The March Of The Sixth Corps

Parts of the 6th Corps were involved in the fighting at Gettysburg.  They were placed covering both flanks of the Army, should Confederate General Robert E Lee have seen fit to move any of his troops to the far left or right, as he had done at Chancellorsville and other earlier battles.  The arrival on the field of the 6th Corps’ about 15,000 me in the early evening on 2 July 1863, lifted the morale of the Union troop in the line there.  But the true trial for the men of the 6th came from their 30+ mile march into Gettysburg in less than 18 hours.

Wednesday 1 July 1863 saw the 6th Corps; the largest of the Corps in the Union Army of the Potomac, encamped at Manchester, Maryland.  The 15,697 men settled in for a well deserved rest, and the residences of the town turned out to view the boys in blue.  It was dark when the commanding General of the 6th Corps, John Sedgwick received his first orders from Union General George Gordon Meade.  Sedgwick started his 36 Regiments and 8 Artillery Batteries on the road to Winchester.  The second order from Meade’s Headquarters set the tone for the march, it read, “general battle seems to be impending tomorrow at Gettysburg: that it is of utmost importance that your command should be up. He directs that you stop all trains that impede your progress, or turn them out of the road.  Your march will have to be a forced one to reach the scene of action, where we shall probably be outnumbered without your presence.”

Brigadier General Frank Wheaton’s Third Brigade of the Third Division led off the march at about 9pm.  The column stretched out for 10 miles.  The night was described by Andrew Bennett of the 1st Massachusetts Light Battery as a “typical July night, the sultry air retaining the mid-day heat, there was an uncomfortable closeness.

There was a late night countermarch, taking the Corps along a narrow road.  They formed again on the Baltimore Pike, and the march to Gettysburg continued.  When the 6th Corps reached the Maryland / Pennsylvania state line, the men of the 93rd Pennsylvania felt inspired to un-shuck their colors and sing “Home Sweet Home”.  By 8am the 6th was moving through the town of Littlestown, Pennsylvania, with ten more miles to go.

The long hot night was followed by and even hotter day.  The description of the march given by James Bowen of the 37th Massachusetts, relates the hell of all of those miles.  He wrote, “It was a hot, breathless July day.  The sun poured down with merciless, unbroken heat and dust that rose in great lazy clouds from the highway enveloped man and horse, general and private alike, in its all, embracing mantle of torture.  How exhausted lungs panted for one full breath of pure, cool fresh air!  Panted only to be mocked by the bitter, burning, dust - laden blast that seemed to come from the mouth of a furnace.  What wonder that he sunstroke was omnipresent along the line - that strong men gasped and staggered and fell, while the thick blood burst forth from mouth and nostrils.”  Another soldier in the Corps said, “Men reeled and staggered along as if drunken.  A man would fall in a quivering heap in the midst of the roadway.  He would be seized and dragged to the roadside, his musket laid beside him and comrades” would march on.

Sometime around 1 pm the men of the 6th stopped just long enough to make some coffee, then they pushed on.  A Union Signal Officer was the first to see “Uncle John and the 6th”, he reportedly said, “Glory be.  Hallelujah: The 6th Corps is coming.  The 6th Corps is coming.”  The Corps came up to Rock Creek in the early afternoon.  These men had been marching for 17 or more hours, covering somewhere between 32 and 35 miles.  Most of the men dropped “to the ground and lay like logs.”

After this long day some parts of the 6th Corps were thrown into the fight on the lower part of Little Round Top, on the evening of 2 July 1863.  In the early morning of 3 July 1863 more members helped hold and recapture Culp’s Hill.  Still other men among the Corps held the far left and right flanks of the Union army.  These were strong well trained and dedicated men.  General Alfred Torbert who commanded the First Brigade of the First Division wrote that they “arrived with only 25 men absent and they came up by morning.”

