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| Posted: Mon Mar 20th, 2006 11:32 am |
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1st Post |
george franks
Member
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Generally, for the Army of Northern Virginia, what was the relationship between the Order of Battle and the actual position in line of battle held by organizations from Regiment and up in the chain of command?
Specifically, what is the best source to see how Heth's command was depoyed each day during the Gettysburg campaign relative to the ANVs order of battle for the campaign?
George Franks
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21st, 2006 07:45 pm |
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2nd Post |
HankC
Member
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Hi George,
The Order of Battle (OOB) is merely an index of the engaged force's units.
It has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with postion during the battle...
Pretty much any Gettysburg book will show Heth's division's deployment. On the 3rd it was on Seminary Ridge north of the Virginia monument. Pettigrew commanded that day...
HankC
Last edited on Tue Mar 21st, 2006 07:51 pm by HankC
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| Posted: Sun Oct 8th, 2006 01:20 am |
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3rd Post |
Johnny Huma
Johnny Huma
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George,
Read the book "Coverd with Glory" it is about the 26 North Carolina regiment and it follows where the action took place on July 1st and the 3rd..It also tells you where Pettigrews Brigade was...The 26th was part of Pettigrews Brigade..That Regiment was commanded by Col Bergwyn who was 21 years old at the time...They went into battle on the 1st of July through Herbst woods head on into the Iron Brigade..They were 800 strong and after the 1st day could only muster 232 counting any officers that were still alive...Again on the third day of battle they were part of Longstreets assult and part of Pettigrews Division..(Pettigrew taking command after Heath took a ball to the Head)...They left Gettysburg with a muster of 83....
Sal
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13th, 2006 01:01 am |
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4th Post |
aphill
Lee's forgotten general
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I would suggest Bradley Gottfried's book "Brigades of Gettysburg." It contains descriptions of the role played by each brigade and contains a nice set of maps in the front of the book. Its a great Gettysburg reference book. For the deployment of Heth's Division on July 1, you definitely want to read Pfanz and look at his maps. You might also want to check out Martin's book too. As for July 3, I would recommend looking at Wert's book to get a general idea of the alignment of the Division (it was commanded by Pettigrew that day). If you really want to get specific on how regiments and brigades were aligned, you can also of course go back to the official reports of the commanders, too (at least where such reports were written and available).
As mentioned by prior posters, the Order of Battle had nothing to do with how a division actually would deploy for battle. As a general rule, Confederate brigades were known by the name of their general. In the old Light Division, brigades were known by number instead (much like in the Army of the Potomac), i.e. First Brigade, Second Brigade, etc. Heth's Division, which was made up of two of the old Light Division's brigades continued this tradition. For example, Pettigrew's Brigade was known as the First Brigade; Archer's Brigade was the Third Brigade.
Although the brigades were numbered such, they would usually alternate who had the lead on a particular day. One day, Archer might be lead brigade, the next day perhaps Davis would be the head brigade, the day after Brockenbrough might have been first. It let the units take turns at having to carry out various duties. Obviously, this order on the march would determine where the brigades deployed in battle. I do not believe any attention was paid to which brigade was actually numbered the First, Second, etc. However, this may have mattered at say an official review. (It is said the Army of the Potomac's Iron Brigade was really proud of the fact that had the entire AOP been drawn up into line for a review, it would have been the first unit reviewed -- as the First Brigade of the First Division of the First Corps!)
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