■Ll^ 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Major John W, Paniel, 
 
 (Formerly ^ssl. ^jd^l. Gen'l C. S. A. oq the SlafTofGen, Jubal A. Early,) 
 
 pF Lynchburg, Va,, 
 
 llKrORE THE 
 
 At their Annual Jvleeting, held l;i the Capitol 
 iiz (RichvAond, Va., Oct. -^Sth, iSyj. 
 
 ^.(? 
 
 " One of those few battles of wliich the contrary event would 
 have essentially varied the drama of the Avorld in all its subsequent 
 scenes." — Hallam. 
 
 "Stop: for thy tread is on an Empire's dust, 
 An Earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below. 
 Is the spot mark'd by no coUoesal bust? 
 Nor column trophied for triumphal show? 
 None : but the moral's truth tells simpler so, 
 As the ground was before, thus let it bo : — 
 Now that red rain hath made the harvest grow." 
 
 Cbilde Harold. 
 
 LYNCHBURG : 
 
 BELL, BROWNE & CO., PRINTERS. 
 1875. 
 
.51 
 
 
 Published by order of the Virginia Division of the Army 
 of Northern Virginia. 
 
 GexXERAL W. H. F. lee, 
 
 President. 
 George L. Christian, 
 Leroy S. Edwards, 
 
 Secretaries. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Felloiv Soldiers of i lie Army of Northern Vlrghia : 
 
 Not with the ringing bugle nor the throbbing drum in our 
 van, nor with the battle-flag floating proudly o'er our " tat- 
 tered uniforms and bright muskets," come we again to the 
 historic city which was once the busy arsenal and the glow- 
 ine heart of the Confederate revolution. 
 
 Stately palaces now line the avenues so lately filled with 
 charred and smoking ruins. The fields around us smile in 
 cultivated beauty where lately trod the iron hoof of war 
 " fetlock deep in blood." The lordly river, no longer grim 
 with batteries on its banks, and iron-clads upon its surface, 
 nor choked with obstructions in its channel, rolls its majes- 
 tic tides in unbroken currents to the sea. And save here and 
 there, where some rude earthwork, overgrown with grass 
 and weeds, scars the landscape, fair nature tells no tale of the 
 devastation of civil strife. 
 
 But long after the demeutsf of changing seasons, and the 
 slow process of time, have obliterated from the physical 
 world every scar and stain of conflict, ihe scenes around us, 
 animate with their heroic actors, aaS oe portrayed to other 
 generations with all the vividness ^f\ftrtist's brush and poet's 
 song ] and faithful chroniclers jgp^ recount to eager ears the 
 story, which has made the name of Richmond not less mem- 
 orable than the name of SSSBSBt Troy, and has immortalized 
 those more than Trojan heroes, the devoted citizen-soldiery 
 of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 Surviving comrades of that valiant host, I hail you with a 
 comrade's warmest greeting. In Virginia's name I welcome 
 you back to Virginia's capital city, amongst those generous 
 
people who nerved your arms by their cheerful courage, who 
 bent over your wounds with ministering care, who consoled 
 adversity by fidelity, and plucked from defeat its sting. 
 
 Here to-night we come as men of peace — faithfully render- 
 ing unto Ca3sar the things that are his — but happy to touch 
 elbows once more together in the battle of life, and proud 
 to revive the cherished memories of the " brave days of yore" 
 and to renew the solemn and high resolve that their bright 
 examples and great actions shall not perish from the records 
 of time. 
 
 Happier, indeed, would I have been if, on this occasion, the 
 task of reproducing some page of your famous history had 
 been confided to other and abler hands than mine ; for in 
 this distinguished presence, with my superiors in rank, ability 
 and military services around me, the soldiers's sense of subor- 
 dination creeps over me, and I would fain fall back into the 
 ranks of those who are seen but not heard. 
 
 But since it is I who am appointed to play the role of the 
 old soldier 
 
 " Who shoulders his crutch 
 Auil shows how fields were won" 
 
 I bow obediently to orders, trusting that the splendor of my 
 themes may obscure the deficiencies of your orator, and that 
 your generosity — as characteristSc'o^tKe soldier as his cour- 
 age — may sheathe the critic's sword ifi its scabbard. 
 •♦ I * -^ 
 
 THEiftfi SUGGESTED. 
 
 In their courteous lettj^'*,o^ij3yitation your committee ex- 
 pressed the desire that I shotrld select as the subject of my 
 discourse some one of the gre at cam paigns or battles of the 
 Army of Northern Virginia. J^'d," acceding to their wishes, 
 I reviewed in my mind the long line of its splendid achieve- 
 ments, no little embarrassed, by their very variety and bril- 
 liancy, in fixing attention upon any particular one. There 
 was no campaign of that matchless army that did not abound 
 in glorious exploits of both generals and soldiers. There 
 
was no single action, whatever its result, that draped the 
 battle-flag in dishonor, and it is a significant fact — an eter- 
 nal eulogy in itself to that stout-hearted band of heroes — 
 that it was never driven in disorder from any field of battle 
 under its enemy's fire, until when, worn out by ceaseless 
 strife with constant levies of fresh men, it was overwhelmed 
 by Grant at Petersburg, and closed its career with undimin- 
 ished glory on the field of Appomattox. 
 
 INDECISIVENESS OF THE VIRGINIA BATTLES. 
 
 But there is this equally remarkable fact in the history of 
 the Army of Northern Virginia — that almost all of its engage- 
 ments were attended by no decisive results. The capitals 
 of the two belligerent nations (Washington and Richmond) 
 were but one hundred and thirty miles distant, and that por- 
 tion of Virginia lying between them became an immense 
 ampitheatre of conflict, within which the armies of the Po- 
 tomac and of Northern Virginia, like fierce gladiators, re- 
 peated from year to year their bloody contMfe, with for- 
 tunes varying only sufficiently to brighten hope or beget 
 depression, but continually postponing the glittering prize 
 which each aimed to attain. 
 
 To and fro — from the heights around Alexandria, whence 
 the soaring dome of the national capital loomed up before 
 the Confederate's vision, back to these memorable fields 
 around Richmond, whence the Federal pickets sighted its 
 tempting spires-trolled the incessant tides of battle, with 
 alternations of success, until all "Northern Virginia became 
 upheaved with entrenchments, billowed with graves, satura- 
 ted with blood, seared with fire, stripped to desolation, and 
 kneaded under the feet, hoofs, and wheels of the marching 
 columns. 
 
 At the first battle of Manassas the cordon of fortifications 
 around Washington prevented a rout from becoming an 
 annihilation, and that battle only decided that other battles 
 would be needed to decide anything. 
 
6 
 
 At Williamsburg McClellan, who succeeded McDowell, 
 the displaced commander of Manassas, received a sharp rebuff, 
 which decided nothing but that the antagonists would have 
 to close together. 
 
 At Seven Pines the fall of our skillful General Joseph E. 
 Johnston, at a critical moment, and the consequent delay 
 which enabled Sedgwick to cross the swollen waters of the 
 Chickahominy, ended the prospect of making that more than 
 a field of gallant and brilliant endeavor. 
 
 At Malvern Hill a curious mistake, which led one subor- 
 dinate to pursue a wrong road, and the lamentable delay of 
 others, combined with the really valorous defence of that 
 key-position, extinguished the high tide of victory in the 
 volcanic fires of that battery-crowned summit, and closed with 
 the escape of the enemy to his gunboats and the disappoint- 
 ment of his adversary. 
 
 The second field of Manassas, in which the redoubtable 
 John Pope, Mff) having seen before " only the backs of his 
 enemies," entered the fact of record that his curiosity was 
 entirely satiated with a single glimpse of their faces, was 
 only the prelude of a more deadly struggle at Sharpsburg ; 
 and as Manassas only decided that it would require another 
 effort of the Federal army to beat us on our own soil, Sharps- 
 burg only decided that we would have to gird our loins once 
 more to overwhelm it upon its own. 
 
 At Fredericksburg in December, 1862, Burnside, having 
 blindly hurled his army agaj^t JLee's entrenchments, man- 
 a^J torepeatUiemaMeu)^ ot French King, who '^marched 
 uptlie hill and down again'^and to regain the opposite 
 bank of the Rappahannock without a foot of ground lost or 
 won — leaving that ill-starred field behind him as a memorial 
 of nothing but wasted life and courage on the one side, and 
 cool, steady, self-poised intrepidity on the other. 
 
 And at Chancellorsville, in the spring of 1S63, when' 
 Hooker assailed bv flank the same field which Burnside 
 
charged in front, a famous stroke of generalship, directed by 
 Lee and executed by Jackson, placed him side by side on 
 the stool of penitence with his predecessor. But there a 
 great calamity planted a thorn in the crown of victory, gave 
 pause to the advance of the conquering banner, and turned 
 to safe retreat what promised to be the rout and annihilation 
 of the Federal army. That calamity was the fall of " Stone- 
 wall" Jackson, Lee's incomparable lieutenant, whose genius 
 had shed undying lustre on the Confederate arms, and before 
 whose efRory to-day the two worlds bow in honor. 
 
 And so the end of two years found the twQ, ar.mies still 
 pitted against each other in the same arena, with proud 
 Washington behind the one still egging it to the attack for the 
 honor of the old flag and the solidarity of the Union ; and 
 defiant Richmond still behind the other, upholding it with 
 words and dee^s of cheer, and bidding it never to weary in 
 well doing for the^cause oi liberty and Confederate indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 p 
 
 THE CRISIS OF 1863. 
 
 But while the status of the combatants in Vircfinia had 
 received no decisive changt^it became obvious in the spring 
 of 1SG3 that an hour big with destiny was near at hand. 
 The Army of the Potomac had become disheartened by con- 
 tinuous adversity. Five chosen chieftans — McDowell, Mc- 
 Clellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker — had led it to battle in su- 
 perb array ; but its ranks had only been recruited to march 
 again to defeat and decimation. The term of enlistment of 
 nearly 40,000 of its rank and file had now expired,* and as 
 they marched to the rear, homeward bound, no counter 
 column was moving to supply their vacant places. With 
 the northern people, hope of victory deferred, had made the 
 heart sick of strife, and the " Copper-head" faction, like the 
 Republicans of Paris when Napoleon was marching against 
 the allied armies of Waterloo, was agitating schemes against 
 
 *See Vol. I, Conclnct of the War. 
 
the government and the prolongation of the war. The 
 paper currency, like a thermometer on tlie stock exchange, 
 showed that the pulse of the popular faith was beating low. 
 Factory hands, without cotton to spin, cried for bread, and 
 were not content to take muskets and go to the feast of 
 blood. Foreign powers had lost confidence in ]\[r. Seward's 
 three-months' promissory notes of victory, which had been 
 so often renewed and had now gone to protest ; and it is said 
 that our diplomatic agents abroad authoritativel y announced^ 
 that sliould Lep ^ablish now a lodgment in the North^his 
 triunipli ^ould be greeted with the long-sought boon of for- 
 eisrn reco"rnition. 
 
