BY E. C. STROUSS.
Back Again in Our Old Camp--Cavalry Battle at Brandy Station--The
March to Gettysburg--Hooker's Request for Troops at Harper's
Ferry--Asks to be Relieved from the Command of the Army--We Arrive
at Gettysburg--Battle of July 2d--Strength of the Fifty-Seventh--Its
Losses--General Graham Wounded and Captured--Wounding of General
Sickles--Battle of July 3d--July 4th--The Confederates
Retreat--General Sickles Asks for a Court of Inquiry--President
Lincoln to Sickles--A Visit to the Battlefield Twenty-five Years
Later.
Although some of our men had destroyed their huts, when we started on
the recent campaign, there were on account of our losses, enough still
standing to shelter what was left of the regiment. It was sad to look
around at the vacant huts, and to realize that their former occupants
would never rejoin us. The 141st Pennsylvania, whose camp adjoined ours,
had met with severe losses in the late battle and the large number of
unoccupied huts in their camp had a depressing effect on the spectator.
After a few days' rest the same old routine of drill, inspection, guard
and picket duty was resumed, relieved occasionally by a division or
corps review. The paymaster arrived on May 11th and paid the regiment,
each man receiving four months' pay, which to the private soldier meant
$52.00.
About the last week in May we abandoned our old camp for a new location
near Belle Plain landing, which was a depot of supplies on the Potomac.
The camp was soon laid out, and the weather having become quite warm we
needed only our little shelter tents to protect us from the sun or rain.
The camp of the regiment was near a road leading to the landing, which
was constantly occupied by teams going to, or coming from there, which
raised great clouds of dust, to our great annoyance.
Our cavalry had quite a battle with the enemy at Brandy Station, which
ended favorably for us, and also made it obvious that the rebels were
moving northward, thus taking the initiative in what became known as the
"Gettysburg Campaign."
On June 11th, about noon, we were ordered to strike tents, and were soon
on the march, over the hills, and through the ravines of Stafford
county, which were no longer to be used by us as camping grounds. The
day was very warm and there was considerable straggling, but the men all
got up by night, when we camped at Hartwood church. On the 12th we
marched to near Bealeton station, on the old Orange & Alexandria
railroad, where we halted for the night, and next day marched for a few
miles toward Rappanhannock station. On the 14th we started in the
evening and marched northward to Catlett station, where we arrived about
midnight. On the 15th we moved to Manassas Junction. This was one of the
hottest days of the season, and some forty men of our division were
prostrated by sunstroke. On the 16th, which was another hot and dusty
day, we marched to Bull Run and encamped at Mitchell's ford. On the 17th
we continued our march to Centerville, where we remained until the
evening of the 19th, when we started for Gum Springs. After we had gone
about two miles a violent storm of rain set in. This was one of the
worst night marches we ever made. The night was dark as pitch, only an
occasional flash of lightning to show us the way. When we halted for the
night we were drenched to the skin and as our matches were all damp we
had hard work to start our campfires. When we had got our fires started
we found that the regiment must move a mile further on to go on picket.
This was very discomforting, but it had to be done, for such is the life
of a soldier.
In the meantime the enemy had been moving northward on the west side of
the Blue Ridge mountains. A Union force under General Milroy of about
seven thousand men was attacked by the rebel General Ewell, who captured
many of them and drove the rest across the Potomac. This occurred on the
13th and 14th of June.
On June 25th, the 57th with the rest of the 3d corps moved from Gum
Springs and crossed the Potomac at Edwards ferry into Maryland and moved
up the river to the mouth of the Monocacy river.
The corps of Hill and Longstreet of Lee's army crossed the Potomac at
Williamsport and Sheppardstown and moved toward Pennsylvania. They were
preceded for several days by Ewell, who was now in that state and
threatening Harrisburg.
