The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1913-10-16

Robert McCouloch one Of Gen. Picketts Captains
St. Louis Republicl
Victory did not perch on the banner of
either side. The morning of July let found
Meade in possession of the town of Gettys-
burg and all the country south of it. On
that day he was driven outof the town and
nearly mile southwark. On the next day
he was attacked from the west and nearly
another mile taken from him. On the third
day, with the exception of q small force on
Big and Little Round Top, his whole army
was concentrated on small area, and he
simply withstood the attack. He never
regained an inch of ground, and on the
morning of July 18th Lee marched away
southwark with his banners flying over his
depleted ranks as quietly as though he had
been returning to camp from a dress
parade, not even q shot being fired after
his rear guard, and no challenge OF his
south going columns. But not in all the
Southland was their. single man to stand
in the shoes of any or all the harnened and
trained soldiers left on the bloody fields of
Gettysburg, whilst within month the
ranks of his adversary had been recruited
to even beyond their virgin strength, and
then there was more fighting and bloody
contest and waste of human life, the South
losing constantly what it could not regain
or replace, until one day, April 10, 1855,
Lee, after treaty with Grant, issued an
order disbanding his army forever. Each
regiment was formed, its arms stacked and
it's Adjutant read this order. There was
deathly silence and bowed heads and close
attention, until the last word was said, then
the shock was greater than that of the
fiercest and bloodiest battle. Men who had
braved unfalteringly and unhesitatingly all
the trials and perils and exposures of war,
found themselves absolutely unnerved;
tears, binding, scalding tears streamed
over their bronzed cheeks, they threw their
arms around each other, actuated by emo
tons they could not understand or control.
We're they rejoiced that the conflict was
over, were they full of regret that the glory
of q soldiers life was gone to them forever,
or did the hearts overflow with the thought
of going back to the loved ones, who had
watched and worked and waited and cheer
ed and prayed during all the four long,
weary years, without murmur or complaint?
Whatever may have been the emotion it
was too sacred to put in cold words, as no
word was utter, the tears brought relief;
they were soon dashed away and not
another tear has ever been shed. The men
who had made this grand heroic army were
soldiers no longer; they broke into little
squads and set out for their homes, and in
all the half century that has interviewed the
men who made this.last thin line have not
recanted nor faltered in their duty to their
loved ones, their country or themselves.
The half century that has drifted behind
Us since this contest has vested the battle
OF Gettysburg with large degree Of i'm
portance, because it wac measure of
strength and valor and endurance between
two splendid armies Of hardened and train
ed soldiers, and because Lee suffered losses
here from which there was no recovery,
and thus this fight became the beginning
of the ending of the war.