 On the Confederate side our line of battle, although in the 
 east unbroken, was but an iron shell with emptiness within. 
 IIun<rry mobs had been rioting through Richmond with the 
 fearful cry of " Bread !" " Bread !'' The^j^tions had not 
 only beeiijSwept of their provender, but^the tillers of the 
 soil and their beasts of burden had llliHWJiiP been absorbed 
 into the ranks of war. And to increase the gravity of the 
 situation our western horizon was overhung with omens of 
 disaster. There the progress of the Union arms had been 
 steadily forward. Missouri, Kentucky, and parts of Ten- 
 nessee and Arkansas had been conquered. Along the Mis- 
 sissippi river, Columbus, Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, Mem- 
 phis, and New Orleans had fallen ; and now Vicksburg, a 
 solitary sentinel upon its banks, alone prevented the Father 
 of Waters from " rolling unvexed to the sea." 
 
 This post, like a ligature upon an artery, severed the 
 Federal line of military communication from the Northwest 
 to the Gulf of Mexico, and isolated the Western States from 
 their markets. Its early conquest was foreshadowed, and 
 with that the northern heart would be again fired with hope 
 and a blow struck into the very vitals of the Confederacy. 
 
 THE PROJECT OF INVASION. 
 
 Could the hitherto invincible Army of Northern Virginia 
 
now launch forth a telling blow against its adversary, and 
 anticipate the bursting of the storm cloud in the West by a 
 sunburst of decisive victory in the East, disaster there would 
 be counterbalanced, if not forestalled and prevented. The 
 peace party of the North would be reinforced in numbers 
 and strengthened in resolution ; recruits would be deterred 
 from enrolling under the blighted banners of defeat ; the 
 bonds and Treasury notes of the United States would rapidly 
 decline in value, thus relaxing the sinews of war; and foreign 
 powers, hungry for cotton, and weary of idle factories and 
 freightless ships and marketless wares, would stretch forth 
 the hand of recognition, and welcome the young battle- 
 crowned Confederacy into the family of nations. The broad 
 military mind of General Lee fully compassed the crisis, and 
 he boldly projected the scheme of forcing Hooker from his 
 position opposite to Fredericksburg, expelling Milroy from the 
 Valley, and, to use his language, " transferring the scene of 
 hostilities beyond the Potomac." 
 
 THE SEQUEL AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 The sequel of this plan of operations was the battle of 
 Gettysburg, fought in the heart of the enemy's country. 
 There for three days the two armies wrestled over hill and 
 plain in terrific struggle. There, on the third day, the most 
 magnificent charge of infantr^iknown in the annals of modern 
 war, closed with the bloody repulse of the Confederate 
 assaulting column. 
 
 And while Lee was marshalling his troops in front of 
 Cemetery Ridge, the white flag was flying over Pemberton's 
 works at Vicksburg. 
 
 Those memorable days marked the meridian of the Con- 
 federate cause. It was not then extinguished, but its sun 
 paled, and descended slowly to its setting. 
 
 As the water-shed of the AUeghanies is the division-line 
 between the waters which flow eastward into the Atlantic 
 ocean and those which empty into the Gulf through the 
 
10 
 
 Mississippi Valley, so Cemetery Ridge marks the turning 
 point of the tides of battle. Up to that rugged crest they 
 rolled in triumph, pouring the trophies of victory into the 
 lap of the Confederacy. Beyond they rolled in sullen and 
 gloomy turbulence toward the final catastrophe of Appo- 
 mattox. 
 
 These considerations induced me, Comrades, to invite your 
 attention to the campaign of Gettysburg. 
 
 I know it requires no little courage to fight a battle ''o'er 
 again" — but those whose valor deserved success need never 
 shrink from the memory of adversity. 
 
 PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 On June 3, 1S63, General Lee broke his camp before 
 Fredericksburg ; and leaving Hill's corps to watch Hooker's 
 army, which was separated from it only by the Rappahan- 
 nock river, turned the heads of Longstreet's and Ewell's 
 corps northward. His design was to draw Hooker out into 
 the open field and defeat him before crossing the Potomac. 
 But in this he was disappointed, nOt so much by the skill of 
 his adversary as by the absence of harmony in his councils. 
 
 Hooker's plan was to cross the Rappahannock, fall upon 
 Hill with his whole army, and then make a bold push for 
 Richmond. Had he made this •effort Lee intended to take 
 him in flank ; and the result I scarcely think would have 
 been doubtful. But Mr. Lincoln positively forbade Hooker 
 to make this attempt, quaintly saying that he (Hooker) would 
 thus become " entangled upon the river like an ox jumped 
 half over a fence, and liable to be torn by dogs front and 
 rear without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other." 
 On the contrary, Lincoln desired Hooker to attack Lee's 
 army while stretched out on the line of march ; and on the 
 14th of June, the very day that our vanguard struck Milroy 
 at Winchester, we find him sending Hooker another charac- 
 teristic messj^e from Washington : 
 
It 
 
 " 3Iajor- General Hooker : So far as we can make out here 
 the enemy have Milroy surrounded at Winchester and Tyler 
 at Martinsburg. If they could hold out a few days could 
 you help them ? If the head of Lee's army is at Martins- 
 burg and the tail of it on the plank road between Fredericks- 
 burg and Chancellorsville the animal must be very slim 
 
 somewhere.* 
 
 A. Lincoln." 
 
 So it happened that Lincoln, not liking Hooker's plan, nor 
 Hooker Lincoln's (which was concurred in by Ilalleck, com- 
 mander-in-chief at Washington.) neither was adopted. And 
 Hooker contented himself (after sending a corps south of the 
 Rappahannock and then withdrawing it,) with falling back 
 to the vicinity of Fairfax Court-house and closely hugging 
 his entrenchments. 
 
 In these preliminary movements all the advantage in gen- 
 eralship and in results was on the Confederate side. Hooker 
 has been much complimented for supposed skill in his ma- 
 noeuvres, but they were the result of his quarrel with Lin- 
 coln, and not of design ; and the reports show that he was 
 in a state of great perplexity and indecision, on one day dis- 
 patching to the Government his opinion that invasion was 
 Lee's " settled purpose" and " an act of desperation,"! and 
 two days later suggesting that the movement was a mere 
 cavalry raid, "a cover to Lee's reinforcing Bragg or moving 
 troops to the West."| 
 
 lee's MAKCII TO PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 While Hooker thus crouched under his heavy works, Lee 
 marched triumphantly toward the Potomac ; and on the 14th 
 of June the first laurel of the campaign was plucked by 
 Ewell at Winchester, where a billiant flunk movement, con- 
 ceived by General Early and executed by his division, with 
 
 ''See Vol. I, Conduct of the War— p. 2G0. 
 tSee Vol. I, Conduct of tbe War— p. IGl. 
 tSee same Work — p. 271. 
 
12 
 
 the co-operation of Johnson's, resulted in tlie capture of that 
 place with four thousand prisoners, twenty-three pieces of 
 artillery, three hundred wagons, three hundred horses, and 
 an immense supply of much-needed stores and munitions. 
 
 On the same day General Rodes captured at Martinsburg 
 one hundred prisoners and five pieces of cannon ; and thus 
 the great northern highway, " the Valley pike," was cleared 
 of all obstructions and the gate to Pennsylvania thrown 
 open. 
 
 On the 15th of June General Jenkins with his cavalry 
 crossed the Potomac. Within the next ten days the three 
 infantry corps of our army, under Longstreet, Ewell, and A. 
 P. Hill, likewise crossed, and on the 24th of June the whole 
 Army of Northern Virginia, in magnificent fighting trim, and 
 flush with victory, stood upon the enemy's soil. 
 
 THE MOVEMENTS OF THE CAVALRY. 
 
 While these movements were progressing, the cavalry 
 under Stuart had several times crossed sabres with the 
 troopers of Pleasanton, without detriment to their own repu 
 tation or that of their General. And in leaving Virginia 
 with his main force, General Lee had taken every precaution 
 to utilize these " eyes and ears" of the army by sending them 
 to watch and impede Hooker's movements. His orders to 
 General Stuart were ^' to guard the passes of the mountains 
 and observe the movements of the enemy, whom he was in- 
 structed to harass and impede as much as possible should he 
 attempt to cross the Potomac. In that event General Stuart 
 was directed to move into Maryland, crossing the Potomac 
 east or west of the Blue Ridge, as in his judgment should 
 be best, and take position on the riglit of our column as it 
 advanced." (Lee's first report.) 
 
