James A. Hessler
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33. De Peyster, Gen. H. Edwin Tremain, 1–3; OR 21/1: 824.
34. OR 21/1: 47, 66–67, 355, 358, 377–378; Longstreet, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:70; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 58–60, 86–90, 132–133, 157, 168–170; Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 1.
35. OR 21/1: 378; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 174–176, 184, 190.
36. OR 21/1: 450, 480, 510; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:337; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 180–186; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 194–195.
37. OR 21/1: 480, 511–512; George Meade to Margaret Meade, December 16, 1862, George Meade Collection, HSP; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:337; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 183–184, 188–190, 192; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 367; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 211–213.
38. OR 21/1: 358–360, 362, 454, 511–512; Biddle, “General Meade at Gettysburg,” in The Annals of the War, 205; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 215–216. Meade claimed he sent three messages to Birney; who admitted receiving one. See Rable, 513, n. 38. Hooker complained in his report that “during the attack of General Franklin, without any knowledge or information on my part, these two divisions [Birney and Sickles] were ordered forward with Franklin.” See OR 21/1: 355–356.
39. OR 21/1: 360–361, 378–379, 455; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 200–201; Stackpole, The Fredericksburg Campaign, 183–184, 188–190, 192, 279; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 87–99. Edward Stackpole wrote that Birney’s “brigades fought magnificently…. Had it not been for Birney, there is no telling what might have happened.”
40. OR 21/1: 450, 511–512; George Meade to Margaret Meade, December 16, December 20, December 30, 1862 and April 11, 1864, George Meade Collection, HSP; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:338; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 87–99; Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!, 513, n. 38–40. Bill Hyde in The Union Generals Speak (147), wrote: “Although Meade had quickly forgotten the incident, Birney harbored ill feelings for what he believed to be unfounded charges….” Meade’s April 1864 correspondence strongly suggests he had not “quickly forgotten” Fredericksburg.
41. David B. Birney to George Gross, December 28, 1862 and April 13, 1863, David B. Birney Papers, USAMHI.
42. Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 102; Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day, 3. For examples of the historical treatment Birney’s Fredericksburg performance has received, Larry Tagg wrote in The Generals of Gettysburg (66) that Birney “again got into some trouble, this time for allegedly balking when asked to support General Meade’s division.… Oddly, he was complimented in General George Stoneman’s official report ….” Bill Hyde, in The Union Generals Speak (147): “Although Meade had quickly forgotten the incident, Birney continued to harbor ill feelings for what he believed to be unfounded charges….” Ezra Warner portrayed Birney more positively in Generals in Blue, noting the “charge was not substantiated and Birney was, in fact, highly praised by General George Stoneman.” See Warner, 34. Edward Stackpole praised Birney, and while George Rable blamed Franklin for much of the fiasco, he still found Birney “hapless” and his excuses “lame.” See Rable, 215–216.
43. OR 25/2: 3–4; George Meade to Margaret Meade, December 16, 1862, George Meade Collections, HSP; Meade, Life and Letters 1:338; Basler, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 6: 78–79; Benjamin, “Hooker’s Appointment and Removal,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:239–240; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 413–414; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 169 Although Meade frequently disavowed ambitious thoughts, Stanton’s letter of 11/29/62 did cause him to rhetorically ask his wife, “Do you think major general sounds any better than brigadier?” See Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 338.
44. OR 25/2:6; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:154; Butterfield, A Biographical Memorial, 4–10; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 116–118; Warner, Generals in Blue, 62–63; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 238–239; Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg, 95–96; Sears, Chancellorsville, 63; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 223.
45. OR 25/2:6; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:154; Butterfield, A Biographical Memorial, 111–112; Dedication of the New York Auxiliary State Monument, 116–118; George Meade to Margaret Meade, December 17, 1862, George Meade Collection, HSP; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 238–239; Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg, 95–96.
46. OR 25/2: 15–29, 51, 180; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 168; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 420–421; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 220; Daniel E. Sickles Military Records, copy at GNMP, Box B-36.
47. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 416–417; Byrne and Weaver, Haskell of Gettysburg, 84–85; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 168. Haskell’s allegation that Sickles had “criminal intercourse” with his mother-in-law for years is, of course, an interesting accusation.
48. OR 25/2: 15–29, 48, 51; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:353.
49. OR 25/2: 52; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 108–110; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 420–422; David Birney to George Gross, March 16, 1863, David B. Birney Papers, USAMHI; Warner, Generals in Blue, 31–32.
50. Messent and Courtney, The Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 208; Williams, Lincoln and His Generals, 211; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 398; Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 166; Cleaves, Meade of Gettysburg, 100; Sears, Chancellorsville, 55.
51. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 413; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:365; Sears, Chancellorsville, 60. Biographer Edgcumb Pinchon struggled with conflicting reports over the extent of Sickles’ drinking; see Edgcumb Pinchon to William Hobart Royce, October 22, 1941, and Royce to Pinchon, December 25, 1941, William Hobart Royce Papers, MSS. & Archives Section, NYPL.
52. Roebling’s quote regarding Butterfield’s arson was from a handwritten note on the flyleaf of Roebling’s copy of A Biographical Memorial of General Daniel Butterfield, edited by Julia Butterfield. Roebling further wrote: “This incident is not mentioned in this book nor are some others.” Roebling’s copy is #177 of only 400 printed and is currently [2008] in the Special Collections of Gettysburg College. Adams was quoted in Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 173–174 and Lash, “The Congressional Resolution of Thanks for The Federal Victory at Gettysburg,” Gettysburg Magazine 12, 87.
53. Coughenour, “Assessing the Generalship of George G. Meade During the Gettysburg Campaign,” Gettysburg Magazine 28, 28–30; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 156; George Meade to Margaret Meade, January 26, 1863, George Meade Collection, HSP; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 351.
54. Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 357–358.
55. Coughenour, “Assessing the Generalship of George G. Meade During the Gettysburg Campaign,” Gettysburg Magazine 28, 29.
56. Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 360; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 149; Coughenour, “Assessing the Generalship of George G. Meade During the Gettysburg Campaign,” Gettysburg Magazine 28, 34; Williams, Lincoln and His Generals, 260.
57. Meade, Life and Letters, 1:354, 357; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 425–426; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 219–220.
58. Favill, Diary of a Young Army Officer, 225; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 118–130; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 427–428; Sears, Chancellorsville, 78; Tagg, The Generals of Gettysburg, 65.
59. David Birney to George Gross, April 7, 1863, David B. Birney Papers, USAMHI ; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 363–366, 368; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 428; Sickles, Oration Delivered … At Fredericksburg, 18–19; Butterfield,A Biographical Memorial, 159–161.
60. OR 25/2: 152; Davis, Life of David Bell Birney, 30–31, 73; Butterfield, A Biographical
Memorial, 116–117; Sears, Chancellorsville, 72, 80–81; Scott, History of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 22, 70–71.
61. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, 3. (Hereafter cited as CCW.); Swanberg, Sickles the Incredible, 176; Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 228; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 366–367.
Chapter 3: I Think it is a Retreat
1. OR 25/1: 171; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:156; Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 271–273; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 2–3; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 26–27.
2. OR 25/1: 171, 796; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 370–371; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 34–37; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 323–325; Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 227–273, 277; Sears, The Chancellorsville Campaign, 97–100; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:156–157; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 8; Krick, “Lee at Chancellorsville,” in Lee: The Soldier, 362.
3. OR 25/1: 384–385; CCW, 4; Acken, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 234–235; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 37–38.
4. Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 277–281; OR 25/1: 507; Sears, Chancellorsville, 200–201, 208–212, 223–224, 226; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:159; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 370–371; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 11–14; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 44–45, 56–57; Krick, “Lee at Chancellorsville,” in Lee: The Soldier, 364; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 327.
5. Sears, Chancellorsville, 224, 231–234, 239–241, 243; Allan, “Memoranda of Conversations with General Robert E. Lee,” in Lee the Soldier, 9; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 62–66; Krick, “Lee at Chancellorsville,” in Lee: The Soldier, 365; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 20–21; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 329–330; Pleasonton, “The Successes and Failures of Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:177; Happel, The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson, 21.
