America's Civil War March 2021

Generals Joseph Hooker and William Sherman— only one could win their bitter clash of egos.

Fighting Joe vs Uncle Billy

Command feud threatened 1864 Union surge into Georgia Humanity in the Burning Wilderness: ! s u l P Poor Farmer Aids Dying Millionaire General MARCH 2021 HISTORYNET.COM

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Rare Artifacts of the 1861 Baltimore Riot

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March 2021

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The Ultimate Price As the Wilderness burned and fighting raged, a poor Southern farmer comforted a mortally wounded millionaire Union general.

Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Tangled Web Fighting within the dense woods of the Wilderness, as shown in this A.R. Waud sketch, devastated both armies during the Overland Campaign’s opening clash.

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (3); VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF HISTORY & CULTURE; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; COVER: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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Departments 6 LETTERS Defending Little Mac’s mobility at Sharpsburg 8 GRAPESHOT! “Doc’s Rock” and a president’s pistols 12 THE BLOG ROLL JFK unexpectedly explores Antietam 14 HIDDEN HEROES The remarkable fighting Cushing trio 16 FROM THE CROSSROADS A closer look at Confederate monuments 56 TRAILSIDE Capital look at war-born Charleston, W.Va. 60 5 QUESTIONS Overlooked Tullahoma Campaign brought into focus 61 REVIEWS Cavalry combat at Gettysburg 64 FINAL BIVOUAC A war hero’s mysterious last days

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Culture Clash Brought from the East, the men of the Union 20th Corps steamrolled through Georgia in 1864, even though their presence bred discord in their army.

By Ethan S. Rafuse

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Up a Creek Two soldiers’ daring canoe trip helps free Burnside’s besieged army in Knoxville.

By Mark H. Dunkelman

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‘We Are Fighting’

48 Uncloaking the Jeff Davis Myth

Rare artifacts offer a captivating look at the war’s first bloodshed in Baltimore.

What was behind the claims that Jeff Davis wore a dress when captured in May 1865?

By Michael G. Williams

By Richard H. Holloway

ON THE COVER: UNION MAJ. GENS. JOSEPH HOOKER (LEFT) AND WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MIXED LIKE OIL AND VINEGAR. SHERMAN WOULD GET THE LAST LAUGH WHEN THEY WERE BROUGHT TOGETHER TO FIGHT IN THE WESTERN THEATER.

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MARCH 2021

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Michael A. Reinstein Chairman & Publisher David Steinhafel Publisher Alex Neill Editor in Chief

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR ONLINE HISTORYNET.com/ AMERICAS-CIVIL-WAR

DAVIS GOT OFF EASY

After his capture, Jefferson Davis was charged with treason. But politics and constitutional limitations led to his exoneration. bit.ly/TroubleWithTreason

HOOKER LOST OUT

After Joe Hooker’s exit, rivals O.O. Howard and Henry Slocum led the right and left wings of Sherman’s army during the March to the Sea. bit.ly/HookerRivalsTakeSavannah

WICKED WILDERNESS

The Wilderness wasn’t just difficult terrain in military terms; it also quickly gained a reputation as a place of mystique and mythology. bit.ly/WildernessWeirdness

Vol. 34, No. 1 March 2021

Chris K. Howland Editor Jerry Morelock Senior Editor Sarah Richardson Senior Editor Nancy Tappan Senior Editor Dana B. Shoaf Consulting Editor Stephen Kamifuji Creative Director Brian Walker Group Art Director Melissa A. Winn Director of Photography A DV ISORY BOA RD Gordon Berg, Jim Burgess, Tom Clemens, Steve Davis, D. Scott Hartwig, Lawrence Lee Hewitt, John Hoptak, Robert K. Krick, Ethan S. Rafuse, Ron Soodalter, Tim Rowland CORPOR ATE Rob Wilkins Director of Partnership Marketing Tom Griffiths Corporate Development Graydon Sheinberg Corporate Development Shawn Byers VP Audience Development Jamie Elliott Production Director A DV ERTISING Morton Greenberg SVP Advertising Sales mgreenberg@mco.com Rick Gower Regional Sales Manager rick@rickgower.com Terry Jenkins Regional Sales Manager tjenkins@historynet.com

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AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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ON FR E FO E S UR HI OR PPI M NG OR E

Actual size is 38.1 mm

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Dealers Begin Stockpiling Last-Year Morgans

Knowing what we’ve told you about special anniversaries, dealers around the country are preparing for a surge in demand. 2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Morgan Silver Dollar—the last-yearof-issue for the most popular vintage U.S. Silver Dollar ever minted. But slow-moving collectors may be disappointed in what they find when they seek out these coins.

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Interest in Silver Is on the Rise

19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 LY AUG EPT OCT OV DEC JAN FEB AR APR AY UNE ULY UG U A N J M J J M S

Silver Trend Chart: Prices based on monthly averages. ©2020, AMS

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LETTERS

REVIEW REBUTTAL

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1862 through the use of primary sources and scholarly secondary sources. I am prepared to leave final judgment to the reader as to whether Too Useful To Sacrifice is a humdinger or not.

Steven R. Stotelmyer Sharpsburg, Md.

Grant’s Better Angel

Received the January 2021 issue and enjoyed all the articles, but was especially interested in “Humanity Forbade Them to Starve” (P.46). In reading about the Civil War, we too infrequently are introduced to the soldiers’ better angels.

Timm Oyer Via e-mail

Personal Choice?

I noticed that on the cover of the January 2021 issue the soldiers appear in what look like winter uniforms, even though the painting portrays James Longstreet’s staff at Gettysburg. I was wondering if officers wore wool uniforms year-round, which would seem uncomfortable and dangerous. I enjoy the magazine’s many interesting articles.

Willard Krausch Via e-mail Editor’s Note: Officers on both sides had more latitude when it came to choosing what uniform to wear than enlisted men, who wore what they were issued yearround. It was common, however, for officers to wear their wool uniform coats throughout the summer months.

CORRECTION An error introduced during

the editing of the January 2021 article, “Union Blue in a Reb State” by Jonathan A. Noyalas, incorrectly noted on P.44 that in July 1864 Unionist Mary Miller confronted Confederate soldiers in the streets of Martinsburg wrapped in a flag “she had presented to the 11th Pennsylvania in 1861.” The flag used in Martinsburg was a standard Stars and Stripes, as the 17th Virginia Infantry had captured the 11th Pennsylvania’s flag at Second Bull Run in August 1862.

WRITE TO US Send letters to America’s Civil War, Letters Editor, Historynet, 901 North Glebe Road, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203, or e-mail acwletters@ historynet.com. Letters may be edited.

HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

historian James McPherson called a “remarkable example” of contingency, as cited by the reviewer. It was an incomplete four-day-old copy of a marching order contradicted by actual events. A whole chapter of my book explores the fallacies surrounding this misunderstood document for anyone willing to consider facts over opinion.

Yes, from the safety of his desk in Washington, Henry Halleck somehow calculated that the Army of the Potomac averGeneral George aged six miles a day in its pursuit B. McClellan of Lee. Those actually doing the marching, however, left a written record at odds with Halleck.

While trying to explain events to his president on September 16, Robert E. Lee was forced to admit, “the enemy was advancing more rapidly than was convenient.” Whatever the genuine rate of march may have been, one truth remains evident: McClellan caught Lee totally illprepared at South Mountain and forced In the January 2021 issue, there is a a battle that altered the campaign. review by Steve Davis of my book, Too Prior to South Mountain, Lee held Useful to Sacrifice: Reconsidering George the initiative. After South Mountain, B. McClellan’s Generalship in the Marythat initiative passed to McClellan. land Campaign From South Mountain Even Stephen W. Sears realized this to Antietam. Unfortunately, it is filled when he wrote, “the Federals had capwith false assertions. tured the initiative and put the Army of I did not study under Dr. Joseph L. Northern Virginia in peril.” If South Harsh (I wish I had). I knew Joe well Mountain is not a “turning point,” then enough, however, to have had several we need to redefine the term. Yes, the eye-opening conversations with him.

Preliminary Emancipation ProclamaAmong the topics discussed was how tion most likely ended Confederate McClellan supposedly “telegraphed his hopes for recognition by European punch” at Antietam when his adversary countries; however, that outcome did knew well beforehand the punch was not happen because of a single battle. It coming. Furthermore, McClellan did happened because of a successful camnot wait a day before launching his atpaign in which McClellan thwarted tack. Combat occurred on September 16.

Lee’s strategic options one by one and Colonel Hugh W. McNeil commanding beat him at his own game. the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves was I wish to thank Mr. Davis for calling among those killed on September 16. my book a “humdinger.” My dictionary The ferocious warfare on September 17 defines the word as something extraorwas an uninterrupted continuance of dinary or superior: a marvel. I feel the the combat that started the day before. book simply advances a trend in revisOld legends die hard, and Special ing and correcting less accurate interOrders No. 191 is no exception. A thorpretations of the Maryland Campaign of ough analysis reveals it was not what

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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GRAPESHOT!

A Blast of Civil War Stories

Preservation Success

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AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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HNA/PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

In Williamsburg, Va.—a locale more famous for its received Medals of Honor for their efforts that day. The contest was also notable because of intelligence provided connection to Colonial America and the Revolutionary

by Southern slaves that allowed the Federals to secure War—a 29-acre swath that saw critical combat during the undefended Confederate earthworks.

Civil War’s Battle of Williamsburg has been preserved by Forty-two privately held acres at the Stones River the American Battlefield Trust. Acquired in an area highly National Battlefield also have been saved, keeping desirable for commercial development, the land purchase more land of the December 31, 1862—January 2, 1863, battle was made possible by a fundraising combination of seller, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., from development. Matching state, and federal funds that matched $220 for every $1 the grants from the NPS’s American BatABT raised from private donors. tlefield Protection Program and TenShowdown Site The battle took place on May 5, nessee’s Civil War Sites Preservation The historic 29 acres where 1862, when Confederates retreating from Yorktown clashed with Federal Federal and Confederate soldiers Fund helped close the $4 million sale. clashed during the Battle of The parcel protects the “Hell’s Half forces pushing up the Virginia PeninWilliamsburg, known as the Acre” fighting location. The ABT also sula toward Richmond. Seven Union Bloody Ravine, have been saved. preserved an adjacent six-acre plot. soldiers—from seven separate units—

COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST

VALUABLE CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD TERRAIN SAVED AT WILLIAMSBURG, STONES RIVER

Philip St. George Cooke

QUIZ

It’s Relative 1. Which son-in-law of Philip St. George Cooke held a command in the opposing army?

A. Richard S. Ewell B. A.P. Hill C. Leonidas Polk D. J.E.B. Stuart

2. Which Union general had a brother who was a Confederate general?

A. John Sedgwick B. Thomas L. Crittenden C. John A. Logan D. George H. Thomas

HNA/PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST

Photographs and Memories By 1860, Gettysburg, Pa., boasted about 2,400 citizens. Ten roads led into the town, which created a few small but thriving industries such as carriage manufacturing, shoemaking, and tanning, as well as several educational institutions. Although the town would survive the July 1863 battle that devastated its lands, it would never be the same, ultimately owing much of its endurance to its attraction as a tourist destination. The local economy still benefits from travelers hoping to take a piece of the battlefield home with them without disturbing the hallowed ground, including souvenirs such as these paperweights depicting the Gettysburg headquarters of opposing commanders Robert E. Lee and George G. Meade. The paperweights shown here were produced in the 1920s by A.C. Bosselman & Co., a New York-based importer and distributor of souvenirs and memorabilia.

4. Which family member fought in the Confederate Army?

Carswell McClellan A. B. George B. McClellan C. Henry B. McClellan D. John McClellan 5. Which successful Confederate general had a grandfather who was an unsuccessful U.S. Army general in the War of 1812?

A. Robert E. Lee B. Wade Hampton III C. James Longstreet D. P.G.T. Beauregard Answers: D, B, A, C, B

CONVERSATION PIECE

3. Which of Robert E. Lee’s relatives held a captaincy in the Confederate Navy?

A. Sydney Smith Lee B. Stephen D. Lee C. W.H. Fitzhugh Lee D. G.W. Custis Lee

MARCH 2021

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GRAPESHOT!

SUPERNUMERARY

Granger

Jeff Davis’ Other Gun? The Ferry Maryland

On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that slaves were now free—still an unknown to many in the once Confederate state.

“This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer,” Granger declared to reactions ranging from shock to elation. On June 19, 1866, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what would be an annual celebration, “Jubilee Day,” which by the 1890s was called “Juneteenth” and was observed in other states. In 1979, Juneteenth became a paid state holiday in Texas, and in 2020 governors in three states followed suit with executive orders. Activists are now pushing Congress to recognize it as a national holiday. [For more on Granger, see P.26] Union General Alpheus Williams owned two horses: Yorkshire and Plug Ugly, preferring the latter for more punishing endeavors. Which is why he was riding atop Plug Ugly at muddy Chancellorsville when an exploding shell sent the two flying.

Somehow, Williams wasn’t injured; his horse only slightly. In 1864, Williams sold his now-worn-down mount for $50. It died shortly thereafter. [For more on Williams and the Union 20th Corps, see P.18] The “Restoration of Citizenship Rights to Jefferson F. Davis” law was signed by President Jimmy Carter

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AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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RICHARD H. HOLLOWAY (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Plug Ugly

FROM TOP: STONE SENTINELS (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COURTESY OF THE BRYAN MUSEUM; MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION

“Doc’s Rock” at Gettysburg

“Doc’s Rock,” dedicated to 32nd Massachusetts surgeon Zabdiel Boylston Adams, is one of the more unusual memorials at Gettysburg National Military Park. The boulder, located along Sickles’ Avenue near the Wheatfield, honors Adams’ bold initiative to establish a triage hospital adjacent to the Wheatfield to provide quicker treatment to the wounded. Adams treated men at Gettysburg for two days and nights straight until, according to ancestors, “blind with exhaustion.” The plaque on Doc’s Rock reads: “Behind this group of rocks on the afternoon of July 2nd, 1863, Surgeon Z. Boylston Adams placed the field hospital of the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Div., 5th Army Corps. Established so near the line of battle, many of our wounded escaped capture or death by its timely aid.” [For more on Adams, see “The Ultimate Price,” P.30]

GRAPESHOT!

RICHARD H. HOLLOWAY (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

FROM TOP: STONE SENTINELS (2); LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COURTESY OF THE BRYAN MUSEUM; MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION

in October 1978, culminating reconciliation efforts that began January 7, 1914, when the U.S. Attorney General’s Office directed the War Department to return Davis family personal possessions that were taken during their capture on May 10, 1865—specifically the raglan (raincoat), shawl, and spurs Davis was wearing when he surrendered. (Those items were finally returned in 1961.)

But two pistols purportedly carried by Davis were kept as spoils of war by their captors and are now in museum collections: similar M-1851 Colt “Navy” .36-caliber pistols, manufactured in 1852 and 1853—one at the ACWM in Richmond and one at Galveston’s Bryan Museum (pictured opposite page). The former was an inscribed gift to Davis from Samuel Colt that later was presented by the 4th Michigan Cavalry to their colonel, R.H.G. Minty, who had been absent during the capture.

A third gun, a Colt “Pocket” pistol, exists in the collection at Beauvoir, Miss., home of the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library. That pistol had been taken from Varina Davis’ luggage. In his autobiography, Davis wrote that he gave his wife the handgun and instructed her how and when to fire it. [For more on the Davises’ capture, see P.48] In April 1861, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad was one of the Union’s most important transportation lines, especially for troops traveling to Washington, D.C. Shortly before reaching Baltimore, southbound trains had to cross the Susquehanna River by way of a steamer that ferried the cars to the opposite shore. The vessel that fulfilled the duty, Maryland, would play an important yet overlooked part early in the war.

In February 1861, Maryland carried Presidentelect Lincoln across the river during his Inaugural journey to Washington. On April 19, it did the same for the 700 men of the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia who had been sent to protect the capital city. Two days later, however, it made perhaps its biggest contribution to the Union effort.

Following the Baltimore Riot of April 19, 1861 [see P.40], Rebel sympathizers continued working to keep troops from reaching Washington, burning bridges along the PW&B to render the tracks impassable. As a remedy, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Butler of the 8th Massachusetts devised alternative travel options. From the PW&B hub of Perryville, Md., troops would steam down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake Bay and then take the Severn River to Annapolis, where the Annapolis & Elkridge Railroad would transport them to the junction with the B&O Railroad before heading on to Washington.

Louisiana Splendor On May 15, 1862, John J. Slocum assembled a company in Washington Parish, La., as part of the 1st Louisiana Partisan Rangers. Private D.W. Read was among the volunteers that day. Anticipating that his unit would be named the 3rd Louisiana Cavalry, Read ordered the ornate knife shown here from Cook & Brothers in New Orleans. The knife had Read’s initials inscribed on one side of the blade and “1862–3rd Louisiana C.S. Cav” on the other. Its ivory handle was carved as a horse’s head with black pins for eyes, its sheath made of thin leather secured with a silver band. Read, in what had been renamed the 9th Battalion Louisiana Partisan Rangers, would be part of the Port Hudson, La., garrison forced to surrender on July 9, 1863. His unit was reorganized in 1864 and finally designated the 3rd Louisiana Cavalry. –Richard H. Holloway

BATTLE RATTLE

“My plans are perfect, and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on Bobby Lee, for I shall have none.”

—Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, April 12, 1863

John Coski Retires After 32 years as the American Civil War Museum’s historian, John M. Coski, retired on January 1. He will continue to work as a consultant for the ACWM, which was known as the Museum of the Confederacy until 2019. An America’s Civil War contributor, Coski is the author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem, among other titles.

MARCH 2021

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HIDDEN THE BLOG HEROES ROLL

V.I.P. Visit

JFK’S 1963 TRIP TO ANTIETAM WAS SO SECRET, HE WAS GONE BEFORE LOCALS REALIZED IT

tlefield visitors, some filming the visit, stood steps ON APRIL 7, 1963, seven months before his assassinafrom Kennedy as his car traveled slowly on Cornfield tion, President John F. Kennedy made a nine-minute Avenue. (I wonder where their film is now.) As JFK helicopter ride from the presidential compound at examined a marker at the Miller Cornfield, a young Camp David for a surprise visit to the Antietam boy stood nearby, apparently giddy because of his National Battlefield. The previous Sunday, the presigood fortune. Another visitor there, a woman in a flodent—an avid student of history and a World War II ral print dress, appeared unimpressed with the world’s veteran—had visited Gettysburg with his wife, Jackie. most powerful man. Perhaps she had voted for KenneA remarkable, seven-minute silent film of Kennedy’s opponent, Richard Nixon, in the 1960 election. dy’s Palm Sunday visit—digitized and posted on the Kennedy’s visit was such a well-kept secret that in JFK Presidential Library site (https://www.jfklibrary.

Sharpsburg, Md., many residents didn’t know about it org/)—shows the 45-year-old president riding in the until after he departed. back seat of an open, white convertible and visiting Kennedy spent about 90 minutes at Antietam with notable Antietam sites. The presidential security a small party that included his brother, Senator Ted detail at the battlefield appeared to be less than Kennedy, and the senator’s pregnant robust. Kennedy, of course, was travHistory Lesson wife, Joan; his longtime friend, Lem eling in an open-top Lincoln ContiJohn F. Kennedy and acting Billings; and Undersecretary of the nental limousine when he was shot park Superintendent Robert Treasury James A. Reed. As Kenneduring a motorcade through downL. Lagemann converse on dy’s presence on the battlefield town Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Burnside Bridge as the became known to the public, his Perhaps unremarkable then, this president’s tour winds down. three-car caravan was followed by an Antietam film is stunning today. Bat-

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By John Banks

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THE BLOG ROLL

day, “and in the status of land acquisiever-increasing number of vehicles.

Memorable Excursion tion.” Kennedy, who had deep Irish Besides the Miller Cornfield, Clockwise from top right: roots, asked about an Irish Brigade Kennedy made three other stops: In an eerie déjà vu moment, marker and was amazed that the batBloody Lane, the New York State onlookers film JFK as his tle resulted in 23,000 casualties.

Monument across from the Dunker car drives along Cornfield Lagemann was impressed with KenChurch, and Burnside Bridge. ApparAvenue; JFK and brother nedy’s keen knowledge of the battle— ently he didn’t have time to visit the Ted share a laugh; the the president eagerly read an Antietam national cemetery or the new visitors presidential party stops on guidebook the superintendent gave center, which opened for the first time Mansfield Avenue; a car earlier that year. (Senator Kennedy crosses Burnside Bridge, once him and asked many questions. open to vehicular traffic.

“By the time I was halfway through climbed the old War Department an answer,” he said, “the President tower at Bloody Lane, but neither his was ready with another question.” wife nor brother attempted that strenuous endeavor.)

Shortly before JFK boarded the presidential heliRelaxed and friendly, JFK chatted with tourists, copter parked near Burnside Bridge for his return to including three girls whom he “cordially received” at Camp David, Lagemann wanted to tell him about the New York State Monument. “He sincerely is graanother president who had visited Antietam, albeit cious to people,” said acting Antietam Superintendent under much less friendly circumstances. But because Robert L. Lagemann, who served as the president’s of the racket from the whirring helicopter, he skipped tour guide. the story of William McKinley. As a commissary serOn his last stop, Kennedy and Lagemann visited geant in the 23rd Ohio, the future president—who was the iconic Burnside Bridge. About five minutes into assassinated in 1901—served coffee and warm food to the film, a white car crosses the bridge, which wasn’t his comrades on September 17, 1862, a short distance closed to vehicular traffic until 1966. What seems from where Kennedy and Lagemann stood. crazy to us today was, well, normal back then.

“Lagemann reported that the President showed intense interest in the troop movements over the site,” This post appeared November 22, 2020, on John the Daily Mail of Hagerstown, Md., reported the next Banks’ popular blog http://john-banks.blogspot.com.

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HIDDEN HEROES

Family Affair THE CUSHING BROTHERS’ GRAND STAMP ON HISTORY

IN THE LATE 1800S, three brothers from a rural Wisconsin family made military history. One received the coveted Thanks of Congress, and another the Medal of Honor, while a third brother went on to become a celebrated cavalry commander and Indian fighter during the Arizona Territory’s bloody Apache Wars. Of the three—William B. Cushing, Alonzo H. Cushing, and Howard B. Cushing—two paid for their success with their lives.

River on the rainy night of William Cushing is probably the October 27-28, intending best known of the trio, earning acclaim either to capture the ironfor sinking the powerful Confederate clad or sink it outright. ironclad Albemarle in October 1864. By As Cushing’s craft approached the the third year of the war, while CushHallowed Ground ironclad, the lieutenant discovered that it ing was serving as a lieutenant in the William, Howard, floated amid a protective raft of logs, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and Alonzo (clockwise which made a boarding inadvisable. Now Albemarle was the most effective and from top) are interred spotted, the raiders came under heavy feared vessel on the water, having sunk at some of the nation’s fire from both Albemarle and Rebels on or disabled several Yankee ships and most renowned burial the shore, which perforated Cushing’s effectively closing down enemy activity grounds: William at the coat and struck the sole of one of his in eastern North Carolina. Already with U.S. Naval Academy; shoes. Miraculously unhurt, he ordered experience leading a number of successAlonzo at West Point; his launch forward at full speed. After ful raids, Cushing was the man chosen to and Howard at San Francisco’s Presidio. gliding over the logs, Cushing detonated eliminate the Rebel threat. the spar torpedo against Albemarle’s Not quite 22, Cushing warned his hull, opening a “wagon-size” hole and immediately hand-picked crew that this action might well be their sinking the vessel in six feet of water and mud. last. In an open steam launch armed only with a Cannon fire from Albemarle sank Cushing’s launch, 12-pound Dahlgren howitzer and a spar torpedo, and casting his crew into the river. But as the Rebels towing a cutter holding other raiders, Cushing infilpicked off or captured many of Cushing’s men, the trated the Confederate-held stretch of the Roanoke 14

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By Ron Soodalter

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HIDDEN HEROES foremost hunter and slayer of Apache warriors.

From 1866 to 1877, the frontier army seemed out of its element, as Apache raids continued virtually unchecked: The civilian death count would reach into the hundreds, while 26 U.S. soldiers were killed and 58 wounded.

Cushing proved an exception. Given free rein by the MORE THAN A YEAR before William Cushing’s hero- territorial governor to pursue and destroy Apaches along the San Pedro River and throughout southeastics, his older brother, 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, perern Arizona, he did just that—burning their settleished on July 3, 1863—the third day of the Battle of ments, destroying their goods, seizing their animals, Gettysburg. Commanding 126 men and six 3-inch Ordand killing with impunity. Soon, as Paul Andrew Hutnance Rifle cannons of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery ton writes in his book The Apache Wars, “[T]he Apaches during Pickett’s Charge, Cushing was seriously came to recognize his face as the enemy.” wounded by incoming Confederate artillery fire as he On May 5, 1871, while pursuing a large contingent directed his battery’s fire from Cemetery Ridge. The of Chiricahua Apaches, Cushing and 22 troopers rode first shell fragments struck Cushing in the right shoulinto an ambush in the Whetstone der and another shell ripped open his Mountains set by Chief Juh and his abdomen, but he resolved to stay Whether Howard chief strategist, Geronimo. with his men and repel the attack.

Cushing was jealous Hopelessly outnumbered, the After all of his officers and a numof his younger troopers put up a brave but futile ber of his men had fallen, and four brothers’ deeds and defense. Cushing was among the first guns were disabled, Alonzo—holding killed, hit in both the chest and head. in his intestines—began working one fame is uncertain.

As others fell, the rest beat a desperof his two remaining cannons. But as ate retreat, carrying their wounded but leaving behind the last round of double canister was fired into the the bodies of the fallen. On May 6, the survivors stagfaces of advancing Confederates, he was struck in the gered into Fort Crittenden, south of Tucson, with the mouth by an enemy bullet and killed instantly. news of what would be called the “Cushing Massacre.”

His Medal of Honor citation reads, in part: “[Alonzo A search party found and buried the stripped, mutiCushing’s] gallant stand and fearless leadership lated bodies of Cushing and his men. Their remains inflicted severe casualties upon Confederate forces were later disinterred and reburied at Camp Lowell, and opened wide gaps in their lines, directly impactnot far from Tucson, and Cushing’s body was eventuing the Union force’s ability to repel Pickett’s charge.” ally disinterred and buried at the Presidio of San Incredibly, it took the federal government 151 years Francisco. If, by chance, Cushing had suffered any linto recognize Alonzo’s heroism at Gettysburg. Although gering sibling jealousy, a tribute by a fellow trooper, he was clearly deserving, at the time of his death, the 2nd Lt. John G. Bourke,calling him “the bravest man I Medal of Honor was not awarded posthumously. Even ever saw,” might well have put that to rest. after notice of Cushing’s bravery was brought to the government’s attention in 1987, the medal was not awarded until November 6, 2014.

AN ELDER BROTHER, Milton Jr., born in 1837, served with little fanfare as a U.S. Navy paymaster. In 1911, WHETHER HOWARD CUSHING was jealous of his the state of Wisconsin, in company with the Waukesha County Historical Society, established the Cushing younger brothers’ deeds and fame is, of course, uncerMemorial State Park in Delafield, on the old Cushing tain. But if so, it might have been what spurred him family homestead. On its verdant grounds stands an into becoming one of the most aggressive foes the Indiimpressive 50-foot-tall granite monument to the three ans faced during the brutal Apache Wars out West.

Fighting Cushings (minus Milton). It bears an inscripHoward served in the artillery throughout the Civil tion written by Civil War veteran, author, and WisconWar, gaining a lieutenant’s commission in the 4th U.S. sin native Theron W. Haight, referring to William, Artillery, Alonzo’s former regiment. Shortly after the Alonzo, and Howard as “perhaps the most conspicuwar, Howard went on an unfortunate drinking binge ously daring trio of sons of one mother of any whose and was court-martialed and suspended from service exploits have been noted in the pages of history.” It is for a year. In 1868, transferred to the Southwest, he a claim that would prove difficult to refute. reconfigured himself as the hard-driving commander of F Troop, 3rd Cavalry, gaining a reputation as a nononsense commander. He quickly became the Army’s Ron Soodalter writes from Cold Spring, N.Y.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; US MILITARY ACADEMY

lieutenant made his escape downriver until he was rescued by a Union gunship.

Cushing was an instant national celebrity. On President Abraham Lincoln’s recommendation, Congress voted thanks to the newly promoted lieutenant commander along with the survivors of his gallant crew.

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FROM THE CROSSROADS From a Master’s Hands Gettysburg’s North Carolina Monument still under construction at the workshop of Gutzon Borglum, who later designed Mount Rushmore. deliberately marginalized the Confederates by forcing the placement of monuments at a distance from where the fighting had taken place.

Neither is true, but the opinions persist nonetheless, principally because people do not understand how commemoration on the Gettysburg battlefield evolved. This evolution informs our understanding of where Confederate monuments are and when they went up.

The federal government had no role in the battlefield’s early preservation. Rather, that began in the fall of 1863 with the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, formed by a group of local citizens intent on preserving the scene of the great Union victory. The GBMA purchased parcels of land on Culp’s and Cemetery Hills and Little Round Top, and gradually added to its modest land holdings after the war.

At the time, the battlefield, with its original breastworks and bullet-riddled trees, was the monument. In 1879-80, a group of Union veterans led by John Vanderslice took control of the GBMA and dramatically changed the organization’s management philosophy. In addition to more aggressively purchasing additional battlefield property, the GBMA actively encouraged Union veterans to erect monuments marking their positions and commemorating their sacrifices, and they opened park avenues that followed the line of battle of the Army of the Potomac. The GBMA had no legal authority to acquire property on land the Army of Northern Virginia had occupied, but in these early years there was little interest in that anyway.

Dozens of monuments went up in the 1880s.

Although their inscriptions, location, and mateGETTYSBURG’S CONFEDERATE rials were approved by GBMA historian John MEMORIALS FULFILLED DIFFERENT Bachelder, there was latitude on their location.

This resulted in a crowding of monuments near AGENDAS AS TIME PASSED the Copse of Trees, where numerous regiments

By D. Scott Hartwig had converged during the repulse of Pickett’s Charge on July 3. Bachelder grew concerned APPROXIMATELY 200 MONUMENTS and tablets at that unless some system was implemented this clusterGettysburg National Military Park commemorate ing of monuments at key points would make it impossiConfederate military units of the Army of Northern ble for future visitors to understand the position of the Virginia or the states from which soldiers of that army Union army during the battle. In 1887, along with vetcame. During my years working at the park, I often erans and U.S. Army officers, he devised a “line of batheard people proclaim that the U.S. government had tle policy” for GBMA-approved monuments. Any group attempted to prevent any monuments to the Confeder- wishing to erect a monument was required to place it at ates at Gettysburg or that when they were allowed they the position the regiment or battery occupied in the

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ILLISPHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Lost Cause and Effect

ILLISPHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

FROM THE CROSSROADS eran William Robbins of the 4th Alabama, resisted general line of battle on July 1 or July 2-3. Bachelder, Oates’ efforts. The commissioners hoped that by involvwho knew the battle better than anyone, determined ing war hero Joshua L. Chamberlain, who had comunit location. Once the monument was placed, manded the 20th Maine against Oates’ regiment, they advanced position markers could be erected to show could kill the proposal. Chamberlain did not object, where the regiment might have moved to engage the however, and Oates likely would have won his battle enemy. This meant that units that had already placed had he not claimed in one of his many letters during the their monuments in advanced locations had to shift process that his regiment had driven the 20th Maine them to their positions in the general line of battle. In nearly to the summit of Little Round the case of the 19th Massachusetts, for Top. Chamberlain would not allow his example, this meant moving its monuregiment to be slighted by such a false ment back to the second line. claim and changed his mind. Oates’ Bachelder had long wanted to expand monument was never erected. the battlefield’s borders to include the In addition to War Department tabground occupied by Robert E. Lee’s lets, eight regimental or brigade monuarmy and vigorously lobbied Union vetments/tablets and advanced position erans and Congress to generate support markers have been erected by individufor creation of a national military park als or state organizations, and 12 states encompassing the positions of both (counting Maryland) have installed armies. His efforts were successful. In monuments. The earliest was the Vir1893, a congressional commission that ginia Memorial, erected in 1917. The included veterans from both sides began monument’s original design made no the process of determining and marking statement about the causes of the war, the two armies’ lines of battle. Two but it called for the color-bearer to be years later, Gettysburg National Milicarrying the Army of Northern Virgintary Park—a unit of the U.S. War ‘Valorous Deeds’ ia’s battle flag, the banner most widely Department—was created, with castNorth Carolina was well associated with the Confederacy, which iron tablets erected at the approximate represented at Gettysburg position every corps, division, brigade, with 32 regiments. Its state was forbidden by the War Department. and battery occupied during their most monument today stands on Thus, the color-bearer carries the VirWest Confederate Avenue. ginia state flag, which was not with the significant service of the battle. The text army at Gettysburg. The North Caroplaced on these tablets told a particular lina Monument followed in 1929, and Alabama in 1933. unit’s experience in the battle “without praise or cenThe bulk of the state monuments went up during the sure.” The National Park Commission applied the centennial in the 1960s, when the Civil Rights movesame line of battle policy as the GBMA and placed the ment was growing across the South, and some of these Confederate tablets along the front lines of the Army of are the most controversial. Mississippi, South Carolina, Northern Virginia’s positions on July 1 or July 2-3. and Florida chose to include political statements defendTheir tablets were treated no differently than those of ing the cause for which they believed their sons had the Army of the Potomac. Some Confederate units, fought. The first line of South Carolina’s inscription such as Wilcox’s, Wright’s and Kershaw’s brigades, reads, “[T]hat men of honor might forever know the even received advanced position tablets marking points responsibilities of freedom,” followed two sentences to which they had advanced. down by, “Abiding faith in the sacredness of States Like their Union counterparts, Confederate veterans Rights provided their creed.” These monuments reflect would have to adhere to the park’s line of battle policy the time in which they were erected, the politics around for any monuments they may wish to erect in addition the memory of the war, and the effort to diminish the to the War Department tablets. Many were fine with centrality of slavery. As offensive as some may consider the tablets, but there was little interest in erecting unit these sentiments, during my time at GNMP they served monuments where attacks had begun rather than as an excellent interpretive tool to discuss the causes, where units had suffered their greatest losses. In the consequences, and contentious memory of the war. late 1890s, former 15th Alabama Colonel William They are an extremely small fraction of the battlefield’s Oates, also Alabama governor in 1894-96, sought to cirConfederate monuments—90 percent of which were, cumvent the policy by erecting a monument on Little ironically, erected by the U.S. government.

