Beschreibung:

Lot of 6. Isaac Ridgeway Trimble (1802-1888) was born in Culpeper County, VA, but the family moved to Kentucky shortly after his birth. His uncle was a congressman from that state and helped secure a position for him at USMA. He graduated in 1822 and was commissioned into an artillery unit. He served for a decade, leaving with several classmates to get involved in the growing railroad business, where he could apply his knowledge of engineering. This was the area in which he actually excelled at West Point. Shortly after leaving the army, at the suggestion of his wife, the family moved to Maryland (Baltimore), which he came to consider his home state. At the time, the focus of railroad construction was in the East, and Trimble helped survey a number of major rail lines, including the Baltimore and Ohio and several predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad. For a couple years prior to the war, he was superintendent of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. When war erupted, he tried to stop Federal troops from reaching Washington (most came in by rail) by destroying all of the bridges in and to Baltimore (mostly from the north). When it became clear that Maryland would not secede, Trimble crossed the border into Virginia to volunteer his services. He was commissioned Brigadier General in the Army of the Potomac, which would later evolve into the Army of Northern Virginia. Their first order of business combined both of Trimble’s talents, constructing artillery batteries along the Potomac and around Norfolk. He first saw combat as part of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Shenandoah campaign. He distinguished himself in a number of battles, Cross Keys, Gaines’ Mill, Cedar Mountain, and others. He was wounded in the leg at Second Manassas, and had to leave the field, although doctors were able to save his leg. During his recuperation, he began a campaign for promotion to Major General. General Jackson wrote a letter in support of Trimble’s promotion, with the caveat that Trimble was not a good disciplinarian. (But Stonewall was known as a particularly strict disciplinarian and may have been a bit biased, or maybe feared that he should not be too enthusiastic about Trimble’s promotion, since Trimble was known as a bit of a gadfly.) Trimble reportedly told Jackson that he intended “to be a Major General or a corpse.” When Lee crossed into northern territory, Trimble could not stand anymore, particularly since he was familiar with this territory from his railroad operations. He joined Lee’s headquarters without orders to do so. When he wore out his welcome there, he joined General Richard Ewell, again without orders. Ewell’s forces reached Gettysburg in the afternoon of July 1. Trimble and Ewell later quarreled over whether to pursue the advantage they had gained in the day’s battle, but Ewell thought that he should not provoke a “general engagement” per Lee’s orders. Trimble reportedly threw down his sword in disgust and went out to reconnoiter the area. He identified a couple of hills, especially Culp’s Hill, that would be a good vantage point. But Ewell would not let him take even a company of men to attack the hill that night (Trimble was also fond of planning night attacks). On July 3, Lee ordered three divisions to attack the center of General Meade’s line along Cemetery Ridge. General George Pickett was on the right and Pettigrew and Trimble, stepping in for the mortally wounded General Pender, on the left. This would prove to be the culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the end of Trimble’s military career. The Confederates were soundly defeated and Trimble was shot in the ankle of the same leg wounded at Second Manassas. He lost the lower third of his leg, but was too injured to move when the army retreated, so he spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner at Johnson’s Island and Fort Warren. Although recommended for parole after capture, it was denied in Washington because of Trimble’s knowledge of the northern railroads