150th Anniversary of Fredericksburg

No battle is just one event, or one offensive, so technically the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg has been going on for a few days, and will continue into tomorrow.

But today, this morning, 150 years ago, my many-times-great-grandfather was leading his regiment toward Prospect Hill, where Confederate artillery and infantry were entrenched. They stepped off from Slaughter Pen Farm, marched through fields and across railroad tracks that are still there, and were part of General Meade's brigade, which pierced - for a few brief moments - the Confederate line. Richard Gustin's company, the Troy Guards, the company he raised and was voted captain of at the beginning of the war, suffered 50% casualties in the assault.

Slaughter Pen Farm, where the march began.

Stonewall Jackson's line.

Looking down Prospect Hill; the railroad tracks are about at the tree line.

150 years ago right now...

I've been thinking a lot about how historic sites allow you to time travel. Setting foot on the field, or in the room, where history happened gives you a real, visceral link to that history. I can't even count how many places have given me chills, where I could feel the incredible gravitas of the moment. Louisa May Alcott's bedroom at Orchard House. The stockade field at Andersonville. Notre Dame in Paris.

For me, the connection is stronger on anniversaries, which may be why we make so much of them. Today is the 150th anniversary of the bloodiest day in American history: the battle of Antietam. I woke up this morning at 7:00 a.m., opened my eyes, and thought that precisely 150 years ago, my great-great-great-grandfather, Captain Richard Gustin, was leading his regiment, the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves, through the cornfields at Antietam.

Cornfields at Antietam, looking south.

I've always felt an affinity for Richard - as evidenced by my two-week Civil War trip and my years of on-and-off research into his life. He was an extraordinary man. Having now walked in his footsteps, it means the world to me that I can close my eyes and easily picture that cornfield, the fence at the road where the Confederate forces held their ground, the dells and trees of the small shielded part of the field where the regiment eventually fell back.

Other end of the cornfield, looking back north.

Ahead, the trees where the 12th Pennsylvania and others took cover after the morning's fighting.

That's what we're ultimately looking for, isn't it, in interpreting historic sites, and to a certain extent, in history museums? That bone-deep connection to the past? I spend so many of my waking hours trying to foster that moment in others that when I can take a step back and experience it for myself it's really special.

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.)

Following the Footsteps of the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves

I have been planning my graduation present to myself since practically before I began graduate school. In fact, it's been a dream of mine since high school, when my grandfather first showed me my many-times-great-grandfather's sabre and papers from his service in the Civil War. Over the years, I've done research on and off into his service, but now that I am finished with graduate school I'm finally taking up the planning and execution of a two week long road trip, visiting Civil War sites and walking in his footsteps.

Some background, first, with the understanding that I for the moment I am taking most of this at face value from contemporary sources; I haven't yet had the time to really dig into the context, background, or veracity of any of it. Richard Gustin was born in New Jersey on July 5, 1827. After a family reversal of fortunes, he moved to Pennsylvania, and on coming of age, bounced around a few professions before heading to Kansas to pursue business. During the Bloody Kansas crisis he fought on the side of the Free Soilers, apparently commanding a regiment. After Kansas, he returned to Pennsylvania, married a childhood friend and cousin, and farmed for a few years.

When the Civil War broke out, he did what many other men did: organized a group of men into a company, and attached that company to a newly formed regiment of volunteers. To be specific, he raised a group he called the "Troy Guards," which became Company C of the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves/41st Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Troy Guards, and the 12th Pennsylvania, enlisted for a three year term on July 25, 1861, making Richard just turned 34 years old. He was elected Captain of his company by the men he had recruited.

The 12th Pennsylvania had quite a distinguished military record, and Richard, according to Colonel Martin Hardin, his commanding officer, never missed a single day of duty. He was injured once - shot in the hand during an ambush in December 1863 - and promoted several times. He often served above his rank, commanding the regiment a handful of times as a Captain before his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. He received a brevet promotion to Colonel at the very end of the war.

As Colonel Hardin was a West Pointer with some prior military experience, in times of leadership vacuum he was brought up to command the brigade, and on several occasions, Richard assumed command of the regiment in battle as well as on march - Fredericksburg and Gettysburg being just two of those. Hardin claims in his memoirs that Richard commanded the entire brigade on occasion, but I haven't unearthed any evidence of that.

If I may be admiring and frank, Richard sounds like something of a badass. Hardin wrote of him later "He was ever the most conspicuous member of his command when the fighting was going on. He was one of the few men who seemed born without fear. He was repeatedly selected to lead the skirmishers - in short, he was one of the fighting field officers of the famous Third Brigade, Pennsylvania Reserves." (Hardin, 200-1)

Richard mustered out with the regiment on June 11, 1864, and returned to life as a farmer in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. His postwar life didn't turn out too terribly well, unfortunately; on April 12, 1877, he was driving a team of horses who spooked and ran out of control. The horses - and wagon - collided with an oncoming freight train, and Richard was crushed beneath its wheels, dying in a doctor's office shortly afterward.

Richard named his eldest son Grant Hardin Gustin, and both Grant and Hardin are family names to this day, which - along with our shared last name - is a comforting link to my past.

Next - I'll list the battles Richard served in, as well as the overall plans for my Civil War trip.