Round Top to both his unit and his brother, who was mortally wounded there. As this was an advanced position, the park commissioners, including Gettysburg vetScott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

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culture clash

despite an ugly clash of egos at the top, the union army’s 20th Corps proved in Georgia that eastern and western troops could find common ground in battle

By Ethan S. Rafuse

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lthough they were fighting to restore sectional harmony and preserve national unity, Union armies were hardly models of harmony and unity themselves. Personal, sectional, and institutional rivalries and conflicts often played a big role in the conduct of operations and the selection of generals for command.

This was evident when, in the aftermath of the Union defeat at Chickamauga, Ga., in September 1863, the Lincoln administration transferred the Army of the Potomac’s 11th and 12th Corps from Virginia to Tennessee to assist the Army of the Cumberland, besieged in Chattanooga.

Few organizations in American military history have been as defined by the conflicts within its general officer corps as the Army of

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the Potomac. That the man assigned overall command of those two corps was Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker could hardly have been cause for optimism for most who hoped cooperation would characterize the troops’ Western Theater adventure. President Abraham Lincoln, however, was immensely gratified that Hooker accepted the assignment after he had relieved the general of command three months earlier. “Whenever trouble arises,” Lincoln told his secretary, John Hay, “I can always rely upon Hooker’s magnanimity.”

Many of Hooker’s fellow officers would have found that a peculiar remark, for few men contributed more to the command tensions that wracked the North’s most prominent army than “Fighting Joe.” Indeed, Hooker’s ability to command this force sent west was due in

Inflated Legacy It took James Walker four years to finish his 13- by 30-foot painting The Battle of Lookout Mountain, which Joseph Hooker (shown prominently on a white horse) commissioned for $20,000 in trying to enhance his legacy.

A well-known artist, Walker personally witnessed the November 1863 victory.

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Sherman’s Brain Trust William T. Sherman poses with the subordinate commanders who helped deliver Union victory in the Western Theater. From left to right are Maj. Gens. Oliver Otis Howard, John Logan, William B. Hazen, Sherman, Jefferson C. Davis, Henry Slocum, and Joseph Mower. them. He was always taken up with Sunday schools and the temperance cause. Those things are all very good, you know, but have very little to do with commanding [an] army corps.” As if that weren’t enough, Hooker placed much of the blame for his May 1863 defeat at Chancellorsville on Howard—and with some justification, as Howard’s refusal to heed warnings from Hooker’s headquarters and from his own alarmed 11th Corps subordinates enabled the famed May 2 flank attack by Stonewall Jackson’s Corps that did much to unravel Hooker’s plans.

Hooker’s relationship with Slocum was even worse. An 1852 West Point graduate, Slocum earned a reputation for leadership while serving under Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, a friend of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and a potential rival to Hooker. As Hooker climbed the ladder to army command, he pointed at Slocum as an example in arguing to officials in Washington, D.C., that McClellan and other Army of the Potomac generals were too

Slocum was immensely pleased when Lincoln decided to replace Hooker with Meade in late June 1863

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part to the fact that during his tenure atop the Army of the Potomac he had antagonized most of his corps commanders with his penchant for self-aggrandizement and willingness to intrigue against others in the high command.

In fact, few enjoyed worse relations with Hooker than the generals who happened to lead the 11th and 12th Corps in September 1863: Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard and Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum, respectively.

Howard was an 1854 U.S. Military Academy graduate who had returned to West Point to teach mathematics before the war, and whose personal modesty and religious devotion had produced a fitting nickname, “The Christian General.” That such a man would have difficulty stomaching the hyper-masculine Hooker was almost a guarantee. Hooker’s unsavory character and conduct, for instance, had famously led Union Colonel Charles F. Adams Jr. to declare Hooker’s headquarters “a combination of barroom and brothel…a place to which no self-respecting man liked to go, and no decent woman could go.”

To Hooker, Howard “was always a woman among troops. If he was not born in petticoats, he ought to have been, and ought to wear AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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cautious and lacked the sort of fighting spirit Hooker promised to deliver.

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ike most of his fellow corps commanders, Slocum was disgusted by Hooker’s scheming and the general’s conduct during the Chancellorsville Campaign.

After the devastating defeat, Slocum rallied other ranking generals in an effort to persuade Lincoln to replace Hooker with Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, the army’s 5th Corps commander—failing to see any irony in doing so. In coordination with Maj. Gens. Darius Couch and John Sedgwick, both known McClellan sympathizers, Slocum informed Meade that he was willing to ignore seniority and would readily serve under his command if he were to endorse Slocum’s scheme.

When Meade refused to comply, Slocum refrained from presenting his ruse to Lincoln.

Nevertheless, he was immensely pleased when Lincoln decided to replace Hooker with Meade in late June 1863, just prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.

Lincoln and his advisers fully realized when they placed Slocum’s and Howard’s commands under Hooker in September 1863 that the three men were anything but friendly. Howard kept his own counsel as the two corps passed through Washington in September, but Slocum made a point of calling on the president and expressing his displeasure to again find himself under Hooker’s command, even offering his resignation. “[Slocum] seems peevish, irritable, fretful,” one of Lincoln’s pro-Hooker aides wrote in his diary after the meeting. “Hooker does not speak unkindly of him…while he never mentions Hooker but to attack him.”

Wanting to retain both Hooker’s and Slocum’s services, Lincoln informed Army of the Cumberland commander Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans on September 28 that Howard’s and Slocum’s corps were en route, but added: “Unfortunately, the relations between Generals Hooker and Slocum are not such as to promise good, if their present relative positions remain. Therefore let me beg—almost enjoin upon you—that on reaching you, you will make a transposition by which Gen. Slocum with his corps, may pass from under the command of Gen. Hooker.”

After reaching the Union-held railroad town of Stevenson in northeastern Alabama, Hooker wrote to Lincoln suggesting that Slocum be assigned to Missouri. Rosecrans, meanwhile, flatly rejected the notion of a “transposition” that would give Slocum and his forces a place

in the Army of the Cumberland, certain that mixing elements from his army with “Potomac troops by placing them under Potomac generals would kindle a flame of jealousy and dislike.” Finally, upon reaching Alabama, Slocum learned that he would be spared service under Hooker and would instead guard the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad with one of his divisions. This left three divisions under Hooker’s direct command—two from Howard’s corps and one from Slocum’s, which proved more than sufficient for Hooker to contribute to the effort to reopen the “Cracker Line” to Chattanooga in October and then to operate com-

Different Circles Above: Henry Slocum (third from left) built his fighting chops under Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin (sixth from left) during the Peninsula Campaign, while Joe Hooker (top) was serving as a division commander in the 3rd Corps.

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mendably at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold, Ga., in November.

All the same, losing command of the Army of the Potomac and being relocated to the Western Theater did not compel Hooker to adjust his attitude toward others. Whatever “magnanimity” he had displayed in Washington seemed to evaporate almost as soon as he reached Stevenson, 40 miles or so from Chattanooga.

One observer, in fact, found him “in an unfortunate state of mind…fault finding, criticizing, dissatisfied.”

The subsequent accomplishments of Hooker’s command at Chattanooga swelled the general’s ego even further. Hooker couldn’t help but call attention to the success his men Constellation enjoyed at Chattanooga compared to This badge belonged to the troubled effort of Maj. Gen. WilPrivate Charles U. Jahn of liam T. Sherman’s command. Sherthe 73rd Pennsylvania. The man’s “attack on the left, after I had tandem of crescent moon taken Lookout…can only be considand star emblems reflects the 73rd’s stint first in the ered in the light of a disaster,” 11th Corps, then the 20th.

Hooker advised an ally in Lincoln’s Cabinet in December 1863. “Sherman is an active, energetic officer, but in judgment is as infirm as [Maj. Gen. Ambrose] Burnside. He will never be successful.”

In March 1864, however, Sherman was elevated to command of the Military Division of the Mississippi after Grant was named Union Army general in chief. That put both Hooker and Slocum under Sherman’s command—unfortunate for Hooker, of course, but eventually a blessing for Slocum. Sherman’s first service in the war came in Virginia and he spent his first few months as a general officer in the Army of the Potomac under McClellan, which by 1864 left “Uncle Billy” resenting and hating Hooker as much as Hooker resented and hated him.

Sherman also lacked Rosecrans’ qualms over mingling Western Theater and Eastern Theater troops. Consequently, in April 1864, Hooker’s three divisions were consolidated into a single unit, to be known as the 20th Corps, and made part of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland. Undoubtedly to their mutual relief, as a result of Sherman’s reorganization of his command, Howard was detached from Hooker’s command and given direction of another corps in Thomas’ army. Now without a command, Slocum received orders to head to Mississippi to take command of the District of Vicksburg.

Under Hooker’s lead, the 20th Corps performed admirably as Sherman maneuvered through Georgia against General Joseph E. Johnston’s No ‘Paper Collar’ Troops Confederate army from May to SeptemThese Army of the Potomac soldiers proved more than ber 1864, forcing Johnston—and then ready for the demand of his replacement, Lt. Gen. John Bell “rugged” Western Theater Hood—into continuous retreats toward combat after getting Atlanta. According to Union Brig. Gen. Alpheus Williams, hard-fought battles transferred from Virginia to Tennessee and Georgia. at Resaca, New Hope Church, Kolb’s AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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Farm, and Peachtree Creek gave Johnston’s Confederates a taste of “Army of the Potomac fighting.”

“When we came from the Potomac,” Williams declared after Hooker and his men turned in another stellar performance at Kolb’s Farm, “the troops here called us the ‘paper collar troops.’

Now they call us the ‘iron clads.’”

As for Hooker, Williams proclaimed, “the men like him as he is always seen when a fight is on.” Declared another officer, “I have almost “fell in love with ‘Old Joe’.”

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herman proved immune to Hooker’s charms, as did Hooker to Sherman’s. Throughout the campaign, the two men annoyed and poked at each other in a manner both immature and unseemly, to the point one of Hooker’s division commanders wrote a letter pleading with Hooker to stop doing so in front of others. Hooker, though, believed his performance during the campaign rendered this unnecessary, and that if an opening for army command were to appear he should be the only option.

Sherman disagreed, and Hooker would discover that his take on the matter was mistaken after Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson was killed on July 22 leading his Army of the Tennessee in fighting east of Atlanta. As the senior corps commander among Sherman’s subordinates, and because of his command’s stellar performance thus far in Georgia, Hooker was convinced the moment was his. Howard, however, would be Sherman’s choice.

Sherman had considered political general John Logan, who Dependable Yet Expendable led McPherson’s army admirably following the Ohioan’s death, Alpheus William had memorable relief appearances before choosing Howard. He did so well aware that Hooker as a corps commander at Antietam, Gettysburg, and during the Atlanta Campaign, but his non-West Point would see this as the deliberate insult intended. Not only had résumé cost him an end-of-war promotion.

Howard been Hooker’s subordinate and his junior in rank, but the two remained on bad terms because of Chancellorsville.

Moreover, in contrast to Hooker’s performance as a tactical commander liams, he lacked a West Point pedigree. To in northern Georgia, Howard’s had been much less impressive—and Sherman—in part because of bad experiences included a defeat that Civil War combat veteran and acerbic author with political general John A. McClernand, Ambrose Bierce later described as “The Crime at Pickett’s Mill.” which reinforced his prejudices against amaWhen Hooker objected to Howard’s appointment and threatened to teur generals—this was a black mark against resign his command, Sherman could barely conceal his delight. “Hooker Williams, as it had been with Logan. is offended, because he thinks he is entitled to the command,” Sherman Both Howard and Slocum had graduated in told Union Army Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck, who also despised the top 10 of their West Point classes, while Hooker. “I must be honest and say he is not qualified or suited to it. He Hooker, though a West Point graduate himtalks of quitting. If General Thomas recommends, I shall not object.” self, owed a great deal of his ascension to high The evening Sherman sent this note, Hooker’s request for relief of rank by the zeal with which he ingratiated command reached his desk. Sherman promptly asked Thomas for “spehimself with Republicans in the Lincoln cific recommendations to fill…vacancies.” Thomas proposed “that Maj. administration and on Capitol Hill. Much of Gen. H.W. Slocum be placed in command of [Hooker’s] corps.” Well Hooker’s success in this was a consequence of aware of Hooker’s and Slocum’s disdain for each other and how Hooker his making clear in word and action that he would inevitably view the selection, Sherman quickly agreed with shared their hostility toward those West Point “these nominations” and asked Washington to issue “orders by telegraduates who owed their positions to George graph that General Slocum may be summoned from Vicksburg.”

McClellan. This animus was evident in the After Sherman accepted Hooker’s request to be relieved, President privileged places Hooker gave non-West PointLincoln appointed the petulant general to command of the Northern ers Daniel Butterfield and Dan Sickles in the Department, comprising Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.

Army of the Potomac during his tenure. Of Passed over while Sherman dug the dagger as deep into Hooker as he course, this exacerbated the intense hostility could was Alpheus Williams, who had temporary experience leading a of officers within the Army of the Potomac corps at Antietam and Gettysburg and had led his division notably hierarchy toward Hooker—a hostility that throughout the campaign in northern Georgia. Unfortunately for Wilcontributed to their being attractive candiMARCH 2021

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Union Juggernaut During the march to Atlanta, which began May 7, 1864, at Rocky Face Ridge, Ga., the Union 20th Corps fought notably as part of George Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland.

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dates for high command in Sherman’s mind.

Williams finally got another shot at corps command, though. In September, the 20th Corps, with Slocum in charge less than a week, was the first to enter Atlanta when the city fell. Few were more delighted with this than Sherman, who chortled to a friend that Hooker “was a fool” for his unwillingness to set aside his wounded ego. “Had he stayed a couple of weeks he could have marched into Atlanta and claimed all of the honors.”

A few months later, Sherman decided to reorganize his command in preparation for his famed march through Georgia to the Atlantic Coast that commenced in November. Slocum received command of a two-corps formation christened the Army of Georgia, which would control one wing during the March to the Sea. The other wing, also composed of two corps, was Howard’s Army of the Tennessee. With Slocum’s promotion to army command on November 11, Williams assumed direction of the 20th Corps, which he led through the campaign in Georgia and the capture of Savannah.

When Sherman’s command moved north into the Carolinas in early 1865, Slocum and Howard continued to lead their armies, and Williams remained in command of the 20th Corps as part of Slocum’s army. On March 19-21 at Bentonville, N.C., the final major battle Sherman’s command fought, Williams and his men were instrumental in helping Slocum fight off the Confederate attacks.

In April, though, Williams was compelled to surrender command of the corps to Maj. Gen. Joseph Mower. As his dealings with Hooker demonstrated, Sherman was capable of considerable personal pettiness. Williams took the news with a remarkable degree of good grace, even though he wrote his daughter, “This is about the fortieth time that I have been foisted up by seniority only to be let down by rank!”

Nevertheless—however unfair it may have been to Williams—the decision to elevate Mower had a sensible rationale. Although he was not a West Point graduate, Mower had been an officer in the Regular Army before the war (“a very pleasant, gentlemanly man of the old army” was how Williams described him) and had forged a respectable record during the Civil War as a division commander—not least AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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at Bentonville, where he delivered a powerful assault on the Confederate left that nearly produced destruction of Johnston’s command.

That Mower had turned in consistently excellent performances on the battlefield, prompting Sherman to call him “the boldest young officer we have,” was the main reason for his promotion. But it was undoubtedly just as important to Sherman that Mower intended to stay in the Army after the war, unlike Williams, who planned to return to civilian life in Michigan. Sherman maintained a deep and enduring commitment to the Regular Army and its institutional development as he began considering postwar America.

During Sherman’s tenure as commanding general of the Army from 1869 to 1883—by far the longest of any postwar officer—he oversaw not only the end of Reconstruction and bloody warfare against American Indians, but also devoted considerable energy to strengthening the institutional maturation of the officer corps. He traveled to Europe to study developments in military affairs, supported Emory Upton’s work on tactical and organizational reform, and established a school of application for cavalry and infantry at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., that would evolve into today’s Command

“[hooker] was a fool.

Had he stayed a couple of weeks he could have marched into Atlanta and claimed all of the honors.”

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—Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman

and General Staff College. “I am, in a measure, its parent,” Sherman told school attendees in October 1882, “and we propose to place within your reach, gratuitously, the means to acquire a good education, with soldierly habits, which will fit you to rise to the very summit of your most honorable profession.”

That same year Howard, who had served Sherman so well in his war with “Fighting Joe,” wrapped up his term as superintendent of West Point, the institution that had instilled in him and Sherman the impulse toward professionalization of the army.

Sadly, Mower wouldn’t be able to fulfill the postwar role Sherman had intended for him upon elevating Mower to corps command during the war. After helping organize the 25th Infantry, an all-Black unit, and tempo-

rarily commanding the 5th Military On the Road Again District, encompassing Texas and LouiThrongs of Federal soldiers siana, Mower died of pneumonia in marching steadily along New Orleans in 1870, only 42.

Georgia’s dirt roads would Mower had the opportunity to lead become a constant, daunting the 20th Corps in the Grand Review of sight for local civilians the Armies in Washington on May during the Atlanta Cam23-24, 1865. The Army of the Potomac, paign and March to the Sea. led by Meade, paraded the first day; Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee and Army of Georgia the second.

