USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 10
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Cunningham was struck again, and again obliged to re- linquish his charge. Blanchard fell with the flag in his hand, and died.
Meredith was grazed on the head by the fragment of a shell. His horse was shot, and rolled heavily upon him. Lieutenant Colonel Dudley had his leg shattered. Lieu- tenant Jones, Lieutenant East, Sergeant Ferguson, Sergeant Beshcars, Winsett and Dougherty, Michner and Ogborn, half the men in the regiment fell here.
General Howard endeavored to effect an orderly retreat to the hills south and south-east of Gettysburg, where, during his progress to the front, he had posted a division. His left, the First corps, falling back through the suburbs and beyond the obstructions of the town, was able to gain the new po- sition without confusion, but his right, closely pursued and entangled in narrow streets, fell into inevitable disorder and suffered immense loss.
The First brigade of Buford's division covered the with- drawal of the infantry. The men were dismounted, and held Seminary ridge until the withdrawal was accomplished, when, before they could be withdrawn, the position was
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flanked by the advancing Rebel infantry. They fell back, losing heavily, and mounted their horses under a deadly fire.
It was now late in the day, and General Sickles, arriving with the Third corps, formed on the left of Howard without opposition.
With Meade, who, at Taneytown, ten miles distant, was duly informed from hour to hour of the situation of affairs and events, there could be little question as to the expediency of fighting the momentous and inevitable battle on the hills of Gettysburg, and, after short delay, he turned in that di- rection the corps which, according to previous orders, were concentrating on Pipe creek. But it would have been pru- dent for Lec to pause before assuming the offensive in his present situation. He had allowed himself to be detained on unimportant ridges west of Gettysburg, while the Union army had taken up a position on the most formidable emi- nence in the vicinity; and now, perforce, he held an attitude which bore an ominous resemblance to that of Burnside be- fore Fredericksburg. On the other hand, his army was in excellent condition, having come up with great deliberation from the points of the compass to which it had been scat- tered; while portions of the Federal army were still many miles distant; its advance was beaten all to pieces, and one of its best commanders was slain. Moreover, if the Army of the Potomac should play into his hands by the commis- sion of some fatal error in the supreme moment of conflict, it would be according to its previous career.
Influenced by these latter considerations, perhaps beguiled by the broad road leading down to Washington, and in plain view from his quarters, and by the flattering hope of dictating peace from the Capitol within two days, he was not unwilling to wage the decisive battle on the vantage ground of his enemy. If he counted on a false move, the next day gave him cause for self-congratulation.
The country for many miles east of South Mountain range is broken into parallel ridges diverse in shape, height, and length. In one of the narrow valleys formed by these ridges lies the rural village of Gettysburg. The western and northern boundary of the valley is Seminary Ridge, the
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"TYRANTS FALL IN EVERY FOE!"
slopes of which are adorned by a theological seminary and a college. The ridge on the eastern and southern side of the valley is called Cemetery Ridge, from the village grave- yard, which lies on the broadest of its hills. It is curved like a horseshoe and is broken and irregular, the central and terminating points being high and rocky, while the interven- ing spaces are sunk almost to the level of the valley. Cem- etery Hill, the centre of the ridge, is the toe of the shoe. On the right are Culp's and Wolf's hills; on the left the two Round Tops, Little and Great. The Round Tops look toward the west. Culp's Hill faces the north, while Wolf's Hill lies to the east. Cemetery Hill affords a wide-spread, beautiful view, which is bounded on the west only by the waving line of South Mountain. Gettysburg lies at its base, partly on its front.
Howard, on falling back to Cemetery Hill, immediately threw up intrenehments. He posted Wadsworth's division, now including the Seventh Indiana, which had been guard- ing the corps trains on the previous day, on the right of his corps, nearly to Culp's Hill, and the remaining divisions of Reynolds' corps in reserve on his left. Slocum, as he came up, arranged his command on Culp's Hill, to the right of Wadsworth. Hancock took up the line on Howard's left. Sickles formed between Hancock and Little Round Top, along the most depressed portion of the ridge. During the night and the following day troops came up and fell into line. The last to arrive were Sedgwick's corps, which marched to Wolf's Hill on the right and rear of the army, and Sykes's corps, which moved to the rear and left of Sickles.
