GETTYSBURG.
INVASION OF THE NORTH DETERMINED ON--CAVALRY SKIRMISH AT FLEETWOOD,
WHICH MARKS A TURNING POINT IN THAT SERVICE--HOOKER'S PLANS--HE ASKS
TO BE RELIEVED--MEADE IN COMMAND--BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG--POSITION OF
CONFEDERATE FORCES--NUMBER OF MEN ENGAGED ON EACH SIDE--SURFACE OF THE
COUNTRY ABOUT GETTYSBURG--BLOODY FIGHTING ON THE RIGHT--GENERAL
HANCOCK SUPERSEDES GENERAL HOWARD--RAPID CONCENTRATION OF THE
ARMIES--TERRIFIC FIGHTING IN THE PEACH ORCHARD--DRAMATIC CHARGE OF THE
LOUISIANA TIGERS--THE CHARGE OF PICKETT'S BRIGADE--ROMANTIC AND
PATHETIC INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE--RETREAT OF THE CONFEDERATE
ARMIES--VICTORY DUE TO DETERMINATION AND COURAGE OF THE COMMON
SOLDIERS--EFFECT OF THE CONFEDERATE DEFEAT IN EUROPE--GREAT NATIONAL
CEMETARY ON THE BATTLEFIELD--LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.
After the battle of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, public
opinion in the South began to demand that the army under Lee should
invade the North, or at least make a bold movement toward Washington.
Public opinion is not often very discriminating in an exciting crisis;
and on this occasion public opinion failed to discriminate between the
comparative ease with which an army in a strong position may repel a
faultily planned or badly managed attack, and the difficulties that
must beset the same army when it leaves its base, launches forth into
the enemy's country, and is obliged to maintain a constantly
lengthening line of communication. The Southern public could not see
why, since the Army of Northern Virginia had won two victories on the
Rappahannock, it might not march forward at once, lay New York and
Philadelphia under contribution, and dictate peace and Southern
independence in the Capitol at Washington. Whether the Confederate
Government shared this feeling or not, it acted in accordance with it;
and whether Lee approved it or not, he was obliged to obey. Yet, in
the largest consideration of the problem, this demand for an invasion
of the North was correct, though the result proved disastrous. For
experience shows that purely defensive warfare will not accomplish
anything. Lee's army had received a heavy reinforcement by the arrival
of Longstreet's corps, its regiments had been filled up with
conscripts, it had unbounded confidence in itself, and this was the
time, if ever, to put the plan for independence to the crucial test of
offensive warfare. Many subsidiary considerations strengthened the
argument. About thirty thousand of Hooker's men had been enlisted in
the spring of 1861, for two years, and their term was now expiring.
Vicksburg was besieged by Grant, before whom nothing had stood as yet;
and its fall would open the Mississippi and cut the Confederacy in
two, which might seal the fate of the new Government unless the shock
were neutralized by a great victory in the East. Volunteering had
fallen off in the North, conscription was resorted to, the Democratic
party there had become more hostile to the Government and loudly
abusive of President Lincoln and his advisers, and there were signs of
riotous resistance to a draft. Finally, the Confederate agents in
Europe reported that anything like a great Confederate victory would
secure immediate recognition, if not armed intervention, from England
and France.
[Illustration: CEMETARY GATE.]
Hooker, who had lost a golden opportunity by his aberration or his
accident at Chancellorsville, had come to his senses again, and was
alert, active, and clear-headed. As early as May 28, 1863, he informed
the President that something was stirring in the camp on the other
side of the river, and that a northward movement might be expected. On
the 3d of June, Lee began his movement, and by the 8th two of his
three corps (those of Ewell and Longstreet) were at Culpeper, while A.
P. Hill's corps still held the lines on the Rappahannock.
It was known that the entire Confederate cavalry, under Stuart, was at
Culpeper; and Hooker sent all his cavalry, under Pleasonton, with two
brigades of infantry, to attack it there. The assault was to be made
in two converging columns, under Buford and Gregg; but this plan was
disconcerted by the fact that the enemy's cavalry, intent upon masking
the movement of the great body of infantry and protecting its flank,
had advanced to Brandy Station. Here it was struck first by Buford and
afterward by Gregg, and there was bloody fighting, with the advantage
at first in favor of the National troops; but the two columns failed
to unite during the action, and finally withdrew. The loss was over
five hundred men on each side, including among the killed Col. B. F.
Davis, of the Eighth New York cavalry, and Colonel Hampton, commanding
a Confederate brigade. Both sides claimed to have accomplished their
object--Pleasonton to have ascertained the movements of Lee's army,
and Stuart to have driven back his opponent. Some of the heaviest
fighting was for possession of a height known as Fleetwood Hill, and
the Confederates name the action the battle of Fleetwood. It is of
special interest as marking the turning-point in cavalry service
during the war. Up to that time the Confederate cavalry had been
generally superior to the National. This action--a cavalry fight in
the proper sense of the term, between the entire mounted forces of the
two armies--was a drawn battle; and thenceforth the National cavalry
exhibited superiority in an accelerating ratio, till finally nothing
mounted {250} on Southern horses could stand before the magnificent
squadrons led by Sheridan, Custer, Kilpatrick, and Wilson.
Hooker now knew that the movement he had anticipated was in progress,
and he was very decided in his opinion as to what should be done. By
the 13th of June, Lee had advanced Ewell's corps beyond the Blue
Ridge, and it was marching down the Shenandoah Valley, while Hill's
was still in the intrenchments on the Rapidan, and Longstreet's was
midway between, at Culpeper. Hooker asked to be allowed to interpose
his whole army between these widely separated parts of its antagonist
and defeat them in detail; but with a man like Halleck for military
adviser at Washington, it was useless to propose any bold or brilliant
stroke. Hooker was forbidden to do this, and ordered to keep his army
between the enemy and the capital. He therefore left his position on
the Rappahannock, and moved toward Washington, along the line of the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Ewell moved rapidly down the
Shenandoah Valley, and attacked Winchester, which was held by General
Milroy with about ten thousand men. Milroy made a gallant defence; but
after a stubborn fight his force was broken and defeated, and about
four thousand of them became prisoners. The survivors escaped to
Harper's Ferry.
The corps of Hill and Longstreet now moved, Hill following Ewell into
the Shenandoah Valley, and Longstreet skirting the Blue Ridge along
its eastern base. Pleasonton's cavalry, reconnoitring these movements,
met Stuart's again at Aldie, near a gap in the Bull Run Mountains, and
had a sharp fight; and there were also cavalry actions at Middleburg
and Upperville. Other Confederate cavalry had already crossed the
Potomac, made a raid as far as Chambersburg, and returned with
supplies to Ewell. On the 22d, Ewell's corps crossed at Shepherdstown
and Williamsport, and moved up the Cumberland Valley to Chambersburg.
A panic ensued among the inhabitants of that region, who hastened to
drive off their cattle and horses, to save them from seizure. The
governors of New York and Pennsylvania were called upon for militia,
and forwarded several regiments, to be interposed between the enemy's
advance and Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The other two corps of Lee's
army crossed the Potomac on the 24th and 25th, where Ewell had
crossed; and Hooker, moving on a line nearer Washington, crossed with
his whole army at Edward's Ferry, on the 25th and 26th, marching
thence to Frederick. He now proposed to send Slocum's corps to the
western side of the South Mountain range, have it unite with a force
of eleven thousand men under French, that lay useless at Harper's
Ferry, and throw a powerful column upon Lee's communications, capture
his trains, and attack his army in the rear. But again he came into
collision with the stubborn Halleck, who would not consent to the
abandonment, even temporarily, of Harper's Ferry, though the
experience of the Antietam campaign, when he attempted to hold it in
the same way and lost its whole garrison, should have taught him
better. This new cause of trouble, added to previous disagreements,
was more than Hooker could stand, and on the 27th he asked to be
relieved from command of the army. His request was promptly complied
with, and the next morning the command was given to General Meade,
only five days before a great battle.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN BUFORD.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL ALFRED PLEASONTON.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL J. F. REYNOLDS.]
