Regiments that fought at Gettysburg

[Cavalry Charger]

source: http://www.gallon.com/lep-bucktailsprint.html

"The Bucktails" - Officially designated the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the unit was also known as the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, and the Kane Rifles.


"Without a doubt, the Bucktails are Pennsylvania's most famous Civil War unit. The regiment first formed in April 1861, when Thomas L. Kane sought permission to raise a company of riflemen from among the hardy woodsmen of McKean County. Each man who came to the regiment's rendezvous point wore civilian clothes and a buck's tail in his hat-a symbol of his marksmanship.

Indeed, the marksman test for joining the unit was unique at this early stage of the war. Most volunteers who joined the Union army did not have much proficiency with a weapon, let alone the newfangled rifled-muskets first introduced in the 1850s.

The Bucktails went into action at Gettysburg late in the afternoon of the second day. The First Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves formed along the crest of Cemetery Ridge just north of Little Round Top and, led by Crawford, charged the oncoming Confederates as disorganized fellow Yankee soldiers fell back to reform their lines.Colonel Charles F. Taylor of the Bucktails was in front of his regiment, too, encouraging his veterans.

The impetuous Reserves charged across Plum Run Valley (now called the Valley of Death) and halted at the stone wall on the eastern border of the Wheatfield. Armed with Sharps Rifles instead of the standard rifled-muskets, the Bucktails' hot fire forced the Rebels to withdraw across the trampled wheat. But Taylor, carelessly exposing himself, was killed as the regiment reformed and went into line of battle.

After the battle of Gettysburg, the Bucktails remained in service until they were mustered out in June 1864. Those who re-enlisted were absorbed into the new 190th Pennsylvania, also known as the 1st Veteran Reserves. During the Bucktails' three years of fighting, the regiment had a total of 1,165 officers and men. Of these, 162 soldiers were killed in battle or died from their wounds; ninety died of disease, accidents, and in Rebel prisons; and another 442 men were wounded but recovered".

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1EA

This thread is dedicated to the Regiments that fought at Gettysburg, Union and Confederate. As there were so many, I am hoping it will inspire information about those less well known as well as those who became famous during the battle. I will start with a Regiment from Pennsylvania whose image I came across on Pinterest.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Col. Taylor was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1840 (the town was the site of a U.S. General Hospital during the war, and cared for many Confederate casualties from Gettysburg). He attended the University of Michigan from 1855-1856 and again from 1857-1858. In the gap he took a sabbatical to Europe with his brother Bayard Taylor, a noted author and poet.

Before Col. Taylor fell on the early evening of July 2, the regiment incurred a few casualties from "friendly" artillery fire, most likely from a battery on Little Round Top. Sgt.? John Francis Bell, a member of the regiment, recalled that an older male civilian - no doubt an area farmer - tried to pass through his lines after midnight, but was compelled to turn back. Also during the night, the regimental pickets on the left of the line fell back without orders, but afterwards returned on their own volition and asked Bell not to report them, promising not to abandon their post again.

On July 3, the regiment, with the brigade, advanced to the west side of the Wheatfield, and then changing front to the south, encountered the 15th Georgia Regiment as it was moving through the woods in their direction. Heavily outnumbered, the 15th Georgia was quickly overwhelmed, and First Sergeant James B. Thompson of Company G of the Bucktails is credited with capturing their colors. It was an ironic clash, because the Bucktails had squared off against the 15th Georgia, among others, east of the Wheatfield on July 2, when Col. Taylor was killed.

Thomas L. Kane, of course, was at Gettysburg with a brigade of the Twelfth Corps as a Brigadier General. Langhorne Wister, who commanded Company B in 1861, was at Gettysburg as Colonel of the 150th Pennsylvania, succeeding Col. Roy Stone as brigade commander on July 1 until he was himself wounded.

Some men in the regiment had worked as canal boaters, raftsmen and iron workers. Hence Company K, the "Raftsmans' Rangers."

See also:

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/13...try_(42nd_Volunteers/1st_Pennsylvania_Rifles)

 

[Cavalry Charger]

15th Georgia Infantry:

"Benning, in the Den, was Hood's left flank, and was exposed by McLaws' departure. Benning received and obeyed incorrect orders and sent the 15th Ga north and west, towards the corner of the Wheatfield where the Irish brigade marker stands. Northern commanders saw the 15th moving in the woods, and sent a reinforced brigade to clear them out. The 15th found itself with both flanks turned and facing 4 or 5 times its number. They tried to make a running fight to escape, but it turned into more of a run than anything else. They lost 20-30 men killed and wounded, and their flag and 80-90 men captured, including their Lt Col.
"http://www.history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/gacwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=8536

http://www.history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/gacwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=8536

I believe they were also sharpshooters...maybe someone could confirm.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

114th Pennsylvania -- Part 1
​

The 114th Pennsylvania was recruited in Philadelphia and mustered into the Federal service in August 1862. The regiment saw action at Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville prior to Gettysburg. The 114th Pennsylvania was known primarily for two things -- their band, and their distinctive uniforms. As Bandmaster Frank Rauscher noted: "The uniform adopted for the regiment was precisely like that of the original company – red pants, Zouave jacket, white leggings, blue sash around the waist, and white turban, which pricked up the pride of the new recruits, and gave the regiment an imposing and warlike appearance. The material for these uniforms was all imported from France, and special arrangements were made to secure a sufficient supply of the same to replenish the uniforms during the whole term of service. This regiment … was enabled to preserve its identity as a Zouave organization until the close of the war." Thus at Gettysburg, the 114th was one of the few regiments who were still wearing the distinctive – and conspicuous – Zouave uniforms.

The regiment was at Emmitsburg on July 1. Then, at about 5:00, they were ordered to fall in and march to Gettysburg. A heavy rain fell as the Zouaves marched north, and they began to hear the sounds of battle in the distance. "We were then hurried faster,"Alexander Given recalled. "Our overcoats … became heavy, and we began throwing them away." As they passed one house, a woman standing in the doorway yelled out, "Boys, give it to those rebels, whip them well." Givin called back, "All right Auntie, we will do our best." Moving in the opposite direction were wagons filled with men, women and children, along with "an indiscriminate gathering of household furniture and utensils," fleeing the scene of the battle. "The faces of our men grew pale with shame and indignation at the idea of our own people being driven from their firesides," one of them recalled; "they saw that the tables were being turned upon them, and many were heard to swear that 'A man not willing to fight his best now, will never fight!'"

Marching near Givin was Corporal Robert Kenderdine of the color guard. "We were in good spirits, laughing and joking, although wet to the skin," Givin remembered. "I remember that Robert was as cheerful as any. It was about sundown when we reached the point on the Emmettsburg [sic] road where we fought the next day – little knowing that here so many of our boys would fall." They passed a "low, one-storied log structure," the home of a shoemaker [the Klingel House]. "The man himself sat in the doorway nursing a little child about three years of age," Givin wrote later. "This same house and grounds were the next day a terrible place of slaughter." Rauscher recorded that as they turned off the Emmitsburg Road, "within a hundred yards of us, the rebels had their camp-fires blazing, as they were busily engaged in preparing and taking supper."

At about 1:00 p.m. on July 2, Graham's regiments advanced and occupied a new position extending from the Peach Orchard on the left to the Trostle farm lane on the right. As the Zouaves prepared to move forward, some of them knelt to pray. Sergeant Joseph DeHaven of Company F told his mates, "Boys, this will be the last time we pray together."

Part of Graham's brigade, the 114th Pennsylvania was positioned facing west behind (on the east side) the Emmitsburg Road supporting 1st Lt. John R. Bucklyn's Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Artillery. The Zouaves lay in an oatfield behind the left two section of the battery. When the Confederate artillery opened up at about 3:45, they came under "a terrific shower of shot and shell" which "made terrible havoc among us." "At first the shells went far beyond, but the gunners shortened the fuses and they dropped in front and over us," Givin remembered. "We had several wounded here from bursting shells." Captain Bowen would relate years later: "…Having no protection of any sort or kind, and our position affording us none, we threw ourselves upon the ground, and for upwards of two hours passively endured the terrible ordeal, while death and destruction was being dealt among us. None of the various duties which a soldier is called upon to perform, and none of the various vicissitudes and dangers that he is expected to face, call for such bravery and endurance, as thus remaining passive under an enemy's artillery fire that has got an accurate range, and from which there is no protection. On the skirmish line, on the charge, or actively engaged, assaulting or defending, there is intense activity and great excitement, the mind is so occupied that it takes little note of anything except the duty immediately to be done, and there is no time or opportunity for thought of personal danger; but not so when lying prone upon the ground, the shot and shell falling among and all around, and one can do nothing for one's own defense, but only lie there wondering when his own turn will come to be struck, whether he will be killed outright or mutilated, and whether he may be spared to do whatever may come next, nothing else in all a soldier's experience so tries his bravery and endurance, and those who have gone through such an ordeal will never forget it."

To their front, Bucklyn's guns were wreaking similar havoc on Barksdale's men. "Where they were well covered the casualties were few," one Mississippian recalled; "but where the line was exposed the punishment was severe. The severest of all tests on troops, to receive fire without returning it, was borne unflinchingly." One of the reasons Barksdale was impatient to attack was to silence the battery. "I wish you would let me go in, General," Barksdale told Longstreet; "I would take that battery in five minutes." When they were finally permitted to move to the attack, the Mississippians raised the "Rebel Yell" and advanced directly toward Graham's line between the Peach Orchard and the Sherfy farm. On the brigade's right, south of the Millerstown Road, the 21st Mississippi struck the Peach Orchard itself. North of the road, the 17th, 13th, and 18th regiments advanced directly toward the Emmitsburg Road, with the 18th Mississippi aiming directly toward the Sherfy farmhouse and barn.

