PRE | Te | eas aa tae 376 Nort Carorina Troops, 1861-65. command to charge. The squad passed through the intervals separating the epaulments for the artillery and fired several shots. In less than three minutes all were killed or captured save two or three who are said to have escaped. General Pet- tagrew, who had received a wound in one of his hands (left) at Gettysburg, was unable to manage his horse which reared and fell with him. It is probable when in the act of rising that he was struck by a pistol ball in the left side, which, un- fortunately for himself and his country, proved fatal. Thirty- three of the enemy’s dead were counted, and six prisoners fell into our hands and a stand of colors.” The cavalry mentioned above was a portion of the Sixth Michigan, commanded by Major P. A. Weber. “Seeing onl that portion of the enemy behind the earthworks,” says ce eral Kilpatrick in his report of the affair ‘Major Weber gave the order to charge.” : General Kilpatrick admits a loss of thirty killed, wounded and missing, including the “gallant Major P. A Weber. killed.” It would seem that General Heth and the fest west excusable for their hesitation as to which side this cavalr force belonged. Tis true, they were dressed in the Federal uniform, but many Confederate scouts wore the Federal uni- form. It was known that General Lee was crossing his arm into Virginia, at Williamsport ford and at Falling Waters Re a pontoon bridge, and that the cavalry had orders to protect the crossing of the infantry at these places. But for an un- fortunate mistake on the cavalry’s part in thinking all had crossed, whereby those who were to intervene between the = fy ig guard had been withdrawn and had, mselves, crosses filli “ i i params oe ued Mi illiamsport above, this sad disaster A member of the Twenty-sixth regiment, who witnessed the unfortunate affair says: ‘Some (eeferving to the Fed- eral cavalry) were knocked off their horses with fence rails General Pettigrew after he fell, endeavored to shoot the Veo. kee who shot him, but his pistol missed fire, and N. B. Staton x] ~ ? Pare <4 private of Company B, seized a big stone and crushed the Yankee in the breast, killing him.” — As x he surgeons examinec Gener é | I ett ligrew's s soon as ft , l gi amin d a =A F g TwenTy-SixtH REGIMENT. Old wound they saw the only hope for his life was to keep him perfectly quiet, and proposed to take him into a barn near by. To allow this, General Pettigrew obstinately declined, saying “he would die before he would again be taken pris- oner.” He was then put on a stretcher, and in hopes his life by this way might be saved, he was carried by four men who were regularly relieved by fresh details, all the way to Bun- ker Hill, a distance of 22 miles, oceupying parts of two days. Frequently during the march he would say to the sol- diers as he would notice their sympathetic countenances: “Boys, don’t be disheartened. May be I will fool the doe- tors yet.” He lingered in the house of a Mr. Boyd, at Bun- ker Hill, Va., until 17 July, 1863, and at about half past six in the morning, died quietly and without pain. General Lee, riding by his side as he was carried on the litter to Bun- ker Hill, expressed great sorrow at his being wounded. Gen- eral Pettigrew replied “that his fate was no other than one might reasonably anticipate upon entering the army, and that he was perfectly willing to die for his country.’ : To the Rev. Mr. Wilmer, afterwards Bishop Wilmer, of Louisiana, he avowed a firm persuasion of the truths of the Christian religion and said that in accordance with his belief he had, some years before, made preparation for death. On the morning of Friday, 24 July, 1863, the coffin con- taining his remains, wrapped in the flag of his country, and hidden under wreaths of flowers and other tributes of femi- nine taste and tendérness, lay in the rotunda of the Capitol at Raleigh, where within the year had preceded him his compa- triots, Branch and Anderson. From Raleigh, he was taken to his old home, Bonarva, Lake Scuppernong, Tyrrell County, and there he is buried near the beautiful lake whose sandy shores his youthful feet were wont to tread. We would pause here to remark how mysterious are the dispensations of Proy- idence, that it should be denied to James Johnston Pettigrew to die on the field of Gettysburg, and be decreed that he must meet his end in a petty skirmish with cavalry two weeks later. Many prisoners were taken on the retreat from Hagers- town to Falling Waters, because of the exhausted condition of the men and the incessant pursuit of the Federal cavalry.