ra du ates of th e slums

“ G
s, their
of New Orlean
du catio n in villainy was
e
t.”
naturally perfec
eon, journalist
— Thomas DeL

bayou
brawlers
Hard-Fighing, Hard-Drinking
Confederate Zouaves
Plus!
Anietam
Veteran’s
Rare Photos
Dan Sickles’
Ill-fated
Excelsior
Brigade

HISTORYNET.COM
 JANUARY 2019

26
Anietam
Time Travel
A Union veteran’s obsession
with America’s bloodiest day
continues to delight modern
Civil War audiences.
By John Banks

On the Cover
Many of the Zouaves in the
1st Louisiana Battalion
were recruited from the
jails of New Orleans—this
anonymous soldier may
have been one of that lawless
fringe, in fact—but they were
soon seen as “a splendid set of
animals...brought to a perfect
VWDWHRIGULOODQGHIÀFLHQF\µ

2 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Departments
6 LETTERs More on whether George McClellan outfoxed Lee at Antietam
8 THE BLOG ROLL Letters home from common soldiers in Spotsylvania, Va.
12 From the Crossroads Desertions after Gettysburg hurt a proud Union regiment
14 hidden heroes The macabre murder of the Apache luminary “Red Sleeves”
54 trailside Harrisonburg, critical crossroads town in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
60 Reviews Connecticut’s grand jewel of a museum; an unjust quest to imprison Lee
64 conversation piece .HHSLQJWKHEHDWÀUPO\LQSODFH

Not in the Holiday Spirit

But for a Christmas Eve defeat by one gritty
Union unit, Earl Van Dorn’s Confederate
cavalry literally derailed Ulysses Grant’s
plans in the First Vicksburg Campaign.
By George Skoch

18 46
A Breed Apart
Georges Coppens’ Louisiana Zouaves did
very little by the book. But, as the Federals
soon learned, the boys in red fezzes and
EDJJ\SDQWVNQHZKRZWRÀJKW
By John Quarstein

Scoundrel

38 The notorious Daniel Sickles created the Excelsior Brigade with commendable
intentions. It remained trouble-plagued as long as he was in command.
By Rick Barram

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF THE PICERNO COLLECTION; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; PETER GLENDENNING/MICHIGAN CAPITOL COMMITTEE AND THE SAVE
THE FLAGS PROGRAM; UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES; COVER: COURTESY OF DAN MILLER/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER
JANUARY 2019 3

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 LETTERS
more on mac
‘outfoxing’ lee
Dennis E. Frye (“No Small Deed”;
September 2018) atempts to persuade
readers that Robert E. Lee was out-
generaled by George McClellan at
Antietam. If this were true, the severely
handicapped Army of Northern Vir-
ginia would have been demolished.
McClellan badly managed this bloody
batle and was lucky to break even. It
was an astute President Lincoln who
turned a tactical military draw into a
strategic political and moral victory by
issuing his Preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation—which McClellan
opposed—thus reshaping the struggle.
Lee took an audacious gamble that,
despite all odds, might have worked
because he could “read” McClellan. So
could Lincoln. He clearly saw Antietam
for what it was—a botched afair that
could have crippled his presidency and
the Union cause. At the first opportune
moment, Lincoln fired McClellan. Frye’s
atempt to puf up McClellan—thereby
slighting Lee—is, well, McClellanesque.
I don’t see how any serious student of
history can buy it. Lincoln didn’t.
Ruth Clements
Palm Springs, California
6 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Ah, revisionism runs rampant these
days. So let’s hear from somebody who
knows: J.E.B. Stuart. According to Burke
Davis’ The Last Cavalier, Stuart insisted
that “Litle Mac” had not only botched
the Seven Days earlier that summer, he
had thrown away victory at Sharpsburg:
“McClellan wasn’t the man for the
occasion. The Maryland Campaign was
full of faults. He ought to have pressed
on [Lafayete] McLaws after Boonsboro.
That was a great oversight. If Harpers
Ferry hadn’t surrendered, we would
have been in a bad way.”
Stephan Paul Wassel
Arlington, Va.
Dennis Frye’s well-writen article about
George McClellan and the Antietam
Campaign was interesting, but I take
issue with the terms “outfoxed” and
“outwited” in regards to his handling
of operations against Robert E. Lee.
While I admire Lee, I acknowledge that
he made mistakes during the campaign
and that he didn’t achieve the bulk of
his objectives. I also believe that Mc-
Clellan acted for the most part beter
than many give him credit for.
Taking into account Frye’s four
instances of McClellan’s aggres-
siveness: There is no evidence that
Lee considered, at least seriously,
atacking Baltimore. According to
Joseph Harsh, in his books Taken
at the Flood and Sounding the
Shallows, the aim of the campaign
was to get the Federal army out of
Virginia, move the Army of Northern
Virginia into western Maryland and/
or Pennsylvania, where they could
rest and reprovision, hopefully fight a
batle on favorable ground, and re-
main north of the Potomac for several
weeks to give the Virginia farmers a
rest and to hopefully discourage the
Northern electorate.
Lee knew his army was in bad
shape and that a move on Baltimore
would expose his supply line terribly
and cause him to be boxed in, even if he
did take the city. He saw the threat that
Harpers Ferry posed to his supply line
in the Shenandoah Valley. His purpose
in crossing the Potomac east of the Blue
Ridge and occupying Frederick for sev-
eral days was to threaten Washington
and Baltimore—that did not mean he
would atack them, but the Union hi-
erarchy didn’t know that. He wanted to
pull the Federal army out of the Wash-
ington defenses before it had time to
reorganize and get reinforced.
In that he succeeded, but Harpers
Ferry messed up his plans. For McClel-
lan, sending Burnside’s Corps north to
defend the approach to Baltimore was
common sense, but I don’t believe it can
be called “outwiting” Lee.
As for the Lost Orders, I appreciate
that McClellan had to determine they
weren’t a ruse and if the Confederates
were still where and when the orders
deemed them to be. McClellan did push
forward rapidly and the Batle of South
Mountain caused Lee to end the cam-
paign, at least for a couple of days. It did
shift the initiative to McClellan. Howev-
er, had it not been for the Harpers Ferry
garrison forcing Lee to change his plans,
there would have been no Lost Orders.
Who knows how rapidly McClellan
would have advanced?
As for Lee’s stand at Sharpsburg, Frye
is correct that Lee wanted to use to Hag-
erstown Road to continue the campaign.

But he stood behind Antietam Creek
for one main reason: McLaws’ troops—
one-fourth his army—faced a perilous
situation with Harpers Ferry in front
and Franklin’s corps behind. If Harp-
ers Ferry isn’t taken, McLaws’ only
route out is the River Road to Sharps-
burg. Lee had to keep that open. Once
the garrison was taken, Lee decided to
make his stand, likely counting on Mc-
Clellan to delay, as he did on the 16th.
Cuting of the Hagerstown Pike
appears to be a process of elimination.
The Confederate right and middle
were too strong for a straight-on atack
and the left aforded an approach al-
lowing Antietam Creek to be crossed
largely unseen and without opposition.
The Confederate line faced east on its
left, and the line was bent north with
the 1st Corps’ approach. We don’t know
if McClellan thought the Hagerstown
Pike was Lee’s true exit strategy, but
from the way he dispersed his troops I
have my doubts.
As for sending troops to Williams-
port, it was obviously a sensible move,
but did that cause Lee to give up his
atempt to cross there? It seems appar-
ent that once Lee had crossed back to
Virginia and fought the Batle of Shep-
herdstown, he realized his army was in
no shape to go further.
While I don’t argue McClellan made
sound moves, I don’t know that they
rise to the level of “outfoxing” Lee.
Duane Carrell
Springfield, Ill.
Thanks for this sharp revision of the
established view of General McClel-
lan’s leadership during the Antietam
Campaign. I’ve always thought there
was something odd about viewing the
batle as a draw. Lee was not one to re-
treat. The animus by historians against
the sometimes insuferable McClellan
has clearly resulted in distorted assess-
ments of his achievements.
Dwight McNamara
[From Facebook]
PHOTO BY KAELEN WINN
Huge strategic victory for the North.
All of Lee’s objectives on that cam-
paign were all failures.
William Ross [From Facebook]
LETTERS
Bierce and PTSD
Regards to the article “Blame to Go Around” by James Marten (“The Blog Roll,”
September 2018), I find that Ambrose Bierce’s “tormented view of war” was
absolutely due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The disorder was not even
recognized as “shell shock” in Bierce’s time. However, I can tell you as the
daughter and granddaughter of combat veterans that his extreme hatred for
the “political madmen” who started the war and the dupes (such as himself)
who enlisted has to do with his likely daily nightmares of the batlefields that
would never let his mind have a moment’s peace.
Ambrose Bierce sufered, as all sufer when they witness or participate
in the business of murdering others, no mater the age, the ideology or the
seemingly righteousness of that terrible thing called war. War is nothing less
than murder and, oh, what it does to a man’s soul and what it does to families
of those soldiers—PTSD reverberating through the generations, as alcoholism
and domestic violence become a way of life postwar for survivors.
We can also say that the South’s “Lost Cause” was a massive, regional PTSD
that every Southern family experienced in that terrible, murderous war. In
truth, no one was a winner in the War Between the States: The ideals of free-
dom and the emancipation of the slaves was a positive of the war, of course.
For the individual soldiers and their families, the price was—and still is—likely
too great a cost.
Very interesting article. Thank you, Professor Marten!
Robin Kincaid
Port Orchard, Wash.
Did You Know?
Regarding the leter to the editor in No-
vember’s issue about the possible Annie
Etheridge–Juliet Opie Hopkins photo
misidentification: There is a reason
Hopkins, who was indeed referred to as
the Florence Nightingale of the South, is
buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
She was the mother-in-law of Romeyn
B. Ayres, who was in command of Sher-
man’s Batery at the First Batle of Bull
Run, and is buried in his family plot at
Arlington. How’s that for irony?
Harry Smeltzer
Coraopolis, Pa.
Prisonable Offense?
If I broke a military headstone in half, I’d be in prison. Yet the federal govern-
ment did that to hundreds of headstones at Poplar Grove National Cemetery
(“If These Walls Could Talk,” September 2018). Diiculty maintaining the cem-
etery is a lame excuse. Even during the Great Depression, maintaining nation-
al graves would seem to have been a job custom made for the WPA. What was
at work was laziness, greed, and disrespect: three reasons why people don’t
trust the government. Appalling.
John Braden
[by e-mail]
WRITE TO US Send leters to America’s Civil War, Leters Editor,
HistoryNet, 1919 Gallows Rd., Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182-4038,
or e-mail acwleters@historynet.com. Leters may be edited.
JANUARY 2019 7
 THE BLOG ROLL
Close Quarters
A critical moment of the
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as captured by Thure de
Thulstrup in an 1887
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due credit
SPOTSYLVANIA GRUNTS GET THEIR SAY
By Michael Aubrecht
Folks sometimes ask me what sets Virginia’s Freder-
icksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park apart
from other hallowed grounds. I remind them that if
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which depicts two common infantrymen. Spotsylva-
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common soldier that are commemorated. The grunts
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8 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
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parents a few weeks into the Overland Campaign:
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Dear Father and Mother
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and yesterday the cannon and small arms were still
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DQGRQWKH GD\VRIWKLVPRQWK'XULQJ
them six days it was awful.…For six days the Battle
ZDVNHSWXSDOOWKHWLPHGD\DQGQLJKWLQWKHGHDG
KRXURIPLGQLJKWWKHFDQQRQ PXVNHWU\ZDVWKXQ-
dering all the time. Column after column the Yan-
kees pushed their men up to our Breastworks and
RXUPHQZHUHFXWWLQJWKHPGRZQDVIDVWDVÁLHV7KH
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
dead Yankees are heaped up in piles half as high as
DPDQLQIURQWRIRXU%UHDVWZRUNVDQGDOODURXQGRQ
WKH%DWWOHÀHOGWKHGHDG\DQNVDUHO\LQJMXVWDVWKLFN
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 THE BLOG ROLL
rotten on top of the ground….All the men say that
WKLVKDVEHHQWKHKDUGHVWÀJKW>RI@WKHZDU
We have plenty to eat. Noah give me the things
that you sent to me and I am very much obliged to
you for them....Tell mother, I would like to have one
SDLURIVRFNVVHQWWRPHE\WKHÀUVWRQHRIRXUPHQ
that comes over…
Your son, Mike.
Private Walter Battle of the 4th North Carolina Infan-
WU\UHFRXQWHGVRPHRIWKHÀJKWLQJLQWKLVOHWWHU Fairfax will write you…and give you the particulars
The Yankees held a position on our right, upon a hill
ZKLFKHQDEOHGWKHPWRNHHSXSDQLQFHVVDQWHQÀODG-
LQJÀUHXSRQXVWZRWKLUGVRIWKHPHQZHORVWZHUH
done in that way. Men were killed while squatting
just as low and as close to the breastworks as it was
possible for them to get….It was a wonder to me that
the last one of us was not killed.
Wrote Battle on May 14:
Last Thursday though is the day that will be remem-
bered by both armies as long as one man is left to tell
the tale. At daylight they attacked the line a little to
our right, drove our men out of both lines of breast-
works and the result was hanging in the scales when
our brigade was taken from one position and moved
around in front of them….There is not a man in this
brigade who will ever forget the sad requiem which
those minie balls sung over the dead and dying for
WZHQW\WZRORQJKRXUVWKH\SXWRQHLQPLQGRIVRPH
PXVLFDOLQVWUXPHQWVRPHVRXQGHGOLNHZRXQGHGPHQ
FU\LQJVRPHOLNHKXPPLQJRIEHHVVRPHOLNHFDWV
in the depth of the night, while others cut through
the air with only a “Zip” like noise….Brigadiers and
colonels lay as low in the trench and water as the
men….I am too worn out to write anything of any
interest. I am about half deaf yet, as is everyone else
from the effects of the cannonading.
A letter the wife of 3rd South Carolina Lieutenant Isaac
Newton Cooper received shortly after the Spotsylvania
ÀJKWLQJUHLQIRUFHVWKHWUDJHG\RIZDU
10 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
It becomes my painful duty
Selfless to inform you that your hus-
Fredericksburg’s band...was mortally wounded
“Angel of Marye’s on the 8th of May....[I]t will
Heights” memorial, indeed be painful intelli-
which honors gence to you and his children
the humanity of to learn of your great loss—
Confederate soldier he was wounded in the head
Richard Kirkland. by a bomb shell and has been
lying insensible ever since.
The Surgeon thinks he
ZLOOGLHLQDIHZKRXUV,ZDVLQKRSHVDWÀUVWWKDWKH
would recover…but he is getting worse. He was a true
IULHQGWRPHDQGDEUDYHRIÀFHU«
On May 10, 11th Mississippi Infantry courier James
Montgomery was struck by a shell fragment while deliv-
ering communications for Maj. Gen. Henry Heth. As he
lay dying, Private Montgomery wrote to his father:
Spotsylvania County, Va. May 10
Dear Father
This is my last letter to you. I went into battle this
evening as courier for Genl. Heth. I have been struck
by a piece of shell and my right shoulder is horri-
bly mangled & I know death is inevitable. I am very
weak but I write to you because I know you would be
delighted to read a word from your dying son. I know
death is near, that I will die far from home…but I
have friends here too who are kind to me. My friend
of my death. My grave will be marked so that you
may visit it if you desire...but it is optionary with you
whether you let my remains rest here or in Miss.
I would like to rest in the grave yard with my dear
mother and brothers but it’s a matter of minor impor-
tance….Give my love to all my friends. My strength
fails me. My horse and my equipments will be left for
you. Again, a long farewell to you. May we meet in
heaven.
Your dying son, J.R. Montgomery
Living in Virginia, we are all blessed to live in a state so
rich in Civil War history. With all these expertly restored
historical places surrounding us, it is very easy to for-
get the hardships and carnage that took place here. We
must consciously remind ourselves that the beauty that
surrounds us is a façade and that the men who fought
and died here baptized the soil with their blood. We
can do this by preserving and presenting their words
for future generations. Only then will we truly acknowl-
edge the memory of the common Civil War soldier and
give them their proper place in our nation’s story.
FELIX LIPOV/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Michael Aubrecht is a former private Fredericksburg &
Spotsylvania National Military Park guide and author
of The Civil War in Spotsylvania County: Confederate
&DPSÀUHVDWWKH&URVVURDGV (The History Press, 2009).
This blog post was adapted from his May 8, 2012, pre-
sentation before the Richmond Civil War Roundtable.
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 FROM THE CROSSROADS

Heroic Defense
The 69th Pennsylvania’s
gritty stand at Gettysburg’s
Angle came at a high cost.
:RUQRXWE\WKHÀJKW
of its men soon deserted.

To the limit
FOR ONE UNION REGIMENT, THE DREADFUL CASUALTY COUNT
FROM PICKETT’S CHARGE INCLUDED NUMEROUS DESERTIONS
By D. Scott Hartwig

When we think of deserters in the Civil War, we 7KHWKZDVHQJDJHG-XO\²RQ&HPHWHU\5LGJH

2Q WKH UG LWV SRVLWLRQ ZDV VWUXFN E\ WKH IXOO IXU\ RI
“FURY AT THE WALL” BY ARTIST DAN NANCE AND DANNANCE.COM

imagine an army’s cowards, scoundrels, and riff-raff who

abandon their comrades to save their own skins. While
VRPHÀWWKLVSURÀOHWKHUHDOLW\LVWKDWZKDWSURPSWHG
PHQWRGHVHUWZDVRIWHQPRUHFRPSOH[WKDQWKHVLPSOH
EURDG EUXVK WKDW LV XVXDOO\ DSSOLHG $ VSLNH LQ GHVHU-
WLRQV W\SLFDOO\ IROORZHG HYHU\ PDMRU EDWWOH LQFOXGLQJ
*HWW\VEXUJ(YHQWKHEHVWUHJLPHQWVH[SHULHQFHGGHVHU-
WLRQV7KHWK3HQQV\OYDQLD,QIDQWU\LVDQH[DPSOH,W
ZDVDQH[FHOOHQWXQLWEXWEHWZHHQ-XO\DQG-XO\
LWORVWVROGLHUVWRGHVHUWLRQ7KHLUVWRULHVFDQ
SURYLGHXVVRPHLGHDRIGHVHUWLRQ·VFRPSOH[LWLHV
3LFNHWW·V &KDUJH 7KH IDPRXV &RSVH RI 7UHHV VWRRG
directly in the 69th’s rear. With Confederates surging
IRUZDUGLQWKHLUIURQWDQGRQERWKÁDQNVWKHUHJLPHQW
held, though the cost was high. In the two days of com-
EDWZHUHNLOOHGZRXQGHGDQGFDSWXUHGMXVW
PRUHWKDQSHUFHQWRIWKHUHJLPHQW·VVWUHQJWK
7KHÀUVWWRGHVHUWZDV3ULYDWH*HRUJH+DZVRI&RP-
SDQ\$D\HDUROGSOXPEHULQFLYLOLDQOLIH+DZVZDV
0DMRU-DPHV'XII\·VRUGHUO\:KHQ'XII\ZDVVHULRXVO\
ZRXQGHG -XO\  +D\V DFFRPSDQLHG KLP WR KLV KRPH

