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A BATTLE ODE DESCRIPTIVE OF THE
Grand Charge of the Third Day
JULY 3, 1863
ROBERT WM. DOUTHAT
(Now Professor in the West Virginia University)
The Gettysburg 'Battle Lecturer, one of Tickett's Captains,
and the only one of the Ten Captains in his Regiment
who came out of the Charge unhurt
NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1905
^^
LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Two Copies Received
NOV 28 1905
Cooy right Entry
CLASS O,' XXc. No.
COPY D.
COPYRIGHT, 1905
BY
ROBERT WM. DOUTHAT
All Rights Reserved
^thxmtmn
To Every Man of Every Nation
Who Admires Human Courage
Exercised in Favor of his Country
This Battle Ode
*' GETTYSBURG"
Is Respectfully Dedicated
By the Author
Who was a participant in " The Charge
**The Charge," generally known as ** Pickett's
Charge," might be called "The Pickett-Pettigrew-
Trimble Charge," but, rather than give it so long
a name, the world has chosen to give it the name
of the commander who led the right wing, partly
because Pickett's three brigades were made up of
fresh troops, and as such were intended to give
direction to the assault ; and partly because in the
charge Pickett's^ three brigades suffered most.
As a Virginian I scorn the boast that Pickett's
Virginians were in anywise more gallant than the
Tennesseeans or North Carolinians or Mississippians
who were also in the assault. These latter had
been in the terrible battle of the first day, and
Pickett's men had not been in either the first or
second day's battle. Tennesseeans, North Carolin-
ians, and Mississippians had suffered greatly on the
first day, losing over half their men, and many of
those who had been wounded in the battle of the
GETTYSBURG
first day went into the Great Charge on the third
day with bandages on their heads or arms, at sight
of which the imperturbable Lee is said to have
shed tears.
Heaven forbid that Virginians should ever arro-
gate to themselves the glory that comes from this
Charge ! The glory belongs equally to the men
of sister States, and there is certainly glory enough
in the Charge for all, for no assault was ever made
in all the annals of war more gallant and glorious
than
The Grand Charge of July jd, i86^. Against
Cemetery Hill !
Across the "Broad Falley of Death,
Through a Hail of Deadly Missiles,
Against an Avalanche of Fire,
Over the Breastworks of a Stubborn Foe,
Into the Center of Overwhelming Masses of Fed-
eral Infantry!
Here was a "devotion" of which the Roman of
old had never dreamed ; here was a " holocaust " of
sacrificial victims, such as Greece had never known!
The men who at Marathon and Leuctra bled were
not greater heroes than those who fell at Gettys-
GETTYSBURG
bur^. Napoleon's " Old Guard " never went more
grandly to death than did Confederates " against
the roaring crown of those dread heights of des-
tiny," nor did Wellington command better soldiers
than those who under the Stars and Stripes met
and repulsed this terrible assault.
The Charge described in the " Battle Ode " fol-
lowing this Introduction was preceded by a terrific
artillery duel of three hundred guns, and this duel
lasted about two hours.
If you could imagine three hundred thunder-
storms, all raging at once, and you yourself with
ten thousand other persons in a forest and the
lightning striking every other tree and killing- every
other man, you would have some idea of how we
felt, if not of how we fared, during those two long
hours. It was a period of awful suspense, such
perhaps as no body of troops in any part of the
world ever had to endure. The roar of the battle
was heard for more than a hundred miles and
mother earth trembled as from an earthquake.
Multitudes were killed and wounded on both the
Seminary and Cemetery Hills ; and while to those
under fire agony seemed to reign supreme, to those
at a distance the awful sublimity of the crash and
8 GETTYSBURG
roar was as that which shall come " in the wreck
of matter and the crash of worlds."
Some of the things said by Federals concerning
the '' Artillery Duel " :
(1) Col. Norman J. Hall, U. S. Army, comd'g Brig., 2d
Corps :
" The experience of the terrible grandeur of that rain of
missiles and that chaos of strange and terror-spreading
sounds, unexampled, perhaps, in history, must ever remain
undescribable, but can never be forgotten by those who
heard it."
