Words Behind The Pictures:
Bigelow's Battery at the Trostle Farm, Gettysburg   

Countless photographic images were produced during the course of America's Civil War. The pictures composed by Brady, Gardner, and O’Sullivan, to name but a few, have graced the pages of innumerable books and magazines. Some of these snapshots have been reprinted so often that they are immediately identifiable by most history enthusiasts. Unfortunately the stories behind the photos are often unknown and are viewed simply as disjointed or frozen moments in time; tales without prologue or epilogue. For instance, anyone familiar with the Battle of Gettysburg has probably seen the image of the dead horses lying about the Trostle House and barn. The caption under the photo might merely state the obvious, "Dead Horses at the Trostle Farm", but the heroics that preceded the death of those unfortunate animals remains hidden from all but the more curious. So, here are the words behind the picture.

Around 1:00 PM on July 2nd, Union General Daniel Sickles, uncomfortable with his position along Cemetery Ridge, directed his Third Corps troops to occupy higher ground three quarters of a mile in their front along the Emmitsburg Road. The western most reaches of this new line, situated in a peach orchard, formed a salient that would soon prove to be indefensible against the onslaught of Lt. General James Longstreet’s Confederate First Corps. Longstreet, working since morning arranging his troops along Seminary Ridge, launched his assault at approximately 3:30 PM with an artillery barrage against Sickles’ exposed line. One half hour later, out from the protection of the distant woods, stepped the gray clad Confederate infantry.

The Union line to the Ninth’s left in the Wheatfield and Stony Hill area, was collapsing, while a new threat was mounting along Emmitsburg Road. The butternut clad troops of Brigadier Generals William Barksdale and William Wofford hit the Union right flank along Emmitsburg Road driving the 3rd Corps troops into a hasty retreat. Bigelow’s battery was the 

The men of the 9th uncoiled the prolongs and prepared the limbers under the endless, murderous fire of the Confederate sharpshooters. The swarming Confederate troops had recognized the designs of their Union foe and stepped up their attempts to disable the remaining horses. Finally the battery was prepared; the dead and dying horses were cut from their harnesses, the guns were loaded, and the limbers manned. The beleaguered Massachusetts battery was now heading back across the field they had previously charged, their destination was a small gateway leading to the Trostle farm road and safety.

The retreating battery was firing solid shot and canister into the ubiquitous Confederate troops, who, because of the total collapse of the Union front and flanks, were able to surround the artillerists on three sides. To make matters worse the Confederate artillery, under Colonel E. Porter Alexander, had advanced their pieces into the vacated Peach Orchard and began firing into the backs of Bigelow and his men. Both man and beast were the recipients of this terrible and severe fight. Horses were decapitated by flying balls while men were swept away by the deadly canister shot. The progress of the 9th was continually slowed by the need to remove the dead horses from the teams and these discarded animals along with the badly wounded men marked a bloody path of this desperate retreat. Also slowing the battery was the boulder-strewn field over which the lumbering wooden wheeled vehicles had to travel. The fight was not all one sided though. The double canister and bouncing solid shot were decimating the Confederate attackers. Whole lines of men were mown down from the deadly projectiles emanating from the guns of the 9th whose vigorous fire was keeping the Confederates at bay.

Finally the battery reached the gateway leading to the farm lane but found it to be only wide enough to allow the passage of one limber at a time. Just as Bigelow was ordering his men to limber up their guns for a dash through the narrow gate, up reined Lt. Col. Freeman McGilvery on his bullet ridden horse. McGilvery commanded the four-battery brigade of which Bigelow’s was one. His orders were for Bigelow to sacrifice his battery and to "hold your position at all hazards" while the Union army attempted to form a line of defense along Cemetery Ridge. The men were stunned. After fighting for their lives and just moments from their escape, a certain death warrant had been issued. Without wasting time Captain Bigelow issued orders to quickly unlimber and assume a defensive posture.