Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

July 1-3, 1863

  When it became apparent that General Lee and his Army were on the move, the Army of the Potomac was compelled to meet Lee and move him back, or better still, defeat him.  On the evening of June 14, 1863, Battery B left Falmouth and began its march in a northerly direction.  Their destination was unknown.

    On June 29^th, the Battery marched 33 miles and bivouacked at Uniontown for the night.  On the 30^th, the men received a note from Second Army Corps Headquarters, Major General Hancock, thanking the troops for, “the great exertion they have made this day in achieving a march of full thirty-three miles.  This severe labor would have only been exacted of them from urgent necessity.”   

The Battery also received General Orders No. 65, the resignation of Major General Joseph Hooker as the Commander of the Army of the Potomac.  President Lincoln named Major General George Meade as the new Commander.  In General Orders No. 66, General Hooker eloquently accepted the challenge that “the country looks to the Army to relieve it from a devastation and disgrace of a hostile invasion.”

   It was a serious matter to change commanders on the eve of a great battle.  President Lincoln expressed it to “swap horses while swimming a stream.”  While the Battery was encamped at Uniontown, Lieutenant T. Fred Brown ordered an inspection of all Battery equipment.  Everything was found to be in good order and “ready for business.”   

 

The First Day:

  Reveille was sounded at sunrise on July 1^st.  The men were given three days' rations of salt pork, hard tack, sugar, and coffee.  By 8:00 a.m. the Battery headed north on the Taneytown Pike.  They marched until  7:00 p.m. when the men stopped and bivouacked by the side of the road within three miles of Gettysburg.

 

The Second Day:

By 2:00 a.m. on July 2^nd, the men were awakened, and the Battery was ordered to hitch up and get ready to move out.  The men were subsequently held until 5:00 a.m., allowing the Infantry time to move forward.  The Battery marched along the Taneytown Pike and arrived in Gettysburg at 10:00 a.m.  They were assigned a position on the left of the Second Corps line on Cemetery Ridge.  The pieces were placed in battery on slightly elevated ground and the caissons were parked a few rods to the rear in a hollowed out area, providing them some protection. 

  General Dan Sickles, Commander of the Third Corps, advanced his corps to the front, which created a gap, leaving the Second Corps exposed on its extreme left flank, with only Battery B to fill the space.  At 4:00 p.m. the guns of Battery B were advanced to the right and front to a ridge in front of the main battle line at General Gibbon's Second Division/Second Corps left front, known as Codori's field.  Lieutenant Brown ordered the men in battery at once, and they opened fire on a Confederate battery.  After only a few moments of hot fire, the rebel battery could not hold on and withdrew hastily. 

  A short time later, a large force of the enemy was seen coming out the woods on the left and heading toward the gap.  At first the Battery thought the men were from the Third Corps falling back to their old position.  When they fired upon the Battery, and the men heard the familiar rebel yell from what was Wright's Brigade, the Battery manned its guns and fired.  The rebels hesitated at each firing, but kept pushing forward in strength with their battle flags waving.   Lieutenant Brown ordered the guns to change front to the left oblique and to fire four-second spherical case shell.  The four guns of the left and center sections fired on the advancing men of Wright's Brigade, and the right section shelled the woods.  Because the Battery was in such an exposed position, it was taking heavy fire.  The enemy was advancing so quickly that the Battery's fuses were cut at three, two, and then one second.  The Battery then fired canister at point-blank range and then double charges.  The order came to “limber up to the rear.”  The Infantry shouted to “get out of that, or you will all be killed.”  The Battery was forced to retire with four pieces, leaving two on the field; the horses having been killed.  In retiring, many men were wounded  before reaching the line, because only one piece at a time could go through the narrow gap in the stone wall, which was being used as breastworks for the Infantry.  There was great confusion when the gap became blocked by two of the pieces, and one horse was killed and one wounded.  The drivers were forced to abandon the horses and the cannoneers their gun.  The enemy was right upon the men now, and they sought safety by either lying down or making for the stone wall. 

   Sergeant Albert Straight wrote in his diary that when Lieutenant Brown ordered them to limber up to the rear just as the enemy was upon them, two of his horses were killed, and he couldn't carry out the order.  He ordered the men to look out for themselves and they were forced to leave the piece on the field.  Under heavy fire, David B. King was killed, and one man was taken prisoner.  Sergeant Straight retrieved his piece after the day's battle was over. 

  The guns that retired to the line, fired again until the Infantry charged.  The struggle then began for the two guns left on the field.  The 69^th and 106^th Pennsylvania regained the field and helped drive the rebels back across the Emmitsburg Road.  Once the two guns were retrieved, and considering the loss of men and horses, the fifth and sixth guns were sent to the rear, which gave the other four guns the complement of men and horses.  They remained on Cemetery Ridge. 

