. One lieutenant, John L. Cochran, was wealthy enough to bring along his own slave.7 A military observer from the imperial Austrian army was surprised to find that Col. James B. Walton’s Washington Artillery was, “every member of it,” a “gentleman of property and position,” while Walton himself was “a wealthy merchant” who “had cheerfully sacrificed all his worldly advantages...preferring the hardships of camp life and ‘the cause,’ to luxury and ease at home under Yankee tyranny.” The Army of Northern Virginia “was the most enthusiastic and irresistible fighting machine on the face of the earth,”
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General Robert E. Lee.
(Library of Congress)
remembered a captain in the 1st Texas, “thoroughly trained and inured to every hardship and danger, yet full of patriotism and enthusiastic life and vigor.” Even Robert E. Lee, a man not inclined to boasting, was happy to affirm that “there never were such men in an army before. They will go anywhere and do anything....”8 The Army of Northern Virginia returned the compliment by boasting of Lee. “Oh!” wrote Lee’s adjutant, Walter H. Taylor, “he’s a trump, a soldier, gentleman & above all a Christian.” And successful: Lee had saved Richmond from capture in the spring of 1862, won overwhelming victories at Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and staved off defeat at Antietam against overwhelming odds. Lee and his army had “performed the most brilliant and daring feats of Generalship and soldiership ever performed,” wrote William Dorsey Pender.9 Lee’s opponents joined the chorus, one federal officer telling a captain in the 1st Tennessee that “Robert E. Lee combines the organizing capacity of a Marlborough, the intuition of a Turenne, the celerity of a Napoleon, and the tenacity of a Wellington.” And Charles Marshall, Lee’s military secretary, never forgot the tumultuous greeting Lee received at Chancellorsville from “fierce soldiers with the faces blackened with the smoke of battle.” It was “one long, unbroken cheer...high above the roar of battle.” Marshall could only think that “it must have been from such a scene that men in ancient times rose to the dignity of gods.”10 But Lee could also be something of an enigma to those who worked closely with him. For one thing, he was not a very good communicator, especially when it came to unpleasant communications. Union General Abner Doubleday remembered Lee from “when he was a Captain
of Engineers” in the old Army, and although Lee was known for being “very considerate and careful in his intercourse with his inferiors...he never seemed to convey reproof” except “in the driest manner.” In the Confederate War Department, Lee was known for being “as silent as the grave,” and limited his official communications to the “brief and jejune.”11 And not just in the War Department. George Campbell Brown, a staff officer, “frequently noticed... that Gen. Lee’s instructions to his Corps Comrs are of a very comprehensive & general description & frequently admit of several interpretations – in fact will allow them to do almost anything, provided only it be a success.” Even his nephew and biographer Fitzhugh Lee admitted that Lee’s “reluctance to oppose the wishes of others, or to order them to do anything that would be disagreeable and to which they would not consent” was a serious shortcoming. “There was but little of the stern Agamemnon in the character of Lee,” recalled John S. Mosby.12 That did not mean that Lee lacked severity, especially when subordinates failed to discern intentions he thought he had made clear. Alexander Pendleton was so coolly treated by Lee after Pendleton’s commander misread Lee’s directions that “I never felt so small in my life. I lost no time bowing myself out and riding away, firmly resolving never to hazard any inquiry or conjecture to General Lee again.” Much as he revered Lee, Walter Taylor had to admit that Lee could be aloof and unappreciative. “I never worked so hard to please any one, and with so little effect as with General Lee,” he complained, “The truth is Genl. Lee doesn’t make our time pleasant here.”13 And then there were the occasional explosions of public anger. When the Army of the Potomac managed
July 2016 to slip away after its catastrophe at Chancellorsville, Lee angrily pursued Dorsey Pender with the accusation, “I tell you what to do, but you don’t do it.... That is what you young men always do. You allow these people to get away.” The common private might adore Lee, but those who had to work closely with him found Lee demanding, quick to blame, and slow to forgive.14 It was just as well that Lee did not admit people to his secrets because Lee harbored serious doubts that the Confederacy had much chance of success. Lee had never been an enthusiast for either secession or slavery. In the years before the war, his political profile had been meager, tending generally in the direction of the Whigs, and he had the reputation of being “a thorough emancipationist.” It was not until he was confronted with the likelihood of taking charge of a federal invasion of Virginia in 1861 that he finally decided to cast his lot with “my native State.”15 Even then, his lack of fire-eating enthusiasm was noticeable. Lee carried around within him the knowledge that the sheer weight of Northern manpower and production would, slowly but inevitably, overwhelm the Confederacy, and he felt like a Cassandra, struggling to “get our people, unaccustomed to the necessities of war, to comprehend & promptly execute the measures required for the occasion.” Even in South Carolina, the birthplace of secession, he complained that “the people do not seem to realize that there is war.” Still less did they realize that there would be no intervention by France or Britain to save them because Europeans understood the war as “a contest in which one party is contending for abstract slavery & the other against it.”16 If there were any chance for the Confederacy to succeed, it would have to hit hard and hit early, and nowhere could he hit harder or more quickly than by invading Pennsylvania. Within a week of taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee was urging Davis to abandon the idea of a defensive war and strike north across the Potomac. The Army could “in that event cross Maryland into Penn – It would call all the enemy from our Southern Coast” and “change the character of the war.”17 But Lee could never be satisfied that his exhortations to sacrifice had any effect. The Confederate Congress did not seem “to be able to do anything except eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.” Much as he was proud of an Army that would “go anywhere and do anything,” he railed continuously against its propensity for looting and lack of discipline. “The material of which it is composed is the best in the world,” but it sorely needed to be “properly disciplined and instructed.”18 Still, the real fault was of the Southern people in general, who did not seem to take their situation with the requisite seriousness. “Our people,” he wrote in 1862, “have not been earnest enough, have thought too much of themselves & their ease, & instead of turning out to a man, have been content to
Civil War News nurse themselves & their dimes, & leave the protection of themselves & families to others. ...This is no way to accomplish our independence.” Without that earnestness, the war would end “just as I have expected it to end from the first,” in a Union triumph.19 Only one thing might snatch away a victory from “the most desolating war that was ever practiced” and that was “a revolution” in the North. And the best way to incite that revolution was to invade Pennsylvania, the key state linking the Union west and the Union northeast, and occupy its farms and valleys with enough impunity to demonstrate the folly of Lincoln’s war. “Our true policy is, as far as we can, so to employ our own forces as to give occupation to his at points of our selection.”20 If by one mistake or another, the Army of the Potomac straggled itself in pursuit into unsupported fragments, then Lee could turn and defeat them piecemeal, and add to the Northern political terror. The Union army would be “obliged to follow us by forced marches” and wear themselves into exhaustion and disorganization, and that might allow the Confederates to “crush them, beat them in detail, and in a few hours throw the whole army into disorder.... The war will be over and we shall achieve the recognition of our independence.”21 The Army of Northern Virginia set off for Pennsylvania on June 3rd, leaving the baffled Federals chasing their dust. As the lengthy coils of Confederate infantry swayed up to the Potomac, William Seymour, a Louisianan, laughed “to see the long lines of naked men” fording the river, “their clothing and accouterments slung to their guns and carried above their heads to keep them dry.” But the laughing was replaced by cheering when Robert E. Lee rode along. “Old Gen Lee passed us yesterday morning,” John Lee Holt in the 56th Virginia wrote to his wife, “We gave the old fellow a lusty cheer & as he passed he took off his hat & saluted us & passed on & seemed as tranquil as the morning sun.” The tranquility would not last for long.22
(Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing, 1960), 47; Johnston, The Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War (Portland, OR: Glass & Prudhomme, 1914), 3, 5-6; Morgan, Personal Reminiscences of the War of 1861-5; In camp-en bivouac-on the marchon picket-on the skirmish line-on the battlefield-and in prison (Lynchburg: J.P. Bell, 1911), 24-5. 6. Gallagher, Ramseur, 17; Joseph Glatthaar, General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse (New York: Free Press, 2008), 18-22. 7. Benjamin H. Trask, 9th Virginia Infantry (Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, 1984), 45, 47-8; Ervin L. Jordan and Herbert A. Thomas, 19th Virginia Infantry (Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, 1987), 2-3, 39-41. 8. Fitzgerald Ross, A Visit to the Cities and Camps of the Confederate States (Edinburgh: William Black-wood, 1865), 53-54; George T. Todd, A Sketch of History: The First Texas Regiment, ed. H.B. Simpson (Waco, TX: Texian Press, 1963), 14; Lee to John Bell Hood (May 21, 1863), in Wartime Papers, 490. 9. Lee’s Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor, 1862-1865, ed. R.L. Tower (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 6; Pender to Fanny Pender (September 2, 1862), in One of Lee’s Best Men: The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender, ed. W.W. Hassler (1965; Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 171. 10. Capt. J.N. Turney, “The First Tennessee at Gettysburg,” Confederate Veteran (December 1900), 537; Marshall, An Aide de-Camp of Lee, ed.
