CHAPTER VII.
The long wished for day at length began to appear, and at early dawn the troops were awakened from their slumbers to renew if necessary the dreadful struggle. In vain I peered through the misty light for a glimpse of the enemy, but none could be seen. They had certainly retreated under cover of night, and we were right in our conjectures; and now for a pursuit in the direction of Baltimore. But even as I thus anticipated the pleasures in store for us, of the prospect of once more seeing home and loved ones there, I was startled by a terrible volley of musketry in our front, whilst simultaneously several pieces of artillery opened upon the flank of the three companies I had thrown across the breastworks the previous evening, and I was compelled to hastily withdraw them and seek the cover of this our only protection. The fire was awful, and the whole hillside seemed enveloped in a blaze, although it was but occasionally we could catch sight of an enemy. The trees were riddled, and the balls could be heard to strike the breastworks like hailstones upon the roof tops. The fire was returned as best we could, but it was almost certain death to expose any vital part of the body; and many were killed and wounded by reckless exposure of person.
The right of the battalion, where were stationed companies A and C, under the command of Captain Murray and Lieutenant Charles Hodges respectively, were exposed to the severest part of the fire, and suffered in greater proportion than the others. Until nearly eight o’clock this dreadful storm of bullets continued to sweep over and around us without the slightest abatement. All along our line wounded men were lying bleeding to death, as it was impossible to remove them to the surgeon’s quarters after they were struck. Feeling anxious to know how the right fared, I cautiously made my way there, and sheltered myself behind a rock where were Colonel Parseley and Captain Murray. I inquired of Parseley if he had suffered much.
“Very much indeed. I have but thirteen men left. And now I have but twelve!” he exclaimed in the same breath, as one of his men fell over dead in Captain Murray’s lap, shot through the head.
I heard the words but imperfectly, for the same ball struck me full in the forehead and knocked me almost senseless; but its force was spent, and an ugly bump was the only result.
“Take care there, Sergeant Blackistone, you are exposing yourself too much,” I shortly after remarked to the orderly of Company A, and even as I spoke a ball passed through his arm, lacerating it badly. Poor fellow, it was his first and last wound, for he died shortly after in the hospital at Frederick, where he was held a prisoner.
“My men are out of ammunition, sir,” said Captain Murray; “and with your permission, I will withdraw them to the cover of those rocks on the left for half an hour—or a less time should you need me—and get some water and replenish their cartridge boxes. I have suffered fearfully, sir, and the men are somewhat dispirited.”
I suggested it would be a dangerous undertaking, but with great caution the point might be made.
Gradually they worked their way down the line, and reached the shelter in safety, and another company was ordered to take their place.
As I returned, the commanders of companies informed me that their ammunition was also exhausted. The difficulty was to get it, as none was within half a mile, and it was almost certain death to leave the shelter of the breastworks. I reported the matter, however, to General Steuart, whom I found sitting with his staff behind an immense rock, and he told me I had better call for volunteers.
“General, do not ask one of your officers or privates to volunteer to perform this duty whilst you have a staff officer left. I will bring the ammunition, if I live!”
Words that should be written in letters of gold, and they fell from the lips of Lieutenant Randolph McKim, one of the General’s aids. The noble fellow made the venture, and succeeded in his mission.
It was about half an hour after the above, that Captain George Williamson (Adjutant-General of the brigade, and one of the bravest men that ever trod a battle-field,) directed me to move my command by the left flank, file to the right at a given point, and form line of battle under cover of a woods, and as close as possible to its edge, without attracting the attention of the enemy, and that the rest of the brigade would form on my right and left.
I divined the object of the move instantly, and told the Captain “I considered it murder, and therefore would take my men in under protest.”
“The General has expressed the same opinion, sir; but the order comes from one higher than he, and is peremptory,” was his reply.
Sending for Captain Murray to join the command, the devoted little brigade—already reduced to about nine hundred men—made their way slowly, sometimes crawling, to the spot where they were to be senselessly slaughtered. Nine hundred brave men to storm a mountain, and upon whose sides bristled the bayonets of ten thousand foemen, and artillery innumerable. Some one’s hands are stained with the blood of these gallant men, and God will mete out fearful retribution in the world to come.
We were now within less than two hundred yards of the enemy, with an open field in front, over which we were to charge.
“Captain Murray, you will take command of the right,” were my last words to one of the noblest of men.
Slowly I moved down the column, with feelings I had never before experienced on the battle-field, for I felt I had but a minute more to live; and as I gazed into the faces of both officers and men, I could see the same feeling expressed, for all were alike aware of their danger. But no coward’s glance met mine. There was no craven in those ranks. They had sneaked to the rear the day before. But the compressed lip, the stern brow, the glittering eye, told that those before me would fight to the last. Reaching my post, I looked up the line, and there stood the brave Steuart, calmly waiting for the troops to get in position.
