 Gettysburg National Military Park
Virtual Tour - Day One
The Eleventh Corps Line
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Barlow's Knoll at sunset with the statue to General Barlow at right. This small hill was the right of the Eleventh Corps line on July 1.
Gettysburg NMP |
The Eleventh Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac was organized in 1862 under General Franz Siegel. A number of the regiments in this Union corps were composed of immigrants from Europe, mostly Germans and some Poles, and had served admirably up until the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia in May 1863. Led at that battle by Maj. General Oliver O. Howard, the corps was assigned to a position on the right flank of the army's line centered around the Chancellor crossroads. No one realized the precarious position they were in, except for the Confederate commanders! Late on the afternoon of May 2, Howard's men were relaxing, playing cards, cooking or sleeping when suddenly waves of screaming Confederates broke from the woods around them. It was General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Corps, which had marched around the Union position to hit the "open flank". Thousands of Confederates bore down on the Eleventh Corps regiments, outnumbered and unable to rally much of a defense. Men wearing the Eleventh Corps badge stampeded in panic from the field of battle. The coming of night and other Union troops finally slowed the Southern attack, but accusations of cowardice had already begun, growing in intensity after the close of campaign. Officers in the corps argued that they had been surprised, were outnumbered, and pointed out that some units had held out as long as possible but morale plummeted. The men knew they were good soldiers and could fight well if led well, but a stigma of shame hung like a cloud over the corps. The disaster at Chancellorsville was caused by a poor choice of position. As events were to turn out, the position assigned them at Gettysburg on July 1 was not any better than the one from which they ran two months prior.
Gen. Howard
Miller's History |
After the death of General Reynolds on July 1, General Howard assumed command of all Union forces at Gettysburg. Command of the Eleventh Corps fell upon the shoulders of Major General Carl Schurz. After conferring with Howard near Cemetery Hill, Schurz joined the two divisions of the corps that had rushed through Gettysburg and into the fields north of the college. Here they massed on the right flank of the First Corps. Quickly taking advantage of what ground was available, Brig. General Francis Barlow ordered part of his 1st Division to occupy a small hill overlooking Rock Creek. While doing so, the Union troops drove back Confederate skirmishers from Brig. General George Doles' brigade. It was not long before Doles' men returned and skirmishing broke out along the entire front as Confederate batteries on Oak Ridge and north of Gettysburg began to send shot and shell into the Union regiments. The men lay down, using every small ridge or ditch as cover from the artillery fire.
Battery I, 1st Ohio Monument on Howard Avenue
Gettysburg NMP |
Three Union batteries responded to the destructive Confederate fire. Captain Hubert Dilger's Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery was placed on a small knoll west of the Carlisle Road. Dilger was known amongst his men as "leather breeches" for the leather pad sewn to the seat of his riding trousers. Yet this was not all he was known for; Dilger was an expert artilleryman with a keen eye for placing artillery where it could do the most good and his battery had gained a reputation with their fighting skills which they had displayed at Chancellorsville. (Dilger eventually received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions there.) From his position north of Gettysburg, Dilger believed he could use his guns to flank Confederate artillery positions on Oak Ridge. The gunners methodically set to work and succeeded in shattering one of the southern batteries on the ridge before another retreated to save their guns from the accurate Union fire. Soon joined by the 13th New York Battery, Dilger's artillerymen fought throughout the afternoon and were some of the last Union troops to leave this portion of the field. The battery even fought within the town limits until finally being withdrawn to a position near Cemetery Hill as the last Union soldiers retreated that evening.
Though outnumbered three to one, General Doles decided to again send his Georgia regiments forward. The rattle of musketry echoed over the fields as the lines closed to within 100 yards of each other. The 4th and 44th Georgia regiments marched headlong toward Union troops on the small hill known today as "Barlow's Knoll". At approximately the same time, General Early's division arrived northeast of Gettysburg and immediately formed to charge the Union position. His artillery announced the arrival with a barrage of shells. "The enemy soon opened on us with his artillery," General Barlow wrote. "His number of guns was superior to mine and though another battery was furnished me, I never got it. The captain of my battery had one leg carried away, one gun disabled and several horses killed, but still kept in position." Barlow was referring to Lt. Bayard Wilkeson and Battery G, 4th US Artillery. Though mortally wounded, Wilkeson continued to direct his gunners as the infantry units gave way all about him.
A solid line of southern infantry appeared from the shrubs beside Rock Creek east of the knoll and rushed up the hill. The Union troops fought back with volleys of rifle fire and blasts of canister, none of which seemed to halt the southern onslaught. Doles' Georgians were quick to take advantage of the confusion and charged into Barlow's men, breaking the line west of the knoll near the Alms House cemetery.
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Among those fighting on the knoll that day were Private William Issemoyer and Sgt. Charles Issemoyer, brothers serving side by side in Company D, 153rd Pennsylvania Infantry. The 153rd Pennsylvania was resisting a Confederate charge in their front when Confederates suddenly appeared behind them. The line bent and then broke, the brothers moving with others off of the hill and toward Gettysburg in a retreat that quickly became a rout. Though Charles made his way to Cemetery Hill, William was captured during the retreat.
