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GREGG'S BRIGADE OF SOUTH CAROLINIANS IN THE
SECOND BAHLE OF MANASSAS,

AN ADDRKSS

BEFORE

f\[B iuTYiYors of the twelfth legimGnt

SOUTH CAROLfNA VOLUNTEERS,

by

EDWARD McCRADY, Jr.,
Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding zsi S. C. Vols.

AT

WALHALLA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AUGUST 21, 1884.

RICHMOND, VA:
WM. ELLIS JONKS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER.
1885.

"GREGG'S BRIGADE OF SOUTH CAROLINIANS IN THE
SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS."

AN ADDRKSS

BEFORE

f lie lurviYors of the twelfth legiment

SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS,

BY

EDWARD McCRADY, Jr.,
Lieutenant-Colonel ist S. C. Vols.

AT

WALHALLA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AUGUST 21, iS

RICHMOND, VA,:
WM. ELLIS JONES, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER.
1885.

C-cTTL. 44o

"Gregg's Brigade of South Carolinians in the Second
Battle of Manassas."

AN ADDRKSS

BEFORE

The Survivors of the Twelfth Regiment

SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS,

By EDWARD McCRADY, Jr.,
Lieut.-Colonel ist S. C. Vols.

When I look around upon you all, my old comrades, and see in
this peaceful assembly the now quiet faces I have often seen lit with
the fire of battle, and gaze upon your maimed forms and scarred
countenances, and recall the time when I saw your blood shed, I
hardly can tell which feeling is uppermost in my heart. It is surely
gratifying to those of us who survive once more to meet; but as I
recall each face before me, my memory is busier with those who are
not here. Such meetings as these must be sad — infinitely sad. We
meet the survivors of a lost cause and lost friends, of hopes and
aspirations which all the chastenings of the last twenty years have
not taught us were unfounded or unworthy. If our memories to-day,
then, are filled with sadness let us thank God they bring to us no
recollections of shame, but of honor and glory. You and I, my
comrades, have realized as well the satire as the pathos of the old
story of Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim, Twenty odd years ago,

4 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Mana.ssas.
as we marched away with flags flying and drums beating, to fight
for our State, the eyes of all the world, we thought, were upon each
and every one of us, and we looked forward with exultation to the
time when the war over, we would glory in telling of our heroic
deeds. We did not doubt but that we would have attentive and
eager listeners to our tales. We have learned since that few things
are so wearisome to our friends as our old war stories. And when
two or three of us, old soldiers, get together and commence — as we
are sure to do — forming our lines of battle and marshaling our little
battalions, and charging the enemy's breastworks, and all that, do
we not see those from whom we looked for wondering admiration
quietly slipping away .uninterested in our well worn martial exploits?
Do we not hear them humming something about the old king, who
"Fought all his battles o'er again,
And thrice he routed all his foes, and
Thrice he slew the slain ? "
And, after all, is it not enough if we can say with Uncle Toby:
-X * * " And for my own part, though I should blush to boast of my
self, Trim. Yet had my name been Alexander, I could not have done more
at Namur than my duty."
And may we not content ourselves with the recollection, that if we
did no more than our duty, that we did try to do faithfully ?
Begging, then, the patience of our friends who honor us with their
presence to-day, let me ask them to bear with us while we go over
the battle ofthe 29th August, 1862, the second day of the great battle
of Manassas, on which day our brigade bore so conspicuous a part,
and in which battle, all together, the State of South Carohna suffered
so terribly.
Colonel William Allan, who was Chief of Ordnance on General
Jackson's staff, and who is as able a writer as he was a faithful and
gallant soldier, whose pen has contributed so much to the truth of
the history of the war, and to whom the soldiers of our corps es
pecially are so much indebted for the preservation of their records,
in a recent letter to the Philadelphia Times describing the battle
fields of Manassas, as they appeared on a visit twenty years after the
events which have made them so famous, thus describes the position
which our brigade held on Friday, the 29th of August, 1862:
" We were now at the extreme northern limit of the field of the second
battle, and we turned to the southwest, and soon found our way to the
position taken by Jackson on August 29th, 1862, and held by him so tena-

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 5
ciously during that day in the woods. This position runs along the
unfinished roadbed of the section of the Manassas Gap railroad, which
was intended to give an independent line from Manassas to Alexandria.
The war came on before the line was completed, and the crumbling banks
and cuts still stand, after twenty years, only to mark the site of number
less deeds of heroic valor. Jackson availed himself of the protection
offered by the cuts and hills of the railroad, and here met and repulsed
during the 29th the tremendous assaults, which Pope made in the hope of
overwhelming his meagre forces before Lee could bring Longstreet to
his aid. A veritable stone wall his men proved here for a second time
on this historic field. The fury of Pope's attacks that day fell on Jack
son's left, held by A. P. Hill ; and here Gregg's brigade of South Caro
linians fought with unsurpassed courage from morning till late in the after
noon. More than six hundred of his one thousand, five hundred men had
fallen around the heroic Gregg, when, with ammunition exhausted, he
replied to General Hill that he 'thought he could still hold his position
with the bayonet.' "
Colonel Marshall, of Baltimore, who, you recollect, was military
secretary of General Lee, in an address before the Association of the
Army of Northern Virginia, delivered in 1874, in discussing some of
the disputed questions of the war, observes :
" It has been sixty years since Waterloo, and to this day writers are not
agreed as to the facts of that famous battle.
" It is not fourteen years since our war began, and yet who, on either
side, of those who took part in it, is bold enough to say that he knows the
exact truth with reference to any of the great battles in which the armies
of the north and south met each other ? "
The justice of this remark of Colonel Marshall is well illustrated,
my comrades, in the history of the battle in which we took the
prominent part mentioned by Colonel Allan. No battle of the late
war has been so much studied and discussed as that of the second
day of the Second Manassas, Friday, the 29th August, 1862. The
second defeat of the Federal forces on Bull Run, following other
reverses, created such exasperation in the Northern minds that the
administration in Washington, as well as the commander under
whom the disaster had occurred, found it necessary to offer a sacri
fice to appease at once the anger and fears of the people. A dis
tinguished officer, one from whose skill and valor we of Gregg's
brigade had already suffered, and had reason to appreciate, was
selected as the victim. General Porter was tried, convicted and
cashiered, "condemned," as the Board of Officers who re-examined
his case say, "for not having taken part in his own battle." Twenty
odd years after, the country is still discussing the justice of that con-

6 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
viction, and at last he has been vindicated by the action of Congress,
This discussion, carried on with great earnestness and ability in both
houses of Congress, as well as by his counsel, has attracted the
attention of professional students of military history, and the exam
ination of witnesses from both sides ofthe great struggle has revived
and kept alive the interest in the battle as if it had been fought but
yesterday. Since Waterloo, no battle, probably, has been so much
studied and discussed.
^his discussion would naturally have been very interesting to us,
whcrtook an active part in that battle, but our interest is greatly in
creased when we find that the discussion has now resulted in the
question seriously asked and warmly debated: Was there a battle at
all on the 2gth August, 1862 ?
This is, indeed, a startling question to us, when we recollect that
our brigade was engaged from daylight until dark, and lost over six
hundred men out of fifteen hundred carried into action, including
eight out of eleven field officers, and half of our company officers.
But the question is asked, and is thus answered by the Board of
Officers who have reviewed General Porter's case:
"The judgment of the court martial upon General Porter's conduct was
evidently based upon greatly erroneous impressions, not only respecting what
that conduct really was, and the orders under which he was acting, but also
respecting all the circumstances under which he acted. Especially was this
true in respect to the character of the battle of the 29th of August. That
battle consisted of a nu-mber of sharp and gallant combats between small
portions of the opposing forces. These combats were of short duration, and
were separated by long intervals of simple skirmishing and artillery duels.
Until after 6 o'' clock only a small part of the troops on either side were en
gaged at any time during the afternoon."
General McGowan, who made the report for our brigade after
General Gregg's death, describing our position, says: *
"Our line made an obtuse angle pointing towards the enemy, one side of
which ran nearly parallel with the railroad cut, and the other along the fence
bordering the cleared field before spoken of. Within these contracted lines
was the little tongue of woodland, which we occupied, and which we were
directed to hold at all hazards. On this spot, barely large enough to hold
the brigade, we stood and fought, with intervah of cessation, from, eight
o'clock in the morning until dark."
General Hill reports the three days' fighting: f
* Reports Army Northern Virginia, volume II, page 276 ; Rebellion
Records, volume XII, part 2, page 677.
t Reports A. N. V., vol. II, p. 124 ; Rebellion Records, vol. XII, part 2, p. 669.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 7
" My loss was one hundred and ninety-nine killed and thirteen hundred
and eight wounded ; total, fifteen hundred and seven, of which Gregg's
brigade lost six hundred and nineteen.
" The brave Colonels, Marshall, of South Carolina, and Forbes, of Tennes
see, were killed. Lieutenant-Colonel Leadbetter, of South Carolina, also
met a soldier's death. Colonels Barnes, Edwards, McGowan, Lieutenant-
Colonels McCorkle, Farrow and McCrady, and Major Brockman, of Gregg's
brigade, were wounded.
" The stubborn tenacity with which Gregg's brigade held its position this
day is worthy of highest commendation."
General Jackson reports : *
" Assault after assault was made on the left, exhibiting on the part of the
enemy great pertinacity and determination ; but every advance was most
successfully and gallantly driven back. General Hill reports that six
separate and distinct assaults were then met and repulsed by his division,
assisted by Hays' brigade. Colonel Forno commanding. By this time the
brigade of General Gregg, which, from its position on the extreme left, was
most exposed to the enemy's attack, had nearly expended its ammunition.
It had suffered severely in its men, and its field officers, except two, were
killed or wounded."
General Lee in his report, f after mentioning a threat made on
Longstreet, says:
" While the demonstration was being made on our right, a large force ad
vanced to assail the left of Jackson's position, occupied by the division of
General A. P. Hill. The attack was received by his troops with their accus
tomed steadiness, and the battle raged with great fury. The enemy was
repeatedly repulsed, but again pressed on the attack with fresh troops.
Once he succeeded in penetrating an interval between Gregg's brigade on
the extreme left and that of General Thomas, but was quickly driven back
with great slaughter by the Fourteenth South Carolina regiment, then in
reserve, and the Forty-ninth Georgia, of Thomas' brigade. The contest
was close and obstinate, the combatants sometimes delivering their fire at
ten paces. General Gregg, who was most exposed, was reinforced by Hays'
brigade under Colonel Forno, and successfully and gallantly resisted the
attack of the enemy, until the ammunition of his brigade being exhausted,
and all its field officers but two killed or wounded, it was relieved, after
several hours of severe fighting, by Early's brigade and the Eighth Louis
iana regiment."
Is it not strange then that in the face of these official reports it
should be questioned whether or not there really was a battle on the
29th August, 1862?
* Reports Arm.y Northern Virginia, volume II, page 95 ; Rebellion Records,
volume XII, part 2, page 641.
t Reports Army Northern Virginia, volume I, page 24 ; Rebellion Records,
volume XII, part 2, page 554.

