Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/217

Rh forever into the memory of all who witnessed it, but utterly defying verbal delineation. A direct and infolding fire swept each battery upon either side, as it was unmasked, volley replied to volley, crash succeeded crash, until the eye lost all power of distinguishing the lines of combatants, and the plain seemed a lake of fire, a seething lake of molten lead covered over by incarnate fiends drunk with fury and revenge." Solid shot, partly spent, rolled in our front and across the line, to our rear in great numbers, reminding one of the incessant action of balls on a billiard table when handled by a skillful player. Added to this was the incessant annoyance from the enemy's skirmishers. Pender sent out a few companies under Captain Cole to drive them back, and protect the batteries, which he did with great gallantry. During the evening General Pender was wounded by a spent ball, and was forced to retire to the hospital; the command of the brigade developed upon me in his absence, and that of the regiment upon Colonel Joseph Hyman; but he returned as soon as his wounds were dressed, and at his request I aided him in command of the brigade during the balance of the day. During the evening Lieutenant Sheppard, the aid of Pender, was killed while gallantly endeavoring to rally some troops, not our own, on our right (who had broken)—a son of the Hon. A. H. Sheppard, for many years a distinguished member of Congress from North Carolina; his death was worthy of his parentage, worthy of a soldier, and worthy of the cause.

General Pender was a West Point graduate, was among the first to resign after the secession of North Carolina, and offered his services to his State. He was very soon made Colonel of the 3rd, afterwards known as the 13th North Carolina, regiment. He was a very young man and yet had under him prominent and influential civilians, who were used to command and unused to obey, and restive and rebellious against military rule, and yet in two months or less time, he had made of it one of the best drilled, best disciplined and most efficient regiments of the service. Such merit could not be long concealed, and he was soon promoted to the colonelcy of a war regiment,