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THE BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE J. GROSS. 
 
 From the Philadelphia Press of Nov. 27, 1865. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 COLLINS, PRINTER, T05 JAYNE STREET. 
 1 8 6 6 . 
 
THE FLOWERS COLLECT 
 
 <? 73 , 73 - 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Yieldix& to the, perhaps, too partial judgment of 
 those who have expressed an interest in my article 
 on “The Battle-field of Gettysburg;” and with the 
 view, moreover, of availing myself of an opportunity 
 of making some necessary additions and corrections, 
 I have had a few copies printed in the present shape 
 for distribution among personal friends who regard 
 it as deserving of a better fate than that accorded it 
 in the ephemeral columns of a newspaper. 
 
 GEORGE J. GROSS. 
 
 Philadelphia, March. 1S66. 
 
THE BATTLE-FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “PRESS.” 
 
 Sir : — 
 
 I have just returned from a visit 
 to Gettysburg, and you can, if you choose, accom- 
 pany me over the field and hear what a participant 
 in the battle has to say. In the main, I tell the story 
 as ’twas told to me; but it is difficult to say anything 
 new upon a theme already hackneyed. In common 
 with others, you newspaper people have a horror of 
 long articles; therefore, “ for fear your readers should 
 grow skittish,” you have my full permission to ab- 
 breviate, omit, or expunge at your pleasure; only I 
 beg you to bear in mind that I am attempting to 
 describe a three days’ battle. Assuming then this 
 sketchy, gossipy article to have escaped your waste- 
 paper basket, start with friend Edward Penington, 
 Jr., and myself, this fine November morning, out 
 the Emmettsburg road. Our companion and guide 
 is Captain A. F. Cavada, a gallant and accomplished 
 
6 
 
 young officer, who served all through from York- 
 town to Petersburg, and for nearly two years on the 
 staff of Major-Gen. Humphreys. 
 
 About a mile out we halt. The Captain loquitur: 
 “Now I begin to feel at home. Let me take an ob- 
 servation, as these fences were not here then. All 
 right ; I’ve got it now. Do you see that big walnut 
 on the ridge over there? That was Gen. Humphreys’ 
 headquarters on the morning of Thursday, the 2d of 
 J uly. Almost worn out with hard marching, I was 
 aroused from my weary bivouac at daylight and or- 
 dered to post Col. Tilghman’s regiment (the 26th 
 Penna.) on picket along here. Later in the day the 
 right of our division, Carr’s brigade, held this brick 
 house. Further down was posted Turnbull’s battery. 
 Below that barn stood Seely’s; and still further to- 
 wards our left the batteries of the first division, under 
 Livingston, Smith, Randolph, Clark, and Winslow. 
 I name them all, for never were guns more effectively 
 and beautifully handled. All suffered severely — 
 especially Seely, who had hardly a man or horse 
 left standing, and was himself badly wounded. 
 
 “Now go with me into that orchard. I want to 
 find a certain apple-tree which served as a rendez- 
 vous for staff officers. Standing under it, during the 
 day, with Captains McClellan and Humphreys, a 
 shell exploded in the top, killing three of our poor 
 orderlies, and wounding my horse.” The tree was 
 
7 
 
 found, bearing upon its trunk and branches unmis- 
 takable evidence of hard usage. 
 
 “About half-past two o’clock the whole Third 
 Corps moved out in line of battle over this open 
 ground, and a more magnificent spectacle of ‘living 
 valor rolling on the foe’ I never witnessed. Away 
 over on that bare spot of rising ground the rebels 
 had planted two batteries, which enfiladed our whole 
 line, fairly sweeping it from left to right. Heavens ! 
 how they pitched it into us ! Longstreet’s infantry 
 emerged from the adjacent wood, and, in a short time, 
 all around where we are standing, to the right, left, 
 and in front, along this road, through that peach 
 orchard, away down towards Round Top, the battle 
 raged. 
 
 “How well I remember this spot! I had been or- 
 dered to post Col. Burling’s brigade behind the low 
 stone fence you see there, and, on my way back, I 
 passed the 114th Penna. Regiment, then commanded 
 by my brother, Lieut.-Col. F. F. Cavada. It had just 
 been ordered to an advanced position beyond the 
 road. I rode up and shook hands with him. ‘Good- 
 bye, Fred; look out for yourself; you are going into 
 a warm place, and are sure to catch it.’ So it turned 
 out. The regiment, in connection with the 68th 
 Penna., soon became fiercely engaged, losing heavily. 
 My brother and his brigade commander, Gen. Gra- 
 
8 
 
 ham, were both taken prisoners, the latter severely 
 wounded. 
 
 “I never saw the rebels fight with such diabolical 
 fury ; for, notwithstanding the most murderous fire 
 of canister, shrapnel, and musketry, poured into their 
 very faces, on they came — nothing could stop them. 
 Our own men, too, those heroes of Chantilly, Frede- 
 ricksburg, and Chancellorsville, never fought more 
 unflinchingly. Upon no other part of the field was 
 war’s bloody harvest so abundantly gathered. The 
 eye here easily takes in the boundaries both of 
 the enemy’s position and of our own ; and, within 
 this circumscribed space, on that blazing afternoon, 
 lay more than ten thousand men! — 
 
 ‘Heap’d and pent; 
 
 Rider and horse — friend, foe — in one red burial blent ’ — 
 
 “The close and deadly nature of the conflict can 
 be realized when we bear in mind that these ap- 
 palling losses were incurred, not in charging breast- 
 works, nor in storming entrenched positions, but in a 
 fair stand-up fight, on level ground, without any ad- 
 vantage of position except the commanding ground 
 occupied by the enemy’s batteries. 
 
