Arthur Fremantle General Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle , GCMG , CB ( November 1835 – 25 September 1901 ) was a British Army officer and a notable British witness to the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War . Whilst holding the rank of " Captain and Lieutenant Colonel " he spent three months ( from April 2 until July 16 , 1863 ) in North America , traveling through parts of the Confederate States of America and the Union . Contrary to popular belief , Colonel Fremantle was not an official representative of the United Kingdom ; instead , he was something of a tourist . Early life and career . Arthur James Lyon Fremantle was born in November 1835 into a distinguished military family . His father , Major General John Fremantle , had commanded a battalion of the Coldstream Guards , and had participated in the Peninsular War , as well as serving as aide - de - camp to Lieutenant General John Whitelocke during the abortive British invasion of Buenos Aires in 1807 . Arthur ' s middle name , Lyon , came from his mother , Agnes Lyon . After his graduation from Royal Military College , Sandhurst , Arthur Fremantle was commissioned into the British Army in 1852 , serving firstly as an ensign in the 70th Foot , before being transferred to the 52nd Foot almost immediately thereafter . The following year , Fremantle became ensign and lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards , and continued to receive promotions until , in 1860 , at the age of 25 , he held the rank of Captain of his regiment and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army . The same year , Fremantle was appointed to the position of Assistant Military Secretary at Gibraltar under Governor William John Codrington . In January 1862 , the Confederate commerce raider CSS " Sumter " , pursued by the Union Navy , arrived in port . The ship ' s commander , Raphael Semmes , sought to have his ship repaired and refitted , although ultimately the " Sumter " was sold and its crew transferred to the newly constructed CSS " Alabama " . Sometime in early 1862 , the young British lieutenant colonel met the flamboyant Confederate captain , and was inspired by Semmes ' tales of blockade running and combat on the high seas . Like many other officers of his generation , including Lieutenant Colonel Garnet Wolseley , Fremantle had a considerable interest in the American Civil War . Unlike most of the others , however , he decided to take a tour of the South , and applied for a leave of absence in 1863 . By his own admission , his initial sympathies lay with the Union , due to his natural distaste for slavery . On 2 March 1863 , Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle left England on board the mail steamer , " Atrato " . Traveling through Texas . Fremantle entered the Confederacy through the Mexican town of Matamoros , Tamaulipas on 2 April on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS " Immortalité " to avoid being in violation of the Union blockade , and crossed the Rio Grande into Brownsville , Texas . Within three hours of his arrival in the Confederacy , Fremantle encountered ' frontier justice ' for the first time , finding the body of a renegade , known as Montgomery , half - buried and stripped of flesh at the roadside . Spending almost two weeks in Brownsville , with occasional visits across the border to Matamoros and the village of Bagdad , Fremantle became acquainted with General Hamilton P . Bee and several merchants and diplomats who were facilitating the trade of cotton across the border with Mexico . Part of the reasoning for Fremantle ' s tenure in Brownsville may have been that he wished to meet General John B . Magruder , for whom he had a letter of introduction . However , Magruder was delayed , and Fremantle left Brownsville on 13 April in a carriage in the company of some of his merchant friends . Their driver and his assistant , Mr Sargeant and Judge Hyde , are particularly memorable figures from Fremantle ' s diary , in no small part due to Fremantle ' s astonishment that a member of the justiciary should be working on a stagecoach . Later , General Longstreet would recall meeting the same two men during his own service in Texas . After finally meeting with General Magruder shortly after leaving Brownsville , Fremantle continued his journey across the Texan desert , dutifully recording in his diary his observations about the taste of polecat , the snuff habits of Texan women , and allusions to the coarse language of his drivers and travelling companions . He finally arrived in San Antonio , Texas on 24 April , where he sold most of his luggage , and from there travelled to Houston , Texas , where he arrived on 30 April . Here , he dined with General William Read Scurry , and observed that those Confederate officers he encountered were extremely complimentary about Great Britain and the Queen , even proposing toasts to her health and to the Empire . Fremantle now proceeded with haste across the remaining Texan countryside , as rumours concerning the fate of Alexandria , Louisiana began to reach him . Furthermore , the continuing siege of Vicksburg , Mississippi