GDG- Buford's departure on July 2

[Laurence Schiller]

Thanks for that complete answer. I have always thought that Meade was  
poorly served by Butterfield who let his personal feelings get in the  
way of his job.

best,

Laurie Schiller

On Jul 23, 2007, at 9:38 PM, Tom Ryan wrote:

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> <<Tom - a question - do you, or anyone out there, think that
> Butterfield's hostility to Meade (He was Hooker's guy after all)
> contributed to a less than stellar performance by him at Gettysburg?>>
>
> Laurie,
>
> 	There were a couple of instances that could be cited in which  
> Butterfield
> did not serve Meade as well as he could.  One area in particular  
> was the
> handling and interpretation of intelligence reports coming to  
> headquarters
> from Col. George Sharpe's Bureau of Military Information, the AoP
> intelligence staff.
>
> 	When General Hooker set up the BMI in early 1863, he made  
> Butterfield the
> conduit or go-between for information from Sharpe to Hooker, and this
> practice continued when Meade took over.  Butterfield was fully
> knowledgeable of the methods employed by the BMI to collect,  
> distill and
> interpret information about the enemy's strength, intentions and
> disposition.  He also knew that the BMI had developed methods to  
> determine
> with a high degree of accuracy the order of battle of the Army of  
> Northern
> Virginia.
>
> 	However, at Gettysburg, Butterfield seemed to be either distracted  
> when it
> came to intelligence reports, or he was deliberately  
> misinterpreting them.
> One example was when the BMI reported on July 2 that all three  
> divisions of
> Ewell's corps were on the field.  The BMI knew this because  
> prisoners had
> been taken from the three divisions.  The next morning, Butterfield  
> sent a
> note to Sharpe asking whether he was certain that only two of Ewell's
> divisions were on the field.  In response, and evidently to make  
> certain
> there was no misunderstanding this time, Sharpe sent a full OB of  
> Ewell's
> corps, listing all three divisions and each brigade in these divisions
> complete with the name of the commanders and the strength of each  
> unit.
>
> 	The night before, Sharpe had told Butterfield and Meade that Lee  
> had used
> up every brigade in his army during the first two days of battle  
> with the
> exception of the brigades in Pickett's division.  Sharpe knew this,  
> he said,
> because the BMI had interrogated prisoners from every other brigade  
> in the
> ANV.  So this should have been further evidence regarding the  
> accuracy of
> the figures being passed to AoP headquarters.
>
> 	As we know, Meade was under the impression that Lee's army was as  
> strong if
> not stronger than the AoP.  Yet the BMI had reported sufficient  
> information
> for Butterfield and Meade to realize that Lee's army was weaker  
> than was
> believed.  But Butterfield evidently made no effort to change  
> Meade's mind
> on this issue.  Butterfield, of all people, should have accepted the
> intelligence as accurate based on the solid evidence produced by  
> the BMI.
>
> 	Yet when Butterfield testified before the Joint Congressional  
> Committee in
> early 1864 about the Battle of Gettysburg, he told them that Lee's  
> army was
> equally as strong as the AoP.  It is not clear why he would do this,
> however, just as during the battle itself, he was not providing  
> good service
> to Meade.
>
> 	As we know, Butterfield was a hostile witness regarding Meade's  
> performance
> furing the Battle of Gettysburg, and went out of his way to make  
> himself
> available for this purpose.
>
> 	One other instance of less than stellar performance was when  
> Butterfield
> prematurely issued orders for a number of the AoP corps to begin to  
> pursue
> Lee's army after the Battle of Gettysburg.  Meade had instructed  
> him not to
> do so without first getting the specific o.k, from Meade.  This  
> blunder led
> to Butterfield's ultimate dismissal from the AoP.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>                     
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Dr. Laurence Dana Schiller
lds307 at northwestern.edu

Maitre d'Armes
Head Fencing Coach                       Department of History
Northwestern University
Commissioner, Midwest Fencing Conference
Midwest VP, US Fencing Coaches' Association
Vice-Chair USFA Illinois Division
Lds307 at northwestern.edu
847-491-4654
FAX 847-467-1406
Official Sports site: http://nusports.ocsn.com/
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