Lee's army, being nearly all on the ground the 1st of July, was soon in position-Early on the left, Hill in the centre, and Longstreet on the right of a line at least five miles in extent. The Confederates were fresh and haughty, spurred by ambition and flushed with victory. According to the testimony of a prominent Rebel officer, "They were filled with a profound contempt for the enemy." The Union troops were wearied with nineteen days rapid marching, but, to use the language of a Hoosier soldier, they had "a deter-
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mined mind to do their task or die a trying." The North and the South seldom, if ever, came together with such high-strung, deliberate, desperate resolution.
The bright, still midsummer day was undisturbed, except by picket firing, until four in the afternoon. Sickles, impa- tient, it is said indignant, because of the delay, had moved from the position assigned him, and had formed his line a half mile or more in advance on the Emmetsburg road, which runs along a swell in the centre of the valley. The movement broke his connection with Hancock, and lost him the protection of Little Round Top, while it brought him within easy range of Longstreet's artillery; and invited the approach of Longstreet's infantry, which, in magnificent lines a mile and a half long, far overlapped both his left and right. He met the ready and terrible shock with gallantry, covering his left flank with Birney's division formed into an angle and stretched through a peach orchard, a wheat field, and a grove. A steady artillery fire and repeated assaults wholly and hotly engaged him, while Longstreet threw a force toward his rear to gain Little Round Top. In hasty and unperceived march the Rebel force had almost accom- plished its task, when it was suddenly confronted by the advance of Sykes' corps. An instant hand-to-hand struggle ensued in the rocky glen at the base of the hill, on and under the granite ledges of the sides, and even among the huge bowlders at the top. A desperate half hour, which filled the clefts with dead men, secured the height, prevented the turn- ing of the Union line, and saved the day.
Meantime, Sickles' front and flank were hardly maintained. Part of Sykes' corps reinforced the hard pressed Birney; and from the distant right Slocum's corps, all but one brigade, hurried to the scene of combat. But increase of numbers only added to the din, and whirl, and fury. No reinforce- ments could hold the ground, or redeem the defeat. Torn from one position after another, the Union troops were at last flung back to their original line on Cemetery Ridge.
As the seething mass rolled over to the rear, a young officer of Sykes' corps, the only officer remaining of a com- pany which had lost three-fifths of its men, was seen stand-
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ing a moment alone, while he tied his sword with his sword- knot to his wrist. Twice already he had been struck, and his noble heart was jealous lest the raining bullets, in taking his life, should rob him also of his honor. It was the same youth who, with his company two months before, waited on the Rappahannock, under the nearing boom of the enemy's guns, until the flying army and every straggling soldier was safe on the northern side, and crossed while the swelling stream lashed the bridge, and the impatient engineers stood with the fastenings of the pontoon boats in their hands.
The Twentieth Indiana, which was on Birney's left, and which had been, from the first clash, in the brunt of the battle, reached Cemetery Ridge with its colors riddled, six of its eight color-guards shot and its Colonel dead. General Sickles was carried from the field dangerously wounded.
Slocum's corps had scarcely reached the foot of Little Round Top when it was ordered to return to its vacated position on Culp's Hill. At the same time Buford's cavalry was summoned from the rear, whither it had been sent to rest after the first day's fight, and was posted on the extreme right to confront Stuart.
Ewell was making vigorous exertions to gain the Union right, having assailed it in superior force as soon as Sykes and Slocum were fairly drawn into the vortex of Sickles' and Longstreet's sanguinary conflict. He casily gained the abandoned intrenchments of Williams' division, but though he dashed impetuously through a wooded valley and up abrupt rocks in repeated assaults on Greene and Wadsworth, he made little impression upon them. In an attack made at the same time on Cemetery Hill, his men advancing cau- tiously in the now rapidly falling darkness and under cover of houses and undulations in the hillside, he was near being successful. All the guns which could be brought to bear on him opened as soon as he was discovered, but he continued his ascent unflinching, and gained Howard's first line. The advanced Union guns, overheated by rapid firing, were obliged to cease; but the brave cannoneers fought with ram- mers, handspikes and stones until they descried troops has- tening from their left and rear. "Who are you?" they cried
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doubtingly, but sent up a cheer as the foremost regiment shouted, "Fourteenth Indiana." The moon, which was full and bright an hour later, was not yet up; and the charge of the Fourteenth, directed only by the sound and flash of the enemy's guns, was a headlong dash, but it was sweeping. The Rebels fled down the hill before it, leaving in the hands of the Fourteenth the flag, the field officers, and many of the privates of the Twenty-First North Carolina.
