Snow in Gettysburg

It was bound to happen....sooner or later, but we had our first snowfall in Gettysburg yesterday. It wasn't much....maybe 1/2".....probably less. But the ground is white. I love the first snowfall on the battlefield. Why? I hate snow. But the really nice thing about a light snowfall is the fact that you can see things that you would NEVER see at any other time of the year.

First I drove on Ayres Avenue and looked up at Little Round Top. One of the things that stands out most is the tracks where the trolley used to go around the base of Little Round Top. Although you can make out the tracks on any given day, the little bit of snow makes it really stand out. Looking at the path, you can see how that electric trolley bit into the ground, not just at Little Round Top but throughout the park. Its a sad part of the history of Gettysburg. But on a happy note, the walking path near the base of the Triangular Field and through Rose' Woods wouldn't exist without it. I love to walk that path.

As I drove through the Wheatfield, I could look into the woods and see the gentle curve of the land. When there is no snow on the ground, that curve doesn't show. You can sort of see the highs and lows of the ground, but there is just too much underbrush, trees, etc that get in your way. But when there is snow on the ground it shows and you can see deep into the woods. Your perspective changes.

I then drove down Hancock Ave. The one thing that I noticed along this path was the barns. You can see the Weikert, Trostle, Sherfy, Klingel, Codori, Frey, and Brian barns from this road. The snow was still sitting on the roofs and with the sun coming up, they shone like the sun. The glistening of the roofs reminded me that the barns were still there. I hate to say this but I live here and sometimes as a resident I tend to stop seeing things. We get so used to seeing the same things over and over again that they blend into the background. Unfortunately, that happens to me. I try not to let it happen.....but who can stop it. We take the things in our backyards for granted. But seeing those barns glistening in the sunlight was a reminder that even when we stop seeing what we are looking at, they are still there.

Another thing that stood out was General Lee standing tall atop the Virginia Monument. He really stuck out today. Standing close to a mile away and seeing him standing tall made me proud. I'm proud that today we can stand on Union ground, where a Union victory took place and still see the Confederate spirit. The Confederate spirit (whether right or wrong) is what has made this country what it is. The pride and determination of the Southern states is what this country was founded on....only it was the entire country. Where would this country be without determination? Where would this country be without pride? I'm afraid that we wouldn't exist. Seeing General Lee standing there today made me proud to be an American.

Then I got cold and went home. I often joke that I need to move someplace warm....like Hawaii or the Bahamas....but when it comes down to it, I wouldn't live anywhere except in Gettysburg. This is home.

The Chancellor House

I've been to Chancellorsville twice now. There is something about that place that just keeps calling me. There are four battlefields within just a few miles of each other (Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Wilderness, and Chancellorsville) and every time I go down there, I only seem to be able to hit Wilderness and Chancellorsville. I know what my draw to the Wilderness area is: my great great grandfather was wounded here. I
would like to be able to find the area where he was wounded, but I have, as yet, been unable to locate the spot. I don't know what it is about Chancellorsville, though. It might have something to do with Stonewall Jackson. Every time I take the walk around the Visitors Center and see the monument to Stonewall Jackson or the stone that the veterans placed there to remember him, I get a chill. Funny thing, though, I'm not especially a huge fan of his. It's not that I don't like him, he just isn't one of my favorites. So I'm still not sure about the draw....but something is there.



One of the things that I really like to stop and take a good look at is the remains of the Chancellor House. All that really remains is the foundation but from walking around the foundation you get a good feel for the size of the house. It was huge. This wasn't just a small village house.

I've recently come across a biography of Isaac Sharp, a private in the 140th PA. His biography gives a little inside look at what part the Chancellor House played in the Battle of Chancellorsville. Here is what I found:

In March he had a severe attack of erysipelas [type of skin infection], which disabled him until May 1, when he shouldered his traps and joined in the march to Chancellorsville. Wearied and worn, they arrived on the field at 9 pm, on the evening of the third day of the month, and the next morning they took an advanced position facing toward Fredericksburg.

