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One of the best and poost graphic accounts of the invasion and the late repulse, which we have seen, is the following, from the pes of Mr. Cooke, the special correspondent of . The Ages The battle of Gettysburg will be one of the longest remembered of all the battlees of this war. It is the only contest yet fought upon Northern soil. It repelled an inva sion. It was sanguinary and desperate.— Both armies had good positions, and, what is most anomalous in war both occupied such advantageous ground that neither could drive the other away. At different times during the battle each commanding general contemplated a retreat. One made it, but the other did not. Both Lee and Meade wished to act on the defensive, but Misapprehensions made each attack at dif ferent times, and both attacks were defeat ed. Poor Reynolds lost his time when driv en back from his advance on Grahtown; and Barksdale felt as Longstreet’s Grand Division was repulsed in their fierce attack upon the Cemetery. Each commander, too, relied upon reinforcements to accomplish his purpose. Meade received his,but Lee got none. Eighty thousand men fought on each side, each army supported by at least a hundred cannon, and the losses may be safely stated at one fifth of the whole num ber engaged. Gettysburg, ~ amall inland town, had become as furious as Waterloo, . THE BATTLE FIELD, =~ On Wednesday morning, July 1,Gen. Rey nolds, with twenty five thousand men, the advange of the Federal army, approached Gettysburg from the southeast and began the great battle. The field upon which it was fought was a peculiar one. The South Mountain, a long ridge several miles nest of Gettysburg, is the great land-mark, and the most prominent spot near the town, in the hill upon which’ stood the unfortunate but farous cemetery, Gettysburg is situa ted in a valley.” ‘two ridges, a mile apart, parallel to each ‘other, are on each side of the valley. It and the ridges are all onryeay the concavity being towards the east. It was upon the saudges that the baitla was fought, the combatante advancing and re treating through the town and across the valley above and below it. There is but one stream of water on the field—a narrow swampy one, a mile south of Gettysburg, which runs zigzag down the valley towards the Monocacy. The lines of battle formed by the two armies were upon these ridges, and resemble two,large shoes, one inside of the other, ‘ THE BATTLE. In all the contests, except’the opening one, the enemy attacked. On Wednesda morning, General Reynolds, with the Fed eral advance, approached the town from the southeast,[] passed through And ‘out on the west side,towards Chambers burgy- We marched several miles, was, mut ‘by the enemy in stringer fires, and after a slight contest was compelled to retire.—. The enemy pushed King very hard, and he came into,the town on a run, his troops going along every available road, and rush ing out on the east side, closely followed by the enemy. One of his brigades came along the “Tape worm” A with a Confederate brigade on each side of it. All three were abreast, running as hard as they could— the two outside ones pouring in heavy fire into the centre, out of which’ than dropped killed or wounded, at almost every footstep. This Federal brigade, in maning that terri ble gauntlet lost half of its men. General Reynolds was killed, and Gettysburg was lost; but the Federal troops succeeded tt mounting the Cemetery hill, and the ohe mny ceased pursuing. At night the envoy encamped in the town and the Federal troops on the hill” .During Wednesday night and Thursday morning the two armies were concentra ting on the two ridges, which were the next day’s lines of battle, and by noon on Thursday each general had a force of eig hty thousand men at his disposal. Then be gan the great artillery contest, the infantry on both sides crouching behind fences and trees,and in rifle pity. The Federal aul diora in the Cemetery laid many of the tombstones on the ground to preventipac Ty, 80 that many escaped. ‘Tra wan but litle infantry fighting on Thursday, and neither party made much impression upon’ the other, The Confederates in the tow erected barricades, and had their ‘sharp shooters posted in every available spot, picking off Federal soldiers on the hills to the north of the cemetery... The cannonade was fierce and incessant, thet hell from both sites flew over and into the devoted town. Beyond killing and wounling,break ing trees and Shattering houses, and mak ing an awful noise, however, this cannonade had has little effect on the result of the hatile. Both sides fought with great feroc ity, and neither could drive the other out of position. On Friday night, fearing that the enemy had Hanking parties which might tarp his rear, General Meade had serious attuations of retreating and he called a council of war: “The advice of some generals, howexes, and the capture of his courier, with:oes from Richmond, from which’it was learned that the enemy would receive no reinforce ments, made him decide to remain. On Friday morning General Lee did not decice to make the attack. He’saw the su periority of the Federal position, and wished to entice them out of it, and down ‘into the galley. With thig deign’he withdrew all of his harpshooters and infantry from Get gysbark. The deserted town lay there vary tempting bait, but General Meade’s men’ hid, quietly behind the fences on trees and banka upon the hills. They could look down into the streets and see everything which was in progress. They saw the enemy march out and retire to that seminary, but made no advance, and the Confederates gained nothing by the move ment. A parting salute of musketry, how ever, from a knoll north of the cemetery, accelerated the Confederate retreat.” ‘For, aéme time the town had scarcely a soldid in it. Scores of dead and wounded men and horses, with broken wagons, bricks, stones, timber, torr’ clothing and abandon ed accoutrements, lay here. ‘the frighten ed inhabitants peered out of their windows to see what the armies were doing to cause such a lull, and almost afraid of their ow shadows, they hastened sway and crouch in corners and cellars at the sound of every shot or shell. General Lee’s evacuation had no effect, Meade was neither to be enticed into the town nor into the valley. Enough dead bodies lay in the fields and streets to give him warning of what happened to poor Ray nolds two days before, and he wisely deter mined to stay where he was and let eventa shupa themselves. ‘The enemy soon became impatient. ‘They could wait no longer; and after much solicitation from his subordin ates, General Lee permitted Generals Long street to send his grand division on a charge upon the cemetery. The Federal soldiers were on the alert .They were haid behind their embankments, some kneeling and some flat on the ground.The Confederate artillery opened. It was as fierce canon ade as the one the day before, but instead of being spread all over the line, every shell was thrown at the cemetery. Experienced soldiers soon defined what was coming, and in every portion of the Federal line the cannon were directed towards the gal ley in front of that cemetery. All were ready. Amid the furious fire from the Con federate cannon, scarcely a Federal shot was heard. The artillerists, implements in hand, crouched in the little ditches dug be hind their cannon. With arms loaded, the infantry awaited the charge. . Itoon came. From the wood of short, scrubby timber and the rocks near the semim inary there rose a yell. It was a long, too) unremitting, hideous screech from the ands of voices. At the yell the Federal, cannon opened. Soon the enemy’s cal+; amn’s emerged from the woods. They ‘came an @ rush down the hill, waiving thee ‘arms and still screeching. They dief fences ‘and rushed along, each one bent,
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Compiler
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Jul 20, 1863
Page 1
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 26 Jan 2026
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