 “The Third Corps went into action 10,000 strong, 
 and came out with less than 5,500!” 
 
 “Well, Captain, you participated in most of the 
 
9 
 
 heavy fighting done by this army. Tell me, did 
 yon ever see hotter work than this?” 
 
 “Never but once. In the attack upon the enemy’s 
 position, at the first Fredericksburg, our division 
 was ordered to storm the heights. As we were 
 getting ready to move, Gen. Humphreys, always a 
 very polite man, turned to his staff, and in his bland- 
 est manner remarked, ‘Young gentlemen, I intend 
 leading this assault, and shall be happy to have 
 the pleasure of your company.’ Of course, the invi- 
 tation was not to be declined. That was the rough- 
 est place I was ever in — a perfect slaughter-pen. 
 Our division lost 1100 men in fifteen minutes, and 
 to this day it seems a miracle how any of us ever 
 got hack alive.” 
 
 A word of criticism here. At one period of the 
 battle, Birney, being hard pressed, called upon Gen. 
 Sykes, in command of the Fifth Corps, for assistance. 
 Sykes had been ordered to support the Third, if 
 called upon ; hut he returned for answer, that “ he 
 would he up in time ; that his men were tired, and 
 were making coffee!” They did come up in about 
 an hour; “and,” says Gen. Warren, in his testimony , 
 “the troops under Gen. Sykes. arrived barely in time 
 to save Round Top, and they had a very desperate 
 fight to hold it.” And again, speaking of the opera- 
 tions next day, “When the repulse took place, Gen. 
 
10 
 
 Meacle intended to move forward and assault the 
 enemy in turn. He ordered an advance of the Fifth 
 Corps, but it was carried on so slowly , that it did not 
 amount to much, if anything.” Gen. George Sykes, 
 although a brave man, is entirely too slow ; so at least 
 Gen. Grant seemed to think, for, in the subsequent 
 reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, the ser- 
 vices of “Tardy George” No. 2 were dispensed with.* 
 
 The Fifth, as a corps, has a glorious record, and 
 has never failed to fight bravely when properly 
 handled. 
 
 To resume the Captain’s narrative. “As the day 
 wore on, the superior numbers of the enemy began 
 to tell ; the pressure became greater and greater, 
 until at last our whole corps, with the exception of 
 Carr’s brigade, was pushed down the slope broken and 
 discomfited. There,” said the Captain, pointing to a 
 clump of bushes, “my horse received a second wound 
 and fell dead under me. I managed to scramble over 
 the ridge, where our men were being rallied; and, 
 soon after, the sun went down, and the rebels were 
 beaten back beyond the Emmettsburg road. In the 
 melte , Capt. Chester, of our military family, was seen 
 to go down ; and, after nightfall, a party started out 
 in search of him. Near that flat rock we found him 
 
 * Gen. Sykes, in a communication which, with the reply thereto, will 
 be found in the Appendix, defends himself against these strictures.. 
 
11 
 
 alive, but grievously wounded. His liorse and faith- 
 ful orderly were both dead beside him, and across his 
 legs lay a rebel soldier, whom he had killed with his 
 revolver while in the act of plundering him of his 
 watch. He was taken up tenderly, and conveyed to 
 the hospital on Rock Creek, where he died the next 
 day. 
 
 “With heavy hearts we now set about the task of 
 burying such of our poor fellows as were within 
 reach. Always the saddest of a soldier’s duties, it 
 was peculiarly so upon this occasion, for all felt that 
 the rising sun would bring with it a repetition of 
 this day’s horrors, and that, perhaps, at this very 
 hour to-morrow, some kind comrade might be per- 
 forming the same mournful office for us. 
 
 ‘ Few and short were the prayers we said, 
 
 And we spoke not a word of sorrow; 
 
 As we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead, 
 
 And we bitterly thought of the morrow . -1 ” 
 
 From the Peach Orchard we struck across the de- 
 clivity, passing by the spring where General Sickels 
 received his wound'. The amputation of his leg was 
 performed in a wheat field beyond, and the com- 
 mand of the corps devolved upon our fellow-towns- 
 man, the lamented General David B. Birney. 
 
12 
 
 Of this faithful and distinguished soldier, a 
 general officer, himself a man of great ability and 
 approved gallantry — in a letter now before me, writes 
 thus: “My own judgment of Birney is, that he was 
 the most thorough volunteer officer of the war. In 
 coolness, knowledge of topographical configuration 
 (a most rare and invaluable quality), and for think- 
 ing and acting under fire, he surpassed any com- 
 mander under whom I ever served.” 
 
 In the course of the day we paid a visit to Mr. 
 Sherfey’s house, where we were most hospitably re- 
 ceived. This house stands about the centre of the 
 field, and is riddled from garret to basement. Traces 
 of the conflict are to be seen on every side, including 
 the last resting-place of many poor Southerners. 
 Mr. Sherfey’s barn was burnt during the fight, and 
 many of the wounded who sought refuge there pe- 
 rished in the flames. “These,” said Mrs. Slierfey, 
 producing some tin cans, “contain peaches that were 
 growing in our orchard over there at the time of the 
 battle. These are my trophies.” In the front garden 
 grows the beautiful shrub known as the “burning 
 bush,” luxuriant with its crop of bright red berries, 
 typical of the blood shed at its roots. “Take some 
 of the berries with you and plant them,” said the 
 kind old lady; “they will grow anywhere, and will 
 be pleasant mementos of Gettysburg.” 
 