12 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 FROM THE CROSSROADS

in Philadelphia. Once the major was safe, Haws disap- VDFULÀFLQJDOOEDFNSD\DQGZDVRUGHUHGWRSD\WKHJRY-

peared into the city, never to be seen by his regiment ernment $10 a month of his wages for nine months.
again. He apparently went straight to the docks and, Eckard, like many in the regiment, was poor and the
probably under an assumed name, signed on as a mer- VHQWHQFHKLWKLPKDUGÀQDQFLDOO\+HDSSHDOHGWR6HF-
chant sailor, concluding perhaps he would not survive UHWDU\RI:DU(GZLQ06WDQWRQLQ0DUFKWREH
another battle like Gettysburg. allowed to reenlist as a veteran volunteer. Because of
Each man had his limit of how much combat he could his sentence, he had been denied this right. “You will
endure without breaking, and Haws may have reached be rendering a never to be forgotten favor on [me],” by
his in the terrifying action of July 3. That may have DSSURYLQJWKHUHTXHVWKHZURWHWR6WDQWRQ7KHVHFUH-
also been why Patrick Harvey of Company F deserted tary approved and Eckard reenlisted. It did not end well
on July 6. Harvey’s company was overrun by Pickett’s for him. The private was captured at Ream’s Station,
men on July 3, with nearly every man killed, wounded, 9DRQ$XJXVWDQGVHQWWR1RUWK&DUROLQD·V
or captured. Where Harvey went is unknown, but he Salisbury Prison, where he soon died of disease.
returned to the regiment on September 27 carrying his From his record, William Farrell was a good soldier,
ULÁHDQGHTXLSPHQW7KH$UP\FRXUWPDUWLDOHGKLPDQG EXWKHKDGTXDUUHOHGZLWK&RORQHO'HQQLV2·.DQHWKH
docked his pay, but no more. He served out the remain- 69th’s commander. Farrell was wounded in the July 3
der of his enlistment without incident. Even though ÀJKWLQJ DQG OLNHO\ GLGQ·W NQRZ WKDW 2·.DQH KDG EHHQ
ERWKPHQZHUHLQWKHEDWWOH\RX·OOQRWÀQG+DZV·QDPH killed. Determined he would not return to serve under
on the 69th’s tablet on the Pennsylvania Memorial; Har- 2·.DQHDJDLQ)DUUHOOVOLSSHGRXWRIDQ$UP\KRVSLWDO
vey’s is. Deserters who returned were deemed worthy of in Philadelphia on July 13 and made his way to the
having their name on the monu- city’s Marine Corps recruiting
ment. Those, like Haws, who RIÀFH +H HQOLVWHG IRU VL[ \HDUV
never returned were omitted. under the name William Gib-
$ WKLUG VROGLHU GHVHUWHG WKH lin, served out his enlistment
regiment on July 7, three more honorably, and was discharged
on July 11, one each on July 12 LQ  <HDUV ODWHU KH DSSOLHG
and 13, and two more on July for a pension for disability from
14. The 11th deserter was John his service in both arms. When
Harvey Sr., on July 17. the remarkably thorough Pen-
Not all of these were guilty. VLRQ 2IÀFH LQYHVWLJDWHG RIÀ-
Patrick Lundy straggled during cials discovered he had deserted
the regiment’s march July 12, from the 69th Pennsylvania but
was captured by Confeder- had served honorably in the
ate partisans, then rescued by Marines. His pension for service
Union cavalry during a skir- with the 69th was denied, but
mish. In the action, Lundy lost approved for the Marine Corps.
WZR ÀQJHUV DQG ZRXQG XS LQ Other than Eckard, who had
a Washington, D.C., hospital. previously deserted, each of
Word failed to reach his com- these deserters had good records
pany commander, and Lundy as soldiers. They had done their
was carried on the regimental duty and been present in all
UROOVDVDGHVHUWHUXQWLO$XJXVW Deadly Toll the regiment’s battles and cam-
when he wrote his commander The 69th’s top three commanders were paigns. Something about Gettys-
that he had not deserted but was wounded during Pickett’s Charge. Only burg, or perhaps the cumulation
Major James Duffy (above) survived.
wounded and in the hospital. of everything leading to Gettys-
-RKQ (FNDUG RI &RPSDQ\ $ burg, tipped the scale in them.
was one of those to desert on July 11. He was 27 and a Each had his own reason to desert his comrades, a
laborer before the war. He had already deserted once, on decision that could not have been easy. They were not
$XJXVWDQGUHWXUQHGRQ$SULOXQGHU scamps or cowards, but men who had reached the end of
a pardon President Lincoln issued to entice deserters ZKDWWKH\FRXOGEHDU$OOSDLGVRPHSULFHIRUWKHLUGHFL-
to return to their regiments. Other than the period he sion. Their story is a reminder that the war’s casualties
had absconded, Eckard served in every battle in which were not just the killed, wounded, and captured.
WKHUHJLPHQWSDUWLFLSDWHG7KH$UP\WUDFNHGKLPGRZQ
USAHEC

in Philadelphia in September. He was court-martialed, Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

JANUARY 2019 13
 HIDDEN HEROES

apache
martyr
THE GRUESOME DEATH
OF THE DEFIANT WARRIOR
MANGAS COLORADAS
By Ron Soodalter

“Often I have been compelled to ask myself,

“Who is the civilized and who is the savage?”
–The Rev. William H. Goode,
Methodist missionary, 1843

Not all of the Union’s enemies wore gray

or butternut uniforms and hailed from the
South. At the same time Federal forces were
ÀJKWLQJSLWFKHGEDWWOHVZLWKWKH&RQIHGHUDWHV
WKH\ZHUHHQPHVKHGLQDELWWHUFRQÁLFWDJDLQVW
various indigenous tribes for control of the
Southwest. None of the tribes was more fero-
FLRXV WKDQ WKH &KLULFDKXD $SDFKHV ZKR KDG Elite Status ZURWHKHWRZHUHGDERYH$QJORV0H[L-
ORQJ VLQFH KRQHG WKHLU ÀJKWLQJ VNLOOV DJDLQVW Indian chiefs such as FDQVDQGIHOORZ$SDFKHVDOLNH$\RXQJ
WKH3XHEORV1DYDMRV3LPDVDQG3DSDJRVDV Cochise and Geronimo SURVSHFWRUGHVFULEHGWKHFKLHIZKHQKH
well as their longtime Mexican enemies. are better known was about 70—his exact birth year is
When U.S. forces began moving into the today, but at his death XQNQRZQ EXW OLNHO\ FLUFD ³DQG
6RXWKZHVW GXULQJ WKH 0H[LFDQ :DU WKH Mangas Coloradas MXVW GD\V DZD\ IURP KLV GHDWK ´0DQ-
$SDFKHVDWÀUVWVDZQRFDXVHIRUDODUP7DN- was likely the nation’s JDV ZDV D ODUJH DWKOHWLF PDQ«+LV
LQJWRKHDUWWKHROGDGDJH´7KHHQHP\RIP\ most feared warrior. shoulders were broad and his chest
HQHP\LVP\IULHQGµWKH\VLJQHGDSHDFHWUHDW\ IXOODQGPXVFXODU+HVWRRGHUHFWDQG
ZLWK WKH $PHULFDQV 7KH WULEDO FKLHI LQVWUXPHQWDO LQ KLVVWHSZDVSURXGDQGDOWRJHWKHUKHSUHVHQWHGTXLWHD
structuring the treaty had befriended several Ameri- PRGHORISK\VLFDOPDQKRRGµ,QDGGLWLRQWRKLVVWULNLQJ
FDQWUDSSHUVLQFOXGLQJWKHOHJHQGDU\.LW&DUVRQ7KH DSSHDUDQFH 0DQJDV ZDV D KLJKO\ UHVSHFWHG OHDGHU D
FKLHI·VWUXHQDPH.DQGD]LVWOLVKLVKHQZDVYLUWXDOO\ revered warrior and a brilliant strategist.
XQSURQRXQFHDEOHWRDOOEXWKLVIHOORZ$SDFKHV+HKDG 7KH 86²$SDFKH SHDFH ZDV VKRUWOLYHG KRZHYHU
EHHQGXEEHG´)XHUWHµ6WURQJE\WKH0H[LFDQVEXWKH DV GLVSXWHV RYHU WHUPV DQG WHUULWRU\ OHDGLQJ WR DQ
KDGEHFRPHNQRZQDV0DQJDV&RORUDGDV5HG6OHHYHV XQZDQWHG LQÁX[ RI $PHULFDQ PLQHUV LQWR $SDFKH
$FFRUGLQJWRRUDOWUDGLWLRQKHKDGDFTXLUHGWKHQDPH ODQGV TXLFNO\ HVFDODWHG LQWR YLROHQFH 7KH VLWX
HLWKHUDVDQDOOXVLRQWRWKHUHGVKLUWVKHIDYRUHGRULQ ation was exacerbated by the cultural ignorance of U.S.
reference to the blood of slaughtered Mexicans. $UP\ FRPPDQGHUV ZKR HLWKHU GLG QRW NQRZ RU DUUR-
/DEHOHGE\RQHKLVWRULDQDVWKH´XQGLVSXWHG/RUGRI JDQWO\ FKRVH WR LJQRUH WKH IDFW WKDW WKH SHRSOH WKH\
GRANGER, NYC

$SDFKHULDµ0DQJDVZDVDQLPSRVLQJÀJXUH6WDQGLQJ FROOHFWLYHO\UHIHUUHGWRDV´$SDFKHVµZHUHLQIDFWFRP-
´FRQVLGHUDEO\ RYHU VL[ IHHW LQ KHLJKWµ DV RQH REVHUYHU SRVHG RI VHSDUDWH DQG RIWHQXQFRQQHFWHG WULEHV $UP\

14 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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 HIDDEN HEROES

troops, therefore, attacked peace- he and his comrades rolled the body
ful bands, rendering them instantly into an arroyo, loosely covering it
hostile. As the Apaches fought for with handfuls of dirt and scrub
both survival and revenge, no other brush. The U.S. Army, however,
warrior at that time attained the ZDVQRWÀQLVKHGZLWK0DQJDV
status of Mangas. He united the dis- The regimental physician, Dr.
parate bands under his leadership, David Sturgeon, soon arrived and
and waged an all-out war against ordered the body exhumed, demand-
the despised Americans. ing that he be given the chief’s head
Time took its toll on the old ´IRU VFLHQWLÀF SXUSRVHVµ 0DQJDV·
chief, however. By 1862, Mangas head was duly severed, and Stur-
had had enough of war. Having geon boiled it in a large kettle until
recently recovered from a serious he could extract the skull. This arti-
bullet wound, he was bone-tired. He fact, according to one of the sol-
sent word that he wished to make diers, “was the wonder of all who
a lasting peace, and in January saw it….”
³XQGHU D SHDFH ÁDJ DQG KDY- Sturgeon later gave the skull to
ing received assurances of personal Dr. Orson S. Fowler, a noted phre-
safety from a white scout whom he nologist who believed character
trusted—he attended a council at could be discerned from the shape of
Pinos Altos, about 20 miles north of A Broken Truce an individual’s skull. Fowler wrote
Fort McLane, New Mexico Territory. Culpable in Mangas’ deceitful admiringly of Mangas’ skull in his
Prior to the meeting, a group of killing, Brig. Gen. Joseph R. West, 1873 book, Human Science of Phre-
served postwar in the U.S. Senate.
soldiers and prospectors had con- nology, and placed it on display—
cealed themselves to await the until it disappeared. Rumors persist
chief’s arrival. At a prearranged signal from the scout, to this day that Mangas’ skull reposes in one of the
the gang burst from cover, seized Mangas, and conveyed many buildings of the Smithsonian Institution in Wash-
him under heavy guard to Fort McLane. Here, Mangas ington, D.C., although no records support this specula-
was turned over to Brig. Gen. Joseph Rodman West. A tion or even that the Smithsonian had ever received the
Louisiana native, West had joined the 1st California Vol- chief’s skull.
unteers as a lieutenant shortly after the war broke out The murder of Mangas enraged the Apaches. Not only
and had rapidly been promoted to general’s rank. had he been betrayed and slain, his body had been des-
Earlier, West’s superior, Brig. Gen. James Henry Car- ecrated and his head removed, dooming him to walk
leton, had ordered him to eliminate all male members of headless in the afterlife—an unthinkable horror among
Mangas’ band, stating, “[T]he punishment of that band the Apaches, who believed strongly in leaving even
of murderers and robbers must be thorough and sharp.” the bodies of their enemies intact. Mangas’ son-in-law,
West was only too willing to comply. When he met Man- Cochise, who succeeded him as chief of the Chiricahua
gas, West informed the old chief that he had “murdered Apache, was outraged at the old chief’s death, and the
your last white victim, you old scoundrel.” He surrepti- leader of the Bedonkohe Apache band, whom the Mexi-
tiously informed two private soldiers guarding Mangas cans had dubbed Geronimo, considered it “the greatest
that, by tomorrow morning, “I want him dead….” of wrongs.”
Later that night, the two soldiers tortured the bound Shortly thereafter, an Apache war party attacked an
Mangas by applying heated bayonets to his legs and Army patrol near the Rio Grande. The soldiers beat a
IHHW 7KH FKLHI GHÀDQWO\ WROG WKHP WKDW KH ZDV QRW D hasty retreat, leaving their lieutenant and another sol-
child to be played with so. At this, the two soldiers rose GLHUGHDGRQWKHÀHOG7KH$SDFKHVFXWRIIWKHRIÀFHU·V
DQGÀUHGWKHLUPXVNHWVSRLQWEODQNDW0DQJDVZKHUH- KHDGDVWKHÀUVWDFWLQDZDURIUHWULEXWLRQWKDWZRXOG
XSRQDVHUJHDQWDSSURDFKHGDQGÀQLVKHGKLPRIIZLWKD last another 25 bloody years.
pistol ball to the head. Looking back years later, the son of Nednhi Apache
West blatantly lied in his report to General Car- Chief Juh recalled, “Little did [they] know what they
leton, stating that the chief had been killed in an escape were starting when they mutilated Mangas Colora-
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

attempt, and that “the good faith of the U.S. Military das. While there was little mutilation previously, it was
authorities was in no way compromised.” Not surpris- nothing compared to what was to follow.”
ingly, the report was accepted as written.
The next day, a soldier scalped the dead chief, and Ron Soodalter writes from Cold Spring, N.Y.

16 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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 Aitude
$QXQLGHQWLÀHG
Coppens’ Zouave poses
with his .69-caliber
musket, likely before
his battalion left New
Orleans in 1861. Note
the Bowie knife stuck
in his sash and that his
jacket does not have
the usual Zouave
tombeau motif.
 a breed
apart
the Confederacy’s Louisiana
Zouaves knew how to fight—
and looked good doing it
By John Quarstein
The smoke of battle had all but cleared by the
time a colorful collection of Confederate soldiers
marched rapidly onto the Big Bethel, Va., bat-
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as Coppens’ Battalion, who had been rushed to
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reinforce Colonel John Bankhead Magruder’s
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man Union force under Maj. Gen. Benjamin F.
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most—if not all—were reportedly drunk. But had
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spectacle, particularly since Butler’s Federals
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he Zouave craze arrived in America
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in the late 1850s and was popular-
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National Guard Cadets. Also known
as the “Zouave Cadets,” they toured
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and were thrilling to watch. Ellsworth adapted
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wearing the distinctive Zouave dress: a short
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When the American Civil War erupted in
April 1861, soldiers on both sides were eager to
MRLQ=RXDYHUHJLPHQWV,QWKH1RUWKPDQ\RI
these units became overnight sensations. Col-
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unit and enlisted only men who were physically
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the 5th’s decimation on Chinn Ridge during
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JANUARY 2019 19

The Zouave units that fought for the South came exclusively from
Louisiana: Coppens’ Battalion and the perhaps more famous “Wheat’s
Tigers”—the 1st Louisiana Special Battalion under Major Chatham
Roberdeau Wheat. Both units lacked the high moral and ethical codes
typical of the New York Zouave regiments and companies. Coppens’ Zou-
aves, in fact, would earn a reputation as perhaps the most colorful and
SRRUO\GLVFLSOLQHG³\HWGDULQJ³XQLWVWRÀJKWLQ0DJUXGHU·V$UP\RIWKH
Peninsula, which was formed shortly after the Battle of Big Bethel.
In early 1861, a group of actors known as the Iulkennau Zouaves, pro-
claiming to be Crimean War veterans, traveled through the Southern
states along the Gulf Coast. They quickly became the talk of New Orleans;
FRQVHTXHQWO\ORFDOVRFLDOLWH*HRUJHV$XJXVWH*DVWRQGH&RSSHQVPRYHG
to form such a unit following Louisiana’s secession on January 26, 1861.
Coppens had arrived in New Orleans from Dunkirk, France, by way of
St. Pierre, Martinique, in 1853. The move was prompted by the French
government’s decision to outlaw slavery in its colonies, and the family
immediately became members of the New Orleans elite.
7KH\RXQJHU&RSSHQVKDGDWWHQGHGWKH)UHQFK0DULQH$FDGHP\DQG
was a noted duelist. Following Louisiana’s secession, he traveled to
0RQWJRPHU\$ODWRPHHWZLWK&RQIHGHUDWH3UHVLGHQW-HIIHUVRQ'DYLV
to secure a commission and permission to raise his Zouave battalion.
$OWKRXJK /RXLVLDQD *RYHUQRU 7KRPDV 2 0RRUH ZDV GLVSOHDVHG ZLWK
Coppens’ actions, a “Zouave Rendezvous” was quickly established in a
tobacco warehouse in the 3rd Ward, attracting numerous foreign veter-
ans. Many of the volunteers, in fact, were recruited from New Orleans’
lawless fringe.
20 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Fashion Forward Colonel
Elmer Ellsworth (below) and his colorful
prewar Fire Zouaves drill team (depicted
at left in a June 15, 1861, London News
engraving) kicked off the Zouave craze
in America. By the time that image was
printed, Ellsworth was dead, killed as he
UHPRYHGD5HEHOÁDJÁ\LQJRYHUDQLQQ
in Alexandria, Va., in May 1861.
New Orleans’ mayor granted Coppens per-
mission to set up recruiting booths in the city’s
jails, offering criminals a choice between prison
and military service. Despite the men’s back-
grounds, the battalion earned praise from jour-
QDOLVW 7KRPDV 'H/HRQ ZKHQ LW ZDV ÀQDOO\
ready to leave the city in May (though his com-
pliments inevitably came with the sort of cul-
tural condescension typical of the era). They
COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; RIGHT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
were “a splendid set of animals,” he wrote,
´VXQEXUQWPXVFXODUDQGZLU\DV$UDEVDQG
LEFT: LOOK AND LEARN/BERNARD PLATMAN ANTIQUARIAN
a long, swingy gate [sic] told of drill and endur-
ance....Graduates of the slums of New Orleans,
their education in villainy was naturally per-
fect...and small disputes were usually settled
by the convincing argument of a bowie knife…”
“Yet they had been brought to a perfect
VWDWH RI GULOO DQG HIÀFLHQF\µ 'H/HRQ ZRXOG
QRWH ´$OO FRPPDQGV ZHUH JLYHQ LQ )UHQFK
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no hesitation in a free use of a revolver.”
DeLeon was quick to point out, however, that
WKHEDWWDOLRQ·VRIÀFHUV´ZHUHDFODVVHQWLUHO\µ
above the enlisted men, describing them as
´DFWLYHEULJKW)UHQFKPHQZLWKDIUDQNFRXU-
WHV\ DQG VROGLHUO\ EHDULQJµ ,QFOXGHG DPRQJ
Coppens’ command team were three members
RI KLV IDPLO\ QRWDEO\ &DSWDLQ 0DULH $OIUHG
&RSSHQV RI &RPSDQ\ ) 2WKHUV OLNH /LHX-
tenant Jean Baptiste Souillard and Captain
)XOJHQFHGH%RUGHQDX[KDGVHUYHGDV)UHQFK
RIÀFHUVGXULQJWKH&ULPHDQ:DU
'H%RUGHQDX[FRXOGQRWVSHDN(QJOLVK2WK-
HUVZHUHÁXHQWLQVHYHUDOODQJXDJHVVXFKDV
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‘they had been
brought to a
perfect state of
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
drill and efficiency’
-journalist
thomas deleon
Seeking Glory
Colonel Abram Duryée (standing, right) and
members of his elite 5th New York, at their Segar
House headquarters in Strawberry Banks, Va.
6ZLW]HUODQGZKRKDGVHUYHGDVDFDSWDLQLQWKH'DQLVKDUP\IRXJKW
LQWKH86$UP\GXULQJWKH0H[LFDQ:DUDQGWKHQWKH)UHQFKDUP\LQ
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able dinner, with an abundance of champagne, claret, beer and ice.”
$FFRUGLQJWRWKH1HZ2UOHDQV Daily DeltaWKH=RXDYHV´KDGWKHJRRG
WDVWHµWRWDNHZRPHQZLWKWKHPXSRQOHDYLQJWKH&UHVFHQW&LW\WRZDVK
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VRPHDV´GLVJXVWLQJORRNLQJFUHDWXUHVDOOGUHVVHGXSDVPHQµ
The battalion,DORQJZLWKDQRWKHUFRPPDQGHGE\/W&RO&KDUOHV'
'UHX[ DQG WKH QG WK WK DQG WK /RXLVLDQD =RXDYH UHJLPHQWV
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thing else that could be taken.
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VHTXHQW UHWDOLDWLRQ E\ RIÀFHUV &RORQHO 9DOHU\ 6XODNRZVNL·V WK /RX-
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Regiment.” Sulakowski, a Polish noble who had emigrated to the United
JANUARY 2019 21
 States after the 1848 Hungarian Revolution,

