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 “When Sidney Johnston fell, it was the
turning-point of our fate; for we had no
other hand to take up his work in the West.”
—Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Albert Sidney Johnston

Shiloh Disaster
The general’s battlefield death wrecked
Confederate Western Theater strategy

! Chancellorsville dishonor for

Plus Paul Revere’s grandson
Massive floating artillery
battery bombards Fort Sumter MAY 2021

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 May 2021

46
Floating Fire
A massive waterborne battery
helped bombard Fort Sumter
By Mark Carlson

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS;
GADO COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; NEW YORK STATE MILITARY MUSEUM; COVER: NORTH WIND
2 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR PICTURE ARCHIVES; GADO IMAGES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY: BRIAN WALKER
 Departments
6 LETTERS Opposing views on S.G. Elliott’s newfound Antietam map
8 GRAPESHOT! Landscape of horror, honor plus a deadly Fort Sumter cocktail
12 THE BLOG ROLL Ducks out of water
14 HIDDEN HEROES Abe’s tireless image-makers
18 FROM THE CROSSROADS Bravado at the bluffs of Shepherdstown
54 TRAILSIDE Booth’s desperate escape through Southern Maryland
58 5 QUESTIONS New chapters of the Gettysburg story
60 REVIEWS Worthy Lincoln two-pack; Yankee boys out of their element in Louisiana
64 FINAL BIVOUAC Pennsylvania commander’s conspicuous gallantry

20
Lasting Void
Albert Sidney Johnston had no
equals in the Western Theater.
That ultimately cost the
Confederate Army the war
By Timothy B. Smith

38
Cold Harbor Coda
Amid the slaughter of June 3,
1864, an isolated cavalry
victory actually made a
difference for the Federals
By Eric J. Wittenberg

28
Shattered Reputation
Was a prominent Union general’s
court-martial for cowardice at
Chancellorsville misplaced justice?
By Rick Barram

ON THE COVER: CONFEDERATE GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON’S MORTAL WOUNDING AT SHILOH WAS AVOIDABLE.
THE EXACT IMPACT OF HIS DEATH ON THE WAR’S OUTCOME REMAINS IN CONTENTION.
MAY 2021 3

AMERICA’S
CIVIL WAR
ONLINE
HISTORYNET.com/
AMERICAS-CIVIL-WAR
A SHOT IN THE DARK
Once the Rebels took aim at Fort
Sumter, there was no turning
back—for anyone.
http://bit.ly/ShotInDark
KILLING STONEWALL
How one of the Confederacy’s best
fighting brigades doomed the South
at Chancellorsville.
http://bit.ly/KillingJackson
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Albert Sidney Johnston’s poor
tactical and strategic decisions cost
him the victory in the war in the
West…and his life.
http://bit.ly/JohnstonWar
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 LETTERS
Elliott Map
disunion
David Welker seems to put much
more stock in Simon Elliott’s 1864
Antietam map than I do [“Antietam’s
Deadly Harvest,” January 2021]. We do
not know if Elliott actually visited the
battlefield, but assume he did because
he published the map. Why did he
publish it? We don’t know. Maybe as a
novelty, or as an economic venture?
Why is the New York Public Library
copy the only one known to exist? How
widely was the map circulated in 1864?
We don’t know. Was his burial count
accurate? We don’t know. Many of
those buried on the field may have
been severely wounded who died days
after the battle, so were they “killed” or
“wounded” as far as reported statistics
go? Was it a “propaganda” effort to spur
Union morale in 1864 or a publicity
stunt? We don’t know. Was he a histo-
rian striving for an accurate count of
America’s bloodiest single day battle?
There is no evidence of that. Several of
the individual grave names and regi-
ments he recorded are incorrect, so
why should we rely on his total count?
While I have not undertaken a hand
count myself, careful historians I know
have arrived at a different total than
Mr. Welker, so there seems to be some
confusion. Since many of the Confed-
erates were buried in trench graves,
and even some Union troops, how did
6 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Elliott arrive at exact numbers for the
trenches? We don’t know. The map is a
novel curiosity, but certainly not a veri-
fiable historical source.
Tom Clemens
Keedysville, Md.
David Welker responds: Simon Elliott’s
motives for creating and publishing the
recently discovered Antietam burial
map are no less relevant to its accuracy
than are these questions to his similar,
well-known map of Gettysburg’s fallen,
which historians have long valued for
understanding that battle. The overall
accuracy of his Antietam map is sup-
ported by several independent
sources—period photographs, written
accounts, and extant Union burial
records—which substantiate key por-
tions and details of the map. That the
map contains some minor errors and
inconsistencies—which I noted—in my
view no more invalidates it than should
the many mistakes and inaccuracies
contained in the Official Records, a
source no historian can ignore in under-
standing the war. I similarly stand by
the numbers used in the article, even as
I accept that figures reached by others
undertaking their own detailed count
analysis may vary slightly from mine.
While Elliott’s map may not be the final
word on Antietam’s terrible human
cost, it is no mere “novel curiosity.”
Rather, it is a valuable new tool for his-
torians seeking to better understand
America’s bloodiest single day.
Lesser Rank for Lee
Interesting piece in the March issue on
the paperweight souvenir photos of
Meade’s and Lee’s respective Gettys-
burg headquarters (“Grapeshot!”—P.9).
Especially interesting is that the A.C.
Bosselman & Co. mistakenly denoted
Lee as a Major General there. Perhaps
that defect might make it more valuable
as a flawed item.
Keep up the great work!
Edward Keller
Central Islip, N.Y.
By the Book Smarts
I have just recently received and com-
pleted your November 2020 issue. As
usual it was one of the highlights of the
month.
I particularly enjoyed Timothy Smith’s
article “By the Book.” I found it informa-
tive and concise. In fact, I would very
much like to see it as an ongoing contri-
bution. Perhaps Dr. Smith could apply
the analysis to some of the “less familiar”
or dissected actions. Ball’s Bluff, Second
Manassas, Perryville, Cold Harbor, and
First Fort Fisher come to mind.
Thank you for your ongoing great
work. It is especially appreciated, as
material on the war is becoming less
accessible to the public.
W.K. Gaylor
Waynesville, N.C.
Thanks
The story “The Ultimate Price” in the
March 2021 issue on the James Wad-
sworth-Patrick McCracken bonding
[P.30] was both touching and heartening.
Thank you!
Jiles McKeel
Sautee-Nacoochee, Ga.
WRITE TO US
Send letters to America’s Civil War,
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Letters Editor, Historynet, 901 North
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 GRAPESHOT!
A Blast of Civil War Stories
Out of the Shadows
NEW EFFORTS HONORING AFRICAN AMERICANS’ VITAL
ROLE IN THE CIVIL WAR CONTINUE TO TAKE ROOT
A “Road to Freedom” tour highlighting 88 Virginia sites
involving the experiences of African Americans during
the Civil War is now available as a map guide or app for
web, Android, or iOS devices. Prepared by Civil War Trails
and the American Battlefield Trust—with ongoing collab-
oration from the African American Historical Preserva-
tion Foundation—the program informs participants about
battlefields, schools, churches, cemeteries, and highway
markers, as well as birthplaces of notable figures, through-
out the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sites range from the
city centers of Alexandria and Richmond to those in more
remote locations, such as the High Bridge near Farmville,
where some 30 free men of color were conscripted to
work on its fortifications for the Confederacy, and Camp
Davis, a Confederate mustering ground in Lynchburg that
became a center for newly freed people. For options on
downloading this free app and others, visit battlefields.
org/fighting-for-freedom. The map also will be available
at visitor centers and select distribution sites.
In Alabama, the contribution of African American
8 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Black Entrepreneur
Basil Biggs (second from
left, standing in front of
his still-extant home on
Taneytown Road) was a
NH\ÀJXUHLQ*HWW\VEXUJ·V
postwar development.
He is among Black
QRWDEOHVÀQDOO\UHFHLYLQJ
GXHFUHGLWIRUWKHLU
Civil War-era efforts.
troops is getting recognition at Fort Blakeley, which
overlooks the Tensaw River near Mobile, Ala.—a 60-acre
parcel recently purchased to protect both its historical and
ecological significance. On April 9, 1865, Fort Blakeley was
the last of Mobile’s defenses to fall before the city was
surrendered on April 12. Some 5,000 African American
soldiers fought at the battle, the most in any contest the
entire war. Funding for the Blakeley Bluff purchase came
from the American Battlefield Protection Program, facili-
tated by the American Battlefield Trust.
Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, the Adams County His-
torical Society is partnering with the Gettysburg Black
History Museum to display photos, documents, and arti-
facts from the GBHM collection at the ACHS’s new state-
of-the-art facility near Gettysburg, scheduled to open in
2022. Artifacts include family Bibles, photographs, letters,
military records, and personal items belonging to Frank
Penn, Gettysburg’s first Black battlefield guide, as well as
NPS PHOTO
USCT veteran Lloyd Watts, among others. For more infor-
mation, visit achs-pa.org. —Sarah Richardson
 John F.
Reynolds

By the Boots
Cavalrymen in both armies generally carried a standard
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man who shot Lincoln assassin
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Killed in
Action
Albert Sidney Johnston was not
the only prominent commander
killed in battle (see P.20). Match
7KHDWUHLQ$SULOVHH3 each general to his site of death.
:KHQDWWHQGLQJFKXUFKWKHSHFX
OLDUDOEHLWSDWULRWLF&RUEHWWZRXOG 1. John F. Reynolds
WHOOWKHSUHDFKHUDIWHUWKHVHUPRQ 2. A.P. Hill
´7KH/RUGZDQWVPHWRVD\DIHZ 3. James B. McPherson
MCLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF SCOTT VEZEAU; RICHARD H. HOLLOWAY; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM

ZRUGVµ+HWKHQUHPRYHGDSLVWRO 4. Nathaniel Lyon

IURPHDFKERRWSODFHGWKHPRQ 5. William E. Jones
HLWKHUVLGHRIWKH%LEOHDQGVSRNH 6. John Sedgwick
KLVPLQG²Richard H. Holloway 7. Robert S. Garnett
8. Jesse Reno
9. James Byron Gordon
10. Leonidas Polk
BATTLE RATTLE
“We have humbled the A. Corrick’s Ford
flag of the United States…. B. Piedmont
C. Fox’s Gap
It has triumphed for
D. Spotsylvania Courthouse
seventy years; but today, E. Meadow Bridge
on the thirteenth day of F. Pine Mountain
April, it has been G. Gettysburg
humbled, and humbled H. Atlanta
before the glorious little I. Petersburg
state of South Carolina.” J. Wilson’s Creek
–South Carolina Governor Francis
Pickens, April 13, 1861, Charleston Answers: A7, B5, C8, D6, E9, F4, G1, H3, I2, J4

MAY 2021 9
 GRAPESHOT!
Ruins of the Boteler’s Mill dam
EXTRA ROUNDS
Fun Facts From Our Features That Didn’t Quite Fit
Path of Horror
The above photo of a Shepherdstown, W.Va., landmark was taken during
the war from the Maryland side of the Potomac River. As told in “From
the Crossroads” on P.18, it was the view two Union officers—Captain
Francis P. Donaldson and Lieutenant Lemuel L. Crocker—beheld the
morning of September 20, 1862, as they awaited orders to cross the river
to determine what direction Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
had retreated after the Battle of Antietam.
The wooden slats that are visible in shallow water were part of a mill
dam that was built in 1829 just after construction began on the Chesa-
peake & Ohio Canal. The dam, which allowed water to be diverted to the
mill, was also used to transport to Maryland cement that was made from
quarried limestone and fired in the kilns at Boteler’s Mill (shown).
Although the dam was burned by Union forces in 1861 to prevent its use
by the Confederates, surviving slats remained above water. Those slats—as
well as Boteler’s Ford, located 400 yards below the dam—were probably
used by retreating Confederate soldiers on the night of September 18 and
may also have been used by Confederate artillery in crossing the Potomac.
(Boteler’s Ford was also known as Pack Horse Ford or Blackford’s Ford.)
When men of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, Lieutenant Crocker’s
regiment, ran into Confederates on the Virginia side of the river on
September 20, they desperately attempted to escape back across the
dam slats. Many were killed in the process. The next day, Crocker used
the dam on a heroic but unauthorized mission to recover some of his
regiment’s dead and wounded left behind near Boteler’s Mill.
10 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Roger Pryor
Firewater Poisons Fire-Eater: Confederate
Army Colonel Roger Pryor, a former South
Carolina politician, was reportedly offered the
opportunity to fire the first shot at Fort Sumter
the morning of April 12, 1861 (see P.46). The
Southern “fire-eater” declined, however, say-
ing he “could not fire the first gun of the war.”
When Sumter commander Major Robert
Anderson finally surrendered the fort after two
days and nights of Confederate bombardment,
Pryor served as one of General P.G.T. Beaure-
gard’s surrender negotiators. While seated at a
table in Sumter’s hospital as the terms were
dictated, Pryor accidentally drank a bottle of
Iodine of Potassium, mistaking it for whiskey.
The fort’s U.S. Army surgeon quickly pumped
Pryor’s stomach, saving his life. Pryor was pro-
moted to brigadier general on April 16, and his
brigade later fought in the Peninsula Campaign
and at Second Manassas. At the Battle of
Antietam, he assumed command of Maj. Gen.
Richard Anderson’s Division, in James Long-
street’s Corps, after Anderson was wounded.
He would resign his commission in 1863. After
the war, he again dabbled in politics and nota-
bly opened a law firm with former Union Maj.
Gen. Benjamin “Spoons” Butler.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)
Name Game: Not one but three Confederate
regiments would be known as the 3rd Arkansas
Infantry during the war. The best known of the
 GRAPESHOT!

trio fought in the Eastern Theater as part of John Bell Hood’s

famed Texas Brigade, beginning in 1862, but also saw action
in western Virginia in September-October 1861 (see P.12).
The other two units remained out west.
After Arkansas seceded in May 1861, its newly created
Provisional Army of Arkansas was divided geographically.
The 1st Division comprised men from western Arkansas and
the 2nd Division was mustered from eastern counties.
Thomas H. Bradley was the 2nd Division’s first commander,
but, as a Unionist, was mistrusted by his officers, including
future Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne.
Meanwhile, 1st Division commander Brig. Gen. Nicholas
B. Pearce ignored the state nomenclatures and designated Paul Joseph and
Edward Revere
units according to their order of arrival at muster points. The
3rd Regiment of the 1st Division was supposed to be a cav-
alry unit, but the horse soldiers reached the rally point before
the infantrymen and thus became the 1st Regiment, Arkan-
sas State Troops. The late-arriving foot soldiers were then
designated the 3rd Regiment. In July 1861, at Wilson’s Creek,
Mo., the 3rd Arkansas countered a flank attack and helped
break the Yankee line during the Confederate victory. [Right:
The 3rd Arkansas heads off to battle at Wilson’s Creek.]
In May 1862, Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn stripped Arkansas
of all organized CSA units, creating new units called
Trans-Mississippi Rifle Regiments. Men of the 26th Arkan-
sas, redesignated as the 3rd Trans-Mississippi, began calling
themselves the 3rd Arkansas Infantry.

Family of Patriots: Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere

had three grandsons who fought in the Civil War. The most
famous was Brig. Gen. Joseph Warren Revere, who had
assumed command of the Excelsior Brigade by May 1863
(see P.28). Paul Joseph Revere served as a colonel of the 20th
Massachusetts Infantry, along with his brother, Edward
Hutchinson Revere, an assistant surgeon. Paul and Edward
were both captured at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff but were
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY (2); WILSON’S CREEK BATTLEFIELD; COURTESY OF KEN LAWRENCE (2)

paroled and returned to service in early 1862. At Antietam,

Paul was wounded, and Edward was shot and killed while
tending to a wounded comrade. On the second day of the
Battle of Gettysburg, Paul was mortally wounded by a shell Western 3rd Arkansas
fragment while in camp behind Cemetery Hill, dying two
days later. He was posthumously brevetted brigadier gen-
eral, U.S. Volunteers (backdated to July 2) for “gallant and
meritorious service” during the battle.

