Isaac R. Trimble

Isaac Ridgeway Trimble

Isaac Ridgeway Trimble (* 15. May 1802 in Culpeper County , Virginia , † 2. January 1888 in Baltimore , Maryland ) was an officer in the US Army , the leading railway engineer, and Major General in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War .

Youth and pre-war

After Trimble was born, his parents left Virginia and settled in Kentucky. His uncle, a Kentucky Congressman, nominated him in 1818 as a cadet for the US Military Academy at West Point , New York . Trimble graduated in 1822 as the 17th of its class. Although his best performances were in engineering, he became a brevet - Lieutenant shifted first to the 3rd US Artillery and later to the 1st US Artillery Regiment.

Trimble married Maria Cattell Presstman in 1831, with whom he had two sons who both survived him.

Trimble left the army in 1832 and settled in Maryland at the request of his wife . There he helped measure the route of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad line . He then worked as a construction engineer in the construction of the Boston and Providence railroad line, before he worked as chief engineer in the construction of various railroad lines in Pennsylvania . Trimble was director of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company from 1859 to 1861.

After his wife's death in 1855, Trimble married her sister.

Civil War

When the secession of the southern states began to emerge in 1861 , the sympathies of the native Virgin Trimble belonged to the south. Trimble had long hopes that Maryland would join the Confederate States of America . This hope was reasonable and not unlikely, given that Maryland was a state that permitted slavery .

After the attack on Fort Sumter , Trimble did not leave Maryland at first. Using his professional expertise, he and other Confederate supporters destroyed a number of railroad bridges north of Baltimore to hinder the mobilization of the US Army . When it became apparent that the military occupation of Maryland by the US Army would prevent participation in the secession, Trimble left the north to join the Confederate Army. He was given the rank of Colonel of Engineering and was tasked with building fortified artillery positions for the defense of Norfolk , Virginia.

On August 9, 1861, contrary to the recommendation of General Joseph E. Johnston , he was made Brigadier General. On November 16 of the same year he took command of a brigade in Richard Stoddert Ewell's division and wintered with his troops on the Rappahannock Front. Already at this point there were differences of opinion between the offensive Trimble and his superior Ewell, who, like General Johnston, preferred a defensive tactic.

In the spring of 1862, Ewell's division was part of the Stonewall forces of Jackson during the Shenandoah campaign . This was Trimble's first opportunity to distinguish itself. During the Battle of Cross Keys , he commanded the decisive attack on the Union troops, where he succeeded from close range to launch a devastating salvo on the opposing troops, which led to the collapse of the left wing of the Union. While Ewell initially reprimanded his subordinates for his unauthorized actions, he later admitted: "Trimble won this battle."

Isaac Trimble had the deepest admiration for General Thomas J. Jackson , who preferred a similar offensive orientation as Trimble. Jackson's subsequent death in the Battle of Chancellorsville was a source of grief for Trimble.

During the Seven Day Battle , Trimble's Brigade was embroiled in heavy fighting at Gaines' Mill , which they survived victoriously. At the Battle of Malvern Hill , Trimble offered to convert the looming stalemate into a victory by means of a night attack, but Ewell forbade him to do so.

In the Second Battle of the Bull Run , Trimble's Brigade at Freeman's Ford defeated and routed a Union brigade. After that, the Brigade rounded the flank of the Union troops, captured two artillery batteries of the Virginia Army and moved the troops of Major General John Pope at Jackson's defensive positions, where Pope had to suffer a crushing defeat. In this attack, General Trimble was badly injured in the leg and fell out of active service for months, not least because of his advanced age. Because of his merits, General Jackson recommended Trimble for promotion to major general. The recommendation was granted with effect from January 19, 1863.

