the_battle_of_gettysburg
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< | < | ||
- | and Ann (Folson) Haskell, | + | and Ann (Folson) Haskell, |
+ | Dartmouth College with distinguished honors, in the class of 1854, the | ||
+ | young man came to Madison in the autumn of that year, and entered the | ||
+ | law firm of Orton, Atwood & Orton. His career in this profession was | ||
+ | increasingly successful, until in 1861 it was interrupted by the | ||
+ | outbreak of the War of Secession.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry of the Iron Brigade, he served as | ||
+ | Adjutant of his regiment until April 14, 1862. Contemporaneous accounts | ||
+ | state that &# | ||
+ | distinguished, | ||
+ | organization.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>He was called from the adjutancy of the Sixth to be aide-de-camp to | ||
+ | General John Gibbon, when the latter assumed command of the Iron | ||
+ | Brigade, and remained in such service until (February 9,<span class=" | ||
+ | promoted to be Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin. While aide to | ||
+ | General Gibbon he was temporarily on the staffs of several other | ||
+ | generals, including Edwin V. Sumner and G. K. Warren, and won wide | ||
+ | repute as a soldier of unusual ability and courage. With the Iron | ||
+ | Brigade, he participated in the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, | ||
+ | taking part in reconnoissances at Orange Court House and Stephensburg, | ||
+ | in skirmishes at Rappahannock Station and Sulphur Springs, and in the | ||
+ | battles of Gainesville, | ||
+ | Fredericksburg, | ||
+ | battle of December 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, | ||
+ | to his favorite aide as being &# | ||
+ | and giving directions amid the heaviest fire.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Haskell, General Francis A. Walker, in his < | ||
+ | Corps</ | ||
+ | to our author as one who was &# | ||
+ | riding mounted through an interval between the Union battalions, and | ||
+ | calling upon the troops to go forward.&# | ||
+ | A. Haskell, of Wisconsin, had been known for his intelligence and | ||
+ | courage, for his generosity of character and his exquisite culture, long | ||
+ | before the third day of Gettysburg, when, acting as aide to General | ||
+ | Gibbon, he rode mounted between the two lines, then swaying backward and | ||
+ | forward under each other&# | ||
+ | Division to follow him, and setting an example of valor and self | ||
+ | devotion never forgotten by any man of the thousands who witnessed it.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | alluded to Haskell&# | ||
+ | services of a gallant young officer, First Lieutenant F. A. Haskell, | ||
+ | aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Gibbon, who, at a critical period of | ||
+ | the battle, when the contending forces were but 50 or 60 yards apart, | ||
+ | believing that an example was necessary, and ready to sacrifice his | ||
+ | life, rode between the contending lines with a view of giving | ||
+ | encouragement to ours and leading it forward, he being< | ||
+ | the only mounted officer in a similar position. He was slightly wounded | ||
+ | and his horse was shot in several places.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the manner in which several of the subordinate reports mention the | ||
+ | services of my gallant aide, Lieutenant F. A. Haskell, Sixth Wisconsin, | ||
+ | and to add my testimony of his valuable services. This young officer has | ||
+ | been through many battles, and distinguished himself alike in all by his | ||
+ | conspicuous coolness and bravery, and in this one was slightly wounded, | ||
+ | but refused to quit the field. It has always been a source of regret to | ||
+ | me that our military system offers no plan for rewarding his merit and | ||
+ | services as they deserve.&# | ||
+ | alluded to Haskell&# | ||
+ | man on my staff who had been in every battle with me and who did more | ||
+ | than any other one man to repulse Pickett&# | ||
+ | did the part of a general there.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | himself by his constant exertion in the most exposed places.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | commanding the Third Brigade, thus referred to the incident: &# | ||
+ | omit speaking in the highest terms of the magnificent conduct of | ||
+ | Lieutenant Haskell, of General Gibbon&# | ||
+ | regiments and in nerving the troops to their work by word and fearless | ||
+ | example.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Haskell returned at once to this State, and recruited and organized the | ||
+ | regiment for the field. Although his commission was dated from February | ||
+ | 9, he was not mustered into service as Colonel until March 23. The | ||
+ | regiment, which had been assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division | ||
+ | of the Second Army Corps, left Madison May 10, and seven days later was | ||
+ | acting as reserve during the battle at Spottsylvania. Its experiences | ||
+ | thenceforth were of the most active character.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | morning of June 3. The official account of what followed, is contained | ||
+ | in<span class=" | ||
+ | General:< | ||
+ | advanced upon the enemy by brigades, in column closed in mass by | ||
+ | regiments, the Thirty-sixth being in rear of the brigade. On advancing | ||
+ | about three-fourths of a mile across an open field, under a heavy | ||
+ | artillery fire, and when within about twenty-five rods of the rebel | ||
+ | works, partially protected by the brow of a low hill, the Thirty-sixth | ||
+ | was found in the advance, leading the brigade. During the advance, | ||
+ | Colonel McKeen, commanding the brigade, was killed, when the command | ||
+ | devolved upon Colonel Haskell. After a moment&# | ||
+ | by command of General Gibbon, ordered the brigade forward. The men rose | ||
+ | to obey, and were met by a shower of bullets, when the other parts of | ||
+ | the line halted. Colonel Haskell surveyed the situation for a moment, as | ||
+ | if irresolute; he finally gave the order, &# | ||
+ | once obeyed. An instant afterwards, he was struck in the head by a rebel | ||
+ | bullet, and instantly killed. Thus fell one of Wisconsin&# | ||
+ | soldiers, a<span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | its Major and Lieutenant-Colonel, | ||
+ | of Cold Harbor, so far as concerns Colonel Haskell&# | ||
+ | death:< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the highest and best definition of that term. I think he was by | ||
+ | education, experience, association, | ||
+ | fully as competent to handle a Division as a Regiment, and in many | ||
+ | respects the higher would seem the more appropriate position for him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Wisconsin, about the middle of May, 1864, at Spottsylvania. The two | ||
+ | armies were joined in a death struggle, which was destined to continue | ||
+ | almost uninterruptedly until one was effectually wiped from the face of | ||
+ | the earth. June 3 at Cold Harbor, our army was<span class=" | ||
+ | in that formation projected upon the fortifications of the enemy. Their | ||
+ | line of works was really the outer line of the defenses of Richmond, and | ||
+ | were perfectly constructed for defense, and manned by General Lee&# | ||
+ | army, which when protected by works had thus far been able to | ||
+ | successfully withstand General Grant&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | miles over undulating land, part of the time subject to the fire of the | ||
+ | enemy and occasionally protected from it by slight depressions in the | ||
+ | land. We moved forward as rapidly as possible, and in thirty minutes | ||
+ | were in the immediate presence of the enemy&# | ||
+ | murderous a fire as met Pickett&# | ||
+ | Gettysburg.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Gettysburg, now finds his position exactly reversed from what it was on | ||
+ | that memorable occasion. Now his men were charging and the enemy on the | ||
+ | defense, protected by their works. He was standing nearly in front of | ||
+ | the remnant of the Second Division which had<span class=" | ||
+ | through the murderous fire, and apparently seeing the hopelessness of | ||
+ | further advance, and willing to save this remnant of his men, gave the | ||
+ | order, &# | ||
+ | promptly obeyed. For an instant it seemed that he was the only man | ||
+ | standing, and only for an instant, for as he stood surveying the havoc | ||
+ | around him, and glanced toward the enemy&# | ||
+ | his arms and sink to the earth, his forehead pierced by a rebel ball. | ||
+ | And this was the last of Frank Haskell&# | ||
+ | fearlessly and freely given his young life for his country. Nearly | ||
+ | fifteen thousand companions joined him in the sacrifice on that fateful | ||
+ | morning, the greatest loss of any single charge in the war.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In his own report of the battle, General Hancock said: &# | ||
+ | was wounded and taken from the field and the lamented McKeen,< | ||
+ | pushing his command as far as his example could urge it, was killed. The | ||
+ | gallant Haskell succeeded to the command, but was carried from< | ||
+ | field mortally wounded, while making renewed efforts to carry the | ||
+ | enemy&# | ||
+ | declared, &# | ||
+ | gallant a soldier as ever lived, fell dead on the field.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | Army of the Potomac has fallen!&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was well acquainted with Colonel Haskell, said of him:< | ||
+ | commanding a brigade in the assault upon the enemy&# | ||
+ | of the Chickahominy, | ||
+ | the 3d of June, he was struck in the right temple by a Rebel | ||
+ | sharpshooter&# | ||
+ | in charge by his young and faithful Orderly, John N. Ford, who, though | ||
+ | himself wounded in the head and left arm, persevered through all | ||
+ | difficulties and brought it<span class=" | ||
+ | concourse of people, it was buried in Silver Lake cemetery, June 12, | ||
+ | 1864.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Association, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to his brother, H. M. Haskell of Portage, not long after the contest. It | ||
+ | was not intended for publication; | ||
+ | recognized, and it was offered to Mr. Turner for insertion in his weekly | ||
+ | paper. It was, however, too long a document for such purpose. About | ||
+ | fifteen years later, it was published in a pamphlet of 72 pages, without | ||
+ | even a title-page, for private circulation only. The account was widely | ||
+ | read by military experts, and received much praise for both its literary | ||
+ | and its professional merit. The pamphlet having become rare, for the | ||
+ | edition was small, was reprinted in 1898 as part of the history of | ||
+ | Dartmouth&# | ||
+ | made therein by its editor, Captain Daniel Hall, who was an aide on | ||
+ | General Howard&# | ||
+ | written so soon after the battle that &# | ||
+ | minute details,&# | ||
+ | two facts which to him seemed to reflect on General Sickles. Captain | ||
+ | Hall assumed that were Colonel Haskell now living, he would have | ||
+ | justified these omissions. In March, 1908, the Dartmouth College version | ||
+ | was reprinted by the Commandery of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | Loyal Legion, under the editorship of Captain Charles Hunt.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In deciding to inaugurate its own series of Reprints with Colonel | ||
+ | Haskell&# | ||
+ | accordance with its fixed policy, reverted to the original edition, | ||
+ | which is here presented entire, exactly as first printed. Whatever might | ||
+ | have been the author&# | ||
+ | war, the Commission does not feel warranted in disturbing this original | ||
+ | text in the slightest degree& | ||
+ | of a rare and valuable narrative written by a soldier in whose memory | ||
+ | Wisconsin feels especial pride.< | ||
+ | of the respective authors represented both in Original Narratives and in | ||
+ | Reprints issued by the Commission, have not nor will they be modified by | ||
+ | the latter. For all statements, of whatever character, the author alone | ||
+ | is responsible.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Portage, for the loan of that institution&# | ||
+ | for the purpose of this reprint.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | <hr style=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | composition and strength of the armies, their leaders, the strategy, the | ||
+ | tactics, the result, of that field are to-day by the side of those of | ||
+ | Waterloo& | ||
+ | otherwise. This great event did not so &# | ||
+ | moderate the hot sunshine that streamed upon our preceding march, or to | ||
+ | relieve our minds of all apprehension of the result of the second great | ||
+ | Rebel invasion of the soil North of the Potomac.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | forebodings. The people of the country, I suppose, shared the anxieties | ||
+ | of the army, somewhat in common with us, but they could not have felt | ||
+ | them as keenly as we did. We were upon the immediate theatre of events, | ||
+ | as they occurred from day to day, and were of them. We were the army | ||
+ | whose province it should be to meet this invasion and repel it; on us | ||
+ | was the immediate responsibility for results, most momentous for good or | ||
+ | ill, as yet in the future. And so in addition to the solicitude of all | ||
+ | good patriots, we felt that our own honor as men and as an army, as well | ||
+ | as the safety of the Capitol and the country, were at stake.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle, the Army of the Potomac should be overpowered? | ||
+ | When our army was much larger than at present& | ||
+ | winter& | ||
+ | the most splendid army this continent ever saw, only a part of the Rebel | ||
+ | force, which it now had to contend with, had defeated it& | ||
+ | rather& | ||
+ | assembled, he was flushed with recent victory, was arrogant in his | ||
+ | career of unopposed invasion, at a favorable season of the year. His | ||
+ | daring plans, made by no unskilled head, to transfer the war from his | ||
+ | own to his enemies&# | ||
+ | march from his front before Hooker moved, or was aware of his departure. | ||
+ | Then, I believe, the army in general, both officers and men, had no | ||
+ | confidence in Hooker, in either his honesty or ability.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Were they not still burning with indignation against him for that | ||
+ | disgrace? And now, again under his leadership, they were marching | ||
+ | against the enemy! And they knew of nothing, short of the providence of | ||
+ | God, that could, or would, remove him. For many reasons, during the | ||
+ | marches prior to the battle, we were anxious, and at times heavy at | ||
+ | heart.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the men likely to be crushed or utterly discouraged by any new | ||
+ | circumstances in which they might find themselves< | ||
+ | some battles, they had gained some. They knew what defeat was, and what | ||
+ | was victory. But here is the greatest praise that I can bestow upon | ||
+ | them, or upon any army: With the elation of victory, or the depression | ||
+ | of defeat, amidst the hardest toils of the campaign, under unwelcome | ||
+ | leadership, at all times, and under all circumstances, | ||
+ | reliable army still. The Army of the Potomac would do as it was told, | ||
+ | always.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | complaint on these heads& | ||
+ | moved& | ||
+ | and through mud, in the broiling sunshine, in the flooding rain, over | ||
+ | steeps, through defiles, across rivers, over last year&# | ||
+ | where the skeletons of our dead brethren, by hundreds, lay bare and | ||
+ | bleaching, weary, without sleep for days, tormented with the newspapers, | ||
+ | and their rumors, that the enemy was in Philadelphia, | ||
+ | all places where he was not, yet these men could still be relied upon, I | ||
+ | believe, when the day of<span class=" | ||
+ | juvabit.</ | ||
+ | see that in those times we had several matters to think about, and to | ||
+ | do, that were not as pleasant as sleeping upon a bank of violets in the | ||
+ | shade.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In moving from near Falmouth, Va., the army was formed in several | ||
+ | columns, and took several roads. The Second Corps, the rear of the | ||
+ | whole, was the last to move, and left Falmouth at daybreak, on the 15th | ||
+ | of June, and pursued its march through Aquia, Dumfries, Wolf Run | ||
+ | Shoales, Centerville, | ||
+ | on the 25th, marching back to Haymarket, where we had a skirmish with | ||
+ | the cavalry and horse artillery of the enemy& | ||
+ | Potomac at Edward&# | ||
+ | Liberty, and Union Town. We marched from near Frederick to Union Town, a | ||
+ | distance of thirty-two miles, from eight o&# | ||
+ | the 28th, and I think this is the longest march, accomplished in so | ||
+ | short a time, by a corps during the war. On the 28th, while we were near | ||
+ | this< | ||
+ | Providence of God had been with us& | ||
+ | it& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of a large army, on the eve of battle, the result of which might be to | ||
+ | destroy the Government and country! But it should have been done long | ||
+ | before. At all events, any change could not have been for the worse, and | ||
+ | the Administration, | ||
+ | this moment my own mind was easy concerning results. I now felt that we | ||
+ | had a clear-headed, | ||
+ | his best always& | ||
+ | Meade was not as much known in the Army as many of the other corps | ||
+ | commanders, but the officers who knew, all thought highly of him, a man | ||
+ | of great modesty, with none of those qualities which are noisy and | ||
+ | assuming, and hankering for cheap newspaper fame, not at all of the | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | and General Gibbon had always been very intimate, and I had seen much of | ||
+ | him& | ||
+ | shared quite generally by the army; at all events, all who knew him | ||
+ | shared them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>By this time, by reports that were not mere rumors, we began to hear | ||
+ | frequently of the enemy, and of his proximity. His cavalry was all about | ||
+ | us, making little raids here and there, capturing now and then a few of | ||
+ | our wagons, and stealing a good many horses, but doing us really the | ||
+ | least amount possible of harm, for we were not by these means impeded at | ||
+ | all, and his cavalry gave no information at all to Lee, that he could | ||
+ | rely upon, of the movements of the Army of the Potomac. The Infantry of | ||
+ | the enemy was at this time in the neighborhood of Hagerstown, | ||
+ | Chambersburg, | ||
+ | Gettysburg was a point of strategic importance, a great many roads, some | ||
+ | ten or twelve at least concentrating there, so the army could easily | ||
+ | converge to, or, should a further march be necessary, diverge from this | ||
+ | point. General< | ||
+ | and accordingly gave the necessary orders for the concentration of his | ||
+ | different columns there. Under the new auspices the army brightened, and | ||
+ | moved on with a more elastic step towards the yet undefined field of | ||
+ | conflict.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to push forward rapidly, and take and hold the town, if he could. The | ||
+ | rest of the Army would assemble to his support. Buford&# | ||
+ | co-operated with this corps, and on the morning of the 1st of July found | ||
+ | the enemy near Gettysburg and to the West, and promptly engaged him. The | ||
+ | First Corps having bivouaced the night before, South of the town, came | ||
+ | up rapidly to Buford&# | ||
+ | opened with the advance of the enemy. The first Division Gen. Wadsworth | ||
+ | was the first of the infantry to become engaged, but the other two, | ||
+ | commanded respectively by Generals Robinson and Doubleday, were close at | ||
+ | hand, and forming the line of battle to the West and North-west of the | ||
+ | town, at a mean distance of about a mile away, the battle continued< | ||
+ | some hours, with various success, which was on the whole with us until | ||
+ | near noon. At this time a lull occurred, which was occupied, by both | ||
+ | sides, in supervising and re-establishing the hastily formed lines of | ||
+ | the morning. New Divisions of the enemy were constantly arriving and | ||
+ | taking up positions, for this purpose marching in upon the various roads | ||
+ | that terminate at the town, from the West and North. The position of the | ||
+ | First Corps was then becoming perilous in the extreme, but it was | ||
+ | improved a little before noon by the arrival upon the field of two | ||
+ | Divisions of the Eleventh Corps (Gen Howard), these Divisions commanded | ||
+ | respectively by Generals Schurz and Barlow, who by order posted their | ||
+ | commands to the right of the First Corps, with their right retired, | ||
+ | forming an angle with the line of the First Corps. Between three and | ||
+ | four o&# | ||
+ | resumed the battle, with spirit. The portion of the Eleventh Corps | ||
+ | making but feeble opposition to the advancing enemy, soon began to fall | ||
+ | back.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in lanes, in barns, in<span class=" | ||
+ | they sought to hide like rabbits, and were there captured, unresisting, | ||
+ | by hundreds.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | called, outflanked upon either hand, and engaged in front, was compelled | ||
+ | to yield the field. Making its last stand upon what is called &# | ||
+ | Ridge,&# | ||
+ | through the South-west part of the town, making brave resistance, | ||
+ | however, but with considerable loss. The enemy did not see fit to | ||
+ | follow, or to attempt to, further than the town, and so the fight of the | ||
+ | 1st of July closed here. I suppose our losses during the day would | ||
+ | exceed four thousand, of whom a large number were prisoners. Such | ||
+ | usually is the kind of loss sustained by the Eleventh Corps. You will | ||
+ | remember that the old &# | ||
+ | consequently shared this fight, and I hear their conduct praised on all | ||
+ | hands.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the 2nd Wis., Col. Fairchild lost his left arm; Lieut. Col. Stevens, | ||
+ | was mortally wounded, and Major Mansfield was wounded; Lieut. Col.< | ||
+ | Callis, of the 7th Wis., and Lieut. Col. Dudley, of the 19th Ind., were | ||
+ | badly, dangerously, | ||
+ | above the knee.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I saw &# | ||
+ | battle, and I asked him what troops he fought with. He said: &# | ||
+ | pitched in with them Wisconsin fellers.&# | ||
+ | were, and he answered: &# | ||
+ | anything of them fellers.&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | bullets from the enemy, but not seriously wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | wounded, as heavy as our own, but not so great in prisoners.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of these latter the &# | ||
+ | Brigade, however.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of the events so far, of the 1st of July, I do not speak from personal | ||
+ | knowledge. I shall now tell my introduction to these events.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At eleven o&# | ||
+ | Taneytown, which is<span class=" | ||
+ | awaiting orders, the men were allowed to make coffee and rest. At | ||
+ | between one and two o&# | ||
+ | Gen. Gibbon, requiring his immediate presence at the headquarters of | ||
+ | Gen. Hancock, who commanded the Corps. I went with Gen. Gibbon, and we | ||
+ | rode at a rapid gallop, to Gen. Hancock.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At Gen. Hancock&# | ||
+ | Corps had met the enemy at Gettysburg, and had possession of the town. | ||
+ | Gen. Reynolds was badly, it was feared mortally wounded; the fight of | ||
+ | the First Corps still continued. By Gen. Meade&# | ||
+ | to hurry forward and take command upon the field, of all troops there, | ||
+ | or which should arrive there. The Eleventh Corps was near Gettysburg | ||
+ | when the messenger who told of the fight left there, and the Third Corps | ||
+ | was marching up, by order, on the Emmetsburg Road& | ||
+ | not the ranking officer of the Second Corps after Hancock& | ||
+ | to assume the command of the Second Corps.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were other elements in this information, | ||
+ | interest. The great battle that we had so anxiously looked for during so | ||
+ | many days, had at length opened, and it was a relief, in some sense, to | ||
+ | have these accidents of time and place established. What would be the | ||
+ | result? Might not the enemy fall upon and destroy the First Corps before | ||
+ | succor could arrive?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | galloped off towards Gettysburg; Gen. Gibbon took his place in command | ||
+ | of the Corps, appointing me his acting Assistant Adjutant General. The | ||
+ | Second Corps took arms at once, and moved rapidly towards the field. It | ||
+ | was not long before we began to hear the dull booming of the guns, and | ||
+ | as we advanced, from many an eminence or opening among the trees, we | ||
+ | could look out upon the white battery smoke, puffing up from the distant | ||
+ | field of blood, and drifting up to the clouds. At these sights and | ||
+ | sounds, the men looked more serious than before and were more silent, | ||
+ | but they marched faster, and straggled less. At about five o&# | ||
+ | as we were< | ||
+ | accompanied by two or three mounted officers& | ||
+ | officers of Gen. Reynolds& | ||
+ | vehicle carried& | ||
+ | action, while seeing personally to the formation of his lines under fire, | ||
+ | he was shot through the head by a musket or rifle bullet, and killed | ||
+ | almost instantly. His death at this time affected us much, for he was one | ||
+ | of the < | ||
+ | country&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I remember seeing him often at the first battle of Fredericksburg& | ||
+ | then commanded the First Corps& | ||
+ | were assaulting the enemy&# | ||
+ | gallant general. Mounted upon a superb black horse, with his head thrown | ||
+ | back and his great black eyes flashing fire, he was every where upon the | ||
+ | field, seeing all things and giving commands in person. He died as many | ||
+ | a friend, and many a foe to the country have died in this war.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | orders to halt, where the head of the column then was, and to go into | ||
+ | position for the night. The Second Division (Gibbon&# | ||