(2) Gen* I IVinfield Scott Hancock, U. S. Army, comd'g 2d
Corps :
" The number of the enemy's guns is variously estimated
at from 115 to 150. The air was filled with projectiles,
there being scarcely an instant but that several were seen
bursting at once. No irregularity of ground offered much
protection, and the plain in rear of the line of battle was
soon swept of everything movable."
(3) Col. Chapman Biddle, U. S. Army, 121st Penn., ist Corps:
" The fury of the unparalleled artillery fire."
(4) Gen' I O. O. Howard, U.S. Army, comd'g 1 ith Corps :
" There was safety on Cemetery Hill nowhere : shells were
exploding in the earth, in the air, in the rock fences, among
the tombstones, and in the caissons — in front, in rear,
around us, under us, above us; and one of the Con-
federate shells killed and wounded twenty-seven Federal
soldiers in one regiment."
GETTYSBURG
While many men and horses were killed and
wounded on the Confederate side during the two
hours' cannonade, yet the terror and agony were
not all on the one side.
Capt. Jno. G. Hazard, 1st Rhode Island Light
Artillery, comd'g Brigade, says, " So great was
the loss in officers and men and horses, that it was
found necessary to consolidate five batteries into
three. In several of these batteries, every officer
was either killed or wounded." Cushing's Battery
was so completely disabled, that fifty men had to
be detailed from 71st Penn. Inf. to help work the
guns ; and finally Gushing, wounded in both legs
and having only one gun left, had that gun pushed
to the front and was held up until " he could serve
his last canister into the enemy's ranks."
Men were decapitated, disemboweled,— wound-
ed in every conceivable manner, — and one Federal
cannoneer, J. F. Chase, Steven's Fifth Maine Bat-
tery, was wounded forty-eight times.
If our 6,000 shells had each done the same
amount of damage, there would have been few
Union soldiers left to tell of this the mightiest
artillery contest that the world has ever known.
The artillery battalions and batteries of the
10
GETTYSBURG
Confederates which took part in the artillery duel
preceding '' The Charge " :
I. Those belonging to Longstreet's Corps, extending
for one mile in a slight curve, arranged in order from left
to right of this page, as one would look at them from the
Union side :
(')
Maj. H. W. Henry's
Battalion,
i8 Guns,
Branch (N. Car.) Bat.
German (S. Car.) Bat.
Palmetto (S. Car.) Bat.
Rowan (N. Car.) Bat.
(2)
Col. E. P. Alexander's
Battalion,
Commanded by
Maj. Frank Huger,
i6 Guns,
Ashland (Va.) Bat.
Bedford (Va.) Bat.
Brooks (S. Car.) Bat.
Madison (La.) Bat.
A Virginia Battery
A Virginia Battery
(3)
Maj.
B. F. Echleman's
Battalion,
Washington (La.)
Artillery,
8 Guns
and 2 in reserve,
ist Company
2d Company
3d Company
4th Company
(4)
Maj. Jas. Dearing's
Battalion,
i8 Guns,
Fauquier (Va.) Bat.
Hampden (Va.) Bat.
Richmond Fayette Bat.
A Virginia Battery
(5)
Col. H. C. Cabell's
Battalion,
1 1 Guns,
and 4 in reserve,
ist N. Car., Bat. A
Pulaski (Ga.) Bat.
ist Richmond Howitzers
Troup (Ga.) Battery
GETTYSBURG
11
II. Those belonging to A. P. Hill's Corps, continuing
the first mile curve at least another mile, arranged in order
from left to right of this page, as one would look at them
from the Union side :
(■)
Maj. W.J. Poague's
Battalion,
lo Guns,
and 6 in reserve,
Albemarle (Va.) Bat.
Charlotte (N. Car.) Bat.
Madison (Miss.) Bat.
A Virginia Battery
(2)
Maj. W.J. Pegram's
Battalion,
Commanded by
Captain Brunson,
i6 Guns,
and 3 in reserve,
Crenshaw (Va.) Bat.
Fredericksb'g (Va.) Bat.
Letcher (Va.) Bat.
Pee Dee (S. Car.) Bat.
Purcell (Va.) Bat.
Maj.
(5)
D. G. Mcintosh's
Battalion,
17 Guns,
Danville (Va.) Bat.
Hardaway (Ala.) Bat.
