William Byron Philbrook

and the 1^st Minnesota Infantry at Gettysburg

 By Robert W. Philbrook

(Originally Published in the July 2001 issue of the PPFA Newsletter)

    This month (July) is the 138^th anniversary of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War which took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1^st and July 3^rd, 1863.  Many of our Philbrick & Philbrook cousin ancestors fought at this decisive engagement, which was considered the turning point of the war.  On July 2^nd, William Byron Philbrook (see Chapman #124-V. on page 139) and his comrades of the 1^st Minnesota Infantry would take their place in history against Confederate troops from Alabama. 

    On the second day of the battle, the 1^st Minnesota, was part of Wm. Harrow’s 1^st Brigade, (2^nd Division, II Corps.)  During the battle, a gap opened between the Union forces at the north end of the battlefield (along Cemetery Ridge) and those in the south (along and near Little Roundtop).  Major-General-Winfield Hancock, commander of the II Corps spotted the gap and a brigade of Confederate troops heading right for it.  Hancock realized that if the Confederate brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Cadmus Wilcox , reached the gap, the Rebel Army could divide the Union forces in half.  Hancock ordered two of his Divisions to fill the gap, but their was not enough time to get such a large force there before Wilcox’s men.  Recalling the event, Hancock said, “In some way five minutes must be gained or we were lost.”

     Scouting around, Hancock spotted the closest regiment to the gap.  Hancock rode over and called out, “What regiment is this?”  It was the 1^st Minnesota who was supporting an artillery battery.   Colonel William Colvill, commander of the 1^st, looked up at Hancock.  The Major-General asked Colonel Colvill if he could see the advancing battle flags of Wilcox’s Alabama units.  Colvill said he did, and Hancock replied, “Then take them!” 

    Over 30 years later Lieutenant William Lochren, of the 1^st Minnesota, recalled in a speech during a reunion at Gettysburg, “… every man realized in an instant what that order meant. Death or wounds to us all - the sacrifice of the regiment to gain a few minutes time and save the position and probably the battlefield. And every man saw and accepted the necessity for that sacrifice. Responding to Colvill's rapid orders, the regiment in perfect line, with arms at right shoulder shift, was in a moment down that slope directly in the enemy's center.”

    The Minnesota men moved forward without hesitation or stopping to fire.  The Alabama units, seeing the tiny regiment charging them, began to fire.  “Silently, without orders and almost from the start, double quick had changed to utmost speed, for in utmost speed lay the only hope that any of us would pass through that hurricane of lead and strike the enemy."  Some of the men in Blue began to fall.  Colvill’s men leveled their bayonets and attacked “at full speed.”  The Rebels began to break as the 1^st Minnesota charged into their ranks.  Fighting was fierce as soldiers North and South closed on each other in mortal combat.  Sometime during the engagement, William Philbrook was hit by a musket ball in his right leg and fell wounded while an officer in his company, Lieutenant Farrar, was killed near by.

    Lochren further recall’s the sacrifice the 1^st Minnesota made, “...What Hancock had given us to do was done thoroughly. The regiment had stopped the enemy, and held back its mighty force and saved the position. But at what sacrifice! Nearly every officer was dead or lay weltering with bloody wounds, our gallant colonel and every field officer among them. Of the two hundred and sixty-two men who made the charge, two hundred and fifteen lay upon the field, stricken down by rebel bullets, forty-seven were still in line, and not a man was missing."

    General Hancock would say of the 1^st Minnesota after the battle, “There is no more gallant deed recorded in history. I ordered these men in there because I saw I must gain five minutes in time. Reinforcements were coming on the run, but I knew that before they could reach the threatened point, the Confederates would seize the position. I would have ordered that regiment in if I had known every man would have been killed. It had to be done. I was glad to find such a gallant body of men at hand willing to make the terrible sacrifice that the occasion demanded.”

    The Confederates were thrown back, but only temporarily.  They returned with stronger forces but by that time, Hancock’s other troops had filled the gap and the line held.  The 1^st Minnesota had paid for those five minutes with their lives.  In those desperate moments of the struggle William Philbrook along with 82% of his regiment became casualties in their heroic charge.  No other Union regiment would suffer a greater number of proportionate losses at Gettysburg than the 1^st Minnesota.  Official records would record the 1^st Minnesota loss at 50 men killed and 173 wounded during the 3-day battle, most on the second day’s charge against Wilcox’s Brigade.

    William survived his wound, but was disabled for the remainder of his service until mustered out with his company on May 5, 1864.  After the war, William would marry twice.  First to a woman named Lucy of which he had two children, Rowena Aurora Philbrook & Lucy Belle Philbrook.  With his second wife, Margaret Dillman, he had Arthur Byron, Don Lyman, William Cyril, Clarence Clynton and Samuel Ray Philbrook. 

    William Byron Philbrook’s son Cyril would follow in his father’s footsteps.  Cyril served during World War I and is the grandfather of PPFA member Jennifer Philbrook-Sheehan.

    William Byron Philbrook died on August 30, 1901 and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Red Bluff, California.  His wife Margaret A. (Dillman) was born January 4, 1854 and died at Santa Rosa, California on May 22, 1936.

Sources:

National Archives: Pension records of William Byron Philbrook, 1^st Minnesota Infantry

Philbrick & Philbrook Families by Jacob Chapman

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Gettysburg 1863 by Carl Smith

Gettysburg: The Confederate High Tide by Champ Clark (Time-Life Books)

St. Cloud State University (Minnesota) website: www.condor.stcloudstate.edu

Also see:  The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the 1^st Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe available at amazon.com.