Camp near Orange Court House, Va.,
August 2, 1863.
In a recent letter
I promised to write you more about our campaign in Pennsylvania.
On the night of the
29th of June we camped on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they
extend into Pennsylvania. On the morning of the next day (30th) we renewed our
march. Shortly after starting it began raining, but the road was hard and well
macadamized and the rain made the march rather agreeable than otherwise. On
this same morning we passed where a splendid iron factory had been burned by
General Early, of Ewell's Corps. It belonged to a very celebrated lawyer and
politician of Pennsylvania by the name of Thaddeus Stevens, who is noted for
his extreme abolition views and his intense hatred for slave-holders. The works
are said to have been worth more than one hundred thousand dollars. The burning
had thrown a great many operatives out of employment, and they seemed to be
much distressed.
During the day we
wended our way up the mountains. The scene around us was very different from
what we had just passed through. Instead of the enticing field and lovely
landscape, we had now around us that which was rugged, grand and towering. In
the afternoon about one or two o'clock we halted and bivouacked among the
mountains. Our stopping-place was in a basin of the mountains, which was very
fertile and contained a few very excellent and highly cultivated farms. Awhile
after we stopped I started off to one of these farmhouses for the purpose of
getting my dinner, as I was quite hungry, and wanted something different from
what I had been accustomed to most of the time on the march. On going to the
house a very nice, smiling young girl met me at the door, and, upon my making
known my wishes, she very pleasantly said she "guessed” so; but said they
already had agreed to accommodate a good many, and that they would do the best
they could by us all if I would return at four o'clock.
This I did, and
found Adjutant Reedy of the Fourteenth Regiment and several others of my
acquaintance. Reedy, being quite a young man, talked a good deal to the girl. I
was hungry as a wolf, but when I came to the table and viewed what was upon it
my hunger was aggravated more than ever. It seemed that there was no end to
everything that was good. We had nice fried ham, stewed chicken, excellent
biscuit, lightbread, butter, buckwheat cakes that were most delicious,
molasses, four or five different kinds of preserves and several other dishes.
We also had plenty of good coffee and cold, rich milk to drink. None but a
soldier who has experienced a hard campaign can conceive of how a gang of
hungry men could appreciate such a meal. I must say that this late dinner was a
perfect Godsend.
After we had
finished eating I felt ashamed to offer them Confederate money, but could do no
better, and offered it with an apology. They very readily accepted it, and when
I insisted that they should take a dollar they refused and would have only
fifty cents. This house was guarded to prevent our men committing depredations
such as they had been doing, and which was having a demoralizing effect upon
the army. Soldiers must be made to behave or they will not fight.
Upon returning to
camp I found that an order had been received during my absence to cook one
day's rations and have it in haversacks and be ready to march at five o'clock
next morning. This at once aroused our suspicions, for we concluded that we
were about to meet the enemy. Next morning about five o'clock we began moving.
We had not gone more than a mile and a half before our suspicions of the
evening previous were fully verified and our expectations realized by the
booming of cannon ahead of us in the direction of Gettysburg. Upon looking
around I at once noticed in the countenance of all an expression of intense
seriousness and solemnity, which I have always perceived in the faces of men
who are about to face death and the awful shock of battle. As we advanced the
cannonading increased in fury. It was Heth's Division, ahead of ours, fighting.
At last we arrived upon a hill where, upon another hill in front of us and
about a half mile distant, we could see Heth's cannon arranged and booming away
at the Yankees, who were replying with considerable briskness, and we could
also see the infantry of Heth's Division advancing in line of battle. It was
really a magnificent sight. The country was almost destitute of forest and was
so open that it was easy to see all that was going on. Our division (Pender's)
continued to keep within about half a mile of Heth's. McGowan's Brigade was at
the right of the division and the Thirteenth Regiment at the right of the
brigade. This being the case, I could see from one end of the division to the
other as it moved forward in line of battle. It was nearly a mile in length.
The scene was certainly grand, taking all the surroundings into consideration.
After Heth had driven the enemy some distance, it became necessary for our
division to go to his support. McGowan's South Carolina and Scales's North
Carolina brigades were the first to relieve Heth. The hardest fighting did not
begin until McGowan's and Scales's divisions went into it. Then such a rattle
of musketry I never heard surpassed. It lasted for about two hours and a half
without cessation; and how many brave fellows went down in death in this short
period of time! Officers who have been in all the fights tell me that they
never saw our brigade act so gallantly before. When the order was given to
charge upon the enemy, who were lying behind stone fences and other places of
concealment, our men rushed forward with a perfect fury, yelling and driving
them, though with great slaughter to themselves as well as to the Yankees. Most
of the casualties of our brigade occurred this day (July 1). As the enemy were
concealed, they killed a great many of our men before we could get at them.
There were a good many dwellings in our path, to which the Yankees would also
resort for protection, and they would shoot from the doors and windows. As soon
as our troops would drive them out, they would rush in, turn out the families
and set the houses on fire. I think this was wrong, because the families could
not prevent the Yankees seeking shelter in their houses. I saw some of the poor
women who had been thus treated. They were greatly distressed, and it excited
my sympathy very much. These people would have left their houses, but the
battle came on so unexpectedly to them, as is often the case, that they had not
time. I passed through a house from which everyone had fled except an extremely
old man. A churn of excellent buttermilk had been left, and I with some other
doctors helped ourselves. Someone near by shot at us as we came out and barely
missed us.
