Morbid joke, but the last paragraph shows that even the most careful reporter may succumb to emotion.
Some careless history mars an otherwise fine and fascinating article. According to the author, the battle at Gettysburg was "the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force...." Assuming this statement was intended to refer only to events during the Civil War, and that Rebels could be considered as "foreigners," the statement is still not accurate.
The "last invasion" of Northern soil actually occurred more than a year later, in St. Albans, Vermont, on October 19, 1864. Confederate soldiers robbed several banks and terrorized the citizenry before escaping over the border into Canada.
The actual "last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force" would be the 1942 Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands in what is now the State of Alaska (then a US territory).
It's interesting to remember that Alaska was purchased through the actions of President Andrew Johnson and William Seward, Lincoln's former Vice President and Secretary of State, respectively. It is arguable that no other man casts as large a shadow across American history as Abraham Lincoln.
1
"the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force"
Wait a minute. Weren't ALL the states United States territory? This statement would seem to validate the Confederate viewpoint that they were a separate country which was part of the what the conflict was about. Perhaps this would more properly read "the last invasion of Union held American territory by an enemy ground force."
Correction. Pickett did not lead the charge - Do your research - his Brigadiers did - they were Kemper, Garnett and Lewis A. Armistead (my great, great uncle).
Pickett hung out in the rear.
Terrible times. What an incredible tragedy for all involved.
Wait a sec - "second birth of freedom" - This was the immortal phase in LIncoln's Gettysburg address, delivered months later. So it was really written by Wilkeson?
And Wilkeson's "baptized with your blood" became "consecrate" "this ground."
It's routine for speechwriters to draw from other sources, and it's even possible that Wilkeson's dispatch was so well known to readers at the time that it was assumed to be recognizable as a literary allusion. But it seems Wilkeson should be credited for it. (Maybe someone has already made this point?)
2
War has both a social and personal level. The issues of right and wrong, responsibility for war, war crimes, guilt, exist at the top of society.
At the personal level, soldiers are rather similar. That's why the beloved German song Lili Marleen, became the beloved British song Lili Marlene during WWII.
Soldiers are neither good nor bad, but with the angels or demons by chance. It is quite otherwise with the bigshots.
Gettysburg is awesome in its scale and the enormity of the clashing causes. One senses the presence of justice as at few other places. At this level of regimes and elites, how much good on one side and evil on the other.
But, at the personal level, Gettysburg is horror, the slaughter of vast numbers of men. Just men, who at other times might have lifted a glass together in a bar.
When I behold the abstract reality of Gettysburg, I shiver. When I apprehend the men, men like me, but who went through hell, I weep.
If there is a righteous cause and an evil one, let us honor the one and condemn the other. That's the abstract level.
The personal level: the soldiers are parochial boys who have been called to the defense of society, and have responded honorably. Both the good side and the brave rebels who fought in rags and barefoot.
Honor and bravery call for respect.
At Appomattox, the defeated southern troops piled their rifles before the triumphant yankees. Under General Grant's order, the northern victors saluted the disarming rebels.
3
The "Glories of War" NOT!!!
3
What a waste. And to think we might have been better off if the South had been allowed to be their own country, instead of dragging us all down with it the way they are doing now.
5
Correction: the last invasion of the conterminous U.S. by a foreign ground force was Pancho Villa's invasion at Columbus, New Mexico in 1916.
1
People want to know how their loved ones died. Unfortunately, as in this case it deems on incompetency. There is no perfect information in battle, ie., Pat Tillman, whose cause of death was belatedly attributed to "friendly fire". I can imagine my friend's family when they learned the cause of death was that their soldier fell out of his litter during air-evac in Vietnam. Does that knowledge console you or confuse you?
Excellent piece of writing. Thank you.
1
The final requirement for my minor in history at Kalamazoo College was to produce a paper, comparing the NYT reporting, which was available on microfilm, with contemporaneous battlefield reports collected in the college library. Neither battle I studied was Gettysburg, but lessons drawn from the Times coverage remain vivid over 50 years later. Of the two battles I studied, the Second Battle of Bull Run was a clear Union defeat, but contemporaneous NYT reporting did not portray it in that way, and the battle of Antietam, which resulted a military stalemate, was reported as a Union victory. In the fog of war, inaccurate information--like the various accounts of wounds suffered by a general--will be inevitable, but news stories will also focus on what a newspaper's audience will probably want to read.
1
It was the position of the Union, proved by force of arms, that the Army of Northern Virginia was a rebel army, not a "foreign" one.
3
Stylistically, we really, REALLY lost something when ceased being a literary society. To think that English was written this beautifully in a newspaper . . . it's almost hard to imagine.
9
The Battle of Gettysburg turned on many dramatic episodes. But I think it was lost for the Confederacy for one reason above all: vainglorious decision-making.
Lee's army was blind in the field because JEB Stuart's cavalry was gallivanting gloriously about the countryside instead of tracking the Union armies. Later, Pickett's disastrous charge embodied a romantic belief, fostered in much Southern literature of the time, that elan and bravery could carry all before it, in this case a fortified hilltop position.
