LM#33--Gettysburg 160th anniversary, part 3

Listen, those are the drums of liberty. 160 years ago today, those drums sounded in south central Pennsylvania, in a sleepy little town named Gettysburg. We've talked about days one and two. Today let's talk about the final day, day three, on this special Liberty Minute.

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

Hello, i am David and welcome back to this special Liberty Minute, part three of our 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Today we're going to set the stage for one of the most famous infantry charges in all of military history, but we're going to do so from a unique vantage point. Part of the idea is to help you flourish in your own life, to seek out and find those unique nuggets of wisdom and these unique books to help you practically feel that you're functioning at the top of your game, and then to share those nuggets with you so you can explore and feel like you're stepping. You have a step on the competition And today our guide and authors have produced a book that I was hoping would be written for many years, especially all those years that I've been going to the Gettysburg battlefield. In fact, it is a guide written by actual national Gettysburg Military Park battlefield guides themselves. That's why this is important. It's because if you've ever been in the battlefield and you paid the money to rent a guide for an hour or two, you will quickly understand how vital that is to enhance your experience at the site. In fact, it is tremendous the amount of knowledge that these guys and gals have in the battle itself and then all things that are civil war. So first, these battlefield guides who conduct very professional tours. Often when you go to certain landmarks in our country and around the world, you end up getting volunteers helping to provide their time because they believe in the cause of you know, certain said historical landmark. That's certainly the case with these guides. But more than that, there are requirements, a long standing requirements, to become a Gettysburg battlefield guide, and they are quite rigorous. To shed some light on how rigorous it is, let's just grab some information from the Gettysburg Military Park website. Quote based upon park needs and visitor demand. The park will only be licensing individuals for full time. For the full time license category Listen to this the licensing process consists of five tiers the written exam, the panel interview, the field of practicum, the oral exam and the post licensing orientation. Candidates must pass each tier in succession to become a license battlefield guide. This multi tiered process continues a tradition of rigorous license battlefield guide examinations and upholds the continued excellence of guiding on the battle the Gettysburg battlefield, said Bill Justice, acting superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park. Now I'll put a link in the show notes so you can see for yourself what they all go through, what all these battlefield guides go through. But let me share but let me share real quick just two questions from this extremely long list of frequently asked questions on the battlefield guides themselves. One question was how long will I have to study to become a licensed battlefield guide? The answer to this generally is years. You should be for the exam as soon as you have a burning desire to become a battlefield guide. The actual written exam is given in the late fall and generally on a Saturday and early December. Since it is announced in the late spring or summer, it's best You would have about four to six months of preparation time beforehand. Don't wait. Start reading and start studying now. And then you come to the question what should I study? The answer, the basic answer that they give, is anything and everything. Start with a general work. Coddington's The Gettysburg Campaign is a good one. Go through and try to get the basics, the ebb and flow of the battle. Don't concern yourself with names, particularly below brigade level, unless they are particularly striking or significant individuals or units, and don't get bogged down in statistics. Once you've accomplished this, pick up one or two smaller works, like Tucker's High Tide at Gettysburg, or a few of the older guidebooks. Although not so good for battle related action, they make great sources of human interest stories. Then you must also concentrate on the monuments, the weapon types, the uniforms, food, local area place names. It's important to note that successful guides are those who have a good grasp of political, social and economic perspectives related to this era. Knowledge of military aspects alone normally is not sufficient. Generally we find that those with the most detail down the company knowledge level of the battle usually have the hardest time making it through the licensing process Because they know too much of a specialized aspect of the battle, ie tactics or artillery, and too little of the broad scope of the battle, the human element, the meaning of it all. By all means, know the Gettysburg area, know its roads it's historic