 In operating under these instructions an untoward circum- 
 stance occurred which eliminated the cavalry from the availa^ 
 ble forces of Lee, at a time when he most needed it, Stuart 
 had followed closely upon the rear of Hooker in Fairfax and 
 
13 
 
 Loudoun counties, when, upon the 24th of June, the latter 
 determined to fall back no further, and suddenly threw his 
 army forward into Maryland to seize the Turner's and Cramp- 
 ton's gaps of South Mountains, near Boonsboro, which cov- 
 ered the line of advance from Lee's army to Baltimore through 
 Frederick, Maryland.* 
 
 The effect, though not the design, of this movement was 
 to throw Hooker between Stuart and Lee, and as the former 
 was crossing the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, near Leesburg, 
 it became necessary for Stuart to make a wide detour south 
 in order to cross above him, or to cut in between Hooker 
 and Washington, and pass northward, in order to re-join his 
 Commander. Acting within the discretion given him, (and 
 not otherwise as some have supposed), Stuart adopted the 
 latter route as the shortest, crossing at Seneca Falls. t 
 
 But unfortunately Hooker continued his march northward, 
 continuously interposing himself before Stuart ; and thus, 
 when he had advanced so far as to be right upon the flank 
 of Lee's only line of retreat to Virginia, the latter, who had 
 distributed his forces near Chambersburg, Carlisle, and York, 
 was utterly ignorant of the enemy's movements, and receiv- 
 ing no message from Stuart supposed that Hooker still re- 
 mained on the Virginia side of the Potomac. 
 
 lee's concentration for battle. 
 On the night of June 2Sth, (not the 29th, as stated in 
 Lee's first report,) a cavalry scout of General Longstreet's 
 rode into that officer's headquarters, near Chambersburg, 
 with the momentous tidings that the Army of the Potomac 
 had crossed the river and was then gathering near Frederick, 
 Maryland. Hooker was thus in position to seize the South 
 Mountain passes and cut off Lee's communications. General 
 Lee was at the time about to push forward and capture Har- 
 
 *See Vol. I, Contlnct of the War— p. 169. 
 
 tSee General Lee's Second Report in Southern Magazine for Aug., 1873, 
 p. 210. 
 
u 
 
 risburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, scarce a day's march 
 distant, which, being defended by militia mainly, under 
 General Couch, could not have withstood the assault of our 
 veteran troops. But with Hooker thus on his flank and rear, 
 the continuance of the scheme became hazardous, and he 
 determined at once to concentrate his army east of the moun- 
 tains, thus threatening Baltimore and Washington, and in 
 order to deter the enemy, to use his langnage, " from advan- 
 cing further west and intercepting our communications with 
 Virginia." Accordingly the movement against Harrisburg 
 was abandoned, and the next day General Lee issued orders 
 for the concentration of all his troops at Cashtown, a village 
 five miles from Gettysburg, and on the direct road which 
 passes through that place to Baltimore. 
 
 hookek's plan. 
 
 The report of Longstreet's scout was true, and Lee had 
 keenly divined his enemy's intentions; for Hooker had moved 
 forward into Maryland and had given directions to General 
 Reynolds, who commanded the right wing of the army, to 
 seize the mountain passes which have been mentioned, and 
 to take position at Middletown, in rear of them, in the valley 
 between the South Mountain and the Cotoctin range. At 
 the same time he had himself gone to Harper's Ferry, 
 whence he proposed to move with the Twelfth corps and the 
 garrison there of 11,000 men directly upon Williamsport, 
 thus severing Lee's line of communication to Virginia, and 
 stopping the transit of supplies which he was sending back 
 in immense quantities from Pennsylvania. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th of June he had seated him- 
 self and was engaged in writing an order for the abandon- 
 ment of that post at daylight, with a view to proceeding 
 with this plan of operations. But just at that moment a 
 dispatch was received from General Halleck requiring the 
 garrison to remain there. The latter officer, whose self- 
 conceit was only equalled by his incapacity, excited the in- 
 
15 
 
 dignation of Hooker by thus trammelling him, while in the 
 ffice of Lee's army, with instructions full of folly ; for Har- 
 per's Ferry at this juncture was a stragetic point of no 
 earthly consequence ; and rather than submit to such inter- 
 ference he at once requested to be relived of command of the 
 Army of the Potomac. His request was at once granted. 
 
 GENERAL MEADE. 
 
 On the night of the same day Major-General G. C. Meade, 
 commanding the Fifth corps of the Army of the Potomac, 
 was asleep in his tent near Frederick, Md., when he was 
 aroused by General Hardie, a bearer of dispatches from 
 Washington. Meade, who had severely criticised Hooker 
 for his alleged incapacity at Chancellorsville, supposed that 
 he was about to be placed under arrest by that officer, who 
 had threatened to do so, and he immediately inquired of 
 General Hardie if he came for that purpose. The latter, 
 evading the question, struck a light and placed in his hand 
 an order directing liim to assume command of the Army of 
 the Potomac, "and committing to him all the powers of the 
 Executive and the Constitution, to the end that he might 
 wield untrammelled all the resources of the nation to meet 
 the emergency of the invasion." 
 
 On the next day, June 28, while yet Lee was threatening 
 Harrisburg, Meade assumed command ; and on the 29th, 
 ignorant that Lee had abandoned that movement, he deter- 
 mined to move at once from the vicinity of Frederick toward 
 Harrisburg, to compel Lee (to use Meade's language) " to 
 loose his hold on the Susquehannah and meet him in battle 
 at some point." Accordingly, on the very day that Lee's 
 columns moved eastward toward Baltimore, in order to coun- 
 teract a supposed mancBuvre upon his communications, 
 Meade, equally ignorant of his antagonist's change of front, 
 moved northward to stay a supposed advance upon Harris- 
 burg. And adding to these complications, Stuart, who had 
 swept around Meade's flank, was at the same time moving 
 
16 
 
 toward Carlisle, he himself being as ignorant of Lee's inten- 
 tions as Meade, and supposing that he would find his com- 
 mander upon the line of the Susquehannah. Now, right in 
 the line of Meade's northward march, and of Lee's eastward 
 march, lies the old-fashioned town of Gettysburg, and to 
 that point the two hostile forces were now converging, each 
 in utter darkness as to the other's movements, and little 
 imagining that that sequestered hamlet was destined to be- 
 come the scene of a tremendous struggle, which would make 
 its name resound throughout the ages as memorable as that 
 of Waterloo. 
 
 THE 30111 OF JUNE. 
 
 The 30th of June was a day of busy preparation. On 
 that day the new commander of the Federal Army issued 
 his orders of march, directing the seven corps of which his 
 forces were composed, to move as follows : The Third 
 to Emmettsburg, Second to Taneytown, Fifth to Hanover, 
 Twelfth to Two Taverns, Sixth to Manchester, while the 
 First and Eleventh, constituting, with the Third, the right 
 wing, under Reynolds, were to proceed with Bu ford's cavalry 
 division to Gettysburg. That same morning, Pettigrew's 
 brigade, of Ileth's division. Hill's corps, which had been 
 ordered to Gettysburg to procure shoes and supplies, ap- 
 proached that place on the Cashtown road, and its head of 
 column had reached the crest of Seminary Kidge within easy 
 cannon-shot of the town, when at the same time the advance 
 of Buford's cavalry reached the town from the opposite di- 
 rection.* The Confederate brigade retired to Cashtown, 
 some five miles distant, and, Buford occupying the place, 
 established his division in front, along or near the line of 
 Willoughby run, covering the approaches to it by the Cham- 
 bersburg, Mummasburg, Carlisle, and Harrisburg roads. 
 General Reynolds, with the First and Eleventh corps, came 
 at the same time to within a few miles of Gettysburg, on 
 the Emmettsburg road, and halted for the night. That even- 
 
 **Gen. H. Heth confirms this statement. 
 
17 
 
 ing Meade became satisfied, from tidings received, that Lee 
 was moving towards Gettysburg ; but neither he nor General 
 Lee seem to have had any knowledge of the great strategic 
 consequence of that place ; and the latter, still without re- 
 port from his cavalry, fitly termed the " eyes of the army," 
 was groping like a blind Titan for his enemy, unconscious 
 that Meade's advance columns were within a few hours march 
 of his own. 
 
 Such is war — a game of skill and chance — a game of chess, 
 and ''blind man's buff" compounded together. 
 
 THE FIRST DAY OP JULY. 
 
 With the dawn of July 1st, Ileth's and Pender's division, 
 of Hill's corps, sallied forth from Cashtown to reconnoitre 
 and assail the force seen by Pettigrew the day before ; and 
 at the same time Kodes' and Early's divisions started for 
 Cashtown from Heidlersburg, where they had rested the pre- 
 ceding night. Longstreet's corps slowly brought up Lee's 
 rear from Chambersburg, and Johnson's division was yet over 
 the mountains near Greencastle and Scotland, with Ewell's 
 reserve artillery. A little before 10 o'clock Hill's advance 
 came up with Buford's cavalrymen, who were dismounted 
 and posted as infantry ; and a skirmish commenced which 
 swelled into a combat — a combat which swelled into the 
 greatest battle ever fought on this continent — for there, un- 
 consciously to all, the battle of Gettysburg began. Hill 
 advanced cautiously, supposing that he fought infantry, and 
 for two hours there were sharp passages between the con- 
 testants without important results. 
 
 From the steeple of the Theological Seminary, which 
 gives name to the ridge in front of which Buford's troops 
 were in line, the signal oflicerof that general at this moment 
 discerned in the distance the corps headquarters flag of Rey- 
 nolds, and Buford himself, sighting the telescope, recognized 
 that succor was coming, and exclaimed " We can now hold 
 the place." In a few moments Reynolds himself dashed up, 
 
18 
 
 and swiftly tifter hitn the First corps, under Doubleday, 
 came pouring across the fields, and in a short time a despe- 
 rate engagement was raging along the line. Reynolds at 
 once dispatched for the Eleventh corps, of Howard, and the 
 Third, of Sickles', which were a few miles away, to hasten 
 to the field. But while they were being summoned to the 
 rescue the intonations of cannon had reached the ears of 
 Ewell, Rodes and Early. No other than these " sightless 
 couriers of the ait" needed they, and, turning off from the 
 Cashtown road, those gallant soldiers pushed on their columns 
 toward 'the booming of the guns. Howard's leading brigades 
 had scarcely strengthened the lines of Doubleday, when 
 Rodes came thundering upon his front, and until two o'clock 
 the contending forces charged and countercharged, each 
 fighting with an ardor worthy of the great stake that was 
 trembling in the balance. 
 
 THE ADVANCE OF EARLY. 
 
 If you will look at the map you will perceive that the 
 Union line of battle, parallel with Seminary Ridge, ran almost 
 due north and south. The road from Heidlersburg to Get- 
 tysburg strikes this position right on the rear of the right 
 flank, and on this road Early's veterans — their steps quick- 
 ened by every note of the guns — were pressing on, with all 
 the celerity which had earned some of them under Jackson 
 the soubriquet of the ** foot-cavalry of the Valley." 
 
 It was about 2 o'clock. General Early rode at the division 
 head with his staff. A heavy mist was falling, and the hot 
 sun of July subdued by its refreshing moisture. As we 
 neared the scene of conflict a few cavalry pickets scampered 
 off. When reaching an eminence about a mile from the town 
 at once the glorious panorama of battle was spread before 
 our eyes; and indeed it was 
 
 " A j;lorimi8 Ki;j,bt to .si'c 
 To liiui wlio liiul no tViend, no brother tbere.'' 
 
