Lightning From The West: A Novel Of Gettysburg

By Fred Melchiorre

Lieutenant Harrison Elington’s life is driven to turmoil when he is faced with the realities and internal divisions of civil war upon his family and his nation. Harrison is married to Abigail Sumner Elington of Philadelphia, daughter of Senator Robert Sumner of Pennsylvania. She is a strong Union supporter despite her husband and youngest son fighting for the Confederacy. His eldest son fights for the Union in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry. Lieutenant Elington is wounded at Malvern Hill, Virginia, in 1862, as he tries, through brave actions, to make a difference for his new commander General Robert E. Lee. He fights for the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company F. In the face of unending questions concerning his allegiance to the Confederate cause, Elington must make crucial decisions as an officer in the fight for Southern independence. He must decide if he will participate in a secret mission to Philadelphia after fighting in the first day’s battle at Gettysburg. He experiences the cruel realities of war and the horrible loss of friends on McPherson Ridge, west of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. He wants to help General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia gain the recognition of the Peace Democrats and achieve an essential assault on the Union, leading to Northern recognition of the Confederacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387510252

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cover-image, Lightning From The West: A Novel Of Gettysburg

Lightning From The West: A Novel Of Gettysburg

Fred Melchiorre

I

© 2022 by Fred Melchiorre. All Rights Reserved

Published by Fred Melchiorre

ISBN 978-1-387-51025-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal. This is a work of fiction.

Cover Painting: The Angle - General Lewis A. Armstead - Pickett's Charge - Battle of Gettysburg by Civil War Artist Mark Maritato

www.maritato.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife, Peggy,

for her unending support for me in everything I do.

The love of my life.

It is also dedicated to the thousands who died in

the Civil War and to their families

both Union and Confederate. 

"Let us at all times remember that all American citizens

are brothers of a common country, and shall

dwell together in the bonds of

fraternal feeling.  Abraham Lincoln

Acknowledgements and Historical Note

Lightning From The West is a work of fiction set in a real historical time period during the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865. Many hours of historical research led me to several different and diverse primary and secondary sources. However, three works stand out from all of the research.

I would like to acknowledge the work of Rod Gragg in his book Covered With Glory. This book sparked many of the ideas I developed for the fictional story of Lieutenant Harrison Elington and served for much of my historical research on the 26th North Carolina Infantry of 1862 and 1863. Henry Pfanz’s work, Gettysburg, The First Day, and David Gilbert’s book, Gettysburg July 1st, were also used for research of this crucial first day’s battle on the ridges north and west of Gettysburg

Thanks to the volume, Philadelphia, A 300-Year History, for its candid descriptions of Philadelphia during the Civil War.  This book illustrates the internal workings of the city and gave me a very concise background to city politics and city attitudes toward slavery and the sectional conflict.

The last work I need to acknowledge is Making Arms In The Machine Age, Philadelphia’s Frankford Arsenal 1816-1870 by James Farley. This was the only volume I could find that specifically relayed information concerning the layout of the arsenal grounds in 1863. Thus, I was able to make a connection between the arsenal, the Confederacy, and the lead character in the story, Harrison Elington.

My special thanks to Mark Maritato for his front-cover design and for his permission to use his painting, The Angle - General Lewis A. Armstead - Pickett's Charge - Battle of Gettysburg for the cover of this book. What a joy it is to have this historic painting as part of this project.

The What ifs of History can lead to many fascinating discussions and re-evaluation of historical evidence.  The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest three days in the Civil War.  General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army took enormous risks traveling into the North in June of 1863.  What if Philadelphia would have been invaded and its arsenal destroyed by a Southern army? Would the great Civil conflict have turned out different? Would Northern civilian groups; especially the Peace Democrats, have pressured the Lincoln administration and Congress to halt military operations in the war and move to recognize the independence of the Southern Confederacy? I know many people, interested in this time period wonder what would have become of this nation if the Confederate States of America won their independence from the Union.

This work does not attempt to tell the story of a Confederate victory in the war itself, but it does attempt to address issues relating to an alternate plan of action, simultaneous with the Battle of Gettysburg; that being an attack on Philadelphia and the subsequent destruction of the Frankford Arsenal by a Confederate brigade.

