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- Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
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Seitenzahl: 85
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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GETTYSBURG
A Complete Historical Narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Campaign Preceding It
John Garnett
LACONIA PUBLISHERS
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All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2016 by John Garnett
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE.
GETTYSBURG.
Lee’s Hopes and Plans.
Confederate Plans and Preparations.
Federal Plans and Preparations.
Alarm in Gettysburg.
An Accidental Battle.
General Lee’s Opposition to Foraging.
A Farmer’s Faith in Lincoln.
Closing on Gettysburg.
In Martial Array.
Opening of the Battle.
Location of Gettysburg.
Into The Fight.
The Death of Reynolds.
Gen. Lee’s Discretionary Order.
Confederate Forces Engaged on First Day.
Gallantry on Both Sides.
Stuart’s Wild Ride.
The Evening of the First Day.
The Second Day’s Battle.
Condition of the Weather.
Position of Confederate Army.
Plans of Second Day.
Miscarriage of Plans.
Sickles in the Peach Orchard.
The Attack on Culp’s Hill.
The Assault on Cemetery Hill.
End of the Second Day’s Battle.
The Third Day’s Battle.
General Lee’s Impressions.
Political Considerations of the Struggle.
The Great Artillery Duel.
Feelings Inspired by the Contest.
A Dreadful Alternative.
The Purpose of the Artillery Duel.
Pickett’s Immortal Charge.
Into the Bloody Angle.
Hancock to the Rescue.
Hand to Hand for Victory.
Pickett’s Sorrow and Lee’s Magnanimity.
In the Face of Defeat.
The Confederate Retreat.
Strength of the Armies and Their Losses.
GENERAL STAFF ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
GENERAL STAFF ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
GETTYSBURG.
A COMPLETE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, AND THE CAMPAIGN PRECEDING IT,
BY
JOHN J. GARNETT,
COLONEL OF ARTILLERY, C.S.A.
PREFACE.
THE ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE of Gettysburg, as set forth in these pages, is, so far as human knowledge can determine, absolutely correct. The writer, while an active participant in the great struggle during the three days of its continuance, does not lay claim to having been actively identified with all the movements herein recorded. He cheerfully acknowledges his indebtedness to several eminent historians of the battle from both North and South, whose facts he has blended with his own experiences and observations into a complete and unprejudiced narrative. He takes especial pride in saying that his mind was, in writing this little history, entirely divested of any sectional feeling, and that his main purpose has been to do equal credit and reflect equal honor on the gallant men of both armies who faced each other in deadly strife on this memorable field. With his countrymen of the South he cheerfully accepts the verdict on the justice of their cause which they submitted to the adjudication of the sword, and he sincerely trusts that the developments of time will never again create the necessity for the men of either section of the United States to be found fighting under any flag other than the emblem which is now the symbol of our happily united country.
JOHN J. GARNETT,
Colonel of Artillery, C. S. A,
GETTYSBURG.
LEE’S HOPES AND PLANS.
ON A FAIR MORNING IN July, in the Summer of 1863, the quiet old-fashioned Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg became the scene of the mightiest struggle known to warfare. In and around its sleepy suburbs the citizen soldiery of a then disunited but now happily re-united Union, for three days shed immortal glory on American valor in a series of battles, the most fiercely contested of any known to the history of the world. That the reader may intelligently appreciate the chain of circumstances which led up to the battle of Gettysburg, I herewith append a recapitulation of the events when preceded it, having myself been an active participant in them as a soldier in the army of Northern Virginia.
