GDG- 45th New York

[John M. Rudy]

I've read Dobke's account with map in hand and am about as confused as 
you, Scott. I have the 45th coming in off of Chambersburg Pike, then 
either heading onto York, then turning at Stratton, then Race Horse 
Alley East OR heading onto Carlisle, turning onto Railroad and then into 
the backyards of the buildings on Race Horse Alley West.

It's the left turns that bother me. If the "street we were to gain" is 
Baltimore, then the street "just left" would be York. But then why turn 
NORTH of Stratton when you should be heading SOUTH, to the right. Then 
turning left again and having an alley that breaks through to "the 
before-mentioned roads," seems almost geographically impossible. Too few 
turns in Dobke's equation. But coming off of Chambersburg, then turning 
left onto Carlisle seems asinine as all of von Amsberg's men (Dobke 
inclusive) would have known that the enemy is up the road they deployed 
upon earlier that afternoon. Then turning left again in two blocks makes 
Railroad street and at least our alley points at an aforemention street 
(Baltimore).

I think I might be missing something here too. Anyone else hazard a 
clarification?

-John Rudy


Here's the pertinent section of Dobke's Account, for easy reference:

OR, Volume 27 (Part I), Pg 735

"...and in splendid style retreated to the seminary, where it was ordered
to halt and cover the retreat of the First and Eleventh Corps through
Gettysburg....the regiment was ordered to follow the column which had passed, 
when, marching a few blocks, suddenly a few regiments of the First Corps were 
thrown in the way, and our regiment headed to the left to gain the other main
streets.
	"When about the middle of the square, a sudden panic arose in a
column on the street we were to gain throwing themselves in our
column and into the houses. Not to become mixed up, the Forty-
fifth Regiment turned again to the street just left, marched two
squares down, and turned again to the left for the before-mentioned
roads. About the middle of the block our column was received by
the enemy’s infantry fire, when the column headed into an alley lead-
ing to the direction we had to follow. Unfortunately this alley led
into a spacious yard surrounded by large buildings, which only offered
an entrance, but no way to pass out, excepting a very narrow door-
way, to freedom and heaven; but the enemy’s sharpshooters had
already piled a barricade of dead Union soldiers in the street in front
of this doorway. About 100 of the Forty-fifth Regiment extricated
themselves from this trap, ran the gauntlet, and arrived safely at the
graveyard. The remainder were taken prisoners, as meanwhile the
whole town was surrounded and the enemy in possession of Gettys-
burg. Only one-third of the equipped men of the Forty-fifth Regi-
ment assembled at the cemetery behind the stone fence, and two-
thirds of the regiment were lost."


> Esteemed GDG Member Scott Mingus, Sr. Contributes:
>
>
> In reading through the ORs for the XI Corps yesterday while watching the Browns game, I was struck by Dobke' account of the 45th New York's path of retreat. He ends up in the square, back tracks, turns left a couple of blocks, and winds up in a yard surrounded by "large buildings." Any idea of his exact route, and what could these large buildings with a spaicious yard have been? Did he end up by the warehouses?
>    
>   Just curious. I was looking at a Sanborn map to try to work  this out, but it's hard to tell what large buildings date from 1863 on the map, and I did not have a good cross reference.
>    
>   Thanks!
>    Scott L. Mingus, Sr. 
>