6th Corps Artillery Continued - Massachusetts and New York

1st MA Light Battery A

The last three Artillery Batteries belonging to the 6th Corps at Gettysburg are the Massachusetts 1st Light Battery A, the New York 1st Battery, and the New York 3rd Battery.

The Massachusetts 1st Light Battery A arrived on the Gettysburg Battlefield about sunset 2 July, with 145 men and six 12 pound Napoleons.  They were commanded by Captain William H McCartney.  McCartney was a 28 year old Boston, MA lawyer.  He mustered into service as a First Lieutenant 3 October 1861.

They were held in reserve behind Little Round Top until about 2pm on 3 July, when under heavy Confederate artillery fire, they moved to the relief of the 1st New Hampshire Battery located on Cemetery Hill.  The men of this Battery fired only 4 rounds and sustained no casualties.

Their monument in located in the Soldiers National Cemetery, and was dedicated 8 October 1885.  William McCartney traveled quite a bit after the war, before marrying Katherine Searle in 1872 and opening a law practice in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  He died while on a fishing trip 11 May 1894.

Capt Andrew Cowan

The New York 1st Battery, also known as Cowan's Battery arrived on the field with the rest of the Corps and were initially held in reserve.   They came with six 3 inch Ordnance Rifles and 113 men.

Captain Andrew Cowen commanded this unit.  He was born 29 September 1841 in Ayrshire, Scotland, migrating to the United State with his family as a child.  When the Civil War began Cowan was living in Upstate New York.

Cowen's Battery

The Battery was moved into position just south of the Copse of Trees to relieve the 1st Rhode Island Battery B, just Pickett's Charge got underway.  As the Confederate troops broke through the Union line and advanced to within 10 yards; Captain Cowen ordered his gunners to fire double canister into them.  Brigadier General and Chief of Artillery Henry Hunt who was near this unit had his horse shot out from under him during this action.  They had 14 horse killed, 4 men killed and 8 wounded.

A monument to Cowan's Batter was dedicated in 1887 in the area of their action.  Andrew Cowen died 23 August 1913 in Louisville, Kentucky.

The final battery of the 6th Corps to be covered is the New York 3rd Independent Battery.  This Battery became a part of the 6th Corps when it was formed in May 1862.

The forced march of 36 miles brought Captain William Harn, 119 men and six 10 pound Parrott guns to the field.  Harn had been with the unit since late in 1862, but had been it's Captain only since 13 April 1863.  The 3rd New York was not engaged, but held in reserve near where it's monument is located on the Taneytown Road, just south of the National Cemetery.

After the war, William Harn became the keeper of the St Augustine Lighthouse in Florida.  He died 31 May 1889.

This concludes the 6th Corps Artillery at Gettysburg.

6th Corps Artillery Continued - The Regular Army Guns

2nd US Battery D at Fredericksburg

 There were 3 United States Regular Army Batteries in the 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg.  They were the 2nd US Battery D, the 2nd US Battery G, and the 5th US Battery F.

The 2nd United States Battery D didn't arrive at Gettysburg until 3 July 1863.  They brought four 12 pound Napolanes to the field.

This unit was under the command of Lieutenant Edward B Williston.  Williston was born 15 July 1837 in Norwich, Vermont.  He attended Norwich University from 1851 through 55, but did not graduate [he was given a degree from the University in 1865].  He was working on his brother's ranch in San Diego, California at the outbreak of the war.

Lieut Williston

Battery D remained south of the Battlefield on the Taneytown Road [where they have a monument].  The unit was held in reserve and weren't engaged.

2nd US Battery G

The 2nd United States Battery G arrived late on 2 July 1863 and were placed in reserve.  Under the command of Lieutenant John H Butler; Battery G had 113 men to handle the six Napoleons they brought to the field.

Following the repulse of Pickett's Charge this unit was moved to Ziggler's Grove.  This is where their monument is located.

The 5th United States Battery F also arrived in Gettysburg on 3 July 1863 and was initially held in reserve.  They were armed with six 10 pound Parrots and were commanded by Lieutenant Leonard Martin.  Martin was a West Point graduate of the class of 1861.

Lieut Martin

During the bombardment that preceded Pickett's Charge the unit was ordered to limber up and report to the front.  At about 4pm they were ordered to occupy a position in Ziggler's Grove to the south of the 2nd US Battery G.  They were not engaged.