Bucklyn's guns continued firing at the oncoming Confederates. J. C. Lloyd of the 13th Mississippi recalled the "shot, shell, and canister" and "the men falling all around us," and wondered how anyone could "still live through it." One of Barksdale's men remembered the Mississippians running "at top speed, yelling at the top of their voices, without firing a shot, [as] the brigade sped across the field and literally rushed the goal. Our men began to drop as soon as they came to attention and were well peppered in covering the distance to the enemy." However, since Barksdale's men had a relatively small distance to cover before reaching the Union positions, Bucklyn's and Thompson's batteries had no real opportunity to break up the attack.

As Barksdale's men advanced, Bucklyn's guns were in grave danger of being overrun. Bucklyn recounted that his guns fired "slow and carefully. Men and horses fall around me. The rebels advance to within 40 yds of me and give me a volley." The battery would suffer greater casualties than any other in the Third Corps. When it was all over, Captain Bucklyn would lament: "My battery is torn and shattered and my brave boys have gone, never to return. Curse the rebels." Nearly every horse in the battery was killed or disabled.

Captain George Randolph, commanding the 3rd Corps artillery, knew that the infantry had to cross the Emmitsburg Road to save Bucklyn's battery. After failing to find General Graham, he appealed directly to the officers and men of the 57th Pennsylvania. Sgt. Ellis Strouss of the 57th recalled that men of his regiment "took advantage of the cover afforded by the house and the adjoining out-buildings and opened fire with good effect." Some men from the 57th entered the Sherfy house and fired out the windows on the west and south sides at the advancing Mississippians. Others used the outbuildings for cover or climbed into the cherry trees. Randolph then appealed to the Zouaves: "If you want to save my battery, move forward. I cannot find the general [Graham]. I give the order on my own responsibility." Captain Bowen recalled Randolph stating, "You boys saved this battery once before at Fredricksburg, and if you will do it again, move forward." As Col. Cavada could not be found, Bowen ordered the regiment to advance: "The regiment sprang forward with alacrity and passed through and to the front of the battery, which hastily limbered up and got to the rear. The impetus of our advance chased us to the Emmitsburg Road, in the face of the murderous musketry fire of the enemy. Reaching the Road it clambered over the fence and crossed it. Sherfy's house and outbuildings intervening between us and the enemy, the right of the regiment was advanced to the rear of the house. While advancing in this way our men were loading and firing as rapidly as possible, and several times pauses were made notably as we stood on the Emmitsburg Road and corrected the alignment which had been broken by climbing over the fence. During all this time we were receiving terrible musketry fire from the rapidly approaching enemy, and the men were falling by scores." Among those who fell was company E's Captain Frank Fix as a bullet tore through his right knee.

 

[infomanpa]

"The Bucktails" - Officially designated the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the unit was also known as the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, and the Kane Rifles.

I get this regiment mixed up with an entire Bucktail brigade, consisting of 3 regiments, also from Pennsylvania, the 143rd, 149th and 150th. They were also at Gettysburg and mainly fought on the first day, July 1.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

The 114th Pennsylvania -- Part 2
​

As the Zouaves crossed the Emmitsburg Road, Bucklyn's battery immediately limbered up and made for the rear. Bucklyn himself would receive "a painful wound while endeavoring to take from the field a cassion, some of the horses of which had been killed."

The 57th Pennsylvania seems to have advanced across the Emmitsburg Road slightly before the Zouaves did. In his official report, Captain Bowen wrote that as they crossed the road, he "attempted to form a line with the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, who were already there," but that he was "only partially successful" due to the heavy firing they were already receiving form the direction of the Peach Orchard. Private William M. Boggs of company F recalled going "out in advance of our line to an old chimney that stood in the rear of the brick [Sherfy] house." There he and a companion saw "a general officer heading the first line to the attack and we distinctly saw him fall." Boggs believed the officer was Barksdale himself, but he was mistaken; Barksdale would be mortally wounded later that evening as his Mississippian surged toward Cemetery Ridge.

Givin was kneeling between the Sherfy house and barn when Lieutenant-Colonel Cavada came up and knelt beside him. Cavada asked if the enemy was coming. Givin replied, "Bet your life they are!" The Mississippians advanced to within 100 yards of the Sherfy farm, reaching a rail fence and opening a devastating fire. Captain Lamar of McLaws' staff, watching the Mississippians advance, "was anxious to see how they would get over and around [the fence]. When they reached it, the fence disappeared as if by magic, and the slaughter of the 'red breeched Zouaves' on the other side was terrible!" he recalled. Givin remembered, "The leaden bullets flew thick and fast about us as the men fell about me." As Joseph Beaumant fell mortally wounded nearby, he cried out: "Give it to them boys! We have them on our own ground."

Givin later wrote: "The rebels advanced in two lines and in good order, until they reached the barn, where our boys met them. Then began a desperate conflict, men on both sides clubbing each other with their muskets." He would later state:
"How long we fought here, I cannot tell. In battle a person has no real conception of time. We crossed the road and I remember myself standing in the path leading to the house directing some of the men what to do. Of course, all was excitement. I remember that in many cases the fighting was hand-to-hand. It was a desperate battle. Men never fought with such determination as did our little band."

Not far from Givin, Sergeant Joseph DeHaven, "a brave soldier and a true patriot," fell dead with a bullet through the heart, thus fulfilling his morning prophecy. Givin would return to the scene on July 4: "I sat down and cut his name on a shingle, and put it at his grave, and sent word to his sorrowing wife." DeHaven's body would later be disinterred and reburied in Manayunk.

To their left, Graham's line began to fall apart. The 17th Mississippi was heading directly toward the weakest part of Graham's line – the right angle in the line near the Wentz house, at the intersection of the Emmitsburg and Millerstown roads. They struck the 68th Pennsylvania full-force on their right flank, exploiting the gap between the 68th and 114th. Within 15 minutes, the 21st Mississippi would overwhelm the Union positions in the Peach Orchard. The overextended nature of Sickles' advanced line, the salient nature of the defensive position in the Peach Orchard, and the lack of supports were now coming to haunt the Third Corps soldiers fighting along the Emmitsburg Road.

With the defensive position in the Peach Orchard crumbling, the 17th Mississippi began to flank the left of the 114th's line while the 13th Mississippi, with Barksdale riding at its front, pounded their front. As a member of the 13th Mississippi recalled, "Scarcely a minute and we were at the barn and scaling the fences at the lane and right across and in among the enemy, literally running over them." Soldiers in the 18th Mississippi "breasted a hot fire from a large brick barn" as the Zouaves had converted the Sherfy barn into a fortress in an attempt to hold back the Mississippians. Major G. B. Gerald of the 18th Mississippi remembered: "I was on the left of the regiment and the colonel and lieutenant colonel were somewhat to my right and partially protected by other buildings, and I with most of the regiment was directly in front of the barn…. I called to the men that the barn must be captured and to follow me and I would open the door. They followed me with a rush and I forced the door open, and within less than two minutes we had killed, wounded or captured every man in the barn."

"Soon it became apparent that it was impossible that we should be able to hold our ground against such overwhelming numbers," Bowen recalled. In his official report, Bowen wrote, "…the enemy had already advanced so quickly and in such force as to gain the road, and, pouring a murderous fire on our flank, threw the left wing of the regiment on to the right in much confusion." "The boys were falling all around me," Givin remembered. "I was almost beside myself as I beheld my comrades' vain efforts to rally." It was a futile attempt, and the Pennsylvanians were compelled to fall back, "although very reluctantly." As Givin recalled: "The line – if such a confused mass could be called a line, when, without a head, some in the house, some in the yard, some back of the barn – the regiment was fighting, had fallen back to the road. The guard was in advance of the colors, defending them to their utmost. The enemy was working around to the Emmettsburg [sic] road and were flanking the left of the line at the peach orchard."

The 114th's colors were posted just to the south of the Sherfy house. Color-Sergeant Benjamin Baylitts carried the U.S. flag, while Cpl. Michael Cannon carried the state flag. During the course of the fighting, Cannon was wounded, and the state flag was picked up and carried through the rest of the battle by Cpl. Barry Hall. Baylitts carried the national flag safely through the battle. Sgt. H.H. Snyder, also of the color guard, was standing to Corporal Kenderdine when he saw a Mississippian taking aim from the corner of the barn. The southerner fired and the twenty-three year-old Kenderdine fell seriously wounded through the buttocks. Snyder returned fire but missed; the Mississippian fell moments later, "apparently dead." Kenderdine "was left lying in the road close to where the monument now is," Givin recalled. He "called to one of his comrades, but he had gone. Sergeant Snyder answered for him, and bidding him good-bye, retreated with the rest." The young corporal lay in agony until the morning of July 4, when his comrades returned to the Peach Orchard. Givin saw Kenderdine as he has being carried away on a stretcher and wrote: "He looked badly and was suffering much from his wound. His clothing was torn, and he seemed to have no care taken of him since the battle, near two days before. I asked him if he was wounded badly. He said, "Oh yes; I am very badly wounded." That was all he said; for they were carrying him off, and I was busy with my awful duties [burying the dead]; but the look he gave me I will never forget, it was so sad."

The Mississippians continued to press the Pennsylvanians as they withdrew from the Sherfy buildings. As Givin remembered: "All was confusion now. The enemy was swarming around the house and in front of the Zouaves; two of their cannon were run into the road and were raking our troops with an enfilading fire, and the last of them were retreating….This was about 6 o'clock.

The Confederate guns were firing double grape and canister with devastating effect. "I saw it would not be wise for us to remain and told the men to retreat slowly," Givin recalled. Captain Bowen reported: "I attempted to rally the regiment across the road, but could not succeed in doing so, the enemy advancing so rapidly and my men falling in such numbers as to prevent my succeeding in doing so. I succeeded, however, in rallying a number around the colors, and brought them off…."