and modern. Know the place name, study the battlefield proper. It will help you to get through Tier 1 exam and absolutely be crucial in your subsequent practical tiers. Wow, so you can see very quickly that to become a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg you have to be top notch in many areas. And who knew that there was a tradition of rigorous licensed battlefield guides that have to go through examinations? But I like it and I deeply appreciate it, this tradition, because as we've moved forward in our country, more and more interest has come about with the American public, especially with the Ken Burns series, which actually started me on this wonderful trip of discovering the Civil War. Seriously, it was probably my gateway drug, so to speak. And then obviously we follow that up with the most famous and well done movie, the 1993 Gettysburg movie with Martin Sheen. Now back to our book Pickets Charge at Gettysburg, written by Wayne Motz and James Hessler. Now, wayne Motz is a central Ohio guy like myself, born and raised here. He received his BA from the Ohio State University in 1989 and then moved to Gettysburg in 1990. He earned his MA from Shippensburg in 1994. And his claim to fame, in addition to being an author of this wonderful book we're going to cover, was Wayne was one of the youngest persons ever to complete the licensing process to be a battlefield guide at the Gettysburg National Military Park. He guided parties around the famous field for over 27 years. He has tons of other credentials that we don't have time to share, but you get the point This guy knows his stuff. Now James Hessler is the other author, the co-author, of this book. He's been in Battlefield Guide since 2003. He's been in the book Sickles at Gettysburg, written in 2009, and won the prestigious Batchholder Connington Award as the most outstanding work on the Gettysburg campaign. Jim is an adjunct professor at the local Harrisburg area community college at Gettysburg, the Gettysburg campus, And he continues to give professional talks to many Civil War roundtables. So this guy knows his stuff as well And our book is wonderful and unique because it was written in 2015. It's the first book that I know that was written by one or more of the actual battlefield guides themselves I guess in this case two of them as co-authors. So with that long introduction, let's set the stage for day three. Pickett's Charge, or the Grand Charge as it's sometimes called, was part of Robert E Lee's overall thinking that he could take Cemetery Hill and the network of roads it commanded behind it. In fact, lee's military secretary wrote these words in his memoirs of Robert E Lee in 1886. Let's go to the book. There was a weak point where Cemetery Ridge, sloping westward, formed the depression through which Emmitsburg Road passes. Perceiving that by forcing the federal lines at that point turning towards Cemetery Hill, hayes division would be taken in flank and then the remainder would be neutralized, lee determined to attack at that point and the execution was assigned to Longstreet. Now, why did General Lee think that? Because on day two there was a slight breakthrough in the Union Center, even though the Confederates couldn't hold it at the time. There was a breakthrough and because General Lee had concentrated such heavy fighting on the flanks and he thought General Mead would reinforce their same flanks again to anticipate further attacks. On day three, early on July 3rd, the infantry assault was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment which started roughly about 1 pm with about 150 to 170 guns firing. That is why Lee thought he could break through in the middle of the Union line, so as these 150 to 170 cannons start firing at roughly 1 o'clock, by 2 o'clock roughly 12,500 men among nine brigades began to advance across the three-quarter mile open field between each of the lines. They advanced across the Emmitsburg Road and up to the crest of Cemetery Hill. Now I will say, when you walk this actual three-quarter of a mile, it is indeed an open field but it is a slight grade up with some dips in it And there is very little shelter across this open field. Now, generally ordered Longstreet General Longstreet to start this charge and Longstreet ordered his division commanders of Pickett, pettigrew and Trimble to lead the assault, generally also highly suggested to Longstreet that Pickett General Pickett had fresh troops, having not fought in the engagement at Gettysburg yet, so that they would be the ones to lead the assault. Thus the famous name of Pickett's charge being assigned to General Pickett. Now to give you some context, the day was super hot 87 degrees by one account of the measurement from close by in Gettysburg, the actual town, and it was extremely humid. Now let's get into this book itself. Let's go to our first poll quote. The attack of Pickett's division on the third day has been more criticized and still less understood than any other act of the Gettysburg drama. It was not ordered without mature consideration and on the grounds that presented fair prospects of success. Colonel