The Army of Northern Virginia After Gettysburg - Campfire Talk with Ranger Matt Atkinson

guess I made what the thing from 2001 Space Odyssey mm-hmm I once when I was in college I once had this Space Odyssey 2001 theme on my answering machine those you don't know you used to have a little reel on it and you can record and you could like you would see if you had any messages when you came home or whatever so the whole my college dorm at Ole Miss and the only time my father ever called me in college was when I had that on there he stayed home a minute said he is three or four minutes through that hole [Laughter] don't be killing the fireflies all right so I'm gonna try to get y'all at least close out to the out of here close to the fireworks at 9:30 although I figured if you wanted to go the fireworks you'd gone to the firework but we do have some rain coming in but this will be shorter than last night if you happen to be out here so what we're going to talk about tonight is after Gettysburg the Army of Northern Virginia regroups and I was talking I closed the building today with a fellow Ranger Phillip Brown and he was actually telling me that he's putting together a program of the Confederate losses at the battle prior to Gettysburg which is Chancellorsville and he's studying how many officers were lost going in and how it affected the Army of Northern Virginia here because of the previous battle so be interesting to see what he comes up with but this particular program focuses on the aftermath of this battle and as you know there's a hundred sixty thousand men that are involved in this battle which results some 51,000 casualties I'll show you that in just a minute but the central theme or the central question to this program is is this the high-water mark of the Army of Northern Virginia how is Robert eleague ever going to piece Humpty Dumpty back together again after the loss in the officers core which is huge here as I'm about to extrapolate for you so this is after Gettysburg now oh by the way how about a round of applause a grain elevator one time and he bought another businesses left me and voice and to run in this place and that inspire this guy home in his fire I went out there and fired in the afternoon like he told me to about 4:30 and I did such a poor job at it I had to fire him again all right Union casualties 23,000 better casualties you know most people never pick up on that discrepancy if you look at that bottom statistic right there and I'll keep saying it 28,000 versus 23,000 but the actual battle cavities are probably more 5050 I don't know if you would reach 28,000 if you if you include the entire campaign maybe the Battle of Winchester if you want to throw that in there what is that second Winchester and help others minor engagements or 28,000 maybe all I don't know but if 51,000 is so ingrained in the American conscience we just don't you know don't fight it anymore you know it's kind of like saying Abner Doubleday didn't invent baseball man what do you regard a lot of people that are injured at Gettysburg first general should I say on July 30th the effective return for the Army of Northern Virginia excluding cavalry number forty five thousand three hundred and ninety six soldiers with the addition of 3,000 reinforcements from Southwest Virginia and the return of convalescence and stragglers Lee reported by August 10th ten days later he had his army total had risen from 45,000 to 58,000 by the end of the month of meeting August Lee had to return the 3,000 reinforcements he had received but the continuing return of walking wounded and the influx of conscripts only increased the Army of Northern Virginia to a little over 60,000 now today we're going to concentrate on a through massive the battle and the impact on the Army of Northern Virginia officers Corps Thank You Lee once said there were never such men in an army before they will go anywhere and do anything is properly led after Gettysburg where would we find men to replace the officers that he had lost was the aftermath of Gettysburg a turning coin not only from a strategic standpoint but from an army operational standpoint also the more quality officers you lose the harder it is to do complex things if you're a business owner you've ever managed outside you should know this if you have competent people and you lose one then you notice the difference especially when the next person comes in and killed wounded and captured the Army of Northern Virginia lost 11 generals the generals have paid the ultimate sacrifice of course probably the most famous one is Lewis Armistead Armistead of course is wounded during Pickett's Charge we talked a little bit about that last night and was then taken to the 11th Corps hospital I'm pleased to say the Gettysburg foundation still has taken the George Spangler farm and it's reserving that as we speak I think they're gonna make a Leadership Conference Center or something out of it doctors pronounced though when Armistead was there his wounds to be helical and therefore the surgeons were greatly surprised to learn that Armistead had died on July 5th of 1863 two days after he was wounded Armistead related to one surgeon that he suffered quote much from over exertion won't of sleep and mental anxiety and opposed over the past few days while dressing his arm wound he reached inside his pants pocket and produced some parched corn stating quote man who can subsist on raw corn can never be whipped like the piano player in the MZ saloon you know the quit plan when the new people walk I told you to get up and I told you to come on we gonna be like William