Redemption at Gettysburg

Abstract:

The 111th is able to redeem themselves at the Battle of Gettysburg but suffers heavy losses. They mourn their dead and the service and death of Sergeant Major Irving Jaques who re-enlisted in Marion is also addressed.

Original written by siblings George & Deb McGraw, August 2023. Revised and edited by Erika Newcombe and Deb Hall, June 2026.

In July 1863, the men of the 111th prepared for battle outside a small town across the Pennsylvania border. They were about to join in the upcoming battle between Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Virginia and the new Major General George Meade and his Army of the Potomac.

Were they now remembering how they had been forced by their officers to surrender at Harper’s Ferry a short nine months ago, and after only being in the Army for less than a month? Because of that humiliating surrender, they had been called the Cowards of Harpers Ferry. Now, they were finally in a place to prove themselves in battle and establish a new reputation.  Many were thinking of redemption but not all. Three had deserted on their march from Virginia and another had unsuccessfully attempted suicide the day before.

The first of July found the regiment assigned to guard the supply train. They were heading to the rear of the march and unlikely to see any action; however, this order soon changed. They were now being ordered to Gettysburg to rejoin the Brigade. The men camped that night near a hill with large outcrops of boulders, later called Round Top. They slept rough and ate what meager rations they had.

Little Round Top (left) and [Big] Round Top, photographed from Plum Run Valley in 1909 Haines Photo Co. (Conneaut, Ohio), copyright claimant. - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Rising at 3 a.m. on July 2, they consumed a meager breakfast of coffee, crackers and bacon, which turned out to be the last meal for many of them until the afternoon of July 3. At sunrise, they marched to the top of Cemetery Hill where they were given ammunition but no rations or water.

The men were ordered to deploy on the slopes and not show themselves to avoid drawing artillery fire. Capt. Thompson of Co. F records how a Union sharpshooter was deployed behind a stump with his telescoped rifle looking for targets. The sharpshooter told the captain to look out at a Confederate horseman that was barely visible to the naked eye, off in the distance. After he fired a shot, the rebel horseman fell off his stead.

The Confederates responded with an artillery shot which fortunately did not explode but did damage the regiment’s bass drum and a knapsack. Orders soon came to fall in and move to a low area between Cemetery Hill and Little Round Top. The men positioned just behind a line of Union artillery which was holding back the Confederates with shell and canister fire. When an incoming shell took off the head of Brigade Commander Colonel Willard, the order came to "double quick" to the Plum Run Ridge. There they lay down to await further orders, barely a rod (16 feet) from a Rebel line of battle on the other side of a bank of alders. 

'The Battle of Gettysburg' by Thure de Thulstrup from 1887

Orders came to charge with fixed bayonets. The Brigade presented a formidable line and the rebel line began to give way. When the officers realized they were taking fire from Union artillery who were trying to engage the Confederate line ahead, a retreat was ordered and they fell back with their prisoners and a captured Rebel flag.

It was later reported that II Corp Commander Maj. Gen. Hancock personally singled out the regiment, praising this charge. The men of the 111th and the rest of the NY Brigade had fought well that day, repulsing the Mississippi infantry that was trying to break the Union lines. Despite the joy of the success of the battle, roll call that night was the saddest in the regiment’s 11-month history. There were only 185 men left out of the 390 who had presented for duty that morning.

Historian Lewis H. Clark in his post-war book writes, “They advanced with firmness, the remembrance of Harper’s Ferry tingling their nerves, and when the enemy were met it was with a sublime courage which rose above danger and made the One Hundred and Eleventh irresistible.” 

Regimental Chaplain Rev. J. N. Brown also recalled that day when he later spoke at the June 1886 Gettysburg Reunion, “I recollect that in that first charge, on the 2d of July, our first color-guard fell wounded. He called to the second to take the flag and bear it onward. As he did so, he was instantly killed. The third grasped it, fell mortally wounded, and the fourth seized the falling standard, and raising it aloft bore it onward to victory. Such was the spirit and bravery of our men, and such was the baptism of fire experienced by the Old Third Brigade in that terrible charge. All honor to the brave men, who could thus do and dare for their country and for their flag.”  

The color bearers who died that day were Sergeant Judson Hicks of Company A, Corporal Payson Derby of Company G, and Corporal Edward Riley of Company K. The fourth, Sergeant William Hart of Company K, would be discharged after the amputation of his right leg. A bronze statue and monument will be place in Lyons Central Park, the county seat of Wayne County, to honor this testimony.

It is fitting to note here that when armies faced off during the war, officers on horseback and the men carrying the regimental flag were the first targeted by the opposing side’s sharpshooters. The 111th's own Col. Clinton MacDougall went through three mounts that day. Among the heavy losses, he would later lament to the New York Monument Commission at Gettysburg that the loss to his beloved regiment was dreadful. He told them his heart almost broke when he learned that the “lovable, gifted and brave boy, Sgt. Maj. Irving Jaques” was among the dead that day, killed in action. Jaques was only 20 years old and sources report he was shot in the head.

Col MacDougall wrote to Irving's mother the following, “Dear Madam, I have just returned to the regiment and found your letter awaiting my arrival. I hasten to reply, regretting that I did not receive your letter sooner. It is my sad duty to inform you that your son was killed at Gettysburg, Thursday, July 2nd. He was killed instantly in the beginning of the action, being shot through the head. I saw that he was buried by himself, and his grave marked with his name and regiment. I visited his grave and wept over the last resting place of the brave boy. He was a young man of whom I thought very highly. He died nobly doing his duty, and in a glorious cause. I sympathize with you in this your deep affliction. I mourn for him myself, as one of the bravest and most gifted young men who fell on that bloody battlefield.”

Headstone of Sgt Maj Irving P. Jaques at Nassau-Schodack Cemetery in Rensselaer County, New York. Photo from findagrave.com by Gary Boughton

Private Jaques first joined the 47th NY “Washington Grays” regiment in August 1861 when he was 17. He served under Gen. Sherman and was released in late 1861 after contracting typhoid while at Port Royal, South Carolina. He returned to New York and recovered enough to re-enlist in Marion at the age of 18 for three years of service beginning July 1862. He was promoted to regimental Sergeant Major, December 28, 1862.

Sergeant Major was the most senior non-commissioned officer in a regiment, and his promotion from private to Sergeant Major in one step was unheard of -- a jump of six ranks. His remains were moved from Gettysburg to Nassau-Schodack Cemetery in Rensselaer County, New York where he is buried with his parents and siblings.

The remaining brave men of the 111th stayed at Zeigler’s Grove that evening where they tried to sleep on the ground with little or no food, awaiting orders for the next day’s battle.  There was also no food, water or assistance for those unfortunate wounded who were left on the battlefield because a truce had not been arranged. ###

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The facts of these stories have been discovered and researched through the reading of Civil War diaries, historical accounts, and letters donated to historical societies and libraries by descendants and collectors. If the reader is a descendant of a Civil War soldier, especially those from Wayne County, please use the contact form to let us know about yourself and your ancestor.