George Gordon Meade, then in his forty-ninth year, was a graduate of
West Point, had served through the Mexican war, had done engineer duty
in the survey of the Great Lakes, had been with McClellan on the
peninsula, and had commanded a corps in the Army of the Potomac at
Antietam, at Fredericksburg, and at Chancellorsville. The first thing
he did on assuming command was what Hooker had been forbidden to do:
he ordered the evacuation of Harper's Ferry, and the movement of its
garrison to Frederick as a reserve.
At this time, June 28th, one portion of Lee's army was at
Chambersburg, or between that place and Gettysburg, another at York
and Carlisle, and a part of his cavalry was within sight of the spires
of Harrisburg. The main body of the cavalry had gone off on a raid,
Stuart having an ambition to ride a third time around the Army of the
Potomac. This absence of his cavalry {251} left Lee in ignorance of
the movements of his adversary, whom he appears to have expected to
remain quietly on the south side of the Potomac. When suddenly he
found his communications in danger, he called back Ewell from York and
Carlisle, and ordered the concentration of all his forces at
Gettysburg. Many converging roads lead into that town, and its
convenience for such concentration was obvious. Meade was also
advancing his army toward Gettysburg, though with a more certain
step--as was necessary, since his object was to find Lee's army and
fight it, wherever it might go. His cavalry, under Pleasonton, was
doing good service; and that general advanced a division under Buford
on the 29th to Gettysburg, with orders to delay the enemy till the
army could come up. Meade had some expectation of bringing on the
great battle at Pipe Creek, southeast of Gettysburg, where he marked
out a good defensive line; but the First Corps, under Gen. John F.
Reynolds, advanced rapidly to Gettysburg, and on the 1st of July
encountered west of the town a portion of the enemy coming in from
Chambersburg. Lee had about seventy-three thousand five hundred men
(infantry and artillery), and Meade about eighty-two thousand, while
the cavalry numbered about eleven thousand on each side, and both
armies had more cannon than they could use.[1]
[Footnote 1: Various figures and estimates are given as representing
the strength of the two armies, some of which take account of
detachments absent on special duty, and some do not. The figures here
given denote very nearly the forces actually available for the
battle.]
[Illustration: MAP OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. (Reproduced by
permission of Dick & Fitzgerald, N. Y., from "Twelve Decisive Battles
of the War.")]
When Reynolds advanced his own corps (the First) and determined to
hold Gettysburg, he ordered the Eleventh (Howard's) to come up to its
support. The country about Gettysburg is broken into ridges, mainly
parallel, and running north and south. On the first ridge west of the
village stood a theological seminary, which gave it the name of
Seminary Ridge. Between this and the next is a small stream called
Willoughby Run, and here the first day's battle was fought. Buford
held the ridges till the infantry arrived, climbing in the belfry of
the seminary and looking anxiously for their coming. The Confederates
were advancing by two roads that met in a point at the edge of the
village, and Reynolds disposed his troops, as fast as they arrived, so
as to dispute the passage on both roads. The key-point was a piece of
high ground, partly covered with woods, between the roads, and the
advance of both sides rushed for it. Here General Reynolds, going
forward to survey the ground, was shot by a sharp-shooter and fell
dead. He was one of the ablest corps commanders that the Army of the
Potomac ever had. The command devolved upon Gen. Abner Doubleday, who
was an experienced soldier, having served through the Mexican war,
been second in command under Anderson at Fort Sumter, and seen almost
constant service with the Army of the Potomac. The Confederate force
contending for the woods was Archer's brigade; the National was
Meredith's "Iron Brigade." Archer's men had been told that they would
meet nothing but Pennsylvania militia, which they expected to brush
out of the way with little trouble; but when they saw the Iron
Brigade, some of them were heard saying: "'Taint no militia; there are
the ---- black-hatted fellows again; it's the Army of the Potomac!"
The result here was that Meredith's men not only secured the woods,
but captured General Archer and a large part of his brigade, and then
advanced to the ridge west of the run.
On the right of the line there had been bloody fighting, with
unsatisfactory results, owing to the careless posting of regiments and
a want of concert in action. Two National regiments were driven from
the field, and a gun was lost; while on the other hand a Confederate
force was driven into a railroad cut for shelter, and then subjected
to an enfilading fire through the cut, so that a large portion were
captured and the remainder dispersed.
Whether any commander on either side intended to bring on a battle at
this point, is doubtful. But both sides were rapidly and heavily
reinforced, and both fought with determination. The struggle for the
Chambersburg road was obstinate, especially after the Confederates had
planted several guns to sweep it. "We have come to stay," said Roy
Stone's brigade, as they came into line under the fire of these guns
to support a battery of their own; and "the battle afterward became so
severe that {252} the greater portion did stay," says General
Doubleday. A division of Ewell's corps soon arrived from Carlisle,
wheeled into position, and struck the right of the National line.
Robinson's division, resting on Seminary Ridge, was promptly brought
forward to meet this new peril, and was so skilfully handled that it
presently captured three North Carolina regiments.
Gen. Oliver O. Howard, being the ranking officer, assumed command when
he arrived on this part of the field; and when his own corps (the
Eleventh) came up, about one o'clock, he placed it in position on the
right, prolonging the line of battle far around to the north of the
town. This great extension made it weak at many points; and as fresh
divisions of Confederate troops were constantly arriving, under Lee's
general order to concentrate on the town, they finally became powerful
enough to break through the centre, rolling back the right flank of
the First Corps and the left of the Eleventh, and throwing into
confusion everything except the left of the First Corps, which retired
in good order, protecting artillery and ambulances. Of the fugitives
that swarmed through the town, about five thousand were made
prisoners. But this had been effected only at heavy cost to the
Confederates. At one point Iverson's Georgia brigade had rushed up to
a stone fence behind which Baxter's brigade was sheltered, when
Baxter's men suddenly rose and delivered a volley that struck down
five hundred of Iverson's in an instant, while the remainder, who were
subjected also to a cross-fire, immediately surrendered--all but one
regiment, which escaped by raising a white flag.
In the midst of the confusion, Gen. Winfield S. Hancock arrived, under
orders from General Meade to supersede Howard in the command of that
wing of the army. He had been instructed also to choose a position for
the army to meet the great shock of battle, if he should find a better
one than the line of Pike Creek. Hancock's first duty was to rally the
fugitives and restore order and confidence. Steinwehr's division was
in reserve on Cemetery Ridge, and Buford's cavalry was on the plain
between the town and the ridge; and with these standing fast he
stopped the retreat and rapidly formed a line along that crest.
The ridge begins in Round Top, a high, rocky hill; next north of this
is Little Round Top, smaller, but still bold and rugged; and thence it
is continued at a less elevation, with gentler slopes, northward to
within half a mile of the town, where it curves around to the east and
ends at Rock Creek. The whole length is about three miles. Seminary
Ridge is a mile west of this, and nearly parallel with its central
portion. Hancock without hesitation chose this line, placed all the
available troops in position, and then hurried back to headquarters at
Taneytown. Meade at once accepted his plan, and sent forward the
remaining corps. The Third Corps, commanded by General Sickles, being
already on the march, arrived at sunset. The Second (Hancock's)
marched thirteen miles and went into position. The Fifth (Sykes's) was
twenty-three miles away, but marched all night and arrived in the
morning. The Sixth (Sedgwick's) was thirty-six miles away, but was put
in motion at once. At the same time, Lee was urging the various
divisions of his army to make the concentration as rapidly as
possible, not wishing to attack the heights till his forces were all
up.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE.]