On June 26th we left our camp at the mouth of the Monocacy and moved to
Point of Rocks, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The next day we
marched by way of Jefferson to Middletown, Md., and on the 28th to
Woodsborough. There we learned that General Hooker had been relieved
from command of the army and had been succeeded by Gen. George G. Meade.
Hooker had asked Halleck, the general-in-chief of the army, for the
forces at Harpers Ferry and Baltimore which were refused him, whereupon
he asked to be relieved from command. A few days later Meade asked for
the same troops, some thirteen thousand in number, and his request was
complied with. The change of commanders on the eve of battle was a
questionable thing, but as we were successful in the coming conflict,
not much was said about it.
Hooker's army had been depleted after Chancellorsville, by the muster
out of about thirty thousand two years or nine months men. He was
perfectly right in asking for the troops at Harpers Ferry, which were
doing no good there, but on account of an ill feeling existing between
Halleck and Hooker they were refused him, although they were given to
Meade. To a great many old soldiers it was always a puzzle what Halleck
was kept at Washington for anyway.
It now became evident to the men of the 57th that we would soon be
called to fight a battle on the soil of our native state, but where the
battle ground would be was as yet a matter of conjecture.
On June 29th we marched from Woodborough to Taneytown and encamped in a
fine grove near the town. Many of the citizens of the town, including a
goodly lot of ladies visited our camp in the evening and watched with
interest the men putting up their tents, and cooking their coffee. The
next day we marched but a few miles, and encamped at Bridgeport, a small
hamlet about half way between Taneytown and Emmitsburg, Md.
At 2 o'clock p. m. of July 1st we were hurriedly ordered to "fall in,"
when we took the Emmitsburg pike and rapidly marched toward Gettysburg,
twelve miles distant. The day was very warm and sultry, but after a
fatiguing march we arrived near the town about 8 p. m., and bivouacked
for the night on the Trostle farm, which is located about two miles
south of Gettysburg. There had been severe fighting going on north and
west of the town from 10 a. m. until dark. The 1st and 11th corps had
been engaged with overpowering numbers of the enemy, and although they
fought valorously, and met with heavy losses, they were obliged to fall
back through the town and take up a stronger position on Cemetery hill.
General Reynolds, who commanded the Union forces engaged, was killed
early in the fight. His loss was deeply regretted, as he was one of the
best generals in our army. During the night all the other corps of our
army came up with the exception of the 6th corps, which having the
greatest distance to march did not arrive until 2 p. m. of the 2d. The
men of the 57th were up by daylight on the 2d and preparing their
breakfast and otherwise getting ready for the conflict which all knew
would open sooner or later during the day.
Unlike the battlefields of Virginia where we usually fought in the woods
or thickets, we were now on a field where we had an unobstructed view,
and could see something of the movements of other troops, besides our
own regiment or brigade.
At this time the 3d corps consisted of two divisions commanded by
Generals Birney and Humphreys. The right of the latter division joined
the left of Hancock's 2d corps on the southern slope of Cemetery hill.
Birney to the left was to extend his line on the same prolongation to
the base of Little Roundtop. But this line was commanded by the high
ground ground along the Emmitsburg road and at the peach orchard.
General Sickles, after having repeatedly informed General Meade that the
line was a weak one, assumed the responsibility of changing it. He
therefore posted Birney's division as follows: Graham's brigade on the
right, its right resting a few rods north of the Sherfy house on the
Emmitsburg road. At the peach orchard, which is a part of the Sherfy
farm, an angle was formed in our brigade line, part of it facing west,
and part to the south. On Graham's left was De Trobriand's brigade which
in part occupied the wheatfield. Ward's brigade held the left of the
division passing through the rocky ground called Devil's Den, with his
left resting at the western base of Little Roundtop.
A great part of the day was spent by the maneuvering of both armies.