19G F. Maurice (Boston: Little, Brown, 1927), 173; Mosby, “A Rejoinder to General Robertson,” Century Magazine 35 (December 1887), 323. 11. My Life in the Old Army: The Reminiscences of Abner Doubleday from the Collections of the New-York Historical Society, ed. Joseph E. Chance (Ft. Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1998), 214-5; Inside the Confederate Government: The Diary of Robert Garlick Hill Kean, ed. Edward Younger (New York: Oxford University Press, 1957), 85. 12. Campbell Brown’s Civil War: With Ewell in the Army of Northern Virginia, ed. Terry Jones (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001), 248; Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee (New York: D. Appleton, 1894), 280. 13. Taylor to Bettie Saunders (August 8 & November 15, 1863), in Lee’s Adjutant, 68; Susan Pendleton Lee, Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D.: Rector of Latimer Parish, Lexington, Virginia (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1893), 295. 14. Ethan S. Rafuse, Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy, 18631865 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), 28. 15. John B. Jones, A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, ed. J.I. Robertson (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2015), 2:360. 16. Lee to Mary A.R. Lee (August 4, 1861) and Annie C. Lee (December 8, 1861), in Wartime Papers, 61, 91; Lee to Davis (July 6, 1864), in Lee’s Despatches: Unpublished Letters of General Robert E. Lee, CSA, to Jefferson Davis, eds. D.S. Freeman &
G. McWhiney (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1957), 219. 17. Lee to Davis (June 5, 1862), in Lee’s Despatches, 5-6. 18. Roy Blount, Robert E. Lee: A Life (New York: Penguin, 2003), 136; Michael Fellman, The Making of Robert E. Lee (New York: Random House, 2000), 128. 19. Lee to Annie Lee (March 2, 1862), in Wartime Papers, 121; John Sergeant Wise, End of an Era: The Last Days of Traditional Southern Culture as Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Confederate Soldier, ed. P.D. Sporer (1902; Chester, NY: Anza Publishing, 2005), 301. 20. Lee to Davis (June 25, 1863), in Wartime Papers, 532. 21. Trimble, “The Battle and Campaign of Gettysburg,” Southern Historical Society Papers 26 (January-December 1898), 120-121; Trimble to John C. Bachelder (February 8, 1883), in The Bachelder Papers: Gettysburg In Their Own Words, eds. Audrey & David Ladd (Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1994), 2:925-926. 22. Seymour, diary entry for June 23, 1863, in The Civil War Memoirs of William J. Seymour: Reminiscences of a Louisiana Tiger, ed. Terry Jones (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991), 64-65; Holt to (June 16, 1863), in I Wrote You Word: The Poignant Letters of Private Holt, ed., J.A. Mumper (Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, 1993), 140.
Dr. Allen C. Guelzo is the Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program at Gettysburg College. He is the author of Gettysburg The Last Invasion and three-time Lincoln Prize winner.
End Notes:
1. Jerome B. Yates to Marie Yates (June 17, 1863), in The 16th Mississippi Infantry: Civil War Letters and Reminiscences, ed. Robert G. Evans (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 170. 2. Lincoln to Hannibal Hamlin (September 28, 1862), in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. R.P. Basler (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 5:444. 3. Geary to Mary Geary (September 25, 1862), in A Politician Goes to War: The Civil War Letters of John White Geary, W.A. Blair, ed. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 56. 4. Lee to Davis (June 10, 1863), in The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee, eds. Clifford Dowdey & L.H. Manarin (Boston: Little, Brown, 1961), 508-9. 5. Gary W. Gallagher, Stephen Dodson Ramseur: Lee’s Gallant General (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), 15-16; James B. Sheeran, Confederate Chaplain: A War Journal, ed. J.T. Durkin
49 Steinwehr Avenue, Gettysburg, PA 17325 • 717-338-0770
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July 2016
Saving The Falling Waters 1863 Battlefield In Maryland By George F. Franks III
During the Summer of 2002 Melissa Cooperson and I began the search for an old house as a weekend and vacation project. Our search took us to various areas in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. One weekend we ventured to Western Maryland. It was there after looking at two Civil War-era homes in Washington Country that we found our dream project. It was a brick farmhouse built in 1830 on nearly twenty acres. It had been neglected for years and was in terrible condition, but it had great features. Additionally, according to the realtor it had served as a hospital during the Civil War. The house was two miles down a country road which led to a fish and game club. It was also less than a mile from the Chesapeake & Potomac Canal and the Potomac River.
