The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-07-12
AT GETTYSBURG.
Over 100, 900 People Visit
the Famous Battlefield.
Grand Reunion of Northern and
Southern Soldiers.
sPscchcs by Gen, Longstreet, Gen.
sickle, and Gen. Gorhon-l'ieksts
Famous Charge an Hsncock's Po.
sition,

versary of the battle of Gettysburg has been
celebrated, the Blue and the Gray have
again met each other on this memorable
ield, but this time as brothers, and it is safe
to say that the three days intercourse has
done more TO bind north and south together
than anything which has occurred since the
war.
The battlefield Is pronounced the beat
marked battlefield in the world There have
teen already erectei about 1875 monuments,
and the number will reach $50 when tue
work Of the memorial committee is com.
pleted.
Among the prominent men who took part
in the reunion were Gen. Daniel E. Sickles,
Gen. Henry w. Slocum, Gen. Joseph
Carr, Gen. Josiah Porter, Gen. Longstreet,
Gen. John B. Gordon of Georgia, Gen.
Hooker Of Mississippi, and host of others
from north and south.
GETTYSBURG. Pa, July Q, 1888. The most
conspicuous figure in this quarter century
annivers Try is Gen. Daniel L. Sickles. This
remarkable man is not only notable in con.
nection with this battlefield, but his career
before tue war was one OF the most brilliant
| In the country. No man in America was
ever tried for murder, and having undoubt-
| eddy killed his man, acquitted with more eclat
Sickles was the p ime favorite Of the gilt
edge society of Washington during Buchan-
ans administrnt on. He was a young man
| then. When Buchanan was mini,ter to
England, Sickles was his secretary of lega-
ton, and from 1855 to 1861, the future com.
mander Of the 3rd corps was a power in
| Washington.
The following New England organizations
participated in Sickles' great fight on the ID:
Massachusetts,, lst, 18th and 10th infantry;
Maine, Sd. 4th and 1ith infantry I'd. 4th and
9th batteries and battery d, 1st artillery: 1st
and I'd United States sharpshooters; New
| Hampshire, I'd and 18th infantry; Rhode
Island, battery E, LIST artillery.
Gen. Longstreet says Of his attack upon
Sickles' pos ton:
II am satisfied that my force, numbering
hardly $4,000 men, encountered during that
8 IL hours of bloody work not less than G5,-
700 OF the federals, and yet ther cb Arge was
not checked nor their line broken until we
ordered them TO withdraw. MIR. Whitelaw
Reid, writing most excellent account Of
this charge to the Cincinnati Gazette, says:
1T was believed, from the terrific attack,
that the whole rebel army, Ewell's corps in
cluded, was masssd on our centre and left,
and so single brigade was left to hold the
rifle pits on the right, and the rest hurried
across the little neck of land to strengthen
our weakening lines He describes too the
haste with which corps after corps was hur-
ried forward to the left to check the advance
OF my two-thirds of one corps. Gen. Meade
himself testiies [see his official report that
the Sd, the I'd, the 5th, the 9th and the 18th
corps, all of the l eth except one brigade, and
part OF the LIST corps, engaged my handful Of
heroes during that glorious but disastrous
afternoon. l found that night that 1929 of
my men, more than one-thrd of their total
,hor h 4 10, Loft 10 AL
records no par allel to the fight made by these
two divisions on the I'd of July at Gettys-
burg
GEN. sICKLEs' SPEECH
This assemblage marks an epoch. You are
Sui vivors of two great armies. You and
your comrades fought here the decisive bat
tie of long and terrible civil war. Twenty
five years have passed and now the combat
ants Of '63 come together again on your old
field Of battle to unite in pledges Of love and
devotion to one constitution, one union and
enc flag. Today there are no victors, no
| vanquished. As Americans we m all claim
a common share in the glories of this battle
| field, memorable for SO many brilliant feats
Of arms. No stain rests on the colors Of any
here for victory. Gallant Buford, who began
the battle and brave Pickett, who closed the
struggle, fifty represent tho intrepid hosts
that for three days rivalled each other in
titles to martial renown.
Among the hundreds of memorial struc-
lures on this field, there is not one bearing
an inscription that wounds the susceptible
tiles Of an honorable and gallant,foe. This
meeting is an historical event. We ded cate
here on this battlefield today an altar sacred
to peace and tranquility and union. We
SOW the seeds Of friendship etween commun-
tiles and states and populations once hostile
but now reconciled. We all share in the
hoN hyv< l,o I~zI~
north and south, east and west, from the
new America, born on this battlefield when
the republic consecrated her institutions to
liberty and justice. 1t is sometimes said
that 1t Is not wise to perpetuate the
memories OF civil war, and such was the
Roman maxim. But our civil war was not
conspiracy against a ruler it was not the
plot OF soldier to GUST a rival from power;
1t was not a pronunciamento The conflict
OF 6l-5 was war of institutions and systems
and policies. 1t was revolution ranking
in Importance with the French revolution Of
the 18th century, and with the English rev.
olutlon of the 18th, universal in the benef-
cent influence upon the destinies Of this
country and ineffaceable in the foot prints it
made in the path of our national progress.
The memories of such war are as indis-
tructible as our civilization. The names of
L'nco and Lee and Grant and Jackson can
never be effaced from our annals. Toe valor
ana 1ortltude and achievements OF both arm
les, never surpassed in any age, demand a
record in American history and now that
time and thought, common sanse and COM
mon interests have softened all tn, animosi-
ties Of war, we may bury them forever
while we cherish and perpetuate as Ameri
cans the immortal heritage of honor belong
ing to republic that became imrerishable
when it became free The war of 1876
was our heroic age. 1t demonstrated the vi
tslity of republican institutions. 1t illus
tratei the martial spirit and resources the
genius of the American soldier and sailor. 1t
was a war in which sentiments and ideas
dominated int rests. The lavish sacrifice of
blood and treasure, the unyieldng tenacity
OF til. combatants, the consistency and firm
ness of the people of both sides-men and
women old and young, rich and poor--sig-
nalized the great conflict as the heroic age
of the republic.
GOV. GoRDoNs ADDRESS.
Mr. prae;Jant E.IIa