The National tribune., 1908-10-22

enemy rose to deliver a volley, and
then springing up charged directly into
the Georsians, scattsFfng them, cap
turing 200 prisoners, fricluding a Lieu
ors of the 15thyGa.. These last were
| taken by Sergf John B. Thompson, 1st
Pa. Reserves. ri "a
The result of this movement was the
recovery of all the ground lost the day
before, and, beside thenbattery and pris-
oners, the capture of about 1000 stand
of, arms...... 10. 10
During the operations Of the two
days Crawford'snPenusylv Reserve
Division had lost &c. Killed. 1S1 wound
ed and only three missing
The Night After the Battle.
Gen. Regis De Trobriand, commander
of a brigade in the Third Corps, gives in
his -Four Years with the Army of the
Potomac" graphic description of the
| appearance of the battlefield on the
night after the cessation of the fight
ing:
Between s and 9 o'clock in the
! evening, as the last glinmers of day
| light disappeared behind US, received
an order to go down into the fiat and
occupy the field of battle with two bri-
gades in line. That of Col. Madill was
added to mine for that purpose. Gen.
Ward who temporarily commanded the
division, remained in reserve with the
Third.
''The most profound calm reigned
now, where few hours before so furi-
Gus tempest had ragged. The moon,
with her smiling face, mounted up in
the starry heavens, as at Chancellors-
vile. Her pale light shone equally upon
the living and the dead. the little flow
ORG hi IN,
upon the torn bodies lying in the pools
of clotted, blood. Dead bodies were
everywhere. On no field of battle have
L ever seen them in such numbers. The
greater part of my line was strewn
with them, and when the arms were
stacked and the men asleep one was
unable to say, in that mingling of liy
ing and dead, which would awake the
next morning and which would not.
Beyond the line of the advanced
sentinels the wounded still lay where
they had fallen, calling for assistance
or asking for water. Their cries died
away without any reply in the silence
of the night, for the enemy was close
by, and it was a dangerous undertake
ing to risk advancing into the space
which separated us. In making an at
tempt an officer of my staff drew three
shots, which whistled unpleasantly near
his ears. All labors of charity were
necessarily put off till the next morn
ing. 1t is sad to think that this was
sentence of death to numbers of the
unfortunate. Mournful thoughts did
not hinder the soldiers from sleeping.
Everything was soon forgotten in "a
dreamless Slumber. r.s
'At dawn of day, when l awakened,
the first object which struck my eyes
was young Sergeant stretched out on
his back, his head resting on a fiat
stone, serving for a pillow. His posi-
ton was natural, even graceful One
knee lightly raised, his hands crossed
on his breast, smile on his lips, his
eyes closed, he appeared to sleep and
dream, perhaps, Of her who awaited his
return in the distant Green Mountains.
He was dead. Wounded, he had sought
out this spot in which to die. His hav-
ersack was near him.. He had taken
out of it a little, book, on which his
last looks had been cast for the book
was Still open in his stiffened fingers.
It was the NeW Testament; on the first
leaf, light hand traced, in pencil,
some letters, rubbed out, which one
might think were a name. I have kept
the unknown name, I have added, Died
at Gettysburg July 3.ILIS63.'
During the night the enemy had
drawn back his pickets to the other side
OF the Emmitsburg road. and left us
free to assist the wounded. The ap-
pedTdHCe Oh iitlcFS7 ana ambulance
wagons strengthened them by giving
them hope. They related their en-
gagements of the evening before and
their suffering during the night One
of them, pointing out. the dead lying
around him, said This lone lived only
till sundown: that. one lasted until
about midnight; there is one who was
still groaning but an hour ago.
1.-The gray jackets abounded on one
side; the boys in blue, more numerous
on the other. indicating the movements
OF the troops during the battle. There,
where they were mingled together, all
enmity had ceased when the contest
was over, and the canteen passed i'm
partially to all lips.
20 The greater part of the dead were
terribly lacerated, forgit Was-bere par
tfcsiarly that~the artillery had done its
dreadful work. There were the dead,
with heads carried away, breasts torn
open, limbs gone, entrails protrdding
on the ground.
Continuing my walk, / came near
a large isolated rock. 1t might have
been eight or 10 feet high and Is or 20 |
feet broad. Rounding on the side to-
wards the enemy, but fiat as a wall on
advanced post. for one of our compa- |
nies, probably belonging to STANDARDS |
Brigade. What had happened there ? |
Had they been surprised by the rapid |
of the enemy? Had they tried |
to shelter themselves behind that stone
during the fight? Had the firing of |
canister by-our- guns rendered retreat |
impossible? Had they refused to sur
render? No ones5to my knowledge, es-
capped to tell. Whatever was the cause |
there were 20 lying there, cut down by |
lead and steel, and amongst the pile |
recognized the Uniform of an officer |
and the chevrons of a..Sergeant
'Wlpn | returned ,tp fba caDfor Of /
my line the ambulances were at work, |
and squads detailed from each regi-
ment picked up the arms which were /
scattered by thousands over the field
A little later my command was relieved,
and again took it's position of the even
ing before.
Some reeonnoissances sent out to
look for the enemy had not far to go
to find him. His picllcis were still on |
the edge of the woods in front of the
Seminary Hights. We afterwards
learned that he expected during the
whole day that we would attack him,
hoping. to get his revenge But Gen.
Meade, content with his victory would
not take the risk of compromising it by
leaving his position before Lee had
abandoned his, in which he acted wise
ly, whatever may have been said to the
The afternoon was thus spent in
first picking up our wounded and after
wards those of the enemy. The ambu-
lance wagons were hardly enough for
the work. The litter-bearers placed the
along on our lines, where they |
had to await thoir tu1ri to be taken to |
the rear. We did what we could to |
make the delay as short as possible, for
of them were bravo |