History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 130

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Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 130
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 130

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These blue and gray, now so quiet, so friendly, so full of compassion for each other; and but a few hours ago, how they fought, how viciously they struggled to kill each other. They fought like well-armed bull dogs, like furi- ons fiends. The strange and varied wounds met with so frequently are the bloody attestation to this. Possibly the surgeons, who bound up these wounds, alone can some day tell the world how savagely men fought upon the bloody field of Gettysburg. Certainly no one else can. There were here many such

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wounds, as we are told by the surgeons who examined them, as were never be- fore known to come from a battle-field. This incident is related to us by a surgeon :* On the third and last day of the battle, not a great while after the repulse of Pickett's historic charge, the surgeon was riding a short distance to the rear of his command, a few miles east of the town. The Union cavalry were moving eastwardly, and coming to the brow of a hill they came in full view of Stuart's advance cavalry, that was hurrying to the scene of the battle, from which, by some blunder, they had been lost, and had supposed they were to meet Lee's army near Carlisle. The moment the commander of the Federal cavalry saw the enemy, his bugler sounded the charge, and instantly rang out on the air the rebel bugle also to charge. The numerical forces were nearly evenly divided, and each side, spurring their horses to full speed, came clash- ing together, the men leaning forward, firing the pistols with the left hand, standing in their stirrups with drawn sabers, and with the shock they delivered their blows at each other, each man only mindful of cleaving the head of the man in front of him. Horses were knocked down like pins, stunned, and some killed outright. Thus riders were unhorsed, and men and horses were strug- gling and fighting still. A rebel, who was on the ground, ran his saber up the entire back of a Union cavalryman as he sat on his horse, the point of the blade coming out at the shoulder; fortunately it was only a flesh wound, but the course and force of the saber thrust showed the blind fury of the intention that impelled it. Another rebel, who had nothing else, it seems, to fight with, had used his guidon in lieu of a saber, and in the force of the shock had thrust this into the mouth of his opponent, and so viciously had he aimed it that it entered the month, tore the cheek to the ear, and tore away the poor fellow's entire ear. Men pitched themselves out of their saddles, and, by the force of the momentum, hurled themselves head foremost, like battering rams, at each other. These men were simply struggling to kill, with no thought of self or saving or protecting themselves-eager to die, even if they could kill the enemy and take him with them over the bank, and into the dark, deep pit where dwelt death and silence.

Death and convalescence began at once to lessen this great population of wounded, suffering patients, and the last of the patients from the tent hospi- tals, in the beautiful grove east of town, were moved away in the early part of November, 1863-over four months from the commencement of the Gettysburg battle.

NATIONAL CEMETERY.

The battle of Gettysburg took place on the 1st, 2d and 3d of July, 1863, and as early as the 24th of that month the incipient step was taken by Judge David Wills, of Gettysburg, which soon led to the formation of the Gettysburg National Cemetery Association, and the purchase of the grounds and the mak- ing of the Soldiers' National Cemetery that now is the beautiful and enduring testimonial to the dead at the borough of Gettysburg-already a Mecca for the nation. July 24, 1863, Judge Wills wrote to Gov. Curtin, and in the opening sentence of his letter he says:

Mr. Seymour is here on behalf of his brother, the governor of New York, to look after the wounded, etc., on the battle-field, aud I have suggested to him, and also to the Rev. Mr. Cross, of Baltimore, and others, the propriety aud actual necessity of the purchase of a common burial ground for the dead, now only partially buried over miles of country around Gettysburg.

(This is the origin of national cemeteries, and thus to Judge Wills belongs

*Dr. T. T. Tate, of Gettysburg, who was surgeon in the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry.

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the credit of having inaugurated these memorial tributes of a grateful people to her dead heroes.)

He then proceeded to designate the piece of ground that was finally selected, and where the splendid monument stands, and that is now the lovely resting place of the dead heroes. Among other reasons for the selection of this spot, he says: "It is the place where our army had about forty pieces of artillery in action all Thursday and Friday, and for their protection had thrown up a large number of earthworks for the protection of the artillerists." The des- perate attack of the Louisiana troops was made here on Thursday of the fight. capturing our guns, but were finally driven away. This point was the key to our whole line of defense-the apex of the triangular line of battle. There were two pieces of ground, about eight acres, one part belonging to Mr. Raf- fensberger, the other to Mr. Menchy. Judge Wills says of the dead at that time: "Our dead are lying on the fields unburied (that is no graves being dug), with small portions of earth dug up alongside of the body and thrown over it. In many instances arms and legs, and sometimes heads protrude, and my at- tention," he says, "has been directed to several places where the hogs were actually rooting out the bodies and devouring them." "Truly," Judge Wills says, "humanity calls on us to take measures to remedy this." He suggested that Pennsylvania at once purchase the grounds for a cemetery, and hopes the other States will readily assist in the work. He estimates that the bodies can be removed and decently buried at a cost of not over $3.50 or $4 cach. He concludes by urging the Governor to prompt action in making the purchase, and furnishing permanent and suitable burial grounds, etc. Gov. Curtin highly approved every suggestion of Judge Wills, at once appointed him State agent, with full power to act npon the suggestions in his letter, and to corre- spond with the governors of all the States that had been represented by troops in the battle. In less than four weeks the eighteen States had favorably responded, the grounds purchased, and a competent party, under the direction of Judge Wills, was platting and arranging the grounds. The purchase con- tained a little over seventeen acres of ground, fronting on the Baltimore pike and extending south along the Taneytown road. He reported on the 17th of August that all the details had been arranged. This was all within six weeks of the great battle. Great labor and patient care had to be exercised in iden- tifying the dead. In most instances the names of the occupants of graves were written upon small rough boards with a lead pencil. In many instances they were identified by letters, papers, receipts, certificates, or any other papers. marks on clothing, belts or cartridge boxes, etc. In this way, out of 3,564 bodies interred in the cemetery, the names of 2,585 were ascertained, while 979 remained unknown. Places for the different States had been care- fully marked off. as well as places for the unknown, and the bodies were taken up, carefully coffined, and placed in their respective places. Afterward other bodies were found, and seventy bodies had been buried by friends in Green- wood Cemetery, and the mortally wounded in the hospitals as they died were added, and thus the total of killed of the Union forces and buried in the cem- etery foots up nearly, if not quite, 4,000. Of those who were taken away and died, and of the bodies that had been claimed by friends and taken away for sepulture we have no means of estimating; this number to be added to the roll of the killed.

At the January session, 1864, the Pennsylvania Legislature incorporated the Cemetery Association, each of the eighteen States being represented by an incorporator who had been designated by the respective governors. Each State promptly responded, eager to bear its portion of the sacred charity, and

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each paying the respective sums, which were estimated in the ratio of their representation in Congress. Pennsylvania's portion was $20,185.44. The total of the eighteen States paid in was $129,523.24. At the first meeting of the board of trustees the following officers were chosen: David Wills, Gettys- burg, president; John R. Bartlett, Providence, secretary; Samuel R. Russell, Gettysburg, treasurer. Executive committee-Robert H. McCurdy, New York; Benjamin Deford, Maryland; William Y. Sellick, Wisconsin; Levi Scobey, New Jersey; Henry Edwards, Massachusetts. Auditing committee -- Henry Edwards, Massachusetts; Gordon Lofland, Ohio; John R. Bartlett, Rhode Island.

The cemetery was enclosed with a substantial stone wall, with iron fence in front, an imposing gateway of iron, a lodge for the keeper, and headstones to the graves. The grounds were tastefully laid out with walks and lawns, and trees planted. The headstones of the graves are all alike, and form a contin- uous line of granite blocks, rising nine inches above the ground, showing a face width of eight inches on their upper surface.

