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THE GREAT REBEL DEFEAT. When.the last brigade of the rebel army crossed the Potomac near Williamsport on the27th of .June, the Army of the Fotomac crossed about the same time and occupied a position covering Washington and Baltimore. Gen. Lee advanced cautiously into Pennsylvania with his main army, Chambersburg, Carlisle and other places having been previonslv occnniedbv the advance under Gen. Ewell. " **WV 4" " On Sunday, the 28th of June, when Gen. Hook-er was relieved, his headquarters were at Frederick, and Gen. I.ee's at Hagerstown, about 40 miles northwest. General Lee pushed forward in the direction of Harri burg and the Susquehannah, but as he progressed, hi? communications became more exposed, and he was evidently disconcerted at the failure of Gen. Hooker, and subsequently Gen. Meade to atack him. When the latter assumed command, he immed:ate.y put his troops in motion, but avoided a buttle. On Tuesdav, June 30. a cavalry fight occurred near Hanover, a few miles from Gettysburg, and Gen. Stuart was defeated by Pleasanton, with great loss. On Tuesday evening, and Wednesday morning, July 1st, the two main armies approached each other near Gettysburg, where Gen. Lee succeeded in engaging, with his whole army, our hirst and eleventh army corps before the main body came up. In this fight our troops fought with undaunted courage, and by their noble resistance gained time for the remainder of the army to come up. ?ien. Reynolds was killed, and we lost a great minibt.r of officers and men, and though the enemy succeeded in driving us back a little from Gettysburg, the object of the battle was gained by the timely arrival of the 'third Army corps, under Gen. Sickels. who pressed forward with the utmost prompttitude. During the night, the I irst, Eleventh and 'third corps fell back to the li c of the Tarry town road, where, after hastily throwing up slight fortifications in front of the batteries, they rested for the night, the Twelfth corps holding a splendid position on the hill near the Cemetery, which is located at the eastern end of the town; to the left of this were the Eleventh, next the First, and then the Ihird Corps. Two advantages were gained. The enemy was obliged to exhibit his strength and to commit Ifimself to a position; and tho commanding \ osiiions were seized and held by the National IIVU^O* During the night Gen. Meade and staff came up to the front. The Commanding General carefully examined the surrounding country, and after considering the locations and positions in all their strategical and tactical bearing, he approved of the position taken by Gen. Howard, and so disposed his forces on the several hills, or '?round tops" and ridges, as to construct a battle-line in the form of a crescent, with the <yntrc to the southward ! from the cemetery. The enemy was ifca valley, or on, hills at a distance too great to be of use for shelter. The roads on which the enemy would desire to march were commanded by Meade's guns, and hence Lee must j light with the hills against him. For once, then, J in the history of the Army of the Potomac, the enemy had been compelled to give battle at a disadvantage. On Wednesday night all the troops but the Sixth Corps, commanded by General Sedgwick, arrived on the field. Numerically, commencing with the right, the line was formed of the 12th, 11th, 2d, 1st, 3d, and 5th Corpse. This was essentially the position during Ihursday, and Friday, though Gen. Meade did not fight his army by corps. As the battle raged more fiercely here or diitanSmtfnfc aV dii-ieinn Ar Iiri<r9/1/>A trprp sent to support, and would remain till wanted elsewhere. All the heights and. every advantageous position along the entire line where artillery could be massed or battery planted, frowned down on the enemy through brows of brass and iron. There was unconceivable advance of approach that could not be raked and crossed with the artillery. The reserve artillery and all the essentials to in-" sure victory were in passion at the right time. The immense cavalry force, too. was present covaring both hanks of the army aud continually harcssing the enemy. This was a new and an encouraging feature that gave confidence to the men and security to the trains. Skirmishing commenced at early dawn on Thursday morning and continued without intermis*inn hut without ajiv armreeiable results until about 4 P. M., when the enemy opened a terrific fire on Cemetery HiH, a Presbyterian burying ground, a little to the north of Gettysburg, occur pied by the Eleventh and Second army corps. Our artillery returned the fire, and for two hours the contest continued, the smoke and roar of can* non almost rending the heavens. Presently a heavy compact mass, was seen approaching, and tlen. Sickles was ordered forward. The black columns came ont of the wood and suddenly the thunder of artillery ceased, and, with cheers and yells, tho roar of musketry and flash of bayonet, fulj. 60,000 men from Longstrcet's and Hill's corps, came lushing against our lines. 