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
With a few men he advanced to Cushing’s guns, where he fell, mortally
wounded. Cushing also was mortally wounded. Garnett, who was mounted,
was killed a short distance from the wall. Kemper was badly wounded.
Pickett lost all of his field officers but one. The Union Generals
Hancock and Gibbon were wounded at the same time. For a short time the
struggle was hand to hand.
To the right of the Angle most of the brigades on Pickett’s left reached
the stone wall on Hays’ front at Ziegler’s Grove, but were obliged to
retreat after meeting a withering fire both in front and on flank.
The brigades of Wilcox and Perry, in the rear of Pickett’s right, did
not move until after the advance lines were part way across. Because of
a misunderstanding, a gap was opened between Pickett’s right and
Wilcox’s left. At once Stannard’s Vermont Brigade of the 1st Corps
attacked both Pickett’s right and Wilcox’s left.
General Pickett, who had reached the Codori buildings, saw that the
assaulting forces were unable to accomplish the object of the charge,
and ordered a retreat. It was accomplished, but with heavy losses.
Both commanding officers witnessed the retreat: General Meade from where
his statue stands east of the Angle, and General Lee from the position
of his statue north of the Spangler Woods.
[Illustration: Whitworth Guns.—These two Whitworths, imported from
England by the Confederates, were the only breech-loading guns used
in the battle]
Engagements on the Union Left.
While Pickett’s Charge was under way, the Pennsylvania Reserves, under
McCandless, charged from the stone wall on the east side of the
Wheatfield and regained possession of Devil’s Den and adjacent territory
held by Longstreet’s forces since the engagement of the afternoon of the
2nd. Farther south, between Big Round Top and the line held by
Longstreet’s right, a cavalry charge was made by Farnsworth’s Brigade of
Kilpatrick’s Division. Farnsworth was killed. Merritt’s Brigade of
Buford’s Division, which reached the field on the 3rd, engaged some of
Longstreet’s troops along the Emmitsburg Road. The accomplished object
of these movements was to prevent Longstreet from giving assistance to
the charge of Pickett on Meade’s center.
The Cavalry Fight on the Right Flank.
As already noted, General Stuart in his movement in rear of the Army of
the Potomac with three brigades of cavalry—Fitzhugh Lee’s, Wade
Hampton’s, and Chambliss’—reached Hanover on June 30th, fought a battle
in the streets, and moved on to Carlisle on the afternoon of July 1st.
There he got in touch with the main Confederate Army, with which he had
been out of communication for seven days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account