Heroism at the Trostle Farm. Bigelow's Battery

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In the Wrong Place, and All Alone

When General Sickles moved the 3rd Corps away from Cemetery Ridge and out to the Emmitsburg Road, he came to the realization that he didn't have enough infantry to cover all the ground he needed to.

He decided to cover a section of his line solely with artillery. This was against all the "best practices" of battlefield leadership. On one end of this artillery line was the Ninth ( Bigelow's ) Massachusetts Battery with six brass Napolean smoothbore cannons, nearly a hundred horses and almost a hundred men. They set up their line along what is today known as Wheatfield Road, just east of The Peach Orchard

As the Confederate attack of James Longstreet's Corps began to roll out of the woodline of Seminary Ridge late that afternoon, the guns of this battery, for a short while, enjoyed the "artillerist's dream" of being positioned on the flank (one end) of the enemy's battleline. This meant that they could send hordes of devasting cannister shot right down through the Confederate line barely having to aim, so easy was the shooting that they caused great havoc.

Eventually Sickles infantry line collapsed at The Peach Orchard, and the Ninth Massachusetts Battery found itself in a completely different situation. Soon they became nearly surrounded by the Confederates who were closing in on them. The artillery had no infantry to protect them and were sitting ducks in the face of galling musket fire. They began to withdraw. The Rebels began shooting their horses, leaving the men with no option but to abandon their big guns or pull them back and away by hand. This they did. They "retired" slowly and deliberately in the face of devasting Confederate fire, withdrawing nearly two hundred yards through an open field until, at the the far end of the field near the Trostle Farmhouse (see image), they encountered a stone wall which trapped them in. They began to tear the wall down, taking losses every second.

When it was all over, the battery had lost four of its six guns, more than 80 horses and more than half the men who went into the fight. Horrific by any measure. But not a single man left his post under the most difficult circumstances. Incredibly, this was the first time these men had ever been in combat. What a way to start your career as a soldier!

trostlefarm.jpg


 
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Back in the late 1980's and under a fortunate set of circumstances, I was invited into both the Trostle house and the barn. I was in the kitchen in the house (it was as far as I was invited to go) and it is an incredibly small room. I really lucked out and was given by this generous person a xeroxed copy of the Widow Trostle's original claims that she later filed for damages with both the federal government and the state. Apparently, she was not a literate person as she signed the claims by 'making her mark', an X rather than a signature, on the itemized papers.

In the barn I was allowed to walk around and then I was shown what was apparently a small tack room with original equestrian and farm artifacts hung on hooks; all were tagged with ID tags and were cataloged by number. When I was taken into the main upper part of the barn and shown the famous shell hole I remember being amazed at how large that hole was when looking at it from the inside, as opposed to how large it looks from the outside, where most people see it. Another thing that I noticed that is not readily apparent from looking at it from the outside is that there were quite a number of smaller holes made by bullets in the walls of the barn. They are more easily seen from the inside because of the sunlight that pours through them which makes them more visible, but if you look carefully at the walls from the outside, and maybe use a pair of good binoculars, they are more obvious than to the naked eye.

The number of those holes bears testament to the vicious fighting that went on around that homestead...
 
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The painting is "Retreat by Recoil" by Don Troiani.

977492_469295603145179_1649837686_o.jpg


This is one of my favorite incidents from Gettysburg. The 9th Massachusetts Battery was able to hold off nearly 400 men of the 21st Mississippi from Barksdale's Brigade, as well as elements of Kershaw's Brigade, long enough for reserve artillery to form back on Cemetery Ridge and hold the line. The battery fought for as long as it did by firing and moving by prolong until they reached the Trostle Barn. When there, they stacked their ammunition beside their guns and fired double canister, and when that was dry they went to case shot with the fuses cut short. They kept on fighting until the Confederates were nearly to the muzzles of their guns.
 
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As witnessed by Lt. Adin Ballou Underwood, from his Three Years' Service in the Thirty-third Massachusetts Infantry (p. 126)

"Bigelow's Ninth Mass. battery comes back firing with the prolong, as if drilling on Boston Common, a rare instance in
the war. He is just dragging his guns through a gateway, when McGilvrey, commander of the reserve artillery, orders
him to hold that place at all hazards, till he can get a line of batteries into position in the rear. Bigelow fills up his guns
to the muzzle, waits till the column of rebels is within tifty yards, then fires a volley of death. They charge up again and
again, shoot down his officers and men and horses, and again and again he sweeps them down with canister. Longstreet'a
men swear they will take those brass guns, if they lose every man. They try hard. He blows them even from the muzzles.
The Captain falls wounded himself, and when he is carried among his men to the front (not to the rear,) sees the rebels
standing on his limber chests, shooting down his cannoneers that are still bravely loading and firing. Two-thirds of his
officers and men drop, eighty horses out of eighty-eight are shot, seventy rounds of canister fired, an extraordinary amount at close quarters, but the heroic remnant of men still hold their ground till they see that bristling line of batteries all ready at the rear, and then come in coolly pulling off one or two of their guns from the very clutches of the enemy, Lieut. Milton among the rest, pluckily saving his. This was a Boston battery and its first fight."
 
When Bigelow's men were retiring by prolong from their first position at the Wheatfield road, their opponents were remnants of Kershaw's South Carolina brigade, which had suffered much at the hands of the Federal artillery, particularly the 9th Massachusetts, 5th Massachusetts and 15th New York batteries. Scattered boulders near the point of woods to the northwest of the "stony hill" (the Loop) would have made ideal positions for the South Carolinians to harass Bigelow's men at the Wheatfield road, and they followed the Massachusetts artillerymen as they fell back to the Trostle buildings.

