Richard J. August is a trustee and docent at the Varnum Memorial Armory Museum.
As we approach the observance of the Declaration of Independence, it is well to remember that, on the three days leading up to July 4, 1863, the turning point of the war that would preserve the union and end the practice of slavery in the United States was fought.
Union cavalry coming from the south and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia advancing from the north collided in what is called a “meeting engagement” at the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The troopers managed to hold off the Confederates until Union infantry arrived. The first day ended with both sides establishing defensive positions.
The battle raged for the next two days with nearly 170,000 men engaged, a third of whom would be killed, wounded or missing in action. I call your attention to what happened to Battery B, Rhode Island Light Artillery, on the final two days.
Battery B mustered into federal service on August 13, 1861, with 139 men reporting.
On July 2, Battery B found itself along a gap in a stone wall on Cemetery Ridge, which has come to be known as Brown’s Gate, named for its commander that day, Lt. T. Fred Brown. Brown was shot in the throat, nicking his carotid artery. He survived and later returned to the unit until Lee’s surrender at Appomattox’s Courthouse. The battery lost two of its guns that day.
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On July 3, the remaining four 12-pound artillery pieces were stationed near a copse of trees on the ridge. The morning passed with some sporadic shelling from both sides. The men had not eaten since the previous morning. The weather was hot and humid. Water was scarce.
At 1 o’clock, the Confederates opened a thunderous cannonade, much of it focused on the copse of trees. One of the battery’s guns was struck twice and a cannon ball forever stuck in its muzzle. The two gunners loading, Pvts. Alfred Gardner and William Jones, were killed. As he died, Gardner, father of five, shouted: “Glory to God! Alleluia, I am happy. Amen.” Pvt. John Greene was mortally wounded by a third shot that put the cannon out of action.
During the two days of fighting, Battery B fired 956 rounds of various types and suffered seven men killed, 37 wounded and one man captured and another missing. Sixty-five horses were also killed or wounded.
Over the course of the war, 348 men from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Canada and England would serve under the unit guidon. Twenty-nine died; 51 were wounded, 24 captured and one reported missing in action. Only 17 of the original members returned home at the end of the war.
The Gettysburg Gun, as it is known, is on display at the Varnum Memorial Armory in East Greenwich, along with the Bull Run Gun from Battery A that saw service in the opening battle of the Civil War known as First Manassas. The exhibit and others are open during open houses posted on Facebook. Tours may be arranged by appointment through the website varnumcontinentals.org .
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: East Greenwich museum reminds us of RI men who served in pivotal Civil War battle | Opinion
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