Civil War Times Autumn 2022

NEW DATA REVEALS HOW SEVERE HEAT IMPACTED BATTLES H

JULY 4, 1862

CALL TO ARMS! IRON BRIGADE SOLDIERS

GATHERED ALONG

THE

RAPPAHANNOCK

THE COUNTRY THEY PLEDGED PLU S :

TO

CELEBRATE

TO

DEFEND

ANTIETAM CREEK

WHY WAS IT SO HARD TO CROSS

‘ I WILL SHOOT ’

THREE GRITTY LETTERS DESCRIBE WAR’S REALITY Autumn 2022 HISTORYNET.com

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CIVIL WAR TIMES AUTUMN 2022

26 BLACK HAT CAMP

Soldiers of the 7th Wisconsin, wearing their signature black dress hats, at their 1862 Fredericksburg, Va., camp.

ON THE COVER: Brig. Gen. John Gibbon’s soldiers considered themselves the heirs of Washington’s ideals.

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Features

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Party Along the Rappahannock

By Lance Herdegen Privates became officers as the Midwestern regiments from Wisconsin and Indiana enjoyed a raucous July 4th celebration, and expressed their commitment to Union.

8

34

Troubled Waters

By Steven R. Stotelmyer

Antietam Creek and command confusion slowed down Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.

That certainly benefited General Robert E. Lee.

44

‘I Have Seen Enough of War’

Edited by Melissa A. Winn

From bloody Shiloh, to William Quantrill’s Lawrence, Kan., raid, to USCTs fighting for their lives in Mississippi, three incredible letters describe the gore and rage of war.

52

Death by Dew Point

By Jeffrey J. Harding

Just how hot was it? Very hot. Modern scientific methods can be used to determine the “real feel” of days of battle, and how that heat affected fighting men.

34 Departments

52

6 8 14 16 18 22 25 60 64 72

Return Fire Buffalo G.A.R. Miscellany Polished Up Details Culp’s Hill Survivors Insight Union Women Writers Rambling Lee’s Last Victory Interview A Better Ben Butler?

Editorial Hand in Hand Armament Stock Market Reviews Gettysburg’s Centennial Sold ! Pocket Housewife

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; ROCK ISLAND AUCTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2); COVER: WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; JIM RIVEST COLLECTION/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER

AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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Letter writer Enoch Dow of the 19th Maine was killed at Gettysburg.

MICHAEL A. REINSTEIN CHAIRMAN & PUBLISHER

AUTUMN 2022 / VOL. 61, NO. 4

EDITORIAL DANA B. SHOAF EDITOR / MANAGING EDITOR, PRINT CHRIS K. HOWLAND SENIOR EDITOR Underappreciated SARAH RICHARDSON SENIOR EDITOR

BRIAN WALKER GROUP DESIGN DIRECTOR MELISSA A. WINN DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY AUSTIN STAHL ASSOCIATE DESIGN DIRECTOR

ABOUT FACE

Was Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler’s reign as the Crescent City’s de facto dictator really as infamous as history has led us to believe?

Historynet.com/butlersreign

HEAT & WAR

Author Jeff Harding shares more thoughts about how he researched Civil War heat waves that impacted battles.

Historynet.com/heatwaves

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Vertically Challenged

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CHARLES T. JOYCE COLLECTION

‘MY EYES SAW ALL’

Soldier letters home from the battlefield, including from the trenches of Petersburg and Chickamauga.

Historynet.com/griffingletters

MICHAEL Y. PARK MANAGING EDITOR, DIGITAL CLAIRE BARRETT NEWS AND SOCIAL EDITOR

Describe George McClellan in one word.

CIVIL WAR TIMES AUTUMN 2022

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NEW RELEASE SALUTES CIVIL WAR HEROES EXCLUSIVE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 99.9% SILVER PLATED PROOF COIN

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Intending to capitalize on the win at Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania and ran into General George Meade who had staked out the high ground around Gettysburg. Lee was certain his men were up to the challenge and sent assault after assault against the Union positions. But Meade and the Army of the Potomac held their ground. Ultimately, the Union won the day, but at massive cost.

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Shi Se

RETURN FIRE

I enjoyed the June issue Gettysburg reunion article.

Here are some photos I have. Grand Army of the Republic 31st Encampment, August 23–28, 1897, in Buffalo, N.Y. My 2x great grandparents Matthew and Emily Kennedy and his brother David attended. I believe they are in the fourth row of the group photo, Emily in the big hat with Matthew on her right, David on her left. A Black veteran sits second from left, front row. The other photo is of the welcome arch on Buffalo’s main street. Matthew and David served in the 188th New York Infantry Regiment, were wounded in the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, recovered, and served until the end of the war. They were members of G.A.R. Gregory Post 649, in Prattsburg, N.Y, and are buried in Italy Hill Cemetery, Yates County, N.Y. Richard Blakesley East Bloomfield, N.Y.

From the “Upton’s Attackers” table in the June 2022 issue’s “Spotsylvania Shock Wave” article by Jeffry Wert, I was trying to determine who commanded each of the 12 regiments in Emory Upton’s famous attack on the Mule Shoe. Three of the commanders listed had been killed at the Wilderness several days earlier. Who actually commanded the 95th Pennsylvania, the 6th Vermont, and the 43rd New York at Spotsylvania? Thank you!

Randy Livingston Jefferson, Md. Editor’s note: Senior editor Chris Howland dug into the Official Records and other sources to try to figure this out: 95th Pennsylvania: It appears Cap6

tain John MacFarlan, who relieved Lt. Col. Edward Carroll upon his death at the Wilderness on May 5, led the regiment at the Mule Shoe. Upton does not cite MacFarlan in his afteraction report, and no report attributed to MacFarlan is in the OR. But according to 53rdpvi.org/95th-pennsylvaniavolunteer-infantry/a-history-of-theregiment-1863-to-1864: At the Mule Shoe, “Upton ordered MacFarlan to rush the Ninety-fifth to the threatened break, and the men immediately tramped forward toward the smoking line of earthworks.”

6th Vermont: Lt. Col. Oscar A. Hale filed a report on actions at the Wilderness, published in the OR, but not Spotsylvania. That report was dated June 28, 1864, and Hale is cited as

“Commanding, Regiment.” In the table with Jeffry Wert’s article, it reads Lt. Sumner H. Lincoln was wounded at the Wilderness and was not in action at Spotsylvania “but later assumed command of the regiment.” It is not evident in the OR and other available sources when Hale assumed command or when Lt. Lincoln returned to duty.

43rd New York: In the Army of the Potomac’s May 31, 1864, order of battle, Lt. Col. James D. Visscher is listed as commanding the regiment.

But it is unclear whether Visscher, who would be killed at Fort Stevens on July 12, 1864, was in command at Spotsylvania. Upton specifically mentions a Captain David Burhaus of the 43rd in his OR report and notes he was “supposed killed” at Spotsylvania, although

CIVIL WAR TIMES AUTUMN 2022

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)

MULE SHOE COMMANDERS

COURTESY OF RICHARD BLAKESLEY

VETS IN BUFFALO

ONLINE POLL

42.9

57.1 The Results Are In!

Our recent Facebook poll asked if you only had time to gobble down either Hardtack or Salt Pork before a march, which would it be?

Though the American Heart Association would frown on the choice, most of our readers chose Salt Pork as the lesser of two evils!

an OR footnote indicates Burhaus was mustered out in June 1865. It is possible Burhaus commanded the 43rd at Spotsylvania and was wounded, but perhaps also survived the war.

If any readers can provide additional insight on this, we welcome your input.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)

COURTESY OF RICHARD BLAKESLEY

ANOTHER CIVIL WAR? Gary Gallagher’s article in the June Issue is a must read for all of those who fail to understand the importance of a knowledge of U.S. history. No political issue in 2022 approaches slavery in terms of potential explosiveness, which bodes well for the long-term stability of the republic…to compare anything that transpired in the past few years to the political, military, and social upheavals of the mid–19th century represents a spectacular lack of understanding about American history that is potentially destructive to current political discourse. Thank you, Gary and CWT. Edward M. Scahill Scranton, Pa.

Professor Gary Gallagher provides important insights into our current culture war, and rightfully points out the relative superficiality of our differences in comparison to the climate of 1860. When I poll my diverse relatives and friends on the current hot button issues, it is remarkable how much overall agreement there is on just how much importance an issue holds, and the nature of the solution. No sane American is going to kill another on the basis of their position on abortion or global warming. There is room for discussion and compromise, which will reliably prevent another Fort Sumter moment.

Peter Pickens Wayne, Pa. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU ! e-mail us at cwtletters@historynet.com or send letters to Civil War Times, 901 North Glebe Rd., 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203

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AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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MISCELLANY

HEROES

One of the nation’s first Black regiments, the 54th is most remembered for its valiant failed assault on Fort Wagner, S.C., on July 18, 1863. Shaw and many of the troops died in that effort, but Sergeant William Carney, though severely injured, saved the regiment’s flag. For that effort, he was awarded a Medal of Honor,—the first Black soldier to be so recognized.

Private donors paid for the monument, which was designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who spent nearly 14 years working on the project. Saint-Gaudens was insistent on getting small details correct, and sculpted individual faces using casts he made of local Black men’s faces.

WORTH THE WAIT

When people complained it was taking sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens too long to finish the 54th Memorial, he retorted, “A poor picture goes into the garret, books are forgotten, but the bronze remains....”

8

BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY IMAGES (2)

O

n June 1, 2022, Boston celebrated the restoration of the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Memorial with a ceremony on the Boston Commons, where the monument stands opposite the Boston State House. Begun in 2020, the $3 million restoration included replacement of the water-damaged foundation that holds the sculpture and conservation of the high-relief bronze sculpture itself. To honor the restoration, soldier reenactors marched to the memorial, originally dedicated in 1897.

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SHUTTERSTOCK; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

SHINE AGAIN

NEW LIFE FOR

MONITOR NOAA RELEASED a bit of underwater footage of the sea life-encrusted USS Monitor, the United States’ first ironclad, which has lain on the sea floor since it sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, N.C., on December 31, 1862.

The Monitor is also the nation’s first marine sanctuary. The NOAA voiceover narrates a bit of the innovative history of the vessel before lauding it for a new purpose: reef for many kinds of fish and other marine species. See more at engineeringfordiscovery.org.

RESILIENT IRONCLAD

Monitor’s unique profile and flat deck are still very recognizable after lying nearly 160 years on the ocean floor.

WAR F RA M E

SHUTTERSTOCK; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY IMAGES (2)

CONFEDERATE LT. COL. WALTER TAYLOR had a front seat view of the war. As a member of Robert E. Lee’s staff, Taylor bore witness to critical decisions and events that affected the Army of Northern Virginia and was in the room when his commander surrendered to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Taylor, born in 1838, graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1857, and spent the prewar years working in his native Norfolk, Va. He joined Lee’s staff in 1862 and became a trusted aide, even to the point of controlling personal access to his boss. Taylor spent the postwar years writing books about Lee that helped promote the general’s reputation and the Lost Cause. Taylor, who last saw Lee in 1870, died in 1916.

MEMORY

WARS

RADIO IQ, based in Richmond, Va., has announced a new five-part podcast, “Memory Wars,” devoted to exploring how a society can reconcile with a horrific past. Driven by questions surrounding public memory and the significance of Confederate monuments, the producers look for examples beyond U.S. borders, and use Germany’s postwar history to discuss approaches. The podcast is distributed on PRX. AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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MISCELLANY

BURIED TREASURE

TANTALIZES

BANG

SINCE CONGRESS APPROVED in 2020 to change the names of military bases named after Confederate generals, a commission to suggest new names has released a final list of nine recommendations. Two suggestions for Virginia forts include: rename Fort A.P. Hill to Fort Walker, commemorating the Civil War service of Mary Edwards Walker, the U.S. Army’s first female surgeon; and rename Fort Lee to Fort Gregg-​Adams, named after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, who helped LIFE SAVER desegregate the Army, and Lt. Col. Charity Dr. Mary Walker Adams, who at 25 years of age was selected in wearing her Medal of 1944 to head a unit in England handling troop Honor. She is the only mail, becoming the first to lead a unit of Black female to receive that women serving overseas. Fort Bragg in North honor. Walker served throughout the war Carolina is recommended to be renamed Fort as a surgeon, and was Liberty, and Fort Hood in Texas to be renamed Fort Cavazos, after General Richard E. Cavazos, captured by Confederates in 1864 and held briefly who in 1982 was the first Hispanic-American as a prisoner of war. officer to be named a four-star general.

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ROCK ISLAND AUCTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

ARMY BASE NAMES

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AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST; EDUCATION IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

BIG

A PAIR OF ENGRAVED REVOLVERS presented to General Ulysses S. Grant in late 1863 or early 1864 sold for $5.17 million on May 13, 2022. The sale is the secondhighest price ever paid for a collector firearm at an auction, according to Rock Island Auction. Presented to Grant by two veterans of the Mexican War, possibly to honor Grant’s capture of Vicksburg in 1863, the Remington New Model Army revolvers have Grant’s portrait carved on their grips and are protected in a rosewood case.

SINCE 2018, a pair of treasure​ hunters have claimed that several tons of Civil War-era gold, long ago abandoned by Union soldiers lost in a Pennsylvania forest, was clandestinely removed by the FBI after the alleged hoard was pointed out to the agency with hope of a finders’ fee. Chris Heath of The Atlantic recently probed the history of the supposed treasure at length, how its existence was pitched to the FBI, and why the subsequent investigation has left the treasure hunters suspicious of the FBI’s denial of any discovery. The article revisits the reasons for the hunt, including the tenacity of the hunters’ beliefs, the 1965 document describing the lost gold, a surprising role of a selfdescribed psychic, and a puzzling opacity from the FBI. In the end, Heath’s investigation reveals more about the hunters than their quarry.

REGISTER A Clear Vision The American Battlefield Trust announced three restoration projects. Less costly than purchasing land related to battlefields, these projects involve clearing away existing buildings that detract from experiencing the landscapes of the battlefields. One project involves the removal of five homes on the Slaughter Pen Farm, the site of a temporary Union breakthrough on the Confederate right flank during the Battle of Fredericksburg, and is estimated to cost $125,000. Another removal of commercial buildings from property on Bolivar Heights above Harpers Ferry, W.Va., traversed by Union and Confederate troops, will cost approximately $90,000. A deteriorating postwar farmhouse across from the Antietam National Battlefield Visitor Center will come down at the estimated cost of $25,000. To contribute, go to www.battlefields.org/help-save-battlefields.

Antietam postwar house

AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST; EDUCATION IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

ROCK ISLAND AUCTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Big Apple Monument New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer is urging repairs to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a handsome memorial in Manhattan’s Riverside Park that was completed in 1902. The 100-foot-high memorial is based on the smaller form of the 5th century BC Choragic monument of Lysicrates—a patron of musical performance—in Athens, Greece. Since a million-dollar repair was completed in 1962, the monument has weathered neglect and vandalism, and a problem with drainage shuttered it in 2017. The needed repairs could possibly run to $54 million, according to Patch.com. The original design included a path down to the Hudson River, which was never constructed. After the Civil War, cities across the North erected lavish memorials to Union soldiers. One of the most handsome is in Cleveland, Ohio, dedicated in 1894 and renovated in 2010. To sign the petition to restore the monument, go to bit.ly/savenewyorkmonument.

CANNONS

OF A

DIFFERENT WAR

RUST-ENCRUSTED CANNONS discovered during a dredge of the Savannah River last year were believed to be relics of a previously dug-up Confederate gunship. According to npr.org, however, a close study revealed that the cannons did not resemble those from the Civil War–era. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now believes the cannon date from the Revolutionary War and belonged to British ships skuttled in 1779 in the Savannah River to prevent French ships from approaching.

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MISCELLANY

WORTH

A

MOVE

REAL ESTATE WITH CIVIL WAR CONNECTIONS

CLOSE UP! QUIZ

ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE’S WHAT WAS this medal for, and what U.S. general

awarded it? The first correct answer wins a Civil War Times water bottle. Send your answer to dshoaf@historynet.com, subject heading “Charge!”

12

CLOSE UP !

CONGRATULATIONS to Steve Werely, Hamburg, Pa., who identified the bronze motif found inside the dome of the Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: KELLER WILLIAMS (2); PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (2); HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

Now known as the Shultz House, this home on 4 Confederate Ave. borders the Gettysburg battlefield and was built by one of the most important figures in the Civil War, civil engineer Brig. Gen. Herman Haupt. He made railroads integral to the war effort and made Union battlefield logistics for large numbers of soldiers more efficient.

Haupt built the home, which he called Oakridge, in 1837 and lived in it with his family until 1852. By the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, it was owned by the Shultz family. General Thomas Rowley’s staff gathered near the house during the battle, and a Union battery was stationed across the intersection. A monument to the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry’s Company D stands in front of the home. It is not clear exactly when the cannonballs that are still embedded in one of its brick walls came to rest there. In 1896, the U.S. War Department honored the Shultz House with a plaque for its role in the battle, and it is considered a protected historic building. The home could be yours for $825,000.

The 5,189-square-foot mansion has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a formal living room and dining room, eat-in kitchen, four gas fireplaces, an office, a library, stained-glass windows, clawfoot tub, marble shower, double balcony, wraparound porch and 1.67 acres of land. The Shultz House is also within walking distance of downtown Gettysburg, but we know you history buffs will probably be most impressed by the historic battlefield next door.

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DURING THE EVENING of July 2, 1863, on Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg, Brig.

