With the Havelock Battery at Gettysburg

     Second Lieutenant Wadmore Redhead of the 11th New York Battery participated in the repulse of Pickett’s charge on the afternoon of July 3rd little expecting that the Confederate assault would target his battery also. The battery had been brought into line in the midst of E. Porter Alexander’s massive cannonade that afternoon as replacements for Union batteries that had been disabled. “When our battery was taken to the front, shot and shell were flying and exploding all around us and the line on the right was wavering. It was no small matter to come into action under such a terrific fire, but neither officers nor men faltered. We had not been in position ten minutes before four horses on the guns and four men on the caissons were wounded,” he stated. But when he saw the line of gray approaching his battery’s position, the former Englishman girded himself for a continuation of the struggle.

“This time, however, it was our own battery and the two on the left of us that they intended taking,” he wrote. “But their efforts were futile for not only did we mow them down with artillery, but we had supplies close at hand of three times the strength of the attacking force, and it must have been sheer desperation that dictated such an insane attack. I had not the least fear for our batteries, but rather wished they would keep charging in that way all the balance of the day.”

          Wadmore Redhead was born March 6, 1836, in the small village of Wimblington, Cambridgeshire in east central England. By 1860, the Redhead family had migrated to the United States and Wadmore was prospering as a harness maker the lakefront town of Ashtabula in far northeastern Ohio. Wadmore first went to war as a sergeant in Co. I of the 90-day organization of the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and saw action at the Battle of Rich Mountain in July 1861. Returning to Ashtabula, he enlisted on September 18, 1861, in Captain Robert C. Warmington’s battery and was mustered in as a sergeant on October 21, 1861. Warmington lacked the numbers to muster in a full battery, so he took his organization and offered it to the state of New York where Captain Albert Von Puttkammer was also struggling to raise a full battery; the state combined the two batteries on January 15, 1862 and sent them to war as the 11th Independent Battery of New York Light Artillery; early on the battery became known as the Havelock Battery and carried this nickname for the remainder of the war. One of the battery's flags used during recruiting feature an image of British General Henry Havelock; it is unknown whether the battery wore havelocks in the field but existing images of men in the battery do not show it. 

          The 11th New York Battery saw extensive service in the Army of the Potomac first seeing action at Second Bull Run while attached to John Pope’s Army of Virginia; the battery later fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before rolling onto the field at Gettysburg as part of Captain Robert Fitzhugh’s 4th Volunteer Brigade of the Artillery Reserve. The 11th New York Battery by this time was attached to Battery K of the 1st New York Light Artillery and was equipped with 3” Ordnance Rifles. Sergeant Redhead had earned promotion to Second Lieutenant and was now tasked with leading a section of two guns during the battle. Lieutenant Redhead was offered a promotion to the rank of first lieutenant in August 1863, but he declined it was his did not want to serve beyond his three-year enlistment term. After fighting in numerous engagements in the spring and summer of 1864, Lieutenant Wadmore was honorably discharged November 2, 1864, and returned to his home in Ashtabula.

           Wadmore went into the grocery business after the war and as like many veterans settled down to marry and raise a family of five children. His life ended on Antietam Day 1910 when the 74-year-old was struck and killed by a streetcar. He is buried at Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Ashtabula. His account of the Battle of Gettysburg originally saw publication in the July 18, 1863, edition of the Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph.

 

Private Davis Sheppard of the 11th New York Battery poses with one of his unit's 3" Ordnance Rifles. Produced by the Phoenix Iron Works in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 3" Ordnance Rifles were made of wrought iron and had seven grooves in the barrel. These well regarded weapons produced remarkably sturdy and accurate, capable of a 9.5 lb shell over 4,000 yards, more than two miles! Private Sheppard, like Lieutenant Redhead, served just his three year enlistment and was discharged in December 1864. 

Camp at Littletown, Pennsylvania

July 8, 1863

 

Editor of the Telegraph,

          Thinking that a few items of news from the Army of the Potomac might not at this time be uninteresting to your readers I will give them a slight account of the terrible Battle of Gettysburg. You must know first that the army for the past two weeks has been making long and rapid marches a good deal of the time necessarily on short rations both for man and beast, and that they were not in the best condition to contend with the superior forces of the enemy flushed with victory and fattened with plunder on ground of his own choice. Yet they faltered not.

Never did this army march so many miles in so short a time and in such good spirits as they did on the mission to drive the enemy from the soil of Pennsylvania. They have sometimes marched 30 miles in a day and bivouacked in the fields without any supper and started in the morning again without any breakfast. This, however, has been the exception and not the rule for we have usually been well supplied. We marched from the Rappahannock by way of Dumfries, Fairfax Courthouse, Edward’s Ferry, Frederick City, and Taneytown; thence to Gettysburg where we encountered the enemy in large force on July 1st.

The monument to the 11th New York Battery at Gettysburg is located along Hancock Avenue in the Federal center near General George Meade's statue. The battery had suffered heavy casualties during the Chancellorsville Campaign and was consolidated with Battery K of the 1st N.Y. Light Artillery for the duration of 1863. The flags of the 11th New York were displayed at the New York Sanitary Fair in April 1864 and are now property of the New York State Military Museum. 

