Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-08-31

to fill the. trenches. McGowan's
South Carolina Brigade, which ar
rived an hour later, was ordered to
the same point. In spite Of the ter
riblc flank fires TO which they were
exposed, the brave troops Of these
til Il. M. Of May l3, when ordered
back, to a new line
Extracts from Gen. WilcoX's re-
ports:
Among the wounded was its
chivalric commander, Brig. Gen. Nc
Gowan, and the further command OF
the brigade devolvcd upon Col Jo-
seph y. Brown, lith S. c. Regi-
mcnt. In front OF MCGOWAN was a
raVine and pine woods. This was
occupied by the enemy in very strong
force. The brigade was partly in
terninglcd with IIarris's and held
the position without support or re-
lief Till ! o'clock next morning. On
parts OF the line the opposing forces
were separated only by Il parapet.
The muskctS of the men would Of
ten touch, and frequently the aim
OF the rifle would be checked by IA
blow from the butt or a punch of an
opposing gun from the other side of
the breastworks. There is no paral-
lei to this fight in the history OF this
war-not any that know recorded
sjnrn "A IN
Swinton. in his History of tho
Army OF the Potomac, states:
"Of all the struggles OF the war
this was perhaps the ficrcest and
most deadly. The fearful slaughter
| continued till the ground was lite
rally covered with piles Of the dead,
and the woods in front OF the Sal
lent were an hideous Golgotha."
Gen. Horace Porter, of Gen.
Grants staff, writes:
"The battle near the Angle was
probably the most desperate en-
gaGcment in modern warfare. *
| Rank after rank was riddled by shot
and shell and bayonet "thrusts, and
| finally sank mass Of torn and mu-
| nlatcd corpses. Trees over a foot
! and half in diameter were cut i'm
| two by musketry. We not only shot
down an army, but also a forest.
Ihc dead were piled upon each
other in some places four layers
deep. Skulls were crushed with
dubbed muskcts, and men were
stabbed tC death with swords and
bayoncts thr"st between the logs Of
! the parapct which separatedp the
combatants. Even the dark
ness failed to stop the fierce con-
test. and the deadly strife did not
cease till after midnight. The
dead were piled upon each other in
some places four layers deep"
Gen. Porter visited the place next
day, 18th May. (Sce Gen. Gordon's s
book, page 2SG, and notcs.)
At pages 36036 OF Records, re-
port of Gen. Meade.
"fighting continued unceasinglv
and desperate over the CAPTURED
works. The enemy made desperate
efforts to regain them, throwing their
strength upon the Salient held by
the Second and Sixth corps. Our
force at that point was exceedingly
strong, three or four lines deem in
some places. During the night
the enemy withdrew into second
line or works. AT $50 a. m..
18TH, Gen. Hitchcock dispatched
| Our sharpshooters have advanced
500 yards into the encmy's lines
without finding any one executing
one prisoner, who states that the
enemy had gone"
Some Virginians claim TO have
fought in the "Bloody Angle" They
were in Gen. Johnson's Division
which was captured in the early
morning, including the celebrated
"Ston"wall Brigade" Virginia is
accorded overwhelming honors with
out claiming any in this. None Of
her soldiers were there from 10 a.
n., on the 18th, TO 4 a. m. on tho
18TH. Not a single official report of
any one of her officers claims IT,.
Other proofs to sustain our claims
are abundant, but these are enough.
My Official report was made the next
day, after few hours rest. All the
incidents were then fresh in my mem
DRY.
While ] give all credit to the