A Capital was a strict disciplinarian and one of only a

few who could control the wild soldiers. During
Offense a stop in Grand Junction, Tenn., in fact, he was
forced to shoot and kill several of his raucous,
On December 9, 1861, two Zouaves of the Tiger Rifles were the drunken men.
first soldiers to be executed in what became known as the Army of During the trip, DeLeon reported, a com-
Northern Virginia , but they were certainly not the last. Hundreds SDQ\RIÀFHUNLOOHGRQH=RXDYHLQ2SHOLND$OD
of Confederate and Union soldiers were shot or hanged during the when the man headed into town to purchase
war for various crimes. In this case, the two men, Privates Dennis WREDFFR$QRWKHUVROGLHUULGLQJRQWRSRIDFDU
Corcoran and Michael O’Brien, of the famously rowdy company of was knocked off and killed when the train
Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat’s 1st Louisiana Special Batalion passed under a low bridge.
had been convicted of drunkenly atacking Colonel Harry T. Hays, The Confederate capital was “thrown into
commander of the 7th Louisiana. D SDUR[\VP RI H[FLWHPHQWµ XSRQ WKH =RXDYHV·
As the story goes, some of Wheat’s troops had shared their whis- DUULYDO RQ -XQH µ ZURWH 5LFKPRQG·V Daily
key with members of the 21st Georgia, who tried to abscond with Dispatch, “as unique and picturesque looking
the botle, prompting a brawl. Several Tigers were placed in the Frenchmen as ever delighted the oculars of
guardhouse, and Corcoran and O’Brien led a group of men trying to Napoleon the three [III]...”
free their comrades. During the scule, they struck Colonel Hays. Sallie Brock Putnam, a Richmond resident,
Although Wheat desperately sought leniency for his two men, bri- GHÀQHG WKHP DV ´D FDODPLW\:KHQHYHU D
gade commander Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor refused, believing harsh =RXDYH ZDV VHHQ VRPHWKLQJ ZDV VXUH WR EH
discipline was necessary to keep the Tigers in line. missing....The whole community...drew a long
Corcoran and O’Brien were sentenced to death by firing squad, EUHDWK RI UHOLHI ZKHQ WKH\ OHIWµ 2IIHUHG WKH
and 12 of their fellow Tiger Rifles were chosen for the harrowing Richmond Dispatch: “Their principal fare has
duty. Before their deaths, the two published a farewell leter in a been crackers, cheese and whiskey.”
local newspaper, saying in part: “Fellow Soldiers: We are to sufer 7KH=RXDYHV·VXGGHQDSSHDUDQFHRQWKH%LJ
death in vindication of laws out- %HWKHO EDWWOHÀHOG RQ -XQH  GUHZ VLPLODU
raged while we were under the mixed responses from other soldiers. George
influence of reason-destroying :LOOV RI WKH VW 1RUWK &DUROLQD FDOOHG WKHP
liquor. We acknowledge the jus- “the worst looking men you ever saw in your
tice of our sentence, and from live [sic], they all had on leggings wore red
our hearts freely forgive those pants, with about three times as much cloth
whose sworn duty it was to try in them as necessary, and a long red bag for
our case….Oh, brother soldiers, DFDSµ:LOOLDP:KLWHRIWKH5LFKPRQG+RZ-
let this, our unexpected and LW]HUVRSLQHGWKDWWKRXJKWKH=RXDYHVDUULYHG
untimely end, be a warning to drunk to a man and an hour too late, “They are
you; and should it be the means DÀQHORRNLQJVHWRIIHOORZVµ
of saving you from the soul-
destroying vice, we will not have Big Bethel began D PRQWK =RXDYH H[SH-
died in vain. Here we are to bid ULHQFH LQ WKH $UP\ RI WKH 3HQLQVXOD GXULQJ
a last adieu to our beloved and which they were charged with protecting Rich-
brave oicers….They have led us mond from enemy approach up the Virginia
in the thickest of the fight, and 3HQLQVXOD 7KH =RXDYH UHJLPHQWV IURP /RX-
as we speak these, our last words LVLDQD DOO VHHPHG D SHUIHFW ÀW IRU WKH DUP\·V
Unimely Ends of farewell, we ask them to do GDVKLQJ FRXUWO\ DQG ÁDPER\DQW FRPPDQGHU
The Centreville, Va., grave justice to our memories, and 0DJUXGHUÀWWLQJO\QLFNQDPHG´3ULQFH-RKQµ
site of two Confederate give us a soldier’s epitaph.” 2Q WKH 3HQLQVXOD KRZHYHU WKH /RXLVLDQD
Zouaves, executed for their The men were buried in Cen- units continued their wildness and disregard
drunken attack on treville, Va., at the execution for military order. Colonel Lafayette McLaws,
DVXSHULRURIÀFHU site. In 1979, historian Michael FRPPDQGLQJWKHWK*HRUJLD,QIDQWU\QRWHG
Thomas exhumed their remains, WKDW =RXDYHV XQLWV ZHUH ´WKH PRVW ODZOHVV
including teeth, bone fragments, a crucifix, and scraps of their uni- LQ H[LVWHQFHµ 7KH WK /RXLVLDQD KH DGGHG
forms. On December 9, 1979, 118 years after their execution, the was “on Jamestown Island for twelve hours &
men’s remains were reinterred at Centreville’s St. John’s Episcopal during that time…[ate] up everything on the
MELISSA A. WINN

Church. –Melissa A. Winn island, but the horses, and their own species.”
+HDOVRZURWHWRKLVZLIHDERXWD´=RXDYHZKR
had been watching a pig for some time, waiting

22 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 IRUKLPWRFRPHLQWRKLVYLFLQLW\O\LQJÁDWRQ
WKHJURXQGIRUWKHGRXEOHSXUSRVHRIFRQFHDO-
LQJKLPVHOIIURPWKHSLJ IURPJHQHUDOREVHU-
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EROGO\ VKRW WKH SLJ 7KH =RXDYH LPPHGLDWHO\
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Colorful but Cuthroat
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The uniform worn by some
DFWLRQ WKH\ VDZ $V %HQMDPLQ 6PLWK RI WKH
of Coppens’ 1st Battalion, at
WK /RXLVLDQD ZURWH ´, ORDGHG P\ PXVNHW OHDVWWKHÀUVW\HDURUVRRIWKH
RQFH RU WZLFH ZLWK WKH H[SHFWDWLRQ RI KXUWLQJ war, featured a red fez, red
VRPHRQH$VIRUP\ED\RQHWLWKDGRQO\EHHQ baggy trousers, white gaiters,
VWDLQHGE\WKHEORRGRIDQXQIRUWXQDWHSLJZKR and a blue jacket with gold
ZDVIRROLVKHQRXJKWRWHPSWDKXQJU\VROGLHU, trim. Above: This photo of
GHYRXWO\KRSHWKDWKHZDVD<DQNHHSLJµ Coppens’ Zouaves, taken in
&RSSHQV· =RXDYHV ZHUH HVSHFLDOO\ GLVUXS- New Orleans before the unit’s
WLYH DQG GHVWUXFWLYH 7KH ´SLUDWHV DUH IURP early-war move to Pensacola,
WKH GUHJV RI DOO QDWLRQVµ 0F/DZV UHFDOOHG )ODRIWHQJHWVPLVGHQWLÀHG
as one of their Bayou
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brethren, Wheat’s Tigers.
EHUU\,VODQG9D@WKH\NLOOHGVRPHHLJKWHHQRU
WZHQW\KHDGRIFDWWOHµ
FROM TOP: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; TROIANI, DON (B.1949)/PRIVATE COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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the whole .LOQ&UHHNUHVSHFWLYHO\2Q-XO\0DJUXGHURUGHUHG'UHX[WR
community... WDNHWKHWK/RXLVLDQDDORQJZLWKDUWLOOHU\DQGHOHPHQWVRIDORFDOXQLW
WKH:\WKH5LÁHVWRVHWDQDPEXVKIRU)HGHUDOIRUDJHUV7KH/RXLVLDQ-
drew a long DQVHUUHGKRZHYHUZKHQRQH=RXDYHVKRWDUDWWOHVQDNHMXVWDV'UHX[
breath of relief VWHSSHGRXWRIWKHZRRGVWRVSULQJWKHWUDS2WKHUVVWDUWHGÀULQJDQG
'UHX[ZDVVKRWGHDGWKHÀUVW/RXLVLDQDQDQG&RQIHGHUDWHÀHOGJUDGH
when they left RIÀFHUNLOOHGGXULQJWKHZDU
-sallie brock putman JANUARY 2019 23

Giving Thanks
Shortly after the Battle of Big
“Colonel Drue’s [sic] death was Bethel, Company B of Coppens’
mourned by those who knew him— Zouaves was presented
on account of his bravery and high this hand-embroidered silk
military genius,” remembered Lieu- EDWWOHÁDJE\WKHODGLHVRI
tenant William J. Stores. Ironically, Williamsburg, Va.
Dreux had just written a letter to his
wife with a premonition of his death. “The boys are delighted with the
prospects before them, and we are all in the highest glee,” he wrote.
“May the God of Battles smile upon us. Cheer up dear wife. I have the
brave hearts and strong arms to sustain and cheer me on, and I feel con-
ÀGHQWRIWKHUHVXOW0DQ\DQREOHVRQPD\IDOOE\P\VLGHDQG,PD\EH
WKHÀUVWWRELWHWKHGXVWEXWUHVWDVVXUHGWKDWWKH\RU,ZLOODOZD\VEH
worthy of the esteem and respect of our country men....”
Despite the alerts and occasional action, the Zouaves often complained
their lives were, as William Monroe of Dreux’s Battalion wrote, “Dull,
dull, dull.” Leon Jasterminski of the 10th Louisiana recalled a typical
day: “Reveille at 5 o’clock a.m. Roll call. Then we cook our breakfast....
Half past eight, guard mounting, which is equal to a small parade...At
9 o’clock company drill until 10 o’clock after which we are free until 12
o’clock when we have dinner call, which comes what is called fatigue
duty which means spades....After which we are again free until 6 o’clock.
Then dress parade & dismiss [to] cook our supper, eat, loaf, & spin yarns
until 9 o’clock when Tattoo beats & we are all sent to bed like a parcel of
school boys....This occurring every day makes it very tiresome.”
The soldiers were well-fed, as Magruder had developed an excellent
food supply system. Zouaves enjoyed this land of plenty, and oyster-eat-
ing contests became extremely popular. A friendly competition occurred
in the 10th Louisiana to prove whether the Warwick River variety was
more succulent than those taken from the York River. “I am living and
growing fat on oysters and soft shell crabs,” one soldier wrote home.
Many complained, however, of nights when “musketeers [mosquitoes]
swarmed around in myriads.” Sickness was commonplace among the Zou-
aves, unused to the “swelter and pestilential marshes of the Peninsula.”
About half of Dreux’s Battalion became ill in August 1861, and in Septem-
EHURQO\PHQRI&RSSHQV·%DWWDOLRQZHUHÀWIRUGXW\&DPSIHYHUEHFDPH
so commonplace that one young Zouave wrote his parents, “the death of
24 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
one of our poor soldiers is hardly noticed....[N]o
more than if a dog had died.”
Early in September, Magruder, now a brig-
adier general, removed Company F from the
battalion to help construct water batteries at
Yorktown. Eventually the unit, commanded
by Captain Paul De Gournay, would be reor-
ganized as the New Orleans Heavy Artillery.
Coppens’ Battalion and several other Zouave
units were transferred to Williamsburg, away
from the fever-producing marshes of the lower
Peninsula. While in Virginia’s colonial capi-
WDOVHYHUDOFRPSDQLHVUHFHLYHGÁDJVIURPORFDO
women. During one presentation, the color-ser-
JHDQWRIWKH'H6RWR5LÁHVUHPDUNHG´/DGLHV
with high beating hearts and pulses throbbing
emotions, we receive from your hands this
EHDXWLIXOÁDJRQHSURXGHPEOHPRIRXU\RXQJ
republic....To those who may return from the
ÀHOG RI EDWWOH EHDULQJ WKH ÁDJ LQ WULXPSK
though perhaps scattered and torn, this inci-
dent will always prove a cheering recollection.”
The Zouaves enjoyed serving under
Magruder. Though the general pledged to Jef-
ferson Davis he wouldn’t use “intoxicating
liquors of any sort for the war’s duration,” the
Louisianans weren’t convinced. At a ball spon-
sored by the 14th Louisiana’s Colonel Sulakow-
ski, “the great Paragon of Virtue and Sobriety
Gen. Magruder was so drunk that he fell from
the arm of the whore he was dancing with and
would have burned to death had he not been
SXOOHGIURPWKHÀUHE\RQHRIKLVRUGHUOLHVµ
Members of Dreux’s Battalion played a nota-
ble prank on Magruder during the 1862 Mardi
Gras season. The baby-faced Billy Campbell
dressed as a woman and strode into the ball
on the arm of Ned Phelps. Phelps introduced
Campbell as an unmarried sister of one of his
fellow soldiers. “The gallant Magruder quickly
took the ‘lady’s’ hand and began entertaining
Campbell with food, drink, and lively conver-
sation.” Meanwhile, several other Zouaves
‘my bayonet had
only been stained
by the blood of an
unfortunate pig...
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
i devoutly hope that
he was a yankee pig’
-benjamin smith,
5th Louisiana

went to a bedroom above Magruder and, using
a mattress, pushed feathers through the cracks
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and Phelps slipped away, leaving a confused
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In early April 1862, *HRUJH 0F&OHOODQ·V
Army of the Potomac would challenge Magrud-
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ate force of about 13,000 was much larger by
marching his men repeatedly and noisily up
and down the earthworks, and also displaying
fake guns made of wood—dubbed “Quaker can-
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Plenty of Pomp
General John Bankhead Magruder’s
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taken in January 1861 in New York City.
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The Army of the Peninsula was soon attached
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ing Richmond, what would become known as
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(known as Fort Magruder) at the center of the
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they passed several wounded Union prisoners
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through the abdomen, pleaded to be killed to
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to join a group gathered around the wounded
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Robert Stiles, he asked the captive: “Put you
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the other wounded Federals: “Any other gen-
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no replies, he returned to his place in line—
“the most rakish and devilish looking being I
HYHU VDZµ UHFDOOHG 6WLOHV DXWKRU RI WKH SRVW-
war memoir Four Years Under Marse Robert
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shocked so many with its unruly and cutthroat behavior on the Penin-
VXODKDGIRUJHGDQHWHUQDOOHJDF\RQWKHEDWWOHÀHOG
John Quarstein, a regular $PHULFD·V&LYLO:DUcontributor, is director
emeritus of the USS Monitor Center in Newport News, Va.
JANUARY 2019 25
 antietam
time travel
A Veteran of America’s bloodiest day
returns to capture Portraits
of the scenes of carnage
By John Banks

Immortal Ground
This is the earliest of seven extant photos Oliver Gould
took of Antietam’s East Woods in September 1891. At left,
Captain William Jordan points to the spot where General
-RVHSK0DQVÀHOGZDVPRUWDOO\ZRXQGHG3LFWXUHGDWULJKW
is Antietam veteran John M. Gould, Oliver’s father, who
ZURWHRQWKHEDFNRIWKHSKRWR´>,VWDQG@DERXWLQIURQW
RIZKHUHWKHFRORUVZHUHLQORRNLQJLQWKHJHQHUDO
GLUHFWLRQRIWKH&RQIHGHUDWHVRSSRVLQJWKHWK0DLQHµ

26 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

COURTESY OF THE NICHOLAS PICERNO COLLECTION JANUARY 2019 27
 At 4 p.m. on September 18, 1891, Oliver Cromwell Gould, son of 10th Maine Infantry veteran
John Mead Gould, took a photograph of Antietam’s East Woods, where his father had witnessed momentous events
\HDUVHDUOLHU7KUHHGD\VODWHUDWDP2OLYHUIRFXVHGKLVFDPHUDRQDQHDUE\DFUHÀHOGWKDWLQFOXGHG
a prominent mulberry tree. In the far distance, a wooden fence stretched along the old Smoketown Road—the
route his father took to battle on September 17, 1862. We know precisely when and where these historic images
were taken because of the meticulousness of John Gould, who accompanied his 21-year-old son to Antietam and
wrote details about each photograph in pen on the back mounting for each. According to a detailed logbook kept
by his father, Oliver Gould took at least two dozen images at Antietam in 1891, including an unknown number
of shots of the iconic Dunker Church. Unfortunately, just about all of those images are believed lost to history.
One, displayed on pages 26-27, is in the possession of Virginia-based collector Nicholas Picerno, and six more
(shown here in the chronological order in which they were taken) surfaced in New Jersey in January 2018. They
SURYLGHDUHYHUHQWZLQGRZLQWRWKHHDUO\SRVWZDUDSSHDUDQFHRIRQHRIWKHQDWLRQ·VPRVWKDOORZHGEDWWOHÀHOGV
The discovery of these additional six images has excited That September, Gould reenlisted in the new 10th Maine
Antietam historians, increasingly hopeful that even more for two years’ service. Eventually promoted to second lieu-
“Goulds” might now be found. The photos once belonged to tenant, he served in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of
Irving B. Lovell, an uncle of Bill and Marie Trembley, who HDUO\DQGVDZKLVÀUVWVLJQLÀFDQWDFWLRQDWWKH$XJXVW
QRWHGWKDWWKH\KDGVHHQWKHPIRUWKHÀUVWWLPHGHFDGHVDJR 9, 1862, Battle of Cedar Mountain near Culpeper, Va.
In 2016, four years after Lovell, a World War II veteran, Antietam had by far the most dramatic impact on Gould’s
died at age 92, the Trembleys found the package contain- life. It was in the East Woods on the morning of Septem-
ing the Antietam images in a closet while cleaning out their EHUWKDWWKH\HDUROGDGMXWDQWZDVWKHÀUVWWR
uncle’s house and small cabin in Eastport, Maine. When, reach a mortally wounded Maj. Gen. Joseph King Fenno
where, and how Lovell—who lived most of his life in New 0DQVÀHOG ZKR KDG EHHQ VKRW DWRS KLV ZKLWH KRUVH DV KH
Jersey—acquired the images is unknown, however. directed troops in his 12th Corps. Gould was among four
“These images are truly stunning,” said Stephen Recker, VROGLHUVWRFDUU\0DQVÀHOGWRWKHUHDU
author of the 2012 book Rare Images at Antietam and the “Passing still in front of our line and nearer to the enemy,
Photographers Who Took Them. “They offer an early, pris- >0DQVÀHOG@DWWHPSWHGWRULGHRYHUWKHUDLOIHQFHZKLFKVHS-
tine view of Antietam...that many of us never thought we arated a lane from the ploughed land where most of our
would see, complete with the voice of a veteran pointing out UHJLPHQW ZHUH SRVWHGµ *RXOG ZURWH WR 0DQVÀHOG·V ZLGRZ
particulars in a way we usually just dream about.” on December 2, 1862. “The horse would not jump it, and the
Collaborating with Picerno, the world’s leading 10th General dismounting led him over. He passed to the rear of
Maine expert, and preeminent Antietam historian Tom the Regimental line, when a gust of wind blew aside
Clemens, Recker pieced together in his book the his coat, and I discovered that his whole front
story of the Gould images, which were taken was covered with blood.”
before the U.S. War Department greatly    $QWLHWDP ZDV 0DQVÀHOG·V ÀUVW DQG
altered the lay of the land in 1895, ODVWEDWWOHÀHOGFRPPDQG7KH\HDU
when it added avenues for tourists to ROG RIÀFHU IURP 0LGGOHWRZQ &RQQ
XVH WR YLHZ WKH EDWWOHÀHOG ´:KLOH died the next morning.
we found the documentation for After the war, Gould—who
his 1891 images at Duke Univer- became historian, treasurer, and
sity,” Recker noted, “it was those secretary for a Maine veterans’
‘undiscovered’ images that we group—was especially keen on
really wanted to see.” documenting his regiment’s
Intelligent and good with role at Antietam. Seemingly
numbers, John Mead Gould no detail was too small. For
worked for his father’s years, he kept up a lively cor-
COURTESY OF THE NICHOLAS PICERNO COLLECTION

