Civil war. He serves on the board of trustees for the Pittsburgh Heinz History Center and is on the board of directors for the friends of flight 93 and the Marketing Committee for the gettysburg foundation. His newest book is gettysburg rebels, five native sons who came to fight as confederate soldiers. Without any further introduction, i present to you, tom mcmillan. [applause] tom thank you. If i am standing or walking funny, in my 24th Straight Year of coming to the anniversary days, i finally went on a battlefield horse tour. The thing i learned on the tour was i could not be in the cavalry. It was actually a great experience. It is also special to be here at the Heritage Center because this is where i gathered a fair amount of my research. Right through the door is one of the best civil war book stores in the country. I would get one, end up with four. What is interesting is outside is a littleknown monument to the Culp Brothers of gettysburg. Such a key part of this book, wesley culp, who fought for the confederacy, and his brother , william, who fought for the union. They would have seen some humor in the fact they have a monument at all. It is placed between a History Museum and a brewery. A couple years ago i wrote a book about flight 93, the september 11 flight that crashed in somerset county, a little over 100 miles from here. I always wanted to write a book about gettysburg but was not sure it was a fresh topic. I did not want to be the guy that wrote the 15th book on the second day, but little did i know there was one that had been staring me in the face. Exactly a mile and a half down the emmitsburg road at the intersection with the wheat field road, there is an iron tablet that says went south. Almost no one goes there. ,t is right across the street the Peach Orchard, which is one of the most visited places. You can see the barn, a great intrigue. No one goes to this place because it looks like nothing is there. In the background you see the irregular stone foundation. This was the home of john, his wife, mary, and his daughter susan. , john had brought this property in 1836 coming from york county. When he moved in, the family was much larger, more children, including a nineyearold son named henry who grew up here. 600 yards to the west is another iron tablet. We see over the field. This is for the virginia battery. If you see it over there on the afternoon of july 63, this was the position of confederate artillery Sergeant Henry wentz, 600 yards, not only from the house he grew up but also where his parents were still living and where, unbeknownst to him his dad had determined to ride out the battle in the cellar. One of the other men in this story, wesley culp is the one most known. Many have heard of him because of his connection to the prolific coal family of gettysburg, the hill, the farm. There were 70 members of the culp family listed. The story with wesley they say he was killed on july 3 on his hill or what was described as his uncles farm. It was actually on wolf hill, and the man was not his uncle are far more distant relative, first cousin once removed. I was kicking around ideas for a book. I talked to my literary agent and told him about this. He said you have to write this one. He said go after this one. Is there enough there . I said i do not know if there is enough for a book. I started the research, i was excited, i stumbled across three other guys. To the extent wesley culps written about, he went south with his employer, Charles William hoffman. I found him in the 1850 census. Census reports tell you a lot. He had three young sons in 1850. If you add 10 years to their age, they wouldve been soldiers in the 1860s. I went to the national archives, and sure enough, robert, frank, and Wesley Hoffman were not only in the Confederate Army but units that came north with robert e. Lee in the great invasion of that summer. Here is the roster wesley culp, Robert Hoffman, these guys joined the same militia unit. Frank kaufman was in the artillery, the 38th virginia light artillery. And the youngest of the guys was in the mountain rangers. Thinking of how surreal this mustve been, there were northerners who fought for the south and southerners who fought for the north. These guys were foreign invaders coming back to their hometown. I want to get into that mindset. The other thing that struck me as i researched this is there is no evidence that robert e. Lee or any of his senior commanders had no idea they had five gettysburg men in their army. It is an astonishing lack of communication. It was commonplace and the Confederate Army when they were on campaign near richmond or fredericksburg, and there was a local man in the ranks, to temporarily pull him out of the ranks and make them a scout or guide. It makes sense. Stonewall jackson did that at chancellorsville. These guys knew every hog path, but none of the senior commanders knew about it. There were at least two occasions where the confederates got lost or stuck in the terrain. Robert e. Lee sent Joseph Johnson to scout the terrain. Johnson comes back several hours later reporting they scale the peak of Little Round Top and sought no union troops. Years later we know he cannot of scale Little Round Top and seen that because union troops were all over