On the day when
General Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac, June 28, 1863,
Lee was about to cross the
Susquehanna at
Harrisburg and march on
Philadelphia.
The militia of
Pennsylvania, who had shown great apathy in responding to the call for help, now, when danger was
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at their door, turned out with considerable spirit; and
Lee, observing this, and hearing that the augmented Army of the Potomac was in
Maryland and threatening his rear and flanks, immediately abandoned his scheme for further invasion, and ordered a retrograde movement.
On the same day,
Stuart, with a large force of cavalry, crossed the
Potomac, pushed on to
Westminster, at the right of the Nationals, crossed over to
Carlisle, encountering
Kilpatrick and his cavalry, and followed
Ewell in his march towards Gettsyburg.
Longstreet had been ordered to cross the
South Mountain range, and press on through
Gettysburg to
Baltimore to keep
Meade from cutting
Lee's communications.
Lee hoped to crush
Meade, and then March in triumph on
Baltimore and
Washington; or, in case of failure, to secure a direct line of retreat into
Virginia.
Meanwhile
Meade was pushing towards the
Susquehanna with cautious movement, and on the evening of June 30 he discovered
Lee's evident intention to give battle at once.
On the day before,
Kilpatrick and
Custer's cavalry had defeated some of
Stuart's a few miles from
Gettysburg.
Buford's cavalry entered
Gettysburg; and on the 30th the left wing of
Meade's army, led by
General Reynolds, arrived near there.
At the same time the corps of
Hill and
Longstreet were approaching from
Chambersburg, and
Ewell was marching down from
Carlisle in full force.
On the morning of July 1
Buford, with 6,000 cavalry, met the van of
Lee's army, led by
General Heth, between
Seminary Ridge (a little way from
Gettysburg) and a parallel ridge a little farther west, when a sharp skirmish ensued.
Reynolds, who had bivouacked at
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Position of the Northern and Confederate armies, sunset, June 30, 1863. |
Marsh Creek, a few miles distant, was then advancing with his own corps, followed by
Howard's, having those of
Sickles and
Slocum within call.
The sound of fire-arms quickened his pace, and he marched rapidly to the relief of
Buford, who was holding the
Confederates in check.
While
Reynolds was placing some of his troops on the
Chambersburg road, the
Confederates made an attack, when a volley of musketry from the 56th Pennsylvania led by
Col. J. W. Hoffman, opened the decisive
battle of Gettysburg.
Meredith's “Iron brigade” then charged into a wood in the rear of the
Seminary, to fall upon
Hill's right, under
General Archer.
The
Nationals were pushed back, but other troops, under the personal direction of
Reynolds, struck
Archer's flank, and captured that officer and 800 of his men. At the moment when this charge was made, the bullet of a Mississippi sharp-shooter pierced
Reynolds's neck, when he fell forward and expired.
General Doubleday had just arrived, and took
Reynolds's place, leaving his own division in charge of
General Rowley.
Very soon the
Mississippi brigade, under
General Davis, was captured, and at noon the whole of the 1st Corps, under
General Doubleday, was well posted on
Seminary Ridge, and the remainder of
Hill's corps was rapidly
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approaching.
Meanwhile, the advance division of
Ewell's corps had taken a position on a ridge north of the town, connecting with
Hill, and seriously menacing the
National right, held by
General Cutler.
Doubleday sent aid to
Cutler, when a severe struggle ensued for some time, and three North Carolina regiments were captured.
Now the battle assumed far grander proportions.
Howard's corps, animated by the sounds of battle on its front, pressed rapidly forward, and reached the field of strife at a little past noon.
He left
Steinwehr's brigade on
Cemetery Hill, placed
General Schurz in temporary charge of the corps, and, ranking
Doubleday, took the chief command of all the troops in action.
The Confederate numbers were continually augmented, and, to meet an expected attack from the north and west,
Howard was compelled to extend the
National lines, then quite thin, about 3 miles, with
Culp's Hill on the right,
Round Top on the left, and
Cemetery Hill in the centre, forming the apex of a redan.
