PENNSYLVANIA AT GETTYSBURG CEREMONIES Dedication of the Monuments ERECTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE major-general WINFIELD S. HANCOCK MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN F. REYNOLDS MARK THE POSITIONS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA COMMANDS ENGAGED IN THE BATTLE "That State, wheVe the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Constitution of the United Slates was framed, and tlie Battle of Gettysburg was won. " VOLUME II 1914 Rniered according to the Act of Congress, 1914 tl,r KHit^.r and Compiler Bvt. Lt.-Col. John P. Nicholson Srcretar>' Board of Commissioners fi. Of D,' m 16 i9 i nAimismiiu, vessa WM 8TAM.KY lUV. STATK PHINTEU in4. 9VT COL.R h JOHN P. N HVT BRIG. GEN JOHN P. TAYLOR, president 'Ts BVT BRIGGEN.W.ROSS HARTSHORNE f-CRETARY FIRST LIEUT. SAMUEL HARPER PENNSYLVANIA AT GETTYSBURG / F' VOLUME II DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 114™ REGIMENT INFANTRY* November 11, 1888 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN A. W. GIVIN COMRADES: — A pleasant duty has been assigned me, that of trans- ferring to the custody of the Battlefield Memorial Association this statue, and in doing so I may be permitted to say a few words of commendation to the Committee ; also to compliment the artist on the completion of such a beautiful piece of work. To the Committee I can say, comrades, your days, weeks, yea months of labor, thought and study have been rewarded in the production of the figure standing now before us. In the selection of a subject none better could have been chosen, for here we have a fac simile of our own regiment ; and in the choice of the artist we can say you did wisely. And to the artist, Edward A. Kretch- man, who has carried out in every particular and detail the will and wish of the Committee, thereby giving to us a statue which he and we to-day" feel proud of. Standing as it does looking to our left which is being driven back, is preparing to give them another shot. This may appear to be the produc- tion of the imagination of the artist's brain, but it is not. It is a reality as some of you now standing here can testify. Men of the One hundred and fourteenth stood as this man stands, contesting the ground inch by inch. The artist has given to him an expression of determination. He Is fighting fi-eedom's battle, the enemy must be driven back. Long marches, short rations, little rest or sleep weaves into the knitted brow a look of firmness. The compressed lips could they be opened would say emphatic- ally, "The enemy must be driven back !" But I must pass on and ask the question, "what meaneth this?" I will answer, "To the memory of the *Oiganized at Philadelphia from August 13 to September 27, 1S62, to serve three years. Co. A was originally an independent Co. organized at Philadelphia, August 17, 1861, to serve three years and assigned to the regiment in August, 1S62. On expiration of the term of service of Co. A, the original members (except veterans) veere mustered out and the veterans and recruits retained in service until May 29, 1S65, when mustered out with the remainder of the regiment. ,;io rcnnsylvaiiin at Gettysburg. brnvo men of the One huudml and fourteenth Regiment Pennsylvania !;™,It"r infnnt-ry. Those who survive as well as to those who have fulh-n, i8 this monument dedicated." Th<^. who mar.-h.Hl that Ion.- and weary march through ram and mud fn,m Kmmitshuru to Gettysburg, on the 30th day of June, well remember how you were urged forward by the heavy firing to the right, hurriedly ,.a.H.«inB up this very road and by this very place, and as the sun sank iH-hind thos,. hills in the west, found you In the rear of the Twelfth Corps, nrar (Vmeterv Hill. Then moved from one position to another until dawn ..f day f.)und you on that ridge, at the edge of the wheat-field, sup- IM.rting K First Ith.-de Island Battery, Lieutenant John K. Bueklyn in oharge, and remainin-,- there until the battery was compelled to limber up anil KM to the rear. Then a charge was made. Men sprang forward r.-ady to meet the advancing enemy. And nere I would cull a few words fn>m the report of Major-General Lafayette McLaws, commanding the division of Confederates in our front, in giving a description of the charge, "Very soon a heavy column moved in two lines of battle across the wheat field to attack my position in such a manner as to take the Seventh South Carolina in the flank on the right." So much as the two lines as he says were se»>n moving forward he was mistaken, as there was only one line and that was not very heavy. The line advanced until they reached the road, and here I may be permitted to set to rights a matter that has sivcn rise to considerable argument, and that is, some contend they climbed ovi'r the fence into the road, while others contend there was no fence. Hoth assertions are true. Our pioneers were sent out to remove the fence and had partly chopped it down when they were compelled to desist by the heavy picket firing, so that when the regiment advanced the right was compelled to jump the fence while the left had no fence to climb. Upon reaching the road the enemy was seen advancing in two lines. Steadily they moved forward until both parties met at or near the old bam, when a fearful fight took place; better described by one of the bri- gade commanders of the Confederates, for he says in his report, "Within n few feet of each other these brave men, Confederates and Federals, maintained a desperate conflict." How long you remained in this position we know not. The time when you left the position in the wheatfield to make the charge was about 3 p. ni. Wh.-n yo\i fell back and the Fifth Corps came to take your place, and when the Baltimore pike was reached the sun had gone down and it WHS quite dark. The brigade was assembled by break of day at or near '•Devil's Den." and there rations were distributed. After partaking of s..methinK to eat the brigade was ordered to the support of the Second Corps, which was being pr.'ssed very heavily, and who needed support. The regiment lay in the rear of the Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania, and was able to assist in the loading of the jueces of the men of the Sixty-ninth The balance of the time we spent in gathering up the muskets and burying the dead. It was n sad and surn-wful task to lay beneath the ground he who had only a little while before been your companion and tentmate, now mangled -"■I t..rn, you not even able to recognize him. Then you remember the Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 611 sickeuing sight that met your gaze as you advanced to where the old barn stood to find it in ashes and the charred remains of many of your companions. You could mark their graves as that of unknown. The wounded were taken up and taken to the hospital, many to die on the journey thither. Comrades, this ground upon which we stand is consecrated ground, made so by the blood of our own comrades, being so freely shed upon it. Would I could give the names of those brave men. Let the names of DeHaven and McCarthey, whose names were hastily carved upon a board and placed at the head of their graves be ever remembered. The former, whose remains were transferred to the village cemetery, and whose grave- every year is strewn with the choicest of roses, and whose memory is ever kept green, was my dear friend, he was my tentmate. The brigade pitted against you was Barksdale's, of McLaws' Division, and was composed of Mississippi troops. Their loss was, killed, 105; wounded, 550; missing, 92; total, 747. Your loss as a brigade was 61 killed, 508 wounded, 171 missing; making a total of 740; seven less than the Con- federates . In looking over the figures given to us of the number of men engaged in this battle we find the Confederates had 9,536 cavalry, 4,460 artillery, 54,356 infantry; total, 68,352. In the battle 8,950 afterwards reported, making 77,302. The Union army was composed of 12,978 cavalry, 7,183 artillery, 77,208 infantry; total 97,369. Afterwards reported, 4,310, making 101,679. The losses I am not able to give, but it is estimated that 60,000 men of both armies were lost, killed and missing. And now, comrades, hero let us renew our fealty to each other. Let the associations formed upon the battlefield, on the march and in camp, be of such a character that it will not be severed until the great reaper death shall put forth his sickle and we then be gathered home. Let us never neglect one thing ; that is to strew in budding spring the graves of our brave comrades who sleep the last sleep and who have fought their last battle. When opportunity offers remember your living comrades and the widows and orphans of those who have gone. ADDRESS OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL E. R. BOWEN. rj^HE object of this narrative is simply to record the part taken in the battle of Gettysburg by the One hundred and fourteenth Resiraent 1 Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, as well-drilled and disciplined, as efficient and as brave a regiment as there was in the United States service during the rebellion ; to show the zeal and alacrity with which it obeyed the orders given to it, and occupied the position to which it was assigned; to do honor and justice to its noble dead, who so willingly gave their lives, and to give due credit to its survivors, many of whom gave their limbs and their blood for the defense of their native State, and the flag of the Union and their country. Cjo Pennsijlvania at Gettysburg. The on.' hundnnl and fourtpcnth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, with the Kiftv-sovonth Ro^imont Tcnnsylvania Volunteers, the Sixty-third Regiment IVnnsylvania Volunteers, the Sixty-eighth Regiment Pennsyl- Tania Volunteers, the One hundred and fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- tocn. and the One hundred and forty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- teer*, nil, it will be noted. Pennsylvania troops, constituted the First Bri- gade .' Rriuadier-General Charles K. Graham. First Division, Major-General D. R. Rirney, Third Corps, Major-General D. E. Sickles, Army of the Potomac-. Major-General (Jeorge G. Meade. The recital of the part taken in a general engagement by a regiment that is brigaded with others, is ueoessjirily very much the same as that of the brigade of which it forms a part, and lacks the incidents and details of an account of a detached regi- ment's operations. It is not the intention of the speaker to make a report of the operations of the whole brigade, but to confine himself solely to the movements of his own regiment. Difficult as it to do this, it is made much more difficult when it will be remembered that twenty-six years have elapsed since these events occurred, and that the writer is de- pendent mainly upon his own memory and that of his surviving comrades for the incidents that he narrates. Yet this much must be said of the whole bripade as a body, that it was stationed in the historic peach orchard and adjoining fields at the angle of the Third Corps in its advanced posi- tion, that there it nobly stood its ground, bravely endeavored to the last extremity to hold it agjiinst the assault of overwhelming numbers, did all that brave and well-tried soldiers could do to defend a position in which it was placed, and was driven from it only when more than half its number were killed or wounded, overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers, surrounded on three sides and its commander wounded and a prisoner. Less than sixty days before the battle of Gettysburg, the One hundred and fourteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (Zouaves d' Afriiiue), had borne its part in the bloody battle of Chancellorsville, Vir- ginia. There Major Joseph S. Chandler, Captain Frank A. JEliot, Lieuten- ant Cullen, and many brave enlisted men laid down their lives for their country. It is not out of place here, where the regiment was so soon called upon again to give of its best blood, and to show the effects of the examples of its heroes of Chancellorsville, to pay a tribute to their memory. Major Chandler was a born soldier, and early in life exhibited and de- veloped military instincts. His death coming so early in the history of the regiment, and his being a field officer, not being brought into such near «-..nfact with the men. as would have been the case had he been a line officer, he was not as well known to them as he would have been had his life born spared longer. But yet, in the comparatively short time that he was with the rcKlment, officers and men, his superiors and those Wow him in rank, had learned to respect -and admire him. In the heat of the battle of Chancellorsville, in the very fore-front of the regiment while clling upon a brother officer to seize a rebel flag, when he should strike down the bearer of it. he was himself struck in the forehead bv a minie ball and instantly killed. It was the privilege of the writer to have known Major Chandler intimately . and to have served with him previous to the organization of the One hundred and fourteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 613 Volunteers for a year in another regiment, the Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and he esteems it a further privilege to here record his testi- mony to Chandler's worth, and his personal knowledge of the great loss the regiment suffered in his early death. Captain Eliot was one of those noble, patriotic souls, who gave up literally all, that -he might do battle for his country, and valiantly did he serve her, giving up cheerfully and willingly even his very life for her. No ofiBcer in the regiment was better respected and beloved by his fellow officers and men, and no officer better deserved it. Mortally wounded, while most bravely commanding his company, and sustaining them by the lofty example of his coolness and courage, he died on the field. So, too. Lieutenant Cullen, who here paid the supreme tribute of devotion to the Union and gave his life for it. Neither Chandler's, Eliot's or Cullen's bodies were recovered, and to-day all that is mortal of them rests in un- known graves. But "Their souls are marching on," and perchance some day in the near future, there will be placed by our hands, on the bloody field of Chancellorsville, as fitting a monument to our heroic comrades of that battle as we have here erected at Gettysburg. As well as the writer can remember, and from all information he has been able to obtain, the companies were commanded at the commencement of the battle of the 2d of July, 1863, as follows: Company A, Lieutenant A. J. Cunningham; Company B, Lieutenant H. E. Rulon ; Company C, Lieu- tenant W. J. MiUer; Company D, Captain Henry M. Eddy; Company E, Captain Francis E. Fix; Company F, Lieutenant A. S. Newlin ; Company G, Lieutenant William S. Robinson; Company H, Lieutenant A. K. Dunkle ; Company I, Lieutenant E. T. Marion; Company K, Lieutenant Augustus W. Fix. These were all the line officers that were present for duty with the regiment. Lieutenant R. Dale Benson, Company B, though not technically present with the regiment, was present at Gettysburg, serv- ing on the staff of General Graham, commanding the brigade, and in that position rendered valuable and valiant service. The colors were carried by Color-Sergeant Benjamin Baylitts, who carried the United States flag, and Corporal Cannon, who carried the State flag until he was wounded, when it was taken by Harry Hall, of Company D, who carried it through the rest of the battle and for some time afterwards. This narrative would be incomplete if special mention was not made of the coolness and bravery of the color-bearers. Colonel Collis was absent sick, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick F. Cavada was in command of the regiment until his capture, when the command devolved upon the writer, who was, at this time, captain of Company B, commissioned but not mustered as> major, and acting as a field officer. No adjutant or quartermaster was present with the regiment, both being sick, and their absence necessitating the detail of commissioned officers to act in their places. Surgeon J. M. Cummins, Assistant-Surgeon D. H. Bartine, Sergeant-Major, absent sick; First Ser- geant (afterwards Captain) A. W. Given, Company F, acting Sergeant- Major, and Hospital Steward John Fields. The morning report of the 2d of July, 1863, showed an aggregate of officers and enlisted men present, four hundred and sixty-three, from which is to be deducted one officer, acting as quartermaster in the rear of the ,;] I I'ntiisylvania at Gettysburg. trnin. two surReons. hospitnl steward and attendants, the band, drum corps, .•xtra'duty m.-ii. nud the sick, amounting altogether to seventy-five or eighty men. -BO that th.- a.-tiial strength of the reKiment, rank and file, at the com- ni.'ncftn.-nt of th.- fiKiit was less than four hundred. The loss of the regi- ment at Chancellorsville in killed and wounded being one hundred and Boventyfive officers and enlisted men, the regiment was. much reduced in numbers, and, as three officers were killed and thirteen wounded there, ■ome were absent sick, and several were detached on staff duty, it was very short of officers when it entered upon the movement which finally brought it into its native State and on to the field of Gettysburg. The march northward from between the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, the Kfound which we had been occupying since the battle of Chancellorsville, was a very severe and trying one. The uncertainty as to the where- nboiits and movements of the enemy, made it_ impossible for us to know much of our movements beforehand. For the first day or two we made short and rapid marches in various directions, but after it became evident that Lee was moving his whole army northward, with the intention of getting to Washington before we could get there, or in event of not being able to do that, of invading the Northern States and transferring the field of war to them, the race began, and day after day, through scorching sun and stifling dust, we pushed on after our enemy, determined to head him off wherever he might be going, and, if possible, to get there before ho did. On the 1st day of July, 1863, before noon, the regiment arrived at Em- mitsburg, Maryland, and went into camp with indications of remaining thi're for some time, but the men had hardly got their shelter tents up, and be«un to make themselves comforable before heavy cannonading was heard and soon the regjment was marching again iu the direction of it. We arrived in the vicinity of Gettysburg late in the evening of the same day, and 'bivouacked south of the town iu the woods on the right of Little Round Top, and about a half or three quarters of a mile from the Emmits- burg rond. Early on the morning of the 2d the regiment was moved from whfT.' it had lain during the night, to the front, in the vicinity of the Trostlo house, and was formed with the brigade into line, in columns doubled on the center. Battery E, First Rhode Island Artillery, being di- rectly in front of us. From this position early in the afternoon we were moved forward three-eighths to a half of a mUe and deployed into line of battle, in an outfield on the right of the peach orchard, the Fifty-seventh P.-nn.sylvania Volunteers on our right and the Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers on our left. We were now within a short distance of the EmmitsburK road, and our line was parallelel with it; up to this time there had been no firing except on the skirmish line, and it was ominously quiet: but now the enemy opened on us the concentrated fire of his bat- teries and mimedintely we were in the midst of a terrific shower of shot nnd shell, and every conceivable kind of missile, which made terrible havoc among us. As yet there was no enemy in sight, and we had nothing to .1-. but rema.n ,„ our position, having no protection of anv sort or Irind .nal our poH.t.on affording us none, we threw ourselves upon the ground, and ..r upward.s of two hours passively endured the terrible ordeal, while ''•-•'- -■■' '!"-tr.,..„on was being dealt among us. None of the various Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 615 duties which a soldier is called iipiui to pei-fdnn , and none of the various vicissitudes and dangers that he is expected to face, call for such bravery and endurance, as thus remaining passive under an enemy's artillery fire that has got an accurate range, and from which there is no protection. On the skirmish line, on the charge, or actively engaged, assaulting or defend- ing, there is intense activity and great excitement, the mind is so occupied that it takes little note of anything except the duty immediately to be done, and there is no time or opportunity for thougjit of personal danger; but not so when lying prone upon the ground, the shot and shell falling among and all around, and one can do nothing for one's own defense, but only lie there wondering when his own turn will come to be struck, whether he will be killed outright or mutilated, and whether he may be spared to do whatever may come next, nothing else in all a soldier's experi- ence so tries his bravery and endurance, and those who have gone through such an ordeal will never forget it. The battery in our front kept up a steady reply to the enemy's fire, and was served splendidly. The enemy now slackened their artillery fire, and the infantry debouching from their cover in the woods advanced upon us in masses. At this juncture. Captain Randolph, chief of artillery Third Corps, rode up to the regiment, saying: "You boys saved this battery once before at Fredericksburg, and if you will do it again, move forward." Before this we were on our feet await- ing the coming assault. The lieutenant-colonel, who up to this time was in command, not being found, the writer, who was the next officer in rank, gave the order to advance. The regiment sprang forward with alacrity and passed through and to the front of the battery, which hastily limbered up and got to the rear. The impetus of our advance carried us to the Emmitsburg road, in the face of the murderous musketry fire of the advancing enemy. Reaching the road we clambered over the fence and crossed it. Sherfy's house and outbuildings intervening between u.s and the approaching enemy, the right of the regiment was advanced to the rear of the house. While advancing in this way our men were loading and firing as rapidly as possible, and several times pauses were made, notably as we stood on the Emmitsburg road, and corrected the align- ment, which was broken by clambering over the fence. During all this time we were receiving a terrible musketry fire from the rapidly approach- ing enemy, and the men were falling by scores. Here fell the brave and dashing Captain Frank Fix, Company E, terribly wounded in the right knee, and from the effects of which he afterwards died, and here were killed Lieutenant H. E. McCarty, Company K ; Sergeant Joseph DeHaven, Company F; First Sergeant David M. Mace, Company H. Corporals Robert Kenderline, Company F; Benjamin F. Cathcart, Company G, and Samuel C. Rogers, Company K. Privates Abraham Groff, Company B; Isaac Clayton and I. Kennedy, Company D; Joseph Butterworth, Thomas H. Munson and Samuel Rigley, Company E; John Fitzgerald, Company H; John Gallager and Joshua J. Wood, Company I, and Nathan Kelsey, Com- pany K, and here many more were wounded, among them First Sergeant (afterwards Captain) John A. Tricker, Sergeants Charles D. Gentry and Private Lewis J. Borgeit of Company B; Corporals Thomas L. Senatz, Michael Cannon and Private George Hardy, Company C; Private Phil. (JIG rcnnsi/lvania at Gettysburg. Furmnn. Company D; John RrowD, John Donovan, John Hunnsbeiger, i.lor Uoss. I. H. Sachsonhoimor, David Shively and Richard Willard, i.y K: First Sergeant (afterwards Captain) John R. Waterhouse, and l'nvate« Joseph S. Hcaumont. Robert M. Esbin, Henry M. Gassoway, Aaron S. Ileiius. Jeremiah Karcher, Samuel Langhorn and Henry S. Strouse, Company F; Corporal Alfred Hibbs and Private David James, (.'ompuny G; Sergeant James Singerman and Privates George W. Bryant, John Morrison und James McCafferty, Company I, and Private Ferdinand Diinmoyer, Company K. Many others were killed and