Gen. George Sears Greene’s brigade of the 60th, 78th, 102nd, 149th, and 137th New York regiments, about 1,350 men, hunkered down behind earthworks to hold off three Confederate brigades totaling more than 4,000 men for three long hours. Greene’s brigade had been left behind when the balance of the 12th Corps, five brigades, were ordered to move to reinforce Little Round Top. The ensuing fight that occurred on Culp’s Hill was desperate, lasting from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. before relief finally arrived. The stout defense by Greene’s men saved the right of the Union “fishhook.” ¶ In this image, a group of 60th New York veterans pose during the September 1907 dedication of the Culp’s Hill monument to General Greene. The regiment, raised in the St. Lawrence River region, anchored Greene’s left flank and numbered about 273 men at Gettysburg, while more than 1,000 men in Brig. Gen. John Jones’ four Virginia regiments rushed their portion of the line. Helped by their earthworks, the steep slope of Culp’s Hill, and their own tenacity, the 60th managed to hold on, incurring 52 casualties, including some of the men in this photo. —D.B.S.

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1. Greene’s statue atop the monument is posed pointing

down his line of earthworks. At Gettysburg, Greene was 62 years old, the oldest commander in the Army of the Potomac.

He was nicknamed “Old Pap” by his men.

2. This vet holds the brigade’s pennant bedecked with a white star for the 2nd Division of the 12th Corps, and bordered in blue to represent the 3rd Brigade.

3. William Keenan’s eyepatch tells a tale. He lost an eye during the Culp’s Hill fighting.

4. A Confederate bullet shattered George Grant’s left arm on July 2, leading to its amputation. Another member of the regiment, Edward Sharples, remembered that during the

battle each discharge of a 60th musket “lit the woods like day, revealing…Confederates massed below.”

5. Ulysses S. Grant’s son, Fred Grant, attended the dedication.

6. Charles T. Greene served as aide to his father on Culp’s Hill. Charles went to the Western Theater with his father, and lost a leg at the Battle of Ringgold, Ga., on November 27, 1863.

His wife, Addie Maude Supple Greene, stands next to him.

7. Is that you, Dan? The slightly blurred figure bears a strong resemblance to Daniel Sickles, the controversial commander of the 3rd Corps at Gettysburg. He frequently attended monument dedications as chair of the New York State Monuments Commission.

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R “OLD PAP” ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

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VIEWS TWO NORTHERN WOMEN LEFT INSIGHTFUL MEMOIRS OF THEIR WARTIME EXPERIENCES CONFEDERATE WOMEN are far better represented than their Union

counterparts in published diaries, memoirs, and sets of letters. Accounts by Mary Boykin Chesnut, Phoebe Yates Pember, and Sarah Morgan, among others who wrote across the South, are widely known and cited. No Northern testimony has achieved comparable familiarity, or impact on historical writing, though Louisa May Alcott’s slim Hospital Sketches attracts attention because of its author’s fame as the creator of Little Women. Yet many fine titles illuminate the war from northern women’s perspectives, including two by a young African American who taught in South Carolina and the wife of a Democratic judge in New York City.

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PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

INVISIBLE INK?

The detail-filled journals and diaries of Northern women don’t generally get as much attention as those written by Confederate females.

Charlotte Forten was born in 1837 into a prominent Black family in Philadelphia, enjoyed a privileged youth, and worked in the abolitionist community during the late 1850s. She decided in 1862 to seek a teaching position among freedpeople in Union-held areas off the Carolina coast, arriving at Hilton Head in late October. The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké, edited by Brenda Stevenson (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), chronicle Forten’s activities during more than 18 months among formerly enslaved people, Union officers and soldiers, and other northern civilians who dealt with the immediate challenges and consequences of emancipation. Forten encountered a profoundly foreign cultural and physical landscape. “Never saw anything more beautiful than these trees,” she wrote of first seeing live oaks. “It is strange that we do not hear of them at the North.

They are the first objects that attract one’s attention here.”

The Black children on Hilton Head seemed, on the whole, “eager to learn,” and for the new teacher “their singing delighted me most. . . . They sang beautifully in their rich, sweet clear tones . . . .

Dear children! Born in slavery, but free at last?” Music and songs—secular and religious—form a theme in Forten’s descriptions of African American life and culture in the islands.

On Christmas Day in 1862, the children sang “Look upon the Lord,” which Forten pronounced “the most beautiful of all their shouting tunes. There is something in it that goes to the depths of one’s soul.” As she worked among the freedpeople, Forten compiled biographies of individuals, heard about the travails endured under slavery, described religious practices and details of dialects, and otherwise immersed herself in the Low Country’s Gullah culture.

Although sometimes patronizing in tone, she nonetheless forged a strong bond with children and adults on Hilton Head.

Forten also encountered a number of notable individuals. Meeting Harriet Tubman on January 31, 1863, left the Philadelphian somewhat awestruck:

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LIBRARIES

by Gary W. Gallagher

PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LIBRARIES

“She is a wonderful woman—a real heroine. . . . How exciting it was to hear her tell her story. . . . My own eyes were full as I listened to her. . . . I am glad I saw her—very glad.” Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton, the senior Union commander in the area, and Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, head of the First South Carolina Volunteers—both abolitionists— appear repeatedly in the journal. On New Year’s Day 1863, Forten dined with Higginson. “Col. H. is a perfectly delightful person in private,” she observed, “—So genial, so witty, so kind.

But I noticed when he was silent a careworn almost sad expression on his earnest, noble face. My heart was full when I looked at him.”

Robert Gould Shaw, colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, also impressed her. His death at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, left Forten desolated. “It makes me sad, sad at heart,” she confessed. “It seems very, very hard,” she continued, “that the best and the noblest must be the earliest called away.”

Maria Lydig Daly never experienced the war in person, but Diary of a Union Lady, 1861-1865, edited by Harold Earl Hammond (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1962; paperback reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000) affords readers a splendid array of colorful and perceptive observations.

Married to Judge Charles Patrick Daly, the son of immigrant parents from Ireland, Maria Daly personified loyal Democrats who supported a war to save the Union but heavily criticized Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party.

Well-placed in New York City’s society, the Dalys interacted with, and she commented about, a range of prominent people. Her diary entries discuss, among other topics, military leaders and operations, attitudes toward emancipation and African Americans (she manifested typically prejudiced opinions about Black people), politics, Irish Americans in New York, and social affairs.

Daly directed considerable vitriol toward Abraham Lincoln. In late September 1862, she railed against the preliminary proclamation of emancipation.

“What supreme impertinence in the

TEACHER AND STUDENTS

The Civil War put millions of people on the move, including abolitionist writers like Charlotte Forten, above left. She left a comfortable life in Philadelphia to teach formerly enslaved people at the Penn School on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

railsplitter of Illinois!” she fumed: “There is no law but the despotic will of poor Abe Lincoln, who is worse than a knave because he is a cover for every knave and fanatic who has the address to use him.” Even the “dreadful news” of Lincoln’s assassination elicited scant praise for the victim. “It will make a martyr of Abraham Lincoln,” wrote Daly coldly, “whose death will make all the shortcomings of his life and Presidential career forgotten in, as Shakespeare says, ‘the deep damnation of his taking off.’”

Partial to Democratic and Irish military officers, including Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and Brig. Gen. Michael Corcoran, Daly questioned many of Lincoln’s choices regarding

“MAY

GOD COMFORT

AND CHANGE THE

HEARTS

OF OUR SO LONG

VINDICTIVE FOES!” –Maria Lydig Daly

leaders. In the wake of McClellan’s removal from command of the Army of the Potomac in early November 1862, she recorded that soldiers “curse the Administration as the cause of all the reverses of the Union army.” Following Lincoln’s assassination, she remained upset that the president’s “political jealousy kept one of our ablest generals unemployed for two years” and because of his “vanity and self-sufficiency lost us Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg.”

Joy and an impulse toward reconciliation marked Daly’s reaction to news of the Rebel surrender at Appomattox.

“Glory be to God on high; the rebellion is ended! . . . and peace soon to descend to bless this land again,” she wrote on April 10, 1865. Ulysses S. Grant’s generous terms, Daly hoped, meant “the animosity that has so long reined will now pass away. May God comfort and change the hearts of our so long vindictive foes! They will have much to suffer for their folly and ambition.”

The journals of Forten and Daly remind modern readers of the great variety of attitudes among loyal citizens who supported a war to suppress the rebellion. Union victory, in the end, required a sustained national effort. ✯ AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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RAMBLING with John Banks

‘LOOK AFTER THIS PLACE’

Farmer Dirk Warner inherited the stewardship of the Cumberland Church battlefield from his father-in-law in 2010.

NURTURING A BATTLEFIELD of the Cumberland Church battlefield—he often envisions April 7, 1865. Cannons boom, musketry rattles, battle smoke lingers, soldiers shout, blood flows. Then a spade plunges into the rich Virginia earth. A soldier rolls a friend into a grave. The cycle of war and death. How benumbing. How timeless.

Warner plans to be buried on the battlefield, too—“over by those redbuds,” he tells me as we walk his hallowed ground. Until then, Warner has a battlefield to nurture, protect, and interpret. Artifacts to unearth. A battle book to write. Dreams to turn into reality. A mystery to solve. I have one, too: Why did it take me so long to hear about the Battle of Cumberland Church?

Before my journey to rural, south-central Virginia, I knew nothing about this battle 18

fought in the war’s waning days. The five-hour brawl five miles north of Farmville became the last bullet point on Robert E. Lee’s military resume, his final victory. It resulted in 900 casualties—650 Union and 250 Confederate—but earned only a brief mention in the Official Records. Two days later, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.

“History makes but little mention of the battle … as events of greater impor-

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PHOTOS BY JOHN BANKS (2)

WHILE DIRK WARNER TOILS on his 127-acre farm—the heart

PHOTO BY JOHN BANKS

THE SITE OF ONE OF LEE’S FINAL ENGAGEMENTS IS IN GOOD HANDS

PHOTOS BY JOHN BANKS (2)

PHOTO BY JOHN BANKS

tance followed so closely,” a Union veteran recalled, “but the participants know that troops never fought more valiantly than did Lee’s soldiers in their last effort when they repulsed the assault of the veterans of the 2d Corps.”

The previous night, I meet Warner for the first time to get a bead on him and the lay of his land. I step into a pile of cow manure but remain unfazed. It’s clear almost instantly this will be an epic visit.

Warner is a cattle farmer and a longtime producer and director for a Richmond TV station. We bond over a mutual enthusiasm for Civil War history. He introduces me to his Siberian Husky and American Eskimo mix named Izzy, who wants to kiss me. I shoot a selfie with his pet black Angus steer named Nibbles.

Until his death in 2010, Warner’s father-in-law, Dr. Woodrow Wilson Taylor—a veterinarian and World War II vet—owned the farm and lived in the post-battle house on the property. Warner lives in Doc’s place now with his wife, Jane.

“He made two requests of me when I married his daughter,” Warner says of Doc. “Look after her and look after his place.” No problem.

Married since 1992, Warner still cherishes Wilson’s farm.

“Sacred ground,” he calls the battlefield. “Incredible.”

As we walk the farm on a frosty morning, Warner shows me where Union troops formed. Andrew Humphreys, the 2nd Corps commander, made his headquarters here. U.S. Army cannons belched iron and death from the farm.

Confederate General William Mahone—all 5-foot-6 and 100 pounds of him—made his headquarters a mile away at Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The commander of Lee’s rearguard may have sought aid from a higher power. The Yankees outnumbered “Little Billy” and the rest of Lee’s army at Cumberland Church by nearly 2-to-1.

Cumberland Church, a brilliant, white beacon in morning sunlight, still

SPIRITUAL VIBES

Cumberland Church, above, served as Confederate General William Mahone’s headquarters. “Nibbles,” Warner’s pet steer, seems skeptical of author John Banks.

Animals, they say, can pick up on things....

holds services. But don’t bring your metal detector. “No Relic Hunting,” warns a sign out front.

“See that high ground. The Confederates commanded all that.”

As we stand in a field in front of his house, Warner points into the distance, to a ridge beyond Bad Luck Creek and the Jamestown Road. That’s where Rebel soldiers manned a strong line.

Warner’s sister-in-law sold land there that encompasses part of the Confederates’ position to the American Battlefield Trust, protecting it forever.

Across Jamestown Road, at the apex of a Confederate line shaped roughly like a horseshoe, Colonel William Poague placed an artillery battery. Rebel gunners gave the Yankees “hell with grape and canister trimmings thrown in,” a Union veteran recalled. Remains

of earthworks stand in a front yard of a modern house there.

Near the corner of Jamestown and Cumberland roads, 200 yards from Warner’s farm, hand-to-hand fighting broke out at the Huddleston place. The owner hid in the hearth of a fireplace with a slave during the battle, according to local lore.

To bring this obscure battle into focus, Warner mines regimental histories, manuscripts, and soldier letters—anything he can find—for a book he wants to write. He mines his battlefield, too.

In 1989, Warner began finding Miniés while digging post holes on the farm for “Doc.” He has since unearthed between 2,000 to 3,000 bullets—15 different varieties in all, including a rare Confederate Whitworth round.

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RAMBLING “See where those cows are?” Warner points to ground near a tree line. “I found the Whitworth, a medical phalange, and a picture frame right there.

Confederate shelling got so bad here, the Union soldiers had to vacate.” Fifty feet from his front door, Warner uncovered a Union spur. Near it, he found a beat-up U.S. belt buckle.

“See that humpy area.” Warner gestures toward the middle of a field. “A Confederate cavalry guy got killed out there. Found a whole bunch of Richmond Lab carbine bullets in the same spot. Someone lost an ammo pouch.”

Warner bags most artifacts he finds for storage in bins in his house. He displays dozens of the relics in his home office. Only one other person may relic hunt on his battlefield—a friend who scours the fields with Warner and shares his passion for the battlefield.

“Everything he finds here, stays here,” Warner says.

Warner points out the “S” curve of an ancient stretch of the Old Jamestown Road that snakes through his battlefield. To our right, stood a thick growth of pines in 1865. Shortly before advancing, officers in the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery peeked from the edge of those woods.

“Boys,” a New York captain said, “there’s another wagon train for us over behind the rebel lines.”

The Federals advanced over an open, rolling field on Warner’s farm—“no man’s land,” he says. The soldiers halted briefly in a dip and charged as they closed to within 250 yards of their well-entrenched enemy.

Confederates answered Yankee cheers with the Rebel yell and sheets of lead and iron. Some Union soldiers reached the entrenchments and “fought to the death.” The entire 5th New Hampshire color guard fell. The Yankees fell back.

Sergeant John C. Moorehead of the 148th Pennsylvania and his friend, 24-year-old bugler Joseph Harrison Law, surveyed the battle next to each other from astride their horses—probably on the very ground where Warner and I stand near the Old Jamestown Road.

Law, a blue-eyed, light-haired farmer, 20

UNFORTUNATE DISTINCTION

At Cumberland Church, bugler Joseph Law, above left with a brother, became the last member of the 148th Pennsylvania killed during the war.

had enlisted in the 148th Pennsylvania in Punxsutawney, Pa. He served in Company E with his younger brothers, Charles and Daniel. He also went by “Harrison” or “Harry.” Jovial and organized, Law seemed a natural for the army.

Shortly before he rode into battle at Cumberland Church, Harrison Law said he was eager to return to his 22-year-old wife, Mary, and four-year-old son, Carl.

He had not seen them since his enlistment in August 1862. “Lee is on his last legs,” he told the regimental chaplain.

“He will surrender in a day or two and then we shall soon get home.”

Shortly after Law finished his bugle call to rally the 4th Brigade, a Confederate artillery shell or solid shot carried away the top of his head. Moorehead leaped from his horse, plunged the brigade flag into the ground, and pulled his friend from his saddle. The bugler became the 210th—and last—soldier to die in the hard-fighting 148th Pennsylvania during the war.

Moorehead buried Law on the battlefield. Later, he presented Harry’s blood-spattered bugle to his brothers, who gave it to his widow. Law’s remains, however, never made it back to Pennsylvania. Moorehead died shortly

after the war, leaving the location of Law’s grave a mystery.

“We know where he’s not buried,” Warner says. He stands in a shallow area in a thin patch of woods, yards off the Old Jamestown Road. In 2021, Warner had deployed ground-penetrating radar to try to locate Law’s remains.

Nothing turned up, but he suspects the bugler rests near the “S”-shaped road.

Earlier that year, Warner had connected with Law’s great-great- grandson, who supplied him with copies of dozens of wartime family letters and other information. Weeks after my visit, he walked the ground with Warner—a surreal, emotional experience for both.

On the night of April 7, Ulysses Grant—commander of all U.S. Army forces—sent a messenger through the lines to Lee: It’s time to give up. Lee asked James Longstreet, his “Old War Horse,” what he thought. “Not yet,” the lieutenant general said.

“That messenger rode right out here along the Jamestown Road and delivered the message by torchlight,” Warner says. Later that night, Lee’s army withdrew by light of bonfires in the woods beyond Bad Luck Creek.

The Army of Northern Virginia could have surrendered right here. But no historical markers designate the battlefield. “This place is forgotten,” Warner says.

And so Dirk Warner dreams that someday, perhaps after both he and Jane rest in graves near the redbud trees, this unheralded battlefield becomes a national park, his house the visitor center and museum. Relics unearthed on the farm become its centerpiece.

Meanwhile, he will admire the warm glow of battlefield sunsets and think of the stories that linger on his farm like wisps of musket smoke.

“This place,” he says, “is so humbling.” ✯ John Banks, author of two Civil War books, has another one coming in 2023.

Check out A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime (Gettysburg Publishing) for more on Cumberland Church and stories about Andersonville, Antietam, and more.

HISTORY OF THE 148TH PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS

with John Banks

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6/27/22 5:08 PM

with Elizabeth Leonard

TIME FOR A NEW PROFILE

Major General Benjamin Butler will never be accused of cutting a dashing figure. But there is far more than meets the eye to the man who enraged New Orleans.

