Passing beyond, we were drawn up in line, by order of General McGowan, on the plank road, the Fourteenth regiment being deployed, and covering our front as skirmishers. Here we were subjected to a heavy fire of shells, which was annoying, but did not do us much damage. About 11 o'clock orders were given to advance, and the attempt was made, but either in consequence of the impossibility of advancing through the pine thickets, or a change of orders, the order was countermanded. At midnight the brigade was marched to a position in front of the enemy's breastworks, with Brigadier-General Lane on our left and Brigadier-General Archer on our right.
At dawn on the 3d, Stuart's line was arranged for a renewal of battle, and by sunrise he moved forward, Archer's brigade, on the extreme right, being charged with the duty of uniting with General Anderson's left, and so reuniting Lee's separated wings. The battle of Chancellorsville was won by 10 a. m., by the united assaults of the two wings coming together at the center, where the victorious advance of Stuart and Anderson and McLaws swept back the heroic resistance which Hooker's broken forces made around the heights, and drove them from the entire field of battle.
In this, the final and crowning assault of that great battle, the two South Carolina brigades, under McGowan and Kershaw, bore an honorable and memorable part. Kershaw on the right with McLaws, and McGowan on the left with Stuart, were in the front lines of advance, and carried their troops to the extreme limit of the great victory. The sacrifice which Carolina offered at Chancellorsville was costly, indeed. Over 550 of her sons were killed and wounded in the battle of the 3d, and that at Salem church on the 4th, in which last engagement General Lee defeated Sedgwick and drove him over the Rappahannock, turning upon his advance toward Chancellorsville with the divisions of Anderson, McLaws and Early.
Of the part taken by McGowan's brigade, General Heth, commanding Hill's division, said:
I ordered Generals McGowan and Archer to move forward.... The light division forming the front line, opened the battle of Chancellorsville.... Lane's brigade, supported by part of Heth's brigade, and McGowan's brigade advanced and charged the enemy behind his breastworks and supported by twenty-nine pieces of artillery. I cannot conceive of any body of men ever being subjected to a more galling fire than this force. The brigades, notwithstanding, drove the enemy from his works and held them for some time.
Passing beyond the breastworks, the brigade soon became very hotly engaged, but on account of the oblique movement of Archer's brigade on their right, that flank was exposed and they were compelled to hold the line of works they had taken. Here, in the midst of a desperate fight, General McGowan and his able and gallant adjutant-general, Capt. A. C. Haskell, were severely wounded. Col. O. E. Edwards, of the Thirteenth, assumed brigade command, but this heroic soldier, exposing himself with characteristic intrepidity, was soon mortally wounded. Col. D. H. Hamilton, of the First, then took charge of the brigade. Here, also, the brigade suffered an irreparable loss in the fall of the accomplished Col. James M. Perrin, of the First rifles, who was mortally wounded at the breastworks. Among the gallant dead of McGowan's brigade were Lieuts. E. C. DuBose and C. P. Seabrook, of the First; Lieut. H. L. Fuller, of the Thirteenth, and Lieut. J. H. Fricks of the First rifles. Sergt. L. A. Wardlaw, Color-bearer G. S. Bell and Private T. R. Puckett, of the Rifles, were wounded bearing the colors. Maj. G. McD. Miller, of the Rifles, was severely wounded. The total loss of the brigade was 46 killed and 402 wounded. Col. Abner Perrin commanded the Fourteenth, and was in command of part of the brigade in the last charge. The Twelfth was not engaged.
The advance of Kershaw's brigade, early on the 3d, suffered the loss of its gallant leader, Capt. G. B. Cuthbert, Second regiment, who fell with two wounds that caused his death. About 9 o'clock, General Kershaw reported, "the whole line advanced to the attack of Chancellorsville, and by 11 o'clock our troops were in possession of the position, the skirmishers only having been engaged. Moving over to the turnpike road to form a new front, under orders from the major-general commanding, I was directed by Gen. R. E. Lee to move with General Mahone toward Fredericksburg, to check the advance of a column of the enemy reported coming up from that point, along the plank road." This movement brought Kershaw's brigade into the battle of Salem Church, in which the Third regiment and part of James' battalion were engaged, on the right of Wilcox's brigade. Late in the evening of the 4th, the brigade took part in the engagement at Banks' ford, driving the enemy across the river. They spent all the night beating the thickets for Federals, finding only straggling prisoners; bivouacked at 4 a. m., arose at sunrise, and gathered over 800 stand of arms. About noon they marched to a point near the United States ford, and relieved Heth's brigade, and on the 6th, after the heavy rain had ceased, advanced and found there were no Federals on the south side of the Rappahannock.
Colonel Henagan's regiment was with General Jackson from the 2d. The loss of Kershaw's brigade was not great, 11 killed and 89 wounded; but the death of Captain Cuthbert and Capt. C. W. Boyd, of the Fifteenth, who fell together before Chancellorsville, par nobile fratrum, was deeply mourned. They were young men of the brightest promise, of commanding talents, high social position, and most attractive personality.
General Hooker's loss at Chancellorsville was greater than Lee's. The former lost in both wings, according to his statement before the committee on the conduct of the war, 17,197; by the returns in the War Records, 1,575 killed, 9,559 wounded, 5,711 prisoners or missing. General Lee's loss was 1,581 killed, 8,700 wounded. Both generals lost artillery, Lee eight pieces and Hooker thirteen, with 1,500 rounds of ammunition. General Lee gathered from the field, besides tents and army stores of various kinds, 19,500 rifles and muskets, and over 300,000 rounds of infantry ammunition.