wounded her<; in the oat field and around Sherfy's house and barn. Some of the wounded souKht refuge in the barn, and being too badly wounded were not able to csonpc from it when it was burned and perished in the flames ; their identification was impossible, but their remains were recognized as members of the regiment by fragments of their distinctive uniform, and they are buritnl in the National Cemetery, the stones over their graves recording that they are those of "unknown Zouaves." Soon it became apparent that it was impossible that we should be able to hold our ground against such overwhelming numbers. Already they were on our left and in our rear, the regiments on our left having been swept away. It seemed as though we were surrounded and could not escape capture, and many of the regiment did not, two lieutenants, Dunkle and Union, and a number of enlisted men being taken prisoners at this IM>int. Only one avenue of escape was open to us, and that was up the Kinniit.sburc road. Ordering the colors to go in that direction with the assistnnci! of Captain Eddy and the few remaining officers rallying the few men that were left, we made a stand, pouring a volley into the enemy, who was almost upon us, then retreated up the road, many falling by the way, for it was far more dangerous to life to retreat up that road and to our rear, than it was to remain to be captured. After going up the road a short distance we turned into the field, and just here Captain Kddy was struck full in the breast, and the writer thought that the regi- ment had lost another brave officer, but his end was not yet, for the missile that struck him proved to be a spent ball, and with assistance he was enabled to keep up and get out of range; only, however, after two more years of faithful service to receive a mortal wound while gallantly commanding the regiment and leading it into Fort Mahone in the final operations before Petersburg. All this time we were being hotly followed by the enemy, and very close they were to us, until we had retraced our steps on the ground over which we had advanced a few hours before and we withdrew from the position where we received the enemy's as- sault, m as orderly a manner as was possible under the circumstances. Our mam en.leavor being to get our colors safely off, they were ordered to fall baek.n short distance as quickly as they could, and what remained of the regiment, amounting altogther to not much more than a 'color whl-n ;.'' m ''' '"; :r' ""' '^^^ '" "•'^°^ ^^^^^ --■^ *^^^' -"l^- -^ then ren n, Z '"''"' ''''' ^^"'''' '"^ '""'^ ^^^ ^ack on the colors epent „g , us nnmoeuvre until the colors were in a place of safety Cap ...n I..X afterwards stated that when we left the Emmitsburg oad wh ch «as covenHl w.th our dead and wounded, and where he w^.s laying a Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 617 battery of the enemy came thundering along it, and when the officer com- manding it saw our dead and wounded on the road, he halted his battery to avoid running over them and his men carefully lifted our men to one side, and carried the wounded into a cellar of a house, supplied them with water, and said they would return and take care of them when they had caught the rest of us. This they had no opportunity to do, for they themselves were driven back, and the house containing our wounded re- mained within our lines and our men received the care and attention of our own surgeons. While two of our men were helping to the rear a third who was badly wounded, a shell exploded among them and killed all three of them. The advance of the enemy was checked at dark and we sank down where we were utterly exhausted. During the night a few men who had become separated from the regiment turned up, among them acting sergeant-major, afterwards captain, Givin. Hardly ever was one man better pleased to see another than the writer was to see this same Acting Sergeant-Ma jor Givin, for as the regiment was minus our adjutant he was depended upon for the performance of his clerical duties, details, the possession of the rolls, etc., etc. During the night and after a few hours of rest parties were sent out to And the whereabouts of the division, and by daylight the brigade, or rather what was left of it, got together again. The writer has no statistics to refer to and therefore give an accurate statement of the casualties of the regiment and brigade, but he knows that during the battle of the 2d we lost more than one-half our number and that the brigade suffered proportionately. During the morning of the 3d we had a welcome visit from our quartermaster. Lieu- tenant Hartley, who was then quartermaster sergeant, and afterwards promoted to be quartermaster, and rations were served. About noon on the 3d, the brigade, now under command of Colonel Tippin, of the Sixty- eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, General Graham having been wounded and taken prisoner during the battle of the day previous, was moved farther to the right and front during the cannoading just pre- vious to Pickett's assault upon Cemetery Ridge. Colonel Tippin was ordered to move the brigade still farther to the right, and whether it was that the brave colonel did not know the right from the left, or just which way he was ordered to go, or whether it was that his soldierly instinct led him to lead the brigade towards the enemy, doubtless glad of an opportunity to repay them in the same coin for the way they had served us on the previous afternoon, the writer does not know, but this much he does know, that in less time than it takes to tell this we were in the midst of a mosf severe shower of missiles of all sorts and kinds, one of which struck Colonel Tippin's horse, and placed the doughty colonel hors-de-combat . At this juncture Colonel Madill of the One hundred and forty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, assumed command of the brigade, and quickly withdrew it from its exposed position. At this time the writer was ordered to move this regiment with the One hundred and forty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and assist in repelling the assault of Pickett's Division, which was now just about to be made. At a double-quick we moved to the position assigned to us in the second line, the Philadelphia Brigade being in the first and directly in front of us. r.is Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. mov^ r«pi-cinllv the Sixty-ninth R.'gim.-nt Pennsylvania Volunteers. Here w.. waitod the wming assault of Pickett's brave men. For a brief space there wn8 nn ominous pause of artillery on both .sides, General Hunt, chief of the nrtillcry of the Army of the Potomac, having ordered it to cease on our side, in order that the fiuns might have an opportunity to cool and the ammunition be economized for the assault he knew was about to bc' made. The enemy, supposing from our artillery ceasing to fire that they had silenced our batteries, caused their firing to cease also. The sileucc was, however, of short duration. The enemy rapidly crossed the intervening space. Our batteries, loaded with grape and canister, were traineN OF -MONUMENT 116TH REGIMENT INFANTRY* SEPTEJH5EB 11, 1889 AI»I)UI:SS OF BREVET MAJ.-GEN. ST. CLAIR A. MULHOLLAND IN all the four years of its existence the men of the Army of the Po- tomac never hailed an order with more delight than that one which withdrew us from before Fredericksburg and sent us north. When on that lovely summer evening in June, 1863, we looked for the last time on Marye's Heights and the monument of Washington's mother, which had been shattered and broken by the shells of both armies, and stood out there on the plain back of the city as though protesting against this fratricidal strife, a mute and sorrowful Niobe weeping for the misfortunes of her children, every heart beat with a quickened throb, and all the men re- joiced to leave the scenes of the last six months. We withdrew from the line of the river after the shades of night had fallen over the landscape, and it swrned to be an appropriate hour, for had not the great array while here been in shadow, without a ray of sunshine to gladden our souls, and we had been here ,so long that we were beginning to be for- gotten as the Army of the Potomac, and letters came to us marked "Army of the Rappahannock." As we marched away iu the darkness our joy was not unmingled with sorrow, f..r was there a veteran in the ranks who did not leave behind the grav.-s „f nobl.. and well-beloved comrades who had fought beside him from the beginning of the great struggle? We did not march away with all the anny. for when our camp-fires-which on this night burned w^th unusual brightness-went out and loft the valley of the Rappa- *' ' I'liUndi'lphia from June 11 to September 4 is.fio t/v c„ '■"° " '"'""''°" Of fo»r Cos n JunuarV S'se^ «n!, h""'' J'"'" " until :.. . , when sli new Cos. were added. Cos A B C LT^ <^ontInuod as Buoh «f .*rrl« June 3. 1865. and Co«. E. F. G. H I and K Jul'y li 1865 "^"^ ""'*"'" """^ Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 623 hannock in darkuess, the living army was gone to be sure, but twenty thousand of our members lay over on the other side of the river — the heroes of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. An army of occupation indeed, the corps of honor, forming a great and permanent camp — the bivouac of the dead. Thoughts of sadness soon gave way to those of a more bouyant nature ; we felt, when the head of the column turned toward the Capital, that the road we trod would lead to victory. The march to Gettysburg was one of the longest and most severe we had yet experienced. In thinking of war we are apt to look only at the battles ; to hear the dread sound of strife; see the deadly, gaping wounds, and are ready to crown 'the sur- vivors or give honor to those who fell; but the hardships of the march, the heats of summer, the colds of winter, the entire absence of every com- fort and luxury in active service is overlooked or forgotten by those who do not participate. Napoleon when retreating from Moscow, lost many of his men by the excessive cold ; directly opposite was our experience on the way to Gettysburg. On one day, I think the second out from Fal-' mouth, our corps lost more than a dozen men from sunstroke — they fell dead by the wayside. On another day we crossed the battlefield of Bull Run, where the year before Pope had met with disastrous defeat. No effort had been made to bury the dead properly; a little earth, which the rain had long ago washed away, had been thrown over them where they fell, and their bodies, or rather their skeletons, now lay exposed to view. In some parts of the field they were in groups; in other places singly and in all possible positions. One cavalryman lay outstretched with skele- ton hand still grasping his rusted sword. Another, half covered with earth, the flesh still clinging to his lifeless bones, with hand extended as if to greet us. We rested for a short time on the field, and one of the regi- ments of our brigade (the Twenty-eighth IMassachusetts), halted on the very spot on which they had fought the year previously, and recognized the various articles lying around as belonging to their own dead. The route of the Second Corps to Gettysburg was over two hundred miles in length. Some days we marched fifteen, on others eighteen miles, and one day (June 29) this corps completed the longest march made by infantry during the war, leaving Frederick City, Maryland, in the morn- ing, and halting at 11 o'clock p. m., two miles beyond Uniontown, a distance of thirty-four miles. When I look back over the more than a score of years to this march of the Second Corps, and think of the perfect disci- pline in the ranks, the cheerfulness with which the enlisted men, with their heavy load, musket and ammunition, knapsack and cartridge box, shelter tent and blanket, canteen and rations — trudged along under the broiling sun of the hottest month of our year ; how bravely they struggled to keep up with their regiments less they should miss the fight, and how, while on the march no act was committed which could bring dishonor upon them as men, as citizens, or as soldiers, my heart fills with admiration, and I offer a flowing measure of praise to my comrades who are yet alive and to those who are no more. There is not an inhabitant on all that line of march who can tell of a single act of vandalism by any of 41 {\'2i Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Ihe iin-Q. such as we are wont to hear of other armies. In the rich and cultivated wuntry through which we passed life and property were re- HiKK-ted as much as though we were in the halcyon days of peace. Old and young came to the roadside to see the army pass, and knew they w«Te safe from insult or molestation. The fields of ripening grain waved untnimpled when the corps had gone by, the men even going out of their way to avoid the gardens, lest they should step upon the flowers. The piTf.'«-tion of di.s.-ipline in the army at this time was extraordinary. The urmios that fought the war of 1861 diCfered very widely from the armies »>f other nations. We had no hordes of Cossacks, no regiments of Bashi- Hazi.uks to burn and destroy, to insult the aged or crush the defenseless. When Hancock, at Williamsburg, said to his brigade, "Gentlemen, charge," lie did not call his troops out of their name. Our army was liter- ally an army of gentlemen. And so we passed on to Thoroughfare Gap, to Edwards' Ferry, to Fred- erick, Maryland, to Uuiontown and Taneytown, where, on the morning of July 1, the Second Corps was massed, and where General Meade's headquarters had been established. While the corps were filing into the fields to the right and left of the road and settling down for a rest and to wait for orders. General Hancock rode over to General Meade and entered into conversation with him. As they were talking a mounted "Hiccr dashed up bringing the intelligence that fighting had begun at Gettysburg — thirteen miles distant. The news was meager — only that there was fighting, that was aU; yet it caused a general surprise, unaware as wc were of the near proximity of the enemy, and was enough to send a thrill throughout the veteran ranks. The road that leads to Gettysburg is scanned with anxious eyes, and soon, away in the distance, rises a cloud of dust, which comes nearer and nearer, and another messenger from the front is with us. He tells us that Reynolds is killed and that the First and Eleventh corps are fighting and the battle is against us. It is now 1 o'clock, too late for the Second Corps to reach the field that day to take part in stemming the tide; but not so with its commander. Meade orders Hancock to proceed to the front and take command of all the troops there assembled. This was 1.10 o'clock, and within twenty minutes Hancock, with his staff, was on the road to Gettysburg. He goes like Dessaix at Marengo, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. (A strange coincidence related to me by General Hancock himself; nearly a century before the grandfather of General Hancock, then a soldier of Washington's army, started from this same little vUlage of Taneytown to escort some of the prisoners of Burgoyne to Valley Forge) . The Second Corps promptly followed General Hancock, and it required no urging to keep the men up. The regiments moved solidly and rapidly, and not n straggler was to be seen. Men never covered thirteen miles so quickly but as they hurried along a halt was ordered, the ranks opened, and an ambulance passed containing the dead body of the heroic General John • Reynolds. Then the corps pushed on to within a short distance of the bat le ground, where it camped that night and arrived on the field early the next morning. When the corps encamped the night before, not far from R«und Top. I Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 625 was called up from my slumber shortly after midnight by Major John Hancock, assistant-adjutant-general of our division, and directed to take four hundred men who had been detailed from a New York regiment and form a picket line beyond the Emmitsburg road and at right angles lo it. He tried to make me understand the position as well as he could, draw- ing a sketch of the country with his pencil on an old envelope by the light of a tallow candle. His directions were very vague, but he gave me the name of a farmer who lived over beyond Emmitsburg road whom he said could tell me the place I wanted. So about 1 o'clock a. m., I started with the picket, accompanied by Captain Garrett Nowlen of my regiment; we passed to the south of Round Top, crossed the pike and reached the farmer's house I was directed to. I had considerable difficulty in getting him to answer my questions; he seemed to doubt who we were, he shut down his bedroom window, and thinking I had waited long enough for him to make ready to accompany me, and he not appearing, I had his door well battered with the butts of several muskets. This caused him to again put his head out the window. He made some excuse for not coming. I gave him a short time, and a very short time indeed, to decide whether to come with me or be shot ; we were soon on the march to our destination with the farmer in the lead. I established the pickets. I cannot now exactly remember the spot ; there was no enemy at that time near us. Shortly after daybreak we were relieved by men from the Third Corps and I started back, crossing the Emmitsburg road near the peach orchard, and reached our main line, passing Trostle's house. Be- fore, however, I had crossed the road, I heard picket firing by the men who had relieved us ; then all was quiet about the peach orchard , no enemy being in sight. As General Hancock proceeded to the front, he rode part of the way in an ambulance, so that he might examine the maps of the country, his aide. Major Mitchell, galloping ahead to announce his coming to General Howard, whom he found on Cemetery Hill, and to whom he told his errand. At 3.30 o'clock. General Hancock rode up to General Howard, informed him that he had come to take command. Howard answered, "Hancock, go ahead." At this moment our defeat seemed to be com- plete. Our troops were flowing through the streets of the town in great disorder, closely pursued by the Confederates, the retreat fast becoming a rout, and in a very few minutes the enemy would have been in possession of Cemetery Hill, the key to the position, and the battle of Gettysburg would have gone into history as a Confederate victory. But what a change came over the scene in the next half hour. The presence of Han- cock, like that of Sheridan, was magnetic. Order came out of chaos. The flying troops halt and again face the enemy. The battalions that were retreating down the Baltimore pike are called back, and with a cheer go into position on the crest of Cemetery Hill, where the division of Steinwehr had already been stationed. When order Had taken the place of confusion, and our lines once more intact, he sent his senior aide. Major Mitchell, back to tell General Meade, that in his judgment, Gettysburg was the place to fight our battle. Major Mitchell found General Meade in the evening, near Taney town, and com- (LT) Pennsylvania at Getty shurg. municated those views. General Monde listened attentively, and on these n-preseutations he fortunately concluded to deliver the battle at Geltys- burK, and turning to General Seth Williams, his adjutant-general, he said: •'Order up all the troops, we will fight there!" The morning of July 2, and the second day of the battle dawned clear and bright, and found Hancock posting the Second Corps on Cemetery I{id:re. As yet, no one in that corps, with the exception of the general and his staff, had heard a shot fired. As we approached Gettysburg the «hiy Ix'fore, the sounds of the fight, owing to the direction of the wind or the formation of the country, were wholly inaudible. Those who came upon the field after nightfall, had no idea of the whereabouts of the enemy, but as the daylight increased and objects became visible, we saw their lines nearly a mile distant on Seminai-y Ridge, and away to our left rose Little Round Top, and still farther on Round Top. As the day wore on and not a shot or a hostile sound broke the stillness of the morn- ing, it became evident that the enemy wore not yet ready to renew the fipht. Our corps had got into position (not on the eastern slope of Ceme- tery Ridge, as now marked, but directly on the crest some fifty yards forward) and in a woods just back of our line the birds carolled and sang. Our horses quietly browsed in the rich grass, and the men lay in groups, peacefully enjoying a rest after the rapid march of the day before. The troops that arrived on the field or changed their position, did so leisurely and. unmolested. Sickles came up and wont into position on our left, and Geary took his division over to Gulp's Hill. About 10 o'clock a.m., picket firing was heard out towards the left beyond the Emmitsburg pike, con- tin\iing at intervals until long after noon, at times becoming quite sharp. Rut 3 o'clock came and still no signs of the general engagement. The boys had partly recovered from their fatigue and were actually beginning to enjoy life; some of them indulged in a quiet game of euchre, while others toasted their hardtack or fried a little bacon at the small fires in the rear of the lines. Shortly after 3 o'clock, a movement was apparent on our left. From where we (Caldwell's Division) lay, the whole country in our front and far to our loft, away to the peach orchard and to Little Round Top, was in full view, the country not then being so gi-own up as at this day. Our division stood in brigade columns, and when it became evident that something was going to take place, the boys dropped their cards, regardless of what was trump, and all gathered on the most favorable position to witness the opening of the ball. Soon the long lines of the Third Corps are seen advancing, and how -splendidly they march. It looks like dress parade, a review. On, on they go, out towards the peach orchard, but not a shot fired. A little while longer and some one calls out "there," and points to where, a puff of smoke is seen arising against the dark green of the woods, beyond the Emmitsburg pike. Another and another until tlie whole face of the forest is enveloped, and the dread sound of artil- lery comes loud and quick, shells are seen bursting in all directions along the lines. The bright colors of the regiments are- conspicuous "marks, and the shells burst around them in great numbers. The musketry begins, th^ in- fantry becomes engaged and the battle extends along the whole front of Sickles' Corps. (The writer, in company with General Hancock, who, a Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 627 few mimites before had ridden up to the right of the Second Brigade and dismounted. General Caldwell, Colonel Kelly of the Eighty-eighth New York, Colonel Burns of the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, and several other field officers, who had sought that eligible locality to view the contest, were grouped together. Hancock was resting on one knee leaning upon his sword; he smiled and remarked: "Wait a moment, you will soon see them tumbling back." Now the sounds come from Little Round Top, and the smoke rises among the trees, and all the high and wooded ground to the left of the peach orchard seems to be the scene of strife. An hour passed and our troops give way and are falling back, the odds are against them and they are forced to retire. A staff officer rides up with an order to the commander of the Second Corps to send a division to report to General Sykes on the left. Han- cock quietly remarks "Caldwell, you get your division ready." "Fall in," and the men run to their places, "take arms," and the four brigades of Zook, Cross, Brooke and Kelly, although small in numbers, are ready for the fray. There is yet a few minutes to spare before starting, and the time is occupied in one of the most impressive religious ceremonies I have ever witnessed. The Irish Brigade, which had been commanded formerly by General Thomas Francis ]Meagher, and whose green flag had been un- furled on every battle in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged, from the first Bull 'Run to Appomattox, and now commanded by Colonel Patrick Kelly, and to which our regiment was attached, formed a part of this division. The brigade stood in column of regiments closed in mass. As a large majority of its members were Catholics, the chaplain of the brigade. Rev. William Corby, proposed to give a general absolution to all the men before going into the fight. While this is customary in the armies of the Catholic countries in Europe, it was, perhaps, the first time it was ever witnessed on this continent, unless, indeed, the grim old warrior. Ponce de Leon, as he tramped through the everglades of Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth, or DeSoto, on his march to the Mississippi, in- dulged in this act of devotion. Father Corby stood upon a large rock in front of the brigade. Addressing the men, he explained what he was about to do, saying that each one could receive the benefit of the absolu- tion by making a sincere act of contrition and firmly resolving to embrace the first opportunity of confessing their sins, urging them to do their duty well, and reminding them of the high and sacred nature of their trust as soldiers and the noble object for which they fought, ending by saying that the Catholic church refuses Christian burial to the soldier who turns his back upon the foe or deserts his flag. The brigade was standing at "order arms," and as he closed his address, every man fell on his knees, with head bowed down. Then, stretching his right hand toward the bri- gade. Father Corby pronounced the words of the general absolution "Domimis noster Jesu Christus vos ahsolvat, et ego, auctoritate ipsius, vos ahsolva ah vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti in quantum possum et vos indigetis, deinde ego ahsolvo vos a peccatris vestris in nomine Patris, et filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Amen!" The scene was more than impressive, it was awe-inspiring. Near by stood Hancock, surrounded by a brillant ar- ray of officers, who had gathered to witness this very unusual occurrence. 