Gettysburg 150 Reflections: July 4 National Cemetery Photos

Here are a few more photos from the Gettysburg 150th. These are from July 4 when I was stationed in the National Cemetery to talk about the dead of Gettysburg and their meaning for the nation. This was the best July 4th of my life. The crowds of visitors were phenomenal. There is nothing like wrapping up a ranger program in the Gettysburg Cemetery on July 4 by stopping at the grave of Sumner Paine, grandson of the signer of the Declaration of Independence who was killed on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg. His death is a fitting example of the message Lincoln tried to convey when he came to Gettysburg in November 1863. The dead of Gettysburg, and indeed, the dead from all American wars, have given their lives so that the nation founded on the idea of equality and conceived in liberty will not perish. God Bless the United States.

 

 

Note: These pictures were all taken with my smartphone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohio flags and buckeyes placed at every Ohio grave, something which I will never forget for the rest of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A native Ohioan kneels at Ohio graves on a very special July 4. Remembering all those who died 150 years ago...

"Yes, around comes July and soon will come the honored Fourth."

On July 4, 1864, Federal forces under the command of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman were engaged in a slogging match with Joe Johnston's Confederate Army of Tennessee north of Atlanta. For weeks, Sherman had been pressing southward toward Atlanta, one of the South's most strategically important cities. For every move Sherman made, Johnston would retreat deeper and deeper into the heart of Georgia. By mid-June, however, the Federal advance had slowed to a crawl. On June 27, frustrated and hoping to break the stalemate, Sherman launched an aggressive assault against Confederate positions on and around Kennesaw Mountain, leading to the most severe fighting and bloodletting of the Atlanta Campaign. The Federal assaults were thrown back by firm Confederate defensive lines, resulting in more trenches and stalemate. Yet by July 2, Confederate forces began falling back yet again toward Atlanta, as a result of another Federal flanking maneuver. In the midst of all this, Private Albert Champlin of the 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was fastidiously recording his impressions of these events in his diary. During the first days of July, 1864, Champlin was looking forward to the Fourth of July, understanding that, because of the bloody struggle encompassing the nation, that historic day was even more significant. July 4, 1776 was the day in which America declared its independence from Great Britain, as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, based on "the proposition that all men are created equal." In 1864, in the midst of a struggle "testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure," remembering the nation's birth and its promise for a better future was one of the things which helped Private Albert Champlin to carry on in the midst of the long, bloody, and brutal march toward Atlanta during what would be in many ways the pivotal campaign of the American Civil War.




 

July 1, Friday—“Yes, around comes July and soon will come the honored Fourth. What will be the events thereof? Will they be similar to those of a year ago? [Referring to Federal victories at Gettysburg and Vickburg on July 3 and 4, 1863] At least may God grant that the present great work of our country and nation may continue to advance successfully to the end of putting down treason and rebellion and with them may their enormous parent evils and iniquities be annihilated, and may the time thus come when soldiers can return to civil vocations under Free Government and that even improved.”

July 2, Saturday—artillery firing back and forth

July 3, Sunday—Sherman having again pushed his flanks around those of the enemy, thus compelling them again to evacuate a truly strong hold or do worse by remaining, which Joe Johnson don’t choose to do. Troops are on the move as early as sunrise but our division moves at about 9 AM, bivouacking that night 5 miles south of Marietta, rebels retreated nearly to the river… Thus again Sunday passes, the enemy having again taken it as their day for retreat. They are reported as making another stand this side of the [Chattahoochee] River.

July 4, Monday—Champlin writes of artillery firing on Confederates that morning. Private Champlin and others of the 105th Ohio were sent to Marrieta as a garrison, where they learned of an “extensive and successful charge including part of the 14^th Corps made upon the enemies' works, the works carried, many prisoners taken, also considerable artillery besides the rebels loss being heavy in killed and wounded. Number of our killed and wounded not yet reported but must be considerable, our troops being the attacking party. Thankful should be be to Divine Providence that our ever honored and memorable National Birthday is thus made the more sacred by a victory over the Nation’s and Freedom’s enemies.”

