Fredericksburg on the Other Leg: A Blue and Gray View of Pickett's Charge Part I

Pickett's Charge has been traditionally presented as the high point of Confederate fortunes in the East; as a matter of fact, a monument denoting the High Water Mark of the Confederacy is located at the Copse of Trees to mark the furthest penetration of Union lines during the ill-fated attack of July 3, 1863. In this two-part series, we'll examine accounts from two officers who participated in the action: one who wore the blue, and one who wore the gray. 

    In the first part of the series, we'll examine an account from an unnamed officer of the 14th Connecticut. This regiment, part of Colonel Thomas Smyth's Second Brigade of Alexander Hays' Third Division of the 2nd Army Corps, was arrayed along the right center of the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge. As reported by the regiment's commanding officer Major Theodore G. Ellis, the 14th Connecticut went into action with approximately 160 men and lost a total of 66 (10 killed, 52 wounded, 4 missing). 

    However, the regiment captured over 40 prisoners and five Confederate battle flags, including the 1st Tennessee (Provisional Army), 14th Tennessee, 16th North Carolina, 52nd North Carolina, and 4th Virginia. The two Tennessee flags belonged to regiments serving in Archer's brigade, then under the command of Colonel Birkett D. Fry. The 16th North Carolina was serving in Scales' brigade then under the command of Colonel William Lowrance; the colors of the 52nd North Carolina, serving in General Pettigrew's brigade, "were new without number of inscription." The 4th Virginia flag is a bit of an anomaly- the regiment was attached to the Stonewall Brigade under the command of General James A. Walker then fighting on the east side of Culp's Hill. Three men from the 14th Connecticut were awarded the Medal of Honor for taking these flags. 

    The account below originally saw publication in Joseph Joel and Lewis Stegman's 1884 book Rifle Shots and Bugle Notes. 

 

The 14th Connecticut monument at Gettysburg was dedicated July 3, 1884; two more markers for the regiment are located 700 yards west on the Bliss Farm where skirmishers fought through the morning of July 3rd prior to Pickett's Charge. 

14th Connecticut Infantry, Second Brigade (Smyth), Third Division (Hays), Second Army Corps (Hancock)

          About 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the enemy, who had been silent so long that the boys were cooking coffee, sleeping, smoking, etc., suddenly opened all their batteries of reserve artillery upon the position held by our corps. First, one great gun spoke, then, as if it had been the signal for the commencement of an artillery conversation, the whole 120 or so opened their mouths, at once poured out their thunder, a perfect storm of shot and shell rained around and among us. The boys quickly jumped to their rifles and lay down behind the wall and rail barricade.

          For two hours this storm of shot and shell continued and seemed to increase in fury. Good God, I never heard anything like it and our regiment had been under fire before. The ground trembled like an aspen leaf; the air was full of small fragments of lead and iron from the shells. Then the sounds- the peculiar ‘whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo’ of the round shots followed by the ‘which-one, which-one, which-one,’ of that fiendish Whitworth projectile and the demoniac shriek of shells. It seemed as if all the devils in hell were holding high carnival. But strange as it may seem, it was like many other sensation doings of great cry and little wool as our regiment, and in fact, the whole corps, lost very few men by it.

          About 3 p.m. the enemy’s fire slackened, died away, and the smoke lifted to disclose a corps of the Army of Northern Virginia advancing across the long level plain in our front in three magnificent lines of battle with the troops massed in close column by division on both flanks. How splendid they looked! Our skirmishers, who had stayed at the posts through it all, gave them volley after volley as they came on until Captain James Townsend was ordered to bring his men in, which he did in admirable order. The men loaded and fired all the way, coming in steadily and coolly, all that was left of them for a good half of them were killed or wounded before they reached the regiment.

An innovation of General Daniel Butterfield with General Joseph Hooker's support, corps badges were introduced into the Army of the Potomac in April 1863 as a means of allowing the quick identification of troops. The badges proved popular with men and each corps had an assigned shape, with the first division in red, second division in white, and third division in blue. The badge above signifies the Third Division of the 2nd Army Corps. 

          On and on came the Rebels with colors flying and bayonets gleaming in the sunlight, keeping their lines straight as if on parade. Over fences and ditches they come but still their lines never break and still they come. For a moment all is hush over our lines as we gaze in silent admiration at these brave Rebs. Our divisional command Aleck Hays rides up and pointing to the last fence the enemy must cross before reaching us says, “Don’t fire till they get to that fence, then let ‘em have it.”

          On come the Rebs until we can see the whites of their eyes and hear their officers command, “Steady, boys, steady!” They reach the fence some hundred yards in front of us when suddenly the command “Fire!” rings down our line. Rising as one man, the rifles of the Second Army Corps ring the death knell for many a brave heart in butternut dress. “Load and fire at will!” Heavens, how we poured our fire into them. Their first line wavered, then broke and ran. Some of their color sergeants halt and plant their standards firmly in the ground. But they stop only for a moment then fall back, colors and all.

          They fall back but rally, and dress on the other lines under a tremendous fire from our advancing rifles. They rallied then came on again to meet their death. Line after line of Rebels come up, deliver their fire in one volley, and are mown down like the grass of the field. They fall back, then form and come up again with their battle flags still waving but again they are driven back.

          On our right there is a break in the line where a battery has been in position but falling short of ammunition and unable to move it off under such a heavy fire, the gunners have abandoned it to its fate. Some of the Rebels gain a footing here. One daring fellow leaps upon the gun and waves his Rebel flag. In an instant, a right oblique fire from our line and a left oblique fire from the regiment on the left of the positions rolled the Rebel and his flag into the dust.

Captain Samuel Fisk
Co. G, 14th Connecticut
Wounded in the Wilderness
Died of wounds May 23, 1864

          By and by, the enemy’s lines come up smaller and thinner, break quicker, and are longer in reforming. Our boys are wild with excitement and grow reckless. Lieutenant John Tibbets [Co. F] stands up yelling like mad, “Give it to ‘em! Give it to ‘em!” A bullet enters his arm, the same arm in which he caught two bullets at Antietam. Johnny’s game arm drops by his side but he quickly turns to his first lieutenant saying, “I’ve got another bullet in the same old arm and I don’t care a damn!” [Tibbets would be discharged for disability two weeks later.]

          All of our boys are carried away with excitement. The sergeant major leaps a wall, dashes down among the Rebels and brings back a battle flag. Others follow our sergeant major and before the enemy’s repulse is complete, we have six battle flags. Prisoners are brought in by the hundreds, officers, and men. We pay no attention to them, being too busy sending our leaden messengers after the now flying hosts.

          The fight is now about over with only an occasional shot exchanged between the retreating Rebel sharpshooters and our men. I looked around me and took account of stock. We had lost about 70 killed, wounded, or missing, leaving only a hundred men fit for duty. We had killed treble that number and taken nearly a brigade of prisoners, six stands of colors, and guns, swords, and pistols without number. For the first time, we had been through an action without having an officer killed or fatally wounded although several were more or less seriously wounded. Hardly a man in the regiment had more than two or three cartridges left. Dead and wounded Rebels were piled in heaps in front of us, especially in front of Companies A and B where their Sharp’s rifles had done effective work. It was a great victory. “Fredericksburg on the other leg,” as the boys called it.

Source:

“The Fourteenth at Gettysburg,” unknown officer in 14th Connecticut Infantry. Joel, Joseph A., and Lewis R. Stegman. Rifle Shots and Bugle Notes, or the National Military Album. New York: Grand Army Gazette Publishing Co., 1884, pgs. 369-371


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