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:
"A bullet entered the chest of my horse, 'Billy,' just in front of my
left leg; a kick from a hitched horse in the dark that would likely
have broken my ankle if it had not been for a very thick boot, but
which did break my temper, and a bullet from a sharp shooter that
hissed by my cheek so close that I felt the movement of the air
distinctly."
And thus the "Narrative" recites as to the third and last day of the
battle:
"I had been struck upon the thigh by a bullet which I think must have
glanced and partially spent its force upon my saddle. It had pierced
the thick cloth of my trousers, and two thicknesses of underclothing,
but had not broken the skin, leaving me with an enormous bruise, that
for a time benumbed the entire leg. At the time of receiving it, I
heard the thump, and noticed it, and the hole in the cloth into which
I thrust my finger, and I experienced a feeling of relief when I
found that my leg was not pierced."
We shudder when we think what might have happened to that leg, if the
bullet, when it saw Haskell, had not so kindly glanced and spent its force
on his saddle before piercing the thick cloth of his breeches, and the two
thicknesses of his underclothing.
The second and third days brought scant renown to such an ambitious
officer as First Lieut. Haskell, but immortal fame is very chary with her
favors. She tries a man long, and she tries him hard, before wreathing his
brow with the laurel of victory, and fitting him for a niche in the Temple
of Fame. Haskell realized all this at the close of the battle on this
afternoon of July third, and he evidently concluded to create a niche for
himself in the holy of holies by a page or two of romance in his
"Narrative," and so he planned it all out.
Haskell knew--none better than he--that the Philadelphia Brigade met and
repulsed the brunt of the charge of Pickett's Division, but he would
immortalize himself as a hero by recording in his "Narrative," that the
Brigade broke from the "Bloody Angle" without orders or reason, with no
uplifted hand of Webb, or Banes, or Dennis O'Kane, or Martin Tschudy, or
R. Penn Smith, or Theodore Hesser to check them; that he, Haskell, met
them, "a tide of rabbits," and ordered them to halt, to about face, and to
fire, and hearing his voice they obeyed his command, and he led them back
to glorious victory, and that he--as the one solitary horseman between the
lines, only 40 yards from the enemy--repulsed Longstreet's Corps, and
thereby, therein and thereon ended the great conflict at Gettysburg.
It was such a ridiculous page of fiction that if Haskell had survived the
vicissitudes of war, he would have eliminated it, and if he died before
the close of the Civil War--as he did--he would trust to luck; he trusted
aright, for a Loyal Legion concluded to continue the fiction, thereby
placing its laurel on Haskell's brow, crowning HIM the Hero of Gettysburg;
and a State History Commission concluded to fill a niche in the Temple of
the Immortals with the name and fame of First Lieutenant Frank Aretas
Haskell, but not until fifty years after the fiction had been written,
when few were left to refute that romance of the most vainglorious soldier
of the Civil War.