John Mead Gould

bank in Portland before the respondence with veterans on
Civil War. In April 1861, he both sides regarding Mans-
enlisted in the Portland Light ÀHOG·V ZRXQGLQJ DQG GHDWK
Guards, Company C of the 1st troop movements, and much
Maine. The regiment served more. In the 1890s, he pro-
in the defenses of Washington, vided hundreds of those let-
D.C., returning to Maine to be WHUVWRWKH$QWLHWDP%DWWOHÀHOG
mustered out in August 1861. %RDUG DGGLQJ VLJQLÀFDQWO\ WR

28 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 #33 | Sept. 18, 1891 | 2 p.m.
the understanding of the battle. And in 1895 Posiion of Cos. F & C, (DVW :RRGV +H ZRXOG ÀQG WKH
*RXOG SXEOLVKHG D SDPSKOHW RQ 0DQVÀHOG·V 10th Maine reg’t at Anietam experience both unsatisfying
death, noting minute details of the 12th Corps “Looking about South east. and unproductive. The camera
FRPPDQGHU·VGHPLVH Camera stands about 12 yards he used was cumbersome and
Clemens, who edited an authoritative his- in rear of the colors. Gould is GLGQRWHYHQKDYHDYLHZÀQGHU
tory of the Maryland Campaign by Union vet- 1
31 /2 feet from Maj. Jordan’s rock ´, JRW ¶UDWWOHG·  PDGH ¶GRX-
eran Ezra Carman, has high praise for Gould: and cedar (shown in Nos. 31 & 32 EOHV·  , IRUJRW WR PDNH D QRWH
´+HZDVRQO\LQWHUHVWHGLQWKHÀJKWLQJLQWKH but not here) facing in the direction RI ZKDW , ZDV GRLQJµ KH ZURWH
(DVW :RRGV DQG ZKR NLOOHG 0DQVÀHOG EXW RIWKHÀULQJRI&R) &µ in 1894 to 128th Pennsylvania
wound up getting into a lot more than that. At veteran Frederick Yeager. “So
one point there were six or seven different accounts of where ZKHQ,JRWP\SLFWXUHVIURPWKHSULQWHU,FRXOGQ·WLGHQWLI\
0DQVÀHOGZDVNLOOHGDQG*RXOGVRUWHGWKHPRXWGHWHUPLQ- many of them. In truth the visit of 1889 was little more
ing that at least three were people mistaking Colonel Wil- than an aggravation, but it resulted in determining me to
OLDP*RRGULFKRIWKHWK1HZ<RUNIRU0DQVÀHOG+HUHDOO\ JRDJDLQµ
grilled his subjects, asking detailed questions, and his let- Thankfully John Gould was diligent in his documenta-
ters, which he routinely shared with Carman, are very help- WLRQZKHQKHDQG2OLYHUUHWXUQHGWRWKHEDWWOHÀHOGLQ
IXOIRUGHWDLOVRQÀJKWLQJLQWKHQRUWKHQGRIWKHÀHOGµ The captions of the six photos shown on this and the fol-
COURTESY OF JOHN BANKS

,Q  -RKQ *RXOG WULHG WR GRFXPHQW WKH EDWWOHÀHOG lowing pages are taken verbatim from what Gould penned
photographically himself. Using the newly developed on the back-mounting of each. The care he took in doing
.RGDNFDPHUDDPRQJWKHÀUVWGHHPHGVLPSOHHQRXJKIRU everything possible to set the record straight has greatly
amateurs to use, he spent a few days taking photos of the enhanced our comprehension of that fateful day.

JANUARY 2019 29
 #34 | Sept. 18, 1891 | 2:45 p.m.
The rear; from the 10th Maine regiment
“Camera stands about 50 yards in rear (North-east) of
where the regiment’s left co. stood. On top of…shown in
1R7KHSORZHGÀHOG«6DP3RIIHQEHUJHU·VZRRGVDQG
woods near Geo. Lyon’s (where the regiment slept…battle)
DUHVKRZQLQWKLVYLHZ7KH6PRNHWRZQURDGDQGIHQFHV
which we crossed on our way to the battle-line are on the
OHIWRIWKHSLFWXUH7KHIHQFHUXQQLQJIURPWKH6PRNHWRZQ
URDGWR6DP3RIIHQEHUJHU·VODQHappears in this view to be
DFRQWLQXDWLRQRIWKH6PRNHWRZQURDGIHQFHWKRXJKUHDOO\
running at right angles from it. (so No. 49). The route of the
advance of the reg’t is easily…about half its distance: the
other half is hidden.The regiment marched, in mass, past the
1:FRUQHURI6DP3RIIHQEHUJHU·VZRRGVVWUDLJKWVRXWKWR
the ´WHQDFUHFRUQÀHOGµ (just outside of this view); then by left
ÁDQNVWUDLJKWDFURVVWKHWZRIHQFHVRIWKH6PRNHWRZQURDG
to a place hidden or obscure in this picture; then straight for
East wood, which is behind the camera. Deployed and then
DGYDQFHGWRWKHIHQFHERWKDWGRXEOHTXLFNµ

30 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 #39 | Sept. 18, 1891 | 4 p.m.
The great corn field beyond
“What was the ‘East Wood’ in 1862, at Antietam.
¶7KHJUHDWFRUQÀHOG·EH\RQGWRWKHULJKWRI
WKHSLFWXUH-RLQVYLHZ1R&DPHUDDVLQ
1R RQWKHNQROOZKHUHWKHWK3HQQ
ÀUVWVWRRG,QWKHZRRGVH[WHQGHGDIHZ\DUGV
ZHVWRIWKHIHQFHKHUHVHHQ3RWDWRHVDQGFRUQWDNH
WKHSODFHRIJUHDWRDNVRIZKLFKRQHRQO\UHPDLQV
KHUHDERXWVDVVHHQLQWKLVSLFWXUH/RRNLQJZHVW
and south.”
COURTESY OF JOHN BANKS (2)

JANUARY 2019 31
 #44 | Sept. 19, 1891 | 5:45 p.m.
East Woods, Anietam
“Companion view to No. 45. Looking north
and northeast, Confederate view. Camera in
WKHFRUQHUHGFORYHUÀHOGWHQSDFHVIURPWKH
Smoketown road and about 100 yards west of
where East Woods were in 1862. The western
face of the woods has been cut off…The fence in
the center of the photo is of recent planting. The
fence dimly seen south of the new growth of the
N. West grove is where it was in 1862 and exactly
GHÀQHVWKHQRUWKHUQOLPLWRIWKHJUHDWFRUQÀHOG.”

32 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 #49 | Sept. 21, 1891 | 8 a.m.
The “Ten-acre corn field” or the “litle corn field”
Smoketown road in “the lane”
Sam Poffenberger’s plowed field
“Camera in nearly same position as in Nos. 36-39 & 49.
From the knoll of the 128th Penn. regiment. Looking
east: to the rear. The mulberry tree so prominent here
has probably grown since the war. The stonewall and
post and rail fences here seen have replaced the “worm
fences” of 1862. This view, and Nos. 35 & 36 taken
together, give a good idea of the route of advance of the
10th Maine. The 10th Maine crossed the Smoketown
road (as well as I can now tell) about where the small
bush is growing, to right of the mulberry tree. We came
to ‘Front’ when east of the road, then advanced down
and up the gentle slope, and deployed about in the
shadow of the tree on the extreme right of the picture.”
COURTESY OF JOHN BANKS (2)

JANUARY 2019 33
 #62 | Sept. 21, 1891 | 5 p.m.
Posiion of 10th Maine in East Wood at Anietam
(Confederate view)
“Camera in the enemy’s ground 110 yards from the
position of the extreme right (Co H) of the 10th Maine.
the post and rail fence which so mars this view was
built in 1890 along the west side of the Smoketown
road, all of which is hidden by the tall, dense,
underbrush that has grown since the trees have been
thinned out. The position of Co. H, noted above, is
just outside the photo to the left of the picture. Marker
SODFHGZKHUH0DQVÀHOGZDVPRUWDOO\ZRXQGHGLV
hidden also by the tree.”

John Banks, a frequent America’s Civil War

contributor based in Nashville, Tenn., is the author
COURTESY OF JOHN BANKS

of Connecticut Yankees at Antietam and Hidden

History of Connecticut Union Soldiers.

34 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 The Record Keepers
Nicholas Picerno
Preeminent 10th and 29th Maine collector
I hold here image #33. I wonder what John Mead Gould was
thinking on September 18, 1891, as he was photographed by his
son Oliver standing in the East Woods. This was a very special
place for John. Was he transported back to the early morning of
September 17, 1862, when his regiment went into action? A prolific
chronicler of the 10th Maine Infantry’s exploits, he had an intense
interest in the regiment’s history. After the war, he conducted
an exhaustive study to determine which Confederate regiment
the 10th Maine met on the batlefield. He was also determined to
prove that Maj. Gen. Joseph K.F. Mansfield received his mortal
wound in the East Woods while leading the 10th Maine and not
some other regiment. Gould wrote: “It was bad enough and sad
enough that General Mansfield should be mortally wounded once,
but to be wounded six, seven, or eight times in as many locations
is too much of a story to let stand unchallenged.”

Stephen Recker Tom Clemens

Author, Rare Images of Antietam
Image #49 is my favorite of the six Gould photos that
surfaced in 2018. It is the quintessential image of the
golden era of Antietam batlefield photography—
after 1888 when George Eastman made dry, flexible
photographic film accessible to the masses, and before
1895 when the War Department laid out avenues that
forever altered the historic viewsheds. The “ten-acre
corn-field,” or the “litle corn field,” in this Gould image
was never on my radar. It is now bisected by postwar
Mansfield Avenue, but in this beautifully photographed
and meticulously annotated gem, I travel back to an
unforgetable scene, lost to time. The images are a
photo historian’s dream come true.
MELISSA A. WINN (3)
President, Save Historic Antietam Foundation,
and Editor, The Maryland
Campaign of September 1862, Vols. 1–3
Having worked with John M. Gould’s papers for years,
I was aware of his dogged pursuit of any information
regarding the East Woods at Antietam and his beloved
10th Maine Infantry. His efort to document exactly where
General Joseph K.F. Mansfield was mortally wounded
was extremely useful when I wrote a monograph of him
for a book a few years ago. The faded ink in Gould’s
handwriting pasted on the back of the photograph
evokes memories of the hundreds of times I had seen his
familiar scrawl as he quizzed veterans on their memories
of Antietam. Holding this photograph (#62), which shows
the location of his regiment and the exact spot where

Mansfield was shot, is a thrill I will never forget.

JANUARY 2019 35
 many tales
to tell
By Nicholas Picerno

“What a history we have made, what a school for young men, what a
noble thought that you have served your country and offered your life,”
Lieutenant John Mead Gould penned in his journal on May 8, 1863—the day the
10th Maine Infantry’s Civil War service came to a close. “Here it ends. Glory and
success still remain for those who will strive for it.” It was his regiment’s history
and that of its predecessor, the 1st Maine, and subsequently the 29th Maine that
Gould passionately chronicled and protected
throughout his life. He wrote the regimental
history in 1871 and would serve as historian to
his unit’s veterans association.
The last paragraph of Gould’s History of the
Special Ediion
1-10-29th Maine sums up his thoughts about the
Gould gave his mother this edition
most eventful chapter of his life: “It is a frightful of his regimental history, writing
record, war is a tremendous evil; and the man in it: “A Christmas present
who wrote of the blessings of war to a nation To my mother, who prayed for
has diferent eyes from ours, and most certainly me in every time of danger.”
he never campaigned in Virginia and Louisiana.
There is indeed a strange fascination in dwelling
upon all the sad and disgusting scenes through
which we have passed, but no men know beter
than we, what a scourge and a curse war is. If
these pages anywhere convey a diferent idea
This ca. 1880 photo of let it be dispelled here! We are glad that we
Gould hung in the GAR’s could sufer for our country’s good; we glory
Bosworth Post #2 Hall
in our strength and in all that is creditable to
in Portland, Maine.
a soldier, but war we hate; it shall never exist
again if we can prevent it.”
Perhaps it was no quirk of fate that John Mead Gould would outlive every
oicer with whom he served in the 1st, 10th, and 29th Maine. He died on January 1,
1930, but his regiment’s history lives on.
Included here are photos of some of John Mead Gould’s Civil War artifacts
from the Nicholas Picerno Collection.

Nicholas Picerno is retired chief of police at Bridgewater (Va.) College and is

serving his second term as chairman of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields
Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He serves as director of both Bridgewater
PICERNO COLLECTION, PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN

College’s Civil War Institute and Shenandoah Civil War Associates. Picerno
ALL ARTIFACTS COURTESY OF THE NICHOLAS

serves on the Federal Advisory Commission at the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove
National Historic Park. He also sits on the boards of the Lee–Jackson Educational
Foundation, Lincoln Society of Virginia, and is a previous trustee of the Museum Handy Dandy
of the Confederacy. He asks that anyone with items related to the 1st, 10th, or 29th For soldiers on both sides, the
Maine Infantry contact him at: 1st10th29thmaine@gmail.com. housewife was an essential item.
Gould’s, shown here, included
a strawberry-capped thimble.

36 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Blunt Force
Like the housewife, the
ax was a critical tool in
camp for soldiers on both
sides. The one shown
here is Gould’s, with his
name branded on the
wooden shaft.

Eternal Stamp
Gould used this branding
iron to identify his property
while he was in the Union
Army. Another of his items
was the camp chest below,
which survived four years of
toil and travel and remains
in pristine condition.

JANUARY 2019 37
 Scoundrel
Created with lofty aspirations,
the Excelsior Brigade never reached
its potential under Dan sickles
By Rick Barram

KH'DQLHO(6LFNOHVVFRUHFDUGKDVWZRSDUWLFXODUO\XQIRUJHWWDEOHHQWULHV7KHÀUVW

T
is February 27, 1859, the day Sickles, a New York Democratic politician, mur-
dered his young wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key II, in broad daylight near the White
House. The second is July 2, 1863, when Sickles—now a Union major general—lost
a leg to a cannonball at Gettysburg while nearly costing the Army of the Potomac
victory with an ill-advised decision to reposition his 3rd Corps on Cemetery Ridge.
%\SOHDGLQJWHPSRUDU\LQVDQLW\³WKHÀUVWGHIHQGDQWWRGRVRVXFFHVVIXOO\LQWKLV
country—Sickles got away with the murder of Key, son of the famed Francis Scott
Key. As for the grievous wound at Gettysburg, it fortunately ended Sickles’ military
career, which had been trouble-plagued from the beginning of the war. That he was in uniform in the
ÀUVWSODFHVKRZVMXVWKRZGHVSHUDWH3UHVLGHQW$EUDKDP/LQFROQZDVWRIRUJHWKHW\SHRISROLWLFDODOOL-
ance he knew was necessary to save the Union—even if it meant embracing a rascal like Dan Sickles.
The prewar notoriety associated with Sick- substantial amount of powder had been poured
les’ name was further exacerbated by a dread- out and placed aside. For the bored young men
ful incident on October 21, 1861. Soldiers in the from western New York, the projectile inevita-
Excelsior Brigade, a unit Sickles had created bly became a plaything.
and now commanded, were joking and laugh- Before long, the idea of shoving some sort of
LQJ DURXQG WKHLU FDPSÀUH RQ D PLOG HYHQLQJ ember into the ball’s fuse hole took hold—a chal-
in southern Maryland. They had been in the lenge quickly taken up by one of the soldiers,
region only a few days, and excitement for their Private John Rouse of Company E, 3rd Excel-
new assignment ran high. It wasn’t long before sior. Within an instant the ball exploded, send-
a soldier produced a Confederate cannon ball, LQJ IUDJPHQWV RI LURQ DV ZHOO DV PHQ Á\LQJ LQ
RQH RI PDQ\ WKDW KDG EHHQ ÀUHG IURP WKH 9LU- every direction. Rouse died almost instantly,
ginia side of the Potomac River, intended to sink Sergeant Michael Daly a few days later. Many
NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Union shipping heading for Washington, D.C. others were left to suffer from various wounds.
Someone had brought the ball into camp earlier For Sickles, the exploding ball incident
in the day, and while it was being examined, a wouldn’t be the last in a run of serious setbacks.

38 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

Dandy and Dastardly
Political expediency
was behind Abraham
Lincoln’s choice to keep
Dan Sickles in the Union
Army. To his credit,
Sickles was instrumental
in preservation of the
*HWW\VEXUJEDWWOHÀHOG³
ZKHUHKHORVWDOHJ³DVD
postwar congressman.

JANUARY 2019 39
 Mocking “Tribute”
Adalbert Volck liked to skewer the North with his political cartoons. Here,
he mocks the “seedy” class of men Sickles ended up recruiting for his brigade.

