Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/336

322 party. I left and went to search for one of our litters, in order to place Colonel Burgwyn upon it, so as to carry him more comfortably and conveniently. I found the litter with some difficulty, and as the bearers and myself came up to the spot where Colonel Burgwyn was lying on the ground, we found that he was dying. I sat down and took his hand in my lap. He had very little to say, but I remember that his last words were that he was entirely satisfied with everything, and 'The Lord's will be done.' Thus he died, very quietly and resignedly. I never saw a braver man than he. He was always cool under fire and knew exactly what to do, and his men were devoted to him.

"He was the youngest colonel I ever saw in all my experience as a soldier. If he had lived he would have been given high rank, I feel sure." After Mr. Cheek had given this interesting story, now told for the first time of the fate of his gallant colonel, he was shown, and viewed with much emotion, the sword, sash and gauntlets which Colonel Burgwyn wore during the terrible first day at Gettysburg, that greatest of battles of all the Civil War, which marked what came to be known as the "highwater-mark of the war," and in which the 26th Regiment suffered a greater loss than any other regiment, either Federal or Confederate, during the entire four years' struggle.