Hidden, Haunted, Hotspots of Gettysburg
Virtually everything that happened during the Battle of
Gettysburg involved some kind of controversy, real or imagined, by participants
and latter-day historians. The battle that took place at what is now known as East Cavalry Battlefield is no
exception.
I covered the controversy about Major General J. E. B. (“Jeb”) Stuart’s ride around the Union Army from June 28 to July 2 in my book Saber and Scapegoat: Jeb Stuart and the Gettysburg Controversy. The moral of that story is: don’t die and leave your fellow comrades-in-arms to use you as a scapegoat for their shortcomings in the decisive battle of the war.
Another controversy about Stuart’s role concerns his actions
on July 3, 1863.
Some historians have determined that Stuart had been ordered to take his cavalry around the Union right flank and attack the rear of the center of their lines just as Pickett’s charge was attacking their front.
The problem with that theory is that Robert E. Lee did not know exactly when Longstreet’s Assault (aka “Pickett’s Charge”) was to take place. In the Civil War there was rarely precise timing to assaults. Commanders were usually told to “attack when they heard the sound of the guns” or some other preconceived signal. This often led to a lack of coordination.
Longstreet was reluctant to make his charge on July 3.
Several times officers petitioned him to launch the assault. Finally, after two
hours, Pickett rode up to get permission to order his troops forward and
Longstreet replied with the famous nod. If Longstreet didn’t know when the
charge was to take place, then Lee certainly couldn’t have known the morning of
July 3, 1863, when he ordered Stuart on his ride around the Union right flank.
Stuart’s mission was probably to create havoc in the rear of the Union lines along the Baltimore and Taneytown Roads, the supply and potential retreat routes for the Union Army, giving the Yankees something else to worry about as the Confederates assaulted the front of their lines on Cemetery Ridge. He ran into Union cavalry blocking the vital crossroad of the Hanover Pike and Low Dutch Road. After a couple of hours maneuvering and skirmishing, the battle began to escalate, ending in a massive mounted cavalry charge, led by Union Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer. The result was the Confederate withdrawal from East Cavalry Field.
Ghost
Stories: A woman who lived by herself in an old
farmhouse on Low Dutch Road was awakened one night by the sounds of a large
column of horses riding by. Looking out her window into the moonlit darkness
she saw nothing, but continued to hear the column of horses plodding along the
road.
More recently, two women were visiting the Michigan Cavalry Shaft where Custer’s column crashed into Stuart’s. As they walked through the grass around the monument, they smelled the distinct odor of cinnamon. At first, they thought someone was baking some sort of pie, but realized they were too far from any farmhouse for a smell to waft their way and to last as long as it did. My explanation for the possible source of the odor probably did more to frighten than mollify them. I told them that Custer’s early wartime nickname was “Cinnamon,” because he wore his hair long, in ringlets, and added cinnamon pomade—Victorian-era hair lotion. Since they had ruled out any “normal” explanation for the smell, all that was left was a “paranormal” explanation.
Another interesting story from the cavalry fight actually comes from the first Ghosts of Gettysburg book. For years a ghostly figure had been seen roaming the National Cemetery at night, playing “hide and seek” with rangers attempting to enforce the “Closed after Dark” rule. When one ranger, who walked through the cemetery on her way home, announced “I saw him again last night,” everyone knew what she was talking about. She described him as a cavalryman, with a broad hat, long beard and high cavalry boots.
It turned out that Captain William Miller, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, led an attack that crashed into the flank of Stuart’s charging column, virtually destroying the assault. For this action he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor—but didn’t receive it until 34 years later, just a few years before his death and burial in the National Cemetery. To add insult to injury, the government failed to place the appropriate “Medal of Honor” headstone over his grave. In the 1970s the mistake was discovered and rectified when the National Park Service was preparing a brochure for the National Cemetery.
No more has the cavalryman—long frustrated by a nation
reluctant to give him his well-earned praise for gallantry—been seen walking
the hallowed ground of the National Cemetery.
To get there: From the center of town take Route 30/116 (York Street) East. When the road splits, bear right and continue to follow Route 116 East. After about two and one-half miles, look for the National Park Service signs to East Cavalry Battlefield. Follow the signs for the tour until you reach the monument for the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry off the road about 50 yards on your right.
This area is part of the Gettysburg National Park, so be sure to adhere to the seasonal closing times.
[image error]East Cavalry Battlefield
Some tips for investigating East Cavalry Battlefield:
There are three
areas on East
Cavalry Battlefield that
have yielded good
results: The monument to the 3rd Pennsylvania
Cavalry; the Michigan Cavalry Shaft; and the Confederate side of the field.
I must admit, I was a little reluctant to recommend East
Cavalry Battlefield as one of my “Hidden, Haunted, Hotspots” because the last
time I drove through, there was a line of cars parked along the road and a
group of people, apparently doing a paranormal investigation, gathered around
the monument to the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry. But the field is large
and when I followed the road around to the Confederate side of the field there
was no one—at least no one alive.
On the Confederate side of the field, you can ask if any southern troops would like their picture taken—a big deal during the Civil War era. You might ask to speak with Major Andrew Reid Venable a member of Jeb Stuart’s staff. Other officers who may want to talk after all these years would be Brigadier General Wade Hampton, who commanded a brigade at East Cavalry Battlefield and was sabered twice in the head and wounded by shrapnel in the leg. Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee nephew of Robert E. Lee also commanded a brigade with Stuart.
At the Michigan Cavalry Shaft you can single out the
Michigan troops’ most famous commander, George
Armstrong Custer. The troopers from Michigan would certainly have known the
name Custer, whether they had died at Gettysburg or had lived beyond Custer’s
1876 fated rendezvous with Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn.
The 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry Monument marks the
site where Captain William E. Miller,
disobeyed orders to hold this ground, launched his squadron into the flank of
Stuart’s column as it passed and disrupted the assault. He may have something
to say about waiting for so many years for recognition. Second Lieutenant William Brooke-Rawle, who promised to back him up
should he be court-martialed for attacking the enemy, might want to talk as
well.
A fellow investigator and I conducted a paranormal
investigation at East Cavalry Battlefield. We realized that one or two of the
photos we took at the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry marker showed rows of
orbs that seemed to be head-high—but only if those people were mounted on
horses.
While trying for EVP on the Confederate side of East Cavalry Field, I was getting frustrated by geese flying over and honking. I finally asked, “Did you ever hear of Robert E. Lee?” and was rewarded with a roar that could have been a resounding “Yeah!” or, perhaps even an echo across time of the famous “Rebel Yell.”
