The American Civil War Timeline- 150th Anniversary (4 Viewers)

timschochet said:

BL- one thing I am not clear on: Did Buford know that the Rebs were coming to Gettysburg? Or did he just hope they were and guessed right? Suppose they didn't come- would Buford have simply moved on after a few days?

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Who Shot General John F. Reynolds?

Contributed by J. David Petruzzi

revised 10/03/04

Union Major General John Fulton Reynolds was the highest-ranking officer of either side killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. Speculation over who fired that fatal shot, and how and when it happened, has provided fuel for many theories since that opening battle on McPherson's Ridge began on the morning of July 1, 1863.

Sharpshooter on the ground, in a tree? Unknown skirmisher or infantryman? Aimed or stray bullet? Ask anyone, be it a Gettysburg buff, a Park Service Ranger, Battlefield Guide, or even someone with just a passing interest in the battle, and you're likely to get as many different answers. Watch the "Reynolds" scene in the Turner movie "Gettysburg" and you'll see the sharpshooter theory acted out by a determined Confederate, steadying his scoped rifle on a tree, aiming and firing at the mounted Reynolds as he urges his Iron Brigade into the woods along the ridge.

As to be expected, there are those who have taken credit for delivering the fatal shot, some even reluctantly. Infantrymen, sharpshooters, all have publicly announced they were the one who "spotted a high-ranking mounted officer," saw their chance, and brought the commander down. Let's examine some of those claims, and then evaluate their possible validity.

Sharpshooter Sgt. Ben Thorpe of the 55th North Carolina

One of the most famous claims of responsibility for the General's death was made very reluctantly, and not until some time had passed. Not until 1902, in fact. In the fall of that year Leander T. Hensel and others from the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, area happened to stop at a farm located near Satterwhite, North Carolina. The owner of the farm was Benjamin Thorpe, who struck up a conversation with the unannounced visitors. Thorpe had a lively and friendly discussion with the strangers until they mentioned that they hailed from Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. Suddenly Thorpe's demeanor changed. The visitors asked why Thorpe's mood had changed once they mentioned "Lancaster County." Thorpe explained that he knew the famous General Reyolds came from the area and was buried there. He went on to explain that he was a sharpshooter during the Civil War and had lived, for the past forty years, with the fact that he was the one who shot the man. Thorpe stated that it was some time before he learned who it was he actually shot, as the news of Reynold's death had spread like wildfire through both armies during that Battle. "...And when I did learn," he explained, "when I heard and read of what a great and good man and splendid soldier I had brought to death, I was genuinely sorry. I have been sorry ever since..." The Northerners listened closely to this fascinating confession, and knew they had to go public with it.

On November 7, 1902, residents of the Lancaster County area read with consuming interest an article that appeared in the Lancaster Intelligencer. In it was the account of the Northerners' chance meeting with farmer Ben Thorpe and his sorrowful confession of killing the General with his sharpshooter's rifle on the morning of July 1. The story related that Thorpe, a sixteen year-old, had perched himself in a cherry tree with his rifle near an old stone house when Captain Henry Webb, his superior, caught his attention. "Look to your right, at the battery on the hill, there," commanded Webb, "There's a general, take him!" Looking through his field glass, Webb estimated the range to be about 1,100 yards, and told Thorpe to take a shot based on that range. Thorpe took aim and fired too high. Based on a new range of 900 yards, Thorpe fired a second time. Webb thought the shot still too high. Taking aim for 800 yards now, Thorpe fired a third time. Webb, seeing the man fall from the horse through his glass, commended the young sharpshooter. "Well done, Thorpe, you got him!" That evening, Federal prisoners related the death of Reynolds, stating that a sharpshooter must have got him at extreme range.

Private John Hendrix, Co. F, 13th Alabama

Company F had been placed on the extreme left of the 13th Alabama regiment as they tramped through Herbst's Woods toward an unseen enemy. Suddenly, many blue uniforms appeared on their front. Private Hendrix saw, amongst the Yankees, a mounted officer and fired at him. Both Hendrix and another soldier at his side saw the officer fall from his horse. Shortly after the incident, Hendrix and 16 of his company were taken prisoner. As they were marched through Gettysburg under guard, Hendrix heard the news of Reynolds' death. "That was the man I shot!" exclaimed Hendrix to the soldier who had also seen Reynolds fall, a Private E.T. Boland. Boland returned years later to the Gettysburg battlefield and inspected the spot where Reynolds' monument was placed at the edge of the woods. "I inspected the ground," he later wrote, "and I can truthfully say at that spot John Hendrix shot a man off his horse." Another private in the 13th, W.H. Moon, went to the Reynolds monument in 1913 and wrote the following: "I had been under the impression that General Reynolds was shot by a Tennessean until I met Captain Simpson of Company F, 13th Alabama, at Gettysburg in 1913, and we went to the Reynolds monument, where he pointed to the place where he and his men were standing when he ordered them to "shoot the man on the horse" (only about 30 yards distant), which was promptly done... I have no doubt of his statement being true."

Sharpshooter Frank Wood (Claimed Unit - 55th North Carolina)

In a 1947 account, a Pennsylvanian was visiting North Carolina after the war and went to the stone quarries of Mount Airy North Carolinia, where the Pennsylvania Monument for the Gettysburg Battlefield was being made. He was informed that one of the blacksmiths working on the project was the sharpshooter who killed Reynolds. In fact, he was working on the very statue of Reynolds for the monument. The Pennsylvanian asked where this blacksmith may be found and paid him a visit, hearing the story of the incident. Sharpshooter Wood and Private Cox got separated from their company and found themselves in a railroad cut, right in the line of fire. They ducked under a rail fence for protection. A few hundred yards away they saw, on a horse, a mounted Federal officer of apparent high rank with gold braid and epaulets. He was standing in the saddle, shouting to his men, "Give them hell, boys, give them the grape!" Cox then asked Wood if he could shoot the officer at that distance. Woods thought he'd give it a try, aimed, and fired. The man fell from his horse, and Wood always assumed it was Reynolds and had not reason to doubt it.