At this point a dispute arose between the leading generals. Hooker had given repeated orders to Couch to fall back, but the advantages of the position were so apparent that Hancock and Warren both advised Couch to stand his ground. Warren went to Hooker and explained the matter, which resulted in an order issued at 2pm for Couch to hold the position till 5:00. But Couch had begun his retreat, and said: "Tell General Hooker he is too late, the enemy is now on my right and rear, and I am in full retreat."

The regiment moved to a position to the left of the former place, and there the Unionists were on too high ground, and before an attack could be made had again moved. While making coffee at the Chancellor House, they were ordered out on double quick to repel an attack made where the Wilderness road turns down the hill. After this they were moved to the left brow of the hill, facing the river, and began throwing up trenches.

Meantime a terrible artillery engagement was being waged, of which the following is an accurate description given by Captain C. L. Linton, commanding: What wild eyes and blanched faces there were when the shells and solid shot came in from the right and rear of us! Orders coming to "about face, left in front," we advanced to the plank road in rear of the Chancellor House to support a battery.

The Fifth Maine had opened fire, to which the enemy replied so rapidly and accurately that almost all the horses and men were killed or wounded. Only two of the artillerists remained at their posts. While there the Chancellor House was seen to be on fire, a detail from Company F was made to remove the wounded therefrom. All this time the shot and shell were coming so thick and fast that it seemed one could not take his nose from the dirt lest he would have his head blown off. A call for volunteers was made to save the guns of the Fifth Maine battery. Upon looking back, whom should we see but our division and brigade commanders, General Winfield Scott Hancock and General Nelson A. Miles. A moment later came our corps commander, hat in hand, and hair streaming in the breeze. The call for volunteers was responded to by a rush from Company D, and a few from one or two other companies, through the concentrated fire of thirty guns, into a storm of shot and shell, in the face of Jackson's men infused with victory, and saved every gun.

Myself and Corporal I. Sharp in the rush, both grasped the limber of one of the guns at the same time and on either side. With superior effort we succeeded in raising it a few inches from the ground, when a solid shot or shell passed between us and under the limber. At that instant Sharp gave down, and i thought he was done for, but was rejoiced when Corporal Sayer and others lay hold to see him straighten up again. He had let down on account of the immense weight we were lifting. A corporal of the battery procured a rope, and we soon had the gun moving from the scene of action. The force attached was not sufficient to make fast time. Try as we did, we stuck once or twice when running against dead horse. Not having fully recovered from former sickness, over exertion brought on disease, and after remaining in the regiment a few weeks, Isaac Sharp was sent to the general hospitals at Columbia, D. C., Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
http://www.pacivilwar.com/bios/sharp_isaac.php

And here is an account from one of the family members who actually lived in the Chancellor House, Sue Chancellor:

"The house was full of the wounded. They had taken our sitting room as an operating room, and and our piano served as an amputating table....The surgeons brought my mother a bottle of whiskey and told her that she must take some and so must we all. We did....Upstairs they were bringing in the wounded, and we could hear their screams of pain." Sue Chancellor, a southern girl whose house provided the names for the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. Early the next morning, the sixteen women and children who were hiding in the basement during the battle were brought upstairs. Sue saw the chairs riddled with bullets, the piles of amputated arms and legs, and the rows of dead bodies covered with canvas. The house suddenly caught fire -- probably a shell burst -- and the terrified women and children stumbled out of the building as the pillars collapsed. Her home was completely engulfed in flames, and Sue, her mother, and her five young sisters became homeless refugees.

Winter of 1863-64

In the winter of 1863, my great great grandfather and the rest of his regiment (98th PA) spent their time in Brandy Station. This was the area in which the Army of the Potomac had their winter encampment (for some reason, I'm picturing Valley Forge). It was during this time that the 98th Pennsylvania's time was up and they had to decide to reenlist or not. My great great grandfather did, indeed, reenlist.

