GDG- RE: Vincent Position

[GEODEUTSCH at aol.com]

There have been  several posts concerning Strong Vincent and his brigade 
prior to moving to  LRT. 
"... Where was  Strong Vincent (and his Brigade) when he met the courier from 
 Gen. Warren  and then took responsibility to go to Little Round Top?  Is an  
exact  position known?..."
"...The entire brigade may have been in the Wheatfield,  but Zack could also 
be correct. If they were the lead brigade of the division,  where were the 
following brigades? Wouldn't the following brigades been closer  to the courier 
than Vincent? How is it that he was approached  first?..." 
Zack's response was  essentially correct: "Vincent's brigade was in defilade 
west of the George  Weikert farm,
with Vincent personally riding in the direction of the  Wheatfield at the 
time of his being intercepted by Capt. Jay of Sykes'  staff." 
There are several  Weikert farms in the area, the one where Vincent and Jay 
met is northeast of the  Wheatfield across the Wheatfield  Road. 
Vincent himself was  leading the First Division of Fifth Corps, General James 
Barnes (the temporary  commander replacing Charles Griffin who was recovering 
from a  wound) was not with the column. It is commonly alleged that Barnes 
was  somewhere drunk. Judging by his later decisions after he did show up in the 
 Wheatfield, the charge of drunkenness seems likely true. Vincent's Third  
Brigade led the column, followed by Tilton & Sweitzer.   
According to Vincent's  aide and brigade bugler, Oliver Norton, while the 
division was halted short  of the Wheatfield, Vincent saw a rider (Sykes's aide) 
approaching and rode  out to meet him.  After taking personal responsibility 
to occupy  LRT, Vincent turned his own brigade towards LRT, while the  other 
two brigades headed to their meeting with Kershaw on Stony Hill.   
Here are a  few subsequent interesting facts about Vincent: 
Vincent & Norton  rode ahead of the brigade up onto LRT. The horsemen 
attracted so much  Confederate artillery fire that Vincent ordered Norton, who was 
carrying the  brigade flag, to take the horses and the flag to the backside of 
the hill,  while Vincent scouted where to place his troops. 
Vincent left his sword  on his horse, so carried only his wife's riding crop 
during the  fight. 
Vincent formed the  brigade line in an inverse U shape along the military 
summit, now known as  Vincent's Spur. He made his headquarters in the center of 
the line, behind and  uphill from his old regiment, the 83rd Penna. Today's 
visitor to LRT can  see the HQ position marked by the white, tombstone looking 
marker which reads  "Gen. Strong Vincent Wounded July 2, Died July 7, 1863". 
There is a common  misconception that Vincent was wounded at the spot where 
the marker stands.  He was actually taken there after his wounding before being 
moved to  the Jacob Weikert farmhouse on the reverse side of  LRT.   
This marker was  erected by the veterans of the 83rd and was the first 
permanent monument on the  battlefield outside of the National Cemetery. The 
original was vandalized in  the 1970s and was replaced by the current one. The 
original marker is now on  loan to the Erie County (PA) Library and is on  display 
there. 
Vincent was actually  wounded on the west face of LRT behind the line of the 
fractured 16th Michigan while rallying  those troops. He stood on a boulder 
brandishing his riding crop while  ordering the men "Don't give an inch, boys!" 
There are conflicting reports  saying he was shot either while on the rock or 
had just stepped off of  it. 
Visitors can see  the boulder, which is directly north of the 44th NY's 
"castle"  monument. In the late afternoon on a sunny day, you can still make out 
the  faint inscription, which was carved in it near the time of the battle:  
"Col. Strong Vincent fell here Com 3rd Brig. 1st Div. 5 Corps July 2nd  1863." 
Although his wounding  has been commonly attributed to a "sharpshooter" from 
Devil's Den, it is  more likely that he was shot from below by one of the 
Texans assaulting the  hill. 
Vincent entered the  Battle of Gettysburg as a Colonel but was singled out 
for promotion to Brigadier  General by General Meade in a telegram to Lincoln 
the night of July 2nd. Meade knew that  Vincent was mortally wounded, but told 
the President of Vincent's Gettysburg actions  and of his leadership on other 
fields. Lincoln promoted Vincent  to the full rank of Brigadier, not by Brevet. 
Lincoln's order reached  Vincent before he died on July 7th, but there has 
been much conjecture whether  Vincent was actually aware of the promotion before 
his  death. 
Vincent's wife  Elizabeth gave birth to their only child two months later, 
but the baby girl  died just short of her first birthday. Elizabeth never 
remarried. All three are buried  together in the Erie Cemetery.  
Vincent's sword is in  the Smithsonian, his bible is on display in his 
parish, St.  Paul's in Erie but unfortunately  neither the riding crop nor his 
letters to Elizabeth survive today. 
George  Deutsch 




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