A Virginia Tobacco Man In Pickett’s Charge

One of the hardest hit Confederate regiments in Pickett's Charge was the 18th Virginia Infantry. Casualties included one of its best captains, Zachariah Angel Blanton. Severely wounded, he reportedly spent three days and nights on the battlefield before Union soldiers captured him. Here's Blanton's Gettysburg story.
"Life on the Civil War Research Trail" is hosted by Ronald S. Coddington, Editor and Publisher of Military Images magazine. Learn more about our mission to showcase, interpret and preserve Civil War portrait photography at militaryimagesmagazine.com and shopmilitaryimages.com.
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Image: Charles Darden Collection
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[@richiephillips1541]

My Great-Great-Grandfather and his two brothers charged up Cemetery Hill on July 2nd. I had ancestors who fought on both side of that war and I'm proud of them all.

[@MrTambopaxi]

Amazing story. Blanton survives all of those battles, barely survives the disastrous charge on July 3, *lays wounded three days* on the field! Sometimes, it seems like these guys were made of different mettle back in those days…. 10:18

[@davidlavigne207]

Appreciated the humanization of just one of the many brave and selfless confederate soldiers that made that charge, and many others during that terrible war. I clearly see why he was selected for promotion to the ranks of the officers. He was a very responsible and well respected man I'm sure. He was a credit to his family, his community, and to the Army of Notrhern Virginia.

[@frankofva8803]

Thank you for this! My Great-Great Grandfather, William R. Bailess (misspelled Bailiss in some records) served in Company A of the 18th Virginia. He was from the tobacco country of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He was killed on July 3, 1863 in the great charge.

[@conradnelson5283]

These guys were so tough. They could survive horrendous wounds lying unattended on the battlefield for days. Amazing

[@davidtvedt7597]

Not enough can be said about the loyalty, bravery, determination to cause, and discipline of soldiers on both sides. Beyond amazing! As always, thanks for a very informative account of the struggles and pain of war!

[@jessicae.s.340]

“That old man murdered my division”…Pickett on Lee many years later

[@normanlathrop6533]

It sounds to me like he was very loyal to his hometown and willing to take risks to help his neighbors. He must have been a devout Christian and his actions prove that. It’s amazing that he survived the battle! God was watching over him and delivered him to those who would care for him. Definitely a blessed man!

[@dionellwalker9762]

His actions proved to you he was a devout Christian. What principles do you hold dear to when claiming this man had to be. True Christian's don't oppress their fellow man, rape ,murder and enslave. True Christian's don't use free labor of a different ethnicity to enrich themselves. Christ"s teachings were ignored by southerners as they sinned gravely to enrich themselves. If this man were a true Christian he would never have risked life or limb to preserve this institution of hate something Christ never taught. I'm a true believer and know that Blanton realizes his sin against GOD as he suffers from gnashing of teeth and the consumption of fire through eternity. WOO !

[@skyedog24]

You're very good writer.

[@normanlathrop6533]

@@skyedog24 thank you!

[@brianniegemann4788]

That is an important reason why so may on both sides were willing to fight and risk their lives. Companies were often recruited all from the same town or county. They went because they didn't want their brothers or neighbors to shoulder the burden alone.

[@lanemeyer9350]

The 8th Ohio had a literal front row seat for Pickett’s Charge. If I had a Time Machine I’d go back and be in line with the 8th Ohio, it must have been so intense

[@bjohnson515]

The 8th OH enfiladed the CSA left flank....and the VT ers enfiladed the CSA right flank. What a mess.

[@JohnDouros]

It's good to study history and learn from it. But one thing we should not do is romanticize war. Believe me you wouldn't want to be there.

[@RGL01]

I’m glad I didn’t have the “opportunity” to be there.

[@brianniegemann4788]

You would need a time machine cloaked with an invisible force field, if you planned on coming back. Personally I'd rather go back to 35 AD and hear the Sermon on the Mount, live.

[@happychildhood591]

Thank you Ron for another interesting presentation! You continue to uncover very obscure stories and facts that might otherwise would be lost to time. Keep up the good work sir!