While studying his life.....what he did during the Civil War....and even after, I decided to do some checking up on what exactly happened in Brandy Station during that winter. I found two markers in Brandy Station that explain about life during that period. Here are what the markers said:

Marker 1

On the night of December 1, 1863, following its unsuccessful advance against Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign, a cold and tired Army of the Potomac withdrew across the Rapidan River and returned to Culpeper County. On these fields and throughout most of Culpeper and part of Fauquier Counties, 100,000 Union soldiers set up a massive winter encampment that disrupted the lives of local residents. Union commander Major General George G. Meade ordered that the army establish its camps in an enormous oval-shaped configuration. As protection, an outer ring of cavalry pickets stretched around the army, backed up by an inner line of infantry. Supplies from Alexandria, Virginia rolled down the Orange and Alexandria Railroad into Brandy Station, the army's principle supply depot, and to Ingalls Station, 1.2 miles to the north. The encampment, which lasted from December 1, 1863 to May 4, 1864, was described by one soldier as a time "when the shattered regiments regained form and fair; when the new men learned the ways of the old, and caught the spirit of the organization they had entered...and the new body, thus composed, was to be thrown into one of the most furious campaigns of human history."

"A man could walk for miles and never leave the camps around Brandy Station." Anonymous Union Soldier

"A few weeks ago it was a wilderness; now it is a city of log huts, hardly a tree to be see." 126th New York Soldier

Marker 2:

The 1863-1864 winter encampment proved a busy time for the Army of the Potomac. "There was something fascinating about our winter city of 100,000 men," a staff officer recalled. "Many pleasant recollections cluster around the old camp at Brandy Station...history should know that our military service did not consist entirely of being shot at or trying to shoot at the other man." Thousands of new recruits joined the army and learned how to be soldiers. For members of the "old" regiments, the issue of re-enlisting was of grant interest; those who decided to sign on for "three more years" - or until the end of the war - were treated to a 30-day furlough, a $300 bounty, and special veteran stripes for their uniforms. Soldiers grumbled over the unpopular abolition of the First and Third Corps and the transfers of their regiments into other corps. In March 1864, following his appointment as general-in-chief of all the Union armies, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant came to Culpeper County. Although George Meade continued to command the Army of the Potomac, Grant chose to make his headquarters in the field with his army and directed operations until the end of the war. Not two months later, in early May 1864, the men of the Army of the Potomac packed their knapsacks, fell into line, and left these camps for good. On May 4, they crossed the Rapidan River and marched to the Wilderness. Before the momentous and bloody Overland Campaign ended, nearly half of those who had spent the winter at Brandy Station would be dead or wounded.

Reading about this time in the history of our country just reminds me of how precious we should consider life. I can't imagine what they must have gone through....the lack of warmth, few clothes, no luxury items, were they wanting for food? With the Christmas season approaching, thinking about the struggles that the armies on both sides went through, how little they had, what they had to do without, etc., really makes me thankful for what I do have. I am not the richest person, sometimes I wonder how I am going to pay my bills, but they get paid, I have food, I have a place to live (and its in the most wonderful town ever), and I have clean clothes on a daily basis. Stopping and thinking about the past makes me even more thankful for the future. The slate is clean....we can do with the future whatever we want....so here is my question: What will we do with our future? Let's remember to look at the past so that we can look toward a bright future.

The New Horse Trail

It was a warmish day yesterday morning and I thought I would take a little stroll on the new horse path that the park made this summer. This isn't the first time I've walked this trail...its at least my third trip on it. The trail goes from somewhere around the Bushman house down South Confederate Avenue across the bridge over Plum Run and then runs off to the base of Big Round Top. From there it heads back over towards the Slyder Farm. I didn't walk the entire path. I just wanted to follow the part that went from Plum Run up to the 'D' shaped field. Its a short walk but pleasant.

So, I parked my car at the bottom of the hill, right on the other side of the bridge. For reference, this bridge is the bridge that has the dinosaur footprints on the sides....just past the William Wells statue. I started to walk the path around 7am. The sun was up, but it was still kind of dark and you could tell that we were heading for some stormy weather. I didn't care what the day was like....I just wanted to walk this path.

