The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-07
MISTAKES POINTED OUT
The True Story of Fishers
Regiment

not a work OF fiction. but an historical
novel. Yet not being history, i, IS
not always accurate.
Miss Johnston. on page 90. graph
cally narrates the incidents of q
charge made by the Thirty-third and
Sixty-ffth Virginia troops at the Bat
Tie or Bun Run, giving the cred
u CT ~sllenclng and capturing the
famous Ricketts, Battery 10 these
regiments. She fixes the hour about
right: 1t was 3 o'clock in the after
noon RICKETTS, badly wounded-his
lieutenant, Ramsay. lay dead"
"Rlcketts and Griffin, forty men
upon the ground, twice that number
or horses dead or disabled, tried TO
draS away the guns. Down upon them
reared the Sixty-nfth, no alignment.
troken and fierce as = mountain tor
rent. 1t took again the
Iun s II seized the guns and drew
them toward the pine woods
All the Henry plateau blaZed
and Numbered ssss"
From headquarters at the Lewis
House, a most able mind had directed
The several points Of entrance into
battle of the troops drawn from the
lower fords;" specifying among them.
FISHERS North Carolina"
Now, sher's North Carolina was
never at the lower fords. Fishers
Sixth North Carolina, coming from
piedmont, jumped the cars, hurried
TO the sound of the guns, passed near
the Lewis House, was directed by
Geenral Johnston to the left. 1t fol-
lowed a ravine leading up towards the
henry Hill, and emerged from the
raVlne Immediately in the front OF
Rfcketts battery. 1t delivered its vol
leys at short range, disabled the bat-
terry, drove off the two New York
regiment OF Houaves, supporting the
battery, whose officers were unable to
rally them, charged and took posses
sion of the battery. There Fisher
fell. There Mangum fell: and there
they and other North Carolinians were
found later, side by side with the
dead Ramsay and the wounded Rick
etts, and the dead and wounded men.
and horses Of the battery. But almost
Immediately, fishers regiment. find
ing itself far within the Federal lines
and attacked from the rear and left,
and its colonel being killed, retired
across h ravine by which it had ad-
Vanced
Colonel Wilcox. Of the First Mi nj
gam, in his official report, describes
the flight of the Zouaves, his own
movement from the field, and his re-
turn. ~"Returning in a few moments,
| found the field cleared of both
friends and enemies. The horses, men
and two officers of Ricketts, battery
lay stretched upon the ground, but
the enemy had not yet seized the
battery
In that notion he was in error: for
it had been taken, and abandoned.
He then again left the field. and vent
to bring up the First Michigan. On
his return with that regiment, ne
found a hin line of C~onfederates In
possession OF the battery. His right
gave way. but his left stood firm and
expelled the enemy, and retock the
battery" But the C~onfederates raj
lied and again seized it. colonel
HeintZelman says that: During his
time Ricketts, battery had been taken
and etaken three times" Finally,
the Confederates held It. Originally
the men and horses had been killed
and disa bled by the Sixth North Car
Gina. The Thirty-third Virginia had
nothing to do with it. Earlier in the
battle and east Of the Henry House
that regiment had captured three
not this affair. AS for the Sixty-fifth
Virginia. that now famous orEaniza-
ton. vas a more creation of the FER
tile brain Of the gifted ~uthoress
There was no Sixty-ffth in Jackson's
brigade.
1t is much to be regretted tfat MISS
Johnston was not aware of the pic
IA u
Fishers arrival on the scene ARD MS
dramatic death. She might have add
ed somewhat to her thrilling narrative
of the battle.
AS for her deviation from the cor
rect account Of the destruction and
ga pture of the famous Ricketts, Dat
sery. North Carolinians can hard'v
shrow any stones. At least II they DO,
she can successfully %retort, and ask.
why they lay stress upon accuracy IN
this matter, when they disregard ac-
curacy in the matter OF the
burg Declaration, holding up 10 inc
world as a declaration made in 1919
a paper written in 1900?
AS long as North Carolina dlsre-
cards accuracy herself, she can not
complain of ~inaccuracy in others.
But as for the capture OF Ricketts,
ba ttery-Tirginia has so many glori-
Gus deeds TO recall that n needs not
to strut in borrowed plunage.
The dead North Carolinians inter-
mingled with the dead artIleryrncn