Destruction of Iverson’s Brigade

Tom Elmore

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Jan 16, 2015
Iverson's brigade staggers under a heavy fire from Baxter's brigade and attempts to press forward but to no avail. Only the right wing of the 12th North Carolina escapes serious loss. Cutler's brigade appears and delivers a destructive crossfire upon Iverson's right flank. After about ten minutes, the 97th New York and 88th Pennsylvania lead a general charge of Baxter's brigade that yields a few captured flags and approximately 300 prisoners, apart from the dead or disabled. The 90th Pennsylvania advances to extend Baxter's right, and with two companies of the 12th Massachusetts, notes possible indications of an advance by O'Neal's brigade. Paul's brigade, with the 13th Massachusetts in the lead, approaches from the south. The map depicts positions as of 2:15 p.m., July 1.

"Pressing forward with heavy loss under deadly fire, our regiment … reached a hollow or low place … Unable to advance, unwilling to retreat, the brigade lay down in this hollow or depression in the field and fought as best it could" – Members of the 23rd North Carolina.

"Our company suffered dreadfully. Three killed on the field, three that [were] mortally wounded died shortly after the fight (two died before night and one in the night), four were seriously wounded, five others were wounded … eleven captured. We have eight [left – all privates][Corporal] Leonidas [Torrence] … wounded in head and thigh … [Private] S. L. McClure had three balls through his body and two through his left arm; his left arm was cut off [amputated] above the elbow. … I was shot in the left cheek with buckshot" – Private William J. O'Daniel, Company H, 23rd North Carolina.

"When I saw white handkerchiefs raised, and my line of battle still lying down in position, I characterized the surrender as disgraceful" – Brigadier General Alfred Iverson.

"I at once pushed my brigade through the woods, came in on their flank, and opened so hot a fire on them that one regiment threw down its arms and surrendered" – Brigadier General Lysander Cutler.

"Orders come from Cutler for our brigade to wheel to the right and charge. The movement is at once executed, while at the same time Baxter pours in a deadly volley at short range. The enemy, unable to withstand the attack, throw down their arms and rush into our lines" – 2nd Lieutenant Sidney G. Cooke, 147th New York.

"The whole brigade … advanced through the woods to the clearing; here we had a rail fence" – 2nd Lieutenant J. V. Pierce, Company G, 147th New York.

"Soon joined by the Fourteenth [Brooklyn] and Ninety-fifth [New York] … supported on the right by Baxter's Brigade, and by joint action a large part of what was then left of Iverson's Brigade was then captured" – Colonel J. William Hoffman, 56th Pennsylvania.

"The regiment was then moved to the extreme right … to reinforce General [John C.] Robinson" – Member of the 14th Brooklyn.

"They [Iverson's men] rallied … in the shallow bed of a dry creek about 150 yards distant … they did attempt to come forward, only to be again driven back to the ditch … Soon hats and handkerchiefs were waved in token of surrender, but our officers hesitated, fearing a trap. General Baxter, noting the situation, cried 'Up boys, and give them the steel,' when the brigade sprang forward" - 2nd Lieutenant George W. Grant, Company B, 88th Pennsylvania.

"[Iverson's men] still essayed to advance to the charge; but so persistent and hot was their reception that they were compelled to fall back … to a little gully, where they rallied and opened a sharp fire on the Union line. … [1st Sergeant Henry] Evans [of Company B] remarked, as he brought his piece to his shoulder, 'John [Witmoyer of Company H], I will give those colors a whack.' At this moment Witmoyer heard the dull thud of a bullet, and turning quickly, asked Evans if he was hit. The sergeant did not reply, but slowly bringing his musket down, fell over dead, the ball having pierced his heart. … The rebels suffered so much that they finally manifested a disposition to surrender, many of them throwing up their hats and in other ways indicating that they had had more than enough. … The regiment sprang over the wall with a shout … receiving the surrender of … prisoners and capturing the flags of the 23d North Carolina and an Alabama regiment. [2nd] Lieutenant [Eldridge] Levan [of Company D] taking one, which, in an impromptu speech, he presented to General Robinson, and Sergeant [E. L.] Gilligan [of Company E], along with many others, capturing the other one" – Private John D. Vautier, Company I, 88th Pennsylvania.

"Lieutenant Colonel [John P.] Spofford, who happened to be mounted at the left of the regiment, taking in the situation at a glance and without waiting for orders said: 'Boys of the 97th, let us go for them and capture them.' The regiment sprang rapidly forward, over the wall, and down to the gully, supported by the 11th Pennsylvania on its left … Colonel [Charles] Wheelock … though surprised at the action of this officer [Spofford], he took in the situation and went forward with his regiment without interfering with the order. The 97th suffered from a flank and rear fire by the skirmish line in the adjoining field on the right. /// One flag (the 20th North Carolina) was captured by [Corporal] Sylvester Riley, of Company C; the other was taken by a man of the other regiment on our left. Some of the Confederates escaped" – Captain Isaac Hall, Company A, 97th New York.

"We fixed bayonets and rushed over the [stone] fence … but we were scattered all over the field, the Rebs in front of us shaking white handkerchiefs … so that we would not fire into them. What was left of them gave up willingly and came running in our lines" – Sergeant M. Kirby, Company K, 97th New York.