Barksdale you need an introduction if one more person says to me on this battlefield is Mississippi ready for this day I'm going to choke them all right we actually had this what I'm about to describe we actually had this own display I found this interesting dr. Alfred Hamilton we actually have it in our collection dr. Alfred Hamilton of the 148 Pennsylvania worked at the second Corps field hospital that was set up at the Hummel ball farm earlier in the day if you don't know where the Hummel ball farm is Pennsylvania Memorial you know where that is you can't miss the maintenance shed that's behind the Pennsylvania Memorial it's that white farmhouses mirror that's where Barksdale was taken that unassuming small white house and he's placed in the yard right there anyway that's where dr. Hamilton is and that's where Hamilton examines barksdale's wound quote he was shot through the left breast and the left leg was broken by two missiles he asked whether I considered his wounds necessarily mortal I told him I did he stated that he desired peace but only on terms that would recognize the Confederacy and he asked about our strength and was answered that heavy reinforcements are coming he said that Lee would show us a trick before morning that before we knew it you would be thundering in our rear I've uh I'm trying to get a seminar this fall and and I'm trying to figure out whether dr. Alfred Hamilton was a Mason or not which may have well been but preliminary so don't go out there and speak this as the gospel truth but preliminary investigation says that the Hummel ball farm that Barksdale may have gotten the Masonic funeral from Union soldiers when he's buried in the yard right there beyond the douse when his body is reinterred in Jackson Mississippi in 1867 I've seen the procession or I want to say this they actually you know big general big funeral they took him right through downtown capital of Mississippi and the Masons had their own spot within the funeral procession they also had dr. Hamilton's also kept this is kind of odd thing to keep but he kept one of the bullets that was extracted he extracted from Barksdale which we have in our collection if you'd like to see a bullet from Barksdale his body and he also kept one one or two I can't remember Barksdale was wearing Masonic lapel pins or cufflinks I don't know which ones they are but they've got that symbol on them right there and he kept that too that he took off our tail shirt so no telling the real history behind that Richard B Garnett this mayor name may not be a picture of him Richard B Garnett is probably his brother but that's so ensconced in the American psyche that we don't argue about that either I think about Richard B Garnett you don't know a little backdrop on him like Lewis Armistead Garnett is one of the brigade commanders that goes into Pickett's Charge and Garnett has been kicked he's the guy that's been kicked by a horse you really want to know you want to be impressed right now captain brights horse Kip gon kick Garnett in the leg and Garnett couldn't walk wherever he kicked him he must have kicked him pretty good and so anyway July 3rd comes pick his charge they're getting ready to go forward and Garnett has got a heavy burden on him besides the big old black bruise at the Battle of cons town which occurred in 1862 about a year earlier slightly more Garnett had been ordered outside of Winchester to hold this Stonewall and basically the Union came up and engulfed his command went around his flank they you know he he was in a real pickle so whether he ordered a withdrawal or not he was gonna happen anyway or else they're all gonna get captured or slaughtered or both and so he ordered withdrawal and Stonewall Jackson is furious because he ends up losing the battle so he ends up court-martial and Richard beat Garnett and the only extant copy of the court-martial record is Garnett's still exists in the Museum of the Confederacy and in small print I'm talking about yet like yay big can you see that all right hello Garnett writes in the margins right there he writes in the margins next to Jackson's charges lie lie lie lie you can find that Douglas Southall Freeman - all right I don't think I don't think the court-martial reaches the conclusion I think the campaign for second Manassas breaks it up and they never reconvene I think is that right sorry I'm hazy on this but regardless I mean whether Garnett is guilty or not Stonewall Jackson Richard B Garnett public relations war who wins Jackson does so on July 3rd of 1863 I don't care if they had to carry him over there on a on a funeral bin Garnett's gonna go over that field because nobody's gonna call him a coward and so he asked special permission to mount up on his horse and ride into the attack and right outside the angle at stop 15 is where he goes down his body has never recovered I imagine souvenir hunters stripped him I read one account where he had a brand new uniform coat on and if that's true he would really all that spaghetti on his arm would have really shown up I'm sure you know it didn't have any dust on it or anything faded so imagine they stripped him of whatever he had so when the burial parties came along he's just another rep dead dead rebel so they threw him in the grave and he's probably in Hollywood Cemetery Richmond Virginia the striking thing about that though is his sword garnett sword is recovered after the war in a Baltimore pawn shop so I guess some Union soldier that broke [Laughter] probably one of these probably one of the biggest losses for the Confederacy at Gettysburg was this gentleman right here who a lot of