Chapter 1 Malvern Hill

July 1862

The smell of early morning dew penetrated the air throughout the Virginia countryside. The July 1st morning dawned to birds singing, rays of sun bathing the trees, and uncertainty mounting inside the minds of the soldiers. The 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment broke camp at about ten o’clock. A farm appeared ahead of the columns, covered in the ravages of internal war. Northern and Southern soldiers disseminated the once tranquil landscape with cries of pain, wounded spirits, and their mangled companies of men. Blood, muskets, swords, private letters, and the stench of death faced the men there in the open for all to see. The marching troops of the 26th North Carolina entered the battlefield confronted with a baptism of fire.

The dead, hot lead of Minie’ Balls hitting flesh caused men to shriek with pain and agony. The yells and calls for help did nothing to stop the engine of human battle as other Confederate soldiers entered the maelstrom in front of the 26th North Carolina. The familiar sound of the engine of war embedded itself into the minds of Confederate and Unions troops alike, especially, in the mind of Lieutenant Harrison Elington, an officer in the 26th. In his journal, Elington often described the mechanics of battle through analogies, and then one day he could testify to his students of the man-made fury. Open volleys raked the fields with musket fire. Rounds of cannon solid shot softened the resistance of the enemy regiments. The combination of musket and artillery fire generated the engine into a seething quagmire, where death and mayhem persisted upon every breathing moment.

The engine functioned efficiently for hours at a time. Its iron fuel, fired from the bowls of hell, from hundreds of cannon, made the exhaust hot and loathsome. The exhaust, the waste of the engine, the ingredients the engine no longer needed became the dead soldier lying upon the field of battle. The dead no longer produced the spark which had produced the projectile that ultimately entered human flesh, tearing and severing the vital organs of the creator of the engine itself.

For men became killers to each other upon peaceful fields of wheat, oats, and orchards polluted by the human exhaust of death. The engine of battle and war initiated through the various countrysides of Virginia.

He saw the hill ahead of his

Group IMG_3297.jpeg General Huger General Huger

regiment. Lieutenant Elington along with Corporal Lewis Fry and Private Alfred Abshire marched directly toward the fortified position.

I see flames from the cannon up there, lieutenant!

Just hold steady, corporal. We have to tighten our lines before the attack. General Magruder needs support on his flank. General Huger ordered us to move in support of the other brigades ahead of us.

Attack the position, lieutenant? asked Private Abshire in a surprised shout. Through the hail of fire Abshire said, This attack is nothing short of suicide.

General McClellan has himself a fine position up on that hill! Hey lieutenant?"

You’re right about that, Lewis.

Lewis, watch out! Lieutenant Elington yelled.

Shells exploded and hissed all around the brigade lines. The heavy smoke, the solid blasts, and the belching fire smashed through the air atop Malvern Hill. Arcs of trailing sparks and smoke raced over the heads of the Confederate veterans.

One of General George McClellan’s corps, the 5th Army Corps, occupied the hill. The 5th Army Corps, part of the Army of the Potomac, and raised by President Abraham Lincoln had a mission to bring the rebellious, seceded states back into the Union. One of many corps that would fight the war against the Confederates, the 5th held high hopes of victories on the battlefield.

President Lincoln had said upon

Group IMG_3312.jpeg General McClellan General McClellan

entering the White House: This United States, masterfully crafted by such men as Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Washington must endure according to the tenets of our sacred, national Constitution. Our government must continue. Secession is not an option. The Southern states must be brought back into the Union.

Malvern Hill, a plateau located near the James River in eastern Virginia, stood 150 feet in elevation. McClellan positioned sharpshooters near the base of the slope to flank and destroy the Rebs. Artillery units occupied the plain. The elevation stretched a half mile in length and about a mile and a half in width. At least 200 cannon crews prepared to rip Confederate brigades apart if they made an attempt to charge the hill. Stacked near the cannons, Union regiments supported the artillery to reinforce the whole nightmarish position set upon the elevation. There was a splendid field of battle on a high plateau where the greater part of our troops and artillery were placed, wrote Brigadier General Andrew Humphreys in his diary. "If confidence came from numbers, the morale of those

Group IMG_3315.jpeg Malvern Hill Malvern Hill

assembled must be high this morning. The array of Federal power was a magnificent sight," said Humphreys.

