Solid Shot Casualties at Gettysburg

[Rhea Cole]

Possibly a solid shot, or else an unexploded shell, unless you have a more definitive source. However, the effect is the same. Private William Warren of Company C wrote that a "shell" struck Fowler in the forehead, and part of his brains were scattered over the arm of Adjutant Chatfield.

It could, indeed have been either solid or a shell. At Stones River a case shot ( Shrapnel) struck a staff officer in the head, splattering brains & gore onto Gen Rosecrans' face & coat.

A quick witted sergeant kept off his horse & extinguished the still smoking fuze.

 

[on again]

Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Fowler of the 17th Connecticut Infantry while on his horse directing his Men on Barlows Knoll the 1st day was struck in the head. Nothing remained of it as its remains splattered his Men. Shot most likely fired by Jones Battery. His body was never recovered.

According to his find a grave memorial his remains were apparently Buried by the CS As an unknown soldier in a burial trench and is probably a unknown soldier In National cemetery Gettysburg

 

[rpkennedy]

Lt. William Smith, Co. A, 1st Delaware.

There are two different but similar accounts of his death. One is that he was killed by a solid shot (bisected) after the end of Longstreet's Assault on July 3. This account said that he was found with his sword in one hand and the flag of the 5th Alabama Battalion in the other.

Ryan

 

[on again]

Lt. William Smith, Co. A, 1st Delaware.

There are two different but similar accounts of his death. One is that he was killed by a solid shot (bisected) after the end of Longstreet's Assault on July 3. This account said that he was found with his sword in one hand and the flag of the 5th Alabama Battalion in the other.

Ryan

Confirmed!

CONTENTdm

digital.archives.alabama.gov

Flags of the Civil War - Visit Gettysburg

Flags of the Civil War The various flags of the Civil War played an important role. A color guard marched into every battle and accompanied generals as they rode on horseback. Battlefield communication was by a horseback rider messenger, and in the smoky hazy of gunpowder, Civil War flags helped...

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163 p. 24 cm

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If he had lived he probably would have received the MOH

 

[bayonet]

According to his find a grave memorial his remains were apparently Buried by the CS As an unknown soldier in a burial trench and is probably a unknown soldier In National cemetery Gettysburg

Maybe but there were a lot more than just 20 dead that day on Barlows Knoll. Plus you would think both sides treated dead Officers differently and with more respect (at least in most cases).

 

[lupaglupa]

I received a PM asking how far a solid shot would carry & effect at extreme range. My absolute best answer is from a modern experiment that went wrong… Wallace & Grommet wrong.

A miss aimed 30 pound solid ball fired by The Myth Busters sailed over a berm, across a major highway, up the stairs of a house & after 1,000 yards smashed into a van. If only we could have Wallace's commentary!

Myth Buster's Cannon Ball Gone Wrong!

Link:
https://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/1433...-a-hole-in-a-house-with-a-cannonball-now-what

I remember that episode. One of their more spectacular fails.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I remember that episode. One of their more spectacular fails.

Cotton field & cedar break at Stones River NB photo taken at Chicago Board of Trade Battery position December 31, 1862.

For decades, after the annual battery program at Stones River a sheet of plywood was stood up against a cedar tree (+/-) 800 yards across a cotton field. Solid shot were sent grazing across the cotton plants until they skipped toward the target. 12 pounder Napoleons & 3" rifles boomed away with indifferent accuracy.

Be that as it may, the rounds that did not hit the plywood with a resounding boom crashed into the cedar break. The ricochets against exposed limestone outcrops, tree trunks & limbs sent the projectiles caroming in crazed zigzags.

Bragg's infantry who took potshots at the artillery across the cotton fields marked their positions with a great poof of white smoke against the dripping black of the cedars. Officers frantically ordered them to cease fire as men were felled by cannon balls, needle sharp splinters & flying tree limbs.

 

[Doug5861]

View attachment 540165
Cotton field & cedar break at Stones River NB photo taken at Chicago Board of Trade Battery position December 31, 1862.

For decades, after the annual battery program at Stones River a sheet of plywood was stood up against a cedar tree (+/-) 800 yards across a cotton field. Solid shot were sent grazing across the cotton plants until they skipped toward the target. 12 pounder Napoleons & 3" rifles boomed away with indifferent accuracy.