It is said by General Longstreet that Lee had promised his corps
commanders not to fight a battle during this expedition, unless he
could take a position and stand on the defensive; but the excitement
and confidence of his soldiers, who felt themselves invincible,
compelled him. While he was waiting for his divisions to arrive,
forming his lines, and perfecting a plan of attack, Sedgwick's corps
arrived on the other side, and the National troops were busy
constructing rude breastworks.
Between the two great ridges there is another ridge, situated somewhat
like the diagonal portion of a capital N. The order of the corps,
beginning at the right, was this: Slocum's, Howard's, Hancock's,
Sickles's, with Sykes's in reserve on the left, and Sedgwick's on the
right. Sickles, thinking to occupy more advantageous ground, instead
of remaining in line, advanced to the diagonal ridge, and on this
hinged the whole battle of the second day. For there was nothing on
which to rest his left flank, and he was obliged to "refuse" it--turn
it sharply back toward Round Top. This presented a salient angle
(always a weak point) to the enemy; and here, when the action opened
at four o'clock in the afternoon, the blow fell. The angle was at a
peach orchard, and the refused line stretched back through a
wheat-field; General Birney's division occupying this ground, while
the right of Sickles's line was held by Humphreys.
{253} [Illustration: GENERAL HANCOCK AND STAFF NEAR LITTLE ROUND TOP.]
[Illustration: FIELD HOSPITAL--HEADQUARTERS. (From the Panorama of
Gettysburg, at Chicago.)]
Longstreet's men attacked the salient vigorously, and his extreme
right, composed of Hood's division, stretched out toward Little Round
Top, where it narrowly missed winning a position that would have
enabled it to enfilade the whole National line. Little Round Top had
been occupied only by signal men, when General Warren saw the danger,
detached Vincent's brigade from {254} a division that was going out to
reinforce Sickles, and ordered it to occupy the hill at once. One
regiment of Weed's brigade (the 140th New York) also went up, dragging
and lifting the guns of Hazlett's battery up the rocky slope; and the
whole brigade soon followed. They were just in time to meet the
advance of Hood's Texans, and engage in one of the bloodiest
hand-to-hand conflicts of the war, and at length the Texans were
hurled back and the position secured. But dead or wounded soldiers, in
blue and in gray, lay everywhere among the rocks. General Weed was
mortally wounded; General Vincent was killed; Col. Patrick H. O'Rorke,
of the 140th, a recent graduate of West Point, of brilliant promise,
was shot dead at the head of his men; and Lieut. Charles E. Hazlett
was killed as he leaned over General Weed to catch his last words. "I
would rather die here," said Weed, "than that the rebels should gain
an inch of this ground!" Hood's men made one more attempt, by creeping
up the ravine between the two Round Tops, but were repelled by a
bayonet charge, executed by Chamberlain's Twentieth Maine Regiment;
and five hundred of them, with seventeen officers, were made
prisoners. The peculiarity of Chamberlain's charge, which was one of
the most brilliant manoeuvres ever executed on a battlefield,
consisted in pushing the regiment forward in such a manner that the
centre moved more rapidly than the flanks, which gradually brought it
into the shape of a wedge that penetrated the Confederate line and cut
off the five hundred men from their comrades.
Meanwhile terrific fighting was going on at the salient in the peach
orchard. Several batteries were in play on both sides, and made
destructive work; a single shell from one of the National guns killed
or wounded thirty men in a company of thirty-seven. Here General Zook
was killed, Colonel Cross was killed, General Sickles lost a leg, and
the Confederate General Barksdale was mortally wounded and died a
prisoner. There were repeated charges and counter-charges, and
numerous bloody incidents; for Sickles was constantly reinforced, and
Lee, being under the impression that this was the flank of the main
line, kept hammering at it till his men finally possessed the peach
orchard, advanced their lines, assailed the left flank of Humphreys,
and finally drove back the National line, only to find that they had
forced it into its true position, from which they could not dislodge
it by any direct attack, while the guns and troops that now crowned
the two Round Tops showed any flank movement to be impossible. About
sunset Ewell's corps assailed the Union right, and at heavy cost
gained a portion of the works near Rock Creek.
One of the most dramatic incidents of this day was a charge on
Cemetery Hill by two Confederate brigades led by an organization known
as the Louisiana Tigers. It was made just at dusk, and the charging
column immediately became a target for the batteries of Wiedrick,
Stevens, and Ricketts, which fired grape and canister, each gun making
four discharges a minute. But the Tigers had the reputation of never
having failed in a charge, and in spite of the frightful gaps made by
the artillery and by volleys of musketry, they kept on till they
reached the guns, and made a hand-to-hand fight for them. Friend and
foe were fast becoming mingled, when Carroll's brigade came to the
rescue of the guns, and the remnants of the Confederate column fled
down the hill in the gathering darkness, hastened by a double-shotted
fire from Ricketts's battery. Of the seventeen hundred Tigers, twelve
hundred had been struck down, and that famous organization was never
heard of again.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL CARL SCHURZ.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL ABNER DOUBLEDAY.]
Many exciting incidents of this twilight battle are told. When the
Confederates charged on Wiedrick's battery, there was a difficulty in
depressing the guns sufficiently, or they probably never would have
reached it; and when they did reach it the gunners stood by and fought
them with pistols, handspikes, rammers, {255} and stones; for they had
received orders not to limber up under any circumstances, but to fight
the battery to the last, and they obeyed their orders literally and
nobly. Nearly all of them, however, were beaten down by the
Confederate infantrymen, and the battery was captured entire; but the
victorious assailants were now subjected to a flank fire from
Stevens's battery, which poured in double-shotted canister at
point-blank range, before the arrival of Carroll's brigade completed
their destruction. At Ricketts's battery a Confederate lieutenant
sprang forward and seized the guidon, when its bearer, Private Riggen,
shot him dead with his revolver. The next moment a bullet cut the
staff of the guidon, and another killed Riggen, who fell across the
body of the lieutenant. Another Confederate lieutenant, rushing into
the battery, laid his hand upon a gun and demanded its surrender; his
answer was a blow from a handspike that dashed out his brains. At
another gun a Confederate sergeant, with his rifle in his hand,
confronted Sergeant Stafford with a demand for the surrender of the
piece; whereupon Lieutenant Brockway threw a stone that knocked him
down, and Stafford, catching his rifle, fired it at him and wounded
him seriously. Sergeant Geible, of the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio,
sprang upon the low stone wall when the Confederates were charging,
and defiantly waved the regimental colors, but was immediately shot,
and the flag fell outside. Adjutant Young then jumped over the wall
and rescued it, while at the same time the color-sergeant of the
Eighth Louisiana was rushing up at the head of his regiment and waving
his flag. Young sprang upon him, seized the flag, and shot the
sergeant; but he also received a bullet which passed through his arm
and into his lung, and at the same time a Confederate officer aimed a
heavy blow at his head, which was parried by a comrade. Clinging
tenaciously to the captured flag, Young managed to get back into his
own lines, and sank fainting from loss of blood; but his life was
saved, and he was promoted for his gallantry.
[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY BAXTER.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL ADOLPH VON STEINWEHR.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL FRANCIS C. BARLOW, MAJOR-GENERAL
DAVID B. BIRNEY, BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN GIBBON, MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD
S. HANCOCK.]
While the actions of the first two days were complicated, that of the
third was extremely simple. Lee had tried both flanks, and failed. He
now determined to attempt piercing the centre of Meade's line.
Longstreet, wiser than his chief, protested, but in vain. On the other
hand, Meade had held a council of war the night before, and in
accordance with the vote of his corps commanders determined to stay
where he was and fight it out.