The 1st Tennessee "Mad Dash"

The 1st Tennessee regiment proceeded through Herbst's Woods on the left flank of the Alabamians. According to Captain William Tolley of the 1st, Major Felix Buchanan led a group which made an "impetuous dash" at the enemy in blue, and in the melee, killed the General. There were no personal claims from the regiment taking credit for bringing down Reynolds.

Rosengarten's 'Overhead Sharpshooter'

After stating that the General was a "shining mark to the enemy's sharpshooters," Reynolds' aide Captain Joseph G. Rosengarten declared that Reynolds was "struck by a minnie ball, fired by a sharpshooter hidden in the branches of a tree almost overhead, and killed at once."

Other Theories

In his report after the battle, Confederate Major General Henry Heth attributed a shot from one of Pegram's cannons to the death of Reynolds, backed by a report by Captain E.B. Brunson of the battery. A commander of another artillery unit, Major D.G. McIntosh, also felt that one of Pegram's shots struck the General. After the war, Charles B. Fleet of Marye's battery made the same claim. Two cannoneers of the unit, Henry A. Strode and Henry G. Chesley claimed they aimed the fatal shot.

Amongst Union Officers, Lt. Colonel W.W. Dudley of the 19th Indiana, and Captain W.H. Harries of the 2nd Wisconsin, both of whom were on the scene, asserted that Reynolds was killed by one of Archer's infantrymen. Interestingly, both Major General Abner Doubleday and Colonel Chapman Biddle subscribed to the sharpshooter theory, but neither were present until after the General's death.

What Likely Happened

Let's begin first by stating what probably did not happen. Ben Thorpe's lifelong guilt and remorse was probably unfounded. This is one of the most persistent and famous of the sharpshooter stories. Thorpe's account is implausible for the officer being Reynolds on several accounts. For one, Reynolds was not posting a battery when he was shot. For another, it would have been impossible for Thorpe to even see Reynolds, if he was where he said he was (800 yards west northwest on the opposite side of the woods). Reynolds would have been screened by innumerable trees (look at the area today). No sharpshooter in Confederate ranks could have seen, let alone aimed at, Reynolds from a distance of 800 or so yards. More significantly, Thorpe himself backed off his claim just 2 years after the meeting at his farm, in 1903, that he ever shot Reynolds. He did insist, however, that he did knock some officer off his horse at that distance.

Hendrix's claim may be slightly more plausible, although he more likely was aiming at Lt. Colonel John R. Callis of the 7th Wisconsin, who had his horse shot from under him and was wounded in the side and hip in this area. However, it is not possible to deny the claim with certainty.

Wood's claim is easier to dismiss. To begin, there is no "Frank Wood" listed on the roster of the 55th North Carolina, which was the only North Carolina unit engaged at that time of the morning. Second, again, Reynolds was not posting or with an artillery battery when he was shot. And finally, Davis' men did not reach the fence adjoining the railroad cut until the battle had been progressing for at least 45 minutes, at which time the field would have been too blanketed with smoke to see Reynolds from that area, especially if he were just inside the eastern edge of Herbst's Woods.

As for the claim by the 1st Tennessee in their "impetuous dash" at the enemy, Captain Tolley's account is difficult to reconcile with the known facts, as the regiment had to skirt very swampy ground to proceed through the woods, and they joined the fight later than the 13th Alabama, likely reaching that point after Reynolds had already been shot.

Rosengarten's sharpshooter account has been persistent over the years, being as he was one of Reynolds' aides and present when the General was shot. Even famous historian Edwin Coddington accepted the account. Coddington was heavily influenced by the statement from the General's sister Jennie that the fatal ball struck Reynolds behind the right ear and traveled around his skull, lodging finally in his chest. A sharpshooter "in a tree, almost overhead the General" is very difficult to believe, however, for obvious reasons: None of Archer's men could have climbed up into and been posted in any trees as sharpshooters when their line was proceeding steadily through Herbst's Woods. There is also the problem of a sharpshooter in a tree could sight in on Reynolds' head when the General was mounted, riding just inside the woods, and had the line of the 2nd Wisconsin between him and the enemy.

All accounts of cannon fire causing the General's death are easily dismissed, due to the fact that all Federal reports show that it was a minie ball that caused the fatal wound, not shrapnel or any type of artillery ammunition. So what likely happened? Let's examine in more detail the events that took place during the time of Reynolds' death.

First, let's try to establish a likely range of time for the wounding. Most accounts vary from as early as 10 am up to after 11 am that morning. Nearly a dozen published accounts, and many historical works, place his wounding at about 10:15 am. However, it could possibly and more likely have been slightly later, about 10:35 to 10:45 am.

Brigadier General James Wadsworth is mostly responsible for the 10:15 am scenario. His post-battle report couples Reynolds' death with the opening of the hostilities of Cutler's and Davis' brigades, which occurred at about 10:15 am. Cutler's opening volley probably began a little later, perhaps as late as 10:30 am. Considering the fact that Reynolds led the 2nd Wisconsin into action after Cutler started firing, his wounding had to occur still later than that. Any claims for it to be prior to 10:30 are likely too early. Significantly, members of Reynolds' staff themselves reported to his family members that he fell between 10:30 and 11:00 am. This later time frame helps us place who was where and at what time.

The next factor to look at is the fact that the shot that hit Reynolds was not a lone, single, solitary shot. At the time Reynolds was hit, Sergent Charles Veil's horse and some of the General's other orderlies were hit by fire. As Veil recounted the following year: "The enemy still pushed on, and was not much more than 60 paces from where the Gen'l was. Minnie balls were flying thick. The Gen'l turned to look towards the Seminary (I suppose to see if the other troops were coming on). As he did so, a minnie ball struck him in the back of the neck, and he fell from his horse dead." Veil's horse was killed as soon as he dismounted, and other staff members took bullets as well. Veil and two others saw the General fall off the left side of his saddle and onto his face. Veil reached Reynolds first, turned him onto his back, and cradled his head in his lap. The three of them picked him up and began carrying him towards the Seminary.

