A Green Regiment

BG Henry Lockwood

The 150th New York Infantry were one of three regiments assigned to Brigadier General Henry Lockwood’s Brigade.  Being a new brigade to the First Division in the XII Corps, it was posted as an independent brigade.  The 150th New York was raised in Dutches County, NY and carried the nickname of “The Dutchess Regiment”.  The regiment had mustered into Union service in 1862, but had been garrisoned, guarding Washington, DC and on the morning of 2 July 1863, had not yet been in action.  Their trouble in keeping up on the march, “full ranks, bright colors and clean uniforms” easily placing them apart from the veteran troops.

The 150th would arrive in Gettysburg from the previous night's bivouac in LIttlestown, PA at about 9am on the second of July.  The men could hear sounds of battle and knew of the fight which had taken place the day before.  The Colonel of 150th, John Ketcham moved along the line of his men offering up “encouragement and imparting advice” for the upcoming action.

After having been held most of the of the day just off of Culp’s Hill, Lockwood received orders about 5pm to move his men in support of General Daniel Sickles’ III Corps.  They marched out Schoolhouse Lane toward the sound of the battle.  The men passed and saw for the first time soldiers who were wounded in battle.  Their march ended somewhere near the Trostle house.  Here the men of the 150th along with the First Maryland Eastern Shore; the other regiment on site making up two of the three regiments in Lockwood’s Brigade, faced the enemy for the first time.  They formed and held a line, causing the Confederates in the their front; most likely the 21st Mississippi of General William Barksdale’s Brigade to retire.  It was at this time that Companies B and G of the 150th recovered three guns from Bigelow’s 9th Massachusetts Battery, pulling them off the field.  The men marched from the field back toward the Baltimore Pike, deploying in the early morning hours near Rugg and Kinzie’s Batteries, with the 150th near the Lightner house.

Trostle House with Company B and G Monument

The 150th received orders on the morning of 3 July to move to Culp’s Hill to support General George S Greene's troops, who were engaged with the enemy.  They arrived on the hill about 7:30am to find “a long line of hastily built breastworks filled with soldiers who were pouring an incessant fire in the valley below.”  They were ordered to relieve the 78th New York.  One soldier described the pits as “so long that we only occupied a small portion of them...the breastworks are made of logs, stone and dirt and are about 5 feet high. Private Charles Benton of the 150th said, “the smoke had settled so thickly in the timber that we could not distinguish them (the Confederates) clearly, and the spurts of smoke from their guns” gave the means of aiming.

Monument on Culp's Hill

Division commander General Lockwood, who was concerned about his green troops, told Colonel Ketchum that the 150th might need support, but Private Benton wrote of the men that he was “struck by the cool and matter-of-fact way in which our men loading and firing, while the dead lay at frequent intervals.”  Lockwood would say about the men; “That is the green regiment is it?  Well I wish to God they were all green.”  However even being behind the breastworks didn’t guarantee safty.  Men were killed  it was thought by Confederate sharpshooters in the trees.  Two such men whose death was witnessed were John P Wing and Levi Rust of Washington, New York.  They were “struck by the same ball, it going through John’s breast and then striking Levi Rust.  The latter fell at once.  John looked up to me, I thought as much to say, ‘That came close’, when he fell over on his hands and knees and settled down in death with only a groan.”

The men stayed in the breastworks for about two and a half hours, until the 102nd New York relieved them.  They returned again in about an hour.  Each man of 150th fired about 150 round while there.

Green Troops; The 13th Vermont

The 13th Vermont was part of the Second Vermont Brigade. As a 9 month Regiment it had spent its duty, guarding the defenses of Washington. The men of 13th were un-tested in battle and only a few days from the end of their enlistment, when the order came to march for Gettysburg. Many of these young green Green Mountain Boys wouldn’t be returning home.


