Ghost Soldiers of Gettysburg

by Patrick Burke

  Then I recalled my interview with Michael Medved, his story, and his location on the battlefield. Combining his story with the information on the map, I felt strongly that it was time to investigate his haunting experience and how it might be tied to the battlefield graves on the Elliot Map. So many questions popped into my head. Why would there be a residual haunting of Confederate soldiers where, by all historical accounts, they never were? Why, when soldiers were buried where they fell, are there Confederate graves beyond what current historical accounts call the High Watermark of the Confederacy? These were the nagging questions that led me to begin my journey into paranormal archaeology.

  From my research pertaining to the third day of the battle, I knew that no large force of Confederates had been in the area where Michael saw the ghost soldiers. I started reading through the Official Report of the second day’s action. Among these, I came across Brig. Gen. Ambrose Wright’s (CSA) Official Report in which he stated, as a matter of fact, that his brigade not only took the Union position where more than sixteen cannons had blasted away at the Confederate advance on Cemetery Ridge, but they had also split the Federal defensive line.

  What an eye-opener! If this actually happened, why didn’t the Confederates seize the foothold gained and expand upon it? Assuming that Wright did in fact accomplish what he claimed, I wanted to know what caused the failure of the breach? History tells us that the Union defenders fought off the bold Confederate advance, which led to Trimble and Pickett’s charges on the third day.

  I diligently began my walk into paranormal archaeology. I began combing through as many firsthand accounts of this particular action as I could find and the various regimental histories and letters of recollections. I visited the National Archives to look over maps and period photos, reading all of the field reports and official reports of the engagement that were available.

  Jack and I incorporate psi talent to help define the gaps in history, or the deliberate omission of historical facts. My objective was to, once and for all, establish the validity of Wright’s claim that “We were masters of the field.” Wright’s Official Report is a subject that is controversial with historians, armchair generals, and military enthusiasts alike. The question is whether or not General Wright and his men actually penetrated the Union line of defense on Cemetery Ridge during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, as he states in his Official Report after the battle.

  Here is a brief description of what took place:

  General Wright was to launch his attack on the center of the Union line dug in on Cemetery Ridge when Gen. Edward Perry’s Brigade of Floridians started off on his right flank. On cue, Wright moved his line forward. The Confederates stepped off smartly, as if on parade, moved past the Bliss Farm on its far left, crossing over the Emmitsburg Turnpike. They drove the Eighty-Second New York and then the Fifteenth Massachusetts from their positions around the Codori House. Lt. Fred Brown’s Battery B from Rhode Island continued firing (even wounding and killing some of the Union infantry by accident) until the last minute.

  As the Federal troops and Brown’s Battery retreated to the stone wall at the base of Cemetery Ridge, Wright’s brigade followed hot on their heels. The fight at the stone wall was fierce. Brown was able to get four (according to Sgt. John Rhodes of Battery B only three) of his six guns behind the waiting infantry, and the other two pieces now belonged to Wright. Lt. Alonzo Cushing’s Battery A, Fourth US Light Artillery turned their guns on the two pieces to keep the Confederates off of them. As the Eighty-Second New York and the Fifteenth Massachusetts streamed through the gap in the stone wall, they re-formed behind the batteries on Cemetery Ridge, which were supported by the Sixty-Ninth and 106th Pennsylvania troops behind the stone wall.

  Here, General Wright, under heavy cannon and musket fire, re-formed his lines and charged into the teeth of the dragon. He captured several batteries during the charge and drove off the Union infantry defending the ridge. He was master of the field, but for only a brief time as Union reinforcements arrived on his flanks and in front of him. With no support in sight, he withdrew to a small swale several hundred yards away.

  The controversy is centered on whether General Wright’s brigade actually crested the ridge. All of the Union accounts I’ve read so far indicate that the Confederates never gained the heights, but rather that they penetrated the first line of defense on the west side of the ridge and were stopped just before approaching the top. All of the Southern accounts claim that he did gain the heights and by so doing split the Federal defenses in half.

