Retreat from Gettysburg

The Retreat from Gettysburg
Description and Controversies

During the Gettysburg campaign, General John Imboden’s force of cavalry took little part in the great struggle. After the repulse of Pickett’s Charge General Imboden was summoned to General Lee’s headquarters, and await his arrival from General A.P. Hills’ command. Although Imboden was not an especially favored officer, his troops, unlike the other hard used Confederates, were unbloodied, which qualified them for an important assignment.

General John Imboden

General Robert E.Lee

When Lee arrived he reined in his jaded horse, and dis­mounted, the effort to do so betrayed so much physical exhaustion that Imboden hurriedly rose and stepped forward to assist him, but Lee dismounted and threw his arm across the saddle to rest, and fixing his eyes upon the ground leaned in silence and almost motionless upon his equally weary horse. Imboden reported a look of sadness on Lee’s face and stated:  “General, this has been a hard day on you.” Lee looked up, and replied mournfully: “Yes, it has been a sad, sad day to us, I never saw troops behave more magnificently than Pickett’s division of Virginians did today in that grand charge upon the enemy”. After a moment’s pause he added in a loud voice, in a tone almost of agony, “Too bad! Too bad! OH! Too BAD!”

General Lee Following Gettysburg

Turning to the matter at hand, Lee changed from his melancholy to his usual determined forceful self. “We must now return to Virginia. As many of our poor wounded as possible must be taken home. I have sent for you, because your men and horses are fresh and in good condition, to guard and conduct our train back to Virginia. The duty will be arduous, responsible, and dangerous, for I am afraid you will be harassed by the enemy’s cavalry.”

Gettysburg General Retreat 

General Imboden's Route

    

“I can spare your men some artillery,” he said, “but no other troops, as I shall need all I have to return safely by a different and shorter route than yours. Nearly all the transportation and the care of all the wounded will be entrusted to you. You will re-cross the mountain by the Chambersburg road, and then proceed to Williamsport by any route you deem best, and without a halt till you reach the river. Rest there long enough to feed your animals; then ford the river, and do not halt again till you reach Winchester, where I will again communicate with you.”

Imboden was charged to convey all the wounded in wagons and ambulances along with a personal message from General Lee to President Davis. By the morning of July 4^th Imboden had assembled and approximately 2100 cavalry to defend the train which eventually stretched 17 miles, and by the early afternoon was drenched in a torrential rain. The orders were for no stopping for any reason. If an accident should happen to any vehicle, it was to be abandoned. The column moved rapidly, considering the rough roads and the darkness, and from almost every wagon for many miles issued heart rending wails of agony: “Oh God! Why can’t I die? My God! Will no one have mercy and kill me Stop! Oh! For God’s sake, stop just for one minute; take me out and leave me to die on the roadside.”  I am dying! I am dying! My poor wife, my dear children, what will become of you?

Union Pursuit

Some were simply moaning; some were praying while a majority endured without complaint unspeakable tortures, and even spoke with cheer and confront to their unhappy comrades. In motion and in darkness was safety for the retreating Confederates, who knew that when day broke they would be harassed by bands of Federal cavalry. Instead of going through Chambersburg, The column cut across the country to Greencastle, reaching there by morning of July 5^th twelve or fifteen miles from the Potomac at Williamsport, the point of crossing into Virginia. There the column was beset by Maryland civilians who were promptly made POWs, but caused enough of a delay for the Yankee cavalry to attack, and only prompt reaction by both the cavalry and the artillery permitted the Confederates to continue.

  

Nearly all of the immense train reached Williamsport on the afternoon of the 5^th, taking possession of the town to convert it into a great hospital for the thousands of wounded brought from Gettysburg.

The town of Williamsport is located in the lower angle formed by the Potomac with Conococheagne Creek. These streams enclose the town on two sides, and back of it about one mile there is a low range of hills that is crossed by four roads converging at the town. The Greencastle road leading down the creek valley; the Hagerstown road; the Boonsboro road; and lastly the River road.

Williamsport, MD

Early on the morning of the 6th they were attacked by a large body of cavalry with three full batteries of six rifled guns. These were the divisions of Generals Buford and Kilpatrick, and Huey’s brigade of Gregg’s division, consisting, of a total force of about 7000 men who would be facing no more than 3000 Confederates including approximately 700 impressed wagoners or as we would term them, teamsters.

