October 03, 2014

One of the best places on the battlefield to stare at artillery unhindered is at the tip-top of the Eleventh Corps Line at Barlow’s Knoll. There’s rarely any traffic, and the space is wide enough to give you plenty of room for all those cannon photos. (Or maybe that’s just me. :-)) The two cannon I’ve included in this post are part of a foursome representing Battery G, 4^TH United States Artillery, headed by young Lt. Bayard Wilkeson before he received his mortal wound.

Though I have no definitive information of these pieces (and believe me, I’ve looked!) they’re both Model 1857, 12-pounder Napoleons. The top photo is devoid of modern objects (which of course is always a winner in my book), and the concrete slab that once held decorative cannonballs can be seen in the bottom right foreground. The cannon in the second photo has a view of Old Harrisburg Road, utilized by Confederate troops in their attack on Barlow’s (then Blocher’s) Knoll.

**HONORED TODAY**

PVT. SMITH HAIGHT

Co. D, 1st U. S. Sharpshooters (New York)

Died July 02, 1863 at age 23

Pvt. Haight, born in New York and working as a farmer, joined the ranks of Berdan’s Sharpshooters in November 1861. He was killed at the Peach Orchard. Though the year is listed wrong (1864) there is a Smith Haight buried at Saint Andrew’s Cemetery, New Berlin, New York, which is likely the right person as that is Smith’s hometown. 


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