July 25, 2025 • 34 mins
Embark on a historical journey as Abner Doubleday, a Union officer in the Civil War, recounts his experiences from the frontlines. Beginning with the bombardment opened on Ft. Sumter in 1861, Doubledays memoirs unravel the tale of two pivotal campaigns - Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Delve into the strategic errors at Chancellorsville that led to a Union defeat and explore the leadership crisis that plagued the camp. After Chancellorsville, Doubleday covers the unexpected clash of the armies at Gettysburg. When he takes command following the death of his superior, he leads his outnumbered division with courage and resilience. Despite being replaced due to a mistaken report of his divisions defeat, Doubledays narrative doesnt falter. Instead, he critiques the missed opportunities post-battle that could have ended the war. This book is not just a memoir, but Doubledays resolute response to the injustices he faced.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Part two, Chapter six, The Battle of the third Day.
Johnson's division driven out at dawn on the third The
enemy opened on us with artillery, but the firing had
no definite purpose, and after some hours it gradually slackened.
The principal interest early in the day necessarily centered on
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the right, where Johnson's position not only endangered the safety
of the army but compromised our retreat. It was therefore
essential to drive him out as soon as possible. To
this end, batteries were established during the night on all
the prominent points in that vicinity. Geary had returned with
his division about midnight, and was not a little astonished
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to find the rebels established in the works he had left.
He determined to contest possession with them at daylight. In
the meantime, he joined Green and formed part of his
line perpendicular to our main line of battle and part
fronting the enemy. On the other hand, Yule, having obtained
a foothold, swore he would not be driven out, and
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hastened to reinforce Johnson with Daniels and O'Neill's brigades from
Rhad's division as soon as objects could be discerned. In
the early gray of the morning. Our artillery opened fire.
As Johnson, on account of the steep declivities and other obstacles,
had not been able to bring any artillery with him,
he could not reply. It would not do to remain
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quiet under this fire, and he determined to charge in
hopes of winning a better position on higher ground. His men,
the old Stonewall Brigade leading, rushed bravely forward, but were
as gallantly met by Caine's brigade of Geary's Division, and
a close and severe struggle ensued for four hours among
the trees and rocks. Ruger's Division of the twelfth Corps
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came up and formed on the rebel left, taking them
in flank and threatening them in reverse. Indeed, as the
rest of our line were not in gagged, there was
plenty of support for Geary. Troops were sent him, including
Shaler's brigade, which took the front and was soon warmly
engaged in re establishing the line. At about eleven a m.
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Finding the contest hopeless and his retreat threatened by a
force sent down to Rock Creek, Johnson yielded slowly and
reluctantly to a charge made by Geary's division, gave up
the position and withdrew to Rock Creek, where he remained
until night. Our line was once more intact. All that
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the enemy had gained by dogged determination and desperate bravery
was lost from a lack of coordination, caused perhaps by
the great difficulty of communicating orders over this long concave line,
where every route was swept by our fire. Lee had
now attacked both flanks of the Army of the Potomac
without having been able to establish himself permanently on either.
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Notwithstanding the repulse of the previous day, he was very
desirous of turning the left, for once well posted there
he could secure his own retreat. While interposing between Meade
and Washington. He rode over with Longstreet to that end
of the line to see what could be done. General Wofford,
who commanded a brigade of Mclaw's division, writes in a
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recent letter to General Crawford, United States Army, as follows quote,
Lee and Longstreet came to my brigade Friday morning, before
the artillery opened fire. I told him that the afternoon
before I nearly reached the crest. He asked if I
could not go there now. I replied no. General I
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think not, he said quickly. Why not, Because, I said, General,
the enemy have had all night to entrench and reinforce.
I had been pursuing a broken enemy, and the situation
was now very different. End quote. Having failed at each extremity,
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it only remained to lead to retreat or attack the center.
Such high expectations had been formed in the Southern States
in regard to his conquest of the North, that he
determined to make another effort. He still had Pickett's division,
the Flower of Virginia, which had not been engaged, and
which was full of enthusiasm. He resolved to launch them
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against our center, supported on either flank by the advance
of the main portion of the army. He had hoped
that Johnson's division would have been able to maintain its
position on the right, so that the Union center could
be assailed in front and rear at the same time.
But Johnson having been driven out, it was necessary to
trust to Picket alone or abandon the whole enterprise, and
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returned to Virginia. Everything was quiet up to one p m.
As the enemy were massing their batteries and concentrating their
forces preparatory to the grand charge. The Supreme effort, which
was to determine the fate of the campaign and to
settle the point whether freedom or slavery was to rule
the Northern States. It seems to me there was some
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lack of judgment in the preparations. Heth's division, now under Pettigrew,
which had been so severely handled on the first day,
and which was composed in a great measure of new troops,
was designated to support Pickett's left and join in the
attack at close quarters. Wilcox, too, who one would think
had been pretty well fought out the day before in
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his desperate enterprise of attempting to crown the Crest, was
directed to support the right flank of the attack. Wright's
brigade was formed in rear and Pender's division on the
left of Pedigrew, but there was a long distance between
Wilcox and Longstreet's forces on the right. At one p m.
A signal gun was fired and one hundred and fifteen
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guns opened against Hancock's command, consisting of the First Corps
under Newton, the Second Corps under Gibbon, the Third Corps
under Bernie, and against the eleventh Corps under Howard. The
object of this heavy artillery fire was to break up
our lines and prepare the way for Pickett's charge. The
exigencies of the battle had caused the first corps to
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be divided, Wadsworth's division being on the right at Culp's Hill,
Robinson on Gibbon's right, and my own division intervening between
Caldwell on the left and Gibbon on the right. The
convex shape of our line did not give us as
much space as that of the enemy, but General Hunt,
chief of Artillery, promptly posted eighty guns along the crest,
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as many as it would hold to answer the fire,
and the batteries on both sides suffered severely. In the
two hours cannonade, not less than eleven caissons were blown
up and destroyed, one quite near me. When the smoke
went up from these explosions, reb yells of exultation could
be heard along a line of several miles. At three
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p m. General Hunt ordered our artillery fire to cease
in order to cool the guns and to preserve some
rounds for the contest at close quarters, which he foresaw
would soon take place. My own men did not suffer
a great deal from this cannonade, as I sheltered them
as much as possible under the crest of the hill
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and behind rocks, trees, and stone fences. The cessation of
our fire gave the enemy the idea they had silenced
our batteries, and Picket at once moved forward to break
the left center of the Union line and occupy the
crest of the ridge. The other forces on his right
and left were expected to move up and enlarge the
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opening thus made, so that finally the two wings of
the Union Army would be permanently separated and flung off
by this entering wedge in eccentric directions. A note here
the attack was so important, so momentous, and so contrary
to Longstreet's judgment, that when Pickett asked for orders to advance,
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he gave no reply, and Pickett said, proudly, I shall
go forward, sir. End of the note. This great column
of attack, it was supposed numbered about seventeen thousand men,
but Southern writers have a peculiar arithmetic by which they
always ciphered down their forces to nothing, even on the left.
