Part 3

During the recent discussion in the Richmond newspapers as to whether any of the North Carolina troops reached a point at or near the enemy’s works, the most prominent writer on the negative side of the question gives extracts from the reports of certain participants in the charge to corroborate his opinion, and by a singular oversight gives one from the report of Major John Jones, then commanding Pettigrew’s own brigade, who says: “The brigade dashed on, and many had reached the wall when we received a deadly volley from the left.” To have reached the stone wall on the left of the salient, they must necessarily have advanced considerably farther than any troops on the field. And yet the above writer in the face of Major Jones’ testimony, thinks that neither his nor any North Carolina troops were there. But then he quotes from the Federal Col. Hall, “who,” he says, “gives a list of the flags captured by his command when the charge was made.” Amongst them he mentions that of the 22nd North Carolina, and says: “If this can be accepted as true it of course ends all controversy.” Col. Hall reports that at the close of the assault his brigade captured the flags of the 14th, 18th, 19th and 57th Virginia, and that of the 22nd North Carolina. Webb reports that his command captured six flags, but does not name the regiments to which they belonged. Heth captured those of the 1st, 7th and 28th Virginia. Carroll’s brigade those of the 34th North Carolina and 38th Virginia. Smyth’s brigade those of 1st and 14th Tennessee, 16th and 52nd North Carolina and five others, the names not given, and Sherrill’s brigade captured three, the names not given. Thus we have the names of eight Virginia, four North Carolina and two Tennessee and fourteen reported captured, names not given. In all twenty-eight, which accounts for Pickett’s fifteen, Scales’ five, Pettigrew’s own three and Archer’s four. One of Pettigrew’s and one of Archer’s having been carried back, some of the other troops must have lost one. If official reports which say that the flags of the 1st and 14th Tennessee, and of the 16th, 22nd, 34th and 52nd North Carolina were captured, cannot be accepted as true and thus “end all controversy,” perhaps a re-statement of the fact that twenty-eight colors were taken at the close of the assault may do so, for as said above the Virginia division had only fifteen flags.

To show the disproportion that existed at the close of the fight between the numbers of men and flags, one officer reports that his regiment charged upon the retreating rebels and captured five regimental battle-flags and over forty prisoners, and a brigade commander speaking of the ground at and in front of the abandoned works, says: “Twenty battle-flags were captured in a space of 100 yards square.”

There is one fact that should be remembered in connection with this assault, namely: That of all breastworks a stone wall inspires most confidence and its defenders will generally fire deliberately and accurately and cling to it tenaciously.

The stone wall ran from the left and in front of Lane’s, Davis’ and Pettigrew’s North Carolina brigades and ended where the right of the last named rested at the close of the assault. At this point works made of rails covered with earth began and ran straight to the front for some distance and then made a sharp turn to the left in the direction of Round Top, continuing in nearly a straight line beyond Pickett’s right. It was a short distance to the right of the outer corner of these works when Webb’s men gave way.

Several years ago there was published in the Philadelphia “Times,” an article by Col. W. W. Wood, of Armistead’s brigade, giving his recollections of this affair. As the writer had very naively made several confessions, which I had never seen made by any other of Pickett’s men, and had evidently intended to speak truthfully, I put the paper aside for future reference. I shall now make several selections from it and endeavor to criticise them fairly. Our artillery crowned the ridge, and behind it sheltered by the hills lay our infantry: “The order to go forward was obeyed with alacrity and cheerfulness, for we believed that the battle was practically over, and that we had nothing to do but to march unopposed to Cemetery Heights and occupy them. While making the ascent it was seen that the supports to our right and left flanks were not coming forward as we had been told they would. Mounted officers were seen dashing frantically up and down their lines, apparently endeavoring to get them to move forward, but we could see that they would not move. Their failure to support us was discouraging, but it did not dishearten us. Some of our men cursed them for cowards, etc.” So far no great courage had been required. But what troops were they that Pickett’s people were cursing for cowards? On the right they were Perry’s Florida and Wilcox’s Alabama, under the command of the latter General. Their orders were that when twenty minutes had elapsed after the line had started they were to march straight ahead and repel any body of flankers who should attack the right. This order was obeyed to the letter. At the required time they moved forward and kept moving. About where Pickett should have been (Pickett’s line had previously obliqued to the left) not a Confederate was to be seen. They kept on and single handed and alone attacked the whole Federal army, then exulting in victory. Of course they were repulsed, but when they knew they were beaten did they surrender that they might be sheltered in Northern prisons from Northern bullets? Not they. They simply fell back and made their way, as best they could, to the Confederate lines. Is there any significance in the facts that shortly after this battle Gen. Wilcox was promoted and Gen. Pickett and his men were sent out of the army? What other troops were they whom these men were cursing for being cowards? Some of them were the choice troops of A. P. Hill’s old division, ever famous for its fighting qualities, others were the survivors of Archer’s brigade of gallant Tennesseans, Mississippians, brave and impetuous, North Carolinians, always steady, always true. These men were cursed as cowards, and by Pickett’s Virginians! Achilles cursed by Thersites! A lion barked at by a cur.

But there was one brigade, and only one, in Pettigrew’s division which failed in the hour of trial. It was from their own State, and had once been an efficient body of soldiers, and even on this occasion something might be said in its defense. But had this not been the case, to the men of Armistead’s brigade (who were doing the cursing) the memory of their own behavior at Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown should have had the effect of making them charitable towards the shortcomings of others.

Let us allow the Colonel to continue: “From the time the charge began up to this moment, not a shot had been fired at us nor had we been able to see, because of the density of the smoke, which hung over the battlefield like a pall, that there was an enemy in front of us. The smoke now lifted from our front and there, right before us, scarcely two hundred yards away, stood Cemetery Heights in awful grandeur. At their base was a double line of Federal infantry and several pieces of artillery, posted behind stone walls, and to the right and left of them both artillery and infantry supports were hurriedly coming up. The situation was indeed appalling, though it did not seem to appall. The idea of retreat did not seem to occur to any one. Having obtained a view of the enemy’s position, the men now advanced at the double quick, and for the first time since the charge began they gave utterance to the famous Confederate yell.” So it seems that all that has been spoken and written about their having marched one thousand yards under the fire of one hundred cannon and twenty thousand muskets, is the veriest bosh and nonsense. They marched eight hundred yards as safely as if on parade. When the smoke lifted they charged for two hundred yards towards the breastworks; the left only reached it--the right never did, but lay down in the field and there and then fifteen hundred of them “threw down their muskets for the war.” Colonel Wood continues: “The batteries to the right and left of Cemetery Heights now began to rain grapeshot and canister upon us, and the enemy’s infantry at the base of the Heights, poured volley after volley into our ranks. The carnage was indeed terrible; but still the division, staggering and bleeding, pushed on towards the Heights they had been ordered to take. Of course such terrible slaughter could not last long. The brave little division did not number men enough to make material for prolonged slaughter.”

The carnage was for them indeed terrible, and their subsequent behaviour up to their defeat and rout at Five Forks, showed that they never forgot it. Let us see what was this horrible carnage. The fifteen regiments, according to General Longstreet, carried into the charge, of officers and men, forty-nine hundred. It is more probable that the number was fifty-five hundred. If they had the former number their per centage of killed and wounded was nearly twenty-eight, if the latter, not quite twenty-five. On the first day the North Carolina brigade lost thirty and on the third sixty per cent. The “brave, the magnificent,” when they had experienced a loss of fifteen killed to the regiment, became sick of fighting, as the number surrendered shows. One regiment of the “cowards,” the 42d Mississippi, only after it had met with a loss of sixty killed and a proportionate number of wounded, concluded that it was about time to rejoin their friends. Another regiment of the “cowards,” the 26th North Carolina, only after it had had more men killed and wounded than any one of the two thousand seven hundred Federal and Confederate regiments ever had, came to the same conclusion. The five North Carolina regiments of this division had five more men killed than Pickett’s fifteen.

To continue: “In a few brief moments more the left of Armistead’s brigade, led by himself on foot, had passed beyond the stone wall, and were among the guns of the enemy, posted in rear of it. General Garnet had before then been instantly killed, and General Kemper had been severely wounded. The survivors of their brigades had become amalgamated with Armistead’s.” How can any one see any organization to boast of here? “Our line of battle was not parallel to the Heights, and the left of the diminished line reached the Heights first. The right of the line never reached them. The men of the right, however, were near enough to see General Armistead shot down near a captured gun as he was waving his sword above his head, and they could see men surrendering themselves as prisoners. Just then a detachment of Federal infantry came out flanking our right, and shouted to us to surrender. There was nothing else to do, except to take the chance, which was an extremely good one, of being killed on the retreat back over the hill. But a few, myself among the number, rightly concluded that the enemy was weary of carnage, determined to run the risk of getting back to the Confederate lines. Our retreat was made singly, and I at least was not fired upon.” If the division had equalled Col. Wood in gallantry, it would not have surrendered more sound men than it had lost in killed and wounded, as by taking some risk the most of those captured might have escaped as he did. The Colonel concludes: “When the retreat commenced on the night of the 4th of July, the nearly three hundred men who had been confined in the various brigade guard houses were released from confinement, and they and their guard permitted to return to duty in the ranks, and many detailed men were treated in the same way. On the morning of the 5th of July, the report of the division showed not quite eleven hundred present. Eleven hundred from forty-five hundred leaves thirty-four hundred, and that was the number of casualties suffered by Pickett’s little division at Gettysburg.” I have known individuals who took pride in poverty and disease. The surrender of soldiers in battle was often unavoidable; but I have never known a body of troops other than Pickett’s, who prided themselves upon that misfortune. General Pemberton or Marshal Bazaine may have done so. If they did, their countrymen did not agree with them, and it is well for the fame of General Lee and his army that the belief that the road to honor lay in that direction, was not very prevalent. Pickett’s division has been compared to a “lance-head of steel,” which pierced the centre of the Federal army. To be in accord with the comparison, it was always represented as being smaller than it really was.

Colonel Wood, at the conclusion of his article, puts its strength at 4,500 officers and men, at the beginning at 4,500 “men.” This last would agree with General Longstreet’s estimate of 4,900 effectives. Knowing as I do the average per brigade of Jackson’s Veterans--one-half of the army--and that they had been accustomed to fight two days for every one day fought by Longstreet’s men, I think it probable that Pickett’s brigade must have averaged nearly, if not quite, two thousand.

But I will place the strength of the division at fifty-five hundred. I have heard that fifteen hundred were surrendered. Official records say that thirteen hundred and sixty-four were killed and wounded.

According to Colonel Wood, leaving out the three hundred guard-house men, eight hundred appeared for duty on the morning of the 5th. These three numbers together make thirty-six hundred and sixty-four, which taken from fifty-five hundred leaves eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and this was the number of men which the “brave little division” had to run away. They ran and ran and kept running ’till the high waters in the Potomac stopped them. As they ran they shouted “that they were all dead men, that Pettigrew had failed to support them, and that their noble division had been swept away.” The outcry they made was soon heard all over Virginia, and its echo is still heard in the North.

After our army had re-crossed the river and had assembled at Bunker Hill, the report that Pickett’s division of “dead men” had drawn more rations than any division in the army, excited a good deal of good-natured laughter. Among the officers of our army, to whom the casualty lists were familiar, the question was often discussed, why it was that some of Pettigrew’s brigades, marching over the same ground at the same time, should have suffered so much more than General Pickett’s? This question was never satisfactorily answered ’till after the war. The mystery was then explained by the Federal General Doubleday, who made the statement that “all the artillery supporting Webb’s brigade (which being on the right of Gibbons’ division, held the projecting wall) excepting one piece, was destroyed, and nearly all of the artillerymen either killed or wounded by the cannonade which preceded the assault.”

Of course there were exceptions, but the general rule was that those troops who suffered the most themselves inflicted the greatest loss on the enemy and were consequently the most efficient. Colonel Fox says: “The history of a battle or war should be studied in connection with the figures which show the losses. By overlooking them, an indefinite and often erroneous idea is obtained. By overlooking them many historians fail to develop the important points of the contest; they use the same rhetorical descriptions for different attacks, whether the pressure was strong or weak, the loss great or small, the fight bloody or harmless.” As it was the custom in some commands to report every scratch as a wound, and in others to report no man as wounded who was fit for duty, the most accurate test for courage and efficiency is the number of killed. In the eight brigades and three regiments from Virginia in this battle, three hundred and seventy-five were killed, and nineteen hundred and seventy-one wounded. That is for every one killed five and twenty-five hundredths were reported wounded. In the seven brigades and three regiments from North Carolina, six hundred and ninety-six were killed and three thousand and fifty-four wounded. That is for every man killed only four and forty hundredths appeared on the list as wounded.

If it be a fact that from Gettysburg to the close of the war, among the dead upon the various battlefields comparatively few representatives from the Virginian infantry were to be found, it is not always necessarily to their discredit. For instance, even at Gettysburg two such brigades as Mahone’s and Smyth’s had respectively only seven and fourteen men killed. It was not for them to say whether they were to advance or be held back. Their duty was to obey orders. In the same battle two of Rodes’ North Carolina brigades--Daniel’s and Iverson’s--had between them two hundred and forty-six men buried upon the field. Here we see that the eight regiments and one battalion, which formed these two North Carolina commands, had twenty-two more men killed than Pickett’s fifteen. And yet Virginia history does not know that they were even present at this battle.

