My Last For Now

Matt Callery, host of the Addressing Gettysburg Podcast, and me.

This past weekend I travelled to Gettysburg for my last scheduled “appearance” of what has been (for me) a very busy 2023. On Sunday I recorded an episode of the Addressing Gettysburg Podcast with host Matt Callery. I have to say, I really enjoyed the whole experience. I’ve never worked in a “real” studio before. Using headphones confirmed my long-held detest of the sound of my own voice. It was an informal format, and I used only general notes. I talked about First Bull Run in general, though probably in more detail than we thought going into it, then segued into Bull Runners who bought the farm – for the most part, spectacularly – at Gettysburg. Matt tells me the episode probably won’t air until early 2024. I’ll keep you posted.

The Wall of Fame

There it is – I’m officially famous!

On Saturday, I spent some time on the field visiting a few of the fallen Bull Runners:

James McKay Rorty of the 69th NYSM

Augustus Van Horne Ellis of the 71st NYSM

Alonzo Cushing of Battery G, 2nd US Artillery

Also on Saturday, I made my first ever visit to the supremely haunted Sachs Bridge.

A youthful Peter Venkman

On Sunday, on the anniversary of his death, I stopped by to say hi to Thaddeus Stevens.

Dead, but cranky

Thanks to a good friend who came up to spend Saturday afternoon with me.

Craig Swain and yours truly at Appalachian Brewing Company. It was noon. Somewhere.

Interview: McLean, “Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg”

I’ve known James L. McLean, Jr. for twenty or so years, ever since I met him when he was the bookseller at a Civil War conference I attended. You may know Jim as the owner of Butternut and Blue, which reprinted so many fine Civil War titles with superior quality. I was really glad to hear that Savas Beatie was publishing a new edition of Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg. Jim recently sat down and answered a few questions about himself, his book, his writing and research, and his future plans.

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BR: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

JM: I have had a life-long interest in early American history, especially the Civil War era.

I graduated from Towson State College (now Towson University) with majors in history and education as well as a minor in mathematics. I taught mathematics for 30 years, covering courses from remedial arithmetic to calculus. Concurrently, my wife and I operated a new and out-of-print Civil War book business, Butternut and Blue, from 1983-2016.

My first edition of Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg came out in 1987, followed by a revised edition in 1994. I have had two articles published: “The First Union Shot at Gettysburg” appeared in the spring 1980 issue of the Lincoln Herald; “The Execution of John Wood on the March to Gettysburg” appeared in The Gettysburg Magazine (Issue 45, July 2011).

BR: What got you interested history in general, and the Civil War in particular?

JM: When I was seven or eight years old, my parents took me on a Gettysburg bus tour. I still remember being mesmerized by the rock formation at Devil’s Den. At an early age, I gravitated toward history books at my local library, titles such as Fletcher Pratt’s The Civil War or Earl Schenck Miers The How and Why Book of the Civil War. On subsequent trips to Gettysburg, I purchased Frederick Ray’s Gettysburg Sketches and Human Interest Stories of the Three Days’ Battle at Gettysburg by Grimm and Roy. As I got older, I received as gifts Bruce Catton’s American Heritage histories of the Civil War and Gettysburg. When I was 12, my father took me to my first Civil War Round Table meeting (the night before JFK was assassinated). My obsession with the Civil War, particularly Gettysburg, has never waned.

BR: Why Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg, in particular?

JM: In the 1970s, I delivered several talks to my local Round Table. Around 1978, I decided to make my next presentation about a single brigade’s performance at Gettysburg. I didn’t want to cover the obvious choices, such as the Western Iron Brigade or the Texas Brigade, so I did some digging. Sifting through my volumes of New York at Gettysburg led to my selection of Cutler’s brigade.

I gave the talk in September 1979, but I felt there was more to the story. I have pursued information about the brigade, especially concerning the 14th New York State Militia/14th Brooklyn ever since, which has now led to this third, revised edition of Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg.

BR: Can you briefly describe the actions of the history of the brigade and its actions at Gettysburg?

JM: The components of the brigade that Cutler commanded at Gettysburg came together slowly. At 2nd Bull Run, Abner Doubleday led the brigade, where its three regiments, the 76th and 95th New York and 56th Pennsylvania, saw their first combat. After the battle, the 7th Indiana joined the brigade. Together, the four regiments fought a night action at South Mountain. The brigade saw limited action at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

Cutler assumed command of the brigade in early 1863. In March, the untested 147th New York was assigned to the brigade. Cutler’s final Gettysburg component, the 14th Brooklyn, was added in early June after all the two-year units it had been brigaded with were mustered out. The 14th Brooklyn became the brigade’s most experienced regiment.

On July 1, 1863, Cutler’s brigade led the 1st Corps’ march to Gettysburg where it fired the first Federal infantry shots on the battlefield. As a result of Reynolds’s orders, the brigade soon split into three distinct sections to meet the threat posed by Confederate General Heth’s division and to support Hall’s 2nd Maine battery. Cutler’s men delayed the advance of Archer’s and Davis’s Southern brigades. Then two of its regiments, in conjunction with the 6th Wisconsin, attacked the Rebels holding the railroad cut, which not only ended the morning fight but also led to the capture of a significant number of Southerners.

