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The Halt: Culpeper, Virginia 1864 May

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:41:27 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

The Halt, scene near Culpeper. Virginia. May 1864

"Cigars and Cognac, with these we bivouac," says the old song, but as Cognac was. in the army, a questionable fluid, to say the least of it, and scarce at that, the lounger in the grass wisely contented himself with the pleasures of the weed. His good war-steed, in condition highly creditable to the groom, patiently accepts the opportunity to rest, evidently affording an object of critical admiration to his master, whose orderly meanwhile keeps an eye about the vicinity. There is nothing particular in the picture to account for this little halt, but those whc recognize the officer, may possibly give a shrewd guess at his reasons. He is the Quartermaster of the Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, and has doubtless ridden forward to the position selected for camp, to examine its capabilities, and await the arrival of his wagon-train, in order to personally superintend the pitching of the tents, and the parking of the wagons.
To still further satisfy curiosity, it may be mentioned that the reclining officer is Captain Harry Page, since Colonel and Chief Quartermaster of the Cavalry Corps, one of the most arduous posts of duty in the service, and one whose necessities during the severe campaigns up the Shenandoah Valley, and in the vicinity of Richmond, kept the young Colonel always upon his mettle.

General Post Office: Culpeper, Virginia 1863 November

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:37:57 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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General Post Office, Army of the Potomac. Culpeper, Virginia. November 1863

The Post-Office at the Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac was a great institution. Thousands of letters passed through it every week, and in the movements of the army, its welfare was regarded as almost of as much importance as any other department. Each regiment had a post hoy, who carried the letters of his command to brigade headquarters. There the mails of the different regiments were placed in one pouch, and sent up to division headquarters, and thence to corps headquarters, where mail agents received them and delivered them at the principal depot of the army, to the agent from General Headquarters. When the army was encamped around Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, the corps mail agents delivered their mails to the headquarters agent at Falmouth station, the latter agent going through by rail and steamer to the General Post-Office at Washington. During the Petersburg campaign the mails going North were consolidated at City Point. As the mails passed to and from the army daily, the work required a large number of men, nearly all of whom were private soldiers detailed for such duty.
The photograph shows the tent used by the Post-Office Department at General Headquarters. The cases for the letters were made of rough boards, which on a march were packed away in the bottom of an army wagon, one being sufficient to carry the whole establishment, including the tent and its furniture. So systematically was this department conducted, under the supervision of Wm. B. Haslett, Postmaster, that a letter which left Boston on the morning of the first of the month, reaching Washington on the night of the second, would generally be delivered to the private soldier in the trenches at Petersburg on the night of the fourth. At times, however, the mails would accumulate in the office at Washington, necessitating a delay of several days before they could be assorted and placed in the several army pouches,"one of which was kept for every corps, and detached command of the army.

Culpeper: Virginia 1863 November

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:33:40 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Culpeper, Virginia. November 1863

The village of Culpeper is situated on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, about seventy-five miles from Washington. Sheltered by the Blue Ridge, the surrounding country was very productive, and after the establishment of railroad communication, the place rapidly grew in size and importance. Its first serious injuries were received in General Pope's retreat from the Rapidan, when many of its buildings were destroyed, and nearly all stripped of their contents. Both armies alternately occupied it, and cavalry repeatedly fought about it, till the village, once the pride of its district, became a ruin, and the fruitful fields an area of desolation. Reviews, with all their "pomp and circumstance," made brilliant days for its memories, and weeks are numbered in the sorrowful periods when the requiem for the dead sounded continually over its new-made graves. History weaves a garment about it more glorious than romance. The pulsations of battle at Bull Run, and Rappahannock, and Brandy Station; at Chancellorsville, Bristoe, and Groveton, have throbbed through its streets. Cedar Mountain, blazing with conflict, looked down upon it, and Grant in the Wilderness, shook its spires with the roar of his guns. The altars of its churches are stained with heroic blood; all along its highways slumber those whose names can never pass away, and in the vacant camp-grounds cluster recollections fast blending into traditions, that shall grow dearer as they grow old.
Another year, and peace will have hidden the scars that now so sadly mar its beauty. Nature cannot be wholly defrauded of her blossoms, or prevented from drawing her mantle over the deserts that mankind may make. Already Culpeper has commenced a new adornment, and must soon resume her station, Queen of the fairest plains of Virginia. Imbued with new incentives, her returning people are making pleasant places of their homes, and launching into the enterprises of a brighter dawn, promise for themselves a future prosperity that shall prove more than compensation for troubles past.

