Good afternoon, and welcome to Gettysburg
National Military Park. My name is Jim Flook and I'm one of the seasonal
rangers here and I have the privilege of giving programs during the summer months. And this is our Second Day program. So those of you who have driven through the
battlefield and have started to learn about the Second Day, you'll notice the Second Day
covers a great deal of territory and since we don't have a helicopter for this tour,
we don't have any one point where we can see the whole battlefield, so we'll be talking
about just a piece of the Second Day's action that happens in this vicinity. This is the historic Sherfy Peach Orchard. Now the trees that you're looking at, they
were not here during the time of the battle. There have been extra generations of peach
trees, but these are peach trees and they give us a little bit of a sense of what the
soldiers experienced when they were here. Now as we talk about the fighting that takes
place on this ground that we're going to walk across, I'd like to start out by asking a
question: How many of you make plans in life? Ok ... You think maybe you make plans? [Laughter] We all make plans, right? Okay, what happens to our best laid plans? They go awry. Yes, they go awry! They don't work. Okay, when this happens in the military they
have a term for this -- does anybody know it? "Charlie Fox Trot?" Nope. "Contingency?" No, close. "Snafu?" Okay, they have an older word. They would call this the fog of war. We call this real life. Oftentimes we find out that from Plan A to
Plan B or Plan C. How many of you get all the way down to Plan Z? That's life for us. Military calls this the fog of war. We're going to be talking about this fog of
war and I want to introduce you to some mid-level commanders who were here. Who have that challenge of figuring out what
their supervisors are telling them, their commanding generals are telling them, and
then making that happen. How do commanders during the second day of
the battle of Gettysburg adjust to this fog of war or to this real life? So, I'm going to introduce you to some commanders
on each side. Now, in order to get us to July 2nd, we need
to talk a little bit about July 1st. Now, I'm going to start us out with some compass
directions here so we can sort of orient ourselves to the battle. Past me or slightly to your left we can identify
a tower in the far tree line. The Longstreet Tower is going to mark the
direction of West for us. Okay, everybody turn around. Behind you then is the direction East. And if you look slightly to the right, just
above the first set of trees we can make out a couple of the monuments sitting on the open
face of Little Round Top. So we're going to use that and keep that in
mind to help us mark out east. Okay, keep turning this time more to your
left. As you look now in this direction you're looking
north. The town of Gettysburg and some of these large
red barns are off to our North. If you look across the Peach Orchard, turning
around once more to where you can see some different buildings, part of the Rose Farm. As we look towards the Rose Farm we are looking
south. The Battle of Gettysburg will start on July
1st, out to the northwest of the town of Gettysburg. It is going to then spread in an eastern direction. 27,000 confederate soldiers are on the battlefield. 17,000 Union soldiers. Those Union soldiers will be forced to retreat
by late day and they will take up a position on Cemetery Hill. Cemetery Hill is going to be the key position
throughout the battle. So turn with me here to the north. Okay? As we're looking we can see some red buildings. To the right of those red buildings we're
going to identify two small white buildings. Can everybody see those? You might need to step to one side or the
other of the monument here. Okay, point at those white buildings for me. Take your finger to the top of the trees,
go a little bit to the right, shake your finger back and forth. You've just sketched out the position of Cemetery
Hill. Now today we see trees. Soldiers when they were here said Cemetery
Hill stuck out like a sore thumb. How many of you have accidentally hit your
thumb with a hammer? What happens? It goes poof. It pops up. Soldiers say that Cemetery Hill is a bald
hill. A good open artillery platform. So as we move into July 2nd, the Union army
is working on adding more soldiers to the battlefield so they can defend Cemetery Hill. You might want to step towards me so you're
on this side of the monument. The Union line is going to extend to Culp's
Hill. So look back towards Cemetery Hill. Begin to look to the right. You're going to see two tall monuments. When you see that second monument. If we look really closely it looks like it
has a hat and an antenna. That is the Culp's Hill tower. It looks the same as that Longstreet Tower
out to the west. Culp's Hill is a fully wooded hill, so the
Union soldiers are there. Now, from Culp's Hill the Union line is going
to make a quarter turn westwards towards Cemetery Hill. Then it will make a quarter turn southward
towards Cemetery Ridge. We're going to mark that out -- remember those
two white buildings? Draw an imaginary line from those two white
buildings through all the monuments down to the largest monument on the battlefield. The Pennsylvania monument. The PA monument has that big dome on top. So we have sketched out the position of the
Union army on the morning of July 2nd and it looks like a "U" shape. The Union Army through the morning of July
2nd, their goal is to add soldiers to the battlefield so they can defend Cemetery Hill. Confederate soldiers are going to begin to
