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BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

America's true title to liberty was written in blood upon the battlefield of Gettysburg. There, on the free soil of Pennsylvania, slavery received the death-wound from which life ebbed away.

The closing act of that bloody drama of three days' duration, the repulse of Pickett's charge, the artist M.de Thulstrup has here portrayed to us in vivid colors. For two days the battle had raged along the entire lines of both armies, with varying results. On the third day Gen. Lee prepared his forces for this last great struggle, which was to break, if possible, the Union lines at the centre, and thus divide the army of Gen. Meade. The spot indicated by the clump of trees was selected as the point upon which the assault should be made. This portion of our line, on which this terrible storm was soon to break, was held by Webb's brigade (the Philadelphia brigade), of the Second Division, Second Corps. It was then posted in front of the battle-line shown in the picture, alon the line of the low stone wall, which is about one hundred feet in front of the troops here meeting the final attack. On the left was the 69th Pennsylvania, on their right two companies of the 106th (the remainder of the regiment had been sent to the right to assist Howard); thence the wall was left open for the fire of artillery from Cushing and Brown; then a portion of the 71st Regiment (its left wing); then behind the low stone wall (shown in the sketch) was the right wing of the 71st; and finally the 72nd, in line about one hundred feet in rear of the position in which it is now fighting.

The time here represented is about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of July 3, 1863, when Armistead, leading the advance of Pickett's division, had forced back a portion of the 71st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers to the line assumed by the 72nd Regiment, and had crowned the low stone wall which served to mark out the line of defense assumed by Webb's brigade.*

*It will be perceived that it was not a very difficult thing for the head of the column to pass over the stone wall and to enter the open space in front of Webb's ranks, if the men could be forced to come up to the remaining guns of Cushing and the fresh guns of Cowan's New York battery, which had hurried up to replace Cushing and Brown, whose batteries were then masses of debris. (The artist has withdrawn from in front of the 72nd Regiment, Generals Webb, Armistead, and Cushing, in order to introduce them in this view.)

In this view are shown the troops of Webb's command, the enemy's attacking column, and, on the extreme left, the advance of Col. Hall's re-enforcements, the Third Brigade of the Second Division. In the centre foreground Gen. Hancock, with his headquarters staff, appears. During the engagement he was wounded, but to the left of this line of battle. At the right is seen the reserve artillery coming into action to relieve the shattered batteries of Cushing and Brown.

The line of battle presented in this picture extends from the angle of the fence in the foreground (as shown in the pen-and-ink sketch), past the monument, including the clump of trees, towards the Round Tops. The angle at which the view is given is shown by following from the point where Gen. Armistead is presented to us, the line of battle flags to the extreme right of the picture; which line of advance was nearly perpendicular to our line of defense.

A sharp engagement on the extreme right in the early dawn of this, the third day, was followed by lesser demonstrations along the lines until 10 o'clock in teh forenoon. Then ensued an ominous silence, -- a calm before the coming storm. One hundred thousand men in arms, within sight and short cannon range of each other, are awaiting the command that shall plunge them into this arena in deadly strife. During this lull in hostilities, Gen. Lee is arranging his army for the desperate charge which is soon to follow. The attacking columns were formed to the right of that portion of Seminary Ridge which is seen in the picture, and consisted of Pickett's division, supported on the right by Wilcox, on the left by Heth's division under Pettigrew and Pender, with Wright's brigade as reserves int he rear. THis force numbered about eighteen thousand men. Pickett's division, comprising the brigades of Armistead, Kemper and Garnett -- in all, fifteen Virginia regiments of tried veterans, distiguished for discipline and valor -- had arrived fresh upon the field. This division was selected to lead the great assault.

