Gettysburg story from a new perspective. One that focuses on both the military aspects as well as the civilian perspective. Beyond that museum, we offer additional programming for both the general consumer and groups alike. Suchdition to book talks as today, you can experience our living history encampment programs most weekend, and we have a saturday spotlight theory where we have various Educational Programs in the evening. When you are in gettysburg, be sure to visit us at 297 steinway avenue. We are open seven days a week. You can also get a best visit us online at gettysburgonline. Com. We moved our first speaker today. Bretxker,s paul e. Who received an award for atstanding in your thesis the university in new jersey. He spent years researching and writing his book, observing hancock at gettysburg which was published in 2016. He now teaches at Morris County school of technology in denville, new jersey. Latest article, the hancock power controversy is now available in a new rhythm released july issue of gettysburg magazine. Without further introduction, at present to you all record i present to you the author. Thank you. Thank you very much, miss myers. It is my pleasure to be here. I assume that everybody who needs to hear me can hear me well enough right now. I have nothing to correct as far as miss myers said, it was very well done and pronounced. Let us get to it. My book is about hancock at and since we are relatively limited, i can talk about this forever basically, i can talk about it for 30 hours, we are limited to a little over 30 minutes. So i am going to focus on hancock at gettysburg on the first day of atul first day of battle here at gettysburg. But first, some very brief background, to talk about who general winfield hancock, who he was. Well, he was born and identical twin, with his brother, hillary , february 14. In Montgomery Square pennsylvania. The two boys ended up going up essentially in morristown pennsylvania, where they relocated to a very young age. Onwas admitted to west point july 1, of 1840. Out,would be, as it turns 23 years to the day before he rode onto the battlefield here at gettysburg as a Major General. It may not have seemed like he would someday become a Major General based on the fact that 18th in a class of 25, the class of 1844 at the u. S. Military he was well respected and well liked despite mediocre grades. He joined the mexican war after lobbying very hard for it over approximately a year in july 1847. After the mexican war, he met Almira Russell in st. Louis and they were married in 1850. Later in october, she gave birth to their son russell and in 1857 to their daughter ada. Hancock in the civil war, when the civil war broke out, he was not a general then. I believe captain hancock was in los angeles, which was more than just a threehour flight away from the eastern theater. He did not get actively involved in the civil war until the Peninsula Campaign the spring of 1862. That is where he won renown, the battle of williamsburg of early in the Peninsula Campaign. I believe general mcclellan referred to him as hancock the superb because of the job he did. And the name stuck. Later in 1862, he replaced the mortally wounded general richardson, commanding a second Core Division at antietam. He took that division into battle in the futile series of charges that took place at fredericksburg that december, 1862. About two months before gettysburg was the battle of chancellorsville, where his division carried out what was considered a brilliant rearguard action, helping the army get away to safety at the battle of chancellorsville. Come june 10, about 21 days before the battle of gettysburg, he becomes commander of the second corps. He is only in command for about three weeks when the battle starts on july 1. What made hancock superb . I like to break it down into three things. Excuse me, i like to break down into four things, three of which were most important during the first day of engagement. Tactical facility, a fast eye, the ability to read a battlefield instantly, which the french would say what is , literally translated as the flash of the eye, a coupes doiel. A fast eye. He was a good tactician in that way. Importancet of great on the first day, but important in the next two days was his tenacious discipline. He was a disciplinarian. The decisiveness very decisive , guy, a very confident man. When he made a decision, when he took sides in a controversy, he stuck with it. He could it wasnt just a matter of being stubborn. He really believed it. He had confidence in his decisions. This helped him deliver orders very emphatically. He did not hesitate. He did not waffle. He did not mince words. When he made an order, it was clear what the person he was ordering was supposed to do. They tended to do it. This was related to his charisma. Some people called him the most handsome man in the army of the potomac, so surely he was goodlooking to substantial degree. He had great posture. He was 62. He always dressed very cleanly and very well organized. Apparently in combat, he was magnetic. You could recognize them from afar. He had a booming voice, and speaking of his voice, he was quite profane in battle. Which seemed to be effective for him. In the Social Circle, however, he was properly courteous, generous, and genial. He was popular both among his Social Circle and as a combat commander. That brings us to july 1. What is going on on july 1 . Well, the confederates are north of gettysburg. In the process of concentrating, lee would prefer them to concentrate around cash town. This diagram is not is not a diagram of a historical actuality. It is for the confederates. It is not for the union army. This was meades plan. This was the plan he intended , at least tentatively to use. To the south and southeast were baltimore and washington, which were the two main points that meade, commanding the army of the potomac was supposed to cover, and probably not long after midnight on july 1, the wee hours of july 1, he and his staff came up with