Was Iverson Drunk at Gettysburg?

The widely held belief that Iverson was drunk at Gettysburg appears to have no basis in fact. The only story to support that claim came several decades later from a soldier in Ramseur's Brigade. "General Ivison, who was a drunk, I think, and a coward besides, was off hiding somewhere, while his brigade . . . was being beaten by the Yankees," he wrote in his reminiscences for a small college magazine.

I have looked at dozens if not hundreds of letters and diaries from Iverson's brigade. Aside from that comment, not a single contemporary account indicated that Iverson was intoxicated at Gettysburg--or indeed at any time during the war. Iverson was so badly disliked that there certainly would have been some mention of his drinking if there was even a kernel of truth to the story. In fact, during their stay along the Cape Fear early in the war, Iverson even threatened to have some of the officers from his regiment for their drunkenness. It's time to put this speculation to rest for good.