My name is ranger Karlton Smith and I'm going
to be with you about the next two hours, telling you about Andrew Humphrey's division of the
3rd corps, here on the afternoon of July 2nd. Mostly we're going to be talking about Humphrey's
withdrawal from this area, that was what he himself had to admit was a trying withdrawal,
and probably one he didn't want to make. What we're gonna do is, we're gonna come up here
towards the Sickles monument to set everything up. We're gonna talk about who exactly Andrew
Humphreys was, where is his business going to be, and what exactly the back of his line
looked like before they moved up. From here, we're gonna go up to the other section of
Sickles avenue, then head south towards the 73rd New York monument. Then we're gonna
come back along Sickles avenue and cross along the back side of the Emmitsburg road
ridge, making a couple stops along there, and then we're going to end up at the Rodgers
house on the other side of the Emmitsburg road. Since it is kind of a small group, if
it ain't part of the program and you have any questions, feel free to ask, and i'll
be glad to answer them for you. For now let's head up to the Sickles monument and find
out a little bit more about Andrew Humphreys. Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was 53 years old
at the time of the battle of Gettysburg, native Pennsylvanian, he graduated from West Point
with the class of 1831, and was an engineer. So his whole career prior to the civil war
is in the engineers. He also, during some point in his career, picked up the nickname
of "old google-eyes", which you might tell from there. Also, in some ways, Humphreys
reminds me of captain Queeg, if anybody's familiar with the Caine mutiny. It's not in
the sense that he's playing with the ball bearings, and trying to figure out who's throwing
the strawberries. When captain Queeg first meets the officers of the Caine, he tells
them "you're probably wondering what type of officer I am." He says that "anyone who
knows me would tell you that I'm a book man, as long as everyone goes by the book, we're
gonna be okay." And I think that's what Humphreys says, he's a book man, so as long as you go
by the book, things are gonna be fine. Humphreys first field command in the Civil War is gonna
be command of the 3rd division of what's part of the 5th corps. I spoke too soon, we've
got another group coming up behind us. So we might need to move off in a little bit.
But he's the commander of the 3rd division of the 5th corps, his division doesn't join
the corps though, until the say after the battle of Antietam. So he misses out on that.
His division will fight at Fredricksburg, in December of 62'. Most of the regiments
in Humphreys' division is made up of 9 month men, and that's it. And Humphreys superiors
don't have a high opinion of him; and he also doesn't like that they're not following the
book, following army regulations. In fact, after the battle of Fredricksburg, he ordered
colonel Jacob Frick of the 129th Pennsylvania to order his men to buy the army dress uniform.
Now those things cost about 12$, and a private got paid 13$ a month. Their unit's going to
be dismissed in about May or June, and Frick says he's not going to order his men to buy
a uniform coat that they might wear once, and that's it. So Humphreys is going to place
Frick under arrest. He then ordered the lieutenant colonel, William Armstrong, to give the same
order, and Armstrong refused to follow it, and Humphreys is gonna place him under arrest
as well. I think at this point we need to move off the track just a little bit. I think
I've seen more horses here today than I have in any other weekend. Actually, it's better
here today than it would have been in 1863. The two armies came to Gettysburg with something
close to 70,000 horses. One horse can consume up to 10 gallons of water a day, so 700,000
gallons of water a day just for the horses. And one horse can leave behind 10 pounds of
manure a day. So almost a ton and a half of manure by the time the armies leave here.
We'll let them get past us. Colonel Frick and lieutant colonel Armstrong are placed
under arrest, and now they're going to be court marshaled. Now both Frick and Armstrong
are members of the volunteer army, they're volunteer officers, and according to army
regulations, volunteer officers, if they're court marshaled, are supposed to be tried
by fellow volunteer officers, not regular army officers. But the war department had
a policy that regular army officers could take a leave of absence, to accept commissions
in the volunteer army. So guess who all the officers are on the court marshall board?
They're regular army officers, sitting in their guise as volunteer officers, that's
how they got around it. Frick and Armstrong are going to be convicted, but Governor Curtin
got the sentences modified. Actually during the Gettysburg campaign, colonel Frick will
command the Pennsylvania militia over at Wrightsville Pennsylvania, and he's the guy that orders
the brigde over there burned, so the Confederates can't capture it and get over the Susquehanna
river. Now Humphreys was also described as a soldier, who took "courage to the highest
order, both moral and physical. He united the energy, decision making, and intellectual
power which characterized him in civil administration." And the assistant secretary of war did say
though of Humphreys men were "Men of distinguished, and brilliant profanity." So there's two sides
to this guy. The 3rd division of the 5th corps is going to be discontinued, at about Chancellorsville,
because all those 9 month guys are now going home. As a parting gift for Humphreys, one
of the Pennsylvania units reportedly took the cartridge boxes they had, emptied the
black powder in a trail up the Humpreys' tent, and then set fire to it. So you've got this
smoke running towards the tent, no explosion or anything, but that was their way of saying
goodbye. And one officer said that Humpreys' command was "a very bad thing" in the middle,
but "before and during the battle it is a fine thing". Now when general Meade took command
of the army on June 28th, he wanted Humpreys to serve as his chief of staff. Humphreys
turned it down, to continue to command his division in the coming battle. And Humphreys
would command a division of three brigades, that totals 4,924 officers and men. One of
his brigades, Burling, we're gonna have to take off the map, because they're going to
be scattered all over the place. So the only units he commands up here are gonna be Brewster
and Carr. So between those two brigades, He has 3,555 officers and men, backed up by two
batteries of artillery. Humpreys did not have an easy time getting here, on July 1st he's
posted down in Emmitsburg Maryland, on the west side of town. He receives orders to move
to Gettysburg; since he's on the west side of town, Humphreys doesn't move through town
to get up on the Emmitsburg Pike. He decides to take a back road, which means he's gonna
leave on the Track road, west of Emmetsburg and start to come towards Gettysburg. He crosses
a stream on a covered bridge, and once he gets across that he takes out the map he has.
