Those Damned Black Hats by Lance J. Herdegen

Author:Lance J. Herdegen [Herdegen, Lance J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS036050
ISBN: 9781611210385
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Published: 2008-09-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Are You Satisfied With the Twenty-Fourth?

The retreat from Seminary Ridge to the rally point on Cemetery Hill passed through the clogged streets of Gettysburg, the entire route fraught with danger and uncertainty. Lieutenant Amos Rood of the 7th Wisconsin said his regiment stayed until the Federal artillery was gone, then pushed toward the town. Raked by with artillery fire, a hot piece of razor-sharp shell sliced off Rood’s left shoulder blade. “But as I was moving rapidly it did not knock me down nor go thro me,” he remembered. “It had struck the ground and was rising or I would have been torn and killed. I did not give up tho, and limped and hobbled along….”

To the dismay of many Union men, the Rebels were also in Gettysburg. Lieutenant General Richard Ewell’s men had entered from the north, firing along the left cross streets, with Lieutenant General A. P. Hill’s men moving and firing along the right cross streets. “I lost one-half of my men getting through town and to Cemetery Hill. Moving, fighting, best as I could!” exclaimed Rood. No men were in sight, he continued, but “lots of women and some children.” They had tubs of water in the gateways and kept pumping fresh water for the passing soldiers. “Our men were suffering with thirst. Hot as hell too!”

Behind the 7th Wisconsin, the 6th Wisconsin was also trying to work its way through the streets of Gettysburg. “We know nothing about a Cemetery Hill,” Rufus Dawes said. “We could see only that the on-coming lines of the enemy were encircling us in a horseshoe.” On the porch of one of the houses they passed was Lucius Fairchild of the 2nd Wisconsin, who was somehow standing with the support of Doctor Ward. His left arm was freshly amputated, but he called out in a faint voice raising his good arm as he spoke, “Stick to ‘em boys! Stay with ‘em! You’ll fetch ‘em finally!” His appearance was both heartening and sorrowful at the same time.

The buildings of a small college sheltered the retreating 6th Wisconsin and Battery B of the 4th U.S. Artillery for a time. When he reached a street stretching from the school to Cemetery Hill, Dawes crossed it. He found Confederates in large numbers and turned south—unaware he was moving directly toward the designated rally point. One of the side streets was swept with musket fire, and Dawes ran his men one by one through a “hog-hole” in a wooden fence. The young officer stood at the hole. When a man stopped or hesitated, he pulled him clear to allow the next man through. Two men were shot in the street crossing, and it was obvious his soldiers were just about played out. “The sweat streamed from the faces of the men. There was not a drop of water in the canteens, and there had been none for hours.” Farther on, the streets were “jammed with crowds of retreating soldiers, and with ambulances, artillery and wagons.

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