Be that as it may, the rounds that did not hit the plywood with a resounding boom crashed into the cedar break. The ricochets against exposed limestone outcrops, tree trunks & limbs sent the projectiles caroming in crazed zigzags.

Bragg's infantry who took potshots at the artillery across the cotton fields marked their positions with a great poof of white smoke against the dripping black of the cedars. Officers frantically ordered them to cease fire as men were felled by cannon balls, needle sharp splinters & flying tree limbs.

I dont know if this has been posted but it would be terrifying

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

It could, indeed have been either solid or a shell. At Stones River a case shot ( Shrapnel) struck a staff officer in the head, splattering brains & gore onto Gen Rosecrans' face & coat.

A quick witted sergeant kept off his horse & extinguished the still smoking fuze.

Darn good soldier, that sergeant!

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Captain William B. Hurt’s Alabama Battery at Gettysburg | Gettysburg

Major Robert A. Hardaway actually commanded the battery, which was also known as the "Hardaway Artillery," but a severe illness precluded his participation in the campaign. Thus, Captain William B. Hurt led the battery to Gettysburg and back to Virginia. The battery was assigned to the reserve...

civilwartalk.com

Thanks Tom Elmore for the link. I learned my bolt is one of only 133 Whitworth projectiles (can't call them rounds)
fired at Gettysburg.

 

[on again]

Part III

CSA

Captain James T. Davis, Company D, 12th Alabama. After noon on July 1, a ricochetting cannon ball struck his head as he rested beside a fence with his company on Oak Hill prior to a charge. Killed instantly, his brains scattered over several others nearby, including Lieutenant Robert E. Park of Company F, "greatly distressing" them. Davis' effects were later given to his wife, Nancy. (Sketch of the Twelfth Alabama Infantry, by Robert Emory Park, reprinted from Southern Historical Society Papers, 1906, vol. 33, p. 11; Compiled service records of James T. Davis, Fold3)

USA

Sergeant Joseph H. Hervey, Company C, 19th Massachusetts. On July 3, during the repulse of the Confederate attack against Cemetery Ridge, his body was "terribly mangled by a solid shot" in or near the copse. (History of the Nineteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865, compiled by Ernest L. Watt, Salem, MA: Salem Press Co., 1906, p. 250; Compiled service records of Joseph H. Hervey, Fold3)

Color Sergeant (not further identified), in charge of the orderlies serving staff officers of Brigadier General Andrew A. Humphreys. Captain William H. Chester, special aide-de-camp, was badly wounded on July 2 and, at Humphreys' direction, was being assisted off the field by this color sergeant and another orderly. Chester recalled: "Supported by one on each side of me, I had moved some few paces when a solid shot came flying by, taking off my horse's head and the sergeant's also." That night, the staff's Assistant Inspector General, Adolfo F. Cavada, observed that the sergeant's head and torso had been separated from the rest of his body. (Diary of Adolfo Fernandez de la Cavada, Bull Run Regional Library, Manassas, Virginia)

Private Jonathan E. Leavitt, Company D, 12th New Hampshire. On July 2, both of his feet and ankles were crushed by a solid shot. Taken to a Fifth Corps hospital, his case was handled by the regimental doctor, Hadley B. Fowler, a kind man and skilled surgeon who was designated as operating surgeon for the brigade. Fowler had to amputate both of Leavitt's legs above the ankles, but unfortunately the patient died on the operating table. (The Railroad Commissioner, Hadley B. Fowler, The People, Concord, New Hampshire, January 24, 1878, p. 2; Union Casualties at Gettysburg, by Travis W. Busey and John W. Busey, 1:350)

Captain Augustus Vignos, Company H, 107th Ohio. On July 1, while his regiment was posted near Barlow's Knoll awaiting developments, "a cannon ball came whistling through the air, shattering his arm from elbow to wrist. His hat flew in the air, blood spurted from his injury, and he fell to the ground writhing in pain. He was led … to the Gettysburg poor-house [Alms House] where his wound was cared for while the battle raged about him." (Canton Repository, Canton, Ohio, August 25, 1907)

107th OVI Roster CO H p.652:
Augustus Vignos Captain Age 24 Sept 6, 1862 for 3 years Wounded July 1, 1863 in battle of Gettysburg PA; lost right arm; promoted to Major Aug 1, 1863

Official roster of the soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866 / compiled under the direction of the Roster Commission v.7.

