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8 “Vain Dreams of Glory” The Newspaper War to the End of 1863 A surly mood seemed to permeate Robert E. Lee’s command as it limped along on the retreat from Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Army of Northern Virginia was unaccustomed to losing battles. “Every soldier in our army felt that some great blunder had been made at Gettysburg,” a Floridian reported, “and they were sore over it.”1 Consistent with human nature, a search for scapegoats began immediately. J. E. B. Stuart, A. P. Hill, Richard S. Ewell, and James Longstreet bore the brunt of the punishment dished out by post-battle critics. Even the army’s beloved Marse Robert did not escape the finger-pointers. Adj. Johnson remembered :“In going up the steep banks of the Potomac on the South side, a cannon had stalled in the mud[.] I saw General Lee put his shoulder to the wheel and call upon the men passing to help[.] Of course they responded, but for the first time they were silent in passing him[.There was] not a cheer for Lee.”2 It did not take long for this spirit of acrimony and criticism to filter down to the army’s lower levels. The common courage exhibited by Wilcox’s Alabamians , Lang’s Floridians, and Wright’s Georgians should have been enough to silence even the harshest critics, but the Florida brigade soon found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding the failure of the July 2 attack of Anderson’s division. In fact, the fight at Gettysburg proved to be merely the prelude to a longer, more painful battle against innuendo and falsehood fought in Southern newspaper columns and military courtrooms. Lang’s men were caught in a nowin situation, but they knew they could ill afford to lose this conflict.3 The first salvo of the new engagement came from an unlikely source. P. W. Alexander, a respected and normally reliable correspondent for the Savannah Republican, authored a widely circulated account of the July 2 action that 88 / Chapter 8 harshly criticized three of R. H. Anderson’s brigades, including the Floridians. Thus, the first report that many Southerners read about Gettysburg contained the following account: Anderson’s Division . . . was posted in the following order: Wilcox’s Brigade on the right, Mahone’s on the left, Wright’s in the centre, Perry’s on the right centre, and Posey’s on the left centre. Wilcox was to advance first, to be followed by the other brigades in their order to the left.Wilcox and his unconquerable Alabamians moved out at the appointed time and fought long and desperately. Perry’s Brigade (Perry was not present himself ) advanced a short distance but did not become fully engaged. Wright went boldly forward, and excelled, if possible, all his previous performances , though at fearful cost to his command. . . . Meanwhile, Wilcox and Wright were struggling with mortal odds against them; but their valor and blood were expended to little purpose . . . [being] defeated by the unpardonable conduct of other portions of the division.4 Another army correspondent, signing his dispatch as “A,” sent a similar report to the Mobile Advertiser and Register. Both columns were reprinted in the Richmond Enquirer. That is where these negative accounts first came to the attention of the survivors of the Florida brigade.5 Lang’s soldiers were understandably outraged at the reports, which stopped just short of calling them cowards. A contingent from the Florida brigade visited both Alexander and “A,” eliciting a prompt, if halfhearted, correction from the Savannah writer. The Mobile reporter went further, publishing a handsome tribute to the Florida troops. In part, “A” stated: “[I]n my account of the great battle at Gettysburg, full justice was not done to Perry’s Florida Brigade. Its performance was not only creditable, but gallant, as shown by its heavy loss, which in proportion to the numbers engaged, exceeds that sustained by any other [Confederate] Brigade on the field.”6 Not content with the two corrections, Col. David Lang also penned a letter to the editors of the Richmond Enquirer. With obvious pride in his men and anger at the injustice done them, the commander of the Floridians wrote: His [P. W. Alexander’s] statement as to the disposition of, and orders given to the Brigade is true; but when he says “Perry’s Brigade advanced a short distance, but did not become fully engaged,” he publishes to the world a misstatement of facts which I cannot...

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