The Generals Take the Field: Eisenhower and Montgomery at Gettysburg, 1957

Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery visiting Little Round Top on the Gettysburg battlefield in May 1957

Eisenhower National Historic Site

British Field Marshall Viscount Sir Bernard Law Montgomery (affectionally known as Monty) and his friend and former commander, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) visited together at Gettysburg on May 11-13, 1957.

During World War II, Monty, the commander of the British and Canadian 21^st Army Group, served under Eisenhower, then the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. Occasionally, Ike and Monty spoke about the Battle of Gettysburg. Several times Ike had promised to someday take Monty on a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield.

In November 1954, when Monty accompanied Ike and Mamie to a Thanksgiving gathering in Augusta, Georgia, he mentioned that he would very much like to tour the battlefield. In response, Ike invited him to visit Gettysburg the following autumn when renovations to their Gettysburg home would be complete. However, Ike could not keep his promise. In September 1955 he suffered a major heart attack while visiting Mamie’s family in Denver, Colorado. He was hospitalized at the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital where Monty visited him at his bedside, rather than at his home in Gettysburg.

In the spring of 1957, Montgomery was serving as the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO), Allied Command Operations (ACO) headquartered in Paris, France. He arrived in New York City on Tuesday, May 7^th for talks with NATO officials and to conduct an American speaking tour. He also arranged to finally visit Gettysburg.

On the morning of Saturday, May 11^th, Ike and Monty left the White House at 8:35 AM and flew from Washington D.C. to the tiny Gettysburg airport. As the small twin-engine blue and silver Aero Commander touched down at 9:20 AM, a score of photographers surrounded the aircraft. Major General Howard M. Snyder, the president’s personal physician, was the first to step off, followed by Ike and Monty. Ike then led the way to a waiting limousine which whisked them off to the Eisenhower farm.

This was the beginning of what would be a memorable weekend visit for the two famous generals. The visit would also cause controversy, since when speaking in Baltimore the day before, Monty had told reporters that he was about to visit Eisenhower in Gettysburg and that he had read all about the battle. As a military man he said that he would have “sacked” both Lee and Meade after the battle of Gettysburg. He thought that Lee failed to press his advantage and Meade did not keep Union forces under adequate control. These comments would be referenced again during the visit and cause some furor for both Monty and Ike.

Shortly after 10:00 AM, their tour of the battlefield began at the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, the site of the first day’s fighting. Near the memorial, Ike and Monty observed a pair of Whitworth breeching-loading cannon, which the Confederates had acquired from England. For the remainder of the morning, they drove around the battlefield making stops at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the Angle where Union forces repulsed General Pickett’s famous charge, General Meade’s headquarters, the 1^st Minnesota Regiment monument, Little Round Top, and Devil’s Den. Due to time constraints, they were only able to spend a short time at each stop. While no one captured the content of their conversations while touring, the New York Times speculated that they discussed “what happened and what might have happened at the battle that marked the turning point of the Civil War and that all military men study a classic.”

Ike and Monty spent the remainder of that Saturday at the President’s farm and inspected cattle at some neighboring farms. They were later joined by Mamie, George Allen (a very close Gettysburg friend), Major General Snyder, and some other friends. That evening the Eisenhowers and Montgomery dined alone at the farm.

At 8:18 AM on Sunday, May 12^th, twenty-one reporters and sixteen photographers assembled in front of the Gettysburg National Museum, a private facility owned by the Rosensteel family (it later served as the Visitor Center of the Gettysburg National Military Park until it was demolished in 2008). Ike and Monty arrived fifteen minutes later and went inside to view the Electric Map, a three-dimensional plaster map that used flashing lights and narration to tell the story of the battle of Gettysburg. Mrs. Rosensteel presented Ike and Monty with two books about the battle. Before leaving, Monty noticed a collection of Ike and Mamie plates and mugs in the souvenir shop. He asked for prices but didn’t buy any of the items.

After leaving the museum through a heavy fog and drizzle, Ike and Monty wound their way up to Culp’s Hill, the site of desperate fighting on the second and third days of the battle. At the summit stood the seventy-foot observation tower erected by the War Department in 1895. Although the dense fog obscured the top of the tower, Monty wanted to walk up anyway. Followed by Ike and reporters, he stopped at the fourth landing to inspect a map. As the reporters and photographers jammed themselves onto the landing, Monty became annoyed with all the pushing and shoving. “Look here, you chaps”, he said to the press corps, “we have too many people up here”. With that, the accompanying party began to file back down the steps.

At the base of the tower, a reporter asked Monty if he still believed, as he had said in Baltimore, that both Lee and Meade should have been “sacked” for their performance at Gettysburg. Monty responded: “Well, I wouldn’t have fought the battle that way myself”. Ike then quipped: “If you had, I would have sacked you”. The entire party roared with laughter, but no one laughed more loudly than Monty and Ike.

Ike and Monty then proceeded to the Angle on Cemetery Ridge where they walked through tall wet grass to inspect the equestrian statue of General Meade. The Gettysburg Times reported that Ike and Monty were “having a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed each minute.” From there they drove up to the summit of Little Round Top. Near the statue of General Gouverneur K. Warren, they walked around the rocks and discussed the tactics of the battle, while Ike pointed to key places on the battlefield.

The last stop of the tour was the Virginia Memorial on Seminary Ridge. After standing quietly for a short while and gazing across the field of Pickett’s charge, Ike said: “Why Lee would have gone across that field, I don’t know.” “Maybe he got so darned mad he wanted to hit them with a brick.” Pointing to the Round Tops he said: “Why he didn’t go around there, I’ll never know”. Monty stated that: “It was a monstrous thing to launch this charge”. When a reporter asked what he would have done he said: “I would have thrown a right hook around Little Round Top where you have plenty of cover. I would have used a little feint here to draw the Union’s attention”. As they walked to the car Ike was asked if he agreed with that theory. Ike laughed and replied: “Oh no, you don’t get me into that. Look, I live here with the North and the South!”

Perhaps to somewhat soften the blow of Monty’s remarks Ike told reporters that: “some of the finest troop movements in military history” took place here at Gettysburg, “but everything seemed to break to pieces on coordination, unfortunately for the South.” Turning to Monty Ike said: “If some of the generals who fought here were alive today, they probably would have criticized the way we fought.” Montgomery nodded in agreement.

By 10:18 AM, Ike and Monty were back at the farm. Later in the morning, accompanied by Mamie, they attended Mother’s Day services at the Presbyterian Church in Gettysburg. At 11:00 AM the following day, Monty returned to Washington.

In the weeks following the visit, both Monty and Ike faced criticisms and complaints from different public sectors. When Ike and Monty criticized the Union and Confederate commanders at Gettysburg, they had entered a minefield of controversy. Monty was admonished for by some observers for not grasping the symbolic importance of Gettysburg to Americans, or how extensively the battle had been studied by historians. Ike had to deal with the fallout from Monty’s comments and with his own misunderstood remarks, particularly about Lee’s performance at Gettysburg.

However, more consequential for Ike and Monty was the publication of Monty’s memoirs a year later. Although he spoke highly of Ike’s character, Monty had many uncomplimentary things to say about Ike as a commanding general. These remarks hurt Ike and severely strained their relationship. Around that time, a reporter quoted a White House source as saying: “Monty won’t get invited up to Gettysburg again.” Montgomery never again visited Gettysburg.