How many Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge?

historicus

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Most or all books about the entire Battle of Gettysburg (as opposed to books about only day 1 or day 2 at Gettysburg) give an estimate of the number of troops that made the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble (PPT Charge) Charge. I have never seen a book about the Battle of Gettysburg estimate the number of Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge that repulsed the PPT Charge.

About ten years ago, I researched how many Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge. As I recollect , the vast majority of the Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge that repulsed the PPT Charge were from the Union Second Corps. I researched how many Federal troops were in the Union Second Corps using various books and also the O.R.'s. I believe that there was some remnants from the Union First Corps mixed up with the Union Second Corps troops as well, so this estimate might not be as simple as just researching how many troops were in the Union Second Corps on July 3, 1863. After I researched this ten years ago, my estimate was that about 6,000 Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge, which meant that the PPT Troops outnumbered the Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge about 2 to 1.

I know that many thousands of Federal troops from the Union 6th Corps arrived on Cemetary Ridge right at the end of the PPT Charge, but those reinforcements from the Union 6th Corps did not arrive until after the PPT Charge was repulsed, so please don't include the Union reinforcements from the Sixth Corps in your estimates.

Is my estimate approximately correct?

How many Federal troops (excluding reinforcements that arrived minutes after the PPT Charge was repulsed) on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge?
 
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Did you account for the many casualties that the Second Corps suffered on the day before the charge? For example, Caldwell's division was decimated.
 
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Did you account for the many casualties that the Second Corps suffered on the day before the charge? For example, Caldwell's division was decimated.
Yes. I did account for the casualties that the Union 2nd corps suffered on days 1 and 2 at gettysburg.
 
from what I have read I estimate the amount of federal troops at a bout 6000 as you have surmised. if you go by Civil War tactics 6000 men should be able to handle three times that amount coming out them from that distance.
 
Estimated strength at the end of the July 3 cannonade, officers and enlisted men included, but not counting staff personnel at the brigade level and higher. Artillery is also problematic, because if counted, it would include batteries far to the left and right of the assault point, so I have included only three in the vicinity of the Copse.

From the First Corps::
13 Vermont - 578
14 Vermont - 599 (4 companies - 200 men- attended to Lang/Wilcox)
16 Vermont - 629
143 Pennsylvania (supporting, not actually engaged) - 215
149 Pennsylvania (supporting, not actually engaged) - 114
150 Pennsylvania (supporting, not actually engaged) - 134

From the Sixth Corps:
Cowan's New York Battery - 125

From the Second Corps:
Harrow
19 Maine - 310
15 Mass - 133
82 NY - 188
1 MN - 95
Webb
69 PA - 258
71 PA - 281
72 PA - 389
106 PA (two companies only) - 40
Hall
19 Mass - 140
20 Mass - 216
59 NY - 137
7 Mich - 146
42 NY - 171
Carroll
8 Ohio - 160
Smyth
1 Delaware - 216
14 Conn - 155
12 NJ - 352
108 NY (detached to support artillery)
10 NY BN (provost duty)
Willard
39 NY - 233
111 NY - 175
125 NY - 288
126 NY - 259
Unattached, 1st Mass Sharpshooters - 16
Second Corps Artillery (Rorty and Cushing only) - 170

Grand total - 6,922
 
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from what I have read I estimate the amount of federal troops at a bout 6000 as you have surmised. if you go by Civil War tactics 6000 men should be able to handle three times that amount coming out them from that distance.

A minor point - only two regiments engaged at 200 yards (7th Michigan and 20th Massachusetts) and they hit nothing at that range. Most of the Federal infantry opened fire at less than 100 yards. One (12th NJ) held fire until less than 20 yds. The attack really only came out of dead ground about 500 yds from the enemy position and aside from the 2 flanking brigades got to within 100 yds essentially intact. They were doomed when them stopped ca. 75 yds short and started shooting.

I can remember calculating effectives a while back and believe I remember there only being about 3,500 effectives on the position.
 
