Steuart's Brigade at Culp's Hill - GBW with Ranger Matt Atkinson and the Mysterious Red Shirt Man

everybody would just stand in the same position every time on tour you know robert e lee in the post four years he was he could remember all of his students names like 150 200 students name he could remember everybody he called him by first name right i don't have that flagpole Bob I know somebody else used to be a rite of passage you know you could drink underage you know I when I was that big horrified but mom we we did it her license at that time 15 my cousin I was 14 my dry still is dry the owner was dry yeah we go over there and like stand outside a liquor store wait on some dude come outside felt sorry for I know I was outraged when it went up to 74 75 cents to a dollar 25 now there used to be there was a grocery store not the liquor store but there was a grocery store on the other side town I had a liquor store on all four corners of the town and one in the middle of the neighborhood where you could select people that were drunks didn't want anybody know that was drunk never put a flick so on the main drag so marketing strategy if you everyone along with liquor store so this guy the owner of the grocery owned the liquor store - that was beside it but he obviously didn't want to get involved but he had a butcher in the back of the grocery store that would work Saturday nights and you could go up there if you give him a little extra change [Laughter] [Laughter] my mother was my father followed yeah all right so what we're gonna do today is Stuart's Brigade and we're gonna start out all right we're gonna start out right here rarely see you see this we're gonna start out right here we're actually go I parked everybody here because we've got more space and I thought logistically speaking that it will be a whole lot easier for y'all to get here from the visitors center where most of you are probably picking up the information to this spot and having you try to find the entrance to East Confederate Avenue which probably half of you have never driven down before so that will be a nightmare within itself so this is not the beginning of the course actually the end of the tour but it is a it is a nice perspective too to kind of get a of another view because I won't be coming back here we're gonna finish the tour up there on the other side of the saddle but basically if you look at here if you look at these woods if we keep this in mind I'll tell the story as we go along but this is gonna be your July 3rd front in other words the Confederates for July 2nd and 3rd is another perspective they're going to be up here on this no all right and Stewart's for game which we're going to concentrate on are a little bit more up to tour the wood ok but more about that later you got the Stonewall Brigade all that stuff in here on July 3rd the Confederates are going to swing from facing basically in an arc they're gonna swing out like a door like this at right angles and that's what those woods are I wish we could get in there and burn it off or do something with it clear it out a little bit but that's what they aligned upon you can't see it very well but that's a small ridge that runs at right angles to this position and they attack this way and the thing I can't figure out about it is the Yankees I'll talk more about this over here the Yankees are in these woods and basically surround this knoll right here and I don't know how the Confederates attacked that way with those Yankees shooting this way that's had to be a tricky proposition maybe maybe the Union boys never saw I don't think they had learned their lesson you know between the 2nd Massachusetts in the 27th Indiana no that store over here behind me so I doubt that we're gonna come out of the woods either way which may have led him to Stewart feeling so cold okay so if I thoroughly confuse you yet okay I like to say that I don't all right so any questions concerns last requests I hope everybody if you didn't there's somebody on this tour probably some multiple people that have bug spray on you I'm gonna take you right up through the woods okay and this is going to be bug heaven where we're headed today I thought though we'll see how it is I doubt it's really gonna be that bad because the tree cover I don't think we're gonna run into that thick of grass or vines or whatever else but nevertheless there's gonna be a lot of ticks in there and my worst nightmare and that's the biggest if you call it my job being dangerous that's the biggest danger in my job is getting one of these tick bites and I don't usually put on bug spray this fight and I don't think it'd work but nevertheless you got to come out here I put on bug spray today so anybody got any bug spray is anybody lacking bug spray Park Service would really like this because this is your safety message bug spray deep it's a nice little treat you won't get a tick bite but you will get cancer thank you ma'am that's very that's very kind of you very selfless that all right when I get sprayed up we'll get out of here then when you get stuff ring now I don't know does somebody know how that how that ever became associated with the school Michigan Wolverine I don't I've never put the connected the dots right there every time I see a Michigan fan fact I was walking down here to come do this tour and there was this guy walking up with his family his little kids and everything and I said do you know where that name came from he looked at me walked on path then I put on my deodorant oh that's pretty cool East Calvary feel this on your driving tour Matt yeah I had the most unusual thing and that's very hard to like impress me real fast and we'll let this car gather the way but I was own little round top the other day and I looked down I was in the middle of the starting the tour at the warren statue and I looked down and there was a not to get into pros or cons but you got to appreciate the moment here all right there was a mini miniature Trump head laying on the ground which I picked up and it was like a rubber ball you know and everything with the hair you know you can grip it while on the hair and everything and I was like whoa you know that's pretty cool I haven't I've seen a lot of things but I haven't seen them Trump head well that's cool and I held it up and I said look what I found this little Boy Scout came running up declaimed it fast and we'll move on but I wanted to point this out to you because this is not part of the tour but it's really cool in case you haven't seen it this is one of the original stone walls ladies and gentlemen we're back over here this is one of the original stone walls ladies and gentlemen and I don't think it's been molested for lack of a better word too much people ask me all the time about are the stone walls original or not well that all depends on where you're standing in my perspective all right so the problem is that the more traffic the area is the you know the more they're going to get walked on the high-water mark is the prime example that you know people have crawled up and down on those on those rocks for ages and we've had to replace them and probably a lot of you read the articles about the numerous people that mail the rocks back to us all right Dave knows about that so if you look at this stone wall right through here this is going to be the wall that the Virginians are going on a line upon obviously they took out part of the stone wall to lay in East Confederate Avenue but it goes over here but now you get if you look back here you get the perspective of the Confederates when the Indiana men charged out in this field and they could have seen a bit of the Massachusetts you don't know what I'm talking about that's one of those sad stories from a battle where the orders get mixed up and they charge and they shouldn't have charged and they get out in the middle of this field you can see where they got to the advance marker out in the middle of field and they just get slaughtering you got Rebs behind you up on that hill and you got Rebs in front of you and it's a it's a it's a killing zone right here that's that's what happens when things go right in them in the battle orders miscarry you ever plays gossip game right there's a little kid well the orders filtered down and they didn't come out right and that's what happened to so that's pretty cool to ever walk the length they anchored their line over here right through this wood line as many of you know is Rock Creek and they just anchor their line right through here from their movie producer and I've seen you in a while Detroit all right so let's walk on over here have you been good see [Music] Jimmy poser [Music] good afternoon so and right over here was a field of coal I took I took a tour of champion Hill one time and and this older gentleman we didn't get much in the way of the battle but he would this older gentleman all he deep southern accent he would just tell us now right over here is where the Yankees advanced do this field of cold yes a field of cold what I got from the tool there's a lot of corn okay all right so we're standing in front of if I get out of the way you can read it you're standing in front of the stewards Brigade marker which is right here and Stuart's Brigade is going to be part of Allegheny Johnston's division to set up the big picture and to go down to the smaller picture robert e lee has three cores in his army right Longstreet Ewell and he'll 1st 2nd and 3rd Corps Stewart's Brigade is part of eul's core which is part of Allegheny Johnston's division which is therefore a brigade comprising that division now if I had to guess it was comprised of the 3rd North Carolina 1st or 2nd Maryland will use that interchangeably depending on what memoir they're talking about and I'll introduce you to the mysterious man in just a second he can explain all that numerical confusion right there 10th Virginia 37th Virginia and the 23rd rites anybody have any information on that that's pretty good okay so Stuart's Brigade is going to be the part of Johnston's division Allegheny Johnson was as a as a store within his own right he was a large man and he didn't carry his sword he actually carried a walking stick and that's what he would carry in the battle kind of like Little John would Robin Hood and so forth there you go right there the most I know about Johnson are the one that one story that stands out to me on the top of my off the top of my head and it's a sad ending but Johnson's division to get ahead of this story is going to be occupying the Mules shoe in 1864 of what was called the Battle of Spotsylvania and Johnson's division will be overrun just flat-footed overrun by Hancock scored during the battle and Johnson will go down on top of the earthworks the Yankees will finally Corral him but he'll be standing atop his breastworks swinging that stick around knocking the Yankees off the top of it you can imagine such a thing and that's how he ends up in a northern prison and that'll be it for him but Stewart's Brigade on July 1st is going to be coming into town so if you know your get a sperg history if I can get you to hang on to that Johnson's division is actually going to be coming in on the Cashtown Turnpike or highway 30 past the first days battlefield that is unusual why is that unusual because Johnson's division was the rear of you'll score and when robert e lee called a concentration right here he actually got him Yul's quarter turn around robert e lee initially wanted the confederate army to regroup or reassemble on the western side of the mountains over on the Chambersburg side but he changed his mind and Johnson's division was already too far committed by the time that they got the orders to head toward Gettysburg so as dawn excuse me as darkness falls on the battlefield on July 1st Johnson's division is marching into the into the battlefield and that's one of the great what-ifs if you want to get into what ifs of the Battle of Gettysburg could if John could have Johnston's division going into the attack I doubt it it's probably pretty late by the time they get there but four you get a spur buffs it's interesting to note the stuarts brigade Johnston's division along with Stuart's brigade is actually not going to use highway 30 to get into town