These accounts from staff members themselves seem to point to Reynolds being hit by a volley from the front ranks of Archer's men. It may have been a stray shot, it may have been aimed, but this likely was the source. He was a tempting target; a mounted officer and staff, commanding at the front line. Archer's men would have easily seen him, and probably an unknown and unnamed Johnny Reb took aim at this tempting target and squeezed the trigger. No sharpshooter at several hundred yards could have seen him, and none were posted in the treetops. A front-line infantryman with both feet on the ground may not have even known he just killed the highest-ranking Yankee on the field.

We may prefer the glorious, dramatic tale of a trained sharpshooter, with a long brass scope on his heavy target rifle, taking aim at this dashing mounted officer and bringing his command to a close. It seems more "romantic" and fitting that way. If Reynolds must die leading his men to glory, it seems that we must elevate the scenario to this Hollywood ideal. He was one of the Union's best and most-respected Generals, a bright future ahead of him, and was offered the command of the Army of the Potomac before it was thrust upon George Meade, whom Reynolds had recommended for the position when he himself refused it. But when we consider the man, who he was and what he stood for and how he died, we must recognize his own personal decision to press the fight on those ridges west of Gettysburg; and it was this very aggressiveness that led him to be at the head of his troops, exposing him to such deadly danger. Reynolds, by being at the front line, set an example for his volunteer troops. Reynolds was probably also eager to defend his home state and drive the enemy from it. Whatever the General's motives were, there was no need for him to have been so close to the front lines, in the midst of the shooting, when he could have just as easily, and much more safely, directed the battle from the safety of the Seminary area. Regardless of the Hollywood ideal, regardless of the images of the well-trained sharpshooter holding his breath and taking aim, it is much more fitting that a common infantryman may have brought the General's life to a close. For that is what Reynolds was at heart; he was no shirker, nor a coward. He was a brave front-line officer who led his men by example into the most desperate of fights. He wouldn't ask a man to do what he wouldn't do himself. That is the quality of the greatest of leaders.

"Forward, forward, men! Drive those fellows out of those woods! Forward! For God's sake forward!"

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I several times sent officers to the General commanding to report the condition of the line, and suggesting a change of position, as it was , to my judgement, untenable.

To these reports of the condition of the line I received answer that the position was ordered to be held at all hazards. The enemy advanced in two lines of battle, their right extending beyond and overlapping our left. I gave directions to the men to withhold their fire until the enemy should come within easy range of our guns; this was done, but the nature of the ground was such that I am inclined to think we inflicted but little injury on the enemy at this time. Their advance was not checked and they came on with rapid strides, yelling like demons. The 19th Indiana, on our left, fought most gallantly, but was overpowered by superior numbers, the enemy having also the advantage of position, and after a severe loss was forced back.

"The left of my regiment was now exposed to an enfilading and crossfire, and orders were given for this portion of the line to swing back so as to force the enemy now on the flank. Pending the execution of this movement the enemy advanced in such force as to compel me to fall back and take a new position a short distance in the rear.

"In the meantime I had lost in killed and wounded, several of my best officers and many of my men. Among the former were Captain William J. Speed, acting Major, Lieut. Dickey, a young officer of great promise, and Charles Ballou, my second color bearer.

"The second line was promptly formed, and we made a desperate resistance; but the enemy accumulating in our front and our losses being very great we were forced to fall back and take a third position beyond a slight ravine. My third color bearer, Augustus Ernst, of Company 'K', was killed on this line; Major E.B. Wight, acting Lieutenant Colonel, was wounded at this time and compelled to leave the field.

"By this time the ranks were so decimated that scarcely a fourth of the force taken into action could be rallied. Corporal Andrew Wagner, of Company 'F', one of the color guard, took the colors and was ordered by me to plant them in a position to which I designed to rally the men; he was wounded in the breast and was left on the field. I now took the flag from the ground where it had fallen and was rallying the remnant of my regiment when Private William Kelly, of Company 'E', came up and took the colors from my hand, remarking as he did so, 'The Colonel of the Twenty-Fourth shall never carry the flag while I am alive', he was killed instantly.

"Private Silburn Spaulding, of Company 'K', seized the colors and bore them for a time; subsequently I took them to rally the men and kept them until I was wounded near the barricade west of the Seminary Buildings, and left the field.

"We had inflicted severe loss on the enemy, but their numbers were so overpowering and our losses had been so great that we were unable to maintain our position, and were forced back, step by step, contesting every foot of ground to the barricade referred to.

"Previous to our abandoning our last position orders were received to fall back, given, I believe, by Major General Doubleday. The command of the regiment now devolved upon Captain Albert M. Edwards, who collected the remnant of it and fell back with the brigade to Culp's Hill, which it held for the two succeeding days. Shortly after I was wounded Captain Edwards found the colors in the hands of a wounded soldier, who had fallen on the east side of the barricade. He was reclining on his right side, and was holding the colors in his left hand. I have not been able to ascertain the name of this brave soldier in whose paralyzed hands Captain Edwards found the flag, and who describes the soldier as having been severely wounded, and is therefore probably among the dead. His name may forever be unknown, but his bravery will never die.

"Captain Edwards behaved very gallantly at this time in rallying the men under a murderous fire. The field over which we fought from our first line of battle in McPherson's woods, to the barricade near the seminary, was strewn with the killed and wounded. Our losses were very large, exceeding perhaps the losses sustained by any one of equal size in a single engagement, of this or any other war.

