Minutes

May Meeting by Travis Fuqua

Gene Armistead

Gene Armistead presented Equines in the Civil War on May 20, 2009. This month’s presentation was about the roles that equines—horses, mules, and donkeys—played in the Civil War from the cavalry charge to the quartermaster’s wagon train. When we think of horses and war, we often think of romantic and daring cavalry charges, but equines played a far more important role in the war. The Civil War, of course, took place in the days before automobiles, trucks, and tanks, and thus everything that could not be moved on the limited railroad network had to be moved by equines. Men had to charge into battle on the backs of horses.

As mentioned before, the most famous image of equines is that of the cavalry. The cavalry in the Civil War was harsh as the horses and the men were constantly in the line of fire. Generals often had more than one horse to ensure that a fresh one was always ready for him. Sometimes, an officer lost a horse in battle and had to find a replacement and sometimes, he could even loose several horses in battle. The life of cavalry horses was very harsh and their survival rate was only about four months. Given this and the number of cavalry regiments, there was a need for almost two and a half million cavalry horses during the war.

Another important use of horses in the war was that of artillery horse. Some artillery horses pulled the artillery pieces to the field of battle and the others pulled the supplies necessary for the field pieces. Artillery horses often found themselves under fire as it was a sure method to cripple the enemy’s artillery by immobilizing it. Artillery horses fared better than their cavalry counterparts and lasted an average of seven and a half months. Given this expectancy and the number of artillery units on both sides, there was a need for almost a half a million artillery horses.

Gene Armistead talking Civil War equines up

Perhaps the most important use of equines in the war was in supplying the army. The quartermaster needed tremendous numbers of mules to supply the armies and the ratio of mules to men varied depending on the roads and the severity of the campaign, but by 1864, the Federal army overall needed one animal for every two men. The horses themselves also had great supply needs for feed and water. Mules were found to be better than horses as they could work better with cheaper and less feed. Horses were also used to pull ambulances and pharmacies and mules were even used to carry wounded soldiers when an ambulance was unavailable or inconvenient. The Civil War created a need for almost four million horses and mules. This is compared to the combined Federal and Confederate army of three and a quarter million men.

Paying for and supplying the animals was another question. Most horses and mules ranged in price form about one hundred dollars to two hundred. Sometimes, wartime inflation and the fame of the horse could drive the price as high as $4,600, which was the appraised price of General Lee’s famous horse, Traveller. By the end of the war, the Federal Army had spent 130 million dollars on horses and mules. Each side always needed more horses than it could ever hope to obtain. There were no specific breeding programs given the sudden nature of the war and neither side was particular about the breed of horse it required, although certain units specified certain colors or types of horses, but mostly for a dramatic effect.

The Federal government set up six horse depots throughout the country to obtain and distribute horses, but there were notorious cases of corruption and incompetence and many horses that were acquired by the Federal government were unusable. When the supply depots could not manage, men often had to scour the countryside and take whatever equines they could find. Confederate forces had even more difficulty given that Confederate officers were supposed to supply their own horses in addition to the general lack of resources in the Confederacy. Whenever Confederate forces were in the north and took northern farm animals, they found that they were better suited for pulling plows rather than riding.

Bill Cooper presenting Appreciation Certificate to Gene Armistead

Many horses and men in the war developed a relationship and other horses became almost as famous as their masters. The aforementioned horse, Traveller, of General Lee began its life before the war named after a Mississippi Congressmen by the name of Jefferson Davis. “Jeff Davis” later ended up with Lee after a series of owners and was renamed Traveller. He died in 1871 and his skeleton was placed on display before being buried in the 1970s. Some other general’s horses from both sides of the war have either been entirely stuffed or have had parts stuffed and are currently on display. One could argue that these stuffed remains are the last survivors of the Civil War. The horses that served in the war were in some ways equally as brave as those who rode them into the field of battle.

April Meeting by Travis Fuqua

Pedro Garcia’s presentation “Lee, Stuart, and the Road to Perdition” from April 15, 2009

Pedro Garcia

April’s presentation was about a somewhat controversial topic, J. E. B. “Jeb” Stuart and how his actions affected the Battle of Gettysburg. Stuart has long been a controversial figure. In the spring of 1863 General Lee told the Confederate government that the best military policy was for the Confederacy to become the aggressor and take the war to Federal soil. In order to accomplish his goal, Lee had to first march through the Virginian mountain and remain undetected long enough to position his army. Not long before Lee was due to depart, Federal cavalry caught Confederate cavalry off guard at Brandy Station in northern Virginia. General Stuart was successful in getting the Federal army to quit the field, but he won at a great cost. Not only did he lose many men, but he was humiliated for being surprised and he was constantly under attack by the Confederate press.

Pedro Garcia presenting "Lee, Stuart, and the Road to Perdition"

After his surprise at Brandy Station, Stuart was placed in charge of protecting Lee’s army from Federal forces as they crossed the Potomac River into Maryland. Stuart did well in this capacity and the Federal army lost track of Lee for nine days until he was in Pennsylvania. Lee’s orders for Stuart are a source of speculation as Lee told Stuart to guard the Confederate army and to later cross the Potomac River and then meet with General Ewell’s right flank in Federal territory. The controversy in Lee’s orders is over the route that Stuart should have taken as there seems to have been ambiguity. Since Stuart was in search of glory and rehabilitating his reputation after Brandy Creek, he decided to march east through the lines of the Federal army and then go through Maryland and meet with Confederate forces in Pennsylvania. His route to the east was contrary to what Lee had intended him to do.

Stuart and his three brigades left Salem, Virginia on June 25, 1863, but he soon met the south east part of the Federal army under General Hancock. This forced him to the east even more and Lee was without both cavalry and the ability to scout Maryland. Upon meeting and defeating Hancock at Haymarket, Stuart sent a portion of his cavalry after him, but when that detachment later came back to meet Stuart, he was gone. The detachment then assumed that Stuart had gone to the northwest across the Blue Ridge Mountains as Lee had and they left in that direction. Stuart, meanwhile, had crossed into Maryland and captured a Federal wagon train, consisting of 125 wagons laden with supplies and mule teams near Rockville. Soon after, Stuart came dangerously close to the City of Washington, but did not enter on account of his tired horses. As Stuart continued through Maryland, he added to the supplies, but the slow mule teams and the long wagon train turned into a hindrance as it halved the distance that Stuart could travel in a day and stretched out his forces. On June 30th, Stuart met Federal cavalry in Hanover, Pennsylvania and was defeated and retreated to Dover, which he reached on July 1st as the Battle of Gettysburg began. Stuart then went north to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hoping to find Ewell there and reunite with him as per Lee’s orders, but he found out that Lee was thirty miles to the south at Gettysburg. Stuart raced southward and arrived at Gettysburg on July 2nd. At Gettysburg, Stuart was supposed to help hold Confederate lines, but he was defeated by General Custer. The wagon train that had been a hindrance to Stuart proved useful in the retreat from Gettysburg.

Stuart was used as a scapegoat for the Confederate failure at Gettysburg and he was scolded heavily by General Lee, but he was never formally disciplined. Historians have often debated about the role that Stuart may or may not have played in the Battle of Gettysburg. In the end, Stuart was killed the following year. Mr. Garcia notes that he was more like a knight of the days of old than a modern general.

Bill Cooper presenting Speakers Award to Pedro Garcia

April Minutes

This is the minutes from the previous meeting