Remembering Colonel George Ward at Gettysburg - 150 years later

This afternoon I visited the monument of Colonel George Hull Ward at Gettysburg with Colonel Ward's great-great grandson, Bob Ward. At Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, George Hull Ward, Colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment, led his men into battle with Confederate General Ambrose Wright's Georgia brigade after Union General Daniel Sickles salient maneuver near the Peach Orchard resulted in a near collapse of the Union line. Colonel Ward and the 15th Massachusetts engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Georgia brigade. Realizing that they could not hold their advanced position near the Emmitsburg Road, Colonel Ward ordered his regiment to retire. At that moment he was shot in the right leg and his men carried him off the field behind the lines to a field hospital. Colonel Ward died the next morning at 4:30 A.M.<sup>1

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Bob, a genealogy friend, participated in the Gettysburg reenactment in the role of his great-great grandfather. It was a great honor to meet Bob at his ancestor's regiment to remember the valiant service of Colonel Ward and the 15th Massachusetts at Gettysburg 150 years later.

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References:
¹Edwin R. Root and Jeffrey D. Stocker, Isn't This Glorious! The 15th, 19th, and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiments at Gettysburg's Copse of Trees (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Moon Trail Books, 2006), 4-8.
²Gettysburg National Military Park (Gettysburg, Adams, Pennsylvania), Colonel George H. Ward monument, in field near Codori Barn, 39.812239° N, 77.238737°, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 02 July 2013.
³Gettysburg National Military Park , Colonel George H. Ward monument, photographed by Carol Swaine-Kuzel, 02 July 2013. Descendant Bob Ward is standing next to the monument.