Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The 17th Connecticut Flagpole
One of the most frequent questions I receive is, “If you’ve been to Gettysburg so many times, haven’t you seen everything already?” Of course, the answer is no—but it hasn’t stopped me from trying. One of the most helpful sources to explore Gettysburg’s “off the beaten path” locations has been Kris White’s ECW series of the same name. That said, I’m excited to share some of my own favorite Gettysburg minutia in this series!
On the sweltering afternoon of July 1, 1863, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Fowler watched as his Eleventh Corps comrades scurried back down the slopes of Barlow’s Knoll in front of him. The colonel and his regiment, the 17th Connecticut, waited in reserve as their division collapsed under the pressure of the Confederate attack. A native of Norwalk, Fowler enlisted in the Union army alongside four of his brothers (while another one of his brothers joined the Confederacy). He began the war as a Captain in the 3rd Connecticut Regiment before transferring to the 8th Connecticut. Then, in 1862, he resigned his commission to serve with the Seventeenth.[1] By 1863, Fowler had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the regiment.[2]
While the 17th Connecticut awaited its entrance into the battle on July 1, Fowler rode calmly along the line on a great, white horse. “Dodge the big ones, boys!” he joked as Confederate shells landed among the men. When Union troops gave way on Barlow’s Knoll, the colonel took his men forward. He rode to the front of the regiment and exclaimed, “Now Seventeenth, do your duty! Forward, double quick! Charge bayonets!”[3] The regiment raced to the top of the knoll where they engaged the Confederates in a hand-to-hand fight. During the fray, Colonel Fowler was struck in the head by a shell. Private William H. Warren recalled that the colonel suffered a gruesome death: “[…] his head shot off and his brains flew on the Adjutant [H. Whitney Chatfield],” who rode into battle alongside Fowler.[4]
After seeing Fowler fall to the ground, Chatfield dismounted and rushed to the colonel’s aid. But the adjutant quickly found he could do little to help his lifeless colonel. As Confederate infantry closed in, Sergeant Major C. Frederick Bates and another soldier attempted to lift Fowler’s headless body onto Chatfield’s horse to bring it to safety. However, they found the colonel’s weight to be “beyond their strength” and made a run for it.[5]
The Rebels took possession of the field, and Fowler’s body was never recovered. It was probably left unrecognizable by his macabre death and the damaging heat of the days that followed.[6] “[I] spent three days looking for Fowler’s body and had opened over 100 graves,” wrote Captain Enoch Wood years after the battle. The 17th Connecticut never forgot the sacrifice of their valiant colonel and often expressed their regret at the failed efforts to identify Fowler and grant him a proper burial.[7]
On July 1, 1884, veterans of the 17th Connecticut returned to the battlefield to dedicate a monument on Barlow’s Knoll. The following year, a group of veterans erected a wooden flagpole near their monument in the memory of their colonel, Douglas Fowler. Farmer David Blocher, who owned the property of Barlow’s Knoll, flew the national colors on the flagpole for many years. Then, after a storm toppled the wooden pole in the 1890s, the veterans raised a 65-foot steel flagpole as a permanent monument to Lieutenant Colonel Fowler. In 1922, about forty surviving members of the 17th Connecticut voted to add as small plaque to the side of the flagpole, which reads: “Erected by the 17th Conn. Vols. Ass’n.” [8] While the pole often remains flagless, the National Park Service flew a United States flag and Connecticut state flag on the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg in 2013.[9]
For more information on the 17th Connecticut and Barlow’s Knoll, check out this video.
To Reach the 17th Connecticut Flagpole
From the Town Square
- Follow Carlisle Street north for 0.4 miles.
- At West Lincoln Avenue turn left.
- Drive for two blocks, then turn right onto College Avenue.
- After passing the tennis courts, turn right onto Howard Avenue.
- Follow Howard Avenue straight through the intersection with the Biglerville Road.
- After you pass the Almshouse Cemetery, look for a prominent flagpole on the left side of the road.
[1] Charles P. Hamblen, Connecticut Yankees at Gettysburg, ed. Walter L. Powell, (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1993), 23.
[2] Hamblen, Connecticut Yankees, 20.
[3] Kristopher White, Chris Mackowski, Daniel Davis, Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863 (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2015), 101.
[4] Hamblen, Connecticut Yankees, 24; Carolyn Ivanoff, We Fought at Gettysburg: Firsthand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg Publishing, LLC, 2023), 45.
[5] Hamblen, Connecticut Yankees, 24-25.
[6] Ivanoff, We Fought at Gettysburg, 293, 301.
[7] Ivanoff, We Fought at Gettysburg, 293, 300.
[8] Ivanoff, We Fought at Gettysburg, 326-327.
[9] The 17th Connecticut Flagpole at Barlow’s Knoll,” Gettysburg Daily, May 11, 2017, (accessed January 9, 2024), https://www.gettysburgdaily.com/the-17th-connecticut-flagpole-at-barlows-knoll/.
For a comparatively obscure regiment, the 17th Connecticut has been getting a lot of attention in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this fall and winter. Carolyn Ivanoff recently wrote a book using in part the work of a Connecticut soldier, Private William Warren. The soldier kept a diary during his service with the intention of writing a detailed remembrance post-war. He then made contact with his fellow soldiers to flesh out more experiences. But time passed and the book did not get written. Many of us can sympathize with Warren, with scholarly eyes much bigger than his publishing opportunity and his schedule allowed.
For Emerging Civil War Brian Swartz reviewed Carolyn’s book, We Fought at Gettysburg: First Hand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. At Gettysburg the unit was part of the Second Brigade, First Division, XI Corps under the command of Oliver Otis Howard. They fought on the first day in the vicinity of what became known as Barlow’s Knoll. The second and third days the badly chewed up unit was on the line near the Evergreen Cemetery, still with lots of fight in them.
The Capital District CWRT (Albany, NY) had Carolyn as our December 2023 speaker. Her presentation, which includes a lot of images, was very well received. Anyone looking to schedule a speaker should look into her availability. You will not be disappointed.
Thanks for sharing! Carolyn Ivanoff’s book was very useful for this post!
May I propose Barlow’s Knoll is ON the beaten path. As in Barlow was the beatee and his unfortunate-circumstanced men were beaten.
Nice one!
Thank you for this article. Just a little background on the flagpole: On the 150th Anniversary, Jim White and Tom Sullivan, Connecticut natives and 17th Connecticut Adopt a Position members, raised the flags by permit. In 2018 the flagpole was refurbished and a re-dedication ceremony was held. Company F of the 14th Connecticut donated the funds for restoration which was conducted by the NPS. Since the 2018 repair and refurbishment, Team Barlow’s Knoll, a group of volunteers have kept the flags flying. The team has a permit from the NPS to fly the National Colors and the Connecticut State flag from the 17th Connecticut flagpole one weekend a month and on special occasions. On July 1, 2023 we held a special flag ceremony in honor of all who fought at Gettysburg on the 160th Anniversary. Long may the colors wave!
Awesome to know the more recent story of the flagpole. Thanks for sharing!
For years I paid only cursory attention to Barlow’s Knoll. This year I spent more time to study the geographical features. I appreciate the stories about Lt. Wilkerson and Lt. Col Fowler& 17 th Connecticut.
It’s definitely an interesting (and overlooked) part of the first day’s action. Thanks for sharing, grandadpookers!
A recent photo of Barlow’s Knoll taken from the Harrisburg Road posted on the ECW site reinforces the elevated nature of the location.