Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-12-31
A Confederate's Description of Pick

John J. Garnett, a colonel OF artll-
lery in the Confederate army, and
participant in the great battle of Get
tysburg, thus graphically describes
! General Pickett's desperate charge On
the Union lines:
Pickett was sitting on his horse,
when General Wilcox rode up to him
and, taking a flask of whisky from his
pocket, said:
Pickett, take a drink with me. In
an hour you will be in hell or glory.
BE it so, General Wilcox" returned
Pickett, taking the proffered drink;
whatever my fate, shall do my duty
like brave man."
The line being formed, the gallant
men on whom were centered peoples
hope of a nation moved out Of the
woods.
Firm-faced and slow, a horrid front
they form,
Still as the breeze, but dreadful as
the storm.
A<OIh1uS 1ACC11 uplCd lhC VIZ" VI |AA'~
| superb movement. From the cannon
| covered top of Cemetery hill, along the
| Federal lines, the soldiers of the Fed
eral army watched with wonderment,
| not unmixed with admiration, the on
{ coming of those heroic columns, while
the Confederates looked on admiring-
! ly, hoping against hope that success
would reward the splendid courage
evinced by Pickett's men. When a
short distance from their starting
point they obliqued to the right and
! then to the left in order to secure COW
er in the undulations of the plain
across which they were moving. By
some strange fatality the artillery
smoke, which had settled over the field
after cannonading, and hung there
! close to the ground, lifted after the
Confederate division had got some dis
lance in it's journey to death and
| glory, and revealed distinctly to both
| armies the movement then being made.
Marching in the direction Of the OBJ
| jective position with measured step
and unfaltering courage, Picketts di-
| vision drew nearer and nearer to their
goal without hindrance from the foe.
What did it mean? Was their attack
to be a bloodless victory? These were
questions that sprung instinctively to
the minds of the gallant men. Oh no;
| for suddenly a cloud-burst of fame,
shot and shell came laundering from
the ridge into the devoted ranks.
There was no wavering, no hating
on went Pickett's men, presenting as
| solid and undaunted front as the rock
| of Gibraltar. Many dead and wounded
were left by their brave comrades on
the spot where they fell. There was
no time for anything but duty, and
| that stern duty was ahead of them.
Again and again the Federal batteries
poured forth rain of shot, shell,
shrapnel and canister upon them in
unstinted measure. Horrid rents,
which are quickly closed up, are made
in their lines as the men press stead
| lily forward, thunder cloud of war
that would not be stayed. The FEEDER
|
| a desperate foe, increase their fire, if
possible, with no apparent effect, ex-
| cept to mark the tract over which the
force is moving with the dead and
wounded heroes.
Never was there a sublimer exhibit
| ton of bravery on the field of battle
| Courage was personified in every man
| On they went in the face of the reIent
less hail of death that was beating
| against them. General Armistead was
seen with his hat aloft on his sword,
marching resolutely at the head of
| his gallant men. Shot and shell
whistled about him, and yet he was
undaunted. His journey was a desper-
ate one, but he continued bravely on,
not with the courage of desperation,
| but with the courage Of a perfect man
| and a gallant soldier.
Don't finch an inch, boys" he had
said to his men before starting away,
and they were heroically responding.
The carnage in their ranks was fear
full to contemplate 1t seemed more
like cold-blooded butchery than sys-
tematic war. That part of our army
not engaged watched the gallant band
in painful suspense. It did not seem
within the limit of human endeavor
that they could ever reach the objec-
tive point, so terrible was the slaugh-
ter to which they were being subject
ed On they went, with every step be-
coming more determined Surely there
never was seen such matchless hero
ism. Nothing could stay or check
them. When within a short distance
of the Federal line their wild yells of
defiance were heard above the thunder
ing Of their guns. The greatest mo-
ment of their lives had come They
dashed forward in wild and disorder
ed rush. Garrett, whose brigade was
in front, fell dead within a hundred
yards of the Union front, sword in
hand His men rushed madlV uOOn