Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

2019

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • HORSE SOLDIERING IN GETTYSBURG • CAPTAIN JASPER MUSE’S SWORD • LOST WITHOUT DISHONOR • GETTYSBURG CONNECTIONS • CAPTURED IN GETTYSBURG • GRACE BETWEEN RIVALS • GETTYSBURG PHOTO ALBUM • GARDNER AND BRADY PHOTOS CHANGED THE MODERN GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD • BREAKING NEWS: BIG BATTLE IN PENNSYLVANIA • PARDONED FOR MURDER • BOOK REVIEWS

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Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

2 Gettysburg

July 2019

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4 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

A Foray into Barnardiana

By Stephen Davis Special to Civil War News “Civil Warriors” have long seen the photographs of Mathew Brady, Timothy O’Sullivan and other cameramen, published in the innumerable pictorial histories of the American Civil War. They are mainly images from the war’s eastern theater—the operational area of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and its Federal opponents.

The western theater had its photographers, too. Chief among them was George Norman Barnard (1819–1902).

Barnard had established himself as a daguerreotypist in New York before the war.

In 1863 he was hired by the Union army to take pictures of Tennessee cities. After Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, he was summoned there by Federal engineers to photograph fortifications in the area.

He did more than that. Barnard took several hundred views in and around Atlanta. Among the first pictures he took were the scene of Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s death in the battle fought on July 22, and the wreckage of the artillery ordnance train Confederates had blown up the night they abandoned the city. He photographed Atlanta’s streets and houses, Northern soldiers about town and in the Rebel works, and Union engineers wrecking downtown

factories and tearing up railroad track before Sherman left Atlanta in his “march to the sea.”

Barnard set his camera before several groups of Federal officers and the fine houses in the city they had chosen for their quarters.

He photographed Brig. Gen. John Geary, commander of a division in the XX Corps, sitting with subordinates in front of a residence’s spacious front porch.

It is probably the home of the prosperous hardware merchant Edward Rawson. The property was distinguished by terraced grounds—hence its name, “the Terraces.” After arriving in Atlanta, General Geary had been eyeing the place, but Rawson and his family still occupied it, at least until they were thrown out. In early September Sherman ordered most of the city’s civilian population expelled (to go either south or north). The Rawsons packed up their belongings, heading for Iowa, and boarded the train on September 16. General

Geary moved into the Terraces the very next day.

Capt. Orlando M. Poe was Sherman’s chief engineer; it was he who had hired Barnard as army photographer. After he arrived in Atlanta, Poe chose the stylish home of Marcus A. Bell on the corner of Wheat and Collins Streets downtown as his place of residence. Built of stone and coated with plaster, Bell had the exterior painted with light blue, yellow and red swirls, similar to the marbling seen inside books of the time. Bell’s son Piromis later recalled, “about this time a popular pattern of calico appeared on the market with the same sort of coloring, and some one remarked that the house ‘looked like this calico.’” After Barnard took a picture of the place, he captioned it “The ‘Calico’ House.

Capt. O. M. Poe’s Office, Sept.

5-Nov. 10, 1864.”

Then we have the view of Federal officers standing in front of the home of L. Windsor Smith,

farther out Whitehall Street toward the city limits. Smith, an attorney, was one of the city’s richest property owners. His wealth showed with his two-story weather-boarded home, which featured columned, sheltered porches on all four sides.

During the occupation it served as quarters for Col. Henry A. Barnum, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division (Geary’s), XX Corps.

In August 1864, during Sherman’s semi-siege of Atlanta, Gen. John B. Hood had made the Windsor Smith house his headquarters. Now, in the Union occupation, Barnum wanted everyone to know it was a Federal officer’s residence, and had a huge Stars and Stripes draped upon it.

A woodcut illustration of the house appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Oct. 29, 1864: “Headquarters of the Rebel General Hood, Now Occupied by Col. H. A. Barnum, 3rd Brigade,

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July 2019

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

2d Division.”

This Barnard photo has been widely reproduced in the TimeLife Books and elsewhere, and is well known. It features Colonel Barnum and his officers standing out in front of the house.

Barnard took another view of Barnum and his staff at the Smith house, sitting on one of its

porches.

To my knowledge, that photograph has never been published. …until now, with my forthcoming book, 100 Significant Civil War Photographs— Atlanta Campaign (Charleston: Historical Publications LLC), due out by August 1.

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This virtually unknown photograph will appear in our book this August.

Stephen Davis, raised in Atlanta, is author of four books on the Atlanta Campaign. Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, Joe Johnston, and the Yankee Heavy Battalions (2001). What the Yankees Did to Us (2012) recounts Sherman’s bombardment of Atlanta and the Union occupation till mid-November. A Long and Bloody Task (2016) is the first of a two-volume account of the Atlanta Campaign; this one takes events to the Chattahoochee River in mid-July. All the Fighting They Want (2017) explains what happened after Gen. John B. Hood took command of the Army of Tennessee.

Dr. Davis, who took his Ph.D. degree at Emory University, has for years studied Barnard’s views of Atlanta that have been in print since 1911, with the publication of Francis Trevelyan Miller’s ten-volume Photographic History of the Civil War.

Gettysburg 5

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Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

6 Gettysburg

July 2019

Horse Soldiering in Gettysburg

By John S. Peterson On a recent Saturday, a boy of twelve or so paused by my desk in a rear alcove at the Horse Soldier militaria shop at 219 Steinwehr Avenue, not far from Cemetery Ridge and the field of Pickett’s Charge. Peering down, grinning from ear to ear, he quipped, “I bet you’re having fun with that stuff.”

Looking up from a desk heaped with artifacts, I allowed as how I was indeed having fun, the same kind of fun I’d had at his age when first taken to the old Chicago Historical Society back in 1951. He laughed at that, telling me that this was his first visit to Gettysburg and that he was dying to touch a real, honest-to-god cavalry carbine; that was easily arranged. From a gun rack out front, I handed him a mint 1859 Sharps and watched his eyes go wide as saucers. “Wow.” If the lad hadn’t been primed to “Jine the Cavalry” before, he was now. All that was needed to complete his enlistment was to let him handle an 1860 Army Colt and hoist a pristine 1860 cavalry saber, which elicited a double “Wow.” As the kid walked away, from the shine in his eye, I knew that John Buford’s cavalry had landed another collector-recruit.

At some point down the line he’d be back; adequately funded, probably by Dad. Later that afternoon, Mike Vice, the former Gettysburg

National Park museum curator, dropped by. Scanning the gun racks with a professional eye, grinning like a twelve year old himself, Vice chuckled and remarked, “This place is America’s premier Civil War militaria ship, hands down. The boys upstairs know their stuff, and damn sure know how to get it.” Which was true enough; but if so, none of it had happened overnight.

Shift the scene…from the current Horse Soldier to the early 1970s and a freshly built barn out the Emmitsburg Road; near the Millerstown intersection, opposite the Sherfy Barn, the property of Chester and Pat Small.

For the record, today’s Horse Soldier is the culmination of a card table deal struck between Chet Small and Bill Smith, with local artifact dealer George Lower hovering in the background. These three had a strong interest in Civil War militaria and Smith saw the Small property as the perfect site to attract artifact-collectors motoring through the field of Pickett’s Charge.

Needless to say, the Small family was game to go, and in the summer of 1971, their fledgling operation made its debut in Chet Small’s barn as seen in the photos showing the Small family complex, with the front yard “Civil War Relics” sign, ca. 1975.

Through the remainder of the decade, the family relic concern was run as a part-time “Mom &

Pop” affair, with assistance from sons Sam and Wes, then moving into their teens. In those years Pat worked as switch board operator and administrative assistant at a local bank; Chet worked second shift as a mechanic engineer at Mack Truck, a schedule which left him available to customers in mornings, with Pat and the boys handling the late afternoon/evening and weekend trade.

As for stock, lesser items such as Minié balls, three ringer Union, two ringer Confederate, were supplied by Chet and Bill Smith, along with excavated relics, original belt buckles, bayonets, artillery projectiles, and the like. Bigger ticket stuff such as Springfield muskets and Ames cavalry sabers were obtained from George Lower. It goes without saying that today’s collectors will be amazed (and severely depressed) at the low prices charged in that long-gone Bicentennial era: Bullets .50 cents, cavalry sabers $67.50, Springfield muskets $300, 1860 Army Colts $175. As the decade wore on, the Small barn began attracting a small cadre of highly sophisticated collectors.

One minor bump during this stretch was a burglary in which a bumbling thief kicked in a slat at the rear of the barn and made off with a non-commissioned officer’s sword. In a flash, Chet Small and George Lower were on the case, tracking the stolen sword to an antique shop in Baltimore. Recollecting the incident, George recounted how he and Chet went down, met up with a pair of plain clothes cops looking like “Starsky and Hutch,” and then drove to confront the antique shop owner, who demanded proof.

That would be easy, Lower replied, asking to see the sword, which, upon inspection, was missing half the scabbard which had been torn and left behind at the scene of the crime. Lower then pulled from behind his back the left-behind half which fit like a glove. Proof positive, case closed. Chet and George had their sword and could leave the police mop-up to “Starsky and Hutch.”

part-time relic venture encouraged them to scout out a more promising location in town, eventually leasing a tiny two and a half room space in Leroy Smith’s “Gettysburg Village” complex opposite East Cemetery Hill.

During this 1980-81 phase the shop acquired its distinctive trade name. It seems that while Chet was one day browsing through some of George Lower’s stock, George asked if he’d yet decided on a name for his new shop.

When Chet replied no, Lower pointed to a colorful “HORSE SOLDIER” sign among items he’d acquired from local collector Greg Coco, and said, “Well, how about that?” That struck Chet just fine, and may have been in the cards all along; the Small family had serious cavalry ancestry in the person of Chet’s grandfather, Corporal William Henry Small, of Companies E & F, 15th Pennsylvania “Anderson” Cavalry. This being so, some might say the cavalry trade name was family fate. Some might say too that it meshed nicely with Chet’s equally colorful, mismatched cowboy boots.

Furthermore, it was certainly fate that brought sons Sam and Wes home to revamp and take charge of the new Horse Soldier.

With their arrival in 1985-86, the shop took off and never looked back. This was due partly to their innovative management, introducing regular mail order catalogues, and partly to changing times.

It was their good luck—Buford cavalry luck—that the Civil War was enjoying something of a renaissance in American popular culture. A fresh generation of scholars was re-examining the war and by the mid-80s Civil War publishing was booming. Considerable research had been done into Civil War artifacts and the knowledge required in dealing

in the field had increased exponentially. From their command post on East Cemetery Hill, the Small brothers were in the thick of it, absorbing the new expertise while working 12-hour days, 9 to 9, seven days a week. They had little choice; the Civil War artifact trade was heating up and due to get hotter.

The 1988 125th battle anniversary provided a crucial shot in the arm, followed by the 1990 PBS Civil War series boosting national interest sky high. The frosting on the cake was the 1992 filming of the movie Gettysburg, based on Michael Shaara’s 1975 Pulitzer prize winning novel, The Killer Angels. This Ted Turner production lifted all commercial boats on the Civil War side of town, with the Horse Soldier getting its fair share. Family matriarch Pat Small would later say of those years, with a chuckle, “I had money coming out my ears.”

It can also be said that, along with other Gettysburg businesses, the Horse Soldier saw its fair share of celebrities from that time, Martin Sheen, Sam Elliot, and others, such as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Lynda Carter (“Wonder Woman”), and Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Palamalu.

Predictably, the 1990s saw a dramatic expansion of the Horse Soldier facilities out of sheer necessity to house its ever-increasing and ever more diverse inventory. While Civil War firearms would always be its long suit, by the early 1990s the shop was doing it all; books, documents and letters, prints and photography…not to mention uniform groupings, battle flags, saddles, and cannons, you name it. Why, the front foyer even featured, for a time, an antique Gatling gun covering the front door.

Yes, stuffed with antiquarian treasures, the Horse Soldier needed more elbow room, and

Into the 1980s and 1990s

Pat and Chet Small.

In 1979 the Smalls sold their Emmitsburg Road property to the Gettysburg National Park and moved to Cashtown. With sons Sam and Wes heading off to college, both continued working their regular jobs. At the same time, the modest success of their

The property of Chester and Pat Small opposite the Sherfy Barn (on the far right).

July 2019 got some. After his death, the tree that landlord Leroy Smith insisted on keeping in place; it came through the roof of the original front room with a resident squirrel, was finally removed. Slowly, the Horse Soldier came to occupy most of the building, taking over rooms once used by Lincoln interpreter James Getty and local artist Dale Gallon, while adding others.

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section Through all the hubbub, the Small brothers were travelling constantly, working auctions, the Civil War show circuit, the big Baltimore gun show, and North South Skirmish Assn. black powder shoots. Then too, as collections began coming their way, one or the other of them (sometimes both) was always on the road assessing and negotiating.

Needless to say, some

collections were highly prestigious and quite spectacular; as one example, the James Stamatelos collection featured in the highly acclaimed Time-Life book set, Arms And Equipment Of The Union & Confederacy. Others were the Wendell Lang and William Gavin relic collections, and the Kevin Hoffman sword collection containing numerous glittering presentation specimens.

Chet and Pat Small’s property opposite the Sherfy Barn (on the left) with the relic barn on the upper right.

Most stunning was easily was the Reynolds collection that featured, among other items, the kepi, sword, belt, and sash that Gen. John Reynolds was wearing when shot off his horse during the first day’s fight.

Along with collections, the Horse Soldier handled many exceptional single pieces, the most singular of which was probably a U.S. Grant coat with major general shoulder straps and inner and outer pockets tailored to contain the general’s cigars. Another unusual item was the Union Signal Corps flag that waved over Little Round Top on July 2, 1863.

Gettysburg 7 Into the 21st Century

In the early years the Smalls faced the fact that Horse Soldier catalogues, with their eye-catching color covers, had become obsolete. Without missing a beat, the shop shifted to an on-line website catalogue and continued on briskly as ever. Early on it had acquired a federal firearms dealer license that enabled the Horse Soldier to offer later, post-1898 pieces such as 1903 Springfield and WWII M-1 rifles, along with classic handguns such as the military Model 1911 Colt pistol. The Horse Soldier firearm range now ran from occasional colonial and

Chet Small’s barn where it all started.

8 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Current photograph of the vast array of current militaria for sale at the Horse Soldier. revolutionary-era pieces through to Korean War era carbines.

Just about the only historic firearm the Horse Soldier has never seen, Sam Small concedes, is the pre-Civil War Hawken brothers plains rifle.

At the same time, the Smalls had for years been looking for a building of their own; in 2010 they found one, moving the shop to a more convenient, less congested location at 219 Steinwehr Avenue, just down from Cemetery Ridge and Pickett’s Charge “High Water Mark.”

2010 also brought changes within the family circle. Chet had retired much earlier and many Horse Soldier “regulars” may remember him taking his ease in a chair near the front desk, maintained by wife Pat, in the old Gettysburg Village location. In January 2010 he passed away, receiving a funeral fit for a former WWII Marine Corps China veteran. Matriarch Pat, then in her 80s, remained at her front desk post through 2015. Back in 1938, as a child, she had walked five miles to town to watch Franklin Roosevelt speak at the unveiling

of the Peace Light Memorial.

