Woffords Brigade Front at Gettysburg

[Russell]

I read somewhere on here awhile back but don't remember where, does anyone know the width of Woffords Brigade at Gettysburg?

 

[Tom Elmore]

It depends on the time of measurement, but presuming you mean when they arrived on the field before taking any casualties, Busey and Martin's Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg show their engaged strenth (that is, excluding non-combatants) as:

16 GA: 31 officers, 272 enlisted men
18 GA: 30 officers, 272 enlisted men
24 GA: 31 officers, 272 enlisted men
Cobb's Legion: 22 officers, 191 enlisted men
Phillips' Legion: 28 officers, 245 enlisted men
3 BN SS: 21 officers, 208 enlisted men

As the odds of the first three regiments being of equal strength are unlikely, it would appear that an average was adopted, but it does not matter for the purpose of calculating the brigade front. Now, I use my own "rule of thumb" as 22 inches per enlisted man (rather than "by the book" width of 20 inches per man), which seems to fit rather well in cases where units are posted along a known front. I only count the enlisted men in my simple system (I don't bother excluding the sergeant major on the regimental staff), and in this case we exclude 3 BN SS since they acted as skirmishers. So, with two equal ranks, I come up with:

16 GA: 249 feet (272 times 22 inches, divided by 12 inches per foot, divided by 2 ranks)
18 GA: 249 feet
24 GA: 249 feet
Cobb's Legion: 175 feet
Phillips' Legion: 225 feet

Total: 1,147 feet

Sometimes, a participant records (in official reports, regimental histories, etc.) the number of "guns" present which is nearly always the most accurate figure to use, but I'm unaware of such information being available for regiments of Wofford's brigade.

Wofford's brigade came under artillery fire initially, and as @lelliott19 has shown, a very damaging single artillery round struck 16 GA early on, so the above numbers start shrinking as men close gaps left by casualties. Usually we can get some sense of the attrition by studying casualties by type (gunshot, artillery, bayonet, etc.), to include captures, but unfortunately there are few extant sources from Wofford's brigade to assist such analysis, and even their service records are sketchy.

We can derive an estimate of battle strength and frontage at the end of the fight, too, again mainly relying on Busey and Martin:

16 GA: 130 enlisted men (119 feet)
18 GA: 228 enlisted men (209 feet)
24 GA: 186 enlisted men (170 feet)
Cobb's Legion: 153 enlisted men (140 feet)
Phillips' Legion: 178 enlisted men (163 feet)

Total: 801 feet

Of course, the latter represents a very general estimate. After a large battle, men were often away tending to the wounded, or their own minor wounds (which might not be officially counted as wounds), and sometimes a number of detailed non-combatants would be placed back into the ranks.

 

[Russell]

Thanks for the info, I wonder if when they crossed the Peach Orchard they bunched up or how dressed their lines were.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Thanks for the info, I wonder if when they crossed the Peach Orchard they bunched up or how dressed their lines were.

Federal eyewitnesses suggested they moved unimpeded in a textbook line formation ("like a dress parade") at right shoulder shift (right shoulder arms in modern parlance) until they reached the western edge of the Wheatfield.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Actually, I was mistaken with regard to one participant who provided useful information. I realize that Captain James Lile Lemon of Company A, 18th Georgia explicitly stated that the brigade front covered "about 400 yards in width." My estimate was 382 yards, excluding 3 BN SS.

(Feed Them the Steel, Being, the Wartime Recollections of Capt. James Lile Lemon, Co. A, 18th Georgia Infantry, by Mark H. Lemon, 2016)

 

[lelliott19]

Actually, I was mistaken with regard to one participant who provided useful information. I realize that Captain James Lile Lemon of Company A, 18th Georgia explicitly stated that the brigade front covered "about 400 yards in width." My estimate was 382 yards, excluding 3 BN SS.

(Feed Them the Steel, Being, the Wartime Recollections of Capt. James Lile Lemon, Co. A, 18th Georgia Infantry, by Mark H. Lemon, 2016)

Capt. Lemon's estimate of "about 400 yds." is pretty dang close to your calculation of 382 yds! I use your formula all the time for calculating regimental or brigade front. But having a primary source estimate to compare against is great. It's incredible to see how close your calculation is to Capt. Lemon's estimate. Since they were deployed as skirmishers, I'm pretty sure Lemon was excluding the 3d Battn SS in his estimate too?

Thank you again for sharing the formula with me years ago, and sharing it with Russell now.

 

[lelliott19]

Federal eyewitnesses suggested they moved unimpeded in a textbook line formation ("like a dress parade") at right shoulder shift (right shoulder arms in modern parlance) until they reached the western edge of the Wheatfield.

From the Dedication of the Monument, 57th New York Infantry, October 6, 1889, Rev. Gilbert Frederick, D.D.

"The Second Corps occupied the left-centre, on Cemetery Ridge, a little to the left of Cemetery Hill......General Longstreet occupied the Rebel right-wing; hence our fighting was with Longstreet's Corps. General Lee, thinking the Peach Orchard was the left of our line, expected by turning it to double our flank and get into our rear; so Longstreet massed his men under cover of the woods, and hurled brigade after brigade upon the Third Corps in the Peach Orchard and Wheatfield.

The fighting thus begun on the left continued with fury. General Sickles had formed the Third Corps into a right angle, the ends resting on the main line and the angle in the Peach Orchard. The fighting was stubborn, but the line gave way, the Rebels poured into the Peach Orchard, thence through the opening and the woods into the Wheatfield, and up to Plum Run. It was at this junction that Hancock sent the First Division of the Second Corps into the Wheatfield to drive back the victorious enemy.

