Cushing's Union Battery

Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, commanded by Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, held this key position on the afternoon of July 3. At 1:00 p.m., as a prelude to Pickett's Charge, about 130 Confederate cannon along Seminary Ridge, 3/4 mile away, opened a 1-1/2-hour artillery duel with Union cannon on Cemetery Ridge, the heaviest cannonade the continent had seen. Confederate shells exploded ammunition chests, knocked wheels off cannon, and killed many horses in Cushing's battery. By the time Confederate infantry reached the stone wall, only one of Cushing's six guns remained in service. Wounded in the shoulder and groin and held upright by a fellow officer, Cushing fired his last round of canister into the advancing Confederates, then fell dead when a bullet entered his mouth. Moments later, Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead led his men over the wall and overran the battery. The artillery projectiles used in the fighting included solid shot, case shot, shell, and canister.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania · United States