As for other personnel…over the years the Horse Soldier has provided one kind of opportunity for history-minded young folks just starting out in life, and another kind for older retirees with historical expertise. Current Horse Soldier office and floor staff include Dana Diehl, Andy DeCusati and wife Lisa, Jim Thomas, Stephanie Lewis, Shelly Malgee, and Kara Stewart; also me, a semi-retired, weekend parttimer, along with Don “Crabman” Bennett and Small cousin “Flip” Fazenbaker, helping out on weekend shows. ********************** Which is probably the place to conclude. With the battle anniversary nearly here, we’re getting too busy to write more. Plus, there will probably be a twelveyear-old cavalry recruit returning (with dad’s check book) who deserves all the courtesies the Horse Soldier extends to former National Park curators and other history-besotted pilgrims…Civil War News readers included. The

Horse Soldier is an interesting place, with a history of its own.

Be sure to stop by.

John Peterson is a freelance writer whose essays and review have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Blue & Gray and various other national periodicals.

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“The best little book on Barnard”

Written for both professional and amateur historians, Gettysburg Magazine has been publishing engaging and highly readable works of original scholarship concerning the battle and campaign of Gettysburg since 1989. Each issue presents research into the strategies, the controversies, the participants, the witnesses, and the events leading up to and following the battle. Features include personal essays, historical and contemporary photography from the site, and maps that allow readers to more fully visualize the events of those critical three days in American history.

Subscriptions and back issues are available at nebraskapressjournals.unl.edu or by calling 402-472-8536.

Recent issues are available at stores in and around Gettysburg.

The American Civil War was the first war in which both sides widely used entrenchments, repeating rifles, ironclad warships, and telegraphed communications. It was also the first American War to be extensively photographed. Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan are famous for having made iconic photographs in the Civil War’s eastern theater. George N. Barnard deserves to be ranked in this top tier for his photographic work in the war’s western theater. A civilian photographer hired by Gen. William T. Sherman’s chief engineer to take pictures of fortifications around Atlanta, Barnard took several hundred of them in and around the city in the fall of 1864. His most famous is the site of Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s death in the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. Thus far, no comprehensive, definitive listing has been made of the photographer’s work. For this book we have chosen a hundred images we deem “significant.”

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Wrecking Atlanta

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Peachtree Battery–Another View The two largest collections of George Barnard’s photographs are at West Point and in the Library of Congress.

Northern Engineers Prying Up Track

This view is not in the Poe collection, but is in Washington (LOC 03403a). The Library of Congress images bear no captions (as do Poe’s pictures), so students of Barnardiana have to scrutinize the pictures and compare them to others.

Shadow dating is the practice of timing a photograph by studying its shadows.

Barnard’s view in this image looks northwest up the railroad. The engineers’ shadows are to the right—leading one to deduce that this picture was taken on the afternoon of November 14, after the Car Shed had been knocked down. The Concert hall and Georgia Railroad Bank Agency are still standing—they were destroyed in the fires of November 15.

This photograph was rendered into a drawing by Walton Taber for the famed Battles and Leaders series of the 1880s. When the men of the 1st Missouri Engineers (one of Poe’s two engineer regiments at Atlanta) saw the Taber illustration, they apparently recognized themselves, to the point of reprinting the drawing in their regimental history of 1889 with the caption, “the First Missouri Engineers destroying a railroad showing the use of hooks made by them for the purpose.”

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Wrecking Atlanta

This one is quite similar to Poe #116. The seated soldier is still there, but his comrade on the wooden box is gone. The two photos were probably taken minutes apart.

Freedpeople on the Boxcars On top of the boxcars are African Americans seeking to flee Atlanta before the Federals leave. Their belongings are piled high; the cars themselves would be filled with army stuff.

The poster on the wall of the car shed promotes an entertainment at the Atheneum scheduled for Monday, November 7.

57

In identifying these kinds of scenes, viewers look for telltale clues. One of the most important in the set of pictures taken at Battery K is the tree in the center, which Confederates had left standing just beyond their parapet.

Confederate Lt. Col. Bushrod W. Frobel, assistant chief engineer in Hood’s army, called this “the Peachtree street battery.” In his diary entry for August 14, 1864, he remarked on the sharp skirmishing in front of it. Federal troops, however, never assaulted the Confederate works surrounding Atlanta.

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12 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Captain Jasper Muse’s Sword

By Shannon Pritchard Weapons associated with a particular soldier are always the most desirable. When we know who carried the weapon, we can, through the use of written records, piece together the soldier’s history and thus get a good idea where the particular weapon was used, the battles that it participated in, and the weary miles over which it was toted.

These details bring its history alive, and bring us closer to the War. However, we are always left with a longing for more; more details, more certainty. If only the man who wielded the weapon could tell us of his travails in his own words we might be content.

A few times in a lifetime a weapon comes along that has just such a record.

In 2015 a Confederate sword made its way back to the South after more than 150 years as a prisoner of war. When I purchased it, I knew I was buying an exceptionally nice Boyle, Gamble & MacFee foot officer’s sword, but got much more than I bargained for. The day after returning to Richmond, while standing on a sunny antebellum southern porch admiring it, I made a stunning discovery.

Turning the scabbard over in natural light I could see a letter. Looking more carefully I discovered, nicely crosshatched into the lower scabbard mount the name “W J Muse.” That, of course, started me on a frenzied dig for information on W. J. Muse. Fortunately, there was only one possible match for that name in Confederate rosters; William Jasper Muse. I found there was an abundance of information relating to Captain Muse, too much in some regards. Often his records and even his obituary conflict in details. Some records show him as a Lieutenant and others as a Captain. Some show he was captured at Gettysburg on July 1, others say July 2 or 3. Some said he was wounded eleven times, others six or eight; I was still digging, trying to sort it all out, when I made a second remarkable discovery.

William Jasper Muse had written his autobiography in 1907, in which he tells us the “battles that it participated in,

and the weary miles over which it was toted.” As his long silent voice from the past came alive, the years rolled back and it was as if his sword was lying across his knees in front of me as he reminisced on the War. Note: Text in brackets has been added by Shannon Pritchard.

“I have been urged for many years by my family and friends to place on record my own personal experience of the War Between the States. I have hesitated to do so from the fact I did not feel equal to the task.

And now that I have given the story of my life, I doubt if it will be of much interest to the general reader. I have only attempted to give a concise sketch of my observations and the part I took in that great war. However, I found it necessary to write the history of the First Tennessee Regiment and the Tennessee Brigade and also some of the movements of the Army of Northern Virginia in order to get my own story in these reminiscences.

I had no diary or data from which to assist me in this work.

I had to rely entirely on memory.

In giving my life’s history from birth and a brief biography sketch of the Muse family (which has no part in my war records), I have only carried out a long delayed duty and pleasure.

I felt that this was the opportune time and that I was the only one of the name now living who was in possession of the facts, relative to our ancestry as here related.

In concluding, I wish to say that so far as the part I took in the defense of the South, it was from an honest conviction of right and justice. We were right then and have always been right. “Wholly and Eternally Right.”

Signed: W. J. MUSE July 26, 1907 “So that on the first day of May, 1861, these companies, eleven in all, assembled at Winchester, Tennessee, and organized...There were one hundred and ten men in the company and they proved in the end to be one of the best bodies of confederate troops that ever marched under St. Andrews Cross.”

Full length view of Captain Muse’s sword and scabbard.

The following is an abridged version of Captain Muse’s autobiography.

“THE TRIP TO LYNCHBURG” “…that night we boarded some freight cars and pulled out for Lynchburg, Virginia. On the route, at every city, town and station, we were enthusiastically received. Men, women and children joined with each other in doing us honor. Flowers were presented. Great baskets of provisions were supplied, speeches were made and cheers went up from thousands of throats for the Tennesseans. Stops were made at Knoxville, Bristol, and Wytheville, Virginia, where great ovations were made in our honor.

The people couldn’t do enough for us. Especially was this true at Wytheville, Virginia...

When we reached Lynchburg, after some delay, we were marched to the Fair Grounds and men put into encampment for the first time. We had no tents and occupied the stalls for our quarters. Several commands were already there and others kept coming. Brass bands, drums, fifes and bugles were filling the air with music all the time...

A few days after we went into camp great loads of guns encased in large boxes begun to arrive.

It was rumored, and the rumor went all over the camp in a short time, that the guns were old flint lock, smooth bored muskets.

The regiment rebelled – almost mutinied. They were Tennesseans and were promised rifles. And swore by the Holy they would not have them. No argument or persuasion Colonel Turney or his officers made had any effect…

Finally Colonel Turney seeing he was at his wits end, went to see Mr. Davis and laid the case before him. The President came out, got in front of these guns and told Colonel Turney to form his men in a hollow square around the guns. When this was done, Mr. Davis said, “Tennesseans, I have offered you the best guns we have at the present time. It is impossible to arm you with rifles.

I know you are marksmen of the first class. I have witnessed that fact in the Mexican War. I know

you scorn to use anything but a rifle. But this is the best I can do.

Let me say this to you. Take these guns, learn the manual of arms with them and prepare yourselves for the coming conflict, and the first battle you are in capture rifles from the enemy.” With a yell that was heard for miles around the men broke ranks and rushed on the guns, hardly giving the President time to get down.

They tore open those boxes and in thirty minutes every man in the company was fully armed and equipped.

I was elected 2nd Lieutenant of Company B. During the [re] organization of Johnston’s army in the spring of 1862, all the Tennessee Troops then in Virginia were sent back to the Tennessee army except the 1st, 7th, and 14th. These three regiments were brigaded together, and Colonel Robert Hatton of the 7th was appointed Brigadier Commander…

After ten days marching through rain and slush and living on parched corn we reached Richmond...On May 31st, 1862, the Battle of Seven Pines began at an early hour. But it was not until late in the afternoon before Hatton’s Brigade of Tennesseans entered the fight…The roar of musketry was so great not a command could be heard. But the Tennesseans knew what to do.

They leaped forward with yells that shook the earth, and drove the Yankees off the field and saved the day of the Confederate forces…The 1st Tennessee lost 85 men killed and wounded in fifteen minutes. I got a Minnie ball through my right thigh. Night came and put a stop to the fight. I was carried to the West Junction railroad where I remained on the cold wet grass all night. Next day the train ran out and I was picked up, with others, and carried to Richmond and put in the 3rd

Alabama Hospital. This was a tobacco factory where I remained for three months before I was able for duty...

“IN MARYLAND” About the 1st of September, 1862, found General Lee on the move again. He had conceived the idea to invade the State of Maryland, and soon had his army of 35,000 men in motion and pressed on across the Potomac, and rested awhile at Frederic[k], Maryland. About this time I was put in charge of a hundred men with orders to join our command, then heading for Maryland. All these men like myself had been wounded. We started out with three days rations. When this gave out we were a hundred miles from Lee’s army, and right on his track of march the whole country had been swept clean of everything…I was completely worn out. My wounds were still troubling me, and I had to use my sword and a cane to aid me in walking. [Notice that the lip is missing from the scabbard’s drag, but the drag is worn so smooth as to appear never to have had the lip; Muse’s using it as a cane probably caused this.] It was a day or two after this before Lee moved forward again...

Lee took his stand at Sharpsburg on the eastern bank of the Potomac. But before this however, Lee had sent Jackson with his division which included the Tennessean Brigade to Harpers Ferry to capture 16,000 Yankees. Jackson had recrossed the Potomac near Sharpsburg to the Virginia side and by a forced march was soon in front of Harpers Ferry. I had been with the army just five days and as I had been absent for several months I suppose they wanted to give me another treat – so I was detailed to take command of the

The scabbard’s middle mount with Muse’s name engraved in “cross hatch.”

(All photos courtesy OldSouthAntiques.com)

July 2019 skirmish line…General Jackson soon came up and a formal surrender of 16,000 Federals and as many stands of arms.

Jackson wheeled his division back to Sharpsburg to help Lee. We reached the left line about four o’clock in the afternoon of the 17th of September, 1862…

Jackson put his men in action at once. The Tennesseans leading in the charge with Colonel Turney in front of all. We were repulsed on the first charge, but falling back to a road and reformed and reformed and at the command “Charge Tennesseans” the rush forward was irresistible.

Nothing but a mountain could have withstood it...In this charge on that stone fence before the enemy was dislodged, many a Confederate soldier went down.

Just as we leaped the rail fence out of a corn field to an open space, I was shot in the left side but I kept going with the rush until we got within about a hundred yards of the stone fence behind which the Yankees were throwing hot shot into us. I was shot through the left thigh. This knocked me down.

Captain Daniel – six feet two and a forceful man – gathered me up as though I had been a child and carried me to a large black locus[t] tree, standing in a hedge, and stretched me out behind it.

I think when he left me he was sure it was for the last time for I seemed to be bleeding from every pore...I remained where Captain Daniel left me until the litter corps came along and put me on a stretcher and carried me back to the Field Hospital…The fatigue of the forced march to Harpers Ferry and back, and the loss of blood left me in a semiunconscious condition. But when Dr. Dance inserted his fingers into my wounds to see the extent of my injuries, I think I came to life again for this was the most painful ordeal I had ever endured.

When Lee fell back across the Potomac I was not able to be moved. Therefore fell in the hands of the enemy – a prisoner of war. The dead had been buried, and shelters were put up over the wounded, and here we stayed for six weeks. Those who were able to travel were ordered to Baltimore for exchange.

The trip down the Chesapeake Bay and up James River to Richmond was a most delightful one. The exchange was made at Harrison’s landing on the James.

When I reached Richmond about the first of November, 1862, I still was on crutches and went at once to the 3rd Alabama Hospital.

They very cheerfully took me in and I remained here until about the first of February, 1863, before I was able for duty…[Page 14

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Close up of name on the mount. of this document is missing. It will continue on with page 15, which picks up in the middle of a paragraph.] he [General Archer] refused to speak. I then loosened my pistol and drew my sword and ordered the guard to present arms. As they did so I saluted with my sword. Archer sat like a stone. I ordered the guard to shoulder arms and resume his walk on his beat. I then put up my sword, turned on my heels and entered the house and finished my dinner. I soon heard Archer and the jingling of his staff leaving.

I never did quite understand it.

I never saw Archer again until we were going into the fight at Gettysburg. He was captured there and next time I saw him was on Johnson’s Island – a prisoner of war. He was exchanged for a Federal General early in 1865, went home and died before the war closed. The day General Archer was captured in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Heath [Heth] was wounded.

The history of the great Battle of Gettysburg, and as I believe, the turning point of the Confederacy, has often been told and told much better than I can describe it.

Through somebody’s fault – not Lee’s – it is said to be Longstreet’s failure to obey orders – that battle was lost to the Confederates. The Tennessee Brigade lost heavily in this fight. Many of its bravest and best men went down. [The 1st Tennessee was in Archer’s Brigade, Heth’s Division.

Birkett Fry took command after Archer was captured on July 1. During the Pickett’s Charge, the brigade closed on Pickett’s left and mingled with Garnett’s and Armstead’s men when they pierced the Union line at the Bloody Angle]…When it was all over I was on the ground with three holes through me, and pronounced dead by our surgeon.

Here I remained for eighteen days – long after Lee had left Pennsylvania and recrossed the Potomac and was on Virginia soil again.

There is this personal incident about that battle which I wish to relate. How long I remained conscious after I was shot I don’t know. The wound through my right lung bled profusely and I was bloody from head to foot.