Whether General Meade contemplated a retreat, has been disputed. On
the one hand, he testified before the Committee on the Conduct of the
War that he never thought of such a thing; on the other, General
Doubleday, in his "Chancellorsville and Gettysburg," presents {256}
testimony that seems to leave no reasonable doubt. There is nothing
intrinsically improbable in the story. Meade's service in that war had
all been with the Army of the Potomac, and it was the custom of that
army to retreat after a great battle. The only exception thus far had
been Antietam; and two great battles, with the usual retreat, had been
fought since Antietam. Meade had been in command of the entire army
but a few days, and he cannot be said to have been, in the ordinary
sense of the term, the master-spirit at Gettysburg. It was Reynolds
who went out to meet the enemy, and stayed his advance, on the first
day; it was Hancock who selected the advantageous position for the
second day; it was Warren who secured the neglected key-point. The
fact of calling a council of war at all implies doubt in the mind of
the commander. But, after all, the question is hardly important, so
far at least as it concerns Meade's place in history. He is likely to
be less blamed for contemplating retreat at the end of two days'
fighting when he had the worst of it, than for not contemplating
pursuit at the end of the third day when the enemy was defeated. There
are some considerations, however, which must give Meade's conduct of
this battle a very high place for generalship. He seemed to know how
to trust his subordinates, and to be uninfluenced by that weakness
which attacks so many commanders with a fear lest something shall be
done for which they themselves shall not receive the credit. He
unhesitatingly accepted Hancock's judgment as to the propriety of
receiving battle on Cemetery Hill, and showed every disposition to do
all that would tend to secure the great purpose, without the slightest
reference to its bearing on anybody's reputation. Furthermore, he had,
what brilliant soldiers often lack, a complete comprehension of the
entire situation, as regarded the war, and appreciated the importance
of the action in which he was about to engage. This is proved by the
following circular, which he issued on the 30th of June, one day
before the battle, to his subordinates:
"The commanding general requests that, previous to the engagement soon
expected with the enemy, corps and all other commanding officers will
address their troops, explaining to them briefly the immense issues
involved in this struggle. The enemy are on our soil. The whole
country now looks anxiously to this army to deliver it from the
presence of the foe. Our failure to do so will leave us no such
welcome as the swelling of millions of hearts with pride and joy at
our success would give to every soldier in the army. Homes, firesides,
and domestic altars are involved. The army has fought well heretofore.
It is believed that it will fight more desperately and bravely than
ever if it is addressed in fitting terms. Corps and other commanders
are authorized to order the instant death of any soldier who fails in
his duty at this hour."
[Illustration: ARTILLERY COMING INTO ACTION. (From the Panorama of
Gettysburg, at Chicago.)]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL GOUVERNEUR K. WARREN.]
[Illustration: DEVIL'S DEN. Position occupied by Confederate
Sharp-shooters, the point from which they shot at Union Officers on
Little Round Top. From photograph by W. H. Tipton, Gettysburg.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL GABRIEL R. PAUL.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL ALFRED N. DUFFIÉ.]
Lee's first intended movement was to push the success gained at the
close of the second day by Ewell on the National right; but Meade
anticipated him, attacking early in the morning and driving Ewell out
of his works. In preparation for a grand charge, Lee placed more than
one hundred guns in position on Seminary Ridge, converging their fire
on the left centre of Meade's line, where he intended to send his
storming column. Eighty guns (all there was room for) were placed in
position on Cemetery Ridge to reply, and at one o'clock the firing
{257} began. This was one of the most terrific artillery duels ever
witnessed. There was a continuous and deafening roar, which was heard
forty miles away. The shot and shells ploughed up the ground,
shattered gravestones in the cemetery, and sent their fragments flying
among the troops, exploded caissons, and dismounted guns. A house used
for Meade's headquarters, in the rear of the line, was completely
riddled. Many artillerists and horses were killed; but the casualties
among the infantry were not numerous, for the men lay flat upon the
ground, taking advantage of every shelter, and waited for the more
serious work that all knew was to follow. At the end of two hours Gen.
Henry J. Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, ordered the firing to
cease, both to cool the guns and to save the ammunition for use in
repelling the infantry charge. Lee supposed that his object--which was
to demoralize his enemy and cause him to exhaust his artillery--had
been effected. Fourteen thousand of his best troops--including
Pickett's division, which had not arrived in time for the previous
day's fighting--now came out of the woods, formed in heavy columns,
and moved forward steadily to the charge. Instantly the National guns
reopened fire, and the Confederate ranks were ploughed through and
through; but the gaps were closed up, and the columns did not halt.
There was a mile of open ground for them to traverse, and every step
was taken under heavy fire. As they drew nearer, the batteries used
grape and canister, and an infantry force posted in advance of the
main line rose to its feet and fired volleys of musketry into the
right flank. Now the columns began visibly to break up and melt away;
and the left wing of the force changed its direction somewhat, so that
it parted from the right, making an interval and exposing a new flank,
which the National troops promptly took advantage of. But Pickett's
diminishing ranks still pushed on, till they passed over the outer
lines, fought hand to hand at the main line, and even leaped the
breastworks and thought to capture the batteries. The point where they
penetrated was marked by a clump of small trees on the edge of the
hill, at that portion of the line held by the brigade of Gen.
Alexander S. Webb, who was wounded; but his men stood firm against the
shock, and, from the eagerness of all to join in the contest, men
rushed from every side to the point assailed, mixing up all commands,
but making a front that no such remnant as Pickett's could break. Gen.
Lewis A. Armistead, who led the charge and leaped over the wall, was
shot down as he laid his hand on a gun, and his surviving soldiers
surrendered themselves. On the slope of the hill many of the
assailants had thrown themselves upon the ground and held up their
hands for quarter; and an immediate sally from the National lines
brought in a large number of prisoners and battle-flags. Of that
magnificent column which had been launched out so proudly, only a
broken fragment ever returned. Nearly every officer in it, except
Pickett, had been either killed or wounded. Armistead, a prisoner and
dying, said to an officer who was bending over him, "Tell Hancock I
have wronged him and have wronged my country." He had been opposed to
secession, but the pressure of his friends and relatives {259} had at
length forced him into the service. Hancock had been wounded and borne
from the field, and among the other wounded on the National side were
Generals Doubleday, Gibbon, Warren, Butterfield, Stannard, Barnes, and
Brook; General Farnsworth was killed, and Gen. Gabriel R. Paul lost
both eyes. Among the killed on the Confederate side, besides those
already mentioned, were Generals Garnett, Pender, and Semmes; and
among the wounded, Generals Hampton, Jenkins, Kemper, Scales, J. M.
Jones, and G. T. Anderson.
{258} [Illustration: AN HEROIC INCIDENT--COLOR SERGEANT BENJAMIN
CRIPPEN REFUSES TO SURRENDER THE FLAG.]
While this movement was in progress, Kilpatrick with his cavalry rode
around the mountain and attempted to pass the Confederate right and
capture the trains, while Stuart with his cavalry made a simultaneous
attempt on the National right. Each had a bloody fight, but neither
was successful. This closed the battle. Hancock urged that a great
return charge should be made immediately with Sedgwick's corps, which
had not participated, and Lee expected such a movement as a matter of
course. But it was not done.
That night Lee made preparations for retreat, and the next day--which
was the 4th of July--the retreat was begun. General Imboden, who
conducted the trains and the ambulances, describes it as one of the
most pitiful and heart-rending scenes ever witnessed. A heavy storm
had come up, the roads were in bad condition, few of the wounded had
been properly cared for, and as they were jolted along in agony they
were groaning, cursing, babbling of their homes, and calling upon
their friends to kill them and put them out of misery. But there could
be no halt, for the Potomac was rising, and an attack was hourly
expected from the enemy in the rear.
Meade, however, did not pursue for several days, and then to no
purpose; so that Lee's crippled army escaped into Virginia, but it was
disabled from ever doing anything more than prolonging the contest.
