99. The men were up at dawn the next day and shortly after 8:00 a.m. Wadsworth’s Division began marching up the Emmitsburg Road toward Gettysburg. The Second Wisconsin was in the lead followed by the Seventh Wisconsin, Nineteenth Indiana, Twenty-fourth Michigan, and Sixth Wisconsin. Riding with the division was General John Reynolds of the First Corps, commanding the advance wing of the Army of the Potomac. Nearing the town, the Black Hats heard distant artillery fire and hastened the pace. Reynolds rode ahead.
100. Shortly after 10:00 a.m., just as two Confederate brigades closed on Gettysburg from the northwest, the brigade column reached the Codori House one mile south of the town. The column soon crossed a ridge to the south of the Lutheran Seminary Building. The Sixth Wisconsin was halted in reserve. The four other regiments, moving in a line of battle, en echelon, at the double-quick moved up the slope of McPherson’s Ridge as Federal cavalry pulled back. At the crest, the Second Wisconsin slammed into James Archer’s Confederate brigade, which was marching east below (or south of) the Chambersburg Pike. General Reynolds was killed early in the fighting while urging the Badgers forward. Archer’s Confederates were surprised by the sudden appearance of Federal infantry (they were expecting cavalry and militia) and were knocked backward. Several hundred were captured in the rout that followed, including Archer himself. North of the Chambersburg Pike, the division’s Second Brigade was driven rearward by Joe Davis’s Confederate brigade, but the timely arrival of the Sixth Wisconsin and a quick charge on an unfinished railroad cut ended the threat and slaughtered hundreds of Davis’s men. Captured in the cut were more than 225 Confederates and the battleflag of the Second Mississippi Infantry.
The Iron Brigade formed a line just east of Willoughby Run in McPherson’s Woods. For good accounts of the opening action, see Herdegen and Beaudot, In The Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg, and David Martin, Gettysburg, July 1 (Conshohocken, PA., 1996, revised edition).
101. With Ewell’s Confederate corps sweeping in from north and northwest of town, General Lee realized that he had a wonderful opportunity to destroy part of Meade’s army. In the middle of the afternoon he ordered a sizeable attack against the line held by the Iron Brigade and other troops on Seminary Ridge. The assault drove the defenders back step by step to a last-ditch position along some rails piled in front of the Seminary Building. The collapse of the Union line north and west of the town (held primarily by General Oliver Howard’s Eleventh Corps) came about 4:00 p.m.
102. William Ray was wounded just as his regiment began the retreat into the town. Colonel William Robinson of the Seventh Wisconsin assumed command of the brigade with the wounding of Solomon Meredith of the Nineteenth Indiana. The brigade’s regiments (and the rest of the First and Eleventh Federal corps) retreated to the Union rally point at Cemetery Hill and later Culp’s Hill.
103. The brigade missed most of the heavy fighting of the next two days, but the stand on July 1, 1863, allowed the Union army to secure the high ground south of Gettysburg. It was that position that proved decisive in the next two days of fighting. The Iron Brigade carried 1,883 men into the battle and suffered 1,212 killed, wounded, and missing. These heavy losses were the highest of any brigade at Gettysburg. The First Minnesota had the highest percentage losses at Gettysburg (fighting on July 2), but the Twenty-fourth Michigan had the highest total loss with 399 out of 496. The Seventh Wisconsin took 343 into the battle and lost 26 killed, 109 wounded and 43 missing for a total of 178, or 52 percent. William W. Dudley, The Iron Brigade at Gettysburg, Official Report of the Part Borne by the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps (Cincinnati, privately printed, 1878); Nolan, Iron Brigade; Herdegen and Beaudot, In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg.
104. After the successful first day of fighting, Lee determined to attack again the following day. The attack was launched en echelon, beginning with Longstreet’s Corps against the Federal left flank and moving up the line on Cemetery Ridge, brigade by brigade, as each thrust sought out an opportunity to break apart and rout Meade’s army. The fighting was exceptionally heavy and prolonged, and ended only after dark with a Confederate dusk attack on East Cemetery Hill. Although the nighttime attack was successful, it was not supported and the Southerners were forced back off the eminence. There are many good accounts of the fighting on July 2. For an excellent and very original and thought-provoking examination, see Scott Bowden and Bill Ward, Last Chance for Victory: Robert E. Lee and the Gettysburg Campaign (Conshohocken, PA., 2001).