the place. One historian broke it was teeming with federal troops. They would have seen him. Robert e. Lee based his battle plan on faulty intelligence. Later that afternoon, as James Longstreet and his two divisions are starting to execute that plan, they were told to attack the union left, there were warned to conceal themselves from single men on Little Round Top. They came on fairfield road, they see the signal men, the signal men see them, that changes plans. They are frustrated, they have to counter march several hours and this delays the start of the afternoon attack. Not long before that, and artillery unit came by. Assigned to the same attack under alexander. They wouldve been visible and figured out a way to get down there. According to alexander they zigzagged through the field and got into position during is there any coincidence that happened with the unit that included henry wentz, the man from gettysburg. He never wrote about his civil war experiences, or if he did those things dont exist. That happened all the time. Alexander wrote all the time. He never mentioned this or henry wentz. Alexander was a good engineer. Maybe he did this on his own. It is strange that the one unit that got there had a gettysburg man in the ranks. I will always believe henry wentz had something to do with that. The other thing about this book that made it fascinating for me, most of these books are about generals or medal of honor winners or people have committed great or glorious deeds on the battlefield. These were just regular guys. Four of them never rose above the rank of private. I was able to talk to a number of descendents, one of whom is here tonight. They helped me. They gave me perspective, and i also found two unpublished family histories. It is amazing what you find in county courthouses, deeds, newspaper articles, advertisements. Putting a puzzle together. This is wesley culp, shows in this appears in occasional civil war books. Taken in 1861 or 1862. Thanks to the Gettysburg Museum forproviding this copy of a copy. The original version has just been found. Here are the photos of the other guys. This is not a 60yearold man who screwed up his powerpoint. They do not exist, or at least i cannot find them, no one i talk to could find them, including family members. Because this book is out maybe there will be a descendent somewhere that will open boxes and say, i did not realize that is who that was. Wesley is the only one we have. The story starts with him, wesley culp. He was born in petersburg in adams county, now called york springs. His family had deep gettysburg roots. He was part of the fourthgeneration. His father started his family here, wesleys older brother william was born here. Wesley lived in petersburg for about seven or eight years, the family moved back to gettysburg in 1847. How do we know that . Paper ads. Paper ads are very valuable. It says he has just moved his tailor shop to baltimore street. Wesley lived here from 1847 to 1856. About nine years. Very formative years, and they went to go south with his employer. Why did his employer go south, cw hoffman . I thought he would be a fringe part of this story. He is essential. He is a central figure. He was born in germany. He came to the u. S. As an infant. His father never fit in. They moved eight or nine times. They eventually settled in gettysburg. I think cw who was an entrepreneur at heart was determined not to be the failure that his father was. The carriage industry was thriving in gettysburg. He opened a carrot shop. This is one of his ads he opened a carriage shop. Here is an there was one on chambersburg street. There was one sign that says this is the last remaining building of cw hoffmans carriage complex. To the extent he is mentioned, it is always as a carriage maker. I researched him and i found he was one of the most prominent citizens at gettysburg in the 1840s and 1850s. He has been wiped out of town history because he had confederate sympathies. He owned a multiple businesses, owned at least 10 pieces of property. He was elected three times to the council. He was a trustee of the methodist episcopal church. He represented gettysburg at the state temperance convention, which means he was a leading dogooder in town. He was one of a small group of prominent citizens who conceived and formed Evergreen Cemetery, which became Cemetery Hill and years later where Abraham Lincoln delivered the address. Why did this guy leave . He leaves in 1856. In 1854, he has been elected to a threeyear term on council. He has a new steam mill, why would he leave . They thought it was the carriage industry was popular in virginia, this would be the place to go. Digging around the Adams County Historical Society at the Methodist Church records, they were not all that exciting to dig around church records, but i found this. On monday the 26th day of june, cw hoffman prudently and unnecessarily engaged in a cruel fight by striking with a stick or club, throwing stones, and striking with irons, hoffman using the stick and stones and bear it using the iron with the intention of doing severe bodily harm. This showed highly Improper Conduct on the part of cw hoffman and shamefully outraged the cause of god. This was a sitting council men who beat the crack out of