The National tribune., 1882-07-29
ON THE Battlefield OF GETTYS-
BURG.


Here the visitor is especially favored at the
| Springs A veteran Pennsylvania soldier
| Mr.. d. Holtzworth, who fought with his
regiment the Eighty seventh Pennsylvania
throughout the war, acts as guide and pilots
! his patrons over the ground in a wagonette
at a moderate charge When it is consid-
cred that the battlefield actually covers a
! space of twenty-five square miles, and that
| the drive extends over fourteen, it will be
perceived that the tour over the lines of the
opposing armies is quite an undertaking.
! Mr.. Holtzworth has in the course of fifteen
| years collected from soldiers of both armies
the record Of every division and brigade in
those bloody three days work From the
start to the finish the drive covers period
of upward of four hours. In the grounds of
days fight, when Reyuolds's first Union corps
was driven into and through Gettysburg by
A. p. Hills advance on the Chambersburg
pike. On the west side, not fifty yards from
the building, is the wood from which the
First South Carolina regiment emerged, and
on the opposite side, not 100 yards beyond,
is the wood in which Reynolds was killed.
| The exact spot is marked by an oak tree, with
a memorial-nOtice board, and to the north
of this, two hundred yards distant, is the
barn from which the fatal shot was fired.
The surrounding trees are riddled with
bullets.
Passing on into the town, the first halt is
made at Cemetery Hill, where are shown
Ricketts, Pennsylvania and New York bat
terry, and the Soldiers National Cemetery
The next pause is at Culp's Hill. Here is
the line OF breastworlls bending round. like
fshhook at this spot, and continued due
south over Little Round Top to Round Top,
which the master-genius of Hancock estab-
Gshed-tO prove in few hours the salvation
Of the Union. The trees at Culp's Hill bear
fearful testimony even now to the leaden
hail and the storm of shell which fell upon
them; scarcely one in twenty is untouched.
In the gorge to the left is shown the spot
where ,Johnson's division of Ewell's corps
broke in on the evening of the second day,
at time when the defenders had been with
drawn to the support Of the Third corps, and
whence Ewell was forced on the morning of
the third. The late Reunions on the field
have seemingly established two points at
least-that Ewell lost an opportunity each
the fortunes Of the contederaCy. The first
was in not Selling Cemetery Hill after the
rout of the First and Eleventh corps; the
second, not pushing his success on the even
ing of the second day. Thus much was the
Oracular dictum of the guide as the party
crossed to the Emmittsburg road-a two
mile drive, to witness the scene of Pickett's
charge. There remains little now of that
terrible half hours work. The peach orch
ard has vanished and is occupied by a corn
field. The celebrated clump, forming the
objective point of the charge, and held
by Gibbons and Webb, remains, however. a
conspicuous landmark. A little to the right
is a small knoll forming the point from which
STANDARDS brigade poured the decisive cross
fire, and near which Hancock was wounded
The field, across which the last 100 yards OF
the charge was made, is now fair shining
mass of wheat. There" said the guide, lit
was Just one mass of dead and diving, piled
up in great heaps" In this field last year
twenty bodies of confederate soldiers we're
plowed up, and removed, under the directions
OF General Bradley T. Johnson, to a resting
place on Nirginian soil. Turning to the rear
the wooded ridge occupied by L0ngstreet's
corps could be seem and further to the right
the seminary and the barn in which Lee had
his headquarters. A little further on the
vehicle, bearing to the left. passed the memo
rable peach orchard and crossed the scene of
the second days fight when Sickles was
driven from his advanced position by Long
streets corps. Nearly every rock in the next
half mile was stTeaked with grim testi-
monies of the leaden hail
To the right rose high and rugged the
form of Round Top, and the party presently
paused in the DEVILS Den, a designation
seemingly Inappropriate to the lovely and
romantic surroundings. Yet there is some
thing weird and terrible in the grandeur of
the huge granite powders strewn here by
some supreme CONFUSION of nature In
many places vines and creepers redeem the
terrible suggestions of the place; but here
took place the hardest fight in the battle of
Gettysburg. Posted in the recesses of the
rocks the confederate sharpshooters here
effected CHASTITY slaughter of the defenders
of Little Round Top and killed, among
many other officers, Vincent and Haslitt
The slaughter here on that eventful evening
OF the second day was appalling. The trees,
or what are left of them, are honeycombed
with bullets and the rocks notified with
spots in a fashion terrible to contemplate
Close by here Sickles was wounded, and one
spot is shown where q confederate soldier,
who had been dealing deadly execution, at
length received his quietus from bursting
shell, the marks of which are still plainly
visible The man was found dead beneath
heap of stones which he had piled up to
form a breastwork. AS the vehicle ascends
Little Round Top, iolting heavily over the
rocky road, the guide points out how two
other opportunities were lost by the delay
on the part of the confederates in Selling
the two Tops, which commanded the whole
line of Union intrenchments and Cemetery
Hill in the bargain. Standing on the ridge
OF Round Top, among heaps of shattered
powders and falling trees, among which three
cannon grimly trown, the visitor sees the