Today is December 13th, a wednesday. A fairly average day, perhaps a little stressful for college students who are only halfway through finals week, but on the whole, a fairly average day. People are starting to realize that Christmas is just around the corner, and the preparations are in full flurry.
But in the fields outside of Fredericksburg and Falmouth Virginia, it was a wild mix of soldiers, artillery, and horses. The Army of the Potomac had yet another new commander in the form of Rhode Islander Ambrose Burnside, the gentleman with possibly the most famous facial hair ever, which I happen to want to copy.
Burnside's hope was to make a dash from the encampments in Northern Virginia to Fredericksburg with little notice to Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV). From Fredericksburg, he would make a dash through the wilderness and the deep tangled forest, and hopefully arrive at Richmond in short order.
This plan went very well for the first half of the plan. The Army of the Potomac (AoP) arrived at Fredericksburg while the ANV was trying to figure out exactly where Burnside was. Upon arriving at Falmouth and Fredericksburg, there was hardly anyone from the ANV on the other bank of the Rappahannock. So far, Burnside's plan was going perfectly.
However, there was a problem. The 50th New York Engineer's regiment was designated to build three pontoon boat bridges across the Rappahannock before the army arrived on the northern bank, but had received word of the job 6 days AFTER they supposed to start the work. Thus, the AoP was halted on the north bank of the river while waiting for their bridges to arrive.
Enter bad decision number one: Burnside chose to hold all of his forces on the north side of the river instead of at least allowing some of his forces to wade across the still fairly low river and drive the skeleton forces away from the city and Marie's heights beyond the town.
This would prove disastrous, in that Lee and the ANV had finally figured out where Burnside was, what he was doing, and more or less where he was going, and was now racing down the roads of Virginia to get to Fredericksburg before Burnside crossed the river.
Enter bad decision number two: When the bridges finally arrived at the Union camp, the ANV was in full force on the other side of the river, and digging in on the low hills beyond the town. The 50th New York engineers now had to build the bridges across the river under fire instead of building them in relative quiet as could and should have been done. At any rate, the bridges were finally completed after several Union regiments were sent into town in boats to drive the Confederate sharp shooters from the opposite bank.
This action occurred on the 11th and 12th of December, with most of the AoP crossing on the 12th. Burnside's plan of action was simple, just one mad rush up the hillsides south of town, with a diversionary attack on the entrenched positions on Marie's heights. The low ridges south of town were held by Thomas J. Jackson's troops, who had given their commander a nickname well earned: "Stonewall". Further north, on Marie's heights, James Longstreet's men were dug in behind a sunken road and a literal stone wall. Despite the fact that the attacks on Longstreet were supposed to be diversionary at best, they turned into the main attack throughout the 13th.
The reason for this is that General Franklin, commanding the left wing of the AoP, pretty much dropped the ball. Instead of both of his two corps being sent forward to the attack, only one division under George Meade made full contact with the enemy, and actually succeeded in making a small hole in Jackson's line, but due to Franklin's failure to support him, he was forced back with great losses.
This left all the initiative to the right flank of the AoP, which was up against Longstreet and Maries heights. And not one Union soldier ever reached the Confederate lines. This was due to the fact that for almost a mile in front of Confederate lines, there was absolutely nothing there to protect the soldiers. Only one small dip in the ground ran the length of the field could offer any shelter, but aside from that, there wasn't anything to hide behind, and nowhere to run. Colonel Alexander, the commander of Longstreet's artillery, said himself, "Not even a Chicken could live on that field when we open on it."
As I said, not one Union soldier ever reached the enemy lines on Marie's heights. Nearly 14 different charges had been made throughout the day, and nothing had come of it except for a casualty list that seemed endless. Even throughout the night, Union troops, including the 4th US Infantry was pinned down in that little gully for the entire night. Much like you see on the motion picture "God's and Generals", the 20th Maine regiment was also pinned down with other elements of the 5th Corps.
In all honesty, the Battle of Fredericksburg was probably one of the worst failures and disasters that ever befell the Army of the Potomac, and nothing was gained from all the attacks made on Lee's army on the banks of the Rappahannock river in Virginia.
Probably one of the saddest things about this battle is the cemetery. This past summer, I visited the National Cemetery on the edge of the battlefield. The thing that struck me was that there were few, if any, markers with names on them. Most often, they were very small, 4 inch by 4 inch stones with a mark showing what number the stone was, and how many soldiers were buried in that grave. Most graves had 2-4 soldiers buried in it, which is probably the most tragic. Fredericksburg National Cemetery was the first one created, and so they did not have many ways of identifying the dead. As such, wives, sweethearts, or families were often unable to find their loved one. For me, this is one of the most tragic of battles, where nothing was gained for the amount of loss sustained, and then the added tragedy of not even knowing who was who after the smoke had cleared..
what a waste, what a waste..
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
The First official thanksgiving
Many folks believe that the first real thanksgiving was when the pilgrims landed on Plymoth rock, and so on. And to be sure, they certainly did have a "thanksgiving" after surviving the trip over, and who wouldn't? However, the first "official" thanksgiving came in October, 1863, by proclamation from President Abraham Lincoln. But, I'll let President Lincoln speak for himself:
"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth."Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.
Monday, September 17, 2012
150 Years ago today
Today is September 17, 2012, a pretty normal day, you might think. You probably left for work this morning, perhaps to school, or maybe you're reading this while still drinking your morning coffee. Again, a pretty typical morning.
But, 150 years ago today, the day was anything BUT typical. It was another muggy morning in Maryland, the fields were quiet, and many a farmer near the town of Sharpsburg was waking up, focused on his morning breakfast, but also worrying and wondering about those troops he had seen moving up and down the roads. The southern troops had passed by some days earlier, and were now rumored to be occupying the town of Sharpsburg and the low ridges around it. Yesterday and the day before, soldiers in blue, Federal soldiers, had been seen coming over the tall line of hills called South Mountain, where there had been the sounds of cannons and musketry.
Rumors also came of a battle at Harpers Ferry, down the Potomac river roughly about 15 miles, and stories were being told that said the entire Union garrison had surrendered.
But rumors were now being replaced by cold hard facts. The Confederate troops WERE indeed in Sharpsburg, and they were settling in for a fight. Union troops WERE filing into place in similar lines following the Confederate forces, and there indeed had been battles fought on South Mountain where the Army of the Potomac was trying to come over the hills to find and stop the Army of Northern Virginia before it could go further north. The approximately 13,000 man garrison of Harpers Ferry had surrendered to General "Stonewall" Jackson on the 15th, with the exception of some Cavalry that had escaped across the river unnoticed the night before.
But now it is dawn on the morning of the 17th, and the poppety pop of random skirmishing along the picket lines is now growing into a rumble and a roar that would continue throughout the day until the coming of darkness brought quiet.