8 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
The discussion arose in this way: Pope charged that Porter, who
was on the extreme left of the Federal line, and who he (Pope) had
directed to attack and turn Jackson's right, had remained idle and
inactive all the day, while he (Pope) "fought a terrific battle" on
his right (our left.) To this Porter answered that the position Pope
had directed him to take was a mile in rear of our line ; that Long-
street was in force before him, and that Pope was holding him re
sponsible for not doing on the left what he (Pope) himself, with the
bulk of the army, had been unable to do on the right; and that,
moreover, he (Porter) had heard no such firing on Pope's right as
would inform him that a battle was raging. Singular to say the
noise of our engagement does not appear to have been heard at the
other end of the line.*
A battle, technically speaking, is defined to be an engagement
between two armies, as distinguished from the skirmishes or minor
actions fought between their smaller sections. In this sense, it is
true that there was no general battle on the 29th ; but that there was
a battle of great severity between considerable parts of the two
armies, we, the survivors of Gregg's Brigade, are here to testify
to-day. It has seemed to me, therefore, my comrades, that it would be
interesting to you, and valuable to the history of our State, to recall
with you this morning the part taken by our brigade on that memo
rable day, and with the official reports of the officers, both Federal
and Confederate, before us to inquire who were our opponents, the
troops of what States and commands we fought, and how many there
were that we encountered during those long hours from sunrise to
dark. I am the more induced to take this battle for the subject of
our recollections to-day as I have the original draft of the report I
made of the movements of the First Regiment, written very soon
afrer the battle, which is valuable, because, as you remember, the
reports made by the regimental officers were all lost by General

*Many testified to this for General Porter, and in a history of the Fifth
New York Volunteers, of Sykes's division of Porter's corps, the author men
tions, not apparently with any regard to the Fitz John Porter case, that they
heard heavy firing in the afternoon a few miles to their right, and it was the
general impression among the rank and file that an engagement was going
on, but the firing was nothing unusual, as they had been accustomed to
hear it in various directions for several <ia.ys.— Davenport's Fifth New York
fnfantry, page 264.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 9
Gregg, and he himself had made none when killed at Fredericks
burg.* The report of General McGowan, admirable as it is, was made
several months after the battle, when other great and stirring
events had intervened, and when all the officers commanding regi
ments on the occasion had been killed, or were absent, wounded,
while he was recompiling it; and as his own regiment had been
held in reserve until late in the day, he himself was uninformed as
to some occurrences of the early morning, which I think worthy of
note. The story of this battle can never be told without commencing
with Jackson's great march from Jeffersonton, on Monday morning,
the 25th of August, to Manassas, where we arrived on Tuesday
evening — a march of fifty seven miles in two days.
General Crawford, with his famous Light Division in Wellington's
army in the Peninsula, was accorded the honors of the victory at
Talavera, because, though he reached the field too late to take part in
the action, he had made the extraordinary march of sixty-two miles
in twenty-six hours, leaving only seventeen stragglers behind. But
this was done, not with a corps, but with a small picked body of
troops — three regiments, which he had carefully trained for long
marches, and who were thoroughly equipped, and well shod and fed,
and fresh when they started. Our march was commenced as you
will well recollect, after we had already been marching and skirmish
ing with the enemy across the Rapidan for a week, when we were
already jaded and when we were miserably shod. I shall never for
get that march; not all the struggle and bloodshed which followed
it could efface the impression of the indomitable will and heroic
endurance of our men as hungry and bare-footed they toiled over
the rugged roads and rocky hillsides, pressing on as if the goal was
peace and rest, and not the bloody fields to which they were so ex-
ultingly if painfully traveling. Can I ever forget the blood stains
that I myself saw on the road left by the shoeless men whose suffer
ing was first and only to be told by the gaping wounds on their bare
feet as they lay dead on the field, to which they had so heroically
struggled — to die?
Thrilling descriptions of this march have been given by writers
* Since the delivery of this address, I find my report published in the
Rebellion Records, volume XII, part 2, page 684, I was misinformed there
fore as to the loss of the reports of this battle.

1 0 Gregg's Brigade in tlie Second Battle of Manassas.
of both North and South — one an author, to whom I shall have other
occasions to refer, and who, himself, took an active part in these
operations, and commanded a brigade in Banks' corps of Pope's
army,* and who has written, I think, the best account of the cam
paign published. It tells how every precaution was taken to conceal
our march from Pope. " All unnecessary noise," he says, " was sup
pressed. Every road leading in the direction of the Federal army
was watched by the Confederate cavalry. The troops moved as men
will move when they are impelled by enthusiasm. Their eyes
sparkled, their expression was ardent, and their step elastic. They
seemed to have been lifted out of the obscurity of their lives into a
higher plane of glorious achievements." He tells of that scene,
which, no doubt, all of you who were there will remember, and
which has been so well described, too, by Professor Dabney in his
Life of fackson, when Jackson stood by the road side to see us all
pass as the evening of the first day's march closed in. He says :
" Near the end of the day's march General Jackson rode to the head of
his column. There, on a great stone, he stood gazing as his soldiers passed.
It was sunset. His face was darkened by exposure ; his uniform was soiled
and dingy, but his figure was rigid, and his expression, though stern, was
radiant with hope. Before him passed in review his faithful men and their
devoted leader. * * * And now some of those men of the old Stone
wall brigade were before him. Jackson could not repress their enthu
siasm. In vain he sent to them to be silent; in vain urged them not to
make known their presence to the enemy by their cheers. Such consider
ations had been urged to the first troops passing, and they had repressed
their desires, giving token of their expressions of confidence and admiration
for their commander by silently swinging their caps in the air. But the men
of the old brigade, now grown into a division, could not repress their shouts.
They cheered tumultuously. "It is of no use," said Jackson ; "you see,"
turning to one of his staff, '' I can't stop them.'' Then he added, " who
could not conquer with such men as these ?"
Alas ! alas ! ! alas ! ! !
We halted, as you well recollect, late on Tuesday evening within
a mile or two of Manassas Junction, and lay there for the night,
worn and weary, but ready for whatever might happen the next
morning. General Trimble, with two regiments of his command,
pressed on and secured the depot that night with but little resistance,
and happily with but little loss — fifteen killed and wounded. By day
* Major-General George H. Gordon, United States volunteers, first Colonel
second regiment Massachusetts infantry, author " History of the Campaign
of the Army of Virginia."

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 1 1
dawn the next morning we were on our feet again, puslring on to the
Junction to break our long. fast on the stores provided for Pope's
supply. Arrived there, our mess details were soon made, and we
were just about to receive the longed-for rations, when an officer
rode up and ordered General Gregg to move his brigade forward
immediately to meet the enemy. For once our gallant commander
was slow in obeying such an order. He knew that our men were
absolutely famishing, and in no condition to march or fight until
they had had some food, for, on that march of two days, all the
rations we had had were three ears of green corn each, plucked from
the field on the road side. Another and more pressing message
came, but General Gregg still delaying, that our mess detail should
return with our rations. General Jackson himself rode up, and very
peremptorily ordered us forward. We had gone but a little distance
when the firing ceased. General Archer, with his brigade of our
division, having repulsed a brigade of New Jersey troops, which
escaping by the train which had brought them from Alexandria, and
no other force appearing, we lay during that morning, Wednesday,
in the old trenches which General Johnston had built around
Manassas, On our march to this position, we passed through the camp in
which our Federal friends had the day before been quietly resting,
and saw on all sides abundant supplies. We managed, however, to
keep our ranks pretty steadily, until coming up to a large sutler's
store, and the firing in front having ceased, thus relieving us from
the sense of a pressing necessity for our presence, it was more than
our officers could do to restrain our hungry men from a charge upon
that well-stored establishment, I do not know where he got it from,
but this is the account given by General Gordon of the storming of
that sutler's store, and which I do not think you will consider a bad
one. He says :
"Weak and haggard from their diet of green corn and apples, one can
well imagine with what surprise their eyes opened upon the contents ofthe
sutler's stores, containing an amount and variety of property such as they
had never before conceived of. Then came a storming charge of hungry
men, rushing in tumultuous mobs over each other's heads, under each
other's feet— anywhere, everywhere, to satisfy a craving hunger, stronger
than a yearning for fame. There were no laggards in that charge, and
there was abundant evidence of the fruits of victory. It is barely possible
that the luckless purveyors of luxuries for Pope's army witnessed such
amusing scenes without reflecting upon an ensuing ruin. Men, ragged and
famished, clutched tenaciously at whatever came in their way, whether of

12 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
clothing or food, of luxury or necessity. Here a long yellow-haired, bare
footed son of the South claimed as prizes a tooth-brush, a box of candles, a
quantity of lobster salad, a barrel of coffee ; while there another, whose
butternut colored homespun hung around him in tatters, crammed himself
with lobster salad, sardines, potted game and sweetmeats, and washed them
down with Rhenish wine."
It is said that our friend. General Trimble, was very indignant at
this sacking of the stores he had captured the night before and had
guarded until our division came up. But, my comrades, his troops
had been there several hours before us, and we were not present to
see the stores they had rifled, and to grudge them the supper they
had eaten. However that may be, I know I forgave the fellow who,
in flat disobedience of ray positive order, ca.ne up from the rear with
a Westphalia ham, hard tack, and a bottle of wine, and shared them
with me.
General Gordon, continuing his account, says:
" Nor was the outer man neglected. From piles of new clothing the sol
diers of Jackson arrayed themselves in the blue uniforms of the Federals,
The naked were clad, the bare-footed where shod, the sick and wounded
were provided with comforts and luxuries, to which they had long been
strangers." But in this he is mistaken, and while I do not wish to be critical
upon our leaders, I have always thought that this was an instance
in which the real weakness of our army organization exhibited itself.
We held possession of Manassas for nearly twenty- four hours — all of
Wednesday, from daylight until dark — and we had captured there
two rr.iles of burdened cars, laden with clothing, shoes, oats and corn,
and there were there horses, wagons and ambulances, besides the
contents of the sutler's stores; but so far from these things having
been distributed, our brigade, you recollect, was left that night to
cover the burning of these stores while Jackson, with the rest of our
corps, moved to the neighborhood of the position on which we were
the next afternoon to meet the enemy and there contend with him
for three days.
Now, had we had an active, efficient and well organized quarter
master staff, why could not these supplies of clothing and shoes have
been distributed amongst us ? No enemy was pressing us from early
in the morning for the rest of the day, and the details, which were
ordered in the afternoon, too late for the purpose, might have effect
ually distributed the much-needed shoes to our bare-footed men.
Late in the afternoon I was ordered to send all the men of the First,

