The 16th Maine Volunteers

Gallant Union Troops on July 1, 1863

     Day 1 at Gettysburg was a day filled with suspense, confusion, and advantages lost and gained. All day long, Union and Confederate troops battled to gain and hold ground. It was on Day 1 that John Reynolds died, Archer's North Carolina Brigade was cut down almost in a perfect line, and many men died in the railroad cut.  Union General George Meade was still almost ten miles away in Taneytown, Maryland, and troops were still scattered along the Mason Dixon line. The first encounters occurred to the north and west of the town of Gettysburg; the two important roads to remember are the Chambersburg Pike and the Mummasburg Road. Visitors often visit the eternal flame on Oak Hill, site of one of the artillery batteries. This is one of the important examples of "high ground" early in the fighting. Across the Mummasburg Road lies Oak Ridge, site of the stand of the 16th Maine Volunteers, who were ordered to hold the ridge, ensuring that other Union troops could safely retreat through the town to Cemetery Ridge on the south side of the town. Their story exemplifies the resolve and sacrifice of troops who followed the orders given, knowing that the cost would be dear. Theirs is a moving story, and standing where they stood, imagining the Confederate troops storming toward them highlights an understanding of their courage.

     Oak Ridge is perpendicular to the Mummasburg Road, about a mile and a half north and slightly west of Cemetery Ridge. Here, troops from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Maine were fighting together. Toward the end of the afternoon, General Robinson, commander of the 1st Corps, rode up to Colonel Tilden, of the 16th Maine, and ordered him to hold the ridge "at any cost." Tilden knew that with less than 300 men outnumbered and outgunned, the task would be a hard one.
Major Abner Small recounted the tale after the war.

"You know what that means," said Colonel Tilden, turning to us, and in the same breath he gave the commands that sent us hurrying back towards the Mummasburg road again. The stone wall came along on the left, and bent sharply ahead of us to face the road. We made a dash for the corner and planted our colors in the angle. We got there just as a flag and a line of battle showed up across the way; we heard distinctly the commands of a rebel officer directing his men to fire; and a volley crashed, and we saw some of our men fall. Our line blazed away in reply, and the rebel flag went down, and the officer pitched headlong in the stubble.  But the attacking line came on, and following behind it was another, and we knew that our little regiment could not withstand the onset. With anxious hope we looked again to the rear for support - and saw that the other regiments of our brigade, our division, were falling back rapidly towards the town. The ridge could be held no longer. We were sacrificed to steady the retreat.

How much more time was passing, I can’t say; it was only a matter of minutes before the grey lines threatened to crush us. They came on, firing from behind the wall, from fences, from the road; they forced us, fighting back along the ridge; and Captain Lowell fell, and some of our men. We were caught between two fires. It was the end. For a few last moments our little regiment defended angrily its hopeless challenge, but it was useless to fight longer. We looked at our colors, and our faces burned. We must not surrender those symbols of our pride and our faith. Our color bearers appealed to the colonel, and with his consent they tore the flags from the staves and ripped the silk to shreds; and our officers and men that were near took each a shred. 

     

      Fewer than forty of the men the the regiment eventually made their way to Cemetery Ridge, where they rejoined the 1st Corps. Others, including Colonel Tilden, were captured and sent to prisons in the south. Colonel Tilden, sent to Libby prison in Richmond, escaped and returned to his regiment. The little pieces of the United States flag and the regimental flag that together were termed "the colors" were never captured. Instead, they were put in pockets or otherwise secured by the men.  Four of those pieces are now in the Maine State Museum. Others have been passed down in families to preserve the memory of the gallantry of those troops. 

     There is no doubt that the fifteen thousand men who set off across the field Pickett's Charge made an impressive picture, and for many symbolize the resolve of troops in the Civil War. But for me, the less than 300 soldiers of the 16th Maine standing on Oak Ridge outnumbered, but resolute, will forever symbolize the gallantry of troops who follow orders and resolve to be brave in the attempt. 

If you go: 

    There is an observation tower on Oak Ridge, and monuments to the Union troops who fought there on July 1, 1863. From the Mummasburg Road, turn onto Doubleday Avenue, where there is a parking lot. The monument to the 16th Maine Volunteers is about 100 yards farther along Doubleday Avenue on the side of the road opposite the tower. 

For further reading:

http://civilwarlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/12/other-voices-portion-of-16th-maines.html

 

http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/edu/turner/tcw.htm