The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board

Re: 5th Alabama Infantry Gettysburg Day 2, 3, 4, 5

The morning of July 2nd was quite quiet. The enemy was now crowded on the heights of Cemetery Hill and the Confederate lines were drawn around it. The Confederates busied themselves placing their artillery. Major Eugene Blackford’s Sharpshooters were thrown out into the meadow between the lines. Here they lay in the broiling sun until about 1 P.M. when beginning to feel hungry, Major Blackford sent a detail to catch chickens, which they cooked in a large pot found in a cottage, through which his line went. This soup contained about 60 chickens, and the entire contents of the garden in the way of onions and potatoes. The Major felt it was necessary to feed the men as no rations had been issued since the morning before, and none could be obtained any time soon. As soon as the soup was ready a detail from each company came up and received its share. Thus were 150 men fed.

Just after they had eaten it, a tremendous cannonade began between the Confederate batteries and those of the enemy, almost as rapid as musketry. The Sharpshooters, just out between the lines, received the benefit of all the "shorts," and had a vast number of shells pass over them. Eugene Blackford had this to say: “I have never in my life seen such things so awful. Many of the men ... went to the side to get out of the range. At 6 p.m. it cleared, and I restored my line.” About dusk, the Sharpshooters were recalled and joined the column marching towards the town from the heights.

While the Sharpshooters had spent the day out in the meadow between the lines, after the enemy had been driven through the town the previous evening, the rest of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment had been posted in the rear on the railroad line near Oak Hill, which position it held, though subject to a constant and severe shelling, until late on the evening of July 2, when the command was ordered forward to support a line of battle in front. This movement was prosecuted until orders came to fall back on the Cashtown road; that is, the regiment occupied that street in Gettysburg which is a continuation of the Cashtown road. This position was occupied all night, the men lying on their arms.

As mentioned, at about dusk, the whole Division was moved forward in line of battle and as they advanced upon the hill where the Yankees had all their artillery and troops massed, they fully expected to have to charge it. Eugene Blackford once again: “I soon found that it was for the purpose of making a night attack. When I heard this my heart beat more quickly than I ever knew it to do before, and I had seen some cruel fights. I knew well enough what a night attack would be with troops as badly disciplined as ours, or indeed with any save veterans, and they equipped with white shirts, or some uniform visible at night. When the column was formed we moved silently with bayonets fixed close up beneath the enemy's works. There in two lines we gave our instructions to the men. I well remember what feelings I had as I fastened my saber knot tightly around my wrist. I knew well that I had seen my last day on earth ... .It was to be a bayonet affair, the guns were all inspected to see that none were loaded. Then we lay silently waiting the word to advance, when to my relief I must say, I saw the dark masses of men wheeling to the rear -- the idea had been abandoned. I was ordered to remain where I was with my corps & await orders. In about 1/2 an hour Gen. R[odes] came to me saying that he wished me to draw a skirmish line as closely across the enemy's works as I possibly could, and when daylight came annoy them within all my power. I was more in my element, and went diligently to work to comprehend the ground, and mature my plan. Meanwhile the men went to sleep; I only keeping one or two with me as a guard. I found that the enemy were on a hill shaped like a V with the apex towards the town, and almost in it ... .In that angle where were nearly 100,000 men, all massed densely so that every shot from our side told. This hill was about as high as the tallest house in the town, I soon laid my plan and began deploying my men at "A" moving on the line designated toward "B." It became necessary to break passages thro' nearby houses, and thro' every thing else we met, so that there was a great deal of labor undergone ere this line was established. By daylight however all was ready. My orders were to fire incessantly without regard to ammunition and began as soon as my bugle sounded.”

The remaining men of the 5th Alabama were ordered to stand down in Long Lane which led southwest out of Gettysburg. The regiment faced southeast toward Cemetery Hill. They lay in line along the street throughout the night. In the morning, the Brigade with the exception of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, was sent to the left with Johnson’s Division and participated in the fight there. The 5th Alabama was attached to Doles’ Brigade and stayed in town during the morning. Company D was sent to the edge of town as sharpshooters. They built breastworks and remained there until evening. An occasional Minnie ball whizzed over them and a shell passed through a stable or crib beside them and exploded immediately after. The rest of the Regiment then moved up with Doles’ Brigade and lay in line of battle in a lane. There was no shade and the heat of the sun was almost unbearable. A heavy cannonading was kept up with a great many shells passing over them. Some, from their own batteries exploded over their lines and killed men in Doles’, Ramseur’s and possibly Iverson’s Brigades. It was either very inferior ammunition or great carelessness on the part of the gunners.

