Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-05
GETTYSBURG TO-DAY.
Stone and Bronze Monuments Scat.
tered Over the Space
WHERE HEROES FOUGHT AND DIED.
A Glance at Silent Testimonials of Valor
to be Found There.
SOME OF THE NOTABLE MEMORIALS

HAGERsTowN, Md, July 4.-Upor
North Buford avenue, one of the many lane.
over the field of Gettysburg perfected by the
Memorial Association, near the intersection
of Mummasburg road, stands huge arched
slab of granite, its arched edge left rough.
hewn as the stroke of the sledge fashioned
it, and its face bearing a beautifully chis.
eled figure Of mounted cavalryman, car.
bine in hand, slit ing upright and alert, face
to the enemy. 1t is the monument marking
the position of the Seventeenth Pennsyl-
vania Cavalry in the first days fight, when
the first Corps held A. P. Hill SO long and
so valiantly.
This monument, writes correspondent Of
the Philadelphia Ledger, is but one of 800
and more memorials in stone and bronze
scattered over the great space covered in the
three days contention, and now dedicated
forever to the public through the intelligent
and patriotic efforts of the Gettysburg Bat
tleteld Memorial Association. The tracts
secured by this organization embrace to-
tai of about 450 acres, made ap of irregular
spaces over the entire field. The sum ex-
pended in the purchase of the land and its
improvement in the construction of roads is
very large, and has been contributed by the
States of Pennsylvania, New York, Massa-
chusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont,
Wisconsin and Minnesota.
MEMORIALS PLENTIFUL.
This noble array of monuments each
erected by the survivors of bodies of troops
from the loyal States, some of which thus
indicate successive positions occupied as the
storm of battle surged around and to the
southwark of the little town, extends from
the position of this cavalry monument and
its neighbors, that Of the One -Hundred-and-
Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry (Buck-
tails) and others of the First and Eleventh
Corps, four miles to and beyond Round
Top. The memorials are set up in the in
termediate space everywhere, in fields,
orchards, woodlands, by roadsides, in gar
dens, upon hills and in the rock-strewn
ravine of the DEVILS Den. They are each
unlike the other, generally artistic and
effective as we'll as costly in design.
Many are plain masses of stone bear
ing a tablet of bronze securely inlaid
Some reveal heroic figures of superb
standard bearers, like that OF the Thirteenth
Massachusetts, Regiment. A favorite idea
is that OF the recumbent soldier leveling his
musket at the foe; another form is that of
the corps badge. One, at least, represents a
tent, and close by the "clump OF trees" is
the weighty pudding-stone from Roxbury,
Mass, erected by the Twentieth Massa-
chusetts Infantry. The Reynolds memorial
stands in the woods just where the battle
began, and at the spot where he fell. Look
ing out from Little Round Top is the
splendid bronze figure OF General Warren,
the chief engineer of the army, whose
watchful eve detected the move of the
enemy toward Round Top in time to enable
the Union troops to counter the effort by
occupation.
A BLooD-soAKED VALLEY.
It would be task invidious to make par
tial mention of these silent testimonials of
valor, which, whether costly or humble, are
every one enduring evidences of the ca
pacity of the American soldier, whether
from the North or the South, to bear the
shock of battle. and to meet attack with
prompt and effective resistance, even upon
difficult and unchosen ground like that
which we find at Gettysburg. If there is
found in these visible markers of the ram
part of citizen soldiery of the North the SUBJ
tie element which stirs the deepest i'm
pulses of the soul, how eloquent is the silent
unmarked ridge across the valley of death,
where Longstreet gave the word which sen t
Pickett and his men upon their deadly
futile errand. A few weeks ago Con-
gressional party visited the field for the
purpose of deciding the advisability of To-
eating by small plain markers, ,at national
expense, the several positions Of the Con-
federate bodies of troops upon the three days
of the strdggle. This done and the object
lesson will be complete. There is at present
but one Confederate monument on the
field.
The visitor to this place having but
single day to devote to its inspection must
necessarily arrive either the previous even.
ing, or, taking the late sleeper of the Cum
berland Valley route, change cars at Car
Isle, where breakfast may be had, and
reach Gettysburg at 10 A. NJ. He can save
time and enlist sufficient aid by going at
once to the Eagle Hotel and entrusting the
choice of guide to the proprietor, Mr..
Yingling. Avoid, if you value your peace
of mind, tue oratorical type Of guide, whose
chief ambition in life is to infiict upon the
waytarer his stereotyped speech at every
point of interest. There are guides here,
quiet intelligent men, who know the field
thoroughly and who tell just enough to give
the beholder an adequate idea of the action,
and leave to him the pleasure of some
imagination. Goods maps and prouse
guide books are plentiful in the town.
Thousands of Photographic views have
been made by Mr.. Upton and others, in
cluding all the monuments. and in the
gloomy recesses of the rocks at the foot of
Little Round Top the man with the camera
halts you and claims you for his own.
A NOTABLE MONUMENT.
The tour OF single day is necessarily su-
perfcial and hurried. The guide will first
drive out from the shady town streets upon
the Hagerstown road, crossing Seminary
Ridge, and, turning to the right, presently
enter Reynolds Grove, where that officer was
shot early upon the first day. Then down
the slope we 60 upon Spring avenue, cross
ing the small stream of Willoughby run to
the Gettysburg Springs Hotel, upon the site
of which Hills center of attack was formed
on July 1. Then, recrossing the creek, we
cross the railroad cut where so many of his
men were trapped, and, driving along Bu-
ford avenue, presently come upon the cav
airy monument named in my first para
graph. This monument was especially
noted because, as we halted to admire its
sculpture, we found in its shadow in the
sultry noontide, quietly taking his
siesta, farmer boy, his drowsy
team standing by. and it seemed to
me that the lesson of protection was pertect.
The soldier sentry stands there forevett his
gaze fixed upon the valley, assuring every
passer-by of the freedom and unity secured
to us by his heroism, and the reaper, whose
hand delves at the base of all prosperity, the
product of the soil, finds in these peaceful
plenteous days his rest at the troopers
feet
From the slight elevation just where the
GETTYSBURG and Carlisle Railroad crosses the
Mummas6urg road, the position of Ewell's
CORPS almost enclosing the short line OF the
Eleventh Corps, is seen to advantage. Mon
uments and markers indicating right and
lett extremes of the small regiments OF vet
eran troops are plentiful here. We drive
back to town and to dinner along the Num-
masburg road.
CEMETERY AND CULP'S HILLS.
Resuming the tour soon after 1 o'clock,
the team drives first to Cemetery Hill, the
eminence which, many years ago devoted
to the burial of the village dead, now con-
tains the beautifully trimmed National
Cemetery, its thousands of graves ranged
in circles upon eternal parade around the