 Aye ! mure glorious still to those whose friends and broth- 
 
 \ 
 
10 
 
 ers were there — making the field radiant with dcods worthy 
 of old Sparta's time, when there were giants upon the earth. 
 Just in front, nestling on the slope of Cemetery Hill, lay 
 Gettysburg. Fields, rich with the summer harvests, and 
 dotted with cosy, rustic homes, stretched forth in our front, 
 while on the right of the town, scarce a mile distant, wreathed 
 in the smoke of batteries and battalions, could be distinctly 
 seen the long lines of Confederate gray and Union blue, now 
 rushing to the charge, now pouring volleys into each other's 
 bosoms, now commingled in undistinguishable melee, while 
 ever and anon there rose over the sullen roar of musketry 
 and cannon the mechanical "Hip, hip! hurrah !" of the Fed- 
 eral infantry, or soared aloft that sound once heard never to 
 be forgotten, the clear, sonorous, hearty, soul-stirring ring of 
 the Confederate cheer. General Early saw with a glance 
 that he was right on the Federal flank, and that a charge 
 with his division would settle the fortunes of the day. " Tell 
 Gordon, Hays, Avery, and Smith to double-quick to the 
 front," said he, "and open the lines of infantry for the artil- 
 lery to pass." Scarce said but done. Colonel Hilary P. 
 Jones, with his batteries came thundering to the front with 
 his horses at a run ; and with their men at a double-quick, 
 Gordon, Hays, and Avery, (commanding Hoke's brigade,) de- 
 ployed right and left, while gallant old "Extra Billy" Smith 
 formed in reserve. As Jones's guns were getting into posi- 
 tion, a battery at the gallop took post in front, and General 
 Howard, whose corps was on the Federal right, stretched it 
 out and bent it around to head off this portentous movement. 
 Midway between us and the town flowed a little creek with 
 rugged wooded banks, and as our troops were double-quick- 
 ing forward into line. Barlow's division was forming be- 
 hind this stream to meet them. Riding behind Gordon's 
 brigade, we heard the ringing voice of the gallant Georgian 
 as he shouted, " Forward, Georgians," And steadily forward 
 across the yellow wheat-fields we saw the line of Georgians, 
 Louisianians, and Carolinians roll, their burnished bayonets 
 
20 
 
 making a silver wave across a cloth of gold. Now they 
 disappear in the copse of woods along the stream ; then 
 comes the wild cheer, and the crashing volley, and a cloud 
 of smoke wraps the combatants ; a moment more and the 
 open fields beyond were filled with the heavy, disordered 
 masses of Howard's corps flying in wild confusion. The 
 slaughter was terrific. In front of Gordon, where Barlow 
 was aligned, lay a line of wounded and dead men who had 
 fallen as they stood ; and in their midst lay Barlow himself 
 solely stricken. Not Dessaix at Marengo, nor Blucher at Wa- 
 terloo, struck a more decisive blow. The Federal flank had 
 been shrivelled up as a scroll, and the whole force gave way. 
 On all sides, pouring up the slopes into Gettysburg, fled the 
 broken host, while closely at their heels followed Hill and 
 Rodes on the one side and Early on the other. At this time 
 a band of Rodes's division struck up a soul-stirring strain, 
 and with triumphant music chiming in with the sharp rattle 
 of the pursuing muskets, the Confederates drove their beaten 
 enemy into and through the streets of the captured town. 
 
 IN GETTYSBURG. 
 
 Reaching the town, the joyous veterans of the Second 
 corps exclaimed, as their officers passed along their lines, 
 " let us go on !" General Early, the first officer of his rank 
 to reach the place, at once sought General Ewell to urge 
 "an immediate advance upon the enemy before he could 
 recover from his evident dismay," but before he could be 
 found a report came from General (better known as "Extra 
 Billy") Smith, that a heavy column of infantry, artillery, and 
 cavalry was marching upon our left flank on the York road. 
 Gordon's brigade had to be detached to go to the threatened 
 point, and this for a time diverted attention from the pursuit. 
 General Early not finding Ewell, sent a messenger to General 
 A. P. Hill urging that an immediate advance be made upon 
 the enemy, who had fallen back to the heights beyond the 
 town. 
 
21 
 
 In the mean time General Ewell came up, and he at once 
 resolved to seize a wooded height called Gulp's Hill, which 
 commanded the enemy's position on the left, as soon as John- 
 son's division, yet absent, should arrive. 
 
 Between 5 and G o'clock in the afternoon a '^ rough-and 
 ready" looking soldier, bronze-faced, with a heavy stafT in 
 his hand, which looked as combative as an Irishman's shille- 
 lah, rode up to our lines, and behind him covered with the 
 stains of a rapid march, came streaming along, with faces 
 eager for the fray, the famous soldiers of the old Stonewall 
 division, now under General Edward Johnson — "old Alle- 
 ghany" as they loved to call him — who looked as he rode 
 with his heavy club at their head as if he could thrash out 
 an army himself with that ponderous weapon. 
 
 Now, thought our gallant men, who were chafing to be 
 unleashed, we shall go on ; now, thought all, the tide has 
 come which "taken at its flood leads on to fortune ;" but in 
 the mean time the enemy sent forward a line of infantry and 
 occupied the hill which Ewell designed to seize. Our artil- 
 lery, from the nature of the field, could not be served to 
 advantage, and the report was revived that a column was 
 moving upon our left flank. This report was utterly ground- 
 less, but before it could be sifted, and Johnson's division 
 gotten into position, darkness had thrown its protecting wings 
 over the shattered Federal lines. And so the tide went by. 
 
 SHOULD WE HAVE PRESSED ON ? 
 
 It has been the almost universal sentiment of soldiers and 
 civilians that a great blunder was made in not pressing on 
 after the enemy when he was driven through Gettysburg, 
 and Generals Ewell and Lee have both been sharply criticised 
 for halting. " Never/' says Mr. Swinton, one of the best 
 war-writers, " was pause at the door of victory more fatal to 
 the hopes of a commander." * 
 
 * See Swinton's Decisive Battles, p. 332. 
 
It is true there existed many temptations to press the pur- 
 suit. We had met the enemy for the first time on the soil of 
 a northern State, and disastrously routed two corps of his 
 army, with a loss to them of two cannon and nearly five 
 thousand prisoners,* and how shattered their remnants must 
 have been is evidenced by the fact that the Eleventh corps, 
 which mustered 7,400 muskets that morning, could scarcely 
 count half that number that night ; while the First was 
 reduced from S,200 to 2,450 — scarcely a fourth being left. 
 But General Lee's situation was a peculiar one. The cavalry 
 was absent, and he had no information of the whereabouts or 
 numbers of his adversary. The prisoners stated that Meade 
 with his main force was rapidly approaching Gettysburg, and 
 some of our own officers reported that heavy celumns were 
 threatening our left flank. Besides we had suffered severe 
 losses. Under these circumstances, says General Lee in his 
 report, " without information as to its (Meade's army's) prox- 
 imity, the strong position which the enemy had assumed 
 could not be ^ attacked without danger of exposing the four 
 divisions present, already weakened and exhausted by a long 
 and bloody struggle, to overwhelming numbers of fresh 
 troops,"! and so it was determined to await the arrival of 
 Longstreet. 
 
 Now, it happens that General Lee's speculations were en- 
 tirely verified, and it is very doubtful indeed whether, if 
 accurate information had been possessed as to the enemy's 
 situation, a renewal of the attack would have been prudent. 
 It is disclosed in the Federal reports of this campaign that 
 when General Howard on that morning had marched to the 
 relief of Reynolds, he had done (what Napoleon said a good 
 general ought always to do in going into battle) provided 
 against exactly what followed — a disastrous defeat. 
 
 Noticing that Cemetery Hill, just in rear of Gettysburg, 
 
 *See Swinton's Decisive Battlesj p. 331. 
 tSee Lee'a Second Report. 
 
23 
 
 was a position of commanding importance, be bad posted 
 there one of his divisions, cammanded by General Alexander 
 von Steinwerh, an accomplished officer, who had been 
 schooled in the Prussian service. That officer bad planted 
 his artilery along the crest of that hill, and around its base 
 were low stone walls rising tier above tier, behind which he 
 had posted his infantry. While the battle was raging in 
 front he had thrown up lunettes around each gun, and ac- 
 cording to the northern historian of Gettysburg, " they were 
 not mere heaps of stubble and turf, but solid works of such 
 height and thickness as to defy the most powerful bolts which 
 the enemy (Confederates) could throw against him, with 
 smooth and level platforms on which the guns could be 
 worked."* Besides this fresh division, Buford's dismounted 
 cavalry division had retired in good order to the crest of this 
 hill, and when the two infantry corps were driven back upon 
 Cemetery Hill they came, to use the same writer's language, 
 '^ into the folds of an impregnable fortress. '-t 
 
 Now, in the light of these events, bold is he who assumes 
 to be the censor. Had Ewell hurled his two divisions against 
 this natural fortress — now doubly fortified with pick and 
 spade — before Johnson came up, and been repulsed by the 
 heavy artillery and fresh troops lying in wait, who would not 
 have said it was rash, hot-headed, and ill-considered ? Had 
 Lee, without waiting for Longstreet, pushed on when he 
 came up and then been beaten, who would not have said 
 that ardor had gotten the better of his discretion ? And, 
 indeed, by the hour Lee arrived, the Twelfth corps, under 
 Slocum, and the Third, under Sickles, had gotten within sup- 
 porting distance of their comrades, and they actually reached 
 the field between 6 and 7 o'clock.^ 
 
 * See Bates' History of the Battle of Gettysburg, p. 70. 
 T Ibid, p. 80. 
 
 { See Bates' History, p. 181, aud Everett's Oration, 4tli vol. Everett's 
 Oration and Speeehes, p. (535. Birney's division of the Third corps formed 
 on Cemetery Kidj^e about 5 o'clock. See General Birney's statement, Ist 
 Aol. Conduct of the War, p. 36(5. 
 
24 
 
 On the whole, it is ditficult to see that either General Lee 
 or General Ewell is open to just criticism for not pushing on; 
 though such is my own faith in the superb gallantry of our 
 troops that I believe they would have annihilated the forces 
 tiien in their front. But this would have been hxr from a 
 decisive result, as Meade, with the great body of his army, 
 would then have fallen back and formed a new line nearer 
 to Washington. 
 
 A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. 
 
 Tiie conflict of July had been entirely a chapter of acci- 
 dents. Commencing with the affair of Ileth's division with 
 Buford's cavalry, it had attracted reinforcements from both 
 armies by the sound of its guns, as the maelstrom gathers 
 into its vortex the craft that float upon the surrounding' 
 waters. 
 