Author George F. Franks III giving a tour of the Falling Waters Battlefield. Both research and restoration work commenced after closing the following winter. Research uncovered both the history of the house and its Civil War connection. Restoration work initially focused on stabilizing the house. New gutters, repointing exterior brickwork and rebuilding the pair of double chimneys topped the list. Next followed the taming of the surrounding sixteen acres. We decided to lease ten acres to a local farmer and made our best effort to cut the grass, weeds and tangled growth surrounding the house and our two non-historic outbuildings. At the same time, we began to research the history of the house and its Civil War connections. Melissa engaged a local historian to examine the history of the house. Soon
after her work was completed we began the process of applying for local, state and National Register of Historic Places status. I, myself, started researching the Civil War history of the house and surrounding land at the Western Maryland Room of the Washington County Free Library and the Library of Congress. I learned the National Park Service during the 1990’s had commissioned consultants to prepare a brief report about Civil War activity on the property, but no action was taken, and the report was filed away and forgotten. The local historian’s research uncovered that the house was built in 1830 by an Irish-born attorney named Daniel Donnelly as his home and office. An attorney, politician, businessman and militia officer, Donnelly had business connections with the Canal and also served a term in the State House in Annapolis. The house served as a showplace to do business with his clients although the family spaces were much more modest. The history and the quality of the exterior and interior features made the house an ideal candidate for the state and National Register. Designation was awarded within a year of submission. The process of uncovering the Civil War history was not quite as simple. From the purchase of the house in 2003 until July 2013, my research evolved into an international military history magazine article, multiple submissions to the Civil War Trust and ultimately a book. The Civil War hospital link remains a plausible yet undocumented mystery to this day. There are clearly bloodstains in the first-floor hallway and the southwest or rear parlor. The local myth of limbs being tossed out the parlor window and dumped in the cistern remain unsubstantiated. Research included inquiries to experts at the National Civil War Medical Museum in Frederick, Maryland. What I did find through extensive research was just as compelling. The retreat and pursuit phase of the Gettysburg Campaign concluded behind our house. On July 13, 1863, Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to withdraw his Army of Northern Virginia from Maryland because the flooded Potomac River was receding and the single pontoon bridge had been rebuilt. His men moved from substantial earthworks to crossing points at Williamsport and Falling Waters that night. On the morning of July 14, Major General Henry Heth led his four brigades to their rear guard positions on both sides of
Gallant charge by two companies of the 6th Michigan on Tuesday morning on the rebel rearguard, near Falling Waters, where part of the rebel army crossed the Potomac by artist Edwin Forbes. (Library of Congress) Falling Waters Road approximately two miles from the pontoon bridge spanning the Potomac River at the Falling Waters crossing to Virginia (now West Virginia). It was on the steep rise behind our house that Brigadier General Judson “Kill-Cavalry” Kilpatrick’s 6th Michigan Cavalry charged the center of Heth’s rear guard and were decimated. The attack was ordered against the recommendations of the “Wolverines” commander, Brigadier General George A. Custer, Kilpatrick’s subordinate. Fighting on both sides of Falling Waters Road, including behind our Donnelly House, raged for approximately three hours. At the peak of the fighting, Heth’s rear guard of fewer than 3,000 infantrymen was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with nearly 7,000 of Major General George G. Meade’s finest cavalry supported by attached artillery under Kilpatrick and Brigadier General John Buford. In the opening moments of the fighting, the Confederate general considered the most brilliant man in the South, was mortally wounded. Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew, slightly injured during the July 3 charge at Gettysburg, was thrown from his mount and shot in the abdomen by a Union trooper between
the barn (see the Edwin Forbes sketch) and the rear of the Donnelly House. The grievous wound proved to be fatal. He died three days later in Bunker Hill, Virginia (now West Virginia). By 1 p.m. Heth requested artillery and additional infantry from his commander Lieutenant General Ambrose P. Hill. Although Hill, decided not to send any precious artillery back over the Potomac River to support Heth, he did order two brigades to support Heth’s withdrawal. For the most part, the Confederates maintained discipline and fought the entire two miles to the Potomac River. Once the last troops were across, they cut the pontoon bridge free leaving Meade’s troopers standing on the banks of the river unable to continue the fight. The Gettysburg Campaign was over. Why was this battle lost to history? President Abraham Lincoln was furious that Meade had not been more aggressive and bagged Lee’s entire army. In Lincoln’s mind, such an action could have ended the war. Lincoln even wrote as much in a letter that he chose not to mail to Meade. From the Confederate’s perspective, the rear guard action was an embarrassment. Cavalry commander “Jeb” Stuart had been ordered to remain between any advancing Union troops
On the Potomac near Williamsport. Rebel crossing, Rebel Pontoons at Falling Waters by artist Alfred Waud.
(Library of Congress)
and the rear guard. Contrary to his orders, Stuart’s troopers crossed the Potomac River at Williamsport before many of Hill’s troops reached the Virginia shore of the Potomac. Protective of his army’s reputation and his cavalry leader, Lee went to the extreme of downplaying the action in letters written to and published in prominent newspapers. The battle was not forgotten by those who fought in it. Two companies of Michigan “Wolverines” were decimated. George Custer personally led subsequent charges and his men documented their admiration of him for his courage. Many Virginians serving under Colonel John Brockenbrough were captured due to his failure of leadership. And with the tragic death of Pettigrew, North Carolina lost a brilliant scholar and general officer who many looked to as the future of the South. A battlefield in our back yard. The dream of every Civil War enthusiast. The remaining question was how to document it and ultimately save it? As the research and restoration work progressed, we began hosting group tours of the battlefield. These included Civil War Roundtables, a stop by author-historians with their own tours, the Smithsonian Institution, veterans’ organizations and descendants of those who fought in the battle and thought it had been forgotten. Battlefield tours continue on a reservation basis. We established contact with the Civil War Trust (CWT), Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF), the Hagerstown Convention and Visitors Bureau, local political leaders and neighbors. Work with these organizations led to the CWT spearheading an effort to save an adjoining lot of more than three acres that had been targeted for development. Secondly, under the mentorship of Tom Clemens of SHAF, we established the Battle of
July 2016
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Vin Caponi
Historic Antiques
We carry a very large inventory of Colt and Civil War firearms including muskets, carbines, rifles and accoutrements. Our inventory of historic antiques and firearms begin at the early collectors level and range all the way up to the advanced collector and investors level.
Charge of the 6th Michigan cavalry over the rebel earthworks near Falling Waters by artist Alfred Waud. (Library of Congress) Falling Waters 1863 Foundation, Inc. in early 2014. My book “Battle of Falling Waters 1863: Custer, Pettigrew and the End of the Gettysburg Campaign” was finished and published in time for the 150th anniversary of the battle. Presentations to Civil War Round Tables, historical societies and other organizations soon followed and continue to provide an opportunity to educate the public about one of the least recognized battles of the Civil War. Today, Melissa and I continue the never-ending work of preserving the Donnelly House and the surrounding sixteen acres. The weekend and vacation project became our year round home in September 2011. Because
most of 500 plus acre battlefield is private property, we actively work through our friends and supporters with the Battle of Falling Waters 1863 Foundation, Civil War Trust and other organizations to save the most significant areas of the battlefield through easements and purchase along with on-going educational efforts. For more information on the Battle of Falling Waters 1863 Foundation, Inc. visit our website: battleoffallingwaters1863foundation.wordpress.com. We can also be contacted by email at fallingwatersmd1863@ gmail.com George F. Franks, III is the founder and President of the Battle of Falling Waters 1863 Foundation,
Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. He is a Governor and former officer of the Company of Military Historians and the former President of the organization’s Chesapeake Chapter. George served as President of the Capitol Hill Civil War Round Table and is a member of Hagerstown Civil War Round Table, Save Historic Antietam Foundation and Civil War Trust. He is the author of Battle of Falling Waters 1863: Custer, Pettigrew and the End of the Gettysburg Campaign and lives in the 1830 Daniel Donnelly House on the battlefield. George studied history at the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Pittsburgh.
Vin Caponi, Jr.
18 Broadway Malverne, NY 11565 Store: 516-593-3516 Cell: 516-353-3250 rampantcolt@aol.com http://www.vincaponi.com
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‘Ned The Horse’ Returns Home
Yankee Rebel Cannon Co. Full Size Authentic Affordable Civil War Cannons
By Leon Reed
GETTYSBURG, PA.—A popular Gettysburg attraction has a new lease on life. Ned the horse, a favorite attraction at Old Gettysburg Village on Baltimore St. for more than 50 years, was recently restored and returned to his spot in a courtyard. Ned was put in place in 1963 by famous Hollywood TV star Cliff Arquette, who played the character “Charlie Weaver” as a frequent guest on the Jack Paar Show and a regular on Hollywood Squares. Arquette was also a Civil War buff and opened “Charlie Weaver’s Museum of the Civil War” in the old Homestead Orphanage building on Baltimore St. It later became the “Soldier’s National Museum” and closed in 2014. Arquette also built a merchant’s village behind his museum and placed Ned there in 1963. Arquette is the grandfather of actors Patricia, Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond, and David Arquette. By the summer of 2015, Ned had deteriorated considerably, and the owner planned a short trip to the glue factory. Merchants at Old Gettysburg Village and other buffs got together, staged a fund raiser and received permission from the owner to do the restoration. He was returned to his courtyard on May 15th. A new tail and main have been ordered.
