Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-07-08
THE GETTYSBURG
ANNIVERSARY
Percival Knowles Talks Of the Great
Meeting of the Blue and
the Grey on Former
Battlefield.
ON FIFIIETH ANNIVERSARY
n FIFIIETH ANNIVERSARY
Three Old Veterans of Hamilton
County Attend the Memmor-
able Re-Union.

Percival Knowles, G.. w. Flowers
and B. Mccoy returned Saturday
from the semi-centennial anniver
sary of the veterans of the battle o.
Gettysburg. Without doubt this
gathering will go down in history
as the most remarkable Of its kind
Fifty years ago this month the
blue and grey uniforms held men
with the fixed determination to win
that three days battle or give their
lives trying. Last week many of
those same men met to shake hands
and mingle their smiles and tears
over the incidents of those then
tense days in which $1,000 men gave
their lives for their principles. The
three above mentioned were the
only representatives from Hamilton
county to go to Gettysburg. They
left here June 27th and joined the
Iowa delegation at Des Moines.
There were about BIG on that train,
but Mr.. Knowles thinks it probable
that there were many more than
that number of Iowans, at Gettys-
burg. &C.,
In interviewing Mr.. Knowles yes
terday, he spoke of the position Of
the Iowa camp of the delegation
from this state; 1t was situated al
most under the guns of the Confed-
crate army on the slope Of Seminary
Ridge. Artillery was placed in the
exact position of fifty years ago and
a few of the guns were the identical
ones used in that bloody siege. Mr..
Knowles was a member of the sixth
corps of Maine and did not see any
actual fighting. He was at West
minister and when orders came to
advance to Gettysburg, they started
in the evening, marching all night
and were later stationed in reserve
on Little Round Top considerably to
the northwest of the actual battle
field. There were SO many differ
ent engagements within two miles
Of each other that it Is rather con-
fusing to one who was not in the
thick of the conflict to follow the
of our army correctly.
The tented city of last week was
about mile in width and a mile
and half in length. Streets were
formed by the tents and every so far
a mess kitchen was stationed with
about twenty cooks. Every man at
meal time went to tables or stations
where he obtained his "weapons"--
plate, cup, forks, ETC., and proceed
ed in the manner of a cafeteria to
supply himself with edibles. These
were first class in every sense and
the cooking plentiful and excellent.
At night about eight men were oc-
cupants Of regular army barracks
tent which is originally intended to
hold twelve men, SO sleeping quar-
ters were commodious. The country
looked very familiar to Mr.. Knowles,
much Of the peach orchard north OF
Seminary Ridge being there still
and the road from Little Round Top
leading past the DEVILS Den, a nat
ural fertilization of rocks. where
many rebel sharp-shooters were plac-
ed during the engagement, to the
south end OF Seminary Ridge, looked
exactly the same. The town Of
which was fifty years
ago a village of about 1000, is now
four times its original size. When
down in the town one day, Mr..
Knowles went to what is known as
the Jennie Drake house, which is
still standing as in former days and
Is now used as house for memen-
toes and curios with which it Is fill
ed. The bullet holes are in the door
which the fatal bullet pass
ed which killed Jennie Drake as she
stood at her oven door where she
was baking bread. In the wall OF
the house next to this one are still
the shot buried in the solid wood,
shot which was fired the day the
rebels marched through the town,
pushing back the Union men. When
asked if there was not some other
thing, some knot Of blue
ribbon, or some old picture Of con-
federate girl, which had associations
Of more than ordinary interest, Mr..
Knowles replied with a twinkle,
that there was not but would be a
picture, not Of some old confederate
girl, but of youthful confederate
girls with whom he and Mr.. Flow
ers were talking the other day and