Error in Ken Burns: The Civil War

I found an error in one of the first hand accounts contained in Ken Burns: The Civil War. The issue concerns Confederate Colonel William C. Oates comments regarding the Round Tops. The series introduces Oates as the commander of the 15th Alabama which is not a lie but when he refers to "Within half an hour I could convert" the big hill into a Gibraltar." In his account after the battle, Oates was referring to the first hill that his regiment climbed and that was what later became Big Round Top not Little Round Top. However, in Burns' series, the words "Within half an hour I could convert 'Little Round Top' into a Gibraltar. Another incorrect statement by Ken Burns The Civil War was that Lee wanted the Round Tops taken. There is no evidence that Lee ever made that statement or wanted them unless you refer to his statements in the days, months and years following Gettysburg.

Sources:

Lafantasie, Glenn W. Twilight at Little Round Top July 2, 1863--The Tide Turns at Gettysburg (Vintage Civil War Library). New York: Vintage, 2007.

Burns, Ken. The Civil War.

July 4th thoughts

Everybody celebrates the Declaration of Independence, shoots off fireworks and cooks hotdogs on Independence Day but I cannot help but think of other things. Yes I am biased but the twin victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg are rarely thought of as we bite into our ketchup covered hotdogs. Those victories were key to Union victory and set the stage for the end of the most destructive war on North American soil. It saddens me that this day is so focused on July 4, 1776 and we rarely recall the importance of July 4, 1863 when two towns, one in the north and one in the south had the war brought to their doorsteps and the country was saved on their farms. Yes I agree that we need to remember John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin but we also have to remember the heroes that saved the country that they founded and the men of blue and gray who fought over the ideals that they were unable to resolve. Colonel William C. Oates, Colonel Josh Chamberlian, Sam Watkins, Joseph E. Johnston, "Sam" Hood, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, U.S. Grant, William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, Robert E. Lee, and the countless thousands met in mortal combat for four long years. To think that this day is only about 1776. July 4, 1863 is equally important and deserves its place in our collective memory.

I also added a new link. Check out http://www.echoesofgettysburg.com/index.html for some really cool insight, artifacts and photos of Gettysburg.

ALSO CHECK OUT http://www.cspan.org/lincoln200years/

Book Review #2 Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates

Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates (Hardcover) by Glenn W. LaFantasie.

Lee, Grant, Longstreet, Sherman, Custer and other Civil War generals have many biographies for readers to enjoy. But it is rare for a biography of a colonel or in this case a lieutenant colonel to appear in the national Civil War library. Subjects such as these are too infrequent because of the lack of source depth and the amount of time it takes to put one together. Robert E. Lee or Grant have papers/letters in libraries and have and enormous biographical library behind them. So it is easier to write a biography of Grant but tackling the lesser known officers is a vein that historians need to hit more.

Author Glenn LaFantasie tackled an extremely difficult topic in his biography of William C. Oates (1833 -- 1910). LaFantasie's subject was a true man of his time and Oates should have had the nickname "Contradiction" for his attitudes and lifestyle. For example, he had a black lover (who mothered one of his three sons) but was a racist. Oates was a respected citizen, attorney, politician but murdered a man and beat up another on the steps of the Alabama legislature. He was wounded six times in battle but rose no higher in rank than lieutenant colonel of the 15th Alabama regiment. He felt that Lincoln could have made reconstruction easier but saw Lincolns presidency as a threat to the southern way of life.

LaFantasie's research is solid, straight-forward and is very detailed. He went through archives in several states, explored newspapers, magazine articles, periodicals and most of his citations are from primary sources. When I buy a Civil War book I really look at the sources that the author used because it is so vital to use primary sources. Too often you find books that use secondary sources and the only primary things that you see are the official war records. Today, the Internet makes things so much easier that authors can find things a lot easier than they did in 1901.

The research in this book reveals a man who struggled but was able to succeed during a difficult time in American history. Oates was a Confederate hero who dealt with the loss of his arm, struggled with his feelings of manhood and his regret at the loss of his brother John on Little Round Top. Throughout his life, Oates resisted everything but temptation which is characterized in his relationship with women. After losing his arm in 1864 Oates is nursed to health but a local family that in Alabama. The family gives Oates a black servant to help him to recover and he ends up having a sexual relationship with her that lasts a few years. This relationship ends up with Oates having a child. Later on he has a relationship with a 14 year old girl that produces another child. When he finally marries at the age of forty-eight it is to a 19 year old woman. So Oates was a man who had a lot of inner-conflicts that he took out on other people including the women in his life.

Glenn LaFantasie provides his readers with a full picture of Oates life. Besides the things that I previously mentioned he goes into detail (but not boring detail) about Oates career as a lawyer before and after the war. His experiences as a representative in the United States Congress is explored but since Oates spent 14 years in Washington D.C. one wishes that LaFantasie would have explored it more. His war years are explored in detail but LaFantasie doesn't overwhelm his readers with useless facts but does a good job by avoiding a pitfall that a lot of Civil War biographies fall into. The 15th Alabama's struggle for Little Round Top versus the 20th Maine could have taken up hundreds of pages. Glenn doesn't spend the entire book focusing on it and that is a good thing. He gives us what we need to know and maintains that focus for the entire book.

Although, the author spends some time criticizing the sexist and racist attitudes of the south he does provide an excellent picture of his subject. The best part of the book is Oates and his battle for a monument for his brother John and his 15th Alabama regiment on Little Round Top. I've always called this the 2nd struggle for Little Round Top because the United States government resisted any push for Confederate monuments at Gettysburg. Check out this book from your library or purchase a copy, it is well worth it and it is a great read.

Respect my brother!

The leader of the 15th Alabama, Col. William C. Oates had a brother named John who was killed during the assualt on Little Round Top. After the war, William Oates had trouble seperating himself from the loss of his loved one and he couldn't get over the Confederate loss at Gettysburg. In his 1902 memoirs Oates would write "Lieutenant John A. Oates, my dear brother, succeeded to the command of the company, but was pierced through by a number of bullets, and fell mortally wounded." In fact John was wounded by six bullets and would die soon afterwards. After the war, Oates tried in vain to get the Parks Commission and the Federal government to errect a momument to the gallentry of the 15th Alabama. At the time, the Confederates had no momuments to their efforts at Gettysburg. Oates failed in his many attempts to honor the 15th Alabama and he died in 1910. No Confederate momument honoring any Confederate unit until the Virginia momument was errected in 1917. Today, there is still no momument honoring the 15th Alabama at Gettysburg just Little Round Top that stands as a natural reminder to the loss of Lt. John Oates and many of the men of the 15th Alabama.

Oates even offered to pay for the momument in full but was refused. He did write out words to be placed on the momument. Here are the words that William C. Oates felt would best honor his comrades

To the memory of Lt. John A. Oates
and his gallant comrades
who fell here July 2nd, 1863.
The 15th Ala. Regt., over 400 strong,
reached this spot, but for
lack of support had to retreat.
Lt. Col. Feagin lost a leg
Capts. Brainard and Ellison
Lts. Oates and Cody and
33 men were killed, 76 wounded
and 84 captured
by
Ge. Wm. C. Oates who was Colonel of the Regiment

Sources:

The photo is William C. Oates in 1864

LaFantasie, Glenn W., Gettysburg Requiem: The Life of William C. Oates, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Oates, William C., The War Between the Union and the Confederacy (New York and Washington, D.C.: The Neale Publishing Company, 1905).

The Forgotten Battles of the Civil War: The Battle of Wauhatchie, October 28-29 1863

I wanted to make my blog unique from other blogs by talking about unusual and unique things that make it so interesting to me. One element that I am adding to my blog is "The Forgotten Battles of the Civil War". With this feature I will explore an unknown or forgotten battle and provide the importance of the battle within the larger scale of the war. The Battle of Wauhatchie is unique for several distinct reasons. First, it was one of the rare night battles of the war. Battles during that time period were usually fought during the day because it was easier to see the enemy and achieve victory. Secondly, the battle was one of the events that caused dissention and enforced the discord amongst James Longstreet's First Corps. Also, the battle involved Confederate General Evander M. Law and that makes it partiually appealing to me. Finally, the battle has recieved scant attention and when i've read histories of it I always walk away confused about it. So here goes.