All of this survives in the emotion-based beliefs of today's Confederacy, such as the need to protect a coal industry that hasn't existed for about 30 years, or that a man's firearms protect his family, where in fact they are much more likely to injure or kill his loved ones.
18
Lee is pretty much single-handedly to blame for the travesty of Pickett's charge.
2
This was heartbreaking. I cannot imagine the feelings of Mr Wilkerson as he covered this battle and discovered the death of his son.
I have walked the grounds of Gettysburg several times. I understand that lives were lost on both sides but I think it is just wrong to forget that without the insurrection begun by the South to preserve slavery, these deaths would not have happened. I had relatives fight on both sides, but why anyone in this country thinks it is okay to celebrate the treason of the South by continuing to fly the flags, etc., I will never understand. It would be like swastikas continuing to fly as honoured banners in Germany---which they do not! The end of the war should have been the end, and a time to heal and come together, not a reason to rewrite history and portray traitors as heroes rather than people who made mistakes.
27
Slavery is unethical and indefensible. But some fought, not for slavery, but the right to secede - the concept that we celebrate on July 4 when the Colonies seceded from Great Britain. So, 'treason' seems like a one-sided word.
1
Roger: in order to mend fences with the South, this is the 'story' (=lie) we were told in grade school history.
Secession was based on nothing more than the desire to continue the benefits of slavery. There was nothing whatsoever noble about the South's efforts at secession. Nothing. Nada.
The leaders in the South played the poorer masses just as Trump today plays the less-educated. Sell them a story until it sticks.
Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution
1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation;
3: No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
And it's the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Hamel, I wish WWI had been followed day-by-day the way the Civil War was during the 150th anniversary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hamel
3
Sad, poignant story.
Small correction: The article states that the Gettysburg campaign was "the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force."
Actually, a Confederate army invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania a year later and burned the town of Chambersburg, Pa.
Technically, these were not invasions of United States territory at all because the South itself was still US territory. Under US law, the Southern states were not part of an independent foreign power but were in rebellion against their own government. And the winners do get to write the history books, right?
10
Pretty sure I'm right (I'm 20 years old but I do know my history) but wasn't the last invasion of continental U.S territory by foreign ground troops when Japan invaded the Aleutian islands?
12
Yes!
3
President Lincoln and his government were very careful to refuse recognition of the Confederacy as a country. All of the forms of diplomacy rigorously adhered to its status as a rebellion that still belonged to the US.
Thus, they were not 'foreign' troops.
I applaud your historical knowledge. I'm being petty here I know. The Aleutian Islands is a reach for being considered part of the continental U.S.
4
A foreign ground force?
2
As tragic and heartbreaking this story is, it is heartening to see how far back the institution of the NYTimes goes in the history of our nation. The solemn duty to report the news, by a father about his son, at a time when respected journalists weren't accused by the president and his cult of followers of publishing fake news.
13
You must have missed the earlier comment about the mis-reporting by the TIMES during the Civil War...
"...lessons drawn from the Times coverage remain vivid over 50 years later. Of the two battles I studied, the Second Battle of Bull Run was a clear Union defeat, but contemporaneous NYT reporting did not portray it in that way, and the battle of Antietam, which resulted a military stalemate, was reported as a Union victory."
It is amazing how far this country has fallen.
App. 150 yrs. ago, when the education level was not nearly as high as it is today, you have not only great pieces written by this reporter but beautiful letters by the soldiers written home even though many of them had no formal schooling.
Today we have Trump, the president tweeting bigoted, racist, sexist, hatful tweets written like a fourth grader.
20
Indeed. Instead of noxious tweets, too bad we don’t have the soaring rhetoric and historical perspective of an educated Joe Biden, for example, in the White House. Referring to Republicans he told a mostly African-American audience, “They’re gonna put y’all back in chains.”
Thanks for the reminder. Joe, as usual, was RIGHT!
Sad also that the confederacy was ever allowed back into the union.
APO: That is why there was a war. The southern states seceded. They thought they would be allowed to go. Lincoln said no you can't leave.
7
Can you imagine what states like MS, LA, and AL would look like without federal assistance from Washington?
Small correction perhaps in an otherwise affecting article.
The Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Aleutian Islands in WWII, part of the Alaska Territory at the time.
3
Not to mention several other US territories in the Pacific including The Philippines, Guam, Wake, etc.
2
"The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force"
In an otherwise fine piece this statement is in error on two counts:
First, as the Confederacy was a portion of the United States in rebellion and was never recognized by the United States as anything other it's forces can not be said to have invaded the United States. Rather, they attempted to take the rebellion into loyal territory.
Second, in June 1942 Japanese forces successfully invaded two islands comprising part of the Territory of Alaska which they held for slightly more than a year until expelled. That was the last foreign invasion of the United States and the only one since the War of 1812.
4
I wrote a book about this episode that debunks some of the mythology, but reveals a story that, in truth, is far more compelling than the mythology. Sam Wilkeson was with the Times only a few months - he was a Greeley/New York Tribune reporter for most of the war - and his reporting on this and subsequent battles was some of the most probing and insightful of any in the history of war correspondents. He was with Meade on Cemetery Hill during the pre-Pickett cannonading two days after his boy was dead. But he didn't know of that boy (who was, by the way, a nephew of Elizabeth Cady Stanton) was alive or dead until he dug his body out of a shallow grave on July 5, 1863. https://www.amazon.com/Imperfect-Union-Fathers-Aftermath-Gettysburg/dp/0...