A Field Surgeon

In a little strip of woods known as Stony Hill there is an important rock.  Now on the Gettysburg Battlefield there are a lot of rocks, but this one is special.  It sits across the road from the monument to the Irish Brigade, in behind another larger rock. What makes this rock important is the brass plaque memorializing the surgeon of the 32nd Massachusetts.  It is the only known monument to a Civil War surgeon on the battlefield.

 

The 32nd MA was a part of the 2nd Brigade, First Division of the V Corps.  The 2nd Brigade was led by Colonel Jacob Sweitzer, and was made up of the 9th and 32nd Massachusetts, 4th Michigan, and 62nd Pennsylvania.  On 2 July 1863 they were rushed to the support of the III Corps in the Wheatfield.  They deployed on the Stony Hill facing towards the Peach Orchard, with General Régis  de Trobriand’s Brigade of the III Corps on their left and Colonel William Tilton’s Brigade of the V Corps on their right.  The 32nd was on the left of the Brigade, their position was exposed and Sweitzer gave orders to the Colonel of the 32nd; Colonel Robert Prescott to “change his front to the rear, so as to give him the benefit of elevated ground and cover of the woods’.#  They came under fire almost as soon as they deployed from Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw’s South Carolinians.

Following the 32nd onto the field was their head surgeon, Major Zabdiel Boylston Adams.  Dr Adams was born 25 October 1825 in Boston, MA, a part of one of that city’s oldest families.  He spent two years at Harvard before being “rusticated” to Bowdoin College, where he graduated with honors in 1849.#  [Joshua L Chamberlain was in the class of 1852.]  Adams finished his medical training at Harvard Medical.

He volunteered his services to Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon in the 7th MA in May 1861.  Adams was with the 7th for the Battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Fair Oaks.  On 26 May 1862 he was commissioned Head Surgeon for the 32nd MA.  He was with them at Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Burnside’s Mud March.

When the 32nd took the field in the late afternoon of 2 July 1863, Dr Adams went with them.  He set up his field medical aid station behind some large rocks, maybe 50 yards behind the front line.  Adams used a flat rock there as his surgical table# [this rock is in front of and to the right of the one with the plaque].  Staying in place as the men of the V Corps retreated off the Stony Hill, Adams didn’t leave until the last moment.  He reported looking a Confederate Officer right in the eye as he was coming off the field, and of having a shell explode, covering him with dirt.#

Throughout the 3rd, 4th and 5th of July Dr Adams stated that he operated non stop.  Most likely he performed the operations at the Michael Fiscel Farm south of White Run.#  While in the middle of an amputation on the 5th of July, he lost his eyesight.  Adams wrote of it that, “I was in the act of amputating the leg  of a wounded Rebel, had removed the limb and was proceeding to tye up the spouting arteries when my sight completely failed me, fortunately assistance was at hand.”#

Dr Adams would return home following his days at Gettysburg.  His eyesight would return and in early 1864 he would become the Major of the 56th MA, leading his men in Battles at the Wilderness and Petersburg.  He was wounded 3 time, almost losing a leg, and was a POW at Libby Prison.#

Following the war Adams returned to his home in Framingham, MA.  He would found the Framingham Union Hospital and serve as  the medical examiner for the 8th Middlesex District.#  He died 1 May 1902 in Framingham after falling over a dam in Southboro, MA#, he is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,MA.

As to the rest of the men of the 32nd MA, they were ordered into the Wheatfield twice on 2 July.  The first time in support of the III Corps, the second time in support of the II Corps, First Division troops belonging to Brigadier General John Caldwell.  This time they found themselves along a stonewall on the left side of the field.  They were under heavy fire and were soon engaged in hand to hand combat as Confederate troops surrounded them.  One member of the 32nd; Oscar West, remembered the order to retreat as, “left face every man get out of this the best way he can.”#  The company lost 33.1% of its men in the Wheatfield fight#, they would spend the 4th and 5th burying their dead, before leaving the battlefield that evening to follow Lee’s Army south.

