Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, July 03, 1913, Image 3
STORY OF FAMOUS
CIVIL WAR FIGHT
?
Battle of Gettysburg Which
Brought Credit to Both
Blue and Gray.
TURNING POINT OF CONFLICT
Total Losses on Both Sides In Three
Days' Fighting Over 60,000?Several
Generals Killed and
Wounded.
By EDWARD B. CLARK.
WASHINGTON.?It is possible.
some people would say
probable, that the Battle of
Gettysburg changed utterly
the course of American history.
It was a great light between
armies of Americans, for probably
fully ninety per cent, of the men who
fought on the two sideB were born
natives to the American soil. The
bravery shown at Gettysburg was of
the order which Americans have
shown on every field and which reflects
credit upon the hardy and
heroic ancestry of the men engaged,
no matter from what race they may
have sprung.
At Gettysburg there was nothing to
choose between the valor of the North
and the South. The South lost the
fight, but it lost it honorably and
with the prestige of its soldiery undimmed.
The charges made on that
flol H hflVO ffnno *?'
?v*?? ?m ?v ^vuo uun 11 in ivi umiury hs
assaults made under conditions which
every man felt might mean death at
the end. The defenses made at Gettysburg
were of the kind which It takes
Iron In the blood to make perfect. At
Gettysburg Northerners and Southerners
replenished tjielr store of respect
for their antagonists. The battle
marked the high tide of the war
between the states. After It the
South largely was on the defensive,
but its defense was maintained with
fortitude and in the face of privations
which could not chill the blood of
men fighting for what they thought
was the right*
The Northern armies were persistent
in their attacks through the campaigns
which after a few months were
started nginst the objective point.
Richmond. Brave men hero and bravo
men there, and after the end came it
was the qualities which keep company
with bravery which made the
Boldiers of the North and South so
ready to forget and to forgive and to
work again for the good of a common
country.
The great battle of Chancellorsville
was fought not long before the opposing
Union and Confederate forces met
^ - on the field of Gettysburg. Chancellorsville
was a Confederate victory.
The Southern government believed
that the victory should bo followed up
by an invasion of the North for, according
to its reasoning, if an important
engagement could be won upon
Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.
Northern soil the chances of foreign
intervention or at least foreign aid to
the Southern cause, would be forthcoming.
General Robert E. Lee late In the
spring of 1863, made his preparations
to conduct his campaign Northward
into the state of Pennsylvania. He
had under his command three corps.
General James I^>ngstreet commanding
the First, General Richard S.
Ewell commanding the Second, and
general a. r. Hill commanding the
Third. In the Union army which afterward
confronted Leo at Gettysburg,
there were seven corps, but the number
of men In each was much less
than that In a Confederate corps, the
military composition of each being
different. The "Union corps commanders
who under Meade were at Gettysburg.
were Generals John P. Reynolds.
\V. S. Hancock, Daniel E.
Sickles, George Sykes, John Sedgwick,
O. O. Howard and H. W. Slocum.
Forces Almost Evenly Matched.
It never has been determined beyond
the point of all dispute Just how
many men were engaged on each side
In the battle of Gettysburg. It is
known that the armies were very
nearly equal in strength, the probabilities
being that the Confederate
force was a few thousand men stronger
than the Union force, a difference
which was balanced perhaps by the
fact that the Union armies at Gettysburg
were fighting In defense of their
i ! r- - "
-r: \
land from InTasion, a condition which
military men say always adds a subtle
something to the fighting quality
I which Is In any man. Some authorities
have said that there were 100.000
men In the Confederate forces at Gettysburg
to be confronted by 90.000
Union troops. Another authority says
that the Confederate force was 84.000
and the Union force 80,000. As It was
the armies were pretty nearly equally
divided In strength.
In June, 1863, General Robert E
Lee began to move northward. Lee
concentrated his army at Winchester.
Va.. and then started for the Potomac
river, which he crossed to reach the
Btate of Maryland. He fully expected
to bo followed by General Hooker's
army and so General Stuart with a
large force of cavalry was ordered by
Lee to keep In front of Hooker's army
and to check his pursuit of the Confederates
If it was attempted.
Late In June the Confederate force
reached Hagerstown. In the state ol
Maryland. It was General Lee's Intention
to strike Harrlsburg, Pa.,
which was a great railroad center
and a city where Union armies were
recruited and from which all kinds ol
supplies were sent out to the soldiers
in the field. While the Southern com
mander was on his way with a lurge
part of his force to the Pennsylvanin
capital another part of his command
Gen. Robert E. Lee.
was ordered to make its way into the
Susquehanna Valley through the town
of Gettysburg and then to turn in Its
course after destroying railroads and
garnering In supplies, and to meet the
Confederate commander with, the main
army at Harrisburg.
