This year marks the 152nd anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, the pivotal conflict in the Civil War which was fought from July 1 through July 3, 1863. Dramatized in Michael Shaaras Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Killer Angels" and the Ron Maxwell film "Gettysburg" based on that book, the battle continues to resound in American culture.
While the story has been told over and over again -- from the stand of the 20th Maine under Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Little Round Top, to Pickett’s Charge -- its easy to overlook the role of the Florida Brigade, nominally under the command of Gen. Edward Perry, who went on to serve as governor in the 1880s.
The Floridians formed one of the smallest brigades of Robert E. Lee’s army of Northern Virginia. While the brigade, part of Third Corps at Gettysburg, did not see action on the first day of the battle, it was engaged in heavy combat on July 2 and July 3 -- even serving a supporting part in Pickett's Charge. The Florida Brigade suffered 65 percent casualties during the battle -- one of the highest proportions for any brigade in Lee’s army.
Perry himself missed Gettysburg. Col. David Lang, who would later serve as the state adjutant general and serve in the Florida Legislature, was in charge of the brigade during Lee’s Pennsylvania campaign in the summer of 1863. Lang would later return to Gettysburg to help set up the Florida monument on the battlefield.
Capt. Council Bryan, who was later elected to the Legislature (the brigade was apparently full of politicians), offered a harrowing view of the campaign to his wife, focusing on the chaos of Lee’s retreat back to Virginia.
Bryan himself seemed to recognize how the small Florida Brigade would be overlooked despite the high casualties.
“When the secret history of the war is known -- then we will get justice, I hope,” wrote Bryan to his wife. “The men say that no matter how bravely they act, they get no credit for it at home or abroad and I think they are more than half right.”
There are two small markers to Perry’s Brigade in Gettysburg as well as the State of Florida Monument which can be found south of the Biesecker Woods, off of West Confederate Avenue in the Gettysburg Military Park. The monument was dedicated on July 3, 1963, a century to the last day of the battle which culminated in Pickett’s disastrous charge against the federal center on Cemetery Ridge.
While not as prominent as the state's memorial at Chickamauga (which is right by the main visitors center), the monument at Gettysburg does command attention.
“Floridians of Perry's Brigade, comprised of the 2nd, 5th, and 8th Florida Infantry, fought here with great honor as members of Anderson's Division of Hill's Corps, and participated in the heaviest fighting of July 2 and 3, 1863,” the monument reads. “The Brigade suffered 445 casualties of the 700 men present for duty.
“Like all Floridians who participated in the Civil War, they fought with courage and devotion for the ideals in which they believed,” the monument continues. “By their noble example of bravery and endurance, they enable us to meet with confidence any sacrifice which confronts us as Americans.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