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On the preceding day, when our troops in front of
Little Round Top were assailed by a line a mile
and a half long they figured it almost out of existence.
The force that now advanced would have been larger still
had it not been for a spirited attack by Kilpatrick
against the left of Longstreet's corps, detaining some troops there
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which otherwise might have cooperated in the grand assault against
our center. It necessarily took the rebels some time to
fore arming cross the intervening space, and Hunt took advantage
of the opportunity to withdraw the batteries that had been
most injured, sending others in their place from the reserve
artillery which had not been engaged. He also replenished the
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ammunition boxes and stood ready to receive the foe as
he came forward, first with solid shot, next with shell,
and lastly when he came in close quarters with canister.
General Mead's headquarters was in the center of this cannonade,
and as the balls were flying very thickly there and
killing the horses of his staff, he found it necessary
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temporarily to abandon the place where nothing is to be
gained by exposure it his sound sense to shelter men
and officers as much as possible. He rode over to
Powers Hill, made his headquarters with General Slocumb, and when
the firing ceased, rode back again. During his absence the
charge took place. He has stated that it was his
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intention to throw the fifth and sixth Corps on the
flanks of the attacking force, but no orders to this
effect were issued, and it is questionable whether such an
arrangement would have been a good one. It would have
disgarnished the left, where Longstreet was still strong in numbers,
and in forming perpendicular to our line of battle, the
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two corps would necessarily have exposed their own outer flanks
to attack. Indeed, the rebels had provided for just such
a contingency by posting Wilcox's brigade and Perry's brigade under
Colonel Lang on the left, both in rear of the
charging column under Picket and Pedigrew. Owing to a mistake
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or misunderstanding, This disposition, however, did not turn out well
for the enemy. It was not intended by providence that
the Northern States should pass under the iron rule of
the slave power, and on this occasion every plan made
by Lee was thwarted in the most unexpected manner. The
distance to be traversed by Pickett's column was about a
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mile and a half from the woods where they started,
to the crest of the ridge they desired to attain.
They suffered severely from our artillery, which opened on them
with solid shot as soon as they came in sight.
When half way across the plain, they were vigorously shelled.
Double canisters were reserved for their nearer approach. At first,
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the direction of their march appeared to be directly toward
my division. When within five hundred yards of us, however,
Picket halted and changed direction obliquely about forty five degrees,
so that the attack passed me and struck Gibbons's division
on my right. Just here, one of those providential circumstances
occurred which favored us so much for Wilcox and Lang,
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who guarded Picket's right flank, did not follow his oblique movement,
but kept on straight to the front, so that soon
there was a wide interval between their troops and the
mean body, leaving Picket's right fully uncovered. The rebels came
on magnificently. As fast as the shot and shell tore
through their lines, they closed up the gaps and pressed forward.
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When they reached the Emmitsburg Road, the canister began to
make fearful chasms and their ranks. They also suffered severely
from a battery on Little Round Top, which omfillated their line.
One shell killed and wounded ten men. Gibbon had directed
his command to reserve their fire until the enemy were
near enough to make it very effective. Picket's advance dashed
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up to the fence occupied by the skirmishers of the
Second Corps near the Emmitsburg Road and drove them back.
Then the musketry blazed forth with deadly effect, and Pettigrew's
men began to waver on the left and fall behind,
for the nature of the ground was such that they
were more exposed than any other portions of the line.
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They were much shaken by the artillery fire, and that
of Hayes's division sent them back in masses. Note. The
front line of Hayes Division, which received this charge, was
composed of the twelfth New Jersey, fourteenth Connecticut, and first Delaware.
The second line was composed of the one hundred eleventh,
one hundred and twenty fifth, one hundred, twenty sixth and
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thirty ninth New York. End of the note, before the
first line of rebels reached a second fence and stone wall,
behind which our main body was posted. It was obliged
to pass a demi brigade under Colonel Theodore B. Gates
of the twentieth New York State Militia and a Vermont
brigade under General Stannard, both belonging to my command. When
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Pickett's right became exposed in consequence of the divergence of
Wilcox's command, Stannard seized the opportunity to make a flank attack,
and while his left regiment, the fourteenth, poured in a
heavy oblique fire, he changed front with the two right regiments,
the thirteenth and sixteenth, which brought them perpendicular to the
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rebel line of march. In cases of this kind, when
struck directly on the flank, troops are more or less
unable to defend themselves, and Camper's brigade crowded in towards
the center in order to avoid Stannard's energetic and deadly attack.
They were closely followed up by Gates's command, who continued
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to fire into them at close range. This caused many
to surrender, others to retreat outright, and others simply to
crowd together Simultaneously with Standard's attack, the eighth Ohio, which
was on Picket overlapping the rebel left, closed in on
that flank with great effect. Nevertheless, the next brigade, that
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of Armistead, united to Garnet's brigade, pressed on, and, in
spite of death, dealing bolts on all sides, Ticket determined
to break Gibbons's line and capture his guns. Although Webb's
front was the focus of the concentrated artillery fire, and
he had already lost fifty men and some valuable officers,
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his line remained firm and unshaken. It devolved upon him
now to meet the great charge which was to decide
the fate of the day. It would have been difficult
to find a man better fitted for such an emergency.
He was nerved to great deeds by the memory of
his ancestors, who in former days had rendered distinguished services
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to the Republic, and felt that the results of the
whole war might depend upon his holding of the position.
His men were equally resolute. Cushing's battery, a fourth United
States artillery, which had been posted on the crest, and
Brown's Rhode Island battery on his left, were both practically
destroyed by the cannonade. The horses were prostrated. Every officer
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but one was struck, and Cushing had but one serviceable
gun left. Asket's advance came very close to the first line.
Young Cushing, mortally wounded in both thighs, ran his last
serviceable gun down to the fence and said, Webb, I
will give them one more shot. At the moment of
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the last discharge, he called out goodbye and fell dead
at the post of duty. Webb sent for fresh batteries
to replace the two that were disabled, and Wheeler's first
New York independent battery came up just before the attack
and took the place of Cushing's battery on the left.
