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pressed in front of
Slocum's lines, fragments of clothing, accouterments, shells, and fire-arms were strewed among many new-made graves, some in the form of trenches, in which a number of the dead were buried together, with some rude Monument to mark the spot.
passing over Gulp's Hill among the
debris of battle, along the line of breastworks depicted on page 70, we came to the open field where
Wadsworth was stationed, between Gulp's Hill and
Cemetery Hill.
There were the mounds of several batteries, and on the wooded slope in front were the marks of a severe struggle.
Southward we could see
Round Top, nearly three miles distant, and toward it we rode by way of the
Cemetery, whose fences were gone and grounds were furrowed by shot and shell.
There we saw the result of
Howard's foresight and kindness, in the preservation of the monuments he had caused to be laid prone on the ground.
One granite shaft, standing upright, had received a spent ball point-blank, which bruised but did not break the stone.
In all that region the effects of the heavy cannonade on the 3d
1 were visible at every turn.
The bodies of the slain soldiers were buried, but those of the horses, some untouched and some a-consuming by fire, were where
Hancock's batteries were, and along the
Taneytown road, near
Meade's Headquarters.
No less than eight dead horses were lying near a farm-house (
Mr. Trossel's), as seen in the engraving; and during our ride within the
Union lines we saw the remains of not less
than two hundred of these noble brutes, many of them on fire, the smoke of which, with the effluvium of decomposition everywhere, filled the whole region of
Gettysburg with unpleasant odors.
after sketching
Meade's Headquarters,
2 we passed down the
Taneytown road a short distance, and turned into a rough by-way that led over to the Emmettsburg road, at the northern slope of little
Round Top. From that eminence we had an excellent general view of the battle-field between it and
Gettysburg.
As we descended to the road, we saw the graves of several
Massachusetts soldiers, at the heads of which their companions
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|
A soldier's grave. |
had placed small boards,