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 13
who were in actual need of shoes, to the Quartermaster, at the Junc
tion, and I sent, as I recollect, out of about three hundred of the
regiment, one hundred men, who might be said to be bare-footed;
but they returned without the shoes, the enemy, threatening us
from Gainesville, it was determined to set fire to the supplies we had
not availed ourselves ofthe morning hours to distribute,
I have dwelt upon this because the failure of the Maryland cam
paign has been attributed in a great measure to the straggling.
which, I believe was, to a great extent, caused by the want of shoes
in the army, and the blame has always fallen on the men and on
the line officers. General E. P. Alexander tells us that General Lee
exclaimed with tears, "My army is ruined by straggling ;'" and
Colonel Chesney, the English military writer who has paid such an
exquisite tribute to our beloved leader, and whose writings are so full
of appreciation and praise of our soldiers in other respects, dwells
upon this charge as that to which they were amenable. But I would
ask any one who had walked over that battle-field, and had seen the
feet of the dead, to say how the living, whose feet were in the same
condition, could have held out longer on that campaign ? Had it
been realized when we captured these stores that every pair of shoes
was equivalent to a man for our army, and had the energy with
which General Jackson himself would swim swollen streams to find a
ford for the men, been exercised as much in seeing that they were
clothed and shod, I cannot but think it would have added greatly to
his ability to carry out his brilliant conceptions, and would have
saved his devoted followers from undeserved censure.
Left to cover the burning of the stores, our brigade moved out as
the evening was closing in and picketed in the direction of Gaines
ville and Bristol. The bright light of the conflagration behind us
rendered the woods in our front but darker and more impenetrable
to our eyes as we strained them watching for the enemy, who, we
supposed, attracted by the flames and informed by them of Jackson's
movement from the junction, would endeavor by a rush to recover
the stores not yet destroyed. But no such effort was made, and at
2 o'clock in the morning we withdrew from the woods, and passing
the burning spoils, we took up our line of march for Centreville,
whither the rest of our division had proceeded us the evening before.
In the first light of the morning we crossed Blackburn's ford, and
felt ourselves on hallowed ground as we passed where Bonham's
Brigade of South Carolinians had been stationed the year before on
that day which first had made Manassas Plains famous in the annals

14 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
of war. Arrived at Centreville, we breakfasted on such of the sup
plies as we had brought away with us from the junction, and rested
there awhile from our night's watch. Then again we were up and on
the march ; now back in the direction of the old battle-field, we
moved down the Warrenton turnpike. After crossing Bull Run,
at the stone bridge, we filed to the right and made our way
across the country to Sudley's ford, and were placed in position
behind the railroad cut, which was to be our rampart and de
fence the next day. It was now late in the afternoon. Pope was
hurrying up his troops "in pursuit of Jackson," as he had tele
graphed to Washington; and King's Division of McDowell's corps,
without a thought of their proximity to us, were marching quietly
along the Warrenton turnpike, which we had just left and by which
we had just come from Centreville, when, without note of warning,
a quick and rapid fire of artillery sent bursting shells within their
ranks. So far from retreating, Jackson had thrown his corps directly upon
the flank of the columns Pope had ordered to press forward in our
"pursuit." Jackson was fully aware of Pope's movements, and to
meet King he had at noon sent forward Taliaferro and Ewell through
the woods along the deep cuts and steep embankments of the un
finished railway towards the Centreville pike. Here he formed his
line in a wood on the brow of a hill, with Groveton on his left, and
awaited King's approach, and King, all unconscious, marched to his
destruction. You recollect, my comrades, how the noise of this bat
tle on our right burst upon us :
'' — death shots falling thick and fast
As lightnings from the mountain cloud."
Our brigade was hurried to the scene of action, and ordered to
report to General Ewell, who was directing the battle ; but we were
not engaged that afternoon, and as I have much to say of the next
day's work, which concerns us so much more nearly, I must hasten on
without dvi^elling upon the brilliant commencement of the three days'
struggle. Suffice it to say, that it was a short but most terrific con
test, in which both sides suffered very heavily, the Federals leaving
more than one-third of their forces engaged dead or wounded on
the field, while we suffered heavily, and lost both of the division
commanders engaged — Generals Ewell and Taliaferro — who were
wounded. We lay that night on the hard and rocky sides of the railroad cut.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manas,sas. 15
knowing that many of us who did sleep were sleeping their last
sleep on earth, and that others were watching for the rising of the
sun, whose setting beams would fall upon their lifeless bodies ; and
yet, on that summer night, the moon shone sweetly, and the stars
came out quietly, as if there was nought but peace and good-will
upon earth, as if no fierce men were lying waiting but the end of
their vigils to commence again their murderous strife. The night
passed on, and the day, the long day for those who should survive
it, commenced — Friday, the 29th August — during which over six
hundred of our little band of fifteen hundred were to fall.
The first dawn was greeted by the shells of the enemy, who had
been preparing during the night to throw their main force upon our
left, and to overwhelm us before Lee with Longstreet's corps came
to our assistance. Some of these shells fell in our ranks, and thus,
early in the day, was the bloody work begun. About seven o'clock
the brigade was put in motion in the following order : the Twelfth,
Thirteenth, First, Orr's Rifles, and Fourteenth, and we were marched
back again to our first position ofthe evening before, the extreme left
of Jackson's line. On our approach to the spot we were to occupy
we were halted, and a company from each regiment was detailed as
skirmishers, to cover our front and flanks. The skirmishers crossed
the railroad cut, and pushed into the woods opposite, while General
Gregg posted our regiments upon the hill on which the left of our
line of battle was to rest, and which he was instructed that he was
to hold at any and every cost.
Our position upon this hill or rocky knoll was slightly in advance
of Jackson's general line; here, the ground rising to some extent,
the grade of the railroad bed, in our immediate front, rendered the
depth of the cut about six feet, but sloping away to our right and
left, reduced it to one or two feet on our flanks, while further on to
our right, in front of Thomas' brigade, it rose to an embankment.
The ground upon our side of the road-bed was almost entirely bare,
while, on the other side, it was covered by a thick growth of brush.
On our right, too, this growth extended to about fifty yards of our
flank, while on our left, at about the same distance, was a field in
closed by a worm fence. The portion of this field, nearest our
position, was cleared and open, but on the side of the field, furthest
from us, there was a stand of corn closely covering it. This position
was important, not only because it was our extreme left, but because
of the Sudley ford which it commanded.
On arriving at this spot, our skirmishers having preceded us and

16 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
crossed the cut, the brigade was posted, the First on the right, the
Thirteenth (Colonel Edwards) next, then the Twelfth (Colonel
Barnes), and then the Fourteenth (Colonel McGowan); the last men
tioned regiment thrown back along the worm fence I have mentioned
and facing the north. Orr's Rifles, Colonel Marshall, were placed
behind the centre in reserve. Our line thus made an obtuse angle,
pointing towards the enemy. The rest of our division was posted
as follows : Thomas' brigade of Georgians on our right, behind
where the grade of the railroad bed began to rise from a cut to an
embankment, and next to them Fields' brigade of Virginians, the
right of our divisison. Branch's and Pender's brigade of North
Carolinians, and Archer's of Tennesseeans, were held in support of
the first line. Branch in the rear of our brigade. So Hill's Light
Division was posted and ready for the day's bloody work. Ewell's
division, under General Lawton, formed the centre of Jackson's line,
and Taliaferro's, under General Starke, was on the extreme right.
We had been posted in our position but a few moments, I think,
when the crack of the rifles in the woods in our front informed us that
our skirmishers had come upon the enemy. We were eagerly listen
ing to the dropping fire in our front, when General Gregg came up
to me and telling me that it was desired to feel the enemy and ascer
tain what the force before us was, but that General Jackson did not
wish a general engagement brought on, he ordered me to move
the first regiment across the cut, crossing one rank at a time ; and
his instructions were, that when I had got the regiment safely across
I would be met by Lieutenant Fellows, of the Thirteenth, who would
guide me to where the skirmishers had engaged the enemy, upon
coming up with whom I was to give them two or three volleys, and
then charge them with the bayonet. How I, a regimental officer,
was to be responsible for bringing on a general engagement, if
I carried out these instructions, I did not very well understand ; but
you recollect, my comrades, that the General was very deaf, and on
such occasions very impatient of explanations, so as my orders were
at least clear, whatever might be the consequences, I hastened to
obey them, and under his supervision his old regiment was crossed
over the cut, and left him upon its adventurous expedition. Under
Lieutenant Fellows' guidance I changed our front somewhat to the
left, and the regiment advanced gallantly to its work. We had ad
vanced but a little distance, however, and had not reached the point
at which the volleys were to be given and the charge with the bayo
net made, when, interrupting the programme thus marked out for us,

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 17
our enemies took the initiative without waiting our compliments, but
intent it seemed on gratifying our inquisitiveness, opened on us quite
a severe fire. The ground over which we were advancing was thickly
wooded and covered with underbrush, so that we could see but a few
paces in our front; and here, too, it sloped both to the front and
flanks; from the hollow, at the bottom ofthe slope, the enemy poured
into the regiment a destructive fire. The fire was returned with
spirit ; but upon attempting to move forward to the charge, as di
rected by General Gregg, I found our left exposed, and that we were
already in danger of capture, as we had marched into the very jaws
of our enemy. Instead, therefore, of carrying out the brilliant man
oeuvres proposed, I sent a message to General Gregg telling him of
the situation. The messenger had scarcely gone when a fire was
opened upon us from our right and rear, as well as from the left, and
finding both flanks endangered, and the enemy in such force, I sent
Captain .Shooter, the next in command in the regiment, to explain
to General Gregg our critical condition, and to ask for support. The
fire increased rapidly, and finding the position becoming more and
more untenable, I determined to extricate the regiment, if I could,
without waiting for the assistance I had asked, as I feared if I waited
much longer that it would be too late. This was accomplished with
some difficulty, and we formed on a position in which we could hold
our own, until you, my comrades, came up to our help.*
I certainly had not ascertained anything more about the enemy
than that they were in considerable force in our immediate front, and
were advancing upon us. So, while we are awaiting the coming of
the Twelfth, which General Gregg sent us word he would send, let
us turn, as we now may do, to the Federal reports, and learn what
my reconnoissance had not disclosed, viz : what forces of the enemy