North of town, the Hagerstown turnpike ran past a cornfield and the Dunker church, the place of worship for a sect of German pacifists, and down the gentle slopes into town. Straddling it were medium sized stands of trees, respectively called the North and the West woods. Days before, these places had been peaceful, quiet, and places were life went by rather slowly and without notice.
But now, thousands of young men would be grappling for their lives and the lives of their beliefs in the Cornfield, and around a one room church that was viewed as a place of peace. The 1st Corps, under the command of colorful Joseph Hooker, came thundering down from the North woods and out into the Cornfield, looking for an opening in the left flank of Robert E. Lee's lines. They clashed with the forces of "Stonewall" Jackson, some of whom were having their first warm and full meal in days. In particular were the Texans and Alabamans under the command of General Hood, who were already in a bad mood from having to execute a forced march from Harpers Ferry as well as being on very short rations for several days. The Union attack on their lines at dawn simply infuriated them, and they commenced a counter attack that staggered the entire 1st Corps, while suffering some of the worst casualties of any unit in the war.
The fighting in the Cornfield would surge back and forth until around 10 am, with soldiers from Jackson's command struggling with elements of the 1st 2nd, 3rd, and 12th corps, and still the battle so far remained a stalemate with no decisiveness at all.
After 10am, a new attack was commenced along the lines of some quiet little farm lanes, including one lane that had sunk into the ground due to its long use by wagons, horses, and all the elements of farm life. This road would prove a perfect trench for defending confederate troops, and an absolute nightmare for attacking Union troops. D. H. Hill commanded the troops lining this road, under the main command of James Longstreet, whose lines were theoretically the weakest, but the efforts of the troops under Longstreet's command would prove their worth in just a few minutes.
Sumner's 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac would be given the job of cracking this nut, and it would take all of them to do it. "Old Bull" Sumner, an elderly man with white hair and a voice that could carry the length of a battlefield in full use, had been a Cavalryman all his life, but now he was commanding infantry, by command of General McClellan. His previous experience in the military showed in how he sent his troops forward. Instead of one long line, or supporting attacks, he sent his three divisions forward one behind the other, all in battle line. This would give Confederate artillerists the chance of a life time: the chance to rake an entire Union corps from flank to flank without much returning fire.
The 2nd Corps attacked the Bloody Lane line 5 different times, including attacks made by the famed Irish brigade. Finally, John C. Caldwell's brigade under General Israel Richardson slipped to the right of the Confederate line in the sunken road. This move would turn the road into a death trap for the Confederates, where a crossfire being poured down the road by Caldwell's New Yorkers would kill hundreds of men in the shelter of the road, filling it with dead and wounded. Having walked down "Bloody Lane" while on my travels in the east, it is hard to imagine enough bodies to fill the road to the top, as the road lies 3-4 feet below ground level.
With the help of this deadly crossfire, the line in the sunken road snapped, and the 2nd Corps finally set off in a hot pursuit that would be stopped by massed artillery that Longstreet had put in place in case of such an emergency. The 2nd Corps fell back to its newly conquered ground, and the fighting in the middle of the line would cease around 1 in the afternoon.
The main fighting of the day now shifted to the southern end of the battlefield, where Ambrose Burnside's 9th Corps was stationed near a small stone bridge across Antietam creek.
Along the length of the Battlefield, Antietam creek was never more than 50 feet across, and in few places over waist deep. However, Burnside was ordered to cross the bridge to attack the southern end of Lee's lines, and being very by the book across the bridge Burnside would attack.
The opposite bank was held by few, precious few, Confederate forces. These troops had been depleted by Lee's shuffling of soldiers to the attacks occurring in the Cornfield and at Bloody Lane, and thus had left his right flank very weak. Burnside would try and take this opportunity, but his inability to do anything but follow the exact lettering of orders proved to be a bloodbath. The 9th Corps tried twice to take the bridge by storm, but those attempts failed miserably. Finally, the 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania were ordered to storm the bridge simultaneously and overwhelm the relatively few defenders who were conducting a Thermoplye-like defense. These units hesitated, due to their having seen what befell the last to assaults, but on a promise of a renewal of their whiskey allowance (due to their having abused that privilege, apparently), they successfully stormed the bridge and drove the defenders away from the high ground on the east side of the creek.
This attack was too late in coming, however, for just in the nick of time, A. P. Hill's men had arrived from Harpers Ferry, and were swinging into line to meet this new assault. It was a lucky stroke for the Confederacy, for before they arrived, there was absolutely no defense for this end of Sharpsburg and the Confederate line. Lee himself was going frantically through the streets, with two broken arms, no less, and ordering every man with a gun that he saw towards this end of town. A. P. Hill's arrival would save the day for the Confederacy, at least at this end of the field, and Burnside's attack would be squelched just short of the outskirts of town.
However, this part of the field was not the only place that was lightly defended by Confederate forces. The 5th Corps so far had not even fired a shot throughout the entire battle, for they were forming the final reserve for McClellan and the Army of the Potomac to draw upon.
The battle had now been progressing for some time, and scouting parties sent forward to the middle of Lee's lines were reporting that there was absolutely no one there. McClellan could have ended the war by sundown, but the age old fear of being outnumbered struck him at this moment of all moments.
Fitz-John Porter, the commander of the 5th Corps, also reminded him "Remember sir, I command the last reserve of the Army of the Potomac." How Porter meant this I do not know, but it appeared to have a unwelcome effect on McClellan, for he decided to leave the 5th Corps in its place and the battle only half won.
However, there was a small detachment sent forward to make contact with the enemy and make sure nothing was going on in the center of Lee's lines that McClellan wouldn't like. And who do you think was a part of this detachment? Well wouldn't you know, but companies G, I, and K of the 4th US Infantry!
These three companies, along with other elements from different regiments, went forward as a very large skirmish line, a probe, to see what Lee was up to in the middle of the field. The line would come under intense artillery fire, and would be in action most of the day, and then would be recalled at sundown.
Antietam was a battle of "What ifs". What if Burnside had crossed the bridge sooner? What if the 5th Corps had been sent forward in the final attack? What if, what if. Sounds like a lot of life.
But the "what ifs" were not to be, and the war would continue for three more years, with hundreds of thousands more to die, more chairs to be emptied, more graves to be dug.
However, Antietam did change one thing. It changed the war. Lincoln had been waiting to officially release the Emancipation Proclamation to change the war from a war to simply reunify the nation, to a war to free an entire race of men. The men of every Northern army, in spite of their beliefs, inclinations, or prejudices would now be fighting for people they had never even met or cared about before. The African American would now be considered a man in bondage, instead of a piece of property in use.
