Skirmishing on July 4th

Papa Frinkle

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Jun 26, 2018
Hey all, I’ve studied the Battle of Gettysburg my whole life and have always taken particular interest in the sharpshooter and skirmishing action that took place throughout the engagement. I’ve come across plenty of accounts detailing small scale actions on July 2nd and 3rd, but have heard very little on the topic of July 4th, other than a sentence or two about a Union push around the Peach Orchard and heavy skirmishing around the center of the line.

Does anyone have any specific accounts, or know of any sources that could lead me to uncovering more about the ‘battle after the battle’? I’m especially interested in action all around Cemetery Hill.

On a side note, if anyone knows anything about the 33rd Massachusetts’s role in skirmishing during any and all phases of the battle, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
I know of one article on this very topic, in The Gettysburg Magazine, issue 25 (July 2001), entitled Independence Day: Military Operations at Gettysburg. It includes a list of known casualties incurred that day.

As for the 33rd Massachusetts skirmishing, check out an article by Sgt. John H. Little of Company A: National Tribune, April 29, 1909, p. 7, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016187/1909-04-29/ed-1/seq-7/

Also a recollection by Henry H. Gusbee of Company B: National Tribune, July 15, 1909, p. 7, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016187/1909-07-15/ed-1/seq-7/
 
Read "The 33rd Massachusetts Infantry at Brandy Station and Gettysburg" Edward C. Browne
Gettysburg Magazine#49, July 2013.
Cpl. Calvin D Richards, Co. K - killed July 4
Pvt. Charles H. Pierce, Co. E - July 4 - mortally wounded
Pvt. George Stevens, Co. E- wounded July 4
 
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Gettysburg Guide Stuart Dempsey did a whole series of 11th Corps posts on the Gettysburg Daily. I know in some of the posts, he describes the skirmishing that occurred between the Union line and the Confederates on Long Lane. The high ground between these positions was hotly contested as it could be used as a platform for rifle (sniper) fire against the Union lines on Cemetery Hill.
https://www.gettysburgdaily.com/ele...th-licensed-battlefield-guide-stuart-dempsey/
 
I know of one article on this very topic, in The Gettysburg Magazine, issue 25 (July 2001), entitled Independence Day: Military Operations at Gettysburg. It includes a list of known casualties incurred that day.

As for the 33rd Massachusetts skirmishing, check out an article by Sgt. John H. Little of Company A: National Tribune, April 29, 1909, p. 7, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016187/1909-04-29/ed-1/seq-7/

Also a recollection by Henry H. Gusbee of Company B: National Tribune, July 15, 1909, p. 7, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016187/1909-07-15/ed-1/seq-7/
 
Tom, I just read the two articles you linked and enjoyed them both. Mr. Gusbee seems to be in some disagreement with Mr. Little’s account of the second day action at East Cemetery Hill near Stevens’ Knoll which, I guess, illustrates at least one of the difficulties of Civil War research.
 
Read "The 33rd Massachusetts Infantry at Brandy Station and Gettysburg" Edward C. Browne
Gettysburg Magazine#49, July 2013.
Cpl. Calvin D Richards, Co. K - killed July 4
Pvt. Charles H. Pierce, Co. E - July 4 - mortally wounded
Pvt. George Stevens, Co. E- wounded July 4
Thanks a lot for the recommendation, but I can’t find any way to get my hands on that magazine. I would really like to read that Brandy Station and Gettysburg article. Do you happen to have it?
 
There's an entire chapter on this fighting in our book, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-13, 1863. There's a map as well.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1611210763/?tag=civilwartalkc-20
Awesome, I read all the pages on the July 4th engagements and I’m eager to read the rest.
Do you know if the 33rd Massachusetts was involved in retaking the town at 5:30AM on July 4th? I know they were part of Orland Smith’s brigade but were detached until some point on July 4th. In Colonel Underwood’s memoirs, he recalls “celebrating the 4th with a skirmish”. Was that the skirmish he was talking about? Or did that take place East of Cemetery Hill?
 
Thanks a lot for the recommendation, but I can’t find any way to get my hands on that magazine. I would really like to read that Brandy Station and Gettysburg article. Do you happen to have it?
Send me your postal address, and I can send a copy.
 
The skirmishing mentioned refers to action towards Long Lane and not into the town.
July 4 - "The rebels have withdrawn most of their forces, only a few skirmishers being in sight, which our men are attending to while we lie behind a hill to support them. We came here this morning, almost between Cemetery Hill and the village." Letter of Sears
Col. Underwood wrote about the 4th "we rejoined our Brigade by the Taneytown road; were sent out to picket beyond the barn in the storm, and celebrated the day by a skirmish." The barn was presumably the James Pierce barn near where the Gettysburg Hospital exists today.
 
Known detachments from the Eleventh, First and Second Corps entered the town on the morning of July 4, to include the 134th New York, 153rd Pennsylvania, 25th Ohio, 75th Ohio, 119th New York, 26th Wisconsin and 106th Pennsylvania.

Other forays were conducted by the Twelfth Corps in front of Culp's Hill along with a reconnaissance up the Hanover Road; the First Corps west of Cemetery Hill; and the Sixth, Third and Fifth Corps toward the Emmitsburg Road. See map, attached.

The other attachment is a list of identified casualties from July 4. I've since seen a few more but have not updated my original list.

