First Day at Gettysburg: Crisis at the Crossroads

8. The Arrival and Deployment of the Eleventh Corps

CHAPTER 8 The Arrival and Deployment of the Eleventh Corps DURING THE LULL IN THE FIGHTING, ABOUT I I: 00 A.M., DOUBLEday was anxiously observing the build-up in strength and the concentration of the Confederate forces opposed to him. The Union First Corps commander was eagerly awaiting the arrival from the south of the Federal Eleventh Corps, Major General Oliver Otis Howard commanding . Howard would bring with him a total of some 9,500 effectives ,l and they would be desperately needed on the field to try to check the preponderant enemy forces being arrayed against the National soldiers. At about 8: 30 a.m., Howard, at Emmitsburg, Maryland, had received Reynolds' order to move immediately to Gettysburg to succor Buford and Doubleday. The Eleventh Corps commander had put his divisions in motion at once to comply with this directive. In order to expedite movements, Brigadier General Francis Channing Barlow's First Division, and one artillery battery, moved to Gettysburg via the Emmitsburg road; while Brigadier General Adolph von Steinwehr's Second Division, Major General Carl Schurz' Third Division, and the remaining four artillery batteries of Major Thomas W. Osborn's artillery brigade traveled eastward by a cross-road from the Emmitsburg road to the Taneytown road, and thence by the last-named highway to Gettysburg.2 Mter directing that the infantry and artillery be hurried forward to the front as rapidly as possible, Howard himself rode on ahead toward Gettysburg to see what was transpiring.3 At about I I: 00 a.m., he received the sad tidings of Reynolds' death from 64 Major William Riddle, aide-de-camp of the late Federal Left Wing commander.4 General Howard himself arrived on the battlefield at approximately I I: 15 a.m.5 Being the senior officer present, he succeeded Doubleday in command of the whole field, the latter retaining command of the First Corps west of town. Schurz now became temporary Eleventh Corps commander, while his Third Division was turned over to Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig. The command of Schimmelfennig 's First Brigade was given to Colonel George von Amsberg, and the latter's 45th New York regiment was commanded, in turn, by Lieutenant Colonel Adolphus Dobke. Howard immediately set up his headquarters on East Cemetery Hill, across the Baltimore pike from the citizens' Evergreen Cemetery.6 Then he went to the top of the Fahnestock building, at Middle and Baltimore streets, to survey the situation.7 While observing the lines of battle from there, Howard evidently saw a temporary retrograde movement of several regiments of Cutler's brigade, and prematurely reported to Meade the erroneous intelligence that the whole First Corps was crumbling. This hasty and ill-considered action by Howard was unjustified. It led, in part, to Meade's replacing Doubleday in command of the First Corps with Major General John Newton of the Third Division, Sixth Corps, despite the very capable handling of the First Corps by Doubleday throughout the day-generalship and dexterity that were superior to that shown by Howard himself during the First Day's battle.s The Eleventh Corps commander soon had instructions for Doubleday . To a messenger, Howard said, "Tell Doubleday to fight on the left, and I will fight on the right." The order further instructed Doubleday to try to hold the Seminary Ridge line if forced back from McPherson Ridge.9 That was alL Howard, in fact, exercised little effective control of the tactical situation during the remainder of the day's battle, and his directives to Doubleday were few in number and of little help. After his examination from atop the building in town, Howard rode back to his headquarters on Cemetery Hill near the cemetery gate. Here he met Schurz, who was now in temporary command of the Eleventh Corps, and who had ridden forward ahead of his troops to learn of recent developments on the field.10 The task assumed by Howard was a difficult one for an officer who had had as yet little chance to observe closely the battle lines then established , who posssessed little information as to the nature of the 65 fighting which had taken place on the field so far, and who had little detailed information of the movements of the various Confederate units. Howard, nevertheless, saw and appreciated the splendid defensive position of the Cemetery heights south of Gettysburg. He determined to make every effort to...