The Twenty-Second Georgia

The waiting for the 22nd Georgia was tense on 2 July 1863, as they listened to the sounds of battle on their right. It would shortly be their turn to march across the field and strike the Union line.


The 22nd Georgia was organized between May and August of 1861. This was an experienced unit by the time the Army of Northern Virginia began its march north to Pennsylvania. The men were a part of the newly formed third Corps of AP Hill.

Ambrose Wright

As the 22nd began their march to Gettysburg on 1 July 1863. They were without a brigade commander. Brigadier General Ambrose Wright was sick and had to find shelter, which he did at a house along the Chambersburg Pike. The men from Georgia went into camp the night of the first about 2 miles from Gettysburg.

By 7 the next morning Wright caught back up with his men. Ordered out to the Confederate left flank along Seminary Ridge, the men were in position before noon. Wright's men had the Florida brigade of David Lang on its right, and Brigadier General Carnot Posey's Mississippian on the left. At noon Wright was informed there would be an echelon attack made once General James Longstreet's Corps were in place on the right. The men of the 22nd heard the opening sounds of the 2 July battle about 4 pm. Then the men waited for their turn to enter the fight which didn't come for two hours. Wright's men lined up; from the left the 48th Georgia, 3rd Georgia and then the 22nd, they marched out onto the field about 6:15 pm.

half section spherical case shot

The 22nd came under heavy artillery fire as soon as they left the tree line on Seminary Ridge. They marched through tall grass into the Union's 15th Massachusetts and 82nd New York. The Union men who had been hidden, rose from the grass and fired a staggering volley into the men from Georgia. The Rebel yell was heard as they continued on, out flanking the 82nd and pushing the Massachusetts men in. Union Colonel George Hull Ward of the 15th was mortally wounded. Wright's men moved next on Brown's artillery. Brown's men opened on the Georgian's with spherical case shot. This ripped big holes through the Georgians ranks, but they continued on, dressing their lines as they moved. Wright's men forced Brown to limber up, making for the rear they lost two guns.

It was about this time that Wright found both his flanks exposed. Lang's Floridians had stopped near the base of Cemetery Ridge to reform their lines, and Posey's men still hadn't advanced. Wright's men continued their surge forward, reaching within 50 yards of the stonewall in front of the Copse of Trees. The 22nd moved to within a point blank range of the 7th Michigan and the 59th New York behind the wall.

The 22nd Georgia found a gap in the Union line to the left of the 59th New York. Aiming for this spot many of them crossed the wall and headed for the crest of Cemetery Ridge. It was at this moment that the 13th Vermont rushed onto the field from the Tanneytown Road. The men of the 22nd Georgia fired a round into the on coming Vermonters. Instead of returning fire, the 13th charged into the Georgians with bayonets fixed. It was such a surprise attack, that many of the Confederates fell to the ground, surrendering as the Vermonters passed over them.

With the Floridians falling back on their right flank, and no troops moving up on the left, Wright's men began falling back. Their losses as they retreated were heavy. After making their way back to Seminary Ridge, Wright's troop regrouped. Wright found only one of his regimental commanders still in line and half of the brigade dead, wounded or missing. The night of 2 July 1863 was spent caring for the wounded and trying to get some sleep.

The morning of 3 July 1863 found the Georgians waiting again. They watched as Pickett, Pettigrew and Trimble's men advanced across the open field toward the Union line in the afternoon. Wright's men moved forward about 550 yards to cover Pickett's retreat. Following the retreat they formed behind Wilcox's Brigade, in support should the Union make a follow up attack.

Washington Counties Own; The 123rd

Abraham Lincoln’s need for troops prompted a “War Meeting” to be held in Argyle, New York 22 July 1862. At this meeting the men of Washington County, NY decided they would raise a regiment made up of men from Washington County. They began recruiting, established a camp in Salem, NY and one month latter Washington County had brought together a regiment of her own sons.