somebody. He was arrested, charged with assault, paid a fine, punished by his church. He attended two more council meetings. By 1855 he was off the council, he placed an ad saying he was leaving town in a year. March 1856, we have the deed records that he bought property in shepherdstown, moved there. March of 1856, he pulls out. This is important because he takes four future confederate soldiers with him. If they had stayed in gettysburg maybe they would have fought for the union army, but this transplanted four young men that would fight for the Confederate Army. Wesley culp and Robert Hoffman one of the first things they do in shepherdstown is join a militia unit. This is commonplace in the 19th century. Every town had a militia unit. You put on a uniform, fire a gun, pretend you are in the army. It is a great social outlet for young men at this time. They had only moved 50 miles from gettysburg to shepherdstown in virginia, but it was north to south. They get to see loyalty, they will join other young men and protect shepherdstown. Miles away in martinsburg, the same thing happens. Henry wentz had come earlier. He was about 12 or 13 years older but did the same thing. He joins the martinsburg independent group. The militia groups are important and it led them into the civil war, but a couple of them had already had their First Military action in 1859 before the civil war at Harpers Ferry. It was close to martinsburg and shepherdstown. That is where the john brown raid took place in october of 1859. He had this crazy idea he was going to take an army of 20 men, steal into Harpers Ferry, seize the armory and arsenal, get prisoners, free some slaves, a massive slave uprising. Sure enough he did steal into Harpers Ferry with his men, they got to the army and arsenal, they freed some slaves, and they incited a panic. Harpers ferry citizens reached out for help to militia units from among other towns, shepherdstown in martinsburg, and there he is, direct and circumstantial evidence that henry wentz and Robert Kaufman were among those who answered the call. That also got the attention of president buchanan in washington, d. C. He sent in marines. They sent in an army colonel, robert e. Lee, and they put down the raid. John brown was sentenced to hang several months later. It was the first, but not the last that that henry wentz and Robert Hoffman served under robert e. Lee. I mentioned these guys did not write during the civil war. I did find a few letters from wesley culp in 1860 before the civil war. It is an indication it is important. They were in shepherdstown, martinsburg, they were in the area where the seeds of the civil war are being planted. They had to be affected by this atmosphere. The john brown raid is often called the first unofficial battle of the civil war, but it did not affect every aspect of their lives. This book, early photography at gettysburg, i found a culp family descendent from central pennsylvania. He was nice enough to lend me letters wesley has written to his sister. Other than the fact that your hands tremble, these were unremarkable letters. It was just a man writing to his sister updating her about what was going on. He was living in martinsburg at the time, was going to go to shepherdstown and visit his friends. You celebrated your 21st birthday back then like you do now. He also said he would go west to seek his fortune. I print part of the letter in the book, the first time anyone has seen his signature. His name was john, john wesley culp. This is 1860. Nine months later something changed his life and hundreds of thousands of other young men. The confederates fire on fort sumter. Almost immediately, three of these guys enlist in the Confederate Army, henry wentz, Robert Hoffman, and wesley culp. They all enlist within two weeks they are in the Confederate Army. They report to Harpers Ferry and become part of the second virginia, and the first virginia brigade. Their commander is a gentleman from vmi known as is Thomas Jonathan jackson, not yet stonewall. This was the beginning of the famed stonewall brigade, the famous unit. Imagine what they experienced throughout the war. The same thing was happening over the north and south. Men were flocking to enlist in the union army. This happened in gettysburg. On the same day april 20 that wesley and listed in the army, his older brother william enlisted in the union army. Three months regiment known as the second pennsylvania, some of his friends also enlisted including jack scilly, a name known in gettysburg history. They go to camp, they start to march. Those units almost met very early in the war before the battle of first manassas. There was a scuffle in falling waters, virginia. The union outnumbered jackson, he pulled back after firing. The confederates retreated. The second pennsylvania got there after the shooting was over. Jack scilly wrote a very bold letter to his mother. He had not been under fire. He said they would not stand and fight, we would have given them what they were due. He said they picked up the haversack and other implements, he also wrote that wesley culp was among them. This was the first indication that people in gettysburg in july of 1860 that one of their own was fighting for the Confederate Army. These were some of the iconic