Sergeant Pierre Fazende and the Washington Artillery of Louisiana on July 3

Tom Elmore

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The organization of the Washington Artillery Battalion at Gettysburg is a bit confusing. Four companies (batteries) were present in the battalion, under the leadership of Major Benjamin F. Eshleman. It was one of five artillery battalions in Longstreet’s First Corps (CSA):

First Company: Captain Charles W. Squires was taken prisoner in May 1863 at Marye’s Hill, as part of the battle of Chancellorsville. Quickly exchanged, he returned to find his company had only one gun (a 12-pounder Napoleon) left, with three caissons, in charge of Lieutenant Charles H. C. Brown. Sergeant Pierre O. Fazende was the senior enlisted man assigned to this gun. Because the gun was now attached to Third Company, Lt. Brown was left in place, and Capt. Squires found himself without a command. Late on July 3 Lt. Brown was wounded, and Capt. Squires took back his sole gun, but not until the fighting was over for the day.

Second Company: It entered the battle with two Napoleons and one 12-pounder Howitzer, under Capt. John B. Richardson. However, on the morning of July 3, a captured 3-inch Rifle was added – it had been abandoned (probably north of the Trostle buildings) the previous evening by Pennsylvania battery C and F (consolidated) along with about 50 rounds of ammunition. The Howitzer was not put into position at first owing to its limited range, thus only three guns of this company initially participated in the afternoon cannonade. When the Rifle’s ammunition was expended, the two Napoleons continued the fight. Late in the day the Howitzer was sent northward to the position vacated by Maj. James Dearing’s artillery battalion, to defend against a Federal counterattack that never materialized.

Third Company: It consisted of three Napoleons, under Capt. Merrit B. “Buck” Miller. The addition of Lt. Brown’s gun (he reported to Capt. Miller) made it four.

Fourth Company: It comprised two Napoleons and one 12-pounder Howitzer, under Capt. Joseph Norcom. Only the two Napoleons initially took part in the cannonade; the Howitzer was left in the rear, although it was later brought up and joined the Second Company’s Howitzer in Maj. Dearing’s former position. Early in the day, Capt. Norcom was wounded by a shell fragment and he was succeeded by Lt. H. A. Battles.

Summarizing, the battalion initially contributed a total of nine guns (eight Napoleons and one Rifle) to the grand afternoon cannonade. The Rifle eventually dropped out, but the battalion’s two Howitzers were later added to the line, although it appears they were not heavily engaged, if at all.

Major Eshleman was accorded the honor of firing two guns to signal the opening of the bombardment along the Confederate lines. Two Napoleons on the far right of the battalion, now part of Capt. Miller’s battery, were selected to fire the signal shots. They were placed under Lt. C. H. C. Brown. Brown’s two-gun section consisted of the Napoleon belonging to his First Company, supervised by Sgt. Fazende, and it would seem a Napoleon borrowed from the Third Company, but now under Sgt. William T. Hardie of First Company. Hardie’s gun was on the far right of the battery (and battalion), while Fazende’s piece was to his left.

Looking back to much earlier in the day, actually prior to the first glimmer of light, Eshleman’s guns had been set up along the west side of the Emmitsburg road by Col. E. P. Alexander. Capt. Squires was inspecting the ground and decided to ride northward along the road. He was soon stopped by an infantry officer, likely a Mississippian from Humphrey’s (formerly Barksdale’s) brigade, who warned him he was approaching the enemy, in this case the 149th Pennsylvania of Dana’s (formerly Stone’s) brigade, which formed a skirmish line near the road, just south of the Codori buildings, supported by the 150th Pennsylvania.

In the growing early light of dawn, Alexander realized that Eshleman’s battalion would be subject to an enfilade fire from Federal artillery, and he had to scramble to pull the guns back behind a rise west of the road. Fortunately, the pieces were still enshrouded in darkness, and no harm was done. However, at daylight a few artillery shots were exchanged with the enemy, during which Capt. Norcom sustained a slight wound. After pulling back, a gap existed between the sections of Richardson and Norcom, which was large enough to accommodate several guns from Maj. Henry C. Cabell’s artillery battalion.

Once Pickett’s division was fully engaged on Cemetery Ridge, Maj. Eshleman ordered Capt. Miller and Lt. Battles to advance their Napoleons to provide close support. Due to their heavy losses, Miller could only take three of his guns and Battles just one. Among Miller’s three was the First Company’s piece supervised by Sgt. Fazende. These four Napoleons (plus one gun – probably also a Napoleon – contributed by Capt. Hugh R. Garden’s battery), occupied a fully exposed position and immediately drew down upon them a concentrated fire from several Federal batteries. They could not endure for long and were temporarily abandoned by their gun crews. Here Lt. Brown was shot. When approaching darkness ended the fighting, Sgt. Fazende returned with more men and horses and recovered his disabled gun.

Pierre O. Fazende was descended from Chevalier Fazende, one of the four Administrators of New Orleans when Louisiana was French territory. He went to war at age 17 and was several times slightly wounded. He was taken captive at Drury’s Bluff and succeeded in escaping into Canada. He reached Niagara when a Confederate peace initiative was taking place under Clay and Holcomb (August 1864) and made himself sufficiently useful to be sent on several secret service missions into the North. When Fazende returned to Richmond, he brought important dispatches, and was honored by the Secretary of War with a complimentary pass to every part of the Confederacy. After the war he became a successful note broker in New Orleans.

I have attached two maps, the first timed to 0345 on July 3 when it was still nearly pitch dark, indicating the approximate location of the eight Napoleons of the battalion. The second map depicts the moment the cannonade opened, 1307 (1:07 p.m.), with the estimated position of the two signal guns under Sgts. Fazende and Hardie. Richardson has added the captured Rifle giving him three guns.

Sources:
-Official Report of Maj. B. F. Eshleman
-“The Last of Lee’s Battle Line,” Autobiography of Charles W. Squires, Library of Congress.
-Letter of B. F. Eshleman to E. P. Alexander, February 4, 1878, South Carolina Digital Library, Collected Papers of Col. Benjamin Franklin Eshleman, from the University of South Carolina, Beaufort Library.
-South Carolina Digital Library, newspaper article: Hero Tributes from the Fields Where They Bled … 75th Anniversary.
-Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. XIII, Louisiana, p. 362 and vol. XII, Missouri, pp. 410-414.
-https://thecivilwarandnorthwestwisc...ugust-6-the-niagara-falls-peace-negotiations/
-Napier Bartlett, Military Record of Louisiana, Washington Artillery.
-Wm. Miller Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, 1885.
 

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