Pickett or Pettigrew? An Historical Essay

by W. R. Bond

HETH’S DIVISION.

This division was composed of Archer’s Tennessee and Alabama regiments, Pettigrew’s North Carolina, Davis’ Mississippi and Brockenborough’s Virginia brigades. Counting from right to left, Archer joining Pickett’s left, this was the order in which they were formed for the third day’s assault. Soon after the order to advance was given the left brigade gave way. The others advanced and did all that flesh and blood could do. Gen. Hooker, who has written the Confederate military history for the Mississippi troops, quotes from Dr. Ward, a surgeon who witnessed the assault, who says that the fire of Cemetery Hill, having been concentrated upon Heth’s division, he saw no reason why North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama troops should not participate in whatever honors that were won on that day; for, says he, all soldiers know that the number killed is the one and only test for pluck and endurance. Gen. Hooker then states, “The brigades in the army which lost most heavily in killed and wounded at Gettysburg, was (1) Pettigrew’s North Carolina, (2) Davis’ Mississippi and North Carolina, (3) Daniel’s North Carolina and (4) Barksdale’s Mississippi.” These four had an average of 837 killed and wounded. Pickett’s three brigades had an average of 455.

PER CENTAGES.

Some have contended that the number of deaths and wounds is the test for endurance, others that the per centage is the true test. It may be that neither the one nor the other alone, but that rather both together should be taken into account. The same per centage in a large regiment should count for more than that in a small one. For while only one Confederate brigade is reported to have reached as high as 63 per cent., the regiment, the smaller organizations, more frequently attained that rate. Thirteen are known and several others are supposed to have reached it. And as to the company, there was hardly a hard fought battle in which at least one did not have nearly every man killed or wounded. The writer knows of four in as many North Carolina regiments which in one battle were almost destroyed. In three of these the per centage went from eighty-seven to ninety-eight, and the fourth had every officer and man struck. Taking Colonel Fox’s tables for authority, we find that of the thirty-four regiments standing highest on the per centage list six were from North Carolina, and these six carried into battle two thousand nine hundred and nine; only two of the thirty-four were from Virginia, and their “present” was fifty-five for one and one hundred and twenty-eight for the other. Tennessee, leading the list in number, has seven, Georgia and Alabama each has six. The two States, whose soldiers Virginia historians with a show of generosity were in the habit of so frequently complimenting, Texas and Louisiana, make rather a poor show—the former has only one regiment on the list and the other does not appear at all.

The 26th North Carolina had 820 officers and men at Gettysburg, and their per centage of killed and wounded was exceeded by that of only two Confederate and three Federal regiments during the whole war, and those five were all small, ranging from one hundred and sixty-eight to two hundred and sixty-eight. As Senator Vance’s old regiment unquestionably stands head on the numerical list, so should it, in the opinion of the writer, stand on that of per centages. As, for reasons not necessary to mention here, this list relates almost entirely to the early battles of the war, it is not as satisfactory as it might be. Though North Carolina should head the list in the greatest per centage in any one regiment, it does not in the number of regiments. Early in the war, when it was generally believed that peace would come before glory enough to go round had been obtained, the North Carolina troops were, to a certain extent, held back. For this reason, however flattering to our State pride, Colonel Fox’s table is, as it stands, it would have been vastly more so had it covered the whole war, especially the last year, when the fortunes of the Confederacy, were held up by the bright bayonets of the soldiers from the old North State.

“Carolina, Carolina, Heaven’s blessings attend her!”

“A POOR THING, BUT MINE OWN.”

We see in field returns for February and March, 1865, that Pickett’s division was the largest in the army. There is nothing remarkable about this fact, for they were not engaged in the bloody repulse at Bristoe Station, were not present at the Wilderness, were not present at Spottsylvania, and did not serve in those horrible trenches at Petersburg. In the same report we see that their aggregate, present and absent, was 9,487. It may be that since the world was made there has been a body of troops with 9,000 names on their muster rolls, who, serving in a long and bloody war, inflicted so little loss upon their enemy or suffered so little themselves. It may be, but it is not probable. With one exception no division surrendered so few men at Appomattox.

Col. Dodge, of Boston, in his history speaks of the commander of this division as “the Ney of Lee’s army.” If satire is intended it is uncalled for as the Virginian never inflicted any loss upon the enemy worth mentioning; certainly not enough to cause any Yankee to owe him a grudge.

DAVIS’ BRIGADE.