Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

Chapter 11:

• Battle of Champion's Hill
-- siege of Vicksburg -- the Gettysburg campaign.

Barton's and Cumming's Georgia brigades had been sent to the defense of Vicksburg in December, 1862, and early in May, 1863, after Grant had landed south of the river city, Brig.-Gen. W. H. T. Walker was sent from Georgia to reinforce the command which Gen. J. E. Johnston was hastily gathering at Jackson. Under Walker's command were the Twenty-fifth regiment, Col. C. C. Wilson; Twenty-ninth, Col. William J. Young; Thirtieth, Col. Thomas W. Mangham; First battalion sharpshooters, Maj. Arthur Shaaff, and Martin's Georgia battery. In Gist's brigade, sent from South Carolina at the same time, were the Forty-sixth Georgia, Col. Peyton H. Colquitt, and the Eighth battalion, Capt. Z. L. Watters.

Walker was at Jackson in time to march to the support of Gregg's Tennesseeans at Raymond, May 12th, and participate in the brief resistance to the Federal occupation of Jackson which immediately followed. In the action here Colonel Colquitt ably commanded Gist's brigade. General Johnston at once urged the promotion of General Walker to division command, as a necessity in the organization of an army, and he received a commission as major-general in the month of May. With headquarters at Canton, he had command of a division consisting of the brigades of Gist, Ector, Gregg, McNair and his own [221] under Colonel Wilson, in all about 12,000 men present for duty. McNair's was subsequently detached. Thus began the famous career of Walker's division.

In the battle of Champion's Hill, May 16th, the Georgia brigades of Barton and Cumming fought with General Stevenson, where the combat was hottest. Barton on the right, Cumming in the center, and Stephen D. Lee on the left bore alone for some time the Federal assaults, and when they were forced to yield ground the battle was lost. The Georgia regiments engaged were the Fifty-sixth, Col. E. P. Watkins; Fifty-seventh, Col. William Barkaloo; Thirty-sixth, Col. Jesse A. Glenn; Thirty-fourth, Col. J. A. W. Johnson; Thirty-ninth, Col. J. T. McConnell—all of Gen. Alfred Cumming's brigade; the Fortieth, Col. Abda Johnson; Forty-first, Col. William E. Curtiss; Forty-second, Col. R. J. Henderson; Forty-third, Col. Skidmore Harris, and the Fifty-second, Col. C. D. Phillips—all of Gen. Seth Barton's brigade. These ten Georgia regiments, with Lee's four Alabama regiments, practically fought the battle against what General Stevenson reported was an army of four divisions, ‘numbering from their own statements, about 25,000 men.’ Cumming and Lee gallantly repulsed for some time the enemy's assaults, and being pushed back finally rallied on the line of the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Georgia. Soon afterward the blow fell upon Barton, and despite his gallant endeavors he was forced back and cut off from the division. But he kept up the fight and held a position near Edward's depot until night. Corput's Georgia battery (the Cherokee artillery) was splendidly served. It was impossible to save the guns, but the gunners fought to the last. Barton's brigade lost heavily, 58 killed, 106 wounded and 737 captured. General Barton reported., Col. Skidmore Harris among the captured and wounded. In a report of a later date, General Stevenson states that Colonel Harris was killed at the head of his regiment. Others commended for gallantry were [222] Cols. Curtiss, Phillips, Henderson and Abda Johnson. The latter, though sick, was present and cheering his men, who were commanded by Lieut.-Col. Robert M. Young. Majs. Raleigh S. Camp, William H. Hulsey and M. S. Nall; Capts. Max VanD. Corput and J. W. Johnston, and Lieutenant Sharkey, of the artillery; and the staff officers, Capt. A. C. Thom, Lieut. T. B. Lyons, R. F. Patterson, W. Norcum and C. L. Thompson, were specially mentioned.

