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132 themselves upon anything which passes away with the present life, but to form a yet higher standard—one which the pages of God's Holy Word presents for our example; still, when it has become praise-worthy to decry that which certainly has its value, and all would have if they could, I cannot remain entirely silent.

Hoping I may have no cause for adding another page to this already very long letter, I will now subscribe myself,

1em

, September 2, 1863. Captain , Assistant Adjutant-General, Johnson's Division:

Captain—I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by my brigade in the battle of Gettysburg. We reached the battlefield of July 1st toward evening of that day, and marching through a part of the town and along the Gettysburg and York railroad, formed line of battle to the northeast, our front facing the south and our left wing in a skirt of woods. The Fourth and Second brigades were on our right, the "Stonewall" on our left. We slept on our arms that night.

At about 3 o'clock P. M. the following day the enemy's and our own batteries opened fire, and the shelling was very heavy for several hours; the brigade, however, suffered but little, being protected by the woods and behind rising ground. Our pickets, which had been stationed three hundred yards in front of our line the night previous, were relieved at about five o'clock by four companies of skirmishers from the Twenty-third Virginia, and shortly afterward the brigade was formed in line of battle and moved forward.

The hill where the enemy was strongly entrenched and from which we were ordered to drive him lay in a southwesterly direction from our position, and accordingly our left wing was obliged to swing around by a right half wheel, and the brigade thus formed front toward the west by south.

The enemy's skirmishers fell back rapidly as we advanced