The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-05-12

the 18th and 18th of December, 1852,
one of the bloodiest battles of the
| war, in which the Confederates were
victorious. The slaughter of the Fed
erals under Gen. Burnside was terri
! fc. Around the foot of Mayree's Hill
ran a road and on the outside of the
road next to the city rock fence. A
broad plateau extended to the city and
contained several acres. The enemy
undertook to carry Our position by di-
rect assault. On Mayree's Hill our ar
tillery charged with grape and canis-
ter, and behind the fence was our in
fantry. Thousands we're killed by our
men and lay in heaps on the ground,
which was so covered with the dead
and wounded that the whole face Of
the earth APPEARED blue and seemed
that one ri mt walk over the entire
field on deal men. The sight was in-
deed sickeui1g. never saw so many
Ge;i! men on so small a space of
ground during the entire war. Ker-
shaw's brigade was composed, at that
time, of the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, Sth and 18th
regiments ard the 3rd battalion, all
from South Carolina. Our battalion's
loss in the fight was slight. Gen.
KershaW held us in reserve behind
Mayree's Hill in view of our heavy loss
at Boonsboro. After the battle We,
went into winter quarters near Ham
ilton's Crossing, where we remained
until in May, 1868. On our march
from Fredericksburg there was snow
on the ground. We had an Irishman
in our company named Sam McCright,
who, though he was born in South
Carolina, retained a good bit of the
wit and humor of his ancestors. AS
we plodded along through the snow
some troops along the side of the
road asked, "Whose brigade is that?"
McCrigtt was a suffering man, and
when he undertook to talk he shut
his eyes and suffered. He answered:
'Its o-o-ou-r-r-s, W-W-e PRAISED it. ;"
While We were resting in winter quar-
ters a religious revival was held in
camp and at Fredericksburg by Rev.
A. Pickens Smith, chaplain of the 2nd
regiment, a Presbyterian minister
Rev. Owens, of the Methodist church,
and Rev. McCollum, OF the Baptist
church. Many soldiers Joined the sew
eral churches, among them Gen. John
D. Kennedy and others joined the
Presbyterian church. There were sew
eral kinds OF amusements, among
which We're snow ball battles between
different brigades and regiments In
one Of these Andrew Kilgore Of your
county, now dead, lost an eye, knock
ed out by Georgian.
Early in May the long roll was I
sounded, and We broke camp and mar
ched to Charlottesville, some ten or
twelve miles from Fredericksburg
where we met Gen. Joe Hooker's army
of Federals, and by a strategic flank
movement by Gen. Jackson Of about |
fifteen miles to the right of Hooper,
and by a sudden charge, he doubled
his army back on itself and put it to
flight, although the eItmy were three
times as great as OF" army. But the
joy of the victory was saddened by |
the death of our great general, shot
by misunderstanding Of his own Or
der and by some of his own men.
Right then and there the Confederate
cause began to wane. Perhaps he had
no superior as a strategist in history
Of the world. 1t was reported that
some Yankee prisoners said that if,
Hooker was moving on hades, jack
son would flank him and cut him off. /
We had little brush with SedgeWick
at Salem Church. He crossed the
Rappahannock river at Fredericks-I
burg, and came up behind us, but Gen.
Kershaw defeated him and drove him
back across the river in confusion. |
From Characteristic We took up our!
march to Pennsylvania, skirmishing
almost daily with the enemy till We
crossed the Shenandoah river near
Williamsport. On this march our CON-;
pany lost Lieut.. Gladuey, at Gaines
Cross Roads, from fever, and Private
Charles Broom, at Front Royal. We
reached Gettysburg, Penn, and On the!
third and fourth Of July was fought
the decisive battle Of the war. when
Gen. Lee received his first heavy back
SGT. 1t WAS a terrible fight, in which
both sides lost heavily in killed and