BEYOND THE HIGH WATER MARK

Historical Marker, Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, PA


The 48th Georgia at Gettysburg

Of all the places I have been, one place stands out above all the others. Last summer I had the privilege to go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was a hot summer afternoon, just like those three days in July of 1863. Monuments, mostly dedicated to Union forces, are everywhere. Each corner of the battlefield has its own name. Little Round Top, The Devil's Den, The Peach Orchard, The Wheatfield, and Cemetery Ridge are names that live in infamy. It was a deeply moving experience to walk the one mile from Seminary Ridge to Cemetery Ridge. One hundred and thirty four years ago, thousands of men walked that path, over half of them never made it back. For me and many others, Gettysburg holds a special significance in our lives.


I had no ancestors at the battle. There was one man there that day by the name of David Douglas. David was shot in the leg while moving toward the town on the 1st day of the battle. He died in a prison camp several months later. Nearly a year later, an 18 year boy, Arch Woods, joined the same Emanuel County company, virtually taking the place of Pvt. Douglas. After the war, Woods returned home and married Douglas' widow. As a result of that marriage and several others, I came into this world. As with my other people, my existence in this world was a result of those horrific days in July of 1863. It is truly mind boggling to think your being on earth may have depended on one shot out of millions.





Photo of Wright's Brigade Marker, Spangler's Woods,
Gettysburg, from "Virtual Gettysburg" by
Stephen Recker, http://www.virtualgettysburg.com/



On the second day of the battles, Robert E. Lee launched an all out attack on the Federal positions from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge. Each division attacked in order from south to north. Late in the afternoon, the order came for A.R. Wright's brigade to attack the Federal positions on Cemetery Ridge. The brigade commander was a Louisville born attorney, whose brigade consisted of four Georgia Regiments, including the 48th Georgia.


The 48th Georgia included companies from Jefferson Co., "The Jefferson Volunteers"; Johnson Co., "The Battleground Guards; Twiggs Co., "The Slappey Guards"; and Emanuel Co., "The McLeod Volunteers." Several Laurens County residents were members of the Battleground Guards. The 48th Georgia were a part of R.H. Anderson's Division of A.P. Hill's Corps.


At 6:30, Anderson sent his three remaining brigades to attack the center of Cemetery Ridge. Wright's men were deployed from left to right: 48th Georgia, 3rd Georgia, and 22nd Georgia. The 2nd Georgia was deployed in front as skirmishers. A few hundred yards away on the Bliss farm, four New Jersey companies were in position. Wright with his sixteen hundred Georgians began the attack in a quick step march across a mile-wide open field toward a small dip in the terrain. The advance went smoothly until the men came within musket range of the Emmitsburg Road. There they encountered a strong body of infantry behind a fence. The skirmishers from the 2nd Ga. were preparing the way. The battle line moved rapidly toward the ridge. Wright later recalled "We were in a hot place, and looking to my left through the smoke, I perceived that neither Posey nor Mahone had advanced and that my left was totally unprotected." Wright sent a courier to Gen. Anderson, who replied "both Posey and Mahone had been ordered in and that he would reiterate the order." As Wright passed the Bliss' yard, only a portion of Posey's men were in support of his attack. After a brief and furious fight at the Emmitsburg Road, Wright's right wing passed the Cordori House with little resistance. With half of their advance forces down and both of his flanks turned, the Federals pulled back.


The attack was directed toward a battery between a small clump of trees and Ziegler's Grove on the ridge to north. Wright's brigade, stretching four hundred yards wide, would just fit in between the trees and the grove. The six Napoleon cannons of Brown's Rhode Island Battery pounded Wright with case shot and then canisters. Wright's men routed the Federals from their second line of defense, a stone wall which would later come to be known as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy. The Rhode Island Battery moved further up the hill under pressure from Posey's 19th Mississippi. The 48th attacked Gibbon's lines in hand to hand fighting. With well directed fire, Wright's men drove the cannoneers from their guns. As Wright's men captured the Napoleons of the Rhode Island Battery, they were suddenly pelted with canister and small arms fire from a ridge, one hundred yards away.


The Georgians jumped the stone wall and rushed to stand at the crest of the ridge. With an irresistible charge, they swept the Federal infantry from the ridge into a gorge beyond. The men were jubilant. The point where they stood would be the objective of Lee's attack the following day. Wright again requested support. The help they prayed for never came. Posey was stuck in the field to the north. For some unknown reason Mahone would not budge his brigade from Seminary Ridge - despite the repeated urging of Gen. Anderson.




Gen. Ambrose Ransom Wright, C.S.A.


The 69th Pennsylvania counterattacked on Wrights’ front. Wright's men suffered three effective volleys upon their unprotected flanks. Wright reported that the enemy was closing in. With no sign of support, the 48th retreated from the ridge. The Federals launched a bayonet charge and severe artillery attack.

The retreat continued under artillery fire from Cemetery Ridge. The 106th Pennsylvania, under Gen. Abner Doubleday, the fictional inventor of baseball, caught up with the 48th Georgia just before they reached the Emmitsburg Road. Col. William Gibson and several other officers including Capt. Thomas Kent of Johnson County were captured. After an hour or so it was all over. Nearly one half of the brigade lay dead, were wounded, or were captured.

The 48th Georgia's advance was the closest Lee's men came to cutting the Federal center at Gettysburg. Wright's men are often ignored in the history books for their accomplishments. They went further than any Confederate brigade at Gettysburg. A lone marker in front of the stone wall marks their historic feats of courage in their valiant charge at the point where the "High Tide Of The Confederacy" occurred the following day, July 3th, the immortal day of "Pickett’s Charge."