On Tour with Captain Long - Part 1

There is hardly anything I enjoy more than heading out to the Gettysburg battlefield with those who are eager to see the sites and learn about the battle. Over the years, I've lead many tours for friends and family. I've even developed my own binder of tour resources, including many maps and first-person accounts of the battle. When guiding new visitors, I often experiment with different tour routes and stops, always seeking to create the best battlefield experience that I can. To know the battlefield takes years of study. To successfully convey that knowledge to others takes a completely different set of skills. Luckily, Gettysburg has many individuals who have mastered the art of guiding visitors. The National Park Service offers a diverse array of excellent interpretive programs, while the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides has specialized in expertly timed two and three hour tours that provide visitors with a broad understanding of how the battle unfolded.

Guiding in Gettysburg has a long history. The first guides could be found in the immediate aftermath of the battle. It didn't take Gettysburg residents long to understand the importance of preserving the fields where the armies had fought. Within weeks of the battle, they had taken step to preserve several important locations. By April of 1864, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association (GBMA) had been chartered as the battlefield's caretaker.

In the immediate years after the Civil War, Gettysburg attracted few visitors. The wounds of the war were fresh, and many Americans wanted to move on with their lives rather than dwell in the bloody past. In the late 1870s that all began to change. The first tourist groups to take an interest in visiting the battlefield were veterans themselves. In 1878, the Grand Army of the Republic held its annual encampment at Gettysburg. This week-long visit energized veterans to begin the great task of turning Gettysburg into the memorial field that it is today. Within a few years, the Grand Army of the Republic had seized control of the GBMA, and veterans organizations throughout the North began to express an interest in placing monuments on the field. Throughout the 1880s the GBMA began to acquire more land holdings and erect avenues to allow access to the battle lines. Monuments also began to appear, and with those monuments came veteran organizations to attend dedication ceremonies and reunions. Suddenly, Gettysburg was a booming tourist destination, and the demand for battlefield guides began to grow.

The Harrisburg and Gettysburg Railroad was a sign of the growing tourist economy in Gettysburg. A railroad connection from Hanover, Pennsylvania had operated since 1858, arriving at a station on Carlisle Street. With the growing interest in visiting the battlefield, however, the Harrisburg & Gettysburg Railroad Company saw an opportunity to open another line. This new line approached town from the northwest, along Oak Ridge, and arrived at a depot on Washington Street. From here, a 2.5 mile branch line ran south, carrying tourists to battlefield station stops: Hancock Station along Cemetery Ridge, and Round Top Station, behind the Round Tops. Here the Railroad built Round Top Park, complete with a pavilion and a dance hall, and other amusements, to attract tourist groups.

This ad for Hotel Gettysburg, including a reference to Captain Long's guiding service, appeared in an
1896 edition of Long's Gettysburg: How the Battle was Fought.

With the opening of the new line, more excursion trains began to arrive in Gettysburg, filled with veterans and other tourists interested in seeing the sites. A thriving economy began to develop around the arrival of these visitors. A visitor arriving at the depot on Washington Street found the Eagle Hotel just down the street for easy accommodations, or the Gettysburg Hotel nearby. They also discovered a number of livery stables in the area that offered guided tours of the battlefield by carriage. These guide services were often affiliated with the hotels. A patron of the Gettysburg Hotel, for instance, would find that easy access to one of the most prominent guides in town, Captain James Thomas Long.

Captain James T. Long. Image Source: The Sixteenth
Decisive Battle of the World, Google Books

Born in Little Britain, Lancaster County in 1843, Long was just 18-years old when he enlisted in Company B of the 99th Pennsylvania in June of 1861. He rose to the rank of corporal, but in November of 1861, he was injured by falling timber, and then fell ill with Typhoid fever. Incapacitated by his illness, Long was ruled unfit for further service and discharged in April of 1862. Yet he recovered, and sought to return to military service. After several failed attempts to pass medical examinations, he finally succeeded in enlisting for six months' service in Company G of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry in June of 1863. Company G saw service around Harpers Ferry that fall. In winter, Long reenlisted for three-years' service. The regiment was sent to Washington in the spring of 1864, dismounted, and equipped as infantry. It joined the Army of the Potomac's 5th Corps in June, and served there through the end of the war. During this time, Long rose to the rank of Sergeant Major, and then was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of Company A. His obituary in the Adams County News reports that he received a promotion to 1st lieutenant in the last campaign, and was brevetted a captain. After the war, Long married a woman from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and lived for a time in Montgomery, Alabama. The 1880 Census found Long living in Philadelphia. He found employment in the railroad business as a traveling passenger agent. It was in this capacity that Long arrived in Gettysburg in 1884, employed by the brand new Harrisburg & Gettysburg Railroad.