the Chambersburg pike they're actually going to get off the road somewhere around the first days battlefield and you lies the unfinished railroad to march in the town you can imagine what they were seeing is they went through the deep cut and so forth as they went through there so anyway they follow the railroad through the town which will be past the Lincoln train station as it's known today and they follow the train tracks around and at some point on the eastern side of town they get off of there remember Gettysburg wasn't as cluttered out toward the east as it is today and they start to swing into position many of you that have been here to Gettysburg before have been the Benner's Hill which is known as a bad Confederate artillery position more about that in just a second they're going to assemble basically behind that hill which is over here in this direction an all day on July 2nd they sit there they sit there they sit there they sit there and they await orders to advance now they're there the main battle line is not up here but they're going to send out skirmishers or Scouts they're going to be reckon ordering I mean they're not lording around these are competent officers commanding up and down this division so they come out here and the word is brought back during July 2nd that they can hear what up here they can hear chopping and picking and shoveling and so forth and what does that portend trenches the Union soldiers are digging in and that word obviously filters down through the soldiers grapevine and the privates are sitting around wondering why are we letting them entrench why are we not attacking but orders don't come to advance until later in the evening now keep in mind this this really has nothing to do with the privates here in Stuart's brigade but they're the ones that have to carry out these orders Yul's original orders the corps commanders original orders here on the Confederate left flank were to make a demonstration a demonstration and convert it into an attack if practicable out here so what does that mean a demonstration is basically you sit out there wave you know and shoot at them every once in a while so they won't move an attack is when you just come up at them you know and try to push them off the off the hill you'll to me somebody disagree if they want to but you'll to me never doesn't seem to give much thought to a demonstration Richard you'll has been criticized quite a bit and a lot of the criticism especially after Gettysburg is fair in my opinion but one thing you'll could not be accused of is for the most part nobody's perfect is not wanting to fight Ewell is a fighter and you'll is chosen as that division commander because he had been an aggressive commander under Stonewall Jackson and the men knew him so you want to keep familiar faces out in front of the men you'll seems to me that that well he can't see for one thing he's got one leg as you know and he's not getting up here but he relies upon what he's hearing right there and what he can't see and there's really very hard to make a demonstration and not get into an attack in other words how do you grab the hornet's nest and not get stone [Music] right did you like that I just thought of that right we're filming you could have shared this moment so Stewart's Brigade is gonna be the on the end of an arc three brigades are going into position ideally they would Johnson would have liked to have utilized his four brigades which which included walkers stonewall brigade but remember July 2nd Jeff Stewart is just now showing up Jeff Stewart is the Confederate cavalry commander and since the Confederate cavalry are not here then guess what they got to do the infantry has got to do the Cavalry's job and so the Stonewall Brigade will actually have to be guarding the rear of the position to make sure the Federals don't come in behind them so Johnson goes into this first attack on July 2nd with three brigades and the order of the three brigades are Jones from the right to left Confederate right to left or Jones Nicholls and Stewart sometimes you will see Nicholls was not here literally and he was the brigade was under the command of William sometimes you see it referred to as William but always say Jones Nicholls and Stewart so not to confuse anybody so Stewart is on the end of that line alright so going into the Attack Position it's kind of hard in these woods to show you this but then errs he'll the way that Johnston's division is set up is basically like this alright and the Union position is over here to most of your left or behind the camera right now okay so what Johnston's division is going to do is swing into position now think of it like a door coming into position if your door the door the portion of the door I get it out a minute the portion of the door that is that as closest to the wall has the shortest amount of distance right it has the inside art Jones Brigade is that interior position so it's going to naturally fall I don't know if Johnson minute meant to do it this way but the natural progression of things is is that the Confederate attack rolls down the line okay so the first Confederates that are going to be attacking or Jones Brigade and they're gonna be hitting the slopes of Cole's Hill more about that in just a second then Nicholls Brigade is going to be hitting the center of what the Union line would be and then Stuart's Brigade will be coming up all right we're going to take a slight detour once we figure out what kind of seance were having down here in the woods there all right ever you want to enjoy the park that's fine I've never understood the rationale though of going to hunt I mean voluntarily seeking dead spirits I've never understood what of what the logic was behind that I wouldn't recommend it myself what are you going to uncover right there did you not watch all the seventies horror flicks episode general leaves lost arms and flags in a cave they don't show that episode as soon as I saw that a man I was outside with my flag and I was spooky dude man you probably might be on there I don't know what you search the fettered scooby-doo so anyway what I'm going to do now in introducing this gentleman right here is it's gonna take us on a slight detour to show you some of the local landmarks and to throw in some of the bigger stories they're one of my favorite country singers yes David Allen coat known as DAC and he's saying he's sing some of the saddest country songs that you've ever heard about mama and trucks trains and getting drunk did I get them all songs close to broken heart prison yeah I left prison now didn't there's a fan right there anyway in his younger days he billed himself as the mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy and he would stand outside the Ryman Auditorium and of course he wasn't part of the Ryman it was a part of the old offering but they didn't know that and he had a rhinestone suit on so what he would do between shows is go inside the building and run up and down the stairs to make himself sweat a little bit and then he would come out front as a sweaty cowboy in a rhinestone suit and he starts selling some of his own personal album to the people to be rushing for an autograph thinking that he was the star okay that ladies and gentlemen is marketing I've never forgotten that lesson so this gentleman will not be introduced by name he will now be known as the mysterious red shirt man because he always has on a red shirt it's a ghost of ap Hill he goes with AP Hill if you ever see him he sleeps in a red shirt he was probably born in a red shirt but ladies and gentlemen I give you the mysterious red shirt man right over here how about there's my voice hear what everybody can hear me if you can't hear me then raise your hand I just want to do a little background on the division I can't spell alright Chancellorsville for this brigade this brigade loses 800 men at Chancellorsville all right with that they add on paper 600 Marylanders it's actually somewhere in the 400s they add that to bring the brigade up to strength all right and only think about it on the hill on the other side at 4 o'clock is Walker's brigade walkers new to command that command he has Stewart's brigade Stewart is new to command as matt said Nicholson's wounded by this time Nicholson's lost his left eye his left arm and his left foot when he runs for governor of Louisiana in the 1880s his veterans say that took a vote for the rest of him so so Jones is the only experienced commander in the division on this at 4 o'clock in the afternoon they're positioned on banners help let's do this all right so we all know that the story Longstreet's artillery starts it to me a clock firing - peach orchard all right you'll stem instruction is he supposed to start at the same time he gets his message an hour late sorry bear with me for a second here I know I got you all right so Latimer boy major new to command Snowden Anderson is the artillery commander for that battalion for Johnson's division he's shot in the stomach no survived after the war with a plate on his stomach alright so NAT immers 18 years old he's in charge of the artillery he opens fire for a demonstration at 4 o'clock while that's going on general Meade has a problem when I left he needs more soldiers to face the Confederate attacks so he orders the 12th Corps off of this help in discussion they leave one brigade here of 1,500 men what that does is instead of there being soldiers and a skirmish line here you're going they go back up to help so there's no skirmishers the Confederates see an opportunity and it's six o'clock they order those Confederates to attack as matt said the attack will start from the right Johnson's Brigade is closest to Rock Creek and Nichols Brigade is the next big attack the one that has to go to Florida and Stuart and he has to swing around he's gonna cross here behind us as near as I can tell from the crossing we're at the Stonewall none of them crossing the clearing no worried that the Union Army will see them so Ted Virginia 23rd Virginia 37th Virginia 2nd Maryland and then of the 3rd North Carolina's for the right side first North Dallas or the right and third North Carolina's sitting on an island out there in reserve right so that's where they are interesting part of the story is that I'm sorry I'm talking away from you interesting part of the story is that as Johnson starts her as Stewart starts to cross he sends three companies of the first North Carolina to occupy Wolf's Hill the guard is flanked with that it's going to take them about 7 p.m. maybe they're crossing by 8:00 p.m. they're gonna be deep into the woods and looking up the hill over here on our left at some point the 10th Virginia crosses over the stone wall and I'm sure Matt will get to them later [Laughter] okay so crossing point it's too many people here to take down there now but I would suggest that after you get some air conditioning this afternoon or tomorrow walk down there and you can see the whole Creek yeah you get right up to that pipe fence it's down there which is kind of cool and you'll be able to see the whole Creek and where the crossing was what's also interesting about that is if you look on the other side it's flat and that was the farm length going from McCallister's mill to the Benner farm so Baltimore Pike to McCallister's milk McAllister's milk to the better farm better farm to Hanover Road folks that's the Underground Railroad that's the only site where we have documentation in Adams County that was used in the Underground Railroad okay cool okay the mysterious red shirt man I know it was over here how many people we got a lot Michelle had an account before it's all over with and eventually the number all right so George a Stewart which he has a picture of right there and the reason is interested in the the mysterious red shirt man is interested in this area of the battlefield as he is a big Maryland fan and so George H Stewart is known his nickname is Stuart he's born on August 24th 1828 he graduates at age 20 21 at West Point near the bottom of his class one of his classmates in 1848 was John Buford aka Sam Elliot another time by the time 1861 rolled around in how would that be 13 years he had accumulated he had advanced to the rank of lieutenant so he's not