+ | put in position, upon the left of the (Taneytown) road, its left near | ||
+ | the South-eastern base of &# | ||
+ | the right near the road; the Third Division was posted upon the right of | ||
+ | the road, abreast of the Second; and the first Division in the rear of | ||
+ | these two& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | their last but the great final sleep upon the earth.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | wounded men we met, and occasional stragglers from the scene of | ||
+ | operations in front, we got many rumors, and much disjointed information | ||
+ | of battle, of lakes of blood, of rout and panic and undescribable | ||
+ | disaster, from all of which the narrators were just fortunate enough to | ||
+ | have barely escaped, the sole survivors. These stragglers are always | ||
+ | terrible liars!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the troops their positions, I met Gen. Hancock, then on his way from the | ||
+ | front, to Gen. Meade, who was back toward Taneytown; and he, for the | ||
+ | purpose of having me advise Gen. Gibbon, for his information, | ||
+ | quite a detailed account of the situation of matters at Gettysburg, and | ||
+ | of what had transpired subsequently to his arrival.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>He had arrived and assumed command there, just when the troops of the | ||
+ | First and Eleventh Corps, after their repulse, were coming in confusion | ||
+ | through the town. Hancock is just the man for such an emergency as this. | ||
+ | Upon horseback I think he was the most magnificent looking General in | ||
+ | the whole Army of the Potomac at that time. With a large, well shaped | ||
+ | person, always dressed with elegance, even upon that field of confusion, | ||
+ | he would look as if he was &# | ||
+ | subjects would dare to question his right to command, or do aught else | ||
+ | but to obey. His quick eye, in a flash, saw what was to be done, and his | ||
+ | voice and his royal right hand at once commenced to do it. Gen. Howard< | ||
+ | had put one of his Divisions& | ||
+ | position, upon a commanding eminence, at the &# | ||
+ | reserve, had not participated in the fight of the day, and this Division | ||
+ | was now of course steady. Around this Division the fugitives were | ||
+ | stopped, and the shattered Brigades and Regiments, as they returned, | ||
+ | were formed upon either flank, and faced toward the enemy again. A show | ||
+ | of order at least, speedily came from chaos& | ||
+ | First and Eleventh Corps were in line of battle again& | ||
+ | systematically formed perhaps& | ||
+ | condition to offer resistance, should the enemy be willing to try them. | ||
+ | These formations were all accomplished long before night. Then some | ||
+ | considerable portion of the Third Corps& | ||
+ | Emmetsburg road, and was formed to the left of the Taneytown road, on an | ||
+ | extension of the line that I have mentioned; and all the Twelfth | ||
+ | Corps& | ||
+ | position, to the right of the troops already there, to the East of the | ||
+ | Baltimore Pike. The enemy< | ||
+ | East and West, and appeared to be in strong force, and was jubilant over | ||
+ | his day&# | ||
+ | the first of July. Gen. Hancock was hopeful, and in the best of spirits; | ||
+ | and from him I also learned that the reason for halting the Second Corps | ||
+ | in its present position, was that it was not then known where, in the | ||
+ | coming fight, the line of battle would be formed, up near the town, | ||
+ | where the troops then were, or further back, towards Taneytown. He would | ||
+ | give his views upon this subject to Gen. Meade, which were in favor of | ||
+ | the line near the town& | ||
+ | Meade would determine.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | be a time for much sleep for Generals and their staff officers. We | ||
+ | needed it enough, but there was work to be done. This war makes strange | ||
+ | confusion of night and day! I did not sleep at all that night. It would, | ||
+ | perhaps, be expected, on the eve of such great events, that one should | ||
+ | have some peculiar sort of feelings, something extraordinary, | ||
+ | great< | ||
+ | commensurate with the event itself; this certainly would be very | ||
+ | poetical and pretty, but so far as I was concerned, and I think I can | ||
+ | speak for the army in this matter, there was nothing of the kind. Men | ||
+ | who had volunteered to fight the battles of the country, had met the | ||
+ | enemy in many battles, and had been constantly before them, as had the | ||
+ | Army of the Potomac, were too old soldiers, and long ago too well had | ||
+ | weighed chances and probabilities, | ||
+ | believe, the army slept soundly that night, and well, and I am glad the | ||
+ | men did, for they needed it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At midnight Gen. Meade and staff rode by Gen. Gibbon&# | ||
+ | their way to the field; and in conversation with Gen. Gibbon, Gen. Meade | ||
+ | announced that he had decided to assemble the whole army before | ||
+ | Gettysburg, and offer the enemy battle there. The Second Corps would | ||
+ | move at the earliest daylight, to take up its position.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At three o&# | ||
+ | the Corps were aroused;< | ||
+ | halted temporarily by the side of the Taneytown road, upon which it had | ||
+ | marched, while some movements of the other troops were being made, to | ||
+ | enable it to take position in the order of battle. The morning was thick | ||
+ | and sultry, the sky overcast with low, vapory clouds. As we approached | ||
+ | all was astir upon the crests near the Cemetery, and the work of | ||
+ | preparation was speedily going on. Men looked like giants there in the | ||
+ | mist, and the guns of the frowning batteries so big, that it was a | ||
+ | relief to know that they were our friends.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | is necessary to a clear understanding of the battle. With the sketch I | ||
+ | have rudely drawn, without scale or compass, I hope you may understand | ||
+ | my description. The line of battle as it was established, | ||
+ | of the first, and morning of the second of July was in the form of the | ||
+ | letter &# | ||
+ | the point of the sharpest curvature of the line, being due South of the | ||
+ | town of Gettysburg. &# | ||
+ | small,< | ||
+ | and nearly two miles from it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | almost inaccessible. A short distance North of this is a smaller | ||
+ | elevation called &# | ||
+ | Top,&# | ||
+ | right of the line is a small, woody eminence, named &# | ||
+ | roads come up to the town from the South, which near the town are quite | ||
+ | straight, and at the town the external ones unite, forming an angle of | ||
+ | about sixty, or more degrees. Of these, the farthest to the East is the | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | farthest to the West is the &# | ||
+ | of our line of battle, but near the Cemetery, is within a hundred yards | ||
+ | of it; the &# | ||
+ | and South, by the Eastern base of &# | ||
+ | the Cemetery, and uniting with the Emmetsburg road between the Cemetery | ||
+ | and the town. High< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | batteries and troops, actually among the graves and monuments, which | ||
+ | they used for shelter from the enemy&# | ||
+ | Taneytown road, extending thence to the East, crossing the Baltimore | ||
+ | Pike, and thence bending backwards towards the South-east; on the right | ||
+ | of the Eleventh came the First Corps, now, since the death of Gen. | ||
+ | Reynolds, commanded by Gen. Newton, formed in a line curving still more | ||
+ | towards the South. The troops of these two Corps, were re-formed on the | ||
+ | morning of the second, in order that each might be by itself, and to | ||
+ | correct some things not done well during the hasty formations here the | ||
+ | day before.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>To the right of the First Corps, and on an extension of the same line, | ||
+ | along the crest and down the South-eastern slope of Culp&# | ||
+ | posted the Twelfth Corps& | ||
+ | right of the line of the army, resting near a small stream called &# | ||
+ | Run.&# | ||
+ | Corps, on the morning of the Second. The Second Corps, after the brief | ||
+ | halt that I have mentioned, moved up and took position, its right | ||
+ | resting upon the Taneytown road, at the left of the Eleventh Corps, and | ||
+ | extending the line thence, nearly a half mile, almost due South, towards | ||
+ | Round Top, with its Divisions in the following order, from right to | ||
+ | left: The Third, Gen. Alex Hays; the Second (Gibbon&# | ||
+ | (temporarily); | ||
+ | brigade in column, the brigade being in column by regiment, with forty | ||
+ | paces interval between regimental lines, the Second and Third Divisions | ||
+ | having each one, and the First Division, two brigades& | ||
+ | brigades in the First& | ||
+ | fifty paces in the rear of the line of their respective Divisions. That | ||
+ | is, the line of the Corps, exclusive of its reserves, was the length of | ||
+ | six regiments, deployed, and the intervals between them, some of which | ||
+ | were left wide for the posting of the batteries, and consisted of four | ||
+ | common deployed lines, each of two ranks< | ||
+ | one-third over in reserve.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Woodruff&# | ||
+ | brigades, in line of the Third Division; Arnold&# | ||
+ | three-inch Parrotts, rifled, and Cushing&# | ||
+ | Ordnance, rifled, between the Third and Second Division; Hazard&# | ||
+ | (commanded during the battle by Lieut. Brown,) &# | ||
+ | Rhorty&# | ||
+ | Second and First Division.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I have been thus specific in the description of the posting and | ||
+ | formation of the Second Corps, because they were works that I assisted | ||
+ | to perform; and also that the other Corps were similarly posted, with | ||
+ | reference to the strength of the lines, and the intermixing of infantry | ||
+ | and artillery. From this, you may get a notion of the whole.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | field this morning, was posted upon the left of the Second extending the | ||
+ | line still in the direction of Round Top, with its<span class=" | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | the line of battle, until changes occurred, which will be mentioned in | ||
+ | the proper place. The Fifth Corps& | ||
+ | Pike about this time, was massed there, near the line of battle, and | ||
+ | held in reserve until some time in the afternoon, when it changed | ||
+ | position, as I shall describe.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I cannot give a detailed account of the cavalry, for I saw but little of | ||
+ | it. It was posted near the wings, and watched the roads and the | ||
+ | movements of the enemy upon the flanks of the army, but further than | ||
+ | this participated but little in the battle. Some of it was also used for | ||
+ | guarding the trains, which were far to the rear. The artillery reserve, | ||
+ | which consisted of a good many batteries, were posted between the | ||
+ | Baltimore Pike and the Taneytown road, on very nearly the center of a | ||
+ | direct line passing through the extremities of the wings. Thus it could | ||
+ | be readily sent to any part of the line. The Sixth Corps& | ||
+ | Sedgwick& | ||
+ | afternoon, but it was now not very far away, and<span class=" | ||
+ | on the Baltimore Pike. No fears were entertained that &# | ||
+ | his men call Gen. Sedgwick, would not be in the right place at the right | ||
+ | time.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the morning. Skirmishers were posted well out all around the line, and | ||
+ | all put in readiness for battle. The enemy did not yet demonstrate | ||
+ | himself. With a look at the ground now, I think you may understand the | ||
+ | movements of the battle. From Round Top, by the line of battle, round to | ||
+ | the extreme right, I suppose is about three miles. From this same | ||
+ | eminence to the Cemetery, extends a long ridge or hill& | ||
+ | a great wave than a hill, however& | ||
+ | battle, quite direct, between the points mentioned. To the West of this, | ||
+ | that is towards the enemy, the ground falls away by a very gradual | ||
+ | descent, across the Emmetsburg road, and then rises again, forming | ||
+ | another ridge, nearly parallel to the first, but inferior in altitude, | ||
+ | and something over a thousand yards away. A belt of woods extends partly | ||
+ | along this second ridge, and partly farther to the<span class=" | ||
+ | of from one thousand to thirteen hundred yards away from our line. | ||
+ | Between these ridges, and along their slopes, that is, in front of the | ||
+ | Second and Third Corps, the ground is cultivated, and is covered with | ||
+ | fields of wheat, now nearly ripe, with grass and pastures, with some | ||
+ | peach orchards, with fields of waving corn, and some farm houses, and | ||
+ | their out buildings along the Emmetsburg road. There are very few places | ||
+ | within the limits mentioned where troops and guns could move concealed. | ||
+ | There are some oaks of considerable growth, along the position of the | ||
+ | right of the Second Corps, a group of small trees, sassafras and oak, in | ||
+ | front of the right of the Second Division of this Corps also; and | ||
+ | considerable woods immediately in front of the left of the Third Corps, | ||
+ | and also to the West of, and near Round Top. At the Cemetery, where is | ||
+ | Cemetery Ridge, to which the line of the Eleventh Corps conforms, is the | ||
+ | highest point in our line, except Round Top. From this the ground falls | ||
+ | quite abruptly to the town, the nearest point of which is some five | ||
+ | hundred yards away from< | ||
+ | stone fences.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | left of the First Corps, which is also on a part of Cemetery Ridge. The | ||
+ | right of this Corps, and the whole of the Twelfth, are along Culp&# | ||
+ | Hill, and in woods, and the ground is very rocky, and in places in front | ||
+ | precipitous& | ||
+ | front, where, on account of the woods, no artillery could be used with | ||
+ | effect by the enemy. Then these last three mentioned Corps had, by | ||
+ | taking rails, by appropriating stone fences, by felling trees, and | ||
+ | digging the earth, during the night of the first of July, made for | ||
+ | themselves excellent breast works, which were a very good thing indeed. | ||
+ | The position of the First and Twelfth Corps was admirably strong, | ||
+ | therefore. Within the line of battle is an irregular basin, somewhat | ||
+ | woody and rocky in places, but presenting few obstacles to the moving of | ||
+ | troops and guns, from place to place along the lines, and also affording | ||
+ | the advantage that all such movements, by reason of the surrounding< | ||
+ | crests, were out of view of the enemy. On the whole this was an | ||
+ | admirable position to fight a defensive battle, good enough, I thought, | ||
+ | when I saw it first, and better I believe than could be found elsewhere | ||
+ | in a circle of many miles. Evils, sometimes at least, are blessings in | ||
+ | disguise, for the repulse of our forces, and the death of Reynolds, on | ||
+ | the first of July, with the opportune arrival of Hancock to arrest the | ||
+ | tide of fugitives and fix it on these heights, gave us this | ||
+ | position& | ||
+ | field, Gen. Meade established his headquarters at a shabby little farm | ||
+ | house on the left of the Taneytown road, the house nearest the line, and | ||
+ | a little more than five hundred yards in the rear of what became the | ||
+ | center of the position of the Second Corps, a point where he could | ||
+ | communicate readily and rapidly with all parts of the army. The | ||
+ | advantages of the position, briefly, were these: the flanks were quite | ||
+ | well protected by the natural defences there, Round Top up the left, and | ||
+ | a rocky, steep, untraversable ground up the right. Our line was more | ||
+ | elevated than that of the enemy, consequently our artillery had a<span class=" | ||
+ | greater range and power than theirs. On account of the convexity of our | ||
+ | line, every part of the line could be reinforced by troops having to | ||
+ | move a shorter distance than if the line were straight; further, for the | ||
+ | same reason, the line of the enemy must be concave, and, consequently, | ||
+ | longer, and with an equal force, thinner, and so weaker than ours. Upon | ||
+ | those parts of our line which were wooded, neither we nor the enemy | ||
+ | could use artillery; but they were so strong by nature, aided by art, as | ||
+ | to be readily defended by a small, against a very large, body of | ||
+ | infantry. When the line was open, it had the advantage of having open | ||
+ | country in front, consequently, | ||
+ | were on a crest, which besides the other advantages that I have | ||
+ | mentioned, had this: the enemy must advance to the attack up an ascent, | ||
+ | and must therefore move slower, and be, before coming upon us, longer | ||
+ | under our fire, as well as more exhausted. These, and some other things, | ||
+ | rendered our position admirable& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | wore on, the weather< | ||
+ | mizzling effort at rain. When the audience has all assembled, time seems | ||
+ | long until the curtain rises; so to-day. &# | ||
+ | to-day?&# | ||
+ | similar questions, later in the morning, were thought or asked a million | ||
+ | times.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle. Surgeons were busy riding about selecting eligible places for | ||
+ | Hospitals, and hunting streams, and springs, and wells. Ambulances, and | ||
+ | ambulance men, were brought up near the lines, and stretchers gotten | ||
+ | ready for use. Who of us could tell but that he would be the first to | ||
+ | need them? The Provost Guards were busy driving up all stragglers, and | ||
+ | causing them to join their regiments. Ammunition wagons were driven to | ||
+ | suitable places, and pack mules bearing boxes of cartridges; and the | ||
+ | commands were informed where they might be found. Officers were sent to | ||
+ | see that the men had each his hundred rounds of ammunition. Generals and | ||
+ | their Staffs were riding here and there among their commands to see that | ||
+ | all was right. A staff officer, or an <span class=" | ||
+ | furiously in the transmission of some order or message.& | ||
+ | ready& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | along the crests& | ||
+ | Corps pulled down the rail fences near and piled them up for breastworks | ||
+ | in their front. Some loitered, some went to sleep upon the ground, some, | ||
+ | a single man, carrying twenty canteens slung over his shoulder, went for | ||
+ | water. Some made them a fire and boiled a dipper of coffee. Some with | ||
+ | knees cocked up, enjoyed the soldier&# | ||
+ | tobacco. Some were mirthful and chatty, and some were serious and | ||
+ | silent. Leaving them thus& | ||
+ | about a hundred thousand of them somewhere about that field& | ||
+ | pass the hour according to his duty or his humor, let us look to the | ||
+ | enemy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | get, I think a fair estimate of the Rebel force engaged in this battle | ||
+ | would be<span class=" | ||
+ | course we can&# | ||
+ | estimate. At all events there was no great disparity of numbers in the | ||
+ | two opposing armies. We thought the enemy to be somewhat more numerous | ||
+ | than we, and he probably was. But if ninety-five men should fight with a | ||
+ | hundred and five, the latter would not always be victors& | ||
+ | numerical differences are of much less consequence in great bodies of | ||
+ | men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | concurring are difficult to overcome; and these, not numbers, must | ||
+ | determine this battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | enemy had been confronting those of the Eleventh, First and Twelfth | ||
+ | Corps. At the time of the fight of the First, he was seen in heavy force | ||
+ | North of the town& | ||
+ | in full force. But from the woody character of the country, and thereby | ||
+ | the careful concealment of troops, which the Rebel is always sure to | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | actually seen by us of the invaders of the North. About nine o&# | ||
+ | the morning, I should think, our glasses began to reveal them at the | ||
+ | West and North-west of the town, a mile and a half away from our lines. | ||
+ | They were moving towards our left, but the woods of Seminary Ridge so | ||
+ | concealed them that we could not make out much of their movements. About | ||
+ | this time some rifled guns in the Cemetery, at the left of the Eleventh | ||
+ | Corps, opened fire& | ||
+ | when it was found they were firing at a Rebel line of skirmishers | ||
+ | merely, that were advancing upon the left of that, and the right of the | ||
+ | Second Corps, the officer in charge of the guns was ordered to cease | ||
+ | firing, and was rebuked for having fired at all. These skirmishers soon | ||
+ | engaged those at the right of the Second Corps, who stood their ground | ||
+ | and were reinforced to make the line entirely secure. The Rebel skirmish | ||
+ | line kept extending further and further to their right& | ||
+ | They would dash up close upon ours and sometimes drive them back a short | ||
+ | distance, in turn to be <span class=" | ||
+ | do until their right was opposite the extreme left of the Third Corps. | ||
+ | By these means they had ascertained the position and extent of our | ||
+ | lines& | ||
+ | the firing commenced, as I have mentioned, it was kept up, among the | ||
+ | skirmishers, | ||
+ | results further than those mentioned, and with no considerable show of | ||
+ | infantry on the part of the enemy to support. There was a farm house and | ||
+ | outbuildings in front of the Third Division of the Second Corps, at | ||
+ | which the skirmishers of the enemy had made a dash, and dislodged ours | ||
+ | posted there, and from there their sharp shooters began to annoy our | ||
+ | line of skirmishers and even the main line, with their long range | ||
+ | rifles. I was up to the line, and a bullet from one of the rascals hid | ||
+ | there, hissed by my cheek so close that I felt the movement of the air | ||
+ | distinctly. And so I was not at all displeased when I saw one of our | ||
+ | regiments go down and attack and capture the house and buildings and | ||
+ | several prisoners, after a spirited little fight, and, by Gen. Hays&# | ||
+ | order, burn the<span class=" | ||
+ | from the top of Little Round Top, with their powerful glasses, and the | ||
+ | cavalry at the extreme left, began to report the enemy in heavy force, | ||
+ | making disposition of battle, to the West of Round Top, and opposite to | ||
+ | the left of the Third Corps. Some few prisoners had been captured, some | ||
+ | deserters from the enemy had come in, and from all sources, by this | ||
+ | time, we had much important and reliable information of the enemy& | ||
+ | his disposition and apparent purposes. The Rebel infantry consisted of | ||
+ | three Army Corps, each consisting of three Divisions, Longstreet, | ||
+ | Ewell& | ||
+ | the 28th of August last year& | ||
+ | having the rank of Lieutenant General, were the commanders of these | ||
+ | Corps. Longstreet&# | ||
+ | Ewell&# | ||
+ | Anderson. Stewart and Fitzhugh Lee commanded Divisions of the Rebel | ||
+ | cavalry. The rank of these Division commands, I believe, was<span class=" | ||
+ | Major General. The Rebels had about as much artillery as we did; but we | ||
+ | never have thought much of this arm in the hands of our adversaries. | ||
+ | They have courage enough, but not the skill to handle it well. They | ||
+ | generally fire far too high, and the ammunition is usually of a very | ||
+ | inferior quality. And, of late, we have begun to despise the enemies&# | ||
+ | cavalry too. It used to have enterprise and dash, but in the late | ||
+ | cavalry contests ours have always been victor; and so now we think about | ||
+ | all this < | ||
+ | occasionally, | ||
+ | however, is good& | ||
+ | to& | ||
+ | have gained more victories over us, than we have over them, and they | ||
+ | will now, doubtless, fight well, even desperately. And it is not horses | ||
+ | or cannon that will determine the result of this confronting of the two | ||
+ | armies, but the men with the muskets must do it& | ||
+ | the sharp work. So we watched all this posting of forces as closely as | ||
+ | possible, for it was a matter of vital interest to us,<span class=" | ||
+ | information relating to it was hurried to the commander of the army. The | ||
+ | Rebel line of battle was concave, bending around our own, with the | ||
+ | extremities of the wings opposite to, or a little outside of ours. | ||
+ | Longstreet&# | ||
+ | Rebel Corps occupied the second or inferior ridge to the West of our | ||
+ | position, as I have mentioned, with Hill&# | ||
+ | resting near the town, and Ewell&# | ||
+ | in, and to the East of the town. This last Corps confronted our Twelfth, | ||
+ | First, and the right of the Eleventh Corps. When I have said that ours | ||
+ | was a good < | ||
+ | of the enemy was not a good < | ||
+ | terms, and cannot be both predicated of the respective positions of the | ||
+ | two armies at the same time. The reasons that this was not a good | ||
+ | offensive position, are the same already stated in favor of ours for | ||
+ | defense. Excepting, occasionally, | ||
+ | of troops, as when advancing to attack, their men and guns were kept | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | our view.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | have mentioned, and an occasional shot from our guns, at something or | ||
+ | other, the nature of which the ones who fired it were ignorant, there | ||
+ | was no fight yet. Our arms were still stacked, and the men were at ease. | ||
+ | As I looked upon those interminable rows of muskets along the crests, | ||
+ | and saw how cool and good spirited the men were, who were lounging about | ||
+ | on the ground among them, I could not, and did not, have any fears as to | ||
+ | the result of the battle. The storm was near, and we all knew it well | ||
+ | enough by this time, which was to rain death upon these crests and down | ||
+ | their slopes, and yet the men who could not, and would not escape it, | ||
+ | were as calm and cheerful, generally, as if nothing unusual were about | ||
+ | to happen. You see, these men were veterans, and had been in such places | ||
+ | so often that they were accustomed to them. But I was well pleased with | ||
