Odds and Ends – Obscure Facts of Gettysburg Participants

Tom Elmore

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Private/Sergeant Daniel A. Wood of Company G, 4th Texas, sustained a total of 11 gunshot wounds during the war, received in seven different battles. However, he passed through Gettysburg unscathed. (Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. XV, Texas, p. 700; Wood’s Compiled Service Record)

During the year 1863, Private Daniel Noon Hudson of Company H, 11th Georgia marched over 1,700 miles and never missed a roll call. (Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida, p. 425)

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Conway Floweree, born in Fauquier County, Virginia on October 16, 1842, succeeded Colonel Waller T. Patton (mortally wounded on July 3) to command the 7th Virginia Infantry, though not yet 21 years old. He was reportedly the youngest colonel of either army. (Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. IX, Mississippi, pp. 349-351)

Major William Thomas Poague, commanding an artillery battalion at Gettysburg, wore an overcoat that was made for General “Stonewall” Jackson, but being rather small for Jackson, Poague purchased it. Poague also used a McClellan horse saddle that was picked up on the field at Port Republic. (Gunner with Stonewall, Reminiscences of William Thomas Poague, p. 76)

Among the horses in Lieutenant William Zimmerman’s (South Carolina) battery was “Old Charley,” a wheeler of Hamilton Owens’ team, which, though slightly wounded in almost every battle, had run the gauntlet of battle, marches and starvation from Suffolk to Spotsylvania. (David Gregg McIntosh Papers, Virginia Historical Society)

During the war, the 4th Ohio Infantry marched 1,975 miles, and traveled an additional 2,279 miles by railroad and other transport, making an aggregate of 4,254 miles. (History of Marion County, Ohio, p. 455)

Early in the war, L. H. Stevens and W. K. Newcomb of Company G, 125th New York tossed a coin to decide who would be the First Lieutenant; the loser would become the Second Lieutenant. Newcomb won the toss. Stevens served on the brigade staff of Colonel George L. Willard at Gettysburg. (Chaplain Ezra A. Simons, A Regimental History, The One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth New York State Volunteers, p. 109)

Second Lieutenant Benjamin N. Thomas of Company K, 44th New York, was mortally wounded defending Little Round Top on July 2; he died on July 8 and his body was reinterred at West Exeter, New York. His mother was a Doty, a direct descendant of Edward Doty, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. (A History of the Forty-Fourth New York, by E. A. Nash, p. 416)

Lieutenant Andrew S. Bennett of the 5th Wisconsin was present at Gettysburg. After the war, then Captain Bennett with the 5th Infantry was killed in a fight with hostile Indians near Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone on September 4, 1876. (The Plainsmen of the Yellowstone: A History of the Yellowstone Basin, by Mark Herbert Brown, p. 320)

The Corporal Skelly Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Gettysburg had a small cannon, weighing 150 pounds with a bore of 1.5 inches, fashioned from one of Major Mathis Henry’s guns that had exploded during the fight. (Presumably this was a 3-inch Rifle of Capt. James Reilly’s battery, which burst prior to the Confederate infantry advance on July 2.) (History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania (Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886), pp. 181-203; R. T. Coles, History of the 4th Regiment Alabama)
 
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Part II

All the officers and enlisted men of Company B, 14th South Carolina were from Edgefield District (county), according to a researcher. The company had 20 officers (commissioned and non-commissioned) and 127 privates. During the war it lost 23 killed in battle, 1 killed by railroad accident, 3 who died from their wounds, 17 who succumbed from disease and 5 who died in an enemy prison; total deaths – 49. (Roll of Company B, 14th South Carolina, http://www.researchonline.net/sccw/rosters/14thinfb.htm)

Captain Joseph F. Sessions, Company K, 18th Mississippi was captured at Gettysburg. He was eventually paroled for exchange and sailed for home on the steamer USS “Gettysburg” in October 1864. That vessel had previously served as a Confederate blockade runner, and after being captured on November 5, 1863 was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on May 2, 1864. (The Johnson’s Island Autograph Book of Lt. Samuel Dibble, Edisto Rifles, 25th S.C.V.; Wikipedia)

When Early’s division entered York, many men in Gordon’s brigade wore knapsacks marked 87th Pennsylvania, which produced much amusement among the people of that town, because the 87th had been recruited in York. (William H. Swallow, Early’s Division, Southern Bivouac, vol. IV, June 1885 – May 1886, Reprint, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1993, p. 356)