It is about 1,880 feet from the position where the 21st Mississippi reformed in the Peach Orchard to the line where they confronted Bigelow's guns at the Trostle buildings, which the Mississippians could have covered in nine minutes at common step (70 yards/minute).
 
Here is my estimated timeline of events:

1817 hours (6:17 p.m.) - Kershaw advances from Seminary Ridge
1823 - Kershaw reaches Emmitsburg Road / Barksdale advances from Seminary Ridge
1831 - 21st Mississippi crosses the Emmitsburg Road into the Peach Orchard
1835 - Bigelow starts back by prolong from the Wheatfield Road
1838 - 21st Mississippi advances from the Peach Orchard
1841 - Bigelow reaches the Trostle buildings
1844 - Bigelow opens fire on 21st Mississippi at a range of 50 yards
 
Here is my estimated timeline of events:

1817 hours (6:17 p.m.) - Kershaw advances from Seminary Ridge
1823 - Kershaw reaches Emmitsburg Road / Barksdale advances from Seminary Ridge
1831 - 21st Mississippi crosses the Emmitsburg Road into the Peach Orchard
1835 - Bigelow starts back by prolong from the Wheatfield Road
1838 - 21st Mississippi advances from the Peach Orchard
1841 - Bigelow reaches the Trostle buildings
1844 - Bigelow opens fire on 21st Mississippi at a range of 50 yards
Tom according to The Ebb and Flow of Battle 6:35 is indeed when Bigelow started his retreat. I also agree that he was pressured by Kershaw's sharpshooters. But it also seems that the 21rst at this time was according to Bigelow " forming a line 200 yards distant, extending back, parallel with the Emmitsburg road as far as I could see". With that said I have talked to several Park Rangers who believe the fighting at the Peach Orchard was done by 6. The 9th's monument backs this version up.
From the monument by the Trostle Farm:

2nd position
6 p.m. July 2, 1863.


Ninth Mass. Battery
Capt. Bigelow


“By prolongue retired firing” from the crossroads 400 yds. distant without infantry support before Barksdale’s Confed. Brigade. Final stand made across this road.

9MAbat-Ziegler_0462.jpg
 
Back in the late 1980's and under a fortunate set of circumstances, I was invited into both the Trostle house and the barn. I was in the kitchen in the house (it was as far as I was invited to go) and it is an incredibly small room. I really lucked out and was given by this generous person a xeroxed copy of the Widow Trostle's original claims that she later filed for damages with both the federal government and the state. Apparently, she was not a literate person as she signed the claims by 'making her mark', an X rather than a signature, on the itemized papers.

In the barn I was allowed to walk around and then I was shown what was apparently a small tack room with original equestrian and farm artifacts hung on hooks; all were tagged with ID tags and were cataloged by number. When I was taken into the main upper part of the barn and shown the famous shell hole I remember being amazed at how large that hole was when looking at it from the inside, as opposed to how large it looks from the outside, where most people see it. Another thing that I noticed that is not readily apparent from looking at it from the outside is that there were quite a number of smaller holes made by bullets in the walls of the barn. They are more easily seen from the inside because of the sunlight that pours through them which makes them more visible, but if you look carefully at the walls from the outside, and maybe use a pair of good binoculars, they are more obvious than to the naked eye.

The number of those holes bears testament to the vicious fighting that went on around that homestead...
They have a round shot on display at the visitor center which is marked as being found in the Trostle barn. It could be the one that made the hole
Trostle Farm - Interior View of Shell Hole 2015.JPG
 
A lot of events happened in a short time that afternoon. The time of a particular event may vary somewhat, but there is not a lot of flexibility in intervals between events. Also, one can't really trust the times listed on the monuments. I notice in J. S. McNeily's Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade at Gettysburg he quotes W. R. Livermore: "At 6:20 Barksdale at last advanced on the Peach Orchard." My estimate is just three minutes off from that, but I would have been pleased to come within 15 minutes. Beginning at 6:44, the 21st Mississippi has to overrun Bigelow, then advance across Plum Run to take and hold Watson's battery for a few minutes before falling back prior to sunset, which occurred at 7:32 p.m.

Certain events are known with greater clarity when trying to establish the intervals. The six minutes between the advance of Kershaw and Barksdale is based on the time it took Kershaw to reach the Emmitsburg Road; about that time he states he heard Barksdale beat the assembly, and Barksdale as well as his men were eager to join the fray, so one can count on them moving off promptly. This appears to be confirmed by William M. Abernathy of the 17th Mississippi, who heard Longstreet and McLaws tell Barksdale that he was to advance when the troops on his right were at an angle of 45 degrees from his front, and Kershaw would be at about a 45 degree angle when he reached the Emmitsburg Road.

We also have accounts from Bigelow's battery that indicate they fired at Barksdale's men when they reached the Peach Orchard crest, and after retiring to the Trostle buildings they scarcely had time to take their position and load their pieces when the 21st Mississippi appeared on the rise in their front at a range of 50 yards. This kind of information is invaluable knowing the time it takes to cover the distance from the Peach Orchard at common step, which includes the few minutes (my timeline allows about six minutes) needed to reform the 21st Mississippi in the Peach Orchard before they resumed their advance.

Students of the battle will always disagree on the timing of events, but we will come closer together when all of the moving parts to this grand puzzle are taken into account.
 
A lot of events happened in a short time that afternoon.

Amen.

And in a lot different places in the battlefield. And in parallel.

Trying to solve the Gettysburg battle who-what-where-how-why problem is multi-dimensional and unfortunately most of the dimensions have been ignored...
 
Col. Underwood would not have been an eye-witness. He was over on East Cemetery Hill with the 33rd Mass.
 
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