*The Duke of Wellington, we are told, used to say: "AU troops ran
away — that he never minded — all he cared about was, whether they would
come back." Croker Papers, volume I, page 352. If the truth must be told
in this instance, the regiment, in the confusion from misunderstanding an
order, broke, and commenced a precipitate retreat, but the color-sergeant,
Dominick Spillman, and others, refusing to leave, the men reformed on the
colors, and then, with well-dressed line, at the word of command went
through the motions of loading and firing and facing about to retire, and
again to deliver their fire as if on parade, and so retreated to the position at
which they were joined by the Twelfth. They demonstrated the truth of
the Duke's aphorism : " Brave men sometimes run. It requires the greatest
of all courage to come back into the fight."
2

18 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Bo.ttle of Manassas.
these were against whom our little regiment had been sent, and who
you, of the Twelfth, were also to meet as you so gallantly came
hastening to our assistance.
Major-General Franz Sigel reports :
" On Thursday night, August 28th, when the first corps was encamped on
the heights south of Young's Branch, near Bull Run, I received orders from
General Pope to attack the enemy vigorously the next morning. I accordingly
made the necessary preparations at night, and formed in order of battle at
daybreak, having ascertained that the enemy was in considerable force
beyond Young's Branch, in sight of the hills we occupied. His left wing
rested on Catharpin Creek, towards Centreville; with his centre he occupied
a long stretch of woods parallel with the Sudley Springs (New Market)
road, and his right was posted on the hill on both sides of the Centreville-
Gainesville road. I therefore directed General Schurzto deploy his division
on the right of the Gainesville road, and by a change of direction to the
left to come into position parallel with the Sudley Springs road. General
Milroy, with his brigade and one battery, was directed to form the centre," &c.
General Schenck's division was to form the left of Sigel's attack;
but we, I think it will appear, are only concerned at the time with
Schurz's division and Milroy's independent brigade. So we need
not follow Schenck's movements, which, in fact, did not amount to
much. It will interest you, I think, my comrades, to know the compo
sition of this division and brigade which Sigel had ordered to attack
us, Schurz's division, I find, was composed of two brigades of three
regiments each. The first brigade was commanded by Colonel
Schimmelfenning, one of the best educated. General Gordon says, of
all those foreigners who offered their swords to the Federal govern
ment—one whom it was your destiny to meet again upon that glorious
but disastrous day to us, as we lost our great leader in the hour of
victory at Chancellorsville. This brigade, which was upon the right of
the division as it advanced, was composed of the Sixty-first Ohio,
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel McGroarty ; Seventy-fourth
Pennsylvania, commanded by Major Blessing, and a regiment which
tbe Federal government had the audacity to call the Eighth Virginia.
Who the commander of this bogus regiment was I have not been
able to ascertain. The second brigade was commanded by another
foreigner, with an equally euphonious name. Colonel Krzyzanowski,
This brigade was composed of the Fifty-fourth New York com
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ashby ; the Fifty-eighth New York
commanded by Major Henkel, and Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Mahler, Milroy's independent

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. V.i
brigade consisted of the Eighty-second Ohio, and four regiments
designated as the Second, Third, Fifth and Eighth Virginia, but
which we will take leave to assume were not recruited on Virginia
soil. Sigel's other division consisted of two brigades of four regi
ments each. So in his corps he had nineteen regiments. Pope
in his report estimated this corps, after deducting losses by death,
wounds and sickness, prior to the 27th August, as nine thousand
strong — that is, nearly five hundred men to a regiment. Schurz's di
vision, then, which was marching upon us, of six regiments, was little
less than three thousand strong, and Milroy's two regiments, which
during the fight, as it will appear, came to Schurz's assistance, added,
say, one thousand, making the force assailing our left somewhat about
four thousand strong.
It is always difficult, in studying the reports of the opposite side,
to locate precisely the relative positions of the particular corps of the
contending forces ; but in this struggle we are fortunately able to fix
one point with some definiteness, from which we can arrange the
positions of the attacking and defending bodies with some accuracy.
Colonel Krzyzanowski, detailing the operations of his brigade, the
advance of which commenced at about half past five, A. M., says :
" Scarcely had the skirmishers passed over two hundred yards when they
became engaged with the enemy. For some time the firing was kept up,
but our skirmishers had to yield at last to the enemy's advancing column.
At this time I ordered my regiment up, and a general engagem-ent ensued."
I will not just now follow him in his description of the " general
engagement," but will recur to it direcdy. I skip that now, to quote
from the part of the report, telling of the position his brigade occu
pied after we had returned to the railroad, the following :
"We were then enabled to secure our wounded and some of our dead,
and also some of the enemy's wounded belonging to the loth South Carolina
regiment." This is no doubt a typographical error for the ist South Caro
lina, and the wounded Krzyzanowski secured were some of our poor
fellows who fell while our regiment was out there alone before you
had come up, our regiment thus having struck the left brigade of
Schurz's division as it was advancing to our attack.
We had not as long to wait the coming of the Twelfth as I have
taken to tell you of the forces you were to meet when you came.
Promptly answering our summons, you came up under your gallant
and beloved commanded, Colonel Barnes, and moving upon the left
of the First, we joined you, and charged and drove the enemy

20 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Mana.ssas.
some distance beyond the point from which our regiment had before
been driven back. But finding the enemy still strong upon our
right, and again receiving his fire from that flank and in our rear, I
halted the First, and throwing back the right wing, endeavored thus
to hold our position, which now became necessary for the safety of the
Twelfth, as you had pressed forward wiihout us. Captain Shooter
returned at this time, and informed me that General Gregg had
sent Colonel Edwards with the Thirteenth to our support on the
right, but the denseness of the undergrowth preventing our seeing
him, or his finding us, I sent Sergeant L. A. Smith, who volun
teered to go to communicate with Colonel Edwards, and to guide
him to our position. This Sergeant Smith did at great personal
danger, the enemy's sharpshooters having possession of the woods
between the advance of the Thirteenth and ourselves. Colonel Ed
wards, in moving to our support, had met the enemy in such force
as to compel him to engage them, and tnus prevented his effecting a
junction with the First. About this time I received a message from
Lieutenant-Colonel Jones of the Twelfth, requesting me to move the
First forward to the support of the Twelfth. Colonel Barnes had
pushed you upon the enemy to some distance in advance, and you
were then being pressed by them in superior numbers. The enemy,
however, upon our right rendered it impossible for the First to ad
vance ; indeed, it was all we could do to hold our own position, and
had we moved forward, both regi nents, as it appeared to me, would
have been taken in rear and cut off. Fortunately, just at this time,
Colonel Marshall with the Rifles came up and advanced to the sup
port of the Twelfth. The four regiments were then recalled, and we
were again posted behind the railroad cut.
In this affair the four regiments engaged suffered severely, and
lost some of our very best men, but it will amuse you, serious as
the subject is, to learn how the enemy over-estimated our numbers,
especially when I read you the bombastic and extravagant accounts
of it by the redoubtable Milroy, two of whose regiments it was that
attacked the right flank of the First, thus preventing its coming
to your support, and preventing the Thirteenth from forming a junc
tion with the First,
General Sigel reports, after describing the position and the order
of his hne of battle : *
" In this order our whole line advanced from point to point, taking advan-

'^ Rebellion Records, volume XII, part 2, page 266,

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Mana.'i.saH. 21
tage of the ground before us until our whole line was involved in a most
vehement artillery and infantry contest."
General Schurz reports:*
"Meanwhile the fire in front had extended along the whole line and be
come very lively, my regiments pushing the ene[ny vigorously before lliem,
about one half a mile. The discharges of musketry increased in rapidity
and volume as we advanced, audit soon became evident tliat the enemy luas
throiving heavy masses against us."
Think of the "heavy masses" of three regiments coming to the
support of a fourth.
Colonel Krzyzanowski, who was immediately in front of the First
when we sent to ask for assistance, says : f
" Scarcely had the skirmishers passed over two hundred yards when they
became engaged with the enemy. For some time the firing was kept up,
but our skirmishers had to yield at last to the enemy's advancing column.
At this time I ordered my regiments up, and a general engagement e.'isued.
However, I noticed that the Fifty-fourth and Fifty eighth regiments had to fall
back owing to the furious fire of the enemy, who had evidently thrown his
forces exclusively upon those two regiments. The Seventy-fifth Regiment,
Pennsylvania Volunteers, which up to this time had not taken part in this
engagement, was (at the time the Fifty eighth and the Fifty-fourth retired)
nobly led by Lieutenant-Colonel Mahler upon the right flank of the enemy
and kept him busy until I had brought the Fifty eighth at a double quick up
to its previous position, when those two regiments successfully drove the
enemy before them, thereby gaining the position of the Manassas Gap
railroad." General Milroy seems to have been everywhere, dashing about
independently, even, of his independent brigade. He says: J
* * * * " After passing a piece of woods I turned to the right, where
the Rebels had a battery that gave us a good deal of trouble. I brought
forward one of my batteries to reply to it, and soon heard a tremendous
fire of small arms, and knew that General Schurz was hotly engaged to
my right in an extensive forest. I sent two of my regiments, the Eighty-
Second Ohio, Colonel Cantwell, and the Fifth Virginia, Colonel Zeigler, to
General Schurz's assistance. They were to attack the enemy's right flank,
and I held my two other regiments in reserve for a time. The two regiments
sent to Schurz were soon hotly engaged, the enemy being behind a railroad
embankment, which afforded them an excellent breastwork.
The railroad had to be approached from a cleared ground on our side
through a strip of thick timber, from loo to 500 yards in width. I had intended,
with the two regiments held in reserve (the Second and Third Virginia
regiments), to charge the Rebel battery, which was but a short distance
* Rebellion Records, vol, XII, part 2, p. 296, f d^bid, p, 311. % Ibid, p. 319,

22 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
from us over the top of the hill on our left, but while making my arrange
ments to do this, I observed that my two regiments engaged were being
driven back out of the woods by the terrible fire of the Rebels.
I then saw the brave Colonels, Cantwell and Zeigler, struggling to rally
their broken regiments in the rear of the forest, out of which they had been
driven, and sent two of my aides to assist them and assure them of imme
diate support. They soon rallied their men, and charged again and again
up to the railroad, but were driven back each time with great loss. I then
sent the Second Virginia to their support, directing it to approach the rail
road at a point on the left of my other regiments where the woods ended,
but they were met by such a destructive fire from a large Rebel force that they
were soon thrown into confusion, and fell back in disorder. The enemy nom
came on in overwhelming numbers. General Carl Schurz had been obliged
to retire with his two brigades an hour before, and then the whole Rebel
force was turned against my brigade, and my brave lads were dashed
back before the storm of bullets like chaff before the tempest."
And so on. General Gordon, in a note* to his account of this
part of the battle, says: " Thus far in the battle the feats of valor on
the Federal side we have given from official reports." "It is re
markable," he adds, " that the most patient research among Con
federate reports reveals no account of any heavy or prolonged strug
gle up to this time with either General Schurz or Milroy. Indeed,
the Confederates claim to have resisted the efforts of these Federal
officers with but a small part of their force."
General Thomas, who was on our right, advanced it seems to our
support — I suppose when Colonel Edwards with the Thirteenth and
Colonel Marshall with the Rifles moved out — but he disposes of the
part his brigade took in it in a few lines. He says : f
"General Gregg's brigade meeting the enemy there (near the railroad),
this brigade advanced to his right, the regiments being thrown in succes
sively until all became engaged. The enemy were in strong position on the
railroad. We at once advanced and drove them from it."
Thus, as I understand. General Thomas disposes of the rest of
Milroy's brigade and of Schenck's division of Sigel's corps. At
any rate, he is the only other officer on our side who found anything
worthy to note of the performances at this time, so elaborately re
ported by Milroy,
General Branch, you recollect, was in our rear in support of our
brigade, and when he saw our brigade engaged, he, too, sent in three

'^ The Army of Virginia, page 258.
"^ Reports Army Northern Virginia, volume II, page 257; Rebellion
Records, volume XII, part 2, page 702.