‘Until Death Do Us Part’: While on a veteran’s furlough in

March 1864, Major Delos R. Northwater of the 6th Ohio
Cavalry married his sweetheart, Abbie Proctor. Upon return-
ing to his regiment, he had a solemn premonition, however,
telling a fellow officer that he would never see his wife again.
On May 28, 1864, the day he was promoted to major, he was
killed in action at Haw’s Shop, Va.—the first of two cavalry
engagements at the site over six days during Ulysses S.
Grant’s Overland Campaign (for more, see P.38). Delos and Abbie

MAY 2021 11
 THE BLOG ROLL
Country Boys
THE ROUGH-HEWN 3RD ARKANSAS MADE ITS
PRESENCE FELT IN THE EASTERN THEATER
By Dan Masters
THE 3RD ARKANSAS INFANTRY arrived in western Vir-
ginia truly ducks out of water. It was the only regiment
from Arkansas in the entire Eastern Theater, and the
men’s coarse appearance made their Virginia comrades
view them as “ignorant country boys.” While the regi-
ment would go on to greater fame as part of John Bell
Hood’s Texas Brigade in the Army of Northern Vir-
JLQLD LW VSHQW PXFK RI LWV ÀUVW \HDU RI VHUYLFH LQ WKH
foreboding mountains of western Virginia, taking part
LQÀJKWLQJDW*UHHQEULHUDQG&DPS$OOHJKHQ\
Sergeant Major Frederick Lawrence of the 3rd
Arkansas penned the following letter describing the
2FWREHU%DWWOHRI*UHHQEULHU5LYHU$)HGHUDO
IRUFHXQGHU%ULJ*HQ-RVHSK5H\QROGVPDUFKHGIURP
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12 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
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OLVKLQJDORGJPHQWRQWKH&RQIHGHUDWHVLGHRIWKHULYHU
The small engagement resulted in 100 total casualties.
Headquarters 3rd Regiment Arkansas Volunteers,
Camp Bartow, Pocahontas Co., Virginia
October 1861
I have not written to you since the organization of our
regiment because nothing of interest has occurred
since we came to Virginia until within a few days.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
We have undertaken since we came here two months
DJRWRVXUSULVHWKHHQHP\LQKLVVWURQJKROGRQ&KHDW
Mountain but without success. We marched over
almost impassable mountains, waded ice-cold streams,
 THE BLOG ROLL

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MAY 2021 13
 HIDDEN HEROES

ONE OF THE RARE THINGS upon which the

country’s liberal and conservative factions
can agree in these roiling times is the vision
of Abraham Lincoln as America’s ideal
president. Republicans claim him as their
scion—although, granted, the Republican
Party is a much different animal today
than it was in the 1860s—while the Dem-
ocrats claim kinship over his more liberal
precepts and actions. It is highly unlikely
that we would hold our 16th president in
such general and unquestioned reverence
were it not for the lifelong efforts of two
young men who knew Lincoln intimately,
and attended to him daily.
John Nicolay and John Hay served
throughout Lincoln’s tragically curtailed
presidency as his personal secretaries.
Both men were highly intelligent and
UHPDUNDEO\ FDSDEOH ÀHUFHO\ GHYRWHG WR
and protective of their boss. Living in the
White House with the Lincoln family, they
were, as Joshua Zeitz writes in his 2014
book Lincoln’s Boys: John Hay, John Nico-
lay and the War for Lincoln’s Image, “both
OLWHUDOO\ DQG ÀJXUDWLYHO\ FORVHU WR WKH
President than anyone outside his imme-
diate family…performing the roles and
functions of a modern-day chief of staff,
press secretary, political director, and
presidential body man.”
In addition to handling the tremendous
amount of clerical work their positions
generated, Nicolay and Hay also acted as
Lincoln’s personal doormen, screening all

Marketing visitors to the White House. They called

Lincoln “the Tycoon,” although never to
his face; for his part, Lincoln looked upon
the two as surrogate sons, referring to

Lincoln them as “the boys.” Although both shared

/LQFROQ·VFRQÀGHQFHDQGIULHQGVKLS1LFR-
lay was the closer to the president. When
11-year-old Willie Lincoln died in 1862, it
THE PRESIDENT’S FAITHFUL ZDVWR1LFROD\ZKRP/LQFROQÀUVWWXUQHG
SECRETARIES LED A CRUSADE TO for solace.
PRESERVE HIS PLACE IN HISTORY Born in Bavaria in 1832, John George
Nicolay came to Illinois with his family,
By Ron Soodalter still a child. While in his early twenties,
he worked at, and soon became owner of,
HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

WKH3LWWVÀHOG,OOFree Press. It was while

The “Tycoon” and His “Boys”
working at the paper that he met Hay, who
Nicolay and Hay brought often-needed balance to Lincoln’s
was attending a private academy in Pitts-
White House. Hay (top left) liked to guffaw, while the
ÀHOG7KRXJK1LFROD\ZDVVL[\HDUVROGHU
no-nonsense Nicolay growled, according to one colleague.
the two immediately became fast friends.

14 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 HIDDEN HEROES

Nicolay sold the paper in 1856 to take a position as PHQWVRUDVKKDVHYHUEHHQPDGHDVWKDWRIHOHYDWLQJWR

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staff as an assistant secretary in considered the late president “the
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In the years following the Civil Dynamic Duo there were several occasions on which
:DUUHFRUGLQJWKHLUH[SHULHQFHVZLWK Nicolay (top) and Hay held other WKHER\VSHQQHGWKHRYHUZRUNHG/LQ-
the late president for posterity proved government roles after the war. FROQ·V PLVVLYHV IRU KLP VXEPLWWLQJ
D GDXQWLQJ WDVN :KLOH KLV GHDWK Hay, notably, was secretary of WKHPIRUKLVVLJQDWXUH
LQVSLUHGPDQ\$PHULFDQVWRFDQRQL]H state under Presidents McKinley %HWWHU VWLOO WKH\ KDG GHYHORSHG D
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VHH /LQFROQ LQ D GDUNHU OLJKW 6RPH HOGHVWVRQ5REHUW7RGG/LQFROQIRXQG
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)

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MAY 2021 15
WHICH GROUP
DETONATED A
BOMB IN THE
U.S. CAPITOL
BUILDING ON
MARCH 1, 1971?
The Black Panthers, the Youth
International Party, the Irish
Republican Army, or the
Weather Underground?
For more, visit
WWW.HISTORYNET.COM/
MAGAZINES/QUIZ
HISTORYNET.com
ANSWER: THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND.
OFTEN CALLED THE WEATHERMEN, IN 1969
THE GROUP DECIDED TO “ENGAGE IN
GUERILLA WARFARE AGAINST THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT” AND STARTED A BOMBING
CAMPAIGN. BY 1976 THE ORGANIZATION
HAD ALL BUT DISSOLVED.
HIDDEN HEROES
available to the two. No one else would
have access to these papers until 1947. As
LWWXUQHGRXWWKHFRQÀGHQFH5REHUWSODFHG
in them was more than amply rewarded.
Both Nicolay and Hay were, in the
words of one chronicler, “witty and pro-
OLÀFOHWWHUZULWHUVREVHUYDQWDQGLQFLVLYH
diarists,” and their efforts culminated in
a massive but highly readable 10-volume
biography of their late boss. It took them
decades. Simply titled Abraham Lincoln:
A History WKH ELRJUDSK\ ÀUVW DSSHDUHG
Hay considered the late
president “the greatest
character since Christ.”
in serial form in the Century magazine in
1886, and was not published as a complete
set until 1890.
By then, Americans were anxious to
SXWWKH&LYLO:DUEHKLQGWKHP5HYLVLRQ-
ist histories were voguish at the time,
promoting national reconciliation, rather
than the representation of historical facts.
This trend caused Nicolay and Hay great
consternation; they had no intention of
sugar-coating the recent schism. Their
biography pulled no punches in placing the
causes of, and responsibility for, the war
exactly where the authors saw it. They
presented their martyred subject against
the backdrop of a war that was fought pri-
marily over slavery, and not, as the South
would have it, states’ rights only.
It is a truism that there is no such thing
as an objective history. The Lincoln whom
Hay and Nicolay chronicled and offered to
the public represented the man as they
saw and knew him. “Theirs,” Zeitz wrote,
“was a deliberate project of historic cre-
ation.” Abraham Lincoln is arguably the
single most written-about personage in
American history; yet the Lincoln whom
we know—or, believe we know—today,
and with whom future generations will
become acquainted is a direct result of the
efforts of “Lincoln’s boys.”
Ron Soodalter, who writes from Cold
Spring, N.Y., is president of the Abraham
Lincoln Institute.
 Subscribe Now!
PENNSYLVANIA RESERVES AT THE FRONT ★ MAYNARD’S DEADLY CAP GUN ★ A Scottish Hero?
The Somers Mutiny
Ted Williams at War
HISTORYNET.COM
Israel’s Close Call
Riding a Torpedo
PHILIPPINES, DECEMBER 8, 1941

WHY DID
Cedar Creek, 1864

ROGUE U-BOAT!
HISTORYNET.com

MACARTHUR SUB
RS, A GERMAN19
WAIT FOR DEFYING ORDE
PROW LED THE U.S. COAST IN 45

THE ENEMY
TO STRIKE
PLUS
STAY OVERNIG
HT
FIRST?
—page 28
WHERE MOSBY
RAIDED PEARL HARBOR DEBACLE
—page 33 SHADOWED
ONE BAD CALL FOR LIFE
JULY 4, 1864
A YOUNG OFFICER

PARTY CRASHER
JOHN MOSBY AND HIS RANGERS RUIN
+ THE MAN WHOCHT
HIS WEHRMA
FOR U.S. ARM Y
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 FROM THE CROSSROADS

AS THE SOLDIERS of the rookie 118th Pennsylvania

Infantry waited on the Virginia bank of the Poto-
mac River for orders the morning of September 20,
1862, Captain Francis P. Donaldson spotted Lieu-
tenant Lemuel L. Crocker nearby. The two were
from different companies, but Donaldson, a veteran
with previous service in the 71st Pennsylvania,
had taken a liking to the friendly, powerfully built
Crocker, a New Yorker from the Empire State
capital of Albany. In 1851, Crocker had moved to
Philadelphia, where he worked as a merchant
before accepting a commission as a lieutenant in
the 118th—known as the “Corn Exchange Regi-
ment.” On September 20, he had served for a mere
34 days.
The position they occupied that morning
reminded Donaldson of Ball’s Bluff, Va., with its
VWHHSEOXIIVOLQLQJWKHULYHUVLWHRIDÀHUFHEDWWOHLQ
October 1861. Now, three days after the Battle of
Antietam, the 118th was part of a reconnaissance
in force by the 5th Corps across the Potomac in the
direction of Shepherdstown, Va., and points south,
to determine the direction the Confederate army
had taken after its retreat from Sharpsburg.
Soon, the unit was ordered to join other regi-
ments of its brigade up on the bluffs. By the time
they reached the summit, however, the Federals
were under attack by the Confederate division of
Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill. To its horror, the 118th learned
HDUO\ LQ WKH HQJDJHPHQW WKDW PDQ\ RI LWV (QÀHOG
 SDWWHUQ ULÁHV ZHUH GHIHFWLYH ,Q VRPH FDVHV
the hammer spring of those weapons was not
strong enough for the hammer to break the percus-

‘Daring
sion cap; in others, the nipple, where the percus-
sion cap was placed, would break off when struck
by the hammer. Both defects rendered those weap-
ons useless.

Beyond &RPSDQ\RIÀFHUVVXFKDV'RQDOGVRQDQG&URFNHU
frantically searched along the lines of their compa-
nies for functioning weapons that other soldiers had

Precedent’
A UNION OFFICER’S HEROISM
dropped. When Donaldson and Crocker encoun-
tered one another, Crocker exclaimed, “God! Cap-
tain, was Ball’s Bluff like this?” to which Donaldson
replied, “Crocker, we are beaten and you had better
look to the rear for a safe retreat for the men.”
AT SHEPHERDSTOWN AWED Bedlam soon engulfed the regiment, which
BOTH FRIEND AND FOE ÀQDOO\´EURNHLQZLOGFRQIXVLRQIRUWKHULYHUµ+LOO·V
men swarmed along the bluffs and into an aban-
COURTESY OF THE RONN PALM MUSEUM

By D. Scott Hartwig
He Backed Up His Bravado
2IÀFHU/HPXHO&URFNHU·VEDWWOHÀHOGFRPSHWHQF\
FRPHVWKURXJKLQWKLVZDUWLPHSKRWRJUDSK
doned cement mill near the riverbank, and pro-
ceeded to pick off the panicked Pennsylvanians as
they attempted to ford the river to safety back in
Maryland. Two days later, in a letter to his par-
ents, Crocker recalled, “We retreated amidst such
a shower of lead I never want to take the risk again

18 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 FROM THE CROSSROADS

of coming out of.” He admitted, “I was cool and collected two captains and a lieutenant down to the river. By the
during my travel by the river-side,” but that when he time he carried their bodies to the river, he was “abso-
reached the mill dam, which many were using to cross lutely covered with blood and dirt.” Word of what he was
the river to safety, “I think my cheek blanched, for it doing had made its way to 5th Corps headquarters and
seemed to me certain death to cross it.” Porter dispatched an aide to call for an immediate end
Donaldson, who had been nearby, wrote how much to Crocker’s mission of mercy. Spotting the lieutenant
of the regiment, “beaten, dismayed, wild with fright, on the riverbank, the aide shouted across that if Crocker
all order and discipline gone, were rushing headlong did not return to the Maryland bank at once, they would
towards the dam.” shell him out with a battery. Crocker was not easily
What may have saved Crocker’s life and enabled him intimidated. He shouted back, “Shell and be damned,”
to cross safely was the arrival of the 1st U.S. Sharpshoot- and went on with his work.
ers, who lined the drained bank Upon returning to the bluffs,
of the nearby C&O Canal and he was confronted by a Confed-
cleared the bluffs of Confeder- erate general, possibly Fitz Lee,
DWHV$IWHUWKHÀJKWLQJVXEVLGHG and his staff. They demanded
some 20 men of the regiment, to know what he was doing
both wounded and those “whose and on whose authority he had
courage had given out,” remained crossed into Confederate lines.
RQWKH9LUJLQLDEDQNWRRWHUULÀHG Crocker explained himself and
to attempt the passage over the added, “humanity and decency
river. Crocker and Captain John demanded that they [the dead &
B. Isler, commanding the Sharp- wounded] be properly cared for.”
shooters, boldly walked up and Since no one else was attempting
down the riverbank in an effort to do this, “he had determined to
to induce those soldiers to cross risk the consequences and dis-
but realized they were too terror- Fatal Furnace charge the duty himself.”
stricken to move. Crocker quickly 8QLRQWURRSVKLGIURPKRVWLOHJXQÀUHLQ The general asked Crocker
stripped off his uniform jacket these Boteler’s Cement Mill kilns located how long he had been in the
DQG FRYHUHG E\ WKH ULÁHV RI WKH along the Potomac River. Friendly Union service. “Twenty days” was the
Sharpshooters and survivors of DUWLOOHU\ÀUHNLOOHGDDQXPEHURIWKHP reply. He told Crocker to con-
his regiment, forded the Poto- tinue his work and pointed out a
mac, getting each one of the men across safely. boat near the Virginia shore that could be used to trans-
Crocker was furious at the ineptitude that had led port the bodies across, even deploying cavalry pickets
to the slaughter in his regiment. Whoever ordered the to protect Crocker from other Confederate troops who
reconnaissance “ought to be court-martialed,” he wrote might not know his mission.
his parents. Unknown to Crocker, the carnage had $IWHUFURVVLQJWKHULYHUZLWKWKHERGLHVRIWKHRIÀFHUV
resulted largely because his colonel, Charles M. Prevost, and a wounded private from his company, Crocker was
DEUDYHEXWLQH[SHULHQFHGRIÀFHUKDGUHIXVHGWRUHFRJ- hauled before General Porter. The commander repri-
nize an order to retreat because it had not come through manded the lieutenant, acquainting him with the mili-
proper channels. WDU\ODZVWKDWHVWDEOLVKHGÁDJVRIWUXFHDQGKRZKHKDG
Upset to see his regiment’s dead lying strewn along violated those laws.
the line of retreat, Crocker the next morning asked his But a reprimand was his only punishment. As the
brigade commander, Colonel James Barnes, whether historian of the 118th observed, “there was something
Barnes could request 5th Corps commander Maj. Gen. about the whole affair so honest, so earnest, and so true,
)LW]-RKQ3RUWHUWRVHQGDÁDJRIWUXFHDFURVVWKHULYHU that there was a disposition to temporize with the stern
so the wounded could be retrieved and the dead bur- demands of discipline.” Porter likely also recognized the
LHG%DUQHV·LQTXLU\UHFHLYHG´DÁDWHPSKDWLFUHIXVDOµ same thing in Crocker that his friend Donaldson had;
7KHUHZRXOGEHQRÁDJRIWUXFH “The daring of this man Crocker is beyond all prece-
Crocker, however, couldn’t abide the decision, and “in dent.” The army needed every Crocker it had.
positive disregard of instructions” he forded the Potomac
PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

DORQHGUHVVHGLQKLVIXOORIÀFHU·VXQLIRUPDQGFDUU\LQJ Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

his sword and pistol. Watching incredulously, Donaldson He thanks Jeffery Stocker, who shared Lemuel Crocker’s
declared Crocker’s bravery “beyond my comprehension.” letter to his parents, originally published in the Octo-
Crocker climbed the bluffs and carried the bodies of ber 2, 1862, issue of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Advocate.

MAY 2021 19
20 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Lasting
VoId
The Western Confederate
Army never recovered
from Albert Sidney
Johnston’s April 1862
death at Shiloh
By Timothy B. Smith

Veteran Presence
Albert Sidney Johnston graduated eighth in the West
Point Class of 1826. In addition to the Civil War,
Johnston served in the 1832 Blackhawk War, the 1846-48
Mexican War, and the Utah Expedition of 1857-58.

