Oak Hill Reconnaissance

As Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes approached Gettysburg during the late morning on July 1, he faced a dilemma. A line of cavalry videttes from Col. Thomas C. Devin's Brigade blocked his  route into the town along the road from nearby Middletown (today's Biglerville). The division commander  deployed sharpshooters from three of his brigades to confront the cavalry. While the sharpshooter detachments were engaged with Devin's troopers, Rodes spotted "a prominent hill" on his right that overlooked the area northwest of town. The problem was that he had no clear idea of the terrain along that part of his front.

The only cavalry that accompanied the division that day was Company A from the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion under Capt. Frank Bond. Those troopers, however, had already been sent to escort one General Ewell's staff officers with messages for Gen. A. P. Hill. An obscure account in the Confederate Veteran Magazine helps clarify his solution. The story comes from  Lt. J. Coleman Alderson of the 36th Virginia Cavalry Battalion in Albert Jenkins' cavalry brigade. A few day earlier, he had been sent from the area outside Harrisburg to the town of York with dispatches for Maj. Gen. Jubal Early. He remained with Early's command and accompanied those troops to Heidlersburg on June 30, where he was temporarily attached to Rodes' division staff.

As one of the lone horsemen at hand, Rodes turned to the cavalryman for help in carrying out the reconnaissance. "About ten o'clock on the morning of July 1 I rode up to the top of Oak Hill, some distance north of Pennsylvania College, and saw that it commanded the whole Federal army," Alderson recalled. "I immediately reported this fact to Gen. Rodes in the presence of Gen. Ewell." With that, Rodes soon moved his forces into place on the nearby hill directly on the flank of the Federal I Corps.

Old Feuds Die Hard

One of Alfred Iverson's bitterest enemies was Col. Duncan K. McRae from the 5th North Carolina, who temporarily commanded the brigade after Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland was mortally wounded at South Mountain on Sept. 14, 1862. A letter that was recently posted by Time Ware on his excellent blog "Bloody Prelude: The Battle of South Mountain" clearly shows that McRae's resentment toward Iverson continued unabated well after the war. This item was new to me and provided some valuable insights on the fighting there.

On Aug. 21, 1885, McRae wrote to his former division commander, Daniel Harvey Hill, describing his actions at South Mountain. He briefly outlined the final Federal attack that led to their hurried retreat from the ridgeline they were defending. "By this time the Enemy in very heavy force came on with a yell, surrounding the 23rd Regiment, which was made the more easy by the fact that the 12th broke and fled," McRae explained. "The 20th [Iverson's regiment] made some resistance and gave way fighting and in order, but was obliged to retreat, accompanied by its Colonel and Officers."  

McRae argued that the brigade continued to fight for more than two hours under his command after  Garland was killed. He further minimized the number of men captured there. Some of his harshest words were aimed at Iverson. McRae insisted that the 20th North Carolina was not surrounded. He noted that the men fled "with some show or order and fight" According to McRae, "Colonel Iverson retreated along with his men, as he did at Sharpsburg, leaving me on the field in both instances."

McRae's resentment over losing the permanent brigade command to Iverson was readily apparent. With some justification, he reported to his former division commander that Iverson had performed so badly that he "was fortunate to secure the promotion."