On account of this sickness I missed the Pennsylvanian campaign and the Gettysburg battle, in which Pickett's Division greatly distinguished itself, making a name that will live forever. I have often regretted not being in that charge; may be, if I had been there I would not now be writing these reminiscences.
In the battle of Gettysburg the loss was very heavy. Company C lost six men killed as follows: Lieut. James Connelly, M. M. ("Boy") Mason, Daniel Pillow, Charles Jones, Dabney Tweedy, and Lanious Jones. Lieutenant Connelly and Daniel Pillow were reported missing; that is, no one saw them fall and they were never heard of afterwards, and no doubt died on that bloody field doing their duty. They were brave and faithful soldiers. I was told by some of the company that when the command came to charge, after the heavy cannonading had ceased, Charles Jones was among the first on his feet, and although only a private, called out, "Come on, boys, let's go and drive away those infernal Yankees." He died game. It was also said of Dabney Tweedy, that as he was borne to the rear on a stretcher, his lifeblood fast flowing, he sang with his last breath a hymn he and his mess were wont to sing in camp. The company also had a number of men wounded. J. C. Jones lost an arm; my brother Robert W., was wounded in both feet. While going forward in that desperate charge the latter was struck with a minie ball on the instep of the right foot. Stopping to ascertain the extent of the wound, and "to see if I was hurt bad enough to go to the rear," as he expressed it, another ball struck his left foot just at the root of the third or fourth toe, tearing its way through the full length of his foot, and stopping in the heel. Hesitating no longer, he picked up his own and another musket that lay near by, which had fallen from the hands of some dead or wounded comrade, and using them as crutches, hopped to the rear, when he was taken charge of by the faithful negro servant, Horace, who had been with us from the beginning and remained faithful until the end. Horace, by taking Robert on his back, when no other means of conveyance was at hand, and by getting him in an ambulance or wagon when possible, brought him safely out of the enemy's country, across the Potomac, on down the Valley to Staunton, and in due time landed him safely at home, where our mother showered thanks on, and almost embraced, the faithful servant for bringing her boy home. I was at home when he arrived. The negroes were very faithful during the war, and I have always had kindly feelings towards them.
Robert remained at home until his wounds were healed, when he joined the command, and did faithful service to the end.
BACK TO VIRGINIA
General Lee re-crossed the Potomac ten days after the battle of Gettysburg, and crossed the Blue Ridge into Culpeper County soon afterwards.
I rejoined the command about the last of July in Orange or Culpeper County.
There was no more fighting that summer between the main armies of Northern Virginia and the army of the Potomac, as the Yankees called their "grand army," greater by far in numbers and resources than the army of Northern Virginia, but deficient in leaders when compared with Lee and Jackson, and not equal in the courage and dash that enabled the much smaller army of Southerners to beat them on nearly every battlefield.
Lee and Jackson had a way of throwing a large body of men upon certain portions of the Yankee lines during a battle, generally striking them in the flank. Both as strategists and tacticians they were unsurpassed. They could combine armies and concentrate forces in action with the greatest skill, which are the true tests of military genius.
Lee's army was much exhausted and depleted by the spring and summer campaigns—the great battles around Chancellorsville—which began on the 1st of May and ended on the 5th, on the night of which day the Yankees, badly beaten, stole back over the Rappahannock River, glad to escape; the three days' fighting at Gettysburg, in the first two of which the Confederates were successful, but failed on the third day because Pickett's men were not properly supported.
The armies lay on either side of the Rapidan, on the south side of which General Lee had taken position, while the Yankees confronted him on the north side, the two armies stretching up and down the river for many miles. Later General Lee retired south of the Rappahannock.