The Battle of Gettysburg: The Country, the Contestants, the Results — John Shaqi
The Battle of Gettysburg: The Country, the Contestants, the ResultsStorrick, W. C. (William Clayton)
History
The Battle of Gettysburg: The Country, the Contestants, the Results
Storrick, W. C. (William Clayton)
Gettysburg National Military Park (Pa.); Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
Finally, assaulted by the flank and rear, they determined not to
surrender their colors, but tore them from their staffs and into small
bits, each man taking a star or a bit of silk which he placed in his
pocket. Some of these fragments were carried through the southern
prisons and finally home to Maine, where they are still treasured as
precious relics by the relatives and friends of the brave men of the
regiment.
The Barlow-Gordon Incident
Barlow’s Knoll, a short distance northeast of Gettysburg, is named in
honor of Brigadier-General Francis C. Barlow, in command of the 1st
Division of the 11th Corps. In his “Reminiscences of the Civil War,”
General Gordon describes his meeting with Barlow:
“Returning from the banks of the Susquehanna, and meeting at Gettysburg,
July 1, 1863, the advance of Lee’s forces, my command was thrown quickly
and squarely on the right flank of the Union Army. A more timely arrival
never occurred. The battle had been raging for four or five hours. The
Confederate General Archer, with a large part of his brigade, had been
captured. Heth and Scales, Confederate generals, had been wounded. The
ranking Union officer on the field, General Reynolds, had been killed,
and General Hancock was assigned to command. The battle, upon the issue
of which hung, perhaps, the fate of the Confederacy, was in full blast.
The Union forces, at first driven back, now reënforced, were again
advancing and pressing back Lee’s left and threatening to envelop it.
The Confederates were stubbornly contesting every foot of ground, but
the Southern left was slowly yielding. A few moments more and the day’s
battle might have been ended by a complete turning of Lee’s flank. I was
ordered to move at once to the aid of the heavily pressed Confederates.
With a ringing yell, my command rushed upon the line posted to protect
the Union right. Here occurred a hand-to-hand struggle. That protecting
Union line, once broken, left my command not only on the right flank,
but obliquely in rear of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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