105. Ray is describing (in very general terms since he did not witness the fighting), what is known to history as Pickett’s Charge. Lee made one of the most controversial decisions of his career to assault the center of Meade’s line on July 3. A massive artillery barrage was launched about 1:00 p.m.—not 4:00 p.m., as Ray writes—and about one hour later Lee’s Southern infantry stepped off from Seminary Ridge for their attack against Cemetery Ridge. The attack was a spectacular failure and cost Lee many thousands of killed, wounded, and captured.
106. Meade pursued his beaten enemy toward the Potomac River, which was so swollen the Rebels could not cross it to safety for many days. Lee dug in his army and waited for Meade to attack him, which he declined to do. On July 13, Lee was finally able to withdraw below the river, officially ending the campaign. Lincoln was not pleased that Meade allowed the badly wounded Confederate army to escape, but the Army of the Potomac had been almost as crippled during the three days at Gettysburg.
There was not a major action fought between Generals Rosecrans and Bragg in Tennessee, as Ray believed, but Vicksburg, Mississippi, had indeed surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863, and the stronghold of Port Hudson, about 100 miles to the south along the Mississippi River, surrendered four days later.
107. Although Ray was not with his regiment, the day marked the end of the all-Western character of the Iron Brigade. The 167th Pennsylvania was added. The new men were Easterners, nine-month men, and were about to be released from service. The action marked the addition of a series of non-Western regiments to the brigade.
108. There was substantial fighting going on that July in and around Charleston as Federal forces inched closer to bring the city under siege. Federal forces attacked Battery Wagner (the primary subject of the movie “Glory”) on July 11 and 18, 1863. Although modest gains were made, the city remained defiant—and in Rebel hands.
109. The fight at Germantown took place on October 2, 1777, when General George Washington tried to attack General Howe’s British army. The plan went awry, however, and after a sharp engagement Washington retreated. Americans losses were some 152 killed, 521 wounded, and over 400 captured. The British casualties numbered 537 and 14 captured.
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110. Although General Quincy Gillmore was making progress, he had not captured Battery Wagner or Fort Sumter, although the latter masonry fort was indeed crumbling under the barrage of Federal heavy guns. Ironically, the crumbled brickwork actually strengthened the defensive position, for once the walls had become piles of rubble, there was nothing left that could be done to the bastion with artillery.
111. Created in April 1863, the Invalid Corps consisted of worthy disabled officers and men who were or had been in the army. Faust, Civil War Encyclopedia, 383.
112. The special flag was made by Tiffany and Co., New York, from money raised by Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan residents living in Washington at the time. The anniversary of Antietam, September 17, 1863, was originally set for the ceremony, but was delayed when the brigade moved to Culpepper. The Iron Brigade flag has been restored and is now in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison, Wisconsin.
113. A cone-shaped canvas tent invented by Major Henry Hopkins Sibley of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. It was able to accommodate 20 soldiers. Faust, Civil War Encyclopedia, 687.
114. Ray is referring to the battle of Chickamauga, which took place on September 19 and 20, 1863. Although the armies fought to draw the first day, Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee was reinforced with two
divisions from James Longstreet’s Corps of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia that night. The Federal line was breached the following day (largely as a result of a Federal command mistake that left a large gap in the line) and except for a gallant stand on Snodgrass Hill by a segment of his army, Rosecrans’s men were routed from the field and bottled up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a stunning Federal loss that threatened much of the year’s gains in the Western Theater.
115. Hayden, Lancaster, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gettysburg, mustered out July 3, 1865; Hudson, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Fredericksburg, mustered out September 1, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
116. Following Rosecrans’s defeat at Chickamauga, President Lincoln decided to send the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from the Army of the Potomac, under the command of General Joseph Hooker, to help rectify the situation around Chattanooga.
117. The model 1861 rifle-musket.
118. On October 10, 1863, Meade decided to probe beyond the Rapidan to discover where Lee was moving his army. Unbeknownst to Meade, Lee was on the move and headed west and north, triggering what would be known as the Bristoe Station Campaign. Skirmishing was heavy much of the day.