Gettysburg was essentially the Waterloo of the war, and there is a
striking parallel in the losses. The numbers engaged were very nearly
the same in the one battle as in the other. At Waterloo the victors
lost twenty-three thousand one hundred and eighty-five men, and the
vanquished, in round numbers, thirty thousand. At Gettysburg the
National loss was twenty-three thousand one hundred and
ninety--killed, wounded, and missing. The Confederate losses were
never officially reported, but estimates place them at nearly thirty
thousand. Lee left seven thousand of his wounded among the unburied
dead, and twenty-seven thousand muskets were picked up on the field.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL BUTTERFIELD. (Chief of Staff to
General Meade.)]
[Illustration: GENERAL MEADE'S HEADQUARTERS.]
The romantic and pathetic incidents of this great battle are
innumerable. John Burns, a resident of Gettysburg, seventy years old,
had served in the War of 1812, being one of Miller's men at Lundy's
Lane, and in the Mexican war, and had tried to enlist at the breaking
out of the Rebellion, but was rejected as too old. When the armies
approached the town, he joined the Seventh Wisconsin Regiment and
displayed wonderful skill as a sharp-shooter; but he was wounded in
the afternoon, fell into the hands of the Confederates, told some
plausible story to account for his lack of a uniform, and was finally
carried to his own house. Jennie Wade was baking bread for Union
soldiers when the advance of the Confederate line surrounded her house
with enemies; but she kept on at her work in spite of orders to
desist, until a stray bullet struck her dead. An unknown Confederate
officer lay mortally wounded within the Union lines, and one of the
commanders sent to ask his name and rank. "Tell him," said the dying
man, "that I shall soon be where there is no rank;" and he was never
identified. Lieut. Alonzo H. Cushing commanded a battery on General
Webb's line, and in the cannonade preceding the great charge on the
third day all his guns but one were disabled, and he was mortally
wounded. When the charging column approached, he exclaimed, "Webb, I
will give them one more shot!" ran his gun forward to the stone wall,
fired it, said "Good-by!" and fell dead. Barksdale, of Mississippi,
had been an extreme secessionist, and had done much to bring on the
war. At that part of the line where he fell, the Union commander was
Gen. David B. Birney, son of a slaveholder that had emancipated his
slaves, had been mobbed for his abolitionism, and had twice been the
presidential candidate of the Liberty party. A general of the National
army, who was present, remarks that Barksdale died "like a brave man,
with dignity and resignation." On that field perished also the cause
that he represented; and as Americans we may all be proud to say that,
so far as manly courage {260} could go, it died with dignity if not
with resignation.
Gen. Rufus R. Dawes, who was colonel of the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment,
gives some particulars of the fight at the railroad cut on the first
day: "The only commands I gave, as we advanced, were, 'Align on the
colors! Close up on that color!' The regiment was being broken up so
that this order alone could hold the body together. Meanwhile the
colors were down upon the ground several times, but were raised at
once by the heroes of the color-guard. Not one of the guard escaped,
every man being killed or wounded. Four hundred and twenty men started
as a regiment from the turnpike fence, of whom two hundred and forty
reached the railroad cut. Years afterward I found the distance passed
over to be one hundred and seventy-five paces. Every officer proved
himself brave, true, and heroic in encouraging the men to breast this
deadly storm; but the real impetus was the eager, determined valor of
our men who carried muskets in the ranks. The rebel color could be
seen waving defiantly just above the edge of the railroad cut. A
heroic ambition to capture it took possession of several of our men.
Corporal Eggleston, a mere boy, sprang forward to seize it, and was
shot dead the moment his hand touched the color. Private Anderson,
furious at the killing of his brave young comrade, recked little for
the rebel color; but he swung aloft his musket, and with a terrific
blow split the skull of the rebel who had shot young Eggleston.
Lieutenant Remington was severely wounded in the shoulder while
reaching for the colors. Into this deadly mélêe rushed Corporal
Francis A. Waller, who seized and held the rebel battle-flag. It was
the flag of the Second Mississippi Regiment.... Corporal James Kelly
turned from the ranks and stepped beside me as we both moved hurriedly
forward on the charge. He pulled open his woollen shirt, and a mark
where the deadly minié-ball had entered his breast was visible. He
said: 'Colonel, won't you please write to my folks that I died a
soldier?'"
[Illustration: PART OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG. (From a War
Department photograph.)]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL FRANCIS T. NICHOLLS, C. S. A.]
The story of the critical struggle for the possession of Little Round
Top, or at least of an important portion of it, has been graphically
related by Adjutant Porter Farley, of the One Hundred and Fortieth New
York Regiment, which went up at the same time with Hazlett's battery.
Captain Farley writes:
"Just at that moment our former brigadier, Gen. G. K. Warren, chief
engineer of the army, with an orderly and one or two officers, rode
down toward the head of our regiment. He came from the direction of
the hill-top. His speed and manner {261} indicated unusual excitement.
Before he reached us he called out to O'Rorke to lead his regiment
that way up the hill. O'Rorke answered him that General Weed had gone
ahead and expected this regiment to follow him. 'Never mind that,'
answered Warren, 'I'll take the responsibility.' Warren's words and
manner carried conviction of the importance of the thing he asked.
Accepting his assurance of full justification, O'Rorke turned the head
of the regiment to the left, and, following one of the officers who
had been with Warren, led it diagonally up the eastern slope of Little
Round Top. Warren rode off, evidently bent upon securing other troops.
The staff officer who rode with us, by his impatient gestures, urged
us to our greatest speed. Some of the guns of Hazlett's battery broke
through our files before we reached the hill-top amid the frantic
efforts of the horses, lashed by the drivers, to pull their heavy
pieces up that steep acclivity. A few seconds later the head of our
regiment reached the summit of the ridge, war's wild panorama spread
before us, and we found ourselves upon the verge of battle. It was a
moment which called for leadership. There was no time for tactical
formation. Delay was ruin. Hesitation was destruction. Well was it for
the cause he served that the man who led our regiment that day was one
prompt to decide and brave to execute. The bullets flew in among the
men the moment the leading company mounted the ridge; and as not a
musket was loaded, the natural impulse was to halt and load them. But
O'Rorke permitted no such delay. Springing from his horse, he threw
the reins to the sergeant-major; his sword flashed from its scabbard
into the sunlight, and calling, 'This way, boys,' he led the charge
over the rocks, down the hillside, till he came abreast the men of
Vincent's brigade, who were posted in the ravine to our left. Joining
them, an irregular line was formed, such as the confusion of the rocks
lying thereabout permitted; and this line grew and was extended toward
the right as the successive rearward companies came upon the seen of
action. There, while some were partly sheltered by the rocks and
others stood in the open, a fierce fight went on with an enemy among
the trees and underbrush. Flushed with the excitement of battle, and
bravely led, they pushed up close to our line. The steadfastness and
valor displayed on both sides made the result for some few minutes
doubtful; but a struggle so desperate and bloody could not be a long
one. The enemy fell back; a short lull was succeeded by another
onslaught, which was again repelled.
"When that struggle was over, the exultation of victory was soon
chilled by the dejection which oppressed us as we counted and realized
the cost of all that had been won. Of our regiment eighty-five
enlisted men and six officers had been wounded. Besides these,
twenty-six of the comrades who had marched with us that afternoon had
fallen dead before the fire of the enemy. Grouped by companies, a row
of inanimate forms lay side by side beneath the trees upon the eastern
slope. No funeral ceremony, and only shallow graves, could be accorded
them. In the darkness of the night, silently and with bitter
dejection, each company buried its dead. O'Rorke was among the dead.
Shot through the neck, he had fallen without a groan, and we may hope
without a pang. The supreme effort of his life was consummated by a
death heroic in its surroundings and undisturbed by pain."
[Illustration: COLONEL P. H. O'RORKE.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL ELON J. FARNSWORTH.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL S. K. ZOOK.]
