The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-22


going down that southwark TO the Trostle
place and thence westward. as this route
was not so directly swept by the Union
artillery; and both his and Wilcoxs bril-
gades did this. with the above mention
ed loss to the 9Th Florida and considera-
BILE losses also to the other regiments
of both brigades.
A few more words will close this paper,
and those words will be devoted to show
ing how unwise and undeserved it is for
any Of the magnificent heroes who took
part in that final bloody struggle at
Gettysburg ever to impugn each other
chivalry on that occasion. I was not my
self participant in it; was away over
at Round Top with the 4th Alabama,
hammering away at the Yankee infantry
and cavalry and strange as it may seem,
we did not even know of that fatal cpl
sode two miles north Of us until about
sunset and could scarcely believe it then.
| have re-affrmed the we'll known and
truthful account Of how CALAMITY Pick
ett's men fought what they did, and how
far they went. They had not been in the
battle on the previous two days and were
fresh and we'll organized with all their
officers in their places. Their losses in
that assault in killed, wounded and cap
tured were fraction over 63 per cent
which is much above the average losses
of troops in battle.
/ have stated whittier and how far the
faithful veterans of Pettigrew and Trim
BILE advanced which was near the high
stone wall before mentioned and just to
the left and northward of the spot where
the noble Armistead fell. Does any one
doubt the accuracy of that statement?
II so, | must suggest the undisputed
fact that the best proof of where line
OF soldiers went to is where they left
their dead; and where that was in this
case is established beyond question by
multitudes of disinterested witnesses. A
great many officers and soldiers of the
Union army, who were In the battle here
and went over the ground where that
final struggle took place, very soon af-
forwards, have talked with me about it
and emphatically confirmed the facts as
stated above. For instance, Ito name one
of them) Colonel E. 3. Cope. the engineer
of our Gettysburg Park Commission, a
gentleman of the highest character and
a Union officer in the battle here, has
often told me of how he was invited by
one Of Gen. Meade's staff officers in the
evening of that third day, to go with
him UP on the ridge and Ito quote the
words of the officer who invited him)
"see such sight as he had never before
seen on a battlefield The Colonel says
he went and was deeply impressed by
what he saw. The dead, he says, were
very numerous in the Angle around the
spot where Armstead fell and between
thot he CT ual1 1rg,i nb ta
and his men had charged south of the
Angle; but they were much more thickly
strewn on the ground in front of the
high stone wall which Pettigrew's and
Trimbles men had tried to storm and
which runs northward to the Bryan Barn.
In 1895, Colonel John K. Connally Of
Asheville, who was Colonel of the 55th
North Carolina regiment of Davis bril-
gade, Lieutenant T. ]. Falls. of Cleve
land county, and Sergeant j. A. Whitley,
of Martin county N. c., who had also
served in that regiment and been in the
battle here, made a visit to Gettysburg
and went with me over the field. Colonel
Connally had lost an arm in the first's
days fight; and (by the way Lieutenant
Colonel M. T. Smith had been killed and
Major A. H. Belo had been wounded on
that day, so that the regiment on the
third day was under command of cap
tain. Lieutenant Falls and Sergeant
Whitley showed me the ground over which
they had charged and the point they
reached, which point, as noted on our
maps and in my journal, is 20 steps south
of the Bryan Barn and just 9 yards west
@; the stone wall which Pettigrew and
Trimble tried to storm. Whilst we were
driving stakes to mark the exact spots
reached by them and also where Captain
Satterfield Of Person county, had fallen
dead near by them, several officers and
men of the Goth New York regiment of
Wizards brigade, who were on a visit
to the battlefield came up to the stone
wall near us and said that while, of
course, they could not identify the men.
they could swear that a thin line of
"rebels" did reach the very spot where
we were driving those stakes.
By reason of the death or disability of
their generals and other officers, very
imperfect reports have come down to us
as to the numbers of men in the six
brigades under Pettigrew and Trimble in
that final assault and of the losses they
suffered; and the reports we have do
not discriminate between the losses of
the first and third days. He have, how
ever, some scant data from which one
can in a measure divine how those bat
tered battalions of the first day suffered
also on the third. For instance, the Goth
North Carolina of Pettgrews own brig
ade had entered the battle of the first
day with $40 muskets and lost in killed
and wounded 5S4 men (71 per cent? and
also it's Colonel, the gallant Burgwyn.
1t went into the fight of the third day
with 236 men and had but so left, a loss
OF over 66 per cent. Its brigade Petti-
crews own lost it's commander, Colonel
Marshall, mortally wounded and captur-
ed, and came out commanded by tohn I.
Zones, the only field officer left, and its
regiments led by Lieutenants. Archer's
brigade lost out of field officers, and
it's commander, Colonel Fry. was wounded
and captured. All the field officers of
Davis brigade were disabled, and the
losses in Scales and Lanes brgades
were exceedingly heavy. But why pro-
long this story, already much longer than
II had intended? AS the old Quaker once
remarked at the close of the meeting, "A
suficiency has been said That is my
opinion. / feel that way"
mt