Bowen recognized the danger the Zouaves were in – they were about to be cut off and captured. First Lieutenant Aaron K. Dunkle, commanding Company H, and Second Lieutenant Harry Rulon of Company B were both captured at this point, along with several others. "Only one avenue of escape was open to us," Bowen related, "and that was up the Emmitsburg road."

Bowen succeeded in saving the colors and the remnants of his command by ordering the flag to withdraw a short distance and then rallying the Zouaves in the new position: "Ordering the colors to go in that direction [up the Emmitsburg Road] with the assistance of Captain [Henry M.] Eddy [commanding Company D] and the few remaining officers rallying the few men that were left, we made a stand, pouring a volley into the enemy, who was almost upon us, and then retreated up the road, many falling by the way, for it was far more dangerous to life to retreat up the road and to our rear, than it was to remain to be captured." A bullet slammed into Eddy's chest, but it was a spent ball, and the captain was assisted to the rear. Once the Mississippians had nearly reached the new position, the colors were ordered to fall back further.

With Mississippians swarming on their left flank and in their rear, the 57th Pennsylvania was also forced to fall back. Capt. Alanson Nelson, seeing the red breeches give way, turned to his commander, Col. Peter Sides, and said: "It looks as if we'll soon have to move out of here, or be captured." "Yes, I think we will go now," Sides replied. As the regiment pulled back, Nelson took a detail to warn those soldiers who were still inside the Sherfy house. Moments later, Sides was wounded as members of the 18th Mississippi swarmed around the house. Nelson was able to warn some of the men; those who did not get the word in time were captured.

With Graham's line along the Emmitsburg Road collapsing, the 73rd New York was ordered to rush to the scene. Captain Frank Moran of the 73rd remembered hurrying "at double-quick to a point directly in rear of the barn where the 114th Pennsylvania (Collis' Zouaves) though fearfully exposed on that deadly crest, were bravely disputing the ground with the Mississippi Brigade, which came swarming up the slope, yelling like devils and led by Barksdale." Although they were taking heavy casualties, they could not return fire at first for fear of hitting the Zouaves who were still in front of them. Moran recalled: "At last the 114th, with a parting volley in the faces of the Mississippians, made room for us and our regiment sent a volley at the enemy who fell in scores among the dead and wounded Pennsylvanians. They staggered under our fresh fire, but waved their flags, cheered and returned our volley, seeing their supports close at hand. Their advance, however, was checked at the barn, as our men continued to load and fire with rapidity and coolness, but our thin line on the left could be seen melting away through the smoke and our wounded in hundreds went streaming back over the Emmitsburg road, and riderless horses went dashing among them in bewilderment and fright. At last an order came to fall back, and our line retired towards the pike, firing as it went."Moran remembered a "tornado of bullets and shells" as the regiment withdrew.

On the brigade's right flank, the 105th Pennsylvania was also desperately clinging to its position on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road. "I noticed the regiments on my immediate left (One hundred and fourteenth and Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers) cluster in groups behind the brick house and adjacent out-buildings," Col. Calvin A. Craig of the 105th reported. "A few moments later the One hundred and fourteenth fell to the rear, and the Fifty-seventh very soon followed, leaving my left flank entirely unprotected." Craig redeployed his "Wildcats" across the road where they, along with some members of the 57th, "checked the advancing rebels for a few minutes." But Barksdale's Mississippians advance was overwhelming, and soon Graham's line along the Emmitsburg Road was in full retreat.

The Zouaves continued to retreat up the Emmitsburg Road. As they reached the Klingle house and crossed to the west side of the road, Givin found Cavada sitting on the back step. "Are you wounded?" Givin asked. "No, but very weak," Cavada replied. Givin offered to assist the colonel off the field, but Cavada declined, telling the lieutenant to save himself. Bowen also saw Cavada seated on the step and inquired if he was wounded. "He replied that he was not, but utterly exhausted," Bowen wrote in his official report. "I begged him to make an effort to come on, as the enemy was only a few yards from him and advancing rapidly. He replied that he could not, and I left him there…" Shortly thereafter, Cavada was captured, and Bowen assumed command of the regiment.

In all, the Zouaves had stood their ground around the Sherfy farm for about twenty minutes.

As Captain Frank Fix lay wounded in the road, a Confederate battery was coming up the road at a gallop. Seeing the dead and wounded piled up in the road bed, the Confederate captain ordered his battery to halt. The Confederates lifted the dead to one side of the road and carried the wounded into the cellar of the house and gave them water, before continuing on their mission.

Givin recorded one curious incident that testified to the ferocity of the fighting near the Sherfy farm. On the evening of July 3, Givin led a detail of men who "reported to a captain in the 26th Pennsylvania, who had charge of a burial squad." Givin and the captain were talking near the Emmitsburg Road when the captain bent over and picked up an object. It "proved to be two musket balls – one a Union, the other a rebel," Givin remembered. "They had met in mid-air and melded together. We could distinguish them by the rings, the former having three, the latter two."

The Zouaves had used the Sherfy barn as cover during the battle, and many wounded men sought shelter inside. On July 3, an exploding shell caused the barn to catch fire. As it burned, many of the wounded men were trapped inside. "Those of the wounded not able to help themselves were destroyed by flames, which were in a moment spread through the straw and dry material of the building," one soldier wrote two days later. "The crisped and blackened limbs, heads and other portions of bodies lying half consumed among the heaps of ruins and ashes, made up one of the most ghastly pictures ever witnessed, even on the field of battle." Although most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, their regimental affiliation could be surmised from the charred fragments of the distinctive Zouave uniform. Those bodies were recovered and are now buried in the National Cemetery marked, "Unknown Zouave."

A few days later, another passing soldier recorded: "But what a sene was before us or how would a man that had not been seared by the horrors of War have felt to look upon the sene. There is where the hottest of the fight took place and the Barn was fill of dead and wounded which had been set on fire and burned and there was the skelitons of men some all burned up other half burned some with only their clothes burned off. On the same ground that our Regt occupied was where the 114th Penn Zouaves red Breeches as we call them fought. There were as many as 30 or 40 lay dead there of that Regt."

A Gettysburg correspondent reported on July 20 that in the barn "and around the haystacks were about twenty wounded Philadelphia Zouaves, who perished in the conflagration."

Members of the band had been detailed for hospital duty during the battle; on July 5, the band rejoined the regiment. "There was enough to sink our spirits very low on reporting to our regiment," Rauscher reported, "for this formerly strong and splendid body of men could only show about sixty muskets." He continued:
"We resumed our place at the head of the line, but it seemed more like heading a funeral procession, and marched directly over the hotly contested field, on which there remained abundant evidences of the carnage; dead horses were scattered over the vast expanse, and here and there were the bodies of men, some in fragments, the stench adding sickness to the repulsive scene. We marched over the blood-christened Peach Orchard, or what was such on the evening of July I. It was then an orchard of beautiful trees, fresh in foliage; but now not a single tree was left on the whole tract of land; all were cut down by the iron and leaden hail belched forth from artillery and musketry; only a field of stumps from twelve to eighteen inches high remained. If any locality on the battle-field deserves the name of "bloody angle," this is the spot."

Today, a Collis Zouave stands in the yard of the Sherfy house, forever eyeing the advance of the Mississippians. He is in the act of loading his rifle, ramming the shot home. He appears steady and unconcerned; an air of determination is set upon his face. At the monument's dedication on November 11, 1888, Captain Givin remarked: "Standing as it does looking to our left which is being driven back, is preparing to give them another shot. This may appear to be the production of the imagination of the artist's brain, but it not. It is a reality as some of you standing here can testify. Men of the One hundred and fourteenth stood as this man stands, contesting the ground inch by inch. The artist has given to him an expression of determination. He is fighting freedom's battle, the enemy must be driven back. Long marches, short rations, little rest or sleep weaves into the knitted brow a look of firmness. The compressed lips could they be opened would say emphatically, "the enemy must be driven back."

In recalling the events of July 2, 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel Bowen would state "that there it nobly stood its ground, bravely endeavored to the last extremity to hold it against the assault of overwhelming numbers, did all that brave men and well-tried soldiers could do to defend a position in which it was placed, and was driven from it only when more than half its number were killed or wounded, overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers, surrounded on three sides and its commander wounded and a prisoner." Remembering his fallen friends, Givin would state: "Comrades, this ground upon which we stand is consecrated ground, made so by the blood of our own comrades, being so freely shed upon it."

* Edward J. Hagerty, Collis' Zouaves:
The 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War.

* Alexander H. Givin: "Memoirs of Alexander Wallace Given."

*Oliver Wilson Davis, Sketch of Frederic Fernandez Cavada, A Native of Cuba.

* Rauscher, "Music on the March."

* Thaddeus S. Kenderdine, A California Tramp.

* Pennsylvania at Gettysburg

*O. R.

 

[rpkennedy]

I get this regiment mixed up with an entire Bucktail brigade, consisting of 3 regiments, also from Pennsylvania, the 143rd, 149th and 150th. They were also at Gettysburg and mainly fought on the first day, July 1.

Colonel Roy Stone, commanding the Bucktail Brigade, had been the major of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves.

Ryan

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Today, a Collis Zouave stands in the yard of the Sherfy house, forever eyeing the advance of the Mississippians. He is in the act of loading his rifle, ramming the shot home. He appears steady and unconcerned; an air of determination is set upon his face.

http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.co...nia/pennsylvania-infantry/114th-pennsylvania/

 

[Cavalry Charger]

None of the various duties which a soldier is called upon to perform, and none of the various vicissitudes and dangers that he is expected to face, call for such bravery and endurance, as thus remaining passive under an enemy's artillery fire that has got an accurate range, and from which there is no protection.

when lying prone upon the ground, the shot and shell falling among and all around, and one can do nothing for one's own defense, but only lie there wondering when his own turn will come to be struck, whether he will be killed outright or mutilated, and whether he may be spared to do whatever may come next,

This next part says it all:

nothing else in all a soldier's experience so tries his bravery and endurance, and those who have gone through such an ordeal will never forget it."