Did you account for the many casualties that the Second Corps suffered on the day before the charge? For example, Caldwell's division was decimated.

By the way, please look at this part of what I wrote in the OP:
"I researched how many Federal troops were in the Union Second Corps using various books and also the O.R.'s. I believe that there was some remnants from the Union First Corps mixed up with the Union Second Corps troops as well, so this estimate might not be as simple as just researching how many troops were in the Union Second Corps on July 3, 1863."

I did not say "this estimate might not be as simple as just researching how many troops were in the Union Second Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg. I said "this estimate might not be as simple as just researching how many troops were in the Union Second Corps on July 3, 1863.
 
Tom Elmore, your post contains everything and more that I was hoping for in an answer except for your source. What is your source for the numbers of troops in each regiment that you provided?
 
Most or all books about the entire Battle of Gettysburg (as opposed to books about only day 1 or day 2 at Gettysburg) give an estimate of the number of troops that made the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble (PPT Charge) Charge. I have never seen a book about the Battle of Gettysburg estimate the number of Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge that repulsed the PPT Charge.

About ten years ago, I researched how many Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge. As I recollect , the vast majority of the Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge that repulsed the PPT Charge were from the Union Second Corps. I researched how many Federal troops were in the Union Second Corps using various books and also the O.R.'s. I believe that there was some remnants from the Union First Corps mixed up with the Union Second Corps troops as well, so this estimate might not be as simple as just researching how many troops were in the Union Second Corps on July 3, 1863. After I researched this ten years ago, my estimate was that about 6,000 Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge, which meant that the PPT Troops outnumbered the Federal troops on Cemetary Ridge about 2 to 1.

I know that many thousands of Federal troops from the Union 6th Corps arrived on Cemetary Ridge right at the end of the PPT Charge, but those reinforcements from the Union 6th Corps did not arrive until after the PPT Charge was repulsed, so please don't include the Union reinforcements from the Sixth Corps in your estimates.

Is my estimate approximately correct?

How many Federal troops (excluding reinforcements that arrived minutes after the PPT Charge was repulsed) on Cemetary Ridge repulsed the PPT Charge?
One of the best studies of the battle is Mark Adkin's "Gettysburg Companion" and he estimates the front line strength of the Union forces at 6,350 with an additional 2,570 moved into position in the threatened area. He estimates the Confederate strength at 11,800, taking into account casualties of the 1st two days and no, there is no mention of the VI Corps supporting the ridge. Adkin's study is one of Scott Hartwig's favorites, includes 30,000 foot maps in addition to actual topographical photographs depicting ground level views of defense and attack as would have been seen by the participants.

He even breaks it down to the battery level, giving type and number of ordnance. He also estimates from after action reports and by going over the actual ground, when the charge started taking fire from both artillery and then musketry. He estimates most of the charge started taking effective artillery fire at 300 yds. and then it varies as to where units were on the field how effective musketry was. The field, in pictures looks very open and even, but that is not the case, if you have ever walked it. The field undulates, very deceptively and an entire standing man can disappear from view of Cemetery Ridge.

Our living history unit camps in Pitzer's Woods every 4th of July weekend and goes across the field on Sunday at 1:00pm, it is surreal how the ridge will vanish multiple times on the 25 minute walk across.

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The field, in pictures looks very open and even, but that is not the case, if you have ever walked it. The field undulates, very deceptively and an entire standing man can disappear from view of Cemetery Ridge.
Our living history unit camps in Pitzer's Woods every 4th of July weekend and goes across the field on Sunday at 1:00pm, it is surreal how the ridge will vanish multiple times on the 25 minute walk across.

I'm glad that you mentioned this! When I was there last and walked the filed between the ridges, I was amazed at the same thing. Specifically, if you come out of woods on Seminary Ridge where Pickett's division would have stepped off, you can't see Cemetery Ridge and obviously, the Union defenders couldn't see you, either.
 
But the artillery was a major factor. How many guns were blasting away at the Confederates? Any consideration of why the attack failed has to account for that factor
 
Tom Elmore, your post contains everything and more that I was hoping for in an answer except for your source. What is your source for the numbers of troops in each regiment that you provided?

