Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-10

THOUGH TROLLEY vANDALs TRIED
u to get possession of Gettysburg The move
ment for the preservation Of battlefelds in the
United States Is making great progress The
government is giving it encouragement and
money. At Chickamauga, where land is cheap,
tho whole scene Of conflict has been purchased
outright and is being restored as nearly as pos
sibie to its condition in 1863 The positions
occupied by the regiments, brigades and divis-
| ions, both Union and confederate. are being
marked with iron tablets fastened to posts of
iron set in concrete. Each tablet tells, in col
| orless language, just what occurred at
that spot 1t is not desired that
these memorials shall state any facts from q
partisan standpoint. The landscape being
wooded the lines Of the opposing armies will
be shown by tall masts attached to trees, with
red and white and blue and white balls at the
tops, the red and white indicating the confed-
crate and the blue and white the Union forces.
Along the lines thus laid out the states will
erect monuments to their regiments. There
will be lookouts Of iron, ascended by spiral
stairs. from which spectators can view the en-
tire field.
NoN-PA1TIsAN SPIRIT ENLISTED.
The non-partisan spirit enlisted in this work
is shown by the fact that Kentucky has ap-
pointed . commission to locate troops from that
state which fought on both sides at Chicka-
manga. It will determine sites for monuments
to Kentucky federals well Is to Kentucky
confederates. Southerners generally are anx-
ious that the battlehelds Of the late war shall
be marked with suitable memorials of their own
soldiers. As much attention will be given to
indicating the lines occupied by confederate
forces as to those OF the Union army in every
- a.
priated 425 900 to preserve and mark the lines
Of battle at Gettysburg, and Secretary Lamont
last week appointed q committee Of experts to
perform this work. Strips Of land will be pur-
chased for this purpose along the lines where
the troops from Dixie fought. Thus will be
provided material for the education in history
Of generations yet unborn.
Three hundred and sixty Union regiments
and batteries were engaged at Gettysburg.
These are now represented by about $50 monu-
ments which have cost from few hundred dol
lars up to S40, 900. The spectacle presented by
the field is extraordinary. foreigner over
looking Its sprinkling Of granite shafts might
mistake the ground for . Mohammedan ceme-
tery-so frequently does the crescent appear as
q design carved in stone, this having been the
emblem Of Gen. Towards eleventh corps. The
strips Of land along which these memorials
stand have been acquired by q corporation
which represents several states, calling itself
the Gettysburg Battlefield Association Its
rights will soon be turned over to the govern
ment. with the understanding that the latter
shall take care Of the property. Students OF
military matters regard Gettysburg as an ideal
field Of battle. 1t is all open country, like a
typical European battlefield. Spectators can
Wow The whole Of it from the neighboring hills.
NO LINES OF BATTLE MARKED.
With all these memorials. set up by states
and regiments, no lines of battle have hitherto
haav, rlyaq r.. ALI
confederate monument, SO that the observer
might ask: Against whom were the Union
troops fighting? Lees line extended seven
miles and the fighting Of three davs covered
twenty-five square miles. The proposed trolley
line was to be eight miles long. in the form of
loop. 1t was intended to run out from the
town Of Gettysburg, around the field and back
1t was designed particularly for the conven-
fence Of people who wonld come on picnIcs and
eat gingerbread and pickles while doing the
circuit and gazing upon the historic ground.
Its track-laying operations are said to have
done most damage in the neighborhood Of the
so-cailed Valley OF Death gully filed with
big boulders-which was the focus Of the sec
ond days fight. Here, where there was such
slaughter as has seldom been seen in warfare,
the rocks are still covered with bullet marks
The greatest naval battle since Nelson's time
was that OF Mobile bay. 1t has been proposed
that the positions Of the ships engaged should
w naTASo WAN puONe, anu tDlS Will QOuDaesS
be done before long. The bay is a great
cemetery. Sunk in sixty feet OF water is the
Union monitor in which brave Capt Craven
went down, hole being knocked out OF her
bottom by torpedo. A vessel Of that kind
does not sink slowly like craft that is made of
wood. Being q mass of iron the moment that
the water flowed into her she went to the bot
tom as stone would. The only persons who
had q chance to escape were her commander
aud the pilot. because they were in the turret
There was time for but one of them to get ont
by means Of the ladder. The captain stood
aside, saying. after you. pilot and the latter
saved his own life, while the noble Craven
sank with his crew in the huge metal coffin.
Some years ago an attempt made to raise
the monitor with its freight Of dead heroes,
but such howl arose against the "desecra-
ton" that it was abandoned
WHERE THE MOST FIGHTING WAS DONE
1t is reckoned that within ten miles Of Chatta-
nooga more lighting was done than nywhere
else during the late war, and the battlefelds in
that neighborhood are particularly interesting
on that account At that point the western
military operations were concentrated. Into
the valley below Mission Ridge the bold emil
hence Of Lookout Mountain projects. Thus from
the top of Lookout Mountain spectators can
view the whole scene of the conflict of Mission
Ridge. The lines are to be marked along Mis-
sion Ridge where Braggs army was stationed
and where the regiments of the Army of the
Cumberland attacked him. Likewise the Union
and confederate lines will be indicated on
Lookout Mountain, which battlefield can be
viewed from the top Of Mission Ridge From
Lookout Mountain the observer can look down
upon the defenses which the Army Of the Cum
berlsnd, under Gen. Thomas, threw ND around
Chattanooga. Although the town has been ex-
tended over . great part Of the works. some of
the Notifications still remain and will be pre-
int cite ~ oxk
earthworks will be marked with tablets placed
on buildings or otherwise.
At Chattanooga the Tennessee river makes a
turn 30 as to leave point Of land known as
Moccasin Point, because it Is shaped like an
Indian moccasin. just at the big toe of the
moccasin was stationed a Union battery. 1t
was directly under Lookout mountain and the
coufederates kept firing at i. constantly. but
they could hardly hit it, Because men are ac-
customed only to aiming at objects at or nearly
on level, they find it very difficult to shoot
down hill or up hill with accuracy. That is one
reason why the federals we're able to storm sue
cessfully the precipitous ascent OF Mission
Ridge Their adversaries could not hit them
as they came up. The ideal place to defend is
not steep, but gentle slope. One Of the
most extraordinary incidents of the war oc-
CURED at this very battle.
STORY OF SHERIDAN
Gen. Sheridan rode up the mountain on
horseback wonderful feat In itself. At a
turn in the pathway he suddenly found himself
close in front of hostile battery. almost at the