First Corporal William Crawford Smith was present at Gettysburg with Company B, 12th Virginia Infantry. During the Spanish-American War, he was mustered into service as Colonel of the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was killed near Manila in the Philippines on February 5, 1899, while leading his men forward. (Compiled Service Record of William C. Smith; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7359489/william-crawford-smith)

Confederate 1st Lieutenant Champion G. Falligant was absent from Company H, 48th Georgia due to sickness. His grandfather, Louis Painbeouf Falligant, was decorated with the French Legion of Honor while serving as an officer under Napoleon I. Captured at Waterloo, he was discharged from confinement in England six years later. (Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida, pp. 266-267)

Union Brigadier Adolph von Steinwehr’s grandfather had fought in the Prussian army against Napoleon I. (Wikipedia)

Captain Henry Hyer Baker, Company A, 33rd North Carolina was killed on July 3. In 1861, he had enlisted as the Captain of Company E, 1st Florida Infantry. His father, James L. G. Baker, was one of seven (out of 69) delegates to vote against the Ordinance of Secession at the Florida Convention of the People in January 1861. (History of Jackson County (Florida), by J. Randall Stanley, Jackson County Historical Society, 1950; https://www.floridamemory.com/exhibits/floridahighlights/secession/)

Founded as a volunteer company of artillery in 1828, the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues saw action at Gettysburg as Captain Charles R. Grandy’s Battery, with two 3-inch Rifles and two 12-pound Howitzers (the Rifles had an effective range of just over one mile and could send off two aimed rounds in little more than a minute). After the war the unit was reestablished [1877] as a state volunteer regiment. The Blues served in France during World War I and took part in the D-Day invasion in World War II. As B Battery, 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment, Virginia National Guard, it participated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The latter unit’s 105-mm Howitzers with standard ammunition can fire over seven miles at a sustained rate of three rounds per minute. (The Artilleryman, vol. 34, no. 3, summer 2013, Tunbridge, VT: Historical Publications, Inc.)

Company F of the 5th Virginia marched 173 miles between June 5 and June 30, without having a single straggler. It marched another 25 miles on July 1 to reach the field. (5th Virginia, Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, part II, vol. 71, serial no. 83, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1998)

Colonel William R. Peck, commanding the 9th Louisiana, weighed 330 pounds. He remained mounted throughout the battle. (Thomas Benton Reed, A Private in Gray, A/9 LA; 9 July Letter of Col. Peck to his Sister, Tennessee Virtual Archive)
 
Interesting stuff.
When Early’s division entered York, many men in Gordon’s brigade wore knapsacks marked 87th Pennsylvania, which produced much amusement among the people of that town, because the 87th had been recruited in York. (William H. Swallow, Early’s Division, Southern Bivouac, vol. IV, June 1885 – May 1886, Reprint, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1993, p. 356)
"Amusement" isn't the emotion that I would have guessed. Shock and horror, maybe? Off whose dead bodies did you get those knapsacks??
 
Thanks for these! I've frequently wondered how many men came from families whose military past was lengthy. I found the Washingtons somewhere and we know all about the Custis and Lee families.

Now, finding those whose ancestors were at Waterloo would be amazing and why stop there? I'd like to see connections back to Culloden.

Col. Peck, at his weight in that heat? And the wool uniform. Misery on top of misery, poor man.
 
Thanks for these! I've frequently wondered how many men came from families whose military past was lengthy. I found the Washingtons somewhere and we know all about the Custis and Lee families.

Now, finding those whose ancestors were at Waterloo would be amazing and why stop there? I'd like to see connections back to Culloden.

Col. Peck, at his weight in that heat? And the wool uniform. Misery on top of misery, poor man.

Captain Peter Alexander Selkirk McGlashan of Company E, 50th Georgia, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland and the son of a Waterloo veteran. He was promoted to Colonel on 31 July 1863.

Colonel Peck may have relaxed in the parlor of Mrs. William McClellan's home on the evening of July 1:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/lo...nd-mrs-william-mcclellan.147149/#post-1838357
 
It's likely that the men of Gordon's Brigade would have, um, "acquired" these knapsacks at Winchester. Most of the men they belonged to were probably still alive, just a bit embarrassed.
Perhaps so but, even if they knew that, the citizens of York would still have reacted with shock and horror at the idea that most of their men were probably still alive.
 