was another source of anxiety , as the capture of the city would make passage across the Mississippi River practically impossible . Setting off for Galveston , Texas on 2 May , Fremantle found himself meeting Sam Houston , the father of Texan independence , though he found the elder statesman to be vain and egotistical , as well as bitter and uncouth in his mannerisms . This occurred less than three months before Houston ' s death , presumably making Fremantle one of the last foreign visitors to meet the general . The English observer finally left Texas on 8 May , arriving in Shreveport , Louisiana and partaking of the hospitality of General Edmund Kirby Smith and his wife . From Louisiana to Tennessee . On the advice of General Kirby Smith , Fremantle made his way to Monroe , Louisiana to attempt to cross the river from there due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of Alexandria . By the morning of 10 May , the day Fremantle ' s stagecoach arrived at its destination , travellers began to report that the city had fallen . In Monroe itself , Fremantle learned of the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville , although the news was accepted by locals without excitement . The wounding of Stonewall Jackson , however , caused some distress . The high expectations of Southerners , and their contempt for their enemies , would be among the few major points of criticism made by Fremantle . After considerable anxiety on board a steamer on the Mississippi , Fremantle finally crossed the river and arrived in Natchez , Mississippi on 15 May . From Natchez , Fremantle travelled to Jackson , which he reached on 18 May . As the city had been evacuated and attacked only a few days earlier , Fremantle was treated with some suspicion by soldiers and locals , who expressed scepticism that an English officer should be travelling alone through the South . One local , the gun - toting Mr Smythe , even went so far as to threaten the foreign visitor with execution should he be unable to prove his identity and credentials . Upon ' examination ' by a mob in a hotel , Fremantle finally convinced a Confederate cavalry officer and an Irish doctor of his legitimacy , and was spirited away to meet General Joseph E . Johnston , who accepted the peculiar traveller into his company . Fremantle remained near Johnston for several days , learning of the death of General Jackson from his Chancellorsville wound . Fremantle ' s next stop was at Mobile , Alabama , which he reached on 25 May after an eventful journey by train , in which a railway engineer shot a passenger . After inspecting the defenses of the city with General Dabney H . Maury , Fremantle briefly visited Montgomery , the former capital of the Confederate States , before arriving in Chattanooga , Tennessee on 28 May . Here , Fremantle met yet more prominent figures , including Generals William J . Hardee and Leonidas Polk , and Clement Vallandigham , the leader of the Copperheads . Later , Fremantle also encountered Braxton Bragg , who supplied the Englishman with letters of introduction and passes , allowing him to travel to Shelbyville , which he reached the following day . Fremantle remained here until 5 June , inspecting troops in the company of General Hardee , his fellow Englishman Colonel George St . Leger Grenfell and the Irish - born General Patrick Cleburne . He also witnessed the baptism of General Bragg , and a small skirmish between Federal and Confederate forces outside the town , before leaving for Charleston the following day . On to Richmond . Increasingly , Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle became possessed of a desire to get to the Confederate capital , Richmond , and from there attempt to locate the Army of Northern Virginia , with whom he intended to journey for a while . From Tennessee , he travelled through Augusta and Atlanta , before arriving in Charleston , South Carolina , the birthplace of the war , on 8 June . The English tourist was keen to inspect the defences of the city , and remained there until 15 June , inspecting Fort Sumter and visiting Morris Island in the company of General Roswell S . Ripley , commander of South Carolina ' s First Military District . During this stay , Fremantle also met General PGT Beauregard , and a member of Captain Raphael Semmes ' crew from the CSS " Sumter " , whom Fremantle had first met in Gibraltar in 1862 . En route to Richmond , Fremantle passed through Wilmington , North Carolina and Petersburg , Virginia , before arriving in the Confederate capital two days after leaving Charleston . On the day of his arrival , he was granted a meeting with Confederate Secretary of State Judah P . Benjamin . During the audience , Benjamin assured Fremantle that British diplomatic recognition of the C . S . A . would terminate the war without more bloodshed , though the British officer was concerned about a possible Union invasion of Canada . Benjamin also complained to his guest about revelations about his gambling habits made by the former correspondent of " The Times " , William Howard Russell . Benjamin then took Fremantle to see President Jefferson Davis , with whom he spoke for an