Confederate General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee began a siege of Chattanooga after their smasing victory at Chickamuaga in September 1863. After recieving reinforcements and a new commander named U.S. Grant the Federal forces looked to establish a supply line for their troops. Grant felt that the Union army could easily whip Bragg's forces after establishing an opening for military and food supplies. The new Union commander ordered what would be later known as "The Cracker Line Operation" in an effort to break the siege on October 26, 1863.

The Federal objective was the opening of the Kelley's Ferry road which led to Chattanooga from Brown’s Ferry on the Tennessee River. Also a simultaneous advance up Lookout Valley would secure the opportunity for Grant's army to begin attacking the Confederate siege lines. Federal forces under Brigader General William Smith and Brigader General William Hazen were ordered to establish a beachhead at Brown's Ferry. Meanwhile, three divisions under General Joseph Hooker would through Lookout Valley towards Brown's Ferry. At 3:00 am, on October 27, portions of Hazen’s brigade embarked upon pontoons and floated around Moccasin Bend to Brown’s Ferry. Confederate forces assigned to protect this vital area were easily pushed back and the Federals were victorious in establishing their beachhead.

In order to protect his communcations, Hooker detached Brig. Gen. John W. Geary’s division at Wauhatchie Station on October 28th. After observing these Federal movements, Confederate commanders James Longstreet and Braxton Bragg decided to make a night assault against Union forces. Their assualt was scheduled for 10 p.m on October 28 but confusion delayed their assualt until after midnight. Longstreet put two of his best brigaders in charge of his attack. Brigader General Micah Jenkins was placed in overall command of the movement and his suborniate was Brigader General Evander M. Law. Both men had been rivals for command of one of Longstreets best fighting positions and this conflict would play a role in the battle to come.

Jenkins placed Law's brigade on high ground just east of Kelly's Ferry road. Meanwhile, Confederate troops under John Bratton were ordered to attack Geary. The Federal forces were taken completly by surprise which was made worse by the heavy and confused fighting that followed. Bratton's attacks were beaten off and hearing the sounds of battle, Hooker, at Brown's Ferry, sent General Oliver O. Howard with two XI Army Corps to Wauhatchie to help. These troops ran head long into Evander Law's forces guarding the rear or Bratton's attack force. Law's men inflicted heavy casualites on the boys in blue and even beat back several attacks by a much stronger force. But Law was easily flanked by the Federals and he withdrew from his defensive positions before recieving the order to withdraw. This order would come to haunt General Law for years to come. The causalities for both sides stood at 828. (US 420; CS 408)

After the battle, the commanders on both sides wrote accounts about their troops movements but many of them contridict each other. The Battle of Wauhatchie was a night fight and many of the commanders were confused with what happened to them in the dim of battle. Some Union accounts even state that they were attacked by Longstreet's entire corps which was untrue. Perhaps the biggest myth of the battle was perpetuated by the overall Federal commander. After the war, U.S. Grant wrote an account of how he broke the Confederate siege. He stated that some Federal mules were frightened by the sounds of battle and charged into Law's lines. The Confederates retreated because they thought that caverly was attacking them. In reality, Law's command had already begun to withdraw before the "charge of the mules" took place.
The story didn't end there. A court of inquiry was called to investigate if Hooker and his fellow commanders were "inefficent" during this short campaign. All men were easily cleared of the charges and since the battle was a Union victory they had nothing to worry about. With an open supply line the Union army moved to defeat Bragg and end the siege. By the end of November, after fierce fighting on nearby Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Braggs forces were forced to retreat. The Battle of Chattanaga was another Union victory and it paved the way for Grant's promotion and move east to face off against Robert E. Lee.

For the Confederates, the transition after the Battles at Wauhatchie and Chattannoga didn't go so well. Longstreet attributed the Confederate failure to "a strong feeling of jealousy among the brigader generals". He pushed for charges against Law but these charges were later dropped. I'll save the Jenkins versus Law issue for another blog. However the ramifications for this battle were far reaching because Braxton Bragg would be removed from command after his failed Chattonnoga campaign. This would clear the path for Union General William T. Sherman to begin his march to take Atlanta.

Sources:

Freeman, Douglas S., Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command (3 volumes), Scribners, 1946.

U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 Volumes, Index and Atlas., Washington D.C. 1880-1901.