“As we could not retreat further, it was at once made known to the troops, that unless we should repel the threatened attack we should all become prisoners, and that the loss of his whole transportation would probably ruin General Lee” —Gen. John D. Imboden

The battle became known as the Wagoner’s Fight. The fate of the Confederate retreat fell, in part, not on the generals and strategy, but on the tenacity of the rear echelon non-combatants. Although sustaining many casualties, these newly minted soldiers held on until rescued by a combined force of General Fitzhugh Lee and JEB Stuart.

There are many controversies surrounding the Battle of Gettysburg and the aftermath. Both commanders, General Lee and General George G. Meade have been censured for decisions and failures during and after the Battle. Lee’s Army lost the Battle. His detractors contend he was weak and confused when north of the Potomac. His defenders equally maintain he was undercut by his subordinates, especially General James Longstreet. General Meade is likewise censured by his failure to trap Lee on the North side of the Potomac thereby not ending the war almost two years earlier.

General Robert E. Lee

General George G. Meade

         

Historians, as well as contemporaries, are divided regarding General Meade. Some comments are in order. The Army of the Potomac was severely mauled during the Battle, sustaining about 15% casualties, a figure considered critical today for military cohesiveness.  Forced marching in the heat before the Battle, the savage fighting, and the torrential rains in the aftermath must be factored into any consideration of the fighting ability of the Army, as well as the loss of Meade’s two most aggressive generals Reynolds, killed on the first day, and Hancock, wounded on the third, sapped the fighting elan of the Army and his other generals. For those who think the Confederates had lost their will to fight after Gettysburg, a brief review of the 1864 Overland Campaign should put those thoughts to rest. It took Grant and his ‘awful arithmetic’ to complete what a defensive victory could not accomplish.

General Imboden describes a meeting between Lee and Longstreet while pontoons were preparing to carry the Confederates across the Potomac: “

As we were talking General Longstreet came into the tent, wet and muddy, and was cordially greeted by General Lee in this wise: “Well, my old warhorse what news do you bring us from the front?” That cordial greeting between chief and lieutenant is a sufficient answer, in my mind, to the state­ments of alleged ill feeling between the two men growing out of affairs at Get­tysburg. It has been said that if “Stonewall” Jackson had been in command at Gettysburg, Longstreet would have been shot. This is a monstrous impu­tation upon General Lee, no less than upon Longstreet, and utterly without foundation, in my opinion. They were surely cordial on the 9th of July 1863.”

Presented by: Brother Gerard Devine MD, DC, Camp Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1
July 2016

The Grand Army of the Republic- A Brief Overview

The Grand Army of the Republic - The Beginning

Grand Review of the Armies

In early 1866 the United States of America was waking to the reality of recovery from war, and this had been a much different war. In previous conflicts the care of the veteran warrior was the province of the family or the community. Soldiers then were friends, relatives and neighbors who went off to fight–until the next planting or harvest. It was a community adventure and their fighting unit had a community flavor.

By the end of the Civil War, units had become less homogeneous; men from different communities and even different states were forced together by the exigencies of battle where new friendships and lasting trust was forged. With the advances in the care and movement of the wounded, many who would have surely died in earlier wars returned home to be cared for by a community structure weary from a protracted war and now also faced with the needs of widows and orphans. Veterans needed jobs, including a whole new group of veterans–the colored soldier and his entire, newly freed, family. It was often more than the fragile fabric of communities could bear.

The Welcome Home

State and federal leaders from President Lincoln down had promised to care for “those who have borne the burden, his widows and orphans,” but they had little knowledge of how to accomplish the task. There was also little political pressure to see that the promises were kept.

But probably the most profound emotion was emptiness. Men who had lived together, fought together, foraged together and survived, had developed an unique bond that could not be broken. As time went by the memories of the filthy and vile environment of camp life began to be remembered less harshly and eventually fondly. The horror and gore of battle lifted with the smoke and smell of burnt black powder and was replaced with the personal rain of tears for the departed comrades. Friendships forged in battle survived the separation and the warriors missed the warmth of trusting companionship that had asked only total and absolute commitment.

