Great but no glory

10 union generals
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This Man
Defeated .
Stonewall..
yet few know
w
the story of ho
ha n K im ba ll
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fredericksburg sacked!
Who really wrote the war’s
NOVEMBER 2017
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HISTORYNET.COM
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NOVEMBER 2017

44
‘Jove’s Thunder’
The unbridled sacking of
Fredericksburg: Ignominy
for the Army of the Potomac
By Duane Schultz

On the Cover:
Nathan Kimball was only a colonel when he
got the better of Stonewall Jackson at First
Kernstown, making him a rising star in the
Union Army. Regrettably, modern audiences
tend to overlook his Civil War accomplishments.
Departments
6 Field Notes Robert Gould Shaw’s sword discovered; Elmira open for business
10 War on the Water A former riverboat was one of Grant’s most vital weapons
12 From the Crossroads What if Buford hadn’t played that Gettysburg hunch?
16 5 questions Ides of War: A look at what spurred the nation to blows in 1861
52 trailside Shepherdstown, W.Va.: Crucible of war
58 Reviews Ardent look at the Civil War Trust; duplicity in Montreal
64 conversation piece One Confederate monument that’s safe for now

30
18
Unsung Heroes
Grant, Sherman, and Custer usually got all
the headlines. Here are 10 Union generals
who deserved a few more themselves. ‘O Sarah!’
By Ethan S. Rafuse Was Sullivan Ballou’s famed
´ÀQDOµOHWWHUWRRJRRGWREHWUXH"
Some experts say absolutely.
By Robert Grandchamp

36
Sure Shot
Had Confederates better access, the
UHPDUNDEOH:KLWZRUWKVQLSHUULÁH
could have been a game-changer.
By Doug Wicklund and
Michael Williams

NOVEMBER 2017 3
AMERICA’S
CIVIL WAR
ONLINE Michael A. Reinstein Chairman & Publisher
HISTORYNET.com/
AMERICAS-CIVIL-WAR David Steinhafel Associate Publisher
Doug Neiman Associate Publisher
Alex Neill Editor in Chief

Vol. 30, No. 5 November 2017

Chris K. Howland Editor

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Hewitt, John Hoptak, Robert K. Krick, Ethan S. Rafuse, Ron Soodalter, Craig Swain

CORPORATE Rob Wilkins Director of Partnership Marketing

SULLIVAN BALLOU’S
MACABRE FATE
As revenge, Rebel soldiers dug up
and desecrated the body of Major
Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island.
STONEWALL’S
ONLY DEFEAT
Nathan Kimball was the only
Union officer to defeat Stonewall
Jackson head-to-head, doing so at
First Kernstown in March 1862.
BRIEF UNION BREACH
AT FREDERICKSBURG
The Federals’ breakthrough on
the left at Fredericksburg the
afternoon of December 13 was
abruptly halted, another forgettable
moment in a humiliating loss.
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4 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 
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FIELD NOTES
The long-lost, prized sword
Robert Gould Shaw was
holding when killed at Fort
Wagner, recently exhibited
at the Massachusetts
Historical Society.
6 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
By Tim and Beth Rowland
Shaw’s
sword,
relics
found
One of the Civil War’s most famous incidents
was the death of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
while leading the historic 54th Massachusetts
Infantry’s attack on Fort Wagner outside
Charleston, S.C., on July 18, 1863. The sword he
carried into battle was recently discovered by
a descendant and donated, along with a dozen
of Shaw’s letters and other family artifacts,
to the Massachusetts Historical Society. The
collection was exhibited at the Boston museum
from July 18—the 154th anniversary of the attack—
through the end of September. Future displays of the
prized relics have not yet been announced.
Shaw, a 25-year-old white officer from Boston,
was leading the first African-American regiment
organized in the Northeast, and he was predictably
nervous going into battle. His father, wealthy Boston
abolitionist Francis George Shaw, had encouraged him
to command the newly formed unit, and his uncle,
George Russell, gave him an officer’s sword created
by master English silversmith Henry Wilkinson and
engraved with Shaw’s initials. The sword reached Shaw
about three weeks before he and his troops attacked
Fort Wagner, where nearly a third of his troops died.
Shaw was killed by three gunshots while he stood
on the fort’s parapet, sword in hand. Overnight, his
body was robbed of its possessions. When the sword
eventually turned up in Goldsboro, N.C., in 1865,
USCT troops were sent to retrieve it, and the blade was
returned to Shaw’s parents. It remained in the family’s
hands ever since, and was recently found stashed in a
descendant’s attic.
Shaw’s father recalled its return: “So far as such
words may be applied to an inanimate thing it is the
weapon which has done most for our colored people
in this war, and it is to me likewise as well as to you a
source of great satisfaction that it was recovered and
restored by officers of colored troops.”
 FIELD NOTES
An unparalleled collection of Abraham Lincoln artifacts and documents
has found a home in, of all places, the Deep South, the result of a
significant contribution to Mississippi State University from acclaimed
author and lecturer Frank J. Williams, a former Supreme Court of Rhode
Island chief justice.
Williams and MSU President Mark E. Keenum announced the donation
in June. School officials hope the gift, considered the largest known
privately owned collection of Lincoln materials, will help transform the
university into a major hub for Civil War scholars.
Memorial Acquired over 50 years, the collection consists
print produced of “rare historical memorabilia; priceless artifacts;
following original, signed documents; ephemera; books
Lincoln’s
death, donated published over a span of 150 years; and both original
recently to one-of-a-kind, and early mass-produced, artwork
Mississippi relating to Lincoln and the Civil War era.”
State. Williams and his wife, Virginia, are also
contributing to the school a $500,000 endowment,
along with funding for an annual lecture. “I believe the college is the
perfect repository for the material that my wife and I have spent a lifetime
gathering, preserving, studying, and making available on request to
research scholars among our countless friends in the Lincoln world,”
Williams said. “MSU’s commitment to the study of [Ulysses S.] Grant, the
Civil War—and, now, Abraham Lincoln—in the heart of the Deep South

msu receives takes us a giant step forward in our ever-challenging quest for civility,
common purpose, and national unity.”

prized lincoln In 2008, Williams was instrumental in the transfer of the Grant Papers
from Southern Illinois University–Carbondale to Mississippi State

memorabilia following the death of SIU’s John Y. Simon, the longtime Grant Papers
executive director. Simon was replaced by John F. Marszlek, MSU’s Giles
Distinguished Professor of History.

elmira prison camp

Southern prisoner of war camps didn’t have
a corner on the market for cruelty and squalor.

reopens—sort of
Roughly 1 in 4 Confederate soldiers who entered
the gates of the Northern prison camp in
Elmira, N.Y., did not live to see freedom again.
Known as “Hellmira,” this prison camp is
now open once again, not as a compound
for captured soldiers, but as a tourist and
educational attraction. The dedication of the
camp in June was the product of years of work
by the Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison
Camp, who also reassembled the one remaining
structure from the old prison—a camp utility
building that had been disassembled and put
into storage long ago.
The group eventually hopes to re-create a
Civil War village at the site. Supporters say that
a long-neglected segment of Elmira’s history
has now been brought to light as a result of the
project.
The Elmira training camp functioned as a Confederate reenactors pose next to
prison in 1864-65. More than 12,000 POWs a utility building they reconstructed
were brought to the camp by rail. Many died of at Elmira, a feat actual prisoners
disease, malnutrition, and exposure. took on in late 1864.

NOVEMBER 2017 7
 FIELD NOTES

EVENTS
MARYLAND
“The Death of Abraham Lincoln:
Reactions From a Divided Nation,”
lecture by David Taylor.
When: November 11
Where: Surratt House Museum, Clinton
Visit: surrattmuseum.org

memorials The Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly) was the

only Civil War engagement in the popu-
approved lous Washington, D.C., suburbs of Fairfax
County, Va.—fought on September 1, 1862.
at ox hill Now there is hope the battlefield will also
be recognized for harmony, not conflict.
The Fairfax County Park Authority recently announced plans to erect twin
obelisks in the 5-acre park, one honoring rank-and-file Union soldiers, the
other Confederates. With the equal treatment, supporters hope to avoid
monument-angst roiling other cities. “People try to judge people from
another time by what they know today, and we don’t want to be involved
in that,” battlefield trustee Ed Wenzel told the Fairfax County Times.
“The town[’s] only
offense was that
near its edge
nestled 3,000
Confederate
hornets.”
–Lt. Gen. James Longstreet on
watching the Union bombardment
of Fredericksburg, December 1862
“Memorial Illumination.” More than
23,000 candles will be lit on the battlefield
to represent those who died at Antietam.
When: December 2
Where: Antietam National Battlefield,
Sharpsburg
Visit: nps.gov/anti
PENNSYLVANIA
“Evening Open House at the David Wills
House and Gettysburg Railroad Station.”
Interpretive programs will coincide with
the period President Lincoln visited the two
structures during his 1863 trip to Gettysburg
to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.
When: November 18
Where: Gettysburg
Visit: www.nps.gov/gett
“Dedication Day,” ceremony marking the
anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
When: November 19
Where: Gettysburg National Military Park
Visit: lincolnfellowship.org
SOUTH CAROLINA
“Image of War,” annual Civil War
photography conference
When: October 13–15
Where: Charleston
Visit: civilwarphotography.org

VIRGINIA
The University of Mississippi will post signs acknowledging that slaves “The 1862 Maryland Campaign: South
built some structures on the main campus, which was founded before Mountain and Harpers Ferry.”
the Civil War. The university also said the name of James K. Vardaman When: October 6–8
Where: Middleburg-based
will be stripped off one of its buildings. Vardaman, a white supremacist, Visit: mosbyheritagearea.org
was Mississippi’s governor from 1904
to 1908 and a U.S. senator from 1913 to “The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War
CHANGES 1919. The changes are part of a recent
effort to provide “historical context” on
and Emancipation in the Heart of America,”
Banner Lecture by Edward L. Ayers
AT OLE MISS the Oxford, Miss., campus. University
When: October 26
Where: Virginia Historical Society, Richmond
leaders defended the changes, noting Visit: vahistorical.org/events
that they are trying to make a diverse student body feel more welcome.
The move to add historical context to some places and to rename Memorial Illumination
others at Ole Miss comes amid debate in many parts of the United States $QWLHWDP1DWLRQDO%DWWOHÀHOG
about how to deal with the public display of symbols and monuments
tied to slavery and the Confederacy. Already, all eight of Mississippi’s
public universities have stopped flying the state flag because it includes
the Confederate battle flag.

8 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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 WAR ON THE WATER

Jack of
All Trades By Ron Soodalter

Nothing conjures the romance of travel on XQHYHQ GHSWKV RI ÀFNOH 6RXWKHUQ ULYHUV 7KH\ DOVR
America’s rivers like the riverboat. Whether by read- needed a thick outer shielding for protection against
ing the works of Mark Twain or simply watching the HQHP\ÀUH
musical “Showboat,” we picture the elegantly trimmed -XVWWZRPRQWKVDIWHUWKHDWWDFNRQ)RUW6XPWHULQ
snow-white vessel, its smokestacks billowing, whistle April 1861, the Army—with Navy input—paid $62,000
blowing, and paddlewheels churning, as the visual rep- for three sidewheel steamers, including A.O. Tyler.
resentation of the glamour of river travel in the 19th Although the riverboats were built with shallow draft
century. After the Civil War’s outset in 1861, however, VSHFLÀFDOO\WRQDYLJDWHVKRDOVDQGKDGWKHFDSDFLW\WR
control of the rivers became vital to Union victory in mount artillery, their skin—too thin to withstand shot
the West, and a trio of graceful river steamers was DQGVKHOO³UHTXLUHGVHULRXVPRGLÀFDWLRQ
PRGLÀHGLQWRLQHOHJDQWWRROVIRUWKHVXSSRUWRI)HGHUDO Along with its sister vessels, Tyler was re-con-
operations. Among those selected to undergo a radi- IRUPHG DV D )HGHUDO JXQVKLS 6L[ LQFK JXQV DQG D
cal “sea change” was the four-year-old Cincinnati-built 32-pounder were mounted,
commercial steamboat A.O. Tyler. Over the next four the engines and boiler were There in a Pinch
years, it would serve Northern forces well, earn distinc- UHWURÀWWHG DQG WKH HQWLUH The converted
tion for itself and its crew in a number of battles, and boat was sheathed in 5-inch- riverboat Tyler, above
end active service in a desperate rescue operation on thick white oak planks. OHIWGXULQJWKHÀJKWLQJ
the Mississippi. 7KH PRGLÀFDWLRQV GLG QRWK- at Shiloh, proved
Early in the war, the Union Army and Navy fran- ing for its looks—the vessel to be one of Ulysses
tically cast about for craft that were suitable for river was variously described as a Grant’s most reliable
warfare. These vessels would have to be well-armed, “wood crate” and a “clumsy and valuable assets
throughout the war.
and have the shallow draft required to negotiate the barge”—but afforded some

10 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR


SURWHFWLRQIURP&RQIHGHUDWHÀUH,WVDUPDPHQWVGHOLY-
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with a 45-foot beam, and drew 6 feet of water. Although
it weighed around 575 tons, its two high-pressure steam
HQJLQHV KHOSHG LW DFKLHYH VSHHGV XS WR  NQRWV QRW
LQFRQVLGHUDEOH%\ODWH$XJXVWTyler was pronounced
combat-ready as a member of the newly formed West-
ern Gunboat Flotilla, the so-called brown-water force
operating on the Western rivers. Tyler steamed to
&DLUR,OODWWKHFRQÁXHQFHRIWKH0LVVLVVLSSLDQG2KLR
rivers, where it deployed along with fellow timberclads
Conestoga and LexingtonWRVXSSRUW8QLRQUHFRQQDLV-
sance operations.
Almost immediately, TylerVDZDFWLRQ2II+LFNPDQ
Ky., on September 4, 1861, it and Lexington engaged
&66JacksonDVLGHZKHHOULYHUWXJUHWURÀWWHGIRUVHU-
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as well as Jackson, and withdrew.
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Sultana Rescue
After four years of service, 7\OHU’s
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of survivors following the tragic
boiler explosion aboard Sultana.
Tyler was one of two gunboats that supported the
DVVDXOW ÀULQJ FRQVLVWHQWO\ DW WKH HQHP\ DQG FRYHU-
ing the withdrawal of Grant’s troops. Although this
attempt failed, Grant recognized the value of timber-
clads in amphibious operations.
2YHUWKHQH[WVHYHUDOPRQWKVTyler participated in
RSHUDWLRQVRQWKH8SSHU0LVVLVVLSSL2KLR7HQQHVVHH
DQG &XPEHUODQG ULYHUV SOD\LQJ D VLJQLÀFDQW UROH LQ Ron Soodalter, a regular contributor to America’s
KHOSLQJ FDSWXUH &RQIHGHUDWH )RUWV +HQU\ DQG 'RQHO-
WAR ON THE WATER
son. It was in early April 1862, however, that the gun-
boat performed its greatest service to Grant. Along
with Lexington, Tyler successfully protected Grant’s
ÁDQNDW3LWWVEXUJ/DQGLQJ7HQQGXULQJWKH%DWWOHRI
Shiloh. When Rebel troops attempted to anchor their
ULJKW ÁDQN DW WKH ULYHU WKH WLPEHUFODGV· LQWHQVH DOO
QLJKWEDUUDJHGURYHWKHPEDFNHQDEOLQJ8QLRQIRUFHV
to mount a successful advance. After the battle, Grant
DFNQRZOHGJHGWKDWKLVYLFWRU\ZDVLQODUJHSDUW´GXHWR
the presence of the gunboats.”
In mid-June, Tyler—in the company of two other ves-
VHOV³ZDVDWWDFNHGE\WKH5HEHOLURQFODGArkansas on
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8QLRQVKLSVZDVGLVDEOHGDQGWKHRWKHUÁHGIRUWKHVDIHW\
RIWKH)HGHUDOÁHHWTylerZDVOHIWWRÀJKWArkansas on
its own—an unequal battle, in the ironclad’s favor, from
the start. Tyler’s shells simply bounced off the Rebel
FUDIW·V WKLFN UDLOURDGLURQ VLGHV 7KH ZRRGHQVKHDWKHG
Tyler LQ UHWXUQ ZDV VHYHUHO\ GDPDJHG EXW ÀQDOO\
managed to escape, injured but intact.
Along with the rest of the squadron, Tyler was
transferred to the Navy in October 1862, and three
SRXQGHU 3DUURWW JXQV ZHUH DGGHG 6KRUWO\ LW
mounted another four 24-pounders, and for landing
GXW\ D SRXQGHU KRZLW]HU PDNLQJ
it the most heavily armed timberclad
of the war.
Tyler participated in the siege and
HYHQWXDOFDSWXUHRI9LFNVEXUJ0LVV
and was instrumental in opening
XS $UNDQVDV WR 8QLRQ LQYDVLRQ ,W
SDWUROOHG WKH ORZHU 0LVVLVVLSSL DQG
White rivers for the duration of the
FRQÁLFWH[FKDQJLQJÀUHZLWK&RQIHG-
erate batteries on several occasions.
On April 27, 1865, Tyler parti-
cipated in rescuing survivors after
boilers on the river steamer Sultana
H[SORGHG QHDU 0HPSKLV 7HQQ 2I
2,500 passengers, most of them
UHFHQWO\ UHOHDVHG 8QLRQ 32:V RQO\
about 550 survived.
In August 1865, the Navy sold off
Tyler DORQJ ZLWK PRVW RI WKH 0LVVLV-
sippi Squadron’s vessels. According to
WKH+DPSWRQ5RDGV0DULWLPH0XVHXP´)RUDOOSUDFWL-
cal purposes the Tyler and her timberclad sisters were
limited ersatz warships built in a period of emergency.
With many river miles and battles recorded in the log-
ERRN WKH Tyler turned out a rather useful warship
despite this.”
&LYLO:DU, is the author of +DQJLQJ&DSWDLQ*RUGRQ
NOVEMBER 2017 11
 FROM THE CROSSROADS
Moment of Destiny
John Buford, here
riding with his
division on June 30,
1863, had no formal
orders to make a
stand at Gettysburg.
a timely hunch By D. Scott Hartwig
On July 1, 1863, Brig. Gen. John Buford’s cavalry divi-
sion at Gettysburg desperately holds back hordes of
Confederates, as both sides sustain terrible losses. That
is the popular image, but it is largely myth. Buford did
ÀJKW D VXFFHVVIXO GHOD\LQJ DFWLRQ WKDW PRUQLQJ EXW
there was no wreckage strewn across the landscape or
mounds of bodies associated with it. Buford’s men and
his opponents, the Confederates of Maj. Gen. Henry
Heth’s Division, actually suffered very few casualties
during the engagement. That, however, in no way dimin-
ishes the importance of what Buford accomplished.
Buford’s division reached Gettysburg the day before
about 11 a.m. His mission was to screen the advance of
the Union Army of the Potomac as it moved north, while
also gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of
the Army of Northern Virginia. He found the town “in
a terrible state of excitement” because of the approach
of a Confederate force on the Chambersburg Pike.
12 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
That was Brig. Gen. James J. Pettigrew’s Brigade of
Heth’s Division, which had been ordered to reconnoi-
ter to Gettysburg and seize supplies there. When Petti-
grew learned of Buford’s approach, he halted his march
and turned back to Cashtown, eight miles to the west.
Buford, meanwhile, dispatched troopers to shadow and
observe Pettigrew and had pickets and scouts cover all
of the roads that converged on Gettysburg.
Buford’s orders did not include defending Gettysburg,
but to his eternal credit he sensed the town’s strategic
importance. The road network made it an ideal point
for either army to concentrate and Buford did not fail to
note the commanding terrain south of the town. Who-
ever controlled that ground would control the road net-
work. Through the afternoon and evening of June 30 his
scouts gathered intelligence. By 10:30 p.m., Buford had
assembled a remarkably clear picture of Confederate
positions: Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill’s Third Corps was “massed
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 FROM THE CROSSROADS

