Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/22

 16 Southern Historical Society Papers.

him joyful welcome on the eve of what all men felt would be the greatest battle of the war, but General Lee, who had seen him imme- diately on his arrival, said to A. P. Hill, whom he met a few moments alter : " General Hill, I have good news for you. Major Pegram is up." "Yes," said Hill, "that is good news." A staff-officer of Hill's repeated this to Pegram. The compliment could not fail to please the youthful soldier, for if ever man weighed his words it was Robert Lee, and Pegram afterwards said to a comrade over the camp fire that he valued those few words from the General of the army and the General of his corps more than another star upon his collar.

The other star he was destined soon to win.

At Gettysburg his Battalion suffered severely, being engaged all three days. Many of his officers and men were slain or wounded, and he left eighty horses dead on the field.

But his energy made light of difficulties, and the BattaHon was speedily in readiness to be " put in " again.

During the next winter he was promoted Lieutenant- Colonel. Of his services in the campaigns of '64 and '65, in which the fighting- was continuous, it would be impossible to speak in detail. Time would fail me to tell of the part played by the Battalion at Spotsyl- vania Courthouse, Jericho Ford (passage of the North Anna), Cold Harbor, Reams' Station, the Crater, the actions of August i8th, 19th, and 2ist for the possession u{ the Weldon railroad (where the brunt of the fighting fell on the Battalion and Heth's division), second battle of Reams' Station (of which Heth generously said that he did not believe that the works would have been " practicable " for any troops, had not Pegram first shaken the position by the terrific fire of his guns), actions of September 30th and October rst and 2d on the right of Petersburg, the actions on Hatcher's Run, and the general action of March 25th along the whole line of the army.

One more incident I will recall though many of you saw it. In the action of September 30th, when Heth's and Wilcox's divisions were sent with two of our batteries to recover the extension of the line of rifle-pits on " the right " his conduct excited especial remark. Soon after the troops had become hotly engaged, Pegram opened Bran- der's and Ellett's guns and then rode forward with the infantry in the charge with an eye to pushing forward his artillery should occasion offer. The brunt of the fighting fell on McGowan's veteran South Carolina brigade, the enemy making a most determined stand in a skirt of pines immediately in McGowan's front. This little brigade,