It was General Jubal A. Early ol
General Lee's command, who reached
Gettysburg after a long hard march
on June 26. From there he went to
the town of York nnd from thence to
Wrightsvllle. At this place ho was
ordered by General I^ee to retrace his
steps and to bring his detachment
back to a camp near Gettysburg
When Early nhd obeyed Lee's ordei
and had reached a point near Gettys
burg he found the entire Southern
force was camped within easy strlk
ing distance of the now historic town
In the meantime things were hap
penlng elsewhere. General Hooker
In command of the Union army which
had been depleted at Chancellorsville,
had succeeded in out-maneuvering
General Stuart In command of Lee's
cavalry, had got around Stuart's com'
rnand in a way to prevent the South'
ern general from forming a Junction
with the forces of his chief comman
aer. i-ee gave over the proposed
movement on Harrisburg when he
heard of Hooker's approach and
brought the different parts of his
army together.
Four days before the Gettysburg
fight began General Hooker resigned
as commander of the Union army,
Hooker and General Hallock disagreed
upon a matter concerning
which strategists today say that General
Hooker was right. Three days
before the battle began, that is, June
28, 18G3, General George Gordan
Meade was named as General Hooker's
successor in charge of the Northern
army. General Meade at once
went into the tield and established
his headquarters at a point ten or
twelve miles south of the town ol
Gettysburg.
Armies Meet at Gettysburg.
It seems that Genoral l^ee on hearing
that Stuurt had not succeeded in
checking the Union army's advance
had made up his mind to turn south
ward to meet tho force of Hooker, or
as it turned out tho force of Meade.
I.ee with his force had advanced
north beyond Gettysburg, while Meade
with his force was south of the town.
The fields near tho Pennsylvania village
had not been picked as a place of
battle, but there it was that tho two
PTPQ t hrmlon 1 *
?.vU. u. .rnco i.ainn lyRullier UI1U IOT
three days struggled for the master/.
On the last day of June, the day
before the real battle of Gettysburg
began. General Reynolds, a corps
commander of the Union army, went
forward to feel out the enemy. He
reached Gettysburg by nightfall. His
corps, the First, together with the
Third and the Eleventh Infantry
Corps with a division of cavalry, composed
tho Union army's left wing.
The Fifth Army Corps was sent to
Hanover, southeast of Gettysburg,
and the Twelfth Corps was Immediately
south of Gettysburg at a distance
of eight or nine miles TblH
was on June 30, and the Union forces
were fairly well separted, but they
were converging and Gettysburg was
their objective.
General Reynolds of the Union
forces arrived at Gettysburg early on
the morning of July 1. He dispatched
a courier to Meade saying that the
high ground above Gettysburg was
the prop<^ place to meet the enemy.
> Not long after this message was sent
to Meade General Reynolds who disi
patched it. was killed. He was on
horseback near a patch of woods with
i his force confronting a large detachment
of Confederate troops w hich was
coming toward them. These troops of
the enemy were dispersed by the
Union batteries and Reynolds was
i watching the successful solid shot
and shrapnel onset when a bullet
struck him In the head killing him Instantly.
General Abner Doubleday succeeded
i Reynolds In command of the troops
, at that point of the field. A brigade
of Confederates, a Mississippi organization,
charged the Union forces,
broke their organization and succeeded
in making prisoners of a lafge part
i of a New York regiment. Later these
! men were recaptured and the Missis
slppl brigade was driven back, a por,
tion of It surrendering. In the fight
' on the first day at this nolnt of thu
i field or near It. one Union regiment.
! tho 151st Pennsylvania, lost in killed
i and wounded 337 nu>n out of a total
of 446 in a little more than a quarter
! of an hour's light.
i General Doubleday fell back to Seml
Inary Ridge and extended his line.
Tho forces employed against him
here were greater than his own, and
after hard lighting Seminary Ridge
was given up. The first day's battle
was in effect and in truth a victory
for the Southern arms. On tho night
of July 1 General Hancock arrivod
and succeeded in rallying tho Union
forces and putting new heart into the
men. General Meade on that night
ordered the eutlre army to Gettysburg.
Victory Not Followed Up.
