Norro Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY.

The column entered York on Sunday morning. It looked
as though they were unexpected, for the church bells were
ringing and crowds of well-dressed men and women were on
the sidewalks on their way to church. They stopped and
gazed at the troops as they passed with something like stu-
pefaction, but there was no sign of alarm even among
the ladies. They, however, seemed to give up the idea of
going to church that day, and the ladies went to their
homes and during our stay there they were rarely ever
seen on the streets. The men, however, mingled freely with
the Confederate officers, and there was little or no sign ‘of bit-
terness apparent. They drank together and discussed the
war and many other subjects together. Some of the men,
of course, were ardent Union men, and expressed their senti-
ment freely, but a great many, and it seemed to the writer a
majority of them, were bitterly hostile to Mr. Lincoln’s ad-
ministration and condemned the war on the South. The
seeming preponderance of the anti-administration sentiment
might have been due to the fact that the Union men had fled
or were keeping themselves close. When the division left
the place some prominent men even went so far as to insist
that leading Union men should be arrested and carried away
prisoners, for the reason, as they said, that the Union men
had been dominating and tyranizing over them ever since the
war began. General Early preserved the most perfect order
during our stay there. He levied a contribution of $100,000
on the banks, but took no private property without paying
for it. A foundry in the outskirts of the town which was

used by the government for the manufacture of war mate-
rial he burned.

ON TO GETTYSBURG.

After remaining some five or six days in York, the divis-
ion took up its march for Gettysburg. Its march was leis-
urely, for no enemy had been seen or heard of since leaving
Virginia. As the head of the column reached a point some
three or four miles from Gettysburg, somewhere about mid-

 

Firry-SEVENTH REGIMENT. 413

day, two reports of field guns were heard in the direction of
Gettysburg, and forthwith officers began to discuss the sig-
nificance of it. Owing to a peculiar atmospheric condition,
the sound seemed farther off than it really was, and it was
supposed by all to be a cavalry engagement some twenty miles
away, but in a few minutes the firing became rapid, many
guns apparently being engaged, many more, in fact, than
were generally used in cavalry engagements. While officers
were still discussing the matter, John W. Daniel, now United
States Senator from Virginia, then the young and brilliant
Adjutant-General on General Early’s staff, was seen ap-
proaching the head of the column at full speed. He brought
an order from General Early saying General A. P. Hill was
hard pressed at Gettysburg, and for the division to make all
haste to his assistance. Men disengaged themselves of their
blankets and whatever else encumbered them, leaving them
to be gathered by the rear guard and wagon train, and took
the quick step for Gettysburg. The last mile was made at
double-quick, for they could already see a cloud of white
smoke floating over Gettysburg and could hear the noise of
the great conflict. When the division reached the suburbs
of Gettysburg it took position on the extreme left of the Con-
federate line. There was three brigades, Hoke’s under Isaac
E. Avery, on the extreme left, next Hays’ Louisiana, and
then Gordon’s Georgia Brigade. The division went into line
and halted ten minutes to rest the men. From our position we
could see the Confederate and Federal lines arrayed one
against the other in open ground, no breastworks, no fortifi-
cations, but they stood apart in battle array and were in plain
view for two miles except where the line was lost in the de-
pressions of the hills. Then a Confederate brigade away on
our extreme right, moved forward upon the expectant enemy ;
there came a jet of white smoke from along the enemy’s line
and a scarcely audible roar of musketry, filled in by the sound
of the artillery; then there came the expected yell, a rush,
and the enemy’s line broke. As this first brigade moved, a
second was moving in echelon; there was the same yell, the
same rush, and the same flight of the enemy. Still another
brigade; the sound of the conflict and yell of men becoming