A few days earlier, on October 11, Sickles’ Excelsior Bri-
gade, which he had raised with New York state volunteers,
was combined with another brigade to form a new division
under Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker. The 10,000 men or so in
Hooker’s new division were tasked with suppressing Rebel
activity in southern Maryland and in keeping the Potomac
open for Union shipping.
The path from New York early in the war would not be
HDV\IRU6LFNOHV+HÀUVWKDGWRÀJKWKDUGWRNHHSKLVFRP-
mand together and overcome a hostile governor, then dis-
gruntled subordinates, a contemptuous commander, and
GLVFRQWHQWHGUHJLPHQWV³QRWWRPHQWLRQJHWWLQJÀUHGWZLFH
Sickles received approval to form a regiment in the
spring of 1861, but soon had permission to create an entire
brigade, which he christened Excelsior (Latin for “Ever
Upward”—the New York state motto). Sickles promised the
EULJDGHZRXOGUHSUHVHQWWKHHQWLUHVWDWHSURSRVLQJÀYHUHJ-
iments to be designated 1st Excelsior, 2nd Excelsior, etc.
5HFUXLWLQJZDVJRRGDWÀUVWDVPHQÁRFNHGWRMRLQWKHFKDU-
ismatic Sickles. When the pro-
cess slowed, he followed the lead
of other commanders and struck
bargains with men facing prison When men
time, offering them a choice of complained that
enlistment or incarceration.
Organizing the brigade proved
their enlistment
a messy affair. When men com- agreements had been
breached, sickles
or threatened arrest. Amid accusations of corruption and
double-dealing, Sickles was eventually able to cobble
WRJHWKHU KLV ÀYH UHJLPHQWV FROOHFWHG IURP  1HZ <RUN
FRXQWLHV DQG ÀYH RWKHU VWDWHV 6RPH FRPSDQLHV ZHUH
formed from local militia units, with competent company
RIÀFHUVDQGKRPHWRZQEDFNLQJ2WKHUVKRZHYHUKDGEHHQ
scraped together from the lowest rungs of New York City
society, prompting the Rev. Joseph O’Hagan, the Excelsior
Brigade’s chaplain, to assert: “Such a collection of men was
QHYHUEHIRUHXQLWHGLQRQHERG\VLQFHWKHÁRRG”
6LFNOHV· ÀUVW DGYHUVDU\ HYHQ EHIRUH WKH EULJDGH OHIW
New York, was Republican Governor Edwin Morgan.
Citing dissatisfaction from upstate counties over Sickles’
recruiting methods, Morgan ordered disbanding of all but
10 of the Excelsior Brigade’s 50 companies. Undeterred
and smelling the foul air of party politics, the Democrat
Sickles appealed directly to President Lincoln and
eventually kept his brigade intact, though it now had a
“United States Volunteers” designation.
The next problem involved
one of his regimental colonels,
James Fairman. There had been
many delays in completing the
ranks of Fairman’s 4th Excel-
VLRUZKLFKZDVÀOOHGPRVWO\ZLWK
1HZ <RUN &LW\ ÀUHPHQ 0DQ\
RIÀFHUV TXHVWLRQHG )DLUPDQ·V
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

plained that their enlistment abilities and resented his over-

agreements had been breached bearing style, although the rank
and they wished to go home, Sick-
either ignored DQGÀOHVHHPHGWROLNHKLP:LWK
les either ignored their claims their claims or some members of the brigade in

40 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

threatened arrest
 Washington, D.C., and 4th Excelsior still wait-
ing at Staten Island, Fairman’s simmering
IHXGZLWK6LFNOHVÀQDOO\ERLOHGRYHU)DLUPDQ
KDG EHFRPH FRQYLQFHG WKDW 6LFNOHV LQWHQGHG
WR GHSULYH WKH UHJLPHQW RI LWV SUL]HG ´6HFRQG
)LUH =RXDYHµ GHVLJQDWLRQ )XUWKHUPRUH )DLU-
PDQ ZDV FHUWDLQ 6LFNOHV ZDV XQÀW IRU FRP-
PDQGVD\LQJRSHQO\KHDQGKLVUHJLPHQWZHUH
WUDSSHGXQGHUD´VHFRQGUDWHJHQHUDOµ
+HDULQJWKDW6LFNOHVPRYHGWRJHWULGRI)DLU-
PDQE\RUGHULQJWKDWWKHWURXEOHVRPHFRORQHO
EHEDUUHGIURPERDUGLQJWKHVKLSWKDWZDVWR
FDUU\WKHUHJLPHQWIURP1HZ<RUN7KHPHQRI
WK([FHOVLRUZHUHLQLWLDOO\RXWUDJHGEXWFDPH
WRDSSUHFLDWH6LFNOHV·EROGDFWLRQ)DLUPDQZDV
later court-martialed for conduct prejudicial to
JRRG RUGHU ZKLOH OHDGLQJ WKH WK 1HZ <RUN
during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

The Excelsior Brigade EHFDPH SDUW RI WKH

force protecting Washington during the wide-
VSUHDGDQJXLVKLQWKH1RUWKWKDWIROORZHGWKH
8QLRQ GHIHDW DW )LUVW %XOO 5XQ RQ -XO\ 
0HQ IURP WKH GLIIHUHQW UHJLPHQWV EXLOW IRUWV
and other defenses on the capital’s southeast
VLGH%DWWDOLRQVGUDZQIURPDFURVVWKHEULJDGH
ZRXOG RFFDVLRQDOO\ VHW RII IRU VHYHUDO GD\V RI
DGYHQWXUH LQ DGMDFHQW &KDUOHV &RXQW\ 0G
ZLWK RUGHUV WR URRW RXW VHFHVVLRQLVW V\PSD-
WKL]HUV DUUHVW DQWLJRYHUQPHQW SURYRFDWHXUV
DQG FODPS GRZQ RQ UHEHOOLRXV DFWLYLW\ :LWK
a seceded Virginia on Washington’s southern
doorstep, the last thing Lincoln needed was
DQRWKHU5HEHOQHVWWRKLVHDVW
Despite the expeditions, secessionist men
and materiel were making it down from Balti-
PRUHWKURXJK&KDUOHV&RXQW\0GDQGDFURVV
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; USAHEC; PRIVATE COLLECTION/PHOTO ©DON TROIANI/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

the Potomac to Virginia. A large permanent

SUHVHQFHLQVRXWKHUQ0DU\ODQGZDVQHHGHGWR
EORFNWKLVÁRZDQGVXSSRUWWKH1DY\·V3RWRPDF
)ORWLOODDVLWZRUNHGWRVXSSUHVV5HEHODUWLOOHU\
EDWWHULHVRQWKH9LUJLQLDVKRUH7KH([FHOVLRU Quite a Cast of Characters
%ULJDGH KDOI RI +RRNHU·V QHZO\ IRUPHG GLYL- Top: Dan Sickles (right, in uniform) stands with two others near a group
VLRQZRXOGEHSDUWRIWKLVIRUFH of Wiard guns at the U.S. Arsenal in Washington. The Wiard never saw
6WDUWLQJ 2FWREHU  +RRNHU PRYHG KLV extensive use in the Union Army, but Sickles made sure to secure some
GLYLVLRQ LQWR VRXWKHUQ 0DU\ODQG 6HUYLQJ DV for his Excelsior Brigade. Above left: Two of the brigade’s Fire Zouave
musicians. Above right: James Fairman, 4th Excelsior’s troubled colonel.
D ODUJHVFDOH LQIDQWU\ H[HUFLVH VROGLHUV ZHUH
H[SHFWHG WR FDUU\ JHDU DV WKH\ ZRXOG GXULQJ
FRPEDW3HUVRQDOEHORQJLQJVZHUHWREHNHSWWRDPLQLPXP and women’s trunks and knapsacks to such an extent as to
DQGQRUHJLPHQWDOZDJRQVRUDPEXODQFHVZHUHWREHXVHG OHDGRQHWRIHDUWKDWLIWKH\UHDFKHGFDPSDWDOOLWZRXOGEH
+RRNHU·V VW %ULJDGH PRVWO\ 1HZ (QJODQGHUV SHUIRUPHG ZLWKFULSSOHGKRUVHVDQGEURNHQGRZQDPEXODQFHVµ
ÁDZOHVVO\EXWIRU6LFNOHVWKLQJVZHQWZURQJDOPRVWDWRQFH $OUHDG\ VFRUQIXO RI WKH SROLWLFDO JHQHUDO +RRNHU ZDV
7KHJHQHUDOKDGHLWKHULJQRUHG+RRNHU·VGLUHFWLYHUHJDUG- outraged. Worse still, commanders of 2nd Excelsior had
ing the wagons or had not passed it along to his command- IDLOHGWRSURYLGHIRRGIRUWKHLUPHQ$VWKHPDUFKH[WHQGHG
HUV +LV 1HZ <RUNHUV VFURXQJHG ZDJRQV DQG DPEXODQFHV DQG KXQJHU VHW LQ ´WKH UHVXOWµ DV RQH UHJLPHQWDO RIÀFHU
DQGÀOOHGWKHPZLWKDOOPDQQHURILPSHGLPHQWD7KHVHZDJ- UHSRUWHG´FRXOGEHH[SHFWHGµ0HQIHOORXWWRFKDVHJDPH
RQV+RRNHUUHSRUWHGZHUHXVHGIRU´OD]\VROGLHUVRIÀFHUV· IRUDJHDQGFRRNZKDWHYHUZDVFDXJKW7KHOLQHXQUDYHOHG

JANUARY 2019 41
 Gallant Warrior
The date of this photo, “Review of Col.
William Dwight’s ‘Excelsior Brigade,’” is
unknown. Seriously wounded leading
1st Excelsior at Williamsburg, Va., in
May 1862, Dwight was left for dead on the
ÀHOGDQGFDSWXUHG$IWHUEHLQJH[FKDQJHG
in November 1862, he was promoted to
brigadier general and spent the next year
and a half in the Western Theater.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

42 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Hooker’s
1st Brigade
performed
flawlessly, but
almost at once
things went
wrong for sickles

and eventually Sickles’ unit was stretched

out for miles, a hopeless rabble.
Hooker reported Sickles’ poor perfor-
mance to the commanding general, George
B. McClellan. Sickles protested vocifer-
ously, and was able to keep his command
while 2nd Excelsior commander Colonel
George B. Hall was arrested for negligence,
with Lt. Col. Henry Potter taking over.
Hall eventually returned to command, but
not before the regiment had splintered into
factions over who was best suited for com-
PDQGZLWKRIÀFHUVOHYHOLQJFKDUJHVDWRQH
another. The hard feelings came to an ugly
head one winter evening, when after a reg-
LPHQWDOSDUDGHLQIURQWRI+RRNHUWKHRIÀ-
cers took to drinking. Soon the regiment
ZDV HPEURLOHG LQ D ÀJKW EHWZHHQ ´+DOO
6\PSDWKL]HUVµDQG´3RWWHU0HQµ7KHEUDZO
was almost serious enough to warrant dis-
banding of the regiment. Hooker and Sick-
les eventually allowed Hall and Potter to
remain at their posts, which only made ser-
vice in the regiment tense and miserable.

Sickles’ brigade settled into a soldierly

routine of patrolling the lower part of the
state, from the southern reaches of Baltimore all the way up 400 hand-picked men, com-
Help Wanted
to Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County. The men chased mandeered some tugs from the
One of the Excelsior
down suspected Confederate sympathizers and adminis- ÁRWLOOD DQG FRQGXFWHG D PLG-
Brigade’s recruiting
tered loyalty oaths, although the sincerity of these oaths posters, with bounty night raid into Virginia.
ZDVQRGRXEWTXHVWLRQDEOH´7KHSHRSOHKHUHDUHDOOVHFHV- offers and a list of the The material results of the
sionist, and it is only the presence of an overpowering brigade’s battles— raid were meager, but the effect
8QLRQ IRUFH ZKLFK FDXVH WKHP WR IHLJQ OR\DOW\µ FRQÀGHG many fought without on morale was spectacular—
RQHORFDO8QLRQLVW´7KH\DUHDOOUHDG\WRWDNHWKHRDWKRI Sickles in command. ÀQDOO\ WKH PHQ ZHUH GRLQJ
allegiance; that doesn’t hurt them a bit; but just so soon something war-like. Sickles was
as they think they can help Jeff Davis, so soon their dis- pleased by the initiative his commander had shown. Hooker
COLLECTION OF THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

patches will be sent.”
After a few weeks of accepting put-on loyalty oaths and
ZDWFKLQJ WKH 5HEHO EDWWHULHV GXHO ZLWK WKH )HGHUDO ÁR-
WLOODPDQ\PHQDQGPRVWRIÀFHUVEHJDQWRZRQGHUZKHUH
was the glorious war they had signed up for? Hooker even
appealed to McClellan to allow him to conduct operations
across the river into Virginia. McClellan demurred, leaving
Hooker and his division frustrated. Undeterred, one enter-
prising colonel under Sickles in early November gathered
was less thrilled, but since the foray had come off with-
out incident, he forgave the breach in discipline. McClel-
lan on the other hand was livid over collapse of command
and control, making his feelings known to both Hooker and
Sickles. His reprimand served only to reinforce the popular
QRWLRQWKDWZKHQLWFDPHWRÀJKWLQJ&RQIHGHUDWHV´/LWWOH
Mac” was all bluster and no action.
That fall, the federal government called upon loyal states
to meet their manpower quotas. This added pressure forced

JANUARY 2019 43
 Governor Morgan to reconsider have played some other role than
incorporating Sickles and his that of special policemen, and
labored up on a Maryland high-
Excelsior Brigade into the state’s
way, if we had been headed by an
manpower quota. With its new experienced soldier.
status as a New York unit, the
brigade now had fresh numeri- Others believed that being
FDOGHVLJQDWLRQVIRUWKHÀYHUHJ- commanded by a general like
iments: the 70th through 74th Dan Sickles would ensure they
New York State Volunteers. remained disappointedly far
Sickles had originally been IURP WKH ÀJKWLQJ 7UDQVIHU WR
given the rank of colonel. To lead another brigade, especially one
D EULJDGH KH QHHGHG FRQÀUPD- FRPPDQGHGE\DFRPSHWHQWRIÀ-
tion by the Senate as a brigadier cer who would be allowed to take
general. Given Sickles’ politi- his men into battle, seemed the
cal past, many senators were only clear path for the men of
DPELYDOHQW DERXW KLV FRQÀUPD- the 72nd. In this climate, a peti-
tion while others were downright tion was signed “by nearly every
RSSRVHG 5HSXEOLFDQ ÀUHEUDQGV RIÀFHUµ DVNLQJ WKH UHJLPHQW EH
questioned the wisdom of giving transferred to another brigade.
such high command to this “oth- Sickles’ bravery, energy in form-
erwise minded” man, fearing the ing the brigade, or his deserving
Democrat could march the entire of command was beyond ques-
brigade over to the enemy. WLRQ³WKH\MXVWZDQWHGWRÀJKW
But Sickles would not sit idly The Senate began debating
E\ZKLOHWKHÀFNOHZLQGVRISROL- 6LFNOHV·FRQÀUPDWLRQLQWKHVSULQJ
tics played upon his nomination. of 1862. Whether 3rd Excelsior’s
While his brigade chased seces- petition was even considered or if
Waiing in the Wings
sionists around Maryland, Sick- Sickles’ own poor reputation was
Colonel Nelson Taylor commanded the
les was frequently absent, back brigade during Sickles’ frequent absences. enough, the Senate on March 17
in Washington counting votes To many, he was a welcome improvement. rejected his brigadier general
and handing out necessary blan- nomination. Radical Republicans
dishments to secure his nomina- and Morgan had had the last
tion. In his absence, Nelson Taylor, colonel of 3rd Excelsior laugh. Hooker immediately issued orders to relieve the trou-
(72nd New York), commanded the brigade. Taylor was a blesome Sickles and place Taylor in temporary command of
veteran of the Mexican War, had served in the California the Excelsior Brigade. Sickles argued that an appeal was
legislature, and was a Harvard-educated lawyer. Hooker in order since he technically was senior colonel within the
liked Taylor, and many throughout the brigade, especially brigade. Hooker reluctantly conceded to Sickles’ argument,
in the 72nd New York, thought Taylor’s handling of the bri- leaving the bigger issue of brigade command still undecided.
gade far superior to Sickles’. Despite the vote, Sickles was soon back in Maryland lead-
ing the brigade. Private McKinstry wrote in a letter home:
Dissatisfaction was growing within the brigade and
We have had more brigade drills lately, and Gen. Sick-
especially in 3rd Excelsior, where a number of former mili- les has done much better than his former management
WLD RIÀFHUV VHUYHG 0DQ\ IHOW WKH\ KDG EHHQ UHOHJDWHG WR ZRXOG KDYH MXVWLÀHG RXU H[SHFWLQJ , FDQQRW EXW DGPLUH
a backwater region to “police a Maryland highway” while his indomitable resolution and have no mean opinion of
the real action happened elsewhere. Wrote Private Arthur his talent. If the time spent at Washington in intriguing
McKinstry of Fredonia, N.Y.: IRUWKHFRQÀUPDWLRQRIWKH*HQHUDOVKLSKDGEHHQHPSOR\HG
as at present, I believe his nomination would have been
[T]he Excelsior Brigade has never been so well managed more favorably received....If Sickles is to be our General
as when...Col. Taylor has been acting brigadier. Sick- ZK\QRWFRQÀUPKLPDQGOHWKLPDSSO\KLPVHOIWRKLVEXVL-
les displayed great energy and ness? If he is not to be, why not
patriotism in the raising and at once appoint his successor and
equipment of the brigade. He has let him assume his harness as
governed it however in a civilian promptly as possible. It should
manner, and whatever talent and
administrative ability he may
Sickles would not be...a source of humiliation that
military experience and signal
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

have, he is evidently incompe- sit idly by while ability have weighted so lightly
tent to personally maneuver the
brigade….I think that we might
the fickle winds of when opposed to political trick-
ery and partisan prejudices.
politics played upon
44 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
his nomination
 Neither Sickles nor his political guard- ger commanded the Excelsior Brigade.
Reconnaissance Man
ian angel, Lincoln, took the Senate’s vote Like many of the men, divisional com-
A scouting venture by Sickles
lying down. As Republican newspapers along the Maryland side of the mander Hooker had long agreed Sickles
howled in protest, Lincoln renominated Potomac River drew the attention ZDVXQÀWIRUFRPPDQG$QGZLWKDOORI
Sickles. An editorial in the western New of an Illustrated London News Sickles’ appeals exhausted and the divi-
York Fredonia Censor charged Lincoln artist, who prepared this sketch sion’s move to the Peninsula imminent,
with taking the soldiers’ welfare lightly: for its December 7, 1861, edition. Hooker issued orders to sack Sickles. He
was to stay behind while Taylor took the
The President has re-nominated Gen. Excelsior Brigade to Virginia. On board
Sickles as a Brigadier General. By what maneuvering he
the steamer Elm City, in a cabin Sickles had used as his
was induced to do this in the face of the unanimous rejec-
tion of Sickles’ nomination by the Senate, is a mystery RIÀFH WKH QRZGHSRVHG FRPPDQGHU SHQQHG KLV IDUHZHOO
the people would like to have unraveled. Sickles’ friends address to the brigade he had created. “My last act of duty
pretend that this rejection was brought by the misappre- is to bid you farewell,” Sickles’ General Orders No. 6 read.
hension of facts, which has been explained away. But no And after restating what he saw as unjust circumstances sur-
explanation can do away with the damaging fact that Sick- rounding his dismissal, Sickles impressed upon the men that,
OHV KDV QRW WKH FRQÀGHQFH RI KLV PHQ DQG WKDW KLV EHVW “Whether we are separated for a day or forever, the fervent
RIÀFHUVVLJQHGDSHWLWLRQWREHWUDQVIHUUHGIURPKLVFRP-
ZLVKHVRIP\KHDUWZLOOIROORZ\RXUIRUWXQHVRQHYHU\ÀHOGµ
mand. In time of war no one ought to be appointed to a
military position unless fully competent for the discharge Despite the heartfelt nature of the address, during the
of its duties... commotion of loading, it is likely few actually heard the
farewell. The Excelsior Brigade arrived on the Peninsula on
The pace of events in Maryland picked up in March and $SULOLQWLPHWRMRLQ0F&OHOODQ·VSXVKWRZDUG5LFKPRQG
early April. With the strategic situation changing, Sick- Within a month, these New Yorkers under Taylor would
ÀJKW WKHLU EORRGLHVW EDWWOH RI WKH ZDU DW :LOOLDPVEXUJ
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES

les’ men had become more active, launching larger raids

against suspected Rebel installations in the Old Dominion.
By April 1, orders had come to remove the sick and pre-
pare to move out. When Sickles returned from a successful
raid a few days later, two letters containing orders awaited
KLP7KHÀUVWZKLFKDOOKDGH[SHFWHG/HDYH&DPS:RRO
and begin packing onto transport steamers waiting to take
them to the seat of war and the upcoming campaign sea-
son. The second, a crushing surprise—Dan Sickles no lon-
Va., losing fully one-fourth of their number. But the paths
of Sickles and the Excelsior Brigade would come together
again and would remain intertwined until Dan’s most con-
troversial day of his generalship—Day 2 at Gettysburg.
Rick Barram, a history teacher in northern California, is
author of 7KHQG1HZ<RUN,QIDQWU\LQWKH&LYLO:DU
A History and Roster (McFarland, 2014).

