on the afternoon of July 3, on the Rommel farm three miles east of
Gettysburg, where for hours these skillful generals fought for
possession of the field in the immediate rear of the Union army, the
area of the battlefield was about twenty square miles.
Lee’s intention had been to have Stuart’s cavalry strike the Union army
from the rear the same moment Pickett was carrying the line in the
front. The first skirmish in the great battle occurred June 27, when
part of Early’s command, on their way to the Susquehanna, drove the
Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment out of the borough.
On June 30, Buford’s cavalrymen, reconnoitering out on the Cashtown
road, one of the seven prominent roads which converge at Gettysburg, ran
into some of Pettigrew’s infantry and in the evening of that day,
Colonel Gamble stationed his pickets along Marsh Creek.
Early in the following morning, July 1, Pettigrew’s Division advanced
toward the town, and at Willoughby Run, with his whole brigade
dismounted, Gamble held back the Confederates for two hours. Buford had
advised General John F. Reynolds of this expected encounter; he placed
the first division of his First Army Corps upon the road, and he then
hurried forward the few miles to meet General Buford.
The two rode out the Cashtown Pike, where a conference was held at 9
o’clock. Reynolds then hurried back to his advancing troops to spur them
forward and as he was leading the foremost regiment into the woods he
was struck in the head and instantly killed. So passed away the greatest
soldier in the Army of the Potomac.
An hour later Archer’s Brigade was captured by the Federals near
Willoughby Run. Then followed two hours’ lull, during which the
Confederates were preparing their lines to sweep the Union troops off
Seminary Ridge. General Doubleday skillfully met this attack by throwing
his two Pennsylvania brigades (of the Third Division, First Corps) into
the front line, Biddle’s on the north of the woods and Stone’s on the
south, both in open ground; the Second Division to the woods on the road
toward Carlisle.
For three hours these fresh troops received the assaults of the enemy
ten times their number, and when night came it was learned that
Doubleday’s Corps had been reduced from 9403 officers and men to 2400,
the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers out of 380 men and seventeen officers
brought back eighty men and only one officer not wounded. The 121st,
142d, 143d, 149th and 151st Pennsylvania all lost quite as heavily.
While the First Corps was thus engaged, General Howard with the Eleventh
Corps came down the Emmetsburg road onto the field. Three divisions were
started for Oak Hill, that they might hold it against Ewell’s Corps,
coming back from near Harrisburg. Unfortunately the enemy had already
seized the hill and Howard was forced into the open, but his two
divisions were skillfully placed, and for two hours he sustained an
unequal and hopeless fight, being forced back to Cemetery Hill, just as
Doubleday had been, and at about the same time.
Among the incidents of the first day’s fight was the appearance on the
field of John Burns, citizen, who came out from town dressed in a
swallow tail coat with brass buttons on it, wearing a tall hat and his
pockets full of powder and balls and a musket which he had used in the
Mexican War. He approached the firing line, where Major Thomas
Chamberlin, of the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers was standing, and
begged to be allowed to fight with that regiment. While discussing the
matter, he was advised to go into the woods and fight from behind a
tree, which the old man did, receiving three wounds, for which
Pennsylvania has erected to his memory a handsome statue, located on the
ground where the 150th fought.
One civilian killed was Jennie Wade, eighteen years old, who was struck
by a stray shot as she was baking bread in her home.
----------
Sickles’ Corps Holds Confederates Off Both
Round Tops at Gettysburg July 2, 1863
During the night of July 1 the two army commanders hurried up their
troops to Gettysburg, but it was on the night of July 2 before the last
of Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and the last of Longstreet’s First Corps came
into position. Meantime, at Hanover Junction, twelve miles east of
Gettysburg, Kilpatrick was fighting Stuart, and, having whipped him and
forced the enemy cavalry around to the left and rear of the Confederate
Army, he took his position on the west of the Emmetsburg road, a mile
and a half from Peach Orchard, on the left flank of the Union Army.
