BOWERS PRINTING COMPANY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
REPLY OF THE
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE
ASSOCIATION
TO THE
FOOLISH and ABSURD NARRATIVE
OF
Lieutenant FRANK A. HASKELL
WHICH APPEARS TO BE
ENDORSED BY
THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE
LOYAL LEGION
COMMANDRY OF MASSACHUSETTS
AND
THE WISCONSIN HISTORY
COMMISSION
COMPLIMENTS OF THE
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION
MARCH, 1910
HEADQUARTERS,
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION,
S. W. COR. FIFTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
At the stated meeting of the Survivors of the Philadelphia Brigade, Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, held at the above place, Tuesday evening, September 7, 1909, letters were read from Gen. Alexander S. Webb, who commanded the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, requesting the consideration of the Brigade Association to the most astounding misstatements made by First Lieut. Frank Aretas Haskell, 6th Wisconsin Infantry, in a paper said to have been written by him under date of July 16, 1863, two weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg had been fought and addressed to his brother, who printed it for private circulation about fifteen years afterward.
The letters of Gen. Webb were accompanied by a volume of 94 pages, containing the most absurd statements as to the action of the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, which, upon being read, led to the unanimous adoption of the following preamble and resolution:
“WHEREAS, in the ‘Narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg,’ by Lieut. Frank A. Haskell, First Lieut. 6th Wisconsin Infantry, and an aide upon the staff of Gen. John Gibbon, said to have been written within a few days after the battle, and reprinted in 1898 as a part of the history of the Class of 1854, Dartmouth College, and republished in 1908 under the auspices of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Philadelphia Brigade has been recklessly, and shamelessly, and grossly misrepresented; therefore, with the view of correcting these wilfull misstatements, it is
“RESOLVED, That a committee consisting of the officers of the Philadelphia Brigade Association, together with two comrades from each of the four regiments of the Brigade, be appointed to carefully consider the matter, and, if deemed advisable by the committee, to publicly enter its protest against the malicious statements ‘reprinted in 1898 as a part of the history of the Class of 1854 of Dartmouth College,’ and again republished by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts in 1908, with a degree of recklessness and disregard for truth unparalleled in any publication relating to the Civil War; statements so false and malevolent as to be wholly unworthy of a class of Dartmouth College, or of a Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States; of the name of Capt. Daniel Hall, of General Howard’s staff—who prepared the story for publication—or of ‘Chas. Hunt, Captain U. S. V., Committee on Publication.’”
The committee named under this resolution consists of these Comrades: Wm. G. Mason, Commander; John Quinton, Vice-Commander; Chas. W. Devitt, Quartermaster; John W. Frazier, Adjutant; John E. Reilly, Wm. S. Stockton, Joseph MacCarroll and James Thompson, Trustees, and Edward Thompson and James Duffy, 69th; John W. Dampman and Edward P. McMahon, 71st; John Reed and Thos. J. Longacre, 72d; Wm. H. Neiler and Thos. Thompson, 106th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers.
An examination by the Philadelphia Brigade Association of the records relating to the “Narrative” written by Lieut. Haskell, discloses these facts:
First—That Lieut. Haskell entered the service in July, 1861, as First Lieutenant of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry, and in June, 1862, became an Aide-de-Camp upon the Staff of Brigadier General John Gibbon, and was serving as such at the time he wrote his “Narrative” of the Battle of Gettysburg. On February 9, 1864, Haskell was commissioned Colonel of the 36th Wisconsin Regiment, which at his request was assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. The Division was commanded by Gen. Gibbon, Gen. Hancock commanding the Corps. In the advance of Gibbon’s Division at the Battle of Cold Harbor, against a strongly intrenched position, Col. Henry McKeen, who commanded the First Brigade, was killed. Colonel Haskell succeeded to the command, and he, too, fell mortally wounded under the heavy artillery and musketry fire, against which his Brigade advanced. Haskell’s record as a soldier of the Civil War is, therefore, an enviable one; but as a writer of events of the war he was absurd, reckless and unreliable.
Second—The manuscript alleged to have been prepared by Lieut. Haskell, as stated by him, “At the Headquarters, second Corps D’Armee, Army of the Potomac, near Harper’s Ferry, July 16, 1863,” was sent to his brother, who printed it about fifteen years later in a pamphlet of 72 pages for private circulation.
Third—The book was reprinted in 1898 as part of the History of the Class of 1854, Dartmouth College, in honor of Colonel Haskell’s memory, but with certain omissions that severely reflected upon the Eleventh Corps, Gen. Sickles and President Lincoln, which are explained in a foot-note by Capt. Daniel Hall, a classmate of Haskell’s, who was an Aide upon the Staff of Gen. O. O. Howard, and who prepared the Haskell story for republication.
