July 1, 1863 - 8:00AM
Solomon Meredith’s Iron Brigade (Reynolds’ I Corps) is forming on the roads just south of Gettysburg. The Iron Brigade has a reputation that follows them into battle; a reputation of being the best in the Army of The Potomac. The brigade is comprised of four regiments from the mid-west; the 19th Indiana, 24th Michigan, 2nd Wisconsin, 6th Wisconsin, and the 7th Wisconsin. On the morning of July 1st, Meredith’s brigade consisted of 1,829 soldiers and officers. The troops were on their way to support and relieve Buford and his battle weary troopers which were holding off Confederate attacks on the ridges to the west of Gettysburg.
When the brigade was 4 miles away from Gettysburg, the soldiers heard the deep booming of artillery. As the men marched on, the crackle of muskets filtered into the atmosphere, and the men realized that a significant fight was waiting for them. Around 10AM, the brigade reached the Codori House along the Emmitsburg Road. The brigade made a sharp left, and began running through the fields in a north-westerly direction, which put them on a direct route to McPherson’s Ridge. The officers shouted up and down the line, “Double quick, boys! Double quick!” During this nearly mile-long sprint, officers began to realize that their troops were rushing into battle with empty muskets. The only regiment that was loaded and ready were the boys in the 19th Indiana, who served on picket duty the night before. Colonel Morrow, commander of the 24th Michigan, temporarily halted his men so that they could load their weapons. The men stopped, pulled cartridges, then heard an order from another officer telling them otherwise. An officer from General Wadsworth’s staff was riding by and immediately revoked the order, and ordered Morrow to rush his men to Herbst Woods with all possible speed. The only option now was to have the men load while sprinting towards their objective.
The 2nd Wisconsin reached the crest of McPherson’s Ridge first. The 7th and 14th Tennessee fired into the Wisconsin troops as they poured over the ridge. Their Corps commander, General Reynolds, turned to the men of the 2nd Wisconsin and urged them on. “Forward men, forward, for God’s sake and drive those fellows out of the woods!” Just then, a bullet slammed into the back of Reynolds’ head. He was dead before he hit the ground.
The rest of the Iron Brigade formed behind the 2nd Wisconsin. As they arrived, they found themselves enveloped in a dense smoke. Colonel Robinson, commander of the 7th Wisconsin, soon heard bullets flying over his head. He was hesitant to open fire. He knew the 2nd Wisconsin was somewhere in front of the rest of the brigade, but he could not identify the force as friend or foe. A quick glance towards his left revealed a Confederate battle flag, only 20 yards in front of his own lines. Robinson immediately launched an assault, and the Union infantry lunged into the thick smoke, disappearing among the enemy and deafening noise.
Further up the line, the 19th Indiana and the 24th Michigan overlapped the Confederate right flank of Archer’s line. The 24th Michigan advanced beyond the Confederate flank, and soon enveloped Archer’s right flank and rear. Within minutes, the Confederates gave way. Soldiers who thought they could make it to the rear attempted to run, while others simply threw their weapons down and made their way behind Union lines. Private Patrick Maloney made his way to the rear with a prize - he personally snagged General Archer. Unfortunately, Private Maloney would be killed later that day.
After pursuing the remnants of Archer’s brigade across Willoughby Run, the Iron Brigade fell back to its former positions in Herbst Woods. Around 11:30AM, the brigade was realigned, forming an obtuse angle, with the “dent” in the center of the line. The line officers immediately protested the formation, but were denied a request to reposition, as the ground must be held “whatever the cost may be.”
The 6th Wisconsin was originally ordered to fall in on the left flank of the 24th Michigan. As the 6th approached their portion of the line, another staff officer ordered the regiment to be a part of the division’s reserve. Colonel Rufus Dawes, the 6th’s commander, soon found his unit in the middle of a field, exhausted and uneasy about what role they were actually going to play. After a short rest, the men of the 6th watched helplessly as Cutler’s brigade, fighting directly in front of them, began to break and run to the rear. The 6th was ordered to advance. Almost immediately, Dawes was dumped to the ground after his horse was shot multiple times. He led his regiment by foot for the rest of the attack. When the regiment reached the fence along the Chambersburg Pike, the men went prone, and began firing at Confederates only 50 yards away. Mysteriously, Confederate troops were disappearing - not hit or vaporized, just the appearance of melting into the ground. Dawes ordered his men forward, as the enemy had simply disappeared. Flushed with victory, the men of Wisconsin climbed over the fence, and charged through the open fields. Then, from a depression in the ground, hundreds of Confederate muskets rose from the earth and blazed away at Dawes and his regiment. The Confederates had jumped into an unfinished railroad cut, and were using it as a trench. The 6th was being ripped apart with every step they took, but there was no turning back now. The men pushed on, and eventually found themselves on the lip of the railroad cut, staring into a pit of struggling humanity. “Throw down your muskets! Down with your muskets!”, the Union soldiers shouted. Over 225 men and 7 officers of the 2nd Mississippi surrendered to Dawes and his men. The railroad cut was secure.
While Dawes was slugging it out with Confederate troops in the railroad cut, the rest of the Iron Brigade focused their attention towards Willoughby Run. A massive Confederate brigade was approaching.
