Year: 1863

Correspondence of the New York Herald.


GErTYsBUTG, July q.


To-day l nave passed from end to enc
Ol Ine wnOle ground where the lines q
battle were drawn. The place bears eyi
dence OF having been the scene OF fierc,
struggle. The shocks Of those TWO mass
e. OF humanity, surglng and resurgin:
Ihe one against the other, could hardly
pass without leaving their traces IN lear
+ Iul characters.


Passing UUJ uf Gettysburg by the Balti
more pike, we come IN lew steps 10 the
entrance OF the cemetery. Little OF the
enclosure remains save the wicket gate
way, irqm which the gates have been
torn. Ihe neat wooden fence, first
thrown down to facilitate the movements
oI our artillery, became absorbed for tue.
and III various other uses, as the soldiers
made their camp on the spot. A lew pa
| lings scattered carelessly around are all
that remain. The cemetery was such as
Is usually to be found near thrifty towns
OF the size of Gettysburg. None OF the
monuments and adornIngs were highly
expensive, though all were neat, and
many OF them bordered on The costly
| The place was kept with considerable
care, as IS eVinced Ly the few traces OF
horticulture that remain. The eye Is ar
rested by a notice prominently posted,
forbiddIng the destruction or mutllatlon
Of any tree, shrub or stone about the
place, under severe penalties. The def
ance that war makes against the civil
law, and the overthrow OF many OF sOcie-
ty's customs, is iorcibly apparent as one
Oerl1-aS those warning lines.


Monuments ana neadsuones lie here
and there overturned. Graves, once care
fully tended by some loving hand, have
been trampled by horses feet until the
vesJiges OF yerdure have Disappeared
The neat and well-trained shrubbery has
vanished or Is bat broken and tangled
mass of brushwoOd. On one grave lies u
dead artillery horse. fast decOmposing un-
der the July sun. On another lie the
torn garments of some wounded sol
der, stained and his saturated
with his blood. Across a small head
stone, bearing the words TO the
memory of our beloved child, Mary" lie
fragments OF musket shattered by a
cannon shot. In the center of a space
enclosed by an iron fence and containing
half a dozen graves, few rails are still
standing where they were erected by our
soldiers and served to support the shelter
tents OF biYouacking squad. A family
shaft has been broken in fragments by a
shell, and only the base remains, with a
portion of the inscription thereon
Stone after stone felt the effects of the
fen Penter that was poured upon the crest
of the hill. Cannon thundered and foot
and horse soldiers tramped over the
sleeping place of the dead. Other dead
were added to these who are resting here,
and many wounded soldier still lives to
remember the contest above those silent
graves.


The hill on which this cemetery is To-
Gated was the center of our line OF battle
and the key to our whole position. Had
the rebels been able TO carry this point
they would have forced US to retreat, and
the whole battle would have been lost
To pierce our line here was Lees great
endeavor, and he threw his best brigades
against it. Wave after wave of living
valor rolled up the slope, only to roll
back again under the deadly fire of our
artillery and infantry 1t was on this
hill, little to the right of the cemetery,
where occurred the charge of the famous





boast that they were never yet foiled in
an attempt TO take a battery, but on this
occasion they suffered defeat and nearly
annihilation. Sad and dispirited they
mourn their repulse and terrible losses in
the charge,


From the summit of this hill large
portion of the battle ground is spread out
before the spectator. In front and at his
feet lies the town of Gettysburg, contain
ing in quiet times population of four or
five thousand souls. IL is not more than
hundred yards to the houses in the
edge of the village where the contest
with the rebel sharpshooters took place.
To the left of the town stretches long
valley, bounded on each side by a gently
sloping ridge. The crest of each ridge is
distant good three-fourths OF a mile or
more from the other. 1t was on these
ridges that the lines of battle were form
ed on the second and third day, the reb-
el line being on the ridge TO the west
ward. The one stretching directly from
our left hand, and occupied by our own
men, has but little timber upon it, while
that held by the rebels, boasts of several
groves Of greater or less extent IN one
of these the Pennsylvania College is en-
powered while inanother is seen the Theo-
logical Seminary. Half way between the
ridges are the ruins of large brick bull
ding, burned during the engagement, and
dotted about here and there are various
brick and frame structures. Two miles
at our left hand rises pointed elevation,
known to the inhabitants as Round Hill.
Its sides are wooded, and the forest
stretches from its base across the valley
TO the crest of the western ridge.


IL must not be supposed that the space
between the ridges is an even plain, shaw
en- with the scythe and leveled with the
roller. 1t rises and falls gently and with
little regularity, but in no place is it
steep of ascent. Were it not for its unu-
niformity and for the occasional sprink-
ling of trees over its surface, it could be
com pared to patch of rolling prairie in
miniature. To the southwest of the fur
ther ridge is seen the mountain region of
Western Maryland, behind which the
rebels had their line of retreat. 1t is not
a wild, rough mass of mountains, but a
region of hills of the larger and more in
accessible sort. They are. traversed.. by
roads only in a few localities, and their
passage, except through the gaps, is diff
cult Tor a single team and impossible for
an army.


The Theological Seminary, spoken Of
above, was one of the spots around which