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29 April 2006 -
Saturday
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On our final day of
“our most excellent adventure” we were up early. At 7:00 am, after some coffee and cereal at the motel we turned
left out of the parking lot and proceeded east on U.S. Highway 30. Our immediate destination would be
Gettysburg, located about 55 miles from Breezewood. A short distance up the road we began to have doubts as to
whether we were actually on the famous thoroughfare also know as the historic
Lincoln
Highway, opened in 1913 as America’s first coast–to-coast
road. It certainly looked to us that
other than being paved this section hadn’t changed much during the
intervening 93 years. The road was a
very narrow two lanes with no shoulders and it literally twisted and turned
up and down the mountainous terrain found in this part of Pennsylvania. Driving this section of road made us think
about how difficult and time-consuming long-distance travel was prior to the
construction of our current interstate highway system. Eventually we left the mountains behind
just west of Chambersburg as the land flattened into a rolling plain. We expected clear sailing from here to our
immediate destination but that was not to be as we encountered road
construction delays all the way through Chambersburg. Eventually we arrived
in Gettysburg whereupon we immediately organized our quest for additional
information about several ancestors who fought on both sides of the great
battle. Two of Tom’s paternal
forefathers Charles Rhubart (great-grandfather) and Samuel Platt
(great-great-grandfather where members of the 12th New Jersey
Infantry Regiment, Union Army. In
addition, four of our common maternal great-uncles fought in the famous
encounter with the Confederate Cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart. The most important item on our agenda was
to gather information about how and when Samuel Platt was killed during this
Civil War battle. We first parked at
the Visitor’s Center and walked over to the National Cemetery where we
located Samuel’s grave marker in the New Jersey section. Looking over the numbered markers of the
hundred of unknowns we began to realize how fortunate Tom was to have his
ancestor’s sacrifice so well documented.
After this we headed for the gift shop where we found two books on the
12th New Jersey’s history during the war as well as at
Gettysburg. Subsequently, Tom
consulted with a Park Ranger as to the location of the 12th New
Jersey’s Regimental Monument and the possible location of the Bliss Barn
where Samuel was fatally wounded during an attack on the Rebel forces who
occupied the structure. Soon we were
out on the battlefield where we found a barn that was possibly the Bliss Barn we were looking for.
Following this we
headed to Cemetery Ridge where the main lines of the Union Army
repulsed General Pickett’s ill-fated charge on July 3, 1863. After much searching we finally located
the monument for the 12th Regiment at the extreme right flank of
the Union Line. From here we looked
out over the field in search of the Bliss Barn. The barn that we had originally suspected was much to far to
the left of this position and as such we ruled it out. Just as we were beginning to leave Tom
spotted a |
stone marker way out in the vast field that lay between the Union
and Confederate lines. We both
surmised that the tiny dot of stone may be what we were looking for,( as
indicated by the yellow arrow in the photo of the monument). We returned to the van and drove over in
that direction hoping to get a closer look.
Eventually Fred spotted a tiny path through the woods that separated a
housing development from that part of the battlefield. Soon we were out on the field and
approaching the area where we believed the marker to be. Upon arrival we noted that there were
actually three monuments. One
indicates the site of the Bliss Farmhouse, another erected by the State of
Connecticut describes the site of the Barn and a third monument which tells
of the skirmish between the 12th New Jersey and the Confederate
force on July 2nd, 1863 when Samuel Platt was killed and
subsequently buried.
Bronze plaque depicting the skirmish at Bliss Barn We were both exceptionally pleased with the finding of this ancestral
location and as such ranked this event up with the other important location
finds such as Samuel Scott Scruggs farmstead on the Rockfish and Dutch creeks
in Nelson County, Virginia as well as the land owned by John P. Moreland in
Maries County, Missouri and the contrasting piece of wilderness he
homesteaded in Stevens County, Kansas.
Prior to our leaving
the area we drove over to the East Cavalry battlefield where Union and
Confederate cavalry forces had met three miles east of Gettysburg about noon
on July 3rd. J.E.B. Stuart’s rebel brigades totaled about 6,300 men, who included our
great-uncles Joseph, Samuel, James, and William Scruggs all brothers of our
great-great-grandfather Albea. There
Union forces commanded by General Gregg and George
Confederate marker depicting the positions of the 1st
and 2nd Virginia Cavalry on East Cavalry battlefield Armstrong Custer encountered them. The fighting began as
skirmishers between the two forces from both sides exchanged fire. Eventually the cavalry battle escalated to
fierce hand-to-hand combat with neither side gaining the upper hand. The
total Confederate loss numbered about 230 men, while the Union lost about
250. Neither side lost ground and both would claim victory, but Stuart was denied access to the Union rear. Eventually we departed
the Gettysburg area for the final leg of out coast-to-coast adventure. After
and uneventful final drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike we arrived back at
Fred’s home in Mantua, New Jersey at 2:30 pm
Thus the end of a journey of a lifetime. |
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