Gregg s Brigade in the Second Battle of ]\la.na.^.sas. 23
regiments— the Thirty-seventh, Eighteenth and Seventh North Caro
hna, which became actively engaged no doubt with Colonel Schim-
melfenning's brigade, which was on the extreme right of Sigel's
corps, and lapping over our left. But General Lane, who made the
report, makes very light ofthe affair. He, himseh, with the Twenty-
eighth and Thirty-third North Carolina had been sent by General
Branch to di.slodge the enemy who were in the woods beyond the
cornfield on our left, but learning, he says, that the enemy were in
force in the woods, and that General Gregg had been ordered not to
press them, he informed General Branch, and was ordered by him
to remain where he was. *
All this took place, as you will remember, before ten o'clock, and
I cannot but think, on reading the Federal reports, that the results of
the reconnoissance, on which the First was sent, were far more impor
tant than could have been contemplated when a single regiment was
ordered " to feel the enemy." The audacity of the attack of the
First, the dash with which it was supported by the Twelfth, and the
promptness and vigor of the Thirteenth and Rifles in meeting Mil
roy, seem to have disconcerted the enemy and checked his advance
upon the position which we were to hold so tenaciously for the rest
of the day. Judging from the Federal reports, and the further
action of Sigel, we must have crippled his corps beyond what could
have been expected.
It was now about lo o'clock Our position in the morning had
scarcely been regained when the enemy were reported advancing in
force through the woods from which we had just retired. Four
companies of the First were again sent forward under Captain
Shooter, by General Gregg's order, as skirmishers, to meet them.
Colonel Edwards, with the Thirteenth, was placed in the position
held by the First previous to our advance, and with the remaining
six companies of our regiment I was placed by General Gregg in
position about twenty yards in rear of the Thirteenth, The Twelfth
was some distance in rear of the First, The Fourteenth and Rifles
confronting the cornfield to the left. These positions had scarcely
been taken when the skirmishers ofthe First were driven back before
the advance of the enemy in force, and falling back across the rail
road, the companies formed in their places upon the wings of the
regiment. They had scarcely done so before the breaking of the

'''Reports Army Northern Virginia, volume II, page 273; Rebellion
Records, volume XII, part 2, page 676,

24 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
bushes and the orders of the officers, as they strove to preserve the
alignment of tbe regiments advancing through the woods to our
assault, could be distinctly heard, and told of the approach of the
enemy still concealed by the heavy brush.
Let us see who it was that was coming so steadily and cautiously
to our attack.
During the affair in front of the railroad, which I have just
described. General Kearney, of Heintzelman's corps, had been
ordered to the support of Sigel, and had arrived upon the ground,
and soms of his regiments had probably taken part in that fight, as
Schurz reports that two small regiments sent to his support had
slipped in between the two brigades. But, however that may be,
Kearney was now in our front, ready for action, and Sigel had
written, requesting him to attack at once with his whole force, as
Longstreet, who was expected to reinforce Jackson during the day,
had not yet arrived upon the battle-field, and it was hoped to gain
decisive advantages before his arrival. Kearney seems to have found
difficulty in getting into position on his right (our left), and he had
to request Schurz to shorten his front and condense his line by draw
ing his right nearer to his left, so as to make room for him on his
right. Orders were given Colonel Schimmelfenning accordingly,
-Schurz having seen the letter of Sigel to Kearney, ordered a gen
eral advance of his whole line, which he claims was executed with
great gallantry, "the enemy," he says, "yielding everywhere before
us."* Is this not a little news to you and me, my comrades?- Cap
tain Shooter, with the four companies of the First, after some very
sharp skirmishing, in which we again lost some very valuable men,
did fall back, as he was expected to do, having developed the line of
attack, but except this, I do not know of any yielding anywhere on
our line. Certain it is, they left us where they found us— behind the
railroad cut.
And now began the really terrific work of the day, which ended
only with the day itself From the dense growth which shielded
the eneiny from our view, they poured in upon us a deadly fire.
Our men had seldom better direction for their aim than the bushes
from which the fire came. The enemy dared not cross the railroad
cut, though in superior force to ours, and, after vainly endeavoring
to force us from our position by their fire, they were compelled them-

* Rebellion Records, volume XII, part 2, page 298.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 25
selves to retire in confusion. As they fell back, however, cheers
told us of other and fresh troops advancing.
The Federal reports of this battle are very curious reading to us,
especially of this attack. General Schurz claims that Colonel Schim
melfenning not only got possession of the embankment on his right
(our extreme left), but that he advanced beyond it. He admits that
he fell back under heavy pressure, but he insists that he held the
embankment.* Krzyzanowski's skirmishers had two mountain
howitzers, from the effect of the fire of which, we are told, it was
said the Confederates recoiled for a time, then he, too, advanced and
gained the embankment which Schurz claims that he continued to
hold until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. f Now, the earth from
the excavation, over which all this fighting took place, made an em
bankment on each side, and if the Federals mean that they held
their side and we held our side, I have no question to make with
them. But they were the assailants. Their purpose was to dis
lodge us from our side before Longstreet came up, and if they did
not do this, I do not see the cause of the exultation. We had no
objection to their remaining there until Longstreet was ready to
make his attack. But if they mean to say that they ever got posses
sion of the embankment on our side before Grover's attack in the
afternoon, they say what you and I, my comrades, know is not so,
I here say before you all, who were participants and witnesses, that
Gregg's brigade never yielded a foot of ground until Kearney's
attack late in the afternoon. Not even Grover's brilliant assault
moved our brigade an inch.
But, as I was saying, as Schurz's troops fell back from their attack,
cheers in the distance told us of fresh troops advancing.
General Gordon tells us: J
"It was now two o'clock. The fight again broke out in the centre; but
the struggle there was carried on by the division of Heintzelman's corps,
commanded by General Hooker, and by a brigade from Reno's division.
The contest was maintained by a Federal line, of which Robinson was in
command on the right. Hooker in the centre, and Milroy rampant generally
on the left."
These were the troops whose cheers we heard when Schurz's divi
sion fell back, and the right of this assault on our centre lapped over
until it struck our brigade, which was on the left. The attack was

* Rebellion Records, volume XII, part 2, p. 298.
\Army of Virginia, Gordon, p. 259, X Ibid, p, 262,

26 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
short and sharp, but easily repulsed. There are no reports of
Reno from which to learn the particulars of the part his troops took
in the affair, but it is certain that we engaged them, for I, myself,
after the assault was over, questioned prisoners taken from his corps
by our regiments.
It must not be supposed that there was rest and safety for our
troops during the interval between the attacks I have been describing.
There was no quiet for us that day from dawn till evening. The
Federal sharpshooters held possession of the woods in our front,
and, whether or no assaults were being made, kept up a deadly fire
of single shots whenever any one of us was exposed. Every lieu
tenant who had to change his position did so at the risk of his life.
What then was our horror, during one of the,=e intervals of attack,
to see General Jackson himself walking quietly down the railroad
cut examining our position, and calmly looking into the woods that
concealed the enemy. Strange to say he was not molested. He
was spared that day to fall at Chancellorsville, at the moment of his
greatest success, by a similar unnecessary personal exposure. I ven
ture to say that on neither occasion had he the right thus recklessly
to expose a life of so much consequence to the cause for which we
were fighting.
And now took place the most brilliant action of the enemy during
that day, the assault of the New England brigade under Grover,
General Gordon says ;*
" Many days after the battle, while the earth was covered with shreds of
clothing, with pieces of leather, and with all the fragments of a crash of
arms, while the dead strewed the field and the earth was red with blood,
men and women followed the course of those heroic men of New England
and knew not nor cared to know that it was on the same ground that Milroy
had defied the whole Confederate army together."
Let me give you, my comrades. General Gordon's account of this
attack, and then read you Gener.il Jackson's short report of it from
our side. These accounts do not exactly agree as to what was actu
ally accomplished by our gallant assailants. When did the stories
of those on opposite sides in battle correspond ? But both accounts
do agree in the heroism of the attack and the desperate resistance
with which it was met. They disagree, too, as to the troops on our
side who met the charge. General Gordon represents the assault as
dehvered in front of Ewell and Jackson's divisions, whereas General

'¦^ Army of Virginia, Gordon, p. 261,

Gregg s Brigaile in the Second Battle of Manassas. 27
Jackson reports that the break made by the New Englanders was in
an interval between Thomas's brigade and Gregg's. On this point
surely General Jackson is the best authority, and you and I, my
comrades, are here to day to corroborate him, and to bear the wit
ness of wounds received in that terrific struggle. I, for one, cannot
be mistaken, for that night I shared my canteen with a poor fellow
of a New Hampshire regiment, who lay dying on the ground he
had reached, and from which his brave companions had been driven
back. This is General Gordon's account, written in a style fitting
the conduct of his countrymen, whose deeds he was extolling:*
'At three o'clock an officer galloped up to General Grover «ith an order
to advance in line of battle over the cleared ground, to pass the embank
ment, enter the edge of the woods beyond and hold them. For this work
there was no reliance but the bayonet, and General Grover so told his men.
Move slowly forward, he said, till the enemy's fire was felt; then advance
rapidly and return it. and then the bayonet; give them one withering volley
and then the bayonet, man to man, in the struggle. His line was formed,
the First, Eleventh, and Sixteenth Massachusetts, the Second New Hamp
shire and the Twenty sixth Pennsylvania. These men entered a heavy wood
where the enemy's skirmishers were found, and they pressed them to their
reserves which in turn fell back until the railroad embankment was seen ten
feet in height. As the Federals emerged from the woods, the first Confede
rate line from behind this cover opened a heavy fire. It was returned. The
Federals leaped np the embankment and the Confederates met thera on its
summit. For a few minutes there was a severe struggle. Neither had
yielded to a fire which had been delivered almost muzzle to muzzle; nor had
the Federal line halted before awful volleys that tore life out of raen in that
leaden storm as the tornado tosses leaves and branches from its path. It was
a pure contest of muscle, hand to hand, raan to man. But it was brief; skulls
dashed in here with muskets clubbed, lives let out there with bayonet thrusts,
were held in consternation by the Confederates. They turned in flight.
Over the embankment our men followed in pursuit — over the bodies of slain
and mangled wretches that had rolled down the declivity when the breath
went out of their bodies ; on through the scattered and broken fragments of
the first line of the enemy to a second which was broken like a reed. One
frantic effort the Confederates made here; one terrible volley they delivered.
The Federal onset never ceased. With wild ye'ls on they came, and the
Confederates continued their flight. Still onward pursued the Federals,
until a third defensive line was reached, from which the foe advancing met
a thin and wasted front of gallant men. The Confederates were fresh, their
ranks were closed and their numbers were larger than Grover's. Now, too,
the Confederate artillery opened from the Confederate right with an en
filading fire. The right centre and a portion of the left line were swept

* Army of Virginia, Gordon, p. 266.

28 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
back, ^\'ith the Sixteenth Massachusetts General Grover tried to turn the
enemy's flank ; but the break in his own, and the length of the enemy's line
told against him. He was obliged to retire first to the embankment, and
thence, pursued by musketry from the woods and by shell and canister frora
the Confederate artillery, to his first position under the hill. The survivors
rallied to their colors. Colors? In some regiraents there were no colors
left— nothing but the staff; in others there were shreds of colors only. Of
the brave men of that brigade four hundred and eighty-six officers and men
were killed, wounded or missing.
" In the Eleventh Massachusetts regiraent the loss was one hundred and
twelve out of two hundred and eighty three officers, non-commissioned
officers and privates carried into action." *
Now let us turn to General Jackson's account of this affair. He
reports :
"About two o'clock, P. M., the Federal infantry, in large force, advanced
to the attack of our left, occupied by the division of General Hill. It pressed
forward in defiance of our fatal and destructive fire with great determina
tion, a portion of it crossing a deep cut in the railroad track, and penetra
ting in heavy force an interval of near a hundred and seventy-five yards,
which separated the right of Gregg's brigade frora the left of Thomas's
brigade. For a short time Gregg's brigade, on the extrerae left, was iso
lated from the main body of the coramand. But the Fourteenth South
Carolina regiraent, then in reserve with the Forty-ninth Georgia, left of
Colonel Thoraas, attacked the exultant enemy with vigor, and drove them
back across the railroad track with great slaughter. General McGowan
reports that the opposing forces atone time delivered their volleys into each
other at the distance of ten paces."
I have before me the draft of the report I made as soon after the
battle as I was sufficiently recovered from the wound I received to
write, and 1 cannot better tell what happened at this time under my
own immediate observation than by reading to vou an extract from it:t
" The greater portion of the day had now been spent, and we still held
the ground, but none doubted that the great struggle was still to come.
The cheers were soon again heard, and the breaking of the bushes, as the
enemy advanced. Upon our left, too, this time they came in force up the
railroad cut, and were soon on us with a fire both from front and left flank.
This time they were in force also to sweep around upon our right and en
deavor to cross the cut. Here, as they advanced, they came upon Thomas's
brigade, posted in the thicket on our right. A short resistance, and Thomas's
brigade gave way before the superior numbers of the assailants. As the
eneray followed thera, they carae upon the right flank of Colonel Edwards

*The brigade, itis said, numbered less than two thousand.
tSee the report. Rebellion Records, volume XII, part 2, p. 684.

Gregg s Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 29
(the Thirteenth) and ourselves. We had no time to forra a regular line to
meet them, but such as proved itself equal to the task was soon filled up.
I directed companies A C and L to wheel to the right, which, with their
reduced numbers, just filled in the space between Colonel Edwards and
ourselves. He, too, formed some of his men to the right. The enemy
pressed in on us in pursuit of the troops on our right, which had been
broken. But they met desperate resistance. They carae upon us in ten
and twenty paces, but our raen stood gallantly to their posts. The work
of death was terrific, but as each man fell, his place was filled by another.
Here Captain Barksdale, Lieutenant Munro, Lieutenant Hewitson, and Ser
geant Smith, Company C, distinguished themselves by their gallantry and
efficiency. But the unequal fight could not long have been maintained.
Fortunately, just at this tirae Colonel Barnes with the Twelfth came to our
assistance. With a shout the Twelfth came charging with the bayonet, and
the Georgians having rallied behind and supporting him, the enemy gave
way, and were driven back across the woods frora which they came."
I am glad, my comrades of the Twelfth, that I happened to have
preserved the copy of the report made by me at the time, as it en
ables me thus to supply an omission in the facts furnished General
McGowan when, after the deaths of General Gregg and Colonel
Barnes, and the loss of all the reports that had been made, he was
called upon, in the absence, too, of those who could have given him
the information, to make the report of the brigade. I am sure we
are indebted to him for the admirable report he made. I am sure,
too, it is no disparagement of our friends of the Fourteenth, nor lack
of full appreciation of their gallant conduct, raentioned by General
Jackson, when I claim for Colonel Barnes and yourselves the dis
tinguished part the Twelfth bore in that action.
I recollect, just before the battle. Colonel Barnes saying to me that
he intended to use the bayonet on every opportunity. He said he
thought long-taw firing a mistake on our part; that it wasted ammuni
tion, which was a matter of great consequence to us, and more than
that, lost to us the advantages of the elan of our troops, which he
thought greater than that of the enemy, and he was determined,
therefore, to close with him whenever the occasion offered. When,
then, Grover and his New Englanders broke in upon our neighbors
and threatened to cut off our brigade from the corps, I looked
anxiously for the Twelfth, which I knew was lying just in our rear,
I did not have to wait long. Up you were in a moment, and Col
onel Barnes, true to his purpose, gave the order for the charge
without stopping to fire. General Gordon is enthusiastic over the
charge of Grover's brigade, but I think if he could have seen the
Twelfth as they rose with a rush and a shout, and with cold steel

30 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
and nothing more, closed in with the New Englanders, he would
have found room for his brush on our side, too, ofthe picture he has
so well drawn.
The struggle, indeed, was a memorable one. It was the consumma
tion ofthe grand debate between Massachusetts and South Carolina.
Webster and Calhoun had exhausted the argument in the Senate,
and now the soldiers of the two States were fighting it out eye to
eye, hand to hand, man to man. If the debates in the Senate chamber
were able and eloquent, the struggle on that knoll at Manassas was
brave and glorious. Each State showed there that it had "the cour
age of its convictions." General Gordon does not exaggerate or
paint too highly the scene of that conflict. But it was too fearful,
if not too grand, to last. Slowly at first the New Englanders began
to give back, and step by step we pressed on them every inch gained
by us, until Colonel McGowan, with the Fourteenth of our brigade
and the Forty-ninth Georgia, coming up to our assistance, Grover's
men at last broke, and then followed the awful and pitiful carnage of
brave men who have failed in an assault. Grape and canister
cruelly tearing to pieces in their retreat those whose lives had escaped
while fighting hand to hand with their foes.
But our work was not yet over for the day. Another assault was
preparing for us. This time it was Phil, Kearney, a distinguished
soldier in the Mexican war, one for whom South Carolinians had a
very kindly feeling from his intimacy with a beloved son of the State
who had fallen, killed by the Indians, in a small affair a year or two
before the breaking out of the war, and in whose death the State had
felt that she had lost a young soldier of brilliant promise,* Kearney,
who was to die before our division but three days after, was now
forming his line for another determined effort to turn our left and
drive us from the position we had held all day.
General Gordon says:t
"The Federal line was formed with Poe's brigade on the right, Birney on
the left, and Robinson in reserve. Before it were the six brigades of A.
P. Hill's division and one of Ewell's in two lines. Hill held th'e most im
portant point of Jackson's line— his left. He had been entrusted with this
defence because Jackson knew that his zeal and courage in the Southern
cause was equal to his own. Notwithstanding this disparity of numbers.
General Kearney, without hesitation, gave the command to assault the

* Lieutenant James Stuart, who had distinguished himseff in Mexico and
was killed by the Indians in 1851,
t Army of Virginia, Gordon, page 274,

Gregg s Brigade in the Second Battle of 3f(mas.sa,s. 31
enemy. The brave Federal troops dashed forward over all impediments
and rolled the first line of the enemy upon liis right. It was the beginning
of victory, it presaged success, but that was all. The force was too light,
the wave was spent and began to recede. General Stevens, of Reno's com
mand, was on the ground on Kearney's left. He saw that assistance was
needed, and he charged forward in support, but in vain. He did not have
the numbers."
General Gordon adds in a note to page 276 : " As appears from
previous pages, the superiority of numbers in front of Kearney were
greatly on Hill's side."
Now General Gordon has certainly endeavored to be fair in his
story of this day, and appreciating how hard it is to see and to write
impartially, when we are describing such scenes in which our sym
pathies and interest are all on one side, I think we may well say that
he has been eminently so, barring an occasional outburst against
individuals. But let us see as to the disparity ofthe force with which
Kearney attacked us at this time.
B}"- General Hill's field return, on the 20th July we had in our
division of six brigades, ten thousand six hundred and twenty- three
men present for duty.* Our division lost at Cedar Run, 9th August,
one hundred and ninety-four killed and wounded, f leaving us ten
thousand four hundred and twenty- nine, with which we commenced
the march to Manassas. Our division had been fighting and march
ing for several days, and it is safe to say that at least five hundred
of the six hundred and nineteen, we lost out of our brigade alone
that day, had already fallen before Kearney's attack. We had fought
Sigel's corps all the morning, and that corps Pope estimated at
nine thousand, ;j; and Schurz's division was so completely exhausted
by its fight with us by noon that it took no further part in the action
of the day. § We had fought Hooker's division of Heintzelman's
corps, which, it appears, was five thousand five hundred || strong,
together with a brigade at least of Reno's, say one thousand five
hundred raore. And now came Kearney, with four thousand five
hundred^ comparatively fresh troops, and with him Stevens' division
of Reno's corps, also fresh troops. Reno's corps was estimated by
Pope as seven thousand, but estimated by Ropes as eight thousand