Shortly after the battle of Chancellorsville, which resulted in the necessary withdrawal of the Federal forces to their former position on the left bank of the Rappahannock River, Gen. Lee of the Confederate Army determined that his opportunity had come to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania. He seems to have been induced to enter upon this perilous undertaking by several military considerations of an important character. First, he felt the increasing deficiency of cavalry and artillery horses, and of the means of subsistence for his army in an almost desolate territory from which he had hitherto drawn his supplies. Secondly, he had been led by unmistakable signs to believe that the morale of Gen. Hooker’s army had been destroyed by that battle, and, like the skillful military commander he was, to incline to the idea that that of his army had been correspondingly increased. Thirdly, there was the evident fact of the depletion of the Union army by the return to their homes of a number of regiments whose term of service had expired; and finally there was an apparent division of sentiment in the loyal States in regard to the conduct and continuance of the rebellion, engendered by an intense partisan feeling and desire for office. Of this division of sentiment, about which there was no doubt in his mind, Gen. Lee now determined to take advantage. For some time it unquestionably did appear as if his cherished hopes of a successful invasion would be realized, for, when he was about to cross the Potomac, evidently endeavoring to feel his way, such was the apparent apathy that prevailed among the people who were most in danger, that it seemed impossible to arouse them to their true situation, and to organize them in the defence of their homes.
CONFEDERATE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS.
HAVING DETERMINED UPON A MARYLAND and Pennsylvania campaign, Lee began to arrange and perfect his plans, and to remodel and strengthen his army; and when his preparations were completed he found himself at the head of one of the best disciplined and most reliable armies the world ever saw. Imaginative historians have recorded the opinion that the Confederate troops under Lee were in a sadly demoralized state at the opening of this memorable campaign; but such fallacies need no better refutation than that furnished by Lee’s army in action at Gettysburg.
Of course, so capable a commander as Gen. Joseph Hooker of the opposing forces could not be wholly blind to the unmistakable signs of the storm which had begun to lower about the Army of the Potomac. Hoping to forestall in a measure Lee’s intentions (having been informed that an advance was about to be ordered), he directed that a cavalry attack should be made by Gen Alfred Pleasanton against Gen. J. E. B. Stuart at Beverly Ford. This attack, which was made on June 9, resulted advantageously to the Federal arms, and especially so in the capture of Stuart’s private papers, among, which were found orders for an immediate advance into Pennsylvania. This was one of the most import occurrences of the proposed invasion, and it doubtless had an important bearing on the results of the three battles on this famous field. I have personal reasons for knowing that Gen. Lee deeply regretted the capture of Stuart’s papers. He was scrupulously mindful of military detail, and what to the average mind was a small thing in the affairs of an army was weighed with him to a nicety in its bearing on general results. The loss of those papers was a most unfortunate event for the Confederate army, since it enabled Hooker to put his army immediately in motion, so as to prevent Lee, who had already several days’ start, from flanking him and coming in between him and Washington and Baltimore. By hard marches the Union Army advanced so rapidly as always to be on the flanks of Lee and to prevent him eventually from carrying out his purposes.
FEDERAL PLANS AND PREPARATIONS.
FOREWARNED OF THE APPROACH OF the invading army, the War Department at Washington on June 11, assigned Major-Gen. D. N. Couch to the Department of the Susquehanna, with his headquarters at Harrisburg, and Major-Gen. W. T. H. Brooks to the Department of the Monongahela, with his headquarters at Pittsburgh. On the next day were issued a proclamation of Gov. Curtin and a call of Gen. Couch addressed to the people of Pennsylvania, urging them to organize and hasten to the defence of the State.
On June 13 the Confederates reached Winchester, Va., and gave battle to Gen. Milroy, who occupied that post with a force of 8,000 or 9,000 men. On that day the Confederates suffered a slight defeat, but on the next renewed the attack, which resulted in the hasty flight of Milroy and his whole command. He lost nearly all of his ammunition and artillery, and a small portion of his men. He succeeded with difficulty in taking several hundred with him to Harper’s Ferry, and in running his baggage train, by Hagerstown and Chambersburg, to Harrisburg. About 2,000 infantry stragglers and cavalry succeeded in breaking through and effecting their escape to Bloody Run, Pa., where they were reorganized and joined by recruits from the Pennsylvania militia.