The United States Federal Government was reversing itself, and taking on the cause and the policy that John Brown had embraced in Harpers Ferry just a few years before. John Brown had come to Harpers Ferry to free enslaved people by force of arms, with no qualms about killing people who stood in his way. U.S. Marines had captured him in the fire engine house at the armory, and had handed him over to the State of Virginia for trial. Now, the same United State Government that had ordered those Marines to Harpers Ferry was no embracing the same cause, and making the largest land army in the world an army whose objective was freedom for 4 million people. It is quite a change.
Antietam changed many things, the war, politics, the mindset of a country, and the future of a race.
And it all happened 150 years ago today.
Thats all for now, I'll write again soon.
Cheers!
But, 150 years ago today, the day was anything BUT typical. It was another muggy morning in Maryland, the fields were quiet, and many a farmer near the town of Sharpsburg was waking up, focused on his morning breakfast, but also worrying and wondering about those troops he had seen moving up and down the roads. The southern troops had passed by some days earlier, and were now rumored to be occupying the town of Sharpsburg and the low ridges around it. Yesterday and the day before, soldiers in blue, Federal soldiers, had been seen coming over the tall line of hills called South Mountain, where there had been the sounds of cannons and musketry.
Rumors also came of a battle at Harpers Ferry, down the Potomac river roughly about 15 miles, and stories were being told that said the entire Union garrison had surrendered.
But rumors were now being replaced by cold hard facts. The Confederate troops WERE indeed in Sharpsburg, and they were settling in for a fight. Union troops WERE filing into place in similar lines following the Confederate forces, and there indeed had been battles fought on South Mountain where the Army of the Potomac was trying to come over the hills to find and stop the Army of Northern Virginia before it could go further north. The approximately 13,000 man garrison of Harpers Ferry had surrendered to General "Stonewall" Jackson on the 15th, with the exception of some Cavalry that had escaped across the river unnoticed the night before.
But now it is dawn on the morning of the 17th, and the poppety pop of random skirmishing along the picket lines is now growing into a rumble and a roar that would continue throughout the day until the coming of darkness brought quiet.
North of town, the Hagerstown turnpike ran past a cornfield and the Dunker church, the place of worship for a sect of German pacifists, and down the gentle slopes into town. Straddling it were medium sized stands of trees, respectively called the North and the West woods. Days before, these places had been peaceful, quiet, and places were life went by rather slowly and without notice.
But now, thousands of young men would be grappling for their lives and the lives of their beliefs in the Cornfield, and around a one room church that was viewed as a place of peace. The 1st Corps, under the command of colorful Joseph Hooker, came thundering down from the North woods and out into the Cornfield, looking for an opening in the left flank of Robert E. Lee's lines. They clashed with the forces of "Stonewall" Jackson, some of whom were having their first warm and full meal in days. In particular were the Texans and Alabamans under the command of General Hood, who were already in a bad mood from having to execute a forced march from Harpers Ferry as well as being on very short rations for several days. The Union attack on their lines at dawn simply infuriated them, and they commenced a counter attack that staggered the entire 1st Corps, while suffering some of the worst casualties of any unit in the war.
The fighting in the Cornfield would surge back and forth until around 10 am, with soldiers from Jackson's command struggling with elements of the 1st 2nd, 3rd, and 12th corps, and still the battle so far remained a stalemate with no decisiveness at all.
After 10am, a new attack was commenced along the lines of some quiet little farm lanes, including one lane that had sunk into the ground due to its long use by wagons, horses, and all the elements of farm life. This road would prove a perfect trench for defending confederate troops, and an absolute nightmare for attacking Union troops. D. H. Hill commanded the troops lining this road, under the main command of James Longstreet, whose lines were theoretically the weakest, but the efforts of the troops under Longstreet's command would prove their worth in just a few minutes.
Sumner's 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac would be given the job of cracking this nut, and it would take all of them to do it. "Old Bull" Sumner, an elderly man with white hair and a voice that could carry the length of a battlefield in full use, had been a Cavalryman all his life, but now he was commanding infantry, by command of General McClellan. His previous experience in the military showed in how he sent his troops forward. Instead of one long line, or supporting attacks, he sent his three divisions forward one behind the other, all in battle line. This would give Confederate artillerists the chance of a life time: the chance to rake an entire Union corps from flank to flank without much returning fire.
The 2nd Corps attacked the Bloody Lane line 5 different times, including attacks made by the famed Irish brigade. Finally, John C. Caldwell's brigade under General Israel Richardson slipped to the right of the Confederate line in the sunken road. This move would turn the road into a death trap for the Confederates, where a crossfire being poured down the road by Caldwell's New Yorkers would kill hundreds of men in the shelter of the road, filling it with dead and wounded. Having walked down "Bloody Lane" while on my travels in the east, it is hard to imagine enough bodies to fill the road to the top, as the road lies 3-4 feet below ground level.
With the help of this deadly crossfire, the line in the sunken road snapped, and the 2nd Corps finally set off in a hot pursuit that would be stopped by massed artillery that Longstreet had put in place in case of such an emergency. The 2nd Corps fell back to its newly conquered ground, and the fighting in the middle of the line would cease around 1 in the afternoon.
The main fighting of the day now shifted to the southern end of the battlefield, where Ambrose Burnside's 9th Corps was stationed near a small stone bridge across Antietam creek.
Along the length of the Battlefield, Antietam creek was never more than 50 feet across, and in few places over waist deep. However, Burnside was ordered to cross the bridge to attack the southern end of Lee's lines, and being very by the book across the bridge Burnside would attack.
The opposite bank was held by few, precious few, Confederate forces. These troops had been depleted by Lee's shuffling of soldiers to the attacks occurring in the Cornfield and at Bloody Lane, and thus had left his right flank very weak. Burnside would try and take this opportunity, but his inability to do anything but follow the exact lettering of orders proved to be a bloodbath. The 9th Corps tried twice to take the bridge by storm, but those attempts failed miserably. Finally, the 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania were ordered to storm the bridge simultaneously and overwhelm the relatively few defenders who were conducting a Thermoplye-like defense. These units hesitated, due to their having seen what befell the last to assaults, but on a promise of a renewal of their whiskey allowance (due to their having abused that privilege, apparently), they successfully stormed the bridge and drove the defenders away from the high ground on the east side of the creek.
This attack was too late in coming, however, for just in the nick of time, A. P. Hill's men had arrived from Harpers Ferry, and were swinging into line to meet this new assault. It was a lucky stroke for the Confederacy, for before they arrived, there was absolutely no defense for this end of Sharpsburg and the Confederate line. Lee himself was going frantically through the streets, with two broken arms, no less, and ordering every man with a gun that he saw towards this end of town. A. P. Hill's arrival would save the day for the Confederacy, at least at this end of the field, and Burnside's attack would be squelched just short of the outskirts of town.
However, this part of the field was not the only place that was lightly defended by Confederate forces. The 5th Corps so far had not even fired a shot throughout the entire battle, for they were forming the final reserve for McClellan and the Army of the Potomac to draw upon.