4
A lovely, heartbreaking piece, thank you. One small factual quibble: Lee's 1863 was not "the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force." That would be the 1942 Japanese invasion in of Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Unlike Lee's army, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the U.S. territory for nearly a year until the U.S. Army stormed the islands in a horribly bloody battle in the summer of 1943.
2
"The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force —"
What a horrible error not to have stamped out long ago the revisionist history which has allowed us to forget my ancestors were the traitors in that war and that those states' righters have renamed themselves Federalists and are assaulting the United States of America today on behalf of a new confederacy.
4
Cannonball? Mr. Wilkeson's account, referencing a "shell" seems more likely.
I am a Northerner, but to say: "The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force ..." just is not correct. This was a domestic rebellion and not a foreign war. In a constitutional sense, the southern states could not leave the Union because there was no valid legal mechanism for them to leave the Union. South and North, they all remained citizens of the United States start to finish.
2
A moving story, but with one important inaccuracy, "The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force." Unless one regards the Confederacy as a foreign country and thereby accords it legitimacy, thereby denying the US government its principal casus belli, either Lee's army was not a foreign ground force or the maneuvers by Confederate troops in Confederate states would also have been invasions of United States territory by a foreign ground force. Nonetheless, the Japanese occupations of the Aleutians and of the Philippines were invasions by ground forces of United States territory. How should one classify the various maneuvers of the Indian Wars? Surely, the forces of the tribes were foreign (the US could make treaties with them), and, without even raising questions about the status Indian territories under treaties, many battles took place outside those territories.
Your characterization of Lee's Gettysburg campaign as ".. . the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force" would have been hotly disputed by Abraham Lincoln, although Jefferson Davis would have agreed with you. Legally, according to Lincoln, the Army of Northern Virginia was an insurgent force of rebellious Americans, and not a "foreign ground force." When the Army crossed the Potomac into Maryland, by Federal legal theory it did not invade the United States, but only moved from one state to another within the country.
1
Regardless of who made the claim that the ground forces of the Confederacy were foreign troops, I disagree with their conclusion. Only if the South won the war and finally separated could they be declared foreign. Until that occurred,
they were only attempting to separate, Lincoln continued to act as President of all the States during the war.
3
A fine and moving story to read on our nation's birthday. Nevertheless, I'd like to point out something. Mr. Shanker writes that the Battle of Gettysburg was "the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force." That's a problematic claim for two reasons. It’s inaccurate because Japanese soldiers invaded and for a time occupied parts of the U.S. Territory of Alaska in June 1942. I'm guessing he means the last time any of the states was invaded. But that’s at issue because President Lincoln and presumably many others did not consider the Confederate States of America to be a foreign country at all. They did not recognize such a nation and went to war to uphold that view. Those who invaded Pennsylvania in June-July 1863 were rebels whom northerners considered traitors. It's only the insurgents who believed the Army of Northern Virginia to have been foreign to the United States.
While following American History and American Civil War videos and articles, I once went through an interview of Carol Reardon. She spoke of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics gaining priority over History and Geography. She spoke about how as a biology undergrad student, her interest in history was piqued.
I studied Mechanical Engineering and then Computational Mathematics later. But History and Literature has always been of great interest. I have heard Ms. Reardon speak about her book "Pickett's Charge in History and Memory” in a youtube video.
Her comment on Samuel Wilkeson “and even today it continues to inform histories, novels, poems and other renderings of the event” speaks of his commendable coverage of the events during the war.
Mr. Wilkeson's dispatch is heartbreaking. I found his words "history of a battle" sincere - that his correspondents will be narration of history for future generations.
Mr. Wilkeson' dispatch is one of the finest firsthand accounts of a Civil War event that I have read. It’s tragic and heart-rending. It is an account crucial to understand the history of the United States.
Thanks NYT for publishing this on the fourth of July.
3
Why are we not seeing footage of the constant US military actions around the world? The American public deserves to know exactly what the military is doing -- we pay far too much for it.
2
I feel such despair as do countless others as we watch our neighbour sink into such a seemingly unrepairable divide. It was therefore helpful to be reminded that the US has faced many (I can’t say similar) times and prevailed. I would enjoy reading articles from the civil war period, Vietnam, Jim Crow laws and desegregation, McCathy, etc that illustrate the dissenting views at that time in history which would allow me to be able to reflect on how the healing of the country came about after each period. You might even rerun some from the War of 1812 as we CDNs don’t know what to make of a President that has labeled us a national security threat. Reading about when we truly were instead of alternative facts would be interesting.
1
The Battle of Gettysburg was not "the last invasion of united states territory by a foreign ground force". I do not consider Confederates to be foreigners, and would instead consider them troops in a civil war. But I will accept that as a reasonable interpretation.
