Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg Correspondences and Writings by Lincoln, Union & Confederate Command

Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg Correspondences and Writings by Lincoln, Union & Confederate Commanders and Soldiers

871 pages of letters written to and from President Abraham Lincoln, Union & Confederate commanders and soldiers, and memoirs by others related to the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath.

This collection contains:

President Abraham Lincoln Correspondences and Papers

247 pages of color scans and transcriptions of correspondences to and from President Abraham Lincoln related to the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. The transcriptions include scholarly annotations and references connected to the documents. These notes help in identifying the people and situations involved and to better understand the content and historical context in the documents. The annotations were created by historians at the Lincoln Studies Center, located at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Lincoln scholars Rodney O. Davis and Douglas L. Wilson led the project which created the annotations. Highlights in this section include:

A June 14, 1863, telegram from Joseph Hooker to Abraham Lincoln reporting movements of the Confederate Army. The telegram begins with, "I have reason to believe that Longstreets & the greater part of Ewell's corps marched from Culpepper on the Sperryville road on Sunday last & that a column which occupied four hours in passing followed on Thursday. If this was true the head of the column has had time to reach Winchester and if it is a movement for invasion it is a fair presumption to conclude of that the bulk of his cavalry is with him." A note included with the transcription of this telegram states that Lincoln had telegraphed Hooker earlier in the day and inquired whether it was possible 15,000 of General Richard S. Ewell's men were at Winchester.

A letter from Lincoln to General Meade dated July 14, 1863. This letter to George Meade dated July 14, 1863, was never sent to Meade. Lincoln often wrote letters he did not send as a coping technique. This letter never delivered to Meade conveys Lincoln’s deep disappointment at the lack of pursuit of Lee’s Army. Lincoln wrote, “I am sorry now to be the author of the slightest pain to you. But I was in such deep distress myself that I could not restrain some expression of it.”

A letter from Abraham Lincoln to Henry W. Halleck, dated July 29, 1863, conveys that the administration does not demand Meade to advance upon Lee.


Correspondences by Union and Confederate Commanders and Soldiers

122 pages of scans of handwritten correspondence, diary entries and transcripts of writings concerning the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath by Union and Confederate commanders and soldiers. Highlights include:

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to General Banks, "Meade Whipped Lee Badly" July 10, 1863 - Six days after the collapse of Vicksburg, General Grant sends Banks, Commander of the Department of the Gulf, news of Gettysburg. Grants comments on other current situations of the war and promises to send reinforcements to Banks.

Captain Nathaniel Rollins, Union Army’s Second Wisconsin Infantry - Excerpts from his diary concerning Gettysburg, June 30-July 6, 1863 - These excerpts describe his capture by Confederate forces and an encounter with General Robert E. Lee.

Private Ellis C. Strouss of the 57th Pennsylvania, written to his mother, July 4, 1863 - Private Strouss on July 4th wrote to his mother from near the Gettysburg Battlefield, that he hopes this battle will end the war. He names the members of his company who died in the battle.

Edwin Kerrison, Confederate soldier Second South Carolina Infantry to his sister, July 7, 1863. - He wrote to his sister, "I now write with great haste to let you know where we are. On the evening of the 2nd we fought a desperate battle at Gettysburg in Pa. in which we suffered terribly being compelled to stand the fire of artillery 3 ½ hour being within the hundred & fifty yards of said battery."
 

General Meade Correspondence, Union, and Confederate Reports

318 pages of transcripts compiled by the Department of Tactics, Intelligence and Military Science, US Army intelligence Center and School Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Containing letters, dispatches, and reports by Union and Confederate commanders.

An example of the material in this section is a transcript of a correspondence from Confederate General Lee to CSA President Davis, written at Hagerstown, Md, on July 8, 1863. Lee explains in this letter his current position during the Confederate Army's retreat from Gettysburg. 

Lee wrote to Davis, "When crossing the Potomac into Maryland, I had calculated upon the river remaining fordable during the summer, so as to enable me to recross at my pleasure, but a series of storms commencing the day after our entrance into Maryland has placed the river beyond fording stage and the present storms will keep it so for at least a week.

