Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 07.djvu/133

Rh could march such a long distance under the fire of so many guns and yet so few of them be killed.

Our brigade, on the day of this fight, was commanded by Colonel Brockenbrough of the Fortieth Virginia, General Field having been severely wounded on the day before. We had but little difficulty, and lost very few men, in retaking the line, as the enemy had lost very heavily and had become considerably scattered in their fight with the Louisiana and Stonewall brigades. Late Colonel Forty-Seventh Virginia Infantry. Westmoreland County, Virginia.

January 28th, 1879.

To the Secretary of the Southern Historical Society:

Sir—General Taliaferro's report of the battle of Averasboro' [not Averysboro' as printed], published in the January number of the Historical Papers, makes no mention of a battalion of North Carolina troops conspicuous in that action—suffering the loss, among others, of its commanding officer—and which, so far as known to the writer, was the only body of North Carolina infantry actively engaged in the battle in question.

The following notice is not unmerited, and is intended to supply merely what seems to be an omission—not to reflect in any way upon the General or his report.

The battalion, upwards of two hundred muskets strong, under command of its senior officer, Captain Armand L. de Rosset, of Wilmington, North Carolina, had been assigned to General Stephen Elliott's brigade a day or two before the engagement. Not a great many of the officers at Averasboro' had had much experience in infantry field fighting. Captain de Rosset was one of the few who had, he having served with distinction, as an officer of the Third