2d Rockbridge (Va.) Bat.
A Virginia Battery
(4)
Maj. John Lane's
Sumter Battalion,
17 Guns,
Company A.
Company B.
Company C.
(5)
Lt. Col. J. J. Garnett's
Battalion,
9 Guns,
and 6 in reserve,
Donaldsonville (La.) Bat.
Huger (Va.) Bat.
Lewis (Va.) Bat.
Norfolk (Va.) Bat.
12 GETTYSBURG
The troops engaged in the Charge, from left to right,
looked at from Union side, were as follows :
Kemper's Brigade, .-3-7-1 -24 Va. | pj^^^^^,^ Division,*
Armistead's Brigade, 9-,4-38-5?-57 Va. > Longstreef s Corps.
Garnett's Brigade, 8-18-19-28-56 Va. )
Archer's Tenn. Brig., i-7-i4Tenn.; 13 Ala.; 5 Ala. Bat. )
Pettigrew's N. Car. Brig., 11-26-47-52 N. Car. ! Heth's Division,
Davis's Miss, Brig., 2-1 1-42 Miss, and 55 N. Car. j A. P. Hill's Corps.
Brockenbrough's Va. Brig,, 40-47-55 and 22 Bat. I
As supports for Pickett's right flank, there were,
Wilcox's Ala. Brig., 8-9-10-1 1-14 Ala. (^ R. H. Anderson's Div.,
Perry's Fla. Brig., 2-5-8 Fla. ( A. P. Hill's Corps,
As supports for Archer's, Pettigrew's, and Davis's Brigades,
■ -..T ^ r> • DO -w, ^ I Pender's Division,
Lane sN. Car. Brig., 7-18-28-33-37 N. Car, ( , o -r •
c 1 . XT /- D • ^ o XT /- / (Com. bvGen.J.R. Tnm-
Scale'sN. Car. Brig., 13-16-22-34-38 N. Car. \ / .;*
I ble), A. P. Hill s Corps.
* Corse's Brigade of Pickett's Division was not in the Charge, having been left be-
hind to help guard the approaches to Richmond, Va.
GETTYSBURG 1 3
Some of the things said by Federal officers
concerning the " Charge " :
/. Maj. Gen' I HemyJ. Hunt, Chief of Federal /trtillery :
" The enemy advanced magnificently, unshaken by the
shot and shell which tore through his ranks from
McGilvery's Battery."
2. Maj. Gen'l IVinfield Scott Hancock, U. S. Army, com-
manding 2d Corps :
" Their lines were formed with a precision and steadiness
that extorted the admiration of the witnesses of that
memorable scene."
;?. Brig. Gen' I John Gibbons, U. S. Army, commanding 2d
Div., 2d Corps :
" As the enemy's front line came up, it was met by such
a withering fire of canister and musketry as soon melted
it away, but still on they came from behind, pressing for-
ward to the wall."
4. Col. Norman J. Hall, U. S. Army, commanding ^d "Brig.,
2d Corps :
" Twenty battle-flags were captured in the space of 100
yards square."
5. Capt. Andrew Cowan, ist Independent Bat., New York
State Vols :
" Our artillery fire was quite accurate and did much
execution ; still, the rebel line advanced in a most splendid
14 GETTYSBURG
manner. I commenced firing canister at 200 yards, and
the etTect was greater than I could have anticipated. My
last charge (a double-header) literally swept the enemy from
my front, being fired at less than 20 yards."
6. Maj. T. IV. Osborn, ist N. Y. Light Artillery Brig., i itb
Corps :
"We used, according to distance, all descriptions of
projectiles, * * * The enemy's advance was most
splendid."
7. Brig. Gen! I Alexander Hays, U. S. Army, commanding
^d Div., 2d Corps :
" Their march was as steady as if impelled by machinery,
unbroken by our artillery, which played upon them a storm
of missiles. When within 100 yards of our line of infantry,
the fire of our men could no longer be restrained. Four
lines rose from behind our stone wall, and when the smoke
of our first volley had cleared away, such a Held was pre-
sented as could be produced only by the angel of death."
8. Maj. Theodore G. Ellis, U. S. Army, 14th Conn., 2d Corps :
" The spectacle of their advance was magnificent."
