Imperfect Union: A Father's Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg

by Chuck Raasch

On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Union artillery lieutenant Bayard Wilkeson fell while bravely spurring his men to action. His father, Sam, a New York Times correspondent, was already on his way to Gettysburg when he learned of his son's wounding but had to wait until the guns went silent before seeking out his son, who had died at the town's poorhouse. Sitting next to his dead boy, Sam Wilkeson then wrote one of the greatest battlefield dispatches in American history.

This vivid exploration of one of Gettysburg's most famous stories--the story of a father and a son, the son's courage under fire, and the father's search for his son in the bloody aftermath of battle--reconstructs Bayard Wilkeson's wounding and death, which have been shrouded in myth and legend, and sheds light on Civil War-era journalism, battlefield medicine, and the "good death."

Genres: Civil War, History

417 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would never have picked this book up had it not been a book club selection, but I am so glad I did. I generally find a factual history of battles tedious, and while the central section of the story did inundate me with military personnel and strategies, I enjoyed the book on many levels.

I was drawn in by two local connections of sorts. I live in Buffalo, where the Wilkeson family name is well-known, but I had never heard of Sam Wilkeson Jr, the war correspondent. My mother grew up and still has family near Frederick, Hagerstown and Middletown MD, areas mentioned throughout the account and quite near the battle site. I will view these places through a different lens, having read this book.

I found the war correspondent angle very interesting, and learned much I did not know or had never thought about... another plus. The role and history of the media around the time of the Civil War is truly fascinating. So many of the controversies and challenges remain relevant all these years later.

The personal story of a father trying to perform his professional duties while seeking a beloved son who is also caught up in the battle was both moving and horrifying. The graphic details from Raasch’s primary sources are well integrated into the text, and the author keeps the account personal without sacrificing the facts. The work is a testament to the writing abilities of the people of the time, even the very young who wrote letters and kept diaries. I feel I have a much better appreciation for the magnitude of loss and suffering brought about by this war in particular, as well as armed conflict in general.

I struggled to read through some parts, not being Civil War scholar by any means. But I like a challenging read from time to time, and it was good to meet some Buffalonians of the past!

[Donald]

Over the years, I have read countless books on the Battle of Gettysburg, including many Unit
histories of the Battle. This book is one of the best I've read. My initial interest in the book was piqued because one of the two subjects of the book, Lt Bayard Wilkinson, Artillery Commander, served in the 11th Corps of the Army of the Potomac, the subject of much of my research on the Civil War. Bayard's father, Sam Wilkinson was a politically well-connected war correspondent, whose well written correspondences became the first draft of the History of the Battle.

The author has chosen a quite interesting pair to dramatize the era before and just after the Civil War. Sam's grandfather was one of the founders of Buffalo, New York, He used his family connections to help him make his way in the Washington of the Civil War era. He had a personal relationship with Pennsylvania Governor Cameron who was also Lincoln's first Secretary of War. (Sam spent time with Cameron on his PA farm.) Sam also had a relationship with Secretary of State, Seward and wrote political speeches for him. Journalistic ethics had not solidified yet at that time and many of the newspapers mentioned in the book were mouthpieces for parochial political views. The author skillfully weaves the story of the society and how the public opinions of the day effectedhow Sam and Bayard lived their lives. Ideas about death about Patriotism, political philosophy, medicine, etc were vastly different than today. With that philosophic back drop, the 'plot' of the story is how Sam Wilkinson got to Gettysburg in search of the story AND the search for his son who was wounded on July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle. It is a well-told and even exciting telling. Of course, Bayard will be killed by an artillery shell as he bravely lead his battery in the fight around Barlow's Knoll; and Sam would of course live through the immense artillery bombardment on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, and write one of the first and most celebrated accounts of that battle. The Reader knows what at that point Sam does not - that his wounded son would die a few hours after his wounding, while lying in the basement of the Almshouse basement. Sam will have to wait out the battle and then move very cautiously with Union troops on July 4th to finally get to the area of Barlow's Knoll, where his son fell. When Sam finally reached the Almhouse area, one of the most poignant parts of the book unfolded,which was the aftermath of the battle. Thousands of people descended on Gettysburg with differing motives. Some came for curiosity, others souvenir seekers, others to profit from the tragedy, then there were the thousands of parents who wanted to find their wounded sons or to bring home the dead. Carriage-makers in Gettysburg overnight transformed their trade, their chief product now being coffins. Mobile embalmers descended on the town and made a killing! Many of these people had to pay for the services of men who would unearth the many shallow, common graves so that their sons might receive a descent burial.

You can imagine the smell of thousands of corpses both human and animal that the townspeople had to endure. Surgeons's tents were setup all over the battlefield with amputated arms and legs piling up outside the operating tents. Wounded soldiers often had to wait for days to have their wounds addressed.

So the more general story of how the contending armies got to this place is then superseded by the
personal tragedy of Sam Wilkeson's son. Bayard is finally discovered in a shallow grave beyond the Almshouse. The body was taken to one of the numerous,super-busy embalmers who descended on the town. The body traveled by train to Buffalo and after a military funeral, well attended by the townspeople, was buried in the families plot in a Buffalo cemetery.

Another subject that was always in the forefront in this book was the story of the war correspondents. They were usually brave, dedicated and resourceful. This was the first generation of reporters that had relatively easy access to the newly invented telegraph. (There were of course instances when the telegraph wires were tampered with and communication was interrupted. The correspondents often went to great lengths and great creativity to circumvent the problem.) Sam Wilkeson was one of the best. He was an excellent writer, always had a insightful spin on his reporting, and it didn't hurt that he was well connected in Washington.

Three of the stories in the tale I found particularly interesting. The first was Sam's description of a large number of war correspondents huddled behind the Leister house, Meade's HQ, on the Taneytown Road. The description of the type of traffic that was using that road was interesting. Also, the description of the bombardment that preceded Pickett's charge was harrowing. The second incident was when Sam described seeing General Hunt, the Chief of all Artillery at Gettysburg standing in the line of soldiers repulsing Pickett's charge, firing his pistol into the oncoming Confederates. (Probably not the place to be for one of the most important Union men on the field.) Lastly, Sam walks up to Captain Cowan of one of the 6th Corps batteries just after Pickett was repulsed. The Captain was trying to disentangle harnesses from the many dead horses in his battery. Cowan is about the same age as Sam's son. He tries to get some information from him about his own son's whereabouts. Sam is amazed at the calm Cowan possessed after one of the most frightening scenes in American military history. As the story unrolls, this was not the first time the two had met. During the Peninsula campaign, Cowan had tried to arrest Sam when the later wandered into his camp. He thought Sam was a spy.

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot I did not know from it. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about the battle of Gettysburg and the soldiers who fought it and the war correspondents who covered it.

[David Engel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expecting another personal story about a man's search for his son, I was pleasantly surprised to be enlightened about the state of war correspondence, society, personalities of most major characters involved throughout this phase of the Civil War and aftermath, the citizenry and much more in this deeply researched and well told saga of Sam Wilkison and his (spoiler alert) family's grief over the loss of their son.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A father also a reporter looks for his son during and after the battle of Gettysburg.

[Drew Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insiders' Views on Gettysburg's Impact and Importance

What a beautifully written account of horrific Civil War battles and Gettysburg's impact on the War and families fighting it.