Fourth—The pamphlet published in 1878, by Haskell’s family for private circulation, contained 72 pages; the costly volume published in 1908, under the auspices of the Commandery of Massachusetts, Loyal Legion of the United States, prepared by Captain Daniel Hall, an Aide upon the Staff of Gen. Howard, Commander of the Eleventh Corps, with the official endorsement of “Chas. Hunt, Captain, U. S. V., Committee on Publication” is a book of 94 pages; therefore, apparently containing much more matter than was originally published by the Haskell family in 1878.
The charge of cowardice on the part of the Philadelphia Brigade, purported to have been made by Lieut. Haskell, is printed on pages 60, 61 and 62 of the volume published by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and is in part as follows:
“Unable to find my General, I gave up hunting as useless—I was convinced General Gibbon could not be on the field; I left him mounted; I could have easily found him now had he so remained, but now, save myself, there was not a mounted officer near the engaged lines—and was riding towards the right of the Second Division, with purpose to stop there, as the most eligible position to watch the further progress of the battle, then to be ready to take part, according to my own notions, wherever and whenever occasion presented. The conflict was tremendous, but I had seen no wavering in all our line. Wondering how long the rebel ranks, deep though they were, could stand our sheltered volleys, I had come near my destination, when—great heavens! were my senses mad?—the larger portion of Webb’s Brigade—my God, it was true—there by the group of trees and the angles of the wall, was breaking from the cover of the works, and without orders or reason, with no hand uplifted to check them, was falling back, a fear-stricken flock of confusion. The fate of Gettysburg hung upon a spider’s single thread. A great magnificent passion came on me at the instant; not one that overpowers and confounds, but one that blanches the face and sublimes every sense and faculty. My sword that had always hung idle by my side, the sign of rank only, in every battle, I drew, bright and gleaming, the symbol of command. Was not that a fit occasion and those fugitives the men on whom to try the temper of the Solingen steel? All rules and proprieties were forgotten, all considerations of person and danger and safety despised; for as I met the tide of those rabbits, the damned red flags of the rebellion began to thicken and flaunt along the wall they had just deserted, and one was already waving over the guns of the dead Cushing. I ordered those men to ‘halt,’ and ‘face about,’ and ‘fire,’ and they heard my voice and gathered my meaning, and obeyed my commands. On some unpatriotic backs, of those not quick of comprehension, the flat of my sabre fell, not lightly; and at its touch their love of country returned, and with a look at me as if I were the destroying angel, as I might have become theirs, they again faced the enemy. General Webb soon came to my assistance. He was on foot, but he was active, and did all that one could do to repair the breach or to avert its calamity.”
Colonels O’Kane and Tschudy, of the 69th, were killed in action; Baxter, of the 72d, wounded and carried off the field; Morehead and his 106th Regiment had been sent by Gibbon to the support of Howard’s Corps, thereby materially weakening the Brigade; Col. R. Penn Smith, of the 71st, and Lieut. Col. Theo. Hesser, of the 72d, were with their commands—which they never left—encouraging their men to even greater deeds of heroism; Webb is yet living and in a supplemental paper to this Reply will state specifically where the Commander of the Brigade and his Adjutant were and what they did.
While Haskell has long been dead—killed in action at Cold Harbor, in 1864, and it seems cruel to speak harshly of the dead, yet duty to the living, and to the honored dead of the Philadelphia Brigade compels reply. The unreliability of Lieut. Haskell as a writer of military matters was equaled only by the egotism of the youthful Lieutenant. Thus this reckless First Lieutenant wrote of General Howard and General Doubleday, and thus he maligned the brave men of the Eleventh Corps:
“The two divisions of the Eleventh Corps commanded, by Generals Schurz and Barlow, making but feeble opposition to the advancing enemy, soon began to fall back. Back in disorganized masses they fled into the town, hotly pursued, and in lanes, in barns, in yards and cellars, throwing away their arms, they sought to hide like rabbits, and were captured unresisting by hundreds.
“I suppose our losses during the first day would exceed five thousand, of whom a large number were prisoners. Such usually is the kind of loss sustained by the Eleventh Corps.” (Haskell narrative, page 6.)
The actual loss of the Eleventh Corps was 153 officers and 2,138 men killed and wounded, and 62 officers and 1,448 men captured and missing, a total of 3,801, thereby attesting that at least 2,291 brave men of the Eleventh Corps did not “hide like rabbits,” but that they fell like heroes facing the enemy.
And thus of General Doubleday as to his action during Pickett’s Charge on the afternoon of the third day:
“Doubleday on the left was too far off, and too slow. On another occasion I had begged him to send his idle regiments to support another line, battling with thrice its numbers, and the ‘Old Sumter Hero’ had declined.” (Haskell narrative, page 62.)