just back of Cashtown”; Longstreet’s First Corps was Buford’s pickets proved more nuisance than obstacle
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tion was whether he could hold the +HUU 5LGJH ,W SURYHG KLV XQGR-
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strong skirmish line that easily pushed back Union cav- position, and masterful management of his division to
alry pickets; but the main column could not move any delay the Confederate advance helped shape the condi-
faster than the skirmishers, who had to climb numerous WLRQVWKDWPDGHD8QLRQYLFWRU\PRUHOLNHO\
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LQJÀUHZLWK%XIRUG·VWURRSHUV Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

14 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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 Interview by Sarah Richardson
5 QUESTIONS

A Voyage
in verse
BOSTON-AREA POET OFFERS A COMPELLING
LOOK AT WHAT TORE OUR NATION APART

By day, Kevin Gallagher is
professor of global development
policy at Boston University. In
his off-hours, he writes poems,
and his latest work, Loom,
explores the run-up to the Civil
War through the stories of
various historical characters,
including cotton tycoon Amos
Adams Lawrence, escaped slave
Anthony Burns, and millworker
Lucy Larcom. In 48 poems,
Loom brings to life Americans
swept up in an economy
dependent on making textiles
and enslaving cotton workers.
1
What inspired Loom?
I wrote the first draft while I was in Alexandria, Va.,
and a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. We’re
from Massachusetts, and my son had been in a local public school
there, and he heard versions of what the war was about that were
different from what he heard back home. That sparked a wonderful
conversation and a re-exploration for me. We were going to Civil
War battle sites all the time on the weekends, after school, going to
the library and taking out all sorts of books. Then the Freddie Gray
incident occurred in Baltimore, and people I was working with at
Johns Hopkins were abuzz about that. I’ve always been interested
in the rise of capitalism and the role of mills in Lowell, Mass., and
one day when my son and I were on the Gettysburg tour, there was
this half-second when we were told that one of the turning points of
the war was when Lowell textile mills owners severed their alliance
with Southern slaveholders and began putting their resources into
the war effort. That was the perfect-storm moment when I wrote
one of the first poems related to the project.

2
What was that?
» To read Gallagher’s poem
“The Last Full Measure of Devotion,” It is “The Stark Mad Abolitionist” poem about textile
go to bit.ly/loomACW
tycoon Amos Adams Lawrence. That is the heroic act
of the whole sequence: “I put my face in my hands and

16 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR


The Rendition of Anthony Burns
One section of Gallagher’s Loom
delivers a heartfelt retelling of the
capture, trial (right), and return to
captivity of escaped slave Anthony
Burns (above) in antebellum Boston.
I wept/Now I’m a stark mad abolitionist.” One of the
richest men in America at the time acted, against his
material interests, for racial equality and social justice.
Of course, a lot of abolitionists and folks who engaged in
the Underground Railroad were pushing for equality for
moral reasons, but it is really an act of heroism to sever
that economic alliance, and I hadn’t appreciated how
pivotal that was. After Amos Lawrence makes the change,
he basically financed people from Massachusetts to go to
Kansas and vote for it to be a free state. And Lawrence,
Kan., is named after Lawrence, of the same Lawrence
family that lent its name to Lawrence, Mass. None of us
knew that. It was also Amos Lawrence who recruited and
financed John Brown, gave him Sharps rifles, and sent
his group out to Kansas to protect the antislavery folks
from Massachusetts from attack by Missouri ruffians who
wanted the vote to go the other way. There are individual
monologues in the book, but it’s a narrative arc with an
epic heroic moment with the Lawrence family.
3
Are you drawing on a tradition in poetry?
For example, William Carlos Williams wrote
a long piece about Paterson, N.J., and Seamus
Heaney wrote a book called North [about the
troubles in Northern Ireland]. These were folks who
looked at history to talk about the present, but to let
history speak for itself. I was inspired by them. In Loom,
the poems are usually either in sonnets—14 line sonnets
and a couple of the epiphanies are villanelles, a 19-line
form of poetry.
5 QUESTIONS
4
Who is your audience?
The book came out last September and I’ve
probably done about 20 readings. About five to
eight have been your traditional poetry venues.
I’ve given readings at libraries and historical societies.
Perhaps the pinnacle was doing it in Lowell at the National
Historic Park at the Boott Cotton Mill and Museum in their
amphitheater and showing slides of images of artifacts
from the book. You give the reading in poetry, and then you
have a 45-minute conversation about the history, and then
someone brings up Black Lives Matter and then you have
very interesting conversations that aren’t led by me but are
led to.
5
How did you create the voices and characters?
Poetry has gone the way of abstract painting—
where it’s got its own community and you have
to know the secret handshake to know what’s
going on and even then it might not be that interesting—
but this is public stuff. It is written in a way that folks can
understand. Two to three of the lines of each poem are
pretty close to what was actually said by that particular
individual, just to sort of ground it in truth. I am not trying
to take my politics and dump it on other people. This is
really their voices, strung together to tell a particular story
that did happen in life. I wanted to be really true to these
people and give them the voice. I also feel like I am making
poetry relevant again. A lot of folks say they haven’t been
to a poetry reading ever.
NOVEMBER 2017 17
 UNsung
heroes
10 union generals who Won
Without All the Headlines
%\(WKDQ65DIXVH

Résumé Building
The March 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge was
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18 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

T
“
here must be more
historians of the Civil
War than there were
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David Herbert Donald
declared in his book
Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the
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and Confederate general would
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of attention and appreciation his
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NOVEMBER 2017 19
 10. John G. Parke
The Union 9th Corps served everywhere, from the
coast of North Carolina to the banks of Antietam
Creek to the swamps of Vicksburg to the moun-
tains of eastern Tennessee. Because it never really
belonged to any single theater of the war, the 9th
Corps and its leadership—with the notable excep-
tion of Ambrose Burnside—has had a hard time
getting the recognition it deserves. Thus, it is not
surprising that John G. Parke, who assumed com-
mand of the corps after the July 1864 Battle of
WKH&UDWHUÀDVFRDQGOHGLWWKURXJKWKHHQGRIWKH
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important Civil War generals.
A Pennsylvania native and West Point gradu-
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gade commander during Burnside’s 1862 North
Carolina Expedition, and was promoted to major
general later that year. He spent much of the rest
of the war as Burnside’s chief of staff, but com-
manded the corps during part of Ulysses Grant’s
1863 Vicksburg Campaign while Burnside was
stationed in Ohio. Parke returned as Burnside’s
chief of staff in eastern Tennessee later that year,
and continued in that capacity until the early
stages of the 1864 Petersburg Campaign.
After replacing Burnside, Parke gave the 9th
Corps solid leadership in the fall offensives around
Petersburg. He commanded the Union forces in the
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Rebels out of Petersburg and Richmond on April 2.

By Land and Sea

The 9th Corps
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20 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

9. Nathan Kimball Well-Rounded
A Mexican War
$Q\PDQZLWKDEDWWOHÀHOGYLFWRU\RYHU6WRQHZDOO veteran, Nathan
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WR EULJDGLHU JHQHUDO EXW KDG QR RSSRUWXQLW\ WR
DGG IXUWKHU ODXUHOV WR KLV UHFRUG XQWLO $QWLHWDP
ZKHUHKLVEULJDGHZDVDPRQJWKRVHWKDWDVVDXOWHG
WKH 6XQNHQ 5RDG DQG ZRQ WKH QLFNQDPH ´WKH
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ZRXQGV GXULQJ WKH ÀJKW IRU 0DU\H·V +HLJKWV DW
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WRUXQIRURIÀFH.LPEDOOWUDQVIHUUHGWRWKH:HVW-
HUQ7KHDWHUDQGLQ-XQHWRRNFRPPDQGRID
GLYLVLRQ$IWHUSDUWLFLSDWLQJLQRSHUDWLRQVDJDLQVW
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Deserved Promotion
FRQGXFW DW 3HDFK 7UHH &UHHN
Following the Union victory
6KRUWO\ WKHUHDIWHU .LPEDOO ZDV
at Peach Tree Creek, pictured,
VXPPRQHGWR,QGLDQDWRKHOSWKH Kimball assumed division
JRYHUQRU GHDO ZLWK GLVOR\DO HOH- command in the Army of the
PHQWVLQWKHVWDWHWKHQUHWXUQHG Cumberland’s 4th Corps.
WR WKH ÀHOG DV D GLYLVLRQ FRP-
PDQGHU LQ WKH $UP\ RI WKH 2KLR
DQGOHGKLVFRPPDQGDW)UDQNOLQ
DQG1DVKYLOOH

NOVEMBER 2017 21
 8. Joseph A. Mower
“Fighting Joe”
Although he was not a West Point graduate,
Joseph Mower
(also pictured two years’ attendance at Norwich Academy
below with and service as a private in the Mexican War
Sherman’s other were enough to secure for Joseph Mower a
commanders) commission in the Regular Army in 1855.
was a rising When civil war came in 1861, like many of
star in the U.S. his peers Mower experienced a rapid rise in
Army but died rank. After a stint as commander of a Mis-
of pneumonia in souri regiment in which he distinguished
New Orleans in himself in the capture of Corinth, Miss.,
1870, at age 45.
Mower ascended to brigade command in the
$UP\RIWKH0LVVLVVLSSL,QÀJKWLQJDW,XND
and Corinth in the fall of 1862, he survived
a neck wound and earned promotion to brig-
adier general.
During the Vicksburg Campaign, Mower’s
performances continued to impress his supe-
riors. Among those was William T. Sherman,
who proclaimed him the “boldest young sol-
dier we have.” In the Red River Campaign
of 1864, Mower was one of the few bright
spots for the Union, commanding a success-
ful assault on Fort DeRussy, a post Rebel
authorities proclaimed to be “the Confed-
HUDWH*LEUDOWDUµDQGÀJKWLQJHIIHFWLYHO\DW
Yellow Bayou. He followed this with a solid
performance as a division commander at the
July 1864 Battle of Tupelo.
Following promotion to major general,
Mower joined Sherman’s army at Atlanta
and received command of a division in the
17th Corps, which he led during the Federal
marches through Georgia and the Carolinas.
Once again he impressed Sherman, who
after the Battle of Bentonville elevated
Mower to command of the 20th Corps.
After the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston’s
army, Mower and his command were sent
to Texas, where he received the task of
organizing and training African-American
units and became a champion of civil and
political rights for the freedmen before a
fatal pneumonia attack brought an end to
his distinguished career.

Looking Sharp
Members of the 17th Corps wore
these solid silver arrow badges
at the March 1865 Battle of
%HQWRQYLOOHZKHUH0RZHUÀJXUHG
prominently in the Union victory.

22 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 In Cold Blood
General Edward R.S. Canby was
ambushed and killed by Modoc warriors
during peace negotiations in 1873.

7. Edward R.S. Canby

In early 1862, Confederate forces were on the march with the
ambition of staking claim to the region west of Texas and possibly
H[WHQGLQJ WKH QHZ QDWLRQ·V ERXQGDULHV WR WKH 3DFLÀF 2FHDQ 7KH
PDQWKH86JRYHUQPHQWHQWUXVWHGWKHWDVNRIGHQ\LQJWKH&RQIHG-
HUDWHVWKHLUJRDOVZDV(GZDUG5LFKDUG6SULJJ&DQE\FRPPDQGHU
RIWKH'HSDUWPHQWRI1HZ0H[LFR7KURXJKFDUHIXOPDQDJHPHQW
RIWKHOLPLWHGUHVRXUFHVDWKLVGLVSRVDO&DQE\ZDVDEOHWRUHFRYHU
IURPDQHDUO\WDFWLFDOVHWEDFNDW9DOYHUGHDQGE\FRPSHOOLQJWKH
&RQIHGHUDWHVWRUHWUHDWEDFNWR7H[DVZLQDPDMRUVWUDWHJLFYLFWRU\
IRUWKH8QLRQ$OLWWOHPRUHWKDQWKUHH\HDUVODWHUWKH.HQWXFN\
QDWLYHDGGHGDQRWKHUPDMRUDFFRPSOLVKPHQWWRKLVUpVXPp,QRQH
of the last major actions of the war, forces under Canby’s command
VXFFHVVIXOO\DVVDXOWHG)RUW%ODNHO\$ODDQGEURXJKW0RELOHLQWR
)HGHUDO SRVVHVVLRQ LQ HDUO\ $SULO  &DQE\ WKHQ DFFHSWHG WKH
VXUUHQGHURI&RQIHGHUDWHIRUFHVLQWKH7UDQV0LVVLVVLSSL7KHDWHU
+LVORQJFDUHHULQWKH86$UP\ZKLFKLQFOXGHGVHUYLFHLQWKH6HF-
RQG6HPLQROH:DUDQG0H[LFDQ:DUFDPHWRDWUDJLFHQGLQ
when Modoc warriors murdered him in the middle of peace talks in
&DOLIRUQLD³WKHRQO\JHQHUDORIÀFHUNLOOHGGXULQJWKH,QGLDQ:DUV
Able Leader 8QGRXEWHGO\ WKH PDLQ UHDVRQ &DQE\·V DFFRPSOLVKPHQWV KDYH
The famously not made him a household name is that they occurred far from
plainspoken WKH´PDLQVWDJHVµRIWKH&LYLO:DU$QRWKHUFRQVLGHUDWLRQLVWKDW
Canby made though he conducted his work with solid competence and quiet
up for a lack of PRGHVW\KHVHHPHGWRODFNSHUVRQDOFKDULVPDRUVRFLDOVNLOOV)XU-
charisma and WKHUPRUH8O\VVHV6*UDQWZKRVHZULWLQJVKDYHGRQHVRPXFKWR
social skills
shape our sense of just who the Union stars of the war were, seems
with his adroit
QRWWRKDYHWKRXJKWWRRKLJKO\RI&DQE\·VTXDOLWLHVDVDÀHOGFRP-
administrative
abilities. PDQGHUHYHQWKRXJKKHVKDUHGWKHQHDUXQLYHUVDOUHVSHFWIRUKLV
DGPLQLVWUDWLYHDELOLWLHV