On the close of July 2, Lee still had reason for congratu- lation. In possession of the ground where lay the Union dead and wounded, and within the Union line at both ex- tremities, he was not less the gainer than on the preceding day; and his losses, though frightful, were plainly not so great as those of the Army of the Potomac. One more strike, heavy and well-directed, would put an end to the delay in his march to Washington. He was impatient for the short night to pass.
The Northern army, however, was far from feeling itself conquered. It waited with not less impatience through the moonlight hours of the night, and woke the new day with a powerful artillery fire upon the strong intruders in Slocum's intrenchments. When the artillery ceased, Slocum pushed his infantry forward to retake his rifle-pits. The Twenty- Seventh Indiana and the Second Massachusetts, which had the extreme right of his line, entered an open space which was swept by Rebel rifles. They strove to push on. They struggled to stand. But to proceed was murder, and to re- main was death. They withdrew.
His comrades snatched from the ground Corporal Antrim, who had fallen with the colors. "Leave me here! Let me die where I fell!" cried the young hero, his soul flaming through his dying eyes. They would not forsake him. Yet they were compelled to leave the ground strewed with their dying and their dead.
Within ten minutes, one hundred and ten Indianians, and a still larger number of Massachusetts men, stained the green sod with their hearts' blood. Of the color-bearers of the Twenty-Seventh, four were killed and four were wounded.
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"LET US DO OR DIE!"
After four hours, the struggle for the re-establishment of Slocum's line on Culp's Hill was successful.
Silence, full of anxious expectation, now fell upon the battle field, and, although interrupted by fitful outbreaks of firing, continued so deep that the soldiers resting and waiting in the wild woods of Culp's Hill, in the orchards and the grave yard, noticed the warbling of birds on their nests, and followed with their eyes a flock of pigeons which slowly flew over the hills.
At one o'clock, a signal started the Rebel artillery into life. One hundred and fifteen heavy guns opened from Lee's front, and poured a cross fire on Cemetery Hill. Eighty guns, all that could be used in the shorter space, slowly took up the reply. As in every previous struggle, the challenging party had been fairly met, and every blow had encountered as heavy a blow, there was now no aimless firing and no squandering of ammunition. The valley was narrow, and the fire leaped from hill to hill, plowing and tearing the ground. Meade remained in his quarters, which were a little below Cemetery Hill, and within Rebel range. Our infantry crouched behind walls and trees, and in the gullies of the quaking hills. They waited for the charge that was sure to come soon or late. Our guns ceased, too much heated to continue firing, and at the end of two hours the Rebel artil- lery gradually slackened its fury. Now was the crisis of expectation. It was short. Before the thunders of the can- non died away, a double line of battle three or four miles in length, preceded by a flight of skirmishers, swept down from the smoking hills to the waiting plain, and surged upward from the plain toward the unshaken Union front. Guns on Cemetery Ridge opened, shot away all their canister, and grew silent. Muskets and men were motionless until the Rebel tide was close. Then the patient rifles were let loose. Still the Rebels came. The shock of meeting was in the pits, on the barricades and on the batteries. The varying struggle extended from Sickles' corps, far on the left, in the front line of which was our Twentieth, to How- ard's corps on the right. It was the struggle of combatants 8
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whose hands are on each others' throats. It could not en- dure many minutes. The Rebel lines melted away, or trailed painfully back to the western hills.
