Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/51

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t ntcr the town. The next day, July ist, Ewell's and Hill's Corps advamvd upon Gettysburg 1 by different roads, and Heth's Division, briny in tin- advance of Hill's Corps, was the first to strike the enemy, whose strength was then unknown. Upon engaging them they were found to occupy in large force and strongly posted a posi- tion west of the town. A line of battle, consisting of the divisions of Heth and Fender, with two of Ewell's divisions, was formed for attack, one division of each corps being held in reserve, and drove the Federals through Gettysburg, with very heavy loss, to the range of hills south and east of the town. In this engagement Pet- tigrcw's Brigade occupied the centre of Heth's line, and encountered the enemy in heavy force, breaking through his first, second and third lines. "The Eleveth North Carolina, Colonel Leventhorpe commanding, and the Twenty-sixth North Carolina, Colonel Bur- gwyn commanding," says General Heth in his official report, "dis- played conspicuous gallantry, of which I was an eye-witness, and the whole brigade fought as well and displayed as heroic courage as it was ever my fortune to witness on a battle-field." In this attack Colonel Leventhorpe was wounded and subsequently made prisoner, and Major Ross was killed. The total loss in this day's fight I do not find recorded, but in the battles of the first and third days (it was held in reserve the second day) the regiment lost 50 killed and 159 wounded, and in the fatal charge of the third day on Cemetery Hill many were taken prisoners.

In the third day's fight Heth's Division, commanded by Petti- grew, whose brigade was commanded by Colonel Marshall, of the Fifty-second, and Pickett's Division of Longstreet's Corps, a fresh division not previously engaged, bore the brunt of the attack on Cemetery Hill, and in a perfect hailstorm of musketry, grape and canister, which made it a slaughter pen, succeeded in penetrating the Federal line, only to be promptly repulsed, leaving a large num- ber of wounded and unwounded prisoners in the enemies' hands. At the close of this battle the regiment found itself reduced to a mere handful. Major Jones, of the Twenty-sixth, was the only field officer left in the brigade, and most of the company officers were either killed, wounded or captured. The companies of the regi- ment generally came out with a single officer, and several of them had none at all. Company A crossed the Potomac with a hundred men, and came out of the charge on Cemetery Hill with a lieuten- ant and eight men. The losses in the other companies were equally si-vere. Owing to the number of officers captured in the Gettys-