The battle had now been progressing for some time, and scouting parties sent forward to the middle of Lee's lines were reporting that there was absolutely no one there. McClellan could have ended the war by sundown, but the age old fear of being outnumbered struck him at this moment of all moments.
Fitz-John Porter, the commander of the 5th Corps, also reminded him "Remember sir, I command the last reserve of the Army of the Potomac." How Porter meant this I do not know, but it appeared to have a unwelcome effect on McClellan, for he decided to leave the 5th Corps in its place and the battle only half won.
However, there was a small detachment sent forward to make contact with the enemy and make sure nothing was going on in the center of Lee's lines that McClellan wouldn't like. And who do you think was a part of this detachment? Well wouldn't you know, but companies G, I, and K of the 4th US Infantry!
These three companies, along with other elements from different regiments, went forward as a very large skirmish line, a probe, to see what Lee was up to in the middle of the field. The line would come under intense artillery fire, and would be in action most of the day, and then would be recalled at sundown.
Antietam was a battle of "What ifs". What if Burnside had crossed the bridge sooner? What if the 5th Corps had been sent forward in the final attack? What if, what if. Sounds like a lot of life.
But the "what ifs" were not to be, and the war would continue for three more years, with hundreds of thousands more to die, more chairs to be emptied, more graves to be dug.
However, Antietam did change one thing. It changed the war. Lincoln had been waiting to officially release the Emancipation Proclamation to change the war from a war to simply reunify the nation, to a war to free an entire race of men. The men of every Northern army, in spite of their beliefs, inclinations, or prejudices would now be fighting for people they had never even met or cared about before. The African American would now be considered a man in bondage, instead of a piece of property in use.
The United States Federal Government was reversing itself, and taking on the cause and the policy that John Brown had embraced in Harpers Ferry just a few years before. John Brown had come to Harpers Ferry to free enslaved people by force of arms, with no qualms about killing people who stood in his way. U.S. Marines had captured him in the fire engine house at the armory, and had handed him over to the State of Virginia for trial. Now, the same United State Government that had ordered those Marines to Harpers Ferry was no embracing the same cause, and making the largest land army in the world an army whose objective was freedom for 4 million people. It is quite a change.
Antietam changed many things, the war, politics, the mindset of a country, and the future of a race.
And it all happened 150 years ago today.
Thats all for now, I'll write again soon.
Cheers!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Perseverance
Throughout our lives, trials will come, hardships will have to be endured, and problems will have to be solved. Thats simply how it works. Thats kind of what makes the human spirit and God's grace so very cool, in that those are the biggest powers that allow us to over come suffering and tribulation.
On a closer examination of soldiers and their careers, I find that it is those men and women who put their all on the line for others that suffer the most. Soldiers have to put up with some down right terrifying situations to help people, people they often times don't even know, and for what? A paycheck? The pat on a back? I believe that they do it because they know that for them, it is the right thing to do.
But what keeps them going? What helps them keep waking up in the morning, suiting up, and reporting to duty? They know it is the right thing to do, but how to they manage to find the strength to do it day after day?
The soldiers of the Army of the Potomac (or any army during the Civil War) was no different from the armies of today. Sure, the equipment is newer (thankfully), the tactics are switched up to allow for new technology, and thanks to that new technology, we have fewer battlefield casualties than in the times of the Civil War. (Imagine if in one battle in Iraq or Afghanistan we had 50,000 casualties!) Yet all these "improvements" to warfare does not take away the fact that "War is Hell" as General William T. Sherman put it so eloquently. War is the forceful coercion of one power over another, by force of arms and the death of the people of both powers, and as such, the soldiers (and people) fighting a war must put up with hardship, suffering, and deprivations so severe that we can't really imagine, especially here in the United States. After all, it has been almost 200 years since an invading army from a foreign country set foot on our soil.
For the Army of the Potomac, the Civil War was hell itself. For nearly 2 years since the beginning of the war, it went without any victory whatsoever, until the battle of Antietam, and then it went nearly another year until its next victory at Gettysburg. It suffered military setbacks, deprivation of shelter and supplies, and on occasion the derision of its people and its government. It also suffered from a lack of leadership, with going through 6 different commanders before settling on George Meade who won his stripes at the battle of Gettysburg.
The winter of 1862-1863 was described as "The valley forge of the Army of the Potomac". The army suffered from a shortage of food and clothing, as well as a stunning defeat at Fredericksburg, and also a embarrassing and anticlimactic "mud march" provided by Ambrose Burnside, its commander. Desertions soared during this time, due to the fact that the men's war spirit and morale was "all played out" and because there was no such thing has a furlough, meaning that the men could not go home to their families. In short, it had lost confidence in itself and its cause.
Yet, the Army did survive these ordeals. It survived its encampment at Falmouth Virginia in winter of '62-'63, and even survived the battle of Chancellorsville with quite good morale. This is due to Joseph Hooker's reorganization of the army, giving the men a sense of unit pride in their corps badges, and his fighting spirit. He was not called "Fighting Joe" for nothing, yet his pride and boasting eventually DID go before his fall in the wild land around Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863.
The Army would go on to win its own fighting spirit back at Gettysburg, which, while not changing anything militaristically speaking, it did change things for the Army of the Potomac in that it realized that it actually COULD whip Robert E. Lee and his army in a stand up, toe to toe fight. In short, it received its manhood and confidence back, which changed everything. It would go on to suffer even more, beyond our wildest imaginations, at places like the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, in the mud at Petersburg, but it would finally win peace and victory at a little tiny hamlet called Appomattox Court House.
How did they do it? I believe that they, while it disappeared from time to time due to their circumstances, had a undying belief in what they were doing, what they were suffering for, and they weren't willing to give it up. In the motion picture "Gettysburg", Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain makes a speech that, while utterly fictional, is still quite good, and I believe describes the heart of the men in blue that fought from 1861-1865.
To be sure, every man had his prejudices, perhaps against blacks, or immigrants, or what have you. Yet they all stuck together, they all held out and suffered because they wanted something better. They wanted to make their tomorrow better than their yesterday. They didn't know how it would turn out, yet they went through the hell anyway. And to be honest, it did them a favor, because it proved that they could win, they could stand up to whatever was thrown at them, that they could have final victory.
"It is actually wonderful how the Army of the Potomac stand the deprivations, trials, and reverses that have been heaped on them without stint or mercy to meet the foe with undaunted spirits. I do not believe there ever was an army in any country that would endure the same treatment this army has and yet be ready to fight as good a battle, and perhaps a better one than they could when they first came out. Although we have been deprived of the privilege of winning any lasting victories, it has not been our fault, as history in future days will show. I look forward to the time when a man can say with pride, 'I belonged to the Army of the Potomac.' We look to history to give our just due and to place all the blame where it belongs."
