The Double Disaster of Maj. Gen. Henry Wager Halleck's 1862 Appointment as Federal General-in-Chief

From Miller’s Vicksburg I principally took away that Maj. Gen. Henry Wager “Old Brains” Halleck failed to provide troops to assist the Navy in capturing Vicksburg before the Confederates could man and fortify that city.  “Old Brains” thus set back the Union war effort a year in the West.

I already knew that Halleck helped set back the Federal war effort two years in the East.  Historians are fond of quoting General Robert Edward Lee’s reported remark that once the Federals reached James River, it was only a matter of time (till Richmond fell).  But the Federals had reached James River by July 1862, and they did not return for another two years because Halleck ordered them back to Washington in response to the threat Lee posed to the city.  One must sympathize a little with “Old Brains” because Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan was not the man to advance from Harrison’s Landing and a suitable replacement for him could not be found.  The Unionists may have had to cross the James to Bermuda Hundred or City Point to find a rail network capable of supporting another advance on Richmond.     

The Northerners faced a situation similar to July 1862 in August 1864.  Lee was gradually shifting his forces northward to threaten Washington as in August 1862, but this time he faced Lt. Gen. Ulysses Simpson Grant, not Halleck.  Grant on August 14, 1864 launched his fourth offensive at Petersburg with a thrust toward Richmond which ended Lee’s shift northward and forced him to recall a cavalry division en route to northern Virginia.  The Federals were on James River to stay.

https://historicaldigression.com/2012/07/21/mcclellans-failure-at-harrisons-landing/

Five Soldiers in Search of an Historian: My Talk at Kenosha Civil War Museum, April 17, 2020, 12 p.m.

At noon on April 17, 2020, I'll be at the Kenosha Civil War Museum in Kenosha talking about my latest book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1861-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019).  The museum's curator suggested that I talk about some of the regiment's individual soldiers.  I suggested talking about an action where the regiment faced Wisconsin men.

The Curator's idea is better.  There are many 12th Virginia soldiers who each left substantial literature, frequently more than entire other regiments.  On the other hand, upon reflection, I can think of no action in which the regiment directly faced Wisconsin men except maybe a few fugitives from the already broken Iron Brigade's 2nd, 6th and 7th Wisconsin on August 19, 1864.

So I'll be talking about each of five soldiers from the Petersburg Regiment who left at least a volume of literature covering pretty much the entire war.  The soldiers covered by my talk will be:

1) George S. Bernard, a private of Company E, the Petersburg Riflemen, then a sergeant of Company I, the Meherrin Grays or "Herrings," then a private of Company E again.  A Petersburg lawyer, he was wounded and captured at Crampton's Gap (September 14, 1862) and wounded at Hatchers Run (February 6, 1865).  He was one of the men who joined the 12th more than once.  He compiled and edited War Talks of Confederate Veterans (1892) and was ready to publish a similar volume in 1896 but it disappeared until found in a flea market in 2004, edited by Hampton Newsome, John Selby and myself, and published as Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard and His Fellow Veterans (2012).  The Petersburg Regiment's first historian, Bernard also left articles in newspapers and in the Southern Historical Society Papers, diaries and letters at the University of Virginia, a notebook at Duke University, fragments of a memoir at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Southern Historical Collection, and letters in private hands.

Sgt. Bernard hugging the ground at Crampton's Gap while kinsman Lieutenant Manson holds up a white flag to surrender.  From Bernard, War Talks of Confederate Veterans.

2) Westwood A. Todd, originally of Company A, the Petersburg City Guard, transferred to Company E in 1861.  A Norfolk lawyer, Todd left a volume of unpublished reminiscences in the Southern Historical Collection.  Wounded at Second Manassas (August 30, 1862), he later became the ordnance officer of the 12th's brigade and was captured at Sailors Creek (April 6, 1865).

Flag of the Petersburg City Guard.  Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.

