Gettysburg: The 11th Pennsylvania Holds Through Three Commanders
Pennsylvania
The Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry arrived at Gettysburg and lost three commanders in three days.
On July first, Colonel Richard Coulter was pulled up to lead the brigade, leaving the regiment to Captain Benjamin Haines. Haines was wounded on July third, passing command to Captain John Overmyer. Through all of it, the regiment fought in the thick of the action around Oak Ridge and Seminary Ridge.
Three commanders in one battle was not unusual for the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. The casualty rates among officers were staggering. Colonels, captains, and lieutenants fell at rates that stripped entire regiments of their leadership within hours. That the Eleventh Pennsylvania kept fighting through the command changes is a small but telling measure of what discipline and unit cohesion looked like under the worst conditions of the war.
