First Confederate Soldiers in Gettysburg
In the book written by Robert J. Driver in 1999, ISBN: 1-883522-24-2 “First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A” he gives credit to the first confederate soldiers to enter the town of Gettysburg during the battle as soldiers from this unit on July 1, 1863.
Does anyone else have any research that is different then the 1st MD Cav as being the first confederate soldiers to occupy the town of Gettysburg during the battle?
Ewell's Infantry (Avery and Hay's Brigades) attacking Coster's Brigade at Kuhn's Brick Yard would have been pretty near the first into town from the CSA side, Gordon being held back at the Alms House.....if you don't include the prisoners from the mornings fight that passed through under cavalry escort....Originally Posted by MBond057
Jenkins Cavalry was at the Rear of the Corps.....4 companies of the 1st MD Cavalry that had been attached to Ewell we're held in reserve near Oak Hill on July 1st, 1863. In fact Ewell is faulted for not being more agressive with these mounted units in ascertaining what was on his left flank....instead he held back a few infantry brigades to protect his left flank...when they could have gobbled up Wolf's Hill.....Culp's Hill....
Will have to get home and open up some books....
Last edited by RJSamp; 10-31-2008 at 04:55 PM.
RJ Samp
Horniste! Blas das Signal zum Angriffe!
"But in the end, it's the history, stupid. If you can't document it, forget about it. And no amount of 'tomfoolery' can explain away conduct that in the end makes history (and living historians) look stupid and wrong. "
Are you talking about the first CSA troops in the town during the 3 day battle or the first troops in the town during the Gettysburg campaign. There is a big difference. Remember, Lee's army was actually in the process of withdrawing from PA when the two armies collided at Gettysburg. Portions of Lees cavalry had passed through Gettysburg as Lee was advancing into PA and thus were present well before the battle itself.In the book written by Robert J. Driver in 1999, ISBN: 1-883522-24-2 “First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A” he gives credit to the first confederate soldiers to enter the town of Gettysburg during the battle as soldiers from this unit on July 1, 1863.
Tom,
The author is claiming that the Maryland cavalry soldiers were the first Confederates to enter the town on July 1st. The book never mentions that any other unit had passed through the town earlier, and I have no credible references that there were any confederates in the town prior to this claim.
Here is what is stated in the book and it’s a copy of a report written by Confederate Major Harry W. Gilmor of the Maryland Cavalry.
“Lt. Dorsey had gone back with the prisoners, and Welsh (Captain Warner Griffith Welsh, MD Cav) and I were the first two Confederate soldiers in the town of Gettysburg.”
The report was written shortly after the battle and it reappears in Gilmor's personal papers published on the war in 1866.
Which was several days before the battle itself. I do remember years ago a post here (this was under the old software and is therefore not accessible via the Search function) about a reference written by one of the townspeople of Gettysburg describing the passage of Confederate Cavalry through the town about this same time period. The two things that do stick in my mind about the post and resulting discussion is that 1) the townsperson described the cavalrymen as "half-naked" probably due to the wear on their uniforms from the hard riding of the summer and 2) one of the units had the nickname of the so & so's Commaches because of the fierceness of their charges. Some of our other old-timers may remember more about the post and particularly may remember the name of the unit being referred to. From there it would be a matter of searching the OR's to verify the account and determine the date when they passed through the town.The author is claiming that the Maryland cavalry soldiers were the first Confederates to enter the town on July 1st. The book never mentions that any other unit had passed through the town earlier, and I have no credible references that there were any confederates in the town prior to this claim.
Tom,
Thanks for helping me shed light on this topic.
I am researching my family history and I have found several conflicting reports and it seems that these reports are coming from acceptable references so I just want to dig for the truth.
My Great-Great Grandfather was Captain Frank A. Bond, 1st Maryland Cavalry, Company A, C.S.A. Apparently General Ewell appointed Capt. Bond as the town’s Provost and he held this position from July 1-3, 1863 during the battle according to a few sources such as the Maryland Archives. In one of these references the 1st and 2nd Maryland Cavalry is when I also found references to the Maryland Cavalry being the first Confederate soldiers in the actual town.
As with all accounts of military service many men after years of the actual events passing seem to embellish their military careers as the stories they tell keep getting bigger and better. This is just human nature, and half truths become reality if we keep repeating the stories being told.
Below is some info from the O.R.'s about the first entities of Confederate troops to enter town during the campaign on the 26th of June. I dug up the information for the twenty march I patched together on the 26 June 08 for High Tide. The photo opportunity that Jack King staged the following week for the mainstream Gettysburg event also concerned events which occurred on the 26th of June.