plan for an attack. The Confederate line will start on the far
side of Culp's Hill. It will ring around the town of Gettysburg
and then drop south along Seminary Ridge. Seminary Ridge is that last fully wooded tree
line. From us it's only about 600 yards away. The Longstreet Tower sits right along that
tree line on Seminary Ridge. So confederate soldiers are getting their
intelligence reports, they're coming back to General Lee and so he begins to devise
his plan. He's going to attack Cemetery Hill from two
different directions. It's like a big pinching movement with the
hill in the middle. Or in our military terminology we're going
to call this a pincer. 14,000 confederate soldiers are to move behind
that ridgeline out of view, then they are to turn eastward coming towards us. They're going to make a second left turn. So I want you to imagine that if this attack
goes according to plan, it is almost as if the confederate soldiers are lined up on this
very road right here stretching back to the east. They are facing Cemetery Hill. They are going to use Cemetery Ridge as this
nice little ramp up to the hill. The left of the line is supposed to be guided
by the Emmetsburg Road. The Emmetsburg Road is this major road just
past the stop sign. We can see where the Emmetsburg Road goes
by looking at these series of red barns. So the Confederate soldier has his left and
he moves northward. This would be an ideal position to stand if
you are a member of the Confederate staff or high command to watch that attack. As the attack begins here on this southern
end of the battlefield, at the northern end of the battlefield confederate artillery will
fire as well and soldiers there will attack from north to south creating our big pinching
movement. These are the first plans, Plan A if you will. What do we say happens to all of our best
plans? They go awry. Awry starts very quickly on the Confederate
side. They're going to pause and wait for the remainder
of the soldiers who are going to make the attack. And in addition to that there are going to
be delays, so they don't start moving until 1 PM. So the confederate soldiers move and they
accidentally placed themselves in view of the Union line so they will conduct what we
call a counter-march. They'll turn around do it again and find a
spot where they can't be seen. So a series of delays were already to a Plan
B on the confederate side. I'm going to pass out a map here for you. A couple things to highlight before I pass
around the map. We're going to see the march of the confederate
soldiers where they have to turn around and take a new route and I've circled one brigade. I've circled General Kershaw's brigade, the
confederate officer we'll be talking about. And then here on the Union side of the map
I've darkened in General Sickles' morning position. He'll come out here and I've circled the battery
-- Bigelow's battery, that's the union unit that we'll be talking about. Confederate soldiers reach the vicinity of
where Longstreet's tower is in the afternoon around 3 or 3:30. They're going to need a Plan C, because right
as they arrive they find that there are Union soldiers here in what they intended to use
as their staging ground. So I'm going to change to the Union line. After the confederate commanders made their
decisions, more Union soldiers reach the battlefield. It's going to be General Sickles' third corps. His men are told to extend the line. Extend the line. Start at the Pennsylvania monument. We want to draw an imaginary line from the
PA monument towards the Round Top. So that is where these soldiers are placed. So General Sickles becomes very concerned
with his position. He finds some challenges for his men. Turn around. What do we see here as we look back towards
the east? What's the biggest object we notice? Hint, it's green. Trees! [Laughter] Very difficult to fire through
trees, right? The first thing that General Sickles is concerned
about is fields of fire. He's worried that his enemy is going to be
able to approach him closely before his men are able to respond, so he doesn't have good
fields of fire. He feels that his is lower ground. He's worried about the possibility of a turning
movement because this is a common Civil War tactic. His cavalry support -- there's usually cavalry
at the end of each army to help detect what's going on -- has been withdrawn. They are being resupplied after fighting on
July 1st. So he's going to make a controversial decision. That decision is to occupy this ground right
here. As we move across the Peach Orchard today
one of the things we'll be able to note is one of the things General Sickles saw. This is a natural artillery platform and as
we move through we have a view looking out in every direction. General Sickles is going to take his soldiers,
5,000 of them will be lined up on the Emmetsburg Road, again following those three red barns. Then he's going to split the left part of
the men into pieces. One piece is right here at the Peach Orchard
where we have Union soldiers occupying the Peach Orchard. Now from this fence behind you up until that
first stand of woods, there is going to be open ground. Some three to four hundred yards. There is nothing there. On the other side of the woods, is a field
of wheat. So we have one brigade past the first set
of woods we're looking at in a field of wheat. On the other side of that field of wheat is
another tree line. Past that second tree line is the devil's
den. I want you to think about a large boulderous
grouping of rocks. Another way to locate Devil's Den: look at