In late June 1862, General McClellan tried to abandon his slow and unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign in eastern Virginia. He thought he could slowly wear down and humiliate General Robert E. Lee’s armies. However, McClellan’s caution caused retreat. He and his grand army had attacked for months but did not make it to Richmond. Lee’s will to fight persisted throughout the campaign. The fight started in March. Now the calendar turned to July 1862. Lincoln worried about the status of his general and his army.

In a fateful twist of circumstances, General Joseph Johnston joined the numerous Confederate injured in the Seven Days Battles towards the end of June. President Jefferson Davis placed his military advisor in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. His name: Robert E. Lee.

Group IMG_3306.jpeg General Robert Ransom General Robert Ransom

Lieutenant Elington, serving under Major General Benjamin Huger’s Division, Department of Northern Virginia, and attached to Brigadier General Robert Ransom’s Brigade, marched his men of F Company, 26th North Carolina Infantry, along the Quaker Church Road.

Elington gazed upon hundreds of men assembled for battle. He couldn’t help tapping his hand on the revolver holstered on his left side. He anticipated the start of fighting as he reached for some water from a wooden canteen.

*****************************

Harrison Elington, 40 years old and a school teacher with grayish black hair, grew up in Caldwell County in North Carolina. He had resigned his commission as lieutenant in the United States army in 1856 after 10 years of service. When North Carolina seceded in 1861, Elington sided with his home state. He thought secession a necessary right of the states. Although troubled by the break-up of the Union, and its consequences for the South, he saw secession as an opportunity for a new independent nation. Elington still had doubts though. In his mind he debated on whether or not he committed treason against the United States. After all, he formerly ranked as an officer in the United States army helping to expand the territory of the country and pushing Indians further west.

His wife Abigail Sumner Elington, named after Abigail Adams, the former first lady of the country, supported the Union and President Abraham Lincoln’s gradual slave emancipation plan without question. Born in Philadelphia, in 1822, a city known for its pro-Southern sympathies and strong Democratic Party, Abigail received the finest education money could buy. She advocated the Union cause to keep the democratic heritage of the United States alive and perpetual.

Elington had two sons. Danny, 18 and a private in the 5th North Carolina Artillery Battalion Battery D. Jesse, 22 fought for the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment a member of the Union army. The divisions of the Civil War existed in family, literally brother against brother. Harrison’s grandfather fought the British at the Battle of Cowpens some 80 years before the present, sectional driven war tore the United States apart.

*******************************

Utilizing 18 of his Confederate brigades General Lee ordered a complete frontal assault on Malvern Hill to drive the Union army off of their strong position and to complete a withdrawal of McClellan’s forces from Virginia.

F Company! Inflict as much damage as possible on the artillery batteries positioned up on that plain! shouted Elington wearing his pristine gray uniform.

Sir! Our scouts, and some of the skirmishers pulling back, report about 200 cannon on top of that hill, sir, shouted a sergeant from Company F. Smoke formed a haze as the artillery batteries commenced firing.

Sir! Officers from the 1st and 3rd North Carolina say fortified lines of infantry dominate the Union position up there, said another lieutenant from the company. I saw Union infantry spreading out a defensive wall along the base of the hill."

Intelligence kept flowing in to the officers of the 26th North Carolina. Colonel, sir! There are ravines and swamps around the flanks of that hill! Elington said. The lead brigades report dense foliage and wetlands. These will slow our advance. Can we get sharpshooters up there, colonel, to help our boys from slaughter by that God forsaken artillery? asked Elington.

The 26th continued their march among the turmoil of battle.

No, lieutenant! Said Colonel Vance. We need to secure a better position first, and then we’ll send sharpshooters to flank those artillery batteries. We will get more skirmishers to join the existing line up there, so we can advance and then attack.