shining here he's going to enter the war as a captain of cavalry Confederate cavalry I should say but moved on to lieutenant colonel the 1st Maryland infantry soon and became firm became D Colonel at first Manassas marches 62 he gets the stars or as Reese I should say becomes a brigadier general command to both infantry and cavalry there Stuart came under the scrutiny though as many officers would of none other than Stonewall Jackson and Jackson doesn't like disobedience and at the Battle of 1st Winchester which is on May 25th of 1862 Stuart is ordered to follow up Jackson's victory with the cavalry charge or you know forward the cavalry keep the keep the route on Stuart apparently refuses those orders because they have not come through the direct chain of command even though Jackson is commanding the army in other words he is he is splitting hairs and Jackson has no time for this and Napoleonic tactics the use of cavalry take east cavalry fail wherever the michigan lady went over here the purpose of the cavalry is to do what follow up that defeated Union Army or Confederate Army and they don't charge and Stewart is therefore yanked from his command and subsequently because good officers or West Point trained officers are hard to find he gets a reassigned nevertheless to the infantry and he's wounded later at the Battle of Cross Keys which is part of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign he returns though in time for Gettysburg the Marylanders where he started in the command hated him at first they said in 1861 that he would he was one of these officers that you know I don't know if you say he's a prima donna but he wanted to he just put the thumb down on him pretty good for instance he would go out late at night two or three in the morning he would sneak up on his own picket lines you know and he would start hollering at them Indians which I don't know what that means I guess there was supposed to be Indians out in the woods aware but he would want to see if they were on the alert or catch him sleeping and so forth the Marylanders hated him but they wrote in you know time usually a sway jiz feelings for the most part hard feelings they said after the war that they understood what he was doing later because they turned into a well disciplined unit because he was being so hard on you know I've never seen ever been in the military but I had a guy when I was in high school that was absolutely he was a senior and he was absolutely a stickler for that drum corps right there and we did it over and over and over till I hated him right there but looking back on that I get it now and he got it a lot earlier in life than I did as I already said they arrived here on the battlefield on July 1st let me see if I left anything out as they're marching through the railroad cut many soldiers broke ranks to loot the dead especially the shove shoes you can imagine how many shoes they've worn out on here there's one Confederate jerked on a dead Yankee shoe the man raised up and said mister I'm not dead yet [Laughter] all right so you know lost read everything on the July 2nd is being the precursor or the catalyst for all this action on this end of the line as Longstreet's attack as the redshirt man said Longstreet does not get in position till late in the afternoon he doesn't start his attack to a four o'clock and therefore Johnson's division does not start going into position or into the attack into a couple hours later the best guess which do not hold me to this the initial on attack the swinging door which I described earlier would be roughly Jones at 6:30 Nicholls at 7 o'clock this will be on the guide exam Stewart at 7:30 remember there's no daylight savings time though back then okay on the left of Johnston's division mounted officers rode down the line of Stewart's Brigade the men stood and dressed the ranks Lieutenant Colonel James L how do you say it hey bear Herbert Herbert Herbert in New Orleans be a bear thanks oh the first Maryland battalion called to his major underneath him and said to his staff mount your horses quickly for we're going in Herbert then rode forward to the front and kin demanded the battalion the Marylanders forward guide center March I should say at the beginning of the tour the 1st Maryland battalion why are they called a battalion and not a regiment a battalion in the Civil War I don't know how it ranks in the modern military but a cat but a battalion back then was basically half a regiment four or five companies and if you think about logistically or geographically maybe a better word where Maryland is in the Civil War it's tucked between Pennsylvania and Virginia it's known as the order state right here the Marylanders are having a hard time crossing the Potomac to get into the Confederate Army and probably most of Marylanders joined the Union Army if the truth was known about and those Marylanders that did cross the Potomac there are a lot of Marylanders that enlist and Virginia units now there's a project for you go siphon all the Marylanders off there were in Pickett's Charge there's quite a few of them the red shirt man is pointing them out to me over the years but but that's what they're going to do there's no Maryland units to to join I'm sorry sir could you just introduce him just mysterious red shirt man that's who is could you introduce yourself oh he's the mysterious red shirt man the ghost of maybe he'll come on you can't do this he's the red shirt man it's an emphasis today so if you think about it if you think about the Marylanders are coming up through here they're what two to three hundred that's the largest unit in the brigade coming up through battalion well there's nothing else for majority Richmond issue them a full-fledged regiment in October in October in October because by the timer here they've got six companies now pan over here so after Gettysburg into the fall then they're going to be redesignated as the second Maryland infantry to avoid that confusion right all right yeah you're here and that's just the Confederate regiment that's here realize that there's three more first Maryland's out here floating around on this battlefield alright so that creates confusion for everybody but when the veterans came to dedicate the monument they wanted him to say the second well there's no what they wanted was to say the first Battalion because at the time the Battle of Gettysburg that was their unit designation right all right they later become the second Maryland infantry and that will create confusion for the park and so the gbma is going to require them to put the second Maryland on their Monument so they're not confused with first Maryland short first girl in Potomac own Brigade first Maryland cowboy I think you're panning back over here okay let's set up before we step into the woods I'm trying to do everything I can I don't mean to keep y'all standing for too long but I'm trying to do everything I can out on this pavement okay before we step out into those woods we're not gonna be that bad but you see what I'm trying to do here let's talk about the Union the Union forces that they're going up against are it is kind of it works out well for the Confederates in Johnston's division but that they attack solely because the later that they have tact in the day Longstreet follow me here on the other side at Little Round Top the wheat field P torture and so forth has hit the Union line so hard that George Meade decides to strip the forces here at Culp's Hill this is one to me people look at like Stonewall Jackson if he was here at Gettysburg etc you know what if the Moses came down from the mountain and robert e lee had him at hand or something like that snakes and the okay so what a great what-ifs to me is what if George Meade did what he originally thought he was going wanted to do the original orders ladies and gentlemen were to dispatch one division from the 12th Corps which is this is the Union soldiers up here you don't have to know all this but dispatch one division from the 12 core and then orders came to dispatch the other division that's how dire the situation is over there that Meade's willing to gamble and here comes Johnston's division and he left the discretion Slocum's going to be involved in this as the wing command he left the discretion to leave behind one brigade Corps division Brigade so you stripped out basically they had what almost 8,000 men Manning this position from the summit of Culp's Hill down to where you part your car at Spangler Springs and by the time they stripped the line that is 8,000 men are down to 1350 new yorkers and here comes johnson's division of Confederates of course the fog of war they don't know what they're up against they don't know the odds and that there are in their favor but Greene George s Greene who is the commander of these New Yorkers is going to do have the foresight to do what which is going to save his bacon what is it he is going to dig in and to go back to the beginning of the tour all that chopping sound that Stewart and his other Confederates are hearing that's those New Yorkers Green is an engineer he will later do some big works up in New York City but he is entrenching those New Yorkers and the Confederates are going to come up against one of the most formal formidable positions of the war any questions there are Union pickets Neels Brigade six Corps on the other side of Rock Creek and that is going to be the lost Avenue what we collectively call her Neill Avenue officially but it's it's a its own private property the probably the best neighbor quote unquote that the park ever had was the gentleman who owns the property surrounding lost a basically he owns those monuments over there the landowner and I've never seen so many somebody so generous with his time is to take people out there and he's very well he loves to have people out on his property but he appreciates people asking that's called courtesy right there instead of following the internet and sneaking on his land he doesn't appreciate that too much neither does where they have you park at neighbor he doesn't he's not so friendly that other neighbor so we would appreciate it if you want to go see the as he likes to say the landowner likes to say if the hook if the hook of the fish hook is Culp's Hill he's the worm any others none okay so what we're gonna do is about-face we're gonna go up here and we're going to advance I'm not gonna take you across Rock Creek no I'm not as brave as Troy we're going to look I know I'm gonna sell out but we're gonna take you through the woods over here a little piece we're gonna take a small detour for we come back and do Stuart's advance up through here to try to find the end of the Union line let's follow the mysterious red shirt man at 8 o'clock on July 2nd it goes this way on the other side of stone walls at Tech Virginia between the monument I'm sorry between the stone wall the monument is the 23rd Virginia between the monument and here is the 37th Virginia this is the front for the 2nd Maryland and off to their right are those on the first North Carolina 3rd North Carolina's still in reserve right this spot is memorialized I'm sorry I have using a different order and I apologize but here we go okay so somewhere makes a drum and then it becomes this paint you can find online called Forbes rock alright because of the brush today but folks this is where he was standing when it drew this alright so if you're the photographer all right now for the Marylanders I know the rest of the brigade what they can see is you can see how the hill Rises shortly and the breastworks are up there and they can see the firing from the Union breastworks the flash for the barrels coming in this direction they're gonna move forward the fire gets intense and so Stewart sends back to Randolph McKim to bring up the third North Carolina by the time he gets in this position the brigade is forward and it's dark now here's a bit of gettysburg trivia for you Isaac Trimble most even heard that name he's an engineer for the railroads in Baltimore George whom Stuart's father is a commissary contractor for the railroad in Baltimore Randolph mackenz father also sells supplies to the railroad in Baltimore and John Archer from the first day his dad has a lumber plantation and his