Experienced regimental commanders in the
woods near Culp’s Hill took one look at their new
orders and shook their heads. It was a virtual
death sentence for the men in their command.
BY JOSHUA SHEPHERD
Library of CongressA
lthough Union Colonel Silas Colgrove
had previously led his men through
some of the most horrific fighting in the
eastern theater of the Civil War, the order he
received on the morning of July 3, 1863, in
the woods near Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg, was
the most unnerving he had ever received.
Dropping his head and looking noticeably
disturbed, Colgrove pulled his nose, which he
frequently did when pondering a difficult
problem, and muttered, “It cannot be done;
it cannot be done.” Then the colonel lifted his
head and announced, “If it can be done, the
2nd Massachusetts and the 27th Indiana can
do it.” His counterpart in the 2nd Massa-
chusetts, Lt. Col. Charles Mudge, had a sim-
ilar but even more ominous reaction. “Well,
it’s murder,” said Mudge, “but it’s the order.”
In the end, only one of them would be right.
A more curious pairing of outfits could not
be found in the Army of the Potomac. The
27th Indiana had been Colgrove’s own regi-
ment before his advancement to temporary
brigade command. Recruited from the farm
country of south-central and southern Indi-
ana, the regiment was largely composed of
homespun provincials who would have been
considered commonplace had it not been for
the efforts of Captain Peter Kop of Company
F. “Big Pete,” as he was called, stood six feet,
five inches tall and latched onto the novel plan
of assembling an entire company of “stout
and able bodied” men no shorter than 5 feet,
10 inches tall. Not only did he attain his goal,
but a good third of his company stood over
six feet tall. Topping them all was David Van
Buskirk, a veritable Hoosier Goliath whose
6-foot, 11-inch, 300-pound stature earned
him the title of tallest man in the Union Army.
In fact, the giants of Company F drove up the
regimental height average to such an extent
that the 27th claimed the distinction of being
the tallest regiment in Federal service.
Despite their imposing stature, the robust
farm boys of the 27th were in desperate need
of real training and they received it from Col-
grove. Born in Steuben County, New York,
on May 24, 1816, Colgrove immigrated to
the backwater of Winchester, Indiana, in 1837
and opened a law practice two years later.
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