Wrote one observer, “Comparisons were naturally instituted between the Eastern and Western armies,” with Sherman’s men “show[ing] perhaps, more of a rough-and-ready aspect and a devil-may-care spirit.”

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he command controversies generated when Army of the Potomac troops were incorporated into the Western armies produced a decidedly ironic outcome. The contrast between the North’s Western armies, which conquered thousands of miles and enjoyed an almost unbroken record of success during the war, and its Eastern armies—above all the Army of the Potomac, which experienced four years of frustration before finally compelling Robert E. Lee’s surrender in April 1865—is interesting. Members and partisans of the former readily accepted that the contrast in the Western identity of Sherman’s command was easy to explain—that its accomplishments were validation of a “rough and ready” Western character. That spared these armies the West Point formalism and pedantic preoccupation with form and discipline that was instilled in the Army of the Potomac, to the detriment of its fighting spirit, during its formative years. Of course, partisans of the latter could counter by pointing out that the Western armies that marched through Georgia and achieved their final victories in the Carolinas did so under the direction of Sherman, Howard, and Slocum— three men who first earned their stars in the East.

Ethan S. Rafuse is professor of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. His published works include Corps Commanders in Blue: Union Major Generals in the Civil War. MARCH 2021

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MARK DUNKELMAN COLLECTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

to help a besieged army, two union soldiers embark on a perilous canoe trip behind enemy lines

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UP a CREEK

MARK DUNKELMAN COLLECTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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fter the resounding Union victory at Chattanooga, Tenn., in November 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, ordered Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman to rush a relief force 100 miles north to Knoxville, where a Union force under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside was penned in by Confederates.

For the expedition, Sherman established a command composed of elements of the 11th, 14th, and 15th Corps and also assigned two 11th Corps soldiers to perform a special mission. Had those soldiers not reminisced about it 30 years later, their subsequent adventure likely would have been lost to history.

The recollections of Charles A. “Charley” McIntosh and George C. “Guy” Waterman offer a prime example of the vagueness of memory. In 1863, both men were corporals in the 154th New York Infantry—McIntosh in Company C and Waterman in Company H. By 1893, McIntosh was working as a “stationary engineer” in Olean, N.Y.; Waterman for the Central Gas Light Company of New York City. That year, both men were corresponding with Edwin D. Northrup of Ellicottville, N.Y., who was in the process of writing a history of their regiment (a project that ultimately failed when Northrup was unable to find a publisher).

Writing to Northrup independently, McIntosh and Waterman offered accounts of their three-decades-past adventure that agreed in some regards and differed in others. All the same, their correspondence with Northrup remains the only known accounts of that daring, historic trip.

On November 30, 1863, Sherman’s army reached Charleston, Tenn., on the south bank of the Hiwassee River. There the general composed a dispatch to Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, whose two divisions of his 4th Corps were to join in the march on Knoxville. Granger’s force was located approximately 12 miles downriver from Charleston at Kincannon’s Ferry, about six miles from the Hiwassee’s confluence with the Tennessee River. The intervening countryside was infested with bands of guerrillas and bushwhackers, meaning Sherman’s dispatch would have to be delivered by water, via the Hiwassee.

Granger was to rendezvous with Sherman’s force at Kingston, which lay at the confluence of the Tennessee and Clinch rivers, 50 miles from Kincannon’s Ferry and about 33 miles southwest of Knoxville. The next morning, in a dispatch to Grant, Sherman wrote, “I have sent a messenger down to [the] mouth of [the] Hiwassee to communicate with Granger, but I think I can beat him [i.e., beat Granger to Knoxville] in moving fast.” (Sherman mentioned sending only a single messenger down the Hiwassee in his dispatch to Grant and perhaps was never aware that the mission became a two-person effort.)

As it turned out, McIntosh’s recollections were briefer and hazier than Waterman’s. Though he was wrong, he repeatedly insisted that Grant ordered him to deliver the dispatch, rather than Sherman. Grant was in Chattanooga at the time, however—there is no doubt the dispatch was Sherman’s.

McIntosh later noted that when he left his camp, his captain offered him poor advice, perhaps under the influence of alcohol, declaring: “Mack, don’t take your cap off in the presence of the general.” Unwisely, the corporal heeded the suggestion, and when he was admitted to Sherman’s inner sanctum, an officer immediately stepped forward and ordered, “Take off your cap, young man.”

It would be McIntosh’s mission to deliver the dispatch to Granger in person. He said he was told to go unarmed and, if captured, to destroy the document. McIntosh also claimed he was given the choice of performing the errand alone or with a companion, whereupon Waterman

Hazard Pay George Waterman (top) and his 154th New York comrade Charles McIntosh (not pictured) both survived the war. The memories of their long-past mission to reach Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger (above) varied dramatically. volunteered to accompany him.

The canoe they used was a dugout, McIntosh recalled. The night was bitter cold and brightly lit by a new moon. Ice froze on their single paddle. Fog concealed them as they passed Rebel cavalrymen picking corn on the riverbank. The mist also hid them from Union pickets as they approached Granger’s troops at Kincannon’s Ferry. A small steamer was ferrying Granger’s men across the river when McIntosh and Waterman arrived at about MARCH 2021

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3 a.m. on December 1. “Good God,” a Union major declared upon learning the twosome’s starting point, “the whole rebel army might come down the river and the pickets would not see them.” Although Sherman had ordered McIntosh to deliver the dispatch to Granger in person, McIntosh recalled handing it instead to the surprised major, who then had an orderly deliver it to Granger’s headquarters.

As noted, Waterman’s account was somewhat different and considerably more detailed.

In his version, Sherman had asked Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard, 11th Corps commander, if he could find soldiers familiar with canoeing.

According to Waterman—perhaps engaging in a bit of postwar regimental braggadocio— Howard replied that one of his regiments included men who could do anything. So the two generals sent for Colonel Patrick H. Jones of the 154th New York and directed him to provide two canoeists. Jones in turn encountered Waterman, who volunteered to undertake the mission alongside McIntosh.

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“The old saying that ‘a winter’s fog will freeze a dog’ was verified that night.”

GEORGE OSTERTAG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Ancient Technique McIntosh and Waterman used a dugout canoe for their mission, such as this one at Oregon’s Nez Perce National Historic Park. Used often by 19th-century American Indian tribes, they were typically carved out of hollow tree trunks.

Although McIntosh claimed he was ordered not to carry a weapon, Waterman insisted the two men borrowed revolvers before saying goodbye to their comrades and heading over to Sherman’s headquarters.

Stressing the importance of the dispatch’s safe delivery, Sherman put a bullet inside the envelope, so that if the two were captured, the message could be dropped to sink in the river. According to Waterman, Sherman asked whether the corporals were armed, and when they showed him their revolvers, the general assured them they could not fight their way to Granger through the bands of guerrillas and bushwhackers—they would have to resort to cunning to succeed. “So,” Waterman recalled, “we very reluctantly gave up our Pop Guns.”

McIntosh’s bright moonlit night was to Waterman “as dark as a stack of black coal.” Once on the water, Union pickets took some potshots at them, but without any ill effect. Knowing the importance of silence, the two men devised a set of hand signals to communicate. In Waterman’s memory, the riverbanks seemed alive with shouting people, baying bloodhounds, and bustling waterfowl. “All contributed to the uttermost in making the night hideous, we thought for our entertainment.”

The two men took turns wielding their single paddle, in part an unsuccessful attempt to stay warm. About 10 miles downriver they were ordered to halt by a gang of about 20 bushwhackers. The Yankees ignored the command and the guerrillas opened fire. The duo lay flat in the bottom of the dugout and let the rapid current carry them from danger. For a brief period they sheltered in a riverbank cave. Farther downstream, McIntosh gave the signal to lie low; a Confederate picket was standing watch as his comrades picked corn. “Good luck and a swift current saved us again,” Waterman wrote, “and we paddled along.”

Soon the moon rose, accompanied by a dense fog. “The old saying that ‘a winter’s fog will freeze a dog’ was verified that night,” Waterman asserted. Both men were “nearly frozen.” At one point they heard rapids or a waterfall ahead. They ran their canoe aground to talk over what to do—proceed on foot or chance running the rapids. When they decided on the latter, McIntosh kept the dugout close to the bank. “The water ran like fury,” Waterman remembered, “but Charley steered the crazy old thing all right and we came into smooth water right side up.” Finally they saw dim lights glowing through the fog on both sides of the river.

“Now came the most dangerous part of the expedition,” Waterman wrote. Sherman had told them that when they reached their destination—Waterman incorrectly said it was at the junction of the Hiwassee and the Tennessee, rather than at Kincannon’s Ferry— they would either find Granger’s command or a brigade of Confederate cavalry.

They steered the canoe to the left bank of the river and pulled it ashore, then hid it in some bushes and crept toward a campfire, attended by two soldiers. Unable to tell through the thick fog whether the figures were friend or foe, Waterman said they took a chance. If the men were Rebels, they planned “to knock hell’s blazes out of ’em and then run for the canoe and paddle off.” Shivering, they boldly joined the pair, who turned out to be Union soldiers and thought nothing of Waterman and McIntosh warming themselves by the fire.

Then a mounted orderly arrived and inquired for the general. General who, wondered Waterman. A guard roused a figure wrapped in a poncho nearby. A short man in a major general’s uniform rose and thundered, “What in hell is the reason you can’t let a Christian alone and not

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GEORGE OSTERTAG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

disturb him every ten minutes?”

Waterman approached the irate officer and asked if he had the honor of addressing General Granger. “No!” the general replied. “Who in hell are you that you don’t know Phil Sheridan?” “I beg your pardon,” Waterman apologized to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, one of Granger’s division commanders. Waterman introduced himself and McIntosh, explained their mission, and asked for directions to Granger’s headquarters. “Where are your horses?” Sheridan asked, astonished to learn they hadn’t made the trip on horseback. When Waterman and McIntosh hauled their canoe into the firelight as evidence, they found it pierced by five bullets. The holes looked a damned sight better there, the profane general declared, than in their skin.

On learning that the pair belonged to the 11th Corps, Sheridan shook their hands heartily. “Boys, I am glad to know you,” he declared.

“I had always called you boys from the Army of the Potomac paper collar, soft bread soldiers, but am happy to find that some of you are nervy as hell.” Sheridan then accompanied

them to Granger’s headquarters, where they received a handshake and a warm welcome and delivered their dispatch.

On December 2, Sherman notified Howard, “All my messengers are back.”

He was, however, apparently referring to messengers other than McIntosh and Waterman. According to the two men, they spent several days with Granger’s command before returning to their regiment. McIntosh said 10 days, Waterman that they were with Granger and Sheridan for a week. Both said they received high praise from the Western generals.

Remembered Waterman, “They treated us like heroes while we were with them.”

According to Waterman, “the most dangerous and thrilling expedition of my life” led to his promotion to first lieutenant, on the recommendations of Generals Sheridan, Sherman, Granger, and Howard.

McIntosh stated that Colonel Jones promoted him to sergeant for his part in the mission. Following the war, McIntosh insisted he didn’t want to take unwarranted praise for his accomplishments on the mission. But in a postwar autobiographical sketch, he claimed that the U.S. Congress awarded him a Medal of Honor for gallant and meritorious conduct in the expedition. That wasn’t true.

Relief Mission While Sherman straddled the Tennessee & Georgia Railroad en route to Knoxville, Granger advanced to the west. The forces were to unite at Philadelphia before taking on Longstreet’s army.

Mark H. Dunkelman writes from Providence, R.I. MARCH 2021

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the ultimate price

a common farmer from Virginia and a millionaire general from new York transcended the horrors of the wilderness through simple acts of decency

By Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

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Bloody Showdown A wartime sketch capturing the intense Wilderness fighting between Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s Confederates and Brig.

Gen. James Wadsworth’s Federals on May 6, 1864, in the tangled woods lining the Orange Plank Road.

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Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys. Now, on May 6, the 56-year-old Wadsworth faced his most severe crisis yet—and from it would emerge one of the most unlikely stories of human decency displayed during the entire war.

A 4:30 a.m. assault led by Union Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s 2nd Corps, centered on the Orange Plank Road, had driven exhausted Confederates back more than a mile. Positioned as support, Wadsworth swung his division down from the northeast to help protect Hancock’s flank. But even as the entire right wing of the Rebel army faced annihilation, Wadsworth’s men became ensnarled with advancing troops from the 2nd Corps, necessitating a halt to sort things out.

Then the timely arrival of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s Corps reversed the momentum and the Federals found themselves falling back pellmell. Brigadier General Lysander Cutler, whose 1st Brigade broke under the onslaught, tried to find A Warrior’s New Clothes Wadsworth, his division commander, Wadsworth dons a forage cap amid the chaos. Instead, he found a fitted with an oilcoth rain pair of the general’s aides and the cover and a handsome tailored divisional headquarters flag. Wadovercoat in this wartime sworth’s horse had been killed in the image. From such a portrait, one might think the wealthy assault, leading the men to believe political general was more Wadsworth had been slain as well. fashion conscious than battleBut Wadsworth reappeared atop a ready. In action, however, new horse, apparently risen from the he proved doubters wrong. dead. He was always at the front, attested a member of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry, urging his men on in an almost fatherly way. The general carried “hat in hand, bringing it down on y mid-morning May 6, 1864, Brig. Gen. James Samuel Wadthe pommel of his saddle with every bound” as sworth had endured a rough 24 hours in Virginia’s Wilderhe moved among the troops, “speaking kindly ness. It was about to get tragically worse. to them, with ever a smile on his pleasant The previous day, when Union and Confederate forces countenance which shows no concern for the opened on each other in the tangled, second-growth forest storm of lead and iron raging around him.” just west of Chancellorsville, Wadsworth advanced his blueHancock, desperately trying to repulse the coats—members of the 4th Division, 5th Corps—into “the dark, tramConfederate attack, placed Wadsworth in commeling woods” and quickly fell afoul not only of Confederates but also mand of all Federal soldiers on the north side the terrain. Later, after the division regrouped in the open fields around of the Orange Plank Road while Hancock tried 5th Corps headquarters, corps commander Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. to direct efforts south of the road.

Warren sent them back in again. Wadsworth once more pushed through Meanwhile, Longstreet followed his initial the dense foliage, arrowing straight toward an unguarded gap in the assault with an attack launched from an unfinConfederate line near the Orange Plank Road. A surprise counterattack ished railroad cut that ran along the unproby the 5th Alabama Battalion sent the division scrambling rearward for tected Federal left flank. Volleys of Rebel the second time that day. musketry “resembled the fury of hell in intenDespite the setbacks, Wadsworth “was conspicuous beyond all others sity,” said one Union soldier, as the Confederfor his gallantry, prompter than all others in leading his troops again ates swarmed out of the cut. and again into action,” noted Army of the Potomac chief of staff Maj.

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The silver-haired Wadsworth, riding along the Plank Road, “was absolutely fearless in exposing himself to danger,” desperately trying to meet the threat to his left flank. Working to stabilize the situation, he repositioned the 56th Pennsylvania and 76th New York to face south, in essence re-fusing his left flank.

He ordered Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb’s 2nd Corps brigade to take up a position parallel to the Plank Road and bolstered this improvised line with the 56th and 57th Massachusetts from Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s newly arrived 9th Corps.

As Wadsworth met this threat, Longstreet advanced elements of three Confederate divisions eastward along the Plank Road and into the Federal lines. The veteran 20th Massachusetts Infantry—the so-called “Harvard Regiment”—stalwartly faced the oncoming assault from behind an improvised barricade.

Riding over, Wadsworth called out, “What are you doing there? Who commands here?

Colonel George Macy stepped forward and responded, “I do. And have been placed here by General Webb to hold this position at any cost.” With Longstreet bearing down, and with no other way to blunt the Confederate advance, Wadsworth ordered the 20th Massachusetts forward, directly at the Rebels, in what was surely a forlorn assault.

Macy reminded Wadsworth that his men belonged to the 2nd Corps, not the 5th, but was quickly rebuked.

“Very well, sir,” Macy responded, “we will go.” Satisfied, Wadsworth went off in search of other Bay State soldiers to send into the fray.

As he left, Macy declared, “Great God! That man is out of his mind.”

But, dutifully, those hardened veterans of Antietam’s West Woods, the upper river crossing at Fredericksburg, and the famous stone wall at Gettysburg surged forward to their demise. The 8th Alabama Infantry lay in wait, not firing until they “saw the whites of their eyes,” one of the Alabamians said. Scores of Bay State soldiers fell in the ensuing firefight, including Macy, wounded in both legs.

Wadsworth, meanwhile, continued to press the fight. Frustrated, he was nevertheless nearly omnipresent among the hodgepodge units north of the road. “The roll of musketry sounded like the rumbling and pealing of thunder,” recalled Corporal James Donnelly.

Small arms fire felled trees all around “as if they had been cut by a machine.” Wadsworth “seemed to be unconscious of the great danger,” one man observed.

At the Center of the Chaos Top: Newspaper artist Alfred R. Waud, who accompanied the Army of the Potomac during the 1864 Overland Campaign, drew this sketch of Wadsworth moments before his mortal wounding by a 4th Alabama soldier. Above: A postwar painting of the Widow Tapp House, located near the heart of the Wilderness fighting where Wadsworth was shot.

But in this cacophony of battle, Wadsworth’s horse was not unconscious of the danger. The second horse he had mounted during the battle, this replacement might not have been familiar to the general.

