Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1911-05-25
Gettysburg
Now, as Seen
by One
Who Took Part
in the Battle
z TTY S BURGi The

HdIlt d. o0Ol0
PGysEyrSErSd and banner and
IL h&6Efs1 glory and woe and
sfddAvS e$fH broken column and a
I2Noess1sfoLfH field Of graves, writes
ERSHEEA94 Edward w. Thompson
in Boston Transcript Men in Boston
told me not TO go. The place, these
acute critics said, was made ridicn.
lous by multitudes Of preposterous
monuments. On may, after getting
safely out Of Boston, pity these crit
les For the field of Gettysburg is a
most touching spectacle, noble, worth
travelling across oceans to see, as an
epitome Of the poetic, simple, good,
generous heart of the American de-
mocracy. Every federal regimental
line of the three days of July fighting
Is marked out by bronze tablets and
the immortal army of northern Vir-
ginia is placed in eternal position by
the government of the reunited
states Oh. the wide circled graves
of the hest of indistinguishable dead
the little nameless tablets for each
persisted soldieri One would covet a
place there, so heroic it seemed to
have poured out lifes blood for duty
without leaving even a name, save in
the aching hearts of those who knew
that their beloved must lie among
the unrecognized slain of Gettysburg
And what is a name on any monu-
ment or tablet of that field? All the
inscribed are nearly forgotten. Visit
ors ask about some hero very famous
in his time (and mine): who was
he?" In effect, the dead there are all
alike. essentially unnamed. becoming
quickly unrecognized, even as the
winds of night and the memories OF
war. And the wholly unnamed, when
the final roll call be sounded. shall
surely be as familiar as any to the
judgment seat nor less applauded by
the shadowy hands of heaven.
There is art, and even great art al
Gettysburg, rarely. in certain shafts
and bronze equestrian and standing
statues Of the marshals of the hosts
that were. But art is small. insignifi
can't. conceited, toy, a diminished
citified idea. at Gettysburg. The grand
natural spectacle and the sense 0
what they did here" reduce TO a sor
of triviality the memorials which mos
obviously celebrate the heroes arts
tically. Strangely proper seemed tn
homelier stone figures of horse, an,
gun, and man. devised lovingly by tn
! village stone cutter. he striving 81
I vainly TO symbolic the man or tn
, regiment cherished in memory by tn
humble folk who gave him his CON
r mission after putting hard hand dow
, into poor pockets to pay his little fee
I They saw in his queer work all tina
: was lent to its outlines by Their VI
, sions Of past agony and tears. Il
, those almost absurd memorials yo
shall see the homely. good, awkward
= poetic, loving American people II 20
look rightly. II your heart deride
them. better go away hastily-an
drown yourself-as one devoid of VI
Outstanding. But first try to get RICH
That may be possible by gazing fror
: almost under Father Abrahams fl:
ure. high on the central shaft. towar
Seminary Ridge. Your mortal eye
5 shall see the distant, lengthy Blu
: Ridge Hills Your soul may behold, Il
r visibly far, the delectable mountain
d where his spirit ranged for the in
r mortal address.
e A days driving about the gre;
y three days battlefield enables one
u understand clearly what happened.
was as If the Almighty, even as H
a mer understood him to be. had no
n ded to fix irrevocably, at the begi
S ming of the fight. the doom of its i
h sue. 1t is as he had said. Two da,
e shall the south triumph; every hol
If of that time shall the north. beate
it increase in strength; the valor of Il
j. victors OF the first two days shall
d resistibly pound their foes into an il
s. pregnable position: on the third day
d. will take away the wisdom of Il
e great leader of the south he sha
e then rels,ire OF his soldiers de,
d that mortal flesh and blood cam
perform: and great shall be the
70 slaughter and their rout For. stan
is ing on Little Round Top. the FEEDER
4. left. viewing the ground TO Gull
N Hills. where the blue right lay. it a
lie pears incredible that general
h. mafterly as Lee could have ORDER
IS the third days charge unless he HI
le come under the doom, He whom q
Id gods wish to destroy they first ma
h. mad" That Picketts. Longstreet
v Hills. Armstead's regiments shou
,c have endured a whole mile of hell, u
til their relics came to hand-to-hal
fighting, is either an incredible thin
or an indispensable instance of h
man courage. You could weep the
over the dream OF the charge and {
:" carnage. Yet il is all so strangely BILE
to us r. l.. S, gave the very tone
=, the memories:
n. We travelled in the print OF olden wars
Yet all the land was green.