“SPOONS” ELIZABETH LEONARD’S interest in General Benjamin Butler was

piqued when she was tasked to write a description for a large portrait of the alumnus of Waterville College (now Colby College) when it was reinstalled in the college’s alumni center. What she found paints an entirely new portrait of the politician and general in Benjamin Franklin Butler: A Noisy, Fearless Life. In fact, the book’s cover image is an unfamiliar photograph of Butler. “That’s exactly what I want you to feel,” Leonard says: “It’s him but it’s not him. You think you know him, and you do, but you don’t.”

CWT: Tell us a bit about his early life.

EL: He was born in New Hampshire, born into a situation of relative poverty, and very soon his father was gone. His mother wanted him to be able to do well and sent him off to school and she went down to Lowell, Mass., to become a boardinghouse-keeper in those early days of the Lowell mills. He soon joined her there.

And that was his home for most of his life.

CWT: How did he become a general?

EL: He had wanted very much to go to West Point. It was not possible for him to do so. His mother sent him up to Waterville College in Maine, where his portrait 22

CWT: He was involved in the war from the start.

EL: His ego was never weak. A combination of true patriotism and a desire, always, for glory and military opportunity. All those things combined to make him one of the first—he and his regiments—to be involved in the defense of Washington in those early days. He’s everywhere: he’s in Baltimore when the first troops are being shot at; he’s at Fort Monroe when the enslaved people are coming for protection.

CWT: You describe his talents as an administrator, and that he helped found the veterans’ homes.

EL: Some people have a natural ability for organization. He seemed to have it in spades. Even people who didn’t like him couldn’t say he was a bad admin-

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PHOTO BY THOM BLACKSTONE

THAN

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

MORE SMARTS

hangs in our alumni center here. When he was back in Massachusetts pursuing his career as lawyer, he joined the Massachusetts volunteer militia. That would serve him well when the war came and he was able to position himself as someone who had previous military and leadership experience.

istrator. It seemed to allow him to survive—people realized he had too much talent, but sometimes too much is threatening. He did so much in New Orleans that people were begging him to come back and keep New Orleans clean.

PHOTO BY THOM BLACKSTONE

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

CWT: People know him as the guy who stole the spoons. Did you know about his commitment to Black civil rights and support for the poor?

EL: Absolutely not. It’s really interesting how much I didn’t know about him and how powerfully the repressive influences have extracted all of his contribution to Black rights he strove so hard to make. But I had two clues: Harold Raymond, my predecessor at Colby, wrote in 1964 that Butler deserves a reappraisal, and I knew this wonderful historian wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t so. Then Gary Gallagher suggested I look into his story more deeply. The comparison between the Beast Butler/Spoons Butler mockery, including the images and illustrations of him that had been so common, and what I saw from this other group of people was stunning. Frederick Douglass sent a massive floral display to his funeral and his son was a pall bearer at his funeral.

CWT: Spell out that commitment.

EL: The first thing he did was not to return the three enslaved men who came to him at Fort Monroe. The news spread like wildfire, and hundreds soon came. For him, it was a big step on his journey. There was his experience in New Orleans: He turned the Louisiana Native Guard into Union soldiers and had this ongoing contact with enslaved people and their desire for freedom and the sacrifices they were willing to make. Then there’s his work with the Army of the James and its Black regiments. After the war he never looked back. He rode past the dead bodies of his Black soldiers at Chapin’s Farm in the fall of 1864, and I just imagine that as a moment that he promised to himself “I will never abandon you.” And he didn’t while others

did. His political career after the war has often been treated as if he’s been fickle or that he was just about his own power. He always said “these parties are shifting around me and I’m clinging to these principles. I don’t care what the party’s name is.” That’s what you see in his correspondence: dump the Republican Party if they’re not going to help Black people.

Elizabeth Leonard

CWT: What do you think was his biggest accomplishment?

EL: Refusing to return the three enslaved men who fled to Fort Monroe was a huge accomplishment in terms of what it meant to the enslaved people and as a prod to the federal government. You better come up with a policy for these enslaved people because they’re running away and we need to figure out how we’re going to handle this. His importance in holding Maryland, when the loss of Maryland would have been enormous. Then after the war, all of his work in Congress. He was involved in the Civil Rights Act, the KKK Act—and then as governor of Massachusetts also.

CWT: Would you like to comment on his conduct in the war? He seems to have been singled out for criticism.

EL: I think part of it is the New Orleans business. But when we think about the timing and the distance from Washington and the kind of situation

he was confronting in New Orleans, I think he was doing the very best he could— and certainly some New Orleanians thought so too. I think he has been maligned even for his wartime experience not just by White Southerners but by White Northerners who didn’t like his attacks on the elite.

As Whites in the postwar period North and South sought to make peace with each other to advance a certain vision of America, he was saying “No, no we have to lift up the poor, lift up these freedpeople, we have to protect the rights of black Americans.” He ticked a lot of people off, more than just his former enemies in the South.

There’s a wonderful quote when he was running for president in 1884 and someone brings up the lingering resentment of certain white Southerners. He says, Well you know it’s true, when they were my enemy, I fought them tooth and nail, but they should know that when I am their friend, I will be equally their friend and won’t they be better off with me than with someone who says he is their friend but doesn’t really mean it. I am who I am, I will do what I say.

CWT: He supported William Mumford’s wife, the spouse of a man he executed for tearing down a U.S. flag in New Orleans.

EL: It is also completely forgotten that he watched out for her over the course of her life. I find him very charming and sweet with his grandchildren and little Ben. We forget how many people loved him so much and how many people he really did extend a hand to.

He got kind of tired at the end of his life people asking him for money. Still, he maintained his commitment to high principles. He did believe there was a need for basic fairness and believed in people’s capacity to rise up and achieve, as he had done. And he saw that really slipping away. And it bothered him terribly. I think that is out of his own experience. I think he deserves his time in the sun. ✯ Interview conducted by Sarah Richardson.

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by Dana B. Shoaf

Editor Dana Shoaf with tour co-leader Dr. James Broomall, right, on Culp’s Hill this past June.

ON

LOCATION

PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

READING ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR AND BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION ARE INSEPARABLE ON JULY 2, 1863, when the 60th New York veterans in this issue’s Details image (P. 14) were much younger, they put up one heck of a fight on Gettysburg’s Culp’s Hill. At one point, a portion of the regiment advanced over their earthworks and launched an impromptu charge that captured 56 men and a battle flag of Brig. Gen. John Jones’ Virginia brigade. When the prisoners and blood-stained flag were brought back into the Union lines, a “quiet enthusiasm pervaded the men and officers of the regiment,” its colonel, Able Goddard, later wrote. I learned the story of the 60th and its fellow New York regiments of Brig. Gen. George Sears Greene’s brigade when I prepared for a tour I co-led on June 11 for the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute Summer Conference (gettysburg.edu/civil-war-institute). Any time I get on a battlefield to give a tour, or just to wander and learn on my own, it reminds me that battlefield preservation and reading about the Civil War go hand-in-hand. Researching about the 60th New York and Jones’ Virginians on Culp’s Hill was engrossing, and it stirred my soul to then stand on the location of their brawl. This is where they fought. This is where they died. We’ve lost a lot of battlefield land over the years. Too much. On page 11 you’ll find some preservation causes you might want to help. If you do, I think you’ll get your own sense of “quiet enthusiasm.” ✯

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Party Along the

RAPPAHANNOCK

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THE MIDWESTERN “BLACK HAT” BRIGADE

HAD A ROUSING FOURTH OF JULY NEAR FREDERICKSBURG, VA., IN 1862

BY L ANCE HERDEGEN

SPIRES OF FREDERICKSBURG

Company I of the 7th Wisconsin Infantry had not yet seen the ravages of battle when this image was taken at Fredericksburg between April and August 1862.

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PLANNING FOR THE BRIGADE’S PATRIOTIC CELEBRATION HAD BEEN UNDERWAY FOR MORE THAN A MONTH uniforms of state militia gray. The changeover to Federal blue started in late summer 1861, in the Washington camps, first in the various companies of the ragged and needy 2nd Wisconsin where the boys were still wearing the uniforms of First Bull Run. The changeover was generally completed by May 1862 at Fredericksburg.

The new issue included dark or light blue wool trousers, a dark blue nine-button frock coat, and the Model 1858 black felt hat of the kind worn

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hunderous artillery fire echoed off the hills of the Rappahannock River valley. The early morning blasts delivered by 36 cannons that jarred the juststirring Union army camps at Fredericksburg, Va., however, signaled not the beginning of a great battle. Instead the booming salute that summer 1862 morning opened Fourth of July celebrations for the U.S troops.

The Great Rebellion pulling at the Union was in its second year, and it was the 86th birthday of what a soldier in Brig. Gen. John Gibbon’s “Black Hat” brigade of Midwestern regiments called “this great and once happy Republic.”

William Ray of the 7th Wisconsin also added in his journal: “Oh, awful to think that a portion of its inhabitants have tried to & and Disgraced it to their utmost.”

Another of Gibbon’s men—James Northrup of the 2nd Wisconsin—also mentioned the holiday in a letter home: “I suppose you will have a good time....I hope so at least and hope you will not forget us Volunteers but enjoy a little fun for us.”

Of the current military situation, he wrote: “We are still laying on the north bank of the Rappahannock having an easy time of it. We have been expecting that we would be taken down to reinforced [Maj. Gen. George] McClellan but at present it looks as if we were elected to stay where we are for some time to come. The fact is some-

body has got to stay here in case of a reverse to McClellan the rebels could march on to Washington without opposition.”

The two soldiers were part of a brigade that included the 2nd, 6th, 7th Wisconsin, and 19th Indiana along with Battery B of the 4th U.S. Artillery.

It was the only infantry unit composed of regiments from the frontier West serving in the THE BOSS East, and was part of a force being held at Regular Army officer Fredericksburg to protect central Virginia.

Brig. Gen. John Gibbon The western soldiers had marched into the gave the Midwestern Fredericksburg area in mid April, first passing regiments a good dose of discipline as well as their through Falmouth on the north bank of the distinctive look of dress Rappahannock as some of the 20,000 troops coats and hats, and the in Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s Department disliked white leggings. of the Rappahannock. McDowell’s men had been sent to the colonial town, which a member of the 7th Wisconsin called the “greatest old foggy place I ever saw,” and placed in a position so they could either reinforce the Army of the Potomac’s Peninsula Campaign, or rush back to Washington, D.C., and protect the capital if necessary.

The brigade had been together since mid-summer of the previous year and—except for the 2nd Wisconsin, which fought at First Bull Run—saw only scattered and limited engagements with the enemy over the past months. “Of course, we feel eager to be something more than ornamental file-closers,” a frustrated Wisconsin officer wrote home. “Our regiment has been more than a year in service, and in soldierly bearing, perfection in drill, and discipline, we do not yield the palm to the regulars in any service.” Part of that “perfection” in drill was due to the advent of John Gibbon as the brigade’s new commander during its stay in Fredericksburg.

Gibbon had been promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in May 1862 from his Battery B, 4th U. S. Artillery. He was not greeted with enthusiasm. The new general was a Regular and West Pointer, after all, and the volunteer citizen soldiers were distrustful of Regulars. Adding to the dismay was the discovery the white gloves and linen leggings Gibbon added to the brigade uniform had to be paid out of the individual clothing allotments.

In ranks, Gibbon was regarded at first as an artillery officer who never commanded infantry. With brothers in the Confederate service, his loyalty was questioned, and his Old Army discipline and manner made him the most hated man in the brigade.

The Regular Army officer tightened up discipline and drill and also ordered new uniforms for his men. As did many of the early Federal regiments, the Wisconsin and Indiana units arrived at Washington in 1861 in

UNSPOILED BY WAR

All appears peaceful in Fredericksburg’s world in this 1856 illustration of the town, founded in 1728.

The star at lower left signifies the location of the Black Hat brigade’s camp.

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; © DON TROIANI. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2022/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

by the Regular Army. “The boys no longer look like beggars, with ventilated suits of clothing, but present a very neat, tidy and soldier-like appearance,” one Badger reported.

The new black hat made the biggest impression. It was a showy black felt affair, looped up on the side with a brass eagle and trimmed with an infantry-blue cord, black plume, brass infantry bugle, company letter and regimental numeral.

“The officers, a Badger wrote in his journal, “are coming right down on us as if we were so many slaves now and they are forcing leggings and blouse coats on us and forcing us to wear them. It’s a dime for this and a quarter for that and so it goes. And whatever the General says we must have, we must take it or be arrested…. I hate this putting on so much style.

The boys call it putting on French airs.”

The four regiments brought 4,000 men to Washington the previous year, but even though fighting at Brawner’s Farm, South Mountain, Antietam, and Gettysburg lay in the future, transfers, other duties, desertions, and

BLACK HAT DASH

The Black Hat Brigade was not the only unit to wear the Model 1858 dress hat, or “Hardee” hat, but the brigade certainly did use the impressive headgear to develop an identity. Cornelius Wheeler of the 2nd Wisconsin wears his at a perfectly cocky angle. Wheeler enlisted as a 20-year-old private, but rose through the ranks and was discharged as a lieutenant in 1865. Amazingly, he made it through the war with nary a scratch.

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disease had reduced the brigade numbers. Now, an officer noted, only some 2,800 soldiers remained in the 40 companies. ut those men, mostly unused to battle’s trauma, were in high spirits even if they were suspect of General Gibbon and his ways, and planning for the brigade’s patriotic celebration had been underway for more than a month. The site selected for the event was “opposite Fredericksburg on a large section of the plantation formerly owned by the widow Washington, the mother of the first president and the father of the county,” said Jerome A. Watrous of the 6th Wisconsin. “The morning opened bright and warm and remained so all day.”

The holiday began on the company streets with the usual morning reveille and roll calls, but there were catcalls and shouts in ranks as the organizations formed. Privates in the 7th Wisconsin had elected new officers from men in the ranks and the “officers” immediately and eagerly took command of the regiment.

“There was, as a matter of course, considerable laughter in ranks but behaved well and obeyed orders which Our orderly said we must obey.

And he couldn’t refrain from laughing himself at the novelty of the thing,” said Ray. “But as soon as we had got breakfast, the old cooks called on our Orderly to have somebody carry the breakfast to those that were on duty (as that is the way it is done). Orderly called at the top of his voice, J.B. Callis [7th Wisconsin Colonel John Callis] and informed that he had to carry the guards breakfast to him. This rather plagued him but go he must.”

While Lt. Col. Callis trudged off on his errand, other regimental officers were assigned to the cooking and water-carrying details.

Non-commissioned officers made up the police details cleaning up the campgrounds under the watchful eyes of privates.

The guards came out dressed in their dirtiest and “most comical” uniforms, said Ray. “Our corporal had an old haversack for a hat, got an old knappsack which had been thrown away, and put it on with the canteen tied to the knappsack behind dangling about his legs and instead of a gun he had a verry large crooked stick, with paper stripes cut in a fantastic form on his arms.”

As the unusual detail formed, the large Newfoundland dog owned by Captain Alexander Gordon Jr. of Beloit, Wisc., was freed just as the guards passed. “This scattered the boys all over and the officer of guard with sword drawn tried to defend the guard and gets run over by three or four the guard which caused greater confusing in the ranks of the guard.”

At the Guard Mount, the new adjutant

ASSEMBLED

ON SACRED SOIL” You can visit the location of the “Black Hat” camps in spring 1862 Several Black Hat soldiers referred to the fact that they were camped on land formerly owned by Mary Washington and where her famous son, George, had spent much of his youth. The 70-acre tract is referred to today as Ferry Farm.

The future first president moved there at age six in 1738 with his mother, father Augustine, and five other siblings.

Augustine built the house but died when George was 11.

Though he lived there until he was 22, neither George nor his mother were fond of the property. George criticized it as “crowded, busy, trouble-filled place of limited options.” He would leave Ferry Farm at age 22. His mother moved across the river to Fredericksburg in 1772. By 1833, the house had collapsed.

Washington’s connection to the land was still well-known when Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s Department of the Rappahannock occupied the bluffs on the north bank of the river across from Fredericksburg. Parson Weems used Ferry Farm as the setting for his myth about Washington chopping down the cherry tree. That tale inspired Union soldiers to carve items to send home from cherry trees still growing there.

In recent years, the George Washington Foundation undertook a massive archeology and restoration project to rebuild the Washington home as accurately as possible and in its original location. It opened to the public in 2018. It was quite a feat, and the reconstruction is impressive.

Thousands of artifacts were recovered, including Civil War items. Some are on display in the visitor center. The next time you are in Fredericksburg, take a trip to Ferry Farm (kenmore.org). It’s worth the time to visit where Washington grew up and the Black Hat brigade played. —Dana B. Shoaf

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“WE ARE

PHOTO BY DANA B. SHOAF

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A RAPPAHANNOCK RUBICON

A June 1862 photo of the canal-boat pontoon bridge at the Black Hat camp site.

Troops on the bridge appear to wear Hardee Hats and white leggings, and three African Americans are in the foreground. Thousands of enslaved people headed for Union lines when Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s men arrived at Fredericksburg.

inspected the detail and found fault with some of the sticks used as guns “for not being clean (not having the bark and splinters off, two or three which he got in his hand)…. But after fussing about for about an hour and as fast the adjutant would get one in line another would run away.” Half of the officers were excused by the doctor and the rest were missing or hiding. “large plain” was used for the horse racing, foot racing, and other amusements and athletic exercises” including a “mule race, sack race and a greased pig,” said Major Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin. The “festivities and merry-making” went on most of the day with more artillery salutes at noon and again at sundown.

