The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-13
GETTYSBURG IN 1903
A REPLY TO MAJ. ROBBINS
BY W. R. H oUeHToN.

may be 1t was an "off day" for people to take view of the confederate lines but these are facts. l saw nothing new along the line. Lees army fought like 1t started from Culpepper, Va, with its left to the north and the losses given on the tablets are accessible in many books. The days l spent there convinced me that people wanted to see the actual fighting line. and I for one wanted in formation about the place where my brother my friends and my comrades fought, but l came away without any knowledge on the subject I could not have obtained in my office. Tried by any standard I know, whether as ,nap. picture, an object lesson, pr As informa- tion as to the southern army the plan of the battle field Is q failure
 There is nothing to tel who broke the lines The Assyrians might have planned such a field in memory of the 1S0O0O slain by the angel in one night and give for a reason that they could not represent the angel. The actual battle field looks like a prolonged cemetery. There are the monuments with date of death and names. but like tombstones they do not tell of what disease the occupants died When our nation and language has been forgotten and those confederate tablets eaten with rust, Maeaulay's famous trav- eller from New England will muse over the fragments of the monuments on the actual fighting ground, and wonder whether the opposing army was French, Russian or Chinese
 The commission gives one further req son for the failure to mark the fighting line of Lees army, that the government does not own all the lands. Little Round , Top, and broad strip of land from that point for over a mile is not enclosed as were all farms I saw and many monu- ments and several tablets showing posi- tions of northern commands are scatter ed in places over one-fourth of a mile wide along the strips. It certainly had that appearance. The government roads had numerous signs-"Drive to the right and protect the road;' No vehicles drawn by more than two horses allowed" etc. There seems to be room for 10000 more monuments and twice that many markers or tablets, yet not a little space can be had to show where even one con- federate brigade fought Near the town the government does not own all the line of battle, I suppose from the fact of its being enclosed, but there IS room for three miles or more as near as I could judge, for tablets giving some informa- tion The place is off the line of travel from the south, and is seldom visited by southerners, as I conclude from an exam nation of the hotel register for some months before I was there. Since ex- confederates pay their Just proportion of taxes for keeping up the field, we cer- tainly have a right to criticize the man. ner in which we fail to have any repre- sentation on the actual fighting line on that field. There seems to be no dispute about the facts. The argument turns on what was sensible" course. The Chckamauga commission dopted the op- mn A1aI rt-Ia about 19S men of average intelligence. have unanimously passed a memorial praying for permission to allow the cree tion without cost to the government, of one monument to a regiment of Alabam- ians on the spot where they fought. I have been informed that the commission on the fields of Shiloh and Vicksburg are pursuing the same course as at Chicka- mauga. These things would indicate that there might be doubts at least as to the best plan having been followed at Gettys- burg. It is highly probable that in the future there will be change, but it may be too late when the survivors of Lees army are gone, and no one Is left to tell where his brigade or division fought
 l have tried to set forth my views in a dispassionate manner, and would not have gone into it all except for the fact that have never heard Of but two Ala bamians who were engaged in the battle, who have visited the field. There is no danger of criticism from the northern vis- itor, as their army makes all the show worth seeing.
 It is but justice to say that the state of Pennsylvania laid off what is now the National cemetery. and it was in Novem- ber 1863, that Lincoln made his speech at it's dedication. Then, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial association pur- chased about $50 acres of ground and laid it off. The first monument was erected