Officer Impression: Accomodations

[106th PVI]

Re: Officer Impression: Accomodations

I have been given the scenario at least... Saturday we will be portraying 2d Corps HQ after Gen'l Hancock's arrival in Gettysburg on July 1st, 1863. Sunday we will be portraying July 2d.
I wish we could use Meade's HQ ( Widow Leister House)... oh well... I love camping at the Pennsylvania Monument as it is...

So I have some criteria to study from.

[PogueMahone]

Re: Officer Impression: Accomodations

So, to be clear:

You are portraying the HQ of a corps commander upon his arrival on a field where a battle is already in progress?

Did they bother to erect canvas? Were the wagons even up yet? Was the staff cook in place to provide meals or were they eating from their haversacks?

I doubt spit and polish should be your primary concern. Duck and cover may be more appropriate.

[106th PVI]

Re: Officer Impression: Accomodations

Joe,
I agree with the duck and cover... I am only going on what I was told about how the camp was being set up and what we would be doing. I am sure the scene on Cemetary Hill was quite chaotic... the accounts I have read make it pretty clear it was at that time.

[AndrewGrim]

Re: Officer Impression: Accomodations

"The tatoo was beating, and we separated each to his own private room under his own pine tree."
The Civil War Reminiscences of Major Silas T. Grisamore, page 169.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Officer Impression: Accomodations

So, to be clear:

You are portraying the HQ of a corps commander upon his arrival on a field where a battle is already in progress?

Did they bother to erect canvas? Were the wagons even up yet? Was the staff cook in place to provide meals or were they eating from their haversacks?

I doubt spit and polish should be your primary concern. Duck and cover may be more appropriate.

Thinking about it, those are pretty good questions. But rather than assume that the trains were or weren't present, does anyone know?

I seem to recall an order somewhere about which wagons took precedence -- probably ordnance and medical -- but how far behind would the Second Corps commander's transportation be at Gettysburg?

This wouldn't just be a matter of the comfort of the staff. The "accommodations" would include the tentage and materiel required for the quartermasters, commissaries, clerks, and messengers to do their jobs.

In the west General Thomas had his own mobile office -- a wagon that went into Transformer mode and turned into so many desks and files. G. A. Sala describes something similar for Rufus Ingalls later at Brandy Station.

Can any of you students of Gettysburg on this forum can tell us what sort of transport the U. S. Corps commanders used, and how close they kept it at hand?

I'll probably look into it myself but, between patching gum blankets, scrounging mess kits, and summoning canvas offices, I think I've done enough damage in the last few days. :)