this plan to organize the army around pipe creek and await attack from lee. That is the tentative plan when hancock rides up with is corps, about 12 miles south of gettysburg and meets meade in the late morning. Meade tells them about the pipe dashcam him about the pipe creek plan. They discuss various matters and adjourn. I believe at the time they did know the first corps had been engaged in some way outside of gettysburg. They definitely know it after the meeting finishes, meade gets word that general reynolds, commanding the first corps, which has begun an engagement with the army of northern virginia, he learns that commander reynolds has been either killed or taken out, unable to perform. He says to hancock, goes to hancocks tent and tells him, i want you to go to the field at gettysburg and take command. The 11th corps under general howard was also there. Howard by rank assumed command when reynolds was killed. So he is leading the 11th corps. There is also the first corps and beaufords cavalry outside of gettysburg. Meade sends hancock to take command. There is an irregularity to that. Hancock is junior in rank to general howard, not by much. I believe they became Major Generals on the same day, which makes them equal. But i believe howard became a Brigadier General before hancock, making him hancocks senior. By the way, this picture, this image shows the two men, hancock and meade, at gettysburg. Im not saying this illustration intends to illustrate them at tonnytown. It is just a nice image of the two meeting. Here is a diagram that intends to be accurate for july 1. We have the confederates attempting to concentrate west of gettysburg. We have the union scattered not very far from gettysburg. What happens is, by the end of the day, only the first corps, which is already fighting, and the 11th corps would reach the battlefield that day to take part in the battle. While roughly the entire Confederate Army, or almost the entire Confederate Army gets there first. The confederates get there as some would say firstus with the mostus. On the right they outflank general barlow, and on the left they overpowered general doubleday and gain a very thorough victory, pushing all the union units from the first and 11th corps back into town, a very small town not much more than 3000 inhabitants. Now you are talking about 20,000 or so union troops retreating into town and out through south of town, coming up cemetary hill. This defeat occurs while hancock is en route to gettysburg. When hancock it gets close to gettysburg the first order , hancock made at gettysburg, he finds wagons on the taneytown and gettysburg road, and he orders them south, to get out of the way in case retreat is needed. He is acting like a commander of the field even before he gets there. I have put some circles around the main players here in this nice illustration of what it may have looked like at the Evergreen Cemetery gate when hancock arrives. He is there appearing to give orders to general doubleday, and there is general howard who seems to be sulking, seems to be unhappy about something. The fact is nobody is sure what happened when hancock arrived on the field. He was supposed to tell howard that he was taking command, and one assumes he did so. However, there are various there is a spectrum of opinions. It is a controversy, the hancockhoward controversy. There is a spectrum of versions as to what happens when these two men met. Howard who was in command and hancock who came to take over. On the one hand you have hancocks version of events, which is he simply rode up, found howard, told him he was taking command of the field, and howard acquiesced. On the other extreme, you might call it the howard camp, is that hancock said meade sent me here to take command, and howard said, no, you cannot take command. I am your senior in rank. In between is the idea, also pushed by some people, that they knew how important it was to cooperate, and they split command one way or the other, one version being one guy take the right side of the Baltimore Pike and the other guy take the left side. Here is some flavor of what we are talking about. A major who claims to have been the only one to have witnessed the initial conversation between hancock and howard when hancock arrived, he says that howard, when hancock told him i am here to take command, he said no. Hancock offered to show him the orders, and howard said simply, general hancock, i do not doubt your word but you can give no , orders while i am here. Meanwhile hancock himself in a , later publication, said simply that howard replied when asked if he wanted to read the orders from meade, replied that he did not want to read the orders but acquiesced in my assumption of command. These guys go and argue about this for the rest of their lives. A person who gives you an idea of the middle ground version is howards younger brother charles howard, who was on general oliver otis howards staff. He is one of several people who says they split command, saying howard replied now was no time for talking and would be glad of hancocks cooperation and suggested that he locate the troops south of the pike, and that howard would attend to the north side. There is your three versions. Hancock assumes command is one. Howard stubbornly maintains command is another, and they split command is the third. Abner doubleday later wrote several books, and in one of the books he wrote we have a copy of hancocks writing in the margins of doubledays book, where it says howard refused to accept hancocks authority. And quite a scene occurred. Hancock scribbles in the margins , general howard made no objection, no scene occurred. You see how these two different opinions or three are not going to relent. We do know that howard wrote a note to meade later in the day, referring to the order to replace him, the above will has mortified and will disgrace me. Howard is clearly upset about something. He is upset about being replaced by command, but he does not admit to it. Another version by howard, his