+ | the tone of the men to-day& | ||
+ | victory upon their faces, I thought. And I thought, too, as I had seen | ||
+ | the<span class=" | ||
+ | conflict& | ||
+ | of the hosts, that now but a narrow valley divided, that to have been in | ||
+ | such a battle, and to survive on the side of the victors, would be | ||
+ | glorious. Oh, the world is most unchristian yet!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | now& | ||
+ | cannot conjecture the reason of this movement. From the position of the | ||
+ | Third Corps, as I have mentioned, to the second ridge West, the distance | ||
+ | is about a thousand yards, and there the Emmetsburg road runs near the | ||
+ | crest of the ridge. Gen. Sickles commenced to advance his whole Corps, | ||
+ | from the general line, straight to the front, with a view to occupy this | ||
+ | second ridge, along, and near the road. What his purpose could have been | ||
+ | is past conjecture. It was not ordered by Gen. Meade, as I heard him | ||
+ | say, and he disapproved of it as soon as it was made known to him. | ||
+ | Generals Hancock and Gibbon, as they saw the move in progress, | ||
+ | criticized its propriety sharply, as<span class=" | ||
+ | accurately what would be the result. I suppose the truth probably is | ||
+ | that General Sickles supposed he was doing for the best; but he was | ||
+ | neither born nor bred a soldier. But one can scarcely tell what may have | ||
+ | been the motives of such a man& | ||
+ | exclusive of the < | ||
+ | and newspaper fame, and the adulation of the mob! O, there is a grave | ||
+ | responsibility on those in whose hands are the lives of ten thousand | ||
+ | men; and on those who put stars upon men&# | ||
+ | when I see some things that I have to see. But this move of the Third | ||
+ | Corps was an important one& | ||
+ | move to the Corps itself we shall see. O, if this Corps had kept its | ||
+ | strong position upon the crest, and supported by the rest of the army, | ||
+ | had waited for the attack of the enemy!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was magnificent to see those ten or twelve thousand men& | ||
+ | good men& | ||
+ | left flank, all in battle order, in several lines, with flags streaming, | ||
+ | sweep steadily down the slope,< | ||
+ | ascent, toward their destined position! From our position we could see | ||
+ | it all. In advance Sickles pushed forward his heavy line of skirmishers, | ||
+ | who drove back those of the enemy, across the Emmetsburg road, and thus | ||
+ | cleared the way for the main body. The Third Corps now became the | ||
+ | absorbing object of interest of all eyes. The Second Corps took arms, | ||
+ | and the 1st Division of this Corps was ordered to be in readiness to | ||
+ | support the Third Corps, should circumstances render support necessary. | ||
+ | As the Third Corps was the extreme left of our line, as it advanced, if | ||
+ | the enemy was assembling to the West of Round Top with a view to turn | ||
+ | our left, as we had heard, there would be nothing between the left flank | ||
+ | of the Corps and the enemy, and the enemy would be square upon its flank | ||
+ | by the time it had attained the road. So when this advance line came | ||
+ | near the Emmetsburg road, and we saw the squadrons of cavalry mentioned, | ||
+ | come dashing back from their position as flankers, and the smoke of some | ||
+ | guns, and we heard the reports away to Sickles left, anxiety became an | ||
+ | element in our interest in these movements.< | ||
+ | first, and from long range; but he was square upon Sickles&# | ||
+ | General Caldwell was ordered at once to put his Division& | ||
+ | Second Corps, as mentioned& | ||
+ | the left slope of Round Top, in such a manner as to resist the enemy | ||
+ | should he attempt to come around Sickles left and gain his rear. The | ||
+ | Division moved as ordered, and disappeared from view in the woods, | ||
+ | towards the point indicated at between two and three o&# | ||
+ | the reserve brigade& | ||
+ | the Second Division, was therefore moved up and occupied the position | ||
+ | vacated by the Third Division. About the same time the Fifth Corps could | ||
+ | be seen marching by the flank from its position on the Baltimore Pike, | ||
+ | and in the opening of the woods heading for the same locality where the | ||
+ | 1st Division of the Second Corps had gone. The Sixth Corps had now come | ||
+ | up and was halted upon the Baltimore Pike. So the plot thickened. As the | ||
+ | enemy opened upon Sickles with his batteries, some five or six in all, I | ||
+ | suppose, firing slowly, Sickles with as many <span class=" | ||
+ | more spirit. The artillery fire became quite animated, soon; but the | ||
+ | enemy was forced to withdraw his guns farther and farther away, and ours | ||
+ | advanced upon him. It was not long before the cannonade ceased | ||
+ | altogether, the enemy having retired out of range, and Sickles, having | ||
+ | temporarily halted his command, pending this, moved forward again to the | ||
+ | position he desired, or nearly that. It was now about five o&# | ||
+ | we shall soon see what Sickles gained by his move. First we hear more | ||
+ | artillery firing upon Sickles&# | ||
+ | again, and as we watch the Rebel batteries seem to be advancing there. | ||
+ | The cannonade is soon opened again, and with great spirit upon both | ||
+ | sides. The enemy&# | ||
+ | upon them, and this time they in turn begin to retire to position nearer | ||
+ | the infantry. The enemy seem to be fearfully in earnest this time. And | ||
+ | what is more ominous than the thunder or the shot of his advancing guns, | ||
+ | this time, in the intervals between his batteries, far to Sickles&# | ||
+ | appear the long lines and the columns of the Rebel infantry, now | ||
+ | unmistakably< | ||
+ | becomes at once one of great peril, and it is probable that its | ||
+ | commander by this time began to realize his true situation. All was | ||
+ | astir now on our crest. Generals and their Staffs were galloping hither | ||
+ | and thither& | ||
+ | the rattle of ten thousand ramrods as they drove home and &# | ||
+ | the little globes and cones of lead. As the enemy was advancing upon | ||
+ | Sickles&# | ||
+ | front, by swinging back his left and throwing forward his right, in | ||
+ | order that his lines might be parallel to those of his adversary, his | ||
+ | batteries meantime doing what they could to check the enemy&# | ||
+ | but this movement was not completely executed before new Rebel batteries | ||
+ | opened upon Sickles&# | ||
+ | quarter appeared the Rebel infantry also. Now came the dreadful battle | ||
+ | picture, of which we for a time could be but spectators. Upon the front | ||
+ | and right flank of Sickles came sweeping the infantry of Longstreet and | ||
+ | Hill. Hitherto there had been skirmishing< | ||
+ | the battle began; for amid the heavier smoke and larger tongues of flame | ||
+ | of the batteries, now began to appear the countless flashes, and the | ||
+ | long fiery sheets of the muskets, and the rattle of the volleys, mingled | ||
+ | with the thunder of the guns. We see the long gray lines come sweeping | ||
+ | down upon Sickles&# | ||
+ | colors emerge from the bushes and orchards upon his right, and envelope | ||
+ | his flank in the confusion of the conflict.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>O, the din and the roar, and these thirty thousand Rebel wolf cries! | ||
+ | What a hell is there down that valley!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | soon becomes apparent that they must be swept from the field, or perish | ||
+ | there where they are doing so well, so thick and overwhelming a storm of | ||
+ | Rebel fire involves them. It was fearful to see, but these men, such as | ||
+ | ever escape, must come from that conflict as best they can. To move down | ||
+ | and support them with other troops is out of the question, for this | ||
+ | would be to do as Sickles did, to relinquish a good position,< | ||
+ | advance to a bad one. There is no other alternative& | ||
+ | must fight itself out of its position of destruction! What was it ever | ||
+ | put there for?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the meantime some other dispositions must be made to meet the enemy, | ||
+ | in the event that Sickles is overpowered. With this Corps out of the | ||
+ | way, the enemy would be in a position to advance upon the line of the | ||
+ | Second Corps, not in a line parallel with its front, but they would come | ||
+ | obliquely from the left. To meet this contingency the left of the Second | ||
+ | Division of the Second Corps is thrown back slightly, and two Regiments, | ||
+ | the 15th Mass., Col. Ward, and the 82nd N. Y., Lieut. Col. Horton, are | ||
+ | advanced down to the Emmetsburg road, to a favorable position nearer us | ||
+ | than the fight has yet come, and some new batteries from the artillery | ||
+ | reserve are posted upon the crest near the left of the Second Corps. | ||
+ | This was all Gen. Gibbon could do. Other dispositions were made or were | ||
+ | now being made upon the field, which I shall mention presently. The | ||
+ | enemy is still giving Sickles fierce battle& | ||
+ | for Sickles has been borne< | ||
+ | Gen. Birney now commands& | ||
+ | away, with our guns and men are, and must be, still idle spectators of | ||
+ | the fight.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and for this purpose is now moving into the woods at the west of Round | ||
+ | Top. We knew what he would find there. No sooner had the enemy gotten a | ||
+ | considerable force into the woods mentioned, in the attempted execution | ||
+ | of his purpose, than the roar of the conflict was heard there also. The | ||
+ | Fifth Corps and the First Division of the Second were there at the right | ||
+ | time, and promptly engaged him; and there, too, the battle soon became | ||
+ | general and obstinate. Now the roar of battle has become twice the | ||
+ | volume that it was before, and its range extends over more than twice | ||
+ | the space. The Third Corps has been pressed back considerably, | ||
+ | wounded are streaming to the rear by hundreds, but still the battle | ||
+ | there goes on, with no considerable abatement on our part. The field of | ||
+ | actual conflict extends now from a point to the front of the left of | ||
+ | the<span class=" | ||
+ | rages with the greatest fury. The fire of artillery and infantry and the | ||
+ | yells of the Rebels fill the air with a mixture of hideous sounds. When | ||
+ | the First Division of the Second Corps first engaged the enemy, for a | ||
+ | time it was pressed back somewhat, but under the able and judicious | ||
+ | management of Gen. Caldwell, and the support of the Fifth Corps, it | ||
+ | speedily ceased to retrograde, and stood its ground; and then there | ||
+ | followed a time, after the Fifth Corps became well engaged, when from | ||
+ | appearances we hoped the troops already engaged would be able to check | ||
+ | entirely, or repulse the further assault of the enemy. But fresh bodies | ||
+ | of the Rebels continued to advance out of the woods to the front of the | ||
+ | position of the Third Corps, and to swell the numbers of the assailants | ||
+ | of this already hard pressed command. The men there begin to show signs | ||
+ | of exhaustion& | ||
+ | been fighting more than an hour, and against greatly superior numbers. | ||
+ | From the sound of the firing at the extreme left, and the place where | ||
+ | the smoke rises above the tree< | ||
+ | is still steady, and holding its own there; and as we see the Sixth | ||
+ | Corps now marching and near at hand to that point, we have no fears for | ||
+ | the left& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | break& | ||
+ | are close upon them and among them& | ||
+ | degree& | ||
+ | enemy& | ||
+ | literally swept from the field. That Corps gone, what is there between | ||
+ | the Second Corps, and these yelling masses of the enemy? Do you not | ||
+ | think that by this time we began to feel a personal interest in this | ||
+ | fight? We did indeed. We had been mere observers& | ||
+ | when we must be actors in this drama.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Up to this hour Gen. Gibbon had been in command of the Second Corps, | ||
+ | since yesterday, but Gen. Hancock, relieved of his duties elsewhere, now | ||
+ | assumed command. Five or six hundred< | ||
+ | making its last opposition; and the enemy was hotly pressing his | ||
+ | advantages there, and throwing in fresh troops whose line extended still | ||
+ | more along our front, when Generals Hancock and Gibbon rode along the | ||
+ | lines of their troops; and at once cheer after cheer& | ||
+ | cries, but genuine cheers& | ||
+ | of battle, for &# | ||
+ | good. Had you heard their voices, you would have known these men would | ||
+ | fight. Just at this time we saw another thing that made us glad:& | ||
+ | looked to our rear, and there, and all up the hillside which was the | ||
+ | rear of the Third Corps before it went forward, were rapidly advancing | ||
+ | large bodies of men from the extreme right of our line of battle, coming | ||
+ | to the support of the part now so hotly pressed. There was the whole | ||
+ | Twelfth Corps, with the exception of about one brigade, that is, the | ||
+ | larger portion of the Divisions of Gens. Williams and Geary; the Third | ||
+ | Division of the First Corps, Gen. Doubleday; and some other brigades | ||
+ | from the same Corps& | ||
+ | They formed lines of battle at the foot of the Taneytown road, and when | ||
+ | the broken fragments of the Third Corps were swarming by them towards | ||
+ | the rear, without halting or wavering they came sweeping up, and with | ||
+ | glorious old cheers, under fire, took their places on the crest in line | ||
+ | of battle to the left of the Second Corps. Now Sickles&# | ||
+ | repaired. Now, Rebel chief, hurl forward your howling lines and columns! | ||
+ | Yell out your loudest and your last, for many of your best will never | ||
+ | yell, or wave the spurious flag again!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the West slope of Round Top is the scene of the conflict; and nearer us | ||
+ | there was but short abatement, as the last of the Third Corps retired | ||
+ | from the field, for the enemy is flushed with his success. He has been | ||
+ | throwing forward brigade after brigade, and Division after Division, | ||
+ | since the battle began, and his advancing line now extends almost as far | ||
+ | to our right as the right of the Second Division of the Second Corps. | ||
+ | The whole slope in our front is full of them; and in various <span class=" | ||
+ | in line, in column, and in masses which are neither, with yells and | ||
+ | thick volleys, they are rushing towards our crest. The Third Corps is | ||
+ | out of the way. Now we are in for it. The battery men are ready by their | ||
+ | loaded guns. All along the crest is ready. Now Arnold and Brown& | ||
+ | Cushing, and Woodruff, and Rhorty!& | ||
+ | drew the cords that moved the friction primers, and gun after gun, along | ||
+ | the batteries, in rapid succession, leaped where it stood and bellowed | ||
+ | its canister upon the enemy. The enemy still advance. The infantry open | ||
+ | fire& | ||
+ | Y.& | ||
+ | points where the enemy comes nearest, and soon the whole crest, | ||
+ | artillery and infantry, is one continued sheet of fire. From Round Top | ||
+ | to near the Cemetery stretches an uninterrupted field of conflict. There | ||
+ | is a great army upon each side, now hotly engaged.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>To see the fight, while it went on in the valley below us, was | ||
+ | terrible,& | ||
+ | us, in all its fury?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | discharges and the yells of the enemy all pass unheeded; but the | ||
+ | impassioned soul is all eyes, and sees all things, that the smoke does | ||
+ | not hide. How madly the battery men are driving home the double charges | ||
+ | of canister in those broad-mouthed Napoleons, whose fire seems almost to | ||
+ | reach the enemy. How rapidly these long, blue-coated lines of infantry | ||
+ | deliver their file fire down the slope.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | dropping dead or wounded on all sides, by scores and by hundreds, and | ||
+ | the poor mutilated creatures, some with an arm dangling, some with a leg | ||
+ | broken by a bullet, are limping and crawling towards the rear. They make | ||
+ | no sound of complaint or pain, but are as silent as if dumb and mute. A | ||
+ | sublime heroism seems to pervade all, and the intuition that to lose | ||
+ | that crest, all is lost. How our officers, in the work of cheering on | ||
+ | and directing the men, are falling.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>We have heard that Gen. Zook and Col.< | ||
+ | our Corps, are mortally wounded& | ||
+ | us Col. Ward of the 15th Mass.& | ||
+ | Col. Horton of the 82d N. Y., are mortally struck while trying to hold | ||
+ | their commands, which are being forced back; Col. Revere, 20th Mass., | ||
+ | grandson of old Paul Revere, of the Revolution, is killed, Lieut. Col. | ||
+ | Max Thoman, commanding 59th N. Y., is mortally wounded, and a host of | ||
+ | others that I cannot name. These were of Gibbon&# | ||
+ | is wounded among his guns& | ||
+ | the main line& | ||
+ | three of his six guns in the hands of the enemy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | anything human could have stood before it, and yet the madness of the | ||
+ | enemy drove them on, clear up to the muzzle of the guns, clear up to the | ||
+ | lines of our infantry& | ||
+ | Hancock and his Aides rode up to Gibbon&# | ||
+ | Gen. Gibbon, with myself, was near, and there< | ||
+ | coming towards us from the direction of the enemy. &# | ||
+ | men falling back for?&# | ||
+ | yards away, but it was the head of a Rebel column, which at once opened | ||
+ | fire with a volley. Lieut. Miller, Gen. Hancock&# | ||
+ | struck, but the General was unharmed, and he told the 1st Minn., which | ||
+ | was near, to drive these people away. That splendid regiment, the less | ||
+ | than three hundred that are left out of fifteen hundred that it has had, | ||
+ | swings around upon the enemy, gives them a volley in their faces, and | ||
+ | advances upon them with the bayonet. The Rebels fled in confusion, but | ||
+ | Col. Colville, Lieut. Col. Adams and Major Downie, are all badly, | ||
+ | dangerously wounded, and many of the other officers and men will never | ||
+ | fight again. More than two-thirds fell.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle has gone on wonderfully long already. But if you will stop to | ||
+ | notice it, a change has occurred. The Rebel cry has ceased, and the men | ||
+ | of the Union begin to shout there, under the smoke, and their lines to | ||
+ | advance.< | ||
+ | front! The wave has rolled upon the rock, and the rock has smashed it. | ||
+ | Let us shout, too!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | pierced our lines; thence the repulse extended rapidly to their right. | ||
+ | They hung longest about Round Top, where the Fifth Corps punished them, | ||
+ | but in a space of time incredibly short, after they first gave signs of | ||
+ | weakness, the whole force of the Rebel assault along the whole line, in | ||
+ | spite of waving red flags, and yells, and the entreaties of officers, | ||
+ | and the pride of the chivalry, fled like chaff before the whirlwind, | ||
+ | back down the slope, over the valley, across the Emmetsburg road, | ||
+ | shattered, without organization in utter confusion, fugitive into the | ||
+ | woods, and victory was with the arms of the Republic. The great Rebel | ||
+ | assault, the greatest ever made upon this continent, has been made and | ||
+ | signally repulsed, and upon this part of the field the fight of to-day | ||
+ | is now soon over. Pursuit was made as rapidly and as far as practicable, | ||
+ | but owing to the proximity of night, and the long distance which< | ||
+ | have to be gone over before any of the enemy, where they would be likely | ||
+ | to halt, could be overtaken, further success was not attainable to-day. | ||
+ | Where the Rebel rout first commenced, a large number of prisoners, some | ||
+ | thousands at least, were captured; almost all their dead, and such of | ||
+ | their wounded as could not themselves get to the rear, were within our | ||
+ | lines; several of their flags were gathered up, and a good many thousand | ||
+ | muskets, some nine or ten guns and some caissons lost by the Third | ||
+ | Corps, and the three of Brown&# | ||
+ | but a few minutes& | ||
+ | time to take them off.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | this fight. Our own losses must have been nearly half this | ||
+ | number,& | ||
+ | the Second, and I think two thousand in the Fifth, and I think the | ||
+ | losses of the First, Twelfth, and a little more than a brigade of the | ||
+ | Sixth& | ||
+ | two thousand more. Of course it will never be possible to know the<span class=" | ||
+ | numbers upon either side who fell in this particular part of the general | ||
+ | battle, but from the position of the enemy and his numbers, and the | ||
+ | appearance of the field, his loss must have been as heavy, or as I think | ||
+ | much heavier than our own, and my estimates are probably short of the | ||
+ | actual loss.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | {{ haskell-gettysburg-final-attack.jpg | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | more or less characterize all similar occasions. How strange the | ||
+ | stillness seems! The whole air roared with the conflict but a moment | ||
+ | since& | ||
+ | comes distinctly, almost painfully to the senses. And the sun purples | ||
+ | the clouds in the West, and the sultry evening steals on as if there had | ||
+ | been no battle, and the furious shout and the cannon&# | ||
+ | shaken the earth. And how look these fields? We may see them before | ||
+ | dark& | ||
+ | meadows, and in their midst the rural cottage of brick or wood. They | ||
+ | were beautiful this morning. They are desolate now& | ||
+ | countless feet of the combatants, plowed and scored by the shot and | ||
+ | shell, the orchards< | ||
+ | trodden in the mud. And more dreadful than the sight of all this, | ||
+ | thickly strewn over all their length and breadth, are the habiliments of | ||
+ | the soldiers, the knapsacks cast aside in the stress of the fight, or | ||
+ | after the fatal lead had struck; haversacks, yawning with the rations | ||
+ | the owner will never call for; canteens of cedar of the Rebel men of | ||
+ | Jackson, and of cloth-covered tin of the men of the Union; blankets and | ||
+ | trowsers, and coats and caps, and some are blue and some are gray; | ||
+ | muskets and ramrods, and bayonets, and swords, and scabbards and belts, | ||
+ | some bent and cut by the shot or shell; broken wheels, exploded | ||
+ | caissons, and limber-boxes, | ||
+ | sprinkled with blood; horses, some dead, a mangled heap of carnage, some | ||
+ | alive, with a leg shot clear off, or other frightful wounds, appealing | ||
+ | to you with almost more than brute gaze as you pass; and last, but not | ||
+ | least numerous, many thousands of men& | ||
+ | now& | ||
+ | Massachusetts, | ||
+ | sleep, some <span class=" | ||
+ | blood, survivors still and unwilling witnesses of the rage of | ||
+ | Gettysburg.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | dispositions were made and the outposts thrown out for the night, the | ||
+ | Army of the Potomac was quite mad with joy. No more light-hearted guests | ||
+ | ever graced a banquet, than were these men as they boiled their coffee | ||
+ | and munched their soldiers&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | these will be certain to be seen as long as war lasts in the world, and | ||
+ | when war is done, then is the end and the days of the millenium are at | ||
+ | hand.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | twinkling lanterns through the night, and the sun of to-morrow saw them | ||
+ | still with the same work unfinished.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I wish that I could write, that with the coming on of darkness, ended | ||
+ | the fight of to-day, but such was not the case. The armies have fought | ||
+ | enough to-day, and ought to sleep to-night, one would think, but not so | ||
+ | thought the Rebel. Let us see<span class=" | ||
+ | troops, including those of the Twelfth Corps had been withdrawn from the | ||
+ | extreme right of our line, in the afternoon, to support the left, as I | ||
+ | have mentioned, thereby, of course, weakening that part of the line so | ||
+ | left, the Rebel Ewell, either becoming aware of the fact, or because he | ||
+ | thought he could carry our right at all events, late in the afternoon | ||
+ | commenced an assault upon that part of our line. His battle had been | ||
+ | going on there simultaneously with the fight on the left, but not with | ||
+ | any great degree of obstinacy on his part. He had advanced his men | ||
+ | through the woods, and in front of the formidable position lately held | ||
+ | by the Twelfth Corps cautiously, and to his surprise, I have no doubt, | ||
+ | found our strong defenses upon the extreme right, entirely abandoned. | ||
+ | These he at once took possession of, and simultaneously made an attack | ||
+ | upon our right flank, which was now near the summit of Culp&# | ||
+ | upon the front of that part of the line. That small portion of the | ||
+ | Twelfth Corps, which had been left there, and some of the Eleventh | ||
+ | Corps, sent to their assistance, did what they could to check the | ||
+ | Rebels;< | ||
+ | did not want to stay. Matters began to have a bad look in that part of | ||
+ | the field. A portion of the First Division of the First Corps, was sent | ||
+ | there for support& | ||
+ | matters& | ||
+ | the enemy with their great numbers, were having too much prospect of | ||
+ | success, and it seems that, probably emboldened by this, Ewell had | ||
+ | resolved upon a night attack upon that wing of the army, and was making | ||
+ | his dispositions accordingly. The enemy had not at sundown, actually | ||
+ | carried any part of our rifle pits there, save the ones abandoned, but | ||
+ | he was getting troops assembled upon our flank, and altogether, with our | ||
+ | weakness there, at that time, matters did not look as we would like to | ||
+ | have them. Such was then the posture of affairs, when the fight upon our | ||
+ | left, that I have described, was done. Under such circumstances it is | ||
+ | not strange that the Twelfth Corps, as soon as its work was done upon | ||
+ | the left, was quickly ordered back to the right, to its old position. | ||
+ | There it arrived in good time; not soon< | ||
+ | mortification of finding the enemy in the possession of a part of the | ||
