Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20161119

Association hosted this hourlong talk. Mr. Burden wayne motz has been a licensed guide at the Gettysburg Park for 13 years. He is had 25 years of service there. He is the narrator of the popular gettysburg audio field guide driving tour of the battlefield that was reduced produced where he was a senior historian. An ohio native, he received his degree in military history from ohio state and his masters in American History from shippensburg university. He was appointed chief executive officer of the National Civil war exam located in harrisburg, pennsylvania in 2012. He was selected to that position from a field of over 100 candidates. The National Civil war museum is a 65,000 squarefoot building housing a renowned collection of artifacts and historical interpretations. The mission of the institution is to serve as a National Center to inspire the Lifelong Learning of the American Civil War through preservation and balanced presentation. Before becoming the ceo there, he was the executive director of the Adams County Historical Society in gettysburg, a position he held for eight years. Before that he was the curator at the Cumberland County historical society. Trust inhe author of god and fear nothing. A came out in 1994 and remains the only published biography of general armstead. As mentioned last night, last year he coauthored with jim picketts charge at gettysburg, a guide to the most famous charge in American History. Endorsed the quality of the work has been endorsed and said that students of the battle will enjoy this balanced and thoughtful exploration of picketts charge. The authors leave no aspect of this untouched in their insightful analysis, and it is not to be missed by anyone with an interest in gettysburg. We are fortunate to have wayne as one of our guys tomorrow, as he is considered to be one of gettysburgs best. Asase welcome wayne motts he talks about the Union Defense on Cemetery Ridge. [applause] thank you very much. Good morning everyone, thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. I appreciate being with you here this morning. We are going to talk about the Union Defense of the Cemetery Ridge and you will be walking the confederate attack. I want to recognize my coauthor james hassler, who i know spoke to you last night. What is the first thing he probably set you, what did pickett say after the civil war . I think the yankees had something to do with it. Lets talk about the Union Defense and why it is important for july 3, 1863. We will go through these. This is general meades headquarters. I know there will be more about general meade this afternoon, so i will talk a little about that, but i think it is important for us to understand the preparation the union army had, what they did on july 3 as far as receiving that attack we will talk about. I will refer to it as picketts charge, i dont want to insult anybody out there from North Carolina, tennessee, mississippi. If you cant beat them, join them, i am just going to call it picketts charge today as our name. When you talk about this defense, it is a prepared defense. The union army was prepared to meet this attack on july 3, and how do we know that . How we know the defense was adequate . Because the one. They won. Does that make sense . Of the unions part defense, that is what he mentions later on in writing about it. To give you a little background, we know what happens, we know there is an assault at the southern end of the union line down by where Little Round Top is located. We know it was attacked. An area at the teach orchard Peach Orchard has been taken. That fight goes from about 4 00 until 7 00 in the evening and then there is a fight that goes from 7 00 and till 10 00, lets say, when there is an assault by Richard Ewells command. The end result is that robert e. Lee is not standing on Little Round Top, he is not on cemetery hill, he is not on colts hill. Army has unfinished work here and the Confederate Army has unfinished work here. We have a battle that is not yet over or decisive. There is no question in my mind that the third day of the battle of gettysburg is the turning point. Robert e. Lee had combat power, a Fresh Division that he can use on july 3, 1863. He does not have that on the morning of july 4. He is used all of his divisions and action and he does not have a good reserve. The turning point of the battle is july 3. If you are going to call a council of war on the evening of july 2. John given, one of the people who chronicles this meeting, there represent the second union army corps, talks about it being late in the evening after the action is over, my guess is about 10 00. It is not going to break up until probably around midnight, july 2 and july 3. There is a discussion about what the union army is going to do their, called by general meade. Right at theseup union line. ,fter some informal discussions , danding to john given butterfield, chief of staff of the army, pulls out a paper and start to write questions. Has anybody seen this house . If you know anything about this house, it is and gentlemen, there is a small room there are only two rooms in this house. In the room their meeting in, 12 generals of the union army, it is about 10 feet by 12 feet, and how anybody saw anything with everybody smoking cigars, i dont know. This is a little illustration by james kelly of the council of war. General ward basically sleeps through the entire conference. Dan butterfield pulls out and poses three