Castle Murray: Auburn, Virginia 1863 November

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:28:25 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Castle Murray, near Auburn, Virginia. November 1863

On the Warrenton Railroad, is a spot known as Three Mile Station ; there are no depot buildings, but for all that it is recognized as a stopping place, and is the nearest place to Dr. Murray's house, called the Castle, a picturesque grey stone edifice, beautifully contrasting with the dark green ivy, which has partly overgrown it, and situated in a grove, on an eminence, known as Rockhill. Not far from it is the residence of Col. Murray, a much older place, with no pretensions to architecture, but withal a roomy, comfortable farm house, with many fine trees around it. In the Fall of 1863, Army Headquarters were pitched, for some days, on the pleasant slopes, near the latter house ; at the same time, Gen. Pleasonton, commanding the cavalry, had his camp on Rockhill, his tents forming, with Castle Murray, a very effective picture; heightened, when of an evening the slanting sun, beaming through the trees, gilded the General's banner, and tinged rosily the canvas homes. At night, the green lamps, that showed the position of the General's camp, would shine mysteriously over the trees, and the band of the Sixth U. S. Cavalry would make the stone walls ring to its martial music.

Provost Marshal's Office: Virginia 1863 February

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:21:17 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Provost Marshal's Office. Aquia Creek. Virginia. February 1863

One of the first operations of the war (upon the Potomac) was the destruction of the wharf and depot of the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad at Aquia Creek, done by a small flotilla under command of Capt. Ward, U. S. N., whose flag-ship was a N. Y. towboat, turned into a gunboat, and called the Freeborn. The buildings were fired by shells, the enemy keeping up a lively fire also from a battery upon the hill and a small redoubt on the shore.
When the rebels gave up the blockade of the Potomac, quite a chain of works existed here. In the winter of 1862 it became the base of supplies for the army at Falmouth ; the wharf was rebuilt, greatly enlarged and improved, and quite a town of hastily but well-constructed buildings put up ; among, them, and close upon the railroad track, the Provost Marshal's Office. To this office came daily crowds of applicants for passes; officers on welcome leave of absence; soldiers with hard-earned furloughs; sutlers and their clerks; negroes, anxious to get up to Washington to spend the generous wages (twenty-five dollars a month, besides rations and quarters) paid by the Quartermaster's Department; all kinds of petty traders; visitors to the army; friends seeking the bodies of relatives slain in battle, or lying in hospital grave-yard, for removal; sick and wounded for hospital treatment; and last, though not least, ubiquitous members of the press, constantly going up or down. Soldiers or citizens who had business with the army in those days will not readily forget how limited was the time between the arrival of the long train of cars from the front and the departure of the Washington boat; nor how often, after successfully elbowing a way in the motley crowd, and getting the pass vised, the end of the dock would be only reached in time to see the steamer moving swiftly down the creek to the Potomac. On such occasions two alternatives were open; to go back to the front till next morning, or remain and study character on the wharf, boarding at the sutler's, and trusting to luck for a bed. As an instance of the variety of character, the writer has seen upon that dock, not only specimens of almost every European race, Africans and Indians, but Chinamen, dressed in army blue, and to all appearance good soldiers.

Studying the Art of War: Virginia 1863 June

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:18:05 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Studying the Art of War, scene at Fairfax Court-House. Virginia. June 1863

A group at the headquarters, near Fairfax Court-House, taken in June, 1863. Thoughtful and erect, the most prominent figure is Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, then a Captain on the Staff of General Meade. Handsome, chivalric, one of the bravest of the brave, his character was fitly compared to that of the good knight, the Chevalier Bayard, and like him, he was truly "sans peur et sans reproche." So noble a man, that of all the heroes who have perished for the nation, his loss is the hardest to realize. The story of his short but brilliant career has been written by abler hands, and is now a "household word." Of its closing scenes, the writer narrowly escaped being a witness, having been invited to accompany the Colonel on that ill-starred expedition by which his life was sacrificed. Just recovering from the loss of his leg, and suffering acutely from any physical exertion, his active spirit could not be controlled, when he thought of his brothers in arms pining under the cruelties of Libby and Belle Isle. No ruthless raid was his, but a Christian effort to help the despairing Union Prisoners. None, who knew him, need be told how false was the document, claimed to have been found upon his person. General Meade, suspecting his inability to undergo the fatigues of an expedition in the inclement weather of February, was disinclined to give him permission; but Dahlgren, determined on his purpose, mounted his horse, and proceeding to a review of the Second Corps, rode so fearlessly over the fields, and under his frank smile, so well hid all traces of bodily suffering, that the General reluctantly permitted him to depart. After the review, when he came over (for the retirement it offered) to the writer's tent, it was too evident how fearful had been the effort of his will.
The officer upon the ground, wearing a straw hat, is Lieutenant-Colonel Dickinson, Assistant Adjutant General to General Hooker ( a position he held from the time that General first commanded a brigade, until the battle of Gettysburg. In that action the Colonel was hit in the arm with a link of a chain, thrown with other misiles from a rebel shell. On the recovery of his wound he retired from the service. The gentleman in foreign uniform is Count Zeppalin, of the Prussian army, then on a visit to this country. On the left is the figure of Major Ludlow, since better known as the General in Command of the Colored Brigade, which excavated, under a continual and heavy fire, the canal on the James, called Dutch Gap. The perils of that undertaking he faithfully shared, from first to last, doing much, by his cheerful bearing and example, to support his troops in their perilous work. The last of the group is Lieutenant (since Lieutenant Colonel) Rosencranz, a Swedish officer, on leave of absence, and occupying successively the position of Personal Aid upon the Staff of Generals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, and Meade. Avery reliable soldier, and one of the best Aids on the Staff, his genial disposition, unfailing amiability, and keen appreciation of humor, made him acceptable everywhere. He was probably as well known as any officer in the field.

