Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-10-28

stead. Here is the mark where struck
rebellion's highest wave.
Here is the field where eye witness
es declare that for acres the rebel
dead lay so thick that it would have
been possible to walk the entire field
stepping on dead bodies. Here, a
little farther on, the Vermonters
swept out and enveloped the right
wing of the charging hosts; here it
is easy to trace the places where
Stannard's men lay during the tre-
mendous cannonade. Out farther,
toward Little Round Top, the monu
ments are thick, and the tales writ
ten there are bloody. Up to this
line Longstreet's wild devils came
when Sickles' corps retreated. A
hundred rods further on and up, is
the rocky and open face of the Little
Round Top. Standing along up the
rocky and steep sides are monuments,
showing where valor met valor.
"Greek met Greek" On fiat rock
on the northern slope of the hill. just
below the summit, stands the bronze
statue of Gen. Warren. 1t is diff
cult to realize that the figure is not
real. There he stands dismounted,
looking intently to the westward,
scanning the field. He had foresight
in catching the strategical worth of
this position which led him to send to
this summit a force which should
hold it, none too soon, however, for
Longstreet had discovered the ad-
vantage of the position, and his men
reached there almost at the same
time, and bloody fighting for long
time resulted. Looking into the val
ley below, the ground fought so
stubbornly over, back and forth, by
Sickles' corps, is spread out before
you, and the Devils Den, where one
of the bloodiest scenes of the war
was enacted, is close beneath your
feet. Here great cleft rock, caverns,
stones and boulders lie in all direc-
tions. 1t was among these rocks
that the rebel sharpshooters hid them
selves to greatly annoy the troops on
this Round Top and elsewhere. There
is valley between the two Round
Top SUBMITS, where the rebs pushed
up through, and thence along thro'
the woods to the top of Big Round
Top. There was sharp fighting in the
sag between the hills and all up thro'
the woods to the very top of Big
Round Top. We climbed up through
these woods and rocks to the top,
the whole distance still showing the
marks of war. On the very tip-top
there are monuments, and marked
battle lines where Longstreet's forces,
having climbed up an almost precipit-
Gus face of the mountain, were stop
ped by the Union forces. An OBJ
servatory on the topmost point af-
fords an opportunity to overlook the
whole country for many miles around.
The sight was beautiful and inspir-
ing. 1t was hard to realize, though
looking down on a field of hundreds
of monuments, that only a quar-
ter of century before the shock and
thunder of terrible battle rocked the
mighty hill beneath our feet.
We traced the line along which the
extreme end of the rebel right wing
lay as it was pushed forward to turn
our position to Round Top, and saw
the very spot where the reckless Kill
patrick sent in over walls, fences and
ravines the handful of cavalry under
Farnsworth which was so nearly de-
stroyed by the infantry and the bat
terry placed there by Hood. A little
to the north, perhaps 125 rods, is the
lane and house where companies E
and H, sharpshooters under Slough
ton, so greatly annoyed Longstreet's
men as they came in from the hills
westward Northeast from this po-
sition, across the meadow through
which runs small stream known as
Bloody Run, is the Devils Den and
the rocky ridges where Sickles' and
Longstreet's men fought backward
and forward for hours. The s'wheat
field" is not far in the rear, and off a
half mile to the right is the s'peach
orchard field, both places memora-
BILE as among the bloodiest places in
the whole field. Here are monuments
in all directions, and here were losses
of officers and men in appalling num-
bers. The bloody angle is pointed
out on the extreme front of the Sd
corps line, and the places where
Sickles and other brave officers fell.
Here the Emmetsburgh pike leads
into the town, and for long distance
northward line of battle monuments
shows where our advanced lines con-
tested the ground stubbornly. The
grounds over which Pickett's charge
was made are seen and crossed over
as one approaches the town. Just
as you enter the street a small house
is seen where Gen. Reynolds was car
ried when taken off the field; and
farther on a rebel shell stuck in a
brick house shows that all those mis-
siles did not burst. We have not al
luded to the very important cavalry
fight which occurred three or four
miles off to the northeast, where,
! doubtless, Lee placed the great BODY