Gettysburg (111 page)

Weakley, J. W., 235n

Webb, Alexander S., 478, 496, 507, 511n

Weed, Stephen H., 410

Weikert, Beckie, 268

Weikert (George) farm, 302, 326, 383, 398, 417

Weikert (Jacob) farm, 337-38, 370, 414

Weir, Gulian V., 416-17, 509-10, 563

Welch, Norval E., 360

Welch, Spencer Glasgow, 146

Weld, Stephen M., 172, 197

Welles, Gideon, 45, 75, 80-81, 114, 261, 418, 523, 549

Wells, William, 518

West Virginia troops: cavalry (1st Regiment, 518-19)

Westminster, Md., 125

Wheatfield, 347, 348, 351, 355, 358-59, 362-63, 365, 380, 385, 417

Wheatfield Road, 325, 351, 359, 372, 380, 384

Whitaker, John H., 88

White, Elijah V., 82

Whitman, Walt, 538-39

Wiedrich, Michael, 405-7, 408

Wilcox, Cadmus M., 308-9, 382, 392-93, 463, 500-1, 513-14, 521, 563

Wiley, James, 511n

Wilkeson, Bayard, 223

Wilkeson, Samuel, 124, 154, 457, 468

Willard, George L., 299-300, 383-84, 388-89, 391-92; killed, 392

Williams, Alpheus S., 255, 398, 430-431, 434

Williams, Erasmus, 470

Williams, Jesse M., 400

Williamsport, Md., 45, 47, 55, 56, 66, 69, 71-72, 81, 531, 543, 548

Wills Woods, 170, 176, 189, 200, 206, 209, 234, 235

Willoughby Run, 170, 174, 176, 178-79, 182, 185, 186, 224, 228, 230, 237, 239, 287, 312, 417, 436

Wilson, LeGrand, 258, 537

Winchester, Va., Battle of, 42-44

Winebrenner’s Run, 298, 401, 409

Wisconsin troops, infantry (2nd Regiment, 163, 182-85, 228), (6th Regiment, 37, 148, 163, 174, 188, 192-93, 239, 246, 260, 408), (7th Regiment, 163, 186, 203), (26th Regiment, 136)

Wister, Langhorne, 216-17

Witcher, Vincent A., 437, 456

Wofford, William T., 377, 379

Wolf Hill, 281, 282

Wolf Run Shoals, 77

Wood, Andrew J., 186

Wood Jr., George, 403

Woods, John P., 36-37

Woollard, Leander, 180

Worley, C. L. F., 166

Wright, Ambrose R., 396-97, 460, 462, 563

Wrightsville, Pa., skirmish at, 110-11

York, Pa., 97, 110, 124, 130, 131, 133, 136, 138

York Road, 256, 316

Young, Louis G., 128-29, 130, 140-41, 158, 451, 504-5

Zachry, Alfred, 79

Ziegler, Lydia Catherine, 84, 107, 154, 187

Ziegler’s Grove, 469, 478, 505

Zook, Samuel K., 363

F
irst and foremost, this book is a tribute to the many historians who have produced sharply focused studies of the campaign and battle of Gettysburg over the last three decades. These scholars have stripped away the many layers of varnish that were applied to the Gettysburg story in the seventy-five years or so following the battle. Thanks to their dedicated work, our understanding of the events surrounding, and the motivations behind, virtually every phase of this engagement possesses a clarity that is without parallel in the field of U.S. military history. Even on the international stage, there are only a handful of military encounters whose understanding has been so remarkably enhanced and sharpened over the years. The bibliography at the back of this volume acknowledges the books and articles I have found most useful and stimulating.

This book is also a tribute to the individuals and organizations dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the Gettysburg battlefield. Not long after I began working on it, the last telephone pole was removed from the stretch of the Emmitsburg Road that crosses the ground of major fighting on July 2 and 3. As I was reaching the end of the project, I was able to enjoy the view from Oak Hill along the Mummasburg Road for the first time in the many years I’ve been tramping the battlefield. The hard work of organizations such as the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg, and others, continually rejuvenates the story told by the land.