Battery F's monument has moved around over the years.  In the 1960's the Park Service had the monument moved to make room for the erection of the old Cyclorama Building in Ziggler's Grove.  The Cyclorama Building was demolished in 2013 in an attempt to restore the look of the Battlefield.  On 24 September 2014 the monument to the 5th US Battery F was returned to it original location on the field.

We will continue with the 6th Corps Artillery tomorrow...

6th Corps Artillery At Gettysburg

For the next couple of days I'm going to cover the 6th Corps Artillery Brigade during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Just like the rest of the 6th Corps, the Artillery Brigade made the forced march of over 30 miles in 17 hours, on the night of  1 July and into the day of 2 July 1863.  They came onto the field under the command of Colonel Charles H Tompkins, with 937 men and 48 cannon.  They were placed upon arrival in reserve under the orders of Chief of Artillery for the Army of the Potomac; Brigadier General Henry Hunt.

The units making up the Union 6th Corps Artillery where the Massachusetts 1st Light Battery A, the 1st New York Independent Battery, the 3rd New York Independent Battery, the Rhode Island 1st Batteries C and G, the 2nd United States Batteries D and G, and the 5th United States Battery F.  The commander of this Brigade was Colonel Charles H Tompkins.

Colonel Thompkins

Tompkins was born 5 May 1834 in New Windsor, NY.  He attended West Point and would have been with the graduating class of 1851, but like so many men who start at West Point, he did not make to graduation.  He did however serve in the United States First Dragoons.  At the beginning of the Civil War he was a commissioned officer with the 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery.  Following the Battle of Fredericksburg, Tompkins was promoted to Colonel.  He would spend the rest of the war as the Chief of Artillery for the 6th Corps of the Union Army.  Ending the war with a brevet of Brigadier General of Volunteers, which he received on 13 March 1865.

There were two Rhode Island Batteries serving with the 6th Corps; the 1st Rhode Island Batteries C and G.  Both of these units were held in reserve during the battle.

The 1st Rhode Island Battery C came on the field at Gettysburg under the command of Captain Richard Waterman.  Waterman was born in Providence, RI, 29 January 1839 the son of William and Martha Waterman.  He graduated in 1858 from Brown University.

This Battery had moved around within the Army of the Potomac, and hadn't become permanent members of the 6th Corps until 15 June 1863.  They reported to the field with six 3 inch Ordnance Rifles.  The men were kept in readiness, but weren't called in for relief until the threat had passed.  They didn't have any casualties during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Captains Waterman and Adams

back of photo

1st Rhode Island Battery G was commanded by Captain George W Adams.  They had also only joined the 6th Corps in June 1863.  They reported to the field with six 10 Pound Parrotts.  The men were held in reserve throughout the Battle.

[This will be continued tomorrow....]

The Gettysburg National Museum

In 1921 George D Rosensteel opened the Gettysburg National Museum.  It was a family business and passion.  The collections from this museum are the foundation for the museum now located in the Gettysburg Military Park Visitors Center.

George D Rosensteel was the nephew of John Rosensteel.  John grew up in the Gettysburg area, and began collecting relics of the battle, within days of the battle's ending.  George worked for his Uncle, who owned and ran a series of businesses located on the east side of Little Round Top, which included a museum.

George opened the new Gettysburg National Museum in 1921.  He built the museum on land bought from his Uncle, across the Taneytown Road from the Soldiers National Cemetery.  He added to his collection of artifacts by buying other collections such as his Uncle's Rosensteel's Round Top Collection, the William Zinkand Collection, The Bushman Collection, The Henry Spangler Family Collection and others.  Over the years the building was expanded so family could live there, house the ever growing collection of Civil War relics, and in 1963 the addition of an Electric Map.

In the early 1970's the property was sold to the National Park Service.  Over 30,000 artifacts were donated to the Park Service at the same time.  The government operated the building as the Gettysburg Visitor Center and Museum until 2008.  On the last day of operation; 13 April 2008, about 160 people sat through the final showing of the Electric Map. The building was torn down in March 2009, to make way for rehabilitation of Ziggler's Grove.

A VMI Graduate

View from Oak Hill

On 1 July 1863 coming down from the north, fate put a division of Confederate soldiers on the far right of the Union line, and on highest point of Oak Hill.  This Division was led by the capable VIM graduate Major General Robert Rhodes.