Now it's already after sunset, and through the light of a candle he looks at this map,
and he tells lieutenant colonel Hayden, a staff officer from the 3rd corps, that if
they move to the right a little bit, they're gonna connect with the Emmitsburg road in
the area of the Peach Orchard, and they'll be with the rest of the army. Lieutenant colonel
Hayden who's supposed to direct the rest of the column says no, that's not where you're
supposed to go, I know where you're supposed to go, so listen to me. Eventually, Humphreys
does. They now get on the Gettysburg campground road, and end up on the Fairfield road, heading
towards town. Now by that time even colonel Hayden is in question of where they are going.
So Humphreys stops the column, and he's gonna ride up with a private from the 6th cavalry,
one of messengers, and they go up to the Black Horse Tavern, and owner tells them that on
the ridge behind them on Bream's hill, there are Confederate troops. So Humphreys goes
back to the other column, and he's gonna order them to do an about face. They're supposed
to do all this as quietly as possible, but of course not everybody gets the word, and
at least one bugler sounded his bugle to turn everybody a round. Apparently nobody else
heard it though, at least not the Confederates. So Humphreys will bring his two brigades into
this area, late on July 1st, very early morning of July 2nd. He's gonna go into position in
the fields, right behind us. His third brigade under Burlin will leave Emmitsburg on the
morning of July 2nd and arrive in this area about noon. So they're getting in very late.
You also have to remember that the 3rd corps is under the command of the Major General
Dan Sickles, and Dan Sickles himself is the only corps commander in the army of the Potomac
who is not a West Point graduate. Sickles was actually a professional lawyer, and a
professional politician, more than anything else. At the beginning of the war though,
he raised five regiments of New York troops, and as a reward for that President Lincoln
made him a Brigadier General, and later on promoted him to Major General. So Sickles
is actually one of the ranking generals on the field. Technically even outranks General
Meade, the army commander. The only regular officer in the 3rd corps is going to be Andrew
Humphreys, who has any authority, but there's no evidence that Sickles ever conferred with
Humphreys as to what he thought. So General Sickles believes that he knows better than
all these West Point trained generals. Now General Meade orders Sickles to place a third
corps on Cemetery Ridge, right behind us, where you see the cars going. His right is
to connect with the 2nd corps, over near the Pennsylvania monument, and his left flank
is to rest on Little Round Top behind us. There's no evidence though that Sickles ever
had any troops on Little Round Top, and there's no evidence Sickles himself was on Little
Round Top. Instead, Sickles becomes concerned with the Emmitsburg road ridge, out here to
the west of us. That ridge line is higher than the ground he occupies back there. So
Sickles is afraid that the Confederates will occupy this high ground, plant artillery up
there, and then shell his line. That's what he's worried about. But over at the Peach
Orchard to the southwest of us, is John Buford's cavalry division, two brigades. They're the
ones who open the fighting on July 1st. They are guarding the left flank of the Union line;
and in front of them across the Emmetsburg road, in the area of the Warfield house, the
63rd Pennsylvania has a strong skirmish line established, with a skirmish reserve in the
road itself. So Sickles isn't that concerned at this point, but at 10:30 in the morning,
John Buford recives orders to take his cavalry and withdraw to Taneytown Maryland, to reequip
and reorganize. Buford himself has requested this, this is a request made to General Meade
by the chief of Cavalry, General Pleasanton. And Meade told Pleasanton, you can let Buford
do that, provided you replace Buford with more Cavalry, and Pleasanton doesn't do that.
So at 11:30 in the morning, Sickles now sees his cavalry screen leaving his front and left
flank, so he sends a patrol across the Emmetsburg road into Pitzer's woods, and they encounter
a Confederate division moving into position. So Sickles is now convinced that the Confederates
are heading for the ridge, to plant artillery, and shell his line. So he's going to order
General Birney, commander of the 1st division, to move out, occupy part of the Emmitsburg road ridge, down to the Peach Orchard. But then there's a 500 yard gap in Sickle's line,
from the Peach Orchard down to place called the Stony Hill. From the Stony Hill the line
picks up, and runs down to a place called Devil's Den. So Sickle's left flank, instead
of resting on Little Round Top, is in front of it at Devil's Den. Meanwhile, Humphrey's
division will be posted in the village behind us, and they start moving up the ridge line
towards the Emmitsburg road. The first Massachusetts, at about 11 O'clock in the morning, is sent
out to the Emmetsburg road, across the road to add onto the skirmish line. They were under
the command of lieutenant colonel Clark Baldwin, and Baldwin has a sore on his left ankle,
and he was in the hospital. When he heard the campaign's going on, he's constantly asking
the doctors to release him so he can rejoin his regiment, and the doctors of course kept
turning him down. Apparently colonel Baldwin is pretty persistent, and the doctors finally
release him from the hospital so Baldwin can rejoin his regiment on the field, still with
a sore ankle, so he's not gonna let that slow him down, at all. About mid day 1 O'clock
in the afternoon Humphrey's starting to occupy the westward slope of the Emmitsburg road.
