Gettysburg

Three Days in July, 1863

Laura tells me that my blogs should be more frequent and shorter. Bob tells me he likes reading these

long things. Bob wins. Apologies to Laura. There's a lot here. I have no choice.

So it all started when I was chatting with a colleague from the Sea Cadets in DC a few months back and learned he had published a Civil War book, gives lectures, tours etc. Back of my mind for the last several years was a thought to someday take an over the top tour of a historical battlefield. I asked him what he knew about that. "Hands down", Rick said was the annual Civil War Institute summer conference at Gettysburg College.  Six days of classroom lectures and tours. I did more class time that week than Bob did at Saint Norbert.

Obviously a liberal arts college as you can see from this parking lot shot below.

Flew into BWI on June 14th, Flag Day, and headed in the general direction of Gettysburg PA using my phone as the GPS for the first time. It works pretty well but there was a moment of uncertainty when the cannon below passed. From then on I just pulled in behind him knowing HE knew where to go.

I checked into the conference for materials and dorm assignment. First guy I saw looked like a complete nerd. Oh great. What have I gotten into? A few days later Chris from Robin's gang at Regis sent me a LinkedIn picture of another nerd and said it's amazing how much the guy looked like me. From then on I accepted my fate and didn't judge my fellow attendees again. In the dorm I learned that after 40 years they still can't get the bottom fitted sheet to fit the mattress. I woke up each morning with everything in a ball at my feet.

The campus was the site where in 1971 Denzel Washington took the T C Williams High School football team to summer camp in "Remember the Titans". Danny's favorite movie.

So to set this point in history, we're midpoint in the Civil War. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invades the north for say, the seconded time. Lee is out of everything and coming to pillage the bounty of the Union states. In particular his men needed shoes. His other goal was to kill as many Union soldiers as possible. Lee uses the Blue Ridge Mountains as cover as he moves north. Maj. Gen Joseph Hooker is in command of The Army of the Potomac (Notice how both of these armies names are the same place) His job is to shadow the rebs and stay between Lee and Washington DC. Lee's problem which he'll later lay his defeat in part on, is he doesn't know where Hooker's army is. Bonehead Reb cavalry commander Major General Jeb Stuart is running all over the place shooting up the north but not doing the cavalry's prime function. Provide intelligence. The two armies met by chance outside of Gettysburg on June 30th.

Some days at the institute were spent in a combination of lecture halls. These people are called "Scholars".

It was a sizable group attending. Maybe 300.  Mostly old guys with beards. One babe. Very popular.

I thought this was an interesting session. Three "scholars" were talking about faith in God on the battlefield. Photo on the screen shows a pocket bible that stopped a bullet (grapeshot). This was not an unusual occurrence as many soldiers kept a bible in their breast pocket for just this probability. Men would live their life hence based on the page of scripture where the bullet stopped.

Two of  the days were field trips. This is "Joe the Guide" on the first field trip and Christopher on another. Dream retirement job for Joe. He talked about the three day battle and took us all over it... completely. 9 hours. On Christopher's trip he talked about the history that followed the battle and the war. Veteran attitude, monument controversy etc.

Field trip days had different destinations and topics. I took the basic Gettysburg 101 bus. I know they also went to the Antietam Battlefield, but not sure what else. Actually I never heard of the what else's.

Other times afforded self declared social events where you can make your own fun. Good bars and restaurants in Gettysburg.  Harrisburg PA has a track. In 1863 they would have called this a Carolina Discharge. (I deserted)

I was even able to place a bet on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to win the Grey Cup. (They won the Grey Cup several months later) guy at the Sports Book counter didn't know what I was talking about and had to call upstairs to say that there's this nut wanting to place a bet.

Joe went over the battle from beginning to end starting outside of the city on July 1st. Union Major General John Reynolds had the union left flank. He died. Union Col. Abner Doubleday had the middle, lived (thank God) and went home to Cooperstown NY to invent baseball. We wouldn't have "Reynolds Wrap" for 100 more years.

Here's the father of baseball.

A significant exchange on this first day was with a group of 400 soldiers from Wisconsin, part of the famed Iron Brigade. They were ordered to attack Rebs in this railroad cut below, charging from the traffic lights. In a short time only 100 Badgers were left. Red monument marks their furthest advance. Incidentally, as recently as 1998 the most recent shallow grave exposure happened right here after a unusually heavy rain. Park Service estimates there are over 1000 combatants still on the battlefield.

Joe was a great licensed guide. You can rent them at the Visitors Center. He offered my favorite anecdote of the trip. A Union General sitting on his horse and chatting with his officers, commented on a Reb sharpshooter on a ridge. His last words were..."That reb couldn't hit an elephant from that dis..."