Thank you for sharing this very detailed account @Andy Cardinal. It helps to bring home the real horrors these men must have faced, and for me personal accounts always seem to do that best.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

The 15th Alabama:

Image: 'The 20th Maine & 15th Alabama at Gettysburg' by Dale Gallon
https://pab58.com/tag/15th-alabama/

"In their attack on Little Round Top, the 15th Alabama would be joined by the 4th and 47th Alabama Infantry, and also by the 4th and 5th Texas Infantry regiments. All of these units were thoroughly exhausted at the time of the assault, having marched in the July heat for over 20 miles (37 kilometers) prior to the actual attack. Furthermore, the canteens of the Southerners were empty, and Law's command to advance did not give them time to refill them.[22] Approaching the Union line on the crest of the hill, Law's men were thrown back by the first Union volley and withdrew briefly to regroup. The 15th Alabama repositioned itself further to the right, attempting to find the Union left flank which, unbeknownst to it, was held by Chamberlain's 20th Maine.[23]

Chamberlain, meanwhile, had detached Company "B" of his regiment and elements of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, ordering them to take a concealed position behind a stone wall 150 yards to his east, hoping to guard against a Confederate envelopment.[24]

Seeing the 15th Alabama shifting around his flank, Chamberlain ordered the remainder of his 385 men[25] to form a single-file line. The 15th Alabama charged the Maine troops, only to be repulsed by furious rifle fire. Chamberlain next ordered the southernmost half of his line to "refuse the line", meaning that they formed a new line at an angle to the original force, to meet the 15th Alabama's flanking maneuver. Though it endured incredible losses, the 20th Maine managed to hold through five more charges by the 15th over a ninety-minute period.[17] Col. Oates, commanding the regiment, described the action in his memoirs, forty years later:

"Vincent's brigade, consisting of the Sixteenth Michigan on the right, Forty-fourth New York, Eighty-third Pennsylvania, and Twentieth Maine regiments, reached this position ten minutes before my arrival, and they piled a few rocks from boulder to boulder, making the zigzag line more complete, and were concealed behind it ready to receive us. From behind this ledge, unexpectedly to us, because concealed, they poured into us the most destructive fire I ever saw. Our line halted, but did not break. The enemy was formed in line as named from their right to left. ... As men fell their comrades closed the gap, returning the fire most spiritedly. I could see through the smoke men of the Twentieth Maine in front of my right wing running from tree to tree back westward toward the main body, and I advanced my right, swinging it around, overlapping and turning their left. I ordered my regiment to change direction to the left, swing around, and drive the Federals from the ledge of rocks, for the purpose of enfilading their line ... gain the enemy's rear, and drive him from the hill. My men obeyed and advanced about half way to the enemy's position, but the fire was so destructive that my line wavered like a man trying to walk against a strong wind, and then slowly, doggedly, gave back a little; then with no one upon the left or right of me, my regiment exposed, while the enemy was still under cover, to stand there and die was sheer folly; either to retreat or advance became a necessity. ... Captain [Henry C.] Brainard, one of the bravest and best officers in the regiment, in leading his company forward, fell, exclaiming, 'O God! that I could see my mother,' and instantly expired. Lieutenant John A. Oates, my dear brother, succeeded to the command of the company, but was pierced through by a number of bullets, and fell mortally wounded. Lieutenant [Barnett H.] Cody fell mortally wounded, Captain [William C.] Bethune and several other officers were seriously wounded, while the carnage in the ranks was appalling. I again ordered the advance, knowing the officers and men of that gallant old regiment, I felt sure that they would follow their commanding officer anywhere in the line of duty. I passed through the line waving my sword, shouting, 'Forward, men, to the ledge!' and promptly followed by the command in splendid style. We drove the Federals from their strong defensive position; five times they rallied and charged us, twice coming so near that some of my men had to use the bayonet, but in vain was their effort. It was our time now to deal death and destruction to a gallant foe, and the account was speedily settled. I led this charge and sprang upon the ledge of rock, using my pistol within musket length, when the rush of my men drove the Maine men from the ledge. ... About forty steps up the slope there is a large boulder about midway the Spur. The Maine regiment charged my line, coming right up in a hand-to-hand encounter. My regimental colors were just a step or two to the right of that boulder, and I was within ten feet. A Maine man reached to grasp the staff of the colors when Ensign [John G.] Archibald stepped back and Sergeant Pat O'Connor stove his bayonet through the head of the Yankee, who fell dead."

(Wikipedia - 15th Regiment Alabama Infantry)

The regiment was commanded by Colonel Oats and brought 499 men to the field. Captains J. H. Allison, Henry C. Brainard and James H. Ellison and 28 enlisted men were killed, Lieutenant John C. Oates was mortally wounded, Lt. Colonel Isaac Ball Feagin, Lieutenant William J. Bethune and 47 enlisted men were wounded, and 90 men missing. Lt. Colonel Feagan was captured and would spend eleven months in prison before being exchanged.

From Colonel Oates' report:

"Lieutenant-Colonel Feagin, a most excellent and gallant officer, received a severe wound, which caused him to lose his leg, the heroic Capt. Ellison had fallen, while Capt. Brainard, one of the bravest and best officers in the regiment, fell … Lieut. John A. Oates, my beloved brother, was pierced through with eight bullets and fell mortally wounded. Private A. Kennedy of Company B, and William Trimmer of Company G, were killed; and Private G. E. Spencer, Company D, severely wounded. Loss was 17 killed and 54 wounded and brought off of field, and 90 missing: 8 officers were killed."

From the brigade marker on the Gettysburg battlefield:

July 2. Left New Guilford 25 miles distant at 3 A.M. Arrived and formed line 50 yards west of this about 4 P.M. and advanced against the Union positions. The 4th 15th and 47th Regiments attacked Little Round Top and continued the assault until dark. The 44th and 48th assisted in capturing Devil's Den and 3 guns of the 4th New York Battery.

July 3. Occupied the breastworks on west slope of Round Top. The 4th and 15th Regiments assisted at 5 P. M. in repulsing cavalry led by Brig. Gen. E. J. Farnsworth in Plum Run Valley.

July 5. About 5 A. M. began the march to Hagerstown Md.

http://civilwarintheeast.com/confederate-regiments/alabama/15th-alabama-infantry/

Post edited to include more detail

 

[Cavalry Charger]

The 20th Maine:

"Bayonet - July 2nd, 1863" by Don Troiani
http://www.centralmaine.com/2013/06/29/why-gettysburgs-called-a-maine-battlefield_2013-06-30/

On July 2, 1863, the 20th Maine was positioned by Col. John Vincent at the far left of the Union line on Little Round Top with the rest of Vincent's brigade: the 44th New York, 16th Michigan, and 83rd Pennsylvania. As the enemy began their attack, Capt. James H. Nichols, the commander of the 20th Maine's Company K, alerted Chamberlain that the enemy seemed to be pushing toward the regiment's left. Chamberlain ordered a right-angle formation, extending his line farther to the east.

Elements the 15th and 47th Alabama, led by Colonel William C. Oates, had been ordered to find the Union left, turn it and capture Little Round Top. The 20th Maine's Company B, deployed along the regiment's left front flank, was subsequently cut off by this flanking movement.

After an hour and a half under heavy attack and running low on ammunition, Chamberlain saw the rebels forming for another push and ordered a charge down the hill with fixed bayonets, which caught the enemy by surprise. During the charge, a second Confederate line tried to make a stand near a stone wall. The isolated Company B, now in a position from which to provide the rest of the regiment with support, fired into the Confederate's rear, giving the impression that the 20th Maine had been joined by another regiment. This, coupled with the surprise of Chamberlain's bold attack, caused panic among the Southerners' ranks.

The Confederates scattered, ending the attack on the hill. If the 20th Maine had retreated instead, the entire line would have been flanked and the Union likely would have lost Gettysburg. Holding the hill helped the Union win Gettysburg and turn the tide of the war.

http://www.historynet.com/20th-maine

"Theodore Gerrish of the 20th Maine described the battle from his side: 'Ten minutes have passed since we formed the line…but we have no indications of the enemy: 'But look! Look! Look!' exclaim half a hundred men in our regiment at the same time; and no wonder, for right in our front…we see the lines of the enemy. The conflict opens…the carnage began. Our regiment was mantled in fire and smoke.

'I wish that I could picture with my pen the awful details of that hour–how rapidly the cartridges were torn from the boxes and stuffed in the smoking muzzles of the guns; how the steel rammers clashed and clanged in the heated barrels; how the men's hands and faces grew grim and black with burning powder; how our little line, baptized with fire, reeled to and fro as it advanced or was pressed back; how our officers bravely encouraged the men to hold and recklessly exposed themselves to the enemy's fire–a terrible medley of cries, shouts, cheers, groans, prayers, curses, bursting shells, whizzing rifle bullets and clanging steel.

'The enemy was pouring a terrible fire upon us, his superior forces giving him a great advantage….The air seemed to be alive with lead. The lines at times were so near each other that the hostile gun barrels almost touched….At one time there was a brief lull in the carnage, and our shattered line was closed up, but soon the contest raged again with renewed fierceness….Many of our companies have suffered fearfully….But there is no relief and the carnage goes on.'

Oates now decided to concentrate the 15th Alabama on his right in an effort to outflank the left end of the Union line. Warned that'something very strange was going on' behind the attacking Confederates, Chamberlain climbed atop a large boulder and saw Oates' flanking column moving to attack the left flank. The 20th Maine was in a very tight spot. Chamberlain had to maneuver to protect his left flank while actively engaged with the 47th Alabama along his entire front. He reported, 'Without betraying our peril to any but one or two officers, I had the right wing move by the left flank, taking intervals of a pace or two…extending so as to cover the whole front then engaged; and at the same time moved the left wing to the left rear, making a large angle at the color which was now brought up to the front where our left had first rested.'

