104 NortH Caronina Troops, 1861~’65.

Pender, had been wounded, the latter mortally. Three bri-
gades were without their Brigadiers, Scales having been
wounded, Archer taken prisoner, and Pettigrew placed in
command of Heth’s Division. Many Colonels and other field
officers and.a long list of company officers had been killed and
wounded, and the losses from the ranks had been heavy in
most of the regiments and extraordinary in some, the Tvexit 5
sixth North Carolina, for instance, having lost over 71 a
cent. of its numbers in killed and wounded in the first day's

LoNGSTREET’s ASSAULT AT GETTYSBURG. 105

 

pleasantly and, to tell the truth, are almost as proud of our
Southern soldiery as we are.

When Pickett’s line had advanced to the summit of the
ridge which had. sheltered it during the great cannonade, he
perceived that his center was not moving directly towards the
above-mentioned copse of trees as intended, but to the right
and south of it. ‘Thereupon he very properly ordered his bri-
gades to incline considerably to the left, which they did and
they continued on the same course until they reached the en-

 

 

 

 

 

fight. As the lines moved out in that fatal, final charge, a
number of the men wore bloody bandages on asicind ‘of
wounds received in the first day’s fight, and it is said that
General Lee observed and spoke of this with much feelin

and moistened eyes. No wonder his soldiers loved thelr
noble commander and were ready to march under his orders
even into the cannon’s mouth.

Many Union officers and soldiers who were there and saw
it have stood with me on Cemetery Ridge and spoken with
admiration of the magnificent spectacle presented by the lines
of Confederate veterans as they advanced deliberately, with
muskets at right shoulder shift, across those broad fields A
storm of shells, grape and canister, poured upon fiene and
cut wide gaps in their ranks, but these were promptly closed
up without retarding the advance. The duty of indicating
the general direction to be followed by the whole force was
very properly assigned to Pickett’s fresh division. The oth-
ers were ordered to dress to the right and keep in touch with

his left and he was ordered to move directly towards a small ~

unbrella-shaped copse of chestnut oaks inside the Union lines
a short distance south of “The Angle.” That copse of trees
is still there, looking exactly as it did thirty-eight years ago
It is enclosed by an iron fence to keep people from carryin
off every splinter of it as a “relic.” A large tablet has tees
erected near by containing the inscription, “The High Water
Mark of the Rebellion.” I often remind our Union friends
good humoredly that the waves dashed up pretty high several
times afterwards, at Chickamauga, Wilderness Spottsylva-
nia, Cold Harbor and elsewhere. They take the sal A

in ea ie tact nes neessnaa aR

emy’s lines. The order to the other brigades from the first
was “Guide right, and keep in touch with Pickett’s left ;” and
therefore, on starting they inclined somewhat to their right
so as to join his left. His change of direction being unfore-
seen by them and occurring whilst the whole line was in
motion, the result, for which none of them can be censured,
was that very considerable crowding and intermingling of the
ranks on Pickett’s left and Pettigrew’s right took place by
the time they reached the Union breastworks, the effect of
which will be noticed hereafter.

One of the great obstacles encountered by the Confederates
in their advance was the Emmitsburg road with its post and
rail fences on each side and, as heretofore mentioned, running
obliquely to the lines of battle. Where Pickett’s right ercssed
these fences is about 600 yards from the Union line and
where Pettigrew’s left crossed them is about 150 yards from
that line. The reader can imagine how difficult it was to
preserve an orderly alignment of the men crossing these
fences in succession from the right flank to the left under a
fierce storm of grape and canister and, on the left, of mus-
ketry also, for the Emmitsburg road there is in easy musket
range of the Union lines. Another important fact. which
should not be omitted is that the Eighth Ohio Regiment and
a large detail from Willard’s New York Brigade, having
been thrown out from the Union right as skirmishers beyond
the Emmitsburg road, did not withdraw to their main battle
line as the Confederates were advancing, but formed in com-
pact ranks under cover of the fence west of the Emmitsburg
road, perpendicular to the Confederate line and near its left

flank. From this shelter they poured in a severe and unex-