The Dispatch - January 2025

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January 2025

Radnor, PA

Philadelphia, PA

Ridely, TN

Hillsborough, NJ

Kent, CT

Abingdon, MD

Marlton, NJ

Humboldt, TN

Philadelphia, PA

Lansdale, PA

Galloway, NJ

Fairless Hills, PA

Columbus, NJ

Warwick, PA

‍Additional Pictures from the anniversay of Meade's 209th Birthday 

‍Below are come candid images from the Annual Brunch and Awards Ceremony

Courtesy of Bill Linhart

Spotlight on: Joseph Rosengarten (Brevet Major), Meade Post 1, GAR veteran; MOLLUS companion; Union League member.

 Rosengarten ‘s passionate attentiveness to his community was of great benefit to All. If the first rule of being a gentleman is to show respect, then Joseph G. Rosengarten was the consummate gentleman.

Joseph Rosengarten was born in Philadelphia in 1835 to German immigrant parents. Rosengarten demonstrated reverence for all that he touched. He was known for his love of scholarship and for having a rare gift for friendship.

Indeed, during his lifetime, he came to know Charles Darwin, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo Emerson - and met every U.S. president from James Buchanan to Woodrow Wilson. He attended the University of Heidelberg, Germany and was active in academic circles there.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Rosengarten earned a Master's degree, then studied law in the office of one of the leaders of the Philadelphia Bar. He was admitted to practice in 1856. Five years later, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Rosengarten joined a company of volunteers and later was assigned to the 121st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers as an officer charged with guarding Washington, D.C. and fighting in armed conflicts in Virginia.

Rosengarten distinguished himself at the Battle of Fredericksburg. where he picked up the Regimental colors after four sergeants had been wounded, whom he had helped carried to safety. For this act of bravery, he was offered the post of Ordnance Officer and became a member of Major General John F. Reynolds' First Corps staff. 

When General Reynolds was killed in Action at the Battle of Gettysburg. Rosengarten was given the honor of bringing the body of the fallen hero back to Philadelphia and thence to Lancaster, and, in 1889, he was asked to deliver the address at the dedication of the monument to Reynolds at Gettysburg.

Rosengarten demonstrated his abiding love for the University of Pennsylvania from his entering as a freshman in 1848 until his resignation as a trustee in 1918. The American Philosophical Society, of which he was a steadfast member, noted: "There is literally no department of the university which does not bear evidence of his interest and his generosity." In 1907, his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Rosengarten also took a dedicated interest in the newly founded Drexel Institute in 1892. serving on the college's b0ard until 1909. Another notable achievement was Rosengarten's involvement with the Free Library, established in 1891. He served as president of the institution for ten years - from 1899 until 1909 -and it has been said that, largely through his efforts, Andrew Carnegie awarded $1.5 million for the establishment of 30 branches.

Rosengarten's humanitarian sensibility was made evident by his close relationship with the Philadelphia House of Refuge, where he held the posts of board member., vice president, and president from 1878 until 1914. Again, largely through his efforts, a change in the treatment of juvenile offenders was accomplished through the move from the city to the country, where the facility became known as Glen Mills Schools. In this rural setting, children were placed in homes organized on the cottage system and given greater opportunities for education, exercise, and meaningful work experience.

In 1904, Rosengarten was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honour by the Republic of France for helping to foster American interest in French culture.

Rosengarten was also a founder and trustee of the German Hospital that was later renamed ‘Lankenau Hospital’. In fact, there is a wing of the Hospital named after him today.

His passion for scholarship prompted Rosengarten throughout his lifetime to write for respected journals of the day, including The North American and The Penn Monthly, as well as for the New York Tribune and the Philadelphia Public Ledger. He was particularly interested in the influence of German and French immigrants on America, and in this regard authored The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States (1886) and French Colonists and Exiles in the United States (1907).

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Rosengarten's admirable life was his bearing witness to John Brown's famous raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in which the famed abolitionist attempted to strip the federal arsenal of its guns and ammunition. The American Philosophical Society described the scene: "The train (on which Rosengarten was a passenger] stopped at Harper's Ferry and there Mr. Rosengarten saw the attack made by the soldiery on the engine house in which John Brown had taken refuge. He saw John Brown lying wounded."