13 
 
 "We next made our way to Little Round Top, 
 where we liad the pleasure of meeting Colonel Bat- 
 chelder. This gentleman is engaged in collecting 
 the details of the battle, and will, no doubt, produce 
 a hook equal in interest to his great map. I was 
 sorry to hear him say that he intends designating 
 this as “"Weed’s Hill,” in honor of the general who 
 fell on its top. Honor the memory of the brave 
 man in some other way, Colonel ; hut don’t change 
 this name. As “Little Round Top” it has passed 
 into history, and so it will he known forever. 
 
 There are few finer views of the whole field than 
 from this point, and here took place the closest and 
 most sanguinary fighting of Thursday. Regarding 
 it as the key of the position, Longstreet made the 
 ' most furious efforts to carry it, but the cool and 
 steady gallantry of the Fifth Corps repelled every 
 effort with heavy loss to the assailants. On the 
 height fought two of the noblest soldiers of the 
 army, Cols. Vincent and Rice. The former laid 
 1 down his life here; the latter at Spottsyl vania, the 
 year after. The following dispatch, dated July 3d, 
 does infinite honor to the heart of General Meade: “I 
 would respectfully request that Col. Strong Vincent, 
 33d Penna. Regiment, he made a brigadier-general of 
 volunteers for gallant conduct in the field yesterday. 
 He is mortally wounded, and it would gratify his 
 friends as well as myself.” Secretary Stanton at 
 
14 
 
 once complied with the request, hut poor Vincent 
 did not live to hear of his promotion. 
 
 Here, too, at the early age of twenty-five, fell Col. 
 O’Rourke, of the 140tli V e w York. Graduating at 
 the head of his class two years before, he was assigned 
 to duty in the field, and soon became distinguished 
 as an ofiicer of rare ability. He was killed while 
 mounted on a rock animating his men. 
 
 Fortunately the extreme left was held by that 
 superb regiment, the 20th Maine, whose flag bears 
 upon its folds no prouder inscription than that 
 of “Gettysburg.” Few men have achieved more 
 honorable distinction than the commander of this 
 gallant regiment. His career culminated in glory 
 with Sheridan’s at Five Forks ; and General Cham- 
 berlain’s is one of the names of the war that will 
 survive the wreck of shoulder-straps. 
 
 Having expended the last cartridge, Chamberlain 
 ordered his regiment to charge down the ' hill, and 
 succeeded in clearing its sides with the bayonet. 
 
 The remarkable ledge of rocks known as the 
 “Devil’s Den,” directly opposite Round Top, was 
 occupied by the enemy’s sharpshooters, one of whom 
 had a perfectly safe position within the cleft, and 
 picked off our men with fatal accuracy. The face 
 of the boulder behind which he lay is still covered 
 with the marks of the Minies sent at him. One 
 “went for him” clean through the crevice, but missed. 
 
15 
 
 He was finally dislodged by a charge, and escaped 
 through an opening to the rear. Seven rifles, it is 
 said, were found in his hiding-place. There is room 
 enough for fifty. On the slope in front of this den 
 lie bleaching the bones of rebel dead, washed out by 
 the rains. All the little stone walls thrown up by 
 our men between the huge boulders are still here. 
 In fact nothing is changed. Would that this could 
 be said of other parts of the field ! Inscriptions upon 
 the rocks mark the spots where Vincent and Hazlett 
 fell. The charge made by the Pennsylvania Re- 
 serves was to the right and in front of the hill. 
 
 Brigadier-General Zook and Colonel Jeffards — the 
 latter of the 4tli Michigan — were killed in the field 
 beyond. Jeffards fell by a bayonet thrust while 
 gallantly holding up with his own hands the colors 
 of his regiment. tSTear this same field, bravely charg- 
 ing at the head of his “Bucktails,” we lost our 
 Chester County neighbor, Colonel Frederick Taylor. 
 Vo death in the whole army was more sincerely 
 mourned. 
 
 We now proceed along our lines of Friday, Col. 
 Batchelder politely acting as guide. In the little 
 grove, close to our lines, fell General Barksdale on 
 Thursday. This noisy, brawling rebel set out in 
 search of his “ rights ,” and the little pile of stones 
 here marks the spot where he is presumed to have 
 found them. It is said he was intoxicated when 
 
16 
 
 starting on the charge, ancl this may account for his 
 reckless bravery. True or not, “the story ’s still 
 extant.” 
 
 The Second Corps held from here to the Cemetery. 
 The spot is pointed out where, exposing himself like 
 a common soldier, the intrepid Hancock received his 
 wound. The advanced line was held by the Vermont 
 Brigade, then commanded by Gen. Stannard, who 
 subsequently gave an arm to the cause on the James. 
 A pile of knapsacks — apparently just as unslung — 
 lie mouldering here, the inscription, “16th Vermont,” 
 still visible. Even now the debris of battle — hats, 
 shoes, cartridge-boxes, bayonet-scabbards, and can- 
 teens, are scattered all over the field. 
 