+ | works the men had labored so hard to construct, but in ample time before | ||
+ | dark to put the men well in the pits we already held, and to take up a | ||
+ | strong defensible position, at right angles to, and in rear of the main | ||
+ | line, in order to resist these flanking dispositions of the enemy. The | ||
+ | army was secure again. The men in the works would be steady against all | ||
+ | attacks in front, as long as they knew that their flank was safe. Until | ||
+ | between ten and eleven o&# | ||
+ | resounded with the discharges of musketry. Shortly after or about dark, | ||
+ | the enemy made a dash upon the right of the Eleventh Corps. They crept | ||
+ | up the windings of a valley, not in a very heavy force, but from the | ||
+ | peculiar mode in which this Corps does outpost duty, quite unperceived | ||
+ | in the dark until they were close upon the main line. It is said, I do | ||
+ | not know it to be true, that they spiked two guns of one of the Eleventh | ||
+ | Corps&# | ||
+ | their sabres and rammers, and that there was some fearful &# | ||
+ | swearing on the<span class=" | ||
+ | oaths, having been freely used. The enemy here were finally repulsed by | ||
+ | the assistance of Col. Correll&# | ||
+ | Second Corps, and the 106th Pa., from the Second Division of the same | ||
+ | Corps, was by Gen. Howard&# | ||
+ | seems to have been a matter of utter madness and folly on the part of | ||
+ | the enemy to have continued their night attack, as they did upon the | ||
+ | right. Our men were securely covered by ample works and even in most | ||
+ | places a log was placed a few inches above the top of the main | ||
+ | breastwork, as a protection to the heads of the men as they thrust out | ||
+ | their pieces beneath it to fire. Yet in the darkness the enemy would | ||
+ | rush up, clambering over rocks and among trees, even to the front of the | ||
+ | works, but only to leave their riddled bodies there upon the ground or | ||
+ | to be swiftly repulsed headlong into the woods again. In the darkness | ||
+ | the enemy would climb trees close to the works, and endeavor to shoot | ||
+ | our men by the light of the flashes. When discovered, a thousand bullets | ||
+ | would whistle after them in the dark, and some< | ||
+ | Rebel would make up his mind to come down.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | enemy&# | ||
+ | o&# | ||
+ | thereafter until morning, not a shot was heard in all the armies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>So much for the battle. There is another thing that I wish to mention, | ||
+ | of the matters of the 2d of July.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | going satisfactorily upon the right, Gen. Meade summoned his Corps | ||
+ | Commanders to his Headquarters for consultation. A consultation is held | ||
+ | upon matters of vast moment to the country, and that poor little | ||
+ | farm-house is honored with more distinguished guests than it ever had | ||
+ | before, or than it will ever have again, probably.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Do you expect to see a degree of ceremony, and severe military aspect | ||
+ | characterize this meeting, in accordance with strict military rules, and | ||
+ | commensurate with the moment of the matters of their <span class=" | ||
+ | it &# | ||
+ | Corps Generals, holding a Council of War, upon the field of Gettysburg,&# | ||
+ | and it would sound pretty well,& | ||
+ | make a picture of it and hang it up by the side of &# | ||
+ | Marshals,&# | ||
+ | time. But for the artist to draw his picture from, I will tell how this | ||
+ | council appeared. Meade, Sedgwick, Slocum, Howard, Hancock, Sykes, | ||
+ | Newton, Pleasanton& | ||
+ | Generals present. Hancock, now that Sickles is wounded, has charge of | ||
+ | the Third Corps, and Gibbon again has the Second. Meade is a tall spare | ||
+ | man, with full beard, which with his hair, originally brown, is quite | ||
+ | thickly sprinkled with gray& | ||
+ | white, large forehead, prominent and wide over the eyes, which are full | ||
+ | and large, and quick in their movements, and he wears spectacles. His | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | appearance is quite careless, and it would< | ||
+ | him look well dressed. Sedgwick is quite a heavy man, short, thick-set | ||
+ | and muscular, with florid complexion, dark, calm, straight-looking eyes, | ||
+ | with full, heavyish features, which, with his eyes, have plenty of | ||
+ | animation when he is aroused. He has a magnificent profile, well cut, | ||
+ | with the nose and forehead forming almost a straight line, curly, short, | ||
+ | chestnut hair and full beard, cut short, with a little gray in it. He | ||
+ | dresses carelessly, but can look magnificently when he is well dressed. | ||
+ | Like Meade, he looks and is, honest and modest. You might see at once, | ||
+ | why his men, because they love him, call him &# | ||
+ | face, of course, but among themselves. Slocum is small, rather spare, | ||
+ | with black, straight hair and beard, which latter is unshaven and thin, | ||
+ | large, full, quick, black eyes, white skin, sharp nose, wide cheek | ||
+ | bones, and hollow cheeks and small chin. His movements are quick and | ||
+ | angular, and he dresses with a sufficient degree of elegance. Howard is | ||
+ | medium in size, has nothing marked about him, is the youngest of them | ||
+ | all, I think& | ||
+ | beard,< | ||
+ | blue eyes, and on the whole, appears a very pleasant, affable, well | ||
+ | dressed little gentleman. Hancock is the tallest and most shapely, and | ||
+ | in many respects is the best looking officer of them all. His hair is | ||
+ | very light brown, straight and moist, and always looks well, his beard | ||
+ | is of the same color, of which he wears the moustache and a tuft upon | ||
+ | the chin; complexion ruddy, features neither large nor small, but well | ||
+ | cut, with full jaw and chin, compressed mouth, straight nose, full, deep | ||
+ | blue eyes, and a very mobile, emotional countenance. He always dresses | ||
+ | remarkably well, and his manner is dignified, gentlemanly and | ||
+ | commanding. I think if he were in citizens clothes, and should give | ||
+ | commands in the army to those who did not know him, he would be likely | ||
+ | to be obeyed at once, and without any question as to his right to | ||
+ | command. Sykes is a small, rather thin man, well dressed and | ||
+ | gentlemanly, | ||
+ | pinched, rough-looking skin, feeble blue eyes, long nose, with the | ||
+ | general air of one who is weary and a little ill-natured.< | ||
+ | well-sized, shapely, muscular, well dressed man, with brown hair, with a | ||
+ | very ruddy, clean-shaved, | ||
+ | walks very erect, curbs in his chin, and has somewhat of that smart sort | ||
+ | of swagger that people are apt to suppose characterizes soldiers. | ||
+ | Pleasonton is quite a nice little dandy, with brown hair and beard, a | ||
+ | straw hat with a little jockey rim, which he cocks upon one side of his | ||
+ | head, with an unsteady eye, that looks slyly at you and then dodges. | ||
+ | Gibbon, the youngest of them all, save Howard, is about the same size as | ||
+ | Slocum, Howard, Sykes and Pleasonton, and there are none of these who | ||
+ | will weigh one hundred and fifty pounds. He is compactly made, neither | ||
+ | spare nor corpulent, with ruddy complexion, chestnut brown hair, with a | ||
+ | clean-shaved face, except his moustache, which is decidedly reddish in | ||
+ | color, medium-sized, | ||
+ | deep blue, calm eyes, sharp, slightly aquiline nose, compressed mouth, | ||
+ | full jaws and chin, with an air of calm firmness in his manner. He | ||
+ | always looks well dressed. I suppose Howard is about thirty-five and | ||
+ | Meade< | ||
+ | but not many under forty. As they come to the council now, there is the | ||
+ | appearance of fatigue about them, which is not customary, but is only | ||
+ | due to the hard labors of the past few days. They all wear clothes of | ||
+ | dark blue, some have top boots and some not, and except the two-starred | ||
+ | straps upon the shoulders of all save Gibbon, who has but one star, | ||
+ | there was scarcely a piece of regulation uniform about them all. They | ||
+ | wore their swords, of various patterns, but no sashes, the Army hat, but | ||
+ | with the crown pinched into all sorts of shapes and the rim slouched | ||
+ | down and shorn of all its ornaments but the gilt band& | ||
+ | wore a blue cap, and Pleasonton with his straw hat with broad black | ||
+ | band. Then the mean little room where they met,& | ||
+ | consisted of a large, wide bed in one corner, a small pine table in the | ||
+ | center, upon which was a wooden pail of water, with a tin cup for | ||
+ | drinking, and a candle, stuck to the table by putting the end in tallow | ||
+ | melted down from the wick, and five or six straight-backed rush-bottomed | ||
+ | chairs. The Generals came in& | ||
+ | two lounged upon the bed, some were constantly smoking cigars. And thus | ||
+ | disposed, they deliberated whether the army should fall back from its | ||
+ | present position to one in rear which it was said was stronger, should | ||
+ | attack the enemy on the morrow, wherever he could be found, or should | ||
+ | stand there upon the horse-shoe crest, still on the defensive, and await | ||
+ | the further movements of the enemy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | sound. The Army of the Potomac would just halt right there, and allow | ||
+ | the Rebel to come up and smash his head against it, to any reasonable | ||
+ | extent he desired, as he had to-day. After some two hours the council | ||
+ | dissolved, and the officers went their several ways.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | found myself peering my way from the line of the Second Corps, back down | ||
+ | to the General&# | ||
+ | little peach orchard. All was silent now but the sound of the | ||
+ | ambulances, as they were bringing off the wounded, and you could hear | ||
+ | them rattle here and there< | ||
+ | am weary and sleepy, almost to such an extent as not to be able to sit | ||
+ | on my horse. And my horse can hardly move& | ||
+ | him& | ||
+ | three bullets to-day, but not to wound or lame him to speak of. Then, in | ||
+ | riding by a horse that is hitched, in the dark, I got kicked; had I not | ||
+ | a very thick boot, the blow would have been likely to have broken my | ||
+ | ankle& | ||
+ | matters, I foolishly spurred my horse again. No use, he would but walk. | ||
+ | I dismounted; I could not lead him along at all, so out of temper I rode | ||
+ | at the slowest possible walk to the Headquarters, | ||
+ | last. General Hancock and Gibbon were asleep in the ambulance. With a | ||
+ | light I found what was the matter with &# | ||
+ | chest just in front of my left leg, as I was mounted, and the blood was | ||
+ | running down all his side and leg, and the air from his lungs came out | ||
+ | of the bullet-hole. I begged his pardon mentally for my cruelty in | ||
+ | spurring him, and should have done so<span class=" | ||
+ | understood me. Kind treatment as is due to the wounded he could | ||
+ | understand, and he had it. Poor Billy! He and I were first under fire | ||
+ | together, and I rode him at the second Bull Run and the first and second | ||
+ | Fredericksburg, | ||
+ | shall never mount him again& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Pull off my sabre and my boots& | ||
+ | or softest down so soft as those rough blankets, there upon the unroofed | ||
+ | sod? At midnight they received me for four hours delicious, dreamless | ||
+ | oblivion of weariness and of battle. So to me ended the Second of July.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At four o&# | ||
+ | Gibbon&# | ||
+ | I sprang up to my feet. Where was I? A moment and my dead senses and | ||
+ | memory were alive again, and the sound of brisk firing of musketry to | ||
+ | the front and right of the Second Corps, and over at the extreme right | ||
+ | of our line, where< | ||
+ | my memory. We surely were on the field of battle, and there were | ||
+ | palpable evidences to my reason that to-day was to be another of blood. | ||
+ | Oh! for a moment the thought of it was sickening to every sense and | ||
+ | feeling! But the motion of my horse as I galloped over the crest a few | ||
+ | minutes later, and the serene splendor of the morning now breaking | ||
+ | through rifted clouds and spreading over the landscape, soon reassured | ||
+ | me. Come day of battle! Up Rebel hosts, and thunder with your arms! We | ||
+ | are all ready to do and to die for the Republic!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I found a sharp skirmish going on in front of the right of the Second | ||
+ | Corps, between our outposts and those of the enemy, but save this& | ||
+ | none of the enemy but his outposts were in sight& | ||
+ | part of the field. On the extreme right of the line the sound of | ||
+ | musketry was quite heavy; and this I learned was brought on by the | ||
+ | attack of the Second Division, Twelfth Corps, Gen. Geary, upon the enemy | ||
+ | in order to drive him out of our works which he had sneaked into | ||
+ | yesterday, as I have mentioned.< | ||
+ | moment in the morning when it was light enough to discern objects to | ||
+ | fire at. The enemy could not use the works, but was confronting Geary in | ||
+ | woods, and had the cover of many rocks and trees, so the fight was an | ||
+ | irregular one, now breaking out and swelling to a vigorous fight, now | ||
+ | subsiding to a few scattering shots; and so it continued by turns until | ||
+ | the morning was well advanced, when the enemy was finally wholly | ||
+ | repulsed and driven from the pits, and the right of our line was again | ||
+ | re-established in the place it first occupied. The heaviest losses the | ||
+ | Twelfth Corps sustained in all the battle, occurred during this attack, | ||
+ | and they were here quite severe. I heard Gen. Meade express | ||
+ | dissatisfaction at Gen. Geary for making this attack, as a thing not | ||
+ | ordered and not necessary, as the works of ours were of no intrinsic | ||
+ | importance, and had not been captured from us by a fight, and Geary&# | ||
+ | position was just as good as they, where he was during the night. And I | ||
+ | heard Gen. Meade say that he sent an order to have the fight stopped; | ||
+ | but I believe the order was not communicated to Geary until after the | ||
+ | repulse of the enemy. Late< | ||
+ | carry our right by storm. We heard that old Rebel Ewell had sworn an | ||
+ | oath that he would break our right. He had Stonewall Jackson&# | ||
+ | and possibly imagined himself another Stonewall, but he certainly | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | over the rocks, and up the steeps he sent his storming parties& | ||
+ | could see them now in the day time. But all the Rebel&# | ||
+ | fruitless, save in one thing, slaughter to his own men. These assaults | ||
+ | were made with great spirit and determination, | ||
+ | come up, our men lying behind their secure defenses would just singe | ||
+ | them with the blaze of their muskets, and riddle them, as a hail-storm | ||
+ | the tender blades of corn. The Rebel oath was not kept, any more than | ||
+ | his former one to support the Constitution of the United States. The | ||
+ | Rebel loss was very heavy indeed, here, ours but trifling. I regret that | ||
+ | I cannot give more of the details of this fighting upon the right& | ||
+ | was so determined upon the part of the enemy, both last night and this | ||
+ | morning& | ||
+ | during its progress, was the smoke, and I heard the discharges. My | ||
+ | information is derived from officers who were personally in it. Some of | ||
+ | our heavier artillery assisted our infantry in this by firing, with the | ||
+ | piece elevated, far from the rear, over the heads of our men, at a | ||
+ | distance from the enemy of two miles, I suppose. Of course they could | ||
+ | have done no great damage. It was nearly eleven o&# | ||
+ | in this part of the field subsided, not to be again renewed. All the | ||
+ | morning we felt no apprehension for this part of the line, for we knew | ||
+ | its strength, and that our troops engaged, the Twelfth Corps and the | ||
+ | First Division, Wadsworth&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | somewhat, in writing of this fight upon the right. I shall now go back | ||
+ | to the starting point, four o&# | ||
+ | occurred during the day, second to none in the battle in importance, | ||
+ | which I think I saw as much of as any man living, I will tell you | ||
+ | something of them, and what I saw, and how the time moved on. The | ||
+ | outpost skirmish that I have< | ||
+ | the natural escape of the wrath which the men had, during the night, | ||
+ | hoarded up against each other, and which, as soon as they could see in | ||
+ | the morning, they could no longer contain, but must let it off through | ||
+ | their musket barrels, at their adversaries. At the commencement of the | ||
+ | war such firing would have awaked the whole army and roused it to its | ||
+ | feet and to arms; not so now. The men upon the crest lay snoring in | ||
+ | their blankets, even though some of the enemy&# | ||
+ | them, as if bullets were as harmless as the drops of dew around them. As | ||
+ | the sun arose to-day, the clouds became broken, and we had once more | ||
+ | glimpses of sky, and fits of sunshine& | ||
+ | crest, save to the right of the Second Corps, no enemy, not even his | ||
+ | outposts could be discovered, along all the position where he so | ||
+ | thronged upon the Third Corps yesterday. All was silent there& | ||
+ | wounded horses were limping about the field; the ravages of the conflict | ||
+ | were still fearfully visible& | ||
+ | dotted with the dead& | ||
+ | order that the morning meal might be out of the way in time for whatever | ||
+ | should occur. Then ensued the hum of an army, not in ranks, chatting in | ||
+ | low tones, and running about and jostling among each other, rolling and | ||
+ | packing their blankets and tents. They looked like an army of | ||
+ | rag-gatherers, | ||
+ | outfit, for you must know that rain and mud in conjunction have not had | ||
+ | the effect to make them clean, and the wear and tear of service have not | ||
+ | left them entirely whole. But one could not have told by the appearance | ||
+ | of the men, that they were in battle yesterday, and were likely to be | ||
+ | again to-day. They packed their knapsacks, boiled their coffee and | ||
+ | munched their hard bread, just as usual& | ||
+ | what campaigning is; and their talk is far more concerning their present | ||
+ | employment& | ||
+ | yesterday.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As early as practicable the lines all along the left are revised and | ||
+ | reformed, this having been rendered necessary by yesterday&# | ||
+ | also by what is anticipated to-day.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | us battle to-day& | ||
+ | towards the Potomac at the earliest practicable moment, if he has not | ||
+ | already done so; but the better, and controlling judgment is, that he | ||
+ | will make another grand effort to pierce or turn our lines& | ||
+ | either mass and attack the left again, as yesterday, or direct his | ||
+ | operations against the left of our center, the position of the Second | ||
+ | Corps, and try to sever our line. I infer that Gen. Meade was of the | ||
+ | opinion that the attack to-day would be upon the left& | ||
+ | disposition he ordered, I know that Gen. Hancock anticipated the attack | ||
+ | upon the center.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of yesterday; then on the left come Doubleday&# | ||
+ | Col. Stannard&# | ||
+ | Division of the Second Corps; then the Third Corps, temporarily under | ||
+ | the command of Hancock, since Sickles&# | ||
+ | the same ground in part, and on the identical line where it first formed | ||
+ | yesterday morning, and where, had it stayed instead of moving out to the | ||
+ | front, we should have many more men to-day, and should not have been | ||
+ | upon the brink of disaster yesterday. On the left of the Third Corps is | ||
+ | the Fifth Corps, with a short front and deep line; then comes the Sixth | ||
+ | Corps, all but one brigade, which is sent over to the Twelfth. The | ||
+ | Sixth, a splendid Corps, almost intact in the fight of yesterday, is the | ||
+ | extreme left of our line, which terminates to the south of Round Top, | ||
+ | and runs along its western base, in the woods, and thence to the | ||
+ | Cemetery. This Corps is burning to pay off the old scores made on the | ||
+ | 4th of May, there back of Fredericksburg. Note well the position of the | ||
+ | Second and Third Divisions of the Second Corps& | ||
+ | important. There are nearly six thousand men and officers in these two | ||
+ | Divisions here upon the field& | ||
+ | some regiments are detached to other parts of the field& | ||
+ | there are less than six thousand men now in the<span class=" | ||
+ | occupy a line of about a thousand yards. The most of the way along this | ||
+ | line upon the crest was a stone fence, constructed of small, rough | ||
+ | stones, a good deal of the way badly pulled down, but the men had | ||
+ | improved it and patched it with rails from the neighboring fences, and | ||
+ | with earth, so as to render it in many places a very passable breastwork | ||
+ | against musketry and flying fragments of shells.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | generally to obtain cover. Near the right of the Second Division, and | ||
+ | just by the little group of trees that I have mentioned there, this | ||
+ | stone fence made a right angle, and extended thence to the front, about | ||
+ | twenty or thirty yards, where with another less than a right angle it | ||
+ | followed along the crest again.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ground upon the crest, so as to occupy the most favorable places, to be | ||
+ | covered, and still be able to deliver effective fire upon the enemy | ||
+ | should he come there. In some places a second line was so posted as to | ||
+ | be able to deliver its fire over the heads of the first line behind the<span class=" | ||
+ | works; but such formation was not practicable all of the way. But all | ||
+ | the force of these two divisions was in line, in position, without | ||
+ | reserves, and in such a manner that every man of them could have fired | ||
+ | his piece at the same instant. The division flags, that of the Second | ||
+ | Division, being a white trefoil upon a square blue field, and of the | ||
+ | Third Division a blue trefoil upon a white rectangular field, waved | ||
+ | behind the divisions at the points where the Generals of Division were | ||
+ | supposed to be; the brigade flags, similar to these but with a | ||
+ | triangular field, were behind the brigades; and the national flags of | ||
+ | the regiments were in the lines of their regiments. To the left of the | ||
+ | Second Division, and advanced something over a hundred yards, were | ||
+ | posted a part of Stannard&# | ||
+ | small bush-crowned crest that ran in a direction oblique to the general | ||
+ | line. These were well covered by the crest, and wholly concealed by the | ||
+ | bushes, so that an advancing enemy would be close upon them before they | ||
+ | could be seen. Other troops of Doubleday&# | ||
+ | in rear of these in the general line.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | divisions of the Second Corps was stronger; it was so far as numbers | ||
+ | constitute strength, the weakest part of our whole line of battle. What | ||
+ | if, I thought, the enemy should make an assault here to-day, with two or | ||
+ | three heavy lines& | ||
+ | that thin six thousand?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | there; and he was satisfied with that part of the line as it was. He was | ||
+ | early on horseback this morning, and rode along the whole line, looking | ||
+ | to it himself, and with glass in hand sweeping the woods and fields in | ||
+ | the direction of the enemy, to see if aught of him could be discovered. | ||
+ | His manner was calm and serious, but earnest. There was no arrogance of | ||
+ | hope, or timidity of fear discernible in his face; but you would have | ||
+ | supposed he would do his duty conscientiously and well, and would be | ||
+ | willing to abide the result. You would have seen this in his face. He | ||
+ | was well pleased with the left of the line to-day, it was so strong with | ||
+ | good troops. He had no apprehension for the right< | ||
+ | was going on, on account of the admirable position of our forces there. | ||
+ | He was not of the opinion that the enemy would attack the center, our | ||
+ | artillery had such sweep there, and this was not the favorite point of | ||
+ | attack with the Rebel. Besides, should he attack the center, the General | ||
+ | thought he could reinforce it in good season. I heard Gen. Meade speak | ||
+ | of these matters to Hancock and some others, at about nine o&# | ||
+ | the morning, while they were up by the line, near the Second Corps.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>No further changes of importance except those mentioned, were made in | ||
+ | the disposition of the troops this morning, except to replace some of | ||
+ | the batteries that were disabled yesterday by others from the artillery | ||
+ | reserve, and to brace up the lines well with guns wherever there were | ||
+ | eligible places, from the same source. The line is all in good order | ||
+ | again, and we are ready for general battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was very quiet all the morning. Occasionally the outposts would fire a | ||
+ | little, and then cease. Movements would be <span class=" | ||
+ | indicate the attempt on the part of the enemy to post a battery. Our | ||
+ | Parrotts would send a few shells to the spot, then silence would follow.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At one of these times a painful accident happened to us, this morning. | ||
+ | First Lieut. Henry Ropes, 20th Mass., in Gen. Gibbon&# | ||
+ | estimable gentleman and officer, intelligent, | ||
+ | the noble souls that came to the country&# | ||
+ | post with his regiment, in front of one of the Batteries, which fired | ||
+ | over the Infantry, was instantly killed by a badly made shell, which, or | ||
+ | some portion of it, fell but a few yards in front of the muzzle of the | ||
+ | gun. The same accident killed or wounded several others. The loss of | ||
+ | Ropes would have pained us at any time, and in any manner; in this | ||
+ | manner his death was doubly painful.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | position of Sickles yesterday, some little show of the enemy&# | ||