“The mules without number was run, then the horses, then foot races were run,” said Ray. “I guess every officer in the division was there and the whole of Gibbons Brigade and a few privates from other Brigades, but it was made for this Brigade only.”

The officers had gathered money for prizes. Wagon master William Sears of the 6th Wisconsin won the mule race on a track littered with soldiers who had toppled off their mounts, recalled Dawes. “The prize in this case was for the mule that got through last. Each rider accordingly whipped another’s mule, holding back his own.” Sears, he said, “rode a bulky mule which would go backward whenever whipped.”

A gray mare named “Bet” belonging to Adjutant John Russey of the 19th Indiana was the fastest in the horse racing and Colonel Sol Meredith of the same regiment, a farmer with a good eye for horseflesh, won $140 in the wagering.

A 6th Wisconsin soldier—John Ishmael of Cassville—got the first prize of $10 dollars as the fastest runner. Captain Hollon Richardson of

COURTESY OF THE MARC AND BETH STORCH COLLECTION; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

PHOTO BY DANA B. SHOAF

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BIG WINNER

Colonel Solomon Meredith of the 19th Indiana took home $140 in winnings from the horse race. By Gettysburg, Meredith was in command of the “Iron Brigade,” where he suffered a severe head wound that ended his field service.

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A FRESH LOOK

s the day ended, the massed drums of the four regiments called the soldiers together for a conclusion to the activities. The soldier selected for the final oration was a regimental favorite that one officer said “can talk on any subject and entertainingly”—Private Edwin C. Jones of the 6th Wisconsin.

“We are assembled on sacred soil, a portion of the plantation owned by

A

the mother of George Washington,” Jones told the crowd of soldiers around him. “It was while living on this plantation, under the direction and blessed with the teaching of a noble mother, that George Washington learned those lessons…fitting him for leadership in war and peace, to lay the foundation of the mighty Nation that we today are fighting to preserve.”

Jones went on: “Over yonder back of the City of Fredericksburg, in a little cemetery, sleeps that noble mother who gave to the Nation its richest and rarest gift. I suggest that we 3,000 Western soldiers turn our faces in the direction of Mary Washington grave and bow our heads in honor and to the memory of the mother of the father of this great country of ours.”

Watrous remembered that “every one of the 3,000 browned faces” looked in the direction of Mary Washington’s grave across the river and every head was reverently bowed.

“On yonder hills there is an armed force pledged to destroy the government founded by George Washington,” Jones paused, then said in

A LOCAL KID

Thousands of Black youths served as camp servants, but few are identified in images.

Here, however, Alonzo Gamble poses with 7th Wisconsin officers including Captain George Walther, center, at the Fredericksburg camp.

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the 7th Wisconsin immediately challenged him to a final race. The officer beat Ishmael but refused any money saying he just wanted to see if he “had lost speed any since coming to the army.” Other informal races continued until evening.

All was accepted as great fun by officers and men.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE; WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park Ranger Noel Harrison recently “discovered” this early 1863 view of Fredericksburg taken from Stafford Heights in the University of Maryland-Baltimore photo archives. A yellow star marks the famous Marye house, landmark of the 1862 battle.

a loud voice. “But by the living God they shall not do it.”

Up to that time the audience had listened spell-bound, said Watrous, “but in an instant hats flew in the air, cheers were given for the orator, for the American flag, for the American Nation, and such cheers as are not often heard.” ack in camp, the new “officers” of the 7th INTO THE FIRE Wisconsin issued a series of humorous As this reunion ribbon orders, and finally, in a more sincere tone, indicates, the easy times soon thanked the regular commanders for their forbearended for the Midwestern ance, singling out Colonel William Robinson “for regiments. After Gettysburg, the levity he has allowed us &c and expressing the the brigade was a mere greatest confidence in him as a man to lead us to shadow of the unit that frolicked at Fredericksburg. the battle.”

In his journal, Ray admitted the brigade had made “quite a demonstration” and it was not something that could have been done at home. “But when we do get home,” he concluded, “we will try to raise a Co for the next fourth after.”

Another soldier wrote in a letter home of the “best part of the day” was the $2.00 worth of fire works” purchased by Maj. Gen. Rufus King, their former brigade commander who had ascended to division command.

That such an unusual event could occur in an American military organization was explained by a 2nd Wisconsin man. The Western boys, he observed, were “more lively by far than the other troops that are with us. We have more music, more dancing, more athletic sports and more real fun and good humor than the Eastern boys, and it is generally admitted that we are not bad on a march.”

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round their coffee fires, however, the Western boys privately wondered and worried aloud about something more important—how could they ever explain their lack of real service to the folks back home. The war itself seemed to have no hope of a quick conclusion. The North was still reeling from the long causality lists from the fighting in April at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee. The Confederates were still in the field across the nation’s whole front, and it seemed the leadership of the North just did not know what to do about it.

If the men from Wisconsin and Indiana fretted the long weeks of summer under a heavy schedule of drills, reviews, work details, and camp policing as well as several forays into the countryside in search of Confederates, the THE IRON volunteers were also plagued by a lingering BRIGADE SPEAKS and troubling doubt—how would they Want to hear what Iron behave in actual battle.

Brigade soldiers had to say They were untested as a brigade and if about their wartime the units were singled out for their frontier experiences? Go to historynet.com/ironbrigade origins and new black hats, the four had and check out the exclusive “their individuality, their rivalry, their jeallist author Lance Herdegen ousies, if you will,” one observer said. “The prepared of his favorite 2d had been through First Bull and swagpublished Iron Brigade gered a bit in consequence. They rather diaries and letters. patronized the other regiments, put on veteran airs. They were superbly drilled, but decidedly given to sarcastic comment on the other commands. The 6th, 7th and 19th had not had the 2d’s opportunities, but were cock sure that when the time came they could fight every bit as well, stay as long in a hot place or charge just as daringly into a hotter.”

Indiana and Wisconsin seemed far away to the volunteer citizen soldiers, with home a faded memory caught in a clutch of treasured letters and pictures. If they were first known just as a Western brigade—the only such

WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE; WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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infantry organization in the East—the new hats were now making them “Gibbon’s Black Hat Brigade,” and in just a few weeks they would become the “Iron Brigade of the West.”

But that was yet to come. The innocent Westerners had been marched here and there for more than a year, and now, just a few weeks ahead, on Aug. 28, 1862, they would find their “elephant” on a farm leased by John Brawner, not far from where First Bull Run was fought in July 1861.

It would be a date long remembered in many Wisconsin and Indiana homes.

Lance J. Herdegen has authored several Civil War books, and his latest is a Savas Beatie reprint of the award-winning In the Bloody Railroad at Gettysburg: The Sixth Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade and its Famous Charge.

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TROUBLED

WATERS

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CONFUSION OVER ANTIETAM CREEK CROSSINGS PREVENTED THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC FROM ACHIEVING OUTRIGHT VICTORY ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1862

BY STEVEN R. STOTELMYER

FINALLY

Ninth Corps troops surge onto Burnside Bridge in the final attack on the span.

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FOCAL POINT

Photographer Alexander Gardner placed his camera on a ridge just east of Antietam Creek to take this view of the iconic Burnside Bridge.

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ost of these popular narratives share a common trait: they rely exclusively on the postwar writing of Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox. He began the Maryland Campaign as commander of the Kanawha Division, but the fortunes of war and the chain of command placed Cox in corps com-

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USAHEC; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

their desired positions. Those three staffers in turn would guide the divisions to their intended locations. Rodman’s division was shown a spot where Duane indicated there was a usable ford.

Unfortunately, on the morning of September 17 Rodman discovered “Duane’s ford” was unusable. Rodman did the best he could to correct Duane’s mistake and after a two-mile overland march found Snavely’s Ford. The time lost because of Duane’s faulty intelligence resulted in the lateness of Rodman’s attack. Historians that support this popular narrative mostly agree that had Captain Duane positioned Rodman’s division correctly, the assault at Snavely’s Ford would have occurred sooner.

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

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he fighting that occurred around Burnside Bridge at the Battle of Antietam remains one of the most controversial subjects of the engagement. It was in the vicinity of the bridge, known at the time as the Rohrbach or Lower Bridge, that a small contingent of approximately 400 Georgians held off three separate assaults by elements of the Union 9th Corps for three critical hours.

At roughly midday, during the third assault, Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman’s 9th Corps division managed to cross Antietam Creek at Snavely’s Ford, located about ¾-mile south-southwest of the bridge as the crow flies. These troops flanked the Confederate defenders at the bridge and sealed their fate. Most historians agree that had the flanking movement at Snavely’s Ford happened sooner, rather than later, Antietam would have been a different battle.

Many popular historians lay the blame for the tardiness at Snavely’s Ford on the shoulders of the Union Army commander, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, or more specifically, his chief engineer, Captain James C. Duane. As the story goes, on the day before, September 16, McClellan, Duane, and other staff officers inspected 9th Corps locations and found it necessary to redirect their positions.

About noon McClellan stopped at Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s headquarters and left Duane to post the 9th Corps divisions. Duane proposed that Burnside give him three staff members so he could show them

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SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

mand after the death of Maj. Gen. Jesse Lee Reno at the September 14 Battle of South Mountain. The accepted historical consensus regarding Duane is found solely in Cox’s postwar writing.

From the outset, any discussion of events between South Mountain and Antietam must contend with another controversy that revolves around the temporary suspension of the Union Army’s wing structure, specifically Burnside’s Right Wing. Prior to the Battle of South Mountain Burnside commanded the 1st Corps and the 9th Corps. On the morning of September 15 McClellan suspended the formal structure and assumed direct command over Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s 1st Corps. Some evidence indicates that Burnside perceived the reorganization as a sudden and senseless demotion. Rather than assume direct command of the 9th Corps, Burnside relied on Cox and treated him as a corps commander in a structure that no longer existed.

“General Cox was still retained in temporary command of the Ninth Army Corps,” reported Burnside on September 30, 1862, “which was the only portion of my command then with me, and my orders were to a great extent given directly to him.” There, incredibly, remains confusion as to who, Burnside or Cox, exercised command of the 9th Corps at Antietam.

In his official report Burnside provided no information on events of September 16. He left that entirely to Cox, citing his “very excellent and minute report.” But Cox’s report, written on the 23rd, quickly moved past events of September 16. “On the afternoon of the 16th the whole corps, except Wilcox’s division, was moved by command of Major General Burnside,“ wrote Cox, “the columns were conducted to their positions by staff officers of the personal staff of General Burnside.”

In the years after the war Cox offered additional details in the January 1, 1884, issue of the popular Century Magazine (later published in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War), he penned an article on “The Battle of Antietam.” He began with the remarkable confession that on September 16, “we confidently expected a battle, and I kept with my division.” Cox claimed he urged Burnside to assume immediate command of the corps,” and that Burnside objected on the grounds he was the “commander of the right wing.” Regarding the inspection of positions on the 16th Cox wrote, “In the afternoon McClellan reconnoitered the line of the Antietam near us, Burnside being with him.” But other contemporary accounts show that Cox was mistaken, Burnside did not accompany McClellan on his late morning ride (it was not afternoon). As Cox continued, because of McClellan’s reconnaissance:

“We were ordered to change our positions at nightfall, staff-officers being sent to guide each division to its new camp…The inquiry and reconnaissance for the fords was made by engineer officers of the general staff, and our orders were based on their reports.”

Cox left no doubt that by “general staff ” he meant McClellan’s staff. A key element of the postwar narrative was also added. As Cox related, “Rodman’s division went a half mile to the left, where a country road led to a ford in a great bend in the Antietam.” The inference being Rodman’s division was located at a ford and would be in ideal position to cross the creek next

THERE, INCREDIBLY,

REMAINS CONFUSION

AS TO WHO, BURNSIDE

OR

COX,

EXERCISED COMMAND OF THE

9TH CORPS

AT

ANTIETAM

morning. Cox also makes the surprising admission that on September 17, his troops “found during the engagement another ford a short distance above Burnside Bridge.”

If Cox laid the foundation for the popular postwar narrative in his 1884 Century Magazine article, he certainly cemented it with the publication of his Reminiscences of the Civil War in 1900. Most of the issues raised in 1884 were repeated in 1900, the exception being that McClellan was accompanied by Burnside on the late morning ride. The other significant difference is that in 1884 the information regarding the fords of the Antietam was acquired from local inhabitants, or as Cox phrased it, “obtained from the neighborhood.” In 1900, though, he claimed it was obtained by Captain Duane. “McClellan’s staff was better supplied with officers of engineers,” wrote Cox, “and Captain Duane, his chief engineer, systematized the work

KEY PLAYERS

Brig. Gen. Issac Rodman, left, would lead his division over Snavely’s Ford to flank the Georgia defenders of Burnside Bridge. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside regarded Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, right, as the 9th Corps commander during the Battle of Antietam, but Cox didn’t want that role.

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A sketch of Henry Hunt and James Duane conferring.

MAN OF THE CROSS(ING)

“We were ordered to change our position at nightfall, staff officers being sent to guide each division to its new camp. The selected positions were marked by McClellan’s engineers, who then took members of Burnside’s staff to identify the locations, and these in turn conducted our divisions.”

Regarding McClellan’s late morning reconnaissance and the role of Duane, there are two primary sources that predate Cox’s postwar claims. The first comes to us from Henry J. Hunt, McClellan’s Chief of Artillery, who accompanied him on the reconnaissance. On January 12, 1876, Hunt wrote to McClellan: 38

Three points may be taken from Hunt’s letter; Burnside did not accompany McClellan on his late morning ride, and second is that McClellan provided explicit verbal guidance to Burnside on September 16 regarding his intentions. Third, the 9th Corps was ordered to change position at midday, not nightfall.

The proof that Duane was present at Burnside’s headquarters is also found in a September 17 dispatch to McClellan from Lt. Col. Lewis Richmond, Burnside’s Assistant Adjutant General. The dispatch was in response to a scolding Burnside received on the evening of September 16. In it, he was called upon to explain his delay following McClellan’s order “to be in a designated position at 12 m. [Noon] to-day.”

“General Burnside directs me to say immediately upon receipt of the order…which was after 12 o’clock, he ordered his corps to be in readiness to march, and instead of having Captain Duane post the division in detail, and at the suggestion of Captain Duane, he sent three aides to ascertain the position of each of the three divisions, that they might post them. These aides

Hunt

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GOOGLE EARTH

of gathering topographical information.”

In the 1900 account Cox also revealed the inefficient manner in which the 9th Corps was led to their positions on September 16:

“In the meantime will say as to Burnside at Antietam. We (you and I) rode together on the 16th and passing headquarters, dismounted and went in. You told him then that you wanted him to move up his command to the area near the bridge. After we left you asked me to note the time…It was either noon or 1 p.m. I am not sure which. I think noon.”

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (3)

From 1848 to 1854 James C. Duane, above, was an instructor of engineering at West Point, and would eventually write the U. S. Army’s Manual for Engineer Troops. Duane, in fact, established the criteria used to evaluate the usefulness of a ford, or “river passage”: “A river with a moderate current may be forded by infantry when its depth does not exceed three feet…The requisites for a good ford are, that the banks are low but not marshy, that the water obtains its greatest depth gradually, the current moderate, the stream not subject to freshets, and that the bottom is even, hard, and tenacious.”

returned shortly before 3 o’clock, and they immediately proceeded to post the three columns.”

left.” If true, that certainly included the vicinity of Snavely’s Ford.

So there is another contemporary source stating the 9th Corps was ordered to change position at midday. Also, Richmond’s syntax is clear: Burnside sent three aides, without Duane. It is not known if one of the three was Burnside’s Topographical Engineer, Captain R. S. Williamson.

Richmond’s dispatch regarding Burnside’s staff is confirmed by Hunt’s 1876 letter to McClellan: “In the afternoon, four or five o’clock I think, passing that way again and seeing no sign of a move, I dismounted, went in and asked him [Burnside] why on earth he had not moved that I was certain you expected him to be in position by that time. He said he had ordered some staff officers to examine the position so they could all move up together. I don’t know (recollect) when he did move. Not until late that evening certainly.”

I

t is uncertain how much of Antietam Creek may have been scouted by Federal troops in September 16 due to the presence of Confederate pickets. Nonetheless, if Henry Hunt can be trusted, some of it was explored. As Hunt remembered “we forded the river to test the actual conditions,” and, in the area tested, “nowhere did the water reach our saddle girths.” We have McClellan’s word that Duane was also present, and if not a participant in the testing, he was at least an observer.

WATER BARRIER

Clearly, Richmond and Hunt indicate that Cox’s postwar accounts regarding the timing and inefficient manner of posting the troops on September 16 is not factual. Burnside’s staff were not led in person by McClellan’s engineers and certainly not by Duane. Since Duane accompanied McClellan on the late morning ride it is certain he shared the locations of any possible crossing points. McClellan claimed in his postwar writing that his morning reconnaissance took his group “beyond our actual and eventual

Antietam Creek still wanders through a largely rural Maryland landscape on its way to join the Potomac River. South of Burnside Bridge, the creek makes a large bend to the west at the Farm Ford. Rodman followed this bend to eventually arrive at Snavely’s Ford. Rodman’s eventual attack nearly reached Sharpsburg and the Confederate rear. Today, a tall obelisk marks the apex of his onslaught.