Maj Augustus Vignos (1838-1926) - Find a Grave...

He fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, 107th, Ohio volunteers. He lost his arm from a cannon-ball.

www.findagrave.com

He lived until 1926!

 

[6thMichCav]

I dont know if this has been posted but it would be terrifying

I thought of this video instantly! Thank you for re posting it!

 

[Tom Elmore]

Part IV

CSA

Unidentified soldier of Company C, 16th Mississippi. Sergeant James J. Kirkpatrick of the regiment recorded in his diary on July 3: "Co. C lost one member this evening, killed by cannon ball." (The Gettysburg Experience of James J. Kirkpatrick, Gettysburg Magazine, January 1, 1993, issue 8, p. 115) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company C during the battle – Private Thomas M. Bankston, who was buried by his comrades in Emanuel Pitzer's orchard, directly behind the brigade's position on Seminary Ridge.]

USA

Sergeant Myron A. Clark and Private Sydney M. Southard, Company I, 14th Vermont. On the afternoon of July 3, a twelve-pound solid shot (from a Napoleon gun) took off Clark's head, then struck Southard's left leg and heel of his right foot. Both tibia and fibula in Southard's left leg were fractured and the leg was amputated by Surgeon Owen Munson of the 108th New York. (Morning Journal and Courier, New Haven, Connecticut, December 27, 1880, p. 2; Medical report from the General Hospital at Central Park, New York, Fold3)

2nd Lieutenant Ansel L. White, Company B, 19th Maine, acting aide-de-camp to Brigadier General William Harrow. Toward the close of the action on July 3, a solid shot struck the shoulder of his horse and exited at the opposite flank, killing the animal instantly. It merely tore off part of White's trousers without injuring him, however, the collapsing horse fell on his leg, inflicting a severe bruise. (Official report of Brig. Gen. Harrow; The Republican Journal, Belfast, Maine, June 9, 1910, p. 1)

Unidentified soldier of Company K, 75th Ohio. Sergeant Mark A. Knowlden of the same company described an incident that occurred on July 1, in a July 17 letter to his sister: "A man in my company had a cannon ball pass through him – we were marching by the left flank, the ball passed in front of me and struck him under his knapsack in the small of the back; it nearly cut him in two." (From a Wounded Soldier, by Mark, The Xenia Sentinel, Xenia, Ohio, September 1, 1863, p. 4) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company K during the battle – Private William Rimppe. His body was never identified, which was often the case with soldiers of the Eleventh Corps who were killed north of the town on the afternoon of July 1.]

As an aside, an incident at Chancellorsville illustrates the energy imparted by a solid shot, involving Sergeant Harvey Cox of Battery B, 1st New York Artillery: "He had just sighted his piece and stepped to one side and raised his hand as a signal to fire when a cannon ball struck his heel. The momentum was so great that it spun him around several times like a top before he fell." Captain Pettit applied a strap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. (1st New York Light Artillery, Battery B, Newspaper Clippings, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center)

 

[Rhea Cole]

Part IV

CSA

Unidentified soldier of Company C, 16th Mississippi. Sergeant James J. Kirkpatrick of the regiment recorded in his diary on July 3: "Co. C lost one member this evening, killed by cannon ball." (The Gettysburg Experience of James J. Kirkpatrick, Gettysburg Magazine, January 1, 1993, issue 8, p. 115) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company C during the battle – Private Thomas M. Bankston, who was buried by his comrades in Emanuel Pitzer's orchard, directly behind the brigade's position on Seminary Ridge.]