Before I lost consciousness some kindly Yankee soldier gave me a canteen of whiskey. [It was here that Muse lost his sword]…

When they first got to me Dr. Pearson said I was dead, they could do nothing for me. But Monroe Jordon wouldn’t give up.

He had Pearson to examine me again and again. Finally Pearson said, “There is a spark of life left.”

Monroe said, “As long as there is life there is hope.” He and Bill Vaughan and Dr. Pearson pulled off their coats and rolled up their sleeves and went to work… They kept this up all night long – never stopping, never giving up. These brave men fought for my life as valiantly as they ever fought on a field of battle. …I could see and hear but I couldn’t speak or move... they moved me back to the field hospital which was a large barn with many stalls. They put me, bed and all, in one of the stalls. They stayed with me as long as they could. When Lee moved his army back to Virginia, they had to leave me, and there I was a prisoner of war again.

I stayed at this old barn for eighteen days and had the best attention by the Union doctors and nurses...I was shipped to Baltimore, Maryland, from Gettysburg and put in a hospital a few days. Then put on board the sailship Len with 2,700 other wounded prisoners. We were sent to New York City, and thence up East River to David’s Island...

We were guarded on this trip by a company of raw Dutch troops who had never seen service.

The officer in command was a handsome well-educated fellow, and he did all in his power to make us comfortable. But not so his men. They were brutal. One of them came where I was lying and demanded that I get up and wait on some of the prisoners who were making complaints. I couldn’t understand what he said.

Finally he raised his gun and struck at me with the bayonet. Just as he made the stroke the young officer came up and knocked the gun to one side, or the bayonet would have gone through me…

When we reached David’s Island, we found everything nice and clean. The buildings were laid off in rows with nice cots and clean bedding. We had every

Gettysburg 13

Boyle, Gamble & MacFee firm marking on the underside of the hand guard. attention and comfort a wounded man desired. While here we were visited by the people of New York City – especially the Southern sympathizers…

When we had been there about two months all the private soldiers who were able to leave were sent through for exchange – and I believe this was the last exchange they had from that time to the close of the war. All the officers were sent to Johnson’s Island prison, and this was a prison in the strongest sense of the word...Here I entered on a prison life of eighteen months duration. It is impossible to relate the horrors of this prison life. I was already weakened by wounds and exposure, and how I lived through these eighteen months of hell is remarkable. The great Creator certainly endowed me with great vitality and indomitable willpower. I was very small physically, not weighing at any time more than 115 pounds, and still in my ‘teens. Then add to this short rations and rough unwholesome fair [sic fare], confinement in close quarters and the cold winds, of a Northern climate, and you have a picture of the condition that the bravest and strongest would hesitate to face.

And yet I went through it all and kept upon my feet all the time.

The weary months dragged on, not a ray of hope seemed to be in sight. But for all of this, these brave half-famished men were as true to the cause as hopeful of ultimate success as in the beginning. No one faltered, and took the oath to return home.

Time passed on – we survived the dreadful winter of 1864-5. And finally about the first of March, 1865, an order came to send a batch of officers through the lines for exchange for an equal number of Federal Officers of same rank. In making this selection the longest term prisoners were taken.

It so happened – why I do not know – I was selected to go in the first batch. So that on the 14th of March, 1865, I was carried on a litter, being too weak to walk, to the little tug boat which steamed across the bay to Sandusky, Ohio, where I boarded the train for Baltimore and from there

down Chesapeake Bay to Point Lookout for exchange.

I reached Richmond, Virginia, March 22, 1865. While waiting for exchange I drew what confederate money was due as Lt. For two years, bought a new gray uniform and rested up a few days. On the morning of the 2nd April, I took a train at Richmond for Petersburg, Virginia. I went out on the line where the 1st Tennessee was encamped to see the boys. I had not been there two hours until Grant moved his entire army on Lee and the fight was on that resulted in the surrender of Appomattox.

I had not been exchanged. I could not get back to Richmond, so I fell in line and went back with my command and surrendered April 9, 1865. On the 11th day of April we walked over to Lynchburg and spent the night in the fair grounds where we were sworn into service four years before.

From the effects of the wounds, prison life and other exposures, I was a complete physical wreck when I reached home. It was almost fifteen months after I reached home before I was able to be up and about again. Six months of this time I was confined to my bed. …And now 42 years since the close of the war, I am still living, active, and enjoying reasonably good health and with very little touch of time in my personal appearance, in this, the Grace of our Lord, 1907.”

The Yankee captor of Captain Muse’s sword must have valued it highly as he took good care of it, so that it remains in extraordinarily good condition.

For history, rarity, and condition, few artifacts could outshine this remarkable sword.

Shannon Pritchard has authored numerous articles relating to the authentication, care and conservation of Confederate antiques, including several cover articles and is the author of the definitive work on Confederate collectibles, the widely acclaimed Collecting the Confederacy, Artifacts and Antiques from the War Between the States, and is co-author of Confederate Faces in Color.

Subscribe to Civil War News online at www.CivilWarNews.com

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16 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

July 2019

The 3-inch ordnance rifle, serial no. 1, was part of Lieutenant Wilber’s section, Reynolds Battery L, First New York Light Artillery, assigned to the First Corps Artillery Brigade, under the Colonel Charles S. Wainwright.

Serial no. 1 was manufactured

by Phoenix Iron Company, Phoenixville, Penn., in the fall of 1861, under the U.S. Ordnance Contract of July 24, 1861. It was delivered to the government in November and issued from Washington Arsenal to Reynolds Battery at Camp Barry.

In May 1862, the battery was sent to join General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. It was first assigned to General McDowell’s command.

It was in reserve, though under fire, at Cedar Mountain. The battery’s first engagement was at Rappahannock Station, where two were wounded; White Sulphur Springs, Gainesville (Groveton), and Second Bull Run followed. In the latter engagement, the battery bore a prominent part; had a number

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

of men wounded, and eight horses killed. It was assigned to a position opposite a rebel battery, with another volunteer battery on their immediate right.

Owing to the severe firing of the Rebels, the other battery withdrew. Battery L retained its position, returning the sharp fire of the Rebel artillery, and also repulsing an infantry charge using canister, while retaining their position until directed to retire by a general officer.

The battery was assigned to the First Corps, under General Hooker, at Antietam, South Mountain, and Fredericksburg.

It fought at Chancellorsville, and made the memorable march from Virginia to Gettysburg.

Around 3:30 p.m. July 1, 1863, Capt. Gilbert H. Reynolds, Battery L, First New York Light Artillery, with six 3-inch rifled guns was directed by Col. Charles S. Wainwright, First Corps Chief of Artillery, to take position between the town and the seminary, then move still farther forward. It was too hot there. Rebel cannon swept their

position with a deadly crossfire from the right. Captain Reynolds was wounded in the side and lost an eye. Lt. George Breck took over the battery. Now Rebel infantry came storming in on the battery’s left, while Union infantry masked its fire, and the battery was compelled to give ground. They opened fire again but not for very long, as its infantry support melted away under terrible shellfire and a hail of bullets, leaving the guns exposed to the full weight of the attack. The guns were quickly limbered to pull out but the Chambersburg Pike was jammed with a mass of retreating infantry, neither to be threaded nor skirted. The battery was forced to move at an agonizing walk.

Close behind it came the Rebel yells; bullets whistled past. At last the pike was cleared; the infantry had swung off to take cover in the railroad cut, a readymade trench.

When Lt. Breck signaled to move out, it was too late. Lead was thudding into the carriages and the bodies of the horses at

Wartime photograph of Chambersburg Turnpike, Gettysburg, Penn.

Mathew Brady is standing on the right side of the road.

the battery’s rear. The off-wheel horse of Lt. Wilber’s last piece screamed and went down. His driver cut him out of the traces.

Then three more of the team collapsed, threshing about in a welter of blood and tangled harness; there was no saving the gun now. They had to let it go. General Henry J. Hunt, the Chief of Artillery Army of the Potomac, speaking of this engagement, said, “There were occasions when a gun could be lost with Honor, and Battery L’s loss after its gallant stand was such an instance.” From this time on the gun was used by the Confederates until its recapture the following spring at Spotsylvania Court House when it was recognized by its muzzle number.

Later, Col. Wainwright wrote in his Journal of this gun’s loss, So the gun was abandoned.

I was terribly grieved when I heard of it, for I had begun to look upon our getting off from that place as quite a feat, and wished that it could have been

Gettysburg 17

without loss of a gun. The more think of it, the more I wonder that we got off at all. Our front fire must have shaken the rebel lines badly or they would have been upon us. The gun lost was No. 1, the first three-inch gun accepted by the ordnance department.

Bibliography •

• •

•

New York (State) Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga. Final Report on the Battlefield of Gettysburg, 3 vol. Albany, N.Y., J.B. Lyon Co., 1900.

The Guns at Gettysburg, by Fairfax Downey, McKay Co., Inc., New York, 1958.

A Diary of Battle, The Personal Journal of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861–1865, Edited by Allen Nevins, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, 1962.

“The 3-Inch Ordnance Rifle,” by James C. Hazlett, MD, published in CWTI, December 1968.

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

George Lomas and a Union reenactor standing with 3-inch ordnance rifle no. 1. “greetings” from Uncle Sam and joined the United States Army.

He served two years on active duty and four as a reservist.

Fort Jackson, South Carolina, was his principal duty station.

An assignment as regimental quartermaster honed his skills of thrift and conservative spending.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Army didn’t see these qualities as quite the asset George did. A phone call from his commanding officer emphasized the importance of spending the entire budget allocated. George did as he was ordered, but shared with friends throughout his life, that he thought the government spent money too carelessly and with no regard for the taxpayers providing the funding.

On May 20, 1966, George received a letter from Brigadier General L.H. Walker Jr. informing him he had been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for “Your enviable record” and that “service such as yours represents the finest traditions of the United States Army.” George may have had philosophical differences with the spending, but he never would do any less than his best.

After military service, George returned to his family home in the Philadelphia area and worked at a tool and die company. Later

but he was an extremely smart, self-educated man. From his younger years helping unload Bannerman’s Island, handling original Civil War artifacts, to visiting museums and historic sites, and learning minute details regarding lock plates, artillery shells, muskets, and cannons, George became a walking encyclopedia of Civil War knowledge.

Yet for all his experience and knowledge, he was always open to learning more. He was not prideful and readily embraced new information and knowledge.

To his credit, he was generous with his knowledge. He never hoarded it like a miser. He was willing to share and impart his knowledge to anyone seeking him out.

George had a twinkle in his eyes, a disarming smile, a generosity of spirit to be envied, and a self-effacing personality that never intimidated nor put anyone off. George was a good man whose word was his bond.

George Lomas, “Patriarch, Titan, Icon, Mentor and Friend,” you will be sorely missed.

Note: 3-inch ordnance rifle no.

1 will be on display in the near future with George’s musket collection and educational displays in a building located in Gettysburg.

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Strickland, joined forces to stage the largest and most successful Civil War reenactment ever. Over 22,500 reenactors participated during the event commemorating the 135th anniversary of that pivotal Civil War battle. The 135th created the gold standard for Civil War Reenactment event production.

From relationships forged during the strain of the mega 135th Gettysburg event, the Gettysburg Reenactment Committee formed between George, Randy, and Tony continues to stage the most successful annual Civil War reenactment commemoration in the country. A totally privately funded event, the GRC has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to historic land conservation and preservation. Regardless of the event’s profitability, George, Randy, and Tony fulfilled their commitments to the not for profit organizations in the Gettysburg community.

Establishing the Regimental Quartermaster retail shop in Gettysburg solidified George’s commitment to the town that would become his home.

George’s story would not be complete without mentioning his avid and voracious need to learn more and become more knowledgeable. He was not an academically educated man,

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In Memoriam George Henry Lomas was born September 7, 1942, exactly, as he would recount with a twinkle in his eye, nine months to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Born into a working class family in Germantown, Penn., he was the fifth and last child born to Anna and William Lomas.

From an early age, George exhibited the determination and energy that marked his success as an adult. As a youngster he would sell the local newspaper from his red wagon on street corners.

This marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial pursuits. The Boys Club became a favorite hangout for George. During his days at the Club, he made the acquaintance of Art Zippler, an adult volunteer active in the club’s activities. Art made a connection with young George and became a mentor to him.

Art was involved in competitive black powder shooting and the Civil War. In addition, exhibits of Civil War dressed figures in Philadelphia’s department store windows furthered George’s interest. A passion for American Civil War history was formulated in the young man that would become not only a passion but also a second career.

In 1964 George received

he took a job with Bell and Pennsylvania which eventually became Verizon. He retired from Verizon in 1998.

As a young man, George started making canteens for sale to help offset the costs of his black powder shooting and reenacting hobbies. The first canteens were offered wholesale to John Ferry of “Old Sutler John” sutlery.

John declined to buy them, so George laid out a blanket at the next reenactment and sold them himself, at retail. John would later state, “Not buying those damn canteens was the worst decision I ever made.”

Another influence that impacted development of George’s entrepreneurial dream that would manifest itself as Regimental Quartermaster was Sue Hawkins from the newly formed Taylors and Company. Sue urged George to look at reenactments as a venue for his ever increasing reenacting products. George knew the reenacting community. He participated in the Centennial events commemorating First Manassas, Antietam, and Gettysburg. As his hobby merged with his developing entrepreneurial interests, a business was born. Still working full time for the phone company, George managed to attend countless Civil War events during the year as well as establishing a mail order operation and a “shop” adjacent to his then home in Warminster, Penn. Having attended and participated in so many reenactments across the county, George emerged as a resource for organizing committees and not for profit organizations promoting reenactments.

His influence could be felt throughout the hobby as more attention to the details of event production became a standard.

George recognized the importance of both the reenactors’ experience and safety as well as creating an environment where spectators and visitors could learn more, and better appreciate, the vibrant and transforming events of 1861 to 1865 in the United States.

As the “big” anniversary years grew nearer, George transitioned from participant to event organizer. The 135th Gettysburg Reenactment was the product of conflict, compromise, and cooperation. Several groups vied for the opportunity to produce this reenactment. The Civil War Reenactors Alliance wanted one event. Their determination to bring the factions together to produce the most rewarding experience for the reenacting community succeeded. Civil War Heritage, led by George Lomas, and Gettysburg Living History, headed by Randy Phiel and Tony

July 2019

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18 Gettysburg

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20 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Gettysburg Connections

By Sue Boardman Some of the most rewarding moments in my guiding career have been when I can connect visitors to their personal Civil War heritage. My most recent encounter with a visitor named Shannon reminded me that the Civil War was not so very long ago. She lives in Alexandria, Va., and works for a federal agency in Washington, DC. She came to Gettysburg as part of a Gettysburg Foundation leadership program.

Her father, Talbert Hughes, lives in Rockville, Md., where she stayed the night before the program. As they watched the movie Gettysburg in preparation for her visit, Talbert mentioned that his grandmother’s cousin was married to one of the Civil

War generals depicted in the movie, James Longstreet. In fact, Mr. Hughes mentioned that he met Helen Dortch Longstreet when he was a boy aged 9 or 10.

The talk in the family was that Helen had married “a much older man.”

Helen Longstreet was born in 1863. She was 34 when she married for the first and only time, to the much-older James Longstreet who was 76. As a friend of the general’s daughter, Helen was a generation younger than her husband. Longstreet’s first wife, Maria Louisa, had died in 1889. In September 1897, Longstreet and Helen, described as charming and pretty, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and fair skin, exchanged vows in the parlor of the governor’s executive mansion on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.