JANUARY 2019 45
 not in the
holiday spirit A fight before Christmas in
remote Middleburg, Tenn., gave
Ulysses Grant Some solace in his
failed first Vicksburg Campaign
By George Skoch

46 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 About mid-morning on a “Warm and Plesent” Christmas Eve in 1862, Home Sweet
8QLRQ&RORQHO:LOOLDP+*UDYHVSHHUHGWKURXJKÀHOGJODVVHVDWZKDWORRNHGWREH´WKUHHEUL- Home
JDGHVµ RI &RQIHGHUDWH FDYDOU\ RU PRXQWHG LQIDQWU\ PDQHXYHULQJ WKURXJK ÀHOGV DQG VFDWWHUHG Camp of the 12th
WLPEHU MXVW HDVW RI 0LGGOHEXUJ 7HQQ 7KH \HDUROG *UDYHV FRPPDQGHG WKH WK 0LFKLJDQ Michigan Infantry
,QIDQWU\ JDUULVRQ WKHUH 2QO\  RIÀFHUV DQG PHQ FRPSULVHG KLV UDQNV LQ WRZQ 7KH EDODQFH before it departed
RI KLV FRPPDQG RFFXSLHG VPDOO JXDUG SRVWV DORQJ WKH 0LVVLVVLSSL &HQWUDO 5DLOURDG 0DM *HQ the Wolverine State
8O\VVHV 6 *UDQW·V PDLQ DYHQXH RI VXSSOLHV IRU KLV ÀUVW RIIHQVLYH DJDLQVW WKH 5HEHO EDVWLRQ DW for combat in
9LFNVEXUJ0LVV¶<RXQJ*UDYHVNQHZWKHRGGVZHUHKHDYLO\VWDFNHGDJDLQVWKLPZKHQKHVSLHG March 1862. The
DQHQHP\KRUVHPDQDSSURDFKXQGHUDÁDJRIWUXFH´,PHWWKHEHDUHUDVKRUWGLVWDQFHLQIURQW regiment would
RIP\EORFNKRXVHµKHUHFDOOHG ¶´:KRLVLQFRPPDQG"µGHPDQGHGWKHHQHP\ULGHUDFDYDOU\ suffer 432 casualties
during the war.
VWDIIRIÀFHU¶´,DPµ*UDYHVUHSOLHG,QDKROLGD\VSLULWSHUKDSV*UDYHVKDGEHHQ´SOD\LQJEDOOµ
ZLWKVRPHRIKLVPHQHDUOLHUWKDWPRUQLQJDQGZRUHDSODLQIDWLJXHFRDWZLWKRXWDQ\VLJQRIUDQN
+LVSDQWVZHUHFDUHOHVVO\WXFNHGLQWRKLVERRWV ¶7KH&RQIHGHUDWHVXUYH\HG*UDYHV´IURPKHDG
WRIRRWµDQGWKHQGHPDQGHG´DQXQFRQGLWLRQDODQGLPPHGLDWHVXUUHQGHULQWKHQDPHRI&RORQHO
*ULIÀWKFRPPDQGLQJ>WKH@7H[DVEULJDGHµ¶´,GLGQRWOLNHWKHPDQQHURIWKHEHDUHURIWKHÁDJµ
*UDYHVUHFDOOHG´+HDSSHDUHGSRPSRXVDQGRYHUEHDULQJ«µ*UDYHVUHSOLHGWKDWKH´ZRXOGVXU-
UHQGHUZKHQZKLSSHGDQGWKDWZKLOHKHZDVJHWWLQJDPHDOZHZRXOGWU\DQGJHWDPRXWKIXOµ¶
´7KDWLVZKDW\RXVD\LVLW"µUHSOLHGWKHÁDJEHDUHU¶´7KDWLVZKDW,VD\µUHWXUQHG*UDYHV¶ At
WKLVWKHJUD\FODGULGHUDEUXSWO\ZKHHOHGKLVPRXQWDQGVSXUUHGEDFNWRKLVOLQHV*UDYHVKXUULHG
RYHUWRDFUXGHEUHDVWZRUNKLVPHQKDGIDVKLRQHGRIWKLFNZRRGSODQNV7KHJULWW\FRORQHOKDG
VFDUFHO\MRLQHGKLVPHQLQVLGHWKHURXJKWLPEHUVWURQJSRLQWZKHQEXOOHWVEHJDQWRÁ\

ARCHIVES OF MICHIGAN
JANUARY 2019 47

The 12th Michigan had already faced
its share of adversity before coming to Middleburg early
in November 1862. Mustered into United States service
nearly a thousand strong on March 5, 1862, the regiment
was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg
Landing, Tenn., part of Everett Peabody’s 1st Brigade in
Brig. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss’ 6th Division. The Wolver-
LQHV· FDPSVLWH ZDV DPRQJ WKH ÀUVW WDUJHWV KLW GXULQJ WKH
massive Confederate assault that opened the Battle of Shi-
loh on April 6. “[W]e were drove back,” a Michigan private
lamented, “they took all of our clothing.” Later that day, the
12th was in the vortex of combat in the Hornets’ Nest “amid
the most dreadful carnage.”
After the battle, minus the fresh clothing and camp
equipment that had fallen into enemy hands, the regiment
suffered through days of wet, chilly weather. Diarrhea and
dysentery swept its ranks. When the Federal army under
Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck began to advance on Corinth,
Miss., in late April, the 12th’s regimental surgeon reported
Seeing the Elephant
This painting, part of a more comprehensive postwar poster honoring
&RPSDQ\&RIWKHWK0LFKLJDQVKRZVWKHPHQLQDFWLRQ
48 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
that “just over three hundred men
Big Expectaions
were able to go forward.”
The 12th Michigan’s
The regiment also had suffered
QDWLRQDOEDWWOHÁDJ
Julie Bretschneider, under the frightful leadership of
a 12th soldier’s wife, Colonel Francis Quinn. A politi-
KDQGVHZHGWKHÁDJ cal appointee lacking military and
and included the social skills, Quinn abused subor-
edict: “Michigan dinates and enlisted men alike.
expects every man The regiment’s quartermaster, a
WRGRKLVGXW\µ Quinn selection bent on personal
gain, also neglected the soldiers’
welfare. In a July 1, 1862, report about the regiment, corps
commander Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand wrote, “They
DUHXQGLVFLSOLQHGGLVRUJDQL]HGDQGGHÀFLHQWLQQXPEHUVµ
When word of the regiment’s plight reached the Michigan
VWDWHFDSLWDO*RYHUQRU$XVWLQ%ODLUÀUHGDVKDUSWHOHJUDP
to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Blair condemned
Quinn as “the worst colonel I ever saw [who] has made
more trouble than all the rest put together.” The specter
of court-martial compelled Quinn and others of his staff to
resign. Command of the 12th Michigan then passed to Lt.
Col. William H. Graves.
The battle-tested Graves had served as captain in the
1st Michigan Infantry (a three-month unit) and had been
ZRXQGHG-XO\ZKLOHRQWKHÀULQJOLQHDW)LUVW%XOO
5XQ'HVFULEHGDV´NLQG\HWÀUPV\PSDWKHWLFDQGEUDYHµ
Graves quickly revived the 12th Michigan. He led the regi-
ment to Bolivar, Tenn., arriving by July 18, 1862.
The seat of Hardeman County, Bolivar perched on a
bluff where the Mississippi Central Railroad spanned the
Hatchie River. The once-picturesque town was now a forti-
ÀHGVXSSO\KXEDQGKLYHRIPLOLWDU\DFWLYLW\IRUWKH8QLRQ
advance in western Tennessee.
Bolivar was also home to a bustling “contraband” camp,
ZLWKKXQGUHGVRIIUHHGPHQHPSOR\HGWRHUHFWIRUWLÀFDWLRQV
around the cantonment. “[T]heir faces were the only pleas-
ant ones we saw when we entered the town,” recalled Sam-
uel H. Eells, the 12th Michigan’s hospital steward. “[T]hey
come into the camp every day bringing corn-cakes, pies,
buttermilk, eggs and etc.” Eells’ conduct with the former
slaves would take a disturbing turn in weeks to come.
TOP: PETER GLENDENNING/MICHIGAN CAPITOL COMMITTEE AND THE SAVE THE FLAGS
PROGRAM; BOTTOM: MARY PENNINGTON COLLECTION/ARCHIVES OF MICHIGAN
 The importance of Bolivar to Grant’s advance in western
Tennessee and northern Mississippi made the town a prime
target. A mix of Confederate regular and partisan forces
preyed on the tenuous rail network. “Every foot of the rail-
road had to be vigilantly watched to prevent it from being
torn up,” noted a Federal soldier. “One man with a crow-
bar…could remove a rail…and cause a disastrous wreck…”
Within days of the 12th’s arrival at Bolivar, mounted gray
raiders struck the depot at Hickory Valley, only 10 miles
south of town, leaving it “a smouldering ruin.”
Graves shifted his men from one hot spot to another as
guerrilla activities dictated. Even shuttling to new locations
via the very railroads they guarded became risky. On Sep-
tember 24, “a bunch of the 12th Michigan…were frightfully
crushed and mangled…” when the rails suddenly parted for
DQ XQGHWHUPLQHG UHDVRQ DQG WKH ÁDWFDU WKH\ ZHUH ULGLQJ
“was torn to splinters.”
Soon after the accident, the regiment was on the move
again. Toting three-day rations, the Wolverines trudged
southeast with Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut’s division at
daylight on October 4. They moved to the sound of “heavy
ÀULQJµIURPWKHÀJKWLQJDW&RULQWK´0DUFKHGDOOGD\ZHQW
for miles,” wrote Private Clark Koon of Company G, “[and]
had a squrmish with the Rebles Advance killing thre and
taking 40 prisioner [sic].”
The Michiganders covered more than 20 miles that day
as General Hurlbut struck units of Confederate Maj. Gen.
Earl Van Dorn’s Army of West Tennessee near Pocahon-
tas, Tenn. Van Dorn was on the run after the Confederate
retreat at Corinth when the Federals confronted his troops
at Davis’ Bridge over the Hatchie River. Graves made it clear to his
In Command
Koon recalled the next morning’s contest at the crossing: men that they would be staying
Colonel William
at Middleburg for a while. They
“[W]e got down to the river…while the rebles wer throw- Graves (left, seated)
ing their shells over us When Gen Hulburt came up to Col were responsible for guarding the
and his successor
Graves and sayed who will volenteer to cross the Brig for Lt. Col. Dwight May rails seven miles north to Bolivar
their is non will go Col Graves sayed his 12 Mich would (right, seated) posed and three miles south to the town
if the Dr L. [Dear Lord] stands before them and over we for this photo during of Hickory Valley—an occupation
went while the Enemy was pouring their Grape & Can- the war. Graves’ that produced mixed feelings. A
ister over us but we Gained the hights and in less then a
brother, Phineas, bitter townsman recalled, “Sol-
>K@RXUWKHÀHOGZDVRXUVµ
stands on the right. diers stacked their arms about
The 12th Michigan was praised for its “prompt, fearless, the log school house…while the
and energetic conduct” at Davis’ Bridge, but there were 570 pupils were inside reciting.” Another chronicler bemoaned
Union casualties and Van Dorn had managed to escape. the 12th “as devilish a lot as ever came South.” Eells, how-
On the heels of the Union victories at Corinth and Davis’ ever, helped out by tending to civilian patients, noting, “The
Bridge, Grant drove deeper south. By November 4, blue- doctors here are a poor set…”
coats occupied key transport centers at La Grange and Eells, though, resorted to some extreme medical prac-
Grand Junction, Tenn. That same day, the 12th Michigan tices while in Middleburg. In an upper room of the Meth-
occupied Middleburg, Tenn. odist Church serving as regimental hospital, the medical
UNITED STATES ARMY HERITAGE AND EDUCATION CENTER

A Methodist Church, a brick hotel, and a two-story “brick
store, owned…by a near relative of President James K.
3RONµIRUPHGWKHKHDUWRI0LGGOHEXUJ$SRVWRIÀFH´DQXP-
ber of log stores, a small woolen mill…blacksmith shops,
several saloons,” and various dwellings extended the town
along the main road. Beyond the settlement, a lattice of
woodlots and farmland covered rolling countryside. Cotton
was the main crop in the region. Bales were loaded on rail-
cars from a sturdy wooden platform close to town.
staff routinely kept a cadaver “or two.” The corpses were
obtained from Bolivar’s contraband camp, where Eells
revealed, “they are dying at the rate of three or four a day.”
In a letter home on November 25, Eells admitted he was
“going into dissection pretty strong” to enhance his surgi-
cal skills.
Meanwhile, the bulk of Grant’s army pressed into north-
ern Mississippi. By December 3, Grant established his main
supply depot at Holly Springs, 20 miles south of the border.

JANUARY 2019 49
 Waylaid Plans
To capture Vicksburg, Grant hoped to move south from
Grand Junction, Tenn., and follow rail lines across Missis-
sippi. Van Dorn responded with a relentless 10-day raid of
the area, his lone setback coming at Middleburg (inset) on
Christmas Eve—four days after he wrecked Holly Springs.

Grant’s main supply base at Holly Springs on December 20.

First Fight
At the Battle of
Shiloh, shown here,
the 12th Michigan
bore the brunt of the
Rebels’ initial attack
in Fraley Field, about
5 a.m. April 6, 1862.
ing railroad stations, tanks, and bridges…attack will be
sudden but must be repelled.” Possibly in response to this
Each southward step Grant took
increased the risk to Middleburg
and other posts on his railborne
lifeline.
Graves received a blunt direc-
tive from his district commander,
Brig. Gen. Jeremiah C. Sullivan,
on December 3: “[G]uerrilla bands
are moving with intention of burn-
After reducing $1.5 million worth of Yankee goods to cin-
GHUVWKHUDLGHUVJDOORSHGQRUWKWKDWQLJKW7KHQH[WGD\
they cut telegraph wires, ripped up rails, and attacked iso-
lated Union outposts. Many of the Rebels were garbed in
FDSWXUHG EOXH RYHUFRDWV ´7KH PHQ URGH«LQ KLJK JOHHµ
recalled one raider.
When December 22 dawned, Van Dorn’s jubilant horse-
PHQ ZHUH DFURVV WKH 7HQQHVVHH VWDWH OLQH 6NLUWLQJ WKH
Yankee strongpoint at Grand Junction, Van Dorn harassed
HQHP\ SRVWV DW /D *UDQJH 0RVFRZ DQG 6RPHUYLOOH 7KH
next evening, the Confederates bivouacked along Clear
&UHHNÀYHPLOHVQRUWKZHVWRI%ROLYDU´,WZDVVDLGµZURWHD
7HQQHVVHHFDYDOU\PDQ´ZHZRXOGUHSHDWWKH+ROO\6SULQJV
business at Bolivar…and there spend a jolly Christmas.”
At Middleburg on December 22, Graves sent a note to
Colonel John W. Sprague, in temporary command at Boli-
var, warning “that a large force of rebels are marching on
this way.” He also put the 12th Michigan on alert. Enemy
cavalry was prowling. Despite the warning, Koon penciled
in his diary the next day that “John Ploof ”—from Koon’s
Company G–—was “taken pris and Perrowled.”
On Christmas Eve, Koon and Companies D, E, G, and

TOP: HARPER’S WEEKLY APRIL 26, 1862/ANNE S.K. BROWN MILITARY COLLECTION/BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY; BOTTOM: HARVARD ART MUSEUMS/FOGG MUSEUM
dictate, Graves had loopholes cut in the walls of the hotel .RIWKHWK´JRWUHGG\IRUWKH5HEDJDLQDW$0µ7KH\
and store. Barricades went up at windows and doors. And stockpiled water and extra munitions in their crude wooden
the cotton-loading platform beside the railroad was con- redoubt. When tensions eased somewhat, Graves joined his
YHUWHGWRDUXGHIRUWLÀFDWLRQ3ODQNVZHUH´WDNHQIURPWKH men in a game of baseball, and Lt. Col. Dwight May of his
WRSµDQRIÀFHUUHFDOOHG´DQGSXWDURXQGWKHVLGHVµ7KHGRX- staff left for Bolivar to attend a “military commission.”
ble timbers were then cut to accommodate the regiment’s About two miles from town, May saw horsemen approach-
$XVWULDQ ULÁHPXVNHWV DQG D ´VPDOO ORJ ing, clad in blue overcoats. Alerted by the
house formerly used for a grocery” became On the Job Training “suspicious movements” of the riders, and
a strongpoint. Hospital steward Samuel the “peculiar gait” of their mounts, May
In mid-December, Federal works at Mid- Eells, who didn’t survive the UHLQHGKLVKRUVHWRXVHKLVÀHOGJODVVHVIRU
dleburg and elsewhere were put to the war, enhanced his surgical DFORVHUORRN7KDWGUHZJXQVKRWVIURPWKH
test when Rebel forces launched concerted skills while in Middleburg. strangers and shouts for him to halt. May
efforts to stop Grant. promptly reversed course and galloped
Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, back to Middleburg.
UHVSRQVLEOH IRU GHIHQGLQJ 9LFNVEXUJ ÀUVW May had run smack into an advance
blocked Grant’s progress just below Oxford, party of Van Dorn’s troopers from Bolivar,
Miss. He then launched three mounted donned in uniforms they had pilfered from
brigades—3,500 men—under Van Dorn Holly Springs. After discovering that Boli-
 PLOHV EHKLQG WKH )HGHUDOV 7KH DUFKL- var had been reinforced overnight by Union
WHFW RI WKH UDLG /W &RO -RKQ 6 *ULIÀWK Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson’s brigade of
FRPPDQGHG WKH VW 7H[DV %ULJDGH &ROR- FDYDOU\ DQG ZDV QRZ WRR ZHOOIRUWLÀHG IRU
nel William H. “Red” Jackson led a small direct assault, Van Dorn instead feigned an
EULJDGH RI 7HQQHVVHDQV DQG &RORQHO 5RE- attack before sunrise and passed through
ert “Black Bob” McCulloch had a regiment the western outskirts of town. He had also
each from Missouri and Mississippi. dispatched a strong column under Colonel
Van Dorn surprised and obliterated *ULIÀWKWRVWULNHGLUHFWO\DW0LGGOHEXUJ

50 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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Complete Carnage
Van Dorn’s surprise attack on Holly Springs lasted roughly
10 hours. Besides capturing or destroying $1.5 million
in supplies, the Rebels tore up crucial railroad track and
burned several buildings, including a new hospital.

