History
Appendix.
GENERAL ORDER-No. 68.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
July 4, 1863--4.15 p.m.The commanding general, in behalf of the country, thanks the army of the Potomac for the glorious result of the recent operations. Our enemy, superior in numbers, and flushed with the pride of a successful invasion, attempted to overcome and destroy this army. Baffled and defeated, he has now withdrawn from the contest. The privations and fatigue the army has endured, and the heroic courage and gallantry it has displayed, will be matters of history, to be ever remembered.
Our task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding general looks to the army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige of the presence of the invader.
It is right and proper that we should, on all suitable occasions, return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events, that in the goodness of His providence, He has thought fit to give victory to the cause of the just.
By command of Major-General Meade.
S. WILLIAMS, A. A. G.
REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. Geo. J. Stannard,
COMMANDING SECOND VT. BRIGADE.
Headquarters, 3d Brigade, 3d Division,
1st Army Corps
In front of Gettysburg, July 4, 1863.
P. T. Washburn, Adjutant and Inspector General:
SIR,-I have the honor to report that the Second Vermont Brigade, under my command, marched from the line of the Defenses of Washington, upon the Occoquan, on the 25th ult., under orders to report to Major-General Reynolds, commanding the 1st Army Corps.
The Brigade joined that corps at this place, on the evening of July 1, after an exhausting march of seven days. The distance marched averaged about 18 miles per day. Rain fell on every day of the seven. The men marched well, with no straggling. and considering the condition of the roads, the distance traveled, from the mouth of Occoquan to Gettysburg, could not have been accomplished in less time.
We reached the battle-ground, in front of Gettysburg, too late in the day to take part in the severely contested battle of July 1st, and my tired troops upon their arrival took position in rear of the line of battle of the 1st Corps.
Before reaching the ground, the Twelfth Regiment and Fifteenth Regiment were detached, by order of General Reynolds, as a guard to the corps wagon train in the rear. The Fifteenth Regiment rejoined the brigade next morning, but was again ordered back on the same duty, about noon of that day.
After the opening of the battle of the 2nd, the left wing of the Thirteenth Regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Munson, was ordered forward as support to a battery, and a company of the Sixteenth Regiment was sent as a support to the skirmishers in our front. While stationing them, Capt. A. G. Foster, Assistant Inspector General of my staff, was seriously wounded by a ball through both legs, depriving me of his valuable services for the remainder of the battle. Just before dark of the same day, our army line on the left of the centre having become broken, under a desperate charge of the enemy, my brigade was ordered up. The right wing of the 13th Regiment, under Colonel Randall, was in the advance, and, upon reaching the breach in the line, was granted by Major-General Hancock, commanding upon the spot, the privilege of making the effort to retake the guns of Company C, regular battery, which had just been captured by the enemy.
This they performed in a gallant charge, in which Colonel Randall's horse was shot under him. Four guns of the battery were retaken, and two rebel field pieces, with about eighty prisoners, were captured by five companies of the Thirteenth Regiment, in this single charge. The front line, thus re-established, was held by this brigade for twenty-six hours. At about two o'clock of the 3d inst., the enemy commenced a vigorous attack upon our position. After subjecting us, for an hour and a half, to the severest cannonade of the whole battle, from one hundred guns or more, the enemy charged with a heavy column of infantry. The charge was aimed directly upon my command, but owing apparently to the firm front shown them, the enemy diverged midway, and came upon the line on my right. But they did not thus escape the warm reception prepared for them by the Vermonters. As soon as the change of the point of attack became evident, I ordered a flank attack upon the enemy's column.
Forming in the open meadow in front of our lines, the 13th and 16th regiments marched down in column by the flank, changed front forward at right angles to the main line of our army, bringing them in line of battle upon the flank of the charging column of the army, and opened a destructive fire at short range, which the enemy sustained but a very few minutes before the larger portion of them surrendered and marched in, not as conquerors, but as captives. They had hardly dropped their arms before another rebel column appeared charging upon our left. Colonel Veazey, of the 16th was at once ordered to take it, in its turn, upon the flank. This was done as successfully as before. The rebel force, already decimated by the fire of the 14th Regiment, was scooped, almost en masse, into our lines. The 16th took, in this charge, the regimental colors of the 2d Florida and 8th Virginia regiments, and the battle-flag of another rebel regiment.
The 16th was supported for a time in the now advanced position it occupied after the charge, by four companies of the 14th, under command of Lieut. Col. Rose.
The movements I have briefly described were executed in the open field, under a very heavy fire of shell, grape and musketry, and they were performed with the promptness and precision of battalion drill. They ended the contest in the center and substantially closed the battle.
Officers and men behaved like veterans, although it was, for most of them, their first battle, and I am content to leave it to the witnesses of the fight, whether or no they sustained the credit of the service, and the honor of our Green Mountain State.
That their efforts were approved by the Division General, is shown by the General Order appended to this report.
The members of my staff--Capt. Wm. H. Hill, Assistant Adjutant General; Lieut. G. W. Hooker and Lieut. G. G. Benedict, Aides-de-Camp; Lieut. Clark, Provost Marshal, and Lieut. S. F. Prentiss, Ordnance Officer, executed all my orders with the utmost promptness, and by their coolness under fire and good example contributed essentially to the success of the day.
The list of casualties appended has been prepared in haste upon the field, and is probably inaccurate in some respects. Of those set down as missing, but one is known to have been taken prisoner, and a number of them will probably appear in the lists of killed and wounded when the full returns have been received.
I am, General, with respect,
your obedient servant,
Brig. Gen. com'd'g d Brigade,
3rd Divis. 1st Army Corps
Head-quarters 3d Division, 1st A.C.,
July 4, 1853 [sic].GENERAL ORDERS, No. ---
The Major General commanding the division desires to return his thanks to the Vermont Brigade, the 151st regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the 20th regiment New York State Militia, for their gallant conduct in resisting, in the front line, the main attack of the enemy upon this position, after sustaining a terrific fire from 75 to 100 pieces of artillery. He congratulates them upon contributing so essentially to the glorious, and it is to be hoped, the decisive victory of yesterday.
By command of
Maj. Gen. Doubleday:
(Signed) EDWARD C. BAIRD,
Capt. and Ass't Adj't Gen.
Head-Quarters, 3d Brigade, 3d Division,
1st Army Corps,
Gettysburg, Pa., July 4, 1863.
"Official."Wm. H. Hill,
Ass't Adj't Gen.
Head-quarters 3d Brig., 2d Div., 1st corps,
Army of Potomac, July 15, 1863.
General Order, No. 10.
The Brig. General Commanding, in view of the gallantry and efficiency of the 13th, 14th and 16th Vermont Regiments, displayed at the battle of Gettysburg, directs that the flags of each of the Regiments be inscribed "Gettysburg," that the people of the State may be reminded, at the sight of these flags, of the men who bore and honored them in the hour of national danger and triumph; and that every soldier may justly be proud of his devotion to country and credit done to the State.
Nor does the General Commanding fail to appreciate the services rendered by the 12th and 15th Vermont Regiments, who, at the same time, served their country by the faithful discharge of important duties.
But while the entire command may well be proud of its laurels, they will not forget to remember the fallen dead. Let their names be embalmed in the hearts of their comrades! Let their memory be green as the sod that covers them! Let their virtues and example be a watchword in coming time! Let the tear of sympathy alleviate the sorrow of relatives and friends!
By order of
Brig. Gen. Geo. J. Stannard.
Geo. W. Hooker, A.A.A.G.
