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

Page 500 N. C., VA., W. VA., MD., PA., ETC. Chapter XXXIX.


Numbers 139. Reports of Colonel Calvin A. Craig, One hundred and fifth Pennsylvania Infantry.

HEADQUARTERS 105TH PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS, July 11, 1863.

LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by this regiment in the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., from July 1 to 4, inclusive: On the afternoon of the 1st instant, the regiment moved with the rest of the brigade at 1. 15 p. m., with 20 officers and 257 men, from a point about 1 mile east of Emmitsburg, Md., where we had encamped the night previous, and marched to a point about half a mile west of the town and near the Hagerstown road, where we received orders to encamp. At 4 p. m. the order was countermanded, and we took up the line of march in the direction of Gettysburg, Pa. The march was a very severe one and fatigued the men very much, but the regiment stood the march well, and when the brigade bivouacked for the night 1 mile south of Gettysburg, we had only 3 men who had fallen out of the ranks on the march. These rejoined us during the night. On the morning of the 2d, we moved with the balance of the brigade a short distance, when line of battle was formed about half a mile east of and parallel with the Emmitsburg road, in which position we remained until 11, 15 a. m., when we received orders to move to the front to support the Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, who were deployed as skirmishers along the Emmitsburg road. My regiment took position immediately in their rear, with Companies A, F, D, I, and C deployed, the other companies in reserve. The fire from the enemy's sharpshooters was severe. One man was killed very soon after we got into position. At 1 p. m. orders were received from General Graham to rejoin the brigade, and to take position in rear of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and on the right of the One hundred and fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, in column doubled on the center. The regiment remained in this position until 2 p. m. We then moved forward with the brigade to a point near the brick house on the Emmitsburg road, where we halted and deployed, still maintaining our relative positions, my right resting on a by-road running at right angles with the Emmitsburg road. At this time the enemy opened with his artillery a very destructive fire. My regiment suffered a loss of some 12 men while in this position. At 4 p. m. we again moved forward near the brick house and immediately in its rear. At this time I noticed the enemy's infantry advancing from the woods on the left of the house and in its rear, and seeing that I could do nothing in the position I then occupied {in the rear of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers
, and that I must necessarily suffer severely, I ordered the regiment forward to fill a vacancy on the right of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the front line and a little beyond the Emmitsburg road. Having gained this position, the fire from the enemy being very severe, we immediately opened fire. After occupying this position for a short time, I noticed the regiments on my immediate left {one hundred and fourteenth and Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers
cluster in groups behind the brick


Page 500 N. C., VA., W. VA., MD., PA., ETC. Chapter XXXIX.