A member and officer of the German Society of Pennsylvania since 1863, Rosengarten passed away in 1921 and is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Philadelphia in the Rosengarten Family plot

‍“Tree Planting at Laurel Hill Arboretum” by Mary Wible

A scion from a tree from the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg was planted near the grave of General George Gordon Meade on November 6, 2024, exactly 152 years after his death.

This year will mark 161 years that President Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. It is believed that the honey locust tree which is the parent of the scion was planted just five years after this famous speech in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

William Saunders designed the landscape at the cemetery, and the Gettysburg National Military Park believe that this parent tree was one of the original ones planted there.

They came to this conclusion by counting the number of rings from the parent tree when it was cut down in 2022. The rings totaled 155.

Subtracting that total from 2024 gives us 1867 which makes it 5 years after Lincoln gave his address.

The George Meade Society of Philadelphia had three representatives present for the planting - Andy Waskie, Mary Wible and Jerry McCormick.

They also are members of other Civil War organizations such as the GAR Museum, SUVCW, DUVCW and Del Val CWRT.

Nancy A. Goldenberg, president and CEO of Laurel Hill, made the presentation and gave us the history of the scion. We are grateful to Nancy and her terrific staff, along with Jonathan Burton, Jon Sirlin and Aaron Greenberg for the opportunity to partake in this special honor to the “Victor of Gettysburg” on the anniversary of his death.

Rest in peace, General Meade.

‍‍Mary Wible and Andy Waskie, aka General George Meade, helped with the ceremonial shoveling for the tree planting.

Why was Pickett's charge at the Battle of Gettysburg important?

The usual answer is that it represented “The High-Water Mark” of the Confederacy. Some Confederate soldiers actually did make it all the way to the ‘copse’ of trees at the center of the Union line on Cemetery Hill. Nowhere near enough. The decimation of Lee’s Army forced first a stalemate, then Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg and out of Pennsylvania. The Army of Northern Virginia would never again fight a major battle on their enemy’s territory.

But they should have won the battle on the day before. Dan Sickles, without orders of even notifying the Army commander Major General George G. Meade having advanced his entire III Corps nearly 1,000 yards in advance of the entire rest of the Union line and leaving Little Round Top undefended gave a golden opportunity for Lee’s battle plan for July 2nd to succeed. Through a tragic comedy of errors (and heroic efforts on the part of the Union Army and the brilliant work of Meade), the Confederates were unable to exploit this mistake. An entire day of desperate and bloody battle, and what was achieved? The Union flank held. Little Round Top was not taken. The Union was reinforced and were now settled into the positions they should have been on that morning. Gruesome day long fighting, and they were back to where they were in the closing hours of July 1st.

So, Lee had tried the Union right flank on July 1st, the Union left flank on July 2nd, then tried the Union center on July 3rd. Many believe that Pickett was using only troops that had not yet seen combat. But that’s not entirely true. The far left side of the charge was composed mostly of troops that had been mauled in combat on July 1st and in no way should have been considered combat effective. Moreover, Pickett’s men had to advance then move to their left to assault Cemetery Hill over a mile of open territory. All the while being engaged by the entire Union line and its artillery as well as artillery on Little Round Top and even from as far away as Culp’s Hill. By that point in the war, Union artillery was  very good. By the end of the day, the Army of Northern Virginia was in no condition to conduct offensive operations.

But why was it important? What was Lee’s goal for the invasion of the North? His goal was not to conquer the North, it was not to take Washington, it wasn’t even to destroy the Army of The Potomac (desirable? yes, achievable?, no). His goal was to devastate Union morale and get a Democrat elected president in the upcoming elections. A “Peace Democrat” that would have signed a truce and allowed the Confederacy to continue its existence. Lee was trying to win the war by attrition.

With simultaneous defeat of Lee at Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicksburg (almost literally on the same day), Lee had achieved the exact opposite of his goal.

‍Gettysburg General George G. Meade

1863 Autograph letter on "Fake News" from reporters!

"Notify the several registered correspondents of public journals that this practice if not stopped will result in their exclusion from this Army"

signed “Geo. G. Meade,”, September 11, 1863.

Addressed from headquarters, a handwritten letter to a general, in full:

“Your attention is called to the enclosed slip. I should like to know who the correspondent is & where he obtained his information. Other pieces of a like character have been referred to me by Genl. Humphreys. The frequent appearance of late in the public journals of articles containing information new to these Hd Qrs & often without any foundation in fact, & in many cases like the present implicating officers in violations of orders and military propriety, render it necessary some action should be taken. You will therefore notify the several registered correspondents of public journals that this practice if not stopped will result in their exclusion from this Army.”