For some reason or other perhaps
unknown to this day. what was virtually
a Confederate victory on the first |
of July was not followed up by Gen- j
eral Lee early on the next morning. ;
General Meade therefore succeeded in
strengthening his lines and in pre- i
paring for the greater contlict. One I
end of tho Union lino was some dis- j
tance east of Cemetery Hill on Rock
Creek, another end was at Round Top I
something more than two miles be- |
yond Cemetery Hill to the south. The '
Confederate line confronting it was
somewhat longer.
It is impossible in a brief sketch of .
this battle to give the names of the
brigade and the regimental commanders
and the names of tho regiments
1 which were engaged on both sides in
1 this great battle. Meade, Hancock,
1 Howard, Slocum and Sickles with
their men were confronting Leo,
1 Longstreot. Hill, Ewell and the other
1 great commanders of the South with
their men. Tho line of battle with the
Bpaces in between the different com'
mands was nearly ten miles. It was
1 the Confederate general's intention to
' attack at tho extreme right and left
1 and at the center simultaneously. It
1 was to be General Longstreet's duty
' to turn the left tlank of the Union
army and to "break it." Longstreet's
intended movement was discovered in
time to hnve It mot ..olio m tl..
- ^ .. itiuv ? UMUiillJ . 1 UU
battle of the second day really be1
gan with I.ongstreet's advance. The
Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett.
Southern general did not succeed in
i the plan which he had formed to get
i by Rig Round Top and to attack the
Third Corps from a position of van
' tage In the rear General Sickles defended
Round Top and Lougstreet
could not take It.
i When one visits the battlefield of
Gettysburg he can trace the course
of battle of the second dav where It
' raged at Round Top. Peach Orchard,
' Cemetery Ifill, Culp's Hill, and what
Is known as The Devil's Den Tho
tide of battle ebbed and flowed. Little
Round Top was saved from capture
by the timely arrlvul of a brigade
commanded by General Weed that
i dragged the guns of a I'nlted States
regular battery up to the summit by
i hand.
i A4 the end of the second day's fight
i It was found that the Southern army
had failed to break the left flank of
the opposing forces, that it had failed
to capture Round Top and that the
i right flank of tho Northern army, although
vigorously attacked, had not
been broken. There was a tremendous
loss of life on both sides, and
while in general tho day had gone
1 favorably to the Northren cause Gettysburg
was still a drawn battle.
Charge of Gen. Pickett.
It was on July 3, the third and last
1 day of the great battle of Gettysburg
| that Pickett's men made their charge
frr - ~ .
which has gone Into history as one
of tho most heroic assaults of all
time. It was forlorn hope but It was
grasped and the men of George Edward
Pickett. Confederate soldier,
went loyally and with full hearts to
their death across a shrapnel and rlflo
swept Held.
When the third day's fighting opened
It began with an artillery duel. 1
hundreds of guns beichiug forth shot
and death from the batteries of both ,
contending forces. It is said that this
was the greatest duel engaged In by
field pieces during the four years of
the war between the states.
The 1'nion guns at one time ceased 1
firing, and it is said that the southern
commander thought they had been
silenced, and then K was that Longstreet's
men made an assault and
Pickett's men made their charge. The
former general's objective was Big
Round Top. but his forces were drlv- !
on lmrk Ploknt fnrmo/l Kla I ?.l ? !
in brigade columns and they moved
directly across the fields over fiat
ground. They had no cover and they
had no sooner corao Into effective
range than they were met by such a
storm of shot as never before swept
over a field of battle. <
They went on and on. and on closing
in their depleted ranks and mov- .
ing steadily forward to their death. (
Those of Pickett's men who reached
Maj. Gcn. John F. Reynolds.
thoir destination had a short hand-tohand
encounter with the northern soldiers.
It was soon over and Pickett's
charge, glorious for all time in history,
was a failure in that which it
attempted to do, but was a success as
helping to show the heroism of American
soldiers.
The losses at Gettysburg on both
sides were enormous. The Union
army lost Generals Zook, Farnsworth,
Weed and Reynolds, killed; while Graham,
Barnes, Gibbon, Warren, I>ouble- !
day. Barlow, Sickles, Butterfleld and
Hancock were wounded. The total
casualties killed .wounded, captured
or missing on the Union side num- j
bered nearly 24,000 men. On the Con- ,
federate side Generals Semmes, Pender,
Garnet. Armistead, and Harks- | 1
dale were killed, and Generals Kemper,
Klmbal, Hood, Heth, Johnson and 1
Trimble were wounded. The entire
Confederate loss is estimated to have
been nearly 30,000 men.
