A Day at Gettysburg

Almost there!

This is a view west from Emmitsburg Road at the Peach Orchard. “Barksdale’s Brigade swept out of the woods in the distance and across these fields before overrunning Union positions in the Peach Orchard.”

General William Barksdale as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was killed July 3, 1863 during the battle of Gettysburg. His brigade was known as
 “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade.” According to his biography “Barksdale was wounded in his left knee, followed by a cannonball to his left foot, and finally was hit by another bullet to his chest, knocking him off his horse. He told his aide, W.R. Boyd, “’I am killed! Tell my wife and children that I died fighting at my post’.”

93rd New York was commanded at Gettysburg by Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin C. Butler. It is located by Meade’s HQ “During the battle of Gettysburg the regiment guarded the immense amount of property, consisting of ammunition, quartermaster and commissary supplies, besides sending details as follows: One with General Meade and staff on battlefield; one to do provost duty, picking up prisoners on the field; one guard to the medical purveyor of the army; and one at general headquarters.”
By Lieutenant David H. King

The Lydia Leister farm – General George Gordon Meade’s headquarters at Gettysburg – is on Taneytown Road at the intersection with Hunt Avenue.  It is almost the center of Union lines

The Leister farm, July 5, 1863. The horses in the orchard were killed during the bombardment. Library of Congress

General Meade Library of Congress Matthew Brady Collection

The monument to the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment is south of Gettysburg on Cemetery Ridge behind Meade’s HQ 
From the front of the monument:
2d. Pennsylvania Cavalry
attached to Provost Guard,
Army Headquarters.
The regiment held this position July 3rd
until the close of the day when it conducted
3000 prisoners to Westminster, Md.
Detachments served in other parts of the field
during the battle.

The monument to Major General George Gordon Meade is south of Gettysburg on Cemetery Ridge.
“Meade was ordered to take command of the Army of the Potomac just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg when General Joseph Hooker abruptly resigned. Before that Meade had been in command of the army’s Fifth Corps.”
The monument features General Meade seated on his horse, Old Baldy. He is looking out over the field where Pickett’s Charge was turned back in what would come to be called the high water mark of the Confederacy.” NPS

The monument to the 1st Massachusetts Sharp Shooters from the monument 1st Andrew Sharp Shooters
Unattached Mass. Vol.
In action
July 3, 4 & 5, 1863
in different positions.
In God we put our trust
but kept our powder dry.

On Cemetery Hill from the rear of the monument
Battery K, (Fitzhugh’s),
Held this position July 3rd 1863 and
assisted in repulsing Pickett’s Charge.
Casualties, wounded 7
—-
Organized at Fort Plain, N.Y.
Mustered in Oct. 10th, 1861.
Principal engagements;
Bolivar Heights
Beverly Ford
Rappahannock Station
Chancellorsville
Gettysburg
Mine Run.
Mustered out June 20th, 1865.

Arnold’s Battery
Battery A 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery Captain William A. Arnold from Providence, commanded the battery at the Battle of Gettysburg.

 6,700 members of New York units became casualties during the three days of Gettysburg. Detail from the front of the monument showing the symbols of every corps and branch of service at Gettysburg. From the tablet Official return of casualties in the New York commands:
Killed: 82 officers, 912 enlisted men.
Wounded: 306 officers, 3763 enlisted men.
Captured or missing: 68 officers, 1685 enlisted men.

The carriages are on the originals, but the cannons are. This one is stamped 1864. This was not an original cannon to the this field of battle. There are a few with earlier stamps.

The 1869 Soldiers’ National Monument at Gettysburg National Cemetery.
Lincoln did not speak here. He spoke a short distance away in Evergreen Cemetery.

from the monument:
Oneida
New York Cavalry 
General Headquarters Escort
and Headquarters
orderlies and couriers
Army of the Potomac
July 2 and 3 1863.

“Rochester Regiment” on the back it states the following
108th N.Y. Inft’y
Occupied this
position July 2 and 3, 1863,
supporting Battery I, 1st U.S. Art.
During the artillery duel on the
afternoon of July 3, it
sustained a terrific fire
without being able to return a shot.
Number engaged 200.
Casualties
Killed 16, wounded 86, Total 102.
During the charge the left of the Confederate line
lapped its front and came within 50 yards
of it before breaking. The 108th N.Y. Inft’y was
recruited and mustered into the service at
Rochester N.Y. Aug. 18, 1862.
It participated in all the battles of the 2nd Corps
from Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, to the surrender
at Appomattox Apr. 9, 1865, having been actively
engaged 28 times.

US ARMY OF POTOMAC 6TH CORPS ARTILLERY MONUMENT with cannon