When about 4 o'clock, pm, the order came to move, the Fifty-seventh (New York) fell in, filed left, went in to the woods, and was soon under fire. As we pushed forward, the three regiments of the brigade making the first line, and the Fifty- seventh the second, man after man fell in his tracks, some instantly killed, others wounded. We soon returned the fire, still pushing forward over rocks, through underbrush and dense woods to the opening opposite the Peach Orchard. In this advance, as General Zook was jumping his horse over a stone wall, he received the bullet that put an end to his service and his life. When the rebels came in on our right, Colonel Chapman gave the order, "About face!" We fell back to the stone wall, then turned and gave the enemy such a volley of lead as, for a time, disordered his advance. One or two of the boys lingered at the edge of the woods as the Rebels in Battalion front came from the opposite woods into the opening. They were marching steadily, with colors flying as though on dress parade, and guns at right-shoulder-shift. They looked harmless, but the lingering boys did not care to make a closer acquaintance and hurried on to their regiment. It seemed miraculous that anyone came out of that wood alive, so terrible was the fire when we entered it...."

New York (State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga, William Freeman Fox, Daniel Edgar Sickles. J.B. Lyon Company, Printers, 1900, Gettysburg, PA. pp. 419-420.

 

[Belfoured]

Capt. Lemon's estimate of "about 400 yds." is pretty dang close to your calculation of 382 yds! I use your formula all the time for calculating regimental or brigade front. But having a primary source estimate to compare against is great. It's incredible to see how close your calculation is to Capt. Lemon's estimate. Since they were deployed as skirmishers, I'm pretty sure Lemon was excluding the 3d Battn SS in his estimate too?

Thank you again for sharing the formula with me years ago, and sharing it with Russell now.

When I saw the OP I was wondering when you'd weigh in.

 

[RedRover]

The brigade's front apparently closed up as they charged according to this account...

Full article here...

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/vi/batch_vi_chanel_ver01/data/sn84024735/00415664400/1863080701/0152.pdf

General McLaws confirms some of the above. Says the troops advanced at the "double quick" march...

And says that General Longstreet advanced with Wofford's brigade...

A review of the maps made in the 19th Century, through the present, suggest the line of Wofford's brigade advanced in the space between the Wheatfield road, about its left flank, and to the right, with its right to about the Rose's run creekbed near the Rose farm. Sweeping onward through the wheatfield to the foot of Little Round top, etc., before withdrawing back toward the Peach orchard...

A quick map viewer measure gives that space in which Wofford's line met the enemy at least 450 yards from Rose's run to the road (not counting north of the wheatfield road)...

 

[Russell]

Capt. Lemon's estimate of "about 400 yds." is pretty dang close to your calculation of 382 yds! I use your formula all the time for calculating regimental or brigade front. But having a primary source estimate to compare against is great. It's incredible to see how close your calculation is to Capt. Lemon's estimate. Since they were deployed as skirmishers, I'm pretty sure Lemon was excluding the 3d Battn SS in his estimate too?

Thank you again for sharing the formula with me years ago, and sharing it with Russell now.

Yes thank you!!!

 

[lelliott19]

I hate to repeat information, but feel the need to shout this from the rooftops at every opportunity. It may not seem important to anyone else, but accurate history is paramount to me.

On most maps you'll see, the alignment of regiments in Wofford's brigade is incorrect. It seems Bachelder published the faulty alignment and most everyone else has just parroted it. There are numerous primary sources - accounts from the men who were there, present in those regiments.

The primary sources unequivocally establish the following alignment as accurate
L>R: Phillips Legion, Cobbs Legion, 16th GA (center), 24th GA, 18th GA

The Lemon account is just one of the primary sources that establishes the accurate alignment. As @Tom Elmore mentioned, a hand drawn map in Lemon's diary shows the alignment and the 3d Battalion GA Sharpshooters deployed in front as skirmishers. Lemon also establishes that BG Wm Tatum Wofford was riding on the right of the brigade with his old 18th GA.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Wofford's brigade aligned on the Wheatfield road, according to Captain Lemon, which is supported by a source in the 2nd South Carolina stating the 2nd joined Wofford's right. The two Legions were initially north of that road, and members of Phillips' Legion (at least) were captured north of that road east of Plum Run, and Battery C, 3rd Massachusetts was attacked north of that road, east of Plum Run.

 

[Belfoured]

I hate to repeat information, but feel the need to shout this from the rooftops at every opportunity. It may not seem important to anyone else, but accurate history is paramount to me.

On most maps you'll see, the alignment of regiments in Wofford's brigade is incorrect. It seems Bachelder published the faulty alignment and most everyone else has just parroted it. There are numerous primary sources - accounts from the men who were there, present in those regiments.

The primary sources unequivocally establish the following alignment as accurate
L>R: Phillips Legion, Cobbs Legion, 16th GA (center), 24th GA, 18th GA

The Lemon account is just one of the primary sources that establishes the accurate alignment. As @Tom Elmore mentioned, a hand drawn map in Lemon's diary shows the alignment and the 3d Battalion GA Sharpshooters deployed in front as skirmishers. Lemon also establishes that BG Wm Tatum Wofford was riding on the right of the brigade with his old 18th GA.

You seem to have some background on this subject ....