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204 Norto Carotina Troops, 1861-65.

iment lost its first man from a hostile bullet. Captain Frank
Bennett commanded the advance line of sharpshooters, who
really developed the enemy’s strength, was severely wounded,
being disabled for months.

In the attack at Seven Pines, made in the afternoon of
Saturday, 31 May, 1862, the Twenty-third belonged to Gar-
land’s Brigade. This with three other brigades, Rodes’, G.
B. Anderson’s and Raines’, formed Hill’s division, which as-
saulted the strongly fortified Federal front. Few attacks in
war were ever made under circumstances more unfavorable to
the assaulting force. A swamp, in some places waist deep in
water and thick with undergrowth and tangled vine, had to be
crossed, and a skillfully made abatis confronted and strug-
gled through before the heavily manned hostile works beyond
could be reached. Through them all swept the regiment in
line, with its comrade commands, under a fire of musketry
and artillery as hot as mortal men ever breasted with success.
Many a gallant fellow was stricken down dead or wounded.
Some rendered helpless by wounds, not necessarily fatal, sank
and were drowned in the deep waters of the swamp.

Finer tribute to fighting men was never paid than that
by a Northern writer who saw the battle from the point of
view which we assailed—there being no hotter section of that
fire-swept line than which fate assigned to the Twenty-third.
This writer says: “Our shot tore their ranks wide open,
and shattered them in a manner frightful to behold, but they
closed up and came on as steadily as English Veterans. When
they got within four hundred yards we closed our case shot
and opened on them with canister. Such destruction I never
witnessed. At each discharge great gaps were made in their
ranks. * But they at once closed and came steadily on,
never halting, never wavering, right through the woods
(swamp), over the fence, through the field, right up to our
guns, and sweeping everything before them, captured our ar-
tillery and cut our whole division to pieces.”

Huger’s turning movement far to our right had been
stopped by impassable streams. Smith’s attack far to our
left, where General Johnston commanded in person, had been
beaten off, and the Commander-in-Chief severely wounded.

TwENTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 205

But in our front the victory was complete. After two hours,
ending in the brilliant charge described above, Casey’s works
were carried and his routed line driven back on Couch’s.
Then the division reinforced by only one, R. H. Anderson’s,
smashed Couch, though reinforced by Kearney, and drove all
back on their third line two miles in rear of the first line.
Twelve pieces of artillery and 6,000 stands of small arms,
were taken. Darkness put an end to the battle.

But a heavy blood equivalent was paid for the victory.
Owing to much sickness the regiment, according to the state-
ment of Captain A. T. Cole, was able to go into this action
only about 225 strong. Moore’s Roster, which in countless
instances, and probably in this, is incomplete, shows that
twenty-four privates and non-commissioned officers were
killed, and ninety-five wounded, sixteen of them mortally.
As will be seen, this was an exceeding large proportion of the
number engaged.

There were also many casualties among the commissioned
officers. None of the Field Officers escaped injury. Colo-
nel Christie was wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel R. D. John-
ston was wounded in the arm, face and neck, had his horse
killed under him and was shot down within fifty feet of the
hostile works. Captain ©. C. Blacknall, Company G, who,
unable to walk, owing to a sprained ankle, had gone into
action mounted, was grazed by seven balls, and received
a painful bruise near the spine from a fragment of shell. He
also received painful injuries from his horse, which was killed
and fell on him. Captain William Johnston, Company K,
and Lieutenant E. A. McDonald, Company D, were also
wounded. Lieutenants J. D. Knott and A. M. Luria, of
Company I, were killed. Luria was a gallant young fellow.
It was at Seawell’s Point that he did a heroic act, which, had
he been a British soldier, would have brought him the Victo-
ria Cross and caused the world to ring with his name. While
there early in 1861, either as a visitor or as a member of Col-
quitt’s command, before he joined the Twenty-third, a shell
from the Federal gunboats dropped among the Confederates.
With rare presence of mind and devotion, he seized the shell
and threw it over the works before it could explode. At our