The interments when first completed, the different States were represented as follows: Maine, 104 bodies; New Hampshire, 49; Vermont, 61; Massa- chusetts, 159; Rhode Island, 12; Connecticut, 22; New York, 867; New Jer- sey, 78; Pennsylvania, 534; Delaware, 15; Maryland, 22; West Virginia, 11; Ohio, 131; Indiana, 80; Illinois, 6; Michigan, 171; Wisconsin, 73; Minnesota, 52; United States Regulars, 138; unknown, 979; total, 3,564.

The trustees adopted the design for a suitable monument, submitted by J. G. Batterson, of Hartford, the plan being for a shaft of granite, with figures of white marble on the four buttresses, and a figure of the same material on the summit of the monument. The whole is symmetrical and very beautiful. It is purely historical, telling its own story with simplicity and comprehension. The superstructure is 60 feet high, a massive pedestal of gray granite, from Westerly, Rhode Island, 25 feet square at the base, and is crowned with a colossal statue of white marble, representing the Genius of Liberty. Standing upon the three-quarter globe, she holds with her right hand the victor's wreath of laurel, while with her left she clasps the victorious sword.

Projecting from the angles of the pedestal are four buttresses. Supporting each is an allegorical statue of white marble, representing, respectively, War, History, Peace, Plenty. War is personified by a statue of an American sol- dier, who, resting from the conflict, relates to History the story of the battle which this monument is intended to commemorate. History, in listening attitude, records, with stylus and tablet, the achievements of the field and the names of the honored dead. Peace is symbolized by a statue of the American mechanic, characterized by appropriate surroundings. Plenty is represented by a female figure, with a sheaf of wheat and fruits of the earth, typifying peace and abundance as the soldier's crowning triumph.

These beautiful pieces of statuary (and certainly they can not be excelled) were executed in Italy, under the immediate supervision of Randolph Rogers, the distinguished American sculptor. The main die of the pedestal is octago- nal in form, paneled upon each face. The cornice and plinth above are also octagonal and heavily molded. Upon the plinth rests an octagonal molded base bearing upon its face, in high relief, the National arms, and upon the oppo- site side is cut into the granite the dedication address of President Lincoln. He was the guest of Judge Wills, and wrote this address at his residence in Get- tysburg, on the evening of November 18, 1863. The address is very short, but the civilized world has pronounced every word of it an inspiration, and it will outlive the granite on which it is inscribed:

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"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this conti- nent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to ded- icate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

" But in a larger sense we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note or long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinishod work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion-, that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of free- dom, and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the peo- ple, shall not perish from the earth."

The cemetery having been completed, and the care of it by so many States being burdensome and expensive, June 22, 1871, the board of trustees resolved to transfer it to the General Government. The transfer was duly made, and the board was dissolved, first passing highly commendatory resolutions for the energy and good management of Judge Wills, and frankly saying that to him belonged the honor of the origin, organization and successful completion of the great work.

The consecration of the grounds occurred November 19, 1863. The Pres- ident, Vice-President of the United States, and members of the Cabinet, Maj. - Gen. George C. Meade, Lieut .- Gon. Scott, Admiral Stewart, and distinguished representatives of the Navy, Army and the Civil Departments of Government had been invited. The President was present, and delivered the dedicatory address given above. William H. Seward was present, and in answer to a ser- enade in the evening at the hotel to the many distinguished guests, he responded in a short address. The principal address on the day of the cere- monies was made by Hon. Edward Everett, who was also the guest of Judge Wills. His address was worthy the great occasion-replete with facts about the battle, classical, finished and eloquent in its tribute to the dead and the liv- ing heroos of the great battle-field. Centuries from now its eloquent periods, rich and sonorous sentences will be pored over with infinite delight. Below we give a few extracts:

"Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now re- posing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly tower- ing before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature. But the duty to which you have called me must be performed. * *