 At the very hour when Buford's men were going into 
 action an order, dated that very day, was being distributed 
 by Meade from his headquarters, at Taneytown, fourteen 
 miles away, among his corps commanders, announcing his 
 intention " to withdraw his army from its present position and 
 form line of battle, with the right resting in the neighborhood 
 of Middleburg and the left at Manchester, the general direc- 
 tion being that of Pipe creek,"* (which stream is about 
 fifteen miles from Gettysburg) ; and when General Reynolds 
 rode to Buford's rescue lie fell upon the field to which the 
 guns had summoned himt with an order in his pocket to fall 
 back from Gettysburg and Emettsburg with the First, Elev- 
 enth, and Third corps, which were under him, to Middle- 
 burg. 
 
 The tidings of the battle, borne back to Meade at Tanev- 
 tovvn, were accompanied with the announcement that General 
 Beynolds had fallen. Still he did not go himself to the front 
 so slow was he to appreciate that there the great battle- 
 
 * See Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. '.]'>:]. 
 + Ihitl, p. :'54. 
 
25 
 
 cloud would burst, but he sent forward General Hancock, 
 the best of his lieutenants. That officer reached the field 
 just as the broken columns of the First and Eleventh corps 
 were flying for refuge to the summit of Cemetery Hill. 
 Hancock was a fighting man of resolute gallantry and mag- 
 netic presence. He soon restored order along the lines, and, 
 sending Wadsworth's division to Gulp's Hill, checkmated the 
 movement of Ewell to get that commanding height before 
 him.* Having made his dispositions, he rode back to Meade, 
 at Taneytown, and reported that the field was favorable for 
 a general action. At ten o'clock that night Meade started 
 forward, and reached Cemetery Hill at one o'clock, while all 
 along behind him the roads were filled by the artillery and 
 infantry of his army, pressing on to the stage which fate, 
 rather than foresight, had appointed for the great drama of 
 war. 
 
 By morning all his corps had reached within supporting 
 distance of the field, except the Sixth, which was started 
 from Manchester, thirty-six miles distant, the afternoon before. 
 
 On our side all the infantry but Pickett's division was up. 
 Stuart, "the indefatigable" — Stuart, "the lion-hearted" — 
 with Hampton and "Light-Horse" Lees, had come; — the 
 plume that never danced so joyously as in the storm of bat- 
 tle — the sabre whose electric light had so often cleaved with 
 a flash the path to victory, were ready to lead the squadrons 
 to the onset once more. And there crowning the opposite 
 ridges — with batteries, bayonets, and sabres, — the Army of 
 Northern Virginia, and the Army of the Potomac — surveyed 
 each other, marshalled in solid well-ordered array of battle. 
 
 LEE RESOLVES TO ATTACK. 
 
 " It had not been intended," says General Lee (see his first 
 report), "to fight a general battle at such a distance from 
 our base unless attacked by the enemy, but finding ourselves 
 
 * See General Haucock'e testimony, p. 405, Conduct of the War, vol. 1. 
 D 
 
26 
 
 unexpectedly confronted by the Federal army, it became a 
 matter of difficulty to withdraw through the mountains with 
 our large trains. At tiie same time the country was unfa- 
 vorable for collecting supplies, while in the presence of the 
 enemy's main body, as he was enabled to restrain our fora- 
 ging parties by occupying the passes of the mountains with 
 regular and local troops. A battle thus became, in a meas- 
 ure, unavoidable. Encouraged by the successful issue of the 
 engagement of the first day, and in view of the valuable 
 results that would ensue from the defeat of the army of Gen- 
 eral Meade, it was thought advisable to renew the attack." 
 So the first day's fight had changed our commander's plan ; 
 and when lie left a conference held with Generals Ewell, 
 Early, and Rodes, at the close of the day, the understanding 
 was that with the light the contest should be renewed. In 
 planning for the assault the vigilant eye of Lee had not failed 
 to take in the salient points of 
 
 THE FIELD OF JJATTLE. 
 
 Away to llie right of our line there rose up a bold pro- 
 montory known as "Little Round-Top" — a bald granite 
 spur constituting a natural fortress, and commanding from the 
 Federal left the Cemetery Ridge, on which Meade's arnjy 
 was aligned — a Gibraltar to tiie Union general once pos- 
 sessed — a key-position unlocking his strength — if once in 
 Confederate hands. About a quarter of a mile further on 
 south rises the still bolder knob known as "Round-Top." 
 Between Little Round-Top and Gettysburg stretches the 
 Cemetery Ridge due north in a straight line for two miles. 
 Just in the rear and south of the town this ridge curves like 
 a fish-hook and projects into Cemetery Hill, which derives its 
 name from the town grave-yard, thei'eon, wherein 
 
 " The riule fui-flarijeis of the hiinilft sleep — " 
 
 Then the ridue bends around eastward, and a rugged 
 wooded height, with rocky face, known as Gulp's Hill, guards 
 the eastern flank. 
 
This hill commands Cemetery Hill iVoin the iiurlh-eiist, as 
 Little Round-Top commands the ridge from the south-west. 
 
 The left wing of our army, looking due south, faced Gulp's 
 and Cemetery hills. The centre and riglit wi.igs, almost at 
 right angles with the left wing, looked east-.vard, facing the 
 Cemetery Ridge. 
 
 General Lee's plan was for Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill 
 "by way of diversion" "at dawn," to be converted into a 
 real attack, if opportunity offered, while Longstreet was to 
 make the main attack on the enemy's riglit, seize Round - 
 Top and Little Round-Top, and turn the Federal flank. 
 
 FAILUKE OF THE SECOND DAl's PLANS " SOME ONE HAS BLUN- 
 DERED " WHO f 
 
 Before dawn while marshalling his troo[)S for the assault, 
 Ewell received orders from General Lee to wait for the sound 
 of Longstreet's guns.* But the dawn came, and no guns 
 heralded the action. Said Mr. Edward Everett in his oration 
 at Gettysburg: "And here I cannot but remark on the 
 Providential inaction of the rebel army. Had the contest 
 been renewed by it at daylight on tlie 2J of July, with the 
 First and Eleventh corps exhausted by the battle and retreat, 
 the Third and Twelfth weary from their forced march, and 
 the Second, Fifth, and Sixth not yet arrived, nothing but a 
 miracle could have saved the army from a great disaster. 
 Instead of this the day dawned, the sun rose, the cool hours 
 of the morning passed, and a considerable part of the after- 
 noon wore away without the slightest aggressive movement 
 on the part of the enemy. Thus time was given for half of 
 our forces to arrive and take their places in the lines, while 
 the rest of the army enjoyed a much-needed half- day's re- 
 pose."t 
 
 I have searched in vain all accessible sources of informa- 
 mation for some explanatien of General Lee's failure to carry 
 
 " See General E well's Report. 
 
 t See vol. 4, Everett's Orations, p. T);!?. 
 
2S 
 
 out the plan resolved upon the night before, — a plan emi- 
 nently sagacious in itself, and which, had it been pursued 
 promptly at dawn, would doubtless have resulted in the dis- 
 astrous overthrow of the Federal Army, so graphically indi- 
 cated by Mr. Everett 5 for Little Round-Top, which, passing 
 strange to say, had not been occupied by the enemy, would 
 have fallen into our hands, and the key of victory gained 
 without a struggle ; nor was it occupied till later in the day, 
 when our troops were moving upon it.* 
 
 The secret of that fatal delay, which, to my mind, was 
 the great mistake or misfortune of the campaign, may per- 
 haps be forever buried in our commander's bosom. I appre- 
 hend that the tardiness of General Longstreet's movements, 
 and the prolonged absence of Pickett's division was the cause; 
 but lest injustice be done to General liOngstreet I forbear 
 expressing an opinion. At any rate, the ftiult was not Lee's, 
 for he was anxious to attack at dawn ; he sent back orders 
 to hasten the march of the absent troops (see his report) ; 
 and some overruling reason must have stayed his hand. But, 
 alas! the opportunity was lost forever. "Opportunity," 
 saith the old adage, " has hair in front, behind she is bald ; 
 catch her by the forelock and a little child can hold her, but 
 once gone, Jupiter himself cannot catch her again." And 
 such was our experience at Gettysburg. 
 
 THE SECOND DAY's ATTACK AND ITS RESULTS. 
 
 Finally, by 3 o'clock the preparations were made. The 
 Union army had been formed, with Slocum's Twelfth corps 
 and Wadsworth's division of the First holding Gulp's Hill 
 and the right flank — opposite to Johnson's division. How- 
 ard's Eleventh Corps, with Eobinson's and Doubleday's 
 divisions of the First held Cemetery Hill, opposite to Early's 
 and Rodes's divisions. Then came Hancock's Second corps, 
 opposite to Hill's, on Cemetery Ridge, and Sickles's Third 
 corps, extending towards Round-Top, opposite to Longstreet. 
 
 * See vol. 1, Condnct of the War, p. 332. 
 
29 
 
 Sykes's Fifth corps was in reserve, on the Federal right, and 
 Sedgwick, who reached the field just as the battle was com- 
 mencing, took place in reserve upon the left. 
 
 I should have little pleasure, even did time permit, in de- 
 tailing the events of this day ; for, though it abounds in 
 bright exploits, the attack was rendered disjointed and 
 inefl^ectual by strange misunderstandings — to use no harsher 
 term. 
 
 Longstreet, with Hood's and McLuw's divisions, struck the 
 Federal left, and came within an ace of possessing Little 
 Round-Top, which was hastily occupied by the enemy after 
 our lines were put in motion. As soon as this attack on the 
 Federal right got well under way Johnson's division, with 
 magnificent valor, rushed up the rough, rocky ledges of 
 Gulp's Hill ; and Hoke's and Hays's brigades of Early's 
 division, who took their signal of assault from Johnson's 
 guns, charged the enemy's batteries on Cemetery Hill and 
 planted their standards on its summit, capturing his cannon, 
 routing two lines of infantry, and cutting the right centre of 
 the Federal line.* 
 
 But here Wo, the while ! this splendid sally was robbed of 
 its fruits. Early was to attack when he heard Johnson's 
 guns; Rodes, on Early's right, was to continue it when he 
 heard Early's guns. Early's part was nobly done, and Rodes 
 started to fulfill his part. But Rodes, it seems, had a much 
 greater distance to traverse than Early, and for some reason, 
 nowhere explained in Lee's or Ewell's reports (General 
 Rodes's report I have been unable to see,) at the time when 
 the men of Hoke's and Hays's brigades surmounted the 
 Federal works, the gallant Rodes was just moving out to 
 assault those in his front. Before he did so the Federal re- 
 serves were hurled upon Early, and these two thin brigades, 
 
 " Hoke's brigade Avas commanded in this battle (General Hoke being 
 absent, wounded) by Colonel J. E. Avery, of the Sixth North Carolina 
 Regiment — one oi the bravest and best of the many excellent soldiers 
 that North Carolina gave to the Confederate cause. 
 