[@ericwerner8316]

Arthur Fremantle was a British observer who was with the ANV and his account of the days leading up to and through Gettysburg are fascinating

[@peterschief9778]

What an interesting story well done and thanx mate.

[@senorboardhead]

Great Ron - just great !

[@kevinpritchard3592]

Now that man had seen some things and lived to tell about it. Amazing. Thanks for preserving his story.

[@yisroelkatz-xj6pq]

It is simply amazing that he suffered such severe wounds and captivity and he was able to return home! He looks like a handsome man and I assume that his face was disfigured from such a horrible wound! Was he able to somehow fix his jaw and other wounds with the medical treatment available in those days?

[@williamrossetter9430]

Excellent story once again, Ron.

[@markmcintosh7095]

Thank you, that was very interesting.

[@RakkasanRakkasan]

Now that was and is a fine man who's example needs to be followed what a fine soldier, citizen and American.

[@irockuroll60]

An “example needs to be followed….citizen and American” Do I need to explain the contradictions of this statement? I am a lifelong Georgian with about year in S. Carolina as a child. So, I am as southern as it gets. Also, I am about as pro confederacy and amazed that the south was able to stay afloat as long as they did. But to say he was a great citizen and great American and great citizen when he tried to rid himself of his American citizenship is a contradiction to say the least.

[@bjohnson515]

@@RakkasanRakkasan yes there were fine people on both sides. Sound familiar

[@RakkasanRakkasan]

@@bjohnson515 yes sir my own family fought for the union. These are stories about the people I love to hear.

[@bjohnson515]

Corporal stripes? I think I see 3.

[@delstanley1349]

I wonder how much regard was given to that October 1863 letter by the Confederate cabinet. The letter would have been read in November 1863, or only about a 100 days after the lost of Vicksburg and Lee's retreat from the disaster at Gettysburg. Lincoln just gave command of three western armies to Grant, and the Confederates were just days away from turning the victory at Chickamauga into a very shocking defeat at Missionary Ridge/Battle of Chattanooga. Not to put all the goodwill aside, but I suspect the letter didn't garner a lot of attention when it was received in Richmond and was probably put at the bottom in the inbox pile by Jeff Davis and Company, their situation was Hot and was getting HOTTER!

[@ozzyphil74]

I can appreciate this man as a man and appreciate what a difficult service he had. As an African though, I have no regrets that many of his comrades died that day and I am forever grateful to eternity that the slavers lost the war! The fact that the North ultimately fought to free the slaves is one of America's crowning moments. It doesn't quite make up for being so heavily invested in the slave trade to start with but it does help. Just as I read about the Wartime service of German soldiers, airmen and sailors in WW2 and find their individual stories fascinating but refrain from glorifying them or wishing their cause success, so too do I do when I hear accounts of Confederates. What brave and hardy souls in the service of such an ignoble and stupid cause. May they RIP and know that their greatest service to humanity was their failure to get their way.

[@mencken8]

The charge on the 3rd day seems desperate and foolish….and with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it was. But Gettysburg was the second attempt to invade the North and force a conclusive battle that would bring about an end to the war. Jefferson Davis and Lee both understood very well that the iron logistics of a war of attrition could only result in a Southern defeat- which was in fact what eventually happened, it just took almost two more years.

[@irockuroll60]

Yep…

[@happychildhood591]

Well stated sir!

[@Thomasw540]

My high school played Farmville my senior year and they barely had enough for an offensive side and bout half of a defensive side, We ran the table on them but it was pretty good natured. Farmville is within a couple of miles of Appomattox and had farmers affected by Nat Turner's rebellion, I lived for a while with a woman who lived nigh unto the Buckingham Slate quarries and the Recon Platoon Leader of Merrill's Marauders, Lt Gen, Samuel V. Wilson retired nearby, It is very rural.

[@JoelHundley]

Picketts Charge had 12500 Confederates while reserves were on standby.

[@Paulftate]

🤙

[@delstanley1349]

I learned a new word today--"tobacconist." I don't feel too bad, I'm not from Virginia or the Carolinas, and I don't smoke. I didn't think you could do anything else to the word "tobacco," now I know, ha ha!

