Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/353

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my name called by the adjutant of the regiment. Tin- brigade had just met General Stuart, who. with his cavalry corps had, a!t< i verc engagements with tin- Federal cavalry at Hanover, brought with him 200 wagons, and 1,200 horses and mules, captured in the vicinity of Washington city, and, after having repulsed the eneim -'s attack, he now wanted an officer to inform Generals (iordon, Hrth. and Karly that he did no longer require any of the reinforcements he had asked for. I was selected to carry these messages, and all the direc- tions regarding the headquarters of said generals, < ieneral Stuart could give, was: " You will find them somewhere on the left wing of our army; numerous men wounded in to-day's battle will cross your way, and they can tell you." I galloped off, and soon met many suffering victims of the bloody struggle. Finally emerging from a. dark forest, a wide field, brilliant in the moonshine, was before me, and I observed a very slender line of soldiers in a hollow, within 200 yards of the enemy's sharpshooters. " Where will I find General Gordon's division ? " I enquired from an officer, who came to meet me. Pointing to a line of soldiers stretched on the ground, and holding their muskets in their arms, he replied in a most mournful voice: "This is what is left of it. " A few minutes later, General Gordon approached us, returning from an inspection of his scattered command, and I delivered to him General Stuart's message. "It is lucky for General Stuart," he answered, " that he does not require the regiments asked for. I have none to spare." Under similar discouraging circumstances I was received at Gettysburg by Generals Heth and Ewell, and several times on my way thither, the sharp whistle of a bullet sent after me by some Yankee outpost, touched my ear. Gettysburg impressed one like an enormous hospital and a Yankee surgeon told me that there were about ten thousand of their wounded within our lines. About half past i in the morning I arrived at the camping place of my regiment.

THE THIRD DAY.

July 3d. At 4 o'clock in the morning we mounted horses and, through fields and on by-roads, advanced to our extreme left, at- tempting to flank the enemy's army, and to cut off its way of retreat. Our sudden attack on their rear was a success, nearly fifteen minutes passed before they replied to the discharge of our artillery. For nearly an hour, the air was alive with shells we lost men and horses, and finally we changed position and dismounted to charge the enemy on foot. General Fitzhugh Lee commanded our left wing, Generals