Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1863-07-31
TILE INVASION 0F PENNSYLvAN1A-THE
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.-THE RETREAT TO
BAGERSTOWN

! BATTLE OF GETTYsBURG.-THE RETREAT TO
BAGERsTOWN.
We give below an extract of letter.
from an officer OF Northern Virginia. IT,
gives the only connected, Intelligent and
intcIiiybie account that has vc, been given
| to the public Of the movements Of General
Lee f"n his crossing Of the Potomac to
his rcturn to liagcr>to~n, after the bat:le
| Of Gettysburg:
THE GREAT PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN.
"Ike advance of the Second corps
crossed into Maryland on Thursday, June
18Th, rear Shcpherdstown. Gepcral
Rhodes had already crossed below Mar
tinshurg, md was occupying Hagcrstown.
Gcnera, jenkins was at Chamher>bnrg, and
Imbodcn about Cumberland. The second
corps, (rx"eptng RodcS' division) occupies
the battlefield Of An'letam the 20th, 2lSt
! and 2,3d Of Iane, aud marched beyond
! lIa.cistown on the 23d.--TEe reception
of lhesa gallant vic,o:s Of Winchester all
throu.l. tue lower valley was rctreshi' 6.
aud 1T ShepherdSiown fair ladies crowded
tic streets, and welcomed the soldiers with
, flowers and smiles. Sharpsburg was black
L rinn, but Uage'stowu turned ont w:ld
Will, joy 1T our approach. On the 9th
,, the corps pushed on through Grecncas,Ie
to Chamber sbnrg. ! should say here that
. EARLY bore off to Wayncshoro'. and was at
York wien the rest occu id Carlisle.
At G,ccncaste and CLanbersLurg the
stores We're taken possession Of ~ th'.
Qualterma>:cr, the contents sc:Zc1, so lar
as they were useful to The army, e. c. To
tie Q""r'ermaSter) and appropriated ac
! c"'ding to An accurate distribution by
Grief Quartcrmastc,s am1 sub Quarter,
masters. y Majo: General go, - hat. but
as 20 tho re.', has, shoes. t'o"ts, ca!;c"es.
whi>kc;. foi tic most pat, t..at great un.
fathomal'l" i ong", The active Quar- er
, masters Department gnt tllcm. Al sip
! tnru III AID ar1 a briisc burned. ';ne
! citizens, who turned ont in lar." numbers
10 witness the i',ssn,y Of til" rebels, were
g'nerai!y quiet. Occasionally you fond :.
, s!.iritcd gin, or n spunky parson. But, if
! one fact was more remarkable than any
other, i, IS this: That portion of Penn
syivania which our army occupied, was
complei"'y suyuga'cd; very few having
the courage to raise their heads. Forag-
ing ,hrivch. For little Confederate note
and often Tor nothing, soldier could get
quantities # onions, apple butter, cow hut
ter, ham, good Dutch loavrs, cheese, and
every de eis"Ltu thing in the grand cate.
: gerry ct the productions Of the great Cum
be,Iand Valley.
! "On FRIDAY, cc:h, we took mp tho line
! Of march through thamIcrsburg on the
; lIarrslurg road. The <plcndil band in
! tlic l:h Louisiana brigade, Colonel Will
lIams, preceded the column, playing Dix
! ic" and the Marsei.I.isc, whilst our rclcro$s
hammers tl.un,cd proIjlv over the da,k
columns Of on, gallant troops. the scene
suhjugate': that town. We passed through.
!: Shirpenshurg to the sound martial music
/. again. and went OH to Carlisle. The troops
! were not allowed TO plaH;lcr. llur>es
were taken and rc@rip'cd Tor b. autl."liz-d
agents: 5" will, Cattle and ib,nr. -. 'u:4
, "inS was ;nIr,ari, hGi ll:t. sr!.;.rrs w.r.
ex 'ccted TO pay to their supplies it WIS
Thought. AID perhaps rightly, that li:ons'
i pl"n!c'inS would dcn.ora!ize the Amy,
and render it useless for grca, a..sevc--
NESTS. But this was o. asionalIy car,:, d
to absurd lragrhs. We ovcrllra., at
offices. with l.c"rymose counlenaucr lie.
preciallng the destruction Of 81 cherry tree
by so;rc hungry rebels. The burning o
rails was al first prohibited. but after day
Or two il was generally permitted.
We stayed lonu enongl, at CmI:sle to
&c! what We w"ncd. Harrisburg WAS in
4 pan:c-and som. Of o,r officers went to
the banks of the Susqu"hanna and foun'l
them tortfyin:. the cn"rmoas heights on
the southern side. Early AID Jrrki,:s
were at York and beyond, seeing after the
bridges up as far as The river, all Of wL:cl
We're destroyed On the 3Oth johnson
marched back from Carlisle 10 Fayetteville
leaving Rhodes at Carlisle On Welnes,
day, July lst, A. Z. :Iil marched from
South Mountain to the reiahborbooh o
Gettysburg, followed by Johnson. Early
reached the same viuin'ty OH the same d,y
from York, and Rhodes from Carlisle
Meade's advance Of three or four army
corps disputed the occupation Of the town
giving battle 10 the north and east Of the
town from 10 \. NJ. to about 5 p NJ
The result was II glorious victory to the
Con'ederatcs. The invincibIe and gallant
Early, who ought to be Lieutenant Gen
eral, drove tile force opposed TO him iol
miles, and occupied the town. The It'll
corps of Charlottesville memosa, gave
themselves up hy thousands. Gordon:
brigade made what is regarded a. mos, bril-
! liant charge. 1t could bat be success!u
with such me- ami such leader The
Fayetteville road vas "cleaned out" b,
IIiIl-Rhodes swept dowr the Carlisle
road, and Err!y dom ,he Yorl: turn
pike. Pile loss OF the Corfelsratea II
killed and wounded was probably 600
The Ya"kee loss N killed probably reach
cd 100 aid his wounded 1000. We cap
tared most Of his. wounded and 52sl
additional prisoners.
"Gc tysbnrg is in Adsras county, Penn
svlvania, some whore hear eight miles from
the so.;th Mountsin, which is the e"sterr
boundary Of the Cumberland Valley. i
is beautiful town of some 5000 inlahi-
tants, and the cent'c Of The following roatls
road from Baltimore; a road from Fred
erick, both on the southern side nf The
town, and the thee roads just mentioned
between these two former roads and about
"a OF a: mile from the town were twe