General Meade's opinion was that Lee would attack his right, while that
general was moving his troops behind Seminary ridge for the purpose of
attacking Meade's left. The key point on this part of the line was
Little Roundtop, but strange to tell, it was not occupied by our troops
until after the battle began and then just in the nick of time. A few
minutes later the enemy would have gained the crest and Gettysburg would
have been lost. The occupation of the hill is due to the energy of
General Warren, chief of engineers, who succeeded in getting troops
there just as the enemy was beginning to ascend the western base of the
hill.
In the meantime our regiment was lying in a field a few rods in the rear
of the Sherfy house, which stood on the opposite side of the road. The
105th Pennsylvania was on our right, and the 114th on our left. For two
hours we lay here under the hottest fire of artillery we had as yet been
subjected to. The enemy had some thirty pieces of artillery planted on
the ridge to the south and west of us, hurling their missiles toward us
as fast as they could work their guns. Fortunately most of them were
aimed too high to do us injury, but to stay there so long under that
howling, shrieking storm of shot and shell, was more trying to the
nerves than to be engaged in close action with the enemy.
Finally this long cannonade ceased and the enemy began to advance his
infantry to attack our part of the line. The 57th and the 114th were
ordered across the road, where we beheld the enemy, which proved to be
Barksdale's Mississippi brigade, advancing through the fields toward us.
Our regiment at once took advantage of the cover that the house,
outbuildings and trees afforded and opened fire on the enemy, who were
within easy range, and did not reply to our fire until they reached a
rail fence about a hundred yards in our front. There were then no rebels
to the right of those engaged with us, and for a while we had the best
of the fight owing to our sheltered position. The men of the 57th who
were in the house kept up a steady fire from the west windows of the
house. The writer had posted himself by a large cherry tree against
which some fenceposts were leaning, on the north side of the house.
Before the fight closed this cherry tree was struck with a twelve pound
solid shot from one of our guns. When the monument of the regiment was
dedicated in July, twenty-five years later, the tree with the cannon
ball embedded in it was still standing.
Although the angle of the peach orchard was long and bravely defended by
our troops there, they were at last compelled to yield ground, and by so
doing the regiments along the Emmittsburg road were enfiladed and
obliged to fall back also. When we found the enemy coming up the road in
our rear, Captain Nelson, who was in command of the regiment, tried to
notify those in the house, and order them to fall back, but amid the
noise and confusion it was impossible to make then understand the
situation, and they kept on firing from the windows after the rest of
the men fell back, and they were summoned to surrender by the rebels who
came up the stairs in their rear.
Those of us who got out of this tight place were soon after formed with
the rest of our division, on a ridge in the rear of the position we had
occupied in the morning. Reenforcements from the 5th, 2d and 12th corps
were sent in to reestablish the line which our division had held, but
they were unable to do so when darkness put an end to the conflict.
The 57th entered the battle with 18 officers and 187 enlisted men. Our
losses were 2 officers and 9 men killed, 9 officers and 37 men wounded,
and 4 officers and 55 men captured, a total of 116, over half of the
number carried into action. Lieutenant Henry Mitchell, of Company E, and
Lieutenant John F. Cox, of Company I, were killed, and Colonel Sides was
among the officers wounded. Of the 55 enlisted men captured only 11
returned to the regiment. The remaining 44 died in prison at Belle Isle,
or at Andersonville. Major Neeper was captured, as were also Lieutenants
Hines, Burns and Crossley.
General Graham was wounded and taken prisoner in the peach orchard.
General Sickles lost a leg near the Trostle house about 6 p. m. General
Birney then assumed command of the corps. Col. A. H. Tippon, of the 68th
Pennsylvania, succeeded General Graham in command of the brigade.
Early in the morning of the 3d our division was ordered to the front,
which was now considerably in rear of the position we occupied the day
before. The enemy occupied the Emmitsburg road and the peach orchard,
and fields to the south. On the left near the Roundtops their line was
farther back than the position they gained the evening before. From the
position of our regiment we could plainly see the Sherfy house, which
was about three-fourths of a mile to our front and left.