Albert Champlin's Diary can be found in the Alfred Mewett Papers Collection at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio

Presidents in the Maryland Campaign

On this President's Day, let us take a moment to remember two of our nations chief executives who served bravely and gallantly in the Maryland Campaign of 1862, 150 years ago. Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes and Sergeant William McKinley, both of the 23rd Ohio, made contributions to their regiment and the Union army during that campaign. At Antietam, while under fire, McKinley was noted for bravely leaving his post in the safety of the army's rear to bring hot coffee and rations to the men of the 23rd Ohio while they were pinned down under fire. Because of his contributions, McKinley was honored with a large monument by the state of Ohio. Dedicated on October 13, 1903, the McKinley monument cost roughly $5,000, more than three times the cost of the monuments honoring the Ohio regiments at Antietam (they came in at a much more reasonable $1,500 a piece). For more on the 23rd Ohio at the Battle of Antietam, you can check out a blog post I did on the regiment detailing their service that day here.

William McKinley Monument at Antietam National Battlefield

Regimental Monument to the 23rd Ohio at Antietam National Battlefield

While McKinley's monument at Antietam attracts great attention, the 23rd Ohio's greatest test of the campaign came a few days earlier at South Mountain, when they were a part of General Jacob Cox's 9th Corps division's morning assault against Confederates holding Fox's Gap. It was there on South Mountain where the regiment took its heaviest casualties, among whom was the regimental commander that day, Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes. Below you can read Hayes's diary account of his wounding, along with the several days before and after during the crucial Maryland Campaign:

September 12, entered Frederick amidst loud huzzahs and cheering--eight miles. Had a little skirmish getting in; a beautiful scene and a jolly time.

September 13, marched to this town, entered in night -- Middletown, Maryland.

September 14, Sunday. Enemy on a spur of Blue Ridge, three and one-half miles west. At 7 A. M. we go out to attack. I am sent with [the] Twenty-third up a mountain path to get around the Rebel right with instructions to attack and take a battery of two guns supposed to be posted there. I asked, "If I find six guns and a strong support?" Colonel Scammon replies, "Take them anyhow." It is the only safe instruction. General Cox told me General Pleasanton had arranged with Colonel Crook of [the] Second Brigade as to the support of his (General Pleasanton's) artillery and cavalry, and was vexed that Colonel Scammon was to have the advance; that he, General Cox, wished me to put my energies and wits all to work so that General Pleasanton should have no cause to complain of an inefficient support.

The First Brigade had the advance and the Twenty-third was the front of the First Brigade. Went with a guide by the right flank up the hill, Company A deployed in front as skirmishers. Seeing signs of Rebels [I] sent [Company] F to the left and [Company] I to the right as flankers. Started a Rebel picket about 9 A. M. Soon saw from the opposite hill a strong force coming down towards us; formed hastily in the woods; faced by the rear rank (some companies inverted and some out of place) towards the enemy; pushed through bushes and rocks over broken ground towards the enemy; soon received a heavy volley, wounding and killing some. I feared confusion; exhorted, swore, and threatened. Men did pretty well. Found we could not stand it long, and ordered an advance. Rushed forward with a yell; enemy gave way. Halted to reform line; heavy firing resumed.

I soon began to fear we could not stand it, and again ordered a charge; the enemy broke, and we drove them clear out of the [356] woods. Our men halted at a fence near the edge of the woods and kept up a brisk fire upon the enemy, who were sheltering themselves behind stone walls and fences near the top of the hill, beyond a cornfield in front of our position. Just as I gave the command to charge I felt a stunning blow and found a musket ball had struck my left arm just above the elbow. Fearing that an artery might be cut, I asked a soldier near me to tie my handkerchief above the wound. I soon felt weak, faint, and sick at the stomach. I laid [lay] down and was pretty comfortable. I was perhaps twenty feet behind the line of my men, and could form a pretty accurate notion of the way the fight was going.

The enemy's fire was occasionally very heavy; balls passed near my face and hit the ground all around me. I could see wounded men staggering or carried to the rear; but I felt sure our men were holding their own. I listened anxiously to hear the approach of reinforcements; wondered they did not come. I was told there was danger of the enemy flanking us on our left, near where I was lying. I called out to Captain Drake, who was on the left, to let his company wheel backward so as to face the threatened attack. His company fell back perhaps twenty yards, and the whole line gradually followed the example, thus leaving me between our line and the enemy. Major Comly came along and asked me if it was my intention the whole line should fall back. I told him no, that I merely wanted one or two of the left companies to wheel backward so as to face an enemy said to be coming on our left. I said if the line was now in good position to let it remain and to face the left companies as I intended. This, I suppose, was done. The firing continued pretty warm for perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, when it gradually died away on both sides.