July 2016
Barrels and hardware are steel. Solid wood carriages. Wheels are steam bent white oak (Amish). Currently making 12-pdr. Mountain Howitzers, the 6-pdr., and the naval signal gun.
www.YankeeRebelCannon.com • tango3alpha7@gmail.com
Fort Donelson Relics Full Line Civil War Artifact Dealer John & Nikki Walsh Buying & Selling: Images Artillery Firearms Dug Relics Edged Weapons
“Ned The Horse” after restoration. Visitors can see him in the Old Village in Gettysburg. In the mid-1900s Cliff Arquette opened the Charley Weaver Museum of the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pa. The Museum was housed in a building that had served as headquarters for General O.O. Howard during the Battle of Gettysburg, and remained in operation for about ten years. (Leon Reed)
Greg Ton
Non-dug Artifacts
FortDonelsonRelics.com
PO Box 129 Dover, TN 37058
Buying and Selling the Finest Confederate, Obsolete and Southern States Currency Since 1978
GregTonCurrency.com
Greg Ton • P.O. Box 9 • Franklin, TN 37065 • 901-487-5944 • GTon1@aol.com
July 2016
Civil War News
– Civil War Dealers –
Army of Tennessee Civil War Artifacts Angelo “Nick” Periut 8895 Town and Country Circle Knoxville, TN 37923 Phone: 865-693-3007 Email: info@armyoftennesseerelics.com Website: http://www.armyoftennesseerelics.com We sell authentic Civil War relics. Mainly from the western theatre. We are also dealers for Don Troiani’s Civil War prints. We sell a wide variety of Civil War relics and antiques. Shop hours are Monday through Saturday 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Cannons-Plus
Cannons Plus Leonard Draper Cedartown, GA Phone: 404-401-5591 Email: draper.leonardc@gmail.com Website: http://www.cannons-plus.com Wanted WW ll 37mm anti tank gun
Selling small Cannons, Lantaka Cannon, Lyle guns, Cannon Limber, Port Holes, Anchors, Binnacles and more. Especially Nautical items.
Confederate Arms Company Lee C. Gray 1209 Victor II Blvd. Morgan City, LA 70380 Phone: 985-384-2717 or 985-518-1802 Email: leegray@lhprinting.com Website: http://www.confederatearmscompany.com Civil War longarms a specialty. Over 40 years experience. Our goal is to satisfy both the beginner and advanced collectors with the finest artifacts available.
CS Acquisitions Wallace Markert 16905 Nash Road Dewitt, VA 23840 Phone: 804-469-7362 or 804-536-6413 Email: sales@csacquisitions.com Website: http://www.csacquisitions.com Specializing in Confederate Artifacts. My interest in the Civil War began in 1968, while growing up on the actual battlefield of ”the Battle of The Weldon Railroad” in Petersburg, Virginia. We are always interested in purchasing additional artifacts and offer free appraisals. We hope you enjoy the Museum and investing in the Antiques offered for sale.
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Fort Donelson Relics John & Nikki Walsh PO Box 129 Dover, TN 37058 Phone: 931-801-4530 Email: john@fortdonelsonrelics.com Website: http://www.fortdonelsonrelics.com eBay ID: fortdonelsonrelics We offer our customers excavated & non-excavated Civil War artifacts including, but not limited to, projectiles, weapons, images, personal items, documents and images. We guarantee all artifacts to be 100% authentic & strive to ensure a positive buying experience.
Greg Ton Currency Greg Ton PO Box 9 Franklin, TN 37065 Phone: 901-487-5944 Email: GTon1@aol.com Website: http://www.gregtoncurrency.com Specializing in rare and hard to find notes (Colonial, Confederate, Obsolete, Southern States). I have handled many great items in the last 30 years to include over 100 rare Confederate notes (Montgomery, Indian Princess, T-27, Essay), notes printed by Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, Indian Territory notes, and some of the rarest Southern State notes known.
John J. Hayes Historical Collectibles John J. Hayes Phone: 717-337-3013 or 717-261-6839 Email: jjhayes4k@gmail.com Website: http://www.jjhayeshc.com Quality Antique Arms. The finest investor grade antique arms and collectibles with the emphasis on historic items. I strive to bring you the best in flintlock, percussion, and cartridge muskets, rifles and pistols. Also, I have a fine inventory on hand of swords, bowie knives, powder horns and Native American (Indian) items.
Mid West Civil War Relics Allen Wandling Phone: 618-789-5751 Email: awandling1@gmail.com Website: http://midwestcivilwarrelics.com Museum Quality Civil War Union & Confederate Artifacts. We handle the Best Antique Bowie Knifes, Civil War Swords, Confederate D-guards, Antique Fire Arms, Bowie Knifes, Buckles & Belts, Identified Relics, Letters, Documents, Images, Currency, Uniforms & Head Gear & Flags. Collecting Civil War relics for over 26 years. Items from his collection have been featured in several magazines including North South Trader’s Civil War.
The Regimental Quartermaster, Inc. 49 Steinwehr Ave. Gettysburg, PA 17325-2811 Phone: 717-338-1864 Email: cwheritage@aol.com Website: http://www.regtqm.com
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For over 50 years it has been our pleasure to provide high-quality products, at reasonable prices, to our customers, the Civil War Collectors, Curators, Hobbyists, Living Historians, Reenactors, Skirmishers and anyone who loves History and Reenacting. We are a full line Civil War Sutler offering Original and Reproduction Arms, Uniforms & Equipment.
Dixie Relics Steve & Melody Strickland PO Box 17 Cumming, GA 30028 Phone: 770-633-5034 Email: 66thgeorgia@bellsouth.net eBay ID: Dixierelics Civil War Firearms, Edged Weapons including excavated and non-excavated relics. Our specialty is American Civil War but we do deal in World War I and World War II militaria.
Stones River Trading Company William (Tom) Hays 3500 Shacklett Road Murfreesboro, TN 37129 Phone: 615-336-2188 Email: tom@stonesrivertrading.com Website: http://www.stonesrivertrading.com Relic Sales and online since 1998. I am the fourth generation to grow up on our family farm a short distance from the Stones River Battlefield. I’ve always had an interest in the Civil War and have been selling relics for over 20 years. Whenever you are in the Middle Tennessee area I’d love for you to stop by.
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July 2016
Civil War Dancing And More For Gettysburg GETTYSBURG, PA.—The years 1861 to 1865 were not all blood and mud, death and destruction. On the homefront, there was grace and beauty, music and dancing! The Victorian Dance Ensemble, the performing troupe of the Civil War Dance Foundation (CWDF), is dedicated to recreating this bygone era. The organization conducts balls, dance demonstrations, dance classes, artifact displays, and living history programs.
Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monument Project, and State Representatives Daniel Moul, Russell Diamond, and William Kortz. During the Ball, David Klinepeter, a charter member of the CWDF, who has portrayed Pennsylvania’s Civil War Governor Andrew Curtin for 25 years, was presented a House of Representatives Citation by Rep. Readshaw for his service to the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project. Dave, a World War II
Lawrence and Annette Keener-Farley own the collection used by the CWDF Ordnance Detachment for the “Guns of Gettysburg” display at the GNMP Visitor Center. The original weapons are available for close inspection and even light handling, a rare opportunity for visitors to touch a piece of American history. (CWDF Photo) Since 2004, the CWDF has conducted the Civil War Preservation Ball to raise money for the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monument Project. This year’s ball raised over $7,000, bringing the thirteen-year total to $90,000. The money helps fund the maintenance and repair of Pennsylvania Monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park. Dancers came from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia to “dance for preservation” in the beautiful rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol Building on April 2. Dance instruction was provided by the Victorian Dance Ensemble, music was played by the Philadelphia Brigade Band, and Dr. Lawrence Keener-Farley served as dance master. Special guests included Ed Clark, Superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park, Dan Bringman, CFO of the Gettysburg Foundation, and Barbara Mowery, President of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association. Also attending were State Representative Harry Readshaw, founder of the
veteran and long-time reenactor, also celebrated his 90th birthday in April. The CWDF also supports Gettysburg National Military Park by providing unique interactive programs at the Park throughout the year. The Victorian Dance Ensemble has presented dance demonstrations with audience participation for the Park’s Annual Music Muster since
1999 and will be performing again on August 13. The VDE and the Philadelphia Brigade Band will also be conducting a ball at the Visitor Center on August 26 to celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service. Several times a year, the CWDF’s Ordnance Detachment displays original Civil War weapons, including the most common muskets, rifle-muskets, rifles, carbines, revolvers, and various edged weapons used at Gettysburg. The artifacts are available for close inspection and “light handling” by visitors. It is a rare opportunity for guests to actually touch a piece of American history and see how they worked. Visitors of all ages are fascinated and delighted by this unique exhibit. The exhibit also includes information on the role of women and children in the manufacturing of ammunition and the hundreds who died doing that dangerous work. The CWDF’s Ladies Union Relief Association displays civilian artifacts, presents living history programs about civilian aid societies, and recreates Christmas in the 1860s for the Gettysburg Foundation, with activities for children. The CWDF also presents a display “The Colors of the Blue,” a collection of high-quality reproduction flags of the Union Army. The display includes various designs of national and regimental colors, and the headquarter flag system that was used for the first time at Gettysburg. The CWDF will be leading the dancing at the National Civil War Ball on Remembrance Day, November 19. This ball, sponsored by the Sons of Veterans Reserve, the Military Department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, donates its profit to the Gettysburg National Military Park. To encourage more people to give Civil War dancing a try, the CWDF recently released an instructional DVD, with a formal ball in period attire, an instructional portion with dancers in modern attire to better show the moves and a 38-page dance manual that has detailed descriptions of the dances. For more information about the CWDF, visit www.CivilWarDance. org.
CWDF Dobbin Dance. Members of the Civil War Dance Foundation demonstrating “The Lancer’s Quadrille” at the Dobbin House during Gettysburg National Military Park’s Music Muster. (CWDF Photo)
David Klinepeter (right) was presented a Pennsylvania House of Representatives Citation by Rep. Readshaw for his service to the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project. (CWDF Photo)
CWDF Flag Display. Tyrone Cornbower points out different designs of the National Color during the CWDF’s “The Colors of the Blue,” a display of Union Army flags at the GNMP Visitor Center. (CWDF Photo)
CWDF Preservation Ball. Over 175 people came from ten states to “dance for preservation” in the beautiful rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol Building. They raised over $7,000 for monument preservation at Gettysburg National Military Park. (CWDF Photo)
July 2016
Civil War News
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Living Historians Portrayed The USCC At Gettysburg By Joe Bordonaro
GETTYSBURG, PA.—The Battle of Gettysburg created carnage on a scale that was never exceeded during the American Civil War. John C. Chamberlain, a USCC volunteer as well as a brother of the famous Joshua Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine, was present during the battle and wrote about it afterward. “After relating a series of disturbing sights, sounds, and odors (including charred bodies and soldiers who had sustained grisly injuries), Chamberlain declared that he would never forget the carnage that resulted from the battle.” (Source: Gettysburg and the Christian Commission, edited by Daniel J. Hoisington, Roseville: Edinborough Press, 2002.) According to Andrew B. Cross, in his pamphlet, The Battle of Gettysburg and the Christian Commission, volunteers working with the United States Christian Commission performed many important tasks (for both Union and Confederate soldiers) during and after the battle. These tasks included “dressing
wounds, performing religious services, writing letters on behalf of the wounded, distributing Bibles, tracts, and books, and furnishing vital supplies (including wine, biscuits, crackers, bandages, and shirts) to the hospitalized men.” Source: http:// www.hnet.org/reviews/showrev. php?id=12518. During the weekend of May 1415, living historians portrayed the USCC at work in the field of Gettysburg. A large tent was set up in one of the Park’s living history areas, near the Pennsylvania Monument. Inside the tent were not only displays of items furnished soldiers, but also refreshments, that were provided to members of the National Regiment, who were creating a soldiers’ encampment for the benefit of the public. The foods included delicious pastries that were very welcome by the soldiers. The participants in this USCC aid station setup are to be commended for bringing a little-known aspect of the battle to the public’s attention, as well as for
providing real relief to the modernday reenactors who work in the hot sun to provide the public with a glimpse of “what it was like” in 1863.
Julie McGrane, Brownsville, MD, and Rebecca Scott, Bethlehem have a break from their duties as the members of the National Regiment (in the background) go on dress parade. (Joe Bordonaro)
Ella Scott, Bethlehem, Pa., Hannah and Sarah Howett, Frederick, MD play a game of Parcheesi during their break from helping their mothers. (Joe Bordonaro)
GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK
Museum&Visitor Center experience
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begin your Gettysburg at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center. Packed with treasures of the Civil War and endless opportunities to discover america’s hallowed ground, it is “an unforgettable, must-see experience.”
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A New Birth of Freedom, a film narrated by Morgan Freeman and sponsored by The History Channel, will orient you to the monumental events of the battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War.
CYCLORAMA
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Longer than a football field and as tall as a four-story structure, the Gettysburg Cyclorama oil painting immerses visitors in the fury of Pickett’s Charge during the third day of the battle of Gettysburg.
MUSEUM
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M u s E u M - o N ly t i C k E t s aV a i l a b l E
the Gettysburg Museum of the american Civil War has twelve galleries packed with artifacts, exhibits, and additional films that offer perspectives from Civil War Presidents, Generals, soldiers, war correspondents, and civilians. The Gilder lehrman Gallery is now exhibiting With Brush, Mold, Chisel & Pen: Reflections on Civil War Art, which includes paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from various historical collections. Entry is included with the purchase of a Cyclorama, Film and Museum ticket or a museum-only ticket. Visit our staff at the ticket counter in the main lobby for more information, or visit GettysburgFoundation.org.
Our FREE Exhibit spotlight showcases artifacts of Civil War Medal of Honor Award Recipients, including those of Lt. Alonzo Cushing, Union Army artillery officer and Edward Gilligan of the 88th Pennsylvania Infantry.
