Gettysburg, Day Three by Jeffry D. Wert

Author:Jeffry D. Wert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone

BY THE TIME THE VERMONTERS had ripped apart the right flank of Pickett’s division, additional Union regiments had reacted to the crisis in front of the copse of trees and had joined in the fighting. Like the Vermonters, these Federals had been blasting the Rebels with musketry before they rushed north along the ridge. The advent of these reinforcements heated the roiling combat to a white fury. 34

Aligned on the left of Webb’s Pennsylvanians, Colonel Norman Halls veteran units led the Union counterattack. It was to Hall that Frank Haskell had ridden when Webb’s line at the wall was shattered, telling the colonel that Webb needed help. Hall had had three regiments on the front line and two posted in reserve about one hundred yards to the rear. When the Virginians drove across the stone wall, however, the 59th New York and part of the 7th Michigan broke under the onslaught. With only the 20th Massachusetts left intact along the front, Hall ordered it to move “at once” and to strike the enemy flank. 35

Lieutenant Colonel George N. Macy repeated Halls orders to the Bay Staters, but the instructions could not be heard in the roar of gunfire. Consequently, the regiment “got into confusion,” according to one member, and mistakenly began to withdraw. Officers ran to the front of the companies, waving their swords and pointing toward the trees. “Seeing the impossibility of executing any regular movement,” Macy stated, he directed the companies to advance in a mass. He knew that “a hand to hand fight was coming.” 36

Behind the 20th Massachusetts, the 42nd New York and 19th Massachusetts were charging “side-by-side.” Minutes earlier, Winfield Scott Hancock had stopped at the position of the 19th Massachusetts, pointed toward the clump of trees, and told Colonel Arthur F. Devereux “to get in God Damn quick.” Devereux forwarded Hancock’s order to Colonel James Mallon of the 42nd New York, instructing the latter officer to move at the double-quick. As Hancock rode to the Vermonters’ position, where he was soon shot, the pair of regiments “made an impetuous dash” toward the Confederates. Colonel Hall appeared and “cheered us forward.” 37

The Virginians were, in Devereux’s description, “just breaking through the little oak grove” when the Federal reserves arrived. The swarm of Yankees halted about fifteen paces from the Southerners, and both masses of men fired volleys. Major Edmund Rice of the 19th Massachusetts recalled, “I thought at the time I was the bulls eye for a good many of Pickets men.” One bullet clipped off his cap, another knocked the sword from his hand, and a third struck the major in the abdomen. Color Sergeant Michael Cuddy carried the flag of the 42nd New York in the forefront of the regiment. Cut down with a mortal wound, Cuddy “rose by a convulsive effort” and waved the banner in the Rebels’ faces. He had carried it since Fredericksburg in December 1862. 38

In the 20th Massachusetts, Colonel Macy was flattened by a piece of an artillery shell, rose from the ground, and had his left hand shattered by a minié ball.

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