119. Ray’s entry is about the engagement at Bristoe Station, Virginia, where elements of Hill’s Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia attacked retreating rear units of the Army of the Potomac. Hill’s assault was rashly delivered and his men suffered heavy losses to no effect.
120. Casualties for the Bristoe fight were about 1,300 Confederates and 550 Federals.
121. Ray was listening to the sounds of the cavalry fight at Buckland Mills, where Jeb Stuart’s Southern cavalry routed General Judson Kilpatrick’s troopers. The engagement was the last serious encounter of the Bristoe Station Campaign.
122. Ray is referring to Hooker’s nighttime battle at Wauhatchie, Tennessee. The Federals trapped in Chattanooga were attempting to open a line into the besieged city when James Longstreet’s Confederates (detached from Lee’s army for service in the west) attacked Hooker in Lookout Valley on the night of October 28-29, 1863. The Federals beat back the confused attack, which was one of the most important nighttime engagements of the war. Losses from all causes were about equal: 420 Federals and 408 Confederates.
123. The fighting Ray could hear was Meade’s effort to thrust across the Rappahannock River at Rappahannock Station and Kelly’s Ford. The result netted hundreds of Southern prisoners, and essentially reestablished the lines as they were at the beginning of the Bristoe Station Campaign.
124. Simpkins, Millville, enlisted August 19, 1861, and was wounded at South Mountain. He died October 8, 1862. Wisconsin Roster, 561.
125. The National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was formally dedicated November 19, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln’s brief address is one of the most recognized and admired speeches in history.
126. Meade crossed the Army of the Potomac over the Rapidan River in an attempt to turn Lee’s right flank and catch him at a disadvantage. The movement and handful of engagements that followed are known as the Mine Run Campaign, after a meandering creek in the region.
127. The skirmishing Ray heard was (as it eventually turned out) the only serious fighting of the campaign at Payne’s Farm, where a division of Confederates under Edward Johnson held off almost two corps of Federals (Third and Sixth) in a confusing and sharp four-hour fight.
128. Ulysses S. Grant, victor of Shiloh and Vicksburg, replaced General Rosecrans in Chattanooga and went over to the offensive on November 23, 1863, against Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, which was dug in on a broad semicircle overlooking the embattled city. Within two days Bragg’s army was routed off Missionary Ridge and knocked back into northern Georgia. Bragg resigned on the last day of the month. The campaign firmly established Grant as the preeminent Northern general and led to his promotion to lieutenant general and commander of all the Union armies the following March, 1864.
129. After Payne’s Farm, Lee had withdrawn his army into a line of powerful entrenchments behind a creek called Mine Run. Although Meade determined to attack him there, one of his corps leaders balked when he saw the Southern lines and pleaded with Meade to cancel the attack. Meade wisely heeded the advice and decided to withdraw, effectively ending the war in the Eastern Theater until the spring of 1864. James Longstreet’s Confederate corps was still in Tennessee and would not rejoin Lee until early in 1864.
130. Corduroying a road was a system of laying logs and branches to allow soldiers and wagons to pass over muddy spots.
131. Stonehouse, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Petersburg, discharged September 27, 1864, disability. Wisconsin Roster, 561.
132. The report was false; Confederate General James Longstreet was alive and well.
133. Palmer, Janesville, enlisted September 7, 1861, mustered out October 7, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 538.
134. A native of Clarendon, New York, Lewis came to Wisconsin in 1840 where his father had large land holdings. He settled in Columbus in 1845 and after a political career was elected governor on the Republican ticket in 1863. Dictionary of Wisconsin Bibliography (Madison, WI., 1960), 229-230.
135. Simmons, Cassville, enlisted September 9, 1861, wounded Gainesville, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 574.
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136. Hayden, Lancaster, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gettysburg, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
137. Brinkman, Potosi, enlisted January 4, 1864, mustered out July 3, 1865; Lesler, Potosi, enlisted January 2, 1864, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558, 560.
138. Bradbury, Harrison, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Wilderness and Gravelly Run, mustered out June 2, 1865; Roberts, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, promoted to 1st lieutenant December 13, 1864, wounded Five Forks, discharged June 1, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558-560.
139. Hutchinson, Tafton, enlisted January 20, 1864, wounded Wilderness, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps April 24, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
140. President Lincoln on March 10, 1864, appointed Ulysses S. Grant to command all armies of the United States and promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general.
