Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863

One of the most strategically important parts of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign today is virtually unknown to the modern battlefield tramper. In late June, Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon led a vital expedition through south-central Pennsylvania with a goal of seizing the mile-long Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge over the Susquehanna River. Along the way, Gordon had to deal with hastily recruited and barely trained state emergency militia whose mission was to delay the Rebels for as long as possible and then deny them the use of the river crossing. This book offers the most detailed examination of Gordon’s mission. Chapters include a treatise on the first fighting at Gettysburg (a series of skirmishes on June 26), the subsequent cavalry raid on Hanover Junction, Gordon’s triumphal Sunday parade through York, and the skirmish at Wrightsville that doomed the Gordon expedition to failure. The book includes several detailed driving tours and a complete order of battle for both Gordon’s Georgians and the Pennsylvanians who opposed them.

A review by Alan Brunelle:
When this book arrived, I moved it to the top of my "to read" pile - in all honesty because of my great experiences reading two other Ironclad Publishing books ("Protecting the Flank: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field" by Eric J. Wittenberg, and "The Battle Between the Farmlanes: Hancock Saves the Union Center; Gettysburg" by David Shultz & David Wieck). As with both of those works, the first thing that struck me was the attractive cover - a nice portrayal of General Gordon superimposed on the burning Columbia-Wrightsville bridge. The impression after reading Ironclad's latest book mimics that which I had for the first two mentioned: this is a really great read and a wonderful book to have.

The book sets out to cover the usually overlooked aspect of the pre-Gettysburg expedition trying to cross the Susquehanna River by Gordon's brigade. When Lee invaded Pennsylvania he apparently had some broad-stroke ideas on how he intended to proceed, and one of the key ideas was to strike at the critical areas of Pennsylvania, both in terms of military objectives but also some political ones as well. The Pennsylvania state capital at Harrisburg - just across the Susquehanna River - was one such target. General Lee ordered General Ewell to take his Second Corps eastwards, and potentially threaten that important Northern city. As things progressed relatively smoothly at first, a plan was made to push Gordon's men across the critical Columbia-Wrightsville bridge - thus trying to potentially come at Harrisburg from the south whilst Ewell's other troops came at the city from the west.

The key tactical target for General Gordon was the Columbia-Wrightsville bridge which was needed to affect the overall strategic plan. The bridge was an amazing engineering structure in and of itself - over 5,600 feet long with 27 piers - it had separate paths for pedestrians, carriages, towpaths and a double-track railway. It was the world's longest covered bridge and was critical to traffic in this area of the state. Due to the crucial nature of the bridge, the Union exerted a lot of effort to at first try to defend it, and then in a last desperate attempt to stop the Confederates from using it, they burnt it down.

Mingus tells the tale of Gordon's brigade (along with the closely associated Lt. Colonel Elijah White's 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion) in very fine fashion, detailing the various parts of the expedition from when Ewell's whole corps entered Pennsylvania up to the retrograde movement of Gordon's brigade back to Gettysburg to participate in that great battle. The author maintains a fair balance between detailed accounts of the Confederates actions with a thorough description of the various Union efforts to try and stop the Rebel advance to the Susquehanna. The way he carries the reader along is like watching a complex game of parry and thrust between Gordon and various Union militia forces trying to get in his way. Given the numerical superiority and experienced nature of Gordon's men, the Union attempts end up being a couple of hopeless stands by the militia starting at Gettysburg and ending in Wrightsville.

But Mingus doesn't stop there: he also provides copious amounts of detailed citizen accounts. It's very hard for us to imagine what it was like 146 years ago to live in Adams and York counties as the Confederates came marching through. Mingus helps us along here by showing the various amounts of panic that permeated the region as civilians tried different ways to handle the situation. Some people chose to flee - taking what they could with them eastwards. Others tried to hide what they could and weather the storm. A remarkable few attempted to take up arms and show some resistance - including an all-black company that performed admirably in the attempt to defend the western end of the Columbia-Wrightsville bride. And, apparently, some "Copperheads" almost seemed to welcome the invading army (much to their later regret).

The book also includes a very detailed set of endnotes, bibliography and index making this a very valuable reference book for this part of the Gettysburg campaign. It also contains a set of driving tours that help you find places along the route.

This book works on many levels: as a reference book the detailed accounts provided, coupled with its organization of the material fills a void that's been out there. As an account of the expedition, the story moves along very well - filled with interesting characters, many of whom will be unfamiliar, but a few well-knowns are there too. For example, Darius Couch and "Baldy" Smith show up - and a controversy over a certain man named Lt. Colonel William Sickles, who just happened to share a last name with another "interesting" character at Gettysburg). The book also helps to open up one's eyes to the trials and tribulations of both the citizens of York and Adams Counties as well as the diverse nature of the Confederate soldiers. The discrepancy between the actions of the relatively well-behaved thousands under Gordon are in stark contrast to the couple of hundred "Comanches" under White for example.

I heartily enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to those of you who are interested in one of the off the beaten path aspects of this major campaign, or are interested in civilian reactions to incoming enemy troops, or perhaps just looking for a good read.