"It was appointed by law in Athens that the obsequies of the citizens who fell in battle should be performed at the public expense, and in the most honor- able manner. Their bones were carefully gathered up from the funeral pyre, where their bodies were consumed, and brought home to the city. There for three days they lay in state, beneath tents of honor, to receive the votivo offer- ings of friends and relatives-flowers, weapons, precious ornaments, painted vases (wonders of art, which, after two thousand years, adorn the museums

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* of modern Europe)-the last tributes of surviving affection. * On the fourth day the mournful procession was formed; mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, led the way. *

* * The male relatives and friends of the deceased followed; citizens and strangers closed the train. Thus marshaled, they moved to the place of interment in that famous Ceramicus, the most beautiful suburb of Athens, which had been adorned by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, with walks and fountains and columns-whose groves were filled with altars, shrines and temples-whose gardens were kept forever green by the streams from the neighboring hills, and shaded with the trees sacred to Minerva, and coeval with the foundation of the city, whose circuit inclosed

'the olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trilled his thick-warbled note the summer long,'-

whose pathways gleamed with the monuments of the illustrious dead, the work of the most consummate masters that ever gave life to marble. There, beneath the overarching plane-trees, upon a lofty stage erected for the pur- pose, it was ordained that the funeral oration should be pronounced by some citizen of Athens in the presence of the assembled multitude. * * * "And shall I, fellow-citizens, who, after an interval of twenty-three centuries, a youthful pilgrim from the world unknown to ancient Greece, have wandered over that illustrious plain [Marathon], ready to put the shoes from off my feet, as one that stands on holy ground-who have gazed with respectful emotion on the mound which still protects the dust of those who rolled back the tide of Persian invasion, and rescued the land of popular liberty, of letters, and of arts, from the ruthless foe-stand unmoved over the graves of our dear brethren, who so lately, on three of those all-important days which decide a nation's history-days on whose issue it depended whether this august republican Union, founded by some of the wisest statesmen that ever lived, cemented with the blood of some of the purest patriots that ever died, should perish or endure-rolled back the tide of invasion, not less unpro- voked, not less ruthless, than that which came to plant the dark banner of Asiatic despotism and slavery on the free soil of Greece? Heaven forbid! And could I prove so insensible to every prompting of patriotic duty and affection. not only would you, fellow-citizens, gathered many of you from distant States, who have come to take part in these pious offices of gratitude-you, respected fathers, brethren, matrons, sisters, who surround me-cry out for shame, that the forms of brave and patriotic men who fill these honored graves would heave with indignation beneath the sod.

"We have assembled, friends, fellow-citizens, at the invitation of the Executive of the great central State of Pennsylvania, seconded by the govern- ors of seventeen other loyal States of the Union, to pay the last tribute of re- spect to the brave men, who in the hard-fought battles of the first, second and third days of July last, laid down their lives for the country on those hill- sides and the plains before us, and whose remains have been gathered into the cemetery we consecrate this day. As my eye ranges over the fields of gallant and loyal men, I feel, as never before, how truly it was said of old that it is sweet and becoming to die for one's country. I feel, as never before, how justly, from the dawn of history to the present time, men have paid the homage of their gratitude and admiration to the memory of those who nobly sacrifice their lives, that their fellow-men may live in safety and in honor. And if this tribute were ever due, when, to whom, could it be more justly paid than to those whose last resting place we this day commend the blessings of Heaven and all men?