Talbert Hughes recalls that Helen seemed very devoted to her husband, and history concurs.

In 1902, she published Lee and Longstreet at High Tide: Gettysburg in the Light of the Official Records. After General Longstreet’s death in 1904, Helen spent the rest of her long life actively protecting his reputation and crafting his legacy, especially against critics who argued he failed to do his duty at Gettysburg.

Helen’s own direct connection to the Gettysburg battlefield is a good example.

Confederate veterans of Longstreet’s command launched the Longstreet Memorial Association during the 1938 reunion at Gettysburg. Their stated purposes were to correct historical errors regarding Longstreet that had circulated for many years and to have suitable memorials raised to his memory.

General Julius F. Howell, Commander of the United Confederate Veterans was elected president of the new organization.

Other offices were filled by prominent people from across the country. All the veterans who served with Longstreet at Gettysburg were elected honorary Vice-Presidents of the Association. Helen Longstreet was one of the most active charter members of the board of directors.

The organization published a newsletter titled The Great American in which the plans were laid out for the placement of an equestrian monument to General Longstreet on the Gettysburg battlefield. A model of the statue, to be executed by Paul Manship, appeared in a photograph on the cover.

Helen embarked on a very busy lecture tour throughout the eastern United States and wrote thousands of letters encouraging support for the monument.

On July 2, 1941, the general’s widow was one of the featured

Gettysburg National Military Park. Longstreet & Supt. Coleman in center.

(Gettysburg National Military Park)

Longstreet Statue Model by Paul Manship. guests at a two-day ceremony dedicating the site for the proposed monument in the field across from the Alabama monument located on South Confederate Avenue opposite Big Round Top. Also included were screen star Mary Pickford, General Howell, the artist Paul Manship, officers from the Carlisle Army Barracks, troops from the 2nd Army Corps, and the 28th Division. Several fraternal and civic organizations were present including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, American Legion, Spanish-American War Veterans, Sons of Union Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Knights of Columbus, the Lions, the Elks, the Moose, the Eagles, and the Rotary.

A parade to the battlefield site was led by the Honor Guard of the 71st Coast Artillery. Also present were 1,600 men, 75 officers, 250 vehicles, 50 pieces of anti-aircraft equipment along with a military band and several colors. Flowers were dropped from an airplane over the site.

Manship’s model was unveiled

by Helen, followed by the unveiling of Howard Chandler Christy’s portrait painting of General Longstreet by Miss Mary Kearny, granddaughter of General Phil Kearny.

After addresses by National Park Service Superintendent Walter J. Coleman, General Howell, Mary Pickford, and representatives for Pennsylvania Governor Arthur James and

(Sue Boardman)

President Franklin Roosevelt, spades of dirt were turned over to break ground for the monument.

Playing of the Star-Spangled Banner, a benediction, and TAPS closed the program. The general would have been delighted by all the fuss his widow had helped to create!

Sadly, the onset of World War II derailed plans for the Longstreet monument at Gettysburg.

Nevertheless, standing with Shannon on the proposed monument site at Gettysburg all these years later was as exciting for me as it was for her. Shannon commented that having this connection “created a bonding opportunity with me and my dad.

Once his generation is gone, the first-person connection is going to go away.” Shannon thought Helen was way ahead of her time.

“She was quite a pioneer and was even a riveter in her 80s I think.”

Indeed she was!

Helen was 78 years old when she came to Gettysburg in 1941 and she was by no means finished with her active life. In 1943, at the height of World War II, Helen took a job as a riveter at Bell Aircraft plant in Marietta, Ga. She wanted to contribute to the war effort as best she could, telling a reporter, “This is the most horrible war of them all.

It makes General Sherman look like a piker….”

Although her work was praised by plant officials, union representatives called her a

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July 2019

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Longstreet, Pickford, Julius, and Howell. “very old lady” and accused the company of hiring her as a publicity stunt. Nevertheless, during her nearly two years at the plant, a foreman said her work was among the best done there.

Shannon also noted Helen’s self-appointed role as a political activist. After World War II ended, the widow became a vocal supporter of civil rights for blacks, and in 1950 she ran for governor of Georgia as a write-in candidate. As part of her campaign she said, “I’ll make this state a place where the humblest Negro can go to sleep at night and be assured of waking

(Sue Boardman)

up in the morning….” She lost the election, garnering only 1.5 percent of the vote. Helen’s health declined during the last ten years of her life. She became totally deaf and was often confused about where she was. She died in 1962 in the Milledgeville State Hospital at the age of 99. She is buried in Westview Cemetery, Atlanta, Ga., several hundred miles away from her beloved General Longstreet. Shannon Hughes thanked me after her visit to Gettysburg, saying, “…I learned so much about my family through sharing the experience!”

She is most welcome.

Sue Boardman, a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide since 2001, is a two-time recipient of the Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Guiding. Sue is a recognized expert of not only the Battle of Gettysburg but also the National Park’s early history including its many monuments and the National Cemetery.

Beginning in 2004, Sue served as historical consultant for the Gettysburg Foundation for the new museum project as well as for the massive project to conserve and restore the Gettysburg Cyclorama.

She also served on the advisory committee during the restoration of the Atlanta Cyclorama (2017–2019). She has authored a book on the history of the Cyclorama titled The Gettysburg Cyclorama: A History and Guide and co-authored The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas. Sue has also authored Elizabeth Thorn: Wartime Caretaker of Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery and has published articles in a number of

Civil War periodicals.

Sue currently serves as Director of the Gettysburg Foundation’s Leadership Program. Her program, In the Footsteps of Leaders has been well-received by corporate, government, non-profit and educational groups.

Sue is a native of Danville, Pa., and an Honors Graduate from Penn State/Geisinger Medical Center School of Nursing and attended Bloomsburg University. A 23-year career as an ER nurse preceded her career at Gettysburg. Sue served as President of the historic Evergreen Cemetery Association

Gettysburg 21 and is currently on the Board of Trustees. She has worked as an adjunct instructor for Harrisburg Area Community College and Susquehanna University.

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Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Captured in Gettysburg!

Visages frozen in time in the depth of early photographs

By Garry Adelman Within two years of the Battle of Gettysburg, no fewer than eight photographers recorded more than 170 outdoor, documentary photos of the battlefield and the town. Dead soldiers, destruction, landscapes, and famous structures dominated the various series. Only a small portion of these photographs include the living and most of these show photographers’ assistants, posing to make a scene more interesting or to provide more depth to a photo.

Still, some few wartime photos include identifiable people—photographers, journalists, soldiers, and Gettysburg’s civilians.

Here are eight photos by five different photographers; four were taken in July 1863, three in November that same year, and one in July 1865. Instead of razor-focusing upon the battle and battlefield, let’s zoom into the people who were captured on glass plates for all time and examine who they were and how they related to America’s greatest battlefield. For more information, see William A. Frassanito’s books, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time and Early Photography at Gettysburg. In these masterpieces, Frassanito dates and discusses all the early Gettysburg photographs and identifies or details most all those known by name in postwar images. These key books also provide the key context surrounding those in the photographs.

The humanity involved in and affected by the Civil War is an often overlooked but essential part of studying the conflict.

Somehow, seeing their faces and stances help us sympathize with and better understand the people of the past.

Garry Adelman is director of history and education at the American Battlefield Trust, vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and a longtime licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg.

July 6, 1863. Alfred Waud was an artist and traveled to Gettysburg during or just after the battle to sketch battlefield scenes. These sketches could be improved and even colored for sale as art but their most prolific use was as engravings, or “woodcuts,” in Harper’s Weekly or other publications. Waud created dozens of Gettysburg scenes including at least one at Devil’s Den, where photographer Alexander Gardner recorded this photograph. Gardner’s work demonstrates that there were numerous Confederate corpses only steps away when Waud was captured on glass at Devil’s Den. The boulder on which he sits, now popularly known as the “Waud Rock,” is easy to locate today; it sits just off the road in front of the largest boulder known as the Table Rock.

(Library of Congress)

ca. July 10, 1863. Along the Baltimore Pike and near the crest of East Cemetery Hill, 114th Pennsylvania vivandiere Marie Tepe, also known as French Mary, stands in front of lunettes used to defend cannon and cannoneers just days earlier. Tepe had already been awarded the Kearny Cross for her gallant acts at Fredericksburg the previous fall. The photographer, Frederick Gutekunst hailed from Philadelphia just like the 114th Pennsylvania, but Frassanito could only speculate that there was a geographic connection that resulted in her being included in this photo. Although in this view it is difficult to see much of the vivandière, Frassanito includes a great detail from a better print, as well as a studio portrait of French Mary, in his Early Photography at Gettysburg.

(Miller’s Photographic History of the Civil War)

ca. July 15, 1863. The famed photographer Mathew Brady arrived in Gettysburg after the dead had been buried and therefore chiefly recorded photographs of battlefield scenes and structures that played a role in the conflict. He and his team secured four photos of the Widow Mary Thompson’s stone house on the Chambersburg Pike. This structure is commonly known today as Lee’s Headquarters. In this detail, Brady (standing) and one of his assistants pose with a woman thought to be none other than the nearly 70-year-old Widow Thompson herself, seated in a chair in front of her now-forever-famous house. The assistant is perched on one of Thompson’s damaged fences.

This structure and acreage around it was purchased by the American Battlefield Trust in 2016 and restored to its wartime appearance, including the rebuilt fences and the arbor visible in the background.

(Library of Congress)

ca. July 15, 1863. Because his home was located on the same road as the Thompson house, it would have been a simple task for Brady’s crew to secure photographs of Gettysburg’s most famous living civilian, John Burns, seen here with his wife Barbara on the porch of their Gettysburg home. When Confederates were known to be approaching Gettysburg, on July 1, 1863, Burns famously grabbed his old musket and left home to fight alongside Northern soldiers. Leaning against the doorway is his half-stock flintlock fowler cut-down from military musket. His wife strongly appealed his decision to no avail.

Wounded three times, Burns soon became known as the Hero of Gettysburg for his heroic defense of the town. He and his house were among the most-photographed subjects in Gettysburg during the War. In this Brady detail, you can clearly see the crutches, necessitated by his wounding. (Library of Congress)

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Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Gettysburg 23

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November 11, 1863. At first glance this scene may seem especially gruesome until one considers the lifelike appearance of the “dead” and the complete lack of foliage on a summer battlefield. As detailed by Frassanito, these soldiers are posing at Devil’s Den for Peter S. Weaver’s camera just eight days before the consecration of Gettysburg’s Soldiers National Cemetery, when President Abraham Lincoln would deliver one of America’s most-famous speeches. At dead center—no pun intended—lies 23 year-old Jacob Shenkel, who noted in his diary that he accompanied the artist to the area take some battlefield scenes, which included views of men both alive and posing as dead. Just 60 feet to the right of the camera’s position is the Alfred Waud Rock.

(Library of Congress)

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November 19, 1863. Proceedings surrounding the consecration of the Soldiers National Cemetery were captured by several photographic firms. It seemed that everyone had come to town, including governors, cabinet members, senators, orators, and other dignitaries. Here, in this tight detail, a bareheaded President Abraham Lincoln can be seen just above the crowd at center left. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin is at far right.

Historians have various opinions about the identification of others on the platform in this detail; see Frassanito’s books as well as the mostly online work of Christoper Oakley and Craig Heberton. Historians agree that this photo, probably taken by David Bachrach, depicts Lincoln but still disagree on whether this is the only photo depicting Lincoln at Gettysburg.

(Library of Congress) July 4, 1865. Crowds assembled once again at Gettysburg at the end of the war to commemorate the laying of the Soldiers National Monument cornerstone in the cemetery. Frustratingly, there is no known photo of these proceedings, but at least twelve photos, are known to have been taken

by Alexander Gardner’s firm on or around the date of the commemoration, July 4, 1865. Five photos were recorded in the camp of Captain John J. Huff, who served as a commissary officer throughout the Civil War. At Gettysburg he was apparently supporting the hundreds of soldiers on hand for the event. In this detail the portly Huff is seen leaning against a tree on Stevens Knoll just west of Culp’s Hill. With him are mostly civilians who were apparently part of his team.

(Library of Congress) Left: November 20, 1863. One of the men who remained in Gettysburg after Lincoln’s departure on November 19, was Benjamin French, who had served as a marshal during the ceremonies.

He had supervised the funeral arrangements for President Lincoln’s son, Willie, and, seventeen months after this photo was taken, would also do the same for Abraham. French poses here at center for Alexander Gardner’s firm on the porch of the home of the Widow Lydia Leister, also known as General Meade’s Headquarters during the battle. Also visible at right are two unidentified African-American children. The Leister house was later restored and remains under the longtime stewardship of the National Park Service.

(Library of Congress)

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Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Grace Between Rivals:

A Trait that may have Perished from the Earth since Gettysburg

By Harold Holzer Imagine it: a recently defeated vice-presidential candidate invited to give the main speech at the dedication of a new cemetery for soldiers who died for their country; the President of the United States asked to the same event only later and half-heartedly, to deliver just “a few appropriate remarks” on the same occasion.

Can anyone imagine President Donald Trump ceding the spotlight to Hillary Clinton’s former running mate, Tim Kaine, just two years after the election should a similar opportunity arise today? Or, for that matter, Barack Obama playing second fiddle to his own opponent’s running mate, Sarah Palin; or George W.

Bush standing aside for Al Gore’s vice-presidential choice, Joe Lieberman? Call it implausible; and could anyone imagine the President later congratulating his onetime rival for his effort?

Yet that is exactly what transpired seven score and sixteen years ago, when Abraham Lincoln accepted second-billing at Gettysburg in deference to Edward Everett, a veteran Massachusetts politician who had run for Vice President just three years earlier on a third-party ticket. As the President well knew, Everett’s supporters had campaigned on the idea that Lincoln lacked the capacity to handle the mounting national crisis over slavery.

So it happened that on November 19, 1863, Everett delivered a long, orotund, quickly-forgotten stem-winder at Gettysburg. Lincoln followed with what he called a “short, short, short” statement that eventually attained the status of American scripture.

All but forgotten is the humility Lincoln had demonstrated in accepting a minor role in the first place. True, Everett was the nation’s most distinguished speechmaker, and could be relied upon to offer a crowd-pleasing performance; but Lincoln was

The most famous of Gardner’s November 8, 1863 photos, this close-up came to be known as “The Gettysburg Lincoln,” but was in fact produced at the request of a sculptor who needed new pictures to serve as models for her proposed Lincoln bust.

(Library of Congress)

commander-in-chief and author of the recent Emancipation Proclamation. His armies, after all, and not Everett’s, had won the Battle of Gettysburg the previous July.

Lincoln decided it was more important to consecrate the “honored dead” of that victory than to obsess about his own status. He raised no objections to the insulting arrangement. He said nothing when the event was postponed to November fit Everett’s schedule.

He reverently toured the battlefield after he arrived and shunned the liquor-fueled celebrations that erupted on the streets the night before the dedication. He tried to put aside lingering worries about the health of his little boy, Tad, sick in the White House with smallpox just a year after his older brother, Willie, had died there of typhoid fever. Somehow Lincoln closed out the noise, the pomp, and all other outside concerns to concentrate on writing a final draft of his talk.