Despite heavy losses, Cutler’s brigade maintained its battlefield integrity, enabling it to serve along Seminary Ridge on the afternoon of July 1 and on Culp’s Hill the next two days. Cutler’s brigade was one of the few units to fight all three days of the battle, becoming one of only five brigades in the conflict to suffer in excess of 1,000 casualties.

BR: You published the most recent edition of Cutler’s Brigade at Gettysburg 29 years ago. What has happened with this work in the interim?

JM: When Ted sought permission to reprint Cutler’s Brigade, I agreed as long as I could make some changes. The result is a fuller, slightly expanded, revised edition.

When I reformatted the footnotes, I occasionally added extra analysis to emphasize points I made in the text. I not only addressed a few historical flaws but I also included several more soldier accounts that described the July 1 fighting. My ongoing research into the exploits of the 14th Brooklyn led to my discovery of daily field returns for the brigade throughout the campaign. The document, housed at the National Archives and Records Administration, specifies the number of men present for duty each day of the battle, so I incorporated those numbers for the regiments’ strengths rather than the ones I used in the second edition. The maps have been redrawn (and slightly adjusted), and three new appendices have been added. I added a postscript to explain what happened to the brigade and some of its personalities after Gettysburg campaign. Instead of a photographic supplement, the increased number of photos and illustrations has been interspersed throughout the text. Finally, this version of Cutler’s Brigade sports an attractive, full-color dust jacket featuring Allen Redwood’s painting of the 14th Brooklyn at the railroad cut.

BR: Can you describe how long it took to write the book, what the stumbling blocks were, what you discovered along the way that surprised you or went against the grain, what firmed up what you already knew? When did you know you were “done”?

JM: I started my research in 1978, so it took nearly ten years before the first volume appeared in 1987. The expanded, second edition, was published seven years later. I continue to collect source material.

As I mentioned earlier, this volume was intended to be a reprint, but I not only incorporated a fair amount of new material but I also made several revisions or clarifications to the text. When the Gettysburg portion of my 14th Brooklyn study becomes available, readers will find even greater detail concerning that regiment’s role in the battle. However, my subsequent findings confirm the conclusions I made in the three iterations of Cutler’s Brigade.

As for stumbling blocks, there are no memoirs or regimental histories for half of the units in the brigade. With the exception of J. William Hofmann, very few of Cutler’s men left published records of what they had experienced.

Three findings surprised me when I started my research 45 years ago. I soon realized that the 147th New York fought in an isolated position during the morning of July 1. Earlier accounts of the battle placed the regiment in line with the 56th Pennsylvania and 76th New York, which is understandable since their three monuments are together aligned north of the middle railroad cut. Second, I had been unaware of the important role Cutler’s men played in securing and holding Culp’s Hill. On July 2, Greene’s brigade had plenty of help defending the height. Finally, I was surprised by how dismissive many 6th Wisconsin soldiers were to the role of the 14th Brooklyn and 95th New York in capturing the railroad cut, to the point where some of them even claimed that the 14th Brooklyn never made a charge.

I don’t think my research will ever be “done” —I continue to look for information that will enhance or alter my views of what happened on the morning of July 1 at Gettysburg, especially the part played by the 14th Brooklyn.

BR: Can you describe your research and writing process? What online and brick and mortar sources did you rely on most?

JM: When I started this project in 1978, I relied heavily on the following: the MOLLUS Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia, which no longer exists; the War College Library in Carlisle, which became the U. S. Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) before changing its name to the United States Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC). Since then, I have personally worked at the New York State Archives, the Museum of the Confederacy, the Library of Congress newspaper files, the Library of Virginia, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Additionally, librarians from the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Oswego Historical Society, the New York State Military Museum, the New York State Library, the New York Historical Society, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania have kindly forwarded material that I have requested.

Numerous trips to the battlefield helped me visualize and understand the accounts left by the battle’s participants.

I compose my manuscripts the old-fashioned way, with paper and pencil. After several revisions, I bang out the text on my computer.

BR: How has the book been received so far?

JM: The first two editions received favorable reviews. I hope readers will enjoy this revised and expanded Savas Beatie edition.

BR: What’s next for you?

JM: I am working on a multi-volume history of the 14th Brooklyn/14th NYSM. The first volume, already submitted to Savas Beatie, awaits its place in the company’s production schedule. It covers April 1861, when the regiment recruited to wartime strength, through the 2nd Bull Run campaign. The manuscript features 36 full-color maps as well as numerous illustrations and photographs. I am half-way through volume 2.

Preview: Three Recent Releases from Savas Beatie

I apologize for the delay in posting this, but here are recaps for three recent Savas Beatie publications.

From the jacket:

“When Hell Came to Sharpsburg” investigates how the battle and its armies wreaked emotional, physical, and financial havoc on the people of Sharpsburg. For proper context, the author explores the savage struggle and its gory aftermath and explains how soldiers stripped the community of resources and spread diseases. Cowie carefully and meticulously follows fortunes of individual families like the Mummas, Roulettes, Millers, and many others—ordinary folk thrust into harrowing circumstances—and their struggle to recover from their unexpected and often devastating losses.”

