Saturday, May 8, 2021

Of peaches and cream: SR Johnston's Gettysburg recon ride

 

          The news that this year’s Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College would be conducted virtually was a cause for celebration here. Your Loyal Blogger was worried that the CWI would not be held at all. The Institute is an annual, five-day gathering of the top Civil War scholars and about four hundred others who love to study and talk about the topic. It’s a crash course with lots of company and the company is the big thing. The CWI, for all of its scholarship and debates, is about the people. The ‘people’ includes fellow attendees, the scholars and, especially, the cast and crew who host the thing every year. The College is a wonderful host and the perfect location for such an event as the CWI.

          Once the CWI ends, I get to begin my own research. I’ve been stumbling around for several years now, trying to figure out the truth about a incident during the battle of Gettysburg. I love exploring Gettysburg and any chance to roam the battlefield is a welcomed opportunity. I usually bring with me a list of questions I want to explore and one question has been on my list for several years now.

          The question is what route did Captain Samuel R. Johnston take when he was ordered to recon the left side of the federal line on Cemetery Ridge at about four in the morning on July 2, 1863?

I do not believe Johnston
got to the top of LRT. There
were no signs to direct him.

          The eminent historian Noah Andre Trudeau wrote a brilliant volume: The Battle of Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage. In that book Trudeau says Johnston reached the Sherfy peach orchard before turning south and heading for the Round Tops.[1] I have not found any quote from Johnston where he specifically claims to have reached the Sherfy peach orchard. But say for the moment that he did get there.

          Many students of the battle scoff at the idea that Johnston reached the peach orchard without being discovered by union scouts or pickets. I am tempted to give Johnston the benefit of the doubt in that it is possible that Johnston and the men with him approached the Sherfy peach orchard. Remember that Daniel Sickles had not yet advanced his line. It was still mostly dark at the time Johnston went on his ride. It is possible that he reached the area of the Sherfy peach orchard during the outbound leg of his recon without getting caught.

          Most of the Union soldiers in the area at that time were not bedded down on the Emmitsburg Road or anywhere near it. They were much closer to the Taneytown Road. The rolling topography and darkness would have made it impossible for Johnston to see conditions along the Taneytown Road from the locations he wrote that he reached. Johnston could have neared the Sherfy land that morning without any union videttes discovering the group.

The Bushman Farm. Little Round Top in the
background a mile away.

           Was it possible for a small group of Confederates to get near the Sherfy land that morning without getting caught? Yes and I believe Johnston did reach a peach orchard that morning on the outbound leg of his recon ride. But I believe he reached the peach trees on the property belonging to the Bushman family along Warfield Ridge. The property is along today’s West Confederate Avenue. From there, Johnston and his small party rode to Round Top and skirted the base of Little Round Top before turning back.

          Johnston reported that the only union soldiers he saw were in a four-man party that was riding north along the Emmitsburg Road. Those men were seen as Johnston and his men cautiously waited before crossing the road on the way to report to Lee.

          In a June 27, 1892 letter to McLaws, Johnston wrote, “It was about 4 AM when I started out, my general route was about the same that General Longstreet took when he made his march. I crossed the creek on the same bridge that he did and turned left at once and turned to the left at once and got on the ridge where you subsequently (got a view of the enemy) … following that ridge in the direction of the round top across the Emmettburg (SIC) Road and got up of the slopes of round top, where I had a commanding view, then (unclear handwritten note) road along the base of round top beyond the ground that was occupied by General Hood, and where there was later a cavalry fight. When I thought I had gone far enough, I turned back, of course moving with great caution, and when I again got in sight of the Emmettburg Road I saw three or four troopers moving slowly and very cautiously in the direction of Gettysburg (north, LE). … I recrossed the bridge and took the most direct route regardless of fences to where I had left General Lee.”[2]


From LRT, looking west and a little north. Note
Seminary Ridge in the distance and the area Johnston
would have had to cover in the open had he approached
the Sherfy property. I believe Johnston came toward
LRT from a position further south along Seminary Ridge.

