No. 245. — Report of Lieut. Col. Detleo von Einsiedel, 41st New York Infantry

—– , —– — , 1863.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the Regiment DeKalb, Forty-first New York Volunteer Infantry, in relation to the battle of July 1, 2, 3, and 4, near Gettysburg, Pa.:

The regiment, consisting of 14 commissioned officers, 187 file, and 17 musicians, under command of Lieut. Col. Detleo von Einsiedel, arrived, coming from Emmitsburg, at about 10 o’clock in the evening of July 1, at the cemetery near Gettysburg, and bivouacked on the field behind a square stone fence, about 1 mile from Gettysburg, to the right of the road leading from Baltimore to Gettysburg.

On July 2, at 4 a.m., six companies took position on the stone fence, with the front to Gettysburg. One company took position on the right of the square, and two companies were detached to the front as skirmishers.

At 2 p.m. the regiment was assembled; moved, by order of Col. Leopold von Gilsa, commanding First Brigade, to the front of the two batteries which were posted on a little hill, on the right of the Baltimore and Gettysburg road, near the cemetery. The regiment had instructions to support the One hundred and fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers in case of an attack from the front (Gettysburg). In this position the regiment remained under the heaviest cannonade until 5 p.m., when it received orders to take a position about half a mile north from the above position, with the same front as the right wing of the army; but the rebel infantry being about to push back a division of the Twelfth Corps posted in the woods on our right wing, and threatening to attack us in the rear, we received the order to move 1,000 steps backward and to keep the same front as before.

The regiment was posted as follows: Five companies of the right wing connecting on the left with the right wing of the Seventh Regiment West Virginia Volunteers, which had connection with the Fourteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers; four companies, under command of Capt. Henry Arens, of Company K, connecting on their left with the One hundred and fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Sixty-eighth and Fifty-fourth Regiments New York Volunteers. The five, companies on the right wing had for their support the Thirty-third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.

An attack was made by the enemy at 6.30 p.m., but although the Seventh Regiment West Virginia Volunteers fell back a little in the first moment, this attack was repulsed with energy by our right wing without the assistance of the Thirty-third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. On the left wing, the enemy came so far as to break through the line, which was kept either by the Sixty-eighth Regiment New York Volunteers or Fifty-fourth Regiment New York Volunteers, and move on toward the batteries.

In this critical moment, Capt. Alfred Theinhardt, commanding Company I, Forty-first New York Volunteers, took two companies of the Forty-first New York Volunteers, which he placed with some men of other regiments from the left wing behind a stone wall, and he succeeded in holding the enemy in check until a regiment of the Second Corps arrived, which was sent from the cemetery to support him. During the night the regiment remained in the same position as before the attack, putting out pickets in the front.

On July 3, the five companies of the right wing remained in the same position, and skirmishers were sent out from the four companies of the left wing. The regiment stood between 12 m. and 1 p.m. under a very heavy fire of artillery without having considerable losses.

In the morning of July 4, the brigade marched to Gettysburg, and two hours afterward the regiment took the same position again as it had on the previous days, near the cemetery.

The loss of the regiment during July 1, 2, 3, and 4 is–

Officers and men	Killed	Wounded	Missing	Total
Commissioned officers	1	8		9
Non-commissioned officers	3	10	1	14
Enlisted men	11	40	2	53
Total	15	58	3	76

Respectfully submitted.

DETLEO VON EINSIEDEL,
Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

Col. LEOPOLD VON GILSA,
Commanding First Brigade.

from Official Records, Series 1, Volume 27, Part 1

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