What you get:

• 464 pages of text in 12 chapters
• 34 page bibliography, including numerous manuscript and newspaper sources.
• Index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• Forewords by Dennis Frye and John Schildt
• 8 Hal Jesperson maps, including town plat map and list of lot owners
• Photos and illustrations throughout

From the jacket:

Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg, the authors of more than forty Civil War books, have once again teamed up to present a history of the opening moves of the Gettysburg Campaign in the two-volume study “If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania”: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg. This compelling study is one of the first to integrate the military, media, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies as they inexorably march toward their destiny at Gettysburg. This first installment covers June 3–21, 1863, while the second, spanning June 22–30, completes the march and carries the armies to the eve of the fighting.

You get:

• 409 pages of text in 19 chapters, by day
• Appendix on the itineraries of the armies
• Bibliography to follow in volume 2
• 14 page Dramatis Personae
• Index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• Foreword by Dr. Jennifer Murray
• 31 Edward Alexander maps
• Photos and illustrations throughout

From the jacket:

In Six Miles from Charleston, Five Minutes to Hell: The Battle of Secessionville, June 16, 1862, historian Jim Morgan examines the James Island campaign and its aftermath. By including several original sources not previously explored, he takes a fresh look at this small, but potentially game-changing fight, and shows that it was of much more than merely local interest at the time.

You get:

• 151 pages of text in 12 chapters
• 2 appendixes: driving tour and the Campbell brothers of the 79th New York Volunteers
• Order of Battle
• 14 page Dramatis Personae
• Foreword by Dr. Kyle Sinisi
• 10 Edward Alexander maps
• Photos and illustrations throughout

Interview: McMillan, “Armistead and Hancock”

Author Tom McMillan

New from Stackpole Books is Tom McMillan’s Armistead and Hancock: Behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War. The author took some time to answer a few questions about himself and the book.

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BR: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

TM: Bottom line, I’m someone who loves history and studying the Civil War. I just retired from a 43-year career in sports media and communications, but my second career choice was history teacher, and history has always been a passion. I serve on the board of Trustees of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center and previously was on the board of directors of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial. I’m also a docent at the Civil War Room/GAR Post at Carnegie Library in Carnegie, Pa. My first history book was Flight 93: The Story, The Aftermath and The Legacy of American Courage on 9/11, and my previous book on the Civil War was Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers, which won the 2017 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award as the best new work on the Gettysburg Campaign.

BR: What first got you interested in history, and the Civil War in particular? What Civil War authors have influenced you?

TM: Like most kids growing up in Pennsylvania, I visited Gettysburg with my parents on vacation, but I was so focused on my professional career as a young adult that there wasn’t room for much else. It wasn’t until the movie Gettysburg came out in 1993 that I turned the corner. I saw it at a theatre in Pittsburgh on a Tuesday night, drove to Gettysburg on a Friday and have been immersed in the study of the Civil War ever since. It was only after this became my No. 1 hobby that I realized “I had so many ancestors who fought in the war (including several who fought in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg). The authors who impacted me most at the start were Edwin Coddington and Harry Pfanz, the Gettysburg icons. As a long-time writer I also appreciate the talent of Stephen Sears — a brilliant writer — although I don’t always agree with his conclusions. From a more contemporary perspective I really like the work of James Hessler, (Sickles, Peach Orchard, Pickett’s Charge), who is also a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide.

BR: Your previous Civil War related book was about Gettysburg’s rebels, while this new one focuses on Gettysburg as well. Is this battle your main Civil War interest?

TM: There’s a powerful draw to Gettysburg, especially for someone who lives only a few hours away. And it was the movie Gettysburg that sparked my renewed interest in the 1990s, so, yes, there is something very special about the place. My wife and I always attend the Anniversary Days. But we’ve really become interested in Antietam in recent years and may try to become guides there in retirement. We’ve visited the Virginia battlefields, and Vicksburg, and will always continue to appreciate those places as well. It’s important to have context about the entire war. Frankly, though, from a bottom line perspective as an author, national publishers have more interest in Gettysburg books than those from other battles.

BR: So, why Armistead and Hancock?

TM: Did I mention the movie Gettysburg? (he says, laughing). The movie, and the novel it was based on, The Killer Angels, have made such a huge impression on an entire generation of Civil War visitors – probably more than any other works about the battle. The impact is so strong that many people tend to forget they are based on historical fiction. I was fascinated from the start by the story of Armistead and Hancock, two friends described as “almost brothers,” but was curious that I couldn’t find much information in bonafide histories about their friendship – that the topic had never been addressed in book form. Many Hancock books barely mention Armistead. I knew the movie version was heavily dramatized, so I set out to see if I could find the story behind the legend. It was an intriguing research journey.

BR: Hancock has spawned a Caspian Sea of Ink over the years. Armistead, on the other hand, while well-known, remains a shadowy figure. How were you able to overcome the relative dearth of information on him?

TM: That was part of the attraction, part of the challenge — could I find much about the story of Armistead? It was kind of amazing to me that there had been only one book written about him in the 158 years since the battle — a short biography by the legendary guide Wayne Motts back in 1994. There just isn’t a lot of stuff that is readily available. But Wayne’s previous work led me to some productive research paths, and by digging into the service records of Armistead’s 22-year U.S. Amy career at the National Archives; studying his family’s long military history, which is profound; obtaining his Confederate service records, along with those of his three younger brothers, and his son; checking out the incredible library at West Point; and finding some very interesting nuggets from newspapers of the time, I was able to piece together the story. The frustrating part is that there always will be gaps in the record and questions we can’t answer. There was a fire at the Armistead family home in the 1850s and that may have destroyed some of his letters and other materials.

