We are standing in a field by Rickett's line of artillery, gazing across several hundred yards beyond a line of trees, imagining what it would be like to suddenly hear blasts of gunfire and the blood-curdling Rebel yell from as-yet-unseen rebels. What would that have done to the inside of my drawers?
This was the first real battle since the firing on Fort Sumter in April of 1861. There had been a few skirmishes, but Lincoln was anxious to get this going -- and make it a short war -- and capturing Richmond, the Confederate capitol, was the aim. Battles were fought here in 1861 and 1862, both won by the Confederates. A giddy air began it. People from nearby Centreville brought picnic lunches to watch from the high ground. New recruits from New York had answered their president's call for a three-month sign-up, and OF COURSE showed up in uniforms that were red pantaloons and fezzes!
The North won the first part of the day, but failed to consolidate a win; the South jumped in, with reinforcements arriving, and took advantage of that mistake and by 4 pm had routed the Yankees, though they were too tired to chase 'em. "Fatigue makes cowards of the bravest men." George Patton
This is where Stonewall Jackson got his name; his men said he sat firm against the onslaught, like a stone wall. It's also where everyone realized this would be a long war. Our Harvard-trained historian guide, a retired colonel and West Point graduate, quoted several rueful comments: that the soldiers felt the "old gung ho" was only in the other regiments; that they felt a physical fear of going forward and a moral fear of turning backward. . .and they longed for a hole to fall into.
As we watched a film about this battle (and later learned about the Napoleonic tactics) where lines of infrantrymen stand and mow each other down, while captains galloped and brandished swords, and sergeants and lieutenants ran around behind urging the men to keep going, it further underscored for me my firm belief that nothing is worth dying for. If we had any Hancocks in these skirmishes, I can't imagine them being content to be generals' fodder; surely they were looking for the hole.
Ed got to be a "gunner" with the artillery, pulling the cord that would blast the rebs. It was amazing to be on this huge field where over 70,000 men clashed to the death, to see a home on the hill in the middle of the battlefield was blasted by the North's artillery, killing an invalid old lady.
Tonight we learned about smooth bore flintlock muskets, and the lack of reliability and accuracy and limited range, and how you could only fire three rounds a minute; how rifle bored barrels brought greater spin, more accuracy and greater range, and how minie balls (not little, and not a ball) blasted the shit out of people.
I now know the functions of the 8-man artillery crew, the introduction of trenches and breech loading field artillery, and how the military units are named and commanded. And fortunately, the bus ride from the hotel was mercifully brief.
I just KNOW you'll tune in tomorrow for Harper's Ferry and Antietam.
How exciting! Toni and I are greatly enjoying our vicarious Civil War vacation! As a warm-up, we watched all of Glory and most of Gettysburg (Cold Mountain is waiting in the wings). But you are really there, at the actual place and with people who really know rather than with Hollywood drivellers. I would though, welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how quickly and accurately a smoothbore flintlock must can be employed. And aren’t cannons fun? They, too, can be surprisingly accurate. Tom Kremer, Adam Kremer and I once shot the head off of a target at 100 yards with a smoothbore cannon. I think it was a French four-pounder but I don’t rightly recollect.
ReplyDeleteoxox,
John & Toni