GDG- 59th New York at the Wall

[Jack Kelly]

Greetings,

Just finished Zach Fry's analysis of the 59th NY's stand at the wall on July 2nd and 3rd.  I must admit that I originally felt that the 59th did indeed collapse during the PPT Charge, but he has changed my mind with his excellent article.  The gap between the right flank of the 59th NY and the left flank of the 69th PA (at "Brown's Gate") is the critical point in his analysis.  No experienced infantryman would position himself in a gap in the stone wall, especially when there is artillery firing canister directly behind him, so I am sure that the boys in the 59th NY instinctively moved to their left to gain the cover of the intact stone wall.  When the Confederates poured through the Brown's Gate gap, the natural thing for experienced infantrymen to do would be to refuse their line, which Zach points out. 
Cowan's description of men running through his battery has always puzzled me, but Zach points out an interesting fact; G and K companies of the 69th PA were in front of at least one of Cowan's guns (a very nasty place to be) and were taking casualties from Cowan's "friendly" fire.  You bet that I'd bail out of that position real fast, and regroup somewhere back of the battery.  I think that some of the lads in G and K of the 69th did exactly that, as evidenced by Cowan's testimony.  
Good job, Zach.

Regards,

Jack Kelly