At 1 o'clock p.m. two guns were fired in quick succession, and instantly the roar of one hundred and fifty cannon along the Confederate lines answered this signal, the shot and shel from their terrific fire sweeping like a tornado through the Union ranks on Cemetery Ridge. The main fury of this cannonade fell upon the foreground shown in the picture, where were planted Cushing's Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery, and Brown's Rhode Island Battery. On the left of these were stationed Cowan and Rorty, and on the righth of the Second Corps line, Arnold's and Wodruff's batteries were located. During this storm of shot and shell, every gun of these batteries that was not disabled was handled with precision and vigor, and not a cannoneer left his post.

For an hour and a half this artillery combat continued its terrible destruction -- the most severe cannonading ever witnessed -- when Generals Meade and Hunt gave orders for our artillery to cease firing, well knowing that such an attack as we were about to experience would certainly follow this evidence of strength and accuracy of the enemy's artillery fire.

It was then that Lee, lured on by the apparent weakness of our artillery fire, issued the order which was to start Pickett on his mission. Longstreet had not agreed with his commander, knowing well, from long experience, that the troops which were to meet his attack were not demoarlized from the effects of the previous days' fighting, nor from the artillery fire through which they had just passed. He hesitated to give the final word ordering the advance, and turned aside his head. Pickett, accepting his silence for consent, saluted and said, I am going to move forward, sir. Soon his division appears crossing the Emmettsburg road, sweeping on into the open field, beyond which is the centre of the Army of the Potomac.

Gen. Webb himself thus describes the charge:

At about 2:45 p.m., Pickett's column, in as fine order as if going to dress-parade, quiet, well drilled, well commanded, in fact veterans of the Peninsula, of Fredericksburg, and Antietam, moved grandly forward.

Pickett and Pettigrew and Trimble -- Virginia and Georgia and North Carolina, Virginia leading -- are to take this clump of trees. See them now as their lines descend towards us -- our countrymen, but our foes. We cannot be other than proud of our enemies. They come to crown this crest, or perish.

Two lines of regiments, possibly eighteen thousand men, are moving on our line slowly and determinedly. They near the crest. Cushing, wounded asks to have his remaining gun run down to the fence, and (glorious martyr), wounded, yea, sorely, stands by that piece, the very picture of a soldier. Americans can will glory in the achievements of the Cushings. But Hancock, our glorious Hancock, ever near the front in action, was not to be easily overthrown by this mass of angry foes. He had the old Second Corps and Doubleday's division of the First; and well he knew how to use us! Stannard was to be used to stay the supporting column on the Rebel right, and well he did it. Gates, of Rowley's First Brigade, was enabled to assist in this movement. Harrow and Hall, of our own division, were near to help us, and Hays on our right with the Third Division, with Smith's brigade, was well able to hold his own.
On, on they come with solid front line closing in upon line, as their right or left felt the pressure of Hancock's aggressive movements. And now they strike the 69th, under Col. O'Kane, and a portion of the 71st, under Lieut.-Col. Kochersperger, and, halting under the withering fire of these brave men, pressed toward the open part of the wall, in front of the space held formerly by Cushing. Here, Armistead, waving his sword aloft, had rushed in with his men. Here, Cushing had died at his piece. Here, was to be the final struggle for the crest! But this crest was not to be taken from us, if, by self-sacrifice and by individual effort, it could be retained.
Pressed by a wedge-shaped column, the right of those who guarded the wall on the left of Cushing was pressed to the rear, but not penetrated or driven to the rear. They were better for deference in their new position. The brigade commander himself pointed out to them the number of Rebels who had passed to their right, and directed them to fire upon them, and to fight their right and rear.
But past the wall - low enough for Armistead to step over - what had they to meet? First, from our right the fire of the companies of the 71st, under Col. R. Penn Smith; then from the front the fire of the 72d Regiment, perfectly organized and in line on this crest, and from our left and left centre that of the body of Hall's men, the guard or rear guard under Capt. Ford and Lieut. Lynch of the 106th, which hurried to be with their brigade in the fray, and finally, also, the rush of Kochersperger's men. Armistead dying, their dead and wounded within our lines (killed and maimed in a hand-to-hand contest), pressed right and left, with no hope of success in their front, and no hope of retreat, they surrendered. Hall, Hays, and Harrow did much to aid in securing this result; in every battle it will be and has been in vain to try to claim all the praise and all success for any one brigade or regiment; but I defy you to find a contest in which any one brigade performed more nobly in the part assigned to it.