Little Round Top, now look at that fully wooded hill just to the right. That is the Big Round Top, so I want you to
imagine a valley where those two hills meet and I want you to imagine large boulderous
rocks right in that valley. So this left end of the line is split into
three different pieces and it has this shape. The shape is called a right angle or a salient. Does this look like a good or a bad military
position? I see your smile. I believe you have an opinion. Good or bad? "Bad." Why? "You can be shot at from two sides." Yeah, you can be attacked from two different
sides and in fact right at that point you can take fire from a range of 270 degrees. What's going to happen to that point when
it gets attacked? It's going to cave right in the middle. The salient is a very dangerous position. Late in the afternoon messages go back and
forth between headquarters. General Sickles made this move on his own
and he's going to try to get approval for it afterwards. That approval doesn't come, but late in the
afternoon the commanding general does appear here. A series of words are exchanged. General Meade signals his disgust at this
position because part of the army is forward and it is in this dangerous position. Someone who witnesses this exchange writes
about and they give us this description of this mood between the two commanding generals. It's kind of a smart aleck type of a thing,
the kind of language that if you use with your parents you usually get in trouble, right? Not a good idea to use this language with
the commanding general either. Supposedly general Sickles is going to simply
offer to move his men back and in a very smart aleck response the commanding general is going
to order Sickles to do so but I fear they will not let you. He points to the west where he sees Confederate
Artillery unlimbering and preparing to attack. General Sickles is now in a forward position
and he is now pinned here. He cannot withdraw in the face of the enemy
or his men will lose their morale. So now he's in a very dangerous position. The fighting is about to begin. He has two different gaps in the left flank. As the confederate soldiers are coming up
with a different plan, they are indeed going to be attacking from west to east and south
to north. They are going to hit that point in the salient
from both sides with both infantry and artillery fire. General Sickles is in a dire position and
he needs his own second plan in order to figure out how to keep this line. If you'll follow me we are going to move up
to the guns and I'll tell you the solution general sickles come up with. What's here in the way of roads? That's a great question. The Emmetsburg Road is the major road that
is right here. It is a macadam road. It's an early type of asphalt. There are ditches on either side and fences. Wheatfield Road right through here. That's a touring road that is put in preserving
the park. So it's not here at the time of the battle. Typically you'll see roads that were here,
usually you'll see things that are added called avenues. At different points there are some dirt lanes
that existed too. We'll actually be talking about one of those
later, but in general you have these ten major roads coming in and they tended to be paved
and they might be toll roads as well, so things that can be added in are typically called
avenues. Any other questions? "Where are Sickles' troops actually laid out?" So where are they physically standing? One of the ways you can figure out where soldiers
were at is to look at the monuments. So we have a monument here to Hampton's battery. There would have been about six guns and this
is the actual position the artillery is in. The infantry is going to be at the far side
or the south side of the Peach Orchard. And so we'll see that in a second when we
move there. So that actual point in the line is right
here at the Peach Orchard. The rest of that line extends along the Emmitsburg
Road. So when you're visiting the battlefield, you
look for a regimental monument and you look for these small blocks. Closest one if you look back here. See that no parking sign? If you look just to the right you see a small
monument. They're typically granite. They say R, L, RF, or LF, and that's a flank
marker. So if you find the regimental monument. That right flank, that left flank, you can
see physically the amount of space they occupied on the battlefield. We are right in front of the answer. General Sickles needs something to cover this
gap in his line, to help hold this position. He is going to call upon the artillery. He has six cannon here. He calls for support and he gets another 28
cannon from Colonel Freeman McGilvery. McGilvery commands an artillery brigade, so
as quickly as he can, he is going to rush an additional 28 cannon into the area. And those cannon stretch down what is today
Wheatfield Road in and out of our view. So he's going to use that artillery to sort
of cover the gap from the Peach Orchard to the first stand of trees and to be able to
hold this position. This is a very tense decision. Colonel McGilvery, as an artillerist, is going
to be very familiar with the cardinal rule of his branch: from his military manual: artillery
cannot defend itself when hard-pressed and should always be sustained by infantry. Right here in the Peach Orchard there is infantry. To the east behind you there is the gap in
the fenceline roughly where we see cars parked down to the woods. Artillery is the only thing there. They are unsupported by infantry. A young man in one of these units, a bugler
by the name of Charles Reed, notices this situation. He's noticing that it's not usual. His usual orders would be to go to the rear