"The strength of the regiment on the first day of July was as follows:

"3 field officers, 1 staff officer, 24 line officers, and 468 non-commissioned officers and privates, a total of 496, while its loss was 316, being 8 line officers, 22 non-commissioned officers and 49 privates killed; wounded, 3 field officers, 1 staff officer, 10 line officers, 41 non-commissioned officers, and 182 privates.

About 80 of the enlisted men and three officers were reported as missing in action, many of whom have never been heard from and are known not to be in the hands of the enemy. They were undoubtably killed, but not having been so reported, are not included in the above.

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During the afternoon of July 1, 1863, the men of Union Colonel Roy Stone's "Bucktail Brigade" found themselves outnumbered. Colonel Edmund Dana of the 143rd Pennsylvania offered a brief description of their darkening predicament. "The brigade went into position at about 11 a. m., became engaged about noon. The conflict had continued until about 4 p. m., when a more heavy advance by the enemy was made and again checked by a well-directed fire, but the support both upon our right and left having been withdrawn, his superior numbers enabled the enemy to extend his lines, so as to threaten both our flanks and rear...most of the commissioned officers of three regiments, had been wounded. These casualties, with the heavy loss of enlisted men, made it necessary, in order to save the command from capture or entire destruction, to move to some point of support. Facing to the rear, the line was withdrawn in good order some distance toward the town..."

As the men of the 143rd Pennsylvania in the Union's 1st Corps slowly gave ground, at least one member of their regiment took their retreat personally. During the withdrawal, Color Sergeant Ben Crippen turned several times and shook his fist in defiance at the oncoming Southerners. Standing 6' 1" tall and bearing the National Flag, he was an easy target. When shot down, even Confederate 3rd Corps Commander Lt. General Ambrose Powell Hill lamented the loss of one so brave. According to an English observer traveling with the Confederate Army, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Freemantle from Britain's Coldstream Guards recalled, "A Yankee color bearer floated his standard in the field and the regiment fought around it, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the color bearer retreated last of all, turning around now and then to shake his fist in the face of the advancing Confederates. He was shot. General Hill was sorry when he met his fate."

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BobbyLayne said:

The 26th North Carolina versus the 24th Michigan

These two units squared off for about 30 minutes shortly after General Lee ordered Heth to renew his attack on McPherson Ridge in support of Rodes attack north of town. They began the day with just under 1,350 combatants; half an hour later, a little more than 300 unharmed soldiers remained. It is often cited as one of the most ferocious, determined, stand up fights between two units any where in the four years of the war.

The 26th North Carolina Regiment started the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg with 800 men. By sunset, 588 of them were either dead or wounded. Yelling like demons, they had courageously charged and taken the formidable federal position on Seminary Ridge. Fourteen colorbearers in the 26th were shot down in succession. One of them was 21 year-old Henry King Burgwyn, the youngest colonel in the Confederate army, who stained the flag with his blood as he fell wrapped in its folds.

All 90 soldiers in the 26th's Company F - The Hibriten Guards - had fallen. All of the men in that company came from the same area. Imagine the shock this news must have caused back hom.

After their disastrous first day at Gettysburg, the 26th was not utilized in the actions fought on the second day. But the third day of the battle found the regiment charging under its battle flag across the fields to the federal position behind the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. Members of the 26th North Carolina advanced as far as any other of the Confederate troops that took part in Pickett's charge, and like the rest, they paid a terrible price for their bravery and determination. Only 90 soldiers from the 26th North Carolina were able to make their way back to the Confederate lines on Seminary Ridge. The Battle of Gettysburg claimed as casualties 88 percent of the regiment, the highest percentage of casualties for any regiment, North or South, in any battle.

Fascinating Fact: Approximately 2,000 men served in the 26th North Carolina Regiment during the course of the war. Just 131 of them were left to receive their paroles at Appomattox.

The 24th Michigan marched to Gettysburg with 496 men. The next morning, 99 remained. They lost 9 color bearers while defending Herbst Woods.

The official report of Colonel Henry Morrow:

I several times sent officers to the General commanding to report the condition of the line, and suggesting a change of position, as it was , to my judgement, untenable.

To these reports of the condition of the line I received answer that the position was ordered to be held at all hazards. The enemy advanced in two lines of battle, their right extending beyond and overlapping our left. I gave directions to the men to withhold their fire until the enemy should come within easy range of our guns; this was done, but the nature of the ground was such that I am inclined to think we inflicted but little injury on the enemy at this time. Their advance was not checked and they came on with rapid strides, yelling like demons. The 19th Indiana, on our left, fought most gallantly, but was overpowered by superior numbers, the enemy having also the advantage of position, and after a severe loss was forced back.

"The left of my regiment was now exposed to an enfilading and crossfire, and orders were given for this portion of the line to swing back so as to force the enemy now on the flank. Pending the execution of this movement the enemy advanced in such force as to compel me to fall back and take a new position a short distance in the rear.

"In the meantime I had lost in killed and wounded, several of my best officers and many of my men. Among the former were Captain William J. Speed, acting Major, Lieut. Dickey, a young officer of great promise, and Charles Ballou, my second color bearer.

"The second line was promptly formed, and we made a desperate resistance; but the enemy accumulating in our front and our losses being very great we were forced to fall back and take a third position beyond a slight ravine. My third color bearer, Augustus Ernst, of Company 'K', was killed on this line; Major E.B. Wight, acting Lieutenant Colonel, was wounded at this time and compelled to leave the field.

"By this time the ranks were so decimated that scarcely a fourth of the force taken into action could be rallied. Corporal Andrew Wagner, of Company 'F', one of the color guard, took the colors and was ordered by me to plant them in a position to which I designed to rally the men; he was wounded in the breast and was left on the field. I now took the flag from the ground where it had fallen and was rallying the remnant of my regiment when Private William Kelly, of Company 'E', came up and took the colors from my hand, remarking as he did so, 'The Colonel of the Twenty-Fourth shall never carry the flag while I am alive', he was killed instantly.

