The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-02-09
THEIR DIMINISHING RANKS,

THEIR DIMINISHING RANKS,
and literally melting under that fierce fire as
the rising sun disspates the morning mists
But still they halt not, falter not and now our
first line is reached-is broken and forced back
and their colOrs are planted amongst the bat
teries of our second line. But there that i'm
petuous wave has struck the rock. They have
met men as brave as themselves, and they are
hurled back in broken fragments, and the wave
is dissipated into spray, hundreds Of them
now throwing down their arms, while the re-
mainder in broken and detached fragments
endeavour to find their way back to their own
lines. And so great was the admiration for
their bravery entertained by our troops that
they were permitted to do so almost unframed.
/ myself heard our men call ont, Boys don't
shoot! It's pity to kill such brave fellows"
That charge was made by 5000 men, and /
believe it is stated that there was only enc field
officer who escaped unframed, and that was
the heroic Pickett himself.
While recognizing to the fullest extent the
| heroism and bravery of our own men, 1 am
| constrained to admit that the magnificent posi-
ton we occupied contributed very largely TO
the repulse of that charge.
There are comrades now living who will read
/ this paper who witnessed that charge; who
assisted in hurting it back, and who partici-
| pated in the glorious victory of that day. And
ask them to go with me in imagination back
|
| day. / have only recalled this episode that
may ask them to remark the contrast
We will now imagine that Sickles had re-
| tanned his original position; that the right
| connects with the Second Corps; that his left
is down in the low ground that he actually
occupied; that he has to cover a mile and
half of ground with 10000 men, and that he il
] probably without reserves, as it was only upon
| his persistent representations and
BECAUSE OF HIS MOVEMENT
that the Fifth Corps was brought over from the
right. We will throw out of consideration the
| fact that in such a case both the Round Tops
would have been occupied without a blow. We
will suppose there were no Round Tops there,
| but that our flank was protected by an i'm
passable morass or an unfOrdable river. We
| will now suppose Longstreet in the position
which Gen. Long so ardently coveted in the
morning and which 1t cost Longstreet all Of
| 10000 men to gain. With his troops all fresh
| and eager to attack and emulate the success of
the other two corps on the preceding day; with
his batteries planted at the Peach Orchard and
along the Emmittsburg road, with his So guns
| playing upon US, and with no good position for
| ours from which to reply to them las this fact
| Is universally admitted), he advances his $4,000
men to the charge; and this charge, instead of
| being made upon ground open and unobstructed
| to the full play of our artillery and musketry
as Picketts was, with double Pickett's force,
is covered by broken ground, ravines, rocks
and woods until within pistol range of our line.
| / would now simply ask what, in their judg-
ment would have been the result when our one
thin line should have received the shock of that
charge. If Pickett's charge, for which our
army had been all day preparing, was only
barely repulsed, what would have become of
the Third Corps when Longstreet struck it,
alone and unsupported as it was most likely it
| would have been, and with every advantage in
the confguration of the ground in their favor +?
am perfectly willing to abide by their deeis-
ion, and there rest the vindcation of the action
of the Third Corps on the second day of Get
tysburg
| 1.-THE End