The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-11-23


the discipline, tho world ever SAW. 1t pos
sessed oil tho tenacity in line Of the Austrlnns,
all tho confidence in column, boldness in at
tack and cool selfpossosson in dcfcat, of the
British, nnd oil the daring intrepidity and
fearless dash of the French Corps d' Afriquc;
while tho deliberateness and pr. oisiOp with
which it delivered its deadly rifle fro, inflict-
ing nearly double loss on tho enemy in al
most cyory engagement, attested its vast supe.
riority over thut of the enemy. Tho Curted
crate skirmishers were tho terror of the Fed
oral army and in oil combined movements
in tho open field and with numbers always
inferior So the onemy, the Southern infantry
has never failed to win tho field. This supe-
riority proceeded not from tho greater bra
very of tho Confedernte troops, but from their
greater combined skill and intelligence, flow
ing from that larger latitude given to individ-
unl action. Without their officers to guide
and direct them, the Federal troops were lit.
tlo bttter than an armed mob. The Conftde-
rate troops acted generally rs we'll without
as with their officers, whose superiority was
only the temporary distinction of rank. There
! were men in the ranks of tho Southern army
who could have supplied tho places of their
general officers. Con. Roger A Pryor, after
gnllan'ly serving his country as Commander
of brigade, rendered his resignation, and
fought to tho end of the wlr in tho capmcty
RI
| mia cavalry.
The English refer with just pride and en-
thusinstlc praise to tho solid tenacity aud
stubborn courage Of tho British infantry at
| the battle of lpkermann, where 5000 British
light foot held in check and finally repulsed
$4,000 Russian infantry but it cannot COM
pare with tho brilliant and spirited inflntry
charges Of Ewoll's and L M gstreets corps
upon tho fortified position of the enemy mt
GETTYSBURG, on tho evening of the second days
/ battle, whrre the Southern infantry moved to
the assault under whitening artillery fire,
and swept before it three heavy lines of bat
tie. And nothing is so forcibly illustrative
of that high intelligence that was the distin-
gushing characteristic of the Southern army,
than tho fact that it saw and felt, before the
attack was made, that the assault of the Sd
mu4t prove failure.
The cavalry branch of tho Confederate
army wns, strictly sp aking, only part of
its infantry army, clothed with equestrian
powers and of1iccs 1t was only a body of
mounted infantry, TINT, rs advanced videttes
l and daring scouts, formed tho ears and eyes
"f that army that never was but once taken
by surprise. The mounted force of the Con-
fedcrate army resemhled the Russian Cos
sack, whose Office is to harass and threaten,
not to attack ; and as guerrillas, they became
as renowned rs the famous knights of the Cid
Ashby, and Stuart, and Forrest, and Hump
ton, aud Moseby, and Fltz Lee, recall tho
memories of Villars and Fiiz Jumes-nf Tan
| cred and Alva-never of Rupert and Murat.
But the essential pride and glory Oh tho
Southern army, particularly of that portion
| OF it that was known as the "Army of North
ern Virginia" was its matchless artillery
arm. The world might have been confidently
challenged to produce such splendid array
of high intelligence, practical skill and dis
ciplined valor as was centered in that re-
nowned artillery corps that was welded by
that eminent patriot Chief Major.G General
William IL. Pendleton. AS body it was
composed of the very pride and flower of the
Southern chivalry, nnd fully attestod its lofty
ciaimsto TO distinction on oil those bloody fields,
1t etching from Manassas to Petersburg and
It Is the especial glory of the famous Wash
ingtou Artillery to have first wreathed the
Confederate banner with the smoke of its
gnns on the field of Bull Run, and doomed
tho last hostile defiance On mourDfnl Appo-
mattox. Walton, Walker and Long; Pougne.
Carter and Haskell Pegram, Mcintosh and
Nelson, are names that will ever he honored
in tho proud pantheon of Southern heroism
and devotion, and will live as long as the
tame of that immortal struggle which thew
so brilliantly signalized by their own lofty
endeavur.
The original organic ,tion of tho Confederate
artillery Was into companies, attached to its in
fantry brigade, anu subject to the orders of tho
hrigadcr but 1t was aOun discovered that cnm-
man :ers of Drigades th5 great majority If whom
were from tho walks or civil life were not the al AS
of officers to give tho artillery arm that power and
Effectiveness uf which, uu!er skill ul, scientific d.-
rcc'ion it Was 40 eninenty susceptible. There.
lore before the opening Of the Spring camp 4jpn
Of 1868, regular artillery aud ordnance a. all wa,
organized, III the Srmy OF Northern Vlrgluia with
Pendicton at its head. Battaiious wero formed
numbering from sixteen to twenty guns each and
Up r. ting in tho field with its respective il fanry
olNison, and each under the immediate command
OF rs own artillery chief who had been assigned
,r promoted to it by reason of his dlstiuguishe
II ness and qualification, as indicated by former
tests OF high excellence III the pracico of the field
tilIery officers, the grand Southern field park, both
mounted and horse, proudly asserted its claim to
place i'll the very front rank Of tho artillery ar
mament OF the world. pelham's and M,Greeor's
famous cavalry batteries, that operated with the
ishing troopers OF Stuart, won distinction acc
artillery of Austria.
For the first two years ofthe war, the field metal
OF the confederate park was gres tIy interior TO
that OF the enemy. The battles OF Bull Run Ma
naasas and the Seven Pines were fought . iii six
FOUNDER guns, twelve-pounder howitzer and a few
three-inch rifles and 1T was not until the battle
OF Chancellorsvile that tho Confederate artillery
armament was OF sufficient hoavy metal to cope
successfully with the formidable Federal field ord
lance: BY capture and foreign purchase, the mr.
strengthened by full field compliment OF ten and
| two ItA-Poundsr Parrots, the twelve. .pounder Ma
p0leon gun howitzer and few WhitwOrth and
Armstrong riaeJ but the tWenty.pou ndcr Par.
rott. aud the welve.pounder NapUleuns were the
WEAPONS with which tho Confederate artillery
ohlehy won Their bloody trophies aud wrote sucn
brilliant chapter in tho records OF high artillery
periOr romance. In nothing waa the Son, b.rp