-30 
 
 wasted by the charge and separated from all support, were 
 driven from the crest by fresh troops, and the prize fell from 
 the victorious hands which had already grasped it. 
 
 The shades of night had fallen before the battle closed, 
 and, though everywhere the troops had borne themselves 
 in a manner worthy of their fame, the unhappy miscarriage 
 of Rodes's movement had prevented the consummation of 
 Lee's well-designed plan. 
 
 But some advantages had been gained and some trophies 
 won. On our right the Federal line had been driven back 
 by Longstreet, some guns and standards captured, and some 
 advanced positions carried. On our left Johnson's division 
 had driven the enemy from his works, and had maintained 
 an advanced footing on Gulp's Hill. In Early's front the 
 soldiers of the old North State, led by Colonel Avery — who 
 there sealed his devotion to the Southern cause with his heart's 
 blood — had won another wreath for the brow of Carolina ; 
 and the gallant Louisianians, led by Harry Hays, had brought 
 down from the crest of Cemetery Hill four regimental stand- 
 ards, seized from the cannon's mouth, and after a fierce hand- 
 to-hand wrestle with the infantry which defended them. 
 
 THE LOUISIANIANS. 
 
 Brave spirits of Louisiana ! Now, deeper in misfortune — 
 hence to our hearts closer, and to memory dearer. Leading 
 one of the regiments that climbed the summit of that terrible 
 crest was Davidson B. Penn, a native of Virginia, and now, 
 by the voice of his people, the rightful Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the Pelican State. Take heart, brave leader and brave 
 people ! To-night your old comrades of the Army of North- 
 ern Virginia send you fraternal greetings. No longer sepa- 
 rated from each other by a line of fire, the hearts of the 
 liberty-loving people of this great nation, whether they once 
 beat under the Confederate gray or the Union blue, now beat 
 in sympathy with your brave endeavor to restore Louisiana to 
 
31 
 
 the sisterhood of States, with a government worthy of the 
 republican name, and of the Caucasian race. 
 
 The gallant souls who met you in the shock of battle 
 know, as well as we who cheered you on, that the stout arms 
 which drove the bayonets through the Federal lines on that 
 " well-foughten field " were filled with blood that can never 
 flow in the feeble pulses of sycophants and slaves. Side by 
 side the boys in blue and the boys in gray are coming to 
 your rescue. Over the tumults of the polls we hear the 
 pibroch ringing; and in 1S76, when the guns are heralding 
 the hundredth anniversary of freedom's birth, God grant that 
 they may sound to Louisiana the dawn of its resurrection ! 
 
 THE FINAL DAY. 
 
 There was this significant feature in the second day's fight : 
 The Confederate troops had everywhere borne themselves 
 with unsurpassed audacity and intrepidity, carrying the most 
 difficult positions by storm ; and they could well say to their 
 countrymen, with the Athenian general, that ^' so far as their 
 fate depended on them they were immortal." 
 
 They liad failed, but from mistakes and misunderstandings 
 of their superiors. This fact only increased General Lee's 
 unbounded faith in his men, and he resolved to advance again. 
 " The result of this day's operations," says he, " induced the 
 belief that with proper concert of action, and with the in- 
 creased support that the positions gained on the right would 
 enable the artillery to render the assaulting columns, we 
 should ultimately succeed, and it was accordingly determined 
 to renew the attack."* The general plan was unchanged. 
 Longstreet was to assail the left centre, and Ewell the ex- 
 treme right. 
 
 Early in the day Johnson's division, on our left, had a 
 prolonged struggle, and drove the enemy from a part of his 
 entrenchments, but was unable to carry the main works on 
 
 * See Lee's Second Report. 
 
32 
 
 the crest of Gulp's Hill. It was designed that Longstreet 
 should attack simultaneously with him ; but the dispositions 
 were, for some reason, so slow that Johnson had concluded 
 his drawn combat before Longstreet was ready to begin. It 
 was arranged now that Hood's and McLaws's divisions should 
 guard our right flank ; then, Pickett, — strengthened on his left 
 by Heth's division, under Pettigrew, and Lane's and Scales's 
 brigades of Pender's division, under Trimble; and on his right 
 by Wilcox's brigade of Anderson's division, — was to constitute 
 the assaulting column. At 7 o'clock that morning the fresh 
 division of Pickett, which had rested the night before a few 
 miles from the field, marched to the position from which it 
 was to be launched upon the enemy's works, and formed in 
 line just behind Seminary Ridge, protected from view by 
 the swell of ground and the foliage of the oak forest that 
 grows along its crest. From the summit of this ridge the 
 long grim line of Cemetery Ridge, just opposite, loomed up 
 in clear profile against the summer sky, bristling with the 
 artillery and infantry lines of the foe ; and all during the 
 hot hours of morning and noon the men picked for the assault 
 contemplated the frowning heights against which they were 
 to be hurled. Green fields decked forth in all the rich gar- 
 niture of fertile summer-time, here and there separated by 
 stone walls and fences, filled the intervening space — a slope 
 down, then a valley, and then a slope again right up to the 
 batteries and lines charged with death in every form that 
 lead, and iron, and steel could be wrought by the destructive 
 genius of man. 
 
 THE CANNONADE. 
 
 Upon the crest of Seminary Ridge General Lee had plan- 
 ted about one hundred and twenty guns, covering the front 
 of his storming column.* Right opposite, about ninety guns 
 faced them, and on either flank from Cemetery Hill and 
 
 * General Meade estimates our gnus theu engaged at 125. See vol 1. 
 Conduct of the War, p. 333-338. Mr. Swiuton places tbeui at 155. I 
 have no accurate information, but think I'iO about right. 
 
33 
 
 Round Top other batteries, comprising two hundred more 
 guns, were ranged to join in chorus. To prepare the way, 
 our batteries were first to cannonade the enemy's lines, and 
 us they closed the infantry were to move out and pierce with 
 their bayonets the Federal left centre. At 1 o'clock a single 
 gun broke the Sabbath-like stillness that had brooded for 
 hours over the field, then another single gun — the precon- 
 certed signal — and then all Seminary Ridge burst forth with 
 flames, as over one hundred guns poured forth their iron 
 charges upon the Federal lines. Gun answered gun, and 
 then for two hours the two armies were wrapt in the smoke 
 of the most tremendous cannonade that ever in the open 
 field darkened the sky of the Western world ; shells screamed, 
 rushing through the air like devils on wings of fire ; through 
 murky, sulphurous clouds the sun glared " with blood-shot 
 eye;" the earth itself was tremulous, as if internal commo- 
 tion shook its foundations ; and so rapid were the discharges 
 of cannon, that the sound of no particular gun could be dis- 
 tinguished — no more than the roar of a single wave when 
 angry ocean tosses its billows mountain-high in midwinter 
 storm. Nor was this, as is generally the case with artillery 
 duels, mere ''sound and fury, signifying nothing." Our in- 
 fantry were for the most part sheltered, but on the Federal 
 side, says the historian of Gettysburg, '' notwithstanding 
 every precaution was taken to shelter the Union troops, the 
 destruction was terrible. Men were torn limb from limb and 
 blown to atoms by the villainous shells ; horses were disem- 
 bowelled and thrown prostrate to writhe in death agonies; 
 caisons filled with ammunition were exploded; cannon 
 rent; and steel-banded gun-carriages knocked into shapeless 
 masses."* 
 
 THE CHARGE. 
 
 7\t the end of two hours the fire slackened, — then closed 
 like some grand orchestral chorus announcing the curtain's 
 
 *8<"c Biitts' History of llie Battle of Gettysburj;;, p. 154. 
 E 
 
34 
 
 rise as tragedy itself steps forth upon the stage. As silence 
 once more reigned over the smoking heights, from behind 
 the sable curtain that still hung over Seminary Ridge, there 
 emerged the long double lines of the Confederate infantry, in 
 none of the " pomp and circumstance of war," but clad in 
 sombre homespun, brown and gray, with nothing bright 
 about them, save the blood-red battle flags twinkling in their 
 midst, and the glittering sheen of cold steel. Old Virginia 
 had the post of honor that day. In the centre of the assault- 
 ing line moved Pickett's men " in battle's magnificently stern 
 array," Kemper on the right connecting with Wilcox ; Gar- 
 nett on the left connecting with Pettigrew ; Armistead be- 
 hind them — Mrginians all. Down the slope from Seminary 
 Ridge they moved forth to the assault, not impetuously, says 
 Mr. Swinton, "at the run or double-quick, as has been re- 
 presented in the over-colored descriptions in which the fa- 
 mous charge has been so often painted, but with a disciplined 
 steadiness — a quality noticed by all who saw this advance 
 as its characteristic feature."* Mounted on his familiar iron- 
 gray war-horse, Traveller, General Lee, from the summit of 
 Seminary Ridge, watched his veterans as they advanced to 
 this supreme endeavor, as did Napoleon from the slope of La 
 Belle Alliance watch the advance of the Old Guard upon 
 the allied centre at Waterloo. Scarcely had they debouched 
 into the field, before once more Cemetery Ridge, in their front, 
 was fringed with fire, and into their faces came the hissing 
 shot and shell. And, unfortunately for us, our own batteries, 
 having nearly exhausted their amunition, (a fact unknown to 
 General Lee when the assault commence'd.) were <inable to 
 reply.t 
 
 Our lel'r, under the noble Trinible, who was soon struck 
 down, staggered at the start, but soon regained their step ; 
 and while shell burst overhead, and solid shot opened fright- 
 ful gaps, the lines closed up and moved on. Half way over 
 
 'See Swintou's Decisive Battles, j). 313. 
 
 t.See Lee's yecciiid l?c{>iirt. WIiuhc I'unlt wiis this ? 
 
this death-devoured field Pickett's men paused and rearranged 
 their lines, and then moved obliquely to the loft, so as to 
 strike "the highest point and npparent centre of the ene- 
 my."* Now, it happened that Wilcox did not close on to 
 Pickett's right, thus leaving a gap open upon his flank ; and 
 now, at close range, the enemy from his shotted guns poured 
 canister right into their bosoms ; but still they pressed right 
 on. And now from behind stones walls and trenches on the 
 top plateau of Cemetery Ridge, the tire of musketry flashed 
 into their faces. Kemper and Garnett, while leading their 
 men like the Paladins of old, had fallen ; but the men faltered 
 not, and with a bold forward rush they clove the Federal 
 line. Brave Armistead, leading his men afoot, sprung upon 
 the enemy's works, while all around him clustered the reso- 
 lute soldiers of the Virginia Division, who had 
 
 " Charged an Aruiy 
 While all the world wondered.'' 
 
