w :«* /. . •f."?"«* .6*' \'^7-\A^ * 7? /J 9 j T HE LlgSAHV OF CONGRESS. Out Copv RtCEivE* AUG. 19 1901 C»»V*ieHT ENTRY 0d/: 3, '#&* CLAStCt_XXe. No COPY A. XXe. No. ■ ' DEDICATION. To the memory of the brave men of Hill's Corps, who were killed while fighting under the orders of General Longstreet, on the afternoon of July 3rd. 1863; whose fame has been clouded by the persistent misrepresentations of certain of their comrades, this "little book" is affectionate- ly dedicated. W. R. B. Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., JST. C, October, 1888. Copyrighted 1888, BY W. W. HALL. %AAA ... .>■ v- - .-■-is-.^-A SCOTLAND >'ECK. N. Ci THE COMMONWEALTH I'RINT. lOOl. PREFACE. The first edition of this pamphlet appeared a short time before the publication of the Official Records relating to Gettysburg. Consequently many things of importance to the subject treated were unknown to the writer. Such facts as he possessed of his own knowledge or could gather from his comrades and other sources, together with a lot of statistics secured from the War Department, were published, and with gratifying results. Very many of the statements then made and which were not open to successful contradiction were so much at variance with the general belief that the brochure attracted wide atten- tion, especially among old soldiers. From Tacoma. on the Pacific slope, and Augusta, Me. ; from Chicago and New Orleans, came assurances of interest and appre- ciation. In fact there are very few States from which there have not come expressions either of surprise that the slander should ever have originated or of sympa- thy with the effort to right a great wrong. That the two thousand copies formerly issued should have been disposed of two years ago and that there is still a demand for the pamphlet, is deemed sufficient reason for this edition. And the recent publication in New York of a history repeating the old falsehoods emphasizes the need of keeping the facts before the public. It would be a matter of regret should any statement in these pages wound the sensibilities of any personal friends of the author, still in such an event he would be measura- bly consoled by the reflection that here as in most mat- ters it is best to "hew to the line and let the chips fall as they may." Scotland Neck, N. C, April, 1900. General James Johnston Pettigrew. "There lived a knight, when knighthood was in flow'r, Who charm'd alike the tilt-yard and the bovver." Johnston Pettigrew was born upon his father's es- tate, Bonarva, Lake Scuppernong, Tyrrell county, North Carolina, on July 4th, 1828, and died near Bunker's Hill, Virginia, July 17th, 1863, having been wounded three days before in a skirmish at Falling Waters. He gradu- ated with the first distinction at the University of North Carolina in 1847. A few months after graduation, at the request of Commodore Maury, principal of the Naval Observatory at Washington, he accepted a professorship in that institution. Having remained there about eight months he resigned and went to Charleston, South Caro- lina, and became a student of law in the office of his dis- tinguished relative, Hon. Jas. L. Pettigru, obtaining a license in 1849. In 1850 he went to Europe to study the civil law in the German Universities. In 1852 he became Secretary of Legation to the United States Minister at the Court of Madrid. Having remained in Madrid only a few months he returned to Charleston and entered upon the practice of law with Mr. Pettigru. In December, 1856, and December, 1857, he was chosen a member of the Leg- islature from the city of Charleston. He rose to great distinction in that body by his speech on the organization of the Supreme Court, and his report against the re-open- ing of the African Slave Trade. Again in 1859 he went to Europe with the intention of taking part in the war then in progress between Sardinia and Austria. His applica- tion to Count Cavour for a position in the Sardinian Army, under Gen'l Marmora, was favorably received. His rank would have been at least that of Colonel; but in conse- General James Johnston Pettigrew. 5 quence of the results of the battle of Solferino, which took place just before his arrival in Sardinia, the war was closed and he was thereby prevented from experiencing active military service and learning its lessons. In 1859 he became Colonel of a rifle regiment that was formed and that acted a conspicuous part around Charleston in the winter of 1860-61. With his regiment he took posses- sion of Castle Pinkney, and was afterwards transferred to Morris Island, where he erected formidable batteries. In the spring of 1861, his regiment growing impatient because it could not just then be incorporated in the Con- federate Army, disbanded. Col. Pettigrew then joined Hampton's Legion as a private and went with that body to Virginia, where active service was to be met with. A few days afterwards, without any solicitation on his part, he was elected Colonel of the Twenty-Second North Caro- lina Troops. While at Evansport he was offered promo- tion, but declined it upon the ground that it would sepa- rate him from his regiment. Late in the spring of 1862 an arrangement was made by which his regiment was embraced in the brigade. He then accepted the commis- sion. He and his brigade were with General Johnston at Yorktown and in the retreat up the peninsula. He was with his brigade in the sanguinary battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), where he was severely wounded and left in- sensible upon the field and captured. He was in prison only about two months, and on being exchanged he re- turned to find that in his absence his beloved brigade had been given to General Pender. A new brigade was then made up for him. How well this body was disciplined and of what material it was made this monograph has attempted to show. In the autumn of 1862 he was order- ed with his brigade to Eastern North Carolina where he was engaged in several affairs which though brilliant have been overshadowed by the greater battles of the war. In May, 1863, his brigade was again ordered to Virginia, and ever after formed a part of the Army of Northern 6 General James Johnston Pettigrew. Virginia. While commanding Heth's division in Long- street's Assault, though his horse had been killed, and he had receivad a painful wound— a grapeshot shattering his left hand — he was within a few feet of his own brigade when the final repulse came. On his regaining our lines his remark to General Lee that he was responsible for his brigade but not for the division, shows that he was satis- fled with the conduct of a part but not with that of all the troops under his command. As to one of the two brigades that gave way before the rest of the line he labored under a very great misappre- hension. He did not know then and the reading world has been slow to realize since how very great had been its loss before retreating. As to the fact that in proportion to the number carried into the assault its loss had been more than twice as great as that of any of Pickett's brigades there is not the slightest doubt. The highest praise and not censure should be its reward. At Falling Waters, on the 14th, he had just been placed in -command of the rear guard when a skirmish occurred in which he was mortally wounded. He died on the 17th and his remains were taken to his old home, Bonarva, and there he lies buried near the beautiful lake, whose sandy shores his youthful feet were wont to tread. May he rest in peace! Pickett or Pettigrew? The battle of Gettysburg — a three days' tight in which there were six or more separate and distinct engagements — bears the same relation to the Civil War that Saratoga, followed by Burgoyne's surrender, does to the Revolution, and the Moscow campaign to the Wars of Napoleon. In each case the current of events was reversed and ever after moved, slowly it may be, in an opposite direction. As the years roll by this battle rightly becomes more and more the battle of the great war. But it is hard to under- stand why the last of a series of repulses should now almost everywhere bear the same relation to the battle as a whole that the battle itself does to all others. The loss inflicted upon the enemy and that suffered by us was much greater both on the first and second day. If it is supposed to mark the "turning of the tide" this is a mistake, for the highest point was reached and the ebb began on the afternoon of the second day. In fact this affair differed from all others in one respect only, and that was the long continued and deafening cannonade which preceded it — "Sound and fury signifying nothing. ' ' History reports that at the battle of Valmy the Duke of Brunswick's Army, demoralized b} r the roar of the French guns, fled from the field. We had no Valmy in our war. A grand old soldier in his report of a certain battle speaks of the ineffective long range fire of one of our bat- talions of artillery as the "most melancholy farce of the war." It is needless to say that the incident referred to by General H. antedates July, 1863. This last futile assault is ordinarily spoken of as "Pick- ett's charge." It would appear, if General Longstreet did not wish to own it, the name of the General next in rank 8 Pickett or Pettigrew? or date of commission should have been used to designate it. The comparative unimportance of this ill-advised at- tack can be readily shown by a supposition, which possi- bly came near being a verity. Suppose General Meade had re-opened the battle on the morning of the 4th — does anyone doubt he would have been beaten, and badly beaten? And had he been beaten, the assault of the after- noon before would have been forgotten, or remembered only as Mechanicsville, Malvern Hill, Bristow Station and a dozen other fields where human lives were reckless- ly squandered, are remembered. However, it is generally considered the big thing of a big battle, and as such it has not only had its place in books treating of the war, but has been more written about in newspapers and maga- zines than any event in American history. Some of these accounts, bordering on the hysterical, are simply silly. Some are false in statement. Some are false in inference. All in some respects are untrue. Three divisions containing nine brigades and number- ing about nine thousand and seven hundred officers and men, were selected for the assaulting column. The field over which they were ordered to march slowly and de- liberately was about one thousand yards wide and was swept by the fire of one hundred cannon and twenty thousand muskets. The smoke from the preceding can- nonade which rested upon the field was their only cover. In view of the fact that when the order to go forward was given Cemetery Ridge was not defended by Indians or Mexicans, but by an army, which for the greater part, was composed of native Americans, an army, which if it had never done so before, had shown in the first and sec- ond days' battles not only that it could fight, but could fight desperately. In view of this fact, whether the order to go forward was a wise thing or frightful blunder I do not propose to discuss. The purpose of this paper will be to compare and contrast the courage, endurance and soldier- ly qualities of the different brigades engaged in this as- Pickett or Pettigrew? 9 sault, dwelling especially upon the conduct of the troops commanded respectively by Generals Pickett and Petti- grew. If certain leading facts are repeated at the risk of mo- notony, it will be for the purpose of impressing them upon the memories of youthful readers of history. As a sam- ple, but rather an extreme one, of the thousand and one foolish things which have been written of this affair I will state that a magazine for children, "St. Nicholas," I think it was, some time ago contained a description of this assault in which a comparison was drawn between the troops engaged, and language something like the fol- lowing was used: "Those on the left faltered and fled. The right behaved gloriously. Each body acted accord- ing to its nature, for they were made of different stuff. The one of common earth, the other of finest clay. Pet- tigrew's men were North Carolinians, Pickett's were superb Virginians." To those people who do not know how the trash which passes for Southern history was man- ufactured, the motives which actuated the writers, and how greedily at first everything written by them about the war was read, it is not so astonishing that a libel containing so much ignorance, narrowness and prejudice as the above should have been printed in a respectable publication, as the fact that even to this day, when offi- cial records and other data are so accessible, there are thousands of otherwise well-informed people all over the land who believe the slander to be either entirely or in part true. And it looks almost like a hopeless task to at- tempt to combat an error which has lived so long and flourished so extensively. But some one has said, "Truth is a Krupp gun, before which Falsehood's armor, however thick, cannot stand. One shot may accomplish nothing, or two, or three, but keep firing it will be pierced at last, and its builders and defenders will be covered with con- fusion." This little essay shall be my one shot, and may Justice defend the right. 10 Pickett ok Pettigrew? In the great war the soldiers from New York and North Carolina filled more graves than those from any of the other States. In the one case fourteen and in the other thirty-six per cent, of them died in supporting a cause which each side believed to be just. Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia each had about the same number of infantry at Gettysburg, in all twenty- four brigades of the thirty-seven present. Now, this bat- tle is not generally considered a North Carolina fight as is Chancellorsville, but even here the soldiers of the old North State met with a loss fifty per cent, greater in killed and wounded than did those from any other State, and leaving out Georgians and Alabamians greater than did those from any two States. Though the military pop- ulation of North Carolina was exceeded by that of Vir- ginia and Tennessee, she had during the war more men killed upon the battle field than both of them together. This is a matter of record. It may be that she was a lit- tle deliberate in making up her mind to go to war, but when once she went in she went.in to stay. At the close of the terrible struggle in which so much of her best blood had been shed her soldiers surrendered at Appomattox and Greensboro, taken together, more muskets than did those from any other State in the Confederacy. Why troops with this record should not now stand as high every- where as they did years ago in Lee's and Johnston's armies may appear a problem hard to solve, but its solu- tion is the simplest thing in the world, and I will present- ly give it. The crack brigades of General Lee's army were noted for their close fighting. When they entered a battle they went in to kill, and they knew that many of the enemy could not be killed at long range This style of fighting was dangerous, and of course the necessary consequences in the shape of a casualty list, large either in numbers or percentage, followed. Then there were some troops in the army who would on all occasions blaze away and Pickett or Pettigrew? 11 waste ammunition, satisfied if only they were making a noise. Had they belonged to the army of that Mexican general who styled himself the "Napoleon of the West," they would not have been selected for his "Old Guard," but yet, without exception, they stood high in the estima- tion of the Richmond people, much higher indeed than very many of the best troops in our army. As said above, Longstreet's assault is almost invariably spoken and written of as "Pickett's charge." This name and all the name implies, is what I shall protest against in this article. At the battle of Thermopylae three hun- dred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians sacrificed their lives for the good of Greece. Every one has praised Leonidas and his Spartans. How many have ever so much as heard of the equally brave Thespians? I do not know of a case other than this of the Thespians, where a gallant body of soldiers has been treated so cruelly by history, as the division which fought the first day under Heth and the third under Pettigrew. In this division there were five regiments from North Carolina, and the loss they met with in killed and wound- ed during the two days they fought was not almost but entirely unprecedented, and so little was their morale im- paired by this trying ordeal that when their wing of the army re-crossed the river they were among the troops selected for the post of honor — the rear guard. Yet slanders oft repeated, born sometimes of ignorance, sometimes of malice, have, caused most readers of history to consider them and their division as little better than cowards, and it was only with the intention of saying a good word in their behalf that this paper was first writ- ten. Later it was borne in upon the writer that the in- jury done these superb soldiers has affected to some ex- tent the reputation of every officer and man from North Carolina. Carolinians living in other States realize this fact much more thoroughly than those at home. The truth is, this 12 Pickett or Pettigrew? combat on the afternoon of July 3rd, 1863, is fast becom- ing, if it has not already become, the event of the civil war, the representative battle, the touch-stone by which the character and value of the troops from the different States will always be tested. Therefore it were well that about an event so important the truth and all the truth be known. Turn on the light. North Carolinians, Missis- sippians, and Tennesseeans, have no cause to fear it, how- ever brilliant its beams or penetrating its rays. As the battle of Gettysburg was the most sanguinary of the war, as it is considered "the turning of the tide," so the final charge made, preceded, and attended, as it was by peculiarly dramatic circumstances, has furnished a sub- ject for more speeches, historical essays, paintings and poems than any event which ever occurred in America. Painters and poets, whose subjects are historical, of course look to history for their authority. If history is false, faleshood will become intrenched in. poetry and art. The world at large gets its ideas of the late war from Northern sources. Northern historians, when the subject is peculiarly Southern, from such histories as Pollard's and Cook's, and these merely reflected the opinions of the' Richmond newspapers. These newspapers in turn got their supposed facts from their army correspondents, and they were very careful to have only such correspondents as would write what their patrons cared most to read. During the late war, Richmond, judged by its newspa- pers, was the most provincial town in the world. Though the capital city of a gallant young nation, and though the troops from every State thereof were shedding their blood in her defence, she was wonderfully narrow and selfish . While the citizens of Virginia were filling nearly one-half of the positions of honor and trust, civil and military, Richmond thought that all should be thus filled. With rare exceptions, no soldier, no sailor, no jurist, no states- man, who did not hail from their State was ever admired or spoken well of. No army but General Lee's and no Pickett or Pettigrew? 