“Fix bayonets,” was the command, quietly given; and the last act in this bloody drama was about to be enacted. It was a dreadful moment. But one brief second of life yet left! The sword of the General is raised on high! “Forward, double-quick!” rings out in clarion tones, and the race to meet death commenced. The fated brigade emerged from the woods into the open plain, and here—oh God! what a fire greeted us, and the death-shriek rends the air on every side! But on the gallant survivors pressed, closing up the dreadful gaps as fast as they were made. At this moment I felt a violent shock, and found myself instantly stretched upon the ground. I had experienced the feeling before, and knew what it meant, but to save me I could not tell where I was struck. In the excitement I felt not the pain; and resting upon my elbow, anxiously watched that struggling column. Column, did I say? A column no longer, but the torn and shattered fragments of one. But flesh and blood could not live in such a fire; and a handful of survivors of what had been a little more than twelve hours before the pride and boast of the army, sought to reach the cover of the woods.
But that merciless storm of bullets pursued them, and many more were stricken down. Among those who escaped, with a slight wound, was Adjutant Winder Laird, who, as he passed where I lay, caught me up and carried me to the shelter of the woods.
Faint and sick from the loss of blood, I fell into a stupor, from which I was aroused by the voice of Lieutenant Thomas Tolson.
“Can I do anything for you sir?” he kindly inquired.
“Tell Captain Murray to take command of what remains of the battalion,” I directed.
“Alas, sir, Captain Murray has fought his last fight; he fell dead, close to my side, late in the charge,” he answered.
Colonel Herbert’s prophecy was fulfilled.
The command of the battalion now devolved upon Captain Crane, who, with little difficulty, rallied the survivors, and from the breastworks we had occupied, still maintained the fight. Borne back at length, by overwhelming numbers, this little band of heroes sullenly retired, stubbornly contesting every foot of ground until they reached Rock creek, where they took a stand, from which the utmost efforts of the enemy failed to dislodge them.
Capt. WM. H. MURRAY.
Darkness put an end to the conflict, and the exhausted troops threw themselves upon the ground to snatch a few moments’ sleep. But human endurance was yet to be taxed to a greater degree before allowed to seek that rest and repose it so much needed, for that night General Lee had determined to retire from Gettysburg, and recross the Potomac.
Such was the part taken by the Second Maryland in the great and bloody battle of Gettysburg, and although it brought mourning and sorrow into many families in that glorious old State, still it had better a thousand times been that than the blush of shame for a son’s recreancy.
The casualties were frightful indeed; and it became necessary to leave the severely wounded in the hands of the enemy, among the number Colonel Herbert, Major Goldsborough, Lieutenant Joseph Barber, (who died a few days after) and Lieutenant Wilson. Captains Stewart and Gwynn, and Lieutenants Thomas, Tolson and Broadfoot, although severely wounded, succeeded in getting away, the latter, however, died at Martinsburg soon after reaching that place.
Of the officers and men who escaped unhurt, but two hundred reported after the battle, out of five hundred that went into the fight. I annex a list of the casualties, which will be found pretty nearly correct:
Field and Staff.—Killed, none; wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel James R. Herbert, seriously; Major W. W. Goldsborough, seriously.
Company A, Captain Wm. H. Murray.—Killed, Captain Wm. H. Murray; privates, John W. Hardesty, Wm. Bruce, T. Lloyd, James Iglehart, Jr., Arthur Kennedy, George W. McIntyre, Wilbur Morrison, Harman Nicalai, Henry A. McCormick, George C. Starlings, John H. Windolph; wounded, First Lieutenant George Thomas, severely; First Sergeant Wm. J. Blackiston, severely; Sergeant James H. Thomas, severely; Corporal Charles E. Maguire, severely; privates, John Bond, slightly; Philip Barry, slightly; Wm. H. Bowly, mortally; Charles S. Braddock, slightly; James E. Carey, slightly; Wm. S. J. Chandler, mortally; Moses Clayville, severely; Jacob N. Davis, severely; Wm. J. Edelin, slightly; Barnard Freeman, severely; Alex. Fulton, slightly; Wm. F. Gardiner, severely; Samuel T. Glenn, slightly; Motley Hanson, slightly; Samuel J. Hopkins, severely; D. Ridgely Howard, slightly; Leonard W. Ives, mortally; W. T. V. Loane, slightly; W. S. Lowe, severely; John Marney, dangerously; Philip Pindell, mortally; Frank H. Sanderson, mortally; A. J. Sollers, slightly; Charles H. Stale, severely; Wm. T. Thelin, severely; Charles M. Trail, severely; Andrew C. Trippe, severely; John P. Williams, dangerously; Jacob E. Zollinger, severely; Wm. H. Laird, slightly; Craig Lake, severely; Lamar Holliday, dangerously; Wallace Bowling, severely; Thomas B. Bowling, severely; J. A. Klimkiewiez, severely; captured, H. Tillard Smith, James A. Peregoy, Albert Emery, Bernard Hubball, David H. Lucchesi.
