PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN—GETTYSBURG—BACK
TO VIRGINIA—GENERAL LEE AND ARMY
OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN
These troops—Pickett's Division and others—that had been in North
Carolina and southeast of Petersburg since February, as before said,
halted at Taylorsville, where they remained until the 3d of June, 1863.
Leaving Corse's Brigade at Taylorsville, they then set out to join
General Lee's army. Of course, no one knew where we were going, nor what
General Lee's plans were. We were going to join "Mars Bob," and follow
where he might lead. The Gettysburg or Pennsylvania campaign having been
determined on, General Lee was gathering in all available troops. The
battles around Chancellorsville had been fought and won without
Longstreet and his legions, except McLaw's Division, but now they were
again to play an important part in the army of Northern Virginia. We
marched through the counties of Hanover, Spottsylvania, Orange, and
Culpeper.
On the march I was taken sick, riding in an ambulance part of the way;
the night before reaching Culpeper Court House I was quite ill. The next
morning I was sent in an ambulance to Culpeper Court House to be
forwarded to Lynchburg. At Culpeper I stopped at the hotel, where I went
to bed until the next morning, when I got aboard the train for
Lynchburg. The ladies at Culpeper were very kind to me, as they were to
all soldiers, doing everything in their power for the Confederates all
over the South.
On the train near Charlottesville I met Dr. G. W. Thornhill, who had
been the regimental surgeon until a short while before, and with whom I
had become quite intimate. The doctor was very kind, and before we got
to Lynchburg, told me I need not go to the hospital, he being the chief
surgeon in charge, but to a private house, and that his ambulance would
be at the dépôt. When we got to Lynchburg, he took me to his ambulance,
telling the driver to take me wherever I wished to go, saying he would
come to see me every day. I went out on College Hill to my
brother-in-law's, Mr. Geo. A. Burks, where, of course, I had the best of
attention, and Dr. Thornhill, true to his promise, visited me daily. My
wife and father came up at once, the former remaining with me until I
was able to go out home in a carriage, which was in about two weeks. Dr.
Thornhill said he had no authority to issue sick furloughs, but that I
could go home, stay until I was well and report back to him, which I did
in about three weeks.
GETTYSBURG
General Lee led his army on towards the Potomac, maneuvering, so as to
force the enemy to evacuate Virginia. The Southern army crossed the
river and invaded Pennsylvania, when the bloody and ill-fated battle of
Gettysburg was fought on the 1st, 2d and 3d days of July, 1863.
On account of this sickness I missed the Pennsylvanian campaign and the
Gettysburg battle, in which Pickett's Division greatly distinguished
itself, making a name that will live forever. I have often regretted not
being in that charge; may be, if I had been there I would not now be
writing these reminiscences.
In the battle of Gettysburg the loss was very heavy. Company C lost six
men killed as follows: Lieut. James Connelly, M. M. ("Boy") Mason,
Daniel Pillow, Charles Jones, Dabney Tweedy, and Lanious Jones.
Lieutenant Connelly and Daniel Pillow were reported missing; that is, no
one saw them fall and they were never heard of afterwards, and no doubt
died on that bloody field doing their duty. They were brave and faithful
soldiers. I was told by some of the company that when the command came
to charge, after the heavy cannonading had ceased, Charles Jones was
among the first on his feet, and although only a private, called out,
"Come on, boys, let's go and drive away those infernal Yankees." He died
game. It was also said of Dabney Tweedy, that as he was borne to the
rear on a stretcher, his lifeblood fast flowing, he sang with his last
breath a hymn he and his mess were wont to sing in camp. The company
also had a number of men wounded. J. C. Jones lost an arm; my brother
Robert W., was wounded in both feet. While going forward in that
desperate charge the latter was struck with a minie ball on the instep
of the right foot. Stopping to ascertain the extent of the wound, and
"to see if I was hurt bad enough to go to the rear," as he expressed it,
another ball struck his left foot just at the root of the third or
fourth toe, tearing its way through the full length of his foot, and
stopping in the heel. Hesitating no longer, he picked up his own and
another musket that lay near by, which had fallen from the hands of some
dead or wounded comrade, and using them as crutches, hopped to the rear,
when he was taken charge of by the faithful negro servant, Horace, who
had been with us from the beginning and remained faithful until the end.
Horace, by taking Robert on his back, when no other means of conveyance
was at hand, and by getting him in an ambulance or wagon when possible,
brought him safely out of the enemy's country, across the Potomac, on
down the Valley to Staunton, and in due time landed him safely at home,
where our mother showered thanks on, and almost embraced, the faithful
servant for bringing her boy home. I was at home when he arrived. The
negroes were very faithful during the war, and I have always had kindly
feelings towards them.
Robert remained at home until his wounds were healed, when he joined the
command, and did faithful service to the end.