Spooked, it took flight—galloping toward the enemy lines as Wadsworth struggled to regain control.

Within pistol range of the enemy lines, Wadsworth managed to turn the frightened beast around, and he and an aide, Lieutenant Earl Rogers, dashed back toward the safety of the flagging Union lines. Confederate small arms fire erupted. One bullet struck Rogers’ horse, felling the animal. Another struck Wadsworth in the head, spattering the general’s brain, blood, and skull fragments over the young aide.

Moments later, as Confederates drove their attack forward, Wadsworth—inert but still alive—lay helpless behind enemy lines.

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t first, Wadsworth seemed an unlikely war hero, although there’s no denying he was destined for great accomplishments of some sort. Born on October 30, 1807, in Geneseo, N.Y., his well-to-do family had ties to George Washington’s army during the American Revolution.

Wadsworth attended both Harvard and Yale. In 1828, he read law under the tutelage of Senator Daniel Webster and passed the bar in MARCH 2021

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Alabama Pride Flag carried by the 4th Alabama’s Company E, the Conecuh Guards. The 4th Alabama saw action in the Eastern Theater throughout the war, from First Manassas in July 1861 until Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Va.

1833. On May 11, 1834, Wadsworth married Mary Craig Wharton in her native Philadelphia—a union that produced six children, including Craig Wadsworth, an aide to Brig. Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert at the time of the Battle of the Wilderness.

But the practice of law did not entice James Wadsworth, who instead turned to politics, philanthropy, and other ventures, including directorship of the Genesee Valley Bank and Genesee Valley Railroad Company. During the political tumult of the 1850s, Wadsworth was both an abolitionist and a Democrat; the tension between those two stances led him to the newly forming Republican Party. He was a presidential elector in 1856 and 1860, backing John C. Frémont in 1856 and strongly backing Abraham Lincoln in 1860—something Lincoln did not forget.

With the outbreak of war, Wadsworth was appointed to the rank of major in the New York State Militia. His sense of noblesse oblige inspired him soon thereafter to volunteer his services, without pay, to the new Federal army commander in Washington, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell.

He served as an aide on McDowell’s staff at the First Battle of Bull Run. “Wadsworth is active,” one officer quipped, “always busy at something, and with a good allowance of common sense, but knows nothing of military matters.”

Lincoln rewarded Wadsworth’s political loyalty first by naming him military governor of the District of Columbia and later, in December 1862, by assigning him to field command of the 1st Division in the Army of the Potomac’s 1st Corps.

By May 1864, Wadsworth had amassed a solid fighting résumé. He led men into action at the May 1863 Second Battle of Fredericksburg, where he rode in one of the lead boats crossing the Rappahannock River under fire, with his horse swimming behind in tow. Two months later at Gettysburg, his division was the first Federal infantry to arrive on the field, and his men saw action on all three days of the battle.

As Captain Charles Hall of the 2nd Maine Light Battery said, speaking for many admirers, Wadsworth proved himself a “glorious man. A braver man never lived.”

the general’s boots, silver spurs, engraved field glasses, and anything else of value were also taken.

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uring the May 6 fight along the Orange Plank Road, P.D. Bowles of the 4th Alabama realized a Federal officer was suddenly dashing in his direction.

“Whether this was a mere act of bravado or because he could not manage his horse I do not know,” Bowles recalled, “but just as he reached the opening on the Plank Road and was near a large tree, one of the men in my command shot him off of his horse.”

Wadsworth’s aide, Rogers, scrambled to the general’s side. The lieutenant tried “to take a watch from [Wadsworth’s] outside coat pocket,” he attested, but as he did so, “a rebel ball passed in close proximity” to his head and “a rebel bayonet thrust” toward his abdomen.

Luckily for Rogers, the reins of the general’s horse had wrapped around a dry pine branch, halting the animal. Leaping into the saddle, grabbing control of the reins and riding hell for leather away from the scene, Rogers made his way to Union headquarters at the Ellwood Plantation and informed Warren that Wadsworth was dead.

Wadsworth was not dead, in fact, but mortally wounded.

As the battle pressed east toward the Brock Road/Plank Road intersection, passing Confederates noted this “fine looking, portly man.”

The body had been looted. “His hat and boots were gone, and every button was cut off of his coat,” one witness testified. Rogers was unsuccessful in securing the general’s pocket watch, but John Belote of the 6th Virginia Infantry did. (After the war Belote sent the watch to Wadsworth’s wife, “who made him a very handsome acknowledgment of it.”) Bob Archer of the 6th Virginia made off with a billfold filled with $90. The general’s boots, silver spurs, engraved field glasses, and anything else of value were also taken. Even Gilbert Moxley Sorrel, Longstreet’s chief of staff, ended up with Wadsworth’s “general map of Virginia.”

Eventually Confederate officers came upon the fallen Wadsworth and tended to him. “[W]ith the aid of a passing soldier we laid him upon his back, elevated his head slightly and placed his hands across his breast,” recounted artillerist C.R. Dudley. They tried to offer

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Wadsworth a “stimulant,” but to no The Battle Turns avail, then rigged a makeshift shelter Confederates blunted an out of muskets and a discarded blanket. assault by Wadsworth’s According to Lt. Col. Charles Marshall, division, forcing it to Wadsworth “played with the trigger, regroup along the Orange and occasionally he would push the Plank Road. Wadsworth piece from him as far as he could reach,” was wounded trying to press his men back into the fight. but the general “was unconscious of what was passing around him.”

Confederates managed to extract Wadsworth from the field, taking him to the Pulliam Farm, a temporary field hospital roughly 3.5 miles west of where Wadsworth had fallen. There was little doctors could do.

The entry point of the bullet seemed to be in question—near the nose, to the left of the crown of the head, above the forehead—but there was no doubt that the general was insensible and dying. Confederate surgeons made him as comfortable as they could under a tent fly.

“Esteem for his exalted character extended even to his enemies in arms,” one writer said, “the best of who deemed him a worthy foeman.”

Wadsworth had the good fortune to be joined by fellow Union prisoner Major Zabdiel Boylston Adams of the 56th Massachusetts Infantry.

While the Battle of the Wilderness had been the baptism of fire for the 56th Massachusetts, it was not the first time Adams has seen the elephant. A doctor, Adams had served with the 7th Massachusetts at First Bull Run, and then joined the 32nd Massachusetts as its surgeon. At Gettysburg, his aid station on the east side of Stony Hill provided quick

treatment to Federals battling in the Wheatfield, but the intense work severely damaged his eyes and he was temporarily blinded.

Though discharged from the Army, he refused to give up the fight and soon joined the 56th Massachusetts, now attached to the 9th Corps.

Adams and his regiment had fallen under Wadsworth’s temporary command as Longstreet’s flank attack rolled forward. Wounded about the same time as Wadsworth, Adams bribed a Confederate officer with a can of sardines to load him into an ambulance. On the way to the field hospital, however, the ambulance crashed and Adams was knocked unconscious. When he awoke the next day, Adams found himself under an operating table at the Pulliam Farm. Horrifically, he realized bodily fluids were dripping onto his face.

Following a treatment of chloroform and nitric acid, “I found myself lying on the ground beneath a fly tent, and at my side a stretcher on which lay the form of a Union general officer,” Adams recalled. That officer was James Wadsworth.

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James Wadsworth was well aware of

his military shortcomings. He initially demurred at a general’s star if it were to come at the expense of a more qualified man. “[A]gainst a graduate of West Point or an officer of the Regular Army of fair reputation…and capacity, I can on no account allow my name to be presented as a candidate,” he said, but added: “[A]gainst men who have no advantage over me but a more recent connexion [sic] with the Militia, and a fresher knowledge of military techniques, I do not think it would be presumptuous in me to offer my name.”

What Wadsworth lacked in military training, though, he more than made up for with patriotism, determination, and political connections— connections that eventually led Wadsworth to the post of military governor of Washington, D.C. In this capacity, the New Yorker found himself charged with the defense of the nation’s capital and in close contact with President Lincoln and the Federal high command.

The principled Wadsworth soon found himself clashing with civil authorities over enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. The general’s antislavery stance colored his interpretation of the law, and he chaffed at the imprisonment of displaced slaves taking refuge in the capital.

He also clashed with egotistical Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan after McClellan became Union general in chief. “Little Mac” disdained politicians of any level and so seemed destined for a run-in with Wadsworth.

In the spring of 1862, when McClellan shifted the bulk of Union forces to the Virginia Peninsula for a march on Richmond, Wadsworth was anguished McClellan hadn’t left enough men to defend Washington.

McClellan balked, claiming he had left 73,456 men behind. The spat drew in Lincoln, who learned the figure was merely 20,000. This steeled the president against sending more troops to the Peninsula despite Little Mac’s pleas. McClellan never forgave Wadsworth for the incident, fuming privately: “I have so thorough a contempt for the man & regard him as...a vile traitorous miscreant.”

Wadsworth fared no better with McClellan partisans in the Army, either.

“Wadsworth has never taken the field nor exposed his life in the country’s

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A Quick Military Education

service, but the sphere of his duties are confined to Willard’s Hotel and a comfortable office,” complained Robert S. Robertson of the 93rd New York, “so what has he done?”

November 1862 brought elections, including one for the governorship of New York. Wadsworth put his name forward against the wishes of many of the more radical Republicans; however, the same sense of duty that carried Wadsworth off to war kept him there.

He stayed at his post, refusing to actively campaign, and would lose to Democrat Horatio Seymour by just fewer than 11,000 votes.

The day after the election, Lincoln relieved McClellan of command. As it happened, the same train sent to retrieve McClellan also brought Wadsworth to the army as Lincoln’s special emissary to advise the army’s new commander, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside.

“Perhaps it is all right,” said provost marshal Brig. Gen. Marsena Patrick, “but I think the administration adds insult to injury....”

When Wadsworth assumed command of the 1st Division in the 1st Corps in December 1862, the appearance of a political general with no military background was met with mixed feelings. “Wadsworth could not be elected Governor,” a Wisconsin soldier complained, “so he must have a place in the army.”

But through solid combat experiences at Second Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, “Old Waddy” earned the respect and admiration of his men. During the fatiguing march into Pennsylvania, he cleared shirkers out of ambulances and had men pile knapsacks and guns aboard to lighten their loads.

“I was much pleased with Genl Wadsworth,” an admirer opined. “He is a calm, sensible, just and reasonable man, intent upon doing his duty in a sensible and reasonable manner, with no tincture of fanaticism about him, but firm in his hostility to slavery and rebellion.”

–C.M. & K.D.W.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Principled, Dedicated This undated photo of General Wadsworth and his staff was probably taken in Virginia, where Wadsworth saw the bulk of his service. “He was a calm, sensible, just and reasonable man,” one follower opined.

Adams set about examining his patient. The doctor noted “no expression of pain.” One hand held a piece of paper Confederates had given him at the site of his wounding that contained the general’s name, as a way for others to identify him. When Adams took the paper from Wadsworth’s hand, the general would “frown and show restlessness and his hand moved to and fro in search of something.” Having something in his hands For His Fellow Man or close by seemed to have a calming Wounded about the same effect on Wadsworth. Others noted that time as Wadsworth, Major he played with the triggers and trigger Zabdiel B. Adams, a prewar doctor, used his expertise guards of the rifles that held up the to examine and care for blanket that covered him, and a newsthe general as his dying paper account noted that Wadsworth’s compatriot lay nearby. fingers would play with “the buttons on the coat,” although the reliability of that account is questionable since, by that time, Wadsworth’s coat had been stripped of all buttons.

Confederate surgeons probed the wound, and they attempted to feed the general, but to no avail. According to Adams, the left side of the general’s mouth was drawn down and his right arm was paralyzed.

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hat afternoon, an Irish immigrant, Patrick McCracken, arrived at the Pulliam Farm with food and a bucket of milk. McCracken, a local civilian, had come to see Wadsworth. Under normal circumstances, there was no reason for this Virginia farmer to know the New York millionaire, yet fate had intervened a few years before, and McCracken had come to pay his due.

The first Federal occupation of the Fredericksburg area had spanned from April to August of 1862. During that time, Federal soldiers and local civilians had many uneasy interactions. One such interaction set McCracken on his way to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., accused of a litany of alleged crimes that ran the gamut from his voting for disunion at the Virginia secession convention to his overseeing the construction of Fort Darling near Richmond. None of the accusations was true. In fact, McCracken was essentially a poor dirt farmer.

The Irishman later recalled he “was a prisoner nine weeks in the Old Capitol [Prison].” Finally, the military governor of Washington at the time—Wadsworth—agreed to hear the man out. Realizing McCracken was innocent, Wadsworth ordered the man released and had the former prisoner swear that he would not support the Confederacy in any capacity.

McCracken did so and went home.

In 1864, the 34-year-old McCracken lived “about a mile to the left of the plank road as you go from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House, near New Hope Meeting House… twenty miles from Fredericksburg and eighteen from Orange Court House.” After he heard of Wadsworth’s wounding, McCracken set out for the front and looked to repay “Old Waddy” for his kindness in 1862.

When McCracken arrived, Adams told him that Wadsworth was unable to eat, but McCracken left the milk and food, informing the doctor that he could partake if Wadsworth could not. McCracken also noted the slip of paper in Wadsworth’s hand.

The next day found McCracken at Wadsworth’s side once more. This time, he had “carried some sweet milk to the hospital and wet [Wad-

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“Esteem for his exalted character extended even to his enemies in arms”

sworth’s] lips several times, and let a little go down his mouth. But when the surgeon raised him up, he could not get him to let any go down.” McCracken went home once more.

By the early afternoon of May 8, Wadsworth began to fade. “Here he now lay dying with not a single one of his friends or of kindred, or indeed any one to care for him of the thousands who had been his beneficiaries,” said Adams, who cared for him until the end. “There was only a little scrap of paper to tell who he was….” Just before 2 p.m., Wadsworth died.

But for Patrick McCracken, his debt to the dead Union officer was still not repaid.

Arriving back at the Pulliam Farm, McCracken was informed that Wadsworth was gone. Confederates had placed his body in a box in preparation for burial. McCracken had Wadsworth’s body removed from the hospital and taken to his farm “to bury him in a family burying ground.” There the Irishman “had a coffin made for him” from doors and other materials “painted black.” The makeshift casket was dubbed “a good coffin” by The New York Times when it later arrived in Washington via the Mary Raply.

But first, McCracken interred Wadsworth in his family’s burial plot, where he dug the “chamber” and “covered the coffin with plank, and then dirt.” He also “had a large plank planed and marked for a headstone and placed at the head of his grave,” he informed WadMARCH 2021

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A Prescient Conversation

Shortly before the Battle of the Wilderness, Wadsworth had a conversation with Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb that proved eerily prescient for both men.

“Wadsworth and myself had been discussing why I did not have certain men carried off the field who had been shot in the head,” Webb later recounted in an essay for Battles & Leaders. “I told him that from my observation I had never considered it worthwhile to carry a man off the field if, wounded in the head, he slowly lost his vertical position and was incapable of making a movement of his head from the ground. I considered such cases as past cure.”

Wadsworth sustained a mortal head wound on May 6, 1864. On May 12, while fighting at Spotsylvania’s Mule Shoe Salient, Webb likewise received a head wound. “[T]he bullet passed through the corner of my eye and came out behind my ear,” Webb wrote. “While falling from the horse to the ground I [re]called my conversation with General Wadsworth; when I struck the ground I made an effort to raise my head, and when I found I could do so I made up my mind I was not going to die of that wound, and then I fainted.” –C.M. & K.D.W.

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IN MEMORIAM: JAMES SAMUEL WADSWORTH, 1807-1864

sworth’s wife, Mary, in a letter dated May 9, 1864. No embalming or arrangements were made, and Old Waddy was buried “with all his clothing, as he fell on the battlefield.”

But Wadsworth’s body would lie at rest on the McCracken property for only a few days.

The Federal high command was anxious to learn of the general’s condition, whether living or dead. Some continued to hold hope that he was still alive. On May 14, the Washington Evening Star reported that a Union prisoner had seen Wadsworth “on a couch in a hospital tent, with one of our officers attending to him”—probably Major Adams. But reports of Wadsworth’s death were circulating. The general’s son, Craig, threatened to ride into enemy lines with or without permission to retrieve his father, dead or alive. Fortunately, cooler heads talked him out of that fool’s errand.

Once Wadsworth’s death had been confirmed, Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade wrote directly to his Army of Northern Virginia counterpart, General Robert E. Lee, to request that the body be returned. Although in theory Lee was not opposed to Meade’s request, the Confederate commander refused to allow an

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Touching Tribute Wadsworth was remembered in “Grand Solemn March,” a song written

by W. Charles. Among Charles’ lyrics: “How sleep the brave who sink to rest / By all their Country’s wishes blest.”

exchange or for Federal soldiers to cross into Confederate lines with the intent of obtaining Wadsworth’s remains, given that the campaign was still active.

Nearly a week passed while the high commands of the respective armies tried to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, men in the ranks took it upon themselves to cut through the red tape.

On May 12, Union soldiers under a flag of truce visited the Stephens Farm, a Federal 2nd Corps hospital during the Battle of the Wilderness that had fallen into Confederate hands. There, Captain James C. Borden of the 1st North Carolina Cavalry divulged the whereabouts of Wadsworth’s final resting place. Two days later, a lone ambulance rumbled up to the McCracken house, and Captain Orlando Middleton of the 57th New York had the general’s body exhumed and carried to the port of Fredericksburg. While Meade, Lee, and other ranking officers debated the exhumation and transfer of the body, two line officers and a burial detail found common ground, used common sense, and had faith enough in one another during wartime to trust that there was no ill intent.