Armistead pressed forward, leaped the stone wall, waving his sword
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with his hat on it, followed by about a hundred
of his men, several of whom carried battle flags. He shouted,
give them the cold steel boys, and laid his hands
upon a gun. The battery, for a few minutes was
in his possession, and the rebel flag flew triumphantly over
our line. But Webb was at the front, very near Armistead,
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animating and encouraging his men. He led the seventy second
Pennsylvania Regiment against the enemy, and posted a line of
wounded men in rear to drive back or shoot every
man that deserted his duty. A portion of the seventy
first Pennsylvania, behind a stone wall on the right, threw
in a deadly flanking fire, while a great part of
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the sixty ninth Pennsylvania and the remainder of the seventy
first made stern resistance from a copse of trees on
the left, near where the enemy had broken the line
and where our men were shot, with the rebel muskets
touching their breasts. Then came a splendid charge of two
regiments led by Colonel Hall, which passed completely through Webb's
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line and engaged the enemy in a hand to hand conflict.
Armistead was shot down by the side of the gun
he had taken. It is said he had fought on
our side in the first battle at bull Run, but
had then been seduced by Southern affiliations to join in
the rebellion, and now dying in the effort to extend
the area of slavery over the Free States. He saw
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with a clearer vision that he had been engaged in
an unholy cause, and said to one of our officers
who leaned over him, tell Hancock, I have wronged him
and have wronged my country. A note here Colonel Norman J. Hall,
commanding a brigade in Hancock's Corps, who rendered this great service,
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was one of the garrison who defended Fort Sumter at
the beginning of the war. At that time he was
the second lieutenant of my company. End of the note.
Both Gibbon and Webb were wounded, and the loss and
officers and men was very heavy. Two rebel brigadier generals
were killed, and more prisoners were taken than twice Webb's brigade.
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Six battle flags and fourteen hundred sixty three muskets were
also gathered. In my command, being a little to the left,
I witnessed the scene, and after it was over, sent
out stretcher bearers attached to the ambulance train, and had
numbers of wounded Confederates brought in and cared for. I
was told that there was one man among these whose
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conversation seemed to indicate that he was a general officer.
I sent to ascertain his rank, but he replied, tell
General Doubleday. In a few minutes I shall be where
there is no rank. He expired soon after, and I
never learned his name. The rebels did not seem to
appreciate my humanity, and sending out to bring in there wounded,
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for they opened a savage fire against the stretcher bearers.
One shell burst among us. A piece of it knocked
me over on my horse's neck, and wounded Lieutenant Cowdrey
of my staff. When Pickett, the Great Leader, looked around
the top of the ridge he had temporarily gained, he
saw it was impossible to hold the position. Troops were
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rushing in on him from all sides. The Second Corps
were engaged in a furious assault on his front. His
men were fighting with clubbed muskets, and even banner staves
were intertwined in a fierce and hopeless struggle. My division
of the First Corps were on his right flank, giving
deadly blows there, and the Third Corps were closing up
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to attack. Pettigrew's forces on his left had given way,
and a heavy skirmish line began to accumulate on that flank.
He saw his men surrendering in masses, and with a
heart full of anguish, ordered a retreat. Death had been
busy on all sides, and few, indeed now remained of
that magnificent column which had advanced so proudly led by
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the neigh of the rebel army. And those few fell
back in disorder and without organization, behind Wright's Brigade, which
had been sent forward to cover the retreat at first. However,
when struck by Standard on the flank, and when Pickett's
charge was spent, they rallied in a little slashing where
a rove had been cut down by our troops to
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leave an opening for our artillery. There two regiments of
Rally's brigade of my division, the one hundred fifty first
Pennsylvania and the twentieth New York State Militia under Colonel
Theodore R. Gates of the latter regiment made a gallant
charge and drove them out. Pettigrew's division, it is said,
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lost two thousand prisoners and fifteen battle flags. On the left.
While this severe contest was going on in front of Webb,
Wilcox deployed his command and opened a feeble fire against
Caldwell's division on my left. Standard repeated the maneuver which
had been so successful against Kemper's brigade by detaching the
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fourteenth and sixteenth Vermont to take Wilcox in flank. Wilcox
thus attacked on his right, while a long row of
batteries toward the front of his line to pieces with
canister could gain no foothold. He found himself exposed to
a triremie mendous crossfire and was obliged to retreat, but
a great portion of his command were brought in as
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prisoners by standard, and battle flags were gathered in sheaves.
Note here as Stannard's brigade were new troops and had
been stationed near Washington. The men had dubbed them the
paper Collar Brigade because some of them were wearing paper collars,
and after this fight the term was never again applied
to them. End of the note. A portion of Longstreet's Corps, Benning's, Robertson's,
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and Law's brigades advanced against the two roundtops to prevent
reinforcements from being sent from that vicinity to meet Pickett's charge.
Kilpatrick interfered with this program, however, for about two PM.
He made his appearance on our left with Farnsworth's brigade
and Merritt's brigade of Regulars, accompanied by Graham's and Elders
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batteries of the Regular Army, to attack the rebel right
with a view to reach their ammunition trains, which were
in the vicinity. The rebels say his men came on
yelling like demons. Having driven back the skirmishers who guarded
that flank, Merit deployed on the left and soon became
engaged there with Anderson's Georgia Brigade, which was supported by
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two batteries on the right. Farnsworth, with the first Vermont
Regiment of his brigade, leaped the fence and advanced until
he came to a second stone fence, where he was
checked by an attack on his right flank from the
fourth Alabama Regiment of Laws Brigade, which came back for
that purpose from a demonstration it was making against Roundtop.
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Farnsworth then turned and leaping another fence in a storm
of shot and shell, made a gallant attempt to capture
Beckmann's battery, but was unable to do so as it
was promptly supported by the ninth Georgia Regiment of Anderson's brigade.
Farnsworth was killed in this charge, and the first Vermont
found itself enclosed in a field with high fences on
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all sides, behind which masses of infantry were constantly rising
up and firing. The regiment was all broken up and
forced to retire in detachments. Kilpatrick, after fighting some time
longer without making much progress, fell back on account of
the constant reinforcements that were augmenting the force opposed to him.
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Although he had not succeeded in capturing the ammunition train,
he had made a valuable diversion on the left, which
doubtless prevented the enemy from a sailing round top with
vigor or detaching a force to aid Picket. The Confederate
General Benning states that the prompt action of General Law
imposting the artillery in the road and the seventh and
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ninth Georgia Regiments on each side, was all that saved
the train from capture. There was nothing else to save it.
He also says that two thirds of Picket's command were killed, wounded,
or captured. Every brigade commander and every field officer except
XI One fell Lee and Longstreet had seen from the
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edge of the woods with great exultation the blue flag
of Virginia waving over the crest occupied by the Union troops.
