USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 31
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There was only one contingency in which Meade can with justice be blamed for not attacking at Williamsport. General Lee says in his report : "Ewell's corps forded the river at Williams- port, those of Longstreet and Ilill crossed upon the bridge. Owing to the condition of the roads, the troops did not reach the bridge until after daylight on the 14th, and the crossing was not com- pleted until one P. M., when the bridge was removed." As at Gettysburg Lee held his front firmly until the evening of the 5th, giving no opportunity to attack with a prospect of success, and then retired under the cover of darkness, so here at Williamsport he held his impregnable ground until dark of the 13th, and again disappeared under the shelter of the night. But if it be true that any considerable part of his army was on the North bank at daylight of the 14th, Meade is guilty of negligence for not knowing it and attacking. It was the only occasion he had of striking a successful blow. But the probability is that only a small number of the enemy's troops remained at that time in the morning when Meade could have got his forces forward to the points of attack, and then only the opportunity of fighting a rear-guard would have been presented.
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CHAPTER XVI.
NUMBERS ENGAGED, LOSSES, AND BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT GETTYS- BURG.
UCH diversity of opinion has prevailed respecting the numbers engaged at Gettysburg, and the casualties on the part of the enemy. The rebels were accustomed in stating the forces brought into battle, to give the muskets actually carried in the ranks, instead of the names found on the rolls, while the Union leaders estimated their strength according to the latter basis, which was rarely less than a third, sometimes a half, more than the muskets actually borne. General Hooker, who was remarkably successful in keeping him- self informed of the enemy's numbers as well as their designs, says : " With regard to the enemy's force, I had reliable information. Two Union men had counted them as they passed through Hagerstown, 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 about 6000 cavalry. It will be remembered that a portion of the enemy's cavalry crossed the Potomac below Edward's Ferry and went into Maryland to join Ewell between me and Washington ; this column numbered about 5000 men." General Meade says : "I think General Lee had about 90.000 infantry, from 4000 to 5000 artillery, and 10,000 cavalry." This would give an aggre- gate of one hundred and four or five thousand of all arms.
Longstreet says, that "there were at Gettysburg 67,000 bayo- nets; or above 70,000 of all arms." Lee was obliged to leave strong guards all the way from Winchester to Gettysburg ;
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
besides, it is reported by the inhabitants, that the country was full of rebel stragglers, and when they heard that a great battle was in progress, believed that the rebel army was not half of it up.
According to the testimony of Butterfield, the strength of the Union army, as shown by returns made on the 10th of June, was 78,255, thus distributed: First corps, 11,350; Second, 11,361; Third, 11,898; Fifth, 10,136; Sixth, 15,408 ; Eleventh, 10,177 ; Twelfth, 7925. To this should be added two brigades of the Pennsylvania Reserve corps, some 4000 men, which joined the Fifth, Lockwood's Maryland brigade of 2500 that was attached to the Twelfth, Stannard's Vermont brigade, whose time of service had nearly expired, of 2500 more, which joined Double- day's division of the First corps, and 12,000 cavalry, which would give a gross sum of 99,000 men. The force of 11,000 under French at Harper's Ferry and at Frederick, though under General Meade's orders, never joined the Army of the Potomac in Pennsylvania, and had no part nor lot in the battle, never having come nearer the field than Frederick, and should not therefore be taken into the account. These 99,000 represent the numbers borne upon the rolls, but by no means show the true numbers standing in the ranks. In this record the First corps is credited with 11,350 ; but we know that on the morning of the 1st of July it could muster but 8200. If the difference in all the corps between the number borne upon the rolls and the number present to go into battle was as great as in this, the sum total of the army was reduced to 72,000.
General Meade testifies: "I think the returns showed me, when I took command of the army, amounted to about 105,000 men ; included in those were the 11,000. of General French, which I did not bring up, which would reduce it down to about 94,000. Of that 94,000 I was compelled to leave a certain portion in the rear to guard my baggage trains. . . I must have had on the field at Gettysburg but little short of 300 guns; and I think the report of my Chief of artillery was that there were not more than two batteries that were not in service during that battle." General Meade may have omitted in this estimate some portion of troops who joined him after receiving command of the army, probably those of Stannard and Lockwood.