628 Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. and while there \v:is a profound silence in the ranks of the Second Corps-, yet over to the left, out by the peach orchard and Little Round Top, where Weed, Vincent and Hazlett were dying, the roar of the battle rose and swelled and re-echoed through the woods, making music more sublime than even sounded through cathedral aisles. The act seemed to be in harmony with all the surroundings. I do not think there was a man in the brigade who did not offer up a heartfelt prayer. For some it was their last, they knelt there in their grave clothes— in less than half an hour many of them were numbered with the dead of July 2. Who can doubt that their prayers were good? What was wanting in the eloquence of the good priest to move them to repentance was supplied in the incidents of the fight. That heart would be incorrigible indeed, that the scream of a Whitworth bolt, added to Father Corby's touching appeal, would not move to contrition. The maps published by the Government made the time of Caldwell's Division moving to the left at 4 o'clock. I think this is a mistake. I believe it was nearly 5 o'clock before we started. The division moved off by the left flank and marched rapidly. We had hardly got under way when the enemy's batteries opened and shell began falling all around us. The ground on which this division faced the enemy on the afternoon of the 2d had already been fought over, and the fields and woods were strewn with killed and wounded. Out division moved from its position on Cemetery Ridge without change of formation, each brigade being in column of regiments, the One hundred and si.\teenth Pennsylvania being the rear or left of the column forming the Second or Irish Brigade, each regiment of course moving by the left flank. We soon descended to the low ground, skirted a small run and on reaching the plowed land near Trostle's house received a fire of solid shot from the enemy's guns then in position near the peach orchard, for by this time all that ground had been cleared of our troops and suns; still moving to the left the division reached the spot now known as "The Valley of Death" in front of Little Round Top. As we passed the road to the north of the wheatfield. General Hancock sat upon his horse look- ing at the troops. As Colonel Cross, of the Fifth New Hampshire Regi- ment passed by, he said to him, "Cross, this is the last fight youll fight without a star." Without stopping Cross replied, "Too late, too late, general, this is my last battle." Ten minutes afterwards the country lost one of the best soldiers in the army. Cross was dead, shot at the head of his brigade leading them to the charge. When we reached Little Round Top the division was deployed double- •luick. Cross' Brigade deployed to the left of the wheatfield and moved forward as did each brigade without waiting for the other brigades. Br..oke\s Brigade went in to the left of Cross. General Zooks' Brigade was to have been held in reserve on a second line, but as we, the Irish Brigade, moved into position skirting the edge of the wheatfield to the riKht of Cross, we saw Zook's Brigade in line moving through the wheat • we were not forty yards in their rear. As they approached the line of timber covering the slope of the hill they received a withering fire from the concealed enemy, which staggered them for a moment. We still kept on and upon uncovering Zook came to a front, moving quickly into the Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 629 timboi- that covered the bill. Up to this moment, strange to say, not a shot was fired at our regiment (or more properly battalion, for we had been consolidated into four companies). Suddenly some' one in the ranks cried out "there they are!" Sure enough, not forty feet from us up towards the crest, behind the trees and big rocks covering that ground, was the enemy ; no orders were given but in an instant every musket on the line was at its deadly work. The enemy having to rise to fire over the rocks, their shots for the most part passed over our heads, but as they exposed themselves to our men at such close quarters, armed with smooth-bore muskets firing "buck and ball" (one large ball and three buck shot), the effect of our fire was deadly in the extreme, for under such circumstances, a blind man could not have missed his mark. The ofiicers too joined in the fray, each one emptying his revolver with effect. For ten minutes this work went on, our men seeming to load and fire twice as fast as the enemy. Now the voice of Kelly is heard ordering the charge; with a cheer, a few quick strides, and we are on the crest among the enemy. Here took place a rather extraordinary scene. Our men and their oppo- nents were mingled together. In charging we had literally ran right in among them. Firing instantly ceased, and we found there were as many of the enemy as there were of ourselves. Officers and men of both sides looked for a time at each other utterly bewildered; the fighting had stopped, yet the Confederate soldiers stood there facing us, stUl retained their arms and showed no disposition to surrender. At this moment I called out, "Confederate troops law down your arms and go to the rear !" This ended a scene that was becoming embarassing. The order was promptly obeyed and a large number of what I think were men of Kershaw's Brigade be- came our prisoners ; they held the left flank of their line . In front of our brigade we found that the enemy had suffered much more than we had. When engaged, our line was below theirs, as they stood on the crest of the hill. They fired down while our men fired upward and our fire was more effective. On their line we found many dead, but few wounded— they were nearly all hit in the head or upper part of the body. Behind one rock we counted five dead bodies. This was some of the most severe fighting our division had ever done. During the fight our regiment held the extreme right of the division, and from where we stood we could see the peach orchard, and none of our troops were between that point and us — a distance of an eighth of a mile. Some fifteen minutes after the fighting had ceased we dressed line and our men awaited the next event ; a regiment of Zook's Brigade was placed in the rear and at right angles to my command, and about the same time I noticed what I believed to be a column of the enemy passing through the peach orchard and to the rear of our division. 1 reported the matter to the brigade commander (Colonel Kelly) but I could not convince him that the column in question was a Confederate force, the smoke and distance pre- venting our seeing accurately. Feeling, however, uneasy and anxious in regard to the character of the troops I requested him (Colonel Kelly) to relieve me from command of my own regiment and allow me to take the regiment referred to above over the fields and ascertain the nature of the column. He at once told me that I could do so. Placing Captain Garrett tj3U Pcnnsyhania at Gettysburg. Nowlon in command uf my regiment, I went back to where the other regi- ment sttwd in line, told the officers and men my mission, learned from them that the colonel had been kUled and that there was no field officer pros-nt with the c«)mmand. Pointing to the column that for full ten minutes had then been passing to our rear, I asked the regiment to foUow m^ out to the peach orchard that we might learn what troops it was composed of. The duty demanded was of the most desperate nature. The command had ju.ot lost its heroic c-olonel and on another part of the field fifty of its members lay dead and two hundred wounded, and now an officer who was a stranger to almost every man in the ranks, asked them to go forward and attack, if necessary, a whole brigade of the enemy. Yet every man in that most noble command responded to the call and promptly followed me toward the advancing hosts. We had only marched some fifty rards when the flags unfurled in the breeze and we saw distinctly that the moving column consisted of Confederate troops. Further advance was use- less. I then requested the senior officer of the regiment to place his command • on my right and so prolong our line. He started to do so, and moved his regiment over towards the grove (since cut down) on my right flank while I walked back to my own command. At that moment a staff officer ran up from our left and in a very excited manner called out "that we were surrounded and to fall back and save as many of our men as possible." Looking to the left I discovered that, with the exception of the regiment referred to and the men of my own regiment, all the division had gone. Whilst the regiment to which I have alluded deserves the highest praise for volunteering in a most desperate duty, yet the truth of history compels me to record the fact that the regiment did not fight on the right of the di- vision, neither did it hold the right of the division line for a single instant during the fight. When the regiment came up and went into positon to my rear (the spot is marked by a monument erected by the survivors some years ago) the firing had been over for at least fifteen minutes and the prisoners sent to the rear. Not a shot was fired on that part of the field after they came there and when the command moved over to the grove (since out down) on my right, there was no division there, as at that moment everything had gone to the rear except that regiment and my own. We were still on the ground because we happened to be the last to receive the orders to retreat. After our prisoners had been sent to the rear, the brigade line was dressed forward some twenty-five yards on the line now marked by the One hundred and sixteenth Pennsylvania, Twenty-eighth Massachusetts and Irish Brigade monuments, where it remained about fifteen or twenty minutes. While waiting for the next scene in the tragedy, I left the line and walked out towards the front to the ravine along the edge of which lay the dead of the One hundred and tenth Pennsylvania. We had met this regiment about half an hour before as we were maiching t.> the left before deployment. De Trobriand's Brigade were faUing back and many of the One hundred and tenth passed through the intervals in our column. There was no enemy visible between us and the Emmitsburg road. The Rose barn and other buUdings were in full view; upon that part of the field at least all was quiet. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 631 When I got back to my own command I quickly told the men of the danger and for each one to look to his own safety, pointed out the direc- tion they were to take towards Little Round Top. I rolled up the colors and with some thirty men ran down through the woods and into the wheatfield ; here we were in a trap , a line of the enemy was advancing on the wheatfield from the south and Wofford's Brigade, the column I had seen marching around the peach orchard and into our rear, was closing in from the north ; we caught it from both sides ; the slaughter here was appalling, but we kept on, the men loading and firing as they ran, and by the time we had reached the middle of the field the two lines of the enemy were so close that for a few moments they ceased firing ou us, as they fired into each other. Then I heard voices calling out, "come here, run this way ;" a few seconds more and I was over a low stone wall and among Sweitzer's Brigade : about ten of my command were with me, others were saved, many by running into Ayres' Division as it advanced. I went back to the Taney town road ; I there found Colonel Brooke, Fifty- third Pennsylvania, commanding brigade, sitting on his horse; he was all alone : he asked me where the division was . I could give him no infor- mation. He directed me to plant my colors there in a field so the division might be collected together, which was done and the remnants of "Cald- well's Division" again got into fighting shape. I am aware that this is not a pleasing narrative of the withdrawal of the First Division from the second day's fight at Gettysburg nor is it in accord with, the numerous "official" regimental reports, which speak of "retiring in good order,"' slowly falling back,"' and other such terms, more flattering than truthful. The brigades of Cross and Brooke were more fortiinate than those of Zook and Kelly. The Confederate lines in our rear did not extend far enough to cover the two first, but Kelly and Zook were completely sur- rounded, and the only way out of the trap was to pass down between the two lines of the enemy. Passing through this valley of death in the wheatfield, where the bullets came in showers, we got away with a larger part of the division, but the loss was terrible. In the half hour we were under fire fourteen hundred men were lost. Of the four brigade commanders, two were killed — General S. K. Zook and Colonel E. E. Cross. Zook fell almost at the first fire and Cross a few minutes afterwards. Some of the men who fell in the wheatfield during the retreat of this division and were forced to lie there between the two fires, fared badly. One man of our regiment fell shot through the leg, and whUe he lay there was hit five of six times. When it became evident that we had to fall back, our wounded, with visions of Belle Isle and Libby before them, bezged piteously to be taken along — many of them keeping with us wholly imaided. General Buford says of the first day's fight: "There seemed to be no directing head." This might be applied to the fighting on the left on the second day. If there was any directing head it was not especially visible. Until toward dark the fight had certainly gone against us, and the battle had extended along the line to the right, almost half way to (;;;l» I'riinsi/Iniiiin at acttyslmrrj. th.? f.-in.'t.T.v . The ovcniug and our prospects grew dark together. The Third Cori.s had been driven back, broken and shattered, its commander wounded and carried from the field, the troops that had gone to its sup- port fared no better, and every man felt that the situation was grave. However, all was not yet lost. Meade had again thought of Hancock, and. as yesterday he sent him to stop the rout of the First and Eleventh Corps, so to-day he orders him to assume command on the left. Once more he is iu the field. A half hour of daylight yet remains, but it is long enough to enable him to raUy some of our scattered troops, face them once more to the front, gather reinforcements, drive back the enemy and restore our broken lines. At Waterloo, Wellington petitioned God for ••Nii,'iit or Ulucher." At Gettysburg, on this evening, we had no Blucher to pray for. Our whole force was up; but, while omitting the last part of the great Englishman's prayer, we had every reason to adopt the first portion. As the fight was closing upon the left of our army Ewell was striking a terrific blow on the right. As we reformed our division on the Taney town road, and we had some diflBculty in getting things in shape after the rough handling we had received, we heard, away to the right and rear, the yells of Ewell's men as they rushed over our works at Gulp's Hill. This was the most anxious hour of all. We had been driven on the left, and on the right the enemy had effected a lodgement in our works, in one of our strongest positions, and were, in fact, in our rear, without any adequate force to oppose them. Another hour of daylight and, unless some miracle had intervened, we would most likely have left Gettysburg without waiting to bid the inhabitants good evening. But, fortunately for us, there was no Joshua around Lee's headquarters, so the sun went down on almanac time, utterly regardless of the little troubles we were trying to settle. Darkness fell upon the scene and prevented the Confederates from taking further advantage of their success, giving us chance to repair our disasters. Few of us slept during this night. Our division went back and was put in position on Cemetery Ridge by General Hancock, who, all the night long, labored to strengthen this line. The men gathered rocks and fence-rails and used them to erect a light brea.stwork. Had the necessary tools been distributed to the troops we could have intrenched this line and made it formidable, but we could not find a pick or shovel, and the works that we did attempt were very light, scarcely sufiicient to stop a musket ball. During the whole night mounted ofiicers galloped to and fro, and troops were hurried to important points. At the first faint gray of the morning of July 3 the fight was resumed on Gulp's Hill, where dark- n.-ss had interrupted it the night before, and from then until about 11 o'clock the fire was heavy and incessant. We knew that Slocum was trying to drive the enemy out of our works, which they had slept in and occupied without invitation the night before. Gulp's Hill was about a mile from where we lay, and we could hear the cheers of Geary's men, which came to us on the morning air, mingled with the bullets which had missed the mark for which they were intended, and, almost spent, went singing over our heads. As the day advanced sounds of the artillery mingled with the Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 633 musketry, and we knew that a hard fight was in progress. The men of our line almost held their breath with anxiety. About 11 o'clock the firing suddenly ceased. A tremendous cheer went up, and a minute later every man in the army knew we were again in possession of Gulp's Hill. Then came two hours of peace — a perfect calm. It was a warm summer day and from Round Top to Gulp's Hill hardly a sound was heard, not a shot fired. The men rested after the fighting of the previous evening, no troops were moving to or fro, the only activity seen was the stretcher bearers taking the wounded to the field hospitals, but during those two hours we could see considerable activity along Semi- nary Ridge. Battery after battery appeared along the edge of the woods. Guns were unlimbered, placed in position, and the horses taken to the rear. Our men sat around in groups and anxiously watched these move- ments in our front and wondered what it all meant. Shortly after 1 o'clock, however, we knew all about it. The headquarters wagons had just come up and General Gibbon had invited Hancock and staff to par- take of some lunch. The bread that was handed around — if it was eaten — was consumed without butter, for, as the orderly was passing the latter article to the gentlemen, a shell from Seminary Ridge cut him in two. In- stantly the air was filled with bursting shells ; the batteries that we had been watching for the last two hours going into position in our front did not open singly or spasmodically. The whole hundred and thirty -seven guns which now began to play upon us, seemed to be discharged simul- taneously, as though by electricity. And then for nearly two hours the storm of death went on. I have read many accounts of this artillery duel, but the most graphic description by the most able writers falls far short of the reality. No tongue or pen can find language strong enough to convey any idea of its awfulness. Streams of screaming projectiles poured through the hot air falling and bursting everywhere. Men and horses were torn limb from limb ; caissons exploded one after another in rapid succession, blowing the gunners to pieces. No spot within our lines was free from this frightful iron rain. The infantry hugged close the earth and sought every shelter that our light earthworks afforded. It was liter- ally a storm of shot and shell that the oldest soldiers there — those who had taken part in almost every battle of the war — had not yet witnessed. That awful rushing sound of the flying missiles which causes the firmest hearts to quail was everywhere. At this tumultuous moment, we witnessed a deed of heroism, such as we are apt to attribute only to knights of the olden time. Hancock, mounted and accompanied by his staff. Major Mitchell, Captain Harry Bingham, Gaptain Isaac Parker and Captain E. P. Brownson, with the corps flag flying in the hands of a brave Irishman, Private James Wells, of the Sixth New York Cavalry, started at the right of his line where it joins the Taney town road, and slowly rode along the terrible crest to the extreme left of his position, while shot and shell roared and crashed around him, and every moment tore great gaps in the ranks at his side. It was a gallant deed, and withal not a reckless exposure of life, for the presence and calm demeanor of the commander, as he passed through the lines of iVM I'( ini.siilitiiiid III (icttijsbiu'f/. Lis mou, s.'t them an example which, an hour later, bore good fruit and nerved their stout hearts to win the greatest and most decisive battle ever fought on this continent. For two hours our batteries replied vigorously and then ceased altogether; but the Confederate shells came as numerously IIS ever, then, ten minutes, not a soul was seen stirring on our line— we inigiit have been an army of dead men for all the evidence of life visible. Suddenly the enemy stopped their fire, which had been going on for two hours without intermission, and then the long lines of their infantry— eighteen thousand strong— emerged from the woods and began their ad- vace. ^ At this moment silence reigned along our whole line. With arms at a "right shoulder shift" the division of Longstreet's Corps moved forward with a precision that was wonderfully beautiful. It is now our turn, and the lines that a few moments before seemed so still, now teemed with aninuition. Eighty of our guns open their brazen mouths; solid shot and shell are sent on their errand of destruction in quick succession. We see them fall in countless numbers among the advancing troops. The accuracy of our fire could not be excelled; the missiles strike right in the ranks, tearing and rending them in every direction. The One hundred and six- teenth Regiment was supporting Sterling's Second Connecticut Battery, the men lying in front of and between the pieces ; it was marvelous the rapidity and accuracy with which these guns were served. The ground over which they have passed is strewn with dead and wounded. But on they come. The gaps in the ranks are closed as soon as made. They have three-quarters of a mile to pass, exposed to our iSre, and half the distance is nearly