Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-07-12
GETTYSBTRG.

=
| New York Tribune
a quarter of a century has passed
since the battle of Gettysburg turned
the scale in the war for the Union. The
men who are gathered here from both
armies to live over again the scenes of
the conflict are veterans now of the war
fare of life, though many of them may
have been beardless boys then. A large
proportion of these who escaped the
fearful ordeal of the three July days
have fallen since, and, of those who re-
main and who have joined in these pic
| turesque and touching reunions, many
| bear in their white hairs mute but
convincing testimony to the fact, which
it often seems hard to realize, that the
period which has elapsed almost equals
the life of generation. Most of the
great captains on either side are dead,
and it will not be many years before we
look back upon the battle of Gettysburg
as the soldiers of the Crimea looked
back upon Waterloo.
Gettysburg has often been compared
to Waterloo, because each battle had so
marked an influence upon the worlds
history. The comparison fails in one
important particular-that the battle of
Gettysburg was not Immediately deci-
sive of the war. The struggle cOntin-
ued for nearly two years more. But on
the part of the Confederacy, after the
defeat at Gettysburg, it was simply
fighting off the inevitable. The success
full invasion of the North by the Army
of Northern Virginia, reaching even
across the southern border of Pennsyl-
vania, and threatening Washington,
marked flOod-tide in the progress of the
Confederacy. When Lee set out upon
his mournful retreat the ebb had begun.
Beginning on the very day that Pember-
ton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant, it
was the first of the death-thrOes of the
Rebellion. However much both the
Southern leaders and people may have
deceived themselves with false hopes,
and however often many in the North
may have lost courage at temporary re-
verses, there was only one possible ter
mination to the conflict after GettyS-
burg and Vicksburg. The South was
already becoming exhausted, and though
she fought with desperate courage, the
effect was simply to postpone the cOnclu-
sion marked out by the finger of destiny
at Culp's Hill and the Round Tops.
The battle of Gettysburg is remarka- |
BILE not only for its results, but for the
fierce and stubborn nature of the con-
f1ict itself. The armies on both sides !
were large, though not so large perhaps !
as to make the battle pre6minent ON that
account. The figures on this point are
interesting. Those given by the COmte
de Paris may be accepted as obtained by |
careful investigation. The Army of the
Potomac, without French'S division,
which had remained at Frederick, num-
bered 167, PSI men, but nearly $4,000 |
were in the hospitals, and more than
21 900 were on detached service. The
number of men present with their corps
was 1888, and that of men under
arms 99,455. About 5000 men came
as reinfOrcementS under Stannard and
Lockwood, making effective forces of
105,000 men and 352 pieceso of artillery.
But 2,750 troops were on duty at head
quarters; the cavalry, numbering 1O,5OO,
were not seriously engaged; 5000 TO
4 900 were serving as additional guards
near supply trains, batteries, etc, and
there were probably 1000 to 5000 strag-
glers. The COmte de Paris therefore
estimates the Union force seriously en-
gagged at from $1,000 to $4,000 men.
to the official reports the
Union loss was 1884 killed, 1900
including ten generals, and
6,645 prisoners, or about %, ,l86 in all But
these figures do not tell the whole story
The hospital records show the burial of I
3,575 Union corpses, and it is estimated
that 1000 or 100 died of their wounds.
1t is estimated that Lee brought on the
battlefield for actual service $4,000 to
$4,000 men and $50 guns. The Confed-
crates had 1865 killed, 1859 wounded,
thirteen generals, and 7,464 !
or 22,727 in all, making their
losses almost exactly the same as those
lf the Union forces, though the latter {
army was the larger by One-fourth.
These losses were enormous, being q !
per cent. of the Union army, and 30 per 6
cent. of the Confederate army. They {
are proofs of the stubborn bravery of {
both the blue and the gray, which the G
of to-day can recall with pride v
Is well as with sorrow. I