First, in the spring, this is going to be an awesome path to walk. When the leaves start to come out and the birds are singing....its just going to be awesome....and I can't wait. In the meantime, winter is here and with that, there is little foliage which makes your views incredible. At no time during my walk did I lose sight of the road...in the spring and summer that will be different.

During the first leg of the path, I heard this really loud rustling in the bushes and when I looked over, I saw the tails of two deer taking off at high speed into the thick woods. I don't know where they were heading but they weren't taking their time. During this part of the walk, I could hear Plum Run as it ran softly over the rocks in its path. There's something about the sound of a brook running its course. Its relaxing.

I turned at a sharp turn in the path. The path also heads straight....right around the backside of Big Round Top. You are welcome to take this path, but be aware! This path is nothing more than a mud path (I've had shoes sucked off my feet in the past) and it can be treacherous. Also, in the summer, I've run into snakes in that area. Yuck!

At this point in my walk, I could see the top of Big Round Top. The one thing that I noticed more than anything was that Big Round Top contains 2 hills. The part where I was walking rose up and then leveled off. It sort of became a plateau of sorts. Then the other part rose high above the leveled off section....really high above that section. In the summer, I believe that there is no way that you could see this. I'm sure that the Alabamians who climbed up this hill and then down the other side couldn't see just what they were in for. Even though mostly the underbrush was eaten away by wild animals and farm animals, the tree tops HAD to hide the rise of the hill. There is no way that it could have been seen....just no way.

I looked through the brush and though about these poor Alabama boys. They had their canteens taken from them so that they could be refilled....so there was nothing to drink. It was July in Gettysburg (I don't care how low the temperature is, the humidity is always there in July). And they had to climb up this mountain that is completely covered in rocks....no, boulders....HUGE boulders. How did they do it? Today, I wouldn't want to try it. I noticed how the brush is REALLY, REALLY thick and just full of thorn bushes. I'm hurting just thinking about walking that hill.

The boulders along the path are just a sampling of the boulders on the hill. Some of these boulders are big enough that I could hide in their shadows with a few other people. They are huge! The path leads up hill from where I started. I got to the road and then turned around and headed back down the path. One thing that I had to be very careful about, is that this is a HORSE path.....watch where you are stepping.

While walking down the path, I noticed different things than when I was walking up. Seeing it from two different perspectives, it gives you a different way of seeing things. This is a path that I am going to look forward to seeing in the spring....while its still cool out. I'm sure that the snakes will love this area...and I'm not really excited about seeing them anytime soon.

Andrew Humphreys advance to Gettysburg

Humphreys advance into Gettysburg has always interested me. He started up the Emmitsburg Road and then was pulled onto Bull Frog Road by one of General Sickles staff. From there, they took a long way around the town of Gettysburg only to run head first into the Confederates. Fortunately, they weren't seen. So they snuck away. It was a long and difficult walk which only resulted in Humphreys men getting worn out. The original path would have been about 2 miles....the new and improved shortcut was about 8 miles. Here is General Humphreys words on telling the story of their advance into Gettysburg: When half-way to Gettysburg, a dispatch from General Howard to General Sickles, commanding the Third Corps, was delivered to me by Captain McBlair, of the staff, in which the latter general was warned to look out for his left in coming up to Gettysburg, and about the same time I learned from a citizen, who had guided part of General Reynolds' command that our troops occupied no ground near Gettysburg west of the road from that town to Emmitsburg. As we approached the crossing of Marsh Run, I was directed by General Sickles, through a staff officer, to take position on the left of Gettysburg soon as I came up. For reasons that will be apparent, from this statement I concluded that my division should from this point follow the road leading into the main road to Gettysburg, reaching the latter road in about a mile and a half, and at a distance from Gettysburg of about 2 miles; but Lieutenant-Colonel Hayden was positive that General Sickles had instructed him to guide the division by way of the Black Horse Tavern, on the road from Fairfield to Gettysburg. Accordingly, I moved the division in that direction, but, upon approaching the Black Horse Tavern, I found myself in the immediate vicinity of the enemy, who occupied that road in strong force. He was not aware of my presence, and I might have attacked him at daylight with the certainty of at least temporary success; but I was 3 miles distant from the remainder of the army, and I believed such a course would have been inconsistent with the general plan of operations of the commanding general. I accordingly retraced my steps, and marched by the route I have heretofore indicated, bivouacking at 1am on July 2 about 1 mile from Gettysburg and eastward of the Emmitsburg Road.