1 he ThrnlCorps stood firm for a while, but afterwards gave way beneath ti>o TTAirriit th? nttnr.kinff column: and on they taav - ? o ? . , came ten-fold more furious than before. Sickles fell severely wounded in the leg, and ; his cQrps was literally cut to pieces. The hecond j Corps was thrown.in the breach from the right and the Fifth from the left. The Second suffered severely. Hancock received a painful flesh wound in the thigh, but refused to be led from the held while the engagement continued. Here, too, Gen. Gibbon was wounded in the shoulder. The terrible charge and fierce battle raged with unabated fury. The Fifth Corps, including the Regulars ! and the Pennsylvania Reserves, struggled in the herculean labor with the determination of men born to conquer in battle. The aid of the 12th Corps, from the extreme right, was called for, and a division was ordered up, and about the same time Sedgwick came up with the 6th Corps, after a march of 86 consecutive hours. The men were footsore, many without shoes, hungry and weary, ready to drop on the road from exhaustion. But the situation was imminent, and the soldiers discerned at a glance the magnitude of the danger. When the order to charge was given, forgetting their weariness, thojr rushed on the en&my like an avalanche. The rebel column staggered and reeled, and then fell back in confusion, leaving their dead ; lying against and across each other in this field of slaughter. The sun went down, and as the western hills eclipsed his rays tno Dame carnage ceaseu uu j the left. The failure to turn our left inspired Gen. j Lee with a desperate determination to gather up his broken columns and hurl them on our right, in order to gain the valley roads* The attack on Slccura was furious even to madness. The 1st and 6th Corps came up promptly to the support of the 12th Corps. From dark until 9.] o'clock the battle raged with unabated fury The lines moved to | and fro, each in turn advancing and falling back At this hour on the night the enemy made his final charge on the left of the right wing, held by Gen. Geary's division. lie was repulsed with terrible slaughter, and refused to renew the attack. At 10 o'clock t ie battle ceased, and dur ng the night all was quiet. * During the night, Gen. Meade made suitable preparations to dislodge the rebel Gen. Ewell from the position taken from Gen. Slocum in Wednesday's battle. The men knew well the work that lay before them on the ensuing day, and cheered each other for the coming strife. At four o clock on Friday morning the battle opened with a ter rifle firo from Gen. Slocum's men on Eweirs posi-1 tion. The rebels responded with a furious charge. For six hours they hurled their solid masses against our lines with a contempt of death worthy a nobler cause. The National troops stood like a wall of fire, whose flaAing toja^ ues enwrapped in death whatever came near, whose foundation were firm as the primal rock on which it rested. About ten o'clock the battle slackened, and the rebels began to retire to their original position. The lull continued until two o clock, when Gen. Lee opened a line of artillery fire from 150 guns, which were concentrated directly against Cemetery , IIill, and the position held by the Second and First j Corps. The fire was returned, and for three hours was maintained with great energy. The sight and sound were awfully sublime. The hills trembled beneath the percussion. The sound filled the heavens, and nature, as it were, stood 1 still to contemplate the scene. Horses were shot j down by scores, gun-carriages wer? demolished, | pieces dismounted, caissons exploded, whole bat-! 1 " * S J ./E teries were swept away, ana cannomers ajiu umccio. | killed and wounded in numbers almost incredible. No less than fifeen caissons were exploded on the heights and two regular batteries on the right of the cemetery were completely demolished. The silent abode of the dead was made the theatre of deadly conflict. Tombstones and beautiful monuments were demolished. Great holes were torn in the earth by the explosion of shells and the sur^ J face checkered with furrows. About tour o'clock tire rebel artillery fire ceased, and a dense column of infantry, under Gtn. Armistead, emerged from the centre, evidently with a view of penetrating an open space between the First and Second Corps* that bad been left vacant during the fierce cannonade, when our men were ordered to return under cover. Our brave soldiers, however, were instantly in their places, and delivered a steady fire that caused the enemy to recoil. They then advanced, but with less fury, wbea Gen.. "Webb 1 called out to bis brigade, "charge, tne enemy is ours," and charge they did* \?ith so much succes that Gen. Armistcad, with 3,500. m*n, were cap-, tur^d by the simply closing in of the two army corps. The remainder of the enemy was then driven back over the fields with great slaughtor, when they retired within their lines and the battle ceased The next morning, a brigade drove the rebel sharpshooters out of Gettysburg., ribe slaugter on both sides has been terrible. 