In this disposition of the troops the South Carolina commands were posted as follows: Gregg's brigade on the right, as has been noted; McIntosh's battery, with Lieut.-Col. R. L. Walker's guns, on the extreme right of A. P. Hill; Jenkins' brigade with Pickett's division; Bachman's and Garden's batteries on Hood's line; Rhett's battery in Alexander's battalion; Kershaw's brigade in McLaws' line, with the left of the brigade resting on Hazel run. The brigade of Gen. N. G. Evans, with Boyce's battery, had been ordered to South Carolina early in November.
The part which fell to the South Carolina commands in the battle of Fredericksburg will now be related. That allotted to Gregg's brigade is sad to relate, for it involved the death of the gallant commander. The first attack of the day was made on Walker's guns and A. P. Hill's division, on the extreme right. The enemy's batteries, from the plain and from the Stafford hills, had been raking Hill's front for hours. Stuart had held the Federal infantry advance in check, with Pelham's enfilade fire, as long as he could maintain his exposed position in front of Jackson's right, and had been forced to retire. At noon, the division of General Meade, supported on its right by that of General Gibbon and on its left by that of General Doubleday, advanced to the assault of the position at Hamilton's, held by A. P. Hill. Meade received the fire of McIntosh's and Pegram's, Crenshaw's and Latham's guns, which checked, then broke, and finally drove back his advance. Promptly reforming, Meade and Gibbon marched steadily on through the artillery fire, and rushed against Hill. Archer and Lane and Pender met the assault, and the battle was sternly contested. Meade and Gibbon pressed their attack and entered the woods in the unfortunate interval between Archer and Lane. Lane and Archer were flanked right and left. Lane gave away slowly, and Archer's left was overwhelmed.
Thomas came to Lane's help in answer to his call, and they held Gibbon back, but Meade pressed on through the woods and took Gregg by surprise. Gregg was fully persuaded that the time had not come for his advance, and being without orders from Hill, unaware of the interval between Archer and Lane, unable to see in the thick woods, and not believing the enemy near him, he had resisted the request of his men to fire for fear of damaging Lane and Archer. Suddenly Meade's troops came in sight of Orr's rifles on his right and opened a fire upon them before they could return it. This threw the rifles into confusion, and but for the firmness of the First regiment, immediately on the left, and the conduct of the left company of the rifles, under Lieut. J. D. Charles, the whole brigade would have been routed, for General Gregg, who had promptly ridden to his right, was immediately shot from his horse, and at the critical moment the brigade was without its head.
Col. D. H. Hamilton, of the First, senior officer, quickly grasping the situation, changed his front on his tenth company, to the rear, and opened on the mass of the enemy at close quarters, the left company of the rifles, under Lieutenant Charles, taking post on his right. Holding his position, Hamilton was immediately supported by the other regiments of the brigade, the Twelfth coming up on his left and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, under McGowan, on his right, and they stood firmly against Meade's attack, delivering their fire at close quarters, without giving a foot. Driven from their guns, Orr's rifles were helpless, but every man who survived hailed the moment of his ability to regain his place in the front. Some of them, seizing their guns from the stacks, fought in the ranks of the First regiment. Sergeant Pratt, of Company B, rallied a number of the men, and took his place on the right of Lieutenant Charles' company. The Fifth Alabama battalion, the Twenty-second Virginia battalion, and the Forty-seventh Virginia regiment, from Archer's and Brockenbrough's brigades, came up to Hamilton's assistance, and together the Carolinians, Alabamians and Virginians charged and drove back the bold assault of Meade. Jackson sent Early forward, and a sweeping charge of his division drove Meade and Gibbon back and beyond the railroad. The attack on Gregg was wholly unexpected by that brave and gallant soldier, who had exerted himself to keep his brigade quiet, particularly cautioning them that their friends were in front.