Sharpsburg

Crook’s Ford Apex of Rodman’s attack

Burnside Bridge

Myer’s Ford GOOGLE EARTH

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (3)

Snavely’s Ford

Farm/ Duane’s Ford

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FORDS MEANT WET FEET

IT IS UNCERTAIN HOW MUCH OF

ANTIETAM CREEK

MAY HAVE BEEN SCOUTED

BY

FEDERAL TROOPS

ON SEPTEMBER 16

40

RECON ALONG THE CREEK

Captain James Wren led men from his 48th Pennsylvania on an afternoon scout of Antietam Creek on September 16. He observed “Mounted men” on the Confederate side.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; OBERLIN COLLEGE ARCHIVES

There is no way of knowing if McClellan and staff were testing conditions at Snavely’s Ford, but one thing is certain: they were testing conditions somewhere in the Antietam Creek. Being an engineer, Duane quite likely marked the locations of suitable crossings on a map. Nonetheless, even if the information was only verbal, it was Burnside’s staff (as reported

by Richmond on September 17 and Cox on September 23, 1862) that were responsible for ascertaining and examining the locations, based upon intelligence provided by McClellan and/or his staff.

The presence of at least one of Burnside’s staff later in the day is confirmed by eyewitness observation. It is generally overlooked by battle historians that elements from both the 36th Ohio and 48th Pennsylvania Infantry were around the Lower Bridge on September 16.

According to Antietam historian Ezra Carman, Captain James Wren, with a detachment of the 48th Pennsylvania, “went a mile down the Antietam, and saw nothing but [Confederate Colonel Thomas T.] Munford’s cavalry, on the west bank of the stream.” If it was Munford’s Cavalry observed by Wren, that places him in the vicinity downstream of Snavely’s

NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; USAHEC

All the Union troops that fought at Antietam had to cross Antietam Creek one way or another. This depiction shows Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday’s Union division fording the waterway on September 16.

Ford. This is important because Wren was not alone in his observations. In his diary entry of September 16 Wren noted:

WHO IS IN CHARGE ?

“I was out with my Company about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. [We] advanced about 1 1/2 miles from the Bridge…& while thear a Staff officer came up to me and asked me if I had seen anything of note & I told nothing except of Mounted men on the opposite side of Antetam [Antietam] Crick and I directed him to the place & he took out his Large field glass & looked at them.”

The staff officer was under the impression it was none other than “Stonewall” Jackson on the opposite side of the Antietam. We know it was not, but what is important to note is the time of day and that it was a solitary staff officer. McClellan and his party (including Duane) made their reconnaissance in the late morning, not late afternoon. More importantly, Wren did not run into a group, he encountered a solitary staff officer and that is more consistent with Burnside’s staff doing the reconnaissance. Lastly, it should be noted that one mile downstream of the Lower Bridge is Snavely’s Ford. Another half mile downstream is Myer’s Ford. It is assumed both fords were visible to someone with a “Large field glass.”

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; OBERLIN COLLEGE ARCHIVES

NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; USAHEC

I

n addition to Snavely’s Ford and Myer’s Ford, there were two other usable fords in the vicinity of the Lower Bridge on September 17. Approximately 350 yards upstream from the Lower Bridge was a rough farm ford, known today as “Crook’s Ford.” This is the ford Cox mentioned in his postwar writing as being found “during the engagement.” Although apparently unsuitable for wagons and artillery, Colonel George S. Crook crossed five companies of the 28th Ohio at this ford around 1 p.m.

There was also a rough farm ford described

by Cox as being at “a great bend in the Antietam.” Popular narratives claim that this ford was unusable to Brig. Gen. Rodman because it could not accommodate wagons or artillery.

Colonel Hugh Ewing did cross three regiments of his brigade at this ford around 1 p.m.

Rodman’s division was not posted “opposite” the ford in the great bend as Burnside claimed in his report. Nor was that division placed where a “country road led to the Antietam ford, half a mile below the Burnside bridge,” as Cox claimed in his postwar writing.

If Rodman’s division had been located in

The vague arrangement between Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox regarding who exactly was in command of the 9th Corps led to confusion that hampered U.S. efforts on the Army of the Potomac’s left flank. These three examples of reports from officers in that corps illustrate conflicting orders and lack of information.

COMMAND CONFUSION, SEPTEMBER 16

“On the 16th found the enemy in position along the Antietam. My brigade went into position on our extreme left, in support of Benjamin’s battery and other guns, placed by Col. [George] Getty, Gen. Burnside’s chief of artillery. In assuming place I received conflicting orders from Gen. Cox commanding the corps and Gen. Burnside commanding the left wing of the army—the latter I obeyed.”

—Brig. Gen. Hugh Ewing (Army Generals’ Report of Civil War Service, Vol. 4, Roll 3, p. 184, National Archives).

9TH CORPS STAFF FAILURE, SEPTEMBER 17

“About ten A.M. Capt. [Samuel] Christ[ie] on Gen. Cox’ staff came to see me, and said, ‘The General wishes you to take the bridge.’ I asked him what bridge. He said he didn’t know. I asked him where the stream was, but he didn’t know. I made some remarks not complimentary to such a way of doing business, but he went off, not caring a cent. Probably he had done the correct thing. The consequence was that I had to get a good many men killed in acquiring the information which should have been supplied me from division headquarters, I at once sent the 11th Ohio to reconnoiter toward the bluffs…and with the 28th Ohio, I went with it to reconnoiter, to our right.”

—George Crook (General George Crook, His Autobiography, Edited by Martin F. Schmitt. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Okla., 1946).

POSTWAR SNAVELY’S FORD SCAPEGOATING

“It can be stated upon unquestionable authority that had he [Jacob D. Cox] felt he was in responsible command he would not have depended upon reconnaissances made by McClellan’s engineers and aides for knowledge of the crossings of the stream, but would have ascertained that matter in person, and that he would have had two divisions at Snavely’s Ford, before 10 o’clock on the morning of the 17th, ready to cross when McClellan gave the order to attack.”

—Ezra Carman (Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam, Thomas G. Clemens editor, Savas Beatie, LLC, El Dorado Hills, Ca., 2012).

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BURNSIDE BRIDGE HAVE SUCCEEDED IF SUPPORTED SIMULTANEOUSLY

BY AN ASSAULT

AT

SNAVELY’S FORD?

If the importance of Snavely’s Ford had been appreciated and had Rodman been ordered to move first thing on the morning of September 17, he could have been there by 10 a.m., which was s critical time. On the morning of September 17 Confederate Brig. Gen. John G. Walker’s division was guarding the lower fords of the Antietam. Cox used this in his postwar writing to argue against an early stream crossing, but he ignores the fact that by 10 a.m. Walker’s Division was gone. The first assault on Burnside 42

Bridge occurred around 10 a.m. Could it have succeeded if supported simultaneously by an assault at Snavely’s Ford?

T

o recap, the traditional narrative surrounding events at Snavely’s Ford is misleading. Although Burnside possessed adequate staff (including a topographical engineer) and several companies of cavalry to conduct his own reconnaissance at first light on September 16, that task fell to McClellan. Because many 9th Corps units moved after dark on September 15, McClellan had good reason to inspect their locations the next day.

McClellan visited Burnside at his headquarters by midday on September 16. McClellan verbally communicated his intentions, or “plan,” to Burnside (including Hooker’s part). His Chief Engineer, Captain Duane, shared information from the late morning reconnaissance with Burnside, who in turn sent his staff to verify the intelligence. At least one of Burnside’s staff was in the vicinity of Snavely’s Ford during the late afternoon of September 16. For reasons unknown, by late afternoon Burnside, or Cox, had not acted on McClellan’s midday instructions. When the 9th Corps divisions did move, they were conducted

by Burnside’s staff, some in the dark of night.

Rodman was not conducted to a spot where Duane had indicated there was a ford. During

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2); NPS PHOTO

COULD THE FIRST ASSAULT ON

DRIVE BY

Burnside Bridge was open to vehicle traffic into the 1960s. Initially, monuments to the U.S. attackers were mounted on each corner of this span. Those monuments, including the 51st Pennsylvania monument seen in this image, now sit in a row on the stream’s east bank.

ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

the ford at the “great bend,” it would have been shown in that location on the comprehensive maps of Antietam published by the War Department.

These maps, compiled under the direction of Antietam Battlefield Board member Ezra A. Carman and informally known as the “Carman-Cope Maps,” show Rodman’s position at “Daybreak” on a ridge 1/2 mile northeast of the bend in the creek. It also does not show the “country road” described by Cox. Since Rodman was mortally wounded and did not leave a report, details of his orders and movements are not precise. There are some conclusions, however, that can be drawn from other sources. It appears from the Carman-Cope maps it took Rodman 2½–3 hours to reach Snavely’s Ford from his position on the ridge. For argument’s sake we will use 3 hours. Colonel Edward Harland, commanding 8th Connecticut, reported he began moving his brigade “About 7 o’clock.” If continued, Harland’s movement would have brought him to the vicinity of Snavely’s Ford three hours later around 10 a.m. But for unknown reasons Harland was ordered into a position “where we remained between one and two hours.” Eventually Rodman’s division moved in response to Confederate artillery fire and Rodman was searching for a ford as he moved. Colonel Harland sent out two companies “to discover, a ford by which the creek could be crossed.” This indicates Rodman had not received any intelligence regarding Cox’s ford in the bend or Snavely’s Ford.

the morning of September 17 Rodman literally conducted his own reconnaissance in force to find Snavely’s Ford. In addition to the Lower Bridge, there were four fords available to cross the Antietam Creek. The evidence indicates some of these fords were scouted and utilized on September 17

by Crook (in the heat of battle), Rodman, and Ewing independent of Burnside’s or Cox’s staff.

Brigadier General Cox proved himself a capable division commander; however, the evidence seems to indicate Cox was unable to meet some of the corps command challenges he faced in the final days of the Maryland Campaign. In all fairness to Cox, a shortage of staff (five members of Reno’s staff accompanied his remains home) and an ambiguous command structure worked against him. In his report Burnside acknowledged 18 of his staff “for their constant and unwearied efforts.” One is forced to question what level of help they provided Cox on September 16. Although some historians insist on pointing the finger at McClellan, Burnside certainly must shoulder some of the responsibility for creating the command structure confusion that hindered Cox. Be that as it may, there are no primary sources yet discovered that place Jacob D. Cox at the midday meeting at Burnside’s headquarters.

Cox’s Reminiscences of the Civil War was written 38 years after the fact when most of the other participants were dead and unable to offer any rebuttal. These memoirs appear to be the exclusive source of the popular narratives surrounding Captain Duane (and by association McClellan).

Regarding events of September 16, 1862, by his own admission, Cox stated, “I kept with my division. In the afternoon I saw General Burnside.”

Whatever Cox thought he knew about the midday meeting came from Burnside, or Burnside’s

NOT SURE WHAT TO DO

Brig. Gen. Hugh Ewing, left, and Colonel George S. Crook, right, complained of conflicting orders during the battle. Crook found his own Antietam crossing, upstream from Burnside Bridge.

staff. Therefore, Cox’s statements about Captain Duane, the lower fords of the Antietam, and the inefficient manner by which the 9th Corps was posted on the eve of the battle of Antietam are open to question. Upon close examination these postwar reminiscences do not agree with more contemporary sources.

The readers of popular histories that rely exclusively on the postwar writing of Jacob D. Cox regarding the events of September 16, 1862, are advised to do so with a large grain of salt.

Steven R. Stotelmyer writes from Hagerstown, Md., and is the author of The Bivouacs of the Dead: The Story of Those Who Died at Antietam and South Mountain and Too Useful To Sacrifice, Reconsidering George B. McClellan’s Generalship in the Maryland Campaign. He is a National Park Service Volunteer as well as a Certified Antietam Battlefield and South Mountain Tour Guide.

THE LAST HOPE

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2); NPS PHOTO

ANTIETAM NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

Captain James Hope of the 2nd Vermont Infantry served at the Battle of Antietam. He made sketches of what he saw, and later turned them into paintings. This artwork shows Union reinforcements crossing Burnside Bridge.

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KANSAS KEEPS BLEEDING

William Quantrill’s men torch homes and execute unarmed civilians in Lawrence, Kan., on August 21, 1863. The town was targeted because its populace supported the Union and abolition.

44

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The war in their words

‘I have seen enough of war’ THREE WARTIME LETTERS DETAIL A LOSS AT SHILOH, A CIVILIAN’S TERROR, AND A USCT OFFICER’S ORDEAL EDITED BY MELISSA A. WINN

NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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F

or more than a decade, William “Griff ” Griffing has been transcribing letters of Civil War soldiers. It’s not just a hobby, but a passion. He has transcribed thousands of letters and diaries, many held in private collections, which he posts on his Facebook page and website “Spared and Shared.” We asked Griff to share with us some of his most favored, memorable, or compelling letters to date. A tough task, he noted, since he has come across so many remarkable accounts.

Here, we include three of nearly a dozen he chose, including a letter from a soldier recounting his experiences at the Battle of Shiloh; a civilian who survived William Quantrill’s grisly raid of Lawrence, Kan., in August 1863; and one from an officer of a USCT regiment recounting the Black troops’ terrifying struggle at the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads on June 10, 1864. “When ghastly death stares a man in the face, [it] inspires him with such dauntless courage and physical strength as only those who have met it know to power,” he wrote.

T

his remarkable letter was written by Lester Bishop Filley. On March 22, 1862, at age 33, Filley enlisted in Company D, 61st Illinois Infantry. In this letter, Lester informs his wife of the death of her brother, Marshall Smith Corey, who served with him and was killed during the Battle of Shiloh.

According to accounts from the first day at Shiloh, 400 men of the 61st Illinois Infantry were formed in line in time to receive the first assault of the enemy and they stood their ground for more than an hour. They were then ordered to support a battery of the 1st Missouri Artillery, and at 1 p.m. were ordered to the support of Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut—coming to his support at a critical moment, and maintaining his line until relieved by a fresh regiment, their ammunition being entirely exhausted.

[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Richard Weiner and is published with his express consent.]

hard crackers to eat. I have seen enough of war.

If it was in my power, I would leave for home tomorrow on foot. If I live to see you there again, I shall be a happy man. I never shall enlist again.

Tell Cora I promised to write her this time but I felt too bad to write her such a letter as I wanted to. Kiss her & Dora for me. How bad

PITTSBURG, TENNESSEE

46

NEW RECRUITS

Captain Frank M. Posey of Company A of the 61st Illinois Infantry, above, mustered into service alongside Lester Filley just two months before the bloody Battle of Shiloh.

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BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

My Dear wife, I have just received yours of April 1st—the first one I have had since I left St. Louis. I have passed 4 as hard days as ever I saw. You have, I suppose, ere this seen an account of the terrible battle fought at this place last Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday. It was the worst fighting I ever saw. Thousands of lives lost and among them our brother Marshall [Smith Corey of Co. E]. He fell after having fought from six A.M. till about 2 P.M. Sunday. He was shot in his left side above the hip bone. I did not see him [but] Robt. Wilder and others saw him. He fought like a hero all day. He threw down his gun, unbuckled his belt, threw off his cartridge box, & fell face down. I did not hear of it till that eve. I could not get to him till Tuesday. I then dug a grave, wrapped him in blankets, and buried him….

It was an awful sad time for me. I cut off a lock of his hair and will send it in this letter.

We expect hourly another big battle here. They are not yet satisfied.

The Secesh took everything we had. They smashed my trunk. I found my broom, hair brush, and today I found your bible out in the woods wet and ruined. I tell you, it is a sad sight here. The field for five miles square is covered with dead. The camps, boats, & everything convenient is filled with the wounded & dying. We have not begun to get the dead buried yet. I am completely worn out. I have not had a night’s sleep this week.

Three nights I was out in the rain. I have had nothing but raw ham &

COURTESY OF WILLIAM GRIFFING

Thursday night, April 10, 1862

TENNESSEE BLOODBATH

BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

COURTESY OF WILLIAM GRIFFING

The April 6–7, 1862, Battle of Shiloh was the Western Theater’s first major engagement. The two days of vicious fighting in the fields and woodlots near the Tennessee River resulted in nearly 24,000 casualties on both sides.

they will feel to hear of poor Mack’s death. I must quit for tonight. Will write more in the morn if I can.

Friday Morn—3 o’clock A.M.—Our pickets have been driven again and the army are drawn up in line of battle. It is raining hard. Our poor soldiers are having a hard time. I do not have to go into battle but I believe it is worse to see the outside horrors.

We have just heard that Island No. 10 was taken. If we beat them again here or at Corinth, they will, I think, give up. Wm. Vedder would give anything if he was out of this [place] but no one can leave. We have to stay and take it.

Now my dear, I have thus written you a hasty letter in pencil as our ink was destroyed by Secesh. My mind is in no condition to write. I don’t know as I could say anything more in regard to Marshall’s death. It was as sad a blow to me as any ever I had. He was the only one here I could go to with my little troubles. We met often after we got here. He was very healthy. It is strange that he should be the one

selected but such is life. It is strange to me how anyone escaped. Ball, shell, & bullets fell as thick as hail. I can’t realize. It all seems like a dream or ledger story. Should we go into another battle here, I don’t expect to come out as sound as I did this time for my turn must come with the rest.

Now wife, keep up good cheer. Think and pray often for me. I will do my best to come out safe and hurry back to see you. You don’t speak of getting the letters I wrote on the boat coming here. Give my regards to all. Kiss the babies for me. Accept & receive a big one for yourself and much love.

(Kiss) Goodbye, —Lester

A

civilian named Mathew Shaw, a carpenter in Lawrence, Kan., penned this stunning letter at the time of William Quantrill’s August 21, 1863, raid. Having survived it, he wrote his friend back East of the horrors he witnessed. After the raid, Shaw’s carpentry shop made dozens of coffins for the dead citizens.

[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Rob Morgan and is published with his express consent.]

LAWRENCE

August 28 [1863]

Friend Cressey, I am still alive, I believe, but it did not seem possible on the morning of the 21[st] that I would escape. Friend Cressey, I am not able to tell you of the horrors—it is beyond description. The scene was more than I could endure. My intimate friends laying in all directions [just] as they was shot down by the villains. A large number was shot near where the houses were burning and were partially burnt, some with their legs burnt off, some with their heads off, and arms burned off. Others all burned up. The bones AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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GODFATHER OF THE WILD WEST

Confederate partisan William Quantrill, above, died in a June 1865 Kentucky skirmish. Raider Will Bassham, pictured below, right, next to an unidentified Quantrill guerrilla, survived the war.

of a man was dug from the ruins yesterday.