USA

Sergeant Myron A. Clark and Private Sydney M. Southard, Company I, 14th Vermont. On the afternoon of July 3, a twelve-pound solid shot (from a Napoleon gun) took off Clark's head, then struck Southard's left leg and heel of his right foot. Both tibia and fibula in Southard's left leg were fractured and the leg was amputated by Surgeon Owen Munson of the 108th New York. (Morning Journal and Courier, New Haven, Connecticut, December 27, 1880, p. 2; Medical report from the General Hospital at Central Park, New York, Fold3)

2nd Lieutenant Ansel L. White, Company B, 19th Maine, acting aide-de-camp to Brigadier General William Harrow. Toward the close of the action on July 3, a solid shot struck the shoulder of his horse and exited at the opposite flank, killing the animal instantly. It merely tore off part of White's trousers without injuring him, however, the collapsing horse fell on his leg, inflicting a severe bruise. (Official report of Brig. Gen. Harrow; The Republican Journal, Belfast, Maine, June 9, 1910, p. 1)

Unidentified soldier of Company K, 75th Ohio. Sergeant Mark A. Knowlden of the same company described an incident that occurred on July 1, in a July 17 letter to his sister: "A man in my company had a cannon ball pass through him – we were marching by the left flank, the ball passed in front of me and struck him under his knapsack in the small of the back; it nearly cut him in two." (From a Wounded Soldier, by Mark, The Xenia Sentinel, Xenia, Ohio, September 1, 1863, p. 4) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company K during the battle – Private William Rimppe. His body was never identified, which was often the case with soldiers of the Eleventh Corps who were killed north of the town on the afternoon of July 1.]

As an aside, an incident at Chancellorsville illustrates the energy imparted by a solid shot, involving Sergeant Harvey Cox of Battery B, 1st New York Artillery: "He had just sighted his piece and stepped to one side and raised his hand as a signal to fire when a cannon ball struck his heel. The momentum was so great that it spun him around several times like a top before he fell." Captain Pettit applied a strap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. (1st New York Light Artillery, Battery B, Newspaper Clippings, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center)

Without peer, the most singular casualty from artillery fire at Gettysburg was suffered by a New Hampshire soldier. His cartridge box was filled with exploding Minnie Balls.

A white hot shell fragment struck the ammunition box, setting off a secondary explosion & a sizzling fire.


Re: Fuller The Rifled Musket

Link:

The Rifled Musket : Fuller, Claud E. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

 

[rpkennedy]

As an aside, an incident at Chancellorsville illustrates the energy imparted by a solid shot, involving Sergeant Harvey Cox of Battery B, 1st New York Artillery: "He had just sighted his piece and stepped to one side and raised his hand as a signal to fire when a cannon ball struck his heel. The momentum was so great that it spun him around several times like a top before he fell." Captain Pettit applied a strap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. (1st New York Light Artillery, Battery B, Newspaper Clippings, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center)

Do you have any further information about Cox? New York's records have him being captured (I imagine that he was left behind when the army retreated) and being presumed dead as there's no other record of him.

Ryan

 

[Rhea Cole]

Do you have any further information about Cox? New York's records have him being captured (I imagine that he was left behind when the army retreated) and being presumed dead as there's no other record of him.

Ryan

In The Artilleist's Manual General Gibbon states that a solid shot was capable of wounding six men.

Link:

The artillerist's manual : Gibbon, John, 1827-1896, comp : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Appendix and Index (p. [501]-568) numbered as p. [1]-67, 568

archive.org

•

Myth Busters inadvertently gave a dramatic example of just how powerful a sold shot from a black powder cannon can be.

Link:

https://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/143349193/so-the-mythbusters-punched-a-hole-in-a-house-with-a-cannonball-now-what

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Part IV

CSA

Unidentified soldier of Company C, 16th Mississippi. Sergeant James J. Kirkpatrick of the regiment recorded in his diary on July 3: "Co. C lost one member this evening, killed by cannon ball." (The Gettysburg Experience of James J. Kirkpatrick, Gettysburg Magazine, January 1, 1993, issue 8, p. 115) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company C during the battle – Private Thomas M. Bankston, who was buried by his comrades in Emanuel Pitzer's orchard, directly behind the brigade's position on Seminary Ridge.]

