The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-03
BY-PLAY OF The BATTLE.
Gen. Wade HamptOn'S Famous Duel
at Gettysburg.

It Was Clearly Irregular, as There
Were No Seconds-But Tt Was About
the Liveliest Duel That Ever Was
Fought-After the War the Duelists
Exchanged Letters of Congratu1a-
ton.
T. ]. Mackey in ST Louis Republic
In the breaking dawn of July ., 1868,
1000 cavalrymen sat in silence upon
their horses on the extreme left of the
confederate battle line at Gettysburg
The field in their front was curtained
with heavy mist, as if kindly nature
had sought to veil the appalling traces of
the tragedy there enacted. 1t had been
sown with shot and bladed thick with
steel on the previous afternoon, and the
harvest of death was ungathered, lying
in windows along the CHASTITY burrows
that mad been cut by the red plowshare
of war. The infantry line stretched
far away to the right, and
their gray uniforms blending with
the hazy atmosphere gave them a
very shadowy appearance. Many of the
regiments were indeed but shadows OF
what they had been at noon on the proceed
ing day. Some were in line without even
one commissioned officer, and others with
but the normal strength of a single com
pany. For example, as aUtested by the
official record, the Twenty-sixth North
Carolina entered the battle with 500 rank
|. and hle, and, although none was cap
tured, but 50 answered to their names at
close of day. Col. Henry X. Burgwyn.
Jr., who commanded it, and all the field
officers were killed. Capt. H. c. Al
bright, who took command of it after the
battle, was its only commissioned officer
left unwounded.
Company H, of the same regiment
went in with eighty-four men and three
officers, and came out with but one mar
standing upon his feet all the others hav
ing been killed or wounded. ! knew the
sole unstricken survivor well. He was
Private John Secrest, a robust young
farmer of Mecklenburg county, North
Carolina, and / regret to state that in
stead of being grateful to providence fol
having plucked him as brand from the
burning, he grumbled loudly over the loss
of one of his shoes, torn from his foot by
grape shot that struck the heel while he
was falling back in good order.
The fifty squadrons of horse that were
/ awaiting orders in dreamy half sleep
were commanded by Brig, Gen. Wade
J Hampton. He was the beau ideal of q
/ cavalry commander; of tall, heroic form
/ a superb horseman, brave and euterpris
! ing, without being rash, and with daring
! always tempered by sound Judgment
/ He was unquestionably the strongest man
/ in the confederate service, and the only
! one in either army who, enlisting as
4 private soldier, rose to the rank Of lieu.
tenant general. But although a iudicious
! commander, he was possessed of q
! knightly spirit Of adventure, and as ad
ventures come to adventures, his bril-
liant military career was marked BY
many thrilling personal experiences.
But brave heart is no buclzler against
a steel blade, as Gen. Hampton realized
that morning. Hearing bullet hiss lust
over his head, he turned his face towarc
the belt of open woods on his left in tim,
to see the fash of a gun at a point abou
| 300 yards away, and then he heard an
other leaden messenger cut the air neal
| him. He at once rode at a brisk trot il
the direction of the timber to find out thu
early bird of n sharpshooter who thus
broke upon the quiet of the morning
! with his shrill note OF battle. When h,