Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 8.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Major,--The Light Division of Major-General W. D. Pender, consisting of the brigades of Brigadier-Generals J. H. Line, E. L. Thomas, A. M. Scales and S. McGowan (the latter commanded by Colonel A. Perrin of the Fourteenth South Carolina volunteers), which had encamped on the afternoon of the 30th of June on the north side of South mountain, Pennsylvania, moved from that position at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 1st of July, along the turnpike through Cashtown in the direction of Gettysburg, in rear of the division of Major-General Heth. [516] When arriving in about three miles of Gettysburg, the artillery and the advance of Major-General Heth having already become engaged with the enemy, the division was formed in line of battle from right to left in the following order: Colonel Perrin, Brigadier-Generals Scales, Lane and Thomas; the two former on the right, and the two latter on the left of the turnpike. In this order, with a strong line of skirmishers thrown out on the right, the division advanced for nearly a mile, and was halted in obedience to orders from Lieutenant-General Hill, General Heth having also halted in front.

About three o'clock the troops of the corps of Lieutenant-General Ewell appearing on the left, and the enemy making a strong demonstration on the right with infantry and cavalry, the brigade of General Lane was ordered to the extreme right of the division, and General Thomas was directed to close upon the left of General Scales.

Simultaneously with the appearance of Lieutenant-General Ewell on the left, a general advance was ordered on the right. General Heth moved quickly forward and soon became vigorously engaged with the enemy. The Light Division in the new order moved forward in his support, with the exception of the brigade of General Thomas, which was retained by Lieutenant-General Hill to meet a threatened advance from the left. The division continued to move forward until it came close upon the command of General Heth, pressing the enemy within a short distance in front. General Pender sent his Assistant Adjutant-General forward to General Heth to know if that officer was in need of assistance. Being informed that he was pressing the enemy from one position to another, the division advanced slowly, keeping within close supporting distance of the troops in front.

About four o'clock General Pender ordered an advance of the three brigades, with instructions to pass General Heth's division if found at a halt, and charge the enemy's position, which was on a prominent ridge, between a quarter and a half mile from Gettysburg. The division moved rapidly forward, and passed the division of General Heth, then under command of Brigadier-General Pettigrew, which seemed much exhausted and greatly reduced by several hours of hard and successful fighting.

General Lane, on the extreme right, being annoyed by a heavy force of dismounted cavalry on his right flank, which kept up a severe enfilade fire, was so much delayed thereby, that he was unable to attack the enemy in front, except in routing a force posted in the woods, occupied the next day by Major Pegram's battalion of artillery.

Colonel Perrin, after passing General Heth's division, took advantage [517] of a ravine to reform his line, and moved rapidly forward, preserving an alignment with General Scales on his left. Upon ascending a hill in front, this brigade was met by a furious storm of musketry and shell from infantry posted behind temporary breastworks, and artillery from batteries to the left of the road near Gettysburg. The brigade steadily advanced at a charge, reserving its fire as ordered, easily dislodging the enemy from his several positions, and meeting with little opposition, except from an enfilade fire from the artillery on the left, until it came within two hundred yards of his last position, the ridge upon which was situated the Theological College. The brigade, in crossing a line of fencing, received a most withering and destructive fire, but continued to charge without returning the fire of the enemy until reaching the edge of the grove, which crowns the crest of the ridge. Colonel Perrin here finding himself without support, either on the right or left--General Lane having been delayed by the attack on his flank, and General Scales' brigade having halted to return the fire of the enemy after their brigade-commander had been wounded — attacked the enemy determinedly in his immediate front with success, suffering greatly from an enfilade fire on both flanks, and then dividing his command by ordering the two right regiments to change front to the right, and the two left regiments to change front to the left, he attacked the enemy in flank, posted on the right behind a stone wall, and on the left behind a breast-work of rails, easily routing them, driving them through the town to Cemetery Hill.