and to assist the medical corps. He's going to write "Captain ordered me to
the rear. There was no need of my being there. Somehow I couldn't see it. I was bound to see a fight and might see some
use after all, so I disobeyed orders by turning around and going up to the battery again." Charles Reed, 19 years of age, decides that
every single man will be needed. He is going to be correct. The artillery has a lot of challenges. Artillery has a great deal of logistics. First, you need to place the guns in a good
location. We're still moving around the orchard here
and we can see as we look out in any direction that we have a good view. This is a natural artillery platform. They've achieved the first part. You need a view. Why? Artillery operates on a principle called "line
of sight." If you can see it, you can shoot it. You have to be able to see your target. It doesn't matter how close they are. If you can't see them you can't fire at them. So we've got infantry support for this part. No infantry support for this part. Artillery uses four different types of ammunition. They use a solid shot, which is a pure chunk
of metal. It can be conical: an over-sized giant bullet,
or it can be spherical, like a shot put ball. The second type is a shell. The shell has a small charge inside so it
creates large fragments. The third type is case shot. It has little bits of metal and powder so
that when it explodes it creates this hail. I like to think of it as this hail of death. We have another term for that. How many of you have heard of shrapnel? Similar to shrapnel. Have you ever been through a hailstorm? No? What about you? "No, sir." Anybody been through a hail storm? What happens if you duck in a hailstorm? "It will still hurt." You still get hit, right? That's the experience of being under case
shot. Even if a soldier does what's natural and
they duck, they're still going to get hit. That fourth type is the canister. Canister is golf-ball sized pieces of metal. Thirty of them stacked into a tin can. When that can ruptures and disintegrates it
turns one of these into a gigantic shotgun. It's pretty deadly. I think one of the best ways to understand
the logistics is to actually fire the gun. I need six volunteers for a cannon crew and
if you don't volunteer I am empowered to draft. So who wants to help me out? all right. one two three. Okay? I got four volunteers, five. And he just got pointed out as the draftee. Okay, I'm going to have you sir stand right
here and you're going to be number one. you're going to be number two. if you'll step back here you'll be number
three. And if I can have you step back here, you're
going to be number four. I need you to come right back here. You're number five and you sir are number
six. You'll notice that the first I did is just
renamed everybody. I didn't ask them their names. I just gave them numbers. We're going to use numbers because that helps
us remember exactly what are duties are. So we have six men right here at the cannon. 14 yards behind this we're going to have the
limber. One chest of ammunition. Six horses. Fourteen yards behind that we're going to
have the caisson. Second chest of ammunition and spare parts. Two more soldiers. Six more horses. For every gun, we have a total of ten soldiers
and twelve horses. Which is more important? Soldiers or horses? "Horses." We cannot create horses. As long as we can find volunteers you can
create soldiers. At no time are any of the artillerists allowed
to ride the horses. Their job is moving the vehicles. You will all walk. Number five back here is our chief of the
piece. She's a sergeant. You're the only officer out of our group here. That puts you in charge. How are your math skills? "Good." Whew. She has good math skills. Now, when you say that, I assume you are familiar
with some trigonometry. "Sure." Excellent. You probably don't know too much about that
calculus stuff yet. That's the newest math right now, but you're
familiar with angles and arcs, co-sin, sin, tangent, arc-tangent. "Yes." All right, excellent. I chose a good battery commander. During the middle of battle you don't have
the ability to pull out charts and graphs. From 1863 soldiers are typically experienced,
but we will be talking about one battery that does this for the very first time on the battlefield. To get us started, I need you to use your
best command voice and I want you to yell "Load" as loud as you can. "Load." No, you can't say it in a normal voice. You gotta yell it. "Load!" On the command load, are crew will jump into
action. Number three is going to have a small piece
of leather on this left thumb and he's going to place that over the vent. He's going to seal the vent for us. Number one will take a large piece of wood
with a sponge on one end, he'll dip it in a bucket right there, and send it down the
cannon tube. He is removing all foreign debris. Any kind of ash or sparks or powder, maybe
from previous firing, or anything that could have gotten into the gun. Closing that vent in order to be able to pull
it out. As this is happening, number six here is our
athlete. He is running forward from the limber at great
speed and he hands to number 2 the shot and powder and heads back for the next round. Number 2 step in front of the gun. You gotta be all the way in front of the gun. Your shoulders block the gun. This is the position you don't wish to have
because of any incoming enemy fire. So as quickly as you can, powder, shot, in
the tube. All right, step back out of the way. Number one you're going to take that ramrod,
flip it around, and send that shot back to the breech. Number three is going to pull out a giant