The Brigade Sharpshooters under Eugene Blackford had remained in Gettysburg in the houses overlooking Cemetery Hill. Blackford continues: “The day (July 3) broke clear, and as soon as it was light there lay just before us on the slope of the hill a battery of six Napoleons; they were not more than 400 yards off. Men and horses were all there, standing as if on parade. One signal from my bugle and that battery was utterly destroyed. The few survivors ran back to their trenches on up the hill. The poor horses were all killed. The guns did us no good as we could not get there, but they could not be used against our men, and that was a great deal. About 10 a.m. an officer reported to me from my left saying that he commanded the skirmishers of [Brig. Gen. Harry] Hays' Louisiana Brig. and had been ordered to receive directions from me. I showed him where to connect with me, and left him. About an hour or more after I went over to see what he was about, and found a truly amusing scene. His quarters were in a very [nice] house, and he had selected the parlor as his own bivouac. Here one was playing the piano, which sounded sadly out of harmony with the roar of musketry. Without several men were laying around on the sofas, and the room was full of prints & engravings which the rude fellows examined, and then threw down on the floor. On the table there was have a doz. brands of wines and liquors of which all partook freely. The commanding officer thought it was very strange that I at once insisted upon his visiting his posts, and making the men fire. I ran rapidly back across the street. A Yankee fired at me, but I was behind the wall in time, the ball having struck the ... post & ... struck me on the knees, hurting me very much for a trice, but not by any means disabling me. The firing now was incessant. To supply them with ammunition I kept a detail busy picking up cartridge boxes full of it, left by hundreds & thousands in the streets. These they brought in a small bakers cart, found in a bakery just across the street. They were then sent along the lines and piled near each marksman. The men soon complained of having their arms & shoulders very much bruised by the continual kicking of the muskets but still there could be no rest for them. The Yankees were as thick as bees not more than 500 yards off and could not do us any great harm as they were afraid to shell us out, lest they should burn up the town, and the brick walls protected us very well from the minnies. If I had a good many casualties, it was a mere trifle compared to with the enormous damage they inflicted. The enemy's papers alluded [to] this in all their accounts of the battles. I had every thing now in good order, the line was well established, and they ... .Many of the men were on the roofs of houses behind chimneys, whence they could pick off the gunners. Complaint being made that the men had nothing to eat, I detailed my four buglers who had nothing to do to get the bakery in operation and make biscuits. The result was the manufacture of several thousand pretty fair biscuits. They then went in pursuit of meat, and after a while returned loaded with every delicacy for a soldier: hams, cheese, fish, pepper spices -- and reported such a strike that I went myself to see. I found a family grocery well stocked which had some how escaped the plunderers. My men took an abundance of sugar, coffee, rice &c to last us some days, and served them out to my poor hungry fellows. I never heard such a cheer as they gave in seeing the sumptuous repast sent them. My Hd Qrs were in a pine house, thro' which the line ran, and there finding an abundance of crockery, spoons &c, the buglers prepared an elegant dinner for me, for which I wished the officers to come. There we dined luxuriously, and afterwards went to our works with renewed vigor.”

