Today in History:

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

Page 635 Chapter XXXIX. THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.

the right of the Third Brigade. This order was at once executed. Some little delay occurred, owing to meeting other troops ordered up to our support as we arrived on the line. Subsequently these two brigades were massed in the woods, in rear of the Third. When I withdrew the two brigades, the fight was virtually over, the enemy having failed to break the general line of battle. The division remained in this last position till we took up the line of march in pursuit of the enemy on the 5th instant, save that the First Brigade made a reconnaissance on the 4th. The troops behaved with great gallantry on this occasion, and although, as the accompanying report of casulaties* shows, the losses were terrible, no one thought of retiring till order was given. The brigade commanders-Colonel H. Day, First Brigade, Colonel S. Burbank, Second Brigade, and, after the fall of General Weed and Colonel O Rorke, Colonel Garrard, Third Brigade-performed their duties with coolness and gallantry. My staff performed their duties with intelligence and gallantry, and have my sincere thanks. I name them in the order of rank, viz: Captain H. L. Chipman, Eleventh U. S. Infantry, acting assistant inspector-general; Captain George Ryan, Seventh U. S. Infantry, acting assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff; First Lieutenant William H. Powell, Fourth U. S. Infantry, acting aide-de-camp; First Lieutenant J. A. Sayles, Fifth Vermont Infantry, aide-de-camp; Second Lieutenant Louis McL. Hamilton, Third U. S. Infantry, aide-de-camp. Captain A. L. Thomas, assistant quartermaster; Captain E. Knowles, commissary of subsistence, volunteers; Asst. Surg. C. Wagner, U. S. Army, surgeon-in-chief; Lieutenant W. W. Swan, Seventeenth U. S. Infantry, ordnance officer, and Second Lieutenant George L. Choisy, Fourteenth U. S. Infantry, ambulance officer, also performed the duties of their several offices with great zeal and efficiency. In the death of Brigadier General Stephen H. Weed, volunteers, and captain Fifth U. S. Artillery, the service lost a distinguished and gallant soldier. Colonel P. H. O Rorke, One hundred and fortieth New York Volunteers and first lieutenant U. S. Engineers, was a brave and valuable officer. I inclose reports of brigade commanders. The list of casualties is now in your hands. * Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. AYRES,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Colonel FRED. T. LOCKE,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Fifth Corps.


HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION,
August 13, 1863.

COLONEL: Pursuant to the circular, headquarters Army of the Potomac, of August 12, 1863, I have the honor to make this supplemental report of the operations of this division in the recent campaign through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The 28th of June found the division camped near Frederick, Md. On the 29th of June, marched 14 miles, and bivouacked near Liberty, Md.

---------------

*Embodied in revised statement, pp. 179, 180.

---------------


Page 635 Chapter XXXIX. THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.