THE WRESTLE FOR ROUND TOP HILL.
From the morning of the second of July to the evening of the third, the
fields south of Gettysburg were one great scene of smoke, dust, uproar,
blood; of columns advancing and returning; cannon thundering; men
shouting, yelling, cheering, and dying; blue mingled with gray in savage
and unrelenting battle.
In that smoke-cloud, with the ears deafened, you saw or heard little
distinctly. But above the confused struggle rose two great incidents,
which on successive days decided every thing.
The first of them was Longstreet’s assault on the enemy’s left wing, in
front of Round Top Hill.
Lee had displayed excellent soldiership in determining upon this
movement, and it will be seen that it came within an inch of success.
Standing upon Seminary Range, near his centre, he had reconnoitered
General Meade’s position through his field-glass, with great attention;
and this examination revealed the fact that the Federal line was
projected forward in a salient in front of Round Top Hill, a jagged
and almost inaccessible peak, near which rested General Meade’s extreme
left.
If this weak point could be carried, “it appeared” said Lee, “that its
possession would give facilities for assailing and carrying the more
elevated ground and crest beyond.”
As to the importance of that crest--namely Round Top Hill--hear General
Meade:--
“If they had succeeded in occupying that, it would have prevented me
from holding any of the ground which I subsequently held to the last.”
Lee determined to attack the salient, making at the same time a heavy
demonstration--or a real assault--upon the Federal right, opposite
Ewell.
All his preparations were not made until the afternoon. Then suddenly,
Longstreet’s artillery opened its thunders.
At that moment the spectacle was grand. The heights, the slopes, the
fields, and the rugged crest opposite, were enveloped in smoke and fire
from the bursting shell. The sombre roar ascended like the bellowing of
a thousand bulls, leaped back from the rocks, and rolled away, in wild
echoes through the hills. All the furies seemed let loose, and yet this
was only the preface.
At four in the evening the thunder dropped to silence, and along the
lines of Hood and McLaws, which formed the charging column, ran a wild
cheer, which must have reached the ears of the enemy opposite.
That cheer told both sides that the moment had come. The word was
given, and Longstreet hurled his column at the blue line occupying a
peach-orchard in his front.
The blow was aimed straight at the salient in the Federal line, and in
spite of a brave resistance it was swept away; McLaws advancing rapidly
toward the high ground in its rear. At one blow the whole left wing of
General Meade’s army seemed thrown into irretrievable confusion, and
Hood pressing forward on McLaws’s right, hastened to seize upon the
famous Round Top, from which he would be able to hurl his thunder upon
the flank and rear of the Federal line of battle.
The scene, like the conflict which now took place, was wild and
singular. The crest of Round Top Hill was a mass of rock, which rose
abruptly from the rough and jagged slope. It was unoccupied--for
the sudden overthrow of the force in front of it had not been
anticipated--and one headlong rush on the part of Hood alone seemed
necessary to give him possession of the real key of the whole position.
Hood saw that at a glance, and dashed up the slope at the head of his
men. It was scarcely an order of battle which his troops presented at
this moment. But one thought burned in every heart. The men swarmed up
the hill-side; the woods gave back the rolling thunder of their
cheers; already the Southern battle-flags carried by the foremost were
fluttering on the crest.
The mass rushed toward the red flags; for an instant the gray figures
were seen erect upon the summit--then a sudden crash of musketry
resounded--and a mad struggle began with a Federal brigade which had
hastened to the spot.
This force, it is said, was hurried up by General Warren, who finding
the Federal signal-officers about to retire, ordered them, to remain and
continue waving their flags to the last; and then, seizing on the first
brigade he could find, rushed them up the slope to the crest.
They arrived just in time. Hood’s men were swarming on the crest. A loud
cheer arose, but all at once they found themselves face to face with a
line of bayonets, while beyond were seen confused and struggling masses,
dragging up cannon.
What followed was a savage grapple rather than an ordinary conflict.
Only a small part of Hood’s force had reached the summit, and this was
assailed by a whole brigade. The fight was indescribable. All that
the eye could make out for some moments in the dust and smoke, was
a confused mass of men clutching each other, dealing blows with the
butt-ends of muskets, or fencing with bayonets--men in blue and gray,
wrestling, cursing, falling, and dying, in the midst of the crash of
small-arms, and the thunder of cannon, which clothed the crest in flame.
When the smoke drifted, it was seen that the Confederates had been
repulsed, and driven from the hill. Hood was falling back slowly, like
a wounded tiger, who glares at the huntsman and defies him to the last.
The slope was strewed with some of his bravest. The Federal cannon
roaring on Round Top Hill, seemed to be laughing hoarsely.
McLaws, too, had fallen back after nearly seizing upon the crest in
his front. The enemy had quickly re-enforced their left, with brigades,
divisions, and corps, and the Confederates had been hotly assailed in
their turn. As night descended, the whole Southern line fell back. The
pallid moonlight shone on the upturned faces of the innumerable dead.
Longstreet sat on a fence, cutting a stick with his penknife, when an
English officer near him exclaimed:--
“I would not have missed this for any thing?”
Longstreet, laughed grimly.
“I would like to have missed it very much!”[1] he said.
[Footnote 1: His words.]
XXVI.
THE CHARGE OF THE VIRGINIANS.
Lee’s great blow at the enemy’s left had failed. He had thrown his
entire right wing, under Longstreet, against it. The enemy had been
driven; victory seemed achieved;--but suddenly the blue lines had
rallied, they had returned to the struggle, their huge masses had rolled
forward, thrown Longstreet back in turn, and now the pale moon looked
down on the battlefield where some of the bravest souls of the South had
poured out their blood in vain.
Lee had accomplished nothing, and one of his great corps was panting
and bleeding. It was not shattered or even shaken. The iron fibre would
stand any thing almost. But the sombre result remained--Longstreet had
attacked and had been repulsed.
What course would Lee now pursue? Would he retire?
Retire? The army of Northern Virginia lose heart at a mere rebuff? Lee’s
veteran army give up the great invasion, after a mere repulse? Troops
and commander alike shrunk from the very thought. One more trial of
arms--something--an attack somewhere--not _a retreat_!
That was the spirit of the army on the night of the second of July.
A flanking movement to draw the enemy out of their works, or a second
attack remained.
Lee determined to attack.
Longstreet and Ewell had accomplished nothing by assailing the right
and left of the enemy. Lee resolved now to throw a column against its
centre--to split the stubborn obstacle, and pour into the gap with the
whole army, when all would be over.
That was hazardous, you will say perhaps to-day, reader. And you have
this immense argument to advance, that it failed. Ah! these arguments
_after the event_! they are so fatal, and so very easy.
Right or wrong, Lee resolved to make the attack; and on the third of
July he carried out his resolution.
If the writer of the South shrinks from describing the bloody repulse of
Longstreet, much more gloomy is the task of painting that last charge at
Gettysburg. It is one of those scenes which Lee’s old soldiers approach
with repugnance. That thunder of the guns which comes back to memory
seems to issue, hollow and lugubrious, from a thousand tombs.
Let us pass over that tragedy rapidly. It must be touched on in these
memoirs--but I leave it soon.
It is the third of July, 1863. Lee’s line of battle, stretching along
the crest of Seminary Ridge, awaits the signal for a new conflict with
a carelessness as great as on the preceding day. The infantry are
laughing, jesting, cooking their rations, and smoking their pipes. The
ragged cannoneers, with flashing eyes, smiling lips, and faces blackened
with powder, are standing in groups, or lying down around the pieces of
artillery. Near the centre of the line a gray-headed officer, in plain
uniform, and entirely unattended, has dismounted, and is reconnoitring
the Federal position through a pair of field-glasses.
It is Lee, and he is looking toward Cemetery Heights, the Mount St. Jean
of the new Waterloo--on whose slopes the immense conflict is going to be
decided.
Lee gazes for some moments through his glasses at the long range
bristling with bayonets. Not a muscle moves; he resembles a statue. Then
he lowers the glasses, closes them thoughtfully, and his calm glance
passes along the lines of his army. You would say that this glance
penetrates the forest; that he sees his old soldiers, gay, unshrinking,
unmoved by the reverses of Longstreet, and believing in themselves and
in him! The blood of the soldier responds to that thought. The face of
the great commander suddenly flushes. He summons a staff officer and
utters a few words in calm and measured tones. The order is given. The
grand assault is about to begin.
That assault is going to be one of the most desperate in all history.
Longstreet’s has been fierce--this will be mad and full of headlong
fury. At Round Top blood flowed--here the earth is going to be soaked
with it. Gettysburg is to witness a charge recalling that of the six
hundred horsemen at Balaklava. Each soldier will feel that the fate of
the South depends on him, perhaps. If the wedge splits the tough grain,
cracking it from end to end, the axe will enter after it--the work will
be finished--the red flag of the South will float in triumph over a last
and decisive field.
Pickett’s division of Virginia troops has been selected for the
hazardous venture, and they prepare for the ordeal in the midst of a
profound silence. Since the morning scarce a gunshot has been heard.
Now and then only, a single cannon, like a signal-gun, sends its growl
through the hills.
Those two tigers, the army of Northern Virginia and the army of the
Potomac, are crouching, and about to spring.
At one o’clock the moment seems to have arrived. Along the whole front
of Hill and Longstreet, the Southern artillery all at once bursts forth.
One hundred and forty-five cannon send their threatening thunder across
the peaceful valley. From Cemetery Heights eighty pieces reply to them;
and for more than an hour these two hundred and twenty-five cannon tear
the air with their harsh roar, hurled back in crash after crash from the
rocky ramparts. That thunder is the most terrible yet heard in the
war. It stirs the coolest veterans. General Hancock, the composed and
unexcitable soldier, is going to say of it, “Their artillery fire was
most terrific...it was the most terrific cannonade I ever witnessed, and
the most prolonged.... It was a most terrific and appalling cannonade,
one possibly hardly ever equalled.”