The 123rd New York went into winter camp in the Loudoun Valley, Virginia 8 Nov 1862. They took part in General Ambrose Burnside’s “Mud March” in Jan 1863, before going back into camp near Stafford Court House, Virginia. The first combat came for the men near Wilderness Tavern as a part of the Chancellorsville campaign. Following Chancellorsville the 123rd as a part of a reorganization of 6 of the Regiments of the First and Second Brigade, became a part of the First Brigade, First Division of the Union 12th Corps. The men of these six Regiments were all veterans, but would be fighting together and under Colonel Archibald McDougall for the first time at Gettysburg.

The men marched from Two Taverns on 1 Jul 1863 to Gettysburg along the Baltimore Pike. Ordered in at the double quick, the men could hear cannon and knew the First and Eleventh Corps had been engaged. When about a mile from town the Brigade received ordered to march off the road to the right. They formed a line near the Rock Creek, behind Colegrove’s Brigade, where they lay on their arm the rest of the night.

At 4am on 2 Jul 1863 the 123rd were ordered up and to form battle lines. Shortly after they were told to stand down and grab some breakfast. The Brigade received orders about 9am to move to Culp’s Hill. Moving across fields they formed up on the right of Geary’s Division and left of Kane’s. In two lines along the crest of a rocky ridge, down a wooded hill and to the Rock Creek, in front line from the left; the 123rd, 20th Connecticut, and 46th Pennsylvania. In the back line behind a wall were the 3rd Maryland, 145th New York and 5th Connecticut. In a strong position to begin with the men lost no time before building breastworks. As Private Henry Morhous of the 123rd put it, “the boys, remembering Chancellorsville, were determined to have good works, this time, and went to work with a will.”

After working all day building a substational breast works, the men hoped for a rest, but it wasn’t to be. In the early evening, sometime between 4 and 6 pm the 123rd with the rest of the Division were ordered to the left of the Union line to help repel Longstreet’s attack. The men made a 2 mile march across fields onto Cemetery Ridge and south where they formed up behind the V Corps. Sergeant LR Coy of the 123rd said of the march, we were “8 thousand men in steady line with guns at right shoulder shift all on a run while fugitives from the III Corps were continually breaking through our lines.” Their timing of arrival saw the Confederates falling back, and so the men were ordered to return to their line on Culp’s Hill.

Marching back Colonel McDougall received information about 10 pm that the works were occupied by Confederate soldiers. In the darkness the Colonel sent out a company from the 5th CT and Company “I” of the 123rd NY to feel out the situation. They found the enemy in their old works. First Lieutenant Marcus Beadle of the 123rd was taken prisoner, but was able to call out a warning to the rest of the men. They pulled back into the night with only one killed and Beadle along with 5 men from the 5th CT captured. The men of the 1st Brigade spent another night sleeping on their arms in a cornfield between the Baltimore Pike and McAllister’s Wood, with the 123rd in an advanced position.

The morning of 3 Jul 1863 broke for the 123rd when a shell burst from a Union gun on Power’s Hill, killing and wounding 2 men. Holding their line until early afternoon when the 123rd was ordered forward to relieve the 20th CT and drive the enemy from the breastworks. They drove Confederate General George H Steuart’s Maryland men off the Hill.



McAllister Mill

 As the Confederate cannons began to boom preceding Picket’s Charge, the men of the 123rd once again found themselves under fire. Many of the shells over reaching their mark on Cemetery Ridge landed among the soldiers posted on Culp’s Hill. When Picket’s Charge got under way the 123rd found themselves once again ordered to come to the aid of Corps on another part of the field. They marched this time to the relief of the II Corps, reaching Cemetery Ridge in time to see the Confederates retreating back across the field. They retired to the right of their breastworks near Rock Creek, where the 123rd found themselves under fire from Confederate sharpshooters in the McAllister Mill. Captain Norman F Weer of Company “E” was wounded in the knee and latter died from the wound.