Col. Banes, in his narrative, says of this moment: -

The battle rages most furiously. Armistead, with a hundred and fifty of his Virginians, is inside our lines, only a few paces from our brigade-commander; they look each other in the face, - Union men are intermingled with the enemy, - rifles, bayonets, and clubbed muskets are freely used and men on both sides rapidly fall. The struggle lasts but a few minutes, when the enemy in front throw down their arms, and rushing fall. The struggle lasts but a few minutes, when the enemy in front throw down their arms, and rushing through the lines of the 72d Regiment, hasten to the rear as prisoners without a guard; while others of the column who might have escaped, unwilling to risk a retreat over the path by which they came, surrender. Gen. Webb won the esteem of his men for his skillful management, and for the extraordinary coolness displayed in the midst of danger. At the time the Confederate leader, Armistead, fell, Webb received a wound; but, concealing it from those around him continued on duty.

In alluding to this scene, when presenting to Gen. Webb a bronze metal as a fitting testimonial of his appreciation of the example Webb had furnished the army on this occasion, Gen. Meade thus wrote:

In selecting those to whom I should distribute these medals, I know no one general who has more claims than yourself, either 'for distinguished personal gallantry on that ever-memorable field,' or for the cordial, warm, and generous sympathy and support so grateful for a commanding general to receive from his subordinates.

Col. Banes, the assistant adjutant-general, carried Webb's brigade colors, and was everywhere among the regiments, and it is not surprising that he is claimed to be with each regiment in their several histories.

Gen. Webb in his report says: -

The brigade captured nearly one thousand prisoners and six battle-flags and picked up fourteen hundred stand of arms and nine hundred sets of accoutrements. The loss was forty-three officers and four hundred and fifty-two men, and only forty-seven were missing.

The regiments before us had lost eighteen officers and many enlisted men during the attack made upon their line at 6:30 P.M., on the 2d inst., when Brown's Rhode Island battery was captured and again retaken. This attack had been made on their left, and the struggle had been severe, - the enemy coming on in hot haste, encouraged by their success in outflanking and overwhelming the stanch and reliable troops o of the Third Corps.
At the moment here represented Cushing's battery had been almost destroyed. The single piece commanded by Sergt. Fuger is doing its last work. Cowan's First New York Independent Battery is in position on the left of Cushing, holding the place previously held by Brown's battery, now disabled and out of ammunition. CAnister is being hurled into the enemy's ranks from six or seven field-pieces. Stannard's Vermont men have taken a position to the front of and perpendicular to our line of battle, and are pouring in their flank fire upon Pickett's right; on his left, Pettigrew's brigades are engaged in a hot contest with the troops of Hay's division.
The troops here meeting the charge of the impetuous foe from that day are known in history as the "Philidelphia Brigade," which held their lines against the enemy's hosts until their comrades could resh in en masse to help them. This picture, therefore is of historic value, and of great interest to all who were with, and who glory in , the achievements of the Army of the Potomac.

Gettysburg

Thosetaking part in that hand-to-hand struggle are representative men of that army, and are doing what their comrades would have done had they been posted at the "clump of trees." As Gen. Hancock said, "They held the spot every true soldier would have desired to hold."
When Armistead, swinging his hat on his sword, cried, "Boys, give them the cold steel!" that moment "the highest wave of the rebellion had reached its farthest limit, ever after to recede." Before another force could dash itself against that line of blue, the last attack of Lee at Gettysburg has been repulsed.