After riding to Cemetery Ridge, Lincoln endured yet another ordeal: three hours of prayers and dirges, not to mention the Everett marathon, before taking center stage so briefly that photographers on the scene neglected to take a close-up picture.

Lincoln’s only false step at Gettysburg, another self-effacing gesture unimaginable in today’s boast-riddled political culture, was to suggest that the world would “little note, nor long remember” what he said. In fact, Lincoln did nothing less than consecrate a new nation of, by,

Orator Edward Everett as he looked in 1863, engraved by H. Wright Smith.

(Library of Congress)

From a distance, Alexander Gardner took this photograph of the speakers’ platform at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863. Lincoln has just taken his seat and removed his top hat.

(National Archives Identifier: 529085 Local Identifier: 111-B-4975. Creator: War Department.

Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (8/1/1866 - 9/18/1947)

July 2019 and for a people still only at the midway point in a bloody civil war.

According to one legend, Lincoln himself initially judged his Gettysburg performance “a flat failure.” But even if he first doubted that his speech would “long endure,” he soon learned otherwise, and from a source equally impossible to imagine in today’s house divided: his podium rival.

Lauding Lincoln’s “eloquent simplicity,” Edward Everett quickly sent a compliment pithier than anything he had said at the cemetery: “I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

There the matter might have rested, had the recipient of this generous, and accurate, appraisal not been Lincoln. After digesting Everett’s kind words, Lincoln reciprocated in kind: “In our respective parts yesterday, you could not have been excused to make a short address, nor I a long one. I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure.” As for Everett’s oration, Lincoln affably exaggerated that it was “of great value….transcended my expectation.”

Enveloped in military and political crisis, the President might understandably have demanded both center stage and ample time to deliver the one and only official message at an event certain to be covered widely by the national media. In a timeless lesson to modern leaders who make such somber occasions more about themselves than the casualties of war, Lincoln swallowed his pride and fit himself elegantly into a pageant that history would ultimately recall solely for his magisterial contribution.

He did so not only by crafting a masterpiece, but making sure his audience joined him in reverencing the achievements of others: those who “gave their lives that the nation might live.”

Paying tribute to the “honored dead” is agonizingly difficult.

Sharing the honor of doing so is harder still. Appropriately, Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg have not perished from the earth. His modesty before the event, and his graciousness after, deserve to be remembered as well.

In truth, Lincoln bore no great respect for Edward Everett and thought him “very much overrated,” but he shared that dismissive, tweet-length critique with only one confidant. He never revealed his disdain widely or cruelly.

The following year, onetime opponent Edward Everett not

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section only enthusiastically endorsed the president for re-election, he persuaded Lincoln to send him a new, handwritten copy of his Gettysburg Address to sell for

the benefit of wounded soldiers.

Lincoln’s words and modesty had united them in common cause.

Everett died on January 15, 1865. Three months later to the

Eleven days before the Gettysburg Address: Abraham Lincoln, Sunday, November 8, 1863, by Alexander Gardner. The sheet of paper lying on the table may be an advance, typeset copy of Edward Everett’s address, sent to the President so he would not repeat the principal orator’s main points. (Library of Congress)

day, the President with whom he had exchanged speeches and compliments at Gettysburg succumbed to an assassin’s bullet.

Gettysburg 25 Harold Holzer, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, won the 2015 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for his book Lincoln and the Power of the Press.

The President and his private secretaries, John Nicolay (left) and John Hay, pose for Gardner on November 8, 1863. Both aides would accompany Lincoln to Gettysburg ten days later.

(Library of Congress)

26 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

Gettysburg Photo Album There are many tales associated with the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. The following is an abridged “photo album” capturing a few events that occurred in Gettysburg, Penn., between July 1-3, 1863.

Headquarters of Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg, Penn., July 1863; Colorization © 2010 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor. com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

The Generals: C.S. Gen. Robert E. Lee, Commander, Army of Northern Virginia “An invasion of the enemy’s country breaks up all his preconceived plans, relieves our country of his presence, and we subsist while there on his resources. The question of food for this army gives me more trouble than everything else combined.” – Robert E. Lee On June 16, fear spread in the North as Gen. Lee’s army crossed the Potomac River at Point of Rocks, Md. Lee was not attacked as he marched through

Maryland, but he had not heard from Gen. James “J.E.B.” Stuart on the whereabouts of the Union Army. On July 1, Lee arrived at Gettysburg in the late afternoon.

Major General George Meade, ‘”Old Snapping Turtle,” Commander, Army of the Potomac; Colorization © 2010 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

General Robert E. Lee, April 16th 1865; Richmond Virginia; Colorization © 2009 civilwarincolor.com courtesy civilwarincolor. com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

U.S. Gen. George Gordon Meade, Commander, Army of Potomac “General I am the bearer of sad news.” – Staff officer with news of Meade’s appointment About 3 a.m., on June 28, Meade was unceremoniously awakened to be informed he was the new commander of the Army of the Potomac. His protests that there were generals better qualified and

Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Penn., July 1863; Colorization © 2011 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor. com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

more senior were ignored. On the June 29, Meade’s army marched 25 miles after Lee. At 1 a.m. on July 2, Meade caught up with the Army of Potomac at Gettysburg.

The generals in his army were a mix of factions. Despite their personal conflicts, Meade would become the only general to defeat Lee in a clear victory.

Day 1 “The Devil’s to pay” – U.S. Gen. John Buford, Cavalry Corps.

Buford’s 2,700 cavalrymen had been sent to search for the Confederates. At 7 a.m. the first shot was fired. Soon the cavalry were fighting more than twice their number to protect the high ground, waiting for the infantry to arrive. About 10 a.m., Gen. John Reynolds asked if Buford could “hold out until his corps came up.” Buford, as he climbed down the ladder from the cupola of the Lutheran Seminary replied, “I reckon I can.” Both men believed they could buy the time until the rest of the Army of Potomac arrived. By 11 a.m., Reynolds was dead.

“I am going out to see what is going on.” – John Burns, 68-year old Gettysburg resident Burns grabbed his flintlock musket and powder horn. He volunteered his services to the nearest Union regiment while wearing a swallowtail coat with brass buttons, yellow vest, and a tall hat. The soldiers replaced his gun with a modern rifle and cartridges. They expected Burns to run when the firing became heavy. Instead he slid behind a tree, experienced the intense fighting with the Iron Brigade,

July 2019

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Gettysburg 27 the target of the Confederates’ primary attack. Sickles would be carried off the field, “with his right leg amputated and lying there, grim and stoical, with his cap pulled over his eyes, his hands calmly folded across his breast, and a cigar in his mouth!”

“Little Round top, crowned with artillery, resembled a volcano in eruption.” – C.S. Col. W.F. Perry, 44th Ala. Inf. U.S. Gen. Gouverneur Warren realized that the high ground of Round Top & Little Round Top, the “key of the whole [Union] position” was available for capture. Col. Strong Vincent, heeding the call for reinforcements, got there first. As the battle raged below at Devil’s Den, Vincent selected a ledge, known afterwards as Vincent’s Spur, as the spot to place his men.

On Vincent’s far left, the rebels surged towards his collapsing line. Vincent waving his riding crop, leaped onto a rocky perch yelling, “Don’t give an inch boys.

Don’t give an inch!” Vincent dropped, shot in the thigh, mortally wounded.

The “Old Hero of Gettysburg,” John L. Burns; Gettysburg, Penn.; July 1863; Colorization © 2010 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

Gen. Strong Vincent; Colorization © 2018 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

Gen. Daniel E. Sickles and Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman; Colorization © 2014 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor. com/cwn.

(Library of Congress) and suffered three wounds. Burns was captured, and then released by the Confederates. During his November Gettysburg trip, Lincoln requested to meet the famous Burns.

“We could see only that the oncoming lines of the enemy were encircling us in a horseshoe.” – U.S. Lt. Col. Rufus Dawes, 6th WI By 3:30 p.m., the entire Union position began to crumble. To support their infantry, Federal

artillery was placed within yards of the stone home of 69-yearold (Widow) Mary Thompson.

Thompson, her daughter-inlaw, and day-old granddaughter, sheltered in the basement as the battle roared above them.

The Confederates followed the retreating U.S. Army, “yelling like demons, in a mad charge for our guns.” From the building selected as his headquarters, Lee was able to watch his men chase Federals through the town, heading for Cemetery Hill.

“Forward men to the ledge!” – C.S. Col William Oates, 15th Ala. Into the breech arrived the 140th N.Y. “Commence firing,” yelled Col. Patrick O’Rourke. The lines erupted as both sides opened fire.

The 140th swarmed in, energizing the entire Federal line. “The front surged backward and forward like a wave.” On the far left, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, 20th Maine, had already extended his line into a reverse “J” to counter Oates’ flanking move. With his men firing their last cartridges, Chamberlain’s desperate shout, “Bayonets,” was passed down the line. Chamberlain yelled, “Charge!” and the Maine men flew downhill. “We ran like a herd of wild cattle,” recalled Oates.

Day 3

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 20th Maine, as a Major General; Colorization © 2013 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

Day 2 “How splendidly they march.

It looks like a dress parade, a review.” – U.S. Maj. St. Clair A. Mulholland, 116th Penn.

Meade had laid out his line in the shape of a giant fishhook.

Assigned to the left flank, U.S. Gen. Daniel Sickles, III Corps, moved his line to the higher ground of the Peach Orchard; isolating his men in front of the army while exposing the left flank of II Corps. His front became

“The clashing of sabers, the firing of pistols, the demands for surrender and cries of the combatants now filled the air.” – U.S. Capt. William E. Miller, 3rd Penn. Cavalry After 1 p.m., Gen. James “J.E.B.” Stuart’s 5,000 Cavalry rode up York Pike. Protecting the crossroads was newly minted Gen. George Custer with his Michigan Brigade. Both sides charged, the collision sounding “like the falling of timber … horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them.” Custer would lead counter charges yelling, “Come on, you Wolverines!” In the fight against a larger force, the 5th Mich., armed

28 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

with Spencer repeating carbines, gave the Union the advantage.

“The air [was] filling with the whirling, shrieking, hissing sound of the solid shot and bursting shell … nearly 150 guns belched forth messengers of destruction.”

– Pvt. Joseph McDermott, 69th Penn.

About 1 p.m., Lee’s artillery began bombarding Cemetery Ridge. Gen. Alexander Webb, holding the center of the Union line, knew “that an important assault was expected.” He seized the time to prepare for the upcoming battle. He replaced his batteries with fresh units, the 71st Penn. were positioned behind a stone wall and began loading up some 300 abandoned firearms they collected from the field.

“Charge the enemy and remember old Virginia.” – C.S. Gen. George Pickett In silence the Confederates advanced with “the appearance of being fearfully irresistible.”

As Gen. Richard Garnett’s Brigade came within 250 yards of the stonewall, the 71st Penn. unleashed their firepower. Gen. Lewis Armistead, twirling his hat on his sword, led the way to his death as men followed him over the wall. Webb’s position was being overwhelmed. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the 19th Mass. and 42nd NY into the breach, pushing the Confederates out of the clump of trees and back to the wall.

Major General George Custer, April 15th, 1865; Colorization © 2010 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

Stephanie Hagiwara is the editor for Civil War in Color.com and Civil War in 3D.com. She also writes a column for History in Full Color. com that covers stories of photographs of historical interest from the 1850’s to the present. Her articles can be found on Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest.

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“... I do not think ...there was such a thing as regiments. The men were fighting pretty much at will.” – U.S. Capt. Andrew Cowan, 1st NY Independent Battery The fighting turned into pandemonium. As more Federals poured into the area, the Confederates realized the fight was futile. The men held up their hands as a token of surrender.

The “sharp, quick huzza of the Federals told of our defeat and their triumph,” wrote Lt. George Finley, 56th Va. After the battle, both armies departed, and the photographers arrived. In a lane across the street from Lee’s Headquarters, three Confederate prisoners posed for posterity.

General George E. Pickett; Colorization © 2010 civilwarincolor. com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn. (Library of Congress)

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Alexander S. Webb; Colorization © 2016 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn.

(Library of Congress)

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30 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

How the Gardner and Brady Photos and Detective Work Changed the Modern Gettysburg Battlefield

By Bob Zeller In the mid-1960s, when 19-year-old William A. Frassanito began giving tours of the Gettysburg battlefield as a licensed battlefield guide, few knew the real story of one of its premier sights – the spectacular cluster of rocks known as Devil’s Den. “To us, Devil’s Den was just those massive boulders used by sharpshooters firing at Little Round Top,” Frassanito recalls.

“When we used to take tours through there, all the focus was on the enormous boulders to the right. There was never any focus off to the left because that area was completely overgrown.”

What happened “off to the left” was the real story of the action at Devil’s Den. It was known and understood by only a few historians with the deepest knowledge of the battle. It was only fully revealed after Frassanito began studying a group of photographs taken days after the battle by Alexander Gardner and his photographers, Timothy O’Sullivan and James Gibson, at an area they called the “Slaughter Pen.” Frassanito, while studying at Gettysburg College and giving battlefield tours, was also meticulously researching the Gettysburg photographs; that led to his groundbreaking first book, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time (Thomas Publications).

He was the first to exhaustively study Gardner’s Gettysburg battlefield images, along with those taken by Mathew Brady and his team as well as other photographers, for the historical information they contained. “I turned them into historical documents,” Frassanito said.

His discoveries about the photographs taken at the Slaughter Pen, Devil’s Den, and other battlefield locations not only changed how the battle was interpreted and understood, but ultimately spurred efforts to return the battlefield to the way it looked during the fighting of July 1-3, 1863.

Frassanito’s first challenge was simply finding where the images had been taken.

Misinformation was endemic.

Particularly confusing were 10 Gardner images showing rows of dead soldiers. Frassanito was the first to discover they were all linked and were taken in the same place. But the books and publications he pored over identified four different locations where individual photos in the group were taken. Most sources identified the men as Union dead.

As it turned out, all four locations were wrong; and the casualties were Confederate dead.

Some photo locations were easy to find; others eluded Frassanito for years. Fans of Journey joined in the hunt for the remaining undiscovered photo locations.

The precise spot of one photo of a dead Confederate amongst rocks in the Slaughter Pen eluded Frassanito for more than 20 years until 16-year-old high school student Eugene Walker, armed with a copy of the book, discovered the stones one summer day in 1987.

Frassanito’s discovery of the Slaughter Pen location was one of his most significant. It would change interpretations of the fighting around Devil’s Den and eventually transform the battlefield itself.

The key Slaughter Pen photo was an image taken by O’Sullivan that Gardner included in his Photographic Sketch Book of the War, published in 1866. It shows several dead soldiers in a rocky but open area just in front of a forest.

Gardner wrote in the Sketch Book that the image was taken “in front of Little Round Top,” so for more than a century it was assumed the photo was taken there. But Frassanito never could find any of the identical rocks at the base of Little Round Top. He searched other areas, looking especially for a large split boulder just left of dead center in the photo. On Feb. 1, 1967, while searching in thick woods at the base of Big Round Top, across from Devil’s Den, Frassanito discovered the split boulder.

“It blew my mind because that area was completely overgrown,” he recalls. “So, when my book came out, it opened everybody’s eyes to how vast portions of the battlefield were overgrown; and that began the initiation of the modern era of battlefield restoration.”

The profusion of bodies in the

Slaughter Pen images pointed to fierce combat in the Devil’s Den area. With further research, Frassanito was able to tell the story of the bloody struggle there in Journey and in greater detail in his Early Photography at Gettysburg

(Thomas Publications).

