Arthur Fremantle
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General Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, GMCG, CB (November 1835 – 25 September 1901) was a British soldier, a member of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards, and a notable British witness to the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. While in the rank of 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.
Fremantle entered the Confederacy through the Mexican town of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, to avoid being in violation of the Union blockade. Travelling through Texas, the deep south, and finally arriving in the company of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 27, Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle witnessed the Gettysburg Campaign as part of a cadre of foreign observers attached to the headquarters of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet. Taking his leave of the Confederates after the retreat from Gettysburg, Fremantle crossed into the Union, and arrived in New York City on July 12, the day before the outbreak of the New York Draft Riots, which the alarmed Englishman witnessed first hand.
Upon returning to England, he wrote a book on his experiences in America, Three Months in the Southern States, which was published three months before the end of the war. The book predicted a certain Southern victory. A young man, Fremantle married upon his return and embarked upon several years of military service in the later part of the nineteenth century, including a mission to the Sudan. His career ended on a high note, seeing service as Governor-General of Malta between 1894 and 1899.
General Fremantle died on the Isle of Wight at the age of 65. On the centenary of his funeral, a ceremony marking the restoration of his grave in Brighton was conducted by his descendants and Civil War reenactors from the United States.
In Michael Shaara's historical novel The Killer Angels, concerning the events of the Battle of Gettysburg, Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle appears as an important character, providing a neutral (if sympathetic) viewpoint on the struggle for Southern independence. In the 1993 film adaptation of the novel, retitled Gettysburg, Fremantle is played by the actor James Lancaster. In both versions of the story, Fremantle is a genial, if somewhat naive, observer who engages in important discussions with General Longstreet and his officers on the Confederacy's relations with the United Kingdom.