If Haskell, or any other first lieutenant, would dare to have had the impudence to direct a Major General, and he a graduate of West Point, a soldier of distinction in the Mexican War, and placed in command of the First Corps upon the death of Gen. Reynolds, is it not more than likely, indeed, does it not seem certain that such a presumptuous lieutenant would have been sent back to his command under guard, if not committed to the guard house?
And did not Capt. Daniel Hall, an Aide upon General Howard’s Staff, who prepared the Haskell “Narrative” for republication; and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, in publishing the Haskell “Narrative” become responsible for the Haskell slander upon Generals Howard and Doubleday, and the brave men of the gallant Eleventh Corps, and of the Philadelphia Brigade?
The egotism and recklessness of Haskell are in evidence upon almost every page of his book. On page 39 he says:
“I heard General Meade express dissatisfaction at General Geary for making his attack. I heard General Meade say that he sent an order to have the fight stopped, but I believe the order was not given to Geary until after the repulse of the enemy.” Is it not clear that if such an order had been sent and obeyed, the enemy would not have been repulsed? Is it anywhere upon record that General Meade sent such an order?
On page 82 of the Haskell “Narrative” of the Battle of Gettysburg appears this silly statement:
“About six o’clock on the afternoon of the third of July, my duties done upon the field, I quitted it to go to the General (meaning Gibbon). My brave horse Dick—poor creature! his good conduct in the battle that afternoon had been complimented by a brigadier—was a sight to see. He was literally covered with blood. Struck repeatedly, his right thigh had been ripped open in a ghastly manner by a piece of shell, and three bullets were lodged deep in his body, and from his wounds the blood oozed and ran down his sides and legs, and with the sweat formed a bloody foam. To Dick belongs the honor of first mounting that stormy crest before the enemy, not forty yards away, whose bullets smote him, and of being the only horse there during the heat of that battle.”
Haskell might, with equal truth and egotism, have written: “To Dick and his rider belong the honor of meeting and repulsing Pickett’s Division,” and who can say that it would not have been accorded equally as generous consideration by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and the History Commission of Wisconsin, as was given to all the other nonsense he wrote of the Battle of Gettysburg.
It has been said of Pickett’s Virginians, that accustomed to handling a gun, or rifle, from boyhood, any one of them could kill a jay bird at a distance of 150 yards, but not one of Pickett’s Division of 4,000 Veterans could kill that horse or that first lieutenant, and they the only horse and man in sight, and not forty yards away, parading between Hancock’s Corps of the Union Army and Longstreet’s Corps of the Confederate Army.
Oh! Veterans of Pickett’s Division, you who killed or wounded 491 of our Comrades of the Philadelphia Brigade from the time you began one of the most desperate charges ever recorded in the history of wars, starting from Seminary Ridge, one mile distant from the Bloody Angle, until you reached the culminating point where the intrepid Armistead fell mortally wounded within the lines of the Philadelphia Brigade. You who made such slaughter in OUR RANKS AT LONG RANGE could not kill First Lieutenant Frank Aretas Haskell, or his horse, and they not forty yards distant from your firing line, and he “the one solitary horseman between the Second Division of Hancock’s Corps and Pickett’s Division of Longstreet’s Corps.” And the Military Order, Loyal Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, and the History Commission of Wisconsin, as late as the year 1908 in expensive publications confirm the Haskell “Narrative” of his wild “Buffalo Bill” ride between the Union and Confederate lines, and depicting your skill as marksmen, with a horse and officer as the inviting target not forty yards distant—defying the bullets of the most skillful marksmen of the Confederate Army.
Is there a veteran soldier of the Civil War, or even a thoughtful man in the United States, who believes this part of Haskell’s Narrative “of riding between the lines the one solitary horseman, and he not forty yards distant from the enemy?” Do Captains Daniel Hall and Charles Hunt, the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and Wisconsin History Commission, themselves endorsing it, really believe it?
It was on the third day that “Dick” was plugged with enough of Confederate lead to have warranted Haskell in organizing a Company to mine the lead in “Dick’s” dead body. His horse “Billy” was pumped just as full of lead on the second day, as this absurd statement on page 37 attests:
“And my horse can hardly move. What can be the reason? I know that he has been touched by two of their bullets today, but not to wound or lame him to speak of. I foolishly spurred my horse again. No use—he would only walk. I dismounted; I could not lead him along. So, out of temper, I rode him to headquarters, which I reached at last. With a light I found what was the matter with ‘Billy.’ A bullet had entered his chest just in front of my left leg as I was mounted, and the blood was running down all his side and leg, and the air from his lungs came out of the bullet hole. I rode him at the Second Bull Run, and at the First and Second Fredericksburg, and at Antietam after brave ‘Joe’ was killed, but I shall never mount him again. ‘Billy’s’ battles are over.”
