But I have mentioned one other battlefield, and one which in numbers
and in the military skill of those engaged, as well as in the
principles at stake, stands among the great battles of the world.
Gettysburg is a name which is justly mentioned with pride by Americans
of all sections; for when its aged veterans, North and South, can clasp
hands and declare themselves brothers, it would be presumptuous for
others to display the rancor of partizanship.
The settings of the battle were dramatic. Robert E. Lee, the ablest
commander of the Confederacy, had crossed into Pennsylvania with his
main column. The Federal army of the Potomac was close behind, intent
upon pressing northward after Lee to protect Baltimore should it be
endangered. Gettysburg lies in a fruitful valley of Pennsylvania, just
north of the Maryland borderline. It is walled in by low mountain
ranges studded with peaks--Culp’s Hill, Round Top, and Little Round
Top--whose names rouse thrilling memories. Here on July 1, 2, and 3,
1863, the two armies fought the most fearful and significant open
battle of the whole Civil War.
For the first two days fate favored the Confederate army, and “these
partial successes,” writes General Lee, “determined me to continue
the assault next day.” A movement was planned in which Pickett’s
division of Longstreet’s corps was to strike the Federal line in the
center, while Stuart with his cavalry attacked it in the rear. It was a
desperate venture, and Longstreet declared that when the moment came
for ordering Pickett and his gallant five thousand to advance, his lips
refused to form the words, and to the calm inquiry, “General, shall
I advance?” he could only reply by an affirmative bow. Within thirty
minutes two thousand of the detachment had fallen, and of the officers
who had headed this desperate venture, only Pickett and one lieutenant
came out unharmed.
Stuart had failed to reach the Federal rear in time to aid the attack
which, unsustained, had ended in disaster. “It was all my fault,”
generously commented Lee, when the whole tragic result was understood,
“Let us do the best we can toward saving that which is left us.” Meade
made no attempt at pursuit. Lee led his army back to Virginia and was
safe.
In an order of July 4, Meade had used the expression, “driving the
invader from our soil,” which, when the great, sad-eyed Lincoln read,
he heaved a deep sigh and remarked, “Will our generals never get that
idea out of their heads? The whole country is our soil.”
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
_This struggle, the crisis of our Civil War and one of the great
battles of the world, raged for three days._]
SUPPLEMENTARY READING--John Fiske’s “Old Virginia and Her
Neighbors,” “Beginnings of New England,” “The Critical Period
of American History,” and “The American Revolution”; “True
Relation of Virginia,” Smith; “Plymouth Plantation,” Bradford;
“Sam Houston,” Bruce; “Stuart’s Cavalry in the Gettysburg
Campaign,” John S. Mosby.