If you refer to the map above, things didn't go very well for the Union that first day. Lee's army pretty much pushed Hooker's right through town. Street and house fighting all afternoon with city residents hiding in their basements. Free blacks in town ran as the confederates approached as Rebs had a habit of un-freeing them. At the end of the day every home was a hospital. Where surgeons worked, limbs would be tossed out the window and would pile up outside. 90% of surgery were amputations.

Lee converted this Gettysburg College (formerly Pennsylvania College) building into a lookout atop and hospital inside. This is the most haunted site on campus. A morgue was created in the basement and endless tales today of the elevator door opens and you see tons of dead.

The town really took a beating as the shell below the windowsill at Cannonball Ice Cream shows.

Day one ended with Hooker's army having pulled back south of town to occupy the strategic high ground. (Union wounded in town were technically POW's, but only for a day.)  This was Hooker's fall back point all along and invaluable. The morning of July 2nd had the two armies holding the positions shown below.

Day two began with the main strength of both armies arriving on the scene, Union now commanded by Maj. Gen. George Meade. They slugged it out well into the night with not much exchange of territory. Some of the more famous battles at Gettysburg happened on day two. Little Round Top, The Peach Orchard, The Wheat Field, Culps Hill, Devils Den, and the like.

The shot below is of Union Col Joshua Chamberlain's position on the backside of Little Round Top.

For some incredibly dumb reason, Sickles on the Union left flank abandoned LRT that morning to be closer to Lt Gen James Longstreet's Confederate lines. All that was left on top was a couple of Signal Corps guys with their big signal flags. Meade and Lee eventually noticed this tactical "whopps" and both raced men to the hill. Chamberlain was told to "Hold at all costs". (to the death) A small group of 200 Yankees from the 20th Maine Volunteers under Chamberlain got there first, moments before the Alabamans arrived. Chamberlain executed a defence and counter attack of epic history. Running low on ammo and wounded men loading for those who could still shoot. When ammo was depleted he ordered his men to "fix bayonets" and charged down the hill at the Confederates. That apparently can get your attention. Today no other spot on the battlefield is visited more by leadership conferences and West Point Cadets than this rear area of LRT. If you're into that leadership stuff, you should look it up. Tim's short leadership message is...Chamberlain acted, not waiting as he should have for orders.

Below is the front side view of LRT and shows its commanding view of the battlefield. Big Round Top was right next to it and taller, but LRT had been logged and allowed a clear view. In fact, most of the trees you see today weren't there then. By 1863 much of the eastern US had been clear cut.

The Irish Brigade also fought at Gettysburg. They would yell something in Gaelic that would scare the hell out of the rebs. Always barely at brigade strength during the war as took the third most casualties of any unit. In part due to their commander feeling that those brawling Irish guys are good "close in" fighters and gave them old shotguns you might use to do a liquor store with today. Unfortunately they never got "close in." Most famous at Gettysburg for their Chaplin, Fr. William Corby who gave them a mass dispensation (vs; a long line for a confession) before their suicide mission. He went on to be President of Notre Dame. The guide said they literally came off the boat in Boston, welcomed as new citizens, handed a gun at the end of the gangplank, and put on a trains to the war.

So here we are at dawn on day three, July 3rd 1863. As you can see from the map below, Meade's line has pulled in tight together and holding all the high ground mentioned earlier. Most of which is considered Cemetery Ridge with LRT on the left flank and Culps Hill on the right.  I didn't know that the Reb line to the left was on Seminary Ridge. Go figure.

Today was to be the final and decisive battle at Gettysburg. Midday Jeb Stuart decided to show up to tell Lee he'd found the Union Army. Didn't make it to Lee's headquarters as he ran into George Custer outside of town. After a midday two hour cannonade, Longstreet sent three commands at the union line on Cemetery Ridge. He had urged Lee to have the army leave and fight another day from a more formidable position. Maj General George Pickett was in the middle and became the namesake of this charge. Picture below is at the union line looking a mile west to the tree line and Longstreet's command. In the foreground are remnants of the union's protective "breastworks". Named as they are built to breast height. It doesn't seem like you're looking downhill but you are.

A mile long line of confederates, 12,000 poor guys. ran a mile from the woods across on Seminary Ridge. Although some made it to the breastworks, the attack was fully repulsed with heavy Confederate casualties. Longstreet lost 5,000 men in this one hour assault. Lee asked Pickett if he could mount another assault but received a reply..."General, I no longer have a command." It was over.