Whatever brought him to Gettysburg, Long soon found his calling there. He began to devote himself to learning the history of the battle, and by 1886 he was out of the Railroad business and studying the battle full time. Long joined with another guide, Allie Holtzworth, to operate a livery stable in rear of the Gettysburg Hotel. In 1890 he published his own guidebook, called by locals "Captain Long's Red Book." This book went through multiple printings and official titles. You can find it on Google Books today under the titles Gettysburg: How the Battle was Fought and The 16th Decisive Battle of the World.

So what was it like to tour the Gettysburg battlefield in the late 19th century? How would the visitor experience of one of Captain Long's patrons differ from the experience of a visitor today, perhaps one who has hired a Licensed Battlefield Guide? What was Captain Long's tour route? How did he interpret some of the major controversies of the battle? In my next post I will take a look at what some primary sources tell us about touring the field with Captain Long.

The Blog Turns One Today

I started this blog one year ago today with a post about the memorial urn in the National Cemetery that honors the dead of the 1st Minnesota. At the time, I didn't have a specific direction for the blog (I'm not completely sure I do now), I just knew that I wanted a creative outlet for pursuing my love of Civil War history. One year later, and I still feel as though it was a great decision. I've enjoyed my nights and weekends spent researching various topics; I feel as though I've learned, and continue to learn, a great deal about the war, and I feel much more connected with Civil War scholarship through blogs and through social media.

I became interested in the Civil War some fifteen years ago, and for some time my passion for exploring the history of the war burned very brightly. That passion has never died out, but I feel as though this blog has allowed me to recover a level of enthusiasm for studying the war that I haven't had since I first picked up a copy of The Killer Angels as a freshman in High School.

I want to thank all of those that have read and commented on my posts over the past year. I look forward to moving into year two, to trying new ideas, and to refining my skills to become a better researcher, a better writer, and a better blogger.

Thanks.

The Great Cause

Photo by Michael Noirot.
Creative Commons Licensing.

It was a scene that Gettysburgians were beginning to get used to. The special train pulled into the station at around 5:30 p.m., unloading a crowd of about 150 survivors and friends of the 15th Massachusetts. It was Tuesday, June 1st, 1886. The out-of-town party made its way to overnight accommodations, and undoubtedly a lively time was had that evening around the square and at the Eagle Hotel on the corner of Chambersburg and Washington.
 
The 15th served for three years in the war, from the summer of 1861 to the summer of 1864, and saw a fair share of combat. The regiment recorded more casualties at the Battle of Antietam than any other unit engaged. It had arrived at Gettysburg in July of 1863 under the command of Colonel George Ward. His service had already cost Ward a leg. In the early morning hours of July 3rd, it took his life. After two days of fighting, 143 of the regiment's 239 men were listed as casualties, including 22 dead.


Wednesday, June 2nd, 1886 dawned misty and damp, with threatening rain clouds hovering overhead. Despite the inclement weather, the large party made its way out of town to dedicate the 15th's monument on Cemetery Ridge. The main speaker on this day was Brevet Major General Charles Devens Jr. Devens was a fitting choice to dedicate the 15th's monument. In 1861, he led this regiment to war.

Born in Charlestown, Devens grew up in Boston, and graduated from Harvard. After a number of years practicing law, Devens won election to the State Senate as a Whig in 1848. The following year, President Millard Filmore appointed him the U.S. Marshall in Massachusetts. It was in this role in 1851 that Devens was ordered to hand over the fugitive slave Thomas Sims to the federal troops for a return to slavery. Devens complied, despite his own personal disgust at doing so. He served as U.S. Marshall until 1853, and then moved to Worcester, Massachusetts to resume his private practice of law. Here he remained until the outbreak of war. He was elected Major of a three-month outfit, the 3rd Batallion of Massachusetts Rifles, and then later received an appointment as the Colonel of the newly mustered 15th Massachusetts, a command raised from Worcester County.