I shall therefore have to accept battle if the enemy offers it, whether I wish to or not, and as the result is in the hands of the Sovereign Ruler of the universe and known to him only, I deem it prudent to make every arrangement in our power to meet any emergency that may arrive."

 
Thomas Perritt, 26th North Carolina infantry, Company G. CSA, Memoir

28 pages of handwritten memoir by Thomas Perritt, and 14 pages of transcription. This journal covers the Confederate march to Gettysburg as well as the subsequent battle. These reminiscences go into great detail about the movements of the 26th North Carolina Infantry leading up to the battle of Gettysburg. The author also gives a blow-by-blow description of the first day’s events during the battle as well as names and how many of the men died that day.

Three Weeks at Gettysburg – Memoir by Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey Bacon - July 1863

A letter dated July 1863 published as a 13-page pamphlet recounts Georgeanna Woolsey's experiences as she and a companion travelled from Baltimore to Gettysburg to assist in caring for the soldiers from both armies and help transport the wounded away from the battlefield to hospitals in July of 1863, while working with the United States Sanitary Commission. 

The pamphlet was originally published privately and then reprinted “for a more general circulation among the friends and contributors to the Sanitary Commission, in the belief that it cannot fail to stimulate and encourage them in their work."

 
At Gettysburg or What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle; A True Narrative by Tillie Pierce Alleman (1889) 

This book is often labeled as one of the best of the approximately 80 eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg written Gettysburg residents. Matilda J. "Tillie" (Pierce) Alleman’s book was published more than 25 years after the Battle.

From the book's preface: "The experience of a little girl, during three days of a hard fought battle, as portrayed in this volume is certainly of rare occurrence, and very likely has never been realized before. Such a narrative as the following, is worthy of preservation among the pages of our nation’s literature. The story is told with such marked faithfulness, such honesty of expression, such vividness of portrayal, that those who lived in, and passed through those scenes, or similar ones, will at once recognize the situations, and surroundings, as natural and real. While perusing its pages, the veteran will again live in the days gone by; when he tramped the dusty march, joined in the terrible charge, or suffered in the army hospital."

From Abraham Lincoln to Henry W. Halleck  July 29, 1863 

Transcription:

Executive Mansion,

Washington, July 29, 1863.

Major General Halleck:

Seeing Gen. Meade's despatch of yesterday to yourself, causes me to fear that he supposes the government here is demanding of him to bring on a general engagement with Lee as soon as possible— I am claiming no such thing of him. In fact, my judgment is against it; which judgment, of course, I will yield if yours and his are the contrary— If he could not safely engage Lee at  Williamsport, it seems absurd to suppose he can safely engage him now, when he has scarcely more than two thirds of the force he had at Williamsport, while it must be, that Lee has been reinforced. True, I desired Gen. Meade to pursue Lee across the Potomac, hoping, as has proved true, that he would thereby clear the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and get some advantages by harrassing him on his retreat. These being past, I am unwilling he should now get into a general engagement on the impression that we here are pressing him: and I shall be glad for you to so inform him, unless your own judgment is against it. Yours truly A. Lincoln

(Note: General Meade had telegraphed General Halleck on July 28 (Collected Works, VI, 354n), announcing that he was preparing the Army of the Potomac for an advance, which he hoped to begin the next day. Lincoln, as this letter shows, was skeptical of such a movement and did not want Meade to attempt it on the mistaken assumption that this was what the administration desired.)

First page George Washington, Union Soldier, Beidelman to his father, 4 July, 1863

Beidelman informs his father that he was in the battle of Gettysburg. He explains that he sustained injuries, but he is good spirits. He expresses his joy over the victory and asks his family to publish his letter in the newspaper.

Transcript Page 1

Hospital, Battlefield of Gettysburg, July 4, 1863

Dear Father,

We have just fought in old Pennsylvania, the greatest battle of the war. The 2d.N Corps has covered itself with glory. I am slightly wounded. A Minie ball cut across both my legs above the knees, just bruising the left, and cutting a gash in the right about the depth of my little finger. Otherwise I am very well and in the best of spirits. Our losses are very heavy- in our whole corps they will probably average
one- half of each regiment. The enemy's loss is equal to ours in killed and wounded, and they are all