1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325 • (877) 874-2478
Civil War News
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July 2016
Father William Corby And The Irish Brigade By Wade Hisiro
The National Civil War Chaplains Museum is currently featuring an exhibit on the Irish Brigade and Father William Corby, a chaplain for the brigade. The museum is part of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia and the only museum in the nation devoted to exhibiting clergy members and religious activities during the Civil War. The exhibit will contain various artifacts and pictures pertaining to the Irish Brigade, on loan from the J. Howard Wert Gettysburg Collection™, America’s oldest privately owned heritage collection. Part of the display on Father Corby will feature a Celtic cross and his white stole embroidered with green foliage. William Corby attended the University of Notre Dame in 1853 and committed himself to the religious life of the university. He entered the novitiate in 1856 and took his final vows in 1859. By the time war broke out in 1861, he had already established himself as the pastor of a local church and the Director of the Manual Labor School at Notre Dame. Along with several other Notre Dame priests, Father Corby volunteered to serve as a chaplain for the Union and was assigned to the 88th New York Volunteer Infantry, part of General Thomas Meagher’s legendary Irish Brigade. The Irish Brigade was approved as an ethnic unit to draw support from the Irish, the North’s largest immigrant group. It was created in an effort to win the Irishmen who were sympathetic to the Confederacy’s struggle for independence from an “autocratic” government. The Irish Brigade was initially composed of the 63rd, 69th, and 88th New York Infantry Regiments. In 1862, the 29th Massachusetts, a non-Irish regiment, was added. Shortly after, the Irish 116th Pennsylvania was also added to the brigade. In November 1862, the 29th Massachusetts was swapped for the Irish 28th Massachusetts. The brigade was famous for its war cry “fág an bealach,” anglicized as “faugh a ballagh,” meaning “clear the way.” It was also known for its high number of deaths in battle, which led to the resignation of Thomas Meagher; only two other brigades surpassed the Irish Brigade with more such deaths. After several requests and denials to recruit replacements, Meagher
Father Corby’s Stole Used to Bless Troops at Gettysburg. (Liberty University)
resigned in protest after the battle of Chancellorsville. Col. Patrick Kelly replaced Meagher two months before the Battle of Gettysburg. Father Corby traveled with the regiment giving comfort and absolution to the wounded and dying. By the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, the brigade had already experienced massive losses, and few of the original brigaders remained. During this battle, the goal of the brigade was to reinforce the struggling Union flank on the afternoon of July 2nd in what later came to be known as the Wheatfield. Before the battle, Father Corby wanted to give the men absolution, but realized that there was not enough time for individual confessions. Mounting a large rock, he told the men of the brigade that if they offered a sincere act of contrition, upheld the flag, and didn’t turn their back on the enemy, they would receive absolution and be able to receive a Christian burial. Father Corby put out his right hand and offered the following words: “Dominus noster Jesus Christus vos absolvat; et ego auctoritate ipsius vos absolvo ab omni vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti in quantum possum et vos indigetis. Deinde, ego vos absolvo a peccatis vestris in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.” In English, this translates to: “May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you; and by His authority I absolve you from every bond of excommunication and interdict, so far as my power allows and your needs require. Thereupon, I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” While Father Corby was on the rock, sounds of battle could be heard in the background. Major St. Clair Mulholland noted, “The scene was more than impressive, it was awe-inspiring. I do not think there was a man in the brigade who did not offer up a heartfelt prayer.” This marked the first recorded time a general absolution was performed on American soil, despite its somewhat common occurrence in Europe. In commemoration of the absolution, on October 29, 1910, a statue of Father Corby was dedicated on the Gettysburg Battlefield on top of the very same boulder from which he gave the blessing. A replica of this statue can be found outside Corby Hall on the University of Notre Dame’s campus. The Wheatfield was a vicious battle that resulted in a significant number of casualties for both the Union and Confederacy. The Union was struggling in the battle by the time the Irish Brigade was sent in to help. They fought valiantly, along with other reinforcements, and managed to hold off the Confederates long enough to buy the North precious time and stop the South from reaching higher ground. Their valor came at a high cost; many of the men perished in the effort. After the war, Father Corby returned to Notre Dame. He became president of the university in 1866. After six years, he left for Sacred Heart College, but returned to Notre
Dame in 1877 for a second term that lasted another four years. During that time, he attained several posts with the Congregation of the Holy Cross, including Assistant General. Father Corby occasionally left Notre Dame to visit St. Clair Mulholland at his home in Philadelphia. One day, the two decided to take the two-hour train trip to visit J. Howard Wert at the Wert house in Harrisburg. They spent the entire day, and even stayed overnight, in order to look at all of the artifacts. To give thanks for the hospitality he received, he sent J. Howard Wert the very same stole that is on exhibit at Liberty University. Upon returning to Notre Dame, Father Corby was inspired to start the first collection of Irish Brigade relics. His plan was to create an Irish Brigade Corner of the Military Museum at Notre Dame. He sent out letters to veterans of the brigade requesting donations and, in response, artifacts began to trickle in. However, Father Corby died on December 28, 1887, before the collection could be finished. His acquisitions are still located at Notre Dame to this day. Wade Hisiro graduated valedictorian from Susquehanna Township High School, Harrisburg, Pa. in June 2016 and plans to attend the University of Virginia in the fall to study mechanical engineering and business.
Father Corby Monument at the Wheatfield, Gettysburg National Military Park. (Gettysburg Foundation)
Photograph taken at Harrison’s Landing, Va, of a group of the Irish Brigade. Photo shows: (back row) Patrick Dillon, unidentified; and (front row, left to right) unidentified, James Dillon, and Father William Corby. The identified men are priests of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, University of Notre Dame. (Source: E. Hogan, Univ. Notre Dame Archives, 2009.) (Library of Congress)
July 2016
Civil War News
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SMHS Ceremony Recognizes Donors For Stuart Statue Restoration By Ben Trittipoe
The Stuart-Mosby Historical Society held a ceremony on Saturday, May 14, 2016, to recognize and thank the donors for the restoration of the J.E.B. Stuart Statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond.
Lei Hillier as John Singleton Mosby and Wayne Jones as JEB Stuart. (All photos Janet Greentree)
J.E.B. Stuart Monument. The ceremony was held at St. John’s United Church of Christ on Stuart Circle, with the restored statue sitting just outside its doors. Mr. Ben Trittipoe, President of the Stuart-Mosby Historical Society, welcomed the attendees before inviting Past President Mrs. Susan Hillier to the podium. Mrs. Hillier provided a recap of how the Society became involved in the restoration of the statue, which was originally unveiled on May 30, 1907. She also
presented the Society with a book containing the address given by Theodore S. Garnett, Stuart’s aidede-camp, at the unveiling. This book will be displayed at the Stuart-Mosby Civil War Cavalry Museum in Centreville, Va. Mrs. Hillier then introduced Mr. Steve Roy, who led the restoration of the statue, and he discussed the repairs done and the process of restoring the Stuart Statue to its original glory. Mr. Roy and his partner, Mr. Andrew Baxter, have restored many of the prominent monuments in Richmond, including the Washington statue at the State Capitol, and several on Monument Avenue. Mr. Roy discussed how periodic
maintenance projects on the statue would keep it preserved for quite a long time before a full restoration would be necessary again. Mr. Trittipoe announced the excess funds collected would be placed in a fund to go toward these future maintenance projects, and further fund-raising efforts would be announced in the near-future. The featured speaker of the day was Mr. Wayne Jones, who performs living-history presentations as J.E.B. Stuart. Jones spoke as the “Spirit” of Gen. Stuart and reflected on how Stuart would have appreciated the original dedication of the memorial
Ben Trittipoe, President of the Society.
to him and this current restoration of the statue. The ceremony included a reading of the names of all 65 individuals and 15 organizations that made donations to the restoration. It concluded with the attendees leaving the church and joining Bishop Dennis Campbell in a blessing to rededicate the statue. Attendees then adjourned to a luncheon at the Capital Ale House in downtown Richmond.
J.E.B. Stuart Monument.
Group shot of the attendees in front of the Stuart Statue.
