Posted on 07/03/2007 8:51:36 AM PDT by yankeedame
Hard to see those google-eyes from here.
I salute you sir ! and the Colors.
Deo Vindice !
have you any paintings of General Barksdale’s heroic charge sir?
http://homepage.eircom.net/~odyssey/Quotes/History/Shelby_Foote.html
“Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having Lee. The first day’s fighting was so encouraging, and on the second day’s fighting he came within an inch of doing it. And by that time Longstreet said Lee’s blood was up, and Longstreet said when Lee’s blood was up there was no stopping him... And that was that mistake he made, the mistake of all mistakes. Pickett’s charge was an incredible mistake, and there was scarcely a trained soldier who didn’t know it was a mistake at the time, except possibly Pickett himself, who was very happy he had a chance for glory... William Faulkner, in ‘Intruder in the Dust’, said that for every southern boy, it’s always within his reach to imagine it being one o’clock on an early July day in 1863, the guns are laid, the troops are lined up, the flags are out of their cases and ready to be unfurled, but it hasn’t happened yet. And he can go back in his mind to the time before the war was going to be lost and he can always have that moment for himself.” — Shelby Foote
Joshua Chamberlain.
thank you ! Have you any others?
The third southern monument on the field attributed to sculptor Donald DeLue is the Mississippi Memorial, erected on the site where General William Barksdale's Mississippi brigade waited before going into battle the evening of July 2.
Built to honor eleven infantry regiments, one infantry battalion, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery battery from Mississippi, the monument illustrates the bravery, devotion, and sacrifice of the Mississippi soldier in the face of great odds.
The statue represents two infantrymen of Barksdale's brigade in their advance across the Shefry and Trostle farms. In the fierce fighting which will eventually overwhelm the Union Line along the Emmitsburg Road, one has fallen mortally wounded. His comrade has stopped beside him and using his musket as a club, defends the fallen flag. In the close hand to hand fighting that often characterized the battle on July, 2, this scene may have been witnessed many times.
I salute ‘those men! ‘ from Mississippi
Pitzer Woods
Owned at the time of the battle by farmer Samuel Pitzer, this plot of oaks and maples stands at the southern tip of Seminary Ridge and marks its juncture with Warfield Ridge. The woods had no significance at all to the Gettysburg landscape until certain events took place here on July 2. Just prior to midday, the 1st United States Sharpshooters were ordered by Major General Daniel Sickles, commander of the Union Third Corps, to scout this patch of woods. Accompanied by members of the 3rd Maine Infantry, the sharpshooters encountered Alabama soldiers from Brig. General Cadmus Wilcox's Brigade. A brisk fire fight broke out and though it lasted only a few moments, the Union soldiers withdrew with the knowledge that the woods on Seminary Ridge were teeming with Confederates. Returning to Cemetery Ridge, they reported their encounter to General Sickles who realized that the number of Confederates in those woods meant only one thing- a heavy, concentrated attack on his corps from the west. Sickles sent a courier to General Meade with the information, followed by another courier a half hour later. Another hour passed and having received no response from Meade, Sickles decided to advance his corps to the Emmitsburg Road, the only high ground between the two ridges where he would meet teh attack before they'd taken possession of it. This controversial decision separated his corps from the remainder of the Union army, which still lay on Cemetery Ridge.
Later that afternoon, Confederate troops of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps marched into this area, with the left of his line anchored in Pitzer Woods by the Mississippi Brigade of Brig. General William Barksdale. The Georgia brigade of Brig. General W.T. Wofford formed just outside of the woods, but close behind Barksdale's men who were thankful for the shade under which they rested. The objective for Barksdale and Wofford was to attack Union troops forming on the Emmitsburg Road and the salient of the advanced line at the Peach Orchard.