13 troops in that army other than Virginians, unless they happened to be few in numbers, as was the case of the Louisianians and Texans, were ever praised. A skirmish in which a Virginian regiment or brigade was engaged was magnified into a fight, an action in which a few were killed was a severe battle, and if by chance they were called upon to bleed freely, then, according to the Rich- mond papers, troops from some other State were to blame for it, and no such appalling slaughter had ever been witnessed in the world's history. Indiscriminate praise had a very demoralizing effect upon many of their troops. They were soon taught that they could save their skins and make a reputation, too, by being always provided with an able corps of corres- pondents. If they behaved well it was all right; if they did not it .was equally all right, for their short-comings could be put upon other troops. The favoritism displayed by several superior officers in General Lee's army was unbounded, and the wonder is that this army should have continued to the end in so high a state of efficiency. But then as the slaps and bangs of a harsh step-mother may have a less injurious effect upon the characters of some children than the excessive indulgence of a silly parent, so the morale of those troops, who were naturally steady and true, was less impaired by their being always pushed to the front when danger threatened, than if they had always been sheltered or held in reserve. Naturally the world turned to the Richmond newspa- pers for Southern history, and with what results I will give an illustration: All war histories teach that in Longstreet's assault on the third day his right division (Pickett's) displayed more gallantry and shed more blood, in proportion to numbers engaged, than any other troops on any occasion ever had. Now, if gallantry can be measured by the number or percentage of deaths and wounds, and by the fortitude with which casualties are borne, then there were several commands engaged in this 14 Pickett or Pettigrew? assault which displayed more gallantry than any brigade in General Longstreet's pet division. Who is there who knows anything of this battle to whom the name of Vir- ginia is not familiar ? To how many does the name of Gettysburg suggest the names of Tennessee, Mississippi or North Carolina ? And yet the Tennessee brigade suffered severely; but the cour- age of its survivors was unimpaired. There were three Mississippi regiments in Davis' brigade, which between them had one hundred and forty-one men killed on the field. Pickett's dead numbered not quite fifteen to the regiment. The five North Carolina regiments of Petti- grew's division bore with fortitude a loss of two hundred and twenty-nine killed. Pickett's fifteen Virginia regiments were fearfully de- moralized by a loss of two hundred and twenty-four kill- ed. A T irginia and North Carolina had each about the same number of infantry in this battle. The former had three hundred and seventy-five killed, the latter six hun- dred and ninety-six. When in ante-bellum days, Governor Holden, the then leader of the Democratic cohorts in North Carolina, was the editor of the "Raleigh Standard," he boasted that he could kill and make alive. The Richmond editors during the war combining local and intellectual advantages without boasting did the same. They had the same power over reputations that the Almighty has over physical mat ter. This fact General Longstreet soon learned, and the les- son once learned he made the most of it. He would praise their pet troops and they would praise him, and between them everything was lovely. He was an able soldier, "an able writer, but an ungenerous." Troops from another corps who might be temporarily assigned to him were in- variably either ignored or slandered. The Gascons have long been noted in history for their peculiarity in uniting great boastfulness with great cour- age. It is possible that some of General Longstreet's an- Pickett or Pettigrew? 15 cestors may have come from Southern France. His gas- conade, as shown of late by his writings, is truly aston- ishing, but his courage during the war was equally re- markable. Whether his Virginia division excelled in the latter of these characteristics as much as it has for thirty- seven years in the former, I will leave the readers of this monograph to decide. If to every description of a battle a list of casualties were added not only would many commands both in the Army of Northern Virginia and in the Army of the Poto- mac, which have all along been practically ignored, come well to the front; but those who for years have been reap- ing the glory that others sowed might have the suspicion that perhaps after all they were rather poor creatures. Our old soldier friend, Colonel John Smith, of Jamestown, Va. ,- to an admiring crowd tells this story: "He carried into action five hundred men, he charged a battery, great lanes were swept through his regiment by grape and can- ister, whole companies were swept away, but his men close up and charge on, the carnage is appalling, but it does not appall, the guns are captured, but only he and ten men are left to hold them. His regiment has been destroyed, wiped out, annihilated," and this will go for history. But should Truth in the form of a list of casual- ties appear it would be seen that Colonel Smith's com- mand had fifteen killed and sixty wounded. That is three in the hundred killed and twelve in the hundred wound- ed. Some gallantry has been displayed, some blood has been shed, but neither the one nor the other was at all phenomenal. "There were brave men before Agamem- non." Was it arrogance or was it ignorance which always caused Pickett's men to speak of the troops which march- ed on their left as their supports? It is true that an order was issued and it was so published to them that they would be supported by a part of Hill's corps, and these troops were at first formed in their rear. It is equally 16 Pickett or Pettigrew? true that before the command to move forward was given this order was countermanded and these troops were re- moved and placed on their left. As these movements were seen of all men this order could not have been the origin of the belief that Pettigrew had to support them. Was it arrogance and self-conceit? It looks like it: that their division stood to Lee's army in the same rela- tion that the sun does to the solar system. But then these people, if not blessed with some other qualities, had brains enough to know that our army could fight and conquer, too, without their assistance. They did com- paratively little fighting at Second Manassas and Sharps- burg, had only two men killed at Fredericksburg, did not fire a shot at Chancellorsville, for they were miles away, and it is no exaggeration to say that they did not kill twenty of the enemy at Gettysburg. The front line of troops, the line which does the fight- ing was always known as "the line." The line which marched in rear to give moral support and practical as- sistance if necessary, was in every other known body of troops called the supporting line or simply "supports." Pickett's division had Kemper's on the right, Garnett's on the left, with Armistead's marching in the rear of Garnett's. Pettigrew's formed one line with Lane's and Scales' brigades of Pender's division, under Trimble, marching in the rear as supports. How many support- ing lines did Pickett's people want ? The Federals are said occasionally to have used three. Even one with us was the exception. Ordinarily one brigade of each divis- ion was held in reserve, while the others were righting, in order to repair any possible disaster. To show how a falsehood can be fortified by Art, I will state that I visited the Centennial Exposition at Phila- delphia and there saw a very large and really fine paint- ing representing some desperate fighting at the so-called "Bloody Angle." Clubbing with muskets, jabbing with bayonets and firing of cannon at short range, was the Pickett or Pettigrew:^ 17 order of the day. Of course I knew that the subject of the painting was founded upon a myth; but had always been under the impression that while many of Pickett's and a few of Pettigrew's men were extracting the extremeties of certain under-garments to be used as white flags, a part of them were keeping up a scattering fire. While before the painting a gentleman standing near me ex- claimed: "Tut! I'll agree to eat all the Yankees Pickett killed." Entering into conversation with him I learned that he had been at Gettysburg, had fought in Gordon's Georgia brigade, and that he did not have a very exalted opinion of Pickett's men. As our Georgian friend was neither remarkably large nor hungry-looking, several persons hearing his remark stared at him. That he did exaggerate to some extent is possible, for I have since heard that among the dead men in blue near where Ar- mistead fell there were six who had actually been killed by musket balls. Colonel Fox, of Albany, N. Y., has published a work entitled, "Regimental Losses." In it is seen a list of the twenty-seven Confederate regiments which had most men killed and wounded at Gettysburg. Readers of the his- tories of Pollard and Cooke will be rather surprised to find only two Virginia regiments on this list. Those who are familiar with battle-field reports will not be surprised to see that thirteen of these regiments were from North Carolina and four from Mississippi. Three of the last named and five of the North Carolina regiments met with their loss under Pettigrew. Pettigrew's own brigade had in killed and wounded elev- en hundred and five, which is an average to the regiment of two hundred and seventy-six. There was not a Confeder- ate regiment at either First or Second Manassas which equalled this average, and no Virginia regiment ever did. This brigade on the first day met those of Biddle and Meredith, which were considered the flower of their corps, and many old soldiers say that this corps — the 18 Pickett or Pettigrew? First — did the fiercest fighting on that day of which they ever had any experience, and the official records sustain them in this belief. Biddle's brigade was composed of one New York and three Pennsylvania regiments. Mere- dith's, known as the "Iron" brigade, was formed of five regiments from the West. (By the way, the commander of this body, General Solomon Meredith, was a native of North Carolina, as was also General John Gibbon, the famous division commander in the Second corps, and North Carolina luck followed them, as they were both severely wounded in this battle.) Pettigrew's brigade, with a little assistance from that of Brockenbrough, af- ter meeting these troops forced them to give ground and continued for several hours to slowly drive them 'till their ammunition became nearly exhausted. When this oc- curred the Federals had reached a ridge from behind which they could be supplied with the necessary ammu- nition. But not so with Heth's troops. The field was so open, the contending lines so close together, and as every house and barn in the vicinity was filled with sharp- shooters, they could not be supplied and were in conse- quence relieved by two of Pender's brigades. In the meantime the enemy was re-enforced by a fresh brigade of infantry and several wonderfully efficient batteries of artillery, and so when the brigades of the "Light Divis- ion" made their advance they suffered very severely be- fore their opponents could be driven from the field. Meredith's brigade this day had 886 killed and wounded and 266 missing; Biddle's, 642 killed and wounded and 255 missing. The loss in Brockenbrough's Virginia was 148. For the whole battle, as said before, Pettigrew's killed and wounded amounted to 1,105; probably two-thirds of this loss occurred on this day. These facts and figures are matters of record, and yet with these records accessible to all men, Swinton, a Northern historian, in the brilliant description he gives of the assault on the third day says that "Heth's divis- Pickett or Pettigrew? 19 ion, commanded by Pettigrew, were all raw troops, who were only induced to make the charge by being told that they had militia to right and that when the fire was opened upon them they raised the shout, 'The Army of the Potomac! The Army of the Potomac!' broke and fled.*' As after the battle the Virginia division had the guarding of several thousand Federal prisoners captured by Carolinians and Georgians, they are probably re- sponsible for this statement. But to return to the fight of the first day. The Honor- able Joseph Davis, then a Captain in the Forty-Seventh, late Supreme Court Judge of North Carolina, speaking of this day's battle says: "The advantage was all on the Confederate side, and I aver that this was greatly, if not chiefly, due to Pettigrew's brigade and its brave com- mander. The bearing of that knightly soldier and ele- gant scholar as he galloped along the lines in the hottest of the fight, cheering on his men cannot be effaced from my memory.'' Captain Young, of Charleston, South Carolina, a staff officer of this division, says: "No troops could have fought better than did Pettigrew's brigade on this day, and I will testify on the experience of many hard fought battles, that I never saw any fight so well." Davis' brig- ade consisted of the Fifty-Fith North Carolina, the Sec- ond, Eleventh and Forty-Second Mississippi. The Elev- enth was on detached service that day. The three which fought also faced splendid troops. Here, too, was a square stand-up fight in the open. During the battle these three had. besides the usual proportion of wounded, one hun- dred and forty-eight killed. Only two dead men were lacking to these three regiments to make their loss equal to that of ten regiments of Pickett's "magnificent Vir- ginians."' Cutler's brigade, composed of one Pennsylvania and four New York regiments, was opposed to that of Davis, and its loss this day was 602 killed and wounded and 363 20 Pickett or Pettigrew? missing, and many of the missing were subsequently found to have been killed or severely wounded. With varying success these two brigades fought all the morn- ing. The Federals finally gave way; but three of their regiments, after retreating for some distance, took up a new line. Two of them left the field and went to town. As the day was hot and the fire hotter, it is said they vis- ited Gettysburg to get a little ice water. However that may be they soon returned and fought well 'till their whole line gave way. The ground on which these troops fought lay north of the railroad cut and was several hundred yards from where Pettigrew's brigade was engaged with Meredith's and Biddle's. As Rodes' division began to appear upon the field Davis' brigade was removed to the south side of the cut and placed in front of Stone's Pennsylvania brig- ade (which, having just arrived, had filled the interval between Cutler and Meredith) but did no more fighting that day. After securing ammunition it followed the front line to the town. Had the interval between Dan- iel's, of Rodes', and Scales', of Pender's division been filled by Thomas', which was held in reserve, neither of these Carolina brigades would have suffered so severely. The Second and Forty-Second Mississippi and Fifty-Fifth North Carolina, of Davis', for the battle had 695 killed and wounded, and about two-thirds of this occurred in this first day's fight. To illustrate the individual gallantry of these troops I will relate an adventure which came under my observa- tion. It must be borne in mind that this brigade had been doing fierce and bloody fighting, and at this time not only its numerical loss but its percentage of killed and wounded was greater than that which Pickett's troops had to submit to two days later, and that it was then waiting to be relieved. Early in the afternoon of this day my division (Rodes') arrived upon the field by the Carlisle road and at once went into action. My brig- Pickett or Pettigrew? 