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NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG.
The estimates of the numbers of Lee's army by both Hooker and Meade are substantially the same. They make the aggre- gate vary from 105,000 to 107,000. After allowing for strag- gling, and for troops not up, the statement of Longstreet of the number actually upon the Gettysburg field tallies very nearly with these figures; for applying the same rule which we did above to the Union numbers, we have 76,300. But there may have been, and probably was, more straggling on the rebel than on the Union side.
We may therefore fairly conclude that Lee crossed the Potomac with something over 100,000 men, and actually had upon the field in the neighborhood of 76,300, and Meade, rejecting the forces of French, with something less than 100,000, and went into battle with about 72,000.
But in neither army was there at any one time this number of effective troops on the field. On the first day, Doubleday had but 8200 infantry and 2200 horse, and when Howard came he brought an addition of 7410, making a total of 17,810, while the enemy had four divisions which could not have been less than 30,000.
On the second day the whole rebel army was up with the exception of Pickett, Stuart, and Imboden, whose several strengths subtracted from the gross sum would leave 63,800 upon the field, nearly all of whom were hotly engaged. On the Union side, the whole strength was up before the close of the day's work; but the Sixth corps, having marched thirty-four miles, was unserviceable, was not used, and was practically off the field, as was also Buford's division of cavalry, which was ordered away to Westminster before the battle began. Deducting these from the Union aggregate, it would leave a force actually on the field of barely 59,000.
On the third day Lee had his whole force, with the exception of the small body of Imboden, on the field, as did the Union commander.
But on no day are the estimates here given veritable; for the two armies represented quantities that were constantly varying, the losses during every moment of the actual fighting being very great. On the first day the losses of dead and wounded were
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
greater on the rebel than on the Union side, while the loss by capture was somewhat greater on the Union. On the second day the losses by killed and wounded were nearly equal, with but few prisoners on either side. On the third day the enemy lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, very heavily, while on the part of the Union it was an extremely economical fight, only a small portion of the army being engaged, and these under cover, so that the casualties were comparatively light.
The losses, in the aggregate, on both sides in the three days of fighting were immense. On the Union side, General Meade says in his official report, they "amounted to 2834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6643 missing; in all 23,186." Of the rebel losses no accurate report has been made. General Lee says: "It is not in my power to give a correct statement of our casualties, which were severe, including many brave men, and an unusual proportion of distinguished and valuable officers." It is estimated that the loss to the enemy in killed was 5500; though Mr. Samuel Weaver, who was charged with removing the Union dead to the National Cemetery, places the number considerably higher. He says : "In searching for the remains of our fallen heroes, we ex- amined more than 3000 rebel graves. . . . I have been making a careful estimate, from time to time, as I went over the field, of rebel bodies buried on this battle-field and at the hospitals, and I place the number at not less than 7000 bodies." General Meade reports 13,621 rebel prisoners taken. Of the number of rebel wounded it is impossible to form a correct judgment. Many were left on the field and along the roadside, all the way from Gettysburg to Williamsport, and large numbers were taken back in the trains to Virginia. If we place the killed at 5500, and allow five wounded to one killed, which is about the usual pro- portion, we have 27,500 wounded. A. H. Guernsey, the author of " Harper's Pictorial History of the War," after the most patient research and careful observation, estimates the rebel loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners at Gettysburg, at 36,000 men. "The entire loss," he says, "to this army during the six weeks, from the middle of June, when it set forth from Culpeper to invade the North, to the close of July, when it returned to the starting point, was about 60,000." General Meade reports
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NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG.
the capture of three cannon, forty-one standards, and 25,000 small arms.
On the rebel side, Major-Generals Hood, Pender, Trimble, and Heth were wounded, Pender mortally ; Brigadier-Generals Barks- dale and Garnett were killed, and Semmes mortally wounded. Brigadier-Generals Kemper, Armistead, Scales, G. T. Anderson, Hampton, J. M. Jones, and Jenkins were also wounded, Archer was taken prisoner, and Pettigrew was wounded, and subse- quently killed in the action at Falling Waters.