Yes sir! Elington responded chewing a cheek full of tobacco.

Corporal Fry! Go and see if any company commanders can spare more men for skirmish duty. Now! ordered Elington. We need more damned men on that line! He continued nervously tapping on his holstered revolver.

Yes sir! lieutenant. Fry shouted.

Colonel! It looks as if the whole Union artillery is stacked against us, up on that hill! shouted Captain Nathaniel Rankin of F Company.

Known for his sharp speaking skills and efficient infantry training techniques, Colonel Zebulon Vance heard every report and waited for orders to take the hill. Vance and the other waiting brigades observed the glowing lines on Malvern Hill. After marching a little way on Quaker Church Road, Ransom’s whole brigade had halted. Brigadier General Robert Ransom Jr., 34 years old and a graduate of West Point was the brigade commander of the 26th North Carolina Infantry. Ransom, an uncompromising drill master in preparing his men for battle, drove his units hard along the road.

Colonel Vance watched as the

Group IMG_140.jpeg Colonel Vance Colonel Vance

fearsome barrage of shrapnel, grape, and canister shells broke wide holes in the other infantry brigades advancing in front of the heavily fortified Union lines.

I thought we were fighting a defensive war, Vance said to other officers close by to him.

This charge could fail if we don’t take out some more of those cannon.Elington agreed. Colonel! Sometimes I don’t know why I fight for a cause that seems impossible for my men, and often disloyal. But, I can’t let my men down. They have fought with courage and bravery for the cause of their country.

His face cringed from the heavy fire before him. He chewed down on the tobacco in his mouth. Heavy smoke stifled the air around him.

"Lieutenant! We can disagree about military tactics, but we are not disloyal to anyone here today, Colonel Vance said in a stern voice.

******************************

He had fought and debated his own thoughts about secession and what it meant for the great experiment of the United States. Since the 1840’s and into the volatile decade of the 1850’s, tumultuous events forced Elington to ask himself provocative questions concerning his allegiance to the Union.

Questions of states’ rights versus the federal government in Washington D.C., slavery versus free soil in the new western lands acquired from the Mexican-American War, nullification versus a higher tariff, and the question of ever taking up arms against his beloved North Carolina. The state became the last to secede in 1861 for there

Group IMG_3295.jpeg Henry Clay Henry Clay

were pro-Union forces in the state government at the time. These forces held out at first, but then went ahead with secession over President Lincoln’s failure to remove troops from strategic southern garrisons. Lincoln also called for the raising of 75,000 troops to invade the South if secessions persisted.

During the hot and persuasive decade of the 1850’s a compromise passed through Congress. Written by the esteemed Henry Clay from Kentucky, he tried his best to save the Union one last time. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, inflaming the already passionate North and South over the treatment of slaves. Southern plantation owners accused her of maltreatment. Southerners lashed out at the contents of the book claiming the author never visited the deep South to witness firsthand the peculiar institution of slavery and the kind treatment of most slaves. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act provided a remedy for the question of slavery through popular sovereignty for those western territories obtained from Mexico in 1848 and from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This act of Congress caused a gallant rush by Missouri Ruffians and abolitionists to take over as much land as possible thus enhancing the already combative political climate in the country.

1856 was a year Harrison Elington never forgot. The tense situation came to a head over the legitimacy of Senator Stephen Douglas’ popular sovereignty plan for the newly acquired western territories. A mini-civil war broke out in Kansas Territory when the Ruffian - pro-slavery men - burned down Lawrence, Kansas protesting

Group IMG_3307.jpeg Cartoon of the Kansas Nebraska Act 1854 Cartoon of the Kansas Nebraska Act 1854

that the town represented the limitations and abuses of the federal government in Washington and its determined attempts to stop the spread of slavery into the new lands. Abolitionist John Brown killed two pro-slavery advocates and their sons in an episode labeled Bleeding Kansas. Then, Senator Charles Sumner was violently attacked in the Senate Chamber by Preston Brooks, nephew of Congressman Andrew Butler of South Carolina, who became enraged by Sumner’s never-ending vexations towards Butler and the Southern aristocracy. This type of violence did not happen often in the Senate where the reigns of government had become almost sacred to the causes of democracy.