toothpick-like object, place it down the vent. Number four you're going to take a small tube
of metal, place it in the vent, and tie a four foot piece of string to it. keep a good hold on the string. Number 3 get that in place again. That giant toothpick, or prick, placed a whole
in the powder bag. that small tube of metal, that's our friction
primer. It has a compound on the inside called fulminated
mercury. When that string is pulled the primer comes
out, that causes sparks, fulminated mercury increases the sparks, they guide down the
tube causing the powder to burn and then combust. Yell, ready. "Ready!" On the command ready the crew steps outside
the wheelbase. Number four keep a tight hold on that string. Place a hand over the ear closest to the gun. Say "Ahhh" -- open the jaw, everybody. You don't want to trap that pressure inside
the head. Sergeant, you're going to have to step to
one side of the wheel tube. There you go. Now we're waiting for that last command. Yell "fire." "Fire!" BOOM! We get a tremendous amount of noise, a tall
column of smoke coming up through the vent belching forward. This whole vehicle which weighs about two
thousand pounds will rock backwards two to three feet. That's our process for firing the cannon. That's what these artillerists are doing as
quickly as possible as they have been called upon to come up into this line. How quickly do you think they would be able
to have to do that? "2 to 3 to 4 minutes?" Pick one. What's your guess? "I'm going to say less than two minutes." What's less than two minutes? You'd be a very easy commander to have. You're not very demanding either. "3 minutes." We need to go shorter. Less time. "30 seconds?" Less than 30 seconds. "15 seconds." There we go. You are supposed to be able to fire 4 aimed
shots per minute. Rule of thumb, civil war artillery is going
to be able to fire once a minute except under two conditions. Counter-battery fire, artillery vs artillery,
which is what these men come into. Confederate artillery is attacking them from
the south as well as from the west. So these men are trying to fire as quickly
as they can. Second situation. When infantry is close up to the guns and
you can begin using canister that means the attacking infantry can be firing as well. You're trying to be as quick as possible. None of these soldiers has a weapon except
the sergeant. She gets to carry a pistol but it's just a
symbol. You have to keep working the gun. It's more effective for you to be able to
fire off one more shot than it is for you to join the infantry. So these artillerists have some challenges. They are going to be going through their own
plan B, plan C. They've come here to try to help hold the line. We're going to move across the Peach Orchard
here so we can talk about the confederate infantry attack, but as we do that I want
to organize everybody similar to the infantry. So what I want you to do is form two lines,
shoulder to shoulder, facing me. Very good, very good. You're literally shoulder to shoulder. Those of you in the rear rank I need you to
place your elbow at your tips fingertips forward. Step until you can reach the small of the
back of the person in front of you. Who thinks they have any personal space left? [Laughter] This is how these infantry soldiers
are standing. Why are they doing this? Let's start with the soldier's perspective. Look to your left. Look to your right. How many of you are standing next to a family
member? Okay. That is the common experience of the soldier. They are next to family members, friends. Are you going to be the one soldier that doesn't
go forward when everybody else does? No, you're going to go as far as anybody else,
right? Why? Because these people are very important to
you. I'm going to guess that you two are sisters. I don't know of any examples of two sisters
standing next to each other, but numerous times there are two brothers right next to
each other. This is a community going forward. They don't want to let each other down. That's somebody very important standing next
to you. From the officer's perspective we need tight
units for command and control and for firepower. Anybody here are a marksman? Neither are civil war soldiers. They are trained to fire forward. If we could freeze frame we'd see this line
of lead from one direction to the other. It doesn't matter if you shoot a little to
the left or right. We just encourage you to aim low so it doesn't
go too high. Now, let's see if we can try to move. Our company captain is in the right front. So I need you to give the command forward
march. Everybody is going to begin with their left
foot. Then you will use your right foot. Then your left foot again. It's very simple, right? You're going to stay shoulder to shoulder. I'm going to stand behind you and I'm going
to be those sergeants and who lieutenants who are called file closers. Proceed. "Forward, march!" Close up, close up, shoulder to shoulder,
catch step. Left side's moving too quickly. Close up! Catch step! All right, we can go ahead and pause. It's a bit of a challenge, right? "Yes." That's a little bit of what these infantry
soldiers are going to experience. We're going to continue through the orchard
each at our own pace. So we've talked about a couple of union artillery
so far. We're going to transition to the confederate
side and talk about the attacking unit here: the commander is Brigadier General Joseph
Brevard Kershaw. Kershaw's men are going to begin from Seminary
Ridge. Remember, our mark for Seminary Ridge to the
west there is the Longstreet tower. 2200 soldiers, South Carolinians, has been