Company B, Captain J. Parran Crane.—Killed, Sergeant Thomas S. Freeman; private Warren F. Moore; wounded, Second Lieutenant James H. Wilson, severely; Sergeant Z. Francis Freeman, slightly; Corporal George Hayden, mortally; Corporal Thomas Simms, severely; Corporal Thomas F. Wheatley, slightly; privates, James P. Alnez, severely; John H. Chunn, slightly; Edgar Combs, slightly; Thomas J. Delogier, seriously; Albert Fenwick, slightly; Henry Ford, slightly; John A. Hayden, severely; James B. Keech, severely; Thomas Magill, slightly; Joseph H. Milstread, slightly; Wm. H. Simms, severely; Wm. L. Turner, slightly; Henry Turner, severely; James K. Webster, dangerously; John W. Wills, severely; James H. Wills, severely.
Company C, First Lieutenant Charles W. Hodges commanding.—Killed, First Sergeant Robert H. Cushing; privates, Samuel Duvall, Michael Davis, Jeremiah Dulaney, Bernard Kenney, Benjamin L. Lanham, James McWilliams, John T. O’Byrn, Benjamin Payne; wounded, Second Lieutenant Joseph W. Barber, mortally; Second Lieutenant Thomas H. Tolson, slightly; Sergeant George Probst, severely; Corporals Beale D. Hamilton, mortally; James A. Lawson, mortally; privates, Samuel Anderson, mortally; Robert H. Clough, slightly; Tobias Duvall, seriously; Thomas Edgar, mortally; Samuel H. Hamilton, slightly; Edgar Hammond, mortally; Charles Hammond, slightly; John McGwinn, severely; Wm. V. McCann, seriously; James Nash, mortally; Wm. L. Nichols, mortally; Frank R. Steele, severely; Wm. H. Skinner, slightly; Wm. H. Shipley, severely; John G. White, slightly; captured, Corporal Edward A. Welch; privates, Robert M. Dawson, Walter Mullikin, Francis E. Storm, Justus Schutz.
Company D, Captain Joseph L. McAleer.—Killed, privates, James A. Brown, Cornelius Keron; wounded, Sergeant Wm. Jenkins, slightly; Corporals Joshua Owings, mortally; Emmett M. Webb, mortally; privates, Lewis Green, severely; Richard G. Killman, slightly; John Hayes, slightly; Philip Lipscomb, slightly; John H. Septer, severely; Wm. Watts, slightly; James H. O’Brien, severely; Thomas J. Hines, seriously; captured, privates Wm. Hogarthy, John Lamb.
Company E, Captain John W. Torsch.—Killed, none. Wounded, First Lieutenant Wm. J. Broadfoot, mortally; Sergeant P. M. Moore, mortally; Corporals, John Cain, slightly; James Reddie, severely; privates, Michael Barry, severely; Charles E. Byus, severely; John Brown, severely; Alex. Brandt, slightly; James Fallon, slightly; Edward Fallis, severely; Stephen Helbig, severely; James Lamates, severely; Daniel McGee, slightly; John N. Martin, slightly; Wm. P. Moran, severely; Frank Roberts, severely; Herman Radecke, severely; John Sullivan, severely; Wm. Wilkinson, slightly. Captured, Michael Burke.
Company F, Captain Andrew J. Gwynn.—Killed, Henry G. Taylor; wounded, Captain Andrew J. Gwynn, slightly; Second Lieutenant John G. Hyland, slightly; First Sergeant Nicholas J. Mills, severely; Sergeant Joseph S. Wagner, severely; privates, Leroy Anderson, slightly; George H. Claggett, slightly; J. N. Claggett, slightly; Philip Doyle, severely; Lemuel Dunnington, slightly; Benjamin Hodges, slightly; Benjamin F. Dement, severely; Robert Holder, severely; Minion F. Knott, severely; Alexis V. Keepers, slightly; Samuel Polk, severely; John W. Thompson, slightly; R. Wagner, severely.
Company G, Captain Thomas R. Stewart.—Killed, Second Lieutenant William C. Wrightson; privates, J. S. Littleford, J. H. Gossom, W. B. Cator. Wounded, Captain Thomas R. Stewart, severely; Corporal Edward Briddell, severely; privates, J. R. Fentswait, mortally; W. B. Fontain, mortally; E. W. Breslin, mortally; Charles A. Clarke, severely; James Abbott, severely; Benjamin F. Twilly, severely; D. B. P. Yingle, severely; W. A. Vickers, severely; S. E. Adkins, Daniel Boyles, slightly; J. L. Woolford, slightly; William Robbins, slightly. Captured, privates L. H. Weaver, Ross Messick.