So how can we have this same perseverance as the Army of the Potomac? How can we keep getting up to fight our own battles each day, whether they be with family, a co-worker, or what have you?
For me, my final victory is not to prove that I'm right and others are wrong, that I'm better than other people, or anything like that. In the end, my final victory is me standing before God's throne in heaven and hearing him say "well done my good and faithful servant". At this point in time, I in no way feel worthy of hearing my Lord and Savior say this to me, such a sinner, but yet I have to cling to the faith that God's spirit has given us and believe that Christ is making intercession for me and washing me clean of all sin so that I may live with him in heaven. This promise holds true for you as well, my friend.
I will close with a short poem that I found in a original copy of "Monroe's 4th reader" that I own, a school book published in 1872.
On a closer examination of soldiers and their careers, I find that it is those men and women who put their all on the line for others that suffer the most. Soldiers have to put up with some down right terrifying situations to help people, people they often times don't even know, and for what? A paycheck? The pat on a back? I believe that they do it because they know that for them, it is the right thing to do.
But what keeps them going? What helps them keep waking up in the morning, suiting up, and reporting to duty? They know it is the right thing to do, but how to they manage to find the strength to do it day after day?
The soldiers of the Army of the Potomac (or any army during the Civil War) was no different from the armies of today. Sure, the equipment is newer (thankfully), the tactics are switched up to allow for new technology, and thanks to that new technology, we have fewer battlefield casualties than in the times of the Civil War. (Imagine if in one battle in Iraq or Afghanistan we had 50,000 casualties!) Yet all these "improvements" to warfare does not take away the fact that "War is Hell" as General William T. Sherman put it so eloquently. War is the forceful coercion of one power over another, by force of arms and the death of the people of both powers, and as such, the soldiers (and people) fighting a war must put up with hardship, suffering, and deprivations so severe that we can't really imagine, especially here in the United States. After all, it has been almost 200 years since an invading army from a foreign country set foot on our soil.
For the Army of the Potomac, the Civil War was hell itself. For nearly 2 years since the beginning of the war, it went without any victory whatsoever, until the battle of Antietam, and then it went nearly another year until its next victory at Gettysburg. It suffered military setbacks, deprivation of shelter and supplies, and on occasion the derision of its people and its government. It also suffered from a lack of leadership, with going through 6 different commanders before settling on George Meade who won his stripes at the battle of Gettysburg.
The winter of 1862-1863 was described as "The valley forge of the Army of the Potomac". The army suffered from a shortage of food and clothing, as well as a stunning defeat at Fredericksburg, and also a embarrassing and anticlimactic "mud march" provided by Ambrose Burnside, its commander. Desertions soared during this time, due to the fact that the men's war spirit and morale was "all played out" and because there was no such thing has a furlough, meaning that the men could not go home to their families. In short, it had lost confidence in itself and its cause.
Yet, the Army did survive these ordeals. It survived its encampment at Falmouth Virginia in winter of '62-'63, and even survived the battle of Chancellorsville with quite good morale. This is due to Joseph Hooker's reorganization of the army, giving the men a sense of unit pride in their corps badges, and his fighting spirit. He was not called "Fighting Joe" for nothing, yet his pride and boasting eventually DID go before his fall in the wild land around Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863.
The Army would go on to win its own fighting spirit back at Gettysburg, which, while not changing anything militaristically speaking, it did change things for the Army of the Potomac in that it realized that it actually COULD whip Robert E. Lee and his army in a stand up, toe to toe fight. In short, it received its manhood and confidence back, which changed everything. It would go on to suffer even more, beyond our wildest imaginations, at places like the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, in the mud at Petersburg, but it would finally win peace and victory at a little tiny hamlet called Appomattox Court House.
How did they do it? I believe that they, while it disappeared from time to time due to their circumstances, had a undying belief in what they were doing, what they were suffering for, and they weren't willing to give it up. In the motion picture "Gettysburg", Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain makes a speech that, while utterly fictional, is still quite good, and I believe describes the heart of the men in blue that fought from 1861-1865.
"This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This has not happened much, in the history of the world: We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, all of it, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here is the place to build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end... we're fighting for each other."
To be sure, every man had his prejudices, perhaps against blacks, or immigrants, or what have you. Yet they all stuck together, they all held out and suffered because they wanted something better. They wanted to make their tomorrow better than their yesterday. They didn't know how it would turn out, yet they went through the hell anyway. And to be honest, it did them a favor, because it proved that they could win, they could stand up to whatever was thrown at them, that they could have final victory.
In the book "The Sword of Lincoln" by Jeffry D. Wert, the last line of the book is a quote from the journal of Sergeant Charles Bowen, of the 12th US Infantry, which is fittingly enough a member of the same brigade as the 4th US Infantry. He describes how the Army of the Potomac suffered and suffered reverses, yet was able to win the final victory, in spite of the doubts of its leaders, its people, and its government. I'll let him speak for himself:
"It is actually wonderful how the Army of the Potomac stand the deprivations, trials, and reverses that have been heaped on them without stint or mercy to meet the foe with undaunted spirits. I do not believe there ever was an army in any country that would endure the same treatment this army has and yet be ready to fight as good a battle, and perhaps a better one than they could when they first came out. Although we have been deprived of the privilege of winning any lasting victories, it has not been our fault, as history in future days will show. I look forward to the time when a man can say with pride, 'I belonged to the Army of the Potomac.' We look to history to give our just due and to place all the blame where it belongs."
So how can we have this same perseverance as the Army of the Potomac? How can we keep getting up to fight our own battles each day, whether they be with family, a co-worker, or what have you?
Being a Christian, I recently came across some verses that have truly encouraged me, since I have many battles I am fighting. If you do not share my beliefs, I respect that, but perhaps you can take these words as encouraging, if not as God's own word. I'm quoting from Romans chapter 8:
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." KJV
For me, my final victory is not to prove that I'm right and others are wrong, that I'm better than other people, or anything like that. In the end, my final victory is me standing before God's throne in heaven and hearing him say "well done my good and faithful servant". At this point in time, I in no way feel worthy of hearing my Lord and Savior say this to me, such a sinner, but yet I have to cling to the faith that God's spirit has given us and believe that Christ is making intercession for me and washing me clean of all sin so that I may live with him in heaven. This promise holds true for you as well, my friend.
I will close with a short poem that I found in a original copy of "Monroe's 4th reader" that I own, a school book published in 1872.
"Yes, courage, boy, courage! and press on thy way;
Though waves of temptation in anger may roll,
Let jo light they cheek, then, and hope gild thy brow;
By deeds of the mighty, who struggled and bled,
Then courage, boy, courage! There's light in the sky:
there is nothing to harm thee, nothing to fear:
do all which truth bids thee, and do it today;
Hold on to thy purpose, do right, persevere!
and storm cloud on storm cloud hang dark in the sky,
still courage, boy, courage! There's strength in thy soul;
believing and doing bring help from on high.
ne'er parley with wrong, nor ill stay to borrow;
let thy object be truth, and thy watchword be now!