9. Capt. Henry C. Coates, U. S. Army, ist Minn., 2d Corps :
" The enemy marched resolutely in the face of a wither-
ing fire up to our lines, and succeeded in planting their
colors on one of our batteries."
GETTYSBURG 15
Sattb mt
I. The Artillery Duel
Three hundred guns in rage have striven,
Three hundred guns the skies have riven,
And muttering thunders strong and deep
Have rolled along in mighty sweep.
This hurricane's rush has ceased its roar,
And Alexander sounds the note
For charge against the central host :
" Go, Pickett, now ; the charge begin ;
Go only now : a victory you '11 win
Renowned Forevermore ! "
16 GETTYSBURG
Pickett, gallant, gladly waiting,
Accepts the lull as omen bright
For added fame ; and as courtly knight
On hurrying steed, of chief inquires
If Longstreet now the Charge desires ;
But Longstreet, sad o'er loss foreseen,
Turns head away, as though he 'd say,
** I 'd rather much this move forego.
For from such* charge fame can not flow
Onward Forevermore ! "
With ardor that shall burn in story
While hearts yet thrill to deeds of glory,
Says Pickett, '' Up and form your lines :
To-day your battle saves our cause ;
To-day this charge destroys the foe's:
Now knit the brow and clench the teeth ;
With muscles tense and hearts aglow,
This charge must sure the center break ;
This charge the South's fair name shall make
Brilliant Forevermore !
* Reference to Napoleon's Charge at Waterloo.
GETTYSBURG 1 7
* With God o'erhead and gun in hand,
No force can stay your Spartan band !
This day your foe awaits in dread
The reckless, rapid, martial tread
Of legions brave as men e'er led !
Onward ! Steady ! though storm shall blow
A fiercer gale, still onward go,
And breast the billows from yonder's shore.
For on your heads shall honors pour
Ceaseless Forevermore !
" On left brave Tennesseeans wait,
And choicest troops of the Old North State,
With Mississippians true and tried,
And more to swell Virginia's tide ;
On right our Alabama's pride
And best of Florida abide !
Hence, onward go ! and trust that Lee
By matchless skill shall make you see,
That from this field your wreath shall be
Fadeless Forevermore !
18 GETTYSBURG
"This plain far more than others brings
To you of fame which poet sings :
Your double-quick in peerless dash
Shall be the wonder of the world,
And men who see your flags unfurled
'Gainst fiery blasts from out the throat
Of guns that belch a leaden hail,
Of guns that breathe a roaring flame,
Shall gladly give to you a name
Illustrious Forevermore ! "
GETTYSBURG 19
II. The Charge
Ten thousand Southrons now rise to the test,
And form fheir lines out to the west
Of " Seminary's " famous crest —
A ridg^e whose top was swept by fire,
Whose sides were torn by cyclone's ire,
Whose breast received the dreadful shock
Of storm that made the mountain rock,
And sent the awful thunders down,
Reverberations of a vast renown.
Echoless ? — Nay : Nevermore !
20 GETTYSBURG
Across the ridge as legions move,
Both shot and shell their courage prove;
Then grape and canister the guns employ
These braves to assail, these braves to destroy :
''Close in your ranks," the captains cried,
" To fill the gaps where men have died ;
Close in to left, but do not crowd !
Steady ! Think not of battle's din !
In impact close the prize you '11 win
Precious Forevermore ! "
" Onward ! Steady ! "— '' He 's fallen ! "— '* Never
mind!
Hospital men your friends shall find !
Your faces forward ! Hold your fire !
In yonder's angle yet shall rage
The fiercest fight brave men can wage:
There must you meet a stubborn foe ;
There must be shown a strength unknown
In former years; and, though all go down,
To all shall be the hero's crown
Glittering Forevermore ! "
GETTYSBURG 21
Nearer now and deadlier still
Shell and shrapnel rake the hill ;
Nearer yet and fiercer grew
The tempest which grape and canister blew;
Nearer yet and thicker fall
The double canister's deadly pall;
Deafening the roar and deepening more
The storm — the flood, yet none the less
Onward our braves for honor press
Brightening Forevermore !
Still onward rush the gallant few,
Still onward as with courage new.