The 20th Maine's line now resembled a 'V' composed of a single rank of men. 'We were not a moment too soon,' reported Chamberlain, for the 15th Alabama rushed forward against what they expected to be an unprotected left flank, reaching within 10 paces before being stopped by a sudden deadly volley by the new left wing of the 20th Maine. 'From that moment began a struggle fierce and bloody beyond any that I have witnessed and which lasted in all its fury a full hour,' reported Chamberlain. Each side fought like madmen. The 20th Maine regimental history simply states, 'No one could ever describe this part of the fight coherently.' Chamberlain remembered that 'the edge of the conflict swayed to and fro, with wild whirlpools and eddies. At times I saw around me more of the enemy than of my own men.'

The Confederates somehow broke through the Union line in several places; there was hand-to-hand fighting. Somehow the 20th Maine line held, but the left wing had been forced back so far that the line now resembled a hairpin and incoming fire on the left was landing in the rear of the right wing. It was now after 7 p.m. and the 20th Maine was in bad shape.

The regiment had fired 15,000 rounds, and the 60 rounds allotted per man were almost exhausted. Three hundred and fifty-eight riflemen had gone into the battle and only 228 remained effective. The enemy appeared to be massing for another charge, one that would certainly overwhelm the left wing of the 20th Maine. Private Gerrish remembered: 'Our line is pressed back so far that our dead are within the lines of enemy. Our ammunition is nearly all gone, and we are using the cartridges from the boxes of our wounded comrades. A critical moment has arrived, and we can remain as we are no longer; we must advance or retreat.'

For Chamberlain there was only one thing left–a counterattack. He gave the order, 'Fix bayonets!' Gerrish describes it this way: 'Every man understood in a moment that the movement was our only salvation, but there is a limit to human endurance… and the little line seemed to quail under the fearful fire that was being poured upon it. In that moment of supreme need…Lieutenant Holman S. Melcher with a cheer and a flash of his sword, full ten paces to the front he sprang–ten paces–more than half the distance between hostile lines. 'Come on! Come on! Come on, boys!' he shouts. The color sergeant and the brave color guard follow, and with one wild yell of anguish wrung from it's tortured heart, the regiment charged.'

In a brilliantly executed maneuver, Chamberlain's men charged forward and across the hill from the left wing of their line while those on the right swung with them in an extended 'right wheel forward' movement. Chamberlain described the charge as having the effect of 'a reaper cutting down the disconcerted foe.' Stunned, the Confederate troops in the front ranks dropped their rifles and surrendered. The rest broke and retreated toward a stone wall in their rear.

'Suddenly,' said Chamberlain, 'to our mutual surprise, two scores of rifle barrels gleam over the rocks, and a murderous volley was poured in upon them at close quarters.' Captain Morrill's lost Company B and Staughton's wandering sharpshooters rose up out of their hiding place, and with a shout they too charged into the Confederate flank, making such a commotion that the Rebels thought they were a whole regiment. Oates described the situation: 'My position rapidly became untenable. The Federal infantry were reported to be coming down on my right and certainly were closing in on my rear.' He ordered his staff officers to 'return to your companies; we will sell out as dearly as possible.'

What was left of the 15th and 47th Alabama Regiments fled to Round Top. Oates collapsed while climbing the hill and might have been captured had not two of his men carried him to safety. He described the retreat simply and honestly, saying, 'We ran like a herd of cattle.'

Chamberlain reported capturing 400 prisoners. In addition, 150 dead or wounded Rebels were found in his front. These numbers seem exaggerated; at least Oates thought so. He admitted that in a roll call after the battle only 223 enlisted men and half the officers (19) of his regiment responded. The 20th Maine had only 200 of 386 officers and men still effective. The Confederate assault on the south slope of Little Round Top had been repulsed".

http://www.historynet.com/little-round-top

Post edited to add more detail.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

This next part says it all:



Thank you for sharing this very detailed account @Andy Cardinal. It helps to bring home the real horrors these men must have faced, and for me personal accounts always seem to do that best.

Thank you @Cavalry Charger. Each time I go to Gettysburg I pick one regiment or individual to find out what I can and write an account about them. It helps me see the battle in a different way each time I go. I've been working on this one the past few weeks in preparation for my next trip to Gettysburg in two weeks.

 

[amweiner]

As a Michigan native, I'm thinking of the 24th Michigan Infantry today. While it's not a complete history, I did want to share my favorite passage from Bruce Catton's Glory Road about the 24th during the height of the July 1st fighting. My disclaimer is that I'm a Catton fan although I know his facts are sometimes off and he takes some liberties with events. However, I've always liked his writing style and his evident admiration for those who served during that time. The picture above is, of course, Don Troiani's work.

"And here in the middle of it all was the 24th Michigan, with a county judge for a colonel and a county sheriff for lieutenant colonel and all the line officers carrying presentation swords; the regiment that had once been ostracized because its valor was unproven. Since Fredericksburg the regiment had been accepted, but in the unfathomable economics of army life the men seem to have felt that they still owed the rest of the brigade something, and here on Seminary Ridge the bill had come up for payment.

Three times Colonel Morrow sent back word that the position was untenable, and each time General Wadsworth grimly ordered him to hold on anyway. Some of the survivors remembered forming line of battle six times that hot afternoon, with the rank battle fog lying low under the trees and unappeasable enemies coming in from all directions at once. Four color-bearers were killed, and the regiment sagged toward the rear, and Colonel Morrow ordered the fifth color-bearer to jab the flagstaff in the ground and stand beside it for a rally. The man was killed before he could obey, Morrow himself took up the flag and waved it, a private ran up and took it away from him, muttering that it wasn't up to the colonel to carry the colors, and then this private was killed and another man took the staff. Then he too was shot, and Morrow got the flag after all, after which a bullet creased his skull and he himself went down.

[other paragraphs went on to describe the retreat from Seminary Ridge]

The 24th Michigan, largest regiment in the brigade, had had the most fearful loss: 399 of its 496 men had been shot, for a loss of 80 per cent, and whatever it was which the men had felt they owed the rest of the brigade, it would seem to have been paid by now. In a house in Gettysburg the Confederates had laid a number of the 24th's wounded, and later that evening Colonel Morrow was carried in to share the quarters with them. As he was brought in the wounded men raised their heads and asked him if he was finally satisfied with his regiment."

Glory Road, pp. 279-282

 

[Andy Cardinal]

View attachment 146300

As a Michigan native, I'm thinking of the 24th Michigan Infantry today. While it's not a complete history, I did want to share my favorite passage from Bruce Catton's Glory Road about the 24th during the height of the July 1st fighting. My disclaimer is that I'm a Catton fan although I know his facts are sometimes off and he takes some liberties with events. However, I've always liked his writing style and his evident admiration for those who served during that time. The picture above is, of course, Don Troiani's work.

"And here in the middle of it all was the 24th Michigan, with a county judge for a colonel and a county sheriff for lieutenant colonel and all the line officers carrying presentation swords; the regiment that had once been ostracized because its valor was unproven. Since Fredericksburg the regiment had been accepted, but in the unfathomable economics of army life the men seem to have felt that they still owed the rest of the brigade something, and here on Seminary Ridge the bill had come up for payment.

Three times Colonel Morrow sent back word that the position was untenable, and each time General Wadsworth grimly ordered him to hold on anyway. Some of the survivors remembered forming line of battle six times that hot afternoon, with the rank battle fog lying low under the trees and unappeasable enemies coming in from all directions at once. Four color-bearers were killed, and the regiment sagged toward the rear, and Colonel Morrow ordered the fifth color-bearer to jab the flagstaff in the ground and stand beside it for a rally. The man was killed before he could obey, Morrow himself took up the flag and waved it, a private ran up and took it away from him, muttering that it wasn't up to the colonel to carry the colors, and then this private was killed and another man took the staff. Then he too was shot, and Morrow got the flag after all, after which a bullet creased his skull and he himself went down.

[other paragraphs went on to describe the retreat from Seminary Ridge]

The 24th Michigan, largest regiment in the brigade, had had the most fearful loss: 399 of its 496 men had been shot, for a loss of 80 per cent, and whatever it was which the men had felt they owed the rest of the brigade, it would seem to have been paid by now. In a house in Gettysburg the Confederates had laid a number of the 24th's wounded, and later that evening Colonel Morrow was carried in to share the quarters with them. As he was brought in the wounded men raised their heads and asked him if he was finally satisfied with his regiment."

Glory Road, pp. 279-282

Colonel Morrow's account:

"By this time the ranks were so diminished that scarcely a fourth of the forces taken into action could be rallied. Corpl. Andrew Wagner, Company F, one of the color guard, took the colors, and was ordered by me to plant them in a position to which I designed to rally the men. He was wounded in the breast and left on the field. I now took the flag from the ground, where it had fallen, and was rallying the remnant of my regiment, when Private William Kelly, of Company E, took the colors from my hands, remarking, as he did so, "The colonel of the Twenty-fourth shall never carry the flag while I am alive." He was killed instantly. Private Lilburn A. Spaulding, of Company K, seized the colors and bore them for a time. Subsequently I took them from him to rally the men, and kept them until I was wounded.


We had inflicted severe loss on the enemy, but their numbers were so overpowering and our own losses had been so great that we were unable to maintain our position, and were forced back, step by step, contesting every foot of ground, to the barricade. I was wounded just before reaching the barricade, west of the seminary building, and left the field.


Shortly after I was wounded, Captain Edwards found the colors in the hands of a wounded soldier, who had fallen on the east side of the barricade. He was reclining on his right side, and was holding the colors in his left hand. I have not been able to ascertain the name of this brave soldier in whose paralyzed hands Captain Edwards found the flag. Captain Edwards describes him as being severely wounded, and he is, therefore, probably among our dead. His name may forever be unknown, but his bravery will never die."