Mahone's brigade was very active on the skirmish line on July 4-5; here's a thread on just the 61st Virginia's role: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/sk...t-virginia-from-july-3-5.157766/#post-2049429
 

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  • July4.pdf
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  • July4Casualties.pdf
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Awesome, I read all the pages on the July 4th engagements and I’m eager to read the rest.
Do you know if the 33rd Massachusetts was involved in retaking the town at 5:30AM on July 4th? I know they were part of Orland Smith’s brigade but were detached until some point on July 4th. In Colonel Underwood’s memoirs, he recalls “celebrating the 4th with a skirmish”. Was that the skirmish he was talking about? Or did that take place East of Cemetery Hill?
My understanding is that it took place east of Cemetery Hill.
 
The 33rd moved over to the west side of Cemetery Hill on the 4th and skirmished there. On the previous days, they had skirmished in the fields to the east of Cemetery Hill.
 
There are at least two civilian accounts concerning small arms fire on July 4. Both appear to relate to Confederates located along the small rivulet that runs along the eastern base of Seminary Ridge. Middle Street in Gettysburg is an east/west street one block south of the Diamond (or as we know it today, Lincoln Square).

Gates Fahnstock, who was 10 years old at the time of the battle, tells us that on July 4 it was dangerous to cross any of the east/west streets. His home was at the northeast corner of Middle and Baltimore Streets. In his narrative of his experiences, he tells of a bullet striking just above their heads when his family went outside on July 4 to start cleaning up the sidewalk.

Just one block to the west of the Fahnstock residence, on the northwest corner of Middle and Washington Streets, sits the home of Michael and Julia Eyster Jacobs. Michael was a professor of mathematics and chemistry at what was then Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College). Their 16 year old daughter, Mary Julia Jacobs, became the target of Confederate pickets on July 4. The story is told by her brother, Henry, who was just a few days short of his 19th birthday at the time.

The door of the Jacobs home faced south toward Middle Street, with an easy view of anyone traveling north on Washington Street. Just west of the town was a small run or creek, near the base of the hill that rises to Seminary Ridge. Confederate pickets in the area of the run had an easy shot down Middle Street at anyone crossing the intersection at Washington Street. And indeed they did fire on any Union soldiers moving along Washington Street. These were most likely 11th Corps units. Union patriot that she was, Miss Julia (it seems she was usually called Julia rather than Mary) stood in the doorway to her parents home calling out and warning Union men coming north on Washington Street, “Look out! Pickets below! They’ll fire on you!”

The Confederates pickets were apparently displeased by the youngster ruining their fun. So, girl or no girl, they took several shots at her. As Henry told the story, “ . . . bullets began to frame her where she stood . . . .” But Julia was not about to give up her post. She simply moved back a short way into the hallway. From there she was out of rifle shot of the Confederates, but could still easily continue to warn any Union men coming north along Washington Street. Henry says that this continued for about 30 minutes.

This may not be the skirmishing action that you are looking for, but these first hand civilian accounts confirm that the noise of gunfire around Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, was not related to any Independence Day celebrations.
 
There are at least two civilian accounts concerning small arms fire on July 4. Both appear to relate to Confederates located along the small rivulet that runs along the eastern base of Seminary Ridge. Middle Street in Gettysburg is an east/west street one block south of the Diamond (or as we know it today, Lincoln Square).

Gates Fahnstock, who was 10 years old at the time of the battle, tells us that on July 4 it was dangerous to cross any of the east/west streets. His home was at the northeast corner of Middle and Baltimore Streets. In his narrative of his experiences, he tells of a bullet striking just above their heads when his family went outside on July 4 to start cleaning up the sidewalk.

Just one block to the west of the Fahnstock residence, on the northwest corner of Middle and Washington Streets, sits the home of Michael and Julia Eyster Jacobs. Michael was a professor of mathematics and chemistry at what was then Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College). Their 16 year old daughter, Mary Julia Jacobs, became the target of Confederate pickets on July 4. The story is told by her brother, Henry, who was just a few days short of his 19th birthday at the time.

The door of the Jacobs home faced south toward Middle Street, with an easy view of anyone traveling north on Washington Street. Just west of the town was a small run or creek, near the base of the hill that rises to Seminary Ridge. Confederate pickets in the area of the run had an easy shot down Middle Street at anyone crossing the intersection at Washington Street. And indeed they did fire on any Union soldiers moving along Washington Street. These were most likely 11th Corps units. Union patriot that she was, Miss Julia (it seems she was usually called Julia rather than Mary) stood in the doorway to her parents home calling out and warning Union men coming north on Washington Street, “Look out! Pickets below! They’ll fire on you!”

The Confederates pickets were apparently displeased by the youngster ruining their fun. So, girl or no girl, they took several shots at her. As Henry told the story, “ . . . bullets began to frame her where she stood . . . .” But Julia was not about to give up her post. She simply moved back a short way into the hallway. From there she was out of rifle shot of the Confederates, but could still easily continue to warn any Union men coming north along Washington Street. Henry says that this continued for about 30 minutes.

This may not be the skirmishing action that you are looking for, but these first hand civilian accounts confirm that the noise of gunfire around Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, was not related to any Independence Day celebrations.
Thanks very much for those accounts Tom, that is very much the kind of information i am looking for. Discussion of any action on July 4th is appropriate for this thread, and I’ve always been fascinated with sharpshooting in the town during the battle. That action produced some of the most interesting stories of the war in my opinion.
 
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