official report published at the end of august that year, he says that, actually hancock said general meade had sent him on hearing the state of affairs that he had given him his instructions while under the impression that he was my senior. This is a new version of what happened. Meade deed intended to replace me in command, but he was mistaken. He thought hancock was my senior. Hancock in his initial report, i official report very simply and clear i arrived at , gettysburg and assumed command. One last bit of the back and forth, the sort of courtroom argument if you will. In 1876, howard publishes an article in the atlantic magazine saying that hancock said general meade has sent me to represent him on the field. There is no talk according to howard about replacing him in command. It did not strike me that that hancock without troops was doing more than directing matters is a temporary chief of staff for meade. Hancock seizes on this. He thinks as he publishes an article a few months later in the galaxy, december 1876, he thinks he has caught howard in an inconsistency. He says that this proves general howard contradicts himself. He admits when i arrived on the field he knew that general meade had sent me to supersede him. In his article, it did not strike him that hancock without troops was doing more than directing matters as a temporary chief of staff. If he stands by his report, he falls by his article. If he stands by his article, he falls by his report. I think the facts are pretty well on hancocks side. He makes a good point here. Im going to explain why i dont think what transpired between them was particularly important. Here is what i mean. Hancock has this commanding presence. Hancock has a reputation. People know about him. People respect him. People want to follow his orders. It was hancock who was animated, dynamic, who is magnetic in his appearing to the fleeing soldiers. General warren, soon to become the savior of Little Round Top says i think hancocks personal , appearance there did a great deal toward restoring order. Sydni cook of the 147 new york says, hancock almost let us to doubt whether there was cause for retreat at all. Er ofenant wiki a whitti the knoll. That slipped my mind. Stephens knoll, his battery, i he was replaced when stevens was wounded. I shall never forget the inspiration of his commanding, controlling presence and the fresh courage he imparted. This is whittier commanding stephens battery. A follower or subordinate in of cutler says cutlers manor in and action was simply the result of hancocks manner and action. We are getting the sense of the obedience of the fleeing soldiers who stopped fleeing and took positions. Carl shirts, a Division Commander in the 11th corps, second in command to howard, says his mere presence was a reinforcement, and everyone on the field felt stronger for his being there. This is howards second in command saying that. , actually, let me continue this. Francis wiggin of the 16th maine talks about the magnificent form of hancock. Who was mounted on a noble charger. William switten of the New York Times said he had magnetism. This quality he possesses in a high degree and his appearance soon restored order at a out of seemingly hopeless confusion. Ok, so there are a lot of people i can go on, but i wont. I can go on about hancock being in control. People responded to hancock. He stops the retreat, he turns it into retrenchment. He turns flight into fight and they start to settle the soldiers down into commanding positions on Cemetery Hill. Conversely, howard now i am not accusing him of being a bad guy. He gave his arm in the Peninsula Campaign. He is courageous, he is well trained, he is thoughtful, he is a good guy, but he does not have the command presence, apparently, that hancock had. That is not a severe criticism, because not a lot of people did. Ok . But Charles Morgan reports, general howard himself was apparently despond it and his brother could not restrain his mortification at the behavior of the corps. Halsted, the guy who claims to be the only person who have witnessed their first meeting says howard was near the cemetery gate and he looked the picture of despair. Swinton now from the times. Howard was an efficient officer but rather of a negative nature. , and referring to the confusion, says, he had not been able to quell the confusion on Cemetery Hill. This is what i think is really damning. General buford, calvary Division Commander who you could say start the battle of gettysburg. Who was there from the opening shots in the morning west of town, by 3 20 p. M. In the afternoon writes a note to his , boss Alfred Pleasanton and says general reynolds was killed this morning. There seems to be no directing person. I think that is critical. There seems to be no directing person. We need help now. He is saying, we are getting into the Late Afternoon and he does not sense anybody is in command, even though officially howard was in command of the field upon hearing that reynolds was killed. Alright . I think that is particularly damning coming from buford. So, i believe that the debate over what was said, or who said what to whom, is essentially moot because people were , responding to hancock. They were not responding to howard. I do not know if he was despondent, that could be severe. But anyway, hancocks disposition. Hancock is the guy who populated popes hill. Howard had been there all day, but hancock when he shows up he sees we have to worry about more than just Cemetery Hill where the soldiers are coming, we have to worry about the right flank. And he sends a division of the first corps to culps hill. And number three, he takes the battery. Stevens battery. Stephens battery of the fifth maine, he places them on stephens knoll. That is an important disposition, because the east side of east Cemetery Hill is very steep. It is a good thing, because it makes it tougher for the enemy to climb. But it makes it impossible for the artillery to cover it. Artillery on the crest cannot shoot down. So hancock