General Barlow and General Gordon Meet on Blocher’s Knoll

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In the midafternoon of July 1, 1863, with the Battle of Gettysburg well underway, Union Brigadier General Francis Channing Barlow surveyed the Confederate lines from his vantage point atop a rise called Blocher’s Knoll. Only two Federal corps were then on the field northwest of the town of Gettysburg — Maj. Gen. John Reynolds’ I Corps on the Federal left and Major General Carl Schurz’s XI Corps on the right, to which Barlow’s brigade belonged. Schurz had taken command of the corps after Major General Oliver O. Howard assumed control of all Union troops upon Reynolds’ death.

Schurz placed his 3rd Division under Brig. Gen. Alexander Schimmelfennig on the XI Corps’ right flank and ordered his 1st Division under Barlow to form up on Schimmelfennig’s left. Living up to his already well-established reputation for aggressiveness, ‘Frank’ Barlow, a cleanshaven 28-year-old former lawyer, abandoned his assigned place in the XI Corps’ line and moved his division forward to Blocher’s Knoll, the only high ground not in Confederate hands.

Barlow’s forward movement caused the 1st Division to lose contact with Schimmelfennig’s men, and Schurz was forced to realign the 3rd Division to keep his line intact. Barlow’s deployment would have made sense if he were preparing to attack or repel a brigade of Confederate Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes’ Division, which was slightly to his left. By midafternoon, however, the semi-salient on the knoll had become highly vulnerable after Confederate troops from Maj. Gen. Jubal Early’s Division of Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell’s Second Corps arrived on the scene and made ready to attack. About 3 o’clock, Early’s men, with Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon’s Brigade in the van, rolled forward, hitting Barlow on both front and flank.

Barlow’s first brigade, led by Brig. Gen. Leopold von Gilsa, a German-born officer whom Barlow loathed, broke under the onslaught and fell back among Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames’ brigade, throwing it into confusion as well. Barlow would later contend that his men were well positioned and ready for an attack, and should have held their lines. Possibly more resistance could have been offered, but a stouter defense most likely would have slowed, not stopped, the Confederate onslaught. In any event, the Confederates were more generous in their descriptions of the fight. Ewell remembered an ‘obstinate contest’ before the 1st Division broke, and Early described the clash as short and hot.

Barlow, however, always persisted in arguing that ‘no fight at all was made’ by his troops. His condemnation of his men was probably affected by what happened to him personally as Blocher’s Knoll was overrun. He later described this in a letter home: ‘Finding that they [the division] were going I started to get ahead of them to try to rally them and form another line in the rear. Before I could turn my horse I was shot in the left side about half way between the arm pit and the head of the thigh bone. I dismounted and tried to walk off the field. Everybody was then running to the rear and the enemy were approaching rapidly. One man took hold of one shoulder and another the other side to help me. One of them was soon shot and fell. I then got a spent ball in my back which has made quite a bruise. Soon I got too faint to go any further and lay down. I lay in the midst of the fire some five minutes as the enemy were firing at our running men. I did not expect to get out alive. A ball went through my hat as I lay on the ground and another just grazed the forefinger of my right hand.’

What happened to Francis Barlow in the next hour as his division fled and the Confederates came upon him became the subject of one of the great romantic legends of the Civil War. The story of his presumed experiences was cited as evidence of mutual respect and comradeship across the battle lines and was pressed into the cause of national reconciliation after Reconstruction. The first published version of the story, which probably originated with General Gordon, was in print in a Georgia newspaper by 1879. Over time, the account was elaborated with extended dialogue and detail. The basic story, as printed in 1879, went that as Barlow’s division withdrew toward Culp’s Hill, Gordon rode forward with his men and spied Barlow lying on the ground badly wounded. Gordon stopped, dismounted and gave Barlow a drink from his canteen.

Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts

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