21 ade (Daniel's) was on the right, and after doing some sharp fighting we came in sight of Heth's line, which was lying at right angles to ours as we approached. The di- rection of our right regiments had to be changed in order that we might move in front of their left brigade, which was Davis'. The Federal line, or lines, for my impression is there were two or more of them, were also lying in the open field, the interval between the opposing lines being about three hundred yards. Half way between these lines was another, which ran by a house. This line was made of dead and wounded Federals, who lay ,; as thick as autumnal leaves which strew the brooks in Vallom- brosa." It was about here that the incident occurred. A Pennsylvania regiment of Stone's brigade had their two flags — state and national — with their guard a short dis- tance in front of them. One of these colors Sergeant Frank Price, of the Forty-Second Mississippi, and half a dozen of his comrades determined to capture. Moving on hands and knees 'till they had nearly reached the desired object, they suddenly rose, charged and overcame the guard, captured the flag and were rapidly making off with it, when its owners fired upon them. All were struck down but the Sergeant, and as he was making for the house above referred to a young staff officer of my command, having carried some message to Heth's people, was re- turning by a short cut between the lines, and seeing a man with a strange flag, without noticing his uniform he thought he, too, would get a little glory along with some bunting. Dismounting among the dead and wounded he picked up and fired several muskets at Price; but was for- tunate enough to miss him. Sergeant Price survived the war. His home was in Carrollton, Mississippi. Recently the information came from one of his sons, a name-sake of the writer, that his gallant father was no more; he had crossed the river and was resting under the shade of the trees. The parents of Mr. Price were natives of the old North State. Does any one who has made a study of 22 Pickett or Pettigrew? Pickett's "magnificent division,"' suppose that even on the morning of the 5th, when only eight hundred of the nearly or quite six thousand who had engaged in battle reported for duty, sad and depressed as they were, it could have furnished heroes like Price and his companions for such an undertaking, as in spite of friends and foes was successfully accomplished? General Davis says that every field officer in his brigade was either killed or wounded. Major John Jones was the onlj- one left in the North Carolina brigade, and he was killed in the next spring's campaign. The following extract is taken from a description of the assault by Colonel Taylor, of General Lee's staff: "It is needless to say a word here of the heroic conduct of Pick- et's division, that charge has already passed into history as 'one of" the world's great deeds of arms.' While doubt- less many brave men of other commands reached the crest of the heights, this was the only organized body which entered the works of the enemy." Pickett's left and Pet- tigrew's and Trimble's right entered the works. Men from six brigades were there. Which command had most representatives there is a disputed point. As to the su- perior organization of Pickett's men what did that amount to? In the nature of things not a brigade on the field was in a condition to repel the feeblest counter attack. Just before the final rush two bodies of Federals moved out on the field and opened fire, the one upon our right the other upon the left. The loss inflicted upon our peo- ple by these Vermonters and New Yorkers was very great, and not being able to defend themselves, there was on the part of the survivors a natural crowding to the centre. The commander of a Federal brigade in his re- port says: "Twenty battle flags were captured in a space of one hundred yards square." This means that crowded within a space extending only one hundred yards there were the fragments of more than twenty regiments. But Colonel Taylor says that Pickett's division "was the only organized body which entered the enemy's works." Pickett or Pettigrew? 23 The late General Trimble said: 'Tt will be easily un- derstood that as Pickett's line was overlapped by the Federal lines on his right, and Pettigrew's and Trimble's front by the Federal lines on their left, each of these com- mands had a distinct and separate discharge of artillery and musketry to encounter, the one as incessant as the other, although Pickett's men felt its intensity sooner than the others, and were the first to be crushed under a fire before which no troops could live; while Pettigrew and Trimble suffered as much or more before the close because longer under fire, in consequence of marching farther." And again: "Both Northern and Southern descriptions of the battle of Gettysburg, in ihe third day's contest, have without perhaps a single exception, down to the present time, given not only most conspicuous prominence to General Pickett's division, but generally by the lan- guage used have created the impression among those not personally acquainted with the events of the day that Pickett's men did all the hard fighting, suffered the most severely and failed in their charge, because not duly and vigorously supported by the troops on their right and left. It might with as much truth be said that Pettigrew and Trimble failed in their charge, because unsupported by Pickett, who had been driven back in the crisis of their charge and was no aid to them." Some time ago General Fitz Lee wrote a life of his uncle, General Robert E. Lee, and in a notice of this book the courteous and able editor of a leading Richmond newspa- per gives a fine description of the part borne by Pickett's division in Longstreet's assault on the third day, but has little or nothing to say about the other troops engaged; whereupon a citizen of this State (North Carolina) wrote and wished to know if there were any North Carolinians upon the field when Pickett's men so greatly distinguish- ed themselves. In answer the editor admits that he had forgotten all about the other troops engaged, and says: "We frankly confess that our mind has been from the 24 Pickett or Pettigrew? war until now so fully possessed of the idea that the glory of the charge belonged exclusively to Pickett's division that we overlooked entirely the just measure of credit that General Fitz Lee has awarded other commands." Whereupon a correspondent of his paper, curiously enough, is in high spirits over this answer, and referring to it says: "It is especially strong in what it omits to say. The picture of the charge, as given by Swinton, as seen from the other side, would have come in perfectly; but it would have wounded our North Carolina friends and was wisely left out." Now, as to the impertinence of this correspondent who refers to what Swinton said, there is a temptation to say something a little bitter, but as the writer has made it a rule to preserve a judicial tone as far as possible, and in presenting facts to let them speak for themselves, he re- frains from gratifying a very natural inclination. Prob- ably with no thought of malice Swinton, in making a rhetorical flourish, sacrificed truth for the sake of a strik- ing antithesis. This of course he knew. Equally of course this is what the correspondent did not know. No one ever accused John Swinton of being a fool. A distinguished writer in a recent discussion of this as- sault says: "History is going forever to ask General Longstreet why he did not obey General Lee's orders and have Hood's and McLaw's divisions at Pickett's back to make good the work his heroic men had done." Not so. History is not going to ask childish questions. A Virginian writer in closing his description of this as- sault has recently said: "Now, this remark must occur to every one in this connection. Pickett's break through the enemy's line, led by Armistead, was the notable and prodigious thing about the whole battle of Gettysburg." If so, why so ? The commanders of Wrighfs Georgia and Wilcox's Alabama brigades report that when fighting on Long- street's left on the afternoon of the second day, they car- Pickett or Pettigrew? 25 ried the crest of Cemetery Ridge and captured twenty- eight cannon. The truth of this report is confirmed by General Doubleday, who says: "Wright attained the crest and Wilcox was almost in line with him. Wilcox claims to have captured twenty guns and Wright eight." In another place he says, in speaking of a certain officer: "Oh his return late in the day he saw Sickles' whole line driven in and found Wright's rebel brigade established on the crest barring his way back." He also says: "On this occasion Wright did what Lee failed to accomplish the next day at such a heavy expense of life, for he pierced our centre and held it for a short time, and had the move- ment been properly supported and energetically followed up, it might have been fatal to our army and would most certainly have resulted in a disastrous retreat." Late in the same afternoon over on our left in John- son's assault upon Gulp's Hill, Steuart's brigade carried the position in their front and held it all night. Also late the same afternoon two of Early's brigades, Hoke's North Carolina and Hays' Louisiana, carried East Cemetery Heights, took many prisoners and sent them to the rear, several colors, and captured or silenced 20 guns (spiking some of them before they fell back). And a part of them maintained their position for over an hour, some of them having advanced as far as the Baltimore Pike. It is an undoubted fact that even after their brigades had fallen back parts of the Ninth Louisiana and Sixth North Caro- lina, under Major Tate, held their position at the wall on the side of the hill (repelling several attacks) for an hour, thus holding open the gate to Cemetery Heights, and it does seem that under cover of night this gate might have been used and the Ridge occupied by a strong force of our troops with slight loss. Returning to the afternoon of the third day the fact is that the men who were in front of the narrow space abandoned by the enemy, and some who were on their right and left, in a disorganized mass of about one thous- 26 Pickett or Pettigrew? and, crowded into this space for safety. (Less than fifty followed Armistead to the abandoned gun.) When, after about ten minutes, they were attacked they either surren- dered or fled. No one knows what State had most repre- sentatives in this "crowd" as the Federal Colonel Hall calls them, but the man who wrote that they did "'the notable and prodigious thing about the whole battle of Gettysburg" thinks he knows. All soldiers now know, and many knew then, that in sending 9,000 or 10,000 men to attack the army of the Potomac, concentrated and strongly fortified, there was no reasonable hope of success. The thing of most interest to readers of history is the question to which of the troops engaged on that ill-starred field is to be awarded the palm for heroic endurance and courageous endeavor. To know the percentage of killed and wounded of the different troops engaged in this as- sault, is to know which are entitled to most honor. Some of the troops in Pettigrew's division met with a loss of over 60 per cent. The percentage for Pickett's division was not quite 28. The Eleventh Mississippi, as said else where, was the only regiment in Pettigrew's or Trimble's divisions, which entered the assault fresh. Most of the other troops of these commands had been badly cut up in the first day's battle, and the exact number they carried into the assault is not known, but entering fresh the num- ber taken in by the Eleventh is known, and the number it lost in killed and wounded is reported by Dr. Guild. Consequently there cannot be the slightest doubt that its percentage of loss for the assault was at least 60. It is fair to presume that the percentage in the other regiments of its brigade was equally great. It is also fair to pre- sume that the brigade immediately on its right, which went somewhat farther and stayed somewhat longer under the same terrific fire, lost as heavily. If the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in which it lost 35 per cent, has rendered it famous, why should not the charge of Davis' brigade in which it lost Pickett or Pettigrew? 27 60 per cent, render it equally famous ? And if the blun- dering stupidity of the order to charge has excited our sympathy in behalf of the British cavalry, is there not enough of that element in the order to the infantry brig- ade to satisfy the most exacting ? And if Davis' brigade deserves fame why do not all the brigades — with one ex- ception — of Pettigrew and Trimble also deserve it ? Colonel W. E. Potter, of the Twelfth New Jersey, Smyth's brigade. Hays' division, in an address delivered several years ago, after speaking in very complimentary terms of the conduct of the North Carolina and Mississippi brigades of Pettigrew's division, says: "Again a larger 'number of the enemy was killed and wounded in front of Smyth than in front of Webb. Of this, besides the gen- eral recollection of all of us who were then present, I have special evidence. I rode over the field covered by the Are of these two brigades on the morning of Sunday, July 5th, in company with Lieutenant-Colonel Chas. H. Mor- gan, the chief of staff of General Hancock, and Captain Hazard. As we were passing the front of Smyth's brig- ade. Colonel Morgan said to Hazard: 'They may talk as they please about the hard fighting in front of Gibbon, but there are more dead men here than anywhere in our front.' To this conclusion Hazard assented." After the frightful ordeal they had been through it is not to the dsscredit of any of the troops engaged to say that when they reached the breastworks, or their vicini- ty, there was no fight left in them, for there is a limit to human endurance. This limit had been reached, and this is shown by the fact that there was not an organization upon the field which, when an attack was made on its flank, made the slightest attempt to change front to meet it, but either surrendered or fled. This being the case the only thing of interest is to decide which brigades received the most punishment before this limit was reached. During the recent discussion in the Richmond newspa- pers as to whether any of the North Carolina troops 28 Pickett or Pettigrew? reached a point at or near the enemy's works, the most prominent writer on the negative side of the question gives extracts from the reports of certain participants in the charge to corroborate his opinion, and by a singu- lar oversight gives one from the report of Major John Jones,. then commanding Pettigrew's own brigade, who says: ''The brigade dashed on, and many had reach- ed the wall when we received a deadly volley from the left.*' To have reached the stone wall on the left of the salient, they must necessarily have advanced considera- bly farther than any troops on the field. And yet the above writer in the face of Major Jones' testimony thinks that neither his nor any North Carolina troops were there. But then he quotes from the Federal Colonel Hall, "who," he says, "gives a list of the flags captured by his command when the charge was made." Amongst them he mentions that of the Twenty-Second North Caro- lina, and says: "If this Can be accepted as true it of course ends all controversy." Colonel Hall reports that at the close of the assault his brigade captured the flags of the Fourteenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Fifty- Seventh Virginia, and that of the Twenty-Second North Carolina. Webb reports that his command captured six flags, but does not name the regiments to which they be- longed. Heath captured those of the First, Seventh and Twenty-Eighth Virginia. Carroll's brigade those of the Thirty-Fourth North Carolina and Thirty-Eighth Virginia. Smyth's brigade those of First and Fourteenth Tennessee, Sixteenth and Fifty-Second North Carolina and five oth- ers, the names not given, and Sherrill's brigade captured three, the names not given. Thus we have the names of eight Virginia, four North Carolina and two Tennessee and fourteen reported captured, names not given. In all twenty-eight, which accounts for Pickett's fifteen, Scales' five, Pettigrew's own three and Archer's four. One of Pettigrew's and one of Archer's having been carried back, some of the other troops must have lost one. If official Pickett or Pettigrew? 29 reports which say that the flags of the First and Four- teenth Tennessee, and of the Sixteenth, Twenty-Second, Thirty-Fourth and Fifty-Second North Carolina were cap- tured, cannot be accepted as true and thus "end all con- troversy," perhaps a re-statement of the fact that twenty- eight colors were taken at the close of the assault may do so, for as said above the Virginia division had only fif- teen flags. To show the disproportion that existed at the close of the fight between the numbers of men and flags, one officer reports that his regiment charged upon the retreat- ing rebels and captured five regimental battle-flags and over forty prisoners, and a brigade commander speaking of the ground at and in front of the abandoned works, says: "Twenty battle-flags were captured in a space of one hundred yards square." s There is one fact that should be remembered in connec- tion with this assault, namely: That of all breastworks a stone wall inspires most confidence and its defenders will generally fire deliberately and accurately and cling to it tenaciously. The stone wall ran from the left and in front of Lane's, Davis' and Pettigrew's North Carolina brigades and end- ed where the right of the last named rested at the close of the assault. At this point works made of rails covered with earth began and ran straight to the front for some distance and then made a sharp turn to the left in the direction of Round Top, continuing in nearly a straight line beyond Pickett's right. It was a short distance to the right of the outer corner of these works ^5^l£xe~-~~ - Webb's men gave way. Several years ago there was published in the Philadel- phia Times, an article by Colonel W. W. Wood, of Ar- mistead's brigade, giving his recollections of this affair. As the writer had very naively made several confessions, which I had never seen made by any other of Pickett's men, and had evidently intended to speak truthfully, I 30 Pickett or Pettigrew? put the paper aside for future reference. I shall now make several selections from it and endeavor to criticise them fairly. Our artillery crowned the ridge, and be- hind it sheltered by the hills lay our infantry. "The or- der to go forward was obeyed with alacrity and cheerful- ness, for we believed that the battle was practically over and that we had nothing to do but to march unopposed to Cemetery Heights and occupy them." Yes, we can read- ily believe that they supposed they could safely gather to themselves the glory earned by others. "While making the ascent it was seen that the supports to our right and left flanks were not coming forward as we had been told they would. Mounted officers were seen dashing frantic- ally up and down their lines, apparently endeavoring to get them to move forward, but we could see that they would not move. Their failure to support us was dis- couraging, but it did not dishearten us. Some of our men cursed them for cowards, etc.'" So far no great courage had been required. But what troops were they that Pick- ett's people were cursing for cowards ? On the right they were Perry's Florida and Wilcox's Alabama, under the command of the latter General. Their orders were that when twenty minutes had elapsed after the line had start- ed they were to march straight ahead and repel any body of flankers who should attack the right. This order was obeyed to the letter. At the appointed time they moved forward and kept moving. About where Pickett should have been (Pickett's line had previously obliqued to the left) not a Confederate was to be seen. They kept on and single banded and alone attacked the whole Federal army, then exulting in victory. Of course they were repulsed, but when they knew they were beaten did they surrender that they might be sheltered in Northern prisons from Northern bullets ? Not they. They simply fell back and made their way, as best they could, to the Confederate lines. Is there any significance in the facts that shortly efter this battle General Wilcox was promoted and Gen- Pickett or Pettigrew? 