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WAR SI Garden's Battery He Gettysburg, Jul There's many a thrilling, aye, curd ling incident in the many battle* of the States' war that history dncs not chronicle; inscriptions on ?V!d tablets do not record; cycloratnas fail to ex hibit, and even the traditions will soon be lost if not eseued from oblivion by surviving participants or spectators; and yet any attempted delineation by a mere pen sketch of most of these must needs be but adumbration of the reality. Captain Louis Gourdin Youug in his admirable address to the camp of Georgia Veterans iu Savannah, April, 190U. "pleaded for the preservation of our memoirs of the Southern Confed eracy and suggested that each veteran put on record what he saw and what happened in his own experience" and Mr. J. K. Normcnt in his interesting letter October 3, of the same year, calls attention from the field of Get tysburg to the "oae-sided story" told there ana pleads that the Southern States build their own monuments. The writer has been repeatedly re quested to record the services render ed by Garden's Battery, S. C. V., and particularly those of one solitary gun on the 3d of July, 'G3, and con necting incidents therewith, and which, though, like all other exploits of that fateful day, achieved little save to illustrate the esprit de corps and peculiar atllatua which possessed Lev's veterans at that time. The following extracts from the cor > -i>oodenoe mentioned is self-explan atory. Quoting from a letter of ('apt. Hugh R. Garden to Mr. Lloyd Collis, 195 Broadway, New York, son of Gen. C. H. T. Collis, Jate July 18, '01 : "The photographs this morning are a genuine surprise. I did not know that an effort had been made to locate batteries on the field of Gettysburg. * * * On second day, aftor engag ing Big and Little Hound Top, I cross ed the valley in front, (shown in pho tograph), prior to the charge of caval ry under Brig. Gen. Farnsworth. Finding the 'Devil's Den* impassable I returned to this position. * * * That night I oarried away, under Gen. Law's orders, from the slope of Little Bound Top, in the wheat field, four rifled cannon captured that afternoon in the 'whirlpool' of the battle by Hood's division. "I have always understood that these were the only oannoc captured and taken by the Confederates from that battlceld. The last day of the battle was my best and worst day, and there seems to be no reference to it. On that last'dies irae', the day of Piokett's oharge, I was sent about a mile to the left of my first position near the turnpike, immediately on the right cf the Wishingtou Artillery, and engaged Big Round Top during the first part of the great artillery duel. While thus engaged the chief of Gen. Longstreet's staff, who was on the pike observing the effect of the artil , lery fire, ordered rue to cease firing ou Round Top and to move by section to the left of the peach orohard and ad vance in echelou across the plain. I obeyed the order, but only one section of my battery, under Lieutenant Mc Queen, made the advance, for when it moved obliquely to the left and went into position at a point down a gentle descent, (as I can never forget,) about 200 yards to the left of the peach or chard, aud about 300 yards at least in front of our line of artillery, the at tention of the opposing artillery was drawn touts fire, and within ten min utes every horse and man was killed -or wounded. I took volunteers and frenh horses in to remove my men and gun. After two attempts we succeed ed, under the same oonoentrated terri fio fire, made more terrible by the ex plosion of oaisons and the fire over head of jir friends in the rear. There for the first and only time during the entiro war I felt compelled to encour age my men by personal example. It was in that carnival of hell also that while two of us were trying to carry a wounded man across the open field I heard a wounded Federal officer say : "I have laid here since yesterday. I am a D. K. E." I could only unsling and give my oanteen and say: ''I would help you, but cannot get my own men out of this fire." I never saw him again, but he must have been saved, for at. sunset our army was not in possession of the field. Some of my best men fell there and I have al ways thought that as Pickctt's charge gnarked the high-tide of ihe Confeder acy, the advance of that solitary sec tion in obedience to what I understood to he Gen. Longstreet's order to ad avance the artillery marked the high Aide in the greatest artillery duel in iiieWv." Lxi tot from letter of Major W. M. TTobbii. - , 4th Alabama, dated Gettys burg, September 10, 1901, to Captain Hugh R. Garden, Mutual Lifo Build ing, N. Y. City : **?ou know that uc TORIES. roes.?Recollections of Ly > and 3, 1803. ' report has ever been made of the ser vices rendered by the artillery of Hood's division on this field, so that the only information on this interest ing subject is the testimony of surviv ors." * * * As to the tablets and monuments, he coutiaues: "The work is being done under the super vision of the .Secretary of War, whose agency here is the National Park Com mission, composed of two I'nion sold iers and o.ie Confederate?all three having fought in the battle here." * * "I have long since had a . tablet erected to your battery, but have reason to fear the