That night, the two armies lay panting and bleeding on the mournful heights of Gettysburg, perhaps too weary to comprehend who had lost and who had won. But there was one who understood and who acknowledged the situa- tion without pausing to reflect. Almost before his shattered columns regained Seminary Ridge, Lee turned his wagon trains toward the Potomac. He, however, prudently threw up intrenchments and threw out a strong line of guards in order to present the appearance of maintaining his position.
On the 4th of July, President Lincoln announced that " The news from the Army of the Potomac, up to ten o'clock, in the afternoon of the 3d, is such as to cover the army with the highest honor, to promise great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen." He especially desired that "on this day, 'He whose will, not ours, should ever be done,' be everywhere remembered and reverenced with the profoundest gratitude."
The day was sweet, fresh and sunny, the serene blue sky smiling down upon the earth, and on the pale, stained faces upturned on the battle field-
"Calm and patient, Nature keeps Her ancient promise well, Though o'er her bloom and greenness Sweeps the battle's breath of hell.
Still in the cannon's pause we hear HIer sweet thanksgiving hymn : Too near to God for doubt or fear She shares the eternal calm."
Two letters, one from a gallant participator, the other from a timid spectator, detail incidents and scenes which cannot but give life-like touches to the bare delineation of the battle of Gettysburg. The first is written by Mr. Pratt:
" CAMP NEAR ANTIETAM RIVER, ? July 13, 1863.
" MY DEAR FATHER :- An officer of my regiment going on
a sick leave, offers to post letters for any of us, and I take
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"ONE TOUCH OF NATURE MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN."
advantage of the offer. I suppose many of my letters do not reach you, written while in the campaign. Some are given to honest-looking farmers, who promise they will post them the first opportunity, some to sutlers, and some are en- trusted, as a last resort, to the news boys that we sometimes see. I wrote to you at Manasses, Frederick City and Get- tysburg, and received your kind letters all together the other day.
" I fear the letters on the march were not very edifying if they were received. There was a touch of whining about them not manly nor soldier-like. But the truth was, we suffered a great deal,-marching twenty-five and thirty miles a day, lying down in roads and sleeping a few hours, and before daybreak on our way again,-sore feet and stiff joints, empty stomachs, horrible mud, driving rains and roaring streams, never checking our tremendous pace.
" We marched all day of the first of July, till midnight- halted three hours and then on again. By daylight we were in the circle of the battle ground. Early in the morning we threw out skirmishers, who popped away for half an hour, and then were drawn in. We took up a position in line of battle two or three times during the forenoon, but neither dis- turbed, nor were disturbed. Half the afternoon we dozed, smoked and chatted, listening to the sound of battle in the distance. All at once the order came. We were sorely needed, and for more than a mile we went at a double quick. We have all in a manner schooled ourselves to the horrible sights of a battle field, because they don't vary very materi- ally; but anything unusual or novel in the way of suffering will find a woman's sympathy with a soldier. Now as we were hastening up the Baltimore road to the help of the Third corps, we passed a woman sitting by a house crying bitterly, and everybody was touched.
" We were now in sight of the batteries playing, and soon close on to the hot musketry. We formed on a side hill tre- mendously uneven, with huge moss-covered rocks. Directly in front was a marshy ground, then a hill, then woods. Look- ing down this vale was a ridge that covered it. Across this marshy open space-down the hill we were on, and up the
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opposite hill we were to charge. The enemy were in the woods opposite and behind the ridge, which was on our left as we charged.
"The two regular brigades were drawn up on this side hill. In this valley we looked down on, were our troops fall- ing back in the wildest disorder. In that seething fire they were under, a color-bearer of one of the regiments broke away from the crowd that was carrying him back with them, and rushed back toward the enemy a half dozen paces, planted his colors in the ground and fell. The whole regi- ment rallied for a few minutes, and for the first time, I heard the Regulars cheer. The regiment broke again though, swept down the vale in front of us, and our brigade com- mander gave the word "forward." Away we went, over rocks and in the marsh. A dozen paees forward, and we came within this enfilading fire. Men began to fall very fast, but the line kept steadily on. We gained the other side, and lay down. Part of the Second corps was in front, and we could not fire with safety. Soon they fell back in good order past our line, and then we rose up and began. Our brigade fought alone, the other brigade being in our rear. The men fonght gallantly, but fell fast, exposed as they were to an almost semi-cirele of fire.