‍Meet General Meade – The Man Behind the Lighthouse 

On January 4, 2025, Dr. Andy Waskie, president of the General Meade Society spoke before the Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, as the featured speaker of their Winter Lecture Series, the presentation was delivered at the Visitor Center, and was titled, ‘Meet General Meade – The Man Behind the Lighthouse’ will begin on Saturday, January 4, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. in the Visitor Center

George Gordon Meade, the commander of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, has another layer to his life that is often overlooked in the shadow of his Civil War fame. Many Americans, myself included, know little about Meade’s life before Gettysburg. It is surprising that he had been an active engineer who took up the daunting tasks of planning and building lighthouses on the New Jersey and Florida coasts. An 1835 graduate of West Point, Meade’s aspirations to become an engineer were put on hold when he was sent to Florida to fight the Seminole Indians. He resigned from the Army shortly after and pursued survey engineering, working on railways and the United States/Texas border until 1840.

In 1840, Meade married and then decided to re-enlist in the Army, where he was assigned to the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers with the responsibilities of designing and building lighthouses around the Delaware Bay and the Florida Reef area. He worked with Hartman Bache, a well-known engineer at the time, to construct lighthouses in the budding field of marine engineering, perfecting his skills through the construction around 1850 of a screwpile lighthouse called the Brandywine Shoal Light, west of Cape May, New Jersey. After overseeing the construction of several additional lighthouses, Meade’s attention finally turned to Long Beach Island.

The Island required Meade’s skills and knowledge for multiple reasons, the chief being that the lighthouse served as an important point for vessels travelling to and from New York along the New Jersey coastline. Due to unpredictable currents and ever-changing sandbars, sailors needed a reliable lighthouse to guide them, and George Meade would be the man to construct it. He began in late 1855 with construction plans, and started work in late 1856. In November 1857 the original lighthouse collapsed into the water, causing Meade to relocate the new structure further inland. Barnegat Lighthouse was ultimately completed in late 1858 and commissioned on 1 January 1859, the same day that it was first lit

.

The story of Meade and Barnegat Lighthouse, although perhaps not as historically significant as his career on the battlefield, is one that offers a different glimpse into the life of this Gettysburg hero. Memorialized for his leadership against Robert E. Lee in the early days of July 1863, Meade’s memory has largely been defined by his Gettysburg service; historians and enthusiasts alike have seldom ventured to explore Meade before his Civil War career. But by doing so, by exploring who Meade was before he became a Gettysburg victor, historians get a glimpse at a complex, brilliant, and three-dimensional figure, gaining an exceptional and rare perspective on a famous man that brings his character to life.

‍Major Octavius V. Catto Honor Ceremony & Luncheon 

On October 5, 2024, The General Meade Society participated in the Major Octavius V. Catto Honor Ceremony, wreath laying, and military salute at the Catto Monument on the South Side of Philadelphia City Hall, the date coincided with the Anniversary (153rd) of his assassination in 1871 while on active duty with the Pennsylvania National Guard (PANG) protecting Black voters from murder and intimidation on Election Day in Philadelphia, Andy Waskie, society president acted as MC for the event.

Octavius V. Catto was a Major & Inspector General of the 5th Brigade, 1st Division of the PANG, being the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. Army at the time, the event was sponsored by the Armed Services Council of the Union League, American Legion Post #405 at the Union League, PANG, MOLLUS, the General Meade Society, the O.V. Catto Society, and others. 

The General Meade Society further participated in the event by sponsoring a table at the luncheon at the Union League of Philadelphia, where upon the 2024 O. V. Catto Award Medal was awarded to two outstanding members of the Pennsylvania National Guard. 

‍Supporting the General Meade School, Philadelphia

For several years the Gen. Meade Society’s Meade Foundation has been funding the General George Meade Schools Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program. PBIS funds are used to acknowledge positive behaviors – being respectful, responsible and safe. The PBIS program is run by the Meade School faculty and has been a great success in providing a collaborative environment where students can thrive.

Students earn tickets that are used to make purchases at the school store. PBIS also funds monthly school events, sports games with volunteers from Temple University Athletics, it also hosts the Academy of Science traveling museum.