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"For consider, my friends, what would have been the consequences to the country, to yourselves, and to all you hold doar. if those who sleep beneath our feet, and their gallant comrades who survive to serve their country on other fields of danger, had failed in their duty on those memorable days. Con- sider what, at this moment, would be the condition of the United States if that noble Army of the Potomac, instead of gallantly and for the second time beat- ing back the tide of invasion from Maryland and Pennsylvania, had been itself driven from theso well-contested heights, thrown back in confusion on Balti- more, or trampled down, discomfited, scattered to the four winds. What, in that sad event, would not have been the fate of the monumental city of Harris- burg, of Philadelphia, of Washington, the capital of the Union, each and every one of which would have been at the mercy of the enemy. accordingly as it might have pleased him, spurred by passion, flushed with victory, and con tident of continued success, to diroct his course ? * * " Who that hears me has forgotten the thrill of joy that ran through the country on the 4th of July-auspicious day for the glorious tidings, and rendered still more so by the simultaneons fall of Vicksburg-when the telegraph flashed through the land the assurance from the President of the United States that the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. Meade, had again smitten the invader! Sure I am that, with the ascriptions of praise that rose to heaven from twenty millions of freemen, with the acknowledgments that breathed from patriotic lips throughout the length and breadth of America, to the surviving officers and men who had rendered the country this inestimable service, there beat in every loyal bosom a throb of tender and sorrowful grati- tude to the martyrs who had fallen on the sternly contested field. Let a na- tion's fervent thanks make some amends for the toils and sufferings of those who survive. Would that the heartfelt tribute could penetrate these honored graves. *

* * I must leave to others, who can do it from personal ob- servation, to describe the mournful spectacle presented by these hillsides and plains at the close of the terrible conflict. It was a saying of the Duke of Wellington. that, next to defeat, the saddest thing is a victory. The horrors of the battle-field after the contest is over, the sights and sounds of woe-let me throw a pall over the scene, which no words can adequately depict to those who have not witnessed it, in which no one who has witnessed it, and who has a heart in his bosom, can bear to dwell. One drop of balm alone, one drop of heavenly life-giving balm, mingles in this bitter cup of misery. Scarcely has the cannon ceased to roar, when the brethren and sisters of Christian benevo- lence, ministers of compassion, angels of pity, hasten to the field and the hos- pital to moisten the parched tongue, to bind the ghastly wounds, to soothe the parting agonies alike of friend and foe, and to catch the last whispered mes- sages of love from dying lips. * * " And now, friends, fellow-citizens of Gettysburg and Pennsylvania, and you from remoter States, let me again, as we part, invoke your benediction on these honored graves. You feel, though the occasion is mournful, that it is good to be here. You feel that it was greatly auspicious for the cause of the country that the men of the East and the men of the West, the men of nineteen sister States, stood, side by side, on the perilous ridges of the battle. You now feel it a new bond of union that they shall lie side by side, till a clarion, louder than that which marshaled them to combat, shall awake their slumbers. God bless the Union; it is dearer to us for the blood of brave men which has been shed in its defense. The spots on which they stood and fell; these pleasant heights; the fertile plain beneath them; the thriv- ing village, whose streets so lately rang with the strange din of war; the fields

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beyond the ridge, where the noble Reynolds held the advancing foe at bay, and, while he gave up his own life, assured by his forethought and self-sacrifice the triumph of the two succeeding days; the little streams which wind through the hills, on whose banks in after times the wondering plowman will turn up, with the rude weapons of savage warfare, the fearful missiles of modern artillery; Sem- inary Ridge, the Peach-Orchard, Cemetery, Culp, Wolf Hill, Round Top, Little Round Top, humble names, henceforward dear and famous-no lapse of time, no distance of space shall cause you to be forgetten. 'The whole earth,' said Peri- cles, as he stood over the remains of his fellow citizens, who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponnesian war, 'the whole earth is the sepulcher of illustrious men.' All time, he might have added, is the millennium of their glory. Surely I would do no injustice to the other noble achievements of the war, which have reflected such honor on both arms of the service, and have en- titled the armies and the navy of the United States, their officers and men, to the warmest thanks and the richest rewards which a grateful people can pay. But they, I am sure, will join us in saying, as we bid farewell to the dust of these martyrs-heroes, that wheresoever throughout the civilized world the accounts of this great warfare are read, and down to the latest period of recorded time, in the glorious annals of our common country, there will be no brighter page than that which relates to THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG."

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280