As always, there are individuals whose assistance, guidance, and suggestions were invaluable to me. Once more, my principal researcher, Bryce Suderow, mined the Washington, D.C., libraries and archives on my behalf, not only producing the items I requested, but many times coming forward with material that I had not known to ask for but was very glad to have. Along the way, I received other research help from Chris Hunter as well as from James W. and Paula Stuart Warren. My chief
research base away from home was the United States Army Military History Institute, where David Keogh now presides over the archival collections, though Dr. Richard Sommers continues to make regular and welcome appearances. There I became acquainted with the immense collection of Gettysburg-related materials assembled by naval officer Robert L. Brake in anticipation of the history he never wrote. Other archives also played their part; I am grateful, in particular, for the fine services rendered by John M. Coski of the Museum of the Confederacy and Edward Varno of the Ontario County Historical Society and Museum.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful collection of primary materials maintained by Robert K. Krick at the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Park. My access was through ranger-historian Donald Pfanz, who was helpful above and beyond the call. D. Scott Hartwig of the Gettysburg National Park somehow found the time in the midst of a busy schedule to review the manuscript and provide thoughtful corrections and gentle suggestions when I wandered too far astray. My friend Kee Malesky went over the first section of the typescript to help me catch errors missed by the spell checker. Copy editor Dorothy Straight was, once again, indefatigable in her quest to tighten up wayward sentences, find the right word when I could not, correct my woeful efforts at addition, and ensure name spelling was consistent.

Finally, a tip of the hat to my literary agent, Raphael Sagalyn, who managed my transition from one publishing home to another; and to my editors at HarperCollins, who turned the manuscript into the book you’re holding. Tim Duggan stood watch over the final phase and was present at the delivery.

As always, I much appreciated the thoughts and ideas offered by others throughout the project’s gestation, though again, as always, the final product reflects my judgments and choices, good or bad.

E
DWARD
P. A
LEXANDER:
Longstreet’s premier artillerist served throughout the war, surrendering at Appomattox. Afterward he taught at a university, built railroads, and helped settle a border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The author of several memoirs of great honesty and forthrightness, Alexander died in 1910.

R
ICHARD
H. A
NDERSON:
A. P. Hill’s underperforming divisional commander rose to corps level but was ultimately relieved on account of his lackluster results. He made a poor transition to the postwar milieu and died in near poverty in 1879.

F
RANCIS
B
ARLOW:
Howard’s overeager brigadier was nursed back to health by his loving Arabella and returned to serve until the end of the war. Worn out by her constant efforts as a nurse with her husband’s army, Arabella died of disease in 1864. After the war, Barlow became a dynamic attorney general for New York whose efforts fatally weakened the Tweed ring. He died in 1896.

S
ARAH
(S
ALLIE
) B
ROADHEAD:
Broadhead privately published her diary in 1864, intending it solely for “the kindred and nearest friends of the writer.” She and her husband had a child after the war.

J
OHN
B
UFORD:
The hard-hitting, resourceful cavalry officer remained in active service until he was struck down by typhoid fever in the autumn of 1863. He died before the year was out and was buried at west Point.

D
ANIEL
B
UTTERFIELD:
After briefly commanding a division in the Atlanta campaign under his mentor Joseph Hooker, Butterfield left active service. He became a consummate inside operator during U.
S.
Grant’s presidency, with a reputation for profiting from his circumstances. He died in 1901.

J
OSHUA
C
HAMBERLALN:
Wounded six times during the war, Chamberlain earned national prominence, first as postwar Maine’s governor and later as president of Bowdoin College. He spoke and wrote extensively about his Civil War experiences, somewhat improving his performance in the retelling. Ironically, his indelibly heroic linkage to Little Round Top came through a fictionalized portrayal in Michael Shaara’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel,
The Killer Angels
, some sixty-one years after Chamberlain’s death.

