Buying Time On Seminary Ridge At Gettysburg

By Joe Bordonaro · Originally published September 2016 · pp. 16–17

151st Pennsylvania firing at the barricade.

1st South Carolina Infantry approaching the barricade.

Buying Time On Seminary Ridge At Gettysburg By Joe Bordonaro On July 1, 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had the Union Army of the Potomac on the ropes. Two of General Lee’s corps (the II Corps and the III Corps) had concentrated on Gettysburg and had slammed into two smaller Union corps and had been fortunate enough to have come on in such a way so as to flank both Union corps’ positions. As a result, the Union XI Corps was routed, leaving the Union I Corps unsupported, so that it, too, had to retreat precipitously through the town of Gettysburg. However, this action was not without cost to the Confederate forces. A recent living history hosted by the Seminary Ridge Museum focused on two regiments that battled each other during that first day’s battle and which both took heavy casualties - the 151st Pennsylvania, and the 1st South Carolina. In the fighting on McPherson’s Ridge where there were initially placed, and in the fighting on Seminary Ridge in front of the Lutheran Seminary, their “final stand” location, the 151st Pennsylvania, which had brought 467 men to the field, “…lost 51 killed, 211 wounded and 75 missing – the second highest casualty total of all Union regiments at the Battle of Gettysburg. It mustered out of its nine months service three weeks after the battle, having lost 75% of its strength in its one fight.” (from the 151st Pennsylvania monument at Gettysburg). It is notable that the soldiers in the 151st had only a few weeks left in their enlistments and yet fought incredibly hard in this battle. The 1st South Carolina

1st South Carolina assaulting the barricade. (All photos Charlie Bury)

“lost 34% of the 328 men engaged” (civilwarintheeast.com). The stand taken by the 151st Pennsylvania, and other Union regiments on Seminary Ridge, slowed the Confederate attack and caused enough casualties to prevent the Confederate III Corps from being used to help take Cemetery Hill that evening, possibly saving the battle for the Union.

For this living history, both regiments were portrayed by reenactors who began the living history with a march to Seminary Ridge. The 1st South Carolina group marched from Herr’s Ridge, while the 151st Pennsylvania group marched from Emmitsburg, Maryland. Both groups were retracing the steps of the regiments they were portraying.

151st Pennsylvania Infantry firing on McPherson’s Ridge.

A living history program was performed in front of the Lutheran Seminary which was very well received by visitors, including no less a personage than Mr. Edwin Bearrs, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, who said that the program was the best living history program he had ever seen.

Robert Lee Hodge, portraying an officer in Abner Perrin’s South Carolina Brigade at Gettysburg’s Seminary Ridge Museum living history program. July 2, 2016. Hodge celebrated his 35th year of reenacting that weekend, first reenacting at Gettysburg July 5th, 1981. (All photos Robert Szabo)

Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, Edwin Cole Bearss and preservationist/filmmaker, Robert Lee Hodge, at Gettysburg’s Seminary Ridge Museum living history program. July 2. www.robertleehodge.com or email robertleehodge@yahoo.com. — Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, Edwin Cole Bearss and preservationist/filmmaker, Robert Lee Hodge, at Gettysburg’s Seminary Ridge Museum living history program. July 2. www.robertleehodge.com or email [email protected].

The Ed Bearss Guard at Gettysburg’s Seminary Ridge Museum, July 2, 2016.