Make sure of today, and trust God for tomorrow.
be incited to action, and manfully fight:
good is worth doing, boy! and, living or dead,
that good shall reward thee with honor and might.
be humble, be active, be honest, be true;
and though hosts may confront, and though foes may decry,
"I've conquered!" at last shall be shouted by you."
~Monroe's 4th Reader, 1872
I hope that this post has made at least some sense, and that it has been encouraging to you to read as it has been for me to write.
Go out today and see what God can do with you!
Cheers.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
A touching end to a horrible war
Reading Bruce Catton's "This hallowed ground", the last few pages documented a simple, unorganized last "huzzah" for the men of the 5th Corps, of which the 4th regiment was a part.
"There was a quiet, cloudless May evening in Washington, with no touch of breeze stirring. In the camp of the V corps of the Army of the Potomac men lounged in front of their tents, feeling the familiar monotony of camp life for the last time. Here and there impromptu male quartets were singing. On some impulse a few soldiers got out candles, stuck them in the muzzles of their muskets, lighted them, and began to march down a company street. In the windless twilight the moving flames hardly so much as flickered.
Other soldiers saw, liked the looks of it, got out their own candles, and joined in the parade, until the presently the whole camp as astir. Privates were appointed temporary lieutenants, captains, and colonels, whole regiments began to form, spur of the moment brigadiers were commissioned, bands turned out to make music-and by the time full darkness had come the whole army corps was on the parade ground, swinging in and out, nothing visible but thousands upon thousands of candle flames.
Watching from a distance, a reporter for the New York HARALD thought the sight beautiful beyond description. No torchlight procession Broadway ever saw, he said, could compare with it. Here there seemed to be infinite room; this army corps had the night itself for its drill field, and as the little lights moved and out it was 'as though the gaslights of a great city had suddenly become animated and had taken to dancing.' The parade went on and on; the dancing flames narrowed into endless moving columns, broke out into broad wheeling lines, swung back into columns again, fanned out across the darkness with music floating down the still air.
As they paraded the men began to cheer. They had marched many weary miles in the last four years, into battle and out of battle, through forests and across rivers, uphill and downhill and over the fields, moving always because they had to go where they were told to go. Now they were marching just for the fun of it. It was the last march of all and, when the candles burned out, the night would swallow soldiers and music and the great army itself, but while the candles still burned, the men cheered.
The night would swallow everything-the war and its echoes, the graves that had been dug and the tears that had been shed because of them, the hatreds that had been raised, the wrongs that had been endured and the inexpressible hopes that had been kindled-and in the end the last little flame would flicker out, leaving no more than a wisp of gray smoke to curl away unseen. The night would take all of this, as it had toaken so many men and so many ideals-Lincoln and McPherson, old Stonewall and Pat Cleburne, the chance for a peace made in friendship and understanding, the hour of vision that saw fair dealing for men just released from bondage. But for the moments the lights still twinkled, infinitely fragile, flames that bent to the weight of their own advance, as insubstantial as the dream of a better world in the hearts of men, and they moved to the far off sound of music and laughter. The final end would not be darkness. Somewhere, far beyond the night, there would be a brighter and a stronger light."
I honestly have no words to add to this... its beautiful. :)
"There was a quiet, cloudless May evening in Washington, with no touch of breeze stirring. In the camp of the V corps of the Army of the Potomac men lounged in front of their tents, feeling the familiar monotony of camp life for the last time. Here and there impromptu male quartets were singing. On some impulse a few soldiers got out candles, stuck them in the muzzles of their muskets, lighted them, and began to march down a company street. In the windless twilight the moving flames hardly so much as flickered.
Other soldiers saw, liked the looks of it, got out their own candles, and joined in the parade, until the presently the whole camp as astir. Privates were appointed temporary lieutenants, captains, and colonels, whole regiments began to form, spur of the moment brigadiers were commissioned, bands turned out to make music-and by the time full darkness had come the whole army corps was on the parade ground, swinging in and out, nothing visible but thousands upon thousands of candle flames.
Watching from a distance, a reporter for the New York HARALD thought the sight beautiful beyond description. No torchlight procession Broadway ever saw, he said, could compare with it. Here there seemed to be infinite room; this army corps had the night itself for its drill field, and as the little lights moved and out it was 'as though the gaslights of a great city had suddenly become animated and had taken to dancing.' The parade went on and on; the dancing flames narrowed into endless moving columns, broke out into broad wheeling lines, swung back into columns again, fanned out across the darkness with music floating down the still air.
As they paraded the men began to cheer. They had marched many weary miles in the last four years, into battle and out of battle, through forests and across rivers, uphill and downhill and over the fields, moving always because they had to go where they were told to go. Now they were marching just for the fun of it. It was the last march of all and, when the candles burned out, the night would swallow soldiers and music and the great army itself, but while the candles still burned, the men cheered.
The night would swallow everything-the war and its echoes, the graves that had been dug and the tears that had been shed because of them, the hatreds that had been raised, the wrongs that had been endured and the inexpressible hopes that had been kindled-and in the end the last little flame would flicker out, leaving no more than a wisp of gray smoke to curl away unseen. The night would take all of this, as it had toaken so many men and so many ideals-Lincoln and McPherson, old Stonewall and Pat Cleburne, the chance for a peace made in friendship and understanding, the hour of vision that saw fair dealing for men just released from bondage. But for the moments the lights still twinkled, infinitely fragile, flames that bent to the weight of their own advance, as insubstantial as the dream of a better world in the hearts of men, and they moved to the far off sound of music and laughter. The final end would not be darkness. Somewhere, far beyond the night, there would be a brighter and a stronger light."
I honestly have no words to add to this... its beautiful. :)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Regulars by God!
In my hobby of reenacting, I've chosen to fall into line with a group portraying the 4th United States Infantry, Company G. It is a regular army unit, as opposed to a volunteer regiment, like the 20th Maine, for an example.
I chose this group for a few different reasons, including:
1) Most of the people I knew in the reenacting world at the time were members of this unit.
2) It has a local history here in Oregon and Washington, which has some awesome interpretation opportunities.
But the most meaningful and important reasons is:
3) No one ever talks about or portrays the regular army during the Civil War, much less the regular infantry.
This is regrettable, because quite honestly, when reenactors or enthusiasts miss out on recreating or remembering the regulars, they are missing out on a huge gem in American military history.
We've all read the books and seen the movies, and none of them ever mention the regulars at all. For example: God's and Generals focuses on one general in the confederate army, and in the Union army, on the Irish brigade and the 20th Maine. Gettysburg focuses on the 20th Maine. Glory focuses on the 54th Massachusetts.
