Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-12-14

Of Gen. Meade on Friday. This will al
ways be point OF great interest. The
house is sadly shattered, and the pool
widow who owns it complains bitterly o
her losses "When | comes home, my
house was all over blood the 'sojers took
away all my coverlits and quilts, two tons
of hay, they spilled my spring, my apple
trees and every ding" She says couple
OF hundred dollars would be great help tc
her, and thinks she should get from some
veres." Sure enough, why shouldn't the
poor woman get it? In the garden of a
cottage in the little village of Waterloo
the visitor is shown the monument erected
over the Marquis OF Angleseas leg, and
the poor peasant has made quite little
fortune by exhibiting the boot cut from the
leg and the table upon which the amputa,
ton was performed This hint might not
be thrown away upon more enterprising
person, but doubt if this poor, old, frowsy
German woman will ever profit by it. To
the right of Cemetery Hill was stationed the
battery so furiously assaulted by Hays
brigade of Louisiana Tigers. The lunettes
| and traverses remain undisturbed and
| grass-grown.
| The little eminence in front was held
and with distinguished honor, by that con.
scientious and patriotic soldier Brigadier
Gen. Wadsworth. The works thrown up
by our men on Culp's Hill are still to be
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 pulling to pieces these
monuments, and converting the timber in
to fence rails and cord-wood The effect
Of the furious fire poured upon EwelPs
swarming columns is visible enough
| Hardly a rock or a tree in front of these
works has escaped. Many of the trees are
covered and SCARED with bullets as high
as fifty feet from the ground. There was
| wild" +" as well as deadly shooting here on
that fearful Thursday night and Friday
morning. Along this rough, rocky hill
fought our own Geary, ond that distin-
guished Rhode Islander, Brigadier General
Green. Five months after. at the desper-
ate midnight battle of Wahatchie, in Look
out Valley, this indomtable fighting officer
only added to the laurels already gained at
Antietam and Gettysburg. An inscription
on tree blose by tells the story Of large
mound in the ravine below " To the right
lie buried forty-ive rebels !" From here
we struck across to the scene of the first
| days fight In the following communica-
ton to Governor Curtin, General Cutler
tells us how the battle opened 81 owe a
duty to one of yonr regiments, the 56th, and
| its brave commander, Colonel j. w. Hof-
mann. 1t was my fortune to be in the ad-
vance on the morning of July lst. The at
mospnere being little thick, took out
my glass to examine the enemy, being a
| few PAGES in front of Colonel H., he turned
to me and inquired, Is that the enemy p
My reply was Yes Turning to his men,
he commanded, Ready-right oblique-
aim-fire = and the battle of Gettysburg
was opened. The fire was followed by
| other regiments instantly, still, that battle
| on the soil of Pennsylvania was opened by
her own sons, and it is just that it should
become a matter of history" Here is the
ground fought by our brave cavalrymen,
under Pleasanton Buford, Fitzpatrick,
Farnsworth, Merritt, Custer and Gregg
Never, in any preceding campaign, had
the cavalry of this army rendered such dis
tinguishcd and Invaluable service To
meet the enemy was to overthrow them,
until, at last, it was only with the greatest
difficulty that Stuart could get his men to
stand at all. The next point reached was
the scene of the bloody though unavailing
struggle of the lst and 1lth Corps The
marks of battle still abound, but the inter
est centres in the spot where Reynolds was
killed. The General was nearly up with
the skirmish-line-no place, say military
men, for a corps commander but that
was just like John Reynolds :" and he had
Just dispatched several of his aids, Capts.
Baird, Rosengarten and Riddle, on some
special duties, and was himself watching
the deployment of brigade of Wisconsin
troops, when the fatal bullet, fired by a
sharpshooter, struck him in the neck and
he fell off his horse dead Poor Reynolds !!
There have been tears and breaking hearts for
thee.
We now stand in the National Cemetery,
on Cemetery Hill Who can stand unmoved
in this silent city of the dead. Here repose
the precious offerings laid upon the altar of
the country by the 10y Il States Ordinarily
the filling up of a cemetery is slow work
the work of years. Three days suficed to
fill THIS And what is the reward of those
brave men for their weeks of weary march
ing and days and nights of fearful fighting!
1.-TWO PAGES of the vilest earth !" Here
they lie, ''those demi-gods p of the rank
and file unknown !""unknown !" the on
ly epitaph of hundreds Yes, here they
lie, "massed" with beautiful military preci-
sion, rank upon rank, as if awaiting the
! order to appear in review before the Great
Commander-in-chiefo of us all
up many fortress wall
They charged-those boys in blue
Mid surgng smoke and voleying ball
The bravest were the first to fall
To- faV for me and go"'"
Who can ever forget those terrible days
of July. That period of agonizing sus,
pense
And when the news did come, Oh, how
that sad catalogue pulled upon the heart
strings Reynolds, Zcok, Farnsworth
Card, Weed, Jetfards, Taylor, Arrowsmith
O'Rourke, Lowery Cross, Hazlett, Vincent
Devereaux, Willard, Adams, Miller
Period of honor as of woes,
What bright careers twas thine to close,
DIark'd thy roll of blood what names.
To Freedoms memory, and to Fame's
Laid there their last immortal claims
SO ends my story of Gettysburg.
| PHILADELPHIA, Nov, 1865. q. J. G.
Twice RUINED---"I never was ruined but