It seemed the harbinger of great success. To Lee, he
thought the Union army was conquered at last, the long
struggle was over, and peace would soon come, accompanied by
the acknowledgment of the independence of the Southern Confederacy. It
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was but a passing dream. The flag receded, and soon
the plane was covered with fugitives making their way to
the rear. Then anticipating an immediate pursuit, he used every
effort to rally men and officers, and made strenuous efforts
to get his artillery in position to be effective. The
Confederate General A. R. Wright criticizes this attack, and very
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justly says, the difficulty was not so much in reaching
Cemetery Ridge or taking it. My brigade did so on
the afternoon of the second but the trouble was to
hold it. For the whole Federal army was massed in
a sort of horseshoe and could rapidly reinforce the point
to any extent, while the long enveloping Confederate line could
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not support properly enough. This agrees with what I have
said in relation to the convex and concave orders of battle.
General Gibbon had sent Lieutenant Haskell of his staff to
Powers Hill to notify General Meade that the charge was coming.
As Mead approached his own headquarters, he heard firing on
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the crest above and went up to ascertain the cause.
He found the charge had been repulsed and ejaculated, Thank God.
When Lee learned that Johnson had yielded his position on
the right and therefore could not cooperate with Pickett's advance,
he sent Stuart's cavalry around to accomplish the same object
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by attacking the right and rear of our army. Howard
saw the rebel cavalry moving off in that direction, and
David Gregg, whose division was near White's Creek where it
crosses the Baltimore Pike, received orders about noon to guard
Slocum's right and rear. Custer had already been contending with
his brigade against portions of the enemy's force in that
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direction when greg sent forward Macintosh's brigade to relieve him,
and followed soon after with j Irving Gregg's brigade. Custer
was under orders to join Kilpatrick's command, to which he belonged,
but the exigencies of the battle soon forced greg to
detain him. Macintosh, having taken the place of Custer, pushed
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forward to developed the enemy's line, which he found very
strongly posted. The artillery being on a commanding ridge which
overlooked the whole country and covered by dismounted cavalry and woods,
buildings and behind fences below. Macintosh became warmly engaged and
sent back for Randall's battery to act against the rebel
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guns on the crest and drive the enemy out of
the buildings. The guns above were silenced by Pennington's and
Randall's batteries, and the force below driven out of the
houses by Lieutenant Chester's section of the ladder. The buildings
and fences were then occupied by our troops. The enemy
attempted to regain them by a charge against Macintosh's right flank,
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but were repulsed. In the meantime, Gregg came up with
the other brigade and assumed command of the field. The
battle now became warm for W. H. F. Lee's brigade
under Chambliss, advanced to support the skirmish line, and the
first New Jersey, being out of ammunition, was charged and
routed by the First Virginia. The Seventh Michigan. A new
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regiment which came up to support it, was also driven
in for the enemy's dismounted line reinforced the First Virginia.
The latter regiment, which had held on with deathaprit tenacity,
although attacked on both flanks, was at last compelled to
fall back by an attack made by part of the
Fifth Michigan. The contending forces were now pretty well exhausted, when,
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to the dismay of our men, a fresh brigade under
Wade Hampton, which Stuart had kept in reserve, made its appearance,
and new and desperate exertions were required to stam its progress.
There was little time to act, but every saber that
could be brought forward was used. As Hampton came on,
our artillery under Pennington and Randall made terrible gaps in
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his ranks. Chester section kept firing canister until the rebels
were within fifty yards of him. The enemy were temporarily
stopped by a desperate charge on their flank made by
only sixteen men of the third Pennsylvania Cavalry under Captain's
Treachell and Rogers, accompanied by Captain Newhall of Mackintosh's staff.
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This little band of heroes were nearly all disabled or killed,
but they succeeded in delaying the enemy, already shattered by
canister from Chester's guns, until Custer was able to bring
up the first Michigan and lead them to the charge, shouting,
come on you Wolverines. Every available saber was thrown in.
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General Macintosh and his staff and orderlies charged into the
melee as individuals. Hampton and fitz Lee headed the enemy,
and Custer our troops. Lieutenant Colonel W. Brook Rawl, the
historian of the conflict, who was present, says, for minutes
which seemed like ours, amid the clashing of the sabers,
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the rattle of the small arms, the frenzied imprecations, the
demands to surrender, the undaunted replies, and the appeals for mercy,
the Confederate column stood its ground. A fresh squadron was
brought up under Captain Hart of the First New Jersey,
and the enemy at last gave way and retired. Both
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sides still confronted each other, but the battle was over,
for Picket's charge had failed, and there was no longer
any object in continuing the contest. Stuart was undoubtedly baffled
and the object of his expedition frustrated, yet he stated
in his official report that he was in a position
to intercept the Union retreat in case Pickett had been successful.
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At night, he retreated to regain his communications with Eules left.
This battle, being off of the official maps, has hardly
been alluded to in the various histories which have been written,
but its results were important and deserved to be commemorated.
When Pickett's charge was repulsed and the whole plane covered
with fugitives, we all expected that Wellington's command at Waterloo
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of up guards and at them would be repeated, and
that a grand counter charge would be made, But General
Meade had made no arrangements to give a return thrust.
It seems to me he should have posted the sixth
and part of the twelfth Corps in rear of Gibbon's
division the moment Picket's infantry were seen emerging from the
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woods a mile and a half off. If they broke
through our center, these corps would have been there to
receive them, and if they failed to pierce our line
and retreated, the two corps could have followed them up
promptly before they had time to rally and reorganize, and
advanced by Sykes, would have kept Long Street in position.
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In all probability, we would have cut the enemy's army
in two and captured the long line of batteries opposite us,
which were but slightly guarded. Hancock, lying wounded in an ambulance,
wrote to Mead, recommending that this be done. Mead, it
is true recognized in some sort the good effects of
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a counter blow, but to be effective, the movement should
have been prepared beforehand. It was too late to commence
making preparations for an advance when some time had elapsed,
and when Lee had rallied his troops and made all
his arrangements to resist an assault. It was ascertained afterward
that he had twenty rounds of ammunition left per gun,
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but it was not evenly distributed, and some batteries in
front had fired away all their cartridges. A counter charge
under such circumstances is considered almost imperative in war, for
the beaten army running and dismayed cannot, in the nature
of things, resist with much spirit, whereas the pursuers, highly
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elated by their success and with the prospect of ending
the contest fight with more energy and bravery. Rhodes says
the Union forces were so long in occupying the town
and in coming forward after the repulse of the enemy,
that it was generally thought they had retreated. Mead rode
leisurely over to the fifth Corps on the left and
(33:56):
told Sykes to send out and see if the enemy
in his front was firm and holding on to their position.
A brigade, preceded by skirmishes, was accordingly sent forward, but
as Longstreet's troops were well fortified, they resisted the advance,
and Meade, finding some hours had elapsed and that Lee
had closed up his lines and was fortifying against him,
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gave up all idea of a counter attack. End of
chapter
Part two, Chapter six, The Battle of the third Day.
