The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-29

Carolinians; for, to my certain knowl-
edge Pettigrew's brigade had only
! three flags in action on the third day
| Or the two thousand prisoners lost
| perhaps like division would approx
mate the truth"
capt. w. r. Bonds book is an eye
| opener and head-splitter. Consult
II Tor comparative figures as to the
! North Carolinians and VirginianS OF
the third day and elsewhere. While
Plckett's men only fought in the bat
tie, or but little else. in the one brief.
Hateful charge, Pettigrew lost nearly
half his men on the first day. 1t lost
tremendously on the third day. Al
gettysburg it lost greatly more than
Plckett lost. One regiment, the 26tn
n. G., lost more men than any other
one Of the more than 5000 regiments
ON both sides last in the war. Capt.
Whiting, who knew whereof he wrote,
and was a gentleman of high char
acter, gives this:
Where our brigade lay during the
furious Smelling that preceded the
charge, we were almost entirely I'M
protected, and lost many in killed ana
wounded We also suffered terribly
from a July noon-day sun, which OPP
pressed our men much, while the
troops on our right were sheltered by
a thick woods. Owing to the great
distance, our brigade had tor pass over,
the numerous impediments in the
shape OF fences, etc, the defamation
Cf our ranks which were exposed to
the heavy artillery fire from the mo-
ment we started, and the exhausted
condition of the men, the whole impe-
tus of the charge was lost before we
reached the enemys line. According
TO Captain Young's letter, the artillery
men Immediately in front of our brig
ade used fuses for one and a fourth
miles, he also says that on our right
the lines were much closer each 9th
er. One thing i noticed, that some
distance on my right our troops had
carried the position in front of
them before the enemy in our front
commenced using their small arms.
AS we were longer in reaching them
on account of the distance, they had
more time to prepare for us, and to re-
inforce their position. The reinforce
ments in front of Pickett met him
about the same time, and, according to
Capt. Young. the lines retreated sim
ultaneously.'
He says Pettigrew's brigade only re-
treated after every field officer ana
the General himself in command, had
been killed or wounded, and after los
ing 2,165 men out OF 5000. The
writers VINO would WanCODly ueIdulS
such brave men and insult and pervert
for ignoble ends the truth of his
tory. are as an old friend of mine in
Granville was wont to say, unworthy
of common sense and guilty of fits.
Another gross error current in Vir-
ginia in the sixties, and perhaps now,
is thus met:
"PettigreW's brigade was composed
of the 18th, 26th, 44th, Attn, and ga
n. c. Regiments. 1t was not com
posed almost entirely of North Caro-
lima conscripts.'
They had all been on the fire-line.
and had stood where men bleed and
die l wonder if men who slander
them ever stood in such hot place.
The trouble with men is that they
have short visions and treacherous
memories. They fail to see the whole
truth, and have but a very partial i'm
perfect view of what occurs around
them. There was never more glor!-
Gus command in American armies
than Pettigrew's famous North Caro-
lima Brigade. They probably did five
times more fighting in the great war
than Picketts brigade of Virginians,
and they lost perhaps in proportion.
1t fought grandIy wherever it was
engaged. Capt. Whiting reminds us
by his article thirty-seven years after
he wrote it, of how Lee regarded Pet
tigrew's command. He wrote