* T'our Years with General Lee, Taylor, page 60 ; Southern Historical
Papers, volume VIII, page 180.
t Reports Army Northern Virginia (Hill's report), volume II, page 13.
X The Army under Pope, Ropes (Scribner), Appendix E. page 195.
I Gordon, page 259. || The Army under Pope, page 194. \ Ibid, 194,

32 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
strong,* consisted of fifteen regiments organized into five brigades
and two divisions. f Stevens's division comprised but three small
brigades, one of three and the other two of two regiments each. The
regiraents of the division, under Pope's estiraate, averaged four hun
dred and sixty-six men each. So Stevens added three thousand
two hundred and sixty-six men to Kearney's four thousand five
hundred— together, over seven thousand seven hundred fresh troops
attacking a division originally, it is true, of a little over ten thou
sand, but which had then been fighting ten hours at least. Surely
the disparity was entirely against Hill's division, and not in our
favor. Corapliraenting Schurz's division, as it was relieved at mid
day by Hooker, General Gordon says, page 259 :
" Frora 5 o'clock in the morning his (Schurz's) division had been under fire.
Since the evening before they had been without food; from death and from
wounds their losses had been severe; from constant engagements, they had
exhausted their ammunition. They retired behind the hill on which the bat
tery of the second brigade had been in position, and from thence they moved
to a wood about four hundred yards to the rear. The division of Schurz's
took no further part in the actions of the day. The General commanding
this division praised the conduct of his troops, and they were entitled to
praise." We think so too. They were entitled to praise. But who on our
side had this division been contending with since five in the morn
ing? Was it not with Hill's division? And had we been eating while
they were without food? Had not we, too, suffered from death and
from wounds? Was not our ammunition expended equally with them?
And yet they were relieved as having done their full share of the
day's work, while we, after having withstood Hooker's division and
Gower's charge, since Schurz had been relieved, were expected to
be raore than a raatch for Kearney's and Stevens's seven thousand
fresh troops.
Kearney indeed had a beginning of victory, a presage of success.
Our men were thoroughly exhausted. Whatever the spirit was still
willing to do and dare, the flesh was failing. The Frenchman's epi
gram as he witnessed the charge at Balaklava, "c'est niagnifique
mais ce n' est pas la guerre y had no application here. It was the
reverse. It was war, but it was not grand. Ten hours of actual
conflict had exhausted all the romance of the batde. It was busi
ness ; it was work, wearisorae work, in the face of death we were
doing. Our feet were worn and weary, and our arms were nerve-

The Army under Pope, page 195. f fbid, page 210.

Gregg s Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 83
less. Our ears were deadened with the continuous roar of the batde,
and our eyes were dimmed with the smoke. Ah ! we too needed rest.
The rest Schurz's men were having yonder, over the hill in their
rear. But Kearney was pitiless. It mattered not to him that we
were tired, and that our ammunition was gone. On, on he carae,
pouring into us his deadly volleys, and then the rush. Our men
fell fast around us. The Thirteenth and the First after having held
our position all day, at last were pushed back. The enemy pressed
on, crossed the cut, and slowly but steadily compelled us, step by
step, to yield the long coveted position — the position, on the ex
treme left, a little in advance of Hill's line, with which, early in the
morning, our brigade had been entrusted, and which we had raain
tained all day. But we vi^ould not give it up without a desperate
struggle. Now again the same hand to hand fight we had with
Grover, we renewed with Kearney — we were not, however, entirely
without help. General Branch came to our assistance with one of
his regiments, and, literally, with coat off, personally took part in the
affray. With his aid we made a stand on the top of the knoll, and
there, over the bodies of our dead and wounded comrades, we strug
gled on. On our left, too, the Rifles were still contending for the
cornfield, and there that gallant soldier. Colonel J. Foster Marshall,
and his Lieutenant- Colonel, D, A. Leadbetter, were both killed, with
many other good men of that devoted regiment, but the eneray
attacking them was again repulsed, and those who had pressed the
rest of us back to the top of the hill, now hesitated and commenced
to yield. We pressed them in our turn. They broke and fell back
in disorder. I recollect that as they did so, they left a mule which,
notwithstanding all the turmoil, was quietly cropping a green blade,
here and there, in the blood-stained grass around him. His singular
appearance attracted our attention even in that terrible moment, and
I was looking at him, wondering, when some one exclaimed, " Why,
he has a mountain howitzer behind him!" Sure enough, there it
was. Amidst the roar of rausketry and the din of arms we had not
noticed this instrument of destruction which, in a few yards of us,
had been mowing down our men with canister. Probably it was
one of the same that Sigel had sent to Krzyzanowski and which Gor
don tells us were " happily placed" in his skirmish line in the first
attack in the morning. But Stevens, who was supporting Kearney,
was on hand to make one more last effort of the day. We heard the
cheers of his men as he ordered them in— teUing us that our work
was not yet done.

34 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
It was at this time that an officer rode up to Gregg, with a mes
sage from General Hill, asking if he could hold the position any
longer ; and then was his famous reply, that his ammunition was
exhausted, but " he thought he could still hold his position with the
bayonet "
And this was absolutely true. The ammunition we had carried
into action had been expended for some tirae; and it was one of the
cruelties of our position, that before the Infirraary corps were allowed
to help a wounded man, before his wound was looked at, he must be
stripped of his accoutrements, and his ammunition distributed among
his comrades. This economy, and the ammunition we got from the
dead and wounded of our assailants, had enabled us to carry on the
fight. I have always wished that the scene which followed General
Gregg's message could be painted by some great artist able to do it
justice. Having sent word to Hill that he had no ammunition, but
would hold the position with the bayonet, General Gregg drew up
the remnants of his five regiments, now reduced to a mere handlul,
in two lines, the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth in one line, in
front, under Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson, of the Fourteenth, (now
the honored Chief-Justice of the -State) and the First and Rifles
under my command, as a second line, behind the First. All the
other field officers, except Lieutenant- Colonel Jones, of the Twelfth,
had by this tirae been killed or wounded. We were upon the top
of the hill, the point to which we had been driven back by Kearney,
some two or three hundred yards from the railroad excavation.
Here General Gregg formed us to await the assault of the eneray,
whose cheers we heard as they were ordered forward. 1 can see
bira now, as with his drawn sworn, that old Revolutionary sciraitar
we all knew so well, he walked up and down the line, and hear him
as he appealed to us to stand by him and die there, " Let us die
here, my men, let us die here," And I do not think, my comrades,
that I exaggerate when I say that our little band responded to his
appeal, and were ready to die, at bay, there if necessary. The mo
ment was, indeed, a trying one— a trying one to men who had shown
themselves no cowards that day. We could hear the enemy ad
vancing, and had not a round with which to greet them, but must
wait the onslaught with only our bayonets. On they came. They
had nearly reached the railroad, and were about to cross to the
charge when a shout behind paralyzed us with dread. Was all the
glorious fight we had made that livelong day to end in our capture

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of 3Ianassas. 35
by an unseen movement to our rear? Terror stricken we turned,
when lo ! there were our friends coming to our assistance, and not
the eneray to our attack. Field, with his Virginians, and Pender,
with his North Carolinians, relieved by Early and Forno, of Ewell's
division, came rushing up, coraparatively fresh for the work, and
cheering us as they advanced on either side of our little band, waited
not the assault, as we were doing perforce, but with a wild Confed
erate yell, rushed upon Stevens as he was in the confusion of crossing
to our attack. The Federals halted, turned and fled, our friends cross
ing the railroad and pursuing them. He "did not have the nura
bers," Stevens reported, and Gordon agrees with hira that as usual
the Federals were overpowered.
General Gregg had not expected that the attack would have been
so easily repulsed. Indeed, he believed that the troops who had
relieved us would soon be driven back, and the contest renewed on
the hill where we stood, and he determined upon a desperate move-
in case his apprehensions should be realized. Telling Colonel Simp
son of his fears, he ordered him to move the Fourteenth back to the
old field near the fence, and there to lie down until our troops fell
back — to lie still as they did so, and to let thera pass, and the eneray
in pursuit of them, and then to rise and charge with the bayonet the
pursuing enemy. With bayonets fixed, the Fourteenth moved back
to the old place, and lay down as directed. Happily, our friends had
done their work better than General Gregg had anticipated, and
Stevens "did not have the numbers" to resist their fury.
So, as the sun went down, we rested frora our terrible labors ofthe
day — we rested, but not in security. The evening shades crept upon
the bloody field, and the contending arraies paused for the night in
their fierce struggle. An angry sheU now and then, however, came
hurding through the trees, and one of thera falling in a group of the
First, killed Lieutenant John Munro, who had greatly distinguished
himself during the day, and with him his comrade, young Nat. Hey-
ward, who, during the battle, had been serving on my staff.
Thus ended the part taken by Gregg's brigade of South Caro
linians at Manassas, and of which Gordon says: "In Southern his
tories and by Southern firesides the brave deeds that Southern
soldiers had on this day achieved, were to mark it as the bloody and
glorious day of the 29th August."
In a smaO affair the next morning I had the misfortune to be
wounded with a few others of the brigade, about a dozen, I believe,
but the brigade took no part in the great battle of the 30th.
But on this third day of that great struggle, on the extreme op-