together for some time. Kershaw has experience as a brigade commander. You'll recall that confederate soldiers have
already been down that path from Plan A to Plan C to Plan B. They had to wait for extra
men, they had a delay, they had a challenge while marching, and there are union soldiers
in their beginning position. They adjust the attack so that it's coming
from south to north. And west to east. Kershaw is going to be that lynchpin. he is told that he has two orders. As his men move from Seminary Ridge as they
come across a third of a mile of open ground, they are going to wheel so that they are facing
north. They are to attack the peach orchard. We can see these monuments and flank markers
so we know exactly where the union soldiers were standing at this end. And at the same time, they must link up with
the other part of the attack that was originally moving from south to north. So they have to link up with confederate soldiers
near the wheatfield. So as we look over this fenceline, look into
the woods. There are some woods that are closest to us. Move to the right. There's almost this gap between two woodlines. That's a pretty sizeable amount of distance. So kershaw is going to have to do some quick
thinking on his feet. he's going to be moving from plan D to Plan
E. he has to attack the peach orchard he has to link up over there. As his men are crossing these fields they
are under fire. Lt. Col. Franklin Gaylerd, 2nd South Carolina
"We were in 10 minutes or less time terribly butchered. A body of infantry to our left opened upon
us. And as a volley of grape would strike our
line I saw half a dozen at a time flung to the ground like trifles. We had half our men killed or wounded. It was the most shocking battle I have ever
witnessed. There were familiar forms with parts of their
head shot away, legs shattered, arms torn off, etc." They have moved forward into position to continue
the attack. As the confederate soldiers are nearing the
Rose buildings they see an opportunity. This open ground from the fenceline to the
trees. Does anybody remember what's here? Right, cannons, just on their own. No support. So now the confederate soldiers have orders
to attack the peach orchard and connect with the attack in the wheatfield. But now there's this opportunity: unguarded
artillery. If you're an infantry soldier, artillery is
frequently firing at you at any battlefield. You rarely have the opportunity to fire back. Now that opportunity arises. There are three options. If you were Kershaw, which one would you choose? You're going to choose the area of weakness
and move after that artillery. Would everybody make the same decision? What would you decide? What do you think? "The tip of the triangle there?" You're thinking about that salient again and
following those original orders. Going for the artillery? So we have one vote to remember our orders
and attack the peach orchard. Most of our votes are to go for that option
and no votes for connecting with the other part of the attack in the wheatfield. Do you want to guess? Partially correct. He's going to choose all three. He's going to make a difficult decision of
splitting up his unit. The left side will attack the peach orchard
and that artillery. The right side will take up the duty of connecting
with the other part of the attack. He's going to try to accomplish both objectives
in his order and take the opportunity of the guns in front of him. The men of the 2nd South Carolina are moving
from the Rose Farm through these fields off to our left, heading for the Union guns when
they hear an order "By the right flank!" They stop. They are veterans. They know to turn 90 degrees and pause and
wait. The second part of the order doesn't come. Instead, the union artillerists amazed at
this stop, fires as quickly as they can. "We were at once exposed to a terrible fire
from the artillery and the men began to fall as they opened upon us with great canister
and our brave boys were mowed down by the score. We soon reached a piece of woods and there
halted for a time but the work of death and destruction did not cease. You could constantly see men falling on all
sides and terrible missiles of death were flying thick and fast everywhere. Cutting of trees, plowing up the ground. But we stood still and did what we could to
pick off the enemy guns." The brigade surgeon that night, Dr. Simon
Baruch, would right that almost all the wounds of the men of the 2nd South Carolina were
in the left side. Remember when we started out trying to march
in formation? We had little gaps develop. People kind of moved off. Same things happened to these soldiers. Two units on the right instead of moving next
to each other overlap. So there's a command given to get them to
unlap. That command is accidentally transferred further
down the line. The 2nd SC stops, turns, waits for the next
piece of the command, and they get hit. I want you to imagine what that would be like. You're moving forward as a unit, you are standing
next to people you know, and suddenly you take heavy casualties. That unit could disintegrate. It could fall into oblivion and do nothing. Yet it's officers are going to move up. Some point in the day, the colonel is going
to fall. Lt. Col. Franklin Gaylerd, pictured here with
2 of his children is going to be in command of the unit at some point in the afternoon. I wish that I could share with you what it
is he says to his men. What words he comes up with to encourage them
to keep going forward, what his plan b is for these men, but I don't know because he
does not survive the civil war. He will fall in 1864. But he says something to these men to keep
them working as an effective fighting force. they will take to the woods, pause, and the
rest of the confederate attack will move out from the west, towards the east. By about 6 PM, confederate soldiers have overrun
the peach orchard. That salient, which is right here, has now
fallen apart. These two monuments, one on the Emmitsburg
Road, and one inside the peach orchard. The one to our left would have been facing
south. The one to the right would have been facing
west. That's the salient. That salient is crumbling. These infantrymen are streaming back towards
the east. The artillery will pull out. The artillery rolls through. Gaylerd summons these men, keeps them pressing
forward, and they will join as the confederate assault sweeps through this area towards little
round Top. Gaylerd will write "We charged upon the party
opposed to us and drove them pell mell through the woods shooting them down and taking prisoners
at every step. We pursued them to the foot of the stone mountain,
where we attacked them. Here the bullets literally came down upon
us as thick as hailstones. it is scarcely necessary to say that we fell
back. Some of these men participate in a second
attempt to move against little round top. Gaylerd's second or third plan encourages
his men to move forward. if all these confederate soldiers are sweeping
through this area, what has happened to that union artillery? Follow me, we'll complete our trek around
the peach orchard and we'll take up the story of what happens to those union artillerists. "Do a lot of guys see what was coming and
just say, I'm not doing it?" Great question. How do these men react to what's in front
of them. A confederate soldier on July 3rd says that
there are different types of people. He's thinking about this attack on July 3rd
and he says there are those that are never going to get up because they've been hit. There are those who are never going to get
up because they're too afraid to go forward. They're thinking about death. This is the end. It's finite. There are those who are almost too eager. They have that bravado. They'll go forward no matter what. And there are those that will go forward not
from bravado but from community around them. He talks about there are different types of
soldiers. I can't tell you how many men make that conclusion
that what is in front of the cannot be done and they drop out. I can tell you it's a small number, whatever
it is, and trying to move past that feeling is why these soldiers are standing shoulder
to shoulder with someone they know. As you think about this tough decision, think
about yourself. Are you willing to leave your buddy, best
friend, or brother behind while you run to the rear? "In this case, yes!" [Laughter] But if asked seriously in a time
of battle? "never." That sense of community keeps soldiers moving
forward. Some soldiers will look at these battles and
say "I can't do this." That happens. And I can't give you a number, but I can tell
you though that most of these soldiers do keep going forward. That is part of the psychology of a soldier. Looking at what's front of you and figuring
out if you can still go forward for those who are standing next to you and those orders
that are being given. It's a great question. Anybody else have any questions they want
to ask? "This area right here, is this considered
part of the wheatfield?" No, we are outside of the wheatfield. If you look down to my left here you can see
the different battery monuments. So this is our line of McGilvery's guns. Looking at an open field. With the exception that there is an additional
orchard in part of that field, which is why you see some small trees in front of you today. The wheatfield itself is past this first set
of woods. At the time of the battle, those trees aren't
this tall and at some points the density is light is enough to get a glimpse that there
is fighting occurring. But there can also be that sense of isolation. So these artillerists have been fighting this
afternoon and they are alone. they don't have that infantry support that
they are supposed to have by the cardinal rule of the artillery. 6 oclock 6:15 that confederate attack is coming
through. That salient is beginning to crumble right
at the center. The Union Soldiers are moving back towards
cemetery ridge as quickly as possible. So if you look past me you can see a barn
right there. That's the Trostle Barn. Just above the roofline and slightly to the
left in the background there is a monument. The NY Reserve monument sits on a part of
cemetery ridge. As I'm talking about Cemetery Ridge that's
the spot of the line we're referring to. These union soldiers are now in a full retreat
back to towards that AM position they were originally assigned to. Colonel Freeman McGilvery is going to begin
to ride from battery to battery, starting from the west moving to the east. He's going to tell them to limber up and pull
back. The infantry is falling apart. They need to get out of there as well. He rides battery to battery and he reaches
the last one in line. The 9th MA artillery commanded by captain
Bigelow. Captain Bigelow's 9th MA artillery are green
troops. The phrase green means this is the first time
they have been in battle. They have been trained. They've trained on a field. They've gone through those commands from their
sergeant (four aimed shots per minute). They figured out how to limber and how to
unlimber, but now they're doing it in battle. McGilvery rides down the line. He lets each unit retreat. The confederate forces are coming close enough,