With that as background, groups of men began joining together — first for camaraderie and then for political power. Emerging most powerful among the various organizations would be the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), which by 1890 would number 409,489 veterans of the “War of the Rebellion.”

Benjamin F. Stephenson

 

Founded in Decatur, Illinois on April 6, 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson, membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. The community level organization was called a “Post” and each was numbered consecutively within each department. Most Posts also had a name and the rules for naming Posts included the requirement that the honored person be deceased and that no two Posts within the same Department could have the same name. The Departments generally consisted of the Posts within a state and, at the national level, the organization was operated by the elected “Commandery-in-Chief.”

Encampment Grand Army of the Republic - Philadelphia, Penn & Chicago, Ill.

Post Commanders were elected as were the Junior and Senior Vice Commanders and the members of Council. Each member was voted into membership using the Masonic system of casting black or white balls (except that more than one black ball was required to reject a candidate for membership). When a candidate was rejected, that rejection was reported to the Department which listed the rejection in general orders and those rejections were maintained in a “Black Book” at each Post meeting place. The meeting rituals and induction of members were similar to the Masonic rituals and have been handed down to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

The official body of the Department was the annual Encampment, which was presided over by the elected Department Commander, Senior and Junior Vice Commanders and the Council. Encampments were elaborate multi-day events which often included camping out, formal dinners and memorial events. In later years the Department Encampments were often held in conjunction with the Encampments of the Allied Orders, including Camps of the Sons of Veterans Reserve, which at the time were quasi-military in nature, often listed as a unit of the state militia or national guard.

National Encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic were presided over by a Commander-in-Chief who was elected in political events which rivaled national political party conventions. The Senior and Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief as well as the National Council of Administration were also elected.

The GAR founded soldiers’ homes, was active in relief work and in pension legislation. Five members were elected President of the United States and, for a time, it was impossible to be nominated on the Republican ticket without the endorsement of the GAR voting block.

The Mansfield, Ohio - Soldiers and Sailors Home Dedicated in 1889

With membership limited strictly to “veterans of the late unpleasantness,” the GAR encouraged the formation of Allied Orders to aid them in its various works. Numerous male organizations jousted for the backing of the GAR and the political battles became quite severe until the GAR finally endorsed the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (later to become the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War) as its heir. A similar, but less protracted, battle took place between the Womens’ Relief Corps (WRC) and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (LGAR) for the title “official auxiliary to the GAR.” Both the WRC, which is the only Allied Order open to women who do not have an hereditary ancestor who would have been eligible for the GAR, and the LGAR were designated Allied Orders.

SUVCW Allied Orders

Coming along a bit later, the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, similar to the SUVCW but for women, also earned the designation as an Allied Order of the GAR. Rounding out the list of Allied Orders is the Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which is open to women with hereditary ties to a veteran or who is the spouse, sister or daughter of a member of the SUVCW.

The G.A.R.'s political power grew during the latter part of the 19th century, and it helped elect several United States presidents, beginning with the 18th, Ulysses S. Grant, and ending with the 25th, William McKinley. Five Civil War veterans and members (Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley) were elected President of the United States; all were Republicans. (The sole post-war Democratic president was Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th chief executive.) For a time, candidates could not get Republican presidential or congressional nominations without the endorsement of the G.A.R. veterans voting bloc.

Detroit Michigan - 1914   

By 1890 the GAR saw its largest membership reaching nearly 500,000 and their power at its highest having helped elect five U.S. Presidents after the Civil War who were all members of the Grand Army of the Republic. The final encampment, or ruling body meeting, of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949 with only six surviving members left. The final member of the GAR died in 1956 and there by the organization died with him. 

The final Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949 and the last member passed away in 1956.

The last surviving member of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War.

