The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-11

For instance, in the first days fight
Company f, from Caldwell county,
had 81 men for duty and lost every
man killed or wounded, except one,
named Robert Hudspeth. In the third
days fight Hudspeth was reinforced
by four or five of his company who
had been on detail duty and all of
them. except Hudspeth, were either
killed or wounded in that charge,
and he was Knocked down by the
conclusion of shell as he was falling
back. After the battle this gallant
hero was made Lieutenant, but, sad
to say, was afterwards stricken with
fever and died in a hospital.
ITO illustrate the cool courage and
unsurpassed bravery of these heroes
of the Goth regiment, attention is call
ed to the number of men who were
shot down, one after another, while
carrying the flag in the first days
fight. The first standard bearer was
j. b. Mansfield, of Chatham, who was
shot down early in the action, but
survived his wound for several years
after the war. All the color guard.
one after another, were shot down,
then Captain McCreery, of General
Pettigrew's staff, seized the flag and
he. too, was shot dead. The next to
share his fate was Colonel Burgwyn
himself. then Frank Honeycutt, or
Union county, undeterred by the fate
Of all who had carried the flag, with
courage worthy of Immortality
snatched it from Colonel Burgwyn,
and he too in a few moments gave up
his gallant spirit to his country and
his God. When Honeycutt fell with
the colors, Lieutenant Colonel Lane
and Lieutenant NJ. A. Blair, of Cald-
well county, both rushed to seize the
fallen flag and had quite struggle as
to who should carry it. Lieutenant
Colonel Lane succeeded in securing
the flag and rushing ahead of his
men shouted to them, "26th, follow
me-" In a few moments, when near
the top of the wooded hill, he fell
desperately wounded as the enemy
broke and fled. 1t was here that a
Federal officer exhibited a courage of
which all American should be proud,
for. as his men turned to flee, he with
only half a dozen beside him stood his
ground, defiantly facing the advanc
ing Confederates and firing with his
pistol until stricken down.
'"That portion of the Union army
that was driven back by the Goth Re-
giment suffered loss almost as great,
and displayed a courage almost equal
TO that of the Goth regiment. Instead
of repeating the old saying of Greek
meeting Greek it may be more APP
propriately said that here Americans
met Americans and our reunited
country may well be proud of all
those heroes-those who wore the
gray and those who wore the blue
who on that occasion displayed cour-
age never surpassed in any war.
1T but adds to the glory of the
Goth regiment to praise the valor of
its opponents on that field of carnage.
The Federal troops opposing Petit
Crews Brigade were Rowley's Brig
AIDE and Cooper's Battery and a part
of the renowned Iron Brigade. This
battery of artillery was one of the
best in the Federal army and in this
fight lost greater number of men
than any other battery in that army.
which shows the destructiveneSs of
the Confederate fire. The official re-
port of Colonel Biddle, commanding
Rowley's Brigade, dated July 2, 1863,
states that The total number of of
ficers and men who went into the ac-
ton was 1,231; out of these 440 were
either killed or wounded, and 457 are
missing leaving as the present effici-
ent force only 800 officers and men,
Zone of the Federal regiments inn
mediately in front of the Goth was the
151st Pennsylvania, which, according
TO the official report of it's Lieutenant
Colonel, carried into that battle 467
men and next morning only 121 an
severed the roll call. Only two cap
tains remained and one of them COM
manded that regiment in the second
and thirty days fight.
This heavy loss of Federal troops,
partially protected as they were by
woods and temporary breast
works. is the best proof OF the cool
courage and effective fire of the goth
regiment, when they were pouring
volleys into each other at a distance
not greater than twenty PAGES"
Major London then paid a tribute to
the Colonies of the Twenty-siXth. The
regiment, he said, had it no other
claim for glory, might be the pride of
the State as ''Zeb Vance's Regiment"
His tribute to Harry X. Burgwyn,
who was elected Colonel before he
became of age, was one of beauty and
choice of rhetoric, tribute from
personal friend and fellow soldier
Speaking of him Major London said
in conclusion:
This young officer fully proved
himself worthy to command such a
body of heroes. He was proud of
them and they of him, and each was
worthy of the other. 1t is no wonder
then that when he called to them to
follow him on that carnage-covered
field of Gettysburg that they so
promptly and readily obeyed him, and
his pride in his men and tie affection
for them are attested by his dying
words, for when he fell in that des-
perate charge his last words, as his
young life-bloOd gushed out, were:
Tell the General my men never failed
me at a single point Then with the
shouts of victory sounding in his ears
and his men rushing upon the foe,
his soul winged it's flight to God. And
while to mortal eyes such death
seems so sad and untimely. what
more glorious death could a soldier
die?"
The third and last Colonel of the
regiment, he said, was John II. Lane,
of Chatham county, who still lives as
one of the survivors of that gallant