Book Update: Gettysburg's Southern Front

The copy-edited files are back with the University Press of Kansas and there is a title: Gettysburg's Southern Front: Failure and Opportunity at Richmond. 

I've really enjoyed this project. The book covers the little-known Federal operations against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign - an effort by a 20,000-man force led by Major General John Dix. The Federal advance on Richmond was directly connected to Lee's drive into Pennsylvania. Indeed, the primary purpose of Dix's operation was to the cut the railroads linking Lee's army to Richmond and to threaten the city itself as the Army of Northern Virginia marched north. Many Federal leaders at the time saw great potential in the venture, which produced engagements in the fields east of Richmond and at the railroad bridges over the South Anna. I expect many readers will find compelling events and intriguing stories they knew little or nothing about before. 

The book demonstrates how Dix's effort at Richmond (coupled with smaller operations in NC and western Va.), was part of a Henry Halleck plan - albeit a weak and poorly-coordinated one - to counter the advance of Lee's army north in June and July. Integral to the study (and discussed at length) are issues such as Lee's logistical situation before, during, and after the battle Gettysburg; debates in Washington about the Richmond strike and other efforts to counter or blunt Lee's Pennsylvania foray; reaction to Lee's invasion by commanders in various US and Confederate departments behind his column; the decisions and efforts of Confederate leaders to defend Richmond while supporting Lee's offensive - among other related issues. 

Fingers crossed for a release later this year.

Feb. 1864: That Time George Pickett Executed NC Soldiers in Blue

With the anniversary of the New Bern Expedition and the Kinston Hangings (both covered in detail in The Fight For the Old North State (Univ. Press of Kansas, 2019)), I wanted to re-post a little background on those little-known events.

The Fight For the Old North State 

On February 1, 1864, Confederate forces led by George Pickett attacked the Union base at New Bern. The plan originated with Robert E Lee, who proposed the operation to Jefferson Davis in early January.  Lee believed success would alleviate the supply crisis plaguing the Army of Northern Virginia and quell an emerging peace movement in North Carolina. As N. C. Supreme Court Justice Walter A. Montgomery later explained: "A great majority of the people . . . thought that the time had arrived when the question of peace with the United States government should be considered. It was thought that the contest was hopeless after the surrender of Vicksburg and the defeat . . . at Gettysburg, and that the further effusion of blood and destruction of property should cease." Understanding these concerns, Lee proposed operations in North Carolina hoping to open up the rich agricultural region for Confederate subsistence officers and to boost Confederate morale in the state.

New Bern, N.C.

Over several days, Pickett's forces sought to find a way to take the Federal base. The offensive generated pockets of fighting at Bachelor Creek, Newport Barracks, and Brice's Creek. During the expedition, Confederate forces nearly captured and boarded a train headed into the New Bern defenses and managed to seize a Union gunboat, the Underwriter, only to be forced to abandon the prize almost immediately. Ultimately, the Union forces at New Bern under Innis Palmer managed to fend off the rebels and maintain Union control over eastern North Carolina.

George Pickett

On the retreat from New Bern, Pickett's forces determined that several dozen Union prisoners captured during the expedition had previously served in Confederate units within the state. A court-martial quickly reviewed the cases and passed judgment. Some of the prisoners escaped the ordeal with their lives. One was transferred to civil authorities; another, described as mentally and physically impaired, received a year of hard labor; and three more were branded with a four-inch "D" (for deserter), shackled with a ball and chain, and confined to hard labor for the rest of the war. But most of the accused were not so lucky. The first men identified in the dragnet were hung almost immediately after Pickett’s return to the Confederate base at Kinston. The condemned struck one witness as illiterate, hardened men who expressed little concern for their own plight and “marched to the gallows with apparent indifference.” Several more executions followed, carried out on gallows constructed of "rude" material in a field behind the Kinston jail and all witnessed by troops in Pickett's command. 

The hangings triggered swift and widespread condemnation in the Northern press and produced protests from Union officers. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Foster, commander of the 2nd North Carolina Union Volunteers (NCUV,) labeled the hangings an "inexcusable massacre." John Peck, in charge of Federal troops in North Carolina, protested and provided a list of his men captured a New Bern. A truculent Pickett taunted Peck, pointing out that the list "so kindly furnished . . . will enable me to bring to justice many who have up to this time escaped their just desserts."

The executions would follow Pickett after the war as the U.S. government conducted several inquiries into the circumstances behind the incident. Eventually, Pickett avoided prosecution in the wake of Andrew Johnson's general amnesty announced on Christmas Day in 1868. The larger impacts of the hangings in eastern North Carolina are remain murky even today. The executions appear to have dissuaded many local men from joining the Federal ranks, an important goal for Confederate military leaders. However, the Confederates also aimed to quell the growing unhappiness among North Carolinians, particularly those who were threatening to pull the state out of the Confederacy. Ultimately, Pickett’s decision to execute the deserters may not have advanced this political goal. Indeed, some North Carolina soldiers and citizens doubted the guilt of the condemned men, and even among those who found them culpable, there was a feeling that the punishment did not fit the crime. For those in North Carolina wavering between support of the Confederate war effort and withdrawal from the war on favorable terms, Pickett’s actions may not have had the impact Confederate officials desired.

Book News! The Federal Offensive At Richmond During the Gettysburg Campaign

I'm happy to share that my new book will be published by University Press of Kansas. It will constitute the first full-length study of the largely-unknown Federal offensive against Richmond during the Gettysburg Campaign. During this operation, a force of 20,000 Federal troops advanced on Richmond from a base just twenty miles east of the rebel capital. The resulting campaign formed part of an U.S. effort devised by General-in-Chief Henry Halleck to threaten Confederate supply lines as Robert E. Lee’s army marched north. The ensuing operations against Richmond, led by Major General John Dix, involved daring raids, some sharp fighting, and much maneuver the U.S. forces sought to land a blow while Richmond’s threadbare defenders. 

This chapter of the Gettysburg Campaign, sometimes called the "Blackberry Raid," highlights important issues stretching beyond the operation’s military engagements - including the key role African-Americans played in the U.S. war effort in Virginia and the shifts to more aggressive, "hard war" in Virginia. I've really enjoyed researching and writing about this nearly-untouched aspect of the Gettysburg story. I also look forward to working again with University Press of Kansas, which published my previous book, The Fight For the Old North State. 

Talk at the Petersburg CWRT: August 5, 2021

I'm looking forward to heading back to the Petersburg Civil War Roundtable (CWRT) on August 5.  At this event, I'll be talking about the Civil War in North Carolina during 1864 as covered in my book The Fight For The Old North State, The Civil War in North Carolina, January–May 1864 (Univ. Press of Kansas, 2019).  The details for the event are here. 

An Honest Observation From an Old Veteran

(Edwin Forbes, LOC)

Doing some research this morning, I came across this amusing nuggest from H.O. Crosby of the 5th U.S. Cavalry in some recollections he prepared in 1894. You don't see this kind of thing much in the veterans' stories:

"When comrades are giving their accounts of battles they were engaged in, many of them can, with apparent truth, give their exact positions in all subsequent movements. I never could, and can only explain it that I was so badly scared and so intensely interested in the immediate demands of the occasion, and my time was so occupied that I had no thought to give to the general direction of affairs and correcting the errors of my superiors, even though I was a noncommissioned officer. This, I think, must be part of sincere regret on the part of said officers. Either of this apology to them, and here with tender it, even if rather tardily offered.”