The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-04-15
GETTYSBURG.
Skirmish Which Had an Important Bearing on
that Great Victory.


To THE EDITOR: wish to say a few words
about the battle of Gettysburg-abo an in
cident l have never seen in print, and to my
mind was of as much Importance in gaining 4
victory at Gettysburg as anything l have ever
seen yet. Well do / remember the 1st day of
July, 1863. The Third Corps were lying near
Emmittsburg. We received orders to march at
once and distant cannonading revealed TO Us
that a battle was in progress. 1t was very
warm. On our way we passed through one of
the worst thunder showers that ever saw. We
had ali we could do to keep our guns and am
munition dry. Toward night we began to meet
citizens, who said there had been a great battle
fought, and our men had been whipped, and
great CONSERVATION prevailed among the people;
but when they saw SO large body of troops
coming their JOY knew no bounds, and we felt
that we were among friends-the first we had
seen since leaving hOme-and that we were
fighting for our homes, which put new life i'll
the soldiers. Every soldier felt that he could
say to the enemy: Thus far shalt thou go,
and no farther" We arrived on the ground
about dark, and little did we think that before
2i hours that would be the scene of one of the
greatest battles On this continent The next
morning all was quiet; the troops were lying
around in squads amusing themselves as best
they could; some were writing, perhaps their
last letters home, and others We're talking with
citizens, who began to come around and listen
with wonder to the big stories the boys would
tell them; others were off to tho nearest farm
houses to get something to eat, for ratiOns were
scarce with us at that time. The people would
take no pay, but said we were welcome to what
they had. Thus things went on until about
noon, when three companies of my regiment,
mounted, (abOut 100 mem and the old Sd Me.
(about 200 men) were sent out under Col. Ber-
dan to reconnoiter and find out what the enemy
was doing. We advanced over one mile and,
pnrN1ino int piapc of yycp1- turned tn the
right-the sharp5hooters as skirmishers and the
I'd Me. in reserve. We had not gone far when
we saw the rebels coming out OF a piece
of woods to our right. They had line
of skirmishers and three lines of battle. Of
course we opened fire. The Sd Me. came
right into our line, and we went at the
rebels for all we were worth. The rebel
sbirmish-lin did not fire shot, but broke
and vent back on the next line of battle.
We followed up, cheering and piling in the
shot so thick that we soon broke that line.
We were so encouraged we thought we could
drive the whole Southern Confederacy. We
red0ubled our efforts till we succeeded in mix
ing them up so they could not do anything.
They were obliged to move by the ght flank
and get into the woods Our lines not being
long enough to cover their whole front, our
lire had been concentrated on their left, and
while we were driving back their left, their
right flank was advancing and soon they had
us nearly surrounded and if they had known
what a small force We had they could have
taken every one of US prisoners for we were
mile from any support and an open field to
cross to get there; but when they did open fire
our men began to fall, and l think within 10
minutes time we lost one fourth of our men in
killed and wounded. My Captain was wound
ed and the First Lieutenant killed. 1t was
certainly the hottest place / ever got into for
short time; and when we think that the fire
of whole division from II, 900 to 10000 was
concentrated on 800 men, it is wonder that
any one got out of there alive; but we did,
with only the loss of two or three prisoners,
who did not hear the order to retreat. Onr
men (the prisoners were released the next day
and came into our lines. They said We had
attacked the advance of Longstreet's Corps
(about $4,000 mem, and that we gave them
such drubbing that they thought we were
going to attack them in force. They asked
how many men we had there, and they told
them there were enough to attend to all they
could bring on. Therefore LOngstreet waited
over two hours for our men to attack before he
made the attack on our left flank at Gettys-
burg. Two long hours were of vital importance
to us, for we had just time enough to bring up
reinfOrcementS to save the day; as it was, our
left flank might have been turned, and what
would have been the result? l can't tell. 1t
seems to lie, though, that the Army of the PO-
tomac could never have been whipped there-if
properly handled; and any man who saw the
old Third Corps fight at Gettysburg on the
I'd day of July, against three or four times
their number, repelling charge after charge,
contesting every inch of ground and only Civ
ing way when completely lanked and out of
ammunition, and when 800 men beat back
and held $4,000 for two hours such men can
never be whipped by any fair means.-NA-
THANIEL SESSIONS, Co. 1, 1st Berdan's Sharp
shooters, Hubbardston, Mich.