"John Michael Priest's new book " Topic

Loving it BTW, but that's not why I posted this. If you liked his book on Antietam you will love this even more.

The book is VERY detailed into small unit actions on the second day at Gettysburg. What shocked me kinda was that he placed the skirmish in Pitzer's woods between Berdan's Sharpshooters/3rd Maine vs. Wilcox's brigade at 9 AM-ish. Every book usually places it MUCH later, hours later. He backs it up with footnotes and documentations. This makes Meade's inattention to Sickles' front more damning to him and seems to justify Sickles' move to hold the Emmittsburg Road. It also throws a new light on Lee's ordered recon of the Round Tops by his staff. That now sounds like post-war BS to absolve Lee from any further blame.

Very interesting reading.

Okay not "bookl" and "Michae". Typos. sorry

You must have been very excited. Link to new book?

I am!! I'm all excited.

Here it is:

link

Fortunately, I was just working on a chapter of a book I'm writing about Gettysburg that included that incident, so it's fresh in my mind.

General Birney's report says he ordered Berdan to make that move at around noon. However, Berdan says it was 11 a.m. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as Standard Time in those days, so everyone had their own ideas of what time it was -- not to mention faulty memories, etc.

There was an earlier probe by 100 Sharpshooters that did not involve the 3rd Maine. Possibly Priest confused the two probes.

Here's what Berdan said: "About 7.30 a.m. I received orders to send forward a detachment of 100 sharpshooters to discover, if possible, what the enemy was doing. I went out with the detail, and posted them on the crest of the hill beyond the Emmitsburg road, and where they kept up a constant fire nearly all day upon the enemy in the woods beyond…. As it was impossible with this force to proceed far enough to discover what was being done by the enemy in the rear of this woods, I reported the fact to Major-General Birney, and about 11 a.m. I received an order from him to send out another detachment of 100 sharpshooters farther to the left of our lines, and to take the Third Maine Volunteers as support, with directions to feel the enemy, and to discover their movements, if possible."

That's from the Official Records, Series I, Vol. 27, Part I, p. 515.

What is Priest's source?

Moses Lakeman, Colonel of the 3rd Maine, in his AAR:

Capt. John M. Cooney, Asst Adjt-Gen., S
econd Brig., First Div., Third Corps.
July 27, 1863
Captain:
I have the honor to submit the following report
of the part taken by my regiment at the
Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., on the 2d instant:-
By order, I formed my regiment on line of
battle parallel to and facing the Emmitsburg
road, on the right of the brigade, at early mo
rn. Soon after, by order of General Ward, I
moved my regiment as a support for a
body of sharp-shooters, under command of
Colonel Berdan, to whom I was ordered to
report, by Captain Briscoe of General
Birney's staff. Advancing to and fo
r some distance on the Emmitsburg road, I
approached a dense wood on the west side of
the road, and on entering it formed my
regiment (as ordered) to s
upport the advancing line of sk
irmishers, and followed at
supporting distance. They soon, however, became hotly engaged, and I advanced double-
quick to the line they occupied, and instan
tly formed my regiment under a heavy fire
from the enemy, which we returned with a
good will. Here I labored under a decided
disadvantage, which will account for my hea
vy loss. The skirmishers were well secured
behind trees, while my battalion filled the in
tervals. The enemy showed himself in
overwhelming force, but so well did we hol
d our position that hi
s advance was much
checked and very disastrous, and not until ordered to fall back did a single man leave the
ranks, with the exception of those slightly
wounded, when I retired, giving an occasional
volley to check his advance, which now became quicker.
I was obliged to leave my dead and serious
ly wounded on the field, and on arriving at the
road formed my regiment, which had gotten
somewhat confused from loss of men and
obstructions in our retreat.
This engagement was short but severe, and serv
es to give me a renewal of confidence in
the men I command. I sustained a loss of
forty eight in killed, wounded and missing.

Entire report here:

PDF link

Of course, General Birney, writing in HIS AAR of the Gettysburg events, says that it was around noon when he ordered the 1st USSS & 3rd Maine into Pitzer's Woods.

O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XXVII/1 [S# 43] -- Gettysburg Campaign
No. 133. -- Reports of Maj. Gen. David B. Birney,
U. S. Army, commanding First Division of, and Third Army Corps.
HDQRS. BIRNEY'S DIVISION, THIRD CORPS, August 7, 1863.

At 7 a.m., under orders from Major-General Sickles, I relieved Geary's division, and formed a line, resting its left on the Sugar Loaf Mountain and the right thrown in a direct line toward the cemetery, connecting on the right with the Second Division of this corps. My picket line was in the Emmitsburg road, with sharpshooters some 300 yards in advance.

At 12 m., believing from the constant fire of the enemy that a movement was being made toward the left, I received permission from Major-General Sickles to send 100 of Berdan's Sharpshooters, with the Third Maine Regiment as a support, and feel the enemy's right. I sent Capt. J. C. Briscoe, of my staff, with the reconnaissance, which was under Colonel Berdan's command. They advanced from the peach orchard out the Millerstown road, and entered the woods in order to flank the enemy. The skirmishers of the enemy were driven in, but three columns of their forces were found marching to our left. The force sent by me was driven back by overwhelming numbers, with the loss of about 60, killed and wounded.