  So how can we use the method of paranormal archaeology to solve this dispute? It should be noted that, in the majority of cases, the Confederate officers tended to give a more accurate description when writing their reports than their Union counterparts. For instance, when the Confederate troops were routed, the Offical Report says they were routed. The Union reports of a rout usually have the following words: fell back in good order or maintained cohesion as they retreated to a second line of defense. In all honesty, no one, Rebel or Yankee, wanted to admit that his troops fell back in disarray.

  So, here are the facts as we know them: General Wright’s brigade did indeed drive back the Union defenses around the Codori House, seizing one gun there, regrouping in front of the stone wall, and taking two of Brown’s guns that had been left behind at the wall.

  This is supported by a number of accounts: Wright’s Official Report, Brown’s Official Report, and Charles H. Andrews’s History of the Third Georgia (he was the Company Regimental Historian). His is the most detailed when it comes to the actual action that took place at company levels, and I generally consider it closer to the truth than any other report. The following is an excerpt from his accounts:

  “The Third Georgia moved forward and was met at the edge of the field in front with a storm of shot and shell. At a double quick step, the Regiment charged upon the enemy in the turnpike, followed at their heels across the little meadow beyond, passed a large brick house…”

  General Wright gives a similar account of what happened at the Codori farmhouse and Lt. Col. George Joslin (US) of the Fifteenth Massachusetts also verifies this account. Although Joslin does give a unique point of view, he states that the Fifteenth Massachusetts was positioned to the left of the Eighty-Second New York and that the Fifteenth built a small breastwork when the pressure was such that the men broke and ran for the stone wall where the Sixty-Ninth and 106th Pennsylvania infantry were hunkered down. Note how he describes the retreating Fifteenth Massachusetts, which was in all actuality, a rout. It should be noted that the Eighty-Second New York was routed as well.

  Joslin writes, “At this time the Eighty-Second New York fell back, exposing our left and rear to a deadly fire from the rebel infantry. Here Colonel Ward received wounds from which he has since died. We now opened a rapid fire, but being left alone could hold the position but a short time, when we retired in some disorder, being pressed so closely that we lost quite a number of prisoners, captured by the enemy. We reformed our line in rear of the batteries, and rejoined the brigade, which was moved after dark to the front line…”

  The most telling factor is that Joslin doesn’t even reference the fighting at the stone wall. If the Fifteenth Massachusetts had regrouped just behind the batteries on top of Cemetery Ridge, he would have been in a position to witness this engagement. I made a note to enquire of any ghost soldiers of the Fifteenth Massachusetts whose energies still reside on the battlefield to tell me where they reformed.

  Most interesting about this is the lack of information from the Union officers pertaining to the details of the action at the stone wall and the guns on the ridge. For instance, Union Gen. Alexander Webb states that the Confederates made it past one of Brown’s guns and then were driven back as the Seventy-First and Seventy-Second Pennsylvania advanced to the support of the Sixty-Ninth and 106th Pennsylvania. According to General Webb, Wright’s brigade only advanced to
one of Brown’s guns. Which gun was it? According to Sergeant Rhodes of Brown’s Battery B, Brown left one gun at the Codori House and had two more stuck at the stone wall. The remainder of Brown’s Battery joined Battery A on the ridge and opened fire at the approaching Confederates.

  We know from previous reports that Wright’s brigade took the Codori House and made it to the stone wall. In Wright’s Official Report he states:

  “I immediately charged upon the enemy’s line, and drove him in great confusion upon his second line, which was formed behind a stone fence, some one hundred or more yards in rear of the Emmitsburg Turnpike. At this point we captured several pieces of artillery, which the enemy in his haste and confusion was unable to take off the field.”

  From this description, we know that Joslin’s account is fairly accurate in that both Wright and Joslin reported the capturing of field pieces. Although Wright indicates that several were captured, we will go with the conservative number of one gun captured.