On July 2 General Daniel E. Sickles, with his Third Corps, came up. He
was assigned to a position on the “left of Hancock,” and occupied the
Emmetsburg road as far as the Peach Orchard, throwing his left toward
Round Top. He was hardly in position before Longstreet enveloped the
Union line, where, for five hours, from 3 until 8 o’clock, the battle
raged furiously, the scene changing from the Peach Orchard to the
Wheatfield and from there to the valley between Round Top and back again
to the Devil’s Den and again back to the Wheatfield.
The interposition of Sickles’ corps between the Confederate Army and
Round Top was what Longstreet least desired, for he intended to make a
vigorous attack upon that strategic position, but the Union forces
obtained the eminence just as the enemy was ascending the western slope.
In the desperate struggle for Little Round Top four Union generals were
killed. On the Wheatfield two colonels were killed, and near the Peach
Orchard General Sickles lost his leg.
In the second day’s fight Hood was wounded, but, minus a leg and an arm,
he commanded the Western Confederate Army and fought Sherman near
Atlanta.
The Confederate forces had pushed the Federal line back half a mile, but
had failed to seize either Big or Little Round Top, and each side had
suffered frightfully in killed and wounded.
When Longstreet opened his battle behind Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill
it was expected that Ewell would attack the Union lines in front. He did
not hear Longstreet’s guns and failed to attack until 7 o’clock in the
evening, when, supported by numerous guns in a hot artillery fire, the
Louisiana Tigers and North Carolina brigade of Early’s division stormed
East Cemetery Hill, carrying everything before them, even to clubbing
Wiedrich’s artillerymen in their hastily thrown up intrenchments. But
Carroll’s brigade of infantrymen was back of the guns across the
Baltimore pike, and this brigade Hancock personally led against the foe,
with the result that the Union guns and positions were saved and the
Louisiana Tigers as an organization went out of existence.
Ewell, failing to win East Cemetery Hill, at 7 o’clock pushed Johnson’s
troops against the enemy on the east side of Culp’s Hill, and, after an
hour’s fighting, gained a lodgment in part of the works of the Twelfth
Corps, which had been vacated by troops called to aid in defending the
line on the extreme left against the attack of Longstreet.
Johnson’s troops pushed their advance by 9 o’clock as far as the
Baltimore road; but on account of darkness and fearful of being led into
a trap, did not go farther. In this contest the Confederates secured
Spangler’s Spring, but all through the long night boys of both sides
filled their canteens at the gurgling fountain.
At daybreak on the morning of July 3 General Slocum, of the Twelfth
Corps, made a successful attempt to drive the Confederates from the
Union breastworks they had gained the previous night, and for six hours
the woods howled with shot and shell, as this was one of the most
desperate battles. Slowly, but surely, foot by foot, the Union troops
advanced until the breastworks were wrested from the enemy, who was
forced back across Rock Creek. This ended the Battle of Gettysburg, so
far as Ewell’s and Slocum’s corps of the two sides were considered.
From 10 until 1 there was an ominous silence over the whole field in
both armies. Then came the shot and shell from 150 Confederate guns
posted along Seminary Ridge, directed upon the center of the Union line,
and immediately 150 guns on the Union side responded, and for nearly two
hours the earth trembled.
General Hunt ordered the Federal pieces to cease firing to cool off,
while he replaced disabled guns with fresh ones and replenished his
supply of ammunition for the assault which was sure to come.
Lee thought the Union guns were silenced from exhaustion and promptly
gave orders for 15,000 of Longstreet’s and A. P. Hill’s choicest troops
to force the Federal line. Pickett was in front with his 5500 men, and
bravely they marched on and on when the charge commenced. From there it
was a rush, until on and beyond the stone wall, at the Angle, both sides
mingled in wildest disorder, shooting and clubbing each other in a
hand-to-hand struggle that seemed to have no end. One by one the
Confederates threw down their arms and sought retreat.
Of Pickett’s 5500 men, 224 had been killed, 1140 wounded and 1499
surrendered. Out of fifteen Confederate flags, twelve were left with the
Federals, only three with the few brave troops making their way back to
the Southland.
On this third day of the battle General Hancock was carried off the
field badly wounded.
While Pickett was making his charge, Stuart, with the Rebel cavalry,
endeavored to break the Union line in the center of the rear, but there
he met General David McMurtrie Gregg, of Berks county, in command of the
Union cavalry, and was defeated in the most important cavalry battle of
the war.
All night long after the battle, Lee pushed his trains to the river
through Fairfield Gap, and on July 4 he commenced to move his army; by
the 14th he had carried it safely across the Potomac into Virginia.
Gettysburg was a drawn battle, yet, strange to state, was the decisive
battle of the war and was treated by both sides and by the world as a
great Union victory. The Gettysburg campaign was the last of several
incursions upon Northern soil. Lee was afterward on the defensive.
While all the Northern states contributed their courage and manhood,
Gettysburg, in its location, its leadership, and its incidents, was
essentially a Pennsylvania battle.
----------
British and Indians Massacre Hundreds
at Wyoming July 3, 1778
The year 1778 brought great distress and fear to the frontier generally,
but particularly to Wyoming. The defeat and surrender of Burgoyne, at
Saratoga, in October, 1777, had left the British without sufficient
available force in America to carry on a regular campaign for this year,
and as the war was to be continued, the only resource left to the
British commanders was to employ the Indians and Tories almost
exclusively in carrying on a war of desolation on the frontier.
Late in June Colonel John Butler, with his own Tory rangers, a
detachment of Sir John Johnson’s Royal Greens, and a large body of
Indians, chiefly Seneca, descended the Susquehanna. This force numbered
about 400 British and Tories, and 700 Indians.
At Fort Jenkins, the uppermost in the valley, were gathered the families
of John Jenkins, Hardings, Gardners and others. This fort capitulated
July 2, to a force under Captain Caldwell. Four defenders were killed
and three taken prisoners.
Wintermoot’s Fort was one mile below Fort Jenkins, with a view, as
afterward appeared, to aiding the Tories. Soon as the enemy appeared
Wintermoot’s Fort at once threw open its gates, and here the British and
Tories assembled.
There were several stockades at Wyoming, but no other means of defense
than small arms. No one of the forts was able to hold out an hour
against such a force as the enemy mustered. Some of the old men formed
themselves into companies to garrison these forts and yield such
protection as they could.
Colonel Zebulon Butler happened to be home from the Continental Army,
and assumed command of the settlers. History does not record an instance
of more courage displayed or more gallant devotion. There was no
alternative but to fight and conquer, or die, for to retreat with their
families was impossible.
On July 3 they marched out to meet the enemy. Colonel Butler commanded
the right wing, aided by Major Garrett. Colonel Dennison commanded the
left, assisted by Lieutenant Colonel George Dorrance. The field of fight
was a plain only partly cleared. Opposed to Colonel Zebulon Butler, of
Wyoming, was Colonel John Butler, with his Tory rangers, in their green
uniforms.
It was between 4 and 5 o’clock when the engagement began, but the enemy
outnumbered the defenders nearly three to one, and they were soon able
to outflank them, especially on the left, where was a swamp exactly
suited for savage warfare.
The Wyoming men fell rapidly, and it became impossible to maintain the
position. Colonel Dennison gave an order to fall back, so as to present
a better front to the enemy, but the command was mistaken as a signal
for retreat.
The fiendish enemy sprang forward, raised horrid yells, rushed in with
tomahawk and spear, and slaughtered the Americans.
There are related many instances of personal and heroic bravery on part
of both officers and men. They deserved a better fate, but the battle
was lost.
Then followed the most dreadful massacre in the annals of
Pennsylvania—the most heart-rending tortures. The brave soldiers were
slaughtered without mercy, principally in the flight, and after
surrendering themselves prisoners of war.
Prisoners taken under solemn promise of quarter were gathered together,
and placed in circles. Sixteen men were arranged around one large stone,
since known as the bloody rock. Surrounded by a body of powerful
Indians, Queen Esther Montour, a fury in the form of a woman, assumed
the office of executioner, and with the death maul or tomahawk, she
passed round the circle and dashed out the brains of each prisoner.
