- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
When attempting to establish a timeline of events, insightful clues surface whenever a source links two distinct events. So it is with an account from Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford, who tied together the movements of his division with the wounded Major General Dan Sickles being transported to the rear late in the day on July 2.
Crawford’s division of Pennsylvania Reserves consisted of two brigades, led by Colonels William McCandless and Joseph W. Fisher. The division arrived on the field around noon on July 2, and turned off the Baltimore Pike just after crossing Rock Creek. We are indebted to I. N. Durboraw of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves for locating McCandless’ brigade on Isaac M. Diehl’s property (see attached map). Durboraw’s company was from Adams County and the surrounding area, and he may have been personally acquainted with Diehl. In fact, Peter Baker, who lived just a few hundred yards away, invited Durboraw to visit and fed him. So I speculate McCandless might have halted his brigade within the solid red rectangle shown on the map, on a relatively level patch of the hillside just west of the Diehl place. Because Fisher preceded McCandless on the march to Little Round Top, his brigade may have occupied the adjacent hill crest. (History of Company K, 1st (Inft.) Penn’a Reserves, by H. N. Minnigh, Duncansville, PA: 1891)
I had previously calculated that Fisher’s brigade reached the north slope of Little Round Top at 6:30 p.m., with McCandless following immediately behind him. Working backward in time, the map projects an estimated itinerary of McCandless’ brigade at 10 minute intervals, from which it is deduced that Crawford commenced his march from his bivouac near Rock Creek around 6 p.m. I selected a pace of 80 yards/minute given that the division reportedly marched at the “double-quick” part of the time, although ambulances and the wounded walking to the rear forced Crawford’s soldiers off to the roadside at times, slowing their progress. (Silas W. Crocker, Company I, 6th Pa. Reserves, National Tribune, October 15, 1885, p. 4; History of the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, by M. D. Hardin, 1890)
Crawford recalled that a “Captain Moore,” whom he thought was on Meade’s staff, rode up in a greatly excited state to report that the enemy was driving back the Union forces on the left, and General Sickles had directed him to get any assistance he could. This might actually have been Major Alexander Moore, a junior aide serving on Sickles’ staff. However, Crawford declined to move until authorized by higher authority, so the officer galloped off to nearby Power’s Hill to secure permission from General Slocum. The delay likely consumed only a few extra minutes. So I deduce Moore left Sickles’ side at the Trostle buildings (presumably he was not wounded yet) by 5:45 p.m., with Crawford’s division put in motion about 6 p.m.
Somewhere in a woods east of the Taneytown road, Crawford was out in front of his column when he encountered a large group accompanying a wounded officer, who turned out to be Sickles. Crawford had directed them off the road until his command passed. (Correspondence with Maj. Gen. S. W. Crawford, Address Delivered Wednesday, 28th November 1866, in Feller’s Hall, Madalin, Township of Red Hook, Duchess Co., N.Y., by J. Watts De Peyster, 1867) If this encounter took place as shown on the map, the time would have been 6:20 p.m. by my estimation. Sickles would have been traveling in an ambulance, which I imagine had sped off the field at a trot or better, then perhaps switched to a walk to minimize jolting. If we pick 180 yards/minute as an average, it means Sickles was transported from the Trostle buildings around 6:05 p.m., give or take, placing his actual wounding at about 6 p.m.
Given the number of variables involved in these calculations, we should consider a window of up to 20 minutes variation, but leaning later, not earlier. I say this because we must take into account other known linkages: First, Captain Winslow (commanding Battery D, 1st New York), reported to Sickles moments before the latter was wounded, Winslow’s battery having just been driven from the Wheatfield northward through Trostle woods (where he discovered Caldwell’s division forming for an advance). Second, Winslow in turn had lingered long enough in the Wheatfield to be joined by a section from Captain Smith’s battery (4th New York), which had been driven out of Plum Run valley following the collapse of the Union position at Devil’s Den. (See also: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/timing-the-wounding-of-dan-sickles-on-july-2.139397/#post-1670593)
The challenge of creating any timeline at Gettysburg is to integrate known linkages like those described above, which results in a narrower window for specific events. In the case of Sickles’ wounding, that still comes down to a period between 6:00 and 6:22 p.m., based on my research to date, which still leaves considerable room for refinement.