  That Wright broke the Union line at the wall there is no doubt, as all accounts claim this. The issue is whether Wright took the crest of Cemetery Ridge and, in doing so, seized the guns on the heights and split the Union defense in two. As I continued to research, I came across a reference to the second day of the battle written by Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Chief of Artillery of the Army of the Potomac during the battle, for The Century magazine. He wrote three articles dated November 1886, December 1886, and January 1887, respectively. Read, in his own words, what Hunt had to say about the conflict at Cemetery Ridge, and pay close attention to the final sentence:

  The first assaults were repulsed, but, after hard fighting, McLaws’ division being also advanced, the angle was, toward six o’clock, broken in, after a resolute defense and with great loss on both sides. In the mean time three of Anderson’s brigades were advancing on Humphreys, and the latter received orders from Birney, now in command of the corps, Sickles being severely wounded soon after six o’clock near the Trostle house, to throw back his left, form an oblique line in his rear, and connect with the right of Birney’s division, then retiring. The junction was not effected, and Humphreys, greatly outnumbered, slowly and skillfully fell back to Cemetery Ridge, Gibbon sending two regiments and Brown’s Rhode Island battery to his support. But the enemy was strong and covered the whole Second Corps front, now greatly weakened by detachments. Wilcox’s, Perry’s, and Wright’s brigades pressed up to the ridge, outflanking Humphreys’s right and left, and Wright broke through our line and seized the guns in his front, but was soon driven out, and not being supported all fell back, about dusk, under a heavy artillery fire.

  Hunt is describing Wright’s breakthrough at the ridge, and his reference to the seizing of the guns is very clear. If Wright had captured one or two guns, Hunt would have given us that exact number or would have used the common reference of several guns or pieces of artillery. The only guns in Wright’s front, at this stage of the fighting, were the ones on Cemetery Ridge. This is corroboration supporting the first claim of Wright’s Official Report that he took the guns on the ridge. But, how do we prove the second part of Wright’s claim that his brigade “was a now complete master of the field”?

  In June 2012, Jack and I decided to do an investigation of the various points of engagement of Wright’s brigade on Day Two. I brought both of my daughters, Emily and Shannon, who are both talented sensitives and have only a cursory knowledge of the battle. The goal was to use our combined psi talent to communicate with the ghost soldiers and get to the heart of the issue.

  Jack and I parked just south of Meade’s Headquarters in a field lot on Taneytown Road. I wanted to see if we could find the remains of the ravine just south of Meade’s HQ. Wright mentions a ravine to the east of his position on Cemetery Ridge. Jack and I started to walk down Taneytown Road with the map and came to a creek bed on the left side of the road. Looking at the map, I heard a voice say, “Over here!” I turned and saw a cannon standing upright with the muzzle buried in the ground. As Jack studied the map, I crossed the street to look at the plate on the cannon and caught my breath … the marker indicated that the location of Hunt’s HQ was before me, just south of Meade’s HQ. I stepped up beside the monument and turned to look at the backside of Cemetery Ridge, realizing that Hunt would have had a perfect view of Wright’s troops as they crested the ridge, waving their battle flags in assumed victory. I called Jack and said “I found Hunt’s HQ! He had a firsthand view of the final actions of Wright’s brigade.”

  We walked back to the car and opened the Elliot Map. Our next objective was to locate the two structures just south of Meade’s HQ and conduct our investigation of the field at the base of Cemetery Ridge. Elliot indicated that there were thirty-three Confederate soldiers buried in this field as well as ten Union graves. This is the area where we would be able to prove or disprove Wright’s claims, as this would be the furthest the Confederates would have gone before being turned back.

  We pulled into a parking area by the structures. A park ranger happened to be there, and I asked him for permission to walk out on the field as I was curious about the accuracy of the Elliot Map. He replied that he knew of the map and that it was accurate; there had been multiple graves in that field. I thanked him and felt a surge of excitement as I walked over to the team. “This is the spot!”

  I instructed Emily and Shannon to go through the training I had taught them, basically putting up psi shields against negative energies and opening up their psi abilities to the zero-point field (ZPF). It’s important to note that Jack is critical of using the information provided only by sensitives to assess what may have occurred at a particular location. In this case, he was excited because we had the map and we had multiple battle reports that we could use to verify whatever the girls came up with from a psi standpoint. He also trusts my methods and knows from experience that I have a sincere connection to ghost soldiers. Ironically, Jack has unwillingly developed his own psi abilities simply by being around paranormal energies over the years, and his paranormal intuition has been extremely helpful in assessing particular situations at haunted locations.

  I lead the team toward the break in the fence and the uncut field beyond. I stopped at the opening in the fence and was hit with the unmistakable feeling of many eyes watching us. “Boys,” I said quietly, “My name is Patrick and I have with me Jack, Emily, and Shannon. We are here to ask you about what happened here on July 2, 1863. We are hopeful that you will share with us a bit of your story … your name, rank, or regiment and company you were with during the fighting that happened here on July 2nd.”

  A brief image flashed in my head. Soldiers in butternut and gray forming a quick line and firing at a thin line of Union soldiers with the haze of battle thick on the field, and then a rolling crash of musketry off to the left of the Confederates and then … the clear blue skies of the present.

  Jack stepped past us, and Emily said, “They’re still out there,” and pointed toward the field before us.

  I looked at her, already knowing the answer but asking it anyway, “Who?”

  Shannon said, “The soldiers.” I looked at her as Emily said, “There are bodies still out there.” I felt a shiver run through my spine. The girls were already getting a stream of information, and they were completely unaware of the events that unfolded in this area. Jack and I told and showed them nothing before starting the investigation. Plus, this was information I was also receiving but hadn’t shared with them yet.

  As we worked our way into the field, I let Emily and Shannon guide us to the location where the ghost soldiers had indicated their bodies were. As they were walking, Shannon suddenly stopped and said, “Here!” This precise area was the area where Elliott indicated Confederate and Union soldiers had fallen in battle and been buried. Emily mentioned that a Union soldier was approaching her. She believed his name was Daniels, and I asked her to inquire about his rank. She said he had stripes. She wasn’t sure but
thought he was a sergeant. He indicated to her that he was with a Massachusetts regiment and that he came from the north (from their position at the Codori House). Shannon said, “From that direction,” (she was pointing north toward Cemetery Ridge), and “had fallen back to this spot.” I was confident this was a live interaction with the spirit of Daniels.

  I was excited to garner this information because Daniels corroborated that a Massachusetts unit had fallen back to the base of Cemetery Ridge. But was it the Fifteenth? If we could determine that information, maybe it would explain why Joslin’s report lacked the details regarding this action. He would have been busy rallying his remaining men in the field near the Leister House.

  “Are you Confederates?” Emily asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to validate it for us to hear. “No.” “Did you retreat to this spot?” “Yes.” Then Emily said an “aide” was with them from General “H,” but she couldn’t make out the name. I asked Shannon if she could make out the name and she thought it sounded like “Han.” I then asked if the name was Hancock, and the girls and Jack said “Yes!” “I went with the first thing that came into my head, and that was Hancock,” Jack said. “I’m just flowing with this.” I laughed. I knew from past investigations that Jack was quite good at this. He just didn’t fully trust that he could actually do it.

  Emily said a Confederate soldier named George was standing near me. I asked him who his commanding general was. “Anderson,” Emily said. R. H. Anderson was the commanding general for that division. When asked what rank he was, Emily replied, “Captain.” When I prompted Emily to request what regiment he was with she held up two fingers. Research confirms that Capt. George Salley Jones of the Second Georgia Battalion was wounded on Cemetery Ridge.