Licensed battlefield guides Garry Adelman and Tim Smith, Frassanito’s proteges, dug deeper and, in 1997 published Devil’s Den: A History and Guide (Thomas Publications). “Recognized

for little more than the notion of Southern sharpshooters picking off hapless Yankees from the safety of the rocks,” they wrote, Devil’s Den and the Slaughter Pen were in fact host to bloody charges and countercharges

The location of Plate 44 in Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War, showing the “Slaughter Pen” at Gettysburg, was discovered by William A. Frassanito in 1967, leading to a reinterpretation of the fighting around Devil’s Den and ultimately the clearing of forested land to return this scene to its wartime appearance.

(Library of Congress)

The clearing of the Slaughter Pen in 2007 dramatically changed the look of the Devil’s Den area from Little Round Top, allowing visitors to better understand the fierce fighting that took place on the now-open ground. But it also left exposed a restroom (soon to be removed) that had been discreetly hidden in the woods. (Photo by Bob Zeller)

July 2019 during the battle’s second day that swept across the open area shown in O’Sullivan’s photo. The fighting there “produced far more casualties than the attack and defense of Little Round Top,” they wrote.

Five weeks after discovering the Slaughter Pen in 1967, Frassanito found another split boulder he had spent years searching for. This one appeared in the background of one photo in the previously mentioned group

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section of 10 images showing rows of dead soldiers. This discovery, on the Rose Farm just west of the Wheatfield, established that the fighting there on the second day of the battle was also much fiercer and more significant than previously known.

In 2007, the National Park Service cleared the Slaughter Pen, using Gardner’s photo as a guide to reestablishing the wartime tree line. “Ripping those trees away was really dramatic when they

first did it,” Smith said. “Especially looking down from Little Round Top. It had a dramatic impact on how people interpreted the battle.”

The tree removal was part of a multi-year park service project in the 2000s to deforest 576 acres that had been open land during the battle, while planting trees on 115 open acres that had been forest. One area where trees were removed was on the Rose Farm, with Gardner’s photos helping to reestablish the 1863 tree lines.

Using Frassanito’s books as a guide, Smith assisted the park service in determining how much to cut in various areas. Park historians were not present during the actual cutting, so the contractors who did the work had great discretion. Smith was on the battlefield one morning when he discovered that the park service’s contractors were about to open up an area near the Slaughter Pen that had been forested during the battle. Using original battlefield

Gettysburg 31

137 East Main Street, Lancaster, Ohio 740-654-9923 | www.shermanhouse.org Please see our website or call our office for touring times and ticket prices.

Easy • Affordable • Effective This image of Confederate dead credited to Gardner photographer Timothy O’Sullivan had been incorrectly identified as Union dead of the 24th Michigan of the Iron Brigade at McPherson’s Woods until Frassanito discovered the actual location nearly three miles away on the Rose Farm in 1867.

(Library of Congress)

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32 Gettysburg photos to prove his case, Smith convinced the park service to stop the contractors from going too far.

“A lot of latitude was given to the guys who were taking down the trees and those guys were erring on the side of taking more trees and not less,” Smith said.

“But I was able to contact the folks at the park and say, ‘Hey, I think they’re taking too much at this spot.’”

One battlefield landmark photographed by Brady and his team (including photographers Anthony Berger and David Woodbury) was Mary Thompson’s stone house on Seminary Ridge, the scene of heavy fighting on the first day and then Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s headquarters on the second and third days.

After the American Battlefield Trust acquired the property in 2015, it set about restoring the home and removing adjacent modern structures, including a motel and restaurant. Brady’s photos of Lee’s Headquarters, including two 3-D views, were invaluable in the restoration work, not only because they showed how the house looked in 1863, but the surrounding land.

“There were four Brady photographs of the house, but there were actually seven Brady photographs recorded on the property purchased by the Trust,” Smith said. “There are four of the house itself, and then there is a two-plate panorama looking towards the town. Finally, there’s also the camera location of the three Confederate prisoners.”

“Using those images, along with the Warren topographical map of the battlefield [from an 1868–69 survey], gave us an idea of what the house looked like, but also the terrain behind the house

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section where the hotel and the restaurant were located,” Smith said. “They took down the buildings but there was a swimming pool and an area flattened for a putting green. All those things were removed and we’re basically talking about bulldozing or adding soil to whatever area needed it and making the ground the same as it was in 1863.”

Brady’s expansive panoramic photos from Little Round Top also provide a vast amount of visual information about how the battlefield looked in 1863 and were studied during the battlefield restoration project.

One of the most famous of Gardner’s Gettysburg photos, credited to O’Sullivan, holds a secret that may never be revealed.

“A Harvest of Death,” also in the Sketch Book, shows more than a dozen dead soldiers where they fell, scattered across a flat, open plain devoid of rocks or other distinctive geographical features.

While the camera location remains unknown and the same bodies appear in four other photos by Gardner and his team, none of them provide enough visual information to establish a definitive location.

In the years since Journey was published, more than a few battle enthusiasts have become obsessed with finding the location.

Many of these folks have become convinced they have found the location. The number of different places have been piling up.

So far, at least 30 different locations have been cited. None of them, however, can be definitively proved. Frassanito, Smith, and Adelman reject all of them, with each spot having its own fatal flaws.

“While I have never given up hope that this site may one day be

The location of this Slaughter Pen photo by Gardner remained a mystery until 1987, when 16-year-old Eugene Walker, a Frassanito devotee, conducted his own search and was able to find the correct boulders.

(Library of Congress)

truly discovered and confirmed beyond doubt,” Frassanito wrote in Early Photography, “I must admit that I remain completely perplexed.”

Today, almost a quarter century after he wrote it, that statement still holds true. And the search goes on.

Bob Zeller, co-founder and president of non-profit The Center for Civil War Photography (wwwcivilwarphotography.org) is a writer and historian who has authored or co-authored four books on Civil War photography, including The Blue and Gray in Black and White:

July 2019 A History of Civil War Photography (Praeger: 2005), and Lincoln in 3-D (Chronicle Books: 2010). His most recent book, published in 2017, is Fighting the Second Civil War: A History of Battlefield Preservation and the Emergence of the Civil War Trust (Knox Press).

This Brady stereo photograph of Lee’s Headquarters in July 1863 was used, along with six other Brady images, to help restore the house and surrounding landscape to its wartime appearance after the American Battlefield Trust bought the property in 2015.

(Library of Congress)

The location of this famous Gettysburg photograph, “A Harvest of Death,” credited to Gardner photographer Timothy O’Sullivan, remains unknown despite years of searching by countless battlefield enthusiasts.

(Library of Congress)

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34 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Breaking News: Big Battle in Pennsylvania The Graphic War highlights prints and printmakers from the Civil War discussing their meaning and most importantly, the print maker or artist’s goals.

When they began business, most early lithographers and printers concerned themselves with mundane printing jobs producing sheet music, business papers including receipts and invoices, handbills, and letter

heads. Lithographer Nathaniel Currier soon realized that there was money to be made in current events or “news flashes” or in today’s hyperventilating society, “Breaking News!” In 1835, the year he started his business before partnering with James Ives, Currier published a picture of a New York fire entitled Ruins of the Merchants Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of December 16

& 17, 1835. Four days later his image appeared in the New York Sun. Five years later, Currier documented the destruction of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound.

The Civil War provided printers and artists ample “breaking news” examples which they quickly, and often erroneously, turned into instant, single sheet, lithographs.

Several lithographers and artists produced depictions of the Battle

July 2019

of Gettysburg, too many to cover in a single column. Instead, while three distinctive prints captured the tenor of the battle; only one can be relied on by historians and Civil War scholars as remotely accurate for use as a primary source document.

Both Charles Magnus and Currier and Ives concentrated on the drama of the third day with Pickett’s charge. The artist F. Fuchs, about whom little is known, including his first name, produced a view of the third day that was printed by Charles Magnus.

Magnus, another German émigré who brought his artistic skills to America, was known for his single, letter sheets which featured panoramic city views. He also produced separate, small bird’s eye views of major American cities. During the war he concentrated on Federal hospitals and camps, finding the occupants a ready market for his wares. His most lucrative trade was producing patriotic covers or envelopes sold to practically every Union soldier in the army. Magnus, understanding that his primary

Gettysburg battlefield / Jno. B. Bachelder, del.; Endicott & Co. lith, N.Y.

customers were Unionists, “did all he could through the printed word and imagery to promote the Union.”1 His perspective of the “high water mark” features General George Meade directing the Federal defense of Cemetery Ridge as Confederate forces attacked the center of the Union line. A single gun occupies the center, firing at countless Confederate soldiers as far too many cavalry charge on the left.

Nothing is left to chance or the imagination. Inexplicably, a rebel soldier wielding a peculiar Confederate flag has broken behind the Union lines, probably a nod to Armistead.

Currier’s depiction of Pickett’s charge was no more subtle.

Currier and Ives produced more than 7,000 titles during their long history; Magnus only 1,000.

Of that large number, Currier published approximately 200 Civil War subjects, mostly hack, small folios of interchangeable scenes that could have been any battle. As historian Bryan Le Beau notes, the Currier firm was “generally supportive

(Library of Congress)

July 2019 of the Union;” but “took a more moderate stance.” This moderation may have been evident at the beginning, but by mid-war, the firm had become a staunch Union supporter.

According to Bryan, “they avoided the sordid realities of battle in their prints, retaining the romance and glory of war, and they were comparatively more tempered in their criticism of the South.”2 By 1863, Currier and Ives made no bones about their loyalties and the subtitle on this print showed no attempt at “fair and balanced.” They published only seven large folio Civil War topics including this rendering of Gettysburg’s third day. They printed three versions of the battle; two small folios and this large edition. The title margin was identical in all three versions: “This terrific and bloody conflict between the gallant Army of the Potomac, commanded by their great General George G. Meade, and the hosts of the rebel Army of the East under General Lee, was commenced on Wednesday July 1st and ended on Friday the 3rd at 5 o’clock p.m.—The decisive battle was fought on Friday, ending in the complete rout and dispersion of the Rebel army.—A Nation’s thanks and undying fame ever crown the Arms of the heroic soldiers who fought with such unflinching bravery this long and desperate fight.”

Again, Meade is the main figure, front and center directing his troops. Facing him is an unidentified officer, undoubtedly Winfield Scott Hancock, whose command bore the brunt of Pickett’s charge. In the background are marvelous, towering mountains, perhaps depicting Seminary Ridge on steroids. Remarkably, Currier did not memorialize Lincoln’s visit to Gettysburg in November or the Gettysburg Address.

The premier lithograph emanating from the war and, Gettysburg in particular was John B. Bachelder’s bird’s eye view of the battlefield. Much is known of Bachelder. My colleague and fellow Civil War News columnist, Michael K. Shaffer wrote an excellent article two years ago on the primary sources available to understanding Bachelder’s role in the battlefield.3 Bachelder began life as an artist. He painted landscapes, portraits, practiced lithography, and then photography later in life. Before the war he was best known for the Album of New England Scenery, which featured twenty-two bird’s eye views published in 1856.

When war broke out he managed to secure a position

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section with the Army of the Potomac.

With the Battle of Gettysburg, Bachelder’s life changed forever, as he devoted the rest of his life to the great battle. Within a remarkable 84 days, he was able to interview hundreds of survivors and locate their unit’s positions.

“After working up the details of several engagements, he reached the battlefield…before the dead were buried.”4 The battle ended July 3 and Bachelder’s print was published by year’s end bearing the publication date of 1863.

Known as an “isometric” or bird’s eye view, the print presents the sleepy crossroads of Gettysburg to the right, the mountains off to the rear of the Confederate lines from the Union perspective.

There is no dramatic reenactment of the battle or Pickett’s charge, no attempt to show human activity, just a “map” of each and every unit engaged in the three day battle, meticulously noted in their primary positions on the field.

Bachelder went on to be acclaimed the savior of the battlefield. He became the park’s director of the Gettysburg Memorial Association, a work of love that lasted his lifetime. He assumed the large task of marking the ground where each unit, Federal or Confederate, stood and oversaw the first generation of monuments to blanket the field. The Gettysburg Battlefield print became a commercial success and led to many new and lucrative business arrangements, almost all related to his work on the battlefield. He became the official government historian for the battlefield and profited from private as well as government work.5 Today, his masterful bird’s eye print is considered by most collectors as the crown jewel of Civil War lithographs. Of the other two, Currier’s depiction of the final day is more sought after than Magnus’ portrayal.

Endnotes: 1. E. Richard McKinstry.

Charles Magnus, Lithographer: Illustrating America’s Past, 1850-1900.

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Oak Knoll Press, 2013, 117.

2. Bryan F. Le Beau. Currier & Ives: America Imagined.

Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001, 73.

3. Michael Shaffer, “The Bachelder Papers,” Civil War News, July 2017, 16G. 4. Senator Wade Hampton, March 17, 1880, Report of U.S. Senate Military Affairs Committee.

5. Thomas A. Desjardin, These

Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory.

Photos and Sources: • Bachelder/ Gettysburg https:// www.loc.gov/item/93517377/ • Currier/Ives /Gettysburg Met Museum https:// www.metmuseum.org/art/

•

collection/search/420770 Magnus/Seth Kaller https:// w w w. s e t h k a l l e r. c o m / slideshow.

Salvatore Cilella is retired after 43 years in the museum field. His last position was President and CEO of the Atlanta History Center. He is the author of several articles

Gettysburg 35 and books. His most recent books are Upton’s Regulars: A History of the 121st New York Volunteers in the Civil War (U. Press Kansas, 2009) and The Correspondence of General Emory Upton, 1856–1881 (U. Tennessee Press, 2017) edited.

He is preparing a manuscript of Upton’s letters to his wife 1868–70 for the Oklahoma University Press.

“Third Day of the Battle of Gettysburg” Magnus Hand Colored View.

(Magnus/Seth Kaller)

The Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 3rd, 1863. Currier & Ives. The New York lithographer-publisher Currier & Ives issued this print soon after the Battle of Gettysburg to commemorate the dearly won Union victory. The text below the image sets the tone: “This terrific and bloody conflict between the gallant Army of the Potomac, commanded by their great General George G. Meade, and the hosts of the rebel Army of the East under General Lee, was commenced on Wednesday July 1st and ended on Friday the 3rd at 5 o’clock p.m.—The decisive battle was fought on Friday, ending in the complete rout and dispersion of the Rebel army.—A Nations thanks and undying fame ever crown the Arms of the heroic soldiers who fought with such unflinching bravery this long and desperate fight.”

(Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962)

36 Gettysburg

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

July 2019

An Artist and His Mural Gettysburg’s Coster Avenue: “The Brickyard Fight and the Mural.” By Mark H. Dunkelman. Photos, notes, map, 47 pp., 2018. Gettysburg Publishing, LLC, www.gettysburgpublishing.com. $18.95 paperback.

Reviewed by Christopher Army Civil War News book reviews provide our readers with timely analysis of the latest and most significant Civil War research and scholarship. Contact Stephen Davis, Civil War News Book Review Editor. Email: BookReviews@CivilWarNews.com.

Criticisms of Previous Scholars Detract from this Work Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment. By Cory M. Pfarr. Maps. photographs, endnotes, bibliography, index, 205pp., 2019.

McFarland & Company, Inc., www. mcfarlandpub.com. $39.95 paperback.

