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02-01-2016, 11:51 PM
Hello! I enjoy reading first hand account's from the civil war, and my a camp i go to for civil war reenacting has a habit of telling some account's, I just wanted to see if anyone else liked them and would like to share them to this community.
Here is one of my Favorite's.
Sergeant Valerius C. Giles
4th Texas Infantry, Robertson's Brigade
Giles and his fellow Texans were ordered to attack across the slopes of Big Round Top near Devils's Den and drive the Federals from their positions on the nearby Little Round Top. Failing to capture the Federal position, Giles and his comrades were forced to take shelter among the boulders on the lower slopes of Big Round Top.
The side of the mountain was heavily timbered and covered with great boulders that had tumbles from the cliffs above years before. These afforded great protection to the men. Every tree, rock and stump that gave any protection from the rain of Minie balls that were poured down upon us, was soon appropriated. john Griffith and myself pre-empted a moss-covered old boulder about the size of a 500-pound cotton bale. By this time order and discipline were gone. Every fellow was his own general. Private soldiers gave commands as loud as the officers. Nobody paid any attention to either. To add to this confusion, our own artillery on the hill to the rear was cutting its fuse too short. their shells were bursting behind us, in the treetops, over our heads, and all around us.
Nothing demoralizes troops quicker than to be fired into by their friends. I saw it occur twice during the war. The first time we ran, but at Gettysburg we couldn't. This mistake was soon corrected and shells burst high on the mountain or went over it.
Major Rogers, then in command of the Fifth Texas Regiment, mounted an old log near my boulder and began a Fourth of July speech. He was a little ahead of time, for that was about six thirty on the evening of July 2d. Of course nobody was paying any attention to the oration as he appealed to the men to "stand fast." He and Captain Cousins of the Fourth Alabama were the only two men I saw standing. The balance of us had settled down behind rocks, logs, and trees. While the speech was going on, John Haggerty, one of Hood's couriers, then acting for General Law, dashed up the die of the mountain, and saluted the major and said: "General Law presents his compliments, and says hold this place at all hazards." The Major checked up, glared down at Haggerty from his perch, and shouted: "Compliments, hell! Who wants any compliments in such a ****ed place as this? Go back and ask General Law if he wants me to hold the world in check with the Fifth Texas Regiment? . . ."
From behind my boulder I saw a ragged line of battle strung out along the side of Cemetery Ridge and in front of Little Round Top. Night began settling around us, but the carnage went on. there seemed to be a viciousness in the very air we breathed. Things had gone wrong all the day, and now pandemonium came with the darkness. Alexander Dumas says the devil gets in a man seven times a day, and if the average is not over seven times, he is almost a saint.
At Gettysburg that night, it was about seven devils to each man. Officers were cross to the men, and the men were equally cross to the officers. It was the same with our enemies. We could hear the Yankee officer on the crest of the ridge in front of us cursing the men by platoons, and them en telling him to go to a country not very far away from us hast at the time. . . .
The advance lines of the two armies in many places were not more than fifty yards apart. Everything was on the shoot, No favors asked, and none offered. My gun was so dirt that the ramrod hung in the barrel, and I could neither get it down nor out. I slammed the rod against the rock a few times, and drove home ramrod, cartridge and all, laid the gun on a boulder, elevated the muzzle, ducked my head, halloaed "Look out!" and pulled the trigger. She roared like a young cannon and flew over my boulder, the barrel striking John Griffith a smarter whack on the left ear. John roared too, and abused me like a pickpocket for my carelessness. It was no trouble to get another gun there. The mountain side was covered with them. . . .
Our spiritual advisers, chaplains of regiments, were in the rear, caring for the wounded and dying soldiers. with seven devils to each man, it was no place for a preacher, anyhow. A little red paint and a few eagles feathers were all that were necessary to make that crowd on both sides into the most veritable savages on earth! There was not a man there that cared a snap for the golden rule, or that could have remembered one line of the Lord's Prayer. Both sides were whipped and all were furious about it.
Here is one of my Favorite's.
Sergeant Valerius C. Giles
4th Texas Infantry, Robertson's Brigade
Giles and his fellow Texans were ordered to attack across the slopes of Big Round Top near Devils's Den and drive the Federals from their positions on the nearby Little Round Top. Failing to capture the Federal position, Giles and his comrades were forced to take shelter among the boulders on the lower slopes of Big Round Top.
The side of the mountain was heavily timbered and covered with great boulders that had tumbles from the cliffs above years before. These afforded great protection to the men. Every tree, rock and stump that gave any protection from the rain of Minie balls that were poured down upon us, was soon appropriated. john Griffith and myself pre-empted a moss-covered old boulder about the size of a 500-pound cotton bale. By this time order and discipline were gone. Every fellow was his own general. Private soldiers gave commands as loud as the officers. Nobody paid any attention to either. To add to this confusion, our own artillery on the hill to the rear was cutting its fuse too short. their shells were bursting behind us, in the treetops, over our heads, and all around us.
Nothing demoralizes troops quicker than to be fired into by their friends. I saw it occur twice during the war. The first time we ran, but at Gettysburg we couldn't. This mistake was soon corrected and shells burst high on the mountain or went over it.
Major Rogers, then in command of the Fifth Texas Regiment, mounted an old log near my boulder and began a Fourth of July speech. He was a little ahead of time, for that was about six thirty on the evening of July 2d. Of course nobody was paying any attention to the oration as he appealed to the men to "stand fast." He and Captain Cousins of the Fourth Alabama were the only two men I saw standing. The balance of us had settled down behind rocks, logs, and trees. While the speech was going on, John Haggerty, one of Hood's couriers, then acting for General Law, dashed up the die of the mountain, and saluted the major and said: "General Law presents his compliments, and says hold this place at all hazards." The Major checked up, glared down at Haggerty from his perch, and shouted: "Compliments, hell! Who wants any compliments in such a ****ed place as this? Go back and ask General Law if he wants me to hold the world in check with the Fifth Texas Regiment? . . ."
From behind my boulder I saw a ragged line of battle strung out along the side of Cemetery Ridge and in front of Little Round Top. Night began settling around us, but the carnage went on. there seemed to be a viciousness in the very air we breathed. Things had gone wrong all the day, and now pandemonium came with the darkness. Alexander Dumas says the devil gets in a man seven times a day, and if the average is not over seven times, he is almost a saint.
At Gettysburg that night, it was about seven devils to each man. Officers were cross to the men, and the men were equally cross to the officers. It was the same with our enemies. We could hear the Yankee officer on the crest of the ridge in front of us cursing the men by platoons, and them en telling him to go to a country not very far away from us hast at the time. . . .
The advance lines of the two armies in many places were not more than fifty yards apart. Everything was on the shoot, No favors asked, and none offered. My gun was so dirt that the ramrod hung in the barrel, and I could neither get it down nor out. I slammed the rod against the rock a few times, and drove home ramrod, cartridge and all, laid the gun on a boulder, elevated the muzzle, ducked my head, halloaed "Look out!" and pulled the trigger. She roared like a young cannon and flew over my boulder, the barrel striking John Griffith a smarter whack on the left ear. John roared too, and abused me like a pickpocket for my carelessness. It was no trouble to get another gun there. The mountain side was covered with them. . . .
Our spiritual advisers, chaplains of regiments, were in the rear, caring for the wounded and dying soldiers. with seven devils to each man, it was no place for a preacher, anyhow. A little red paint and a few eagles feathers were all that were necessary to make that crowd on both sides into the most veritable savages on earth! There was not a man there that cared a snap for the golden rule, or that could have remembered one line of the Lord's Prayer. Both sides were whipped and all were furious about it.