31 eral Pickett and his men were sent out of the army ? What other troops were they whom these men were curs- ing for being cowards l- 1 On the extreme left there was a small brigade which, having often fought under Jackson, had 6een service enough to know what to expect. On this occasion, heeding the dictates of prudence, they may have given cause for. profanity; but all others were choice troops. There were the survivors of Archer's gallant brigade; there were Mississippians, brave and impetuous, North Carolinians, always steady, always true. These men were cursed as cowards, and by Pickett's Virginians ! Achilles cursed by Thersites ! A lion barked at by a cur ! Yes, there was one brigade, and only one, in Pettigrew's division which failed in the hour of trial. It was from their own State, and had once been an efficient body of soldiers, and even on this occasion something might be said in its defense. But had this not been the case, to the men of Armistead's brigade (who were doing the cursing) the memory of their own behavior at Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown should have had the effect of making them more charitable towards the shortcomings of others. Let us allow the Colonel to continue: "From the' time the charge began up to this moment not a shot had been fired at us, nor had we been able to see, because of the density of the smoke which hung over the battlefield like a pall, that there was an enemy in front of us. The smoke now lifted from our front, and there, right before us, scarcely two hundred yards away, stood Cemetery Heights in awful grandeur. At their base was a double line of Federal infantry and several pieces of artillery, posted behind stone walls, and to the right and left of them both artillery and infantry supports were hurriedly coming up. The situation was indeed appalling, though it did not seem to appall. The idea of retreat did not seem to occur to any one. Having obtained a view of the enemy's posi- tion, the men now advanced at the double quick, and for the first time since the charge began they gave utterance 32 Pickett or Pettigrew? to the famous Confederate yell." So it seems that all that has been spoken and written about their having marched one thousand yards under the fire of one hundred cannon and twenty thousand muskets, is the veriest bosh and nonsense. They marched eight hundred yards as safely as if on parade. When the smoke lifted they charged for two hundred yards towards the breastworks; the left only reached it — the right never did. but lay down in the field and there and then fifteen hundred of them "threw down their muskets for the war." Colonel Wood continues: "The batteries to the right and left of Cemetery Heights now began to rain grapeshot and canister upon us, and the enemy's infantry at the base of the Heights, poured vol- ley after volley into our ranks. The carnage was indeed terrible; but still the division, staggering and bleeding, pushed on towards the Heights they had been ordered to take. Of course such terrible slaughter could not last long. The brave little division did not number men enough to make material for prolonged slaughter." Dress parade heroes having stumbled unawares into danger now acting like puling infants. Yes, the carnage was for them indeed terrible, and their subsequent be* haviour up to their defeat and rout at Five Forks, showed that ,they never forgot it. Let us see what was this hor- rible carnage. The fifteen regiments, according to Gen- eral Longstreet, carried into the charge, of officers and men, forty-nine hundred. It is more probable that the number was fifty-five hundred. If they had the former number their percentage of killed and wounded was near- ly twenty-eight; if the latter, not quite twenty-five. On the first day Pettigrew's North Carolina brigade lost thirty and on the third sixty per cent. The "brave, the magnificent," when they had experienced a loss of fifteen killed to the regiment, became sick of fighting, as the number surrendered shows. One regiment of the "cow- ards," the Forty-Second Mississippi, only after it had met with a loss of sixty killed and a proportionate number of 'I Pickett or Pettigrew? 33 wounded, concluded that it was about time to rejoin their friends. Another regiment of the "cowards," the Twen- ty-Sixth North Carolina, only after it had had more men killed and wounded than any one of the two thousand seven hundred Federal and Confederate regiments ever had in any one battle, came to the same conclusion. The five North Carolina regiments of this division had five more men killed than Pickett's fifteen. To continue: "In a few brief moments more the left of Armistead's brigade, led by himself on foot, had passed beyond the stone wall, and were among the guns of the enemy, posted in rear of it. General Garnet had before then been instantly killed, and General Kemper had been severely wounded. The survivors of their brigades had become amalgamated with Armistead's." How can any one see any organization to boast of here? "Our line of battle was not parallel to the Heights, and the left of the diminished line reached the Heights first. The right of the line never reached them. The men of the right, how- ever, were near enough to see General Armistead shot down near a captured gun as he was waving his sword above his head, and they could see men surrendering themselves as prisoners. Just then a detachment of Fed- eral infantry came out flanking our right and shouted to us to surrender. There was nothing else to do, except to take the chance, which was an extremely good one, of being killed on the retreat back over the hill. But a few, myself among the number, rightly concluded that the enemy was weary of carnage, determined to run the risk of getting back to the Confederate lines. Our retreat was made singly, and I at least was not fired upon." If the division had equalled Colonel Wood in gallantry, it would not have surrendered more sound men than it had lost in killed and wounded, as by taking some risk the most of those captured might have escaped as he did. The Colonel concludes: "When the retreat commenced on the night of the 4th of July, the nearly three hundred men who had 34 Pickett ok Pettigrew? been confined in the various brigade guard -houses were released from confinement, and they and their guard per- mitted to return to duty in the ranks, and many detailed men were treated in the same way. On the morning of the 5th of July, the report of the division showed not quite eleven hundred present. Eleven hundred from for- ty-five hundred leaves thirty-four hundred, and that was the number of casualties suffered by Pickett's little divis- ion at Gettysburg." I have known individuals who took pride in poverty and disease. The surrender of soldiers in battle was often unavoidable; but I have never known a body of troops other than Pickett's, who prided them- selves upon that misfortune. General Pemberton or Mar- shal Bazaine may have done so. If they did, their coun- trymen did not agree with them, and it is well for the fame of General Lee and his army that the belief that the road to honor lay in that direction was not very prev- alent. Pickett's division has been compared to a "lance- head of steel,'' which pierced the centre of the Federal army. To be in accord with the comparison it was always represented as being smaller than it really was. Colonel Wood at the conclusion of his article puts its strength at 4,500 officers and men, at the beginning at 4,500 men. This last would agree with General Long- street's estimate of 4,900 effectives. Knowing as I do the average per brigade of Jackson's Veterans — one-half of the army — and that they had been accustomed to fight two days for every one day fought by Longstreet's men, I think it probable that Pickett's brigades must have aver- aged nearly, if not quite, two thousand. But I will place the strength of the division at fifty-five hundred. I have heard that fifteen hundred were sur- rendered. Official records say that thirteen hundred and sixty-four were killed and wounded. According to Colonel Wood, leaving out the three hun- dred guard-house men, eight hundred appeared for duty on the morning of the 5th. These three numbers together Pickett or Pettigrew:- 35 make thirty-six hundred and sixty-four, which taken from fifty-five hundred leaves eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and this was the number of men which the "brave little division" had to run away. They ran and ran and kept running 'till the high waters in the Potomac stopped them. As they ran they shouted "that they were all dead men, that Pettigrew had failed to support them, and that their 'brave division' had been swept away." The outcry they made was soon heard all over Virginia, and its echo is still heard in the North. After our army had re-crossed the river and had assem- bled at Bunker Hill, the report that Pickett's division of "dead men" had drawn more rations than any division in the army, excited a good deal of good-natured laughter. Among the officers of our army, to whom the casualty lists were familiar, the question was often discussed why it was that some of Pettigrew's brigades, marching over the same ground at the same time, should have suffered so much more than General Pickett's ? This question was never satisfactorily answered 'till after the war. The mystery was then explained by the Federal General Doubleday, who made the statement that "all the artil- lery supporting Webb's brigade (which being on the right of Gibbons' division, held the projecting wall) excepting one piece, was destroyed, and nearly all of the artillery- men either killed or wounded by the cannonade which preceded the assault." As it was the custom in some commands to report every scratch as a wound, and in others to report no man as wounded who was fit for dutj T , the most accurate test for courage and efficiency is the number killed. In the eight brigades and three regiments from Virginia in this battle three hundred and seventy-five were killed, and nineteen hundred and seventy-one wounded . That is, for every one killed five and twenty-five hundredths were reported wounded. In the seven brigades and three regiments from North Carolina, six hundred and ninety-six were killed and 36 Pickett or Pettigrew? three thousand and fifty-four wounded. That is for every man killed only four and forty hundredths appeared on the list as wounded. If it be a fact that from Gettysburg to the close of the war, among the dead upon the various battle-fields com- paratively few representatives from the Virginian infant- ry were to be found, it is not always necessarily to their discredit. For instance, even at Gettysburg two such brigades as Mahone's and Smith's had respectively only seven and fourteen men killed. It was not for them to say whether they were to advance or be held back. Their duty was to obey orders. In the same battle two of Rodes' North Carolina brigades — Daniel's and Iverson's — had be- tween them two hundred and forty-six men buried upon the field. Here we see that eight regiments and one bat- talion, which formed these two North Carolina commands, had twenty-two more men killed than Pickett's fifteen. And yet Virginia history does not know that they were even present at this battle. Now, for a brief recapitulation. The left of Garnett's and Armistead's brigades, all of Archer's and Scales' (but that all means very few, neither of them at the start be- ing larger than a full regiment) a few of the Thirty-Sev- enth and the right of Pettigrew's own brigade took pos- session of the works, which the enemy had abandoned on their approach. Pettigrew's and Trimble's left and Pick- ett's right lay out in the field on each flank of the pro- jecting work and in front of the receding wall, and from forty to fifty yards from it. There they remained for a few minutes, 'till a fresh line of the enemy, which had been lying beyond the crest of the ridge, approached. Then being attacked on both flanks, and knowing how disorganized they were, our men made no fight, but either retreated or surrendered. Archer's. Scales' and Petti- grew's own brigades went as far and stayed as long or longer than any of Pickett's. Davis" brigade, while charging impetuously ahead of the line was driven back, Pickett or Pettigrew: 37 when it had reached a point about one hundred yards from the enemy. Lane's, the left brigade, remained a few moments longer than any of the other troops and re- tired in better order. Now, it must not be inferred from anything in this pa- per that there has been any intention to reflect upon all Virginia infantry. Far from it. The three regiments in Steuart's mixed brigade and Mahone's brigade were good troops. Perhaps there were others equally good. But there was one brigade which was their superior, as it was the superior of most of the troops in General Lee's army. And that was Smith's brigade of Early's division. These troops in spite of the Richmond newspapers and the par- tiality of certain of their commanders, had no superiors in any army. Never unduly elated by prosperity, never depressed by adversity, they were even to the last, when enthusiasm had entirely fled and hope was almost dead . the models of what good soldiers should be. "It is not precisely those who know how to kill," say's Dragomiroff, "but those who know Deaths The Test. u . ,- v n t i how to die who are all-powerful on a field of battle." Regiments that had twenty-nine or more officers and men killed on the field in certain battles: REGIMENT. 13 Ga. 3 N.C. 1 Texas 13 N. C. 30 Va. 48 N. C. 27 i i 50 Ga. 57 N. C. 2 i i 4 a 3 a BRIGADE. BATTLE. KILLED. Lawton. Sharpsburg. 48. Ripley. tt 46. Wofford. a 45. Garland . it 41. Walker. a 39. a ti 31. a << 31. Drayton. a 29. Law. Fredericksburg, 32. Ramseur. Chancellorsville 47. it tt 45. Colston. a 38. 38 Pickett or Pettigrew? REGIMENT. BRIGADE. BATTLE. KILLED. 7 N. C. Lane. Chancellorsville 37. 1 " Colston. 34. 37 " Lane. 34. 23 " Iverson. 32. 13 " Pender. 31. 22 " i i 30. 51 Ga„ Semmes. 30. 4 " Doles. 29. 18 N. C. Lane. 30. 26 " Pettigrew. Gettysburg. 86. 42 Miss. Davjs. 60. 11 N. C. Pettigrew. 50. 2 Miss. Davis. 49. 45 N. a Daniel. 46. 23 " Iverson. 41. 17 Miss. Barksdale. 40. 55 N. C. Davis. 39. 59 Va. Armi stead. 35. 52 N. C. Pettigrew. 33. 11 Miss. Davis. 32. 11 Ga. Anderson. 32. 5 N. C. Iverson. 31. 13 S. C. Perrin. 31. 13 N. O. Scales. 29. 2 " Batt. Daniel. 29. 3 " Steuart. 29. 20 " Iverson. 29. Of course there were exceptions, but the general rule was that those troops who suffered the most themselves inflicted the greatest loss on the enemy and were conse- quently the most efficient. Colonel Fox says: "The his- tory of a battle or war should be studied in connection with the figures which show the losses. By overlooking them an indefinite and often erroneous idea is obtained. By overlooking them many historians fail to develop the important points of the contest; they use the same rhetor- Pickett or Pkttigrew? 39 ical descriptions for different attacks, whether the pres- sure was strong or weak, the loss great or small, the fight bloody or harmless."" The proportion of wounded to killed was 4.8 to one. That is, if 100 are killed 480 will be wounded. When 100 men are killed there will be among the wounded 64 who will die of wounds. While this may not always be the case in a single regiment, yet when a number of regi- ments are taken together the wonderful law of averages makes these proportions rules about which there is no varying. There is an old saw which says that "it takes a soldier's weight in lead and iron to kill him." Most people believe that this saying has to be taken with many grains of al- lowance, but it was shown during the war to be literally true. In the battle of Murfreesboro the weight of the 20,307 projectiles fired by the Federal artillery was 225,000 pounds, and that of the something over 2,000,000 musket balls exceeded 1*50,000 pounds, and their combined weight exceeded that of the 2,319 Confederates who were killed or mortally wounded. In the Federal armies deaths from wounds amounted to 110,000 and from disease and all other causes about 250,- 000, a total of about 360,000. For deaths in the Southern armies only an approximation can be arrived at. Proba- bly 100,000 died of wounds and as many more of disease, a total of about 200,000 which added to the Federal loss, makes about 560,000. With singular inappropriateness this brigade and sev- nr uuj 7-,i.