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The Journey: On to the Blue Ridge
The regiment left the vicinity of Culpeper Court House at first light on June 16, 1863, heading northward on the Sperryville Turnpike. It was a Tuesday, and the weather was clear and very warm. “The...
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The Journey: On to Pennsylvania
“The Division left camp at 3 a.m. and commenced the march for Maryland,” Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill recorded on Wednesday, June 24, 1863. “The whole army is in motion for the enemy’s...
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Hurry up and wait
July 1, 1863, was the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg—in which a Confederate division under General Henry C. Heth, approaching Gettysburg in a recon-in-force, collided with a Union cavalry...
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Marching and countermarching
Thursday, July 2, 1863, was clear and warm, according to Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill: “General Lee brought all of his forces up this morning in front of the enemy. Both parties skirmished all...
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Preparing to attack
Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade formed in the Pitzer Woods on Seminary Ridge, behind a low stone wall in the late afternoon of July 2, 1863. It was a clear and warm Thursday. “…the order was given to...
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The Mississippi Brigade attacks
By some accounts, Gen. William Barksdale, of Columbus, Mississippi, the 13th Regiment’s colonel at muster in 1861, spent the late afternoon of July 2, 1863, in frustration. He was trying to get his...
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Barksdale’s death
No one might ever have known what happened to the Mississippi Brigade’s commander, General William Barksdale, but for the kindness of two Union soldiers: Private David Parker of the 14th Vermont and...
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Depression
Perhaps thinking of the deserters recently rounded up by soldiers of his division, Gen. Lafayette McLaws wrote his wife Emily on August 14 of the depression events had caused in some Confederates. “The...
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Withdrawal: Miles of fence on fire
After the failed first-light attack on Fort Sanders, General Burnside offered his old West Point classmate General Longstreet a flag of truce. “The morning being very cold and frosty, and the enemy’s...
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Where Gen. Barksdale died
Gen. William Barksdale was wounded several times near Plum Run on the Gettysburg battlefield in the late evening of July 2, 1863. He was carried to this home of shoemaker Jacob Hummelbaugh on Cemetery...
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Another charging Barksdale
Seems unlikely Gen. B would lead a charge with his hat, as this painting by Western artist Gary Lynn Roberts has it. But there have been other fanciful notions about him. More troubling would be his...
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