Confederate General Morgan invaded Indiana on July 8, 1863. His victory in the Battle of Corydon Indiana was on July 9. Like the Gettysburg Campaign (inspired by Lee's army's desperate need for shoe leather), this was a raid and with no deeper intent. Confederate General Jubal Early's Valley Campaign just over a year later did have major strategic intent and was carted out by a significantly sized army. The plan was, take and burn Washington DC (which had great defenses to the south, west, and east, but none to the north). In the Battle of Monocacy Junction Maryland, Early defeated the forces General Lew Wallace (yes, the Lew Wallace of Ben Hur and Billy the Kid) had thrown together, but Wallace held long enough for other Union forces to arrive. Imagine if Early's Army had held the capital for even a day before being attacked by Union forces rushing to engage. Think of how different Reconstruction would have been with a lust for revenge unleashed.
The 1916 invasion of New Mexico by Mexican forces under General Pancho Villa resulted in the Battle of Columbus, New Mexico, and several small skirmishes.
1
Mr. Shanker writes that the Battle of Gettysburg was "the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force." That's a problematic claim for two reasons. It’s inaccurate because Japanese soldiers invaded and for a time occupied parts of the U.S. Territory of Alaska in June 1942. I'm guessing he means the last time any of the states was invaded. But that’s at issue because President Lincoln and presumably many others did not consider the "Confederate States of America" to be a foreign country at all. They did not recognize such a nation and went to war to uphold that view. Those who invaded Pennsylvania in June-July 1863 were rebels whom northerners considered traitors. It's only the insurgents who believed the Army of Northern Virginia to have been foreign to the United States.
4
All of us read Stephen Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage” in high school.
It is worth thinking about again today in light of the false expectations and heavy demands being placed on our armed forces by an erratic President incapable of uniting the country behind him.
“So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath his soul changed. He came from hot plowshares to prospects of clover tranquilly, and it was as if hot plowshares were not. Scars faded as flowers.
It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky.
Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal peace.
Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.”
The country had a true leader back then.
8
Thank you. War is most terrible yet both awful and sometimes a wondrous doing. Yet it rips apart limbs from bodies, mixes brains and intestines that decay and break open in the sun and make mud out of dry earth and blood soaked journals. (I saw in Nam a foot here, a finger there sticking out of the dry earth and the mud around rotting intestines and exposed brains. Trained by family, I fuzzed up in my vision and nose and tongue all sensation that I did not need to clearly see or smell.)
I was fortunate. I did not have to live day after day until the fire lifted for me to cover with earth those bodies.
My three Vietnamese scouts too often lived for days amidst such odors and sights, too often knew as family or friend or respected foe, the remnants of the faces in the mud. I was with C-2/18th 1st Inf Div. A good 40 % of my soldiers were Black, 20 were from Guam which had but 100,000 people. Puerto Rican’s were just more than 20 and about that many were Latino. My two superb 1SGTs were Hawaiian and Black. I note that by the end of the Revolutionary war at least a quarter of the soldiers in Washington’s army were Black. His aide was Moorish dark black captured prince who was a superb equestrian and aide.
Black lives matter. And all lives matter. But stops and fear and phony fear too often end in death for men of color and beige men from the hills who speak Elizabethan English better than even the British currently do.
Let us remember the women and men who defend us.
7
O that that earth which kept the world in awe,
Must patch a wall to expel the winter’s flaw.
This article provides a most necessary wake up to the brutal reality of war which the short-lived whiff of victory conceals in human memory.Gettysburg is remembered all over the world for President Abraham Lincoln’s immortal speech - Democracy is govt of the people, by the people, for the people. To think that 4-minute speech has overshadowed a teenager’s life snuffed out, tens of thousands of lives lost, the unspeakable agony of their parents, spouses, siblings. It is a deeply troubling thought. Little wonder that Mahatma Gandhi & Apostle of Peace Jawaharlal Nehru, who fought relentlessly against British Rule, abhorred the violence of war.
2
Indeed the telegraph did allow reports from Civil War battlefields to be published relatively quickly. But once the news was telegraphed from the journalist to his newspaper, it still had to make its way from larger cities like Boston to small-town newspapers, and from there to what we would today consider the relatively isolated families of the farmers who served in units like the 19th and 20th Maine. At their July 4th festivities in 1863, in some small towns in Maine, families of those soldiers already knew that the battle of Gettysburg had begun, but they didn't yet know the outcome. I can't imagine what they day would have been like, remembering the hijinks of your son at earlier July 4th celebrations and wondering if he were now alive or not.
1
"The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force"
This was not an invasion. The United States never recognized the confederate states as a foreign country. It was a rebellion by
citizens who conspired to overthrow their elected government, i.e. treason. That fact has been whitewashed over the years in an effort to achieve reconciliation between the states. The desire for reconciliation also allowed Jim Crow laws to survive for decades.
5
You're right, and Lincoln would agree with you. Lincoln often told General McClellan that it's all United States territory.
Even using Thom Shanker's criteria, however, this was not the last Confederate invasion of the north. A year later, Jubal Early led forces that got close to Washington. Lincoln was close enough to be in danger, and Oliver Wendell Holmes shouted "get down, you fool" to Lincoln.