BR: What were some things you learned about these two men that surprised you.

TM: I had so little knowledge of the Armistead story, other than his famous day at Gettysburg, that it was all interesting and surprising. He was brevetted multiple times for gallantry in the Mexican War. He had a tragic personal life, losing two wives and two of his three children to disease on the frontier. But some of the most intriguing insights were about his family and its military history. His father was the third man to graduate from West Point and became a brigadier general in 1828. I also had no idea that his three younger brothers also fought in the Civil War (and that one had graduated from West Point). It’s no coincidence at all that Armistead became a soldier. As for Hancock? Despite all the Hancock books out there, I’ll admit that most of what I knew about him centered on his three outstanding days at Gettysburg. It was interesting to track the progress of his life and career both before AND after the war — it provides a lot of context for his Gettysburg actions. And he did a lot more after the war than just running for president in1880. Mostly, though, I was interested in finding what I could about their interactions and their friendship. It’s an interesting and compelling story — although not quite the same as what you saw in the movie.

BR: Can you describe how long it took to write the book, what the stumbling blocks were?

TM: Looking back, I realize that I was “researching” the story of Armistead and Hancock long before I decided to write a book. The quest to learn more about them as a student of history is what led me, eventually, to do the book. The project itself took four years, with lots of twists and turns. The biggest challenge was uncovering as much of the hard-to-get-at Armistead material as I could. My wife, Colleen, is such a great researcher that she was a big part of this effort. Also, because of the power of the movie, I wanted to find as much as I could about their farewell in California before the war. Some people think it’s all fiction, that it didn’t happen at all. It’s a puzzle with some missing pieces, but I believe it DID happen. As for the overall story, there always will be questions we can’t answer. But that’s why we all keep studying history, right?

BR: Can you describe your research and writing process? What online and brick and mortar sources did you rely on most?

TM: My own process is to do some significant research, then start writing a bit, then go back to more research … and on it goes. I can’t just research, research, research. I have to start writing a little, to create a style for the book, to get the momentum going … and then go back for more research. Do I often double-back and edit or completely rewrite a segment because of something I’ve found? Sure. All the time. You’re constantly editing as you write. But I find that switching between research and writing throughout the process adds some freshness, at least for me.
There’s nothing like the National Archives when you are researching Civil War soldiers — their pre-war U.S. Army records and Civil War records, many of which include signed documents and letters. It’s eye-opening. Their online site at fold3.com is tremendous, but there are items at the Archives building in D.C. that are not yet digitized online, so traveling there is a must. We went to the West Point library and I was in awe of the information they have on the cadets — their academic records, even their application papers, which also include letters. I was stunned at the information we found in contemporary newspapers of that era, available at newspapers.com and other sites. Reporters wrote a lot about the army in those days, which is invaluable to a historian. Copies of the Confederate Veteran magazine series, which are both online and in some libraries, were a great resource on Armistead; those letters and articles were written by soldiers themselves, and a number of them wrote about serving with Armistead during Pickett’s Charge. All authors utilize previous books on our subject matter, of course, but finding some of the lesser-known books related to these guys (and, in Armistead’s case, his family) was also helpful for uncovering nuggets. A tidbit here, a tidbit there.

BR: In the editorial process something always ends up on the cutting room floor so to speak. Was there anything that didn’t make the final cut – things for which you expected to find support and came up dry, for example?

TM: I didn’t enter this project with many preconceived notions, so the answer is probably no. One specific topic I wanted to examine was the pre-war meeting in California, and I think I found as much as I could. Everything else was an open book. I was learning as I went alone. As we mentioned earlier, there really wasn’t much written in book form about Armistead before this. I guess you’re always a little frustrated at the end, because you wish you could have found more, but I thought I had exhausted many of the research avenues and had a pretty good story to tell. I hope readers agree.

BR: What’s next for you?

TM: RETIREMENT! That means more time to travel, research and write. I’m hoping there are more books in my future. My wife and I are also interested in doing more volunteer work at Antietam, and hopefully becoming guides some day. It’s an exciting time.

Bull Run at Gettysburg: Augustus Van Horne Ellis

Capt. Augustus Van Horne Ellis, Co. I, 71st NYSM from FindAGrave

In a few weeks, the National Park Service will be placing two boat howitzers on the field at Manassas National Battlefield Park to represent the position occupied during the Frist Battle of Bull Run by two boat howitzers of Co. I, 71st New York State Militia. The tubes which are right now being prepared for placement at the left end of the line of James Rifles of Reynolds’s Rhode Island Battery on Matthews Hill have been relocated from a monument installation outside the Fairfax County Courthouse. You can read all about it here.

From left, Brandon S. Bies, Andrew Bentley, Jim Burgess, and Jason Edwards, all with the National Park Service’s Manassas National Battlefield Park, disassemble two Civil War cannons that were given to the Manassas Battlefield. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

You can find the position on the D. B. Harris map here, but below is a smaller section of the map. Look at the far right of the line of guns (little crosses) farthest north.