At about three o'clock in the afternoon there was a general advance of the
Confederates, and a terrible battle ensued, with heavy losses on both sides.
The
Nationals were defeated.
They had anxiously looked for reinforcements from the scattered corps of the Army of the Potomac.
These speedily came, but not
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Where the battle began. |
until the preliminary engagement in the great
battle of Gettysburg was ended.
General Meade was at
Taneytown, 13 miles distant, when he heard of the death of
Reynolds, and he ordered
General Hancock,
Howard's junior, to leave his corps with
Gibbons and take the chief command at
Gettysburg.
He arrived just as the beaten forces were hurrying towards
Cemetery Hill.
He reported to
Meade that he was satisfied with
Howard's disposition of the troops.
The latter had called early upon
Slocum and
Sickles, and both promptly responded.
Sickles joined the left of the troops on
Cemetery Hill that night.
Hancock had gone back; and, meeting his own corps, posted it a mile and a half in the rear of
Cemetery Hill.
Meade had now given orders for the concentration of his whole army at
Gettysburg, and he aroused them at one o'clock in the morning of July 2, when only the corps of
Sykes and
Sedgwick were absent.
Lee, too, had been bringing forward his troops as rapidly as possible, making his headquarters on
Seminary Ridge.
On the morning of the 2d a greater portion of the two armies confronted each other.
Both commanders seemed averse to taking the initiative of battle.
The
Nationals had the advantage of position, their lines projecting in wedge-form towards The Confederate centre, with steep rocky acclivities along their front.
It was late in the afternoon before a decided movement was made.
Sickles, on the left, between
Cemetery Hill and
Round Top, expecting an attack, had advanced his corps we11 towards the heaviest columns of the
Confederates.
Then
Lee attacked him with
Longstreet's corps.
There was first a severe struggle for the possession of the rocky eminence on
Meade's extreme left, where
Birney was stationed.
The
Nationals won.
Meanwhile there was a fierce contest near the centre, between
Little Round Top and
Cemetery Hill.
While yet there
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Battle-ground of little round top. |
was strife for the former,
General Crawford, with six regiments of
Pennsylvania reserves, swept down its northwestern side with tremendous shouts, and drove the
Confederates through the woods to the Emmettsburg road, making 300 of them prisoners.
Generals Humphreys and
Graham were then in an advanced position, the former with his right on the Emmettsburg road, when
Hill, advancing in heavy force from
Seminary Ridge, fell upon him and pushed him back, with a loss of half his men and three guns.
In this onset
Sickles lost a leg, and
Birney took command of the corps.
Elated by this success, the
Confederates pushed up to the base of
Cemetery Hill and its southern slope, throwing themselves recklessly upon supposed weak points.
In this contest
Meade led troops in person.
Finally
Hancock, just at sunset, directed a general charge, chiefly by fresh troops under
Doubleday, who had hastened to his assistance from the rear of
Cemetery Hill.
These, with
Humphreys's shattered regiments, drove the
Confederates back and recaptured four guns.
The battle ended on the left centre at twilight.
Then the battle was renewed on the
National right, where
General Slocum was in chief command.
Ewell had attacked him with a part of his corps at the time
Longstreet assailed the left.
The assault was vigorous.
Up the northern slopes of
Cemetery Hill the
Confederates pressed in the face of a murderous fire of canister and shrapnel to the muzzles of the guns.
Another part of
Ewell's corps attempted to turn the
National right by attacking its weakened part on
Culp's Hill.
The Confederates were repulsed at the right centre; and, after a severe battle on the extreme right of the Nationals, the
Confederates there were firmly held in check.
So ended, at about ten o'clock at night, the second day's
battle at Gettysburg, when nearly 40,000 men of the two armies, who were “effective” thirty-six hours before, were dead or wounded.