Around 7 am on the morning of 4 Jul 1863 the 123rd and 46th PA were assigned to Colonel Silas Colegrove. They along with a battery made a reconnaissance to the north and east of Gettysburg as far as the railroad. Finding no enemy the men returned to their works on Culp’s Hill. The rest of the day was spent collecting equipment, weapons and burying the dead.

The 123rd New York were not heavily engaged at Gettysburg, but held a strong position and spent a lot of time going to the aid of others. They had 4 killed, 9 wounded, and 12 missing.

Sources

n.a., “1737 History of Washington County New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of It’s Prominent Men and Pioneers” [Philadephia,PA, Everts and Ensign, 1878]

Bradley M Gottfried, “Brigades of Gettysburg, The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Gettysburg” [n.p., DaCapo Press, 2002]

James C Rogers, “Report of Lieutenant Colonel James C Rogers, The One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Infantry” [Pleasant Valley, MD, 18 Jul 1863]

Some Rocks, A Valley, And Maine

4th Maine Monumnet

The men of the 4th Maine came from a hard rocky land on the northern coast of the Atlantic Ocean. They would find themselves on a jumble of rocks called Devil’s Den on 2 July 1863 that they would never forget. A place where many of them would return to put a monument 10 Oct 1888, in memory of a hard thing done there.


The 4th Maine was formed of men from Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo counties in Maine. The regiment was made up of 10 companies and was organized Apr 1861. Mustered into Union service 15 June 1861, they left the state under a flag with the words “From the Home of Knox”; a reference to Revolutionary War General Henry Knox. Their Colonel was Elijah Walker. They would be part of the Second Brigade, First Division, of the III Corps of the Union Army.



General J Hobart Ward

 General J Hobart Ward’s Brigade, of which the 4th Maine was part, reached Emmitsburg about 3pm on 1 July 1863. They had just begun setting up bivouac when orders came to get to Gettysburg. The roads over which they marched were in ruff shape, and the trip of about 12 miles was made at the pace of a quick march. Reaching Gettysburg around 8pm, they turned down the Wheatfield Road and went into camp near the George Weikert farm. Colonel Walker received orders shortly after, to take his men out along the front of the Union left Wing and establish a picket line. The picket line was on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road, about 200 yards to the front of the main Union line.

The morning of 2 July 1863 dawned on a cloudy sky and an already a warm 75 degrees. Shooting began along the 4th Maine’s skirmish line at 9am. It was light fire, but the men were glad to be relieved by the 1st Massachusetts in the early afternoon. Upon returning to the Brigade, the men of the 4th found that General Daniel Sickles, the commander of the III Corps had moved his troops into a new line. The line ran along the Emmitsburg Road to the Peach Orchard, where it made an angle and ended on the far left of the Union line in Devil’s Den. It was on this far left along Houck’s Ridge that the 4th Maine found themselves.

Ward’s Brigade was lined up from just south of the Wheatfield, running right to left, the 99th Pennsylvania, 20th Indiana, 86th New York, 124th New York and the 4th Maine. Do to the length of this line the Brigade was in a single battle line and there were several gaps between regiments. In addition Captain James Smith deployed 2 sections of his 4th New York Independent Battery, four 10 pound Parrots. Smith requested that Colonel Walker move his 4th Maine to the left of his guns. Smith said he “could take care of his front, but the enemy would come up the wood on our left” and he felt Walker’s 4th Maine could provide him protection on that side. Walker wasn’t happy about the request, but orders came down from General Ward and the 4th Maine moved left, forming a new line across the Plum Run Valley.



Colonel Elijah Walker

 Colonel Walker was very aware of his exposed left flank. He moved skirmishers forward of his line and on his left along the lower slope of Little Round Top. As Colonel Strong Vincent’s men began to arrive on Little Round Top, Vincent sent out skirmishers of his own. This move caused Walker to believe that Vincent was going to connect his line to 4th Maine. Walker called his skirmishers back in.