Harris map detail courtesy of Manassas National Battlefield Park

This recent development reminded me that I have had a draft post sitting around for years – yes, literally years.

On December 3 of whatever year that was, I was at Gettysburg, tromping the field with friend John Banks. Our travels took us up Big Round Top, through the Triangular Field, along the old trolley path, and up through Devil’s Den. Not quite as many Bull Run connections on this route as on Hancock Avenue the day before, but I always manage to root them out. In this case, let’s take a look at the monument to the 124th New York Infantry that sits on Houck’s Ridge above the site of the regiment’s July 2, 1863 action, what Harry Pfanz dubbed “The Triangular Field.”

Atop the monument sits the unmistakable likeness of the regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis. I say unmistakable, because here is the most well known image of Ellis:

I know, right?

As you’ve read in the link, at First Bull Run then Captain Ellis was in command of two 12-pdr Navy boat howitzers attached to the 71st New York Infantry (Co. I). There were at least four Ellis brothers in the 71st at the battle: Julius E., Samuel C., and John S. all served in Co. F. Julius, the captain of that company, was mortally wounded. (You can read an account of the battle by brother John here.) The ultimate fate of Co. I’s boat howitzers that were lost at the battle is murky (mention of the “recovery” of the lost boat howitzers in the 71st NYSM Regimental History).

A fifth Ellis brother was in the 79th New York Highlanders at the battle.

At Gettysburg, Ellis’s “Orange Blossoms,” as they were called due to the large number of recruits from Orange County, NY, were part of the Ward’s Brigade, Birney’s Division, Sickles’s Corps of the Army of the Potomac. On July 2, 1863, they were positioned along Houck’s Ridge above Devil’s Den. Across and up the triangular field in front of them came Texans of John Bell Hood’s division of James Longstreet’s First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. The “Orange Blossoms'” position and situation was critical. After slowing the advance of the 1st Texas Infantry at short range, Major James Cromwell, who explained that the field officers of the regiment, including Ellis, were mounted because “The men must see us today,” repeatedly requested permission to lead a charge. Initially denying him, Ellis finally assented. Unable to resist, he also joined in. The move stopped the enemy advance, but Cromwell was shot down when the reforming Texans fired another volley. Ellis encouraged his men to rescue their major, and as the Texans were pushed back, the colonel was killed instantly by a bullet to the head. His and Cromwell’s bodies were recovered and placed on a boulder to the rear of the regiment, and the 124th NY returned to their original position, the Confederate advance in that part of the field successfully, but expensively, repulsed. Of the 238 officers and men taken into battle, the “Orange Blossoms” lost 92 in killed and wounded.

Legend has it that the monument to the 124th New York on Houck’s Ridge (one of two monuments to the regiment on the field), with the full portrait sculpture of Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis, sits atop the boulder on which he and his major were placed by their men. If that legend isn’t true, it should be.

Augustus Van Horne Ellis at Fold3

Augustus Van Horne Ellis at FindAGrave

Augustus Van Horne Ellis at Wikipedia

71st New York State Militia Regimental History

An account of Ellis’s death at Gettysburg

Some info on this type of gun

Preview: Pfarr, “Longstreet at Gettysburg”

A recent publication from McFarland & Co. is Cory M. Pfarr’s Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment. Mr. Pfarr works for the Department of Defense and lives in Pikeville, MD.

From the back cover:

This is the first book-length analysis of Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s actions at Gettysburg. The author argues that Longstreet has been discredited unfairly, beginning with character assassination by his contemporaries after the war and, persistently, by historians in the decades since.

By a close study of the three-day battle and an incisive historiographical inquiry into Longstreet’s treatment by scholars, the author presents an alternative view of Longstreet as an effective military leader, and refutes over a century of negative evaluations.

I guess the key phrase here is “book-length,” because undoubtedly there have been other works that reassess Longstreet in general, stretching back to the first assessments, as well as modern works by folks like Jeffery Wert, Henry Knudsen and William Garrett Piston, to name just a few. How this singular focus on Lee’s Warhorse’s work at Gettysburg specifically differs from others is the question.

You get:

• Foreword by Harold Knudsen
• 186 pages of narrative in 25 chapters.
• 12 pages of endnotes.
• 4 1/2 page bibliography, primarily published sources.
• Full index

 

 

 

Previews – Three New(er) Savas Beatie Titles

Here we go: a post! I have a stack of books here, some requiring a preview, and some requiring interviews. My apologies for the delay. So, without further ado, three recent releases from Savas Beatie.

“Lee is Trapped and Must be Taken:” Eleven Fateful Days after Gettysburg, July 4-14, 1863, by Thomas J. Ryan and Richard R. Schaus. In this sequel to his Spies, Scouts, and Secrets of the Gettysburg Campaign, author Ryan is joined by Schaus, a fellow former government intelligence employee. From the promotional materials:

This comprehensive day-by-day account examines how Maj. Gen. George G. Meade organized and motivated his Army of the Potomac in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s mandate to bring about the “literal or substantial destruction” of General Robert E. Lee’s defeated and retreating Army of Northern Virginia.