1
"The second birth of Freedom in America," indeed. Now we are in dire need of a third. Who could have imagined it would come to our present perilous state, and so quickly, too?
Very interesting story, but I question the description of Confederate forces as "foreign." Invaders, maybe, but not foreign. In any event, I believe the last foreign invasion of the United States was in March 1916 when Pancho Villa attacked Columbus New Mexico with 600 men and undertook a full-scale battle with the United States Army at that place.
"The battle at Gettysburg - the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force - ended...."
It was not a foreign ground force. It was a force of Americans engaged in an illegal rebellion against the central government. They launched the invasion of the North from states which had rebelled against the Union. The Federal Government did not invade the South - it defeated a rebellion. After Meade defeated Lee at Gettysburg and then lamely pursued Lee's Army but allowed it to escape into Virginia, Meade signaled Lincoln that he had expelled the invaders from "our territory (or words to that effect)." Lincoln, irritated, commented that the entire United States were "our" territory.
3
Thankyou, Samuel and Lt. Bayard Wilkeson, for your strength.
1
As a veteran, I’m not sure I would want my parent to find me if they were covering the battle I fell at, some things are better not seen. As a parent now, I don’t think I would have the fortitude to experience it, by all means tell me what happened, but see it? I’m not sure.
This is journalism at its best and another example as to why it must be protected by all means.
9
John Lubetkin, Ashburn, VA.
And what about the rest of Sam Wilkeson life? Because of this article, he was asked by Jay Cooke ("The Financier of the Civil War") to take over publicizing the sales of war bonds which would result in over 1/4 of all monies raised for the Union during the war.
After the war, Wilkeson became the Secretary (and chief publicist for the Northern Pacific Railroad, staying with the railroad until his death in 1888, age 71.
My award winning book (sorry for the shameless plug), "Jay Cooke's Gamble: The Northern Pacific, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873" (2006, University of Oklahoma Press) describes the close Cooke-Wilkeson relationship, some of Wilkeson's western adventures, his death and funeral, and -- of course -- the fateful article described in the "Times" story.
There is also a small town in Washington (state) named after Wilkeson.
5
The Civil War did not eliminate the injustices for which it was fought. The unholy sacrifice of thousands of lives was trampled in the mud and muck of Jim Crow and racism that lives and thrives today.
The horrors of WWI was only a precursor to the horrors of WWII. That, in turn, was the precursor of Korea and Vietnam. The defeat of Germany was not even complete when the alliance between fractured over the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, countries that woke from one nightmare to find themselves mired in an even worse one.
This only stops when we cherish every life as much as we cherish our own or until the nuclear weapons finally become too hard to resist.
Good rest to the souls that human greed and arrogance have sent to a horrible death.
4
Marvelous and profound writing by the Times staff today. Pointing back to another first few days in a July, as momentous as the 4 score and seven years prior to those days at Gettysburg.
I think Lincoln's words uttered a few month after those days in July of 1863, must had been in the consciousness of Mr. Wilkeson....
"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain..."
How else could a father endure?
Something momentous had passed, something larger than his own flesh and blood.
1
I'm not sure that Ambrose Bierce would have liked the original report or not.
But he could well have used it as a basis for one of his wonderful and terrible war stories.
1
EXCERPT:
“My pen is heavy,” Samuel Wilkeson wrote to conclude his Page 1 dispatch. “Oh, you dead, who at Gettysburg have baptized with your blood the second birth of Freedom in America, how you are to be envied!
Is this moving account by a grieving father, perhaps the origin of President Lincoln’s phrase “a new birth of freedom” in the Gettysburg Address in November, 1863?
3
A touching story for a father/reporter on the death of his son.
I am staying in a DC house once stayed at by Clara Barton ... the Angel of the Battlefield. She tended to many Union sons. Here's a story from a battlefield nurse she knew. Fascinating histories have been written about soldiers, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder, yet few acknowledge that women who did not fight could still experience war’s impact on mental health, particularly when nursing at the front. A close reading of Cornelia Hancock’s letters reveals that she was similarly affected by the consequences of war. When she arrived at Gettysburg, the “sickening, overpowering, awful stench” of “swollen and disfigured” unburied soldiers greeted Hancock. The groans from the wounded soldiers on the amputating table haunted Hancock, a place which “literally ran blood” for seven days. The hot sun provided no respite for the soldiers, and the air was “rent with petitions to deliver them from their suffering.”
On this 4th of July let us remember those who came before us. I was on the steps of the National Archives today for the reading of the Declaration of Independence.
This is a great article. I think it would be great if you ran something from the Times archives every single day. Well done, well done.
4
So the reporter concluded that the disposition of the Union battery where his son was killed was an error. Was the reporter a military genius or a grieving father? How many parents think the death of a child, even in war, must have been a mistake. Always sad.
The battery was placed there counter to the orders of superior officers...are you such a military genius that you can outthink those past decisions?
Excellent, interesting and very sad article. Thank you for this story, Thom Shanker.
It's an emotional visit to Gettysburg - especially when the annual re-enactment battle takes place in the first week of July.
This sad story adds to the many, many artices that record the misery, grief and despair soldiers struggled with - both North & South.
