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