 

[amweiner]

Thanks @Andy Cardinal!! Awesome resource!

 

[Andy Cardinal]

In honor of my avatar --

The Sixth Wisconsin had been left behind as a reserve near the Seminary as the rest of the Iron Brigade advanced and fought in McPherson's Woods. Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Dawes must have chafed to see the other Iron Brigade regiments engaged while his own men were busy building a barricade of split rails. But Dawes and the Sixth Wisconsin did not have long to wait for action. Cutler's brigade was being driven back in disorder and the right of the Union line was about to collapse. The surging Confederates would then be in position to advance on the flank and move in behind the rest of the Iron Brigade in the McPherson Woods. It was a critical moment, and Abner Doubleday, who had succeeded to command of the First Corps when Reynolds was killed, urgently sent for Dawes and the Sixth Wisconsin to "come like hell."

As the men of the Sixth Wisconsin advanced, a group of officers carrying a blanket with the body of John Reynolds crossed their path. It must have been a sobering experience. They soon came under fire. A bullet hit Dawes's horse and he went down. In an instant, Dawes was on his feet and the men cheered. The regiment advanced and took a position along a fence bordering the Chambersburg Pike. Dawes ordered his men to fire. "In the field, beyond the turnpike, a long line of yelling rebels could be seen running forward and firing," Dawes later wrote, "and our troops of Cutler's brigade were running back in disorder. The fire of our carefully aimed muskets, resting on the fence rails, soon checked the rebels in their headlong pursuit." Captain Lloyd Harris remembered that "when the enemy discovered us coming, they gave up the pursuit of Cutler's men and wheeled to the right to meet [us] … I could not help thinking now, for once, we will have a square 'stand up and knock down fight.' No trees, no walls to protect either, when presto! their whole line disappeared as if swallowed up by the earth."

Quickly sizing up the situation, Dawes realized that the advantage had swung toward the men in blue. He ordered his men to charge the cut. The battle flag of the Sixth Wisconsin surged forward, the men advancing with it. The men of the neighboring Fourteenth Brooklyn and Ninety-Fifth New York joined the advance as well. Great gaps were torn in the advancing line from the murderous fire from the Confederates who had taken refuge in the railroad cut. "Men were falling by the twenties and thirties, and breaking ranks by falling or running." As Dawes would later describe it, "With the colors at the advance point, the regiment firmly and hurriedly moved forward, while the whole field behind streamed with men who had been shot, and who were struggling to the rear or sinking in death upon the ground." Dawes was yelling, "Align on the colors! Close up on the colors!" In the 175 yards between the turnpike and the railroad cut, 180 men of the Sixth Wisconsin went down, dead or wounded. One of them later recorded the carnage: "Andy Miller of Company I falls dead, near him Gottlieb Schreiber wounded, but a few yards more and Boughton is killed, then Sweet falls wounded. Then Jim McLane and Alf. Thompson are wounded. Now Sutton falls dead, Goodwin and Charlie Jones are wounded. They reach the railroad cut and Levi Steadman drops dead and Ed. Lind is wounded"

Dawes recorded a particularly poignant scene: As the men of the 6th surged towards the railroad cut, Corporal James Kelly staggered up to Dawes, opened his shirt and revealed an ugly chest wound. "Colonel, won't you write my folks that I died a soldier?" the wounded man pleaded before he went to the rear. Dawes promised he would, and later that afternoon he recorded in his journal: "If I am killed today let it be known that Corporal James Kelley of Company B shot through the breast, and mortally wounded, asked to tell his folks he died a soldier." It was a memory that would haunt Dawes for the rest of his life. Kelly is buried in the Soldier's National Cemetery in Gettysburg.

On came the Wisconsinites, pressing ever closer towards the railroad cut. The blue line overlapped the Confederates and some of the men of the Sixth swung around and straddled the cut. The Confederates were trapped. The cut was so deep – twenty feet in some places – that they could not escape. One of the Wisconsin men would later write: "Bayonets are crossed. The fight was hand to hand amidst firing and smoke. The men are black and grimy from powder and heat. They seemed all unconscious to the terrible situation; they were mad and fought with a desperation seldom witnessed."

Meanwhile, a fierce battle for the colors of the Second Mississippi was taking place to the right. Lieutenant William Remington remembered, "I thought I could take their flag." He was wounded just as he made a run to grab it. In his words: "I got quite near the flag, was changing my sword to my left hand, where my revolver was, when I saw a soldier taking aim at me from the railroad cut. I threw my right shoulder forward and kept going for the flag. He hit me through the right shoulder and knocked me down…. Flag-taking was pretty well knocked out of me."

Cornelius Okey remembered: "I remember seeing Lt. Wm. Remington, Drummer L. Eggleston and myself – there may have been others, but we were close together and making for the rebel flag at the top of our speed, Remington in the center, Eggleston on the right and I on the left. At this time the firing from both sides was very hot, and as we got well out between the two lines it seemed almost impossible to breathe without inhaling a bullet. Lt. Remington was wounded through the right shoulder and Eggleston and myself pressed on, expecting every moment to be shot, but it was too late to turn back. I reached for the flag a little in advance of Eggleston and bending over grasped the staff low down, but he was so close to me that before I could draw it from the ground, the staff having been driven well down in the dirt, Eggleston had also got a hold of it. As I straightened up, I noticed a rebel corporal on his knees, right in front of me in the act of firing, his bayonet almost touched me; as quick as thought almost, I made a quarter face to the left, thus pressing my right side to him and bringing Eggleston, who still retained his hold on the flag, as well as myself, at my back. The rebel whom I noticed fired. His charge, a ball and three buck-shot, passed through the skirts in my frock coat in front and lodged in my left forearm and wrist."

Private Johnson recalled: "As I arrived on the edge of the railroad cut, I saw that the rebel color sergeant had stuck the end of his staff into the ground and was holding on it with both hands. Louis Eggleston, one of my mess-mates, whom I loved as a brother, also had hold of the staff and was trying to wrest it from the rebel's grasp. Seeing other rebels raising their guns as if to shoot or bayonet Eggleston, I stepped in front of him and raised my musket to defend him as best I could. While thus in the act of striking, I received a ball that disabled my right arm. Poor Eggleston also went down, and I think from the same bullet that disabled me."

Shot through both arms, Eggleston died on the field. Dawes noted: "Private Anderson, of company H, in fierce and desperate anger at the murder of his friend and comrade, clubbed his unloaded musket and crushed the skull of the rebel who shot Eggleston."

Corporal Frank Wallar would be the man to eventually capture the flag. Wallar went after the color with his brother Sam at his side. A Confederate soldier leveled his musket at Frank and fired. Using his own musket as a club, Sam parried the Confederate's musket as he fired, then clubbed the southerner's head.

Private John Harland was also racing after the flag, and he was killed just as he reached for it. His friend Levi Tongue was at his side. Tongue leveled his musket at the Confederate: "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Tongue answered: "All hell can't save you now," and pulled the trigger.

W. B. Murphey was the Second Mississippi's color-bearer that morning. He remembered: "My color guards were all killed or wounded in less than five minutes and also my colors were shot more than a dozen times, and the flag staff was hit and splintered two or three times. Just about that time a squad of soldiers made a rush for my colors and our men did their duty. They were all killed or wounded, but they still rushed for the colors with one of the most deadly struggles that was ever witnessed in any battle during the war. They still kept rushing for my flag and there were over a dozen shot down like sheep in their mad rush for the colors. The first soldier was shot down just as he made for the flag, and he was shot by one of our soldiers. Just to my right and at the same time a lieutenant made a desperate struggle for the flag and was shot through the right shoulder. Over a dozen men fell killed or wounded, then a large man made a rush for me and the flag. As I tore the flag from the staff he took hold of me and the color. The firing was still going on, and was kept up for several minutes after the flag was taken from me."

Frank Wallar would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions this morning.

The Wisconsin men were yelling, "Throw down your muskets! Down with your muskets!" Reaching the lip of the cut, Dawes saw "hundreds of rebels … four feet deep." He shouted down at the Confederates: "Where is the colonel of this regiment?" Major John Blair of the Second Mississippi stepped forward and handed over his sword. Six other officers and the infantrymen around them surrendered as well.

Many years later, Rufus Dawes wrote of the courage and valor of the men who made this charge: "There was no royalty in the rank then. It was the valor of noble men in the ranks that enabled us to breast that awful storm."

 

[John Hartwell]

20th Massachusetts Volunteers
3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps

The 20th Mass Infantry, known as "The Harvard Regiment," as so many of its officers had been students there, was commanded by Col. Paul J. Revere, grandson of the famous Revolutionary figure. The regiment brought 301 officers and men to the field at Gettysburg, of whom 45 were killed or mortally wounded (including Col. Revere), with 97 additional casualties (one of whom was Lt. Col. George N. Macy)..

The participation of the 20th Mass. during the 2nd and third days of the battle is best summarized by the official report of Capt. Henry L. Abbott, upon whom had devolved the command, after the two colonels were hors de combat, [from OR, Ser.1, vol. 27. pt. 1]:


NEAR SANDY HOOK, MD., July 16, 1863.

SIR.

I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by the Twentieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers in the battle of Gettysburg, on July 2 and 3:

In the first day's action (July 2), the regiment was in the second line all day, lying down, and, though not firing a shot, met with some losses from the shot and shell which came through the first line when the enemy advanced at the close of the day to the position held by the Second Division of the Second Corps. Col. Paul J. Revere was mortally wounded, and some 10 or 11 men were killed and wounded.

