Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-05-17
A LOST PICTURE.
The Horrible Reality Of Lees Last Effort
Given In Words,


The Horrible Reality Of Lees Last Effort
Given In Words.
No battlefield of the war offered the art
list or photographer such chance for a
picture as that of Gettysburg when Lee
made his last great effort, but neither art
list nor photographer was present. Pick
ett's charge has been illustrated for hun
dred publications, and it Is the battle pic
ture of today, but all the illustrations are
ideal Twenty thousand Federal soldiers
saw that advance, md it was the first and
last time in war they saw anything like it.
Lee massed Is, 900 Of his choicest troops
to drive at the Federal center. That CEN
ter was Cemetery Hill and held by Han
cock. 1t was, humanity speaking, an i'm
pregnablc position. The crest Of the ridge
was covered with artillery, which na1 q
plunging fire, and the stone walls and
stone piles lower down offered the infantry
perfect shelter. No more than Is, 900 men
could be massed for the assault, and they
would be exposed to round shot, shell,
grape and canister before coming within
range of the musketry. When the terrific
cannonade began, everybody knew that 1t
was the preface to 4 grand move, but 1t
was also the idea that the whole Confeder-
ate army would move at once. Whom tho
awful din suddenly ceased and the living
wedge Yves seen in motion, thousands Of
Federal soldiers leaped to their foet to
view the spectacle. Pickett's Virginians
were the wedge. The brigade on either
Cank were simply to protect his TANKS as
he drove straight ahead. The Confederate
front was n mile across; the length Of the
solid column, nearly three. 1t moved right
out into open ground, flags flying, bands
playing and the drums giving the step.
lis it a review? Is 1t parade? What
arc they going to dor"
A thousand men asked the questions,
but no one could answer. 1t was not until
our artillery opened fire above us that we
realized what the movement signifled. We
were below the smoke and had n clear
view. 1t was a cruel sight to sec round
shot and shell plow into that solid column,
but it was grand to see the men close up
right and left and catch step and move on
again. They were marching Mt common
time" under the hottest kind of q fire, and
they did not change to "quiok" until they
came within range Of grape and canister.
1t seemed as If every man must be swept
form the face of the earth before we fired q
musket, but they suddenly rushed forward
with cheers, and then our smoke shut
them out Of sight. Battered and blunted
and pounded, that wedge never halted I'M
til it had driven itself through our first
line and shouted for victory. Then it was
assaulted ON three sides and checked and
driven back-no, not driven back, but
killed. wounded, slaughtered. Some of
the wounded were hit three or four times,
some of the dead five or six times. There
was no one left to go ahead, no one left to
fall back. Farther down the slope the
Virginians reformed and tried it again
lN,lf .NffN fail
They could die, but they could not pierce
our center.
And the sight which met our eyes as the
remnants fell back and the smoke lifted
would have made n picture to bring world
wide fame to the artist on the spot. There
were moro dead and wounded on that front
than elsewhere during the war. There
was moro of hattie wreck than on the
whole field ut Antietam. Dead and wound
ed horses, dead and wounded men, muskets,
bayonets, haversacks, cantcens, blankets
the outfit Of an army corps with the ex-
ception of wagons and provisions was hud-
died together on that narrow space. The
dead were horribly mutilated. The wound
ed died rs we raised their heads and held
our canteens to their parched lips. OF the
hundreds OF prisoners over half were
wounded. AS thoy were gathered in and
passed to the rear some cursed, some wept;
all had the haggard look and wild eyes Of
q man who has faced death without hope
Of escape. The wounded Of battle shout
and groan and wall out On this field the
wounded were silent, so strangely silent
that We hcsitated to approach them They
had walked in the shadow OF death and
lost their speech. For q milo and n half
tho ground was so numbered that wagon
crossing tho strip must have rolled its
wheels over human bodies. 1t was blood
spot on the landscape the hell spot of o
battle which decided the.fate of nations.
Artists have sought to catch the picture
from story and song, but no one will ever
accomplish 1t. They merely drift about
its edges. 1t was march across the fields
under ripping banners, cheer and
rush, a crash and groan. They came-
they died. Leo was forced to retreat. Min
utes made history for the whole world.
M. QUAD.