War is a Fearful Business: A Civilian Recalls Gettysburg

Dr. Andrew J. Traver of Andersontown, Pennsylvania lived a mere 300 yards from the advance of Jeb Stuart's cavalry in the days before the Battle of Gettysburg. In this extraordinary letter written 9 days after the battle, he describes to friends in Illinois the carnage left in the wake of the costliest battle of the Civil War.

    "Over thousands of acres and for miles the ground was covered with dead and dying," he noted. "Broken cannons and caissons, rifles, muskets, knapsacks, cartridge boxes, blankets, hats, caps, boots, shoes, canteens, beef, crackers, and cooking utensils, dead horses, broken ambulance wagons, ammunition wagons, etc., all mixed and mingled in one mass of ruin. In many places the ground was covered with blood and water shoe deep and along the sloughs, the blood and water ran in streams."

    "I returned home on Friday [July 10], one week after the battle, and some portions of the field were yet covered with dead Rebels who had not been buried," he continued. "The Rebel prisoners were sent out to bury them but the smell was beyond endurance. Decomposition was so rapid that they would fall to pieces on handling. Hundreds of them were strewn on piles and a little dirt thrown on them. Others were piled in between rocks and thrown in gutters and runs with stones and brush thrown over them with their heads, arms, and legs sticking out."

          Dr. Traver’s letter first saw publication in the July 24, 1863, edition of the Monmouth Atlas published in Monmouth, Illinois.

 


Andersontown, Pennsylvania

July 12, 1863

Dear friends,

          After passing through one of the most exciting and fearful periods of my life, I embrace a few moments of leisure in order to drop you a few lines concerning matters and things in our locality as regards the great Rebel raid, the desperate fighting, etc. You have had full particulars through the press but of the awful realities you know but little.

          We have lived one whole week under the administration of Jeff Davis and from such another week I hope the good Lord may forever deliver us. The Rebels have ransacked almost every hill and valley south of the Susquehanna River and carried off horses, mules, cattle, sheep, wheat, and flour. They have destroyed grain and grass fields, burned fences and bridges, plundered houses, and robbed private citizens of their money and clothes. In many instances they have destroyed women’s clothing and broke their dishes, destroyed their bed clothes, and in fact, demolished everything except what they had on their persons. This I have seen with my own eyes and know whereof I speak.

          This was the case when they first came into the neighborhood, but when they found they had to leave, they became desperate. Many farmers were entirely ruined. Andersontown was lucky. Stuart’s and Fitzhugh Lee’s Rebel cavalry, 15,000 strong, passed close by us. Their advance was up the road about 300 yards from our house. They were making for the Cumberland Valley to join General Jenkins’ guerillas, but our militia from Harrisburg had driven him up beyond Carlisle and the Rebels hearing our cannons roaring up the valley and thinking they were cut off, made a hasty retreat to Gettysburg. They burnt many of their baggage wagons in the passes of Round Top Mountain, so you see how we were saved.

          Jenkins’ guerillas were in Lisburn and Siddensburg, but our cavalry from New Cumberland under Colonel Wynkoop were so close upon them that they had but little time to plunder the country except to steal horses. The copperheads suffered dreadfully as they did not hide their horses. They boasted before the Rebels came that their property would be respected and no Knight of the Golden Circle would be molested. But the poor, deluded creatures were dreadfully disappointed.


          I was in Harrisburg for three days under arms but I had to fight for nothing and board myself, [page is indistinct]. Would go home and act as bushwhackers as Harrisburg was amply defended. I was as far as Gettysburg and here, oh my God, I hardly know how to describe the awful carnage. Such desperate fighting I suppose had never been known upon the American continent. The Rebels knew that the Confederacy was suspended upon their actions and the Union army was determined to drive them from our soil, or capture and kill them at all hazards and this they succeeded in doing to a great extent.

          It will never be known how many Rebels were killed as hundreds were scattered through the rocks and mountains that will never be taken any account of. I returned home on Friday [July 10], one week after the battle, and some portions of the field were yet covered with dead Rebels who had not been buried. The Rebel prisoners were sent out to bury them but the smell was beyond endurance. Decomposition was so rapid that they would fall to pieces on handling. Hundreds of them were strewn on piles and a little dirt thrown on them. Others were piled in between rocks and thrown in gutters and runs with stones and brush thrown over them with their heads, arms, and legs sticking out. This the Rebels done themselves; as far as our soldiers buried them, they did it with more decency.