you probably haven't heard of it his name is obviously Dorsey Pender's Pender was with AP Hill's Corps and in fact Dorsey Pender's Longstreet if you know your your terrain around here Longstreet is attacking two year of what left left rear over here and AP Hill's line basically thank you sir basically starts on the next hill over here or somewhere in this vicinity and so Pender's division is on let's say roughly the north carolina monument which all of you had to pass to get here except for me who came down the wrong way I was the guy you were I know I'm going the wrong way Oh Dorsey pender Dorsey Pender's when the attack is rolling forward is and we talked about this last night we'll about Pickett's Charge but on July 2nd hoods division goes forward then McLaws division then Anderson's division and then it comes time for Pender's division to come well the elapsed time between the Confederates starting over here on the right flank attacking sickles left that going to be Devil's Den round hopping all that to the time they get up to Pender's is probably you know two two and a half hours maybe three by the time in real time by the time that a national on attack gets all the way up that line and Dorsey Pender if you put in the elapsed time Dorsey Pender's division is about to go in and attack basically where Pickett's buffet is somewhere in that vicinity probably stretch on either side for quite some kind of frontage right through there and yes they would stop at the KFC as they went across but Dorsey Pender's gets ready to ride across the line he turns to his adjutant forget what his name is I got it written down but he turns to his major and he says major we're gonna ride the line one last time or something along those lines and as they're driving through they're riding through there the pender wounding trees which if you unfortunately we lost one of them but they the one we lost was on the right-hand side of West Confederate but if you're coming down you're probably somewhere like around North Carolina past there in Tennessee somewhere in that vicinity the trick to it is though when you get to the pender wounding tree you have to behind the tree so you're driving this way and the War Department hung up lightning rod in it and over time the lightning rod has grown into the tree it's been hanging there so long so you have to look on the opposite side of the tree but that identifies it it's the pender wounding tree anyway a union shell comes in and explodes above Pender and the fuse one / when I witness said it was the fuse not shrapnel but the zinc fuse and that thing came up and hit Pender right in the in the thigh and if you ever went to the Museum of the Confederacy while it was open they had these on display this is Pender's breeches right here and you can see this hole this jagged hole and sent his breeches right there if I get out of the way you can see it right there so you know what's the big deal with Pender's breeches that they must have washed him for one had to be bloody because they could never get the artery he doesn't die immediately but they could never get that artery secured and he's gonna bling her for several days they eventually have to amputate him trying to get that artery they still can't save him when they get back to Virginia but anyway Pender's division does not go forward as a result of him going down when Georgia newspaper correspondent said they were two of his brigade commanders were arguing over seniority they never never got together went polls that is huge though I'm not saying it changes of course the Battle of Gettysburg but George Meade the Union Army commander have his hands full of Pender's division goes forward at that area I've already told you because the Union has stripped their lines and sent them all down to the south they would have they would have been they would have had a hard time his last words Dorsey Pender's words were tell my wife I do not fear to die I can confidently resign my soul to God trusting in the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ my only regret is to leave her and our children I have always tried to do my duty in every sphere of life in which Providence has placed me James Johnson Pettigrew former mathematics professor whether UNC that led his division in Pickett's Charge is probably due to his great energy and determination that he sold the vision even posted for the attack on July 3rd had to be a Herculean effort Pettigrew is the one who issued orders for the orderlies stretcher bears walking wounded and anybody else that could carry a gun to enter the ranks on July 3rd to flush him out make them fuller you're in the attack Pettigrew suffers a wound in the hand and made it back to seminary Ridge on foot after his horse was shot to report in person to General Lee on the evening of July 13th and 14th Pettigrew suffered a grievous abdominal wound while commanding Lee's rear guard at falling waters Maryland he was so valuable an officer that a relay of men was set up to carry him not a wagon but a relay of men and the stretcher for 22 miles to Bunker Hill Virginia that's how badly they wanted to save him he died there Bunker Hill Virginia now West Virginia I believe on July 17th at a house called Edgewood Manor now when the old Cyclorama Center was here but probably going back 20 years ago there was a descendant that came into the Cyclorama of James J Pettigrew and the story with Pettigrew's mortal wounding the second wound which was at falling waters maryland is that the Union Calvary was bearing down on him and Pettigrew pulled a pistol out and as the Union Calvary moon was bearing