Civil War News
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July 2016
Creating A Sibley Tent Site With A Crimean Stove – The First Maryland Experience – By Lawrence E. Babits, Ph.D.
WINCHESTER, VA.—The First/ Second Maryland is a group portraying Maryland’s Southern infantrymen during the Civil War. The unit has a campsite at the NorthSouth Skirmish Association’s Fort Shenandoah. Sometime during the early 1990’s two replica shebang’s (soldier huts) were erected. Later, along with more wooden structures, a replica sibley tent was set up on a circle of logs to show the variety of winter quarters used by Civil War soldiers. When the hutting area expanded, the sibley was moved, a new stockade was set up and a Crimean (California) stove was dug into the ground. The new replica is on a mix of oak and locust logs set 10 to 16 inches into the ground and then chinked to fill in the gaps. The chinking process is on-going and likely to be continuous due to rain and other weathering. The sibley was repaired using stitching called for in the U.S. Army Quartermaster manual. Both the stockade footing ditch and the underground Crimean stove flue were based on archaeology from Civil War campsites in widespread Virginia locations. There were also photographs, drawings, and paintings showing the above ground appearance of the sibley. The concept of below ground heating is not new. Roman hypocausts and early Korean houses sent heated air below walking and sleeping areas. The name comes from its use in the Crimean War
and California during the 1850’s. The key difference between the new reconstruction and the originals is that the structures built during the Civil War were for a single winter season whilst the replicas are being built for long-term exhibit and use. The project was also a learning experience. The First Maryland has members skilled in wood and masonry construction as well as historical research. During construction, some members wore their uniforms and used traditional tools. The key element in recreating the stove was to ensure that the smoke and heat exited through the underground flue into the tent and, importantly, out of the tent. The damaged archaeological examples did not show a rising flue but test indicated it was necessary. A well-sealed flue system was needed, especially inside the tent. As it worked out, the problem of smoke filling the tent has not been completely solved, and plans are underway to seal off the flue exit under the sibley stove. If this is not done, then the tent fills with smoke. The plan is to route the smoke from the flue, up through the sibley stove and out the stove pipe. The stove will be placed on a platform of brick shown in contemporary illustrations that will be sealed against loss of heat and smoke. The new system will be tested in September and October 2016. Further modification to recover 1860’s knowledge through experimentation will follow until we get it right.
Newly erected stockade sibley tent constructed by First Maryland “Blackhats”. (Jack Melton)
Sibley tents in 1861 Winter Camp on the Lower Potomac.
The Sibley stove and tent was designed and patented by Henry Hopkins Sibley. He commanded a Confederate cavalry brigade during the Civil War. Sibley’s design created a 12-man tent and stove that was easy to pack and transport. The design differed from the traditional conical or bell tent in the fact that it was supported by a single pole in the center. It was used by the American and British Armies for many years. The United States Patent Office patented Sibley’s tent on April 22, 1856, No. 14,740. The U.S. Government purchased almost 44,000 Sibley tents during the Civil War. Sibley was to receive $5 for every tent purchased by the U.S. Government but since he resigned from the U.S. Army he received no royalties. (Jack Melton)
Crimean stove flue before burial under earthen tent floor. (Lawrence E. Babits)
Flue buried, floor leveled, chinking nearly finished, stockade almost ready for tent. (Lawrence E. Babits)
First Maryland “Blackhats” at the Spring N-SSA Nationals at Fort Shenandoah. L-R Larry Babits, Matthew Reen, Cody Harding, Travis Haymaker and Thomas Cochran. (Jack Melton)
July 2016
Civil War News
29G Lawrence E. “Larry” Babits rceived his BA and MA from the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. from Brown University and has extensive experience in military and maritime archaeology. He was named George Washington Distinguished Professor of History by the NC Society of the Cincinnati in 2003. Babits, a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians, taught classes in method and theory of nautical archaeology, material culture, archaeological field schools, living history, and various military topics. Among the numerous publications that he co-authored are: “Long, Obstinate and Bloody” the Battle of Guilford Courthouse; Fields of Conflict: Battlefield Archaeology from the Roman Empire to the Korean War; “Fortitude and Forbearance” The North Carolina Continental Line in the Revolutionary War 17751783; Southern Campaigns; A Devil of a Whipping – The Battle of Cowpens; Maritime Archaeology – A Guide to Theoretical, and Substantive Contributions; and Underwater Archaeology 1998.
Find us on Facebook An original Sibley stove was placed above the opening. (Jack Melton)
Author Private Lawrence “Larry” Babits in uniform of the First Maryland “Blackhats”. (Jack Melton)
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The First Emancipation Proclamation By John A Punola
In September 1862, a fierce battle was fought at a small Maryland town of Sharpsburg, also known as the Battle of Antietam by the Union, and Abraham Lincoln had been waiting month after month for his mighty army to register a major victory. Lincoln needed a victory for the impatient folks up North, and also because he had decided to issue an Emancipation Proclamation, and wanted to do so after a victory. In speaking with the commander, Gen. George McClellan, he was told of a big victory at Antietam Creek, Maryland. Some historians considered the battle a tie, maybe another victory for the South, but McClellan reported otherwise. Lincoln, therefore, chose September 22 as Emancipation Day. His proclamation stated that all slaves living in Southern states were hereby declared free, effective January 1, 1863. The date, September 22, 1862, has been celebrated nationwide as the official Emancipation Day. But wait, is this action by President Lincoln really the true date of Emancipation Proclamation as we are taught to observe? Lost in the anals of Civil War history is mention of the FIRST Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed into law on April 16, 1862, five months before the Battle of Antietam. This idea of freeing slaves originated in the U.S. Congress was supported by President Lincoln, who approved and signed into law the act as written by Congress. This first emancipation was only effective for slaves living in Washington DC and surrounding areas. There was also a monetary consideration involved to expedite the process, which Lincoln pressed for speedy action. In 1849, while still a congressman, Abraham Lincoln introduced a similar plan to
eliminate slavery in Washington DC through compensated emancipation, but it failed. Again, in 1861, Lincoln recommended a “gradual” emancipation, but with no success. In another message to Congress on March 6, 1862, he repeated the suggestion and followed up with a direct appeal to congressmen from the border states, who rejected it as too extreme a measure. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act was a law to end slavery in Washington, DC by paying slave owners for releasing their slaves. Congress voted to appropriate the money to refund slave owners. Although not written by him, the act was promptly signed by the president, Abraham Lincoln, on April 16, 1862, and is now celebrated in Washington DC as Emancipation Day. There was one glaring term associated with the slaves receiving freedom from their masters; they were pressured to return to their ancestral home in Africa. Liberia was a major exporter of slaves and the American government offered to provide provisions and transportation back to Liberia, or closer yet, to Haiti. Most slaves were not agreeable to these terms of freedom and declined the offer to be set free from their current masters. The Compensated Emancipation Act came nearly nine months before the signing of the formal Emancipation Proclamation. The Act of April 16th, 1862, set aside one million dollars immediately to emancipate the slaves of Washington DC, giving Union slaveholders up to $300 for every freed slave. An additional $100,000 was allocated by law was used to pay each newly freed slave $100 if he or she chose to leave the United States and relocate in overseas colonies, Liberia and Haiti were clearly mentioned.
