Established To Find Out Why There Was A Defeat

The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War; established December 9th 1861, was set up to investigate issues related to the Civil War.

The United State Congress set up the Joint Committee of the Conduct of the War to investigate and handle issues surrounding the Civil War on December 9th 1861. Established after the Union defeat at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff on the insistence of United States Senator Zachariah T Chandler. The purpose of the Committee was to investigate such things as illegal trade with Confederate States, military contracts, medical treatment of soldiers, and the causes of Union losses. The Committee also endorsed emancipation, the use of black soldiers, and the appointment of Generals. The Committee was chaired by United States Senator Benjamin Wade. Union officers disliked being call in front of the Committee. As it was a Civil War were brother’s and neighbors fought each other, the Committee looked into loyalty issues of Union soldiers.

The Committee held 272 meetings during its existence. The meeting were held in secrecy, with the testimony published irregularly in committee reports. One of the Committee’s notorious hearings followed the Battle of Gettysburg when Major General Daniel Sickles accused Major General George Gorden Meade of mismanaging the battle. Once the war ended the Committee ceased to operate, it was more or less replaced by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction.

Zook's Regiment Plunged In

General Samuel K Zook led his men in to battle on horseback July 2nd 1863.
On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, General Daniel Sickles’ Third Corps was crumbling under Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s assault. It was just after 5pm when Brigadier General John C Caldwell’s division which included Brigadier General Samuel K Zook’s brigade were sent in to reinforce the line.
Zook was directed by Major Tremain; a staff officer of the Third Corps to the Wheatfield to assist Colonel Regis de Trobriand near the Stony Hill. Zook led his men up the hill on horseback, which attracted Confederate General Joseph B Kershaw’s men of the 3rd and 7th South Carolinians. His regiment plunged forward with their General. Zook was shot in the shoulder, chest and abdomen. Supported by two aids in the saddle, he was moved to the tollhouse on the Baltimore Pike, and then when it was thought the Confederate attack might work he was moved farther down the road. He would die from his wounds the next day July 3rd 1863.
There is a small monument along the Wheatfield Road in Gettysburg commemorating Zook’s death.
A great website for more information about the Battle of the Wheatfield on the second day of Gettysburg. The Wheatfield