The Henry Wentz Mystery

JEB

Private
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Location
Baltimore
Henry Wentz was an ordnance sergeant with Taylor's Virginia Battery .

He was also a native of Gettysburg and grew up on his fathers farm on the east side of Emmittsburg road near the infamous Peach Orchard .

On July 2nd Henry found himself preparing to lob shells near his childhood home . Evidently he was able to enter the family homestead and was surprised to find his father STILL THERE ! Legend has it that the elder Wentz informed his son that he would under no circumstances leave the property .

As we know the men of Barksdale's regiment overran the Union troops in and around the Wentz house . Death and destruction ensued . The property was ravaged .

Fearing the worst Henry returned on July 3rd . Henry finds his father fast asleep in the cellar . He decides not to wake him and pins a note to his father's lapel and returns to the ANV . When the old man awakes he finds all the soldiers are gone .

So much for a good story . Maybe its true .

However, Henry Wentz's presence in Gettysburg July 2nd & 3rd seems to be a fact . Longstreet's frustrating counter march July 2nd is also an established fact .

What I find fascinating is the fact that Gettysburg native Henry Wentz 's knowledge of the area was not utilized by Alexander OR Longstreet . No mention of Henry Wentz appears in Alexander's post war writings . It seems he wasn't aware a Gettysburg native was among his men !?

Anybody have any ideas ? Did Henry Wentz hide the fact he grew up in Gettysburg ? His knowledge of the area must have been a value ?
 
What I find fascinating is the fact that Gettysburg native Henry Wentz 's knowledge of the area was not utilized by Alexander OR Longstreet . No mention of Henry Wentz appears in Alexander's post war writings . It seems he wasn't aware a Gettysburg native was among his men !?
The Union position was picked by Union forces already. The CSA had to position themselves in accordance.
 
Henry Wentz was an ordnance sergeant with Taylor's Virginia Battery .

He was also a native of Gettysburg and grew up on his fathers farm on the east side of Emmittsburg road near the infamous Peach Orchard .

On July 2nd Henry found himself preparing to lob shells near his childhood home . Evidently he was able to enter the family homestead and was surprised to find his father STILL THERE ! Legend has it that the elder Wentz informed his son that he would under no circumstances leave the property .

As we know the men of Barksdale's regiment overran the Union troops in and around the Wentz house . Death and destruction ensued . The property was ravaged .

Fearing the worst Henry returned on July 3rd . Henry finds his father fast asleep in the cellar . He decides not to wake him and pins a note to his father's lapel and returns to the ANV . When the old man awakes he finds all the soldiers are gone .

So much for a good story . Maybe its true .

However, Henry Wentz's presence in Gettysburg July 2nd & 3rd seems to be a fact . Longstreet's frustrating counter march July 2nd is also an established fact .



What I find fascinating is the fact that Gettysburg native Henry Wentz 's knowledge of the area was not utilized by Alexander OR Longstreet . No mention of Henry Wentz appears in Alexander's post war writings . It seems he wasn't aware a Gettysburg native was among his men !?

Anybody have any ideas ? Did Henry Wentz hide the fact he grew up in Gettysburg ? His knowledge of the area must have been a value ?

- The Virginia Regimental Histories Series

Henry D. Wentz

Residence Martinsburg WV;
Enlisted on 4/19/1861 at Martinsburg, WV as a Corporal.

On 4/19/1862 he mustered into VA Wise Light Artillery
He was transferred out on 10/8/1862

On 10/8/1862 he transferred into VA Bath Light Artillery
(date and method of discharge not given)


He was listed as:
* POW 4/6/1865 Harper's Farm, VA
* Confined 4/15/1865 Point Lookout, MD (Estimated day)
* Oath Allegiance 6/21/1865 Point Lookout, MD (Released)


Promotions:
* 1st Sergt 2/10/1862 (As of Wise LA)
* Sergt 10/8/1862 (As of Bath LA)


Other Information:
born in 1827 in Gettysburg, PA
died 12/10/1875
Buried: Green Hill Cemetery, Martinsburg, WV

(Died at age 48.)
 
Interesting that you should raise this issue. My friend Tom McMillan is working on a book on the four Gettysburg residents who fought for the Confederacy during the Battle of Gettysburg. While Wesley Culp is the most obvious of the four, Wentz plays a significant role in the story. Tom has not found anything to suggest that Wentz hid the fact that he was a Gettysburg native, and, in fact, is surprised that he was not used as a guide by Longstreet on this way to the battlefield.
 
What I find fascinating is the fact that Gettysburg native Henry Wentz 's knowledge of the area was not utilized by Alexander OR Longstreet . No mention of Henry Wentz appears in Alexander's post war writings . It seems he wasn't aware a Gettysburg native was among his men !?

Anybody have any ideas ? Did Henry Wentz hide the fact he grew up in Gettysburg ? His knowledge of the area must have been a value ?

It should be remembered that any one of Lee's three army corps numbered between 20,000 - 25,000 men during the campaign; Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, therefore had that many men in his command. The question obviously should be how many of the enlisted men in a 20,000+ man army corps would be personally known to the commander of that corps, or even any of the three division commanders? Col. Alexander commanded one of the two battalions of artillery attached to Longstreet's Corps, but at the time was even he aware of Lee's plan of attack to question the route of march?

