Strong Vincent

[HistorywithWaffles]

A while back I traveled to Gaines Mill and Gettysburg to get a better understanding of a man I've not heard enough about. He was a hero at Little Round Top but Gaines Mill was the preview of a great leader. Watch my video about this journey and share your Strong Vincent stories:

 

[Tom Elmore]

By coincidence, last night I read a newspaper article about Strong Vincent, his brother Boyd and cousin (Bishop) John Heyl Vincent, in the Delaware Gazette and State Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, November 9, 1893, p. 6:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88053046/1893-11-09/ed-1/?sp=6&q=Gettysburg&r=-0.001,0.137,0.425,0.215,0

 

[TnFed]

That name was made for an American hero of the 1800's.

 

[gc45]

Very good video, thanks for sharing.

 

[mwalker6043]

Strong Vincent died at the Lewis Bushman farm, in one of their upstairs bedrooms on July 7th. Lewis' wife was 6 months pregnant at the time Strong was at their house. The couple named the child Strong Vincent Bushman after the General.

 

[gc45]

Strong Vincent died at the Lewis Bushman farm, in one of their upstairs bedrooms on July 7th. Lewis' wife was 6 months pregnant at the time Strong was at their house. The couple named the child Strong Vincent Bushman after the General.

Pretty cool, they must have been unionist all the way!

 

[Gettysburg Greg]

A while back I traveled to Gaines Mill and Gettysburg to get a better understanding of a man I've not heard enough about. He was a hero at Little Round Top but Gaines Mill was the preview of a great leader. Watch my video about this journey and share your Strong Vincent stories:

As the story goes, Colonel Vincent made the decision to take his Brigade to Little Round Top without direct orders from his commander after intercepting a currier looking for General Barnes asking for help protecting the hill. Artist Dale Gallon recreated the scene depicting the meeting of Vincent and the currier in the corner of the Wheatfield in his great print called, "What are your orders, Sir?" I located the exact setting for the print and took a matching photo to create the then and now shown below.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

That name was made for an American hero of the 1800's.

Amen.

 

[rpkennedy]

The courier who was intercepted by Colonel Vincent was either Captain William Jay, a senior aide to Major General George Sykes, or Captain John Williams, the Fifth Corps' Adjutant General.

And the staff officer who Warren sent to Sykes to ask for assistance on Little Round Top was Lt. Ranald Mackenzie.

Ryan

 

[PKnierman]

The major issue with this is that Strong Vincent was not at Gaines Mill. Judson, in his History of the Eighty-third Pennsylvania, states that Lt. Colonel Vincent had been "removed the day before, prostrated with a violent fever". After Colonel McLane had been killed and Major Louis Naghel mortally wounded, command of the regiment fell to Captain Hugh Campbell from Company E. Vincent did not return to the regiment until late October 1862.

 

[gc45]

As the story goes, Colonel Vincent made the decision to take his Brigade to Little Round Top without direct orders from his commander after intercepting a currier looking for General Barnes asking for help protecting the hill. Artist Dale Gallon recreated the scene depicting the meeting of Vincent and the currier in the corner of the Wheatfield in his great print called, "What are your orders, Sir?" I located the exact setting for the print and took a matching photo to create the then and now shown below.
View attachment 545546

Great, great photo!

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Yes, thought Greg pinpoints very well the exact field location of this brief officer exchange in his photograph (judged by comparing the lines of the undulating background hills in both images shown).

 

[gc45]

The courier who was intercepted by Colonel Vincent was either Captain William Jay, a senior aide to Major General George Sykes, or Captain John Williams, the Fifth Corps' Adjutant General.

And the staff officer who Warren sent to Sykes to ask for assistance on Little Round Top was Lt. Ranald Mackenzie.

Ryan

wow, I like Mackenzie; thanks for this info.

 

[Scott Brown]

The courier who was intercepted by Colonel Vincent was either Captain William Jay, a senior aide to Major General George Sykes, or Captain John Williams, the Fifth Corps' Adjutant General.

And the staff officer who Warren sent to Sykes to ask for assistance on Little Round Top was Lt. Ranald Mackenzie.

Ryan

Norton wrote later that Vincent referred to the courier as "Captain", and acted as though he was familiar with him. Is there something else in the record that points to Jay or Williams?

 

[rpkennedy]

Norton wrote later that Vincent referred to the courier as "Captain", and acted as though he was familiar with him. Is there something else in the record that points to Jay or Williams?

I know that Pfanz talks about how it could've been either one and, IIRC, it was based on something that Sykes wrote. I'll look at his sources when I get a chance.

Ryan

 

[Scott Brown]

I know that Pfanz talks about how it could've been either one and, IIRC, it was based on something that Sykes wrote. I'll look at his sources when I get a chance.

Ryan

As an aside, I've never been able to find those letters from Sykes (see note 11 on pg 506 of Pfanz).

 

[rpkennedy]

As an aside, I've never been able to find those letters from Sykes (see note 11 on pg 506 of Pfanz).

I've not seen them before either but I've never really gone lookin for them. I did a quick search of the National Tribune but didn't turn anything up. I'm wondering if it's in some personal papers someplace.

As another aside, after reading Sykes' report, I'm leaning towards the intercepted officer being Captain Williams. According to Sykes, he dispatched Captain Jay to Barnes in order to bring him up before Lt. Mackenzie showed up asking for help.

Ryan

 

[Scott Brown]

I've not seen them before either but I've never really gone lookin for them. I did a quick search of the National Tribune but didn't turn anything up. I'm wondering if it's in some personal papers someplace.

As another aside, after reading Sykes' report, I'm leaning towards the intercepted officer being Captain Williams. According to Sykes, he dispatched Captain Jay to Barnes in order to bring him up before Lt. Mackenzie showed up asking for help.

Ryan

From his OR? I'm not seeing that.

 

[rpkennedy]

From his OR? I'm not seeing that.

You're correct. It's not the report. Now I've got to go back through my sources and figure out where I saw it. I could have sworn it was the OR.

Ryan

 

[rpkennedy]

Ok, here is what I found:

Pfanz, Gettysburg: The Second Day, page 207-8:

Sykes set off to the left with but a single orderly to select positions for his divisions. He probably did not ride to Little Round Top, for he made no later claim of having done so. He must have ridden to the Devil's Den area, however, for he saw the gap there between Smith's battery and the Fourth Maine and noted mentally that it ought to be filled. He rode then across the Wheatfield and found Birney and Ward in a woods to the "right" of the Wheatfield—whether it was the woods on the stony hill or Trostle's Woods we cannot know. He spoke to Birney of the gap at Devil's Den and promised to deploy some of his own troops in the stony hill area if Birney would shift troops left to fill it. It was about this time that Captain Jay and Capt. John Williams, the corps adjutant general, appeared. They had become impatient at Sykes's failure to return to Powers Hill and had ridden out to find him. Sykes sent Jay off to bring up Barnes's division.14

The footnote cites Sykes' official report and Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. I looked at the report which doesn't specify which officer Sykes dispatched to Barnes and I looked at the address in Pennsylvania at Gettysburg which leads to an address by Oliver Norton that talks about an identified captain who gave the order for Barnes to Vincent.

So, based on no other information, I retract my previous statement and have no idea why Pfanz says Jay went to Barnes prior to Mackenzie's arrival. I'll have to look at some of the other relevant ORs and see if they are any more specific.

Ryan