C
HARLES
C. C
OFFIN:
The able war correspondent (nom de plume “Carleton”) was less successful when there was no conflict to report. Coffin’s postwar career consisted largely of refashioning his wartime dispatches into several books. He died in 1896.

R
UFUS
D
AWES:
The leader of the charge on the railroad cut enjoyed some business successes after the war, most of which were lost in the panic of 1873. He served a term in Congress and was a welcome fixture at countless Decoration Day parades until his death in 1899.

J
OHN
D
OOLEY:
The wounded survivor of the July 3 assault spent the remainder of the war as a Federal POW on Johnson’s Island. He settled in Georgetown immediately after the war and there began preparing himself for the priesthood while also working on his
War Journal.
Dooley met his maker in 1873, nine months before his ordination.

A
BNER
D
OUBLEDAY:
The unhappy corps-commander-for-a-day saw no active service after Gettysburg. He began a writing campaign soon after his army retirement, aimed at rehabilitating his wartime reputation. Rather than receiving honors for his legitimate military service, however, Doubleday became enshrined in popular culture for inventing baseball, something he did not actually do. Plagued by a series of ailments, he died in 1893 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

R
ICHARD
S. E
WELL:
The chief of Lee’s Second Corps retained his stewardship of that command until the summer of 1864, when his poor performance prompted Robert
E.
Lee to administratively banish him from the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, he ran his wife’s Tennessee plantation and kept out of the public eye. Ewell and his wife passed away within three days of each other in 1872.

A
RTHUR
J. L. F
REMANTLE:
The urbane English observer turned his experiences into a book that was published before the end of 1863 and subsequently widely reprinted in the paper-starved Confederacy. He died with many honors in 1901, having accomplished nothing else of such lasting significance.

J
OHN
G
IBBON:
Hancock’s determined and dependable division commander remained in the regular army after the war, actively fighting Native Americans on the frontier. He commanded one of the infantry columns that were supposed to coordinate with George Custer’s cavalry at the time of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Gibbon lived five years beyond his 1891 army retirement. His memoirs were not published until 1928.

G
EORGE
S
EARS
G
REENE:
The doughty defender of Culp’s Hill later commanded his brigade under sherman and was severely wounded in the face during an action at Wauhatchie, Tennessee, in October 1863. Despite a difficult and painful recuperation period, he returned to command a division in 1865. He retired to civilian life and was a busy public figure despite suffering ongoing complications from his war wound. Greene’s life ended some three months shy of his ninety-eighth birthday.

D
AVID
M
CMURTRIE
G
REGG:
One of the steadiest commanders in the Union cavalry service, Gregg continued to perform admirably until his resignation in 1865 for undisclosed personal reasons. He served President
U. S.
Grant briefly as the United
States consul to Prague and afterward settled in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he passed away in 1916.

H
ENRY
W. H
ALLECK:
Lincoln’s general-in-chief was demoted to chief of staff when U. S. Grant took over the Union armies in 1864. His rise in the postwar army stopped abruptly when Grant reviewed War Department communications and discovered Halleck’s intriguing against him. He died in 1872.

W
INFIELD
S. H
ANCOCK:
Never quite the same after Gettysburg due to his wound, Hancock nonetheless returned to service in time to take part in the bloody overland Campaign of 1864 before retiring from active field command at year’s end. His popularity was such that he almost defeated James Garfield for president in 1880. Hancock was still in army service when he died in 1886.

H
ENRY
T. H
ARRISON:
Long misidentified as James Harrison, Longstreet’s spy-scout lived a postwar life that can only be described as strange. Married in late 1863 and the father of two children, Harrison disappeared into the Montana Territory in 1866, not to reemerge until 1900, long after he had been declared dead. After trying unsuccessfully to visit his children, he again dropped from sight, this time forever.

F
RANK
H
ASKELL:
Praise for his Gettysburg actions brought Haskell the promotion he craved: he was given command of a new regiment, the 36th Wisconsin. The unit’s first action was in the disastrous Union charge at Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 3, 1864, where Haskell was killed. His 1863 letter describing Gettysburg was first printed in 1881 and is considered a classic account of the battle.