The emancipation plan relied on a three-person Emancipation Commission to distribute the allotted funding. In order to receive compensation, former slaveholders were required to provide written evidence of their ownership, as well as state their loyalty to the Union. Most of the petitioners were white, but some blacks also filed for compensation, having once purchased their family members away from other owners. In the end, nearly all of the one million dollars appropriated in the act had been spent. As a result of the act’s passage, 3,185 slaves were freed. However, the previous fugitive slave laws were still applied to slaves who had run from Maryland to Washington DC. These slaves were still subject to the laws which applied to runaway slaves living in Washington DC, who legally could be forced to return to their owners. The compensated emancipation model act was not later adapted by the US Government, but the act signified the forthcoming demise of slavery in the United States. The Washington DC Act was the only compensated plan for emancipation that was ever enacted in the United States. As limited as the act was written it only had an effect on slaves in Washington DC, but it was the beginning of the end for slavery in America. The intent of the Washington DC emancipation was to reduce the population of slaves in Washington and suburbs and have them deposed to a distant place, and Liberia and Haiti were the most mentioned destinations. The slaves were not keen to the idea of relocation, and Reverend Henry M. Turner, a black representative of the slaves, wrote a letter to Congress voicing the views and concerns of the potential slaves. In his message to the Congress, he penned these thoughts... “Of our own free will, we cannot go to either Liberia of Haiti. We have in the United States, been taught to venerate virtue, to strive to attain. We can with humble pride, point to as widespread examples of the benefits of these teachings, as can any similar number of men, with no greater advantages than ourselves. Therefore, we wish to shun those countries where the opposite of virtue rules, where vice reigns supreme, where our very blood would be required if we opposed its indulgence. We were born in the United States and cling to the land of our birth. We do not wish to be driven beyond the great ocean where old hands of kindness cannot reach us, where we cannot hear from those with whom we have grown up, with all the fond memories of our childhood.” These were powerful words from the heart of Reverend Henry M. Turner, and probably had an effect on the thinking and judgment of those assigned the duty to carry out the intent of the emancipation. The easiest route for the freed and departing slaves was Northward, and obviously, that’s the route they chose to take. A large number of purchased slaves eventually became loyal members of the Union Army and served with distinction during their time of duty.
July 2016
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July 2016
Civil War News
31G
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Civil War News
Published by Historical Publications LLC 6175 Hickory Flat Hwy. • Suite 110-355 • Canton, Georgia 30115 800-777-1862 • Facebook.com/CivilWarNews mail@civilwarnews.com • www.civilwarnews.com Advertising: 800-777-1862 • ads@civilwarnews.com Jack W. Melton Jr. C. Peter & Kathryn Jorgensen Publisher Founding Publishers Advertising Sales: Peggy Melton Columnists: Joseph Bilby, Greg Biggs, Stephen Davis, Stephanie Hagiwara, James M. Schmidt, John Sexton, Michael K. Shaffer, The Watchdog Staff Editorial & Photography Staff: Scott C. Boyd, Joe Bordonaro, Sandy Goss, Gordon L. Jones, Michael Kent, George Lomas, Nancy Jennis Olds, Leon Reed, Helen S. Schwartz, Gregory L. Wade, Joan Wenner Mike Cavanaugh, Founder - Civil War Book Exchange Book Review Editor: Edward H. Bonekemper III Book Review Staff:
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Consignments Wanted
Important Firearms Auction | October 2016 - Fairfield, Maine
Each year in March, two separate auction companies ( James D. Julia, Inc. and Poulin Auction Co.) conduct back to back firearms sales in Fairfield, Maine. This March sale generated an extraordinary $19 Million in sales for five days of auction. ( Julia’s $15 Million, Poulin’s $4 Million) James D. Julia, Inc. is the leading auction house in the world for rare and high-end firearms and regularly handles more high-end, rare and valuable Civil War and Confederate items than any other auction house in the world. Some of the greatest Civil War treasures pass through our hands. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, we would sincerely like to do business with you. We are now accepting consignments for what will be an extraodinary auction in October. Call today, whether you have one item or an entire collection. Below is a sampling of recent successes for our consignors.
LeMat SN 8, General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Personal Revolver (Bryan Collection) (est: $200,000-$300,000)
“Sisterdale Texas” Dragoon Army Revolver. (Bryan Coll.) (est. $150,000-250,000)
Highest Price Attained For Confederate Firearms Sold At Auction
Sold for $253,000
Rare L.E. Tucker Lancaster Texas Confederate Navy Revolver (Bryan Coll.) (est. $150,000-250,000)
Rare Cofer Portsmouth, Va. Percussion Confederate Revolver (Bryan Coll.) (est. $100,000-150,000)
Sold for $172,500
Sold for $224,250
Sold for $149,500
Tiffany Presentation sword to Gen. Daniel Sickles
Cased Confederate Engraved & silver Baby LeMat (est. $85,000-125,000)
Rare Confederate New Orleans made 12-Pound Bronze Napoleon (est. $200,000-250,000)
A New World Auction Record for Most Expensive Piece of American Artillery sold at auction and a New World Auction Record for the Most Expensive Confederate Arm of Any Variety sold at auction.
Sold for $350,750
Sold for $126,500 “Memphis Novelty Works” Confed. “Floating CS” Clip Point Bowie ( J. Ashworth Coll.) (est. $30,000-40,000)
Sold for $34,500
Dahlgren 12-Pounder Boat Howitzer on Original Carriage (Springfield Arsenal, LLC Artillery Collection) (est. $60,000-90,000)
Sold for $92,000
Collection of Fifteen Charleston, South Carolina, “Slave Hire” Tags 1803-1850 (est. $60,000-90,000)
Sold for $86,250 Brian Lebel’s Old West Show June 11-12 Fort Worth, TX
Spanish Siege Mortar Captured By Dupont At Fernandina Florida 1862. (est. $90,000-$125,000)
Sold for $97,750
Very Rare Extraordinary and Historical Captured Civil War Battle Flag of The 45th Pennsylvania (est. $40,000-60,000)
Sold for $57,500
“Captain E M Seago” Confederate Bowie Knife Made At Etowah Iron Works, Georgia (est. $40,000-$60,000)
Sold: $37,375
Sold for $132,250
Fabulous Civil War 7th Cav. Grouping to Col. Briggs incl. rare Custer Valor medal (est. $45,000-65,000)
Sold for $184,000
Rare Conf. Staff Officer’s Sword Made By Louis Haiman, Columbus, Georgia For Major Francis Dillard. (est. $20-40,000)
Sold $48,875
Fine & Historic Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag Carried By Tucker’s Naval Brigade at Battle Of Sailor’s Creek
Rare and Historic Gold and Enamel M.O.L.L.U.S. Medal for Gen. George A. Custer. (est. $50,000-70,000)
Sold for $109,250
Sold for $86,250
James D. Julia will be represented at the following shows
Colt Model 1883 U.S. Navy Gatling Gun (est. $150,000-250,000)
Sold $322,000
(Please call to make an appointment. Also, our trucks are frequently on the road, call anytime to discuss a pickup.)
Full Auto Gun Shoot Show June 24-26 Wyandotte, OK
Winchester Arms Coll. Show July 7-10 Cody, WY
National Civil War Show July 16-17 Richmond, VA
New England Arms Society Show July 17-19 Sturbridge, MA
Missouri Valley Arms Show July 29 Kansas City, MO
Syracuse Gun Show Sept. 17 & 18 Syracuse, NY
Contact: Francis Lombardi | Email: firearms@jamesdjulia.com | Tel: + 1 207 453-7125 Fax: (207) 453-2502 | www.jamesdjulia.com | Auctioneer: James D. Julia | Lic#: ME:AR83 | MA: AU1406 | NH 2511 05-19-16gettysburginsert.indd 1
5/24/16 1:04 PM