-» j 1 u- eral other Federal organizations Webb s Philadelphia , , f J r> • j have erected monuments to com- A d Oth T memorate their gallantry upon the third day's battlefield. It would ap- pear that they should have been erected on the spot where their gallantry was displayed. It does not require much courage to lie behind breastworks and shoot dow*n an en- emy in an open field and then to run away, as it and the 40 Pickett or Pettigrew? other troops in its vicinity did, when that enemy contin- ued to approach. But while it does not add to their fame, it is not to their discredit that they did give way. For however much discipline and inherent qualities may ex- tend it, there is a limit to human endurance, and they had suffered severely, Webb's brigade in three days hav- ing lost forty-nine per cent. If there ever have been troops serving in a long war who never on any occasion gave way till they had lost as heavily, they were the superiors of any in Napoleon's or Wellington's armies. The loss in the British infantry at Salamanca was only twelve per cent. That of the "Light Brigade" at Bala- klava was only thirty-seven. That of Pickett's only twenty-eight, and they were ruined forever. It is true that the North Carolina and Mississippi brigades of Heth's division lost in the first day's battle about thirty and on the third at least sixty per cent., and this without having their morale seriously impaired, but then both of these or- ganizations were composed of exceptionally fine troops. This division was composed of Archer's brigade, of TX , , r , . . . Tennessee and Alabama regiments, Pet- Heth's Division. . * . '. . tigrews North Carolina, Davis Missis- sippi and North Carolina, and Brockenbrough's Virginia brigades. Counting from right to left, Archer joining Pickett's left, this was the order in which they were formed for the third day's assault. Soon after the order to advance was given the left brigade gave way. The others advanced and did all that flesh and blood could do. General Hooker, who has written the Confederate mili- tary history for the Mississippi troops, quotes from Dr. Ward, a surgeon who witnessed the assault, who says that the fire of Cemetery Hill having been concentrated upon Heth's division, he saw no reason why North Caro- lina, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama troops should not participate in whatever honors that were won on that day; for, says he, all soldiers know that the number killed is the one and only test for pluck and endurance. Gen- Pickett or Pettigrew? eral Hooker then states: "The brigades in the army which lost most heavily in killed and wounded at Gettys- burg was (1) Pettigrew's North Carolina, (2) Davis' Miss- issippi and North Carolina. (3) Daniel's North Carolina and (i) Barksdale's Mississippi." These four had an average of 837 killed and wounded. Pickett's three brig- ades had an average of 455. Some have contended that the number of deaths and n . wounds is the test for endurance, others Percentages. that the percentage is the true test, it may be that neither the one nor the other alone, but that rather both together should be taken into account. The same percentage in a large regiment should count for more than that in a small one. For while only one Con- federate brigade is reported to have reached as high as 63 per cent., the regiment, the smaller organizations, more frequently attained that rate. Thirteen are known and several others are supposed to have reached it. And as to the company, there was hardly a hard fought battle in which at least one did not have nearlj^ every man killed or wounded. The writer knows of four in as many North Carolina regiments which in one battle were almost de- stroyed. In three of these the percentage went from eighty-seven to ninety-eight, and the fourth had every officer and man struck. Taking Colonel Fox's tables for authority, we find that of the thirty-four regiments stand- ing highest on the percentage list six were from North Carolina, and these six carried into battle two thousand nine hundred and nine; only two of the thirty-four were from Virginia, and their "present"' was fifty- five for one and one hundred and twenty-eight for the other. Tenn- essee, leading the list in number, had seven, Georgia and Alabama each had six. The two States, whose soldiers Virginia historians with a show of generositj 7 were in the habit of so frequently complimenting, Texas and Louisi- ana, make rather a poor show — the former has only one regiment on the list and the other does not appear at all. 42 Pickett ok Pettigeew? The Twenty-Sixth North Carolina had 820 officers and men at Gettj^sburg, and their percentage of killed and wounded was exceeded by that of only two Confederate and three Federal regiments during the whole war, and those five were all small, ranging from one hundred and sixty-eight to two hundred and sixty-eight. As Senator Vance's old regiment unquestionably stands head on the numerical list, so should it, in the opinion of the writer, stand on that of percentages. As, for reasons not neces- sary to mention here, this list relates almost entirely to the early battles of the war, it is not as satisfactory as it might be. Early in the war, when it was generally be- lieved that peace would come before glory enough to go round had been obtained, the North Carolina troops were, to a certain extent, held back. For this reason, however flattering to our State pride Colonel Fox's table is, as it stands, it would have been vastly more so had it covered the whole war, especially the last year, when the fortunes of the Confederacy were held up by the bright bayonets of the soldiers from the old North State. "Carolina, Car- olina, Heaven's blessings attend her!" We see in field returns for February and March, 1865, „ . „ ^r,,. that Pickett's division was the largest , ,,. ^ ,, m the army, there is nothing remark- et Mwe Ovra.' _. . J • » ■ . L1 & able about this tact, tor they were not engaged in the bloody repulse at Bristoe Station, were not present at the Wilderness, were not present at Spottsyl- vania, were not with Early in the Valley, and did not serve in those horrible trenches at Petersburg. In the same report we see that their aggregate, present and ab- sent, was 9,487. It may be that since the world was made there has been a body of troops with 0,000 names on their muster rolls, who, serving in a long and bloody war, in- flicted so little loss upon their enemy or suffered so little themselves. It may be, but it is not probable. With one exception no division surrendered so few men at Appo- mattox. Colonel Dodge, of Boston, in his history speaks Pickett or Pettigreyt: of the commander of this division as "the Ney of Lee's army." If satire is intended it is uncalled for as the Virginian never inflicted any loss upon the enemy worth mentioning; certainly not enough to cause any Yankee to owe him a grudge. This brigade was composed of the Second, Eleventh and r. . . n . j ■ Forty-Second Mississippi and Fifty- Davis Brigade. r „.„ / _ T ,_ _. ,. ^ r _ s Fifth North Carolina. The two first were veteran. They had fought often and always well. The Forty-Second Mississippi and Fifty-Fifth North Carolina were full regiments, Gettysburg being their first battle of importance. The two first named served in Law's brigade of Hood's division at Sharps- burg (or Antietam) where they greatly distinguished themselves, as they had before at First Manassas and Gaines' Mill. The Eleventh Mississippi was the only fresh regiment outside of Pickett's division that took part in the assault of July 3rd. so all of its loss occurred on that day, that loss being 202 killed and wounded. The number they carried in is variously stated at from 300 to 350. If the one, the percentage of their loss was sixty- seven, if the other fifty-seven. This famous division, consisting of two North Carolina, D , , ,-,-•• one Georgia and one South Carolina Pender s Division. & . brigade, was first commanded by Lieu- tenant-General A. P. Hill; after his promotion, by Pender, who was killed at Gettysburg, and afterwards by Wilcox. At this time this division consisted of three North Caro- „ , , ._. . . Una, one Georgia and one Alabama brig- Kodes Division. , Tj _ ? , , , T . ade. It was first commanded by Lieu- tenant-General D. H. Hill, who was promoted and trans- ferred to the West. Then by Rodes, who was killed at Winchester, then by Grimes, who was assassinated just after the war. Shortly after Gettysburg, General Lee told General Rodes that his division had accomplished more in this battle than any other in his army. The record this body of troops made in the campaign of 1864 has ■44 Pickett or Pettigrew? never been equalled. It had more men killed and wound-' ed than it ever carried into any one action. The records show this. This division was composed for the most part of Vir- , ._„. . . ginians. It had only two North Car- iobnson s Division. , . . ,, „. , m , . , J ohna regiments, the First and Third. During the Mine Run campaign General Ewell and Gen- eral Johnson were together when a Federal battery open- ed lire upon the division and became very annoying. What did these Virginia Generals do about it? "'Only this and nothing more.'* The corps commander quietly remarked to the division commander: "'Why don't you send your North Carolina regiments after that battery and bring it in ?" At once these regiments were selected from the line, and were forming to make a charge, when the battery was withdrawn. The seven Confederate regiments which had most men „, ^. „. killed in any battle of the war What 1 he Troops brom ,, a . ,, ., , „.. _._ ' were the Sixth Alabama. 1 h>2 Different States . ,.„ , m _ . , , _, , „, , ninety-one killed; Twentv- Considered Blood v Work. „. ■, „ , , ~ ,. . , ' Sixth North Carolina, eighty - six; First South Carolina Rifles, eighty-one; Fourth North Carolina, seventy-seven; Forty-Fourth Georgia, seventy- one; Fourteenth Alabama, seventy-one; and Twentieth North Carolina, seventy. Pickett's "veterans*' must have thought that to have nine or ten men to the regiment killed, was an evidence of severe fighting, for the most of them think even to this day that to have had nearly fif- teen to the regiment killed at Gettysburg was a carnage so appalling as to amount to butchery. This brigade consisted of the Fifth, Twelfth, Twentieth , . , and Twenty-Third North Carolina. * It was first commanded by Garland, who was killed in the Maryland campaign, then by Iver- son, then by Bob Johnston, then by Toon. The Twenti- eth was a fine regiment. At a very critical time at Gaines' Mill, it captured a battery. It is on Colonel Fox's Pickett or Pettiqrew? L5 list as having had on that occasion seventy killed and two hundred and two wounded. Squally good was the Twelfth. That brilliant and lamented young officer. Gen- eral R. E. Rodes, once made a little speech to this regi- ment in which he said that after Gettysburg General Lee had told him that his division had accomplished more in that battle than any division in his army, and tha* he himself would say that the Twelfth North Carolina was the best regiment in his division. It is probable that the life of an officer of this regiment was on one occasion saved in consequence of his having performed an act of humanity. It was in the morning at Cedar Creek and our people had been slowly driving the enemy when Captain Collins, of company C, heeding the cries of a wounded Federal, stopped for a moment to give him water. Having moved his canteen in front that he might do so more conveniently, in the hurry of rejoining his company, he forgot to replace it, and in a few min- utes it was pierced by a bullet. In the "seven days' battle'" this regiment had fifty-one men killed on the field. General Hancock having witnessed a very gallant but unsuccessful charge of the Fifth North Carolina at Wil- liamsburg, complimented it in the highest terms. Lieu- tenant Tom Snow, of this county, was killed on this occa- sion and his body was delivered to his friends by the Federals. With such Colonels as Christie, Blacknail and Davis, — the first two dying of wounds— the Twenty-Third could not fail in always being an "A No. 1" regiment. This brigade at Gettysburg had one hundred and eleven killed and three hundred and forty-four wounded. In the fall of 1864 near Winchester, General Bradley Johnson, of Maryland, was a witness of the conduct of this brigade under very trying circumstances, and he has recently written a very entertaining account of what he- saw, and in it he is very enthusiastic in his praise of their 46 Pickett or. Pettigrew? courage and discipline, comparing them to Sir Colin Campbell's "'Thin Red Line" at Balaklava. This brigade consisted of the Thirty-Second, Forty - ,; r B w d Third, Forty-Fifth, Fifty-Third and Second battalion, all from North Caro- lina. It was first commanded by Daniel, who was killed at Spottsylvania. Then by Grimes and after his promo- tion by Colonels, several of whom were killed. To say that this brigade accomplished more in the first day's battle than any other is no reflection upon the other gal- lant brigades of Rodes' division. General Doubleday, who, after the fail of General Reynolds, succeeded to the command of the First corps, says that Stone's Pennsyl- vania brigade held the key-point of this day's battle. These Pennsylvanians, occupying a commanding position, were supported by other regiments of infantry and two batteries of artillery. Daniel's right, Brabble's Thirty- Second Worth Carolina leading, had the opportunity given it to carry this "key-point" by assault, and gloriously did it take advantage of that opportunity. No troops ever fought better than did this entire brigade, and the num- ber of its killed and wounded was greater by far than that of any other brigade in its corps. The Forty-Fifth and Second battalion met with the greatest loss, the former having 219 killed and wounded, the latter 153 out of 240, which was nearly 64 per cent. When, on the morning of the 12th of May at Spottsylvania, Hancock's corps ran over Johnson's division, capturing or scattering the whole command, this fine brigade and Ramseur's North Caroli- na, and Rob Johnston's North Carolina, by their prompt ness and intrepidity, checked the entire Second corps and alone held it 'till Lane's North Carolina, Harris' Missis- sippi and other troops could be brought up. In the spring of 1864 when a force was being made up for the contemplated attack upon Plymouth two regiments were selected from Rodes' division (the Forty-Third North Carolina of this brigade and Mercer's Twenty-First Pickett or Pettigrew/ \7 Georgia of Doles') and attached to Hoke's old brigade. Colonel Mercer, who was a North Carolinian, had com- mand of the brigade and was killed in the assault upon that town, as was Captain Hal Macon, of the Forty-Third. Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, of this regiment, succeeded Mercer to the command and was shortly afterwards made Brigadier-General. The Forty-Third took a prominent part in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, and soon afterwards it was ordered to rejoin its own brigade. In the latter part of May, shortly after it had rejoined its brigade, our sharp-shooters having been driven from some old earth works in the vicinity of Hanover Junction, companies A and F (Duplin and Halifax) under Lieutenants Bostic, Farrior and Morris, numbering about seventy men, were detailed for the purpose of re-taking them. On the sudden appearance of this small force from the thick woods, which covered their approach, they wer-' ordered by the enemy — a full regiment — to surrender. To this they responded with a destructive fire and charging up to the works they fought across them for about two hours. A heavy rain having set in the firing ceased and the enemy withdrew under cover of the rain .and the approaching darkness. After the rain a survey of the field showed a larger number of the enemy killed and wounded than the two companies had carried into tne as- sault. Their brigade commander, General Grimes, on receiving a detailed repor c of this affair pronounced it one of the pluckiest and most successful little fights of the war. The above and the following extracts are taken from a history of the Forty-Third regiment, written by its gal- lant Colonel: It was in front of Petersburg on the morn- ing of April 2nd, 1865, and the enemy had made a breach in our line and occupied the Confederate works for some distance on either side of Fort Mahone, which stood on an elevation about fifty yards in front of the main line. The division, massing in this direction, attacked the enemy a<: close quarters, driving them from traverse to traverse, 48 Pickett or Pettigkew? sometimes in a hand-to-hand fight, till the lost works were re-taken up to a point opposite Fort Mahone, which was still occupied b3~ the enemy. Its commanding position making its re-capture of importance in the further move- ments of the Confederates, two details of about twelve men each, in charge of a Sergeant — one from the Forty- Third (now commanded by Captain Cobb, Captain Whit- aker having been mortally wounded just previously), and the other from the Forty-Fifth regiment of the brigade — were ordered, about noon, to enter the fort by the covered way (a large ditch) leading from the main line into the fort. This was promptly done, and the enemy occupying the fort — more than one hundred in number — perhaps in ignorance of the small force of Confederates, and sur- prised at the boldness of the movement, surrendered and were sent to the rear as prisoners. Of the officers— General. Field, Line and Staff — and en- . ,. r ^ listed men from Halifax the number ti ahi ax Count v , .,, , ,, , - ,, , -,. , ■ , , _ T TX7 - killed, the number of tiiose who died of m The 'A sr wounds or were disabled by them, and the number of wounded who recovered, was rather large even for North Carolina troops. There was only one Q ?nerai, and he was mortally wounded. There were two Colonels, and one was disabled by his third wound and the other was wounded seven times; nearly every Captain and Lieutenant was struck at least once, many of tl em being Lilled. In a very short period preceding Appomat- tox four Captains — Sterling Gee, the Nicholson brothers, (William and Ed.) and Gary Whitaker— were killed. At the time of his death Captain Whitaker was commanding his regiment as he had been for nearly a year. Generals Ben McCulloch, killed at Pea Ridge; Felix Zollicoffer, killed at Mill Spring; L. O'B. Branch, killed at Sharps- burg, and Junius Daniel, mortally wounded at Spottsyl- vania, were natives of Halifax county, as is General W. R. Cox, who, the latter part of the war, commanded one of Rodes' crack brigades. General Daniel was the only Pickett or Pettigrew? 