The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-07-27

,"'"pnc "Helc ven. render c0mpli
mented the regiment for its gallant con
duct In like manner lie complmented
each regiment through its commander
lor lis glorious days work. The Four.
teenth having the shortest cut rcache,
the Main street first, but Major McCrear,
reached it further Oh and first held the
more central or advanced position, where
Inc Fourteenth again Joined it. The
streets and fencing look now as they did
then. Only hedge has been allowed to
grow up and spread on the north side OF
boundary street by which the Fourteenth
passed into town.
Gen. Rode's Division of Gen. Ewell's
corps now coming UP. the First and
Fourteenth were ordered back aud Joined
the Twelfth and Thirteenth between the
Town and Seminary. where we rested.
GEN. LEE AND THE CAEoLINIANs.
Gcn. Fender was at the Ridge whore
We first entered the battle and saw the
close lighting throughout. He saw the
brigade as 1t appeared from his point to
almost ming'e with the Union soldiers,
ana passing the Seminary and the Ridge
almost together, and out of sight and the
ilring ,ceasing, he supposed that the
i'rigade WAS captured. Riding forward,
however, he met Lieut.. Simmons. of the
twelfth, who was wounded, and of whom
he made the inquiry if the Brigade was
captured to which the Lieutenant an.
swered. "No. it is over the Hill yonder."
The large body Of the enemy known to
be there we'll justified HE tesrs.} The
General then rode forward with speed,
and ordered the Twelfth and Thirteenth
back to a point hetwse the town and
Seminary to protect the right flank, and
then into tuHn where he overlook tho
Fourteenth nd First, as above stated,
zen. Lee then came up, and all honor
was then giver to "the South Carolina
brigade that captured Gettysburg"
THE LOSSES.
The points Of greatest dauger were held
by the regiments on the right and left,
the Thirteenth on the right and the First
on the left. The Thirteenth was nearest
the cavalry with repeating rifles at the
stone fence, and lost more in killed than
any other. Col. Brockman, although
too sick for duty, was at his post, but the
movements for that reason were largely
conducted by Lieut.. Col. /. F. Hunt. It
added to the regiments already high rep-
utation acquired under its former gallant
commander, Col. o. f. Edwards, who fell
commanding the brigade, after the
wounding of Gen. McGowan Mt Chancel-
lorsvi,!e.
The First, being on the left, had to en-
counter long line of infantry overlap.
ping its left, and was nearest the artil-
lery.
The centre, comprising the Twelfth and
Fourteenth, was swept by the same en-
filading fire that enfiladed our thanking
regiments, and the losses in men were
nearly equal in all the regiments in pro.
portion to the numbers engaged. The
Twelfth sustained heavy loss from the
artillery fire directed towards the centre
1t would seem impossible for any Of
the regiments to have sustained more
than it had to meet or to have borne
more than it had to encounter. There
would have been enough glory in any
one of them to have carried its own front.
All Of them had more than this to do.
no ESCAPE FOR THE wcusDED.
The losses were immense. The Four.
tccnth, which was the largest regiment,
lost over 200 in killed and wounded out
of 475 carried into action. The Thir.
teenth had sixty-f four killed or to die OF
their wounds. All the regiments lost
over third. There was no loss of
prisoners. They were all killed or woun.
ded. Over six hundred had fallen in
front Of those breastworks. The thou.
sand of hostile bayonets that appeared
and passed around the sides of the Sem
mary building comprised what remained
of fifteen hundred carried into action.
The nature of the ground was such and
the contest 30 brief that the wounded
could not be moved, and were wounded
twice, thrice and as many as four times,
after being first stricken down. Large
numbers died of their wounds. A few
%ho, with shattered arms Or wounded
bodies. ran back in safety to the surgeons,
have not ceased to admire their lsgs for
the good service rendered. it was the
only battlefield in which all avenues of
escape for our wounded were closed
There was nothing that the ambulance
corps could do. The ground was swept
at every point by the deadly minnie balls.
The artillery fire is terrible, but the al.
most silent whirl of the minnie ball is
the death-dealing missile in battle. Not
a foot of ground presented a place Of
safety. The Union troops fired low, and
their balls swept close to the ground in
the dishlike field in their front. The
terrible strife was over in few minutes
fifteen, say twenty at most. Men nev-
er fell faster in this brigade, and perhaps
never equalled, except in Orr's regiment
at Gaines's Mill. On our side the firing
was not slack nor wild. The trees in the
Seminary grounds where the Union lines
ran are still thickly covered:with scars,
from the ground 10 the height of man,
made with the bullets of our unerring
rifles. They are we'll marked on their
western sides. And the ground strcwn
with their dead and wounded we'll attes.
ted the accuracy of the deadly aim.
THE GALLANT ENEMY.
1t WAS no ordinary soldier that we had
met. The prisoners captured were more
intelligent than on other fields. They
were mostly Pennsylvanians fighting for
everything they held dear. The celebra.
ted Iron Brigade was in our front. The
12lst Pennsylvania, l43d Pennsylvania,
149th Pennsylvania, l5lst Pennsylvania,
and others not remembered. Maine
troops were there, who stated that they
came in not more than fifteen minutes
before the action began. Then the or.
tillery on our right, cavalry behind the
stone wall, all holding to the death. But
there was no crossing Of swords and bay.
onete, for this is seldom done except on
paper. It was no time for thousand
hair. breadth escapes with nobody hurt.
1t was not the clipping off of clothing, but
the bodies of men that were struck.
While the losses in line officers and men
were great it was remarkable that not q
single field officer was disabled for duly,
though they did not escape innsbruck.