Gettysburg the Cat

Contents

Foreword

The Gettysburg

Address

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Dolly’s Journal of History

Beulah

Dolly’s Journal of History

Crabby

Dolly’s Journal of History

Normandy

Dolly’s Journal of History

Mustafa

Dolly’s Journal of History

Lizzie

Dedication

The Purple Heart

Foreword

It wasn’t long after the publication of my third book, Finnegan the Fairy Tale Cat, that I wished to write a story that combined two of my favorite subjects, cats and the American Civil War. When I read about the valiant effort of the 137th New York Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 I felt I had to explore further and insert a cat into the episode. What resulted was an accurate account of the defense of Culp’s Hill, an insight into the feelings of several young Union soldiers, and the effect of a lucky cat upon them. Matt McCabe, a young Union soldier from upstate New York, discovers a cat on Culp’s Hill and in the space of several days he bonds with the stray animal, only to leave it at the conclusion of the historic battle.

Young men on both sides of the conflict faced the terror of battle with apprehension and fear, and still found the courage to fulfill their duty to their comrades. Some found solace in their belief in God; others sought support from their family ties. The life of a soldier consisted in grueling, yet boring marches along dirty, dusty roads through unfamiliar territory. Unsanitary conditions promoted dysentery, diarrhea, and disease. The food usually consisted of salt pork, hardtack, and coffee and was not always immediately available. Uniforms and boots were shoddy and ill-fitting. News and letters from home reached the soldiers sporadically. The Union army had become used to losing battles to the lesser equipped Confederate troops, and General Robert E Lee was held in higher regard than their own commanding officers. Despite these uncomfortable, debilitating conditions the Union troops maintained morale and a sense of purpose as they approached an impending battle with their Confederate foes.

In the summer of 1863, Gettysburg was an active little town with 2400 residents engaged in carriage manufacturing, shoe making, tanning, and farming, and contained a bank, several merchants, several educational institutions, and several taverns. While it was of no great importance, it was a crossroads to many other locations and contained ten roads leading out of town leading to other communities. It was only sixty five miles to Baltimore, and seventy five miles to Washington. Its strategic importance in the Civil War had never been considered until the morning of July 1st, 1863, and then, suddenly, it was thrust into the war as the site of the deadliest and most important battle of the conflict.

Culp’s Hill lay just southeast of the town and from its summit you could obtain a good view of downtown Gettysburg, less than a mile away. The hill formed the north end of the Union army displacement, and Little Round Top, more than a mile away, was the southern end of the line of the defense. If the Confederate army could turn either end, there was a real opportunity for the southern forces to prevail and march on to the capitol of America in Washington.

Of the many heroic events, the defense of the east and south slopes of Culp’s Hill by 450 troops in the 137th Regiment was one of the most demanding and outstanding. I hope that this little story will illustrate what occurred there over the space of a few hot days in July, and that the tale of a cat present at that time and place will further entertain you.

Any story about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg would be incomplete without the text of the speech given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It summarized in eloquent words what the north was fighting for, and what the soldiers had died for.

The Gettysburg

Address

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here, that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

Gettysburg the Cat

Chapter 1

The Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee met in combat The Army of The Potomac commanded by Major General George G. Meade in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, July 1st, 1863. The Confederate troops chased the Union troops out of Gettysburg and forced them to regroup south of the town along the Baltimore Turnpike which led to Baltimore and Washington. It had been General Lee’s intention from June 9th, the beginning of his march towards Pennsylvania, to divert the attention of the Union army from the south and to attack Washington from a northern position. An historic battle, perhaps the most decisive and most important one of the American Civil War, was about to begin.

The oppressive heat of July 1st settled onto troops of both sides and caused many to cast aside their haversack as they moved into battle or hustled down a dusty road towards the sound of battle. During the day, the 12th Corps of the Union commanded by Major General Henry W. Slocum advanced casually northward towards Gettysburg along the Baltimore Pike after leaving Littlestown, Pennsylvania. Before noon they had arrived at a hamlet called Two Taverns where they paused in the heat to rest, apparently unaware of the battles that were raging five to ten miles away. General Slocum graduated from West Point in 1852. He resigned from the Army four years later and then returned at the onset of the Civil War and rose rapidly in rank and assumed command of the 12th Corp in September of 1862. He had approximately 9000 men in two Divisions. The 3rd Brigade in his 2nd Division was ably commanded by Colonel George S. Greene who had 1350 men in five regiments, all from New York.

The 137th New York Regiment had been organized in Binghamton, entered the service September of 1862, and was commanded by Colonel David S. Ireland who, ironically was born in Scotland. The regiment was a well drilled, well disciplined unit, comprised predominantly of young farm boys recruited from the Binghamton area. Captain John Hebersham directed his Company C to take a break just before noon two hundred yards south of Two Taverns and they found a place to rest under the trees lining the Baltimore Pike. The company quickly and gladly sought the shade of the trees because of the heat and humidity that grew worse as the morning progressed. Sgt. Bernard Fox, a burly, bearded soldier in his early thirties, took charge of his platoon of young soldiers and told them right out, Ya can take a nap, make a pot of coffee if’n ya want, but first we gotta dig a sink over yonder fer a latrine. Corporal McCabe! You and Stebbins take a couple of the boys and haul your arse over there and dig us a proper sink. But the rest of yez don’t go nowheres. If we have to move outta here in a hurry ya better be ready to line up in thirty seconds.

Why does it always have to be me? grumbled Stebbins to McCabe as he ambled off a few paces into the woods.

’Cause you got the shovel and you can dig faster’n six men, replied McCabe. He don’t mean it as punishment. Don’t he let you git first in line at the food rations when they come in? He seen you take extra rations and he doesn’t say anything.

Can I help it if’n I got a big appetite? complained Stebbins who stood four inches over six foot and weighed close to 240 pounds. I got a lot of room to put all that grub.

"Hah! Ain’t that the truth! Come on, let’s get that sink dug so’s the guys can take a leak during