Clark is going to be in front of us, with the 72nd New York on his left, near what's
now United States avenue. Brewster is going to be 200 yards in the rear, and they're only
200 yards in the rear of that, which places them down pretty much where this thicket is
today. Humphrey's now going to receive orders to support Birney's line, so Birney's going
to move from there over into the woods on the south side of Unites States avenue. Then
he's moved a little bit closer down towards the Wheat Field road. Once he's there, now
he receives orders to bring the brigade out into the open field. Birney does that, he
does this with the intention of trying to expose the Confederate artillery, and almost
as soon as Birney pulls out of the woods the Confederate artillery starts to open fire,
and starts hitting his brigade. So Birney does what he thinks is a smart thing, and
he moves back into the woods, for protection. A staff officer from General Sickles now rides
up, and wants to know who's ordered the brigade back into the woods. And Birney says "I did",
and the staff officer says "That's not where you're supposed to be, you're supposed to
be out in the open field." So Birney gets ready to move back out again, when he receives
these orders to move across the Wheat Field into Rose's woods, and that's where he's going
to start to lose his command. And we've got the horses coming back, so you'll have to
move off the road again I'm afraid. While Birney is in Rose's woods he gets an order
to send two regiments to help Graham at the Peach Orchard. He's going to send the 5th
New Jersey back here to Humphreys. One regiment was sent to colonel Ward, down in Devil's
Den; the 8th New Jersey is sent to colonel Devereaux near the Stony Hill, that leaves
him with the 115th Pennsylvania, which is also sent to Devereaux. So in a very short
amount of time, Birney, who had six regiments, now suddenly has no regiments, and he's a
brigade commander with no brigade. So he comes back to report to general Humphreys, and asks
Humphreys "What do you want me to do?", and Humphreys' attitude basically is "You don't
have any troops, so I have no use for you", so he says to fall back to the rear and we'll
find out what to do with you later. So Humphreys now not only loses a brigade, he loses the
services of a good brigade commander at the same time. Now general Meade, the army commander,
didn't know what Sickles had done, and he calls Meade and his corps commanders at army
headquarters at 3 O'clock in the afternoon on July second; that's when Meade finds out
what Sickles has done. He's going to order the 5th corps over to the area of Little Round
Top, but he's not sure how soon they can get there. So at the same time, he send an order
out here for Humphreys to take his division and move to Little Round Top. Humphreys is
going to send out a staff officer to Meade to reconfirm the orders, because if Humphreys
moves there's going to be a gap in the line between the second corps and Birney's division
up near the Peach Orchard. But Humphreys is going to follow general Meade's orders, he
gets his two brigades over here in a column, starts to move out under Confederate artillery
fire, and then we see that the staff officer comes back, counteracting Meade's orders.
So Humphreys is to go back into position. So again under fire, he turns the two brigades
around, and comes back into position, under the eyes of everybody on Cemetery Ridge. So
they all saw Humphreys ability to command his division out here in the field. If you
look up here to the west of us, you're looking at the Emmitsburg road ridge. The red barn
directly in front of us is the barn for the Klingle house, and that sits on the Emmitsburg
road; to the right and left of that is going to be Humphreys' line. That's the main line
of Colonel Carr's brigade, that's gonna be up there. His right flank is gonna rest about
300 yards south of the Codori barn, and if you look to the north of us, that big red
barn is the Codori farm. So Humphreys line would be 300 yards short of that, along the
Emmitsburg road. Actually, looking directly north, those two white buildings you can see
in the distance, that's the Bryan farm which sits at the northern end of Cemetery Ridge.
So Cemetery Ridge, there's the ridge line running back behind us, along the main road,
and that's where Sickles was supposed to be. Instead he's gonna be out here, his right
flank now is 3/4 of a mile in front of Cemetery Ridge and the Union army second corps is close
to support. We talked about this 300 yard gap in the peach orchard, and his left flank,
resting on Devil's Den, is in military terms "In the air", it's not anchored or anything.
Devil's Den is a very impressive rock formation, but that's all it is. The den itself is of
no military value whatsoever, it's completely indefensible in many ways. So both ends of
Sickles line are in the air at this point. Now part of Sickles reasoning for moving out
here, as he's gonna state, is that he didn't have enough men to man the Cemetery Ridge
line he was assigned. The problem is, by moving out here, his line is twice as long. Be a
good lawyer, he never explained how if he did have enough men to man that line how he
was going to man the forward line, that's one question he never really answered to anybody's
satisfaction. Back here, is what amounts to Sickles headquarters for most of the battle,
and at one point in the battle Sickles is going to get hit in the leg by shell fire,
up there behind us. He's gonna have to be taken off the field, and his left leg is going
to be amputated at that point, which means Sickles is going to be the first high ranking
officer to go back to Washington DC. He promptly tells everybody, including the president,
his version of the events, and as it turns out his version of events is that he moved
out here because General Meade was getting ready to leave. There's no evidence of that,
but that's what Sickles said, and even in the postwar years he's going to keep that
up. Sickles, as it turns out, will be the last corps commander of the army of the Potomac,
and he passed away in 1914, 51 years after the battle, and 51 years after he lost his
leg. Sickles donated that leg to the new army medical museum. Unlike most soldiers, when
the doctors amputated Sickles leg they didn't just throw it off on a pile, they buried it
separately in case the general wanted it back, and he did. So his staff came back, retrieved
the bones, and gave it to the army medical museum where it is still one of the most popular
exhibits in the museum, what used to be Walter Reed. So you can still go down to the medical
museum and see General Sickles leg, if you have a mind to. What we're gonna do is come
down here to the United States avenue, and one thing you want to keep in mind about the
United States avenue is as you go through the battlefield, any place that's marked as
a road like the Emmitsburg road or the Wheat field road, was here at the time of the battle.
