Doctorate degree from washington and Louis University school of law. He has practiced constitutional administrate of a law for 45 years in lexington kentucky. And 26 years as counsel to webster chamberlain and and in washington d. C. Throughout his career as a constitutional attorney, cant has cultivated his avocation and history. As a battlefield preservationist. He helped form the terry ville battlefield association. And serve as chairman of the parent feel battlefield commission. He had a president ial appointment as chairman of the Gettysburg National military parks advisory commission. He and served on the board of directors of the gettysburg foundation. He has been time researching american history, writing books and articles for scholarly presentation and giving to Civil War Battlefields to the avid American Civil War audience. All of kens books have been selections of the history book club. And military book club. And have received Numerous National awards. In addition, in 2007, cant extend and his historical pursuits to writing hosting and producing eight Award Winning documentary films. He is the president and content Development Developer of the nonprofit witnessing History Education foundation. His sole mission is to produce a high quality documentary films on all aspects of american history. For the purposes of broadcast public and cable television. Cant currently serves as a member of the kentucky american independents semi when centennial commission. I think i say the word correct. And the kentucky film commission. And is a life member of the board of directors of the Smithfield Plantation located in blacksburg, virginia. Without any further introduction, i would like to present to you cant masterson brown and his presentation on meade at gettysburg. Thank you. Its fun to be back in gettysburg. I love this place. Ive been bringing my family here for so many years, my kids who are now all grown. Still refer to the angle as their second backyard. And so that shows you just how much they were here with me. My topic that i george meade at gettysburg. The book that has just come out about that. Obviously its going to contain far more things than im going to be able to say tonight in the 45 minutes thats given me. But what i would like to do is present a couple of major themes of that book. And have you contemplate those. You know, george meade was never asked to become would he become commander of the army . Like other generals were who proceeded him. General meade was simply ordered to become commander of the army. By orders from the president of the United States. Dated june 27 1863. And the reason for that was that nobody wanted to become commander of the army of the potomac. And it is true on june 2nd, John Reynolds met with henry alec and the president s of the United States as well as his secretary of war. About the prospects of him becoming commander of the army of the potomac and he candidly said to george meade later that he declined. Because he didnt want to pick up after burnsides and hookers leaving that pretty well expresses the opinions of lots of the high command of the army of the potomac and when you stop and think about it. That poor army from the Peninsula Campaign in june of angela i of 1862 to second manassas. To antietam. To fredericksburg. And to chancellorsville had not won and engagement against that enemy of theirs in any of those. Nothing. And yet, the casualties in those campaigns continued to climb. Lost some 16,000 on the peninsula. There were at least 16,000 casualties in the army of the potomac alone at fredericksburg and a similar number at chancellorsville. As we all know, by march, the Lincoln Administration in Congress Managed to get through a draft. Why . Because who would want to join the army. Nobody. It had been nothing but a slaughterhouse. And there is been nothing gained. And so on the eve of gettysburg, the white house was concerned about riots breaking out in the streets. And then suddenly, a victory is given to them in the largest land engagement ever fought on the north american continent. And yet, and yet, after that, what happens . George meade is accused of not following the enemy. George meade is accused of not having the moral courage to make george meade decisions himself. George meade is accused of not attacking the enemy along the downs ville line near hegars town on the 12th and 13th of july. Lacking the moral courage to do that. He called a council of war. And thats how he has been remembered. I remember early on, working on this book. That someone came of unasked me. What are you working on now . I go well, im working on george mead. Hes the guy that personally. Thats how hes remembered by everybody. Youve heard all of you have heard that. Hes the guy that didnt pursue lee. Let me give you, again, we got 45 minutes. Let me give you some thoughts about all this. All this is revealed in the book. Its just fun to talk about. Meade was ordered to be commander on june 28th. Accepted kamau june 28 other being ordered to do so and to show you how this poor man was introduced to command of the army of the potomac. The minute he accepted command and became commander and hooker left, he learned that jab stewards brigades of cavalry had come a clause seneca falls of the Potomac River and had destroyed two bridges on the baltimore and Ohio Railroad and cut all the telegraph while certainly to rely just east of baltimore. Along the baltimore and ohio river. So meade had no way to communicate with his government. He couldnt get any supplies in from baltimore, for his army, because the bridges were knocked out of the baltimore and ohio river. That was his supply line. At the time, one half of meads army was shoeless. One half. And on june july one meade will actually finish ordering 50,000 pairs of shoes for that army. But theyll never arrive. And youll see why. Theyll never arrive. So during the pursuit of lee, after the fighting was over. What does meade say in response to one of henry halifax missives that was sent to him about pursuing. Meade says half my army doesnt have any issues. Still nothing, still nothing. And so you wonder how did he get into this kind of