The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-12-30


Perhaps the chapter on Gettysburg is the .
masterpiece Of the work. The part of the |
Second Corps here was so very important that /
the description involves the en-
tire vast operation, except that the author
does not go into the details of the disastrous
encounter of Reynolds and Howard with the
Confederate advance on the first day. The
explanation of the field with its military
bearings is perfectly simple, and the painting
of the struggle is so vivid that the contor-
tions of the giants in the death grapple stand
out as if depicted on glowing canvas. We
do not think of any great battle piece COM
parable with it except Victor Hugo's famous
story of Waterloo.
We have not space to quote from his de-
scriptive passages, but in view of the recent
special interest aroused in certain events of
the second day we make the following ex-
cerpt, which succeeds the authors enumera-
ton of the position of the respective corps
on the morning Of July 3:
These dispositions gave to the center and
left, as it proved, an inadequate force, owing to
the conviction of Gen. Meade that the enemy
would make his first attack on Cemetery Hill.
But weak as was the left, it was still further
weakened by an advance made by Gen. Siekles
in the early afternoon, by which he abandoned
the line drawn from Cemetery Ridge toward
Little Round Top, and threw his corps forward
to the Emmttsburg road. This was done
without notification to Gen. Hancock, so that a
gap of some hundreds Of yards appeared be-
tween the right of the Third Corps and
the left of the Second. Moreover, the
advance of Gen. Sickles to the Emmittsburg
road, which ran, as stated, obliquely across the
field toward the enemy'5 position, not only
brought the Third Corps into very advanced
position, but left its flank in air." offered to
the enemy's blows. TOremedy this defect Gen.
Sickles resOrted to the next most dangerous
device in warfare namely. the formation of an
angle, both lines Of which were subject to an
enfilading fire. Extending Humphreys Divis-
ion and portion of Birneys along the
Emmittsburg read to that Peach Orchard
which was so soon to become forever memorable,
he refused the rest of his line, comprising the
brigades of De TrObriand and Ward forming
them in line drawn from the Peach Orchard
backward, southwesterly, to rest on DEVILS
bCut - Nllut lOCky ROIRct VI nlEnly SluRuldE
formation, which lies in front of Little Round
Top.
As this movement of Gen. Sicllles led to
momentous consequences, it has become the
subject of much controversy. Gen. Siekles has
recently put forward defense of his action.
1t is certain that Gems. Meade Sedgwick, Han
cock, Warren, and nearly every other officer of
distinction, deemed this step unjustifable at
the time, and disastrous in its results. Gen.
Siekles alleges that he had not as many troops
to hold the left % should have been given him.
But the smaller Gen. Sickless force the stronger
would seem TO be the reasons against doubling,
as he did, the length of the line he was to hold.
Gen. Sickles further says that the Round Tops
| formed the key of the position at Gettysburg
that Gen. Meade had neglected to occupy them,
and that his movement was to cover and pro-
tect that position. But Gen. Sickles did not, in
his movement, cover either Of the Round Tops.
his line eeasing at the Devils Den, so that
when the enemy, Outflanking Ward and DE
| Trobriand, began to swarm up the slopes OF
| Little Round Top, it was not troops of the
Third Corps but troops OF the Fifth, coming up
| from the Baltimore pike, which they en-
cOuntered. Again, the commander of the Third
Corps alleges that the ground he was asked To oc-
cupy, on the extension of Cemetery Ridge to-
ward Little Round Top, was low and untenable,
and that the position to which he advanced
was strong and commanding. 1t is true that
for three-quarters of a mile the line assigned to
Gen. Sickles was not good one. It will hap
/ pen, in battle, that, in order to hold the best
| line for the whole army. some one body of troops
may be required TO take position not in itsell
desirable. The forces which disposed the sur,
face of the earth have generally so acted as tC
| produce few lines of battle which have not
weak point. In occupying q position an army
must take the bad with the good. the weak
with the strong. The general line from Culp:
Hill, across Cemetery Hill, down Cemetery
Ridge to Little Round Top. was, on the whole
very strong one. 1t had one weak point a
described. Here the ground over which raj
the Emmittsburg road was preferable; bu
Gen. Sickless attempt to piece out one line will
| the other and to combine the strong points o
both, proved futile and disastrous.
Another of the most interesting portion
of the narrative is the chapter which deal
with the remarkable foot-race across tn
plains and hills of Virginia in the Fall o
1863, under Warren, eliminating in the eul
de-sac at Bristoe Station, an opportunity los
by the Confederates so blindly that one coul,
almost imagine their legions had fallen, 70
the nonce, under the guidance of som
whilom Union commander. The story her
trips along as though rejoicing that the heav.
task at Gettysburg was done.
More than third of the book is file,
with the long chronicle of blood from tn
Wilderness and Spottsylvania to Appomat
tox, wherein the author shows how, b
ceaseless attritiOn, constant hammerins
rivers of blood spilled, tired, footsore an
exhausted, the heart of the gallant corp
was finally broken at Cold Harbor. 1t wa
like the wearing away of Hannibal's victori
Gus veterans after years of campaigning i
Italy, till at last the resistless charge, tina
was wont to ride down all in front of it, los
its impetus through prodigal exercise of il
splendid powers. Blunted and dulled q
Cold HarbOr, and by an endless succession {
fruitless assaults, we see at last the failure {
the Second Corps to rally at the words of il
peerless leader at Reams's Station, and Har
cock, looking back upon the glories of til
past, prayed for soldiers death upon tha
field of battle
Still We see something of the old life re
stored to this matchless corps when, after res
and recuperation, it nobly did its share