The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-10-01
Last Day. Of Harris Mississippi Brigade.


d In Whitworth we still kept up a hea,
Of fire, and prepared for the assault on U
i'd and it came in heavy columns. III
N flag of the Forty-eigth Hoated defiant
Of over our heads, and was twice sh
from the staff; the third time it was a
tached to a rifle, and fiaunted in the
faces. Nearer and nearer came Il
Federals and the quicker did our riff
se crack, that counted at every instan
In reckless abandon, Gen Harris spran
upon the low parapet, and with our fla
in his hands yelled out to US to "gi1
'em hell" For moment the enem
d Stacked their steady tramp; then seein
b no chance for us to repulse them, Gel
n Harris gave the word, "eyery man fC
n himself; and then, just as the Fedora
IS were within few yards of US, to righ
q left and centre, we sprang out the work
9 and hastily sought the rear. It was il
e deed every man for himself, and th
6 race was to the swift. Col. Jayne wa
t struck in the leg and was captured. J
S bullet cut a limb off close to Colone
J, Phipps, and to the repeated cries 0
5 surrender he gave no heed ant
: plunged ahead. Just then half-spen
! ball struck him between the shoulders
|, thereby accellerating his speed as t,
$ soon place him far ahead Of all others
never saw man jump so high in. nj
; life, and as the boys say we had ''lots o.
, fun" out of him about it. Gen. Harris
: was large and feshy. The run com
pletely exhausted him, and he stopped
to catch breath exclaiming, "Pll be
d. d if if / run any more" Just then
his brother and aid-de-camp, Capt VIM
J Harris, turned to recover his hat he had
dropped, and spied the ''Yanks" at close
range, and firing very accurately. Point
ing these out to his brother, the General
again struck out regardless of his vow,
that he wouldn't run any more, and
soon gained the van A little creek lay
in our way, into it, over it, and up the
ridge beyond, and literally into the last
ditch of Petersburg with eur flank in
the suburbs of the place, we rested and
formed line, and turned at bay. The
| Federals did not push their advantage,
and we rested quietly behind some light
trenches. A North Carolina colonel
came into the lines, and asked to fight
with us. A Federal gun dosed us oCca-
sionally with shell, one of which ex-
ploding, wounded the colonel, whom we
sent to the city.
There we stood, mere handful of
troops, exhausted, and fatigued by the
long march of the night before; tired
and depressed by the result of the af-
/ fair at Gregg. We were not a match
for the foe if they had chosen to attack
US. Benning's brigade of Longstreet's
corps arrived and formed on our right.
They numbered only one hundred and
fifty strong. 1t vas in this struggle that
Lieut.. Gen. A. p. Hill was killed. We
did not hear of it until the next day,
and then we sincerely mourned the
death of SO good a man and soldier as
A. ?. Hill.
That night, April I'd, without noise
or disturbance of any kind, we filed out
the lines, passed through Petersburg
amid the walls of sorrow and lamenta-
tions of its people. The distress of the
females was heart-rending, as they be-
sought us not to give them up to the
enemy. The city was filed with the
news of the doings of Harris brigade,
and the cries of distress from these
frightened people, when the Mississip-
plans passed through was fraught with
despair as they regarded the whole de-
tense of Petersburg rested with them
Other commands were utterly lost in
oblivion. Harris brigade was ALL We
crossed the Appomattox and headed to-
ward Richmond, whittier after that, none
knew or dreamed of. Rumors prevailed
that the abandonment of Petersburg
was ruse to draw the Federal army
from its strong position, and fight
pitched battle away from his base. None
were disheartened, and Gen. Lee still
shared the highest confidence of the
men. They never doubted him one mo-
ment. A bright glare in the direction
of Richmond, told of the threat being
put into execution, that Richmond
would be laid in ashes before the sur
render. Loud explosions interrupted
the march, and we wondered for some
time as to the cause. Yearly we
trudged, and near Chesterfield station
we rejoined our division, from whom
we received marked regard. Even with
the dire disaster of the loss of the Capt.
tai and Petersburg, the heroic defense
of Fort Gregg was known and appre-
ciated.
Into the gathering darkness the head
OF the column plunged, on to their doom
that brought glory instead of gloom.
We had no rations when we started, and
expected to draw that night, when the
wagon train caught up. Capt. Stone,
acknowledgement, and several others
sought to steal nap while the division
was filing by. We did SO and another
just before day; and hastily set out to
oyertake them. We found them resting
by the wayside not two hundred yards
from the place of our stolen rest; con-
sequently we were not missed and es-
capped censure.
On the morning of the 4th we reached
Amelia court house and awaited rations
that never came. Great banks of artiI-
lery, wagons and caissons had been coll
lected here, and as we marched off on
peremptory orders, other parties were
busy IN destroying them. The cause of
our march was the irruption of Federal
cavalry on the trains in our front. Har-
ris' Brigade being head of column that
day, Gen. Malone was accosted by a
seeming Confederate caYalryman. who
induced him to ride forward to asee If
those troops over there are not Yam
KEGS Gen. Malone rode cautiously,
and almost rode into an ambuscade. He
wheeled his horse and escaped both shot
and pursuit. Hastily forming Harris
brigade, he doubled-quicked It to the
attack, and with one volley broke the
cavalry with loss.
/ succeeded in gaining a re-mount
here, IN place of mine killed under me at
Fort Gregg. He was a genuine Pegasus
steed, had seen but few years, but was
old IN tricks and meanness; later on, on
the march one morning attempted to
mount him. I grasped his name and
With one foot in the stirrup, lifted N.Y.
self up and actually pulled the animal
over on me, to my disgust and the mer-
riment of others. That animal was soon
gotten rid Of, and the balance of my ca
reer as q soldier Was played IN the line.
We again moved forward, marching
light-ne baggage, no rations, no blan-
kets, no nothing; but rifles loaded and
clean as ever, and ever on the alert for
an active enemy lowering Ia the dis
tance on our front, flank and rear. a
rattle of musketry ahead would tell of
sudden dash on the trains. a bugIeH
call on the TANKS pounding charge
gave ample warning, and facing hy-roads
or hastily moving up to the trains, We
would manage to get il 8 distant valley
or two, and that generally ended the
charge A fight was III progress, Just
ahead of Us, and re marched RAPIDLY.
Il Was over By the time We rot there
a mere boy cavalryman of 0urs eanle
into onr ranks. and TUNED over t. as st
prisoner, Major Gen. Greag Of tho Fed
eraI cavalry whom he had captured