The casualties of the brigade were reported as follows: Orr's Rifles, 21 killed, 149 wounded; First South Carolina, 15 killed, 58 wounded; Twelfth South Carolina, 1 killed, 7 wounded; Thirteenth South Carolina, 3 killed, 52 wounded; Fourteenth South Carolina, 28 wounded; aggregate, 336. The main loss was sustained by Orr's rifles, who were attacked lying down behind their stacks, and 170 of them killed and wounded and their general slain, before they could grasp their arms in defense. In the First regiment Capt. T. H. Lyles was killed. Capt. T. P. Alston, Lieutenant Armstrong, Lieut. Thomas McCrady, and Lieut. W. J. Delph were wounded. Captain Alston returned to the field, after his wound was dressed, despite the remonstrances of the surgeon. Adjt.-Gen. A. C. Haskell, severely wounded, refused to leave the field until he sank fainting from loss of blood.
General Gregg was shot through the spine, and died the day after the battle. Seeing he must die, he sent his respects to the governor of his State, and assured him that he "gave his life cheerfully for South Carolina." General Hill said of him, in his official report, "A more chivalrous gentleman and gallant soldier never adorned the service which he so loved." General Jackson, in his report, deplored the loss of "a brave and accomplished officer, full of heroic sentiment and chivalrous honor." General Lee wrote to Governor Pickens to claim a share in South Carolina's sorrow, and to express his appreciation of her loss and the loss to his army. "He has always been at the post of duty and of danger," said General Lee. "His services in this army have been of inestimable value, and his loss is deeply lamented. In its greatest triumphs and bloodiest battles he has borne a distinguished part.... The death of such a man is a costly sacrifice, for it is to men of his high integrity and commanding intellect that the country must look to give character to her councils, that she may be respected and honored by all nations." Mr. Caldwell, the brigade historian, pays his general a worthy tribute, and speaks of his high character, his heroic courage, his careful, unswerving, unselfish equity. He was a Ney on the battlefield and a Rhadamanthus in giving judgment.
The distinguished part borne by Kershaw's brigade at Fredericksburg will now be referred to. As already stated, Kershaw was in McLaws' line, to the right of Marye's hill. His brigade included, besides the Second, Third, Seventh and Eighth, the Fifteenth, transferred from Drayton's brigade, and the Third battalion, known as James' battalion. These transfers were made by General Lee on November 26th, and the policy adopted, as far as possible, of brigading troops of the same State together.
On the morning of the 11th, being called on to reinforce General Barksdale's pickets on the river, at Deep run, General Kershaw sent the Fifteenth, Colonel De Saussure, upon this duty. During the night, so bitterly cold was the weather, one of De Saussure's men was frozen to death, and others so badly as to be temporarily disabled for service. Under such circumstances of suffering the fortitude and courage required of the soldier on picket are as great and as noble as when displayed in charging the batteries of the enemy. The brigade was at work on the line strengthening the position, until the hour of its battle. At 10 o'clock on the 13th, while Meade and Gibbon were assaulting A. P. Hill, and Sumner and Hooker were throwing their divisions against Marye's hill, Kershaw was ordered to reinforce the position held by General Cobb at the foot of the hill. The Second regiment, Col. A. D. Kennedy, and the Eighth, Capt. E. T. Stackhouse, were sent forward. Before these regiments could reach their destination, Kershaw was directed by General McLaws to go with his whole brigade and take personal command, as the gallant and noble Cobb had been mortally wounded, and General Cooke, who supported him from the crest in rear, was also wounded.
Riding rapidly forward, General Kershaw reached the point with the Second and Eighth just in time to meet and assist in repulsing a fresh assault. Kershaw describes the position at the stone wall so clearly that we quote his report:
Marye's hill, covered with our batteries—then occupied by the Washington artillery, Colonel Walton commanding—falls off abruptly toward Fredericksburg to a stone wall, which forms a terrace on the side of the hill and the outer margin of the Telegraph road, which winds along the foot of the hill. The road is about 25 feet wide, and is faced by a stone wall about 4 feet wide on the city side. The road having been cut out of the side of the hill, in many places this wall is not visible above the surface of the ground. The ground falls off rapidly to almost a level surface, which extends about 150 yards, then, with another abrupt fall of a few feet, to another plain which extends some 200 yards, and then falls off abruptly to a wide ravine, which extends along the whole front of the city and discharges into Hazel run.