passed. Our gunners now load with canister and the effect is appaling, but still they march on. Their gallantry is past all praise — it is sublime. Now they are within a hundred yards. Our infantry rise up and pour round after round into these heroic troops. At Waterloo the Old Guard recoiled before a less severe fire. But there was no recoil in these men of the South— they marched right on as though they courted death. Then concentrate in great numbers and strike on the most advanced part of our line. The crash of tlie m.usketry and the cheers of the men blend together. The Philadelphia Brigade occupy this point. They are fighting on their own ground and for their own State, and in the bloody hand-to-hand engagement which ensues, the Confeder- ates, thotigh fighting with desperate valor, find it impossible to dislodge them— they are rooted to the ground. Seeing how utterly hopeless further effort would be, and knowing the impossibility of reaching their lines, they attempt to retreat and the battle is won. To the left of the Philadel- phia Brigade we did not get to such close quarters. Our eager gaze was upon Pickett and his murderous reception by the Philadelphia Brigade, but now right in our own front Wilcox's and Perry's Brigades are seen coming straight for our line; every musket is tightly grasped and our men become impatient to begin their work, but the orders are to hold ..ur fire and it took all the officers could do to keep the men from firing. I'.ut the enemy are coming nearer, and as the welcome order is sounded down, the line "ready," the air become filled as though by a great flock ..f white pigeons; it was the fluttering of hundreds and hundreds of white Pviiiisi/lo'iiiiid at (icttysl>urg. 635 rags the tokoiis of surrcncU'r, and Wilcox's and Perry's men throw down their arms and surrender; as the mass of the enemy come into our lines, some few spirits, bolder than the rest, run baek to their own lines, our men being prevented from firins on them for fear of killing the prisoners. Five thousand prisoners were sent to the rear, and we gathered up thirty-three regimental standards in front of the Second Corps. The re- maining hours of daylight during tliis day were occupied in caring fov the wounded, looking over the field and talking over the incidents of the light. Many noble officers and men were lost on both sides, and in the camp hos- pital they died in hundreds during the afterna»n and night. The Confed- erate General Armistead died in this way. As he was being carried to the rear he was met by Captain Harry Binghaia of Hancock's staff, who, getting off his horse, asked him if he could do anything for him. Armis- stead replied to take his watch and spurs to General Hancock that they might be sent to his relatives. His wishes were complied with. General Hancock sending them to his friends at the first opportunity. Armistead was a brave soldier with a chilvaric presence, and came forward in front of his brigade waving his sword. He was shot through the body and fell inside of our lines. Some of the wounded Confederates showed consider- able amimosity toward our men. One of them, who lay mortally wounded in front of the Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania, sullenly refused to be taken to the hospital, saying that he wanted to die right there on the field where he fell. The scene after Longstreet's charge was indescribable. In front of the Second Corps the dead lay in great heaps. Dismounted guns, ruins of exploded caissons, dead and mutilated men and horses were piled up to- gether in every direction. Out on the field where Longstreet's Corps had passed, thousands of wounded were lying. We had no means of reaching these poor fellows, and many of them lay there between lines until the morning of the 5th. The Confederates could be seen moving around on Seminary Ridge. Wel- come supplies came up and were issued. All hands felt cheerful, but a degree of uncertainty as to whether the battle was over or whether the enemy were getting ready for some new movement, prevented tis from celebrating the national anniversary in a proper manner. Once in a while the sharpshooters would try their skill on some of our people to let us know they were still there. The stench from the dead became intolerable, and we tried to escape it by digging up the ground and burying our faces in the fresh earth. On the morning of the .5th, we found the enemy had gone, and then what a scene! I think the fact was first discovered by the troops on Gulp's Hill, and what a cheer went up ; a cheer that swelled into a roar and was taken up by the boys on Cemetery Hill, rolled along the crest to Round Top and then back again. Cheers for the Philadelphia Brigade that stood a living wall against which the hosts beat in vain. Cheers for Meade, a .soldier "without fear or reproach," who here began with a great victory, his illustrious career as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Cheers for Hancock, who had stemmed the tide of defeat on the first day and selected the ground on which this glorious victory was achieved, who, on the second day, had again stopped the tide of defeat and restored our shat- 636 Fcnnsylvania at Oettyshurg. tvrod linos, aud ..u tl.e third day had met and repulsed the final assault on whidi lA'o-s all was staked, and won the battle that was the death- blow to thp rebellion. On the morning of the 5th of July, I went out in front of our line to wasTi at a small run when I came across our picket line ; they were New York troops, I think the One hundred and eleventh Regiment; about forty of thorn lay dead in a regular line, just as they had been posted, caught between the two fires, not a man seems to have escaped. In the battle of Gettysburg we were but a small battalion of one hun- dred and forty-two offices and men, and lost thirty-seven killed and wounded; most of these were lost on falling back through the wheatfield on the evening of the second day's fight, but in that fight the dead and wounded Confederate troops found lying behind the rocks when we charged and captured the wooded crest, proved to us that we inflicted a much greater loss upon them than they upon us. DKDICATION OF MONUMENT 118'rH REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 12, 1889 ADDRESS OF JAMES P. HOLT, ESQ. COMRADES:— With the possible exception of ever-famous Waterloo, no battle of modern times has received the attention, been the subject of so much discussion and criticism (good natured and otherwise) as the one fought right here on the steep wooded hillsides and broad fruit- ful meadows of peaceful Pennsylvania twenty-six years ago, and Gettys- burg has for a quarter of a century been the inspiring theme of song and story, has again and again been told by graphic pens and eloquent tongues, and the brush of the gifted artist has painted in vivid colors its scenes and incidents until the Seminary and the Cemetery, Gulp's Hill and the Round Tops, the Peach Orchard, Devil's Den and Wheat-field seem as familiar as places of interest around our immediate homes. There were eighty-four organizations of Pennsylvania Volunteers— infantry, cavalry and artillery— engaged in the battle, and as the result of patriotic legisla- tion the survivors of the several commands are assembled at this time to mark with enduring memorial the exact ground upon which they fought, and all over the miles covered by the operations of the army will to-day bo narrated not only the grand manoeuvres, mighty deeds and brilliant achievomonts of brigade, divisions and army corps, but the more single stories of the regimental conflicts in which were displayed the valor, •Organized at Phllndelphla from August 15 to August 30, 1S62, to serve three years. It was mustered out of service June 1, ISffi, and the recruits transferred to the 91st Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. 637 heroism and devotion even unto ghastly wounds and mutilation and hor- rible death that were necessary (and willingly accepted) to secure victory for the army and the colors, and that go to make a result that for all time will remain a brilliant page in our country's history. Now the newspaper correspondent of the day and the later mas^azine contributor, not to mention the major-generals and brigadiers on both sides, have made a review of the field unnecessary — indeed might be resented, for of a truth any one who reads (who in Pennsylvania, the home of the public school, does not?) is better informed to-day as to the operations on different parts of the field transpiring at the same time than was at the time the participant in the battle — better than any regimental, brigade or division commander. Said the great Wellington, referring to his crowning victory, Waterloo, "More and better information of the battle may be learned from the English, French, Prussian and Belgian accounts than I can give." The right to place the regimental monument on this ground was at one time officially disputed, but the result shows that even the well-informed may at times be mistaken. Said an authority in matters pertaining to this field to our comrade, John L. Smith, when that whilom regimental forager and ex-president of our association visited the field a short time ago and stoutly affirmed the rights of the regiment, "But how did you get here?" "Never mind how we got here," said John, "here's where we were," and that he was correct there (indicating monument) is lasting evidence. How the regiment came to be here, and what it did here and in this immediate neighborhood is our theme. Briefly the situation at noon, Thursday, July 2. The Union line had Slocum's Twelfth Corps on the right at Gulp's Hill ; next Howard's Elev- enth, then First under Doubleday ; on its left Hancock's Second and Sickles' Third completed the Union front. The Sixth Corps, the largest in the army, was still absent, but under glorious Uncle John Sedgwick was making herculean efforts to reach the field. The Fifth Corps was in reserve near the extreme right at Gulp's Hill. At the foot of the hill runs a stream, and many of the boys, too familiar with war and its alarms to be deterred, indulged in the luxury of a swim in the now historic Rock creek. In a few hours its crystal waters were mixed with purple wine spilled from the veins of Virginia's best young manhood in Ewell's defeated attempt to seize the Baltimore pike. Nothing of moment occurred until shortly after 4 o'clock when a tre- mendous attack by artillery was made on Sickles' center at the peach or- chard. While attention was drawn to that point Hood's Division of rebel infantry struck the left of Ward's Union brigade back near the foot of Round Top. The battalions of the Third Corps remember that diamonds were trumps at Chancellorsville and fought as men educated by Phil. Kearny must. But they were outflanked and outnumbered and forced back and the battle speedily swept towards the Union right. As this moment Longstreet threw heavy columns against the peach or- chard. Sickles called for help and General Meade ordered the Fifth Corps to the succor of his endangered left. Sykes was chafiing to be turned loose and he hurried his division to the conflict. None too soon. Already the (;;jg Fcnnsyliunia at Gettysburg. ..xultanl Texuns w.-r. swar.uiug between Ward's Brigade and the Round Tops Rebel batteries on that hill would enfilade our whole left and center. A voung ofiicer of euKineers, of whom the country was to hear much in the" after war davs, General G. K. Warren by name, saw the danger and dashing down from the signal men on the hUl turned the leading brigade, Vincent's Third of our division, out of the column and led them to the menaced height. The Second Brigade, Sweitzer's, followed by ours, Tilton-3 First, continued the march. Again Warren rushed down from the hUl and this time the balance of the corps, the entire Second and Third Divisions were turned sharp to the left whUe the two brigades of Barnes' hasten to the fight near the peach orchard. Ward had been compelled to strip his right to help his hard pressed left and thus had obliged De Trobriaud's Brisado, though fierc.'ly attacked in front, to move to the left to prevent being turned on that flank. This left a dangerous break in the line between De Trobriand's right and the batteries of Clark, Phillips and Bigelow. The interval was swept by the rebel guns on the ridge. Into this gap the two brigades of Barnes' were thrown, the One hundred and eighteenth being the regiment on the extreme right. It was the ground upon which you now are. That is how the regi- ment got here. While the balance of the Fifth Corps was gallantly struggling back there on the brow and at the base of the hill our two little brigades were sandwiched here between Birney's Brigades of the Third Corps and will to-day testify to the valor of their battalions. Ayres' Division of regulars was posted on the high ridge near the Round Tops, and one thus describes the situation: "The whole scene was before us, the turmoil and commotion in the woods below— Barnes going in and the shattered regiments of the Third Corps coming out. Some batteries were in retreat aijd others were taking new positions." While few in numbers the regiment was in fine fighting trim. Though deprived of the presence of its loved lead, the heroic Colonel Charles .M. Prevost, still invalided by his Shepherdstown wound, it had in command stalwart, stout-hearted Lieutenant-Colonel James Gwyn, assisted by his lieutenant, brave, swarthy-featured Major Charles P. Herring, whose aeath we so recently mourned. The fight grew fiercer and soon our own left was holty engaged with Kershaw's South Carolinians. At the same moment the artillery on the right was evidently preparing to withdraw, and our brigade commander. Colonel William S. Tilton, quickly discerned that owing to some disaster on the right his flank is about to be turned and promptly his orders are carried to the regiments. An aide rode up to Colonel Gwyn. The ranks divine his mission and yell "no retreat! No retreat! We're on our own soil." The colonel, as proud of the boys as they of him, said "you see, sir; my men want to fight here." Orders are imperative. The colonel com- mands and the major's stentorian tones repeat: "Change front to the rear." The movement was executed almost as if on parade and when finished brought the regimental right just in rear of the second position of Bigelow's Ninth Massachusetts Battery. The movement carried us across a corner of a wheatfield— the wheatfield is now in Gettysburg parlance. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 039 Of course we know uow the disaster that had befallen the Union line — its results were almost indescribable. Permit a metaphor, a flood! On the last daj' of last May there occurred in this state a tragedy that sent a thrill of horror not only through the state and Nation, but all Christen- dom. Many years ago a dam had been thrown across a mountain stream. Afterwards the embankment had been built higher and higher until it held in check a mass of water three miles long and nearly one mile wide. Then came a time when for days the clouds poured down their contents and every creek, run and rill draining the surrounding hills added to the wei^iht pressing against the obstruction. All are familiar with the story. The dam burst, and the waters as if exultant at release and vengeful at the power that had so long held them back, plunged down to desolate and ruin the Conemaugh Valley. Trees, rocks, barns, horses, cattle, houses, villages and finally a thriving city with its vast interests of manufacture and trade ; its dwellings of well-earned wealth and humble homes of honest toil were mingled in one common destruction. And when the triumphant flood had hurled its accumulated wreckage against an iron pier, and by doing so had formed an impassable barrier against itself, it turned hack- ward, as if maddened by defeat, in great whirlpools, and massive struc- tures that had been strong enough to withstand its impetuous onward rush were in a moment twisted from their foundations and flung to the general ruin. Hammered at by a dozen thundering batteries that enfiladed both sides of Sickles angle, and then dashed against by masses of Longstreet's gallant infantry, as daring as ever followed battle flag, the Union position at the orchard was forced. The dam burst, and rebellion's exultant hordes by battalions and brigades poured through the break. Graham's men, while bravely resisting, were nearly trodden under foot. Humphreys' was flung to right and rear. McGilvery ordered the batteries to the rear and Bigelow took position about the Trostle buildings. Now as to the regiment ; Kershaw's Carolinians are still raging on the left and here comes Barksdale's Brigade of Mississippians on the right. Already they flaunt their battle flags as if in assured victory in the lane and about the Trostle house. They press on. The battery tears them with canister— it is exhausted — "shell without fuse" shouts the captain, as the Southei'u dare-devils throng about the muzzles of his pieces. The rebel division commander, McLaws, testified as to the admirable service of the battery. He reports that one shell killed nnd wounded thirty out of a company of thirty-seven. The right of the regiment held the low stone wall just back of the pieces. Its officers and men sprang to the help of the battery. Captain Bigelow has since handsomely recognized the service. An eye witness, not of the regiment, tells how the "enemy came on running with the fixed bayonet' charge so few troops can stand. As yet Barnes' blue line stood firm. It wa§ not an attack in line, it was not a charge, it was a melee, a carnival of death. Men hewed each others' faces, they grappled in close embrace. 42 (540 I'tnnsylvania at Gettysburg. murck-r to both ; and aU through the mass rained shot and shell from one hundred guns along the ridge." In that position the regiment suffered its heaviest losses. Captain Rich- ard W Davids was killed and Lieutenants Inman and Wilson severely wounded. The ranks were represented, and whUe each man did his best, we can join heartily with Captain Bigelow in according honor to Sergeant Cxus. J.ukcr and Corporal Rodermal of Company E; Company C's one and only. Jas. J. Donnelly, and Sergeant James Turner of F, who so notably aided in coding the ardor of Barksdale's chargers. Privates CaldweU and Soby, and the boys who lost their names here and are simple designated the "unknown," have been sleeping for twenty-six years in yonder ceme- tery and about a score of wounded was the regiment's assessment of the price of final victory. It was a hopeless fight, with both flanks turned. Says our regimental historian: "The spot was no longer tenable, another withdrawal was neces- sitated. It was only for a few yards, just enough to throw the enemy from the flanks to the front. Remember that our two brigades, with the exception of the troops at the orchard, were the farthest in advance, and the new position was never yielded." The situation at this time is well defined by our historian when the battle raged on the right and left, and at times in the rear; he says: "The whole field was in a twirl." The fre<|uent changes of front and direction had resulted in a general intermingling not only of friendly commands but of the rival lines. Regi- ments were in some instances separated from their brigades and brigades from their divisions. Staff oflicers were dashing about, doubtless with the laudable view of brin.ging order out of chaos and succeeding admirably in making confusion worse confounded. The battle raged along a line having a front of about one mile and a quarter. The fighting in this con- tracted space has been denominated the whirlpool of the battle. It was said of the fabled Maelstrom off Norway's coast, that it had the power when roused by the storm and lashed by the whips of the tempest, to draw boats and barks and even great ships into its destroying vortex. Here was a maelstrom whose billows were of flame, its spray sulphurous smoke and its foam blood. Troops from three army corps, ten or twelve entire brigades, were drawn into the struggle, and nowhere in all the war, except at the Bloody Angle, nearly a year after at Spotsylvania, did the grim reaper gather such a bountiful harvest. Caldwell's splendid division- four brigades— the largest in the Second Corps was flung into the cauldron. Our Second Brigade joined him and then the Eighteenth and Twenty-second Massachusetts were added. So, for a short period, the One hundred and eighteenth and its loved elder brother in the service, the First Michigan, alone held this portion of the front. After Caldwell's and Sweitzer's attack, the steady marching regular di- vision was thrown in. Hearken to the report of a regular officer: "We dashed down the hillside and advanced along the ridge among the rocks, disappeared for a few minutes in the flame and smoke and then, like a shattered wreck on a foaming sea drifted to the rear." Again, an officer of the Seventeenth Regulars: "We went down the hill on a run, it was like descending into hell. The enemy were yelling like devOs. Our men "Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 641 were falling back. It was terrible confusion, smoke, dust, rattle of mus- ketry, the roaring of cannon and the bursting of shells." The splendid regular division charged two thousand strong; it only numbered eleven hundred when it fought its way back to the hill. It remained, very appropriately, that Pennsylvania's sons should finally .settle the dispute and crown with victory the tremendous battle of the left wing; and when Crawford, hat in hand, followed by "Buck" McCand- less and the Pennsylvania Reserves charged, the ^eary rebels gave way and the Union flags were tossed in the ecstacy of triumph from the Round Tops to the center. General Longstreet declares of the engagement of the afternoon on the 2d, that it was the "best three hours fighting ever done on any battle- field." And again: "To press my men to further effort would have been madness. I withdrew them to the peach orchard." Says Pollard, the Southern historian: "The results of the day on the right (our left) were unfortunate enough, our troops had been repulsed at all points." "We salute our late enemies and accept their decision. Doubtless Gettysburg was the decisive battle of the war. It led to Appomattox as did Saratoga in the revolutionary struggle to Yorktown, but neither was final. Twenty-two months longer the war dragged its slow, bloody length along. "From Antietam to Appomattox" is the regi- mental legend, and this field made its fifth battle. It inscribed on its colors the names of more than thirty others before it stood, as it did, among the selected battalions to receive the arms and colors of Lee's conquered army. On this proud day, when the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania emphasizes her approval of the deeds of her children, the One hundred and eighteenth will desire to share its rations with the brave comrades and staunch friends of the old war days. Our first thought, of course, is to the great mercantile association whose name it was, and is, and always will be, our pride to bear, the old Corn Exchange of Philadelphia. We must speak of it now by its married name, the "Commercial Exchange," and hope that in its enlarged field it will in its leisure hours recall the time when "in the trembling nation's time of peril" it assembled and discussed not how to get gain and increase wealth but what could it do for the stricken Nation. And how its thought crys- tallized into action, and at its call a thousand armed men sprang to the front to aid in defense of the Nation's capital threatened by Lee's and Stonewall Jackson's victorious columns, and we have to say, senators and gentlemen, that when nearly three years after the survivors returned and were so handsomely entertained as your guests, their most joyous emo- tion next to the proud satisfaction of having aided in successfully assert- ing the supremacy of the National Government, was, that while the shield on which was emblazoned the name of your association was bruised and dented by the thrusts and blows of our enemies, and crimsoned with the blood of its defenders (as witness the slain and wounded) , it returned to you unstained by ignoble act. While it was credited with many colors captured from the enemy it never lost one, the debit column was a glisten- ing white without spot or blemish. Then the comrade regiments of the old brigade — the First Michigan and Eighteenth and Twenty-second Massa- (141! I'ciiii.si/lvanid at (Uttijshury. chus.