St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-10-07
SOUTHERN TRAVELS.
Extracts from Letters by w. HI. Her.
rick.

w. Fl. Herrick of st. Johnsbury is
enjoying a very pleasant trip in the
South. From private letters written
friends here we gather some items of
interest, including an account of trip
to the Gettysburg battlefield. There are
about 60 in the Raymond party with
which Mr.. Herrick is travelling and it
is in charge of Henry Wilson of Lyn-
dOnville. The party left Boston Fri
day going by the way of New London
to New York. A special boat carried
them to Jersey City where the south
ern journey may be said to begin and
here we will let Mr.. Herrick tell his
own story:
At Phillipsburg we cross the Della
ware river and from there on follow
up the Leigh valley. 1t is charming
journey and the Leigh valley is most
beautiful. The stream is a slow NOV
ing, quiet river, little larger than the
Passumpsic and as beautiful in an en-
tirely different way. All along we
saw the debris of the coal and iron
traffic and met miles and miles of coal
trains. At Allentown we leave the
valley and strike into Berks county, l
suppose one of the richest farming sec
tons in the world. The big corn fields
and the fields just coming up into win
ter wheat would make New England
farmer green with envy, and the big
stone barns look strange to our eyes,
but we miss the neat villages and farm
houses which New England can show
and, too, we miss the bright cOlOrs of
the New England forests. The green
foliage is quite unchanged in this sec
ton.
and the night was spent at Harrisburg.
The next morning the party went on
through an equally delightful country
until Gettysburg was reached and here
we let Mr.. Herrick resume the story in
| his own words:
We arrived at Gettysburg about 10
"a. IN. and carriages were in waiting to
take us over the battlefield. We drove
through the town to Cemetery ridge,
where the guide explained the first
days fight, which took place in and
about Seminary ridge, a mile or more
to the west and across the town. The
lunettes thrown up here during the
battle are carefully preserved and
mounted with condemned cannon.
Then we drove to Culp's hill and, with
out getting out of the carriages, the
guide told us of the fighting there and
the position of the Union line, the rife
pits being plainly seen and the marks
of the rifle balls on the trees.
Next we drove through the beauti-
fully kept cemetery and away off to
Little Round Top, passing many mon
uments in fields and door yards mark
ing the position of different regiments,
or where some officer fell, and passing
the DEVILS den, which was alive with
rebel sharpshooters in the battle, we
left the carriages and scrambled up the
rugged face of Round Top on foot.
Here the whole scene of the second
days fight lay like map at our feet
the wheat field and the peach orchard
and the whole of Sickles' line. Well,
it is one thing to read of such place
and quite another to stand on the spot
and be told, con that rock, where the
lady is standing, Weed was killed and
Hazlitt, bending over him to catch his
last words, fell dead on the body of
his FRIEND" or, "these stones were
piled up by our soldiers to protect
themselves from sharp-shoOters in
DEVILS den," and, "yOu might have
walked from one side of the wheat
field to another on dead bodies with
out touching the ground" and much
more of the same kind. From here we
drove to the "bloody angle" where
Pickett's last charge was made which
the guide described very graphically,
and to which we listened with absorb
ing interest. think the one thing we
cannot realize in reading of such things
is the extent of country which a great
battle covers. Pickett's lines were
mile long and to reach our lines was
terrible journey of nearly two miles.
All such details are fully understood
when one sees the ground on which it
occurred.
From Round Top to the bloody an
gle the road follows the line of battle
of that day and the place of each di
vision, brigade and regiment is marked
in the wire fence, and occasionally
there is a monument to some officer
who fell ON that bloody ground. AL
together L never spent Il forenoon in
such breathless interest as that one on
the field of Gettysburg.
Our next stopping place was the
Blue Mountain house in Maryland, only
II miles from Gettysburg as the crow
flies, but we came about I2O by rail,
travelling to all points of the compass.
We were constantly climbing the
mountains and the views grew wider
and grander until darkness shut them
out. The night was spent at the Blue
Mountain house, an admirable hotel
every way. When l awOke in the
morning and looked out it seemed as
though call the kingdoms of the
world" were in sight. The house and