MAY 2021 21
“
G
eneral, are you wounded,” Isham G.
No Doubt
Harris frantically asked as Albert
Johnston meets with
Sidney Johnston slumped in his sad- wary commanders
dle about midday April 6, 1862. At the evening of April
dawn, Johnston’s Army of the Mis- 5, 1862. Though some
sissippi had launched a surprise attack on the subordinates advised
Union Army of the Tennessee near Pittsburg calling off the Shiloh
Landing, Tenn., but seemingly little had gone attack, Johnston was
ULJKWVLQFH7KH&RQIHGHUDWHVWRRNDERXWVL[ resolute: “Gentlemen,
hours to completely break through the initial we shall attack at
line of Union camps, defended by less than daylight tomorrow.”
half of Ulysses S. Grant’s army, before slam-
ming into the bulk of the Federal force—comprising veterans who put
XSDVWLIIÀJKWDFURVVWKHEDWWOHÀHOG$V-RKQVWRQ·VDUP\WULHGWRWXUQ
the Union left, the storied commander realized the attack had stalled
and rode east to give the effort his personal attention. He succeeded in
getting the assault moving again, but his aggressiveness would cost him
his life. Shot in his right leg, his popliteal artery severed by a Minié ball,
Johnston bled to death within an hour.
In response to Harris’ inquiry, Johnston could only mumble, “Yes,
and I fear seriously,” before beginning to lose consciousness. Harris, the
governor of Tennessee who was serving as Johnston’s aide, and another
VWDIIRIÀFHUOHGWKHJHQHUDO·VKRUVHGRZQWKHKLOODQGRXWRIWKHOLQHRI
ÀUHLQDQDWWHPSWWRVDYHKLP7KHWZRODLG-RKQVWRQDWWKHIRRWRID
tree and began searching for a wound in his torso before discovering the
gash on Johnston’s leg. Soon Johnston was unable even to swallow the
whiskey administered to him, as it merely gurgled in his throat. At 2:30
SPKHZDVJRQHWKHKLJKHVWUDQNLQJ$PHULFDQPLOLWDU\RIÀFHUHYHU
killed in action in U.S. history.
Johnston had considered the Battle of Shiloh the moment at which he
22 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
and his army must “conquer or perish.” The
consequences of his death have been debated
ever since, and, correctly, most of the debate
has centered on its effects on the battle’s out-
come. Had Johnston lived, many continue to
argue today, Shiloh would have been a Con-
federate triumph. When he perished, the Con-
IHGHUDWHFDXVHÀJXUDWLYHO\SHULVKHGWRR
Leading that argument was Johnston’s son,
PREVIOUS SPREAD: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY; THIS PAGE: SMITH COLLECTION/GADO/GETTY IMAGES
William Preston Johnston, who maintained
that his father would have continued strikes
on Grant’s rattled army and would not have
called off the attacks, as did his replacement,
General P.G.T. Beauregard. William Johnston
was adamant that, in doing so, Beauregard
had thrown away his father’s victory and thus
allowed Grant to grab the initiative overnight
and win the battle on April 7.
Historian Charles P. Roland echoed that
argument in his highly regarded biography,
Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three
Republics. The majestic United Daughters of
the Confederacy monument at the Shiloh
National Military Park, which was placed
near the famed Hornet’s Nest in 1917, also
leans heavily on Lost Cause dogma that John-
ston’s death, along with the loss of daylight
WKDWÀUVWGD\RIWKHEDWWOHZHUHDWWKHFUX[RI
the Confederates’ catastrophic defeat.
More recently, historians have split on
 whether Johnston’s death made any real dif-
ference in the battle’s outcome, some empha-
sizing that a “lull” in the battle occurred at the
time of the general’s death and others arguing
that because Johnston’s army had simply
wasted far too much time as darkness
approached on April 6, there was little hope it
would be able to regain the edge.
“when Sidney Johnston
fell, it was the turning-
point of our fate.”
³-HIIHUVRQ'DYLV
While it is debatable how much of a differ-
HQFH-RKQVWRQ·VGHDWKPDGHRQWKHÀHOGRI6KL-
loh itself, it was actually in the future command
of the Western Confederacy that Johnston’s
DEVHQFH ZRXOG XOWLPDWHO\ SURYH PRVW VLJQLÀ-
cant. Since the war, there has been extensive
debate over how great a commander Johnston
would have become had he not been mortally
wounded—perhaps even another Robert E.
Lee, who conveniently had the luxury of learn-
ing from his initial stumbles during the war
before he assumed command of the Army of
Northern Virginia in June 1862 and, as a
result, established his place as one of this
country’s greatest military leaders.
Such arguments are, of course, based in
“what-if” thinking, but we do know for
sure what happened in the Western The-
ater after Johnston was gone. Perhaps
Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a
Johnston admirer, said it best when he
observed: “[W]hen Sidney Johnston fell, it
was the turning-point of our fate; for we
had no other hand to take up his work in
the West.”
Beauregard, Johnston’s second in command. After defeat at Shiloh, the
Army of the Mississippi pulled back to its base at the critical railroad
town of Corinth, Miss., to await the Federal command’s next move. Fac-
ing the likelihood that the Federals would follow its victory by moving
on Corinth, it seemed prudent to keep Beauregard in charge of the
army, at least until operations around Corinth had been decided one
way or the other.
Would Beauregard, who famously led the Confederate victories at
Fort Sumter and First Manassas in 1861, be a permanent solution,
however? Given the 44-year-old Louisianan’s failing health at the time
and the stark differences he had with both Davis and many in Davis’
administration, the answer seemed no.
,QWKHZDU·VÀUVW\HDUWKHUHZHUHÀYHIXOOJHQHUDOVLQWKH&RQIHGHU-
ate Army, and in the spring of 1862, two could easily be taken out
of consideration for command of the Western Army. Although Samuel
Cooper was the ranking Confederate general, at nearly 64 years of age
KHZDVQRWDWUXHFRQVLGHUDWLRQIRUÀHOGFRPPDQGOLNHO\QHYHUWROHDYH
his desk assignment at the War Department in Richmond. Because the
Confederacy’s second-ranking general had been Albert Sidney John-
ston, that left Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and Beauregard.
The fates of Lee and Joe Johnston were intertwined in the Eastern
Theater. As events transpired around Corinth in April–May 1862,
Johnston and Union Maj. Gen. George McClellan had locked horns on
the Virginia Peninsula. When Johnston, commanding what became
known as the Army of Northern Virginia, was seriously wounded by
artillery shrapnel at Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) on May 31, Lee assumed

D
avis’ statement was bold but true—
at least in part. Eastern Theater
supporters might take umbrage
that Johnston’s death sealed the
Confederacy’s fate; arguments on the
respective importance of the war’s two
principal theaters have raged for decades
and will undoubtedly continue to do so in
HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; NATIONAL ARCHIVES

the future. There should be no dispute,

however, that Davis was correct in his
assertion that there was no other general Early War Luminaries
capable of taking Johnston’s place.
:KR WKRXJK FRXOG ÀOO -RKQVWRQ·V SRVL-
tion in the West? First considered had to be
the four remaining full generals in Confed-
erate service at the time, one of whom was
-RVHSK(-RKQVWRQOHIWDQG3*7%HDXUHJDUGZHUHDPRQJWKHÀYH
IRUPHU86$UP\RIÀFHUVQDPHGIXOOJHQHUDOVLQWKH&RQIHGHUDWH$UP\
WKHÀUVW\HDURIWKHZDU-RKQVWRQD9LUJLQLDQDWLYHDQG%HDXUHJDUG
D/RXLVLDQDQOHGWKHUHVSHFWLYH6RXWKHUQDUPLHVGXULQJWKHVWXQQLQJ
&RQIHGHUDWHYLFWRU\DW)LUVW0DQDVVDVRQ-XO\
MAY 2021 23

command the next day, and in the Seven
Corinth Crossroads
Days Campaign from June 25 to July 1, he
The Tishomingo Hotel
at the critical railroad notably chased McClellan away from Rich-
junction of Corinth, mond, saving the Confederate capital.
Miss., was used as a Earlier in the war, Lee had been under-
hospital after the Battle whelming while holding commands in west-
RI6KLORK7KHÀJKWLQJ ern Virginia and South Carolina, and during
shown here occurred the Peninsula Campaign he was serving as
during the Second Davis’ adviser. Even before Johnston’s
Battle of Corinth in wounding, it was unlikely Davis would
October 1862. assign Lee, a devoted Virginian, to command
of the Western Army.
That became a moot point on June 1. Johnston would need a long
time to recover from his dreadful Seven Pines wound and was, in fact,
VWLOOQRW\HWDWIXOOVWUHQJWKZKHQ'DYLVÀQDOO\KDQGHGKLPDFRPPDQG
in the Western Theater in December 1862. The wound would continue
to bother Johnston during the ensuing Vicksburg Campaign.
It is telling that Davis did not make Johnston an army commander,
and Johnston was not allowed an opportunity to be Albert Sidney John-
ston’s replacement until much later in the war. Even then, because of
his differences with Davis, he would command the Western army for
only two brief periods—mere months—during the 1864 Atlanta Cam-
paign and at the end of the war when his presence had no tangible
impact on Confederate fortunes.
24 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
F
rom June 1, 1862, Robert E. Lee would
not relinquish command of the Confed-
eracy’s foremost army, making it one of
WKHFRXQWU\·VÀQHVWÀJKWLQJIRUFHVHYHU
Until the surrender at Appomattox in April
1865, Lee would leave Virginia only twice, on
his two ill-fated invasions of the North in Sep-
tember 1862 and the summer of 1863.
With Albert Sidney Johnston dead, Joe
Johnston incapacitated, Lee committed else-
where, and Cooper relegated to desk duty, a
reluctant Davis had to count on Beauregard to
defend Corinth in the face of a Federal threat
after the loss at Shiloh. Beauregard messaged
Richmond that “if defeated here, we lose the
Mississippi Valley and probably our cause.”
On May 30, however, the Louisianan evacu-
DWHG&RULQWKZLWKRXWDÀJKW
That decision was unquestionably the right
one. Although the Federals had moved cau-
tiously against the Corinth defenses and
“siege” operations didn’t begin until May 27,
KEITH ROCCO
the odds were clearly on their side. Having
lost hundreds of soldiers to illness, Beaure-

Frenemies
“Braxton Bragg,” writes
historian Steven Woodworth,
“was a fairly competent
general, who, though a pre-
war enemy of Davis, came to
possess a moderate degree of
>KLV@FRQÀGHQFHµ´(QHPLHVµ
is perhaps a little strong
in describing the pair, who
had served together in the
antebellum Army, but Davis
was clearly no fan of Bragg.
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'DYLV FRXOG DOVR KDYH FRQVLGHUHG WKH WRS WZR JHQHUDOV LQ WKH The “Fighting Bishop”
7UDQV0LVVLVVLSSL7KHDWHU6WHUOLQJ3ULFHDQG(DUO9DQ'RUQEXWWKH Leonidas Polk, also an Episcopal bishop, was
killed at Pine Mountain, Ga., on June 14,
SURVSHFWV IRU ERWK ZHUH EDVLFDOO\ WKH VDPH 3ULFH GLG QRW EHFRPH D
1864. Appraisal of Polk’s abilities as a general
PDMRUJHQHUDOXQWLO0DUFKDPRQWKEHIRUH6KLORK9DQ'RUQRXW-
varies, but his men did love him and he was
UDQNHG+DUGHHEXWZDVEHKLQGERWK3RONDQG%UDJJLQVHQLRULW\6LJ- fortunate to have the ear of a friendly Davis.
QLÀFDQWO\ DQG FRPSOLFDWLQJ WKH VLWXDWLRQ HYHQ PRUH ERWK 9DQ 'RUQ

MAY 2021 25
 Tennessee over the next 18 or so months.
This period is often seen as one of the most
critical eras of the Western Confederacy’s exis-
tence. Some argue that the war in the West
was lost by Shiloh; others argue it came with
the fall of Atlanta in the charged geopolitical
year of 1864. Still, one would be hard pressed
WRÀQGDPRUHFULWLFDOSHULRGLQWKH:HVWWKDQ
Bragg’s tenure from June 1862 to December
1863, which would encompass the Kentucky
(Perryville), Stones River, Tullahoma, Chicka-
mauga, and Chattanooga campaigns.
With the fate of the entire Confederacy
arguably on the line, the new commander
needed all the support he could get from his
subordinates. The next 18 months, however,
were a disaster for both Bragg and the Confed-
eracy, largely because of the back-biting of
Bragg’s former equals-turned-subordinates.
Other anti-Bragg generals emerged—fore-
most James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, Simon Boli-
ver Buckner, Frank Cheatham, and Nathan
%HGIRUG )RUUHVW <HW LW ZRXOG EH GLIÀFXOW WR
ÀQG WKUHH PRUH ELWWHU %UDJJ HQHPLHV WKDQ
Polk, Hardee, and Breckinridge.
Bragg would note that his efforts were
“most distasteful to many of my senior gener-
als, and they wince under the blows. Breckin-
ridge, Polk & Hardee especially.” While none
stooped to the dishonor of claiming publicly
they would be a better choice than Bragg,
Different Backgrounds
Albert Sidney Johnston’s other Shiloh corps commanders were
William J. Hardee (right) and former U.S. Vice President John
%UHFNLQULGJH+DUGHHDXWKRURIDQ$UP\ULÁHWDFWLFVPDQXDO
resigned as colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry in January 1861.
26 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
“What is best to each lapsed into acidic relations with
the commander and by all historical
be done to save accounts disobeyed, undermined, and
this army and conspired against him.
its honor. Initially, despite his political clout,
I think we Breckinridge was the one perhaps least
concerning to Bragg. Nevertheless, ran-
should counsel cor between the two began to develop as
together.” early as the Kentucky Campaign and
—William J. Hardee remained a concern until both left the
army after the fall of Chattanooga in
November 1863. In fact, while defending himself and his beloved Ken-
tuckians to the hilt, Breckinridge usually tried to diffuse the situation
when he could and apparently never worked against Bragg. That said,
his preference for defensive tactics were counter to his commander’s
battle philosphies.
Outwardly, Hardee seemed the most agreeable of the trio toward
Bragg, preferring to work clandestinely and on occasion conspiring
with Polk and others to remove him. Like Breckinridge, Hardee’s trou-
bles with Bragg began during the Kentucky Campaign. At one point, he
wrote Polk: “I have been thinking seriously of the condition of affairs
with this army….What shall we do? What is best to be done to save this
army and its honor? I think we ought to counsel together.” And Bragg
was certainly convinced Hardee wanted his spot, writing to a friend of
his potential “retirement”: “I must say there is no man here to com-
mand an army. The one who aspires to it is a good drill master, but no
more, except that he is gallant.”
Polk’s hostility toward Bragg could be traced back to Shiloh and had
evolved into open antagonism by the time of the Kentucky Campaign,
continuing to balloon from there. Until he left the army at Bragg’s insis-
tence, Polk continually sought to undermine and conspire against the
FRPPDQGHU 6LJQLÀFDQWO\ PXFK RI WKH FRQ-
spiring came in letters about Bragg written
directly to President Davis, who was Polk’s
friend. Writing to a friend after he left the
Army of Tennessee, Polk declared: “[T]he poor
man who is the author of this trouble is I am
informed as much to be pitied or more than
the object of his ill-feeling. I certainly feel a
ORIW\ FRQWHPSW IRU KLV SXQ\ HIIRUW WR LQÁLFW
injury upon a man who has dry nursed him for
the whole period of his connection with him
and has kept him from ruining the cause of
WKHFRXQWU\E\WKHVDFULÀFHRILWVDUPLHVµ
On one occasion, Bragg provided a fairly
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
accurate assessment of Polk, complaining to
Davis: “Genl. Polk by education and habit is
XQÀWWHGIRUH[HFXWLQJWKHSODQVRIRWKHUV+H
will convince himself his own are better and
IROORZ WKHP ZLWKRXW UHÁHFWLQJ RQ WKH
consequences.”
I
QH[DPLQLQJWKHVHÀJKWVZLWKKLVVXERUGL-
nates, it can’t be ignored that the majority
of the issues usually came about because of
Bragg’s disparaging personality and not so
much because of instigation by these com-

Mournful Symbolism
Erected by the UDC in 1917, this prominent
Shiloh memorial features “Lost Cause” themes
WDLQO\GHIHQGHG%UDJJEXWWKHSRODUL]DWLRQRIWKH$UP\RI7HQQHVVHH·V
KLJKFRPPDQGZDVDKXJHLPSHGLPHQWWRLWVHIÀFLHQF\DQGWKHGROHIXO
record of the army throughout Bragg’s important tenure (in casualties,
that both Johnston’s death and nightfall led to
the Rebels’ irreversible loss. In the center are
ÀJXUHVRIWKH6RXWK'HDWKDQG1LJKWZLWKD
somber South handing Death a victory wreath.
manders (not that that didn’t occur regularly,
as discussed above). Certainly, most of the bit-
terest quarrels, especially with Breckinridge,
resulted from Bragg’s pushing rather than by
his subordinates’ conspiring.
PLVVHGRSSRUWXQLWLHVDQGORVWWHUULWRU\ZDVDÀUPE\SURGXFW
7KHUH LV QR ZD\ WR NQRZ LI $OEHUW 6LGQH\ -RKQVWRQ KDG KH OLYHG
would have performed better than Bragg facing similar campaign sce-
narios, or if any of the other full generals would have either. Yet the
reality is that, for Davis, none was a good option. Davis truly believed,
´ZHKDGQRRWKHUKDQGWRWDNHXSKLVZRUNLQWKH:HVWµ-RKQVWRQ·VORVV
thus left the Western Confederacy’s primary army in the hands of a
general tasked with leading former command equals, and, as discussed
DERYH WKH VLWXDWLRQ GHWHULRUDWHG TXLFNO\ $QG LW RQO\ EHFDPH ZRUVH
DIWHU%UDJJ·VWHQXUHZLWK'DYLVKDYLQJWRVHWWOHRXWRIQHFHVVLW\IRU-RH
Bragg did not help himself either by contin-
ually seeking the approval of his subordinates,
even going so far to ask whether the army still
KDGFRQÀGHQFHLQ%UDJJ·VOHDGHUVKLS$OOWKUHH
answered with a resounding no. Each plainly
let Bragg and others know that they felt Bragg
was not capable of commanding the army.
Hardee, for example, wrote a blistering
response: “I feel that frankness compels me to
VD\WKDWWKHJHQHUDORIÀFHUVZKRVHMXGJPHQW
you have invoked, are unanimous in the opin-
ion that a change in the command of this army
is necessary. In this opinion I concur.”
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
2I FRXUVH VXFK FULWLFLVP ÀOWHUHG GRZQ WR
subordinate commanders, many of whom also
quickly lined up against Bragg. Others cer-
-RKQVWRQZKRPKHFRQVLGHUHGDQXQDFFHSWDEOHRSWLRQDQGWKHQ-RKQ
Bell Hood (a truly untried and unproven army commander, who quickly
showed how untried and unproven he was).
By that time, events in the Confederate West had degenerated too far
WRPDNHDGLIIHUHQFHLQWKH6RXWKHUQ$UP\·VSURVSHFWVIRUZLQQLQJWKH
ZDU7KHVQRZEDOOHIIHFWRIWKDWVWDUWHGUROOLQJWKDWPLOGGD\LQ$SULO
ZKHQ$OEHUW6LGQH\-RKQVWRQDQGSHUKDSVWKH&RQIHGHUDF\LWVHOI
SHULVKHGUDWKHUWKDQFRQTXHUHGDW6KLORK
Timothy B. Smith, Ph.D., a veteran of the National Park Service,
teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He is the
author, editor, or co-editor of 20 books, including award-winners
Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg (2004); 6KLORK&RQTXHU
or Perish (2014); and 7KH5HDO+RUVH6ROGLHUV%HQMDPLQ*ULHUVRQ·V
(SLF&LYLO:DU5DLG7KURXJK0LVVLVVLSSL (2018). A resident of
Adamsville, Tenn., he is writing a book on the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg.
MAY 2021 27
 ShatTerEd
ReputaTion
Union Brig. Gen. Joseph Revere’s
controversial command decision impaired
his army’s prospects at ChaNcellorsville
and ruined his respected military career
By Rick Barram

