In late June, John Reynold, a native of Pennsylvania, led the 3 corps left wing of the Army of the Potomac north towards Gettysburg. On July 1, Brigadier General John Buford's Union Calvary would be deployed in defensive positions on the northwest side of Gettysburg. Here they would engage with Confederate forces under Major General Henry Heth, even though Heth had strict instructions from his commander Robert E Lee to not do anything to bring on a general engagement. Gettysburg is not where Lee wanted to fight, and he still needed more time for his army to come back together. Until his he had the full strength of his army, he was desperate to avoid a general engagement.
However, fate, and John Reynolds, would force Lee's hand.
Buford and his dismounted cavalry deployed delaying tactics, trying to hold off the Confederates until the Union Army could arrive. Buford sent word back to Reynolds that he had engaged the Confederate Army, and while they were delaying the advanced of the Confederates, they were being pushed back. Reynolds quickly rode ahead to assess the situation. Reynolds would join Buford in the cupola of the Lutheran Seminary building to assess the battlefield. The decision to fight or fall back now fell to Reynolds, who decided to fight. He told Buford to hold his position as best he could, as Reynolds moved his 3 corps forward as fast as possible. The two brigade First Division of the First Corps were the first Federal units to arrive. The First Brigade of the division consisted of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Infantry Regiments, the 19th Indiana Infantry, and the 24th Michigan Infantry–The Iron Brigade. The Second Division consisted of six regiments from New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The 6th Wisconsin was ordered to the right to join two Second Brigade regiments advancing on a threat from Brigadier General Joseph Davis’ Brigade near an unfinished railroad cut near the Chambersburg Pike. The rest of the Iron Brigade hurried forward towards the Herbst Woods on McPherson’s Ridge.
The Iron Brigade clashed troops from Tennessee and Alabama under the command of Brigadier General James J. Archer’s brigade in the Herbst Woods. Reynolds was in the thick of the action mounted on his horse, issuing orders, just east of the woods. As the 2nd Wisconsin rushed past Reynolds into the woods, Reynolds shouted “Forward men, forward, for God’s sake, and drive those fellows out of the woods.” The two sides blasted away at each other with devastating effect. Reynolds, in his hazardous forward position, was hit in the back of neck by a bullet and killed instantly.
No one knows exactly who fired the shot that killed Reynolds, although there are two theories. The most popular (and the most dramatic) is that Reynolds was killed by a Confederate sharp shooter. Mounted on his horse while his men were on the ground, he certainly would have made an easy and attractive target for a sniper. However, there were so many shots being fired, and so many bullets flying through the air, and that it is entirely possible that he simply was killed by a round that went over the heads of his men.
Reynolds was a capable and popular military leader, and his death was a blow to the Union Army. However, his maneuvers early on day 1 would impact the eventual outcome of the battle. By continuing the delaying action that Buford had begun, the Union Army was able to arrive and set up a strong defensive position on the high ground from Culp’s Hill on the north, along Cemetery Ridge, and on down to the Round Tops to the south. These positions on the high grounds would prove invaluable to the Union Army, and would help turn the tide to the Union Army, despite the Union Army being driven back and the Confederate Army occupying the town of Gettysburg at the end of the fighting on day 1.
The death of Reynolds, and the heroic stand of his Iron Brigade, would become legend after the battle. The spot where Reynolds fell, and the first shots of the battle of Gettysburg were fired, are marked on the field to this day.
When I visited the field in 2013, there were reenactors from the 24th Michigan at the spot. They taught us so much about what the brigade did there, why Reynolds death was so important, and how the fighting on day 1 set the tone for the fighting for the rest of the battle. Those reenactors really brought that sobering history to life, and since I am from Wisconsin myself, I couldn't help but be proud of what those Wisconsin soldiers accomplished that day, and what they were willing to sacrifice to preserve the Union.
When you stand on the same ground as that sacrifice, it is hard not to feel gratitude and an emotional connection to those men, reach through history to remind you of their sacrifice for the faceless generations to come.
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