The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1908-12-26

wounded and the little stream that
flows through it was red with blood.
The days fighting closed at dark, with
the Union forces still in possession of
the hill.
From Round Top the drive extends
northward along the Union ridge,
where fine driveway has been built
similar to the one along the Confed-
crate position. The old guns are still
standing in position and the location
of each regiment is plainly marked by
monuments. One remarkable feature,
which Immediately catches the eye of
a soldier, is the small space occupied
by the different regiments, telling
more eloquently than words how
heavy had been their losses. Here
stands an imposing monument bearing
the name of some regiment, while the
smaller stones that mark the right
and left TANKS are not more than a
hundred feet apart. Here an entire
brigade, which at full strength would
extend for mile, occupies a space no
longer than city block. Perhaps
the regiment which suffered most Sc
verely of all was the First Minnesota,
which lost in killed, wounded and cap
tured, four men out of every five.
About midway on the Union line we
come to a cl.ump of trees known as
the High Water Mark"-the point
against which General Pickett led the
famous charge which ended the bat
tie. Right beside it is slight bend in
the Union line called the Bloody
Angle" 1t was here that the slaughter
was most dreadful for the courage
GUS Confederates charged up to the
very muzzles of the guns.
Proceeding along the avenue we
reach Cemetery hill where the bril-
gade known as the louisiana Tigers"
made their desperate charge. This
was a brigade of desperate fighters
who, up to this time, had never
charged except to victory Forming
in the streets of Gettysburg they
moved out under an enfilade fire that
dropped men at every step and dashed
straight up Cemetery hill. Yelling and
fighting like fiends they sprang over
the stone walls, sweeping everything
before them and gaining the very
summit of the hill. Here they fell
upon the Union guns in a hand to
hand fight when a Union brigade
rushed to the rescue, killing and cap
turing hundreds of the Tigers and
driving the remainder back down the
hill. Out of seventeen hundred who
made the charge only three hundred
returned. Right near here is the only
Confederate monument on the entire
field. 1t was placed here before the
government acquired the land and has
since been allowed to remain. From
here on it is but few minutes drive
to Culp's hill which marks the end of
the Union position.
Each part of the line has its own
thrilling history, but the part that
interests visitors most is back at the
Bloody Angle and High Water Mark.
1t was here that Lee attempted to cut
the Union line in two and here he
centered all his energies in his last
desperate effort. To military man
it seems that he made a rash move
here-the first and perhaps. the only
one in long series of brilliant man
ouevers. Apparently his proper move
here was, instead of driving straight
at the Union lines, to swing to the
south around Round Top, around the
eye of the fish hook as it were, and
endeavor to strike the enemy in the
rear. Longstreet strongly advised it,
but Lee seemed to have every confid-
ence in his ability to break the Union
good as defeated. Moreover, he had
sent Stuart with his splendid cavalry
division around the northern end of
the Union position to attack from the
rear. Such thing as failure on
part to gain this position
never entered his head, for, up to this
time, the Union cavalry had been re-
garded as sort of joke by the DASH
ing horsemen from the South. But
the Yankees were at last learning how
to ride and to fight on horseback
and when the Confederates struck
them this day they encountered foe
men worthy of their steel under Cen
erals Gregg and Custer. Time and
again did Stuart hurl his division like
an avalanche upon the enemy but
each time the lines of blue horsemen
met them with equal dash and deter
Entire regiments and bril-
sades charged, Unanswered, and
one another in this, the great
sst cavalry fight of the war. There
was scarcely the sound of firearms for
It was purely -saber fight. Simply
he fiinging of dense bodies of gallop-
hnrcnranN.