USA

Sergeant Myron A. Clark and Private Sydney M. Southard, Company I, 14th Vermont. On the afternoon of July 3, a twelve-pound solid shot (from a Napoleon gun) took off Clark's head, then struck Southard's left leg and heel of his right foot. Both tibia and fibula in Southard's left leg were fractured and the leg was amputated by Surgeon Owen Munson of the 108th New York. (Morning Journal and Courier, New Haven, Connecticut, December 27, 1880, p. 2; Medical report from the General Hospital at Central Park, New York, Fold3)

2nd Lieutenant Ansel L. White, Company B, 19th Maine, acting aide-de-camp to Brigadier General William Harrow. Toward the close of the action on July 3, a solid shot struck the shoulder of his horse and exited at the opposite flank, killing the animal instantly. It merely tore off part of White's trousers without injuring him, however, the collapsing horse fell on his leg, inflicting a severe bruise. (Official report of Brig. Gen. Harrow; The Republican Journal, Belfast, Maine, June 9, 1910, p. 1)

Unidentified soldier of Company K, 75th Ohio. Sergeant Mark A. Knowlden of the same company described an incident that occurred on July 1, in a July 17 letter to his sister: "A man in my company had a cannon ball pass through him – we were marching by the left flank, the ball passed in front of me and struck him under his knapsack in the small of the back; it nearly cut him in two." (From a Wounded Soldier, by Mark, The Xenia Sentinel, Xenia, Ohio, September 1, 1863, p. 4) [A reference work lists only one man killed in Company K during the battle – Private William Rimppe. His body was never identified, which was often the case with soldiers of the Eleventh Corps who were killed north of the town on the afternoon of July 1.]

As an aside, an incident at Chancellorsville illustrates the energy imparted by a solid shot, involving Sergeant Harvey Cox of Battery B, 1st New York Artillery: "He had just sighted his piece and stepped to one side and raised his hand as a signal to fire when a cannon ball struck his heel. The momentum was so great that it spun him around several times like a top before he fell." Captain Pettit applied a strap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. (1st New York Light Artillery, Battery B, Newspaper Clippings, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center)

Good post. I can only imagine the stress caused by seeing solid shot coming through your position on the battlefield.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Do you have any further information about Cox? New York's records have him being captured (I imagine that he was left behind when the army retreated) and being presumed dead as there's no other record of him.

Ryan

Ryan,

That same newspaper article states: "Capt. Pettit says there was no news of Sergt. Harvey Cox, when he left. ... As the conflict was then raging in all its terrible power, it was impossible to have him cared for properly, and in the retreat that soon after took place, he was left on the field. Capt. P. hopes that Mr. Cox is still living. We trust so; still we have our fears."

 

[bayonet]

In The Artilleist's Manual General Gibbon states that a solid shot was capable of wounding six men.

Link:

The artillerist's manual : Gibbon, John, 1827-1896, comp : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Appendix and Index (p. [501]-568) numbered as p. [1]-67, 568

archive.org

•

Myth Busters inadvertently gave a dramatic example of just how powerful a sold shot from a black powder cannon can be.

Link:

https://www.npr.org/2011/12/08/143349193/so-the-mythbusters-punched-a-hole-in-a-house-with-a-cannonball-now-what

30 pounder? They should of just went with a 12 or 6 pounder to make their point. If Myth Busters that day had a brain they be dangerous. I guess they were brainless that day!

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

As an aside, an incident at Chancellorsville illustrates the energy imparted by a solid shot, involving Sergeant Harvey Cox of Battery B, 1st New York Artillery: "He had just sighted his piece and stepped to one side and raised his hand as a signal to fire when a cannon ball struck his heel. The momentum was so great that it spun him around several times like a top before he fell." Captain Pettit applied a strap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. (1st New York Light Artillery, Battery B, Newspaper Clippings, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center)

Do you have any further information about Cox? New York's records have him being captured (I imagine that he was left behind when the army retreated) and being presumed dead as there's no other record of him.

Ryan

His FindaGrave listing includes a picture of his memorial stone near his brother's grave in New York.

Harvey Cox (1827-1863) - Find a Grave Memorial

Texas Cavalry (Burford's Regiment) Co B19 - Private. Killed in the Civil War. Harvey enlisted (Feb 1962) with Company B of the 1st New York Artillery, and was serving as a chief of pieces at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He received a serious wound to the ankle. He was left in the field and...

www.findagrave.com