Robert Emmett Rhodes was born in Lynchburg, VA, 29 March 1829.  After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1848, he stayed at the school as a professor until 1851.  Leaving it is believed because the promotion he expected went to Thomas J Jackson.  He went to work for the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad.

Rhodes became the Colonel of the 5th Alabama, leading the men at the First Battle of Manassas.  He continued to raise in rank, and to the command of larger parts of the army, until landing in Divisional command in Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Corps just before the Battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson himself recommended Rhode be promoted to Major General, which was done with the effective date of 2 May 1863.  He was the first Divisional Commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, who was not a graduate of West Point.

Rhodes' division was a part of Lieutenant General Richard Ewell's newly formed Corps at Gettysburg.  Arriving on the field from the north they took possession of Oak Hill, an excellent artillery platform.  Although there were a number of bad command decisions made by his division, they held their ground and eventually joined in routing of the Union forces on 1 July, driving them back to Cemetery Hill.

A little over a year letter, during the Battle of Third Winchester/ Battle of Opequon, Rhodes was leading his men in an attack, into a gap between the 6th and 19th Union Corps.  On 19 September 1864 an exploding shell killed Robert Rhodes instantly.  He left behind a wife, Virgina (Woodruff) and two children, Robert E and Bell Yancey Rhodes.

The Highest Casualties Rate

On the east side of Oak Hill, overlooking the McLean Farm, there are two artillery batteries.  The one shown in this old photo is of Page's Morris Battery.  A part of Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Henry Thomas Carter's Artillery Battalion.

Captain Richard Channing Moore Page was commanding the Morris Artillery at Gettysburg, PA.  Page was born 2 January 1841 in Albemarle County, VA.  When the Civil War started he enlisted in the Rockbridge Artillery, fighting with them during the Battle of First Manassas.  He transferred to the Morris Artillery in Oct 1861 as their Second Gun Sergeant.  When the Confederate artillery was reorganized in April 1862 Page was elected Captain of the Battery.

Page's Battery was part of the Artillery that made up Lieut Col Henry Carter's Battalion.  They were the Artillery of record in Maj Gen Robert Rhode's Division of Lieut Gen Richard Ewell's Corps.  They arrived on Oak Hill from the North with four Napoleons.  Page's Battery was ordered near the base of the hill, to the rear of Brig Gen George Doles brigade near the McLean barn.  The Union 11th Corps Artillery pounded them with a damaging fire.  The Battery lost 4 men killed, 26 wounded; including Capt Page and 17 horses, all during the 1 Jul fight.  This is the highest casualties rate for any Confederate artillery at Gettysburg.

Page would return to the Confederate Army; after recovering from his wound 27 Feb 1864, with a promotion to Major.  After the war he went to the University of Virginia, graduating in 1868 with a medical degree.  Page opened a practice in New York City, where he died 19 June 1898.

The farm property that Page's Battery fought on, on 1 July was owned by Moses McLean.  The farm is along and north of the Mummasburg Road.  At the time of the battle the farm was rented to David and Harriet Beams.  David was away during the battle fighting with 165th PA as part of Dix's Peninsula Campaign.  His wife and three year old daughter fled just ahead of the Confederates.  The farm was deeded to the Gettysburg National Military Park 14 April 1965.

A Christmas Poem

In 1864 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a widower with six children.  He had and would see the grief of Civil War.  This man's way of coping has brought us the beautiful Christmas Carol "I heard The Bells On Christmas Day".

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's oldest son Charley [this is what he was called by the family] enlisted to fight for the Union in March 1863.  He would become a Second Lieutenant in Company G of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry.  Charley missed the battle of Gettysburg do to an outbreak of typhoid.

However on 1 Dec 1863 Henry Wadsworth learned that his son had been  critically wounded during some skirmishing as part of the Mine Run Campaign.  Charley was moved to New Hope Church, where his father found him on 5 Dec 1863.Wadsworth was told that his son might not survive, and if he, he could be paralyzed.

Wadsworth wrote the word to the poem that would become our song, while waiting for his son to recuperate.  He was inspired after hearing church bells tolling Luke 2:14 "Peace on Earth" on Christmas morning.

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
   And wild and sweet
   The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
   Had rolled along
   The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
   A voice, a chime,
   A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
   And with the sound
   The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
   And made forlorn
   The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth," I said;
   “For hate is strong,
   And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
   The Wrong shall fail,
   The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”