In an address delivered by
Colonel Andrew Cowan to his comrades at
Gettysburg on the 3d of July, 1886, he, like nearly every other speaker and writer, ascribes all the praise of the
Confederate charge of the third day to
Pickett's division.
He says: “Beyond the wall nothing but the gray-clad
Virginians.”
He speaks of no other troops except
Pickett's. Some writers have gone so far as to say
Pickett made the immortal charge with five thousand
Virginians, etc.
Pickett's division was fresh, not having engaged the enemy on the first or second day, while the other troops of the assaulting body fought on the previous days with unsurpassed bravery, and some of the brigades were almost annihilated.
The grand assaulting column was formed in three divisions, and the divisions were commanded and led to the slaughter by
Pickett,
Pettigrew, and
Trimble.
General George E. Pickett's division, composed of three brigades commanded by
Generals Richard B. Garnett,
Lewis A. Armistead, and
James L. Kemper, was 4900 strong.
Garnett fell during the progress of the charge while at the head of his column urging his men on.
Armistead led his men through the terrific storm of battle to the base of the
Federal works, and there he placed his cap on his sword and scaled the wall, appealing to his troops to follow him. A few of his disorganized men imitated his heroic example, and died at his feet.
General Kemper was wounded in the charge.
General J. Johnston Pettigrew's command embraced the following brigades:
Archer's Tennessee brigade, commanded by
Colonel Fry, of the 13th Alabama;
Pettigrew's North Carolina brigade,
Jo Davis's Mississippi brigade, and Brock-enbrough's brigade of
Virginians, aggregating five thousand troops.
All were of
Heth's division of
A. P. Hill's corps.
General Pettigrew was wounded in the charge, but he did not quit the field, and remained in command until he fell at
Falling Waters.
I will now notice the conduct of
Archer's Tennessee brigade.
It opened the battle on the first day and lost its brave and gallant commander.
While leading his men he was captured by a flank movement made by the enemy.
The brigade suffered heavy losses in other ways on that day. When the grand assault was made on the 3d, the 1st and 7th Tennessee regiments made the first breach in the
Federal works on
Cemetery Hill, and they were the only organized regiments that entered into and beyond the enemy's walls.
The 14th Tennessee, after losing heavily on the first day, went into the grand charge with 375 men, and planted its colors on the stone wall and left them there.
The heroic conduct of the 13th Alabama in that awful and trying scene has been carefully written up, and the record is in the archives of the Southern Historical Society, in its native State, and will be loved and admired as long as heroism is admired.
It was
Archer's worn, tattered, and bleeding brigade that fought the last
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battle north of the
Potomac — the
battle of Falling, Waters--where the lamented
Pettigrew fell.
Davis's Mississippi brigade, that fought so gallantly on the first day, and crossed bayonets with the
Iron Brigade, had a prominent part in the grand charge.
The 2d Mississippi of that brigade lost half of its men on that day, but was still intact, ready and willing to fight, and its courage in the great charge has become a matter of history.
Its battle-flag is in the possession of the old color-bearer, who lives at Blossom Prairie, Texas, and has the names of more than a score of battles stamped on it.
Scales's and
Lane's North Carolina brigades, commanded by
General Isaac R. Trimble, belonged to
General W. D. Pender's division of
A. P. Hill's corps, and were 2500 strong.
General Pender was mortally wounded on the second day. When
General Lee saw the men of
Scales's brigade, bleeding from wounds received on the first day, he said, “Many of these poor fellows should go to the rear.”
When a brigade would fight under such circumstances as
Scales's did, it ought not to be robbed of its military fame.
General Trimble was wounded in the charge.
Prairie Grove, Tex. 