In the Union army, Major-General Reynolds, and Brigadier- Generals Vincent, Weed, and Zook were killed. Major-Generals Sickles, Hancock, Doubleday, Gibbon, Barlow, Warren, and But- terfield, and Brigadier-Generals Graham, Paul, Stone, Barnes, and Brooke were wounded, General Sickles losing a leg.
A great triumph had been achieved by the Union arms. But at what a cost! and what a spectacle did that field present ! Amidst "the thunder of the captains, and the shouting," thou- sands of the gallant and brave, who three days before had marched as joyfully as the boldest, had been stricken down, and had poured out their life blood like water; and thousands, cold in death, were scattered on every conceivable part of that gory field.
Professor Jacobs in his "Later Rambles," says : "For several days after the battle, the field everywhere bore the fresh marks of the terrible struggle. The soil was yet red with the blood of the wounded and slain, and large numbers of the dead of both armies were to be seen lying in the place where the fatal missiles struck them. . . . The work of interring 9000 dead, and removing about 20,000 wounded to comfortable quarters, was a herculean task. The rebel army had left the most of their dead lying unburied on the field, as also large numbers of their badly wounded, and had fled for safety. . .. There was considerable delay in properly interring the corpses that lay on the field of battle. It was only after rebel prisoners, who had been taken in the vicinity after the battle, were impressed into this service, especially into that of covering up the bodies of their fallen comrades, that the work was finally completed. Whilst some of these prisoners went into this work with reluctance and murmur-
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ing, others did it cheerfully, saying, 'It is just what we have compelled the Yankees to do for us!' Although the field was thoroughly searched, the dead were not all discovered until it was impossible to perform for them what humanity, under other cir- cumstances, would have demanded. In front of Little Round Top, amongst huge rocks, lay all summer long the decaying bodies of half a dozen or more of rebels, who had probably belonged to Hood's division, and, having been wounded on July 2nd, in their desperate effort to take Little Round Top, may have crept into the open spaces between these rocks for shelter or for water. There they died undiscovered, and when found they were so far gone in decomposition that they could not be removed. And such also was the position in which they lay that it was impossible to cover them with earth.
"Great surprise is sometimes expressed by visitors because they do not find so many graves as they had expected to see. 'You tell us,' say they, 'that there were about 3500 Union, and about 5500 rebel soldiers killed in this battle; but we do not see so many graves. Where were they buried ?' The answer has uniformly been, 'The whole ground around Gettysburg is one vast cemetery.' The men are buried everywhere. When they could conveniently be brought together, they were buried in clusters of ten, twenty, fifty, or more; but so great was their number, and such the advanced stage of decomposition of those that had lain on the field for several days during the hot weather of July, together with the unavoidable delay, that they could not be removed. In gardens and fields, and by the roadside, just where they were found lying, a shallow ditch was dug, and they were placed in it and covered up as hastily as possible. The ground is, consequently, all dotted over with graves; some fields contain hundreds of places indicating by the freshly turned up earth, and perhaps by a board, a shingle, a stick, or stone, that the mortal remains of a human being lie there. . . . Rose's farm, especially a wheatfield, and Sherfy's peach orchard, were points of desperate and bloody contest. The wheatfield was strewn with rebel dead, and one grave near Rose's garden alone contains 400 of them. . .. Their remains will probably never be removed from the spot they now occupy, and doubtless in future time the
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NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG.
plough will turn up their crumbling bones, together with the remnants of the weapons they used in the atrocious warfare. The vicinity of Gettysburg will thus remain a vast charnel-house, and for years to come will be visited by mourning friends."
