The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-07-16
GETTYSBURG, July 2, 1869,

GETTYSBURG, July 2. 1869.
EDITORS OF TIFFIN TRIBUNE =
During my wanderings to and fro
through Dixie, | may, occasionally,
give to your readers the results of
my observations. Yesterday, ten
thousand people were here, at the
Monumental Inauguration.
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
1 will not repeat the story Of a
conflict that has rendered Gettys-
burg immortal in history and in song.
Here 10000 Union soldiers encoun-
tered and vanquished 10000 rebels.
The campaign of Lee into Pennsyl-
yania was planned with skill and
prosecuted with an energy that marks
his as among the first military minds
Of the age. DeplOying his lines along
yonder ridge and over these fields
and hills for more than FIVE miles, he
studded them with $50 pieces of ar
tillery, and forced Meade to contract
his lines to three miles of ridge and
bills, upon nearly every portion of
which he could concentrate the fire of
all his guns. On the first day he
broke the 1st Corps with Heath S
Division, killed Reynolds, aud scat
tered his troops whilst Ewell hurled
Rhodes and Early upon HOward's
18th Corps, and drove them broken
and panic-stricken through the tow
to the hill where the reserve artillery
supported by SteinWehr, was placed
in position and saved the fate of our
army. The morning of the second
day showed the two armies in posi-
tion, upon ridges mile distant from
each other, except in front of Gene
terry Hill, where Rhodes held the
town aud pushed his advance up to
within two hundred yards of our
lines. Longstreet held Lees left
with the fiery Hood commanding a
Division: whilst Egell held his left.
crowded close upon Culp's Hill, Wolf
Hill, and extending beyond Rock
Greek to MeAllister's Mill. For
three days the carnage ragged. For
tunately, the town was between the
lines, and as battery replied to bat
terry at long range, the necessary ele-
vation carried the shot and shell high
over house-top and spire. Lee,
standing on the cupOla of the Semi
nary, a mile from the Union center,
could witness every movement on the
field, whilst Meade was equally for
tunate in his position. Fa
LOSS OF LIFE.
Victory came to our arms, but at
fearful sacrifice. One-tbir6 of each
army was killed, wounded or caps
tured. More than $500 dead, and
33, 900 wounded, attested the despera-
ton of the conflict. The mum; ,r en-
gagged reached 100000, and of those
every twelfth man was killed or
mortaily wounded. Traces of the
struggle still remain. Here is Little
Round Top, occupied by Sykes, and
its rocks have been literally crushed
to sand by the cannonade. Culp's|
Hill, with its wooden summit, was
furroWed and battered, whilst Gene.
terry Hill was deiuged with iron hail.
A mile west, and in rear of the rebel
lines, stopped on the very spot
where Reynolds fell. Orchards,
barns and houses still stand, bearing
The scars and evidences of the battle.
1 stood in cluster of dead bushes,
in front of Round Top, where Capt.
Bigelow, of Massachusetts, won un-
dying fame with his battery. The
struggle, here, must have been awful.
In front, near Roses barn, Sickles
fell, and there in Jefries' peach
orchard the carnage exceeded that of
any part of the field. 1t was on the
Emmitsburg road, in front of our
extreme left, and here it was that
Sykes and Sickles fought the In trepid
Longstreet. Over 90G dead marked
the scene of this contest, and 600
rebels still rest here, most of them in
trenches and unmarked graves. Fur
ther north, we come to the field
where Pickett and Anderson assailed
our lines, and were repulsed with
such havoc by the corps of Hancock
and Sedgwick: and where the bat
teries of Doubleday from Zeigler's
grove made such terrible goshes in
the flanks of the rebel columns
And now, | pause on the very ground
where Dildine and Rough died, and
Ekere the glorious old 9Th Ohio per-
formed such feats of valor.
lAt the junction of the Emmitsburg,
Tarrytown and Baltimore pixies, at
the base of Cemetery Hill, is an old
fashioned tavern. Ample, enclosed
grounds and two wooden pumps in.
vite the teamster to feed and water,
and the old bar tempts him "to take
something" The venerable old nest
was pelted with musket balls and
pierced with cannon shot, but still
stands to bless and comfort the trav-
eler.
THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.