The unit of cavalry mentioned in the below reports is White's battalion of Virginia cavalry. I don't remember which number. Could have been the 34th or 35th battalion.
I haven't focused upon which Confederate cavalry unit was the first into town during the battle. With so many who were also there during the three days of battle giving their last full measures for their respective causes, the claims about which unit(s) were the first-est, farthest, last-est, bloodiest, bravest and et cetera really don't matter. Seems to me it's all a team effort.
- From Explore PA History.History About The Original March,
26 June 1863.
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The military situation from the reports
of Jubal Early and John B. Gordon :
According to Gen. Early :
"On the 24th, I moved through Quincy and Altodale to Greenwood, on the turnpike from Chambersburg to Gettysburg.
"At this point [Greenwood], my division remained in camp on the 25th, and I visited General Ewell at Chambersburg, and received from him instructions to cross the South Mountain to Gettysburg, and then proceed to York, and cut the Northern Central Railroad, running from Baltimore to Harrisburg, and also destroy the bridge across [465] the Susquehanna at Wrightsville and Columbia, on the branch road from York toward Philadelphia, if I could, and rejoin him at Carlisle by the way of Hillsburg.
"Colonel [E.V.] White's battalion of cavalry was ordered to report to me for this expedition, and on the morning of the 26th, having sent all my trains to Chambersburg, excepting the ambulances, one medical wagon for a brigade, the regimental ordnance wagons, one wagon with cooking utensils for each regiment, and fifteen empty wagons to gather supplies with, and carrying no other baggage, I moved toward Gettysburg, and on reaching the forks of the road, about 1˝ miles from Cashtown, I sent General Gordon, with his brigade and White's battalion of cavalry, on the pike through Cashtown toward Gettysburg, and moved with the rest of the command to the left, through Hilltown to Mummasburg. I had heard on the road that there was probably a force at Gettysburg, though I could get no definite information as to its size, and the object of this movement was for Gordon to amuse and skirmish with the enemy while I should get on his flank and rear, so as to capture his whole force.
"On arriving at Mummasburg, I ascertained that the force at Gettysburg was small, and while waiting here for the infantry to come up (whose march was considerably delayed by the muddy condition of the roads), a company of French’s cavalry that had been sent toward Gettysburg captured some prisoners, from whom it was ascertained that the advance of Gordon’s force (a body of cavalry from White’s battalion) had encountered a regiment of militia, which fled at the first approach, and I immediately sent forward Colonel French with his cavalry to pursue this militia force, which he did, capturing a number of prisoners. Hays’ brigade on arriving was also dispatched toward Gettysburg, and the other brigades with the artillery were halted and encamped near Mummasburg.
"I then rode to Gettysburg, and found Gordon just entering the town, his command having marched more rapidly than the other brigades, because it moved on a macadamized road. The militia regiment which had been encountered by White’s cavalry was the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Militia, consisting of 800 or 900 men, and had arrived in Gettysburg the night before, and moved that morning a short distance out on the road toward Cashtown, but had fled on the first approach of White’s cavalry, taking across the fields between Mummasburg and Gettysburg, and going toward Hunterstown. Of this force, 175 prisoners in all were captured and subsequently paroled. Hays’ brigade was halted, and encamped about a mile from Gettysburg, and two regiments were sent to aid French in the pursuit of the fugitive militia, but could not get up with it.
"The authorities of Gettysburg declared their inability to furnish any supplies, and a search of the stores resulted in securing only a very small quantity of commissary supplies, and about 2,000 rations were found in a train of cars, and issued to Gordon’s brigade. The cars, numbering 10 or 12, were burned, as was also a small railroad bridge near the place. There were no railroad buildings of consequence. The day was rainy and the roads very muddy, and as it was late when I reached the place, and having to move upon York early next day, I had no opportunity of compelling a compliance with my demands in this town, or ascertaining its resources, which I think, however, were very limited."
Report of Gen. Jubal Early, 27 O.R. (II) 464-65.
According to Gen. Gordon :
"Crossing the Potomac at Shepherdstown on June 22, we marched through Boonsborough, Md., to Gettysburg, Pa. [M]y brigade was detached by Major-General Early from the division, and ordered on a different road, with a battalion of cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel [E. V.] White. In front of Gettysburg, a regiment of Pennsylvania militia was charged and routed by this cavalry battalion."
