The Dickinson press., 1898-08-20
Our Gettysburg Letter.

OuT OcItySUuFy l0tIefs
To many veterans Of the Civil War,
Gettysburg is a veritable mecca: to stu
dents Of military science, a classic; to
patriots. an inspiration. Both "The
Blue and "The Grey" recount the story
of the great struggle with pardonable
pride; there was sufficient glory for all
engaged. 1t was a battle royal such as
this world has never witnessed, a clash
ing of Greeks aeainst Greeks, a struggle
in which even uefeat was glorious. In
no other battlefield can the science of
war be studied to such advantage. Here
one sees the country as it appeared in
1868. The same roads are there, the
same groves, the very earthworks and
scores of cannon placed in the same po-
sitions occupied by the artillery or those
eventful days. In addition, there are
Ala monuments marking the positions Of
different commands. To survey the bat
tleield it is not necessary to climb the
housetops of Gettysburg as a few did
during the struggle; the government has
erected ~observatories on commanding
sites. Avenues lead to all points of in
terest. This great battlefield covers por-
tions of So sections of land and to study
it, even specifically, the tourist usually
drives FL miles. Providing you get an
early start, the morning is consumed in
visiting the scenes of the first days
bloody fighting, the spot where Reynolds
was killed and the fields and groves from
which the "boys in blue" yielding to
overwhelming numbers were driven dis
heartened through the streets of Gettys-
burg to Cemetery Hill, to be rallied by
Gen. Hancock. The afternoon is occu-
pied in studying Culp's Hill with its in
trenchments where we're enacted the
bloody tragedies of the evening of the
second day and the morning of the third
day. Cemetery Hill where the Louisiana
Tigers we're nearly annihilated in impetu-
GUS but unsuccessful charges, the ceme-
terry and Cemetery Ridge the thunders
of whose many cannon shook the ground
during the memorable artillery duel of
July 3. Bloody Angle, the spot where
Pickett's immortals pierced the union
lines only to be hurled back in irretrieva-
Bile confusion. Gen. Mead's Headquar-
tiers nearby, the Union Center defended
by Hancock the superb and the objective
point of Lees veterans, Little Round
Top with its rocky slope facing Devils
Den from whose rocky recesses the Con-
federate sharpshooters picked off the
Union artillerymen after carrying their
guns to the summit, the bloody Wheat
Field taken and retaken six different
times by both armies. Peach Orchard
literally drenched in blood, and Semina-
ny Ridge with its groves, intrenchments
and stone fences, in the shelter of which
Lee formed those terrible charging COL
umns that swept in wonderful order,
across the open country between the two
lines. The first days drive gives one a
general idea of the battle but several ad-
ditional days are needed to study the de-
tails. The trolley line extending a dis
lance of three miles from the city to the
Round Tops can be used to advantage,
but whether cars or carriages are en-
ployed many miles of territory must be
walked over 1t is said that no two of
the Ala monuments are alike. The study
of these gems of art is one of the privi-
leges of a life time, the designs being
those of the worlds best talent. The in
scriptions are brief but full of pathos,
telling of dreadful losses, of deaths Of
prominent heroes, of triumphs and of
disasters. Here a marble slab marks
the advance position of a charging COL
umn and informs you that four color
bearers were killed and four wounded
before the regiments survivors reached
the spot; a second explains how wounded
soldiers of both armies drank from the
same spring; a third gives the stirring
story of some unusual heroic deed on a
battlefield where there were no towards;
a fourth shows where some general fell
wounded, etc, etc.
1t is to be hoped that the entire region
fought over will be made a National
Park. The government owns all the
avenues and many important positions,
but the work of securing land is baked
by its very cost and by the exhorbitant
prices asked by some property owners,
notably a syndicate which owns several
miles of Seminary ridge and which de-
mands $500 an acre for land worth $40.
At present only two monuments have
been erected by confederate regiments.
but these are only the beginning of a
movement throughout the South to have
the story of their heroic struggle carved
IN marble and placed on the very spots
rendered historic by their distinguished
valor.
Many of the buildings in Gettysburg
still bear evidence of the fierce struggle
which ragged all around it; in some in
stances shells can be seen imbedded in
brick walls. During the fighting, most of
the inhabitants sought the protection Of
cellars and there we're casualties among
those who spurned this %precaution.
Even without the attractions of the bat.
tlefeld, Gettysburg and vicinity are de.
lightful places to visit; it is doubtful, in
deed, if there can be seen on this CONT
nent, a stretch of more beautiful farming
country than that which greets the eye Of
the observer stationed on Round Tor
Observatory. No wonder a southern
trooper exclaimed to a farmer eff God
made your country, who made ours?"
Owing to its presentation, Gettysburg
is the most satisfactory of all battlefield:
to visit. On other fields, there is little te
remind one of war, and in the absence o.
monuments, even guides do not agree
but here everything is definite and can
non and original intrenchments are to be