Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-11-24

InoWisff -pAftof When we went lus WHO
was, sitting up with herldaughteT, "a nice
i young woman who lighted ms up stairs
20 bed WheEe We felln tOfqa estioniug him
about the battle ,0f Gettysburg Il is
j strange how little anybody does know, OF
can know, of + q battle who fghts niit. II
have observed this about AL soldiers. iHe
A could enly. tell ps of one insidspt Of thF
i great fight, although an unusually INTEL II
gent youth, and that Was the charge made
I0u HsnGoCk's dtVisiou On the Sd day Of the
battle BY Long streets corps. Theu, too, q
soldier, noticed, does not appteetats q
.leiVilian's curiosity, aud especially bis
4 greeBness about q battle-in which he (the
soldier) has participated . The thing has
the feeshneS5 OF peaceful pursuits with
all its inexperienced have passed away from
i his sYmpathiea. 5,...,-
Being naturally anxious 70 see all that
could be seen ia one day We got up early
4 next morning, had 0nr breakfast at seven,
4 and turned out to gather up our company
and 90 OF over the different parts of the
battle field. We met two of them who had
taken the start Of us aud had already been
ont to the li0es occupied by the rebels on
the north side Of the town, uear the Semi
SO much. or course, the point OF peculiar
interest to MS aud everybody was the Cenl-
etery grounds, on one part of which bad
occurred the memorable hand 70 hand
RRhtine between the Louisiana Tigers and
q portion Of the 11th corps. Il is fmp0s.
si6le for me, or any one else, by writing,
to give you q correct idea of the topography
of the battle field. Nothing but q diagram
viii do that. eau only tell you that the
Cemetery lies about half mile south Of the
town OF Gettysburg, on the top of a grad
nal ascent from the town, and Is part OF q
ridge that runs back 10 d southern ditec-
of this ridge was our left flank. Our right
flank ran at zigHag, partly in q south
ern, then in western, and then
In . northern direction, the whole
forming horseshoe, the mouth of
which was protected by the South
Mountain. The position seemed.t to Us inn
pregnable, as, indeed, it had proved 70 be.
What especially contributed to make It so
was the fact that any portion Of the Eeld
could be reinforced very promptly, say
within half an hour, the several corps not
being anywhere more than q mile and .
quarter apart, and the most of them being |
still nearer, They could move. too, from
one point % another without beeomi9g |
exposed to the enemy's Gre, the surface en-
CLOSED within the horseshoe being convex.
The ldesdly fighting Of the great struggles |
Of the I'D aud Sd days Of July occurred at
four points, first near the gate Of the Gem.
etery which Was the apex Of the horse shoe,
where the Louisiana Tigers endeavored 70
storm our batteries and where SteinWhf's
and lSehnezss hrfgadaa hauGst sts''.s 49, I
TO hSnd; next, at the extreme left heel Of
the horseshoe at two places, one called
Sherfy's peach orchard and the other Lit
tie Round Top Mountain, where AndeEs0n's
and MCLIaW's divisions of the rebel army,
uumbeEiAgi about Q6 coo, 0veFwhelmed i
Sickles' division, and where at the critical
juncture sykes regulars saved the fortunes
of the day; next, at point on our right
centre called Spangler's Spring, where,
by means Of a gap formed by Rock creek
EWell's corps attempted 70 destroy Sloeums
corps in detail, and turn our whole posi-
tiOni next, and lastly, at o point on our
left centre where iL0ngstteet's corps was
ordered to make a last desperate attempt
to pierce our lines aud on which upwards
Of one hundred and fifty rebel cannon con-
verged their IRE.
do not intend to try to describe TO you
either the plan of battle or aha incidents Of
il as Ithey have been told to us here. That
would oeeapy all your columns and more,
too. .- - -. .s,'.-,sss...
After examinipg the grounds at the Gem
eteFy, including the plan of that part Of it |
recently bought BY the State Of Pennsyl- |
yania, amounting 70 seventeen acres, 10 |
(which our dead ARE now being buried, |
we walked over to the scepe Of thei last
grand struggle Where, aSI have before said.
the rebels eOuVeFged q Cross fre on us |
from more than $50 gppsrRpd charged rs
with the whole strength Ofthetr right wing. |
The havoc here is said 70 have been dread
fal.i Our batteries played on the attack |
with grape and canister 1t the close range
of SOD yards, and two divisions Of Ouriins
fahtry, securely posted behind alstOueWall,
played on it With minnie balls at less than
500 yards. Itis said thatWh0le companies
of the rebels In the attack on this point
were literally blown OF their feet aud
incredible. As We passed along itbe side Of
the stone wall uext 70 the enemysWe found
Il all spotted over with the peculiar blae
marks made BY bullets on stone. WeialsO
picked up as many bpllsts as We, S'AFea 70
carry aWRy- ~, - 5i,5l57 irsa 7i--ste-7i
Near spapgierss Spring, tbe.seenel one
Of Tho other, great strpggtes, I'VE saw Q
sight that was teFrible, even iatTthis late \
day, TO look upon, viz: the dead buried 4
in heaps, or in trenches as Il is termed as 4
many as tWepty-one rebels being pntfn .
single trench and covered over With . little
earth, Every tres in this wood seemed 70
/ have borne q eonspienons part IN the sttue-
lple, although the woods are dense. They
were litteraly riddled. Treesla foot thick
had been torn oR BY the crashing cannon
balls. Their branches had been torn TO
lshreds by the showers Of deadly mtssfies.l
lItBas down by this Spring that We drove
tEWelps corps like sheep out Of our lines
lcftti1g them down by hundreds on fheir
retreat. IS 8
This letter e already much too long, and,
I yet Ihave not said . word about The ora
tion. To the thousands who had come
4 like ourselves, from . distance 70 Gettys+'
burg. the absorbing feature Of interest was
the battle feId, and not the eeremouiessOt