15,000 will scarcely cover the casualties in killed and wounded in the National army. The rebels must have suffered a loss of 25,000 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. GETTRSBrito, July 5.?The rebels have retreated towards the Potomac. General Lee yesterday paroled about two thousand Federal prisoners. They were received by General Couch. They failed to parole Gen. Barlow, who is now within our lines seriously wounded. Lee sent a flag of truce threatening to shell the city if we advanced. Gen. Meade, thereupon, immediately ordered the removal of tlie wounded. Tleasanton has captured a rebel baggage train. Our dead have all been buried, but the rebel dead are strewed over tee ncia ny tnotisanas. There was a cavalry fight to-day lour miles south of Gettysburg, between our forces and the rear of Lee's army, which is now on the retreat to Hagerstown. Our cavalry continue to bring in large numbers of rebel prisoners. Minima the Rebel "Works at Vicksburo.? A Vicksburg correspondent of the Cleveland Herald gives the following interesting description oi the operations of General Grant before \ iekhburg : Let us climb the parapet and sec the siege by moonlight. In front ol us bovond the enemy's works, bnt hidden from us, lies the city of Ykksburg. Look carefully, and you can distinguish the court house, and the spires of two or three churches. The rebels had a signal station on the former when we came, but our shells made it ton warm for them, and they withdrew. The mortars* arc playing to night, and they are well worth seeing. We watch a moment, and in the direction of ^ Young's l'oint, beyond the city, suddenly up shoots a Hash of light, and in a moment the ponderous shell, with its fuse glowing and sparkling, rises slowly from behind the blutfs > up, up it goes, as though mounting to the zenith; over it cornea towards us. down through its flight trajectory intothe city, and explodes with a shock that jars the ground for miles. There are women and tender children where those shells fall, but war is war. Sherman's eight inch monsters are grumbling fax away on the right. Nearer, Mcl herson's loo are placing. We can even see the cannoneers beside them at every flash. Ours will open tt midnight; then will be music to our heart s content. Meanwhile let us go to the front. A hundred yards to the right of where we now are we enter a deep trench. Following this, as it winds down around the hill, we reach the opening of a cave or mine. The air within is damp aud close, like that of a vault. Candles are burning dimly at intervals, and we hear ahem of voices tar w.thin and out of sight. We proceed, and presently meet two men carrying a barrow of earth, for our boys^arc at work night and day. This is the main appebaeh on this part of the line. Finally wo reach the moonlight again and emerge into a wide, deep trench, cut across the lino of th|- covered way. This is open and filled with troops, who protoct the working party. A heavy parapet of cotton bales and carih is built on the side towards the encmv,and we must mount the berm to look over. ?~ ^,1,^. H C are now Wliuiu swibvic uioiau\,v V< ??jvr chivaJry,. Those men lying on the ground twenty or thirty yards from us, are our boys, our advance pickets; but that gray fellow, with the bright mus- * ket which glistens so, a few steps beyond, is la "reb,'' long haired and hot blooded, one of Wall s famous Terras Legion?a bul-dog to tight, yon may bo sure. Now, jump down and enter the mouth of the other mine, which leads forward toward the salient of the enemy's woite. Stumbling along we reach i tho end where the men are digging. The candle burns very dimly?the air iaaknost stifling. Never mind, let us watch tliein. See that slender, bright looking fellow swinging that pick. Great beaded drops of perspiration trickled down his face; thereis not a dry thread in hia coarse gray shirt, but no. matter; the pick swings and each stroke slices down six inches of the tough subsoil of Mississippi. That fellow was "Jim, 'once a tender handed "* * * -i.tl. smooth-faced mcoyoung man, wnosc jivery-siaoiek biliard and cigar bills were a sore trial to his wori thy governor. Jim says that he used to wear gloves and "storo ; clothes," and that girls called him good looking, but that's played out now ; he is going for Uncle | Sam. 4 But we return to the fresh, air. Look over the ! parapet again, towards the turreKe, where we saw | the rebel picket. Do vou see tbe 'little gray : mounds which cover the Jll-side so tbiekly Men,, twenty, thirty, you can count on a few square rods. Ah, my friend, that is sacred ground you are looking upon. There our gallant boys charged ; they were slain in heaps; but they pressed on and leaped into the ditch. They clhned the parapet and; rolled back into eternity. Others followed them t their flag was planted, and the/ sprang over to meet their certain death. An hour passed, and ? ?-1-.? TUA HAflt tttA*A * Jt one reiurueu. jn? rvav. q.cic uvau. ? The son and heir of a man who hwL risers from poverty to wealth, begins where his father left off, and generally leaves off where bis father began. iGrhf-/ <V /Ay 6V* ^ * 1 I Taat /<? "\