Based on Hancock's description of where he placed the 19th Maine and Weir's battery, it would seem the battery was along the general line on Cemetery Ridge (see Bachelder Map, 2nd Day) and not down in the low ground just east of the Emmitsburg Road and near the Codori farm buildings as depicted in most recent histories and map studies. That position is where the Confederates had succeeded in dragging the guns to before the 13th Vermont's five advance companies persuaded them to give up on the idea.
And, Weir didn't lose three guns, he lost five.
Weir believed that with proper infantry support on his left he would be able to hold off the Confederates advancing toward his guns. Unfortunately, the 19th Maine’s attention had been distracted by their on-going fight with Lang’s Florida brigade. The time spent by Weir in limbering up to withdraw and then coming back into battery gave Wright’s 22nd Georgia the critical edge. According to Weir, “...The enemy were too close. I endeavored to get my guns off the field; succeeded in getting off but three, as some of the drivers and horses were disabled while in the act of limbering up.”
On further reflection, however, Weir would revise downward the number of his guns that escaped capture from three to one.
Informed that, after the day’s battle, one of his officers, Lieutenant Jacob Roemer, recovered seven guns from the field, Weir deduced that five of those seven were his guns, and the other two from another battery [probably Turnbull’s]. In his letter to Hancock, Weir stated, “...it now comes to me that I can solve the mystery of the guns. When I was running up the hill in retreat, I looked behind me, and saw three (3) guns remaining on the field-the others were going off, the middle (entire) section (platoon) where I had my position, of the battery had suffered most-It is not [now?] likely that both of these guns and one belonging to the right section, were those I saw. Everything else was going back. The left section must have been intact, so I made my report accordingly. Now the guns Mr. Roermer had, were the left section, which he tells me, he took charge of after Lieut. Baldwin’s horse was killed. This would make 5 guns that Mr. Roermer took from the field, belonging to battery “C” and 2 from some other battery. (he says he had seven (7)). My impression all along has been that I had three guns with me that night, but it must have been one (1) gun, some caissons, battery wagon and forage. I left that field in sorrow, for I thought that half of the battery was on its way south.
The 13th Vermont recaptured four of Weir’s guns at about 8:00 p.m. and the 105th Pennsylvania recovered the fifth a few minutes later. On July 3rd, these five joined with the gun Weir was able to bring off and Battery C, 5th U.S., was made whole.
Lieutenant Weir’s November 25th 1885 letter to General Hancock referenced the fact that on the morning of July 3rd he found, “...all the missing parts of the battery (6 gun battery) on the other side of a road, I had camped on the left side as I came from the field.” In a follow-up letter Weir wrote, “...There is only one item I wish to add to what I have written, which is this, that on my retreat on the 2d of July, I have never been able to recall that I met any troops in the direction from which I came. I went straight back from the centre of my battery.” That undefended gap would be exploited by the 22nd Georgia.
Captain B. C. McCurry, 22nd Georgia, reported that his regiment, “...Made a very successful charge, going on the right of the brigade and to the left of Perry’s brigade.” This claim to have penetrated the Union line is confirmed by General Gibbon’s report, “...The enemy came on with such impetuosity that the head of his column came quite through a vacancy in our line to the left of my division, opened by detaching troops to other points.”
Major Curtis, 7th Michigan, anxiously observed the Confederate advance, reporting that the enemy, “...succeeded in passing through between the guns of the battery on our left, driving the gunners from their posts. The line on our left gave way and our flank was almost turned, but the enemy’s line was fast melting away under the scathing fire of our men....”
While their comrades were penetrating the Union center, others in Wright’s command started to carry off the guns of Battery C, 5th U.S. General Hancock had placed these guns about 6:45 p.m., “...on the elevated open ground” of Cemetery Ridge just before he had been given command of the 3rd Corps. On his return a little more than an hour later (about 7:48 p.m.), Hancock saw the guns, apparently abandoned by both the cannoneers and the supporting infantry he had left to protect them, being carried off by the Rebels. Spotting Colonel Randall, who had ridden ahead of his five 13th Vermont companies, Hancock exclaimed, “...they have just captured that battery yonder (a battery about 20 rods in front) [5.5 yards to a rod equals a football field away] and are dragging it from the field. Can you retake it?” Colonel Randall reported that the men of the 13th Vermont, “...sprang forward with the bayonet…and continued our pursuit of the guns, which we overtook about half way to the Emmitsburg road...These guns, as I am told, belong to the Fifth U.S. Regulars, Lieutenant Weir. There were four of them....”
Albert Clarke, a lieutenant in one of those five companies, recalled that the guns were, “...in the shallow valley between” Cemetery Ridge and the Emmitsburg road.
As for the over counting of guns taken and recaptured, here's my take:
General Wright believed his brigade captured, “...over twenty pieces of artillery, all of which we were compelled to abandon. These pieces were taken by the respective regiments composing this brigade, as follows: The Third Georgia, 11 pieces; the Twenty-second Georgia, 3 pieces; the Forty-eighth Georgia, 4 pieces, and the Second Battalion several pieces-the exact number not ascertained, but believed to amount to as many as 5 or 6 pieces.”
Obviously, with only 12 guns available to be captured (the two six gun batteries of Brown and Weir), Wright had doubled the number of guns his men actually captured. Wright probably knew when he filed the report that his math involved some double counting of guns. But, if his objective was to make a point (the cost of his not being supported), it obviously better served his purpose to use the inflated number. So, if only nine guns at most were captured, how does one reconcile the individual claims of Wright’s regiments (totaling twenty-four guns) with that number; where might these fifteen extra guns be found?
Besides the “fog of war”, more than likely the principal factor contributing to the miscount was that the 3rd Georgia’s claims overlapped those of the two regiments on its flanks. With some members of its extreme left companies participating with the 48th Georgia in assaulting Brown’s battery, the 3rd Georgia obviously included those four guns in its count. Similarly, some members of its extreme right companies participated with the 22nd Georgia in its attack on Weir’s battery, adding those five guns to the 3rd’s tally.
According to Wright, the 2nd Georgia captured up to six pieces of artillery. Undoubtedly it, along with the 22nd Georgia, had taken Weir’s battery, but the 2nd should only be credited with the two guns not claimed by the 22nd Georgia. The additional four guns attributed to the 2nd Georgia bring to thirteen the number of double-counted guns identified, leaving two yet to be explained. The Confederates were able to start five of Weir’s guns back toward their lines. However, these guns were left on the field when the Confederates abandoned the contest (Hancock subsequently ordered the 13th Vermont to go and recover them). As some members of the 3rd Georgia retreated past two of these guns, they may have concluded that they belonged to a completely different Federal battery, which would account for the eleven guns the 3rd Georgia reported it had in its “possession” (but not necessarily captured by them) during the battle. When these two, possibly thrice-counted guns are factored in, the total of over-counted guns reaches fifteen. Voila!
Jim