Cumming's brigade was about 2,500 strong, and lost in killed 142, wounded 314, missing 539, total 995. Of the missing, General Cumming estimated that about 200 were killed or wounded. As they fell back fighting desperately against the flanking attacks of the enemy, Colonels McConnell and Watkins were severely wounded. Colonel Watkins had left his sick room at Vicksburg to command his regiment in this fight. Capt. Henry P. Osborne, the youngest officer of his rank in the Thirty-ninth Georgia, not yet twenty-one years old, was particularly distinguished by the courage and skill displayed in holding his company together and securing their orderly withdrawal, for which he was complimented by General Cumming on the field. During the subsequent siege he showed remarkable skill in the construction of the part of the line under his supervision. This promising young officer died soon after the fall of Vicksburg at his home in Augusta, Ga., and at his funeral a great outpouring of citizens honored his memory.

During the siege of Vicksburg, soon afterward begun, and continued until the surrender July 4, 1863, the remnants of the ten Georgia regiments shared the heroic services and uncomplaining endurance of Pemberton's little army. There was not much opportunity for those sallies which enliven the history of famous sieges in romance. The only ones mentioned by General Stevenson were made by Georgians. Lieut.-Col. C. S. Guyton, of the Fifty-seventh Georgia, went out one night with portions [223] of that regiment and of the Forty-third Tennessee. Guyton was successful in driving the enemy from three fortified points on the Hall's Ferry road, inflicting considerable loss. The other event worthy of record was the reconnoissance made on the Warrenton road under Colonel Curtiss, Forty-first Georgia, resulting in the capture of 107 of the enemy's pickets. General Stevenson complimented this officer with the following special mention: ‘The reconnoissance was conducted in a manner which reflects credit upon that able officer.’

Another of the heroes of the siege was Lieut. George D. Wise, ordnance officer of Cumming's brigade, who before the opening of the land campaign had made daring reconnoissances, was distinguished in the battle of Champion's Hill, and after the Federal lines had been drawn about the fated city, carried dispatches between Pemberton and Johnston, seeming to be able to go and come at will, as if he bore a charmed life.

Walker and his Georgians took part in the ineffectual defense of Jackson, Miss., against Sherman, after the fall of Vicksburg. Here also Marcellus A. Stovall, former commander of the Third battalion, was present, with the rank of brigadier-general, commanding among other regiments the Forty-seventh Georgia.

Turning attention from the western to the eastern fields of conflict, it is observed that almost simultaneously with the fall of Vicksburg occurred the deadly grapple of the Northern and Southern armies at Gettysburg, from which the army of Northern Virginia returned shattered and bleeding, after having struck the enemy so heavy a blow that he could make no effective pursuit.

Ewell's corps led the way in the forward movement of the army of General Lee in the invasion of Pennsylvania, first taking the fortified post of Winchester, Va., with 23 guns and 4,000 prisoners, a splendid achievement in which Gordon's Georgia brigade took an active part. In Early's report the fact is mentioned that ‘Gordon's brigade, [224] which first reached the fort and pulled down the flag over it, preceded the rest of the division.’ The brigade lost about 75 men killed and wounded, among the former Capts. C. A. Hawkins and J. B. Colding. After this success the Confederate army crossed the Potomac and passing through Maryland entered Pennsylvania.

Gordon's brigade, marching in advance, entered Gettysburg on June 26th, and on the next day marched toward York, which they occupied on the morning of the 28th. Thence they marched the same day to the Columbia bridge over the Susquehanna river, at Wrightsville, where General Early hoped to cross, cut the Pennsylvania railroad, march upon Lancaster, lay that town under contribution, and then attack Harrisburg, the capital of the State. But when Gordon and his brigade reached the Susquehanna, he found a militia body intrenched at the tete-de-pont, who retreated when artillery was opened upon them, and running across the bridge, were able to fire it so effectively that Gordon was checked. The bridge was entirely destroyed, and from it the town of Wrightsville caught fire and several buildings were consumed. But the further progress of the flames was arrested by the exertions of Gordon's men. General Evans relates that while he was fighting the flames to save the town, he read in a paper the brief special dispatch which announced the recent burning of Darien in Georgia by the Federals. Referring to the threatened destruction of the Pennsylvania city, General Early wrote:

All the cars at Wrightsville were destroyed, but the railroad buildings and two car manufactories, as well as the hospital buildings, were not burned, because after examination I was satisfied that the burning of them would cause the destruction of the greater part of the town, and notwithstanding the barbarous policy pursued by the enemy in similar cases, I determined to forbear in this case, hoping that it might not be without its effect even upon our cruel enemy. This example has been lost [225] upon the Yankees, however, as, so far from appreciating the forbearance shown, I am informed that it has actually been charged by some of their papers that Gordon's command fired the town of Wrightsville, whereas the exertions of his men saved the town from utter destruction.

The great battle of the Pennsylvania campaign at Gettysburg began with the collision of Heth's and Pender's divisions with Buford's Federal cavalry, supported by Wadsworth's division, and rapidly reinforced by Reynolds' corps. The only Georgia brigade in this conflict, which beginning early culminated in the storming of Seminary ridge, was that of Gen. Edward L. Thomas, and this was retained by Lieut.-Gen. A. P. Hill to meet a threatened advance of the enemy from the left.

After this first day's fight had begun, Ewell, with the Georgia brigades of Gordon and Doles among his other brave fighters, arrived from the Susquehanna and closed in upon the Federals, who had now been reinforced by the corps of O. O. Howard. Pushing down from the north as A. P. Hill was pounding the enemy back from the west, about 3 p. m., Doles and Gordon encountered the Federals strongly posted, with infantry and artillery, but drove them back with heavy loss. Doles' flank being threatened, Gordon made a gallant charge over the fences, rocks and ravines, and carried this position, after a desperate resistance by the enemy, who only gave way when less than fifty paces separated the colors. Many prisoners were taken, and Major-General Barlow, of Howard's corps, was desperately wounded. This onset enabled Doles to advance against the flank of the Federals, who were still defending Seminary hill, compelling them to give up this important position to A. P. Hill. Doles kept on as rapidly as his tired men could go, hoping to cut the Federals off from the town, but was not successful in this. He then formed in line of battle on the main street, running east and west. Gordon's brigade occupied a part of the town. Except that Gordon was in [226] a night attack on the second day, he and Doles did not take a conspicuous part in the subsequent struggle; but they were engaged in heavy skirmishing during July 2d and 3d on the Confederate left wing.

Gordon's brigade, after Lee's withdrawal on the night of the 4th, was rear guard of the corps. On the 5th it held the enemy in check at Fairfield, the Thirty-first and Twenty-sixth Georgia, under Colonel Evans, being mainly engaged. In Gordon's brigade the loss at Gettysburg, incurred chiefly on the first day, was killed, 270 wounded and 39 missing, the Thirteenth regiment having the heaviest loss, 20 killed and 83 wounded. The brigade captured a large number of prisoners in the first day's battle. In the charge of that day, Colonel Evans was wounded in the left side and temporarily disabled, but he resumed command on the second and third days.

Doles' brigade carried into action a total of 1,369 and lost 24 killed, 124 wounded, and 31 missing. On the 1st of July, Lieut.-Col. D. R. E. Winn was killed and Lieut.-Col. S. P. Lumpkin received a wound that caused the loss of a leg, while gallantly leading their regiments, the Fourth and Forty-fourth. General Doles mentioned with especial gratitude the services of Col. Edward Willis and Maj. Isaac Hardeman, of the Twelfth; Col. J. T. Mercer, Lieut.-Col. T. W. Hooper and Maj. T. C. Glover of the Twenty-first; Maj. W. H. Willis, Fourth; Maj. W. H. Peebles, Forty-fourth, and the company officers in command of sharpshooters; Capt. S. G. Pryor, Twelfth; Capt. J. B. Reese, Forty-fourth; Lieut. J. G. Stephens, Fourth, and Lieut. J. S. Wilder, Twenty-first. One flag was captured by the Twelfth.