"Private Silburn Spaulding, of Company 'K', seized the colors and bore them for a time; subsequently I took them to rally the men and kept them until I was wounded near the barricade west of the Seminary Buildings, and left the field.

"We had inflicted severe loss on the enemy, but their numbers were so overpowering and our losses had been so great that we were unable to maintain our position, and were forced back, step by step, contesting every foot of ground to the barricade referred to.

"Previous to our abandoning our last position orders were received to fall back, given, I believe, by Major General Doubleday. The command of the regiment now devolved upon Captain Albert M. Edwards, who collected the remnant of it and fell back with the brigade to Culp's Hill, which it held for the two succeeding days. Shortly after I was wounded Captain Edwards found the colors in the hands of a wounded soldier, who had fallen on the east side of the barricade. He was reclining on his right side, and was holding the colors in his left hand. I have not been able to ascertain the name of this brave soldier in whose paralyzed hands Captain Edwards found the flag, and who describes the soldier as having been severely wounded, and is therefore probably among the dead. His name may forever be unknown, but his bravery will never die.

"Captain Edwards behaved very gallantly at this time in rallying the men under a murderous fire. The field over which we fought from our first line of battle in McPherson's woods, to the barricade near the seminary, was strewn with the killed and wounded. Our losses were very large, exceeding perhaps the losses sustained by any one of equal size in a single engagement, of this or any other war.

"The strength of the regiment on the first day of July was as follows:

"3 field officers, 1 staff officer, 24 line officers, and 468 non-commissioned officers and privates, a total of 496, while its loss was 316, being 8 line officers, 22 non-commissioned officers and 49 privates killed; wounded, 3 field officers, 1 staff officer, 10 line officers, 41 non-commissioned officers, and 182 privates.

About 80 of the enlisted men and three officers were reported as missing in action, many of whom have never been heard from and are known not to be in the hands of the enemy. They were undoubtably killed, but not having been so reported, are not included in the above.

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Morrow had ridden the 24th pretty hard since he took over from General Meredith, who had been promoted to Brigade command. Although they were part of the Iron Brigade, they were the last western unit to join the Army of Potomac's famous Black Hat brigade, reporting in December just before Fredericksburg. They had a bit of chip on their shoulders about proving they were worthy. Maybe that is why they wouldn't move off that hill. Morrow had constantly goaded them that they hadn't fought at Groverton against the Stonewall Brigade, or taken part in the assault at South Mountain or the charge at Antietam. As he lay wounded in a farm house in Gettysburg, one member after another of the 24th was brought in to be laid beside him to receive treatment. More than once he heard the question

"Are you proud of us now, Colonel?"

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“One word for myself. I am going to the field. I invite you to go with me. I will look after you in health and in sickness. My influence will be exerted to procure for you the comforts of life, and lead you where you will see the enemy. Your fare shall by my fare, your quarters my quarters. We shall together share the triumph, or together mingle our dust upon the common field. We are needed on the James River. Our friends and brothers are there. Let us not linger behind…”(July 19th, 1862)

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BobbyLayne said:

BTW, if anybody is planning on visiting the Gettysburg NMP, the best expert on Barlow's Knoll and Oak Ridge is Chaplain Chuck Teague. He's one of the best Licensed Battlefield Guides around, and has forgotten more about that part of the battlefield than most of us will ever learn.

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timschochet said:

BL, let me quote McPherson:

So Lee gave **** Ewell discretionary orders to attack Cemetery Hill "if practicable." Had Stonewall Jackson still lived, he undoubtedly would have found it practicable. But Ewell was not Jackson.

Based on what you have written, do you believe the bolded to be an incorrect assertion?

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BobbyLayne said:

timschochet said:

BL, let me quote McPherson:

So Lee gave **** Ewell discretionary orders to attack Cemetery Hill "if practicable." Had Stonewall Jackson still lived, he undoubtedly would have found it practicable. But Ewell was not Jackson.

Based on what you have written, do you believe the bolded to be an incorrect assertion?

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I think its a popular opinion, especially if you are trying to what if your way to a Confederate victory. Let's pretend it is a true statement. My only question is what troops will the ressurected General Jackson be using for the assualt?A.P. Hill's III Corps would lend no troops to the assault; Richard Anderson's troops (about 7K) had not been engaged, but Lee ordered them into bivouac west of Seminary Ridge.

The II Corps has one fresh division, Edward Johnson's 6,380 man force, but they're not on the field.

Rodes has two commands that are completely demoralized from excessive casualties (both a direct result of incompetent generalship). Daniels and Doles have been engaged for hours, disorganized and exhausted from numerous charges. Ramseur's small command (started the day with about 1,025 in the brigade) is a possibility.

The last division we can consider is Early. You remember Jubal; he led the post-war cabal Ewell and J.E.B. Stuart. He flatly refused to renew the attack because Hays was strewn out throughout the town rounding up prisoners, Gordon's command was blown from hard fighting, Extra Billy Smith was chasing ghosts out east of town. Hoke's brigade, 3 regiments under Col. Avery numbering just over 1,200 at the start of the battle, has been lightly engaged.

OK, so there it is. Jackson is alive (or if you prefer, Ewell has found a fire some felt he lacked). We're going to knock 12,000 federal troops and numerous batteries of artillery off an entrenched position on Cemetary Hill. We've got about 2,000 fresh troops to do the job. Who's with me?

Do you see why I have problem believing **** Ewell lost the battle?

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Memories of a teenage girl

"We were having our literary exercises on Friday afternoon, at our Seminary, when the cry reached our ears. Rushing to the door, and standing on the front portico we beheld in the direction of the Theological Seminary, a dark, dense mass, moving toward town. Our teacher, Mrs. Eyster, at once said:

'Children, run home as quickly as you can.'

"It did not require repeating. I am satisfied some of the girls did not reach their homes before the Rebels were in the streets.

"As for myself, I had scarcely reached the front door, when, on looking up the street, I saw some of the men on horseback. I scrambled in, slammed shut the door, and hastening to the sitting room, peeped out between the shutters.