down on him he pulled it out and he pulled the trigger on it misfired and Pettigrew's descendant came into the old Cyclorama Center and he had that pistol the pistol that misfired I can't and tell you what it was it was not a it was an off-brand gun I mean I couldn't even it no no six-cylinder is like a one shot with the cone on it was straight down it was really odd looking pistol but anyway what really really hurt my feelings was he brought it in in three pieces and so I said what happened to the gun after I was asked him I was about to ask him if I could shoot it but he they uh which of course didn't happen but he said that you know I go on vacation this the most valuable thing in my house I have to hide it well he says he came up with a great hiding place so he hid it in the washing machine did you know I know Robert gonna be in there were gonna go in a washing machine and that's like you know you know if you got some valuable to put in the book stealing a book now he forgot it was in the washing machine so there you go oh oh J Simms Simms was wounded in the thigh according to a Georgia newspaper correspondent general Simms they carried a tourniquet on his person since the beginning of the war the fire the enemy becoming more fearful than any hit ever witnessed in the many battles through which he had passed unscathed he took the tourniquets from his bosom and was holding it in his hand when he was struck by in the thigh by a minie ball in the femoral artery cut alright some of you may remember this being on display he applied the tourniquet with his own hand and stopped the hemorrhage until a surgeon could take up the artery otherwise he must have died in a few minutes you've got good highs you can notice this Cup and you can notice this cup and this cuff still has the bloodstains on it but where he's trying to choke that artery off down there although he placed a tourniquet that he always carried in his pocket around the wound the thigh injury a thigh injury is a hard thing to clamp down on on July 10th Paul Sims died in Martinsburg West Virginia the lady attended him stated that before he died Paul Sims asked for his sword and his Bible to be laid in his hands his last words were I consider it a privilege to die for my country in addition to the killed several prominent Confederate generals have been wounded or captured or both from robert e lee's army John Bell hood probably leaves finest combat commander suffers a previous arm wound he made it back to Virginia returned to command in the fall just in time to get wounded again outside in Chattanooga Wade Hampton suffers two saber wounds to the head and the shrapnel wound to the body he would make it back to Virginia but could be counted on to return soon William extra Billy Smith believe it or not Smith was elected in 1863 to become the governor of Virginia beginning on January 1st 1864 he should have left a little early he'd be coming back well he'd be leaving because he got elected captured James J Archer very unlucky to be the first general from the Army of Northern Virginia captured in the war on July 1st not so lucky to where the captured and wounded which included Isaac tremble tremble was wounded at second Manassas in the left leg I remember the story right they wounded him in the left leg and they argued the surgeon argued with him to take the leg off and tremble them want to lose a leg so they saved the leg so he made it here to get his for a year later and he got shot in the same list he wish they had to amputate so if he just went ahead and got an amputate the year before he could have saved himself all the trouble don't want Jackson thought a lot of Isaac Trimble and then had him in mind the command his old division when he returned by the time Trimble was healthy Lee was in Pennsylvania and tremble was without a command a vacancy opened up when Pender went down and Trimble took over command for July 3rd he was subsequently wounded in the same leg and this time it was amputated federal authorities refused to parole him here's something you didn't know because he had burned the bridges north of Baltimore in 1861 to try to keep Union forces out boy they could hold a grudge would spend the rest of the war in a prison in these three generals James L Kemper wounded on the wall on July third thought to be mortal think he's shot through the abdomen and lodges against the spine Kemper was left behind he doesn't die he will be exchanged in the short pier but his health never allowed him to be in the field again he would later be to become governor of Virginia and then if you're robert e lee what do you do with this guy first of all you're getting some eyebrow tremors Johnny and broken bro was in pic his charge on the left flank no record exists of him personally advancing with his Brigade that's why he sometimes see it with the name Mayo instead of rocky road he's possibly John is still possibly suffering from his brother's death on July 1st not many people know that he lost his brother here on the first day he was relieved of command five days after Gettysburg before performance and returns to his original 40th Georgia regimental post he would resign in January 1864 will you do with him every don't kneel before Gettysburg O'Neill they received promotion to Brigadier General but in a rare move lee block didn't the president Davis later rescinded O'Neill would soon join this gentleman and Georgia the North Carolinians of Iverson's Brigade after what happened by the peace light out there refused to serve with them anymore what to do if your leave on the retreat Iverson was placed in charge of the