-tts, which I'vcr vied with the One hundred and eighteenth in the Klorious struggle to excel in achievement. We were with them in camp and storm-swept bivouac. We were their comrades in lonj: and weary marches, by day and by night, 'neath broiling suns on dusty roads; and in rain and mud, and snow and ice. We were beside them in battle and saw their courage put to proof. And after the conflict, when the fever of battle no longer sent the blood leaping through the veins, we were with them when the mercifully cruel knife cut into the quivering flesh, and the sharp teeth of the saw bit through and severed the grating bones and never a sijih or murmur of regret passed the white, pain-tightened lips. And we saw them die. Die I "The braVe die never; III (loath tboy but exchange their country's arms for more— 'I'l'.cir country's heart." Brave New P^ngland boys, well worthy to join in column with the patriots of Lexington and Bunker Hill ! Gallant sons of the Wolverine State, scions of the heroes who drove the red-coated invader and his savage allies across the border and conquered the great northwest, we send them fra- ternal greetings. On nigh two score of red fields we saw them "Form their line of battle, Not a man was out of place. Then with leveled .stool they flung them Straight into the rebel's face. "Then cheer after cheer we'll send them As only old comrades can; Cheers for grand old Massachusetts Cheers for brave young Michigan." ADDRESS OF BREVET-MAJOR GENERAL JAMES GWYN. COMRADES and fellow-citizens: — During the spring on a visit to the city of Philadelphia, I was cautiously waited upon by some fifty surviving comrades of my old regiment and invited to be present witli them on this occasion, and to unite here in a duty most plesant, and at the same time melancholy. Pleasant, that to-day we revive the memories and valorous deeds of comrades who have laid down their lives that our Nation should live. Melancholy, that we are here brought face to face with the old harvester of death, time, and find so few who p.irtici- pated with us in what was real war upon these ensanguined plains, now living to look out upon and enjoy the fruits of our joyous victory, and join with us in rearing our monument to the valor and heroism of those who turned back the tide of rebellion and treason and redeemed the Nation from its peril. To me the occasion is made of the deepest personal interest, I having, on the occasion of the three days' fight at Gettysburg, command of the One hundred and eighteenth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, known as the Corn Exchange Regiment, which yet bore the name of regiment. PcDnsylviDiUt (it Gettyshurg. 643 though its ranks had been so depleted by the battles of Shepherdstowu, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Not more than five hundred men had been left after that fatal day at Shepherdstown (our first battle) out of our full new regiment of over nine hundred men, and to-day were all the halt, lame and blind to muster we could not number moi'e than two hun- dred and fifty of the old Corn TOxchange Re>giment, yet so long as there remains a corporal's guard I trust the survivors will meet monthly round the camp-fire and annually, on the 20th of September, have their grand reunion and revive the sacred bonds of loyalty and fraternal love, and as the survivors of those who fell let us keep constantly burning the fires of patriotism, and as we hang our garlands of love upon the altars of our comrades each year, let us labor to display to those who come after us the glory and power of an united country, as compared with the triumplis of rebellion, and a dismembered Union. Let us point with deepest pride to the advancement of our Nation in all the material interests since the sword of treason was broken, and the boasted banner of chivalry went down before the hosts of freedom and liberty on these bloody plains. As we from old age and infirmities of war prepare to answer the last "roll call' and to be forever "mustered out," let us point to the increased wealth and population of our country, and especially let us look at the South and behold her power and glory of to day as compared with what we may surmise would have been her destiny had secession become a fact rather than, as it is to-day, a fiction. To all these last benefits can we :!ustly point with pride and say with our blood, our toil, our valor, was this work finished, and as we go down to our last sleep let our hearts be united as were those of David and Jonathan. As brothers of a common ancestry let us admonish those in whose keeping our Nation is placed to look well to the preservation of National unity, and avoid all selfish ambition which endangers the state or would disturb the great work of civilization and ad- vancement our country has enjoyed since the war. With the prayer that We may be always a happy, united and loyal people. North and South, and with my heartfelt thanks to you, comrades, your old colonel says good-by. ADDRESS OF WILLIAM M. READ, PRESIDENT OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEENTH ASSOCIATION. COMRADES and friends:— There have been so many able, eloquent and patriotic addresses delivered from time to time upon this memorable field, that I have been somewhat at a loss to know what to prepare for this occasion. The dedicating or setting apart of anything from a common to a special use, always conveys to my mind the idea of sacredness ; hence, I have resorted to the book of sacred writ for reference. When jour children shall ask their fathers in time to come, sayins, what moan these stones? Then ye shall lot your children know, that all the pcoiile of the earth might know tlie hand of the Lord is mighty. (i44 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. These words, upon which I shall base my few remarks, may be found in the fourth chapter of the book of Joshua, part of the twenty-first, second and fourth verses. To-day, has been set apart for the purpose of dedicat- ing the monuments built by an appropriation of the Legislature, that Penn- sylvania, as a State, shall be represented upon this great field of monu- ments. It may not then be inappropriate, to inquire, what are monuments and their uses: Webster tells us that a monument is anything intended to remind ; something which remains or stands to keep in remembrance what is past; something to preserve the memory of a person, event or action; as, for instance, the Washington monument, the Bunker Hill monument or the Memorial Hall in Philadelphia. When or by whom the first monu- ment was erected, is perhaps unknown; it may have been Adam over the grave of his murdered Abel ; but one thing is certain — they had their origin in a very early period of man's existence. Perhaps the first of which we have any definite knowledge, was the tower of Babel, the erection of which began about one hundred years afte" the flood. This, in conception, was a most gigantic undertaking and could it have been completed, would doubtless have eclipsed all other monu- ments the world has known. And they said one to another, go to, let lis make brick and burn them thoroughly, and they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar; and they said go to, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, and so great was their desire to perpetuate their memory, that it is said that they engraved every one his name upon a brick. Then, a little further on, we find Jacob fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau; having journeyed some forty miles, night coming on, tired and weary he takes a smooth stone for his pillow and lies down under a ti"ee to sleep ; he has wonderful dreams of divine revelation ; upon awakening he takes the stone he had for his pillow and sets it upon end as a pillar in remembrance of his night's vision ; here was a monument consisting of a single undressed stone. Israel had escaped from Egyptian bondage, they had been wandering up and down the wilderness for forty years, and now they had arrived at the banks of the Jordan; on the other side was Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land which had been promised to their father Jacob and his children for a possession in his wonderful dream at Bethel long years before. The river was greatly swollen and its current swift, how were they to cross? The fords were buried in deep water, there were no bridges, there were no transports, they had no pontoons. The divine hand came to their assistance, the waters were parted and Israel passed over dry shod. As a memorial of this event, they were to carry twelve stones from the bed of the river and set them up in the promised land, and the command was given "When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying 'What mean these stones?' then ye shall let your children know, that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord is mighty." We go down into Egypt— there are the pyramids, numbering in all about forty; the greatest of these is Cheops; its original base covered thirteen Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 645 nnd one-half anros of ground, its height, four hundred and eighty feet nine inches and contained eighty-five millions cubic feet of stone. For ten years 100,000 men were employed in building a road over which the stone was conveyed from the quarries, and 360,000 men were employed twenty years longer in building this structure, which is supposed to have been erected by Cheops somewhere about 1,600 years before Christ. The purpose for which it was constructed was doubtless that of a tomb, and perhaps, also, to gratify the foolish ambition of a king in perpetuating his memory to the end of time. We pass on down to the present age and we have the Eiffel Tower in Paris, composed principally of iron and glass; its like has never been seen in the world before. It is nine hundred and eighty-four feet in height and the base of it covers nearly four acres. It cost about $1,100,000 and is a memorial of the present world's exposition. We might go on in this way for hours ; every nation has its monuments, the world is full of them, but these before us concern us most at present. What mean these monuments? You tell me they are built for historical purposes, to mark the positions occupied by the different commands in the battle of Gettysburg. You tell me they are to commemorate one of the greatest battles of modern times. A battle in which more than l.'50,000 men were engaged, and of which number 5,499 were killed, 26,308 wounded and more than 14,000 were made prisoners of war; it was a great battle. You tell me they are in commemoration of the dead. Comrades who were slain in battle. Comrades who for long weary months were confined in the pri.sons and stockades of the South like herds of cattle, lying in filth, devoured of vermin, clothed in rags, exposed to summer's heat and winter's cold, wasted by disease and starvation, suffering untold miseries until re- lieved by death; and for what? That the Union might be preserved. Im- mortal heroes, noble martyi-s, well may these cenotaphs be erected to thy memory. But why these stones? You tell me they are to commemorate a great victory. The first half of 1863 had been a season of uninterrupted success to the Confederate cause, and now, flushed with success, they purposed to carry the devastation of war into the Northern States ; and when could there have been a more favorable time? Our army was discouraged by continuous reverses. There was a strong sentiment in the North against the war and in favor of peace on any terms, and there were political commotions also. The idea of invasion was no sooner conceived than it was put into action. On rolled this mighty surging sea, billow upon billow. Gettysburg is reached. Reynolds is engulphed. On it surges through the town, sweeping everything before it, until at last it struck a wall of adamantine rock. Here it lashed and foamed in all its fury, but the prayers and groans of anguish from prison and stockade arose and united with the prayers and tears of mothers, wives and sisters until they reached the ear of Him who guided the May- flower across the sea with its precious germs of a new Nation, and who had something better in store for us than dissolution. Above the thunder of artillery and the rattle of musketry his voice was heard saying "halt, (;4(> ronisi/lraiiia at Gettysburg. thus fur shiill th<.u ci.inr .ind iu> fiiitlK-r, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." On the 3d of July it bi'uaii t<> recede, rolliu.i; backward and backward, losinj,' strength and energy as it rolled, until i at Appomattox, in 1865, it rippled at our feet like a harmless hike. Yes, it was a great victory, but it might not have been but for Divine assistance; we can not, we must not, we dare not, rob God of the honor and glory which alone belongeth to him. We were but the instruments in his hands of obtaining this great victory. Then, when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying: "What mean these stones?" Then ye shall let your children know, that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord is mighty. Cientlemen of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, to you is committed the care and keeping of these monuments ; your is a sacred trust. The great Cheops down in Egypt, that cost so many years of labor, has not escaped the hand of vandals. Layer after layer of stone has been torn away. Gentlemen, see to it that no vandal hand is laid upon these monuments, and, when your work is finished, may you have the plaudit of "well done, good and faithful servants," and may this be an incentive to those who shall take your places, and thus may these monu- ments be preserved through the ages that are to come. In the name of the survivors of the One hundred and eighteenth Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I place this monument in your care, that, when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying: "What mean these stones?" Then ye .shall let >(iur children know, that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord is mighty. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 119™ REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 22, 18S8 ADDRESS OE BREVET-LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JAMES W. LATTA COMRADES: — The realization of portentous events reaches a better consummation as the lifetime of the generation of their occurj-ence shortens; as the numbers participating decrease, and as the lengthen- ing shadows point plainly to their substitution by the mists of a futurity which shall irrevocably decree that "time shall be no more." The soldiers' appreciation of his deeds expands as history unfolds them. Hence the correct perpetuation of the glories and results of this field and those days, in stone and tablet wisely conceiv(>d so many years ago, has now a full fruition in the hearty support and co-operation of the soldier, his friends •Organlzp.l nt I'liilad.lplila from Ausust 1.". to September 17, 1S«2, to serve three years. It was mustered out of service June 19, 1S65. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. G47 and the authorities. Aud the survivors uf the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania aud their friends, in full ueeord with this universal sentinieut, come here today in consonance with the general purpose, to add their tribute to the story and formally dedicate yonder memorial. This regiment commenced its recruitment in early August, 1862, aud consummated its organization with more than usual success in speed and personnel. The militia command which gave it birth and supplied largely its officers, then known as the "Gray Reserves," is now the distinguished "First Regiment Infantry National Guard of Pennsylvania," to which, and "The Veteran Corps" this regimental association owes obligations, as well for the material support they have rendered towards the erection of this monument as for the encouragement they have given its dedica- tion by their personal organized presence here to-day. Besides this organ- ized body from which essentially sprung the regiment, the primary labors of its composition were substantially aided by a number of most patriotic gentlemen, who, resolving themselves into a committee of thirteen, saw it well started on its journey of war, watched it with careful ward through all its career, furnished it with material aid when often required and deli- cate attentions when they were most demanded. Nor have those who survive, forgotten the old trust; two, whose energies then were untiring, have now lent a generous countenance to this memorial evidence of the en- durance of their management. The admonition from the splendid resistance and forced withdrawal of the Peninsular army had spurred the Government to renewed activity. Promptly, in response to the demand for other volunteers, the One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania, incomplete iu numbers, was hurried because of the exigency to the National Capital, just as the guns of the second Bull Run had ceased their reverberations. Tarrying on duty about the Washington- Arsenal for a time afterwards strengthening and perfect- ing the works on the north of the river, the command soon found its way 'to the Army of the Potomac. With that grand old army its history was thereafter wholly identified. The time had come for the absorption of the regimental distinctive unity in the grander combinations which secure the effectiveness of great armies. The adventitious associations selected for the assignment contributed mutually to the joint reputation, and the fact that the association never permanently changed, except as casualties de- manded its repletion, is convincing of the appreciation it commanded from superiors. The brigade of the Fifth Wisconsin, Sixth Maine, Forty- ninth Pennsylvania and Forty-third New York, had won enviable distinc- tion and when the One hundred and nineteenth was allotted to its further increase of strength, it soon assured its fellows it was fitted to compete for the other honors which subsequently came to the combination. There were no changes permanently in its composition for two years, except the Forty-third New York was transferred elsewhere. Then the muster out of the Sixth Maine because the work it had promised was done, and so well done, and the like reasons compelling the reduction of the Fifth Wis- consin to a battalion, necessarily required other allotments or disabandiaent, but the old Third Brigade, First Division, Sixth Corps, .secure with its early honors, was increased to preserve its well-earned distinctiveness (UfS Pvnnsylvania at Gettysburg. by the assigiimcut of troops who bore also most distinguished place, and with them, the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts, Second Rhode Island and Eighty-second Pennsylvania, it went away down to the very end ever maintaining the reputation it had so soon attained. liattcred about through change of chiefs, uncertain even whether its name was to be retained, suffering from unusual straggling, the Antietam victory had restored confidence, and the fall of '62 found the old army in all the vigor of its original cohesion. It was in this bettered condition of things the One hundred and nineteenth found its place. It was by no means illy adapted for association with those who had so successfully borne their part and whose experience, added to their knowledge, rated them among the best of the Union soldiers. The officers were selected with jiidi- (■ious c.ire, all had fair preliminary acquaintance with their duties and none were without a full comprehension of their responsibilities. For good fel- lowship, general intelligence, genei'ous personal support of each other, excellent social standing, they stood the equals of any organization from the city from whence they came, which had so handsomely responded from its men and means to the many demands upon it to supply the sinews of war. There was an entire absence of individual jealousies and an utter want of petty bickerings, frequently so common, especially in the organizing stages of regimental combination. A thorough elementary teaching which wisely instilled the urgencies of the rudiments, secured a prompt acknowl- edgment that instruction had been completed to a standard which warranted an immediate recognition of a fitness to mingle freely with those who had the longer training. And the men were sturdy worthy fellows, apt and ready; they had come to stay and meant to learn quickly, nor is it any improper indulgence in the usual common-place reference to American patriotism, to say, they had left the counting room and the workshop, the plow and the anvil. They more measurably represented the walks of life and classes of employment yielding to skilled labor and educated intelligence good results and prompt returns, than, as a whole, usually fell to* the opportunity of regiments or- ganized in the great populous centers. A ci'isp bi'acing fall had followed a more than usually enervating Sep- tember. This invigorating temperature encouraged activity, and the op- portunity was not lost in the little delay at hand, for speedy familiariza- tion with new duties and the cultivation of friendships with new asso- ciates, which remained with lasting endurance for all the three years of their continuance. An early introduction was soon vouchsafed to the wasted lands of Virginia, and the footing so soon secured on the soil of that deluded Commonwealth continued, with but few short interruptions, an abiding place until the "clangor of the trumpets" sounded the final peace. Over the Potomac, through Loudoun county. New Baltimore, Staf- ford, Brooke's Station, Belle Plain and White Oak Church, brought the column up ready for battle at the earliest dawn of a sharp December morn- ing, on the north bank of the Rappahannock just below Falmouth, where the ranking colonel of the brigade, as he saw from the bluffs the long lines of the old Sixth Corps on the flats bordering the stream, arrayed in all the panoply of contest, facetiously remarked, turning to his adjutant Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 649 "adjutant, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those people got hurt," and the colonel was right. There, for three days, upon the thither side, the guns thundered angrily and the musketry rattled wickedly, and Fredericks- burg was fought and lost. Then the winter wore away in camp, and spring found the brigade se- lected for the perilous boat enterprise across the Rappahannock in April. Through the grounds fought over in the unfortunate December, out on that May Sunday to Salem Church with its disaster and fatalities, and ill-fated Chancellorsville was numbered among the other failures, and the Army of the Potomac, again, for rest and recuperation, put the river be- tween it and the enemy. Another month on the old camp ground and the manoeuvering solved by "Gettysburg" began. The waning summer was effectively utilized at Warrenton. The weather and the season, the dis- tance from the enemy, the seeming certainty that both sides had tem- porarily concluded active operations afforded a long-sought season for drill and instruction. When the camp there broke it is no self-laudation to say, for it was conceded, the One hundred and ninetennth in drill, in- struction and soldierly bearing was conditioned for marked commendation, ranked above many and was the equal of the best of its fellows. First to Stone House Mountain, then out to the Rapidan, back again to Fairfax, and Lee caught in his grand flanking enterprise, was checked. He put the rivers behind him and we, apparently satisfied for the present, cantoned around and about Fayetteville. But the autumn was to close with renewed activity. The brilliant engagement of November 7, in storm- ing the lunette work at the railway crossing, though not as fatal in casual- ties as many. other more serious combats, were perhaps the brighest in the regimental history. There, on the open plain, in full view of two