The Springfield herald., 1913-07-04
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 So,ooo-Ssv-
eral Generals Killed and
Wounded.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

~ YASHINGTON.- ID y.posvi.,
BILE, some people would say
WV probable. that the Battle of
Gettysburg changed utterly
the course of American his
tory. 1t was 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 1t lost 1t honorably and
with the prestige of its soldiery un-
dimmed.. The charges made on that
Held 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
Gettysburg Northerners and South
erners 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
fortitude 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 few months were
started aginst the objective point.
Richmond. Brave men here and brave
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 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-
lorsville was a Confederate victory.
The Southern government believed.
that the victory SHOULD be. .fc}luwed UP
by an invasion Of the Nertf ~. &c,
cording to its reasoning, II an import
ant engagement could be won upon
Northern soil the chances of foreign
Intervention or at least foreign aid to
the Southern cause. would be forth
coming.
General Robert e. Lee late in the
spring of 1868. 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 num-
ber of men In each was much less
than that in Confederate corps. the
military composition of each being
different. The Union corps comman-
ders who under Meade were at Get
tysburg, were Generals John F. Rey-
nolds, w. s. Hancock. Daniel E.
sickles. George Sykes, John sedgwick.
o. o. Howard and H. w. Slocum.
Forces Almost Evenly Matched.
1t never has been determined be-
yond the point of all dispute Just how
many men were engaged on each side
in the battle of Gettysburg. 1t is
known that the armies were very
nearly equal in strength. the. proba-
bilities being that the Confederate
force was few thousand men strong
er than the Union force, a difference
which was balanced perhaps by the
fact that the Union armies at Gettys-
t.- .ss,e4ssssssll