Provost guard and once back in Virginia quietly transferred to Nicholls Brigade and Edward Johnston's division later that year Iverson was sent to Georgia to a Calvary command now as you didn't go to the firework display tonight I have a very special treat for you okay you can go around the world but you'll never see Alfred Iverson's daddy's death mask hi me yo ever thought you come out here so where does Lee find confident officers to replace the Gettysburg losses the field grade officer corps was a heavily hit man the Gettysburg Campaign for instance and Joe Davis's Brigade a Mississippi and North Carolinians the three regiments that took part on the first day's fight while seven out of its nine Colonels lieutenant Colonel's and majors seven out of nine we're down also on the same day scales Brigade lost all of its field officers except one had miss Wilcox Alabamians lost four of his regimental commanders the next day in the attack home Emmitsburg Road biggest charge left frost Brigade with only two unwanted field officers the whole brigade Pettigrew's Brigade had one Davis Brigade after Pickett's Charge had none how do you get a unit and you people have been in the military appreciate this how do you ever get a unit to function when you have that many gaps in your command biggest division may have been the worst hit of all the divisions roughly fifty eight hundred men composed biggest division a total of forty two point two percent casualties were inflicted on men out of fifty eight hundred four hundred ninety nine killed fourteen hundred seventy through seventy three wounded of which not 832 were captured and 681 of those unwanted captures or a total of two thousand six hundred and fifty-three officers of out of the 15 Colonels commanding a biggest division 15 Colonels or killed 3 are mortally wounded and four wounded in addition for lieutenant Colonel's are killed and four others are wounded in aggregate and this is not an exact count so don't go home or to the bar and start preaching this up all right eleven of the Army's Carl's as far as I can tell we're killed or mortally wounded thank you another seven mostly wounded we're captured maybe more maybe slightly off Garnett's Brigade March to Virginia the brigade of Garnett marched to Virginia under the command of a major a brigade tige Anderson and archers Brigade marched back under a lieutenant-colonel or time during the retreat Pender's oldest division was attached to his division until the ranks will begin and Iverson's brigade was attached to Ranchers brigade now so the point of this whole program here is what does robert e lee do about these mosses that he's incurred within the officers core what did Robert ely say to John Bell hood this army will go anywhere do anything as long as they are properly led well where are you going to find men it's two years into the war they've been fighting some major battles and they thank you the competency level the quality level is slowly going down because you're losing competent officers so obviously your quality is going to be hurt so what Lydia is doing is he's mixing and matching and if you watch what I'm about to tell you how these men are replaced you know it's I could stay here all night but if Lee let's take it for example if there is a brigade over here and the four kernels are still there the senior Colonel Lee doesn't want or doesn't think he should be the brigade commander what do you do about that the senior colonel has the right to become the brigade commander so what Lee will do is he will shift if he's got another Colonel or another general somewhere Colonel let's make it simple right here he'll take that Colonel if he's a senior to the colonel he disliked and it will move him over here to the unit and by default that Colonel then becomes the brigade commander that's how you work around seniority all right so I'm not saying that's true in every case but in some cases this is the way he's gonna do it so how does he rebuild got Lewis Armistead are you gonna replace old Lou armistead with in the postwar and post battle now here's one you didn't see coming you like that a lot of my programs you appreciate that y'all ever heard of Seth Bart not less you way way off from the Civil War I knew him because it worked at Vicksburg mark Barton came from the recently paroled Army at Vicksburg to command Armistice hold command he was a Virginian oh yeah commanding Virginians but more importantly a West Point graduate from 1849 Barton would do okay until Pickett censured him for lack of cooperation at New Bern North Carolina and later under the commander Robert ransoms division he was relieved of command his regimental commanders though petitioned to have Barton reinstated but to no avail that's who takes over at least in the aftermath what'd you do with him political politician turned an army officer don't know how good an army officer he was but nobody will ever question his bravery will they now how do you replace this guy least got got is getting lucky here because one of the senior colonel here gentleman by the name of Benjamin G Humphreys he was 54 years old of age he was a good pick he's a solid man had some formal military education of West Point prior to the war but he got kicked out during the eggnog riot of 1826 sometimes you just got it you just can't take it anymore he'd serve Humphreys would serve as a brigade commander for Barksdale's over gate until the end of the war Richard Garnett what you do about him always like his name there's a dinner at the hunt house one time where was that job Mosby's buried there Warrenton I believe it said war is