Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia, and author or editor of more than 30 books, among them Lee and His Army in Confederate History (2001) and The Confederate War (1997), as well as The Third Day at Gettysburg & Beyond (1994).

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Two Civil War era reporters, one traveling with the Union army and the other with the Confederates, are the authors of these two magnificent firsthand accounts of the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

A.J.L. Fremantle (1835-1901) will be familiar to readers as a character in Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (1974). Fremantle was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army; he became interested in the American South, travelling there and keeping a journal. Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912) enjoyed a subsequent career as a journalist and became active in politics, eventually running unsuccessfully as vice-president on the Republican ticket with Benjamin Harrison in 1892. He was minister to France (1889) and ambassador to Great Britain under Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

This new edition contains a fresh introduction, fully revised references, and new illustrations and maps, all of which help students engage critically with these primary sources, providing them with a unique look at the most pivotal action of the Civil War.

Aus dem Klappentext

Two Civil War era reporters, one traveling with the Union army and the other with the Confederates, are the authors of these two magnificent firsthand accounts of the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

A.J.L. Fremantle (1835-1901) will be familiar to readers as a character in Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (1974). Fremantle was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army; he became interested in the American South, travelling there and keeping a journal. Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912) enjoyed a subsequent career as a journalist and became active in politics, eventually running unsuccessfully as vice-president on the Republican ticket with Benjamin Harrison in 1892. He was minister to France (1889) and ambassador to Great Britain under Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

This new edition contains a fresh introduction, fully revised references, and new illustrations and maps, all of which help students engage critically with these primary sources, providing them with a unique look at the most pivotal action of the Civil War.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Two Witnesses at Gettysburg

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Assignment

1863, June 18 From Philadelphia

"Pennsylvania invaded!" "Harrisburg expected to fall!" "Lee's whole army moving through Chambersburg in three grand columns of attack!" And so on for quantity.

Such were the pleasing assurances that began to burst on us in the West on Tuesday morning. All Pennsylvania seemed to be quivering in spasms over the invasion. Pittsburgh suspended business and went to fortifying; veracious gentlemen along the railroad lines and in little villages of the interior rushed to the telegraph offices and did their duty to their country by giving their fears to the wings of the lightning....

I was quietly settling myself in comfortable quarters at the Neil House to look on at the counterpart of last week's Vallandigham Convention when dispatches reached me, urging an immediate departure for the scene of action. I was well convinced that the whole affair was an immense panic, but the unquestioned movements of Lee and Hooker gave certain promise to something; and besides, whether grounded or groundless, the alarm of invasion was a subject that demanded attention. And so, swallowing my disgust at the irregular and unauthorized demonstrations of the rebels, I hastened off.

A hasty trunk packing and a rush to the depot; and while the delegates to the great Union Convention were gathering by thousands and crowding Columbus as Columbus had never of late been crowded before, save when the people rushed spontaneously to arms at the first call for volunteers, the train was off for Pittsburgh and the East.

Rumors

1863, June 24 From Washington

Washington has become the most blas of cities. She has been "in danger" so long that to be out of danger would give her an unnatural, not to say unpleasant shock.

Just now the indications warrant greater apprehension here than at any point throughout the North; rebel papers incautiously admit that Lee has set out for the capture of Washington and the subjugation of Maryland. The disposition of Hooker's forces seems to warrant the inference that he takes the same view of the rebel plans, and at any rate the whole rebel army is but a short distance from us, and adverse fortunes in the daily expected battle might leave us comparatively at their mercy; yet Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and even Philadelphia, are frantic, if compared with the unruffled serenity of the Capital. Being in danger pays, and besides, it isn't so very unpleasant a sensation, when you get used to it....

The bulk of Lee's army is still believed to be lying on the west side of Blue Ridge, in the vicinity of Snicker's Gap. Either army is protected in front from the other by the mountain, and matters look very much as if they had reached a deadlock. Some unexpected movement may of course precipitate a collision any hour; or Lee may suddenly dash off on some invading movement that will leave Hooker with a long stern chase before him; but on the other hand there is nothing to make it look improbable that we may have comparative inaction for a month.

While we hold Harper's Ferry and one or two other important points in the neighborhood, an invasion of Southern Pennsylvania is difficult, if not impossible. Lee cannot attack Hooker in front, without forcing the Blue Ridge gaps; if he attempts to ascend the valley and come out on Hooker's flank, he exposes himself on a long flank march, and leaves his transportation and supplies in a hazardous position. Altogether, it begins to look very much as if he had been checkmated in his grand movement of invasion. But, - it is never wise to exult too soon.

1863, June 28 From Washington

I have just returned from a flying visit to Frederick, Maryland....

On the streets of the old fashioned Maryland town I met General Seth Williams, broad faced and genial looking as ever, though the stumpy red beard has sadly changed the familiar appearance of the workingman of McClellan's staff in the earlier days of the war. He had just made fifty miles without leaving the saddle!

From two such instances the movement can be inferred. The energy has been amazing, the rapidity of movement unprecedented in the East, and equaled only by such dashing operations in the West as Mitchel's advance into Alabama....

The week, it would seem, must bring a battle; two days may do it. Our fates depend on no one battle now; but if a good Providence shall at last turn the scale in our favor, it will be a sorrier day for rebeldom than defeat of theirs on any field has hitherto proved.

The Battles of Gettysburg

[Our space this morning is largely occupied with the details of the great battles fought Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These reports are from the pen of our well known correspondent Agate, who was on the field, and witnessed all that it was possible for one man to see. As a descriptive writer Agate has few equals, and in addition, he has a merited reputation for reliability that adds largely to the value of his correspondence. We have no space this morning for more than this brief reference to the reports which we spread before our readers. - Cincinnati Gazette, July 8, 1863]

Washington, June 29, 1863

Getting a Good Ready

"Would like you (if you feel able) to equip yourself with horse and outfit, put substitutes in your place in the office, and join Hooker's army in time for the fighting."

It was a dispatch, Sunday evening, from the manager, kindly alluding to a temporary debility that grew out of too much leisure on a recent visit west. Of course, I felt able, or knew I should by tomorrow. But, alas! it was Hooker's army no longer. Washington was all a-buzz with the removal. A few idol worshippers hissed their exultation at the constructive disgrace; but for the most part, there was astonishment at the unprecedented act and indignation at the one cause to which all attributed it. Any reader who chanced to remember a few paragraphs in a recent number of the Gazette, alluding to the real responsibility for the invasion, must have known at once that the cause was - Halleck. How the cause worked, how they quarrelled about holding Harper's Ferry, how Hooker was relieved in consequence, and how, within an hour afterward, Halleck stultified himself by telling Hooker's successor to do as he pleased concerning this very point, all this will be in print long before this letter can get west.

For once Washington forgot its blas air, and through a few hours there was a genuine, old-fashioned excitement. The two or three Congressmen who happened to be in town were indignant, and scarcely tried to conceal it; the crowds talked over the strange affair in all its phases; a thousand false stories were put in circulation, the basest of which,...