I began with the engaged strength of the unit, from Busey and Martin's Regimental Strengths, then peruse my extensive list of primary sources to develop attrition rates over the entire period of the battle. When data is missing, I use information on adjacent units to develop attrition percentages to produce educated estimates. The numbers are refined as new data comes to light. It was necessary to develop these numbers/estimates in order to complete my project to map the battle at regular intervals.

For example, in reference to the 12th New Jersey (sources include Washburn, Potter, Avis and Thompson among others):
Start of action: 21 officers, 423 (enlisted) men
Close of July 2: 18 officers, 367 men
Commencement of July 3 cannonade: 17 or 18 officers, 342 men
End of cannonade: 17 or 18 officers, 334 men
Close of battle: 15 officers, 314 men
 
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But the artillery was a major factor. How many guns were blasting away at the Confederates? Any consideration of why the attack failed has to account for that factor
But the artillery was a major factor. How many guns were blasting away at the Confederates? Any consideration of why the attack failed has to account for that factor
You are correct:

McCrea (Woodruff) 4 guns on the flank of Pettigrew alongside the 126th NY
Milton (Bigelow) 2 guns alongside the 108th NY
Weir 6 guns behind the Angle between the 14th CT and the 71st PA
Cushing 2 guns at the Angle alongside the 71st PA
Cowan 6 guns behind the 106th PA
Rogers (Rorty) 2 guns between the 19th ME and the 20th MA
Wheeler 4 guns supporting 15th MA

This takes into account guns disabled by the cannonade and reserve guns brought up from the artillery park just prior to the charge. There were effectively 26 guns in the immediate vicinity most firing double and sometimes triple shotted canister.
 
By the time the Confederates reached the Emmitsburg Road, the numbers for both sides were roughly equal. The attackers were hemorrhaging men right from the start as indicated by a number of witnesses, including members of Pickett's staff.

Ryan
 
You are correct:

McCrea (Woodruff) 4 guns on the flank of Pettigrew alongside the 126th NY
Milton (Bigelow) 2 guns alongside the 108th NY
Weir 6 guns behind the Angle between the 14th CT and the 71st PA
Cushing 2 guns at the Angle alongside the 71st PA
Cowan 6 guns behind the 106th PA
Rogers (Rorty) 2 guns between the 19th ME and the 20th MA
Wheeler 4 guns supporting 15th MA

This takes into account guns disabled by the cannonade and reserve guns brought up from the artillery park just prior to the charge. There were effectively 26 guns in the immediate vicinity most firing double and sometimes triple shotted canister.

Not to mention McGilvery's gun line, Rittenhouse's 2 guns on LRT, and several batteries on Cemetery Hill which were firing as the troops advanced. There was no getting away from the heavy fire.

Ryan
 
By the time the Confederates reached the Emmitsburg Road, the numbers for both sides were roughly equal. The attackers were hemorrhaging men right from the start as indicated by a number of witnesses, including members of Pickett's staff.

Ryan


Not to mention that a full brigade (Brockenbrough's) never reached the Emmitsburg Rd, there were Confederates running back from the other brigades before they reached the road, and I suspect about 750 men were victims of the cannonade. That said there were probably fewer Confederates who reached Emmitsburg Rd than the 6922 Federals that Tom E. calculated above.

Here are my (rounded up) estimates for Brigade strengths, right before the cannonade:

Kemper: 1650
Garnett: 1650
Armistead: 1950
Fry/Archer's: 800
Marshall/Pettigrew's: 1600
Davis: 1600
Brockenbrough: 800
Lowrance/Scales's: 1100
Lane: 1355

Total: ~12,500
(I am not including Wilcox & Lang)

minus cannonade victims 750
minus Brockenbrough 800

Total: ~11,000
at 50% attrition rate : ~5,500 at Emmitsburg Rd
at 65% attrition rate (more likely) ~ 3,850 at Emmitsburg Rd
 
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