a predicament . Where his army has no supplies, nothing. Lets go back to the beginning of the campaign real quickly. He accepts command on june 28th. On june 29, he moves the army. Not after heck of a lot of examination of maps, intelligence reports from various elements of the army, both cavalry as well as civilian reports. Showing that lees army, which has been in pennsylvania for sometime now, foraging. Louise army is stretched out between chambers bergh and york, pennsylvania. And there is a road that runs between chambers bergen york and you can see it on the map. Right above the word long straight, you see chambers bergh, the chambers berg pike runs from chambers perked up cash down pass. Then to gettysburg and onto york. Notice that map. You see troops along the chambers berg pike. You see long hill at the cash town pass. You see early over here near york. Which is probably all meet new. From the time he took a command. Until july 1st was what you see on that map. Thats it. No other intelligence could we find. There was one piece of intelligence that indicated that long straights of chambersburg. Ap hill is a cash town. They both have a quote disposition to move to gettysburg. What does that mean . I have no earthly idea. But thats the only intelligence lee has. One thing about Civil War History is that we particularly military history. We can were always trying to look at it through our lens. And our lens is so different than theres. Confederate corps may move 20 miles on one day. And it may be spotted the next day. But it may take another day and a half for that information to even reach army headquarters. And by the time it reaches army headquarters, than whats happened . Have they continue to move or are theyre going somewhere else . You have absolutely no way of knowing. So meade, what he does is on the 29th of june. After looking at that map and looking at that chambers bergh pike. Chambers bergh to york pike. He determines that must be this is a word i use. The axis on which all of belize army is moving. And if i can get, im pretending im meade, if i can get as close as possible to that axis then maybe we can do something about these people. And so the object here is to get as close to that axis as he can. And then try to find out with more specificity where this enemy is. Because you cant do a thing unless he knows where that enemy is. What he does on june 29, he moves the army of the potomac north. You can see all the arrows. From frederick all the way up through carol county too tinny town to frizzell bergh, near union mills. New windsor. These troops marched in one day 30 miles. To get to that point. This is a halfshoeless army. But imagine, they have march from virginia all the way to frederick. And now theyre going another 30 miles to carol county, maryland. As meade gets there, he sees the layout, sees the big pike creek. In fact, his headquarters tents are pitched at middle berg. And you can see middle berg right here in the middle. Right there in the middle. You can go visit middlebury today. It looks like it did in 1863. You can go visit union town and its exactly like it was in 1863. Union mills is the same. It is expands down that way if you ask me. He reaches metal bar. They pitches tent on the kuhn farm and the kuhn farm overlooked big by kirk. And he saw the bluffs behind them. That trigger had to be the triggered him to say what else is on this . Well be flying down towards union mills. Those bluffs are like 100 feet above this creek. They taper down to 50 as you get past middle berg. But still, 25 feet. If youre on the 25 foot and the other guys are below it, then you are in better shape. The objects now is should i form a defense line along pike creek which she answers of course yes. Take the next slide. There you can see in black, big pick creek. It runs from manchester, following the creek through union mills. To just above tinny town. Then to middle berg on the left. I this setup here is designed to do one thing for sure. And that is the orders that were given to him by henry how lake were that among other things you are to protect baltimore in washington. You can do anything else you want but you have to protect baltimore those guys were paranoid in washington. They were almost paranoid. Look at what the pike creek line does. It covers every road, literally from harrisburg to baltimore. From gettysburg to baltimore. It covers all the roads. So in terms of obeying the orders of the generalinchief, meade chose the proper position. Now the question is, do you sit simply sit behind a defensive position and wait for the enemy . Of course not. Of course not. The enemys not gonna come to you. Louise out there foraging. You can set the hundred battlements all you want. He will just continue to forage and then finally he gets enough will go see later. Go down a virginia. And talk about so what do you do. You want to fight a battle on that pipe creek line. So what do you do . Meade answers that question. On june 30, he issues a series of orders. And one of the orders is two for all the core in the army to move from where they are right now. You can see where they are right now along the pike creek line. The first corpse he order to move to gettysburg. Thats reynolds. To gettysburg. The 11th corps was to move in supporting distance. Of the first core. The fifth court was ordered to move to hand over north of little town and then handover. The 12th corps was to move to two taverns near little town. The six corps was to move to manchester, over here on the far right. In the third corps was to move to emits berg. The second corps was to move from union town to tinny town. Think about it for a minute. Here, you are forming the pike creek line. And now meade has ordered all the corps of the army to move except sickles and hancock, the third and second corps. Hes ordered all five other court to move north of the pike creek line. You go, why is he doing that . Well, lets explore first of all the first corps. Hes ordered reynolds to gettysburg. Does that mean hes ordered reynolds to go to gettysburg to open a general engagement . Now. Not anymore than he ordered general sykes to go to hand over and hope