covered the assault of the other troops, fought its way to within eighty yards, says Major A very, of the enemy’s line, and there stubbornly held its own until after dark, when it was ordered by the brigade commander to retire, being the first of its brigade to enter the battle and the last to be withdrawn.
During the progress of this battle, Colonel Fender’s coolness, quickness and readiness of resource so impressed President Davis, who was on the field, that riding up to Colonel Fender, he said, "I salute you, General Fender." Colonel Fender afterward said to a friend, "My promotion on the field for good conduct realized the dream of my life.
When General Smith saw his brigades hotly engaged, and some of them badly repulsed, he moved Hatton’s brigade and Colonel Lightfoot s Twenty-second North Carolina regiment, which had been in reserve, into action. General Smith accompanied these troops, and he bears testimony to the courage of their attack: "The
troops moved across the field with alacrity, and the precision of their movement in line of battle has been seldom equaled, even on the parade ground." Then, describing their dashing advance to within a short distance of the enemy s line of fire, he says: "Very seldom, if ever, did any troops in their first battle go so close up to a covered line under so strong a fire, and remain within such a distance so long."[1] Of the behavior of the Twenty-second here, one of its officers says: "In all my reading of veterans and coolness under fire, I have never conceived of anything surpassing the, coolness of our men on this field. In this action General Pettigrew was desperately wounded. As he, thinking that he was mortally wounded, refused to be moved from the field, generously saying that others less severely wounded needed more attention than he, he was taken prisoner. His captors, however, ministered sympathetically to his
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- ↑ Official Report
