General Gregg reached the battlefield of Gettysburg about noon and
reported to the commanding general, whose headquarters were not far from
the cemetery, where I noticed that the sod and the graves were much torn
up by artillery wheels. The General was ordered with his division to
take position on the right of our army. During the day a portion of the
command did some skirmishing, and our artillery occasionally fired when
the enemy appeared, but we were not heavily engaged. This was the second
of July, the day on which the fighting was so severe on the left of our
line, where Longstreet's corps made such desperate attempts to break
through in the vicinity of the Round Tops.
The weather was extremely hot and it was on this, the second day of the
battle, that the Sixth Corps made a march of about thirty-two miles to
reach the field, their exhausted and sun-struck men lying for fifteen
miles on the road. The following, the third and last day of the battle,
General Gregg's division was, at his suggestion, moved to a position
farther to the right and rear, to guard against the enemy's breaking
through to where our reserve artillery and ammunition were parked. About
noon a despatch was sent to him stating that General Howard reported
that heavy clouds of dust were seen rising above the trees on his right,
indicating that a large force of cavalry was moving in that direction.
General Custer with his brigade, which belonged to General Kilpatrick's
division but had been under General Gregg's orders, was about to return
to Kilpatrick, who was on the left of the army, when General Gregg
proposed to Custer that, in view of an attack from a strong force which
now seemed imminent, he remain with him, which Custer gladly consented
to do.
[Illustration: MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER]
I described Custer as he appeared when, as a captain, he was with us at
Aldie about two weeks before, where, after his ducking, he voluntarily
led repeated charges of Kilpatrick's men, attracting the attention of
every one present by his conspicuous gallantry. Within that two weeks
he, with Farnsworth, Merritt, and Kilpatrick, had been made
brigadier-generals. Kilpatrick was given the command of Stahl's
division, Farnsworth one of his brigades, and Custer a brigade of four
Michigan regiments. In marked contrast with Custer's costume on the day
of the fight at Aldie, he now appeared in a uniform consisting of a
black velvet jacket and trousers, with a gold cord on the seam of his
trousers and the gilt stripes of a brigadier-general on his arm. He
wore a man-o-war's man's shirt with the wide collar out on his
shoulders, on each point of which was worked a silver star indicating
his rank of brigadier-general. The neck was open, just as a man-o'-war's
man has his, and he wore a sailor's tie. On this day he wore a small
cap. It was said at the time, that some months before, soon after he
came out of West Point, friends tried to secure for him the colonelcy of
the Fifth Michigan cavalry, at this time commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Russell A. Alger, but, like many volunteers of that period, the men, in
their inexperience, preferred officers from the civilians who came out
with them, and declined to have Custer. It therefore happened that the
man they refused to have as their colonel was sent to be their general,
and under his leadership the Michigan cavalry brigade became famous.
The enemy had placed some batteries on our left and front, and advanced
from the woods in our front. Colonel McIntosh's brigade met their
attacks, a part of his command being dismounted. His entire force soon
became hotly engaged, and also the Fifth and Sixth Michigan regiments.
General Gregg stationed himself near his batteries, where he could see
the field and direct the battle; one of these was Randol's and the other
commanded by A. C. M. Pennington, both famous batteries, Randol's to the
right and Pennington's to the left. In this engagement the fire of these
batteries, especially Pennington's, was remarkably accurate, compelling
the enemy at times to shift their guns, and contributed in no small
measure to our success.
After the fighting had been in progress for some little time, Custer
took off his cap, placed it in his saddle-pocket and led the Seventh
Michigan cavalry in a charge, his yellow hair flying and his uniform
making him a conspicuous object. The Seventh was a new regiment and was
armed with a Spencer rifle which carried one cartridge in the barrel and
seven in the breech; this was the first time I had seen this weapon.
This charge was over a very considerable distance, with the result that
the lines were somewhat extended so that when they came close to the
enemy behind a fence and were met by a fresh body of Confederate cavalry
charging them, they were repulsed. Being a new regiment, many of the men
rode wildly past McIntosh's command and up to and beyond our guns. I
think it was during this affair that General Custer's horse was shot. I
heard him remark after the fight that he would have been captured except
for the fact that one of his buglers caught a horse for him and held off
the man who wanted him to surrender. Meanwhile I had been sent to
Colonel McIntosh and was with him when the Seventh Michigan men came
back past his dismounted lines. He was making heroic efforts to rally
them, fairly frothing at the mouth and yelling, "For God's sake, men,
if you are ever going to stand, stand now, for you are on your free
soil!"
It was just before this that we discovered Stuart's final advance, by
Hampton's and Fitz-Hugh Lee's brigades, which Hampton led past
McIntosh's dismounted men, charging right up to within about fifty yards
of our guns. Believing that, if the guns were taken, there was nothing
to prevent the enemy from getting at the reserve artillery and
ammunition trains in our rear, it seemed the crisis for us, as it was
also about the time Pickett was advancing against the centre of our
army's line of battle. I took a position between two guns, which I think
were in charge of Lieutenant Chester, who excited my admiration by his
coolness, and there awaited the expected struggle over them. The effect
of Pennington's and Randol's firing on Hampton's brigades was soon
noticeable, for the momentum of their charge seemed to be checked when
they were about one hundred and fifty yards from our guns. Our batteries
were then firing canister into them.
Two gallant charges were made into Hampton's columns as they came on.
Captain Trichel with about sixteen men of McIntosh's brigade, including
Captains Walter Newhall and Rogers, suddenly appeared and charged into
them from the right, creating some confusion. Newhall tried to make for
a color-bearer, who lowered his staff, striking him in the mouth,
knocked him from his horse, and tore his face open. Trichel, his
officers, and nearly all of his men were wounded. About the same time
Captain Miller of the Third Pennsylvania with his company charged right
through the rear part of the column from the left. Hampton had led his
men to within about fifty yards of Chester's guns, when suddenly the
First Michigan cavalry, a veteran and very fine regiment, led by Colonel
Towne, with Custer by his side, appeared. The Colonel, in the last
stages of consumption it was said, required assistance to mount his
horse. This regiment, which from my position I had not seen, struck the
enemy in front and flank, right before our guns, which only then ceased
firing. Immediately staff-officers, orderlies, and the men that a moment
before had been coming to the rear joined in a hand-to-hand fight in
front of the batteries. In a few minutes the enemy broke to the rear and
our men, joined by the First New Jersey, Third Pennsylvania, Fifth and
Sixth Michigan which had mounted, chased them nearly to the woods from
which they had emerged some three quarters of a mile in our front.
This ended General Gregg's cavalry fight at Gettysburg, the fortunate
outcome of which undoubtedly contributed greatly to the victory.
Immediately word was sent to headquarters of our success and in a short
time a brief note was received from, I think, General Butterfield,
General Meade's chief of staff, written on a slip of paper about the
size of an envelope. The words, as I recall, were: "Congratulations upon
your success; attack here repulsed. Longstreet wounded and a prisoner."
The reference to Longstreet was a mistake, Armistead was meant. Riding
along the lines I called out the contents of this note to our men, who
began cheering, for we then knew that the battle of Gettysburg had been
won.