NOVEMBER 2017 23
 6. David M. Gregg
David McMurtrie Gregg is almost the only cavalry commander to
ÀJKWDW*HWW\VEXUJZKRKDVQRWUHFHLYHGVLJQLÀFDQWDWWHQWLRQIURP
KLVWRULDQV $OWKRXJK WKH 3HQQV\OYDQLDQ SHUIRUPHG VROLGO\ GXULQJ
WKHÀUVWWZR\HDUVRIWKHZDULWZDVQRWXQWLO*HRUJH6WRQHPDQ·V
raid during the Chancellorsville Campaign that he had an opportu-
nity to seriously test his talents as a division commander. Although
WKH UDLG IDLOHG WR DFFRPSOLVK PXFK *UHJJ QRW RQO\ UHWDLQHG FRP-
PDQGRIKLVGLYLVLRQEXWDOVROHGRQHZLQJRIWKHDWWDFNRQWKH&RQ-
IHGHUDWHV DW %UDQG\ 6WDWLRQ WKDW GHPRQVWUDWHG WKH 8QLRQ FDYDOU\
ZDVEHFRPLQJDIRUFHZLWKZKLFKWREHUHFNRQHG
,Q WKH *HWW\VEXUJ &DPSDLJQ *UHJJ DQG KLV GLYLVLRQ SDUWRRN LQ
WKH HQJDJHPHQWV LQ 9LUJLQLD·V /RXGRXQ 9DOOH\ GXULQJ WKH DUPLHV·
PDUFKHVQRUWKDQGVFUHHQHGWKHDGYDQFHRIWKH$UP\RIWKH 3RWR-
PDF·V ULJKW ZLQJ DV LW DGYDQFHG WRZDUG WKH 0DVRQ'L[RQ /LQH
$UULYLQJDW*HWW\VEXUJRQ-XO\*UHJJUHFHLYHGWKHFULWLFDOWDVNRI
FRYHULQJWKHDUP\·VULJKWDQGUHDU7KHIROORZLQJGD\*UHJJNHSWKLV
FRPPDQGQHDUWKH+DQRYHU5RDGDQGRUGHUHG*HRUJH&XVWHU·VEUL-
JDGHWRFRPHWRKLVDVVLVWDQFH7KHVHDFWLRQVHQVXUHGWKHUHZRXOGEH
VXIÀFLHQWIRUFHDYDLODEOHWRWKZDUWZKDWHYHU-(%6WXDUWKRSHGWR
DFFRPSOLVKWKDWGD\³WKRXJKJLYHQWKHÁDLUZLWKZKLFK&XVWHUGLG
MXVWDERXWHYHU\WKLQJLWLVQRWWKDWVXUSULVLQJWKDW*UHJJZRXOGEH
RYHUVKDGRZHGLQDFFRXQWVRIWKHÀJKWDW(DVW&DYDOU\)LHOG
*UHJJIROORZHGXSWKH*HWW\VEXUJ&DPSDLJQZLWKLPSRUWDQWVHU-
YLFH LQ WKH %ULVWRH 6WDWLRQ &DPSDLJQ DQG WKH  UDLG WKDW FXO-
PLQDWHGDW<HOORZ7DYHUQDVZHOODVHQJDJHPHQWVDW+DZ·V6KRS
7UHYLOLDQ 6WDWLRQ DQG 6DLQW 0DU\·V &KXUFK GXULQJ WKH 2YHUODQG
Trusty Dave &DPSDLJQ'XULQJWKH3HWHUVEXUJ&DPSDLJQ*UHJJDQGKLVGLYLVLRQ
David Gregg survived SOD\HGLPSRUWDQWUROHVLQWKHRSHUDWLRQVDW'HHS%RWWRPDQGDWWDFNV
typhoid fever early RQ&RQIHGHUDWHORJLVWLFDOQHWZRUNVVRXWKDQGZHVWRI3HWHUVEXUJ
in the war to play a
8QIRUWXQDWHO\ VKRUWO\ DIWHU +DWFKHU·V 5XQ *UHJJ GHFLGHG KH
key role in several
KDGKDGHQRXJKDQGUHVLJQHGKLVFRPPLVVLRQ*LYHQMXVWKRZPXFK
major campaigns and
battles, such as at DFWLYHVHUYLFHKHKDGVHHQLWLVXQGHUVWDQGDEOHWKDW*UHJJFRXOGQRW
Raccoon Ford, Va., in IDFHDQRWKHUGD\LQWKHVDGGOH1HYHUWKHOHVVWKHHQGRIKLVGLVWLQ-
September 1863, below. JXLVKHGFDUHHUPHDQWKHPLVVHGWKHÀQDOVWDJHVRIWKH3HWHUVEXUJ
DQG$SSRPDWWR[&DPSDLJQ
5. James B. Ricketts
$W )LUVW %XOO 5XQ WKH ZDU·V ÀUVW PDMRU EDW-
WOH -DPHV %UHZHUWRQ 5LFNHWWV ÀJXUHG SURPL-
QHQWO\FRPPDQGLQJRQHRIWKH8QLRQEDWWHULHV
GXULQJWKHÀHUFHÀJKWLQJRQ+HQU\+LOOZKHUH
RQHRIKLVIRHV7KRPDV--DFNVRQZRQIDPHIRU
VWDQGLQJ´OLNHDVWRQHZDOOµ:KHQWKH)HGHUDO
DUP\ZLWKGUHZIURP+HQU\+LOO5LFNHWWVZDV
OHIW EHKLQG KDYLQJ VXIIHUHG PXOWLSOH ZRXQGV
DQGHQGHGXSVSHQGLQJVHYHUDOPRQWKVLQ5LFK-
PRQG GXULQJ ZKLFK WLPH KLV ZLIH )DQQLH
PDGH ZHOOSXEOLFL]HG YLVLWV WR PLQLVWHU WR KHU
KXVEDQG$IWHUEHLQJH[FKDQJHGKDYLQJUHFX-
SHUDWHG IURP KLV ZRXQGV WKH 1HZ <RUNHU LQ
$SULO  DFFHSWHG DSSRLQWPHQW DV EULJDGLHU
JHQHUDODQGFRPPDQGRIDGLYLVLRQ
'XULQJ WKH 6HFRQG %XOO 5XQ &DPSDLJQ
5LFNHWWVDQGWKHQG'LYLVLRQUG&RUSVKDG
WKH WKDQNOHVV WDVN RI REVWUXFWLQJ WKH PDUFK
RI -DPHV /RQJVWUHHW·V ZLQJ RI WKH $UP\ RI
1RUWKHUQ 9LUJLQLD WKURXJK 7KRURXJKIDUH
*DS5LFNHWWVSUREDEO\GLGDVZHOODVKHFRXOG
EXW VLPSO\ GLG QRW KDYH HQRXJK PHQ WR KROG
RII /RQJVWUHHW·V FRPPDQG ,Q WKH ÀJKWLQJ DW
6HFRQG %XOO 5XQ WKDW IROORZHG 5LFNHWWV RQFH
DJDLQ SOD\HG D VLJQLÀFDQW UROH $ IHZ ZHHNV
ODWHUKLVGLYLVLRQZDVLQWKHWKLFNRIWKHPRUQ-
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5LFNHWWV WKRXJK ZRXOG QRW JHW D FKDQFH WR
GHPRQVWUDWH ZKDW KH FRXOG GR LQ WKH ÀHOG IRU
PRUHWKDQD\HDUDIWHU$QWLHWDPSUREDEO\GXH
WR KLV ODFN RI ]HDO IRU WKH SURVHFXWLRQ·V FDVH
ZKHQKHVHUYHGRQ)LW]-RKQ3RUWHU·VQRWRULRXV
FRXUWPDUWLDO )LQDOO\ LQ 0DUFK  5LFN-
HWWV UHFHLYHG FRPPDQG RI WKH UG 'LYLVLRQ LQ
WKHWK&RUSVZKLFKKHOHGWKURXJKWKH2YHU-
ODQG &DPSDLJQ DQG WKH RSHQLQJ VWDJHV RI WKH
3HWHUVEXUJ&DPSDLJQ
7KHQ LQ UHVSRQVH WR -XEDO (DUO\·V  One Wild Ride
0DU\ODQG 5DLG 5LFNHWWV· GLYLVLRQ ZDV VHQW If nothing else, James
QRUWK WR GHIHQG :DVKLQJWRQ '& UHFHLYHG Ricketts’ Civil War was
SUDLVHIRULWVHIIRUWVRQWKH8QLRQOHIWDW0RQR- eventful from the start. He
FDF\ DQG KDG D VLJQLÀFDQW KDQG LQ GHIHDWLQJ suffered a wound (and was
WKH&RQIHGHUDWHVLQWKH6KHQDQGRDK9DO- captured) at First Bull
OH\&DPSDLJQ:RXQGHGVHYHUHO\LQWKHFKHVW Run (above) and nearly
DW&HGDU&UHHNZKHUHKHH[HUFLVHGFRUSVFRP- missed the end of the war
due to a serious chest
PDQG EULHÁ\ 5LFNHWWV QHYHUWKHOHVV PDQDJHG
wound at Cedar Creek.
WR UHVXPH FRPPDQG RI KLV ROG GLYLVLRQ WZR
GD\V EHIRUH WKH $UP\ RI 1RUWKHUQ 9LUJLQLD
VXUUHQGHUHG DW $SSRPDWWR[ 5LFNHWWV QHYHU
IXOO\ UHFRYHUHG IURP KLV ZRXQGV DQG WRGD\
WKLVXQGHUDSSUHFLDWHGRIÀFHUUHVWVQH[WWRKLV
ZLIHDQGVRQZKRVHUYHGZLWKWKH5RXJK5LG-
HUVLQWKH6SDQLVK$PHULFDQ:DUDW$UOLQJWRQ
1DWLRQDO&HPHWHU\

NOVEMBER 2017 25
 The Erudite Warrior
Here reading a book in bed among fellow prisoners at
Richmond’s Libby Prison, Willich never let a wound and
a few months of captivity disrupt his thirst for knowledge.

4. August Willich
The man born Johann August Ernst von Willich left Europe
in the early 1850s following a duel with a man who had taken
exception to Willich’s characterization of Karl Marx as being
too conservative. When civil war broke out in his adopted
homeland, Willich did not hesitate to offer his talents to the
8QLRQDVDQRIÀFHUDQGOHDGHURIPHQ³UHÀQHGGXULQJD\RXWK
spent in the Prussian army and his experience commanding
forces in the German revolutions of 1846-48 (during which no
less than Friedrich Engels served as his aide). After service
in western Virginia in 1861, Willich raised a regiment of Ger-
mans and under his driving, innovative leadership it quickly
won recognition as one of the crack units in the Union Army.
For his superlative performances at Rowlett’s Station and
Shiloh, Willich won promotion to brigade command and a
brigadier generalship. (At the latter engagement, Willich
conspicuously had his regimental band play the revolution-
ary anthem “La Marseillaise” as it maneuvered on the bat-
‘Papa Willich’
Though a disciplinarian, August Willich
remained popular among his soldiers, most of
them German-born. They no doubt appreciated
that he preferred leading from the front.
26 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
WOHÀHOG+HIHOOLQWR&RQIHGHUDWHKDQGVZKHQWKH\VKRWKLV
horse from under him at Stones River and endured captiv-
ity until May 1863. After being exchanged, Willich returned
WR WKH ÀHOG DQG RQFH DJDLQ SHUIRUPHG H[FHSWLRQDOO\ LQ WKH
FDPSDLJQVIRU7XOODKRPDDQG&KLFNDPDXJDZKHUHKLVPHQ
HPSOR\HGWKHLQQRYDWLYHWDFWLFVKHKDGGULOOHGLQWRWKHP+H
subsequently led the assault on Missionary Ridge that broke
WKH &RQIHGHUDWH GHIHQVHV DW &KDWWDQRRJD ZLWK KLV EULJDGH
DPRQJWKHÀUVWWRUHDFKWKHWRSRIWKHULGJH+HZDVZRXQGHG
LQ WKH ÀJKWLQJ DW 5HVDFD *D LQ 0D\  DQG ZDV UHOH-
gated to administrative posts for the rest of the war. One of
the truly great combat leaders in the Union Army, Willich
ended the war a brevet major general.
Any man who was too “Red” for Marx and too tough for
the Rebels deserves to be far better remembered by posterity.
3. Horatio G. Wright Out of the
Shadows
On May 9, 1864, John Sedgwick inadvertently Horatio Wright
ensured that he would be eternally remem- faced a tall task
bered when he uttered perhaps the most in replacing the
famous last words ever spoken by an Ameri- popular John
can general, declaring to his nervous men that Sedgwick in
command of the
the Confederates at Spotsylvania “couldn’t hit
6th Corps but
an elephant at this distance” just before he
proved up to
was struck down by a Rebel sharpshooter (see the challenge.
“Sure Shot,” p. 36). Lamentably, Sedgwick’s
legacy casts a huge shadow over the capable
RIÀFHU ZKR WRRN KLV SODFH DV FRPPDQGHU RI
the Union 6th Corps: Horatio G. Wright.
The Connecticut native’s Civil War began
at the Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Va.,
where he was captured while trying to destroy
it so the Rebels could not use its facilities.
After his release, Wright assisted in the mas-
VLYHIRUWLÀFDWLRQRI:DVKLQJWRQDQGVHUYHGDV
D VWDII RIÀFHU DW )LUVW %XOO 5XQ HDUQLQJ SUR-
motion to brigadier general. He saw service
LQ 6RXWK &DUROLQD DQG )ORULGD WKHQ UHFHLYHG
command of the Department of the Ohio,
where he bolstered his reputation during the
VXFFHVVIXO)HGHUDOUHVSRQVHWRWKH&RQIHGHUDWH
LQYDVLRQ RI .HQWXFN\ LQ  :ULJKW ÀQDOO\
took command of a division in the 6th Corps
in May 1863 and led it through the Gettysburg
Campaign and the fall campaigns of 1863. He
was the senior division commander when the
6th Corps lost its beloved “Uncle John” and
subsequently found himself overshadowed not
just by his predecessor but the more celebrated
:LQÀHOG 6FRWW +DQFRFN DQG *RXYHUQHXU .
Warren, despite leading his corps through
some of the most brutal and demanding opera-
tions of the war in Virginia.
:ULJKW ÀQDOO\ JRW WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR VKRZ
what he could do when his command was
detached from the Army of the Potomac and
sent from Petersburg to Washington. Wright’s
men reached the capital in time for their pres-
HQFH DW )RUW 6WHYHQV WR HQVXUH WKH &RQIHGHU-
ates under Jubal Early would go no farther.
Wright was critical to Phil Sheridan’s ability
to defeat Early in the Shenandoah Valley. He
then returned to Petersburg and commanded
WKHGHFLVLYHDVVDXOWWKDWÀQDOO\EURNHWKH&RQ-
IHGHUDWHOLQHVWKHUHRQ$SULO)RXUGD\V
later, he followed this up by smashing the Con-
federate defensive line at Sailor’s Creek. It was
a remarkable record that merits far greater Early Stops Here
A modern photo of Fort Stevens, located within the
appreciation from students of the Civil War.
District of Columbia, where Wright helped turn back
Jubal Early’s ruthless raid of Maryland in July 1864.

NOVEMBER 2017 27
 2. Charles Griffin Lethal Weapons
&KDUOHV *ULIÀQ ZDV RQH RI WKH SLYRWDO *ULIÀQ·VIDPHG´:HVW
3RLQW%DWWHU\µLQDFWLRQDW
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28 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 1. Samuel R. Curtis
A West Point graduate and one-time U.S. congressman from
,RZD 6DPXHO 5\DQ &XUWLV ÀUVW FDPH WR QRWLFH ZKHQ DV
FRPPDQGHURIWKH$UP\RIWKH6RXWKZHVWKHOHGRQHRIWKH
1RUWK·V ÀUVW VXFFHVVIXO PDMRU FDPSDLJQV ,Q HDUO\ 
DV 8QLRQ IRUFHV HOVHZKHUH VHHPHG LQH[WULFDEO\ VWXFN LQ
WKHSURYHUELDOPXG&XUWLVGURYHRXWRI0LVVRXULWKHODVW
UHPQDQWVRIWKH&RQIHGHUDWHDUP\WKDWKDGHPEDUUDVVHG
WKH )HGHUDOV DW :LOVRQ·V &UHHN EDFN LQ $XJXVW +H WKHQ
SXVKHGLQWR$UNDQVDVDQGZRQGHFLVLYHO\DW3HD5LGJHLQ
0DUFKEHIRUHPRYLQJHDVWWRFDSWXUH+HOHQDFUXVKLQJWKH
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 Elegant Copy
This copy of the famed Sullivan Ballou letter, in someone else’s handwriting,
can be found at the Rhode Island Historical Society. For full transcripts of
this and several authenticated Ballou letters, visit historynet.com.