Slaughter Pen: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:14:38 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Slaughter Pen, foot of Round Top. Battlefield of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania. July 1863

A portion of the battlefield of Gettysburg, located in front of Little Round Top, is known as the Slaughter Pen. Upon the conclusion of that engagement, the ground was found in many places to be almost covered with the dead and wounded. This sketch only represents a few of the dead, the wounded having been removed to the hospitals. Gen. Crawford, commanding the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, was placed near this ravine, on the second day of the fight, to support Barnes' Division, and the scenes which transpired cannot be better described than in his own words before the Committee on the Conduct of the War. He says: "I heard the cheers of the enemy, and looking in front across a low ground, I saw our men retreating in confusion; fugitives were flying across in every direction; some of them rushed through my lines. The plain in front was covered with the flying men. The regular division had marched out past my left flank. A wheat field lay between two masses of woods directly in my front. A stone wall skirted these woods from right to left. The enemy, in masses, were coming across this wheat field, having driven everything before them. Their line of skirmishers had crossed the stone wall, and their column was coming across the low ground towards the hills upon which we stood. I ordered an immediate charge upon the enemy by the whole division. The division moved forward at once. Two volleys were fired, when the whole command started at a double-quick. We met the enemy in the low ground, drove them back to the stone wall, for the possession of which there was a short struggle, and at which two regiments which had been massed on the flanks of the line, were deployed, drove the enemy through the woods, and over the wheat field, to the ridge beyond. The line was there permanently established." On Friday afternoon, he was ordered to clear the woods in his front, and of that movement says: "I directed the command at once to advance. Hardly had the men unmasked from the hill before a battery of the enemy, stationed on a ridge beyond the wheat field opened, with grape and canister. As soon as the skirmishers opened fire on the cannoniers, the battery limbered up and fled. I then formed a line, and directed it to cross the wheat field and clear the woods. In doing this, they came upon a brigade of Hood's division, under Gen. Anderson or Gen. Bonham, composed of Georgia troops; they attacked them, capturing 260 prisoners, the battle-flag of the 15th Georgia, re-taking nearly all the ground that had been lost, and over 7,000 stand of arms, besides one 12-pound Napoleon gun and three caissons, and all the wounded, who had lain entirely uncared for. We permanently held that line. Hood's division was driven off nearly a mile."

Headquarters Army of Potomac: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:11:28 +0000

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Headquarters Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, during Battle of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania. July 1863

Just back of the cemetery at Gettysburg, on the road leading to Taneytown, stands a humble dwelling, made historical by its occupation as headquarters of General Meade. This officer having assumed command of the Army of the Potomac at Frederick, thirty miles distant, immediately sent out the several Corps on different roads towards Harrisburg, with orders to attack the enemy wherever he might be found. On the first of July, Reynolds, with the First Corps, engaged the Confederates at Gettysburg, and after a gallant struggle, in which that officer was killed, the Corps, reinforced by the Eleventh, retired to the strong position on Cemetery Ridge. General Meade first heard of the engagement and its result at Taneytown, ten miles away, about sundown. Orders were at once despatched for the other Corps to march for the scene of action. The headquarters camp was struck, tents and wagons were sent back to Westminster, and shortly after midnight the General and staff pushed on to Gettysburg, establishing headquarters at this house. The second of July was one of the most lovely days of the season, and, with the exception of occasional shots between the advanced picket lines, remained perfectly quiet until three o'clock. The headquarters, however, throughout the day presented a most animated appearance. Commanding officers and couriers were constantly arriving and departing, while the staff officers and escort lounged in the shade about the house, or slept on the green turf, gathering strength for the conflict momentarily expected to commence. In the afternoon, Sickles, with the Third Corps, was attacked by the enemy, and the battle finally became general, the First, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh participating, with the Second and Twelfth in reserve in the rear of the right wing. The headquarters, from its exposed position, at once became the centre of a terrible artillery fire. Shot and shell plunged through the building in quick succession, and made sad havoc with the group about it. In a few minutes a number were killed, and the General was soon compelled to withdraw, leaving dead and struggling horses on every side. On the third day the house was exposed to even a more severe fire, which threatened to utterly annihilate it. Immediately after the battle, the owner returned, repaired the damages, and the building now promises to stand for many years, bearing the scars of hat fierce conflict.