Reviewed by John Michael Priest

Until recently, historians have generally not treated James Longstreet, Robert E. Lee’s “Old War Horse,” very kindly. Vilified as a “Black Republican,” a traitor, and the man who lost Gettysburg for Lee, his name has often not appeared in the pantheon of Confederate heroes. Over the last 30 years, however, I have seen the general given a more sympathetic appraisal within the circle of Civil War students. Not being an expert on generals, however, I had just contented myself with the results of my own research while writing my books on the Wilderness and the second and third days at Gettysburg. My conclusions parallel those defended by Mr. Pfarr.

To date, I have not seen an analytical work of this scope which examines Longstreet’s performance at Gettysburg during the entire battle. The author, using sources from Longstreet’s contemporaries,

argues that he clearly became the scapegoat of the Lee worshippers who supported the Lost Cause mythology. I thought he did a good job proving his case.

I am not faulting his research, in the least, nor his conclusions.

Mr. Pfarr thoroughly documents and argues his premise that historians have been perpetuating the Lost Cause myth that Longstreet was the reason Lee failed at Gettysburg. I think he could have handled his criticisms of Edwin Coddington, Jeffrey Wert, Gary Gallagher, Robert K. Krick and other historians with more tact. For instance, in writing about the aide James P. Smith’s “alleged” meeting with Lee on the evening of July 1, he writes, “Gary Gallagher has advanced some misleading conclusions.” He states that, “for some reason, Gallagher uses the staff officer’s account to pivot to a separate topic: Longstreet’s misgivings about attacking on July 2.” Of Robert K. Krick, he writes, “Robert Krick claims that some of Longstreet’s ‘series of conferences with Lee’ on July 2 were ‘turbulent,’ a word that suggests anger, chaos, and confusion.”

Authors are as individualistic as fingerprints. I do not find it beneficial to attack their interpretations on what occasionally appears to be a personal level. Mr. Pfarr’s persistent criticisms of how his predecessors misinterpreted their material detracts from this otherwise good work.

John Michael Priest is the author of a two-volume account of the battle of the Wilderness, Nowhere to Run and Victory Without Triumph (White Mane, 1995, 1996).

On Gettysburg he has written Into the Fight: Pickett’s Charge (White Mane, 1998) and Stand To It and Give them Hell (Savas Beatie, 2014).

Students of the battle of Gettysburg are likely familiar with historian John B. Bachelder and the history of the battle he produced. Some, however, may not be aware that Bachelder was also an artist of some success who painted several Gettysburg-related scenes. His artistic ability is visible in the production of his Isometric Map, a popular map among Civil War veterans.

Fast-forward to the year 1988, the 125th anniversary of the battle, when another historian/artist arrived on the forefront. His name is Mark Dunkelman and his passion is the history of the 154th New York Regiment.

Gettysburg’s Coster Avenue: “The Brickyard Fight and the Mural” is a nice balance of Mark Dunkelman, the author, and Dunkelman, the artist. The book is comprised of two parts. The first part details the history of the fighting in John Kuhn’s brickyard. Known as “the Brickyard Fight,” the action that took place on this ground late on July 1st, 1863 is not given a lot of press in the major works of the battle.

Interspersed with the narrative, the author includes quite a few photos of some of the commanders and men involved in the action. Part one, taken on its own, is a nice narrative for any students of the battle to have in their collection.

In part two, we meet Dunkelman, the artist. The reader is treated to the process of how Dunkelman pursued his goal of writing about the 154th New York Regiment while he leveraged his artistic ability to continue to tell the story of the Brickyard Fight. In 1970 an idea germinated to paint a mural on the wall of an addition to a roofing company at the southern edge of Coster Avenue. Subsequently, Dunkelman worked with Michael Winey in writing

a history of the 154th New York regiment, all the while continuing to have his mural project take shape.

Solving the artistic problem of what point of view the mural should take was the next step.

Dunkelman details his working to obtain endorsements and mentors on the project, including Civil War photography expert William A. Frassanito and Col. Jacob Sheads, a well known history teacher and Licensed Battlefield Guide in Gettysburg.

Sheads, as noted by Dunkelman, played baseball at Coster Avenue as a boy when the area was still a wide-open space!

Dunkelman takes the reader through a journey of evolution for his mural from some of the initial sketches and ideas to his self-funding of the final product with the hopes of completing it for the 125th anniversary of the battle. Serendipitously, Dunkelman met Johan Bjurman, an accomplished muralist and they decided to collaborate on the Coster Avenue project.

Dunkelman documents some of his trials and tribulations along the way to install and dedicate the mural. An early article in Civil War Times and the endorsement and encouragement of Licensed

Battlefield Guides assured some visitation after the 1988 dedication of the mural.

The reader is then led through a journey of the mural, which started to suffer some decay after about ten years, and Dunkelman’s effort to finance a restoration.

Just as it looked as if he would have to resort to self-funding the restoration, a group of devoted Ed Bearss followers, known as the “Bearss Brigade” informed Dunkelman that Ed had chosen his restoration project for a donation from the brigade.

In 2010 the artist realized even with maintenance efforts, the painting was deteriorating again.

The final section of part two of the book details the latest effort, using a new technique to display the mural.

The book is a fascinating look at a little-known area of the battlefield. Through the efforts of Mark Dunkelman, the public and students of the battle now have better context as to the fighting that took place and the evolution of a wonderful mural to honor the men who fought in the Brickyard Fight.

Christopher Army is a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg.

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July 2019

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Much More Than the 20th Maine Maine Roads to Gettysburg: How Joshua Chamberlain, Oliver Howard, and 4,000 Men From the Pine Tree State Helped Win the Civil War’s Bloodiest Battle. By Tom Huntington. Annotations, bibliography, illustrations, maps, 388 pp., 2018. Stackpole Books, w w w. S t a c k p o l e B o o k s . c o m . $32.95 hardcover.

Reviewed by John Foskett

Even casual Civil War readers know that soldiers and units from Maine played an outsized role at the battle of Gettysburg. In the popular mind, most of that awareness is focused on the 20th Maine Infantry, its commander Col. Joshua Chamberlain, and the somewhat fictionalized portrayal of them as the Unionsaving defenders of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863, depicted in Michael Shaara’s novel The Killer Angels and its cinematic version Gettysburg. Author Tom Huntington has taken this topic and produced a well-written narrative of the important parts played in the iconic battle by several natives, regiments, and batteries from the Pine Tree State.

Huntington’s book traces Mainers’ involvement with the war in Virginia from the beginning at the First Battle of Bull Run and follows it through the organization of the Army of the Potomac and the fighting in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. The capstone is a detailed exploration of the three days at Gettysburg as experienced by these soldiers.

Both individuals and units are covered here. Names which are familiar to Civil War students

appear throughout this book, such as Oliver O. Howard, Hiram Berry, Freeman McGilvery, Chamberlain, Adelbert Ames, and Thomas Hyde. Many of these officers rose to command levels or assignments which had removed them from state units

by July 1863. Most, of course, were nonetheless active in the Pennsylvania battle and their actions are extensively addressed.

This includes Howard’s role as commander of the ill-fated 11th Corps and McGilvery’s important contribution to the Union artillery’s successful defense of Cemetery Ridge. But Huntington also diligently narrates the experiences of several regiments and batteries from Maine and, in particular, the significant roles which they took on at Gettysburg.

It is in the Gettysburg chapters where the book provides important value. While Huntington is careful to cover the 20th Maine’s fighting on Little Round Top, he goes much further than the title’s prominent listing of Chamberlain might indicate.

Here a reader is presented with the 16th Maine’s equally heroic and important defense of the Union 1st Corps’ line on the afternoon of July 1 which, unlike the 20th’s role, decimated the regiment.

Huntington also devotes attention to the desperate fighting by the 3rd Maine, 4th Maine, and 17th Maine when the 3rd Corps confronted Longstreet’s massive assault against the Union left on July 2. The combats of the 2nd Maine and 5th Maine field artillery batteries on July 1 get equivalent treatment.

Huntington’s coverage of the 20th Maine’s action on Little Round Top is even-handed in the face of Chamberlain’s self-serving accounts and the later twentieth century “hype.” Among other controversies he ably handles the postwar disputes between the 20th’s veterans, including who ordered the “charge” and whether the regiment’s left flank company actually executed the “door swinging” maneuver trumpeted

by Shaara and the movie.

Relying on extensive research in published and unpublished primary sources, Huntington thoroughly addresses the actual fighting undergone by these troops but does not omit the other aspects of army life.

This includes not just their recruitment, campaigning, and

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reactions to command changes, but also the home front, the role of Maine politicians in selecting unit commanders, and some of the back-door lobbying for command assignments. Not all Mainers were competent or heroic. Huntington covers the inept and the shirkers, as well.

Writers of unit histories always confront a dilemma.

Providing a close account of a smaller unit’s participation in a major battle can easily leave the reader confused about the “big picture.” Huntington achieves a nice balance in this book.

Unit actions are illuminated in detail but always accompanied by a solid sense of how those actions fit into the fighting of the larger formations to which they belonged.

This raises the one important deficit in Huntington’s book. As is unfortunately true of so many Civil War books, the maps are a weakness. Generally the scale is too large to allow a meaningful portrayal of the small unit actions which are the book’s focus. The Gettysburg maps fare somewhat better in this regard than do those pertaining to the earlier battles. Fortunately Huntington’s carefully-written text surmounts this flaw for the most part.

The book is obviously invaluable for anyone who is interested in Maine’s Civil War contributions. It will also be worthwhile even for Gettysburg students, given Huntington’s mining of primary sources. Maine is unique. Its population and the number of regiments and batteries which it raised were small enough to allow a state-focused study (unlike, for example, New York or Pennsylvania), yet several of those units found themselves at the center of Gettysburg’s critical fighting.

Maine Roads is therefore recommended.

John Foskett is a practicing attorney in Boston with a lifelong interest in the Civil War. He is descended from Isaac Foskett, who served for three years in the Engineer Battalion with the Army of the Potomac. In addition to numerous book reviews in Civil War News, he has done Civil War Roundtable presentations on the subject of Civil War field artillery tactics.

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Gettysburg 37

Fighting Pennsylvanians The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War. By David A. Ward. Maps, photos, notes, bibliography, index, 331 pp., 2018. McFarland, www. mcfarlandpub.com. $39.95 softcover.

Reviewed by Jeffry D. Wert

Schuylkill County lies in the heart of the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. When the Civil War began in April 1861, hundreds of its residents, mainly Irish and German immigrants, enlisted primarily in two soon-to-be renowned regiments, the 48th and 96th Pennsylvania Infantry.

While the 48th Pennsylvania earned fame with its mine at Petersburg, Virginia, the 96th Pennsylvania earned its acclaim as one of the “Fighting Three Hundred” Union regiments. Assigned in time to the Sixth Corps in the Army of the Potomac, the 96th engaged the enemy for the first time at Gaines’s Mill during the Seven Days’ Campaign, suffering 87 casualties. It was only a beginning for the regiment.

The 96th Pennsylvania’s history became that of the Sixth Corps—Crampton’s Gap, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. The regiment distinguished itself on May 3, 1863, in the engagement at Salem Church, east of Chancellorsville, despite the repulse of the Sixth Corps units.

In the spring of 1864, the 96th Pennsylvania served in the brigade of Emory Upton. Under his leadership, the Pennsylvanians were one of the three regiments in the front rank of the assault on the Confederate Mule Shoe on May 10, at Spotsylvania Court House.

The attack was a stunning success until Rebel reinforcements sealed the breach and repulsed

the Yankees. Two days later, the regiment charged into the terrible fury of the “Bloody Angle,” fighting the enemy for more than eight hours.

The 96th Pennsylvania mustered out on September 22, 1864.

Three days earlier their comrades in the corps fought in the Battle of Third Winchester. Corps commander Major General Horatio Wright assigned the regiment to guarding the corps’s wagon train, sparing them before their disbandment. Two of its companies remained in the service, while the others returned to Schuylkill County. Of the nearly 1,200 men who served in the regiment, only 120 returned to their homes in the fall of 1864.

No member wrote a postwar history of the unit. David A. Ward has rectified this with an excellent regimental history. He covers far more than the combat, discussing how the men mirrored the social and political culture of their region, why and how they sustained their commitment to the Union cause, and how they managed to withstand the dangers of army life both in camp and on battlefields.

The research is impeccable, the use of many quotes enlivens the narrative, and the detailed accounts of engagements are well-described. Although it does not contain a roster like many books written by veterans, it is a complete and finely wrought modern regimental history.

Jeffry D. Wert, of Centre Hall, Pa., a longtime book reviewer for Civil War News, is the author of eight books on the Civil War, including Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart.

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Vol. 42, No. 3

48 Pages, April 2016

Battlefield Of Franklin Land Preservation Purchase

By GreGory L. Wade

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — What is considered the bloodiest acreage in the Nov. 30, 1864, Battle of Franklin is now being reclaimed as part of the evolving Carter Hill Battlefield Park.

Local preservation leaders recently closed on a $2.8 million purchase from owners Reid and Brenda Lovell after a months-long process of coordinating various funding sources for the critical 1.6 acres that adjoin the Carter House, a major battle landmark.

Details were recently provided at a press conference led by Franklin’s Charge board member Julian Bibb, who praised the “remarkable transition” of the Franklin battlefield.

Franklin’s Charge is a coalition of civic and preservation groups who joined together more than ten years ago to purchase local battleground.

Over 150 years ago the Army of Tennessee stepped off in a series of charges to be virtually destroyed

by Federals under John Schofield in hopes of taking Franklin and later Nashville.

At that time, most of the terrain was open farmland on the outskirts of what was once a small Middle Tennessee farming community. Over time development covered much of the battlefield with houses, light industry, and small businesses.

All that remained of the critical area where the Confederates temporarily broke the Federal line was the small farmhouse and a few acres known as the Carter House farm.

The 1.6 acres purchased, which adjoin the southern boundary of the Carter House property, is comprised of two lots. Today, they are occupied by a flower shop and other structures

that were turned over to the City of Franklin Parks Department by Franklin’s Charge and the Battle of Franklin’s Trust (BOFT), managers of the Carter House the nearby Carnton Plantation. The structures will be removed in coming months, possibly relocated for other use.

The purchase is only the latest step in a long and arduous effort to rebuild the Franklin battlefield.

“It had to be a miracle,” quipped Civil War Trust (CWT) President James Lighthizer, referring to the most recent acquisition. Local resident Michael Grainger, long time Trust board member and former chairman, said, “Local leadership has been incredible and will continue to be a partner [with the CWT].”

In 2005, after years of frustration attempting to preserve Franklin battleground, local preservationists decided it would have to be done the hard way, by buying properties, often with buildings on them.

The largest parcel of land was originally a local golf course slated to be sold to a developer to build houses on what was the right flank of the Confederate attack north toward the Federal lines just south of the town.

It was then that Franklin’s Charge came into existence. Funds have been raised for the $5 million purchase from private donors, the CWT, the City of Franklin and others. That 110-acre segment, now fully interpreted and known as the Eastern Flank Battlefield, is what got the preservation ball rolling in Franklin.

Since that time nine other parcels in proximity to the Carter House have been purchased and have been, or will be, turned over to the Frank-

Franklin Charge leader Julian Bibb speaks at the Lovell purchase closing.