Now here is General Joseph Carr's (I Brigade II Division III Corps) version of the events: When about 1 mile from that town, General Humphreys joined the division, and resumed command. The column was guided by a civilian (a doctor) from Emmitsburg and Lieutenant-Colonel Hayden, assistant inspector-general of the corps. When about 3 miles from Gettysburg, we crossed Marsh Creek and advanced on the left-hand road about a miles, when we were suddenly halted by General Humphreys as a measure of precaution. Lieutenant-Colonel Hayden, who had been in advance with the guides, soon after rode up to General Humphreys, and stated that we were but 200 yards from the enemy's pickets. General Humphreys rode forward to the Black Horse Tavern, on the road from Fairfield to Gettysburg, and finding the information to be correct, and that the enemy occupied the road in heavy force, and believing that an engagement with him at the distance of 3 miles from the rest of the army, with the enemy between the army and his division, would be inconsistent with the plan of battle, faced the division about, and marched to the rear until striking the main road, upon which we proceeded to Gettysburg, reaching that place and going into bite bivouac at 1:30 am on Thursday, July 2.

Unfortunately, these are the only O.R. that I have been able to locate that talk about Humphreys advance. But in Harry Pfanz's book on the Second Day, I located just a bit more information. Here is what he says: Humphrey's caught up with his division a mile north of Emmitsburg and found it guided by Lt. Col. Julius Hayden, the inspector general of the 3rd Corps, and by a Dr. Anan of Emmitsburg. The division traveled northwest on a country road [Bull Frog Road] that angled from the main road [Emmitsburg Road] taken by Birney. At dusk the column reached Marsh Creek south of Black Horse Tavern on the Fairfield Road, where Wilcox's Confederate brigade waited. [1]

Finally, I have an excerpt from Richard Sauers book on the Meade-Sickles controversy: Humphreys was ordered to march via a road parallel to the Emmitsburg Road in an effort to prevent a clogging of the main artery. His men started off with no problems. Lt. Julius Hayden, inspector general on Sickles' staff, accompanied the column as guide. Sometime around 9pm, the head of the column approached Black Horse Tavern on the Hagerstown Road. By this time, Humphreys had become convinced that the road he was on was diverging too far from the reported Federal positions south of Gettysburg. He wanted to take a road that led off to the right, but Col. Hayden refused, maintaining that he had orders from Sickles to continue on to the assigned road.
Nevertheless, Humphreys was cautious about continuing so he and a small party went ahead to reconnoiter. The general noticed the glow of a number of campfires not far ahead, indicating the presence of troops. Suspecting that his brigades were about to encounter Confederates, Humphreys signaled a halt without the use of bugles. Lt. Francis W. Seeley, commanding Battery K, 4th U.S. Artillery, did not receive the order and his bugler sounded the halt. Shortly thereafter, a squad of Rebel artillerymen, thinking that the bugle call came from their battery, came up to report and were captured. Humphreys turned the column around as quietly as possible and eventually reached the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge at two o'clock in the morning of July 2, his soldiers thoroughly worn out and exhausted. This entire affair so disgruntled the General that he later wrote to a friend, "You see how things were managed in the Third Corps!" [2]

[1] Harry Pfanz's book on The Second Day, pg. 44
[2] Richard A. Sauer's book Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy, pgs 26-27

Thoughts While Walking Through Evergreen

On a recent walk through Evergreen Cemetery, I realized how "soft" our society has become. If we need to dig a hole, we use a machine....if we need to travel a mile to hit the Post Office or Library, we hop in our car.....if we need to talk to a friend, we pick up the phone....all modern conveniences, but things that have made us "soft".