This movement caused the artillery on the left, which had continued to keep up a constant and destructive fire upon the advancing lines of the division, to limber up and move to the rear. Much of this artillery would have been captured, but the two left regiments (Perrin's brigade) met a second force of the enemy posted behind a stone fence to the left of the college, which were easily dislodged, but not in time to intercept the fleeing batteries.

Too much credit cannot be awarded to Colonel Perrin and the splendid brigade under his command for the manner and spirit with which this attack was conducted. To the former the government has recognized his valuable services in a manner the most grateful to the true soldier, by a prompt promotion; to the latter, all who are acquainted with their gallantry on this occasion, unite in their commendation; to both, their commander, who fell mortally wounded on the succeeding day, was most enthusiastic in their praise.

General Scales on the left, with his left resting on the turnpike, after passing the troops of General Heth, advanced at a charge upon the flank [518] of a brigade of the enemy, which were engaged with the extreme left of General Heth's division upon the opposite side of the road, which caused the enemy soon to fall back. The brigade continued to advance rapidly, and as it commenced to descend the hill opposite the ridge upon which the enemy was posted, it encountered a most terrific fire of grape and shell on the left flank, and grape and musketry in front, but still it pressed forward at a double quick, until the bottom was reached, a distance of about seventy-five yards from the enemy's fortified position. Here the fire was most severe; every field officer, with one exception, was either killed or wounded. General Scales and Assistant Adjutant General Riddick were disabled by severe wounds. The brigade halted to return this fire of the enemy, throwing in confusion somewhat the line. Major-General Pender, with portions of his staff, and General Scales, though suffering much from a severe wound in the leg, succeeded in rallying the brigade, which immediately pushed forward again, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, Thirty-fourth North Carolina troops, and joined the pursuit of the enemy, driving him through Gettysburg.

The troops of the division, which had been sent into the town to gather up prisoners, were withdrawn upon the appearance of the brigade of Brigadier-General Ramseur, filing into it from the left, and the whole division, General Thomas having come up, was formed in line along the ridge opposite the town and Cemetery Hill, the left resting on the Fairfield road.

In this position they rested during the night and the next day, with no active operations except heavy skirmishing along the entire line. During a successful charge made to drive the enemy from a road in front of Cemetery Hill, Captain William T. Haskell, First South Carolina volunteers, in charge of a select battalion of sharp shooters, received a wound from which he died in a few minutes on the field. “This brave and worthy young officer,” says Colonel Perrin, in his official report of the transaction, “fell while boldly walking along the front line of his command, encourging his men, and selecting favorable positions for them to defend. He was educated and accomplished-possessing in a high degree every virtuous quality of the true gentle — man and Christian. He was an officer of most excellent judgment, and a soldier of the coolest and most chivalrous daring.”

Late in the afternoon of this day, during the attack of Lieutenant-General Longstreet's corps and a portion of Major-General Anderson's division upon the enemy's left, Major-General Fender, having ridden to the extreme right of his command, to advance his division should [519] the opportunity offer, received a severe would in the leg from a fragment of a shell, which subsequently proved fatal. Seldom has the service suffered more in the loss of one man than it did when this valuable officer fell. Gallant, skillful, energetic, this young commander had won a reputation, surpassed only by the success and ability of his services. The commanding general, in the preliminary report of this battle already published, forcibly expresses the sentiments of all who knew General Pender, and had watched his career as a soldier. “This lamented officer,” says the report referred to, “has borne a distinguished part in every engagement of this army, and was wounded on several occasions while leading his command with conspicuous gallantry and ability. The confidence and admiration inspired by his courage and capacity as an officer, were only equaled by the esteem and respect entertained by all with whom he was associated, for the noble qualities of his modest and unassuming character.”

The command of the division devolved upon General Lane, who, upon being informed by Lieutenant General Ewell that he could move upon the enemy's position at dark, ordered the brigades of General Thomas and Colonel Perrin forward to the road occupied by the skirmishers, so as to protect the right flank of General Rhode's division, supporting these two brigades with his own, commanded by Colonel C. M. Avery, Thirty-third North Carolina troops, and Scales', commanded by Colonel W. L. J. Lowrance, Thirty-fourth North Carolina troops, who, although wounded on the 1st, had reported for duty. The night attack was subsequently abandoned, but these two brigades (Thomas' and Perrin's) remained in their advanced position during the night, and the next day keeping a continuous and heavy skirmish with the enemy, compelling his advance to remain close under the batteries of Cemetery Hill, the brigades of Lane and Scales forming a second line.

During the morning of the 3d, General Lane received an order from Lieutenant-General Hill to report in person, with the two brigades forming his second line to the right, to Lieutenant-General Longstreet as a support to Pettigrew. General Longstreet ordered him to form in rear of the right of Heth's division, commanded by General Pettigrew. Having executed this order, General Lane was relieved of the command by Major-General I. R. Trimble, who acted under the same orders given to General Lane. The two brigades, thus formed as a support to Pettigrew, with Lowrance on the right, after suffering no little from the two hours exposure to the heavy artillery fire, which preceded the attack on the 3rd, advanced in close supporting distance of Pettigrew's [520] line. General Trimble, with portions of his own and General Pender's staff, being with and taking immediate command of the movement.

The line moved forward through the wooods into the open field, about one mile in full view of the fortified position of the enemy, exposed to a murderous artillery and infantry fire in front, a severe artillery fire from the right, and and an enfilade fire of musketry from the left. The line moved handsomely and firmly forward. The division in front gaining ground to the right, uncovered the left of Lane's brigade, which caused it to advance more rapidly than the rest of the line. This was checked by an order from General Trimble. When within a few hundred yards of the enemy's works, the line in front being entirely gone, the division moved rapidly up, connecting with the troops on the right, still stubbornly contesting the ground with the enemy, reserving their fire until within easy range, and then opening with telling effect, driving the artillerists from their guns, completely silencing them, and breaking the line of supports formed on the crest of the hill. All the guns in the immediate front of the division were silenced, and the infantry had fallen behind their second and third lines of defence, when the division advancing in an oblique direction, the extreme right of which had reached the works, was compelled to fall back, the troops on the right having already gone, exposing the line to a very deadly fire from that direction immediately on the flank, and a large column of infantry appearing on the left, that flank also became exposed. The two extreme left regiments of Lane's brigade, under Colonels Avery and Barry, advanced some minutes after the rest of the line had given way, and fell back under direct orders.

The gallantry and impetuosity of the brigades of the division engaged in this attack drew from their veteran and wounded commander the highest compliments, as it won the admiration of all who witnessed them.

Lane's veteran troops advanced with that enthusiasm and firmness which had characterized them on every field which has made the soil of Virginia historic, under the immediate supervision of their brigade commander. And the brigade of General Scales, yet weak from the terrible loss it sustained at Chancellorsville, and one-half of the remaining numbers killed or wounded in the attack on the 1st, including the brigade commander and all the field officers save one, who was wounded in this attack, yet moved forward with characteristic gallantry, and its right touched the enemy's line of works and gave way only when the whole force on the right was gone, and the enemy from numerous batteries crowning every height was decimating its reduced ranks. [521]

In this attack Major-General Trimble was severely wounded near the enemy's works in the leg, which necessitated amputation, and in the retreat to the Potomac, unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. His conduct needs no encomium in this report. The action of the division attests the value of his services, which a grateful country will ever appreciate. One member of his staff was killed, and two others wounded, Major Gettings but slightly.

The division was reformed in accordance with orders from General Trimble, by General Lane, just in rear of the artillery and upon the same ground where it had rested before making the attack, and in this position remained until the army fell back on the night of the 4th of July.

The reports of the brigade commanders are herewith enclosed, to which your attention is called for further particulars and for notices of individual gallantry.

The list of casualties, which was very large, has already been forwarded by Surgeon P. A. Holt, the Medical Director of the division.

Sincerely regretting the loss the division sustained in its two commanders, which has devolved upon me the necessity of writing this report,

I am, Major, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,