Still onward, though the field is filled,
The front, the flank, the hill, the plain.
With hurrying horse and fiercer flame.
With Federal lines now crowding straight
To meet their foe, to meet their fate.
To meet and conquer here or die.
Whence fame shall rise and praises be
Endless Forevermore!
22 GETTYSBURG
Brave Kemper 's down and Garnett too,
The colors fall, the colonels die,
While captains and lieutenants lie
Wounded or dying outside the wall :
Meanwhile across the works have sprung
Men as heroic as Homer has sung,
And Armistead grand e'en unto death,
With cap on sword, in loudest breath,
Calls, " Onward, men ! this day shall be
Cloudless Forevermore ! "
Onward they go as rising tide
That rolls far up the mountain side ;
Cemetery's crest they reach at last.
But as broken waves, their limit passed.
Backward they 're hurled by hosts here massed.
Brave Tennessee is here to die,
And Carolina always true.
Far to the front with Pettigrew,
Supports our left and glory gains
Priceless Forevermore !
GETTYSBURG 23
Cushing's last gun at length is reached,
And Armistead's hand toward muzzle stretched;
He calls aloud, " Gushing, surrender ! "
The gun replies, " Armistead, no: never!"
The gallant Gushing had begged to fire
This only gun now left entire;
And as the fuse he cuts once more,
His soul heroic goes out to fame.
And by his death he makes his name
Memorable Forevermore!
And now they meet us hand to hand :
The gatherin-g foe our lines have hemmed ;
All loading stops, but lo! the strife.
With clubbed muskets waged for life,
Grows fiercer still till all is lost
In the Last One Hundred a Holocaust ;
But dying groans bravely suppressed.
And smiles yet bright from features calm
Have won for these the hero's palm
Glorious Forevermore!
24 GETTYSBURG
QIonrluBtnn
Had this charge been supported by 10,000 more
troops, and had all parts of the Confederate lines
moved at one time against the Federals, north,
east, and south, while our charge was in prog-
ress FROM THE WEST, there is little doubt that
Meade's army would have been cut in twain and
routed ; but, while the charge was going on, the
other parts of the Confederate line were holding
their breath, filled with amazement at so terrible
an onset against the very center of an entrenched
foe ; and so troops were allowed to concentrate
from all quarters against the little band that had
broken over the Union breastworks. From such
encircling hosts and murderous fire escape was
impossible, and men must die or surrender to the
maddened might of a successful and determined
enemy.
GETTYSBURG 25
Pickett lost his three brigadiers and all his field
officers but one lieutenant-colonel ; and after the
charge, regiments were commanded by beardless
captains and companies by sergeants and corpor-
als, so great had been the loss. Some of the
North Carolina companies were almost annihilated .
This was particularly true in the 26th North Caro-
lina, which suffered more than any one regiment^
North or South.
Meade found himself so crippled by the three
days' battle, that he could not agree to carry out
the Washington policy, and follow vigorously after
Lee in the retreat from Gettysburg. He knew that
Lee was not any more really whipped than him-
self, and hence, he preferred to merely keep up the
appearance of pursuit, while he studiously avoided
any direct assault upon Lee's battered and bruised,
but brave men, who, if they did not now cling so
tenaciously to the Cause they loved, yet loved
their commander with a devotion that would still
have held them to a losing battle or a lingering
death. Gettysburg was not a Waterloo;
for, after Waterloo, Napoleon's troops deserted
him, but Lee's men, 40,000 strong, were yti ready
to die with him. Gettysburg was, however, The
26 GETTYSBURG
Most Decisive Battle of the War. The
flower of Southern chivalry was here so blasted
by the North wind's breath, that it never rebloomed
to decorate again the rank and file of the Confed-
erate army. 27,739 brave men of our army were
gone and their places could not be filled, but the
23,049 lost to the Union army could soon be re-
placed from foreign countries, if not from the
North, by double and quadruple the loss at Gettys-
burg. Hence the might of overwhelming num-
bers must ere long decide what courage and skill
had hitherto been powerless to accomplish.
The BEGINNING OF THE END was already seen.
