triumphs at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville had entered the North
carrying consternation and dismay to every hamlet, with none to oppose;
their forward march was one of spoil, and it was not till the 1st of
July that they met their old foemen, the Army of the Potomac, in the
streets of Gettysburg, and after a fierce conflict drove them back. The
second day's conflict was a terrible slaughter, and at its close the
Federal Army, although holding its position, was to a certain extent
disheartened. Many of our best generals and commanding officers were
killed or wounded, scores of regiments and batteries were nearly wiped
out, Sickles' line was broken and driven in and its position was held by
Longstreet. Little Round Top, the key of the position, was held only at
a frightful loss of life, and Ewell upon the right had gained a footing
upon the Ridge. The Rebel army was joyful and expectant of victory. The
morning of the 3rd of July opened clear and bright, and one hundred
thousand men faced each other awaiting the signal of conflict; but,
except the pushing of Ewell from his position, the hours passed on
relieved only by the rumbling of artillery carriages as they were massed
by Lee upon Seminary Ridge, and by Meade upon Cemetery Ridge. At twelve
o'clock Lee ascended the cupola of the Pennsylvania College, in quiet
surveyed the Union lines, and decided to strike for Hancock's Centre.
Meanwhile, Pickett with his three Virginia brigades had arrived from
Chambersburg and taken cover in the woods of Seminary Ridge. What Lee's
feelings must have been, as he looked at the hundred death-dealing
cannon massed on Cemetery Hill, and the fifty thousand men waiting
patiently in front and behind them, men whose valor he knew well in many
a bitter struggle--and then looked at his handful of brave Virginians,
three, small, decimated brigades which he was about to hurl into that
vortex of death,--no one will ever know. The blunder that sent the
Light Brigade to death at Balaklava was bad enough, but here were
five thousand men waiting to seek victory where, only the day before