Johnson's division driven out at dawn on the third The
enemy opened on us with artillery, but the firing had
no definite purpose, and after some hours it gradually slackened.
The principal interest early in the day necessarily centered on
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the right, where Johnson's position not only endangered the safety
of the army but compromised our retreat. It was therefore
essential to drive him out as soon as possible. To
this end, batteries were established during the night on all
the prominent points in that vicinity. Geary had returned with
his division about midnight, and was not a little astonished
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to find the rebels established in the works he had left.
He determined to contest possession with them at daylight. In
the meantime, he joined Green and formed part of his
line perpendicular to our main line of battle and part
fronting the enemy. On the other hand, Yule, having obtained
a foothold, swore he would not be driven out, and
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hastened to reinforce Johnson with Daniels and O'Neill's brigades from
Rhad's division as soon as objects could be discerned. In
the early gray of the morning. Our artillery opened fire.
As Johnson, on account of the steep declivities and other obstacles,
had not been able to bring any artillery with him,
he could not reply. It would not do to remain
(01:28):
quiet under this fire, and he determined to charge in
hopes of winning a better position on higher ground. His men,
the old Stonewall Brigade leading, rushed bravely forward, but were
as gallantly met by Caine's brigade of Geary's Division, and
a close and severe struggle ensued for four hours among
the trees and rocks. Ruger's Division of the twelfth Corps
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came up and formed on the rebel left, taking them
in flank and threatening them in reverse. Indeed, as the
rest of our line were not in gagged, there was
plenty of support for Geary. Troops were sent him, including
Shaler's brigade, which took the front and was soon warmly
engaged in re establishing the line. At about eleven a m.
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Finding the contest hopeless and his retreat threatened by a
force sent down to Rock Creek, Johnson yielded slowly and
reluctantly to a charge made by Geary's division, gave up
the position and withdrew to Rock Creek, where he remained
until night. Our line was once more intact. All that
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the enemy had gained by dogged determination and desperate bravery
was lost from a lack of coordination, caused perhaps by
the great difficulty of communicating orders over this long concave line,
where every route was swept by our fire. Lee had
now attacked both flanks of the Army of the Potomac
without having been able to establish himself permanently on either.
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Notwithstanding the repulse of the previous day, he was very
desirous of turning the left, for once well posted there
he could secure his own retreat. While interposing between Meade
and Washington. He rode over with Longstreet to that end
of the line to see what could be done. General Wofford,
who commanded a brigade of Mclaw's division, writes in a
(03:20):
recent letter to General Crawford, United States Army, as follows quote,
Lee and Longstreet came to my brigade Friday morning, before
the artillery opened fire. I told him that the afternoon
before I nearly reached the crest. He asked if I
could not go there now. I replied no. General I
(03:41):
think not, he said quickly. Why not, Because, I said, General,
the enemy have had all night to entrench and reinforce.
I had been pursuing a broken enemy, and the situation
was now very different. End quote. Having failed at each extremity,
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it only remained to lead to retreat or attack the center.
Such high expectations had been formed in the Southern States
in regard to his conquest of the North, that he
determined to make another effort. He still had Pickett's division,
the Flower of Virginia, which had not been engaged, and
which was full of enthusiasm. He resolved to launch them
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against our center, supported on either flank by the advance
of the main portion of the army. He had hoped
that Johnson's division would have been able to maintain its
position on the right, so that the Union center could
be assailed in front and rear at the same time.
But Johnson having been driven out, it was necessary to
trust to Picket alone or abandon the whole enterprise, and
(04:48):
returned to Virginia. Everything was quiet up to one p m.
As the enemy were massing their batteries and concentrating their
forces preparatory to the grand charge. The Supreme effort, which
was to determine the fate of the campaign and to
settle the point whether freedom or slavery was to rule
the Northern States. It seems to me there was some
(05:12):
lack of judgment in the preparations. Heth's division, now under Pettigrew,
which had been so severely handled on the first day,
and which was composed in a great measure of new troops,
was designated to support Pickett's left and join in the
attack at close quarters. Wilcox, too, who one would think
had been pretty well fought out the day before in
(05:34):
his desperate enterprise of attempting to crown the Crest, was
directed to support the right flank of the attack. Wright's
brigade was formed in rear and Pender's division on the
left of Pedigrew, but there was a long distance between
Wilcox and Longstreet's forces on the right. At one p m.
A signal gun was fired and one hundred and fifteen
(05:57):
guns opened against Hancock's command, consisting of the First Corps
under Newton, the Second Corps under Gibbon, the Third Corps
under Bernie, and against the eleventh Corps under Howard. The
object of this heavy artillery fire was to break up
our lines and prepare the way for Pickett's charge. The
exigencies of the battle had caused the first corps to
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be divided, Wadsworth's division being on the right at Culp's Hill,
Robinson on Gibbon's right, and my own division intervening between
Caldwell on the left and Gibbon on the right. The
convex shape of our line did not give us as
much space as that of the enemy, but General Hunt,
chief of Artillery, promptly posted eighty guns along the crest,
(06:43):
as many as it would hold to answer the fire,
and the batteries on both sides suffered severely. In the
two hours cannonade, not less than eleven caissons were blown
up and destroyed, one quite near me. When the smoke
went up from these explosions, reb yells of exultation could
be heard along a line of several miles. At three
(07:05):
p m. General Hunt ordered our artillery fire to cease
in order to cool the guns and to preserve some
rounds for the contest at close quarters, which he foresaw
would soon take place. My own men did not suffer
a great deal from this cannonade, as I sheltered them
as much as possible under the crest of the hill
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and behind rocks, trees, and stone fences. The cessation of
our fire gave the enemy the idea they had silenced
our batteries, and Picket at once moved forward to break
the left center of the Union line and occupy the
crest of the ridge. The other forces on his right
and left were expected to move up and enlarge the
(07:47):
opening thus made, so that finally the two wings of
the Union Army would be permanently separated and flung off
by this entering wedge in eccentric directions. A note here
the attack was so important, so momentous, and so contrary
to Longstreet's judgment, that when Pickett asked for orders to advance,
(08:08):
he gave no reply, and Pickett said, proudly, I shall
go forward, sir. End of the note. This great column
of attack, it was supposed numbered about seventeen thousand men,
but Southern writers have a peculiar arithmetic by which they
always ciphered down their forces to nothing, even on the left.
(08:30):
On the preceding day, when our troops in front of
Little Round Top were assailed by a line a mile
and a half long they figured it almost out of existence.