dad sells lumber to make ties to the railroad so for their entire lives these men all knew each other and that brings up to this point you're gonna do the McKim story later yeah okay alright so I'll do the grains here too okay sure alright so I and this is kind of tougher alright so this is from beyond the viburnum at the elliot virgo map all right I blew up the center section and the reason I blew up that center section and in other sections is that I grid search this area right the stream and between the hills comes in here and that is very prominent in this location right now with the stream and a settlement on the other side is going to be low ground and we'll move that way in a second but what's this all right so this park road is built here after 1895 I don't have a sure date on it but I do know that when the Park Service gets the property in 1933 they start knocking down houses they can't repair so if you're looking for what happened to the Rogers house or the Staub house or the Forney house chances are one or two of them are in these piles here because this is the dump site so they dump it on this property because the farmers can't use this property I want to try to just get a deal in the other side here I just watch the ground single up yeah got to took emotional out some space over here alright and he gets like spread out that way this is where I'm at collect ticks that's why we've remove all the chicks from the battlefield you could bring folks here next week okay you can spread out here on the piles I don't even think ties ever taking anybody into this mess just react I said what we have here is this is the street hiding you can see some of the indentations all right on the other side of the stream well does this ground and leaves everything else to come off the hill for centuries and say you have dirt soft dirt on the other side covered by trees today that weren't here in 1863 yes okay all right so got a couple you are the intern before Gettysburg the boys in town swam in Rock Creek the photographs they kicked and took a Rock Creek are in that direction how did they get there is a cooking Spangler property Spangler lane and then I'll come through follow this stream and that gets them to Rock Creek this is probably also used as a logging road at some time this way for the road we came in on that has to be post 1895 West Confederates started in 1895 as soon as the War Department gets control of the park they buy no recalled silt believe it or not they only controlled or only on the top of the hill all rights all this property in 1895 comes into the parks Ausmus in 1933 again they're gonna use this as a dump site now what's interesting we're not worried about the dump site all the effects because they see mouths everything else they get confused and they think that this is Confederate burial trenches the Confederate burial trenches are here in front of us all right that would have been get my duck okay all right so we're gonna come in on the street comes this way all right and the streams gonna cut across and what we would see is we would see a one long barrel trench toward the top of the hill then we would see three smaller trenches and that probably thirty men each over in this direction in the woods all right and then coming down from the hill we would have another four trenches and that over there in Jones's position which is off to our right would be another three trenches and again it's all in this soft ground here all right now photographers came here after the Confederates were zoomed in the 1870s and they took a couple of pictures all right and here's one of the pictures that they took and anybody along the lines here when we're walking I can stop and show you this you can find it online all right and it looks to be this area but it's not that's on the other side of the hill in Jones's position where there are no trenches drawn so if I was standing at the Jones Brigade marker this picture in hand all right I'd be able to see where this Confederate very lunches are all right but you get the idea Johnson loses 500 men killed and the attacks on Culp's Hills over two days we are not sure what the other half of the unit's lose but we can assume that it's close to those kind of numbers so with that you know that's how many Confederates would be buried here or in Party field we'll get the party filled later all right so here's the position it is 8 o'clock 1 July 2nd the 2nd Maryland is in this ravine that we follow and they're heading up the hill when the Sun breaks here then he'll go straight up in the wintertime I could take you that way but it's not feasible now okay with this but there is one trail to go up the second barrel we'll use that Matt you want to take over I've been told you're still Confederate superior alright so then the absence of records means that maybe be working out here to this site that's pretty cool alright so what we're gonna do is we're gonna keep on going but what I want you to get out of this is basically reiterate what he already pointed out is we're in the low ground right here if you come out here in the wintertime like the mysterious red shirt man said it's really the only time cuz that's when you can see the Union positions but take it for granted this is the one thing that shocked me when I came out here in the winter cuz I never came out here one of the few areas of the battlefield we just don't traverse this area too much because of these woods and how thick they are but the Union position is you drive up the tool road like you're going toward Culp's Hill you're getting around the 78th in 1o second New York what's in there the 137th the 149th neo all those monuments in there literally you can't tell from the road but literally the ground just drops off on a ridge and that's what the Confederates the Louisianans from Williams or Nicholls Brigade when they attack through here they're gonna be going up against what I want you to get out of here for Stuart's Brigade though is this is where the North Carolinians are gonna be the 3rd North Carolinians and then the Marylanders to their left but you're in a swale right now they're getting hit from the high Union position over there from in front of them they're getting an info log fire because Louisiana's attack is bogged down so I'm sure they shifted to what they could see over here and then they have as we ascend this hill we're gonna bump into this low area we're gonna send this hill up here and you're gonna be on the left flank of of what was then Stuart's Brigade and what I mean by that ladies and gentlemen to go back to the beginning of the tour when Stuart's Brigade is wheeling like a doors it's closing like a door the brigade breaks apart and that's what ends up half the first half of this fight on July 2nd the right half of the brigade where we're standing right now the right half of the brigade instead of left half it's going to keep on going because they're going to stay attached to the rest of Johnston's division the left half is just going to be slung off and they're going to be tied down because Rock Creek is deeper on the left flank of Stewart's Brigade than it is on the right flank so that slows them down pretty much and they have in some areas they have to cross single-file so that's why you have hope it's making sense tell me if it doesn't make sense but that's why the right half the North Carolinians and the Marylanders attack here by themselves and they get into this swell they don't know they were gonna go into this well and they have no support yet on their left so these New Yorkers which are over here at this time the 137th and you've got the rest of Greensburg any coming up through here have got them pinned down where we are Ground Zero you know everybody likes that Devil's Den video there you are everybody likes that Devil's Den video where I talk about the bowl everybody wants to go out there and see that bowl you're in something similar right now and it's hard to see the the ravine for lack of a better word or the low ground in the end of summertime so come back and we win this better view any questions anything not are those paintings accurate the ones he held up yes there yeah they are period sketches the one thing that I would assume that they that they had and we do not were animals and going back to the generous landowner that's our neighbor over here he has I hope it's still alive he had left last time I checked a pet cow and you would be surprised how much that one cow can beat down the underbrush I don't know how much its own twenty or thirty acres you know that one cow would literally just laying in it eating it you know if you can see a lot further in his property on his property then he can out here I would attribute that to and of course foresting to timber cutting that's why you could see out here a lot better than you can today very good question this is where we start the Jeopardy song now that's still long Alex Trebek right he's still doing it okay what we're gonna do is we're gonna follow the mysterious red shirt man and he saw after he speaks wait a minute do not breathe the mysterious red shirt man wishes to say something he just doesn't know where we are he's gonna go up there and Scout so if y'all want to if you could file around over there by hot pink I always like people bring their system [Laughter] it is crazy you know this is the time this is the time period ma'am where you that people are wondering why they're doing this but you give them like two hours for the tour to be over and you'll give them after they get cooled off it'll just be thinking this is the coolest thing they want people didn't know what they were getting into their second thinking especially tonight they gonna get the more attention from louia spouses in the havin year yeah hey we're gonna stop right here just for a second I gotta really want to know what red shirt man's name was y'all keep coming up we're just gonna we're gonna hunker on in y'all having a good year David Price man freakin doing alright Chris Sale he hasn't lost his marbles we've got the why isn't he here I don't understand where he is his brother says he's still in bed cuz he's a newly married man I don't probably still be in bed too bad to get up he's a drunkard yeah I saw the other day I saw an advertisement for an old advertisement that David wills the guy this is what you get if you stay up with the David wills who was obviously invited Abraham Lincoln here he was one of the back in the 1850s one of the founders of the temperance movement here in Gettysburg and you know if you've ever been to an a a meeting which I'm sure all of you have but you wouldn't tell me because okay so right beside David wills house he had a little wooden shack and you think that AAA meetings are just something new they advertised in the paper that they would be open from 10:00 to 10:00 and they would have reading literature available and they would have wait for hot coffee I did note later that the the temperance movement opened the room even earlier than 10:00 o'clock and I'm thinking to myself my god who's getting up there and doing that they must have really been if they called you a drinker back then you drink I once felt bad about myself but until I went to Colonial Williamsburg and I found out on my history tour of Colonial Williamsburg that the average American colonists back then consumed nine pints a day and at that point I felt a lot better about how the tour's up here al there's no learning back there she'll be okay come on up all right all right so real quick real quick orientations why I wanted to get everybody up here and thank you all for coming out in the middle of the of the woods and let me let me see if I can figure it out for you right here I told you at the last stop ladies and gentlemen that you were down in the ravine okay so Stewart's Brigade this is not gonna make any sense on a video okay but if you're standing here and you can see the lay of the ground Stewart's forgave this is what you get for being here in person instead of watching stuff Rider all the time think about it Stewart's Brigade is coming this way the right happens as I said it's the earlier it's gone the extreme right half it's going to be in that ravine walking up this hill here is the left