Armstead Long wrote later, and here again, with this important quote, we understand the context of General Lee's thinking. Let's go back to the book. Any hopes for fighting a defensive battle were dashed, however, by the Confederate victory on July 1st 1863. General Lee had not planned to fight at a battle Gettysburg on that day, but Major General Henry Heath's division of Lieutenant General AP Hills Third Corps unexpectedly collided with Union Brigadier General John Buford's cavalry division and Major General John Reynolds Infantry One Corps in the fields west of Gettysburg. As the day progressed, hills men were joined with Confederate Lieutenant General Richard Jules, second Corps, and succeeded in defeating the federal first and ninth corps first and eleventh corps rather, which were reinforced Reynolds Corps north of the town in the afternoon, like we talked about. After retreating through the town, however, the northern forces rallied by nightfall on the heights of Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, south of Gettysburg. Although Lee and his generals may not have yet fully realized it, their victory on July 1st had ironically only served to drive the Union forces into a stronger defensive position. And again Jeb Stewart's cavalry comes in the picture of why Lee was agitated. Let's go back to the book. In the process of scoring this fruitless victory, lee had also allowed his army to be drawn away from the communication and supply lines which had been west of South Mountain Range. West of the South Mountain Range, these mountains are clearly visible from Gettysburg on the western horizon. That evening, on Seminary Ridge, general Longstreet arrived and allegedly proposed that the Confederate army moved farther south toward Washington, located a strong defensive position and forced the Yankees into making a presumably futile attack. Lee disappointed Longstreet by rejecting this proposal. No, the enemy is there on Cemetery Hill and I'm going to attack him there. Longstreet found Lee to be uncharacteristically agitated, in part due to the absence of Jeb Stewart's cavalry, which had lost contact with Lee's main body during the March North. As a result of Lee's insistence on attacking, longstreet, properly deferred to his commanding officer, returned to his Bivouac in order to prepare for the following day's offensive operations. Now there's more than one important conversation between Lee and Longstreet about the charge early on day three. Let's go back to the book Longstreet wrote. I felt that it was my duty to express my convictions. And, pointing to Cemetery Hill, longstreet told his commander General, i've been a soldier all my life. I've been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions and armies, and should know as well as anyone what soldiers can do. Is my opinion that no 15,000 men ever raid for battle can take that position? But General Lee was not deterred and ordered me, longstreet, to prepare divisions, to prepare Pickett's division for the attack. Longstreet stressed that Lee was impatient of listening and tired of talking, so Longstreet turned his attention toward organizing the assault. And then one final quote about the planning of Pickett's charge And why I think this book is so important. Going back to the book, knowing the outcome in hindsight, history has been very harsh on Robert E Lee's decision to launch this frontal assault at Gettysburg. It should be remembered, however, that there were precedents for such successful attacks. Almost one year earlier, during the seven days battle, lee launched a series of massive, ultimately triumphant attacks against a portion of the Union Army at Gaines Mill. Recently, on the afternoon of July 1st at Gettysburg, colonel Abner Perrin, south Carolina Brigade, overran Union 1 Corps positions near the Lutheran Theological Seminary. Both victories had come at heavy cost, but they demonstrated that frontal assaults could work under the right combination of tactics leadership, terrain, artillery, support, luck and enemy performance. On the other hand, lee had also ordered some of these same men to attack Malvern Hill a few days after Gaines Mill. Poor Confederate execution and murderous federal artillery caused that attack to end in a bloody failure. Lee also undoubtedly remembered his own success and the part that his artillery played in defending against the Union's headlong attacks at Fredericksburg in December of 1862. Lee knew that he was taking a great risk in ordering this July 3rd charge, but with proper coordination between Longstreet Hill, their artillery and the use of the ground gained by Longstreet on July 2nd. Lee obviously believed this climactic assault on Cemetery Ridge could succeed. Now let's stop here and talk about another piece of brilliance with this book. It's arranged as if the guides are taking you through four different tours, each with its own unique talking points in history. And here is one such unique point. Let's go back to the book The Virginia State Military Memorial. There was initially some resistance from veterans on both sides to mark and commemorate the Confederate