inscription falls short of doing justice to you and your command for waut of informa tion." There arc also letters from Gen. E. P. Alexander to Captain Garden and from the latter to the Hon. J. Harvey Wilson, then the chivalrous Sergt. Wilson, of the battery, but the gist of these will be covered in the se quel. This writer was only a private, at tached to this third section of Gard en's battery, aud ean presume to de scribe nothing more than was seen and experienced from that humble stand point. This battery formed a part of Major.lohn C. Haskell's Battalion, a veritable beardless Coeur de Lion, with one arm in the grave and ready to bury forty more if necessary to be nearest the flashing of the guns. The battalion composed Bachmau's German Battery from Charleston, Ki ley's aud Latham's, of North Caroli na, aud Garden's, composed mostly of Sumter aud Chesterfield volunteers I and followed more particularly the J fortunes of Hood's division, and es ; pecially Hood's old brigade, the in ! vincible Texans, of Locgstreet's ; corps; but all under command of our : gallant chieftain, that skilled artiller I ist, urbane gentleman, Gen. E. P. Alexander, who had gained the pro I found respect and soldierly love of his command, the corps artillery. June thirty-nine years ago, on this seoond j day of July, 1863. under a fierce Penn ! sylvania sun, we reached the then ob j soure village of Gettysburg. "Gettysburg ! Name instinct with so many tears, with so muoh mourn ing, with those sobs which tear their way from the human heart as lava makes its way from the womb of the volcano. There are words in the world's history whose very sound is like a sigh or a groan; places whhh are branded "accursed" by the moan ing lips of mothers, wives, sisters and orphans. Among them none is more gloomier or instinct with a more name lees horror than the once insignificant i village of Gettysburg. It has been ! called "pivotal Gettysburg," though it savors of a paradox, because there was neither viator nor vanquished, on I ly the culmination. A9 we approached the mighty drama was in full progress and the field al ready stained and scarred from the in termittent combats of the morning and preceding day. Between us and the ! gigantic arena there yet intervened a I skirt of woods along which a serried column of iufantry were manoeuvering ! for position, while shot and shell j from Cemetery Heights ploughed ; through the ranks and we remember I the flying hats and scattered limbs of j the dead and wounded a* hideous gaps were made through the files, also the I steady "Close up" and continued firm and confident tread of these oaken hearted troops, nearer to danger and surer death. The shrill bugle blast of our own command sounded in quiok succession: "Cannoneers Mount!" "Double quick!" "Action front!" "Commence firing!" and with a whirl and rush, and scarce breathing time, our own guns were joining in the grim war music. Field and staff must write history of locations and su-roundings. The man at the muzzle sees little beyond his . hammer staff and swab bucket and J the grinning mouth of his pieee. We I only know we were on the left of the ; long battle line, with the Round Top j in our front and the peach orchard i and wheat field bristling with bayo nets, while the heights above glowered with guns. A word as to the morale of Lee's army at this juncture may help to ex plain why Gettysburg seems so often to be spoken and written of as "the battle of the war," and to account in a measure for those desperate assaults and fearful fatalities. The splendid and decisive victories over Burnside, J with heavy odds, at Frederioksburg; the almost rout of Hooker, with the odds, too, at Chancellorsville; the i triumphant march through the foe's territory, caused Lee's veterans to look forwssd to viotory as a foregone - conclusion, until there obtained a i contagious intoxication from past suo - cesses and an exultajj? and over*cen > ing anticipation of future easy triumphs. Alaa! that we should have forgotten that wc occupied the heights at Frcdcricksburg aud that it was Hooker, not Meade, at Chanccllors ville. We forgot, too, that these com bats occurred on our own soil, and that though game we felt ourselves, we were now on the dunghill's own barnyard, and though still forcing him to tako to the fences he would die game holding them. I will make no attempt to recount tho gallant charge cf the corps as it bailed itself against Sickles' salient and forced him back to the ridge and eventually to its rugged summit, leaving the ground strewn with the slain and the valley and slopes fertilized with the rich Southern blood, mingling with that of the foe. ''Verily the seeds which germinate on that soil should produce hybrid plants and mongrel fruit.) Nor the desperate charge and assault of our invincible Texans who gained the crest, hand to hand, point to point, and?oh, Lord, but for the reinforcements to tho enemy and the lack of them to our own troops that day, this might have been dated from the "Confederate States." So wildly enthused were our men, so thoroughly imbued with the war spirit", so exultant and dauntless in their splendid pride, that even the cumber some eau non were rushed down and attempted to follow up the infantry charge by soiling the steep aud jagged sides of little Hound Top. Victory seemed