flank here comes the Marylanders right through here now to reiterate what the mysterious red shirt man said Stewart because his line is broken he's over here on the right-hand side of the brigade he summons up the reserves and that's gonna be the first North Carolina that's gonna be coming into position Randolph McKim who is one of the staff officers who from Maryland is obviously going to know what the situation is on the ground so McKim is recruited to lead the reserves and North Carolinians into position as the North Carolinians are coming up behind you McKim is as lost as you are that day on July 2nd and it gets up to this area and it's surprisingly I like McInnes memoirs if you everyone check them out because he meant when he makes errors that always screams to me that you've got a good member right there when the guy's telling you what he did wrong but McKim gets to somewhere in this area and he thinks that he's turned the Union line because he can hear all this firing going on but he's guessing he's guessing by the by the noise that's going on so he faces the North Carolinians and tells them to open fire and they haven't gone far enough and they end up shooting into the backs of their friends down here and McKim is going to write that then it didn't last long he that he screamed fire on them boys fire on them and the first North Carolina fired until in Major William L parsley commander of the 3rd North Carolina rushed up from the right and shouted they are our own men cease firing the third they have been firing into the back of their own friends all right so these Confederates you talk about being in a bad position the ones down on the ravine down there and not only getting shot at by the Yankees they're getting shot at from their friends there's no telling how many of them left at that point I'd say that's okay that's all right I've I can will I will see y'all later all right because nobody likes that the thing I want you to see though is the Confederates are coming up here and the tour road is only maybe 3040 yards in this direction they'll make better sense once we break out of the woods but the 137th New York is ahead of us you will recall ladies and gentlemen if you're looking at your Maps right now that the 137th New York was originally everybody talks about them being in Traverse and bending back the right line their original position was extended on the next hill for those of you at home that's where the the Confederate Maryland monument is that's the original position of the 137th New York in the extended line not where their monument is today so if you think about it Stewart's Brigade is bogged down the New Yorkers at this point out stretch the Confederates lettering that have become engaged does that make sense now what I want is hard to see but I hope you can see how the hill kind of a sends behind you over here mm-hmm all right to orient you the tour Road room your cars are parked over here in Spangler Spring and the East Confederate Avenue remember we went against the do against one-way traffic we walk down the tour road this way and then cut in through the ravine and came back this way we've made a giant circle if you were to walk out straight out through here you would come out to the tour road that we have already walked on that makes sense so we're making a big circle as we come up through here anyway where we started the tour and I stopped you at the stone wall shortly past there a little peace pass there the left flank remember Stuart's brigades moving this way the left flank of Stuart's Brigade is finally going to get across Rock Creek and they're in a big arc and I hope this hill you can sort of see it they're going to be coming around the edge of this hill right through here they can hear the firing and they can hear what's not in front of them they obviously get out the left half is probably in the vicinity of Spangler Springs somewhere in there and they get in this vicinity and they're looking for the end of that Union line it's the 20th Maine all over they set as you'll see the Confederates are going to be more successful on this end of the line initially anyway then the then the Alabamians were on the other half of the line any questions yes yeah we're gonna go this way color bearer right his name is Jesse Jefferson he's from Baltimore Maryland I'm he'll be wounded during this attack and a guy on July 4th of leave but I have a picture of his gravestone and to me the artistry looks kind of the same as the monument yeah so I thought that was kind of cool that's the one picture you won't find on the internet that I have that is act loud and Park Cemetery okay what's cool what do you call those in the Walmart no show socks as you can see the government outfits me very well these quality clothes which I have on yes we occasionally get people like I don't know what you call them like patch hunters patch collectors and they won't they'll you know they want to swap like a police patch or a fire patch for one of these but we don't get them like detached so the only way we can get them is like take a razor and take a no shirt you know when I cut it off or something it's too much confused alright now this is where if you want to get into the Battle of Gettysburg you want to get off in the weeds okay this is where you have to make a split decision on what you believe in what you don't believe there are two units and it depends on who you read I told you the left half the stuarts Brigade is coming up basically the Virginia the 23rd the 37th and the 10th Virginia are swinging in the line depending on who you're reading is either going to be the 23rd on the right or the 37th on the right I believe the lay no map right there is which tip Williams over here's got is I believe they have the 37 on the I've actually held one of his bats in Gettysburg big ol thing I spent with men yeah was it gonna say Ted Williams I believe he I believe the 37th is on the right am I correct on that and the advance on that so anyway whatever the 23rd the big picture is this the 23rd Virginia reportedly only had something like 50 men anyway why cuz they only had 4 out of 10 companies up here during the attack so you know roughly about 10 men 10 15 min apiece in each company it's really incidental but anyway 23rd Virginia is advancing and it must be growing dark by now in the growing darkness they start shooting and we have an account about Lieutenant Colonel simians Walton commanding the 23rd was still unsure was who was in his front so in the darkness growing darkness he called for a volunteer and that volunteer which I bet one to volunteer was the lieutenant and his name was Charles a Raines he ordered the colonel ordered a cease fire and sent the lieutenant ahead to ascertain what was in advance rains advance to then 20 paces of the shadows this is going to be happening approximately back here over in this area he's going to advance roughly to about 20 paces of the shadows there and I guess he's going to stop and listen for a little while and what he hears in front of him is not I'm gonna do this for the motorcycle it's not from North Carolina I have to give them you know I just really have to give but I really need a vein you know practicable for three kids although I could put a sack car [Music] I want sure to find out - all right so they go out in front Walton goes out in front the colonel Walton the orders the ceasefire reigns goes out in front as he gets up there he hears that their accent our Union troops and he has his pistol in his hand and as he fires point-blank basically into these Union soldiers the 137th New York he is retreating backwards the whole time screaming at the top of his lungs Yankees Yankees Yankees and at that point I don't know if he went to the ground he's they probably got more adrenaline pumping and I can ever imagine but the Confederates opened fire and when they're opening fire ladies and gentlemen that's going to signal the hand to the 137th New York not as a unit obviously but the end of them being on this hilltop right here because now the Confederates have gotten behind them and as the firing grows I'm sure the New Yorkers didn't break all at once and start retreating but more and more Confederates start coming into line and they don't have to ask their team where the enemy is in the growing darkness they can see by the flashes of the muskets and so now in the midst of all this to get everything going that look that Colonel Colonel Walton went in search of reinforcements he knew that the first Maryland should be to his right somewhere and he goes over there and walks until he finds major Goldsboro Walton asked the major what he thought they should do and the major thought they should attack but stated he didn't command the battalion so he couldn't order the charge it's nice in it and had this before when you get big time go here and get these interns over here that's when you big time get your own assistants right here even though I didn't know they were coming it's still pretty cool when he's dressed nice though nice as a dress guy no group right here so anyway Goldsboro asked the major to charge major says he can't do it he's not in command here and Walters responded well I shan't wait for orders any longer but we'll charge the works if I lose every man in my regiment take the responsibility and charge with your left at the same time the major is commanding half of the Maryland battalion Goldsboro scented and prepared his men to advance also so what ends up happening those Marylanders come from here the Virginians come from here and in the growing darkness they pinched these New Yorkers the 137th on top of this hill and eventually work around them some of you can see better than others over here but the New Yorkers go tumbling in this direction down into this ravine and they regroup on the other side and that's where you get lucky in a battle because 137th then build it but they fell back and they happen to find a traverse which if you don't know if you're entrenchments are this way a traverse runs at right angles to your entrenchments it's an entrenchment but it's used for a communication trench is to get you up to the front line without getting your fool head blown off so you dig a ditch at right angles so you'll be safe relatively getting up there the Traverse which they never expected to use is going to be what the 137th rally zone now can Stuart's Brigade push ahead and take this position in the growing darkness because here is their opportunity on July 2nd any questions we're gonna step not far really step right across the road over here so we can see the ravine will finish off July 2nd okay that's a pretty cool story as they sweep the Union troops off this Knoll and the New Yorkers are falling back to that Traverse basically it ran at right angles against these trees are in my way but basically where you see that cut down stump right there the Traverse is going to run across the road maybe slightly behind there in that general area as the two groups are as two sides of regrouping major Goldsboro walks along his line that's the Marylander and if you can imagine being this loss the Marylanders are now over here facing this direction a man comes riding up on horseback behind him and he says how's the fighting going and Goldsboro looks around at him and he's not from North Carolina either I don't know replied the Confederate major and slowly walked over and seized the reins of the horse and with that he took out a pistol and put it in his face right there and sent to the man a Confederate Corps and you are my prisoner who served the major had captured as you would know a lieutenant named Harry C Egbert of the Union 1st Corps who obviously did not know the Confederates were in this area ok rest the stewards Brigade starts extending the line to the left on this tour from right to left Confederate right to left behind you is going to be or you're right to left is the 23rd 37th and 10th Virginia at about 8 o'clock in the evening give or take a few minutes the 71st Pennsylvania is going to come marching up the Spangler Lane somebody asked me to show them the farm lane right here Ted waves so roughly approximately the farm Lane as you look off over here ladies and gentle be where that star is a little bit behind