battle lines on the field. The Virginia State Memorial was the first southern state monument placed at Gettysburg. It was dedicated in June 1917, nearly 54 years after the battle. Lee generally sits mounted on his horse traveler forever looking across the fields of Pickett's Charge. It is believed that Robert E Lee watched much of the afternoon's action from near here. While seated on a large oak stump. Colonel J Thompson Brown, ules Acting Artillery Chief, observed Lee holding travelers' reins in his left hand, supporting his bowed head with his right hand. Brown assumed that Lee was praying. One can see why this would have been considered a suitable observation point. Longstreet in fact believed he did not have the authority to call off the attack because Lee was in such close proximity and could presumably see everything that Longstreet could. I just love those anecdotal stories that are sprinkled in Especially. You can take this book and you can especially go to the military park and walk through each of these steps. Each one of the four tours has seven, eight, nine different spots with long commentary at each spot. Really takes you to the battle. So roughly at 2 pm on day three, pickett's Charge began. Now please check out the book for more details about covering the roughly 1,400 yards from when all these divisions started and when the Confederates, under relentless hail of bullets and canisters, fired from cannon reach within eyesight of the stone wall which is the Union line. But let's pick it up there. Going back to the book, as Confederate casualties increased between the Ebbotsburg Road and the Stone Wall, pickett's Division lost three promising young officers whose lives had all followed remarkably similar roads to Gettysburg. Louis B Williams, robert C Allen and Waller Tazwell Patton were all Virginia natives who had attended VMI together. They graduated in the same small class on July 4th 1855. The men then all pursued occupations as lawyers prior to the Civil War. When military duty called, they ended all and came and entered back into the Army. They ended all commanding three regiments in Pickett's Division during Pickett's Charge, and all three were killed or mortally wounded. On this day Let's talk about one of them. Louis B Williams was a colonel in the first Virginia. Kempersburg aid was 29 years old at Gettysburg He had graduated from VMI with excellent academic standing and held the highest military office in his class. After graduation he taught mathematics and tactics for three years before pursuing law. The bachelor served with other Virginia regiments early in the war but was elected colonel of the first Virginia in April 1862. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Williamsburg. Williams was mounted on his horse, nelly, during the charge, near the Cordaio, the Codora house. He took a ball and the shoulder fell from his horse onto his drawn sword and was killed. The Ritalis horse was later caught by a member of Deering's artillery battalion. His body was eventually reburied in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery. And let's pick up, pick its charge from the Union side. All nine brigades come across that long field, three quarters of a mile, marching, staggering, under withering fire, suffering. And then, when we pick up on the Union side, we're going to pick it up in the middle of the action, with the 19th Massachusetts in the heart of the Union line, attached to Colonel Norman Hall's brigade, regimental commander, colonel Arthur Devereaux, had been watching events unfold when I saw that Webb could not sustain the shock. With his front line, i saw that the 69th Pennsylvania was apparently run over but, not retreating, the 71st Pennsylvania was giving ground rapidly. After observing Webb's vain attempts to get the 72nd Pennsylvania to attack, colonel Hall did the true soldierly act by refusing his right, which unfortunately also opened a gap on his front, according to Devereaux. Just then Hancock came riding furiously up. I halted him, pointing out the enemy's colors crossing the stone wall, and asked permission to put my men in there. Hancock's prompt direction was you get in there, goddamn quick. Colonel Devereaux would claim credit for capturing four southern regimental colors. One of the flags was the 14th Virginia Armistice Brigade by Joseph H De Castro. Corporal De Castro was an 18-year-old Boston native and a former reform school resident whose father hailed from Spain. His mother was from Maine. Near the cops of trees, we met them breast to breast, wrote Devereaux. Corporal De Castro was one of the regiment's color bearers and knocked down the Virginia color bearer with a staff of the Massachusetts state colors. De Castro snatched the 14th regiment's flag from the enemy hands, broke back through the lines, thrust the prize into Devereaux's hand and dashed back into the action without saying a word. De Castro was awarded a Medal of Honor in 1864 for his bravery, although the citation erroneously credited him with capturing the 19th Virginia flag. De Castro is believed to be the first medal recipient of Hispanic