The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-08-27
A Famous Battle Field.
GETTYsBURG, Pa, Aug. Z, 1874

E(tILOTS CITOGtCGG ltttV h1C'tt"tO''
Near the house from which I am penning
these lines the headquarters of General Lee
were located during one Of the memorable days
of July, 1863. Not very far off is the spot
where the Federal General Reynols, in the
beginning of the first day's Engagement, had
his neck broken by a shot from one OF our
sharpshooters. He was at the time General
Meade not having arrived) commanding the
'Army Of the Potomac" Visiting the ground
a few minutes ago, found rude board indi-
eating the place where he met his fate. 1t is
not easy to realize that this region, now so
quiet, so beautifully diversified with hill and
valley, was the theatre of the most bloody and
decisive battle of the recent war. There IS
nothing in this air so soft and balmy this
morning to indicate that it was once vocal
with the shrieks of shot and SHE'LL carrying
torture and death to the brave men who here
struggled for Southern independence. Nor Is
there anything in the sumptuous entertainment
furnished at the hotel which covers the spot
where hostile armies met to indicate (save by
contrast) the interiority and scantiness OF the
rations on which our soldiers were compelled
to subsist.
l agree with those who think the fortunes of
the Confederacy were scaled with our failure
to succeed 1--WE we're not deteated) at this point
General Meade once said to your correspon-
dent, eff Lee had whipped me at Gettysburg
it would virtually have ended the war lie
could then have gone to Baltimore, Philadel-
phia or New York. There were no troops
which could have resisted him effectually, and
he would have compelled an acknowledgment
of the independence for which you were fight
ing" "And do you know" said l in reply,
General, how YOU came to whip us there? |
will tell you. Stonewall Jackson was not
there" It was even so. The occasion needed
lust the perseverance, and dash for which this
great soldier was eminent But he, alas ! had
fallen some sixty days previously by the hands
of his own men, and could not, as he generally
did, see and seize the key position of the con-
fict.
In common with multtudes of others, have
often asked why, when the enemy were in full
retreat on the first memorable day, did our
men cease from pursuit at i o'clock in the
afternoon? Why did they not improve the
grand work Of the day, and rushing on, cap
ture the famous cemetery heights so obviously
Ito one who now looks over the field) the emf
hence which must secure victory to the party
obtaining it? With four hours good daylight
remaining why did they not perfect the work
of the enemy's decentralization which had been
so effectually begun? Ionly know one answer
to these questions The old Roman would
have said, sic non rolccre parcas. As a Chris
tian, say "the Divinity that shapes our ends'
did not intend it. With victory actually in
our grasp, had we but shut our hands, with the
prize sought almost in view, we lost ii Well,
since ordained by !. higher power, | accept the
situation. hoped, | worked for Southern in
dependence, but since it could not be, am
willing to believe that it is better for all con-
ccrned that the struggle terminated as it did.
But for the tyranny and oppression which have
characterized victors who could well afford to
be magnanimous, it would be far easier to ac-
qucsce in the result. Despite the mailed hand
with which they have governed us and are
still seeking to impose measures most odlous
and iniquitolls, if we arc but true to ourselves
and to the Great Arbiter of human destiny, we
shall emerge from all these calamitics purified
and ennobled.
A common impression prevails that Gene
terry Hill was not occupied by the Federal
troops on the first day of the engagement.
But this is a mistake At half-past o'clock
on the morning of this day, General Howard
and his signal officers, together with the Pro-
fessors, in the College located here, were sur
veyeing the country, when one of the Irofes-
sors, an old resident, called the attention of
the General to the importance of the position.
Howard was 50 much impressed with the value
of the point, that on the arrival of General
Stcinwehrs Division at / o'clock p. NJ, though
his aid was greatly needed to support the Fed
eral columns which were giving away before
the CALLING fire Of the Confedcrates, he ordered
Steinwehr to occupy the hill and be prepared
for any emergency. The Federals claim that
our men pursued their advantage until they
were repulsed by fire from the sharp shooters
on this ominence. However true this may be,
there can be no doubt that it would have been
far easier to wrest the position from demor-
allied foe, than to wait, as was done, nearly
twenty-four hours and then attack them when
they had fully one hundred guns in position
and been recruited by the divisions which were
concentrating there from the surrounding
country.
How true is it in war, as we'll as in peace,
that men reap the glory which has been won
by another The man most honored and culo
gized by the dominant party in the late war, is
the President of the United States, and yet the
South was virtually conquered when he took
command of the Federal army. We never had
victory after the Gettysburg disaster. Of
course there were repeated engagements in
which we secceeded in holding our entrench-
mcnts and fortified positions. There were
times when we could not be driven back so
rapidly as our assailants desired, but there was
no marked success. And yet Meade, who
fought the most important battles, was quickly
superseded and forgotten. Though General
Gran. appears as the Chief Captain when our
fortunes we're obviously and rapidly waning,
and when it would seem that almost any man
of any calibrc, with such vast resources, must
have been successful against an enemy exhaus-
ted by protractcd contention against superior
odds, he is the great man of the day, rcaping
all the honors, and taking his place in history
as the acknowledged hero of the war
But it matters very little now with Meade
what was thought of him. lie has fought
his last battle !'' He has been met and over
come by an enemy who always proves himself
too strong even for the most mighty an enemy
before whom every reader of these lines will
one day succumb Our own beloved Lee, too,
l. c,1 IoEo f1,o nf