Thus, Wadsworth’s body was on its way north before Meade and Lee knew exactly what had happened.

The outpouring of public grief over Wadsworth’s death was nearly immediate and spread far and wide. Hundreds of news stories appeared in papers across the country. No detail was too small. Everything from reports of Wadsworth’s wounding, to his medical care, to the retrieval and travel of his body, to the fact that “celebrated embalmers” were dispatched to Fredericksburg, and even down to the fact that the body left Washington, D.C., exactly from the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 11th Street for its final journey to New York.

In the next few years, Mary Wadsworth received letters from various members of the Union and Confederate high commands, including Meade, Warren, Andrew Humphreys, and even Lee. Wrote Humphreys, who happened to be Mary’s cousin: “In the two days of desperate fighting that followed our crossing of the Rapidan [River], he was conspicuous beyond all others. Everyone was loud in [their] expressions of admiration at his noble conduct and of the sorrow at his loss.”

Grand Honor Dedication of this grand monument to Wadsworth at Gettysburg National Military Park, near where his 1st Corps division was engaged during the fighting on July 1, 1863, took place in October 1914.

IN MEMORIAM: JAMES SAMUEL WADSWORTH, 1807-1864

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lthough Mary Craig Wadsworth had lost her beloved husband, she committed to carrying on his philanthropic spirit, and she never forgot those who helped her husband in his final days—friends and foes alike. Over the years, many of the general’s personal belongings were returned to the family. John Belote, the 6th Virginia soldier who had taken Wadsworth’s gold watch, returned the item to the family and was handsomely rewarded. Adams had cut a lock of the general’s silver hair as a keepsake, which he sent her.

Meanwhile, McCracken’s charity was celebrated across the North, although he was misidentified in some papers as “Patrick Griffin.”

Mary Wadsworth felt a special appreciation for what the farmer had done for her husband.

The day after the general’s death, McCracken wrote a letter to her outlining the kindness that he, Adams, and the Confederate surgeons had shown in her husband’s twilight hours.

Although we do not know the exact amount of “appreciation” Mrs. Wadsworth showered on McCracken, we do know that, in the years following the Civil War, McCracken and his brother, Terrance, opened a thriving dry goods store in Fredericksburg. According to family lore, the money to fund this venture came from

Mrs. Wadsworth in appreciation for the kindness bestowed on her husband in May 1864.

Lincoln seemed to feel Wadsworth’s death keenly. “I have not known the President so affected by a personal loss since the death of [Sen. Edward] Baker [at Ball’s Bluff in 1861], as by the death of General Wadsworth,” recorded presidential secretary John Hay. Wadsworth’s corps commander, Warren, referred to Wadsworth as “his best friend.” Warren went on to write an eloquent and fitting epitaph, which he sent to Mary. “With him, his country stood first, and in the maintenance of her honor and perpetuity, he surrendered the companionship of friends, the comforts and joys of a happy home, and the highest civil honors, and went to meet his foes,” Warren wrote. “With the men of his command he shared all privations and toils and dangers of a soldier’s life. His thoughts were ever for the comfort and efficiency of his troops. It was his nature to lead, and when the shock of battle was heaviest, there was General Wadsworth....[I]n the thickest of the carnage, in the van of his troops, in the very teeth of the enemy he met a patriot’s death.”

Yet it was also there, in the bosom of the enemy, that Wadsworth found compassion in his final hours, inspired by his own decency and humanity. With war still blazing, and the nation’s most powerful men powerless to bring Wadsworth’s body home, an unlikely hero stepped in to show simple human kindness—a kindness that would bind the New York millionaire and the Virginia dirt farmer forever.

Chris Mackowski is a writing professor at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y. Kristopher D. White is the senior education manager for the American Battlefield Trust. They are co-founders of Emerging Civil War (www.emergingcivilwar.com).

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The Baltimore Riot, April 19, 1861

CLASSIC IMAGE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; THIS PAGE: MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION

‘We Are Fighting Here’ Rare artifacts tell the story of the war’s first bloodshed

By Michael G. Williams

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Bloodshed Cuts Communication This was the only known telegram sent during the April 19 riot—and, in fact, one of the last telegraph messages transmitted from Baltimore before Rebels under the command of soon-to-be Brig. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble cut the wires, severing communications between Washington, D.C., and the North.

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pril 19, 1861, dawned like any other day in Baltimore.

Even at such an early hour, the streets of the nation’s third largest port city bustled. Draymen cracked their whips at weary horses; wagon wheels rattled over cobblestone streets; buyers and wholesalers bargained at the tops of their lungs. At a glance, all suggested business as usual.

A palpable excitement gripped Baltimore, however. Only a week earlier, Rebel batteries had fired on the besieged Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, compelling President Abraham Lincoln on April 15 to call for 75,000 volunteers to thwart the rebellion and protect the nation’s capital.

Newspapers were milking the turmoil for every penny it was worth. On street corners, paperboys hawked morning editions with news that “Yankee invaders” were scheduled to pass through town that afternoon.

Meanwhile, 40 miles away, a train headed south on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore Railroad carrying 700 members of the 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia—the first drilled and equipped outfit to answer President Lincoln’s call for troops. At noon, their train pulled into Baltimore’s President Street Station.

For the final leg south, Washingtonbound passengers needed to transfer to the B&O’s Camden Station on the other side of town. Because a law prohibited the passage of locomotives along the city’s thoroughfares, the PW&B resorted to the tedious process of using horses to tow the cars individually.

Once the horses were hitched and the convoy rolled out in swift succession, the profile of the troops’ military caps and upright muskets quickly blew their cover to curious onlookers. Three blocks into the trip, a crowd had gathered and begun shrieking epithets, punctuated by cheers for “Jeff Davis!”

Remarkably the men in the first six cars made it to Camden Station unharmed, but Major Benjamin Watson and the 50 troops aboard the seventh coach were not so lucky.

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“Yankee invaders” were set to pass through Baltimore that afternoon.

Historic Waterfront Stereoview of the heart of Baltimore Harbor (circa 1860s). Just beyond the warehouses lining the waterfront lay Pratt Street, where the riot’s bloodiest fighting occurred.

Massachusetts War Drum A member of the 6th Massachusetts carried this drum through the streets of Baltimore on the fateful April 19, 1861. Printed on the label and credited to someone named H.J. White: “This was the only State Drum that was in the Baltimore fight with the Old Sixth Regiment.

All other Drums were private property.”

Rebellious Mayor A Mathew Brady cartede-visite of Baltimore Mayor George William Brown. Elected in 1860, Brown was at the head of an effort to arm his city against Northern troops marching for Washington immediately after the April 19 riot.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION (2); HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

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“Rally boys!” yelled one rioter. “The cars ought’a be stoned! Kill the damned s--s of b----s!” A hail of brick pavers and bullets ripped into the coach, spraying the interior with glass and splintered wood. Troops returned fire through what was left of the windows, filling the air with the crack of gunfire and a curtain of gray smoke.

For the 220 Union soldiers back at the PW&B’s depot, it presaged a more immediate danger. With the route now obstructed, they would be forced to march through a gantlet of narrow streets hemmed in by the commercial district’s office buildings and warehouses—terrain that put them at a significant disadvantage.

Those men exited the cars and wheeled into columns outside the station, only to face another group of Southern sympathizers—some delivering more cheers for Jeff Davis, others spewing a litany of filthy language.

“We shall have trouble today,” said Union Corporal Sumner Needham.

“I’m not gonna get out of it alive.”

Ahead, rioters used pickaxes to hack the road into a pitted stretch of potholes. The mob quickly swarmed about the troops, delivering a steady bombardment of bottles and rocks.

Captain Albert S. Follansbee, leading the procession, ordered a double-quick march, which further angered the mob.

Three blocks away, at the corner of Gay and Pratt Streets, gunfire erupted from storefronts and rooftops. Shots whistled by from every direction, passing through windows and into walls, showering pedestrians with shards of glass and brick and mortar fragments.

A stray ball tore through Patrick Griffin’s gut as he watched from the restaurant where he worked. William Reed, a deckhand on the oyster sloop Wild Pigeon, collapsed from a bullet to the stomach. Another round hit a man in the throat, spattering blood on the faces of those around him.

Corporal Needham took a brick to the head and fell unconscious. A bullet hit Private Luther Ladd in the leg, severing an artery. Worse, the crowd tackled Private Charles Taylor and beat his face beyond recognition with paving stones.

News of the carnage spread north by

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The troops returned fire through what was left of the windows, filling the air with the crack of gunfire and a curtain of gray smoke.

A Tragic First Just 17, Private Luther C. Ladd, who had enlisted for three months just days before, was the first Union soldier killed in the riot—and, in fact, the first killed in action during the war. Attacked by the mob as he marched toward Camden Station, Ladd suffered a fractured skull and a severed artery in one thigh.

Street Fighting Man Captain Albert S. Follansbee heroically led four companies of the 6th Massachusetts through Baltimore. This CDV, made in July 1861 after Follansbee was promoted to colonel, is the only known signed version still in existence.

Symbol of Defiance This Liberty Cap finial, inspired by similar caps worn by French citizens during their revolution, topped a Rebel flag carried

by Southern-sympathizing civilians during the April 19, 1861, riot.

A professional tinsmith would have crafted the complex, hollow, tin and zinc relic. The inscribed message was added later at an unknown date.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: FREEMAN’S IMAGE (2); HISTORIC IMAGE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTOS; MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION

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telegraph. “A terrible scene is…occurring in Pratt Street,” one correspondent reported. “The track having been torn up by the Secessionists…the troops attempted to march through, and were attacked by the mob.”

Private citizens also scrambled to send cables. Richard Tyson wired his family in Philadelphia: “We are fighting here. But don’t be uneasy about the children. They are perfectly safe.”

Finally, city authorities took action.

At Charles Street burly, no-nonsense Police Marshal George Proctor Kane leveled his revolver at the rioters and barked, “Keep back, men, or I shoot!”

His bold reputation cowed the rabble and helped clear the 6th’s path to Camden Station, Baltimore’s commercial district ravaged in their wake.

As the train headed for Washington, merchant Robert Davis and a friend, Thomas Hall, were standing near the tracks on the outskirts of town. They had read that Federal troops were to stop in Baltimore but were unaware of the blood spilled on Pratt Street.

On seeing the train, Davis pumped his fist in the air and gave a loud salute to the Confederacy. A soldier in the rear coach acknowledged the gesture with a well-placed shot from his Springfield that struck Davis in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Hall knelt down to find a bullet hole in his friend’s coat and blood spreading through his shirt.

“Stop the cars!” he cried to no avail.

“There are murderers onboard.”

The battle had lasted an hour, leaving a daunting butcher’s bill. Twelve rioters and innocent bystanders lay dead; countless more stumbled off wounded and maimed. As for the Union soldiers, estimates indicated scores of casualties and no less than four missing or presumed killed; Needham was among them, as he had predicted before the march.

The men of the 6th Massachusetts had come to Baltimore with romantic notions of war. They left with a taste of how bitter it would be.

Michael Williams is working on a book about the military occupation of Baltimore and the fight to save Washington.

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Upon His Order This quarter-plate ambrotype of Union Colonel Benjamin Watson and a servant accompanied a postwar album exploring the history of the 6th Massachusetts. Watson, a major at the time, ordered his men to fire upon the Baltimore rioters after they attacked the train car carrying his company.

Violent Beginnings This medal, one of the first struck during the conflict, features General Winfield Scott on the front and, on the reverse, draws a comparison between the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, and the Baltimore Riot of April 19, 1861.

Let It Be Known This rare Unionist handbill (published circa 1862) not only paid tribute to the four Massachusetts soldiers killed during the riot (Corporal Sumner Needham and Privates Luther C. Ladd, Charles Taylor, and Addison Whitney), it also vilified Baltimore itself. At the time, the vital port city was heavily occupied by Federal troops.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS, MICHAEL WILLIAMS COLLECTION; JK AMERICANA (2)

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Uncloaking the JEFF DAVIS myth the defeated confederate President’s dramatic capture—in fact and fiction

By Richard H. Holloway

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Unceremonious Contemporary artists were quick to embellish the particulars of the May 10, 1865, apprehension of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. This cartoon, titled “The True Story of the Capture of Jeff Davis,” depicts the president attempting to escape a Union posse while veiled and dressed as a woman.

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Tragedies Break Family Bonds Of the Davises’ six children, only daughters Margaret and “Winnie” (pictured) survived beyond age 21. Jefferson Jr. (above left) died in 1878, William (above right) in 1872. Son Joseph died in a fall from the Confederate White House in April 1864. Top: A reward poster for Jefferson Davis, dated one day before his capture. The children in this postwar photo were with their parents during their escape.

GILDER LEHRMAN COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES;UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP NORTH AMERICA/ALAMY STOCK GROUP

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fter a long trip from New Orleans in mid-July 1865, former Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor walked into a jail cell at Fort Monroe, Va., where its occupant, Jefferson Davis, welcomed him with a silent handshake. Taylor had earlier been in Washington, D.C., where he met with President Andrew Johnson, as well as numerous congressmen and generals, to obtain permission to make contact with Davis, the imprisoned former president of the dissolved Confederate States of America and also Taylor’s brother-in-law. At the time of the meeting with Johnson, a standing order prohibited ex-Confederates from entering the nation’s capital—a restriction spurred by rumors circulating throughout the city that another presidential assassination plot was in the works. But Taylor, son of former President Zachary Taylor, knew how to finesse politicians and soon managed to persuade his way into seeing Davis.

Until Taylor arranged to speak with Davis, the latter was forbidden to have any visitors, including family members. President Johnson had been very hands-on early during Davis’ incarceration, permitting only guards inside his cell, so Taylor’s unannounced appearance was quite welcome. “This is kind,” exclaimed the “pallid, worn, gray, bent, [and] feeble” Davis, “but no more than I expected of you.”

The two men began discussing the condition of the war-torn South, with Davis asking whether he was being blamed for the Confederate defeat. Taylor confirmed Davis’ conjecture but surmised that the assaults on Davis’ character were coming from people now eager to curry favor with the federal government.

Although Davis and Taylor spent the entire day catching up, neither left a record or mention about the plethora of drawings and articles currently circulating among the Northern press perpetuating the claim that the former president had been captured in Irwinville, Ga., on May 10, 1865, wearing women’s clothing. The opportunity to depict the former Confederate president in stories and engravings as having been captured in women’s clothing—humiliation based on hearsay and unverified accounts—proved irresistible to much of the print media. President Abraham Lincoln had received similarly rough treatment throughout the war, regularly lampooned in particular by Confederate-sympathetic media

JOHN O’BRIEN COLLECTION (2)

GILDER LEHRMAN COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES;UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP NORTH AMERICA/ALAMY STOCK GROUP

in Britain such as Southern Punch and Anxious Times the Southern Illustrated News.

Jefferson and Varina Davis From the time the Confederate capiposed in Washington for tal had fallen and Davis fled south from these quarter-plate tintypes Richmond with his entourage on April during the tense Secession 2, he had naturally been the target of Winter of 1860-61, shortly ridicule for countless Northern newspa- before Jefferson left to become Confederate president. pers, quick to publish any nugget of news about the Confederate president’s desperate attempt to escape capture and, in doing so, likely racing ahead of established fact to please their readers.

In early May, Davis and his supporters crossed into Georgia, where he was reunited with his wife, Varina, who had fled Richmond separately. Varina’s guard was led by Captain George Moody, former commander of the Madison Light Artillery (Madison “Tips” or Tipperarys), who was on his way home to Louisiana. Moody, Varina recalled, was a “very gentlemanly escort” who had volunteered to accompany her “as a friend and protector” and was a neighbor of the Davis family.

The joint Davis wagon train was not aware that parts of two veteran Yankee regiments, the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry and the 4th Michigan Cavalry, were zeroing in on their position after being dispatched by Union Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson. While both units were able to gather similar intelligence, inexplicably Wilson did not direct the commanders to work in conjunction with each other.

The initial intelligence reports, which stated that Davis was accompanied by 600–700 men, prompted Brevet Colonel Henry Harnden, leading the 1st Wisconsin, to inquire of his commander if his allotment

of 150 men would be sufficient for the task.

Via a subordinate, Wilson explained it was his opinion that Davis’ escort was “greatly demoralized” and “that they would be poorly armed.”

The commander of the Michigan troopers, Lt. Col. Benjamin D. Pritchard, led a larger force of 459 cavalrymen, effectively evening the odds against the suspected number of the soldiers in the escort.

Meanwhile, Davis and his traveling companions were bogged down by heavy storms.

The path for wagons in their caravan was constantly blocked by mud and downed trees lying across the road. Eventually, people and animals alike grew so weary that they had to halt. After midnight on May 10, everyone was fast asleep. The officers in command of the escape party failed to send out pickets to guard themselves. Davis had already reduced the size of his military retinue to lessen their chances of being caught.