I will tell you as near as I can the whole thing.

On the morning of the 21[st] about sunrise before many people had got up, the villains made a charge on the city and in a moment they were all over the town. I being a little remote, they did not get where I was until I had run out with two others to meet them. But we had not got far when we saw that they were well-mounted and armed and were shooting down apparently all my neighbors. We started back to the house followed by the fiends and one of the other two was shot.

I stood inside my yard waiting to get a chance to shoot. I was partially hid by the peach trees that grew from the seed you gave me. The chance came—I took good aim—and all I could do was to snap a cap at them. My musket would not shoot. Oh! but I felt my time had come.

Then I throwed the gun [down] and ran into my house. By this time buildings were burning all over town. During this time the other man that was with me had been firing at them, and ran in the house. Then about 12 surrounded my house and demanded us out and threatened to kill us all and burn the house, and dismounted to make a charge on the house. I then ran out of my house and they after me, shooting all the time, but I escaped and I can hardly tell how.

Friend Cressey, I was not the only one that had a narrow escape. There is hardly a man but what had some encounter. They would go up to a house and call men out, promising not to hurt them, and make them hand over their money and shoot them down. They shot one old man that was feeding them. When they had enough [to eat,] they shot him right down dead. They

I WILL GUARANTEE YOU

THAT IF YOU WILL SEND ME SOMETHING

TO SHOOT WITH,

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COURTESY OF ROB MORGAN

shot others in the arms of their wives. Killed in all 130, wounded 15 and quite a number missing—probably in the ruins. You probably have a list of the killed and can guess whether there will be a retaliation or not. I say damn them.

Give them no quarters…

I was going to say if you choose to help us here that the best thing for us now would be to send us something to shoot with. I will admit we have lost most all of our property, but we have a way of getting that back again—if we had anything but old muskets that won’t shoot.

I will guarantee you that if you will send me

EVERETT COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

I WILL SHOOT.

something to shoot with, I will shoot.

I don’t know that I need say anything more.

I will send a paper with this and send you more [later]. You wrote me to send you the State Journal. I am sorry to say that all of our printing houses are burned out. [ Josiah] Trask—the editor of the [Lawrence Kansas State] Journal— was killed. He was an Odd Fellow and a better citizen we did not have in this town. I tell you, Cressey, we have something to mourn for here.

There was four shot from the house that he was in….I must stop writing about it. I can’t. I tremble to think of it.

We are all well. Your affectionate friend, —M. Shaw

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

COURTESY OF ROB MORGAN

EVERETT COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

C

aptain John M. Magner of the 55th United States Colored Troops (USCT) wrote this letter to his sister praising his soldiers. Magner resided in Edgar County, Ill., when he was mustered in October 1861 as a private into the 66th Illinois Volunteers. In May 1863, he was discharged as a corporal to accept a commission as 1st Lieutenant of Company A, 55th USCT. He was later promoted to captain.

The 55th USCT was organized from the 1st Alabama Infantry (African Descent) in March 1864 and fought with distinction at the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads. It was transferred to Louisiana in February 1865 and served there until mustered out on December 31.

The Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads took place on June 10, 1864, and involved a wholesale rout of Union troops, who were vastly outnumbered

by Confederate forces—in particular General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry. Union losses were 2,600, as compared with less than 500 Confederate losses. The 55th and 59th USCT served as a rear guard to Union forces under General Samuel Sturgis and bravely prevented Forrest from completely demolishing their routed White colleagues as Sturgis withdrew toward Memphis. In this letter, Captain Magner describes the battle and subsequent retreat of Union forces, detailing the desperation of his colored troops.

[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Richard Weiner and is published with his express consent.]

July 5th 1864

Sister Nellie, Your dear good and interesting letter of June 26th was duly received. I will not grumble at a little delay hereafter if you will write such good letters. My health has been improving slowly,

TERRIBLE TIDINGS FROM THE WEST

This envelope contained Mathew Shaw’s letter detailing the shocking result of Quantrill’s Raid. Shaw’s details of the rampage are accurate, and confirmed by other sources. About 450 guerrillas killed 150 men and boys during the notorious raid.

but I do not feel well and healthy as formerly. I am doing regular duty with the other officers and I hope I will soon be “Richard himself again.”

You wanted me to tell you in my next letter all about my escape from Forrest, etc. Nellie, would I could tell you all, but to tell all the hardships, the sufferings, and hair-breadth escapes I have had would, I think, make more than you would want to read at one time. Anyhow more than I care about writing in one letter. We had been marching 8 days through the hot sun…on the 9th day we heard cannonading some ten miles before us. My regiment was scattered and divided out—3 men to each wagon and the train being scattered over some three miles of the road. We was some 3 or 4 miles behind the main infantry force. Our cavalry was over 12 miles in the advance. It was the cavalry with some light artillery that had [met] the enemy in force, and was engaging their attention with compliments of balls and shells.

I had been sick with the diarrhea for several days and for the last 24 hours had been riding in the ambulance. Almost as soon as the firing commenced in front we was ordered to ‘double quick.’ I got out of the ambulance and run to the head of my company and took command. I did not think when I did so I would be able to go 2 miles, but I kept at the head of my company 6 miles and on the double quick all the time. I can not now tell how I did it. Other men that was constitutionally stronger fell in their tracks as if dead. I think as much as a third of the infantry force fell out on the roadside before we got into action, and when we did get up, we was so exhausted and so thirsty we was almost crazy. I believe as much as I believe in my own existence I would have given half my life for one good cool drink of water. Oh, you cannot imagine the unendurable pain thirst creates. I seen men as we was leaving the field—the poor fellows—some from exhaustion, others from wounds, to fall in the hands of the enemy would beg to us to stop and get them water then as it was impossible to get water. They would throw up their hands and cry in the most bitter agony and beg us to shoot them to put them out of their misery. We was led into the fight as worn out, over-heated, and almost dying of thirst, by regiment, company, and even platoons, that it was short work to overpower us.

I am satisfied Gen. Sturgis is a Rebel as much as Lee or Davis, and that he had an understanding with Forrest and I have no doubt but was well paid by Forrest through the citizens of Memphis. There is not a colored AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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stop, rally and give Forrest another fight, if they did not before, so we cut our way through and commenced as rapid a retreat as possible—the graybacks (Rebels) as close to us that if we looked back, we could almost see the white of their eyes.

We marched about 3 miles when I fell down on the road helpless (but here, as it seemed to me, Providence or some kind fate saved me, as the same good luck saved me in twenty other instances in which I had given up all hopes of getting back). One of our wagons was standing here—all the mules was cut loose from it but one. Two of the boys cut it out of its braces, put me on it, and by almost super human power I managed to ride that mule to Ripley…

I was now at the head of the regiment. I got off the mule and sit down on a log thinking to rest until the regiment and the scattering stragglers passed, and by that time I thought I would be able to mount, and ride on to Ripley. But I had hardly touched the log before I was asleep and just about as the last man of our force was passing, a soldier seeing I was asleep wakened me up. When I saw my situation, I commenced to draw my mule to me, but to my utter astonishment and mortification, some one had come and cut the rein (which was fastened around my wrist) and had rode the mule off, leaving me to hold the [empty] strap. Here I was, our forces almost in Ripley, back with two or three stragglers who was almost as near gone up as I was. But it was no time to think of or spend in foolish regrets. I could distinctly hear the Rebels coming up behind us. I knew if I could make one more mile, I would (as I thought) be safe, so I started as brisk as possible—every step seemed the last—but finally reached Ripley….

But [at Ripley] I did not find any of our forces except the two pieces of colored regiments and a few sick and wounded who had given up and could go no further. We had hardly got in town before the Rebs were comForrest ing on us from two directions—from the east

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man in my regiment but could have handled the men better than was done by Sturgis and if I had been in command and wanted my command all “gobbled” up, I would have put them in just as was done. Forrest could have whipped the whole U. S. Army after the strategy of Sturgis.

My regiment and another colored regiment [the 59th USCT] fought them an hour after all the white soldiers had become panic stricken and left, but our two regiments could not whip 15,000 men—and almost surrounded too—so we commenced the retreat and now I do not know what to write further. The scenes from the battleground to Memphis beggars all description. I don’t believe Nellie if I was to write all I suffered and endured just as it was, you would hardly give it credit. When we commenced retreating, the rebels outnumbered us 8 to 1 and had us almost surrounded. We was now cut off from all possible succor or support from our white troops—the enemy pouring grape, canister and lead into our ranks at a terrible rate. To me it looked like we could not march 2 miles.

Now imagine the situation—to surrender, if we had been white troops, would have been the best we could have done. But to surrender now was only “death” and when ghastly death stares a man in the face, [it] inspires him with such dauntless courage and physical strength as only those who have met it know to power. We was 25 miles from Ripley and 125 from Memphis.

We supposed the white soldiers who had started on before us would go to Ripley and

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Many of the enlisted men in the 55th USCT, a portion of which is pictured above, had been enslaved when the war began.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COURTESY OF RICHARD WEINER

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

and north. We fought them (or our two regiments did—I laid down and looked on) about 2 hours, driving the Rebels out of the town. But as they were being reinforced, it was useless for our small squad to stay longer. A retreat was the only way to save ourselves. Surgeon [Wesley] Humphrey got me another mule here and got me on it and I succeeded in sticking to it until I got within about 8 miles of Lagrange, Tenn. This was about 1 o’clock A. M. and very dark. We was crossing a big swamp—I had been taking opium pills and all the day before and that night I would every few minutes get to napping and fall off my mule. I had no saddle and had to ride ‘woman fashion’ most of the time and I know I fell off 15 or 20 times.

Well, when we got to this swamp, I tried the old project of sitting down on a log, tied the halter strap around my wrist so the mule could not get away and thought I would rest while they was fixing up a bridge to cross over. I went sound to sleep and I suppose I slept two hours.

[When I] awaked, everything around me was still as death. I realized in a minute my situation and knew my only hope was to over take our forces which had probably got 8 or 10 miles in advance. I commenced pulling the strap for my mule to come up when, lo again—picture my thoughts when I found the very same trick had been played on me as the other side of Ripley. I was in the same predicament. I started to find the road determined to follow [it] as long as I could a live, but I had no idea at all where the road was and if I found it, was just as apt to go to Forrest as from him.

But a few steps brought me into the road.

“Halt! who comes there?” Two men stood before me demanding who I was. I could not tell certain but I almost knew it was Rebs and I knew I must deceive them if I got away, so as quick as thoughts, I answered to the challenge “a friend,” and, said I, “Boys, what regiment do you belong to?”

But they did not seem to want me to find out whether they was Rebs or Federals. They answered, “The 10th,” not giving the state. Then asking me what regiment I belonged to, I answered in this way, “I belong to the 10th. I am lost. Where is the regiment? They said it was not far off and would soon be up and one of them began to come up close to me. I saw what he was at—he wanted to find out by sight of my uniform who I was—so another PERSONAL HELL Captain John M. Magner’s thought struck me, so I said, “My horse is right out here. I will bring him up,” and letter contains the started out as if I was after him. But by the visceral, personal details of the conflict that make time I was 20 feet from them, I made tracks wartime letters, diaries, through that swamp pretty fast owing to the and firsthand accounts circumstances against me. They halted me a so fascinating. number of times but I wouldn’t halt.

STURGIS’ DOWNFALL

Prior to Brice’s Cross Roads, Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis was a solid, if unspectacular, commander. His rout at the hands of Nathan B. Forrest, however, ended his field service.

I run about 75 yds, not knowing which way I was going when I run against a horse standing at the side of the road eating weeds & grass. He had a full rig on him but was covered with mud which I found out when I got on him. I think he had fell off the bridge and the rider was lost.

Anyhow, running against that animal not only saved my life but was the happiest moment of my existence. I bounced up on him and turned him in the direction I supposed our forces had went. It was but a few minutes until daylight when I soon overtook a squad of rear guard and afterward our scattered forces. I do not know to this minute whether the two men that halted me were feds or enemies, but I am pretty certain they were rebs.

Well, Nellie, I have news to write not of the war. I am a father. Addie gave birth to a fine boy as they say—June 10th. It was the same day of the fight at Guntown. They are both doing well.

Nellie, excuse haste. Write soon. Love to all and kiss the children Ever yours, —J.M. Magner

MORE MEMORABLE LETTERS For more of Griffing’s selected “best of” letters, visit historynet.com/griffingletters and visit Spared and Shared at sparedandshared. wordpress.com.

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Death by dew Point Extreme heat conditions affected battle strategy and killed soldiers

OPPOSITE PAGE: HARDTACK AND COFFEE; THIS PAGE: GETTYSBURG COLLEGE

BY JEFFREY J. HARDING

ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE

Civil War soldiers had to depend on natural water sources such as streams, rivers, and roadside wells to fill their canteens. Here, a soldier gives an exhausted comrade some life-saving water.

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OPPOSITE PAGE: HARDTACK AND COFFEE; THIS PAGE: GETTYSBURG COLLEGE

odern meteorology saves lives. During summer months in humid climates, meteorologists fill our screens with forecasts for high temperatures, rising dew points, and extreme heat indices. Corresponding heat advisories from the National Weather Service warn of the life-threatening circumstances for those who fail to exercise discretion in their outdoor activities. To ensure our safety, we are cautioned to slow down, hydrate, and stay indoors. But for those who fought in the Civil War, there were no such warnings, nor were such discretions allowed to be the better part of valor. The recent discovery of certain primary-source weather data, however, allows us to reach back in time and project modern science on the human experience of those who fought in the war.

As a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg, one of the most frequent questions I am asked by visitors is, “How hot did it feel to the soldiers during Pickett’s Charge?” For most, this is an idle curiosity. But for historians, the question has always been, “were the actual weather conditions severe enough to play a role in the outcome of the charge?” Unfortunately, though we knew what the temperature was an hour before the charge on July 3, 1863, we did not know what the measure of atmospheric moisture was, so we could never say with certainty what the weather felt like. And without that key data, we could never engage in a meaningful conversation about the weather’s potential impact on the climactic attack.

Weather observation data faithfully recorded during the battle by Gettysburg College’s Professor Michael Jacobs, who was doing so on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, indicated a high temperature of 87°F an hour before the charge.

Historians, however, have long assumed that it must have felt much hotter. And with good reason, for in the mid-Atlantic region oppressive summertime “Bermuda” high pressure systems typically prevail. But assumptions are one thing.

The practice of history requires documentary proof. Unfortunately, the steadfast Jacobs was not in the habit of recording measurements of atmospheric humidity, so his data could not be used to determine dew point, and in turn, heat index. So, end of story—right? Not quite.

During Gettysburg’s 158th anniversary, this author and meteorologist Jon Nese, Ph.D.,

revealed, for the first time, a reliable estimate of what the dew point and ever-important heat index measurements likely were during the battle.

These findings were based on analysis of primary-source weather observation data recorded in Harrisburg, Pa., only 35 miles from Gettysburg.

Fortunately, unlike Gettysburg’s Professor Jacobs, the two weather observers in Harrisburg did record measurements of atmospheric humidity, called “wet bulb temperature.” And it was these measurements that allowed for the first-ever scientifically based estimate of humidity, dew point and ultimately, heat index—not only at capital city Harrisburg, but by extrapolation, at nearby Gettysburg.

To ensure accuracy, our analysis also factored in primary-source weather observation data from other nearby locations, a reconstruction model of weather maps from the period using a newly developed program created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration PROFESSOR JACOBS (NOAA), and a comparison Michael Jacobs taught of modern data from Gettysmathematics, chemistry, burg and Harrisburg over a and natural philosophy at Gettysburg College. He 30-year period. lived from 1808 to 1871.

Taking all of this into consideration, our analysis provided some eye-popping results—namely a robust estimate indicating that at Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863, at 2 p.m., an hour before Pickett’s Charge, the dew point measured a stifling 76°F and the heat index measured a perilous 98°F degrees. And, in considering the fact that daily high temperatures normally occur later in the day (typically a few degrees higher), our estimations indicate the heat index at the time of the charge (3–4 p.m.) may have been as high as 105°F! With this, we now have a reliable estimate of how the weather felt to the soldiers during Pickett’s Charge. In turn, historians finally have the opportunity for a meaningful discussion of how the weather may have affected the charge. But ultimately, the benefits of our project go far beyond Gettysburg.

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SHADY SITUATION

This sketch of an impromptu shelter made out of fence rails appeared in veteran John Billing’s book Hardtack and Coffee. Anything to get out of the sun.

THE “OLD” NAVAL OBSERVATORY

This image shows the original Naval Observatory in its location in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington, D.C. The observatory was there from 1844 to 1893. It was moved to a higher location in the northeast portion of Washington, where it still stands, but is closed to the public.

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August 5–12, 1862—Battle of Cedar Mountain.

Robert K. Krick likely said it best in his Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, “That environmental factors affect military affairs, sometimes decisively, is hardly a new idea. The struggle at Cedar Mountain would be shaped by terrain and ground cover and other features, but none of these exceeded in importance the brutal constant verity of the broiling sun.” To that powerful statement, we can now add the fact that our recent findings provide definitive proof that the heat at Cedar Mountain was far worse than either Krick or any other historians likely imagined.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

except for our recent project highlighting the conditions at Gettysburg. But now, by applying our Gettysburg model, we can analyze previously unused weather observation data from the period to reveal dew point and heat index conditions elsewhere during the war. And the Virginia “theater of war” represents once such location.

