GDG- Warren's Shot

[Brian Bennett]

Warren first mentioned the shot in his July 13, 1872 letter to Porter  
Farley of the 140th NY. Farley, who was involved in writing a history  
of his regiment, wrote to Warren (who he did not know) primarily to  
find out the circumstances under which Vincent's Brigade ended up on  
Little Round Top. Warren's story of the cannon shot was more or less  
added detail, as Warren expounded greatly on his part in the action.

Farley, happy to get such details, immediately responded and  
mentioned using the info given by Warren in his regimental history.  
Warren hesitated slightly, stating that he had written his letter  
without consulting any notes, and wished to have the opportunity to  
revise it if used in a publication. Warren did not, however, change  
his story about the cannon shot.

The pair corresponded frequently, and in a future letter (Oct. 21,  
1877) Farley asked specifically about the cannon shot: "P.S. In a  
letter which you wrote me several years ago, when speaking of your  
discovery of the right of the rebel line far outflanking our left and  
the device by which you made it you say 'I requested the Capt of a  
rifle battery just in front of Little Round Top to fire a shot in  
those woods' then you tell how the movement which the sound of this  
shot caused among the rebel troops revealed to you their line. Now  
was that a battery down in the hollow below and in front of L.R. Top  
one belonging to Sickles corps? It must have been and still I cannot  
comprehend how you could make the Captain hear you when you were on  
the hill top and he below. I have never been quite able to understand  
you on that point."

In asking for more detail about the cannon shot Warren claimed to  
have fired, Farley, in effect, gave the general an opportunity to  
change or recant his story-in a similar fashion as to how Warren  
altered his initial letter. Considering how this incident has been  
such a puzzle to historians, nothing in Warren's response (letter of  
Oct. 23, 1877) to this query suggests anything other than it being a  
legitimate memory: "The battery that I directed to fire, which you  
inquire further about, was a battery of the Third Corps, Smith's  
Fourth New York, I believe.... The word 'requested' used by me seems  
to have misled you. I sent word by an orderly, I think, written on a  
slip of paper."

(Harry Pfanz in "Gettysburg: The Second Day" would puzzle about it as  
well, noting that "In the light of other events, Warren's story   
seems somewhat romantic, but there is no reason to doubt his  
truthfulness in the matter.")

Noah Trudeau has an interesting chapter on the Warren Court of  
Inquiry in "Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April-June  
1865."

Brian Bennett