great army corps, guided by matchless skill and nerved by daring courage, first wholly unaided, the Fifth Wisconsin and Sixth Maine leading, the Forty- ninth and One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania following, moved stolidly to the frowning gun-capped height and one thousand and five hun- dred men laid down their arms and cannon and yielded themselves and their standards as our trophies of the battle. Then, as sturdy winter came down early with piercing winds and pene- trating cold, the rifles rattled so harshly in the impenetrable timber about Locust Grove, as if whole armies were having their day of struggle instead of a few scattering brigades. And the great guns which occasionally thundered just to show their strength and their presence, and the im- previous battlements of Mine Run were conclusive proofs of the futility of a direct assault. The elements held the situation, the season was too far advanced to manoeuver and the year's operations closed in comfortable cantonment for winter quiet about Hazel river and Brandy Station. This was a time for strengthening for a higher maturity, for a prepara- tion for greater possibilities, for a concentration of energies to attain the perfect finish. The spring was measured in all its probabilities and the full extent of its unseasonable vagaries cautiously computed before the vast array, in all its huge proportions, was postured for its decisive stroke Led for the first time by a comprehensive authority, including operations every- where, the way was forged over the Rapidan. The lines plunged suddenly (i5U PcHiisylcania at Gettijshurg. into the deuso cbupparal of the Wildei-uoss forest right up against the stalwart foe. There was desperate fighting, stiff resistance, startling car- nage, liut there was to be no step backwards and the left was extotded through and beyond the great woods out into the open and there, at Spot- sylvania, quick to perceive, was the enemy again, entrenched, strengthened and ready. And there was battle after battle, charge after charge, assault upon assault. The crash and rush of the 10th which yielded a battalion or two as prisoners and a whole line of formidable works, was in the end futile, because somebody blundered. .And then the awful struggle of the 12th at the Salient, unparalleled in modern w^arfare, and in the seven days it terminated, two hundred -and fifteen of the hale, strong, hearty ones who began with us were useless for the purposes of war. And then came Cold Harbor, hot and bloody and fruitless, and weary and worn after twelve days of siege and charge and battle, the still splendid old army pulled weU away from it to the lingering song of the shells under the pale shimmer of the moon, and by noon was well on its road to the historic James. And up to Bermuda Hundred, and over to Petersburg, and out to Reams' Station, all the time the enemy in front, all the time under the sound of his guns. The enemy then demonstrated threateningly about the National Capital and the old Sixth sought for delicate work, selected for perilous duties, hur- ried off by transports, soon relieved this pressure and afterwards punished him well for his temerity. But it was more than punishment, it was annihilation. The rich granaries of the Shenandoah, that great broad valley with its generous larders and hospital homes open for treason closed to loyalty, tempted rebellion just once too often, and Winchester and Sheridan and Cedar Creek saw for the first time, in all these years of war, first the precipitate retreat and then the utter destruction of a whole great army. Back in the Christmas times to the ever continuous roar at Petersburg upon the edge of two minor affairs at "Hatcher's run" and "Dabney's Mills," the ever memorable siege terminated in the splendid charge at Fort Fisher, and the glories of war culminating in the brilliant achieve- ment of "Sailor's Creek," concluded in the silence of unostentatious sur- render at Appomattox. And so, flickering and flickeriug, the dying embers of a wicked rebellion expired on that victorious plain before those triumphant Union hosts. The rigors of a servile bondage were ended, human slavery was forever extinct. If the Nation's lesson is conclusively, learned that "to form a more perfect Union" is irrevocably the constitutional decree for united national liberties, if the blessings of a common unity are indubitably secured "to us and our posterity,"' then the mission was complete and the common purpo.se reached in all the fulness of its actual consummation. This is briefly the career of a body of volunteer soldiery whose service was continuously in the field and at the front from September 1, 1862, to June 19, 1865. Its losses proportionately of ccmimissioned officers killed in action almost equaled those of any oth(>r troops from Pennsylvania, whose enlistment covered a like term, and they more than equaled many of the earlier troops who served longer. Upon tlieir escutcheon is em- blazoned some fifteen general engagements and numerous minor affairs. Pennsylvuiiia at (icilijshurf/. G51 Numbers of the battles and si(>s('s were protracted through days aud some of them months of actual fighting. In the beginning of the spring cam- paign of 1865, one hundred and fifty rifles were for duty and in the last engagement but ninety-four. Full of credit and of honors it dissolved into peaceful pursuits and what is yet left of it are still a thrifty, enter- prising, law-abiding people. The campaign which culminated in the battle of Gettysburg and termi- nated in march and pursuit at Warrenton, virtually began on the ?d of June and concluded on the 25th of July. I note in the official records of the events in and about that carnpaign that beside the great battle and its preceding and subsequent marches, there were at separate points be- tween the 3d of June and the 31st of July one hundred and seven different engagements, combats, actions and affairs at arms. Twice in every fifteen hours of the summer daylight during that period, shots by somebody some- where between the Rappahannock and the Susquehanna were exchanged with deadly intent. From the 8th of May, when the old camping grounds were again occu- pied after disastruous Salem Church, and ill-fated Ohancellorsville , time skipped rapidly amid the agreeable accompaniments of rest, good weather, good companionship, regular meals and excellent food. This camp was peculiarly attractive. Upon the slope of a gentle hill just easy enough for a gradual rise, its height was airy, fresh and dry, whilst its sides afforded thorough drainage. It was laid out with regularity and skill. In the rear was thick timber, chopping off the rude and inclement winds; in the front was a pinery through which the view was unobstructed It stood separated some distance from any neighbors. For police, general appointments and situation it surpassed most of its fellows and had few equals. This was our home, except from April 28 to May 8, continuously from January to June. It might tell some quaint old stories of pleasantries and if the sturdy pines could re-echo the many jokes nad much laughter of the long winter months, they would ring again in joyous merriment with the reminiscence. It was a season as well of work as instruction, and when the spring time brought the battle aud the daisies there was an in- telligent readiness for the graver responsibilities of active operations. Orders, bustle and rumors on the 4th and 5th of June indicated an early movement. On the 5th, from the direction of the river, for about an hour, came the familiar sounds of brisk active gunnery. It afterwards appeared this artillery lire was to cover the crossing of the river by Howe's Second Division. The following day it was our tiirn. We pulled out to the river and laid there all day and at night withdrew to the woods for bivouac and a heavy thunder storm. The following day, the Sabbath, passed in ease until 2 in the afternoon, when two hundred and sixty of our people under Major Truefitt, and the whole of the Sixth Maine, were detached from the brigade for some mysterious and uncertain purpose and directed to march to Hartwood Church. It turned out to be a continuous tramp of some pretensions; 8.30 in the evening brought the destination, and under the shadows of the church, its graveyard and tombstones, the softened rays of a June moonlight in a clear open arable country, away from foes, everybody sought needed refreshing rest. At 6.30 the move began 052 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. agaiu, but no one knew more of its purpose than had been vouchsafed as in- formation at the start. General Russell had however been flourishing about the church through the night and his presence always promised business somewhere. About 10 o'clock, when approaching Grove Church, the object of the expedition was disclosed. Our detachment was there joined by others from the First and Second Corps, and General Russell had been assigned to command the whole. It was to aid and support the cavalry in its crossing the Rappahannock at Kelly's and Beverly Ford and assist in disposing of Stuart, who was then temporarily located in this vicinity. The ford, Kelly's, was made at 5 o'clock and a bivouac es- tablished upon this side. Thirty miles had been accomplished since Sun- day. At 2.30 on the morning of the 9th the night's bivouac broke up and the river was forded at 6.30. Following the cavalry closely, line of battle was formed and advanced to a position beyond the Orange and Alexandria railroad some four miles from the river. The cavalry had it pretty hot all day; what was intended was attained, and the affair turned into an engagement of no mean proportions. It has gone down among the annals as the battle of Brandy Station. The infantry loss in this and the other column of which General Ames had charge was noted at the time as sixty killed and wounded. At 5.30 all was over and our part of the force withdrew to the hither side of the river occupying the lunette work, which five months afterwards was to be wrested from the enemy to his disconfiture and our fame. There are always oddities no matter what the situation. From the south bank of the river to the front, for about three-quarters of a mile and more than half that distance on either side, is a broad open plain. It is without knoll, brush or bush to obstruct view or afford concealment, fringed all around its edges by timber. The movement of withdrawal through this timber and over the plain had been leisurely conducted, but the enemy, although quiet, had the movement and the country fully under his observation. Our folks were old enough for a proper comprehension of things. They knew the day's work was over unless somebody disturbed them, and there was no disposition to encourage competition. On the upper bank were friends, rest and supper; on the lower, enemies, hunger and care. There were two crossings, the open trestle work railway bridge two hundred yards long and sixty feet high and the other a waist deep ford right beside it. The footmen were directed to take the bridge for personal convenience and comfort, the horsemen took the ford. Trestle work isn't a roadway of a choice for the pedestrian. Some of the men in an over-anxiety to expedite their movements, disturbed at the insecure footway or comprehending the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides dropped nearly prone, and with hands and feet both in play pushed vigorously on. "Stand up, walk upright," said a zealous officer, "where's your nerve, where's your manhood, never mind the depth below, you can't fall through." They promptly obeyed, but when he had reached the point over the greatest elevation, a casual glance caught him withdrawing in like unseemly posture and still another glance a few minutes later .showed he preferred the ford. He could stand bullets and battle but the dizzy height was too much. The 10th was one of quiet, the occupancy of the fortifications being re- Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 653 tained until sundown, when relief of other troops was substituted and the command retiring from line, broke into column and bivouacked for the night in the woods to the rear. Some interest was afforded during the morning hours by the operations of a flag of truce, which, with its usual appointments, crossed at the ford and met the enemy's officer about mid- way over the plain. The consultation continued for sometime in full view, but it was too distant for anything save observation. Bealton Station, some three miles back on the railway was made early the next day and a camp established. Three days of rest followed with an agree- able opportunity to look up acquaintances in the Third and First Corps, the former of which laid around and about us all of one night, and the latter took an afternoon in passing. On Sunday, the 14th, a week since we left our friends at Franklin's Crossing, of or from whom, by the way, nothing had been heard, a long steady pull was allotted for execution. Breaking camp at 7 in the moi-n- ing, crossing Cedar Run and moving by Catlett's Station and Warrenton Junction, a halt was made for the night at Gibson's Farm near Bristoe at 9 in the evening. This country was under excellent cultivation, with houses and buildings in keeping with its well-tilled lands, strangely in contrast with the rougher surroundings of the winter and spring. At day- light the march was resumed and by 8 o'clock a halt was made on the plains of Manassas among the broken-up rebel entrenchments of 1861, and by noon a full stop at Union Mills on the banks of the famed Bull Run. There was a grist mill, quaint and cozy, with its dam and its race, and its overshot wheel, and there, right in its cooling shadows, right "Dy the edge of the clear sparling water, in the big grassy meadows, came ease and freedom until all of this and the next day, away into the after- noon, had fled as if it were not known time had ever been. Such environ- ments seldom came. It was probably well. Men's tastes are better served when he can look for better things. This philosophy has been exemplified through all of war-worn Virginia. Then from 5 o'clock until toward dark a move was completed, which found its bivouac near Fairfax Station, just about where the Sixth Corps' train was parked, and here came the first intelligence that the regiment was but a few miles from us. The next day, the 17th, a junction was effected and a ten days' separation of more than half the command from the rest was ended. This expedition afforded an opportunity to temporarily satisfy the am- bition of an enterprising youth, who was convinced he was better calculated to serve his country on horseback than afoot. His detail for a brief period secured an assignment which included a mount, provided one could be procured without individual expense. The courtesy of a distinguished cav- alry commander supplied the mount and equipment as free from cost as it was from attractions in its shape and adornments in its equipment. The steed, either over-wrought or aged, had passed its primal usefulness, stiffened and scrawny, it was irresponsive to the whinny of its blooded mates and the blast of the bugle, the rattle of the drum, the crack of the rifle or the boom of the cannon failed hopelessly in bestirring its bygone military enthusiasm. Yet graceless and awkward as it was in walk, trot oi" arable, it still had suflicient locomotion to follow complacently a well- 654 Pennsylvania at (Jcttyshurg. diroctcd leader or to be guided rcsistlessly when there was no leader to follow. The equipment was strikingly in keeping with the character of the animal. The saddle had teamed it some. No falchion bright e'er flashed across its pommel in brilliant charge or dashing fray. Nor had whilome saber point e'er been given from astride that undistinguished seat. The whir of the moulinet, the crash of the cut and the clang of the parry, found no reverbating collections in its experience. The memories of the butt, the hide and the lash, alone remained distinctive in all the service it had done the country. The bridle improvised from a waterim,' bit, was part leather and part rope. But crude as were the trappings and in- different as was the steed, all that was anticipated from it was realized until it attempted to dispute the right of way on a single track road with a locomotive engine drawing its train under full headway. The column was moving on the bed of the railway, upon a slightly raised embankment, when the first south-bound train— it had not been operated for several months — hove in sight. The other horsemen took the bound gracefully and reached the meadow at its ba.se. But for the first time this animal refused to follow, he failed to respond to whip, or lash, or spur, to shout or laughter. On, on, came the train, with whistle screeching incessantly. The moment was critical. Nothing was left but to dismount and strong men hugely enjoying the situation forcibly pushed the creature down the bank. There, retired for disability contracted in the line of duty, he was left forever to his much- needed permanent rest, amid the green pastures and by the still waters, and the ambitious officer going on afoot, concluded to await more enduring mounted honors before he sought for horse again. Whilst the detachment went strolling around among strangers the bal- ance, with the division, on the 7th, crossed the south bank of the Rappa- hannock, where it, the division, relieved Howe's Second. There or about there it remained until the 13th when it marched to Potomac creek, and on the 14th to Stafford Court House, from thence, on the 15th, to Dumfries and thence again on the 16th to Fairfax Station. The seekers for new facts and gleaners of fresh information as a march goes on are many; inquiries as to destination and purposes are numerous. They increase the more it becomes apparent the proximity to the euemy is lessening. This search for knowledge so resultless, these inquiries so fruitless, whatever came of them even to those prone to most persistent penetration, was generally wild unreliable rumor. But it was more than usual when a great expedition had started, a few days, truth or rumor, would unloose restrictions. Probably here though, the enemy had -so con- cealed his operations as to take a long time for their discovery, and as a consequence their divulgence down to the line was proportionately length- ened, or more than likely as we had got well on our way so comfortably we didn't care much anyhow. Nevertheless, up t ADDRESS OF BREVET-CAPTAIN JOSEPH (i . ROSENGARTEN OFFICERS iiiul soldiers of the One Imnrlred and twenty-first, comrades and friends: — we are met together to-day, at the invitation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to review the memories of that great battle fought here in IS&i. We stand again at the spot made m^'mor- able by the gallant resistance of the One hundred and twenty-first to over- whelming numbers. A modest monument marks the point on which the One hundred and twenty -first , together with the other regiments with M'hich it was brigaded, under its own commander, Colonel Chapman Biddle, bravely awaited the onset. Led by Major Alexander Biddle, the regiment was worthy of its leaders, and to-day, after the lapse of long years, a little band of survivors gather here to join the comrades of other Penn- sylvania regiments in commemorating the deeds and the men of that day. Fortunately we have the story as it was told with characteristic modesty by those two gallant soldiers, and their words will recall to you the events of the batle. Colonel Chapman Biddle, in his address before the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania on March 8, 1880, said: "The First Bri- gade of Doubleday's Division, was under my command, and consisted of the One hundred and twenty-first. One hundred and forty-second and One hundred and fifty-first Pennsylvania, and the Twentieth New York State Infantry. Cooper's Battery B, First Pennsylvania Artillery, had on the morning of the 1st, been attached to the brigade. On that morning, as soon as the pickets of the One hundred and twenty-first could be with- drawn, the infantry and artillery were marched from the roads at Ross White's, which lie between Marsh and Middle creeks, along the Nune- maher Mill road to Gettysburg, a distance of about seven miles. When within a mile of the town, the sound of heavy firing to the northwest in- dicated that a sharp engagement was already in progress. The brigade was, in consequence, rapidly pushed across the fields to open ground, a short distance north of the Hagerstown road, and about a third of a mile west of the Seminary and there formed, a little before 11 a. m., on the extreme left of the general line of battle. The battery was immedi- ately placed in position, and its fire directed towards the northwest, to the left of the woods in which the First Division was then engaged. Up- wards of three-quarters of a mile in front were woods nearly parallel with the line of battle, and between, somewhat to the left, a house and large stone barn, the latter of which was afterwards used as a cover for the enemy's sharpshooters. To protect the battery from the annoyance which the sharpshooters occasioned, a company of sharpshooters was sent from the Twentieth New York, who, readily driving the men off, occupied 'Ovtranized at Philaflelphia from A\igiist 22 to September a, 1S62. to serve three years. It was mustered out June 2, 1865. 