Today in History:

469 Series I Volume XXVII-I Serial 43 - Gettysburg Campaign Part I

Page 469 Chapter XXXIX. THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.

Colonel E. P. Harris, bivouacked to the right of the Taneytown road, within 3 miles of Gettysburg. Early on the morning of July 2, the line of march was resumed. We arrived on the field about 4 a. m., when we were massed in column behind Woodruff's battery, in which position we lay for about an hour. We then moved a short distance to the left, when we were deployed as skirmishers some 500 yards in front of the main line, where we remained actively engaged during the entire day. About 4 p. m. the ammunition of the men being exhausted, Lieutenant-Colonel Harris withdrew the right wing of the regiment from the skirmish line, for which he was placed under arrest by General Hancock. The command then devolved on Captain Thomas B. Hizar, of Company I. We were then assigned position in the line of battle, behind a fallen stone wall to the left of Woodruff's and right of Arnold's batteries. About dark, the left wing of the regiment was driven in off the skirmish line. Captain Hizar, commanding the regiment, was about this time wounded. He remained in command until 11 p. m., when he retired. The command then devolved on Lieutenant William Smith, Company A. During the day the regiment lost in commissioned officers 1 killed {Captain M. W. B. Ellegood
, 3 wounded, and 1 taken prisoner; 4 enlisted men killed, 13 wounded, and 10 prisoners. During the night of the 2nd and the day of the 3d, the regiment remained in the same position, and it was there it received the united attack of the Pickett and Pender columns. These columns overlapped in our immediate front, and made the pressure on our line were heavy, the Pickett column moving on us in an oblique direction from the right, both columns converging in our immediate front. The regiment, however, with iron will stubbornly maintained its position, and repulsed the combined attack. As soon as the charge of the enemy was broken, the regiment sprang over the wall and gave them a countercharge, capturing many prisoners and five battle-flags. It was in this charge that Lieutenant William Smith, commanding the regiment, fell, and, when picked up, his sword was found in one hand and a captured rebel flag in the other. The command then devolved upon John T. Dent, the first lieutenant of Company G. Late in the afternoon of the third day, the regiment was ordered to charge on the ruins of the burnt barn in our front and dislodge a small body of the enemy, who were occupying the same and annoying our relief parties engaged in bringing in and relieving the wounded. This object accomplished, the command returned to the main line, where they remained during the night. On the morning of the 4th, Lieutenant-Colonel Harris was restored to command. Special mention should be made of Captain M. W. B. Ellegood, Company E, who fell on the skirmish line, and Lieutenant William Smith, who commanded the regiment during the charge, and fell, mortally wounded, with a captured flag in his hand; and of First Lieutenant Andrew Wall, who, though not on duty, by his coolness and presence gave encouragement to the men. Also, of Color Sergt. John M. Dunn, who, colors in hand, led the regiment across the stone wall in its countercharge; and of Color Sergt. Thomas Seymour, who was cut in two by a shell, and Privates William Williams, of Company


Page 469 Chapter XXXIX. THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.