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FACTSHEET
“GIVE THEM SHELL! GIVE THEM SHOT! DAMN
THEM, GIVE THEM ANYTHING!”
ABOUT THE BATTLE
On 2 July 1863,
four 10-pounder Parrott guns of the 4th New York
Independent Battery under the command of Captain James
E. Smith occupied Houck’s Ridge, the high ground above
Devil’s Den. Facing west, the guns overlooked the
valley of Rose Run, the Timbers’ homestead, and a
triangle field enclosed by stone walls,
Around
mid-afternoon, the Confederates across the valley near
Emmitsburg Road began firing their artillery in
advance of their attack towards Little Round Top and
the Union left flank. Smith’s battery responded with
such fury that the attackers thought they faced at
least two batteries.
At about 3:30 pm,
the Confederates of Maj. Gen. John B. Hood’s division
advanced to the east under fire from the battery.
Brig. General E. M. Law’s and Brig. General J.B.
Robertson’s brigades opened the attack on Round Top
and Devil’s Den. Robertson’s 4th and 5th Texas went
east directly towards the base of Round Top, while the
1st Texas and 3rd Arkansas veered northeast towards
the triangle field below Smith’s guns and Rose’s Woods
to Smith’s right.
The 1st TX
approached directly up through the triangle field and
traded fire with Smith’s Battery, the 124th New York
Infantry, and elements of the 4th Maine Infantry. The
3rd Arkansas went into Rose’s Woods to battle the 86th
New York and 20th Indiana Infantry. During the furious
fighting, Smith was heard to shout, “Give them shell!
Give them solid shot. Damn them, give them anything!”
As the 1st TX
crossed the field and neared the eastern wall, it was
driven back by a charge of the 124th NY. Just as the
1st TX was being driven down the valley, Brig. Gen. H.
L. Benning’s Georgia Brigade came up. With support
from 2nd, 15th, 17th and 20th GA, the 1st TX
counterattacked, pushing the 124th up to the high
ground near the guns. Smith managed to wheel away one
gun and take all of the artillery implements to the
rear. A combination of the 1st Texas and the GA
regiments captured three of Smith’s guns and helped
occupy Devil’s Den along with the 44th and 48th
Alabama Infantry.
Smith’s battery,
along with the 124th NY managed to hold off the
attacking Confederates long enough for Union lines to
be established along Little Round Top. While much
attention is paid to Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th
Maine’s defense of Little Round Top, there’s little
doubt that had the Union defenders of Houck’s ridge
been less steadfast, the Confederates would have been
atop Little Round Top before the Union was prepared to
meet them.
ABOUT THE PAINTING
This print is
reproduced from the oil painting, “Give them shell!
Give them solid shot! Damn them, give them anything!”
The painting is based on many visits to the
battlefield and extensive research on troop positions
and movements, uniforms, weapons and equipment. The
painting depicts the scene on 2 July 1863, at about
3:45 p.m. from behind one of Captain Smith’s four
10-pounder Parrott rifles that were located on Houck’s
Ridge. The gun is facing west towards Emmitsburg Road,
firing across the eastern wall of the triangle field
at the 1st Texas. The painting depicts the moments
just before the 124th NY Infantry made its heroic
charge across the stone wall to drive the 1st TX
temporarily back down the valley.
Importantly, the
monument for Smith’s battery and the four guns placed
by Gettysburg National Park are not located where
Smith’s four guns were located during the battle. They
are incorrectly located to the southeast where they
are not in a position to fire upon the Confederates
approaching from beyond the Emmitsburg road nor fire
upon the 1st TX crossing the triangle field
In his book, “A
Famous Battery and its Campaigns 1861-’64,” Captain
Smith writes, “The position occupied by the monument
erected by the State of New York is not upon the
ground where the guns were stationed; its location is
in a hole . . .” (pg 147) Smith writes that General
Hunt, Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac, said to
him during a post-war visit to the site, “if you had
placed your pieces down there where the monument
stands, I would have placed you in arrest for
incompetency. It is not flattering to my intelligence
as an artillerist to infer that I did countenance such
a position while a better one was to be had.” (pg 149)
Indeed, on 31 October 1888, the 4th N.Y. Ind. Battery
Association passed a resolution asking that the
monument location be corrected, obviously without
success. (pg 148)
The foreground
depicts the crew of Co. C working their gun. The
gunner has just given the order “Prepare to fire!” and
will soon shout “Fire!” To the right, crew #1 covering
his ear has just rammed home the round with the ramrod
and will turn towards the rear before the gun fires.
Crew #3 to the right has pricked a hole in the charge
thru the vent hole with the pick, now tucked safely in
its pouch on his right hip, and is covering his ear
awaiting the blast. On his left thumb, he wears a
leather thumb cover that he uses to block air from
passing thru the vent and igniting unburned powder
when the ramrod is run down the barrel.
To the left, the
gunner is kneeling and shouting his orders at the top
of his lungs to be heard over the crash of battle.
Crewman #4 is holding the lanyard tight, awaiting the
command to fire when he will pull it sharply towards
him. Crew #2 has been wounded after inserting the
round in the barrel and is now lying on the ground. An
infantryman from the 124th NY has been pressed into
service to carry rounds in a leather pouch from the
limbers, which were located some yards behind the
guns.
In the mid
distance, the center of the 1st TX Infantry makes a
daring advance to the stone wall under the muzzles of
Smith’s battery and the 124th NY and 4th ME. Sergeant
George A. Branard dashes forward carrying the Texas
Lone Star State Flag, which was a replacement for the
state flag the 1st TX lost in the Cornfield at
Antietam.
To the right is
Rose’s Woods where the 3rd AK fights the 86th NY. Rose
Run is out of sight in the painting, flowing as it
does along the lowest part of the valley behind the
1st TX. Coming up through Sherfy’s lot out of a little
wood and past Timbers’ house is Benning’s Brigade
consisting of the 2nd, 15th, 17th and 20th GA.
In the distance
far left is Latham Battery with five guns blasting
away at Little Round Top and the Wheatfield. Towards
the middle is Emmitsburg Road and Rose’s peach
orchard. Anderson’s Brigade – 8th, 9th, 11th, and 59th
GA – is in the field just in front of the orchard.
Note that today
in 2003 a substantial wood occupies the valley of the
west branch of Rose Run and a visitor cannot see the
view that Smith’s battery had of Emmitsburg Road, the
Timbers homestead, or Sherfy’s lot.
Sources:
Harrison, Kathleen R. G., “Our principal loss was in
this place,” Gettysburg Magazine, pg 45, July 1989.
Laine, J. Gary, and Penny, Morris M., Struggle for the
Round Tops, Burd Street Press 1999.
Pfanz, Harry W., Gettysburg - The Second Day, Univ. of
N. Carolina Press 1987.
Smith, James E., A Famous Battery and Its Campaigns
1861-’64, Benedum Books 1999.
Walter G. Bublé © 2003
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