St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-21
GF1TYSRURG.

Gettysburg was the nations salvation.
When the sun went down in blood on that
memorable third day of July, 1868. the
Union was saved. The backbone OF the
rebellion was broken when LEE gathered
together his shattered legions and retired
from the field at Gettysburg. 1t had been
the bloodeSt struggle of the great civil con-
flict, for when the armies of
LEE and MEADE met on Penn
sylvamia soil both felt that it was
to be the crucial test Of strength. They
knew that the result was. in a measure, to
be the fiTal determination of the contest.
Each of the two great commanders had mis-
givings as to the result. MEADE was to
make his maiden effort as commander of
the Army of the Potomac. Although his
army was flushed With recent victories on
the Rappahannock, LEE realized that this
was % be his first effort 70 win battle with
out the aid of his great lieutenant, STONE
WALL JACKSON, who had been killed at
Charlottesville.
For two days the battle had ragged with
ferceneSs, without any decisive gain to
either side. When the sun rose on the
.
armies of modern times stood facing each
other. nerved to a desperation that only
American soldiers could experience. The
hours wore on and the sun had climbed the
meridian. without movement from
either of the opposing forces. They
continued to frOwn upon each other
in Sullen hostility. without either
manifesting desire to attack. At last the
suspense Of the painful silence was ended
by the sound of single gun from the rebel
lines A moment more of anxious silence,
and then suddenly. as if all the furies of
hell had been released at once, a sheet of
flame and bechng smoke shot out from the
Confederate batteries. A roaring response
came back from Round Top and Cemetery
Ridge, where the Federal guns had been
slumb1ring through all the sultry July day.
For two long hours the symphony of the
fierce cannOnade rose and Swelled through
the plains and reverberated aganS the dis
tant mountains, the earth re-belIOwed with
the sound. the sulphurous shrOud of battle
WIeathed the fields and woods, and veterans
who had hitherto been strangers to fear
stood aghast at the terribleneSS of the
scene. Such an exhibition of ma
jestic war had never been witnessed
as those four hundred pieces of
artillery increasingly rent the hills around
with their clamorS louder than the bolts of
heaven. and vomited their death dealing
missiles into the opposing ranks. At the
end of the two hours long line of gray
clad infantry slowly moves out from grove
LII.
t0v Il the ridge. three quarters of a mile
distant on which another line of
blue-clad soldiers lie in waiting. The
critical hour has come. 1t was PICKETT
and his iyi .., of Virginians ad an ing to
make lie final assault On the Federal center.
NJ DF c"acen ties his guns on the adj
ancing line. Again flash the red artil-
leI, o.a Kou.d Top and Cemetery Ridge.
Dea,h II nned horribly CHASTITY smile. for
he knew that his famine should be filled.
In all the annals of war there is nothing
equals The magnifcence of that final strug-
gle on Round Top. 1t will be famous as long
as battles are recorded. The spectator
who was privileged to witness the scene
could not erase il from memory if he should
try. It was a scene of such stern magnifi-
cence that ne would not desire to forget it
if he could. And yet he would not
wish to see it again in all its horrid
reality. With what pleasure is it, then,
thanks to the genius of man, he realizes
that it can be reproduced on canvas,
wu,repn is pictured with startling natural
ness the very ground over which the bloody
contest waged ana all the details of the
heroic struggle, and yet feel the comforta-
BILE assurance that it is only the creation of
art and not a real harvest of death. That
was the sensation which those experienced
who looked on the panorama of Gettys-
burg. opened TO the public for the first time
in this city yesterday.