there the Spangler farm actually still exists there's a lot of Spangler's around here but that particular Spangler farm what was his first name Henry lives there Abraham owns it the farm lane actually brand-new you know the farm Lane actually runs behind that house and came out in the present day National Park well here comes reinforcements for the Union 71st Pennsylvania it's gonna come marching along and if you will need to be reform II rise with them they are the same unit that is at the angle the next day at Pickett's Charge one of the more famous pennsylvania units that are here the general accounts that you see it at 71st pennsylvania is they are sent over here without a guide and so when they get in the darkness they don't know where they're going and here come these Virginians feeling their way through the woods and here come those Pennsylvanians marching and column down that farm Lane and all of a sudden the Virginians open up Stuart's Brigade opens up on and start shooting them and they're like is there marching along through here you know they're like well that's not fun right here we don't know where we're going we don't know who we're supposed to connect with so they just turn around and leave okay but to show you how much that we are learning on this new tour according to new research that was done in the library is actually noted that the 71st Pennsylvania deploys only own tunes on the Union line now how long they stay here I don't know if you were able to ascertain they didn't stay long but regardless the story is the same they don't stay long I like my story better than probably would actually happen so anyway you can see the point is a lot of confusion out here okay so now you've got over here where we were in the ravine going up that hill we just climbed you got the third and first North Carolina sensing opportunities Stewart asked is left regiment the tenth Virginia that's way out here to find out what was out in front and Colonel Edward Warren orders men who were perpendicular to the Stonewall we see that from here can you see that stone wall right here yep that stone wall see it over there you see it probably see it better by that big old tree right there he asked the 10th Virginia to follow that stonewall as an alignment and go down through there and find out where the Union boys were all right so here they go after reaching what he perceived to be the enemy's rear he ordered the 10th to base to the right that be roughly where that ladies jogging right down there and fire on the Union side Howard was sending oo Howard or oh how I was sending reinforcements by now and the remnants of the 61st Ohio and the 157th New York are gonna show up and they're going to prolong the 137th New York's line so once again the New Yorkers that were here you don't have to know all that but some of you want to know all this the 137th New York is positioned here and then you have little high Owens and New Yorkers that are positioning extending the line behind this small group of woods over here and so the Confederates big picture for Stewart is the window of opportunity is closing quickly for them in the growing darkness all right possibly with the temper jigna going for several the virginias may have crossed the Union lines because several Union prisoners are going to be captured by the 10th all right with this basically the two sides are going to reach a stalemate and Stuart's attack is effectively over for the day new Union reinforcements though keep coming into the area and keep bumping into the Confederates some of them know certain order the 14th Brooklyn y'all remember them the sixth Wisconsin surely you remember them and the 6th Wisconsin apparently remains near the Traverse probably in reserve behind the New Yorkers until Kane's Brigade comes up and relieves it now let me ask you a question right here if you know if you've been to get a spur quite a bit which I take it you have that you're gonna be on this tour or you're completely lost at this moment and wondering why you ever got on this tour or you might be wondering what the real name of the mysterious red man's red shirt man right there how did you pull in to Culp's Hill what road the modern Road do you take an old road do you take in order to start in to coax Hill what's the name that's outside the visitor center so my question to you ladies and gentlemen is what is the key to this area people ask me all the time on Little Round Top is just the key to the battlefield well it's the key to this area of the battlefield I can't say it's the key to the battlefield right here what is the Achilles tendons the two Achilles tendons or the or the arteries of the Union Army that they cannot lose the Baltimore pike in the Taneytown Road and Little Round Top controls the Taneytown Road and basically this area Culp's Hill etc in this area specifically the saddles are for lack of a better word Spangler Springs area have the there on the edge of control in the Baltimore pike the Confederates objective if they knew where they were doesn't have to be Culp's Hill what should it be Baltimore Pike if you cut the pike then you effectively isolate the rest of the Union Army you knock out Cemetery Hill and you knock out call seal why because the Union Army's got to do something now that's easy for me to say because I don't have to sit there and hold it because George Meade's gonna do something about that for sure he can't have that happen and they're isolated how do you resupply them how do you reinforce them I mean how do you hold a position on the Baltimore pike but the bottom line is that's not what happens the bottom line is the Confederates don't know their opportunity they don't know how close they are to the Baltimore pike major Goldsboro sent captain John W tour sh t ORS CH if I'm pronouncing that right and another companion to see if the pike was nearby torch returned with info that wagons were moving up and down the road how many hundreds of yards you can we got quiet you could probably hear it over there later Allegheny Johnson and Stuart Maryland Stuart visited the area and the major told them of his findings Allegheny Johnson listened to the sound of wagons in the darkness a mere six hundred yards away from where it was standing and concluded that the Union Army was retreating and he walked away and nothing more was said of it but that's easy for me to say it's easy to pass judge it's easy to say we should have taken we should have taken Cemetery Hill on July 1st right those people right over here what are you what are the Confederates more concerned about anywhere are they concerned about the Baltimore pike are they concerned about the enemy that's what's grabbed their attention and they can't refocus themselves because that really wasn't their objective their objectives weren't to come out any questions no questions all right this is when we do the evening of July 2nd no okay Dave thought it was funny that's what they did they tried to sleep but throughout the night I won't go into all this because we'd be out here way past we're already supposed to be out here Union forces are coming back remember the 12th Corps that I told you was dispatched to go reinforce the Union left around the wheat field and round tops etc well guess what half of them never reached their half a march down the Baltimore pike and don't know where to turn so they just turn around and come back well they're coming back in the darkness let's put it around midnight or somewhere around there probably throughout the night here comes the 12th Corps back you know what their orders are their orders are to reoccupy their original position and what don't the Union soldiers know as they come up in the darkness they don't know that the Confederates occupy the trenches and so what you have throughout the night of July 2nd in this area probably down by Spangler Springs etc and flare-ups over here too but all around you is you have Union forces bumping into Confederate forces and vice versa as both sides grope for each other in the darkness you have multiple accounts of Union soldiers riding up into the Confederate lines and they're like you know what the heck are you doing here and they capture a lot of them because they just won't right into it July 3rd Union dispositions those you have Maps candy and canes Brigade are going to extend greens right along the Baltimore pike see those that bigstar down through there the Union forces start extending their line to basically bottle in Stewart's Brigade right here ruggers rugers for division which is the first woods you entered when you when you turned off Baltimore pike that's on the other side of where you parked your car it's cooked Spengler Springs that's gonna be Colegrove and MacDougall's brigades they're gonna deploy there so effectively by the time the Sun comes up on July 3rd Stuart's the Stewart's brigade is I wouldn't say isolated but they're surrounded now here's that makes sense go back to the beginning of the tour first thing I said to you remember this remember when I pointed the reg out and I pointed up at the null now we're at that point Stewart's Brigade is holding from here back here around through the ravine and basically encircling back where we started the tool on East Confederate Avenue alright so what do Union Army usually do what do they have a lot of and the Confederates don't have any of artillery will you do study and this is going to get into powers Hill all right who some people make a lot of visits up there so anyway that's where the Union artillery is deployed and they open up on a McCallister's Hill powers he'll have they cleared off that golf course yet that putt-putt golf no still there is it open that's gonna look cool when they do that okay so they open up here the Confederates don't have any they don't have any artillery and so you talk about being in a put bad position all those shells note it sometimes when you go up to powers Hill and so forth and you take a bottle of kill barons or kill til bagans or whatever it's called up there some foul-tasting stuff that would know do you remember this sometime note the distance from Powers Hill to this place right here okay that's how far those Union cannons are shooting and the and Stewart's brigade is who they're firing at primarily no over shots I'm sure is hitting the rest of Johnston's division but the but the North Carolinians the Virginians and Marylanders they just got to sit here and take it Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam and there's nothing they can do about it kind of demoralizing I'm sure but they're veterans up take it on the Confederate side Richard you'll that one legged Confederate corps commander is going to seek to exploit the ground game by Johnson's division remember he's never been up here he never gets up here he therefore doubles the size though of the attacking force that Stonewall Brigade now Jeb Stuart's on the ground the Confederate Calvary of arrived the Stonewall Brigade is released they get to come to the Cox Hill area they get to deploy it's their turn now he balks him up to with two regiments from Smith's Brigade which is Early's division and Daniels and O'Neill's Brigade which are Robert Rhoades some of you been on that walk with me Daniels and O'Neill's okay and of course he's going to swing Stewart in here to Johnson had received reinforcements and the Stonewall Brigade is now positioned behind Stuart how do we want to do this we'll put you right here we'll put Johnson right here you will stand behind him and over here so you've got stonewall brigade you got Stewart right here come on up you stand behind the deer hunter you ever see that movie it's a dark movie get it right I still can't watch it that rule at sing when he's like did I get the movie right De Niro Christopher Walken how can I forget that oh my god the deer hunter you gotta check it out very dark film all right so Jimi Hendrix Experience liked it yeah okay so coming up here Daniels brigade is gonna form and support of Jones and O'Neill for Nichols all right so I get you to scoot to your left - few more people I need two more who we got who wants to come who wants to be part of the human map so you don't everybody volunteers it's like John Denver I'm gonna need him - okay so why