(Gregory L. Wade photos)

Battle of Franklin. 1891 print by Kurz and Allison. Restoration by Adam Cuerden. (Library of Congress) lin Parks Department, according to Bibb.

But it was the land just south of the Carter House, long considered the most bloodied ground in Franklin, and some say in America, that was the most coveted.

BOFT Chief Executive Officer Eric Jacobson noted, “to not have this ground reclaimed and preserved, would be like having Omaha Beach cut out of Normandy.”

The most recent acquisition evolved when Franklin’s Charge and the BOFT began discussions with the Lovells, who have a strong sense of the history of the land, having grown up in Franklin.

“I was born and raised in Franklin on ground many believe should have been a national park,” said Reid Lovell. He recalled when visitors came to town and had to envision what happened, not walk on ground where it transpired.

“My great-grandfather, who fought here, and my parents would be proud of what we are doing here today,” he said at the press conference.

The Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously in February to fund part of the remaining debt on the Lovell property purchase. The previously saved plots, valued at $6.8 million, are being transferred to the city in exchange for $1.08 million to be paid by the city on a non-interest basis over seven years.

These funds will cover the balance now bridged by a local bank and will be derived from the city’s hotel-motel tax. Local banker Chuck Isaacs was instrumental in working out the loans. All the city funds are allotted as well as a donation of $25,000 by his employer, First Farmers and Merchants Bank.

A $1.3 million grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) was a major piece of the

Franklin Alderman Michael Skinner, left, and Franklin Charge Board member Ernie Bacon attended the Franklin press conference. funding and the most complex, according to Bibb.

“With help from city officials, the Civil War Trust and others at the ABPP, we got it done,” Bibb noted.

Other funding came from private donors including local Civil War Trust board member Grainger, who has been involved with other national preservation efforts.

Representatives of Save the Franklin Battlefield, the oldest battlefield

preservation group in Franklin who for years advocated the possibility of a battleground park, attended the signing of official documents and “have been with us every step,” said Bibb.

The site interpretation work will be led by representatives of the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage

H Franklin

. . . . . . . . . . . see page 4

Inside this issue: 23 – Black Powder, White Smoke 24 – Book Reviews 33 – Critics Corner 36 – Events Section

11 – The Source 8 – Through The Lens 10 – Treasures From The Museum 14 – The Watchdog

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

38 Gettysburg

Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French.

By Harold Holzer. Photographs, endnotes, bibliography, index, list of public works, 368 pp., 2019. Princeton Architectural Press, www.papress.com. $35 hardcover.

Reviewed by Gould Hagler

The prologue of this exceptional book by Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer describes the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Man Who Sculpted Lincoln

The racially segregated ceremony featured a single black speaker, Robert Russa Moton, whose speech was heavily censored by the White House to eliminate all criticism of a segregated American society and all expressions of hope for change. The book’s epilogue brings us to the present, when work is underway to renovate (and add to) the memorial, the “Hallowed Spot” which served as a backdrop for a scene in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, as the venue for Marian Anderson’s 1939 Easter performance, and for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.” In between these bookends are thirteen well-crafted chapters chronicling the long life and prolific career of Daniel Chester French, the artist who created the massive sculpture of Lincoln, the most visited statue in the United States.

French was born in New Hampshire in 1850 and reared in Massachusetts. Though his artistic talent was obvious at an early age, he was no child prodigy. His career began modestly but grew steadily as he rose to prominence

and eventually to superstardom.

French won his first major commission (partly with the help of his influential father) at a time when his skills were unproven.

The Minute Man in Concord, unveiled in 1875, was nevertheless a great success. French’s work on the piece was marked by a meticulousness that was characteristic of everything he sculpted. The perfectionist labored tirelessly to get every feature right, exactly right—the minuteman’s posture, the look in his eye, his clothing and accoutrements, and the plow at his side.

The photographs of the sculptor facing the first page of each chapter allow the reader to watch French age over the decades, as Holzer describes his life and work at every stage. Numerous photographs of his statues enrich the text.

Readers unfamiliar with the techniques of statue-making will learn something of the methods employed to turn an idea into a maquette, then step-by-step into a finished bronze or marble statue.

The author describes the business

of art as well, narrating recounting the commercial success that came with French’s artistic fame.

A considerable number of French’s statues depict men prominent in the Civil War. His oeuvre includes Grant, Meade, Sheridan and Hooker and lesser-known war leaders – all Union leaders. Holzer explains that artists who accepted commissions to depict war leaders almost always “had to choose their loyalties and stick with them.” French “was a Yankee through and through, by birth and political orientation as well.”

Many of French’s allegorical works adorned major buildings and other public spaces. He created likenesses of famous figures – George Washington, John Adams, Lewis Cass and Ralph Waldo Emerson. French also sculpted a bronze likeness Lincoln for the Nebraska capital named in his honor.

Monument Man leads the reader on an interesting art tour of last quarter of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th. We spend time with French’s family

July 2019

and meet other interesting characters as well—artists, patrons of the arts, and many others.

The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in French’s 73rd year.

But he wasn’t done. More important sculpture followed—examples—and he was active until his final years. His hours in the studio were curtailed but he kept at it until he wore out. His final piece was finished by his daughter.

A painter friend of mine told me once, it is not art until it is paid for and hanging on someone’s wall. French’s output was certainly art in this sense and in the aesthetic sense as well.

Gould Hagler is a retired lobbyist living in Dunwoody, Ga. He is a past president of the Civil War Round table of Atlanta and the author of Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation, published by Mercer University Press in 2014. Hagler speaks frequently on this and other Civil War-related topics, and has been a regular contributor for Civil War News. He can be reached at gould.hagler@gmail.com.

To Subscribe visit www.CivilWarNews.com Even Stonewall didn’t stand all the time— When Stonewall Jackson went to war on April 21, 1861, he took an old stool from the VMI mess hall to use in his camp. Upon his death, Stonewall’s Adjutant, Sandie Pendleton, inherited the stool. Young Pendleton was killed 16 months later and the stool was left to his father, General William Pendleton, The original stool is on exhibit at the Robert E. Lee’s Chief of Artillery. In 1932 the VMI Museum.

Pendleton family presented the prized relic to the VMI Museum where it remains on exhibit today.

The VMI Museum has commissioned noted furniture craftsman Joe Cress to produce a limited exact replica of the famous stool. Constructed of fine solid cherry and handfinished, the sturdy and practical stool will be an instant family heirloom in your den or on the campaign trail.

You’ll find the stool as versatile and useful as Stonewall did.

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The stool measures 121/2 inches across the 13/4 inch thick seat with an overall height just under 18 inches. Each stool is signed by Joe Cress and comes with an article detailing the complete fascinating story of the stool.

July 2019

By Carl L. Sell, Jr. All the soldiers gathered at Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863, knew thousands on both sides would die before the battle was over.

Worried and scared, everyone thought it would be someone else, not them, except for Captain Bernard J. McMahon of Company C, Seventy-First Pennsylvania Infantry. His fate had been decided.

Captain McMahon had been found guilty by court martial and sentenced to death by firing squad after he shot and killed Captain Andrew McManus of the Sixty-Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry while both units were camped near Falmouth, Va., on May 27, 1863. McMahon’s court martial was held June 6, but the sentence wasn’t immediately carried out as Union forces prepared to move north in pursuit of the Confederate army.

The Army of the Potomac began marching on June 14. The Seventy-First reached Gettysburg late on July 1 and went into battle at Culp’s Hill on July 2.

By then, McMahon had talked his way back into action. It was abundantly clear that the Union needed every able-bodied soldier available to meet the relentless Confederate attacks.

What transpired was nothing short of a miracle for Capt. McMahon.

The Seventy-First was part of the Philadelphia Brigade, or the Second Brigade, Second Division, II Corps, commanded by Brigadier General Alexander S. Webb, who had been given command only three days before Gettysburg. The Philadelphia Brigade was composed of the Sixty-Ninth, the Seventy-First, the Seventy-Second, and One Hundred Sixth Pennsylvania regiments. They were made up of Irish troops from Philadelphia.

Webb would become a Medal of Honor recipient and McMahon would receive a presidential pardon for their heroics in repelling Pickett’s Charge on July 3.

After seeing action at Culp’s Hill, on July 3 the brigade was sent to Cemetery Ridge and positioned at the Angle near the Copse of Trees. That turned out to be ground zero for Pickett’s Charge. After slowing the initial charge, the Philadelphians were pushed back by Virginians of Pickett’s Division under Brig.

Gen. Lewis Addison Armistead.

General Webb was able to gather enough men for a counter attack that broke the Confederate line and saved the day for the Union.

Armistead was mortally wounded at what is now considered to

Civil War News 25th Annual Gettysburg Section

Pardoned for Murder

be the Confederacy’s High Water Mark at Gettysburg.

Captain William Davis of the Sixty-Ninth Pennsylvania wrote on July 12 from Jones Crossing, Md., that his unit had been able to repulse Armistead with the help of the Forty-Second New York (Tammany Regiment) and the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment. Also in the middle of the fight were the Seventy-First and Seventy-Second Pennsylvania.

In his report of the 71st’s activity at Gettysburg, Colonel R. Penn Smith called attention to the conduct of Capt. McMahon and Private Edward E. Young of Company C, both of whom were under sentence of court martial. In the case of McMahon, Colonel Smith wrote: “I pray that the approval or disapproval of the findings of the court may be influenced in a great degree by his noble conduct in the field.” He also asked that Young’s sentence be revoked.

Colonel Smith’s recommendation obviously stopped any plans to place McMahon before a firing squad. The report was sent up the chain of command until it reached Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, who recommended that McMahon be pardoned by President Lincoln. Two months later, Lincoln pardoned McMahon. Lincoln wrote: “In consideration of all the circumstances in the case, the gallant conduct of the accused, while a prisoner in the recent battles at Gettysburg, and upon recommendation of clemency by the Major General commanding the Army of the Potomac, the President is pleased to pardon Captain McMahon of the sentence and punishment.” McMahon was discharged from the service on October 23, 1863.

Young was allowed to remain on duty and mustered out with the Seventy-First on July 2, 1864.

He previously had been captured at Balls Bluff on the Potomac River near Leesburg, Va., Oct. 21, 1861, and was later exchanged. At Balls Bluff, the Seventh-First was known as the First California, fighting under the command of Colonel Edward D. Baker, a friend of President Lincoln, a senator from Oregon who raised three regiments of mostly Irish soldiers from Philadelphia in honor of his home state of California. Baker was killed in action that day and is the only United States senator to die in combat.

Baker started recruiting soldiers for the 71st in April 1861. It was first known as the “Fire Zouaves” because it had men from every fire station in Philadelphia. It also was called the First

California until it was named the Seventy-First and became part of the Philadelphia Brigade. The troops trained in Philadelphia and didn’t reach the Union army until after First Manassas. It was stationed in Virginia near Chain Bridge before moving to Poolesville, Md., and the attack at Balls Bluff.

The Seventy-First fought at Antietam and then moved south along the Blue Ridge for the showdown with the Confederates at Fredericksburg in December. The regiment spent almost a day crouched within 150 yards of the Confederates protected by the stone wall at the base of Marye’s Heights. They lost one-third of their soldiers there. McMahon, then a lieutenant, was among the wounded.

The Federal forces retreated back across the Rappahannock River; the Philadelphians participated in the “mud march” in January 1863, part of an ill-fated counterattack across the river.

The brigade bivouacked in Falmouth until they were sent to build a bridge across the Rappahannock while their comrades were being defeated at Chancellorsville in early May. The Philadelphians returned to Falmouth.

McMahon had returned to duty and been promoted to captain.

There are several versions as to what transpired between McMahon and Captain McManus on May 27, but there is little doubt that McMahon was incensed to hear that McManus had called him a “coward.”

According to the June 10 Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, McManus was visiting a captain in his tent and in the course of the conversation made some remarks

about Captain McMahon. “The latter, being close by in his tent, it is supposed, heard the conversation and at once appeared in the tent in his night clothes, revolver in hand, and saying: ‘Sir, you have been talking about me tonight,’ immediately raised the pistol and fired before anyone could interfere.” The ball entered McManus’ breast near his heart and death ensued about an hour afterward, the Dollar Newspaper said. The newspaper also said McMahon attempted to fire a second shot but was prevented from doing so by a lieutenant who was present.

The New York Vindicator printed essentially the same account; however the paper incorrectly identified McManus as being a member of the 69th New York. The Vindicator also reported that the deceased was “much esteemed by his fellow officers and soldiers, while his murderer is represented to be of a quarrelsome vindictive dispositions [sic] who has not won the respect or esteem of any of his associates.”

The Burlington, Iowa, Hawkeye reported on June 6 that Capt.

McManus had spoken of Capt.

McMahon as a coward, “Mahon, on hearing this, immediately went with a pistol to McManus’ tent, and demanded if the assertion had been made by him, and being answered in the affirmatively [sic], shot him.”

The court martial was held June 6 with Colonel T. E. Heath, 19th Maine Volunteers as president.

The court found McMahon guilty and sentenced him to be shot to death by musketry, two-thirds of the court concurring. The action was reported by the New York Tribune on Sept. 24, 1863.

Gettysburg 39

After being pardoned, McMahon was discharged on October 23, 1863.

On March 8, 1864, McManus’ widow, Mary Ann McManus, filed for a pension but it was rejected on appeal because her husband had not died in combat.

On July 13, 1866, the United States Congress directed that his name be placed on the pension rolls and she be paid $20, later was raised to $30, per month, retroactive to May 27, 1862.

The McManus’s were married Jan. 29, 1857, and had one child, Helen, born November 8, 1857.

Mary Ann McManus lived until 1920 but never remarried. A retired teacher, she was the first woman to be appointed principal at a boys’ school, the Mount Vernon Boys Grammar School. Selected as principal at the school, her appointment was contested in court where she prevailed.

Mrs. McManus also was one of the founders of the Free Hospital for Poor Consumptives and one of the original workers in the Catholic Missionary Society for Italians.

Carl Sell had both a great-grandfather and great-uncle who were members of Armistead’s Brigade and survived Pickett’s Charge. His great-grandfather was wounded in the side and his great-uncle in his foot. Both avoided capture and survived. It has been authenticated that his great-uncle was at Armistead’s side when the general was mortally wounded. In addition to numerous articles for Civil War News, Sell has written two books on the subject and a third on the life of Major General Jeb Stuart.

Contact Carl at sellcarl@aol.com.

Caption from negative sleeve: William Davis and staff of 69th Pennsylvania Infantry, Gettysburg, PA. William Morris Smith, photographer.

(Library of Congress)

Consignments

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Among the Very Finest of All Griswold Revolvers - Great History & Condition

Rare Cook & Brothers Saddle Ring Carbine

Exceptional Billharz Confederate Muzzle Loading Carbine

Very Fine Keen-Walker Breechloading Brass Framed Carbine

Extremely Fine S. C. Robinson 2nd Type “Sharps” Confederate Carbine

Extremely Fine S. C. Robinson 1st Type “Sharps” Confederate Carbine

J.P. Murray Muzzle loading Carbine

Very rare Columbus Armory Muzzle Loading Carbine

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Fine Confederate Maker Marked Morse Carbine (est. $20,000-30,000)

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Rare & Fine Confederate Augusta GA CSA Marked Ridgon & Ansley Revolver (est. $25,000-30,000)

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Early 1863 Richmond Rifled Musket (est. $6,000-8,000)

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