(photo courtesy of the Lehigh County Historical Society) |
Gen. Barlow
Generals in Blue |
Union reinforcements rushed to help Barlow's collapsing line. Brig. General Kryzanowski's brigade had been in reserve near the Carlisle Road when it was ordered forward to help. The brigade moved rapidly toward two Confederate regiments from Doles' command, which turned and pounced upon Kryzanowski's soldiers. The fight was brief and the Union troops were thrown back in confusion. The Eleventh Corps line fell apart. "A force came up against our front in line of battle with supports in the rear," Barlow continued. "We ought to have held the place easily... but the enemy's skirmishers had hardly attacked us before my men began to run. No fight at all was made. I started to get ahead of them to rally them and form another line. Before I could turn my horse I was shot in the left side, dismounted and tried to walk to the rear. I then got a spent ball in my back which has made quite a bruise. Soon I got too faint to go any further and lay down. I lay in the midst of the fire some five minutes as the enemy were firing at our running men. I did not expect to get out alive."
Luckily for Barlow, a Confederate officer chanced upon the wounded general. General John B. Gordon, whose brigade had just destroyed Barlow's position on the knoll, found the wounded officer, pale and weak. Gordon dismounted and gave Barlow water and a sip of spirits to revive him. Barlow was almost delirious with pain and exhaustion, but asked Gordon to destroy a packet of letters for him and get word of his fate through the lines to his wife who accompanied the Union army. Gordon ordered that Barlow be carried to a nearby farm for shelter. This remarkable act of compassion probably saved Barlow's life. Confederate surgeons treated the wounded officer, who appeared to be close to death. A message was passed between the lines to General Barlow's wife and she made her way through the picket lines the following day to find her wounded husband. With her help, the general slowly recovered from his wounds, returned to the army the following year, and led a division of the Second Corps in the Wilderness Campaign.
The last two brigades of Early's Division, one commanded by General Harry Hays and the other by Colonel Isaac Avery, charged around and toward the rear of the wavering Union line. Climbing a gentle knoll, Avery's North Carolinians encountered a Union brigade commanded by Colonel Charles Coster posted behind a split rail fence by a brickyard. Ordered forward from Cemetery Hill by General Howard, Coster's regiments arrived just as the battle north of town reached a fever pitch. Almost at once both sides caught a glimpse of each other and muskets blazed in a storm of smoke and lead. Avery's troops overran Coster's position. His men fled through the brickyard and into the streets of Gettysburg.
The overwhelming attack collapsed the fragile Union line and a retreat ensued through the streets of Gettysburg. No threats, pleas, or orders could stay the men from leaving the field. "We ran them through the town," wrote Colonel Clement Evans of the 31st Georgia, "and drove them back to their entrenched hills. The victory on the first day was of the most complete character." Victorious Confederates appeared in every alley and street, shooting and yelling for the Union troops to surrender, the majority of whom had not heard the order to rally on Cemetery Hill. Many simply followed the men in front who blindly stumbled through Gettysburg, into dead end alleys or points of southern bayonets. Others hid in homes and outbuildings. Brig. General Alexander Schimmelfennig took refuge in a pig shed where he hid for several days. Some of the retreating soldiers panicked, leaving equipment and wounded comrades to the fate of the Confederates. Eventually those exhausted Union survivors who could, made their way back to Cemetery Hill where General Howard and General Winfield Scott Hancock were then organizing defenses. The end of the day appeared to be a humiliating Union defeat, but the soldiers had bought time for General Meade to concentrate his forces and march them to the Gettysburg battlefield.
The fading sunlight, combined with confusion in the streets of Gettysburg, slowed the Confederate pursuit and gave Union commanders on Cemetery Hill time to organize and rally their troops. Though General Lee was satisfied with the day's results, he was concerned about the advantages of the new Union position south of town. Lee sent orders for General Ewell to follow up his attack through Gettysburg with an attempt to take this new Union-held position. Believing that opportunities for complete victory were in his grasp, the general rode into town to inspect the lines. Within a few hours, Lee would have enough information to decide on a strategy for the next day's battle. Meanwhile, aides established the general's headquarters in a small apple orchard on Seminary Ridge, just across from the Widow Thompson's house.
The first day of battle was a resounding Confederate victory. Nightfall brought a grateful lull to the fighting while both armies planned for another day of battle on Thursday, July 2.
The Commander of Jackson's Old Corps
General Richard S. Ewell
Generals in Gray |
After the death of General "Stonewall" Jackson, his corps was split between two officers- General A.P. Hill and Lt. General Richard Stoddart Ewell. Ewell was given command of Jackson's old "Second Corps" and may have been an unlikely choice for such an important post. Considered by some to be erratic and having "an air of eccentricity about him," Ewell was a proven leader and veteran of the Valley Campaign, Seven Days, and Second Manassas where he lost a leg at the Battle of Groveton. Returning to the army with a brand new wooden leg, Ewell undertook his command with vigor and led his troops into the Shenandoah Valley that June where they crushed the Union forces under General Milroy at Winchester. Ewell's men were the first southern forces to cross the Potomac River into Maryland and Pennsylvania where they marched as far east as the Susquehanna River bridge at Wrightsville and as far north as Carlisle. Upon receiving orders from General Lee to concentrate his troops at Cashtown, Ewell coordinated the march back to Adams County and the timely arrival north of town. Though his troops would win the day and drive the Union soldiers from the field, the general would be later criticized for his lack of making a commitment in following up his victory with an attack on Cemetery Hill. General Ewell deferred much of his command decisions to his division commanders for the remainder of the battle. It was on July 1 while following up his troops into Gettysburg that the general escaped injury. Accompanied by General John B. Gordon, the two rode into town when the crack of a bullet followed by a sickening thump was heard by General Gordon. Gordon asked Ewell if he were injured to which the general replied, "No, no, I'm not hurt. But suppose that ball had struck you: we would have had the trouble of carrying you off the field, sir. You see how much better fixed for a fight I am than you are. It don't hurt a bit to be shot in a wooden leg."
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Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325
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