 Vext we come to the ground held by our city 
 brigade, composed of the 69tli — “Paddy Owens’ 
 Regulars;” Baxter’s Zouaves, the 72d; the 106th, 
 Col. Moreliead; and the 71st, or “California” regi- 
 ment, commanded originally by Senator Baker, and 
 subsequently, for a time, by our gallant townsman, 
 Col. John Markoe. “The Philadelphia Brigade” 
 upon this occasion was commanded by Brigadier- 
 Gen. A. S. "W ebb, a New Yorker — one of the young- 
 est officers of his rank in the service — and nobly was 
 the honor of both the great cities upheld. In their 
 charge, the left of the enemy’s line struck ours just 
 at this point, and so overwhelming, for the moment, 
 was the shock, that the whole command was pushed 
 rudely back; but, springing to the front instantly, 
 
17 
 
 Webb quickly rallied bis shrinking column and re- 
 stored the fight. 
 
 Would that every organization conspicuous for 
 courage and conduct could be particularized ; but 
 that would be to mention almost every regiment and 
 battery engaged. 
 
 From here we have an excellent view of Seminary 
 Ridge, the line of woods whence the rebels de- 
 bouched, and the beautiful level fields over which 
 they swept in their grand charge. What a magnifi- 
 cent battle-field! The heights of La Belle Alliance 
 and Mont Saint Jean in some respects resemble our 
 Cemetery and Seminary Ridges, with the same 
 gently undulating valley intervening; but there the 
 principal road runs at right angles, while here par- 
 allel, with the position. 
 
 Speaking of the bombardment which preceded the 
 charge, Gen. Hancock says, “It was the most terrific 
 cannonade I ever witnessed, and the most prolonged.” 
 A rebel eye-witness describes it thus : “ I have never 
 yet heard such tremendous artillery firing. The very 
 earth shook beneath our feet, and the hills and rocks 
 seemed to reel like a drunken man. For one hour 
 and a half this most terrific firing was continued, 
 during which time the shrieking of shells, the crash 
 of falling timber, the fragments of rock flying 
 through the air, shattered from the cliffs by solid 
 shot; the heavy mutterings from the valley between 
 2 
 
18 
 
 the opposing armies; the splash of bursting shrap- 
 nel, and the fierce neighing of wounded artillery 
 horses, made a picture terribly grand and sublime.” 
 
 After this came Pickett’s charge, numbering some 
 20,000 men. It was made in two, some say three, 
 lines of battle, with great coolness and steadiness. 
 Our ninety guns, planted on the crest from the 
 Cemetery to Round Top, “volley’d and thunder’d,” 
 and when the infantry joined in the chorus, so terrible 
 was the fire that tore through the rebel ranks, so 
 rapidly were men struck, and so singular their gyra- 
 tions, that “it presented,” says an officer, “the extra- 
 ordinary spectacle of ten thousand men playing at 
 ‘leap-frog!’ ” 
 
 In spite of every effort, the flower of Lee’s vete- 
 rans, directed by their tried leaders, Garnett, Arm- 
 stead, Kemper, Wright, Posey, and Mahone, failed 
 in carrying our position, although they charged up 
 to and, at one or two points, even over it. It has 
 been asked, “What other than Southern troops would 
 have made that charge?” Ay, sir, hut what other 
 than Northern have met and repulsed it? Northern 
 endurance and pluck were more than a match for 
 Southern impetuosity and dash. 
 
 “There swung th e pine against the palm.” 
 
 In the bloody ruck scores of their best officers 
 went down. It was the turning point of the grand 
 
19 
 
 drama, and, with the sun, on that 3d day of July, 
 went down the sun of the “ Confederacy” forever ! 
 
 Although known as “Pickett’s Charge,” Gen. 
 Graham, whom I met here yesterday, informs me 
 that Pickett was not engaged in it. The General 
 describes him as a coarse, brutal fellow, by whom he 
 was treated with the greatest inhumanity whilst 
 wounded and a prisoner in his hands. 
 
 The rebel corps commanders either did not ex- 
 pose themselves as freely as our own, or they had 
 better luck, for none were hit, whilst we lost one 
 killed, and two wounded. The story told in Blade- 
 wood’s Magazine by Col. Freemantle, of the British 
 army, who was present, may help to explain it. He 
 says : “When I got close up to Gen. Longstreet, I 
 saw one of his regiments advancing through the 
 woods in good order. So thinking I was just in time 
 to see the attack, I remarked to the General, ‘I 
 wouldn’t have missed this for anything.’ Longstreet 
 was seated at the top of a snake-fence, at the edge 
 of a wood, and looking perfectly calm and unper- 
 turbed. He replied, laughingly, ‘The d — 1 you 
 wouldn’t ! I would like to have missed it very much: 
 we’ve attacked and been repulsed; look there /’” 
 
 We now crossed the Baltimore Pike, calling on the 
 way at the small frame building, on the Taneytown 
 road, used as Gen. Meade’s headquarters on Friday. 
 This will always be a point of great interest, as the 
 
20 
 
 focus of that feu d’enfer before described, and one 
 likely to be remembered by Gen. Meade and bis staff 
 to their dying day. 
 
 The house is sadly shattered, and the poor widow 
 who owns it complains bitterly of her losses. “When 
 I comes home, my house was all over blood ; the 
 sogers takes away my blankets and quilts, all my 
 hay, and they spiled my apple-trees, my spring, and 
 every ting.” She says a few hundred dollars would 
 be a great help to her, and thinks she should “git it 
 from someveres.” 
 