The force that now advanced would have been larger still
had it not been for a spirited attack by Kilpatrick
against the left of Longstreet's corps, detaining some troops there
(08:51):
which otherwise might have cooperated in the grand assault against
our center. It necessarily took the rebels some time to
fore arming cross the intervening space, and Hunt took advantage
of the opportunity to withdraw the batteries that had been
most injured, sending others in their place from the reserve
artillery which had not been engaged. He also replenished the
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ammunition boxes and stood ready to receive the foe as
he came forward, first with solid shot, next with shell,
and lastly when he came in close quarters with canister.
General Mead's headquarters was in the center of this cannonade,
and as the balls were flying very thickly there and
killing the horses of his staff, he found it necessary
(09:37):
temporarily to abandon the place where nothing is to be
gained by exposure it his sound sense to shelter men
and officers as much as possible. He rode over to
Powers Hill, made his headquarters with General Slocumb, and when
the firing ceased, rode back again. During his absence the
charge took place. He has stated that it was his
(10:00):
intention to throw the fifth and sixth Corps on the
flanks of the attacking force, but no orders to this
effect were issued, and it is questionable whether such an
arrangement would have been a good one. It would have
disgarnished the left, where Longstreet was still strong in numbers,
and in forming perpendicular to our line of battle, the
(10:21):
two corps would necessarily have exposed their own outer flanks
to attack. Indeed, the rebels had provided for just such
a contingency by posting Wilcox's brigade and Perry's brigade under
Colonel Lang on the left, both in rear of the
charging column under Picket and Pedigrew. Owing to a mistake
(10:42):
or misunderstanding, This disposition, however, did not turn out well
for the enemy. It was not intended by providence that
the Northern States should pass under the iron rule of
the slave power, and on this occasion every plan made
by Lee was thwarted in the most unexpected manner. The
distance to be traversed by Pickett's column was about a
(11:03):
mile and a half from the woods where they started,
to the crest of the ridge they desired to attain.
They suffered severely from our artillery, which opened on them
with solid shot as soon as they came in sight.
When half way across the plain, they were vigorously shelled.
Double canisters were reserved for their nearer approach. At first,
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the direction of their march appeared to be directly toward
my division. When within five hundred yards of us, however,
Picket halted and changed direction obliquely about forty five degrees,
so that the attack passed me and struck Gibbons's division
on my right. Just here, one of those providential circumstances
occurred which favored us so much for Wilcox and Lang,
(11:49):
who guarded Picket's right flank, did not follow his oblique movement,
but kept on straight to the front, so that soon
there was a wide interval between their troops and the
mean body, leaving Picket's right fully uncovered. The rebels came
on magnificently. As fast as the shot and shell tore
through their lines, they closed up the gaps and pressed forward.
(12:12):
When they reached the Emmitsburg Road, the canister began to
make fearful chasms and their ranks. They also suffered severely
from a battery on Little Round Top, which omfillated their line.
One shell killed and wounded ten men. Gibbon had directed
his command to reserve their fire until the enemy were
near enough to make it very effective. Picket's advance dashed
(12:36):
up to the fence occupied by the skirmishers of the
Second Corps near the Emmitsburg Road and drove them back.
Then the musketry blazed forth with deadly effect, and Pettigrew's
men began to waver on the left and fall behind,
for the nature of the ground was such that they
were more exposed than any other portions of the line.
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They were much shaken by the artillery fire, and that
of Hayes's division sent them back in masses. Note. The
front line of Hayes Division, which received this charge, was
composed of the twelfth New Jersey, fourteenth Connecticut, and first Delaware.
The second line was composed of the one hundred eleventh,
one hundred and twenty fifth, one hundred, twenty sixth and
(13:20):
thirty ninth New York. End of the note, before the
first line of rebels reached a second fence and stone wall,
behind which our main body was posted. It was obliged
to pass a demi brigade under Colonel Theodore B. Gates
of the twentieth New York State Militia and a Vermont
brigade under General Stannard, both belonging to my command. When
(13:44):
Pickett's right became exposed in consequence of the divergence of
Wilcox's command, Stannard seized the opportunity to make a flank attack,
and while his left regiment, the fourteenth, poured in a
heavy oblique fire, he changed front with the two right regiments,
the thirteenth and sixteenth, which brought them perpendicular to the
(14:05):
rebel line of march. In cases of this kind, when
struck directly on the flank, troops are more or less
unable to defend themselves, and Camper's brigade crowded in towards
the center in order to avoid Stannard's energetic and deadly attack.
They were closely followed up by Gates's command, who continued
(14:26):
to fire into them at close range. This caused many
to surrender, others to retreat outright, and others simply to
crowd together Simultaneously with Standard's attack, the eighth Ohio, which
was on Picket overlapping the rebel left, closed in on
that flank with great effect. Nevertheless, the next brigade, that
(14:48):
of Armistead, united to Garnet's brigade, pressed on, and, in
spite of death, dealing bolts on all sides, Ticket determined
to break Gibbons's line and capture his guns. Although Webb's
front was the focus of the concentrated artillery fire, and
he had already lost fifty men and some valuable officers,
(15:08):
his line remained firm and unshaken. It devolved upon him
now to meet the great charge which was to decide
the fate of the day. It would have been difficult
to find a man better fitted for such an emergency.
He was nerved to great deeds by the memory of
his ancestors, who in former days had rendered distinguished services
(15:29):
to the Republic, and felt that the results of the
whole war might depend upon his holding of the position.
His men were equally resolute. Cushing's battery, a fourth United
States artillery, which had been posted on the crest, and
Brown's Rhode Island battery on his left, were both practically
destroyed by the cannonade. The horses were prostrated. Every officer
(15:54):
but one was struck, and Cushing had but one serviceable
gun left. Asket's advance came very close to the first line.
Young Cushing, mortally wounded in both thighs, ran his last
serviceable gun down to the fence and said, Webb, I
will give them one more shot. At the moment of
(16:15):
the last discharge, he called out goodbye and fell dead
at the post of duty. Webb sent for fresh batteries
to replace the two that were disabled, and Wheeler's first
New York independent battery came up just before the attack
and took the place of Cushing's battery on the left.
Armistead pressed forward, leaped the stone wall, waving his sword
(16:39):
with his hat on it, followed by about a hundred
of his men, several of whom carried battle flags. He shouted,
give them the cold steel boys, and laid his hands
upon a gun. The battery, for a few minutes was
in his possession, and the rebel flag flew triumphantly over
our line. But Webb was at the front, very near Armistead,
(17:01):
animating and encouraging his men. He led the seventy second
Pennsylvania Regiment against the enemy, and posted a line of
wounded men in rear to drive back or shoot every
man that deserted his duty. A portion of the seventy
first Pennsylvania, behind a stone wall on the right, threw
in a deadly flanking fire, while a great part of
(17:22):
the sixty ninth Pennsylvania and the remainder of the seventy
first made stern resistance from a copse of trees on
the left, near where the enemy had broken the line
and where our men were shot, with the rebel muskets
touching their breasts. Then came a splendid charge of two
regiments led by Colonel Hall, which passed completely through Webb's
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line and engaged the enemy in a hand to hand conflict.
