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Chapter 2
July 1, 1863, 11:00 a.m.
Oak Ridge
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
They were gone again as if they were ghosts. Gray ghosts. Only the heaps of blue that covered the ground in front of him showed that the attack had not just been an imagination, but a brutal reality. The sun, almost at its zenith, made Brigadier General Lysander Cutler painfully feel each of his fifty-four years. His shoulders were aching. It had been a disaster, a bloody disaster. He looked around and the sad piles of men grouped around the worn and tattered flags finally brought him back to the present.
He and his men had been the first to respond to Buford's call for help, and they had bled for it. The brigade excepting the 7th Indiana, which was on duty in the rear, had moved from camp early in the morning towards Gettysburg. As they approached, Cutler was ordered by division commander Wadsworth to move obliquely to the left across the fields to Seminary Ridge west of the town, where the Confederates had already engaged Buford's cavalry. He moved forward across a railroad cut with the 76th New York, 147th New York and 56th Pennsylvania, immediately formed in line of battle and almost in the same instant found himself engaged with rebels in front and on his right flank, who were soon to be identified as belonging to Joseph Davis' brigade of Mississippians and North Carolinians. Cutler went into the fray with around one thousand men in three regiments, because the 95th New York and the 14th Brooklyn had been detached to the left to support a battery of artillery. While the 147th New York had held steady behind a wooden fence and traded fierce volleys with a regiment of Mississippians, the other two regiments were assaulted by superior numbers, outflanked on the right and driven back in confusion. Finally, the 147th New York, being now nearly surrounded, was forced back as well. Cutler had been riding constantly from one end to the line to the other and encouraged his men by recklessly exposing himself, but to no avail. When James Wadsworth finally ordered the retreat to the next ridge in order to establish a new line of defense, Cutler's brigade had already suffered more than four hundred and fifty casualties. The brigade commander had been certain that a new attack had to be launched at any moment. But suddenly, apparently without any reason, the rebels had turned. They had been about to attack Cutler's remaining two regiments south of the railroad cut when they fell back.
"Can you explain this sudden change of heart, sir?“, Cutler asked his superior, Brigadier General James Wadsworth.
"Not completely. A very unusual behavior for Bobby Lee. I have been told that a second rebel brigade had been sighted in the southwest and has never even attempted to advance.“
"Do you think Lee is up to something, sir?“
"He always is, isn't he?“, Wadsworth asked back rhetorically. "For now we have to make the best of the situation. The odds could be worse. Our lines held against them, at least sort of, and Meredith's brigade is now up. When Robinson and Doubleday arrive, we can prepare a nasty surprise for the rebels. And you, Lysander, get yourself something to drink and see to your men. I still need you today“
Cutler nodded weakly, saluted and departed.
Brig. Gen. Lysander Cutler, USA
Chapter 2
July 1, 1863, 11:00 a.m.
Oak Ridge
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
They were gone again as if they were ghosts. Gray ghosts. Only the heaps of blue that covered the ground in front of him showed that the attack had not just been an imagination, but a brutal reality. The sun, almost at its zenith, made Brigadier General Lysander Cutler painfully feel each of his fifty-four years. His shoulders were aching. It had been a disaster, a bloody disaster. He looked around and the sad piles of men grouped around the worn and tattered flags finally brought him back to the present.
He and his men had been the first to respond to Buford's call for help, and they had bled for it. The brigade excepting the 7th Indiana, which was on duty in the rear, had moved from camp early in the morning towards Gettysburg. As they approached, Cutler was ordered by division commander Wadsworth to move obliquely to the left across the fields to Seminary Ridge west of the town, where the Confederates had already engaged Buford's cavalry. He moved forward across a railroad cut with the 76th New York, 147th New York and 56th Pennsylvania, immediately formed in line of battle and almost in the same instant found himself engaged with rebels in front and on his right flank, who were soon to be identified as belonging to Joseph Davis' brigade of Mississippians and North Carolinians. Cutler went into the fray with around one thousand men in three regiments, because the 95th New York and the 14th Brooklyn had been detached to the left to support a battery of artillery. While the 147th New York had held steady behind a wooden fence and traded fierce volleys with a regiment of Mississippians, the other two regiments were assaulted by superior numbers, outflanked on the right and driven back in confusion. Finally, the 147th New York, being now nearly surrounded, was forced back as well. Cutler had been riding constantly from one end to the line to the other and encouraged his men by recklessly exposing himself, but to no avail. When James Wadsworth finally ordered the retreat to the next ridge in order to establish a new line of defense, Cutler's brigade had already suffered more than four hundred and fifty casualties. The brigade commander had been certain that a new attack had to be launched at any moment. But suddenly, apparently without any reason, the rebels had turned. They had been about to attack Cutler's remaining two regiments south of the railroad cut when they fell back.
"Can you explain this sudden change of heart, sir?“, Cutler asked his superior, Brigadier General James Wadsworth.
"Not completely. A very unusual behavior for Bobby Lee. I have been told that a second rebel brigade had been sighted in the southwest and has never even attempted to advance.“
"Do you think Lee is up to something, sir?“
"He always is, isn't he?“, Wadsworth asked back rhetorically. "For now we have to make the best of the situation. The odds could be worse. Our lines held against them, at least sort of, and Meredith's brigade is now up. When Robinson and Doubleday arrive, we can prepare a nasty surprise for the rebels. And you, Lysander, get yourself something to drink and see to your men. I still need you today“
Cutler nodded weakly, saluted and departed.
Brig. Gen. Lysander Cutler, USA
- Lothar
- Word Count: 570