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Maj.-Gen. P. R. Cleburne.
A Biography,
BY MAJOR CALHOUN BENHAM.
CHAPTER XII.
Cleburne’s Report of the Battle
of Pickett’s Mill.
Headquarters Cleburne’s Division, )
Paulding Co., Ga., May 30,1864. J
Colonel: —In compliance with or
ders, I submit the following account
of the operations of my division on the
afternoon and night of the 27th inst.:
About 2 or 3 o’clock of the afternoon
of the 26th, I arrived with my divi
sion on the extreme right of the then
line of the army, where I was sent
to support Major-General Hindman.
At that point, our lines, the general
bearing of which was north and south,
retired for a few yards to the east.
In continuation of this retiring line
I placed Polk’s Brigade, of my divi
sion, in, and diagonally across it upon
a ridge en echelon by battalion to avoid
an artillery enfilade from a neighbor
ing position held by the enemy. Rest
ing on Polk’s right, was placed Hotch
kiss’ artillery consisting of four Napo
leon, four Parrott guns, and four how
itzers. Supporting Hotchkiss on the
right was one regiment of Govan’s, of
my division. The remainder of iny
division was disposed in rear as a
second line in support of Hindman’s
right brigades and my first line. En
trenchments were thrown up in the
afternoon and night of the 26th and
in the morning of the 27th. The posi
tion was, in the main, covered with
trees and undergrowth, which served
as a screen along our lines and con
cealed us, and were left standing as far
as practicable for that purpose.
On the morning of the 27th at about
7 o’clock, Govan was sent to the north
front on a reconnaisance, with direc
tions to swing to the left in his advance.
From time to time while engaged in
this reconnaissance Govan sent me
word that the enemy was moving to
the right, (his own left.) At 11 a. m.,
upon my order to that e fleet, Govan
came in, leaving his skirmishers about
three-quarters of a mile in front.
I at once placed him on the right of
Polk, where he covered himself in
rifle pits.
At about 5 p. m., hearing that the
enemy’s infantry in line of battle,
were pressing the cavalry on my right
—they had already driven in my
skirmishers—l placed Granbury on
Govan’s right. He had but just gotten
into position and a dismounted cavalry
force, in line behind a few discon
nected heaps of stones loosely piled
together, had passed behind him when
the enemy advanced. He showed
himself first, having driven back my
skirmishers, in the edge of an open
field in front of Govan about four
hundred yards across, where he halted
and opened fire. From the point on
the ridge where Govan’s right and
Granbury’s left met, there made off a
sharp spur, which at about a hundred
yards from it turned sharply to the
northeast, running then in a direction
almost parallel to it, and maintaining
about an equal elevation. Between
this spur and the parent ridge, begin
ning in front of Granbury’s left, was
a deep ravine, the side of which next
to Granbury’s was very steep, with
occasional benches of rock, up to line
within thirty or forty yards of Gran
bury’s men, where it flattened into a
natural glacis. The glacis was well
covered with well grown trees, and in
most places with thick undergrowth.
Here was the brunt of the battle, the
enemy advancing along this front in
numerous and constantly-reinforced
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lines. His men displayed a courage
worthy of an honorable cause, pressing
in steady throngs within a few paces
of our "men, frequently exclaiming,
“Ah, damn you, we have caught you
without your logs now.” Granbury’s
men, needing no logs, were awaiting
them, and throughout awaited them
with calm determination, and as they
appeared upon the slope, slaughtered
them with deliberate aim. The piles
of his dead on the front, pronounced
by the officers in this army, who have
seen most service, to be greater than
they had ever seen before, were a
silent, but sufficient eulogy upon
Granbury and his noble Texans. In
the great execution here do > upon
the enemy, Govan, with his two right
regiments, disdaining the enemy in his
own front, who were somewhat re
moved, and Key, with his two pieces
of artillery, run up by hand upon my
order to a convenient trench made
in our breast-works, materially aided
Granbury by a right-oblique fire,
which enfiladed the masses in his front.
In front of a prolongation of Gran
bury’s line and abutting upon his right,
was a field about three hundred yards
square. The enemy, driving back
some cavalry at this point, advanced
completely across the field and passed
some forty or fifty yards in its rear.
Here, however, they were confronted
by the Eighth and Nineteenth Arkan
sas, consolidated, commanded by Col
onel Baucum, hastily sent by Govan,
upon Granbury’s request and repre
sentation of the exigency. In a sweep
ing charge Baucum drove the enemy
from the ridge in his front, and with
irresistible impetuosity forced him
across the field and back into the woods
from which he had at first advanced.
Here he fixed himself and kept up a
heavy fire, aided by a deadly enfilade
from the bottom of the ravine in front
of Granbury.
When Baucum was about to charge,
Lowrey, of my division, who had been
hastened up from his distant position,
(upwards of a mile and a half from
my right as established,) came into
line, throwing his regiments in suc
cessively, as they unmasked them
selves by their flank march. His
arrival was most opportune, as the
enemy was beginning to pour around
Baucum’s right. Colonel Adams, with
the Twenty-third Alabama, which was
the first of Lowrey’s regiments to form
into line, took position on Baucum’s
THE KENREBAW GAZETTE.
right and advanced with him, his seven
left companies being in the field with
Baucum and his other four to the
right. Baucum and Adams, finding
themselves suffering from the enemy’s
direct and oblique fire, withdrew,
passing over the open space of the field
behind them. The right companies
of 'Adams, which were in the woods,
retired to a spur which rises from the
easterly edge of the field about two
hundred yards from its southerly
edge, where Eaucum’s and Adams’ left
companies rested. Here they halted:
Captain Dodson, with fine judgment,
perceiving the importance of the posi
tion —it would have given the enemy
an enfilading fire upon Granbury,
which would have dislodged him —
and making his company the basis of
alignment for the remainder of Low
rey’s, now coming into position.
