The Portland daily press., 1892-05-21

of line on dress parade" 1t was in doing
this execution that the Carolinians fired
away all their bullets and took to rif1ing
the boxes Of the dead for more. And it
got as good as it gave. One of the wound
ed of Rowley's brigade, who lay on the field
when the Carolinians passed on in pursuit
of the retreating Union columns, said that
they didn't charge in line of battle, but in
squads, SO hot was the Union fire. The
Twenty -siXth showed no line of battle
when it finally advanced over the field it
had won, because there were only ten iso-
lated squads where formerly the ten mag
nifcent companies had been. Over 900 Of
the S20men had caught hot bullet apiece
and some of them two OF three. The roll
call that evening showed exactly ZIG men
unhurt.
It might be thought that another fur
Tough would fall to the lot of a regiment
SO terribly punished. No; it took its place
in line on July to support Pickett's
charge on the left of the column Its place
that day was the right of Pettigrew's d.
vision joining the left of Pickett, con-
Meeting link between the two. AS Pickett
advanced the uneven ground broke the
formation of the line, and the Carolinians
touched elbows to the right and chung
close to Pickett's column. They kept in
step with his line over the meadows, across
Emmitsburg pike, on, on up the slope to
the stone wall north of the angle. At that
point the wall receded toward the Union
line and compelled them to g~ artherthan
Pickett in order to reach sworks,
Bravely the little rem. mt, sp i to come
From the jaws Of death,
Back from the mouth of hell
on the first day, held their grip on the
flank of Pickett's proud stepping battalions,
like the little boys on the flying end of the
line IN Snap the Whip" bravely they faced
the whitening blast of fire that greeted the
charge, and bravely they leaped the stone
wall and struggled few PAGES beyond it,
carving the true high water mark of the
rebellion; then the color bearer fixed the
staff among the loose stones and fell dead
across the wall.
During the charge up the slope the regi
ment had fired but few shots, but at the
wall the rifles were busily piled until
countercharge on the flank and rear showed
the hopelessness of their daring effort
Looking to the left Union brigades and
batteries were sweeping the field Not a
mounted officer survived in the Carolina
brigade. Looking to the right they saw Pick
ett's line broken and his men retreating.
The commander, MAJ. Jones, got to-
gether go men and led them back to the
starting point. Describing the experience
of the Twenty-sixth during the charge he
said: When we had crossed about half the
intervening space the enemy opened upon
US tremendous shower of grape and can
lister, but on we dashed When we had
gotten within about 200 yards of the enc
my's works we commenced firing, but still
nr7a OF, .F lonl ~
met us is beyond description. Grape and
canister, intermingled with minies. The
smoke was Dense and at times / could
scarcely distinguish my own men from
Pickett's. On we pushed and were now
right upon the enemy's works. when we
received murderous fire upon our left
flank. Hooked to see where it came from
and lol we were completely thanked upon
our left, not only by infantry, but by ar
tillery.
AT the very moment l thought victory
ours, | saw it snatched from our hands
With no support on the left asked myself
what should we do. had only sixty men
left in my regiment and that small mum
Der was diminishing every moment. The
order came from the right to fall back.
We did SO at the same time with Pickett.
The day was lost" By way of apology for
retreating from the angle he said. with
our thinned ranks in such a position it
would have been folly to stand against
such Odds"
There were ZIG in the band when it start
ed to climb Cemetery Ridge, and that
night so answered to roll call, many Of
them wounded. In one company that mus
tered "a on July /, only the orderly SER
geant was left, and he wore a bullethole
in each leg. In another company ser
geant and men were left, every last man
of the absent being killed or wounded. So
it was throughout the regiment. When
the official count was made IS were known
to have been killed outright, SOC wounded
and 100 were missing. All of the missing
were in Pickett's charge, and many Of
them should be added to the killed and
wounded. u
Three months after Gettysburg, the
Twenty-sixth lost 80 killed and wounded
In charge at Bristol Station Va, but in
spite Of its many disasters kept the field to
the end and was among the elect found
fighting in the Confederacy's Last Ditch"
Es1- GEORGE l.. KILMER.
Spider Silk.
Mrs. White mentions as great curl