  “Night closed the scene.  White robed peace flung her mantle, for a brief interval, o'er the victor and the vanquished, the dying and the dead. Hushed was the fearful strife, and welcome sleep closed the eyelids of men weary and worn with battle.  How many were sleeping their last sleep on this earth, dreaming of the loved ones at home, or their childhood days, or perhaps, of the last sad parting.  Morning came all too soon, and ere the golden orb had tinted the east with his splendor the call to arms was heard.  Again we looked death calmly in the face while patiently awaiting the summons to battle.  Stern duty lay before us, an enemy to conquer, a government to honor and uphold.”

  Sergeant John H. Rhodes

Battery B First R.I. Light Artillery

The casualties for the first day's battle were one officer wounded, three men killed, seventeen wounded, and one taken prisoner.  Lieutenant T. Fred Brown, Commanding, was wounded when withdrawing the Battery from Codori's Field.  Command was turned over to First Lieutenant William S. Perrin, by order of Captain John G. Hazard, Chief of Artillery of the Second Corps.  During the engagement, the Battery's caissons, which remained at the rear with a full complement of men and horses, were undisturbed.  Because of this circumstance, the Battery was able to put four guns on the field for the third day's battle on July 3^rd.  

  It was during the action of the 2^nd day when, the story of one little known hero of that day was Peter Shevlin. Shevlin was a rather awkward private, on detached service from the 140^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. During the engagement he traveled across the contested field at the Codori farm to get water for the men. Although his contribution would have little effect on the outcome of the great battle, it would become worthy of mention in the Regimental History of Battery “B.

 

 The Third Day:

  The dawn of July 3^rd broke to reveal the destruction of the previous day's battle. The four pieces of Battery B, under the command of First Lieutenant William Perrin, were placed on Cemetery Ridge.  The two center pieces were a little in advance of its right and left pieces.  The third piece was on the right of the battery.  Next to the left was the fourth piece under Sergeant Albert Straight.  To the left of the Battery was Battery B First New York Light Artillery.  To the right was Battery A Fourth United States.

  During the morning hours, artillery fire was kept up, and the rebels succeeded in exploding one of the Battery's ammunition wagons and several limber chests.  Battery B returned the favor, and shouts and cheers could be heard on both sides.  As the noon hour approached, there was a lull in the action.  The quiet was described as “a stillness even unto death.”  The silence was ominous and it weighed heavy on the hearts of the men.  This was truly the calm before the storm. 

  During this time, the men were waiting for rations, as most were out, having been unable to procure them during the previous day's engagement.  The men looked anxiously across the field to the rear for Bob Niles, the veteran driver of the rations wagon.  They finally saw him coming with his four headstrong mules well in hand on the full jump.  Bob Niles would try to overcome all obstacles to reach the men whenever he was sent for.  He was determined and could quickly assess a situation and complete his tasks quickly and without complaint.  Again on this day, amid the sudden shot and shell, he got through with rations for the hungry men.  However, it was too late because the Battery men were called to their posts to answer Rebel artillery fire.  It was now one o'clock.  The Washington Artillery fired on the Battery's right, breaking the eerie silence.   The men received orders to return fire.  Thus began one of the fiercest artillery duels ever witnessed, and the men of Battery B were placed directly at its center, near the gap in the stone wall and the copse of trees on Cemetery Ridge.

  From a mile to the west, across the Emmitsburg Road, came General George Pickett and “Pickett's Charge.”   They were determined to break the Union line at the center, sweep the Second Corps from their path and march on to Washington.  Through this terrible ordeal, Battery B held steadfast, although suffering heavy losses of men and horses.  The Battery men never left their position nor slackened their fire until relieved of orders by the Second Corps Chief of Artillery, Captain Hazard.

  During this fierce cannonade, one of the Battery's guns was struck by a Rebel Shell, exploding and killing two of the men.  This is where the story of the Battery's famous “Gettysburg Gun” begins.

  By half past two in the afternoon, the Battery slowed its rate of fire, due to lack of men and ammunition.  By quarter to three, Cowen's First New York Artillery wheeled into Battery on the left and front of Battery B's position and opened fire with spherical case shot.  Captain Hazard then ordered Battery B to cease fire and withdraw from the field.  As the Battery was limbering up, the men could see the rebel troops advancing from the woods on Seminary Ridge.  A line of their skirmishers moved forward into the open field followed by a second and third line.  Across the union line, men yelled, “Here they come!”  “Here come the Johnnies!”  The Rebel infantry began firing on the Union position.  Pickett's charge and the Union repulse was one of the turning points against the Confederate Army, and helped break the backbone of the Rebellion.