Crawford’s division of Pennsylvania Reserves consisted of two brigades, led by Colonels William McCandless and Joseph W. Fisher. The division arrived on the field around noon on July 2, and turned off the Baltimore Pike just after crossing Rock Creek. We are indebted to I. N. Durboraw of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves for locating McCandless’ brigade on Isaac M. Diehl’s property (see attached map). Durboraw’s company was from Adams County and the surrounding area, and he may have been personally acquainted with Diehl. In fact, Peter Baker, who lived just a few hundred yards away, invited Durboraw to visit and fed him. So I speculate McCandless might have halted his brigade within the solid red rectangle shown on the map, on a relatively level patch of the hillside just west of the Diehl place. Because Fisher preceded McCandless on the march to Little Round Top, his brigade may have occupied the adjacent hill crest. (History of Company K, 1st (Inft.) Penn’a Reserves, by H. N. Minnigh, Duncansville, PA: 1891)
I had previously calculated that Fisher’s brigade reached the north slope of Little Round Top at 6:30 p.m., with McCandless following immediately behind him. Working backward in time, the map projects an estimated itinerary of McCandless’ brigade at 10 minute intervals, from which it is deduced that Crawford commenced his march from his bivouac near Rock Creek around 6 p.m. I selected a pace of 80 yards/minute given that the division reportedly marched at the “double-quick” part of the time, although ambulances and the wounded walking to the rear forced Crawford’s soldiers off to the roadside at times, slowing their progress. (Silas W. Crocker, Company I, 6th Pa. Reserves, National Tribune, October 15, 1885, p. 4; History of the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, by M. D. Hardin, 1890)
Crawford recalled that a “Captain Moore,” whom he thought was on Meade’s staff, rode up in a greatly excited state to report that the enemy was driving back the Union forces on the left, and General Sickles had directed him to get any assistance he could. This might actually have been Major Alexander Moore, a junior aide serving on Sickles’ staff. However, Crawford declined to move until authorized by higher authority, so the officer galloped off to nearby Power’s Hill to secure permission from General Slocum. The delay likely consumed only a few extra minutes. So I deduce Moore left Sickles’ side at the Trostle buildings (presumably he was not wounded yet) by 5:45 p.m., with Crawford’s division put in motion about 6 p.m.
Somewhere in a woods east of the Taneytown road, Crawford was out in front of his column when he encountered a large group accompanying a wounded officer, who turned out to be Sickles. Crawford had directed them off the road until his command passed. (Correspondence with Maj. Gen. S. W. Crawford, Address Delivered Wednesday, 28th November 1866, in Feller’s Hall, Madalin, Township of Red Hook, Duchess Co., N.Y., by J. Watts De Peyster, 1867) If this encounter took place as shown on the map, the time would have been 6:20 p.m. by my estimation. Sickles would have been traveling in an ambulance, which I imagine had sped off the field at a trot or better, then perhaps switched to a walk to minimize jolting. If we pick 180 yards/minute as an average, it means Sickles was transported from the Trostle buildings around 6:05 p.m., give or take, placing his actual wounding at about 6 p.m.
Given the number of variables involved in these calculations, we should consider a window of up to 20 minutes variation, but leaning later, not earlier. I say this because we must take into account other known linkages: First, Captain Winslow (commanding Battery D, 1st New York), reported to Sickles moments before the latter was wounded, Winslow’s battery having just been driven from the Wheatfield northward through Trostle woods (where he discovered Caldwell’s division forming for an advance). Second, Winslow in turn had lingered long enough in the Wheatfield to be joined by a section from Captain Smith’s battery (4th New York), which had been driven out of Plum Run valley following the collapse of the Union position at Devil’s Den. (See also: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/timing-the-wounding-of-dan-sickles-on-july-2.139397/#post-1670593)
The challenge of creating any timeline at Gettysburg is to integrate known linkages like those described above, which results in a narrower window for specific events. In the case of Sickles’ wounding, that still comes down to a period between 6:00 and 6:22 p.m., based on my research to date, which still leaves considerable room for refinement.