BACK TO VIRGINIA
General Lee re-crossed the Potomac ten days after the battle of
Gettysburg, and crossed the Blue Ridge into Culpeper County soon
afterwards.
I rejoined the command about the last of July in Orange or Culpeper
County.
There was no more fighting that summer between the main armies of
Northern Virginia and the army of the Potomac, as the Yankees called
their "grand army," greater by far in numbers and resources than the
army of Northern Virginia, but deficient in leaders when compared with
Lee and Jackson, and not equal in the courage and dash that enabled the
much smaller army of Southerners to beat them on nearly every
battlefield.
Lee and Jackson had a way of throwing a large body of men upon certain
portions of the Yankee lines during a battle, generally striking them in
the flank. Both as strategists and tacticians they were unsurpassed.
They could combine armies and concentrate forces in action with the
greatest skill, which are the true tests of military genius.
Lee's army was much exhausted and depleted by the spring and summer
campaigns—the great battles around Chancellorsville—which began on the
1st of May and ended on the 5th, on the night of which day the Yankees,
badly beaten, stole back over the Rappahannock River, glad to escape;
the three days' fighting at Gettysburg, in the first two of which the
Confederates were successful, but failed on the third day because
Pickett's men were not properly supported.
The armies lay on either side of the Rapidan, on the south side of which
General Lee had taken position, while the Yankees confronted him on the
north side, the two armies stretching up and down the river for many
miles. Later General Lee retired south of the Rappahannock.
The army of Northern Virginia, while its ranks were much depleted by the
many bloody battles of the year (and many were footsore and weary from
the long marches, ragged and dirty as they were), yet the men were not
dispirited nor had they lost faith in their great leader, upon whom all
looked as the greatest captain of the age. I know full well the
sentiment among the men was, that the failure at Gettysburg was due, not
to General Lee's want of skill and ability as a leader, but to the
tardiness of Longstreet, and his failure to support Pickett's charge.
The men knew well where the fault lay, and were not slow to express
themselves.
GENERAL LEE AND THE ARMY OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA
In August or September, after the men had rested and the army had been
recruited by the return to duty of many sick and wounded, there were
general reviews. The whole army, of every branch—infantry, artillery,
and cavalry—was drawn up in columns of regiments, brigades, and
divisions, in large open fields, General Lee and his staff riding along
the lines of each command, and then all marched by the reviewing
station, showing by the steady and firm step and soldierly bearing that
they were not disheartened, but ready to go whenever their trusted and
beloved commander might point the way. While other commanders were often
criticized, never a word of censure of General Lee escaped the lips of
his men; he was "Mars Bob" and "Uncle Bob" with them, and whatever he
did was right, in their estimation.
I have just spoken of General Lee as the greatest captain of the age,
and so he was; I am equally sure that the army of Northern Virginia was
never excelled in the annals of the world.
Without this army Lee and Jackson could never have made the name and
fame they did. These generals had confidence in their men, and the men
had confidence in their generals; there was not only mutual confidence,
but mutual love and esteem.
History records no incidents like those in which, on two occasions,
Lee's men, when he had placed himself in front to lead desperate
charges, cried out, "General Lee, to the rear"; and private soldiers
actually seized his bridle reins and led his horse through the lines to
the rear saying, "General Lee, we will attend to this; you go to the
rear." I did not see this, but it is too well authenticated to admit of
question. I am sure there were men in Company C, and the other companies
of the Eleventh Regiment, who would have done and said the same thing
under like circumstances.
At the Bridge of Lodi, Napoleon, after his men had made two unsuccessful
attempts to cross the bridge and capture a battery, seized the colors
and led a successful charge. Lee's men compelled him to go to the rear
and then made successful charges. Some one, in writing of this incident
in Napoleon's career, remarked that "any corporal in the French army
should have been capable of carrying the flag over that bridge." Lee had
thousands of privates capable of leading his horse to the rear and
commanding him to go to the rear. General Lee fully recognized the
prowess of his men, and always gave them due credit in general orders.
I believe the time will come when some great historian will be raised up
to tell the true story of the Southern Confederacy, of her heroic armies
and matchless leaders; some Gibbons, Burke or Macaulay; and another
Virgil or Homer in a great epic poem will sing of arms and of men, the
like of which the world has never known. An Englishman has truly said,
"It was an army in which every virtue of an army, and the genius of
consummate generalship, had been displayed."
If Lee and Jackson had lived in the mythological ages of the world they
would have been called the sons of gods, if not very gods, and the men
they led classed with the heroes who fought under the walls of Troy.
When this history is written the world will be astonished at the
disparity in numbers, equipments, and resources of the contending
armies.
"True greatness will always bear the test of time. The greatness of
really great men will grow as the ages roll by." The fame of Lee and
Jackson, and the army that helped to make them great, will go down the
eons of time, ever increasing, and when time shall be no more, the echo
will be heard resounding through the corridors of eternity.