[Illustration: COLONEL A. VAN HORNE ELLIS.]
It has been well said that Gettysburg was the common soldier's battle;
that its great results were due, not so much to any generalship either
in strategy or in tactics, as to the intelligent courage and
magnificent staying powers of the Northern soldier. If any one man was
more than another the hero of the fight, it was General Hancock, who
for his services on that field received the thanks of Congress.
Senator Washburn, who saw him the next year at the Wilderness,
remarked: "He was the {262} finest-looking man above ground; he was
the very impersonation of war." Hancock not only chose the ground for
the battle and set things in order for the conflict of the second day,
but seemed to be everywhere present, animating the men with the spirit
of his own valor and enthusiasm. He was especially conspicuous during
the terrific cannonade that preceded the great charge of the third
day, riding slowly up and down the lines. It is said that when he
began this ride he was accompanied by thirty men, and when he finished
it there was but one man with him--the horseman who carried his corps
flag. All the others had either been struck down by the missiles of
the enemy, or been called to imperative duty on different parts of the
line. As he rode slowly along, he stopped frequently to speak to the
men who were lying upon the ground to avoid the shells and balls, and
clutching their rifles ready to spring up and meet the charge which
they knew would follow as soon as the artillery fire ceased. While
this famous charge was in progress, Hancock rode down to speak to
General Stannard, whose Vermonters were to move forward and strike the
charging column in flank, and at this moment he was most grievously
wounded. A rifle ball struck the pommel of his saddle, tearing out and
twisting a nail from it, and both bullet and nail entered his thigh.
Two of General Stannard's aids caught him as he fell from his horse,
and put him into an ambulance. Here he wrote a note to General Meade
urgently advising that, as soon as the Confederate charge was over, a
return charge be made with the comparatively fresh troops of the Sixth
Corps. Some think that if this had been done the Army of Northern
Virginia would have found the end of its career then and there,
instead of at Appomattox a year and a half later. But General
Longstreet says he expected such a charge and was prepared for it, and
that if it had been made Sedgwick's men would have fared as badly as
Pickett's.
[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP R. DE TROBRIAND.]
[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY J. HUNT.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL DANIEL SICKLES. MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL P.
HEINTZELMAN.]
It is a little difficult to understand why so much has been made in
literature of this charge of Pickett's, unless, perhaps, it is owing
to the picturesque circumstances. It was at the close of the greatest
battle of the war; it was heralded by the mightiest cannonade of the
war; it was witnessed by two great armies; it was made in the middle
of the afternoon of a summer day, on a gentle slope, with the sun at
the backs of the assailants, the best possible arrangement for a grand
display; it exhibited magnificent courage and confidence on the part
of the soldiers that made it, and quite as great courage and
confidence on the part of those who met and thwarted it. It is,
perhaps, for these reasons that it has been made unduly famous; for,
after all, it was a blunder and a failure. There were other charges
{263} in the war that tested quite as much the devotion and endurance
of soldiers, and they were not all failures. The charge of Hooker's
and Thomas's men up the heights of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge
was even more picturesque, and was a grand success. The National
position at Gettysburg is always represented as being along a ridge,
and this, in a general way, is true; but near the centre the ridge is
so low that it almost dies away into the plain, and Pickett's men,
being directed toward this point, had only the very gentlest of slopes
to ascend. Gen. Alexander S. Webb, whose command was at this point,
said in conversation: "We had no intrenchments there, not a sod was
turned." "But why did you not intrench?" "Because we never supposed
that anybody would be fool enough to charge up there." The peril to
the charging column was more from the cross-fire of the batteries on
the higher ground to the right and left, than from the direct fire in
front.
[Illustration: "I WILL GIVE THEM ONE MORE SHOT!"]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE E. PICKETT, C. S. A.]
{264} [Illustration: BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, THIRD DAY.]
[Illustration: GROUP OF CONFEDERATE PRISONERS BEING MARCHED TO THE
REAR UNDER GUARD. (From the Panorama of Gettysburg, at Chicago.)]
General Sickles has been criticised somewhat severely for the
erroneous position taken by his corps on the second day of the battle,
which resulted in the great slaughter at the peach orchard and the
wheat-field. On a subsequent visit to Gettysburg he gave this
explanation of his action:
"It was quite early when I rode to General Meade's headquarters for
orders. The general told me that he did not think we would be
attacked, as he believed the enemy was in no condition to renew the
fight. I freely expressed to him my belief that the enemy would not
only force a battle at Gettysburg, but would do so soon. From General
Meade's conversation, and from his manner, I concluded he did not
intend to fight the battle at Gettysburg if he could avoid it. General
Butterfield, his chief of staff, told me that orders were being then
prepared for a change of position to Pipe Clay Creek. After waiting
some time for a decision as to what was to be done, I said to General
Meade that I should put my command in position with a view to meet any
emergency along my front, and at the same time asked him to send
General Butterfield with me to look over the field and inspect the
position I had decided to occupy. 'Butterfield is busy,' said he, and
he suggested that I use my own judgment. I again replied that I should
prefer to have some one of his staff officers sent with me, and asked
that General Hunt, chief of the artillery, be sent. General Meade
assented, and Hunt and I rode away. Carefully we surveyed the ground
in my front. I expressed the opinion that the high ground running from
the Emmetsburg road to Round Top was the most advantageous position.
Hunt agreed with me.
"'Then I understand that I am to take this position, and you, as
General Meade's representative, so order.' 'I do not care,' said he,
'to take the responsibility of ordering you to take that position, but
as soon as I can ride to General Meade's headquarters you will receive
his orders to do so.'
"He rode away, but before he reached headquarters, or I received
orders, my danger became imminent, and I was forced to go into line of
battle. Just after I had taken position on the high ground selected,
with Humphrey on the right, within and beyond the peach orchard, and
Birney on the left toward Round Top, I received an order from General
Meade to report at his headquarters. There was vigorous skirmishing on
my front, and I returned word to the general that I was about to be
attacked and could not leave the field. It was not long before I
received a peremptory order to report at once to headquarters, as
General Meade was going to hold an important conference of corps
commanders. I sent for Birney, put him in command, and rode rapidly to
Meade's headquarters. As I rode along I could hear the increasing fire
along the line, and felt very solicitous for my command. As I came up
to headquarters at a rapid gait, Meade came out hurriedly and said:
'Don't dismount, don't dismount; I fear your whole line is engaged;
return to your command, and in a few moments I will join you on the
field.' I rode back with all possible speed, reaching my corps before
the enemy had made his first furious assault. General Meade soon
joined me, as he had promised, and together we inspected {265} the
position I had taken. 'Isn't your line too much extended?' said he.
'It is,' I replied; 'but I haven't the Army of the Potomac, and have
a wide space to cover. Reserves should at once be sent up. My
dependence will have to be upon my artillery until support comes, and
I need more guns.' 'Send to Hunt for what you want,' said he, and he
glanced over the slender line of infantry that stretched toward Round
Top. Just before he left I said to him: 'Does my position suit you? If
it does not, I will change it.' 'No, no!' he replied quickly; 'I'll
send up the Fifth Corps, and Hancock will give any other supports you
may require.'
"He rode away, and soon after the battle began. The terrific struggle
along the whole line, and especially in the peach orchard and the
wheat-field on the right and left of my line, respectively, need not
be gone over. It is a matter of history. I sent to Hunt, when Meade
had gone, for forty pieces of artillery, which, added to the sixty I
had, gave me the guns to keep up the fighting while I waited for
reinforcements. Warren, who was then an engineer officer, was on Round
Top sending urgent appeals to me to send troops to hold that important
position. One brigade sent to me I immediately despatched him. As the
fighting went on and increased in intensity, I looked for the Fifth
Corps again and again, and sent an aid several times to hurry them up.