Now, I'm not saying that volunteer units are lousy, or second rate troops. They indeed won their stripes and did a swell job. But I am saying that the regular army deserves a lot of credit for major actions and victories during the Civil War years.
Here's my reasons why:
1) At the beginning of the war, the US Army was roughly about 15,000 men strong, and the vast majority of those units were out west, much like the 4th Infantry, guarding Indian reservations, keeping other nations like Great Britain from creeping in on American territory, or fighting the Indians. When the new armies of the United States began to be formed, the regular army was relied upon to be the hard core nucleus of the 75,000 volunteers called up by President Lincoln at the war's outset. Not only had these regular regiments not been able to drill in battalion or regiment sized formations for several years, they also had to teach the "fresh fish" how to fight. This training is what would enable the volunteer based armies to withstand the violence and bloodshed that was to come in the next four years.
2) During the war, the regulars fulfilled their duties to be that hard nucleus to the T. At 1st Bull Run, the one regular battalion was the only body of Union troops to hold together and retire in good order when the army was broken by rebel troops. This bravery under fire, and ability to function in spite of confusion was a trait that the regulars would keep even at battles like 2nd Bull Run, Gaines' Mill, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, the North Anna River, and Five Forks, as well as countless smaller engagements. It is because of the regulars' example that the volunteers took on the same traits and won themselves undying glory along side the hardened veterans. While standing up to the abuse and violence of a straight, stand up fight, the regulars most likely suffered more casualties than any other units, north or south.
3) The incredible sacrifice of life and limb to preserve the nation. In the Civil War, the regulars and volunteers alike both served with great distinction and won undying glory for themselves on the same field, and ultimately shared in the same victories. You will hear stories about the incredible loss of life and the sacrifice on the battlefields and in the camps of all the units, the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg comes to mind as an example. The regulars have an interesting record with casualty rates, in that if you look at the unit monuments at Gettysburg, you'd see numbers for killed in action, wounded in action, and missing in action. With the volunteer monuments, you'd see numbers in all three categories listed. However, if you look at the casualty listings of the regulars units, you'll only see casualties of killed and wounded, and no missing in action casualties. This can mean two things: 1) that there were no regulars taken prisoner, and 2) that none of them ran away in combat.
This is very interesting for me, in that, its almost a sign of how dedicated the regulars were to their nation's cause. If you look at recruiting records, you'll find that the majority of the enlisted men of the regular army were recruited in the south. When the war came, nearly 1/3 of the officer corps of the US Army resigned their commissions and fought for the Confederate States. But a substantially lower amount of the enlisted men (privates and NCO's) left, with the vast majority staying with their units and serving in the Union army. I won't speculate as to why they stayed, as the reasons are as many as there were men in the regular army, but it is an interesting fact to think about. What I wonder about is what the average regular (or volunteer, for that matter) thought of the war, especially as the main cause and focus of the war changed after the battle of Antietam in 1862. Chances are, a good many of them were racist and prejudiced against African Americans, the Germans, the Italians, or the Irish. Perhaps many of them had those backgrounds that were subject to that prejudice. Yet they held together, and created a hard nucleus for the volunteer based Union army to form around, and suffered many horrors and tragedies alongside each other.
4) The regulars never went home. I mean this in a couple different lights. First, the regulars were not volunteers. They were in the army for the long haul, not 90 days, 3 years, or the war's duration, they had been in the army before the war, and they would be in the war after the war.. if they survived. After suffering the horrors of the Civil War battlefields, they would recruit willing men from the disbanded ranks of volunteer regiments, and even confederate prisoners of war as well. (Yes, the John Wayne movies like "Yellow Ribbon" are accurate in having ex-Confederates in the US Cavalry)
The regulars would be refitted, remanned, and then sent back out on more assignments, whether they were in the reconstructing south or back out west to subjugate the Indian tribes.
But I also say that the regulars never went home in another sense, in that, most of them never lived to go to a home. At Gettysburg, the regulars were already severely depleted from illness and battle casualties, and after the battle was fought, they were even more so. After the July 1, 2, 3, battle, they were sent to New York city to subdue the draft riots that were wreaking havoc in the city. While stationed in the New York forts, they refitted, recruited, and rested, which was very well deserved. They were lucky that they were able to do this, because if they had gone straight into the overland campaign launched by Ulysses S. Grant in 1864, they simply would have ceased to exist. Unfortunately, the overland campaign did severely deplete the reinforced ranks of the hardened veterans once again, so much so in the case of the 4th Infantry, that Grant ordered them to report to his personal headquarters to act as his body guard after the battle of Five Forks in the siege of Petersburg. Soon after, they would be present at the surrender of Robert E. Lee at a little, quiet crossroads called Appomattox Court House.
A few years later, asked if any of the regulars under his command during the war were still serving, General Romeyn Ayers of the 5th corps was in tears when he said,
"I had an entire division of regulars once. I buried half at Gettysburg and the other half in the Wilderness. There are none of the old regulars left." ~Romeyn B. Ayers
This is quite a tribute to the regulars from a regular army officer. However, there was a bit of awe for the regulars that was held by the volunteers, even as the relatively "fresh fish" volunteers gained battle hardness and experience. They had a respect and trust in the proud, hardened men that had trained them to be warriors, not just farmers and store keepers who had taken up soldiering as a temporary job. This quote is one that no one knows quite where it came from, but it captures this respect very eloquently. It is attributed to a volunteer soldier who witnessed the fighting retreat made by the regulars when they were single handedly fighting two divisions of Longstreet's corps in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg.
"For two years the regulars have shown us how to fight like soldiers.
Today, they showed us how to die like men." ~Unknown.
I hope this post hasn't been to rambly or boring, its just something that I've been wanting to write down for a while now. This is why I take pride in portraying the United States regular Army and the men who made it, and why I am looking forward to once again donning the blue uniform and wearing the brass 4 of the 4th Infantry this weekend at Fort Stevens state park at our annual Civil War reenactment.
Any way, thats it for now!
"REGULARS, BY GOD!"
I chose this group for a few different reasons, including:
1) Most of the people I knew in the reenacting world at the time were members of this unit.
2) It has a local history here in Oregon and Washington, which has some awesome interpretation opportunities.
But the most meaningful and important reasons is:
3) No one ever talks about or portrays the regular army during the Civil War, much less the regular infantry.
This is regrettable, because quite honestly, when reenactors or enthusiasts miss out on recreating or remembering the regulars, they are missing out on a huge gem in American military history.
We've all read the books and seen the movies, and none of them ever mention the regulars at all. For example: God's and Generals focuses on one general in the confederate army, and in the Union army, on the Irish brigade and the 20th Maine. Gettysburg focuses on the 20th Maine. Glory focuses on the 54th Massachusetts.
