The Twenty-Sixth North Carolina and Col. Henry King Burgwyn at Gettysburg
 
From: bernhard1848@att.net
 
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
 
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“Although Victorious, the 26th North Carolina Was Virtually Destroyed”
 
“All the men were up at once and ready, every officer at his post, Col. [Henry] Burgwyn in the centre, Lieut. Col. [John R.] Lane on the right, Major [John T.] Jones on the left.  At the command “Forward March!,” all to a man stepped off, apparently as willing and as proudly as if they were on review. The enemy at once opened fire, killing and wounding some…The enemy’s artillery on our right got an enfilade fire. Our loss was frightful. But our men crossed [Willoughby’s Run] in good order and immediately were in proper position again, and up the hill we went firing now with better execution.”  (John R. Lane, Address at Gettysburg, 1905)
 
“Their advance was not checked, and they came on in rapid strides, yelling like demons. The Confederates overpowered the Nineteenth Indiana, striking on both flanks. [The enemy] left was then exposed to an enfilading fire and was forced to fall back. [Near the western crest of McPherson’s Ridge], the Twenty-fourth Michigan fought desperately but the Twenty-sixth North Carolina would not be denied. 
 
As Lane later recalled, “the engagement was becoming desperate, It seemed as if the bullets were as thick as hailstones in a storm. At this time the colors have been cut down ten times, the color guard all killed or wounded. We have now struck the second line of the enemy where the fighting is fiercest and the killing is deadliest. Suddenly, Captain W.W. McCreery, Assistant Inspector General of the Brigade, rushes forward to Col. Burgwyn.
 
He bears him a message. “Tell him,” says General [James Johnston] Pettigrew, “his regiment has covered itself with glory today.”  Delivering these encouraging words, Capt. McCreery…seizes the fallen flag, waves it aloft and advancing to the front, is shot through the heart and falls, bathing the flag in his life’s blood. Lieut. George Wilcox of Company H, now rushes forward, and pulling the flag from under the dead hero, advances with it. In a few steps he also falls with two wounds – not fatal – in his body.”
 
Read more at: Gettysburg, The First Day — http://www.ncwbts150.com/AtWarBattlegroundsHomefront.php