For nearly two hours Lee continues this “terrific” fire. The Federal
guns reply--shot and shell crossing each other; racing across the blue
sky; battering the rocks; or bursting in showers of iron fragments.
Suddenly the Federal fire slackens, and then ceases. Their ammunition
has run low,[1] or they are silenced by the Southern fire. Lee’s guns
also cease firing. The hour has come.
[Footnote: This was the real reason.]
The Virginians, under Pickett, form in double line in the edge of
the woods, where Lee’s centre is posted. These men are ragged and
travel-worn, but their bayonets and gun-barrels shine like silver. From
the steel hedge, as the men move, dart lightnings.
From the Cemetery Heights the enemy watch that ominous apparition--the
gray line of Virginians drawn up for the charge.
At the word, they move out, shoulder to shoulder, at common time.
Descending the slope, they enter on the valley, and move steadily toward
the heights.
The advance of the column, with its battle-flags floating proudly, and
its ranks closed up and dressed with the precision of troops on parade,
is a magnificent spectacle. Old soldiers, hardened in the fires of
battle, and not given to emotion, lean forward watching the advance of
the Virginians with fiery eyes. You would say, from the fierce clutch of
the gaunt hands on the muskets, that they wish to follow; and many wish
that.
The column is midway the valley, and beginning to move more rapidly,
when suddenly the Federal artillery opens. The ranks are swept by round
shot, shell, and canister. Bloody gaps appear, but the line closes up,
and continues to advance. The fire of the Federal artillery redoubles.
All the demons of the pit seem howling, roaring, yelling, and screaming.
The assaulting column is torn by a whirlwind of canister, before which
men fall in heaps mangled, streaming with blood, their bosoms torn to
pieces, their hands clutching the grass, their teeth biting the earth.
The ranks, however, close up as before, and the Virginians continue to
advance.
From common time, they have passed to quick time--now they march at the
double-quick. That is to say, they run. They have reached the slope; the
enemy’s breastworks are right before them; and they dash at them with
wild cheers.
They are still three hundred yards from the Federal works, when the
real conflict commences, to which the cannonade was but child’s play.
Artillery has thundered, but something more deadly succeeds it--the
sudden crash of musketry. From behind a stone wall the Federal infantry
rise up and pour a galling fire into the charging column. It has been
accompanied to this moment by a body of other troops, but those troops
now disappear, like dry leaves swept off by the wind. The Virginians
still advance.
Amid a concentrated fire of infantry and artillery, in their front and
on both flanks, they pass over the ground between themselves and the
enemy; ascend the slope; rush headlong at the breastworks; storm them;
strike their bayonets into the enemy, who recoil before them, and a wild
cheer rises, making the blood leap in the veins of a hundred thousand
men.
The Federal works are carried, and the troops are wild with enthusiasm.
With a thunder of cheers they press upon the flying enemy toward the
crest.
Alas! as the smoke drifts, they see what is enough to dishearten the
bravest. They have stormed the first line of works only! Beyond, is
another and a stronger line still. Behind it swarm the heavy reserves of
the enemy, ready for the death-struggle. But the column can not pause.
It is “do or die.” In their faces are thrust the muzzles of muskets
spouting flame. Whole ranks go down in the fire. The survivors close up,
utter a fierce cheer, and rush straight at the second tier of works.
Then is seen a spectacle which will long be remembered with a throb of
the heart by many. The thinned ranks of the Virginians are advancing,
unmoved, into the very jaws of death. They go forward--and are
annihilated. At every step death meets them. The furious fire of the
enemy, on both flanks and in their front, hurls them back, mangled and
dying. The brave Garnett is killed while leading on his men. Kemper is
lying on the earth maimed for life. Armistead is mortally wounded at
the moment when he leaps upon the breastworks:--he waves his hat on the
point of his sword, and staggers, and falls. Of fifteen field officers,
fourteen have fallen. Three-fourths of the men are dead, wounded, or
prisoners. The Federal infantry has closed in on the flanks and rear
of the Virginians--whole corps assault the handful--the little band
is enveloped, and cut off from succor--they turn and face the enemy,
bayonet to bayonet, and die.
When the smoke drifts away, all is seen to be over. It is a panting,
staggering, bleeding remnant only of the brave division that is coming
back so slowly yonder. They are swept from the fatal hill--pursued by
yells, cheers, cannon-shot, musket-balls, and canister. As they doggedly
retire before the howling hurricane, the wounded are seen to stagger
and fall. Over the dead and dying sweeps the canister. Amid volleys
of musketry and the roar of cannon, all but a handful of Pickett’s
Virginians pass into eternity.