After a few minutes' silence I began to doubt whether the enemy had disappeared or whether our men had gone farther back. I called out, "Hallo Twenty-third men, are you going to leave your colonel here for the enemy?" In an instant a half dozen or more men sprang forward to me, saying, "Oh no, we will carry you wherever you want us to." The enemy immediately opened fire on them. Our men replied to them, and soon the battle was raging as hotly as ever. I ordered the men back to cover, telling [357] them they would get me shot and themselves too. They went back and about this time Lieutenant Jackson came and insisted upon taking me out of the range of the enemy's fire. He took me back to our line and, feeling faint, he laid me down behind a big log and gave me a canteen of water, which tasted so good. Soon after, the fire having again died away, he took me back up the hill, where my wound was dressed by Dr. Joe. I then walked about half a mile to the house of Widow Kugler. I remained there two or three hours when I was taken with Captain Skiles in an ambulance to Middletown—three and a half miles--where I stopped at Mr. Jacob Rudy's. I omitted to say that a few moments after I first laid [lay] down, seeing something going wrong and feeling a little easier, I got up and began to give directions about things; but after a few moments, getting very weak, I again laid [lay] down.

While I was lying down I had considerable talk with a wounded [Confederate] soldier lying near me. I gave him messages for my wife and friends in case I should not get up. We were right jolly and friendly; it was by no means an unpleasant experience. Telegraphed Lucy, Uncle, Platt, and John Herron, two or three times each. Very doubtful whether they get the dispatches. My orderly, Harvey Carrington, nurses me with the greatest care. Dr. Joe dresses the wound, and the women feed me sumptuously. Don't sleep much these nights; days pretty comfortable. [Yesterday, the] 17th, listened almost all day to the heavy cannonading of the great battle on the banks of the Antietam, anxiously guessing whether it is with us [or] our foes. [Today, the] 18th, write letters to divers[e] friends.

September 19. -- Begin to mend a little.

September 20. -- Got a dispatch from Platt. Fear Lucy has not heard of my wound; had hoped to see her today, probably shan't [sic, won’t]. This hurts me worse than the bullet did.

Below is a letter which Hayes wrote to his mother on September 18th, updating her on his recovery, as well as the events at Antietam the day before. 

      MIDDLETOWN, MARYLAND, September 18, 1862, (P. M.)

DEAR MOTHER:--I am steadily getting along. For the most part, the pain is not severe, but occasionally an unlucky move of the shattered arm causes a good deal of distress. I have every comfort that I could get at home. I shall hope to see Lucy [his wife] in two or three days. The result of the two great battles already fought is favorable, but not finally decisive. I think the final struggle will occur soon. [358]We feel encouraged to hope for a victory from the results thus far. We have had nearly one-half our fighting men in the Twenty-third killed or wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Jones of Thirtieth Ohio, in our Brigade, of Columbus, is missing; supposed to be wounded. Colonel [Augustus H.] Coleman of the Eleventh Ohio, killed. Love to all.--Send this to Uncle.

                     Affectionately, your son,

                                    R.

  

Altogether, at South Mountain and Antietam, the 23rd Ohio sustained 199 casualties, over 50% of its fighting strength, in less than one week. It should be noted that not only did the regiment contain two future presidents, but it also contained three future governors of Ohio, one future Lieutenant Governor, a future U.S. Senator, a future Supreme Court Justice, a future Minister to the Hawaiian Islands, as well as several other soldiers who went on to hold high office in Cuyahoga County and Cleveland, Ohio. Clearly, the 23rd Ohio was a remarkable regiment which made a remarkable sacrifice during the battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Antietam. As we remember our nation's greatest presidents today, let us not forget the contributions and service of Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes and Sergeant William McKinley during the Maryland Campaign.

The Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes, Nineteenth President of the United States, Vol. 2, edited by Charles Richard Williams (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, 1922), 354-358.