Trimble was given command of Jackson's old division (the "Stonewall Division"), now called Trimbles Division. However, his health was not sufficiently restored to take over the field command. Instead, Raleigh E. Colston led the division as senior brigade commander at the Battle of Chancellorsville . Command of the division passed to Major General Edward "Allegheny" Johnson after the battle, as Trimble's health was still poor. Trimble was appointed commander of the Shenandoah Valley Defense District on May 30, 1863, by Special Order No. 146 .

In late June 1863, Trimble reported to General Lee who said, "Report to Ewell and help him take Harrisburg." He reported back to Lieutenant General Ewell on June 27, 1863, who until further notice took him to his staff as an officer zbV (for special use). At that time Trimble was one of the senior generals in the Northern Virginia Army.

Battle of Gettysburg

At the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg , Ewell's troops succeeded in seizing the right flank of the Potomac Army , the XI. Corps to flee. Then Ewell received from General Robert E. Lee the order to take the south of the city important heights Cemetery and Culps Hill if possible . Ewell did not think this was possible and decided to attack only after the arrival of the third division of II Corps.

This decision resulted in a final break between Ewell and Trimble. Trimble was appalled at Ewell's reluctance to occupy the hills and tempted him to attack, or to assign part of the force and have the attack carried out in his place. Ewell replied to Trimble: "If I want the advice of a subordinate officer, I will seek him." Trimble became so angry that he threw his sword at Ewell's feet, which was understood as a gesture of deep contempt.

Trimble immediately reported to General Lee to request a transfer and made an unusually sharp report about Ewell. Significantly, he gave a prognosis of the consequences of Ewell's actions, which was fulfilled almost verbatim. Lee then transferred Trimble to III. Corps under Ambrose Powell Hill , where he took over the division of Major General William Dorsey Pender who had fallen the previous day .

On July 3, Trimble's division took part in the assault on the center of Union forces, known as "Pickett's Charge". The division was deployed on the left wing behind the division of Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew . Trimble had to start the handicap with a division that he had never led before. The division suffered heavy losses, as did the other two divisions. Trimble paid tribute to his subordinates after the war by saying, "If the men I had the honor of commanding that day could not take this position, all the Furies of Hell could not take them."

Trimble itself was seriously wounded again in the attack on the same leg that had been previously wounded. Confederate soldiers managed to rescue Trimble from the battlefield, but the leg had to be amputated. Since Trimble's state of health did not permit a transport, he was left behind when the Confederate troops withdrew so that the Union Army could find him. That evening, Major General Isaac Trimble was taken prisoner of war.

Captivity

General Trimble was initially interned at Johnson's Island POW Camp and was to be released on his word of honor after his recovery. However, this project was dropped after the intervention of the previous US Secretary of War Simon Cameron , as Cameron found Trimble's expertise as an engineer to be too important to release him. Trimble was interned in the Fort Warren POW camp until the end of the war. After Lee's surrender, he was released from captivity on his word of honor .

After the war

After the end of the Civil War, Trimble received a prosthetic leg and returned to Maryland to resume his work with the railroad. In July 1867 he became chief engineer on the Baltimore and Potomac railroad. Isaac Trimble died on January 2, 1888 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Trivia

• In 1849 Trimble built Baltimore's "1849 President Street Station", the oldest surviving train station in the United States, which was restored in 1997 and converted into a Civil War Museum.
• In the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals embodied William Morgan Sheppard , the figure of Isaac Trimble.
• Stonewall Jackson once referred to Trimble as "The only fancy soldier under my command" (something like: "The only fancy soldier under my command.")

swell

• Leslie R. Tucker: Major General Isaac Ridgeway Trimble: Biography Of A Baltimore Confederate . McFarland & Company, 2005, ISBN 978-0-7864-2131-2 .
• US War Department, The War of the Rebellion : a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies . Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office , 1880–1901.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Promotion. Retrieved October 24, 2010 (Official Records). 
2. ^ Commander in the military district. Retrieved October 24, 2010 (Official Records). 
3. ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War - Fredericksburg to Meridian, p. 445
4. ↑ Captivity . Retrieved October 24, 2010 (Official Records).