battles in the civil war, three of them were at first manassas where Stonewall Jackson got his nickname. I follow that, but i try to piece some quirky things of the records. There are tidbits in the Service Records. Robert hoffman went awol four times. He was also allowed back in the army four times which struck me as odd. I had to come up with a theory. After several years in shepherdstown, his family decided to get out of the carriage business. In 1859 he went to another county and buys a farm. He becomes a a slave owner. He became a confederate sympathizer. Quite the entrepreneur. He starts to do business with the Confederate Army. There are a number of receipts. Providing goods and services, cattle and horses. This farm was also located not far from washington, d. C. , really between the lines most of the war. It is a dangerous place. I believe robert was going home for two reasons. One, to check on his parents and wife, and also help his father with his business of supplying the army. That may have been the reason they allowed him back in. There had to be some reason. That stands. Wesley was always getting into adventure. He was captured twice in three months. Prisoner of war twice in three months. He was captured shortly after the battle of kearnstown near winchester. He mustve been held for about a week. He wrote about it to his sister in gettysburg. She lived on west middle street. The letter does not exist, but his sister lived across the street from the scilly family. They talked to the sister of a confederate soldier who was talking to the mother of a union soldier. Elizabeth writes a letter to jack. Did you know wesley was taken prisoner at winchester but released on parole . He wrote, god only knows what he suffered, do you pity him . Anne tried to incite sympathy. This is what happened. Towns fighting against one another, this is what happened in this situation. He is released. His Service Records are murky. I found more from letters and newspaper stories. He is captured again shortly after this in late may. He is taken to a prison in baltimore. We know that because his brother william, now with 87th pennsylvania is stationed in baltimore in midjune, he gets a pass to go visit his brother in prison. The Union Brother visits the confederate brother. William culp wrote to an back in gettysburg. She knew a lot and was getting letters from everybody. It says i got a permit from a Provost Marshal to visit wesley. I was with him two hours and a half. He told me to tell you not to be uneasy because he is well and will get out. I will see him as often as i can. It is hard to get a permit to see anyone in the jail. I use the word surreal. That is surreal. Shortly before that, we have another prisoner, cw hoffman, the old man, is taken prisoner. He is not in the army, but the union army is tired of this guy supplying the Confederate Army. They swoop into his farm and take them to a prison in washington, d. C. This news gets back to gettysburg. There is a clipping in early june 1862 which mentions in the consecutive paragraphs cw hoffman and wesley culp. There it is. I printed them out so you can read them easier. The first says we learned c w hoffman, coach maker, formerly of this place has been in the rebel army. He was captured a few days ago by general gearys commands. He is now in prison in washington. How much better to have joined his fortunes with the union men then send his name down to posterity as a traitor. One paragraph below, wesley culp was taken prisoner, released, joined a band of guerillas. He has been captured again. Partisan media was not invented in the 21st century. We had it back then. These folks in gettysburg were not happy. The story never made the connection that wesley worked for cw or they went south together. These guys, these men are in not in prison for long. Cw is out in july. He is back selling stuff to the Confederate Army. You find receipts july 1862. Wesley was released, went home to martinsburg for a couple of weeks and rejoined his army, his unit in the fall. Fast forward now to early june 1863. Robert e. Lee is forming his army 75,000 men for the invasion of the north. This is the first time that all five gettysburg rebels are together in the same big army. Frank hoffman with artillery, wesley are in the cavalry. They took part in the battle at Brandy Station at the beginning of this great campaign. They were coming north, but they were not planning to come to gettysburg. They had assignments coming north, a division of confederate troops assigned to clean out a garrison in winchester. They are going to attack this Union Garrison at winchester. Brother versus brother, this was a time where it really was. The second virginia and the 87th pennsylvania met on the battlefield and the third day they collided. The confederate got the better of it. The union was retreating. They took 200 prisoners from the 87th pennsylvania. One of them was not william culp. He and several other soldiers walked back to gettysburg. They got back three or four days later. Some ladies in the town right about that. Other prisoners are paraded through camp. This is when wesley sees a familiar face, an old friend of his and distant cousin. This shared that they shared the same greatgrandfather. Can i do anything