The third day's light at Gettysburg
was a victory for northern arms, but
it was a hard won light and tho conflict
reflects luster today upon the :
north and the south. Lee led his
army back southward, lator to con
front Grant in tho campaigns which
finally ended at Appomattox.
Forces Engaged and Losses.
The forces engaged at the Rattle oi
Gettysburg were;
Confederate?According to olllcia. \
accounts the Army of North Virginia .
on the 31st of May, numbered 74,168
The detachments which joined num
bered 6,400. making sO.868. Deducting (
the detachments left in Virginia? ;
Jankins' brigade. Pickett's division j
2,300; Corse's brigade, Pickett's divl (
ijiun, i.iuv, utiavumems rrom tsocont (
corps and cavalry, 1.300, In all 5,300?
leaves an aggregate of 75,568. ,
Union?According to tho reports ol (
the 30th of June, and making allowance (
for detachments that Joined In the in .
terim in time to take part in the bat
tie, the grand aggregate was lOO.DtK
officers and men. j
The casualties were:
Confederate?
First corps 7,53$ !
Second corps 5.93'i
Third corps 6,73; ,
Cavalry 1,42
Aggregate ...I 21637
Union?
First corps 6,059
Second corps 4.36S j
Third corps 4,211 '
Fifth corps 2,187 i
Sixth corps 242 I
Eleventh corps 3,801 i
Twelfth corps 1,082 I
Cavalry 1.094 i
Staff 4 '
| i
Aggregate .23 049
I
Distinctive. * i
"Show me some tiaras please. I <
want one for my wife." j i
"Yea, sir. About what price?" i
"Well, at such a price that I can t
say: 'Do you see that woman with tho i
tiara? She is rny wife."?Pearson's I
Weekly. I
I
Puz/led Missourlan.
Will Home one explain why some ?
people who are invariably lato at |
church need no bell to call them to th? I
moving-picture show on time? i
7??v
Tells All About Styles <
WASHINGTON.?A curlouH request
camo to the editor In the early
spring months. "Tho next time you
50 to Washington." wrote a subscriber,
'won't you make some observations
ind toll us what the real styles are,
is observed by a man? We have
fashion books, of course, but what
loos the average man observe In wornin's
attire?"
The letter was dispatched to Washington
with other memoranda, but lay
neglected in Its envelope until one afternoon
I stumbled In ou a deputation
from a fashionable young ladies'
school being received by the president
In tho east room of the White House,
a-rites Joe Mitchell Chappie in Naional
Magazine. They were a bright
lot of girls, laughing and chatting as
became young and pretty maidens.
Every hat seemed to have a ribbon |
She Was a Grand Lit!
THK was the wife of a government
olllclal and as a climber she could
beat anything in tho tire department.
At mounting the ladder she was better
than Chief Wagner's fiercest lire
nater. She could put one hand on the
barrier of social icebergs and leap into
the center of things and pretend she
had always been "it."
She was a grand lorgnette operator.
That was one of her prltno acquisitions.
She had prnctlced lorgnetting
In much the same fashion that feverish
golfers practice driving with a pro
lessionai or. tne side lines.
After several seasons. In which 8he
climbed enough social mountains with
her trusty lorgnette to entitle her to
a presidency In the Alpine club, she
attained that exalted position in her
own imagination which ulways carries
with a poor memory for those who do
not travel in the set toward which she
Is clambering. One of these poor
downtrodden worms, no* In society of
any sort, happens to be the bright secretary
of a politician from the middle
west. The youth Is a lawyer of slight
practice but of active political tendencies,
and a pretty bright kid. Mrs.
Lorgnette knows the youth as well as
she knows her own name. His name
Ke Illustrated the Greal
^t^/civEUT I
#7 J A HICH
TARIFF
1 "
REPRESENTATIVE Charles D. Oarter
of Oklahoma is proud of tho
fact that, be is one of the few men In
congress in whoso veins there is a
toodly share of original American
dood. In other words. Representative I
'arter boasts of seven-slxteenthe j
'hickasaw and Cherokee Indian blood.
