The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-07-05
STORY Of FAMOUS
CIVIL WAR FIGHT
Battle of Gettysburg Which
Brought Credit to Both
Blue and Gray.
TURNING POINT OF CONFLICT
Total Losses on Both Sides In Three
Days Fighting Over 5o,ooo-sev-
eraI Generals Killed and
Wounded.
By EDWARD 9. CLARK.

- YASHINGTON.-It is posi-
AI BILE, some people would say
WV probable, that the Battle of
Gettysburg changed utterly
the course OF American his
tory. II was a great fight between
armies of Americans. for probably
fully ninety per cent. Of the men who
fought on the two sides were born
natives to the American soil. The
bravery shown at Gettysburg was OF
the order which Americans have
shown on every field and which re-
fleets credit upon the hardy and
heroic ancestry of the men engaged.
no matter from what race they may
have sprung.
At Gettysburg there was nothing to
choose between the valor Of the North
and the South. The South lost the
fight, but It lost 1t honorably and
with the prestige Of Its soldiery I'M
dimmed. The charges made on that
field have gone down into history as
assaults made under conditions which
every man felt might mean death at
the end The defenses made at Gettys-
burg were of the kind which 1t takes
Iron in the blood to make perfect. At
Gettysburg Northerners and South
eYners replenished their store OF re-
spect for their antagonists. The bat
tie marked the high tide Of the war
between the states. After 1t the
South largely was on the defensive,
but its defense was maintained with
tortitude and in the face Of privations
which could not chill the blood OF
men fighting for what they thought
was the right.
The Northern armies were persis-
tent In their attacks through the cam
paigns which after a few months were
started aginst the objective point,
Richmond. Brave men here and brave
men there, and after the end came it
was the qualities which keep COM
pany with bravery which made the
soldiers Of the North and South SO
ready to forget and to forgive and to
work again for the good Of a COM
mon country.
The great battle OF Charlottesville
was fought not long before the oppos-
ing Union and Confederate forces met
on the field Of Gettysburg. Chancel-
louisville was Confederate victory.
The Southern government believed
that the victory should be followed up
by An invasion of the North for, &C
cording to its reasoning, IL an import
ant engagement could be won upon
Northern soil the chances Of foreign
>.ervention or at least foreign aid to
the Southern cause. would be forth
coming.
General Robert E. Lee late In the
spring of 1863, made his preparations
to conduct his campaign Northward
into the state Of Pennsylvania. He
had under his command three corps
General James Longstreet command
ing the First, General Richard 8
Ewell commanding the Second, and
General A. p. Hill commanding the
Third. In the Union army which aft
erward confronted Lee at Gettysburg
there were seven corps, but the mum
Der OF men IN each WAS HuCu lees
than that in a Confederate corps, the
military composition OF each being
different. The Union corps comman
ders who under Meade were at Get
tysburg, we're Generals John F. Rey
nolds, w. 8. Hancock. Daniel E
Sickles, George Sykes, John Sedgwick
o. o. Howard and II. w. Slocum.
Forces Almost Evenly Matched.
1t never has been determined be
yond the point of all dispute just hov
many men were engaged on each sid
in the battle of Gettysburg. 1t Il
known that the armies were yer,
nearly equal in strength, the proba
bilities being that the Confederat
force was a few thousand men strong
or than the Union force, differenc
which was balanced perhaps by tn
fact that the Union armies at Gettys