An hour later, Pritchard and his Michiganders rode into nearby Irwinville. Residents disclosed the location of the Confederate encampment just outside town. The horsemen stealthily made their way to within a few hundred yards of the exhausted presidential party MARCH 2021

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sumed only Northern troops would possess, so he loudly called for a ceasefire. He “hallooed” to the troops across from him in the smokefilled woods and received a response of “First Wisconsin,” causing great relief.

The friendly fire altercation abruptly awoke the Davises. The president stepped outside his tent, thinking the combatants were part of a group of renegade Southerners believed to have been stalking them for more than a day.

Davis believed the party would be sympathetic to him, as president, and hoped he could calm them down. He quickly realized his error, recognizing in the growing daylight that the horsemen were Federals. Davis’ initial instinct was to defend his family, but that quickly dissipated as an option as his wife begged him to make his escape.

Recalled Varina: “When [her husband] saw them [Federal cavalrymen] deploying a few yards off, he started down to the little stream hoping to meet his servant with his horse and

VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND CULTURE; CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

to await dawn. A mile northward, and Fact vs. Fiction unbeknown to Pritchard, Harnden’s A sketch of Davis dressed Wisconsin men had obtained virtually as a woman and carrying the same information about Davis and a Bowie knife (above right) had ridden north, likewise bivouacking proved a popular seller. nearby to rest until daylight. Because Davis made sure to pose Wilson failed to have his men work in later in the suit he said he conjunction with one another, neither was wearing when captured. group was aware of the other’s presence. According to Harnden, his commander’s instructions were “that if there was a fight and Jefferson Davis should get hurt, General Wilson will not feel very bad over it”—setting up a potentially deadly encounter.

As dawn was breaking, the inhabitants of the Davis camp were still fast asleep. Both sets of Union cavalry mounted their steeds about the same time and began moving toward the camp, accidentally encountering each other first. In the morning haze, the two commands saw shadowy mounted figures headed for them and opened fire. Once the smoke cleared and the fog dissipated, two men from the 4th Michigan lay dead and another was wounded. Three men of the 1st Wisconsin were severely injured in the brief fray. Pritchard determined that all of the weapons firing were Spencer repeating carbines, a weapon he pre-

The President’s Own Words

DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION; BEAUVOIR

VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND CULTURE; CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Ten years after his incarceration, Jefferson Davis received a letter and newspaper clipping from his old friend, William Mercer Green, Episcopal bishop of Mississippi. In in his reply to his venerable friend, Davis did not mince words concerning the article’s author, a man named Charles F. Hudson, who at the time was a captain with the 4th Michigan Cavalry and won a brevet to major for meritorious service in the capture of the former Confederate president. Davis recalled him as a drunken thief. The president explained that the conversations Hudson had with Varina Davis were falsehoods and absurd. Davis said his first view of Hudson was when John Reagan—the former Confederate postmaster general, who was with Davis at the time—pointed him out as the soldier who had stolen his saddle bags.

As Davis explained, Hudson’s claims “that I was captured in the disguise of a woman’s clothes” was a lie. Hudson reportedly said Varina told him, “she did dress Mr. Davis in her attire and would not deny it.” But, Davis retorted, “that attire appears by his own statement to have been a water proof cloak and a shawl; nowhere is the hoop skirt and petticoat and the sun-bonnet, which has been so staple of so many malignant diatribes and pictorials.” Davis later wrote: “A short time before day [of his capture] I went to sleep in my travelling dress, grey frock coat and trousers, the latter worn inside heavy cavalry boots, on which remained a pair of conspicuous brass spurs of unusual size…[my wife] entreated me to leave, and to a water proof ‘Raglan’ which I threw over my shoulders [and] added one of her shawls, as I stepped out of the tent, she followed and put on me one of her shawls.” –R.H.H. pistols, but knowing he would be recognized, I pleaded with him to let me throw over him a large waterproof raglan [very similar to what Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theatre the night of his assassination the previous month] which had often served him in sickness during the summer season as a dressing gown and which I hoped might so cover his person that in the gray of the morning he would not be recognized. As he strode off, I threw over his head a little black shawl which was around my own shoulders, seeing that he could not find his hat. After he started I sent my colored woman

Fashion Faux Pas Men often wore plain shawls during the Civil War era, as illustrated in the above image. In the confusion, however, Varina threw her feminine paisley decorated shawl, at right, on Davis’ shoulders.

after him with a bucket for water, hoping that he would pass unobserved. He attempted no disguise, consented to no subterfuge.” Davis’ own account of the events was essentially the same as his wife’s. Davis remembered that he reached for what he thought was his dark raglan to cover his light gray clothing but picked up Varina’s raglan instead.

Several members of their party were nearby when he attempted to escape. (Closest was Moody, a one-time political rival of Davis who, later, in a letter to his wife did not contradict either of the Davises’ accounts.) Willing perhaps to fashion any scenario to help her husband get away, Varina did her best to distract a lone approaching Yankee corporal by claiming that only women were in the family tents.

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The Escape Route

RICHMOND

VA

GREENSBORO

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CHARLOTTE ABBEVILLE

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SC IRWINVILLE

Weapons of Choice Left to right: The pistols carried by Henry Harnden and Jefferson Davis during the Confederate president’s escape from Richmond and the Union pursuit to Irwinville, Ga., in April–May 1865. Both of these guns are now in museum collections.

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ders after noticing him shivering.

In short order, all in the Davis party surrendered and then watched as their captors rifled through their personal belongings. Of particular note was the confiscation of Varina’s spare hoop skirt and later the discarded shawl and raglan, which were taken, it seemed, for far more nefarious reasons than the simple acquisition of a souvenir. As the two groups made their way toward Wilson’s headquarters in Macon, Ga., the Davis clan was subjected to Yankee cavalrymen gaily singing, “We’ll Hang Jeff Davis from a Sour Apple Tree,” a tune that likely upset the Davises’ young offspring.

Davis had to endure a mounted horseman waving a broadside in his face that turned out

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; HNA; WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM; AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

attempted to lead the Federal away.

Leading the Way The corporal, however, noticed two Bvt. Col. Henry Harnden figures moving away from his position (left) and Lt. Col. Benjamin and realized one was wearing boots.

D. Pritchard of the 1st “Who is that?” he demanded while Wisconsin Cavalry and 4th pointing at the retreating booted figure.

Michigan Cavalry, Still intent on doing what she could to respectively, were brevetted help her husband escape, Varina as brigadier generals in recognition of their leaderreplied, “That is my mother.” The corpoship in the hunt for Davis. ral leveled his pistol as he called for the unidentified individual to halt. Varina began to scream, prompting her husband to stop and throw off his cloak and shawl. Seeing that the soldier still had his gun pointed at Davis, she ran and flung her arms around her husband, frantically yelling for the Union men not to shoot. Her bravery likely saved Davis’ life. One of the president’s party slipped his own cover over his commander’s shoul-

SCIENCE HISTORY IMAGES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; HNA; WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM; AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

to be a wanted poster announcing a $100,000 reward for his capture. The broadside falsely accused Davis of being complicit in Lincoln’s April 14 assassination.

Before the prisoners arrived at his headquarters, Wilson fired off a dispatch to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton announcing Davis’ capture. In the text of the report was a statement that Davis had “hastily put on one of Mrs. Davis’ dresses” in his aborted escape attempt.

It also inaccurately claimed that Davis brandished a Bowie knife at the corporal on the scene. Subsequent information was shared with the public by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck who stated, “If Jeff Davis was captured in his wife’s clothes, I respectfully suggest that he be sent north in the same habiliments.”

It was Stanton who passed along the dubious attire story to The New York Times, which on May 14 would print a large headline, “Davis Taken.” Erroneous subheads followed: “His Wife, Sister and Brother Secured” [Davis’ sister and brother were not with him]; “Cowardly Behavior of the Head of Southern Chivalry”; “He Put on His Wife’s Petticoats and Tries to Sneak Into the Woods”; and “Not Having Changed His Boots, the Brogans Betray Him.” A follow-up report by Wilson made no mention of Davis being in women’s clothing, or even in disguise. Even Harnden, who was on the scene, admitted: “As to the story which became widely prevalent at the time, that Davis had on a hoop-skirt, and was disguised as a woman, I know but very little of it; but think it grew out of the remark of the soldier, that, when he stopped him, he had his wife’s shawl on him.”

The architect of the fabrication that Davis was wearing women’s clothing was apparently Lieutenant Julian Dickinson, adjutant of the 4th Michigan. In 1899, Dickinson was speaking to a group of historians when he elaborated, “Davis had on for disguise a black shawl drawn closely around his head and shoulders, through the folds of which I could see his gray hairs. He wore on his person a woman’s long black dress, which completely concealed his figure, excepting his spurred boot heels. The dress was undoubtedly Mrs. Davis’ traveling dress, which she afterward wore on her return march to Macon.” This account differs from the corporal claiming to be the sole captor of Davis.

It seems highly unlikely Davis would have had time to don one of his wife’s dresses in the scramble to escape the Yankees. If the horsemen arriving out of the fog were Confederates as Davis first believed, the possibility he would

have greeted them in women’s attire strains credulity. The list of dubious scenarios combined with Harnden’s and Wilson’s reluctance to support them certainly leaves many suspect conclusions. In addition, 4th Michigan trooper Joseph Odren was a direct witness to Davis’ capture yet neglected ever to mention anything about the president being in feminine clothing, despite ample opportunity to do so.

Stanton surely wasn’t disappointed to find the story of Davis being captured while wearing his wife’s garments end up being reported in numerous newspapers across the country. In addition, hundreds of demeaning drawings and lithographs portraying Davis in female clothing would continue to circulate, further spreading the fabrication.

Although it took a few years, all of the captors were finally able to split the ample reward for Davis’ apprehension. The victor of any confrontation almost always gets the last word, and in this instance it is certainly no different. Unfortunately for Davis, it was a fictional account.

‘Dressed up in crinoline!’

Northern audiences quickly took to the George Cooper song “Jeff in Petticoats,” with lyrics by Henry Tucker that, as expected, played on the fanciful myths that surrounded Davis’ capture.

Richard H. Holloway works for the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism and is president of the Civil War Round Table of Central Louisiana.

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Charleston, W.Va.

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across the river, leaving the city to be occupied by the Confederates. The occupation of Charleston by the Confederates lasted only six weeks, until October 28, 1862, when Union soldiers returned in force and retook the city without opposition. They would occupy Charleston throughout the remainder of the war.

The state’s capital city is now its center of government and commerce. Visitors to the area can learn about the many industrial innovations that have defined not only Charleston, but all of West Virginia, at the Capitol Complex and its corresponding memorials and museum.

Civil War history abounds on the riverfront and on the streets of downtown, where interpretive markers and Civil War Trails Inc. signs illuminate the stories of the conflict and the divisive time that ultimately shaped this city into a capital domain. – Melissa A. Winn

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COURTESY OF THE WEST VIRGINIA HUMANITIES COUNCIL; CRAIK-PATTON HOUSE; PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

Trailside is produced in partnership with Civil War Trails Inc., which connects visitors to lesser-known sites and allows them to follow in the footsteps of the great campaigns. Civil War Trails has to date 1,552 sites across five states and produces more than a dozen maps. Visit civilwartrails.org and check in at your favorite sign #civilwartrails.

In 1860, the population of Charleston, Va., located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers, was just about 1,500 people. The area prospered as the largest producer of salt in the nation, but that industry depended largely on slave labor and would suffer drastically after the Civil War and passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865.

The state’s divided loyalties between the Union and Confederacy would lead to its division and the creation of West Virginia as the 35th state on June 20, 1863.

Although its first capital was in Wheeling, it moved to Charleston in 1870 and the city is now the state’s most populous.

On September 13, 1862, the Union and Confederate armies clashed here on the shores of the Kanawha River in the Battle of Charleston. Involving about 5,000 troops on each side, the battle lasted several hours from the afternoon until 7:30 p.m., when Federal troops retreated

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THE NATION’S MOST DIVISIVE CONFLICT WROUGHT MONUMENTAL CHANGES TO THIS RIVER TOWN

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Kanawha Riverfront Trail 336 Kanawha Blvd. East

COURTESY OF THE WEST VIRGINIA HUMANITIES COUNCIL; CRAIK-PATTON HOUSE; PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

PANTHER MEDIA GMBH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

The 4.5-mile trail running along the Kanawha River offers its own unique battlefield tour, telling the story of how the opposite banks of the river changed hands repeatedly during the September 13, 1862, Battle of Charleston. Visitors to the area today can walk, bike, or skate the trail which leads to several parks, riverfront lookouts, and Civil War Trails signs recounting the battles around Charleston, the creation of the 35th state, the life of George S. Patton Sr., grandfather of the World War II general, and future president in blue Rutherford B. Hayes, whose 23rd Ohio Infantry was encamped on the banks of the Kanawha to guard against Confederate attacks in late 1862 and early 1863.

MacFarland Hubbard House

1310 Kanawha Blvd. East

During the 1862 Battle of Charleston, a cannonball crashed through the roof of this 1836 house. Located near the second Union defensive position, the 47th Ohio Infantry held the ground here before retreating across the Elk River that afternoon.

The house was also used as a makeshift field hospital for wounded soldiers. Today the building is home to the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Craik-Patton House

Civil War Memorial 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East

The West Virginia Civil War Memorial stands on the south lawn of the Capitol. It has four plaques affixed to its base, including one that commemorates its 1930 dedication. A separate plaque reads: “In Memory of the thirty-two thousand soldiers, sailors and marines, contributed by West Virginia to the service of the Union during the Civil War 1861-1865.”

Another plaque displays Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and the last one commemorates West Virginia’s admission to the Union as the 35th State on June 20, 1863.

2809 Kanawha Blvd. East

Constructed in 1834, the Craik-Patton House or “Elm Grove” as it was known then, was built in downtown Charleston by James Craik, grandson of Dr. James Craik, a close friend and personal physician to President George Washington. Before the war the home was purchased by lawyer George S. Patton Sr., grandfather of World War II General George S. Patton. The elder Patton, a colonel in the 22nd Virginia Infantry, was mortally wounded in the Third Battle of Winchester and died September 25, 1864. The house was saved by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of West Virginia and moved to its current location in 1973.

African Zion Baptist Church

4104 Malden Dr.

This church was founded in 1852 by a group of enslaved Christians. During the Civil War, Pastor Lewis Rice organized them into one of the nation’s first churches begun and completely controlled by slaves. Its most famous attendee was Booker T. Washington, the Black leader, educator, orator, and adviser to several presidents. A reconstructed version of his log cabin home sits behind the church and a gated park a block away bears his name and a monument for him, erected in 2009.

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JQ Dickinson Salt-Works

Charleston, W.VA. 1. Kanawha Riverfront Trail 2. MacFarland Hubbard House 3. WVA State Museum/ Civil War Memorial 4. Craik-Patton House 5. African Zion Baptist Church 6. JQ Dickinson Salt-Works

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4797 Midland Dr.

Confederate and Union soldiers vied for the valuable commodity produced here. Founded in 1832 by William Dickinson, the Salt-Works was named for his grandson James, who served as an officer in the Confederate Army. James was captured in 1864, as was his brother Henry, and the two spent the rest of the war in captivity.

After the war, James took over the Salt-Works and built it back to prosperity. The business thrived for decades, but shuttered in the mid-1900s. Siblings Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne, seventhgeneration descendants, have revived the business. Their products can be purchased at the store onsite, or online at www.jqdsalt.com.

The 35th State

PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (5)

The comprehensive West Virginia State Museum covers the vast history of this industrial powerhouse, including its struggle for statehood, John Brown’s Raid and hanging, and the many Civil War engagements that occurred on its soil. Operating under truncated hours to allow for extra sanitization during the pandemic, the museum is open Tues.-Sat. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1900 Kanawha Blvd.

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FIRST BATTLEFIELD REUNION

Gettysburg Reckoning James Longstreet arrives to an unlikely welcome— but then, as now, all was far from forgiven

Confederate General James Longstreet’s legacy will always be linked to defeat at Gettysburg.

Plus!

Antietam: New burial map reveals even greater death toll U.S. Grant’s : Compassion ed How he sav suffering refugees

JANUARY 2021 HISTORYNET.COM

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THE LAST JAPANESE HOW MANY TIMES SOLDIER HAS THEFROM DESIGN WORLD OF THE WAR U.S.IIFLAG SURRENDERED CHANGED? IN THIS YEAR 27, 31, 36 or 40?

- 1945 - 1947 - 1950 - 1974 For more,search visitDAILY QUIZ For more,

12/11/20 5:55 PM

PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (5)

WWW.HISTORYNET.COM/ at HistoryNet.com.

MAGAZINES/QUIZ HistoryNet.com

ANSWER: 1974. PRIVATE TERUO NAKAMURA, A TAIWANESE NATIONAL,27.

ENLISTED IN THE JAPANESE ARMY IN 1943.

ANSWER: THE CURRENT DESIGN HAS BEEN IN HE HELD OUT ON 1960 MORTAI IN INDONESIA HE WAS CAPTURED PLACE SINCE WHEN THE FLAGUNTIL WAS MODIFIED IN DECEMBER 1974. EARLIER THAT YEAR, HIRO ONODA, WHO TO INCLUDE THE 50thFINALLY STATE. SURRENDERED. HELD OUT INHAWAII, THE PHILLIPINES,

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Interview by Nancy Tappan

5 QUESTIONS Dual Threat Private John Munson of Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade” and, yes, his horse John Mosby, shown during the Tullahoma Campaign. Like the others in his brigade, Munson carries the revolutionary Spencer repeating rifle.

