Gettysburg Question

Andy Cardinal

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I've been reading Robert J. Wynstra's The Rashness of That Hour. My question is based on the following passage (pp. 201-202):

"Once they reached Heidlersburg [June 30], Ewell took the special precaution of dispatching Capt. Frank Bond's cavalry company -- which had finally rejoined the main column -- to scout the area around Gettysburg for any signs of the enemy activity. "We marched about eight miles, to within full sight of Gettysburg, without encountering opposition," Captain Bond recalled years later. He added that "there was nothing to be seen, but a quiet city with a heavy backing of mountains behind, and a large area of fertile fields in front and on the right." Before making his return, however, the captain posted some pickets about three miles north of Gettysburg under the command of Sgt. Hammond Dorsey.

"Bonds foresight paid off later that night when the cavalry patrol captured three enlisted men from a Pennsylvania battery just outside Gettysburg. "It seems they found themselves within a few miles of home for the first time in a year or more, and asked for leave to see their folks," Bond explained. Although their captain refused permission, the men slipped out of camp under cover of darkness and were apprehended up by Bond's Southern troopers. Bond turned in the Federal prisoners and "furnished the first information of the whereabouts of Meade army."

I don't recall having heard of this incident before. Can anyone shed some light on it?
 
This is the first I've heard this story.

I tried to track down a Pennsylvania battery that recruited in the area and was also present at the battle and couldn't find one. Battery A, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery was recruited in Franklin County but served in the Seventh Corps and Battery B, Pennsylvania Light Artillery (also recruited in Franklin County) served in the Army of the Cumberland. Maybe one of the regular batteries?

Ryan
 
I've been reading Robert J. Wynstra's The Rashness of That Hour. My question is based on the following passage (pp. 201-202):

"Once they reached Heidlersburg [June 30], Ewell took the special precaution of dispatching Capt. Frank Bond's cavalry company -- which had finally rejoined the main column -- to scout the area around Gettysburg for any signs of the enemy activity. "We marched about eight miles, to within full sight of Gettysburg, without encountering opposition," Captain Bond recalled years later. He added that "there was nothing to be seen, but a quiet city with a heavy backing of mountains behind, and a large area of fertile fields in front and on the right." Before making his return, however, the captain posted some pickets about three miles north of Gettysburg under the command of Sgt. Hammond Dorsey.

"Bonds foresight paid off later that night when the cavalry patrol captured three enlisted men from a Pennsylvania battery just outside Gettysburg. "It seems they found themselves within a few miles of home for the first time in a year or more, and asked for leave to see their folks," Bond explained. Although their captain refused permission, the men slipped out of camp under cover of darkness and were apprehended up by Bond's Southern troopers. Bond turned in the Federal prisoners and "furnished the first information of the whereabouts of Meade army."

I don't recall having heard of this incident before. Can anyone shed some light on it?
May I suggest that you check the notes in the back of the book to see where he obtain his information on this.If he has no support for what he has written then prehaps you could contact his editor for verification.Question ; Who was Frank Bonds and with what division was his company attached to? Sounds like a mythical story told to impress people that he had a essential part to play in the war .Then why would the author tell such a tale? Change an event ,changes the truth,and thus alters the history,which could cause doubt as to the following events.I do hope someone can verify this event.
 
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Captain Frank Bond commanded Company A, 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion. The 1st Maryland was officially part of Fitzhugh Lee's Brigade, but seems to have been attached to Ewell during the advance to Gettysburg.
 
May I suggest that you check the notes in the back of the book to see where he obtain his information on this.If he has no support for what he has written then prehaps you could contact his editor for verification.Question ; Who was Frank Bonds and with what division was his company attached to? Sounds like a mythical story told to impress people that he had a essential part to play in the war .Then why would the author tell such a tale? Change an event ,changes the truth,and thus alters the history,which could cause doubt as to the following events.I do hope someone can verify this event.
I did check the footnotes (normally my 1st step in a situation like this), but they were not much help as I'm not familiar with the sources cited for the incident.

The citation is an account written by Bond, "Company A, First Maryland Cavalry" published in Confederate Veteran in 1898 and also a memoir written by Bond.
 
As far as I can tell the only Army of the Potomac Artillery that would have been near Gettysburg the night of June 30 would have been Calef's Battery (Battery A, 2nd U.S. Artillery) serving under Buford.
 
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