00:01 - Good afternoon.

00:02 - My name's Clark Vanbuskirk.

00:04 - Captain 44th Georgia, Company C

00:06 - out of Clark County Georgia.

00:09 - Athens, Georgia where the

00:11 - University of Georgia is.

00:13 - My company was formed in 1862.

00:16 - We fought throughout the entire

00:18 - war.

00:19 - We're part of General Dole's

00:21 - Brigade.

00:22 - General Rode's division.

00:24 - General Ewell's corps.

00:26 - General Lee's army in Northern

00:28 - Virginia.

00:30 - About 150 years ago today, we're

00:34 - just a little bit north of

00:36 - Hagerstown, Maryland on our way

00:38 - to march north, to eventually

00:43 - end up in Carlisle,

00:44 - Pennsylvania.

00:45 - We spend approximately five days

00:48 - in Carlisle and then when we

00:50 - leave Carlisle, we march south

00:52 - and we're involved in the the

00:54 - Battle of Gettysburg.

00:56 - General Dole's Brigade is the

00:58 - first brigade on the field in

00:59 - the north - coming down from

01:01 - Carlisle - and we hit the 11th

01:04 - corps and of course we rolled

01:05 - them up again like we did at

01:07 - Chancellorsville.

01:09 - Pushed the Yankee boys out of

01:11 - town.

01:12 - Pushed what was left of

01:13 - Reynold's Corps out of town and

01:16 - occupied the town.

01:18 - That's basically what we did for

01:19 - the next two-three days.

01:21 - We weren't engaged.

01:23 - On July 2nd-3rd, July 3rd we

01:26 - basically were on the right

01:28 - flank of Pickett's Charge but we

01:30 - weren't involved in that charge.

01:32 - We were protecting the flank.

01:35 - It's Captain of the 44th -- I'm

01:37 - Captain.

01:38 - I'm in charge of what should be

01:40 - 100 men, but by the time we get

01:42 - to the Gettysburg Battle, I

01:44 - bring 35 men, and officers and

01:47 - men of the 44th Company C are

01:50 - actually comes on the field.

01:53 - You may question where are the

01:54 - other 65 men?

01:55 - Well a lot of them are working

01:58 - with the supply wagon.

01:59 - Some of them are working in a

02:00 - hospital.

02:02 - Some of them are home on leave.

02:04 - So our actual armies that by

02:07 - 1865 most units are only 35 to

02:11 - 40 men deep.

02:13 - We survived the war.

02:15 - Basically the man that I portray

02:18 - his name is Captain William B.

02:20 - Haygood.

02:21 - Captain Haygood has been Captain

02:23 - of the 44th since

02:25 - Fredericksburg.

02:26 - He took over the 44th right

02:28 - before the Battle of

02:29 - Fredericksburg.

02:30 - Company C.

02:32 - When his captain moved up to

02:34 - become the colonel of the 44th.

02:38 - Samuel Lumpkin.

02:41 - What happens is that basically

02:44 - as a captain of the 44th -- what

02:46 - you see of me, I'm sitting

02:47 - outside my tent right now.

02:49 - My tent and my fly - it's a

02:50 - captain's tent.

02:53 - I've kept -- my tent and fly

02:55 - wasn't with me on the campaign

02:57 - up here.

02:58 - When we were given our marching

03:00 - orders on June 2nd 1863, the

03:04 - orders come down early in the

03:06 - morning that we were to pack up

03:08 - all our tents and put them in

03:10 - supply wagons and the wagons and

03:13 - that we would be not using our

03:15 - tents in campaign.

03:17 - And it was the first time in the

03:18 - war that we really hadn't had

03:21 - our tents with us.

03:24 - We were told to pack.

03:26 - The men were told to all pack

03:28 - rations for three days.

03:29 - We were told that the brigade

03:32 - would have a wagon train with

03:34 - rations for three days as would

03:36 - the division.

03:38 - So as we were marching out, we

03:39 - knew we had nine days worth of

03:41 - rations, but we had no idea

03:43 - where we're going.

03:44 - We're leaving Fredericksburg,

03:45 - Maryland on our way north.

03:48 - So of course most of the men -

03:50 - and they're talking - are

03:51 - figuring that we're going to go

03:52 - to Washington and attack the

03:54 - Capitol.

03:55 - After our two very successful

03:58 - battles we're feeling pretty

04:00 - strong now.

04:01 - We're feeling that we can pretty

04:02 - much end this war.

04:04 - As we're coming along north, we

04:06 - get involved in the Battle of

04:08 - Brandy Station, which is the

04:10 - largest cavalry battle in the

04:12 - Civil War.

04:13 - Largest cavalry battle ever

04:14 - fought in the United States the

04:15 - Battle of Brandy Station.

04:19 - Where we get involved, we go out

04:21 - and we set up a defensive line,

04:23 - but we're never called into

04:24 - action.

04:25 - And then we break and we go out

04:27 - to the Shenandoah and start up

04:29 - through Hagerstown, Maryland.

04:30 - And as I said earlier, we just

04:32 - crossed the Potomac and we're on

04:35 - our way north.

04:36 - And we've been up the Hagerstown

04:38 - quite often here, but it seems

04:40 - that we're going to continue

04:41 - marching north.

04:43 - Who knows where we're going to

04:44 - go.

04:45 - I wish you lot of luck in your

04:47 - thing and thank you very much

04:49 - for your time.