Sykes was slow, and, finding the needs of the hour growing greater and
greater every moment, I sent to Hancock for help. Hancock was always
prompt and generous, and with eager haste pushed forward his best
troops to the assistance of the struggling Third Corps. But the
moments I waited for reinforcements that day were as long to me as an
eternity, and the brave boys who wore the diamond during all this time
were obliged to stand the shock of as furious an assault as was ever
dealt against troops on any battlefield of modern times. The struggle
in that now peaceful peach-orchard was then fierce as death. The
wheat-field yonder was like the winepress with the dead and dying. Men
fought there, hand to hand, I think, as never they grappled before.
Onward and over against each other they bent again and again. Now the
Confederates would drive madly into the conflict. Now our boys would
push them back again at the point of the bayonet. Graham's and the
Excelsior Brigades, that I organized and commanded during the first of
the war, were in that section of the field, and hundreds of them lay
down to sleep under the shade of the peach trees that hot July day."
[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL FITZHUGH LEE, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL E. P. ALEXANDER, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL RICHARD L. T. BEALL, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL R. S. EWELL, C. S. A.]
One who participated in the bloody struggle of the wheat-field on the
second day writes:
"General Birney rode up and ordered a forward movement, and directed
that the largest regiment of the brigade be sent double-quick to
prolong the line on the left, so as to fill in the intervening gap to
the foot of Round Top, for the occupation of which both forces were
now engaged in a deadly struggle. General de Trobriand designated the
Fortieth New York for this duty, and ordered me to conduct it to its
assigned position, and, if necessary, to remain there with it. We
proceeded. The air was filled with smoke and the interchanging fires
of artillery and musketry. The shouts of both armies were almost
deafening, but I succeeded in placing the regiment where it was
ordered, and decided to remain with it.
"The enemy had us at a disadvantage. They were on higher ground, and
were pouring a terrific fire into our front. I trust in God I may
never again be called to look upon such scenes as I there beheld. Col.
Thomas W. Egan, the commander of the regiment, one of the bravest men
I ever knew, was charging with his command, when a ball from the enemy
pierced the heart of his mare, who sank {266} under him. Major Warner
of the same regiment was borne past me for dead, but was only terribly
wounded. He afterward recovered. His horse came dashing by a few
moments afterward, and my own having been disabled from wounds and
rendered unfit for use, I caught and mounted him. The poor brute that
I was riding had two minie balls buried in him--one in the shoulders,
the other in the hip--and was so frantic with pain that he had
wellnigh broken my neck in his violent fall. My sword was pitched a
dozen yards from me, and was picked up by one of the men and returned
to me that night.
"Col. A. V. H. Ellis, of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York,
one of the most chivalrous spirits that ever breathed, had received
his mortal wound. He was riding at the head of his regiment, waving
his sword in the air, and shouting to his men--his orange blossoms, as
he called them, the regiment having been raised in Orange County, New
York--when a bullet struck him in the forehead. He was borne to the
rear, his face covered with blood, and the froth spirting from his
mouth. He died in a few moments. Major Cromwell, also of that
regiment, was killed almost at the same instant by a shot in the
breast. He died without a groan or struggle. The adjutant of the
regiment was killed by a shot through the heart as it was moving off
the field. He had fought bravely for hours, and it seemed hard that
one so young and hopeful should be thus stricken down by a chance shot
after having faced the thickest of the fight unharmed. I learned
afterward that the noble young soldier was engaged to be married to a
beautiful young lady in his native State.
"It happened by the merest accident that I was within a few feet of
General Sickles when he received the wound by which he lost his leg.
When our command fell back after being relieved by General Sykes, I
hastened to find General De Trobriand, and, seeing a knot of officers
near the brick house into which General Sickles was so soon to be
taken, I rode up to see whether he (De Trobriand) was among them. The
knot of officers proved to be General Sickles and his staff. I saluted
him and was just asking for General De Trobriand, when a terrific
explosion seemed to shake the very earth. This was instantly followed
by another equally stunning, and the horses all began to jump. I
instantly noticed that General Sickles's pants and drawers at the knee
were torn clear off to the leg, which was swinging loose. The jumping
of the horse was fortunate for him, as he turned just in time for him
to alight on the upper side of the slope of the hill. As he attempted
to dismount he seemed to lose strength, and half fell to the ground.
He was very pale, and evidently in most fearful pain, as he exclaimed
excitedly, 'Quick, quick! get something and tie it up before I bleed
to death.' These were his exact words, and I shall never forget the
scene as long as I live, for we all loved General Sickles, who
commanded our corps. He was carried from the field to the house I have
mentioned, coolly smoking a cigar, quietly remarking to a Catholic
priest, a chaplain to one of the regiments in his command, 'Man
proposes and God disposes.' His leg was amputated within less than
half an hour after his receiving the wound."
[Illustration: THE STONE WALL--GENERAL O. O. HOWARD'S POSITION NEAR
CEMETARY HILL. (From the Panorama of Gettysburg, at Chicago.)]
Major Joseph G. Rosengarten says of General Reynolds: "In all the
intrigues of the army, and the interference of the politicians in its
management, he silently set aside the tempting offers to take part,
and served his successive commanders with {267} unswerving loyalty and
zeal and faith. In the full flush of life and health, vigorously
leading on the troops in hand, and energetically summoning up the rest
of his command, watching and even leading the attack of a
comparatively small body, a glorious picture of the best type of
military leader, superbly mounted, and horse and man sharing in the
excitement of the shock of battle, Reynolds was, of course, a shining
mark to the enemy's sharp-shooters. He had taken his troops into a
heavy growth of timber on the slope of a hill-side, and, under their
regimental and brigade commanders, the men did their work well and
promptly. Returning to rejoin the expected divisions, he was struck by
a minie-ball fired by a sharp-shooter hidden in the branches of a tree
almost overhead, and was killed at once. His horse bore him to the
little clump of trees, where a cairn of stones and a rude mark on the
bark, now almost overgrown, still tell the fatal spot. At the moment
that his body was taken to the rear, for his death was instantaneous,
two of his most gallant staff officers, Captains Riddle and Wadsworth,
in pursuance of his directions, effected a slight movement, which made
prisoners of Archer's brigade, so that the rebel prisoners went to the
rear almost at the same time, and their respectful conduct was in
itself the highest tribute they could pay to him who had thus fallen."
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF JOHN BURNS, THE OLD HERO OF GETTYSBURG.]
[Illustration: MISS JENNIE WADE, THE ONLY WOMAN KILLED AT GETTYSBURG.]
Gen. D. McM. Gregg, who commanded one of the two cavalry divisions of
the Army of the Potomac, while Gen. John Buford commanded the other,
in a rapid review of the part taken by the cavalry in the campaign,
writes: "The two divisions were put in motion toward the Potomac, but
did not take exactly the same route, and the Army of the Potomac
followed their lead. The advance of Stuart's Confederate cavalry
command had reached Aldie, and here, on June 17th, began a series of
skirmishes or engagements between the two cavalry forces, all of which
were decided successes for us, and terminated in driving Stuart's
cavalry through the gap at Paris. Kilpatrick's brigade, moving in the
advance of the second division, fell upon the enemy at Aldie, and
there ensued an engagement of the most obstinate character, in which
several brilliant mounted charges were made, terminating in the
retreat of the enemy. On June 19th, the division advanced to
Middleburg, where a part of Stuart's force was posted, and was
attacked by Col. Irvin Gregg's brigade. Here, as at Aldie, the fight
was very obstinate. The enemy had carefully selected the most
defensible position, from which he had to be driven step by step, and
this work had to be done by dismounted skirmishers, owing to the
unfavorable character of the country for mounted service. On the 19th,
Gregg's division moved on the turnpike from Middleburg in the
direction of Upperville, and soon encountered the enemy's cavalry in
great force. The attack was promptly made, the enemy offering the most
stubborn resistance. The long lines of stone fences, which are so
common in that region, were so many lines of defence to a force in
retreat; these could be held until our advancing skirmishers were
almost upon them, but then there would be no escape for those behind;
it was either to surrender or attempt escape across the open fields to
fall before the deadly fire of the carbines of the pursuers. Later in
the day General Buford's division came in on the right, and took the
enemy in flank. Then our entire force, under General Pleasonton,
supported by a column of infantry, moved forward and dealt the
finishing blow. Through Upperville the pursuit was continued at a run,
the enemy flying in the greatest {268} confusion; nor were they
permitted to re-form until night put a stop to further pursuit at the
mouth of the gap. Our losses in the fighting of these three days
amounted to five hundred in killed, wounded, and missing; of the
latter there were but few. The enemy's loss was much greater,
particularly in prisoners. Our captures also included light guns,
flags, and small arms. These successful engagements of our cavalry
left our infantry free to march, without the loss of an hour, to the
field of Gettysburg. At Frederick, Md., the addition of the cavalry,
formerly commanded by General Stahl, made it necessary to organize a
third division, the command of which was given to General Kilpatrick.