hour . From Fremantle ' s account , it is possible to conclude that the Confederate leaders may have been trying to impress their British visitor on the matter of diplomatic intervention , without real consideration of his lack of power to do so . Intent on finding Lee ' s army at the earliest opportunity , Fremantle visited the Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon on 18 June , where he was furnished with letters of introduction to Generals Lee and Longstreet . Leaving Richmond two days later , Fremantle came upon the division of General William Dorsey Pender on 21 June , and reached Lee ' s headquarters at Berryville a day later . Here , Fremantle met the individuals who would be his companions for the next two weeks . Among them were Francis Lawley , the " Times " correspondent who had replaced Russell , Captain Fitzgerald Ross , an Austrian cavalry officer , and Captain Justus Scheibert , a Prussia n army engineer who had been sent to inspect Confederate fortifications by his government . The accounts of these four men present the most enlightening accounts written by foreigners of the Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg . Gettysburg . Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle introduced himself to General Longstreet on 27 June , a crucial meeting since it allowed Fremantle to observe the advance through Maryland and Pennsylvania in close quarters to the General and his staff . As well as the other foreign observers , Fremantle also became well acquainted with some of Longstreet ' s staff officers , including Gilbert Moxley Sorrel , Thomas Goree , and the medical staff , Doctors Cullen and Maury . As a neutral observer , Fremantle was allowed to enter the town of Chambersburg , Pennsylvania , which was off - limits to most soldiers and officers on the orders of General Lee . On 30 June , Fremantle met the famous commander of the Army of Northern Virginia for the first time , and learned from Longstreet that General George Meade had replaced Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac . In the camp , Fremantle spoke to the staff officers about the likelihood of battle in the near future . The next day , the sound of artillery fire alerted the English visitor that the two armies had indeed met each other . According to Fremantle ' s diary , a spy , presumably Henry Thomas Harrison , informed the company that there was a significant concentration of Union troops around Gettysburg . Whilst talking to Union prisoners , Fremantle met General Ambrose Powell Hill , who complained of being ill . Later in the evening , when the Union forces had reformed on Cemetery Ridge , Fremantle climbed a tree to observe the last of the fighting , before consulting with Longstreet again about the following day ' s action . On 2 July , the four foreign observers returned to the battlefield at 5am , in time to witness a meeting between Generals Lee , Longstreet , Hill , John Bell Hood and Henry Heth . Once more , Fremantle climbed his tree to see what was happening , this time in the company of Captain Scheibert . After touring the Confederate lines , Fremantle returned to that position at about 2pm on the advice of General Longstreet , but was frustrated that the attack did not take place until well after 4pm . For the first time , the Englishman heard the ' Rebel Yell ' , as well as a Confederate band playing polkas and waltzes above the din of battle . That evening , news reached the observers of the wounding of General Hood , as well as the death of General William Barksdale . On the morning of 3 July , Captain Ross and Colonel Fremantle made an inspection of the town of Gettysburg itself , intending to get to the cupola of the seminary , which had been used by General John Buford as a vantage point two days earlier . The commencement of the Union bombardment stopped the two observers , and so they returned to Longstreet ' s headquarters early in the afternoon . Fremantle alone found the General sitting on a small fence . Thinking that the battle was just getting under way , Fremantle commented to Longstreet that he ' wouldn ' t have missed this for anything ' . Longstreet wryly pointed out to his guest that the attack had already happened , and had been repulsed . Longstreet asked if Fremantle had anything to drink , at which the Englishman made a gift to the general of his silver hip flask . Coming upon Lee , Fremantle found him rallying the defeated troops , reassuring them and trying to rally them ahead of an anticipated Union counterattack . The Union counterattack did not come , however , and Fremantle retreated along with the rest of the Confederate Army on the night of 4 July . As the army fell back into Maryland , Fremantle met Jeb Stuart , the cavalry commander whose absence during the preceding battle cost Lee valuable intelligence . On 7 July , Fremantle took his leave of Longstreet and his staff , intending to cross the Union lines and make his way to New York . A parting remark made by Major Latrobe did little to reassure him : ' You may take your oath he ' ll be caught for a spy ' . Longstreet was more confident of Fremantle ' s abilities , informing his aide