questions. Should the army remain where it is . Should they retire closer to supply . Should they attack . Number three, and if they do attack, and im paraphrasing, when should it attack . And the first person that has to answer the question is john given, because he is the Junior Member of the Council Acting for the second union army corps. On generalepidation givens part because he is the first nanette has to speak. He basically sets the tone of lets wait, lets see, lets change our position, rectify it slightly. Others say if we are not attacked, we will attack. Howard voted to attack, for example. Everyone that he much said, we are going to stay here for july 3. I think the most interesting that happens is when this meeting breaks up, what goes on after the meeting. That is important for us here, at least according to john given. He says when the meeting broke up, general meade came over to him, and this is exactly what he said, meade made a remark to me that surprised me a great deal. Especially when i look back on the occurrence the next day. Just as the council broke up, he said to me, if lee attacks tomorrow, it will be in your front. That is from his recollections published in 1885. Basically, meade says, i know onre lee is going to attack july 3. He will attack in the middle of this line. So what does he have fair to meet the threat . What is the union army have a meet the threat . The Union Defense is basically three principal divisions, and two of these are going to be from the second union army corps. There the Third Division commanded by alexander hayes, and the Second Division bbon. Nded by john gi also you have the first army corps, elements of that at the southern part of where this union line is a long Cemetery Ridge. You have about nine brigades, and if you count of all the organizations involved in the defense, you probably have 35 separate organizations, which includes sharpshooting regiments of their up there. That does not include the artillery batteries. There are additional amounts of artillery. My guess, and it will be a pure guess, if you are one of those people who want to count numbers in the battle of eddies berg, how many people were standing on Cemetery Ridge when they stepped off. If you are one of those folks, just live with the fact you will never know that number. Just live with that, because youre not going to know what that number is. One of the reasons why is because many of these units are involved in the first days battle, the second days battle, and they have taken losses and we do not know what those losses are. Im going to guess that the defense, were going to guess it is about 6000 union defenders there. From the third core, they were also in fault in picketts charge. We dont know what extent they were involved. I cant tell you whether some of these units got up there when the attack was at its height, whether some of them got there just as it was being repulsed, whether they took part of that repulsed, we dont know for certain. We do know that these third core units actually participate, we just dont know to what extent. There is a tremendous amount of artillery. Hillary hunt henry hunts report talks about the guns on the ridge. There are 43 others along different lines and six guns on Little Round Top. Hunt says that about 80 were effective. , that add up all the guns thatr is well over 180 fired at some time on july 3, 1863. The union army had over 350 pieces of artillery at the battle of gettysburg, and if you add up every gun that fired on july 3, youre probably in the 180 range of guns. Questionhere is no that the union army is ready to receive the attack. Bbon, het told gi said that he hoped he attacked. He said if he attacked, we will defeat him. And that is what he did. They did not have enough manpower to break the line and have staying power, and probably jim talked about the artillery, that is a major reason why the confederate attack fails. We can also put in the feisty is, the determination of the Union Defense that is there for the third days battle. Lets look at what the defense ridge looks like. It is not much, but any piece of high or elevated ground makes a difference when youre talking about a battlefield. Copse of look from the trees that was the aiming point for the attack on july 3, looking south. I have to get a separate pointer here. You can see this line that goes all the way down and you have probably walked along those monuments. To the the monument United States regular army, that is Little Round Top, that is big round top, the vermont memorial. This is the view looking south from the defensive line. Thee is no stonewall all way down at this portion of the union line. Rail that the union army was using to defend the line. There is a gate that the farmers used to get into the fields. , thereright of this wouldve been a stonewall that goes up near the angle that the union troops would have been thinking shoulder behind on july 3. This is the view looking north. North and youking can take a look at this line, this is the monument to the first minnesota voluntary regiment that faso valiantly on july 2. Those poor folks have to be put in the action on july 3. The action is right here where my pointer is located. There are regiments behind where this line is. The 19th massachusetts, the 42nd new york. This line is not what i would very deep. He deep it does have a lot of artillery support. The guns we just mentioned. Illustration,twar this is a famed painting. Up in the top of the view, that would be