604 Pcnnsiilvanin at Gettysburg. their shelter. Later iu the day, towards 3 p. m., Pettigrew's Brigade of North Carolina troops, Heth's Division, Hill's Corps, advancing in two lines, and in perfect order, commenced a vigorous attack on the extreme left of the Federal line held by the First Brigade. Of the four small regiments composing the brigade, the One hundred and fifty -first had been detached about 2.30 to be held in reserve, and was posted near the Semi- nary grove, until it was sent forward subsequently to occupy the gap be- tween Meredith's and my (Biddle's) brigade. Notwithstanding the great disparity in numbers between the contending forces, and that the left of the Federal line was partly outflanked, the position was maintained with spirit for a considerable time under a sever direct and oblique fire, and until, being without support, the fragments of the four regiments were com- pelled to retire, towards 4 p. m., to a partial cover on the edge of the town, close to and west of the Seminary, where they continued to resist the progress of the enemy, until the batteries and most of the Union troops had withdrawn to Cemetery Hill; then, as the enemy were swarm- ing in on the left, they fell back to the same point, reforming in the rear of its crest. The admirable behavior of the men and officers of the brigade, may, to some extent be inferred, for out of 1,287 officers and men, who went into action as the First Brigade, of the Third Division, of the First Corps, four hundred and forty were either killed or wounded, and four hundred and fifty- seven missing, leaving as its effective strength at the close of the first day's battle, three hundred and ninety oSicers and men." Thus simply did he tell the story of the brigade led by him, and of his and our regiment, and to it let me add the narrative prepared by Colonel Alexander Biddle, who was in command of the regiment on that eventful day, July 1, 1863. Colonel Alexander Biddle, who commanded the regiment on the 1st of July, in his narrative, states that "on the night of June 30, it consisted of two hundred and fifty-eight muskets and seven line officers present for duty, its strength being thus reduced by details for artillery, ambulance and commissariat service, and a full company at corps headquarters. It was the leading regiment of the First Brigade, Third Division (Double- day's), First Corps (Reynolds'), and as such on outpost duty on a line extending eastwardly and westwardly from Ross White's cross-roads about eight miles from Gettysburg, the left of the picket line being near farmer Topper's house. The night passed without alarm, but with early morn- ing a division staff-officer. Lieutenant Lambdin, of Company H, One hun- dred and twenty-first, came with orders to draw in the pickets and march, giving directions to promptly engage the enemy wherever met, and statins the probability of a battle near Gettysburg. The pickets were hurriedly collected, but before they had all returned, the brigade was on its march, a company of sharpshooters leading, then the One hundred and twenty-first with skirmishers thrown out on both flanks. Colonel Chapman Biddle of the One hundred and twenty-first commanding. The march continued on a beautifully clear morning for some hours. At last the sound of firing was heard to the front and left. A bridge was passed and the regiment turned to the left, passing along the dry bed and banks of a stream, then Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 665 turned to the right and aswndod a ravLne. It was not then known that the battery and regiments in the rear had been met by staff-officers and hurried on through Gettysburg to the field. As the One hundred and twenty-first reached the head of the ravine, it came out on the ITagerstown road, on the crest of a slight ridge west of Gettysburg, among the Eighth Illinois Cavalry. The enemy's line was clearly seen about 1,000 yards to the west, extending out of a wood into an open field where the men were lying down, and both artillery and musketry fire was going on to the north. On the edge of an open wood the regimejit was formed in line of battle facing west ; to the north General Reynolds was seen in the open fields near a wood. Soon an order came to move on to the north and form on the left of the First Division. The brigade was brought together and continued in this position for several hours, sometimes in line of battle, patiently waiting attack, sometimes in echelon of regiments, some- times moving up and over the summit of the western ridge, sometimes changing front to the north, a fire of shells from time to time breaking in the wood or harmlessly passing beyond the position. At last an ad- vance of the enemy was distinctly seen from the north, a line of men came out of the woods, advanced, seemed to falter and be taken up by another stronger line, which moved forward with heavy firing. During this, the One hundred and twenty-first was ordered to change front to the north, and move to the right, and the regiment took its assigned position in rear of a battery, under a lively fire from the enemy's shells. It was again ordered to change front to the west, which it did, moving by the left flank to the south and from which it was ordered to deploy to the left and south to meet the enemy advancing from the west. To effect this it was obliged to pass in rear of a battery, firing on the approaching enemy, and to form on the extreme left of the brigade. As it executed this movement, a regiment of the enemy was seen advancing diagonally to gain a position well beyond the left flank, and another moving directly upon the position the One hundred and twenty-first was marching to. It reached this point before the enemy, moved forward to the crest of the ridge until obstructed by a fence, but was in time to deliver the first fire, the fence preventing the possibility of a charge. The firing was continued by file. Overwhelmed with the fire from the flank, this small force of less than three full companies retained the position until the battery had safely retired and nothing but a barren field was left to their opponents. Major Ashworth, left wounded on the field, reported that only scattered men passed him. The remnant of the regiment fell back with the colors to the Seminary, the color-sergeant, Harvey, carrying the colors and their staff shot into three pieces in his hands. The contest at this new position was obstinately maintained, and while suffering severely, the thinning of our opponents was perceptible, the lino of the enemy extend- ing beyond the left of the One hundred and twenty-first so that it was in danger of being wholly cut off. At or near this point most of our mi-ssing men were lost, the main body with broken troops, artillery and ambulances, retreating along the road towards and through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill, where the troops were reformed, the men of the One hun- dred and twenty-first receiving from an ordnance officer of the Eleventh 0(>n PoDi.sijlvanid at Gettyshurg. Corps, cartridges for eighty-two men, nut of two liuudred and fifty-six who marched to Gettysburg in the morning. Captain William White Dorr, Company K, was the only line officer unhurt. Quiet gradually settled upon the hill, and the evening was passed by the men singing hymns as they rested on their arms in view of the possibilities of the morrow." Thus the surviving field officer, Colonel Alexander Biddle, tells the story of the One hundred and twenty-first on that memorable 1st of July, 1863, and the monument marks its losses in holding the extreme left of the Union line. Twenty were killed or died of their wounds, ninety-eight were wounded, sixty-one missing. At no time was there any panic, and the One hundred and twenty-first showed throughout steadiness, alacrity and willingness in doing all that was required of them. It is the duty of the survivors to perpetuate and preserve the record of that day. The colonel himself, in command of the brigade, by his ex- ample, riding along the line between the two fires encouraging his men, held them as if spell-bound, until all the other troops had abandoned the field, and until the artillery had ample opportunity to withdraw, and even until the enemy with its overwhelming superiority of numbers, had already overlapped the flanks and were filing around to the rear. In a letter written by him on the 2d of July, he says, "yesterday we had a sharp engagement with the rebels just outside the town (of Gettysburg), which lasted for some hours. The enemy had quite a large force, much greater than ours. Our division was on the extreme left. I'eing in command of the First Brigade, I was assigned to a position on the left of all. My force con- sisted of four regiments, all very small however. We were opposed by at least eight large regiments, who entirely outflanked us and compelled us to return to the edge of the town, when, getting under some slight cover, we held our ground for some time, long enough to let the troops move into a new position, we retiring with the rest. My horse was shot, I was struck by a round ball on the back of the head, but only slightly wounded. When the horse was struck, he reared and threw me and fell over himself, but fortunately fell on the side from me." Thus modestly and characteristically does Colonel Biddle speak of himself. Of his officers, and especially of Ashworth, Ruth and Sti'rling, all severly wounded, and of the men he speaks, but simply as if he and they and all had simply done their duty. The stand made by the One hundred and twenty-first at the Lutheran Seminary was imder the circumstances something worthy of the highest praise. By that time the troops were considerably de- moralized, and the bulk of them well on their way to Cemetery Hill. The halt in the woods at the Seminary showed the mettle of the One hun- dred and twenty-first and a steadiness, after long and exhausting exposure under the fire from an overwhelming and outflanking force, that could not be surpassed. The defense of this position, prolonged until the great body of troops had passed to the rear, saved many thousands from cap- ture, and the loss inflicted on the enemy by the One hundred and twenty- first, while it was thus held nt bay, must have been very considerably, as the thinning out of their ranks was plainly seen. How the little rem- nant of the One hundred and twenty-first ever got away from there without capture, is still hard to explnin. After a hard march, exposed at one Pen nsylvu n ia a t V, c I ti/.s h itrg. 0(17 time to an enfilading fire, afterwards slieltered only by a rough barricade of fence rails hastily thrown together, what was left of the One hundred and twenty-first clung to this defensive line and made it an offensive posi- tion until further efforts were useless, and then slowly and in an orderly way moved to its assigned portion in the rear at Cemetery Hill . Such is in brief the story of the One hundred and twenty-first, on the 1st of July, 1863, and it well deserves the enduring record made upon the granite shaft that marks its position on the extreme left of the Union line, its heroic defense and its gallant resistance, until defense was im- possible and resistance at an end. On that monument stands forth the name of Colonel Chapman Biddle, the colonel of the One hundred and twenty- first, a man whose heroic courage, noble character, unselfish devotion to duty, and sacrifice in defense of the Union entitle him to our affection, esteem and lasting gratitude. Clement Biddle, the grandfather of Colonel Chapman Biddle, is known in local annals as the Quaker soldier. Born in Philadelphia, in 1740, descended from early Quaker settlers of New Jersey, he was brought up strictly in the tenets of his sect. In 17G4 he headed a company of Quakers to put down the Paxton boys who were murdering inoffensive Indians. He was a signer of the non-importation agreement of 1765, and when the Revolution was impending, organized a Quaker company of volunteers. In 1777 he was elected deputy quarter- inaster by Congress. After the battle of Trenton, he was sent by Wash- ington to receive the swords of the Hessian officers. He was present at the battles of Princeton, Germantown, Brandy wine and Monmouth and at Valley Forge. He took an active part in the adoption of the Federal Constitution and was appointed by Washington United States Marshal of Pennsylvania. In 1791 he took part in the suppression of the whisky insurrection, and died in Philadelphia, July 14, 1814. His son Clement Corwell Biddle was born in Philadelphia, in 1784 and died there in 1855. He entered the navy in his youth, resigned and studied law, and in 1807, in anticipation of war with England, entered the army as cap tain of dragoons. He resigned when peace seemed reasurred, but on the outbreak of hostilities, in 1812, he raised the State Fencibles, was elected its captain and subsequently colonel of the First Pennsylvania Infantry. The war over he returned to civil life, was a diligent student of economi- cal and financial questions, and was consulted as an authority by the Government. Colonel Chapman Biddle inherited from his father and his grandfather the manly virtues that made him a soldier worthy of every honor. What he was in the field we who served under him can never forget, and the same thorough conscientious discharge of every duty that distinguished him in the field marked his whole life, so that alike in war and in peace he was an example worthy of the highest praise. Chapman Biddle was born in Philadelphia, January 22, 1822, the youngest son of the late Colonel Clement C. Biddle. Colonel Clement Biddle lived to a ripe old age, managing with marked success the Philadelphia Saving Fund, which owed much to his forethought and watchful care. His sons, George W., now the leader of the Philadelphia bar, the late Dr. John B. Biddle, a distinguished practitioner and teacher of medicine, and Chapman, were all educated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore. Chapman graduated at a ()68 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. very parly aj^e, and after a short experience in a counting house, showed so much business ability that he was made supercargo and sent to South America, where he attended to his various duties with marked ability and energy. On his return home he studied law in the office of his older brother, George W. Biddle, and was admitted to the bar in 1848, steadily growing into sucessful practice, and both in his office as counselor and in court winning reputation for thoroughness and ability. Chapman Biddle had, of course, the advantage of an admirable home and the training that comes with it, went to the capital school of Doctor Wylie and Doctor Eagles, famous for their discipline and their instruction. He was a dili- gent, painstaking boy, always and easily maintaining a good record. At fourteen he went to St. Mary's College, where he spent four years full of admirable results, and steadily growing in the eyes of teachers and fellow-pupils. On his return home, he went into the counting house of his cousin, Clement Biddle Barclay, at whose suggestion Chapman, young as he was, was sent to Montevideo as supercargo. On the long sailing journey he applied himself to the study of Spanish with characteristic perseverance and thoroughness, so that he mastered it sufficiently to make good use of it for his business needs. Always afterwards he kept up his knowledge of the language, and this and his acquaintance with other lan- guages stood him in good stead in his later professional life and in his journeys abroad, as well as in the pleasant interchange of acquaintance with foreigners visiting here. On his return to Philadelphia, he carried out his long-cherished purpose, and began the study of law in the office of his older brother, George W. Biddle, Esq. His business training made him a thorough accountant, and his accuracy and painstaking mastery of detail enabled him to apply himself especially to the management of trusts, the disentangling of complicated estates, and the general duties of a counselor, rather than to the more shining branches of the profession. Still he won the confidence of the bench and the bar as well as of numer- ous important clients, by his management of their business, by advising the best method of avoiding litigation, and by persistently making the best use of every possible means to secure a successful result when it was necessary to appeai to a jury or to a court in ha^ic. His arguments were clear and strong, terse and exhaustive, and his mastery of facts and of the law was always complete. His professional career included a term of service as counsel for the Pennsylvania railroad and for other corporations and to all his assistance was of the highest value. The mother of Colonel Chapman Biddle was Mary Searle Barclay, the daughter of John Barclay, Esq., the sixth mayor of Philadelphia, an old merchant, the son of a leading citizen, one of the great merchants of his day. Mrs. Riddle lived to see her sons leaders in their respective pro- fessions and proud in them, a devoted, affectionate and a loyal trust that comforted her in her widowhood and old age. The Barclays are of that Scotch-Irish stock which has contributed so many well-known names to every branch of Philadelphia reputation, and the McCalls, the Billings, the IMeades were all their kith and kin. The Biddies are of English origin, and the union of the two races made a strong and noble family. The grandmother of Chapman Biddle was Miss Cornell, of Newport, Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 669 Rhode Island, where thnt name is still remembered as that of an old family of importance. This name Chapman was that of his uncle, Doctor Nathaniel Chapman, one of the great lights of medicine in Philadelphia, and one still borne by his grandson who has again illustrated many of the qualities that made his ancestor famous. A cousin of Colonel Biddle's is Clement Biddle Barclay, who is so affectionately remembered for his devotion to the interests and comfort of the soldiers in the field, who sacrificed his own ease to bring to them aid and assistance; who brought light and life to many sick and wounded, cared for the dying and was ready to succor their families. Thus, on all sides, by blood, and birth, and descent, by training and association. Chapman Biddle was a thorough Philadelphian, true to the traditions of his name, and always ready to do his duty. What he sacrificed in taking up arms and leading a regiment to the frout and in the service is too sacred to be spoken of, and yet it must be borne in mind by all who think of him. Singularly reticient in all matters of personal concern, he was full of sympathy for others, helpful to them in their trials, ready to give aid, and counsel and substantial help. He was absolutely indifferent to that sort of no- toriety which is so often mistaken for reputation, and, in war and in peace, his only standard was that of duty, and from that he never swerved on any point. Colonel Chapman Biddle was for many years a member of a military organization, commanded by the late Judge John Cadwalader, and when the war broke out, he was himself elected captain of a company of artillery, which he brought to a high state of efficiency. He was afterwards em powered to raise a regiment of volunteers for three years' service, and was appointed colonel of the One hundred and twenty-first Pennsylvania Volun- teers. It was completed by consolidation with the Fourteenth Pennsyl- vania, and Colonel E. W. Davis of the latter was made lieutenant-colonel, and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Biddle major. From the day it was mustered in. Colonel Biddle was heartily seconded by Major, afterwards Colonel Alexander Biddle, in putting his regiment on a high plane of efficiency and discipline. After a brief stay in camp at Chestnut Hill, the regiment was sent to "Washington, and there placed in a provisiim il brigade under Casey and General Humphreys, in succession, and Imfh tlic Biddies were complimented by those veteran soldiers for the excellent drill and thorough training of the One hundred and twenty-first. Finally it was assigned a place in Porter's Corps and marched through Maryland to Antietam, where it was assigned to Meade's Brigade of Reynolds' Di- vision, of the Pennsylvania Reserves. It took a distinguished part in the battle of Fredericksburg and the brilliant success of this, its first engagement, its baptism of fire, secui-ed it a strong place in the good opinion of all the general officers, under whom it served in suct-'ssion . At Gettysburg it bore its part in the heroic struggle of the first day's fight against overwhelming numbers. Colonel Biddle remained in the field in spite of broken health and against the entreaties and advice of his medical advisers and of his friends, enduring the hardship and exposure of the winter of 1863, until he was finally forced to resign on December 10, when he returned to Philadelphia and slowly regained his health and G70 J'tiiiisj/lvania at Getty shiirg. strength. He resumed the practice of his profession but always kept a close watch on his old regiment, and at all times showed an affectionate interest and regard for all who had served with him, generously assisting them and their families, and maintaining a friendly intercourse with them. He was a diligent student of military history, and followed with sympathy the operations of the army of which he had been an active officer. To his exertions is largely due the bronze heroic statue of Reynolds at Gettysburg, the tribute of the First Corps, at whose head he fe'l at (Gettysburg. Equally characteristic of his thoroughness in mastering all the details of military history is his address on "The First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg," delivered on March 8, 1880, before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It is a complete history in itself and has been praised by very high and competent authority. Of his own distinguished part in the battle he says' little, yet it was marked by personal gallantry and rare military ability. For many years his professional occupation at the bar engrossed his time and strength. In addition to his large private practice and the management of many important estates, he was for several years the counsel for the Pennsylvania railroad, until failing health and other pressing duties obliged hira to resign that important position. He took a lively interest in the Fairmount Park Art Association, and to his good taste, substantial help and wise counsel the park owes some of its finest art works. His death at the early age of fifty-nine, was sorely mourned, both by his family, to whom he was tenderly attached, and by his large circle of friends. At his funeral there gathered men of all professions and pursuits, and his old regiment was largely represented. In him the bar lost one of its ablest members, the city one of its most useful citizens, the state a distinguished soldier, the country a tried patriot. Among the numerous testimonials of regret at his loss, none were more truthful, earnest and heartfelt than that of the survivors of the One hundred and twenty -first. It expressed their sense of his merits in these words: "His energy in raising the One hundred and twenty-first, his ability in disci- plining it, his gallantry in leading it in battle, his zeal and endurance in its hard service, have made his reputation as a soldier one that can never be forgotten by his comrades. His military qualities were of a high order of excellence, gaining the confidence of his command and the approval of his general officers. His courage in battle was charac- teristic of the name he bore, and his patience under phy.sical suffering was heroic in a high degree. His care of his men in the field, on the march, in camp, in battle, in hospital, was incessant and untiring. Even aftei ill health forced him to resign, he maintained his interest in them and he watched over their welfare and their widows and orphans, and long after the regiment was mustered out he was always ready to help its members or their families." The Society of the Army of the Potomac, the First Corps Association, the Historical Society, and many private associations and individuals joined in expressions of profound sorrow for his death, sympathy for his family, and sense of grief for the loss of such a man. The tie that bound hira to the men of his regiment was not severed by his death, for his son always took his father's place in their regard. Pennsylvania at (Jettysburg. 