Buford, with his division in advance of our army, on July 1st, first
encountered the enemy in the vicinity of Gettysburg. How well his
brigades of regulars and volunteers resisted the advance of that
invading host, yielding so slowly as to give ample time for our
infantry to go to his support, is well known. Kilpatrick's division
marched from Frederick well to the right, at Hanover engaged the
enemy's cavalry in a sharp skirmish, and reached Gettysburg on the
1st. On the left of our line, on the 3d, one of his brigades, led by
General Farnsworth, gallantly charged the enemy's infantry and
protected that flank from any attack, with the assistance of General
Merritt's regular brigade. Gregg's division crossed the Potomac at
Edward's Ferry and reached Gettysburg on the morning of the 2d, taking
position on the right of our line. On the 3d, during that terrific
fire of artillery, it was discovered that Stuart's cavalry was moving
to our right, with the evident intention of passing to the rear to
make a simultaneous attack there. When opposite our right, Stuart was
met by General Gregg with two of his brigades and Custer's brigade of
the Third Division, and on a fair field there was another trial
between two cavalry forces, in which most of the fighting was done in
the saddle, and with the trooper's favorite weapon, the sabre. Stuart
advanced not a pace beyond where he was met; but after a severe
struggle, which was only terminated by the darkness of night, he
withdrew, and on the morrow, with the defeated army of Lee, was in
retreat to the Potomac."
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE AND OFFICERS.]
The obstinate blindness of English partisanship in our great struggle
was curiously illustrated by an incident on the field of Gettysburg.
One Fremantle, a lieutenant-colonel in the British army, had come over
to visit the seat of war, and published his observations upon it in
_Blackwood's Magazine_. He was near General Longstreet when Pickett's
charge was made. Standing there with his back to the sun, and
witnessing the operation on the great slope before him, he, although a
soldier by profession, was so thoroughly possessed with the wish and
the expectation that the Confederate cause might succeed, that he
mistook Pickett's awful defeat for a glorious success, and rushing up
to General Longstreet, congratulated him upon it, and told him how
glad he was to be there and see it. "Are you, indeed?" said
Longstreet, surprised. "I am not."
About a month after the battle, General Lee wrote a letter to
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, in which he said:
"We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us
wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies, and to prevent
our falling into greater disasters. Our people have only to be true
and united, to bear manfully the misfortunes incident to war, and all
will come right in the end. I know how prone we are to censure, and
how ready to blame others for the non-fulfilment of our expectations.
This is unbecoming in a generous people, and I grieve to see its
expression. The general remedy for the want of success in a military
commander is his removal. This is natural, and in many instances
proper; for, no matter what may be the ability of the officer, if he
loses the confidence of his troops, disaster must, sooner or later,
ensue. I have been prompted by these reflections more than once since
my return from Pennsylvania to propose to your Excellency the
propriety of selecting another commander for this army. I have seen
and heard of expressions of discontent in the public journals at the
result of the expedition. I do not know how far this feeling extends
in the army. My brother officers have been too kind to report it, and
so far the troops have been too generous to exhibit it. It is fair,
however, to suppose that it does exist, and success is so necessary to
us that nothing should be risked to secure it. I, therefore, in all
sincerity, request your Excellency to take measures to supply my
place."
Mr. Davis declined to relieve General Lee from his command of the Army
of Northern Virginia, and, consequently, he retained it until he
surrendered himself and that army as prisoners of war in the spring of
1865.
{269} The effect that the news of Gettysburg produced in Europe is
said to have been the absolute termination of all hope for a
recognition of the Confederacy as an independent power. A writer in
the _London Morning Advertiser_ says: "Mr. Disraeli, although never
committing himself, as Mr. Gladstone and Lord John Russell did, to the
principles for which the Southern Confederacy was fighting, always
regarded recognition as a possible card to play, and was quite
prepared, at the proper moment, to play it. The moment seemed to have
come when General Lee invaded the Federal States. At that time it was
notorious that the bulk of the Tory party and more than half of the
Ministerialists were prepared for such a step. I had frequent
conversations with Mr. Disraeli on the subject, and I perfectly
recollect his saying to me that the time had now come for moving in
the matter. 'But,' he said, 'it is of great importance that, if the
move is to be made, it should not assume a party character, and it is
of equal importance that the initiative should come from our (the
Conservative) side. If the thing is to be done, I must do it myself;
and then, from all I hear and know, the resolution will be carried,
Lord Palmerston being quite disposed to accept the declaration by
Parliament in favor of a policy which he personally approves. But I
cannot speak without more knowledge of the subject than I now possess,
and I should be glad if you could give me a brief, furnishing the
necessary statistics of the population, the institutions, the
commercial and political prospects of the Southern States, in order
that when the moment comes I may be fully armed.' I procured the
necessary information and placed it in his hands. Every day seemed to
bring the moment for its use nearer, and the general feeling in the
House of Commons was perfectly ripe for the motion in favor of
recognition, when the news of the battle of Gettysburg came like a
thunder-clap upon the country. General Meade defeated Lee, and saved
the Union, and from that day not another word was heard in Parliament
about recognition. A few days afterward I saw Mr. Disraeli, and his
exact words were, 'We nearly put our foot in it.'"
A great national cemetery was laid out on the battlefield, and the
remains of three thousand five hundred and sixty soldiers of the
National army who had fallen in that campaign were placed in it,
arranged in the order of their States. This was dedicated on the 19th
of November in the year of the battle, 1863; and this occasion
furnished a striking instance of the difference between natural genius
and artificial reputation. The orator of the day was Edward Everett,
who, by long cultivation and unlimited advertising, had attained the
nominal place of first orator in the country; but he was by no means
entitled to speak for the men who had there laid down their lives in
the cause of universal liberty; for, through all his political life,
until the breaking out of the war, he had been a strong pro-slavery
man. President Lincoln was invited to be present, as a matter of
course, and was informed that he would be expected to say a little
something. Mr. Everett delivered a long address, prepared in his usual
elaborate and artificial style, which was forgotten by every hearer
within twenty-four hours. Mr. Lincoln, on his way from Washington,
jotted down an idea or two on the back of an old envelope, by way of
memorandum, and when he was called upon, rose and delivered a speech
of fewer than three hundred words, which very soon took its place
among the world's immortal orations. Some time after the delivery of
the address, Mr. Lincoln, at the request of friends, carefully wrote
it and affixed his signature. This copy is here reproduced in such a
way as to give an exact fac-simile of his writing.
[Illustration: (hand written)
Address delivered at the dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting
and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we
can not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth.
Abraham Lincoln.
November 19, 1863.]
{270}