Frank A. Haskell - Gettysburg

Gettysburg

Gibbon's Division headed north toward Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign and was in Taneytown, Maryland when the Battle of Gettysburg began. Gibbon was given temporary command of II Corps after I Corps Commander Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds was killed and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade ordered II Corps Commander Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock to Gettysburg to assume command. Haskell and II Corps did not arrive on the battlefield until July 2, 1863. There they took part in the defense of Cemetery Ridge, the area around the Nicholas Codori Farm, and supported the III Corps of Daniel E. Sickles in their defense of the Peach Orchard. In his recollections of the Battle, Haskell was highly critical of Sickles' as a soldier and a person as well as his move forward that led to his III Corps being attacked by the Confederates. That night, Gibbon took part in a council of war called by Meade which Haskell recorded in his recollections of the Battle. On July 3, Gibbon was back in command of his division and Haskell was by his side. Late that morning, Gibbon hosted a meal for much of the Union high command which Haskell also recorded for posterity. Shortly after the luncheon broke up Confederate artillery began to shell the area where Gibbon's men were positioned. Gibbon's position bore the brunt of the Confederate attack known as Pickett's Charge. Haskell rallied Gibbon's men after the Confederates had breached the stone wall and Gibbon had been wounded. Hancock, Brig. Gen.William Harrow, and Gibbon commended Haskell for his performance, with Gibbon writing that "I have always thought that to him, more than to any one man, are we indebted for the repulse of Lee's assault."

A few weeks after the Battle, Haskell wrote the account of what he had experienced at Gettysburg to his brother Harrison in Portage, Wisconsin. At the time, Harrison could not even get a newspaper to publish the account. Haskell's account would be published in 1898 as a book called The Battle of Gettysburg. This account was hailed by Bruce Catton as "One of the genuine classics of Civil War literature."

Gibbon and Haskell returned to Gettysburg in November 1863 to attend the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery and witnessed President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address after recreating their role in the battle for some tourists on Cemetery Ridge.