52 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Consult your GPS or a paper map today,
and there it is: Middleburg, in Tennes-
see’s Hardeman County. Drive there via
Tennessee Route 18 from either direc-
tion, however, and you’ll likely glide by
not knowing a town ever existed there.
Today, what may be the lone hold-
over from the Civil War era is a decay-
ing clapboard building first used to store
cotonseed. For much of the last cen-
tury, the building housed the Lax family
store, but it now lies vacant along the
highway near what had been the Mis-
sissippi Central Railroad (later Illinois
Central) grade, also abandoned long ago.
First setled in 1825, Middleburg
had a post oice by 1827, and boasted
a depot on the Mississippi Central by
1859. In 1860, Middleburg was incor-
porated, extending its limits generally
southwest a mile or more from the cur-
rent site. Though the railroad helped the
local economy, it also made it a magnet
for military action during the Civil War.
The fight before Christmas 1862 was
actually the second time enemy forces
met at Middleburg. The first came four
months earlier, on August 30, when Col-
onel Mortimer D. Legget’s Union cav-
alry and Colonel Frank C. Armstrong’s
Confederates clashed “with great
vigor and determination.” The heated
eight-hour encounter included one of
the war’s rare, saber-to-saber cavalry
charges. In the 1940s, the Tennessee
Historical Commission erected a road-
side marker to that struggle. No marker
exists for the December 1862 fight.
Decades after the Civil War, a story
emerged that following Federal occu-
pation, an “ardent sympathizer of the
Southern cause (said to be a woman)
sought to prevent the return of its blue-
coats by seting fire to the town,” appar-
ently inciting “bushwhackers to do the
burning....[P]ractically all the business
houses, the log schoolhouse, and most
of the homes were totally destroyed.”
This might explain why nearly every
trace of the wartime hamlet has van-
ished. But the tale is apocryphal. Avail-
able documentation, such as military
reports and memoirs, paints a diferent
picture. For example, the war diaries
of 12th Michigan Privates Koon and
Ewing, who remained in Middleburg on
guard duty until their regiment left for
Vicksburg on May 31, 1863, do not men-
tion a fire of any kind in town.
Detailed accounts kept by a prom-
inent Bolivar resident, John Houston
Bills, do not support the story either.
Throughout the war, Bills often traveled
through Middleburg and commonly
reported on depredations in the region
commited by both North and South,
including the sacking and burning of
Bolivar in the first week of May 1864.
But nowhere in his diary does Bills
mention a conflagration in Middleburg.
Likely, the natural ravages of time
and economic downturns took their toll
on the community. The Middleburg post
oice was removed in 1915, and over the
following decades rail service dwindled
until it too ended entirely. According to
one regional historian, “there was a gen-
eral decline in all the towns in the area
as a result of the war. Some towns sur-
vived at some level—some, such as the
case of Middleburg, did not. Also, being
between the town of Hickory Valley just
to the south, and Bolivar to the north,
most people in the area eventually grav-
itated to those two towns. Middleburg
was ‘caught in the middle’ so to speak.”
–G.S.

neck pace, the enemy’s cavalry moving to intercept us.”
Van Dorn intended to rejoin Pemberton’s army near
Grenada, Miss. That night his command sped southward
through Van Buren and camped a few miles below Sauls-
bury, near the Mississippi border and more than a dozen
miles from Middleburg.
When darkness halted his pursuit of Van Dorn, the tena-
OPPOSITE: TOP: HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; BOTTOM: HARPER’S WEEKLY, JANUARY 10, 1863
ble. Some of their dead were buried elsewhere, and they
“carried off quite a number of their wounded.” Graves,
WKRXJKZDV´VDWLVÀHGLQP\RZQPLQGWKDWWKHUHEHOVORVV
in killed, wounded, and prisoners, exceeds 100 men….Their
loss would have been much greater had it not been for some
half a dozen houses that afforded them shelter.”
Grant praised “the gallant Twelfth Michigan” for its

cious Grierson bivouacked at Saulsbury. From here, the
colonel sent a dispatch to Grant: “I am camped within 2½
miles of the enemy. I…will follow them to their den.” Back
in Middleburg an uneasy peace settled over town.
Graves reported losses from the Middleburg clash total-
ing six wounded, “1 since dead, and prisoners, 13.” The
death, though, might have been accidental. In a letter home
just days after the battle, Private James Ewing, Company
G, revealed, “one of the Boys shot himself and dide.”
The 12th had lost sundry “camp equipage, &c...” includ-
ing, “a valuable horse...[and] my overcoat, dress-coat, &c.”
Graves reported. “But so far as I am concerned they are
ZHOFRPHWRDOO7KHHQHP\ÀQDOO\OHIWXV¶PRQDUFKVRIDOO
we surveyed.’”
A reliable count of Confederate casualties wasn’t possi-
“heroic defense” of Middleburg against “an enemy many
times their number.” The regiment, Grant boasted, was
“entitled to inscribe….Middleburg, with the names of other
EDWWOHÀHOGVPDGHYLFWRULRXVE\WKHLUYDORUDQGGLVFLSOLQHµ
And Mr. Casselberry? The story goes, “It was long after the
ODVWJXQKDGEHHQÀUHGEHIRUHKHFRXOGEHSHUVXDGHGWRJHW
his mule and go home....[F]or days afterward, he was nervous
whenever he looked out a window.” One may also imagine
that for years to come the Casselberry children (eventu-
ally numbering 11) were regaled with chilling tales of their
GDG·VH[SHULHQFHVGXULQJWKHÀJKWEHIRUH&KULVWPDV
George Skoch, who writes from Fairview Park, Ohio, is
co-author of the book Mine Run: A Campaign of Lost
Opportunities–October 21, 1863–May 1, 1864.

JANUARY 2019 53
 TRAILSIDE
After the First Battle of Winchester in May 1862,
General Stonewall Jackson held about 2,000
Union prisoners at Harrisonburg’s courthouse
and jail. Civilians and soldiers often quenched
their thirst in the adjoining springhouse.
Both structures have since been redesigned.
Harrisonburg, Va.
crossroads town
BOTH UNION AND CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS BROUGHT
SUFFERING TO THIS SHENANDOAH VALLEY HAMLET
In the spring of 1862, Confederate Maj.
Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson under-
stood all too well the strategic importance of
Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Its proximity
to Washington, D.C., and its navigable trans-
portation and supply routes made it valuable
to both armies. The Valley’s fertile ground
made it the most important wheat-growing
region in the South and, coupled with plenti-
ful corn-fields, orchards, and herds of catle,
sheep, and hogs, earned it the nickname
“The Breadbasket of the Confederacy.” Rebel
Trailside is produced
in partnership with troops were fed from the land for years.
Civil War Trails Inc., “If the Valley is lost,” Jackson declared,
which connects visi- “Virginia is lost!”
tors to lesser-known
sites and allows them During his Valley Campaign (March 22–
to follow in the foot- June 9, 1862), Jackson marched his 17,000
steps of the great troops 650 miles through the Valley and pit-
campaigns. Civil War
Trails has to date
ted them against three Union armies in five
VLWHVDFURVVÀYH batles and numerous skirmishes.
states and produces In 1863, Robert E. Lee’s troops used the
more than a dozen Valley as an avenue to advance north during
maps. Visit civilwar-
trails.org and check the Getysburg Campaign. And in 1864,
in at your favorite Union General Philip Sheridan won a series
sign #civilwartrails. of batles in a campaign that wrested control
of the Valley away from the Confederates and
54 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
left stretches of the region in ruins.
Located at the crossroads of two key high-
ways through the region, Harrisonburg was
almost constantly afected by the war, hous-
ing military prisoners, wounded soldiers, and
even playing host to a skirmish on June 6,
1862, that claimed the life of beloved Confed-
erate cavalry hero Turner Ashby.
The city, today still nestled amid scenic
mountain views, is recognized as the home
of the acclaimed James Madison University.
The 40-block district of historic downtown
retains its Civil War–era charm and cele-
brates its connections to the war with guided
tours, a Civil War Orientation Center, several
area museums with displays highlighting
local involvement in the war, monuments,
a soldiers’ cemetery, and a half-dozen Civil
War Trails signs scatered across town.
As the Rockingham County seat, Harrison-
burg has always had a large number of hotels
for travelers to the area. Visitors can consider
themselves among famed, historic company,
MELISSA A. WINN
including Confederate spy Belle Boyd, who
reportedly spent a few nights in town in early
June 1863. – Melissa A. Winn

Confederate
General Hospital
345 S. Main St.
Several buildings in Harrisonburg were used as
temporary hospitals during the Civil War, most
notably the Harrisonburg Female Academy
on Main Street, now the site of a Harrisonburg
municipal building. The academy building
was converted to hospital use in 1861, and
Harrisonburg physician Dr. W.W.S. Butler was
appointed surgeon in charge. The building became
an oicial Confederate General Hospital in
October 1862. As troops retreated from Getysburg
in 1863, there were so many sick and wounded in
Harrisonburg, the hospital couldn’t hold them all.
“Only a litle time elapsed…before the building
used as a school house in days of peace was
converted into a hospital, and from that time until
the summer of 1865 it was never without the sick
and wounded,” one local woman recorded.
Hardesty-Higgins
House Visitor Center
212 S. Main St.
Home to the town’s first mayor, Isaac
Hardesty, this house was briefly used
as headquarters for Union Maj. Gen.
Nathaniel Banks as he tried to corner
Stonewall Jackson in 1862. A must-see
for visitors to the area, it now houses a
Civil War Orientation Center that ofers
the stories of individuals, batles, and
campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley
through film and interpretation. The
house also holds the Valley Turnpike
MELISSA A. WINN (3)
Museum, which highlights the historical
importance of Route 11, including
during the Civil War.
TRAILSIDE
Turner Ashby’s
Death Site
1164 Turner Ashby Lane
General Turner Ashby was mortally wounded
near this spot atop Chestnut Ridge during
the Batle of Harrisonburg June 6, 1862. A
monument to Ashby marks the spot. During
the skirmish, Pennsylvania Bucktails under
Colonel Thomas Kane were defeated by the
58th Virginia and the 1st Maryland Infantry
CSA. After Ashby’s horse was shot from under
him, he rose up and ordered his men to use the
bayonet, yelling, “Charge, men! For God’s sake
charge!” A Union bullet penetrated his side and
passed through his chest. He fell dead, while his
men cleared the Federals from the woodline,
which is clearly visible today in the small park
that remains at the site.
Woodbine Cemetery
212 Reservoir St.
Chartered in 1850, Woodbine Cemetery
was developed as Harrisonburg’s main
cemetery. The deaths of soldiers at
nearby engagements and of the wounded
soldiers treated at Harrisonburg’s
Confederate General Hospital prompted
a city merchant to donate an extra acre
for a soldiers’ cemetery here. Eventually,
about 250 Confederate soldiers were
buried in the cemetery, including Joseph
Latimer, the “Boy Major.” In 1876, the
Ladies’ Memorial Association erected
a 23-foot high monument “in grateful
remembrance of the gallant Confederate
soldiers, who lie here.”
JANUARY 2019 55
 TRAILSIDE

harrisonburg, va. Meigs Historic Site

End of Meigs Lane, Of VA Route 24
1. Court Square 1 4 5 On October 3, 1864, on this site just past
2. Confederate General Hospital 8 the Harrisonburg city line into neighboring
3. Ashby Death Site 2 Dayton, Va., Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs
4. Hardesty-Higgins House was killed in a fight with Confederate scouts.
5. Woodbine Cemetery Meigs was the eldest son of Montgomery
6. Meigs Historic Site Meigs, quartermaster general of the U.S.
7. The Heritage Museum
Army, and was a member of Maj. Gen. Philip
Sheridan’s staf. Believing Meigs’ death was
8. Virginia Quilt Museum caused by bushwackers, Sheridan retaliated
by ordering that buildings over a large area,
including Dayton, be burned to the ground.
6 3 The order was later rescinded, but not before
more than 30 homes were destroyed, in what
7 would become known as the “Burnt District.”
Today, sightseers can visit a monument to
John Meigs and small siting area at the site.

Heritage on Display
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society is located minutes
from downtown Harrisonburg in the buildings that make up The Heritage
Museum, which lays claim to an impressive collection of historical displays
and artifacts, including a Union Civil War drum and the 10th Virginia Infan-
try regimental flag. It also houses a 14-foot vertical electric map illuminating
Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. The site is open Mon.–Sat.
10 a.m.–5 p.m. and seasonal Sundays 1 p.m.–5 p.m. 382 High St.

Virginia Quilt Museum

MELISSA A. WINN (3); COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA QUILT MUSEUM

301 S. Main St.

The Virginia Quilt Museum is housed in the historic Warren-Sipe House, home of
Edward T.H. Warren, a Harrisonburg atorney and descendant of Thomas Harrison, the
founder of Harrisonburg. Warren commanded the 10th Virginia Infantry and fought in
many of the fiercest batles of the Civil War, including the Second Batle of Manassas,
Getysburg, and the Wilderness, where he was killed. In July 1863, the Warren family
cared for Confederate artillerist Joseph W. Latimer, the “Boy Major,” who was injured at
Getysburg and died here in August of gangrene. The Virginia Quilt Museum’s collection
includes several Civil War–era quilts and an interpretive display relating the history of
the building and its Civil War connections, as well as the war’s impact on Harrisonburg.

56 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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HERITAGE TRAVEL &
LIFESTYLE SHOWCASE
Home to more than 400 sites, the Civil
War’s impact on Georgia was greater
than any other event in the state’s
history. Visit www.gacivilwar.org to
learn more.
Greeneville, TN
Founded in 1783, Greeneville has a rich
historical background as the home for
such important igures as Davy Crocket
and President Andrew Johnson.
Plan your visit now!
Richmond,
Kentucky
“Part of the One and Only Bluegrass!”
Visit National Historic Landmark,
National Civil War Trust tour, historic
ferry, and the third largest planetarium
of its kind in the world!
Are you a history and culture buf?
here are many museums and
atractions, Civil War, and Civil Rights
sites just for you in Jackson, Mississippi.
Fayeteville/Cumberland County, North
Carolina is steeped in history and patri-
otic traditions. Take a tour highlighting
our military ties, status as a transporta-
tion hub, and our Civil War story.
Explore Maryland with once-in-a-
lifetime commemorations—all at one
destination. Create your family history
by exploring ours. Go to visitmaryland.
org to plan your trip today.
Walk where Civil War soldiers fought
and died. A short trip from Nashville and
a long journey into America’s history!
Call (800) 716-7560.
ReadySetRutherford.com
Visit Chatanooga’s pivotal Civil War sites
that changed America forever. Combine
your stay in this top rated tourism desti-
nation with other world-class atractions,
music festivals and unique dining.
Experience living history for
he Batles of Marieta Georgia,
featuring reenactments, tours and
a recreation of 1864 Marieta.
www.marietacivilwar.com
H I S T O R I C
Roswell, Georgia
Whether you love history, culture, the
peacefulness of the great outdoors, or the
excitement of entertainment, Roswell
ofers a wide selection of atractions and
tours. www.visitroswellga.com
here’s no other place that embodies
the heart and soul of the True South
in all its rich and varied expressions—
Mississippi. Find Your True South.
Join us for our Civil War Anniversary
Commemoration including
atractions and tours, exhibitions,
memorials and a selection of artifacts
from Fort Fisher.
A vacation in Georgia means
great family experiences that can
only be described as prety sweet.
Explore Georgia’s Magnolia Midlands.
Experience the Old West in action with
a trip through Southwest Montana.
For more information on our 15 ghost
towns, visit southwestmt.com or
call 800-879-1159, ext 1501.
Over 650 grand historic homes in three
National Register Historic Districts.
Birthplace of America’s greatest play-
wright, Tennessee Williams. he ultimate
Southern destination—Columbus, MS.
To discover more about Tennessee and
to order your free oicial Tennessee
Vacation Guide, visit:
TNVACATION.COM
or call 1-800-GO2-TENN
Lebanon, KY is home to the Lebanon
National Cemetery, its own
Civil War Park, and it’s part of the
John Hunt Morgan Trail.
VisitLebanonKY.com today.
Experience the Civil War in Jacksonville
at the Museum of Military History.
Relive one of Arkansas’ irst stands at
the Reed’s Bridge Batleield.
jacksonvillesoars.com/museum.php
he Mississippi Hills National Heritage
Area highlights the historic, cultural,
natural, scenic and recreational treasures
of this distinctive region.
www.mississippihills.org
Six major batles took place in Winchester
and Frederick County, and the town
changed hands approximately 72 times—
more than any other town in the country!
www.visitwinchesterva.com
Known for sublime natural beauty,
captivating history and heritage and
warm hospitality, West Virginia really
is the great escape. Start planning your
getaway today.
History lives in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Visit Brice’s Crossroads National
Batleield, Natchez Trace Parkway,
Tupelo National Batleield, Mississippi
Hills Exhibit Center and more.
Explore the past in Baltimore during
two commemorative events: the War of
1812 Bicentennial and Civil War 150.
Plan your trip at Baltimore.org.
Once Georgia’s last frontier outpost,
now its third largest city, Columbus is
a true destination of choice. History,
theater, arts and sports—Columbus
has it all.
Tishomingo County, MS
With a variety of historic atractions
and outdoor adventures,
Tishomingo County is a perfect
destination for lovers of history
and nature alike.
 History surrounds Cartersville, GA,
including Allatoona Pass, where a ierce
batle took place, and Cooper’s Furnace,
the only remnant of the bustling
industrial town of Etowah.
ALABAMA HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Confederate Memorial Park is the site of
Alabama’s only Home for Confederate
veterans (1902-1939). he museum inter-
prets Alabama’s Confederate period and
the Alabama Confederate Soldiers’ Home.
Cleveland, TN
Near Chatanooga, ind glorious
mountain scenery and heart-pounding
white-water rafting. Walk in the footsteps
of the Cherokee and discover a charming
historic downtown.
If you’re looking for an easy stroll
through a century of ine architecture or
a trek down dusty roads along the Blues
Trail, you’ve come to the right place.
www. visitgreenwood.com
Vicksburg, Mississippi is a great place
to bring your family to learn American
history, enjoy educational museums and
check out the mighty Mississippi River.
Prestonsburg, KY - Civil War &
history atractions, and reenactment
dates at PrestonsburgKY.org. Home to
Jenny Wiley State Park, country music
entertainment & Dewey Lake.
Tennessee’s Farragut Folklife Museum
is a treasure chest of artifacts telling the
history of the Farragut and Concord
communities, including the Admiral
David Glasgow Farragut collection.
Williamson County, Tennessee, is rich in
Civil War history. Here, you can visit the
Lotz House, Carnton Plantation, Carter
House, Fort Granger and Winstead Hill
Park, among other historic locations.
Charismatic Union General Hugh
Judson Kilpatrick had legions of
admirers during the war. He just wasn’t
much of a general, as his men often
learned with their lives.
Southern hospitality at its inest, the
Classic South, Georgia, ofers visitors a
combination of history and charm mixed
with excursion options for everyone
from outdoorsmen to museum-goers.
Follow the Civil War Trail in Meridian,
Mississippi, where you’ll experience
history irst-hand, including Merrehope
Mansion, Marion Confederate Cemetery
and more. www.visitmeridian.com.
Search over 10,000 images and primary
documents relating to the Civil War Batle
of Hampton Roads, now available in he
Mariners’ Museum Library Online Catalog!
www.marinersmuseum.org/catalogs
Seven museums, an 1890 railroad, a
British fort and an ancient trade path can
be found on the Furs to Factories Trail
in the Tennessee Overhill, located in the
corner of Southeast Tennessee.
Explore the Natchez Trace. Discover
America. Journey along this 444-mile
National Scenic Byway stretching
from the Mississippi River in Natchez
through Alabama and then Tennessee.
Sandy Springs, Georgia, is the perfect
hub for exploring Metro Atlanta’s Civil
War sites. Conveniently located near
major highways, you’ll see everything
from Sandy Springs!
$ODEDPD·V
*XOI&RDVW
Relive the rich history of the Alabama
Gulf Coast at Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines,
the USS Alabama Batleship, and the
area’s many museums.
Fort-Morgan.org • 888-666-9252
Fitzgerald, Georgia...100 years of bring-
ing people together. Learn more about
our story and the commemoration of the
150th anniversary of the Civil War’s
conclusion at www.itzgeraldga.org.
+LVWRULF%DUGVWRZQ.HQWXFN\
History, bourbon, shopping, sightseeing
and relaxing—whatever you enjoy,
you’re sure to ind it in beautiful
Bardstown, KY. Plan your visit today.
www.visitbardstown.com
hrough personal stories, interactive
exhibits and a 360° movie, the Civil War
Museum focuses on the war from the
perspective of the Upper Middle West.
www.thecivilwarmuseum.org
Come to Helena, Arkansas and see
the Civil War like you’ve never seen
it before. Plan your trip today!
www.CivilWarHelena.com
www.VisitHelenaAR.com
Treat yourself to Southern Kentucky
hospitality in London and Laurel
County! Atractions include the Levi
Jackson Wilderness Road State Park and
Camp Wildcat Civil War Batleield.
Just 15 miles south of downtown
Atlanta lies the heart of the true
South: Clayton County, Georgia,
where heritage comes alive!
CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
of the Western Theater
Hundreds of authentic artifacts.
Voted fourth inest in U.S. by North &
South Magazine. Located in historic
Bardstown, Kentucky.
www.civil-war-museum.org
Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury,
Alabama, commemorates the Civil
War with an array of historic sites and
artifacts. Experience the lives of Civil
War soldiers as never before.
he National Civil War Naval Museum
in Columbus, GA, tells the story of the
sailors, soldiers, and civilians, both free
and enslaved as afected by the navies
of the American Civil War.
Join us as we commemorate the 150th
anniversary of Knoxville’s Civil War
forts. Plan your trip today!
www.knoxcivilwar.org
Hip and historic Frederick County,
Maryland is home to the National
Museum of Civil War Medicine, unique
shopping, dining covered bridges and
outdoor recreation. www.visitfrederick.org
St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Visit Point
Lookout, site of the war’s largest prison
camp, plus Confederate and USCT
monuments. A short drive from the
nation’s capital.
Come to Cleveland, Mississippi—the
birthplace of the blues. Here, you’ll ind
such legendary destinations as Dockery
Farms and Po’ Monkey’s Juke Joint.
www.visitclevelandms.com
Dstination
-HVVDPLQH.<
STEP BACK IN TIME at Camp Nelson
Civil War Heritage Park, a Union Army
supply depot and African American
refugee camp. Museum, Civil War
Library, Interpretive Trails and more.
 REVIEWS