An avenue is a post-battle road, but on this stretch of US avenue, that's also the original
farm lane for the Trostle farm. When you get to the other side, it's gonna change, and
several years ago we reestablished the original Trostle lane as part of the horse trail. So
you want to keep that in mind, especially with the action taking place behind us later
on, and where some of these troops are gonna be, because the monuments for those units
probably aren't where they're supposed to be, but that's a whole other story. It's got
nothing to do with Humphreys necessarily. So again what we're gonna do is come down
here at the US avenue, we'll take a right, head towards the other section of Sickles avenue, we'll make a brief stop there, make sure everybody's still with us, and then we'll
head down to the monument of the 73rd New York. It's not in Humphreys line necessarily,
but the 73rd is part of Humphreys division. So we're gonna see why Humphreys sent those
guys over there, and then come back to Humphreys main line. The United States avenue seems
to mark the left flank of Humphreys line, and at one point he had the 72nd New York,
from Brucer's brigade up to you on his left. With Carr's brigade you couldn't cover the
whole line, So you had Carr's brigade based along the Emmitsburg road, then the 72nd New
York. Most of Brewster's brigade, the Excelsior brigade, were back here in the fields in support,
but Humphreys does get a request for a regiment to be sent over to help Birney at the Peach
Orchard, and he's going to attach the 73rd New York. So I know some of you got nice and
comfortable on your seats, but we're gonna move. So we'll be moving down Sickles avenue,
and there is a mowed path that will take us up to the 73rd New York. Once there we'll
get a better view of the Peach Orchard, what's going on over there, and how that's going
to affect Humphreys line at this end. Just to the south of us is the Peach Orchard proper;
and where that car's going is the Wheat Field road. So Birney wraps some of his division
along this stretch of the Emmitsburg road, through the Peach Orchard, but then it stops
at the south end of the Peach Orchard, there's a 500 yard gap, and then it picks up at the
Stony Hill and runs down to Devil's Den. Sickles is apparently hoping to cover that gap with
a strong skirmish line, backed up by artillery along the Wheat Field road itself. The woods
across from us helped mark Seminary Ridge, and as you move south you get onto Warfield
ridge. Longstreet will have his two divisions in position by about 3:30 in the afternoon
of July second, that's when his artillery starts to open fire. The artillery aimed at
the Peach Orchard is about 600 yards away, so amongst other things the artillery are
exchanging canister fire at long range. At about 4 O'clock in the afternoon Longstreet's
attack is going to start, and it starts with Hood's division, a little bit further south.
And Hood's division, because of where they are, are going to end up attacking Devil's
Den, hitting Little Round Top, which if you look to the east of us at the end of Rose's
woods, see that gap, you can just see the north slope of Little Round Top. So Hood's
guys are headed for Devil's Den, Little Round Top, they also make their first fight in the
Wheat Field, and the Wheat field is just beyond Rose's woods here to the east of us. Once
Hood's attack is well developed, Kershaw's south Carolinians from McLaw's division are
going to be sent forward. Their job is to hit the back side of the Peach Orchard and
aim towards Union batteries along the Wheat Field road. The two regiments on Kershaw's
right start to crowd each other, so Kershaw gave an order for those two regiments to do
a right flank to straighten them out. It was only meant for those two regiments. Somehow
the order got transferred to the other three regiments, so now those three regiments, instead
of heading directly towards the guns on the Wheat Field road, turn and headed back towards
Rose woods. Kershaw's going to call up General Semmes's brigade in support, they now have
launched an attack into Rose woods, into the area of the Stony Hill, which means that Kershaw
and Semmes are behind the Peach Orchard lineup here. At that point or shortly afterwards
General Barksdale Mississippians are going to turn loose to attack this area, and they're
the ones who will eventually sweep through the Peach Orchard itself. Trying to stop them
is the 114th Pennsylvania, posted up here near the main road. Coming up in support of
the 114th is going to be the 73rd New York. The Lieutenant colonel of the 114th, is actually
Frederico Fernandez Caveda, he was actually Cuban. His father was a Cuban merchant who
had married an American in Cuba. Both Frederico and his brother Adolfo were born in Cuba,
the father died in 1838, at which point the mother moved the family back to her hometown
of Philadelphia, and that's where the boys grew up. Frederico would command the 114th
Pennsylvania here, Adolfo's a staff officer with the rank of captain on Humphreys staff,
so both brothers are serving in the war now of their adopted country. The 73rd would like
to open fire on Barksdale's men, but the 114th is in front of them, so they can't do that.
They had to wait for the 114th to clear the front before they could open fire, at range
of 100 yards or less. They serve as close range, and they greeted Barkshaw with a volley,
which means the entire regiment is going to fire at once. The two color bearers over at
the 73rd are going to be shot and go down, and Major Michael Burns was riding behind
the line, making sure his men were being steady under fire. But now they receive an order
to rejoin Humphreys on the main line; so Barksdale's move has cleared the Peach Orchard area, Union
troops are falling back, Union troops on Verney's line are also starting to fall back at this
point. When the 73rd clears the area, 3 of Barksdale's 4 regiments are going to turn and
head towards the flank of Humphreys line. The 21st Mississippi is going to head more
in the direction of the Trostle farm and would take on the 9th Massachusetts battery, and
then they'll move on from there and try to take a 2nd battery along the way. The other
three regiments of Barksdale's brigade are now heading towards the flank of Humphreys division,
so Brewster's brigade is going to be turned to face that new threat, with Carr's brigade
still facing west along the Emmetsburg road. Before we leave here, does anybody have any
questions about the terrain, what I've said, or about where troops might be or where they're
heading for? No? Everything's clear as mud, right? Remember, Hood's division is heading
towards Little Round Top and Devils Den, and made the first incursion into the Wheat Field.