Report of Gen. John B. Gordon, 27 O.R. (II) 491.
The militia regiment was the 26th (Pennsylvania) Regiment of Emergency Militia Infantry. Per Dyer's Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, the unit was organized at Harrisburg 22 June 1863 for the protection of Pennsylvania against Lee's invasion. Its duty was in the Department of the Susquehanna, near Gettysburg, Pa., June 26. It was mustered out 31 July 1863. This unit was no match for a veteran cavalry battalion.
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The Caledonia Iron Works,
now a state park
Caledonia State Park is the location of an iron mill once owned by Thaddeus Stevens. In 1863, it was the site of a self-contained village. The Caledonia Iron Works included a large charcoal furnace, rolling mill and associated buildings, stables, storehouses, a company store and cottages for its 200 workers and their families. Confederate cavalry from Albert Jenkins' brigade had visited the furnace on June 16. In return for the impressment of forty horses and mules belonging to the works, the furnace was not torched.
What a difference a week makes. On 26 June 1863, business manager John Sweeney at Caledonia heard rumors that Confederates were threatening to burn the furnace. He located General Early and tried to talk his way out of the destruction. The furnace was unprofitable, he said. His boss, Thaddeus Stevens, would have closed the place years ago if he hadn’t cared so much for its poor workers and their families. If southerners burned the furnace, said Sweeney, all these dependent families would suffer.
"That is not the way Yankees do business," retorted the general. "They do not go on unless they make money. Then, Mr. Stevens is an enemy of the South. He is in favor of confiscating their property and arming the Negroes. His property must be destroyed."
And destroyed it was. Colonel Milton J. French's 17th Virginia Cavalry [Battalion] burned all the company buildings to the ground and smashed the windows in the workers' cottages. Confederates looted the company store, taking provisions worth perhaps $10,000, hauled away all of the bar iron, appropriated the corn and grain in the mills and destroyed eight tons of grass used for fodder. "They could not have done the job much cleaner," Stevens later lamented. "It is rather worse than I expected."
On July 1st General Robert E. Lee rode past the ruins of the furnace on his way to Gettysburg. Upset at the destruction, he told Mr. Sweeney that the families who had suffered could be supplied by the general's own commissary director.
Silas Tackitt
"While the original battle [Gettysburg] may arguably be considered the epicenter of the history of the war, the GAC reenactment is not the epicenter of the hobby. To confuse or equate the two is unfortunate. - Bernard Biederman, 6 July 2012
"Authenticity conflicts occur when reenactors from one end of the spectrum attend events at the other end of the spectrum then try to impose their own standards instead of event standards."
Tom
You are correct. Lt. Col. Elijah V. (Lige) White's 35th Battalion Va. Cavalry, was given the nickname "Commanche's" by Gen. Thomas Rosser. If memory serves me right, they didn't get that nickname unit sometime in 1864 when Rosser took over their brigade and compared their "rebel yell" to that of Comanche Indians.
But, I digress. In the Virginia Regimental History series book by John E. Divine, the 35th Battalion entered Gettysburg on June 26, 1863 while serving with Ewell & Early during the advance into Pa. (page 31-33). They were assigned there and not with Stuart on his trek or Jones/Robertson guarding the rear of the army.
As for who was first on 1 July, I've found that the Virginia Regimental History series' of books are fairly well researched. Maybe the 1st Maryland boys were first on 1 July.
Mark
Para ser o rei, vocę deve derrotar o rei
and....one of the "less smart masses"
Happy Harry
Driver's book is based on Harry Gilmor's memoirs as Mark has stated. If anyone has read "happy Harry's" book, he has no shortage of ego to explain how great of soldier he was. According to him, he and Welsh rushed into town on the 1st capturing prisoners and stands of colors to show for their bravery. It is important to note, that only Gilmor and Welsh were running through the town. They had left there commands, Gilmor was in command of both the 1st and 2nd MD Cav for this brief moment because of Major R Brown's wound in the Jones campaign of spring '63 into West Virginia and Welsh his own company, to run off into town. The rest of the troops were with the artillery near Gettysburg College. As soon as Bond comes on the scene, we see that he takes control of the situation and the town. The Maryland companies were spread out all over the place during the Gettysburg campaign. The were not all consolidated again till they returned to VA. So, I think it was only those two officers in town on the 1st day of fighting.
Rob Bruno
1st MD Cav
Georgia Troops
How did Doles Cook Brigade operate on Day 1?
( 4th,12th,21st,66th GA )
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