49 one of these officers who was a citizen of the county when the war broke out. This famous brigade consisted of the Second, Fourth, „ , „ . . Fourteenth and Thirtieth North Car- Kamseurs Brigade. ,. TjL _ . , , ° oiina. It was first commanded by General Geo. B. Anderson, who was killed at Sharpsburg. Then by Ramseur, who was promoted and killed at Cedar Creek. Then by Cox. The fondness of this brigade for prayer meeting and Psalm singing united with an ever readiness to fight, reminds one of Cromwell's Ironsides. It fought well at Seven Pines, where one of its regiments, having carried in six hundred and seventy-eight officers and men, lost rifty-four per cent, in killed and wounded. At Malvern Hill it met with great loss. It occupied the bloody lane at Sharpsburg. At Chancellorsville out of fifteen hundred and nine it had one hundred and fifty- four killed and five hundred and twenty-six wounded, or forty-five per cent. On the 12th of May at Spottsylvania it acted probably the most distinguished part of any brig- ade in the army. It did the last fighting at Appomattox, and about twenty-five men of the Fourteenth, under Cap- tain W. T. Jenkins, fired the last shots. To see these poor devils, many of them almost barefooted and all of them half starved, approach a field where a battle was raging was a pleasant sight. The crack of Napoleons, the roar of Howitzers and the crash of musketry always excited and exhilarated them, and as they swung into action they seemed supremely happy. Lane's brigade consisted of the Seventh, Eighteenth, Lane's Brigade Twenty-Eighth, Thirty-Third and Thir- ty-Seventh North Carolina. It was first commanded by General L. O'B. Branch, who was killed at Sharpsburg. The Seventh and Eighteenth appear upon Colonel Fox's percentage lable, both having in the "seven days' fight" lost fifty-six per cent. The numerical loss for the brigade was eight hundred and seven. At Chan- cellorsville it had 739 killed and wounded. In the history of 50 Pickett or Pettigrew? this battle by Colonel Hamlin, of Maine, the conduct of this brigade is spoken of very highly. In Longstreet's assault as it moved over the field the two wings of its right regi- ment, Thirty-Seventh, parted company, and at the close of the assault were several hundred yards apart. The point of direction for the assaulting column was a small cluster of trees opposite to and in front of Archer's brig- ade, and while the rest of the line dressed on this brigade, by some misunderstanding, four and a half regiments of Lane's dressed to the left. It went some distance beyond the Emmitsburg road, but fell back to that road, where it remained 'till all the rest of the line had given way, when it was withdrawn by General Trimble. General Lane re- ported a loss of 660 killed and wounded at Gettysburg, most of which he says "occurred on the :3rd, his loss on the first being but slight." More than one Army of the Potomac friend has objected , _, to the fancied insinuation in the pamph- Now ana Then , , ,, ,, „ \ -, _ , .let that there were foreigners m the A Dutchman. ,, , . , °, , gallant army m which they served. The following little story is for their benefit: During the winter of 18*4 General Wilcox wrote to General Lane to know if he could catch a Yankee that night for General Lee, as some of the enemy were in motion and General Lee wanted to know what command it was. Lane sent at once for Major T. J. Wooten, commanding his corps of sharp-shooters, and the Major promised to catch one. With a few picked men he was compelled to crawl a long distance, as it was a moonlight night. When near enough to make the dash Wooten sprang to his feet, and with an exclamation unusual for him, said, "Boys, we have got him." They swept over the enemy's picket line and back again at a double-quick, without an accident. Instead of the promised Yankee, Wooten captured seven Dutchmen, and no one could understand a word of their "foreign gibberish." Pickett or Pettigrew? 51 This superb brigade consisted of three regiments from . , , R . , Tennessee, one regiment and one bat- ° ' talion from Alabama. It suffered very severely the first day: on the third it was gallantly led by Colonel Frye, who says, referring to the close of the as- sault: "I heard Garnett give a command. Seeing my gesture of inquiry he called out, 'I am dressing on you. ' A few seconds later he fell dead. A moment later a shot through my thigh prostrated me. The smoke soon be- came so dense that I could see but little of what was go- ing on before me. A moment later I heard General Pet- tigrew calling to rally them on the left. All of the five regimental colors of my command reached the line of the enemy's works, and many of my officers and men were killed after passing over it." Colonel Shepherd, who succeeded Colonel Frye in command, said in his official report that every flag in Archer's brigade, except one, was captured at or within the works of the enemy. On the night of July 4th, 1863, as General Lee's army Virginians to The 7*\ faUing ba< J f f °? Gettysburg „ y . T .. . . his tram was attacked near Monte- Rescue of Virginians. „ , ^.. , . , rey Pass by Kilpatrick's cavalry, and a number of ambulances filled with the wounded offi- cers of Rodes' division were captured. The First West Virginia led the charge, and supposing that our army was composed of Virginians, their watch- word or battle-cry. which was heard everywhere, was, "Virginians to the rescue of Virginians." None of these officers happened to be Virginians, and as they did not wish to be "rescued," they did not appreciate the efforts of their friends, the enemy, in their behalf. Two of General Early's brigades made a very brilliant Hoke's Brigade char S e on the second day; but being unsupported were forced to fall back. They were Hoke's North Carolina, commanded by Colonel Avery, who was killed, and Hayes' Louisiana. They did equally well in every respect, yet one is always praised, 52 Pickett or Pettigrew? the other rarely mentioned. Mr. Vanderslice in his fine description of this affair does full justice to our North Carolina boys, and closes by saying: "It will be noted that while this assault is called that -of the 'Louisiana Tigers,' the three North Carolina regiments lost more men than the five Louisiana regiments." Hoke's brigade consisted of the Sixth, Twenty-First, Fifty-Fourth and Fifty-Seventh. First commanded by Hoke. After his promotion by Godwin, who was killed in the Valley, and then by Gaston Lewis. The Fifty-Fourth was on de- tached duty and did not take part in this battle. As Gen- eral Lewis was severely wounded at Appomattox he was probably the last officer in the army of his rank to meet with that misfortune. "But as he spoke, Pickett, at the head of his division, _, „ , , „. ,, rode over the crest of Seminary Ridge The School Girl's ,, ,. , , , ,, J , ° and began his descent down- the slope. As he passed me," writes Longstreet, "he rode gracefully, with his jaunty cap racked well over his right ear and his long auburn locks, nicely dressed, hanging almost to his shoulders. He seemed a holiday soldier." Echo repeats the words: A holiday soldier! A holiday soldier ! Sam Brown, Co. D, 24th N. 0. T., was the ideal Confed- „ , •_- , , erate soldier. Sam thinks he killed Killed a Thousand! ., , ., .-. , very near if not quite a thousand Yankees. For awhile he was a prisoner of war, and when drawn up in line that some of them might be select- ed for exchange a soldier near him begged the Surgeon to select him, saying that he had never killed a Union sol- dier as he had always held his gun up, whereupon Sam, in a low voice, cursed him and told him if he had him off in the woods he would kill him. The Surgeon overhear- ing this called him up and asked him how many of his people he had killed, and his answer was, "A heap of 'em. " "But tell me as near as you can how many," said the officer, and he replied, "Well, sir, if you would pack Pickett or Pettigbew? 53 in this room like herrings in a barrel all I have killed, I think it would be about full." Instead of being angry. the Surgeon laughed and said, "I will let you go home, that other fellow is no good, he can stay here." From a book recently published, entitled, "Pickett and _ , His Men," the following para- Fav Your Money and , . , , ,. T . ... z, f Tr _, . graph is taken: "Pettigrew was lake Your Choice. 7 • i .i ^ j +u trying to reach the post of death and honor, but he was far away and valor could not an- nihilate space. His troops had suffered cruelly in the battle the day before and their commander had been wounded. They were now led by an officer ardent and brave, but to them unknown." Colonel Carswell McClellan, who was an officer of Gen- eral Humphreys' staff, comparing the assault made by this General at Fredericksburg with that which is known as Pickett's, says: "As the bugle sounded the 'charge,' General Humphreys turned to his staff, and bowing with uncovered'head, remarked as quietly and as pleasantly as if inviting them to be seated around his table, 'Gentle- men, I shall lead this charge. I presume, of course, you will wish to ride with me.' "Now, compare that to Pick- ett, who was not within a mile of his column when they charged at Gettysburg — Pettigrew and Armistead led Pickett's division there. Of this grand assault of Humph- reys I can do no better than quote General Hooker's re- port: 'This attack was made with a spirit and determi- nation seldom, if ever, equalled in war. Seven of General Humphreys' staff officers started with the charge, five were dismounted before reaching the line where General Couch's troops were lying, and four were wounded before the assault ceased.' " "We refer to the third day at Gettysburg so soon again _, ,. f because of a letter that reached us on Mon- day postmarked 'Charleston, S. C, April 9.' It comes from a soldier who did not belong to either Petti- 5-4 Pickett or Pettigrew? grew's or Pickett's command. He writes, and he is clear- ly a man of education and fairness: " 'I am glad to see you are taking up the claim of Pet- tigrew* s brigade to share in the glory of Gettysburg. Why not go a little further ? Pettigrew led his division. Pickett did not. Pettigrew was wounded, and no mem- ber of his staff came out of the fight without being wounded or having his horse shot under him. Neither Pickett nor any member of his staff nor even one of the horses was touched. Why ? Because dismounted and on the farther side of a hill that protected them from the enemy's fire.' There is in this city a letter from a dis- tinguished, able, scholarly Virginian that states that General Pickett was not in the charge at all. There now ! The correspondent adds: 'Investigate the statement, and if correct, this will help to make history somewhat truth- ful.' He gives excellent authority— a gallant citizen of Savannah, Ga., who was in the battle and of whom we have known for more than thirty-three years. Let the whole truth come out as to the splendid charge on the third day, who participated in and who went farthest in and close to the enemy." — Wilmington Messenger-. The following extract is taken from a magazine article Tr .„ , written by Mr. J. F. Rhodes in 1899: Gov. Kemper Killed l . rri ,, ' , "Then the Union guns re-opened. In Battle w , f . , * , . , „ , _, When near enough canister shot And Other Matters. -,-, , .,, ? .,, , were acided; 'the slaughter was ter- rible.' The Confederate artillery re-opened over the heads of the charging column trying to divert the fire of the Union cannon, but it did not change the aim of the batteries from the charging column. When near enough the Federal infantry opened, but on swept the devoted division. Near the Federal lines Pickett made a pause 'to close ranks and mass for a final plunge.' Armistead leaped the stone wall and cried, 'Give them the cold steel, boys,' laid his hand on a Federal gun, and the next mo- ment was killed. At the same time Garnett and Kemper, Pickett or Pettigrew? 55 Pickett's other brigadiers, were killed. Hill's corps wav- ered, broke ranks and fell back. 'The Federals swarmed around Pickett,' writes Longstreet, 'attacking on all sides, enveloped and broke up his command. They drove the fragments back upon our lines. Pickett gave the word to retreat." Mr. Rhodes is probably a young writer who, in his effort to say something thrillingly dramatic, has made nearly as many misstatements in the above as there are lines. Dealers in military pyrotechnics, as a rule, have little regard for accuracy. To give a clear idea of the closing events of this assault it will be well to mention several things not generally known. Just at the point which had been occupied, but was then abandoned by Webb's brigade, there was no stone wall, but a breastwork made of rails covered with a little earth. These works jutted out into the field. On both sides of this salient there were stone walls. Of the one thousand men who reached these works of rails and earth only about fifty followed Armistead to the aban- doned guns. The others stopped there. Seeing this all to their right, more than half the column did the same, and having stopped they were obliged to lie down. The left of the line continued to move on for a while when they, to prevent annihilation, also fell to the ground. This discontinuance of the forward movement, showing that the momentum of the charge had spent itself, meant defeat. Our men knew this, but there they lay waiting for — they knew not what. All other things that happen- ed — the capture of men, muskets and flags — were for the Federals mere details in reaping the harvest of victory. Leaving out Lane's brigade, which lay far over to the „ ~ _ , left in the Emmitsburg road, our bale Surrender or , . , . , . , , „ _ . , , line, which was so imposing at the Dangerous Retreat? , - , , ,, , beginning of the assault, covered the front of only two Federal brigades at its close. Into the interval between Lane's and Pettigrew's troops New 56 Pickett or Pettigrew? Yorkers were sent, who attacked the left of the latter s own brigade. About the same time Vermonters moved up and fired several volleys into Pickett's right. Which body of these flankers first made their attack has been a subject of some dispute, but it is a matter of no import- ance. Neither attack was made before Armistead was wounded. But there is a matter of very great importance and that is to correctly decide which of the two contrary lines of action taken that day is the more honorable and soldier-like. Here were troops lying out in the open field, all of them knowing that they had met with a frightful defeat. Those on the left, seeing a move on the part of the enemy to effect their capture, thought it »a duty they owed themselves, their army and their country to risk their lives in an effort to escape. Acting upon this thought they went to the rear with a rush, helter r skelter, devil take the hindmost, and the most of them did escape. Those on the right when ordered to surrender did so al- most to a man. The North Carolinians, Alabamians and Tennesseeans upon the field felt that to surrender whe^i there was a reasonable hope of escape was very little bet- ter than desertion. If the opinions of the Virginians were not quite as extreme as this, they certainly would have been surprised at that time had they been told that their conduct was heroic. Since then maudlin sentimentalists have so often informed them it was that now they believe it. The time may come when history will call their sur- render by its right name. Mr. I. R. Pennypacker in his history of General Meade, published this A. D. 1901, in the The Latest History. „ Great Commanders Series," says: "General Pickett in person did not cross the Emmitsburg road. Of his three brigade commanders Garnett and Armistead were killed. And within twenty paces of the stone wall. Kemper was wounded and captured. Petti- grew and Trimble and three of their brigade commanders (Frye, Lowrance and Marshall) were wounded." Pickett or Pettigrew? 57 It may be remarked that Colonel Marshall, of the Fifty- Second North Carolina Troops, commanding Pettigrew's brigade, was killed on the field, and as to General Armis- tead, Dr. Hubbard, acting medical director of the Elev- enth corps, reports that shortly after he (Armistead) was wounded he was taken to his hospital and there died on the afternoon of the 4th. Mr. Pennypacker pays this monograph the compliment of giving it as authority for some of his statements. The late General James Dearing, of Virginia, at the „ } time of the battle an Artillery Major, wit- ° ' nessed the assault, and shortly afterwards, giving a description of it to a friend of the writer, men- tioned a circumstance which partly accounts for the fact that all of Pickett's troops were not captured. It was that from the very start individuals began to drop out of ranks, and that the number of these stragglers continued to increase as the line advanced, and that before a shot had ever been fired at the.m it amounted to many hun- dreds. This conduct on the part of so many must be taken into consideration in accounting for the shortness of our line at the close of the assault; also that the troops both to the right and left dressing upon Archer's brigade there was in consequence much crowding towards the centre. By adding to these causes the deaths and wounds, the ex- planation of a condition which has puzzled many writers is readily seen. This road which is so often referred to runs nearly diag- _-■',, . , ^ , onally across the field. At a ihe bmmitsburs; Rosa. , , , ,, ,. * point where the troops on the left crossed it was only a few rods from the Federal lines. On the right where Pickett's men crossed it was not very far from ours. General Longstreet is supposed to have always thought _, „ - that after the second of Pettigrew's "The Post of , . , ,, _ t1 r „ ,, brigades gave way there were none Death and Honor. „ TT . n . , , ,, ,, „ n of Hill s troops left upon the field. 58 PlGKETT OR PETTIGREW? This General, while honest, was so largely imaginative that his statement of facts is rarely worthy of credence. He says that "Pickett gave the word to retreat." There are very many old soldiers, many even in Richmond, who do not believe that Pickett was there, or anywhere near there, to give that word. That in the beautiful language of a recent writer, "He may have been trying to reach the post of death and honor, but he was far away, and valor could not annihilate space." General Longstreet is reported recently to have said at . n h Gettysburg that if General Meade had , , , a ' advanced his whole line on July 4th he tiV ( /UTSCIVCS would have carried everything before him. It is hardly fair for General Longstreet to do so, . but he is evidently judging the army by. his troops, some of whom are said to have been so nervous and shaky after this battle that the crack of a teamster's whip would startle them. He is mistaken, for it must be remembered that the enemy was about as badly battered as we were, and that the troops composing Ewell's and Hill's corps had beaten this enemy only two months before when it was on the defensive. Now we would have been on the defensive; is it probable that we would have been beaten? Having boldly advanced a little way, he halted grace- _, „. _ _ fully, "with his iauntv cap "The King ol France /' „ T - • A „*. , ^, . ,f t -r ,, racked well over his right ear, With Shield and Lance. , , . , , , , and his long auburn locks, nicely dressed, hanging almost to his shoulders." My! My! A little hartshorn, Mr. Apothecary! With the exception of South Carolina probably no State . in the Confederacy had so few soldiers "ab- sent without leave" as North Carolina. Ow- ing to unfortunate surroundings neither the head of the army nor the administration ever realized this fact. The same harshness that forced thousands of conscripts into the army who were unfit for service, and kept them there until death in the hospital released them, caused more Pickett or Pettigrew? 