Friendly
fire has been a recurring problem throughout history. This incident occurred on
the evening of September 14, 1862 at Fox’s Gap, Maryland. Ever since I first
published an article about Jesse Reno’s death in the June issue of Civil War Magazine historians, including a very prominent
one, have discounted the entire story. One said that Reno would never have
ridden toward the front without a large entourage; another said that when Reno
mistakenly told General Orlando Willcox that he had been shot by his own men;
another dismissed the account of one of Reno’s orderly’s printed in the National Tribune as hearsay.
What
evidence supports the real story behind Reno’s death?
1. On September 17, 1862, while waiting
to assault the Lower bridge, Private Albert A. Batchelder ( Company C, 6th New
Hampshire) wrote his father, while griping about army sutlers and the poor
condition of Maryland farms, “Gen. Reno was killed by a Massachusetts Regiment
by mistake he was in front of the lines.”
2. Professor Gabriel Campbell, former
captain, Company E, 17th Michigan, wrote Ezra Carmen on August 23, 1899 helped
carry the general off the mountain on a blanket when they encountered General
Willcox. Campbell heard Reno tell the general, “Willcox, I am killed. Shot by
our own men.”
3. Campbell then explained his
interpretation of the event by writing, "This implies that Gen. Reno did
not, in the gathering darkness, satisfy himself that the rebels were so close
at hand…he thought the shooting random and not intentional. Possessed of the
conviction that the rebels were not there, it was the necessary inference that
he was killed by his own men.”
4. He said he saw Reno on horseback,
about half a length in front of his aides.
5. On July 6, 1883, in the National Tribune, in an article
titled “How Reno Fell,” Sergeant Alexander H. Wood (Company L, 6th New York
Cavalry) one of Reno’s two orderlies reported what Private Martin Ficken, the
orderly riding by Reno’s side saw.
6. Ficken and the division surgeon,
Doctor Calvin Cutter, flanked him within arm’s reach. It was about 6:00 p.m.
and the fields on the eastern side of South Mountain were getting quite dark.
The brand new 35th Massachusetts was coming out of the woods into the fields on
both sides of the Old Sharpsburg road and were lighting lanterns and shouting
for their scattered regiment to reform. Reno was in Wise’s field south of the
road behind the 21st Massachusetts and the 51st New York.
7. According to Ficken a lost soldier
from the 35th Massachusetts, upon entering the field, stumbled upon the riders
and yelled, Rebel Cavalry!” He aimed his musket at the general, as Ficken
yelled, “Don’t fire!” The gun discharged. Almost immediately, six shots rang
out from the woods across the road from the northwest.
8. The startled 35th Massachusetts across
the road to the north opened fire in the darkness into the backs of the 51st
Pennsylvania, which was lying along the eastern side of the “wood road” –
Appalachian Trail, facing the woods.
9. Reno turned toward Ficken and gasped
he was wounded. Reno dismounted. While Cutter tended to Reno, Ficken ran into
the regiment behind them and got a blanket.
10. While they put the general on the
blanket to carry him to the base of the mountain, Sergeant Wood led their horse
off the field behind them.
11. At the northeastern corner of the
field they transferred the general to a stretcher at which point Willcox
approached him and Reno told him he been shot by his own men.
12. The
general’s staff told the two orderlies not so speak about anything they had
seen.
13. According to Ficken and Cutter, the
bullet had glanced off Reno’s sword hilt and glanced into his chest below the
heart.
14. Just last week I found a letter
written by General Samuel Sturgis published in the New York Times, November 30,
1878. He did not see Reno get shot. His account came from one of his two staff
officers who saw Reno fall from the saddle. One of them said he helped get the
general out of the field.
15. Sturgis said that either Dr. Cutter or
a Dr. Watson said the bullet was fired close at hand and from behind.
16. Sturgis was not with the general when
he died nor was he present when the doctors examined the wound.
While
I believe Reno died from "friendly fire", I would prefer that my
readers draw their own conclusions.
Sounds plausible. What was the argument that the other noted historian gave to discount your analysis? Let me guess....the accounts were written when the men were older so can't be credited? I am always amazed that people take the accounts of WWII vets at face value when they are older men telling their war stories but tend to discredit those of Civil war vets when they were at the same age as embellished or mistaken.
ReplyDeleteA.P., That is one of the arguments. The others are:
Delete1. There are too many conflicting accounts that no one can make a positive call on the matter. 2. Reno, as Captain Campbell stated, probably thought his own men shot him. 3. Wilcox's recollection of Reno's words are based upon the fact that Reno thought he was shot by his own men. 4. The orderly who reported the incident did not see it happen. He merely repeated what Ficken told him, despite the fact that both orderlies were told not to tell their story to anyone. 5. Reno would not have gone onto the field without his entire staff. The witnesses which said otherwise are not credible. 6. I did not do thorough research and reported the incident as fact because I wanted to rewrite history. 7. I did not interpret my sources correctly. 8. I am too definitive in my conclusions. 9 I only collected evidence which would support my hypothesis.
None of these take into account Bachelder's letter. They are entitled to their own opinions because that is what they are and nothing more.
Lol. Interpreted your sources "correctly"? Oh, I'm glad there is someone out there who knows how to "correctly" analyze a source from 100+ years ago and know exactly what was intended in that dead persons mind. Always like how there is one way to do something (sarcasm). Perhaps that person should run for Congress with such amazing expertise. Lol, and too definitive in your conclusions. Yup, nothing like making a decision based on analysis but not to report it or act on it....now that person who said that definitely needs to run for Congress!
DeleteA. P.,
DeleteThere is no point in researching history if the historian does not keep an open mind and be willing to follow the contemporary leads from the witnesses involved in the incident. The rest is conjecture or hearsay.
No one wants to wade through a book where the author is unwilling to take a stance but continually waffles on the subject.
What about Walter Clark's 'Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions From North Carolina' Vol II, p.221 naming Charles W. Bennett,
ReplyDeleteOrderly Sergeant of the 23rd Regiment, Co E, as the shooter "at long range." ?
The general was hit at dusk, the sun being on the west aide of the mountain with very poor lighting, The 23rd was off the field. The troops along Reno's front were Law's and Wofford's Brigades. There are too many Federal accounts stating that he was shot by friendly fire to discount them. I do not put a lot of credence in the account of the 23rd. Thank you for asking the question.
ReplyDelete