Especially the 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 mcmillan 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. [laughter] tom the thing i learned on the tour was i could not be in the cavalry. No, 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 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. 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 the brewery. Its a little closer to the brewery so i think they would have a laugh about that. 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 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. Across the street is 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. At that time when he moved in, the family was much larger, more children, including a nineyearold son named henry who grew up here. And, obviously, knew the roads and trees ver well. 600 yards to the west is another iron tablet. We can see it 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. Culphave heard of wesley of his connection to the prolific culp 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 culps hill or what was described as his uncles farm. It was actually on wolf hill, and the man was not his uncle owned the farm but a relative, hisnt 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 they were in 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. That militia unit became company being. This was the unit Union Confederate armies. Frank kaufman was in the artillery, the 38th virginia light artillery. And, Wesley Hoffman, 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. For various reasons. But, these guys were foreign invaders coming back to their hometown. I want to get into that mindset, but 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. With a man who is said to know 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. Early that morning, 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 saw no union trips in the vicinity. Years later, we know he could Little Round Top and seen that because union troops were all over the place. One historian wrote 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 signal 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. July 2. However, 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 gotd an old farm and then into position during is there any coincidence that happened with the unit that included henry wentz, the man from gettysburg. Henry wentz 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, and makes it different is that 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. They did not write about their civil war experience. It was digging into all of these polices. 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. This was really 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 for providing 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. My hope is that 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. So maybe we will find a photo but wesley is the only one we have. The story starts with him, wesley culp. He was born in july. 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. In gettysburg. Wesley lived in petersburg for about seven or eight years, the family moved back to gettysburg in 1847. How do we know that . Newspaper ads are very valuable. This was in that in the gettysburg paper. He has just moved his tailor shop, moving in with his brother daniel. 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. With his family. His father never really fit in. They mandate or nine times. From maryland to pennsylvania. 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 carriage shop. This is one of his advertisements. There was one on chambersburg street. There was one sign that says this is the last remaining building of cw hoffmans carriage complex. For 20 years i had no idea. But that is where he was. To the extent he is mentioned again, he is always 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 obviously confederate sympathies. He owned a multiple businesses, owned at least 10 pieces of property. He was elected three times to the gettysburg borough council. He was a trustee of the methodist episcopal church. He represented gettysburg at the state temperance convention, which means he was a leading teetotaler and 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 gettysburg address. So 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. However, digging around the Adams County Historical Society 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 barrett using the iron with the intention of doing severe bodily harm. No kidding. Both were badly harmed. 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 this was a sitting borough ncilman who eat the crack who beat the crap 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. They are 16me yearsold or 17yearsold. 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. And you also get to show loyalty. 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. 10 miles away in martinsburg, the same thing happens. Henry wentz had come earlier. Independently. He was about 12 or 13 years older but did the same thing. He joins the martinsburg independent blues. 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. A town close to martinsburg and shepherdstown. That is where the john brown raid took place in october of 1859. John brown the wild eyed 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 did seize the armory and arsenal. They did seize some slaves. They started an absolute panic in the countryside. The Harpers Ferry citizens reached out for help to militia units from among other towns, shepherdstown in martinsburg, and there is both 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, who happened to be Home Visiting his family robert e. Lee, and they put down the raid. They captured john brown. He 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, Harpers Ferry area. 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. ,he great book by william early photography at gettysburg, i found a culp family descendent from central pennsylvania. He was nice enough to lend me two letters wesley has written to his sister. Other than the fact that your hands tremble, these were unremarkable letters. From their content, 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. Go on a spree. 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 handwriting. His name was john, john wesley culp. That is the signature there. He said he was going to go west and aaron has fortune. Fortune. Rn his 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 between april 1320. They are now in the Confederate Army. Callt hoffman and wesley culp 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 culp enlisted 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. He was seen by the citizens of martinsburg when he went through. 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 i