The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1903-07-16
HISTORIC GETTYSBURG.
GALLANT CAROLINA TROOPS:
Their Noble Part in the Great Battle.

Their Noble Part In the Great Battle.
Capt. w. R. BoDd in News and Observer
Probably there is no other historical
event in which the testimony OF parti-
cipants has been SO conflicting as this
affair ON the afternoon of the third day
at Gettysburg.
When this Is the case with witnesses
In civil suit, the character of these
witnesses is matae-s1f prime impor-
lance. In the court of history the
military character of the different Or
carnations, prior, and subsequent to
the event investigated, Will have to be
studied before just decision can be
arrived at. Having marched through
such fire as they were called upon to
face, up to the time they were forced
to halt and lie down to prevent annihil-
alton, every brigade appeared to do
equally we'll, but few minutes later
when detachments of the enemy march
ed ant upon their flank and they were
forced either to surrender or retreat, all
did not equally well, for in their dis
organized condition, rendering any re-
sistance hopeless, it was their duty
when ordered to surrender to refuse to
do so and to incur some risk in an
effort to rejoin their own people. This,
many Of them at the salient and near
ly all to the left Of it. proceeded to do.
The right of the line, when command
ed to surrender, obeyed the order al
most to man, and tor any good they
afterwards did the Confederacy, they
all might as we'll have been dead.
The men who ran away In preference
to surrender, rejoined their friends,
and from that time to Appomattox,
continued to reflect honor upon the
grand old army of Northern Virginia
PETTIGREw'S AND TRIMBLE's MEN EXCEL
THOSE OF GEN. PICKETT.
This equality OF well-doing up to the
time OF lying down in the field, was
only apparent.
Pickett's division, body OF. fresh
men, in continuing to advance, till it
had lost twenty-eight per cent. of its
members, did we'll. As to the other
troops, it is known that with the ex-
ception of one regiment, none OF them
we're fresh and that most of them had
been heavily engaged, and badly cut
up two days before.
This is known: That in the assault
they were subjected to a severer fiIe
than those on the right, and that their
loss was much more than twenty-eight
per cent. can be proved.
Well done, expresses the deed on the
right, excellently done, the deed ON
the left.
CHARACTER OF TROOPS COMPARED.
From the battle of Malvern Hill to
the Pennsylvania campaign, the three
brigades composing Pickettis division,
lost in killed and wounded, only seven
hundred and seventy-two. In tie
same twelve months the men who did
the real fighting for the army and as a
rule got little credit for doing it, lost
three or four times as much. For ln-
stance, there were the three brigades,
Lanes, Scales and Archer's, of the
"Light Division" and for that period
their loss was three thousand six hun
dred and ten. The brigades in the
army which lost most heavily in killed
and wounded at Gettysburg were (D
Pettigrewis North Carolina, (2) Davis
Mississippi and North Carolina, (3)
Daniels North Carolina, (l Barkdale's 8
Mississippi. These four had an aver
age OF eight hundred and thirty-seven
killed and wounded. Pickett's three
brlgades had an average of four hum
dred and fifty-five. When the insig-
n,ficance OF their loss in 80 many bat
ties was mentioned to the men of Ar
mistead's, Garrett's and Kemper's bri-
gades, they would say that this fact
was owing to the small size of their
regiments. This reply might have
had some weight had they not made so
poor show on the per centage tables
and numbers have nothing to do with
that test Of courage and efficiency.
Then, too, there was no reason why
these organizations should have been
small, for when the battles around
Richmond in 1862 began, they were
large enough to average for duty four
hundred and forty-six per regiment.
At that time enthusiasm abounded and
war was looked upon as not much
more than . picnic.
A GREAT SOLDIER AND GOOD MAN.
General Lee was too great a soldier
not to realize before the assault was