An American Civil War on our nation's soil that we need to remember forever when our men & women are called upon to engage in future foreign conflicts & wars.
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Syria are perfect reminders for all Americans about what happens and the sufferings all Americans go through like the soldiers did on the Gettysburg battlefield.
12
Th story of Samuel Wlikeson and his coverage of the Battle of Gettysburg is heartbreaking.All stories of the Civil War are sad and painful.Thank God, reporters covered this carnage and left us the legacy as part of our heritage.Everyone should visit the battlefield and read the history that informs so much of our heritage.Mr great grandfather fought for the Union in every battle until The Wilderness where he was captured and sent to Andersonville prison.He lived to pass on his story to the family but I feel compelled to read extensively about the Civil War and particularly to read every gruesome detail of Andersonville prison.Our heroes deserve our reference for their sacrifice-we should all learn the lessons of this terrible war and be grateful that dedicated correspondents passed them along to inform us.
17
This story is one of the reasons I subscribe to the NYT. Thank you.
24
The front page obituary about the death of his 19 year old son at the battle of Gettysburg, written by NY Times correspondent Samuel Wilkeson on July 4th and published two days later, is as touching as an obituary can be. Enough said.
19
"It is altogether fitting and proper" that he should write about his son's death. What father would not want to know the details of a son's death? It is some consolation that at least one father did.
8
Mr. Wilkeson's arcane style makes his conclusion all the more moving. Thank you for this piece about the costs of war and freedom, and the pain of loss that seems as fresh today as when it was first borne.
20
I have been to Gettysburg twice in my life, most recently last year. To view the field where Gen. Pickett led his charge on that pivotal day in the battle, to see the tree-line where advancing Confederate soldiers marched, many to their deaths as they crossed no man's land, to envision the sea of gray marching toward the Union position, is to bear witness to history. It is hallowed ground, and a more moving experience than I had imagined it would be.
My war was Vietnam, sent there as a young 20 year-old after being drafted at 19. I was one of the lucky ones. I survived.
But these soldiers who gave their lives at Gettysburg answered a call to duty far beyond what we could imagine. The battle was only 155 years ago. Not that many generations have passed to mark the time.
Many gave the full measure of their devotion to their cause. Lest we forget.
38
@Len
I cherished your comment, especially the closing two paragraphs. Thank you for your beautiful, moving and important words.
1
The only soldiers to be venerated on the 4th of July are those who fought for THIS country, not the traitorous Confederacy (CSA). Today we continue to suffer for the mistakes made during the Reconstruction period. The entire CSA should have been readmitted to the USA as one large state with two senators and the number of members of the House of Representatives based on 3/5ths of their total population as their "Dred Scott sauce for the goose".
Lincoln would have found a better way, but in the hands of Andrew Johnson, this would have been a better solution.
2
I found this article extremely touching and close to home because last year, I discovered that I had a great-great uncle who served in the 26th Wisconsin, fought at Gettysburg, was wounded on July 1st and eventually succumbed to his wounds and died in August of 1863. He was one of the few casualties that was buried with his name on the headstone instead of a one massive grave because he lived long enough after being wounded that his name, rank, and Company were known to those buried him.
Being a direct descendant of a Union solider from Wisconsin who fought and was buried at Gettysburg will always hold a deep and special importance to me. I've always been interested in the Civil War and Gettysburg always held a certain fascination for me. I can't help but think that perhaps this yearning to learn more about this battle came from my great-great uncle, telling me to keep reading and researching until I found him. As silly as that probably seems and sounds, I always thought I had a family connection to that sacred place. Now, every year at the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, my husband and I attend that ceremony and pay our deepest respects to Pvt. Franz Benda, 26th Wisconsin.
Thank you NYT for this meaningful and much appreciated article, especially at this time.
47
There are any number of well-written articles and columns appearing in today's issue of the Times that are far more significant and meaningful in contemporaneous terms.
This piece, however, inclusive of Mr. Shanker's words, the PDF file containing the actual pages of the Times' reporting in general and Mr. Wilkeson's reporting in particular per the events at Gettysburg, and the reproduction of the wood engraving of Mr. Wilkeson's son as he led his artillery unit on July 1, 1863, is, taken together, absolutely mesmerizing.
I am a father. I have a son who serves. I cannot---indeed, I refuse to---even imagine experiencing what Mr. Wilkeson experienced upon learning that his son was one of the fallen in a battle that he himself was covering for the Times. Nor can I even imagine being able to write of the battle during which he fell. The eloquence---perhaps born of both grief and anger---of that first paragraph is testament to how deeply indebted "we the people" are to both the craft/art of journalism and journalists and how deeply indebted "we the people" are to those who have given their "last full measure of devotion" in service to our country.
Thank you for this piece. It will be the most compelling and memorable thing I read today.
95
"testament to how deeply indebted "we the people" are to both the craft/art of journalism and journalists and how deeply indebted "we the people" are to those who have given their "last full measure of devotion" in service to our country."
Well, to Trump, the above is only 50% correct. The journalists are the "enemy of the people, " while those who have fallen in battle are the heroes. Sorry to invoke Trump in such a serious subject. He is not worthy to be included in such a discussion. Sorry again.