Representative Carter spent his j
joyhood on the western frontier of tho
'hickasaw nation, and since he entered
national politics has had much
:o do with the framing of Indian legslation
under the dome of tho capitol. j
When tho lumber schedule of tho
new tariff bill wait discussed a while
ago Carter, who is straight as an
irrow ant! swaithy of complexion, told
he foilowing story to illustrate the
possibilities of debate on that imporant
schedule:
Most of the Statues at
ONE of the criticisms made against
the Sherman monument at the
south of the treasury is that It faces
the wrong way; that is, it faces to tho
north, bo that persons looking at it
from the front must generally look
ngalnst the light, thus obscuring their
rlslon of the details of the work. It
may bo so.
Most of the statues In the public
spaces of the capital face toward tho
south, but a number of statues In addition
to that of Sherman look toward
tho north. Among those facing
north or northerly are Rawlins, Kociuszko,
Steuben, Paul Jones, Alexander
Shepherd and Samuel D. Cross,
he physician whose effigy stands In
tho grounds of the Smithsonian Institution.
Among those facing to the south or
southerly are McPherson, Scott, Lo?an.
Lincoln (In front of the city
nail), Lafayette, Kochambeau, Henjani
in Franklin, Farragut, Dupont,
at the National Capital
rudder veering out prominently astern.
"Boat shaped" hats seemed the
trend of that line of millinery. There
were hats with a little lone aigrette
popping up like a lonesome try-sail
located well aft. There were sweeping
hats, suggesting saucy yachts,
floating over dainty little shell-like
ears.
Some of them might have been worshiped
without breaking any of the
commandments, being utterly unlike
anything either in the heavens above
or the oarth beneath. The absence of
birds on those hats would have delighted
the Audubon and Humane so
cietles, for not a bird was In sight In
that lino of hat craft, although It
looked as If several bird's nest lace
creations were stowed away In bo mo
of the crowns. So far as the editorial
eye of the observer could sec, the hat
bodies were made of straw. This, I
believe, characterises summertime
headgear.
i As the request was limited to styles,
nothing may be added or conjectured
as to the "high cost" of the various
creations. The dainty jackets, loosely
worn, resembled lu the upper Btory the
lines of a fancy pajama, while the
lower story was reefed to preserve the
nautical trend of the fashions.
:le Lorgnette Operator
('SO CQQD OF YOU )
EMBER 'Tj
wo will call Johnson, although it la
nothing like It.
One day Mrs. Lorgnette had occa,
sion to visit the office In which Mr.
Johnson was working. Mrs. Lorgnette
had a heavily brocaded friend with her
and for some reason It pleased her to
pretend not to know Mr. Johnson.
Up went the trusty lorgnette and
through It Hhot a large-sized, well *
sharpened look of inquiry.
"Let mo Bee." she Bald with a tea
party accent, "have I not met you
somewhere about. Isn't your name,
er?ah?isn't it Gray?"
Remember, now, she knew that
name Johnson perfectly well.
"Yes," he said, "It Is Gray. So good
of you to remember It."
And now Mrs. Lorgnette Is h??rin.
I ning to believe that Gray-Johnson was
I making game of her.
: Possibilities of Debate
| "In the early daya of Oklahoma poll|
tics there was a Joint political discussion
thero between a Republican and
a 1'opulist. Both played checkers with
I their past political records, the Republican
having been a 'Greenbacker' and
the Populist a Republican. After the
former had finished a scathing attack
on tho vagaries of Populism the latter
read a 'Greenback* speech made
j years before by his antagonist and
rested his case.
"Tho evidence was conclusive and
the case looked bad for the Republican.
when the nccused dramatically
demanded:
" 'Mr. Populist, did you never make
a i>olitlcal utterance of which you
were ashamed and for which you
would apologize?'
" 'Yes,' replied the PopullBt with abi
solute franknese. 'I was living once
in a dugout in southwest Kansas, dirt
for tho bottom, dirt for the top and
dirt for the sides, and It was a bitter
; winter. I had nothing but a flimsy,
worn-out quilt hung tn the doorway to
keep tho chilling blasts of winter from
[ freezing my shaking frame. I stood
| shaking, shivering and chattering, and
I raised my hands to heaven and
j prayed for a high tariff on lumber.'"
the Capital Face North
Thomas, McClellan and Wltherspoon.
Jackson, Oreene, Hancock, Pulaski
and Marshall at the foot of the capitol
look toward the west.
Albert Pike, Sheridan and Longfellow
face toward the east, and as the
correspondent writes this his memory
seems to tell him that the statue of
Garfield faces west and that the statue
of Daniel Webster faces east, but
memory Is soraet'.me a tricky thing.
The statue of Scott Is In the Soldlors'
home grounds Is another thai
faces toward the south.
-Uli