for you . He said i am fine, but jack scilly is at the edge of the woods, and he is wounded. Wesley finds his old friend, has him taken to a hospital. They have a conversation. This is part of the jenny wade legacy. Jack scilly and jenny wade were romantically linked. There is a message for jenny. In the early 1900s, he gave wes a message for his mother. They talked, does not appear that was a written message. Probably just a verbal. Jack dies in early july. There was one other position change or assignment change before these guys went north to gettysburg. Robert hoffman got tired of going awol, they put him in the commissary department. Midjune, by the time they have the battle of winchester, confederate Service Records note he was assigned to drive cattle for the stonewall brigade. You dig into that. Robert e. Lee had many purposes coming north, one was together was to gather provisions and cattle. They needed beef on the move. A lot of this herd was sent back to this supply line. How do we know that robert from gettysburg state with the army in pennsylvania . There are two receipts, one copy here that he signed on june 30th in carlisle, pennsylvania, where johnson had come through. There is the name at the top, delivering june 30, 1863. You see for the use of the stonewall brigade with roberts signature. He has come north, three or seven miles behind the troops, the battle line, did not think of it. He would have been one of these guys, had they known he was from gettysburg, they could have easily pulled him out of the ranks and he couldve been a stout or guide. That did not happen. None of these guys made it here for the first day of fighting. Wesley culp came on the evening of july 1 after the major fighting had been done. They came down carlisle street, made a left into town square to the hanover road. How do we know that . A friend who served with him in company b was on the brigade staff of the stonewall brigade did an interview and nearly 1900s with the pittsburgh is at times and told the story we came in on the carlisle road, turned left into the square. There were few citizens to be seen because there had been much fighting in the streets. The townspeople made themselves scarce so no one welcomed or recognized wes culp on his homecoming. These guys knew wesley culp was the gettysburg rebel. The stonewall brigade moves to hanover road, the camp over on or near a farm that is still there. There is a marker you can see. A lot of the men settled in. Not wes, he goes into town to visit his sister. The confederates held the town, but it is a union town. There are guys with muskets. His heart was that been pounding. There he is walking down the street. His sisters do not know he is there. He goes to the door, it is their confederate brother. Hugging and kissing, they have not talked to each other in two years. He tells them about billy, he tells them about jack scilly. One of the sisters admonishes him. They begged him to stay, please stay, we might never see you again. He is a professional soldier, he has to go back to his unit. Two nights later, well after its charge, a man named benjamin walked the same way and goes to the area where they lived. He had known them for their many trips to visit wes in shepherdstown. He was delivering news their brother had been killed, wes culp had been killed. Wesleys Service Records say he was killed on july 3. Benjamin told the sisters and the culp family has believed it, he was killed on the morning of july 2, repeated over and over, one of his nieces wrote a family history. Our mother told us the story, ors day, july 2 in the morning. When he did the interview, pendleton said it was thursday morning july 2 on the skirmish line. This is what the family believes. I want to check if they were on the skirmish line. This does ring true. The commanders say the second virginia were on the skirmish line early on july 2. They were skirmishing near wolf hill. There are also accounts of the skirmish not many people write about this skirmish, but two Union Regiments do. They were on a farm that was known to be back then, it is now bisected by modern route 15. The house still exists on montclair road. I believe this is where wes culp was killed. One of his fellow soldiers said he lifted his head over a rock, he was killed. The body was never found. Benjamin said they buried the body where it fell. They said it was culp hill. This was a virginian who did not know gettysburg geography. All of the landmarks were misidentified, understandably. The sisters went out looking for it. They never found the body. They did find the gunstock, w. Culp, which he obviously carved into that. How did they find that . My theory is with lack of equipment, he was the only man from his unit who was killed during the battle of gettysburg. There is no way anyone would leave a functioning musket. They were on or near the hill. He was perhaps wounded or left back in the retreat. The family discounted rumors they secretly buried him. There is a tombstone for him at Hollywood Cemetery in richmond. It is believed to be in memoriam. There is no record he was ever buried there. We do not know. It is one of the mysteries of this family. He may be out on the field somewhere. That ends wesleys story. Later that afternoon henry wentz