Letters to the Editor — November 2018

Originally published November 2018 · p. 2

TO THE EDITOR: In the September Civil War News on page 3, top left photo the caption reads “The Union Army enlisted Irish immigrants almost as soon as they arrived; here the new soldiers of the Irish Brigade await the advance of Confederate infantry during the fighting at Seminary Ridge.” The real Irish Brigade was near Cemetery Road/Ridge the 2nd day fighting in the Wheatfield. They were not in the dangerous part of the line on the 3rd day. The other Irish Pennsylvania regiments were at the angle on Cemetery Ridge the 3rd day. These regiments are sometimes called the Pennsylvania Irish brigade, but they are not the famous Irish Brigade. I think the caption has the “Irish Brigades” confused and the location too—Cemetery Ridge, not Seminary Ridge. I am sure I am not the first to point this out. When talking to a very nice female Civil War News employee about my missing September issue (which she promptly mailed me), I mentioned that I don’t go to reenactments anymore because the best reenactors/officers/organizers retired from the hobby, leading to not-so-great/accurate events, with confused scenarios. The caption is an example of what I mean. Love the Civil War News

– eagerly look forward to it every month. When confronted with overwhelming odds, you picked up the newspaper’s flag and moved forward, so thank you for your hard work. Peter Gabrielli Rockville, Md. TO THE EDITOR: I greatly anticipated reading the article by Steve Norder (CWN, Oct. 2018) on who shot Gen. Joseph Mansfield at Sharpsburg. However, I was puzzled afterward that there was one Georgia unit that was not referenced as the “mystery” unit. Consulting the recent Antietam battlefield guide by Carol Reardon and Tom Voessler as well as Volume II of Ezra Carman’s Maryland Campaign, they contain maps which show that the 21st Georgia was the unit, in conjunction with the 4th Alabama and 5th Texas, which appears to have opposed 12th Corps units in the East Woods despite retirement of the other units in Trimble’s Brigade, commanded by Col. James Walker. As a 28 year member of the 21st Ga., I have often wondered if they were responsible for Mansfield’s death, notwithstanding the presumed A Company detachments from Ripley’s Brigade referenced in the article. Indeed, they may also have been the cause of the death of Gen. Henry Bohlen at Freeman’s Ford, August 22, 1862. I know that we will never determine for sure who killed Mansfield but thought that the 21st Georgia should have been noted in the article as a possibility for the “mystery” unit. Stuart McClung Hagerstown, Md. TO THE EDITOR: I am sending this short note to make you aware of an error in the recent article about the conservation efforts on the Monitor. In the article it is stated that the Monitor sank on December 31, 1861, but in reality it foundered on December 31, 1862. I hope this will help you correct the mistake. Patrick D. Peters First Lieutenant First North Carolina Artillery [editor’s comment. The American Heritage Dictionary defines founder, in nautical usage, as “to sink below the water.” For the verb sink, “to descend beneath the surface or to the bottom of a liquid” with the preferred past tense sank as in “the bow sank beneath the water.” In either case, the Monitor went to the bottom, 220 feet below the surface on that date.]