- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
An unpublished account by Captain Givens Brown Strickler of Company I, 4th Virginia Infantry provides an outstanding description of his regiment's attack on Culp's Hill on the morning of July 3, portions of which are quoted as follows: ... "regiment moved forward with much spirit, until within about yards of the fortification, when a portion of several companies, amounting, in the aggregate, to two-thirds of the entire regiment, halted, I suppose, in obedience to orders, but the remainder, composed principally of Companies 'B,' 'H' and 'I' not having heard the order to fall back (if there was such an order given) continued to push forward until they arrived within 20 feet of the enemy's position ... [and] took position behind a ledge of rocks almost under the enemy's works ... any attempt to retreat must have resulted in the slaughter of the entire party." Later in the morning, Major Benjamin Watkins Leigh of Ed Johnson's staff rode up just behind the trapped group and fell under a blaze of musketry. It was not long afterward when the jig was clearly up, and the group of from 40-50 Confederates was compelled to surrender to the Federals in front of them, which at the time comprised the 122nd New York and 7th Ohio. They were escorted to the crest of the hill, and there politely received by General Slocum, before being marched off and turned over to the Provost Guard.
I have traipsed over the ground many times over many years, and have grown confident that this rock ledge, which has gone unnoticed and unremarked for the past 150 years, lies close in front of the Federal breastworks, its right being in front of the large rock slab upon which rests the monuments to the 122nd and 149th New York regiments, and its left extending a short distance to the south south-east. It is my hope that one day the Park Service will clear the brush away and create a path for visitors to examine this rock ledge, which is one of the few well-defined Confederate positions on Culp's Hill, and, until this moment, has languished in total obscurity.
I have traipsed over the ground many times over many years, and have grown confident that this rock ledge, which has gone unnoticed and unremarked for the past 150 years, lies close in front of the Federal breastworks, its right being in front of the large rock slab upon which rests the monuments to the 122nd and 149th New York regiments, and its left extending a short distance to the south south-east. It is my hope that one day the Park Service will clear the brush away and create a path for visitors to examine this rock ledge, which is one of the few well-defined Confederate positions on Culp's Hill, and, until this moment, has languished in total obscurity.