just within our grasp. One more blow, only one more, but?"The century reeled when Longstreet paus ed on the slope of the hill," sang one of their own poets. Human brain, nor brawn, nor courage could do more. The morning of the 3d discovered the enemy retired to the summits of Cemetery Ridge, and strongly in trenched behind natural and artificial fortifications. What next? Who knew? Doubtless councils of war were held on both ridges - and recon noitering parties and field glasses busy; while the royally irresponsible rank and file loitered away the wel come calm in restful repose or grim badinage, though impressed with the weighty pregnanoy and potent influ ence of the hour and circumstances so heavily freighted witht he shadows of coming events. Many, very many, who whiled away those moments en joyed their last smile on earth. The rays of the midsummer sun beat down fiercely upon the long and silent battle lines on ridge and heights and upon the intervening slopes of orchard and wheat fields. The very air seemed to hold its breath. Then! A signal gun! Again the bugle blast sounded the command : "Commence firing!" Each oannoneer was in plaoe with automatio prompt ness and busy preoision, and the next instant tL j earth trembled as a migh ty roar from 150 cannon's mouths belohed flame and smoke and murder ous metal toward the frowning heights with deadly acouracy. But this defi ant challenge was quickly answered and the long range of hills beoame an undulating line of flame, under heavy hanging palls of smoke issuing from the muzzles of Meade's bronze war dogs, as they fiercely roared "Come on!" While Lee's guns from the ridge thundered grimly, "Wo are com ing!" At that moment the specta cle was grand, as a graphic writer de scribes it : 'The heights, the slope, the fields and the rugged crest oppo site, werf enveloped in smoke and fire from the bursting shell. The sombre roar, sounding like the bellowing of a thousand bulls, leaped back from the rooks and rolled away in wild echoes through the hills. AH the furies seemed let loose, and yet this was on ly the preface." The above writer had reference to Piokett's renowned charge; but alas, it was also only the preface and full as ominous for one small gun squad. The same writer continues: "In the evening the thunder dropped to silence. The time had come." It was then some order was issued from some source. The devoted third section of the bat tery promptly "limbered up." Each man assumed place and we moved quickly and obliquely across the de scent, through orchard and waving wheat. On, on, under the black,, yawning mouths of 24 guns on the heights above, s ilent, but gaping and yawning at the amazing audacity, and only awaiting developments. They came quickly. The right wing of Pickett's column brushed past. One solitary gun wheeled into "Aotion front!" "Load!" "Fire!" Then hell broke loose! No sooner had flame and smoke gushed after the hurtling shell than Round Top Hill became a veritable seething volcano of destruction, emit ting denso volumes of smoke, lurid tongues of flame aud hurling' metal missies that hissed or shrieked, or wailed through space, or burst with deafening peals as they scattered their jagged, death ladened fragments around. The ground was ploughed and torn and great clouds of dir" and debris thrown up everywhere; both earth and air were reoded by the de tonations and mighty rush of iron hail intermingled with the pelting of lead en bullets; man after man went down with his death-hurt or disabling wound from deadly aim or fatal Ichance. Not a horse was left to move a wheel. And yet the remnant of that :eem ingly doomed section stuck to their gun, loaded and fired with a growing and defiant desperation of courage and determination, as their duties doubled in handling the piece, and hurled back shell or shot or shrapnell, as the mea gre supply of the limber chest, per mitted, and until it was exhausted. There was no single, skulker there; no man flinched his duty or shrunk from the terrible unequal combat; faces might blanch at the horrifying carnage, but {nerves blanohed not in that relentlessly ireful hour. Ex hausted, bleeding, ammunition spent, comrades prone, six horse? dead or dying, farther effort futile, our gallant officer, tho ealmly brave Alex Mc Queen, himself faint and bleeding, or dered tho pitiful fragment to seek protection from the infernal death sluice; as, indeed, any other move was a human impossibility?remaining a fatal folly. The men who composed this section of Garden's battery and went with the gun into the valley were : Lieut. W, Alexander McQueen, Sumter. Sergt. and Gunner Matthew E. Haynesworth, Sumter. Corp'l. James Henry Haynesworth, Sumter. Corp'l. Hobt. F. Small, Charleston, mortally wounded at the gun. Charles Haynesworth, Sumter. Thomas K. Molntosh, Lynohburg, Sumter County, mortally wounded in action. William Moultrie Reid, Sumter County. J. Merrick Reid, (then) from Charleston. Driver, W. W. Grady, Chesterfield County. The names of the other two gun drivers cannot now be ascertained. The names of those who volunteered to accompany Capt. Garden and ven tured into the bloody death hole to rescue the wounded are, so fa" as au thentically ascertained : Capt. Hugh R. Garden, Sergt. J. Henry Wilson, Corp'l. John J.Green, James Diggs Wilder, all of Sumter County, and