Just one more instance of the scores of the colossal vanity of Haskell. It tells how General Meade turned the command of the Army of the Potomac over to the youthful First Lieutenant of Infantry—Frank Aretas Haskell. It is to be found on pages 69 and 70 of the Haskell “Narrative.” The battle had ended, and the Napoleon of Gettysburg, while patting himself on the back, was planting data in his mind for printing in his “Narrative,” and thus Paul planted, and the Apollos of Massachusetts and Wisconsin watered.
“Would to heaven Generals Hancock and Gibbon could have stood where I did, and have looked upon that field. But they are both severely wounded and have been carried from the field. One person did come, and he was no less than Major-General Meade, who rode up accompanied alone by his son—an escort not large for a commander of such an army. As he arrived near me he asked, ‘How is it going here?’ I answered, ‘I believe, General, the army is repulsed.’ With a touch of incredulity he further asked, ‘What! IS THE ASSAULT ENTIRELY REPULSED?’ I replied, ‘It is, sir.’ And then his right hand moved as if he would have caught off his hat and waved it, but instead he waved his hand and said, ‘Hurrah!’ He asked where Hancock and Gibbon were, but before I had time to answer that I did not know, he resumed, ‘No matter, I will give my orders to You, and YOU will see them executed.’ He then gave directions that the troops should be reformed as soon as practicable, and kept in their places, as the enemy might be mad enough to attack again, adding, ‘IF THE ENEMY DOES ATTACK, CHARGE HIM IN THE FLANKS AND SWEEP HIM FROM THE FIELD—do you understand?’ The General then, a gratified man, galloped in the direction of his headquarters.”
Of course, General Meade rode back to his headquarters a gratified man. Had he not just received the information from First Lieutenant Haskell that the enemy had been “entirely repulsed?” and had not Meade issued an order to this Wellington of Lee’s Waterloo to sweep the enemy from the field, if he were mad enough to renew the attack, by charging him on the flanks? General Meade’s order to Haskell was so sedately humorous as to leave us in doubt as to whether the First Lieutenant and his horse alone were to charge the enemy’s flanks, or for Lieutenant Napoleon Wellington Haskell to order the First, Eleventh and Twelfth Corps to charge his left flank, and the Third, Fifth and Sixth Corps his right flank, while Haskell and Dick swept his centre from the field.
And this is the “narrative” that a Loyal Legion and a History Commission feel honored in publishing. If the object was to prove that they were just as vainglorious as Haskell, has not this fact been fully established by their published books? Vaccinated by the Haskell virus of vanity and venom, the buffoonery of Haskell has been transmitted by a Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the History Commission of a great State, to their admiring friends and the public. Like Haskell, “A great, magnificent passion came on them that seemingly sublimed every sense and faculty—when, great heavens! their senses mad,” the Battle of Gettysburg, by Frank Aretas Haskell, First Lieutenant, Sixth Wisconsin Infantry, was “published under the auspices of the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and the Wisconsin History Commission.”
General Roy Stone, of Pennsylvania, commanded the Second Brigade, Third Division, First Corps, at Gettysburg. Upon receiving serious wounds he was carried from the field, and Colonel Langhorne Wister, of Philadelphia, commanding the 150th Pennsylvania Regiment, succeeded to the command of the Brigade, and the Lieutenant-Colonel took command of the Regiment, and soon after was shot in the leg, remaining in command until his right arm was shattered. Carried into an adjacent barn, used temporarily as a hospital, the flow of blood was stopped by a tourniquet, and the arm bandaged—occupying about thirty minutes—after which he returned to his regiment and assumed command, maintaining the line held by it until the excruciating pain and faintness from shock and loss of blood compelled him to retire. The next day his arm was amputated at the shoulder.
For that—perhaps—unprecedented instance of heroism at Gettysburg the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 150th Pennsylvania was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor; he was promoted for bravery on the field of battle, and this is what he, General Henry S. Huidekoper, of Philadelphia, a member of the Loyal Legion, Commandery of Pennsylvania, says of Haskell’s book:
“In the first print much of what Haskell said was suppressed, and we cannot but regret that any of it was made public, for, from a historical standpoint, the story is inaccurate and misleading, and from an ethical standpoint it is indecent, venomous, scandalous and vainglorious.”
And this is the “narrative” that the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and the History Commission of Wisconsin, have recently published in attractive and costly form, giving the same wide circulation, unmindful of the fact that thereby they are inflicting irreparable injury to both the living and the heroic dead.
THE PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE.
Colonel Chas. H. Banes, late President of the Market Street National Bank, was a typical soldier of the Civil War; he was a leading member of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and was as devout as a Christian as he was heroic as a Volunteer Soldier. In 1876 Colonel Banes published an interesting volume, entitled, “History of the Philadelphia Brigade.” No man was as competent as he to write such a history, inasmuch as he had long been the Adjutant of the Brigade and in possession of all its records. In his preface to that book Colonel Banes says:
“The four regiments of the Brigade were composed chiefly of Volunteers from the city of Philadelphia, and for that reason might properly be called the Philadelphia Brigade. It consisted of the 69th, 71st, 72d, and 106th Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers. The command had from the first enrollment until the muster out 350 field, staff and line officers, and over 6,000 non-commissioned officers and privates. The officers and men of the regiments were equal in courage, endurance and discipline to the best commands of the army, and their soldierly bearing on the march and in battle helped to make the history of the Army of the Potomac.”