I
n the fading light of May 2, 1863, the Orange Plank Road near Chancellorsville, Va.,
was a hopeless tangle of soldiers, wagons, horses, and artillery pieces. Two hours
earlier, a little after 5 p.m., Confederate Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson had launched his
6HFRQG&RUSVDJDLQVWWKH$UP\RIWKH3RWRPDF·VXQZLWWLQJULJKWÁDQN1RZWKHZRRG
SODQNWKRURXJKIDUHZHVWRI)UHGHULFNVEXUJZDVSDFNHGZLWKWHUULÀHGDQGGHVSHUDWH
PHQ RI WKH )HGHUDO WK &RUSV ÁHHLQJ WR VDIHW\ +HDGLQJ ZHVW DJDLQVW WKLV ÁRZ RI
KXPDQLW\ZDV0DM*HQ+LUDP%HUU\·VQG'LYLVLRQLQ0DM*HQ'DQ6LFNOHV·UG&RUSV
DFRQWLQJHQWRIUHVHUYHXQLWVFORVHHQRXJKWREHFDOOHGXSRQWRVWHPWKHÁRRG¶ Moving at
WKHGRXEOHTXLFNWRZDUGWKHRQFRPLQJ&RQIHGHUDWHVZHUHWKHWK²WKDQGWK1HZ
<RUN³WKH IDPHG ([FHOVLRU %ULJDGH ZKRVH VROGLHUV KDG GLVFDUGHG EDFNSDFNV DQG RWKHU
impedimenta before advancing, as the incitement of Army of the Potomac commander Maj.
*HQ-RVHSK+RRNHUUDQJLQWKHLUHDUV´5HFHLYH·HPRQ\RXUED\RQHWVER\V5HFHLYH·HPRQ
\RXUED\RQHWVµ¶+RRNHULWVKRXOGEHSRLQWHGRXWQHYHUVSHFLÀHGZKHWKHUKHZDVDVNLQJ
his men to give the Rebels or the panicked Yankees the cold steel at that critical moment.
1HYHUWKHOHVVWKH([FHOVLRUUHJLPHQWVIRUPHGDOLQHDIWHUOHVVWKDQDPLOHGHSOR\HGDWULJKW
angles to the road—one on the left, all others to the right. As each regiment arrived, it was
´GLVSHUVHGLQWKHWKLFNZRRGVDQGXQGHUJURZWKRIWKH3ODQNURDGLQDVKRUWWLPHQRWZR
UHJLPHQWVMRLQLQJWRJHWKHUµUHSRUWHG([FHOVLRU%ULJDGHFRPPDQGHU%ULJ*HQ-RVHSK:
5HYHUH *UDQGVRQ RI 5HYROXWLRQDU\ :DU KHUR 3DXO 5HYHUH 5HYHUH IRXQG KLPVHOI DW WKH
center of the storm that was Stonewall Jackson’s rout of the 11th Corps. In addition to the
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

serious threat facing the Army of the Potomac, personal disharmony lay ahead for Revere.

28 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Renaissance Man
Prior to the Civil War,
Joseph Revere spent
22 years in the U.S.
Navy, served during the
Mexican War, and even
spent two years as an
colonel in the Mexican
Army. Remarkably,
he was knighted in
the Order of Isabella
the Catholic by Queen
Isabella of Spain.

MAY 2021 29
 r
evere, who had served in the U.S. Navy
in his younger days, secured a colonelcy
“it was the
in the 7th New Jersey Infantry when eleventh
civil war broke out. Having served com- army corps
petently, he was promoted to 2nd Brigade com-
mander on December 24, 1862. Now he shouted
flying
commands, struggling to fashion a credible
in every
GHIHQVHWKDWFRXOGVWRSERWKÁHHLQJEOXHFRDWV direction…
and charging Confederates—never suspecting like a lot of
that in less than 24 hours he would be relieved
of command and face a court-martial.
sheep”
New York men clambered and shoved through impossibly thick
EUXVKIRUPLQJVPDOOSRFNHWVUDWKHUWKDQDFRKHVLYHOLQH´:HWKHQÀOHG
into the woods and formed into line of battle. We had hardly got into the
woods and the line formed when we heard the rebs coming on us, we
WKRXJKWEXWLWZDVWKHHOHYHQWKDUP\FRUSVÁ\LQJLQHYHU\GLUHFWLRQ«
like a lot of sheep,” wrote Private James Dean of the 72nd New York.
Men of the 11th Corps ran toward the lines, with Dean and others
trying their best to stop them, using bayonets or sabers as needed.
“They thought to get through our line,” Dean wrote, “but we pricked
them with the bayonets and then you would see them run up our lines
till they got to the end of it.”
2QHWK&RUSVVROGLHUYRZHGWRVWD\DQGÀJKWEXWUDQDWKLVÀUVW
chance. “I hollowed for him to come back and I raised my gun on him
ZKHQ RXU OLHXWHQDQW >&KDUOHV +\GRUQ@ VDZ KLP«KH PDGH IRU KLP
and laid his head open with his sword and took his ear off with the
second cut.”
30 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
By early evening, the new Federal line com-
prised Berry’s 2nd Division along with a few
thousand resolute stragglers from the 11th
Corps and a single 2nd Corps brigade, which
had been in reserve. It was a shaky line but
managed to hold on when hit by the leading
Confederate elements. Several factors proved
fortunate for the Federals: misaligned enemy
units, the ransacking of deserted Yankee
camps by some soldiers, and the coming
nightfall all conspired to drain the Confed-
erates’ offensive energies. At 7:15 p.m., Brig.
Gen. Robert Rodes, commanding a division
in Stonewall Jackson’s Corps, ordered a halt
to reorganize (although some Southern units
stumbled forward until well after 8 p.m.)
Enemy threats lessened with the dark as
Revere and his staff worked to restore order
to his disjointed regiments. “The whole line
was moved several times, and the movement
of our own regiment confused by contradic-
WRU\RUGHUV«µUHSRUWHG/W&RO&RUQHOLXV'
Westbrook of the 120th New York. “Finally,
late in the evening, the connection of lines was
HARPER’S WEEKLY
perfected.”
The Excelsiors now formed a rough semi-
FLUFOH WKHLU OHIW ÁDQN UHVWLQJ RQ WKH 3ODQN

Chaos Ensues
Darius Couch’s 2nd Corps formed a defensive
line during Stonewall Jackson’s Flank Attack
but failed to contain the 11th Corps’ frantic
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ors were put to good use by New Yorkers who loaded under cover while
exposing themselves only to shoot. While regiments kept up a heavy
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and pants desperately searching for the wound’s location. Pressing his
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evere’s brigade stood fast for better than 45 minutes until Pend-
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It proved an uneasy few hours for the New
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anxiously peering into the darkness while
remaining companies coaxed simple breast-
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quent alarms drove in the pickets several
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probed the darkness for signs of the enemy.
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ern soldiers and mortally wounded. He was
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throughout the night and strengthened with
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ing a gap in the line into which Pender’s men poured.
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the senior brigadier next in line behind Berry.
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Pender’s men swarmed over the brigade’s humble earthworks and the
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bullets came too thick. For when I got over
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some poor fellows was sent to his long
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Fighting developed across the front of Ber-
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British troops’ approach prior to the Battle of Lexington in April 1775.
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MAY 2021 31
 IRUWKH([FHOVLRUUHJLPHQWV·FRORUVPDNLQJWKHVZLUOLQJÀJKWHYHQPRUH
personal. Color-Sergeant Thomas Auldridge of the 72nd New York,
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off, which called for “striking a straight course
by compass through the woods from that point
It was
WRZDUGWKH>86@IRUG«µ%XWLQGRLQJVR5HYHUH
Revere’s
KDG DSSDUHQWO\ DEDQGRQHG DQ\ SHUFHLYHG belief that
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fell to him
Tall Task
5HYHUHDQGRWKHU([FHOVLRU%ULJDGHRIÀFHUV
were among reserve units called upon to stop
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who welcomed an opportunity for a “rest and
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men, drawn from nine regiments.
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shattered a porch pillar beside Hooker, daz-
ing and essentially incapacitating the Army
RIWKH3RWRPDFFRPPDQGHU+RRNHUKRZHYHU
refused to transfer command to a subordinate.
His corps commanders urged him to counter-
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In the face of strong pressure from the
Confederates, the Federals fell back gradu-
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2,000-strong brigade back to the front, but
MAY 2021 33

when he reported to Maj. Gen. Daniel Sick-
les, his livid corps commander demanded
answers. Revere countered that he had with-
drawn his command, which had become scat-
tered and disorganized, in order to rebuild its
numbers; feed, rest, and rearm his men; and
WKHQUHWXUQWRWKHÀHOGDPRUHSRWHQWÀJKWLQJ
IRUFH6LFNOHVZDVXQVDWLVÀHGZLWKWKHH[SOD-
nation and promptly relieved the wayward
brigadier, transferring command to Colonel J.
Egbert Farnum of the 70th New York.
R
HYHUH IHOW KLV DFWLRQV ZHUH MXVWLÀHG
DQGZDVVXSSRUWHGE\DIHZIHOORZRIÀ-
cers. Nevertheless, Sickles was not
swayed, concluding: “Brigadier-Gen-
eral Revere, who, heedless of their murmurs,
shamefully led to the rear the whole of the
34 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Second Brigade and portions of two
Excelsiors
others…thus subjecting these proud
Politicians-turned-generals
Daniel Sickles (left), who VROGLHUVIRUWKHÀUVWWLPHWRWKHKXPLO-
created the New York- iation of being marched to the rear
based Excelsior Brigade in ZKLOHWKHLUFRPUDGHVZHUHXQGHUÀUHµ
1861, and Hiram Berry of 6LFNOHV EHOLHYHG WKH ([FHOVLRU %UL-
Maine (below left). Berry gade that he had personally raised and
replaced Sickles as division led early in the war, and whose repu-
commander when Sickles tation and his were conjoined, should
took over the 3rd Corps. not be subjected to a stain like this on
its honor. Someone would have to pay,
and that someone was Joseph W. Revere.
7KHÀJKWLQJDURXQG&KDQFHOORUVYLOOHZDVZLQGLQJGRZQDV0D\FDPH
WRDFORVHDQGRYHUWKHQH[WIHZGD\VWKH$UP\RIWKH3RWRPDFOLPSHG
EDFN DFURVV WKH 5DSSDKDQQRFN 5LYHU 7KH ([FHOVLRU %ULJDGH VXIIHUHG
more than 300 killed, wounded, and missing during the campaign—
FRQVLGHUDEO\OHVVWKDQ0RWW·VRU&DUU·VEULJDGHVZKRVHORVVHVH[FHHGHG
500 each and whose brigades had not been withdrawn by Revere. Safely
back in Falmouth, where the 3rd Corps had started the campaign in
$SULO 6LFNOHV ZDVQ·W ÀQLVKHG ZLWK 5HYHUH 1RW VDWLVÀHG ZLWK VLPSO\
relieving Revere of command, Sickles instituted court-martial proceed-
ings, charging the brigadier for acting without orders and subjecting the
([FHOVLRUVWRWKH´KXPLOLDWLRQµRIEHLQJPDUFKHGWRWKHUHDU
N
ews of Revere’s impending May 13 court-martial spread
through the Falmouth camps. Though soldiers seemed puz-
zled and unsure of what motivated their brigadier, some were
V\PSDWKHWLFFRQVLGHULQJ5HYHUH´DJRRGDQGEUDYHRIÀFHUµ7KH
1HZ<RUNQHZVSDSHUVKDGRWKHULGHDVWKRXJK$0D\New York Her-
aldVWRU\H[WROOHG6LFNOHVDVWKHRQO\PDQLQWKH$UP\RIWKH3RWRPDF
capable of leading the army, and on the 10th, The New York Times,
ZKLFKKDGJORZLQJO\FRYHUHGWKH([FHOVLRUV·H[SORLWVVLQFHWKHLUHDUOLHVW
GD\VUDQDQDUWLFOHH[FRULDWLQJ5HYHUH7KHJHQHUDOZDVGHQRXQFHGDV
PXFKIRUKLVIDLOXUHRQWKHÀHOGDVIRUGLVKRQRULQJWKHEULJDGH·VQDPH
and reputation.
$FFRUGLQJ WR WKH Times ´7KHLU EDWWOHWRUQ DQG WDWWHUHG ÁDJV UHP-
nants of what had once been as bright and beautiful as the colors of a
UDLQERZDSSHDUHGWRWKHPVWHHSHGLQGLVJUDFH«µ3RUWUD\LQJ5HYHUH·V
betrayal of Sickles with Shakespearean gravity, “Gen. Sickles had
always been a friend of Revere’s. He had been placed in command of
6LFNOHV·ROGEULJDGH«EXW6LFNOHVKDVQRIULHQGVRQWKHEDWWOHÀHOGZKR
IDLOWRGLVFKDUJHWKHLUGXWLHV,QWKHÁDVKLQJH\HVRI6LFNOHVZKHQKH
relieved Revere, you could have read: ‘Cassio, I love you-But never more
EHRIÀFHURIPLQH·µ
0DMRU*HQHUDO:LQÀHOG6FRWW+DQFRFNSUHVLGHQWRIWKHFRXUWPDU-
tial, summoned the trial to order at 10:30 a.m. on the appointed day.
7KHUH ZHUH RQO\ WZR FKDUJHV ´0LVEHKDYLRU EHIRUH WKH HQHP\µ VWHP-
ming from Revere marching his command and fragments of other units
to the rear without orders, and “Neglect of duty, to the prejudice of good
RUGHUDQGPLOLWDU\GLVFLSOLQHµ7KHVHFRQGFKDUJH·VVSHFLÀFDWLRQVGHDOW
with the abandonment of military equipage that fell into enemy hands
because of Revere’s actions on May 3. However the charges may have
read, the underlying suggestion was crystal clear: Joseph Revere had
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2)
acted the coward.
7HVWLPRQ\ ZDV JLYHQ E\ 6LFNOHV DQG D KRVW RI OHVVHU RIÀFHUV IURP
throughout the brigade and division. Two days of questioning focused
on Revere’s understanding of the 2nd Division’s chain of command,
 condition of his brigade and division, the bri-
JDGH·VHQJDJHPHQWLQWKHÀJKWHIIRUWV5HYHUH
made to gather straggling soldiers and return
WR ÀJKW DQG ÀQDOO\ WKH GLVSRVLWLRQ RI ORVW
HTXLSPHQWKXQGUHGVRIPXVNHWVNQDSVDFNV
tents, and thousands of rounds of ammuni-
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SURFHHGLQJV UHUHDG DSSURYHG VLJQHG RII E\
+RRNHUDQGIRUZDUGHGWR3UHVLGHQW/LQFROQ The Family Business
5HYHUHSXWKLVDIIDLUVLQRUGHUDQGKHDGHG
BRIGADIER GENERAL JOSEPH REVERE’S famous grandfather,
KRPH GHWHUPLQHG WR UHFRYHU KLV QDPH 2Q
Paul Revere, started the Revere Copper Company in 1801, which
0D\&RORQHO)DUQXPFRPSRVHGDOHWWHUWR
produced copper sheets that were used to clad the hulls of Ameri-
5HYHUHVLJQHGE\HLJKWÀHOGDQGVWDIIRIÀFHUV
can warships, among other uses. In the fall of 1861, the company,
IURPWKHEULJDGHUHEXIÀQJWKH´FDUHOHVVDQG
based in Boston, retooled to produce light 12-pounder guns for the
inconsiderate slanders that have been circu-
Union Army. It delivered 443 of the bronze cannons, better known
ODWHGµE\WKH1HZ<RUNQHZVSDSHUV7KHOHW-
as “Napoleons”—more than any other firm contracted by the fed-
eral government.
Sickles believed the The next time you are out battlefield tramping, take a close look
Excelsior Brigade at the Napoleons, as you are likely to see “Revere Copper Com-
he had raised and pany” stamped on some muzzles, along with the tube’s weight, date

led early in the
war should not be
subjected to a stain
like this on its honor
ter fell short of questioning the court’s verdict
EXW FRQWDLQHG )DUQXP·V SHUVRQDO HQGRUVH-
PHQW RI 5HYHUH·V UHSXWDWLRQ DV D VROGLHU ´,
EHJ WR UHVSHFWIXOO\ VWDWH WKDW VR IDU DV \RXU
PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; SUNSHINE PICS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
of production, the initials of a federal inspector, and a production
number, all of which can be seen on the example above at Manas-
sas National Battlefield Park.
Napoleons were versatile, reliable weapons, able to accurately
fire shot and shell, and also douse attacking infantry with shred-
ding canister blasts. While General Revere’s reputation was
tarnished at Chancellorsville, the oxidized, blue-green bronze tubes
stamped Revere Copper Company help maintain the luster of the
Revere family’s contribution to Union victory. —D.B.S.

