Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-03-15
q gtories 1T the Nar.

..'o. gtaries 1T the Mar.
no THETFIGHTy AT GRAVELLY RUN.
tATHRILLING STORY OF DEATHLEss DEEDS
BIZ Mujor j. Fitz James Caldpeu, First Regi.
's1f nee1t s. C.. w., McG0lCG7's Brigade.
The closing scenes in the career of the Ar
,myof Northern Virginia were in keeping
With its formerrecord., 1t has generally been
supposed that that starved and tattered band
collapsed from exhaustion in itself rather
than under the blows of its adversary. But
such was not the case. 1t is true that its
powers of resistance had been greatly dimin-
ished by the long and continued mental
strain imposed upon it, and by the exposure,
insufficient food, insufficient clothing and
constantly bodily labor, which had charac-
terized almostits whole existence, and which
were particularly characteristic of its last
term in,winter-quarters; but it is undenia-
BILE that it preserved to the lasta large share
of that courage which had rendered 1t world
renowned, and that it's physical ability for
hard marching, rapid maneuvering and
brilliant fighting was not excessively abated.
I do not mean that it could have repeated
the MARYLAND campaign of 1862, or that it
would fight again as it had fought at Cold
Harbor or Gettysburg; it certainly was not
equal to another Second Manassas or Chan
.celhorsyille. It, had lost too much of its
moral energy, and too much of its physical
strength, for such performances as those.
But the physical force which it still retained
was so
THOROUGHLY TRAINED AND DISCIPLINED
as to be capable of very considerable effect,
ifproperly managed, and it had not lost its
pride or dogged determination. These SOL
diers were not now "That strength which in
old days moved earth and heaven, /" but they
were still, as Ulysses claimed for his war
worn Greeks: t't
"One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
Tostrive, to seek, to find, and not to yield
OR as Swinton has expressed it, this army
possessed such vitality in all its parts that it
perished only with its ahnihilatlon.
: Not many of us fancied, when the Sprlng
of 1866 set in, and more active campaigning
looked near, that we were so close to the
termination of our warfare. The prospect
before us was anything but fiattering; but
we were so accustomed to privation, to hard
marching, and to fighting against heavy odds
that we did not realize the possibility of our
falling to withstand, for few months at
least, even the great numbers arrayed
against us. We still felt almost unbounded
confidence in ourselves and in our generals,
and we resolutely put aside and refused to
entertain apprehensions which, we after
wards learned, filled almost all hearts in the
Confederacy except our own.
When, therefore, we were marched out OF
our winter quarters on the night of Wednes-
day, the 10Th Of March, and moved west
ward, we proceeded with all the promptness,
if not the cheerfulness, that had heretofore
marked quitting of our places Of confine-
ment. conjectured very accurately what
was before us. The stir which had perva-
ded the Federal army for several days, the
firing on parts of the line, occasionally,
where all had formerly been quiet. the
weather, which inYited.. active operations,
and above all, the fighting we had just had
over the picket line in our immediate front,
all lied us to expect very serious operations
in the near future.
We marched through the darkness, and
soon through the rain, along the Boydton
er's Run, almost due west from the camp.
Just before we moved
A HEAVY FIRE OF ARTILLERY
began about Petersburg, some four miles
east of the camp, and as we progressed we
could still hear the frequent though receding
boom of cannon and could see the flash of
shells and rockets in the air. We halted
about three miles west of our winter quar-
tiers, and, therefore, about seven miles west
of Petersburg, between midnight and day,
and remained there in bivouac until some
time after daylight. During the morning
of the 30th we were carried across to Hatch
er's Run and placed in breastworks which
constituted prolongation OF
THE LINES AROUND PETERSBURG.
Here we lay in the rain during the rest of
the day and until about 8 O'Clock in the
forenoon of the 21st. A little before that
time Gen. MCGOWAN desired me-his act
ing aide-de-camp at the time-to ride with
him to see Gen. Wise, of Virginia, whose
brigade lay near us, and who was tempo
rarily lodged in cabin near by.
On our way Gen. MCGOWAN informed me
that it was probable that we should be sent
in front of the works to attack the enemy
there, and that he wished to have from
Gen. Wise, who had been here some days,
some description Of the ground upon which
we were to operate. We found the white
haired Virginian in his rude log-cabin, and
he proceeded, briefly but very clearly, to
describe the topography of the country be-
fore us. He drew diagram of our own
and the enemy's lines, and of the roads and
streams in our front, saying that it was
very likely we should be sent out to beat
back the Federal Left and roll it up to Hatch
er's run or thereabouts. He had fought on
this line few days before, and his sketch
was the result of his own observation. We
found the diagram quite correct in its out
lines, with the single exception, that he
drew Gravelly Run too near parallel with
Hatcher's Run. But this was caused, 1 have
since thought, by his mistaking small
tributary to Gravelly Run, little to the
east of the point which we now fronted,
for the main stream, and thus did not dis
close to us the facilities which the enemy
would have to throw fresh trQols betMesp
rs and our works, II we moved IN IrOnl anu
at right angles with the works. He de-
scribed the nature of the surface quite well,
and his account of the tangled slashes IN
which his brigade had become involved
was very graphic and amusing: -,
I'VE returned to the brigade, and Just then
Gen. Bushrod johnson desired us-Gen. NC
GoWan and me-to ride with him. The brl-
rade was put in readiness to move, but le1t
there, while we proceeded to pass out OF the
works by the White Oak Road, and to pur-
sue that road alongits westerly course. Ihls
road, which runs almost due west from Bur
gess' Mill for about mile, turns south
ward at the point where our breastWorKs
crossed it. So after passing out OF the WORKS
and riding a few hundred wards along the