I find the American Civil war the most awful of conflicts in American history. The war occurred just as industrialization and modern manufacturing of machinery would begin. Mass production of war material, communications, photographs, modern weapons especially repeating carbines and revolvers, as well as armored ships with canons mounted on revolving turrets, and the use of railroads. The Civil War was literally the first, though primitive, mechanized and industrialized war. As a result of new technology casualties were horrendous on both sides. The slaughter was worsened as commanders, too many of them, could not grasp the changes of tactics required for modern warfare. Cavalry charges, men lined up and marching in formation into battle, and other remnants of battle of the past century were unadaptable and unsuitable for mechanized warfare. Also, the lack of knowledge of surgical procedures, sanitation, anesthesia, also caused the casualty rate to rise. Worse, casualties were known and published soon after a battle and that led to an impact on the home front who bore deep wounds also. The American Civil War raised slaughter to new levels. World War I, the next major war of the U.S. led to further understanding how industrial might wins wars. Sadly we learned nothing from those wars except how to better tend to the wounded and how to accelerate the lethality of warfare. No matter what we won, essentially we all lost. American dead still speak from battlefields.
31
War is never glorious. It is tragic and obscene. People who are forced to fight in order to defend themselves or their country may be brave, but we should not glorify the battle. Someday humanity will evolve sufficiently to eliminate war.
30
Madeline: No. Those whose country is attacked who rise to defend their country and the majority of their countrymen who are noncombatants should be glorified.
This includes glorifying their battles abd the killing of the invaders.
1
Let's examine this quotation from the article, a quotation that illustrates the issue of viewing past events through a warped, modern perspective: "The battle at Gettysburg — the last invasion of United States territory by a foreign ground force — ended in resounding loss for Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate army." Now ask yourself this question, if it were an invasion by a foreign ground force, why is the war known as "the Civil War?" If it were a foreign invading force, rather than an extremely bloody family fight, wouldn't the war be more aptly named "the War Between the States." And, actually, the initial invasion was the Northern Forces invading the South, suggesting that maybe the proper name of the war would be "The War of Northern Aggression." History is a multi-textural affair and too often today, the history of our bloody Civil War is mis-perceived by people such as the writer of this otherwise fine article. "Foreign invading force," not. And, just to wreck one's mis-perceptions, I am a liberal Democrat, not a Trump boot licker.
15
In the congressional record it is called the Insurrection.
It is also the War between the States.
16
Let me add that in the fall of 1864, more that a year after Gettysburg, Sterling Price led Confederate forces out of Arkansas and through much of central Missouri, a state that did not leave the Union, in effort to claim it for the Confederacy.
Wasn’t the South firing on Ft Sumter the first act of war?
A beautiful piece. It illustrates, in a heartbreaking way, the futility of war. Thank you.
12
No parsnt should ever have to write such an article. Very moving, thanks for sharing this. I was struck by his use of the phrase "a second birth of freedom" which reminded me of Lincoln's phrase "a new birth of freedom" in the Gettsburg Address. Do you know who first used this formulation to explain the American Civil War?
12
Thank you, I enjoyed this article immensely. I would encourage my fellow Americans to visit Gettysburg. Walk the battlefield. Honor the young men who fought and died there.
25
Thanks to Thom Shanker and the Times for giving us something that evokes feelings of pride, humility and sorrow on our nation's birthday.
24
Thank you Thom Shanker.
Would that we could learn from out past.
War is not a good way to solve differences.
Level the idea of war to that of school yard brawls to see the ignorance . Differences can be overcome in better ways. Not easily, but what is easy about war ?
10
Thanks for this. My great, great, great grandfather was killed in a calvary skirmish at Hanover on 30 June, an engagement that drove the Confederate calvary away from Gettysburg, blinding their army.
I have read the battle dispatches describing his death and hope to visit the area and see his grave someday.
It would be interesting to hear if this solder has any living descendents.
13
My great great uncle fought at Hanover under Custer.
Mr. Wilkeson's gifted writing was that of a poet forced into prose. I wish the NYT had included his biography in the story, how he fared after finding his dead son at Gettysburg, whether he vilified Barlow for causing his son and compatriots' slaughter, how he lived until his death.
24
We need our Presidents to understand that those who start wars, more often than not, live to regret it. Example: Invasion of Iraq before the battlefield victory was consolidated and the peace won in Afghanistan. Even if Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, it was poor judgment to invade Iraq at that time as we did not have the capability to fight two wars at once.
24
A solemn yet amazing article, thanks for this.
11
This article from Gettysburg pains me to read, where the author's oldest son died. As Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, said, 'The dead at Gettysburg had laid down their lives for this noble cause..it is up to the living to confront the great task before them: ensuring that 'the government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish from the earth'. My grandfather, father, uncles, husband and friends have fought to 'confront the great task' to ensure that all men everywhere, but especially in America, are free from the four fears Roosevelt issued in a speech WWII. Our country is NOT being faithful now to the honor and service of those who have fought and died to make this country blessed to be a blessing to others. Trump and his haters do ALL Americans a disservice, but especially those who have make the ultimate sacrifice, by misrepresenting us, as Americans to the world. We are better than this. We tremble not for him -Trump, but to uphold and defend our Constitution and its laws. How anyone could trust the likes of Trump, our 'so-called' president now is beyond me? He has broken any vow he has made throughout life, and cares little about anyone or anything but himself. God grant our leaders and those invested with the power to alter this aberration, the strength and courage to do the right thing. The day of reckoning is coming. Justice will be served, here or in the hereafter.