it somebody comes let that Reb over there in the dark okay you two can argue about it after the program I don't know if it's still a restaurant but I was in his living room Peppa has the colonel of the eighth Virginia and was wounded and Pickett's Charge some of the Colonel's in the brigade had actually urged lead to promote hunters before Garnett received the promotion instead hunt was well qualified for the promotion and served as a brigade commander before surrendering his sailors Creek only a few days before Appomattox extra Billy you replace him with handsome devil in 1861 penguin was the first former regular West Point officer captured in the war at rich mountain I am pleased to tell you this fall I am going to rich mountain I don't know why I'm going to rich mountain but I'm going to rich mountain I've never been there he spent six months in prison before being exchanged he room was assigned out west where he commanded he'd get this he commanded a Cavalry Division at Chickamauga he returned to Virginia do command Smith's former brigade and he later rose to division command on January 19 1865 he married Richmond socialite Hetty Cary at st. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond don't tell him three weeks later Pegram was killed at Hatcher's run his funeral was held in the same church he got married now you think about this you got a spur buff should be should be picking up on this Wilcox at the Battle of Gettysburg is not in Pender's division he's an Anderson's division robert e lee is going to go over to Anderson's division and pluck that brigade commander and send him over to Pender where he's going to have seniority because he likes Wilcox and that's the way he was that run and recommending Wilcox for promotion Lee wrote general Wilcox is one of the oldest brigadiers in the service a highly capable officer has served from the commencement of the war and deserves promotions being an officer the Regular Army is properly assignable anywhere Wilcox would never shine as one of the brighter stars of the Army of Northern Virginia but nevertheless Wilcox is quote unquote a steady Eddy with the army what do you know about pedigrees yes brigade he is going to come back you don't need a division commander you need a brigade commanders ww Kirkland he comes from the 21st North Carolina view notice they found a North Carolinian to command North Carolinians that's not a fluke he had been wounded the first winchester incapacitated for several months however it then keep him check this up and then keep him from becoming the acting chief of staff for Patrick Claver at the Battle of Stones River hmm I thought you'd be more impressed by this never mind after Gettysburg he received the brigade command and was wounded at Bristow station in October he was wounded again in the Overland campaign and never returned to command this brigade again we're gonna do about him and you may not get the slice we can sit here and speculate on that name Simon whatever Brian was a George can come as any surprise but not from Simms Brigade Lee plucked Brian from Walker's Brigade and promoted him to brigade commander Brian was a West Point graduate of 1834 and lead them to seem to hesitate in moving professionally trained military officers to other units for promotion good served with the Army of Northern Virginia until poor health forced his resignation in September of the next year what do you do about this guy North Carolinian don't think his daddy's picture was gonna come up again replaces him with Robert D Johnson Robert D Johnson was promoted from the 23rd Virginia yo check this out he's 24 years old probably not least first choice but Johnson is a good example of the attrition and the officers ranks of the Army of Northern Virginia by 1863 you promote in the 24 year old although wounded at Spotsylvania he met he managed to return later in the war and outside of Petersburg he even served briefly as a division commander he lasts do about this guy the thing that people miss about Edward O'Neil is it's like if you went to the army if you were in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1863 and you were in Robert Rhodes division and you were approaching the what is now the rear of the peace light on July 1st if Rhodes is with his staff he is not going to turn to his staff and say order up O'Neill's brigade he's not going to do that he will actually say or staff will save order in Rhodes brigade they always go back to the original commander usually in order to show or in order to identify which brigade that they want the one thing I'm trying to point out to you though and you have to go back and read O'Neill's performances the outside we could go on and on and on but O'Neill this doesn't perform well on July 1st how about that suffice it to say but the thing that's lost on most Gettysburg buffs is Everett O'Neill is commanding Robert Rhodes over dey'd Robert Rhodes is now the division commander Robert Rhodes O'Neill's men is Robert Rhodes baby and anything that happens to these Alabamians Robert Rhodes is very particularly interested in and so when O'Neill blows it on July 1st he probably doesn't have the leash that maybe some other brigade commanders - and Rhodes wants him gone he wants him gone yesterday so who do they get you can get a better name for this one hey looks like a soldier whatever he commanded the third Alabama when O'Neill lost control battle had the initiative to join with Ravagers Brigade to receive high praise for his action he was a good pick also his Brigade lost heavily in the wilderness in Spotsylvania and in Cedar Creek and battle was