30 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 ‘o sarah!’
did sullivan ballou’s famed letter
come from another’s pen?
By Robert Grandchamp
I
t is one of the most celebrated letters in American his-
tory. First heard on a wide scale during Ken Burns’
The Civil War documentary on September 23, 1990,
DOHWWHUSUHVHQWHGDVWKHÀQDOPLVVLYHE\0DMRU6XO-
OLYDQ %DOORX RI WKH QG 5KRGH ,VODQG ,QIDQWU\ KDV
RYHU WKH \HDUV EHHQ UHDG UHSHDWHGO\ DQG SXEOLVKHG
LQPDQ\DFFRXQWVDVWKHÀQHVWH[SUHVVLRQRIZK\1RUWKHUQ
VROGLHUVZHQWWRZDUWRSUHVHUYHWKH8QLRQ
6LQFHKRZHYHUVRPHLQWKH&LYLO:DUFRPPXQLW\
KDYH GHEDWHG ZKHWKHU WKH \HDUROG PDMRU GLG LQGHHG
ZULWHWKDWOHWWHUWRKLVZLIH6DUDK:HZLOOOLNHO\QHYHUJHW
DGHÀQLWLYHDQVZHULQWKLVGHEDWHDVDQRULJLQDOYHUVLRQRI
the letter in Ballou’s handwriting has yet to be found.
,QKHUELRJUDSK\RI%DOORXFor Love and Liberty,
5RELQ <RXQJ GLVPLVVHV VXFK ´FRQVSLUDF\ EXIIVµ ZKLOH
GHFODULQJ WKH OHWWHU D PDVWHUSLHFH³´QR GRXEW WKH KDQGL
ZRUN RI D PDVWHU RI WKH DUW RI UKHWRULFµ 6KH DQDO\]HG
RWKHUOHWWHUVWKDW%DOORXLVFRQÀUPHGWRKDYHZULWWHQDQG
DUJXHGLQKHUERRNWKDWWKH5KRGH,VODQGODZ\HUDQGSRO-
itician, who studied and taught oratory in his youth, was
indisputably the author of the renowned document. But
ZKHQ JLYHQ DQ RSSRUWXQLW\ WR FRPSDUH WKH IDPRXV OHWWHU
DQG WKH DXWKHQWLFDWHG RQHV RWKHU H[SHUWV VHH VLJQLÀFDQW
thematic and tonal differences among them. They argue
that in the other dispatches—sent about the same time
LQ-XO\DV%DOORXDZDLWHGKLVÀUVWWDVWHRIEDWWOH³
WKHPDMRUFOHDUO\ZDVFRQFHUQHGZLWKPRUHGRZQWRHDUWK
PDWWHUVDQGQHYHUFRPSRVHGLQWKHORIW\HWKHUHDOWRQHVRI
WKHIDPHGOHWWHU)RUWKHYLHZSRLQWRIWZRRIWKRVHH[SHUWV
see pages 33 and 35.)
7KHIROORZLQJDUWLFOHZLOOH[SORUHWKHSURYHQDQFHRIWKHOHW-
ter and shed light on some of the questions surrounding it.
Sullivan Ballou was born 0DUFK   LQ 6PLWK-
ÀHOG5,$OWKRXJKKHJUHZXSLQSRYHUW\KHZRXOGDWWHQG
%URZQ8QLYHUVLW\DQGEHFRPHNQRZQDVDQRUDWRU
NOVEMBER 2017 31
 In 1850, Ballou moved to Ballston, N.Y., to teach oratory at
the National Law School, where he also studied law. Admit-
ted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1853, he set up a practice in
his native state. Ballou married Sarah Hart Shumway on
October 15, 1855, and they had two sons, Edgar and William.
He became clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representa-
tives, and in 1857 became a state representative, serving one
year as speaker. Known as a Radical Republican, he sup-
ported Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election.
In June 1861, just two months into the Civil War, Ballou
was commissioned major of the 2nd Rhode Island Infan-
try and accompanied the regiment to Washington, D.C. He
wrote Sarah repeatedly from his encampment. The Ballou
Papers at the Rhode Island Historical Society contain two
mental, and sets out the thoughts of a man who believes he
might well be killed in battle. It is that second letter that is
now part of the American canon.
On July 21, 1861, the 2nd Rhode Island led the Union
advance at First Bull Run. Charging up the winding slopes
of Matthews Hill, the Rhode Islanders suffered heavy casu-
DOWLHV ÀJKWLQJ XQVXSSRUWHG IRU QHDUO\  PLQXWHV EHIRUH
UHLQIRUFHPHQWVDUULYHG'XULQJWKHÀJKWLQJ%DOORX·VKRUVH
was killed by a cannonball that also tore off part of the
PDMRU·VULJKWOHJ7DNHQÀUVWWRD&RQIHGHUDWHÀHOGKRVSL-
tal, he died on July 28 or 29 and was buried in the nearby
6XGOH\ &KXUFK\DUG QHDU WKH QG 5KRGH ,VODQG·V &RORQHO
-RKQ6ORFXPZKRZDVDOVRNLOOHGLQWKHÀJKWLQJ)RUZKDW
KDSSHQHGWR%DOORX·VDQG6ORFXP·VERGLHVDIWHUEXULDOVHH
letters to Sarah dated July 14, 1861, a few days before the
regiment marched off to battle in Virginia. One letter, con-
ÀUPHGWREHLQ%DOORX·VKDQGZULWLQJLVEULVNDQGUHDVVXU-
ing and addresses issues related to his personal affairs. The
RWKHULQVRPHRQHHOVH·VKDQGZULWLQJLVUHÁHFWLYHDQGVHQWL-
´6XOOLYDQ%DOORX·V0DFDEUH)DWHµRQKLVWRU\QHWFRP
As noted earlier,QRYHUVLRQRIWKHIDPRXVOHWWHULQ%DOORX·V
handwriting has been found, though a number of copies
H[LVW LQ YDULRXV VFULSWV 7KH OHWWHU ÀUVW DSSHDUHG LQ SULQW

Ballou was
REMEMBERED
as a man
whose heart
was entirely
in the
northern
cause

Looking Ahead
Ballou wrote his
wife that he hoped
military service
would lead to a
promotion and
ÀQDQFLDOVHFXULW\

32 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

in 1868 in a chapter written by Horatio Rogers
Jr. in Brown University in the Civil War, a vol-
ume looking at Brown alumni killed in the war.
Rogers, a Brown alumnus who also served in
the 2nd Rhode Island, was a friend of Ballou’s.
His sketch of his comrade’s life says the let-
ter was found in Ballou’s trunk, left behind at
Camp Clark when the regiment marched off to
LWVÀUVWHQJDJHPHQWDW0DQDVVDV5RJHUVZKR
led the 2nd Rhode Island at Chancellorsville
DQG*HWW\VEXUJDVDFRORQHOZURWHEULHÁ\WKDW
the trunk, with the letter inside, was returned
to Sarah Ballou in August 1861.
Rogers was a respected lawyer, eventually
serving as Rhode Island’s attorney general
and as an associate justice of the Rhode Island
Supreme Court. His sketch of Ballou’s life was
typical of biographies published in the 19th
century, painting the major as a family man,
a talented attorney, and one whose heart was
entirely in the Northern cause.
He quotes several of Ballou’s Camp Clark
letters, and ends his chapter by reproducing
the famous July 14 letter, which Rogers calls
“his own best eulogy.” It is evident Rogers had
access to some of Ballou’s other missives and
interviewed family members, while recounting
common experiences.
Stories have circulated that Rhode Island
Governor William Sprague retrieved the trunk
and returned it to Sarah. Rogers’ sketch makes
no mention of that. Sprague did write Sarah a
letter of condolence in October but refers in no
way to the now-famous letter. In 1861, an early
YROXPHRIWKHÀUVW8QLRQPDUW\UVRIWKH&LYLO
War, The Fallen Brave by John Gilmary Shea,
included a brief sketch of Ballou’s life but does
not mention the letter either. In 1867, Shea’s
article about Ballou, together with an engrav-
ing of him in uniform, was included in John
Russell Bartlett’s Memoirs of Rhode Island
2IÀFHUV,QKLVRIÀFLDOKLVWRU\RIWKHQG
Rhode Island, Augustus Woodbury gives only
a brief sketch of Ballou’s life and service, again
with no reference to the letter.
The letter next appeared in print in 1888
in An Elaborate History and Genealogy of the
%DOORXV LQ $PHULFD by Adin Ballou, a distant
relative—published in the same form as had
DSSHDUHGLQWKH%URZQ8QLYHUVLW\ERRN´7KDW
widow and those sons,” Adin Ballou wrote,
“still survive—ever cherishing the following
loving farewell.” He provided no further details
on the origins or location of the letter, however.
As time went on, Sullivan Ballou’s letter
was largely forgotten, but manuscript copies
did circulate. Young writes in her 2006 biog-
It Wasn’t Ballou
» Stephen Cushman, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of English
at the University of Virginia, is affiliated with the school’s Nau Center
for Civil War History and has written extensively about the Civil War.
I am one of the thousands who found the Sullivan Ballou segment among the
most powerful, moving, and memorable moments in Ken Burns’ documen-
tary The Civil War. Moreover, I am not inclined to want to debunk or
demystify such a moment. True, I have been trained as a professional skeptic,
but I had no preexisting desire to puncture the Ballou balloon. If I had my
way, it would continue to float in a blue sky above us. Nevertheless, I have no
compunction saying there is no way the famed letter was penned by the same
person who wrote the confirmed Ballou letters at the Rhode Island Historical
Society that I’ve had a chance to read. If Sullivan were my student and had
submitted these letters, I would suspect the famous one to be plagiarized.
For one, the tonal and linguistic discrepancies among the letters are signif-
icant. Any of us has many tones and linguistic modes at our command, but
the differences among the Ballou letters do not suggest mere variations in
a person’s verbal costuming—they suggest wholly different sensibilities and
outlooks. Consider, for instance, that the famous letter mentions or addresses
God five times, whereas the others mention—and never directly address—
God only three times: twice in the July 10 letter, once in the second July 14
letter. Also, compare the use of Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer (“Not my will, but
thine O God, be done”) in the famous July 14 letter with the utterly formulaic
and conventional “God Bless you” closing of the other one penned that day.
Furthermore, not only are we supposed to believe Ballou wrote his wife
twice the same day—it happens; George B. McClellan did so, for instance—
but he wrote her once speaking about God in conventional, matter-of-fact
terms and once addressing God as Jesus did before the Crucifixion. The
famous letter also speaks of capitalized Omnipotence and Divine Providence,
in addition to Civilization, Death, and Country; the writer of the other ones
does not incline toward such capitalized abstractions, and when he does
capitalize, he does so erratically and idiosyncratically (e.g., “Havelock” and
“Rubber boots” following three lowercase uses of “rubber.”) Divine Providence
versus rubber boots? These were not the same minds at work.
Whoever wrote the famous letter also was familiar with Shakespeare: “A
pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before
the people and ‘the name of honor that I love more than I fear death’ have
called upon me, and I have obeyed.” That passage comes, slightly altered,
from Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2, where Brutus says to Cassius, “For let the
gods so speed me as I love / The name of honor more than I fear death.” By
contrast, the other Ballou letters exhibit no such literariness, and are much
rougher stylistically and grammatically. They in fact have distinct problems
with grammar and punctuation; the other is elegant and fairly clean.
The famous letter is elevated too in diction, from “Lest” in the second sen-
tence to “thither” in the last. Neither of these archaic niceties appears in any
of the others, which also lack one of the most poetic touches of the famous
letter, the use of so-called genitive-link metaphors, such as “bitter fruit of
orphanage” and “banner of my purpose.” These metaphors, built around “of”
and originating in English translations of the Bible, show a level of figurative
thinking and expression noticeably absent from the lesser known letters.
A conspicuous instance of visionary, nonliteral imagination comes at the
end when the writer moves from anticipating his death to speaking from
beyond the grave: “O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither
my children.” The writer of the other letters seems wholly incapable of such a
post-death thought experiment, and sounds unlike anyone who could muster
the overwrought, 19th-century breathlessness building up to it.
NOVEMBER 2017 33

raphy that she found eight manuscript copies in reposito-
ries around the country. One of the two copies in the Rhode
Island Historical Society archives may have been the one
Sarah Ballou was aware of, as it was included in a collection
she saved of her husband’s papers. The other was donated to
the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1957 by Colonel Slo-
cum’s descendants. A manuscript reproduction of the letter
is at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Spring-
ÀHOG,OOIRUPHUO\WKH,OOLQRLV6WDWH+LVWRULFDO/LEUDU\
Another copy wound up at the Chicago Historical Soci-
ety in 1920, after a line of the Ballou family emigrated
from New England to Illinois. The manuscript, donated
by Charles J. Barnes, appears to have been copied directly
from Brown University in the Civil War.
$Q H[FHUSW RI WKH &KLFDJR OHWWHU ZDV EULHÁ\ TXRWHG E\
Bruce Catton in his 1961 book The Coming Fury, though
Catton mistakenly called Ballou “Major Sullivan Bullen”
and stated he was from Illinois, rather than Rhode Island.
In 1976, Civil War historian Edward Longacre discov-
ered the Chicago Ballou letter. He transcribed it and wrote
a brief accompanying article about Ballou’s life. Longacre
submitted the article to both Yankee Magazine and The Old
Farmer’s Almanac, but it was never published.
The July 14 letter was brought to Ken Burns’ attention
by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Don E. Fehrenbacher of
Stanford University. In gathering material for Burns’ proj-
ect, Fehrenbacher encountered the copy of it at the Lincoln
Presidential Library and sent excerpts to Burns’ brother,
Ric, in the summer of 1986. These excerpts, comprising only
about half of the letter, were included in the documentary.
The excerpts, read by Paul Roebling and set to Jay Ungar’s
haunting “Ashokan Farewell,” became for many the series’
most powerful moment. After Roebling reads them, nar-
rator David McCullough states simply: “Major Sullivan
34 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Ballou was killed a week later at
False Confidence
the First Battle of Bull Run.”
This photo of 2nd
R.I. soldiers, no Sarah undoubtedly knew of the
doubt expecting an letter at some point, as the clos-
easy victory ahead, ing line, “I wait for you there.
pose as they march Come to me and lead thither my
toward Manassas, children,” is inscribed upon the
Va., in July 1861. Ballou memorial in Providence’s
Swan Point Cemetery. According
to Young, Ballou was interred in the plot in 1867; when
exactly the large obelisk was put up is unknown. Rogers’
sketch was published in 1868.
After the broadcast, Ken Burns said, “It’s a letter that
transcends even the extraordinary story of the Civil War.
It’s about the tension and the love that exists between a
man and a woman. Every man in this country wishes he
could say those things to a woman.”
Immediately after the series premiered, phones rang
“off the hook,” at PBS stations around the nation. People
wanted to know more about Sullivan Ballou, and where his
letter was located. Transcriptions were freely circulated,
but no one was able to track down the original.
An unsupported theory that gained traction is that it was
buried with Sarah Ballou when she died in 1917. In 2011,
RQ WKH VHVTXLFHQWHQQLDO DQQLYHUVDU\ RI )LUVW %XOO 5XQ
ZKHQWKHOHWWHUZDVIUHTXHQWO\TXRWHGLQQHZVSDSHUV.HQ
Burns said that he is among those who believe the letter
was buried with the widow. Neither Burns nor a studio rep-
resentative could be reached for comment for this article.
Much attention has been focused on the differences
EHWZHHQWKHIDPRXVOHWWHUDQGWKHRWKHURQHGHÀQLWHO\ZULW-
ten on July 14. In the latter missive, Ballou discusses the
weather, his health, soldiers’ food, and the mail service. “I
KDYHDVTXDUHUXEEHUEODQNHWWROD\RQWKHJURXQGLILWLV
wet,” he wrote. “I have a large rubber overcoat that reaches
to my ankles, a rubber Havelock and my Rubber boots; and
if I cannot go through the storms with these I deserve to be
wet.” He seems unconcerned about the upcoming campaign:
´,GRQRWDSSUHKHQGÀJKWLQJRQDODUJHVFDOH>*HQHUDO:LQ-
ÀHOG@6FRWWLVFOHQFKLQJKLVÀQJHUVDQGÀVWVRFOHDUO\DURXQG
the Confederates that they must jump and run or be caught;
and of course they will run rather than be caught.”
In the authenticated second July 14 letter as well as the
others, Ballou dotes on his family: “I was never separated
from my children before. I never knew the longing of a
father for his children before. And you can scarcely imagine
how my blood dances, my nerves thrill and my brain almost
whirls…and I see my little boys going through their child-
ish pranks, and hear their singing voices, and even stretch
my arms to catch them, and awake to touch the white walls
of my tent. O Sarah how often do I think of them…”
If Ballou did not write the letter himself, who did? Is it
possible that Horatio Rogers, a fellow attorney and assem-
blyman, a gifted writer and Ballou’s friend, chose to memo-
rialize the fallen soldier with his own words?
An examination of Ballou’s other letters written from

