{"title":"Emilie Davis's Diary and the Importance of the Gettysburg Campaign","authors":"M. Pierson","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0016","url":null,"abstract":"Emilie Davis’s Diary and the Gettysburg Campaign and this essay’s structure refl ects that division. First, starting in June, Emilie Davis began to worry about Robert E. Lee’s pending invasion of her home state. Like others in Pennsylvania, Davis could now imagine that the war was coming home. Her reactions to daily news and rumors tell us a great deal about how the state’s African American population experienced the campaign. Emotions among Davis’s family and friends ran the gamut from fear to courage, from worrying about the present to grasping at opportunities for a better future. As we will see, Davis’s family, friends, and city would be deeply aff ected by what they oft en thought of as “the Rebel raid.” While Davis ordinarily spent almost all of her diary entries talking about private concerns such as her friends, family, suitors, employers, classes, and church meetings, for a few weeks in the summer of 1863 she made the Civil War the focus of her attention. She shows us how at least some African Americans experienced the Gettysburg campaign, and how Lee’s invasion helped spur the arming of black troops in Pennsylvania. Th e second half of this essay is mostly about silence, always a hard topic to analyze. Up until the moment of Pickett’s Charge, Emilie Davis showed considerable interest in the Gettysburg campaign. Th e curious truth, however, is that Davis makes no mention of the battle of Gettysburg in her diary. She was also silent about the Army of Northern Virginia’s retreat over the Potomac on its way back to Virginia. On the one hand, this is perhaps not too surprising. Davis hardly ever mentions military events; there is not one word about Shiloh, Antietam, or Fort Wagner in her diaries. But on the Th e recent acquisition of Miss Emilie Davis’s Civil War diaries by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania promises to open many of the closed shutters looking out onto wartime Philadelphia. Th e author’s race and sex make her journals especially intriguing. Emilie Davis joins Charlotte Forten Grimké as only the second African American woman whose Civil War diary is known to have survived. Davis was a native Pennsylvanian, having been born free, probably in Lancaster County, in 1839. Her diaries start on January 1, 1863, the day the Emancipation Proclamation went into eff ect. She would then have been about twentyfour years old, and she continued her diaries until the end of 1865. Th e journals can now be read in two published editions, as the originals at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, or online.1 My own interest in Emilie Davis’s diaries began with what she wrote about the Gettysburg campaign. Gradually, this became a fascination with what she did not write about it. Her silences, especially aft er the battle was over, confused me. Her omissions led me to try to fi gure out what she may have been thinking— or not thinking— and why. I now think about Davis’s coverage of the Gettysburg campaign as two intertwined stories,","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117165744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stories the Monuments Tell: The First Corps on July 1","authors":"L. Reed","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124859960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Of Cupolas and Sharpshooters: Major General John Fulton Reynolds and Popular Gettysburg Myths","authors":"Mitchell G. Klingenberg","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128030391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Doctors for Hire at the Battle of Gettysburg","authors":"C. Hirth","doi":"10.1353/get.2018.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/get.2018.0015","url":null,"abstract":"Contract Doctors in the Civic War Problems within the Army medical corps became readily apparent during the fi rst major engagement of the Civil War at Bull Run. Hospitals, located too far from the front lines, forced the Union Army to rely on ambulances driven by civilians to transport casualties. Th e civilian drivers were not accustomed to being in harm’s way and fl ed during the fi rst shots of the battle. Th e result of the Battle of Bull Run was that the wounded were forced to seek medical care on their own. Union soldiers who were too injured to walk to the hospitals were left on the battlefi eld for days, and the ones who were able to walk had to travel twentyseven miles or more to Washington, DC, for treatment. Th e debacle at Bull Run was met with outrage from both the upper echelons in the Union Army and the American public. It was blatantly apparent that more medical personnel were needed to provide battlefi eld treatment and immediate care close to the fi eld of action. Enter the contract doctors. Th ere were three types of contract doctors: military affi liated contract doctors, state contract doctors, and local contract doctors. Military affi liated contract doctors were individuals who at one time or another served in the military. We know a great deal about these doctors because their military records still exist. State contract doctors made up the majority of the staff behind the frontlines hired as physicians by state governments to attend their locally organized regiments. Because each state used diff erent criteria for licensing their attendant Doctors for Hire at the Battle of Gettysburg","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125663958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"If You Want To Go: What If There Were No Monuments?","authors":"Sonny Fulks","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0018","url":null,"abstract":"If You Want To Go ent from what they mean to another— for example, a fi ft hgeneration African American whose ancestors toiled under the bonds of nineteenthcentury slavery. My interest is from a purely military and historical perspective. Someone else’s is likely to be emotional or philosophical. I was asked, “You go to Gettysburg at lot. What would you think if they start taking down the monuments on the battlefi eld? Would that make sense?” And, would it actually change anything in terms of current attitudes towards history and the social injustices of this day? Would it change attitudes that some still trace to the Civil War and the twisted attempts of reconstruction that many claim are still apparent? My answer is this. Taking down the monuments, the plaques, and the roadside signs cannot, and will not, change history or any pain that it has spawned. Th e statue of Robert E. Lee atop the Virginia monument on Confederate Avenue should be no diff erent a reminder to those who are currently off ended than the Egyptian pyramids are If You Want To Go What If Th ere Were No Monuments?","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132359904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"A Promiscuous Fight\": The Defense of Cemetery Hill","authors":"James S. Pula","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"75 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132718691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"Our Task Is Not Yet Accomplished\": Meade's Decision Making after Victory at Gettysburg, July 4, 1863","authors":"Thomas J. Ryan, Richard R. Schaus","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0013","url":null,"abstract":"Th e threeday battle at Gettysburg had ended, and a fateful aft ermath was about to begin! Having conferred with his corps commanders the previous evening, with a heavy heart, Gen. Robert E. Lee issued general orders stating, “Th e army will vacate its position this evening. . . . Th e commanding general earnestly exhorts each corps commander to see that every offi cer exerts the utmost vigilance, steadiness, and boldness during the whole march.”1 Following his devastating defeat on the battlefi eld, in a reversal of fortune, Lee found himself limited to only two feasible escape routes from Gettysburg— the Chambersburg Pike and Hagerstown (Fairfi eld) Road. Meade had faced a similar situation on the previous day three when only the Taneytown Road and the Baltimore Pike were potential escape routes for the Union army if misfortune had befallen it. Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill’s corps was to commence the movement, followed by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s corps, and Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell’s corps bringing up the rear. Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry received the assignment to proceed and follow the army, while guarding its right and left fl anks as well as the rear.2","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133255668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Serving the Guns in Thompson's Battery","authors":"Thomas E. Nank","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0011","url":null,"abstract":"Gettysburg Magazine, no. 59 Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles’s Th ird Corps of the Army of the Potomac was strungout in a thin line. Th e farm road they were following continued uphill to the west, and soon the intersection with the northsouth road between Emmitsburg and Gettysburg came into view. Th e roads met atop a rise, higher than any other ground nearby, marked by two farmsteads on the north side and a rectangular peach orchard on the south. Sickles had already posted three batteries of his corps artillery along the road to Emmitsburg facing west, and those guns were already in action. What they were fi ring at worried Th ompson greatly.1 James Th ompson knew what to worry about. He was born on May 8, 1821, near Ballynahinch in County Down, Northern Ireland, not far from the city of Belfast. At age 23, he enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, known as “Th e Gunners” (the regimental motto was Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt— Everywhere Th at Right And Glory Lead) and received specialized training in artillery tactics at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. Raised as a Protestant, Th ompson became a member of the Loyal Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organization also known as the Orange Order, in February, 1850. His battery fought in the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War on October 25, 1854, where the artillery played a signifi cant role in the defense of the British base there from Russian attacks, and his unit (First Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery) also supported the charge of the Heavy Brigade against the Russian cavalry. Th ompson received a promotion for gallantry at Balaclava, and","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"133 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115598357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"If You Want to Go: The Art of the Battlefield","authors":"Sonny Fulks","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0006","url":null,"abstract":"If You Want to Go monuments like the Louisiana and Mississippi, that were placed appropriately in respect to the Confederate soldiers they represent. But inadvertently they eventually created spectacular interest as a result of their position to the rising sun each morning. People show up now just to see what it looks like and take a photo, even joggers. One said to me: “I might see something that I’ve never seen before . . . and I’ve seen it hundreds of times!” Gettysburg is the ultimate museum of art in nature. And like any gallery, there is ample information at the park, and online, as to the origin of each monument, its sculptor, date of installment, and details of service. Th e proof of this can be found in the number of people who’ve studied not just the history of the battle, but the position of the “art” and the best times throughout the year to observe it. Personally, I don’t have a favorite. Rather, I have dozens of favorites; and the longer I visit Gettysburg the more I discover and the longer my list grows. Obviously, the statue of Gen. G. K. Warren atop Little Round Top is on every connoisseur’s list because of the magnifi cent vista of the battlefi eld looking west. Tens of thousands of photos— probably millions— have been made of this by people hoping to capture that perfect sunset silhouette. In fact, you rarely see people pay attention to “Gouverneur” in the morning hours when the sun doesn’t favor him as much. But over the years I’ve found that weather creates an image of the Warren monument that’s just as interesting and eyecatching. With so much space between him and South Mountain in the distance, it’s possible to see a summer storm in the distance while the monument itself is bathed in foreground sunlight. Notice the puddles of water from a passing If You Want to Go Th e Art of the Battlefi eld","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130126930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"For a Few Minutes the Fighting Was Terrific: Dodson Ramseur's Forgotten Attack at Oak Ridge on July","authors":"Robert J. Wynstra","doi":"10.1353/GET.2018.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/GET.2018.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Although it saved Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes’ division from a day of disaster, Brig. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur’s brilliant attack against the Federal troops from Gabriel Paul’s brigade, who were deployed just north of Gettysburg along Oak Ridge, remains largely forgotten amid the controversies surrounding the corps commander’s subsequent decision not to assault Cemetery Hill. Th e action there began during the midmorning on July 1, when Rodes’ troops, who formed part of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s famed Second Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia, arrived on the fi eld along the road running south from nearby Middletown. Th e division included the brigades commanded by Brig. Gens. Ramseur, George P. Doles, Alfred H. Iverson, Junius Daniel, and Col. Edward A. O’Neal.1 While the skirmishers from three of his brigades were engaged with some Federal cavalry videttes on their front, Rodes led the rest of his men to the right along the main ridge line toward “a prominent hill” that overlooked the area northwest of town. “On arriving on the fi eld, I found that by keeping along the wooded ridge, on the left side of which the town of Gettysburg is situated, I could strike the force of the enemy with which Gen. Hill’s troops were engaged upon the fl ank, and that, besides moving under cover, whenever we struck the enemy we could engage him with the advantage in ground,” Rodes stated in his offi cial report.2 Th e general based that decision on a reconnaissance report from Lt. J. Coleman Alderson of the 36th Virginia Cavalry Battalion in Brig. Gen. Albert","PeriodicalId":268075,"journal":{"name":"Gettysburg Magazine","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114627065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}