You get:

• 301 pages of narrative in 11 daily chapters, aftermath, and assessments
• An appendix on Meade and the Bureau of Military Intelligence (BMI)
• An appendix of BMI reports
• An appendix on Lincoln’s famous, unsent letter of frustration to Meade
• 17 page bibliography, including  numerous newspapers accounts
• Full Index
• Bottom of the page footnotes
• 14 Hal Jesperson maps

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Johnsonville: Union Supply Operations on the Tennessee River and the Battle of Johnsonville, November 4-5, 1864, by Jeffery T. Wooten. Wooten is currently the Park Manager for Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville, TN, and has worked at various Tennessee stat parks and Pamplin Historical Park. From the promotional materials:

[Wooten’s book] sheds light on the creation and strategic role of the Union supply depot, the use of railroads and logistics, and the depot’s defense. [It] covers the emergence of a civilian town around the depot…[and] includes the best and most detailed account of the Battle of Johnsonville…The complex land-water operation nearly wiped out the Johnsonville supply depot, severely disrupted Gen. George Thomas’s army in Nashville, and impeded his operations against John Bell Hood’s Confederate army.

You get:

• 179 pages of narrative in 9 chapters and aftermath
• One appendix on the “U. S. Quartermaster’s Department in Tennessee
• 11 page bibliography, including numerous newspapers and unpublished manuscript sources
• Full index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• 9 maps

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The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12 Virginia Infantry form John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865, by John Horn. Mr. Horn is the author of The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad. From the promotional materials:

Horn’s definitive history is grounded in decades of archival research that uncovered scores of previously unused accounts. The result is a lively, driving, up-tempo regimental history that not only describes the unit’s marches and battles, but includes personal glimpses into the lives of the Virginians who made up the 12th regiment.

You get:

• 406 pages of narrative in 22 chapters and epilogue.
• 20 page bibliography
• Full index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• 32 (!) maps

 

 

Interview: Hessler & Isenberg, “Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard”

James Hessler

Britt Isenberg

A few weeks ago, I gave very brief previews of a number of recent Savas Beatie releases here. Among them was Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard: Longstreet, Sickles, and the Bloody Fight for the “Commanding Ground” Along the Emmitsburg Road, by Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guides Jim Hessler and Britt Isenberg. The authors recently took some time to discuss this new book.

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BR: Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?

JH: In addition to spending the majority of my working life in financial services, I have been a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide since 2003. My second career as a public historian took off with my first book, Sickles at Gettysburg, which was published by Savas Beatie in 2009. In 2015, I co-authored Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg with Wayne Motts and maps by Steve Stanley. I speak across the country at Civil War Round Tables and have had various media appearances on venues such as the Travel Channel and NPR Radio. I also recently started co-hosting The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast with fellow Guide Eric Lindblade. So I always keep pretty busy. I am blessed to have a family that allows me to do this while still working and giving battlefield tours.

BI: I grew up in Millersburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from Millersville University in 2008 with a BA. I spent a few years working in the airline industry and with Fedex Express before taking the guide exam and passing in 2014. I’ve been guiding full-time for five years now.

BR: Britt, we’ve heard from Jim on this before, but what got you interested in the Civil War? Who/what were your early influences?

BI: I was fortunate enough to know my great grandfather on my mother’s side as a kid and he was the definition of a Civil War buff. Some of my fondest memories as a kid are sitting with Grandpa Leroy and watching the movie Glory or paging through his Civil War coffee table books with all Matthew Brady’s most famous images. I then began learning about my own direct ancestors who served in the war, which exacerbated a new condition known as civilwaritis. Trips to Gettysburg, Antietam and Harper’s Ferry sealed the deal!

BR: You’re both Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guides. How long have you known each other?

JH: I’m not sure where and when we met, but I imagine like most people locally we probably met at O’Rorkes. I had finished writing both my Sickles and Pickett’s Charge books. I was considering doing something in depth on the Peach Orchard because I knew there were many aspects of that story that didn’t fit into my Sickles book. When Britt published his regimental on the 105th Pennsylvania, it struck me that he might be someone who would want to tackle this project together.

BI: I met Jim when I was going through the process to become a battlefield guide back in 2013. I knew of him long before he met me (isn’t that the story for all of us!), so we’ve known each other about six years. I really enjoyed his Sickles at Gettysburg and Pickett’s Charge books, but then I found out he was a New York Yankees fan and the relationship soured (not really).

BR: That Yankees thing should have sunk him. But despite that, you’ve written Peach Orchard together. How did you come to the decision to write it in tandem, and how does that process work? How do your positions as guides inform this book?

JH: Since I had done my Sickles book and Britt had done his 105th PA book, it was obvious that we both had enough interest on this part of the field to complete books. Many people try to write books and never finish, so knowing that we both had the ability to finish was important. I’m not a proponent of telling people, “This contribution was mine and that was his,” since it’s either a team effort or it isn’t, but the best part of working with someone is that both parties can add stories that the other one might not know. You don’t know what you don’t know. As for being Guides, the obvious answer is “we spend a lot of time on the ground and know the terrain.” But beyond that, we get to audition stories for audiences and figure out which ones work well, and which ones don’t, long before we have to commit them to paper. Many Gettysburg buffs look at Battlefield Guides and say, “Oh, I could easily do that,” but the art to it is really being able to tell stories concisely. That skill hopefully lends itself to writing.