Gen George J Stannard

The 9 month men of the 13th were called the “Paper Collar Brigade” because their uniforms looked so new to the more seasoned Union soldiers. Formed with 5 other Vermont regiments as part of the Militia Act of July 1861, the men who made up the 13th were recruited from Chittenden, Franklin, Lamoille and Washington counties. The 13th were sent to camp in Brattleboro, VT, where they were given equipment including muzzle loading Springfield rifles. Under Colonel Francis V Randall the 953 men and officers were mustered into service 3 October 1862. The 13th was sent to Washington DC where they went into camp on East Capital Hill 13 October 1862. The men from Vermont settled into picket and guard duty, protecting the approaches to the Capital.
Orders came to the Second Vermont Brigade of which the 13th Vermont was a part, on 25 June 1863 to join Union General Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac. The men marched for 7 days, averaging 18 miles a day. Many of the men marched on worn out shoes as the quartermasters didn’t want to waste boots on men about leave the army. They ate well along the way, as Lieutenant Edwin Palmer said of getting food, the “hardtack has played out, whilst green backs last.”
The men of the Second Brigade were ordered on 30 June 1863 to do guard duty for the I Corps wagon trains. At 9 am on 1 July 1863 General George J Stannard, the Brigade commander received orders to march the 13th, 14th and 16th regiments to Gettysburg. By 3 pm the men could hear sounds of battle as they marched along the Emmittsburg Road. Arriving on the field about sunset, there was confusion as to where the men were to go into position. “Private Ralph Sturtevant of the 13th said, “General Stannard swore like a piper…because so much moving about when the boys were all out from the long day’s hard march.” The 13th finally settled in, to the left of General John Buford’s cavalry in a clover field.
On the morning of 2 July 1863 the men of the 13th started their day with coffee made from muddy water. They scrounged for food as the 13th didn’t receive rations. Orders came mid morning for half of the regiment to set up in support of a battery on the hill, the other half moved south and formed up behind the II Corps. As Confederate General James Longstreet’s enechelon attack moved toward the Union II Corps line on Cemetery Ridge, the 22nd Georgia, part of General Ambrose Wright’s brigade found a gap. Union General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the men of the 13th forward to plug that hole. The 13th was going into battle for the first time. Ordered to charge, stop the Confederate attack and re-take 4 cannon lost earlier by Weir’s Battery, Colonel Francis Randall led his men out. Randall’s horse was shot from under him, but his men continued on, charging “down the sloping hill, over the dead and dying, shouting, firing into the foe.” The Green Mountain Boys of the 13th pursued the retreating Confederates all the way to the Peter Roger’s house on the Emmittsburg Road. They re-took the 4 guns of Weir’s Battery and 83 prisoners. As the 13th returned to Cemetery Ridge, Hancock said, “That was well Done! Give me Vermonter’s for a charge.”
They spent the night on the field, where the men slept on their arms. The mortally wounded Confederate General William Barksdale was carried through their line in the darkness to a field hospital, in the Union rear.
The morning of 3 July 1863 found the 13th to the left and rear of the Vermont 14th, among Hancock’s II Corps. General Stannard asked for volunteer’s to move out about 45 yards in their front to throw up a barricade of fence rails and stones. These volunteers were led by Sergeant George H Scott of the 13th’s Company G, and were under fire from Confederate sharpshooters the whole time.
When the great cannonading of 3 July 1863 began, many of the Vermont Second Brigade were killed or wounded, owing to their advanced position. When Pickett’s Charge began the 13th was ordered into their breastworks, with the 14th on their left extending into the Plum Run Valley. As Confederate General James Kemper’s men came into view, they began a series of left obloquies that opened Kemper’s right flank to the 13th Vermont. General Stannard ordered the 13th into the meadow, where they changed front from the West to the North, using orderly Sergeant James Scully of Company A as the pivot. Colonel Randall ran along his line from left to right yelling orders to his men. The Confederates watching this maneuver knew the 13th would devastate their flank. The men of the 13th loaded their guns as they completed their change of fronts; close enough for hand to hand fighting, they opened fire on Kemper’s men.


Lieutenant Stephen Brown

The 13th took 243 prisoners. Including one captured by Lieutenant Stephen Brown. Brown had been arrested for leaving the march to search for water and had, had his sword taken away. He was released in time for the fight, but hadn’t gotten the sword back, so he entered the fight carrying a hatchet. It was with this hatchet swinging over his head that he captured a Confederate officer. The officer surrendered himself and his sword to Lieutenant Brown.
About 9 pm the 13th Vermont was ordered from the field. They moved to the rear near the Taneytown Road. It was here that the men learned that Generals Hancock and Stannard were wounded. The 13th itself had lost 11 men killed, 81 with wounds, and 23 missing.
They spent the next few days burying the dead, and tending to the wounded. On 6 July 1863 the 13th marched with the rest of the army in pursuit of the enemy. In a hard rain they crossed Catoctin Mountain into Maryland the night of 7 July 1863. Near Middletown, Maryland the next day the men of the 13th received their orders to go home.