Part 1 (1/2)
Reply of the Philadelphia Brigade a.s.sociation to the Foolish and Absurd Narrative of Lieutenant Frank A. Haskell.
by Various.
HEADQUARTERS, PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE a.s.sOCIATION, 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 a.s.sociation 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 Cla.s.s of 1854, Dartmouth College, and republished in 1908 under the auspices of the Ma.s.sachusetts 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 a.s.sociation, 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 Cla.s.s of 1854 of Dartmouth College,' and again republished by the Loyal Legion of Ma.s.sachusetts 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 cla.s.s 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.signed to the First Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. The Division was commanded by Gen. Gibbon, Gen. Hanc.o.c.k 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 ma.n.u.script 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 Cla.s.s 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 cla.s.smate 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 Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 endors.e.m.e.nt 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 Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 G.o.d, 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 pa.s.sion 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 d.a.m.ned 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 Cus.h.i.+ng. 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 a.s.sistance.
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 ma.s.ses 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.