The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-07-13
1WsJT TO HISTORIC GETTYSBURG
The Eighth Anniversary Of the Greatest Battle in the
History of the Wohd-Hhy the Battle Was
Fought at Gettysburg.
BE- MARION BUTLER.
written for the Charlotte Observer

In front Of this ssmI-circle Of aSaI
or six miles over which General
Lees army vas spread out. the Fed
eTal soldiers, numbering from .igh-
teen TO twenty thousand more than
the Confederates. were entreuched
behind boulders. hills and breast
works and stone walls in q compact
straight line. covering : distance Of
less than two miles from Cuip's bill
10 Big Round Top.
AT glance a novice in var could
sec that the Federal troops we're
lodged In a commanding and almost
impregnable position. Their artillery
located on the high grounds could
play over the entire field covered BY
the Confederates- Their soldiers
were protected by woods. by great
bouiCers OF rock. and by all kinds Of
most desirable breast works, both nat
ural aad artificial General Meade
had his army so adyantageously and
compactly located that he could not
only see everything that his own sol
dIers were doing, but he could also
see everything that the Confederates
were doing, and could therefore with
the greatest ease send orders from
one end OF his line TO the other and
have them quickly obeyed On the
other hand, General Lee did not have
a commanding view OF the battle
field, and his army was SO scattered
iv Or
information by couriers (for in those
days the telephone had not been in
vented), and then great delay occur
red in getting orders back. This was
frightful disadvantage.
AS | stood near General Lee's
plain that was covered forty-eight
years ago to-day by Confederate
troops, and then looked at the low
fiat plain through which they charged
up the slopes toward the Federal
stronghold, it was enough to make
ones blood chill to think of the
frightful carnage that necessarily re-
suited when our soldiers charged
through the open unprotected space
facing deadly artillery trained upon
then and blowing great gaps through
their ranks, while the Federal troops
lay fiat behind rock walls, thorough
ly protected, and poured a dreadful
sheet of lead into the faces of our
soldiers every moment during the
! fateful and terrific charges. The dis
advantageous position of the Confed-
crates was so apparent that it does
not seem possible that, even if Lee
| had had an army of double the num-
| Der, enough men could survive the
| hail of fire across that field to have
| COPIED with the enemy after they had
succeeded in scaling their breast
works and rifle pits.
| Later, when I stood at the various
points where the fiercest fighting oc-
| Cured during the three days, | was
again impressed with the more thar
| heroic courage that it took for the
| Confederate soldiers to face such
| fearful odds and for the remnants
| to charge on, when half and theI
| three-fourths and then nine-tenths O.
| their comrades had fallen and laiC
dead and wounded behind them.
AS l stood at the DEVILS Den
), which is a collection Of great bould
ers forming a remarkable natura
! breastwork, and behind which thu
Federal troops laid protected anC
fired deadly volleys INFO Longstreet
division as they advanced, one coult
see that very great numbers of tn
Confederate soldiers facing tina