36 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
posite part of the field, the right of Longstreet's corps, other South
Carohnians were to be as prominent in the terrible work of that day,
the 30th, as we had been on the 29th, and to suffer as terribly,
Virginia can justly point with peculiar pride to the famous charge
of Pickett's division of Virginians at Gettysburg— a charge now
almost as famous as that at Balaklava, " The State of North Caro
hna should write immortal on the banner of its Fifth regiment," was
the tribute of its heroic adversary at Williamsburg — General Han
cock. The lamented Cobb, and his brigade, have indelibly associated
the name of Georgia with Marye's heights at Fredericksburg ; and
each State can name some battlefield on which its troops especially
distinguished theraselves, and I think in doing so South Carohna
can find none in which her sons more gloriously maintained her fame
than in the great batde of which I have been speaking. Lest it
should be thought that I have exaggerated the deeds of her soldiers
on that day, let me give a few figures as to the losses of this State,
which will better illustrate their conduct than any panegyric which
might be composed. Colonel Taylor estimated the strength of Jack
son's corps at Manassas at seventeen thousand three hundred and
nine, * but Colonel Allan, afier a very careful computation, puts the
strength of Jackson's infantry at twenty-two thousand five hundred, f
The total losses in our corps, including Ewell's fight at Bristol ofthe
26th, Trimble's capture of Manassas that evening, Archer's affair
with the New Jersey brigade on the 27th, and the battles of the 28th,
29th and 30th, were three thousand six hundred and fifty-one, J about
one in every six ; deducting the strength (one thousand five hun
dred) and losses (six hundred and nineteen) of our brigade, will leave
the losses of the rest of the corps very nearly one raan in every
seven, while in our brigade the casualties were two out of every five
raen carried into action ; and these losses it will be borne in raind,
with the exception as I have mentioned of about a dozen wounded
on Saturday morning, were all incurred in the single day's fight of
Friday. But as I have said it was not left to our brigade alone to maintain
the honor of South Carolina on the plains of Manassas, In Long-
street's corps the Slate was represented by Jenkins's and Evans' brig
ade, the Hampton Legion, then in Hood's brigade, and the Fifteenth
regiment, and James's battalion in Drayton's brigade. And well
''Four Years with General Lee, page 61,
¦\ Southern Historical Papers, volume VIII, pages 178-217,
J Reports Ariny Northern Virginia, volume I, page 50.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas. 37
did they maintain her fame. I cannot now be the historian of their
deeds, and of the prominent part they, too, bore in the great batde of
the 30th ; but let me give you some raore figures, which wfll show
that however justly proud you and I, my comrades, are of our own
part, we can claim no monopoly of South Carolina's glory at Ma
nassas. General Lee's army, on that occasion, was composed of one hun
dred and thirty-five regiraents of infantry, Jackson's corps sixty-
eight, and Longstreet's corps sixty-seven. Of these, forty two were
from Virginia, twenty-eight irom Georgia, seventeen and two bat
talions, say eighteen regiments, from South Carolina, thirteen from
North Carolina, eleven from Alabaraa, nine frora Louisiana, five and
a half from Mississippi, and three each from Tennessee, Texas and
Florida. *
The loss in the forty-two regiments from Virginia, in kiUed and
wounded, was 1.588;! in the twenty-eight regiments from Georgia,
2,173; in the seventeen regiraents and two battalions, | say eighteen
regiments, from South Carolina, 1,745 ;§ in the thirteen regiments
from North Carolina, 757; in the nine regiments from Louisiana,
477; in the three regiments from Texas, 366: in the three regiraents
frora Tennessee, 131. The exact nurabers ofthe killed and wounded
in the regiments from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, respectively,
cannot be known, as there were no regimental reports of casualties of
the three brigades of Wilcox, Featherston and Pryor. The only
report of casualties in these brigades is from Wilcox, who com
manded them on that day, and he gives only the total in the three
brigades at 330. || In the five other regiments from Alabama, which
were reported, there were 276, killed and wounded ; in the two from
Mississippi, 156, and in the two from Florida, 20.
It must be remembered, however, that the regiments were not all
of equal numbers. For instance, in our division, by the field return of
July 20, 1862, the regiments generally averaged three hundred and
* Southern Historical Papers, volume VIII, pages 178-217.
t These figures are computed from list of casualties. Reports Army North
ern Virginia, volurae I, page 50.
t Third, or Jaraes's battalion, and Fourth, or Mallison's battalion, counted
half regiraents.
|The losses of the Twelfth and Rifles not given in list of casualties. Re
ports Army Northern Virginia. For these see History Gregg's Brigade,
hy J. F. J. Caldwell, page 37.
fl Reports Army Northern Virginia, voliime II, page 231.

38 Gregg s Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.
fifty-seven men* while in our brigade at Manassas they averaged only
three hundred.f Still greater was the disparity in the regiments of
Jackson's and Ewell's division which had been in the Valley campaign.
Early's regiments in the Manassas campaign averaged but two hundred
and fifty; others had not more than one hundred and fifty ; J It is prob
able, therefore, that of the forty-two regiments from Virginia, the
seventeen which had been with Jackson in the Valley did not average
two hundred. So, too, some of the regiments which had been in
the Peninsula, under Johnson, were greatly reduced.
But there is another coraparison by which the disproportionate
loss of South Carolina troops in this battle can be more accurately
shown. By Colonel Allan's estimate, as we have seen, Jackson's
corps of infantry was 22,500 strong, and he puts Longstreet's at
26, 768. § So that Lee had 49,268 infantry present. The official list
of casualties at Manassas, makes a total of 7,244;!! but these include
forty-nine casualties in the artillery, which, for our present purpose,
must be excluded,'^ leaving 7,195 killed and wounded in the infantry.
To these we raust add the losses in our two regiments (Twelfth and
Rifles) omitted in the official list, i. e., two hundred and sixty-one, and
the losses in the brigades of Wilcox, Featherston and Pryor, three
hundred and thirty, making our total loss in the infantry, 7,786. Of
the 49,268 infantry which Lee had at Manassas, South Carolina fur
nished about 6,000, as follows: Gregg's brigade, 1,500,** Jenkins,
(estimate) i,5oo,tt Evans, 2,200,II Hampton Legion (estimate) 300, §§
'^Southern Historical Papers, volume VIII, page 180.
t History Gregg's Brigade, page 37.
X Southern Historical Papers, volume VIII, page 180. § Ibid, 219.
II Reports Army Northern Virginia, volume I, page 52.
11 1 have omitted the artillery from ray calculation as I have not sufficient
data as to the State to which the batteries belonged, and there are but few
reports, if any, from officers of batteries.
** History Gregg's Brigade, J. F. J. Caldwell.
ft The strength of this brigade is not given in the reports; but in the
lists of casualties published in the Mercury the numbers carried into
action are given ; First South Carolina volunteers (Hagood's), 324 ; Pal
metto sharpshooters, 350; Fifth South Carolina volunteers, 220; Sixth
South Carolina volunteers, 350. The numbers of the Second Rifles and
Fourth battalion South Carolina volunteers are not given in their list of
casualties in this battle ; but in the lists of casualties at Frasier's farm,
30th of June, the numbers carried into action are given as. Second Rifles,
275, Fourth battalion, 70. Supposing their strength to have been the
same at Mana.ssas, this brigade would have had present 1,589.
XX Reports A. N V., volume II, page 290. |§ General T. M. Logan.

Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manas.sas. 39
Drayton's brigade. Fifteenth regiment, 415, James's battahon, 160
equals 575,* Of the 7,786 casualties in the army as above, 1,749 oc
curred in the South Carolina regiments as follows: Gregg's brigade
lost 619, Jenkins, 404, Evans, 631, Hampton Legion, 74, and the Fif
teenth regiment 21, equals 1,749. South Carohna thus lost more than
one-fourth, or two out of every seven of all her troops present,
while the loss in the rest of the army was litde raore than one in
every seven.
But the losses of South Carolina were not to be counted by num
bers only. Her best blood was poured out on that rocky bed at
Manassas. In our brigade that distinguished citizen and soldier.
Colonel J, Foster Marshall, and Lieutenant-Colonel D, A, Leadbetter,
were killed. In Jenkins's brigade Colonel Thoraas J, Glover, one of
the most promising sons of the State, and Colonel Moore, of the
Second Rifles, fell, doing their duty nobly. In Evans's brigade our
loss in killed was still heavier. At the head of the Seventeenth regi
ment fell one who had been an honored governor of the State, whose
advanced years did not warrant his service in the field, but whose
devotion to the .State revived the energy of his youth, and with
Governor Means fell also his son. Major Robt S, Means, Colonel J,
M, Gadberry, of the Eighteenth Regiraent, and Lieutenant-Colonel T,
C, Watkins, of the Twenty- third Regiraent, also died upon the fatal,
if glorious, field for our State,
Just in front of the deepest part of the railroad cut, where the
knoll is highest, a rough hewn stone monument tells where the brave
Federal soldiers fell within a few feet of the coveted goal. The
crumbling bank and the filling cut are fast effacing the last traces of
the spot where her soldiers fought so desperately for the honor of
South Carolina,

* Major H, E, Young, Acting Assistant-General Drayton's brigade, from
field returns, September 11, 1862.

40 Gregg's Brigade in the Second Battle of Manassas.

APPENDIX,
In CaldweU's history of Gregg's-McGowan's brigade, the loss of
the brigade at Manassas, is given as follows. The official reports
make the loss 619, a smaU discrepancy which might easily creep in,
and which it is impossible now to correct :

Killed

Wounded.

Aggregate.

24 19
24 26, 8

119 97
121118 57

143

Orr's Regiment — Rifles 
Xwelfth Regiment 

116145

Thirteenth Regiment 
Kourteenth Rep^iment 

144 65

Total 
lOI
512
613
The following were the casualties among the officers of the brigade:
Killed — First Regiment : Captain C. D. Barksdale and Lieutenant
John Munro; Lieutenant John C, McLeraore wounded mortally —
died; Orr's Regiment — Rifles.- Colonel J, Foster Marshall, Lieu
tenant-Colonel D. A. Ledbetter, Captain M. M. Norton, and Lieu
tenant William C. Davis; Twelfth Regiment: Lieutenants J. A,
May and  Hunnicut ; Thirteenth Regiment: Adjutant W, D.
Goggins and Captain A. K, Smith ; Fourteenth Regiment : None — 11,
Wounded — First Regiment: Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Mc
Crady, Jr., comraanding. Lieutenant Z. B. Smith, Adjutant, Captain
M. P. Parker, Lieutenants T. H. Lyles, J. R. Congdon, John King,
and Thomas McCrady; Orr's Rifles: Captain J. B. O. Barkley,
Lieutenants James S. Cothran and  Fanner)'- ; Twelfth Regi
ment : Colonel Dixon Barnes, M^jor W. H. McCorkle, Captain L.
M. Grist, Lieutenants J. Burdock and David L, Glenn; Thirteenth
Regiment: Colonel O, E. Edwards, Lieutenant-Colonel T. Stobo
Farrow and Major B. T. Brockman, Captains R. L. Bbwden, P. A,
Eichelberger, J. W. Meetze, Lieutenants J, D, Copeland, J, S, Green,
W, T, Thorn, J, B, Fellows, R, M, Crocker; Fourteenth Regiment :
Colonel Samuel McGowan, Captains Charles M, Stickey and Joseph
N, Brown, Lieutenants W, J, Robertson, M, T, Hutchins, 
Carter, and John H, AUen — 33. Total, killed and wounded, 44,
Lieutenant-Colonels Cadwallader Jones, of the Twelfth, and Wil
liam D, Simpson, of the Fourteenth, only, of the eleven field officers
who went into action, escaped unhurt.
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