          Only the 1st and 11th Corps were engaged on the first day and they fought bravely and well against overwhelming numbers for a long time, but finally gave way and fell back to a position about two miles from the town. Here the balance of the Army of the Potomac came up on the night of the 1st and during the day of the 2nd of July. Not much fighting took place on the 2nd until about 3 o’clock in the afternoon when a vigorous attack was made upon our left wing by both infantry and artillery. The troops here consisted of the 3rd and 5th Corps, and they fought splendidly and held their ground firmly, suffering terribly, especially in their artillery. Never in any battle on record did batteries suffer so severely as here, some losing two-thirds of both men and horses, rendering them unable to take their guns off the field when the infantry was pressed back. The guns, however, did not fall into the hands of the enemy for just as the line was wavering and had commenced retreating, the 6th Corps came up with such a shout and a cheer for the old flag that it infused new carnage into the hearts of the brave boys of the 3rd and 5th Corps and they dashed at the Rebels again and repulsed them, regaining the ground they had previously lost, and the guns were retaken.

First Lt. John E. Burton
11th New York Battery

During this fight, Lieutenant Francis W. Seeley of Battery K of the 4th U.S. was severely, though I understand not dangerously, wounded. His battery has the reputation of being the best in the service and I believe it fully maintained that reputation in this conflict. As an officer and gentleman, Lieutenant Seeley cannot be exceeded. The fighting ceased here at dark, and the night was occupied by the different ambulance corps in gathering up the wounded.

On the morning of the 3rd, the battle was again renewed by the Rebels making another desperate attack on our left, but they were again repulsed with heavy loss both in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Failing to turn our left, they moved their forces around to the right and tried to force that, but here they also failed for not only was their attack repulsed but General Slocum resumed the offensive and attacked their position and carried it at the point of the bayonet after an obstinate fight of nearly three hours. By this time, it was near 10 o’clock and every attempt of the enemy had signally failed to make any impression on our lines, but we all felt sure that another attack would be made at some point, but where we could not tell.

The different commanders held their men in readiness to mass them at any time on the most dangerous point. The cessation of hostilities, as it were, lasted about three hours when all of a sudden, a couple of guns were fired which appeared to be a signal for the whole artillery of the enemy for an immense firing was at once opened upon our center from at least 100 guns. It was as promptly replied to by our guns and such a thundering of artillery as then took place was never before heard on the continent and I doubt if there was on any other. We knew at once that this was to decide the fate of the battle for had the enemy succeeded in piercing the center, he would have thrown his whole army on each wing separately and beaten us in detail. How near he came to doing it was, fortunately, not known to him.

His artillery firing was never before so destructive. For two hours the blowing up of caissons, the smashing of carriages and killing of horses and men was the order of the day. Battery after battery was disabled and sent to the rear and replaced by the reserve artillery. At the time we took our place in the front there were four batteries relieved at the same time. The two on the right of us were charged by one of Longstreet’s divisions and they actually got their hands on the guns and our infantry supports were giving way when they saw two fresh batteries coming into their place. This gave the infantry new courage and they stood and fought foot to foot with the bayonet until the batteries got into position when the Rebs, seeing themselves in a bad fix, dropped their arms and ingloriously surrendered. Not a man or officer of the whole division went back to tell the story. Over 1,600 able-bodied Rebels here surrendered besides the wounded. This operation I saw myself being with my battery but a little more than a hundred yards to the left and on the same line. Several stands of colors were also taken and cheer after cheer went around the Union lines amidst the roar of artillery which still kept up the work of destruction.

Private John H. Metcalf of Ashtabula
Died of wounds received at Petersburg
June 19, 1864

Several Rebel batteries, however, had been silenced and disabled by ours; three of which were so destructive that the Rebels decided to try and capture them by another charge. This time, however, it was our own battery and the two on the left of us that they intended taking. But their efforts were futile for not only did we mow them down with artillery, but we had supplies close at hand of three times the strength of the attacking force, and it must have been sheer desperation that dictated such an insane attack. I had not the least fear for our batteries, but rather wished they would keep charging in that way all the balance of the day. Probably about a hundred of them who started on this charge got safely back while at least 1,200 were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. This virtually ended the battle on our center and the fate of the day was decided. We had won a glorious victory over superior numbers and shown to the world that the Army of the Potomac can fight and win when upon anything like equal grounds with the enemy.

The formation of our line of battle was skillfully chosen, its great advantage consisting of easy and rapid concentration of our forces from one point to another. It was somewhat ion the shape of a letter U being about three-quarters of a mile from one side to the other and two or two-and-a-half miles around the front. I suppose that General Meade selected the line. It was admirably chosen. Too much praise cannot be given to the commanding officer for the manner in which the army was handled. The batteries, under the command of General Hunt, could not have been better posted and never was an artillery reserve shown to be of so great a necessity to the army for it was very evident that the reserve alone saved the center. When our battery was taken to the front, shot and shell were flying and exploding all around us and the line on the right was wavering. It was no small matter to come into action under such a terrific fire, but neither officers nor men faltered. We had not been in position ten minutes before four horses on the guns and four men on the caissons were wounded. Sergeant Orlando Chesney was wounded before we got on the field by a stray shell. This was the only accident that occurred to any of the Ashtabula boys.

We are now in pursuit of the Rebels and hope to destroy their whole army before they reach the Potomac. Our army is in fine spirits. Every man feels that he participated in fiving the Rebel army the soundest thrashing it ever had, and it gives them confidence in themselves and strengthens the army in the ratio of 20,000 men. Hoping to catch the enemy soon and that victory may again perch upon our banners, I remain very truly yours,

Wadmore Redhead

 

Source:

Letter from Second Lieutenant Wadmore Redhead, 11th New York Independent Light Artillery Battery, Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (Ohio), July 18, 1863, pg. 2

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