Trossel's House: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:07:21 +0000

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Gardners Sckech Book of War Vol. 01

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Trossel's House. Battlefield of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania. July 1863

This House is in front of the left of the position occupied by our army at the battle of Gettysburg. General Sickles established his headquarters near this House on the second day's fight, and it was in this immediate vicinity that he received his wound, from which he lost his limb. The dead horses about the building indicate the terrific character of the fight. General Sickles had discovered early in the day that the enemy were moving around on our left, and advanced his corps some distance, for the purpose of securing a favorable position. The battle opened about half-past three, the enemy moving down in three lines, and almost overwhelming the Third Corps. At five o'clock General Birney assumed command of the corps, General Sickles having been wounded. In the meantime, the rebels had forced back the left of our lines, and undoubtedly would have gained possession of Round Top, but for the timely arrival of the Fifth Corps, which became hotly engaged, losing many valuable officers, but finally repulsing the enemy, and holding a position, the loss of which would have necessitated the retreat of our army, and perhaps resulted in its total defeat.
Thousands of dead and wounded were strewn over the fields adjacent to this House, and graves of Confederates can be found in every direction. The trees are scarred by bullets, marks of cannon-shot and shell disfigure the buildings, and the remains of the hastily constructed breastworks, with mouldering fragments of accoutrements, still show where the lines of battle were engaged.

Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:59:40 +0000

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Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Battlefield of Gettysburg. Pennsylvania. July 1863

On the Fourth of July, 1863, Lee's shattered army withdrew from Gettysburg, and started on its retreat from Pennsylvania to the Potomac. From Culp's Hill, on our right, to the forests that stretched away from Round Top, on the left, the fields were thickly strewn with Confederate dead and wounded, dismounted guns, wrecked caissons, and the debris of a broken army. The artist, in passing over the scene of the previous days' engagements, found in a lonely place the covert of a rebel sharpshooter, and photographed the scene presented here. The Confederate soldier had built up between two huge rocks, a stone wall, from the crevices of which he had directed his shots, and, in comparative security, picked off our officers. The side of the rock on the left shows, by the little white spots, how our sharpshooters and infantry had endeavored to dislodge him. The trees in the vicinity were splintered, and their branches cut off, while the front of the wall looked as if just recovering from an attack of geological small-pox. The sharpshooter had evidently been wounded in the heal by a fragment of shell which had exploded over him, and had laid down upon his blanket to await death. There was no means of judging how long he had lived after receiving his wound, but the disordered clothing shows that his sufferings must have been intense. Was he delirious with agony, or did death come slowly to his relief, while memories of home grew dearer as the field of carnage faded before him ? What visions, of loved ones far away, may have hovered above his stony pillow ! What familiar voices may he not have heard, like whispers beneath the roar of battle, as his eyes grew heavy in their long, last sleep !
On the nineteenth of November, the artist attended the consecration of the Gettysburg Cemetery, and again visited the " Sharpshooter's Home." The musket, rusted by many storms, still leaned against the rock, and the skeleton of the soldier lay undisturbed within the mouldering uniform, as did the cold form of the dead four months before. None of those who went up and down the fields to bury the fallen, had found him. " Missing," was all that could have been known of him at home, and some mother may yet be patiently watching for the return of her boy, whose bones lie bleaching, unrecognized and alone, between the rocks at Gettysburg.

Documentarist.com | Historic Photo Archive

The Halt: Culpeper, Virginia 1864 May

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General Post Office: Culpeper, Virginia 1863 November

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Culpeper: Virginia 1863 November

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Castle Murray: Auburn, Virginia 1863 November

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Provost Marshal's Office: Virginia 1863 February

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Studying the Art of War: Virginia 1863 June

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Slaughter Pen: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

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Headquarters Army of Potomac: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

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Trossel's House: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

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Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 1863 July

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