"The field was so thickly strewed with the dead and wounded that you could almost have walked on bodies over it, and of course no particular case could fix your attention in the excitement, but one sight almost fascinated me with forgetfulness of danger and death all around. Right at the foot of my company, as they were loading and firing so rap- idly that they were almost a sheet of fire, lay a splendid looking staff officer, covered with blood and dying; but in all his agony he turned his face to us half smiling, and waved his hand as if to cheer us on. I could not keep my eyes off of him. Such stern, gallant stuff as he was made of I never expect to see equalled.
"Soon we had a fire in our rear, and we realized that we were flanked. The men still stood, till presently the order came to fall back. As we did so, the fire became more aw- ful than ever, and the slaughter was fearful. An officer who
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had been at the signal station, told me that just as they were retreating, threc heavy lines of battle came up and poured their fire on us. The long ridge, that was on our flank, was crowded with Texan sharpshooters, who did terrible work. They were lying down. All I could see of them was the flask of their rifles along the ridge, and the 'Lone Star' flag in the centre of it. After we had gained the heights again, we formed the first line of battle. I saw the regiment was fearfully shattered, but we hadn't time to tell each other who had fallen, if we knew. We were momentarily ex- pecting to charge again; but a force of fresh troops was brought forward, and proved to be enough to drive back the enemy.
"We were engaged an hour and a half. The brigade started on the charge with about nine hundred and fifty men, and came out with three hundred and nineteen. My regi- ment, out of two hundred and sixty men and twenty-three . officers, lost a hundred and fifteen men and nine officers. My company, out of fifty-seven men and four officers, came back with twenty-two men and one officer, myself, two of the others killed, and one wounded. Just after we started on the charge, I was hit by a spent ball almost directly over the heart, and knocked down. A little water, though, cured my faintness, and, after hard running, I caught up with my company again. Almost in the same place in falling back, another ball passed through my pants and grazed my leg, just starting the blood. The muscle swelled somewhat, and I had to limp for three or four days; but I do not feel it now. The spot on my breast is still sore.
" On the third we were still under heavy artillery fire. The pieces showered about us for hours, tops of trees and heavy branches carried off by round shot helped the awful din.
"We suffered considerably, not so much as the day before, but still severely.
"I did not see a sight that affected me more than that of a man that belonged to my company, who, when we lay under the artillery fire, went forward to get a better sight of the battle, and who had not gone a dozen steps before he was mortally wounded. The stretcher bearers picked him up and
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brought him back. As they went by the company on their way to the hospital, he begged them to set him down for a moment, and then reached out his hand and said: 'Good bye!' as calmly as good night, to his comrades that came about him.
"That day ended the conflict for us. Other troops pushed on, but our shattered little force was left out of range. The battle might have been called ended, though, after that artil- lery fire and their successful attempts to pierce our lines, which it preceded.
"I never can place myself at the head of the little com- pany-now still further reduced to nineteen-without a sad thought of those noble fellows who used to be with ine. The story of my mess will be like a story I have read somewhere of a roaring club of young fellows who were to meet once a year, as long as they lived-and the last meeting was a . gray-haired old man, the only relic of that jolly crowd, who toasted the memory of his former comrades, and sung the songs all by himself.
"Soon after the battle, we were hurried here by the same forced marches that took us into Pennsylvania, and now have the enemy in our front. Day before yesterday, I was out skirmishing from daybreak until dark; the line of skirm- isliers was some two or three miles long, and we drove the enemy some two miles.
"Yesterday afternoon, we were massed by brigades, and advanced still farther, but had no battle. To-day we have been lying in line of battle all day, momentarily expecting the battle to commence. An occasional artillery ducl occurs on our right or left, but our immediate front is quiet, except picket firing. The enemy is intrenching himself. This bat- tle, it seems to me, must be a deciding one; long before this reaches you, we shall have fought it.
" Love to all.
"Your affectionate son, JAMES."
The following letter, addressed to her cousin in Indiana- polis, was written by a young orphan girl, a native of Indi- ana, but a resident of Gettysburg:
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