BR: Why yet another microstudy of Gettysburg?

JH: Why not? Why do we always have to answer this question? But seriously, because if people are still interested in the Civil War, then Gettysburg is the battle that still garners the most interest. As for the Peach Orchard, amazingly this topic has NEVER been done in a full-length study before. Beyond the Sickles and Longstreet stuff, we wanted to tell the stories of the people who lived and fought at the Peach Orchard. We think many of these stories have not been told before, and certainly not in one book like this. Plus Sickles and Longstreet, our two primary protagonists, still generate heat among Gettysburg enthusiasts. Someone asks a question about Sickles, and usually gets eviscerated for it, at least once per day in social media forums.

BR: How would you characterize the popular notion of the Peach Orchard operations, and how does your book conflict with that notion?

JH: Traditional interpretation of the Peach Orchard is always something like this: “Sickles murdered his wife’s lover before becoming a dreaded political general. Then he told Meade to ‘go to hell,’ and moved into the Peach Orchard. Sickles created a salient which is bad. Very bad. General Barksdale’s attack was the most amazing of the war and broke Sickles’s salient. Afterwards, Sickles dated the Queen of Spain.” Well, we try to tell the REAL story, starting with the story of the Sherfy family themselves. As for the battle itself, we provide the details on who defended the orchard, their actions, and how those actions contributed to Barksdale’s success. Sickles, Longstreet, and Barksdale are part of our story, of course, but we try to tell it in a broader context.

BI: Most of the focus on the second day at Gettysburg is a mile too far east. The Peach Orchard often gets a mere drive-by as people make their way to Little Round Top. We think the Peach Orchard is second only to Cemetery Hill as the most important piece of ground on the second day of the battle. Also, it’s often forgotten, but the Peach Orchard was an important part of R.E. Lee’s day two objectives and the decisions made by commanders on both sides because of the terrain’s deceptive nature drove the outcome of the battle. Instead of being just a footnote, the significance of the orchard should be elevated since it is integral to understanding why the battle played out as it did.

BR: Can you describe how long it took to write the book, what the stumbling blocks were, what you discovered along the way that surprised you or went against the grain, what firmed up what you already knew? When did you know you were “done”?

JH: I think we were working on it for close to 4 years. We both had some preliminary research done due to our prior projects, but we soon realized that we still needed to do much more research to fill in blanks on other regiments and individuals. While it didn’t surprise me, in terms of going ‘against the grain’, we wanted to emphasize why this action is so important vs. less significant but more heralded actions at places like Little Round Top and the Wheatfield. Lee repeatedly referred to the Peach Orchard and Emmitsburg Road as significant on both July 2 and July 3, yet not enough people appreciate it. In fact, the Peach Orchard on July 2 directly leads to Lee’s decisions on July 3. While several friends pre-read our manuscript and provided very useful commentary, we also shocked several of them by including July 3 in our scope. They were shocked because they had been conditioned to think of the Peach Orchard as “Day Two” only. We need to stop looking at this battle as isolated days. The actions of one day lead to the next day, and nowhere is that more evident than at the Peach Orchard.

BR: Can you describe your research and writing process? What online and brick and mortar sources did you rely on most?

JH: We create an outline; we research; we write; we edit; we edit again; we edit again. Then we turned it over to an editor and edited it again. And again. Our bibliography is pretty extensive; I’ll let readers check it out. As for the sources relied on the most, first and foremost remains the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Yes, I know their limitations, but they remain the place to start.

BI: We both spent a lot of time searching for sources in so many different places. Like most Civil War studies, the source we leaned on the most was the Official Records. Beyond that, newspapers were a great help. Our fellow guides and other historians from the Civil War community were also extremely helpful in pointing us towards other less-publicized accounts.

BR: How has the book been received so far?

JH: It’s been received very well and we thank everyone for that. I admit I wasn’t originally sure if the market wanted a “Peach Orchard book” but we tried to strike a balance between military and human interest. We seem to have accomplished that. I am very proud of the book and think it stands up equally to my prior books.

BR: What’s next for you?

JH: I am currently enjoying co-hosting The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast. I know I am supposed to say, “I will keep writing history for the joy of creating,” but I’ve decided that writing history is too thankless. Writers of history need to be: informative, entertaining but not too fluffy, new but not revisionist, have great maps, have rare photos, have detailed but not too detailed footnotes at the bottom of the page, not use end notes (except for the one person in ten who prefers end notes), and have an extensive bibliography of primary sources. All for little to no money, so that social media warriors can critique it and then forget it in 12 months. So I might be finished with this phase of my career. I am proud of the three full-length books that are on my resume. Or I might do a book on Custer and the Little Bighorn, which I have been promising for years because I enjoy being miserable.

BI: I’ll tell you one thing… I’m never writing a book again!!! No, I do have a couple other projects in mind, but first and foremost I’m taking a break. Then I’m going to continue work on a regimental history of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry and maybe a photo study of cavalrymen from the Cumberland Valley. We’ll see what happens…

Gettysburg’s Leister Farm

An edited version of this article appeared as the first of a series I wrote for Civil War Times magazine, beginning in the June 2010 issue. The column was first called In Harm’s Way, and later as Collateral Damage.