Three strong men named Hammond, Lebbens and Joseph Elliott escaped by a
desperate effort. In another similar ring nine persons were slain in the
same manner. Many were shot swimming the river and hunted out and killed
in their hiding places. Only sixty of those who went into the battle
survived. The forts were filled with widows and orphans. It is said that
150 widows and six orphans were the result of the battle.[3]
Footnote 3:
It is believed that the Indians secured 227 scalps in this battle. The
poet, Campbell, has told this dread tale in his “Gertrude of Wyoming.”
About two-thirds of those who went out fell. Naked, panting and bloody,
a few who had escaped, rushed into Wilkes-Barre Fort where they told the
dreadful news that all was lost. Mr. Hollenback, who swam the river amid
the shots of the enemy, was the first to spread the appalling news. They
fled to the mountains and down the river. Their sufferings were
terrible, and they were almost famished for want of bread. In one party
of nearly a hundred there was but a single man.
In Forty Fort they heard the firing distinctly, and their spirits were
high, until they learned the dreadful news. The first fugitives reached
the fort in the evening, and then a few others arrived during the night.
Colonel Dennison also came in, and rallied the little band for defense.
He succeeded the next day in entering into a capitulation for the
settlement with Colonel John Butler, by which doubtless many lives were
saved.
The enemy marched in, six abreast, the British and Tories at the
northern gate, the Indians at the southern. On paper the terms of
capitulation were fair, but the Indians immediately began to rob and
burn, plunder and destroy. Even when appealed to, Tory Butler did not
put a stop to it. But the Indians did not take life within the fort,
only confined themselves to wanton plunder and insult.
When night fell the blaze of twenty dwellings lighted up the valley. In
almost every house and field the murderous work was performed.
When the moon rose, the terrified survivors of the massacre fled to the
Poconos and beyond to Stroudsburg. In the morasses of the dreadful
wilderness many women and children perished, these places are still
called “Shades of Death.”
In a few days Colonel Butler led the chief part of his army away, but
the Indians continued in the valley burning and plundering, until nearly
every building was consumed and it was clearly shown that the articles
of capitulation afforded no security.
Soon after the battle Captain Spalding, with a company from Stroudsburg,
took possession of the desolate valley, and rebuilt the fort at
Wilkes-Barre. Colonel Thomas Hartley marched from Fort Muncy, on the
West Branch, along the Sheshequin trail up into what is now Bradford
County, and burned the Indian villages at Wyalusing, Sheshequin and
Tioga, and cut off a part of the enemy who were taking a boat-load of
plunder from Wyoming.
----------
Declaration of Independence Adopted
by Congress July 4, 1776
Continental Congress was confronted with a serious situation when it
convened in the early winter of 1775.
John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, continued to be one of the most
important members. He was placed on the committee to correspond with
foreign Powers and was intrusted with the framing of the Articles of
Confederation.
The majority of Congress were now determined to destroy the authority of
the British King, and, although Dickinson held the Pennsylvania
delegation, with the exception of Benjamin Franklin, to his own views,
the progress of events changed the public sentiment in the province.
Many were to be found who, while they regretted the cruel necessity,
were now ready to give up the name Englishmen. The Assembly sensed this
growing feeling and at length released the delegates from former
instruction and left the matter to their own judgment.
A committee with John Dickinson, the author of the Farmer’s Letters, at
its head, reported:
“The happiness of these Colonies has during the whole course of this
fatal controversy been our first wish; their reconciliation with Great
Britain our next. Ardently have we prayed for the accomplishment of
both. But if we must renounce the one or the other we humbly trust in
the mercies of the Supreme Governor of the universe that we shall not
stand condemned before His throne if our choice is determined by the
overruling law of self-preservation which His divine wisdom has thought
proper to implant in the hearts of His creatures.”
Congress now resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the
question of independence. Many of the illustrious members of Congress
advocated it with great warmth, principally John Adams, of
Massachusetts; R. R. Livingstone, of New York, and Edward Rutledge, of
South Carolina, while James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, joined with John
Dickinson in opposing it.
Wilson avowed, that notwithstanding the recall of the instructions
against independence by the Assembly, his own sentiments remained the
same. Dickinson declared that America could be wisely governed by the
King and Parliament, not as independent, but as subject States. He
believed the restraining power of the King and Parliament was
indispensable to protect the Colonies from disunion and civil war. The
debate was adjourned until July 1, and when Congress again took up the
question James Wilson had turned for independence.