Captain William W. Blackford, the oldest son in the Blackford family, served on the staff of Major General J.E.B. Stuart at the time of the Gettysburg battle, and the cavalry commander ordered him to take a message to General Robert E. Lee on July 3. After delivering the communication, the elder Blackford rode into the Confederate-controlled town, where he managed to find his brother Eugene, and his marksmen. William recounted their visit in his memoir, War Years With Jeb Stuart, remembering that he encountered his brother and his fellow officers in a home along "main street on the side next Cemetery Ridge" where, in a room "pervaded by the smell of powder ... and the growl of musketry," they were incongruously "lolling on the sofas," enjoying wine and "all sorts of delicacies taken from a sideboard."
After sharing some of the food and drink with his brother, Eugene obligingly took him on a tour of the sharpshooting lair, which consisted of the second floors of several houses. William described the location in detail: "Eugene's men had cut passways through the partition walls so that they could walk through the houses all the way from one cross street to the other. From the windows of the back rooms, against which were piled beds and mattresses, and through holes punched in the outside back wall, there was kept up a continuous rattle of musketry by men stripped to the waist and blackened with powder. It was a strange sight to see these men fighting in these neatly ... furnished rooms, while those not on duty reclined on elegant sofas, or ... upon handsome carpets." Cavalryman Blackford also noted that feathers pervaded every room, the results, he concluded, of Federal shells exploding in the upper floors and shredding feather-stuffed mattresses. Union snipers had also been worrying the Alabamians with gunfire, and the "pools of blood" William noted on the floors and carpets indicated that some of their shots had been true.

The Sharpshooters in town witnessed the climatic charge of General Pickett’s Division as Eugene Blackford relates: “I could write a month of the nice events of this day, but must stop, only narrating my intense excitement when I saw [Maj. Gen. George] Pickett's Division during ... the charge, their waver, when almost in the works, and finally fall back. How my heart ached when I saw the fearful fire with which they were received. I could scarcely contain myself. The attack made the enemy mass more than ever, and so expose themselves to our fire more plainly. I fired 84 rounds with careful aim into their midst, one gun cooling while the other was in use. My shoulder pad became so sore that I was obliged to rest. Now and then the enemy's gunners would turn a gun or two on us, and give us a shot, but this was too destructive of the lives of gunners, so it was soon stopped. A Yankee sharpshooter established himself in a pit in the street to which I have alluded, and keeping his gun ready cocked, fired away at any one attempting to cross at our end. Many of the men of mine, and of the adjoining battalion, amused themselves by drawing his fire, running quickly across, seeing how much behind the bullet would be which was sure to follow. At this reckless sort of sport, where a stumble or fall would have been almost certain death, they carried themselves as ... children at play. Thus the sun went down the same steady fire being kept up from my line. This evening also another tremendous cannonade occurred, the [greatest] ever known on this continent certainly, probably the greatest that ever occurred. It is a low estimate to say that 500 pieces were in action. I enjoyed its grandeur this time more than that of the day before, not being under range. At night little was done, I kept up a very vigil watch, making rounds frequently.”

The rest of the Regiment were awaken just after midnight and moved back to a position out of town on elevated ground where, after daylight, they built a strong breastwork. It rained during the day, so the men put up tents and lay under them. There were a large number of the enemy’s dead and dead horses lying behind their position which produced a most disagreeable smell. Blackford’s Sharpshooters were also withdrawn as Eugene continues: “Towards day I was awakened by a staff officer, who told me to withdraw my men at daylight, and fall back thro' the town to the base of the ridge in which the main line was stationed and there deploy. At dawn therefore with a heavy heart I called in the men silently, and sullenly drew slowly out of the town, returning the sour looks of the citizens with others equally as stern. The enemy did not molest us at all, tho' I was in hope that they would, being in a savage mood. A heavy rain was falling too, and just then I remembered that it was the 4th of July, and that the villains would think more than ever of their wretched Independence Day. Soon after we formed our new line, a battalion of Yankee skirmishers came out of the town and deployed in our front. They used the bugle, the first I had seen with them. Their signals sounded clear & [distant], thro' the damp air. I moved against them at once, but they slowly withdrew, and evidently were but overseeing us. A squad of them however came forward and gained unobserved a small house filled with hay midway between our lines, from which they began to annoy us with their fire. Taking a few men I went forward at a run, and came up quite close before the rascals could get out of the rear. They lost no time then in scudding away to their lines, but one of my men brought one down before they reached it ... I fired the hay, and soon there was a magnificent blaze. So we went on all the day, but seeing work ahead of me, I slept most of it away, leaving the command to one of my subordinates. At nine I reported to Gen. R[odes] who directed me to assume command of the sharpshooters from each of the Brigades (4) and line our rear when the army moved, which it would begin to do at midnight. I was to keep my line until day or longer if I saw fit, and then follow keeping a half mile or more in the rear, and acting as rear guard. Accordingly by 11 p.m. the troops all disappeared on the proscribed route and I was left in sole command at Gettysburg. It was the first time I had ever commanded more than one battalion and now I had five. My only embarrassment was in not knowing the officers but this I soon remedied, and got on quite well.”