6. OR 25/1:385; CCW, 4–5, 34–35; Sears, Chancellorsville, 235–237, 246; Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 282; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 439–440; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 66.
7. OR 25/1: 385; CCW, 4–5; Howard, “The Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville,” Battles and Leaders, 3:194–195; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 20–21; Sears, Chancellorsville, 237–238.
8. CCW, 4–5, 34–35; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 22; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 66–67; Sears, Chancellorsville, 244–247; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 331.
9. CCW, 4–5, 34–35; OR 25/1: 404, 408; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 23; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 66–67; Sears, Chancellorsville, 244–247; Bohannon, “Disgraced and Ruined by the Decision of the Court….” in Chancellorsville: The Battle and its Aftermath, 205.
10. OR 25/1: 386, 449, 459; Sears, Chancellorsville, 245, 248.
11. OR 25/1: 386; CCW, 5; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 25–27; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 67–68; Sears, Chancellorsville, 254–255.
12. OR 25/1: 386, 491; CCW, 5, 34–35; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 68; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 439; Collins, “When Stonewall Jackson Turned Our Right,” in Battles and Leaders, 3: 183; Bohannon, “Disgraced and Ruined by the Decision of the Court…,” in Chancellorsville: The Battle and its Aftermath, 205–209; Sears, Chancellorsville, 254–257.
13. OR 25/1: 386; CCW, 4–5; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 69; Sears, Chancellorsville, 255–256.
14. OR 25/1: 386; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 70; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 332; Howard, “The Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:196–197; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 440; Pleasonton, “The Successes and Failures of Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:177; Sears, Chancellorsville, 256, 262, 264, 269. Stephen Sears, critical of Sickles’ inability to mount an earlier attack against Jackson commented: “With his quarry gone, Sickles seemed to be fighting just for the sake of fighting.” While later events ultimately proved that Sickles, Hooker, Slocum, and Howard erred in not acting earlier against Jackson’s column, there is no reason to suppose that Sickles was fighting only “for the sake of fighting.” He may have thought, as he later claimed, that he could do some legitimate damage to the retreating column. As often happens in warfare, both sides also appeared willing to respond to the enemy’s resistance by committing more troops. See Sears, 256.
15. OR 25/1: 386–387, 25/2: 370; Howard, “The Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:196–197; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 68; Sears, Chancellorsville, 262–263, 269.
16. OR 25/1: 387; CCW, 5–6; Sears, Chancellorsville, 268; Pleasonton, “The Successes and Failures of Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:177; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 122.
17. CCW, 5–6; OR 25/1: 387; Sears, Chancellorsville, 257–258, 261–262; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 90–91.
18. OR 25/1: 387–388; CCW, 6, 34–35; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 441–442; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 97–98; Pleasonton, “The Successes and Failures of Chancellorsville,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:180–181; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 123; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 36; Huntington, “The Artillery at Hazel Grove,” in Battles and Leaders, 3: 188. Stephen Sears (290) wrote that Sickles and Pleasonton had succeeded only in stopping about 200 of Doles’ men, who, in fact had stopped on their own orders. Dodge (111) similarly wrote that Sickles and Pleasonton overstated the importance of the episode. Captain Huntington resented Pleasonton’s failure to give him credit for holding his battery in position.
19. CCW, 4, 35; Meade, Life and Letters, 1: 370–371; Favill, Diary of a Young Army Officer, 233; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 98–99.
20. Alexander, Military Memoirs, 337; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 444; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 35, 39; Sears, Chancellorsville, 284–294; CCW, 6; OR 25/1:449; Favill. Diary of a Young Army Officer, 233; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 108–111; Krick, “The Smoothbore Volley…,” in Chancellorsville: The Battle and its Aftermath, 109, 112, 119–121, 127, 129, 133.
21. Sears, Chancellorsville, 290, 300; OR 25/1: 389; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 446; CCW, 35; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 114–115; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 41.
22. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 446–450, 452; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 114–115; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 41–42; Sears, Chancellorsville, 300–301.
23. OR 25/1: 390; CCW, 35; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 457; Racine, Unspoiled Heart, 13; Sears, Chancellorsville, 302.
24. OR 25/1: 390; CCW, 8; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 43–44; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 126–128; Alexander, Military Memoirs, 342; Sears, Chancellorsville, 193, 286, 312–313. Stephen Sears, critical of Sickles’ overall Chancellorsville performance, admitted that there was danger at Hazel Grove, but thought that Sickles might have been capable of holding the position with seven brigades and 38 artillery guns. Sears wrote: “And whatever Dan Sickles might have lacked in military judgment he could make up for with military pugnaciousness.” See Sears, 313.
25. CCW, 8; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 457; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 46; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 128; Sears, Chancellorsville, 316–320.
26. OR 25/1: 391; Sears, Chancellorsville, 314, 321–324; De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 457–458; Warner, Generals in Blue, 32.
27. OR 25/1: 392, 460, 463; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 137; Sear
s, Chancellorsville, 325–326.
28. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 458; Sears, Chancellorsville, 334–336; Scott, History of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 73–74; OR 25/1: 421.
29. De Trobriand, Four Years With the Army of the Potomac, 460–461; Sears, Chancellorsville, 336–337, 342–343; Favill, Diary of a Young Army Officer, 234–235.
30. CCW, 8, 15; De Peyster, Gen. H. Edwin Tremain, 4; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 53; Styple, Generals in Bronze, 42; Sears, Chancellorsville, 336–337, 357–358.
31. CCW, 8–9; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 144–145; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3: 169–170; Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 294–295, 298–299; Sears, Chancellorsville, 364–365, 372–374; Reardon, “The Valiant Rearguard…,” in Chancellorsville: The Battle and its Aftermath, 163–166.
32. Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 299–301; Sears, Chancellorsville, 393–394, 403; Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battles and Leaders, 3:170; OR 25/1: 394.
33. Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battle and Leaders, 3: 171; OR 25/1: 512; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 226–227; Sears, Chancellorsville, 420–421.
34. Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battle and Leaders, 3: 171; OR 25/1: 512; Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 227; Sears, Chancellorsville, 421–422; Hyde, The Union Generals Speak, 170–171.
35. Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battle and Leaders, 3: 171; Sears, Chancellorsville, 421–422; Gibbon, An Address on the Unveiling of the Statue of Major General George G. Meade…, 12.
36. Couch, “The Chancellorsville Campaign,” in Battle and Leaders, 3: 171; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:380; Dedication of New York Auxiliary State Monument, 111; Sears, Chancellorsville, 421–422.
37. OR 25/1: 178–180; Messent and Courtney, Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell, 234; Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, 71; David Birney to George Gross, May 15, 1863, David B. Birney Papers, USAMHI; Sears, Chancellorsville, 441. Birney and Graham directed much criticism at Col. Charles Collis, a Medal of Honor winner for Fredericksburg who later made his retirement home in Gettysburg and is buried in Gettysburg’s National Cemetery. In forwarding Collis’ report, Graham cautioned: “In forwarding this report, which I do merely as a matter of duty, it is incumbent upon me to say that it is a complete fraud from beginning to end. Collis has had his attention called to these errors, but he has refused to correct them.” Birney forwarded, adding: “The officer is under arrest on charges of misbehavior before the enemy.” See Dodge, The Campaign of Chancellorsville, 117. Birney wrote to friends privately: “Collis is a gross fraud and is now under arrest for his behavior at the last battle. General Graham during the attack [could] not make him leave a tree for shelter, and before the fight was concluded he went to the rear to find hospital sick.” Birney to Gross, May 15, 1863, USAMHI. Captain Francis Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania encountered Collis being carried to the rear on a stretcher, “his whole appearance and manner … denoted fear of the most abject kind. The men smiled contemptuously as they passed him by … they had been a witness to the humiliating loss of honor and self-respect of a man so widely known.” Acken, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 244–245.