 Sure enough, why shouldn’t she? In the garden 
 of a cottage, in the little village of Waterloo, the 
 visitor is shown the monument erected over the 
 Marquis of Anglesea’s leg, and the poor peasant has 
 made quite a little fortune by exhibiting the hoot 
 cut from the leg, and the table upon which the am- 
 putation was performed. This hint might not be 
 thrown away upon a more enterprising person, but I 
 doubt whether this poor, frowsy German woman will 
 ever profit by it. 
 
 To the right of Cemetery Hill was stationed the 
 battery so furiously assailed by Hays’ brigade of 
 “Louisiana Tigers.” The lunettes and traverses 
 remain undisturbed and grass-grown. 
 
 The little eminence in front was held by that 
 patriotic old soldier, Brig.-Gen. Wadsworth. He 
 fell in the Wilderness, in May, ’64. 
 
21 
 
 The works thrown up by our men on Culp’s Hill 
 are still to he seen, except such portion of the timber 
 as is being removed by the owner of the ground. 
 Only think of the meanness of the man who is en- 
 gaged in pulling these monuments to pieces, and con- 
 verting them into fire-wood ! I could not ascertain 
 the name of the barbarian, else I would give it. 
 
 The effect of the furious fire poured upon Ewell’s 
 columns is visible enough. Hardly a tree or rock in 
 front of these works has escaped. Many of the trees 
 are covered and scarred with bullets as high as fifty 
 feet from the ground. There was “wild” as well as 
 deadly firing here on that Thursday night and Friday 
 morning. Along this rough, rocky hill fought the 
 “White Star Division,” led by our own Geary, and 
 that sturdy, honest fighter, Brig.-General Green. 
 Four months later, at the desperate midnight battle 
 of Wahatchie, in Lookout Valley, this same com- 
 mand again encountered a portion of Lee’s army — 
 Longstreet’s corps — and added to the laurels gained 
 at Antietam and Gettysburg. 
 
 An inscription on a tree in the ravine below tells 
 the story of a mound close by — “To the right lie 
 buried forty-five rebels.” They sleep where they fell! 
 
 In the following communication to Governor Cur- 
 tin, General Cutler tells us how the battle opened : 
 “I owe a duty to one of your regiments, the 56th, 
 and its brave commander, Col. J. W. Hofmann. It 
 
22 
 
 was my fortune to be in the advance on the morning 
 of July 1st. The atmosphere being a little thick, I 
 took out my glass to examine the enemy. Being a 
 few paces in rear of Colonel H., he turned to me and 
 inquired, ‘Is that the enemy?’ My reply was, ‘Yes.’ 
 Turning to his men, he commanded, ‘Beady — right 
 oblique — aim — fire!’ and the battle of Gettysburg 
 was opened. The fire was followed by other regi- 
 ments instantly; still, that battle on the soil of Penn- 
 sylvania was opened by her own sons, and it is just 
 that it should become a matter of history.” 
 
 About a mile from the town is the ground fought 
 over by our brave cavalrymen. 
 
 A passing tribute here to the “eyes of the army.” 
 In no preceding campaign had this arm rendered 
 services at once so efficient and so distinguished. 
 From the opening of the campaign in June, all 
 through Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania — 
 from the Bappahannock to Gettysburg, and back 
 again to the Potomac ; at Brandy Station, Beverly 
 Ford, Aldie, Upperville, Middleburg, Hanover, Get- 
 tysburg, and Boonsboro’ — they hewed their bloody 
 way, bearing down all opposition, each combat a 
 victory, until at last — so uniform was the result — it 
 only became necessary to find the rebel Stuart to in- 
 sure his overthrow. 
 
 Beyond the Seminary is the scene of the first day’s 
 struggle. 
 
 With the eye and the instinct of a true soldier, 
 
23 
 
 General Reynolds saw how much depended on hold- 
 ing the advanced position until the heights in his 
 rear could he occupied in force. He doubtless felt 
 how great would he the cost, how unequal the strug- 
 gle ; hut he knew his duty, and hesitated not to per- 
 form it, even at the peril of his life. Some absurd 
 things have been said in censure of what his critics 
 are pleased to call his “rashness;” but let us hope 
 that some day full justice will he done to the man 
 who, without stopping to count the odds, boldly 
 flung his devoted troops full against the enemy, hold- 
 ing him at bay, and thereby accomplishing the great 
 purpose for which he sacrificed himself and the brave 
 men ‘who died with him. IlST ay, more. Let it always 
 be borne in mind, that, in precipitating the fight, he 
 fixed its locality ; thus settling, beyond a peradven- 
 ture, a point of no small importance in view of the 
 prevailing doubts and perplexities of the hour. 
 
 The marks of battle still abound, but the interest 
 centres in the spot wdiere Reynolds was killed. He 
 was nearly up with the skirmish line — no place, say 
 military men, for the commander of a corps — “hut 
 that was like John Reynolds.” He had just dis- 
 patched his aids, Captains Baird, Rosengarten, and 
 Riddle, on special duties, and was himself watching 
 the deployment of the Wisconsin Brigade, when he 
 was struck in the neck and fell dead from his horse. 
 
 Poor Reynolds! 
 
 "There have been tears and breaking hearts for thee.” 
 