Was It Rogers?
Some suspect Horatio Rogers Jr., not
Ballou, wrote the famous letter, perhaps
as a way of eulogizing his dear friend.
Camp Clark show a positive attitude, not one
of concern and impending doom, nor do they
offer any insight into Ballou’s reasoning for
ÀJKWLQJ ,QVWHDG RI UHSD\LQJ WKH ´JUHDW GHEW
ZH RZH WR WKRVH ZKR ZHQW EHIRUH XV WKURXJK
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Ballou hoped that military service would pro-
vide a steady paycheck to his family, and that
he could use the connections gained from the
VHUYLFHWRIXUWKHUKLVSROLWLFDODPELWLRQVZKHQ
KHUHWXUQHGWR5KRGH,VODQG
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DUDOO\LQJFU\IRU2FHDQ6WDWHPHQWRHQOLVW
6XOOLYDQ REYLRXVO\ ORYHG KLV ZLIH $ OHWWHU
that included the words in the famous July 14
letter would have of course consoled a grieving
widow and offered a strong explanation for why
KHUKXVEDQGFKRVHWRJRWRZDU,WDOVRVHUYHG
as an excellent conclusion to the chapter on
Ballou’s life in Brown University in the Civil
War HQFDSVXODWLQJ 5RJHUV· VHQWLPHQWV WKDW
Ballou was a true patriot who had gone to war
to support the Union, despite having a much-
GHSHQGHQWZLIHDQGIDPLO\DWKRPH
Robert Grandchamp, who writes from Jericho
Center, Vt., is an award-winning author of 11
books on U.S. military history, including $
Connecticut Yankee at War and 5KRG\5HGOHJV
In Accord
» Shirley Samuels teaches English and American studies at
Cornell University. She has written extensively about the Civil War,
including “Facing America: Iconography and the Civil War.”
That several letters in Sullivan Ballou’s handwriting have survived, includ-
ing one purportedly written the same day as the famed one and one five
days later, makes it a more comfortable task to think about tone and rheto-
ric while analyzing them. The man who wrote the obscure examples I had
the fortune to read recently was pragmatic, obsessed with details absent in
the famous letter. He is determined to return home. He sends specific mes-
sages to each of his sons. Yes, he loves his wife very much and he knows
about the risks he faces. But he’s not in love with the salvific project of
going to war to save the “Government,” as the famous letter declares. In
the other missives, he never mentions the government, never capitalizes
abstractions, and certainly never refers to his wife, Sarah, as “thee.”
Where the famous letter came from, I cannot presume to say. Someone
could have written it specifically to give Sarah comfort in the messy weeks
following her husband’s mortal wounding at First Bull Run. Maybe some-
one wanted to make his death into a redemption of nationalistic beliefs. In
other words, the famous letter is written with love and with kindness, but
also with a form of emotional manipulation that transmutes personal losses
into national sentiment. For that reason, especially when heard with the
lilting tones of “Ashokan Farewell” in the background, the letter provides
powerful closure to the story that Ken Burns tells in his series. But not for
the life of a man whose other dispatches do not use the same language.
In the famous letter, the writer says his “emotions came over me like a
strong wind” and turns that simile into metaphor when he suggests that his
wife will feel his presence in “the soft breeze.” No such use of similes and
metaphors appears in the other letters. They refer to insider concepts such
as the “Narragansett shout” that he boasts his men uttered upon finding a
vacant camp. The tone that makes the famous letter so powerful does not
jibe with the person who offers practical information to his wife: “We left
Washington too hurriedly to get my pay and I can send you no money...”
That letter is written on Friday, July 19, five days after the supposedly
reflective leave-taking of July 14. He does say he loves her in this letter, but
he doesn’t refer to the reflections of “my last letter,” as one might expect.
Writing on July 10, Ballou appreciates that his wife’s letters have become
longer. He is very methodical, having filed them “all numbered and dated”
in order to read them over again. Ballou is ambitious, telling his wife that
he desires a promotion. Since Governor William Sprague has a nearby tent,
he plans to “improve the acquaintance and make it serviceable to me.” He
says that to be “engaged in war” seems like “an excursion as much as any-
thing.” Ballou unabashedly has practical matters on his mind when he tells
Sarah, “If you can sell the cow for money—do so and put it in the bank.”
The famous July 14 letter has 19th-century handwriting and sentiment,
but the phrases are not the same, nor does the poignancy appear in the
other samples. Their tone of intimacy is particular and not abstract. That
attention to style accounts for my conviction that Ballou didn’t write the
letter. The question of authenticity does not need to adhere to a particu-
lar writer. Real feelings emerge here—feelings that explain the emotions
felt by so many viewers and that kept Ken Burns enthralled—but I am not
convinced they emerge from the same writer whose vivid language fills
the other letters. And I am left wondering about how much the persistent
attachment to the celebrated letter over time has been caused by the desire
to believe that someone had such faith in national government this early in
the campaign.
NOVEMBER 2017 35
 sure shot
Confederate Sharpshooters Left
No Doubt the Whitworth Was Their
Weapon of Choice—When Available
By Doug Wicklund and Michael Williams

F
rom hundreds of yards away, a Confederate
sharpshooter carefully aimed his prized Whit-
worth, the crosshairs of its Davidson tele-
scopic sight outlined against the ramparts of
Fort Stevens in Washington, D.C. Through
WKHVFRSH³ÀWWHGWRWKHOHIWVLGHRIWKHVWRFN³
his eye scanned the ample crowd of Union sol-
GLHUVDQGSOXFN\FLYLOLDQVZKRKDGYHQWXUHGE\KRSLQJWR
REVHUYHZDUIDUHXSFORVH6XGGHQO\WKHVKRRWHU·VDWWHQWLRQ
VKLIWHGWRDWDOOEHDUGHGPDQZHDULQJDVWRYHSLSHKDWUHDO-
L]LQJLWZDVWKDW<DQNHHSUHVLGHQWZLWKLQHDV\UDQJHRIKLV
(QJOLVKPDGHSUHFLVLRQULÁH$VKHSUHSDUHGWRÀUHWKRXJK
D)HGHUDORIÀFHUGUDJJHG$EUDKDP/LQFROQRXWRIYLHZ
7KLV LVQ·W ÀFWLRQ /LQFROQ DFWXDOO\ FDPH XQGHU ÀUH RQ
-XO\   ZKHQ &RQIHGHUDWH /W *HQ -XEDO (DUO\·V
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WKH8QLRQFDSLWDO6SHQW:KLWZRUWKEXOOHWVKDYHEHHQGLV-
FRYHUHGLQWKHYLFLQLW\DQGZHNQRZVKDUSVKRRWHUURXQGV
NLOOHG DQ RIÀFHU D IHZ IHHW DZD\ IURP WKH SUHVLGHQW +DG
/LQFROQ EHHQ EURXJKW GRZQ WKH &LYLO :DU PD\ ZHOO KDYH

36 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Top of the Class
Ballistic tests in England
proved the Whitworth,
above, was far superior to
WKH3DWWHUQ(QÀHOGLQ
both power and accuracy, but
%ULWLVKRIÀFLDOVSUHIHUUHG
WKH(QÀHOG·VORZHUSULFHWDJ

NOVEMBER 2017 37
 come to an entirely different conclusion, whitworth
DQG DQ LPSRUWHG PX]]OHORDGLQJ ULÁH showed a
pressed into service by the Confeder-
acy was the deadly tool that could have natural
accomplished the job. talent for
7KH:KLWZRUWKULÁHFODLPHGWKHOLYHV
of quite a few members of the Northern mechanics at
$UP\³DUWLOOHULVWV RIÀFHUV DQG JHQ-
erals alike. But its impact in the war
a young age
ZDV OLPLWHG QRW E\ ÁDZHG GHVLJQ EXW
because only a scant number managed
to breach the formidable Union naval blockade of Confeder-
ate-controlled ports.
The story of this unusual shoulder arm begins in
England with its namesake. Born in 1803, Joseph Whit-
worth showed a natural talent for mechanics at a young
age. On completing school, he entered into an indentured
apprenticeship in his uncle’s spinning mill with the inten-
tion of some day inheriting the business. He quickly mas-
tered an understanding of the mill’s intricate machinery,
often complaining about its lack of precision—an obses-
Among the Elite
Joseph Whitworth
began his illustrious
career as an inden-
tured apprentice.
He had become Sir
Joseph by the time of
his death in 1887.
38 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
sion that would distinguish him in time.
In 1833, Whitworth struck out on his
own as a machinist, settling in Man-
chester, where he opened a shop and
gained renown for high-quality tools
like lathes. By mid-century, he was a
wealthy, respected craftsman and presi-
dent of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers.
During the Crimean War (1853-56),
the British government turned to Whit-
worth for machine tools to manufacture its standard-
LVVXHFDOLEHU3DWWHUQ(QÀHOGULÁHPXVNHWZKLFK
the military was already thinking of replacing. Whitworth
himself found its long-range accuracy unsatisfactory and
believed he could design a better alternative.
)RURQHKHWKRXJKWWKH(QÀHOG·VSURMHFWLOHZDVWRRVKRUW
in proportion to its large-caliber diameter. A longer, smaller-
caliber round, he theorized, would provide added surface
area for the bore’s lands and grooves to grip, thus yielding
more killing power at greater distances. He further main-
WDLQHG WKDW WKH SLWFK RI WKH JXQ·V ULÁLQJ ZDV WRR JUDGXDO
DQGWKHUHIRUHSODFHGLQVXIÀFLHQWVSLQRQWKHEXOOHWDIIHFW-
ing accuracy.
,Q:KLWZRUWKKDGSURGXFHGDULÁHDQGSURSULHWDU\
ammunition to address these weaknesses. Most important,
his gun employed a bore with sharply pitched hexagonal
ULÁLQJDQGDPDWFKLQJKH[DJRQDOEROWOLNHSURMHFWLOH
$FFRUGLQJWR:KLWZRUWKWKHLGHDOOHQJWKRIDULÁH·VEXOOHW
ZDVDWOHDVWWULSOHLWVGLDPHWHU7KH(QÀHOGDQGWKH:KLW-
worth rounds each weighed in at 530 grains (1.2 ounces);
EXWLQFRQWUDVWWRWKH(QÀHOG·VVPRRWKFRQLFDOFDOLEHU
projectile, Whitworth’s was a sleeker .451-caliber with a
KH[DJRQDOEDVHWKDWÀWPHFKDQLFDOO\LQWRWKHULÁLQJRIWKH
JXQ·V LQFK EDUUHO VRPH :KLWZRUWK ULÁHV IHDWXUHG EDU-
rels of 36 and 39 inches).
Locking into the bore’s grooves as a screw does threads,
Whitworth’s bullet possessed an unprecedented twist rate
ZKHQÀUHG:KHUHDVWKH(QÀHOG·VSURMHFWLOHURWDWHGRQHIXOO
turn every 78 inches, Whitworth’s turned the same amount
in 20 inches—nearly four times faster.
7KLVJDYH:KLWZRUWK·VULÁHVHYHUDOVLJQLÀFDQWEDOOLVWLFDG
vantages for greatly improved accuracy: a blistering muzzle
YHORFLW\RIIHHWSHUVHFRQGYHUVXVWKH(QÀHOG·VIHHW
SHUVHFRQGHQKDQFHGVWDELOLW\LQÁLJKWDQGFRQVHTXHQWO\
DÁDWWHUORQJUDQJHWUDMHFWRU\7KHFXPXODWLYHHIIHFWZDVDQ
undeniable asset to the marksman as it required less com-
pensation for bullet drop at extended distances.
Using an indoor 500-yard range built for him by the
British government to mitigate the effects of wind, Whit-
worth evaluated his theory. The longer .451-caliber Whit-
ZRUWKSURMHFWLOHSRVVHVVHGDEHWWHUEDOOLVWLFFRHIÀFLHQWDQG
propelled by a heavier powder charge, far surpassed the
(QÀHOGDWORQJHUUDQJHV
Their interest piqued, British military leaders agreed to
FRQGXFW RIÀFLDO H[SHULPHQWV RQ WKH QHZ GHVLJQ ,Q 
(QJODQG·V :DU 2IÀFH DSSRLQWHG D FRPPLWWHH WR RYHUVHH D
VHULHVRIWULDOVLQZKLFKVKRRWHUVWHVWHGWKH(QÀHOGDORQJ-
VLGH WKH :KLWZRUWK )URP -XO\ WKURXJK 2FWREHU  D
SDQHO RI ULÁHPHQ DQG DUP\ RIÀFHUV VKRW WKH WZR ÀUHDUPV
DWWKH5R\DO$UVHQDO:RROZLFKDQGWKHWUDLQLQJJURXQGDW
+\WKHXQGHUDYDULHW\RIZHDWKHUFRQGLWLRQVHJWHPSHUD-
Master Craftsman
Improved weapons and ammunition were not among
Joseph Whitworth’s early goals. Two inventions he
designed for industry were a radial drilling machine,
above, and a measuring machine, below, that was
WXUHDQGZLQGDJH7KHUHVXOWVZHUHVWULNLQJ
7KH :KLWZRUWK RXWSHUIRUPHG WKH (QÀHOG LQ YLUWXDOO\
HYHU\VHVVLRQ7KHFRPPLWWHHÀUHGWKHJXQVDWYDULDEOHGLV-
WDQFHVDQGIRUWKH:KLWZRUWKXVHGERWKVPRRWKF\OLQGUL-
FDODQGKH[DJRQDOEXOOHWV(YHQZKHQGHQLHGLWVLQWHQGHG
SURSULHWDU\DPPXQLWLRQWKH:KLWZRUWKEHVWHGWKH(QÀHOG
capable of measuring to within 1 millionth of an inch.
)URP\DUGVWKH:KLWZRUWKPDGHQLQHKLWVDQGRQO\
RQHPLVVWKH(QÀHOGIRXUKLWVDQGVL[PLVVHV)RUWKHFRXS
GHJUDFHWKHFRPPLWWHHORDGHGWKH:KLWZRUWK·VKH[DJRQDO
DPPXQLWLRQ DQG UHWUHDWHG WR DQ DVWRXQGLQJ  \DUGV
$W  \DUGV WKH WZR H[KLELWHG FRPSDUDEOH DFFXUDF\
%XWDVWKHUDQJHLQFUHDVHGVRGLGWKHJDSLQSHUIRUPDQFH
/RDGHG ZLWK F\OLQGULFDO URXQGV WKH :KLWZRUWK VFRUHG 
RXW RI  KLWV DW  \DUGV 7KH (QÀHOG ORJJHG D GLVDS-
SRLQWLQJÀYHKLWVDQGPLVVHV
PRUHWKDQDPLOHZKHUHWKHULÁHPDGHVL[RXWRIVKRWV
7KH\GLGQ·WERWKHUWHVWLQJWKH(QÀHOGDWWKLVGLVWDQFH
%HVLGHV LWV JUHDWHU DFFXUDF\ WKH :KLWZRUWK ZDV PRUH
SRZHUIXOWKDQWKH(QÀHOG%HFDXVHLWVKH[DJRQDOURXQGÀW
JHRPHWULFDOO\ ZLWK WKH JXQ·V ERUH LWV XQLTXH ULÁLQJ FRXOG
VSLQWKHEXOOHWZLWKRXWKDYLQJWRELWHLQWRRUJULSWKHERUH·V
RXWHUVXUIDFH$VVXFKWKH:KLWZRUWKFRXOGÀUHKDUGHQHG
DOOR\SURMHFWLOHVWRDFKLHYHGHHSHUWDUJHWSHQHWUDWLRQ
0HDQZKLOH WKH (QÀHOG³ZLWK LWV WUDGLWLRQDO ULÁLQJ³
XVHG RQO\ VRIW OHDG DPPXQLWLRQ 7KH :KLWZRUWK·V KDUGHU
EROWVKDSHG URXQG KDG VXEVWDQWLDOO\ PRUH WHUPLQDO
HQHUJ\³LQ RQH WHVW SLHUFLQJ  KDOILQFK ZRRGHQ SODQNV
7KH(QÀHOGSLHUFHG
6WLOOWKHFRPPLWWHHXOWLPDWHO\GHFLGHGQRWWRDGRSWWKH
:KLWZRUWK GHVSLWH LWV VXSHULRU SHUIRUPDQFH 7KH %ULWLVK
JRYHUQPHQW FRXOG EX\ IRXU (QÀHOGV IRU WKH SULFH RI RQH
:KLWZRUWKZKLFKLQFLGHQWDOO\ZDVQRWZLWKRXWLWVVKRUW-

NOVEMBER 2017 39

FRPLQJV7KHULÁLQJWKDWPDGH:KLWZRUWK·VJXQVRDFFXUDWH
IRXOHGYHU\HDVLO\IURPUHVLGXHOHIWE\FRPEXVWLRQRIEODFN
SRZGHU WKH HUD·V FRPPRQ SURSHOODQW IRU VPDOO DUPV DQG
FDQQRQV7KLVOHIWWKHLQIDQWU\PDQZLWKWZRRSWLRQV)UH-
TXHQWO\FOHDQWKHZHDSRQRUVWUXJJOHWRUDPDIUHVKURXQG
GRZQDÀOWK\EDUUHO
$VDQDFFXUDWHWDUJHWJXQWKH:KLWZRUWKKDGIHZSHHUV
EXWLWZDVKDQGLFDSSHGLQWKHIURQWOLQHVE\FRPSDULVRQWR
WKH (QÀHOG ZLWK WKH :KLWZRUWK·V PRUH IUHTXHQW QHHG IRU
UHJXODU PDLQWHQDQFH ,Q OLJKW RI VXFK FRQVLGHUDWLRQV WKH
FRPPLWWHHGHHPHGWKH(QÀHOGDGHTXDWH
(YHQ VR WKH XQTXHVWLRQDEO\ DFFXUDWH :KLWZRUWK ZDV
VRRQLQWKHKDQGVRIFRPSHWLWRUVDW%ULWLVKVKRRWLQJHYHQWV
DQGLQZDVÀUHGE\4XHHQ9LFWRULDWRRSHQWKHPDWFKHV
DW:LPEOHGRQ+HUÀUVWVKRWKLWWKHEXOO·VH\HDW\DUGV
Then, in 1861, history intervened.
$FURVVWKH$WODQWLFWHQVLRQVUDWFKHWHG
DV 6RXWKHUQ VWDWHV ZLWKGUHZ IURP WKH
besides its
greater
8QLRQDQGDUPHGIRUZDU:KLWZRUWK·V
Hammer Time
The Whitworth used the same percussion cap
LJQLWLRQV\VWHPDVVWDQGDUGULÁHPXVNHWV
OLNHWKH3(QÀHOG7KHULÁH·VDVWRXQGLQJ
accuracy was achieved through increased muzzle
YHORFLW\JUHDWHUVWDELOLW\RIWKHEXOOHWLQÁLJKW
DQGÁDWWHUORQJUDQJHWUDMHFWRU\
WUDFWVIRUKXQGUHGVRIWKRXVDQGVRIUHJXODU3(QÀHOG
ULÁHVDQGPDQ\RWKHUPXQLWLRQVWKDWFRXOGEHVHQWKRPH
E\ EORFNDGHUXQQHUV %XW WKH DYDLODEOH :KLWZRUWKV ZHUH
FRVWO\DQGGLIÀFXOWWRFRPHE\
8QGHUZDUWLPHFRQGLWLRQVWKHSULFHRID:KLWZRUWKULÁH
TXLFNO\MXPSHGIURPWRWKHQDJDLQWR³DQ
H[SHQVLYHSURSRVLWLRQFRQVLGHULQJKRZPDQ\UHJXODUPXV-
NHWV DQG ULÁHV WKDW VDPH VXP FRXOG EX\ 7KH :KLWZRUWK
SURMHFWLOHV³PDGH E\ VZDJLQJ D XQLTXH IRUJLQJ SURFHVV³
ZHUHGLIÀFXOWIRUWKH6RXWKWRPDQXIDFWXUHVRF\OLQGULFDO
EXOOHW PROGV ZHUH DGGHG WR VKLSPHQWV WR VXSSOHPHQW WKH
VPDOOHUVWRUHVRIKH[DJRQDODPPXQLWLRQ7KHVHF\OLQGULFDO
PROGVWKHQZHQWWR6RXWKHUQDUVHQDOVWRSURGXFHDGGLWLRQDO
ORDGVIRUGLVWULEXWLRQRQFHWKH%ULWLVKURXQGVKDGUXQRXW
%XWDSDUWIURPDPPXQLWLRQWKHHVVHQWLDODFFRXWUHPHQW
IRU WKH :KLWZRUWK LQ LWV QHZ UROH DV D
6RXWKHUQ VKDUSVKRRWHU·V DUP ZDV WKH
'DYLGVRQ WHOHVFRSLF VLJKW /LNHO\ IHZHU
WKDQULÁHVFDPHÀWWHGZLWKWKLVWHFK-
QRORJ\ ZKLFK RIIHUHG WKH PDUNVPDQ D
ULÁHZRXOGVHHLWVGD\LQFRPEDWDIWHU í SRZHU PDJQLÀFDWLRQ 0RXQWHG WR
DOO
accuracy, the WKH OHIW VLGH RI WKH ULÁH·V VWRFN RSSR-