Two companies had been previously sent out as skirmishers, some distance in front of our lines, under Captain Patten. I wish to mention this officer particularly for the meet distinguished gallantry with which he held his position after losing a third of his command (10 men), remaining on the field after he himself had been severely wounded, only retiring his command when our own advance had been driven back completely routed and the rebel line was close upon him. Second Lieutenant Cowgill was also wounded on this picket.

After the repulse of the enemy on this night (the 2d), the regiment was moved up into the front line, where, during the night, with a single shovel, they threw up a slight rifle-pit, a foot deep and a foot high.

On the next day the regiment retained the same position.

About 2 p.m. the enemy opened a terrific cannonade, lasting perhaps two hours. The regiment lost only 4 or 5 men by this fire, being sheltered more by the slight depression in the ground where the pit was dug than by the earth thrown up, which was too thin to stop anything more than a spent ball.

After the cessation of the enemy's artillery fire, their infantry advanced in large force. The men were kept lying on their bellies, without firing a shot, until orders to fire came from Colonel Hall, commanding the brigade, the enemy having got within 3 or 4 rods of us, when the regiment rose up and delivered two or three volleys, which broke the rebel regiment opposite us entirely to pieces, leaving only scattered groups. When the enemy's advance was first checked by our fire, they tried to return it, but with little effect, hitting only 4 or 5 men.

We were feeling all the enthusiasm of victory, the men shouting out, "Fredericksburg," imagining the victory as complete everywhere else as it was in front of the Third Brigade, when Colonel Macy drew my attention to a spot some rods to the right of us, near a clump of trees, where the enemy seemed to have broken in. The regiment immediately got orders to face to the right and to file to the right, with the intention of forming a line at right angles with the original one; in other words, changing front to the right. The noise was such, however, that it was impossible to make any order heard. An order having been given, though it could not be heard, was naturally interpreted to be an order to retire and form a new line not outflanked by the enemy. The regiment accordingly retired some 2 rods, but in the most perfect order. Perceiving, however, that an example could be seen, though words could not be heard, all the officers of the regiment rushed to the front, and without further formalities the regiment was hurried to the important spot. When they arrived there, there was a very thin line contending with the enemy, who was behind a rail fence, with the exception of a small number that climbed over, who were speedily dispatched. The enemy poured in a severe musketry fire, and at the clump of trees they burst also several shells, so that our loss was very heavy, more than half the enlisted men of the regiment being killed or disabled, while there remained but 3 out of 13 officers. Moreover, the contest round this important spot was very confused, every man fighting on his own hook, different regiments being mixed together, and half a dozen colors in a bunch, it being impossible to preserve a regimental line.

Notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, the men of this command kept so well together that after the contest near the trees, which lasted half an hour or so, was ended, I was enabled to collect, with the assistance of Lieutenant Summerhayes and Lieutenant Perkins, in an incredibly short period, nearly all the surviving men of the regiment and returned them to their original place in the pits. At the suggestion of Lieutenant Haskell, on the division staff, I prepared to move back to the trees again, having 100 men collected together. This order was, however, countermanded by Colonel Devereux, commanding the left wing of the brigade, because of the second and last advance of the enemy on our extreme left, which happened only a very short time after the completion of our own success at the clump of trees. Without meaning to reflect on other regiments at all, I think it but fair to this command to state that I observed at the time that very few other regiments had even settled on a rendezvous for their scattered members.

It seems to me that great praise is due the enlisted men of this regiment for the speed with which they reorganized, for the discipline and esprit de corps which made them stick together in such a scene of confusion, where organization had been so completely broken up for the time. All the officers of the regiment behaved with the greatest gallantry, but I am enabled to select two, as their position or occupation made them more conspicuous than the rest. One of these (Captain Patten) I have already mentioned. The other is First Lieut. Henry Ropes, who was shot dead. Never before has this regiment, in the death of any officer, received one-half so heavy a blow. His conduct in this action, as in all previous ones, was perfectly brave, but not with the bravery of excitement that nerves common men. He was in battle absolutely cool and collected, apparently unconscious of the existence of such a feeling as personal danger, the slight impetuosity and excitability natural to him at ordinary times being sobered down into the utmost self-possession, giving him an eye that noticed every circumstance, no matter how thick the shot and shell; a judgment that suggested in every case the proper measures, and a decision that made the application instantaneous. It is impossible for me to conceive of a man more perfectly master of himself; more completely noting and remembering every circumstance in times when the ordinary brave man sees nothing but a tumult and remembers after it is over nothing but a whirl of events which he is unable to separate. Lieutenant Ropes' behavior in this battle was more conspicuous for coolness and absolute disregard of personal danger than I have ever witnessed in any other man. He entered the service and remained in it until his death from the purest patriotism; not a single ambitious or selfish motive mingled with it. He would have made the noblest sacrifice where he knew that no man would even hear it as readily as if the eyes of the whole world were fixed upon him. Such perfect purity of sentiment deserves this distinguished mention, which Lieutenant Ropes himself would have been the last to expect.

I find it impossible to discriminate among the enlisted men, as all behaved so well (there being but 4 missing), and particularly as 7 company commanders, the only proper persons to report the behavior of their men, are absent, killed or wounded.

I have the honor to be,

H. L. ABBOTT,

Captain, Comdg. Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers.

Lieutenant DRIVER,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.



The Gettysburg monument of the 20th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry is located just south of Hancock Avenue, 125 yards NNE of the Copse of Trees. It consists of a boulder of Massachusetts conglomerate, a.k.a. "puddingstone" (the official state stone), atop a granite plinth:

A bronze tablet on the back of the monument reads:

This monument marks the position occupied by the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry
in line of battle July 2nd and 3rd 1863 until advanced to the front of the copse of
trees on its immediate right to assist in repelling the charge of Longstreet's Corps.
This tablet is placed by their comrades in honor of Colonel Paul Joseph Revere
First Lieutenant Henry Ropes, Second Lieutenant Sumner Paine, and forty-one enlisted
men who were killed or mortally wounded.​

On the south side of the Copse of Trees, stands a metal marker:

Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The position of this regiment in line of battle
was 125 yards S.S.W.
which is represented by its monument.
When Pickett's Division pierced the Union line
this regiment retired by its right flank,
faced left, and rushed up to this copse of trees
and attacked Pickett's troops then
coming over the wall.​

 

[AUG]

The 1st Texas Infantry, "The Ragged Old First"

Hood's Texans by Mark Maritato

Twelve companies strong, the 1st Texas was largely recruited from East Texas with a couple companies from Houston and Galveston. It consisted of Texas's youngest and most enthusiastic volunteers who were willing to fight east of the Mississippi River. The regiment was organized in Richmond in summer of 1861, and by October the First was part of what soon became Hood's Texas Brigade. They saw action in most of the major battles and campaigns in the East until Gettysburg: the Peninsula Campaign and Seven Days, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and the siege of Suffolk. At Gettysburg the regiment fielded 426 men under Lt. Col. Philip A. Work.

On the morning of July 1, bivouacked in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, they marched twelve miles east to Cashtown, resting there a couple hours until marching to Gettysburg. Arriving at Gettysburg about 9:00 a.m., they took up position on Seminary Ridge, cooked breakfast and waited for the rest of Hood's division to arrive.

Formed on Warfield Ridge, they stepped off at about 4:00 p.m. or so in Longstreet's advance, the 3rd Arkansas was on the 1st Texas's left and 4th and 5th Texas on its right. The brigade split in two as they advanced, with the 3rd Arkansas and 1st Texas keeping in alignment with the Emmitsburg Road, and the 4th and 5th Texas following Law's brigade to the right.

The 1st Texas would battle the 124th New York "Orange Blossoms" and Capt. James E. Smith's 4th New York Battery in the Traingular Field and atop Houck's Ridge. The First charged up the slope, firing as they advanced and making it to within a few feet of the guns, until confused by conflicting orders and driven back under heavy fire. The 124th New York pursued them but the First regrouped at the base of the hill, unleashing a volley that staggered the 124th. The 15th Georgia of Benning's brigade then came marching up in their rear and the two regiments intermingled, charging back up the slope. Unable to untangle their ranks, the 1st Texas and 15th Georgia fought together for the remainder of the day.

Color bearer of the 1st Texas, Color Sgt. George A. Branard, competed with the color bearer of the 15th Georgia to reach the top of the ridge. As they surged up and captured the guns of the 4th New York Battery, Branard planted the First's colors. A shell exploded nearby, a fragment cutting the staff in two and another cutting Branard across his forehead. Still, he would not let go of the flag until carried to the rear by his comrades.

In the fighting in Devil's Den, Pvt. Wilson J. Barbee, a courier for Gen. Hood, grabbed a rifle and climbed atop a rock, firing away as his comrades handed him more loaded muskets. He was shot through the right leg and knocked off the rock, but he climbed back up and kept firing until hit in the other leg. Barbee climbed up yet again but was shot through the body, falling down between the rocks, cursing because his friends wouldn't help back up.

After they captured Smith's Battery, Col. Work left two companies atop Devil's Den and moved the regiment to the left to support the 3rd Arkansas. They then fought their way north in the Rose Woods, across Houck's Ridge, where they fired on the flank of Federal troops marching into the Wheatfield.

The 1st Texas and 3rd Arkansas were later moved back into Devil's Den, rejoining the rest of the brigade after midnight in front of Little and Big Round Top. Building slight breastworks, they held their position until the First was moved south to the Bushman Farm on the afternoon of July 3, where they took part in the repulse of Farnsworth's cavalry charge. That evening they moved back to Warfield Ridge, remaining there through July 4 until the retreat that night.

At Gettysburg the 1st Texas lost 29 killed, 46 wounded, and 22 missing or captured. Both from Company G, Lt. Benjamin Campbell was killed and Capt. (Acting Major) J.R. Woodward was mortally wounded in the head by a shell fragment.

Sgt. George A. Branard, color-bearer of the 1st Texas Infantry.