worthy brian farm would be. You are looking about half a mile, maybe a little more of this defensive line that the confederates are going to try to strike and punch a hole in that the union army is defending for july forward july 3. There is a canon eight designed to tearnfederate army the army limbless. Aid is designed to destroy union morale. If you are a confederate soldier, you are hoping that the union army along this ridge is looking across there and saying, you know what, discretion is the better part of valor, and leave that position. We cannot discount morale as an important factor in any civil war battle. People talk about, what you going to do if you capture the ridge . Is running off the ridge, what is that going to do tomorrow . Panic starts at the back of the line, not in the front. Those folks are trying to stay alive in the front. Cannon aid was to have a part of that. The benefit for the union is they can bring a lot of artillery to bear. They have artillery reserve units they can be brought up and replaced. Aid and at about 3 00. You probably remember the fight between the Union Commanders here. Lets notd about fire, lets fire, from a morale standpoint. You want your troops to know the confederate is taking a pounding. From the point of saving ammunition, you could say henry hunt should prevail there, and dround 3 00, this cannon ai peters out and the confederate defense begins. As the troops approached the road, hancock is on his horse everywhere. A core commanders life does not count when he knew he was going to be in danger. He wanted to show the people he was in command. He writes his horse down to the southern part of the battlefield , to the Southern Area of picketts charge worthy for rs arers vermonte located. Sees when the confederates are approaching to move the Confederate Army is, some of them are moving to where the trees are, and there are supports that are supposed to be supporting picketts command from the south. These men are from florida and alabama. Hancock orders these men to go out and strike the ends of both of these lines. Depending on whose account you want to believe, everybody had this idea. , one of thers kernels in charge of the regiments, hancock had the idea. Hancock, youure can climate because you are in charge. He is writing south, and it is probably near where this spot is. He is shot from his horse. He said, i was shot for my horse while leaving the vermont position from the right proceeding towards the clump of timber. He was riding north and passing in the same general direction, i passed the vermont troops. The place i was shot is not very accurately indicated. Great boulder, i was looking at a low stone wall. I could observe the operations of the enemy. He later on says, i do not recognize the spot now, although i was satisfied of the general accuracy of the place when he was indicated in 1886. He is saying later, i dont remember where it is but i was satisfied earlier that this is where he was wounded. This is in the Gettysburg National Military Park. I tell everyone, this monument is close enough for government work. It doesnt matter if it is exactly the spot, is pretty close. He takes a rifle bullet in his groin, inside his thigh. Of general standard of going to try and get a turn a kid on him. This is what he actually says, dont let me bleed to death. Quick. Ething around it dard had helped one of the aids is writing this account. I saw the dark color coming out in jets, but it could not be arterial blood. He took me for a surgeon and replied with a sigh of relief, that is good, thank you dr. Hancock stays on the field and refuses to leave. And he is taken to a small Field Hospital and taken to a corps hospital, about 14 miles south of gettysburg, and then he is taken to baltimore and philadelphia, and he is a native of pennsylvania near philadelphia, where he recovered. This wound would like him for the rest of his life. Fromes in 1886 convocations of diabetes, and this wound would be with him and take a long time for him to get recovered, and never fully heal. The bullet went in while he was it took in horse, nails and part of the saddle, and the only way to get the bullet out of the bottling body was for the surgeon to make him a saddle for him to sit in your the doctor probed into his leg and pulled it out. You can imagine how painful that mustve been. The union army deprived of hancocks services for pretty much the next year. Im going to travel from the left of the Union Defense to the right. The southern part of the defense to where hancock was wounded and then north of it. One of the things i like about one what we put together in our work, and something about tickets charge, picketts charge, is the stories. Im interested in what people did, what happened to them, and who they are. Maybe because i spend a lot of time trying to figure out where they were on the battlefield and how many men there are. I told you we dont know exactly what that is going to be. Im more excited about the people who are part of the Union Defense here. Lets take a look at the map we just described for general hancock. Here is the right flank of the get command. The 13th and 16th vermont strike the right flank of picketts command and then they strike the left flank of the floridians that are coming up to support pickett. Because of the smoke and confusion, they are not exactly right on his flank to protect it. It is great when you can use maps out of your own book, you dont have to borrow anything. Here is the defensive line right