The Macon Volunteers at Gettysburg July 2, 1863

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

 

Note: This article is an excerpt of a history of the Macon Volunteers currently in progress.

 

Logo of the Macon Volunteers and Map of the Actions of Anderson's Division July 2, 1863 by Hal Jespersen

Gettysburg

In the reorganization of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia following Chancellorsville, the Division of Brig. Gen. Robert H. Anderson was assigned to the newly created 3^rd Corps under Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill. The Macon Volunteers, as part of the 2^nd Georgia Battalion were assigned to the brigade of Brig. Gen. Ambrose Wright, Anderson’s Division.

 

Array of forces July 2, 1863. LOC

In support of Gen. Lee’s second attempt to take the war to the North, the Macon Volunteers took up the march on June 14 1863 and entered Pennsylvania on June 26.[1] Alerted to the presence of Federal forces at Gettysburg July 1, Anderson’s Division, then in Cashtown, marched to the battlefield and assembled on Herr Ridge by 5:00 that evening.[2]

 

On the morning of July 2, Hill ordered Anderson to advance and occupy positions on Seminary Ridge preparatory to an assault on Federal lines. The Confederate assault proceeded en echelon from the right as Longstreet’s 1^st Corps initiated the assault with an artillery barrage at 2:00 pm. It would take more than three hours for the units to the right of Anderson’s Division to be committed.

 

With the advance of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws immediately to his right, Anderson ordered his brigades forward.[3] Wright positioned his regiments with the 28^th on the right adjacent to the 2^nd Florida of Lang’s Brigade. The 3^rd advanced in the center with the 48^th Georgia to their left. Wright ordered the 2^nd Georgia Battalion to advance forward of the brigade as skirmishers. Rushing forward, the battalion posted behind a split rail fence northwest of the Codori Farm and the Emmitsburg Road.[4] Two Federal regiments, the 82^nd New York and 15^th Massachusetts were on the opposite side of the road supported by the Battery B, 1^st Rhode Island Artillery commanded by Capt. Thomas Brown.

 

The fence bordering the Emmitsburg Road behind which the Macon Volunteers formed on July 2, 1863. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

The Macon Volunteers and others of the battalion passed several tense minutes in their forward exposed position before Wright’s regiments reached them. Whereas the 2^nd Battalion was supposed to fall into the marching order on the left of the 48^th, Ga. its soldiers were disrupted as the brigade passed through its ranks and the Volunteers were compelled to fall in with the advancing regiments. Though undulating terrain and tall grass obscured their early advance, the Georgians were exposed to a galling fire from three brigades of infantry and three artillery batteries as they approached the Emmitsburg Road. Nevertheless, Wright’s advance was so swift that by the time Brown observed them he scarcely had time bring two of his sections to bear. Unleashing a devastating volley that sent “scores of Wright’s men sprawling in the grass,”[5] the New Yorkers realized with horror that Wright’s line, three regiment’s wide, would presently envelop their left flank. Reading the tactical situation, the veterans of the 82^nd N.Y. began to withdraw and with them followed the 15^th Mass. As its infantry support melted away, Brown’s battery was engulfed by the 48^th Georgia which captured the guns and mortally wounded Brown. Seizing the opportunity afforded by the fleeing Federals, the 22^nd and 3^rd Georgia, supported by elements of the 2^nd Battalion swiftly advanced as the Federal units to their front could not fire for fear of hitting their own men. Wright regarded this opportunity while casting fleeting glimpses to his left. Posey’s brigade had failed to match the advance of Wright’s Georgians leaving their left flank exposed. Into this flank 1^st Lt. Alonzo Cushing’s Battery A, 4^th U.S. Artillery, poured a murderous fire of grapeshot and cannister. In the maelstrom of combat, Capt. George S. Jones, commanding Macon Volunteers, was desperately wounded in the face, side and arm and collapsed to the ground. He was captured and sent to Johnson’s Island. Subsequently exchanged, Jones rejoined the Volunteers and fought on until the surrender at Appomattox Court House.[6]  