A few weeks after the battle the writer passed over the field. It was not difficult then to trace the lines of the two armies, for the grass and even the turf was completely worn away for a con- siderable breadth throughout their whole extent. Cartridge- boxes, knapsacks, bayonet-sheaths, haversacks, coats, caps, and tin cartridge-cases were scattered in profusion over the whole ground, and trodden into the mud which the rains of the fourth day caused. None of the dead had then been removed, and they lay as they were left by the burying parties of the two armies. Many had never been moved from the places where they fell; all the burial they received being a little earth thrown upon them, and where earth could not be got, loose stones and fragments of rocks were used. As the rains came the earth was washed off, and in many places the extremities of the limbs were exposed. At one point, in front of Little Round Top, was a boot with the leg in it just as it had been torn from the body. Dead horses still lay thick on all parts of the field. The citizens had piled rails around some and burned them .. Near the grove where stood Stannard's brigade, was a pool of stagnant water, in which were the carcasses of nine horses.
The roar of artillery, and the sulphurous smoke ascending heavenward, had scarcely told that the battle was on before the agents of the Sanitary Commission began to arrive upon the field with stores for the hospitals. Dr. Steiner, in charge of two wagons, well loaded, left Frederick on the 29th of June. One of them, accompanied by Dr. McDonald and the Rev. Mr. Scandlin, fell into the hands of the enemy, and these gentlemen, bound on errands of mercy and heavenly consolation to the wounded of friend and foe alike, were taken to Richmond, where they were subjected to the hard lot of rebel imprisonment, from the effect of which Mr. Scandlin died. He was a protege of Father Taylor. of Boston, the sailor's friend; was a native of England, and had served in the British navy. He received his professional educa- tion at the theological school in Meadville, Pennsylvania. His
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
treatment by the enemy is one of the foul stains upon the conduct of the rebel authorities. The other wagon reached the field on the evening of the first day. "As soon," says Dr. Steiner, " as the wounded began to come in, I started out with the wagons to distribute the stores. We reached five different hospitals, which were all we were able to find that night, and early in the morn- ing three others, which exhausted our stores. We were just in time to do the most good possible, as the government wagons had been sent back ten miles, and many of the hospitals were not supplied with material sufficient for immediate use. These stores consisted of concentrated beef soup, stimulants, crackers, condensed milk, concentrated coffee, corn starch, farina, shirts, drawers, stockings, towels, blankets, quilts, bandages, and lint, articles in immediate need among the suffering." Other supplies came by the way of Westminster, and before the railroad was open to Gettysburg, twelve wagon loads had been brought up.
The work of this commission, from long experience, was efficiently done. Every part was thoroughly systematized, and reached to the inmates of the most insignificant hospitals. Not the least useful was the system of visitation, which had for its object examination into the wants of the inmates, and the making complete lists of the names of the wounded, which were forwarded to Washington, enabling the authorities to promptly and intelli- gently answer any inquiries made there respecting them. Of the hospitals on the rebel line there were those of the divisions of Hood, McLaws, Anderson, Early, and Johnson, on the Fairfield road ; of Johnson, on the Hunterstown ; of Heth, at Pennsylvania College ; of Rodes, on the Mummasburg road; of Pickett, on the Chambersburg; of Pender, on the Cashtown, containing in all 5452 wounded. On the Union side the hospital of the First corps was divided, part being in the town, and the remainder two and a half miles out on the Baltimore pike, and contained 260 rebel and 2779 Union wounded; that of the Second corps was on the banks of Rock Creek, and contained 1000 rebel and 4500 Union ; of the Third corps, near the junction of White and Rock Creeks, and contained 250 rebel and 2550 Union; of the Fifth corps, in three divisions, and contained 75 rebel and 1400 Union; of the Sixth corps, also in three divisions, and contained 300 Union ;
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NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG.
of the Eleventh corps, at George Spangler's, and contained 100 rebel and 1900 Union; of the Twelfth corps, at the house of George Bushman, and contained 125 rebel and 1131 Union, an aggregate of 16,370. Of these there were 7262 rebel, being the desperately wounded, all others having been removed, or gone back with the retreating columns.