In his report, Wilcox puts the incident at about 9 a.m. He also says it was 2 p.m. when McLaws' division was seen filing past his right flank. But Kershaw said it was 3 p.m. when his brigade, at the head of McLaws' column, emerged from the woods. Birney said his artillery opened fire on Longstreet's Confederates about 3:30 p.m. So, as can be seen, time was a relative thing.

I suspect that what Wilcox encountered at what he thought was 9 a.m. was the first 100 sharpshooters, which he described as "a strong line of skirmishers." He goes on to say, "These were driven back upon their supports, two regiments of infantry -- the Third Maine and the First New York [U.S.] Sharpshooters." This seems to indicate that the first skirmishers encountered were separate from the Sharpshooters who were with the 3rd Maine.

In another of his reports about the engagement at the Peach Orchard, Moses Lakeman of the 3rd Maine reports that he observed a large column of the enemy crossing the Emmitsburg Road to the south, crossing from east to west. He at once called up a battery of artillery and they began to throw rounds amongst the column, which was forced to withdraw further south before continuing it's movement. This coincides with Hood's (and other CS ) accounts of the delay in getting deployed for the assault.

The 3rd Maine, at this time, was posted with it's right flank on the Emmitsburg Road and facing south. Lakeman also puts that at later in the afternoon.

Lakeman also says, in another report, that they were deployed/posted to the Peach Orchard by noon, where his men ate a hasty lunch from their haversacks.

I would note that almost all of these reports were written days to weeks after the events, so some confusion as to the exact timelines is understandable, especially in an era of key-wound pocket watches that may or may not have been properly set.

You know, I am skeptical of the time line in his book. It's at odds with what you know but… Priest spent many years doing the research so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt until I hear his thoughts on this. Seems odd but… if he has solid evidence it would turn things upside down. He surely couldn't have made a HUGE blunder on this… I think.

Don

Agreed. I'd still like to know what sources he cites.

Thank you for your very thoughtful comments. I did very carefully research this topic and would like to refer you to my blog page "Ramblings of a Military Historian" in which I did discuss those subjects.

The blogs to check are: December 2013 The Emperor's New Clothes part 1 of 2

January 2014 The Emperor's New Clothes Part 2 od 2

Two entries in January "Just the Facts Ma'am, Just the Facts"

I can also send you an unpublished article which I wrote to explain how I reached those conclusions. I will send you a copy of it. Do you have my email address?

Who are you asking? And how do we find your blog?

You can Google it: Ramblings of a Military Historian and it leads to his blog. The formatting on the posts is messed up so it is a chore to wade through the stuff… or perhaps just my computer?

As an aside… there so many little stories in his book I have never heard about and I thought I heard them all. Another good thing is that the footnotes are on the bottom of EACH page, not at the end of the book.

I have the Bachelder Papers & "Fighting them over: How the veterans remembered Gettysburg in the pages of the National Tribune" but have never sat down to read them in total. Must do this now because he uses these among others and they are gems!

link

link

Anyone who would like to examine the unpublished article on how I thought through the process can contact me at priesjoh@verizon.net and I will share it with them.

As for the blogs they are listed by months. December 2013and January 2014 have the ones pertinent to the discussion.

I am new to blogging. Sorry for any confusion on that end.

There's a fascinating article in the "1st Maine Bugle", the newsletter of the 1st Maine Cavalry veterans. It is written by John Newcombe, Co. "A", 3rd Maine Infantry and describes the recon and combat in Pizers Woods as he witnessed it.

One thing of interest is how he nonchalantly states that "I had just taken my interval" by which he means the 3rd, though it had formed as supports for the Sharpshooters, had actually deployed as skirmishers. It wouldn't be difficult, as they mustered only 210 men and officers on the June 30 muster rolls.

Newcombe goes on to back up Colonel Lakeman's comments that the 1st USSS had already procured all the trees and rocks and the 3rd was forced to find whatever cover they could. He (Newcombe) also points out that they recognized the Confederates from Wilcox's brigade, as they had fought them before during the 7 day's battles. How they were recognized, he is silent on, but he plainly states it.

Newcombe makes other comments about seeing some of the 3rd's men killed or wounded, and finally being forced out when the Confederates charged their position with fixed bayonets.

Newcombe was taken prisoner, and he claims that while being held behind the lines, he witnessed Lee & Longstreet, and likely Hood and some others, as Hood's division was passing by to form for their assault later that afternoon.

Anyway, I used to have a copy of the article floating around and I'll see if I can locate it to add to the "evidence" files. FWIW, the other really good account is Moses Lakeman's address in "Maine at Gettysburg".

V/R

Does Newcombe give any indication of what time of day this fight occurred?