The National tribune., 1903-07-30

morse. w u came 10 lHt EluSe just S'uNh
of MillerStown road. There was n large
frame building there. which had been
used as Il ladies' seminary and n military
school. but burned down during the bat
tie. We rushed mp to Il stone wall Ill the
center of the ridge. There We're small
trees growing on both sides of the wall.
and some of lis stayed on and held our
horses and shot over their heads. The
rebels were marching by platoon down the
other side on quick time. The most of
them had on blue clothes. and were flying
our flag. They were not 10 steps from
the wall when we opened into them. We
We're veterans, and had brecchloadinC
guns, and the most of us had two revol-
vcrs. Having them in flank. they dropped
frightfully fast. Our Major UemOn) tried
to keep us from firing on them, calling
Don't shoot; they're our men, Finally
they could not stand it, and they threw
down our flag and opened theirs. Then
they came for the wall three lines deep.
Among the first to fall was Maj. Lemon.
who would soon have been Il Brigadier of
Cavalry.
Talking with Maj Mcclure. who COM
mandcd our regiment until Col. Chapman
was relieved of the command of the bri-
gade by Col. Gamble coming up, some
years ago, said that he was going out To
the picket line before daylight that morn
lllp. AS ne tHiHt tit bH
pike Lemon called to him. 1t was foggy.
and Lemon was under Il large tree that
stood there. He had just come in from
the picket line. Lemon said: Major. take
Il drink with me; it will be the last one
we will ever take together, as | will be
Il dead man before night" Col. Mcclure
has told me that several times. No one
doubted Lemons bravery, but it was Il
prcsentiment fulfilled Mcclure said that
there We're eight Illinois cavalry boys out
there.
We fired into them as fast as we could,
until we We're face to face at the wall:
then we had to go, as we We're flanked
also. Here we lost more men than in all
the rest of the day; but we had done what
we were sent to do.
They never came any farther. and if we
had not stopped that column of Gen.
Lees they would have swept our disor-
ganized infantry from the Cemetery,
where they were breaking for. This,
think, was of much more Importance than
who fired the first shot. Buford modcstly
says in his reports (Vol. 81. p. 92O: See
ing our troops retiring and their need of
assistance, | Immediately rushed Gam
bles Brigade to Doubleday's left, and dis
mounted it in time to render great assist
ance to our infantry and to check and
break the enemy's line. My troops at this
place had Il partial shelter behind IL low
stone fence, and We're in short carbine
range. Their fire was perfectly terrific,
causing the enemy to break and to rally
on their. second line which made no far
ther march toward my position" Gen.
Buford does not say that he led us, but
lie did.
No mention is made of this part of the
battle. and at Gettysburg they were just
beginning to think of it when | was there
last from the Philadelphia Encampment.
When there from the Washington En-
campment, as we drove by | asked the
guide if there was any fighting done there.
He said, NO" / was not satisfied with
this, 50 | spent day or two walking over
the ground. 1t began to rain very hard
when | was near the new house built
where the ladies' seminary had stood. l
went in, and had an interesting talk with
the gentleman who lived there. He said:
That wall is just as it was when you
boys were behind it, and there were more
dead men laid there than on any other
part of the field. | should have thought
o,r terrific cannonadinG before Long
streets charge on the third day would have
wiped this wall and small trees off of the
earth, but it did not
At my visit in 1899 found that the
Government had built great. high wall
crate markers, but no mention of our be-
ing there. l found the Seminary had been
built by Gen. Haupt, but had not been
4 success, and that ut the time of the bat
tie it was occupied by family named
Schultz. They were financially ruined by
the war, their property being mostly in
slaves in the South, though they were
Unionists, and some of the family in the
Union army.
- Al,
and two daughters were in the house. l
found only one daughter. Miss Marah.
living in a small house down farther on
the ridge. | asked her if she recollected the
cavalry fight in the afternoon. 4 startled
look came into her face. and she threw
up her hands and said: "Oh. my! All at
once there was a terrible crash and all our
fences went down and all the country was
covered with cavalry. and, oh, how they
did fight. We fell fat on the floor. but
they, poor fellows, cried and called al,
night long"
Gen. Lee has been criticized for making
no effort to take the Cemetery or Round
Top the evening of the first day. But.
you see, he did, and if we had not met
them as we did, any one can see what the
result would have been. He was whip
ped to standstill, and if our troops on
the right had been better handled, Lee
would have had enough the first day.
On my first visit / walked out the pike
to the house where l watered my horse.
and found the farmer shipping lambs. and
talked sheep and farming to him, as | am
farmer. | finally asked him if that
trough did not use to stand the other way.
and he said, 'Yes, we turned it around
about year ago" Then | told him the
circumstance, and he said it was the same
trough that was there at the time of the
battle.
When there in 1899 / was talking to a
gentleman in Gettysburg early one MORN
ing, and he said: Il will drive out there
with you, and take your photograph there
by that trough" We did, and l have one
for each of my children.
l don't want to take any honor from
anyone to whom it justly belongs. but let
us have justice. If the Sth III. boys fired
the first shot where their marker is out on
Marsh Creek, it was before sunup or |
should have heard it. as l was at the house
and trough just as the sun rose
The pickets out the Chambersburg or
CashtOwn pike were from the First Bri-
gade. Col. Deven in his report (Vol. 81,
page GiS) says: "On the morning of July
the pickets of the First Brigade, on the
Cashtown road, were driven in by a heavy
force advancing from that direction, and
the Second Brigade was ordered to pre-
pare for action and to form on the crest
of the hill on tha ripht of tha EirSt Rr;