Tag Archives: Wheatfield

Keeping a date with a guy named Pickett

Waterville’s Francis Heath and his 19th Maine Infantry Regiment kept their July 3, 1863 date with a guy named Pickett. The experience left a sour taste in the mouths of everyone involved. Then a colonel, Heath and some 400 weary 19th Maine boys marched along Taneytown Road toward Gettysburg on Wednesday, July 1. A muster […]

A dwindling color guard protected the 17th Maine’s flags

Protecting the flags of the 17th Maine Infantry Regiment took guts at Gettysburg. Commanded by Lt. Col. Charles Benjamin Merrill, the 17th Maine belonged to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Corps — the same corps that Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles deployed to its evisceration west of Cemetery Ridge on Thursday, July 2, 1863. He […]