Now, I'm not saying that volunteer units are lousy, or second rate troops. They indeed won their stripes and did a swell job. But I am saying that the regular army deserves a lot of credit for major actions and victories during the Civil War years.
Here's my reasons why:
1) At the beginning of the war, the US Army was roughly about 15,000 men strong, and the vast majority of those units were out west, much like the 4th Infantry, guarding Indian reservations, keeping other nations like Great Britain from creeping in on American territory, or fighting the Indians. When the new armies of the United States began to be formed, the regular army was relied upon to be the hard core nucleus of the 75,000 volunteers called up by President Lincoln at the war's outset. Not only had these regular regiments not been able to drill in battalion or regiment sized formations for several years, they also had to teach the "fresh fish" how to fight. This training is what would enable the volunteer based armies to withstand the violence and bloodshed that was to come in the next four years.
2) During the war, the regulars fulfilled their duties to be that hard nucleus to the T. At 1st Bull Run, the one regular battalion was the only body of Union troops to hold together and retire in good order when the army was broken by rebel troops. This bravery under fire, and ability to function in spite of confusion was a trait that the regulars would keep even at battles like 2nd Bull Run, Gaines' Mill, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, the North Anna River, and Five Forks, as well as countless smaller engagements. It is because of the regulars' example that the volunteers took on the same traits and won themselves undying glory along side the hardened veterans. While standing up to the abuse and violence of a straight, stand up fight, the regulars most likely suffered more casualties than any other units, north or south.
3) The incredible sacrifice of life and limb to preserve the nation. In the Civil War, the regulars and volunteers alike both served with great distinction and won undying glory for themselves on the same field, and ultimately shared in the same victories. You will hear stories about the incredible loss of life and the sacrifice on the battlefields and in the camps of all the units, the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg comes to mind as an example. The regulars have an interesting record with casualty rates, in that if you look at the unit monuments at Gettysburg, you'd see numbers for killed in action, wounded in action, and missing in action. With the volunteer monuments, you'd see numbers in all three categories listed. However, if you look at the casualty listings of the regulars units, you'll only see casualties of killed and wounded, and no missing in action casualties. This can mean two things: 1) that there were no regulars taken prisoner, and 2) that none of them ran away in combat.
This is very interesting for me, in that, its almost a sign of how dedicated the regulars were to their nation's cause. If you look at recruiting records, you'll find that the majority of the enlisted men of the regular army were recruited in the south. When the war came, nearly 1/3 of the officer corps of the US Army resigned their commissions and fought for the Confederate States. But a substantially lower amount of the enlisted men (privates and NCO's) left, with the vast majority staying with their units and serving in the Union army. I won't speculate as to why they stayed, as the reasons are as many as there were men in the regular army, but it is an interesting fact to think about. What I wonder about is what the average regular (or volunteer, for that matter) thought of the war, especially as the main cause and focus of the war changed after the battle of Antietam in 1862. Chances are, a good many of them were racist and prejudiced against African Americans, the Germans, the Italians, or the Irish. Perhaps many of them had those backgrounds that were subject to that prejudice. Yet they held together, and created a hard nucleus for the volunteer based Union army to form around, and suffered many horrors and tragedies alongside each other.
4) The regulars never went home. I mean this in a couple different lights. First, the regulars were not volunteers. They were in the army for the long haul, not 90 days, 3 years, or the war's duration, they had been in the army before the war, and they would be in the war after the war.. if they survived. After suffering the horrors of the Civil War battlefields, they would recruit willing men from the disbanded ranks of volunteer regiments, and even confederate prisoners of war as well. (Yes, the John Wayne movies like "Yellow Ribbon" are accurate in having ex-Confederates in the US Cavalry)
The regulars would be refitted, remanned, and then sent back out on more assignments, whether they were in the reconstructing south or back out west to subjugate the Indian tribes.
But I also say that the regulars never went home in another sense, in that, most of them never lived to go to a home. At Gettysburg, the regulars were already severely depleted from illness and battle casualties, and after the battle was fought, they were even more so. After the July 1, 2, 3, battle, they were sent to New York city to subdue the draft riots that were wreaking havoc in the city. While stationed in the New York forts, they refitted, recruited, and rested, which was very well deserved. They were lucky that they were able to do this, because if they had gone straight into the overland campaign launched by Ulysses S. Grant in 1864, they simply would have ceased to exist. Unfortunately, the overland campaign did severely deplete the reinforced ranks of the hardened veterans once again, so much so in the case of the 4th Infantry, that Grant ordered them to report to his personal headquarters to act as his body guard after the battle of Five Forks in the siege of Petersburg. Soon after, they would be present at the surrender of Robert E. Lee at a little, quiet crossroads called Appomattox Court House.
A few years later, asked if any of the regulars under his command during the war were still serving, General Romeyn Ayers of the 5th corps was in tears when he said,
"I had an entire division of regulars once. I buried half at Gettysburg and the other half in the Wilderness. There are none of the old regulars left." ~Romeyn B. Ayers
This is quite a tribute to the regulars from a regular army officer. However, there was a bit of awe for the regulars that was held by the volunteers, even as the relatively "fresh fish" volunteers gained battle hardness and experience. They had a respect and trust in the proud, hardened men that had trained them to be warriors, not just farmers and store keepers who had taken up soldiering as a temporary job. This quote is one that no one knows quite where it came from, but it captures this respect very eloquently. It is attributed to a volunteer soldier who witnessed the fighting retreat made by the regulars when they were single handedly fighting two divisions of Longstreet's corps in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg.
"For two years the regulars have shown us how to fight like soldiers.
Today, they showed us how to die like men." ~Unknown.
I hope this post hasn't been to rambly or boring, its just something that I've been wanting to write down for a while now. This is why I take pride in portraying the United States regular Army and the men who made it, and why I am looking forward to once again donning the blue uniform and wearing the brass 4 of the 4th Infantry this weekend at Fort Stevens state park at our annual Civil War reenactment.
Any way, thats it for now!
"REGULARS, BY GOD!"
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Last post from WV
Well, today is my last day on the job. I've learned a lot, had a blast all summer long, and had coworkers that are practically family. I wouldn't trade this summer for any other experience, and I don't think I'm blowing smoke when I say its been the best summer I've ever had.
Since this blog has been kinda sorta probably not very interesting, I think I'll go ahead and continue it to document my adventures as a reenactor and school prop. It SHOULD be interesting, since Lord willing I'll be going to the 150th of Gettysburg next year.
Any way, time to go into work for the last time! Cheers!
Since this blog has been kinda sorta probably not very interesting, I think I'll go ahead and continue it to document my adventures as a reenactor and school prop. It SHOULD be interesting, since Lord willing I'll be going to the 150th of Gettysburg next year.
Any way, time to go into work for the last time! Cheers!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)