SHUVRQDOFRXUDJHDQGVROGLHUO\DWWULEXWHVDUH
FRQFHUQHG,KDYHQHYHUKHDUGRIÀFHURUPDQ
TXHVWLRQWKHPµ
2Q$XJXVW/LQFROQDSSURYHGWKH
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and then Harper’s Weekly ran articles regard-
LQJ5HYHUHDQGKLVUHPRYDOZLWKWKHYHUGLFW
DQGVHQWHQFHWKHSULPDU\IRFXV8QGHWHUUHG
5HYHUH LQ 6HSWHPEHU SXEOLVKHG D SDJH
SDPSKOHW WLWOHG A Statement of the Case of
Brigadier-General Joseph W. Revere, United

MAY 2021 35
 Faithful Subordinate
Left: The September 1864 order
revoking Revere’s court-martial
conviction and accepting his
resignation from the U.S. Army.
Above: Colonel J. Egbert Farnum
of the 70th New York was named
Revere’s successor as brigade
commander. Following the court-
martial, Farnum wrote a letter
defending the general’s reputation,
FRVLJQHGE\HLJKWIHOORZRIÀFHUV

his name. Histories of the battle at

States Volunteers, Tried by Court-Martial, and Dismissed from the Ser-
vice of the United States, August 10, 1863. The publication contained
Revere’s interpretation of events at Chancellorsville and pointed out
perceived court-martial improprieties, all in an effort to recover public
support and his reputation.
Revere considered appealing the verdict, but by August, Sickles had
moved on, having to deal with the loss of his leg in combat and ques-
tions about his own leadership failures during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Appealing directly to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton also seemed
fruitless, given that Stanton and Sickles were friends.
The War Department offered to reinstate Revere on the condition he
then promptly resign—a compromise Revere accepted and went into
Chancellorsville have been written
and rewritten, with less and less ink
devoted to the particulars of Revere’s actions.
Stephen W. Sears’ 1996 work Chancellorsville
devotes only 1½ paragraphs to the incident.
Only William R. Chemerka’s 2013 biography
of Revere gives the most complete explana-
tion of the events on May 3, 1863. In Chem-
erka’s opinion, Revere was “quite capable of
leading a regiment…and he was a satisfac-
tory brigade commander, but the demands
which faced him as a division commander at
Chancellorsville were seemingly beyond his
abilities.”
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; NATIONAL ARCHIVES

effect in mid-September 1864. Revere petitioned Lincoln for a new

trial in November 1864, but Lincoln never acted upon the request.
As time moved on, portrayals of Revere’s actions at Chancellorsville
became less nuanced, with the retreat and court-martial usually the
only details mentioned.
On April 20, 1880, while on a trip to New York, Joseph Revere took
ill and died. Following his death, his children kept up efforts to restore
Rick Barram, a regular America’s Civil War
contributor, is a history teacher based in Red
Bluff, Calif. ACW thanks Phil Palen for per-
mission to publish the Hanson Alexander
Risley letter from his personal collection [see
opposite page].

36 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Cut Down
An antebellum attorney from Chautauqua County, N.Y., William O.
Monday morning last – the Father & Brother in
law went down to the front, & with Dr. Irwin got
within the enemy lines by courtesy, disinterred
his body, talked with officers, Surgeon, & the
Stevens was one of Revere’s most dependable subordinates, loved by Chaplain all the circumstances of his death, & I
his men. He had risen in rank to colonel of the 72nd New York by that am told the chaplain is to write a letter expected
fateful May when his regiment’s position along the Plank Road was here today, which I will try & get in your hands
attacked. Stevens was among the Excelsior Brigade’s killed during the tomorrow as it gives all the particulars of his last
fierce fighting. Two weeks later, fellow attorney Hanson Alexander hours & conversation. – I neglected to mention,
Risley, a friend of the colonel’s, sent the letter below to the 72nd’s that after he fell, he unhitched his sword & told
former chaplain, the Rev. Levi W. Norton. Risley wrote the heart-felt Capt Able or the private to convey it to his family.
letter from New York City on Erie Railway telegraph paper. – His body is not in a condition to be seen. –
I regret that I cannot furnish you more & will
N.Y. & E.R.R. Office Sunday [c. May 17,] 186[3] try & do so during the day. I send this in the Erie
To Rev Mr Norton R. Way Mail Bag & Mr Marsh encloses a Pass for
Dear Sir, yourself & family. – Marsh has been very kind
– came over from Staten Island this morning to
Mr. Marsh has sent you at this moment a telegraphic message see the family & do all in his power to comfort
advising you of dear Col Stevens last request that you should & aid them. – They are very calm & the Father
officiate at his Funeral. – His body now lies at the Governor Room full of patriotic spirit, – & seems comforted with
at City Hall in this City. The family are here, his father, wife, her knowing that William died in the cause of the
brother, his son George, & his two Sisters are hourly expected – all Country. In relating to me the story, he said,
will go up to Dunkirk tomorrow evening. “When could he have died so well?” I fear I shall
I have just sent a message to Caldwell & Com. of arrangements not be able to go to Dunkirk, as my public duties
that the family desire the funeral to take place on Wednesday P.M. 2 call me to Winchester Virginia.
oc & that you should officiate at the Col’s request. You will doubtless Very sincerely yours
hear from them by the time this reaches you. – Genl. Taylor will H A Risley
probably go up and attend the funeral. – I will furnish you such
particulars as I am able of the Col’s death. I get them directly from
the family. – He was shot in the left breast Sunday morning about
8 oc the ball passing down through the lung. – His horse had been
previously shot under him & Killed. – His Regiment was on the left
& hard pressed by the enemy. They were stationed there to hold a
position – The enemy came upon them in large & overpowering
force – Stevens drew his revolver, went to the front of the line,
gave positive command, that they should not fall back, but hold
the position to the last,– the enemy came on & were passing in
front of his line with the evident desire of flanking & surrounding
him – Stevens turned to his Regiment, in loud clear voice gave the
command to change front, by 1st Company (I do not understand
the movement quite) but before the word march, he was struck &
fell. – Capt Bliss of Westfield & Capt Able of Dunkirk rushed up to
him – He told them to send him a private & go to their Company
& execute the movement immediately & they did. – The enemy
were within 20 feet of them at this time, & the three Col. Stevens,
Bliss who was wounded while attempting to rescue Stevens and the
private immediately fell into the hands of the enemy. – Col Stevens
was taken to a Hospital & a Rebel Col. hearing of his gallantry, sent
for him & had him taken to a private home. He suffered a good
deal Sunday. Monday was quite comfortable & cheerful & thought
he would recover. – Tuesday grew worse, commenced sinking & The Gallant Stevens
died in the afternoon. He was well attended by the Surgeon, – had Stevens, 72nd New York commander at
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Chancellorsville, was mortally wounded

a chaplain with him nearly all the time, was buried with military
during a May 3 Confederate attack.
honors. – His father, wife, son, & brother in law reached Washington

MAY 2021 37
 cold harbor CODA
The Second Battle of Haw’s Shop gave the
Union Army a needed reprieve during the
unabated slaughter of June 3, 1864
By Eric J. Wittenberg

38 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

I
n early June 1864, Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson was a rising :LOGHUQHVV D WKUHHGD\ FRQÁDJUDWLRQ WKDW
star in the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps—“a brilliant produced nearly 30,000 total casualties on
man intellectually, highly educated, and thoroughly companion- both sides. Fortunately for the Federals,
able,” remembered former Assistant Secretary of War Charles Wilson’s performance improved noticeably as
Dana, who nevertheless was quick to concede that Wilson was WKH2YHUODQG&DPSDLJQSURJUHVVHG
also “often imperious and outspoken, to the extent that he fully When Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant decided in
alienated as many people as he attracted.” The brash 26-year-old ODWH 0D\ WR VKLIW WKH $UP\ RI WKH 3RWRPDF·V
West Pointer from Illinois had to learn rapidly that spring. When EDVHRIRSHUDWLRQVDZD\IURP2[)RUGRQWKH
he assumed command of the 3rd Cavalry Division, he had no experi- North Anna River, Wilson’s division acted
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RSHQLQJ WKH 2YHUODQG &DPSDLJQ DQG³WR SXW LW EOXQWO\³KH EXQJOHG the rest of the Cavalry Corps, Wilson’s troop-
the job, as his troopers were thrashed by a single brigade of Army ers fought protracted dismounted slugfests
of Northern Virginia cavalry. Wilson’s setback left his army with no with Confederate cavalry at Hanover Court-
cavalry screen as it advanced into the Wilderness’ snarled, second- KRXVHRQ0D\DQG$VKODQGRQ-XQHWKHQ
growth forest and the unprepared Federals ran into Lt. Gen. Rich- spent June 2 on the march after learning the
ard S. Ewell’s Corps in Saunders Field—igniting the Battle of the army’s main body had moved to Cold Harbor.

Close Quarters
The action in this 1865 painting, “Fight for
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MAY 2021 39
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40 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 T
roopers on both sides heard the fright-
ful cataclysm raging at Cold Harbor.
Recounted Sergeant George Neese Young Star
of Chew’s Battery, a Confederate -DPHV:LOVRQÀUVW
horse artillery unit: “The way the musketry JDLQHGQRWLFHVHUYLQJ
URDUHG DQG UDJHG WKH ÀUH PXVW KDYH EHHQ XQGHU8O\VVHV*UDQWLQ
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perate charges of the enemy, when the Union
YLFWRU\RYHU1DWKDQ
patriots rush[ed] up against General Lee’s line
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adamantine wall, and were slaughtered by the WKURXJKWKH6RXWK
hundreds, yes, thousands.”
´7KHVXFFHVVLYHDGYDQFHVDQGUHFRLOVFRXOG
be numbered by a listener, from the awful
roar of musketry and artillery, and then the
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GHFODUHG(GZDUG/:HOOVDSULYDWHLQWKHWK
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Dragoons. Then, the sudden silence that fell
RYHU WKH EDWWOHÀHOG VLJQDOHG WKH HQG RI WKH
“fruitless butchery of twenty [Federals] to
HYHU\RQH&RQIHGHUDWHµ
Wilson knew nothing other than that a large
battle was raging near Cold Harbor and that
he was to coordinate his attack with Burn-
VLGH·V SODQQHG PRYH DJDLQVW WKH &RQIHGHUDWH
PREVIOUS SPREAD: FIGHT FOR THE STANDARD/WADSWORTH ATHANEUM MUSEUM OF ART; OPPOSITE: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; TROIANI, DON (B.1949)/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

OHIW DV KLV FROXPQ DGYDQFHG WRZDUG +DZ·V

Shop. The tiny settlement was the location of
a machine shop used for manufacturing farm-
ing and milling machinery, and renowned
for the quality of the equipment it produced.
After the Army of the Potomac occupied the
area in 1862, John Haw III, the owner of the
machine shop, sold his equipment to Tredegar
,URQ :RUNV LQ 5LFKPRQG %\  WKH DUHD
had been largely abandoned and had fallen
WR UXLQV OHDYLQJ RQO\ 6DOHP 3UHVE\WHULDQ
Church and a few houses standing.
That included the Haw homestead, a quaint
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odist Church was located half a mile farther
west. With stout wooden fences and dense
woods lining both sides, the Atlee Station
5RDG SDVVHG E\ 2DN *URYH )LYH URDGV FRQ-
YHUJHGWKHUHLQFOXGLQJWZRWKDWOHGGLUHFWO\WR
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tangled with Hampton’s horsemen at Haw’s
Shop—a harsh, grinding, day-long dismounted
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WKH EDWWOHÀHOG EXW +DPSWRQ·V WURRSHUV KDG
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Army of Northern Virginia’s position.
About noon on June 3, Wilson left Cesnola’s men to guard Burn-
VLGH·VULJKWÁDQNDQGPDUFKHGKLVFRPPDQGIURPLWV2OG&KXUFKFDPS
They crossed Totopotomoy Creek and headed northwest toward Haw’s
6KRSZKHUHWKH\LQWHQGHGWRWXUQVRXWKDQGDWWDFNWKHUHDURI0DM
*HQ+HQU\+HWK·V'LYLVLRQLQ/W*HQ$3+LOO·V&RUSV:LOVRQ·VGLYL-
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breastworks that had been erected during the battle six days earlier.
He did not expect an encounter, but deployed pickets on the Atlee Sta-
tion Road and other roads nearby.
7KH\HDUROG+DPSWRQQRZFRPPDQGLQJWKH$UP\RI1RUWKHUQ
9LUJLQLD·V &DYDOU\ &RUSV DIWHU WKH 0D\  GHDWK RI 0DM *HQ -(%
Stuart, was still learning the art of corps command. He had, after all,
no formal military training and was relying on pure talent and on-the-
MRE WUDLQLQJ -RLQHG E\ HOHPHQWV RI 0DM *HQ :+) ´5RRQH\µ /HH·V
FDYDOU\GLYLVLRQDQG&DSWDLQ-DPHV7KRPVRQ·VEDWWHU\RIKRUVHDUWLO-
lery, the skilled Chew’s Battery, Wilson’s troopers marched from their
camp not far from Atlee Station on the Virginia Central Railroad early
that morning. “We made a circuitous march of about eighteen miles in
the direction of the Pamunkey,” recounted Sergeant Neese.
$VKHKDGGRQHRQ0D\+DPSWRQURGHHDVWWRZDUG+DZ·V6KRS
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part of a brigade temporarily under the command of 3rd North Carolina

MAY 2021 41

Common Enemies
Below: Private Thomas Dennis, Company G
of the 2nd New York Cavalry, a familiar foe
of the Confederates in the Eastern Theater.
Above: The 2nd’s tattered guidon, now in the
New York State Military Museum’s collection.
Colonel John A. Baker following the death of
the regular brigade commander, Brig. Gen.
James B. Gordon, on May 12.
Upon reaching Haw’s Shop, the Tarheels ran
into the 8th New York Cavalry, part of Colonel
George H. Chapman’s 2nd Brigade. The North
Carolina troopers dug in their spurs, drew
their sabers, and charged the New Yorkers
with “deafening yells”—catching the Empire
Staters by surprise. The 2nd and 5th North
Carolina led a quick rout, driving the 8th
back toward the rest of the Federal brigade.
Rooney Lee ordered the Southern horsemen
to dismount and attack. Roberts and his men
dismounted, formed a line of battle, and
advanced against the Union breastworks,
GUDZLQJÀUHIURPWKH)HGHUDOKRUVHDUWLO-
lery as they proceed.
Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Barringer of
the 1st North Carolina Cavalry had a clear
view of Roberts’ attack. He watched as the
2nd and 5th North Carolina “charged at
once the enemy’s line which was driven
rapidly through a thick wood, back into a
line of works, which was charged, and car-
ried in a most impetuous style, driving the
enemy back upon another line of entrench-
ments, with heavy support.” Chapman
disputed Barringer’s assessment. “[T]he
enemy made a spirited attack,” he wrote,
“but were repulsed with severe loss, leav-
ing a number of their killed and wounded
upon the ground.”
“This spirited and dashing affair,” Bar-
42 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
ringer noted, “was executed under the eye of General Hampton,
and elicited his special commendation.”
A
VWKHRSHQLQJSKDVHRIWKHÀJKWLQJSOD\HGRXWWKHIRXU
guns of Chew’s Battery unlimbered near Haw’s Shop and
opened upon Wilson’s horse artillery. “We had a warm
and spirited artillery duel with them of a couple hours’
duration,” noted Sergeant Neese.
Once he could form a coherent line, Chapman ordered a counterat-
WDFN´0RYLQJIRUZDUGXQGHUDKHDY\ÀUHP\PHQGURYHWKHUHEHOVIURP
>WKH ÀUVW OLQH RI ZRUNV@ DQG WKH\ IHOO EDFN WR DQRWKHU OLQH RI EUHDVW-
works,” he recounted. Among the 8th New York troopers involved in the
attack, Lt. Col. William H. Benjamin was painfully wounded in the leg;
Lieutenant Harmon P. Burroughs suffered a chest wound; one private
was killed, one captured, and several wounded.
Realizing he faced at least a brigade of cavalry and that he was out-
numbered, Roberts pulled back and established a dismounted line of
battle in a dense stand of woods southwest of Haw’s Shop. The Tarheels
constructed three lines of hastily constructed breastworks and waited
for the Federals to attack.
During the pause, Wilson penned a quick update to Army of the Poto-
mac headquarters. “We have developed a considerable force at or near
Haw’s Shop, with artillery in position,” he wrote. “I am pushing forward
now, the enemy having been repulsed in three or four sharp dashes at
our skirmish line.” Ominously, Wilson also reported that he had heard
no activity at all along Burnside’s front.
About 1 p.m., supported by horse artillery, the 1st Vermont Cavalry
and the 5th and 8th New York Cavalry all dismounted and crashed
into the woods toward the Confederate works, prompting Major Wil-
liam Wells of the 1st Vermont to observe that his regiment had been
dismounted every day since they had crossed the Rapidan at the outset
of the Battle of the Wilderness. The Vermonters took position with one
battalion on the right of the road and the other two on the left when
WKH\ZHUHRUGHUHGWRJRWRWKHOHIWWRZDUGWKHHQHP\·VÁDQN:LOVRQ
proudly watched as his troopers advanced steadily in open order, “their
UDSLGÀUH FDUELQHV SRXULQJ RXW YROOH\ DIWHU YROOH\ FDSWXULQJ SULVRQ-
ers and clearing up the country as they went along.” A Vermonter
described the action as “Indian style,”
WKHPHQÀJKWLQJIURPEHKLQGWUHHVDV
they advanced. “We…drove them kill-
ing and capturing quite a number of
them,” noted a fellow trooper.
During this advance, Lt. Col. Addi-
VRQ:3UHVWRQWKHKDUGÀJKWLQJFRP-
mander of the 1st Vermont, ordered
Wells to place his battalion in line on
the left, telling the major, “[D]on’t allow
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NEW YORK MILITARY MUSEUM; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
other regiments] are in your front.”
'UDZLQJ KHDY\ ÀUH WKH 9HUPRQW-
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ground. While reconnoitering in front
of his regiment’s line of battle, Pres-
ton was mortally wounded, shot in
the back, the bullet passing near his
heart. Trooper H.P. Danforth of Com-
pany D tried to retrieve Preston’s body.