When Longstreet's corps took position on the field to the south of A. P. Hill, on the second day of the battle, four more Georgia brigades were brought into action. In McLaws' division were the brigade of Gen. P. J. Semmes—Tenth regiment, Col. John B. Weems; Fiftieth, Col. W. R. Manning; Fifty-first, Col. E. Ball; and [227] the brigade of Gen. W. T. Wofford—Sixteenth regiment, Col. Goode Bryan; Eighteenth, Lieut.-Col. S. Z. Ruff; Twenty-fourth, Col. Robert McMillan; Cobb's legion, Lieut.-Col. Luther J. Glenn; Phillips' legion. Lieut. E. S. Barclay. In Hood's division were the brigade of Gen. George T. Anderson—Seventh Georgia, Col. W. W. White; Eighth, Col. John R. Towers; Ninth, Lieut.-Col. John C. Mounger; Eleventh, Col. F. H. Little, and Fifty-ninth, Col. Jack Brown; and the brigade of Gen. Henry L. Benning—Second regiment, Lieut.-Col. William T. Harris; Fifteenth, Col. D. M. DuBose; Seventeenth, Col. W. C. Hodges, and Twentieth, Col. John A. Jones.

McLaws' division got into position opposite the Federal left about 4 p. m. Hood's division was moved on farther to the enemy's left, which it partly enveloped. That evening these two divisions, half Georgians, the other half mainly South Carolinians, Mississippians, Alabamians and Texans, made a successful assault upon Sickles' corps, driving it back from the wheatfield and almost gaining possession of Little Round Top. As the gray line pushed forward it was exposed to artillery fire from the heights and musketry fire from the troops at their front before the base of the ridge. General Hood was wounded and Gen. E. M. Law took command of that division. But the gray swept on until, as General Law has described it, ‘the blue line in front wavered, broke, and seemed to dissolve in the woods and rocks on the mountainside.’ As the Confederates followed up among the rocks of Devil's Den, Benning's and Anderson's brigades, until then in the second line, were brought forward, and the four brigades pushed their way up the hill, fighting from boulder to boulder, and sometimes mounting the rocks to fire with better effect. Not an hour had elapsed from the beginning of the attack before the Georgians, Texans and Alabamians had taken Round Top and a spur before Little Round Top, where they intrenched with rocks that night. [228]

McLaws division was severely engaged at the wheatfield and peach orchard. Semmes followed Kershaw's South Carolinians, but soon was ordered to the front line, and just as he was about to take that position he fell mortally wounded. As the desperate fight progressed with varying fortune, Wofford rode up at the head of his splendid brigade and turned the flank of the enemy, who was pushing back Kershaw and Semmes. Wofford's men attacked with great effect, said General Kershaw, and drove the Federals back to Little Round Top. Concerning the fight of Wofford's and Semmes' brigades, there is unfortunately little information in the official reports. The losses are reported at 55 killed, 284 wounded and 91 missing for Semmes' brigade, and at 30 killed, 192 wounded and 112 missing for Wofford's. The regiments which suffered most were the Tenth and Fifty-third. The service of Benning's brigade is well described in detail in the report of the brigadier-general commanding. The regiments moved first through a wood, not seeing the enemy, but feeling his shells. Emerging they confronted at 600 yards distance a steep and rough mountain spur, while to the right about 500 yards was the summit of the eminence on which artillery was posted, as well as on the top of the spur. The Georgians pushed right up among the rocks in spite of a deadly fire, took the spur and three of the cannon on it, with 300 prisoners, and then held this exposed position while shells were constantly bursting over them and every head that showed itself was a target for a minie ball; repulsing all attempts to dislodge them until they were ordered to retire next day, following the failure of Pickett's and Pettigrew's charge.

