David Lang ( May 9, 1838 - December 13, 1917 ) - American land surveyor, an officer of the Confederate army during the Civil War in the United States , a participant in the Battle of Gettysburg in the role of brigade commander. He also served as a civil engineer and politician in Florida.
| Edward Lloyd Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | May 9, 1838 |
| Place of Birth | Camden , Georgia |
| Date of death | December 13, 1917 (aged 79) |
| A place of death | Tallahassee Florida |
| Affiliation |  KSA |
| Type of army | U.S. Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1865 (KSA) |
| Rank | Brigadier General (KSA) |
| Commanded | 8th Florida Regiment |
| Battles / wars | U.S. Civil War
|
Content
- 1 Early years
- 2 Civil War
- 3 Post-war activities
- 4 See also
- 5 notes
- 6 Literature
- 7 References
The early years
Lang was born in Camden County in Georgia. He studied at the Georgia Military Institute in the city of Marietta, who graduated in 1857 with the 4th from a class of 16 cadets. He moved to Swanney County in Florida, where he became a surveyor.
Civil War
After the Florida secession and the outbreak of the Civil War, Lang joined the ranks of the Confederate army. April 2, 1861 he joined the ranks of the company "N" 1st Florida Infantry Regiment. About a month later, he became a sergeant. In April 1862, his life expired, so on May 8, Lang joined the 8th Florida Infantry Regiment and was appointed captain of company "C". In September, he was wounded at the battle of Entityam (where the regiment fought as part of the Roger Prior team), and then again in December at the battle of Frederiksberg . Near Frederiksberg, his regiment stood in the city itself, preventing the feds from building pontoon bridges across the Rappahanok. During the shelling of the city, a shell fell into the chimney of the house, and Lang was wounded in the head with pieces of brick.
During his recovery, he was promoted to colonel of the 8th Florida Regiment - this happened on April 30, 1863. In May, he took part in the battle of Chancellorsville as part of the Florida brigade of Edward Perry. After the battle, Perry fell ill with typhus and Lang took command of the brigade. This brigade at the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign consisted of three Florida regiments:
- 2nd Florida Regiment: May. Walter Moore
- 5th Florida Regiment: Cap. Richmond gardner
- 8th Florida Regiment: Sub. William Bahia
On July 1, the brigade marched in the rearguard of Anderson’s division and appeared at Gettysburg only in the evening. On the morning of July 2, Lang was ordered to take a position on the right flank of the division, to the left of the Wilcox brigade. At 17:00, Anderson ordered him to launch the offensive immediately after Wilcox, and at 18:00 both brigades launched the offensive, eventually defeating the Joseph Carr federal brigade and capturing 6 Turnball battery guns. Lang’s team made a stop to restore order in the ranks, and at that moment the Wilcox team began to retreat, which threatened Lang with a blow to the flank, so he also began to retreat. During this retreat, the standard bearer of the 8th Florida regiment was killed and the banner of the regiment fell to the northerners. He was found by Sergeant Thomas Hogan and delivered to General Humphries , for which he was awarded [1] .
The team lost 300 people - almost 40% of its composition [2] . Her retreat, in turn, opened the flank of the successfully advancing Ambrose Wright brigade and did not allow Wright to maintain a captured position on the Seminar Range.
On July 3, Lang's thinned brigade was transferred to Wilcox’s control for some unknown reason and was instructed to cover the flank of Pickett ’s advancing division during the Pickett attack . However, Wilcox moved his regiments forward only after Pickett's men began to retreat, and Lang's Florida fell under the fire of the Stennard brigade and retreated, losing 150 people. In general, Lang proved to be a competent commander, but after recovering, Perry was returned to his brigade, and Lang again became a regimental commander [3] .
As the commander of the 8th Florida Regiment, Lang went through the Bristo campaign and participated in the Battle of Main Run . He participated in the Overland campaign and temporarily commanded a brigade during the battle of Cold Harbor . He finally became the brigade commander (in the Mahoun division) at the very end of the war, on April 6, 1865 after the capture of General Theodore Brevard. He surrendered with the brigade at Appomatox.
Post-war activities
After the war, Lang returned to Florida and became a civil engineer. On February 28, 1866, he married Mary “Molly” Quarles Campbell and became the father of four children. He was elected to the State House of Representatives, where he served from 1885 to 1893. For eight years (1885-1894) he served as adjutant general to the governors of Perry and Fleming, participated in the reorganization and training of the state militia, which subsequently led to the emergence of the Florida National Guard.
In 1895, Lang visited the Gettysburg battlefield and helped establish a memorial in honor of Florida units. He later returned to politics, served in the legislature until 1901, was the personal secretary of the governors Henry Mitchell and William Bloksam.
Lang died in December 1917, he became one of the last brigadier generals of the Third Corps, who survived to the XX century. He was buried at Old City Smeteri in Talahassi.
See also
- Florida in the Civil War
Notes
- ↑ Gettysburg Report by Humphries
- ↑ The Generals of Gettysburg, p. 322
- ↑ The Generals of Gettysburg, p. 324
Literature
- Larry Tagg, The Generals of Gettysburg: The Leaders of America's Greatest Battle, Da Capo Press ISBN 978-0-7867-4394-0