 With calm countenance, but heart elate. General Lee, from 
 his post, with his field-glass fixed upon this point, now saw 
 the battle-flags waving over the smoke that wreathed the 
 crest of Cemetery Ridge, like a cluster of blood-red mountain 
 blossoms amidst thick foilage ; and for the while Pickett's 
 men stood conquerors on this blood-won summit, while all 
 along their front the Federal troops, dismayed by their as- 
 tonishing intrepidity, fled the field, leaving their batteries in 
 their victors' hands. 
 
 But, alas ! they stood alone. Fur at least twenty min- 
 utes — (I am told by Capt. John Holmes Smith, of the Lynch- 
 burg Home Guard, who, though wounded, climbed that 
 perilous height) — the few who got there held undisputed 
 possession of the field. But where were their supports ? — 
 where were their coadjutors ? Pettigrew's and Trimble's 
 men had broken before the tornado of canister in their front, 
 
 *Major Walter Harrison in his volume, entitled Pickett's Men so states. 
 See p. 183. 
 
and had disappeared.* And now, upon their right, the gap 
 left by Wilcox was being filled by Federal troops ; and 
 marshalling in their front the Federal reserves, summoned 
 from every point to the rescue stood in masses four lines 
 deep. 
 
 Anxiously they looked for support, but instead of succor 
 their antagonists closed upon them front and flank, and this 
 little wasted band could no more live, in the concentric lines 
 of fire emptied on their devoted heads, than the child's play- 
 boat could breast the surge of an ocean-storm. 
 
 Sword in hand, on the farthest verge of the advance, 
 brave Armistead fell, death-stricken ; and from this highest 
 pinnacle, to which ever the waves of the Confederate war 
 dashed their bloody spray, the surviving hand-ful of Pickett's 
 men relaxed their hold, and sullenly turned their ftices back 
 to the Conferate lines and toward tHe setting sun. The sun, 
 alas ! whose waning rays lighted for the last time to many a 
 fallen hero the scenes of earth — the sun, alas ! whose waning 
 rays seemed prophetic of the waning cause, dearer to them 
 than light or life. And so, Virginia's spear was broken — the 
 banner of the Confederacy was blighted — the Battle of 
 Gettysburg was done ! 
 
 THE LOSSES. 
 
 I pause to contemplate the havoc wrought in these three 
 days of battle. We have authentic official reports that the 
 loss on the Federal side amounted to 2,834 killed, 1-8,709 
 wounded, and G,643 missing — in all, 23,186. t 
 
 The author of " Harper's Pictorial History of the War " — 
 which could be more fitly termed " Harper's Pictorial Fib " — 
 estimates our loss at 36,000 in all; and Mr. Bates, the his- 
 
 *Geueral Trimble lost a leg in this charge. There ia no reproach for 
 him. General Heth had been wounded in the first days' fifi;ht, and 
 was absent, and his Division, nnder General Pettigrew, had been deci- 
 mated in the first days' fight. General Trimble had been placed in com- 
 mand during the engagement. 
 
 t See General Meade's Report. 
 
37 
 
 toriau of Gettysburg, estimates it at 27,500 wounded, 5,500 
 killed, and 13,G21 prisoners, which would make 46,621 * — a 
 most preposterous conclusion, worthy only of Gulliver or 
 Munchausen. 
 
 I am enabled to state from the official reports the losses of 
 two corps of our army. General Longstreet's losses were 
 933 killed, 4,453 wounded, and 2,373 missing— total, 7,659.t 
 General Ewell's were SS3 killed, 3,S57 wounded, and 1,347 
 missing — total, 6,094. t Aggregate in the two corps, 
 13,753. It is not probable that Hill's losses exceeded Long- 
 street's, as he suffered less than any corps-commander on the 
 second day. Putting them at 8,000 we would have as grand 
 aggregate 21,753. This includes artillery and infantry ; and 
 allowing 1,000 more, which must be excessive, for cavalry 
 and for nurses who were left with the wounded, and still our 
 losses would be less than those of the enemy. 
 
 In Pickett's division the frightful loss attests its devoted 
 courage. It carried into action four thousand four hundred 
 and eighty-five muskets, about four thousand seven hundred 
 rank and file. Its loss was two thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty-three. Two of its brigadiers (Armistead and Garnett) 
 were killed, and the third (Kemper) wounded, but, thank 
 Heaven, not lost. Of fifteen regimental commanders seven 
 were killed and eight wounded ; and of its whole comple- 
 ment of field oflicers only one, the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Joseph R. Cabell, who was afterwards killed at Drewry's 
 farm, returned from the charge unscathed. 
 
 NUMBERS ENGAGED. 
 
 As to the numbers engaged the Federals have given us 
 pretty thorough information as to their side. General Meade 
 estimated his available force at 95,000 men and about 300 
 
 " See Bates' History, p. 199-200. 
 
 t See ofllcial Report iu Southern Mngaziue for April, 1871. Appendix, 
 p. 55. 
 
 t See General Ewell's Report in Southern Magazine for June, 187.3, p. 
 695. 
 
38 
 
 cannon.* Some of these guarded his (rains, and many must 
 have straggled. Discounting ten per cent, for these, he 
 must have had in his seven army corps not less than 80,000 
 men upon the field. 
 
 The Federal estimates of our force are very extravagant, 
 and some of them not a little curious. General Hooker says 
 in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the 
 War : " With regard to the enemy's force I had reliable 
 information. Two Union men had counted them as they 
 passed through ITagerstown, and in order that there might 
 be no mistake they compared notes every night, and if their 
 counts differed they were satisfactorily adjusted by com- 
 promise. In round numbers Lee had 91,000 infantry and 
 280 pieces of artillery. Marching with that column were 
 6,000 cavalry."t He then estimates Stuart's cavalry at 
 5,000, and sums up his count of Lee's men as 90,000 infan- 
 try, 4,000 to 5,000 artillery, and 10,000 cavalry— in all 
 about 104,000. 
 
 The miraculous performance of these two reliable Union 
 men can be well appreciated when it is remembered that all 
 of Lee's army did not pass through Hagerstown — Early's 
 command, for one, going through Sharpsburg — and this 
 spectacle of a commander basing a calculation on such trivial 
 statements can only excite ridicule. I am not able to state 
 General Lee's force, but I can contribute a few items which 
 may serve partially toward an estimate. I hold in my hand 
 the original tri-monthly field return of Early's division, made 
 and signed by myself as its Adjutant-General, on the 20th of 
 June, two days before it crossed the Potomac. The total 
 present for duty was 514 officers and 5,124 enlisted men; 
 aggregate, 5,638. This division was fully an average one 
 of the army. Pickett's Division, as stated by IMajor Walter 
 Harrison, its Adjutant-General, numbered on the field 4,481 
 
 * See General Meade's testimony, 1 vol. Conduct of the War, p. 337-8. 
 1 1 vol. Conduct of the War, p. 173, 
 
39 
 
 muskets — about 4,700 rank and file. But allowing 6,000 as 
 the general division strength, we would have 54,000 men. 
 The cavalry could not have exceeded 7,000, nor the artillery 
 3,000, and allowing ten per cent, discount for straggling and 
 train-guards, about 56,000 would represent our available 
 strength. This, I believe, runs over the mark, but it shows 
 how groundless are the wild speculations of the writers who 
 have put our numbers at such high figures. 
 
 We have also some general data which show that the 
 weight of numbers must have greatly preponderated on the 
 Federal side. In a work entitled a " History of the Battle 
 of Gettysburg," from the pen of Samuel P. Bates, State his- 
 torian of Pennsylvania, we have a tabular statement showing 
 the regiments of both armies. From that it appears that 
 there were one hundred and sixty-four Confederate and two 
 hundred and forty-one Federal regiments of infantry engaged 
 — that is, seventy-seven regiments in excess of ours. Three 
 hundred is a large average regiment, and allowing that as 
 the general average, our force would be forty-nine thousand 
 two hundred, and the Federal force seventy-two thousand 
 three hundred — a result, I think, nearly approximating the 
 facts. * 
 
 THE AFTER PART. 
 
 The first impulseof General Meade, when he saw Pickett's 
 men break and fall back, was to hurl forward his whole army 
 in counter charge against Lee. He has been severely criti- 
 
 * Mr. Bates states that Leo -went into battle -with 72,000 men. See his 
 History, p. 198. This work, written in a fair and manly spirit, though 
 not disguising strong Northern partialities, is marred by its evident 
 worthlessness so far as computation of numbers and losses are concerned. 
 The archives of Confederate History will ere long bring to light data 
 from which the truth may be elucidated; and in the mean time it is to 
 be hoped that Confederate soldiers who have means of information will 
 carefully preserve and record their testimony on the subject. The proba- 
 bility is that there has been a double coxmt of onr Josses in some cases ; 
 that is that those reported by our officers as wounded, and afterwards 
 fiilliiig into the enemy's hands on the retreat, have been also reported by 
 the Federals as captured — and thus the wounded captive counted as two 
 men lost ! In some such way alone can we account for the extravagant 
 estimates of our losses, directly at war with our authentic official reports. 
 
40 
 
 cised by many of his Generals for not doing so ; but it is 
 well for him that his '^ native hue of resolution " was so soon 
 
 " Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." 
 
 The Federal army, as well as their commander, were 
 appalled by the amazing boldness and bravery they had 
 beheld. They were shocked and shattered by the terrific 
 blow received. The arm that parried the stroke had been 
 paralyzed by it; the victor stood aghast upon the field of 
 carnage ; the hand which wielded the scythe was too weak 
 to strike back at the rival reaper which had mowed down 
 his own ranks like a desolating storm. 
 