Spotting a group of Confederates behind a clump
of trees—possibly soldiers who had shot Preston—
KHVWRRGXSWRÀUHDWWKHPRQO\WRUHFHLYHDEXOOHW
to his shoulder that whirled him around like a top.
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while the pursuing Yankees simultaneously pressed
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the Federals.
The 2nd and 5th North Carolina managed to
halt the Union counterattack at Enon Church until
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KHOGRQIRUDERXWDQRWKHUKRXUWKHQZLWKGUHZLQDQ
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IHZSLFNHWVLQWKHURDG5REHUWV·FRPPDQGVXIIHUHG
about 20 casualties during the clash.
Weapons of Choice
The muzzleloading, rifled 12-pounder Blakely was a favorite
weapon of Confederate horse artillery units that supported their
saber-wielding comrades. Invented in Britain by Theophilus
Alexander Blakely, the gun came in various sizes and calibers.
The 3.5-inch model shown below was commonly used by
horse artillery. Other weapons of choice for many Confederate
troopers, shown below, were the Kerr revolver and the M-1840
sword, nicknamed the “Old Wristbreaker.” Though cumbersome
to wield in action, the M-1840’s size (a 35-inch-long blade) and
weight were critical attributes in combat, when one slash might
be enough to kill or incapacitate an opponent. Adopted by the
U.S. Army before the war, it was standard issue for many Union
troopers as well. Like the Blakely, the 5-shot, single-action Kerr
revolver was imported from Britain. Just over 12 inches in length,
with a 5-inch barrel, it was dependable and easy to care for and
fire—a valuable attribute for mounted cavalrymen. –C.K.H.

a
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creek near its head…with instructions to ascertain
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“I do not think it would be judicious to relinquish
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called off his attack when he learned that Grant had Kerr revolver.
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Potomac front after the failure of his attacks at Cold
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born Confederate infantry on their own.
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the 22nd Virginia Battalion of Brig. Gen. Birkett D. M-1840 sabers were
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tion along the brow of a ridge. hands of veterans.
The dismounted troopers attacked while sup-

44 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 ported by their horse artillery. The Southern-
ers claimed that they “drove them back with
ease,” but the Union horsemen disputed that,
arguing that they had pulled out on their own.
´7KH UHEHOV DIWHU ÀULQJ D IHZ VKRWV EURNH
DQG ÁHG OHDYLQJ  RU  SULVRQHUV LQ RXU
hands,” Wilson reported. “Failing to establish
communication with the infantry on my left, I
withdrew to the [north] side of the Totopoto-
moy.” To Wilson’s surprise, he could hear no
sound of any action from Burnside’s front. The
weary Union horse soldiers held the Confeder-
ate trenches for about an hour before Wilson
decided to break off and withdraw.
By then, it was nearly dark, and Lee, fear-
LQJ KLV ÁDQN ZDV LQ GDQJHU RI EHLQJ WXUQHG
withdrew his left wing from its position front-
ing the 9th Corps, effectively ending the Bat-
tle of Cold Harbor. The 3rd Cavalry Division
returned to the junction of the roads leading
to Haw’s Shop and Hanover Court House and
bivouacked there in order to watch the roads
in all directions.
:LOVRQZDVMXVWLÀDEO\SOHDVHGZLWKWKHSHU-
formance of his command in bringing about
that result. “For its gallant conduct,” he
declared proudly, “the division received the
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; VERMONT IN THE CIVIL WAR, COURTESY OF CHRIS CARROLL; OPPOSITE: NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS (2)
congratulations of General Meade. The oper-
ations were hazardous, and although entirely
successful, cost us the lives of quite a number
RIEUDYHRIÀFHUVDQGPHQµ
T
he Second Battle of Haw’s Shop may be
remembered as just a small incident
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but it nevertheless had strategic impli-
cations. Even though Burnside called off his
DWWDFNRQWKHOHIWÁDQNRIWKH$UP\RI1RUWK-
ern Virginia, once Wilson’s dismounted troop-
ers drove away Hampton’s determined
cavalry, the pressure they exerted on Heth’s
position on the Confederate left helped per-
suade Robert E. Lee to pull back that exposed
ÁDQN 7KDW LQ WXUQ SURPSWHG *UDQW WR
develop a plan to shift his base of operations
DFURVV WKH -DPHV 5LYHU DQG WR PRYH RQ WKH
critical railroad junction town of Petersburg,
PLOHVVRXWKRI5LFKPRQG
Eric J. Wittenberg, a regular $PHULFD·V&LYLO
War contributor, is the author of Six Days of
$ZIXO)LJKWLQJ&DYDOU\2SHUDWLRQVRQWKH
Road to Cold Harbor (Fox Run Publishing,
2021), from which this article is adapted.
His article on Wade Hampton and the First
Battle of Haw’s Shop appeared in the May
2018 $&:.
‘There lies the best
fighting colonel’
Cushman
Preston
While the engagement still raged, Federal troopers attempted to
rescue mortally wounded Lt. Col. Addison Preston. “Several times
I tried to advance my lines to get [Preston’s] body but was driven
back,” wrote Major William Wells of the 1st Vermont, “but the third
time I got his body off, he was just alive, not conscious.” Some men
threw water on Preston’s face to try to revive him, but it was too late.
The men gently laid Preston’s body on a horse, holding him in
place, and took him to the regimental surgeon, who confirmed he
was gone. When the troopers attempted to get an ambulance to
take Preston’s body to White House Landing, the surgeon in charge
asserted bluntly that a live private was worth more than a dead
colonel, noting that there were already more wounded than could be
carried. Instead, the men made a rude coffin out of bureau drawers,
gently laid Preston inside, placed it in a rickety old wagon, and
proceeded to division headquarters, three miles away. En route, they
passed Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, who, upon learning of Preston’s
fate, looked at his corpse and remarked, “There lies the best fighting
colonel in the Cavalry Corps.”
Preston’s commission as colonel came through that day, too late
for him to enjoy the deserved honor.
Also killed in the fighting was Captain Oliver W. Cushman of
the 1st Vermont. The intrepid, popular Cushman had survived a
desperate wound to the face (still visible in the photo above) riding
alongside Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth during Farnsworth’s ill-fated
cavalry charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. Though left for dead on
the field, Cushman would recover and later return to duty.
“Ordinarily quiet, modest, unassuming—in battle the lion aroused
within him, and he was the bravest of the brave,” declared one of
Cushman’s friends. “[W]e lost one of our choicest and best.”
Cushman’s body was placed into a hastily constructed coffin,
similar to the one made for Preston, and both officers’ remains were
transported to White House Landing to be sent home. Major Wells
assumed command of the regiment. –E.J.W.
MAY 2021 45
 Great Expectations
Patterned after a model built in France and used
during the Crimean War, the Confederates’ Floating
Battery was a daunting and, in theory, potentially
ruthless vessel. It even had a compact hospital—
complete with operating tables and beds—attached
to the rear, which proved an unnecessary “luxury”
considering how the contraption was ultimately used.

46 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Floating fire A monstrous confederate
contrivance joined the April
1861 barrage of Fort Sumter
By Mark Carlson

NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND MAY 2021 47


At 4:30 a.m.
April 12, 1861, on James Island in Charles-
ton Harbor, Confederate Lieutenant Henry Farley pulled the lanyard of a
siege mortar. A solid thump rocked the ground as a huge 10-inch shell
URDUHGIURPWKHPX]]OHZLWKD\HOORZZKLWHÁDVK7KHKHDY\EDOOVRDUHGLQ
an arc toward a dark shape looming a mile out in the calm waters of the
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ZLWK D VHDULQJ UHG ÁDVK RYHU WKH IRUW·V UDPSDUWV VFDWWHULQJ fragments
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7KH&LYLO:DUKDGEHJXQ
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W\·VVWRXWEULFNZDOOVDQGUDLQHGXSRQLWVEDVWLRQVDQGGLUWLQWHULRU7KH
Confederates would use 47 cannons, howitzers, and mortars during the
relentless 34-hour siege, most located within a series of forts and batter-
LHVWKDWULQJHGWKHKDUERU%XW6XPWHU·VPDQ)HGHUDOJDUULVRQDOVR
had to keep an eye on a large, peculiar-looking contraption in the water
LWVHOI³D GHYLFH WKDW EHJJHG IRU D PRUH VSHFWDFXODU QDPH EXW LQVWHDG
was known by the Rebels rather informally as the “Floating Battery.”
Equipped with four guns, the battery had been built with grandiose
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IRUJRWWHQSOD\HULQWKHGUDPDWKDWEHJDQWKH&LYLO:DU
A
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SDWLQJD86PLOLWDU\UHVSRQVHWRWKHVHFHVVLRQVWDWHRIÀFLDOV
PRYHGVZLIWO\WRHVWDEOLVKDQDUPHGIRUFHWKDWFRXOGGHIHQGWKHVWDWH·V
LQWHUHVWV:KHQ6RXWK&DUROLQDMRLQHGZLWKVL[RWKHUVWDWHVWRIRUPWKH
48 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
In the Bullseye
)RUW6XPWHUZDVEXLOWRQDQDUWLÀFLDO
island of stone at the heart of
Charleston Harbor to defend against
seaward attacks. This wartime map
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from land batteries. A Fort Johnson
FDQQRQÀUHGWKHZDU·VRSHQLQJVKRW
&RQIHGHUDWH6WDWHVRI$PHULFDRQ)HE-
ruary 8, 1861, its state forces became
part of the Confederate Army.
Construction of the Floating Bat-
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WKDW IROORZHG 6RXWK &DUROLQD·V VHFHV-
sion—completed on a broad slipway
LQ 0DUVK·V 6KLS\DUG QHDU WKH &RRSHU
5LYHULQIXOOYLHZRI)RUW6XPWHUDQG
LWV FRPPDQGHU 0DMRU 5REHUW $QGHU-
VRQ'HVLJQHGDVDEDUJHZLWKDEURDG
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DQGIHHWZLGH$ORQJRQHORQJIDFHD
KHDY\IDoDGHRIVROLGVWUDLJKWSLQHWLP-
bers formed a wall with a sloped glacis
and angled roof. It looked to Anderson,
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interest and mounting trepidation, like “half
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VODYHVHQGHDYRUHGDORQJVLGHZKLWHZRUNHUVLQ
assembling the contraption.
:KDW$QGHUVRQZDVZDWFKLQJZDVWKHFUH-
DWLRQRI$PHULFD·VÀUVWÁRDWLQJLURQFODGDUWLO-
OHU\ EDWWHU\³PRGHOHG DIWHU D YHVVHO ÀUVW
SURGXFHG LQ )UDQFH LQ  DQG XVHG GXULQJ
WKH &ULPHDQ :DU 8QGHU WKH VXSHUYLVLRQ RI
Captain James (some sources say John) Ran-
dolph Hamilton, who had resigned from the
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ton was in command of the ambitiously named
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sides of palmetto logs and pine timbers one
NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
foot square, each bolted to the others to form a
YLUWXDOO\LPSHQHWUDEOHEDUULFDGHRIVROLGZRRG
Anderson fully realized the four square open-
ings he saw were gunports, and as the days
SDVVHGKHZDWFKHGDQRXWHUVKHOORIVL[OD\HUV
RIKHDY\LURQERLOHUSODWHEHLQJEROWHGRQWRWKH
ZRRGWKHQUHLQIRUFHGZLWKUDLOURDGLURQ7KH
 Side by Side
The substantial reliance on slave labor in the construction of
the Floating Battery, commented on by Fort Sumter’s Major
Robert Anderson (right), is seen in this )UDQN/HVOLH·V,OOXVWUDWHG
Newspaper drawing. The group effort at Marsh’s Shipyard proved
productive. Construction was completed in a few weeks.

iron encased the entire face, sides, and sloping roof of the casemate.
Under the four gunports, the façade angled backward, giving the illu-
sion of a ship’s hull. This would make a solid hit from a cannonball
unlikely. To the rear, the deck timbers contained magazines for the
powder. Above these were hundreds of sandbags, which did double duty
to shield the highly explosive powder magazines and counterbalance
the heavy casemate and cannon. Solid shot was stored in holds directly
behind the guns.
Originally Hamilton had hoped to mount boilers and a steam engine
that would drive paddlewheels but relented when that proved imprac-
NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND; NATIONAL ARCHIVES

tical. The vessel would be towed by steam launches.

$QGHUVRQ DQG KLV RIÀFHUV YLHZHG WKH FUHDWLRQ ZLWK PL[HG IHHOLQJV
The consensus was that while the iron could protect it from Fort Sum-
WHU·V ÀUH LW ZRXOG DOPRVW FHUWDLQO\ FDSVL]H RU EUHDN DSDUW GXULQJ D
EDWWOH&DSWDLQ-RKQ)RVWHU$QGHUVRQ·VHQJLQHHULQJRIÀFHUVDLGZLWK Anderson watched its
FRQÀGHQFH´,GRQRWWKLQNWKLVÁRDWLQJEDWWHU\ZLOOSURYHYHU\IRUPL- construction Through
GDEOHDVLWFDQEHGHVWUR\HGE\RXUÀUHEHIRUHLWFDQGRPXFKGDPDJHµ
Anderson, whose experience with artillery was top-drawer, was not
his field glasses with
as optimistic. He knew what a big gun such as a Dahlgren could do to interest and mounting
a fort’s walls, especially when placed—as this new threat undoubtedly trepidation
MAY 2021 49
 Ready for Action
The Floating Battery was moored near Fort
Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, as shown
in this photo taken the evening before the
&RQIHGHUDWHVRSHQHGÀUHRQ6XPWHU
“I do not think this
floating battery will
prove very formidable
as it can be destroyed
by our fire before it can
do much damage.”
—Union Captain John Foster
50 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
would be—in close proximity to Sumter. His greatest fear was that it
would be aimed at the fort’s vulnerable rear wall containing the wooden
gate and sally port.
Unsure of what to do if the battery were moved close enough to be a
serious threat, Anderson wrote the War Department in Washington for
orders: “What course would it be proper to take, if without a declaration
of war, I should see them approaching my fort with that battery? They
may attempt placing it within good distance without a declaration of
hostile intentions.”
Lame duck President James Buchanan prevaricated, however, issu-
ing orders that were both confusing and contradictory. At a February
Cabinet meeting, he blared, “Crack away at them!” He quickly changed
his mind, however, in favor of passing the buck, clearly wanting to
avoid any impulsive actions and therefore dumping the sizzling powder
keg into the incoming president’s lap.
HERITAGE IMAGE PARTNERSHIP/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
´,I \RX DUH FRQYLQFHG E\ VXIÀFLHQW HYLGHQFH WKDW WKH UDIW RI ZKLFK
you speak is advancing for the purpose of making an assault upon
WKHIRUWWKHQ\RXZRXOGEHMXVWLÀHGRQWKHSULQFLSOHRIVHOIGHIHQVHLQ
not awaiting its actual arrival there, but in repelling force by force on
its approach,” Buchanan, according to historian Richard Snow’s 2016
book Iron Dawn, equivocated. “If on the other hand you have reason
to believe that it is approaching merely to take up a position at a good
distance, should the pending question not be amicably settled, then,
unless your safety is so clearly endangered as to render resistance an
act of necessary self-defense and protection, you will act with the for-
bearance that has distinguished you heretofore.”
%XFKDQDQ·VUHVSRQVHOHIW$QGHUVRQZLWKOHVVFRQÀGHQFHWKDQEHIRUH
In the end, the major determined to wait to see what would happen.
 O
n a day in late February, shortly after
8 a.m., more than 5,000 Charlesto-
nians were on hand to witness the
Floating Battery’s launch. The vessel
slid down the shallow ways into the water
with a surge of waves until it was brought up
short by heavy ropes. To the amazement of
some and the relief of others, the huge craft
GLGLQGHHGÁRDW,WZDVWKHQWRZHGE\VWHDP
ODXQFKHV WR D FRYH DW 6XOOLYDQ·V ,VODQG QHDU
Fort Moultrie and anchored a mile from Sum-
ter’s northeast wall.
The battery’s armament, which was
mounted after the launch, consisted of two
32-pounder and two 42-pounder naval smooth-
bores—primarily anti-ship weapons. Unlike
ULÁHG JXQV WKH\ ZHUHQ·W UHOLDEOH HQRXJK IRU
siege operations against a stone-and-brick
fort, lacking the needed penetration power.
Anderson was relieved to learn that the Con-
federates had not mounted at least one Dahl-
gren, as he had feared.
Another incongruity was the decision to
DWWDFKDÁRDWLQJKRVSLWDOWRWKHEDWWHU\·VVWHUQ
ÀWWHG ZLWK VHYHUDO EHGV DQG WZR RSHUDWLQJ
tables—to be towed along in case of need in
battle.
Although the vessel was an immediate sen-
sation in the city, attracting crowds of inter-
ested residents and tourists, those assigned
WR VDLO DQG ÀJKW LW ZHUH OHVV WKDQ VDQJXLQH
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
The men in Company D of the South Carolina Artillery Battalion,
known as the Richardson Guards, were convinced that it was a death
trap and would be sunk or shattered in battle. They derisively called
it the “slaughter pen.”
Opined a reporter for The New York Times´>,@IWKHWLGHVKRXOGWXUQ
around, and present her unprotected side to Major Anderson’s death
GHDOHUVDWRQO\VL[KXQGUHG\DUGV&DSWDLQ+DPLOWRQ·VER\VZLOOÀQGD
bloody grave.”
A
s Lincoln assumed the presidency on March 4, 1861, he realized
that Anderson’s Fort Sumter garrison had only enough food to
last until about April 15. Meanwhile, General P.G.T. Beaure-
gard, commander of the Southern forces in Charleston, cabled
the new Confederate government in Montgomery, Ala., for instructions.
He was told in no uncertain terms to “issue an order” for the Union
forces to evacuate and surrender the fort. But by the evening of April
11, Anderson and his garrison continued to hold out.
7KDWZDVWKHÀQDOVWUDZ$OOQLJKW%HDXUHJDUG·VEDWWHULHVDQGWURRSV
prepared for the moment of truth. An ultimatum had been delivered
WR$QGHUVRQWKDWKHVXUUHQGHUDQGHYDFXDWHWKHIRUW$QGHUVRQÁDWO\
refused. By 3 a.m. April 12, the die had been cast.
Powder and shells, cartridges and balls, primers and lanyards were
UHDGLHG 7KHQ WKH IDWHIXO RUGHU FDPH IURP %HDXUHJDUG WR RSHQ ÀUH
DWDP7KH\HDUROG)DUOH\QRWHGIRUEHLQJWKHÀUVWFDGHWWR
Inside the Behemoth
The caption that accompanied this Frank Leslie’s illustration
exaggerated the Floating Battery’s role in “silencing [Sumter’s]
guns,” while also offering up a far-fetched claim that 15-18 shells
had struck the vessel’s iron-plated sides “with no impression.”
MAY 2021 51
 Downsized
This photo of remains from the
Floating Battery was taken in
Charleston Harbor after the
vessel was devastated during a
storm in 1863. Fort Sumter was
in Union hands by then.

