Biographical Newspaper clippings, 1861-1930, Vol. 2

              CWCL104; '-/ ¦
General Sickles was forced to aban¬ don the exposed po.sition in which he had been situated. One of the most desperate struggles of the day was the effort of the Confederates to capture the Round Tops, in which fhcy were defeated. .. There were sharp engagements between the'12th Army Corps on Gulp's Hill and the Confederate on Wolf's liiil, but no engagement of large num¬ bers.
The   fact   familiar   to   all   is   tliat the decLsivs battle of the series was j the   disastrous   Pickett's   Charge   i.i the   afternoon   of   the     third     day, 'July   3,   1863.     It   not   only  decided 'the battle  of Gettysburg,  but  prac¬ tically was tlie beginning of the end j of  tho  war and  it  ranks  in  history I as one  of the  most ill-advised,  bad- ly-exccuted  exhiliitions    ot    bravci-y,l and sacrifice of lite that have  been Ii recorded.      , I
The limited space allotted this! recall of 60 years, ago necessitates I ornittin,s;- much of interest concern-! ing each day's acti'-'itles and I shall ' devote what is left to a few sen fences, concerning that famous- charge.
Picketts Charge I,s Climax.
It. had probably been the subject ot more thought and planning than al! the other movements of the three days contests, and if Pickett's division had been supported by the other divisions just as had been planned, the immediate result j would  surely  have  been  different.
Bcloiters      will      better      compre- j hend tlie action if they will imagine '. the     Seminary     Ridge     located     on South   Beloit   Bluft,   v, ith   150   Con¬ federate   cannon   in   line,   partly   ob¬ scured  by trees,  and    behind     thenr 20,000 armed  men  in  gray  uniforms ready to move forward -^vhen so oid-i ered.
Imagine   the   cannon     In     Horace White  park to have a stone -wall in, front of if  and  a  line  of 100  more
cannon extxending a mile cast with \ stone wall a considerable of the distance, with additional reserve ar¬ tillery on Buahnell and Chapin streets with Genera! Meade's head¬ quarters about on Clary street. Imagine that behind the stone wall and farther back in reserve are thousands of armed men in Viliie uni¬ forms, ail expecting something to happen, because for several hours the movements on the Seminary nidge have indicated that great preparations were being made for some very important movement, and the guess by Union officials was that we have to resist lieavy cannonading and possibly infantry assault.
Great Artillery Duel Opens. j
At 1 o'clock, two signal guns were fired from the Confederate artillery, followed immediatel.v by a volley of shrieking shells, which must ha\e included every gun in the line. Tlie Union artillery responded immedi-j ately, and one of the greatest, if'j not the greatest, artillery duels known to history was begun. Thii deafenjng roar of the guns and the, terrifying shriek of the shells cori-j tinued tor an hour and a half.j without cessation, and all whoj heard it insist that nothing known; of that nature can compare with! :t. Tiie destruction of nreii, horses and   gun   carriages   was   terrible.        j
At about 3:30 o'clock, part of thei Union guns were withdrawn be¬ cause it was feared the .supply of ammunition might become exhaust¬ ed. The Confederates construed the cessation to mean that they had put our artillery out of commission, and their infantry lines of battle ap-j peared at once in front of their artillery.
They quickly formed and moved: forward three lines of battle, with skirmish line in front.    Picketfs di-,
vision, 14,000 men, known as the flower or the Confederate army,! moved with perfect precision and alignment, a magnificent spectaclo: that they could never be able to re¬ peat, because their destruction be¬ gan almost immmediately, and the horrors of v,'ar were never more forcibly demonstrated, for thelrj 11101. emen.t forward -vvas the signal of the Union artillery to resume ac¬ tion.
Confederate   Line   Shattered.
Tlie first volley shattered the, lines, but they did no"t halt. Vol¬ ley after xolley thinned the ranks,: but those who did not tali moved on with more or less '-wavering,! leaving their dead and wounded be-; hind.
The Union infantry behind the stone wall reser\ed their fire until the enemy was within close range and their first volley created confu¬ sion, that continued though the ene¬ my continued to advance until the remnant of their force even sur¬ mounted the stone wall and en¬ gaged in hand to hand encounter, but were cjuickly overcome by re¬ serves and thus ended the decisive movement in the battle of Gettys¬ burg.