Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-11-12

highness was wont be obeyed.
o what a day was that first Of July!
warm, soft, sunshiny, the roads still
puddly in places as from recent rains
no dust to choke the hurrying columns,
no thick clay mud to clog the wheels
Or load the worn brogans.
Even before the earliest sunbeams
came glinting through the eastward
wood, Reynolds had called on his men;
and they presently went tramping
away northward between moist, smil-
ing fields and orchards, heading for the
distant towers Of the quaint little
Pennsylvania town. Somewhere up that
charming valley their leaders knew
John Buford to be, for he and his sun
tanned troopers had been thrown
ahead to cover the advance and find
the army Of Lee, well known by this
time to be concentrating to meet them.
Years and experience have taught
the leaders of the Army of the Potomac
something of the true use of cavalry,
and there is no more of the blind CROP
ing Of the old days. They know that
Longstreet's whole corps is camping
about Chambersburg, across the South
Mountain range to the west. They
know that Hill is between him and
Cashtown, the first village of import
ance to the west Of Gettysburg. They
know that Ewell's foremost divisions
have struck the line Of the Susque-
hanna, only to be recalled to meet the
spirited northward sweep of Meade's
far-spreading corps. They know that
these men Of Reynolds lead the van
of the main army, and will doubtless
be the first to reach and back the cav
airy when those searching horsemen
find and tackle the foe. What they do
not know is, that from west, north
west, north and northeast these con-
verging columns are all headed for that
same little Pennsylvania town, march
ing to concentrate on Gettysburg, and
that this, the First corps of the Army
Of the Potomac, is destined within
three hours to thrust square in between
those swift-closing Jaws, and COM
PEELED, as Buford says to his own men,
to flight like the devil" until the rest
of the army can reach it in support.
In far better fettle and discipline is
Lees brave army than when it tried
the conversion of Maryland ten months
before. Only in two points is 1t less
to be feared --Stonewall Jackson is
dead and Stuart's cavalry is as good.
or bad, as lost For once In his life
that brilliant and daring leader Of
horse is of no use to his commander,
Through some error of judgment he
has gone far to the east and has been
cut off from communication. For once
the Army of the Potomac has its eyes
and its wits at the front when the
eyes, at least. Of the Army Of Virginia
are away to the rear. At breakfast
time in Gettysburg, this morn of the
first of July, Heth's division of A. P.
Hills corps of the Army of the South
comes "bulging'' ahead, without the
accustomed screen of cavalry skirmish-
ers, and is brought up standing by the
challenge of Calef's light guns, plant
ed sQuarely in the middle of the Cash
town pike, and the simultaneous up
rising of squadron on squadron north
and south Of the road-Devin's and
CANDLES gallant brigades of famous
John Buford's division-and there,
like a bulldog Buford holds them two
mortal hours, until Reynolds. with his
foremost men, comes squirting up the
eastward face Of the brigade, joins Bu-
ford at the old Lutheran seminary,
and notes that the main lines of Heth' s
division. north and south Of the pike,
are just forming for advance to the
attack in fOrce-all that preceded hav-
ing been the work of strong skirmish
lines-and now begins in grim earnest
the greatest and most momentous bat
tie of American history.
First to reach the field in support of
Buford's hard-fghting Horse is the
First division of the First corps of the
old Army of the Potomac, and the
first brigade to come swarming up the
slope is led by old graybeard Cutler,
whom we saw at the head of the Sixth
Wisconsin in it's maiden battle on the
Warrenton pike, while, following close
at the heels Of the foremost and. ODE
dent to Reynolds orders, breasting
the height to the south of the SEM
mary, stride the five battalions of the
Iron Brigade, the biggest not quite 500,
the others barely 300 strong. White
haired Wadsworth rides at the head of
the little division. That's all there is
of it-these two brigades, led by those
two far western brigades, barring the
batteries that ever go with them-but
the blue-blooded old Gothamite in
command swears he wouldn't swap it,
small as 1T is, for the strongest d.
vision in the whole army-and he
means it.
1t is a sight never to be forgotten,
that which greets their eyes as the
Black Hats come popping up over the
ridge. The westward forest is all
alive with flashing bayonets aligned on
the little red battle flags, the division
of Heth in battle array. reaching al
most from pike to pike, with one
brigade thrown out sin the air" to the
north and