[@grantlawrence611]

Been to Johnson Island many times

[@FuzzyWuzzy75]

If I may, might I make a special request for some information on Edmund Ruffin?

[@owensomers8572]

Ron, not to split hairs, I think of a tobacconist as a fellow running a store with an assortment of tobacco products (to include snuff and cigars), but think of a "tobacco" man (as titled) as someone involved in the production, sale, and distribution of bulk tobacco, such as a farmer or trader at tobacco auctions. Which would Blanton have been?

[@bjohnson515]

Blanton....of the bourbon family?

[@bjohnson515]

Compare and contrast Johnson's Island treatment to Camp Douglas, a place where treatment and food was intentionally withheld.

[@Mr4autiger]

the confederates could barely feed their own troops, the union also instituted a policy of no prisoner exchange at one point in the war, I believe. POW atrocities on both sides, great extensions of mercy on both sides as well. Get off your public school text book high horse.

[@georgiapines7906]

​@@Mr4autigerWow......

[@Mr4autiger]

@@georgiapines7906 wow what? the south could in fact, barely feed its troops, and often didn't. Hence, one of the causes of massive casualties from disease etc etc in the ranks. Unless you are into eating hairy, rotten scraps of meat, and brewing acorns for coffee, after a 48 hr. forced march, if you were lucky. If you have a rebuttal, offer it, or just keep your righteous indignation to yourself

[@georgiapines7906]

​@@Mr4autigerTalk about righteous indignation! You sound more like an LSU Tiger and not an Auburn Tiger.

[@georgiapines7906]

I agree with you, BJohnson.

[@ClancyWoodard-yw6tg]

Picketts charge the key thing that led to a horrible defeat and the almost complete destruction of the army of northern Virginia

[@erictrelz3519]

The money he protected - was it US Bank Notes or Confederate Script?

[@bjohnson515]

"The people down in these states (TN and GA) are not as much enlisted on principle in this war as we in Virginia. They regard it as a war to protect their property in slaves, and when they are lost, take no further interest in it.” Wrote Capt Charles M. Blackford of Longstreet’s staff. “In Virginia, we are fighting for the right to govern ourselves in our own way and to perpetuate our customs and institutions among our own people without interference.” It is important to understand the motivations of the soldiers and their States.

[@happychildhood591]

Well stated! Many people fail to realize that history is recorded by the victors. Additionally, in the current era of political correctness and 'wokeness', people often state very simplistic reasons as to what sparked the Civil War and specifically why the south so vigorously defended itself. It is so much more complex than that as your post eludes to. I once worked with a very smart woman who was born and bred in Virginia (I am from NY). We would engage in very interesting conversations about a number of things, sometimes about the Civil War. She told me that her family was still very distrustful of Yankees. She additionally told me that they never owned slaves but fought simply because "They are here", meaning there was at the outbreak of hostilities northerners in their beloved Commonwealth of Virginia. So, one can conclude that it wasn't just about slavery or states rights, but for a myriad of reasons such as 'northern aggression' that compelled many southerners to take up arms. I am not making a political post but only sharing what my research has shown me as well as some very colorful conversations. I thank you for your post sir!

[@lewdachris7721]

@@happychildhood591”and the Federal Government, having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States.” From Virginias secession declaration

[@conradnelson5283]

Slavery

[@bjohnson515]

@@lewdachris7721 Indeed. VA did not like the treatment the Deep South was getting.

[@bjohnson515]

@@lewdachris7721 Yep. VA's issue was Constitutional, and let's not forget that VA reserved the right to "resume powers" delegated to the federal experiment if they felt harmed by the arrangement. And, it was VA that was invaded. VA had nothing to do with Sumter. They refused Lincoln's demand to make war on the Deep South, to embargo the Deep South, and to allow federal troops to use their ports and traverse their State to make war on the Deep South.

[@jesterboykins2899]

Never understood why Lee didn’t send more than 15k men. If he wanted that day to be “the last day” then send everything you’ve got. Send it all… just my opinion. He had plenty of reserves.

[@michaellynnhardy]

No small feat for him to survive a Lake Erie winter on Johnson's Island. Perhaps the Christian Commission furnished warm clothing.