Part III

Sylvanus J. Quinn was proprietor of the “Bulletin” newspaper in Louisville, Mississippi before the war. He served as Captain of Company A, 13th Mississippi at Gettysburg. At the Wilderness he received a painful bruise over his heart from a bullet that was checked by a small dictionary in his pocket; he kept the bullet as a memento. He was captured at Sailor’s Creek. His father served under General Andrew Jackson and participated in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. (Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. 4, Virginia, pp. 1129-1130)

Statistics on the 28th North Carolina Regiment (as of late 1863): Number of volunteers 1,515; conscripts 37; substitutes 16 – total 1,568 (officers and enlisted men). Losses: Killed in battle and died from other causes 439; discharged 129; deserted 80; missing 30; dropped from rolls 4; cashiered 1; transferred 9; rejected 1; resigned 12; not elected 17; dismissed 1 – total 723. The men came from the counties of: Yadkin 279, Stanly 278, Surry 180, Catawba 161, Gaston 158, Montgomery 135, Orange 134, Cleveland 133, Lincoln 28, Cabarrus 14, Forsyth 12, Alamance 10, Mecklenburg 9, Union 7, Rutherford 7, Richmond 4, Rowan 2, Chatham 2, Caldwell 2, Wilkes 2, Burke 1, Rockingham 1, Warren 1, Franklin 1 and Guilford 1. South Carolina supplied 3 and Virginia 3 – total 1,568. (Western Democrat, Charlotte, NC, December 8, 1863)

Statistics on the 37th North Carolina Regiment (as of November 6, 1863): Number of volunteers 1,154; conscripts 367; substitutes 21 – total 1,542 (officers and enlisted men. Losses: Killed in battle 150; died from wounds and diseases 372; deserted 110; missing 11; discharged from disability 83 – total 726. The men came from the counties of: Alexander 281, Ashe 252, Mecklenburg 251, Watauga 214, Gaston 209, Union 151, Wilkes 120, Alleghany 81, Caldwell 4, Halifax 4, Stanly 3, Iredell 2, Orange 2, Cleveland 2, Anson 1, Cabarrus 1, Cumberland 1, Catawba 1 and New Hanover 1. Virginia supplied 5, Texas 2, Alabama 1, Georgia 1, South Carolina 1 and Maryland 1 – total 1,542. (Western Democrat, Charlotte, NC, November 17, 1863)

Company G of the 11th Mississippi participated in 30 battles during the war, Seven Pines being the first and Hawkes Farm the last. The roll comprised 139 names; 68 men were wounded in action, receiving a total of 105 wounds. The company had 86 present at Seven Pines, 34 at Gettysburg and 26 at Hawkes Farm. The average age at enlistment was slightly over 20 years. Of the number of men who were any battle at all, 20 were never wounded and 30 were wounded more than once. One man was wounded eight times, while another man took part in 25 battles and was never wounded. For various reasons 29 men on the roll never participated in any battle or performed any duty. There were 136 single men and 3 married. In the company were 51 farmers, 47 students, 20 clerks, 5 merchants, 3 mechanics, 3 lawyers, 3 professors or teachers, 2 medical students, 1 minister, 1 physician, 1 deputy sheriff, 1 telegraph operator and 1 tombstone agent. (Lamar Rifles, A History of Company G, Eleventh Mississippi Regiment, C.S.A., May, 1861 to April, 1865)

On the night of July 1, Private John Ripley Yarbrough of Company B, 8th Alabama visited the Abraham Plank farm, probably to obtain something to eat, while his brigade was posted near Black Horse Tavern. In his hurry to return, he left behind a cane made of maple, 45 inches high, with a smiling face carved on it, a small nose, and glass beads for eyes. Under the head of the cane was carved: J R Y, ALA 8B, ALA. Yarbrough never returned to reclaim his cane; he was killed on July 2. Born in Georgia, this single young farmer in Coosa County, Alabama enlisted on May 13, 1861 and was present in every prior engagement of his company. (The Civil War News, July 2005, p. 7; Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg, by John W. Busey and Travis W. Busey, 1:74)

Bailey George McClelen of Company D, 10th Alabama kept statistics on his company. In 1910, he wrote that 142 served in the company during the war; 28 died in battle and 32 died in hospitals or prison camps. Of the 82 survivors, 18 went to Texas. Two of them were still alive in Texas, four remained in Calhoun County, Alabama (where the company was raised), one was living in Georgia and one was in Lamar County, Alabama. (Writings of Bailey George McClelen)