Wentz was evidently a sergeant serving in a battery and was therefore not a courier or member of anyone's staff which *might* have given him access to the senior officers. Normally, a sergeant of artillery concerns himself with a single gun and its limber, a caisson and its limber, the gun's crew, teams, and teamsters and certainly nothing involving strategy or tactics. Even if Wentz volunteered information - and since he wouldn't have been in a position to have any idea what was planned or intended it's unlikely he would - it could only be to the lieutenant directing the section of two guns and certainly neither his battery captain nor Col. Alexander much less the corps commander. I think looking for any local natives among the ranks would've been much like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, assuming anyone even thought about it, especially when there were only four of them in an army of 75,000!
 
Last edited:
The following is an excerpt from a report from a member of the Christian Commission, Charles Keener, dated September 1, 1863. " Though our army had held the field but 24 hours, we saw but one dead body on the road, and all the wounded were in houses and barns. The first of them we found at the house of old Mr. Bentz (Wentz), whose son had been south for 16 years, and came home on the day before the battle as a captain of a Rebel battery. His guns, during the fight, drew the fire of our batteries directly across his father's house, and some of his own shot struck the house and barn. The son was killed, but the father was so good a Union man that he would not concent either to look on the corpse or the grave of his recreant son." Although Keener was misinformed, Henry Wentz survived the war, it is interesting as it shows the animosity John Wentz had for his son.
 
On July 2nd Henry found himself preparing to lob shells near his childhood home . Evidently he was able to enter the family homestead and was surprised to find his father STILL THERE ! Legend has it that the elder Wentz informed his son that he would under no circumstances leave the property

Wasn't the House "behind Union lines" at this time? How did his son gain access to reach his father?
 
Wasn't the House "behind Union lines" at this time? How did his son gain access to reach his father?
Not sure but they must have had contact with each other. He knew his son's rank and correctly identified his son's battery as damaging the house and barn. Keener's observations were from July 5, 1863 and he wrote the letter on September 1.
 
Wasn't the House "behind Union lines" at this time? How did his son gain access to reach his father?


No. The Wentz house was/is in Sherfy's Peach Orchard. On July 2 confederates attacked and controlled the PO salient.

edit: You may be thinking of midday when the PO area was for a short time held by Sickles III Corps. During his short stay, then yes the Wentz house was actually 'in line' with the Union line.
 
There were quite a number of soldiers in Lee's army who had spent time in the North as students before the war. For instance, at Allegheny College (Meadville, PA), Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA), Franklin and Marshall College (Lancaster, PA), and also at Jefferson College (Canonsburg, PA). Adjutant James Francis Crocker of the 9th Virginia graduated from Pennsylvania College (Gettysburg) in 1850. Lt. Col. R. L. T. Beale of the 9th Virginia Cavalry had attended Dickinson for a time.

Along the way a few young locals joined the army or assisted in providing information and directions. Even an Adams County lad from near Cashtown volunteered and was assigned as a litter bearer for Pickett's men. I just recently pieced together his story.

Some fair maps were also available. Gen. Early personally picked up an 1858 map of Adams County, PA on 26 June.

By the way, Henry Wentz had moved to Martinsburg, Virginia in the 1850s to make his living in the carriage building trade. An "old man and old woman" (presumably Henry's father and stepmother) fed silkworms in the attic of their 1 ½ story log building. They were said to have disowned their son.
 
You may be thinking of midday when the PO area was for a short time held by Sickles III Corps.

Yes. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
I guess I assume the Confederates never had possession of ---or I should say access to--- the Peach Orchard until July 2nd.
 
Yes. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
I guess I assume the Confederates never had possession of ---or I should say access to--- the Peach Orchard until July 2nd.

You are correct, the Confederates did not have access to the Peach Orchard until they captured it - around 6:30 p.m. on July 2. Once Barksdale cleared it, Alexander's artillery battalion went forward to take up positions there. After darkness ended the fighting in the immediate vicinity, Wentz might have had a brief opportunity to visit his home, but his battalion was soon withdrawn to rest and replenish its ammunition. They returned to the orchard before daylight on July 3, and remained until after the grand charge that afternoon, when they were again withdrawn.

Around 8 p.m. on July 1, Sickles' Corps came up the Emmitsburg road, turning east on the (Wheatfield) road, passing right by the Peach Orchard. The 63rd Pennsylvania was then sent forward on picket duty along the Emmitsburg road, in front of the Peach Orchard, reaching there around 10:45 p.m. on July 1. So the Peach Orchard remained firmly under Federal control until they were driven out by Barksdale in the early evening of the following day. The Federals would not regain control of the Peach Orchard until early on July 5, although five companies of the 139th Pennsylvania did advance to within 1,000 feet of the orchard on the early evening of July 3. In addition, on the late morning of July 4, a Federal probe was made by Day's and Bartlett's brigades toward the orchard, but they were stopped short and fell back.
 
Back
Top