descent. Let's keep going. As Pickett's men advanced across the field under a storm of artillery and gunfire, these trees may have served as a logical guiding point. This is the cops of trees they're talking about, although it is questionable that they were prominent enough to be officially designated as a target. An officer in the 72nd Pennsylvania later described the trees as a clump of saplings not over 30 paces in depth. Then a common post-war description was they stood out in relief from the ridge and afforded a most excellent target for the concentration of fire of the enemy's artillery. Further down the page, as Pickett's men crowded into the field east of the Emmitsburg Road and surged toward the stone wall, some sporadic shooting occurred before the 69th was finally permitted to open fire. This threw their front line into confusion, from which they quickly rallied and opened their fire upon us. Some of the Virginians dropped behind the brushing knoll in front of this 69th's left front, still visible today, but others withstood the volleys and continued to press forward. The enemy gained a foothold at the wall in front of the trees as a disorganized mob. After reading these words next, it will almost make you weep. The gallantry, the courage, oh the courage. Just listen to this. Although the 69th Pennsylvania was for the most part gamely holding their ground at the trees, general Webb's defense had reached a critical moment. History had given Webb's brigade the line share of the credit for stopping Pickett. But to Webb's left, colonel Norman Hall saw that a portion of the General Lyons' web on my right had given way and many of the men were making to the rear as fast as possible. While the enemy was pouring over the rails that had been a slight cover for the troops, hall found what he only knew as two regiments that could be spared from some command there, but they hesitated. So Hall was forced to move his own brigade by flank under heavy fire. The enemy was rapidly gaining a foothold. Organization was mostly lost and the confusion commands were useless. Fighting the natural urges of men to fall back, hall and his staff officers crowded his men closer to the enemy and the men obliged to load in their places. I did not see any man of my command who appeared disposed to run away. But the confusion first caused by the two regiments above Spokane of so destroyed the formation in two ranks that in some places the line was several files deep. Wow, wow, so moving Their courage under heavy fire, smoke, confusion, so moving It goes on. Despite Cowan's deadly canister and volleys from Web's Infantry, pickett's men still gained a momentary hold on the stone wall. I fired canister low in my charge. In my last charge, two rounds and each of the six guns were fired when the advance of the enemy in my front was by ten yards distance And while they had possession of our guns on my right Cushing's guns some Southerners, possibly members of the 14th Virginia, came over the wall yelling take the guns. My last charge a double header Literally swept the enemy from my front, being fired at less than 20 yards. The infantry in front of my five pieces, posted behind a slight defense of the rail some ten yards distance, turned and broke But were rallied and drawled off the right of my battery by General Webb in a most gallant manner. It was then that I fired my last charge of canister. Many of the rebels being over the defenses and within the last ten yards of my pieces. They broke and fled in confusion. Man, when those Confederates broke and fled in confusion, that was the high water mark for the south. All battles had led to this point. There is, in fact, a marker called just that the high water mark for the Confederacy on Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg. It's a big monument. If you go to the battlefield you should visit it. Let's go back to the book. On a more than one occasion that afternoon, robert E Lee famously accepted blame for the third day's failures himself. Colonel Alexander supposed that Lee came forward to rally the troops in the event of the federal pursuit and watch Lee speak to nearly every man who passed Don't be discouraged, it was my fault this time. Form your ranks again when you get undercover. All good men must hold together. Now. British military observer Arthur Fremantle thought Lee did not show signs of the slightest disappointment, care or annoyance And he encouraged his soldier with the words such as all this will come right in the end. We'll talk about it afterwards, but in the meantime all good men must rally. We want all good and true men. Just now Lee also requested the walking wounded to bind up their hurts and take up a musket. Lee explained to Fremantle. This has been a sad day for us, colonel, a sad day, but we can't expect to gain, always gain victories. When General Will Cox reported in near tears, lee assured him never mind, general, all this has been my fault. It is I that I've lost this fight and you must help me to get out of it the best way you can. According to Captain Robert Bright, lee advised Pickett to form in rear of this hill and be