Around 4:30pm the 4th Maine saw Confederates come out to the woods; Generals Evander Law’s Alabama and Jerome Robertson’s Texas infantry. The Alabama and Texas men were moving along the slope of Little Round Top. The Confederates were to the left on the Maine men firing up the hill. The 4th Maine posted in the valley still wasn’t engaged. Then about 5pm the 44th Alabama appeared from some pines on the 4th Maine’s right flank and front. Walker ordered his men to open fire. The 48th Alabama moved a column along the lower slope of Little Round Top, flanking the 4th Maine. Colonel Walker, to protect against this new threat, refused his left line. The men of the 4th held firm, but being in the open valley they suffered heavy losses. Walker then moved to the right of his line, and found the enemy about to capture Smith’s guns and already moving into Smith’s rear. Seeing that Smith’s men were abandoning the guns and facing overwhelming numbers of Confederates, Walker ordered the men of the 4th to pull back about 150 yards by a series of right obliques toward the 99th Pennsylvania, which General Ward had moved to fill the hole left in his line by Smith’s Battery. Walker ordered his men to fix bayonets. Charging into the Confederate who had entered the battery, the 4th Maine drove them out.

As the fighting continued, hand to hand, Ward moved his brigade back along Houck’s Ridge. The Confederates took cover behind the many rocks and boulders of Devil’s Den. Finally with the support of the 6th New Jersey and 40th New York, the Brigade could withdraw.

With the 4th Maine on the far left they were the last to leave the field. Many of the men were captured during the withdrawal. Among those who were almost taken prisoner was Colonel Walker, who had been wounded in the Achilles tendon. He was carried off the field by his men. The flag of the 4th Maine had 32 bullet holes and the staff was shot in two. The Regiment’s Color Bearer Sergeant Henry O Ripley never let the flag touch the ground. Somehow he got off the field without being injured, although all the rest of the color guard were killed or wounded.

It was 6pm. Walker turned over command of the 4th Maine to Captain Edwin Libby. The fighting was over for the 4th Maine at Gettysburg.

Bibliography

Bradley M Gottfried, “Brigades of Gettysburg; the Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Gettysburg”, [np, DaCapo Press, 2002]

n.a., “Maine at Gettysburg; Report of Maine Commissioners”, [Gettysburg, PA, Stan Clark Military Books, 1994]

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.

Monument on Powers Hill

On 11 September 1889 the veterans of Knap's Battery; the Independent Pennsylvania Light Artillery, with their friends and family gathered on Powers Hill in Gettysburg. They were there to see the dedication of one of their two monuments. These old soldiers had seen action on the last two days of fighting at Gettysburg. They had lost a man here at Gettysburg, holding the ground around Culp's Hill.


On Powers Hill that autumn day of 11 September 1889, the men of Knap's Battery had assembled to hear one of their own, Sergent David Nicoll, give the Key Note Address . David Nicholl was born in New York 22 Feb 1841 and had enlisted as a Private in Knap's Battery.

James D McGill opened a recruiting office in Allegheny City, PA in August 1861. He was recruiting for a three year company, and had filled it by 1 September 1861 with 98 men. The men left PA on 28 September 1861 and traveled to Point of Rocks, Maryland, where they were joined by the 28th Regiment. Here the men elected Joseph M Knap their Captain. The battery received 4 Ten Pounders along with caissons, horses and equipment. They were now Knap's Battery.

Lieutenant Charles Atwell

Knap stayed with the Battery until 16 May 1863, when he resigned to become the Superintend of the Fort Pitt Foundry in Pittsburgh,PA . He was succeeded in command of the Battery by Lieutenant Charles A Atwell. With the rest of the Army of the Potomac, Knap's Battery marched north looking for the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1863. They crossed into PA at Littlestown on 30 June 1863.



