Richard Gustin's Service and My Trip

In my previous post, I talked about Richard Gustin's life and my plans for a Civil War road trip that would overlap some of his footsteps while serving in the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves.

According to the PA Roots website, here's a list of activities of the 12th Pennsylvania. I've bolded major battles:

Duty at Tennallytown, Md., August 13 to October 10, 1861, and  at Camp Pierpont, near Langley, Va., to March, 1862.
Expedition to Grinnell's Farm December 6, 1861.
Action at Dranesville December 20, 1861.
Advance on Manassas, Va., March 10-15, 1862.
McDowell's advance on Falmouth April 9-19.
Duty at Fredericksburg till June.
Moved to White House June 9-12.
Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1.
Battles of Mechanicsville June 26; Gaines' Mill June 27; Charles City Cross Roads,  Glendale June 30; Malvern Hill July 1.
At Harrison's Landing till August 16.
Movement to join Pope August 16-26.
Battles of Gainesville August 28; Groveton August 30; Bull Run August 30.
Maryland Campaign September 6-24.
Battles of South Mountain September 14; Antietam September 16-17.
Duty in Maryland till October 30.
Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 19.
Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15.
"Mud March" January 20-24, 1863.
Ordered to Washington, D.C., February 6, and duty there and at Alexandria till June 25.
Ordered to rejoin Army of the Potomac in the field.

Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3.
Pursuit of Lee July 5-24. Duty on the Rapidan till October.
Bristoe Campaign October 9-22.
Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8.
Rappahannock Station November 7.
Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2.
Guard Orange & Alexander Railroad till April, 1864.
Rapidan Campaign May 4-31.
Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21.
Assault on the Salient May 12.
Harris Farm May 19.
North Anna River May 23-26.
Jericho Mills, or Ford, May 25.
Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28.
Totopotomoy May 28-31.
Mustered out June 11, 1864.

There are some heavy-hitters in there: Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness.

So here's what our trip looks like, with links to the battlefields themselves, starred if they overlap with Richard's service (please note this is not exact both for privacy concerns and because I wanted to present a simple view; in many cases we're driving between places listed for large chunks of the day, not spending the entire day somewhere):

Day 1: Gettysburg*

Day 2: Harpers Ferry, Antietam*

Day 3: Hampton Roads, Manassas/Bull Run*

Day 4: Rest day, visit friends at Camp Lejeune

Day 5: Charleston, Fort Sumter

Day 6: Andersonville

Day 7: Vicksburg

Day 8: Memphis

Day 9: Shiloh, Chattanooga, Chickamagua

Day 10: Atlanta

Day 11: Knoxville, Great Smoky Mountains

Day 12: Appomattox, Monticello, Frederickburg*, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, Wilderness* (all in the same national park)

Day 13: Baltimore, Fort McHenry

It's obviously not a perfect overlap, but it combines perfectly a few things we're trying to do: visit Civil War sites, see more of the country, visit friends and family in far-flung places, and get in a few "must sees" - Monticello and Fort McHenry, in particular. (It also allows me a full expression of my inner National Park geek; I have a passport and am not ashamed to admit that I am utterly obsessed with collecting stamps.)