for a general engagement. Or he ordered general cited direct to go to manchester to open a general engagement. All those corps are north or the pike creek line. So what is happening . On the next morning, interestingly, meade determines a base of supply of the army. Remember, an operational commander of an army is not just a fellow who orders troops around. He has to keep them fed. He also has to keep his animals. Fed the army of the potomac has 60,000 horses in that army. Has 91,000 troops. But 60,000 horses. Its supply trains are 50 miles long. Coming into pennsylvania. And those supply trains are largely mule driven. So youve got the mules now two to consider. If you look at the Army Regulations of 1861, a horse to keep it in the field is required to receive 14 pounds of oaths in 14 pounds of hay a day. It makes you almost shutter. How do you do that . How does he do it . He mule is required to receive 15 pounds of hay and 15 pounds of a combination of oaths a day. I come from horse country. I dont know if any of you have raised a horse. If you raise one horse, you know all about it. It only takes as one. In kentucky, again, its horse country. If you dont feed a horse, its required food, forage. Regularly. He goes lame and then breaks down. Particularly if youre requiring that animal to do what these armies are requiring them to do. Pulling guns, wagons, all that stuff. It takes an enormous amount of forage to keep an army alive, keep it moving. But if you dont feed that horse, what hes required, he goes lame in about three days. A man can withstand no food for ten days. So they say. Think however, he becomes weak. As you could only imagine. So even though it sounds boring to talk about logistics, it is what keeps an army moving. And if you cant keep up with that then you may as well get give it up because your army cant move. And its man wont move. So his supply base was set up at west minister. On july one. He gets confirmation from the quartermaster general of the army, montgomery makes, that his supply base will be at westminster. And theyre going to employ henry herman Brigadier General herman halt to open the railroad which is the western Maryland Railroad between baltimore and west minister. Its one track no two tracks there are no sightings there is no turntable and that railroad goes to westminster. And then also goes to a union bridge. A little town just to the west of west minister. Those two would be the base of supply of the army and all the supplies would come from washington to baltimore, baltimore to westminster and union bridge. And here is how they get there. Herman would take he commandeered trains for the u. S. Military railroad. He would run five trains, one behind the other since there were no turntables, anything like this. He wanted to give the maximum low to westminster and union bridges it could. He would run them in convoys of five trains, one behind the other. So that every time those five trains got to westminster and unity bridge, they could unload 2000 tons of supplies. Then back all the way down the tracks to baltimore. He do that five times a day. This is what it takes to keep an army alive. I cannot emphasize this stuff more. So that system was set up on july one. So this army could be supplied. At that moment now, pike creeks needs preferred position to defend. He wants to defend, if he can. Let it lead to the attacking. Pie creek, that means his line of supply is only seven miles long to west minister and union bridge. Easy, thats good, its close. That works. You could see what kind of ahead this man has now. That works. Weve said up the supply base. Going back to these core moving ahead of the pike creek line. Lets first look at the first core on the far left. Meade has given kind of special orders. He wants reynolds to move to gettysburg and he wants howards 11 court to follow him. Form a support system. Support core. And the military theorists of that age principally carl van the writer who wrote about military logistics among other things. In a book called on war that was published in 1832 after he died. And then antjuan germany, the swiss born french officer who wrote a text on the art of war. And people said that just antiquated stuff. They were all taught by a professor at west point, every one of meades, everyone at least for commanders. Who were taught bidens heart in the hand. Who wrote a book called the outpost. This outpost was a combination of both i found it interesting. A committee on the conduct of the war. They ask george meade about all his councils of war. And he says they were in councils of war. They were consultations. Do you know where he got that . He says theyre consultation. Does meade read show many . Youre darn right. What do these theorists say about were talking about here . Here is a a short lesson from dennis hart in the hand on this operation. He says win emmys position is to be reckoned murdered with a view to force him to show his hand by causing him to call out all his troops. Then a large detachment of all arms, infantry, cavalry, artillery, adequate to the task of pressing the enemy vigorously. And also of withdrawing with safety when pressed intern must be thrown forward. This is precisely the operation meade intends to for reynolds and frankly all sykes, sedgewick and the others to follow. This is kind of fun. Researching this book some years ago, i was in the national archives. Went through all the court papers of all the corps of the army of the potomac and all the quartermaster records, all that stuff. And in the 11th corps papers, i found a envelope. And i have a photo copy of it here in front of me. This is what it reads in the cover of the envelope. Official papers found on the body of Major General john f. Reynolds, commanding the left wing of the army of the potomac. July 1st, 1863. You go, why in the 11th corps, howard became the commander when reynolds fell. You want the commander of those forces out there to know what reynolds knew. Right . The papers go to howard. They were found in the 11th corps papers, still there right now. In those, in this envelope were things that the official records dont tell us about at all. I wont go i