whitworth
:KDW WKH &RQIHGHUDF\ QHHGHG DV LW VLWH WKH ORFNSODWH WKH 'DYLGVRQ DOVR
SUHSDUHGIRUZDUZDVDPHDQVRIHTXDO- HQDEOHG FRQYHQLHQW XVH RI WKH ULÁH·V
L]LQJ WKH GLVSDULW\ LQ DUPV ÀHOGHG E\
was more IURQW DQG UHDU LURQ VLJKWV WKDW ZHUH

powerful
WKHLQGXVWULDOO\VXSHULRU1RUWK8QDEOH VRPHWLPHV SUHIHUDEOH GXH LQ SDUW
WRSURGXFHZKDWWKH\QHHGHGWKH6RXWK WR WKH OLPLWHG H\H UHOLHI RI WKH VFRSH
ORRNHG DEURDG $UPV EX\HUV VHFUHWO\
than the ZKLFK FRXOG DQG RIWHQ GLG KLW WKH

enfield
YLVLWLQJ *UHDW %ULWDLQ REWDLQHG FRQ- VKRRWHU·VIDFHRUH\HVRFNHWGXULQJUHFRLO

40 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Tools of
the Trade
While the Enfield or
Springfield muskets
that were issued often
came with little more
than a bayonet or a
sling, Confederate
sharpshooters
fortunate enough to
possess a Whitworth
»

required several Bullet Tins The storage of Whitworth bullets prepared for
vital accoutrements shooting could take the form of containers like these reproductions of
to maintain their original Whitworth tins. Capable of holding lubricated/patched projectiles, wads and
precision arm. percussion caps—these tins aided in organizing and maintaining accurate ammunition.

Powder Flask/
Combination Tool
»

Sights Each Whitworth came with front and rear sights mounted
on the barrel. The elevation-adjustable rear sight on some guns was
specially marked to indicate the levels needed for either hexagonal or
cylindrical projectiles at specific distances. Sharpshooters equipped
with a Davidson scope would need to fashion a cover for inclement
weather. If any damage occurred to the telescopic sight, the delicate
device would need to be repaired by a precision optician. A soft cloth
to wipe dust from the lenses would be another item the individual
sharpshooter would need. Unlike modern optics, these telescopic sights
had limited light-gathering capability.
»
Exact powder charges could be thrown
consistently using this leather-covered adjustable
flask, increasing potential accuracy. If a heavier
charge was needed, the flask tip could be adjusted
to increase how much powder was thrown. A
combination tool holding a percussion cone
wrench, accessory screwdriver tips, and an oiler
helped maintain a rifle at peak efficiency. Cone
protectors could be fashioned in the field from a
carved bullet.

Bullet Molds A limited amount of Whitworth ammunition was imported in the form of loaded
cartridges and projectiles prepared in British factories. These paper cartridges were fragile and easily
damaged in the field. Bullet molds were also included in each shipment of rifles. Confederate arsenals
generally cast bullets, as the industrial machinery to swage hex-
agonal projectiles was not available. Cylindrical bullet molds
were the most commonly encountered, but expedient hexago-
nal bullet molds could be constructed using a section of barrel. Mark-
ings on the mold would indicate the caliber and bullet weight. The lead–tin
mixture used in casting would determine the hardness of the projectiles and also their
weight. Whitworth bullet molds were similar in pattern to Enfield molds, being carefully
constructed of bronze alloy, with an iron spruce cutter and base plug. –D.W. & M.W.

NOVEMBER 2017 41
 sedgwick
chided veteran
soldiers with
assurances
that
confederate
shooters
‘couldn’t hit
an elephant
at this
distance’

wounded several times prior to Spot-

sylvania. Ironically, he was hit but not
injured by a spent bullet on May 8,
1864. The next day, his luck ran out.
The conditions the morning of
May 9 were practically perfect for a
sharpshooter. Sedgwick’s headquar-
ters near the fork of the Brock Road
was just 100 feet behind the Union’s
front line. There the Federal forces
had pushed forward into a convex
angle, until less than 900 yards sep-
arated the opposing armies. Artillery
and infantry positions slowly adjusted
as the two Union corps merged on the
Brock Road, further enhancing the tar-
From 1862 on, perhaps fewer than 200 In the Field of Fire get-rich environment.
Whitworths made it through to the South. The Whitworth bullet that found Sedgwick was in the middle of it all.
Their rarity meant that the Confederacy Union Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick It was 9:15 a.m., and he had just sat
monitored their distribution, holding com- on May 9, 1864, may well have GRZQ WR EUHDNIDVW³D VLPSOH FXS RI
petitions to identify marksmen who could traveled more than a mile before coffee. In a jovial mood, he joked with
make the most of so accurate a weapon. impact. Sedgwick was the his staff, teasing a colonel laboring to
:KHQ LVVXHG WKH ULÁHV FDPH ZLWK KLJKHVWUDQNLQJ8QLRQRIÀFHU ÀOOKLVSLSH
VSHFLÀF UXOHV RI HQJDJHPHQW 7KH :KLW- killed during the war. Bullets from the Confederate infan-
worth sharpshooter would only use his try constantly whistled overhead, a
gun against high-value targets. Artillery positions, cav- handful of better-aimed shots striking closer. One hun-
DOU\ VFRXWV H[SRVHG RIÀFHUV DQG HQHP\ VKDUSVKRRWHUV dred yards from Sedgwick, Colonel Frederick T. Locke was
were fair game. Furthermore, they were free to operate wounded by a sharpshooter, but Sedgwick evidently didn’t
independently, choosing their own targets and locations care. Generals Grant and Meade rode by and asked if he
RQWKHEDWWOHÀHOG6RPH&RQIHGHUDWHJHQHUDOV³HVSHFLDOO\ wanted to travel along the lines. Sedgwick declined, elect-
0DM *HQ 3DWULFN &OHEXUQH RI WKH $UP\ RI 7HQQHVVHH³ ing to stay with his men to adjust an infantry position that
consolidated their sharpshooters into dedicated compa- was in danger of overlapping his artillery.
nies, using them to divert enemy forces where needed. As the general walked to the point of concern, the enemy
:KLOHPDQ\KLJKUDQNLQJ8QLRQRIÀFHUVKDGIDOOHQYLFWLP ÀUH LQWHQVLÀHG 9HWHUDQ VROGLHUV QHDUE\ GXFNHG IRU FRYHU
WR VKDUSVKRRWHUV DUPHG ZLWK :KLWZRUWK ULÁHV 0DM *HQ KRZHYHU 6HGJZLFN VWRRG ÀUP FKLGLQJ WKHP ZLWK DVVXU-
John Sedgwick, in command of the 6th Corps at Spotsylva- ances that the Confederate shooters “couldn’t hit an ele-
nia, was the most noteworthy witness to their effectiveness. phant at this distance.” Ignoring pleas from his troops to
Sedgwick was no stranger to enemy bullets, having been OHDYHWKHÀHOGRIÀUHWKHJHQHUDOVWHSSHGEHWZHHQWZRFDQ-

42 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 A “Sharpshooter” Cannon
Whitworth’s obsession with precision led
to his creation of an extremely accurate
breech-loading 12-pounder rifled cannon of
significantly advanced design for that era
of mainly muzzle-loading cannons. Whit-
worth’s 2.75-inch hexagonal bore light field
gun, in effect, was a “cannon-sized” version
of his superbly accurate rifle.
Whitworth constructed his sleek, almost
delicate-looking, cannon of steel, making
it lighter than the Civil War’s ubiquitous
bronze Napoleon 12-pounder howitzer.
Yet it was the Whitworth’s accuracy that
most distinguished it from other Civil
War–era cannons. An 1864 engineering
magazine noted that: “At 1,600 yards, the
Whitworth gun fired ten shots with a lateral
deviation of only 5 inches.” That degree of Specifications
accuracy earned it a reputation as the artil- » Barrel Weight 1,092 lbs
leryman’s equivalent of a sharpshooter’s » Barrel Length 104 inches
rifle. It also made the Whitworth cannon » Barrel Material Steel
a deadly counter-battery weapon target- » Projectile 12 lbs.–11 oz. hexagonal bolt
ing enemy artillery; but its relatively small
» Propellant Charge 1.75 lbs of black powder
shell prevented it from being an effective
anti-infantry cannon. Moreover, like its
» Muzzle Velocity 1,500 ft./sec.
Whitworth rifle counterpart, the cannon » Maximum Range 10,000 yards (about 6 miles)
was subject to black powder fouling, caus- » Manufactured by Whitworth Ordnance Company, Manchester, England
ing the breech-loading mechanism to jam. » Number Used in Civil War Approx. 50 (most CSA; one battery USA)

non of the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery
and repeated his earlier observation: “They couldn’t hit an
elephant at this distance.”
According to eyewitnesses, at 9:45 a.m., they heard the
distinctive “whistle” of a Whitworth projectile, and next, the
dull thud of the round hitting Sedgwick in the face. As he
slowly slumped to the ground, the bullet hole was plainly
visible below his left eye.
Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant, general-in-chief of the
Union Army, equated Sedgwick’s loss to an entire division of
PHQ$OWKRXJKLWKDVQHYHUEHHQGHÀQLWLYHO\WLHGWRDVSHFLÀF
Confederate marksman, his death was certainly the culmi-
nation of one sharpshooter’s mission: the elimination of a
KLJKYDOXHWDUJHWXVLQJDQXQFRPPRQO\DFFXUDWHÀUHDUP
Today, examples of Civil War–used Whitworths are
exceedingly scarce. Naturally, some Confederate sharp-
shooters hid theirs and brought them home instead of
surrendering them at the war’s end, but the Whitworth’s
presence in the Civil War was generally slight to begin with.
Other than in museums and choice private collections, not
many exist.
The Whitworth was nevertheless among the most feared
ÀUHDUPVWRVHUYHLQWKH&LYLO:DU$UJXDEO\WKHÀUVWWUXH
VQLSHU ULÁH E\ GHVLJQ LW ZDV FDSDEOH RI IHDWV SUHYLRXVO\
thought impossible, as Sedgwick’s fate so aptly demon-
strates. Indeed, its future implications were profound, for
WKLVOLWWOHNQRZQULÁHRIWKH&RQIHGHUDF\VLJQDOHGWKHGDZQ
of a new species of combat; a modern warfare in which
marksmen could kill from great distances with seeming
impunity.
Doug Wicklund is senior curator for the NRA Firearms
Museums. His collecting and shooting of antique arms is
tempered by his growing accumulation of Civil War–era
diaries, including sharpshooter journals.
Michael Williams is a regular contributor to America’s
Civil War. When he’s not writing about military history
DQGÀUHDUPVKHHQMR\VKXQWLQJDQGORQJUDQJHVKRRWLQJ

NOVEMBER 2017 43
 ‘jove’s
thunder’
the federals’ fredericksburg
scorecard: shameful orgy of
destruction, wretched loss
By Duane Schultz

44 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Street Fighting Men
Members of the 20th Massachusetts,
RQHRIWKHÀUVW8QLRQUHJLPHQWVDFURVVWKH
5DSSDKDQQRFN5LYHURQ'HFHPEHU
ÀJKWWKHLUZD\GRZQ&DUROLQH6WUHHW

NOVEMBER 2017 45
“Bring the guns
to bear and
shell them out.”
It was a command Union Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt prob-
ably hoped he wouldn’t have to give. But on December 11,
1862, after a series of aborted attempts by the Federals to
cross the Rappahannock River into Fredericksburg, Va.,
the Army of the Potomac’s chief of artillery was given lit-
tle choice. It was time for Hunt’s big guns to “batter” the
EXFROLFFRORQLDOWRZQLQWRVXEPLVVLRQ)RUWKHÀUVWWLPHQRW
an army but an American city itself would be the target of
bombardment by the U.S. military.
Built in 1727, Fredericksburg had a storied history, a
SURÀWDEOHWREDFFRWRZQLQLWVHDUO\GD\VDQGRQHWLPHKRPH
to the likes of George Washington, James Madison, and
John Paul Jones. Located roughly halfway between Rich-
mond and Washington, D.C., it had become a prosperous
mill town by the Civil War, with more than 5,000 residents,
including a sizable population of both slaves and free blacks.
By the end of Hunt’s relentless artillery barrage on
December 11, Fredericksburg’s once-majestic homes and
buildings were wrecked, many nearly beyond recognition.
That was tragic enough, but what happened next would, in
the words of historian Donald Pfanz, go down as “the most
disgraceful episode in the Army of the Potomac’s history.”
In the fall of 1862, following its September victory at
Antietam, the Army of the Potomac had again turned its
attention to the capture of the Confederate capital of Rich-
mond. To do so, the army’s newly named commander, Maj.
Gen. Ambrose Burnside, determined his best option would
be to pass through Fredericksburg. After taking command
from Maj. Gen. George McClellan on November 7, Burnside
moved his forces with impressive—and uncharacteristic—
speed from their bases in northern Virginia to Falmouth,
opposite Fredericksburg on the northern side of the Rap-
pahannock. A railroad bridge over the river had been
destroyed, so Burnside decided to cross into Fredericksburg
on pontoon bridges to be built at several key locations. The
\HDUROG:HVW3RLQWHUGLGQRWLQWHQGWRÀJKWLQWKHFLW\
Rather, he hoped to use it as a rear supply base as he moved
against Richmond.
Fredericksburg was not considered a vital military tar-
JHWIRUHLWKHUDUP\DQGZDVOLJKWO\GHIHQGHGZKHQWKHÀUVW
of Burnside’s men reached Falmouth on November 17. The
Federals, however, would be stranded waiting for the pon-
toon boats to arrive from Washington, and by then it was
too late. General Robert E. Lee had felt sure the Union
army would likely use one of four routes to attack the cap-
LWDODQGZKHQKHÀQDOO\UHDOL]HG%XUQVLGH·VLQWHQWLRQVKH
wasted no time rushing James Longstreet’s First Corps and
46 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Hellscape
The extent of the
damage wrought
by the Union
bombardment is
apparent in this
photo taken shortly
after the battle.
Stonewall Jackson’s Second Corps to Fredericksburg from
Culpeper, Va., and the Shenandoah Valley, respectively.
It will never be known how the war would have unfolded
had the Army of the Potomac been able to cross the river
ZKHQ LW ÀUVW DUULYHG EXW %XUQVLGH VRRQ UHDOL]HG KH KDG
lost any element of surprise. As Lee’s men arrived and
TXLFNO\ HVWDEOLVKHG KHDYLO\ IRUWLÀHG SRVLWLRQV DFURVV WKH
river, Union morale began to sink, and periods of freezing
rain and cold did not help. Most of the Federals fathomed
that the suddenly strong Confederate presence in the town
meant an invasion was likely a suicide mission. One soldier
captured that mood in a letter home: “It looks to me as if we
were going over there to be murdered.”
7KHHQWLUHFRQWLQJHQWRISRQWRRQERDWVÀQDOO\DUULYHGRQ
November 27—10 days too late—and Burnside and his sub-
ordinates began considering alternative plans. Ultimately,
the decision was made to send across two of his three grand
divisions: one on the right and one on the left, while keep-
ing the one in the center in reserve. Early in the morning of
December 11, men from the 50th and 15th New York Engi-
neers began laying six pontoon bridges across the river,
seemingly unaware of just how formidable the Confed-
erate defenses were. A Mississippi brigade of 1,600 men,
commanded by Brig. Gen. William Barksdale, had built a
strong line of defenses in the houses opposite one of the
bridges. Working primarily at night, the Rebels had qui-
HWO\GXJULÁHSLWVZLWK]LJ]DJWUHQFKHVFRQQHFWLQJWKHPWR
holes chopped in cellar walls, enabling men to move from
one house to another without detection.
Barksdale’s men watched Yankee bands gather on their
side of the river one night to play patriotic songs, including
“The Star-Spangled Banner.” They remained quiet until the
Union bands began to play “Dixie,” at which point the men
 A Sisyphean Endeavor
Union engineers made at least nine
attempts to lay pontoon bridges across
the river. Even an attempt by the 8th
Connecticut to complete the work in the
engineers’ place was easily foiled.