"What a horrible sight! There they were, human beings! Clad almost in rags, covered with dust, riding wildly, pell-mell down the hill toward our home! Shouting, yelling most unearthly, cursing, brandishing their revolvers, and firing right and left.

"I was fully persuaded that the Rebels had actually come at last. What they would do with us was a fearful question to my young mind.

"Soon the town was filled with infantry, and then the searching and ransacking began in earnest.

"They wanted horses, clothing, anything and almost everything they could conveniently carry away.

"Nor were they particular about asking. Whatever suited them they took. They did, however, make a formal demand of the town authorities, for a large supply of flour, meat, groceries, shoes, hats and (doubtless, not least in their estimations), ten barrels of whisky; or, in lieu of this five thousand dollars.

"But our merchants and bankers had too often heard of their coming, and had already shipped their wealth to places of safety. Thus it was, that a few days after, the citizens of York were compelled to make up our proportion of the Rebel requisition."

...to be continued

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- continued -

July 1: Escape to a Safe House and the first encounter with the tragedy of war

As the sounds of battle increase and the fighting nears her home, Tillie joins a neighbor as she and her children flee to her father's (Jacob Weikert) house three miles south of town near Round Top. Tillie's parents elect to stay in town:

"At last we reached Mr. Weikert's and were gladly welcomed to their home."

"It was not long after our arrival, until Union artillery came hurrying by. It was indeed a thrilling sight. How the men impelled their horses! How the officers urged the men as they all flew past toward the sound of the battle! Now the road is getting all cut up; they take to the fields, and all is in anxious, eager hurry! Shouting, lashing the horses, cheering the men, they all rush madly on.

"Suddenly we behold an explosion; it is that of a caisson. We see a man thrown high in the air and come down in a wheat field close by. He is picked up and carried into the house. As they pass by I see his eyes are blown out and his whole person seems to be one black mass. The first words I hear him say are: 'Oh dear! I forgot to read my Bible to-day! What will my poor wife and children say'

"I saw the soldiers carry him up stairs; they laid him upon a bed and wrapped him in cotton. How I pitied that poor man! How terribly the scenes of war were being irresistibly portrayed before my vision."

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Memories of a Teenage Girl (concluded)

July 2: Officer brutality

During the battle's second day fighting shifts to the area around Little Round Top. Tillie remains in the Weikert home carrying water to passing Union troops while others bake bread for the soldiers. Towards noon she witnesses an incident at the front of the house:

"This forenoon another incident occurred which I shall ever remember. While the infantry were passing, I noticed a poor, worn-out soldier crawling along on his hands and knees. An officer yelled at him, with cursing, to get up and march. The poor fellow said he could not, whereupon the officer, raising his sword, struck him down three or four times. The officer passed on. Little caring what he had done. Some of his comrades at once picked up the prostrate form and carried the unfortunate man into the house. After several hours of hard work the sufferer was brought back to consciousness. He seemed quite a young man, and was suffering from sunstroke received on the forced march. As they were carrying him in, some of the men who had witnessed this act of brutality remarked:

'We will mark that officer for this.'

"It is a pretty well established fact that many a brutal officer fell in the battle, from being shot other than by the enemy."

July 3: The surgeon's work

Lee aims his attack at the center of the Union line. The ferocity of the battle forces Tillie and the others to flee to a farm house farther from the fighting. Late in the day, as the battle subsides, the family decides to return to the Weikert farm:

"Toward the close of the afternoon it was noticed that the roar of the battle was subsiding, and after all had become quiet we started back to the Weikert home. As we drove along in the cool of the evening, we noticed that everywhere confusion prevailed. Fences were thrown down near and far; knapsacks, blankets and many other articles, lay scattered here and there. The whole country seemed filled with desolation.

"Upon reaching the place I fairly shrank back aghast at the awful sight presented. The approaches were crowded with wounded, dying and dead. The air was filled with moanings, and groanings. As we passed on toward the house, we were compelled to pick our steps in order that we might not tread on the prostrate bodies.

"When we entered the house we found it also completely filled with the wounded. We hardly knew what to do or where to go. They, however, removed most of the wounded, and thus after a while made room for the family.

"As soon as possible, we endeavored to make ourselves useful by rendering assistance in this heartrending state of affairs. I remember Mrs. Weikert went through the house, and after searching awhile, brought all the muslin and linen she could spare. This we tore into bandages and gave them to the surgeons, to bind up the poor soldier's wounds.

"By this time, amputating benches had been placed about the house. I must have become inured to seeing the terrors of battle, else I could hardly have gazed upon the scenes now presented. I was looking out of the windows facing the front yard. Near the basement door, and directly underneath the window I was at, stood one of these benches. I saw them lifting the poor men upon it, then the surgeons sawing and cutting off arms and legs, then again probing and picking bullets from the flesh.

"Some of the soldiers fairly begged to be taken next, so great was their suffering, and so anxious were they to obtain relief.

"I saw the surgeons hastily put a cattle horn over the mouths of the wounded ones, after they were placed upon the bench. At first I did not understand the meaning of this but upon inquiry, soon learned that that was their mode of administrating chloroform, in order to produce unconsciousness. But the effect in some instances were not produced; for I saw the wounded throwing themselves wildly about, and shrieking with pain while the operation was going on.

"To the south of the house, and just outside of the yard, I noticed a pile of limbs higher than the fence. It was a ghastly sight! Gazing upon these, too often the trophies of the amputating bench, I could have no other feeling, than that the whole scene was one of cruel butchery."

The battle's aftermath

Hearing that her family is safe in town, it is decided that Tillie should remain at the Weikert farm for a few days after the battle. On July 5, Tillie and some friends climb to the crest of Little Round Top and survey the battlefield below:

"By this time the Union dead had been principally carried off the field, and those that remained were Confederates.

