C.S.A.
Army of Northern Virginia
Longstreet's Corps Artillery Reserve
Eschelman's Battalion
The Washington Louisiana Artillery
Miller's Squires, Richardson's, and Norcom's Batteries
Eight Napoleons and Two Twelve pounder howitzers
July 3. Arrived on the field before daylight and was engaged all day. Captured 1 three inch rifle.
July 4. At 9 am ordered to Cashtown to reinforce the Cavalry escorting the wagon train.
Losses. Killed 3, wounded 26, missing 16. Total: 45
Horses Killed and disabled 37. Guns disabled 3.
The marker is probably in the wrong location as the Battery was set up between the Smith house (Klingel) and the Rogers house on Emmitsburg Road.
It also says that they captured a three inch ordnance rifle but what it doesn't say is that the gun was found abandoned by the Battalion. Thompson's Battery left the gun behind when it moved back and was found by the Confederates.
But the thing that this battalion is probably best known for is that Miller's Battery was the battery who shot off the signal shots for the commencement of the Cannonade prior to Pickett's Charge. They were supposed to fire off 2 shots simultaneously but the one gun had a slight problem and the guns went off with a pause between the shots. Either way, it was the signal to begin the cannonade....the largest cannonade on North American soil.
I can't help but wonder if there are any statistics on the men in the batteries. How many of these men either went deaf during the war, or lost their hearing in years after the war? I wonder if anyone out there ever checked this out? It would be interesting to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment