Of course, the Confederates never got as close to the artillery pieces as shown in the fourth picture. The Alabama Brigade would get the closest. The following is an account of their experiences:
"The Alabama Brigade under the command of Colonel John B. Gordon, were drawn up in line of battle with fixed bayonets. The enemy's batteries were about one mile opposite them and the ground between was exceedingly rough. They passed across an open meadow and up a precipitous hill through dense woods on the east side of the Quaker Road. They halted as they neared the open field in which the Federals had placed their batteries. General Gordon had ordered the Brigade batteries forward and he sent a scout ahead to ascertain the respective positions of the Confederate and Union Batteries. Upon his report, the Brigade was shifted forward and to the left under cover of a low hill, but within sight of the Yankee guns. The 26th Alabama was on the extreme right and the 5th Alabama next on the right, both in the rear of the position occupied by their battery. The 26th Alabama and the right wing of the 5th Alabama were subjected to the enemy's artillery fire as they tried to drive off the Confederate battery. This portion of the Brigade was then shifted to the left in rear of the 3rd Alabama who occupied the centre of the Brigades' line. This was their position when Colonel Gordon gave the order to charge the batteries in their front, a distance of seven or eight hundred yards across an open field. "As we came fully in sight of the Federal batteries, not 400 yards in our front, the open space behind them became black with troops, thousands of whom issued from the woods in the rear."
[1]
The whole ground in front of the 3rd, 5th and 26th Alabama Regiments was swept by fire of the Federal artillery, which had, in rapid succession, silenced the Confederate battery in our front. As there was no artillery to attract the enemy's attention, his batteries from the beginning, and his infantry finally, poured a most destructive fire into their ranks. Colonel Gordon continues, " Never was the courage of troops more severely tried and heroically exhibited than in this charge. They moved on under this terrible fire, breaking and driving off the first line of infantry, until a little over two hundred yards from the batteries. Here the canister and musketry mowed down my already thinned ranks so rapidly that it became impossible to advance without support.....I therefore ordered the men to lie down and open fire, and immediately sent back to notify Major-General Hill of my position and to ask him to send up support. A Brigade was sent forward, but failed to reach my line. The troops sent up from another division on the right had already fallen back and refused to rally. Nearly one half of the Brigade had been killed or wounded, leaving me about 600 men able to load and fire."
[2]
James J. Hutchison of the 5th Alabama Infantry regiment continues, "It was madness to go on, but our men moved steadily forward until within 250 yards, when the order was given to fire, and they immediately, dropped to the ground and began loading and firing as fast as possible. Just at this moment, Toomb's Brigade, unable to withstand the terrible fire, broke and retreated from the field. This made matters worse. Maj. Hobson was far in advance, leading the regiment. Several of us kept our feet and strove to lead our men on, but in vain. The 3rd Alabama became mixed with ours. Andrew Melton was in front with our battle flag, cheering the men, when a ball passed through his forehead, and he fell dead, with the shout on his lips, "5th Alabama, rally to your colors!" A braver soldier never bled. Andrew was a Color Corporal, and took the flag when its bearer, Color Sergeant William Kennedy, of Greensboro, was disabled by a falling tree, earlier in the afternoon. Near him fell the Color Sergeant of the 3rd Alabama, shot dead."
[3] The 3rd Alabama, fighting alongside the 5th Alabama, lost six Color Bearers that day.
[4]
A soldier in the Union ranks gives us his perspective of the scene. "the rebs poured out of the woods & charged on us....They came within yards of us when they turned & ran, what was left of them." "Pretty soon they poured out in 4 lines & charging our batterys posted on the brow of the hill.....We murdered them by the hundreds but they again formed & came up to be slaughtered."
There, out on the field about two to three hundred yards from the muzzle of the Union guns, the men of the 5th Alabama stayed until nightfall. "Our battle flag was bourne off with staff shot in two and 28 shot holes in that and the flag! To advance is what the men would not, could not do, to stay where we were was death, and some officer gave the order to retreat, which was slowly and reluctantly obeyed. More men fell by the enemy's grape and canister as we fell back, than in the advance.
[5]
Finally, nightfall came and the sounds of battle drifted away. In the aftermath almost 5,400 Confederate soldiers lay on the field, the Union's loss in killed and wounded was just over 3,200 men. That night there was a heavy rain and thunderstorm as men went about the solemn duty of removing the wounded and burying the dead. "Night, dark and dismal, settled upon the battlefield of Malvern Hill, its thousands dead and wounded. The rain began to fall on the cruel scene and beat out the torches of brave fellows as they hunted their wounded companions in the dark. The howling of the storm, the cry of the wounded and the groans of the dying, the glare of the torch upon the faces of the dead or into the shining eyes of the speechless wounded, looking up in hope of relief, the ground slippery with a mixture of mud and blood, all in the dark, hopeless, starless night; surely it was a gruesome picture of war in its most horrid shape."
[6]
[1]"The Beacon", August 8, 1862, Letter of J. J. Hutchinson dated July 14, 1862
[2]"Third Alabama! The Civil War Memoirs of Cullen Andrews Battle, CSA" edited by Brandon H. Beck, page 33
[3] "The Beacon", August 8, 1862, Letter of J. J. Hutchinson dated July 14, 1862
[4]"Third Alabama! The Civil War Memoirs of Cullen Andrews Battle, CSA" edited by Brandon H. Beck, page 31
[5] "The Beacon", August 8, 1862, Letter of J. J. Hutchinson dated July 14, 1862
[6]Douglas, Henry Kyd
I Rode With Stonewall. St. Simons Island, Georgia: Mockingbird Books, Inc., page 113
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