The National tribune., 1901-11-07
PETTlGREw'S NORTH CARoLINlANs.
Losses on the First Day When Engaged With
tae Iron Brigade, and Their Part IN the
Famous Charge, July 3.

SAAaAsSr SuAg D.
! EDITOR NAT4ossI. TRIBUNE: | am
| greatly interested silt the North Caroiinian
| tales contained in, the late issues of ihe
National Tribune. Especially those 10y
| capt. Bond, foe ntey present to me in II
new light roiteiHs Uf the field of Gcttys-
| burg.
! In the question of the comparative valor
of the North Carolina and Virginia troops,
of the comparatlYe 'Ifineness of the clay
| from which they Were originally mould
| cd, | am not CONCERNED; but cannot help
/ agreeing with Capt. Bond as 10 the gen
eral untruthfulness and braGSddocio OF
| the KIChmond newspapers of those tunes.
! | had occasion also to notice that tuid1n-
! Dia Is. C.) journals were fully up to the
| IiIciImnnd standard, and if North Caro-
| lima, Sandwlched between the other two,
was modest in her journalism, it must
! have been because her sons with ability
| TO WELD the pen had taken up the sword
instead. If all North Carolinians i'll those
days slaughtered the Yankees as unmer-
| clfuly as some of them do the NirgInlans
! III these, the wonder is that they did not
! win GETTYSBURG.
At present writing North Carolina
seems quite able to hold her own against
! all comers, and If there is anything she
| is entitled to and has not received, it is
not on account of her modesty in claim
| ing it.
| II may .De true that teH. COl Meltulln
was Il native of North Carolina, as Capt.
Bond says, but l never heard the Genera.
| boast of his nativity, and the five regl-
ments of his brigade reelected the insplra-
| ton of the spirit of Indiana, Michigan
and Wisconsin, and for them | repudiate
the intimation that they drew any in
spiratiOn from North Carolina through
the fountain-head of their Generals birth
right.
The charge of July 3, whether by Pick
EFT or Pettigrew, / did not witness, but if
| there is any part of the battle of Gettys-
burg that l know anything about, il is
the first days battle, and the part taken
in it by Pettigrew's Brigade of North
| Carolinans. L derive my knowledge from
the fact that l was with the Iron Bri-
gade which tried titles with Pettigrews
| Brigade that day. After first meeting
Archers Brigade, about 10 o'clock a. M,
in the eastern edge Of McPhersons
Woods, which within 20 minutes we
swept clean, driving Archer across Will
ioughby Run, where we took several hun
dred prisoners, with Archer among them,
| completely defeating and scattering the
brigade, we were attacked in our post
ton by Pettigrews Brigade. During this
time Cutters Brigade struck DAVIS Bl-
gade, also of Heth's Division, farther to
the north on our right, along the Cham
bersburg Pike and railroad cut, according
there being one North Carolina regiment
in Davis's Brigade, but none in Archers.
| cannot say from actual knowledge how
the battle went there, but Heth says in
his report of the battle that he found
it necessary to order Pettigrew's and
BrOckenbOrough's Brigades forward to the
relief of Archer and Davis.
Pettigrews North Caroinians, fresh but
furious, advanced on our position about
IL o'clock a. M, and the battle opened
in dead earnest all along our line. The
battle was stubbornly contested, as Capt.
Bond says, there is no doubt about that;
but Pettigrew's Brigade did not divide its
attention with Meredith and Biddle, as
he relates. Biddle's Brigade was in our
Third Division, and Meredith's five regi-
ments gave Pettigrew's seven regiments
all they hankered after
Our battle-line extended from the Ha-
gerstOwn to the Mummasburg road, more
than a mile in length, and as we had but
six brigades of infantry, $500 men, west
of Seminary Ridge, so that when Rodes's
Division swept down from the north 5000
strong, it can readily be seen that Capt.
Bond is little off when he says: The
Union line, or lines, for my impression
is there were two or more" About how
many lines deep would we naturally form
in holding a front over a mile in length
with six brigades, aggregating $500 men!
.
and Pender's Divisions of eight brigades.
Our line was gradually forced back to-
ward the ridge. From Willoughby Run
to Seminary Run is 1000 yards. | meas
ured the distance carefully about a year
ago. But it took Pettigrew's Brigade
from IL a. IN. to $3.50 p. m. to force Mere
dith's Brigade back to Seminary Rldge.
We We're not reinforced by n fresh bri-
gade," as Capt. Bond tells us, but we did
get the assistance of two efficient batter
les of artillery"-the 9TH Me-, that stood
near the Seminary, in Aeredith's line, and
Battery Il, 4th u. s., that stood by the
railroad cut in Cutters line, and when
Pettigrew and Brockenborough made their
final charge on Seminary Ridge we
knocked them clean out of the bo:, and
il Capt. Bond could have looked down
the west slope of Seminary Ridge at
o'clock p. m, July 1, as | did, about the
time Rodes's Division was sweeping down
from the north, and Daniels Brigade
came in sight of Heth's line," he would
have seen still another line where the
dead and wounded lay as thick as au-
tumnal leaves which strew the brooks in
Nalam6rOsa," not of Federals, but of Pet
tigrew's North Carolinians.
AT o'clock p. IN. what was left of
Pettigrew's Brigade had sought shelter in
McPhersOn's Woods and the Iron Brigade
and our line to the right and left as far
as | could SEE along the crest of Semi
nary Ridge stood forth the proud victors
Then, as the smoke of battle lifted, we
looked to the nOrthward and all the val
ley seemed alive with the troops of
Rodes's Division, who had overpowered
HOward's thin line and were sweeping
down upon our rear. For that reason
alone, and not on account of Pettigrew in
our front, we hastily abandoned Seminary
Ridge
In that battle of July / Meredith's Bri-
gade lost l 1,l53 out of a total of 1888 go
ing into action. Our loss was all or nearly
all sustained on July /, as the brigade
was not in action on the I'd or Sd of July.
Pettigrew's Brigade probably outnum-
bered us, rs we had suffered considerably
In our encounter with Archer In the morn
ing, but we were as true shots as the
North Carolinians ever were, and as they
advanced on us we gave them the best
we had, and it Is safe to say that Petit
Crews loss of / Jos was sugtained-n6t as
Capt. Bond gives it-''two-thirds on this
day." but ninety-nne one-hundredths on
this day. rs ours was.
On July 2, notwithstanding Capt.
Bonds assertions regarding Gen. Long
street, he (LOngstreet) put up d pretty
stiff fight down on our left at Peach Orch
ard, Wheatfield, Devils Den, and around
there, without so much as single North
Carolina regiment in the eight brigades |
composing his two divisions engaged Our |
Daniel had nearly 1900 good fighting |!
men for Yanks, in his salient, and but |
for the prompt action of Hancock and |
the timely arrival on the field of Sykes's |
Fifth Corps, Longstreet would have
driven him, although Pettigrew was not |