52 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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The Show
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Charleston Battery to
PDQ\DV watch Union siege opera-
7KH &KDUOHVWRQ Mercury ODEHOHG WKH tions against Sumter on
VLHJH D ´VSOHQGLG S\URWHFKQLFV H[KLELWLRQ February 7, 1863. That
>DQG@PDQ\RIWKHJXQVRQWKHSDUDSHWKDG day, the Floating Battery
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RIWKH861DY\µ
An avid student of Civil War, naval, and military history, Mark Carl-
son also spent eight years as a reenactor. He is a member of the Mili-
tary Writers Society of America, has contributed material to more than
20 national magazines, and is the author of 7KH0DULQHV·/RVW6TXDG-
URQ³7KH2G\VVH\RI90). He lives in San Marcos, Calif.
MAY 2021 53
 TRAILSIDE
Booth’s Getaway Route
Assassin’s Escape
FOLLOW IN THE TRACKS OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH’S DESPERATE
FLEE FOR FREEDOM FOR A CAPTIVATING ADVENTURE
“Sic semper tyrannis.” The
words roared over the heads of
the hushed crowd at Ford’s
Theatre. It was April 14, 1865,
and Abraham Lincoln had just
been shot. Envisioning himself
a hero and a martyr for the Booth
Southern cause, actor John Wilkes
Booth bellowed those words—Latin
for “Thus always to tyrants”—after leaping
onto the stage from the theater’s presiden-
tial box, where he had fatally wounded the
Trailside is produced in
partnership with Civil
beloved president with a .44-caliber
War Trails Inc., which Derringer pistol. Booth escaped through a
connects visitors to stage door, mounted a horse waiting for
lesser-known sites and him in the back alley, and bolted away.
allows them to follow in
the footsteps of the great Accompanied by David Herold, a fellow
campaigns. Civil War conspirator, Booth would be aided by a
Trails has to date 1,552 host of knowing or unwitting accomplices
VLWHVDFURVVÀYHVWDWHV
and produces more than
as he fled Washington, D.C. The two men
a dozen maps. Visit civil- spent the next 12 days trekking through
wartrails.org and check southern Maryland, across the Potomac
in at your favorite sign
#civilwartrails.
River, and finally into the countryside of
northern Virginia, all the while being
hunted by Federal troops.
54 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
On April 26, surrounded by
Union soldiers in a barn near
Bowling Green, Va., Herold
surrendered. Booth, however,
refused, saying, “I prefer to come
out and fight.” The Federals set
the barn ablaze to force the issue
and Sergeant Boston Corbett shot
Booth in the neck. Booth would die
three hours later. The manhunt was over.
Today, much of the countryside on
Booth’s escape route is unchanged, and
several of his more famous stopovers,
including the Surratt Tavern and the farm
of Dr. Samuel Mudd, are preserved as
SEAN PAVONE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
historic sites and museums. The 90-mile
route can be explored in a single day. Civil
War Trails Inc. offers a tour map of the
route and its signs inform the narrative
along the way. In tracing the path from
Booth’s fateful first act at Ford’s Theatre to
his epilogue at that tobacco barn in Vir-
ginia, travelers will delight in the often-
bucolic landscape and the scintillating
history it hosts. —Melissa A. Winn

Ford’s Theatre
511 10th St NW, Washington, D.C.
On the morning of April 14, Booth learned
that Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary
Todd, would attend a performance of “Our
American Cousin” that night at Ford’s
Theatre—a theater at which Booth had
frequently performed. About 10:15 p.m.,
when the production reached a particularly
amusing scene often met with audience
laughter, Booth entered the presidential box
and shot Lincoln in the back of the head,
mortally wounding him. When Major Henry
Rathbone, a guest of the Lincolns, lunged at
Booth, he stabbed Rathbone, then jumped to
the stage from the presidential box. His flight
to freedom had just begun. Ford’s Theatre
has been restored to its historic appearance
and still holds productions, tours, and
houses a museum on the bottom floor.
www.fords.org
Surratt House Museum
9118 Brandywine Rd., Clinton, Md.
At midnight on April 14, Booth and Herold
arrived at the Surratt Tavern, owned and
operated by Confederate sympathizers Mary
Surratt and her son, John Surratt Jr., a friend
of John Wilkes Booth. Herold and Booth
retrieved weapons and supplies stashed here
and quickly set off on their way. Mary
Surratt’s tenant gave damning testimony
that sent her to the gallows on July 7, 1865,
PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (3)
as one of Booth’s co-conspirators in the
assassination plot. She was the first woman
executed by the federal government. Her son
was tried but ultimately acquitted. The
tavern has been preserved as a museum and
historic site. www.surrattmuseum.org
TRAILSIDE
Mudd House Museum
3725 Dr. Samuel Mudd Rd., Waldorf, Md.
At 4 a.m. on April 15, as Lincoln lay dying at the Petersen House across the
street from Ford’s Theatre, Booth and Herold arrived at the home of Dr.
Samuel Mudd. Booth asked Mudd to set his leg, which he broke during his
escape from Washington. As Booth and Herold rested in an upstairs room,
Mudd traveled into nearby Bryantown to run errands. When he returned,
the two had fled. Today, the house serves as a museum. Behind it, you can
walk the footpath through the 200-acre farmstead that Booth and Herold
took into the Zekiah Swamp as they headed toward the Potomac River.
www.drmudd.org
St. Mary’s Church
13715 Notre Dame Pl.,
Bryantown, Md.
The plot to assassinate President
Lincoln began in the same places
where the manhunt for Booth
would take place. Here at St. Mary’s
Church, Dr. Mudd first met Booth
in 1864. Booth had come to
Bryantown to recruit men to help
him kidnap the president. Booth
and Mudd met several more times
before the doctor set his broken leg
at Mudd’s home on April 15, 1865.
The Mudds are buried in the
church cemetery.
Rich Hill 9140 Bel Alton Newtown Rd., Bel Alton, Md.
After leaving Dr. Mudd’s house, Booth and Herold received help from a
local guide, who helped them travel east around Bryantown to Rich Hill,
the home of Samuel Cox, where they arrived around midnight on April 16.
According to some reports, Cox allowed the pair to rest inside for a few
hours, although he later denied that. He did, however, hide the pair in a
nearby pine thicket as the Confederate “underground” coordinated their
escape into Virginia. The house is currently being restored by the Friends
of Rich Hill. www.richhillfriends.org
MAY 2021 55
 TRAILSIDE

4
5
6
7
Pine Thicket 9695 Bel Alton Newtown Rd., Bel Alton, Md.
8
1. Ford’s Theatre While the manhunt for Booth and Herold grew close, the pair hid in
2. Surratt House Museum this pine thicket waiting for a chance to safely cross over to
3. Mudd House Museum Virginia. Locals brought them food, drink, and newspapers, which
4. St. Mary’s Church revealed to the disgruntled Booth that he was not being hailed as
5. Rich Hill the hero he had hoped, but instead as a monstrous villain. Booth
6. Pine Thicket lamented in his pocket diary, “Our country owed all her troubles to
7. Crossing the Potomac him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment.”
9 8. Quesenberry House On April 20, their local guides led them down to the Potomac River
9. Assassin’s End to cross into Virginia.

Crossing the Potomac

11495 Popes Creek Rd., Newburg, Md.
On the night of April 20, Booth and Herold
stood here with Confederate signal agent
Thomas Jones, who had secured them a
rowboat to cross the river. Before pushing
the fugitives off into the darkness, Jones
recommended they cross the river to
Mathias Point and then downstream to
Machodoc Creek and the home of
Elizabeth Quesenberry. Disoriented, the
pair did not reach Virginia that night.
Instead, they rowed into Nanjemoy Creek,
Md., spent the next day resting, and set off
for Virginia again.

Quesenberry House  Garrett Farm Site

17088 Ferry Dock Rd., King George, Va.
On April 23, Booth and Herold landed
near the widow Elizabeth Quesenberry’s
cottage. Her son, Nicholas, asked her to
John Wilkes Booth’s flight from justice
ended at the Richard Garrett Farm,
south of Port Royal, on April 26, 1865.
The 16th New York Cavalry, acting on a
tip, found Booth and Herold hidden in
PHOTO BY MALCOLM LOGAN; PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (2)

provide them with food but warned his

unsuspecting mother not to sell them any
horses. Mrs. Quesenberry filled an old
carpet bag with food, which Nicholas
delivered to them. Although Booth would
later try to conceal the evidence by
throwing it into the fire at Garrett’s Farm,
it survived and linked Mrs. Quesenberry
to the plot. Some historians say her
cottage was a frequent stop for
Confederate agents.
a tobacco barn there. Herold surren-
dered, but Booth refused, even after the
troopers set the barn afire to flush him
out. Booth was shot in the neck by
Sergeant Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett.
He was then dragged out of the burning
barn, dying at the farmhouse three
hours later. The Garrett Farm buildings
are long gone, and the site, part of Fort
A.P. Hill, is not accessible to the public.

56 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 USMC Ret. Master Gunnery Sergeant Bob Verell takes a moment to honor those commemorated
on the replica Vietnam Memorial Wall. Photo by Thomas Wells

HOW MANY TIMES

HAS THE DESIGN
OF THE U.S. FLAG
CHANGED?
9 Crucial Decisions
Chaos at Shiloh
What Grant, Johnston did right...and wrong

The Union’s critical

Plus! Russian connection
Tony HorwitZ’s final thoughts
on ‘Confederates in the Attic’
27, 31, 36 or 40?
NOVEMBER 2020
HISTORYNET.COM

ACWP-201100-COVER-DIGITAL.indd 1 9/15/20 8:28 AM

Subscribe
Now! For more, visit
WWW.HISTORYNET.COM/
MAGAZINES/QUIZ

ANSWER: 27. THE CURRENT DESIGN HAS BEEN IN

PLACE SINCE 1960 WHEN THE FLAG WAS MODIFIED
TO INCLUDE HAWAII, THE 50th STATE.
 Interview by Melissa A. Winn
5 QUESTIONS
Gettysburg
Evolution
As the tumult of 2020 faded into the new year, Gettysburg National
Military Park announced an exciting new project to rehabilitate the
Culp’s Hill area of the battlefield. During the post-battle years, the rem-
nants of Union breastworks and visibly bullet-shattered trees made the
spot a popular stop for veterans and visitors seeking a glimpse of under-
standing about the fierce battle that raged here in July 1863. Natural
intrusions drastically changed the landscape and claimed much of the
evidence of battle, and by the turn of the 20th century it had become
one of the least-visited areas on the battlefield. The park intends to
change that.
Christopher Gwinn, Gettysburg’s Chief of Interpretation and Edu-
cation, said it’s one of many rehabilitation projects the park is undergo-
ing as the battlefield continues to advance its interpretation of the
events that happened here in July 1863, their role in the larger context
of the Civil War, and the evolving understanding of the conflict’s place
in the history of America.
1 2
Can you tell us what the Culp’s Hill project will entail?
In a lot of ways it’s an extension and continuation of the larger
battlefield rehabilitation program that’s been going on at Get-
tysburg since the late 1990s and early 2000s, where we’re try-
ing to take the battlefield as it exists today and as much as we can re-
habilitate it to how it would have appeared in 1863. We use rehabilitate
very specifically—it’s not a reconstruction. I’m sure your readers are
familiar with some of the work we have done removing nonhistoric
vegetation, adding fence lines, adding orchards where there would
58 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
Battlefield Touchstone
Trees and brush are being cleared
around Forbes Rock on Culp’s Hill.
A new trail will lead visitors to the
site, popularized in depictions of it by
Edwin Forbes and Mathew Brady.
have been orchards in 1863.
Now, working with our nonprofit partner, the
Gettysburg Foundation, along with a very gener-
ous donor, we will take 18 acres of the hill and
try to remove manually a lot of the underbrush
so hopefully what you’ll get is a woodlot that is a
lot more reminiscent of the 1863 landscape. Then
you can stand on the Union line on the summit
of the hill and get a sense of what they would
have seen on July 2.
Another aspect is creating a trail down to the
famous rock outcropping that is depicted in the
illustrations by Edwin Forbes, who worked for
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, along with
three new interpretive signs that will hopefully
do a better job of telling the Culp’s Hill story.
We’ve already begun the Culp’s Hill project and
we’re hoping to have a ribbon cutting on July 2 of
this year, to signify the end of the first phase of
the project. Then it will be our job to see how the
landscape is responding to the changes we have
made, how visitors are interacting with the new
signage and new trails. That will provide us with
a lot of information about how we will proceed.
With so many opportunities and plans
for rehabilitation and reinterpretation,
how does the park choose which
projects to prioritize?
Well, collectively as a park, we look at our proj-
PHOTO BY NOEL KLINE
ects, we create an annual work plan, we create a
larger strategic plan, and back in the 1990s, the
park created a general management plan which
we have been using as kind of a blueprint for
 5 QUESTIONS

years. But it’s a little bit of alchemy to be honest. What can
we get funding for? What do we have the staffing to man-
age? What’s going to be sustainable, too. That’s a big part of
it. That’s one of the challenges with the rehabilitation proj-
ect. We can go and make a forest into a field, but the field
still wants to be a forest. Working at Gettysburg, there is
sort of an embarrassment of riches, in terms of all these
things that are worthy projects that in and of themselves
have the potential to change how visitors experience the
battle and battlefield. The Warfield House is a great exam-
ple of that. It’s a project that’s been in the
works for years. Same thing with the
larger wayside project.
ment is and it will introduce visitors to this idea of Confed-
erate monuments. There will be some pretty fundamental
questions addressed. How did these get here? Who placed
them here? What is this all about? And the hope is that it
prepares visitors for what they’re going to see, and helps
them contextualize it. I’m proud of that one.
There’s one down at Devil’s Den that talks about how the
geologic forces that created the battlefield played a role in
how the battle was fought. One of the things I want people
to understand is, when you come to a battlefield like Get-
tysburg, there are different layers of history
here, from the very recent and all the way to
the Jurassic era of pre-human history. We
touch upon that now. And there’s a sign on

3
Can you tell us about the larger Powers Hill that delves into aspects of the
wayside project? battle—in this case, friendly fire—that will
It has its origins in the years hopefully get visitors to think differently
when the National Park Service about Civil War combat.
took over the battlefield in the 1930s. At

5
that point, the Park Service was relatively As we continue to study the Civil
new to managing historic sites. The battle War, there’s a lot of talk about how
was also going from a living memory of the war is never really over. How
the veterans who fought there to being an do you think that new ideas
event that was not. We were losing a pri- reshape the interpretation of the
mary way in which people could learn battlefield?
about the battle: from the participants who I think a lot of visitors to the battlefield and a lot
In Context
fought in it. of Americans in general have a very static view
Gettysburg’s Chris
So, the Park Service developed a wayside of history. History is history. The battlefield is
Gwinn says waysides
project at Gettysburg where they went out will offer important the battlefield. It’s preserved and unchanging.
and marked significant locations, allowing new interpretation Period. And, of course, that’s not the case. It’s
visitors new means in which to understand about challenging always evolving. I think every generation has
the battle. The last time they were really subject matter. an opportunity and an obligation to reexamine
updated was in the late 1980s, early 1990s. its past and to reinterpret it. Especially as we
Since that time, the park has changed geographically. We learn more and expand our knowledge and our under-
have hundreds of acres we didn’t have before, and new standing of not just the past, but who we are as Americans.
trails. I’d like to think interpretively that we’ve expanded That’s going to impact itself on places like Gettysburg, the
the story that we tell. So we have an opportunity to rein- National Mall, Valley Forge, and such. What visitors are
vent those panels and offer something I think is graphically seeing as we add new signs, add new trails, rehabilitate the
much improved. James Warfield House, is just the next evolution of the Get-
Also, textually we touch on a lot of themes that we didn’t tysburg story. And it’s going to continue evolving long after
touch on 30 or 40 years ago. There were previously 64 dif- I’m gone, as it was evolving decades before I arrived. I
ferent waysides out on the battlefield. We’ve designed 95. think we’re at a kind of a pivot point, though, as to how we
We’re replacing all of the ones that were previously on the present the Gettysburg story. It’s getting much more com-
landscape, but we’re adding new ones, too. It’s been five plex. We’re taking Gettysburg out of that silo, and connect-
years in the works now and it’s just starting to make its ap- ing it to all these other things.
pearance out on the landscape. As Americans continue to have debates about how we
remember the Confederacy, as we continue to debate the

4
If you had to choose one sign to tell people to
make sure to check out, what would it be?
That’s tough. I don’t have any one. There are some
that I am very proud of because of the subject mat-
ter. So I’ll give you a few and I would choose them for dif-
NPS PHOTO
issues of race in America and citizenship—the Gettysburg
story can be a big part of that. Hopefully we’re creating a
battlefield where visitors can go to experience the 1863
story, to walk in the footsteps of the men who fought here
150 or so years ago, but we’re also offering them a place to

ferent reasons. There is one on West Confederate Avenue talk about these big issues and reflect on who we are and
that will be placed about where the North Carolina monu- where we’re going.

