The Unfettered Curmudgeon

JULY 1, 1863... GETTYSBURG DAY ONE Wednesday morning, July 1, 1863, one hundred and fifty five years ago today, began with a gentle rain as the eastern sky began to lighten just slightly; yet, as the sun rose in the sky everyone knew that it would be a typical hot and humid summer day in southern Pennsylvania. General Henry Heth, as promised, rose early and headed towards Gettysburg from Cashtown, eight miles away just as the sun poked above the horizon. In spite of his certainty that only a small number of Pennsylvania militia lay ahead of him, the same militia that had turned General J. Johnston Pettigrew around the previous day, his corps commander, General Ambrose Powell (A.P.) Hill sent not just one brigade as he had done the previous day, but rather Henry Heth’s entire division plus most of his corps artillery plus another division commanded by Major General Dorsey Pender for support: a total of 14,000 men. That was two-thirds of his 3 rd Corps, sent on what was basicall...

A DIFFERENT FOURTH OF JULY The July 4 th holiday is upon us with its barbecues, parades, fireworks, as well as its grand auto and furniture sales! To be quite honest, I really resent that! My patriotism does not include buying a sofa or a pick-up truck on the 4 th and I am tired of being bombarded by TV advertisements to buy things as if were my patriotic duty! That having been said, especially of late, my thoughts on the 4 th of July have extend in a different direction ― more toward considerations of our War of Independence, the Declaration of Independence and the promises it held, and the Constitution, particularly the Preamble . I have been doing a lot of research for a novel I am writing, a western novel, which has its roots not in the Wild West but actually in the Civil War, and it is because of this research that my thoughts today, and over the next few days this year, will, focus more on that; particularly on the Battle of Gettysburg. In early 1863 the Army...