          But the Rebels appeared to have no respect for themselves or anybody else. They were so completely thrashed and outwitted at every point that they appear to have given up in despair. Over thousands of acres and for miles the ground was covered with dead and dying. Broken cannons and caissons, rifles, muskets, knapsacks, cartridge boxes, blankets, hats, caps, boots, shoes, canteens, beef, crackers, and cooking utensils, dead horses, broken ambulance wagons, ammunition wagons, etc., all mixed and mingled in one mass of ruin. In many places the ground was covered with blood and water shoe deep and along the sloughs, the blood and water ran in streams.



          From my own personal observation, I am convinced that the Rebels lost two killed to our one on our center and left, and on our right, they lost three to our one. In fact, one what is called Sugarloaf Mountain and along Rocky Creek, I could not find more than 20 of our men killed whilst that of the Rebels was from 800-1,000. Our men had piled up rocks into breastworks and the Rebels became frantic at their loss and charged our works four different times under Longstreet, leaving their dead three or four men deep in front of our lines. A little farther to the right, the Pennsylvania Bucktails charged on Longstreet’s corps and captured one whole division.

          On the afternoon of the 3rd, General Lee sent a flag of truce asking permission to bury their dead, but this game would not work. General Meade was not to be caught with their chaff and sent word back that the dead did not need much attention and that he intended to fight awhile yet. The Rebels soon after commenced to retreat in disorder, throwing down their guns in utter despair. Many thousands were captured and hundreds fled to the mountains and deserted. Their loss in killed, wounded, prisoners, and deserters will not fall much short of 40,000.

          I conversed with many Rebels who admitted that Lee brought 120,000 infantry, 20 artillery regiments, and 60,000 cavalry over the Potomac, making in round numbers 200,000 men, about 140,000 were engaged at Gettysburg. [Dr. Traver’s estimate is off by about a factor of two!] The rest were posted at different points between here and Williamsport to guard communications, etc. General Meade has about 150,000 men, but one grand division did not arrive so that we had scarcely 100,000 men on the field and only about 75,000 engaged, the rest being held in reserve for any emergency that might arise.

The balance of Lee’s army had made its way to Hagerstown, hotly pursued by our cavalry who captured a great portion of their baggage trains and stolen horses. Our cavalry have also destroyed the pontoons over the Potomac. Lee’s army is in a bad fix. Yesterday, heavy cannonading was heard and I suppose another battle was fought on the banks of the Potomac but I have not yet heard the result. For six days, the earth shook from the Potomac to the Susquehanna beneath the heavy firing of artillery. Hanover Junction, Hanover, Carlisle, and Gettysburg were the principal places of conflict.

It has been raining nearly every day since the fighting commenced and I fear that what grain and grass the Rebels left will be spoiled. Everything was neglected during the conflict. What horses were not taken by the Rebels were over the river and the grain has been left to rot in the fields. Many of the farmers will not have a bushel of grain or forkful of hay, the armies having pastured and eaten everything. Truly, war is a fearful business.

But I begin to hope that the rebellion will soon be wound up as the Rebels are beginning to lose confidence in themselves. I talked with a very intelligent officer of the Rebel army who admitted their cause was lost as they had raised their last army. The whole South was recruited to gather up Lee’s great army for the march to Pennsylvania. Their object was to whip our army at Gettysburg and then divide into three divisions: one for Washington, one for Baltimore, and one for Harrisburg. By this means, they calculated to counteract the loss of Vicksburg and the Mississippi Valley which they knew was lost to them. But they have failed and I think their cause is about lost.

A.J. Traver

To read some other civilian accounts of the Gettysburg campaign, please check out these posts:

A Civilian's Viewpoint of Lee's Invasion of Pennsylvania 

With the U.S. Christian Commission at Gettysburg

On Soil Enriched with Their Blood: The Aftermath of Gettysburg 

Dedicating the Gettysburg National Cemetery 

Source:

“Letter from Pennsylvania,” account of Dr. Andrew Jackson Traver, Monmouth Atlas (Illinois), July 24, 1863, pg. 2

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