January 10, 1862: Colonel James A. Garfield and the Battle of Middle Creek

On January 10, 1862, James A. Garfield, a school president and State Senator from Ohio, became a battle tested leader. On that date, the little known Battle of Middle Creek was fought in the wilderness of Eastern Kentucky. While the casualties from Middle Creek were quite small, it was a battle with great strategic importance for Kentucky, as well as for the life and career of Garfield.

Brigadier General James A. Garfield (his commission dated to January 10, 1862, the date of the Battle of Middle Creek)

(http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/)

When the fever of war spread across the country in early 1861, men from every walk of life began to enlist. For James Abram Garfield, sitting in the Ohio State Senate, the moment was powerful. He and his close friend, Jacob Donelson Cox, resolved to do all they could to aid the Union cause in putting down the rebellion. For months, Garfield had been preaching the gospel of abolitionism, seemingly welcoming the coming war for its promise of destroying slavery once and for all. In January, Garfield wrote to a friend using a theme of divine retribution which would reappear in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural four years later: “I am inclined to believe that the sin of slavery is one of which it may be said that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no remission.’ All that is left for us… is to arm and prepare to defend ourselves and the Federal Government.”[1] Two days after Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Garfield expressed a resolve to see the war through to victory no matter the cost: “I hope we will never stop short of complete subjugation. Better lose a million men in battle than allow the government to be overthrown. The war will soon assume the shape of Slavery and Freedom. The world will so understand it, and I believe that the final outcome will resound to the good of humanity.”[2]



That spring and summer, as Ohio recruited men to serve in defending the Union, Garfield and U.S. Senator John Sherman traversed the state giving patriotic addresses to rouse the citizenry to action. The Portage County Democrat spoke well of Garfield’s talents as an orator and abiding belief in the Union cause: “Garfield goes forth, like an apostle of Liberty, a preacher of righteousness, proclaiming the Gospel which demands equal obedience to God and resistance to tyrants.”[3] While Jacob Cox and others went straight from politics to the army, Garfield spent the first few months of the war serving political and patriotic needs, making trips for Ohio Governor William Dennison to secure supplies and material for Ohio soldiers. In July, Garfield’s opportunity to don a uniform arrived when Dennison offered him a the position of Lieutenant Colonel for one of Ohio’s new regiments. In August, Garfield was sworn in as a Lieutenant Colonel of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He quickly went to work organizing and recruiting the regiment, getting students from the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, where he was the school’s president, to enlist in droves.[4] By November of 1861, the 42nd Ohio was mustered into service with Garfield as its Colonel. On December 14, after spending several weeks at Camp Chase in Columbus, the 42nd Ohio was ordered to report to Prestonsburg, Kentucky by Ohio Department commander Don Carlos Buell.



Upon his arrival in Kentucky, Garfield met directly with Buell and was given a daunting task, especially given his lack of military experience. In Eastern Kentucky, Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General Humphrey Marshal were advancing north through the Sandy Valley, threatening the flank of Union forces in the state. Buell assigned Garfield the task of stopping Marshall, and to do so, he organized the 18th brigade of the Army of Ohio, consisting of the 42nd O.V.I., 40th O.V.I., 14th K. V. I., and the 22nd K.V.I., along with several companies of Ohio and Kentucky cavalry forces. [5] As Garfield planned for the upcoming campaign in Louisville, his men began moving into place. By December 19, the 42nd O.V.I. had reached Catlettsburg and began preparing for the task ahead. After proceeding 20 miles south to Louisa, Garfield rejoined his soldiers, just in time to see the weather turn colder with rain becoming snow. In early January, with Garfield’s men camped along the Big Sandy River, Marshall’s Confederate force was 18 miles away at Paintsville.


Despite lacking artillery and being outnumbered by at least 1,000 men (Marshall had 2,500 troops, Garfield had 1,500), Garfield still followed out his task and advanced against Marshall’s forces. By dividing his smaller force into three pieces and moving simultaneously on three separate avenues of advance, Garfield gave Marshall the impression that his numbers were much greater than they were, thus causing a Confederate retreat from Paintsville and giving the Union forces a bloodless first victory in the campaign. After days of slowly moving south toward the Confederate forces, on January 10, Garfield’s men caught up with Marshall’s Confederates near Middle Creek.