Gen. Barksdale Generals in Gray Just before 4 o'clock, Confederate artillery along this portion of Seminary Ridge opened fire on the Union batteries stationed in the Peach Orchard. Huddling in the woods, the Mississippi troops listened to the boom of the guns and screech of Union shells crashing through the trees above them. Impatient that his part of the attack was delayed until other troops had gone in first, a fuming Barksdale stormed up and down, stopping only to petition his division commander for permission to go into the attack early. Almost two hours into the attack, the hot tempered general was given permission to move forward in support of Confederate troops advancing on their right. Barksdale ordered his men to the eastern edge of the woods where the Mississippians dressed their ranks and went to the position of "parade rest" while Union shells burst around them. Though considered a senior in age, General Barksdale was a fiery and fearless leader in battle whose face appeared to "glow with excitement at the prospect of battle." Dressed in a resplendent gray officer's coat highlighted with with gold trim, his long gray hair flowing almost to the collar, Barksdale spurred his black charger to the front of his old regiment, the 13th Mississippi. Above the din of battle, the general spoke a few words of encouragement. He then waved his hat as a signal to begin the charge and his brigade moved forward in an unstoppable wave.
View toward the Peach Orchard from Pitzer Woods. Barksdale's Brigade charged over this open field toward Union defenders in the distance. The Round Tops rise in the distance just beyond the orchard.
Gettysburg NMP
The Mississippi Brigade raced across open fields and sliced through the Union line. It was "The most magnificent charge of the war," as one eyewitness called it. Despite the heroic efforts of two Union regiments near the Sherfy House to slow the Mississippians, Barksdale's soldiers broke through the shaken Union defenders in the Peach Orchard and the precarious Union line began to collapse. Wofford's Georgians followed in Barksdale's path and eventually drove in the last defenders of the orchard before they reached the Wheatfield and beyond, which you will visit as you continue the tour.
Samuel Pitzer's farmhouse still stands today, approximately 400 yards west of the woods for which he is named, and is today part of Eisenhower National Historic Site. The size and shape of these woods has changed very little since the battle, despite the placement of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp here in 1935 and the park amphitheater installed within the woods during the 1960's. The 1999 General Management Plan for Gettysburg National Military Park calls for the relocation of the amphitheater in the near future, and Pitzer Woods will return to its 1863 appearance.
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Mississippi Honors Her Sons at Gettysburg
Mississippi Monument
Gettysburg NMP
The Mississippi State Monument stands near this location, selected for this site because of the service of General Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade on July 2. Dedicated in 1973, the bronze soldiers atop the polished granite base depict the fighting spirit of the Mississippi soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. Sculptor Donald DeLue wrote that the monument, "expresses (the) bitter fighting on both sides. But, here on the Confederate side the tide has turned against them, ammunition gone, the flag down, only the courage of desperation remains to the courageous young soldier...", which aptly describes the closing scenes of Barksdale's charge, which not only broke the advanced Union line at the Peach Orchard, but also threatened to open a serious breach in the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Only the most desperate of measures taken by Union defenders threw the Mississippi regiments back.
Barksdale's Mississippians opposing the laying of the pontoon bridges. (Fredricksburg)
The Hummelbaugh House, where General William Barksdale was brought after being mortally wounded near the Peach Orchard.
Above the din of battle, the general spoke a few words of encouragement.
And his words were:
“Attention, Mississippians! Battalions forward! Dress to the colors and Forward to the foe! Onward, Brave Mississippians! For Glory!”
Thank you very, very much. When after Appomattox the Confederate colors were paraded by proudly in defeat, Chamberlain had his men salute them. Those men understood honor. BTT.
The song that symbolizes the South in the Civil War, Dixie’s Land, was actually written by a Northerner writing on Manhattan Island. Dixie’s Land is a song that has very different associations for different people. But there is some circumstantial evidence to suggest that, ironically, Dixie’s Land may have been Abraham Lincoln’s favorite tune. Just after the fall of Richmond, Lincoln was asked by a band leader what tune he would like to hear. He is said to have replied, “Play ‘Dixie’ for me. That tune is no Federal property. [It's] good to show the rebels that, with us in power, they will be free to hear it again."
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