[124]
the field, and was supplied with discretionary powers.
Rev. Mr. Scandlin accompanied the second wagon.
The first wagon safely reached Gettysburgh, the second was seized by a party of the enemy's cavalry, in or near Emmetsburgh, its stores and the horses of the party confiscated, and Dr. McDonald, Mr. Scandlin, Leonard Brink, (the teamster,) with a colored boy, Moses Gardner, were taken to Richmond, where they are held as prisoners.
The report of the first pitched engagement of the contending forces, on the first July, reached us the following morning.
A freight car (No. 816) was immediately loaded and despatched to
Westminster, leaving
Washington in the night, in charge of
Mr. S. Bacon.
Mr. Hovey followed the next morning in passenger train, and reached
Westminster about noon July third.
Owing to a delay at
Baltimore of the government freight train, the car was thirty hours
en route.
On Sunday, the fifth July, another car, (No.
1499,) loaded with assorted supplies, was sent to
Westminster, in charge of
Mr. George G. Edgerly, and a third car-load to
Frederick, to the care of
Dr. Steiner.
These were the supplies which reached the army immediately subsequent to the battle, before the railway leading direct to
Gettysburgh was put in repair, and before any communication was open, except through the long and tedious process of hauling by wagons.
What was done by our force in the field, during and immediately after the battle, up to the time when I arrived at
Gettysburgh, I shall give in the words of those who performed the labor.
Mr. Hoag, who was in charge of the wagons, sent out by
Dr. Steiner from
Frederick, gives the following account:
I left Frederick City in charge of two wagons, well loaded, June twenty-ninth.
We fell in with the Twelfth army corps supply-train; but owing to its moving slowly, did not get more than six miles before we were obliged to put up for the night.
Tuesday we moved more rapidly, passed through Taneytown, and out on the road to Emmetsburgh, overtook the Third corps in camp, on the banks of the Monocacy.
Next morning, Wednesday, I obtained permission to bring my wagons in just behind the headquarters' teams, and kept with them to or near Gettysburgh, where we arrived about nine o'clock P. M. All was quiet until four o'clock P. M., Thursday, when a heavy firing commenced on our left, where the ‘rebs’ were trying a flank movement.
As soon 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 morning 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. (The hospitals supplied were division hospitals of the First, Second, Third, Fifth Eleventh, and Twelfth corps.)
On telling the surgeons that I was on hand with sanitary stores, I was almost invariably greeted with expressions like the following, “You could never have come at a better time,” and once on mentioning sanitary stores, I received two hearty welcome slaps on the shoulder, one from the medical director of the corps, and the other, the surgeon of the division.
Major Bush, who accompanied
Mr. Hoag, gives his account in the following words:
Monday morning, June twenty-ninth. Mr. Hoag and myself left Frederick with two wagon loads, in connection with the train of the Twelfth corps, by order of General Williams to Dr. Steiner.
Reached Taneytown, Maryland, Tuesday, P. M., June thirtieth.
Wednesday morning, July first, and first day of the battle, I was informed, while at General Meade's headquarters, by an orderly just arrived from this place, (Gettysburgh,) that an attack and a battle was expected here that day, as the cavalry with the First and Eleventh corps had already reached this place.
I left Mr. Hoag and our wagons in the train of headquarters, (to which they had been transferred from that of the Twelfth army corps,) and rode to Littlestown, Pennsylvania, thence to this place, arriving at “Cemetery Hill,” where a portion of our batteries were situated, about eleven P. M., just as the rebel prisoners who were captured by our cavalry and the Eleventh corps, in the first engagement of that day were approaching said hill.
The battle soon commenced between the First corps and General Hill's, (rebel,) south-west of the Seminary, which was fought steadily and bravely by the First corps, until it finally retreated with severe loss between two and three P. M. Its commander, General Reynolds, was among the killed.
The rebels then rallied in the rear of the Seminary and College Hill, during which time the Eleventh corps formed a line between the college and the town, making the fences their line of defence.
The rebel forces advanced over this hill in mass about four P. M., formed in line of battle, when they marched firmly toward the Eleventh corps, which retired into the town without making any formidable resistance, and the rebel troops took possession of Gettysburgh, when the fighting of the first day ceased.
I now made search for our wagons, but in the vast concourse I was unable to find them that night.
(Most of the wounded of this day's fight, were carried into the churches and public buildings of the town, under the organization of the First and cavalry corps, and were prisoners at the close of the day.)
The Third and Twelfth corps arrived during the afternoon, but too late to enter into battle.
Thursday, July second, and second day of the battle.
The Second corps arrived by the Taneytown road, below Cemetery Hill, at day-break.
The Fifth corps arrived two miles from town, on the Baltimore pike, about ten A. M. One