141. General James Wadsworth announced he would publish in general orders the regiment in his division that stood first in soldierly qualities, discipline, cleanliness, and condition of arms, but the time for the inspection was not given. The Sixth Wisconsin was later cited as “first in excellence in the division” on a ruse. When the order came to brigade headquarters, it was discovered by Colonel Edward Bragg of the Sixth Wisconsin, who gave his regiment advance warning. Bragg said later the inspector “stopped at my tent and waked me up, and I pretended that it was the first I had heard of an inspection, and grumbled about their playing such tricks on us. . . . [The inspector at an 1885 reunion] admitted that he expected to take us unawares, and wanted to know how we got ready. I told him they always kept themselves that way in camp, to which he answered, ‘Bosh!’” Dawes, Service, 245-246.
142. Booth, Potosi, enlisted January 2, 1864, promoted to sergeant major December 14, 1864. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
143. Holmes, Columbus, enlisted July 15, 1861, killed June 2, 1864, Bethesda Church, Virginia. Wisconsin Roster, 542.
144. The brigade, now assigned to Warren’s Fifth Corps with the breakup of the First Corps, broke camp early May 4, 1864, and joined the column crossing the pontoon bridges on the Rapidan River the next morning. By that afternoon, the men were camped near the crossroads of Germanna Road and the Orange Court House Turnpike on the eastern edge of the heavily-wooded region known as the “Wilderness,” which consisted of second growth timber, tangled brush, swampy creeks, and few roads and farms.
The general rumor about General Benjamin Butler was correct. Grant’s overall plan was a multi-pronged effort to bring victory: William Sherman’s armies would move against Joe Johnston in North Georgia while Meade and the Army of the Potomac struck General Lee in Virginia and
another column moved south up the Shenandoah Valley. Ben Butler’s 40,000-man Army of the James, meanwhile, took transports up the James River and debarked at Bermuda Hundred, just fifteen miles below Richmond.
145. On the morning of May 5, 1864, the Iron Brigade moved along the Parker’s Store Road. By midmorning, the Federals encountered a strong element of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and for the next 48 hours the two armies fought one of the bloodiest engagements of the war. General Lee had reacted immediately to the Federal crossing of the Rapidan by shuttling his army eastward along two major and largely parallel roadways, the Orange Turnpike on the north, and the Orange Plank Road about one mile to the south. Lee’s intent was to strike Grant’s army as it snaked southward through the Wilderness. Richard Ewell’s Second Corps of Confederates on the Orange Turnpike ran into General Gouverneur Warren’s Fifth Corps near Saunder’s Field, triggering the fight. William Ray is describing the opening of this engagement. See Nolan, Iron Brigade; Sharon Eggleston Vipond, “A New Kind of Murder,” Giants in their Tall Black Hats: Essays on the Iron Brigade (Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN., 1998). For an excellent account of the battle, see Gordon C. Rhea, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864 (Baton Rouge, LA., 1994).
146. Wadsworth’s division went into action about noon or shortly thereafter just below the Orange Turnpike and south of Saunder’s Field. Cutler’s Iron Brigade held the north or right flank of the division just above a small creek called Mill Branch. The Seventh Wisconsin held the far right of Cutler’s brigade (and thus the far right of the entire division) and attacked that portion of the enemy line held by Cullen Battle’s Alabama brigade and George Doles’s Georgia brigade. With the assistance of other troops on their right from another division, the Seventh Wisconsin played a material role in driving back John M. Jones’s Confederate brigade (which is what Ray is describing briefly in his account: “charged on them, drove them & kept driving them for a mile or so . . .”). Jones was killed in the attack. The Federal advance soon became confused in the heavy terrain and drifted steadily leftward (or to the south). This left the Iron Brigade exposed to a heavy flanking fire that tore apart several regiments, including the Wisconsin men, who fell back to a line well to the rear. Cutler noted in his report that his brigade lost “very heavily in killed and wounded.” See OR 36, pt. 1,610-611. He was not exaggerating. The Seventh Wisconsin suffered its worse loss of the war in a single battle at the Wilderness with 27 killed, 155 wounded, and 35 missing. Losses at Gettysburg, which are considered heavy, totaled 21 killed and 105 wounded. William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (Albany, NY., 1889), 397.
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