Elington became quite upset upon reading about the Kansas situation and the uncertainty looming in Congress. He also became irritated with then President James Buchanan’s silence and inaction upon the pressing issues of the nation, especially, slavery. Elington resigned from the United States army in 1856. Three years later in 1859, news of abolitionist John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia solidified the determination of the Southern movement

IMG_3298.jpeg

towards secession and independence from the United States. A convulsive and radical abolitionist, Brown raided the ferry, a federal installation, with hopes of supplying slaves, along the rivers there, with muskets to activate a slave rebellion throughout Virginia. He had also brought some specially made Pikes as weapons for slaves who could not fire a gun. Brown, a monster to the South, a martyr to the abolitionists, rode to his execution in Charlestown, Virginia sitting on his own coffin.

South Carolina became the first to secede back in December of 1860 as a result of the election of Abraham Lincoln from Illinois as president of the United States. Elington did not mind Lincoln’s ascendancy to the White House. He reasoned that the president could not free slaves without an act from Congress. Lincoln had vowed not to tamper with the institution where it already existed, but he did draw a line in the sand on the extension of slavery into the territories of land acquired through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the annexation of Texas in 1845, and in the Mexican Cession lands of 1848.

Elington still had a lot on his mind as he prepared for the hellfire of battle on July 1, 1862 in Virginia.

******************************

IMG_3301.jpeg

Near dusk, at the closing of the day on July 1, the soldiers of the 26th North Carolina, along with many other regiments, brigades, and divisions journeyed into the firestorm of a larger and more complicated battle for the first time in the war. Except for their holding action at New Bern, a town in North Carolina, known for the strategic importance of its railway, the men of the 26th engaged in little combat. The raw, acrid odor of gunpowder in the air and the shrieking of artillery shells coming from Malvern Hill sent the chill of fear and anticipated destruction through the minds of the men marching toward their goal. The engine of human battle cranked over once again among the fighting soldiers.

Will the regiment prove itself today? Will I die or continue for the cause set before us? Elington thought. Will all of my years of military service in the U.S. army sustain me in this political and economic struggle for freedom? Will I ever go home the same man as when I left many months ago? Are the leaders on the field capable, or should I continue to question their motives and abilities? Will I lead my men of F Company the right way, the honorable way? 

Elington debated these questions often in his mind, and now they penetrated through his racing conscience like Minie balls penetrating flesh."

Margaret and Tobacco! Is there a way back to my life and my hope? Corporal Lewis Fry pondered this thought waiting in the gloom of the day. Sucking on the corncob pipe inherited from his grandfather and thinking of the farm back home, he said to Elington,

I hope I don't wind up in the hands of the sawbones after this fight, lieutenant! Those sawbone doctors will cut me to pieces if I'm so unlucky to get a hornet or some other piece of wretched, hot iron in the arm, leg, or other unfortunate part of my body! 

Moving out of his state of thought, Elington answered jokingly, sawbones or not, Lewis, you better not hold back today when we get into the fight up on that hill.

Part of F Company from its beginning, Corporal Lewis Fry Jr., like Elington, lived and worked in Caldwell County. Fry, a thirty six year old farmer, owned four slaves. He grew tobacco to support his wife Margaret and their three children. He really enjoyed the smell of the earth and the natural toil of farming. His temper would always flare, especially, when embroiled in talk concerning the secession of the South and abolitionism. His beliefs made his mind strong toward secession.

All of the talk and hollering about abolition is nonsense! said Fry frantically to his wife in 1860. Fry once told his father Lewis Sr. that, the abolitionists are the cause for any future war, and they will not get their way in Heaven or in Hell! Their beliefs about this country are wrong and their motivations self-serving! Slaves are laborers not businessmen! 

Fry expressed his eagerness to join the army if war broke out against the Union of the United States of America.

This can't be my last day on earth. Death frightens me and it is something I haven't prepared for, my Jesus in Heaven, prayed Alfred out loud. 