Kershaw and Semmes are going to be moving towards the Wheat Field, Barksdale's men are heading
in this general direction, and then Wofford's brigade of McLaw's division, his last brigade,
will move into the area of the Peach Orchard, head straight down the Wheat Field road, help
to clear the Wheat Field, and move towards the base of Little Round Top. So Confederate
troops here are pushing east, towards the Union line, and once the Peach Orchard is
clear Confederate artillery will start to set up over there and open fire. The Confederate
artillery thought this was the main line, and all they had to do was a mopping up operation.
They realized once they got to the Peach Orchard and looked behind them on Cemetery Ridge that
this was not the main line; the main line was still behind them. They saw that there
was still lots of troops and a lot more fighting left to do. It would've looked like a defense
in death, Sickles out here, and the main line in the rear. Sickles at one time claimed that
he was forming a breakwater out here, but somebody pointed out that a breakwater is
designed to defend something behind it, and when Sickles moved out there was nothing behind
him to defend. Again, that analogy is kind of out. The story with John Bachelder and
one particular regiment, but it's not the 73rd, that's a little bit further down. The
Excelsior brigade originally had six regiments back by the road, how many are going to end
up over there? Actually, how the brigade marker got there we don't know, because the only
regiment from the Excelsior brigade this far into the field is the 73rd New York, the rest
of the brigade is supporting Humphreys line. Sickles would move forward in three stages,
right, at the most advanced stage they had skirmishers out front before the fighting
started. But Brewster is a part of Humphreys division, so it's Carr's brigade and then
Brewster in support. So it's one of those questions; why the Excelsior brigade is there,
I don't know. If they were they, they put up a real lousy defense, but their main fight
is over there. The only regiment from the Excelsior brigade is the 73rd. Anything else?
Alright, what we're gonna do is follow this path back down ,we'll head back towards the
other section and make a brief stop there before we start going down Humphreys line.
I wanted to stop here and talk about one regiment, even though it's not a part of Humphreys line,
and that's the 105th Pennsylvania, which is stationed up here right by the Emmitsburg
road. The monument's sort of behind the tree, we're looking at it right now. 105th Pennsylvania
is also the Wildcat regiment. But they're facing south when Kershaw's brigade starts
to break through, and their colonel said that he rallied his men 8 or 10 times, and they
made one or two charges to try to stop Barksdale's brigade. The colonel said "The boys fought
like demons" eventually they're going to be stopped and the 105th is going to be forced
back, so they're going to start to retreat. They're trying to buy some time up here, maybe
for Humphreys, but they're gonna pay for it. The 105th Pennsylvania had 234 officers and
men, they reported losses of 132, just over 48% of what they brought in. Humphreys is
also going to report; "I was about to throw someone forward to the left on my infantry
and engage the enemy with them, but I received orders from General Birney to throw back my
left and to form a line oblique to and in rear of the one I left", so Humphreys was
getting ready to charge at this point. But now he gets an order from General Birney;
with Sickles down, Birney takes command of the 3rd corps. So he's the guy issuing orders
now, and he wants Humphreys to use his left flank, to start forming a new line. So instead
of advancing, Humphreys has to pull back a little bit, to defend from this attack against
General Barksdale. Humphreys is not at all happy with the situation down here; especially
after he lost Birney's brigade. I have a comment from Humphreys towards the end about what
he thought about all of this. We're gonna continue from here and go down to the 120th
New York monument, this little stone structure right in front of us. Once there we'll talk
about Brewster's line back here in the fields, and we'll also talk about one of the controversies
as to monument replacement after the Civil War. With Kershaw now coming in from that
direction, Humphreys now has to move his brigade over here, to try to defend his left flank.
Colonel Caswell McClem of the 120th was told to get his men back into line and keep them
there, but they also saw General Birney riding in the opposite direction from the general
line, and they found that a general rout of Birney's division was in progress. So they're
worried now that the men from Birney are going to come through the line and disrupt Brewster's
line, which is exactly what's gonna happen. The front regiment gave way, and broke, but
the 120th is going to bring Kershaw to a halt. Brewster was on a horse with the file closers,
Humphreys and his Lieutenant Colonel Westberg were also both behind the line, and Westburg
now is mad at Carr up here on the road, because he can't understand why Carr isn't sending
troops to help him out. But Carr is going to have his own problems, as we're going to
find out. One of the controversies surrounding the Excelsior brigade is that the units down
here don't write about what they're doing here on July 2nd, and somebody said there's
too reasons for that. One is that the unit didn't do a lot, or they were doing something
they didn't want people to know about. In fact when Birney's guys are charging through
here, they are starting to break up Brewster's brigade a little bit, and some of these New
York troops are going to be caught up in that general retreat. In the postwar years, a man
named John Bachelder was the first official historian of the battlefield. The battlefield
commissioners put him in charge of the placement of the monuments of the battlefield. So Mr.Bachelder
already decided where the monuments were going to go. He's going to get into an argument
with some veterans about that, including the 120th New York. And I don't know exactly where
Mr. Bachelder wanted to put it, but the 120th New York went out and put the monument right
here in front of us. They said that's where they were in the field. We think to get back
at them, Bachelder is going to reverse the flank markers. Now remember the 120th New
York is supposed to be facing that way against the enemy, This small stone here is the left
flank of the 120th. So you'd think their right flank is over there, it's not; their right
flank is in this field. Which means, if you go up on the flank markers, here's the left,
there's the right, the 120th New York back is to the enemy, and it wasn't, but that's
how John Bachelder put it. That was his revenge, if you will, on the 120th veterans winning
out on where to place the monument. The 120th is facing towards the enemy, and they're a
part of Brewster's brigade that's going to start to eventually break and fall apart.