+ | was discovered; a few shells scattered the gray-backs; they again | ||
+ | appeared, and it becoming< | ||
+ | skirmish line, no further molestation was offered them. A little after | ||
+ | this some of the enemy&# | ||
+ | quarter, above the top and behind a small crest of a ridge. There seemed | ||
+ | to be two or three of them& | ||
+ | too fast to be carried on foot. Possibly, we thought, the enemy is | ||
+ | posting some batteries there. We knew in about two hours from this time | ||
+ | better about the matter. Eleven o&# | ||
+ | ceased upon the right; not a sound of a gun or musket can be heard on | ||
+ | all the field; the sky is bright, with only the white fleecy clouds | ||
+ | floating over from the West. The July sun streams down its fire upon the | ||
+ | bright iron of the muskets in stacks upon the crest, and the dazzling | ||
+ | brass of the Napoleons. The army lolls and longs for the shade, of which | ||
+ | some get a hand&# | ||
+ | silence and sultriness of a July noon are supreme. Now it so happened | ||
+ | that just about this time of day a very original and interesting thought | ||
+ | occurred to Gen. Gibbon and several of his staff;< | ||
+ | very good thing, and a very good time, to have something to eat. When I | ||
+ | announce to you that I had not tasted a mouthful of food since yesterday | ||
+ | noon, and that all I had had to drink since that time, but the most | ||
+ | miserable muddy warm water, was a little drink of whiskey that Major | ||
+ | Biddle, General Meade&# | ||
+ | strong coffee that I gulped down as I was first mounting this morning, | ||
+ | and further, that, save the four or five hours in the night, there was | ||
+ | scarcely a moment since that time but that I was in the saddle, you may | ||
+ | have some notion of the reason of my assent to this extraordinary | ||
+ | proposition. Nor will I mention the doubts I had as to the feasibility | ||
+ | of the execution of this very novel proposal, except to say that I knew | ||
+ | this morning that our larder was low; not to put too fine a point upon | ||
+ | it, that we had nothing but some potatoes and sugar and coffee in the | ||
+ | world. And I may as well say here, that of such, in scant proportion, | ||
+ | would have been our repast, had it not been for the riding of miles by | ||
+ | two persons, one an officer, to procure supplies; and they only | ||
+ | succeeded in getting some< | ||
+ | of bread, which last was bought of a soldier, because he had grown faint | ||
+ | in carrying it, and was afterwards rescued with much difficulty and | ||
+ | after a long race from a four-footed hog, which had got hold of and had | ||
+ | actually eaten a part of it. &# | ||
+ | this very ingenious and unheard of contemplated proceeding, first | ||
+ | announced by the General, was accepted and at once undertaken by his | ||
+ | staff. Of the absolute quality of what we had to eat, I could not | ||
+ | pretend to judge, but I think an unprejudiced person would have said of | ||
+ | the bread that it was good; so of the potatoes before they were boiled. | ||
+ | Of the chickens he would have questioned their age, but they were large | ||
+ | and in good < | ||
+ | were those who, when coffee was given them, called for tea, and vice | ||
+ | versa, and were so ungracious as to suggest that the water that was used | ||
+ | in both might have come from near a barn. Of course it did not. We all | ||
+ | came down to the little peach orchard where we had stayed last night, | ||
+ | and, wonderful to see and tell, ever mindful of our<span class=" | ||
+ | ready, had our faithful John. There was an enormous pan of stewed | ||
+ | chickens, and the potatoes, and toast, all hot, and the bread and the | ||
+ | butter, and tea and coffee. There was satisfaction derived from just | ||
+ | naming them all over. We called John an angel, and he snickered and said | ||
+ | he &# | ||
+ | and without delay we commence operations. Stools are not very numerous, | ||
+ | two in all, and these the two Generals have by common consent. Our table | ||
+ | was the top of a mess chest. By this the Generals sat. The rest of us | ||
+ | sat upon the ground, cross-legged, | ||
+ | and held our plates upon our laps. How delicious was the stewed chicken. | ||
+ | I had a cucumber pickle in my saddle bags, the last of a lunch left | ||
+ | there two or three days ago, which George brought, and I had half of it. | ||
+ | We were just well at it when General Meade rode down to us from the | ||
+ | line, accompanied by one of his staff, and by General Gibbon&# | ||
+ | invitation, they dismounted and joined us. For the General commanding | ||
+ | the Army of the Potomac George, by an effort< | ||
+ | the occasion, finds an empty cracker box for a seat. The staff officer | ||
+ | must sit upon the ground with the rest of us. Soon Generals Newton and | ||
+ | Pleasonton, each with an aide, arrive. By an almost superhuman effort a | ||
+ | roll of blankets is found, which, upon a pinch, is long enough to seat | ||
+ | these Generals both, and room is made for them. The aides sit with us. | ||
+ | And, fortunate to relate, there was enough cooked for us all, and from | ||
+ | General Meade to the youngest second lieutenant we all had a most hearty | ||
+ | and well relished dinner. Of the &# | ||
+ | ate, and after, lighted cigars, and under the flickering shade of a very | ||
+ | small tree, discoursed of the incidents of yesterday&# | ||
+ | probabilities of to-day. General Newton humorously spoke of General | ||
+ | Gibbon as &# | ||
+ | arrogant and above his position, because he commanded a corps. General | ||
+ | Gibbon retorted by saying that General Newton had not been long enough | ||
+ | in such a command, only since yesterday, to enable him to judge of such | ||
+ | things. General Meade still thought that< | ||
+ | left again to-day towards evening; but he was ready for them. General | ||
+ | Hancock thought that the attack would be upon the position of the Second | ||
+ | Corps. It was mentioned that General Hancock would again assume command | ||
+ | of the Second Corps from that time, so that General Gibbon would again | ||
+ | return to the Second Division.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | that it would be better to-day to have them in the works than to stop | ||
+ | stragglers and skulkers, as these latter would be good for but little | ||
+ | even in the works; and so he gave the order that all the Provost Guards | ||
+ | should at once temporarily rejoin their regiments. Then General Gibbon | ||
+ | called up Captain Farrel, First Minnesota, who commanded the provost | ||
+ | guard of his division, and directed him for that day to join the | ||
+ | regiment. &# | ||
+ | turned away. He was a quiet, excellent gentleman and thorough soldier. I | ||
+ | knew him well and esteemed him. I never saw him again. He was killed in | ||
+ | two or<span class=" | ||
+ | company were either killed or wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | order or message by an officer or orderly, until about half-past twelve, | ||
+ | when all the Generals, one by one, first General Meade, rode off their | ||
+ | several ways, and General Gibbon and his staff alone remained.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>We dozed in the heat, and lolled upon the ground, with half open eyes. | ||
+ | Our horses were hitched to the trees munching some oats. A great lull | ||
+ | rests upon all the field. Time was heavy, and for want of something | ||
+ | better to do, I yawned, and looked at my watch. It was five minutes | ||
+ | before one o&# | ||
+ | possibly that I might go to sleep, and stretched myself upon the ground | ||
+ | accordingly. <i>Ex uno disce omnes.</ | ||
+ | the General and the rest of the staff.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of one of the enemy&# | ||
+ | our eyes and turn them in that direction,< | ||
+ | the crest the smoke of the bursting shell, and heard its noise. In an | ||
+ | instant, before a word was spoken, as if that was the signal gun for | ||
+ | general work, loud, startling, booming, the report of gun after gun in | ||
+ | rapid succession smote our ears and their shells plunged down and | ||
+ | exploded all around us. We sprang to our feet. In briefest time the | ||
+ | whole Rebel line to the West was pouring out its thunder and its iron | ||
+ | upon our devoted crest. The wildest confusion for a few moments obtained | ||
+ | sway among us. The shells came bursting all about. The servants ran | ||
+ | terror-stricken for dear life and disappeared. The horses, hitched to | ||
+ | the trees or held by the slack hands of orderlies, neighed out in | ||
+ | fright, and broke away and plunged riderless through the fields. The | ||
+ | General at the first had snatched his sword, and started on foot for the | ||
+ | front. I called for my horse; nobody responded. I found him tied to a | ||
+ | tree, near by, eating oats, with an air of the greatest composure, which | ||
+ | under the circumstances, | ||
+ | He alone, of all beasts or men near was cool. I am not sure but that I<span class=" | ||
+ | learned a lesson then from a horse. Anxious alone for his oats, while I | ||
+ | put on the bridle and adjusted the halter, he delayed me by keeping his | ||
+ | head down, so I had time to see one of the horses of our mess wagon | ||
+ | struck and torn by a shell. The pair plunge& | ||
+ | reins& | ||
+ | close at hand, packed with boxes of ammunition, are knocked all to | ||
+ | pieces by a shell. General Gibbon&# | ||
+ | is starting to take the General&# | ||
+ | meets him and tears open his breast. He drops dead and the horses gallop | ||
+ | away. No more than a minute since the first shot was fired, and I am | ||
+ | mounted and riding after the General. The mighty din that now rises to | ||
+ | heaven and shakes the earth is not all of it the voice of the rebellion; | ||
+ | for our guns, the guardian lions of the crest, quick to awake when | ||
+ | danger comes, have opened their fiery jaws and begun to roar& | ||
+ | hoarse roar of battle. I overtake the General half way up to the line. | ||
+ | Before we reach the crest his horse is brought by an orderly. Leaving | ||
+ | our horses just behind a sharp declivity< | ||
+ | among the batteries. How the long streams of fire spout from the guns, | ||
+ | how the rifled shells hiss, how the smoke deepens and rolls. But where | ||
+ | is the infantry? Has it vanished in smoke? Is this a nightmare or a | ||
+ | juggler&# | ||
+ | seized their arms, and behind their works, behind every rock, in every | ||
+ | ditch, wherever there is any shelter, they hug the ground, silent, | ||
+ | quiet, unterrified, | ||
+ | position at their front of the woods along the second ridge that I have | ||
+ | before mentioned and towards their right, behind a small crest in the | ||
+ | open field, where we saw the flags this morning. Their line is some two | ||
+ | miles long, concave on the side towards us, and their range is from one | ||
+ | thousand to eighteen hundred yards. A hundred and twenty-five rebel | ||
+ | guns, we estimate, are now active, firing twenty-four pound, twenty, | ||
+ | twelve and ten-pound projectiles, | ||
+ | conical, spiral. The enemy&# | ||
+ | position of the Second Corps. From the Cemetery to Round Top, with over | ||
+ | a<span class=" | ||
+ | reply, of twenty and ten-pound Parrotts, ten-pound rifled ordnance, and | ||
+ | twelve-pound Napoleons, using projectiles as various in shape and name | ||
+ | as those of the enemy. Captain Hazard commanding the artillery brigade | ||
+ | of the Second Corps was vigilant among the batteries of his command, and | ||
+ | they were all doing well. All was going on satisfactorily. We had | ||
+ | nothing to do, therefore, but to be observers of the grand spectacle of | ||
+ | battle. Captain Wessels, Judge Advocate of the Division, now joined us, | ||
+ | and we sat down behind the crest, close to the left of Cushing&# | ||
+ | Battery, to bide our time, to see, to be ready to act when the time | ||
+ | should come, which might be at any moment. Who can describe such a | ||
+ | conflict as is raging around us? To say that it was like a summer storm, | ||
+ | with the crash of thunder, the glare of lightning, the shrieking of the | ||
+ | wind, and the clatter of hailstones, would be weak. The thunder and | ||
+ | lightning of these two hundred and fifty guns and their shells, whose | ||
+ | smoke darkens the sky, are incessant, all pervading, in the air above | ||
+ | our heads, on the ground at our feet, <span class=" | ||
+ | ear-piercing, | ||
+ | with exploding fire. And there is little of human interest in a storm; | ||
+ | it is an absorbing element of this. You may see flame and smoke, and | ||
+ | hurrying men, and human passion at a great conflagration; | ||
+ | all earthly and nothing more. These guns are great infuriate demons, not | ||
+ | of the earth, whose mouths blaze with smoky tongues of living fire, and | ||
+ | whose murky breath, sulphur-laden, | ||
+ | ground, the smoke of Hades. These grimy men, rushing, shouting, their | ||
+ | souls in frenzy, plying the dusky globes and the igniting spark, are in | ||
+ | their league, and but their willing ministers. We thought that at the | ||
+ | second Bull Run, at the Antietam and at Fredericksburg on the 11th of | ||
+ | December, we had heard heavy cannonading; | ||
+ | compared with this. Besides the great ceaseless roar of the guns, which | ||
+ | was but the background of the others, a million various minor sounds | ||
+ | engaged the ear. The projectiles shriek long and sharp. They hiss, they | ||
+ | scream, they growl, they sputter; all sounds of life and rage; and each | ||
+ | has its <span class=" | ||
+ | of sound before? We note the effect of the enemies&# | ||
+ | batteries and along the crest. We see the solid shot strike axle, or | ||
+ | pole, or wheel, and the tough iron and heart of oak snap and fly like | ||
+ | straws. The great oaks there by Woodruff&# | ||
+ | branches with a crash, as if the lightning smote them. The shells swoop | ||
+ | down among the battery horses standing there apart. A half a dozen | ||
+ | horses start, they tumble, their legs stiffen, their vitals and blood | ||
+ | smear the ground. And these shot and shells have no respect for men | ||
+ | either. We see the poor fellows hobbling back from the crest, or unable | ||
+ | to do so, pale and weak, lying on the ground with the mangled stump of | ||
+ | an arm or leg, dripping their life-blood away; or with a cheek torn | ||
+ | open, or a shoulder mashed. And many, alas! hear not the roar as they | ||
+ | stretch upon the ground with upturned faces and open eyes, though a | ||
+ | shell should burst at their very ears. Their ears and their bodies this | ||
+ | instant are only mud. We saw them but a moment since there among the | ||
+ | flame, with brawny arms and muscles< | ||
+ | pushing home the cannon&# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | rear with his full knapsack on, and some canteens of water held by the | ||
+ | straps in his hands. He was walking slowly and with apparent unconcern, | ||
+ | though the iron hailed around him. A shot struck the knapsack, and it, | ||
+ | and its contents flew thirty yards in every direction, the knapsack | ||
+ | disappearing like an egg, thrown spitefully against a rock. The soldier | ||
+ | stopped and turned about in puzzled surprise, put up one hand to his | ||
+ | back to assure himself that the knapsack was not there, and then walked | ||
+ | slowly on again unharmed, with not even his coat torn. Near us was a man | ||
+ | crouching behind a small disintegrated stone, which was about the size | ||
+ | of a common water bucket. He was bent up, with his face to the ground, | ||
+ | in the <ins class=" | ||
+ | absurd to see him thus, that I went and said to him, &# | ||
+ | like a toad. Why not go to your regiment and be a man?&# | ||
+ | face with a stupid, terrified look upon me, and then< | ||
+ | turned his nose again to the ground. An orderly that was with me at the | ||
+ | time, told me a few moments later, that a shot struck the stone, | ||
+ | smashing it in a thousand fragments, but did not touch the man, though | ||
+ | his head was not six inches from the stone.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | yards away from us a shell burst among some small bushes, where sat | ||
+ | three or four orderlies holding horses. Two of the men and one horse | ||
+ | were killed. Only a few yards off a shell exploded over an open limber | ||
+ | box in Cushing&# | ||
+ | neighboring box. In both the boxes the ammunition blew up with an | ||
+ | explosion that shook the ground, throwing fire and splinters and shells | ||
+ | far into the air and all around, and destroying several men. We watched | ||
+ | the shells bursting in the air, as they came hissing in all directions. | ||
+ | Their flash was a bright gleam of lightning radiating from a point, | ||
+ | giving place in the thousandth part of a second to a small, white, puffy | ||
+ | cloud, like a fleece of the lightest, whitest wool. These clouds were | ||
+ | very numerous. We<span class=" | ||
+ | sometimes, as we faced towards the enemy, and looked above our heads, | ||
+ | the approach would be heralded by a prolonged hiss, which always seemed | ||
+ | to me to be a line of something tangible, terminating in a black globe, | ||
+ | distinct to the eye, as the sound had been to the ear. The shell would | ||
+ | seem to stop, and hang suspended in the air an instant, and then vanish | ||
+ | in fire and smoke and noise. We saw the missiles tear and plow the | ||
+ | ground. All in rear of the crest for a thousand yards, as well as among | ||
+ | the batteries, was the field of their blind fury. Ambulances, passing | ||
+ | down the Taneytown road with wounded men, were struck. The hospitals | ||
+ | near this road were riddled. The house which was General Meade&# | ||
+ | headquarters was shot through several times, and a great many horses of | ||
+ | officers and orderlies were lying dead around it. Riderless horses, | ||
+ | galloping madly through the fields, were brought up, or down rather, by | ||
+ | these invisible horse-tamers, | ||
+ | with ammunition, pigs wallowing about, cows in the pastures, whatever | ||
+ | was animate or <span class=" | ||
+ | their blind havoc. The percussion shells would strike, and thunder, and | ||
+ | scatter the earth and their whistling fragments; the Whitworth bolts | ||
+ | would pound and ricochet, and bowl far away sputtering, with the sound | ||
+ | of a mass of hot iron plunged in water; and the great solid shot would | ||
+ | smite the unresisting ground with a sounding &# | ||
+ | crashes his iron fist into the jaws of his unguarded adversary. Such | ||
+ | were some of the sights and sounds of this great iron battle of | ||
+ | missiles. Our artillerymen upon the crest budged not an inch, nor | ||
+ | intermitted, | ||
+ | dismantled, and men and horses killed, there amidst smoke and sweat, | ||
+ | they gave back, without grudge, or loss of time in the sending, in kind | ||
+ | whatever the enemy sent, globe, and cone, and bolt, hollow or solid, an | ||
+ | iron greeting to the rebellion, the compliments of the wrathful | ||
+ | Republic. An hour has droned its flight since first the war began. There | ||
+ | is no sign of weariness or abatement on either side. So long it seemed, | ||
+ | that the din and crashing around began to appear the<span class=" | ||
+ | of nature there, and fighting man&# | ||
+ | among the men and over to the front of the batteries, so at about two | ||
+ | o&# | ||
+ | they lay there flat upon the earth, a little to the front of the | ||
+ | batteries. They were suffering little, and were quiet and cool. How glad | ||
+ | we were that the enemy were no better gunners, and that they cut the | ||
+ | shell fuses too long. To the question asked the men, &# | ||
+ | of this?&# | ||
+ | like it,&# | ||
+ | cannonade that ever shook the continent, and among them a thousand times | ||
+ | more jokes than heads were cracked.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>We went down in front of the line some two hundred yards, and as the | ||
+ | smoke had a tendency to settle upon a higher plain than where we were, | ||
+ | we could see near the ground distinctly all over the fields, as well | ||
+ | back to the crest where were our own guns as to the opposite ridge where | ||
+ | were those of the enemy. No infantry was in sight, save the skirmishers, | ||
+ | and they stood silent and <span class=" | ||
+ | field on one side confronted by another of blue. Under the grateful | ||
+ | shade of some elm trees, where we could see much of the field, we made | ||
+ | seats of the ground and sat down. Here all the more repulsive features | ||
+ | of the fight were unseen, by reason of the smoke. Man had arranged the | ||
+ | scenes, and for a time had taken part in the great drama; but at last, | ||
+ | as the plot thickened, conscious of his littleness and inadequacy to the | ||
+ | mighty part, he had stepped aside and given place to more powerful | ||
+ | actors. So it seemed; for we could see no men about the batteries. On | ||
+ | either crest we could see the great flaky streams of fire, and they | ||
+ | seemed numberless, of the opposing guns, and their white banks of swift, | ||
+ | convolving smoke; but the sound of the discharges was drowned in the | ||
+ | universal ocean of sound. Over all the valley the smoke, a sulphury | ||
+ | arch, stretched its lurid span; and through it always, shrieking on | ||
+ | their unseen courses, thickly flew a myriad iron deaths. With our grim | ||
+ | horizon on all sides round toothed thick with battery flame, under that | ||
+ | dissonant canopy of warring shells, we sat and heard in silence. What< | ||
+ | other expression had we that was not mean, for such an awful universe of | ||
+ | battle?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A shell struck our breastwork of rails up in sight of us, and a moment | ||
+ | afterwards we saw the men bearing some of their wounded companions away | ||
+ | from the same spot; and directly two men came from there down toward | ||
+ | where we were and sought to get shelter in an excavation near by, where | ||
+ | many dead horses, killed in yesterday&# | ||
+ | Gibbon said to these men, more in a tone of kindly expostulation than of | ||
+ | command: &# | ||
+ | All these matters are in the hands of God, and nothing that you can do | ||
+ | will make you safer in one place than in another.&# | ||
+ | back to the line at once. The General then said to me: &# | ||
+ | member of any church, but I have always had a strong religious feeling; | ||
+ | and so in all these battles I have always believed that I was in the | ||
+ | hands of God, and that I should be unharmed or not, according to his | ||
+ | will. For this reason, I think it is, I am always ready to go where duty | ||
+ | calls, no matter how great the danger.&# | ||
+ | and a half since the commencement, | ||
+ | the least abate; but soon thereafter some signs of weariness and a | ||
+ | little slacking of fire began to be apparent upon both sides. First we | ||
+ | saw Brown&# | ||
+ | Its position was a little to the front of the line. Its commander was | ||
+ | wounded, and many of its men were so, or worse; some of its guns had | ||
+ | been disabled, many of its horses killed; its ammunition was nearly | ||
+ | expended. Other batteries in similar case had been withdrawn before to | ||
+ | be replaced by fresh ones, and some were withdrawn afterwards. Soon | ||
+ | after the battery named had gone the General and I started to return, | ||
+ | passing towards the left of the division, and crossing the ground where | ||
+ | the guns had stood. The stricken horses were numerous, and the dead and | ||
+ | wounded men lay about, and as we passed these latter, their low, piteous | ||
+ | call for water would invariably come to us, if they had yet any voice | ||
+ | left. I found canteens of water near& | ||
+ | has been& | ||
+ | death the eagerness to<span class=" | ||
+ | But we must pass on. Our infantry was still unshaken, and in all the | ||
+ | cannonade suffered very little. The batteries had been handled much more | ||
+ | severely. I am unable to give any figures. A great number of horses had | ||
+ | been killed, in some batteries more than half of all. Guns had been | ||
+ | dismounted. A great many caissons, limbers and carriages had been | ||
+ | destroyed, and usually from ten to twenty-five men to each battery had | ||
+ | been struck, at least along our part of the crest. Altogether the fire | ||
+ | of the enemy had injured us much, both in the modes that I have stated, | ||
+ | and also by exhausting our ammunition and fouling our guns, so as to | ||
+ | render our batteries unfit for further immediate use. The scenes that | ||
+ | met our eyes on all hands among the batteries were fearful. All things | ||
+ | must end, and the great cannonade was no exception to the general law of | ||
+ | earth. In the number of guns active at one time, and in the duration and | ||
+ | rapidity of their fire, this artillery engagement, up to this time, must | ||
+ | stand alone and pre-eminent in this war. It has not been often, or many | ||
+ | times, surpassed in the battles< | ||
+ | guns, at least, rapidly fired for two mortal hours. Cipher out the | ||
+ | number of tons of gunpowder and iron that made these two hours hideous.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of the injury of our fire upon the enemy, except the facts that ours was | ||
+ | the superior position, if not better served and constructed artillery, | ||
+ | and that the enemy&# | ||
+ | silent, we know little. Of course, during the fight we often saw the | ||
+ | enemy&# | ||
+ | his ears, but we can from these alone infer but little of general | ||
+ | results. At three o&# | ||
+ | bounded and fell, and the cannonade was over. The purpose of General Lee | ||
+ | in all this fire of his guns& | ||
+ | well& | ||
+ | position of the Second Corps, so as to render them less an impediment to | ||
+ | the sweep of his own brigades and divisions over our crest and through | ||
+ | our lines. He probably supposed our infantry was massed behind the crest | ||
+ | and the batteries; and hence his fire was so high, and<span class=" | ||
+ | shells were cut so long, too long. The Rebel General failed in some of | ||
+ | his plans in this behalf, as many generals have failed before and will | ||
+ | again. The artillery fight over, men began to breathe more freely, and | ||
+ | to ask, What next, I wonder? The battery men were among their guns, some | ||
+ | leaning to rest and wipe the sweat from their sooty faces, some were | ||
+ | handling ammunition boxes and replenishing those that were empty. Some | ||
+ | batteries from the artillery reserve were moving up to take the places | ||
+ | of the disabled ones; the smoke was clearing from the crests. There was | ||
+ | a pause between acts, with the curtain down, soon to rise upon the great | ||