The “gold mine” source that allows for the projection of dew point and heat index measurements for Virginia comes in the form of weather-observation data recorded in Washington, D.C., at a government location that was then identified as the “Observatory, Washington City” (hereafter, the Observatory). The records used in Civil War Weather in Virginia from Georgetown did not include measurements of atmospheric moisture. Those from the Observatory, however, did. And thanks to those measurements, accurate figures for dew point and heat index in Washington, D.C., can be determined for virtually any date during the war for which conditions and corresponding data allow. Typically, heat index measurements described as being in the “extreme caution” zone, or worse, can be computed only for instances when temperatures are above 80°F. And most often these conditions occur during summer and shoulder season months (i.e., May and September).

It must be stated here that any measurement that is projected for a given location in Virginia, say Cedar Mountain, based on Washington data (e.g., the Observatory), must be considered in conjunction with the distance between the two sites, elevation differences, and differences in typically prevailing weather patterns. Although a complete analysis along these lines is beyond the scope of this article, a cursory look at two examples of the heat-related periods in Virginia, during which key actions occurred, clearly illustrates the potential benefits of a full analysis.

HARDTACK AND COFFEE; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A

s we have seen, the ability to identify dew point and heat index stems from the efforts of various mid–19th century America weather observers, such as the aforementioned Harrisburg observers. And by the time the Civil War had begun, an extensive network of weather observation stations had been established on behalf of the Smithsonian (under the title of the Smithsonian Meteorological Project).

In the early 1960s, the late weather historian David Ludlum was one of the first to use the Smithsonian’s records to analyze weather conditions during the Battle of Gettysburg.

More recently, historian Robert K. Krick’s 2007 landmark Civil War Weather in Virginia used Smithsonian weather-observer records from Georgetown, D.C., to project what the weather might have been in Virginia during the Civil War. Krick wisely gave context to his data by presenting numerous firsthand accounts for any given month during the war in order to give us what was, at the time, our best understanding of the weather in Virginia during the war.

Ken Noe’s The Howling Storm—Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War has contributed greatly to our overall understanding of the effect of environmental conditions during the war across all theaters of action. But until now, no data has been presented to indicate, with any degree of certainty, what the dew point and heat index conditions might have been during the war

SUNBAKED FIELDS

Union soldiers loiter in the shade on the Cedar Mountain battlefield in a photo taken after the August 9, 1862, fight. The blistering 109°F heat index during the battle caused soldiers to writhe in “painful contortions.”

During this time frame, records from the Observatory indicate an eight-day period of extreme heat with daily heat index measurements ranging from a very uncomfortable 95°F to an extremely dangerous high of 109°F. Furthermore, on seven of the eight days the heat index measured over 100°F and on three of these seven days the heat index either equaled

Figure 1. Observatory Data for August 5–12, 1862 OPEN AIR SHADE TEMPERATURE

DEW POINT

HEAT INDEX

AUG. 5, 3 p.m.

91

78

106

AUG. 6, 3 p.m.

89

71

95

AUG. 7, 3 p.m.

90

77

103

AUG. 8, 3 p.m.

96

75

108

AUG. 9, 3 p.m.

95

76

109

AUG. 10, 3 p.m.

93

74

103

AUG. 11, 3 p.m.

91

77

105

AUG. 12, Noon

92

73

101

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

HARDTACK AND COFFEE; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

DATE

Sources: NOAA/NCEI FORTS Database; NWCG Temp, RH and Dew Point Tables.

Dew point/heat index calculated from Observatory open air shade and wet bulb temps.

or exceeded 106°F. In fact, one day prior to the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the heat index high at the Observatory measured 108°F. Such a heat index certainly would have resulted in some of the most dreadful conditions to ever face Stonewall Jackson’s famed “Foot Cavalry” as they maneuvered August 7–8 to intercept Union forces prior to the Cedar Mountain fighting. In doing so, they along with their adversaries endured heat indices of 103°F and 108°F on August 7 and 8. And then, on August 9—the day of the battle—the heat index reached its zenith. This was a day Krick aptly described as one of “broiling temperatures—the highest recorded on the day of battle for any major action in the Virginia theater.” To wit, the Observatory air temperature on August 9 that fateful day measured 95°F (a few ticks lower than that listed by a Georgetown observer), but the atmospheric moisture measurement recorded there resulted in a remarkable dew point reading of 76°F and a heat index of 109°F! This information serves us well in validating accounts like that of the 27th Indiana’s Edmund Brown, who provided a firsthand account of the suffering caused by the extreme heat index experienced by soldiers who served at Cedar Mountain. As detailed in The Howling Storm, Brown indicated that due to the heat, “We saw many AUTUMN 2022 CIVIL WAR TIMES

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A WELCOME BREAK

HEAT INDEX

EFFECT ON THE BODY

80°F–90°F

Fatigue possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity

90°F–103°F

Heat stroke, heat cramps, or heat exhaustion possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity

103°F–124°F

Heat cramps or heat exhaustion likely, and heat stroke possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity

125°F or higher

Heat stroke highly likely Courtesy of NOAA/NWS

Figure 3. Relationship of Dew Point to Human Comfort

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DEW POINT

GENERAL LEVEL OF COMFORT

60°F

For most people, the air starts to feel a bit humid

65°F

The air feels moderately humid

70°F

The air feels sultry and tropical

75°F

The air feels oppressive and stifling

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PHOTO CREDIT

Figure 2. Heat Index: Effect on the Body

(soldiers)…lying on the ground, frothing at the mouth, rolling their eyeballs and writhing in painful contortions.”

Historians often find themselves doubting soldiers’ accounts of the weather when they seem as though they might be exaggerated. But the heat index figures detailed here more than validate accounts such as those of young Brown. All of this must be considered in conjunction with other factors impacting the soldiers’ well-being, such as the availability of water— or more often, the lack thereof, fatigue from prolonged or difficult marches and ongoing exposure to Brown extreme conditions. Add to this a magnified level of discomfort due to wool uniforms, bulky accoutrements, and cotton undergarments. Finally, one must consider the impact of the sun’s penetrating rays. On August 9, it averaged mostly clear skies in Washington and likely at Cedar Mountain as well. In fact, it is very important to note that heat index measurements, or values, are for shady locations. According to NOAA, exposure to direct sunlight may increase the heat index values by up to 15°F. One note of caution—recall that allowances must be considered for the differences between validated Washington, D.C., Observatory measurements and projected conditions in the vicinity of Cedar Mountain. That said, a cursory look at modern-day comparison data from NOAA,

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; THE 27TH INDIANA INFANTRY; OPPOSITE PAGE: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Union soldiers cool off in Virginia’s North Anna River. Photographer Timothy O’Sullivan took the image on either May 24 or May 25, 1864, in the midst of the grueling Overland Campaign.

between Washington and Warrenton, Va., 32 miles from Cedar Mountain, the nearest available modern “proxy,” for the month of August, viewed over a 30-year period (1990–2021), indicates very similar average high temperature readings and average precipitation for these locations.

Temperature-wise, though the average readings were up to five degrees higher in Washington than Warrenton, this data is almost certainly skewed by the “urban heat island effect” in modern-day Washington. Urban heat islands did not exist in 1862. With this, a more reasonable variance, or margin of error, would be in the 1–2 degree range. Suffice it to say, August 5–12, 1862, was an extremely hot and humid period in Washington and the surrounding areas, typified by dangerous heat index readings nearly unprecedented during the Civil War, including Cedar Mountain and the vicinity.

June 15–18, 1863—The Gettysburg Campaign—Union and Confederate forces on the march in Virginia, Second Battle of Winchester, and Battle of Aldie. If the weather at Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862, felt like a broiling oven, the weather during an intense, albeit short-lived, blast of heat in Virginia in June 1863 must have felt like hell on earth. Fortunately for the soldiers of both sides, the heavens granted quick relief. But before the heat

Figure 4. Observatory Data for June 15–18, 1863 DATE

OPEN AIR SHADE TEMPERATURE

DEW POINT

HEAT INDEX

JUNE 15, 3 p.m.

93

64

95

JUNE 16, 3 p.m.

85

64

86

JUNE 17, 3 p.m.

97

80

118

JUNE 18, Noon

94

75

106

Sources: NOAA/NCEI FORTS Database; NWCG Temp, RH and Dew Point Tables.

Dew point/heat index calculated from Observatory open air shade and wet bulb temps.

abated, some of the most dangerous conditions recorded during the war fell upon both armies as they intently moved north toward their date with destiny at Gettysburg.

Records from the Observatory for this four-day period reveal three days of extreme heat with heat index readings ranging from 95°F to an alarming 118°F! Worse yet, the day the Observatory heat index measured a blistering 118°F (with the dew point at an incredible 80°F) was a day of devastating forced marches for some and a day of combat for others, namely those cavalrymen who saw action at the Battle of Aldie. And while the battling horse soldiers clashed amid the staggering heat and humidity, marching Confederate and Union infantrymen and artillerymen faced life-threatening heat-related conditions. Horses and mules would have been susceptible to the extreme heat as well.

CAPTURED IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE

PHOTO CREDIT

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; THE 27TH INDIANA INFANTRY; OPPOSITE PAGE: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Southern cavalrymen taken prisoner during the June 17, 1863, Battle of Aldie. The estimated 118°F of that day would have taxed both man and horse.

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ONE MILE OF OPEN GROUND

Troops of Maj. Gen. George Pickett’s Division crash into the U.S. line at the Copse of Trees on July 3, 1863.

Numerous soldier accounts testify to the heat they suffered through during the Gettysburg Campaign.

weather in Washington was likely very similar to that experienced by the armies strung out between Culpeper and Winchester.

While previous accounts of temperatures in the 90s during this overall time frame lend credence to the numerous firsthand accounts of suffering due to extreme conditions, the aforementioned heat-index figures offer new insights to the actual circumstances. Indeed, these figures offer an improved understanding of the primary-source accounts of suffering due to the heat as detailed in highly regarded sources such as Edwin B. Coddington’s The Gettysburg Campaign, Noah Andre Trudeau’s Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, and Stephen W. Sears’ Gettysburg. Examples include that of the Sergeant Benjamin Hirst, 14th Connecticut infantry, who was part of the Union army’s 2nd Corps forced march on June 17: “We seemed to be suffocating at each step…strong men wilted as though blasted by something in the air.” That something was an estimated 118°F heat index.

And a member of the 7th Maine added: “It has been the hardest march in my experience. It was hot; the roads were dusty and filled with trains and the men fell out by the road-side in scores overcome by the heat and exertion. Numbers died from sunstroke.”

But returning to Noe’s fine work, we find one of the most descriptive accounts as conveyed by Sergeant Randolph Shotwell of the 8th Virginia

AND

BLOOD CANNOT

SUSTAIN SUCH HEAT”

IN THE ARMY NOW

A recruit sweats and strains under his load.

Veterans soon learned to travel as light as possible. Anything to help cope with unforgiving heat and humidity.

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Infantry, “Flesh and blood cannot sustain such heat and fatigue as we have undergone this day. It is terrible! All along the roadside since 9 o’clock this morning I have seen men dropping, gasping, dying—or already dead!” Shotwell continued, “…when one’s clothing is utterly saturated with perspiration mixing with the dust in a grimy paste; and above all, weighs the heavy musket, the muffling blankets, gripping waist band and belt (upon which hang the heavy cartridge and cap boxes) and the chafing canteen straps—is it

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HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS (2)

“FLESH

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; HARDTACK AND COFFEE

Reinforcing all of this, a modern-day comparison between both Warrenton (as a Culpeper proxy) and Winchester, Va. (as compared to Washington) for the month of June (over a 30-year period, 1991–2021), reveals very comparative climate conditions. This data lends itself to the contention that during June 1863 the

strange that one sees hundreds of men gasping for breath, and lolling out their tongues like madmen?” In terms of the magnitude of such fallout, one published source indicates that during this time frame, in James Longstreet’s Corps, up to 500 men a day dropped out of the march, with some dying where they fell.

O

HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS (2)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; HARDTACK AND COFFEE

ver the years, accounts like those detailed here led historians to believe the heat was quite extreme during this time frame. And the weather observation data from the Georgetown observer, as detailed in Krick’s Civil War Weather in Virginia, seemed to buttress these conclusions. Yet there was always a degree of uncertainty with regard to the actual conditions.

Fortunately, our recent discovery of weather observation records from the Observatory in Washington allow for a reliable science-based estimation of the dew point and heat index in the aforementioned areas in Virginia during the detailed periods of time. Moreover, this information not only corroborates the previously detailed accounts but adds a new certitude to the understanding of the impact these horrific conditions had on the unfortunate soldiers who experienced the same. In summary, we knew the armies in Virginia, during these time frames, had suffered under severe heat, but now we know it felt much hotter than we ever dared imagine.

Thus, the newly discovered data and the Gettysburg “model” allow for analysis of these examples as well as other instances of extreme heat in Virginia during the Civil War. In addition, primary-source weather observation data is available for other regions adjacent to campaigns and battles in the border states. With this, there is great potential for an increased level of understanding with regard to the soldiers’ suffering from extreme heat and corresponding consequences in relevant actions during the war—not only in Virginia but in other theaters of action as well. And conversely, this data can also be used to contradict accounts of oppressive heat when the actual conditions were not too drastic. One such example was the First Battle of Manassas. But that is another story, for another day.

Jeffrey J. Harding’s career as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg spans 22 years. Jeff is also the author of the recently released and highly acclaimed book, Gettysburg’s Lost Love Story—The Ill-Fated Romance of General John Reynolds and Kate Hewitt. He would like to recognize meteorologist Jon Nese, Ph.D., and retired National Park Service scholar John Hennessy for their assistance in preparing this article.

TRYING TO

BEAT THE HEAT In diaries and letters, and in memoirs written long after the war, soldiers remembered heat as an enemy that attacked both sides. During the march to Gettysburg on the Baltimore Pike on July 1, 1863, a day of moderate temperature but high humidity, the sun beat down on 12th Corps soldiers. “It was a hot day,” recalled a member of Colonel Charles Candy’s brigade, “The sun was hot. The ground was hot, and the men panted like dogs on the chase and sweat and sweltered through clouds of dust that came from Knapp’s Battery in our front.”

Ernest Wait of the 19th Massachusetts wrote of one hard slog, “The sun was now well up and the air intensely hot, causing the persperation to run out and, running down the face, drip from the nose and chin. The salty liquid got into the eyes, causing them to burn and smart and it ran down from under the cap, through the dust and down the sides of the face which was soon covered with muddy streaks, the result of repeated wipings on the sleeves of the blouse.” And 1st Tennessee private Marcus Toney frankly admitted in his aptly named memoir, Privations of a Private, “how many wiggletails and tadpoles I have drunk will never be known,” so desperate did the broiling sun make him for a drink of water.

GIMMICKS

Havelocks, like the one above, went over caps but proved bothersome and actually held in heat. Sutlers sold largely ineffective brass vents, left, that could be opened to allow hot air to escape.

The purchaser could then install them in the crown of their cap.

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ARMAMENT

ASSEMBLY LINE

All of the shoulder arms used by Civil War soldiers were made with well-seasoned wood stocks, with walnut preferred by American manufacturers.

ELI WHITNEY OFTEN gets sole credit for developing the concept of interchangeable parts in the early 19th century, although in truth a number of inventors of that era also had similar ideas. Massachusetts native Thomas Blanchard was one of them. In 1818, Blanchard designed a lathe that could quickly cut out identical gunstocks, a process that had previously been done laboriously by hand. Blanchard’s lathe was a duplicating machine. A roller followed along a master pattern piece and transferred the shape via connecting arms to a rotating cutter that carved the stock blank to shape—similar to key-cutting machines found in every modern hardware store. The U.S. armory system was using his lathe by the 1820s, and Blanchard developed other lathes to inlet the stocks to accept their barrels and gun locks. Blanchard’s development was a huge leap forward in weapons mass production. By the time of the Civil War, the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Mass., alone was able to produce 600 muskets a day, nearly 800,000 during the fouryear conflict, thanks in part to Thomas Blanchard’s innovation. —D.B.S. 60

STAN TESS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

LATHES THAT COULD COPY GUNSTOCKS ALLOWED MASS PRODUCTION OF CIVIL WAR FIREARMS

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FLHC 37/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; U.S. PATENT OFFICE; SCIENCE & SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY

STOCKING UP

B

INVENTOR GENES

Thomas Blanchard was a prodigy. Born in 1788, he invented a machine that mass-produced tacks when he was only 18 years old. Blanchard started in the arms industry working at Asa Waters’ gunmaking factory. He died in 1864.

A

FLHC 37/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; U.S. PATENT OFFICE; SCIENCE & SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY

STAN TESS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

IMITATION IS FLATTERY

Blanchard’s 1819 patent drawing, above, for “turning irregular forms” shows shoe forms being cut. A smooth wheel rolls on a blank (A), while a rotating cutter follows the shape to cut the form (B). Below, other firms soon developed their own duplicating wood lathes.

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ARMAMENT

ONE SIZE FITS ALL

A later version of a Blanchard lathe is on display at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. The stock pattern blank is to the rear, while the newly turned stock is in the foreground. The cutter marks are evident.

PROPERLY SEASONED

Partially completed stock blanks. Armories liked to let wood air dry for two to eight years before it was turned into gunstocks to avoid checking and warping.

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

FINISHED OFF

After the stock was roughed out on the Blanchard lathe, it was removed for finishing, as seen here. When you hold an original Civil War musket, you not only touch a tool of war, but also the contours of Blanchard’s genius.

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HIGH WATER MARK

Confederate troops attack the Union line during a reenactment of Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1963, as part of the Battle of Gettysburg centennial celebration events.

