He was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, December 25, 1828. His father was General John Hodges.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and became a doctor and later mayor of Portsmouth from 1856 to 1857. The 3rd Virginia Volunteers organized in 1856 and he was elected colonel.
At the onset of the Civil War, he was assigned to the 14th Virginia and in May 1861 took command of Junction Island.
He was at Antietam and was considered an officer who was always in the thick of the fighting and was greatly admired by his regiment.
At Gettysburg, the 14th lost not only Hodges, but Major Poore and Adjutant John S. Jenkins. Hodges sword was given to Adjutant J. F. Crocker of the 9th Virginia by Col. Andrew Cowan of Cowan's battery.
An effort was made to find the place of the Hodges' burial and the spot where he was killed was identified. General H. J. Hunt, chief of the Union Army's artillery, while looking for the body of his friend, Confederate General Garnett, found a long line of Confederate dead along the stone wall and recognized Hodges whom he had known before the war. His body was near the current monument of the 93rd Pennsylvania.
In 1903, Senator John W. Daniel and Captain D. S. Cook of the 80th New York told how Col. Hodges died at the stone fence within less than 150 feet of the Federal line.
His sword and scabbard were destroyed by a shot and his sword belt taken. The wall is at the foot of what became known as the Bloody Angle.
More to Come. --Old B-R
1 comment:
Cowan's report on the Battle of Gettysburg describes a charge of Confederate infantry on the 1st NY Battery led by an officer who matches the description of Col. Hodges. The charging soldiers crossed the wall and were within 10 paces of Cowan's battery, which fired double canister into them, wiping the Confederates out. Cowan said he had the officer leading the charge buried with full military honors with Cowan's own men just on the other side of the ridge, right next to Captain Rorty of Battery B, 1st NY. The description of the shot damaged sword and the officer's position match the known facts of Hodge's death, and it seems likely Hodges was the officer buried by Cowan. Hunt identified Hodge's body on the field by talking to someone who'd gone through Hodge's pocket's and found his diary. But it looks like Hunt did not pass this on to Cowan, or that he knew Cowan had the body buried with his own men. Had he known that he might have been happy to tell James Crocker of the 9th Va. at the Gettysburg reunion years later exactly where Col. Hodges was likely buried.
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