Yankees: March 2009 Archives

Washington historian and author Guy Breshears wrote a book on the efforts of York-born Major Granville Owen Haller of the 7th U.S. Infantry's long fight to overturn his dismissal from the Regular Army, an effort that finally resulted in his reinstatement and promotion to colonel. Breshear's book is entitled Dismissed with Malice.

Haller's house where he lived in Coupeville, Washington, after he was dismissed from the army (he was accused by a mentally unstable naval officer Clark Wells of making seditious comments about Lincoln and the Federal government). Shortly after the end of the Gettysburg Campaign, Haller was dismissed, despite letters of recommendation from several Union officers who served with him or for him in Adams and York counties of southern Pennsylvania.

1861 entry from the records of a Philadelphia insane asylum for Clark H. Wells, an officer in the U.S. Navy. Photograph by author Guy Breshears of Washington state, who chronicled Wells' unfounded charges in a recent book.

Two years after being released and declared mentally competent, Wells socialized with York native Major Granville Haller of the 7th U.S. Infantry, who was serving as the head of Ambrose Burnside's headquarters guard during the Fredericksburg Campaign in northern Virginia. Wells accused Haller of uttering disloyal statements about President Lincoln and the Federal government at a wine-tasting party, a charge that led to Haller's dismissal from the Army and subsequent long battle to clear his name.

Who was Clark Wells, a frequent visitor to York who counted Major Haller's wife and prominent family members among his circle of friends, as well as several of York's leading citizens?

Washington writer Guy Breshears has always been interested in the military and social history of the state and the Pacific Northwest as a region. One of his particular interests is Major Granville Owen Haller, a York native who plays the antagonist role in my book, Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863. A couple of years ago, Breshears chronicled the court-martial proceedings of Major Haller, who was accused by another Civil War officer with York ties, Clark Wells, of making disloyal comments about the Federal government and President Lincoln at a late 1862 wine-tasting party at a military campsite near Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Letters flew back and forth between Wells and Haller at the start of 1863, and Haller apparently thought the matter was settled. He commanded the forces that tried to defend Adams and York counties during the Gettysburg Campaign, and then, after the emergency was over, found that he had been dismissed from the army for disloyalty. He was not reinstated for nearly two decades, during which time he amassed a fortune in Washington as a businessman. The army finally reinstated Haller and promoted him to colonel.

Guy Breshear's book, Major Granville Haller: Dismissed with Malice, was published by Heritage Books and is available from leading book dealers such as amazon.com. It is mostly a collection of Haller's official reports, statements made by him that are contained in his widely circulated rebuttal to the charges, and a transcript of the court proceedings that reinstated him to the service.