Many of the Meade Society members have attended Philadelphia public schools and several are graduates of the Meade School. 

The Program is administered by the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, an independent 501 (c3) not for profit organization that serves as a fiscal intermediary between the private sector and the Philadelphia public education system. The Fund is the only philanthropic organization that works directly with school leadership to align investments of partners – private foundations, corporate and businesses, community organizations and individual donors – with strategies that will impact the success of students attending our neighborhood public schools. 

The Fund plays a pivotal role in strengthening public education in Philadelphia by securing and managing private investments that augment public dollars. The private donations that the Fund gives to the district do not supplant government monies. Rather, they introduce new funds to start or sustain cutting-edge, evidence-based models that improve student outcomes.

On October 16, 2024 – Joe Perry, Board Member, General Meade Society of Philadelphia, and liaison between the Meade Foundation and the Meade School, wrote: 

Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, 30 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

The General Meade Society of Philadelphia is pleased to donate once again $1,500 to Philly FUNDamentals for the General George Meade School, 1600 North 18th Street, Philadelphia. 

The School’s Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program has been a great success in providing a collaborative environment where students can thrive.

Many of our members have attended Philadelphia public schools and several are graduates of the Meade School. 

Please convey our thanks to the dedicated Meade School faculty and staff for their inspiring work. 

On November 25, 2024, by invitation of the Meade School administrators, members of the society, including Andy Waskie, Joe Perry, Michael Wunsch, Ken Garson, and Albert El (Ken & Albert are Meade School graduates) visited the school. On our tour, we were able to observe classes, and visit the school store, and the library. We are grateful to Meade School Principle, Ms. Akeere Scott for generously giving of her time to accommodate our visit, and speak to us about the progress and achievements of the students at the Meade School. 

‍Gen. Meade Society at Camp William Penn & Historic La Mott 

On September 21, 2024, members of the General Meade Society participated at the Camp William Penn and Historic La Mott Day event, in La Mott, PA, on display at our table was information about the society, and our group of volunteers met with, and spoke to the public about the society’s mission and activities.

The event acknowledged the 161st anniversary of the establishment of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and Camp William Penn. 

Key elements of the event were the public’s ability to visit USCT encampments of the 3rd and 6th USCT and PA 53rd Infantry Re-enactors, visit the Camp William Penn Museum, observe Living History demonstrations including ammunition making, hear archivists talk and demonstrate paper and book conservation, see demonstrations of mid 1800’s building and carpentry techniques, and take advantage of book signings, lectures, period music, and film, and more. 

Camp William Penn, located in what is now modern day La Mott, was the first and largest Federal training site for colored soldiers during the Civil War. 

Congratulations on an outstanding event are due to the Citizens for the Restoration of Historic La Mott, and the organizations’ President, Joyce Workman, and volunteer staff.

For additional information: pt@usct.org  

‍Upcoming Events

 Please visit our website for details on our Upcoming Events

• Lincoln Birthday Celebration - February 12
• General Meade Society History Symposium - April 12

The 250th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Army-Navy-Marine Corps in 1775

• Annual Spring Trip - May 10

Cape May, NJ and historic sites by deluxe motor coach

The price of the trip is $120.00 Per person.

To register, you may:

visit the above link and pay on the website, or

Make a check payable to The General Meade Society and mail to:

• Flag Placement at Laurel Hill Cemetery - May 18
• Original G.A.R Decoration Day Service - May 25
• General Meade Society 'Night at The Phillies'
• Member Appreciation Day Picnic

Tentatively Scheduled for a date in September

The event and details will be posted on the website when they are deternined.

• Major Octavius V. Catto Honor Ceremony - October 4
• Annual Fall Trip - October 11-13

Details and pricing will be posted on the website when they are determined

• Remembrance Day in Gettysburg - November 15
• General Meade Birthday Celebration - December 31

‍J‍oin the General Meade Society

Not a member?    

Consider joining our organization or making a tax-deductible contribution to support our organization and related causes.

Membership can be completed online here or by mailing the following form along with your payment.

Contributions can be made via debit/credit cards online here.

‍ 

Alex Palma

Robert Palma, PhD.

Joe Perry

Joseph Pugh

Bill Linhart

John Voris

‍Visit our website:  generalmeadesociety.org

‍The General Meade Society of Philadelphia, Inc.

P.O.Box 394

Abington, PA  19001

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