+ | final act, and catastrophe of Gettysburg. We have passed by the left of | ||
+ | the Second Division, coming from the First; when we crossed the crest | ||
+ | the enemy was not in sight, and all was still& | ||
+ | the rear of the troops, by the ridge cut off now from a view of the | ||
+ | enemy in his position, and were returning to the spot where we had left | ||
+ | our horses. General Gibbon had just said that he inclined to the belief | ||
+ | that the enemy was falling back, and that the cannonade was only one of | ||
+ | his<span class=" | ||
+ | fifteen minutes would show that, by all his bowling, the Rebel did not | ||
+ | mean retreat. We were near our horses when we noticed Brigadier General | ||
+ | Hunt, Chief of Artillery of the Army, near Woodruff&# | ||
+ | moving about on horseback, and apparently in a rapid manner giving some | ||
+ | orders about the guns. Thought we, what could this mean? In a moment | ||
+ | afterwards we met Captain Wessels and the orderlies who had our horses; | ||
+ | they were on foot leading the horses. Captain Wessels was pale, and he | ||
+ | said, excited: &# | ||
+ | sprang into our saddles, a score of bounds brought us upon the | ||
+ | all-seeing crest. To say that men grew pale and held their breath at | ||
+ | what we and they there saw, would not be true. Might not six thousand | ||
+ | men be brave and without shade of fear, and yet, before a hostile | ||
+ | eighteen thousand, armed, and not five minutes&# | ||
+ | white? None on that crest now need be told that < | ||
+ | advancing</ | ||
+ | tide of an<span class=" | ||
+ | and brigade after brigade move from the woods and rapidly take their | ||
+ | places in the lines forming the assault. Pickett&# | ||
+ | some additional troops, hold their right; Pettigrew&# | ||
+ | left. The first line at short interval is followed by a second, and that | ||
+ | a third succeeds; and columns between support the lines. More than half | ||
+ | a mile their front extends; more than a thousand yards the dull gray | ||
+ | masses deploy, man touching man, rank pressing rank, and line supporting | ||
+ | line. The red flags wave, their horsemen gallop up and down; the arms of | ||
+ | eighteen thousand men, barrel and bayonet, gleam in the sun, a sloping | ||
+ | forest of flashing steel. Right on they move, as with one soul, in | ||
+ | perfect order, without impediment of ditch, or wall or stream, over | ||
+ | ridge and slope, through orchard and meadow, and cornfield, magnificent, | ||
+ | grim, irresistible. All was orderly and still upon our crest; no noise | ||
+ | and no confusion. The men had little need of commands, for the survivors | ||
+ | of a dozen battles knew well enough what this array in front portended, | ||
+ | and, already in their places, they< | ||
+ | right time should come. The click of the locks as each man raised the | ||
+ | hammer to feel with his fingers that the cap was on the nipple; the | ||
+ | sharp jar as a musket touched a stone upon the wall when thrust in | ||
+ | aiming over it, and the clicking of the iron axles as the guns were | ||
+ | rolled up by hand a little further to the front, were quite all the | ||
+ | sounds that could be heard. Cap-boxes were slid around to the front of | ||
+ | the body; cartridge boxes opened, officers opened their pistol-holsters. | ||
+ | Such preparations, | ||
+ | the brigades and divisions moved to their places in rear; but along the | ||
+ | lines in front the grand old ensign that first waved in battle at | ||
+ | Saratoga in 1777, and which these people coming would rob of half its | ||
+ | stars, stood up, and the west wind kissed it as the sergeants sloped its | ||
+ | lance towards the enemy. I believe that not one above whom it then waved | ||
+ | but blessed his God that he was loyal to it, and whose heart did not | ||
+ | swell with pride towards it, as the emblem of the Republic before that | ||
+ | treason&# | ||
+ | cool and calm, and<span class=" | ||
+ | not hurry, men, and fire too fast, let them come up close before you | ||
+ | fire, and then aim low and steadily.&# | ||
+ | reflected in the faces of his men. Five minutes has elapsed since first | ||
+ | the enemy have emerged from the woods& | ||
+ | measured by the usual standard by which men estimate duration& | ||
+ | was long enough for us to note and weigh some of the elements of mighty | ||
+ | moment that surrounded us; the disparity of numbers between the | ||
+ | assailants and the assailed; that few as were our numbers we could not | ||
+ | be supported or reinforced until support would not be needed or would be | ||
+ | too late; that upon the ability of the two trefoil divisions to hold the | ||
+ | crest and repel the assault depended not only their own safety or | ||
+ | destruction, | ||
+ | victory at Gettysburg. Should these advancing men pierce our line and | ||
+ | become the entering wedge, driven home, that would sever our army | ||
+ | asunder, what hope would there be afterwards, and where the blood-earned | ||
+ | fruits of yesterday? It was long enough for the<span class=" | ||
+ | across more than half the space that had at first separated it from us. | ||
+ | None, or all, of these considerations either depressed or elevated us. | ||
+ | They might have done the former, had we been timid; the latter had we | ||
+ | been confident and vain. But, we were there waiting, and ready to do our | ||
+ | duty& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | retire upon the main line& | ||
+ | sounding on our windows. Then the thunders of our guns, first Arnold&# | ||
+ | then Cushing&# | ||
+ | through the air, and their sounding shells smite the enemy. The General | ||
+ | said I had better go and tell General Meade of this advance. To gallop | ||
+ | to General Meade&# | ||
+ | to another part of the field, to dispatch to him by the Signal Corps in | ||
+ | General Gibbon&# | ||
+ | in force upon my front,&# | ||
+ | work of a minute. All our available guns are now active, and<span class=" | ||
+ | fire of shells, as the range grows shorter and shorter, they change to | ||
+ | shrapnel, and from shrapnel to canister; but in spite of shells, and | ||
+ | shrapnel and canister, without wavering or halt, the hardy lines of the | ||
+ | enemy continue to move on. The Rebel guns make no reply to ours, and no | ||
+ | charging shout rings out to-day, as is the Rebel wont; but the courage | ||
+ | of these silent men amid our shots seems not to need the stimulus of | ||
+ | other noise. The enemy&# | ||
+ | and his concealed Vermonters rake it with a well-delivered fire of | ||
+ | musketry. The gray lines do not halt or reply, but withdrawing a little | ||
+ | from that extreme, they still move on. And so across all that broad open | ||
+ | ground they have come, nearer and nearer, nearly half the way, with our | ||
+ | guns bellowing in their faces, until now a hundred yards, no more, | ||
+ | divide our ready left from their advancing right. The eager men there | ||
+ | are impatient to begin. Let them. First, Harrow&# | ||
+ | then Hall&# | ||
+ | touched off their muskets, the enemy in front halts, and his countless | ||
+ | level barrels blaze back< | ||
+ | battle. The rattling storm soon spreads to the right, and the blue | ||
+ | trefoils are vieing with the white. All along each hostile front, a | ||
+ | thousand yards, with narrowest space between, the volleys blaze and | ||
+ | roll; as thick the sound as when a summer hail-storm pelts the city | ||
+ | roofs; as thick the fire as when the incessant lightning fringes a | ||
+ | summer cloud. When the Rebel infantry had opened fire our batteries soon | ||
+ | became silent, and this without their fault, for they were foul by long | ||
+ | previous use. They were the targets of the concentrated Rebel bullets, | ||
+ | and some of them had expended all their canister. But they were not | ||
+ | silent before Rhorty was killed, Woodruff had fallen mortally wounded, | ||
+ | and Cushing, firing almost his last canister, had dropped dead among his | ||
+ | guns shot through the head by a bullet. The conflict is left to the | ||
+ | infantry alone. Unable to find my general when I had returned to the | ||
+ | crest after transmitting his message to General Meade, and while riding | ||
+ | in the search having witnessed the development of the fight, from the | ||
+ | first fire upon the left by the main lines until all of the two | ||
+ | divisions were <span class=" | ||
+ | convinced General Gibbon could not be on the field; I left him mounted; | ||
+ | I could easily have found him now had he so remained& | ||
+ | myself, there was not a mounted officer near the engaged lines& | ||
+ | riding towards the right of the Second Division, with purpose to stop | ||
+ | there, as the most eligible position to watch the further progress of | ||
+ | the battle, there to be ready to take part according to my own notions | ||
+ | whenever and wherever occasion was presented. The conflict was | ||
+ | tremendous, but I had seen no wavering in all our line. Wondering how | ||
+ | long the Rebel ranks, deep though they were, could stand our sheltered | ||
+ | volleys, I had come near my destination, | ||
+ | senses mad? The larger portion of Webb&# | ||
+ | true& | ||
+ | breaking from the cover of their works, and, without orders or reason, | ||
+ | with no hand lifted to check them, was falling back, a fear-stricken | ||
+ | flock of confusion! The fate of Gettysburg hung upon a spider&# | ||
+ | thread! A great magnificent passion came on me<span class=" | ||
+ | that overpowers and confounds, but one that blanches the face and | ||
+ | sublimes every sense and faculty. My sword, that had always hung idle by | ||
+ | my side, the sign of rank only in every battle, I drew, bright and | ||
+ | gleaming, the symbol of command. Was not that a fit occasion, and these | ||
+ | fugitives the men on whom to try the temper of the Solinzen steel? All | ||
+ | rules and proprieties were forgotten; all considerations of person, and | ||
+ | danger and safety despised; for, as I met the tide of these rabbits, the | ||
+ | damned red flags of the rebellion began to thicken and flaunt along the | ||
+ | wall they had just deserted, and one was already waving over one of the | ||
+ | guns of the dead Cushing. I ordered these men to &# | ||
+ | about&# | ||
+ | obeyed my commands. On some unpatriotic backs of those not quick of | ||
+ | comprehension, | ||
+ | their love of country returned, and, with a look at me as if I were the | ||
+ | destroying angel, as I might have become theirs, they again faced the | ||
+ | enemy. General Webb soon came to my assistance. He was<span class=" | ||
+ | was active, and did all that one could do to repair the breach, or to | ||
+ | avert its calamity. The men that had fallen back, facing the enemy, soon | ||
+ | regained confidence in themselves, and became steady. This portion of | ||
+ | the wall was lost to us, and the enemy had gained the cover of the | ||
+ | reverse side, where he now stormed with fire. But Webb&# | ||
+ | bodies in part protected by the abruptness of the crest, now sent back | ||
+ | in the enemies&# | ||
+ | Rebels, that in their first push at the wall had dared to cross at the | ||
+ | further angle, and those that had desecrated Cushing&# | ||
+ | promptly shot down, and speedy death met him who should raise his body | ||
+ | to cross it again. At this point little could be seen of the enemy, by | ||
+ | reason of his cover and the smoke, except the flash of his muskets and | ||
+ | his waving flags. These red flags were accumulating at the wall every | ||
+ | moment, and they maddened us as the same color does the bull. Webb&# | ||
+ | are falling fast, and he is among them to direct and encourage; but, | ||
+ | however well they may now do, with that walled enemy in front, with more | ||
+ | than a dozen< | ||
+ | not many minutes they will be overpowered, | ||
+ | alive for the enemy to overpower. Webb, has but three regiments, all | ||
+ | small, the 69th, 71st and 72d Pennsylvania& | ||
+ | except two companies, is not here to-day& | ||
+ | assistance, or this crest will be lost. Oh, where is Gibbon? where is | ||
+ | Hancock?& | ||
+ | that wasting, melting line? No general came, and no succor! I thought of | ||
+ | Hayes upon the right, but from the smoke and war along his front, it was | ||
+ | evident that he had enough upon his hands, if he stayed the in-rolling | ||
+ | tide of the Rebels there. Doubleday upon the left was too far off and | ||
+ | too slow, and on another occasion I had begged him to send his idle | ||
+ | regiments to support another line battling with thrice its numbers, and | ||
+ | this &# | ||
+ | if Hall and Harrow could not send some of their commands to reinforce | ||
+ | Webb. I galloped to the left in the execution of my purpose, and as I | ||
+ | attained the rear of Hall&# | ||
+ | position of the enemy it was easy to discover the reason and the manner | ||
+ | of this gathering of Rebel flags in front of Webb. The enemy, emboldened | ||
+ | by his success in gaining our line by the group of trees and the angle | ||
+ | of the wall, was concentrating all his right against and was further | ||
+ | pressing that point. There was the stress of his assault; there would he | ||
+ | drive his fiery wedge to split our line. In front of Harrow&# | ||
+ | Brigades he had been able to advance no nearer than when he first halted | ||
+ | to deliver fire, and these commands had not yielded an inch. To effect | ||
+ | the concentration before Webb, the enemy would march the regiment on his | ||
+ | extreme right of each of his lines by the left flank to the rear of the | ||
+ | troops, still halted and facing to the front, and so continuing to draw | ||
+ | in his right, when they were all massed in the position desired, he | ||
+ | would again face them to the front, and advance to the storming. This | ||
+ | was the way he made the wall before Webb&# | ||
+ | battle flags, and such was the purpose there of his thick-crowding | ||
+ | battalions. Not a moment must be lost. Colonel Hall I found just in<span class=" | ||
+ | rear of his line, sword in hand, cool, vigilant, noting all that passed | ||
+ | and directing the battle of his brigade. The fire was constantly | ||
+ | diminishing now in his front, in the manner and by the movement of the | ||
+ | enemy that I have mentioned, drifting to the right. &# | ||
+ | Colonel Hall asked me, as I rode up. &# | ||
+ | and must have support, or he will be overpowered. Can you assist him?&# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | colors hurrying to the aid of the imperilled three; and each color | ||
+ | represented true, battle-tried men, that had not turned back from Rebel | ||
+ | fire that day nor yesterday, though their ranks were sadly thinned, to | ||
+ | Webb&# | ||
+ | was not great from Hall&# | ||
+ | flank. Col. Hall superintended the movement in person. Col. Devereux | ||
+ | coolly commanded the 19th Massachusetts. His major, Rice, had already | ||
+ | been wounded and carried off. Lieut. Col. Macy, of the 20th Mass., had | ||
+ | just< | ||
+ | this fine regiment. The 42d New York followed their excellent Colonel | ||
+ | Mallon. Lieut. Col. Steele, 7th Mich., had just been killed, and his | ||
+ | regiment, and the handful of the 59th N. Y., followed their colors. The | ||
+ | movement, as it did, attracting the enemy&# | ||
+ | as it must be, was difficult; but in reasonable time, and in order that | ||
+ | is serviceable, | ||
+ | by side with Webb&# | ||
+ | see all this movement of Hall&# | ||
+ | the left, to the 1st brigade. Gen&# | ||
+ | fighting men would answer my purpose as well. The 19th Me., the 15th | ||
+ | Mass., the 32d N. Y. and the shattered old thunderbolt, | ||
+ | Minn.& | ||
+ | fallen,& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As we were moving to, and near the other brigade of the division, from | ||
+ | my position on horseback I could see that the enemy&# | ||
+ | Hall&# | ||
+ | men, &# | ||
+ | they swept to their places by the side of Hall and opened fire, they | ||
+ | roared, and this in a manner that said more plainly than words& | ||
+ | deaf could have seen it in their faces, and the blind could have heard | ||
+ | it in their voices& | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | phases, as well on our part as on that of the enemy, having as indicated | ||
+ | occurred, for the purpose of showing the exact present posture of | ||
+ | affairs, some further description is necessary. Before the 2d Division | ||
+ | the enemy is massed, the main bulk of his force covered by the ground | ||
+ | that slopes to his rear, with his front at the stone wall. Between his | ||
+ | front and us extends the very apex of the crest. All there are left of | ||
+ | the White Trefoil Division& | ||
+ | eight hundred, this morning there were less than three thousand& | ||
+ | moment there are somewhat over two thousand;& | ||
+ | brigades are below or behind the crest, in such a position that< | ||
+ | exposure of the head and upper part of the body above the crest they can | ||
+ | deliver their fire in the enemy&# | ||
+ | reason of the disorganization incidental in Webb&# | ||
+ | having broken and fallen back, as mentioned, in the two other brigades | ||
+ | to their rapid and difficult change of position under fire, and in all | ||
+ | the division in part to severe and continuous battle, formation of | ||
+ | companies and regiments in regular ranks is lost; but commands, | ||
+ | companies, regiments and brigades are blended and intermixed& | ||
+ | irregular extended mass& | ||
+ | or five ranks along the whole front of the division. The twelve flags of | ||
+ | the regiments wave defiantly at intervals along the front; at the stone | ||
+ | wall, at unequal distances from ours of forty, fifty or sixty yards, | ||
+ | stream nearly double this number of the battle flags of the enemy. These | ||
+ | changes accomplished on either side, and the concentration complete, | ||
+ | although no cessation or abatement in the general din of conflict since | ||
+ | the commencement had at any time been appreciable, | ||
+ | new battle, deadlier, stormier than before, had<span class=" | ||
+ | the old& | ||
+ | shaking his arrowy wings over the yet glowing ashes of his progenitor. | ||
+ | The jostling, swaying lines on either side boil, and roar, and dash | ||
+ | their flamy spray, two hostile billows of a fiery ocean. Thick flashes | ||
+ | stream from the wall, thick volleys answer from the crest. No threats or | ||
+ | expostulation now, only example and encouragement. All depths of passion | ||
+ | are stirred, and all combatives fire, down to their deep foundations. | ||
+ | Individuality is drowned in a sea of clamor, and timid men, breathing | ||
+ | the breath of the multitude, are brave. The frequent dead and wounded | ||
+ | lie where they stagger and fall& | ||
+ | none can be spared to care for them. The men do not cheer or shout; they | ||
+ | growl, and over that uneasy sea, heard with the roar of musketry, sweeps | ||
+ | the muttered thunder of a storm of growls. Webb, Hall, Devereux, Mallon, | ||
+ | Abbott among the men where all are heroes, are doing deeds of note. Now | ||
+ | the loyal wave rolls up as if it would overleap its barrier, the crest. | ||
+ | Pistols flash with the muskets. My &# | ||
+ | the Rebel counter-command, | ||
+ | Again it surges, and again it sinks. These men of Pennsylvania, | ||
+ | soil of their own homesteads, the first and only to flee the wall, must | ||
+ | be the first to storm it. &# | ||
+ | will follow.&# | ||
+ | men.&# | ||
+ | thought you were fit to lead.&# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | men.&# | ||
+ | front first.&# | ||
+ | close to their eyes once before they die.&# | ||
+ | Pa., grasping the stump of the severed lance in both his hands, waved | ||
+ | the flag above his head and rushed towards the wall. &# | ||
+ | color storm the wall alone?&# | ||
+ | way to the wall, down go color bearer and color to the ground& | ||
+ | gallant sergeant is dead. The line springs& | ||
+ | ground with a<span class=" | ||
+ | smoke, fire, a fighting mass. It rolls to the wall& | ||
+ | the wall is crossed& | ||
+ | and undistinguishable conflict, followed by a shout universal that makes | ||
+ | the welkin ring again, and the last and bloodiest fight of the great | ||
+ | battle of Gettysburg is ended and won.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Some hints and incidents may be given, but a description or picture | ||
+ | never. From what is told the imagination may for itself construct the | ||
+ | scene; otherwise he who never saw can have no adequate idea of what such | ||
+ | a battle is.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of which the maddest and the noisiest was the last, and we were calm | ||
+ | enough to look about us, we saw that, as with us, the fight with the | ||
+ | Third Division was ended, and that in that division was a repetition of | ||
+ | the scenes immediately about us. In that moment the judgment almost | ||
+ | refused to credit the senses. Are these abject wretches about us,<span class=" | ||
+ | whom our men are now disarming and driving together in flocks, the | ||
+ | jaunty men of Pickett&# | ||
+ | but a few moment&# | ||
+ | these red cloths that our men toss about in derision the &# | ||
+ | crosses,&# | ||
+ | defiance at the wall? We know, but so sudden has been the transition, we | ||
+ | yet can scarce believe.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | {{ haskell-gettysburg-final-attack-july-3.jpg | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | little subsided, when all in front of the crest was noise and | ||
+ | confusion& | ||
+ | far down into the fields, flags waving, officers giving quick, sharp | ||
+ | commands to their men& | ||
+ | by that group of trees which ought to be historic forever, a spectator | ||
+ | of the thrilling scene around. Some few musket shots were still heard in | ||
+ | the Third Division; and the enemy&# | ||
+ | advance of his infantry until the moment of his defeat, were dropping a | ||
+ | few sullen shells among friend and foe upon the crest. Rebellion< | ||
+ | fosters such humanity. Near me, saddest sight of the many of such a | ||
+ | field and not in keeping with all this noise, were mingled alone the | ||
+ | thick dead of Maine and Minnesota, and Michigan and Massachusetts, | ||
+ | the Empire and Keystone States, who, not yet cold, with the blood still | ||
+ | oozing from their death-wounds, | ||
+ | upon that stormy field. So mingled upon that crest let their honored | ||
+ | graves be. Look with me about us. These dead have been avenged already. | ||
+ | Where the long lines of the enemy&# | ||
+ | how thick the silent men of gray are scattered. It is not an hour since | ||
+ | these legions were sweeping along so grandly; now sixteen hundred of | ||
+ | that fiery mass are strewn among the trampled grass, dead as the clods | ||
+ | they load; more than seven thousand, probably eight thousand, are | ||
+ | wounded, some there with the dead, in our hands, some fugitive far | ||
+ | towards the woods, among them Generals Pettigrew, Garnett, Kemper and | ||
+ | Armstead, the last three mortally, and the last one in our hands. &# | ||
+ | General Hancock,&# | ||
+ | aide-de-camp, | ||
+ | country a great wrong when I took up arms against her, for which I am | ||
+ | sorry, but for which I cannot live to atone.&# | ||
+ | wounded, are prisoners of war. More in number of the captured than the | ||
+ | captors. Our men are still &# | ||
+ | or a handkerchief in sign of submission; some have hugged the ground to | ||
+ | escape our bullets and so are taken; few made resistance after the first | ||
+ | moment of our crossing the wall; some yield submissively with good | ||
+ | grace, some with grim, dogged aspect, showing that but for the other | ||
+ | alternative they could not submit to this. Colonels, and all less grades | ||
+ | of officers, in the usual proportion are among them, and all are being | ||
+ | stripped of their arms. Such of them as escaped wounds and capture are | ||
+ | fleeing routed and panic stricken, and disappearing in the woods. Small | ||
+ | arms, more thousands than we can count, are in our hands, scattered over | ||
+ | the field. And these defiant battle-flags, | ||
+ | Manassas,&# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | about, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | After repeated assaults upon the right and the left, where, and in all | ||
+ | of which repulse had been his only success, this persistent and | ||
+ | presuming enemy forms his chosen troops, the flower of his army, for a | ||
+ | grand assault upon our center. The manner and result of such assault | ||
+ | have been told& | ||
+ | thousand, killed, wounded and prisoners, and of over thirty | ||
+ | battle-flags. This was accomplished by not over six thousand men, with a | ||
+ | loss on our part of not over two thousand five hundred killed and | ||
+ | wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | I did, and have looked upon that field! It would have done two men, to | ||
+ | whom the country owes much, good to have been with their men in that | ||
+ | moment of victory& | ||
+ | they had made, and of that splendid fighting which men schooled by their | ||
+ | discipline, had executed. But they are both severely wounded and have | ||
+ | been carried from the field. One person did come then that I was glad to | ||
+ | see there, and that was no less than Major General Meade, whom the Army | ||
+ | of the Potomac was fortunate enough to have at that time to command it. | ||
+ | See how a great General looked upon the field, and what he said and did | ||
+ | at the moment, and when he learned of his great victory. To appreciate | ||
+ | the incident I give, it should be borne in mind that one coming up from | ||
+ | the rear of the line, as did General Meade, could have seen very little | ||
+ | of our own men, who had now crossed the crest, and although he could | ||
+ | have heard the noise, he could not have told its occasion, or by whom | ||
+ | made, until he had actually attained the crest. One who did not know | ||
+ | results, so coming, would have been quite as likely to have supposed | ||
+ | that our line there had been carried and captured by the enemy& | ||
+ | gray Rebels were on the crest& | ||
+ | Such mistake was really made by one of our officers, as I shall relate.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | aide-de-camp, | ||
+ | army. The principal horseman was no bedizened hero of some holiday | ||
+ | review, but he was a plain man, dressed in a serviceable summer suit of | ||
+ | dark blue cloth, without badge or ornament, save the shoulder-straps of | ||
+ | his grade, and a light, straight sword of a General or General staff | ||
+ | officer. He wore heavy, high-top boots and buff gauntlets, and his soft | ||
