Musings of a history buff - Oct. 8
Grandpa’s journey Part 4
By Ellis Knox
In 1863 my great-grandfather Amos Ellis, was 40 years old. He was administrator/principal of the Livingston, Texas public schools. In May of 1863 one of my great-uncles Gabriel Barfield was grazed by a Union minie ball on his backside.
My other great-uncle Richard Ellis, who was also there at the Battle of Chancellorsville, wrote home about it and set my great-grandmother Ellis on her ear. She demanded my great-grandfather go and fetch the boys home.
This is part four of how my great-grandfather journeyed with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, and how he came to be at Gettysburg, and later how tragedy befell him at the battle of Chickamauga.
Grandpa Ellis was with Longstreet’s Corps and they were in Chambersburg, PA only 18 miles from Cashtown, PA and 25 miles from Gettysburg.
Gen. Meade was still in Maryland and been selected by President Abraham Lincoln to replace the tarnished Gen. Hooker. Gen Meade did not know where all his forces were and consulted a map.
Looking along his line of march back north, he is said to have impulsively pointed to a town on the map. The word was sent to all Union commands to gather at Gettysburg.
It was a fateful decision. On June 29, one of Gen. Hill’s infantry units scouting the Cashtown road witness a Union cavalry troop south of Gettysburg but did not engage. This was probably Gen. John Buford’s unit.
The odd thing about the battle of Gettysburg is the Southern Army attacked from the north, and the Northern Army was attacking from the south.
This cavalry detachment captured a Confederate courier from possibly Lee to Stuart or Stuart to Lee. The courier destroyed whatever he had on him as his dispatch case was empty.
Gen. Buford realized the Confederate Army was directly in front of him. He immediately sent messages to the closest Infantry units that he had made contact with Lee’s Army.
He realized tactically Gettysburg was a perfect battlefield. The high ground south of town named cemetery ridge was a perfect defensive position.
The rolling hills north of that were also perfect for a delaying action, to give the Union infantry time to assemble. On the morning of July 1, 1863, Gen. Buford led his troop out before daylight and set up a defensive line on each side of the Cashtown Road, two ridges north of the good ground of Cemetery ridge.
That same morning, a small detachment of Confederate infantry ventured towards Gettysburg also on the Cashtown road on a mission to find shoes for the men. Thus began the most significant battle of the Civil War that ended with Gen. Lee’s disastrous attack upon the Union center on July 3, 1863.
On July 2, 1863, my grandfather was probably with the wagons parked along the Fairfield road or some other north of the battle line. Longstreet’s Corps, including the Texas Brigade, had been ordered by Gen. Lee to turn the Union left flank. They failed.
The attack did not go well from the start and many from Longstreet’s Corps were killed or captured. The next day, July 3, 1863, the Texas Brigade was held in reserve.
The evening of July 3, everyone on the battlefield knew that the battle was over. The South had hit its high water mark. The Army of Northern Virginia was more than decimated in an attempt to destroy the Army of the Potomac.
Longstreet’s assault, with Pickett’s Division leading the charge, was a complete failure. By the end of the day, Confederate losses were staggering. General Lee assumed the entire blame for the failure.
The Army of the Potomac was exhausted from their dash north, and Meade became cautious as Lee’s army began pulling out early in the morning of July 4, 1863. It was American Independence day, the siege of Vicksburg ended that day when the city was surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
My great-grandfather Ellis drove a wagon loaded with wounded. It began to rain, hard. It was a terrible trip. The road became a river of mud, the rocks jolted the wounded and they would scream in pain.
Many begged my Grandpa to stop and put them off so they could die in peace, but he could not.
Until next time…
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