Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-11-01

greater cOuUlueu Shill duu IuteiiiSouoo,
flowing from that larger latitude given to
individual action. Without their officers to
guide and direct them, the Federal troops
were little better than an armed mob. The
Confederate troops acted generally as well
without as with their officers, whose supe-
riority was only the temporary distinction Of
rank. There were men in the ranks of the
Southern army, who could have supplied
the places of their general officers. Gen,
Roger A. Pryor, after gallautly serving his
country as commander of a brigade, ten
dered his resignation, and fought to the end
of the war in the capacity of gallant pri'
vate of the famous 9th Virginia cavalry.
The English refer with just pride and
enthusiastic praise, to the solid tenacity and
stubborn courage of the British infantry at
the battle of Inkerman, where 5000 Brit.
ish iightfoot held in check and finally re.
pulsed $4,000 Russian infantry, but it can.
not compare with the brilliant and spirited
infantry charges of Ewell's and Longstreet's
corps upon the fortified position, of the enc.
my at Gettysburg, on the evening of the
second days battle, where the Southern in
fantry moved to the assault under wither-
lug artillery fire, and swept before it three
heavy lines of battle. And nothing is so
forcibly Illustrative of that high intelligence
that was the Distinguishing characteristic of
the Southern army, than the fact that it saw
and felt, before the attack was made, that
the assault of the third must prove a fail.
ure.
The cavalry branch of the Confederate
army was, strictly speaking, only part of
its infantry arm, clothed with equestrian
powers and Offices. 1t was only superior
body of mounted infantry that, as advanced
videttes and daring scouts, formed the ears
and eyes of that army that was never but
once taken by surprise. The mounted force
of the Confederate army resembled the
Russian Cossack, whose Office is to harass
and threaten, not to attack; and as gueril-
las, they became as renowned as the famous
knights of the Cid Ashby, and Stuart,
aud Forrest, and Hampton, and Mosby, aud
Fitz Lee, recall memories of Villars and
Ftz James-of Tancred and Alva-never
of Rupert and Murat
But the essential pride and glory of the
Southern army, particularly of that portion
of it that was known as the "Army of
Northern Virginia." was its matchless ar
tillery arm The world might have been
confidently challenged to produce such a
splendid array of high Intelligence, prac-
ticed skill and discipline, as was centered
10 that renowned artillery corps that was
welded by that eminent patriot chief, Maj.
General William H Pendleton. As a
body it was composed of the very pride and
flower of Southern chivalry, and fully at
tested its lofty claims to distinction on all
those bloody fields, stretching from Manas-
sas to Petersburg, and it is the especial
glory of the famous Washington Artillery
to have first wreathed the Confederate ban
uer with the smoke of its guns on the field
of Bull Run, aud doomed the last hostile
defiance on mourDful Appomattox. Wal
ton, Walker and Long Poague, Carter and
Haskell Pegram, Mcintosh and Nelson,
are names that will ever be honored in the
proud pantheon of Southern heroism and
devotion, and will live as long as the fame
of that immortal struggle which they so
brilliantly sigualized by their own lofty en-
deavor
The original organization of the Confed
crate artillery was into companies, attached
each to its infantry brigade, and subject to
the orders Of the brigadier; but it was soon
discovered that commanders of brigades, the
great majority of whom were from the walks
of civil life, were not the class of officers
to give the artillery arm that power and et-
fectiveness which, under skilful, scientif-
ic direction, it was so eminently susceptible.
Therefore, before the opening of the spring
campaign of 1868, regular artillery and
ordnance staff was organized in the Army OF
Northern Virginia, with General Pendle-
ton at its head. Battalions we're formed,
numbering from sixteen to twenty guns
each, and operating in the field with its re-.
spective infantry division, and each under
the immediate command of its own artillery
chief, who had been assigned or promoted
to it by reason of his distinguished fitness
and qualification, as indicated by former
tests of high excellence in the practice of
the field And under the direction OF this
able corps of artillery officers, the grand
Southern field park, both mounted and horse,
proudly asserted its claim to place in the
very front rank of the artillery armament
of the world. Pelham's and McGregor's 8
famous cavalry batteries that operated with
the dashing troopers of Stuart, won dis
tinction second not even to the celebrity of
the famous flying artillery of Austria.
For the first two years of the war the field
metal of the Confederate park was greatly
inferior to that Of the enemy. The bat
ties of Bull Run, Manassas and the Seven
Pines were fought with six FOUNDER guns,
twelve FOUNDER howitzers and few three
inch rifles; and it was not until the battle
of Charlottesville that the Confederate ar
tillery armament was of sufficiently heavy
metal to cope successfully with the formld-
able Federal field ordnance. BY capture
and foreign purchase the artillery of the
Army of Northern Virginia was strengthen