53
This is a moving account of Samuel Wilkeson’s bravery and eloquence as a NYT war correspondent covering his own son, Bayard’s death, on the battlefield of Gettysburg 155 years ago.
How profoundly moving that he concluded with the faith that his son and others who like him died on those fateful days died with Christ leading them to their resurrection.
This is American journalism at its best: moving us all to the wider scope of human endeavor. A son’s quiet death and his father’s mourning yet recognition of a higher cause at hand.
49
The Civil War like every other war was a horror story. Why we continue to solve our differences with war is a tribute to the fact that men are less creatures blessed by god than animals acting out their basest of instincts.
14
Without the Civil War slavery would have continued into the 20th Century. There were many people in the North who were done with words condeming slavery.
They were prepared to kill until slavery was destroyed or they themselves were killed
Unfortunately, after 155 years after Gettysburg, our society is still dealing with the results of the "Civil War" and the divisions of the North and South are still in our consciousness!
36
This New York Times story noted:
"The battle at Gettysburg ended in resounding loss for Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate army. The conflict would grind on for two more years, with catastrophic loss of life."
E.W. Andrews, in "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln, by Distinguished Men of His Time,” collected and edited by Allen Thorndike Rice (1888), at pages 510-511, contributed this related President Lincoln story which took place on the train ride to Gettysburg on November 18, 1863, to give his Gettysburg Address.
President Lincoln placed everyone who approached him at ease. I remember well his reply to a gentleman who stated that his "only son fell on 'Little Round Top' at Gettysburg, and I am going to look at the spot."
"You have been called upon to make a terrible sacrifice for the Union, and a visit to that spot, I fear, will open your wounds afresh. But oh! my dear sir, if we had reached the end of such sacrifices, and had nothing left for us to do but to place garlands on the graves of those who had already fallen, we could give thanks even amidst our tears; but when I think of the sacrifices of life yet to be offered and the hearts and homes yet to be made desolate before this dreadful war, so wickedly forced upon us, is over, my heart is like lead within me, and I feel, at times, like hiding in deep darkness."
61
war is hell - no matter how noble the cause, there are endless tears on both sides...
11
On the day we celebrate the birth of our nation, I hope that somewhere in time and space those people who display the Confederate battle flag will take a moment to reflect on what it stands for. Those that chose to fight under that banner took up arms against their own country, which is the definition of treason. Because of their actions Lt. Bayard Wilkison and 600,000 other Americans died. These 600,000 dead Americans were real people with hopes and dreams and families that loved them. And they died for what.....the perpetuation of human slavery. So the next time you see someone display the Confederate battle flag I hope you will think about those 600,000 dead Americans and the cause it represents.
115
W.A. Spitzer: And what cause does the US flag stand for when we assess the legacy of the Civil War? It certainly wasn't freedom in any meaningful sense of the word. The birth of this nation was founded in treason as well, and slavery was perpetuated for far longer & more effectively under the Stars and Stripes than it ever was under the St. Andrew's Cross. So please remember *that* if when you criticize Southerners for flying the Confederate battle flag in remembrance of their ancestors.
2
Amitava - The American Revolution was fought to establish a government based on the premise that all men are created equal. A noble goal that we still struggle to achieve. What was the goal of those who initiated the Civil War? 600,000 dead Americans; I think some serious reflection is in order.
11
I walked in a parade yesterday on the tree lined streets of a suburb in a blue state. The crowd was patriotic and thousands of American flags were displayed by the marchers and the spectators at curbside. Happy 4th was the theme of the day. However, in one small group of young men, there was a young man who wore a Confederate flag "shirt. " It was certainly an odd sight amidst the sea of flags and other patriotic symbols on various items of clothing. This Confederate flag shirt made me laugh at the inappropriate sentiment displayed by the wearing of this shirt. Maybe I shouldn't have laughed.
This wrenching account of war brings to mind a poem by World War I combat veteran Archibald MacLeish, "The young dead soldiers do not speak", published just before World War II. For me, it says everything about what we owe our fallen. I wish every one of our current political leaders would read this every morning before they began their work and take it to heart. Meanwhile we all should.
The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.
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A beautiful comment on a day where we celebrate so much of what we have but still have so many who seek to destroy. God Bless the fallen let us not speak foolishly for them.
16
I was the first fruits of the battle of missionary
when I felt the bullet enter my heart
I wished I had stayed home and gone to jail
for stealing the hogs of curl trenary
instead of running away and joining the army.
Rather a thousand times the county jail
than to lie under this marble figure with wings
and this granite pedestal
bearing the words "Pro Patria"
What do they mean, anyway?
spoon river anthology. My favorite
9
Also, read the poem that follows it in the collection.