+ | black felt hat was slouched down over his eyes. His face was very white, | ||
+ | not pale, and the lines were marked and earnest and full of care. As he | ||
+ | arrived near me, coming up the hill, he asked, in a sharp, eager voice: | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | repulsed,&# | ||
+ | in his face, of gratified surprise, with a touch of incredulity, | ||
+ | which his voice was also the medium, he further asked: &# | ||
+ | assault already repulsed?</ | ||
+ | before. &# | ||
+ | when his eye had for an instant swept over< | ||
+ | glance of the whole& | ||
+ | flags which the men were derisively flaunting about, the fugitives of | ||
+ | the routed enemy, disappearing with the speed of terror in the | ||
+ | woods& | ||
+ | impressively, | ||
+ | moved as if it would have caught off his hat and waved it; but this | ||
+ | gesture he suppressed, and instead he waved his hand, and said &# | ||
+ | The son, with more youth in his blood and less rank upon his shoulders, | ||
+ | snatched off his cap, and roared out his three &# | ||
+ | The General then surveyed the field, some minutes, in silence. He at | ||
+ | length asked who was in command& | ||
+ | were wounded& | ||
+ | officer of the Corps and General Harrow of the Division. He asked where | ||
+ | they were, but before I had time to answer that I did not know, he | ||
+ | resumed: &# | ||
+ | executed.&# | ||
+ | soon as practicable, | ||
+ | enough to attack again. He also gave directions concerning the posting | ||
+ | of some reinforcements which he said would soon be there, adding: &# | ||
+ | the enemy does attack, charge him in the flank and sweep him from the | ||
+ | field; do you understand.&# | ||
+ | in the direction of his headquarters.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and sent to the rear. &# | ||
+ | by some of our surgeons who were in Gettysburg, at the time Pickett&# | ||
+ | Division marched out to take position& | ||
+ | through your d& | ||
+ | through our lines for us,&# | ||
+ | intended& | ||
+ | and bayonet, but crestfallen captives, without arms, guarded by the true | ||
+ | bayonets of the Union, with the cheers of their conquerors ringing in | ||
+ | their ears. There was a grim truth after all in this Rebel remark. | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | melancholy stream of dirty gray, to pour over the crest to our rear. | ||
+ | Many of the officers were well dressed, fine, proud gentlemen, such men | ||
+ | as it would be a pleasure to meet, when the war is over. I had no desire | ||
+ | to exult over them, and pity and sympathy were the general feelings of | ||
+ | us all upon the occasion. The cheering of our men, and the unceremonious | ||
+ | handling of the captured flags was probably not gratifying to the | ||
+ | prisoners, but not intended for taunt or insult to the men; they could | ||
+ | take no exception to such practices. When the prisoners were turned to | ||
+ | the rear and were crossing the crest, Lieut. Col. Morgan, General | ||
+ | Hancock&# | ||
+ | reserve, towards the Second Corps. As he saw the men in gray coming over | ||
+ | the hill, he said to the officer in command of the battery: &# | ||
+ | there! The enemy has carried the crest. See them come pouring over! The | ||
+ | old Second Corps is gone, and you had better get your battery away from | ||
+ | here as quickly as possible, or it will be captured.&# | ||
+ | actually giving the order to his<span class=" | ||
+ | observation discovered that the gray-backs that were coming had no arms, | ||
+ | and then the truth flashed upon the minds of the observers. The same | ||
+ | mistake was made by others.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In view of the results of that day& | ||
+ | country, would not the people of the whole country, standing there upon | ||
+ | the crest with General Meade, have said, with him: &# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I have no knowledge and little notion of how long a time elapsed from | ||
+ | the moment the fire of the infantry commenced, until the enemy was | ||
+ | entirely repulsed, in this his grand assault. I judge, from the amount | ||
+ | of fighting and the changes of position that occurred, that probably the | ||
+ | fight was of nearly an hour&# | ||
+ | seen none who knew. The time seemed but a very few minutes, when the | ||
+ | battle was over.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | upon our crest, where the conflict had impaired it, until between five | ||
+ | and six o&# | ||
+ | their position, in conformity to the<span class=" | ||
+ | appeared no more in front of the Second Corps; but while I was engaged | ||
+ | as I have mentioned, farther to our left some considerable force of the | ||
+ | enemy moved out and made show of attack. Our artillery, now in good | ||
+ | order again, in due time opened fire, and the shells scattered the | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | came within range of our infantry. This, save unimportant outpost | ||
+ | firing, was the last of the battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of the pursuit of the enemy and the movements of the army subsequent to | ||
+ | the battle, until the crossing of the Potomac by Lee and the closing of | ||
+ | the campaign, it is not my purpose to write. Suffice it that on the | ||
+ | night of the 3d of July the enemy withdrew his left, Ewell&# | ||
+ | our front, and on the morning of the 4th we again occupied the village | ||
+ | of Gettysburg, and on that national day victory was proclaimed to the | ||
+ | country; that floods of rain on that day prevented army movements of any | ||
+ | considerable magnitude, the day being passed by our army in position | ||
+ | upon the field, in burying our dead, and some of those of the enemy, and | ||
+ | in making the movements already <span class=" | ||
+ | of the enemy was commenced& | ||
+ | our army, upon various roads, moved from the battlefield.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | captures, and of what I saw in riding over the field, when the enemy was | ||
+ | gone, my account is done.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | prisoners, lost on the 1st of July. Our loss in prisoners, not wounded, | ||
+ | probably was < | ||
+ | different army corps about as follows: In the Second Corps, which | ||
+ | sustained the heaviest loss of any corps, a little over < | ||
+ | five hundred</ | ||
+ | First Corps a little over < | ||
+ | missing; in the Third Corps < | ||
+ | in the Eleventh Corps nearly < | ||
+ | missing; and the rest of the loss, to make the aggregate mentioned, was | ||
+ | shared by the<span class=" | ||
+ | these the missing were few; and the losses of the Sixth Corps and of the | ||
+ | cavalry were light. I do not think the official reports will show my | ||
+ | estimate of our losses to be far from correct, for I have taken great | ||
+ | pains to question staff officers upon the subject, and have learned | ||
+ | approximate numbers from them. We lost no gun or flag that I have heard | ||
+ | of in all the battle. Some small arms, I suppose, were lost on the 1st | ||
+ | of July.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | thousand</ | ||
+ | far as I can learn we took < | ||
+ | wounded& | ||
+ | them were wounded. I have so far as practicable ascertained the number | ||
+ | of dead the enemy left upon the field, approximately, | ||
+ | reports of different burying parties. I think his dead upon the field | ||
+ | were < | ||
+ | of July, were buried by us& | ||
+ | possession. In looking at a great number of tables< | ||
+ | wounded in battles I have found that the proportion of the killed to the | ||
+ | wounded is as < | ||
+ | So with the killed at the number stated, < | ||
+ | mentioned. I think < | ||
+ | unwounded, fell into our hands. Great numbers of his small arms, two or | ||
+ | three guns, and forty or more& | ||
+ | his regimental battle-flags, | ||
+ | may learn the enemy&# | ||
+ | many flags he did not take home with him. I have great confidence | ||
+ | however in my estimates, for they have been carefully made, and after | ||
+ | much inquiry, and with no desire or motive to overestimate the enemy&# | ||
+ | loss.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | object sought by the Rebel, the result, will all contribute to give | ||
+ | Gettysburg a place among the great historic battles of the world. That | ||
+ | General Meade&# | ||
+ | marched by some of the Corps& | ||
+ | and his dispositions< | ||
+ | that his victory was brilliant and complete, I think all should admit. I | ||
+ | cannot but regard it as highly fortunate to us and commendable in | ||
+ | General Meade, that the enemy was allowed the initiative, the offensive, | ||
+ | in the main battle; that it was much better to allow the Rebel, for his | ||
+ | own destruction, | ||
+ | defensive solidity of our position, than it would have been to hunt him, | ||
+ | for the same purpose, in the woods, or to unearth him from his | ||
+ | rifle-pits. In this manner our losses were lighter, and his heavier, | ||
+ | than if the case had been reversed. And whatever the books may say of | ||
+ | troops fighting the better who make the attack, I am satisfied that in | ||
+ | this war, Americans, the Rebels, as well as ourselves, are best on the | ||
+ | defensive. The proposition is deducible from the battles of the war, I | ||
+ | think, and my own observation confirms it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle, because some other general did not have the command, or because | ||
+ | any portion of the army of the enemy was<span class=" | ||
+ | destruction. As if one army of a hundred thousand men could encounter | ||
+ | another of the same number of as good troops and annihilate it! Military | ||
+ | men do not claim or expect this; but the McClellan destroyers do, the | ||
+ | doughty knights of purchasable newspaper quills; the formidable warriors | ||
+ | from the brothels of politics, men of much warlike experience against | ||
+ | honesty and honor, of profound attainments in ignorance, who have the | ||
+ | maxims of Napoleon, whose spirit they as little understand as they do | ||
+ | most things, to quote, to prove all things; but who, unfortunately, | ||
+ | much influence in the country and with the Government, and so over the | ||
+ | army. It is very pleasant for these people, no doubt, at safe distances | ||
+ | from guns, in the enjoyment of a lucrative office, or of a fraudulently | ||
+ | obtained government contract, surrounded by the luxuries of their own | ||
+ | firesides, where mud and flooding storms, and utter weariness never | ||
+ | penetrate, to discourse of battles and how campaigns should be conducted | ||
+ | and armies of the enemy destroyed. But it should be enough, perhaps, to | ||
+ | say that men here, or elsewhere, who have <span class=" | ||
+ | affairs to entitle them to express an opinion on such matters, and | ||
+ | accurate information enough to realize the nature and the means of this | ||
+ | desired destruction of Lee&# | ||
+ | Virginia, will be most likely to vindicate the Pennsylvania campaign of | ||
+ | Gen. Meade, and to see that he accomplished all that could have been | ||
+ | reasonably expected of any general of any army. Complaint has been, and | ||
+ | is, made specially against Meade, that he did not attack Lee near | ||
+ | Williamsport before he had time to withdraw across the river. These were | ||
+ | the facts concerning this matter:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | practicable at all, could have been made. The time before this, since | ||
+ | the battle, had been spent in moving the army from the vicinity of the | ||
+ | field, finding something of the enemy and concentrating before him. On | ||
+ | that day the army was concentrated and in order of battle near the | ||
+ | turnpike that leads from Sharpsburg to Hagerstown, Md., the right | ||
+ | resting at or near the latter place, the left near Jones&# | ||
+ | some six miles in the direction of <span class=" | ||
+ | order from left to right: the 12th corps, the 2d, the 5th, the 6th, the | ||
+ | 1st, the 11th; the 3d being in reserve behind the 2d. The mean distance | ||
+ | to the Potomac was some six miles, and the enemy was between Meade and | ||
+ | the river. The Potomac, swelled by the recent rain, was boiling and | ||
+ | swift and deep, a magnificent place to have drowned all the Rebel crew. | ||
+ | I have not the least doubt but that Gen. Meade would have liked to drown | ||
+ | them all, if he could, but they were unwilling to be drowned, and would | ||
+ | fight first. To drive them into the river then, they must be routed. | ||
+ | Gen. Meade, I believe, favored an attack upon the enemy at that time, | ||
+ | and he summoned his corps commanders to a council upon the subject. The | ||
+ | 1st corps was represented by William Hayes, the 3d by French, the 5th by | ||
+ | Sykes, the 6th by Sedgwick, the 11th by Howard, the 12th by Slocum, and | ||
+ | the Cavalry by Pleasanton. Of the eight generals there, Wadsworth, | ||
+ | Howard and Pleasanton were in favor of immediate attack, and five, | ||
+ | Hayes, French, Sykes, Sedgwick and Slocum were not in favor of attack | ||
+ | until better information was <span class=" | ||
+ | the enemy. Of the < | ||
+ | corps in the brief absence of Newton, who, had a battle occurred, would | ||
+ | have commanded. Pleasanton, with his horses, would have been a spectator | ||
+ | only, and Howard, with the < | ||
+ | trusted nowhere but a safe distance from the enemy& | ||
+ | fault, however, for he is a good and brave man. Such was the position of | ||
+ | those who felt sanguinarily inclined. Of the < | ||
+ | fighting generals of the fighting corps, save the 1st. This, then, was | ||
+ | the feeling of these generals& | ||
+ | or part in all probability, | ||
+ | had both part and responsibility, | ||
+ | daylight on the morning of the 14th, strong reconnoissances from the | ||
+ | 12th, 2d and 5th corps were the means of discovering that between the | ||
+ | enemy, except a thousand or fifteen hundred of his rear guard, who fell | ||
+ | into our hands, and the Army of the Potomac, rolled the rapid, unbridged | ||
+ | river. The Rebel General,< | ||
+ | constructed bridges, had crossed during all the preceding night, but so | ||
+ | close were our cavalry and infantry upon him in the morning, that the | ||
+ | bridges were destroyed before his rear guard had all crossed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | propriety of attack at that time, were probably the following: The army | ||
+ | was wearied and worn down by four weeks of constant forced marching or | ||
+ | battle, in the midst of heat, mud and drenching showers, burdened with | ||
+ | arms, accoutrements, | ||
+ | to eight days&# | ||
+ | know. Since the battle the army had been constantly diminished by | ||
+ | sickness or prostration and by more straggling than I ever saw before. | ||
+ | Poor fellows& | ||
+ | further efficient physical exertion was quite impossible. Even the sound | ||
+ | of the skirmishing, | ||
+ | impending battle, had no effect to arouse for an hour the exhibition of | ||
+ | their wonted< | ||
+ | been far heavier than ours; but his army was less weary than ours, for | ||
+ | in a given time since the first of the campaign, it had marched far less | ||
+ | and with lighter loads. These Rebels are accustomed to hunger and | ||
+ | nakedness, customs to which our men do not take readily. And the enemy | ||
+ | had straggled less, for the men were going away from battle and towards | ||
+ | home, and for them to straggle was to go into captivity, whose end they | ||
+ | could not conjecture. The enemy was somewhere in position in a ridgy, | ||
+ | wooded country, abounding in strong defensive positions, his main bodies | ||
+ | concealed, protected by rifle-pits and epaulements, | ||
+ | the defensive. His dispositions, | ||
+ | considerable degree of accuracy was unknown, nor could they be known | ||
+ | except by reconnoisances in such force, and carried to such extent, as | ||
+ | would have constituted them attacks liable to bring on at any moment a | ||
+ | general engagement, and at places where we were least prepared and least | ||
+ | likely to be successful. To have had a battle there then, Gen. Meade | ||
+ | would have had to attack a cunning< | ||
+ | undiscovered rifle-pits and batteries, and unseen bodies of men might | ||
+ | have met his forces at every point. With his not greatly superior | ||
+ | numbers, under such circumstances had Gen. Meade attacked, would he have | ||
+ | been victorious? The vote of these generals at the council shows their | ||
+ | opinion& | ||
+ | little damage to the enemy. Such a result might have satisfied the | ||
+ | bloody politicians better than the end of the campaign as it was; but I | ||
+ | think the country did not need that sacrifice of the Army of the Potomac | ||
+ | at that time& | ||
+ | the 1st Fredericksburg field, to stop their snuffing for some time. I | ||
+ | felt the probability of defeat strongly at the time, when we all | ||
+ | supposed that a conflict would certainly ensue; for always before a | ||
+ | battle& | ||
+ | some unaccountable fore-shadowing pervades the army. I never knew the | ||
+ | result to prove it untrue, which rests with the weight of a conviction. | ||
+ | Whether such shadows are cause or consequence, | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | should not be wholly disregarded by the commander. I believe the Army of | ||
+ | the Potomac is always willing, often eager, to fight the enemy, | ||
+ | whenever, as it thinks, there is a fair chance for victory; that it | ||
+ | always will fight, let come victory or defeat whenever it is ordered so | ||
+ | to do. Of course the army, both officers and men, had very great | ||
+ | disappointment and very great sorrow that the Rebels < | ||
+ | was called& | ||
+ | to the extent that disappointment is like surprise; but the sorrow to | ||
+ | judge by looks, tones and actions, rather than by words, was not of that | ||
+ | deep, sable character for which there is no balm.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | it was not rampant for fight at this particular time and under the | ||
+ | existing circumstances? | ||
+ | Potomac twelve hours longer, there would have been a great battle there | ||
+ | near Williamsport on the 14th of July.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | conduct of his subordinate commanders good. I know, and have heard, of | ||
+ | no bad conduct or blundering on the part of any officer, save that of | ||
+ | Sickles, on the 2d of July, and that was so gross, and came so near | ||
+ | being the cause of irreparable disaster that I cannot discuss it with | ||
+ | moderation. I hope the man may never return to the Army of the Potomac, | ||
+ | or elsewhere, to a position where his incapacity, or something worse, | ||
+ | may bring fruitless destruction to thousands again. The conduct of | ||
+ | officers and men was good. The 11th corps behaved badly; but I have yet | ||
+ | to learn the occasion when, in the opinion of any save their own | ||
+ | officers and themselves, the men of this corps have behaved well on the | ||
+ | march or before the enemy, either under Siegel or any other commander. | ||
+ | With this exception, and some minor cases of very little consequence in | ||
+ | the general result, our troops whenever and wherever the enemy came, | ||
+ | stood against them storms of impassable fire. Such was the infantry, | ||
+ | such the artillery& | ||
+ | required.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | cause. Their conduct in this battle even makes me proud of them as | ||
+ | Americans. They would have been victorious over any but the best of | ||
+ | soldiers. Lee and his generals presumed too much upon some past | ||
+ | successes, and did not estimate how much they were due on their part to | ||
+ | position, as at Fredericksburg, | ||
+ | the 2d Bull Run and Chancellorsville.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | but even that probably would have resulted differently had Reynolds not | ||
+ | been struck. The success of the enemy in the battle ended with the 1st | ||
+ | of July. The Rebels were joyous and jubilant& | ||
+ | hands, and the citizens of Gettysburg& | ||
+ | day. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were remembered by them. They | ||
+ | saw victory already won, or only to be snatched from the streaming | ||
+ | coat-tails of the 11th corps, or the &# | ||
+ | they thought they were, when they saw them run; and already the spires | ||
+ | of Baltimore and the dome of<span class=" | ||
+ | their glad vision& | ||
+ | beautiful valleys of Pennsylvania and &# | ||
+ | anything so fine before? How splendid it would be to enjoy the poultry | ||
+ | and the fruit, the meats, the cakes, the beds, the clothing, the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | indeed! But on the 2d of July something of a change came over the spirit | ||
+ | of these dreams. They were surprised at results and talked less and | ||
+ | thought more as they prepared supper that night. After the fight of the | ||
+ | 3d they talked only of the means of their own safety from destruction. | ||
+ | Pickett&# | ||
+ | they talked not of how many were lost, but of who had escaped. They | ||
+ | talked of these &# | ||
+ | trefoils of the 2d corps that are like < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | far the greatest and severest conflict that has occurred, but for some | ||
+ | other things that I may mention. The fight of the 2d of July,< | ||
+ | left, which was almost a separate and complete battle, is, so far as I | ||
+ | know, alone in the following particulars: | ||
+ | engaged at one time, and the enormous losses that occurred in killed and | ||
+ | wounded in the space of about two hours. If the truth could be obtained, | ||
+ | it would probably show a much larger number of casualties in this than | ||
+ | my estimate in a former part of these sheets. Few battles of the war | ||
+ | that have had so many casualties <ins class=" | ||
+ | the 2d of July. The 3d of July is distinguished. Then occurred the | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | and in almost any battle. And besides this, the main operations that | ||
+ | followed have few parallels in history, none in this war, of the | ||
+ | magnitude and magnificence of the assault, single and simultaneous, | ||
+ | disparity of the numbers engaged, and the brilliancy, completeness and | ||
+ | overwhelming character of the result in favor of the side numerically | ||
+ | the weaker. I think I have not, in giving the results of this encounter, | ||
+ | overestimated the numbers or the losses of the enemy. We learned on all | ||
+ | hands, by prisoners and by the<span class=" | ||
+ | moved up to the assault& | ||
+ | first engagement of Pickett&# | ||
+ | Pettigrew&# | ||
+ | divisions usually number nine or ten thousand, or did at that time, as | ||
+ | we understood. Then I have seen something of troops and think I can | ||
+ | estimate their numbers somewhat. The number of the Rebels killed here I | ||
+ | have estimated in this way: the 2d and 3d divisions of the 2d corps | ||
+ | buried the Rebel dead in their own front, and where they fought upon | ||
+ | their own grounds, by count they buried over < | ||
+ | hundred</ | ||
+ | on the 2d of July in front of the 2d division, and the rest must have | ||
+ | fallen upon the 3d. My estimates that depend upon this contingency may | ||
+ | be erroneous, but to no great extent. The rest of the particulars of the | ||
+ | assault, our own losses and our captures, I know are approximately | ||
+ | accurate. Yet the whole sounds like romance, a grand stage piece of | ||
+ | blood.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of all the corps d&# | ||
+ | brilliant results, the palm should be, as by the army it is, awarded to | ||
+ | the &# | ||
+ | severer losses upon the enemy in killed and wounded, and sustained a | ||
+ | heavier like loss, and captured more flags than all the rest of the | ||
+ | army, and almost as many prisoners as the rest of the army. The loss of | ||
+ | the 2d corps in killed and wounded in this battle& | ||
+ | test of hard fighting& | ||
+ | forces in the battle that preceded and in the siege of Vicksburg. | ||
+ | Three-eighths of the whole corps were killed and wounded. Why does the | ||
+ | Western Army suppose that the Army of the Potomac does not fight? Was | ||
+ | ever a more absurd supposition? | ||
+ | it good leadership& | ||
+ | that reasonable men desire.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of Gibbon&# | ||
+ | too enthusiastically. This division has been accustomed to distinguished | ||
+ | leadership. Sumner, Sedgwick and Howard have honored, and been honored | ||
+ | by, its command.< | ||
+ | Howard at Fredericksburg; | ||
+ | Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg. At Gettysburg its loss in killed and | ||
+ | wounded was over < | ||
+ | engaged; it captured < | ||
+ | hundred</ | ||
+ | or mortally wounded four Rebel generals, < | ||
+ | with the three on the 3d, < | ||
+ | in killed and wounded, and in captures from the enemy of prisoners and | ||
+ | flags, it stood pre-eminent among all the divisions at Gettysburg.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | expected. Will the country remember them?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It is understood in the army that the President thanked the slayer of | ||
+ | Barton Key for < | ||
+ | better than the President that Meade, Hancock and Gibbon were entitled | ||
+ | to some little share of such credit?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At about six o&# | ||
+ | upon the field, I quitted it to go to the General. My brave horse | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | been complimented by a Brigadier& | ||
+ | covered with blood. Struck repeatedly, his right thigh had been ripped | ||
+ | open in a ghastly manner by a piece of shell, and three bullets were | ||
+ | lodged deep in his body, and from his wounds the blood oozed and ran | ||
+ | down his sides and legs and with the sweat formed a bloody foam. Dick&# | ||
+ | was no mean part in that battle. Good conduct in men under such | ||
+ | circumstances as he was placed in might result from a sense of duty& | ||
+ | was the result of his bravery. Most horses would have been unmanageable | ||
+ | with the flash and roar of arms about and the shouting. Dick was utterly | ||
+ | cool, and would have obeyed the rein had it been a straw. To Dick | ||
+ | belongs the honor of first mounting that stormy crest before the enemy, | ||
+ | not forty yards away, whose bullets smote him, and of being the only | ||
+ | horse there during the heat of the battle. Even the enemy noticed Dick, | ||
+ | and one of their reports of the battle mentions the &# | ||
+ | horseman</ | ||
+ | times as much as I could have done on foot. It would not be dignified | ||
