This week marks the 150th anniversary of both the three-day Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) as well as the Union victory at Vicksburg. It is a simplification, but these two concurrent events proved to be the moment when the tide began to turn inexorably in the favor of the Union. Having attained the high-water mark of the Rebel advance at Gettysburg, the Confederacy, led by its primary general Robert E. Lee, was repulsed by Union forces while at Vicksburg the Union campaign was won by Ulysses S. Grant. From this point onward, Grant and the Union would be, more or less, in ascendancy while the essential trajectory of Lee and the Confederacy would be in decline. Among Grant's command at Vicksburg was XV Corps general William Tecumseh Sherman - another great Ohioan - who himself would play a pivotal role in Grant's ultimate strategy to defeat the rebellion by laying siege to Atlanta and "Marching to the Sea."
If you have never read the memoirs of Sherman and Grant, this period during which we observe the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861-1865) would be a fitting opportunity. If I may, I would suggest that you read them both and in order of their publication, just as I did; Sherman's first, then Grant's. Sherman began writing his recollections in 1868 and his memoir was published in 1875. It was considered the authoritative Civil War history until Grant's memoir, published posthumously in 1885 by none other than Mark Twain. Both volumes were rigorously fact-checked and include numerous orders and reports from their respective private collections of artifacts to corroborate their memoirs. Sherman's personal story, I find, to be more fascinating (for example, did you know that he survived a shipwreck and also that he was the federal government's source in confirming that gold was struck at Sutter's Mill in 1848?) and his insight into the Atlanta/March to the Sea campaign is compelling. Unquestionably, though, through Grant's elevation to supreme command in 1864, his own observations from that point forward become the definitive historical resource on the subject matter. Grant's recollection of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House is riveting.
I recommend following up Grant's memoir with Mark Perry's Grant and Twain which recounts both the process behind which Grant's memoir was produced by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) but also the growing friendship between these two American icons throughout the final days of Grant.
Thus, you have now been assigned your summer reading list. Those three tomes weigh-in at approximately 2,500 pages combined. You should have them finished before the end of August. I will be expecting a 500-word essay on each book from every one of you. Begin..... NOW!
The panoramic photo, above, was taken in 1909 and depicts a portion of the Gettysburg battlefield.
From the official Ken Burns YouTube channel, here's an 8-minute segment on Gettysburg. Here is an interesting perspective from the U.S. Army War College on leadership as embodied by commanding officers at Gettysburg.
As research is on-going into my own ancestors' service for the Union Army during the Civil War, there is much yet to be discovered. Below are copies from Series I, Volume 23, Part 1 of War of the Rebellion. This report, dated July 26, 1863 from Lexington, Kentucky, informs me of my great-great grandfather's military activities as part of the 44th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (later reorganized as the 8th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry) in Tennessee in the days just before the Battle of Gettysburg. While it is often difficult, sometimes impossible, to determine which veterans took part in specific actions as you will so often read an oblique reference to a "detachment of X regiment," for example, the casualty report (below) submitted July 2, 1863 (150 years ago today!) reports on the capture of the Ohio 44th's Lieutenant Badger who was a junior officer in my great-great-grandfather's Company. It is with this information that I am fairly confident my great-great grandfather took part in the actions which were reported on July 26, 1863.
Where my great-great grandfather himself may have been on this day, 150 years ago, is at this time uncertain and may never be known.