59 soldiers from North Carolina (some of whom had shed their blood in defence of the South) to be shot for this so- called desertion than from any other State. Though the military population of the Tar Heel State was not as great as that of at least two of the others, her soldiers filled twice as many graves, and at Appomattox, Va., and Greensboro, N. C, surrendered twice as many muskets as those of any other State. There was a singular fact in connection with these so-called desertions. In summer, when there was fighting or the expectation of a fight, they never occurred. Only in winter, when the men had time to think of their families, hundreds of whom were suffer- ing for the necessaries of life, did the longing desire to see them and minister to ther wants overcome every other sentiment, and dozens of them would steal away. Wonder and surprise must be felt by any intelligent officer of any of the European armies who r rides over that part of the field held by the Army of the Potomac which was assaulted on the afternoon of July 3rd, 1863. Wonder that sixty or seventy thousand men occupying the commanding posi- tion they did and supported by hundreds of cannon should have felt so much pride in having defeated a column of less than ten thousand. For had their only weapons been brick-bats they should have done so. Surprise that Gen- eral Lee should have had so supreme a contempt for the Federal army as to have thought for a moment that by any sort of possibility the attack could be successful. No longer ago than last August a New York magazine contained an elaborately illustrated article descriptive of the Gettvsburg Northern History. , ,,, , ,, . , ,, ., battle-field. As long as the writer confines himself to natural scenery he acquits himself very creditably, but when he attempts to describe events which occurred there so many years ago he flounders fearfully. Of course Pickett's men advance "alone.'* Of course there is a terrifnc hand-to-hand battle at what he 60 Pickett or Pettigrew? calls the "bloody angle." In this battle he says that many of Doubleday's troops lost from twenty-five to forty per cent. "The slaughter of the Confederates was fearful — nearly one half of them were left upon the field, Gar- nett's brigade alone having over three thousand killed and captured." This is Northern history. Now for facts: Pickett's men did not advance "alone.'" There was no terrific battle inside the enemy's works. None of Doubleday's troops lost there from twenty-five to forty per cent. There was not one regiment in Hays', Gibbons' or Doubleday's commands which, after the shell- ing, lost one-fourth of one per cent. As to Garnett's brigade, as it carried in only two thousand or less and brought out a considerable fragment, it could hardly have had over three thousand killed and captured. It did have seventy-eight killed and three hundred and twenty-four wounded. General Doubleday, in writing to ask permission to make use of the pamphlet in a history he was then pre- paring, suggested only one alteration, and that was in re- gard to Stannard's Vermont brigade, which had fought only the day before and not the two days as the pamph- let had it. On the retreat Kilpatrick attacked our ambulance train , T . „ J . , . and captured many wounded officers Union Sentiment m . „ ,„ . ,, , _ f . of Ewell s corps. Among them was North Carolina. , , . , ? , . one from my brigade, who, when in hospital, was asked by a Federal surgeon if the well- known Union sentiment in North Carolina had anything to do with the large proportion of wounded men from that State. Being young and inexperienced in the ways of the world he indignantly answered, "No." Early in the war the best troops in the Army of North- ern Virginia could not have fighting u ** * enough. At that time they were simple ^' enough to believe that there was some connection between fame and bravery. After a while Pickett or Pettigrev."? til they learned that a dapper little clerk of the quartermas- ter's department, if he had the ear of the editor of the Richmond "Examiner," had more to do with their repu- tation than their own courage. When this fact became known there was "no more spoiling for a fight,'' but it was very often felt to be a hardship when they were called upon to do more than their proper share of fighting. This brigade was composed of the Eleventh, Twenty - , . Sixth, Forty-Seventh, Fifty-Second lgrew s nga e. ^^ Forty-Fourth North Carolina. When the army went on the Gettysburg campaign the last named regiment was left in Virginia. That this brig- ade had more men killed and wounded at Gettysburg than any brigade in our army ever had in any battle is not so much to its credit as is the fact that after such appalling losses its morale was so little impaired that it was among the troops selected for the rear-guard when the army re- crossed the river. Captain Tuttle's company of the Twen- ty-Sixth regiment went into the battle with three officers and eighty-four men. All the officers and eighty-three of the men were killed or wounded. In the same battle com- pany C of the Eleventh regiment, had two officers killed and thirty-four out of the thirty-eight men killed or wounded. Captain Bird with the four remaining men participated in the assault of the third day, and of them the flag bearer was shot and the Captain brought out the colors himself. He was made Major, and was aftewards killed at Reams' Station. The Fortieth, Forty-Seventh and Fifty-Fifth Virginia _ , , , , regiments and Twenty-Second Virgin- ... la battalion composed this brigade. ^ ' Up to the re-organization of the army after Jackson's death, it formed a part of A. P. Hill's division. The fact that it did not sustain its reputation at Gettysburg had no effect upon the general result of that battle. Their loss was twenty-five killed and one hundred and forty-three wounded. 62 Pickett or Pettigrew? If any searcher after the truth of the matter consults , . r the records and other sources of relia- Lon°strcet s Alen. , , . . * ble information, paying no attention to the clap-trap of Virginia writers, he will find, to say the least, that the troops of Ewell's and Hill's corps were the peers of the best and the superiors of a large part of the soldiers of Longstreets corps. In the battle of the second day if the four brigades of McLaws' division had fought as well as did Wright's, Perry*s and Wilcox's of the Third corps, we would have undoubtedly gained a. victory at Gettysburg. Hood's was the best division, but it was defeated at Wauhatchie, Tenn., by troops that the men of the Second and Third corps had often met and never failed to drive. As to Pickett's ''writing division": From Malvern Hill to Gettysburg was exactly one year, and in this time the four great battles of Second Manas- sas. Sharpsburg. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and twice as many of less prominence were fought by the army or parts of the army. In these battles Lane's North Carolina, Scales' North Carolina and Archer's mixed brigade of Tennesseeans and Alabamians had three thous- and six hundred and ten men killed and wounded. In the same period Armistead's Virginia. Kemper's Virginia and Garnett's Virginia had seven hundred and seventy - two killed and wounded. At Gettysburg where it had one hundred and two killed , . and three hundred and twenty-two * wounded it was a small brigade, as at Chancellorsville only two months before it had met with a loss of nearly seven hundred. In the third day's as- sault. General Scales having been wounded, it was com- manded by Colonel Lowrance, who was also wounded as was every field officer and nearly every company officer in the brigade. This gallant little organization consisted of the Thirteenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-Second, Thirty- Fourth and Thirty-Eighth North Carolina. Its first com- mander was Pettigrew, who was severely wounded and Pickett or Petti grew ? 63 captured at Seven Pines. Then came Pender, then Scales, late Governor of North Carolina. Mr. W. H. Swallow, of Maryland, a Confederate soldier and a writer of some note, was wounded at Gettysburg, and in one of his articles descriptive of the battle, says: "General Trimble, who commanded Pender's division and lost a leg in the assault, lay wounded with the writer at Gettysburg for several weeks after the battle, related the fact to the writer (Swallow) that when General Lee was inspecting the column while in front of Scales' brigade, which had been fearfully cut up in the first day's con- flict, having lost very heavily, including all of its regi- mental officers with its gallant commander, and noticing many of Scales' men with their heads and hands bandaged, he said to General Trimble: 'Many of these poor boys should go to the rear; they are not able for duty." Pass- ing his eyes searchingly along the weakened ranks of Scales' brigade he turned to General Trimble and touch- ingly added: 'I miss in this brigade the faces of many dear friends." * * In a few weeks some of us were removed from the town to a grove near the wall that Longstreet had assaulted. As the ambulances passed the fences on the Emmitsburg road, the slabs were so completely perforated with bullet holes that you could scarcely place a half inch between them. One inch and a quarter board was indeed a curiosity. It was sixteen feet long and fourteen inches wide and was perforated with eight hundred and thirty-six musket balls. I learn- ed afterwards that the board was taken possession of by an agent of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. This board was on that part of the fence where Scales' brave little brigade crossed it." This brigade was composed of the Tenth, Twenty-Third Steuarts Brigade and Thirt y-Seventh Virginia, the Maryland battalion and the First and Third North Carolina. When General Ed. Johnson, sup- ported by two of Rodes' brigades, made his attack on the 04 Pickett oe Pettigrew? morning of the third day, this brigade displayed conspic- uous gallantry. Had General Longstreet moved forward at the same time, the story of Gettysburg might have been written very differently. The Third North Carolina possessed in a pre-eminent degree the mental obtuseness peculiar to so many North Carolina troops. Try as they would they never could master the art of assaulting en- trenchments or fighting all day in an open field without having somebody hurt. In the Sharpsburg campaign it had more men killed and wounded than any regiment in the army. At Chancellorsville there were only three — all North Carolina — whose casualties were greater, and at Gettysburg (losing fifty per cent.) it headed the list for its division. The First North Carolina, a somewhat smaller regiment, in number of casualties always followed close behind the Third, except at Mechanicsville, where it went far ahead. It was indeed also one of those fool regiments which could never learn the all-important lesson which so many of their more brilliant comrades found no diffi- culty in acquiring. Colonel Fox in his "Regimental Losses," says: "To all this some may sneer and some may say, 'Cui Bono?' If so let it be remembered that there are other reasons than money or patriotism which induce men to risk life and limb in war. There is the love of glor} r and the expectation of honorable recognition: but the private in the ranks ex- pects neither; his identity is merged in that of his regi- ment; to him the regiment and its name is everything; he does not expect to see his own name appear upon the page of history, and is content with the proper recognition of the old command in which he fought. But he is jealous of the record of his regiment and demands credit for every shot it faced and every grave it filled. The bloody laurels for which a regiment contends will always be awarded to the one with the longest roll of honor. Scars are the true evidence of wounds, and regimental scars can be seen only in its record of casualties." Pickett or Pettigrew? 65 The Navy Department is anxious to recruit apprentices . . and sailors from the South Atlantic States — especially from the sound indented coasts of the two Carolinas. Carolinians, it is said, make model jack tars, as they have made conspicuously gallant and capable soldiers in all our wars.— New York Tribune. This fine brigade formed a worthy part of A. P. Hill's ., _. , and Pender's famous "light di- A , ~ ,. ri . , vision. ' Though it had other South Carolina Brigade. ~ , „ , ~ Generals, two of whom — Gregg and Perrin — were killed on the field, it generally went by the name of the officer who led it so gallantly at Chancel - lorsville. Lane's and Scales' brigades always felt safe when they had the Palmetto boys on their flank. A his- tory of their command states that for the war they had killed or died of wounds twelve hundred and seventy- nine and deaths by disease eleven hundred and twenty- nine. At Gettysburg their killed and wounded numbered five hundred and seventy-seven; and all this loss was met with on the first day while fighting by the side of Scales' brigade. It was composed of Orr's Rifles, First, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth, all from South Carolina. Lieutenant Jno. A. Morgan, Co. A 1st N. C. T., was a handsome young fellow, always gay ■ TT . ' * _. and happy. In General Ed. John- In His Own Iran. , , „ , . , ,,, , XT . ' son s report of his battle near Win- chester he is complimented for his gallantry in serving a gun with the assistance of a staff officer after all the gun- ners had been killed or wounded. He afterwards furn- ished a good illustration of the "old saw" about one falling in a pit he had digged for another. It was in May, 1864, in the Wilderness, and Jack was on the skirmish line near the plank road. An expert Federal sharp-shoot- er was making himself very disagreeable. He was be- hind a tree and would expose himself only for an instant while firing. Jack with one of his men made a plot to kill him. "See him," said he, "I am going to cross this 66 Pickett or Pettigrew? road and when the Yank pokes his head out to fire at me you must shoot it off." Poor Jack had gotten only about half way across when he fell with a bullet through his thigh. And the Yank ? For all that is known to the con- trary, he is living to this day. '•You'll be damned if you do. Tar Heels, Pelicans You'll be damned if you don't; and You'll be damned if you will, Puddino Heads. You'll be damned if you won't— You'll be damned anyway !" Early in the war a number of Confederates laid down their arms at Roanoke Island as did an equal number somewhat later at the Forts below New Orleans. On July 3rd, 1863, a large number surrendered in the open field at Gettysburg. In the first instance the men cap- tured were North Carolinians, and their act in doing what was absolutely unavoidable was criticised most unmerci- fully. In the second, they were Louisianians, and sym- pathy was generally expressed for them. In the last they were Virginians, and the world has never tired of sounding their praises. Second Battle of Manassas:— All other brigades, not in- „ ,,..,„ . . eluding North Carolina and Vir- Battleneld Statistics. . . , , -, .,, -, A gmia, loss averaged — killed and wounded 305. North Caralina brigades averaged 260. Virginia brigades averaged 168. Kemper, Garnett and Armistead (Virginia) averaged 163. Sharpsburg — Omitting North Carolina and Virginia: — Twenty-three other brigades averaged killed and wounded 284. Seven North Carolina brigades averaged killed and wounded 355. Eight Virginia brigades averaged killed and wounded 158. Kemper, Garnett and Armistead aver- aged killed and wounded 126. Fredericksburg — Omitting North Carolina and Virginia: — Twenty-one brigades averaged killed and wounded, 100 and a fraction. Seven North Carolina brigades averaged killed and wounded 260. Seven Virginia brigades aver- Pickett or Pettigrew? 67 aged killed and wounded 50 and fraction. Kemper none killed, 3.8 wounded. Armistead and Garnett in reserve. Gettysburg: — Seven and a half North Carolina brigades averaged killed and wounded 502. Eight and a half Vir- ginia brigades averaged 264. Kemper, Garnett and Ar- mistead averaged 454. How much punishment must a body of troops receive r» r u «;•., I, before they can, without discredit Defeat With Honor. , ,, •; , ,, , ,, to themselves, confess that they nave been defeated ? In answer it may be stated that in front of Marye's Hill at Fredericksburg, Maegher's and Zook's brigades lost in killed and wounded, respectively, thirty-six and twenty-six per cent., and that the killed and wounded of the fifteen Pennsylvania regiments, con- stituting Meade's division, which broke through Jack- son's line, was 36 per cent. This division was not only > < pulsed but routed, and yet they were deservedly con- sidered amongst the very best troops in their army. Or- dinarily it may be safely said that a loss of twenty-five per cent, satisfies all the requirements of military honor. ( h'dinarily is said advisedly, for with us very much de- pended upon knowing from what State the regiment or brigade hailed before it could be decided whether or not it was justified in retreating. When on the afternoon of the third day of July, 1863, Pettigrew's, Trimble's and Pickett's divisions marched into that ever-to-be remem- bered slaughter pen, there was one regiment in the first named division, the Eleventh Mississippi, which entered the assault fresh, carrying in three hundred and twenty- five officers and men. After losing two hundred and two killed and wounded, it with its brigade, left the field in disorder. Correspondents of Virginia newspapers wit- nessing their defeat accused them of bad behavior. Vir- ginian historians repeated their story and the slander of brave men, who had lost sixty per cent, before retreating, lives to this day. In the spring of 1862 an army, consist- ing of ten regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and two 68 Pickett or Pettigrew? batteries of artillery, was defeated in the valley and the loss in killed and wounded was four hundred and fifty- five. In the summer of 1863 there were eight regiments in the same division who took part in a certain battle and were defeated; but they did not confess themselves beat- en 'till the number of their killed and wounded amounted to two thousand and two (2,002) — a loss so great that it never was before or afterwards equalled in our army or in any American army. In the first instance all of the troops were from Virginia and as consolation for their defeat they received a vote of thanks from the Confeder- ate Congress. In the second case five of the regiments were from North Carolina and three from Mississippi. Did our Congress thank them for such an unprecedented display of endurance ? No, indeed ! Corrupted as it was by flattery and dominated by Virginian opinion; the only wonder is that it refrained from a vote of censure. Four regiments of infantry and one of cavalry from North Carolina served in the Western *' army with credit to themselves and State, and surrendered with it at Greensboro. They were the Twenty-Ninth, Thirty-Ninth, Fifty-Eighth, Sixtieth and Sixty-Fifth. The last was generally known as the Sixth cavalry. The Fifteenth, Twenty-Seventh, Forty-Sixth and Forty - . , Eighth regiments composed this brigade. * ' It met with its greatest losses at Sharps- burg, Fredericksburg, Bristoe Station and the Wilderness. The Fifteenth, while in Cobb's brigade, suffered great loss at Malvern Hill in addition to above. The Twenty- Seventh was probably more praised for its oonduct at Sharpsburg than any regiment in the army. The Forty- Eighth had more men killed and wounded in this battle than any regiment of its corps. The Twenty-Fourth, Twenty-Fifth, Thirty-Fifth, Forty - , _ . T Ninth and Fifty-Sixth made up this Ransoms Brigade. hv{g ^ It probably met with its Pickett or Pettigrbw? 