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481]
From members of the brigade present.
We, the undersigned members of the Twelfth, Sixteenth, Nineteenth, and Forty eighth regiments, Mississippi volunteers,
Harris's brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, on our honor as gentlemen and records as soldiers, state that the claim of
General Lane of
North Carolina, made in the “Southern Historical Society Papers,” published at
Richmond, Virginia, supported by the statements of several of the officers and men of his command, wherein it is claimed that the defence of Battery Gregg before
Petersburg, April 2nd, 1865, was made solely by that command, to be an unwarrantable claim, and a gross perversion of history.
We assert that said defence was made by the Twelfth and Sixteenth Mississippi regiments,
Harris's brigade, and a section of the Washington artillery.
There may have been
a few men of other commands in the work, but they were without organization.
Witness our hands at
Port Gibson, Mississippi, this first day of November, A. D. 1879:
E. Howard McCaleb, adjutant, twelfth infantry regiment.
T. B. Manlove, lieutenant-colonel, forty-eigth Mississippi regiment.
W. R. Thompson, private, company K, twelfth Misisissppi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
R. H. McElwaine, private, company I, sixteenth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
R. B. Thetford, company H, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
H. Gilmore, private, company I, sixteenth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
John W. Walters, private, company G., sixteenth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
Fred. J. V. Le Cand, sergeant, company G, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
James G. Robbins, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
John A. Shields, private, company G, sixteenth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
H. H. Owing, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort
Harry Dey, private, company G, sixteenth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
J. D. Bridger, sergeant, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
W. H. Dromgoole, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
John W. Owen, private, company D, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
L. B. Harlin, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
H. M. Colsom, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
C. R. Nesmith, sergeant, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
G. W. H. Shaiffer, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.
J. H. Sins, private, company K, twelfth Mississippi regiment, present at Fort Gregg.