Close Support of the Infantry
As the reinforcements approach the line, the crew prepares to fire.
Infantrymen begin the long walk back to the Confederate side as the
charge loses momentum.
We watch as clumps of men return from their gallant, but failed, attempt
to break the Federal line.
A group of soldiers re-form in a depression in the ground to provide
covering fire for their retreating friends.
The fighting, once intense across a broad front, has subsided to a
scattered trading of rounds as the Southerners pull back. The Union
cheer "Fredricksburg" rings out across the field.
Our crew begins to stow their equipment in preparation for withdrawing.
I would find out later that firing from this position, we were shelling
my father's unit on Cemetary Ridge.
Exhausted troops rest in the foreground while more soldiers stream
back from the line.
The staff of Maj. M.W. Henry's Artillery, Hood's Division, Longstreet's
Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
Cavalry survey the field after the fighting has stopped.
Battery Commander Bruce Frazer (mounted) speaks with returning infantrymen.