MAY 2021 59
 REVIEWS
Lincoln (continued)
Both Summoned to Glory and Abe are worthy recent additions
to a catalog of more than 10,000 books that have sought to unravel
the mysteries of Abraham Lincoln.
Richard Striner’s Summoned to Glory is the work of a writer
who has authored two previous books on America’s 16th presi-
dent, race, and slavery and obviously admires his subject. For
Striner, Lincoln is a man who “will stand for all time as an exem-
SODURIKXPDQOLIHIXOÀOOHG«>DPDQZKR@UHGHHPHGWKH$PHUL-
can promise, made it real as no other man has.”
The author tackles Lincoln’s life chronologically, devoting most
of his attention to the president’s public life while quickly dis-
patching topics that have sometimes preoccupied other biogra-
phers. He concurs with those who believe Lincoln loved Ann Rut-
ledge and was devastated by her death, and acknowledges the
speculation surrounding Lincoln’s sexuality while dismissing the
likelihood that he was homosexual.
When considering Lincoln’s marriage and domestic life, Stri-
QHUKDVQRGHÀQLWLYHDQVZHUDVWRWKHQDWXUHRIKLVUHODWLRQVKLS
with Mary Todd other than its many challenging features. His
60 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR
National Stage
Abraham Lincoln speaks
before an attentive
audience at Knox
College in Galesburg,
Ill., during his famed
series of debates with
Illinois Senator Stephen
Douglas in 1858.
insight that history might never have heard
of Abraham Lincoln had he married Ann
Rutledge instead suggests the important
role that Mary played in her husband’s
VXFFHVVDQGWKHVLJQLÀFDQFHRIVKDUHGDPEL-
tion to their marriage.
Lincoln found “his life’s work,” Striner
contends, during the Kansas-Nebraska crisis
of the 1850s, and he places at the core of his
book Lincoln’s attitudes toward race and
slavery. According to Striner, those attitudes
were not clearly formed until Lincoln was in
his 40s, and there is no reason to assume he
automatically adopted those of many of his
KEAN COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
neighbors.
The Declaration of Independence’s signers,
Lincoln argued, “did not intend to declare all
men equal in all respects«>EXW UDWKHU@ WR
“declare the right to equality so that the
 REVIEWS

enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances hatred of slavery with public moderation. He consis-
should permit.” Equality was a standard that “even tently eschewed the harsh rhetoric of the abolitionists,
though never perfectly attained, [was] constantly avoiding the demonization of slaveholders and position-
approximated.” On the eve of the Civil War, Lincoln LQJWKHLVVXHDVDFRQÁLFW´EHWZHHQVWDWXWH«DQGQDWX-
would say, “All I ask for the Negro is that if you do not ral law.”
like him, let him alone.” To be successful politically, Lincoln could not be as
Lincoln, Striner argues, was a “holistic thinker” pos- progressive in public as he was in private, and by the
sessing great strategic abilities hidden behind humor late 1850s, Reynolds maintains, he was adept at “using
and self-deprecation. “The reputation of ‘Honest Abe,’” a conservative cover to appeal to moderates while deliv-
he writes, “would blind so many to the depth of his ering a fundamentally radical message.” In the words
shrewdness and cunning.” His analysis that Lincoln’s of a contemporary, “Lincoln was a radical—fanatically
intent was from the beginning “to put slavery on a path so—& yet he never went beyond the People. Kept his
to ultimate extinction” concurs with the recent inter- views & thoughts to himself…he never told all he felt.”
pretation by James Oakes and others. Likewise, Lincoln “was secretive about
Lincoln would save the Union his way, his own religion, but innovative and
and by 1863 he had made ending slavery insistent on the uses of religion in Amer-
the central Federal war aim. His Union- ican public life.” He believed in a power-
ism, Striner insists, “must be seen in the ful, unknowable God, moral standards,
context of what the Union would stand and the Bible. Reynolds concurs with
for….Final victory depended on the Striner in acknowledging Mary Todd
presence of a mind…that could visualize Lincoln’s central role in her husband’s
power and direct it. Lincoln possessed political success and credits her as a
that sort of a mind.” His assassination at smart and nuanced woman who was
the hands of John Wilkes Booth, the QRQHWKHOHVVDGLIÀFXOWPDUULDJHSDUWQHU
author concludes, stole “an extraordi- “Her behavior, varied at best and chaotic
nary future…from America. at worst, provided him with home prac-
Abe, on the other hand, embraces a tice in the kinds of issues that he con-
different approach to its subject. Magis- fronted publicly.”
terial in scope (and length), it is the
Summoned to Glory: Reynolds ultimately acknowledges
work of an accomplished cultural biogra-
The Audacious Life of Lincoln’s caution, shrewdness, honesty,
Abraham Lincoln
pher and historian of the 19th century. humility, and winning humor as the
While his book proceeds chronologically,
By Richard Striner ingredients necessary to his success and
David Reynolds lards each chapter with Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, his continued hold on the American pub-
533 pages, $35
frequent references to Lincoln’s contem- lic’s imagination. “His principled vision
poraries; the literature, music, theater, and his disarming modesty,” he writes,
and popular culture of the day; and the “remain an inspiration to everyday
manner in which these people and exter- Americans and political leaders alike.”
nal factors shaped Lincoln both person- Summoned to Greatness is the more
ally and politically. traditional biography of the two, offer-
To Reynolds, Lincoln was a man in, ing a deep dive into the details of an
but not necessarily of, his time. He was essential American life. Abe is both
by nature “a fatalist, but not a pessimis- something more and something less, as
tic one,” someone prepared to take “a its readers may learn less about the
middling course.” The author likens him political twistings and turnings or the
to Charles Blondin, a famed tightrope personal dramas that colored Lincoln’s
walker of the era. “He could take his life. For those stories, there are Striner
place securely in the center because he DQGPDQ\RWKHUÀUVWFODVVELRJUDSKHUV
had a genuine understanding of anti- But readers will come away from Reyn-
slavery and proslavery extremists that olds’ book with a deeper understanding
led him to see that radical militancy Abe: Abraham Lincoln of what made the nation’s 16th presi-
could…destroy the Union.” in His Times dent (with apologies to the late James
In analyzing Lincoln’s antislavery By David S. Reynolds Flexner), “the indispensable man.” Per-
views and activities, Reynolds empha- Penguin Press, 2020, haps reading both is to be recommended.
sizes the ways in which he cloaked his 1,088 pages, $45 –Rick Beard

MAY 2021 61
 REVIEWS

Bay State Boys’ Louisiana Lament

THE FIRST HISTORIES of Civil War regiments were sions in black regiments.
written before the guns had fallen silent; those written Disillusionment and disease took a steady toll as the
by participants for the rest of the 19th century and regiment first occupied Baton Rouge and later joined
into the early 20th have given way to those written by in the Port Hudson Campaign. Lowenthal is occasion-
buffs and historians. Some regimental histories appeal ally defensive in assessing the regiment’s performance,
to a very narrow audience; others such as John J. Pul- especially when dealing with the May 27, 1863, assault,
len’s classic, The Twentieth Maine, aim for a much and it is too bad that documentation about the 31st at
wider readership. Of course, the quality of any regi- Port Hudson is relatively thin. Fortunately, Lowenthal
mental account much depends on the available can offer a more detailed account of the June 13 attack,
sources, and Larry Lowenthal was blessed with a trea- including information on the casualties. As if the regi-
sure trove of material found at the Wood Museum of ment had not faced enough challenges already, it was
Springfield History. As a consequence, his history of at one point converted into a cavalry outfit and later
the 31st Massachusetts Infantry gives voice to a wide into a mounted infantry regiment.
variety of officers and enlisted men. In many ways, A Yankee Regiment in
The 31st Massachusetts was a hard- Confederate Louisiana is a common
luck regiment—born in political conflict soldier narrative about the trials of
between the state’s governor, John A. military life for junior officers and
Andrew, and the inimitable Benjamin F. enlisted men. Lowenthal, for example,
Butler. The regiment’s history proved follows patients into hospitals; he
almost as tumultuous as its maiden shows a good eye for arresting and
journey to Ship Island in the Gulf of sometimes poignant detail. He offers
Mexico. Even as preparations were several striking vignettes: a group of
made to attack the forts below New soldiers near Kennerville enjoying a
Orleans, stifling, overcrowded quarters meal with an impoverished and
and unpalatable rations gave the new remarkably kind family; women being
recruits a taste of what would become all smuggled into Fort Pike by a sutler; a
too common in southern Louisiana. A Yankee Regiment July 4 “game” that involved humiliating
As would be true for the duration of in Confederate former slaves by having them stick
their service, enervating heat, pesky Louisiana: The their heads in a tub of flour to find a
insects, and chronic disease greatly 31st Massachusetts quarter dollar; the collapse of a sink
Volunteer Infantry in
affected the men’s morale and often house that sent several poor fellows
the Gulf South
dominated their memories of military tumbling into the Mississippi River.
By Larry Lowenthal
life. By August 1862, the regiment had In terms of traditional military his-
LSU Press, 2019, $48
become separated with some companies tory, Lowenthal pays closest attention
stationed at Fort Jackson and others at Fort Pike, but, to the disastrous Red River Campaign during which
more important, the political divisions between offi- both the regiment’s commander and major proved
cers allied with Governor Andrew and those tied to drunkenly derelict in their duty. There is much infor-
General Butler persisted. Lowenthal delineates the mation on Banks and his critics, but the story of the
officers’ strengths and weaknesses as well as the con- 31st gets lost in the detailed account of recrimination
flicts that kept flaring up. By the end of 1862, Butler and investigation. In the war’s final months, the regi-
was gone, morale had sagged, and the new com- ment had to deal with guerrillas in southern Louisiana
mander, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, never won and participated in the campaign against Mobile.
many plaudits from these New England boys. The author concludes the book with a suitably som-
As had Butler, Banks had to deal with the complica- ber paragraph for a regiment whose story involves
tions arising out of the steady erosion of slavery. In the more routine suffering than high drama. Endurance
31st Massachusetts, reactions to emancipation and the more than glory might well be its epitaph, and Lowen-
use of African American troops were decidedly mixed, thal offers a well-written account that gives the 31st
although some volunteers did leave to take commis- Massachusetts its due. –George C. Rable

62 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR


The American Civil War attracted observers
from many European nations, curious to see
the latest developments in weaponry, strategy
and tactics and, especially, what lessons they
PLJKW DSSO\ WR WKH EHQHÀW RI WKHLU UHVSHFWLYH
armies or navies. The largest contingent came
from Britain, then the world’s most globe-
girdling power with a long-standing and still
complex relationship with the former colonies.
Although authorized only to travel alongside
the Union Army, at various points in the war a
number of Britishers slipped through the lines
to learn a thing or two from Confederate com-
manders who had achieved international
celebrity, such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall
Jackson, and J.E.B. Stuart.
What the British learned from these front-
line visits has been the subject of analysis and
debate ever since, with a widespread school of
thought suggesting that they did not learn
enough to prevent the bloody stalemate of
World War I. In Bull Run to Boer War, how-
ever, English historian Michael Somerville
ORRNVDWWKHYLVLWLQJRIÀFHUV·&LYLO:DUH[SHUL-
ence without the 20-20 hindsight with which
THE EFFORT TO SUSTAIN armies in the field
and its impact on the planning and conduct of
operations merits more attention from students
of the Civil War. After all, more soldiers histori-
cally have been taken out of action by empty
bellies, inadequately covered bodies, and insuf-
ficient equipment than by enemy action in bat-
tle. There also is little doubt that there are few, if
any, scholars than Earl J. Hess with a keener
understanding of how Civil War armies oper-
ated necessary to do justice to this subject.
The keys to Civil War logistics at the opera-
tional level of war were, of course, railroads and
rivers. Hess provides a thorough and compel-
ling account of how those were used and how
Federal managerial proficiency enabled the
North to overcome the significant challenges its
armies faced as they projected power into the
Confederacy. The contrast he describes
between the efforts of Federal logisticians and
those of their Confederate counterparts also
underlines the wide gulf in managerial skill
between the two sections and the folly of
Southerners pursuing independence when they
REVIEWS
modern historians tend to view it.
Instead, he researches the reports and
records of the time to examine both the
war and what lessons the British
learned in the context of the 19th cen-
tury. His conclusion is that, in their
careful, methodical way, they derived a
greater amount that would be applied to
the geographically wider variety of con-
ÁLFWV WKH\ IDFHG LQ WKH QH[W VHYHUDO
decades than previously thought. At the
same time, he notes, in that century the
British were not forced to deal with a
technologically comparable adversary
Bull Run to Boer War:
until the Anglo-Boer War of 1898-1902,
How the American
during which they would indeed bring Civil War Changed
some of what they had learned from the the British Army
Civil War into play.
By Michael Somerville
After introducing the reader to the
Helion and Company
most prominent visitors, the author fol- Publishers, 2019, $44.45
lows their journey through such chang-
ing military subgenres as infantry, cavalry, siege warfare, railroads,
strategy, tactics and even balloon operations. Civil War enthusiasts
IURPERWKQDWLRQVVKRXOGÀQGPXFKRILQWHUHVWLQWKLVIUHVKVXUYH\
RIWKHFRQÁLFWDQGLWVOHJDF\WKURXJKRXWVLGHUV·H\HV²Jon Guttman
did not have the North’s ability to compe-
tently run a modern war machine.
Union logisticians built on the decades of
experience the antebellum Army had in pro-
jecting power across the continent. In addi-
tion, they brought to their work experience
working where more-modern economies
offered extensive opportunities to wrestle
with the challenges of transportation. Union
operational planners both drew on this
Civil War Supply experience and, as Hess chronicles, demon-
and Strategy: strated an impressive ability to adapt their
Feeding Men and
methods as the challenges presented by
Moving Armies
Confederate geography evolved. This was
By Earl J. Hess
evident especially in how they shifted from a
LSU Press, 2020, $50
strategy of occupation and infrastructure
maintenance in the Upper South to one of destructive raids when
they moved into the Deep South. It was also evident in the differences
Hess describes between how logisticians dealt with the Eastern The-
ater and operations elsewhere.
Hess draws from his usual impressive research to provide an
important work that is rich in detail, offers truly fresh insights, and
places its findings in the context of the evolution of supply and strat-
egy in the history of warfare. –Ethan S. Rafuse
MAY 2021 63
 FINAL BIVOUAC

BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL

Isaac C.M. Bassett

In May 1863, the Rev. John A.
McKean departed Pennsylvania
with a grim task. He had to retrieve
the remains of Major Isaac C.M.
Bassett of the 82nd Pennsylvania
Infantry, who reportedly had been
killed during the Second Battle of
Fredericksburg. One can only guess
the reverend’s reaction when he
discovered that the major was actu-
ally alive and well. In the process of
storming Marye’s Heights, the
82nd’s color-bearer was shot down.
Bassett picked up the regiment’s
colors and cried to his men, “Follow
me,” then rushed and personally
planted the colors on the enemy
position. Newspapers falsely listed
his name among the other senior
RIÀFHUV RI KLV EULJDGH ZKR KDG
been killed or wounded during the
assault on the entrenched heights.
On December 15, 1846, the 17-
year-old Bassett had volunteered
for the Mexican War as a private in
the 1st Pennsylvania Infantry, only
to be discharged nearly a month
later after his superiors discovered
he was a minor. In the interwar
years, he lived in Philadelphia and
worked as a coal merchant.
Bassett was commissioned a cap-
tain in the 82nd Pennsylvania on
August 24, 1861. He was promoted
to major on February 7, 1863, and
to colonel on May 3, 1863, just in
Coal Merchant to Combat Vet
Bassett, a two-war veteran, was only
palm of his left hand close to the
thumb, lodging in his arm near the
elbow joint. A surgeon amputated
KLVGDPDJHGÀQJHUDIWHUWKHEDWWOH
The bullet eventually worked its
way down toward the opening of his
wound and was then extracted. The
subsequent surgery left him unable
ever to clasp his left hand again.
On December 12, 1864, Bassett
was brevetted brigadier general,
although the brevet was not con-
ÀUPHGXQWLO)HEUXDU\+H
was later recognized “for distin-
guished services in the assault on
the enemy’s lines near Petersburg,
April 2, 1865, and for conspicuous
gallantry at the battle at Little Sail-
or’s Creek, Va., April 6, 1865.” With
stars adorning his shoulders, won
for his capable leadership and brav-
ery during the war, Bassett led the
battle-hardened veterans of the
82nd with their bullet-riddled
colors, draped with crape to honor
President Abraham Lincoln, during
the Grand Review in Washington,
D.C., in 1865. The regiment was
mustered out on July 13, 1865.
Bassett outlived the war barely
four years. Just 40, he died of acute
peritonitis in Philadelphia on Octo-
ber 2, 1869. The Philadelphia
Inquirer declared that “his sudden
death will be deplored by a large cir-
cle of friends and acquittances.”
U.S. SENATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF FRANK JASTRZEMBSKI

time to take command of the regi- 40 when he died. “Shrouded Veterans” He was originally buried at Phila-
ment and lead it at Gettysburg that led the effort to place a headstone on delphia’s now-gone Odd Fellows
summer. During the bloodletting at his unmarked grave in Pennsylvania. Cemetery, but his remains were
Cold Harbor in June 1864, the 82nd reinterred at Lawnview Cemetery
suffered 173 casualties, half of its effective strength. in Rockledge, Pa., during the 1950s. Barrett’s grave
%DVVHWWZDVDPRQJWKHFDVXDOWLHV+LVOHIWLQGH[ÀQJHU remained unmarked until a veteran headstone was
was mangled by an enemy shell and a bullet pierced the placed there in 2020. –Frank Jastrzembski
Final BivouacLVSXEOLVKHGLQSDUWQHUVKLSZLWK´6KURXGHG9HWHUDQVµDQRQSURÀWPLVVLRQUXQE\)UDQN-DVWU]HPEVNLWR
identify or repair the graves of Mexican War and Civil War veterans (facebook.com/shroudedvetgraves).

64 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

 Coming in April from
Gregory Lalire, the editor of

MAGA ZIN E

MAN FROM
MONTANA
by Gregory J. Lalire
This historical novel follows
adventurer Woodie Hart to the
violent goldfields of what would
become Montana Territory.
Woodie discovers the boomtowns
of Virginia City, Bannack and
Hell Gate and faces the twin terrors
of road agents looking to get rich
quick and vigilantes intent on
dishing out cruel justice.
PRICE: $25.95 / 370 PAGES
HARDCOVER (5.5 X 8.5) / ISBN13: 9781432871178
TIFFANY.SCHOFIELD@CENGAGE.COM
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