24 
 
 At last we reach the National Cemetery on Ceme- 
 tery Hill. I pity the man who can stand unmoved 
 in this silent city of the dead. Here are the precious 
 offerings laid upon the altar of the country by the 
 loyal States. Ordinarily, the process of filling up a 
 cemetery is slow work — the work of years. Three 
 days and nights sufficed to fill this! How those poor 
 fellows toiled and straggled to get up in time to 
 save the soil of a free State from the polluting tread 
 of the invader! Here sleep those “unnamed demi- 
 gods” of the rank-and-file. “Unknown!” “Un- 
 known!” the only epitaph of hundreds. At our feet 
 lies an army! Infantry, cavalry, and artillery, rank 
 upon rank, in beautiful military array, as though 
 awaiting the order to appear in review before the 
 Great Commander-in-Chief of us all! 
 
 “Up many a fortress wall 
 
 They charged, those boys in blue: 
 
 ’Mid surging smoke and volley’d ball 
 The bravest were the first to fall — 
 
 To fall for me and you 1 
 Our brothers mustered by our side; 
 
 They marched, and fought, and nobly died 
 For me and you ! 
 
 Good friend, for me and you !” 
 
 "Who can ever forget those three days of July, 
 that period of agonizing suspense? 
 
25 
 
 And when the news came, O how that sad cata- 
 logue pulled upon the heart-strings ! 
 
 Reynolds, Zook, Weed, Willard, Vincent, Farns- 
 worth, Card, Jeffards, Taylor, O’Rourke, Lowery, 
 Cross, Hazlett, Adams, Miller, Arrowsmith, Deve- 
 reaux, Larrabee, Davids, Block, Little, Repes, Locke, 
 Dorrity, Chester, Watson, Chancellor, Leach. 
 
 “Period of honor as of woes, 
 
 What bright careers ’twas thine to close ! 
 
 Mark’d on thy roll of blood what names, 
 
 To Freedom's memory, and to Fame’s 
 Laid there their last immortal claims !” 
 
 So ends my story of Gettysburg. 
 
 G. J. G. 
 
 Philadelphia, Nov. 1865. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTER FROM LIEUT.-COL. SYKES. 
 
 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 
 December 9, 1865. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF “THE CHRONICLE.” 
 
 Sir: 
 
 In your Sunday issue of November 27, 1865, appears 
 an article descriptive of the battle of Gettysburg, and signed 
 “ G. J. G., Philadelphia.” In the course of it the writer steps 
 aside to make a malicious attack upon myself, and to favor the 
 public with other information which he alone seems to possess. 
 In his communication he asserts that to “Birney’s” call upon me 
 for assistance I replied, “that I would be up in time,” that “my 
 men were tired, and were making coffee.” Premising that General 
 Birney was not in command of the Third Corps until late in the 
 day, after General Sickels was wounded, it is enough for me to 
 say that General Birney never made any such request, and that I 
 never made any such reply; it is a pure fabrication, and those 
 ■who know me know that such an answer would be foreign to my 
 whole career as a soldier. While the Fifth Corps was massed on 
 Rock Creek as a reserve, I received an order to send a brigade to 
 the support of General Sickels, should he call for it. Accordingly, 
 General Weed’s brigade was detailed and held ready for this 
 emergency. General Meade having desired to see the corps com- 
 manders at 3 P.M., I rode to his headquarters, on the Taneytown 
 road, and during the interview he directed me to throw my whole 
 corps immediately upon the left of our line, and hold it at all 
 hazards. I at once despatched a staff officer to put the troops in 
 motion — met two brigades of Barnes’ division (Sweitzer’s and 
 Tilton’s) as they crossed the Taneytown Pike, and posted them 
 
27 
 
 myself in front of tlie ground held by a part of Birney’s division, 
 Third Corps. General J. H. H. Ward, of New York, was present 
 when I had the conversation with General Birney which led to 
 the posting of these troops. Instead, however, of a brigade, my 
 whole command went to the support of the Third Corps ; but the 
 greater part of it was established upon and around “ Little ” and 
 “Big Round Top,” which was our true left, and the key of the 
 day’s battle. The movement began the moment an aide-de-camp 
 could ride from general headquarters to where the corps was 
 massed, and no other time was consumed, except that required 
 to march it to the positiqn assigned by the commanding general. 
 Because the position was held with desperate gallantry by the 
 Fifth Corps, our line of battle was not taken in reverse, and the 
 day was saved. Every soldier understands that General Meade’s 
 order to move my whole corps to the left annulled any previous 
 one contemplating the support of General Sickels with a brigade ; 
 but, further to show the temper and inaccuracy of “ G. J. G.’s ” 
 statement: after General Weed reached “Little Round Top,” 
 and before he had seen me on my return from General Meade’s 
 headquarters — upon the call of General Sickels — he put his bri- 
 gade, minus Garrard’s regiment, en route to the support of the 
 Third Corps, but was fortunately met and recalled by mj^self to 
 Little Round Top, just in time to meet Longstreet’s attack upon 
 it. The second assertion of “ G. J. G.” (quoted from General 
 Warren’s testimony, and of which I know nothing) is as incor- 
 rect as might be expected. General Meade never gave an order 
 for the Fifth Corps to advance, on the 3d of July, after Lee’s re- 
 pulse. I have in my possession every order affecting my com- 
 mand during that campaign, and no such order is in existence. 
 Had General Meade intended an advance on that day, it is not 
 probable, after its severe losses, that the Fifth Corps would have 
 been selected for this service, when the Sixth Corps, General Sedg- 
 wick, lay comparatively fresh right behind me, and which, in 
 fact, did take up the direct pursuit of the enemy when it began. 
 On the morning of the 4th of July a reconnoissance was directed 
 to be made along my front by a part of my corps, and Day’s 
 brigade, of Ayers’ division, executed it. 
 