Devens and his new command went to war in the summer of 1861. In its first engagement, the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861, the regiment met with disaster, and lost 2 officers and 12 men killed, 4 officers and 57 men wounded, and 8 officers and 219 men missing. Wounded in action, Devens somehow crossed the Potomac River to escape capture that night, aided by three comrades. He returned to the regiment after a brief furlough, but in April of 1862 left for good when he received a Brigadier General's commission and command of a brigade. He continued to serve through the rest of the war, and was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks and at Chancellorsville. He rose eventually to division command and at the end of the war was brevetted a Major General. Devens continued to serve after the war, mustering out finally in June of 1866. His postwar career included stints as a Justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and as Attorney General of the United States in the Hayes administration. He also served two terms as Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Charles Devens Jr.

As Devens stood before his comrades on Cemetery Ridge on this gray morning, he prepared to give a speech that would stand in marked contrast to many that the fields of Gettysburg had seen in recent years, and would see for years to come. By 1886, a narrative of reconciliation had taken hold over the memory of the war. At Gettysburg and elsewhere, monument dedications served as a platform to honor the mutual sacrifices and equal honor of soldiers north and south, and to mark the fraternal bonds of soldiers in blue and gray. These speeches highlighted valor and deeds, ignored the causes of the war and the bitterness that remained, and praised the stronger nation that the fires of war wrought. Charles Devens though, would not follow script. Politely, but firmly, he would use his speech to make his own statement about the war, and about its legacy. The monument to the 15th Massachusetts, he argued, had a wider scope than simply remembering the sacrifices of those who lost their lives. "In a large sense," he explained, "it commemorates all the brave men who nobly gave or bravely offered their lives, and testifies to our own devotion to and faith in the great cause which demanded this solemn sacrifice."

But what exactly did he mean by "the great cause"?

"This memorial is reared in no spirit of hostility toward or exultation over the defeated in our late civil war. Let the passions it engendered pass away with the dreadful source from which it sprung. Even if the baffled and beat traitor, around whom gathered all the infamies and horrors by which a wretched cause was rendered even more wicked, still parades himself with feeble utterance to cry out the cause is not dead, secession and slavery are in their dishonorable graves together. The hand of a merciful Providence will extend to them no resurrection.... Yet as we stand by these glorious graves we cannot confound the heroes and martyrs of a noble cause with those whom the twin furies of treason and slavery lead forth to battle, unless by a confusion of ideas worthy of chaos itself. It is the cause which sets our brethren apart among the myriads who people the silent cities of the dead. We should not be true to their just and lasting fame if in any sickly sentimental gush of reconciliation we should hesitate to assert that the principles for which they died were right, and those against which they fought were deeply wrong. That assertion, in no sense unkind or ungenerous to those with whom they were once in deadly strife, this monument makes to-day. It tells of bravery and vigor, but it tells of more than these, for it tells of duty and patriotism, and it summons all who look upon it hereafter to answer their call."

The monument to the 15th Massachusetts which stands today along Cemetery Ridge, says very little beyond identifying its Corps and division, and its position on July 3rd, 1863. Yet, on the day of its dedication, Charles Devens spoke forcefully on the monument's meaning to those who placed it. In 1886, Devens' voice was overwhelmed in a tide of reconciliationist memories of the war that would define its historiography for nearly a century.

In a later post, I will take a closer look at the 15th's monument at Antietam, installed 14 years later.

News and Notes: New Exhibit at the New York State Military Museum

I've arrived at a very busy time of year for my day job, but I'm trying to keep up with some posts here and there. I'm currently at work on a new post (potentially multiple posts) related to the 15th Massachusetts monuments at Gettysburg and Antietam. I should have something up later this week.

In the meantime, I discovered the other day that the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga is hard at work developing a Civil War exhibit which should open next month. They even gave a sneak preview to Wayne Motts, CEO of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. According to The Saratogian, Lance Ingmire of the New York State Sesquicentennial Committee has been the driving force behind the exhibit, which will feature some incredible pieces, including the coat worn by Elmer Ellsworth.

This museum is a pretty neat - though small - institution that is located in an old armory in downtown Saratoga Springs. I've gone through several times, but it's been a while. I look forward to checking the Civil War exhibit out this summer, and I'll definitely provide a full review when I do. This marks the second major exhibit on New York State in the Civil War over the past few years. Last September the New York State Museum in Albany opened An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War.