3) James Edward "Eddie" Whitehorne of Company F, the Huger Grays.  Son of a Greensville County farmer, Whitehorne left a volume of unpublished letters at Library of Virginia, a diary in the Southern Historical Collection (also compiled and published by W. E. Deaton in The Military Engineer), and another diary compiled by Fletcher L. Elmore and published as the Diary Of J. E. Whitehorne, 1st Sergt., Co. “F,” 12th Va. Infantry, A. P. Hill's 3rd Corps, A. N. Va.  Whitehorne was wounded at Gettysburg (July 2, 1863) and the Crater (July 30, 1864).  He was Company F's first sergeant throughout the war.

James Edward "Eddie" Whitehorne.  Courtesy of Fletcher Elmore.

4) James Eldred Phillips of Company G, the Richmond Grays.  A tinsmith, Phillips left a flag fragment as well as letters, newspaper articles, a diary and a memoir of his company with his descendant, Elise Phillips Atkins, of Arlington Heights, Illinois.  Copies of the newspaper articles and transcripts of the unpublished letters, diary and memoir are at the Virginia Historical Society.  Captured at Crampton's Gap, Phillips rose from private to first lieutenant.

James Eldred Phillips.  Courtesy of Elise Phillips Atkins.

5) John Francis "Johnny" Sale of Company H, the Norfolk Juniors.  A student of architecture at the College of William and Mary, Sale left unpublished at the Library of Virginia a diary and a volume of letters with an 1862 sketch of the regiment's flag.  Wounded at Malvern Hill (July 1, 1862), Sale rose from private to second lieutenant before he was mortally wounded at Hatchers Run.  He died February 12, 1865.

John F. Sale flag sketch.  Library of Virginia.

Bernard is the steadiest of these writers, Todd the most cheerful, Phillips and Sale the most poignant, and Whitehorne the vividest in detail.

"The Petersburg Regiment" Is A Finalist for the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Awards

The Army Historical Foundation (AHF) has selected my latest book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 as a finalist for the 2019 AHF Distinguished Writing Awards. I'm grateful to the many diarists, letter writers and memoir writers of the regiment, to my publisher Ted Savas and his staff at Savas Beatie, and to the many, many other people who helped with the book.

Tomorrow Feb. 13, 2020, WDBO FM 96.5, Orlando, Florida 3:00 p.m. EST: "The Petersburg Regiment"

Tomorrow I'll be discussing my new book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War

on WDBO FM 96.5 Orlando, Florida

Feb. 13, 2020 

3:00pm EST (2:00pm CST)

Host: Pat Williams

My Favorite Shelby Foote Passage, Vol. 2, p. 719.

My favorite Shelby Foote passage is at page 719 of volume 2 of his history of the Civil War.  It concerns the afternoon of September 19, 1863, on the battlefield of Chickamauga.  Foote writes of General Rosecrans, the commander of the Union Army of the Cumberland interrogating a Confederate captain captured in a skirmish that day from the Texas Brigade of Hood's Division, Longstreet's Corps.  The appearance of Longstreet's Corps augured ill for the Federals.

After some preliminary niceties, Rosecrans began asking about Confederate dispositions.

"General, it has cost me a great deal of trouble to find your lines," said the captain.  "If you take the same amount of trouble you will find ours."

Rosecrans kept on asking questions.  The captain admitted he belonged to the Confederate Army of Tennessee, but could not remember his corps or division.  Rosecrans finally ran out of patience.

"Captain," Rosecrans said, "you don't seem to know much, for a man whose appearance seems to indicate so much intelligence."

"Well, General," said the captain, "if you are not satisfied with my information, I will volunteer some.  We are going to whip you most tremendously in this fight."

And the next day, they did.