As to the charge of cowardice against a Brigade that lost 3,533 in killed, wounded, deaths from other causes, and missing, made under the auspices of Dartmouth College, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of Massachusetts, is so positive, so indecent, so scandalous, so brutal, and so absolutely false, the Philadelphia Brigade, in formulating a reply to these malicious and infamous violations of facts, has deemed it proper to submit, as briefly as possible, extracts from Colonel Banes’ “History of the Philadelphia Brigade,” about what the Old Brigade did from the time it received the order to move from Falmouth, Va., until it met and turned backward the charge of Pickett’s Division at the “Bloody Angle” of Gettysburg, on the afternoon of July 3, 1863.
BANES VERSUS HASKELL.
That “History of the Philadelphia Brigade,” by Colonel Chas. H. Banes, which records with absolute truthfulness the part taken by the Philadelphia Brigade from Ball’s Bluff to Appomattox, was written with the calm deliberation and adherence to facts characteristic of the man who stood foremost among his fellow citizens of Pennsylvania for business integrity, Christian rectitude, and American manhood and honor, and sensitive in the highest degree of his honor, and herewith is what that manly man, comrade and companion, Colonel Chas. H. Banes, Adjutant of the Philadelphia Brigade, records in his history regarding the battle at the Bloody Angle of Gettysburg, and the march from Falmouth immediately preceding that great battle:
“On Sunday, June 14th, our Division was ordered to move at very short notice. At about midnight the Second Division, the last of the Army, moved from Falmouth, obstructing the roads behind the column. At noon, June 15th, the command reached Stafford Court House, where it halted two hours; then resuming the march bivouacked at night five miles from Dumfries. The day was very hot, the roads were filled with dust, and the march of 28 miles was so oppressive that a number of the men fell from sunstroke and exhaustion.
“At about two A. M., on the 16th, the Brigade started from Dumfries, where we halted a few hours. After taking up the march through Wolf Run Shoals, Occoquan Creek, we camped for the night on a fine farm belonging to an old bachelor named Steele, who was very anxious that we should raise money to pay for the damage to his crops. He did not succeed, his uninvited guests being ragged and penniless. On the 17th we reached Sangster’s Station, Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Here the Corps formed in line of battle, facing towards Bull Run.
“After maneuvering and countermarching the command started on the 20th through Bull Run and Gainesville to Thoroughfare Gap, where we arrived at midnight. The last part of the march was very severe, and in the darkness men frequently stumbled over rocks, and into ditches.
“The Second Corps remained at this place guarding the pass until the morning of June 25th. Two miles below this point there was a less frequented road, but one easy of access, which was effectually blocked up for some time to come by a detachment from the Brigade, who were furnished with axes, with which trees were felled in large numbers and thrown across the road.
“After leaving Thoroughfare Gap the Division was assailed by a battery while marching through Hay Market. Before this was silenced a few of the command were killed and wounded. Passing through Cub Run the column crossed the Potomac at Edward’s Ferry at eleven o’clock on the night of June 26th.
“The next day the march was continued beyond Barnestown, Maryland; and on the 28th our Corps arrived two miles from Frederick, where the Brigade was ordered to establish a picket covering the right of the Corps near the Monocacy.
“On the day of our arrival at this point General Hooker, at his own request, was relieved from command, and Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps, was designated as Commander-in-Chief in his stead. There were other changes made of subordinate commanders at the same time. Among these was the assignment of Brigadier-General Alexander S. Webb to command the Second Brigade as successor to Brigadier-General Owen.
“General Webb, although an officer of note in the regular service, was unknown to the majority of the command, but his force of character and personal gallantry soon won the regard of the Brigade to as great an extent as that obtained by any of his predecessors.
“The advance of the Second Corps was begun early on the morning of June 29th, and, with but few halts, it was continued throughout the day. After tramping through the stifling dust under a burning sun, in heavy marching order, a distance of more than 31 miles, Uniontown was reached, where the troops remained during the 30th. On July 1st the advance was again resumed until a point four miles from Gettysburg was reached, where a halt was made.”