"As we stood upon those mighty boulders, and looked down into the chasms between, we beheld the dead lying there just as they had fallen during the struggle. From the summit of Little Round Top, surrounded by the wrecks of battle, we gazed upon the valley of death beneath. The view there spread out before us was terrible to contemplate! It was an awful spectacle! Dead soldiers, bloated horses, shattered cannon and caissons, thousands of small arms. In fact everything belonging to army equipments, was there in one confused and indescribable mass."

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BobbyLayne said:

The Barlow/Gordon Incident At Gettysburg

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roadkill1292 said:

I can only imagine what went through William Colville's (regimental commander of 1st Minnesota) mind when Hancock asked him to march out into the open against the better part of two Confederate brigades. Surely, he knew exactly what his men were in for if he said "Yes," but that's exactly what he said without hesitation.

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Barksdale's Mississippians arrived into the field near Gettysburg well past midnight on July 2,1863. The Mississippi Brigades made Camp at Willoughby Run at about 9 o'clock on the morning of July 2nd, with Colonel E. P. Alexander and the Washington Artillery. Lee had not yet formalized his plans for an engagement at this timeAfter copious reconnaissance, formulation of a plan and issuance of orders was finally achieved. Pursuant to those orders, the Divisions took their places of defense as follows: "The Confederate Left was covering the North and East curve of the enemy's line. Johnson's division near Culp's hill, Early and Rode's extending the line to the right through Gettysburg: Pender's division on the right of Rode's; the other divisions of the Third Corps resting on Seminary Ridge, with McLaws's division and Hood's three Brigades near General Headquarters"While waiting across from the Peach Orchard, Barksdale repeatedly requested of McLaws and Longstreet permission to charge "that little battery across the way, "referring to the 9th Massachusetts Battery at the Trostle house. He was told to wait. Chafing at the bit, he implored Longstreet "Give me just five minutes, and that battery and it's guns will be ours". Longstreet's reply was "Just hold on, we'll all be going in presently".Colonel E. Porter Alexander and the Washington artillery had been brought up onto the line of McLaws's to provide artillery support for the impending infantry advance to the Federal batteries and infantry regiments of Sickle's corps placed on a line against the Emmitsburg road from the fields before the Roundtops to the Cemetery facing Cemetery Ridge. Alexander's report states that "About 4 p.m. I placed five batteries in action against a heavy artillery and infantry force of the enemy about 500 yards distant in a Peach Orchard on the Emmetsburg pike. After a spirited engagement of a half hour, the enemy's guns were silenced and the position was immediately carried by the infantry and the enemy fell back to its position on the mountain where our infantry gallantly pursued him. The sum total of my losses were killed, 19, wounded 114. There were also 2 killed and 3 wounded of a detachment of 8 gallant Mississippians at Captain Moody's guns, who volunteered to help maneuver them on very difficult ground." The "difficult ground" most likely refers to bringing these batteries into position from the Pitzer woods behind the Confederate line to this position about 500 yards. from the Peach Orchard.It was during the cannonade which Alexander described that Barksdale repeatedly requested permission to advance to "that little battery" in the Peach Orchard. The fiery Mississippian was certain that his men would show the same mettle they had shown at Fredericksburg the previous December, and could hold off the entire Army of the Potomac if necessary. Every time McLaws would near the Mississippians, Barksdale would assure him that the Federal battery could "be taken in five minutes."McLaws was in a quandary of his own , due to the apparently severed communication between Longstreet and Lee, the result of difference of opinion in the order of battle for the day. As any good soldier, McLaws wanted to please his superior, and would not presume to issue an order without the knowledge that this was Longstreet's wish, yet Longstreet inquired as to his plans. Added to this, Barksdale's impetuous nature and desire for ending the nagging inconvenience of the Federal Battery in the Peach Orchard had him asking repeatedly of McLaws for permission to charge the battery. Longsteet rode to Mc Laws line and Barksdale saw the opportunity to lobby for his cause. He emplored "General, I wish you would let me go in, I could take that battery in five minutes!" "Wait a little," Longstreet responded, "We shall all be going in presently."Finally, as J.C. Lloyd of the 13th Mississippi remembered it, "Directly in our front, only a few steps, are Generals Longstreet, McLaws, Barksdale, and our beloved Colonel Carter, with their glasses, taking a last look over the field". At this point, two men of the 17th Mississippi were ordered forward to remove the rails from a fence, so the line could charge unbroken across the field.Barksdale called all of the commanders of his regiments together to issue the orders he had just formulated with Longstreet and Mc Laws, and, referring to the Federals some 600 yards in front, said "The line in front must be broken. To do so, let every Officer and man animate his comrades by his personal presence in the front line." Barksdale mounted a fine White charger, and rode across the rear of his line as the drums beat assembly, and each officer moved to the front and called his line to attention.The brigades were lined from the left with the 18th, then the 13th, 17th and the 21st on the right. Barksdale emerged from the rear of his Brigade and rode to the left passed the 21st and 17th, and stopped in front of his old regiment, the 13th, awaiting the arrival of Captain G.B. Lamar, McLaws' aide de camp, to issue the direct order to advance from his divisional commander.Harry Pfanz in Gettsyburg-The Second Day remarks that "Perhaps McLaws sent Lamar to Barksdale after it was apparent that his brigade was delayed: no one said. But when Lamar reached Barksdale with the order to go forward, the news made the general's face 'radiant with joy'. Barksdale ordered his four regiments over the wall. (Had they gone beyond the wall too soon they would have masked Moody's and Gilbert's batteries and exposed themselves to Federal fire unnecessarily.)"Lamar recalled that, as he received the order, Barksdale was "radiant with joy. He was in front of his men with his hat off, and his long, white hair reminded me of the white plume of Navarre."Pvt. T. M. Scanlon of the 17th Mississippi recalls Barksdale's speech to his men prior to the charge: "These were his commands: Halt! Front! Order Arms! Load! Fix Bayonets! The entrenchment 500 yards in front of you at the red barn, and that park of artillery as well as the cone mountain (Little Round Top), which is covered with riflemen screened by huge boulders, and beside that entrenched line there is another 200 yards beyond which we are also expected to take. This is an heroic undertaking and most of us will bite the dust making this effort. Now if there is a man here that feels this is too much for him, just step two paces to the front and I will excuse him. We will proceed to within 75 yards of the entrenchment withholding our fire. There you will receive the command, Halt! Ready! Fire!, after which, without command you will charge with the bayonet."Barksdale then snapped out his order "Attention, Mississippians! Battalions forward! Dress to the colors and Forward to the foe! Onward, Brave Mississippians, for Glory,!" and rode out to lead the charge, as far as fifty yards in front of his men.Within minutes the Brigades had crossed this farmland up and down a series of gentle swales which lay in front of the skirmish lines of the Pennsylvanian regiments of Brigadier General Charles A. Graham, and the rifled guns of the New Jersey Light, 2nd battery under the command of Captain A. Judson Clark.The Mississippians showed their veteran strength and determination as they swept forward, through the fire of the artillery rending huge gaps through them that would immediately close as the Mississippians drew together and forward through the fields. Barksdale's men simply overran the Federal troops going forward to the Peach Orchard, capturing at least fifty Union Infantry men, including General Graham.By this time, Barksdale and his men had reached the Emmitsburg road and, gaining the high ground, Barksdale wheeled the 13th, 17th and 18th to the left up the road, as the 21st continued deeper into the Peach Orchard then followed the line to the left.In front of the 21st, Colonels Holder and Griffin of the Mississippians (17th and 18th) implored Barksdale to stop and reform, to which Barksdale replied "NO! Crowd them now, We've got them on the run! Move your regiments!"Barksdale barked at his men in a gruff authoritarian manner "Advance, advance! Brave Mississippians, one more charge and the day is ours!" This statement brought cheers from his men, according to J. S. McNeily, who chronicled the charge at the Peach Orchard in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade at Gettysburg: Most Magnificent Charge of the War in 1913. He goes on : "Barksdale moved bravely on, the guiding spirit of the battle."When he was wounded in the area of Plum Run, North and East of the Trostle Farm, he saw his courier, W.R.Boyd and said "I am killed! Tell my wife and children that I died fighting at my post." At that time, Boyd was wounded in the leg, which made it impossible for him to assist his General. He left Barksdale's side with the Federals closing in on them from less than fifty yards. As Boyd was retreating, his horse was shot out from under him. Boyd closed in on Barksdale again, and was told that, if he could get to a battery of the Washington Artillery which had moved to a distance of about 250 yards away, to "order them to the front."Boyd was successful in so doing, and attempted to return to Barksdale's side, but could only get within 40 yards of where the General lay. Boyd closes his report by saying "The last words of this ardent patriot, gallant man and dying hero that ever fell upon the ears of his own countrymen should nerve and incite them to his highest standards of duty. The ordeal through which his brigade passed in this fight may be judged when it is told that of the 1,420 bayonets carried into it, 730 were lost in Killed, Wounded and Missing."Barksdale and his Mississippi Brigade had severed the Union line, but could not hold this position, or advance to establish stronger defenses, due to failure of Wofford and Semmes to follow the Mississippians through at the point of the break in the federal line, and due to the almost limitless refreshment of the Union forces under Hancock which battled the Confederate lines.Barksdale had boasted upon entering Pennsylvania on June 24th that his men had not been bested previously, nor would they be now. His optimism extended throughout his charge, and, as he lay mortally wounded on a make shift surgeon's table at the Hummelbaugh farm he warned the blue clad officers and surgeons that "Hancock had better watch his back, Old Peter has a surprise for you in the morning!"

