The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-08

= AnNSSoeO
me Of Pickett's and Heth's
divisions had already broken" Cap
tam Dung, l think is now living. A
year or two g he was Brigade Com
mander Of the South Georgia Brig
ade Confederate Veterans General
Young writing further in a histori-
cal paper which he made an inenec-
uai efor to have published in Viz
glnla. (the manuscript is now in my
possession referring to the animation
that General Picketts report reflected
on other troops, but was suppressed
by General Lee. says:1
"If it did. General Lee, who cannot
V known at the time that Pickett
was not in the fight at all saved Pick
EFT from being torn to pieces by his
critics. General Pickett and his staff
advanced only a little way with the
division. General Pickett halted at
a point from whence he could not
see h whole movement with dis
tinctness' and was therefore not a
competent witness. Had he been with
his command, from his position on
horseback he could have seen that the
two brigades on his left broke stimuli
E~taneously with his command and he
might perhaps have been able to pre-
VENT the pressure Of his division to the
LETT, which was not intended and
which drove the troops on his left
into the fire from Cemetery Hill which
was so disastrous to them. Not hav-
ing been in the fight himself, it would
have been disastrous to his reputa-
ton to criticise the conduct of those
Who were in it and so far to the front
Ithat he could not have certainly told
what was going On there" General
Young says Colonel Marshall of Gen
eral Lees staff and Genera G. Mox-
ley Sorrel bear him out in this state
ment.
In the light of after events it is to
be regretted that General Picketts
report was nk made public. as then it
would have caused the truth to be
brought out at the time. I have often
heard that unimpeachable evidence
was ready to be produced to show that
General Pickett did not know except
from hearSay hat occurred at the
wall, as he did not go farther than
the Codori barn on the Emmettsburg
road.
In Gettysburg" by Beecham Ca
Federal officerJ, a book recently pub
lished, on page 243, we read: Petit
grew and Trinble were both wounded,
the latter severely. Longstreet speaks
in high praise of PettigreW and Trim
BILE, and the officers and men of their
column. Longstreet tells us that here
at the Emmetsburg Road, or while
both columns were advancing or try
ing to advance under this frightful
fire, General Pickett finding the bat
tie broken, called the troops off, 1t
does not appear that Pickett had
much to do with calling off the troops
OF either column, but it does appear
that he led his column no farther than
the En1metsburg Road, and that the
great majority of soldiers of both col
umns, finding it impossible to stem
the fierce tide of battle beyond that
line, with one accord followed Pickett
back to the shelter Of Seminary Ridge,
and were quite lively about it. Arm
istead of the second line pressed for
ward, gathering up his shattered rem
Rants for a final effort; and herein
Pickett's column carried off the palm
of glory"
The above is offered without com
nlent.
The fact that the casualties were
greater among the men commanded
by Pettigrew than they were among
the men commanded by Pickett
should not be construed as a ~reflec-
ton on Pickett's Division. ~Pettigrew's
men were exposed to a deadly fire
from the beginning Of the charge.
Colonel w. w. Wood at the time Of
the battle a captain in one of Arm
istead's Regiments. in an article some
years ago in the Philadelphia Times,
Statement of Captain w. r. Bond
said: From the time the charge be
gan up to this moment not a shot
had bee fired at US nor had We been
able to see because of the density oil
the smoke, which hung over the bat
tie field like a pail, that there was an
enemy in front of us. The smok now
lifted from our front, and there right
before US scarcely two hundred yards
away, stood Cemetery Heights in aw-
full grandeur Being enveloped and
hidden in smoke so dense that they
could not see the enemy nor the enc
my see them until within rushing
distance" of the ridge. may account
for Pickett's loss being less than Pet
tigreW's.
Tt is not the purpose Of this article
to reflect on General Pickett. and 50
we will not review Judge Clarks re-
marks upon PickettS failure at New
Bern. or the statements of General