burnside’s engineers— The barrage continued for roughly two hours. A mem-
working in the open with EHU RI WKH WK 86 $UWLOOHU\ FODLPHG KLV IRXU SRXQGHU

hammers, planks, and 3DUURWWV ÀUHG  URXQGV WKRXJK WKH DYHUDJH WDOO\ SHU
unit was about 50 rounds. “[T]he earth shook beneath the
heavy beams—could be terrible explosions of the shells, which went howling over

easily picked off
on both sides started laughing, cheering, and singing along
together. To Lee and his commanders, it was a sign the Fed-
erals were about to attack across the river. Barksdale was
ordered to dig more trenches. If Burnside indeed intended
to lay a bridge opposite Barksdale’s position, his engi-
neers—working in the open with their hands full of ham-
mers, planks, and heavy beams—could be easily picked off.
A heavy fog initially provided protection for the 50th New
<RUNFRPPDQGHGE\0DMRU,UD6SDXOGLQJ$WÀUVW%DUNV-
GDOH·V 0LVVLVVLSSLDQV ÀUHG EOLQGO\ LQWR WKH IRJ ZLWK VSR-
radic, though unnerving, success. But it wasn’t long before
6RXWKHUQVKDUSVKRRWHUVEHJDQWRÀQGWKHLUWDUJHWVDQGGLV-
rupt the proceedings. Spaulding’s engineers attempted to
complete the work on at least nine occasions, only to come
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ÀQDOO\ DJUHHG WKDW QR RQH FRXOG VXUYLYH RXW LQ WKH RSHQ
Although two bridges had been erected south of town, there
was no way bridges could be built in the other locations.
By 12:30 p.m., Burnside decided an artillery barrage on
the town was his only recourse. Hunt had nearly 150 guns
well-positioned on Stafford Heights overlooking Fredericks-
EXUJ7KH\ZHUHVRRQÀULQJDZD\IXULRXVO\
the river, crashing into the houses, battering down walls,
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the Army of the Potomac’s headquarters on Stafford
Heights, seeing “roofs collapse, walls and chimneys cave in,
buildings blow apart, timbers and bricks explode through
WKHDLUDQGKRXVHVEXUVWLQWRÁDPHµ
One Ohio soldier probably put it best: “Talk of Jove’s
thunder. Had the ancients heard so frightful and so inces-
VDQWDQRLVHWKH\ZRXOGKDYHVXQNLQWRWKHJURXQGLQWHUURUµ
Warned ahead of time about the pending danger, most
UHVLGHQWVKDGÁHGWKHWRZQZHOOEHIRUH'HFHPEHUEXWD
few remained or returned when an attack no longer seemed
imminent. Four of that lot were reportedly killed during
the shelling; the rest had bolted for their cellars as fast as
they could. In her diary, Jane Beale described the terror of
seeing a cannonball strike a glancing blow to the head of
her 10-year-old son: “I soon saw that there was no terrible
wound, only a deep redness of the skin about the shoulder
DQGEUHDVWµ6KHQRWHGWKDWWKRXJKKHKDGVXUYLYHGKHIHOW
weak and was hurting for a while.
Frances Bernard’s mother rushed upstairs to save a por-
trait of her late husband that was hanging over the sofa.
Just as she pulled it down and headed back to the cellar, a
8QLRQ VKHOO FDPH FUDVKLQJ WKURXJK WKH ZDOO GHPROLVKLQJ
the sofa and most of the living room.
Longstreet later described the bombardment as “a scene

NOVEMBER 2017 47
 which can never be effaced from the
the
memory of those who saw it.” Lee also relentless
watched from a nearby hill, growing in-
creasingly angry. “Those people,” he said
shelling
derisively, using his favorite term for had made it
Yankees, “delight to destroy the weak
and those who can make no defense; it
no easier
just suits them!” for the
What Burnside and Hunt soon discov-
ered is a reality many military leaders
federals
have learned over time. Such bombard- to cross
ments often don’t work. Although the
houses in which Barksdale’s troops
the river
were safely hidden had been razed, the
FHOODUVULÁHSLWVDQGWUHQFKHVUHPDLQHG
largely intact, and only a few of his men had been wounded.
The relentless shelling had made it no easier for the Feder-
als to cross the river.
At one point,/HHVHQWDFRXULHUWR%DUNVGDOHWRÀQGRXWLI
his Mississippians were all right. Replied Barksdale: “Tell
General Lee that if he wants a bridge full of dead Yankees
I can furnish him with one.”
When the barrage stopped about 2:30 p.m., the Union
engineers ventured out on the bridge again, cautiously opti-
mistic the shelling had succeeded. Barksdale’s men opened
ÀUHLPPHGLDWHO\NLOOLQJVRPHZKLOHWKHRWKHUVVFUDPEOHG
back to safety. The suggestion was made and approved by
Burnside to send troops over in a boat about a mile upriver
to establish a beachhead north of town. The task went to
the 7th Michigan and the 19th and 20th Massachusetts.
‘Shell Them Out’
Major General Henry Hunt
was optimistic he’d easily
subdue Fredericksburg’s
defenders by blasting them
ZLWKFDQQRQÀUH+HZRXOG
EHSURYHGZURQJ
48 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
The beachhead in place, the Federals
went after Barksdale’s Brigade, battling
street to street and house to house with
considerable bloodshed. It took more
than an hour to push the Rebels back
a single block, but the Union engineers
were able to complete their contested
pontoon bridge, allowing other troops to
cross and drive the enemy farther back
through town.
But there were still dangers. As Clara
Barton walked across the bridge on her
way to treat the wounded, she noticed
“the water hissing with shot on either
side.” And the soldiers’ declining morale
was not helped by the sight of an enterprising undertaker
near the bridge offering his business cards to the troops. He
was quickly sent packing.
The more religious soldiers tossed away their decks of
playing cards as they made their way across the river. Since
they believed that gambling was a sin, Donald Pfanz would
write, “no soldier wanted to face his Maker with a deck of
cards in his pocket.”
Finally, all six bridges were completed and the men of the
Army of the Potomac—bitter, angry, and resentful—began
occupying the damaged town. According to historian Nancy
Baxter: “They were demoralized. They had lost too much,
too often; their energies had turned sour, passing from cider
to vinegar in three months’ time. They were lawless and on
WKH UDPSDJH OLNH D JDQJ RI WRXJK ER\V ZKR ÀQG WKH VRGD
shop closed and go to smashing windows. Their bitterness
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DQGZUHFNHGHYHU\WKLQJHOVH0DQ\ZHUHGUXQNEXWRWKHUV DWQLFHSODWHJODVVZLQGRZV«7KHVROGLHUVVHHPHGWRGHOLJKW
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VWHDOWKHPRQH\2QHPDQERDVWHGRISLOIHULQJZDWFKHV The ensuing Battle of FredericksburgRQ'HFHPEHU
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NOVEMBER 2017 49
50 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

were 4,576 Confederate casualties out of 72,500 engaged.
Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, who witnessed
the carnage, later told President Abraham Lincoln that “it
was not a battle, it was a butchery.” When Lincoln heard
what had happened, he fell into despair and remarked, “If
there is a worse place than Hell, I am in it.”
The Union survivors retreated from Fredericksburg on
the night of December 15, marching back over the bridges
they had built. Two days later, the residents streamed back
into town to see what was left. Among them was Lieutenant
Charles Minor Blackford, checking on his mother’s house,
where he had grown up. The structure had been thoroughly
wrecked, room by room, and then used as a makeshift
hospital. In the attic, Blackford found several generations
of his family’s letters, which had been stored in huge bar-
UHOV VWUHZQ RYHU WKH ÁRRUV DQG LQWR WKH \DUG 0DQ\ KDG
been ripped to shreds. “In the dining room the huge table
was used as an operating table and a small table by its side
had a pile of legs and arms upon it….The whole house was
covered with mud and blood and it was hard to realize that
it was the dear old house of my childhood.”
When Fanny White returned to her home, she found one
of the rooms “piled more than halfway to the ceiling with
feathers from beds ripped open, every mirror had been run
through with a bayonet, a panel of each door cut out, fur-
niture nearly all broken up, the china broken to bits, and
everything of value taken away.”
Fredericksburg lay in ruins, with only chimneys and rem-
nants of walls still standing amid rubble-strewn streets.
Even the few buildings that remained standing were bat-
tle-scarred and damaged, some far beyond repair. Many of
WKHUHVLGHQWVIRXQGWKH\ZHUHÀQDQFLDOO\UXLQHG:HDOWK\
families became paupers, with their homes and businesses
destroyed and no assets to rebuild and replace what they
had lost. Homeless women and children faced starvation. It
was “the most infamous crime ever perpetrated upon this
continent,” the Richmond Daily-Dispatch would soon claim.
it was ‘the most
infamous crime
ever perpetrated
upon this
continent’
richmond
daily-dispatch
Fredericksburg Foes
Ambrose Burnside, far left,
was not the only Union general
that William Barksdale, left,
frustrated during the war.
Stonewall Jackson was apparently so upset at the plight
of the refugees and the ruined town that he urged his men
to take up a collection to help them. The soldiers, many of
whom had no shoes or winter clothing, raised the sum of
$1,371—a staggering amount especially from those with
so little themselves. When word of the destitution spread
throughout the South, people contributed trainloads of food
and clothing for shipment to Fredericksburg, along with
$170,000 in cash.
Southern citizens and soldiers alike were shocked and
angered when news spread of the destruction of Freder-
icksburg. “I hate them worse than ever,” one Confederate
soldier wrote home, “and then their destruction of poor old
Fredericksburg! It seems to be that I don’t do anything from
morning to night but hate them worse and worse.”
Some inhabitants found consolation in the ghastly sight
of the massive number of Union dead. One local shop owner
wrote: “But for all this loss, [we] feel ourselves amply repaid
when [we] viewed the thousands of the enemy’s corpses
XSRQWKHEDWWOHÀHOGµ
The marks of destruction remained long after the battle.
Nearly a year later, perhaps only about 800 of the town’s
inhabitants had returned, and ruins remained visible well
after the war ended in 1865.
One other bitter memory remained in the minds of the
citizens of Fredericksburg. The day after the Union troops
retreated, Confederate soldiers returned to the devastated
town and some of them looted houses and shops. One resi-
dent feared that “the Rebels would likely take whatever
the Yankees had left behind.” And a dispirited employee
at a local bank, who had lost his home and business, wrote
sadly, “It is, as you know, the fate of war.”
Duane Schultz has written numerous articles and
books on military history, including The Dahlgren Affair:
Terror and Conspiracy in the Civil War and The Fate of
War: Fredericksburg, 1862.
NOVEMBER 2017 51
 TRAILSIDE
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Rebel rubicon
TOWN WITNESSED THE CONFEDERATE RETREAT AFTER
ANTIETAM THAT ARGUABLY DECIDED THE WAR
The Civil War came early and often to
Shepherdstown, a quiet Virginia settlement
west of Harpers Ferry. In June 1861, the
Confederates burned the bridge over the Poto-
mac River to deny its use by Union forces (the
abutments still stand, as shown above). In
September 1862, Robert E. Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia, desperate for supplies and
hoping to win recognition for the Confederacy
by Britain and France, invaded Maryland.
Lee’s army suffered heavily at Antietam on
September 17 but fought the Yankees to a
Trailside is produced in
partnership with Civil tactical draw before retreating back to Virginia.
War Trails Inc., which On September 18, the Rebels began crossing
connects visitors to
lesser-known sites and
the Potomac at Boteler’s Ford, a mile east of
allows them to follow in Shepherdstown, leaving behind thousands of
the footsteps of the great wounded in the town and a small rear guard
campaigns. Civil War
Trails has to date 1,552 under Brig. Gen. William Pendleton. The
VLWHVDFURVVÀYHVWDWHV Federals gave chase on September 19, at one
and produces more point trading artillery fire across the Potomac
than a dozen maps.
Visit civilwartrails. with Rebel batteries on the bluffs below
org and check in at Shepherdstown. When Union soldiers forded
your favorite sign
#civilwartrails.
the river and captured four cannons, it
unnerved Pendleton. To settle the situation,
Our thanks to Jim Broomall and Jennifer Alarcon, George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War.
52 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Peacetime Connection
Stone piers are all that’s left of
a 600-foot covered bridge over
the Potomac at Shepherdstown.
The Rebels burned it in 1861.
A.P. Hill’s Division was quickly sent back in.
A Union brigade (Sykes’ Regulars) scouting
the area the next day discovered Hill’s
advance and fell back in good order. But the
rookie 118th Pennsylvania, known as the Corn
Exchange Regiment, did not respond to the
retreat orders, panicked, and fled in the face of
Hill’s attack. Some were killed by misdirected
Union shells after they took shelter in a ruined
cement mill. Others were struck down by
crossfire trying to wade across the Potomac.
After the battle, Union commander George
McClellan broke off pursuit, allowing Lee time
to begin rebuilding his depleted forces. But
because the European powers in turn declined
to recognize the Confederacy, it was argued
that Lee’s Antietam setback ultimately decided
the war, as it deprived the South of essential
foreign aid at a critical juncture.
Today, Shepherdstown, now in West
Virginia, is alive with historical, recreational,
and artistic attractions. Music, theater, shops,
and restaurants exist in harmony with battle
sites and ghostly manifestations.
 TRAILSIDE
Parran House
301 E. German St.
historicshepherdstown.com
The 1796 Parran House, now in private hands, was the home
of Confederate Colonel William Fitzhugh Lee (Robert E.
Lee’s cousin) and his wife, Lily Parran Lee. Colonel Lee was
mortally wounded at First Manassas and Lily’s stepfather,
Sergeant T. Harris Towner, died at First Kernstown. After
Antietam, which claimed the life of Lily’s stepbrother, William
Parran, the house was crammed with wounded. Local lore
says Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, a friend of “Willie” Lee, visited
the Parran women in the aftermath of the battle.

George
Tyler
Moore
Center for the
Study of the Civil War
136 W. German St., open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
shepherd.edu/civilwar
The center, located in a 1795 house once owned by coppersmith Conrad Shindler,
was donated to Shepherd University by the late Mary Tyler Moore, a Shindler descendant
who dedicated it in her father’s name. Scholarship conducted by the center focuses on Civil
War soldiers from West Virginia, and a service records database is under construction. This
boot pistol, carried by a Union surgeon, is one of several artifacts on display.

McMurran Hall
Northeast corner of
German and King streets
(Use King Street entrance).
shepherd.edu

Colonel Henry
Kyd Douglas
Gravesite
4878 Kearneysville Pike
elmwoodcemeteryshepwv.org
Douglas, a local lawyer who
served as Maj. Gen. Stonewall
Jackson’s youngest staff officer
and personal aide, is buried
at Elmwood Cemetery on the
heights overlooking Shepherd-
stown. The Shepherdstown
native, who wrote a noted auto-
biography, I Rode With Stonewall,
is one of the 120 Civil War dead Intended to be the Town Hall but unfinished at the time of the Civil War, Greek Revival
buried at Elmwood. Douglas McMurran Hall was the first building occupied by Shepherd College, now Shepherd
served in nearly every major University. When wounded from Antietam flooded the town, rough wood boards were
campaign in the Eastern Theater, positioned on the planks of the unfinished floor and straw piled on top. With a few more
incurring six wounds. The cem- planks put down for use as walkways, the building was converted to a large field hospital.
etery website includes an online Now used as office space,the building is home to one of Shepherdstown’s many ghosts:
tour of noted gravesities. the “Old Man in the Clock Tower.” Open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4:30p.m.

NOVEMBER 2017 53
 TRAILSIDE
shepherdstown, wv
STEAMBOAT
salute
1. George Tyler Moore Center
for the Study of the Civil War
2. McMurran Hall
3. Shepherdstown Sweet Shop Bakery On the south bluffs
4. Parran House overlooking the river
stands a monument to
5. Elmwood Cemetery James Rumsey, the
6. Rumsey Monument investor whose supporters
7. Boteler’s Ford/Cement Mill battle site say he invented and
demonstrated the first
6 working steamboat here in
1787, 20 years before
Robert Fulton launched
1 2 the commercial steamboat
3
4 Clermont. Claims are
surrounded by tales of
5 7 industrial espionage and
patent wars. The memorial
was erected in 1916.

Where the
river ran red

On September 18-19, Confederates retreating from Antietam crossed

the Potomac unimpeded at Boteler’s Ford (above) before Union
cavalry and Maj. Gen. Fitz-John Porter’s 5th Corps could reach the
ford, a mile east of Shepherdstown. After a small Union force crossed
into Virginia and captured four cannons, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill’s Division
returned to the area, and on September 20 collided with Union troops
on the bluffs below Shepherdstown as well as the grounds of a ruined
cement mill owned by Confederate Colonel Alexander Boteler.
Retreating Federals passed a still-standing lime kiln (right), just off
River Road today. Some took shelter inside part of the mill (above
right) but were killed by an errant Union artillery shell. Some were
killed in the river as they tried to cross back to Maryland. Boteler’s
Mill, which had supplied cement for the nearby C&O Canal and other
projects, was rebuilt after the war and remained in use until 1901.

