The
morning of the 2d it was used to extend the lines. It is therefore
evident, now that the history of the battle is understood, that the
Gatling guns were the only effective reserve which the left wing of
the army had during the night of July 1st and all day on the 2d.
Acting on this belief, the Gatling Gun Battery was placed in reserve,
in the rear of Fort Roosevelt, on the morning of July 2d, and was held
there in reserve all day on July the 2d and 3d. The pieces were placed
within twenty yards of the firing-line, just below the crest of the
hill. The feed-guides were filled, and the gun crews lay down beside
their pieces. The battery was ready to either support the firing-line
against a charge, or protect its flank against a turning movement. But
it was not considered necessary or desirable to run the pieces up on
the firing-line in the open, and participate in the trench-firing,
which was the only fighting done on July 2d and 3d. It was considered
that the battery was too valuable as a reserve to sacrifice any of its
men uselessly. Some very well-meaning officers urged that the battery
be rushed up on the hill and put into action, but this was stubbornly
refused, under the third clause of the instructions given on the 1st
of July, "to make the best use of the guns possible.
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