Thus it was the Philadelphia Brigade reached Gettysburg, after marching about 170 miles from Falmouth to Gettysburg, in mid-summer, under a blazing sun, with dust ankle-deep, as the rear guard of the Army of the Potomac, obstructing roads while on the march, silencing batteries of the enemy, performing picket duty, and doing the rear-guard work for a great army, and when on the march making from 20 to 30 miles a day—on June 29th marching more than 31 miles—and on July 1st marching from Uniontown, 20 miles distant, to within four miles of Gettysburg. On the morning of July 2d, at early dawn, marched a distance of four miles, placed in position at Cemetery Ridge, and taking part in the second day’s battle, as herewith further described by Colonel Banes:
“On July 2d, at early dawn, the Corps was moved to the front and placed in position along Cemetery Ridge, connecting on its right with the left of Howard’s Corps; while the Third Corps, under Sickles, was ordered to connect on the left and extend to Round Top.
“The Philadelphia Brigade, before taking its place in line, was massed on the edge of a wood, near the Taneytown Road, and a field return was made by the adjutant of each regiment. Out of the entire number present for duty when General Webb assumed command at Frederick, there were but 13 men absent without leave; and some of these, who had given out on the march, rejoined their comrades before the action.
“By order of General Gibbon, commanding the Division, the Philadelphia Brigade was put in position at six and a half o’clock A. M. on the 2d, on Granite Ridge, on the right of the Division, its right resting on Cushing’s Battery A, Fourth United States Artillery, and its left on Battery B, First Rhode Island Artillery, Lieutenant Brown commanding. The 69th Regiment was placed behind a fence, a little in advance of the ridge, the remaining three regiments of the Brigade under cover of the hill in the rear.
“Immediately after assuming this position, a detail, ordered from each regiment, was advanced as skirmishers beyond the Emmettsburg Road and parallel with the Confederate line of battle on Seminary Ridge. This disposition was scarcely completed before the enemy opened with sharpshooters and artillery.
“A few hundred yards in front of our line of battle and towards the left, a farm house and buildings were located. To prevent these affording cover to the enemy, they were occupied by the Brigade pioneers, with orders to destroy them upon a signal from General Webb. During the fight of Sickles the Brigade skirmishers were engaged for an hour with those of the enemy, both parties suffering losses, but neither giving ground. This contest was in full view of the entire Corps, and the manly bearing of their comrades was a matter of pride to the men of the Philadelphia Brigade. That portion of the field lying between Granite and Seminary Ridge being an open plain without trees or shelter, the contests of our skirmishers were literally a series of duels fought with rifles at an easy range.
“‘The enemy made the assault on the 2d at about six and a half P. M. Their line of battle advanced beyond one gun of Brown’s Battery, receiving at that point the fire of the 69th, of the 71st, advanced to the support of the 69th, of the 72d and of the 106th, which had previously been moved to the left by command of General Hancock. Colonel Baxter at this time was wounded. The enemy maneuvred and fell back, pursued by the 106th, 72d and part of the 71st. The 72d and 106th followed them to the Emmettsburg Road, capturing and sending to the rear about 250 prisoners, among whom were one colonel, five captains and fifteen lieutenants.’”
“The assault, thus officially reported by Webb, was executed with much celerity, and when the column of the enemy burst forth from the woods on Seminary Ridge, it seemed but a few moments before the Emmettsburg Road was crossed, and our skirmishers driven like leaves before the wind. As the Confederates advanced, Brown’s Battery, with the exception of one gun, was withdrawn to the rear of the 69th. Over this piece there was a fierce struggle, but the fire of the Brigade was terribly severe, causing the enemy to hesitate and then fall back. Those of the Confederates in the lead threw down their guns and cried out with an oath: ‘Get us out of this; it is too hot here.’
“And now a countercharge was made by the Philadelphia Brigade, along with those of other Brigades; the assaulting column was rolled back almost as quickly as it had advanced. The skirmish line was reformed on its old connection, and shortly after, night coming on, the fight on our portion of the line was over for the 2d of July.
“The pioneers in their exposed position were made prisoners by the enemy, and the guard left by the captors remained at the farm house with their charge, intending to move to the rear as soon as the heavy firing was over. This decision was fortunate for our detail, but unfortunate for the enemy, as the advance of Webb’s regiments swept by the improvised guard house and changed the relation of its occupants.
“The 106th Regiment was ordered to report to General Howard, who placed it on the right of the Baltimore Pike, near Rickett’s Battery, where it remained until the close of the battle. This regiment was highly complimented by General Howard.
“On the morning of July 3d the 69th Regiment occupied the same line at the fence in front of the clump of trees on the ridge that it held the day before, while the 71st was deployed and connected with its right. One wing of the 71st was stationed at the fence, while the other was behind a stone wall to the right and rear. The 72d was held in reserve, forming a second line to the left of Brown’s Battery, and in the rear of Colonel Hall’s Third Brigade.
