THE FIGHT AT FORT GREGG.
E. C. Cottrell, Dranesville, Va.

In the Veteran of February, 1898, is published a letter written by Gen. N. H. Harris to Gen. Longstreet, dated February 12, 1894, for the purpose of explaining the movements of his (Gen. Harris') Mississippi. Brigade, and also to defend it against the incorrect statements of Longstreet, published in a San Francisco paper. In this letter he speaks of being ordered by Gen. Lee to report to Gen. Wilcox on the morning of April 2. He then speaks of the movements of his brigade after a consultation with Gen. Wilcox, using the following language : 'After a conference with Wilcox I fell back and occupied these two works, placing the Twelfth and Sixteenth Regiments in Battery Gregg, with Lieut. Col. James H. Duncan, of the Nineteenth Mississippi, in command, and the Nineteenth and Forty-Eighth Regiments in Battery Alexander, taking personal command of that work. In Battery Gregg there was a section of the Washington Artillery under the command of Lieut. McElroy."

The latter statement I wish to correct. To make this correction I quote from Pollard's "Lost Cause :" "In Fort Gregg there was a small and mixed garrison. Capt. Chew, of the Fourth Maryland Battery of Artillery, was in command of the work. There were added to his battery of two three-inch rifles and thirty men, a body of men known in the vulgar parlance of soldiers as 'Walker's Mules,' dismounted drivers to whom were given muskets. These men were Virginians and Louisianians who belonged to Walker's artillery brigade, and they amounted in round numbers to about one hundred. The remainder of the garrison, about one hundred and twenty, were some men from Harris' Mississippi Brigade and some North Carolinians. Both of these commands—Mississippians and —had been driven back from the North Carolinians picket lines and had fled into Fort Gregg for shelter.

"Having run over Fort Alexander, the enemy moved on Fort Gregg with cheers. Confidently, in beautiful lines, and in all the majesty of overpowering numbers did the Federal troops advance upon the devoted work. They had got within fifty yards of it, and not the flash of a single rifle had yet defied them. The painful thought passed through the ranks of their comrades who watched in the distance that the garrison was about to surrender. But instead of a white flag there was a puff of white smoke, and artillery and infantry simultaneously opened on the confident assailants, who, staggering and reeling under the death- dealing volley, at last gave way and retreated in masses, under cover. A loud and wild cheer rang out from the Confederate lines, and was answered in exultant tones by the heroic little garrison in Fort Gregg. But reinforcements were hastening from the lines of the enemy. There were none to send to the succor of the garrison; every Confederate soldier was needed at his post, and no reserves were at hand. As the enemy again came up in battle array the troops moved for-ward in serried ranks, and soon the fort was canopied in smoke. It seemed by mutual consent that the conflict ceased on other parts of the line, while both sides stood silent and anxious spectators of the struggle at the fort. As the smoke lifts it is seen that the Federals have reached the ditch. Those in the distance could descry lines of blue uniforms swarming up the sides of the works, and as the foremost reached the top they reeled and fell upon their comrades below. Once, twice, and thrice they reached the top, only to be repulsed, and yet they persevered, while the guns in the embrasures continued to fire in rapid succession. "Presently the sound of artillery ceased, and the Federals mounted the works and poured a rapid fire on the defenders within. Many of the garrison, unwilling to surrender, used their bayonets and clubbed their guns in an unequal struggle. But such resistance could be of short duration ; and soon loud huzzas of the enemy told that the fort had been taken, and with it the Confederate army cut in two."

I escaped capture in the following way : I was in the early morning fight (about daylight), and after the enemy had been driven back through the aid of the infantry there was quiet, neither side making any movement for about two hours. In the meantime a detail of men, myself of the number, was sent back to the yard of an unoccupied dwelling house about four hundred yards in the rear of the fort, to cook rations for the men. We had not finished our work when the enemy again attacked, about 9:30 o'clock. Believing the fort would eventually be captured, and realizing the fact that the rations could not be gotten to our comrades at that juncture, we sheltered ourselves as best we could until the fight was over and the fort surrendered, and then hurried back to the river road,and by it to Petersburg. In this way I escaped capture until the surrender at Appomattox.

Confederate Veteran Magazine, Vol. 7, 1899, p. 308

https://books.google.com/books?id=-dA_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA308&lpg=PA308&dq=Confederate+soldier+E.+C.+Cottrell&source=bl&ots=6pb3lUT9fL&sig=DSgJTIhr6yos8scnmkMKuyraSiU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX95i5yp3LAhUBE2MKHR1GBFIQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=Confederate%20soldier%20E.%20C.%20Cottrell&f=false

………

Edward C. Cottrell, citizen of Princess Anne, Md.

Edward C. Cottrell

Residence was not listed;
Enlisted as a Private
He also had service in:
MD 4th Light Artillery
Other Information:
died 10/30/1910 in Fairfax, VA
After the War he lived in Fairfax, VA

Sources used by Historical Data Systems, Inc.:
- Index to Compiled Confederate Military Service Records
- Southern Historical Society Papers: Appomattox Paroles ANV
- Confederate Veteran Magazine