Episode 49: CPT Fritsch and the 68th New York face PVT Nichols and the 61st Georgia on 1 July and CPT Ray and the 6th North Carolina on 2 July at the Battle of Gettysburg

First Person Civil War Podcast

At the Battle of Gettysburg, 1 July 1863, CPT Frederick Otto Baron von Fritsch and the 68th New York face PVT George Washington Nichols and the 61st Georgia north of the town of Gettysburg along Rock Creek and what would soon be known as Barlow’s Knoll. The 68th New York retreated with the rest of the XI Corps and reformed south of the town on Cemetery Hill. On 2the evening of July, CPT Neill W. Ray and the 6th North Carolina advance upon CPT Fritsch, the 68th New York and their entire division on the eastern face of Cemetery Hill. The North Carolinians see initial success but have to face the Union counterattack.

Sources used for this episode:

Butts, Joseph T. A Gallant Captain of the Civil War: Being the Record of the Extraordinary Adventures of Frederick Otto Baron von Fritsch. New York: F. Tennyson Neely, 1902. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t86h50k2h&seq=11.

Nichols, George W. A Soldier’s Story of His Regiment (61st Georgia): and Incidentally of the Lawton-Gordon-Evans Brigade. Jesup, 1898. https://archive.org/details/01494987.3402.emory.edu/page/n1/mode/2up.

CPT Ray, Neill W. “Sixth Regiment.” In Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, vol. 1, edited by Walter Clark. Raliegh: E. M. Uzzell, 1901. https://www.carolana.com/NC/Civil_War/Histories_of_the_Several_Regiments_and_Battalions_from_NC_in_the_Great_War_Volume_I_Walter_Clark_1901.pdf.