Civil War Journal - In the words of Capt. Patrick DeLacy

While the story of the Battle of Gettysburg can be told by discussing commanders, decision making, terrain, troop movements, and weapons and tactics, it can also be told through the words of the individual soldiers who fought here and the civilians who endured the battle and its aftermath. This is the first in a series of articles describing the battle from the perspective of the soldiers and civilians.

 

Capt. Patrick DeLacy described the Gettysburg Battle in an interview given to The Scranton Truth on Tuesday afternoon, July 1, 1913. Fifty years earlier, on July 1, 1863, DeLacy was a sergeant when his regiment, the 143rd Pennsylvania, fought at Gettysburg. The regiment was part of Col. Roy Stone’s brigade, Doubleday’s Division, Reynolds Corps.

In DeLacy’s words:

On June 30, the 143rd Pennsylvania and other regiments of what was known as the Bucktail Brigade was in camp at Emmitsburg. When the order to move north was given, only the superior officers knew the object. It is early on the morning of July 1, it is a roasting day and the boys are becoming fagged as they troop along with knapsacks, guns and other paraphernalia. We are trooping along and sweltering when we hear the sound of artillery firing. We move faster and close to the field. A little way further we sight a man on horseback.

“It’s General Doubleday,” cries out one of our men.

“What command is this?” [Doubleday] shouts.

“The Pennsylvania Brigade,” he is answered.

“Pennsylvania, this day, go in for Pennsylvania,” [Doubleday] says.

Interrupting the cheer that comes from the men comes the shout, “We have come to stay.”

“Hold them boys when you get there,” [Doubleday] says.

“If we can’t hold them, where can you get men who can?” comes from a private in the ranks.

We are now hitting up a fast pace across the field. We pass over the ridge at the seminary [Lutheran Theological Seminary] and into the flat valley facing McPherson’s barn. The fighting is getting fiercer in Reynolds Woods. Our boys are itching to get into the struggle when Company A gets the order to deploy in skirmish array. The boys of that company raise a cheer and rush down the slopes of Willoughby Run.

Now we take up the fighting in earnest. We charge in fan-like fashion, firing as we dash toward them. They pour volley after volley at us. Bullets are whizzing over our heads and shells are tearing by us. One strikes me in the chest and rips my clothes to shreds. Jim Kelly comes to me and I said, “Jim, the cartridge box and the Lord saved me this time.”

Down the Chambersburg pike comes a troop of rebels determined to drive us away. Attacking our right flank comes another. We are about to be caught in a trap. The order to retreat is sounded. We retreat firing as we move. Down the slope is a small stream. Here we make our stand and they come thundering. We fix bayonets. We have 300 men and they number thousands.

Instead of waiting for death, we rush up the hill. Startled by the sudden turn of the rats in the trap, the rebels are stunned for the minute. We rush them with bayonets. They begin to break ground. Now the order to retreat is sounded after the enemy is in turmoil. We move along through the orchard [today the site of the Quality Inn and General Lee’s Headquarters] and in the direction of the town.

Reaching the town, a number of us break a board fence and escape a trap and move toward Cemetery Hill. From my knapsack, I get crumbs of hardtack and a piece of pork that has a bullet hole in it. Lt. Reilly and I share the lunch. Then I retire to get the best sleep that has ever come to me.

Author’s note: Following the first day of fighting, the 143rd assembled on Cemetery Hill just south of where the Soldiers Cemetery is today. DeLacy served through the final two years of the war. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the Battle of the Wilderness. He died in 1915 in Scranton, Pa. He is my great-great uncle.

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