Part 5

To give a clear idea of the closing events of this assault it will be well to mention several things not generally known. Just at the point which had been occupied, but was then abandoned by Webb’s brigade, there was no stone wall, but a breastwork made of rails covered with a little earth. These works jutted out into the field. On both sides of this salient there were stone walls. Of the one thousand men who reached these works of rails and earth only about fifty followed Armistead to the abandoned guns. The others stopped there. Seeing this all to their right, more than half the column did the same, and having stopped they were obliged to lie down. The left of the line continued to move on for a while when they, to prevent annihilation, also fell to the ground. This discontinuance of the forward movement, showing that the momentum of the charge had spent itself, meant defeat. Our men knew this, but there they lay waiting for--they knew not what. All other things that happened--the capture of men, muskets and flags--were for the Federals mere details in reaping the harvest of victory.

[Sidenote: SAFE SURRENDER OR DANGEROUS RETREAT?]

Leaving out Lane’s brigade, which lay far over to the left in the Emmittsburg road, our line, which was so imposing at the beginning of the assault, covered the front of only two Federal brigades at its close. Into the interval between Lane’s and Pettigrew’s troops New Yorkers were sent, who attacked the left of the latter’s own brigade. About the same time Vermonters moved up and fired several volleys into Pickett’s right. Which body of these flankers first made their attack has been a subject of some dispute, but it is a matter of no importance. Neither attack was made before Armistead was wounded. But there is a matter of very great importance, and that is to correctly decide which of the two contrary lines of action taken that day is the more honorable and soldier-like. Here were troops lying out in the open field, all of them knowing that they had met with a frightful defeat. Those on the left, seeing a move on the part of the enemy to effect their capture, thought it a duty they owed themselves, their army and their country to risk their lives in an effort to escape. Acting upon this thought they went to the rear with a rush, helter skelter, devil take the hindmost, and the most of them did escape. Those on the right when ordered to surrender did so almost to a man. The North Carolinians, Alabamians and Tennesseeans upon the field felt that to surrender when there was a reasonable hope of escape was very little better than desertion. If the opinions of the Virginians were not quite as extreme as this, they certainly would have been surprised at that time had they been told that their conduct was heroic. Since then maudlin sentimentalists have so often informed them it was that now they believe it. The time may come when history will call their surrender by its right name.

[Sidenote: STRAGGLERS.]

The late Gen. James Dearing, of Virginia, at the time of the battle an artillery major, witnessed the assault, and shortly afterwards, giving a description of it to a friend of the writer, mentioned a circumstance which partly accounts for the fact that all of Pickett’s troops were not captured. It was that from the very start individuals began to drop out of ranks, and that the number of these stragglers continued to increase as the line advanced, and that before a shot had ever been fired at them it amounted to many hundreds. This conduct on the part of so many must be taken into consideration in accounting for the shortness of our line at the close of the assault; also that the troops both to the right and left dressing upon Archer’s brigade there was in consequence much crowding towards the centre. By adding to these causes the deaths and wounds the explanation of a condition which has puzzled many writers is readily seen.

[Sidenote: “THE POST OF DEATH AND HONOR.”]

General Longstreet is supposed to have always thought that after the second of Pettigrew’s brigades gave way there were none of Hill’s troops left upon the field. This General, while honest, was so largely imaginative that his statement of facts is rarely worthy of credence. He says that “Pickett gave the word to retreat.” There are very many old soldiers, many even in Richmond, who do not believe that Pickett was there to give that word. That in the beautiful language of a recent writer, “He may have been trying to reach the post of death and honor, but he was far away, and valor could not annihilate space.”

[Sidenote: JUDGING OTHERS BY OURSELVES.]

Gen. Longstreet is reported recently to have said at Gettysburg that if Gen. Meade had advanced his whole line on July 4th he would have carried everything before him. It is hardly fair for Gen. Longstreet to do so, but he is evidently judging the army by his troops, some of whom are said to have been so nervous and shaky after this battle that the crack of a teamster’s whip would startle them. He is mistaken, for it must be remembered that the enemy was about as badly battered as we were, and that the troops composing Ewell’s and Hill’s corps had beaten this enemy only two months before when it was on the defensive. Now we would have been on the defensive; is it probable that we would have been beaten?

[Sidenote: PETTIGREW’S BRIGADE.]