He began to shake. The deep abrasive roar, concussions and repercussions of the artillery continued its unrelenting aim at the Confederate brigades in the marshes of Western Run near Malvern Hill."

Alfred Abshire, a twenty year old upper-class college student, left his studies to fight the war and to achieve states' rights, which according to Abshire, had been blatantly and systematically robbed from the South. He studied government, history, and politics at Bowdoin College in Maine before the war. He decided to live away from home for his college years. He also left behind his fiancée Krista Morris in Maine. Despair and loneliness permeated the August day, when Alfred left his comfortable and tranquil college town for the rigors of training camp at Lenoir and Camp Crabtree, North Carolina. Alfred, a devout Christian, placed his faith and life in the hands of Jesus Christ, the Savior of his soul.

You better pray the darn sawbones don't get your limbs tonight, Alfred my boy, joked Fry. Lewis continued his questions and comments to the men. Joking, making noises, talking about home, and offending others in the regiment, often seemed to calm the boys before battle. Some smiles would appear briefly on soldier’s faces.

Lewis then became serious in his thoughts. "Lieutenant Colonel Burgwyn, do you think we will make it through that artillery barrage on the hill before us? asked Lewis.

Keep your head low, but watch your every step toward your position, corporal! Listen to your orders from Lieutenant Elington and Captain Rankin! We’ll be fine. We’ll hit’m hard.

I see cannon fire straight ahead, sir, said Elington.

The units of the brigade continued marching slowly through the smoke from the guns.

Stay in formation, Elington, and keep your company ready to fire on the lines up there, ordered Burgwyn.

We will do that, sir! We will do it!

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Burgwyn, one of the youngest officers to serve in the Confederate army, stood out among his peers back home. At twenty-one years old, he had graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. Very well educated and from a well to do family in North Carolina, Burgwyn maintained self-discipline in his life as a young man. Even though he pushed them to their limits in physical drill, Burgwyn gained respect and likability from his men. He had a young fiancée back in North Carolina waiting for him to finish his duty. At one point during training back at Camp Crabtree though, the men once plotted to take care of the young lieutenant colonel when they got a chance to assume battling duty. Maybe an accidental slip of a musket trigger would end the hell of marching four hours a day, for weeks on end, said one 26th private.

The sounds and repercussion from the cannon echoed more deafening toward the positions of the lead regiments and the 26th North Carolina. Nervously, Elington continued to tap on his revolver, adjust his black slouch hat, straighten his lieutenant’s frock coat, and chew his ration of tobacco. The regiment approached the right-center of the Union line. The Confederates, all along the line near the hill, now felt the accuracy of the cannon. 

Major General John Magruder's Brigades ordered to hit the right flank of the Union line to support General Lewis Armistead's Virginians, reeled off course. General Ransom led his brigade in a wrong direction, mistakenly deviating from Lee's original orders.  Inaccurate maps and unsubstantiated intelligence reports, stating McClellan planned to move off of the hill, caused some of Magruder's and Ransom's problems during the day. Ransom eventually got on line but his position now deviated to the left-center of the Union fortress.

The problematic dispositions of my troopers, and the changing orders of our generals, will result in catastrophes for our ranks. These failures cannot lay solely upon my command, said Magruder during the start of the battle to his pondering staff. The Brigades of Armistead, Mahone, Wright, Gordon, Anderson, Barksdale, Toombs, Ripley, Garland, Colquitt, Law, Hood, and Trimble all slammed into the fury of the Union lines on the hill before Ransom's Brigade and the 26th attacked. 

Artillery fire, like lightning in the summer sky, consumed the elements of nature all around the Confederate regiments. Overshot shells hit trees. Branches fell to the ground, singeing the green landscape, and shattering the silence of the otherwise peaceful day. Small fires from the hot shrapnel burned on the ground, smoke coiled into the air, and an ever-present spirit of danger consumed the soldiers in the ranks. Naval ordinance from the Union Gunboats Galena and Mahaska fired on the brigades from the James River, located southwest of Malvern Hill. The ninety-six members of F Company looked on as the sky lit-up before them. They heard the crying, the agony, and the pain of the wounded veterans before them. Yells for help, shouts of panic, and cries of horror echoed from the battlefield.

