Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-08-23
2ith N, C.. Regiment.

<Atn Ne Cs UkeSiihent'
We very cheerfully publish the following which
we would have done as readily before the election
as after it Our friend Col Clarke, therefore need
not have withheld it until now on that account
What we stated was upon good authority, yet the
best of men are liable to be mistaken and hence We
publish the correction because we know our intor-
mant would not do injustice, nor would we, TO any
officer or soldier in the Confederacy. The reputa-
ton of all our brave is dear to US, as we have
abundanty shown nor would we have obtained
single vote for Col Vance by other means than truth
and justice would approve
CAMP NEAR PETERSBURG, Va,
August 18th, 1852.
Mr. HoLpES:-As the election is and no po
itical motive can be attributed to in asking you,
rs a matter of justice to my regiment, to correct
statement in issue of your paper, some weeks
since, respecting the battle of the 1st July, at
Crewss Farm, or Malvern Hill, respectfully re-
ques. that you will publish the following:
You stated, in substance, that Col, Vances regi-
ment led the charge upon the batteries and that he
had four men killed within forty yards of the ene-
my's guns which was nearer than any other South
ern troops approached them.
tits not true that Col VS. regiment led the charge.
That was done by my own regiment the Oath N.
G.. troops, which was on the held an hour before
Col. Eances arrived.
Our brigade I'D Y. G. troops, commanded by Brig.
Gen'l Ransom} had been deployed between swamp
and pine thicket northwest of the Malvern field,
to repe an expected attack of the enemy at that
point, when, about the middle of the afternoon, an
order came for US to advance. Gen. r. commanded
me to put my regiment in motion, and rode down
the line to communicate the order to the other reg
iments of the brigade My regiment was on the
right and Col. Vance's on the extreme LETT We
marched at quick time, by the right flank, along
the edge of the woods the west OF the held until
we arrived Immediately opposite the battery, which
was midway the eastern border OF the clearing,
which is quite large, containing, should say, at
least 900 acres From the pace at which We march
ed, we must have gone at least mile, before Col.
Vance received the ORDER and put his regiment in
motion.
was conducted by an aid-de-camp Of Genl Ma
gruder to that officer, and after short delay, was
10y him ordered to charge the battery directly in
front, about mile distant. | Immediately dashed
the regiment forward in line Of battle haltng three
times. Once enable the men to get breath, and
twice because other troops were between us and
the enemy. Whenever halted | selected valley
or depression in the ground, and caused the men
to lie down Immediately. This, together with the
formation Of the regiment in line of battle while I'M
der cover, before charged, instead Of deploying
on tho field under fire, accounts for my small list of
casualties.
Col Vance came on the field to the right of the posi-
ton was desirable that he should occupy, and was
compelled to file to the left. While executing this
movement some of the troops in front of our brigade
rctreated and passed through his regiment, cutting
off part of it. The company of Capt Jones was
thus separated from his regiment, and the Captain
hearing and recognizing my voice, came to me and
requested permission to form on my left, which
cheerfullv accorded to him. and when we shortly
afterwards charged directly the battery, some OF
his men were killed in the same ranks with mine, at
ia - I,,nl cd IL,
Col. Vance will corroborate the foregoing
The fugitives who cut Col. Vance's regiment did
us great damage as We knowing that we had troops
in 'front.' and not knowing that they had retreated,
feared, in the obscurty caused by :he smoke and
the approaching darkness, to fire on any body of
men in front of us, lest we should destroy our own
men, Had we light to see what were about and
to distinguish friend from foe, our brigade would
have taken that powerful battery, said to have num-
bered fully fifty guns, without sustaining scarcely
any more loss than We actually suffered.
A large body of men at one time approached us,
and when they were about fifty yards distant | Or
dered my men to fire. A cry came from the rear
that we had slain our own men. have since learn
ed from prisoners that it was a Yankee regiment,
and that it we cut it down to eight men
This uncertainty para yzed our efforts, and caused
me to withdraw the regiment between nine and ten
O'clock P. NJ. The enemy retreated in great haste,
shortly afterwards, leaving large number of his
ueau on the UeHl. nc nau TeUONeu oel"eeH oOO
and 1000 few hundred yards to the rear. In this
desperate and stubbornly contested conflict he lost
more men than we.
The second brigade undoubtedly turned the tide
of battle. 1t held its position and checked all ad-
vances of the enemy, and finally retired in good
der, only when it was impossible to continue the
battle on account of the darkness. The Yankees
will have to bring better men than they had that
day. before they whip the second bril- ade, and we
are willing to try it over again, at any :ime, on a
fair and open field with equal numbers.
"Where breathes the foe can stand before US,
With Freedoms soil beneath feet
And Freedoms banner waving DER us?"
Very respectfully,