ready to repel the advance of the enemy should they follow up their advantage. General Pickett lowered his head Generally, i have no division now. Armstead is down, garnet is down And Kemper is mortally wounded. Generally replied come, general Pickett, this has been my fault, this has been my fight, and upon my shoulders rest the blame, as if the heavens opened up in a day of crying for the dead on both sides. It rained, a slow and steady rain all day on July 4th 1863. Lee anticipated all day a counterattack by Meade on July 4th, but then, slow and steady, he withdrew during the night of July 4th to the 5th. Meade's army pursued Lee's over the next 10 days with several engagements and skirmishes, but on July 14th the army of Northern Virginia successfully crossed back into Virginia near Williamsport. Although they may have momentarily seemed broken on the afternoon of July 3rd, lee's army was not defeated. Nor did Meade's army feel certain of future victory. Both commanding generals would spend the fall of 1863 refitting and maneuvering in a futile attempt to bring the other army to a decisive battle as the war continued on. Of the 15,000 Confederates who advanced across the open field towards Cemetery Ridge on that fateful afternoon on day three at Gettysburg, only half, only half, only half returned back across that half mile. Estimated casualties for both sides was 51,112 over those three days, 23,049 for the Union and 28,063 for the Confederates. A total of 165,000 forces were engaged in the total at the Battle of Gettysburg. What happened in the three days of Gettysburg, july 1st to July 3rd 1863, was in some measure a result of that arrogance. To be sure, there was good reason for Robert E Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia to be contemptuous of the Yankees. At Fredericksburg the previous December they had beaten them easily. Two months ago at Chancellorsville they had beaten them again less easily this time but against longer odds, generally marched into Pennsylvania in the confident expectation of winning a third battle, but now in the enemy's country and with the promise of a considerably more decisive outcome. The Confederacy was greatly in need of such a victory in that early summer of 1863. Vicksburg was being besieged and almost certainly beyond saving, thereby endangering the entire Confederate position in the Western theater. Lee gained Richmond's approval for the Pennsylvania expedition not in any expectation of changing matters at Vicksburg, but rather with the hope of offsetting disaster, thereby compensating victory in the East, particularly of a victory of real consequence, one in the Northern heartland. The stakes were therefore high indeed. Lee's Pennsylvania gamut of course failed, and failed dramatically, and the Army of Northern Virginia had to beat a hasty retreat back across the Potomac. For generally, gettysburg was a defining defeat and in the fourteen decades since 1863, much effort has been expended to try and explain it. For the most part, lee succeeded in shielding himself and his wartime actions, as the poet Stephen Vincent Benet put it, from all the picklocks of biographers. Yet at Gettysburg, lee's actions were uniquely uncharacteristic of him and they spoke volumes. Why he did what he did can therefore be deciphered. So in today's Liberty Minute, i hope you enjoyed this three part series, all on the Battle of Gettysburg, days one, two and three, and I will also put a link in the show notes of a great video that came out from the American Battlefield Trust just today as we were actually going to record. That video is all about the cops of trees and it has a wonderful viewpoint of the wall and pickets charge. You can see the ground they covered And we also feature the author, the author Wayne Motz, a fellow Central Ohio guy, and his book that we covered today Pickets Charge at Gettysburg a guy to the most famous attack in American history, by James A Hesler and Wayne E Motz. So I hope you enjoy that book, hope you enjoy that video. Let's end fittingly with how Abraham Lincoln, four and a half months later, ironically on a pleasant day in November 1863, how the then 16th president of the country of the United States, still in a civil war, but how that president dedicated the soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Let's end with those 272 words that would forever defined those hallowed grounds. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here, on a great battlefield of that war, we have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, but in a larger sense we cannot dedicate what we cannot consecrate, for we cannot hallow this ground. Brave men living in dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. For it is us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not die, have died in vain, and that this nation, so that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory glory, hallelujah, glory glory, hallelujah Is truth is marching on. Glory glory, hallelujah, glory glory, hallelujah, glory glory, hallelujah Is truth is marching on. Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching.