- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
Thanks to Capt. George B. Winslow of Battery D, 1st New York, I believe we can now, with considerable accuracy, establish the time that Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles was wounded near the Trostle barn on July 2. In his official report, Capt. Winslow wrote that upon departing the Wheatfield with his battery, he immediately reported to Sickles and Capt. George E. Randolph, commanding Third Corps artillery brigade. After the war, Winslow provided additional details to John Bachelder, including the fact that Sickles was wounded just two or three minutes after Winslow delivered his report. Winslow was ordered to the rear to collect his battery, but he evidently remained just long enough to observe Sickles’ wounding.
Having completed the Wheatfield timeline on my battle map project, I estimate the time was 6:14 p.m. as Winslow accompanied his last piece as it struggled to pull away in the Wheatfield. Winslow’s other guns were already gone and moving to the rear, perhaps using the farm lane that ran through the woods north of the John T. Weikert place. Moments before, as Winslow’s guns were passing through the open Trostle woods to reach the clearing beyond, they cut right through the 64th New York of Brooke’s brigade, which I figure had just reached the wall on the northeastern edge of those woods, not far from where the 35th Pennsylvania (6th Pennsylvania Reserves) monument now stands.
Bringing with him his one remaining piece (from his center section), Winslow made directly for Sickles’ headquarters at the Trostle farm to report. Using the estimated average speed for a trot (200 yards), Winslow could have reached Sickles by 6:19 p.m., which would mean that Sickles was wounded (struck by a solid shot) at approximately 6:22 p.m. At that moment, I calculate that Barksdale’s brigade was just emerging from the woods on Warfield Ridge into full view of the Federals on the Peach Orchard line at the Emmitsburg Road. It was that same moment that Alexander’s guns briefly fell silent to allow the infantry to pass safely. Of course, no one can claim such precision about any event occurring on this battlefield, but perhaps we can come closer to the truth.
Main Sources:
-Official Report, Capt. George B. Winslow.
-Letter of Winslow to Bachelder, Bachelder Papers, 1: 590-591.
-Col. Daniel G. Bingham, 64th New York, History of Cattaraugus County, New York (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1879), pp. 105-106.
Having completed the Wheatfield timeline on my battle map project, I estimate the time was 6:14 p.m. as Winslow accompanied his last piece as it struggled to pull away in the Wheatfield. Winslow’s other guns were already gone and moving to the rear, perhaps using the farm lane that ran through the woods north of the John T. Weikert place. Moments before, as Winslow’s guns were passing through the open Trostle woods to reach the clearing beyond, they cut right through the 64th New York of Brooke’s brigade, which I figure had just reached the wall on the northeastern edge of those woods, not far from where the 35th Pennsylvania (6th Pennsylvania Reserves) monument now stands.
Bringing with him his one remaining piece (from his center section), Winslow made directly for Sickles’ headquarters at the Trostle farm to report. Using the estimated average speed for a trot (200 yards), Winslow could have reached Sickles by 6:19 p.m., which would mean that Sickles was wounded (struck by a solid shot) at approximately 6:22 p.m. At that moment, I calculate that Barksdale’s brigade was just emerging from the woods on Warfield Ridge into full view of the Federals on the Peach Orchard line at the Emmitsburg Road. It was that same moment that Alexander’s guns briefly fell silent to allow the infantry to pass safely. Of course, no one can claim such precision about any event occurring on this battlefield, but perhaps we can come closer to the truth.
Main Sources:
-Official Report, Capt. George B. Winslow.
-Letter of Winslow to Bachelder, Bachelder Papers, 1: 590-591.
-Col. Daniel G. Bingham, 64th New York, History of Cattaraugus County, New York (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1879), pp. 105-106.