This retrograde movement across
the field was not attended with loss, as
it might have been expected, the
enemy not advancing as it was made.
It was mistaken, however, for a re
pulse, and some of my staff’officers,
hearing that my line had broken,
hastened Quarles’ Brigade, of Stewart’s
Division, (just then providentially sent
up by Gen. Hood,) to re-establish it.
Lowrey being under the same impres
sion, detached his two regiments,
which had not been engaged, under
Colonels Tison and Hardcastle, and
had them quickly formed in support
of Baucum and Adams. The error,
however, was soon discovered, and
my line being ascertained to remain
in its integrity, Quarles’ Brigade was
conducted to the rear of Lowrey and
formed as a second line.
The Fourth Louisiana (Colonel Hun
ter) finding itself opposite an interval
between the two regiments of Lowrey’s
line, caused by Baucum’s right resting
closer upon Granbury upon his return
from the advance, than he had done
at first, under the immmediate super
intendence of General Quarles, ad
vanced into the field, halted and
delivered a very effective fire upon the
enemy in his front. After some min
utes Quarles withdrew this regiment
and formed it behind the field, where
they continued their fire across it.
General Quarles and his brigade have
my thanks.
During these movements the battle
continued to rage on Granbury’s front,
and was met with unflagging spirit.
About the time of Quarles getting
into position, night came on, when the
combat lulled. For some hours after
wards a desultory firing, with short
vehement bursts of musketry, con
tinued, the enemy lying in great num
bers immediately in front of portions
of my line, and so near it that their
foot-steps could be distinctly heard.
About 10 p. m. I ordered Granbury
and Lowrey to push forward skirmish
ers and scouts to learn the state
of things in their respective fronts.
Granbury finding it impossible to ad
vance his skirmishers until he had
cleared his front of the enemy lying up
against it, with my consent charged
with his whole line. Walthall, with
his brigade from Hindman’s division,
whom I sent to his support, taking his
place in the line as he stepped out of
it. The Texans, their bayonets fixed,
plunged into the darkness with a
terrific yell, and with one bound were
upon the enemy, but they met with
no resistance. Surprised and panic
stricken, many fled, escaping in the
darkness; others surrendered and were
brought into our lines. It needed but
the brilliancy of this night attack to
add lustre to the achievements of
Granbury and his brigade in the after
noon. lam deeply indebted to them
both.
My thanks are also due to General
Lowrey for the coolness and skill
which he exhibited in forming his line.
His successive formation was the pre
cise answer to the enemy’s movement
in extending his left to turn our right.
Time was of the essence of things and
his movement was the quickest. His
line was formed under heavy fire on
ground unknown to him, and of the
most difficult character, and the stern
firmness with which he and his men
and Baucum’s regiment drove off the
enemy and resisted his renewed at
tacks, without doubt, saved the right
of the army, as Granbury had already
done before.
During the progress of the battle much
service was rendered by the rifle battery
and two remaining howitzers of Key’s Bat
tery, in position on Polk’s right. They
were trained in enfilade upon the enemy’s
reserve masses behind the hill in front of
the spur we occupied. I regretted I did
not have more guns for this service. I had
sent the Napoleon guns to the right, where
they were unable to find positions and
so were useless. During these operations,
Polk was not engaged, but it was a source
of strength and confidence to the rest of the
division to know that he had the charge of
the weakest and most delicate part of our
line.
It is due to the following officers of my
staff’that I should acknowledge the indus
try, zeal and activity they manifested in
the battle: Major Calhoun Benham, assist
ant adjutant general; Major J. K. Dixon,
assistant inspector-general; Captain Irving
A. Buck, assistant adjutant-general; Cap
tain Robert McFarland, Lieutenants L. H.
Mangum, S. P. Hanly, and J. W. Jetton,
aides-de-camp, and Captain C. H. Byrne,
volunteer aid-de-camp. They did their full
duty with ability, gallantry and enthusi
asm. lam indebted to them for their co
operation.
My ordnance, under Capt. C. S. Hill,
and my medical department, under Surgeon
D. A. Linthicum, and my artillery, under
Major T. R. Hotchkiss, were well adminis
tered.
My casualties in this battle were few.
I had 85 killed, 363 wounded; carrying
into the engagement four thousand six
hundred and eighty-three muskets. The
enemy’s losses were very heavy. The low
est estimate of his dead is 500. We cap
tured 160 prisoners, who were sent to
army headquarters, exclusive of 72 of his
wounded carried to my field hospital. He
could not have lost in all, less than 3,000
killed and wounded. I took upward of
1,200 small-arms.
This battle was fought at a place known as
the Pickett Settlement, and about two miles
east of New Hope Church.
P. R. Cleburne,
Major-General.
Lieut.-Col. W. H. Sellers,
Asst. Adj.-Gen. Hood’s Corps.