As the Union army was obliged to follow immediately the flee- ing enemy, but a limited number of medical officers could be left upon the field, and but few rebel surgeons remained behind. At first these were severely tasked; but volunteers soon began to arrive, many of the most eminent physicians of the country flock- ing to the field, and freely giving their services. "The labor," says J. H. Douglas, associate secretary of the Sanitary Commission, "the anxiety, the responsibility imposed upon the surgeons after the battle of Gettysburg, were from the position of affairs greater than after any other battle of the war. The devotion, the solici- tude, the unceasing efforts to remedy the defects of the situation, the untiring attentions to the wounded upon their part, were so marked as to be apparent to all who visited the hospitals. It must be remembered that these same officers had endured the privations and fatigues of the long forced marches with the rest of the army; that they had shared its dangers, for one medical officer from each regiment follows it into battle, and is liable to the accidents of war, as has been repeatedly and fatally the case ; that its field hospitals are often, from the changes of the line of battle, brought under the fire of the enemy, and that while in this situation, these surgeons are called upon to exercise the calmest judgment, to perform the most critical and serious opera- tions, and this quickly and continuously. The battle ceasing their labors continue. While other officers are sleeping, renew- ing their strength for further efforts, the medical are still toiling. They have to improvise hospitals from the rudest materials, are obliged to make 'bricks without straw,' to surmount seeming impossibilities. The work is unending both by day and by night, the anxiety is constant, the strain upon both the physical and mental faculties unceasing. Thus after this battle, operators had to be held up while performing the operations, and fainted from exhaustion, the operation finished. One completed his labors to
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be seized with partial paralysis, the penalty of his over-exertion. While his duties are as arduous, his exposure as great, and the mortality from disease and injury as large as among staff officers of similar rank, the surgeon has no prospect of promotion, of a brevet, or an honorable mention to stimulate him. His duties are performed quietly, unostentatiously. He does his duty for his country's sake, for the sake of humanity. The consciousness of having performed this great duty is well nigh his only, as it must ever be his highest, reward. The medical corps of the army is well deserving this small tribute."
Whoever has followed the phases of this battle, must have been impressed with the stubborn valor displayed on both sides by the common soldiers. The dauntless resolution exhibited in the attacks made it a terribly bloody and destructive conflict, and the unyielding and resolute front of the defence brought victory. But there was no possibility of achieving on either side such sweeping and complete triumphs as are recorded of wars in other countries, and in other days, in a contest between two armies where the common soldiers were of such a temper and in such earnest as were these.
It is a sad spectacle to see the manhood of two, claiming to be Christian peoples, thus march out to a field, like trained pugilists, and beat, and gouge, and pummel each other until one or the other, from exhaustion, must yield. It is revolting and sicken- ing, and it is hoped that the day will come when disputes arising among nations may be settled by conference, as two reasonable and upright men would decide a difference, governed by the golden rule, instead of resorting to blows where right and justice must be subordinate to brute force. But in a great battle like that which we have been considering, it is not the soldiers them- selves who are responsible; but the parties which make the quarrel. Hence, while the mind revolts at the scenes of destruc- tion which the field discloses, the immediate actors are not to be held accountable. They go in obedience to the dictates of duty and of patriotism, and while they may indulge no personal hatred toward those who for the time they call enemies, they must in battle inflict the greatest possible injury upon them.
In all ages the highest honors have been reserved for those
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BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT GETTYSBURG.
who have fought the battles of their country. And this is right. For if there is any deed in the power of a mortal, which can sway the feelings or soften the heart, it is that of one man laying down his life for another. The breast heaves, and the eye is suffused with tears, at the spectacle of Damon putting his life in jeopardy only for his friend, and to how many souls have come the agonies of repentance, and the joys of sins forgiven in con- templation of the Saviour dying upon the cross. There is a halo of glory hovering about the profession of arms. It has its seat in the sacrifice of self, which is its ruling spirit. The man who stands upon the field of battle and faces the storm of death that sweeps along, whether he merely puts his life thus in jeopardy, or is actually carried down in death, torn and mangled in the dread fight, is worthy of endless honors; and though we may class the deed with the lowest of human acts, prompted by a hardihood which we share with the brutes, and in which the most ignorant and besotted may compete with the loftiest, yet it is an act before which humanity will ever bow and uncover. Who that walked that field of carnage, and beheld the maimed and mangled, and him cold in death, could withhold the tribute of honor and respect ? for, could he make that dying soldier's lot his own, or that of his nearest and dearest friend, he would only then justly realize the sacrifice.
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