“After the contest at Culp’s Hill there was a momentary pause in the operations of both armies. This unusual calm was only broken by an occasional gun, or the discharge of a sharpshooter’s rifle. About one o’clock, when the men were wondering what the next movement would be in this great battle, a single Whitworth gun was fired from the extreme left of Seminary Ridge, a distance of three miles. The bolt just reached the right of our Brigade. Then at intervals along the entire line solitary shots were fired, as if intended for signal guns of preparation. These were quickly followed by others, and in a few moments there burst forth from the whole Confederate line a most terrific fire of artillery. One hundred and twenty guns concentrated their fire on that portion of Meade’s position held by the Second Division, Second Corps. Shell, round shot, Whitworth bolts, and spherical case were flying over and exploding about us at the same time. Almost every second ten of these missiles were in the air; each, as it went speeding on its message of death, indicating its form by a peculiar sound. The shrieking of shells, or the heavy thud of round shot, were easily distinguished from the rotary whizzing of the Whitworth bolt.
“When these agents of destruction commenced their horrid work, no portion of the line, from the front to a point far in the rear of the Taneytown Road, afforded any protection against their fury. Men who had been struck while serving the guns and were limping towards the hospital, were frequently wounded again before they had gone a hundred yards.
“In spite of the ghastly forms of mangled men and horses, and in spite of the dismantled guns, exploding limbers, and other scenes of horror, produced by Lee’s attack, the guns of Meade roared back their defiance; while the infantry, powerless for the moment, rested on their arms awaiting the bayonet charge they knew was sure to follow.
“Webb reports: ‘By a quarter to three o’clock the enemy had silenced the Rhode Island Battery, all the guns but one of Cushing’s Battery, and had plainly shown, by his concentration of fire on this and the Third Brigade, that an important assault was to be expected. I had sent, at two P. M., the Adjutant-General of the Brigade for two batteries to replace Cushing’s and Brown’s. Just before the assault, Captain Wheeler’s First New York Artillery had got into position on the left in the place occupied by the Rhode Island Battery, which had retired with the loss of all its officers but one.’
“When the New York Battery arrived and went into action, Lieutenant Cushing had but one of his guns left, and it was served by men of the 71st Regiment. The Lieutenant had been struck by a fragment of shell, but stood by his piece as calmly as if on parade, and as the Confederate infantry commenced to emerge from the woods opposite, Cushing quietly said, ‘Webb, I will give them one shot more; good-bye.’ The gun was loaded by the California men, and run down to the fence near the 69th, and at the moment of the last discharge, just as the enemy reached the line, the brave Cushing fell mortally wounded.
“At three o’clock the enemy’s line of battle left the woods in our front, moved in perfect order across the Emmettsburg Road, formed in the hollow of our immediate front several lines of battle under a fire of spherical case-shot from Wheeler’s Battery and Cushing’s gun, and advanced for the assault.
“The Union batteries increased their fire as rapidly as possible, but this did not for a moment delay the determined advance. The rude gaps torn by the shells and case-shot were closed as quickly as they were made. As new batteries opened, the additional fire created no confusion in the ranks of the enemy; its only apparent effect was to mark the pathway over the mile of advance with the dead and dying. None who saw this magnificent charge of Pickett’s column, composed of thousands of brave men, could refrain from admiring its grandeur. As they approached the rail fence their formation was irregular, and near the front and centre were crowded together the regimental colors of the entire division; the scene strangely illustrated the divine words, ‘Terrible as an army with banners.’
“Now our men close up their ranks and await the struggle. The Seventy-second, by direction of Webb, is double-quicked from its position on the left and fills the gap on the ridge where Cushing’s Battery had been in action. Just at this moment Pickett’s men reach the line occupied by the Sixty-ninth and the left companies of the Seventy-first. General Armistead, commanding the leading brigade, composed principally of Virginians, in advance of his men, swinging his hat on his sword, cries out, ‘Boys, give them the cold steel!’ Just then the white trefoil on the caps of our men is recognized, and Armistead’s men exclaim, ‘The Army of the Potomac! Do they call these militia?’
“The final effort for success now commences. The advance companies of the Seventy-first are literally crowded out of their places by the enemy, and, with one company of the Sixty-ninth, they form with the remainder of Colonel Smith’s command at the stone fence. At the same instant Colonel Hall’s Third Brigade and the regiments of the First under Devereaux and other officers, as if by instinct, rush to Webb’s assistance, while Colonel Stannard moves two regiments of the Vermont Brigade to strike the attacking column in the flank.
“And now is the moment when the battle rages most furiously. Armistead, with a hundred and fifty of his Virginians, is inside our lines; only a few paces from our Brigade Commander, they look each other in the face. The artillery of the enemy ceases to fire, and the gunners of their batteries are plainly seen standing on their caissons to view the result, hoping for success, while Pettigrew’s Division, failing to support Pickett, halts as if terrified at the scene. This is the soldiers’ part of the fight; tactics and alignments are thrown to one side. No effort is made to preserve a formation. Union men are intermingled with the enemy, and in some cases surrounded by them, but refusing to surrender. Rifles, bayonets and clubbed muskets are freely used, and men on both sides rapidly fall.
