The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-08-13

noissance. but return to headquarters
| by way of Round Top. and examine
| that part of the proposed line AS 1
was leaving Gen. Sicllcs asked mo- If
he should move forward his corps. I
answered. Not on my authority: / will
| report to Gen. Meade for his inst-uc-
tons. I had not reached the Wheat
Field when sharp rattle of muskeJry
showed that the caemy held the wood
in front of the Peach Orchard angle.
las 1 rode back a view from That Iii
rection showed how much farther Peach
| Orchard was to the front of the direct
line than il appeared from the orchard
| itself. In fact. there was third line
between them. which appeared. rs seen
| from the orchard, to be continuous with
Cemetery Ridge. but was nearly 500
yards in front Of It. This is the open
ground cast of Plum Run. already de-
scribcd. and which may be called tho
| Plum Run line. Its left. where L crossed
| the run, abuts rather on DEVILS Den
than Round Top: it was commanded by
the much higher Peach Orchard crests.
and was therefore not an eligible line
to occupy, altho it became of im20r-
lance during the battle"
Gen. SicSIes Moves Forward.
| It was not until 2 o'clock that Cen
Sickles finally determined upon his line
Division. Wards Brigade and Smiths
| 4th n. Y. Battery were posted at the
| Devils Den, with Wards left regiment
the 4th Me-. extended across the valley
| of Plum Run to the slope of Little
| Round Top. Next came Dc Trobriand's
| Brigade, with Graham on the right ex-
| tending Birney's line to the Peach Or
chard. Ward and De Trobriand took
up strong positions in the south edge
of the woods, where they had open fields
! beyond. In the Wheat Field in the rear
was Winslow's n. Y. Battery of six T.
FOUNDER Napoleons. Graham's Brigade
was in the open country at the angle of
| the two roads; that is, the road ran
| from the Devils Den to the Emmts-
burg pike, with the larger part on the
Emmitsburg road. This formed the
| much talked-of salient. Sickles saw its
vital Importance. and massed behind it
| "a guns. The Peach Orchard was on
! high ground, commanding the country
| in front of it, and had the line taken
up by Sickles been manned with a fair
amount of troops it would have been
exceedingly difficult of assault Hum
phreys's Division extended along the
| Emmitsburg road to the right and to-
ward Hancock, but was several hun
dred yards in advance of the prolonga-
| ton of Hancock's line. Cars and the
Excelsior Brigades were on the Emmits-
burg road, while the Third Brigade
Bur1ing's-was sent to Birney, and was
soon broken up in the battle by the
regiments being sent hither and yon
as they were urgently needed.
The movements of Sickles's troops
| were in sight of the rest of the army on
the higher ground around. They pre-
scented a brilliant spectacle as the we'll
drilled regiments moved with the pre-
cision of a parade, with cleaning arms
and streaming colors.
While this was going on Longstreet
was massing with the greatest CELEBRITY
| behind the screen of woods a force of
| 10000 men, with which he sanguinely
| expected to crush the thin line he saw
before him. roll UP the Union left and
reach the Round Tops and the BaIti-
more pike beyond them. upon which
were the Union trains. This would have
compelled the disorderly retirement of
the Union army from Cemetery Ridge.
Rerdnn's Reconnaissance.
| to what the enemy was doing in the
woods beyond, Gen. Sickles sent for
ward skirmishers to press those of the
| enemy back and get Information if pos
sible. About II O'Clock he sent forward
| Gen. Hiram Berdan, with portion of
his regiment of sharpshooters. support
ed by the Sd Me, to push reconnois-
| SdICc HOHlt IL pOSSluit Ntu DtIutl
/ in his report says of this:
| Il moved down the Emmitsburg road
| some distance beyond our extreme left,
and deployed the sharpshooters in a
| line running nearly east and west, and
/, moved forward in northerly direction
parallel with the Emmitsburg road. We
soon came upon the enemy, and drove
them sufficiently to discover three col
umns in motion in rear of the woods,
changing direction, as it We're, by the
right flank. We attacked them vigor-
ously on the flank, and from our hav-
1 ing come upon them very unexpectedly
and getting close upon them, we were
J enabled 10 do great execution, and
threw them for time into confusion.
They soon rallied. however. and at
tackled us. when, having accomplished
! the object of the reconnaissance, l with
drew under cover of the woods. bring
I ing off most of our wounded, and re-
ported about 2 o'clock to Maj.-Gen.
Birney the result of our operations and
discoveries
Col. Moses E. Lakeman, Sd Me, says
of this:
! Advancing TO and for some distance