+ | for an officer on foot to run; it is entirely so, mounted, to gallop. I | ||
+ | do not approve of officers dismounting in battle, which is the time of | ||
+ | all when they most need to be mounted, for thereby they have so much | ||
+ | greater facilities for being everywhere present. Most officers, however, | ||
+ | in close action, dismount. Dick deserves well of his country, and one | ||
+ | day should have a horse-monument. If there be &# | ||
+ | and equine elysium, I will send to Charon the brass coin, the fee for | ||
+ | Dick&# | ||
+ | clover-fields he may nibble the blossoms forever.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I had been struck upon the thigh by a bullet which I think must have | ||
+ | glanced and partially spent its force upon my saddle. It had pierced the | ||
+ | thick cloth of my trowsers and two thicknesses of underclothing, | ||
+ | not broken the skin, leaving me with an enormous bruise that for a time | ||
+ | benumbed the entire leg. At the time of receiving it, I heard the thump, | ||
+ | and noticed it and<span class=" | ||
+ | and I experienced a feeling of relief I am sure, when I found that my | ||
+ | leg was not pierced. I think when I dismounted my horse after that fight | ||
+ | that I was no very comely specimen of humanity. Drenched with sweat, the | ||
+ | white of battle, by the reaction, now turned to burning red. I felt like | ||
+ | a boiled man; and had it not been for the exhiliration at results I | ||
+ | should have been miserable. This kept me up, however, and having found a | ||
+ | man to transfer the saddle from poor Dick, who was now disposed to lie | ||
+ | down by loss of blood and exhaustion, to another horse, I hobbled on | ||
+ | among the hospitals in search of Gen. Gibbon.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | rejoicings at the victory, and I took a malicious pleasure as I went | ||
+ | along and met them, in taunting the < | ||
+ | telling them& | ||
+ | to the Provost Guard to arrest and shoot all men they could find away | ||
+ | from their regiments who could not prove a good account of themselves. | ||
+ | To find the General was no easy matter. I inquired for both Generals< | ||
+ | Hancock and Gibbon& | ||
+ | for the hospitals of the 2d corps. My search was attended with many | ||
+ | incidents that were provokingly humorous. The stupidity of most men is | ||
+ | amazing. I would ask of a man I met, &# | ||
+ | corps hospitals are?&# | ||
+ | ask sharply, &# | ||
+ | &# | ||
+ | stupidity would stare or mutter about the ingratitude of some people for | ||
+ | kindness. Did I ask for the Generals I was looking for, they would | ||
+ | announce the interesting fact, in reply, that they had seen some other | ||
+ | generals. Some were sure that Gen. Hancock or Gibbon was dead. They had | ||
+ | seen his dead body. This was a falsehood, and they knew it. Then it was | ||
+ | Gen. Longstreet. This was also, as they knew, a falsehood.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | neighborhood in rear of the field became one vast hospital of miles in | ||
+ | extent. Some could walk to the hospitals; such as<span class=" | ||
+ | upon stretchers from the places where they fell to selected points and | ||
+ | thence the ambulance bore them, a miserable load, to their destination. | ||
+ | Many were brought to the building, along the Taneytown road, and too | ||
+ | badly wounded to be carried further, died and were buried there, Union | ||
+ | and Rebel soldiers together. At every house, and barn, and shed the | ||
+ | wounded were; by many a cooling brook, or many a shady slope or grassy | ||
+ | glade, the red flags beckoned them to their tented asylums, and there | ||
+ | they gathered, in numbers a great army, a mutilated, bruised mass of | ||
+ | humanity. Men with gray hair and furrowed cheeks and soft-lipped, | ||
+ | beardless boys were there, for these bullets have made no distinction | ||
+ | between age and youth. Every conceivable wound that iron and lead can | ||
+ | make, blunt or sharp, bullet, ball and shell, piercing, bruising, | ||
+ | tearing, was there; sometimes so light that a bandage and cold water | ||
+ | would restore the soldier to the ranks again; sometimes so severe that | ||
+ | the poor victim in his hopeless pain, remedy-less save by the only | ||
+ | panacea for all mortal suffering, invoked that. The men are generally | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | animated faces of nothing but the battle and the victory. But some are | ||
+ | downcast, their faces distorted with pain. Some have undergone the | ||
+ | surgeon&# | ||
+ | their turn to have an arm or a leg cut off. Some walk about with an arm | ||
+ | in a sling; some sit idly upon the ground; some lie at full length upon | ||
+ | a little straw, or a blanket, with their brawny, now blood-stained, | ||
+ | limbs bare, and you may see where the minie bullet has struck or the | ||
+ | shell has torn. From a small round hole upon many a manly breast, the | ||
+ | red blood trickles, but the pallid cheek, the hard-drawn breath and dim | ||
+ | closed eyes tell how near the source of life it has gone. The surgeons, | ||
+ | with coats off and sleeves rolled up, and the hospital attendants with | ||
+ | green bands upon their caps, are about their work; and their faces and | ||
+ | clothes are spattered with blood; and though they look weary and tired, | ||
+ | their work goes systematically and steadily on. How much and how long | ||
+ | they have worked, the piles of legs, arms, feet, hands, and fingers | ||
+ | about partially tell. Such sounds are<span class=" | ||
+ | have heard them upon the field& | ||
+ | and muscles are not made of insensible stone. Near by appear a row of | ||
+ | small fresh mounds, placed side by side. They were not there day before | ||
+ | yesterday. They will become more numerous every day.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Gibbon was sitting on a chair that had been borrowed somewhere, with his | ||
+ | wounded shoulder bare, and an attendant was bathing it with cold water. | ||
+ | Gen. Hancock was near by in an ambulance. They were at the tents of the | ||
+ | Second Corps hospitals, which were on Rock Run. As I approached Gen. | ||
+ | Gibbon, when he saw me, he began to hurrah and wave his right hand. He | ||
+ | had heard the result. I said: &# | ||
+ | wave&# | ||
+ | bullet in the left shoulder, which had passed from the front through the | ||
+ | flesh and out behind, fracturing the shoulder blade and inflicting a | ||
+ | severe but not dangerous wound. He thinks he was the mark of a | ||
+ | sharpshooter of the<span class=" | ||
+ | sat so long during the cannonade; and he was wounded and taken off the | ||
+ | field before the fire of the main lines of infantry had commenced, he | ||
+ | being at the time he was hit near the left of his division. Gen. Hancock | ||
+ | was struck a little later near the same part of the field by a bullet, | ||
+ | piercing and almost going through his thigh, without touching the bone, | ||
+ | however. His wound was severe, also. He was carried back out of range, | ||
+ | but before he would be carried off the field, he lay upon the ground in | ||
+ | sight of the crest, where he could see something of the fight, until he | ||
+ | knew what would be the result.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | voluntary crowd of the wounded who pressed around now, for the wounds | ||
+ | they showed not rebuked for closing up to the Generals, the story of the | ||
+ | fight. I was nothing loth; and I must say though I used sometimes before | ||
+ | the war to make speeches, that I never had so enthusiastic an audience | ||
+ | before. Cries of &# | ||
+ | storming of the wall was applauded by<span class=" | ||
+ | of battered, bloody hands.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>By the custom of the service the General had the right to have me along | ||
+ | with him, while away with his wound; but duty and inclination attracted | ||
+ | me still to the field, and I obtained the General&# | ||
+ | Accompanying Gen. Gibbon to Westminster, | ||
+ | railroad trains then ran, and seeing him transferred from an ambulance | ||
+ | to the cars for Baltimore on the 4th, the next day I returned to the | ||
+ | field to his division, since his wounding in the command of Gen. Harrow.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the 6th of July, while my bullet bruise was yet too inflamed and | ||
+ | sensitive for me to be good for much in the way of duty& | ||
+ | was then halted for the day some four miles from the field on the | ||
+ | Baltimore turnpike& | ||
+ | opportunity to see again where the battle had been. With the right | ||
+ | stirrup strap shortened in a manner to favor the bruised leg, I could | ||
+ | ride my horse at a walk without serious discomfort. It seemed very | ||
+ | strange upon approaching the horse-shoe crest again, not to see it<span class=" | ||
+ | covered with the thousands of troops and horses and guns, but they were | ||
+ | all gone& | ||
+ | summer morning the stillness and silence of death pervaded the | ||
+ | localities where so recently the shouts and the cannon had thundered. | ||
+ | The recent rains had washed out many an unsightly spot, and smoothed | ||
+ | many a harrowed trace of the conflict; but one still needed no guide | ||
+ | save the eyes, to follow the track of that storm, which the storms of | ||
+ | heaven were powerless soon to entirely efface. The spade and shovel, so | ||
+ | far as a little earth for the human bodies would render their task done, | ||
+ | had completed their work& | ||
+ | some concealing bush, or sheltering rock, what had once been a man, and | ||
+ | the thousands of stricken horses still lay scattered as they had died. | ||
+ | The scattered small arms and the accoutrements had been collected and | ||
+ | carried away, almost all that were of any value; but great numbers of | ||
+ | bent and splintered muskets, rent knapsacks and haversacks, bruised | ||
+ | canteens, shreds of caps, coats, trowsers, of blue or gray cloth, | ||
+ | worthless belts and cartridge boxes, torn blankets, <span class=" | ||
+ | broken wheels, smashed limbers, shattered gun carriages, parts of | ||
+ | harness, of all that men or horses wear or use in battle, were scattered | ||
+ | broadcast over miles of the field. From these one could tell where the | ||
+ | fight had been hottest. The rifle-pits and epaulements and the trampled | ||
+ | grass told where the lines had stood, and the batteries& | ||
+ | being thicker where the enemy had been than those of our own | ||
+ | construction. No soldier was to be seen, but numbers of civilians and | ||
+ | boys, and some girls even, were curiously loitering about the field, and | ||
+ | their faces showed not sadness or horror, but only staring wonder or | ||
+ | smirking curiosity. They looked for mementoes of the battle to keep, | ||
+ | they said; but their furtive attempts to conceal an uninjured musket or | ||
+ | an untorn blanket& | ||
+ | belonged to the Government& | ||
+ | ingredient at least of their motive for coming here. Of course there was | ||
+ | not the slightest objection to their taking anything they could find | ||
+ | now; but their manner of doing it was the objectionable thing. I could | ||
+ | now understand why soldiers had been asked a dollar for a small< | ||
+ | of old linen to bind their own wound, and not be compelled to go off to | ||
+ | the hospitals.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | terrific fire of cannon and musketry as upon this. Along the enemy&# | ||
+ | position, where our shells and shot had struck during the cannonade of | ||
+ | the third, the trees had cast their trunks and branches as if they had | ||
+ | been icicles shaken by a blast. And graves of the Rebel&# | ||
+ | dead horses and scattered accoutrements, | ||
+ | besides trees had been struck by our projectiles. I must say that, | ||
+ | having seen the work of their guns upon the same occasion, I was | ||
+ | gratified to see these things. Along the slope of Culp&# | ||
+ | of the position of the 12th, and the 1st Division of the 1st Corps, the | ||
+ | trees were almost literally peeled, from the ground up some fifteen or | ||
+ | twenty feet, so thick upon them were the scars the bullets had made. | ||
+ | Upon a single tree, not over a foot and a half in diameter, I actually | ||
+ | counted as many as two hundred and fifty bullet marks. The ground was | ||
+ | covered by the little twigs that had been cut off by the hailstorm of | ||
+ | lead. Such were< | ||
+ | Rebels assaulted our breastworks on the night of the 2d and the morning | ||
+ | of the 3d of July. And those works looked formidable, zig-zaging along | ||
+ | these rocky crests, even now when not a musket was behind them. What | ||
+ | madness on the part of the enemy to have attacked them! All along | ||
+ | through these bullet-stormed woods were interspersed little patches of | ||
+ | fresh earth, raised a foot or so above the surrounding ground. Some were | ||
+ | very near the front of the works; and near by, upon a tree whose bark | ||
+ | had been smoothed by an axe, written in red chalk would be the words, | ||
+ | not in fine handwriting, | ||
+ | there.&# | ||
+ | those famous men, once led by the mighty Stonewall Jackson. Oh, this | ||
+ | damned rebellion will make brutes of us all, if it is not soon quelled! | ||
+ | Our own men were buried in graves, not trenches; and upon a piece of | ||
+ | board, or stave of a barrel, or bit of cracker box, placed at the head, | ||
+ | were neatly cut or penciled the name and regiment of the one buried in | ||
+ | such. This practice was <span class=" | ||
+ | exceptions, for sometimes the cannon&# | ||
+ | to recognize or name. The reasons here for the more careful interment of | ||
+ | our own dead than such as was given to the dead of the enemy are obvious | ||
+ | and I think satisfactory. Our own dead were usually buried not long | ||
+ | after they fell, and without any general order to that effect. It was a | ||
+ | work that the men&# | ||
+ | opportunity offered, to hunt out their dead companions, to make them a | ||
+ | grave in some convenient spot, and decently composed with their blankets | ||
+ | wrapped about them, to cover them tenderly with earth and mark their | ||
+ | resting place. Such burials were not without as scalding tears as ever | ||
+ | fell upon the face of coffined mortality. The dead of the enemy could | ||
+ | not be buried until after the close of the whole battle. The army was | ||
+ | about to move& | ||
+ | commenced. Tools, save those carried by the pioneers, were many miles | ||
+ | away with the train, and the burying parties were required to make all | ||
+ | haste in their work, in order to be ready to move< | ||
+ | To make long shallow trenches, to collect the Rebel dead, often hundreds | ||
+ | in one place, and to cover them hastily with a little earth, without | ||
+ | name, number, or mark, save the shallow mound above them& | ||
+ | course they did not know& | ||
+ | been glad to have seen more formal burial, even of these men of the | ||
+ | rebellion, both because hostilities should cease with death, and of the | ||
+ | respect I have for them as my brave, though deluded, countrymen. I found | ||
+ | fault with such burial at the time, though I knew that the best was done | ||
+ | that could be under the circumstances; | ||
+ | somewhat the rising feelings upon this subject, of any who may be | ||
+ | disposed to share mine, to remember that under similar circumstances& | ||
+ | the issue of the battle been reversed& | ||
+ | burial at all, at the hands of the enemy, but, stripped of their clothing, | ||
+ | their naked bodies would have been left to rot, and their bones to whiten | ||
+ | upon the top of the ground where they fell. Plenty of such examples of | ||
+ | Rebel magnanimity are not wanting, and one occurred on this field,< | ||
+ | Our dead that fell into the hands of the enemy on the 1st of July had | ||
+ | been plundered of all their clothing, but they were left unburied until | ||
+ | our own men buried them after the Rebels had retreated at the end of the | ||
+ | battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | it on my tour of the field. From the afternoon of the 1st to the morning | ||
+ | of the 4th of July, the enemy was in possession. Very many of the | ||
+ | inhabitants had, upon the first approach of the enemy, or upon the | ||
+ | retirement of our troops, fled their homes and the town not to return | ||
+ | until after the battle. Now the town was a hospital where gray and blue | ||
+ | mingled in about equal proportion. The public buildings, the courthouse, | ||
+ | the churches and many private dwellings were full of wounded. There had | ||
+ | been in some of the streets a good deal of fighting, and bullets had | ||
+ | thickly spattered the fences and walls, and shells had riddled the | ||
+ | houses from side to side. And the Rebels had done their work of pillage | ||
+ | there, too, in spite of the smooth-sounding general order of the Rebel | ||
+ | commander enjoining a sacred regard for private property& | ||
+ | really< | ||
+ | stores of drugs and medicines, of clothing, tin-ware and all groceries | ||
+ | had been rifled and emptied without pay or offer of recompense. | ||
+ | Libraries, public and private, had been entered and the books scattered | ||
+ | about the yards or destroyed. Great numbers of private dwellings had | ||
+ | been entered and occupied without ceremony and whatever was liked had | ||
+ | been appropriated or wantonly destroyed. Furniture had been smashed and | ||
+ | beds ripped open, and apparently unlicensed pillage had reigned. | ||
+ | Citizens and women who had remained had been kindly relieved of their | ||
+ | money, their jewelry and their watches& | ||
+ | chivalry, the army of the magnanimous Lee! Put these things by the side | ||
+ | of the acts of the &# | ||
+ | Rebeldom prate of honor! But the people, the women and children that had | ||
+ | fled, were returning, or had returned to their homes& | ||
+ | amid the general havoc were restoring as they could order to the | ||
+ | desecrated firesides. And the faces of them all plainly told that, with | ||
+ | all they had lost and bad as was the<span class=" | ||
+ | found, they were better pleased with such homes than with wandering | ||
+ | houseless in the fields with the Rebels there. All had treasures of | ||
+ | incidents of the battle and of the occupation of the enemy& | ||
+ | sights, escapes, witnessed encounters, wounds, the marvelous passage of | ||
+ | shells or bullets which, upon the asking, or even without, they were | ||
+ | willing to share with the stranger. I heard of no more than one or two | ||
+ | cases of any personal injury received by any of the inhabitants. One | ||
+ | woman was said to have been killed while at her wash-tub, sometime | ||
+ | during the battle; but probably by a stray bullet coming a very long | ||
+ | distance from our own men. For the next hundred years Gettysburg will be | ||
+ | rich in legends and traditions of the battle. I rode through the | ||
+ | Cemetery on &# | ||
+ | astounded in their graves when the twenty pound Parrott guns thundered | ||
+ | above them and the solid shot crushed their gravestones! The flowers, | ||
+ | roses and creeping vines that pious hands had planted to bloom and shed | ||
+ | their odors over the ashes of dead ones gone, were trampled upon the | ||
+ | ground< | ||
+ | shaft, and over it the marble finger pointed to the sky. The marble lamb | ||
+ | that had slept its white sleep on the grave of a child, now lies | ||
+ | blackened upon a broken gun-carriage. Such are the incongruities and | ||
+ | jumblings of battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I looked away to < | ||
+ | I mean, and so do the survivors of Pickett&# | ||
+ | fascination led me thither. How thick are the marks of battle as I | ||
+ | approach& | ||
+ | splintered oaks, the scattered horses& | ||
+ | spot some fifty yards square near the position of Woodruff&# | ||
+ | and where he fell.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I stood solitary upon the crest by &# | ||
+ | days ago, I had stood before; but now how changed is all the eye | ||
+ | beholds. Do these thick mounds cover the fiery hearts that in the battle | ||
+ | rage swept the crest and stormed the wall? I read their names& | ||
+ | alas, I do not know& | ||
+ | monuments& | ||
+ | P. V.,&# | ||
+ | rest& | ||
+ | am not alone. These, my brethren of the fight, are with me. Sleep, noble | ||
+ | brave! The foe shall not desecrate your sleep. Yonder thick trenches | ||
+ | will hold them. As long as patriotism is a virtue, and treason a crime | ||
+ | your deeds have made this crest, your resting place, hallowed ground!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of my General so early in the action of the 3d of July, leaving | ||
+ | important duties which, in the unreasoning excitement of the moment I in | ||
+ | part assumed, enabled me to do for the successful issue, something which | ||
+ | under other circumstances would not have fallen to my rank or place. | ||
+ | Deploring the occasion for taking away from the division in that moment | ||
+ | of its need its soldierly, appropriate head, so cool, so clear, I am yet | ||
+ | glad, as that was to be, that his example and his tuition have not been | ||
+ | entirely in vain to me, and that my impulses then prompted me to do | ||
+ | somewhat as he might have done had he been on the field. The encomiums | ||
+ | of officers, so numerous< | ||
+ | me for my conduct upon that occasion& | ||
+ | gratifying. My position as a staff officer gave me an opportunity to see | ||
+ | much, perhaps as much as any one person, of that conflict. My | ||
+ | observations were not so particular as if I had been attached to a | ||
+ | smaller command; not so general as may have been those of a staff | ||
+ | officer to the General commanding the army; but of such as they were, my | ||
+ | heart was there, and I could do no less than to write something of them, | ||
+ | in the intervals between marches and during the subsequent repose of the | ||
+ | army at the close of the campaign. I have put somewhat upon these | ||
+ | pages& | ||
+ | account& | ||
+ | the battle. It should not be assumed, if I have told of some | ||
+ | occurrences, | ||
+ | it supposed that I have attempted to do full justice to the good conduct | ||
+ | of the fallen, or the survivors of the 1st and 12th Corps. Others must | ||
+ | tell of them. I did not see their work. A full account of < | ||
+ | it was</ | ||
+ | the constant shifting of the bloody panorama? It is not possible. The | ||
+ | official reports may give results as to losses, with statements of | ||
+ | attacks and repulses; they may also note the means by which results were | ||
+ | attained, which is a statement of the number and kind of the forces | ||
+ | employed, but the connection between means and results, the mode, the | ||
+ | battle proper, these reports touch lightly. Two prominent reasons at | ||
+ | least exist which go far to account for the general inadequacy of these | ||
+ | official reports, or to account for their giving no true idea of what | ||
+ | they assume to describe& | ||
+ | their not seeing themselves and their commands as others would have seen | ||
+ | them. And factions, and parties, and politics, the curses of this | ||
+ | Republic, are already putting in their unreasonable demands for the | ||
+ | foremost honors of the field. &# | ||
+ | with the army in person or by infinitesimal influence& | ||
+ | four days before the battle when both armies were scattered and fifty | ||
+ | miles apart! Was ever claim so absurd? Hooker, and<span class=" | ||
+ | result at Chancellorsville. &# | ||
+ | the day!&# | ||
+ | friends! It has more to dread and less to hope from them than from the | ||
+ | red bannered hosts of the rebellion. The states prefer each her claim | ||
+ | for the sole brunt and winning of the fight. &# | ||
+ | York won it!&# | ||
+ | of the Nile win it?&# | ||
+ | were there. Those intermingled graves along the crest bearing the names | ||
+ | of every loyal state, save one or two, should admonish these geese to | ||
+ | cease to cackle. One of the armies of the country won the battle, and | ||
+ | that army supposes that Gen. Meade led it upon that occasion. If it be | ||
+ | not one of the lessons that this war teaches, that we have a country | ||
+ | paramount and supreme over faction, and party, and state, then was the | ||
+ | blood of fifty thousand citizens shed on this field in vain. For the | ||
+ | reasons mentioned, of this battle, greater than that of Waterloo, a | ||
+ | history, just, comprehensive, | ||
+ | By-and-by, out of the chaos of trash and falsehood that the newspapers | ||
+ | hold, out of the disjointed mass of reports, out of the traditions and | ||
+ | tales that come down from the field, some eye that never saw the battle | ||
+ | will select, and some pen will write what will be named < | ||
+ | With that the world will be and, if we are alive, we must be, content.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at work, joining and weaving on her ceaseless web the shells had broken | ||
+ | there. Another spring shall green these trampled slopes, and flowers, | ||
+ | planted by unseen hands, shall bloom upon these graves; another autumn | ||
+ | and the yellow harvest shall ripen there& | ||
+ | perfection for this poured out blood. In another decade of years, in | ||
+ | another century, or age, we hope that the Union, by the same means, may | ||
+ | repose in a securer peace and bloom in a higher civilization. Then what | ||
+ | matter if it lame Tradition glean on this field and hand down her | ||
+ | garbled sheaf& | ||
+ | wreaths, deeds of her heroes here? or if stately history fill as she<span class=" | ||
+ | list her arbitrary tablet, the sounding record of this fight? Tradition, | ||
+ | story, history& | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | <hr style=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | York, 1886), pp. 512, 513.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1865</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | edition, Hon. A. J. Turner wrote the following explanatory note:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Colonel Frank A. Haskell who was on the staff of General John Gibbon, to | ||
+ | his brother at Portage, Wisconsin. It was submitted to me soon after, in | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | publication in our columns quite impossible. The article was written | ||
+ | from the &# | ||
+ | although it was during the same month as the battle, and was written by | ||
+ | Colonel Haskell in the intervals of the march, and was a private letter | ||
+ | without design of publication& | ||
</ | </ |
the_battle_of_gettysburg.1341258654.txt.gz · Last modified: 2014/12/04 19:00 (external edit)