When General Geary, with part of his division, on the 2d left his
position on the right of the Union line at Culp's hill to reenforce the
3d corps, he left behind him to hold his works the brigade of General
Greene. The enemy in the evening in strong force attacked this position
and succeeded in capturing a part of the line of works, but they were
recaptured by General Geary early next morning.
In front of the 57th everything was quiet and the men were enjoying a
much needed rest under the trees in the little grove in which they were
stationed. Rations were distributed and we also received a good ration
of commissary whiskey, which at that time was duly appreciated. It was
quiet during the forenoon and many of our men, pillowed on their
knapsacks, were asleep when the tremendous artillery fire began which
was the prelude to the charge of Pickett's division on Hancock's
position on Cemetery hill. Their fire was soon responded to by our
artillery and for about two hours the earth fairly shook with the
thunder of these guns and the bursting of shells. All this noise was
going on about a mile to the right of us and as we were "not in it" we
were anxiously wondering what the result would be.
After this cannonading had been going on for some time we were ordered
to fall in quickly. About eighty of the 57th were left to respond to the
call. These were soon in line and with the rest of the brigade we moved
rapidly to the right in the direction of the firing. Moving in double
quick for about a mile we were halted and took a position a few rods in
rear of several batteries which were heavily engaged. They had just
repulsed a charge of Wilcox's rebel brigade, which was supporting
Pickett on his right, and whose retreat was being covered by the rebel
artillery. We did not become engaged while here, but were exposed to the
enemy's fire, which, however, did us no harm. After the firing ceased
and the smoke had lifted, we learned of the repulse of Pickett's men and
that our army had for once gained an important victory.
That night the regiment was sent on picket duty about half a mile to our
front on ground that had been fought over on the afternoon of the 2d,
and as the bodies of dead men and horses strewed the ground, the hot sun
had decomposed them, causing an odor that was extremely disagreeable.
At daylight we moved back and rejoined the brigade. It was the 4th of
July, the eighty-seventh anniversary of American Independence, and here
we were on a field strewn with the bodies of our comrades, who had died
for the great principles which our fathers had maintained in 1776. With
the exception of a little picket firing there was no fighting on the
4th, and that night the enemy began their retreat back to Virginia.
General Sickles has been blamed in some quarters for taking the advanced
position he did at Gettysburg on July 2d, but he is also sustained by
many prominent military men, among them Gen. U. S. Grant, who visited
the battlefield after the war.
The enemy having retreated, the 6th corps and cavalry were sent in
pursuit. Our corps did not leave until the 7th. On the afternoon of the
6th the writer took a stroll out to the Sherfy house to look at the
ground there. At the house the brick walls on the south and west sides
were scarred by the enemy's bullets and the roof had a number of holes
made by fragments of shell. The bursting of shells had set fire to the
large barn and destroyed it, burning at the same time a number of
wounded soldiers who had sought refuge in it. The dead had all been
buried, but where our batteries had stood were heaps of dead horses. It
was then I discovered the cannon ball in the cherry tree, mentioned
above, by which I had been standing during the fight on the 2d. The ball
was from our own guns, and no doubt struck the tree during the fighting
of July 3d, or on the afternoon of the 2d after our men had abandoned
the house.
While visiting the battlefields in 1888 Mrs. Sherfy informed me that
nothing worth mentioning had been taken from the house or destroyed. An
eight-day clock, which had been wound up before the family left the
house when a battle was imminent, was still ticking away when they
returned after the fight was over. She also stated that a limber chest
containing a lot of ammunition was found in the field opposite the
house. The men of the family were afraid to handle the ammunition, so to
dispose of it, they dug a hole beside the chest, and tumbled it in,
contents and all, and covered it up, and it had not been disturbed
since. The chest no doubt belonged to Randolph's battery, as a section
of it was in action at the point indicated by Mrs. Sherfy.