Bearss - Fields of Honor

Union forces at Cumberland Landing, Virginia, 1862.

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Copyright 2006 Edwin C. Bearss
Introduction copyright 2006 James M. McPherson

All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or parts of this text without permission is strictly prohibited.

First printing in paperback, June 2007

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Bearss, Edwin C.
Fields of honor: pivotal battles of the Civil War/ Edwin Cole Bearss.
p.cm.
1. United StatesHistoryCivilWar, 1861-1865Campaigns. I. Title.

E470.B43 2006
973.73dc22 2005058372

eISBN: 978-1-4262-0620-7

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Federal troops occupy a line of breastworks on the north bank of the North Anna River, 1864.

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I served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II and know how a battlefield feels, sounds, and smells. Frankly there is nothing like it. Anyone who has ever been there will never forget it.

I have been leading battlefield tours since the 1950s, and in each instance I find that the sites continue to teach me. In that time Ive met hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of lifetwo Presidents of the United States, foreign leaders, executives of international corporations, senior officers of the United States and foreign militaries as well and the rank and file soldiers, jurists, members of Congress, and countless history buffseach coming for reasons that are as unique as they are. Most of the people I have the opportunity to lead and teach are serious about trying to learn what these battlefields mean. I have taken people to sites from the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the various Indian and Plains wars, the Civil War, and World War II. While each has its students, the American Civil War stands out above all of them.

I believe the enduring interest in Americas Civil War comes from the direct connection many people feel with the people who fought in it. It is a conflict that attracts both professional and amateur historians in large numbers. By walking the fields they extract nuggets that might otherwise be overlooked. I am frequently asked to read manuscripts for books on various aspects of the Civil War. No other conflict even comes close in terms of interest and active scholarship.

I try to accommodate as many programs as I can. My schedule regularly exceeds 250 days per year on the road giving lectures or leading tours. Some are regular programs that I reserve each year: The Civil War Round Table of Chicago was the first such group in the United States, and only one man has been on more of their annual tours than I have. Charlie Falkenberg still accompanies me on many fields. For years I did two programs a year in support of Jerry Russells Civil War Roundtable Associates and the Confederate Historical Institute. Ted Alexander does an annual program for the Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, and of the many Civil War Round Tables, the relatively new Low Country Civil War Round Table represents the continuing interest in the warfriends Jack and Joyce Keller are gracious hosts for my annual March lecturewhen over 400 people attend. There are other groups too numerous to mention but all are wonderful hosts.

This book is the story of the Civil War as I have presented it on the battlefield tours I give. It is a special piece of work and to accomplish it I turned to my friend Len Riedel, Executive Director of the Blue and Gray Education Society (BGES). Since 1994 Lens father Bill, aka Dad, and Steve Halcomb have been recording my tours and lectures. They have built an archive that is approaching 400 taped hours. In cooperation with my friends Rob Zaworski and Sam Craghead, who have been assembling tapes and my publications from various tours and archive sources, the Blue and Gray Education Society helped me place and establish my personal archives at Marine Corps Base Quantico in the Marine Corps University Library Archives.

Len worked closely with the National Geographic Society and members of his nonprofit educational organization to produce more than 2,500 pages of transcripts from my special series for the BGES entitled Ed Bearsss Essential Civil War. They were turned over to historian Brooks Simpson and editor Harris Andrews, who drafted a concise narrative that relies on my actual presentations on the field.

I am a man of the battlefields. The narrative you are about to read is the story of these fields as I have learned it. I am as enthusiastic today about the various programs that I lead as I was when I first took a group out. All in allit is a good life and I am thankful to all for helping to keep me young.

W hen Edwin C. Bearss was growing up on a Montana ranch before World War II, he named cattle after Civil War battles and gave names of Civil War generals to the milk cows and their calves that roamed the ranch. His favorite milk cow was Antietam; one of her calves was Sharpsburg. Ed first encountered the Civil War when he was in sixth grade. He had earlier fallen in love with ancient history. And he seemed genetically programmed for a fascination with military history. A third cousin had received the Medal of Honor as a marine fighting against the Philippine insurrectionists. Eds father, Omar Bearss, had been a Marine Corps officer in World War I. When Eds parents rented a house in Billings so Ed could attend sixth grade there instead of in the one-room schoolhouse near the ranch, Ed found books about the Civil War in the house. He was forever hooked.

That was in 1934 and 1935. During the next several years, events in Europe and Asia built toward the conflicts that would erupt into World War II. Ed followed these events avidly. He acquired maps of Spain, China, and central Europe and moved flags across the maps to follow the advances and retreats of various armies. His knowledge of world geography and current events was extraordinary. In his junior year in high school he scored highest on a current events test in the entire state; the following year he did the same in U.S. history. His total recall of historical facts was even more impressive. Ed denies that he has a photographic memory. I cant scan a poem and quote it back to you. But he undoubtedly could do so if he was interested in poetry, for he admits that anything I am interested in I never forget. Above all, he has never forgotten anything he has read about history or any feature of terrain he has seen on a map or walked over on the ground itself. It is these qualities of encyclopedic memory that make him a legendary tour guide of historical sites, especially battlefields.