here. We are going to talk about this defensive line right in their. Lets talk about the Commanding Officer of the Second Division of the second union army corps, he is commanding the second core here, that is general john gibbon, he was in the council of war that we talked about. What an interesting individual. He was born outside of philadelphia and his father was a doctor. He then decided to get out of the medical business and moved to charlotte, North Carolina, where he became an assessor for the United States mint. So for his early life, he is going to spend it in pennsylvania and that he is going to go to west point. He doesnt really spend time in North Carolina, but that is where his family relocates. You probably know he has three brothers fighting for the confederacy in the civil war. Three of them. My colleague and i were the first persons the publish images together of all three of gibbon s brothers. You will see them here today. Lets start with his older brother, lardner gibbon. He was one of the first persons to survey the amazon river. He had been living down and tell, florida, he was a farmer after he got out of military service after 20 years. He would join the Confederate Ordnance Department and become an ordinance officer in the civil war. He later would lead Confederate Service on august 5, 1863. This brother is not at the battle of gettysburg. A man in the United States navy, retired to florida to be a farmer when the civil war broke out. His date of birth, 1820. John, 1827. John has two brothers who are older in Confederate Service. After the work, john tries to get a pardon for his brother. There is a record of him asking for a pardon for lardener. Has a second brother, also older than he is, born in 1822 that followed in his fathers footsteps and became a doctor. Medical school. That is robert gibbon. He is a surgeon at 28, for the North Carolina infantry regiment. He is one mile away from john in picketts charge. The records are not complete enough for us to know whether he was at gettysburg, but the next two men we are going to show you, they are before and after gettysburg, so it appears these men are actually at gettysburg standing one mile away from john when he is defending that ridge on july 3, 1863. 1898 and iss in buried in charlotte, North Carolina. Let us take a look at the last brother. This is necklace, the youngest brother. They all have a likeness to john. Take a look at robert and tell me he does not look like john. They look very close. Nicholas is the youngest of the brothers and he is born in 1837. There are some accounts he was born in pennsylvania and other accounts that he is born in North Carolina. What we know about nicholas is that he spent his entire life in North Carolina. He doesnt really have connection. So even if he is born in pennsylvania, his family moved the year he was born to North Carolina, so he has no northern connection whatsoever. He went to Jefferson Medical College in philadelphia, pennsylvania, and gave that up and became a commissioned captain as the assistant commissary of substance. This was at the time of the civil war, and he is also a member of the 28th North Carolina infantry regiment of the battle of gettysburg. It appears this man defending the ridge on july 3 has two of his brothers, and you just saw all of their photographs, what an interesting story, what is going through his mind at the time. This man doesnt die until 1917. Given is wounded. Line on july union 3. And this is down on the southern part of the union line. We just talked about that a few minutes ago. This is a black walnut tree that is reported to be at the place he was wounded in 1863. Struck near there. This is what we call a witness tree. He recovers, he is in the little bighorn operation. Is buried in the National Arlington cemetery. This is a man in charge of most of the defense this year. Straight in front of the white flank. Everybody always asks what is your favorite quotes Favorite Book on the battle of gettysburg , it is called fallen leaves. On january 21, 1822. He is a graduate of the 1860 class of harvard. Anyone else know what famous Union Officer was in this class . Robert gold shop. He was killed in july 30, 1863. Two brothers in the service, in the civil war. He has commissioned in 1861 the 20th mass. His best friend and roommate at harvard. There are at least five times they fought each other. In fredericksburg their companies fought on the streets quite opposite of each other. Cap it the one that is going to become Commanding Officer of the 20th massachusetts regimen there. That says when he sees the confederate line, he says this. Saw them i knew it should get them fredericksburg. You let the regimented in front of us and then you pull them over. Colors first. E there are only two groups of tests through her only groups of two or three men running around like chickens with their head cut off. To the right when there were pits when there were. General, he may have well been wounded by this on july 3, 1863. Companyhe men in the 1845, he was in 1861 class of harvard. Youngest men in command of a unit at the battle of gettysburg. He is 18 years old. Commissioningone one officer i know younger than this man. Old atry was 17 years the battles of battle of gettysburg. This is one of the youngest commanders. He joins the unit on may 2, 1863. When does he go into action . The very next day. He goes into action and finds himself in command company a Must Immediately because the Company Commander and Everybody Knows who he is. Officerhe commanding and sumner payne takes over for him. Of gettysburg he is cheering his men on. Raising his knee sword and says isnt it glorious. He is buried in the gettysburg cemetery. Over and see the graves. 