The National tribune., 1901-12-19
PETTIGREW's NORTH lCAR9LINIANS.
Not to Them, but to Gallant Minnesotaus
Belongs the Honor of Greatest Loss at Get
tysburg.

| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE. Capt. W
r. Bond claims much for North Caro-
lima troops in general and for the 2Gtl
| n. C.. in particular. He says in his first
paper: The 2Gth y. G! had more men
! killed and wounded in this battle (Gettys
! burg than any totherD one of the 400
! Confederate or the 1000 Federal ever
| had in any BATTLE In his second paper:
Some of the troops in Pettigrew's DIvi-
sion met with loss of over 80 per cent.
had had more men killed and wounded
than any (other) one of the 200 Union
and Confederate ever had, came to the
conclusion to rejoin their friends" In
his third paper: The 26th n. G. had
$40 officers and men at Gettysburg, and
their percentage of killed and wounded
was exceeded by that of only two Con
federate and three Union regiments dur
| ing the whole war. and these five Were
! all small, ranging from 16S to 26S.
! These last figures cannot refer TO the 2Ith
| Mich. or to the I'd Wis, as the former
had at Gettysburg 1876 and the latter 80.
men.
In the foregoing statements Capt. Bond
refers to Pettigrcw's charge on July 3,
and assumes that the 26th \. G.. lost over
90 per cent. killed and wounded. IL this
regiment lost more men at Gettysburg
than any Union regiment, it was because
it was, in the first place, larger than any
Two TCSilucHiS pllleu HSdiHSl IT, anu, Ill
the second place, as Capt Bond shows,
because it was engaged in two distinct
battles-one on the 1st, and the other 4S
hours later, on July 3. The 26th n. G.
had more men killed and wounded t5SSJ
in these two battles than the 2ith Mich.
took into action 1856, and more than the
ID Wis. (302J and the 1st MINI. (262l
combined; but it is the percentage Of loss
that counts.
During the civil war the Confederate
regiments averaged much larger than
Union regiments, from the fact that the
Confcdcracy was a military machine pure
and simple, and made it Il point to keep
a certain number of regiments effective
by recruiting and filling them up from
time to time, instead of continually add
ing new regiments-a system presenting
untold advantages over ours. After the
first year OF the war you would seldom
find raw regiment i'll the Confederate
army, while the Union army always had
them, and when the war closed there were
in the neighbOrhOOd of 200 of these raw
regiments that had not reached the seat
of war. Capt. Bond makes something of
a flourish Of the comparison of 100 Con
federate with 1000 Union regiments, yet
the 700 actually represents about two
thirds as many men as the 1000, and the
26th n. G. at Gettysburg, with 800 men,
nearly half as large as the whole Iron
Brigade on the opposite side of the line,
is fair and full illustration of this i'm
portGnt fact
The 26th n. c. was probably somewhat
stronger than any Of the other four reg
iments comprising Pettigrew's Brigade.
Four regiments of the Iron Brigade Ghe
9th Wis. was sent to the support of Cut
ler's Brigade) had met, defeated, cap
tured and scattered Archer's Brigade Of
four regiments and one battalion, when
we were in turn attacked by Pettigrew's s
Brigade of five regiments on the eastern
bank of Willoughby Run. On former ar
ticle l spoke of Pettigrew's seven regi-
ments, but Capt. Bond claims but five,
in which he is probably correct.) In the
battle which followed we were forced
back to the crest of Seminary Ridge,
where we repuSed Pettigrew's final at
tempt to carry it from the front or west
ward. .t
In the whole battle of July the 24th
Mich, directly opposed to the 26th n. c.,
lost in killed and wounded 316 men, or
63 % per cent. 1t also lost 81 missing,
mostly captured by Rodes's Division, that
swept in from the north on our flank and
rear, swelling its total loss to 397, or so
per cent.
My regiment-the I'd Wis.-ighting on
the right of the 24th Mich, lost in the
same battle 201 killed and wounded, or
665 per cent. We also lost on the re-
treat from Seminary Ridge to Cemetery
Hill, captured mostly by Rodes's Diyi-
sion, % missing, swelling the total loss
of the I'd Wis. to 253, or S315 per cent.
The 10Th Ind. and 9th and 7th Wis. lost
about the same proportion. This was all
on July /, for the brigade was not ell
gagged on the I'd or Sd.
In that same battle of July l Capt.
Bond fixes the loss of the 26th \. G. at
800; for, in his first paper, he says: For
81, II. ID. la
wounded amounted to 1,10J; probably
twO-thirds of this occurred on the first
day" He does not give Pettigrew's loss
in prisoners, but as the 26th n. G. lost
12O missing, if the other four regiments
Of the brigade lost each an equal number,
it swells the loss in prisoners to 800 for
the brigade, leaving but 505 of the ! 1,105
killed and wounded. The 26th \. G.. sus-
tained a loss of twO-thirds of 5SS on the
first day, which is 392, or Az per cent.
That loss reduces the regiment to 42S
men, the number it carried into Petit
Crews charge on the third day, wherein
it lost the other third, 1876 killed and
wounded, or 45A per cent. The 2Gth n.
&. also lost 12O prisoners that day, which
swells its total loss on July 3 to 316. or
10 per cent. Counting the loss of the
26th n. g. in both battles (5SS) as one
and indivisible, it shows total loss in
Adding to that the 100 prisoners swells
the entire loss of the 26th n. g. at Gettys-
burg to 7OS, or SO per cent. Only by this
consolidation of losses in the two battles
can its percentage of loss be construed
to equal or exceed the loss of either the
24th Mich, or the 2d Wis.
In his third paper Capt. Bond says:
1T is true that the North Carolina and
Mississippi Brigades of Heth's Division
lost in the first days battle about 80 and
on the third day at least so per cent"
cannot see how he harmonizes this with
thirds of this loss occurred on the first
day"
That the North Carolina troops were
good fighters | do not deny. Whether
they fought better and suffered greater
loss in behalf Of the ''lost kaws' than
their Virginia brothers matters not to us
who wore the blue and defended Old
Glory. But that they excelled the men
durance | have grave doubts; in fact,
do not believe it, and have carefully con-
suited the records and reproduced the fig
ures here submitted to show that at least
the men of Indiana, Michigan and Wis
consin We're fully their equals in every
particular. Here also let me speak a
word in behalf of regiment of another
Northern State, whose heroic deeds came
not under my personal observation.
Minnesota furnished but one regiment
TO uphold her honor at the great battle
Of Gettysburg, but that onezregiment was
sufficient to give her name and place
on the Field of Monuments and on the
DDppS of history No 6naI of