If it had gone the other way with nothing between the Army of Northern Virginia and Washington DC, we might all be whistling "Dixie" today. Didn't know it was that critical.

"You can't land at Normandy, you can't stand on the deck of the USS Arizona, but you walk this hallowed ground."

Early the next morning Lee retreated westward back to the cover of the Blue Ridge Mountains and then south over the Mason-Dixon Line back to Virginia. Meade followed for a bit. Both armies left 20,000 wound at the homes in town for the townsfolk to care for. Never to return.

The numbers are amazing. More men fell at Gettysburg than any battle on US soil before or since. 51,000 dead, wounded or missing. Union casualties were 23,000 and Confederate were 28,000. In three days 10,000,000 bullets were fired. 50,000 cannons fired. Ten Generals were killed.

Over 6000 books have been written about these three days. I'm told "The Killer Angels" is the one to read or watch Ted Turner's 1993 movie adaptation "Gettysburg". I'd skip the movie. Watched it last night and it stunk. One critic called it southern propaganda. I'm giving you the "Hamilton the Musical" version of history so you should do one or the other.

The artillery was made up of some solid cannon balls, but most were exploding ones set off by a one up to four second fuse which ignited when the cannon was fired. Many shells were filled with golf ball size steel balls. You can see a number of these balls embedded in the remains of this tree at the museum.

So the good folks of Gettysburg soon realized they have a significant opportunity and duty for what has happened to their community and took up starting a historical preservation society. Most importantly they also laid the plans for the Soldiers National Cemetery. 

Soldiers National Monument is in the middle of the grounds. They play taps every evening at 7PM.

Lincoln came to Gettysburg on Nov 19th 1863 to attend the dedication of the cemetery. The keynote speaker went on for two hours, Abe for two minutes. Who do you remember? There he is at the dedication.

The spot where the Gettysburg Address was delivered is halfway between this fence and the flagpole amongst the headstones. This is not the National Cemetery but next to it. The locals cemetery. Park Service said they know EXACTLY where Lincoln stood but it is not marked as "What he said mattered more than where he stood."

By the way, the flag marks the grave of the only woman killed over the three day battle. Young local gal. An Act of Congress has the flag flying 24/7. Only other woman with that honor is Betsy Ross.

Speaking of Abe, this statue in town is called The Perry Como. They have some oddities in town.

Oddest of them all is the cat diorama of the battlefield. Send this picture to anyone you know who owns a cat and tell them they should be ashamed of themselves.

Shortly after the war ended, Union veterans of the battle started to return to dedicate monuments to their units. Here's some vets from Michigan in the 1880's, their new monument below and today above.

There were no Confederate monuments on the battlefield until the early 1900's as Union veterans wouldn't allow it. When the local preservation society I mentioned earlier started looking at adding monuments  for the Rebs, these Union vets know as Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) all joined the society and tossed the society board. Not until the Virginia Monument below in 1910 did reference to the Confederacy appear. That's Lee mounted on top. It was very political and any positive reference to the Confederacy was omitted. Even the Reb soldiers at the base are carrying the Virginia state flag.

If you scroll back to the shot of the Union line on day three, you can see a little white dot in the tree line. That's this Virginia Monument where the charge began.

Over the years a southern state monument or Confederate unit monument started to gradually appear. In the midst of the civil rights movement in the early 60's all of a sudden southern states were lined up at the gate to put up a monument. Kennedy's Park Service let em. Still buying votes today. Pretty odd of the Park Service.  George Wallace even came to speak at Alabama's dedication.

Reunions of veterans continued for years with the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg being a big one. Here "north meets south" at the breastworks. I've seen this in video as by then they had "talkies" "Hey Johnny Reb. How you been?"

The symposium ended with a social out at an area barn converted into an event space. Passed apps, sweets and local beer. It was great. Entertainment was period of course. General Yamaha was with the 5th California.  They played that "Shenandoah" song that always gets to me.

So that's pretty much my trip. I don't know if I'd do it again although most folks appeared to be annual attendees. I had breakfast with one guy who was on year 31. The presenters were apparently rock stars in this business as one guy told me it was like rubbing shoulders all week with "these movie stars."

All week I was wondering what I was doing there. Amateur, not even a buff, amongst these hard core guys. The last presentation was about "why we come".  The learned man at the  podium said "some questions in life have no answers." He also pointed out it may just be in our DNA. He did say that those in attendance aren't buffs. We're historians. How about that for $1200?

I'm thinking about a ten day tour in Montana and Wyoming next summer that covers The Indian Wars. Join me.