Command of the Macon Volunteers devolved to 1^st Lt. Edward Grannis, but he scarce had time to execute command before he fell mortally wounded not far from his captain. He died the following day. Second Lieutenant Thomas Kennedy Campbell, the sole remaining officer of the Macon Volunteers was shot through the lower abdomen by cannister fire. He was captured, treated at a Federal field hospital, and dispatched to Fort McHenry, Md.[7]

 

The Codori Farm viewed from the position of Cushing's Battery. The Macon Volunteers passed over this ground July 2, 1863. Photo by William Carraway

Wright’s Georgians had penetrated the Federal line and advanced farther than any Confederate troops that day, farther indeed than any of the soldiers who would cross over the same fields the next day as part of Maj. Gen. George’s Pickett’s doomed charge. Nevertheless, surveying the murderous scene, Wright realized that his gains were unsustainable. Seething at the absence of support from adjacent units, Wright ordered his troops to withdraw to their pre-assault position on Seminary Ridge where they remained until called forward to help cover the retreat of Pickett’s shattered units the next day. On the evening of July 4, the 87^th anniversary of the independence of the United States, Wright’s Brigade, and what remained of the Macon Volunteers quietly marched away From Gettysburg. Ten days later, they crossed the Potomac with half the men they had taken north just 19 days earlier.[8]

 

In his report on the Gettysburg Campaign, Wright bitterly lamented the sacrifice his troops had made for naught. He credited his troops with capturing 25 artillery pieces, noting that the 2^nd Battalion had accounted for “as many as 5 or 6 pieces.”[9] The cannons came at a high price. Wright reported 688 killed or wounded and a casualty rate of nearly 51 percent. Three of Wright’s four regimental and battalion commanders fell including Maj. George Ross of the 2^nd Battalion who was mortally wounded and captured at the crest of Cemetery Ridge.[10] The 2^nd Battalion lost 82 out of 173 who went into action.[11]

 

Analysis of the Macon Volunteers service records finds that of an aggregate strength of 52, 16 were killed, wounded or captured including all the company’s officers. In a rear-guard action at Manassas Gap, July 23, 1863, the company lost five of its remaining 36 Solders to a superior Federal force.[12]

 

Postscript

On Aug. 4, 1864, more than one year after being shot through the bowels by cannister at Gettysburg, and long after other prisoners from Gettysburg had been exchanged, Lt. Thomas Campbell of the Macon Volunteers penned the following letter to Col. William Hoffman, commissary general of prisoners from his cell at Fort McHenry hospital:

Sir,

I have the honor to submit my care to you for your human consideration. I was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg July 2, 1863. Ball entering the left side of the bowel, passing through making its exit near the spinal column. I have been confined to the bed ever since... I feel quite sure from the condition I am in at this time that my stay upon the earth will be short. My only desire is to be permitted to return to my home and spend the few days left me in this life in the bosom of my family where their kind attention may soothe my journey to the grave. Hoping this application may meet with your approval and early considerations.

I am, colonel, your most obt. svt.

 

Thos. K Campbell

Lt. Co. B 2^nd Ga Batt[13]

 

Lieutenant Campbell died from the effects of his wound Sept, 23, 1864 at Fort McHenry. He was 31 years old.

The headstone of 2nd Lt. Thomas K. Campbell in Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Ga. Photo by Jimmy Allen.

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[1] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1889) 613.

 

[2] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. 622.

 

[3] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. 614.

 

[4] Bradley M. Gottfried, The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863 (New York: Savas Beatie, 2010), 204-205.

 

[5] Bradley M. Gottfried, The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863, 206.

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[6] National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy No. 266. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. The Second Battalion Infantry. Roll 159-162.

[7] National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy No. 266. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. The Second Battalion Infantry. Roll 159-162.

 

[8] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. 615.

 

[9] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. 624.

 

[10] U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 / v. 27, Part 2: Reports. 625.

 

[11] J. David. Petruzzi and Steven Stanley, The Gettysburg Campaign in Numbers and Losses: Synopses, Orders of Battle, Strengths, Casualties, and Maps, June 9-July 14, 1863 (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2013) 130.

 

[12] National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy No. 266. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. The Second Battalion Infantry. Roll 159-162.

[13] National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy No. 266. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. The Second Battalion Infantry. Thomas Campbell.