Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh"
The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment
400 pages | 33 illustrations/6 maps | 6 x 9 | 2002
ISBN 978-0-271-02166-9 | cloth: $46.95 tr
Paperback edition is not available
A Keystone Book®
"This history of the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves is a book of decidedly uncommon merits. Unlike many regimental histories, this one is marked by exhaustive research in the manuscript repositories, and Gibbs shows impressive skill in judiciously evaluating his sources. The resulting narrative affords an excellent balance between human and military content. Make no mistake about it: this is as fine a piece of research as you will find on a regimental-level unit." -Robert K. Krick, author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Lee's Colonels
“Regimental histories are notoriously uneven in quality. Some are little more than “cut & paste” compilations of official sources and modern opinion, while others are truly gems of research and writing. Joseph Gibbs’ Three Years in the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment decidedly falls into the latter category. Making extensive use of manuscripts, original letters and newspaper accounts, as well as many records in the National Archives and other respositories, Gibbs has created a thoroughly researched and engagingly written story of a unit that saw incredibly heavy service.” —TomClemens America’s Civil War
Hailing from the Keystone State's rugged western counties, the Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves was one of the Civil War's most heavilyengaged units. Of more than 2,100 regiments raised by theNorth, it suffered the eighth highest number of battle deaths,earningit the gruesome sobriquet "Bloody Eleventh."
Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" tells the story of this often-overlooked division of the Army of the Potomac from before the war up through 1864. Drawing on letters, diaries, and archival documents, Joseph Gibbs writes of men such as Colonel Thomas Gallagher, who led his troops into battle smoking a cigar, and Samuel Jackson, who became the regiment's commander following Gallagher's promotion. He rediscovers the complexities of the men who commanded the brigades and divisions of which the Eleventh Reserves was a part—figures such as George Meade, John Reynolds, and Samuel Crawford.
While Gibbs writes about the officers, he never loses sight of the men in the ranks who marched into places such as Gaines's Mill, Miller's Cornfield at Antietam, and the Wheatfield at Gettysburg. Nor does he forget the homes, wives, and children they left behind in western Pennsylvania.
With its meticulous research and lucid prose, Three Years in the "Bloody Eleventh" provides both scholars and Civil War enthusiasts with an unprecedented look inside the trials and tribulations of one of the war's most battle-tested units.
Joseph Gibbs has worked as a reporter and editor on several Massachusetts newspapers. An assistant professor of mass communication at the American University of Sharjah (UAE), he is the author of Gorbachev's Glasnost: The Soviet Media in the First Phase of Perestroika (1999).
Contents
List of Maps and Illustrations vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction xi
1 A County Divided 1
2 Soldiers in Dead Earnest: Camp Wright to Camp Tennally 17
3 No More Bull Run Affairs: Great Falls, Dranesville, and the March
to the Rappahannock 51
4 One of the Awfulest Battles the World Has Ever Witnessed: The Road
to Gaines’ Mill 93
5 Another Way to Take Richmond: Libby Prison, Belle Isle, and Glendale
125
6 Shot Down Like Sheep: Second Bull Run 143
7 Brave Comrades Falling: South Mountain and Antietam 163
8 Butchered Like So Many Animals: Fredericksburg 189
9 A Regiment Worth Its Weight in Gold: Gettysburg 207
10 Duty in the Context of the Cartridge Box: Falling Waters, Bristoe
Station, and Mine Run 229
11 Winter ••••–•••.
243
12 An Awful Sight of Men Cut Up: The Wilderness to Bethesda Church
253
13 A Remnant Returns: Muster-Out 279
14 “He Will Sit with a Small Mirror, and Look at His Reflection”:
An Epilogue to the Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves 287
Notes 309
Bibliography 349
Index 357