line into the open expanse of the meadow
would amount to little more than a death
sentence for the troops.
Colgrove concluded that to comply with
Ruger’s orders he was forced to storm the
lower hill with two of his regiments, and
the selection of the two regiments was an
unenviable dilemma that caused Colgrove
to nervously tug at his nose and mutter to
himself. At his immediate disposal were
the 3rd Wisconsin on the left, the 2nd
Massachusetts directly facing the meadow,
the 13th New Jersey fronting Rock Creek,
and the 27th Indiana somewhere to the
rear of the Massachusetts men. The
colonel considered his core regiments—the
Hoosiers, Badgers, and Bay Staters—to be
the “three best regiments I have ever seen
in action.” Ultimately, he settled on the
2nd and the 27th and dispatched a mes-
senger accordingly.
When the courier reached the 2nd Mass-
achusetts he found Mudge and his adju-
tant, Lieutenant John A. Fox, and deliv-
ered the order to attack. Mudge was
nonplussed. He asked the courier if he was
certain that was the order and was assured
that it was. “Well,” said Mudge, a little
dryly, “it’s murder but it’s the order.”
Disaster unfolded in minutes. Already in
position to launch the attack, Mudgeordered his men forward at the double
quick. As soon as the regiment emerged
into the meadow, it was met with a hail of
musketry. Captain Thomas Robeson of
Company E collapsed with a mortal
wound, as did Color Sergeant Levitt C.
Durgin. Corporal Rupert J. Sadler then
grabbed the flag and was shot dead in sec-
onds. The next color-bearer, Corporal
James Hobbs, went down wounded, to be
relieved by Private Stephen A. Cody, who
saved the colors from touching the ground.
The regiment steadily advanced, drove
in a handful of Confederate skirmishers,
but saw its own men shot down by the
dozen. The grim spectacle awed onlook-
ers in the 3rd Wisconsin, who remained
behind but were prepared to move up in
support. To cheers of “See there goes the
2nd,”the Badgers stood helpless as the
Massachusetts men were cut down like
grass in a prairie fire.
Off to the right, the 27th Indiana arrived
late to the fight. From its apparent posi-
tion facing Rock Creek, the regiment was
forced to change front at the double quick
and face the meadow. In the frenetic con-
fusion of the moment, Fesler’s men uncer-
emoniously ran into the ranks of the 13th
New Jersey. Colgrove barked orders to
unsnarl the lines and with shrill, piercingtones called out to his Hoosiers, “Twenty-
seventh, charge! Charge those works in
your front!”
The regiment cheered, charged out from
McAllister’s Woods, and was met with, in
the words of Colgrove, “One of the most
destructive fires I have ever witnessed.”
The regiment veered to the right of the
Massachusetts men and, when halfway
across the meadow, was staggered by “a
terrific volley, one of those well-aimed,
well-timed volleys which break up and
retard a line, in spite of itself.” So many
men fell that survivors described the earth
simply swallowing up the regiment. Fes-
ler’s right flank, entirely exposed and sub-
ject to an enfilading fire from the Confed-
erates across Rock Creek, suffered
especially heavy casualties. Theodore Col-
grove, urging the men from horseback,
thought that the three flank companies
had been brought down en masse.
The regiment stalled amid the hail of
gunfire and exchanged volleys with the
Confederates. “The air was alive with
singing, hissing, and zipping bullets,”
noted one survivor. The color guard was
virtually annihilated; one of its survivors,
Color Sergeant John L. Files, pressed on
through the gauntlet despite the loss of his
comrades. The flag was then seized by
Lieutenant William W. Dougherty, who
attempted to rally the men for a further
push. Subject to such a scathing fire, the
men could not be budged; Dougherty
drove the flagstaff into the ground.
In the ranks of the 49th Virginia of
Smith’s brigade, Private William Johnson
took aim at a conspicuous Federal officer
mounted on a black horse—possibly
Major Colgrove—who was carrying a flag
and urging on his men. Johnson misfired,
recapped the nipple, and misfired again,
finally noticing that his hammer was
blocked by a small chain. Rectifying the
problem, Johnson was about to pull the
trigger when his own rifle was hit by a ball,
which mangled his left hand and struck
him in the chest.
At the head of the 2nd Virginia, Naden-
busch was busy waging a welcome one-
sided fight. While suffering scant casual-Library of CongressPrivates George Guinn of the 52nd Virginia, left, and Samuel Cowley of the 2nd Virginia took part in the
fighting around Culp’s Hill. Guinn was just 16 at the time.CWQ-EW16 Culp's Hill_Layout 1 10/22/15 1:04 PM Page 46