  As Battery B was leaving the battle line, the field in the rear of its position was being swept by Rebel shot and bursting shell.  In order to avoid the fire, the Battery went to the right and diagonally toward the Taneytown Road.  One of the men was wounded and a horse was killed.  Two frightened horses ran off, and the men had to leave the gun to go after them.  The road was anything but pleasant as there was shot and shell flying around quite lively.  About a mile from the Battery's position on the battlefield, and the west side of Taneytown Road, the men encamped. 

  Late in the afternoon, after the firing had subsided, Lieutenant Perrin and a detail of men returned to the battlefield.  The Battery's position was littered with torn haversacks, battered canteens, broken wheels of gun carriages, and piles of knapsacks and blankets strewn about, silently telling of the destruction that had visited this place.  The men dug graves near a clump of bushes at the left of the gap in the stone wall.  The Battery's fallen comrades, Alfred G. Gardner, William Jones, David B. King, Ira L. Bennett, and Michael Flynn were buried there.  A rough marker was placed at the head of each grave. 

  The men then gathered the Battery's accoutrements that had been left on the field and returned to camp by way of the cart path where the third gun had been abandoned.  The dead horse lay beside the road, but the piece and harness were gone.  The detail could get no information about where the gun was or who carried it off.  They were certain that it could not have been captured by the enemy and assumed it had been taken to the rear, where all condemned ordnance was stored

  Battery B casualties on the 3^rd of July were two killed, one mortally wounded, fourteen wounded, one missing and said to have deserted.  During the two days of the engagement there were seven killed, thirty-one wounded, one taken prisoner on the field, one said to have deserted, making a total of forty men.  Official records credit Battery B with a total of thirty-two casualties.  Eighteen of the wounded were taken to the hospital from the field.  Thirteen were cared for by the Battery and attended the daily sick call.  Seven were subsequently sent to the hospital, where one died, and only two others returned to the Battery for duty.  There were twenty-nine horses killed, and thirty-six wounded; seventeen of which were unfit for further service, making a loss of forty-six horses disabled in action. 

Both Captain John Hazard and his Adjutant, Lieutenant G. Lyman Dwight, had their horses shot out from under them during the fierce cannonade.   Lieutenant Perrin's horse was wounded at the beginning of the cannonade, just as he dismounted.  One Rhode Island officer was killed, Lieutenant Joseph S. Milne, who was on detached service with Lieutenant Cushing's Battery A, Fourth United States Artillery.  He was mortally wounded during Pickett's charge on the third of July.

 

Aftermath:

  July 4^th, the 87^th Independence Day of our nation, began cloudy and showery.  Unexpectedly, no order to advance was given.  Suddenly, a terrible storm passed through.  The men said it established a connection between the previous days' battle of the nations and one of the elements.  The men were drenched from the rain, which seemed to wash away the blood stains of the battlefield.  However, the fact that the Army of the Potomac had at last won a great victory could not be ignored, nor the fact that the backbone of the Confederacy had been broken on the field at Gettysburg.  From that day forward, the southern cause continued to fail. 

   Independence Day 1863 was far different from the Nation's birthday in 1862, when the Army of the Potomac was exhausted by the fatigue of the Seven Days' Battle. Then, they were encamped at Harrison's Landing and withdrawn from the Peninsula without gaining the prize of victory.  This year, however, it was a day of victory and the men were euphoric in the victory at Gettysburg.   General Meade issued General Orders No. 63, thanking the men on the “glorious result of the recent operations.”  He cautioned that “Our task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding general looks to the Army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige of the presence of the invader.” 

  The field after the battle, revealed shattered gravestones and monuments on Cemetery Ridge.  The ground was thickly strewn with dead men and horses.   Beyond Seminary Ridge the Confederate Army could still be seen within cannon range.  The parts of Gettysburg previously known only to the townspeople, now took on  famous names:  Little Round Top, Big Round Top, the Devil's Den, the Peach Orchard, the Wheat Field, Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Ridge, Culp's Hill, Spangler's Spring, Ziegler's Grove are all sites where several thousand men changed the course of our nation's history and forever etched these places and their brave deeds in our hearts and minds.  With the victory at Gettysburg came the preservation of Baltimore and Washington.

  President Lincoln was so moved by the deeds of so many brave men, both Union and Confederate, that he traveled to the town in November to dedicate the military cemetery and marked the day with a very brief, yet eloquent speech that spoke great volumes of the caliber of the men who fought and died there.  The men of Battery B fought honorably and were instrumental in the victorious outcome.  They would continue to fight honorably in the ensuing two years of the war.