69 greatest loss at Malvern Hill. The Twenty-Fourth of this brigade and the Fourteenth of Geo. B. Anderson's both claim that after this battle their dead were found nearest to where the enemy's artillery had stood. The brigade also displayed conspicuous gallantry at Sharpsburg, Fred- ericksburg, Drewry's Bluff, and the brilliant capture of Plymouth. Governor Vance called them his "seed wheat." There „ were four regiments and one battalion junior Reserves. „ , , „, , - ,, J of these troops. They were used for the most part to guard bridges from raiders, but a large part of them fought at Wise's Fork, below Kinston, and at Bentonville, where they acquitted themselves creditably. A witness has told the writer of having seen one of these children who a few days before had lost both eyes by a musket ball. He said it was the "saddest sight of a sad, sad war." On towards the close of the war a party of Federal raiders having attempted to enter the town of Mariana, Fla., succeeded in doing so only after a stout resistance on the part of the old men and boys of the place. There was an officer among these Yanks who after the war was stationed at Mariana, and while there he told a citizen of the place that of the two hottest times he had ever seen, one was upon the occasion of his first paying them a visit, and the other when his command at Bentonville faced a lot of North Carolina boys, who did not have sense enough to know when they were whipped. After the fall of Fort Fisher several battalions of heavy "Red Lee" Infantry artiller ^ which had been occupying * *' the other forts near the mouth of the Cape Fear, were withdrawn and armed as infantry, joined Johnston's army. No troops ever fought better than they did at Kinston and Bentonville. While the notices of the pamphlet have been generally _ . . favorable, it was not to be expected that all would be so. There are those who see no need for re-opening the question herein discussed. While 70 Pickett or Pettigrew? confessing that a part of our troops have been directly wronged by slanderous words and all of them wronged by implication, they assert that time only is required to make all things even, and that the dead past should be allowed to bury its dead. Peace-loving souls, they dep- recate controversy, believing that from it will result only needless heart-burnings. Then again there are others who object not only to the tone and temper of the article, but to the mere statement of indisputable facts. There should be, they say, a feel- ing of true comradeship among all who have served in the same army, especially in such an army as ours. That comrades should assist and defend each other in person and reputation, and under no circumstances should any- thing be done or said to wound or offend. To admit that there has been provocation in one direction does not jus- tify provocation in another, for two wrongs never yet made a right. That to write of anything to the discredit of a part of the Army of Northern Virginia is to a certain extent to injure the reputation of the whole army, and that a sentiment of loyalty to that army and love for its head should prompt its veterans to place its honor above all other considerations. Some old soldiers within and some without the limits of the State have expressed these opinions. Many others ma}* entertain them. It may be they are right. It may be they are wrong. What is right or what is wrong, who can tell ? However, there are many who think when once an effort in behalf of justice is begun it should be continued 'till that end is attained, and be it remembered that the justice demanded is for the dead who cannot defend themselves. This disvision was made up for General Hoke in the . . spring of 1864 and acting with the ° e s v ■ troops afterwards known as the Fourth corps, fought under Beauregard the decisive battle of Drewry's Bluff. Later it became part of the grand old Army of Northern Virginia. An association which along Pickett or Pettigrew? 71 with much glory brought to it a full share of priyation and death. Late in December it was ordered to North Caro- lina where for a month it held the enemy below Wilming- ton in check. When the fragment of Johnston's army reached the State it joined it, took a prominent part in the battle below Kinston and of Bentonville and surrender- ed with it at Greensboro. When in Virginia it had four brigades, two from North Carolina and one each from South Carolina and Georgia. While in North Carolina a fifth composed of Junior Reserves and "Red Legged" In- fantry, was added. General Johnston in his history speaks of it as "Hoke's splendid division." The Seventeenth, Forty-Second, Fiftieth and Sixty - „. 1 , „ „ . , Sixth North Carolina composed this Kirklana s Brigade. , . , , . , „ •> 3 fy brigade, and it was first commanded by General James Martin. It was not sent to Virginia 'till the spring of 1864, when it was placed in a division made up for CJeneral Hoke. It was hotly engaged in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, at Cold Harbor, at Bentonville, Kinston, etc. But it is probable that the hardships en- dured in the trenches at Petersburg were responsible for more deaths than all the bullets of the enemy. Seven North Carolina batteries served in Virginia. All of them were very efficient, but three of them Artillery - ' were so remarkably fine that it is a tempta- tion to name them. We had five regiments and one battalion of cavalry to serve in Virginia. They were the Ninth, Nine- - ' teenth, Forty-First, Fifty-Ninth and Sixty- Third North Carolina troops; but generally known as the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth cavalry and Sixteenth battalion. If there was a cavalry regiment in the army which was the best it probably was the first named of these. It furnished the following Generals: Robert Ransom, who was promoted; Lawrence Baker, who was disabled by wound; Jas. B. Gordon, who was killed; and R. Barringer. The Fourth regiment and Sixteenth 72 Pickett or Pbttigrew? battalion were in a brigade commanded first by Dearing and then by Roberts. This was a heavy artillery regiment stationed at Fort Fisher when the final attack was , „ %. _; made upon this fort. After the North Carolina Troovs. „ . ,, ,. • , , ,. fire from the ships had dis- mounted their big guns and the assault by land was be- ing made, they snatched up their muskets and showed the enemy how well they could use them. It is now general- ly conceded that not in the whole war did a body of sol- diers ever struggle so long and so desperately against the inevitable. From traverse to traverse, from gun-cham- ber to gun-chamber for several hours the hopeless struggle went on. Captain Hunter's company had fifty-eight men killed and wounded out of eighty present. A letter from a gallant member of the company says: "There never was a formal surrender. It (the fort) was taken by piece-meal — that is, one gun-chamber at a time." When the capture of this place was announced in Richmond and before any of the facts regarding it were known, the abuse and vilification heaped upon its devoted garrison was something astonishing even for that very censorious city. This brigade was composed of the Eighth, Thirty-First, . , Fifty-First and Sixty-First North CHngman's Brigade. Carolina It served in South Caro . lina a great part of the war, and for the gallant conduct of the Fifty-First in the defense of Fort Wagner, this regiment was complimented in orders. The brigade took a prominent part in the brilliant capture of Plymouth. It was engaged at Goldsboro, Batchelor Creek and at other points in North Carolina before it went to Virginia, which it did early in 1864. There it became a part of the command of Major-General Hoke. After having heroic- ally borne all the privations and dangers which fell to the lot of this "splendid division," as styled by General Joe Johnston, it surrendered with it at Greensboro. Pickett or Pettigrew? 73 The compiler of our Roster adds up the number of names < printed in the four volumes, and , _. ,. _, makes a total of 104,498; but to North Larolma Troops. . , ^ arrive at an approximation of the real number many subtractions and very many more additions will have to be made. The First Volunteers was a six months regiment (twelve companies) and was disbanded when its term of enlistment expired. All of its companies re-enlisted, and thus these men were counted twice, eight of these companies, with the addition of two new ones, becoming the famous Eleventh regiment. Many officers were counted three, four and sometimes five times in cases where they had been successively promoted. There were a great many transfers from one regiment to another, and in nearly every instance the individual transferred would be counted with both regiments. The Fourth cavalry battalion was incorporated in a regiment, and its 271 names are counted twice. The Seventh battal- ion (detailed artisans) contains the names of 402 men who were detailed from regiments in active service, and of course they were counted twice. All of these repetitions would probably reduce the number given by the compiler of the State Roster by 3,600 and make it about 100,900. On the other hand this number should probably be in- creased by 9,100. One entire regiment (the Sixty-Eighth) which carried upon its rolls at least 1,000 names, is not counted, for none of its rolls could be found. In many regiments the rolls printed were those in use the last year of the war, when they had been reduced to skeletons. For instance, in the Sixtieth regiment the rolls of only nine companies could be found, which carried upon them only 467 names. The surviving officers of the missing company getting together, made out a roll from memory embracing the whole war, and the number of names was 114. So it is certain that this regiment should have had more than twice as many names as it is credited with. The fighting Twenty-Seventh is only allowed 802 officers 74 Pickett or Pettiorew? and men, when the Twenty-Sixth and Twenty-Eighth are both given considerably more than 1,800. The Thirty - Seventh is credited with 1,928 names, while the Fifty- Fourth has only 663. Both of these regiments served in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it is a fair presump- tion that they both received about the same number of conscripts. Basing his calculations upon our Roster, and some other sources of information, the writer has arrived at the conclusion that the number of soldiers furnished by North Carolina to the Confederacy was about 110,000. Of course hundreds of this number shortly after enlisting were discharged as unfit for service. Many more should have been discharged and were not, but were required to undergo hardships that they were physically unable to bear, and the consequence was that they died by thous- ands. Of the number furnished, nineteen thousand six hun- dred and seventy-three are known to have been killed outright or died of wounds. Other thousands lost legs and arms, or were otherwise mutilated for life. Twenty thousand six hundred and* two are known to have died of disease; and very many of these deaths are directly at- tributable either to the ignorance of our surgeons or the misdirected zeal that prompted them to retain in service men who were unfit for its duties, many of them being little better than confirmed invalids. The great statistician, Colonel Fox, says: ••The phrase, 'Military population,' as used in the eighth census, repre- sents the white males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and included all who were unfit for military duty on account of physical or mental iniirmities. These exempts — which include also all cases of minor defects- constitute in every country one-fifth of the military pop- ulation." Taking one-fifth from our military population we should have furnished to the Confederate armies nine- tv-two thousand two hundred and ninetv-seven soldiers. Pickett or Pettigrew? 75 But as said above we did send to the front about one hun- dred and ten thousand, thirty-six per cent, of whom died. All this sickness and sorrow, mutilation and death came to them, not for having violated any law of God or man, but for the doing of what they had an inalienable right to do. The pity of it ! The pity of it ! ! But let it go. The past is dead and beyond recall. Yet there are times when the feeling comes over one that if there isn't a hell there ought to be, and the killers of these thousands of innocent men should fill it. When quarters are being assigned to the slayers sufficient room should be reserved for the de- famers of their victims. OUR DEATHLESS DEAD. Xo name of mortal is secure in stone ; Hewn on the Parthenon, the name will waste; Carved on the Pyramid, 'twill be effaced: In the heroic deed, and there alone, Is man's one hold against the craft of time. — Edwin Markham. j^:p:pe:nx>ix. Army Correspondents. Headquarters, Army of N. Va. Sept. 9th, 1863. Seddon, Hon. James A., Sec'ty of War, Richmond, Va. Sir: — The letter of Governor Vance, of North Carolina, of Aug. 20th, with regard to the causes of dissatisfaction among the North Carolina troops in the army, with your endorsement, has been received. I regret exceedingly the jealousies, heart-burnings and other evil consequences resulting from the crude mis-statements of newspaper correspondents who have necessarily a very limited ac- quaintance with the facts about which they write, and who magnify the troops from their own State at the ex- pense of others. But I can see no remedy for this. Men seem to prefer sowing discord to inculcating harmony. In the reports of officers justice is done to the brave sol- diers of North Carolina, whose heroism and devotion have rendered illustrious the name of the State on every battle-field on which the Army of Northern Virginia has been engaged. * * * I believe it would be better to have no correspondents of the press. * * * I need not say that I will with pleasure aid Governor Vance in re- moving every reasonable cause of complaint on the part of men who have fought so gallantly and done so much for the cause of our country; and I hope that he will also do all in his power to cultivate a spirit of harmony and bring to punishment the disaffected who use these causes of discontent to further their treasonable designs. I am with great respect, Your obedient servant, R. E. Lee, General. Dr. Theo. B. Kingsbury in Wilmington "Messenger." * * * As to General Pettigrew, it has been mention- ed more than once in The Messenger that the accomplish- ed daughter of the late very eminent Virginian, Commo- Appendix. 77 dore M. F. Maury, had written to Dr. Kemp P. Battle, professor of history, etc., in the University of North Carolina, that she had heard her father say more than once that if General Lee we're to be killed or to retire from the command of the army General Pettigrew was the man above all others to succeed him. All well informed North Carolinians know well of Gen- eral Pettigrew. He was beyond doubt the finest scholar and his was the most superb intellect that was ever taught and trained at the University of North Carolina. We re- peat what is authentic, and what we published more than twenty-two years ago. When the body of the great John C. Calhoun was lying" in state at Charleston, the most distinguished of all South Carolina lawyers, James L. Pettigru entered the hall, a venerable and leading citizen leaning on his arm. These two prominent men of South Carolina stood regarding the remains of the great logician and statesman. The citizen said: "Calhoun is dead, and, alas! there is no one to take his place." To this Pettigru replied: "You are mistaken. I know a higher intellect than Mr. Calhoun ever had." "Who can it be?" replied his friend. Mr. Pettigru said: "My kinsman. Johnston Pettigrew." Our North Carolinian had been for several years the law partner at Charleston of his em- inent relative, South Carolina's ablest lawyer. General Pettigrew richly deserves a statue at the hands of his people — the people of North Carolina. A Story of Gettysburg. * * * "W e formed in line with A. P. Hill's corps, our right resting on his left, Davis' Mississippi brigade: the railroad cut being in front, and in that cut were Confed- erates and Federals mixed up from a fight in which they had been engaged. On the right of the railroad, near a barn (which was filled with Federal sharp-shooters), were two Federal flags. To our front came an officer calling for volunteers to take those flags. They charged to the top of the hill, had a hand to hand fight with the Federal color guard, took the flags and then the battle proper be- gan. Our line of battle was advanced and we soon be- came engaged with Reynolds' and part of the Eleventh corps. The battle at this point was severe, many killed and wounded on both sides; here we captured about five 78 Pickett or Pettigrew? thousand prisoners, and it was at. this place that c « o . "V ****, -ymt; .* *°t \ ,**' Sa > 4 / *o, 'o.T* /\ <. *7^V7' .G 1 ^ ••• J, ^ * (1 <* °^ °- A. -TV"** ,G V ^> '•.*" A <* ' & v .»J^L'* ^ x 4*r .1*. * v ►' V . ' • o , *\> J@^ F£B 80 ^^ N. MANCHESTER, I ■ ^* ... **» A> _ M « O .«*..*».. ^c A v o°"°» *