BOWERS PRINTING COMPANY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

REPLY OF THE
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE
ASSOCIATION

TO THE

FOOLISH and ABSURD NARRATIVE
OF
Lieutenant FRANK A. HASKELL

WHICH APPEARS TO BE
ENDORSED BY
THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE
LOYAL LEGION
COMMANDRY OF MASSACHUSETTS

AND

THE WISCONSIN HISTORY
COMMISSION

COMPLIMENTS OF THE
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION
MARCH, 1910

HEADQUARTERS,
PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE ASSOCIATION,
S. W. COR. FIFTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

At the stated meeting of the Survivors of the Philadelphia Brigade, Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, held at the above place, Tuesday evening, September 7, 1909, letters were read from Gen. Alexander S. Webb, who commanded the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, requesting the consideration of the Brigade Association to the most astounding misstatements made by First Lieut. Frank Aretas Haskell, 6th Wisconsin Infantry, in a paper said to have been written by him under date of July 16, 1863, two weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg had been fought and addressed to his brother, who printed it for private circulation about fifteen years afterward.

The letters of Gen. Webb were accompanied by a volume of 94 pages, containing the most absurd statements as to the action of the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, which, upon being read, led to the unanimous adoption of the following preamble and resolution:

The committee named under this resolution consists of these Comrades: Wm. G. Mason, Commander; John Quinton, Vice-Commander; Chas. W. Devitt, Quartermaster; John W. Frazier, Adjutant; John E. Reilly, Wm. S. Stockton, Joseph MacCarroll and James Thompson, Trustees, and Edward Thompson and James Duffy, 69th; John W. Dampman and Edward P. McMahon, 71st; John Reed and Thos. J. Longacre, 72d; Wm. H. Neiler and Thos. Thompson, 106th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers.

An examination by the Philadelphia Brigade Association of the records relating to the “Narrative” written by Lieut. Haskell, discloses these facts:

First—That Lieut. Haskell entered the service in July, 1861, as First Lieutenant of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry, and in June, 1862, became an Aide-de-Camp upon the Staff of Brigadier General John Gibbon, and was serving as such at the time he wrote his “Narrative” of the Battle of Gettysburg. On February 9, 1864, Haskell was commissioned Colonel of the 36th Wisconsin Regiment, which at his request was assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. The Division was commanded by Gen. Gibbon, Gen. Hancock commanding the Corps. In the advance of Gibbon’s Division at the Battle of Cold Harbor, against a strongly intrenched position, Col. Henry McKeen, who commanded the First Brigade, was killed. Colonel Haskell succeeded to the command, and he, too, fell mortally wounded under the heavy artillery and musketry fire, against which his Brigade advanced. Haskell’s record as a soldier of the Civil War is, therefore, an enviable one; but as a writer of events of the war he was absurd, reckless and unreliable.

Second—The manuscript alleged to have been prepared by Lieut. Haskell, as stated by him, “At the Headquarters, second Corps D’Armee, Army of the Potomac, near Harper’s Ferry, July 16, 1863,” was sent to his brother, who printed it about fifteen years later in a pamphlet of 72 pages for private circulation.

Third—The book was reprinted in 1898 as part of the History of the Class of 1854, Dartmouth College, in honor of Colonel Haskell’s memory, but with certain omissions that severely reflected upon the Eleventh Corps, Gen. Sickles and President Lincoln, which are explained in a foot-note by Capt. Daniel Hall, a classmate of Haskell’s, who was an Aide upon the Staff of Gen. O. O. Howard, and who prepared the Haskell story for republication.

Fourth—The pamphlet published in 1878, by Haskell’s family for private circulation, contained 72 pages; the costly volume published in 1908, under the auspices of the Commandery of Massachusetts, Loyal Legion of the United States, prepared by Captain Daniel Hall, an Aide upon the Staff of Gen. Howard, Commander of the Eleventh Corps, with the official endorsement of “Chas. Hunt, Captain, U. S. V., Committee on Publication” is a book of 94 pages; therefore, apparently containing much more matter than was originally published by the Haskell family in 1878.

The charge of cowardice on the part of the Philadelphia Brigade, purported to have been made by Lieut. Haskell, is printed on pages 60, 61 and 62 of the volume published by the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts, and is in part as follows: