The Gettysburg Campaign: Part II: The Color Episode of the 149th Pennsylvania

A Sketch of the History of the Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment:
The Gettysburg Campaign: Part II: The Color Episode of the 149th Pennsylvania

Colors of the 2nd Mississippi Captured at the Railroad Cut, July 1, 1863 (Mississippi Department of Archives and History)

Although battered, the spirit of the regiment was not broken.  Later during the afternoon of July 1st, Colonel Stone noticed a stand of Federal colors that had been advanced well to the front of the Union line near a pile of rails.  Lieutenant A. K. Roberts of Company H volunteered to lead a party consisting of himself and four men from the 2nd Mississippi in an attempt to capture the enemy colors.  The colors belonged to the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry, and they had sent their color party forward as a ruse to draw the fire of Confederate artillery batteries away from enfilading their main line.  As Lieutenant Roberts’ squad surprised the Pennsylvanians near the fence railings, a hand-to-hand struggle ensued.  Lieutenant Roberts, less heavily encumbered than the other men and athletically inclined, neared the rail pile first, but to the surprise of the squad, the hidden color guard rose up and killed the Lieutenant.  In the confusion that followed, the gun of one of Roberts’ men failed to fire, but he used it as a club and in so doing, stumbled and fell among the rails.  When he recovered, he noted two of the Federal color guard were retreating with one of Roberts’ men as a prisoner, while the color bearer was also retreating with his flag.  He recapped his gun and fired at the color bearer and broke his leg.  He then rushed forward, seized the colors from the wounded Federal and, amid a hail of bullets from the Federal line, brought in the captured colors of the 149th Pennsylvania.  This man was Private Henry “Tobe” McPherson, also a member of Company H.  Colonel Stone offered McPherson the lieutenancy position created by Roberts’ death, which he declined, but accepted a furlough instead.[1]

The battered survivors of Davis’ Brigade spent July 2nd performing light duties and getting some much-needed rest.  Augustus L. P. Vairin of Company B, the O’Connor Rifles, noted his regiment had been “reduced fearfully,” and recorded in his diary on July 2nd, “rested all day – gathering arms.”  Hundreds of arms were gathered along with other accouterments such as blankets, canteens, haversacks, and cartridge boxes.[2]  Finally in the late afternoon, the men of 11th Mississippi arrived from their wagon train guard detail, helping to somewhat raise the spirits of the men who had escaped the debacle at the Railroad Cut.  According to contemporary accounts, the 11th Mississippi mustered about 350 men upon its arrival on the battlefield.[3]

In the gathering darkness, the Confederate forces fell back from Cemetery Ridge and Davis’ men bivouacked for the night.  “From our Bivouac,” wrote Vairin, “we could see the Battlefield of this day.”  A few curious soldiers walked to the edge of the woods where, in the moonlight, they gazed upon the scene of the fighting.  A sporadic fire continued in this sector of the field and a few unlucky men of the brigade were hit.  One of them was Vairin.  He recorded his misfortune with the simple statement, “I was struck in the head with a glancing ball which disabled me for the rest of the day so I did no more that day.”[4]


[1] J. H. Strain.  “Heroic Henry McPherson,” Confederate Veteran, XXXI (1923): p. 205.  J. H. Bassler.  The Color Episode of the One Hundred and Forty-Ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers.  Paper Read Before the Lebanon County Historical Society, October 18, 1907.  CMSR.  Noted in his compiled service records "Captured a stand of colors [149th Pennsylvania] on 7/1/1863 at Gettysburg in front of lines. Declined promotion therefor."  Private McPherson was killed at The Wilderness on 5/6/1864. He appears on a register of appointments, CSA to Ensign & 1st Lt. Date of appointment: 6/6/1864.  To take rank: 5/4/1864 (However, Pvt. McPherson was killed before it could take effect).
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Other historians [Martin, Gettysburg, July 1, for example] have mistakenly identified the Pennsylvania unit that Roberts and McPherson encountered as the 56th Pennsylvania of Cutler’s brigade.  This incident occurred some time after the regiment’s experience near the Railroad Cut, probably after 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon.  Additionally, credit has been given by other writers to the 42nd Mississippi or the 55th North Carolina, and even a unit from Daniel’s Brigade for capturing these colors.  Lieutenant Strain’s account in the Confederate Veteran rings much truer with respect to the known facts.

[2] A.L.P. Vairin Diary, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

[3] Baxter McFarland, “Casualties of the Eleventh Mississippi Regiment at Gettysburg,” Confederate Veteran, XXIV (Nashville, 1916), p. 410-411.  Busey and Martin’s careful study, Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg, concluded, based on incomplete Confederate company muster records of June 30,1863, that the 11th Mississippi numbered 592 effectives on July 1st.  This is difficult to reconcile with McFarland’s number of 350, even if the assumption is made that a large number of men were “detailed” or on “extra duty” that day.  McFarland detailed strengths and losses by individual company for the 11th Mississippi.

[4] A.L.P. Vairin Diary, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.