The Union's Secret Rebels: The Story of Gettysburg's Five Rebellious Double Crossers Who Returned as Foreign Invaders

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Civil War is called the war in which brother fought against brother. But few knew of the

“Gettysburg Rebels”: the five privates from that very town who moved south to Virginia in the 1850s,

joined the Confederate army, and returned home as foreign invaders for the great battle in July 1863.

I talk about this story with Tom McMillan, author of Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came

Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers. It is the story of Gettysburg’s five native sons who abandoned

their hometown ties to join the Southern cause. But that's not to say they forgot their families

altogether. At least one of these soldiers receive a leave of absence to cross enemy lines at night and

visit his family...while in full Confederate uniform.

Willing to relinquish familial ties, Henry Wentz, Wesley Culp, and the three Hoffman brothers kept

their hometown connections hidden from Confederate leaders—a decision that would ultimately

determine the fate of the Confederacy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,
0:09.4	Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.
0:13.9	Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time, focusing on the compelling,
0:20.7	wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders,
0:27.1	environment, and geography.
0:29.5	I invite you to come along for the ride!
0:59.5	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,
1:14.6	myth busts historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.
1:21.3	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:29.4	One of the most combed over parts of American history has been the Battle of Gettysburg.
1:33.9	At this battle was probably the high water mark of the Confederacy, and that was represented
1:38.4	in Pickett's Charge, which was an infantry assault, ordered by Robert Lee against General
1:43.1	Mead.
1:44.1	Now here we're talking all about generals and tactical plans, but something about Gettysburg
1:48.7	that very few people know is that there were actually five privates fighting for the Confederacy
1:55.7	who were from Gettysburg, which is a town in Union territory, and if they would have
2:00.1	played a slightly different role in the battle, it could have led to a massively different
2:05.7	outcome to the Confederacy.
2:07.5	Today I'm talking with author Tom McMillan, he's the author of the new book, Gettysburg
2:11.8	Rebels, five native sons, who came home to fight as Confederate soldiers.
2:16.5	This is a book about five soldiers who abandoned their hometown ties to join the Confederacy.
2:22.1	The five were Henry Wenz, Wesley Colp, and the three Hoffman brothers, who hid their
	...

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