Official Report of Maj. John Mansfield, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division,1st Corps, Army of the Potomac.
Beverly Ford, Va., November 15, 1863.
Sir: In reporting the part taken by this regiment in the battle of Gettysburg, I have the honor to state: The regiment formed a part of the First Brigade of Wadsworth’s division of the First Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and on the morning of July 1, 1863, it had the right, and approached Gettysburg from the Emmitsburg pike. About 10 a. m., when near the town of Gettysburg, the brigade was filed into the field on the left and west of Gettysburg, in the direction of and left of Seminary Ridge. Here the Federal cavalry were in line with a battery, actively engaged with the enemy’s advancing infantry. By order of the division commander, through Colonel Kress, his acting aide-de-camp, this regiment was thrown forward into line of battle in front of the cavalry, and ordered to advance, to repel an assault of the enemy’s infantry upon the battery.
The field officers, Colonel Fairchild, Lieutenant-Colonel Stevens, and Maj. John Mansfield, immediately dismounted, and, taking their proper places in line, advanced the regiment up a gentle slope, and when on its crest we received a volley of musketry from the enemy’s line, from which many officers and men fell, among them Lieutenant-Colonel Stevens, mortally wounded. The advance of the regiment was steadily kept up under the direction of Colonel Fairchild, slightly obliquing to the right into a piece of timber skirting the ridge and extending several hundred yards to the right and front of our position. After pushing the advance for about 50 yards into this timber, in the face of a most terrific fire of musketry, Colonel Fairchild received a severe wound in the left arm, shattering his elbow. Being so completely disabled, and suffering from loss of blood, he was taken to the rear, when Major Mansfield assumed command of the regiment, Mansfield continued to advance the regiment to near close quarters, when the line of the enemy in our immediate front yielded, a portion seeking cover in a deep excavation, the balance seeking refuge behind trees and a slight elevation of the ground, from which they attempted to reform their broken lines. I ordered a charge upon this last position of the enemy, which was gallantly made at the double-quick, the enemy breaking in confusion to the rear, escaping from the timber into the open fields beyond. In this charge we captured a large number of prisoners, including several officers, among them General Archer, who was taken by Private Patrick Maloney, of Company G, of our regiment, and brought to me, to whom he surrendered his sword, which I passed over with the prisoners to Lieut. D. B. Dailey, acting aide-de-camp on the brigade staff. I regret to say that this gallant soldier (Private Maloney) was killed in action later in the day.
After this disposition of the prisoners, the regiment was formed in line in the open field beyond the timber. Here the balance of the brigade was formed on our left. We were soon faced to the rear, and retired about midway through the timber, where we were ordered to lie down. We remained in position some two hours or more, when the enemy were discovered emerging from the timber beyond the field we had just left, in two lines, with a heavy line of skirmishers.
The front line of the enemy, with skirmishers, advanced directly to the front, while the second line advanced obliquely to the left. In a short time the enemy’s skirmishers and our own became actively engaged, which continued with great spirit for a time, when it was discovered an attempt was being made to flank our position by the second line. An order was given to fall back toward Seminary Ridge, then directly in our rear, and in which was placed and at work the Fifth Maine Battery.
This movement was made in good order, firing as we retired. About half the distance from where we commenced to retire to this new position, I faced the regiment to the front, and again moved to meet the advancing columns of the enemy, when I. discovered the enemy closing in upon our left. I again faced to the rear, and took up a position on the ridge referred to, on the right of the brigade already in position. At this time and point the battle raged with great fury, near the close of which I received a severe gun-shot wound in my left leg, near the knee-joint. Being unable to remain standing, I was taken to temporary shelter, when almost immediately the brigade and regiment fell back to Cemetery Hill.
The casualties to the regiment resulting from this day’s fight, for the numbers engaged, are believed to be unparalleled in the history of the war, and are here given as follows;
Engaged:
Officers................29
Men................... 273
Total...................302
Killed................. ...2 Officers and 25 Men Total 27
Wounded............ 11 Officers and 142 Men Total 153
Missing..................6 Officers and 47 Men Total 53
Total: 19 Officers; 214 Men; Total 233
Left for duty: 69 Total
From such a record I may be spared from making what seems the usual commonplace remark, “that both officers and men behaved well.” No such record as here made can be shown excepting by a cool indifference to danger and long continued and stubborn resistance, resulting from hard-earned experience and thorough discipline.
I desire to call the attention of the general commanding to Lieut. Henry B. Harshaw, acting adjutant, for his ready and active assistance on several occasions during the trials of the day. Also to Corporal [Rasselas] Davidson, of Company H, and Corpl. Paul V. Brisbois, of Company G, for gallantly seizing (one the State, the other the National) colors of the regiment, after their respective bearers had been shot down in a storm of bullets, and carrying them undismayed throughout the remainder of the battle, and bearing them in safety and in triumph off the field.
JNO. MANSFIELD,
Major, Commanding Regiment.
Capt. J. D. Wood,
Asst. Adjt. Gen., First Brig., First Div., First Corps.
[Source: Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. 27, Part 1: Reports, Report No. 34, pages 273-275].
