106 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



leg, and the command of his corps devolved on 

 Maj.-Gen. Birney. Gen. Hancock was wounded 

 in the thigh, and Gen. Gibbons in the shoulder. 

 The first and second wavered. The enemy 

 pressed up to the very guns of the batteries, 

 which were exposed to capture. The sixth 

 corps, under Gen. Sedgwick, although weary 

 with a inarch that day, hurried with shouts 

 to the support, and the enemy staggered and 

 drifted slowly back. A strong force was now 

 pushed on their left flank, which pressed well 

 to their rear along the Emmitsburg road, and 

 the Confederates retired. At this time Gen. 

 Ewell got his forces forward and made a des- 

 perate dash on the twelfth corps, under Gen. 

 Slocum, on the extreme right, which had been 

 weakened to support the centre and left. For 

 fifteen minutes the attack was furious, but the 

 sixth corps came to its support followed by the 

 first corps, and the struggle continued with 

 some advantages to the enemy until 9 o'clock, 

 when he retired, having lost the day in every 

 quarter. It was stated that the divisions of 

 Gens. Fender and Heth, of Gen. Hill's corps, 

 remained inactive. 



Gen. Lee thus reports the operations of the 

 day: 



In front of Gen. Longstreet, the enemy held a posi- 

 tion from which, if he could be driven, it was thought 

 that our army could be used to advantage in assailing 

 the more elevated ground beyond, and thus enable us 

 to reach the crest of the ridge. That officer was di- 

 rected to endeavor to carry this position, while Gen. 

 Ewell attacked directly the high ground on the enemy's 

 right, which had already been partially fortified. Gen. 

 Hill was instructed to threaten the centre of the Fed- 

 eral line, in order to prevent reinforcements being sent 

 to either wing, and to avail himself of any opportunity 

 that might present itself to attack. 



After a severe struggle, Longstreet succeeded in get- 

 ting possession of and holding the desired ground. 

 Ewell also carried some of the strong positions which 

 he assailed, and the result was such as to lead to the 

 belief that he would ultimately be able to dislodge the 

 enemy. The battle ceased at dark. 



During the night, Gen. Meade sent the fol- 

 low,ing despatch to Washington : 



The enemy attacked me about four p. M. this day, 

 and, after one of the severest contests of the war, he 

 was repulsed at all points. We have suffered con- 

 siderably in killed and wounded. Among the former 

 are Brig.-Gens. Paul and Zook,and among the wounded, 

 Gens. Sickles, Barlow, Graham, and Warren slightly. 

 We have taken a large number of prisoners. 



On the next morning, the following further 

 despatch was sent : 



The action commenced again at early daylight upon 

 various parts of the line. The enemy thus far have 

 made no impression upon my position. All accounts 

 agree in placing the whole (rebel) army here. Pris- 

 oners report Longstreet's and A. P. Hill's forces 

 much injured yesterday, and many general officers 

 killed. Gen. Barksdale's (of Mississippi) dead body 

 is within our lines. We have thus far about six- 

 teen hundred prisoners. 



The action thus commenced was chiefly an 

 artillery fire directed upon the line of Gen. 

 Meade, which slackened after a few hours. On 

 the right of Gen. Meade, the contest was close 

 and more severe. It commenced at daylight, 

 by an attempt on the part of the twelfth corps, 



under Gen. Slocum, to drive Gen. Ewell farther 

 back. This attack met with a prompt response 

 from Gen. Ewell. The fiercest assaults were 

 made upon the positions of Gens. Geary and 

 Berry, which fell back a short distance until 

 supported by Gen. Sykes's division of the fifth 

 corps and Gen. Humphrey's of the third. 

 The struggle was now evenly contested for 

 some time, when a further reenforcement ar- 

 rived and took such a position as to enfilade 

 the enemy, causing his force to retire, and at 

 11 o'clock A. M. a general quiet prevailed. 



The movements of the enemy thus far had 

 been made rather to cover up his designs than 

 as serious efforts against Gen. Meade. The 

 battle of the previous day had demonstrated 

 that the issue of the struggle turned on the 

 occupation of Cemetery Hill. To get posses- 

 sion of this spot was therefore the object of the 

 enemy. Early in the morning, preparations 

 had been made by Gn. Lee for a general at- 

 tack upon Gen. Meade's whole line, while a 

 large force was concentrated against his cen- 

 tre for the purpose of taking the ground it 

 occupied. Gen. Longstreet massed fifty-five 

 guns of long range upon the crest of a slight 

 eminence, just in front of the extreme right of 

 Gen. Hill's corps, and a little to the left of the 

 heights upon which they were to open fire. 

 At the same tune, Gen. Hill massed some sixty 

 guns along the hill, still farther to his left and 

 in front of the same heights. The position of 

 these guns was near the Bonaughton road, near 

 the York road, near the Harrisburg road, and 

 along the Seminary ridge to a point beyond 

 Bound Top. The artillery on Cemetery Hill 

 was thus subject to more than a half circle of 

 cross fires. At 1 o'clock the signal gun was fired, 

 and the cannonading commenced. The fire of 

 the enemy was thus concentrated on the posi- 

 tion held by the eleventh and second corps. It 

 drew a most terrific response from the Federal 

 batteries. It is thus described by a spectator 

 in the Union army : 



" The storm broke upon us so suddenly that 

 soldiers and officers who leaped, as it began, 

 from their tents, or from lazy siestas on the 

 grass were stricken in their rising with mor- 

 tal wounds, and died, some with cigars between 

 their teeth, some with pieces of food in their 

 fingers, and one at least a pale young Ger- 

 man, from Pennsylvania with a miniature of 

 his sister in his hands. Horses fell, shrieking 

 such awful cries as Cooper told of, and writh- 

 ing themselves about in hopeless agony. The 

 boards of fences, scattered by explosion, flew 

 in splinters through the air. The earth, torn 

 up in clouds, blinded the eyes of hurrying 

 men ; and through the branches of the trees 

 and among the gravestones of the cemetery a 

 shower of destruction crashed ceaselessly. As, 

 with hundreds of others, I groped through this 

 tempest of death for the shelter of the bluff, 

 an old man, a private in a company belonging 

 to the 24th Michigan, was struck, scarcely ten 

 feet away, by a cannon ball, which tore through 