Now as I said, Colonel Westberg was mad because Carr's not sending any troops down to help
him. There's a good reason for that; Carr himself wrote at that time that "I have no
doubt that I could have charged on the rebels and drover them in confusion, for my line
was still perfect and unbroken, and my troops in the proper spirit for the performance of
such a task". Now as it turns out there's a good reason why Carr isn't sending anybody
down to help out Brewster, because Carr is going to have his own troubles along the Emmitsburg
road. We're going to continue up here, we'll cut through the woods a little bit, head towards
Emmitsburg road, and towards the marker for Seeley's battery on the road itself. Once
up there we get a better view of what Carr was seeing along the ridge line, and why he
can't send anybody down here to help out Brewster. But before we leave again, does anybody have
any questions real quick? Everything's still clear as mud, right? Remember at this point
we have Barshaw coming from this direction; the other Confederate troops are clearing
the Wheat Field at this point, and making it a no man's land, and there's other Confederate
troops now attacking along the Emmitsburg road. So we've got Barksdale coming from this
way, and soon Confederate troops coming from that direction as well. So let's go up here
and get a better view of what Carr is seeing. From up here you can start to see some more
of the terrain. Looking behind us for example, you can now see Little Round Top. The Trostle
barn is right behind us, the George Weickert farm is almost directly east of us, and you
can now see the Pennsylvania monument and Cemetery Ridge behind us. In front of us,
what colonel Carr is going to see is Wilcox's Brigade of Alabamans. The 11th New Jersey
posted south of Seeley's battery is going to be turned to face Barksdale. The color
guard's going to be posted roughly 20 yards in front of the regiment for inspiration,
but as the fight heats up the 11th New Jersey has to retreat. When they retreated though,
somebody forgot the color guard, so they're still out there. They finally sent somebody
back, and they found the color guard still at their post, waiting for everybody else.
So they did manage to get the color guard off the field. Captain Gerveda of Humphreys
staff is going to report "Batteries open, troops rose to their feet, the crash of artillery
and the deterring rattle of musketry was staggering, and adding to the noise on our side the advancing
roar and cheer of the enemy's masses coming on like devils incarnate". Remember you're
got Barkshaw coming in from that direction, and Wilcox brigade now coming in from that
direction. That's why Carr can't send anybody down to help Brewster, he's got his own problems
down here. Now Colonel Cavada of the 114th Pennsylvania is going to be wounded and captured,
in the postwar years both brothers served as Us consuls in Cuba. In 1868, they're going
to join the Cuban war for independence, what was called the 10 years war. Frederico was
made commander of all the Cuban forces. He's going to be captured and executed in July
of 1871. Freyer is going to be killed in action in December of 1871, so both brothers after
serving in the Civil war go back home, back to their native country, and fight for independence
there and will be killed in trying to do that. Humphreys himself is up here with Seeley's
battery, trying to direct the battery itself. So he walked among the guns giving directions,
oblivious to the murderous missiles that were filling the air around him. Seeley himself
is going to be hit in the chest and be seriously wounded. Lieutenant Robert James would take
over command of the battery. The 5th New Jersey had been out on the skirmish line, they actually
relieved the 6th and 3rd Pennsylvania. They're coming to the front of the division along
with the 1st Massachusets. They're going to retire from that and form in rear of Seeley's
battery, to try and give it some protection. Seeley's left is going to become engaged and
then driven in. Eventually Seeley's battery is going to have to pull out of here. Joseph
Carr himself said "non-withstanding my apparent critical position, I could and would have
maintained my position but for an order received directly from Major General Birney. What Birney wants these guys to do now is form a new line, trying to connect in the line being formed
in the area of Little Round Top. So they're going to pull back from this general position
towards a fence line, and try to make that connection as best they can. What we're gonna
do is move off the hillside here, continue down Sickles avenue, we'll stop in the rear
near the path leading up to the Klingle farm, talk about the withdrawal of the 12th New
Hampshire, then move down to Turnbull's battery, from there we'll cross the Emmitsburg road
and go up onto the Rogers farmsite. There we'll talk about the end of the battle, and
what's going to happen to Humphreys after the battle of Gettysburg. At this point Seeley's
battery is going to be forced to withdraw as well. They're trying to get out of here
the best way they can. Seeley's battery is one of those that's going to try to retreat
by prolong. Every gun has an 8 foot rope attached to it, you can take that rope, put one end
it on the trunnion of the gun, and attach the other end to the hook on the hook on the
liver. And what that allows you to do is to load the gun while you retreat, and fire it.
So they can stop, fire the gun, keep moving and load it to try and slow down the enemy
advance. That's what Seeley's battery is trying to do. The 12th New Hampshire is back here.