so severely wounded they could not return to command for the rest of the war all right now why in the heck would I break my routine here and have two men on the same slide there early due to losses in the lack of eligible commanders the two brigades were to temporarily combined for a while but most of you didn't know that Henry mud Walker was assigned to the command in August don't ask me how he got that name Walker hit we probably don't want them Walker had been normally served in the 40th Virginia bracha Bros or fields brigade as it was called in the Army of Northern Virginia before being wounded twice at Gaines mill a commander the combined brigades including at the Battle of Brisco station until sufficient numbers of men returned to justify splitting the two brigades again he commanded fields brigade until his wounding at Spotsylvania and out of all places Henry month Walker is buried in Morristown New Jersey so invites going back to New Jersey tonight you can go pay your respects probably take a flat floor so my point or my question that I wish to leave with you tonight is Gettysburg the turning point is it a turning point for the Army of Northern Virginia if you watch the Army of Northern Virginia that's not my house if you watch the Army of Northern Virginia going into 1864 and 65 I want you to notice something as you read the history books when Lee is fighting in 64 and 65 I want you to notice how much more robert e lee involves himself personally in the minutia of the army in other words robert e lee has to assume with the loss of more more competent officers he has to assume more and more responsibility all right so it falls on him and physically it's probably going to you know break him down because he's already got health problems etcetera but robert e lee can't be everywhere now this is sort of related to what we're talking about but sort of not related to what we're talking about you want to understand how important these general officers are to robert e lee if you study robert e lee when a piece of information comes to robert e lee the first thing that robert e lee generally ask is who is in command there robert e lee wants to know who's in command because instantly lee is thinking what kind of general is this and do i need to help him or is he capable of independent commands does he need guidance is he can he operate on his own that's what Lee wants to do and based on who's in command there is going to probably be one of robert e lee's first decisions that he's going to make about this situation it's all about personnel but in going back to the original thing we do with all these you can't keep going and going and going this country had only been in existence for what or score in seven years something like that somebody said that right this country has only been there and West Point has only been founded since oh to some I correct me here no sir 1802 did I good Oh to to 1860 you got 58 years to produce military officers then you got an American Civil War it's gonna take them all out you really can't save 1802 to 1860 really because most of the early graduates are not going to be around by 1860 you got a shorter winter you're probably looking at 1830 to 1860 somewhere in that area maybe 1820 but if you think about it these confident professionally trained military officers are going to be getting killed and so you see the quality going down and down of leadership one Confederate veteran recalled that after the campaign an English observer who had written with AP Hill's staff through three battles was extolling quote in extravagant terms the glorious conduct of our little battalions as they would hurl themselves on divisions of the enemy when suddenly he paused and said but they will never do it again he asked the Confederates of course ap Hill staff was taken aback and didn't like the insult and all that stuff and he said let me explain and the Englishman English observer said he asked ap Hill staff to count the number of officers that have been lost in Jackson's old Corps alone which AP Hill's division was part of at the time they did they named some of nameless men then stated to the staff officers don't you see that your system feeds upon itself you cannot he said fill the places of these men your man do wonders but it every time and it cost you cannot afford and I don't know I don't know Gettysburg is going to rank up there with entirely riping out the Army of Northern Virginia but I can tell you between Gettysburg and Chancellorsville that the Army of Northern Virginia is going to lose its offensive strength and the real reason I think well it's not the only reason I shouldn't make it so narrow but one of the things that robert e lee is trying to do is to stop this bloodshed before while his army is still in a fighting condition while it is still maneuverable and it is still led by competent men i leave you to ponder the consequences of gettysburg thank you all very much I don't know if you can see them I'm not promising you but if you go I'm thinking you make an if you go up to the stop sign and hang a left and go up to the peach orchard cross the highway be careful doing that and parking the peach orchard I imagine you conceal from a distance in the woods don't obscure to obscure it right here thank you all for coming out I'll turn the lights on one sec

Channel: StuffWriter

Views: 41,636

Rating: 4.8295283 out of 5

Keywords: American Civil War, Robert E. Lee, Army of Northern Virginia, Pickett's Charge, Gettysburg, Confederacy

Id: Sw1CU9jtGBw

Length: 56min 19sec (3379 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 08 2019