that , since Fremantle had managed to travel across lawless areas of Texas , crossing the Union lines would cause him little difficulty . Two days later , in Hagerstown , Fremantle left Lawley and Ross , and made his way towards the Union Army . Despite initial suspicion , Fremantle convinced General Benjamin Franklin Kelley that he was no spy , even showing the officer a pass from General Lee verifying Fremantle ' s neutral status . New York and the Draft Riots . His passage having been secured , Fremantle arrived by train in New York City on the night of 12 July , booking into the Fifth Avenue Hotel . The following day , Fremantle went out for a walk along Broadway . Upon his return to the hotel , he found that shopkeepers were closing their shutters early , and then noticed that several buildings were ablaze . Fire engines were present , but the crowd was not permitting them to be used . Increasingly alarmed , Fremantle saw a black youth pursued by the mob , eventually finding refuge with a company of soldiers , to the disgust of the massed protestors . Bewildered , the Englishman asked a bystander why the crowds were so vehement in their hatred of blacks . In response , he was told that they were ' the innocent cause of all these troubles ' . In fact , the New York City draft riots ( July 13 – 16 , 1863 ) , the most violent insurrection in USA ' s history ( apart from the Civil War itself ) had begun , and were eventually to evolve into an anti - black pogrom . A day later , Fremantle noted that the activities of the mob were worsening , with battles between police and rioters now taking place in the streets . An English captain reported that the mob had forced their way onto his ship and beaten his black crew members , forcing a French warship to threaten violence against any attacks against foreign vessels . Return to England . On 15 July , amidst the violence and terror gripping large parts of the city , Fremantle boarded the SS " China " , and began his voyage back to Britain . Upon returning to England , the young Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle found himself being questioned by friends and colleagues on the truth of the situation in the Confederate States , as only Union newspapers were readily available in England . Suitably encouraged , Fremantle wrote a book on his experiences in America , " Three Months in the Southern States " , based on the diary which he kept throughout his sojourn in the South . Published in 1864 , the book was well - received both in Great Britain and in the Union , and it was even printed in Mobile by S . H . Goetzel & Co . , being eagerly read even by the beleaguered Southerners , who wanted to see how their struggle was being reported by a foreign visitor . The book predicted a certain Southern victory . Later life and career . Fremantle married shortly after his return to Great Britain , and served with his regiment until 1880 , when he was placed on half pay after twenty eight years of service without seeing any active duty . The following year , however , he was promoted to the rank of Major General and assigned as aide - de - camp to Prince George , Duke of Cambridge , commander - in - chief of the British Army . The United Kingdom was upset by the disasters suffered by the Anglo - Egyptian forces contending with the Mahdi st army in the Sudan ( battle of El Obeid ; 1st battle of El Teb ) . Fremantle was sent to the Sudan , temporarily serving as garrison commander at the port of Suakin until his relief by Major General Gerald Graham . Fremantle followed General Graham in his inland raid when he intended to crush the Mahdist Osman Digna . Fremantle was in command of the Brigade of Guards , and as such took part in the harsh Battle of Tamai : with a toll of 120 British troops ( the heaviest of the campaign ) , the famous British infantry square broken open , this battle did not serve to break down the Dervish army morale , as was proved during the following battles ( such as Abu Klea ) and the fall of Khartoum in January 1885 . After Tamai , Fremantle was appointed Political Officer by Graham , placing him in charge of efforts to befriend the local tribes around the Suakin region and , if possible , to unite them against the Madhists . After the fall of Khartoum and the departure of the British from the Sudan , Fremantle stayed for a brief time in Cairo , then returned to England in 1886 , serving in the War Office . He ended his career on a high note by being appointed to the office of Governor - General of Malta in 1894 . During his time on the island , Fremantle became a popular governor , presiding over political decisions such as the matter of mixed and non - Catholic marriages , and the issue of the payment of reparations to the Maltese ecclesiastical authorities from the Napoleonic Wars . In November 1898 , Fremantle hosted a visit to the island by the German Emperor , Kaiser William II , who arrived in Valletta on board his personal yacht , the " Hohenzollern " , upon which Governor Fremantle joined the Kaiser for dinner . In 1899 , after his term in office ended , Lieutenant - General Arthur Fremantle returned to England . A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron , General Fremantle died at the age of 65 in the Squadron ' s headquarters in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight from complications of asthma on 25 September 1901 . On the centenary of his funeral , a ceremony marking the restoration of his grave in Woodvale Cemetery , near Brighton , was conducted by his descendants and by Civil War re - enactors from the United States . Legacy . When General Fremantle died in 1901 , he had risen to become one of the most senior officers in the British Army , and had held several important posts both in military and civil life , the most obvious of which being his governorship of Malta . Fremantle ' s talents were most apparent in military - political relations , and as a staff officer . However , his most lasting achievement is in being the most prominent foreign observer in the Confederacy , and perhaps on both sides , of the entire American Civil War . Although infused with sympathy for the Southern cause , Fremantle ' s diary is less openly partisan than other accounts by his contemporary observers , such as Fitzgerald Ross and Justus Scheibert . His writings also shed light not only on the military or political aspects of war , but also on the minute details of everyday life in the Confederacy . As he did not originally intend to publish his diaries when initially travelling through the South , Fremantle ' s account does not seem as though written for an audience , and thus is more frank in revealing his personal beliefs and preferences without becoming overtly evangelical . Although the book was a bestseller at the time , the ultimate failure of the Confederacy to win its independence led to a sharp decrease in Britain in the appetite for Civil War diaries after 1865 , including Fremantle ' s diary . In 1952 , however , historian Walter Lord published a revised edition of " Three Months in the Southern States " , retitled " The Fremantle Diary " , which featured an introduction by the editor and detailed references . This became a surprise success , and remains the standard version of Fremantle ' s account to this day . In popular media . Part of the reason for the enduring fame of Fremantle compared to his fellow observers may be his role in Civil War literature and film , thanks to the success of Michael Shaara ' s historical novel , " The Killer Angels " . The novel , published in 1974 , deals with the events of the Battle of Gettysburg and the effects of the engagement on some of the main protagonists , including Generals Longstreet and Lee , as well as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and General John Buford . Shaara ' s primary source material for researching the novel included the diaries , letters and correspondence of figures who were either involved in or present at the Battle . Although part of a cadre of foreign observers , Fremantle is easily the most prominent neutral character in the novel . Unlike Lawley , Scheibert and Ross , Fremantle frequently interacts with the main characters . He even receives a chapter to himself , uniquely for a secondary character . He is portrayed as a genial and gregarious person , although he has a tendency to daydream and jump to unlikely conclusions . He is also pressed by several Confederate officers on the matter of British recognition of the Confederacy , lamenting that it is unlikely to happen while slavery persists . In the 1993 film adaptation of Shaara ' s novel , retitled " Gettysburg " , Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle is portrayed by James Lancaster . His character changes little from the book , once again engaging in important discussions with General Longstreet and his officers on the Confederacy ' s relations with the United Kingdom . The film version , however , took considerable liberties with Fremantle ' s appearance . Although physically Lancaster did indeed resemble the observer , he is shown wearing the red dress tunic of the Coldstream Guards , when in reality it is extremely unlikely that Fremantle would have taken his dress uniform with him , being an unofficial observer and unwilling to risk sparking a diplomatic incident in the event of capture by Union forces . In his diary , Fremantle declines an invitation to a formal dance on account of having no suitable formal wear , suggesting that his only available attire was the shooting suit in which he travelled , having sold his luggage early in his travels . The film also shows Fremantle wandering around the Confederate Headquarters drinking tea from a china cup , presumably to emphasize his Englishness . Since 1993 , Fremantle has been portrayed in historical re - enactments in the United States by Roger Hughes , who also led the efforts to have Fremantle ' s grave in Brighton restored in 2001 . Hughes maintains a website providing considerable information on Fremantle , his family , his travels and Civil War re - enactments . Fremantle was the inspiration for his descendant , Tom Fremantle , to roughly retrace his steps by walking from Texas to New York City with a pack mule in 2001 - 2002 . The trip is documented in the book " The Moonshine Mule " .