Gordon’s Assault on Ft. Stedman

Brett recently posted an excerpt from an upcoming book section on Ft. Stedman, written by Bill Wyrick. It appears to be drawn from Wyrick’s article in Blue & Gray, which I had some comments about at the time.

I had some problems with it then and still do. Interpretations are one thing, but there are some serious factual errors there that I hope the editors at Savas Beattie correct before publication.

The most glaring is the map showing Grimes’ Division with only two brigades – Doles-Cook and Cox’s. The Doles-Cook brigade was very small at the time, and Cox’s brigade, except for his sharpshooters, did not make it into the battle at all. This is amply attested to by Gen. Cox himself, which I mentioned in a previous post. Two other of Grimes’ brigades, Battle’s and Grimes’ old NC brigade, also took part but for some reason are not shown on the map. This is a pretty serious error.

Another is that Grimes’ Division Sharpshooters were commanded by Col. H. A. Brown, not Capt. Joseph Carson, who led only those from Cook’s brigade. This is also well attested. Brown was captured there, twice.

I will not bore you by reiterating my earlier criticisms, but you may find them here, here, here, and here.