Armistead was shot down by the side of the gun
he had taken. It is said he had fought on
our side in the first battle at bull Run, but
had then been seduced by Southern affiliations to join in
the rebellion, and now dying in the effort to extend
the area of slavery over the Free States. He saw
(18:06):
with a clearer vision that he had been engaged in
an unholy cause, and said to one of our officers
who leaned over him, tell Hancock, I have wronged him
and have wronged my country. A note here Colonel Norman J. Hall,
commanding a brigade in Hancock's Corps, who rendered this great service,
(18:27):
was one of the garrison who defended Fort Sumter at
the beginning of the war. At that time he was
the second lieutenant of my company. End of the note.
Both Gibbon and Webb were wounded, and the loss and
officers and men was very heavy. Two rebel brigadier generals
were killed, and more prisoners were taken than twice Webb's brigade.
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Six battle flags and fourteen hundred sixty three muskets were
also gathered. In my command, being a little to the left,
I witnessed the scene, and after it was over, sent
out stretcher bearers attached to the ambulance train, and had
numbers of wounded Confederates brought in and cared for. I
was told that there was one man among these whose
(19:12):
conversation seemed to indicate that he was a general officer.
I sent to ascertain his rank, but he replied, tell
General Doubleday. In a few minutes I shall be where
there is no rank. He expired soon after, and I
never learned his name. The rebels did not seem to
appreciate my humanity, and sending out to bring in there wounded,
(19:35):
for they opened a savage fire against the stretcher bearers.
One shell burst among us. A piece of it knocked
me over on my horse's neck, and wounded Lieutenant Cowdrey
of my staff. When Pickett, the Great Leader, looked around
the top of the ridge he had temporarily gained, he
saw it was impossible to hold the position. Troops were
(19:57):
rushing in on him from all sides. The Second Corps
were engaged in a furious assault on his front. His
men were fighting with clubbed muskets, and even banner staves
were intertwined in a fierce and hopeless struggle. My division
of the First Corps were on his right flank, giving
deadly blows there, and the Third Corps were closing up
(20:17):
to attack. Pettigrew's forces on his left had given way,
and a heavy skirmish line began to accumulate on that flank.
He saw his men surrendering in masses, and with a
heart full of anguish, ordered a retreat. Death had been
busy on all sides, and few, indeed now remained of
that magnificent column which had advanced so proudly led by
(20:40):
the neigh of the rebel army. And those few fell
back in disorder and without organization, behind Wright's Brigade, which
had been sent forward to cover the retreat at first. However,
when struck by Standard on the flank, and when Pickett's
charge was spent, they rallied in a little slashing where
a rove had been cut down by our troops to
(21:02):
leave an opening for our artillery. There two regiments of
Rally's brigade of my division, the one hundred fifty first
Pennsylvania and the twentieth New York State Militia under Colonel
Theodore R. Gates of the latter regiment made a gallant
charge and drove them out. Pettigrew's division, it is said,
(21:22):
lost two thousand prisoners and fifteen battle flags. On the left.
While this severe contest was going on in front of Webb,
Wilcox deployed his command and opened a feeble fire against
Caldwell's division on my left. Standard repeated the maneuver which
had been so successful against Kemper's brigade by detaching the
(21:44):
fourteenth and sixteenth Vermont to take Wilcox in flank. Wilcox
thus attacked on his right, while a long row of
batteries toward the front of his line to pieces with
canister could gain no foothold. He found himself exposed to
a triremie mendous crossfire and was obliged to retreat, but
a great portion of his command were brought in as
(22:05):
prisoners by standard, and battle flags were gathered in sheaves.
Note here as Stannard's brigade were new troops and had
been stationed near Washington. The men had dubbed them the
paper Collar Brigade because some of them were wearing paper collars,
and after this fight the term was never again applied
to them. End of the note. A portion of Longstreet's Corps, Benning's, Robertson's,
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and Law's brigades advanced against the two roundtops to prevent
reinforcements from being sent from that vicinity to meet Pickett's charge.
Kilpatrick interfered with this program, however, for about two PM.
He made his appearance on our left with Farnsworth's brigade
and Merritt's brigade of Regulars, accompanied by Graham's and Elders
(22:53):
batteries of the Regular Army, to attack the rebel right
with a view to reach their ammunition trains, which were
in the vicinity. The rebels say his men came on
yelling like demons. Having driven back the skirmishers who guarded
that flank, Merit deployed on the left and soon became
engaged there with Anderson's Georgia Brigade, which was supported by
(23:14):
two batteries on the right. Farnsworth, with the first Vermont
Regiment of his brigade, leaped the fence and advanced until
he came to a second stone fence, where he was
checked by an attack on his right flank from the
fourth Alabama Regiment of Laws Brigade, which came back for
that purpose from a demonstration it was making against Roundtop.
(23:37):
Farnsworth then turned and leaping another fence in a storm
of shot and shell, made a gallant attempt to capture
Beckmann's battery, but was unable to do so as it
was promptly supported by the ninth Georgia Regiment of Anderson's brigade.
Farnsworth was killed in this charge, and the first Vermont
found itself enclosed in a field with high fences on
(23:58):
all sides, behind which masses of infantry were constantly rising
up and firing. The regiment was all broken up and
forced to retire in detachments. Kilpatrick, after fighting some time
longer without making much progress, fell back on account of
the constant reinforcements that were augmenting the force opposed to him.
(24:19):
Although he had not succeeded in capturing the ammunition train,
he had made a valuable diversion on the left, which
doubtless prevented the enemy from a sailing round top with
vigor or detaching a force to aid Picket. The Confederate
General Benning states that the prompt action of General Law
imposting the artillery in the road and the seventh and
(24:41):
ninth Georgia Regiments on each side, was all that saved
the train from capture. There was nothing else to save it.
He also says that two thirds of Picket's command were killed, wounded,
or captured. Every brigade commander and every field officer except
XI One fell Lee and Longstreet had seen from the
(25:03):
edge of the woods with great exultation the blue flag
of Virginia waving over the crest occupied by the Union troops.
It seemed the harbinger of great success. To Lee, he
thought the Union army was conquered at last, the long
struggle was over, and peace would soon come, accompanied by
the acknowledgment of the independence of the Southern Confederacy. It
(25:27):
was but a passing dream. The flag receded, and soon
the plane was covered with fugitives making their way to
the rear. Then anticipating an immediate pursuit, he used every
effort to rally men and officers, and made strenuous efforts
to get his artillery in position to be effective. The
Confederate General A. R. Wright criticizes this attack, and very
(25:51):
justly says, the difficulty was not so much in reaching
Cemetery Ridge or taking it. My brigade did so on
the afternoon of the second but the trouble was to
hold it. For the whole Federal army was massed in
a sort of horseshoe and could rapidly reinforce the point
to any extent, while the long enveloping Confederate line could
(26:14):
not support properly enough. This agrees with what I have
said in relation to the convex and concave orders of battle.
General Gibbon had sent Lieutenant Haskell of his staff to
Powers Hill to notify General Meade that the charge was coming.
As Mead approached his own headquarters, he heard firing on
(26:37):
the crest above and went up to ascertain the cause.
He found the charge had been repulsed and ejaculated, Thank God.
When Lee learned that Johnson had yielded his position on
the right and therefore could not cooperate with Pickett's advance,
he sent Stuart's cavalry around to accomplish the same object
(26:57):
by attacking the right and rear of our army. Howard
saw the rebel cavalry moving off in that direction, and
David Gregg, whose division was near White's Creek where it
crosses the Baltimore Pike, received orders about noon to guard
Slocum's right and rear. Custer had already been contending with
his brigade against portions of the enemy's force in that
(27:19):
direction when greg sent forward Macintosh's brigade to relieve him,
and followed soon after with j Irving Gregg's brigade. Custer
was under orders to join Kilpatrick's command, to which he belonged,
but the exigencies of the battle soon forced greg to
detain him. Macintosh, having taken the place of Custer, pushed
(27:41):
forward to developed the enemy's line, which he found very
strongly posted. The artillery being on a commanding ridge which
overlooked the whole country and covered by dismounted cavalry and woods,
buildings and behind fences below. Macintosh became warmly engaged and
sent back for Randall's battery to act against the rebel
(28:02):
guns on the crest and drive the enemy out of
the buildings. The guns above were silenced by Pennington's and
Randall's batteries, and the force below driven out of the
houses by Lieutenant Chester's section of the ladder. The buildings
and fences were then occupied by our troops. The enemy
attempted to regain them by a charge against Macintosh's right flank,
(28:24):
but were repulsed. In the meantime, Gregg came up with
the other brigade and assumed command of the field. The
battle now became warm for W. H. F. Lee's brigade
under Chambliss, advanced to support the skirmish line, and the
first New Jersey, being out of ammunition, was charged and
routed by the First Virginia. The Seventh Michigan. A new
(28:49):
regiment which came up to support it, was also driven
in for the enemy's dismounted line reinforced the First Virginia.
The latter regiment, which had held on with deathaprit tenacity,
although attacked on both flanks, was at last compelled to
fall back by an attack made by part of the
Fifth Michigan. The contending forces were now pretty well exhausted, when,
(29:13):
to the dismay of our men, a fresh brigade under
Wade Hampton, which Stuart had kept in reserve, made its appearance,
and new and desperate exertions were required to stam its progress.
There was little time to act, but every saber that
could be brought forward was used. As Hampton came on,
our artillery under Pennington and Randall made terrible gaps in
(29:35):
his ranks. Chester section kept firing canister until the rebels
were within fifty yards of him. The enemy were temporarily
stopped by a desperate charge on their flank made by
only sixteen men of the third Pennsylvania Cavalry under Captain's
Treachell and Rogers, accompanied by Captain Newhall of Mackintosh's staff.
(29:57):
This little band of heroes were nearly all disabled or killed,
but they succeeded in delaying the enemy, already shattered by
canister from Chester's guns, until Custer was able to bring
up the first Michigan and lead them to the charge, shouting,
come on you Wolverines. Every available saber was thrown in.
(30:18):
General Macintosh and his staff and orderlies charged into the
melee as individuals. Hampton and fitz Lee headed the enemy,
and Custer our troops. Lieutenant Colonel W. Brook Rawl, the
historian of the conflict, who was present, says, for minutes
which seemed like ours, amid the clashing of the sabers,
(30:38):
the rattle of the small arms, the frenzied imprecations, the
demands to surrender, the undaunted replies, and the appeals for mercy,
the Confederate column stood its ground. A fresh squadron was
brought up under Captain Hart of the First New Jersey,
and the enemy at last gave way and retired. Both
(31:00):
sides still confronted each other, but the battle was over,
for Picket's charge had failed, and there was no longer
any object in continuing the contest. Stuart was undoubtedly baffled
and the object of his expedition frustrated, yet he stated
in his official report that he was in a position
to intercept the Union retreat in case Pickett had been successful.
(31:24):
At night, he retreated to regain his communications with Eules left.
This battle, being off of the official maps, has hardly
been alluded to in the various histories which have been written,
but its results were important and deserved to be commemorated.
When Pickett's charge was repulsed and the whole plane covered
with fugitives, we all expected that Wellington's command at Waterloo
(31:49):
of up guards and at them would be repeated, and
that a grand counter charge would be made, But General
Meade had made no arrangements to give a return thrust.
It seems to me he should have posted the sixth
and part of the twelfth Corps in rear of Gibbon's
division the moment Picket's infantry were seen emerging from the
(32:09):
woods a mile and a half off. If they broke
through our center, these corps would have been there to
receive them, and if they failed to pierce our line
and retreated, the two corps could have followed them up
promptly before they had time to rally and reorganize, and
advanced by Sykes, would have kept Long Street in position.
(32:30):
In all probability, we would have cut the enemy's army
in two and captured the long line of batteries opposite us,
which were but slightly guarded. Hancock, lying wounded in an ambulance,
wrote to Mead, recommending that this be done. Mead, it
is true recognized in some sort the good effects of
(32:50):
a counter blow, but to be effective, the movement should
have been prepared beforehand. It was too late to commence
making preparations for an advance when some time had elapsed,
and when Lee had rallied his troops and made all
his arrangements to resist an assault. It was ascertained afterward
that he had twenty rounds of ammunition left per gun,
(33:13):
but it was not evenly distributed, and some batteries in
front had fired away all their cartridges. A counter charge
under such circumstances is considered almost imperative in war, for
the beaten army running and dismayed cannot, in the nature
of things, resist with much spirit, whereas the pursuers, highly
(33:34):
elated by their success and with the prospect of ending
the contest fight with more energy and bravery. Rhodes says
the Union forces were so long in occupying the town
and in coming forward after the repulse of the enemy,
that it was generally thought they had retreated. Mead rode
leisurely over to the fifth Corps on the left and
(33:56):
told Sykes to send out and see if the enemy
in his front was firm and holding on to their position.
A brigade, preceded by skirmishes, was accordingly sent forward, but
as Longstreet's troops were well fortified, they resisted the advance,
and Meade, finding some hours had elapsed and that Lee
had closed up his lines and was fortifying against him,
(34:19):
gave up all idea of a counter attack. End of
chapter
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