The loss was heavy among the best and bravest. Col. John A. Jones, Twentieth, was killed late in the fight, after the enemy had been driven from the lower eminence, and had opened fire from the upper hill with shell, a fragment of which glanced from a rock and passed [229] through his brain. He had been conspicuous for coolness and gallantry. Colonel Harris, of the Second, equally distinguished, was killed by a ball through the heart as he and his regiment passed through a gorge swept by the fire of infantry and artillery. Lieut.-Col. J. D. Waddell succeeded to the command of the Twentieth, and Maj. W. S. Shepherd to that of the Second. The captured guns were taken by the Twentieth and the Seventeenth, aided by a part of the First Texas which had joined the brigade; but as General Benning says, ‘they could not have taken, certainly not held the guns if the Second and Fifteenth had not by the hardest kind of fighting at great loss protected their flanks.’ Colonel DuBose's men were particularly distinguished in the capture of prisoners. On the evening of the third day, an order from General McLaws improperly conveyed caused Colonel DuBose to be sent with his regiment to an exposed position, from which he was able to extricate himself by gallant fighting but at great loss. This regiment had the most killed, wounded and missing —70 on the 2d and 101 on the 3d, in all over half the regiment. The loss of the brigade was given at about 400 on the 2d, and in all 509.

Anderson's Georgians made three charges upon the enemy, at the base of the hill, marked by desperate fighting, and in the second of these, General Anderson was severely wounded, the command devolving upon Lieut.-Col. William Luffman, Eleventh regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Mounger, of the Ninth, was killed by a piece of shell soon after the advance commenced, and for about an hour Maj. W. M. Jones was in command, when he and Capt. J. M. D. King were both wounded, and carried from the field, leaving the regiment in charge of Capt. George Hillyer. Lieut. E. W. Bowen was among the killed. Eleven officers were wounded; of the enlisted men, 25 killed, and 119 wounded, with 32 missing, making a total loss of 189 out of 340. Col. F. H. Little of [230] the Eleventh was severely wounded, and after Luffman took command of the brigade, Maj. H. D. McDaniel was in charge of the Eleventh. Among the killed of this regiment were Capts. M. T. Nunnally and John W. Stokes, and Lieut. W. H. Baskin. The total loss was 204. On the 3d the Eleventh, under Capt. W. H. Mitchell, and the Fifty-ninth, under Capt. M. G. Bass, all commanded by Major McDaniel, and supported by the Eighth, Capt. D. Scott, and the brigade skirmishers under Capt. S. D. Cockrell, repulsed the effort of the Federal cavalry to turn the flank of Hood's division. During this combat the Ninth Georgia, under Capt. George Hillyer, moved at double-quick and saved a battery from the cavalry of the gallant Farnsworth, who fell in his desperate charge upon the Confederate right. The Fifty-ninth lost 116 men. Col. Jack Brown was wounded, and Capt. M. G. Bass was next in command.

While two of Longstreet's divisions were fighting at Little Round Top, Wright's Georgia brigade of Anderson's division, A. P. Hill's corps, had the honor of gaining the crest of the famous eminence where, on the following day, the ‘high tide of the Confederacy’ dashed in vain. Anderson struck the Federal line just north of McLaws, and Wright's Georgians were on the north end of Anderson's line, the extreme left of the fighting line on the right of the army. They marched for more than a mile across an open plain, swept by the enemy's artillery, drove the infantry and artillery from the Emmitsburg turnpike, capturing several guns; routed them from behind a stone wall, their next place of defense, and finally, by a well-directed fire, drove the gunners from the crest of Cemetery hill, and by an irresistible charge swept the infantry also from the crest and into a gorge beyond. They had gained the key to the enemy's whole line, the master position that Pettigrew and Pickett tried in vain to secure on the following day. But as the Georgians looked around they found that they were supported [231] neither on the right nor left, and that their thinned ranks were hardly sufficient to hold this advanced position. Under cover of the rocks and woods, strong detachments of the enemy were at once sent from both sides to cut them off. General Wright, in his report of this daring advance of his brigade, says:

We were now in a critical condition. The enemy's converging line was rapidly closing upon our rear; a few moments more and we would be completely surrounded; still no support could be seen coming to our assistance, and with painful hearts we abandoned our captured guns, faced about, and prepared to cut our way through the closing lines in our rear. This was effected in tolerable order, but with immense loss. The enemy rushed to his abandoned guns as soon as we began to retire, and poured a severe fire of grape and canister into our thinned ranks as we retired slowly down the slope into the valley below. ... I have not the slightest doubt that I should have been able to maintain my position on the heights, and secure the captured artillery, if there had been a protecting force on my left, or if the brigade on my right had not been forced to retire. We captured over twenty pieces of artillery. .. by the Third Georgia, eleven pieces; Twenty-second, three; Forty-eighth, four, and Second battalion, five or six.

The loss was very heavy, 335 killed and wounded, and 333 captured or missing. The Third regiment, commanded by Col. Edward J. Walker, fought superbly and lost 196 men. Col. Joseph Wasden, commanding the Twenty-second, was killed at the turnpike. The service contained no truer or more devoted officer. The adjutant was wounded and left on the field; of seven captains that went in, only one came out; the color-bearer and five color-guards were shot down. Capt. B. C. McCurry was left in command. Col. William Gibson, of the Forty-eighth, was wounded and left on the field. This regiment fought exposed both to enfilade and direct fire, and suffered more than any other, losing 212 in all, including 5 captains out of 6, and 11 lieutenants out of 17. [232] The colors were shot down seven times. Maj. George W. Ross, Second battalion, a splendid disciplinarian and accomplished gentleman and soldier, was shot down while endeavoring to remove some of the captured cannon, and died in the hands of the enemy. The gallant Capt. C. R. Redding was left on the field for dead. The battalion fought along the whole line of the brigade, having been first deployed as skirmishers. Capt. Charles J. Moffett succeeded to command.

In Col. H. C. Cabell's artillery battalion, attached to McLaws' division were two Georgia batteries, the Troup artillery, Capt. H. H. Carlton, and the Pulaski artillery, Capt. J. C. Fraser; also McCarthy's Virginia battery and Manly's North Carolina battery. This battalion, which opened the fight of McLaws' division, July 2d, was placed in position near the crest of a hill on the edge of a wood, the right resting near the road leading from Gettysburg to Emmitsburg. Exposed themselves to a flanking fire from the enemy's mountain batteries, their position gave them a similar advantage in firing upon a large part of the Federal line. Colonel Cabell says:

The battalion being the first to open fire received for a short time a concentrated fire from the enemy's batteries --the loss of my battalion was very heavy during this cannonading. Captain Fraser (Pulaski artillery), who had always in previous engagements, as in this, set an example of the highest courage, coolness and gallantry, fell dangerously wounded by the bursting of a shell. The same shell killed two sergeants and one man. Lieut. R. H. Couper of the same battery was wounded during the same engagement. The batteries in the peach orchard were driven off. The next day, finding that Capt. Fraser's command was so much crippled by the loss of men, I placed two of his guns (3-inch rifles), in charge of Capt. B. C. Manly, and two Parrott guns of Captain Fraser's battery, under command of Lieut. W. J. Furlong, were ordered to take position on the new and advanced line of battle. Capt. H. H. Carlton's battery (Troup artillery) and a section of Captain McCarthy's [233] battery (two Napoleons) were ordered to the left of the line in front of Pickett's division.