28 
 
 An armed reconnoissance, in the presence of a stubborn and 
 defiant enemy, is not an operation to be carried on rashly ; but, 
 whatever may have been its character, it was never, to my know- 
 ledge, questioned by any one having the right to do so. 
 
 I think the history of the Army of the Potomac, while I com- 
 manded the Fifth Corps, will show that it was neither slow to 
 march nor fight ; and, as it is commonly believed that the head 
 of an organization infuses his own views and spirit over what 
 he controls, I shall not quarrel with a hidden slanderer con- 
 cerning opinions which he may borrow or make up. Lastly, it 
 may not be out of place to say that General Meade wished to 
 retain me in the Army of the Potomac upon its reorganization, 
 in March, 1864, and told me in July last, at Gettysburg, that 
 both he and the Lieutenant-General desired my return to it 
 during its last glorious campaign. 
 
 The statements of persons ignorant of the true nature of 
 military events seldom deserve any notice; but, in a matter so 
 personal to mj^self as this, I cannot permit assertions to be 
 made without characterizing them in their appropriate terms. 
 
 GEO. SYKES, 
 
 Lieut.-Col. U. S. Army, and 
 
 Major-General Volunteers. 
 
 REPLY TO GENERAL SYKES. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF “THE DAILY CHRONICLE,” WASHINGTON. 
 
 Sir: I desire to say a word in reply to the communication of 
 Major-General Sykes in your issue of December 19th. In giving 
 the accompanying extracts from the testimony, I do it as briefly 
 as possible, consistent with fairness ; and this, I trust, will be 
 accepted as an apology for trespassing upon so much of your 
 valuable space. General Sykes has no one but himself to thank 
 for the republication of this testimony ; for how else could an 
 humble civilian have repelled his opprobrious epithets ? or how, 
 
29 
 
 indeed, made any stand at all against a major general? It 
 would appear that the General is entirely ignorant of that im- 
 portant document, published by order of Congress, the “ Report 
 of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.” (I would 
 advise him to procure a copy ; he will find it “handy to have in 
 the house.”) 
 
 In the first place General Sykes says : “ General Bimey never 
 made any such request, and I never made any such reply. It is 
 a pure fabrication , and those who know me know that such an 
 answer would be foreign to my whole career as a soldier.” Be 
 that as it may, here is my authority for the statement. (The 
 italics throughout are mine.) Report, 2d Session, 38th Con- 
 gress, page 295, Major-General D. E. Sickels, sworn : * * * 
 
 “ General Meade said he would send up the Fifth Corps to support 
 me. The Fifth Corps came up, tardily , to be sure. * * * My 
 request to General Hancock was promptly met.” 
 
 Page 366, Major-General D. B. Birney sworn : * * * “Gene- 
 ral Sickels told me that General Sykes would, at my request, 
 send me a division to support me upon my left. I sent a staff 
 officer to General Sj'kes, asking him to send me up at once the 
 division that had been ordered from his corps to support me ; 
 that an attack was imminent, and that I thought it would be 
 made at once. The staff officer saw him, and he returned for 
 answer, that he would come up in time; that his men were 
 making coffee and were tired , but that he would be up in time. 
 He came up with one of his divisions in about an hour from 
 that time, and formed upon my left upon Round Top, and placed 
 Barnes’ division massed behind my centre.” 
 
 General Sykes says : “ The second assertion of ‘ G. J. G.’ 
 (quoting from General Warren’s testimony, and of which I 
 know nothing) is as incorrect as might be expected.” And, 
 again : “ General Meade never gave an order to advance on the 
 id of July, after Lee’s defeat. I have in my possession every 
 order affecting my command during that campaign, and no such 
 order is in existence.” The General may be literally correct 
 in saying “no such order is in existence;” but is it not usual 
 for staff officers to carry verbal orders on the field of battle? 
 
30 
 
 At all events, here is my authority for what I “ borrowed or 
 made up ,” as charged. Page 316, Maj.-Gen. George K. Warren 
 sworn: * * * “The troops under General Sykes arrived 
 
 barely in time to save Round Top mill, (hill?) and they had a 
 very desperate fight to hold it.” * * * “And when the re- 
 
 pulse of the enemy took place on that day (July 3d), General 
 Meade intended to move forward all the forces he could get in 
 line and assault the enemy in turn. He ordered an advance of 
 the Fifth Corps, but it was carried on so slowly that it did not 
 amount to much, if anything. 
 
 “ Question. Who commanded that corps ? Answer. General 
 Sykes. Instead of advancing the whole of the Fifth Corps, I 
 believe only about one brigade was advanced.” 
 