Confederate boundaries were being contracted,
supplies were diminishing, men who had suffering
families at home were growing more and more
dissatisfied, desertions increased, and finally Lee's
veterans of a hundred battle-fields, cooped up in
Richmond and Petersburg, were only waiting for
the bursting of a storm that had been gathering
for months, a storm that should lay open these
two strongholds in the East and scatter the rem-
nants of proud and puissant armies that for four
long years had resisted successfully every attempt
to enter these citadels.
GETTYSBURG 27
Battles had been fierce and furious all along the
way from the Potomac to the James and the Ap-
pomattox, but Confederate soldiers were fighting
more in desperation than in hope, more for honor
than for success ; and,
Hope's star so long before their eyes,
Encircled quite by rainbow's dyes,
Soon passed forever from out the skies.
The Author.
West Virginia University,
Morgantown, W. Va.,
^August )i, igo<j.
28 GETTYSBURG
Prof. C. H. Cole, Supt. of Schools, Martinsburg, W. Va.:
" Never have I heard or read anything to equal the vivid
language of Dr. Douthat, who was a participant in the great
struggle."
Rev. W. S. Neighbors, D. D., Pastor State Street M. E.
C, South, Bristol, Tenn.:
" Prof. Douthat's lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg is
worthy a place in the classic literature of this country. For
loftiness of statement, clear presentation, manliness of
spirit toward all parties, I have never heard anything equal
to it."
Huntington (W. Va.) "Advertiser," June 24, 1902 :
" He had a great story to tell, — the story of one of the
fiercest and bloodiest battles in all human history,— and
he told it with luminous clearness and simplicity."
Monroe (W. Va.) " Watchman," July 2, 1903 :
" Capt. Douthat's lecture is a revelation of historic truth
in the style that thrills and enthralls."
St. Joseph (Mo.) " News-Press," July 1, 1905 :
" It has been frequently said that no impartial history of
the Civil War has been written. Whether this be true or
GETTYSBURG 29
not, no one could have listened to Capt. Douthat's lecture
last evening in the Lyceum Theater and believe that an un-
biased account of the Battle of Gettysburg has not been
written * * * He held the attention of the audience every
minute he spoke, and certainly a plainer, more graphic de-
scription of the battle could not have been given."
Rev. W. S. Neighbors, D. D., Bristol, Tenn., August,
1902:
" Having heard Prof . Douthat's lecture,! shall carry with
me always a higher regard for both the Blue and the Gray."
Rev. Chas. S. Trump, St. John's Lutheran Church, Mar-
tinsburg, W. Va.:
" The lecture was clear, sympathetic, edifying, and en-
tertaining. Not a word of prejudice or uncharity fell from
Dr. Douthat's lips."
Huntington (W. Va.) "Advertiser," June 24, 1902 :
" It was fitting that the Gettysburg story should be told
in a house of worship, for charity, love, and reconciliation
breathed in its every word."
Bristol (Tenn.) " Courier," August 2, 1902 :
" The lecture was above prejudice, being on the plane of
a true patriot's thoughts— a plane above hate and malice
and high up in the atmosphere of true affection and rever-
ence for bravery and soldierly qualities in whatever cause
they may be exercised."
30 GETTYSBURG
Prof. L. J. Corbly, Prin. Marshall College, Huntington.
W. Va., Sept. 1, '04:
"After hearing Dr. Douthat's Gettysburg lecture, July
26, 1904, 1 remarked to a friend: * I have read everything
available bearing upon the history of that dreadful conflict,
but now feel for the first time that I know something defi-
nite, something fixed about it. ' "
Judge W. I. Wallace, Lebanon, Mo., July 10, '05 :
" I don't know when I have been so pleased and in-
structed as I was by Dr. Douthat's lecture in this city on
June 28, 1905. I regard it a masterpiece in the lecture
field and so commend it to people everywhere. North,
South, East and West, as most able, eloquent and enter-
taining."
Parkersburg (W. Va.) "Sentinel," Feb. 21, '03 :
" As has been said, the lecture is free from sectional preju-
dice, and is an interesting review for the old soldiers and
their friends on both sides. It is an instructive and thrill-
ing story for the young, a compliment to Northern steadi-
ness and an illustration of Southern impetuosity."
For Engagements with the Lecturer,
Address,
Capt. R. W. Douthat,
Morgantown, W. Va.
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