don't you stand behind the red shirt woman okay so let's do this so right here you've got confuses even me you got Stuart you got Stonewall brigades supporting them okay then over here you have got Nichols brigade right here supported by O'Neill's Brigade all right and then right over here you have got Jones's brigade supported by C James thank you thank you very much supported by Daniel's Brigade what is what is you will basically done here here's the three front brigade here's the three rear brigade what has he basically done here he has placed his men in mass end of the tube simplified for you the first rank up here is Johnson's original division the second rank are portions of Early's and portions of roads division if you really want to get off into the weeds right here roads division was originally positioned where the carnival is going on right now over at the rec park get long laid right there they march half to march all the way around during the night of July 2nd to get into position July 3rd though you'll wants to take this position before he can get the attack off ladies and gentlemen the union beats them to the punch that's going to be that artillery bombardment I'm talking about they could probably see the Confederate story that's just a hypothesis and they were ordered to open up where regardless the Union infantry is ordered to make an attack but the Union infantry is behind breastworks what would you do I'd stay put so I think most Union soldiers just start a shooting to placate the generals we were off in the rear because the generals are here what noise and they'll figure that oh well they're attacking right there but the Confederates don't attack first the Union does so to speak I don't think I'd like I said I don't think it's much of an attack mysterious red man seemed to think it was something city's yes all right they're aligned at the bottom of the hill in that ravine where you were standing at all right I think I'm going this way we had north-south all right so that's our position just to get an idea when they're out on the field all right hop firefight rages all morning at one time the Marylanders are going to run out of ammunition I've had this question over the years how do they replenish ammunition well you can't drive a wagon over here so what they do is they pride a little how close they get the wagon but on the other side of Rock Creek they get they have the ammunition wagon they send some men back there and they take a cartridge box or a case probably as a better work and they pour the whole contents of it what is that a thousand rounds mm round how many is in a case they pour it into a blanket and they hold it on four corners and they run it up to the to the frontline for the Maryland meter and that's how they replenish it they come in packs of ten right there all right three regiments already told you that Cain and greens Brigade are gonna come back from the Union Army 29th Pennsylvania 109 Pennsylvania 111th Pennsylvania exten greens right those are out there we're in the distance to the left of Cain was Candy's Brigade with three regiments in reserve fifth Ohio on the left one 47th on the right 29th Ohio in reserve 2nd attack it's gonna be Johnson's turn and the center and the right of Johnston's division with the left flank of Stewart are going to attack Stewart's brigade the North Carolinians the barrel looters are going to attack through here they're not gonna get the headway Nichols brigades going to attack they're gonna bog down they're going to be relieved by O'Neal's brigade coming forward and they don't get anywhere either they just incurred needless casualties now the third attack which we're gonna follow in depth and be our final thing for the day was the final push by Stuart's Brigade against the right of Gary's men now this is where it gets I had to do big picture again it was robert e lee's intention ladies and gentlemen that jules robert e lee would say after the war in private not in public that he tried for three days to get his corps commanders to attack in unison at gettysburg and he failed and this is basically a great example this is a good example of a bad example right here he sends word if you notice a lot of people fail to note this because they're not looking in this area of the of the official records to see this but general Ewell in his report states directly clearly that he received orders or news or information that general Longstreet would be prepared to assault at 10 o'clock in the morning that is ladies and gentlemen what will become known as Pickett's Charge okay Jules says because he was told that Longstreet was attacking at 10 o'clock that he decided that General Lee ordered him to renew the assault at that time also what is generally trying to do he is trying to put simultaneous pressure on the Union line it has to be weak somewhere and even if you don't take this position General Lee doesn't know the strength of position you'll this order has told Lee that he has an opportunity here this is what Lee is acting on is the intelligence that he's received which you'll is getting a third hand too and the poor privates are going to have to end up bearing the brunt of this but anyway you'll is going to order that attack forward to tie it in to the other part of the field we're coming up on the anniversary of obviously of the battle July 1st 2nd and 3rd to tie it into Pickett's Charge right here that's the reason that they March those fridge engines out there in the middle of that field at nine o'clock in the morning that's why it doesn't make sense ladies and gentlemen that's why a lot of the virginias are puking before the attack begins because they got heatstroke and so forth because the Virginians weren't Pickett's men weren't supposed to be out there that long they were supposed to attack at ten o'clock now what I can't tell you is why it doesn't take place the attack does biggest charge does not take place till 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon well at least the bombardment you know the assault is a little after two problems why did that not I mean that's not the course of welcome to history that is not the what we're focusing on today but it's ties in and what the story I'm about to tell you right now because Stewart's Brigade is going to be attacking and Johnson's division and the rest of them and they're attacking alone big pictures that make sense to everybody okay so how do you align an attack the Confederates is I've already described to you I won't go into great detail or basically following the contours of this hill around the edges of Spangler Springs they've even got some reinforcements Smith Brigade over on the left a little bit of that or impositions so anyway Stewart needs to make an attack and this is one of the hardest maneuvers probably ever performed by a unit on a Civil War battlefield Stewart is going to order his man going back to the beginning of this tour to tie it all in for you he is going to order his man from facing this way in this way and this way to basically swinging out at right angles and facing this way they're north carolina's going to swing out first that's going to be the right unit right there and the rest of the brigade will then promptly align upon them that alignment is basically that tree line you see right there and right out here you got Party field PA Rd EE this is going to be one of the few clearings around here this is going to be the clearing they're looking to advance through so finally they can probably get some momentum the thing that is often overlooked y'all walk right over here on the right side of the wall five companies on the Left 23rd Virginia came next possibly 50 men maybe less followed by the 37th Virginia maybe a portion of the first Virginia the 10th North Carolina was positioned facing toward the side I guess you'd say the flank and toward the rear to keep those Yankees off of them right there okay here come the Virginians out through the woods you remember what do you remember what John Adams said about Virginia John Adams the dude from the special no you don't remember what he said about Virginia said beware of a to party we wear for two parts that was Washington the John Adams said every Virginia goose thinks it's a swan know why you people are too tired for this tool the Virginians are gonna come out of that wood line right there all right as they come out of this wood line even though you're facing the wrong way right now there you go the Virginians come out of this wood line right here and what are they facing these Union boys some of our in the ravine but some of them are up there on that Knoll now do you see ladies and gentlemen look behind you look at where we came from look at where the Union boys are the Traverse which I refer to earlier is right behind this group of woods right here now do you see how the Union a hopeless is making better sense at the end of the tour the Virginian and they're basically gonna be caught in a crossfire or is that Marylander said it's a slaughter pan as they come across the field and as Lisa starts to go to sleep back there thank you thank you very much as they start to come across this field right here they're not gonna get too far why because if CJ is crossing this field right here you got Yankee shooting adding from here you got Yankee shooting at him from here and shooting at him from here the Marylanders who were attacking along this stone wall don't like that and I put this in here for you for the mysterious red shirt man one final quote I actually did that this morning because I know you would like it Howard wrote that they came forward Stewart standing on the right of his line near his beloved Marylanders shouted attention forward double-quick March the brigade started off with r arms at right shoulder shift Daniels Brigade trialed - tried to follow suit on their right Brigade crossed the field about 200 yards in length v Ohio 147 Pennsylvania number six six hundred men stood there waiting caves Brigade extended the Union line to the right toward Spangler Lane the Yankees allowed Stewart's men to approach closer why would they let him approach close before firing more lethal they get within 50 yards and then they opened quote the death Renne the air on every side recall to Marylander the chaos of combat reigned there seemed to be no commander or his orders were not forwarded in the open on the left and center they seemed to melt away under the fire and some Maryland Marylanders contended that the Virginians on the Left failed to advance even with their officers pleading now this is a Marylander riding this but never wrote Goldsboro i wish i could write like this wrote Goldsboro shall i forget the expressions of contempt on the faces of the men on the left companies of the second maryland as they cast a side glance upon their comrades who proved recreant in this supreme moment recreant the next time you get angry at your spouse you will turn to him or her and you will say try not to be recreant in this supreme moment and mow the lawn you do not wish to be recreant virginians don't get that far that's what I'm saying to you but look at the terrain leis and Joan look at the terrain Virginians are over here they're a lot more open North Carolinians and the Marylanders though this is what the battlefield teaches you look right back here the terrain right here is more sheltered I don't know how to put it into words but the but you cannot see the Confederates as early as you can see the Confederates on the other side of the field does that make sense and so that's the reason I think in part and they're good troops the North Carolinians and the Marylanders are going to be able to advance further than the Virginia's we're going to about-face we're gonna go right over here let me put them in the shade unless you got some pretty all right well go to the shade and then the mysterious red shirt man would like to speak what happened to you Matt said yeah the Marylanders wrote about this talk about companies here in their woods and Kathleen Marie these killed here and Company C is over here in these woods Company D and formation it's coming on the other side of the fence behind them is the color company and PE Moore is shot down loses the colors for the regiment