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BobbyLayne said:

Question for guys who were born/raised in the deep south:

Somebody - a writer, might have been Tony Horwitz, but maybe it was Shelby Foote once said, "Every Sothron boy, at one point in his life, has imagined himself marching toward that stone wall in front of the copse of trees".

Really?

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BobbyLayne said:

I wrote about Barksdale earlier, and I am a great admirer of his. Amazing was his brigade did.

I'm of the opinion Ambrose Wright got all the way the CR at the end of Day Two (many doubt he understood where exactly he was). He couldn't stay there anymore than Ewell's men could hold CH, but it was a near thing.

Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble, though...I just don't understand the allure or the fascination. It was doomed before they ever stepped out of the woods.

I guess I understand the admiration...it is hard to imagine marching a full mile in formation while under fire...but no way would I ever wish to be there myself.

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timschochet said:

BobbyLayne said:

I wrote about Barksdale earlier, and I am a great admirer of his. Amazing was his brigade did.

I'm of the opinion Ambrose Wright got all the way the CR at the end of Day Two (many doubt he understood where exactly he was). He couldn't stay there anymore than Ewell's men could hold CH, but it was a near thing.

Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble, though...I just don't understand the allure or the fascination. It was doomed before they ever stepped out of the woods.

I guess I understand the admiration...it is hard to imagine marching a full mile in formation while under fire...but no way would I ever wish to be there myself.

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It's the same romantic fascination that surrounds the Charge of the Light Brigade for England- not coincidently, a contemporaneous event. The Light Brigade's charge was a stupid waste of men, but it was a time period when these sorts of charges were considered incredibly brave. It helps that Pickett was a fan of, and fashioned himself after Sir Walter Scott's Ivahoe, which was incredibly popular among the upper classes in Antebellum South. I'll get into this a little more in the next few posts.The Civil War, though incredibly bloody, somehow allowed the chivalrous, romantic aspects of war to survive it. It was really the first industrialized war, but nobody realized it. World War I killed the romanticism once and for all. In the Battle of the Somme, some 16,000 British died in a matter of minutes. They gained no territory and accomplished nothing. Pickett's charge was a small horror compared to this.

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