While walking through the cemetery, I saw the statue of Elizabeth Thorn and realized that I don't think I could have done the things that she did during those fateful days in 1863. Elizabeth Thorn is one of the true unsung heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Her husband, Peter, was the caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery. In early the early 1860's he joined the army and left the care of the cemetery to his wife, Elizabeth. In July of 1863, Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant with her daughter Rose.

When the battle hit, she was staying at the Gatehouse, but eventually was forced to leave due to the battle literally being in her backyard. So she packed up her three young sons and her parents (who were living there with her) and they left their home. When they returned days later, they found their home all but destroyed, their belongings either gone or soaked in blood, and over 100 soldiers needing burial in the cemetery.

Somehow, she cleaned up her home. And then she went on to the task of burying the dead. She and her father (which she considered aged although he was probably in his fifties) dug graves for over 100 men in the Evergreen Cemetery (and the graves are still there). This took quite a few days, but they were able to get it done. And she did all this while 6 months pregnant!

Here is a link to her account of those days:
http://www.gettysburgguide.com/ge05001.html

In my book, Elizabeth Thorn deserves to be considered a hero for all women. She did the impossible, in an impossible situation. But she did it! Today, we can go in the cemetery and see all sorts of signs of her: the statue at the entrance, the area where the 100 soldiers are still buried, her and her husband's graves, the cemetery gatehouse. They are all still there. Knowing what to look for and where to look for it, the clues left behind can tell the story of this amazing woman and what took place during those horrible days of July 1863.

Thanksgiving in Gettysburg

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there in Blogland! I truly hope that this Thanksgiving was the best possible for you.

Here in Gettysburg, things were very quiet. In Thanksgiving's past, I have usually been alone so I would take advantage of the quietness and hit the battlefield. First thing in the morning, there isn't a soul in sight. I like those kinds of days on the battlefield. But, this year was different for me. My sister and youngest brother spent the day with me.

Believe it or not, I have a ten year old brother (he's adopted) and I have rubbed off on him. Through me, he has learned much about the battle of Gettysburg and about the battlefield itself. So, we ate around noon and by 1:15 we had hit the battlefield. One of the places that he really wanted to see and spend some time was at Devil's Den. What ten year old isn't fascinated by those rocks? What 42 year old isn't fascinated by those rocks????

We drove around the Wheatfield and went off in search of my 8-point buck that I saw last week. I fear the the sharpshooters that they brought in to control the deer population may have got him. My sister kept telling me that he probably went off to another part of the field. I hope she is right. The minute I see the eyes of an animal, I feel a deep connection with them and I can't stand the thought of anything happening to them. I guess this is why I spend so much time talking to the cows. But let me warn you, eating a hamburger while talking to the cows probably isn't a good idea.

What surprised me the most today, was the number of cars on the battlefield. Usually I'm out there first thing in the morning and by noon, I'm home. Today it was the opposite and we ran into a ton of vehicles. At the High Water Mark, I actually had to sit for a minute because of the traffic (well....more like people trying to get into their vehicles and refusing to close their car doors so that other vehicles can get past). There were many, many people out walking their dogs and some walking off their feasts (or maybe that was just me).

Today was a really lousy day to be battlefield tromping....rainy, foggy, but warm. Yet the crowds were out and about. The Visitor Center and all the attractions in town were closed...only a handful of restaurants were open....yet there were so many visitors in the area.

I drove through town and noticed that the Christmas decorations are up. We have the ugliest fake tree that they build around the flagpole on the Square. But at night, when the lights are on, it is really quite pretty. The Square is always a magical place right after Thanksgiving and as of today, its still the same way. But what was really nice, and probably only happens a couple of times a year, is that I was able to drive around the Square and not see another car. I guess everyone was on the battlefield. But to be able to cruise around that Square without anyone cutting me off, or stopping dead in their tracks, or trying to get off at every turn and then changing their minds, was really, really nice.

If I could suggest one day of the year to visit Gettysburg, Thanksgiving Day would be the day. If you don't want to hit the attractions, then the battlefield and town are all yours....all you have to do is show up (and try to get here early). This may be the slow season, but its one of the best seasons!