Adams led the debate in favor, and Dickinson on the side opposing it.
The time had not come for independence; he feared disunion among the
Colonies. He pointed out that foreign aid would not be obtained without
success in battle. He believed the Colonies ought at least have agreed
upon the terms of their own confederation, as had been begun, and it
would have been well to have fixed the bounds of each colony.
Dickinson’s argument was sound and proved he had a correct grasp on
public affairs, for even after the long war for independence the
Colonies were divided.
Pennsylvania had been maintaining a border war with Virginia for the
possession of the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains, and another and
more serious war with Connecticut because of the conflicting or
misunderstood boundaries.
New York had a similar dispute with Connecticut and New Hampshire, the
latter contesting the region which has since become the State of
Vermont. Further trouble was also to be expected as population pushed
toward the West, the older colonies claiming under their original
charters as far as the Pacific Ocean.
In committee, when Richard Henry Lee’s resolution declaring independence
was up for vote, Dickinson, Morris, Willing and Humphreys voted against
it, making a majority of the delegation from Pennsylvania, but every
other colony, excepting Delaware, voted in favor of the resolution.
Franklin, Wilson and Morton voted in favor of independence.
As far-seeing a man as John Dickinson was, he could not fully comprehend
the idea of a separate existence of the Colonies from the mother
country, and yet no purer patriot breathed the air of freedom. A zealous
advocate of liberty, it was his words that startled the Colonies and
struck the keynote which aroused the energies of the provincialists and
made them contend for independence. Notwithstanding his
overcautiousness, the declaration having been determined on, Dickinson
entered heartily into its support and took an active part in all the
affairs transpiring in the Colonies—even wielding his sword in the
cause.
On July 2, 1776, the resolution being reported by the Committee of the
Whole, came before the House. Dickinson and Morris made no further
opposition, but by absenting themselves allowed the Keystone State,
which Pennsylvania’s population and geographical position made her, to
be put into the national arch then being erected.
John Morton is credited with casting the decisive vote. He felt the
great responsibility and with it odium which he incurred in the locality
which he lived. His health broke and he died the following year. From
his deathbed he sent this protest to the friends who had turned from
him: “Tell them they will live to see the hour when they shall
acknowledge my signing of the Declaration of Independence to have been
the most glorious service that I ever rendered my country.”
Pending the consideration of this important question of independence, a
committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, Roger Sherman and R. R. Livingstone, was appointed to prepare
a Declaration of Independence. Jefferson and Adams were named a
subcommittee, and the original draft of this eloquent manifesto was made
by Jefferson. It was adopted by the committee without amendment and
reported to Congress on June 28.
On July 4, having received some alterations, it was sanctioned by the
vote of every Colony. Of the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and
Morris were absent when the vote was taken; Franklin, Wilson and Morton
voted for, and Willing and Humphreys voted against it.
----------
Massacre at Wyoming Followed by “The
Great Runaway” on July 5, 1778
The great massacre at Wyoming occurred on July 3, 1778, and as the news
passed down the North Branch of the Susquehanna and spread over the
hills and valleys leading to the West Branch Valley it caused a general
stampede, a wild, precipitate flight of the settlers from the upper
region which has ever since been known as the “Great Runaway.”
The history of Pennsylvania has failed to record any flight of its
inhabitants, either in numbers or the harrowing details of its movement,
comparable with this catastrophe.
Within two days following the massacre the news had penetrated the
entire North Branch Valley and had reached as far up the West Branch
Valley as Fort Antes, now Jersey Shore.
On July 9 Colonel Samuel Hunter, the county lieutenant and commandant of
the garrison at Fort Augusta (Sunbury), wrote to the Governor:
“Nothing but a firm reliance upon Divine Providence and the virtue of
our neighbors induces the few to stand that remain; and if they are not
speedily re-enforced they must give way; but will have this consolation,
that they have stood in defense of their liberty and country as long as
they could. In justice to this county (Northumberland) I must bear
testimony that the States never applied to it for men in vain.