1st Lieutenant Hamilton Smith Hawkins, 6th U.S. Infantry, present at Gettysburg, attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point 1852-1855, and was commandant there 1888-1892. He commanded the brigade that captured San Juan Hill in Santiago, July 1, 1898, was promoted Major General of Volunteers July 8, 1898, promoted Brigadier General in the regular army on September 28, 1898, and retired after 40 years of service. His father, Major Hamilton Smith Hawkins, died of yellow fever in the war with Mexico in 1847. He was a descendant of Admirals Sir John Hawkins and Sir Richard Hawkins of England, and of Colonel Charles Hawkins, who was killed at the storming of Gibraltar. (RootsWeb.com, 6 US Inf, from Ancestry.com’s Biographies of Notable Americans-1904)

Captain Edward Hayes commanded the 29th Ohio Infantry on July 3. His grandfather Richard served in the War of 1812, and his great-grandfather Colonel Richard Hayes wintered with George Washington at Valley Forge. (History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties (Ohio), Cleveland: H. Z. Williams & Bro. 1882)

Lieutenant John McKnight Bloss of Company F, 27th Indiana wrote home on July 5, advising that his company had skirmished with the enemy for five hours on July 2, losing one man killed and two wounded. However, in a brief charge made the following morning across Spangler meadow, the company lost 11 wounded and another man killed – 4th Sergeant Elijah McKnight (his cousin). Bloss was afterwards placed in charge of the burial detail for his brigade and erected a head board over Elijah’s grave. Bloss was in large measure responsible for the Union victory at Antietam the previous September, having recovered a copy of Lee’s Special Order 191, known as the “lost dispatch.” (5 July letter of John McKnight Bloss, Library of Virginia and Virginia Sesquicentennial of the Civil War Commission; Presidents of Oregon State University, http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/presidents/bloss/bloss/)

Captain John P. Ricker, commanding Company E of the 153rd Pennsylvania, was wounded on July 1. He mustered out with his company on July 24. Born in Easton, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1824, he died on June 14, 1906, in the same room in which he was born. (History of the One Hundred and Fifty-Third Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry, by W. R. Kiefer; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18946360/john-p-ricker)
 
The Orderly (First) Sergeant of Company F, 150th Pennsylvania had three guns in succession that were rendered unserviceable on July 1, but he himself escaped without injury. One of his guns was bent near the middle, causing the muzzle and bayonet to curve sharply to the left. He turned to a comrade and said, “Bill, look at my bayonet, won’t it be bully to reach around the corner for them.” (Sergeant William R. Ramsey, F/150 PA, Bachelder Papers, 2:957)
 
Capt. Charles Reese, commander of Company D of the 20th Indiana, sustained a wound to his head at Gettysburg that cost him his sight in one eye. The wound was believed to be mortal, but he recovered. 24 years later he had a coughing spell and spat out the minie ball that had previously been embedded in his head.

From his obituary, Ft. Wayne Sentinel, Oct. 18, 1907
 
I love this kind of stuff @Tom Elmore Thanks so much for sharing. :thumbsup:
Confederate 1st Lieutenant Champion G. Falligant was absent from Company H, 48th Georgia due to sickness. His grandfather, Louis Painbeouf Falligant, was decorated with the French Legion of Honor while serving as an officer under Napoleon I. Captured at Waterloo, he was discharged from confinement in England six years later. (Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida, pp. 266-267)
At least one of Louis Painbeouf Falligant's grandsons was at Gettysburg. Champ Falligant's older brother, 2nd Lieutenant Robert A. Falligant, was present with Milledge's Georgia Battery, Nelson's Battalion Georgia Artillery.
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For more information about Robert Falligant, this thread may be of interest
 
Part IV

Captain David Campbell van Buskirk of Company F, 27th Indiana, stood 6 feet, 11 1/2 inches, reportedly making him the tallest man in the Union army. He was the grandson of a Revolutionary War soldier. Well over half the soldiers in the company were over six feet tall. It was called “The New Albany Railroad Company” – several of the men had been employees of the railroad. Buskirk died in 1886 at the age of 60. An obituary noted that the bottom of his coffin was seven feet in length and 27 inches broad, and that: “Large as his frame was, his heart was ten times bigger.” (Twenty-Seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1865, by Edmund Randolph Brown, Monticello, IN: 1899, pp. 22, 85; The National Tribune, September 2, 1886, p. 4; https://www.geni.com/people/David-van-Buskirk/6000000011688401417)

