Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-19
| MIR. BzoCabe's Hfstory-Letter from Gem.
Lane I'm Defence of the North Caroline

mr. HioCabe'S H1stOry-AetteF from GeM.
Lane In Defence of the North Carolina
Troops.
i Gen. James lei. Lano communicates the
following to the Richmond Times of YES
terday.
Mr. EdSto,,-As Mr. AIoCaho's book will
doubtlessly be read by great many Vir-
ginians, and as there is danger Of the third
days fight ut Gettysburg being received as
the correct one, will you, for the sake of
truth, and in Justice TO the gallant troops
from North Carolina, allow q Virginian,
through your columns to state few facts
relative to that fight, that the public may
learn that Pickett's Division, which only
arrived in timo TO display its bravery in the
last hours Of that struggle, arc not the on
" ''Heroes Of Gettysburg
/ All know that Gettysburg was carried, on
the first day, by Ewell's Corps, and Heth's
and Pender's Divisions, q A. T. Hills
Corps and that while the for1oer command
after bloody struggle carried Seminary
Hill on the right On tho I'd Of July Pen
der's Division, composed Of Lanes Scales,
! McGowan's and Thomas bTigade8, extend
ed from the Fairfield road to tho right
along Seminary Hill, in the order mention
cd above: and there Vas gallant fiehtino
! that day along its front, between It's sharp
! shooters and those Of the enemy, foa. the
possession Of q road running between the
two lines OF battIe--our men succeeded in
driving the enemy from the road aud held
| it. 1t was General Penders intention to-
/ advance that afternoon, had the attack on
the right been more successful. While on
| the right Of his command Watching the
| progress O. the fight, our accomplished,
Christian commander, who had won SO
many laurei5 or SO many hard fought bat-
! tle-feidg, received his fatal wound and
| the command Ct his division doyo1vod up
on ne, as Its senior Brigadier.
! Late that afternoon [ received q note
| from Gen. Evell complimenting the sharp
! shooters Of our division for their gallant
! fighting, and informing ne that he intend
ed to attack the enemy that night. am re-
! questing ne to protect Rarnseur'g right
Ramseur's brigade being on tho right of
Rhodes division, which was tho right d.
vision Of EWells corps. AS soon as it was
dark, | threw McGOwan's brigade, under
colonel, afterwards General Perrin, and
! Thomas's brigade, from my right into the
road occupied by the eherpshooters Of our
division, that [ might prevent Ew0ll'e right
from being turned but for reasons IN
known to me, tho attack was not made, at
least by the right Of Ewells line. Next
morning Gen. Lee appeared in front Of nv
line, reconnoitered the enemy's position,
and, when he was about to leave, he re-
marked that he needed more troops on
the right, but that he did not know where
they were to come from" Soon after I
was ordered to leave Thomas and Perrin to
hold the road they we're occupying, and to
move my own brigade and Scales to the
right, and report to Gen. Longstreek for
further orders Gen. Longstreet ordered
me to form in the rear of tho right Of Hills
/ ! Jo17 l..
PettigreW-this division was on the left of
Pickett. After [ had taken this position,
Major-General Trimhle, who had joined
| the army from the valley of Virginia, re-
lieved me of the command of Pender's d.
vision. My position was such RS to pre-
vent my seeing the first movements Of the
front llne-there being narrow strip Of
intervening woods: but General Thomas,
who could see from his position in the road
everything that was going on, on the left,
informed me, the next day, that Broken
broughs bri gade, which was on the lett of
Heth's division, did not advance further
than the road and that Davis brigade,
which was next to it, pushed forward in ad-
vance Of the general line, with too much
impetuosity, and was driven back.
The remaining brigades of Reth s division
were Pettigrew's and Archer's but it will
be remembered that the greater part of
Archer's brigade and General Archer him.
self were captured in the first days fight
When General Trimble ordered US forward
we advanced and took position on the left
of the troops that were fighting, and when
the right of my brigade was within short
distance OF the stone fence that was used
by the enemy for q breastwork-my brig
ade was now the extreme left of the attack
ing force-one OF General Longstreet's staff
officers came dashing through hot fire
with orders from General Longstreet to
move my command rapidly to the left, as
the enemy had thrown out a fianking force
in that direction, which was already pouring
o destructive fire into us. On ordering
Colonel Avery, of the thirty third North
Carolina regiment, which was the left OF
my command, to face the left for the pur-
pose of meeting this fanking column of the
enemy, he replied, ''MY God General. do
you intend rushing your men into such g.
place unsupported, and when the troops on
the right are falling back? ?" Seeing that
it was useless to sacrifice so many brave
men, ordered my command back, and in
accordance with orders from General Trim
BILE, who was leaving the field wounded, Il
reformed in the roar of the artillery.
know too we'll what it is to be q soldier
to wish to do injustice to any command,
and | regret to see that the historians from
my uaGlF6 Cttt0 arc SO very ESart1ai TO Ilck-
ett's division. In tho many published &C.
counts Of the third days fight at Gettys-
burg, not an allusion has ever been made,
that I am aware Of, to my brigade and
Scales and now that Mr.. McCabe puts
forth his book as history and makes no
mention Of us, think that it is my duty
to inform the public that Lanes North
Carolina brigade was there, that it fought
on the extreme left Of Longstreet's ines
that it remained on the field as long as any
other portion Of the line, and that it dis
played tho same bravery that it did at
Spottsylvania court house on the 18th Of
May, which calls forth such compliment
tary notice from General Early in lis re-
port OF that battle: and afterwards st
Ream's Station, when General Leo told NE
that ''North Carolina had cause to be proud
of such troops" General Lees remark in
front Of my line on the morning Of the Sd
Of July, points, I think, to the true cause
Of our failure in that afternoon assault.
JAMES II. LAM.