The advantage seemed to be with the
Confederates, for they held the ground in advance of
Gettysburg which the Nationals had held the previous day. During the night
Meade made provision for expelling the
Confederate intrusion on the
National right by placing a heavy artillery force in that direction.
Under cover of these guns a strong force made an attack, and for four hours
Geary's division
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kept up a desperate struggle.
Then the
Confederates fell back, and the right was made secure.
Now
Ewell was repulsed on the right, and
Round Top, on the left, was impregnable; so
Lee determined to strike
Meade's centre with a force that should crush it. At noon (July 3) he had 145 cannon in battery along the line occupied by
Longstreet and
Hill.
All night
General Hunt, of the Nationals, had been arranging the artillery from
Cemetery Hill to
Little Round Top, where the expected blow would fall.
Lee determined to aim his chief blow at
Hancock's position on
Cemetery Hill.
At 1 o'clock P. M. 115 of his cannon opened a rapid concentrated fire on the devoted point.
Fourscore National guns replied, and for two hours more than 200 cannon shook the surrounding country with their detonations.
Then the Confederate infantry, in a line 3 miles in length, preceded by a host of skirmishers, flowed swiftly over the undulating plain.
Behind these was; a heavy reserve.
Pickett, with his
Virginians, led the van, well supported, in a charge upon
Cemetery Hill.
In all, his troops were about 15,000 strong.
The cannon had now almost ceased thundering, and were succeeded by the awful roll of musketry.
Shot and shell from
Hancock's batteries now made fearful lanes through the oncoming Confederate ranks.
Hancock was wounded, and
Gibbons was. placed in command.
Pickett pressed onward, when the divisions of
Hayes and
Gibbons opened an appalling and continuous fire upon them.
The Confederates gave way, and 2,000 men were made prisoners, and fifteen battle-flags became trophies of victory for
Hayes.
Still
Pickett moved on, scaled
Cemetery Hill, burst through
Hancock's line, drove back a portion of
General Webb's brigade, and planted the
Confederate flag on a stonewall.
But
Pickett could go no farther.
Then
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View from little round top. |
Stannard's Vermont brigade of
Doubleday's division opened such a destructive fire on
Pickett's troops that they gave way. Very soon 2,500 of them were made prisoners, and with them twelve battleflags, and three-fourths of his gallant men were dead or captives.
Wilcox supported
Pickett, and met a similar fate at the hands of the Vermonters.
Meanwhile
Crawford had advanced upon the
Confederate right from near
Little Round Top. The Confederates fled; and in this sortie the whole ground lost by
Sickles was recovered, with 260 men captives, 7,000 small-arms, a cannon, and wounded
Unionists, who had lain nearly twenty-four hours uncared for. Thus, at near sunset, July 3, 1863, ended the
battle of Gettysburg.
During that night and all the next day
Lee's army on
Seminary Ridge prepared for flight back to
Virginia.
His invasion was a failure; and on Sunday morning, July 5, his whole army was moving towards the
Potomac.
This battle, in its far-reaching effects, was the most important of the war. The National loss in men, from the morning of the 1st until the evening of the 3d of July, was reported by
Meade to be 23,186, of whom 2,834 were killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6,643 missing.
Lee's loss was probably about 30,000.
The battle-ground is now the
National Soldiers' Cemetery, nearly all of the
Confederate dead having been removed to Southern cemeteries.
The battle-field is now studded with State and regimental monuments marking the most important spots in the three-days' battle.
Near the centre of the battle-field stands a national monument of gray granite, erected at a cost of $50,000, and also a bronze statue of
General Reynolds.
Almost immediately after the battle the government determined to acquire and set apart the battle-field for a National Soldiers' Cemetery.
On Nov. 19, 1863, the field, which then contained the graves of 3,580 Union soldiers, was dedicated by
President Lincoln, who delivered the following memorable speech:
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent 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 battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final restingplace for 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 cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
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hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little
note, nor 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 unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
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 that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
See
Adams, Charles Francis;
Everett, Edward. 