Bio of him here: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/def.../exhibits/flags/firsttexas4037colorbearer.pdf

Brothers, William L. & Thomas H. Langley, in Co. E "Marshall Guards," 1st Texas Infantry. William was killed while the 1st Texas crossed Rose Run in their initial advance. Thomas made it out unscathed and fought on until Appomattox.

Excerpt from Pvt. James O. Bradfield's account of Gettysburg:
"About two o'clock in the afternoon, the order was given to advance all along the line. We moved quietly forward down the steep decline, gaining impetus as we reached the more level ground below. The enemy had already opened fire upon us, but we did not stop to return it. 'Forward—double quick,' rang out, and then Texas turned loose. Across the valley and over the stream that ran through it they swept, every man for himself. The first man down was my right-file man, William Langley, a noble, brave boy, with a mini-ball straight through the brain. I caught him as he fell against me, and laid him down, dead."
(Hood's Texas Brigade: Its Marches, Its Battles, Its Achievements by J.B. Polley, pp. 168-69.)

Some more on them in this thread: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-langley-brothers-of-the-1st-texas-infantry.143763/

Lt. Benjamin A. Campbell, Co. G "Reagan Guards," 1st Texas Infantry.

At only 21 years old, Campbell was acting commander of Company G at Gettysburg. As the 1st Texas fought its way up Houck's Ridge a gap started to form between it and the 3rd Arkansas on its left, so Lt. Col. Philip A. Work sent Campbell with his company to plug it. As he fulfilled that task Campbell took a shot through the heart and was killed instantly.

Lt. Col. Work says in his official report:
"While this regiment was closely following our skirmishers, and had reached to within about 125 yards of the enemy's artillery, the Third Arkansas Regiment, upon my left, became hotly engaged with a strong force of the enemy upon its front and left, and, to preserve and protect its left flank, was forced to retire to a point some 75 or 100 yards to my rear and left, thus leaving my left flank uncovered and exposed, to protect which I halted, and threw out upon my left and rear Company G, commanded by Lieut. B. A. Campbell (some 40 men), which soon engaged the enemy and drove them from their threatening position to my left and the front of the Third Arkansas. It was while in the execution of this order that Lieutenant Campbell, a brave and gallant officer, fell, pierced through the heart."

Here is the link to an article on him in Military Images Magazine:
https://militaryimages.atavist.com/for-life-and-lone-star-honor-summer-2017

 

[Andy Cardinal]

124th New York, "The Orange Blossoms"
​

The 124th New York, the "Orange Blossoms," was posted near Smith's battery at Devil's Den. The 124th's monument is the only regimental marker at Gettysburg that contains a life-size portrait statue of its commander – Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis. His commander, Brigadier General J. H. Hobart Ward, would later write of him: "Col. A. Van Horne Ellis was one of those dashing and chivalrous spirits that we frequently read of, but seldom encounter in real life." The Colonel stands atop the stone monument, arms folded across his chest, gazing steadily across the fields towards the oncoming Confederates.

On July 2nd, Ellis stood much as he does for all eternity in stone – arms folded, calmly watching the advancing Confederates. A soldier in the 124th New York recalled: "At length the enemy appeared in heavy columns of battalion advancing on us from the opposite slope. As we held the position by a single line of battle unsupported, the enemy's superiority in numbers, as seen at a glance, seemed overwhelming. As they approached they deployed in four distinct lines of battle, and came resolutely on under a rapid fire from our batteries."

Smith's guns kept up a steady fire, claiming heaving casualties among the
Confederates. The captain later wrote: "I never saw the men do better work; every shot told; the pieces were discharged as rapidly as they could be with regard to effectiveness, while the conduct of the men was superb; but when the enemy approached to within three hundred yards of our position the many obstacles in our front afforded him excellent protection for his sharpshooters…."

In the ensuing minutes, the men of Smith's battery were decimated as the Confederate marksmen picked them off. Captain Smith was desperate; as the Confederates drew nearer, he pleaded with the infantrymen to save his guns.

Major James Cromwell was anxious for the regiment to charge. He had rushed over to Ellis twice to ask permission, but Ellis had refused him both times and sent him back to his post on the left. Standing behind the center of the line, Colonel Ellis calmly surveyed the scene. Then, horses were brought to the officers. The men were aghast; to be mounted was a sure invitation for death. Answering their protests, Cromwell said, "The men must see us today."

The 1st Texas crossed the "triangular field" toward Smith's guns and the 124th New York. When they moved within 50 yards of the battery and 100 yards of the regimental line, Ellis ordered his men to fasten their bayonets. The Confederates continued to draw nearer; when they reached 50 feet of Smith's guns, Ellis ordered his men to fire. The "destructive" volley slowed the Confederates, but did not stop them. On they came, moving closer and closer to the isolated battery. Now Ellis gave the order: "Charge bayonets! Forward; double-quick – March!"

When Ellis gave the order (by some accounts, he merely nodded his head to Cromwell), "the Major waves his sword twice above his head, makes a lunge forward, shouts the charge, and putting spurs to his horse, dashes forward through the lines. The men cease firing for a minute and with ready bayonets rush after him. Ellis sits in his saddle and looks on as if in proud admiration of both his loved Major and the gallant sons of Orange, until the regiment is fairly under way, and then rushes with them into the thickest of the fray."

Private Tucker of Company B remembered that the "Orange Blossoms" gave a "defiant cheer," and that the Texans "ran like sheep before them." According to the regimental historian: "The conflict at this point defies description. Roaring cannon, crashing riflery, screeching shots, bursting shells, hissing bullets, shrieks and groans were the notes of the song of death which greeted the grim reaper, as with mighty sweeps he leveled down the richest field of scarlet human grain ever garnered on this continent."

Another soldier remembered it as a "gallant rush into the jaws of hell."

A soldier in the 1st Texas noted: "There was one officer, a major, who won our admiration by his courage and gallantry. He was a very handsome man, and rode a beautiful, high-spirited gray horse. The animal seemed to partake of the spirit of the leader, and as he came on with a free, graceful stride into that hell of death and carnage, head erect and ears pointed, horse and man offered a picture as is seldom seen. As the withering, scathing volleys from behind the rocks cut into the ranks of the regiment the major led, his gallant men went down like grain before a scythe, he followed close at their heels, and when time and again, they stopped and would have fled the merciless fire, each time he rallied them as if his puissant arm alone could stay the storm."

A cry arose among the Confederates: "Don't shoot at him – don't kill him, he is too brave a man to die."
At the height of the charge, seeing the Confederates about to break, Major Cromwell yelled, "The day is ours!" At that moment, he was instantly killed when a bullet pierced his heart. Ellis cried out: "My God! My God men! Your Major's down! Save him! Save him!" The New Yorkers maintained a heavy fire, and Ellis rose in his stirrups, wielding his sword over his head, urging his men to greater efforts, when a bullet struck him in the head. The regimental historian remembered: "Suddenly his trusty blade falls point downward, his chin drops on his breast, and his body with a weave pitches forward, head foremost among the rocks; at which his wounded beast rears and with a mad plunge dashes away, staggering blindly through the ranks of the foe, who is now giving ground, firing wildly as he goes."

Fresh Confederate troops were pouring into Devil's Den, and the men of the 124th New York were being annihilated by fire from in front and on both flanks. The regiment began to fall back across the triangular field towards their original position. The charge, although made at a murderous cost, had – at least for a time – blunted the Confederate advance. The regiment lost 91 of the 250 men who entered the fight.

Meanwhile, the men of the "Orange Blossoms" struggled to fight on. The bodies of Ellis and Cromwell had been recovered, and lay on a boulder behind the regiment. Captain Charles H. Weygant later wrote about his feelings as he took stock of the regiment after its charge: "Passing down the line, I notice that there is no commissioned officer in command of Company I, and ask, "Where is your new plucky lieutenant?" and the answer comes, "You will find him lying down yonder with four or five of I beside him." "What!" I answer, "Is he dead?" and I am told that he fell fighting nobly at the head of his company. Reaching Company K, I learn that Lieutenant Finnegan has been borne to the rear wounded in two places. Coming to G, which moved into line that morning with more men than any other company in the regiment, I see a corporal's guard in charge of a corporal, and learn that Captain Nicoll's dead body lies wedged in between two rocks at the farthest point of our advance. The slope in front was strewn with our dead, and not a few of our severely wounded lay beyond the reach of their unscathed comrades, bleeding, helpless, and some of them dying. One of their number, who lay farthest away, among the rocks near the body of our truly noble and most esteemed Captain Nicoll, could be seen ever and anon, beneath the continually rising smoke of battle, to raise his arm, and feebly wave a blood covered hand. It was James Scott, of Company B, one of the ten thousand heroes of that great battle."

As Sergeant Bradley later wrote: "I have often thought of the seeming recklessness, and as I at one time thought, uselessness of our charges that day. In the last years of our service we would not have been called on to make them. At any rate, we felt that day as we never felt before or after, that on us, the veterans of the Army of the Potomac, rested in the coming fight the future of the American Republic, and every man was ready to die that day to save it. If ever he shirked before or after, he was the soul of sacrifice in that battle."

It is this spirit and determination, this "soul of sacrifice," that is reflected in the sculpture of Colonel Ellis and the monument of the 124th New York.

Years later, one of the Texans would state simply of the fighting here: "Such courage belongs not to any one army or country, but to mankind."

 

[Cavalry Charger]

The 124th New York was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis, whose figure tops the monument. In the thick of the fighting by the Devil's Den, Colonel Ellis ordered the staff's horses brought up and he, Major James Cromwell and Adjutant Henry Ramsdell mounted. When a captain protested that they were making targets of themselves Major Cromwell replied, "the men must see us today." Both he and Colonel Ellis were killed, but the 124th bought an hour's time for the south flank of the Army of the Potomac.

http://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/union-monuments/new-york/new-york-infantry/124th-new-york/