Ames’s brigade at Gettysburg

“I never saw as hopeless a battle” : Ames’s brigade at Gettysburg

As the officers and men of Gen. Adelbert Ames’s Ohio Brigade strode toward battle on the morning of July 1, 1863, they laboured under a burden far greater than any that could be carried in a soldier’s knapsack: a burden known to all simply as “Chancellorsville.” Sixty days earlier they had suffered a crushing defeat there, and had since endured a storm of obloquy at the hands of their fellow soldiers and the press. Many sought redemption in the searing test of combat – the only place where their reputations as fighting men might be restored. By sundown on that sanguinary Wednesday over half of them were casualties, with more fighting beckoning. We will get to know the story of this unlucky brigade and re-examine their actions at Gettysburg.

About the Speaker

Born in Ohio and raised…