This brigade was composed of the 11th, 26th, 47th, 52nd and 44th North Carolina. When the army went on the Gettysburg campaign the last named regiment was left in Virginia. That this brigade had more men killed and wounded at Gettysburg than any brigade in our army ever had in any battle is not so much to its credit as is the fact that after such appalling losses it was one of the two brigades selected for the rear guard when the army re-crossed the river. At Gettysburg Capt. Tuttle’s company of the 26th regiment went into the battle with three officers and eighty-four men. All the officers and eighty-three of the men were killed or wounded. In the same battle company C. of the 11th regiment, had two officers killed (First Lieut. Tom Cooper, a University boy, was one of them) and thirty-four out of the thirty-eight men killed or wounded. Capt. Bird with the four remaining men participated in the assault of the third day, and of them the flag bearer was shot and the captain brought out the colors himself. He was made major, and was afterwards killed at Reams Station. Bertie county should raise a monument to his memory. In the assault Col. Marshall, of the 52nd, commanded this brigade ’till he was killed. At the close of the battle Maj. Jones, of the 26th, was the only field officer who had not been struck, and he was subsequently killed at the Wilderness.

[Sidenote: DESERTION.]

With the exception of South Carolina probably no State in the Confederacy had so few soldiers “absent without leave” as North Carolina. Owing to unfortunate surroundings neither the head of the army nor the administration ever realized this fact. The same harshness that forced thousands of conscripts into the army who were unfit for service, and kept them there until death in the hospital released them, caused more soldiers from North Carolina (some of whom had shed their blood in defence of the South) to be shot for this so-called desertion than from any other State. Though the military population of the Tar Heel State was not as great as that of at least two of the others, her soldiers filled twice as many graves, and at Appomattox, Va., and Greensboro, N. C., surrendered twice as many muskets as those of any other State. There was a singular fact in connection with these so-called desertions. In summer, when there was fighting or the expectation of a fight, they never occurred. Only in winter, when the men had time to think of their families, hundreds of whom were suffering for the necessaries of life, did the longing desire to see them and minister to their wants overcome every other sentiment, and dozens of them would steal away.

[Sidenote: UNDESERVED CONTEMPT.]

Wonder and surprise must be felt by any intelligent officer of any of the European armies who rides over that part of the lines held by the army of the Potomac which was assaulted on the afternoon of July 3rd, 1863. Wonder that sixty or seventy thousand men occupying the commanding position they did and supported by hundreds of cannon should have felt so much pride in having defeated a column of less than ten thousand. For had their only weapons been brick-bats they should have done so. Surprise that Gen. Lee should have had so supreme a contempt for the Federal army as to have thought for a moment that by any sort of possibility the attack could be successful.

[Sidenote: A LEAF OF NORTHERN HISTORY].

No longer ago than last August a New York magazine contained an elaborately illustrated article descriptive of the Gettysburg battlefield. As long as the writer confines himself to natural scenery he acquits himself very creditably, but when he attempts to describe events which occurred there so many years ago he flounders fearfully. Of course Pickett’s men advance “alone.” Of course there is a terrific hand-to-hand battle at what he calls the “bloody angle.” In this battle he says that many of Doubleday’s troops lost from twenty-five to forty per cent. “The slaughter of the Confederates was fearful--nearly one-half of them were left upon the field, Garnett’s brigade alone having over three thousand killed and captured.” This is Northern history.

Now for facts: Pickett’s men did not advance “alone.” There was no terrific battle inside the enemy’s works. None of Doubleday’s troops lost there from twenty-five to forty per cent. There was not one regiment in Gibbons’ or Doubleday’s commands which, after the shelling, lost one-fourth of one per cent. As to Garnett’s brigade, as it carried in only two thousand or less and brought out a considerable fragment, it could hardly have had over three thousand killed and captured. It did have seventy-eight killed and three hundred and twenty-four wounded.

Gen. Doubleday in writing to ask permission to make use of the pamphlet in a history he was then preparing, suggested only one alteration, and that was in regard to Stannard’s Vermont brigade, which had fought only the day before, and not the two days as the pamphlet had it.

[Sidenote: UNION SENTIMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA.]

On the retreat Kilpatrick attacked our ambulance train and captured many wounded officers of Ewell’s corps. Among them was one from my brigade who, when in hospital, was asked by a Federal surgeon if the well-known Union sentiment in North Carolina had anything to do with the large proportion of wounded men from that State. Being young and inexperienced in the ways of the world he indignantly answered, “No.”

[Sidenote: HUMBUGGERY OF HISTORY.]

Early in the war the best troops in the army of Northern Virginia could not have fighting enough. At that time they were simple enough to believe that there was some connection between fame and bravery. After a while they learned that a dapper little clerk of the quartermaster’s department, if he had the ear of the editor of the Richmond “Examiner,” had more to do with their reputation than their own courage. When this fact became known there was “no more spoiling for a fight,” but it was very often felt to be a hardship when they were called upon to do more than their proper share of fighting.

[Sidenote: BROCKENBOROUGH’S VIRGINIA BRIGADE.]

The 40th, 47th and 55th Virginia regiments and 22nd Virginia battalion composed this brigade. Up to the reorganization of the army after Jackson’s death, it formed a part of A. P. Hill’s famous light division. That it did not sustain its reputation at Gettysburg had no effect upon the general result of that battle. Their loss was 25 killed and 143 wounded.

[Sidenote: LONGSTREET’S MEN.]

If any searcher after the truth of the matter consults the records and other sources of reliable information, paying no attention to the clap-traps of Virginia writers, he will find, to say the least, that the troops of Ewell’s and Hill’s corps were the peers of the best and the superiors of a large part of the soldiers of Longstreet’s corps. In the battle of the second day if the four brigades of McLaw’s division had fought as well as did Wright’s and Wilcox’s of the third corps, we would have undoubtedly gained a victory at Gettysburg. Hood’s was the best division, but it was defeated at Wauhatchie, Tenn., by troops that the men of the second and third corps had often met and never failed to drive. As to Pickett’s “writing division:” From Malvern Hill to Gettysburg was exactly one year, and in this time the four great battles of Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and twice as many of less prominence were fought by the army or parts of the army. In these battles Lane’s North Carolina, Scales’ North Carolina and Archer’s mixed brigade of Tennesseeans and Alabamians had three thousand six hundred and ten men killed and wounded. In the same period Armistead’s Virginia, Kemper’s Virginia and Garnett’s Virginia had seven hundred and seventy-two killed and wounded.

[Sidenote: SCALES’ BRIGADE.]

At Gettysburg where it had 102 killed and 322 wounded it was a small brigade, as at Chancellorsville only two months before it had met with a loss of nearly seven hundred. In the third day’s assault, General Scales having been wounded, it was commanded by Col. Lowrence, who was also wounded as was every field officer and nearly every company officer in the brigade. This gallant little organization consisted of the 13th, 16th, 22nd, 34th and 38th North Carolina. Its first commander was Pettigrew, who was severely wounded and captured at Seven Pines. Then came Pender, then Scales, late Governor of North Carolina. At Gettysburg it and Lane’s were the only troops who were required to fight every day.

Mr. W. H. Swallow, of Maryland, a Confederate soldier and a writer of some note, was wounded at Gettysburg, and in one of his articles descriptive of the battle, says: “Gen. Trimble, who commanded Pender’s division and lost a leg in the assault, lay wounded with the writer at Gettysburg for several weeks after the battle, related the fact to the writer (Swallow) that when Gen. Lee was inspecting the column in front of Scales’ brigade, which had been fearfully cut up in the first day’s conflict, having lost very heavily, including all of its regimental officers with its gallant commander, and noticing many of Scales’ men with their heads and hands bandaged, he said to Gen. Trimble: ‘Many of these poor boys should go to the rear; they are not able for duty.’ Passing his eyes searchingly along the weakened ranks of Scales’ brigade he turned to Gen. Trimble and touchingly added, ‘I miss in this brigade the faces of many dear friends.’ * * * * * In a few weeks some of us were removed from the town to a grove near the wall that Longstreet had assaulted. As the ambulances passed the fences on the Emmittsburg road, the slabs were so completely perforated with bullet holes that you could scarcely place a half inch between them. One inch and a quarter board was indeed a curiosity. It was sixteen feet long and fourteen inches wide and was perforated with eight hundred and thirty-six musket balls. I learned afterwards that the board was taken possession of by an agent of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. This board was on that part of the fence where Scales’ brave little brigade crossed it.”

[Sidenote: STEUART’S BRIGADE.]

This brigade was composed of the 10th, 23rd and 37th Virginia, the Maryland battalion and the 1st and 3rd North Carolina. When Gen. Ed. Johnson, supported by two of Rodes’ brigades, made his attack on the morning of the third day, this brigade displayed conspicuous gallantry. Had Gen. Longstreet moved forward at the same time, the story of Gettysburg might have been written very differently. There was not an indifferent company in this brigade. All were choice troops. The 3rd North Carolina possessed in a pre-eminent degree the mental obtuseness peculiar to so many North Carolina troops. Try as they would, they never could master the art of assaulting entrenchments or fighting all day in an open field without having somebody hurt. In the Sharpsburg campaign it had more men killed and wounded than any regiment in the army. At Chancellorsville there were only three--all North Carolina--whose casualties were greater, and at Gettysburg (losing fifty per cent.) it headed the list for its division. The 1st North Carolina, a somewhat smaller regiment, in number of casualties always followed close behind the Third, except at Mechanicsville, when it went far ahead. It was indeed also one of those fool regiments which could never learn the all-important lesson which so many of their more brilliant comrades found no difficulty in acquiring.

