Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-06-07
A Memorable Spot.

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~ l. ~ tie field was recent
assAss@M ly revisited by a
Exasss .SSHb number of officers
kSs a @ Ss@ gSas$SA who fought on both
" YEENzzzz sides Gems. O. O.
Hssg A Ss SggSasg9 Howard, Daniel E.
w M 4 Eg5la1EW Sickles, and David
WV SjkR McGregg were
,N&ASxt, lRl'Ns9s4iElY$A among the Union
V 1@Eag 81 NCommanders pres
81 NNHA ent; while Gems.
" I'd James Longstreet,
William Malone, E. T. Alexander, and
Osnum Latrobe represented the Con-
federates. They were driven over the
lines occupied by both armies during
the three days Struggle. OF the Con-
federates all except Longstreet had not
visited the field since the encounter
thirty years ago. Arrived at the spot
where Gen. Reynolds was killed, Gen.
Howard said he succeeded to his com
mand. He never felt the weight of
responsibility like this. In coming
through the town he detached Stein
wehr's division and ordered him to
hold and 1ntrench Cemetery Hill, for
it was the highest and strongest point
for defense. It was for this piece of
generalship- fortifying and holding
Cemetery Hill-that Gen. Howard re-
ceived the thanks of Congress. He is
the only person living to-day who
bears that honor. A question was
asked as to the manner in which Gen.
Reynolds was shot. The guide replied:
"For years the accepted story was that
Gen. Reynolds was shot by sharp
shooter from the Mcpherson barn.
Last year that was exploded. Major
Rosehgarten of Reynolds staff in
formed me that the fatal shot was fired
by one of Gen. Archer's men. Arch
er's brigade had been captured a few
hundred feet ahead of where Gen. Rey-
nolds was mounted, by Gen. Morrows'
brigade. Some of the men had not
! surrendered their accoutrements, and
one took advantage Of the situation
and discharged his piece. This story
was corroborated subsequently by
Sergt. Vail, Gen. Reynolds orderly,
who came here last fall for the first
time since the battle"
When the party reached Cemetery
Hill Gen. Howard said to Longstreet:
II have been criticised very harshly by
some historians for taking too long
line. [ couldn't do anything else. You
had too many troops, and as it was you
stretched far out beyond both my
fanks." eff you had concentrated too
| quickly, or shortened your line to any
great extent, we would have gotten be-
hind you," said Gen. Longstreeet.
Our object, observed Gen. Howard,
"was to fight for time-to enable our
army to come up and form defensive
position on the nights south of the
town"
The party next proceeded along the
line of Willoughby Run, in the rear
and to the rig hit of the Confederate po-
sition, Gen. Alexander fixing the exact
spot where he and Gen. Lee stopped
to water their horses, and Col. La
trobe the blind lane where Pickett's
division on the afternoon of the Sd
halted and loaded their pieces prepar-
atory to the famous charge. The road
taken was disused one. Coming out
at the Spangler house, near where
Berdan's four hundred sharp-shooters
checked the Advance of Longstreet's
entire corps for forty minutes, the
country was quickly recognized by all
the Confederates, Gen. Malone declar-
ing: "This looks familiar. The ground
is very little changed"
Could Have Ended the War.
At this point the question was asked
of the Confederates: What would
have been the effect had Meade made
a general advance along his entire line
and charged the Confederate position
after Pickett's repulse?"
Gen. Alexander replied: would
have gone through us like sharp
knife through a cheese. We had moth
ing whatever for defense. AS soon as
[ saw that Pickett's charge had failed,
I rode along and directed that every
gun that had more than twenty rounds
of ammunition should be run out ahead
of the line. Not more than a dozen
out of the sevenay responded. doubt
whether we h@o on an average more
than fifteen rounds to the gun. The
reserve artillery had been to all intents
and purposes exhausted"
Gen. Longstreet added: eve all ex-
pected to see the lines of blue emerge
from the distant ridge, and, frankly,
we were not III a position to make much
Of fight. Had that charge been made
then and there, and with spirit, the re-
bellion would have ended on these
ridges"
Gen. Howard said: Had Grant,
! Sheridan, or Thomas been in command
of the Union army, the advantage
which Pickett's defeat presented would
have been grasped, general advance
along the entire line, with the fresh
Sixth Corps in advance, would have
followed, and the war would have
ended"
Gen. Alexander explained how he
had planted seventy-fve guns from the
Warield woods to the Warfeld house,
with instructions to pour converging
fire upon the Union lines. Their big
gest, a twenty-pound Parrott, he placed
at the extreme edge of the woods. He
was there when Gen. Garnett, riding
at the head of his brigade, left the