Report of Col Q M DuBose “Comdg 15^th Ga

of Battle of Gettysburg

 

Hd Qrs 15^th Regt Ga Vol July 27^th 1863

 

H. H. Perry

            A.A.A.Genl

                        Sir

                                    In obedience to orders I received to day I herewith submit to Brig Genl H. L. Benning a report of the part taken by my Regt ([?] 15^th Ga) in the battle of Gettysburg upon on the 2^d & 3^d of July inst My Regt occupied that portion of the flank on the extreme left of the Brigade On the 2^d of July after moving for a considerable distance across an open field under a heavy shelling from the enemies battery I reached positio my position from which I was to move in line of battle to assist in supporting Brig Genl Laws Brigade which I learned had moved forward to attack the enemy After marching forward four or five hundred yards I with the rest of the Brigade was halted & rested until an order came to me from Genl Benning to move forward at once to the support of our advanced troops The movement was made at once in good order, under fire of the Enemies Artillery After getting within a hundred & fifty yards of the advance troops I was again halted by Genl Benning for a few moments, my Regt having gotten a short distance ahead of a/portion of the Brigade lines owing I suppose to the difference in the nature of the ground over which we had to march. Genl. B. then left the position which he had for was then near my right & went towards the right of the Brigade. I rested a few minutes in this position, until I saw the balance of the Brigade had moved up even with my position & were still advancing. I immediately ordered a forward movement & soon got in the point where our advance troops were fighting behind a stone fence a little above the foot of a high, thickly wooded, rocky hill. at this point my Regt commenced the engagement with the enemy who occupied the hill. at this point the nature of the ground was such that I could not see the other portion of our Brigade. after fighting the enemy in this position a short time, I saw from the heavy fire of musketry on my right that the other portion of the Brigade were hotly engaged trying to carry the hill in their front which was destitute of trees. I immediately ordered my Rgt to jump the stone fence & charge that portion of hill in my front which order they obeyed willingly and promptly driving the/Enemy from the my part of the hill turning that portion of their right flank which occupied the barren hill in front of the troops of our own Brigade on my right & thereby assisted them in gaining the hill in their front. in this charge a portion of one of the Texas Regt joined me (the 1^st Texas) & behaved well. after gaining the hill I continued to move forward driving the enemy before me at a rapid rate, capturing cap between one hundred & forty & two hundred prisners, including officers as well as men. I had gone on rapidly from the top of the hill between a quarter & a half mile ahead of the other portion of our Brigade which I found had halted at the top of that portion of the hill in their front, when I discovered a large body of the enemy moving so as to put themselves between me & the troops on my left & in my rear & thereby cut me entirely off from support. as soon as I saw the danger to which I was exposed I ordered a halt & also ordered my Regt to fall back. I fell back to the stone fence before refered to & there very soon arranged my line & fought the enemy in this position until I saw the troops on my left getting ready for another/charge I at once ordered my Regt to charge which they did well, driving the enemy from their position & out of the woods. The troops on my left then fell back to their original position & the enemy commenced advansing upon my left I took a small party of men threw them out as skirmishers on the left & drove back the enemies advance but very soon a heavy column of the enemy came up on my left flank; drove in the skirmishers & not being supported on the left in that position I fell back again to the to my original position & continued the fight at this point until I received a message from the commander of the troops on my left, stating that he was going to charge the enemy again & desired me to to do the same on my part of the line, which proposition I agreed to at once and immediately ordered my regt forward & again did they obey my order with alacrity & courage, driving the enemy this time entirely out of the wood in my front I then charged the front of my line so as to fire upon the enemy in the open field at the foot of the mountain on my right in this position my line was almost at a right angle with the line of the Brigade. I placed them in this position so as to assist the troops/troops on the left who had followed the retreating column of the enemy & were then attempting to charge at a portion of the mountain hights. I ordered my men to pour in a heavy fire upon the enemy as soon as the troops on the left commenced falling back as I thought they would have to do; & thereby protect their retreat as much as possible This they did very effectively. I remained in this position a considerable length of time & until late in the evening when it became so dark that objects in the woods could not be so easily discerned I then received learned that the enemy was again moving around upon my left in heavy force. Upon learning this I charged my line back about two hundred yards & fronted differently. I had not gotten through this movement before I discovered that the enemy were moving forward rapidly & were within two hundred yards of the left of my line. I halted, faced about & commenced fighting there and after a few well directed volleys succeeded in checking their advance. they then fell back and I moved my regt back to the stone fence in my rear, & formed them in a few moments & rested in this position until Genl Benning ordered me to rest for the night upon the hill in my front. it was now after/dark. I moved up & occupied the position he had directed me to & also collected together all the fragments of Regts & companies from other commands & formed them upon the same line with my own Regt & stationed pickets in front. in this position I remained until just before day light on the morning of the 3^d of July when I was ordered by Genl Benning to move my Regt back to the stone wall from which he had ordered me the night before. I remained in position behind this wall until late in the evening of the 3^d day of July keeping a body of skirmishers in f my front in the latter part of the evening the Enemy pressed so heavily upon my skirmishers that I was compeled to reinforce them with two additional companies & very soon thereafter a heavy skirmish commenced, the enemy had commenced moving around upon my left in heavy force the troops upon my left having been withdrawn. I notified Genl B. of the movement being made by the enemy. he immediately came down to my position & there received orders through a courier to move the left of his Brigade so as to unite with the right of Genl M^cClaws Division Brig Genl Benning ordered me at once to move to the position pointed out by the courier which order I obeyed at once calling the rest/of my skirmishers. the new position to which I had been ordered & occupied left a space of fully a quarter of a mile between my right & the then left of Genl Benning Brigade. this space was entirely unoccupied except by a few skirmishers from my Regt I had not gained my new position but a short time before a brisk skirmish commenced between the enemy & my left wing. At this time I received an order from Genl B. by one of his couriers to take the hill I was on & that Genl M^cClaw would support me on the left. by the courier who brought me this order, I notified Genl Benning that I could see nothing of Genl M^cClaw but instead of finding his troops upon my left, that the enemy were moving around upon my left in heavy force. After this time I received no further orders or notice of the movement of our troops from any one. The enemy came on rapidly in heavy force turning my left entirely & also advancing in front & moving upon my right in the space between my right & the left of the position where I had left the balance of our Brigade. After fighting in this position until I saw the enemy had greatly the advantage of me by his flank movement I drew my line of battle back about seventy or eighty yards changing at the same time my front at this position placing my men as best I could behind rock & tree/seeing that I was compelled to fight greatly superior numbers. in this position I had a desperate fight, the enemy moving up on my right & left flanks & front I fought them until they had gotten within twenty to thirty yards of my men. seeing no recon reinforcements coming to my releif & finding that within in a few moments more my whole regiment would be either killed or captured, I ordered a retreat through the only space left open to me by the enemy. after falling back three or four hundred yards I rallied my Regt behind a stone fence & there checked the advance of the enemy. but after fighting in this position for a time, the enemy made the same movement upon this position that he had done upon the one I had last left by throwing a force around my left flank & moving up on my right flank, by this means hoping to surround me & entirely cut off all means of retreat as soon as I saw that the position of the enemy rendered my position untenable I again ordered my men to retire after retreating some four hundred yards further back I again rallied the remnant of my Regt & fought them until driven from my position by one of the enemies batteries which completely [?] my

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