Shepherdstown Sweet Shop Bakery

Housed in a 200-year-old downtown building that, like most in town,
was used as a field hospital after Antietam, the Sweet Shop specializes in
pastries and breads familiar to Shepherdstown’s original German settlers.
The lunch menu includes wraps, sandwiches, and soups. Open at 8 a.m.
every day with seasonal hours. 100 W. German St., wvbakery.com

54 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

tile heroics at stones river

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GLORY
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 figures as Davy Crockett
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
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Are you a history and culture buff?
There are many museums and
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sites just for you in Jackson, Mississippi.
Fayetteville/Cumberland County, North
Carolina is steeped in history and patri-
otic traditions. Take a tour highlighting
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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.
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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.
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Visit Chattanooga’s pivotal Civil War sites
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your stay in this top rated tourism desti-
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Experience living history for
The Battles of Marietta Georgia,
featuring reenactments, tours and
a recreation of 1864 Marietta.
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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
offers a wide selection of attractions and
tours. www.visitroswellga.com
For free information about these advertisers, fill out the attached reply card.
There’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
attractions 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 pretty 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. The ultimate
Southern destination—Columbus, MS.
To discover more about Tennessee and
to order your free official 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’ first stands at
the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield.
jacksonvillesoars.com/museum.php
The Mississippi Hills National Heritage
Area highlights the historic, cultural,
natural, scenic and recreational treasures
of this distinctive region.
www.mississippihills.org
Six major battles 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
Battlefield, Natchez Trace Parkway,
Tupelo National Battlefield, 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 attractions
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 fierce
battle 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). The museum inter-
prets Alabama’s Confederate period and
the Alabama Confederate Soldiers’ Home.
Cleveland, TN
Near Chattanooga, find 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
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Vicksburg, Mississippi is a great place
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check out the mighty Mississippi River.
Prestonsburg, KY - Civil War &
history attractions, 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 finest, the
Classic South, Georgia, offers 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 first-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 Battle
of Hampton Roads, now available in The
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!
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Relive the rich history of the Alabama
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area’s many museums.
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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.fitzgeraldga.org.
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History, bourbon, shopping, sightseeing
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you’re sure to find it in beautiful
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www.visitbardstown.com
Through 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! Attractions include the Levi
Jackson Wilderness Road State Park and
Camp Wildcat Civil War Battlefield.
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 finest in U.S. by North &
South Magazine. Located in historic
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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.
The National Civil War Naval Museum
in Columbus, GA, tells the story of the
sailors, soldiers, and civilians, both free
and enslaved as affected 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 find
such legendary destinations as Dockery
Farms and Po’ Monkey’s Juke Joint.
www.visitclevelandms.com
Destination
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STEP BACK IN TIME at Camp Nelson
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 REVIEWS
Back From
the Brink
Fighting the Second
Civil War: A History of
Battlefield Preservation
and the Emergence of
the Civil War Trust
By Bob Zeller
Knox Press
2017, $17.95 (paperback)
58 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
There has never been a grass-roots movement like Vital Save
it. In the past three decades, the Civil War Trust and
The preservation
its predecessor, the Association for the Preservation
of Fredericksburg’s
of Civil War Sites (APCWS), have purchased and pre-
Slaughter Pen Farm
served more than 45,000 acres of endangered historic
in 2012 was a notable
land at some 132 sites, and those numbers are still
success for the Trust.
growing. Moreover, the Trust has enlarged its reach to
include endangered places from the American Revo-
lution and the War of 1812. An organization that began almost informally, it counts
more than a quarter-million members and donors, and has expanded its remit into
educational forums for teachers and buffs, theme-oriented travel and tours, mer-
chandising, and more. All of it remains on point to preserve irreplaceable places and
remember the men and women, long dead, who live forever thanks to what they did
on those fields.
Bob Zeller’s Fighting the Second Civil War: A History of Battlefield Preservation
and the Emergence of the Civil War Trust is a model organizational history that
doesn’t read like one. As he relates, it all started with a few dedicated people who
had a lot of ideas and very little money. Of course, some bits of the battlefields
were preserved by congressional action when the first major Civil War parks were
created by the old War Department as living classrooms. The National Park Service
assumed stewardship and expanded the list with many more parks. Meanwhile,
grass-roots volunteer organizations appeared. Some who visited Gettysburg gen-
erations ago may still recall dropping pennies in milk bottles named for their home
states, funding the land purchases of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Asso-
ciation. Others will remember Civil War Round Table Associates’ periodic newslet-
ters in the 1960s-70s with founder Jerry Russell’s exhortation to readers to barrage
 REVIEWS

CELLULOID HEROES
Dark Command
Directed by Raoul Walsh, 1940

William Clarke Quantrill, the Confederacy’s most notorious guer-

rilla leader, has been depicted in at least a dozen Civil War–themed
movies, though most of the characterizations of the young marauder
bear little resemblance to the historical person. In Dark Command,
Raoul Walsh delivers probably the most bizarre account of Quantrill
and his infamous attack on Lawrence, Kan., on August 21, 1863.
The movie’s star is a youthful John Wayne, who plays itinerant
Texan Bob Seton. The pro-Union Seton finds himself in ideologically
divided Kansas on the eve of the war. He decides to put down roots,
influenced no doubt by the presence of the striking Claire Trevor, who
plays Mary McCloud, daughter of a local pro-Southern banker. But
Mary has another suitor, local schoolteacher William Cantrell (clearly
intended to be Quantrill), played by the urbane Walter Pidgeon.
Seton is unexpectedly elected town marshal and, in the process,
captures Mary’s heart. This enrages Cantrell, whose lust for personal
fame and fortune is cleverly hidden. Though a bookish pedagogue by
day, he’s a hard-riding bushwhacker at night. Only after his gang steals
a wagonload of Confederate uniforms does Cantrell decide it is to his
benefit to choose a side.
Matters come to a head when Seton arrests Mary’s naive brother
Fletch (played by Roy Rogers), who is accused of murder. Cantrell
serves as Fletch’s lawyer and leads a campaign of terror against the
jury, leading to a “not guilty” verdict. Fletch joins Cantrell’s brigands,
but redeems himself when he frees Seton and his sister after they are
held hostage by Cantrell. This sets in motion a series of events building
up to the film’s dramatic but ahistorical climax.
public officials with demands to save land.
Seton has gone to Lawrence to warn the citizens they are in dan-
The real turning point came in 1987 when
ger, and ends up leading the defense of the town as Cantrell and his
a small group of historians and preservation-
gang raid and torch the town. In the parallel universe portrayed in the
ists founded the APCWS. Four years later,
movie, however, Seton kills Cantrell during the attack. The real Quan-
the original Civil War Trust came into being.
trill was mortally wounded during a raid in western Kentucky in 1865.
For a time, the two vied vigorously for pub-
Fortunately for Republic Pictures, a perennial producer of B-movie
lic and private funds, but in 1999 they wisely
horse operas, its unusually large $700,000 investment was rewarded at
merged to form the Civil War Preservation
the box office, thanks mainly to the presence of Wayne.–Gordon Berg
Trust, which reverted to its old identity as the
Civil War Trust in 2011. As Zeller reveals, the
CWT’s ambition has not exceeded its reach.
The list of preservation battles it won is a roll
call of immortal names that echo in Ameri-
can memory: Chantilly, Manassas, Perryville,
Brandy Station, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
The Wilderness, Resaca, Antietam, and more.
Fighting the Second Civil War offers a look
at the “back story” of 30 years of unique
achievement—the internal debates and con-
troversies as the group set its compass—and
the dedication of a disparate collection of his- Roy Rogers, Walter
torians, National Park Service staff, commit- Pidgeon, and a young
ted local enthusiasts, and common folk, who John Wayne (left to
came together and stayed together not only to right) were among the
preserve history, but to make history as well. big names featured in
–William C. Davis :DOVK·VÀOP

NOVEMBER 2017 59
 REVIEWS

Remembering Reconstruction:
Struggles Over the Meaning of
America’s Most Turbulent Era
Edited by Carole Emberton
and Bruce E. Baker
LSU Press, 2017, $45
The title of this anthology makes
clear that none of the subject mat-
ter covered by the various authors
occurred between 1865 and 1877.
That’s because it’s not the histor-
ical reality of Reconstruction that
intrigues these scholars. Rather,
their interest lies in the much more
nebulous and insufficiently examined
after-the-fact memories of that period
that arose among various groups
within society. Taken together, these
deeply researched and cogently writ-
ten essays comprise a kind of magic
lantern that illuminates how many of
today’s contentious social issues, like
equality before the law, concepts of
race, and rights of citizenship, were
born during those tumultuous years.
W. Fitzhugh Brundage sets the
tone of the volume by declaring in the
introduction that the essays “focus
our attention on how individuals
and various groups of Americans
self-consciously sought to fashion a
recalled past that made larger claims
on the nation for recognition and
legitimation.” The breadth of histor-
ical memory of Reconstruction is
wide and still evolving. Many white
Southerners, according to K. Stephen
Prince, “established an adaptable and
flexible system of oppression and
control that would maintain white
supremacy almost inviolate until the
mid-20th century.” Jim Crow segre-
gation, Prince maintains, was “the
result of a planned and coordinated
attack on African American civil and
political rights.”
African Americans’ memories and
studies of the Reconstruction period
support that argument. Justin Behrend
explains how 19th-century Republican
Rep. John Lynch of Mississippi used
his autobiography to argue against the
prevailing scholarship of the period,
which negated black contributions
during Reconstruction and argued
that newly enfranchised freedmen
were manipulated and controlled
by white carpetbaggers. T. Thomas
Fortune, Shawn Alexander maintains,
used his writing talents to “insist that
there was almost no form of violence
or political skullduggery” that whites
wouldn’t use “to wrest power and
rights from African Americans.”
Carole Emberton analyzes the
remarkable memories Hannah Irwin
shared with an interviewer with the
Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s.
Emberton maintains that narratives
by former slaves like Irwin “based on
the personal experiences of vulner-
able individuals living in small rural
worlds may provide a more realistic
understanding of the lived experi-
ences of freedom for many ex-slaves
in the aftermath of the Civil War.”
Other chapters are written by
Elaine Parsons (how the Ku Klux Klan
was portrayed in textbooks); Jason
Morgan Ward (remembrance and
refighting of Reconstruction by Wood-
row Wilson); and Samuel L. Schaffer
(emancipation in the South vs. decolo-
nization in Africa).–Gordon Berg

The Forgotten Irish:
Irish Emigrant Experiences
in America
By Damian Shiels
The History Press, 2017, $26.95
The average American Civil War buff is likely to sneer at a book dealing with
the era titled The Forgotten Irish. After all, the Irish diaspora of the mid–19th
century and the heavy involvement of Irish soldiers in the war have been far
from forgotten amid recent sesquicentennial commemorations. On closer
examination of this Dublin-published volume, however, it becomes clear that
the author is not reminding an American audience of the 35 families whose lives
he chronicles, but rather fellow Irish.
The principal source of Damien Shiels’ family histories lies among the thou-
sands of pension applications by widows, parents, sisters, or children of Union
Army soldiers that are preserved in the National Archives. Often accompanied
by extensive documentation on the family’s origins and experiences since their
arrival in the New World, these records provide a treasure trove of insight into a
traumatic period in Irish history—encompassing not only the potato famine but
the war’s impact. American scholars may not be aware of this literary resource,
but the author says it has been completely overlooked by his own countrymen,
whose knowledge of the multitudes of emigrants generally ends when they
sail off for America. Some chapters focus on the families and others on the last
letters from the soldiers, but all involve the same melancholy outcome and its
effect on those left behind. Readers on both sides of the Atlantic may find The
Forgotten Irish a fresh perspective on a forgotten aspect of a not-so-forgotten
part of Civil War history.–Jon Guttman

60 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 ★ EXPLORE COLUMBIA, A SOUTH CAROLINA GEM ★

Debate
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Confederate
statues.

15

HISTORIANS
WEIGH IN

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MONUMENTS
★ GETTYSBURG WIDOWS ’ ORDEAL
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CWTP-171000-COVER-BW2-DIGITAL.indd 1 6/21/17 8:53 AM

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 REVIEWS

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tapped the guest book of
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unsealed many of the “black
CREDITS Cover: Library of Congress/Photo Illustration: Brian Walker; P. 2-3: Troiani, Don (b.1949); ops” behind the signatures. His
Private Collection/Bridgeman Images; P. 3: Clockwise From Top Left: National Archives; USAHEC; Heritage
Auctions, Dallas; P. 4: Library of Congress; P. 6: Stuart C. Mowbray Photography; P. 7: Top: Scan by Mitchell colleague, photographer Cindy
Memorial Library/Mississippi State University; P. 8: From Top: Melissa A. Winn; Photo by Hulton Archive/ Wallace, matched many of the
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Congress; Inset: Heritage Auctions, Dallas; P. 21: Library of Congress (2); P. 22: From Top: National Archives; of Rebel operations engineered
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Collection/©Look and Learn/Illustrated Papers Collection/Bridgeman Images; Bottom: Library of Montreal was a hive of
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 By 1864, the Confederacy T o y s o f Y e s t e r y e a r
realized that victory via the
battlefield was unlikely and
their last best hope lay with
unconventional warfare
designed to discourage the
North’s will to fight and defeat
Abraham Lincoln in the
November elections. Sheehy
and Wallace establish that
many involved were high
ranking and well-connected
Northern politicians, powerful
newspaper editors, and wealthy
bankers who co-mingled
with their Confederate
co-conspirators.
Many of the operations
described are well known
already, such as the St.
Albans Raid, but Sheehy and Fine, all wood, old-fashioned toy soldiers and cannon
Wallace also detail more subtle
economic and political efforts for generations of playing, collecting, learning.
to undermine the Union war
effort. Many Northern bankers
and speculators were frequently See all the exciting toys at:
involved in shady dealings
with the enemy, including www.Regimental-Colours.com
currency manipulation and
richly rewarding “cotton for
contraband” transactions
supervised by the U.S. Treasury.
Even Lincoln is linked to
some of these transactions,
not for personal gain, but Great but no glory

10
“to combat a weak currency, union generals
balance payments deficit, and you need to KNOW
a drain on gold reserves” due
to an increasingly lengthy
and expensive war. But these
transactions helped keep
Confederate armies in the field.
This Man
John Wilkes Booth’s Montreal Defeated
Stonewall...
yet few know

connection has been firmly the story of how

Nathan Kimba .
ll
outfoxed a legend

established by other historians.

Sheehy and Wallace follow its
evolution from kidnapping
to assassination. The authors
fredericksburg sacked!
Who really wrote the war’s
most famous letter?
NOVEMBER 2017
HISTORYNET.COM

even speculate that the idea ACWP-171100-COVER-DIGITAL.indd 1 7/27/17 2:59 PM

of killing Lincoln may well

have been planted in Booth’s
mind by people surrounding
him in Montreal. “Rather than
being a lone wolf alienated
from society,” they conclude,
“Booth was in the company
of a powerful network....At
the center of this cabal was
certainly the Confederate
Secret Service.”–Gordon Berg
 CONVERSATION PIECE

FAULTY TOWER
In one of those ironic twists of history, a monument erected to honor Confederate
troops who fought at the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg somehow
now bears the name of a Union general—the victor of the pivotal Battle of
Gettysburg, no less! Known today as “Meade’s Pyramid,” the 23-foot-tall
structure—built of 17 tons of stacked granite—was erected in 1897 by
the Confederate Memorial Literary Society to mark where Stonewall
Jackson’s troops foiled Maj. Gen. George Meade’s breakthrough
on the Confederate right on December 13. As the 20th century
approached, the society had asked Virginia railroad executives
to erect “signs” at historic locations across the state. The
president of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac
Railroad decided instead to erect a smaller version of
the 90-foot-tall stone pyramid honoring Confederate
dead placed in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery
in 1869. One plus: Since it’s come to be known
as Meade’s Pyramid, it’s unlikely this
“Confederate” monument will be slated for
removal anytime soon.–Jerry Morelock

64 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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TH[[LÄUPZO )RU7KH+LVWRULDQ 7KH+LVWRU\6WRUH

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www.forthehistorian.com www.thehistorystore.net
web@forthehistorian.com info@thehistorystore.net
56/58 mm-1/30 Scale

42 York St, Gettysburg, 101 North Paint St.

Pennsylvania 17325 Chillicothe, Ohio 45601

6LHUUD7R\6ROGLHU 7UHHIURJ7UHDVXUHV
Tel: 408-395-3000 Tel: 866-394-2418
Fax: 408-358-3966 Outside U.S.: 1-507-545-2500
www.sierratoysoldier.com www.treefrogtreasures.com
29 N. Santa Cruz Ave. 248 Sandstone Drive NW
31187 Los Gatos, California 95030 Eyota, Minnesota 55934
Confederate
1st Texas Flag +REE\%XQNHU &URZQ0LOLWDU\0LQLDWXUHV
$48.00 Tel: 781-321-8855 US Tel: 603-552-5069
31265 · $36.00 Fax: 781-321-8866 UK Phone: 02030048058
/HUK7HPU[LK www.hobbybunker.com www.crowntoysoldiers.com
7L^[LY-PN\YLZ 33 Exchange Street 88 North Broadway
Malden, Massachusetts 02148 Salem, NH 03079
31261
Confederate Texas Brigade *UHHQ·V&ROOHFWDEOHV 5RGQH\·V'LPHVWRUH
Advancing No.2 Tel: 973-627-4961 *DOOHU\
$36.00 Tel: 850-932-6522
www.greenscollectables.com
46 Warren Trail www.rodneysdimestoregallery.com
31258 rodneysgallery@yahoo.com
Confederate Texas Brigade Denville, New Jersey 07834
Defending No.1
$36.00 0LFKLJDQ7R\6ROGLHU&R 7UDLQVDQG7R\6ROGLHUV
31252 Tel: 800-786-1888
Confederate Tel: 248-586-1022
General George Toll Free: 1-888-MICHTOY www.trainsandtoysolders.com
Pickett www.michtoy.com 3130 S. 6th Street, Suite 104
$36.00 1400 East 11 Mile Road Lincoln, Nebraska 68502
Royal Oak, Michigan 48067
31255
Confederate *HSSHUKTLU[PVU[OPZHK[V
Drummer
Standing in YLJLP]LH-9,,JH[HSVN
Frockcoat
$36.00

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