Six Spots on the Gettysburg Battlefield

Over on his Crossroads blog, Brooks D. Simpson has asked a very intriguing question. If you had an opportunity to lead a 3-hour tour of the Battle of Gettysburg, and were only allowed to stop at six spots. Which spots would you pick. You can view his post, and the responses (including my own), here.

It reminds me of another question my college friends and I used to consider. If you could somehow witness the Battle of Gettysburg without running the risk of being killed or wounded, but you were only allowed to stay in one spot, what vantage point would you choose?

Don't think too deeply about this one - it's obviously a silly hypothetical, and perhaps the better question is would you really want to witness such a horrific event?

"They Walked Through Blood" at the Museum of the Confederacy

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond opens a new exhibit today on Pickett's Charge. Entitled "They Walked Through Blood," the exhibit will feature a number of incredible personal artifacts and remembrances of soldiers who participated in the charge, the swords of all three brigade commanders in Pickett's division, and eight battle flags from the division captured in the charge. The exhibit will be on view until September of 2014.

Library Corner: To Antietam Creek

To Antietam Creek
By Scott Hartwig
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012

To many scholars, the Battle of Antietam represents one of the crucial turning points of the Civil War. In addition to earning a sad distinction as the bloodiest day in American history, the battle's connections with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation highlight it as a dividing line between a war for the Union as it was, and a war to redefine freedom. And yet, far fewer book-length studies exist for the Maryland Campaign than for Lee's second invasion of the North. Standard works include Stephen Sear's Landscape Turned Red (1983) and Joseph Harsh's Taken at the Flood (1998). John Michael Priest's Antietam: The Soldiers' Battle (1994) attempts to tell the story from the perspective of the common soldiers on the ground, and many other works explore different aspects and personalities of the battle and the campaign. More recently, Richard Slotkin's The Long Road to Antietam (2012) sought to interweave the Maryland Campaign with the story of the political battle between McClellan and the Lincoln Administration over the direction of the war effort.

With this first of two volumes, Scott Hartwig has contributed a book which will surely join the pantheon of the best works on the Maryland Campaign. 650-page books rarely fit into the "can't put it down" category, but this one did. To Antietam Creek features stunningly detailed accounts built through an extensive mining of primary source manuscript collections and what must have been long hours of traversing the landscape at several battle sites to understand terrain. Sometimes books that are so rich in detail collapse under the weight of their own thoroughness. However, Hartwig's writing skills also shine here, and his narrative captivates the reader, bringing the drama of the campaign to life.

In this first volume, Hartwig sets out to raise the profile of the Maryland Campaign's other major actions. While the Battle of Antietam saw tremendous bloodshed and brought about war-altering results, it also overshadowed the engagements and actions of Union and Confederate forces at Harpers Ferry and South Mountain. The events of the Maryland Campaign leading up to the Battle of Antietam had significant consequences, and Hartwig believes that many accounts of the Campaign overlook or ignore their import. He begins his narrative in the aftermath of the Union disaster at Second Manassas, and details George McClellan's fall from the Lincoln administration's graces that summer, and his sudden return to power in the crisis of September of 1862.

After setting the scene with a review of the strategic picture militarily and politically, Hartwig introduces his readers to both armies. He provides a extensive analysis of strengths and weaknesses, comparing each army's leadership down to brigade level, staff capabilities, and the organizational structure of infantry, artillery, and cavalry. Here Hartwig challenges popular misconceptions. First - he argues that the numerical superiority of the Army of the Potomac, especially at the outset of the Maryland Campaign, has been greatly overstated. Citing the continued grip of the Lost Cause over the historiography of the campaign, Hartwig quotes a Union soldier who complains: "A few more years, a few more books, and it will appear that Lee and Longstreet, a one-armed orderly, and a casual with a shotgun fought all the battles of the rebellion, and killed all the Union soldiers except those who ran away." Second, Hartwig gives a bit of respect to the performance of Union cavalry during the Maryland Campaign. While traditional narratives describe the Army of the Potomac's horse soldiers as coming of age in the Battle of Brandy Station and after, Hartwig gives credit to Colonel John F. Farnsworth's brigade, and notes that during this campaign it performed well when used appropriately.

