Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-07-05


tHh First ans H.IevenEb Corps and stein
wehr's Division Of the latter which had
been left on the Hill as a reserve and
had not been engaged. But EwelI mis-
takenly supposed that Union reinforce
ments had arrived. and IS he had bim-
self not yet been Reinforced and had
besides achieved a brilliant success he
did not care 70 attack our lines in their
favorablB position with his weary
troops. This ProvidentiaI mistake OF
Ewell's saved to our army the position
on Cemetery Hill and cost the rebels
their ultimate defsat.
From these facts land they Are facts
whereof we have personal Knowledge
it wiz be seen what gross mistakes are
trusse3 up " Townsend in the follow
ing hOWery language
son Tuesday, tie last d1V 81 Jtgte, the
''Rebels were around this seminary in
''long lines Of battle, and their MOUNT
''ed officers riding 70 the brink Of the
''toWn were seen to look through their
glasses 20 Cethetsr5 Hili, a half mile
''aWag, and shake their heads with sat
''isfaetiOn TO find it unOccupied. = . =
"Thus came twilight upon the last
might Of June the stars were pale in
''the sky, for all the surrounding land
Escape was blO0d-red with the fires OF
''l05, ,001 arfded Hien, and the sun went
down to the rumble Of drums. 8
s'8ad you been in this cuPOIa on that
''J1st night Of June, you could have COM
''prehended from these lines Of near or
''distant eamp-fires the whole dlstribu-
''tion ofthe two vast arI5ies thatwere to
slaughter each other on these granite
''ridges. If you will draw asemieircle
''seven miles away to the West and
''North, 50 that it may touch the crest
''Of The South Mountain, its arc of Iu-
Grid flame viii represent the grand
''army Of General Lee, divided into
three enormous corps"
Mr.. Townsend then proceeds to de-
scribe in detail the position of the two
armies as they might have been seen on
the evening Of June 80 from the cupola
Of the Gettysburg seminary, while the
truth is that on that evening Meade S
advance was at least twelve miles dis
tant and Lees main body quite as far
from Mr. Townsend's Imaginary point
of observation.
Ifthe facts stated ia the first and sec
ond paragraphs above quoted are true
one very naturally inquiries why the
rebel officers who were so much graf
fled to md Cemetery Hill still
unoccupIed on Wednesday evening
did not Immediately move forward
and occupy that important posi-
ton. According to Mr.. Townsend'z IS
statement there were I05, 900 rebels
within sight of the Hill on that evening
while s0e k1aol0 there were no Union
forces except perhaps a few cavalry
anywhere near it until sometime in the
forenoon of the next day. It was GER
tainly most inexcusable and unaeeount-
BILE tactics for Lee with 105,OOO men to
remain nearly "a hours idly eneamped
within sight 50 important a position
waiting for the Union army to come up
and occupy it. It is equally unaocoun-
table that he did not with his arm 3 Of
10000 take possession of it the next
day after having beaten the two small
Corps of our army which alone were
present to defend it.
We expose these nisstatements in be-
half Of the truth of history. for
it is not proper that posterity should be
instructed concerning the pre-eminent-
ly turning battle OF the war by augur-
hole information operating upon the
heated Imagination of a newspaper cor
respondent. Truth and the credit OF
our soldiers suffered enough by this
sort of thing, during the war, and it is
time now that it should cease.
While upon this subject we desire to
say that tits most unjust tothe rank and
file Of the noble Army OF the Potomac
to t0E0m above al the country is indebt-
ed for the victory at Gettysburg, to as
eribe the credit of that victory to any
one man and attempt to make him par
egceyIeace, the hero of the battle. The
rebels were beaten back in their tre-
mendous assaults of Thursday and
Friday not by strategy or tactics, but
simply by the desperate and almost
unexampled fighting or our soldiers.
There were times during these assaults
when had single regiment given away
The line must have been broken. til
amy routed, and the United States
have been to-day. on this anniversary
of the nations birth and of the rebel re-
treat from Gettysburg, thing of the
past. There is scarcely room to doubt
that had Lee been successful in break
ing our line he would have captured
Washington and Baltimore, laid Phil
adelphia in ashes, and, cooperating
with the rebel rioters in New York and
elsewhere, have cut the railroads and
telegraphs, prevented a concentration
of our forces, and master of the Key
stone and the Capital, have dictated the
terms for the independence of the South.
To the brave men and officers then who
standing amid the murderous storm
when there was no hope of succor and,
naught between them and their eOun-
try's ruin-to these who then and there
breasted the tide of rebellion, and roll
led it back down the bloody slope of
Round top and Cemetery Hill is this
people indebted to-day for their nation
al unity and for all they love, cherish,
and enjoy Of Republican freedom in
America.