GETTYSBURG

ON

PARADE

s the 1963 centennial celebration of the Battle of Gettysburg approached, it was clear that unlike previous milestone commemorations in 1913 and 1938, this one would be harder to embrace as one of reconciliation.

America in 1963 was deeply divided about politics, gender, and especially race. Cold War anxiety was high as many Americans felt nuclear war was imminent. “The Gettysburg Centennial was not a nostalgic paean to the ‘brother’s war,’” Jill Ogline Titus writes in her book Gettysburg 1963.

Instead, the centennial commemoration “was intended to heal a fractured citizenry by extolling the United States as the savior of democracy and advancing a vision of undisputed American supremacy—political, economic, moral, and milGettysburg 1963: itary—in the global war against Communism.”

Civil Rights, Cold War That was a hard sell, Titus says, as “Cold War Politics, and Historical Memory in America’s tensions and violent clashes over civil rights conMost Famous tinually challenged the message of unity, freedom, Small Town and political self-determination….Vibrant camBy Jill Ogline Titus paigns for equal rights, north and south, shone an The University of unstinting spotlight on the hollowness of ‘freeNorth Carolina Press, dom’ and the unfinished work of the Civil War.” $27.95 For many Americans, Gettysburg is the Civil War, Titus explains. But it’s also small-town

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America. Its significance as both makes it the definitive setting in which to examine the context of the centennial Civil War celebrations and the America in which they occurred. Titus expertly explores a compendium of complex themes including racial tensions in and outside of Gettysburg, Civil War memory, Confederate monuments, interpretations of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg as a tourist destination, and battlefield preservation efforts. She recaps all the pomp and pageantry on display at the Gettysburg centennial celebration and includes a portfolio of intriguing photos from notable events during the battle anniversary, including a reenactment of Pickett’s Charge.

“From its earliest stirrings during the war itself, the memory of the Civil War has always depended on the present for context and meaning, and all signs suggest that it will continue to do so in future years as well,” Titus writes.

Indeed, Gettysburg 1963 is a welcome opportunity to understand how we’ve done this in the past knowingly or unknowingly and how best to do so in the future mindfully, constructively, and with purpose. A worthy read.

AP PHOTO

REVIEWED BY MELISSA A. WINN

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SPURRING TOWARD

FREEDOM REVIEWED BY JOHN MARTIN McMILLAN

AP PHOTO

I

n May 1863, the U.S. War Department created the “Bureau of Colored Troops” with Special Orders No. 143 and officially began recruiting Black men to join the ranks of the U.S. Army.

Nearly 200,000 Black men served in 142 regiments by war’s end. John Warner’s Riders in the Storm is the story of the only Black cavalry regiment raised during the war, the 5th Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. In a chronologically organized, narrative-driven account, Warner details the unit’s history and seeks to understand what its members went through during their service together. This is a valuable endeavor. He not only successfully recounts the experience of a largely unknown Black regiment but also illuminates themes that both add to and complicate our understanding of the conflict.

Raised in late 1863 and early 1864, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry was recruited in a period when Union recruiting efforts were furious, and competition for soldiers was fierce. For Massachusetts governor John Andrew, the regiment represented progress. The 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry, raised on the governor’s initiative following the Emancipation Proclamation, began a social experiment to illustrate that Black men were capable soldiers and worthy of full citizenship. A Black cavalry unit was the continuation of that experiment and the confirmation of his state’s unyielding support of Black abolition and civil rights. For the troopers in the field, their enlistment in the regiment “represented commitment to the ideal of the citizen soldier and the patriotic volunteer,” and he was ready, if necessary, to die to protect the Union.

Warner follows the regiment from its camp of instruction at Camp Meigs in Readville, Mass., through its service in Virginia, Maryland, and Texas, to the unit’s demobilization and members’ postwar memories. While detailing the service record of the 5th Massachusetts, Warner illuminates several themes surrounding the Union war effort.

The debate between Massachusetts and the War Department on the regiment’s designation—state or federal—illustrates tensions between Union states and the national government. While still oth-

Riders in the Storm: The Triumphs and Tragedies of a Black Cavalry Regiment in the Civil War John D. Warner Jr. Stackpole Books, 2022, $28.99

ers include the difficulties of raising a late war regiment, disputes surrounding the payment of bounties and wages to Black soldiers, hardships in securing enough horses to meet the needs of the Union cavalry, and the 1865 U.S. military operation in Texas to deter continued French intervention in Mexico.

Riders in the Storm, though, leaves readers wanting a more eloquent book. Warner uses a creative primary source base of Black newspapers, official documents, and letters. But quotations from these sources dominate the text and break up the flow of the narrative. And Warner could have engaged more with the growing historical scholarship on Blacks during the Civil War. Still, the book is vital for anyone interested in the Black experience during the conflict. Warner reveals the experience of the first American Black horse soldiers, all while keeping their evolution as a unit within the context of the broader Union war effort.

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DIXIE BLUES REVIEWED BY WILLIAM JOHN SHEPHERD

he author is a fellow at the Nau Center for Civil War Studies at the University of Virginia, and this work is part of the LSU Press’ impressive Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil Series, along with The Civil War in Maryland Reconsidered. Butler presents a fresh angle on Civil War history, stating that while there are studies of what he calls ‘unconditional unionism’ in the Upper South, the same is lacking for the Deep South. He explores three notable regiments: the 1st Louisiana Cavalry, 1st Alabama Cavalry, and 13th Tennessee Cavalry. He argues that these three— recruited heavily and respectively from New Orleans, northern Alabama, and southwest Tennessee—reveal a hidden history long unappreciated in both Civil War historiography and public memory.

White Southerners donning blue federal uniforms represented the most unambiguous expression of national allegiance, and about one in 10 White Southern males did this, even while their descendants universally assume Confederate ancestry.

There are many reasons for that delusion, considering they were continually derided by the recently unraveling “Lost Cause” version of an honorable Southern war.

For White loyalists unionism was their only cause. They had little interest in emancipation or civil rights. Once unionism had triumphed, Southern unionists faded from memory. These loyalists, derided as “Scalawags,” were never effectively partnered with Northern ‘Carpet-baggers’ nor newly freed Blacks; in fact, many cooperated with forTrue Blue: White mer Confederates such as first Ku Klux Unionists in the Deep South During Klan wizard, the nefarious Nathan Bedford the Civil War and Forrest, to overturn Reconstruction and Reconstruction. usher in a century of “Jim Crow” segregaBy Clayton J. Butler tion for African Americans.

LSU Press, 2022, $45 Even as wartime Union leaders considered White Southern unionists as vanguards of reconstruction, this study leads the way into new and further depths of little-known Civil War history.

For example, the 1st Louisiana and 1st Alabama Cavalry had a stalwart record, with the former serving with distinction in battled along the Mississippi and the latter as Sherman’s headquarters unit on his legendary March to the Sea. Unfortunately, the 13th Tennessee met a grim fate at Forrest’s 1864 massacre at Fort Pillow, Tenn. While it is widely known that nearly 200 Black Union soldiers were brutally butchered, another 85 White unionists from the 13th Tennessee were also slaughtered. White Unionists is well-written, with the research supported by copious endnotes, an extensive bibliography, index, a map and an impressive centerpiece of a dozen contemporary photographs and lithographs.

What Are You

Reading?

T

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ANTHONY TRUSSO HISTORIAN, LIFELONG CIVIL WAR ENTHUSIAST, BATTLEFIELD GUIDE

The best way to understand the war is to read the letters, diaries, and memoirs of the soldiers. Charles Fuller’s memoir is a premier look at the common soldier’s perspective in one of the war’s hardestfighting and overlooked regiments: the 61st New York Infantry. He provides the reader an interesting view from the ranks of the regiments’ commanders. Speaking of then-Lt. Col. Francis Barlow, who has drawn the ire of many, Fuller describes him as “in my judgment fully equal for a corps commander. He knew the details of his business; he had the military instinct, and he was fearless…animosity was turned into confidence and admiration.”

From Antietam and Fredericksburg to Gettysburg and Spotsylvania, follow Fuller and the 61st NY as they acquit themselves with the Army of the Potomac on every major battlefield in the east.

Personal Recollections of the War of 1861: A Young Lieutenant of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army During the American Civil War

By Charles A. Fuller News Job Printing House, 1906

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SEPTEMBER 17, 1862

ANTIETAM NEW LOOK AT THE DEADLY CORNFIELD MCCLELLAN AT THE FRONT UNTOLD STORY OF A BATTLEFIELD GRAVE

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The N-SSA is America’s oldest and largest Civil War shooting sports organization. Competitors shoot original or approved reproduction muskets, carbines and revolvers at breakable targets in a timed match. Some units even compete with cannons and mortars. Each team represents a Civil War regiment or unit and wears the uniform they wore over 150 years ago. Dedicated to preserving our history, period firearms competition and the camaraderie of team sports with friends and family, the N-SSA may be just right for you.

6/30/22 1:42 PM

For more information visit us online at www.n-ssa.org.

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THE PRESIDENT’S

FRENEMY REVIEWED BY RICK BEARD

almon P. Chase was one of the most consequential Americans of the mid–19th century. A determined and articulate opponent of slavery, he served as governor of Ohio and a U.S. senator, was a co-founder of the Republican party, and in 1860 a credible candidate for the new party’s presidential nomination. When the nod went instead to Abraham Lincoln, Chase campaigned vigorously for his fellow Midwesterner and was rewarded with a Cabinet position as secretary of the Treasury.

In that position he was largely responsible for creating greenbacks, a standard national currency, and generating the funds needed to fuel the Union war machine, overseeing an annual growth in prewar federal spending from $80 million to $1.3 billion by the war’s end. In December 1864, six months after Lincoln accepted his fourth offer of resignation, the president appointed him as the nation’s sixth chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Walter Stahr, a seasoned biographer, has been steadily chronicling the lives of Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet members, with previous volumes on William Seward (2013) and Edwin Stanton (2017). His treatment of Chase, the first new biography in over 25 years, is exhaustive. He has dived deep into Chase’s public and private correspondence, illuminating the New Hampshire native’s move to Ohio as a 12-year-old to be raised by an uncle after his father’s death left his mother with 10 children to raise.

Stahr paints a picture of a disciplined, intelligent individual whose steady rise exemplified the era’s ideal of the self-made man. His deep religious faith sustained him when all three of his wives and four of the six daughters they bore him died. Only two grew to adulthood, with the eldest, Kate, widely considered to be one of Civil War Washington’s most eligible young women.

Stahr treats Chase kindly in his descriptions of his interactions with Lincoln and his fellow Cabinet members. There is plenty to suggest that Chase’s overweening presidential ambitions caused two Cabinet crises and ultimately soured his relationship with the 16th president. The author also glides over the suggestion that Chase might have benefited financially from his close relationship with the financier Jay Cooke, who bore primary

S

Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln’s Vital Rival

By Walter Stahr Simon & Schuster, 2022, $35

responsibility for selling U.S. Treasury bonds to finance the war.

Once on the Supreme Court, Chase remained a political force. Stahr details his public advocacy for a policy of “universal suffrage and universal amnesty,” and for the passage of the 14th and 15th amendments. The author also suggests that Chase’s role as the presiding officer in Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial may well have been tainted by the chief justice’s continuing hunger for the presidency, an appetite that led him to leave the Republican party of Grant to become a Democrat.

Chase died in 1873 at 65, after a term on the Supreme Court that has generally received middling marks from historians. While there is no doubt that Chase’s considerable ambition detracts from his legacy—a fellow justice wrote that “selfishness generated by ambition” had warped his “warm heart and a vigorous intellect”—he nevertheless was a critical figure in the preservation of the Union. Stahr’s biography offers us a welcome reminder of that fact.

Kate Chase lived a movie-script life. Beautiful and intelligent, she rose to great heights after coming to Washington, and came “closer to being a Queen than any American woman has,” said one reporter at the time. She married the extremely wealthy William Sprague, governor of Rhode Island, but his drinking and affairs marred the marriage, and Kate had her own indiscretions, reportedly with Roscoe Conkling. The couple eventually divorced. By the end of her life, she was a poverty-stricken recluse who sold eggs and vegetables to survive.

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FIRST MONDAYS AN ORIGINAL VIDEO SERIES

Editor Dana B. Shoaf and Director of Photography Melissa A. Winn explore off-the-beaten path and human interest stories about the war, and interview fellow scholars of the conflict.

JOIN T O D AY !

T H E

LINCOLN FORUM

What began as a modest proposal to bring Lincoln enthusiasts together for a small East Coast-based yearly history conference at Gettysburg has blossomed into one of the leading history organizations in the country.

Live broadcasts begin at noon on the first Monday of each month.

FACEBOOK.COM/CIVILWARTIMES

Our yearly November symposium is attended by scholars and enthusiasts from all over the nation and abroad.

It attracts speakers and panelists who are some of the most revered historians in the Lincoln and Civil War fields.

Visit our website:

thelincolnforum.org for more information

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Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862

By M. Chris Bryan Savas Beatie, 2022, $34.95

ORIGIN STORY REVIEWED BY STEPHEN DAVIS

C

ommand of the topic and solid writing top the reasons for my commending M. Chris Bryan’s study of the Union 12th Corps in the summer of 1862. Impressive research, profuse illustrations, and 28 great maps by Hal Jesperson seal the deal.

Formed in June 1862 as Nathaniel Banks’ 2nd Corps in John Pope’s ill-fated Army of Virginia, it saw its first action August 9 at Cedar Mountain, which Bryan terms “a pyrrhic Southern victory” (Confederate casualties numbered 1,418; Federal 2,403, mostly in the 2nd Corps).

Having seen no action in Second Bull Run— assigned to guard duty in Washington—the 2nd was renamed the 12th Corps, Army of the Potomac on September 12, just days before the Battle of Antietam. Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield took command and led his 7,200 men into the East Woods. There Mansfield was grievously wounded, shot in the chest.

He would die the next day.

Casualties for the corps at Antietam totaled 1,746—a quarter of its strength.

The author informs us that the role of the 12th Corps has been overlooked, at least minimized, by Antietam historians. Bryan’s history of the corps during the summer of 1862 sets the record right.

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ALSO

ON THE

SHELF

Our Story: The Lives and Legacy of Those Who Served in Battery B First Rhode Island Light Artillery, by Stephen G. Evangelista, 2021, Independently Published, $45 On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Battery B of the 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery was pounded by Confederate artillery in the fighting that preceded Pickett’s Charge. One of the battery’s 12-pound Napoleons was struck by a Confederate shell, damaging the muzzle, and causing the next charge to get stuck in the mouth, where it remains to this day, on display at the Rhode Island State House. Many know the story about the battery’s “Gettysburg Gun,” while few know the story of the soldiers behind it. Evangelista’s well-researched book uses the battery’s regimental history and a trove of unpublished letters and diaries to bring their stories to the forefront.

Many of them are fascinating.

Gettysburg: Three Days That Saved the United States, edited by Ben Nussbaum, Fox Chapel Publishing, 2022, $24.99 Out of the Battle of Gettysburg was born a cornucopia of new hero stories; a litany of now recognizable locales to visit, and a host of terms and phrases such as “Pickett’s Charge” and “fix bayonets,” infused with new meaning and added to the Civil War lexicon. “Gettysburg: Three Days That Saved the United States” is a sort of commemorative volume covering the battle that raged in Pennsylvania July 1-3, 1863. A revised edition of Fox Chapel Publishing’s 2013 “Gettysburg: 150th Anniversary,” the bookazine offers readers a brief overview of the fighting that occurred on Day One, Day Two, and Day Three, then packs the pages with a collection of historic photographs, charts, facts and figures, quotes, easily digestible summaries and stories from the battle. The book offers a nice CliffsNotes understanding of not just the battle but also of the Civil War itself.

The USS Tecumseh in Mobile Bay: The Sinking of a Civil War Ironclad, by David Smithweck, 2022, The History Press, $21.99 The tragic loss of USS Tecumseh and all 93 of its crew members tends to get obscured in accounts of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut’s historic victory at Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. Thankfully in this new book, David Smithweck provides a deserved, detailed look at the ironclad’s demise from a Confederate torpedo early in the engagement when Union prospects—prior to Farragut’s famed “Damn the torpedoes” declaration—weren’t so promising. Smithweck also looks at postwar efforts to salvage the wreck, which still lies beneath the waters of Mobile Bay.

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HOW DID THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON REFER TO HIS SOLDIERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF VITORIA?

Pigeon-livered half-wits, a dirty pack of dogs, a sickening disgrace, or the scum of the earth?

For more, visit HISTORYNET.COM/MAGAZINES/QUIZ

ANSWER: “WE HAVE IN THE SERVICE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH AS COMMON SOLDIERS,” WROTE AN EXASPERATED WELLINGTON IN AN 1813 DISPATCH TO HENRY, THIRD EARL BATHURST, BRITAIN’S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. TWO YEARS LATER, HE WOULD EXPRESS A MUCH HIGHER OPINION OF HIS MEN AFTER HIS VICTORY OVER NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO.

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SEWING

KIT

$4,375 spare buttons, and scraps of cloth for patches were almost as valuable to Civil War troops as food and ammunition. When a button popped or a hole opened, a soldier would dig a handmade sewing kit nicknamed a “housewife” out of his knapsack and go to work.

Corporal James Stafford of the 4th Iowa carried this housewife, sold by Hindman Auctions, made out of a leather exterior with wool and cotton used to create the interior pockets.

The flag stenciled with the names of both Stafford and his captain is made of silk. The embroidered initials “R.M.A.” may stand for “Remember Me Always,” and have been stitched there by someone who deeply cared for the Iowa corporal. Sadly, while his sewing kit returned home, Stafford did not.

The thin thread of his life snapped when he was struck and killed at the obscure October 21, 1863, Battle of Cherokee Station in Alabama. —D.B.S.

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