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1

Explain why Tullahoma is considered a brilliant campaign that prompted Lincoln to write to secretary John Hay, “[T]he flanking of Bragg at Shelbyville, Tullahoma and Chattanooga is the most splendid piece of strategy I know of.”

EJW: Rosecrans designed and implemented an absolutely magnificent campaign of maneuver and deception that left Bragg completely befuddled. With minimal bloodshed, Rosecrans maneuvered Bragg out of all of Tennessee other than Chattanooga.

2

Talk about how the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the mounted arms of both armies made a difference in the campaign.

EJW: The heroic stand by Union Colonel John T. Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade” at strategically located Hoover’s Gap was representative of how critical horse soldiers were to Rosecrans’ victory.

Wilder’s unit was mounted infantry, not cavalry, meaning the men used their horses as fast transportation but fought using infantry tactics and infantry weapons.

DAP: The Confederates invested large resources, both men and horses, in their mounted arm. Unfortunately for Bragg, his cavalry leaders were not always capable of handling these large forces effectively. Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and even Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest let Bragg down during the campaign.

C. PAUL LOANE COLLECTION

After the inconclusive victory at Stones River in January 1863, Union Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland occupied and fortified Murfreesboro, Tenn., and waited. And waited. Meanwhile, Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee retreated 30 miles south to a line centered at Tullahoma, Tenn. Convinced that Rosecrans’ next move would be to attack the important Chattanooga rail junction, Bragg spread his forces to block Wittenberg the only roads through the line of hills behind Tullahoma. Union General in Chief Henry W. Halleck pressured Rosecrans to do something— anything. In late June 1863, the Union commander finally moved, conducting a brilliant campaign that forced Bragg to abandon vital Middle Tennessee. It was a turning point in the Civil War, but would be overshadowed by the simultaneous Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

When Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton belittled Rosecrans’ achievement in comparison to Powell Grant’s at Vicksburg, Rosecrans replied, “I beg on behalf of this army that the War Department may not overlook so great an event because it is not written in letters of blood.” A new opus by David A. Powell and Eric J. Wittenberg, Tullahoma: The Forgotten Campaign That Changed the Course of the Civil War, June 23-July 4, 1863 (Savas Beatie, $34.95) provides a welcome, thorough examination of Rosecrans’ singular success that summer. The two veteran authors spoke recently to America’s Civil War. AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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3

Explain the importance of new weapons in the campaign such as the British Whitworth for the Southerners and the Spencer repeating rifle for the Yankees.

EJW: One of the most fascinating aspects of the Civil War for me has always been the relationship between the evolution of tactics as driven by advances in technology. Wilder’s mounted command, armed as it was with rapid-fire Spencer rifles, became a real prototype for modern armored units.

The Spencer was, in tactical terms, a force multiplier.

The deadly accurate Whitworth rifles had a similar effect, because they had an extended range and could be loaded while lying down, allowing Confederate sharpshooters to pick off Union artillery crews.

DAP: To the above I would add one of the more fascinating possibilities of the war—Rosecrans’ desire to create a number of “Elite Battalions” within the Army of the Cumberland, drawn from the soldiers who distinguished themselves under fire at Stones River, mounted and armed with either Henry or Spencer repeating rifles. The battalions, had the government let Rosecrans pursue his idea, might have created a much larger force of “Lightning Brigades.”

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Talk about how discord and infighting among Bragg and his corps commanders, Leonidas Polk, William Hardee, and Joseph Wheeler, negatively affected the Confederates’ fortunes in the last days of June.

EJW: I’ve never seen another army with the degree of dysfunction as the Army of Tennessee. Everyone seemed to be scheming, particularly aimed at effecting the removal of Bragg as commander. Loyalty became a major measure of an officer’s qualifications for high command. Wheeler, for instance, was not competent to command a corps, but he was a Bragg loyalist and he was rewarded for that.

C. PAUL LOANE COLLECTION

5

Rosecrans believed his Tullahoma victory was on par with Meade’s at Gettysburg and almost as critical as Grant’s at Vicksburg.

Why is Tullahoma a forgotten campaign?

EJW: Tullahoma ends up being the red-headed stepchild to Gettysburg and Vicksburg for a variety of reasons. Tullahoma lacked the drama of Pickett’s Charge or the unconditional surrender of an entire army, as at Vicksburg. Lacking a marquee battle, lacking tons of casualties, lacking fascinating figures such as Lee and Grant, it seems that Tullahoma was destined to be overlooked. We wanted to rectify the fact that this brilliant campaign has been forgotten, and we hope we have done so.

DAP: Eloquently put. The public spotlight was focused on the battles in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. Few civilians understood that clearing Middle Tennessee of the Confederates was a critical step on the road to Chattanooga and, eventually, Atlanta. » To read the complete interview with Powell and Wittenberg, go to bit.ly/TullahomaCampaign

REVIEWS

Within the Lines This is the latest in the series of map books put out

by Savas Beatie illustrating the operational and tactical conduct of major Civil War campaigns. It chronicles cavalry operations during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, which are widely considered one of the most important—if not the most important—of the entire war. There is little doubt cavalry operations had a profound impact on the efforts of the Army of the Potomac and Army of Northern Virginia that followed Robert E. Lee’s decision to lead his army across the Potomac River for the second time. From the bitter fight at Brandy Station in early June to John Buford’s celebrated stand west of Gettysburg on July 1 to the rear guard engagement at Falling Waters on July 14, cavalry forces operated actively over a wide swath of territory north and south of the Potomac River and made a variety of important contributions to the campaign’s course and outcome.

There are 16 sets of maps with accompanying narratives. The cavalry engagements at Gettysburg are chronicled in four sets, The Maps of the one illustrating and describing the Cavalry in the various routes by which mounted Gettysburg Campaign forces on both sides arrived at Get- By Bradley M. Gottfried tysburg, one addressing Buford’s Savas Beatie, 2020, $34.95 first-day efforts, one addressing the activities of David M. Gregg’s command (including the fights for Brinkerhoff Ridge and what is now known as East Cavalry Field), and one addressing events on the southern end of the field (including Elon Farnsworth’s charge and the engagement at Fairfield).

While there are points where the book could have used a bit more thorough editing, there is a lot to like here. The maps and narratives of events are clear, informative, and easy to follow. Gottfried merits particular praise for the effectiveness with which he chronicles lesser-known aspects of the campaign, such as the engagements in the Loudoun Valley that accompanied the Confederate march north and those in the Hagerstown Valley that accompanied Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg. Those who enjoy tramping fields of the Civil War that are off the wellbeaten paths will especially find this study interesting and valuable. –Ethan S. Rafuse MARCH 2021

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REVIEWS Nathan Kalmoe, a professor at Louisiana State University who has been published in The New York Times and The Washington Post, presents a groundbreaking study of partisanship during the Civil War. For Kalmoe, the political maxims “elections have consequences” and “all politics is local” are clichés but true. The latter could be paraphrased as “all partisanship is local” as he focuses on how partisanship collided with social identity after the White Southern Democratic leaders violently mobilized citizens against democracy following the 1860 election. Highly partisan Republicans and lukewarm Northern Democrats countered this by using bullets and ballots to preserve the Union.

Kalmoe explains that “partisan” is a middle French word associated with irregular warfare. He argues that leaders of the losing party in a national election decide whether democracy and its citizens will live or die. In 1860, political

The Enduring Lost Cause: Afterlives of a Redeemer Nation Edited by Edward R. Crowther University of Tennessee Press, 2020, $70

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With Ballots and Bullets: Partisanship and Violence in the American Civil War

By Nathan P. Kalmoe Cambridge University Press, 2020, $29.99

paralysis and civil war occurred after the one time in nearly 60 American presidential elections the losing side did not recognize defeat. Using more than a million soldiers’ records and 24 party-affiliated newspapers, Kalmoe reveals how Union leaders mobilized mass partisanship to win military victory on the battlefield and political victory at the ballot box. Even today, political parties depend on social identity, local party loyalty, and racial outlook to motivate voters.

Kalmoe’s survey of newspapers during seven critical dates in the war, including the midterm elections of November 1862 and the aftermath of Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863, confirms that the Republican Party maintained a prowar stance until Appomattox while by 1864, the Northern Democratic Party had evolved into a peace party. In a strange observation, Kalmoe states while the Civil War press was fully partisan, today’s mainstream press aspires to non-

William Faulkner’s famous aphorism that “the past is never dead, it’s not even past” certainly holds true for the collection of Confederate myths known as the Lost Cause. Originally created by Richmond newspaperman Edward A. Pollard in an 1866 book, it has morphed over the years and, according to editor Edward R. Crowther, “continues to inform in varying degrees how the Civil War era is remembered throughout the United States.” The 12 essays he has collected describe why this happened and how it has continued to inform the public’s understanding of the war beyond the eleven states of the old Confederacy.

Numerous public figures, many of them former Confederate officers, are linked to the Lost Cause in its formative years. But, according to Christopher C. Moore, one of the most successful propagandists was J. William Jones, a former Confederate chaplain and Baptist minister. Moore, a prolific writer of biographies and the first editor of the Southern Historical Society Papers, contends that Jones “not only...set the stage for current-day controversies, but...presaged them.” Colin Chapell shows how Lost Cause symbology helped create the accepted societal roles for Southern men and women. As Chapell demonstrates, “For believers, the enduring influence of the Lost Cause on gender construction, especially for white manhood and womanhood, is powerful and effective.”

Several essays investigate the role of religion in propping up Lost Cause tenets. Ed Stetzer explains how the Southern Baptist Convention “influenced by the Lost Cause, engaged in a mission strategy that implicitly and explicitly exported this cultural philosophy outside of the American South.” Carolyn Dupont shows how evangelicals in the Mississippi Delta in the 1950s used Lost Cause tenets of faith to support devout anti-communism and “present their rejection of Black equality as deeply Christian and profoundly American.” Bill Leonard investigates how the Lost Cause moved into the 21st century by linking itself to the belief in American exceptionalism and “making

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REVIEWS partisanship and professionalism. On the other hand, he alludes to the ironic turnaround by today’s Republican Party, with some defending Confederate legacy and some rejecting legitimate election results.

Kalmoe believes that current threats to democracy are real, though not as dangerous as the secession crisis of 1860 since partisan warfare today is largely metaphorical.

There are no maps or photographs, but the bibliography and endnotes are copious. Additional notes are interspersed throughout the text. Kalmoe uses detailed tables and figures of statistics to support his arguments, and includes one to three pithy quotes from contemporary newspapers or historical figures such as Lincoln and Grant in each chapter. With Ballots and Bullets is a significant contribution to Civil War literature, useful to both the academic stalwart and the general enthusiast alike. –William John Shepherd

America great again.”

Other essays describe how the University of Mississippi became a historical bastion of Lost Cause symbolism and the role reenacting plays in perpetuating Confederate myths focusing on the privations rank-and-file soldiers faced in defending hearth and home.

Finally, Charles Wilson Regan explores how the Lost Cause has been modernized through the use of radio, television, movies, tourism, and even the rituals of college football. Sadly, the Lost Cause exists and endures despite voluminous scholarship documenting its many inaccuracies. Crowther argues: “[I]t informs contemporary Confederate partisans and White supremacists [by maintaining a] place in Southern and United States culture…the Lost Cause has engrafted itself into the larger conservative ideology…” If Crowther’s reasoning proves accurate, the Lost Cause will be with us for the foreseeable future.

–Gordon Berg

On the eve of the Civil War, William Gilmore Simms “was widely regarded as one of the leading literary figures in the United States and certainly the best-known and most successful Southern writer.”

At a time when newspapers became widely available and avidly read, his editorial opinions would have been known and respected by a readership far beyond his native South Carolina. From 1860 until his death 10 years later, editor Jeffery Rogers posits, “the Civil War and its immediate consequences nearly dominated Simms’ thoughts and actions.”

An avid student of Simms’ life and literary oeuvre, Rogers has carefully selected pieces from various South Carolina newspapers. As early as 1847, Simms was “convinced that the dissolution of the Union was inevitable and that an independent Southern nation would be the result.” He stayed committed to the Confederacy until the end and, Rogers maintains, painfully accepted that defeat “offer[ed] an opportunity to rethink what the South had been and presented new dilemmas Writing War how to navigate this changed world.” and Reunion: Simms’ jingoism is evident in a July Selected Civil War 1861 Charleston Mercury editorial, where and Reconstruction he boasts “the North is beginning to feel Newspaper the secession of the Cotton States is their Editorials by William commercial ruin and that, out of the Gilmore Simms wrecks of their trade, we shall establish a Edited by Jeffery J. Rogers magnificent empire, to which their past University of South prosperity shall be nothing.” In May 1865, Carolina Press, 2020, he wrote that “to submit is not necessarily $59.99 to be ignoble. We may fold our arms, admit the victory, declare honestly and frankly our defeat, and yet preserve equally the dignity of both State and people.”

Simms struggled to come to terms with the freedoms accorded recently emancipated African Americans. He clings to the shibboleth of the happy, well-cared-for slave: “They had ample subsistence, were healthy, fat and comfortable...” His sympathies clearly with the planter class, he railed: “Emancipation, by breaking up the planters, deprives them of the very occupation for which they are most fitted—for which they seem to have been created.” As for White supremacy: “The preeminence and the purity of the Saxon race are in Southern eyes as sacred things as liberty itself. We shall guard and keep our heritage in these respects as long as we may.”

By 1867, Simms had retreated into melancholic nostalgia about the Old South. A number of editorials, beginning in February, featured a trip to Florida that read like a travelogue. Another editorial, written in October 1867, is a primer to his fellow Southerners on how to live in a dramatically changed world: “But times change, and we must change with them...and front it with cheer, if not with defiance.” But Simms never fully reconciled with the new social order.

Most literary critics pay little heed to Simms’ writings during the war and its aftermath. Jeffery Rogers shines welcome light on a long neglected period of a prolific writer’s life. –Gordon Berg MARCH 2021

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FINAL BIVOUAC

BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL

painful apprehension that a career “General H.B. Clitz, U.S.A., is still so noble, so soldierly, so brave, has missing,” the Army and Navy Jourterminated on that field....” Clitz, nal reported on November 10, 1888. however, had been captured and “Nothing having been heard from taken to the headquarters of ConGeneral Clitz since the letter federate Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill. received from him at Niagara Falls, “It flashed upon my mind how, in some of his friends fear that he may the Mexican war, as his regiment have destroyed himself by plunging filed past, I had almost a fatherly into the cataract of that river. Howfear lest he should be struck,” Hill, ever, they have not given up hope an old Army friend, recalled upon that he is in hiding somewhere, and seeing Clitz. “[N]ow he was here, that his illusions will pass away and wounded by one of my own men! He he will be restored to his right was tenderly cared for by my medimind.” By 1890, however, the search cal director...and I was delighted to for the 40-year Army veteran was learn that he would not lose his leg.” suspended and he was pronounced Sent to Libby Prison, Clitz would dead. Clitz’s family honored his be exchanged in July 1862. Still memory on a memorial cenotaph at recuperating from his wounds, he Detroit’s Elmwood Cemetery. returned to West Point to serve as Henry Boynton Clitz was born on commandant of cadets and instrucJuly 4, 1824, in Sackets Harbor, tor of artillery, cavalry, and infantry N.Y., where his father, Captain tactics until early July 1864. He John Clitz of the 2nd Infantry, was ended the war as a brevet brigadier stationed.

Young Clitz was general and remained in the Reguappointed to the U.S. Military lar Army until retiring in July 1885.

Academy in July 1841. Upon graduIn 1888, while Clitz was living in ation, he entered the 7th Infantry as Over Niagara Falls?

Detroit with his mother and his sisa brevet second lieutenant. For his Henry Boynton Clitz, whose body ter, Frances, the two began to notice “gallant and meritorious conduct” at was never found, is memorialized at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. his increasingly errant behavior. On the Battle of Cerro Gordo, Clitz was October 26, 1888, Clitz escorted his brevetted a first lieutenant. Returnniece, Emily, to school but never returned home. Four ing to West Point after the Mexican War, Clitz served as days later, Frances’ husband, Brig. Gen. Gustavas A. De assistant instructor of tactics from 1848 to 1855.

Russy, was informed by dispatch that Clitz had arrived When the Civil War began, Clitz remained in the Regat the Tecumseh House Hotel in London, Ontario. ular Army and was made major of the 12th Infantry in Reportedly, that was also the last day Clitz was seen—at May 1861. At Gaines’ Mill on June 27, 1862, the 12th Niagara Falls. On November 1, Frances received a letter Infantry suffered nearly 50 percent casualties during the from her brother, with a Niagara Falls postmark, that Confederate attack. While rallying his men, Clitz was included money but no information on his plans or why wounded twice in the leg and went missing, feared dead. he had left Detroit so abruptly. Sadly, when informed of “[T]hey were attacked in overwhelming numbers...and her brother’s disappearance, Frances had a breakdown Major Clitz severely, if not fatally, wounded,” Brig. Gen. and was eventually admitted to an insane asylum.

George Sykes, his division commander, reported on July –Frank Jastrzembski 7. “Around his fate, still shrouded in mystery, hangs the Final Bivouac is published in partnership with “Shrouded Veterans,” a nonprofit mission run by Frank Jastrzembski to identify or repair the graves of Mexican War and Civil War veterans (facebook.com/shroudedvetgraves).

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Henry B. Clitz

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