The Guns On The Far Right

The Rowan Artillery was called up 3 May 1861 for twelve months service.  The men were organized in Salisbury, North Carolina before being sent to Weldon, North Carolina where the men would enter the Confederate service for 3 years or the duration of the war.

It was here that Captain James Reilly took command of the artillery unit.  Reilly was an Irish Catholic Immigrant, who had been a member of the United States regular army.  He had fought during the Mexican American War in artillery and at the start of the Civil War; Reilly was the Ordnance Sergeant at the United State post of Fort Johnston in Smithville, North Carolina. He was known in the service as “Old Tarantula”, and was described by a soldier of the 4th Texas as “rough, gruff, grizzly and brave.  He loved his profession and knew his business.”

When the Rowan Artillery first organized, they didn't have any cannon, nor other related equipment.  So the men were temporarily assigned to the 4th North Carolina State Infantry.  Following the Union loss at the First Battle of Manassas, the unit was outfitted on 27 July 1861 with two 10 pound Parrotts and two Dahlgren Howitzers.

The Rowan Artillery served at the Battles of Williamsburg and Yorktown.  They were with Confederate General Thomas J Jackson during his valley campaign and in the Seven Days Battles.  During a reorganization of the Confederate Artillery in the spring of 1863, the Rowan Artillery; now called by many, the Reilly’s Battery, was placed in Confederate Major Mathis W Henry’s Battalion, a part of the Major General James Longstreet’s Corps.

Captain Reilly and his men arrived on the field at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.  Sometime before 4 pm Major Henry had the guns placed on the crest of Warfield Ridge, in front of Confederate John Bell Hood’s Division.  This was the right wing of the Confederate line of battle that day. The ground was open and the sight lines to Devils Den and Little Round Top were good.  Reilly’s men brought six pieces to the field, 2 Napoleons, 2 three inch rifles and 2 ten pound Parrotts.

During the long cannonade on 2 July, as the Confederate enescholon attack was being made, one of the Rowan’s rifled pieces burst.  The gun was replaced that night by a captured Union 10 pounder, most likely from Smith’s 4th New York Independent Battery.

On 3 July Major Henry had Reilly move two of his guns; the Parrotts, to the far right of the Confederate line.  It was these 2 guns which took part in repelling a Union cavalry charge made by Brigadier General Elon Farnsworth at about 5 pm.  The last of the action on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

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.

Thirty Minutes One Hunderd Thirteen Rounds

There is a monument on the corner of Carlisle and Lincoln St, that is mostly viewed in passing.  The monument is to Battery K of the First Ohio Artillery, known as Heckman’s Battery.  Brought out to the northwest part of town, as a part of a last ditch effort to hold or buy time for the retreating 11th Corps.  Most people visit Coster’s Avenue, if they visit this part of town at all.  Heckman’s really is worth a stop, they were the last  to leave the field.

Battery K of the First Ohio Artillery was raised in Cuyahoga and Washington Counties, and organized under Captain William L DeBeck at Camp Dennison in Cincinnati, Ohio, 22 October 1861.  A part of the 11th Corps, Battery K showed its mettle at the Battle of Chancellorsville, as the rest of the Corps retreated in front of Confederate General Thomas J Jackson’s assault, Battery K “remained like a solid wall” using canister to slow the Confederate charge.  Following Chancellorsville, Captain Lewis Heckman took over command of the Battery on 11 May 1863.

Captain Lewis Heckman was born 1823 in Germany.  At the start of the war he was living in Cleveland, Ohio, and making a living manufacturing fancy cakes and candies.

The men of Battery K came onto the field in the early evening of 1 July 1863 with 4 Napoleon; 12 pounder smoothbore cannons.  They had been held on Cemetery Hill since arriving in Gettysburg, but with the collapse of the Union line north and west of the town, Battery K was rushed forward to hold back the Confederate advance, so the 11th Corps men could retreat through the town to Cemetery Hill.

Heckman and the 118 men of the battery had to of seen their posting as a suicide mission.  As the Union troops of the 11th Corps streamed past, the men of Battery K began firing as soon as their front was clear, as the enemy was already in range.  In the roughly 30 minutes the battery was in place they fired 113 rounds of canister.  Confederate Brigadier General Harry T Hays, whose men faced Heckman, wrote that the “fire to which my command was subjected from the enemy’s batteries was unusually galling.”

In the end the men could not hold their position.  They were surrounded and were only able to pull 2 guns off, the other two pieces being captured by the 6th North Carolina of Isaac Avery’s brigade.  Union Major Thomas Osborn, who commanded the 11th Corps Artillery wrote of Heckman, that he “worked his battery to the best of his ability, the enemy crowded upon it, and was within his battery before he attempted to retire...I think no censure can be attached to this battery for the loss of’ their guns.

Battery K retired with their 2 remaining Napoleon's, back to Cemetery Hill.  They went to the west side of the Baltimore Pike, falling in with Colonel Orlando Smith’s Brigade.  It was clear however that this Battery was too disabled to be of service and was sent to the rear for the rest of the battle.

Besides losing the 2 cannons, the short 30 minute fight cost Heckman’s Battery, 2 men killed, 11 wounded, 2 missing and 9 horse dead.  Heckman served to the end of the war and died 1 August 1872 in Rocky River, Ohio.

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]