Carr sent a staff officer to Captain Langley, who was in command of the regiment. He has
directions on how the regiment is supposed to withdraw, and where they're supposed to
go. The staff officer asks Captain Langley if he understood the order, and he says "yes,
if I can make the men understand the order", but now as he's trying to shout the order
to the regiment, Langley would go to each regimental commander with the instructions.
He's got 10 guys he has to talk to, and in the midst of that anything can happen. Langley
could go down before he tells everyone what's going on, the Captain that he tells could
go down before he can tell anyone else, so there's all types of things that can go wrong.
Apparently though, nothing went wrong. Langley told everybody what they were going to do,
and when he gave the bugle call the regiment got up to start the retreat. But Seargeant
Luther Parker, with the state flag, is going to be mortally wounded. Segeant William Howe
with the US flag is going to be killed in action. Corporal John Davis is going to take
the US flag from Howe's hand, but Howe, who had grasped the flag itself, didn't want to
let go, so they actually had to yank the flag out of his hand. They left a 12 by 15 inch
patch of the flag in Howe's hand, that's how tight a grip he had on it, and even though
he's dead he's not going to let it go. The 12th New Hampshire is able to pull out of
here. Out of 224 men, they suffered 92 casualties, about 41 percent, but in time they got out
of here. Brewster himself is trying to get off behind his line; his horse was killed,
and he started walking off the field with Captain Thomas Raftery of the 71st New York,
when a Private of the 71st came up to Brewster and gave Brewster the bridle from his horse.
So Brewster lost his horse, but his Private made sure he got the bridle for the Colonel,
so he at least had that on the retreat. What we're gonna do now is continue on down towards
the right on Humphreys line, we'll talk about the original position of Turnbull's battery,
and point out where Humphreys line was supposed to set up according to David Birney. I can
do that from right here; we have this Virginia rail fence along the horse trail, the next
fence over, that post and rail fence, is where Humphreys is supposed to set up. That rail
fence does go at an angle, down towards the Round Tops, and that's where Virney wants
Humphreys to set up if he can at this point. But even there Humphreys is going to have
a tough time following out his orders. So we're going to continue down to Turnbull's
battery, tell you where they actually were on the battlefield, and then head over across
the Emmitsburg road to the shady trees near the Rogers house. There we'll talk about the
division at the end of the battle, and what happens to Humphreys after Gettysburg. Birney's brigade were in a retreat all the way back to the Pennsylvania monument. The monument
up here in front of us with the guns represent Turnbull's battery. Now the question is, why
is Turnbull's battery over here, because you can't see anything? The answer is, they're
not here, they're on the other side of the road. So they're on top of the ridge line,
looking off towards the east. When they get the order to fall back, they're also going
to fix prolong and start to head back towards the swell behind us. It's about a 400 yard
run to get back there; they have to leave 4 pieces on the field, and 2 case arms, they
can't get them off. They are also retreating, as I said, by prolong, trying to slow down
the advance as best they can. Turnbull will also see action the next day, July 3rd. His
guys are going to be posted further north on Cemetery Ridge near the statue of General
Meade. If you go up by General Meade, you'll see a monument similar to this one, to Turnbull's
battery on July third. So they might be falling back, but they're not out of action by any
means. Colonel Barton of the 1st Massachusetts, whose regiment is on skirmish duty across
the road is going to report "The enemy's front line appeared on the rise of ground at out
front, and fired a terrible volley into our ranks". So now the first mass along the skirmish
line is forced to withdraw as well. So most of Humphreys line now is starting to fall
back. He's going to place himself on the Emmitsburg road to supervise the withdrawal from that
position, which is probably why his statue is along the Emmitsburg road, directly to
the north of us. What we're gonna do is come down here to the intersection along the Emmitsburg
road, and I like to wait until everybody's with us, and then we'll cross the road as
a group and go in the shade of the trees where the Rogers house used to be. We'll talk about
the end of the day on July 2nd and what's going to happen to Humphreys when the battle
is over. This is the hardest part to talk about on the walk, but Humphreys as I mentioned
has gone up on the Emmitsburg road, supervising Carr's withdrawal. Which is why his monument
is just across the road from us. Humphreys reported that his horse was hit 7 times by
shot and shell, Private James Dieman of the 6th US cavalry, Humphreys orderly, the guy
who went out with him to the Black Horse tavern the night before, is going to come up, and
even though he's been wounded, give his horse to the General. So Humphreys will have that
horse. After that, Private Dieman kind of disappears, we don't know what happened to
him. We presume he was killed out here, but since he was on Humphreys staff he was on
the muster roll for the 6th US cavalry. Because he was with the 6th US cavalry temporarily
with Humphreys staff, the staff didn't keep track of him either. So Dieman was one of
those guys who kind of fell between the tracks; we don't know exactly what happened to him,
we believe he was killed and buried in the National Cemetery under an unknown grave.