Monument on Culp's Hill

 Knap's Battery arrived on the Gettysburg Battlefield on the evening on 1 July 1863. It took position on the left rear of the Union line on Cemetery Hill where the Battery spent the night. During the Battle of Gettysburg Knap's Battery was part of the Artillery Brigade of the 12th Corps. Under the command of Lieutenant Edward D Muhlenburg, this brigade was made up of Battery "F" of the 4th US, Battery "K" of the 5th US, Battery "M" of the 1st NY, and Knap's. 2 July 1863 found Kanp's located with Stevenson's 5th Maine Battery. One section with Lieutenant E R Geary commanding was sent to the crest of Culp's Hill along with Battery "K". Here by their second monument, Knap's Battery silenced eight Confederate Guns located on Benner's Hill in about 30 minutes. The Battery saw three wounded here, Bugler Nicholas Falter, and Privates Henry G Gibson and James C Davis. Gibson would died from his wound, becoming the only casualty for Knap's Battery at Gettysburg. In the evening the Battery moved their 6 Ten Pounders to Powers Hill, not far from Union General Slocum's headquarters.

At 4:30 am the guns on Powers Hill opened fire on the Confederates in front of them on Culp's Hill and in Spangler's Spring. Lieutenant Muhlenberg said of the artillery here, it "was of essential service at this point of the field and no doubt contributed greatly in preventing the enemy from establishing himself in so desirable a position whence he could either have held the Pike or moved his forces along the South East slope and occupied a sufficiency of Cemetery Hill to annoy if not entirely control the position held by the army." The firing here continued until after 10 am. Knap's Battery was part the pursuit of General Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. They continued to Culpeper Court House where on 24 September 1863 they were ordered to join the Army of the Cumberland in Chattanooga, along with the rest of the 11th and 12th Corps.

Knap's Battery would serve out the war, seeing action in many more battles. They were mustered out of service at Camp Braddock's Field in PA on 14 June 1865. During their term of service they saw 25 battles. They had 12 of their men killed in battle, 11 died from diseases, 2 died in prison, and 39 were wounded.

David Nicoll was there in Gettysburg on 11 September 1889 to speak at the dedication of the Knap's Battery Monument, he would be wounded in the shoulder and arm latter in the war at the Battle of Wauhatchie in Tennessee on 29 October 1863. He died 5 October 1929 in Red Oak, Iowa.


1 - N.A., Pennsylvania At Gettysburg; Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of PA [Harrisburg,PA, Wm Stanley National State Printer, 1904], vol 2, p 912

2 - Conley Wlterman, GAR Post Ida Grove, Ida County, Iowa; Iowa in the Civil War, a project of the IAGenWeb [http://iagenweb.org]
3 - N.A., Pennsylvania At Gettysburg; Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of PA [Harrisburg,PA, Wm Stanley National State Printer, 1904], vol 2, p 912-13
4 - ibid, pp 912-13
5 - ibid, pp 912-13
6 - ibid, p 915
7 - ibid, p 915
8 - ibid, p 915
9 - J Howard Wert, A Complete Hand - Book of the Monument and Indication and Guide to the Positions on the Gettysburg Battlefield [Harrisburg,PA, RM Sturgeon & Co Pub, 1886], p 194
10 - N.A., Pennsylvania At Gettysburg; Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of PA [Harrisburg,PA, Wm Stanley National State Printer, 1904], vol 2, p 915
11 - Steve Maczuga, The Pennsylvania Civil War Project [http://athens.pap.psu.edu/]
12 - Henry W Pfanz, Gettysburg Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill [n.pl., The University of NC Press, 1993], p 285
13 - N.A., Pennsylvania At Gettysburg; Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of PA [Harrisburg,PA, Wm Stanley National State Printer, 1904], vol 2, pp 915-16
14 - N.A., Pennsylvania At Gettysburg; Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of PA [Harrisburg,PA, Wm Stanley National State Printer, 1904], vol 2, p 916
15 - ibid, p 916
16 - ibid, p 917
17 - ibid, p 917
18 - Steve Maczuga, The Pennsylvania Civil War Project [http://athens.pap.psu.edu/]
19 - Conley Wolterman, GAR Post Ida Grove, Ida Co, IA; Iowa in the Civil War; a project of the IAGenWeb [http://iagenweb.org]