The fire of the artillery opened about 1 p. m., and for two hours the cannonading was almost continuous. Mc-Carthy's and Carlton's batteries were opposite the cemetery position of the enemy. The artillery ceased firing as a part of Pickett's division passed over the ground occupied by them in the celebrated charge. ‘During the cannonading,’ says Colonel Cabell, ‘Lieut. Henry Jennings, a brave and gallant officer, fell wounded, and later in the day Captain Carlton, who has in action so gallantly commanded his battery, fell, also wounded. The command of the battery fell upon and was at once assumed by First Lieut. C. W. Motes.’ After the repulse of Pickett, Captain McCarthy and Lieutenant Motes of the Troup artillery were ordered to move forward upon a line with the sections commanded by Lieutenants Anderson, Payne and Furlong, the latter commanding two guns of the Pulaski artillery. These guns fired upon an approaching line of the enemy's infantry and drove it back. They remained in their advanced position until night, when they were withdrawn. The loss in the Troup artillery at Gettysburg was 1 killed and 6 wounded, while that in the Pulaski artillery was 4 killed and 14 wounded.

The Sumter battalion of artillery was, during the battle of Gettysburg, attached to Gen. R. H. Anderson's division and was commanded by Maj. John Lane, who reported as follows:

Early on the morning of July 2d, in compliance with an order, I sent Capt. G. M. Patterson's battery, consisting at that time of two Napoleon guns and four 12-pounder howitzers, with one 12-pounder howitzer of Capt. H. M. Ross' battery, to report to Brigadier-General Wilcox; while with the battery of Capt. John T. Wingfield, consisting of two 20-pounder Parrotts and three 3-inch navy Parrotts, and the five remaining pieces of Captain Ross' battery, embracing three 10-pounder Parrotts, one 3-inch navy Parrott and one Napoleon, I went into position on [234] a ridge east of the town of Gettysburg, fronting the enemy's guns on Cemetery hill, and distant therefrom nearly 1,400 yards. With these guns immediately under my command, I took part in the actions of the 2d and 3d instant, being at all times during the engagement subjected to a very heavy fire, chiefly from Napoleon guns. In these two days actions Captain Ross' battery sustained a loss of 1 man killed and 7 wounded. Captain Wingfield's battery had 9 men wounded, besides 8 or 10 others struck but not disabled. Captain Wingfield had a very severe bruise on the leg by a piece of shell, but did not leave the field. From Captain Patterson's report I learn that he went into action only on the second day's battle, then with the brigade of General Wilcox, and though engaged but a short while, sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 5 wounded.

The reports show that the battalion lost in the whole campaign 3 men killed, 21 wounded and 6 missing; also lost 53 horses. Lane's report speaks in high terms of the gallantry displayed by officers and men, ‘as well as of their patient endurance of the hardships of the march and the gnawings of hunger caused by being without rations for several days consecutively.’ ‘We interred our dead decently,’ he continues, ‘and brought every wounded man of the battalion across the Potomac, for which Chief Surg. W. A. Green is entitled to praise.’

The operations of the cavalry during the Gettysburg campaign may be considered as beginning with the battle of Fleetwood (Brandy Station). In this hard-fought battle Cobb's Georgia legion, commanded by Col. P. M. B. Young, was complimented by General Stuart, who said in his report that at a critical moment, ‘the leading regiment of Hampton's brigade (Col. P. M. B. Young's Georgia regiment) came up and made a brilliant charge upon the flank of the enemy, supported by Black's South Carolina cavalry, thus checking his advance up the hill.’ In the great cavalry battle on the third day at Gettysburg and in the preceding and succeeding movements, Cobb's and Phillips' Georgia legions bore a gallant part. The [235] loss in Cobb's legion at Gettysburg was 8 killed, 6 wounded and 7 missing. Phillips' legion suffered a loss of 1 killed and 9 wounded. Hampton's brigade, to which these two commands belonged, had a greater loss than any other brigade of Stuart's command, and Cobb's legion lost more in killed than any other regiment of the division except the Seventh Virginia, which lost an equal number. Hampton had a fight of his own with the enemy on July 2d at Hunterstown, where the Cobb legion, in front of the Phillips legion and the Second South Carolina regiment as supporting forces on the flanks, met a charge of the enemy with a countercharge, and not only repulsed but drove them back. [236]