[172] Sharpsburg, and the encounter of Shepherdstown, and in the following December was in the heat of the fighting at Fredericksburg. He participated in the flank movement and hard fighting of Jackson's corps at Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, Hill having been promoted to command of corps, General Archer's brigade was in the division commanded by Gen. Henry Heth, which led in the Confederate advance on Gettysburg, Archer's command on the right of division line. The first shot of this memorable struggle was fired by Archer's brigade, and the first Confederate who fell was a private of one of his Tennessee regiments. The brigade occupied Mc-Pherson's wood, against which the Federal troops were promptly hurled under the leadership of Major-General Reynolds himself. In the fight which followed Reynolds was killed, and Archer was wounded and with many of his command fell into the hands of the enemy. The service lost at this time, as General Early well expressed it, a ‘most gallant and meritorious officer.’ In the summer of 1864, he was one of the six hundred Confederate officers who were sent from Fort Delaware to be placed under fire at Morris Island. Subsequently exchanged, he was assigned on August 19, 1864, to the command of his brigade and Walker's, temporarily united, of Heth's division. But in a few weeks the effects of his wounds and the hardships of imprisonment disabled him for active duty, and caused his death October 24, 1864.
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[172] Sharpsburg, and the encounter of Shepherdstown, and in the following December was in the heat of the fighting at Fredericksburg. He participated in the flank movement and hard fighting of Jackson's corps at Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, Hill having been promoted to command of corps, General Archer's brigade was in the division commanded by Gen. Henry Heth, which led in the Confederate advance on Gettysburg, Archer's command on the right of division line. The first shot of this memorable struggle was fired by Archer's brigade, and the first Confederate who fell was a private of one of his Tennessee regiments. The brigade occupied Mc-Pherson's wood, against which the Federal troops were promptly hurled under the leadership of Major-General Reynolds himself. In the fight which followed Reynolds was killed, and Archer was wounded and with many of his command fell into the hands of the enemy. The service lost at this time, as General Early well expressed it, a ‘most gallant and meritorious officer.’ In the summer of 1864, he was one of the six hundred Confederate officers who were sent from Fort Delaware to be placed under fire at Morris Island. Subsequently exchanged, he was assigned on August 19, 1864, to the command of his brigade and Walker's, temporarily united, of Heth's division. But in a few weeks the effects of his wounds and the hardships of imprisonment disabled him for active duty, and caused his death October 24, 1864.
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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