“This struggle lasts but a few moments, when the enemy in the front throw down their arms, and rushing through the line of the Seventy-second, hasten to the rear as prisoners without a guard, while others of the column who might have escaped, unwilling to risk a retreat over the path by which they came, surrendered. The battle is over, the last attack of Lee at Gettysburg is repulsed, and the highest wave of the Rebellion has reached its farthest limit, ever after to recede.
“General Armistead, who was in the Confederate front, fell mortally wounded, close to the colors of the Seventy-second. One of the men of that regiment, who was near him, asked permission of the writer (Col. Chas. H. Banes, Adjutant Philadelphia Brigade), to carry him out of the battle, saying, ‘He has called for help as THE SON OF A WIDOW, an order was given to take him to an ambulance, and when his revolver was removed from his belt, it was seen that he had obeyed his own command, ‘to give them the cold steel,’ as no shot had been fired from it.
“At the close of Gen. Webb’s official report he states, ‘The Brigade captured nearly one thousand prisoners and six battle flags, and picked up fourteen hundred stand of arms and nine hundred sets of accoutrements. The loss was forty-three officers and four hundred and fifty-two men, and only forty-seven were missing. The conduct of this Brigade was most satisfactory.’”
Compare the calm, temperate, lucid, truthful and dignified statement of Colonel Banes, who, as the Adjutant of the Philadelphia (Webb’s) Brigade, was more familiar with its every movement than any officer or private soldier could possibly be; a statement prepared with deliberation by a man of mature years, and ripened judgment, with that of the raving, distracted, ridiculous utterances of the youthful Lieut. Haskell, in his book said to have been hastily written within two weeks after the battle, written between his hours of duty, while on the march from Gettysburg back to Harper’s Ferry, written by him while not yet fully recovered from the delirium of excitement that overcame him in the exalted position he claims to have assumed, that of Supersedeas Commander of the Army of the Potomac to annihilate the Confederate Army, in the event of its renewing the attack.
It was the author Haskell who asked this question of Lieut. Haskell:
“Great heavens! were my senses mad?—the larger portion of Webb’s Brigade—my God! it is true, was breaking from the cover of the works, without order or reason, with no hand uplifted to check them, was falling back a fear-stricken flock of confusion. A GREAT, MAGNIFICENT PASSION OVERCAME ME as I met the tide of these rabbits,” and a lot more of such incoherent, disconnected trash, from the young Lieutenant so OVERCOME WITH A MAGNIFICENT PASSION that the aberration of mind which followed while writing that narrative was inevitable.
Col. Banes says, “This struggle lasted but a few moments, when the enemy in front threw down their arms, and, rushing through the lines of the Seventy-second hastened to the rear as prisoners without a guard.”
It was these men of Pickett’s Division hastening to the rear whom Haskell met, if ever he met any one fleeing to the rear on that occasion; but “Great heavens! his senses were mad.” A “Magnificent Passion” overcame him. He was in a delirium of vainglory, and he mistook the defeated Veterans of Pickett’s Division, seeking shelter from impending death, for the victorious Veterans of the Philadelphia Brigade, and the Military Order, Loyal Legion, Commandery of Massachusetts, and the History Commission of Wisconsin, also apparently overcome with a “Magnificent Passion” for book publishing, reprinted his “Narrative” to the world, as their adopted waif and heir.
It has been asked, what could have been Haskell’s object in so perverting the facts of history relative to the Battle of Gettysburg? Gen. Henry S. Hindekoper, of Philadelphia, who won high renown in the battle, aptly answers the question in the statement made by him, wherein he said of Haskell’s “Narrative,” that “from a historical standpoint it is inaccurate and misleading, and from an ethical standpoint it is indecent, venemous, scandalous and VAINGLORIOUS.”
After describing the first day’s fight as minutely as though he had observed it all from the cupola of the Seminary Building on Seminary Ridge, Haskell thus seeks to acquit himself from all misstatements by saying: “Of the events of the first day of July I do not speak from personal knowledge.”
At two o’clock in the afternoon of July 1st, Haskell was at Taneytown, 13 miles distant from Gettysburg, and between 8 and 9 o’clock in the evening the Second Corps was halted four miles south of Gettysburg, where it, and Lieut. Haskell, biouvacked for the night; therefore—except detracting from officers and men who rendered heroic service—no glory came to Haskell on the first day. He “did not see what he thought he saw.”
At early dawn on July 2d Hancock’s Corps was moved forward about four miles, and at 6.30 A. M. was placed in position on Cemetery Ridge. The Third Division (Hayes), on the right, connecting with the left of Howard’s Eleventh Corps; the First Division (Caldwell’s), on the left, connecting with the right of Sickles, Third Corps, and the Second Division (Gibbon), in the centre, and Haskell started in early on the second day to catch fame, and thus, according to his own “Narrative,” he succeeded:
