Disgrace at Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was a scene of roiling chaos. Thousands of casualties and an unexpected Union retreat left the field and its soldiers in utter confusion. It was in the midst of this uproar that Brigadier General Thomas A. Rowley, U.S.A., was arrested for drunkenness and disobedience. But what really happened on that chaotic day, and how did it affect Rowley and those around him in the years to come?
A military man for many years, Rowley had served during the Mexican War and had worked his way up from second lieutenant to colonel. When the fighting began at Fort Sumter, he immediately offered his services to the Union Army. This volume chronicles Rowley’s life up to the July 1, 1863, battle that ended his military career, with particular attention to the events of that fateful day. The author discusses the court martial’s questionable guilty verdict and Rowley’s reaction to it, as well as his role in a confrontation between Major General George Meade and G.K. Warren shortly after Lincoln and Stanton reversed the court martial’s finding. Subsequent events in the careers of other participants including Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Dawes and Major General Abner Doubleday are also discussed. Sources include personal letters and diaries of the men who served with and under General Rowley. Pertinent information regarding the military rules of the period is provided in order to reveal how Rowley’s case deviated from the norm. Finally, appendices provide a list of Rowley’s commands, a roll of the court martial participants and Rowley’s personal defense statement.

Writer and researcher John F. Krumwiede has written articles for Gettysburg Magazine and America’s Civil War. He lives in Tega Cay, South Carolina.

John F. Krumwiede
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 257
Bibliographic Info: 41 photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2006
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2309-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8381-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      xi

1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania      1
2. The War Begins      6
3. The Peninsula Campaign      16
4. Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg      33
5. First Corps Brigadier      45
6. The Gettysburg Campaign      59
7. Camp Berry, Maine      103
8. The Culpeper Court-Martial      108
9. The Defendant Reacts      137
10. Jubal Early’s Invasions of Pennsylvania      152
11. Aftermath      169

Conclusion      186
Appendix I. Commands of Thomas A. Rowley      195
Appendix II. Court-Martial Participants      197
Appendix III. Thomas A. Rowley’s Defense Statement      198
Appendix IV. “Transfer from Jail to Pleasanter Quarters”: Colonel Edmund Dana, Prisoner of War      201
Chapter Notes      211
Bibliography      229
Index      239

“valuable…recommended”—Military Images; “a fine addition…excellent…detailed…valuable book…impressive…well-written”—The Civil War News; “substantial contribution”—The Civil War Courier; “accurate and insightful…historical work worth purchasing”—On Point; “highly recommend this book…. The narrative is flowing and easy to follow and his research is so in depth that no one can question this work…needs to be on the shelf of every Gettysburg researcher and historian”—Gettysburg Chronicle.