Give us water! Please! Please!

Someone stop this hot pain … my side!

Water! water! can anyone help us!

Tell the boys to retreat from this hell! shouted one private"

This is hell on earth. Get out of here if you want to live today, shouted another.

You won't be counted as cowards! shouted a sergeant from the insufferable conditions on the field.

I'm shot twice in the leg! I think I'm bleeding to death! Get me … get me out of here!

Plug those holes boys, or we won’t be able to help the wounded at all, ordered an officer along the line.

Colonel Vance shouted, Form your line, boys! It's only a matter of time before we fire! Dress on the colors, men!

Tell my wife I love her dearly, said a private, who was shot through the stomach. The maelstrom continued with fury.

I can't stop shivering from the pain!

I'm hit in the head! I'm hit right in the bloody head!

Form the line! Form the Line, ordered Vance. The 26th approached within yards of the massive, unfaltering line of the Union army.

Lieutenant Colonel Burgwyn assisted Colonel Vance bringing the men into an orderly and fixed line. The regiment commenced sending volleys into the lead brigades of the Union forces. 

Some of the Union men fighting across from the North Carolinians put up stiff resistance on the right side of the Union line against the Confederates. 

The Union gunboats from the James River rammed heavy shells into the flanks of the Confederate forces. The Union artillery and infantry continued to bombard them.

Men in Confederate companies from the 26th saw rabbits and deer which brought pleasant memories of innocent days gone by into the fire and proscription of vehement war before them now. Corporal Fry saw a fox running from the scene of the battle. He earnestly thought about doing the same. 

Changing from solid, to case, then to canister shot, the Union gunners tore huge and deadly holes into the Confederate brigades, resulting in high casualties and lightning destruction upon the Southerners. Haversacks, canteens, muskets, smoking pipes, personal letters, food rations, shoes, grass mixed with blood, and sword scabbards flew through the air. The volley of musket fire shattered the neatly dressed lines of Ransom's Brigade."

Watch out overhead! Watch out overhead! shouted Elington to the men of F Company. 

They stayed on line to prepare to fire toward the enemy."

Chapter 2 THOSE NAPOLEONS ARE TOO MUCH

JULY 1ST, 1862

Elington! shouted Corporal Fry, Those men over there, from the 1st and 3rd North Carolina, have had enough up on that murderous hill! It looks as if casualties are high, sir, and the men worn out! We have to get in there and break those batteries, in our front, before they darn well break the hell out of us. We need to capture their guns, or do something! We have to reinforce those battered regiments before us. 

Fry began his habit of pushing the private soldiers forward, angrily warning them they better fight as men, and not as sissies dressed in their Sunday best, not as cowards who would defile the Southern cause. Fry sweat profusely before battles or skirmishes.

Those Napoleons are too much on our lines! said Elington to Colonel Vance. Elington stood firm and in an upright position over his men. Indifferent to bullets flying around him in the small skirmishes the 26th fought in up to this battle, Elington focused on assisting Captain Rankin and Colonel Vance in leading and plotting a course for the men of the 26th Regiment.

I see devastation all down the line. We have to get into a better position and try and flank those guns before we have both the batteries of artillery and the infantry taking us down for good! replied Vance. 

The regiment proceeded through grainy fields of wheat now covered with the mangled wounded and dead from other brigades and regiments. Men in gray and butternut struggled desperately to get away from the constant searing fire.

Confederate scouts had determined that some of the Union artillery consisted of the Rhode Island Light Artillery, the New York Light Artillery, United States Battalions of artillery, and many other units which made up the 200 guns on the hill. Napoleons, twenty-pound parrot guns, and three-inch ordnance guns stood waiting on the hill. Crackles, hisses, and shrieks continued to fly in the faces of the Confederates. The surroundings near the hill became a cauldron overflowing with human carnage. The fog of war made it appear the raking fire was coming from the western sky like lightning convulsing from Heaven, shattering the sinful souls of men. However,