At about 2:00 P.M. that day, the wagon trains of Rodes Division with their wounded, baggage, and herds of livestock, had begun the retreat and moved through Fairfield. The 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment cooked three days rations and evacuated their position between midnight and one o’clock in the morning on July 5, 1863, marching off on the pike. The road was very sloppy and so slippery that it was with the greatest difficulty that they could keep their feet. They didn’t travel more than two or three miles before they were stopped due to the road being blocked by the wagon trains. There, they were drenched by a cold rain, but when it subsided they made fires and made themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Several hours after daylight, they continued the march through mud and water ankle deep in places. The wagon trains kept to the road, while a column of troops marched through the fields and woods on each side.

Eugene Blackford with his Sharpshooters, provides a more detailed account. “At sunrise I quitted my positions, and followed the main body. I continued my route unmolested until about 12 o'clock when some cavalry appeared, but they did not molest us. At 2 p.m. so many came up that I halted and deployed. They then brought up a field piece but did not use it. Seeing that they now wished to molest us, I hit upon this plan. All the front rank men kept their round & fired away, the rear rank men meanwhile retired to some good positions in the rear. I then formed a new line leaving vacancies for those of the first. I here would seize a favorable occasion after the new line was formed, and retreat at a run, suddenly disappearing before the enemy. These would then come in quickly thinking our men had been routed, they would be checked by the fire of the new line, snugly posted behind trees, stone fences &c. My worry had been that when I wished to retire, the enemy would push us so that we were in danger of being broken, but by this arrangement I [avoided] all difficulties -- I had read of it in [General Sir William F.P.] Napier's Peninsular War, as being a dodge of Marshal [Nicolas Jean de Dieu] Soult.
The men towards evening became worn out for food, so seeing that we would not hear from our [commissary] for a week or more, as it had gone to the Potomac, I sent orders to the officer to take all the provisions they could find in the houses by which we passed. In one occasion, riding along at the head of my own battalion marching quickly in retreat, we passed a cottage situated some distance from the main road & not visited by stragglers -- around it were countless fowls, my hungry fellows looked eloquently to me for leave, I told the bugler to sound the "disperse," and then shouted "one minute." Instantly a hundred cartridges were drawn which thrown skillfully at the heads of the fowls bringing them down by scores; these fellows were used to the work evidently, but now they knew that it was for their actual subsistence as we had nothing, and were following in the rear of a great Army, which would leave us nothing. When the "Assembly" sounded two minutes afterwards, every man had one, two or more chickens slung over his gun, and the march was resumed with out delay.” The retreat continued until after dark when the army bivouacked having traveled about ten miles.

Casualties on the opening day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 1863) were quite high for Major General Robert E. Rodes’ Division of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell’s Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. As a whole, the division is believed to have suffered approximately thirty-seven percent casualties during the campaign, including many regimental officers. These losses were not solely a result of the fight on Oak Hill on day one of the battle since the brigades of Edward O’Neal and Junius Daniel both saw action on the closing day. The division also had a few run-ins during the retreat to Virginia. Nonetheless, the ill-fated attack of O’Neal’s Brigade and Alfred Iverson’s Brigade on July 1st, resulted in high losses for both Confederate outfits.

O’Neal’s Brigade, the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 12th, and 26th Alabama Infantry Regiments, lost 41.2% of their effective strength with 90 killed, 422 wounded, and 184 missing or captured. The 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment had moved toward Gettysburg with 380 men, but due to the extreme heat, 80 of these men did not make it to the battlefield. Of the 300 men that entered the Battle of Gettysburg, approximately 83% would be lost!. Twenty-one men were killed on the field; fourteen other men were mortally wounded. One hundred and twenty-six would survive their wounds; however, sixty-four of these men were captured by Federal troops. An additional ninety-five men were also captured. Listed amongst the killed, wounded, or captured were twenty-one Regimental Officers of the 5th Alabama Infantry. There were only about seventy-five men fit for duty after the battle.

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5th Alabama Infantry Regiment - Gettysburg Day 1
Re: 5th Alabama Infantry Gettysburg Day 2, 3, 4, 5