126 NorrH Caronina Troops, 1861-65.

ly the left of Heth’s Division was thrown back somewhat.
When not far from the stone fence behind which the enemy’s
infantry was entrenched, Davis’ Brigade, reduced to a line of
skirmishers, broke. It had suffered a great deal in the first
day’s fight; and in its rush from the wood on Seminary
Ridge, it had arrived right oblique on Pettigrew’s left, and
in process of forcing its line back to the left, in order to get
into position, there was for a little while a huddling of the
men together, which exposed them to greater loss than should
have been, but the line was soon straightened ont, and no
troops could have done better until they broke; but this bri-
gade was on the extreme left, not a support of any kind to
brace it up, and exposed to flank, oblique and direct fire, what
hope or confidence could be left to the few men, that if they
held on they could succeed. General Fitzhugh Lee, in his
work entitled “General Lee,” says of the left brigades of our
assaulting columns, which includes Davis’, Pettigrew’s and
Archer’s:

“They made their assault in front of Hay’s and Gibbon’s
Divisions, Second Corps, in the vicinity of Ziegler’s Grove.
Stormed at with shot and shell this column moved steadily
on, closing up the gaps made, and preserving the alignment.
“They moved up splendidly,’ wrote a ‘Northern officer, ‘deploy-
ing as they crossed the long, sloping interval. The front of
the column was nearly up the slope, and within a few yards
of the Second Corps’ front and its batteries, when suddenly
a terrific fire from every available gun on Cemetery Ridge
burst upon them. Their graceful lines underwent an instan-
taneous transformation ; in a dense cloud of smoke and dust,
arms, heads, blankets, guns, and knapsacks were tossed in the
air, and the moans from the battlefield were heard from amid
the storm of battle. Sheets of missiles flew through what
seemed a moving mass of smoke; human valor was powerless,
and the death-dealing guns were everywhere throwing blazing
projectiles in their faces.’ No troops could advance and live.
The fiery ouslaught was repulsed as Pickett’s Division had
been, and then the survivors of both came back to their former
positions, but not one-half of the fourteen thousand. The
famous charge was over.”

rE PN SERRE AN Ae RINSE SCLIN tT SRT ML TN A aR NET ST oo OTTER RET SS TSE SEER ESN

PETTIGREW’s BRIGADE AT GETTYSBURG. 127

General Pettigrew had assigned me to the left of the divis-
ion, and my duty was to see that the proper alignment was
kept and if necessary to encourage the men, should there be
any sign of faint-heartedness. At first I found it difficult
to keep the men from crowding, and to make them give way
to the pressure from the right, and this may have given the
impression to some lookers on that our line wavered, but this
trouble was soon remedied by the thinning of the ranks, done
by shot and shell. As to my second duty, that of encouraging
the men to move forward, there was no need of a word from
me. When gaps were made in the line the ranks closed up
of their own accord, and continued to advance, until the catas-
trophe, which I have described. Of course no troops, it mat-
ters not what their straits, should retire from an attack with-
out orders to do so; but there is certainly mitigation for those
who had none of their company officers to look to, and there
were many companies, reduced to a few men, whose officers
had all fallen. When what was left of Davis’ Brigade broke
it did so in an instant, there was none of the before-hand way-
ering reported by Longstreet and others, who were looking on
from afar or not at all. This, like many others of the reports
concerning the charge, was wholly imaginary. When Davis’
Brigade broke, I reported to General Pettigrew and he imme-
diately sent me to General Trimble to ask him to hasten for-
ward to our support. I was then on foot. My gallant mare—
and that she was gallant, her groom,* who was with me all
during the war, and who has been my friend and servant for
forty years, can testify—had succumbed to three wounds;
and do not think me heartless, when I tell you, that when I
placed a wounded soldier on her and sent them out, the
thoughts of my heart were more with the spirited animal
which had borne me bravely through many perils, than with
my hurt comrade. I ran as fast as I could to deliver the mes-
sage entrusted tome. General Trimble and his brigade were
not and had not been in supporting distance; they also must
have been delayed, as was Davis’ Brigade in the wood on
Seminary Ridge. Be this as it may, they were too late to

* James R. Norwood, a colored man.