Combat Leadership: Major Ellis, Captain Moore, and the 14th CT (Part 2)

Image Source: History of the 14th Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry by Charles D. Page. The Horton Printing Co.,
Meriden, CT., 1906.

It was nearly 11 a.m. on the battlefield. All morning the noises of the conflict raging on Culp's Hill had drifted across the fields, but those sounds now began to fade. Captain Samuel A. Moore and four companies of the 14th Connecticut--about sixty men total--crossed the Emmitsburg Road and began their advance on the Bliss barn. Major Theodore G. Ellis and the remaining four companies of the regiment (B&D were still on the skirmish line) stayed behind to await developments. Because of the desperate nature of this mission and it's objective point well in front of federal lines, the 14th's color guard would not take part, and remained on Cemetery Ridge.

Samuel Moore was a resident of New Britain, Connecticut, the son of a butcher. He would serve with the 14th through the rest of the war, rising to the rank of Lt. Col. When the 14th dedicated their regimental monument at Gettysburg in 1884, he would lead the contingent of veterans that returned for the ceremony. On July 3rd, 1863, he led this spirited attack on the barn.

As the formation began its advance, the men received an unusual order. Regimental historian Charles Davis Page related that "they were ordered to break and each man reach the barn as best he could." Chaplain Henry S. Stevens later recalled that the order came from Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays, who shouted for the regiment to "scatter and run" as it moved past his divisional headquarters at the Brian Farm.

Whoever issued the order made a smart decision. As Moore's men advanced on the barn - they would cross open ground with no cover - the quicker they closed on the enemy, the better. Indeed the speed of his attack became a key advantage for Captain Moore. Evidently, the swift attack took the rebels by surprise, for as the sixty men of Moore's command dashed toward the barn, the rebels left in haste and made for the Bliss house and the orchard just west of the two buildings.

Captain Moore reached the barn first, and he and his men poured in. They had reached their objective - but saw that a more difficult task still remained: holding it. Now from both the house and the orchard Confederate skirmishers--who outnumbered Moore--peppered the barn.

Back on the Brian property, brigade commander Colonel Thomas A. Smyth saw that Moore needed help, and Major Ellis finally received orders to reinforce the forward detachment. With the remaing four companies of the 14th, he made swift preparations to storm the Bliss House. Ellis deployed his men--an additional 60 or so-- as skirmishers and directed them to charge the farmhouse directly. This proved to be a deadly mission, for it exposed the companies not only to fire from the house and orchard, but also from their northern flank. From Long Lane--a sunken road northeast of the Bliss buildings--Confederates poured in a terrific enfilade fire on Ellis and his men. These troops had moved up to their Long Lane position the evening before, and the knoll near the Emmitsburg Road screened their presence somewhat from Cemetery Ridge. It may have taken Ellis by surprise. The fire brought down Lieutenants Samuel Seward and Frederick Seymour. Yet the 14th pushed on. Writing to Gettysburg historian John Bachelder in 1870, Ellis recalled: "Our boys charged in at the door and windows and drove out the rebels."

Rough sketch of the charge of the 14th Connecticut using modern satellite images taken from Google Maps.

The Confederates fell back, but their fire from the orchard and from Long Lane continued. Ellis had less than 120 men on the property, and they were greatly outnumbered. Those at the farmhouse soon found that the weatherboard siding offered no protection from the heavy fire either. Many of them left the house and joined Moore's men at the barn.

Image Source: History of the 14th Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry by Charles D. Page. The Horton Printing Co.,
Meriden, CT., 1906.

The swift onset of Captain Moore and Major Ellis had taken the Confederate skirmishers by surprise, but Moore and Ellis must have been surprised themselves to see the heavy troop strength of rebels in this area, many of them screened from observation from Cemetery Ridge. Now in addition to the small arms fire which made leaving the barn nearly impossible, Confederate artillery joined the fight, and case shot began to fall around the property.  One shell struck the upper part of the barn and exploded, killing Moses G. Clement of Company G and wounding several others. They could not hope to maintain their position without reinforcements. Chaplain Stevens, delivering the address at the dedication of the 14th's monument in 1884, described to the veterans the dilemma they faced:

The enemy's skirmishers within range, increased until they outnumbered you nearly three to one, were closing in upon you; the sharp-shooters had a bead on every head, hand, or foot that appeared outside of the buildings; and the rebel artillery was dropping shells among you through the roof of the barn, and it seemed to you that you must be annihilated or captured unless another regiment came to your relief. But you had been ordered to "hold" the buildings, and hold them you must as long as any of you were left there alive. Looking toward this ridge, you saw a single horseman leaving Headquarters. Getting a little down the slope, he put spurs to his horse and bore down towards you.

The horseman was Captain James P. Postles, a member of the 1st Delaware serving as a staff officer. Ellis recalled that Postles delivered to him orders to burn both buildings and retire. Postles then turned and galloped back towards Cemetery Ridge. He would later receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery. "I went over to the house," Ellis stated, "and gave directions for firing, and saw matches applied to the loose hay and straw in the barn." Before setting the barn on fire, the men of the 14th removed their wounded and dead. The buildings went up so quickly that Captain Moore later insisted that, "before I had reached the lines I saw the burning roof fall in quite consumed."

Back on Cemetery Ridge, the 14th had freed its fellow soldiers from a persistent sniper threat. For William Bliss, the loss was devastating.

In part 3, I will take a look at the 14th's return journey to Gettysburg in 1884, to dedicate their monument.