A STEP BACK IN TIME

In the heart of Rockville, Conn., is a large :LWKWKHGHDWKRIWKHODVWPHPEHURI%XUSHH3RVWWKH
Romanesque-style brick building that serves as the room and collection were left to the members of Skinner
community’s city hall. Every day, thousands drive by &DPS RI WKH 6RQV RI 8QLRQ 9HWHUDQV RI WKH &LYLO :DU
without knowing the treasures contained within. On 7KH6RQVPHWLQUHODWLYHVHFOXVLRQXQWLOZKHQFDPS
WKH VHFRQG ÁRRU LV WKH VWHOODU 1HZ (QJODQG &LYLO :DU PHPEHU5RVV'HQWD9LHWQDPYHWHUDQGHFLGHGWRRSHQ
Museum—a preserved, intact Grand Army of the Republic the post rooms one day a month to visitors. The response
Hall. At its peak, the GAR comprised ZDV LPPHGLDWH YLVLWRUV ÁRFNHG WR YLHZ WKH
400,000 members, with hundreds of posts collection. Since the founding of the Burpee
around the country. Today, fewer than 10 New England Post, the veterans’ original collection has been
Civil War Museum
intact GAR halls remain. expanded several times over with the help of
14 Park Place,
The rooms used for the museum were Rockville, Conn. both donations and purchases. Dent passed
originally the home of Burpee Post, DZD\LQDQGWKHPXVHXPKDVEHHQFD-
newenglandcivilwar-
QDPHG DIWHU ORFDO &LYLO :DU KHUR &ROR- museum.com pably led since 2007 by Matt Reardon, a local
QHO7KRPDV%XUSHHRIWKHVW&RQQHFWL- Museum hours are WHDFKHUZLWKDSDVVLRQIRU&LYLO:DUKLVWRU\
FXW NLOOHG DW &ROG +DUERU LQ -XQH  Sunday, noon–3 p.m. 7KHPXVHXPKDVRQHRI1HZ(QJODQG·VSUH-
The post’s veterans were provided these PLHU &LYLO :DU FROOHFWLRQV $PRQJ WKH UHOLFV
URRPVZKHQ5RFNYLOOH&LW\+DOOZDVEXLOW DUH&RORQHO%XUSHH·VSHUVRQDOHIIHFWVLQFOXG-
LQ  ,PPHGLDWHO\ WKH\ EHJDQ GHFRUDWLQJ WKH SRVW ing the bullet that killed him. Several swords carried by
with artifacts, relics, and books relevant to their service. local participants, as well as muskets and accoutrements,
The hall’s most prominent features are its beautiful and line the walls. Perhaps most impressive are the artifacts
large stained glass windows (pictured above). LQWKH+LUVW%URWKHUV&ROOHFWLRQ7KHWKUHH5RFNYLOOHQD-
Entering the hall, visitors can’t help but feel as though WLYHVIRXJKWLQ&RPSDQ\'RIWKHWK&RQQHFWLFXWDQG
they have entered a time machine. One can imagine in each was a charter member of the post. Their stories are
RQHFRUQHUDJURXSRIYHWHUDQVIURPWKHWK&RQQHFWLFXW chronicled in the book The Boys From Rockville.
discussing the carnage they faced at Antietam and Fred- Another highlight for historians, genealogists, and re-
ROBERT GRANDCHAMP

HULFNVEXUJLQDQRWKHUDWK&RQQHFWLFXWYHWHUDQWDONV VHDUFKHUVLVWKH2·&RQQHOO²&KDSPDQ&LYLO:DU/LEUDU\
about Sherman’s March to the Sea, while others perhaps FRQWDLQLQJWKRXVDQGVRI&LYLO:DUERRNVWRJHWKHUZLWK
discuss which political candidates might best support archival material such as photographs, letters, diaries,
YHWHUDQEHQHÀWV and GAR records. –Robert Grandchamp

60 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR


The Presidency of
Ulysses S. Grant:
Preserving the
Civil War’s Legacy
By Paul Kahan
Westholme
Publishing
2018, $28
Ulysses S. Grant’s reputation as a gen-
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QDWLRQFDPHWROLIHµ–Gordon Berg
REVIEWS
The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee:
The Forgotten Case Against an American Icon
By John Reeves
Rowman & Litlefield, 2018, $27
No general who lost a war has enjoyed a more exalted reputation
than Robert E. Lee. But recent controversies surrounding the many
memorials to the Southern cause are prompting a very public, often
vitriolic reevaluation of this beau idéal of the Confederacy. In The
Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee, John Reeves reminds readers that
but for a politically wounded president and the failure of will by a
succession of government lawyers, the Army of Northern Virginia
commander might have been arrested and tried for treason.
Spurred by a belief that Abraham Lincoln had been too merci-
ful toward the South and Lt. Gen. Ulysses Grant too mild in his
Appomatox surrender terms, Andrew Johnson and others were
determined to prosecute Lee and other CSA military and civilian
leaders for treason. Death, the president insisted, would be “too easy
a punishment” for traitors like Lee. At Johnson’s urging, in June 1865
a federal grand jury in Norfolk indicted nearly 40 former Rebel lead-
ers, including Lee, two of his sons and a nephew, James Longstreet,
and Jubal Early. (The exact number is unclear: Reeves cites 37 on
pages 6 and 63, and 39 on pages 52 and 168.)
Ensuing events represent an archivist’s nightmare. Lee’s actual
indictment was misplaced during the summer of 1865 and not
discovered until 1937 in a Richmond basement. His application for
amnesty in June 1865 was misfiled and not found for 105 years. The
absence of the original documents, however, did nothing to mitigate
the potential threat the indictment represented.
Lee firmly believed, with Grant’s encouragement, that his Appo-
matox surrender carried a guaran-
tee he wouldn’t be prosecuted for his
wartime activities. Johnson strongly
disagreed, but finally yielded to
Grant’s insistence that Lee not be
arrested.
For nearly four years, Lee lived
with the possibility that he might be
arrested and put on trial for treason,
although chances that a Virginia
jury would have convicted him on
such a charge were highly unlikely.
Not until the politically neutered
Johnson issued an amnesty for all
Confederate leaders on Christmas
Day 1868 and Atorney General William Evarts dismissed all the
June 1865 indictments the following February was Lee assured his
war was truly over. He lived another 18 months. In 1975, the House
passed, and President Gerald Ford signed, a resolution pardoning
Robert E. Lee and restoring his citizenship.
The Lost Indictment is a good read and will be of interest for many
students of the Civil War, especially those not well-versed in Lee’s
postbellum life. As the confusion over the number of indicted former
Confederates cited above illustrates, however, the book would have
benefited from more careful editing. –Rick Beard
JANUARY 2019 61
 REVIEWS
That Field of Blood:
The Battle of Antietam,
September 17, 1862
By Daniel J. Vermilya
Savas Beatie, 2018, $14.95
Daniel J. Vermilya’s short
but comprehensive summary
of the Antietam Campaign (en-
compassing the relevant battles
RI6RXWK0RXQWDLQ+DUSHUV
Rethinking the Civil War Era: Directions for Research
By Paul D. Escot
LSU Press, 2018, $50
Twenty years ago, James McPherson and William Cooper Jr. pub-
lished Writing the Civil War: The Quest to Understand as a guide for
young historians seeking new areas of investigation. One may be forgiven
for concluding that most of the important bases have been covered since.
Paul Escott cautions “not so fast.” Rather than focus primarily on new
ÀHOGVRIVWXG\(VFRWWXUJHVWKLVJHQHUDWLRQRILQYHVWLJDWRUVWRWDNHIXOO
advantage of new tools that have only recently become available for com-
piling and analyzing data in ways never before possible. Imaginatively
using digital research and exploring the constantly expanding capabilities
of computers “give us new routes to explore events and relationships and
offer the possibility of discovering connections that had previously been
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WKHORQJKHOGDQGGHWHUPLQHGO\SRVLWLYHSHUVSHFWLYHRQWKH&LYLO:DUIRU
celebrating the war’s results has been exaggerated.”
Escott backs up his challenges with chapters that could well be used by
UHVHDUFKHUVJUDGXDWHVWXGHQWVQHZO\PLQWHGDFDGHPLFVDQGRWKHUVDV
a treasure map revealing pots of topical gold to be discovered and mined.
Understanding the roots of the war offers myriad challenges. Building on
UHFHQWVFKRODUVKLSHPSKDVL]LQJHFRQRPLFLVVXHV(VFRWWPDLQWDLQV´KLV-
WRULDQVKDYHDFKDOOHQJHWRGHÀQHPRUHFRQYLQFLQJO\DQGFRPSUHKHQVLYH-
O\WKH6RXWK·VHFRQRPLFV\VWHPLWVYLVLRQV
)HUU\DQG6KHSKHUGVWRZQ
does not pretend to offer much
WKDW·VQHZVDYHWRGLVSHOVRPH
long-standing myths and to re-
mind the reader to put George
McClellan’s actions in context
with the situation he faced at
WKHWLPHUDWKHUWKDQLQ
hindsight. Antietam may well
be remembered as the bloodiest
VLQJOHGD\LQ$PHULFDQKLVWRU\
but the author makes clear it
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critical juncture than that at
*HWW\VEXUJZKHQ5REHUW(/HH
was making his second invasion
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LQ6HSWHPEHU/HH·VWUDQ-
sition from defending Richmond
to invading Maryland was a
SURIRXQGVKRFNDWWHQGHGE\
a Rebel invasion of Kentucky.
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were then seriously considering
recognizing the Confederacy.
Each episode in the story is
supplemented by a wealth of
SKRWRJUDSKVPDSVDQGDVXU-
vey of what to look for when
touring the campaign’s battle-
ground. –Jon Guttman
62 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
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He urges that slaves be looked upon as more
than the engine driving the South’s agrarian
economy. What did they know of the coming
IXU\DQGKRZGLGWKH\XQGHUVWDQGLWVUDPLÀ-
cations for their future? Via the information
JUDSHYLQHÁRZLQJWKURXJKVODYHTXDUWHUV
people “were developing networks and con-
nections that facilitated political activity….
If we turn our attention from what the slaves
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pected pressure on morale on both Northern
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be asking how morale differed in areas that were safe from Federal in-
vasion compared to areas where the war’s destruction hit home.” In the
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these divisions and tensions would be an often-unmentioned part of the
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tigating the ways in which the environment affected human activities in
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STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION
(required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United
States Code). 1. America’s Civil War 2. (ISSN: 1046-2899) 3. Filing
date: 10/1/18. 4. Issue frequency: Bi Monthly. 5. Number of issues
published annually: 6. 6. The annual subscription price is $39.95. 7.
Complete mailing address of known office of publication: History-
Net, 1919 Gallows Rd. Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182. Contact person:
Kolin Rankin. 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or
general business office of publisher: HistoryNet, 1919 Gallows Rd.
Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182. 9. Full names and complete mailing
addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor. Publisher, Mi-
chael A. Reinstein, HistoryNet, 1919 Gallows Rd. Suite 400, Vienna,
VA 22182, Editor, Chris K. Howland, HistoryNet, 1919 Gallows Rd.
Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182 , Editor in Chief, Alex Neil , HistoryNet, SAVE
1919 Gallows Rd. Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182. 10. Owner: History- Over $20
Net; 1919 Gallows Rd. Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182. 11. Known bond-
holders, mortgages, and other security holders owning or holding
!
1 percent of more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other
securities: None. 12. Tax status: Has Not Changed During Preceding
12 Months. 13. Publisher title: America’s Civil War. 14. Issue date for
circulation data below: September 2018. 15. The extent and nature
of circulation: A. Total number of copies printed (Net press run).
Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months:
49,035. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest
to filing date: 49,742. B. Paid circulation. 1. Mailed outside-county
paid subscriptions. Average number of copies each issue during
the preceding 12 months: 14,853. Actual number of copies of single
Get 3 Civil War Coins
issue published nearest to filing date: 14,285. 2. Mailed in-county
paid subscriptions. Average number of copies each issue during
the preceding 12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single
issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 3. Sales through dealers
Act Now – Only $7.95
and carriers, street vendors and counter sales. Average number of
copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 6,190. Actual
number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date:
O wn three uncirculated US Half- interesting coins on approval. Firm
Dollars enhanced by Mystic to limit of one set of three Civil War coins.
commemorate the 150th anniversary of
7,996. 4. Paid distribution through other classes mailed through the
USPS. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding
the Civil War. Just $7.95 – you save 150th Anniversary
12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single issue published over $20 and get FREE shipping and  Civil War Coins
nearest to filing date: 0. C. Total paid distribution. Average number guaranteed delivery. RYes! Send me three Civil War coins.
of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 21,043. Actual
number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date;
Available Only from Mystic Enclosed is $7.95 Satisfaction guaranteed.
22,281. D. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside These neat history coins feature Limit one set.
mail). 1. Free or nominal Outside-County. Average number of copies original works of art showing two Quick order at MysticAd.com/EZ102
each issue during the preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of landmark Civil War battles and one
single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 2. Free or nominal Name _______________________________________
rate in-county copies. Average number of copies each issue during of America’s greatest presidents.
the preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of single issue pub- Together, the three Mystic-exclusive Address _____________________________________
lished nearest to filing date: 0. 3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed coins are the perfect way to recall the City/State/Zip ________________________________
at other Classes through the USPS. Average number of copies each
issue during preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of single
“War Between the States.” R Check or money order
NY State residents add sales tax.

issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 4. Free or nominal rate Strict Limit of One Set R Visa R MasterCard R AmEX R Discover
distribution outside the mail. Average number of copies each issue Now you can own three coins Exp. Date ___/___
during preceding 12 months: 551. Number of copies of single issue
published nearest to filing date: 553. E. Total free or nominal rate
commemorating this historic
distribution. Average number of copies each issue during preceding anniversary – a $29.97 value – for
12 months: 551. Actual number of copies of single issue published just $7.95. Send today and you’ll also Please send payment to: Mystic, Dept. EZ102
nearest to filing date: 553. F. Total free distribution (sum of 15c and receive collector’s information and other 9700 Mill St., Camden, NY 13316-9111
15e). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12
months: 21,594. Actual number of copies of single issue published
nearest to filing date: 22,834. G. Copies not Distributed. Average
number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 27,441.
Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to fil-
ing date: 26,908. H. Total (sum of 15f and 15g). Average number
of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 49,035. Actual
number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing: 49,742.
I. Percent paid. Average percent of copies paid for the preceding 12
months: 97.4% Actual percent of copies paid for the preceding 12
months: 97.6% 16. Electronic Copy Circulation: A. Paid Electronic
Copies. Average number of copies each issue during preceding
12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single issue published
nearest to filing date: 0. B. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) + Paid
“To you, it’s the perfect lift chair. To me,
Electronic Copies (Line 16a). Average number of copies each issue
during preceding 12 months: 21,043. Actual number of copies of
it’s the best sleep chair I’ve ever had.”
single issue published nearest to filing date: 22,281. C. Total Print — J. Fitzgerald, VA
Distribution (Line 15f) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a). Average
number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 21,594. It’s a “Sleep Chair”– for a
Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing comfortable and relaxing It’s a “Lift Chair”– that puts
date: 22,834. D. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies) your feet safely on the floor
(16b divided by 16c x 100). Average number of copies each issue
night’s sleep
during preceding 12 months: 97.4%. Actual number of copies of – you’re ready to go!
single issue published nearest to filing date: 97.6%. I certify that
50% of all distributed copies (electronic and print) are paid above It’s a “Chair”– for
®
nominal price: Yes. Report circulation on PS Form 3526-X work- crafting, eating, visiting The Perfect Sleep Chair
sheet 17. Publication of statement of ownership will be printed in
the January 2019 issue of the publication. 18. Signature and title
with friends and family
of editor, publisher, business manager, or owner: David Steinhafel,
Associate Publisher. I certify that all information furnished on this
It’s a “Sit Back Chair”–
for reading, watching TV
1-888-849-2689
form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes
46482

false or misleading information on this form or who omits material and resting Please mention code 110115.
or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal
sanction and civil actions.
 CONVERSATION PIECE

DRUM ROLL,
PLEASE
Contemporary audiences adore images of Civil War drummer boys for their youthful, ornamental
appeal, but the reality is a bit more complex. Drummers, who could also be older men, played flams,
paradiddles, and rolls, among other rudiments, to direct troops to atack and assemble, or to set cadence
for marches. Drums were usually hung on straps or slings that ran across the chest from the right
shoulder and positioned the drum at the left hip. Drummers often atached a drumstick carriage plate,
such as the brass one pictured here, to store their sticks when not in use. Regulation drumsticks were
usually made from rosewood and were 16”–17” in length. It’s uncommon to find a surviving drumstick
MELISSA A. WINN

carriage plate, and this one is displayed at the White Oak Civil War Museum in Fredericksburg, Va.,
which houses an extensive collection of artifacts from both Union and Confederate troops, many of
which were recovered from encampments and batlefields in the area. –Melissa A. Winn

64 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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