the 9th MA artillery. That last monument down there where we see
the two guns that have that kind of greenish blueish color. They have that color because the original
bronze metal has oxidized. There would be six guns there. So that would mean 60 soldiers, 72 horses. Those men have been in battle for the very
first time. Everybody else is falling back so they're
going to fall back as well. They're going to retreat by prolong. On our retreat by prolong we're not going
to worry about wheeling the guns back up. Every time the gun recoils we're using that
recoil to get us away from the enemy. As the soldiers reload, the back end of the
gun is tipped and it is drug backwards by rope. It is reloaded. It is set down. It is fired. Recoil gives us three more feet backwards
and we load again. Does this sound complicated? It is the most complicated maneuver for the
artillery. These men have done it on a practice field. Now they are doing it under fire with the
South Carolinians and the Mississippians rushing towards them. Finally they get to the vicinity of that barn. They come to a gate and a fence that make
a right angle. Through that gate is a little dirt lane leading
back towards Cemetery Ridge, about to give the order limber up and get the guns off the
field. Lt. Col. McGilvery rides up. "Captain Bigelow, there is not an infantrymen
in back of you along the whole line with Sickles moved out. You must remain where you are and hold your
position at all hazards. If need be, until at least I can find some
batteries to put in position to cover you. That 3rd Corps line that started on Cemetery
Ridge moved out, that salient has fallen back, all these men flooding backwards, they're
not forming any kind of second defense yet. McGilvery is concerned that Confederate soldiers
are placing themselves right in in the center of the line. So Captain Bigelow must hold at all hazards
while he tries to get those other guns to form up. Captain Bigelow gives us a plain language
interpretation of McGilvery's order when he said, "The sacrifice of the command was apt
to save the line." Six guns in a quarter circle pointed outwards,
ammunition stacked next to the guns so they can reload as quickly as possible. "Waiting until they were breast-high my battery
discharged with every gun loaded double canister and solid shot after which through the smoke
we caught a glimpse of the enemy, torn and broken, but still advancing. Every time confederate soldiers get as close
as possible these men fire, they let loose all that metal. They reload as quickly as they can. They are buying precious time. Confederate soldiers are trying to pick off
the gunners. They're shooting down the horses. 88 horses are going to be killed in the vicinity
of the Trostle building, most from this battery. 3 out of 4 officers will be down. 6 out of 8 sergeants. 19 of the men. Captain Bigelow himself is wounded as he is
just giving the order, telling the men to come off the field. Two guns are limbered up. One hits a rock wall and the horses are so
skittish they literally drag the gun through a rock wall. Another one tips, blocking the gate. It is righted back up and they get that gun
off the field. The other four guns are temporarily captured
by confederate soldiers. Bugeler charles Reed, that young man who disobeyed
orders, is in perfect position. He has assisted McGilvery, now he will assist
his captain who has been wounded. Placing a right hand on the shoulder, taking
the reins of both horses in his left arm, he's going to turn those horses around. Cooly and calmly he guides them back towards
Cemetery Ridge. He is under fire from two different directions. Behind him are the confederate soldiers still
pressing their attack. In front of him is the reset of McGilvery's
line. Cooly and calmly he gets his commanding officer
back to safety. Confederate soldiers keep pressing up towards
that ridgeline. They will capture more of McGilvery's guns
before 8 PM, about dusk, union infantrymen arrive for the first time the entire line
has that infantry support and finally it holds where it has to hold. Daylight ends. These reinforcements stop the confederate
attack. The union line now holds though it had given
up this peach orchard. If we think about the events of the fighting
of July 2nd. If we think about each of these different
officers, they all had to go through different plans. From General Kershaw, it means dividing his
soldiers so he can achieve both of his objectives and the opportunity in front of him. Lt. Col. Franklin Gaylerd, it means summoning
the words to keep men moving forward after they experience a great challenge. For Lt. Col. McGilvery it means bringing a
battery of artillery onto the field in the most desperate circumstances where they don't
get the infantry support they need and are supposed to have at all times. For Captain John Bigelow it means telling
brand new soldiers to perform the most difficult duty of the artillery on the battlefield:retreat
by prolong. And when they are about to leave the field
it means staying there and continuing to fight alone. Each of these officers has to create Plan
B, Plan C, Plan D. They have to deal with that fog of war that we often call "real life." They have to adjust. What can we say of Bugler Charles reed? He is not an officer so he won't be responsible
for coming up with alternate plans, but he recognizes the tenacity of this fight and
he volunteers and stays forward. In addition he helps save the life of his
commanding officer and for that, in 1895, Bugler Charles reed is awarded the Congressional
medal of Honor. Thank you very much for joining me this afternoon. [applause]
