Gettysburg photographer William Tipton shot this image of the dedication of the 17th Connecticut monument on July 1, 1884. (CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE.) |
An enlargement of image above shows many attendees gathered under a canopy next to monument. |
Lieutenant colonel Douglass Fowler was killed at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. |
Directing his men while astride his white horse during the chaos of battle, Fowler was a prominent target as Rebels advanced through a strip of woods 100 yards or so in front of the regiment. (See interactive panoramas below.) "Soon after I had sent my wounded to the rear," Albert Peck, a 2nd lieutenant in the regiment, wrote 24 years after the battle, "the line officers gathered around Colonel Fowler and tried to persuade him to dismount during the battle, but he refused, fearing he might be deemed cowardly."
A short time later, the regiment was ordered to fall in, deploy for battle and charge. "... our gallant boys advanced on the enemy with a will," Peck remembered. But as the Rebels closed on the outnumbered 17th Connecticut and the "din had reached the standard of a hell," according to a private, Fowler shouted a command and "the next instant he reeled from the saddle." (Hat tip to excellent 17th Connecticut blog.) Gunfire or canister sheered off the top of the lieutenant colonel's head, splattering his brains on his adjutant by his side.
On the 17th Connecticut monument on Barlow's Knoll, Douglas Fowler's name appears on a panel with seven other soldiers who died at Gettysburg. |
So intense was the fire on Barlow's Knoll that H. Whitney Chatfield, Fowler's adjutant, had a horse shot and killed from under him, bullet holes through his hat, haversack and the sleeve of his coat and his Revolutionary War-era sword shot apart. (Chatfield also did not survive the Civil War. He was killed at the Battle of Dunn's Lake in Florida on Feb. 5, 1865.)
"We were soon cut to pieces," Peck wrote, "and having no troops in our rear to support us, we fell back into the town." (Read 17th Connecticut Major Allen Brady's Gettysburg field report here, or if you have $16,000 to spare, purchase it here.)
Fowler's death compounded the tragedy for his family back in Connecticut. In 1855, Douglas' 23-year-old wife, Melissa Jane, died after the couple lost a daughter in infancy. Two of Fowler's brothers -- Henry and Richard -- also served as officers during the war. A lieutenant colonel in the 63rd New York, Henry suffered a severe wound at Antietam and was discharged from the army on July 4, 1863, a day after fighting at Gettysburg ended. Less than seven months before Gettysburg, on Dec. 13, 1862, 46-year-old Richard, a sergeant in the 27th Connecticut, was shot in the right leg and abdomen during a charge on Marye's Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg. His leg was amputated and he died five days later.
Despite repeated recovery efforts by his comrades, Fowler's remains were never found. According to accounts, his body was stripped of clothes by the Rebels and probably tossed into a trench. He may be buried at the national cemetery in Gettysburg under a stone without a name.
In 1885, survivors of his regiment placed a wooden flagpole on Barlow's Knoll to mark the spot where the widower was killed. Replaced by a metal pole decades later, it stands as a silent reminder of a terrible death that occurred there in the summer of 1863.
Lieutenant colonel Douglas Fowler's body was not recovered and returned to Connecticut. Perhaps his remains rest today in the national cemetery in Gettysburg. |
(Click at upper right for full-screen experience.)
17th Connecticut monument on Barlow's Knoll, also known as Blocher's Knoll. There also is a monument for the regiment near East Cemetery Hill. |
-- Have something to add (or correct) in this post? E-mail me here.
SOURCES:
-- Edward Fowler letter to his niece, 1920s, Gettysburg National Military Park.
-- Paynton, W.W., "From Virginia to Gettysburg And Back," Chapter 1st, typewritten copy, Gettysburg National Military Park.
-- Albert Peck letter to comrade, April 2, 1887, typewritten copy, Gettysburg National Military Park.
-- Phoenix, Stephen Whitney, The Whitney Family of Connecticut, and Its Affiliations, Volume 2, New York, privately printed, 1878.
Awesome work.My great, great Uncle - James Gordon is named on the monument. My great, great Grandfather, William Alexander was wounded and captured at Chancellorsville with E Company. Their brother John Gordon was with E Company but died at age 59 in 1906.
ReplyDeleteAt the Connecticut Museum in Hartford at the Connecticut State Library there is a piece of wood with a label on it stating it was from the tree near the spot where Lt. Col. Fowler was killed. It's just a small piece and easily missed in the bottom of a display case of Civil War memorabilia.
ReplyDeleteLove the site! My GGGrandfather Corporal Henry Britto fought at Gettysburg with Co F 17th (later with Co G 28th Conn) along with several other relatives one of which was wounded at Gettysburg and died from the results a year later. Been to Gettysburg several times and would highly recommend a visit. Thank you again for your site!
ReplyDeleteMy great great grandfather, William Simon Gregory was killed on July 1, 1863, his name is on the monument as well. I am told that he was a Cordwainer( leather worker, shoemaker), but was preforming as part of extra orderly duty Brigade Cattle Guard when killed and part of the 17th Reg. from CT.
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