Brigadier General Gabriel Rene Paul, who was permanently blinded by buckshot while leading his brigade on July 1, had served in the Seminole and Mexican Wars. He was wounded in the latter conflict at Cerro Gordo, but recovered to lead an assault party at Chapultepec. His father, Louis Rene Paul, served under Napoleon I and was wounded at Trafalgar. His maternal grandfather, Rene-Auguste Chouteau, Jr., co-founded the city of St. Louis, Missouri. (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5842021/gabriel-rene-paul ; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79493917/louis-r_n_-paul ; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9340/auguste-chouteau)

Captain Winfield Scott of Company C, 126th New York, served as the pastor at the Second Baptist Church in Syracuse before the war, leaving the church to raise a company, which elected him as their captain. He was wounded several times during the war, more or less severely, including twice at Gettysburg, but he survived to muster out on September 23, 1864. He later opened a new chapter in his life by moving to the Arizona Territory, where he helped found a town that still bears his name – Scottsdale. (The 126th’s Fighting Parson, Pastor Winfield Scott, by Richard F. Wehr, Blue & Gray Magazine, vol. V issue 1, Aug-Sep 1987, p. 23)

Company E, 15th Alabama began drilling at Westville, Dale County, Alabama. It left Westville on July 15, 1861 with 86 men, and was recruited during the war to 240. 140 of these never returned. (Dale County and Its People During the Civil War, Reminiscences of Mary Love (Edwards) Fleming, The Alabama Historical Quarterly, ed. by Peter A. Brannon, Spring Issue, 1957, p. 67)

Company I, 15th Alabama totaled 171 officers and enlisted men during the entire war, of which 32 were killed or mortally wounded, 55 were wounded, and 36 died of disease. (Pike County Historical Society, July 1960 – October 1963)

Company A, 48th Alabama was raised in Blount County and had an aggregate of 106 officers and enlisted men during the war, of which 11 were killed in battle, 16 died of disease, 28 were wounded, 6 were discharged for disability, 6 were captured, and 7 deserted. (History of the 48th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, by Sgt. John Dykes Taylore, Montgomery, AL: 1902, as cited in http://home/hiwaay.net/~bobwonda/Other Stuff/civilwarcompanies/48A.html, 06/29/2004)

Company F, 48th Alabama was also raised in Blount County and had an aggregate of 87 officers and enlisted men during the war, of which 4 were killed in battle, 10 died of disease, 20 were wounded, 10 were discharged for disability, 9 were captured, and 6 deserted. (History of the 48th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, by Sgt. John Dykes Taylore, Montgomery, AL: 1902, as cited in http://home/hiwaay.net/~bobwonda/Other Stuff/civilwarcompanies/48F.html, 06/29/2004)

Sergeant Walter A. Montgomery, Company F, 12th North Carolina, was wounded on July 1. In 1894, he was elected as a Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. (Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. V, North Carolina, pp. 657-658)

First Sergeant William H. Costenblader of Company E, 55th Virginia, was born near Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania circa 1836 and lived there until age 17, when he moved to Westmoreland County, Virginia and became the proprietor of a general store and of a mill that once belonged to George Washington. Enlisting as a private in Company E of the 55th Virginia on March 7, 1862, he became its first sergeant on May 26, 1863. On the first day of Gettysburg, he gathered up 22 Federals as prisoners. On the third day, he retrieved the regimental colors during the afternoon charge against Cemetery Ridge. Captured at Falling Waters on July 14, he was confined at Point Lookout, where he contracted typhoid fever. Having sufficiently recovered, he escaped from Point Lookout on December 10, 1863 and crossed the Potomac in an old canoe with one oar. (55th Virginia, by Richard O’Sullivan, The Virginia Regimental Histories Series, pp. 101-160)

James F. Crocker was studying wildflowers when he first explored the fields of Gettysburg in the late 1840’s as a student of Professor Michael Jacobs at Pennsylvania College. On his next visit, in July 1863, Crocker was trying to stay alive while crossing those same fields, as Adjutant of the 9th Virginia Infantry in Pickett’s division. Taken prisoner, he would greet his old botany professor in town. (Confederate Veteran, volume 14 (November 1906), p. 503)
 
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