is involved with long streets attack. He is placed near the long street tower. They are firing away at union troops in the Peach Orchard and at the wentz house. Cannot imagine what that was like. There are accounts from the second New Hampshire that talk about their service in the wentz house. The Union Infantry advanced, swept across the field, swept the man off the field. They got the artillery men up, charged forward in one of the most inspiring moments of the battle. This is where henry wentz was charging to his boyhood home, charging over land he personally owned. There was an 1847 deed that said his father bought a nine acre plot diagonally across from the original wentz house. In 1850, that was transferred to henrys ownership. There is nothing to dispute that henry wentz owned that property. He charged over land he owned, through his front yard. When the work is done, they are about 115 yards north of the house he grew up. That night, henry went into the house, curiosity got the better of him. How do we know this deck out he went into the house. It is for battle, written by wc storage, he was not any runofthemill historian, he was a gettysburg resident. His older sister was henry wentzs nephew. He writes this. The night of the second day after the signal line advanced, they had been repulsed and occupied by forces under general lee, henry wentz visited his home and was greatly surprised to find his father still there. Wesley culp visits his sisters, henry wentz visits his father. This was a different kind of war. July 3, Frank Kaufman and his artillery unit are placed near the rogers house. Henry wentzs unit is placed on the other side of the road. They both take part and the great cannonade preceding picketts charge. One confederate shell, flies into Evergreen Cemetery and hits a tombstone. It is the tombstone of wesley culps father. You can see it today. This picture was taken a year ago. The flag is still there. The confederates attacked 12,000 troops, there is a bloody repulse that effectively ends the fighting at gettysburg. There were a few skirmishes of cavalry, but this is pretty much the end of the fighting. According to alexander, henry wentzs unit was one of the last to leave the field. They were late. Family lore says henry went to see his father. Story writes he found his father asleep and pinned a note on his shirt. That seems romanticized, but he had the ability to do it. He was nearby. That ends the battle for these guys. The other four survived the battle, go on serve throughout the war, two of them wounded, all four taken prisoner. They all signed oaths of allegiance to the United States. This is Robert Hoffmans oath of allegiance signed in Harpers Ferry, virginia. He went to Harpers Ferry for the john brown raid. Now he is in Harpers Ferry signing an oath of allegiance to become a citizen of the United States again. None of these guys ever went back north. Henry wentz came back at least once to gettysburg. After his parents died, he came back with his brothers to settle their estates. Their names are in the deed. Henrys name is first. He sold the land that he owned. The rumors that he was written out of his fathers will were not true. He split up the property among his surviving children. Henry was the first to die in 1875. His obituary notes he was a brave confederate soldier and his father owned a part of the battlefield at gettysburg. His friends knew he was a rebel. Wesley hoffman inherits the farm, marries a descendent of chief justice john marshall, has children, dabbles in politics, dies in 1896 Robert Hoffman could never settle down. Jobs in alexandria, shepherdstown, virginia, dallas. Moves to west texas, gets a land grant, dies in 1901. Listed as destitute. His wife applies for a confederate pension in the state of texas. There is a lot of documentation in that pension application, including a statement from benjamin pendleton, the wes culp guy, who knew robert. He talks about remembering robert moving south with his dad from gettysburg in the 1850s. Frank hoffman lives the longest, until 1920. He sold his culpeper farm, moves with his unmarried daughters to washington, d. C. They no doubt provided information for extensive obituary in the washington times, titled pa man who fought for the confederacy. Families and local people know these stories. One of franks daughters lived until the age of 94. She lived to 1972, 45 years ago there was a person alive who knew one of the gettysburg rebels. I wouldve loved to have interviewed her. Alas, she did not. That is their story. They were on the losing side, the wrong side of history with their choices, but these guys had a unique perspective. They were unique participants in one of the great chum at it and defining moments of American History. They were foreign invaders coming back to their hometown. I thought their story needed to be told. [applause] coming up this weekend that American History tv. Tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. About the detroit news. Some things are liberal. Other things are conservative. We would like to give both sides of the question. Sunday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern. Former park service chief historian and author on t
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