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a p p e n d i x 1 A question of time the history of warfare in the twentieth century tells us the precise time of Zero-Hour for the beginning of D-Day, with all of the commanders ’ watches synchronized. But warfare of the mid-nineteenth century gives us conflicting times for both major and minor events. Orders were not for assaults to begin at 0700 hours but more often“as early as practicable” or “at first light.” Frequently various components of an assault would not enter the battle until they saw those around them starting across the field.The sweep second hand was not the signal, but rather it was a volley of musketry or the booming of an artillery battery. In the agrarian society of the mid-nineteenth century, folks awoke when the rooster crowed, ate breakfast as the sun was rising, and started work when they could see. When the sun was directly overhead, they stopped and had a midday meal and then went back to work and continued until the darkness of twilight. Even the battles of the CivilWar were usually fought in this“while there’s light enough to see” manner, and, except on very rare occasions, the fighting ended as the daylight faded. Most of the fighting on the second day of the battle of Gettysburg took place in the late afternoon and early evening. It is puzzling to read of a charge taking place at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. on an early day in July and then see the phrase: “the sun was nearly setting.” Even allowing for the extra hour of our modern daylight-saving time, the sun should have been up until 8:00 p.m. or later. 141 0-8735-1-text 2/27/04 1:33 PM Page 141 PUB007 Macintosh HD:Desktop Folder: The discrepancy, of course, is in whose“time” is being used. Today’s international time zones, set according to the Greenwich, England, meridian did not exist in 1863. At the moment of the Battle of Gettysburg , there was something of a jumble of different time zones and different ways of considering and “clocking” time. In the context of measured,“by-the-clock” time, the average person of the mid-nineteenth century functioned on “local time”—“noon” being the time the sun was at its highest point in the sky overhead.¹ Traveling north or south along the same meridian did not alter one’s sense of time significantly. A pocket watch set to local time in Fredericksburg ,Virginia, would not have to be reset as one journeyed roughly due north to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Traveling even a short distance east or west would make the watch inaccurate by a few more minutes the farther one went. During the upsurge of progress in industry, finance, and railroad building during the 1840s and 1850s, standard time of some kind became increasingly important.There had to be some common time“currency ” for distant financial transactions, for travelers making train connections , and for safety, as many railroads shared the use of large sections of track. By 1851 all railroads in New England were receiving daily telegraphic time signals from Boston and synchronizing station clocks and conductors’ and engineers’ watches to it. This was the first instance of an established time zone in the United States.²While other local and regional time zones appeared, nationwide time zones were not established until railroads in the United States and Canada adopted them in 1883. An international conference in Washington, D.C., led to the implementation of a worldwide standard—our current twenty-four time zones based on the prime, or zero, meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.³ In weighing the accuracy of any reference to time during the Battle of Gettysburg, many things must be considered. First, is it from a letter, journal entry, or battle report written shortly after the battle or years afterward in a reminiscence? Did the individual carry a watch, or was he relying on someone else’s estimate or watch? In the heat of battle, what was the likelihood that the individual even had the time to consult his watch? If he had a watch, was it set to Gettysburg local time, to his home Appendix 1 A question of time 142 0-8735-1-text 2/27/04 1:33 PM Page 142 PUB007 Macintosh HD:Desktop Folder: [3.145.44.174] Project MUSE (2024-04-20...

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