over here on this side is his cousin his cousins the color bearer for the first Maryland Eastern Shore on the hill right coming across the field is Maj Leigh he's one of Stewart's aides he's mad in a horse back they think he's a general he makes it to the wall they shoot him down they're gonna bury him up in the ravine in Preiser Regiment here and we got their dance position with Jack's o'clock going further cuz some of them make it to the wall mascot Gracie if the story is right makes it over the wall comes back and then shot general came tries to tell his troops knock the fire but the dog shot anyway he will bury Gracie in the ravine we believe with full honors and so much human being creature win the field okay somebody's probably sitting on it by now okay first Maryland second Maryland whichever you won't call them let's finish this up they start advancing across the through here Marylanders coming down this way North Carolinians coming down this way the 29th Pennsylvania it's going to open up fire roughly within point-blank range to within fifty or hundred yards they open up basically when they come over the crest of this hill right and so when the 29th opens up one of the union officers notes this is pretty cool when you can find out these tidbits but one of the union officers noted is these Confederates were advancing that the leaves were raining down on top of the of the Confederates heads what does that tell that Union officer they're shooting too high and so what they need to do is lower the musket because they're shooting into the trees what are you doing you're nervous you know maybe your first fire maybe something like that maybe you got some chickens or something like that and you just got a war a wolf out there something you don't like that no this makes any sense but if you think about it the twenty-ninth lowers their guns and the officers rope shortly thereafter that their fire I thought I had a quote for that was quite was noticeable at once Marilyn Stewart and other miscellaneous officers continue to cheer the boys onward sergeant Thomas from Maryland thought they should charge but the officers told the man to stay steady nevertheless the Confederates continued to advance within 60 yards before finally halting came the Union General recalled the Confederates advancing with arms at right shoulder shift steadily dressing their ranks if you can imagine that as the losses mounted the attacking line began to waver and then a mad dash by the survivors forward toward the Union line only to be shot down within paces of the front if you could part like the Red Sea and you can see what does that say reached by the Marylanders on July 3rd 1863 one of the few Confederate monuments you could argue about all though it's up to interpretation that is within Union lines the advance marker for the Union line Confederate advance what do you think 60-yard right there give or take a few now as we conclude the program I am left with the sad task of telling you a story that will not lift your heart in the midst of all this chaos one of the strangest sights of the Battle of Gettysburg occurred when a dog dashed out in front of the line into no-man's land they came in among the boys in blue as if he supposed they were what in better days they might have been merely the men of another noisy hose or engine company competing for precedence with his master's in the smoke of a burning building at first some of my men said he barked in valorous glee but I myself first saw first saw him on three legs between our men and the men in gray on the ground as though looking for a dead master or seeking on which side he might find an explanation of the tragedy he witnessed intelligibly to this canine apprehension he licked someone's hand they said and afterwards he was perfectly riddled so he went out there the stories they got all the story correct he finds whoever his master was out on the field and then he is field full of bullets general Kane from the Union Army ordered the dog bury quote as the only Christian minded being on either side there's the redshirt man have anything to add to that story no ok in this era the Marylanders were the first to break the redshirt man will not like that fact they have been chewed to pieces to their left third North Carolina were the right the third North Carolina was all that was left making the assault without support they began to fall back back on top of this hill roughly where that Confederate monument is Marilyn Stewart was distraught he was wringing his hands while saying to to no one but everybody my poor boys my poor boys his tears streamed down his eyes you know cuz he sat up there on that know and watched it and just gets slaughtered out in front you remember private Howard the Marylander he lay wounded in the thigh which had broken his leg in another ball if you could add insult to injury hit him while he was laying there while laying there Howard could differentiate between the balls striking the rocks and the ball striking the bodies around him because they made two distinct sounds as they struck the bodies he had the impression that the Yankees were firing intentionally at the wounded men around him which I could believe no I'm just kidding whether that is true or not I don't know anticipating a mortal wound Howard stretched himself out on the ground and folded his arms over so he would make a good looking course he doesn't die and after a while the fire firing starts dying down and he opens his eyes up and the Union soldiers he's somewhere in here the Union soldiers are beckoning the Confederates to come on come on and surrender Howard started to crawl toward the Union lines until you - Union soldiers dashed out grabbed both of his arms and pulled him into their lines he said his broken leg quote swaying from side to side every step they took inside Union lines his captors peppered him with questions about the identity of his unit his motive for fighting and then inquired if he knew who he was fighting his own men what does he mean what do they mean by that they're fighting felony Marylanders and Howard responded yes and we intend to fight them now this is something this is a dark this is probably if not the darkest story I ever tell on this battle one of the darkest right here right up the line I figure this will be it might be a Louisiana and it might be a North Carolinian but the 147th New York is going to be right up roughly where that car is parked up there all right and to the right so take away go back to that ravine where we started the tour [Music] you better not run up on them Harley riders up there I say to him and it's 50 cc's 147 Pennsylvania excuse me is up there yeah 147 Pennsylvania and they're fighting it out and as the smoke clears they're watching and what's in front of them and this Confederate soldier is out there in front and the guy writes that the Confederate soldier was writhing in pain and the console's started to reach for his musket and the Union soldiers thought that he was going to shoot them and so they started firing if you can imagine this drama they started firing shots not intentionally but not intentionally to hit him they were shooting around him you know kind of like the Old West you know or something trying to hit over his head and around him and so forth and the soldier just methodically that old Reb just methodically takes up his rifle and as they continue to plunk adding he systematically goes through the loading in nine times why he's laying there and as he loads the weapon the Union soldiers are shouting at him not to fire don't you fire because they think they're gonna shoot one of them right there and instead as he rams the cartridge home which had to take a bit of effort if he's wounded through the abdomen right there which he was maybe even partly paralyzed he Rams that round home he gets it seated and he doesn't return the rammer he takes that musket he Prime's it he pursue precaution cap on and as he's laying there he positions the musket and these Union soldiers are shouting at him to stop he takes that musket right there and he positions it and he takes that ramrod and pushes the trigger down he blows his head off right from right there Thanks no yeah he pushed the trigger down they eventually went out there and looked him over and he had been shot through the app and so what was he thinking he was in pain number one but was he dying anyway think you'd had the courage for that right there in conclusion Johnson's division has made a valiant assault against dawning odds and come up short his division of six thousand four hundred and thirty three men has lost thirty percent that's nine 1936 men 373 killed 1,150 wounded and 413 captured Stuart's brigades losses mirror those of the division out of 2121 men he lost 725 in this assault or 34% now notice how the casualties increase from left to right the 23rd Virginia out of 251 men is going to lose 14% 37 Virginia out of 264 men will lose 20% 10th Virginia who has two days of good fighting is going to lose 28% of 276 but when you get to the to the right flank of the brigade over here first Maryland battalion has 400 men they're gonna lose 47% first North Carolina is going to have 377 men they're gonna lose 40% third North Carolina is going to have 548 men and they're going to lose 218 or 39.8% coming across so it all depends on where you are on the battlefield in conclusion ladies and gentlemen how much time ammo about three days what you ever watch Full Metal Jacket you know that was a team reenactment I'm thirsty too buddy Marilyn Stewart's brigade comes up here and one of the greatest opportunities of the Battle of Gettysburg they come this close to capturing the Union line or rolling it up if you will it's one of those things ladies and gentlemen we're a little luck here and maybe a little less hard fighting on the Union side may have led to greater success for the Confederacy but if there was ever a unit or two units that met each other it has to be the New Yorkers that were over here it has to be the New Yorkers that were over here thank you no don't go over there he's not your friend digging it has to be the New Yorkers that opposed him okay because my gosh David Ireland does anybody ever need their due given to them Joshua Chamberlain has obviously gotten his but David Ireland retreating from that hill to that traverse the subsequent Ohioans the Pennsylvanians the New Yorkers that came up from there and the tenacity which they held is line Maryland Stewart's men just could not crack the line and the formal position George Greene's force site to entrench all leads to Union victory up here Culp's Hill to me personally is the hardest part of the battlefield to understand it intimidates me to be quite honest we when I Drive up through here I don't like that there's more monuments than I know on either side of the road I don't get it for several days of fighting and fighting overlaps each other and the unit's overlap each other is completely confused and that's why I think in part is what I'm saying is why a lot of people don't come over here to I hope that this tour has led to a little bit better understanding I definitely needed a refresher myself for those of you that are gonna be here for the next few days I I do not envy you and your hotel price to say the least but I hope tomorrow you'll come out especially for the morning we're going to have a hundred and twenty re-enactors out at stop number one for Chris Quinn's walk I believe it's the 147th New York right out there and there's too many lists but on July 3rd we're going to cross the field with Joe Davis's Brigade so without further ado I need to go back to the office and write something down on Davis's Brigades because I have been I have been recreant in this matter [Applause]

Channel: StuffWriter

Views: 84,623

Rating: 4.7815847 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Atkinson, Mysterious Red Shirt Man, Gettysburg, battle, American Civil War, James Longstreet, George H. Steuart, Edward Johnson, Robert E. Lee, George Meade, 1st Maryland Battalion, 1st North Carolina, 3rd North Carolina, 10th Virginia, 23rd Virginia, 37th Virginia

Id: h5C25RkyHcc

Length: 127min 51sec (7671 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 05 2018