The Rashness of That Hour by Robert Wynstra

Book focuses on Iverson's actions at Gettysburg

       I've just finished reading The Rashness of That Hour by Robert Wynstra and found it to be an excellent addition to my library. The book begins with the history of General Iverson and his brigade. It is quite interesting to note that the morale of the brigade had been suffering from an internal power struggle. Governor Vance of North Carolina didn't improve things when he protested that a Georgia officer had been promoted to lead troops from his state. As I read the book, I almost began to feel sorry for Alfred Iverson.

       The further into the book I got, I soon switched back to thinking the man brought most of his suffering on himself. The more I read, the more the man reminded me of another general named Braxton Bragg. Once Iverson made an enemy, he immediately did everything in his power to rid himself of the man, no matter how useful that man might have been to the efficiency of his brigade. 

Brigadier General Afred Iverson, Jr.

       By the time I read about Iverson in battle, I had the opinion the man might have had a streak of cowardice. He was far to the rear at Chancellorsville and in his official report claimed to have been rallying another brigade's troops. His job should have been to supervise his own men in battle. At Gettysburg, he again remained in the rear, sending his men across a field against Federal infantry posted behind a stone wall. He didn't have skirmishers posted to the front, simply telling his men to advance and give them hell. They were within eighty yards of the stone wall before they knew there were Federals anywhere near them. Out of his 1400 man brigade, 900 became casualty's in a matter of minutes. They were trapped on the field in a gully under relenting fire. 

This gully would later come to be known as Iverson's Pits. 

It provided no shelter for the men trapped there.

       Iverson in his report failed to mention the brave action of his men, yet blamed them for surrendering when the Federals advanced into the gully and captured most of the survivors. Following the battle, Iverson was eventually sent back home to Georgia where he commanded a brigade of cavalry under Wheeler. He attempted to stop Sherman's invasion of the state and his brigade was credited with capturing Union General George Stoneman's raiders. They planned to ride deep into Georgia and free the prisoners at Andersonville. With a force of only six-hundred men, Iverson's brigade managed to capture Stoneman and his troops. I had always read about Iverson redeeming himself over the fiasco at Gettysburg by this daring feat in Georgia. However, to my shock, Wynstra reports that again Iverson was far in the rear of his command. The actual credit for the capture belongs to Colonel Crews who was present and leading the brigade. 

George Stoneman captured by Iverson's brigade, but not Iverson

       The book is a great read and serves as not only a biography of Alfred Iverson, but also to his North Carolina brigade. Iverson survived the war, one wants to say "of course" here and died of old age in 1911 at the age of 82. He rests in Atlanta's famous Oakland Cemetery. Wynstra does go into a good bit of detail about the commanders of every unit involved in the fighting around Gettysburg if you enjoy that type thing. I'm not one of those people. I can't remember any of the captains names, especially when he lists the commanders of each artillery unit on the field at the time. Other than that, I found it a very interesting book that I found difficult to stop reading. 

Iverson sometime around 1900

       The men of Iverson's North Carolina brigade never forgave their general. Forty years after the battle, Captain Turner of Iverson's command wrote, "Unwarned, unled as a brigade, went forward Iverson's deserted band to its doom. Deep and long must the desolate homes and orphan children of North Carolina rue the rashness of that hour." These are the most appropriate last sentences of Wynstra's book.

Me at the grave of Iverson August, 2011.

Alfred Iverson: A General and His Burial Trench

Alfred Iverson, Jr.

       Alfred Iverson was born in 1829 in Clinton, Georgia. Iverson's father was a United States Senator, but decided on a military career for his namesake. He enrolled young Alfred in Tuskegee Military Institute in Alabama. Iverson left school at the age of seventeen to fight in the Mexican War. His father raised a regiment of Georgia volunteers and Alfred served as a second lieutenant. 

       Iverson would leave military service in 1848 to become an attorney, but he decided to return to the military in 1855, being commissioned a first lieutenant in the United States cavalry. He would resign from the Federal army when the Civil War began and because of his father's friendship with President Davis, he would be commissioned colonel of the 20th North Carolina Infantry. 

       He would be severely wounded in his first action at the Battle of Gaines' Mill, but was distinguished for his action there. This would be one of his best battles. It seems he was snake bit for much of the rest of the war. He recovered from his wound in time to see action in the Maryland Campaign. At South Mountain when Brigadier General Samuel Garland was killed, the entire brigade broke and fled the field. At Antietam, Iverson's regiment ran from the field, but he managed to reform them and lead them back into the fray. 

       Following the battle, Iverson was promoted to brigadier general. Senior Colonel Duncan Kirkland McRae of the 5th North Carolina Infantry resigned his commission in disgust. The new brigadier would be held in reserve at Fredericksburg. 

       Following the battle, Iverson attempted to bring an old friend in as colonel of the 20th North Carolina Infantry. Twenty-six officers protested to the action and Iverson attempted to have all of them arrested. When he failed to promote his friend, he childishly refused to promote anyone else to the position of colonel in the regiment. 

       Iverson led his brigade into battle at Chancellorsville, suffering heavy casualties and being hit in the groin by a piece of shell fragment. During this time, he continued to argue with his subordinates. Many in the brigade began to complain that he was a coward because he had gone to the rear during the battle to seek reinforcements. 

       On the first day at Gettysburg, Iverson sent his brigade against an entire Federal corps alone. Most historians believe that Iverson was intoxicated. When he ordered the brigade forward, he shouted, "Give them hell!" He then watched them advance alone while he stayed in the rear. The brigade advanced against the line of Federals who were crouched behind a stone wall. They lost 900 men in a very short period of time. The brigadier then cursed his men as cowards after the attack failed. Iverson had only 500 men left in his brigade, but Lee relieved him from command of the brigade for the remainder of the battle. 

       The men fell in a nearly straight line and were buried on the spot. After the battle, once the bodies decayed, the ground sank and locals called these spots 'Iverson's Pits'. A veteran returned after the war and dug into these pits finding buttons, bullets and teeth. It was all that remained of Iverson's men. 

Iverson's Pits

       General Lee later made Iverson the temporary provost marshall of his army, which removed him from combat command. Lee then sent Iverson back to Georgia to organize a cavalry brigade. Iverson then took command of a division of Joseph Wheeler's cavalry during Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. 

       Iverson did manage to defeat a larger command of Federal cavalry at this time. Major General George Stoneman and a large portion of his command were captured by Iverson. This meant that Iverson captured the highest ranking Federal officer captured during the war. 

George Stoneman

       Iverson became a business man in Macon, Georgia following the war, but soon moved to Florida where he began to farm oranges. He moved back to Atlanta to live with his daughter and died there in 1911. He rests today in Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia. 

Alfred Iverson years after the war

       Numerous stories have been written about Alfred Iverson. One is about a soldier who seeks revenge on Iverson for the murder of so many North Carolina soldiers at Gettysburg. There are several stories surrounding the burial trench that became known as Iverson's Pits. One colonel who was lay mortally wounded after the assault at Gettysburg stated that he would make sure that his men would never have to serve under the imbecile Iverson again. One North Carolina soldier wrote that Iverson sent his brigade ahead "Unwarned, unled as a brigade, went forward Iverson's deserted band to its doom." 

Iverson's Grave in Atlanta, Georgia