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"Gettysburg: The Face of Battle"
A Distance Learning Program from Gettysburg National Military Park
Broadcast Live on May 9, 2001

SOLDIERS IN THE 57th VIRGINIA INFANTRY

Born in New Bern, North Carolina on February 18, 1817, Lewis Armistead was the first colonel of the 57th Virginia. He attended West Point Military Academy from 1834 to 1836 when he was dismissed after a fight with a fellow cadet. Never the less, he continued with a military career and served in the US Army during the Mexican War and at posts and forts in California. When the Civil War arrived, Armistead offered his services to Virginia and was given command of the 57th Virginia Infantry in 1861. The following year, he was promoted to command a brigade of which the 57th was a part, and led this brigade to Gettysburg. Armistead was the only brigade commander in Pickett's Division to breach the Union line, and was wounded in the arm by Union rifle fire after charging into the Angle and placing a hand on an unmanned Union cannon. Captured by the Union troops there, he was taken to a Union field hospital. Despite the best efforts of Union surgeons, the general died on July 5th and was buried near the field hospital. His remains were later recovered by friends and he is interred at St. Paul's Church in Baltimore.

John Bowie Magruder was born November 11, 1839, and attended the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. Instead of continuing with the rigors of a military education, Magruder transferred to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville where he graduated in the top percentage of his class. He moved to Culpeper, Virginia where he took a job teaching. At the outbreak of the war, Magruder went to Charlottesville where he helped raise a company of infantry and enlisted on July 22, 1861. For his efforts he was elected captain of Company H. His classes at VMI served him well, and Captain Magruder applied all of his knowledge to training his soldiers. He proved to be a good soldier and was promoted to the rank of colonel, in command of the 57th Virginia after Colonel Armistead was promoted. Colonel Magruder led his men in the campaign that summer and walked with them into the hailstorm that was Pickett's Charge. Following close behind his general, Colonel Magruder followed General Armistead over the stone wall and into the angle, where he was horribly wounded by two musket balls that struck him from two directions and crossed through his chest. His last words to his men were, "They are ours!" as he pointed to nearby Union cannon. Taken prisoner, Magruder was transferred by ambulance to the Union Twelfth Corps Hospital, where his wound was pronounced mortal. The colonel died on July 5, 1863 and was buried in the farm yard. That following October, his family had his body recovered and taken to Richmond for burial. Magruder's second in command, Lt. Colonel Benjamin Wade, was also mortally wounded during the charge.

J.H. Miles Born in Franklin County, Virginia, John H. Miles volunteered for service very soon after Virginia had left the Union. He enlisted on June 21, 1861 with his brother James who also volunteered on the same date. The two brothers were assigned to Company C, 57th Virginia Infantry. John's brother proved to be such a good and popular soldier that he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. The two brothers served through the first two years of the war and were with the regiment on the march to Gettysburg. the brothers escaped the danger of Pickett's Charge and survived the terrible battle. John and James continued to serve with the 57th until April 1864 when John, recovering from an illness, was placed on a special detail. Lt. James Miles continued to fight with the regiment until June 16, 1864 when he was killed in battle near Bermuda Hundred, below Richmond. Informed of his brother's death, a distraught John Miles left his post two days later to search for his brother's grave. It is unclear whether he ever returned to the 57th Virginia Infantry before the regiment was destroyed at the battles of Five Forks and Saylor's Creek, Virginia the following year, but he survived the war and returned to Franklin County.

Sanford Duff Born near Charlottesville, Virginia, Sanford B. Duff enlisted as a private on July 22, 1861 and was assigned to Company H, 57th Virginia Infantry. Soon after his enlistment, he posed for his portrait dressed in his new state uniform. Drill and soldier life was hard, but leaving his family proved to be more difficult than anything he'd ever experienced. When his family needed him to help with the harvest that fall, Private Duff left the army and went home to help. He returned on October 30 after a period of two weeks absence, and officers believed he had learned his lesson. Never the less, he left the army without permission the following August but returned after helping his family with the harvest and other chores. This time he was court-martialed, or tried for the crime of desertion. Duff stayed on duty during the trial but escaped on February 15, 1863. He returned after a few weeks away and served with the 57th Virginia as a model soldier. Private Duff was one of a handful of Virginia soldiers in H Company to survive Pickett's Charge. Duff survived the war and returned to Charllottesville. (Gettysburg National Military Park is doubly touched because Private Duff's great granddaughter is a volunteer at the park!)

The 57th Virginia Infantry

GETTYSBURG: THE FACE OF BATTLE
A Satellite Broadcast- May 9, 2001

Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325