"The Adjutant [Charles C. Wehrum] then sprang over the wall and waving his sword, cried: 'Forward, Twelfth!' We followed, nearly all of us, except Companies H and G [facing O'Neal] … Although the [regiments on the left] were a little ahead of us, we nevertheless took quite a number of prisoners and brought them in … " – Corporal George Kimball, Company A, 12th Massachusetts.

"One of their officers [Captain Erastus L. Clark, Company A, 12th Massachusetts] captured a battle flag which I was about to take myself. He being an officer I let him have it and turned my attention to the capture of prisoners, of which I took a number" – Corporal William H. Miller, Company C, 83rd New York.

"The firing continued about ten minutes, our firing ceased, and the Federals moved on us to effect our capture. The smoke was so dense you could not perceive an object ten feet from you. The awful gloom of this moment is beyond description of pen. While we felt and heard the tread of the enemy, our minds were in a tumult, whether to lie still, or to yield, or to die fighting. … I jumped up and found myself confronted with a bayonet of a Union soldier pointed at my breast. I grasped the blade and reversed the handle of my sword in a twinkle and offered to surrender. … The soldier … thought I had run him through, and he dropped his gun. By that time I was almost overpowered by other Federals rushing at me, so to protect myself I grabbed up the half-dazed Yankee and used him as a breastwork. In a few more seconds their passions cooled, and they gave me my life" – Captain Lewis T. Hicks, Company E, 20th North Carolina.

"[Baxter's men] advanced from the wall and captured about three hundred prisoners [from Iverson's brigade]. … There was so much consternation, so much confusion, that the survivors, at the time, could not know who was killed, or who were wounded, or who were taken prisoners. … The Twelfth Regiment fared better than the others because of its being protected by a slight rise of the ground, though the loss of its left companies was severe" – 4th Sergeant Walter A. Montgomery, Company F, 12th North Carolina.

"The Ninetieth Pennsylvania … went into position under the fire of the guns stationed on Oak Hill" – Major Alfred J. Sellers, 90th Pennsylvania.

"The 90th Pa. … had been sent to our right. Up to this time our right had been the extreme right of our corps" – Adjutant Charles C. Wehrum, 12th Massachusetts.

Sources:
-Description by Capt. V. E. Turner (Assistant Quartermaster) and Sgt. H. C. Wall (Company A), Twenty-Third Regiment, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, ed. by Walter Clark, II:235.
-July 9 letter of W. J. O'Daniel to mother of Leonidas Torrence, Diary and Letters of Leonidas Torrence of the Gaston Guards, The North Carolina Historical Review, Raleigh, NC: State Department of Archives and History, October 1959, vol. 36, no. 4, p. 514. [O'Daniel, with a superficial cheek wound, was not counted as a casualty. The 88th Pennsylvania was partially armed with .69 smoothbores that fired "buck [shot] and ball" ammunition.]
-Official Reports of Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Brig. Gen. Lysander Cutler.
-The First Day at Gettysburg, by Sidney G. Cooke, War Talks in Kansas, November 4, 1897, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Kansas City, MO: 1906.
-Letters from the Front, The 147th New York at Gettysburg, New Yorkers in the Civil War, A Historic Journal, Volume 6, ed. by R. L. Murray.
-Address of Brevet Brig. Gen. J. William Hoffman, Dedication of the Monument to the 56th Pennsylvania, September 11, 1889, Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, I:345.
-The History of the Fighting Fourteenth, published in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the muster of the regiment into the United States service, May 23, 1861, p. 85.
-The First Army Corps on the First Day at Gettysburg, Address by George W. Grant, 88th Pennsylvania Infantry, read May 10, 1898, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Fifth Series, 1887.
-History of the 88th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War for the Union, 1861-1865, by John D. Vautier, Co. I, 88th Regiment, P. V., Philadelphia, PA: Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, 1894.
-History of the Ninety-Seventh Regiment New York Volunteers in the War for the Union, by Isaac Hall, Utica, NY: Press of L. C. Childs & Son, 1890; Iverson's Brigade, by Isaac Hall, National Tribune, June 26, 1884; Address by Brevet Maj. Isaac Hall, Dedication of the Monument to the 97th New York, July 1, 1889, New York at Gettysburg, III:743.
-September 7, 1863 letter of Sgt. M. Kirby to Mr. Daniel Cady, Hamilton College Digital Document, cwl.dhinitiative.org, March 18, 2014.
-Stories of Our Soldiers, War Reminiscences, by "Carleton" and by soldiers of New England [George Kimball], Boston, MA: The Journal Newspaper Company, 1893.
-They All Helped to Do It, by Wm. H. Miller, Elizabeth, N. J., National Tribune, October 15, 1885, p. 5; Gettysburg, by Adjutant Charles C. Wehrum, 12th Mass., New York City, National Tribune, December 10, 1885.
-The Battle of Gettysburg, by Walter A. Montgomery, Twelfth Regiment, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, ed. by Walter Clark, I:636.
-Address of Brevet Col. A. J. Sellers, Dedication of the Monument to the 90th Pennsylvania, September 3, 1898, Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, I:491.
-Iverson's Brigade, by Adjutant Charles C. Wehrum, National Tribune, August 21, 1884.
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