Col. Fox in his “Regimental Losses,” says: “To all this some may sneer and some may say, ‘Cui Bono?’ If so let it be remembered that there are other reasons than money or patriotism which induce men to risk life and limb in war. There is the love of glory and the expectation of honorable recognition; but the private in the ranks expects neither; his identity is merged in that of his regiment; to him the regiment and its name is everything; he does not expect to see his own name appear upon the page of history, and is content with the proper recognition of the old command in which he fought. But he is jealous of the record of his regiment and demands credit for every shot it faced and every grave it filled. The bloody laurels for which a regiment contends will always be awarded to the one with the longest roll of honor. Scars are the true evidence of wounds, and regimental scars can be seen only in its record of casualties.”

[Sidenote: DEFEAT WITH HONOR.]

How much punishment must a body of troops receive before they can, without discredit to themselves, confess that they have been defeated? In answer it may be stated that in front of Marye’s Hill at Fredericksburg, Maegher’s and Zook’s brigades lost in killed and wounded, respectively, thirty-six and twenty-six per cent., and that the killed and wounded of the fifteen Pennsylvania regiments, constituting Meade’s division, which broke through Jackson’s line, was 36 per cent. This division was not only repulsed but routed, and yet they were deservedly considered amongst the very best troops in their army. Ordinarily it may be safely said that a loss of twenty-five per cent. satisfies all the requirements of military honor. Ordinarily is said advisedly, for in our army very much depended upon knowing from what State the regiment or brigade hailed before it could be decided whether or not it was justified in retreating. When on the afternoon of the third day of July, 1863, Pettigrew’s, Trimble’s and Pickett’s divisions marched into that ever-to-be remembered slaughter pen, there was one regiment in the first named division, the 11th Mississippi, which entered the assault fresh, carrying in 325 officers and men. After losing 202 killed and wounded, it with its brigade, left the field in disorder. Correspondents of Virginia newspapers witnessing their defeat accused them of bad behavior. Virginian historians repeated their story and the slander of brave men, who had lost sixty per cent. before retreating, lives to this day. In the spring of 1862 an army, consisting of ten regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and two batteries of artillery, was defeated in the valley and the loss in killed and wounded was four hundred and fifty-five. In the summer of 1863 there were eight regiments in the same division who took part in a certain battle and were defeated; but they did not confess themselves beaten ’till the number of their killed and wounded amounted to two thousand and two (2,002)--a loss so great that it never was before or afterwards equalled in our army or in any American army. In the first instance all of the troops were from Virginia and as consolation for their defeat they received a vote of thanks from the Confederate Congress. In the second case five of the regiments were from North Carolina and three from Mississippi. Did our Congress thank them for such unprecedented display of endurance? No, indeed! Corrupted as it was by Richmond flattery and dominated by Virginian opinion; the only wonder is that it refrained from a vote of censure.

[Sidenote: WESTERN ARMY.]

Four North Carolina infantry regiments, 29th, 39th, 58th and 60th, and one of cavalry, served in the Western army and did so with credit to themselves and State.

[Sidenote: COOK’S BRIGADE.]

The 15th, 27th, 46th and 48th regiments composed this brigade. It met with its greatest losses at Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Bristoe Station and the Wilderness. The 15th, while in Cobb’s brigade, suffered great loss at Malvern Hill in addition to above. The 48th fought at Oak Grove June 25th, the first of the seven days’ battles, and suffered severely. The 27th was probably more praised for its conduct at Sharpsburg than any regiment in the army.

[Sidenote: RANSOM’S BRIGADE.]

The 24th, 25th, 35th, 49th and 56th made up this brigade. It probably met with its greatest loss at Malvern Hill. The 24th of this brigade and the 14th of Geo. B. Anderson’s both claim that after this battle their dead were found nearest to where the enemy’s artillery had stood. The brigade also displayed conspicuous gallantry at Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Drury’s Bluff.

[Sidenote: JUNIOR RESERVES.]

Gov. Vance called them his “seed wheat.” There were four regiments and one battalion of these troops. They were used for the most part to guard bridges from raiders, but a large part of them fought at Wise’s Fork, below Kinston, and at Bentonville, where they acquitted themselves creditably. A witness has told the writer of having seen one of these children who a few days before had lost both eyes by a musket ball. He said it was the “saddest sight of a sad, sad war.”

[Sidenote: “RED LEG” INFANTRY.]

After the fall of Fort Fisher several battalions of heavy artillery which had been occupying the other forts near the mouth of the Cape Fear, were withdrawn and armed as infantry, joined Johnston’s army. No troops ever fought better than they did at Kinston and Bentonville. At the latter battle one of these battalions was commanded by Lt. Col. Jno. D. Taylor, who lost an arm on that occasion.

[Sidenote: THE CRITICS.]

While the notices of the pamphlet have been generally favorable, it was not to be expected that all would be so. There are those who see no need for reopening the question herein discussed. While confessing that a part of our troops have been directly wronged by slanderous words and all them wronged by implication, they assert that time only is required to make all things even, and that the dead past should be allowed to bury its dead. Peace loving souls they deprecate controversy, believing that from it will result only needless heart burnings.