Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 09.djvu/39

30 call in the aid of their own imagination to fill up and embellish the picture.

That mistakes, misstatements, or even intentional perversion of truth in the accounts given the hostile armies, should be made, is both natural and unavoidable during the heat and bitterness of the conflict. These and other errors of the war, on either side, must, for the present, be borne patiently, but corrected assiduously, fairly and generously by North and South, that each section may the sooner appreciate the other.

So far as relates to the good conduct of North Carolina troops, from the beginning to the close of the war, I think their unpretending courage in action, their patient submission to the privations of the camp and the march, their almost child-like docility and acceptance of discipline everywhere, and when circumstances needed it, their daring valor, are now recognized and highly appreciated by all—thanks to your journal. Why should the conduct of men from any State be extolled at the expense of those from their sisters?

Brave "Johnny Rebs" belonged exclusively to no State, but made glory enough for all, whether in the sore privations of the camp, or in the heat of the conflict, as they sent up to the welkin that dauntless shout, so often the harbinger of victory.

No officer who commanded North Carolina troops has ever, that I know of, complained of their behavior.

At the risk of being tiresome, I propose to make a brief statement of what passed under my own eye during the third day's fight on the right of our army. A topographical sketch of that part of the field can alone convey a full understanding of the movements of our troops, but a brief description of ridges, woods and roads, will help much to elucidate the situation and conduct of divisions.

Cemetery Ridge, or plateau, extends along the town of Gettysburg to Round Top Hill, say two to three miles long. The Emmettsburg road runs northeasterly not far from the western edge of this plateau, but generally below it in elevation, entering Gettysburg on the south, directly below the cemetery. Tracing the Emmettsburg road southwesterly from Gettysburg, it is found to diverge more and more from the plateau of Cemetery Ridge. At and near the town, the road lies at the foot of this abrupt sloe, but about a mile south, in from of Pickett's division, the road is over half a mile from the elevation on which the Federal lines were posted, with a small stream and valley between. These lines, infantry and artillery, occupied moderately elevated ground commanding the fields between them and the southern lines on