GERRYMANDER 



IMS! 



GETTYSBURG 



outline that in form it was not unlike some 

 horrible animal. Nathan Hale, named for the 

 Revolutionary hero, one of the editors of the 

 Weekly Messenger, drew the geographical fig- 

 ure and exhibited it at a dinner party. Some 

 said it looked like a salamander. "No," said 

 another, "it is a Gerrymander." For years the 

 word was used by the Federalists as a term 

 of contempt for the governor and the Demo- 



THE FIRST GERRYMANDER 

 The misshapen district suggested to opponents 

 of the responsible political party the addition of 

 forked tongue, wings and claws. 



cratic legislature which had established the 

 artificial redistricting of the state. The word 

 has been fully incorporated into the language, 

 and is used very generally in its verb form. 



Many states are gerrymandered by nature. 

 The most famous gerrymander in the United 

 States since the original one of. 1812 was the 

 "shoestring district" (Sixth Congressional) in 

 Mississippi. It was formed to minimize the 

 negro vote, and consisted of all the counties 

 in the state along the Mississippi River; it 

 was about 300 miles long and only about 

 twenty miles broad. 



Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) was the governor 

 of Massachusetts whose name is perpetuated 

 in the word gerrymander. He was born in 

 Marblehead, Mass., was graduated at Harvard 

 College in 1762, and died at Washington, D. C., 

 November 23, 1814. At the time of his death 

 he was Vice-President of the United States. 

 He was a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence ; a member of the United States Con- 

 stitutional Convention, a member of Congress 

 for several years, and in 1797 was sent to 

 France to establish diplomatic relations with 



that country. His term as governor of Massa- 

 chusetts was from 1810 to 1812. 



GETHSEMANE, gethsem'ane, a beautiful 

 garden filled with olive trees located about a 

 mile east of Jerusalem, between the River 

 Kedron and the Mount of Olives. During 

 His mission on earth Jesus often retired to this 

 spot for meditation and prayer. It is now for- 

 ever sacred, because it was the scene of His 

 agony, His betrayal by Judas and His arrest. 

 Although the exact location is not known, the 

 Latins have built a wall around a plot of 

 ground 140 by 150 feet just across the river 

 from Jerusalem, and have arranged it as a 

 European garden and have preserved it as the 

 sacred spot. The Greeks, envious of the Lat- 

 ins, have inclosed a place a little north beside 

 the Virgin's tomb, and contend that this is 

 the true Garden. 



GETTYSBURG, get' iz burg, BATTLE OF, a 

 decisive engagement of the War of Secession, 

 generally regarded as the turning point of the 

 struggle between the North and South. There- 

 after the fortunes of the Confederacy gradu- 

 ally waned. In this hotly-contested battle, 

 which was fought July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, at 

 Gettysburg, Pa., Lee's magnificent army of 

 Northern Virginia, numbering about 70,000, 

 was defeated by the Federal army of the Po- 

 tomac, commanded by General George G. 

 Meade. About 93,500 of the Union force of 

 over 100,000 took part in the field operations. 

 After the Confederate victory of Chancellors- 

 ville (May 2-4), the two armies lay encamped 

 for some time on opposite sides of the Rap- 

 pahannock, at Fredericksburg, Va. In the 

 meantime Lee reorganized his forces, which he 

 divided into three sections, placing over them 

 Longstreet, Ewell and A. P. Hill. He then laid 

 his plans for a second invasion of the North, 

 hoping thereby to defeat the Federal army, 

 capture Washington, and bring the war to a 

 close favorable to the Confederacy. 



On June . 3 the main body of the Confed- 

 erate forces began their northward movement. 

 The Federals followed, and on July 1 the ad- 

 vance forces of the two armies faced each 

 other at Gettysburg, which lies at the foot of 

 two ridges. Directly to the south is the one 

 known as Cemetery Ridge, which is shaped 

 like a fishhook. Three elevations crown its 

 summit, Gulp's Hill, at the barb of the hook, 

 and Little Round Top and Round Top, at 

 the other extremity. A mile to the west rises 

 Seminary Ridge, which was occupied by Lee's 

 army as its various divisions arrived. 