18 years old in the battle of gettysburg, killed fighting against the right flank, the 11 and 24th of virginia. Lets go up further. Alexander stewart webb, Commanding Officer of the famed philadelphia brigade, just got command only four days before the battle of gettysburg. Dies at 1911 and is buried at the cemetery. I have a daughter who doesnt care thing about the civil war. She loves animals. You probably didnt know this is one of the first president and founding members of the westminster general club. Civil war all of us are living in new york after the American Civil War. This line is right here. Heres the line of units. This is the unit right in the eye of the storm. This is exactly where the confederates are going to hit. And trying to shore up this line as the men actually break through it. He grabs a hold shortly before he is hit. Hes trying to drag those men forward. He becomes wounded on july 3, 1863 and it is his command that takes this attack. This is a photograph of the area of the angle. If this man it showing where that is what is depicted. This is the original barn. See is onehat you built after the battle. At all of that. Look at how open that is. What you cannot see are the undulations in the ground. We do know the area is open. That artillery battery would have been right up against the stone wall. That monument is the monument to the 72nd military regimen. This is another view of it. With two of them right up along where that wall actually is. My guess is this is where they actually cross the wall. And these are where the guns were for the candidate. And my colleague and i can show you any number of accounts on that wall. We went with two. 22 years old. This is a man who graduated from west point in june of 1861. A model artillery officer killed in a battle in 2014. The first time i know about he was awarded a posthumous medal of honor. That medal of honor has been donated to the gettysburg Military Park and that is where it is on display right now. On display with it is an item held in the national war museum. This is a september 1862 photograph. Is in the collection of the National Civil war muiseum and right there it is. Is on loan today to the national gettysburg military farm as an exhibit at gettysburg. Had we know . That has his name right in it. I like artifacts. One thing that folks dont to do a lot of is we put artifacts in there. Cushing was manning one of the two guns up against the stone wall. It is possible more went down there. Man beside him is inderick joined the army 1856 and when civil war broke out he was just finishing his first of a fiveyear enlistment. He receives the medal of honor for action in the battle of gettysburg. Taking shortly before his death, he is buried in Arlington National cemetery. We have some accounts, he literally has to hold him up there. The enemy was within 450 yards , and within a few seconds after that he was wounded in the testicles. A very severe and painful wound. He called me and told me to stand by him so i could impart orders to the battery. I wanted him to go to the rear. No, he said, i have to stay within the fight. Yards,emy got within 200 they opened gaps in the confederate line. Lieutenant cushing was shot through the mouth and instantly killed. The man that is standing right there is frederick so he is shot through the open mouth as the confederates are coming up. This is not the only place the confederates reached a line. They think that is the only place that the line is breached. It is breached at several other places. By where thatwn and one just south of where the angle is located. One of the interesting stories we found was im sorry you cant see that image very well. This was a previously unpublished photograph. Regular army images are rare. That, findingn to Army Enlisted men is the rarest of the rare. From a private collection of friends of mine. Man and listed when he was 18 years old in 1862. It appears he is 18 or 19 years old. His occupation is listed as farmer. Say he was wounded in the hip by a shell fragment. This is a copy of the record. Died july 13, 1863. There inee hes gettysburg. They didnt do a very good job of spelling his name. Or is it his grave . We found this article. The body will be removed next week to bloomsburg, pennsylvania. Only after his actual death was governmentset the claim that the veteran had been dead for over half a century. Listed in war departments, he was never able to prove he was alive after that date. Is he in that grave . We dont know. He could be. This is a man who may be died at the battle of gettysburg. There are more things to be done in bloomsburg pennsylvania because my guess is his body may have been, there is more research to be done. And demand 50 years later claiming he is the man. Why you would want to make up a name saying your name is ansell facet is beyond me. To me it seems like the story may be true. They run part of them right to the trees. Crossing the stonewall and gets right inside where that angle is. And a civil war artist did an illustration of it right there. The man in the foreground is the color bearer here at the edge was so close that the color bearer of his unit carrying the massachusetts state colors, that is the white flag right there, ran into the color bearer and took the flag out of his