 In the history of battles we generally tind that a repulse 
 like this is followed by the dismay, confusion, and flight of 
 the defeated army. But not thus passed away the glory of 
 the Army of Northern Virginia, nor of that great commander 
 who, in the twinkling of an eye, saw the brimming cup of 
 victory dashed from his lips. 
 
 On our right Hood and McLaws, in the centre Anderson, 
 and on the left the whole corps of Ewell, stood as steady and 
 unmoved as if they had witnessed the mimic evolutions of a 
 holiday's review ; and not only not dismayed, but eager to 
 welcome their antagonists " with bloody hands to hospitable 
 graves." 
 
 As the remnant of Pickett's men fell back within our lines 
 General Lee rode to meet them. ''Never mind," said he, as 
 he urged them to re-form, '^ we'll talk of this afterwards ; 
 now we want all good men to rally," and to General Wilcox, 
 who rode up, he said quietly and cheerfully : " Never mind. 
 General, all this has been ni}' fault, and you must help me 
 out of it the best way you can." 
 
 As the soldiers caught sight of their beloved commander, 
 wliose serene, miijestic countenance showed no trace of dis- 
 ;ip[)uintinent, they raised their hats, and, ciieering, turned to 
 their posts; and many a ragged veteran, with one arm 
 wounded, grasped his musket in the other and stood ready 
 
41 
 
 to do or die. In a short time our lines were re-arranged, 
 and so effectually and coolly that, as said by Colonel Free- 
 mantle, a British officer, who was an eye-witness, " There 
 was much less noise, fuss, or confusion than at an ordinary 
 field-day." * 
 
 During the whole of the next day the whole Army of 
 Northern Virginia stood in line of battle on Seminary Ridge, 
 confronting in solid array the Army of the Potomac. It was 
 rainy and chilly, and between the two hosts lay the thick- 
 crowded victims of the battle, making the field in verity a 
 valley of the shadow of death. 
 
 Then slowly our columns turned their faces toward Vir- 
 ginia, while slowly and timidly following the Army of the 
 Potomac, hung upon our rear, willing enough to wound but 
 yet afraid to strike. The instructions of Meade to his subor- 
 dinates were by no means to bring on a general engagement ; 
 and on the night of the 13th of July, we recrossed the swollen 
 waters of the Potomac, and stood again, in thinned ranks 
 but unbroken spirit, upon the soil of the Old Dominion. 
 
 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. 
 
 Thus, my comrades, I have told you in unvarnished lan- 
 guage the story of Gettysburg. 
 
 My chief object has been to state facts, which will stand 
 as landmarks of Confederate history, rather than to attempt 
 mellifluous phrases which would roll away like rippling 
 waters. And these — selected from a mass — are related only 
 in the hope of stimulating farther researches and expositions, 
 and not in the vain belief that they comprehend even the 
 half of these sad but brilliant annals. 
 
 For many reasons it is important to you, and to our people, 
 that the truth respecting this great action should be studi- 
 ously explored and fully recounted. Fought at the farther- 
 most Northern point to which our armies penetrated at any 
 
 *See Rev. John Wm. Jones' Reminiscences of General Lee. ■. . 
 
 F 
 
42 
 
 time, it is projected into a conspicuousness which belongs to 
 no other field. Its result increased in the North the promi- 
 nence imparted to it by its geographical location ; and 
 Northern painters, sculptors, essayists, orators, and historians 
 have exhausted the resources of art and language in pictur- 
 ing its actors and its scenes, and in celebrating the real, and 
 too frequently the fictitious, exploits which the Union troops 
 performed. 
 
 Above all, it marked a decisive turn in the fortunes of war. 
 It was, as Mr. Swinton styles it, " the high-water mark of 
 the rebellion." It was indeed, what the historian Hallam so 
 finely says of the victory won by Charles Martel over the 
 invading Saracens between Tours and Poictiers, " one of those 
 few battles of which the contrary event would have essen- 
 tially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent 
 scenes." For had the grand assault on Cemetery Kidge 
 been compensated by results proportioned to the genius 
 which directed and the courage which made it, Baltimore 
 and Washington would have been its prizes, foreign recog- 
 nition its reward, and the establishment of the Confederate 
 States as an independent nation its final fruitage. 
 
 On the 4111 day of July, 1S63, while messengers were 
 bearing back dispatches that carried unutterable grief to 
 every Southern home, the telegraphic wires, throughout the 
 North, were flashing with the news ; bonfires and joyous 
 bells were welcoming the tidings, that Pemberton had stacked 
 arms before Grant at Vicksburg, and that Lee had been re- 
 pulsed by Meade at Gettysburg. At once despondent hearts 
 were elated ; clamorous peace-men were silenced ; distracted 
 councils were harmonized ; a divided people were united. 
 The rich, populous, world-assisted North stood in phalanx 
 against the thin, impoverished, and beleaguered people of 
 the South. The policy of attrition was inaugurated, and 
 henceforth the struggle — though radiant with all the virtues 
 that heroism, skill, and self-sacrifice could put forth — was 
 only a contest between the snnds of the hour-glass and time. 
 
43 
 
 While these causes have conspired to direct the eyes of 
 the world to the field of Gettysburg, they have made it to us 
 a sore subject, reviving sorrow for " the unreturning brave" 
 who fell there, increasing the poignancy of defeat, by the 
 contrast between the bright promise of the first day and 
 the disastrous realizations of the third, and bringing to mind 
 the sad refrain : 
 
 " Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
 The saddest are these — it might have been." 
 
 Therefore its glorious annals have been neglected on our 
 side ; criticisms and censures upon gallant and worthy officers 
 have gone unchallenged ; and as yet no hand has unrolled the 
 graphic scroll that shall tell to time the deeds which are 
 worthy of eternity. Let no Confederate shrink before the 
 name of Gettysburg because it was dark with disaster and 
 bitter with disappointment. 
 
 It was the remark of Wellino;ton that the saddest thing 
 next to a defeat was victory. With us not less glorious than 
 any victory was this defeat. 
 
 The gallant Frenchman blushes for Sedan and Metz the 
 blush of shame, but with us the cheek may well glow with 
 honest pride as we recall the fact, that on the day of our mis- 
 fortunes the flame of liberty was fed with the richest 
 libation ever poured upon her altars, and glory opened to the 
 Confederate brotherhood who gathered around them the 
 doors of immortality. The open fields over which the 
 unsheltered heroes moved tell, more eloquently than the 
 emblazoned pages of history, the tale of their devotion, and 
 the everlasting hills of Cemetery Ridge raise aloft to Heaven 
 the records of their everlasting fame. 
 
 And now we may apply to them the words of Pericles, 
 pronounced in memory of the Athenians who fell in the 
 Samian war : " They are become immortal, like the Gods, 
 (or the Gods themselves are not visible to us, but from the 
 
44 
 
 honors they receive, and the happiness they enjoy, we con- 
 clude they are immortal ; and such should those brave men 
 be who die for their country." 
 
 GENERAL LEE. 
 
 Nor let the Confederate shrink, before that critic who, 
 from the serene atmosphere of his sanctum, steps forth to 
 pluck a laurel from the reputation of that great commander 
 who so boldly attempted what others would pale to think of. 
 With the fall of Vicksburg imminent. General Lee felt that 
 the hour demanded this Herculean effort. With the spirit 
 of a Caesar or a Napoleon he bravely cast, and bravely stood, 
 the hazard of the die. By the very audacity of his well- 
 aimed stroke he deserved — by the steady heroism of Pickett's 
 men he well-nigh won — and only by a series of those curious 
 accidents which in the game of war confound the wisdom of 
 the wise, — did he lose, — that crowning triumph which his 
 supreme endeavor was so well devised to win. 
 
 *' It was all my fault," said he ; but not such will be the 
 verdict of the just historian, who with clear eye and steady 
 hand, shall trace, through the tumultuous and sanguinary 
 incidents of the day, the course of him who, after exposing 
 his person to all the dangers of the fray, would crucify, on 
 self-erected cross, his own illustrious name, and make that 
 reputation, more precious than life itself, vicarious sacrifice 
 for his lieutenants and his men. 
 
 And when the moralist shall seek the highest example of 
 what is heroic and grand in action, and martyr-like in spirit, — 
 that he may erect before humankind a model, that shall 
 warm its finest fancies, and excite its highest aspirations, — 
 he shall find it in the person of Robert E. Lee, upon the 
 summit of Seminary Ridge, the mount of his transfiguration, 
 where, sublimating all earthy instincts, the Divinity in his 
 bosom shone translucent through the man, and his spirit 
 rose up into the Godlike. 
 
45 
 
 And the dny shall dawn when here in the Capitol Square 
 we shall ]<Mik again upon the warrior's form and face, 
 moulded in p«'rennial bronze — shall see once more our great 
 commander, mounted on Traveler, his battle steed, the seem- 
 ing image of Majesty and Victory, Here in the after-time, 
 when we too shall be sleeping under the sod with our 
 departed comrades, our sons and daughters shall look up to 
 that commMtiding presence, rejoicing to remember that their 
 fathers fought under him. And here the eye of the way- 
 farer, the patriot, and the pilgrim shall grow brighter, as it 
 contemplates with one glance three illustrious and congenial 
 spirits, born to Virginia, given to humanity, world-renowned, 
 George Washington, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert 
 Edmund Lee. 
 
 " O, good gray head, wliicb all men knew; 
 O, voice from which their omens all men drew ; 
 O, iron nerve, to true occat^ion trne ; 
 O, fall'n at length, that tower of strength 
 Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew. 
 
 Not once or twice in onr State's rough storyt 
 
 The path of duty was the way to glory. 
 
 Let his great example stand 
 
 Colossal — seen of every land, 
 
 And keep the soldier (irm, the statesniau pure, 
 
 Till in all lands and thro' all human story 
 
 The path of duty be the way to glory. 
 
 And let the land whose hearths he saved from shame 
 
 For many and many an age proclaim, 
 
 At civic revel and pomp and game. 
 
 And when the long-illumined cities flame, 
 
 Their ever loyal iron leader's fame. 
 
 With houor, honor, honor, honor to him — 
 
 Eternal houor to his name." 
 
 f The vprliinge of tliis line lias been slightly cluinged, from the text of Tennyson's noble 
 Ode, to suit the occasion. 
 
31+77-5