Lawrence W. Scarborough, Darling ton County. Capt. Garden was un questionably a brave boy,'iuor he was but a boy of bare majoritjajnen, with but a downy "bang : upoti upper lip and the roseate hues of babyhood yet in his cheeks), and he had followers every whit as brave as he, as some proved that day, for when ' he oalled for volunteers to the rescue of men and gun any hesitation was only from ignoranoe of the fact that he intended to lead them into the jaws of perdition and enough futile and worthless havoc had already been caused. The brave John J. Green when appealed to re plied: "We'll go anywhere that you will*" They went and on reaohing the gun found the lone figure ofBill Grady calmly and fearlessly sitting* on the trail, never having left the ground, and awaiting assistance to remove his wounded comrades. Small and Molntosh were shot down by the same solid missile and the writer doubtless had his closest call and most amasing miraoulous escape. These men were for the instant in line, one behind the other, and I direotly in line with them when thoy were struck down, yet was untouohed, save by a gob of warm, quivering flesh from one of the victims, which was hurled against my shoulder and stuck tena ciously for some time and the stain for days. Where did the line shot go? Eternity may answer. In a private letter to the writer from our general, E. P. Alexander, ocours the following : "This is how it was; it was not prior to Pickott's charge, it was during it. 1 gave Pickett the signal or order wb \ to oharge. He was some dis tance behind our firing line, in which I had 75 guns. As Piokett's front line passed the guns I galloped down the whole line, from the left flank to the right, ordering every battalion commander to advance every gun, with lb or 20 rounds of ammunition left. After reaohing our right flank with those orders I galloped back to or beyond the centre, where by that time some doaen or more guns .were going forward, and I went with thorn and brought them into aotioo, firing upon a Federal force, (Standard's bri? gade,) whioh moved out to ' attack Piokett's flank. As soon as I saw that the attaok was a failure I ceased fire and reserved ammunition, {but held ! position to cover Pickott's retreat. I remained there for some hours and Gen. Lee came out, without a single member of his staff, or any courier, and remained with me for over half an hour of tho time. Evidently he ex pected Meade to advance and intended himself to help rally the infantry and make the best stand possible." * * * "You ask why? For what purpose were those guns sent into the very mouth of hell? The auswer is very simple. The infantry had gone into the mouth of hell end it was the duty of the artillery to go with them, and I am proud of the faot that the artillery of our corps, in about three hours fighting on the 2d, and about two hours during this ohsrge, on the 3d, Buffered m .re than the artillery of the other two corps did put together in' the whole campaign. Look at the list of casualties and you will see. So at least we were fought up to the han dle." There were two other guns from some command, which had followed in cur wake down the dread slope, but had uclimbered some distance in rear and to the right and left of us; thus making our gun the apex and a dread salient for the concentrated fire from the heights. General Alexander says: "I thought there were four guns aud ell from your battalion (Haskell's) and that two of the four were dismounted by the concentrated firo poured on you by at lean twenty guns." Alas, Gettysburg was a disjointed battle and as Col. Taylor has said : "There waB an utter absence of aoeord in the movements of the several commands/ ' In that great scene of smoke, dust, up roar, blood, of columns maneuvering cannon thundering, men shouting, yelling, cheering, dying; with ears deafened and eyes bedimmed and sen ses benumbed, one heard nor eaw little distinctly. It is the trifles that cling to memory, obscuring the greater events. Capt. Garden mentions a wounded Federal. This writer, too, remombera in rushing down into that vortex, he was appealed to by a man in blue and halted a moment to give him water. Memory preserves the appearance of the luxuriant wheat, the orchard and fruit, but all else than the more acoentuated occurrences of that day of wrath are lost. The following is the inscription up on the tablet set up at Gettysburg Park to mark the location and give the record of Garden's battery on the hill opposite Big Round To p and the Dev il's Den: Army of Northern Virginia, Long street's corps, Hood's division, Hen ry's battalion, Garden's battery. The Palmetto Light Artillery, two Napol eons, two 10-pound Parrotts. July 2, in reserve near here, but not engaged. July 3, in position here and active ly engaged in firing upon the Union lines within range. About 5 p. in., aid ed in repelling cavalry under Brig. Gen. Farnsworth, which had charged into the valley between this point and Round Top. July 4, occupied position near and west of this place until G p. a., then withdrew from the field." "Reductio ad absurdum" oonld pro perly and literally be added to this in* soription, Sic transit gloria mundi. Mr. Norment was right.?J. Merrick Rein, in News and Courier. Wee Nee, July 2, 1902. ? 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