Pettigrew’s Brigade was an all North Carolina brigade. It had 4 regiments - the 11th North Carolina, 26th North Carolina, 47th North Carolina, and 52nd North Carolina, totaling 2,581 effectives. It was the largest brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, mostly because the brigade had never seen combat. Of the 4 regiments, only the 26th had seen actual combat, and that had been a year before during the Peninsula Campaign in the summer of 1862. Pettigrew and his brigade were now fanning out to dislodge the Union troops on McPherson’s Ridge. Pettigrew’s men didn’t know it at the time, but they were about to clash with the toughest brigade in Meade’s army. To dislodge the Iron Brigade as your first combat experience was a tall order to fill, and seems nearly impossible to this day. But, the North Carolinians had numbers on their side, and a tactical blunder from the Union command. Biddle had orders to align his brigade on the left flank of the Iron Brigade. That would have extended the Union position another couple hundred yards to the south and west. Instead, Biddle formed his brigade to the left and rear of the Iron Brigade - 300 yards from the left flank of the Iron Brigade, which was held by the 19th Indiana. This presented a huge gap between the 2 brigades that could be exploited by determined Confederate troops. To make matters worse, Pettigrew’s Brigade was so huge that it even overlapped Biddle’s Brigade.
Around 2:00PM, the order to advance was given. The 26th North Carolina and 11th North Carolina ran into trouble first. On the other side of Willoughby Run stood the men of the 24th Michigan and 19th Indiana. The first shots from the Union line was high, and was relatively harmless. Colonel Morrow of the 24th Michigan wrote that the Confederates “advanced in 2 lines of battle…they came on with rapid strides, yelling like demons.” The 26th North Carolina started to shift to the right, a result of enfilade cannon fire striking it’s left flank. The terrain became increasingly difficult to maneuver in. Dense thickets, steep inclines, and rocks hidden in foliage disrupted the battle lines constantly. The 26th North Carolina splashed through Willoughby Run, followed by the 11th North Carolina. The Iron Brigade was not firing high anymore. Men began falling, and soldiers remembered the bullets as being “thick as hail stones in a storm.” A colonel riding behind the 26th North Carolina was cheering the men on when a bullet lifted the hat from his head. Without a pause, the colonel reached back and plucked the hat out of the air, returning it to his balding head. The Iron Brigade, clearly the culprits, gave out a long cheer when the rebel officer returned the hat to its former location.
The 26th North Carolina was moving rapidly. It closed in on the 24th Michigan, and the two lines stood only 20 paces apart at times, delivering volley’s at point-blank range. The North Carolinians break the first line of the 24th Michigan, but run into its second line only 20-30 yards to the rear. The 11th North Carolina was slugging it out with the 19th Indiana, which was stubbornly holding its ground. Eventually, the 11th North Carolina found the exposed flank of the 19th Indiana, and began to roll the Union line up. The 26th North Carolina and 24th Michigan were locked in a devastating struggle. Neither wanted to withdrawal and admit defeat. Casualties mounted. So far, 10 flag bearers had been killed or wounded in the 26th North Carolina. The same was true for the 24th Michigan. At one point, an officer in the 24th ordered the flag to be wrapped up and placed into its shuck to avoid further casualties. The 26th North Carolina wanted to keep its flag moving. Soon, an officer from Pettigrew’s staff grabbed the flag and began advancing. He took a few steps, then was riddled by 8 bullets. A Captain seized the flag as it was falling to the ground - he was shot in the face after holding it for a few seconds. The 26th North Carolina’s commander, Colonel Henry Burgwyn, raised the flag next. “Dress on the colors! Dress on the colors!” A private ran up to the Colonel, asking for the honor of carrying the flag. As Burgwyn transferred the flag to the private, a hail of bullets slammed into them. Burgwyn was severely wound, and the private’s face had been shot away. Burgwyn would eventually die later that day from his wounds. The 14th flag bearer for the regiment was Lt. Colonel John Lane. He, too, was severely wounded in the throat. The next flag bearer was extremely lucky; as soon as he grabbed the flag, the Iron Brigade broke for the rear. It took 15 men to advance a flag just over 50 yards. The fighting became so intense that men could not handle their weapons while reloading. The barrels were so hot that men couldn’t even touch them. To ram a cartridge home, soldiers were pounding their ramrods against rocks and trees.
Both brigades were wrecked. Pettigrew’s discontinued their pursuit of the Iron Brigade as fresh units arrived. The Iron Brigade made one last stand just outside of town, inflicting more damage on the southern troops. On July 1st, the Iron Brigade had fought 3 Confederate brigades in the span of 5 hours. The remnants of the Iron Brigade soon found themselves clogged in town, along with a good portion of the XI Corps, who were fleeing the fields north of town. Eventually, the survivors reached Cemetery Hill. The Iron Brigade, a shell of its former self, was soon transferred to Culp’s Hill, where it remained for the rest of the battle.
Of the 1,829 men that went into combat that day for the Iron Brigade, 1,153 of them were killed, wounded, or missing - a sobering 63% casualty rate. For the 24th Michigan, only 26 men and 1 officer assembled under its banner. Stragglers filtering in throughout the evening raised that number to 99 men and 3 officers.
For Pettigrew, of the 2,581 that went into combat that day, nearly 1,100 of them were killed, wounded, or captured. The 26th Carolina went into combat with 900 men and officers. During their assault, 588 of them were killed, wounded, or captured. The 26th sat out July 2nd, but was involved in Pickett’s Charge on July 3rd. By the evening of July 3rd, only 67 privates and 3 officers remained from the original 900 that went into combat 2 days prior. The regiment took 83% casualties in 2 days of combat, and would never be the same.
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