Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-07-12
South Windsor, Conn,

,Tei june 30, 1900.
Recently I made visit to the bat
tlefield of Gettysburg. This is one
of the most interesting as well as
charming places which 1, have yet Wis
lted. Attic there were many hard and
well-fought battles during the civil
warittis conceded by the military crit
les that the skill displayed in the Penn
sylyania campaign in the year 1853 by
tfboth armies has never been surpassed
in any other campaign i'll the annals
l,of history. There has been DISPOSE
5tion by nearly all historians who have
written on this subject, to magnify
!; the, strength of the opposing army, as
/ we'll as to understate that of their own,
/ but. Gen., Meade says that, forces on the
federal side fell little short of 100000
men, and General Longstreet in his
s.Annals, of the War says the confed-
crate forces amounted to little over
,70,000;s but Edward Everett, in an adj
dress at the dedication OF the National
cemetery, puts the total force at 1867
600 men of all arms. This statement
has been accepted by all writer's as
correct. The battlefield covers an area
of twenty-five square miles, This does
not include the cavalry battlefield,
three miles east OF Gettysburg, but
the battlefield proper. The battle oc-
CURED on July 1, 2, and 3, 1868. The
first days battle was fought north and
7. west of Gettysburg. The second and
| third days battle east, southeast, south
| and southwest of it. Within this terri
tory over $4,000 soldiers were en-
gagged, 10000 of whom were stricken
down.
1t is not the intention in this letter
to give an account of this great and
most important engagement of the
civil war, but what precedes is only
{ written to show the vast area which
. has been marked with beautiful aud
expensive monuments, locating the
tmanv charges, advances and retreats,
! places where heroes fell, both officers
and men, Incidents, and localities where
bodies of armed men We're stationed
! to reinforce, check and hold places of
!; vantage in this great struggle. There
/ are over four hundred OF these monu-
| ments, not including the small tab
lets. which are placed everywhere for
| the aid of the sight-seer in tracing
| out the route over which he desires
to travel, if he is taking in the battle
field on foot. I was fortunate in be-
| ing with party who secured car
rage and was enabled to cover great
| deal more ground in a short space of
time than if / had roamed at will, for
our driver was a practical guide, and
told us the story of the engagements
and pointed out positions of note, relat-
ed incidents and coupled this and that
/ together so well that it was like a lee
/ wi ,.no ticti g.,
! illustrations. Aside from the stories
of, the famous charges ard counter
charges, the most thrilling and inter-
on Little Round Top mountain where
ing out from this eminence one can
take in almost the entire situation, but
cannot as a matter of course, realize it,
as it is of such magnitude. This is a
subject which has been written about
SO many times in the endeavor to give
a short story of how it all happened
tos>ho avail. 1t would take columns
1 to tell about this great battle, and that
is precisely what l am not going to
do, altho it would be intensely in
teresting. 1t is of the field at present
of which l must write. On all sides
1 lOOhiIS liOli tlllS pOluU bne view pre-
scented is most beautiful. Memorials,
obseryatories, monuments, all of which
are beautiful, some of them being mag
nificent, markers, field-pieces, and the
like and the grounds are SO well kept
that even in the wooded part no trash
is allowed to accumulate. No one can
/ go to this place and come away with
out a deep reverence for the heroes
who were on that spot, be they either
living or dead. To do Justice to this
4 subject one would have to have the
pen OF a Kipling, and so pass"
The National cemetery embraces II
acres on the highest point of Cemetery
Hill. The Gettysburg Cemetery Com
pany, organized by the state of Penn
svlvania soon after the battle, project
ed the cemetery, but in 1872 they
assigned it to the United States gov
eminent. At the time of the battle
it was a rough and rocky field. Now it
is beautiful place, and the dead are
buried in semi-circle in sections,
which represent the different states to
which they belong. The Soldiers Ma
tional monument stands sixty feet
high and twenty five feet square at
/ the base, and is crowned with statue
representing the Genius of Liberty.
i On each of the four corners is an al
Il 1a,,r;na1 cfa t,,a ,,a.,>oo3