The fighting on the
first day ceased about night, and when our brigade was relieved by Lane's North
Carolina Brigade it was nearly dark. I returned to the hospital, and on my way
back came to Anderson's Division of our corps (Hill's) lying in line of battle
at least two miles in rear of where the advance column was. Pender's Division
and Heth's had been fighting all day, and they were exhausted, besides being
terribly "cut up”; and when they drove the Yankees to the long high range
of hills, which the Yankees held throughout the fight, they should have been
immediately reinforced by Anderson with his fresh troops. Then the strong
position last occupied by the enemy could have been taken, and the next
day when Ewell and Longstreet came up the victory completely won. If "Old
Stonewall” had been alive and there, it no doubt would have been done. Hill was
a good division commander, but he is not a superior corps commander. He lacks
the mind and sagacity of Jackson.
When I arrived at
the hospital my ears were greeted as usual at such time with the moans and
cries of the wounded. I went to work and did not pretend to rest until next
morning after daylight. I found that Longstreet had come and that McLaw's
Division of his (Longstreet's) corps was encamped near the hospital. Kershaw's
Brigade was almost in the hospital grounds. On looking around I discovered many
old friends from Laurens whom I had not seen since the war began. They all
seemed surprised and glad to see me; but I had work to do and they had
fighting, so we could not remain long together. They were all lively and
jocose. Milton Bossardt was in a gay humor and left me as one going on some
pleasant excursion, but before two o'clock of the same day he was a corpse. He
was shocked to death by the bursting of a shell. Captain Langston and a
number of others in the Third Regiment who were my acquaintances were killed.
On the second day
of the battle the fighting did not begin until about twelve or one o'clock,
from which time until night it raged with great fury. The reason it began so
late in the day was because it required some time for Ewell and Longstreet to
get their forces in position. Longstreet was on the right, Ewell on the left,
and Hill in the center.
On the third day
the fighting began early in the morning and continued with the greatest
imaginable fury all day; at one time, about three o'clock in the afternoon,
with such a cannonading I never heard before. About 150 pieces of cannon on our
side and as many or more on the side of the enemy kept up one incessant fire
for several hours. It was truly terrifying and was like heavy skirmishing in
the rapidity with which the volleys succeeded one another. The roar of the
artillery, the rattle of the musketry and the wild terrific scream of the
shells as they whizzed through the air was really the most appalling situation
that could possibly be produced. Our troops (Pickett's Division) charged the
enemy's strong position, which they had now entrenched, but with no avail,
although we slaughtered thousands of them.
On the night of the
3d General Lee withdrew the army nearly to its original position, hoping, I
suppose, that the enemy would attack him; but they didn't dare come out of
their strongholds, for well they knew what their fate would be if they met the
Confederate Army of Virginia upon equal grounds. On the 4th our army remained
in line of battle, earnestly desiring the advance of the Yankees, but they did
not come. During this day the rain fell in torrents, completely drenching the
troops. Awhile after dark we began to leave, but took a different and nearer
route to the Potomac than the one we had just passed over. Though nearer, it
was very rough and not macadamized, and the passing of wagons and artillery
over it cut it up horribly and made it almost impassable. Yet over this road
our large army had to pass. I was lucky enough to get into a medical wagon and
rode until next morning. It rained nearly all night, and such a sight as our
troops were next day! They were all wet and many of them muddy all over from
having fallen down during the night. Billie looked as if he had been wallowing
in a mud hole, but was in a perfectly good humor.
On this day (July
5) we recrossed the Blue Ridge Mountains. Climbing the mountains was very
tedious after so much toil, excitement and loss of sleep, but we met with no
obstacle until we came to Hagerstown, Md., where we stopped on account of the
Potomac's being too high to ford. While here the Yankees came up and our army
was placed in line to meet them, but they did not dare to attack. In this
situation we remained for several days with them in sight of us.
After a pontoon
bridge was finished at Falling Waters and the river was sufficiently down to
ford at Williamsport, we left the vicinity of Hagerstown. It was just after
dark when we began leaving. It was a desperately dark night and such a rain I
thought I never before knew to fall. I did not meet with such luck as the night
we left Gettysburg, Pa., but had to walk all night, and such a road I think
troops never before traveled over. It appeared to me that at least half of the
road was a quagmire, coming in places nearly to the knees.
Hill's Corps went
by Falling Waters and Longstreet's and Ewell's by Williamsport, where they had
to wade the river, which was still very deep, coming up nearly to the shoulders.
The pontoon bridge was at Falling Waters, where we crossed. Our division was in
the rear at this place, and when we got within about a mile and a half of the
river we halted to enable the wagons ahead to get out of the way. Being very
tired, we all lay down and nearly everyone fell asleep, when suddenly the
Yankee cavalry rushed upon us, firing and yelling at a furious rate. None of
our guns were loaded and they were also in a bad fix from the wet of the
previous night. They attacked General Pettigrew's North Carolina Brigade first.
Our brigade was lying down about fifty yards behind his. I was lying down
between the two brigades near a spring. General Pettigrew was killed here. I
was close to him when he was killed. It was a serious loss to the service. We
fought them for some time, when General Hill sent an order to fall back across
the river, and it was done in good order. The attack was a complete surprise
and is disgraceful either to General Hill or General Heth. One is certainly to
blame. The Yankees threw shells at the bridge and came very near hitting it
just as I was about to cross; but, after we were close enough to the river not
to be hurt by our own shells, our cannon on this side opened upon them,
which soon made them "skedaddle" away.
We feel the loss of
General Pender in our division. He died in Staunton, Va., from wounds received
at Gettysburg. He was a very superior little man, though a very strict
disciplinarian.
SOURCE: Dr. Spencer G. Welch, A
Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 60-72
