that Heth would follow with the other
four brigades of the division.

We found the enemy posted on a ridge just beyond Willoughby's Run, and
deploying on both sides of the road we went into the engagement. We had
the honor,--if honor it may be called,--of losing and shedding the first
blood in one of the most famous battles of the world. In war things
sometimes just happen: the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern
Virginia came into collision at a place where neither commander
designed a general engagement. Pender's division formed on the right of
Heth's and both pressed forward in the face of volleying musketry and
thundering cannon. We found out afterward that the opposing force
consisted of the three divisions of the First Corps under the command of
General Reynolds. Right bravely did they fight, and being driven from
the ridge they formed again on Seminary Ridge, determined to hold it. As
our men, on the other hand, were no less determined to take it, the
contest became furious and slaughterous. Our loss was heavy, but did not
equal that which we inflicted. At last they gave way, and we pursued
them to the edge of the town, through the streets of which they hastened
until they lodged among the rocky fastness of Cemetery Ridge. I was in
all the great battles, from Seven Pines to Chancellorsville, but never
had I witnessed a fight so hot and stubborn. On a field of battle the
dead and mortally wounded are usually scattered promiscuously on the
ground, but here I counted more than fifty fallen heroes lying in a
straight line. They belonged, as well as I now remember, to the 150th
Pennsylvania. When a regiment stands its ground until it suffers so
great a loss, it deserves honor for its courage, for the wounded must
have numbered as many as two hundred and fifty. It is a rare thing that
a regiment loses so many men in one engagement.

At the same time that we were struggling with the First Corps of Meade's
army the divisions of Rhodes and Early on our left were driving the
Eleventh Corps before them. But of the gallant part they bore in the
battle I make no mention, inasmuch as I am not writing a general
history, but only jotting down the things I saw, a small part of which I
was.

When the battle had ended and the brigade was standing in line close to
the town, Colonel Brockenbrough and I occupied positions in rear of the
line; and near us were Capt. Austin Brockenbrough and Lt. Addison Hall
Crittenden. Firs