Strong Vincent earned high marks with Union command before Gettysburg

This is undated photo of Gen. Strong Vincent, taken sometime before he was killed following the battle of Gettysburg. He was shot on Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. JARID A. BARRINGER/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Brig. Gen. Strong Vincent's military legacy is forever tied to the command of his 3rd Brigade's valiant defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought July 1-3, 1863.

The strategic hill anchoring the Union Army's left flank on Cemetery Ridge is where the Waterford native on the second day of the epic battle implored "Don't give an inch, boys, don't give an inch'' to his beleaguered 16th Michigan infantry regiment, a portion of whose line was buckling, retreating and being flanked during a Confederate assault up the rocky, craggy slopes.

Moments later, a bullet tore through Vincent's thigh and groin.

The injury was fatal. Vincent, 26, an Erie lawyer when the war broke out, died five days later.

But Vincent's heroism at Gettysburg is not where he first distinguished himself as a Union commander.

On this date 150 years ago, Vincent and his brigade, in support of Union cavalry, fought three small battles in a 17-mile-long series of running fights against dismounted Confederate cavalry in Virginia's Loudoun Valley between the towns of Middleburg and Upperville.

"This is really where Strong Vincent earned his spurs,'' said Civil War historian and author George Deutsch, 58, an Erie native who has devoted much of his life to studying the Civil War and Erie-area connections to it.

"Vincent performed so well, (Union Gen.) George Meade would later say he was going to promote Vincent to divisional command,'' said Deutsch, who lives in Catonsville, Md. "Vincent showed great skill in handling his troops.''

The three separate fights that day were part of a grueling three-week march north by the Army of the Potomac from Fredericksburg, Va., that would culminate in the three-day clash at Gettysburg.

Three weeks before the Loudoun Valley fights, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee began moving his 72,000-man Army of Northern Virginia north through the Shenandoah Valley from Fredericksburg, Va., to launch his second invasion of the North.

The Union Army of the Potomac marched north, staying between Lee's army to the west, and the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

Vincent's 3rd Brigade consisted of about 1,400 men among four infantry regiments: the 83rd Pennsylvania, 20th Maine, 44th New York and 16th Michigan.

The 83rd Regiment was composed of troops from Erie County and northwestern Pennsylvania.

After Lee's army launched its northward march, the Union Army, camped just north of the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, received its marching orders on June 11.

On June 13, the Army of the Potomac, including Vincent's Brigade, broke camp and marched 13 miles that day, Deutsch said. The following day, Union troops traversed an additional 11 miles in stifling 101-degree heat. Troops encountered water shortages, heatstroke and sunstroke.

"The march north was very arduous,'' Deutsch said. "The Union Army lost many men to heatstroke. But Strong Vincent's discipline with the 3rd Brigade was so strong, that in the march from just north of Fredericksburg to Gettysburg, the 83rd Regiment only ended up being down four men. There were thousands and thousands of men who dropped out to heatstroke. There were stragglers and men unable to keep up because of the horrendous heat.''

When troops reached the Manassas, Va., battlefield on June 15 and 16 where the second Battle of Bull Run was fought, "the men were appalled that bones were still lying in the fields,'' Deutsch said. "It was a very sad time. Bodies had not been buried, or they had been dug up by animals."

On June 17, a 23-mile march in brutal heat brought the Union Army to Gum Springs, Va.

At that point, there were more water shortages and increasing straggling, but the 83rd Regiment and 3rd Brigade "was holding together,'' Deutsch said.

At Gum Springs, the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west of the Union Army were a barrier to reconnaissance of Lee's army.

Confederate cavalry, commanded by Jeb Stuart, was ordered to prevent Union calvary from reaching the mountain heights so they could look down into the Shenandoah Valley and monitor the Confederate Army's northward movement.

When Union cavalry commanders requested infantry support in their anticipated fight with Confederate cavalry, Union commanders detached the 5th Corps' 1st Division.

Vincent's brigade got the call. After resting June 18-20, the brigade was ordered to support the cavalry on June 21.

About 300 men in the 83rd Pennsylvania Regiment were among Vincent's 1,400-strong 3rd Brigade troops who joined about 10,000 Union cavalry troops in the area.

They fought several thousand Confederate cavalry.

During one of the three separate battles in the Loudoun Valley, Union forces captured a Confederate artillery piece -- the first time in the war that Stuart's cavalry had lost an artillery piece.

Confederate cavalry were dismounted for much of the day's fighting, though Union and rebel cavalry mounted charges and countercharges against each other, Deutsch said.

The 83rd Regiment fought throughout that day against dismounted Confederate cavalry, Deutsch said.

Cavalry fighting broke off around June 23, and while Union forces were able to gain the ridges along that section of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lee's army had already passed northward.

Deutsch said the 3rd Brigade lost only a handful of men during the June 21 fighting.

"They were remarkably efficient. They forced the Confederates out time and time again,'' Deutsch said.

The brigade on June 22 marched 11 miles to where the remainder of the 5th Corps was camped.

After rest days on June 23, 24 and 25, the 5th Corps began a grueling 35-mile march north, which included crossing the Potomac River, that extended into June 27.

"They marched at a brutal pace,'' Deutsch said. "It was down-and-dirty marching.''

The Army of the Potomac camped near Frederick, Md., on June 29.

The following day, the army marched 18 miles in a hard rain. On June 30, troops began marching at 4 a.m. and tramped 23 miles to Union Mills, Md., south of the Pennsylvania border.

Vincent's brigade arrived at Gettysburg at about 7 a.m. on July 2 -- the second day of the battle.

Later that day, Vincent and his brigade would make one of the battle's most critical contributions.

Vincent's handling of his troops on their march from Virginia to Gettysburg brought him recognition.

"The remarkable thing is that even with the running, fighting battles, the 83rd Regiment was down only four men in that three weeks of marching and fighting before they got to Gettysburg,'' Deutsch said.