The Battle of Middle Creek itself lasted but a few hours. After encountering Confederate skirmishers near the Left Fork Branch of Middle Creek, Garfield ordered a cavalry reconnaissance to determine the enemy strength in the area. After the enemy fired on the cavalry troops, giving away their positions, Garfield ordered several assaults aimed at testing the Confederate lines. Garfield largely attacked Marshall’s right flank, which was well entrenched, making his men vulnerable to heavy casualties or even a route should a strong counter attack have been mounted. During that afternoon, Garfield watched and directed the fight from a hill known as Grave Yard Point, looking down onto the valley and battle below. He later described the scene: “The whole hill was enclosed in such a volume of smoke as rolls from the mouth of a volcano. Thousands of gun flashes leaped like lightning from the clouds. Every minute the fight grew hotter. In my agony of anxiety I prayed to God for the reinforcement to appear.”[6] Garfield’s prayers worked well that day because just as his last reserves had been sent into the fight, 700 troops from his command arrived from Paintsville, having made the long and arduous march that day to arrive at the field at precisely the right moment in the battle. Garfield’s reinforcements strengthened his lines at the base of the valley, but they arrived too late in the day to mount another frontal assault. That evening, due to the repeated attacks by Garfield’s men, Marshall began withdrawing his Confederate forces south, back toward western Virginia. More action would be necessary to push Marshall out of the state altogether, but Garfield’s victory at Middle Creek was a major step in keeping Eastern Kentucky free of a Confederate presence.


Compared to later battles in the war, Middle Creek barely registers on the casualty scale. The total number of killed, wounded, and missing amounted to less than 100 (27 Union, 65 Confederate). Yet, while the casualties were light, for many soldiers who fought at Middle Creek, it was their first taste of war. Garfield himself wrote that “It was a terrible sight … to walk over the battle field and see the horrible faces of the dead rebels stretched on the hill in all shapes and positions.”[7] As a member of the Disciple church in the Western Reserve, Garfield had at one time been a pacifist. However, with the progression of his studies, his religious and political beliefs came to change. The former pacifist and future president would later vindicate the justice of war by proclaiming at a Cleveland Sanitary Fair in February 1864, “We have all frequently heard of the horrors of war, but we have not so often thought of the horrors of peace. Bad as war may be, grater evils sometimes emerge from a long peace.”[8] Garfield believed that prolonged peace could make national life “stagnant,” allowing citizens to forget the dear principles they loved and the price required to maintain such principles. In war he saw opportunities for greatness that needed to be seized. In the Civil War, he saw an opportunity for national redemption and the abolition of slavery, making the sacrifices of battle worthwhile.


For his actions at Middle Creek, Garfield received a commission as a Brigadier General, dating to January 10, 1862. Both he and the 42nd O.V.I. went on to many other feats in the war, but their journey through combat started at the small Battle of Middle Creek 150 years ago today. As 42nd O.V.I. veteran Frank Holcomb Mason wrote in his 1876 history of the regiment, Garfield’s spirit and leadership in recruiting the regiment and in leading them at Middle Creek set the tone and inspired the men for the rest of the war:

It was due largely to [Garfield’s] enthusiastic efforts that the Regiment was made up of some of the best material that Ohio sent into the field. The careful, laborious education, the discipline, the quickening of individual self-respect that the Regiment underwent at his hands while in Camp Chase, were never lost upon its men. Long after he had gone to other duties the recollection of his words was a source of inspiration to the men, and as they went into their first fight at Middle Creek against overwhelming numbers with serene confidence because their trusted Colonel had sent them, so afterwards they fought and marched as though conscious that the eve of their first commander was still upon them.[9]

[1] Allan Peskin, Garfield (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1978), 79.
[2] Ibid., 86.
[3] Portage County Democrat, April 24, 1861.
[4] Today, the school is Hiram College.
[5] O.V.I. and K.V.I. stand for Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, respectively.
[6] Peskin, 117.
[7] Peskin, 119.
[8] Portage County Democrat, March 2, 1864
[9] Frank Holcomb Mason, The 42nd Ohio Infantry (Cleveland: Cobb, Andrews, & Co. Publishers, 1876), 20.