A review of both armies complete, the rest of the book provides an in-depth narrative as the Maryland Campaign unfolds, including a ground-level view of the battles for Turner's Gap, Fox's Gap, and Crampton's Gap, as well as Stonewall Jackson's operations against Harpers Ferry. The author demonstrates a keen understanding of the impact of terrain on the outcome of engagements. He also excels when assessing the leadership qualities of commanders at the operational level, examining the contributions of regimental commanders as well as army commanders. At South Mountain, Hartwig provides a mostly positive review of performances within the Army of the Potomac, and a negative (if sympathetic) analysis of D.H. Hill's performance in command of Confederate forces. At Harpers Ferry, readers come to understand the excellent cooperation and daring of Confederate forces, and the utter ineptitude of Dixon Miles commanding the Harpers Ferry garrison. The Union capitulation here, Hartwig points out, is the largest surrender of Union troops in the war, and the largest surrender of United States forces up until World War Two. The author argues that Stonewall Jackson's success here should rank as one of his greatest achievements, given its difficulty and the magnitude of the results. He believes the outcome at Harpers Ferry has lost its "glow" because Antietam followed so quickly on its heels. Had the Confederate army withdrawn after the success here, and not fought at Antietam, the campaign may have been viewed as a Confederate success. Hartwig reserves especial praise for Lafeyette McLaws and his handling of a delicate situation in Pleasant Valley. He reserves great scorn for the commander of the Army of the Potomac's Sixth Corps, William Franklin. Franklin's delays on September 15th squandered a brilliant opportunity his own soldiers earned by storming Crampton's Gap the evening before.

To close the book, Hartwig brings both armies to the banks of Antietam Creek, reviews in detail the comparative strength and deployment of troops on September 15th and 16th, and covers the opening clashes in the East Woods that night. In assessing Lee and McClellan, the author gives mixed reviews. He credits McClellan with commendable efficiency in storming the gaps of South Mountain, and dishes out partial blame for his failure to lift the siege of Harpers Ferry to his subordinate, William Franklin. Hartwig also rejects the idea that the Army of the Potomac could have attacked Lee on the afternoon of September 15th, stating in a footnote: "Writers who have proposed the idea that McClellan could have attacked Lee on the 15th have no concept of the time needed to march an army of 70,000 men approximately twelve miles, reconnoiter the enemy's position, issue orders, and deploy for battle." However, Hartwig does take McClellan to task for wasting precious time on September 16th, and for his clumsy preparations to assault Lee's positions that afternoon and evening. He also questions whether McClellan was wise to break up his army's wing structure on the eve of battle without good reason.

Turning to Lee, Hartwig credits the Virginian's audacity and his desire to maintain the initiative throughout the campaign. He also notes the remarkable (if not always perfect) working relationship that Lee maintained with his two principle subordinates, Longstreet and Jackson. However, Hartwig believes that Lee asked too much of his army in this campaign, and that the straggling that resulted could have led to disaster. He also questions Lee's understanding of the condition of his army, and notes that Lee's stand along the banks of Antietam Creek was a useless and unwise risk.

Throughout the book, the reader comes to understand that the Maryland Campaign represented a turning point in the war in more ways than one. The first phase of the war, Hartwig argues, ended on the night of September 16th. After that night, the possibility of a negotiated settlement, with slavery in tact, died. He also argues that the Battle of Antietam marked the end of the idealism of the war for the soldiers who fought there. This is best summed up in a great passage on page 514:

As McClellan and his large staff swept down the turnpike, the soldiers who filled the sides of the road leaped to their feet and cheered him wildly. "Such a magnificent reception was worth living for," wrote Palfrey. On September 15, 1862, the Army of the Potomac still retained some of the innocence and enthusiastic ideals of 1861, and South Mountain upheld the boundless confidence they placed in McClellan. That September afternoon's victory still danced gloriously in the air, the end seemed in sight, and the man who, in their eyes, had delivered this all was riding to the front, waving his hat and brimming with confidence. But they would never cheer him again with the feeling they did that day. What would come in the next three days would forever dim their starry-eyed idealism. Most of them would still love McClellan and cheer him when he passed, but the army would mature on the banks of Antietam Creek; they would come to understand that the road ahead would be hard and bloody, and that their beloved general might not be the man they would follow to ultimate victory.

If you haven't read this book, and you are interested in the Maryland Campaign, it's a must read. I look forward to volume two, I think it will be worth the wait.