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horses and men; many were hanledoff by hand; all the batteries lostheavily. Bigelow’s 9th Massachusetts made a stand close by the Trostlehouse in the corner of the fieldthrough which he had retired fight-ing with prolonges fixed. Althoughalready much cut up, he was directedby McGilvery to hold that point at allhazards until a line of artillery couldbe formed in front of the wood be-yond Plum Run; that is, on what wehave called the “ Plum Run line.”This line was formed by collecting theserviceable batteries, and fragmentsof batteries, that were brought off,with which, and Dow’s Maine batteryfresh from the reserve, the pursuitwas checked. Finally some twenty-five guns formed a solid mass, whichunsupported by infantry held thispart of the line, aided General Hum-phreys’s movements, and covered byits fire the abandoned guns until theycould be brought off, as all were, ex-cept perhaps one. When, after accom-plishing its purpose, all that was leftof Bigelow’s battery was withdrawn,it was closely pressed by Colonel Hum-phreys’s 21st Mississippi , the onlyConfederate regiment which succeed-ed in crossing the run. His men hadentered the battery and fought hand-to-hand with the cannoneers; one waskilled whilst trying to spike a gun,and another knocked down with ahandspike whilst endeavoring to dragoff a prisoner. The battery went intoaction with 104 officers and men. Ofthe four battery officers one was killed,another mortally, and a third, Captain Bigelow, severely wounded. Of ‘sergeants, 2 were killed and 4 wounded; or a total of 28 men, including2 missing; and 05 out of 88 horses were killed or wounded. As the bat-tery had sacrificed itself for the safety of the line, its work is speciallynoticed as typical of the service that artillery is not infrequently called uponto render, and did render in other instances at Gettysburg besides this one.
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