          The route Longstreet’s column took later that day did not travel to the Sherfy peach orchard. When Longstreet reached Seminary Ridge and deployed his men, he could see the Sherfy peach orchard in the distance. By that time, Dan Sickles had advanced his division to his position in the Sherfy peach orchard. It should be noted here that even if Johnston did ride to the Sherfy property on his recon ride, he could not have seen Sickles’ force. Sickles did not advance until long after full daylight.

          The bridge Johnston wrote about twice is probably the bridge on today’s Millerstown Road near where the road intersects today’s West Confederate Avenue, not far from the modern-day Eisenhower Tower.

I believe Johnston and his party turned right shortly after crossing that bridge and headed in a southerly direction. They continued south after passing by the Bushman farm before eventually turning left and heading in an easterly direction. The route would take them toward the Round Tops. Approaching from the Confederate side of the hill, that is to say from the west, they would have been less likely to encounter Federal soldiers. This was in the area where General John B. Hood’s men would later begin their attack. Hood was wounded on a dirt lane that led from the Bushman farm to the Slyder farm and it is very possible that Johnston followed the same little lane toward the Round Tops.

In a June 28, 1875 letter to James Longstreet, Hood wrote that, “… about twenty minutes after reaching the peach orchard I was severely wounded in the arm, and borne from the field.”[3]


I believe Hood was wounded on this road.
The Slyder Farm is in the distance. The Bushman
property to to photographer's right.

Johnston wrote of having a “commanding view” while on “round top.” The hill we now call Big Round Top had more trees on its north-west-facing slopes than did what we call Little Round Top. The most commanding view from either hill is what we call the face of Little Round Top. If Johnston did not ride up the side of Little Round Top, he certainly recognized the potential for watching the battlefield from there.[4]

At the point of the recon where the Johnston group was at the Round Tops, the sun was starting to make itself known.[5] Johnston and his men had to leave the area. He describes skirting the base of “round top” and then his desire to get back on the friendly side of (correctly) Emmitsburg Road. Then came the forced delay while the four riders went slowly down the road. Later, when Lee asked Johnston directly whether he reached the Little Round Top/Big Round Top area, Johnston answered that he had done so. I believe that he did.

The description of crossing the bridge that Johnston said Longstreet’s march later crossed is an important note. Longstreet’s march should have crossed that same little bridge as his men moved to get into position to begin their attack as they marched on Millerstown Road that day.

To ride south on Emmitsburg Road from the Sherfy property that night probably would have meant Johnston being discovered by Union troops. But riding south along Warfield Ridge, passing the Bushman farm and its orchard, would have meant staying within the safe confines of Confederate lines. It would lead to the safer side of Big Round Top and give him a familiar path back to his own lines.

I believe that’s the path he took. Johnston did not leave a record of the recon ride that was written near the time of the battle. The letters I have read are type-written translations of his hand-written letters in answer to various letters asking about his ride that night. Since that time, the version of events sets forth in those letters have gone under great scrutiny. Johnston’s words were written thirty years or so after the war.

 

Can I prove my assertion? No, but the evidence leads me there. Others, including Trudeau, might disagree. But I believe my summation of events fits the known facts – that Johnston was ordered to make a recon, he did so without getting caught and he reported to Lee that he reached the Round Tops – and agrees with what Johnston wrote himself.

 

One final point. When Gerry Prokopovich was nice enough to interview me about my Chickamauga book for his podcast, he asked me why it mattered whether we knew the exact series of events during the fighting on Horseshoe Ridge. It was a great question and the same question could be answered here. Does it really matter what path Johnston’s recon party took at Gettysburg around dawn on July 2, 1863? Yes, it does matter. It matters because historic accuracy matters.

Even if we argue about it.


[1] Trudeau, Noah Andre, Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, page XX. Of all the books the author has read about Gettysburg, this book stands out for its excellence. Great read.

[2] Samuel R. Johnston letter to XX McLaws. The author found a type-written translation of the letter in the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center archives.

[3] John B. Hood letter to James Longstreet, June 28, 1875. The author found a type-written translation of the letter in the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center archives.

[4] Samuel R. Johnston letter to McLaws. The author found a type-written translation of the letter in the Gettysburg National Military Park Visitors Center archives.

[5] Johnston’s ride began around four in the morning. He reported to Lee about three hours later. Sunrise on July 2 is typically ten to fifteen minutes before six in the morning at Gettysburg.

 

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