Humphreys himself does want to know what happened to Private Dieman, and he actually wrote to
the surgeon general for any information he had on whereabouts, and what had happened
to, Private Dieman. Humphreys himself never found out. Again, we don't know exactly what
happened to him. Humphreys is not leading his division out here, and he himself reported
that "20 times did I bring my men to a halt, and face about, I had the men face about side,
and others on my staff ordered the men to fire". So the units just aren't falling back,
Humphreys had them stop, turn around, and fire on their pursuers, to try to slow down
the Confederate advance. Remember, you have Barkshaw on the end, Wilcox coming across
the field, and Lang's brigade of Floridians coming across the field as well. Now those
three brigades, Barksdale, Wilcox, and Lang, number about 4000 men. Humphreys, with just
Brewster and Carr, number 3500. So it's not being overwhelmed by numbers, but it's the
position that had them tied up now. Barksdale comes in in the front, at the same time Wilcox
is on the end at the front. They actually have these orders from Birney to fall back
and form a new line, but it's not going to be enough. Eventually Humphreys division falls
back behind the Pennsylvania monument, and will start to reform. Now Humphreys, at the
start of all this, had been told he could call on Caldwell's division of the second
corps for support, so when the attack starts he sends an aide back to get Caldwell's support,
and the aide comes back with a report that Caldwell isn't there. Caldwell, as far as
Humphreys knew, was at the Pennsylvania monument, but Caldwell had received orders to move down
to the wheat field. That's why Humphreys now has no support, immediately in the rear. Coming
down from Cemetery ridge is going to be the 82nd New York and the 15th Mass, and they
go into position on the north side of the Codori house and barn. Browne's battery will
also advance to the rear of the 15th Mass, again north of the Codori farm. Thomas's battery
is going to be near the Pennsylvania monument, and they start opening fire. They have the
1st Minnesota in support. Reah's battery is going to go into position on this side of
the Codori barn, with the 19th Maine in support. The 42nd New York and the 19th Mass will also
come down in support of Reah's battery. They're actually going to mount a charge to try to
drive back the Confederates, before they turn around and start to head back. All of this
is going to help clear the front of Humphreys line. Once Humphreys falls back, those two
regiments fire a volley to try to stop the Confederate advance. Also, now coming out
from just south of the Pennsylvania monument, Willard's brigade of New Yorkers 1500 strong
will advance to stop Barksdale. The 1st Minnesota advances to stop Wilcox's brigade. The 13th
Vermont is going to claim to advance all the way around the Emmitsburg road to where we
are, also McCall's regiment is going to rally and also advance back here to the Emmitsburg
road. Humphreys is going to re-form his division on the crest just south of the Pennsylvania
monument. He's going to send out pickets, and get ready for more battle. Humphreys is
going to write to his wife "had my division been left intact, I should have driven the
enemy back. But the ruinous habit, it doesn't deserve the name of system, of putting troops
into position and then drawing off its reserves in the second line to brothers, if not similarly
disposed, who need no such help, is disgusting." What Humphreys is saying is that if he had
use of all of his brigade, he not only would have stopped the Confederate advance, he probably
could have advanced himself and really driven it back. But he doesn't have it, it was siphoned
off to help support other parts of the line that had no reserves. On July 3rd, near sunrise,
the division's going to be moved to left and rear to resupply. They're then massed behind
the 1st and 2nd corps along Cemetery Ridge. Then they'll move to support the 5th corps
down in the area of the Round Tops. Finally at about 4:30 they're moved back to support
the 1st and 2nd corps. They do a lot of moving along Cemetery ridge on July 3rd, but they
miss out on any action. By the time they get to where they're supposed to go, the battle's
already over. On July 4th, 5th, and 6th the division's going to be busy bringing in the
wounded and burying the dead. On July 7th at 3'Oclock in the morning they start to march
off the battlefield towards Emmetsburg Maryland. On July 8th, Humphreys will finally accept
Meade's offer to be chief of staff for the army of the Potomac. He's going to leave the
division at that point. Altogether, Humphreys division, 4924 officers and men, reported
total losses of 314 killed, 1562 wounded, and 216 missing or captured, abour 42.5%.
So it's the third highest loss for the Union divisions here at Gettysburg, and the seventh
highest percentage loss. Carr's brigade of 1718 men lost 790, Brewster with 1837 lost
778, and all of Verney's brigades, individual regiments, starting out with 1365 officers
and men, lost 513. The Confederates, in attacking those 4000 men, lost 1980 officers and men,
roughly 48%. If you want to try to gauge how successful somebody is, one gauge of success
is if you can inflict more damage on the enemy than they can inflict on you. Humphreys lost
2092 men, he caused the Confederates to lose 1980, so based on raw numbers it goes to the
Confederates. But Humphreys only lost 42% of his men, the Confederates lost 48%. Percentage
wise, the Confederates have more losses than Humphreys does. It's kind of a draw here,
altogether. Humphreys does a good job of getting his division out of here and then reforming
them. Unlike the third division of the fifth corps, Humphreys was very proud of this division.
I think the difference was, when he takes command of this division, it already has a
good fighting reputation. So even though they're volunteers, it's a good group of men, and
Humphreys recognizes that. Humphreys will remain chief of staff of the army of the Potomac
until November of 1864. At that point he's appointed commander of the Union army's second
corps, in place of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. Humphreys will stay in the
army, rise to the rank of chief engineer of the US army, and retire about 20 years after
the Civil war. He also noted in his farewell address to the division "As part of a celebrated
division, after having command of it for a brief period of 50 days, I trust I will be
excused for expressing my admiration for its high soldierly qualities; it is a pause for
a pass in review even, without perceiving that its ranks are filled with men who are
soldiers in the best mean of the term. It possess in the greater commission of officers
men whose skill, courage, and accomplishments will grace any service." I want to thank you
folks for joining me this afternoon for the battle walk, i'll be here again for a few
minutes in case you have any questions; for those who want to head back to your cars,
there's two ways you can do it. You can follow the hose trail back here, which will take
you back to the Trostle farm, or you can follow down Sickles avenue to US avenue and make
a left, and that will also take you back. Once again I want to thank you folks for joining
me today, and for coming to Gettysburg. Thank you.