 Page 403, Major-General W. S. Hancock sworn: * * * * 
 
 “ General Meade told me, before the fight, that, if the enemy 
 attacked me, he intended to put in the Fifth and Sixth Corps on 
 the enemy’s flank. I, therefore, when I was wounded and lying 
 down in my ambulance, and about to leave the field, dictated a 
 note to General Meade, and told him if he would put in the Fifth 
 and Sixth Corps I believed he would win a great victory. I asked 
 him afterward, when I returned to the arrays, what he had done 
 in the premises. He said he had ordered the movement , but the 
 troops were slow in collecting, and moved so slowly , that nothing 
 was done before night, except that some of the Pennsylvania 
 Reserves went out and met Hood’s division, it was understood, 
 of the enemy, and actually overthrew it, assisted, no doubt, in 
 some measure, by their knowledge of their failure in the assault.” 
 
 The only misstatement I find I made was as to the point of 
 time when the staff officer was sent to General Sykes by General 
 Birney for the promised support. It was before , not after , the 
 enemy’s attack. In this connection, Mr. Editor, permit me to 
 introduce entire the paragraph which has given so much offence. 
 Here it is : — 
 
 “A word of criticism here. At one period of the battle, Birney, being 
 hard pressed, called upon General Svkes, in command of the Fifth Corps, 
 for assistance. Sykes had been ordered to support the Third if called upon, 
 but he returned for answer that he ‘would be up in time — that his men were 
 
31 
 
 tired, and were making coffee !’ They did come up in about an hour ; and, 
 says General Warren, in his testimony, ‘the troops under General Sykes 
 arrived barely in time to save Round Top, and they had a very desperate fight 
 to hold it.’ And again, of the operations next day : ‘When the repulse took 
 place, General Meade intended to move forward and assault the enemy in 
 turn. He ordered an advance of the Fifth Corps, but it was carried on so 
 sloivly that it did not amount to much, if anything.’ General George Sykes 
 is a brave man, but entirely ‘too slow;’ so at least General Grant seemed 
 to think, for. in the subsequent reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, 
 the services of ‘Tardy George’ No. 2 were dispensed with. The Fifth, as 
 a corps, has a glorious record, and never failed to fight bravely when pro- 
 perly handled.” 
 
 How can this be tortured into the language of disparagement 
 of the Fifth Corps, as General Sykes charges ? The truth is, the 
 Fifth Corps does not require the General’s championship. 
 
 Everybody knows that, upon the very occasion in question, 
 its fighting, after being brought upon the field, was magnificent in 
 the extreme , and that it saved our left, and with it the day, on 
 Thursday. And let me add, moreover, that I have yet to learn 
 that censure of a commander is a reflection upon his men. Al- 
 though I have not the honor to belong to the fighting class, I 
 yield to none in admiration of our glorious army, and of the 
 heroes whose deeds have illustrated its career. I love to talk 
 about, read about, and sometimes scribble about their sacrifices, 
 and then - valor, and it was this feeling which prompted the un- 
 fortunate article on the “Battle-field of Gettysburg.” 
 
 General Sykes will hardly deny my right, in a fair spirit, to 
 comment upon his actions as a soldier. I did nothing more; 
 yet he has characterized my criticism as a “malicious attack.” 
 “Malicious” in what? I acknowledged his personal bravery — 
 handsomely, as I thought; but I sinned, it seems, in commenting 
 upon his disposition to be “ slow, ” and, in that respect, treading 
 in the footsteps of his great exemplar, “Tardy George” No. 1. 
 This is the “very head and front of my offending.” Of the sneers 
 at my ignorance of military affairs, I have no right to complain : 
 for, you must know, Mr. Editor, I ivas simpleton enough to believe 
 that Gen. Grant really had control of the army! That he had 
 the power to detach, relieve or retain whomsoever he pleased; 
 and that he had, in fact, everything his own way , without inter- 
 
32 
 
 ference from any quarter ! All of -which, sir, did I most power- 
 folly and potently believe. For so believing — for quoting fairly 
 from the record, and for giving credence to the sworn testimony 
 of four distinguished general officers — one sleeping in an honored 
 grave — I am arraigned and stigmatized (in a style, let us hope, 
 not common to the cloth) as a “ fabricator ” and a “ slanderer ,” 
 
 General Sykes, in the course of his communication — by way 
 of a clincher, and with the most charming naivete , tells the fol- 
 lowing story : — 
 
 “ General Meade wished to retain me in the Army of the 
 Potomac, upon its reorganization in March, 1864, and told me 
 in July last, at Gettysburg, that both he and the Lieutenant- 
 General desired my return to it in its last glorious campaign.” 
 
 What a shame that such amiable intentions should have been 
 frustrated ! 
 
 But by whom? Let us hear what the Lieutenant General has 
 to say upon this point : — • 
 
 Washington, May 18, 1865. — Extracts from Lieutenant-General Grant's 
 Testimony, page 524. 
 
 Question. “Has there ever been any misunderstanding with 
 regard to the conduct of the war, in any pjarticular , between 
 you and the Secretary of War, since you have been in com- 
 mand?” 
 
 Answer. “Never any expressed to me. I never had any 
 reason to suppose that any fault was found with anything I had 
 done. So far as the Secretary of War and myself are concerned, 
 he has never interfered with my duties; * * * * He has 
 
 never dictated a course of campaign to me, and never inquired 
 what I teas going to do. He has always seemed satisfied with 
 what I did , and has heartily co-operated with me.” 
 
 There, I think that will do. This controversy is not of my 
 seeking, and, as I have no desire to prolong it at the expense of 
 your columns, I shall most respectfully take my leave both of the 
 subject and of Major-General Sykes. 
 
 G. J. G. 
 
 
 
 Philadelphia, Jan. 2, 1866.