Now, for a brief recapitulation. The left of Garnett’s and Armistead’s brigades, all of Archer’s and Scales’ (but that all means very few, neither of them at the start being larger than a full regiment) a few of the 37th and the right of Pettigrew’s own brigade took possession of the works, which the enemy had abandoned on their approach. Pettigrew’s and Trimble’s left and Pickett’s right lay out in the field on each flank of the projecting work and in front of the receding wall, and from forty to fifty yards from it. There they remained for a few minutes, ’till a fresh line of the enemy, which had been lying beyond the crest of the ridge, approached. Then being attacked on both flanks, and knowing how disorganized they were, our men made no fight, but either retreated or surrendered. Archer’s, Scales’ and Pettigrew’s own brigade went as far and stayed as long or longer than any of Pickett’s. Davis’ brigade, while charging impetuously ahead of the line was driven back, when it had reached a point about one hundred yards from the enemy. Lane’s, the left brigade, remained a few moments longer than any of the other troops and retired in better order.

Now, it must not be inferred from anything in this paper that there has been any intention to reflect upon all Virginia infantry. Far from it. The three regiments in Steuart’s mixed brigade and Mahone’s brigade were good troops. Perhaps there were others equally good. But there was one brigade which was their superior, as it was the superior of most of the troops in General Lee’s army. And that was Smith’s brigade of Early’s division. These troops in spite of the Richmond newspapers and the partiality of certain of their commanders, had no superiors in any army. Never unduly elated by prosperity, never depressed by adversity, they were even to the last, when enthusiasm had entirely fled and hope was almost dead, the models of what good soldiers should be.

[Sidenote: DEATH’S THE TEST.]

“It is not precisely those who know how to kill,” says Dragomiroff, “but those who know how to die, who are all-powerful on a field of battle.”

Regiments that had twenty-nine or more officers and men killed on the field in certain battles:

Regiment. Brigade. Battle. Killed. 13 Ga. Lawton. Sharpsburg. 48. 3 N. C. Ripley. ” 46. 1 Texas. Wofford. ” 45. 13 N. C. Garland. ” 41. 30 Va. Walker. ” 39. 48 N. C. ” ” 31. 27 ” ” ” 31. 50 Ga. Drayton. ” 29. 57 N. C. Law. Fredericksburg. 32. 2 ” Ramseur. Chancellorsville. 47. 4 ” ” ” 45. 3 ” Colston. ” 38. 7 ” Lane. ” 37. 1 ” Colston. ” 34. 37 ” Lane. ” 34. 23 ” Iverson. ” 32. 13 ” Pender. ” 31. 22 ” ” ” 30. 51 Ga. Semmes. ” 30. 4 ” Doles. ” 29. 18 N. C. Lane. ” 30. 26 N. C. Pettigrew. Gettysburg. 86. 42 Miss. Davis. ” 60. 11 N. C. Pettigrew. ” 50. 2 Miss. Davis. ” 49. 45 N. C. Daniel. ” 46. 23 ” Iverson. ” 41. 17 Miss. Barksdale. ” 40. 55 N. C. Davis. ” 39. 59 Va Armistead. ” 35. 52 N. C. Pettigrew. ” 33. 11 Ga. Anderson. ” 32. 5 N. C. Iverson. ” 31. 13 S. C. Perrin. ” 31. 13 N. C. Scales. ” 29. 2 ” Batt. Daniel. ” 29. 3 ” Steuart. ” 29. 20 ” Iverson. ” 29.

The proportion of wounded to killed was 4.8 to one. That is, if 100 are killed 480 will be wounded. When 100 men are killed, there will be among the wounded 64 who will die of wounds. While this may not always be the case in a single regiment, yet when a number of regiments are taken together the wonderful law of averages makes these proportions rules about which there is no varying.

There is an old saw which says that “it takes a soldier’s weight in lead and iron to kill him.” Most people believe that this saying has to be taken with many grains of allowance, but it was shown during the war to be literally true. In the battle of Murfreesboro the weight of the 20,307 projectiles fired by the Federal artillery was 225,000 pounds, and that of the something over 2,000,000 musket balls exceeded 150,000 pounds and their combined weight exceeded that of the 2,319 Confederates who were killed or mortally wounded.

In the Federal armies deaths from wounds amounted to 110,000 and from disease and all other causes about 250,000, a total of about 360,000. For deaths in the Southern armies only an approximation can be arrived at. Probably 100,000 died of wounds and as many more of disease, a total of about 200,000 which added to the Federal loss, makes about 560,000. This number of soldiers drawn up in battle array would make a line 112 miles long.

[Sidenote: WEBB’S PHILADELPHIA BRIGADE AND OTHER TROOPS.]