hand. This is a way you get a medal of honor. And the 19th of massachusetts has five medals of honor. One of the standards was captured in this way. The color bearer knocked down, the color bearer of the enemy frontline took the colors from his hand. Cant get any closer. Man carrying those colors was a member of the company i of the 19th infantry regiment. According to the records he is hispanic man of descent to receive the medal of honor ever. This is how close this Battle Action is. A part where the color bearer is get right into this action and mix it up. If you stand on the edge, that is exactly where this took place. From this account we have. You go further up the line youll see the units of alexander hayes. He owned a piece of property. This is the extreme left of what we call ticket charge. Be theiss brigade will far left of this assault. This line is over half a mile long. The 11th of mississippi surrendered right behind the barn. You have the union Army Shooting at the confederates behind this barn about 20 feet away. Their flag is captured and taken by the 39th new york volunteer infantry regiment. Capital they carried in the battle of gettysburg. This is a lot further than where the angle is. The union army is going to be shooting out from that stonewall. Company d. One of the men in charge of that is captain Samuel Chapman armstrong. He is 24 years old in the battle of gettysburg. The only mannow born in hawaii in the battle of gettysburg. Place of birth, maui, hawaii. This is a commander born in hawaii in the battle of gettysburg. There, he leftol there and went to attend Williams College as a junior there. Commission to captain the fit captain the infantry, lead the company in the battle of gettysburg and later becomes an officer in the ninth United States color troops. He dies may 11, 1983 and is buried here in virginia at hampton virginia. Man is a hawaii and born leading the company in the battle of gettysburg, capturing and prisoners on the extreme left of this assault. Just talked about took less than one hour. A confederates that he recorded on his watch, they were 19 minutes coming. There was fighting and a withdrawal, it was about an hour. When we walk that battleground we are going to talk about some confederate stories. Defense,a wonderful prepared, maintained, well executed. About the 6000 defenders they had, 1500 of them were killed, captured, or wounded. Far fewer than what the confederates were suffering, but still pretty high. Some of these regiments in the 40 range or more. What we cant lose sight of is the stories behind this. These are all important to this. Hopefully you wont be thinking of numbers, you will be thinking of people. I like a good story when told. Thank you very much, everybody. And we left enough time for questions. None . Yes . And youre going to have to speak up. Do you want to visit the museum in harrisburg . You showed me yourself you have breckenridge is breckenridges sword there. I personally saw them myself, you have quite a collection there. Comment isection or i am honored to be the chief executive on us chief executive officer. We have a wonderful collection of threedimensional objects and many associated with gettysburg. Some of those you just mentioned , part of that collection. Every day is christmas for me. You better hold up for the mike here . You mentioned there were multiple locations on the line where the confederates penetrated the line. Mentioned the obvious one and said to to the south. What about the supposed story of the north carolinians that penetrated the line and went into ziglars grove . I dont think they got that far. There are a north carolinians that are listed getting as far as gettysburg. They are actually shown on a , not shown over where the line is. These accounts are i saw so in so get to hear. When you look at the primary sources, i dont think they got that far. The best evidence is the diary of william peel. His diary is at the Mississippi Department of archives. And there is the extreme left. He talks about rushing to the barn to get cover. So for me, the best documentation i can give you is up against the brian barn. It is literally right there. Others . Thank you very much. [applause] this weekend on cspan3, ght at eight eastern, dealey difference between not seem on sunday dungeons between nazi mobs hunting down jews and professorurg college on world war ii and its impact on civil rights. 1968 blacke panthers, founded 50 years ago. Apparent that they act in the security of the Business Owners and the community. And also it is kept intact. On excavating the revolutionary battle saratoga field in new york. At the time she died she was tall, 60 years old, and a battle casualty. Eastern, 0 they put you in a little with the wings cut out. They give you more wing and a little bigger engine on the thing. Then when you are ready for the big day you talk to your instructor, who had been talking to you on the ground. An airplane and make your first real solo flight at home by yourself. Taken us on a tour of the military aviation museum, home to one of the largest private collections in world war i. American history tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. Santa Clara University professor nancy unger talks about the role of gay bars in American History. By the end of the 19th century, bars and clubs catering to homosexuals could be found in most major american cities. These establishments offered gaze and let the offered gaze offered gays and lesbians a place to socialize