John Horn
Author, The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad (1991), revised and republished as The Battles for the Weldon Railroad (2015)
_____, The Petersburg Campaign (1993)
Co-editor, Civil War Talks (2012)
Author, The Petersburg Regiment (2019)

"North & South" publishes my "William Arthur Shepard--'The Connecticut School Teacher' of the 12th Virginia"

Today my issue (Series II, Volume I, Number 4) of North & South arrived.  In the Forgotten Civil Warriors section is my article William Arthur Shepard--"The Connecticut School Teacher" of the 12th Virginia.  Shepard was a Massachusetts-born, Yale-educated member of the 12th's color guard.  As the article indicates, after the war he became known to Southerners as "one of the best soldiers we ever saw, who was never known to shirk a fight."  The article draws heavily on my latest book, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019), which is receiving good reviews.

William Arthur Shepard

Courtesy of the Flavia Reed Owens Special Collections and Archives, 

McGraw-Page Library, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA  

Cory Pfarr's "Longstreet at Gettysburg" Is a Must-Read

Recently I enjoyed reading Cory Pfarr’s Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Appraisal.  This must-read book clears away decades of assumptions, conjectures and surmises and leaves a more factual picture of Longstreet as a dutiful soldier doing his best to carry out Robert E. Lee’s orders.  Longstreet gets an ‘A’ from Pfarr.  Lee, Ewell/Early, Hill and Stuart do not fare as well.

The book could have been better.  Its analysis of July 2 rightly puts responsibility for that day’s delays on Lee, Ewell/Early and Stuart but breaks down, as Longstreet’s attack did, with Posey’s and Mahone’s brigades of Anderson’s division.  There’s no excuse for that.  Civil War Talks: Further Reminiscences of George S. Bernard [12^th Virginia] and His Fellow Veterans (the sequel to Bernard’s 1892 War Talks of Confederate Veterans) was published in 2012 and contains accounts of the activity of Mahone’s brigade around nightfall on July 2, particularly shift to the right followed by an advance toward Emmitsburg Road.  A Pair of Blankets [61^st Virginia], published in 1911, also notes this movement.  Hampton Newsome, who drew the map below, has excerpts from CWT at his blog at https://hamptonnewsome.blogspot.com/2017/12/gettysburg-mahones-night-attack-july-2.html?m=1

Credit: The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War, A History of the 12^th Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox (Savas Beatie, 2019), map drawn by Hampton Newsome[1]

Likewise, Longstreet at Gettysburg places the ultimate responsibility for Pickett’s Charge on Lee and criticizes Hill for contributing some of his most exhausted units rather than his freshest.  However, if Pfarr had read Civil War Talks, he would have known that like Wilcox’s and Lang’s brigades on July 3, Mahone’s and (almost certainly) Posey’s and Wright’s brigades advanced in support of Pickett’s Charge.  Unlike Wilcox’s and Lang’s brigades, Mahone’s, Posey’s and Wright’s brigades had the good fortune to receive orders to halt almost as soon as they started.  Under Both Flags (1896) also indicates that Mahone participated very briefly in Pickett’s Charge.  Pfarr argues that Longstreet had no second wave, but Longstreet’s ability to call on Anderson’s division for support in case of success adds up to the same thing.  Longstreet could have committed Anderson’s division whenever he pleased.  That he wanted to only in the case of success makes sense, but he waited too long for Anderson’s division to have made any difference at all.

The maps are as good as the research permits.  The map on page 137 should have Mahone's brigade in front of Davis' brigade.  In Civil War Talks, one of Mahone's men described Davis' men stepping over them on the way to Cemetery Ridge on July 3.  

The perfect must not become the enemy of the good, though.  All students of the Civil War, not just Gettysburg aficionados, should read Longstreet at Gettysburg.

John Horn

Author, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12^th Virginia Infantry from John Brown’s Hanging to Appomattox (Savas Beatie, 2019), which cites all the above sources except Longstreet at Gettysburg, also published in 2019

[1] Hampton Newsome is the author of Richmond Must Fall and The Fight for the Old North State.