Albert Henry Woolson (February 11, 1850 – August 2, 1956)

During its existence the Grand Army was a powerful organization, especially in the 1880s through the 1900s. In some areas it was near impossible to get elected to a political office unless you were a member of the organization. Being a veteran of the Civil War meant a lot and to prove that you were you basically had to be a member of the GAR. In addition they worked diligently in getting quality pensions for all veterans of the Civil War. With a strong membership it allowed them to apply large amounts of pressure on local, state, federal governments. The Grand Army of the Republic is also known for establishing General Orders No. 11 which established Memorial Day. In 1868, John A Logan who was leading the GAR then put forth the idea which came in a letter from a member in Cincinnati, Ohio. The notion was that every May 30 flowers would be strewn on the graves of soldiers who died in the defense of their country during the Civil War. This was eventually adopted by the United States Government and turned into the last Monday of May in which we remember all soldiers who have died in the line of duty.

Little is usually said about the Grand Army of the Republic and everything they did for the

veterans of this country. Memorials have been placed throughout the country in honor of this organization and of the men who died in the war. One of these memorials is U.S. Highway 6, which stretches nearly completely across the country is named after this organization. In fact if you drive down this highway today you will find signs that identify it as a memorial highway to the Grand Army of the Republic.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) is a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of veteran heroes who fought and worked to save the Union in the American Civil War. Organized in 1881 and chartered by Congress in 1954, SUVCW is the legal heir and successor to the Grand Army of the Republic.

Written by Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor

Presented by Brother Dennis St Andrews, Department Commander
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1

Lincoln

Lincoln;

 Words of the Man, not the Politician

Politicians use words much as do Generals and Admirals directing field artillery or naval barrages. The words are uttered to destroy and rout the opposing side. However, the real meanings can be more elusive to determine. Are the words expressive of the office seeker’s conscience or are they artfully contrived to garner the largest number of votes to ensure election? Is Nancy Pelosi just gullible or merely contemptuous of the public when she states ‘we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it’? Is Hillary Clinton to be taken seriously when she says, of the death of four Americans in Benghazi ‘what difference does it make’? Is Donald Trump…? Well, mere words fail me.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the shrewdest and effective politicians ever to hold the office of the Presidency. He and the two Roosevelts were perhaps the most successful of the Presidents, at least in the terms of providing effective leadership and concrete accomplishments. Lincoln’s speeches have been analyzed and parsed over and over, but these were for public consumption.  Do they expose the heart of the man or are they reflective of the immediate issues of that moment in time?

There are two instances of Lincoln’s thoughts that were not crafted speeches, and were not much more than his private feelings expressed without intention to inspire or to promote his causes or to achieve election. These considerations are probably the closest we will get to the real man. During this, the month of his birthday, I believe they deserve our reflection.

This is the speech Abraham Lincoln gave to his neighbors as he left Springfield to go to Washington to assume the Presidency. This was no prepared speech, just the thoughts of a man who, no one knew then for the last time, was speaking farewell to his neighbors after many years of mutual work, friendship, and association. 

  

Lincoln's Home in Springfield, Illinois

"My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

Lincoln's Private Secretary
 John Milton Hay

This second fragment was found and preserved by John Hay, one of President Lincoln's White House secretaries, who said it was "not written to be seen of men." Some of the thoughts expressed here, written after discouraging days of personal sorrow and military defeats, also appear in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address of 1865.

Hay said that in this writing "Mr. Lincoln admits us into the most secret recesses of his soul .... Perplexed and afflicted beyond the power of human help, by the disasters of war, the wrangling of parties, and the inexorable and constraining logic of his own mind, he shut out the world one day, and tried to put into form his double sense of responsibility to human duty and Divine Power; and this was the result. It shows ---- the awful sincerity of a perfectly honest soul, trying to bring itself into closer communion with its Maker."

Washington, D.C.
September, 1862

Lincoln in Thought

“The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party -- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true -- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.”

When Lincoln wrote these words he was coming to grips with the loss of his son, the failures of the Union offensives and the contempt the losing generals had for him, the impending loss of his party’s Congressional majority, the decision to free (and arm) the slaves, and trying to fight a war without end with an empty treasury. Small wonder at the solemn tone of these words in the face of such responsibilities.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

‘Four score and seven years ago’, ‘Shall not perish from this earth’, ‘The better angels of our nature’, and ‘Let us strive to bind up the nation’s wounds’, are better known Lincoln phrases, but the above lines reflect the man rather than the politician speaking.

Presented February 13, 2016

Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1