The Leister House

The Leister house is best known for serving as the headquarters of Union Major General George Gordon Meade during the battle of Gettysburg – particularly as the site of the famous council of war held in its cramped interior on the evening of July 2, 1863.

The 1.5 story log house on Taneytown Rd. south of the town of Gettysburg was built no later than 1840, by Thomas Nolan. The farm at 10 acres was small for the day, as was the house at about 390 square feet plus floored attic. The main living area consisted of two rooms: a kitchen and a living/bedroom. Nolan sold the farm to Henry Bishop, Sr. in 1840, and Lydia (Study) Leister purchased it from Bishop for $900 on March 30, 1861, apparently with funds left her by her father but held in trust until her alcoholic husband’s death. Lydia and her husband James moved to the Gettysburg area from Maryland in 1850, and James died on Dec. 11, 1859, leaving behind his wife and six children, at least two of whom were living with Lydia on the farm at the time of the battle.

On July 1, 1863, Lydia and young Hannah and Matilda were advised by a mounted Union officer to leave the farm for their safety. They eventually found shelter on the Baltimore Road. The farm’s location was ideal for communications; the house and outbuildings were occupied and the grounds used as a signal station, the fields crossed frequently by troops, messengers and staff. On July 2nd and 3rd, Meade established his headquarters there. By the afternoon of the 3rd, it was being used as an aid station. Gettysburg resident Daniel Skelly visited the farmhouse on July 6th:

“In the front room of the house was a bed, the covers of it thrown back; and its condition indicated that a wounded soldier had occupied it. I was told that General Butterfield, Meade’s chief of staff, who had been wounded, had been placed upon it before being taken to a hospital.”

When Lydia and her children returned, they were greeted with devastation. In 1865 she described the scene to author John T. Trowbridge:

“I owed a little on my land yit, and thought I’d put in two lots of wheat that year, and it was all trampled down, and I didn’t get nothing from it. I had seven pieces of meat yit, and them was all took. All I had when I got back was jest a little bit of flour yit. The fences was all tore down, so that there wasn’t one standing, and the rails was burnt up. One shell came into the house and knocked a bedstead all to pices for me…The porch was all knocked down. There was seventeen dead horses on my land. They burnt five of ‘em around my best peach tree and killed it; so I ha’n’t no peaches this year. They broke down all my young apple trees for me. The dead horses sp’iled my spring, so I had to have my well dug.”

Trowbridge reflected on Leister:

“This poor woman’s entire interest in the great battle was, I found, centered in her own losses. That the country lost or gained she did not know or care, never having once thought of that side of the question.”

Lydia was eventually able to repair her house, even building a two story addition. She also expanded the farm, purchasing additional acreage from neighbor Peter Frey. She sold the bedroom table used by Meade during his stay to an Edmund Cleveland of Elisabeth, NJ (the table subsequently made its way back to the Park’s collection), and also sold for fertilizer the 750 pounds of bone from the dead horses, from which it took over 18 months for the meat to rot. She lived on the farm until 1888, when poor health caused her to move into town. At that time, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association purchased the farm from Lydia for $3,000.

The original farm house was lived in continually by tenant farmers into the 1920’s. In 1933 the property was taken over by the National Park service, at which time it ceased to operate as a tenant farm and the buildings used for storage. In 1961, extensive excavation and reinforcement of the foundation was done, and the house was fully restored in 1966.

Upon selling her farm to the GBPA, Lydia had the two-story addition removed to a lot she purchased in town. She lived in that dwelling, which today is known as the Gettystown Inn near the Dobbin House on Steinwehr Ave., until her death at the age of 84 on Dec. 29, 1893, and is buried in Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery. Over the years Lydia Leister had filed claims against the War Department totaling just over $1,311 for damages to her farm during the battle. Settlement was made for $52.50.

[See here for some photos of the Leister house and farm. Thanks to GNMP and Ranger Troy Harmon for access to the house on a very, very cold day.]

Sources: Gettysburg National Military Park files; http://www.dobbinhouse.com; National Park Service Cultural Resources Management Bulletin Vol. 5, #4, December 1982, “The Mystery of General Meade’s Table,” Ronald Sheetz, http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/05-4/5-4-all.pdf; “A Strange and Blighted Land,” Gregory Coco; “A Vast Sea of Misery,” Gregory Coco; “The South: A Tour of its Battle-Fields and Ruined Cities,” John T. Trowbridge.

Mt. Lebanon, Pa. Boy Scout Troop 28

I just spent a delightful evening speaking to a great group of kids and parents to help them prepare for a day of hiking the Gettysburg Battlefield. Just the basics of the armies involved, the personalities of the army and corps commanders, and the importance of the lessons to be learned from history (especially military history) that get kicked to the wayside a bit in this day of STEM. The kids were very engaged and asked a lot of questions, which I liked, and seemed to be appreciative of my decision to NOT do a PowerPoint presentation – they get enough of that in school these days, I think. So thank you all. I had a great time. If you have any other questions, you can fire away right here in the comments section. If I don’t know the answer, I know someone who does.

[To the dad who asked me about Gettysburg residents who fought for the Confederacy at the battle, see my preview of Tom McMillan’s Gettysburg Rebels right here.]