071 aud in the short years of his life prematurely cut oif, he was looked on as the successor in their good wUl, and he returned it by a friendly in- terest in all that related to their service under Colonel Biddle. It was he who, on July 2, 1886, made an address at the unveiling of the regi- mental monument at Gettysburg, which forms part of the record of that day, so full of interest for the One hundred and twenty-first. How many are gone of those who helped to win for it the good opinion of its suc- cessive commanders. Who can forget Dorr, that gallant soldier, pure Christian, watchful officer aud brave leader? Dear Harry Lambdin, so full of heroism, of energy and of fire, with a spirit only too strong for his frail body. Ashworth, whose life was an example worthy of the deepest reverence. Barclay, Jungerich, Sterling, Brickley, all fell in action or died of their wounds, aud all merit that aOiection which is still so warmly cherished for their memory by their comrades. S. P. Jones, William Graham, William Hardy, the Cowplands, Herpst, Winkworth, Bingham, Bates, McCoy, Childs, McTaggart, Allen, Barlow, Weikel, Knight, Mc- Pherson and Branson, were all praised by Colonel Biddle in his ofiicial re- port. Ruth; and Pippet, and Byers, and Raymond are among the officers whose wounds disabled them from service, and their names, too, deserve to be specially recalled at a time when the story of the regiment is once more told to the survivors. How many of the enlisted men were endeared to us by their merits, known perhaps only to those who saw them through the long and weary years of the war. What characteristic bravery was shown by Hazzard and James, and by the veteran soldier, Scherer, who, after years of good service in the Third United States ArtUlery, under Bragg and Burnside, Sherman and Reynolds, fell at Fredericksburg. Who can tell the story of each and every one of that long roll of the killed and wounded of the One hundred and twenty-first? The record of those who took part in the battle of Gettysburg finds it proper place in this day's proceed- ings, and each name will reeall to some comrade the special qualities of the man who did his share on that day. Time may soften the sorrow of those who lost sons and brothers and husbands, but it will only preserve the memory of their good qualities in the hearts of their surviving comrades, and thus heighten our regret that the monument which marks the scene of their last action cannot perpetuate their names on its surface. The details of the regimental history are now being gathered together, with a view to its due and proper preservation, and each man should do his best to supply material for its full and complete recital. It is only by the details of the part taken by each regiment, that the whole story can be completely told. Just as the regimental monuments that now mark the lines of Gettysburg, recall its history, so the regimental histories will preserve the record of the part each regiment took in the war. Leaving to others the general record and history of the war for the Union, let us strive to preserve every name and every deed that forms part of our record as a regiment, content in this, as we were in war, to do our duty without fear or favor. What has been said to-day will no doubt become part of the splendid record of the Keystone State, for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has made of 44 672 Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. Gettysburg a Mecca, to which pious pilgrims will come for inspiration so long as patriotism continues to beat in the heart of every man who fought for the Union and inspires their children in the future. The losses at Gettysburg of the One hundred and twenty-first were twelve enlisted men killed, five officers wounded, one hundred and one enlisted men wounded, one officer captured, sixty enlisted men captured, total one hundred and seventy-nine. The total losses in the First Brigade were eight hundred and ninety-five. Colonel Chapman Middle's report, dated July 2, says: The brigade reached the front about 11 a. m., and was pushed forward and formed in line on the extreme left, facing west, the battery (Cooper's), B, First Pennsylvania, was placed in position and its fire directed towards the northwest on the left of a piece of woods in which the First Division was then engaged with the enemy. In front of our line and at the distance of three-fourths of a mile or more, were woods running nearly parallel with it, and between these woods and our line and towards our left were a brick house and a large stone barn, the barn affording cover to the enemy's sharp- shooters, who were thou slsirmishing in front of us. A company of skirmishers was sent from the Twentieth New York, for the purpose of protecting the battery. The posi- tion of the brigade was varied two or three times in order to shelter the men from the heavy artillery fire of the enemy, which at one time enfiladed them from the north. During the morning, rebel infantry were observed on the edge of the woods first re- ferred to, and between 2 and 3 p. m. a large body of them, amounting to a division or more, advanced in two lines towards us. Of the four small regiments constituting the brigade, one (the One hundred and fifty-first) had been previously detached to support a portion of the corps to our right and rear. The remaining three were drawn up in the following order: The One hundred and forty-second on the right, Twentieth New York in the center, the One hundred and twenty-first on the left, the battery occupying a space between the One hundred and forty-second and One hundred and twenty-first. Not- withstanding the great disparity of the contending forces, and the left of our line be- ing outflanked by at least one and probably two regiments, and the enemy's fire, direct and oblique, being very severe, the men of the brigade continued to hold their position for some time, until, being without any support, they were compelled to retire to a cover on the edge of the town, immediately in front of the Seminary. Here they re- mained, doing good service, checking the farther advance of the enemy; till the bat- teries and many of the troops in the town had withdrawn in the direction of the ceme- tery, when they retired to that point. Colonel C. Biddle's supplementary report of July 4: On the morning of the 2d, the One hundred and twenty-first was moved into a field to the south of and near the cemetery, and placed under cover of a stone wall by the roadside, where it remained during the forenoon. Towards 12 m. it was exposed to a severe shelling, which reached it from both the front and rear, during a sharp attack made by the enemy on our extreme right. Tlie peculiar shape of the general line of battle, resembling a somewhat flattened horseshoe, will account for this effect. In the afternoon the fire slackened, when the regiment was moved behind a wall on the other side of the road, in which position Hk defenses were reached by the enemy's musketry. The attack on this part of our line ceased toward evening, when the regiment changed its position to a field in front, and subsequently to the rond, where the night was passed. On the morning of the 3d the regiment was moved to the left, to a field nearly opposite to our left center, where it remained during the morning, exposed somewhat to the enemy's fire. Towards 1 p. m. a violent cannonading from a very large number of pieces of artillery was concentrated on our position, which continued for upwards of two hours and a half, destroying much of the breastworks sheltering the men, and wounding three of thorn. During the hottest part of this fire, the regiment was moved in good order to an adjoining field to the left, and placed behind a breastwork of rails near the crest of a hill, where it remained throughout the attack on the center. This attack, of a most determined character, was finally and successfully repulsed towards sundown by the troops in the first line sui)portcd by our artillery. The steadiness of the men during the fury of the unparalleled artillery fire of the enemy cannot be too highly commended, and to It in some measure may be attributed the l)rilliant results of this day's operations. Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. 673 Colonel Alexander Biddle's report dated "Bivouac in the field," July 2, 1863, is as follows: The One hundred and twenty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer regiment, under my command, marched from W. R. White's house, in Freedom township, yesterday morn- ing, Wednesday, July 1. On arriving at the top of the hill bordering the valley in which Gettysburg lies, we were marched into a field on the left of a wood, through which we saw the First Division driving the enemy. We remained in this field, exposed at all times to an enfilading or direct fire, sometimes firing northwardly and sometimes west- wardly, as the attack of the enemy varied. A large body of the enemy's troops had been seen to the west of our position throughout the day. While we were falsing up a position to the north, to support a battery at the corner of a wood, the enemy were seen advancing. We were ordered to form to meet them, and changed front to effect it. As the proper position assigned lo the One hundred and twenty-first was immediately in front of the battery, we were moved to the extreme left, with the Twentieth New York on our right. I saw the line of the enemy slowly approaching up the hill, ex- tending far beyond on our left flank, for which we had no defense. As the enemy's forces appeared over the crest of the hill, we fired effectively into them, and soon after received a crushing fire from their right, under which our ranks were broken and be- came massed together as we endeavored to change front to the left to meet them. The immediate attack on our front was destroyed by our first fire. The officers made every possible effort to form their men, and Captains Ashworth and Sterling, and Lieutenants Ruth and Funk were all wounded. The regiment, broken and scattered, retreated to the woods around the hospital and maintained a scattering fire. Here, with the broken fragments of other regiments, they defended the fence of the hospital grounds with great determination. Finding the enemy were moving out on our left flank with the intention of closing in on the only opening into the barricade, I reported the fact to the division commander, and by his directions returned to the fence barricade. The rebels, advancing on our left flank soon turned the position, and our regimental colors, with the few men left with them, moved out of the hospital grounds to our present position, where we now have almost exactly one-fourth of our force, and one commis- sioned officer besides myself. I beg, particularly, to call attention to the meritorious conduct of Sergeant (William) Hardy, color-bearer, who carried off the regimental colors, the staff shot to pieces in his hands. Also to the gallantry of Captain Ashworth and Lieutenant Ruth, both wounded. Also to Lieutenants Funk and Dorr, and Cap- tain Sterling, acting Sergeant-Major (Henry M.) Cowpland, Sergeant (Henry H.) Herpst, in command of Company A, and Sergeant (Charles) Winkworth, are all deserv- ing of high commendation. Also Corporal (John M.) Bingham of Company A. The con- stant changes of position which the regiment was ordered to make, and the seeming un- _ certainty of which way we were to expect an attack, or what position we were to de- fend, was exceedingly trying to the discipline of the regiment. Their conduct was, in my opinion, far beyond praise. I also wish to call attention to tliose whom the men speak of as deserving of high commendation. Sergeants (Robert F.) Bates, (William A.) McCoy (Joshua L.) Childs (wounded, who insisted on remaining with his company, (John) McTaggart, James Allen and Charles Barlow, Corporals Daniel H. Weikel and (Edward D.) Knight, and Privates T. B. H. McPherson and William Branson. Thus from both Colonel Chapman Biddle and Colonel Alexander Biddle, we have the story of the One hundred and twenty-first on that eventful 1st of July and the succeeding days. Brief and simple, told at the moment, how clearly the incidents stand out, and how emphatic their commenda- tion, how grateful their praise of individual officers and men. The regiment was worthy of its commanders, and did its duty as they did theirs, coolly and fully, resolutely facing the enemy, outnumbering our force almost double, and holding one position after another, until, by order, it fell back to Cemetery Hill. Rallied there, the little band still showed its wonted courage, and joined in strengthening the lines on which the fresh divisions of the Third and Twelfth Corps and Stannard's Ver- mont Brigade were joined, and thus securing the opportunity for the concentration of the rest of the army with which General Meade won the battle of Gettysburg. G74 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Buford, in bis report, says, that General Doubleday's command, whicb fought bravely, was greatly outnumbered and forced to fall back. Seeing our troops retiring and their need of assistance, I im- nieiliatcly ruslied Gamble's Brigade to Doubleday's left, and dismounted it in time to render great assistance to our infantry and to check and break the enemy's line. My troops, at this place, had practical shelter behind a low stone fence, and were in short carbine range. Their fire was perfectly terrific, causing the enemy to break and rally on their second line, which made no farther advance toward my position. General Gamble reports, that In the afternoon, the enemy, being strongly reinforced, extended his flanks, and advanced on our left in three strong lines, to turn that flank, the general commanding division ordered my brigade, forward at a trot, and deployed in line on the ridge of woods with the seminary on our right. Halt of the Eighth New York, Third Indiana and Twelfth Illinois, were dismounted and placed behind a portion of a stone wall and under cover of trees. The enemy being close upon us, we opened a sharp and rapid carbine fire, which killed and wounded so many of the first line of the enemy, that it fell back upon the second line. Our men kept up the fire until the enemy, in over- whelming numbers, approached so near that in order to save my men and horses from capture, they were ordered to mount and fall back rapidly to the nest ridge on the left of the town, where our artillery was posted. The stand which we made against the enemy prevented our left flank from being turned, and saved a division of our infantry. Thus the cavalry, which in the morning had been relieved by the infantry, when the thin lines of Buford's brigades were hard pressed, in the afternoon, helped to weaken the force of the enemy directed against our weak infantry lines. Together thus infantry, cavalry and artillery co-operated in holding firmly the front of Gettysburg, and thus gave time for that concentration of fresh troops under General Hancock, which gave General Meade time to approve the choice of the position in the rear of Gettysburg and there to concentrate his army and with it win the victory over Lee. In Fox's "Regimental Losses," the One hundred and twenty-first is repeatedly mentioned, viz.: The total number enrolled is given at 891; killed, 109, being 12.2 per cent. The total number engaged at Gettysburg was 263; killed, 29, being + 11 per cent. On page 295, its history is thus given: First colonel. Chapman Biddle ; second colonel, Alexander Biddle; third colonel, James S. Warner. Total Enrolment and Casualties. Field and staff, Company A, .. Company B, .. Company C, .. Company D, .. Company E, .. Company P, .. Comjiany G, .. Company II, .. Company I, .. Company K, .. Total 17 106 77 90 86 95 96 75 68 100 92 2 21 9 10 10 10 16 8 6 10 10 2 10 4 7 3 7 8 2 s » 9 891 10? 66 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 675 It thus gives 109 killed, or 12.2 per cent. Total killed and wounded, 402; died in Confederate prisons, 18. Battles. K. & M. W. Fredericksburg 45 CUancellorsville 1 Gettysburg, 29 Wilderness, 4 Spotsylvania 9 North Anna 2 Betliesda Church, 2 Petersburg 6 Dabney's Mills, g Five Forks 2 Salisbury Prison 1 Present also at Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Weldon railroad, Peebles' farm, Boydton road, Hatcher's run, Appomattox. The following note gives the summary: The gallant little regiment sustained a heavy loss in proportion to its numbers. At no time did it have a full complement of men, yet it dis- tinguished itself on all occasions by its efficiency. It was recruited mostly in Philadelphia, and was organized there in September, 1862. It joined McClellan's army in October, and was placed in McCandless' Brigade, Meade's Division, Pennsylvania Reserves. With this command it fought its initiatory battle at Fredericksburg with a loss of 14 killed, 114 wounded and 10 missing; total, 138. The brigade, under Colonel Chapman Birtdle, was engaged on the first day, its operations being conspicuous in the history of that day. The regiment marched on the field with only 263 officer.s and men, of this number 12 were killed and 106 wounded and 61 missing or cap- tured : many of the prisoners were wounded before they were captured. Upon the transfer of the First to the Fifth Corps, the regiment was piaced in Roy Stone's Brigade of Wadsworth's Division. It had received no recruits, and entered the spring campaign of 1864 with only 200 men. It fought in all the battles of the Fifth Corps, and in October the morning report showed only 89 men present for duty. In the spring of 1865, it entered on the final campaign in Coulter's (Third) Brigade, Crawford's (Third) Division, Fifth Corps, in which command it fought at Five Forks, and was present at the last surrender. In the final list of regiments we find the One hundred and twenty-first lost, killed and died of wounds, 109; died of disease, accidents, in prisons, etc., 66, a total of 175. The record of the One hundred and twenty-first is perpetuated on the memorial which we dedicate to-day, and it is one of which the survivors have just reason to be honestly proud. It is the story of men who went into the field at a time of trial and despondency, who trusted to the leader- ship of a gallant soldier, and who found in him and in Colonel Alexander Biddle, examples of what every man should be and do, a self-sacrificing devotion to duty, and a constant devotion to it. Now, after the lapse of years, we look back upon the experience of that trying time and may well be content with what the One hundred and twenty-first did both here at Gettysburg and at every point at which it was tried, to the end. The Confederate troops directly in action with the brigade commanded by Colonel Chapman Biddle, were Pettigrew's Brigade of Heth's Division 676 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. of Hill's Corps, consisting of the Elovonth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-seventh and Fifty -second North Carolina. Their casualty list was reported at 1,10.5. Pettigrew had on his right Archer's Brigade, Fifth and Thirteenth Alabama, First, Seventh and Fourteenth Tennessee, and on his left Rrock- enbrough's. Fortieth, Forty-seventh, Fifty-fifth and Twenty-second Vir- ginia; the former reported a loss of 148, the latter of 677. General Heth says that "Pettigrew's Brigade encountered the enemy in heavy force and broke through his first, second and third lines. The Eleventh and Twenty- sixth North Carolina displayed conspicuous gallantry, the Twenty -sixth losing more than half its members in killed and wounded." The returns of casualties in this regiment are 588 out of 800, showing what its strength must have been. "Pettigrew's Brigade fought as well and displayed as heroic courage as it was ever my (Heth's) fortune to witness on a battle- field. The number of its own gallant dead and wounded, as well as the large number of enemy's dead and wounded left on the field over which it fought attests the gallant part it played on July 1." The command of Pettigrew's Brigade passed to Major Jones of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina, who reports that the brigade moved in the "following order, on the right, the Fifty-second, next the Forty-seventh, then the Eleventh and on the left the Twenty-sixth. When within about two and a half, miles of Gettysburg the brigade moved forward to and halted in a skirt of woods, in front was a wheatfield about a fourth tof a mile wide, then came a branch, with thick underbrush and briars .skirt- ing the banks. Beyond this was an open field, with the exception of a wooded hill directly in front of the Twenty-.sixth , about covering its front. Skirmishers being thrown out, we remained in line of battle until 2 p. m., when orders to advance were received. The brigade moved forward in beautiful style, at quick time, just with the brigade on our left, commanded by Colonel Brockenbrough. When nearing the branch referred to, the enemy poured a galling fire into the left of the brigade from the opposite bank, where they had massed in heavy force while we were in line of battle in the woods. On went the command, across the branch and up the opposite slope, driving the enemy at the point of the bayonet back again upon their second line. This second line was encountered by our left, the Twenty-sixth North Carolina, while the other regiments were ex- posed to a heavy shelling. The enemy's single line in the field was en- gaged principally with the right of the Eleventh and Forty-seventh. The enemy did not perceive the Fifty-second, which flanked their left, until they discovered themselves by a raking and destructive fire into their ranks, by which they were broken. On this second line the fighting was terrible, our men advancing, the enemy stubbornly resisting, until the two lines were pouring volleys into each other at a distance not greater than twenty paces. At last the enemy were compelled to give away. They again made a stand in the woods, and the third time they were driven from their position." There are no regimental reports printed in the war records from Petti- grew's Brigade, but the quartermaster of the Twenty-sixth wrote to the Governor of North Carolina that the regiment went in with over eight hundred men and came out with but two hundred and sixteen, all told. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 677 unhurt. The division at the beginning numbered about eight thousand, and came out at the close with only one thousand and five hundred or one thousand and six hundred effective men. The Tvv^enty-sixth North Carolina, at Gettysburg, lost seventy-two per cent., a total of 588; the heaviest of any single regiment in any engage- ment during the war. The Forty-second lost 161; the Fifty-second, 147; the Eleventh, 209, a total of 1,105. Biddle's Brigade lost: The One hun- dred and twenty-first, 179; the One hundred and forty-second, 211; the One hundred and fifty-first, 335; the Eightieth New York (Twentieth New York State Militia), 170, making a total of 897, to which must be added the loss in Cooper's Battery, 12, and a staff officer, so that in its offensive defense the little brigade inflicted a much greater injury on its immediate opponent than it received, held its own against a much stronger force, and cov- ered the retreat of the main body of the corps, when it was overpowered and outflanked and forced to retreat through the town to Cemetery Hill. Then the One hundred and twenty-first rallied, was put in position and waited for the success that came before nightfall, to make the lines on which the successive events of the second and third days ended in the final victory. Such then is the story of the One hundred and twenty-first at Gettysburg, and indeed we need no better proof of the way it did its duty than this unconscious and involuntary praise from those who led the overwhelmingly strong force that swept in on both its flanks, and com- pelled it with the rest of Biddle's Brigade, to retire from one position to another. Only when the guns were safely moved to the rear, and the mass of infantry had gone through the streets of Gettysburg, did what was left of the One hundred and twenty-first and the other regiments move steadily on to Cemetery Hill, whei'e it was again put in line, and under General Wadsworth, helped by its show of force, to withstand and hold off the threatened attack of the large divisions of the enemy. The night was spent, as Colonel Alexander Biddle tells us, in singing hymns, not perhaps an evidence of satisfaction with the result of the day's work, but still showing that there was no panic in the hearts of men who, after so many weary hours of fighting and such heavy losses, could find comfort in their dear old tunes. The fact is at all events characteristic of the regiment, for at all times it was ready to do its duty and that done content to make the best of any condition of affairs. Thus, then, let us close our share in the day's celebration, not, however, without making our acknowledgement to the authorities of the Stale of Pennsylvania for their care of the battlefield, for the liberal provision made for the regimental monuments, for the thoroughness with which the State Commission has done its work, and for the State aid providing the transportation of every veteran to the field on this memorable occasion. Henceforth we shall feel that the One hundred and twenty-first has secured its right place, and its survivors and the families and descendants of those who have passed away, will find its memorial, the spot to which their feet will be directed whenever they may revisit this ground, fraught with historic aeminiscences so full of interest for the historian and the patriot. Let us too follow the example of our first colonel, and do our duty in civil life, each of us in his own sphere content that the opportunity 078 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. is still granted us to perpetuate his name, and as far as we may, to live up to the high standard that was always in the heart and mind of Chap- man Biddle. Nor can we fail to emphasize our affection for Colonel Alex- ander Biddle, who bore his share in the work of the regiment with char- acteristic and distinguished gallantry, and who has always shown the liveliest interest in the welfare of all its survivors and in the affairs of its veteran association. To him in peace as in war, the One hundred and twenty-first has always turned for guidance and leadership, and in him it has always found a strong and constant friend. No truer test of merit exists than the harsh experiences of war, and his share in the trials and hardships of regimental life endeared him to every man in his command, and his kindness and personal interest have continued from that day to this, so that on every occasion the regiment, its veteran association and its members and the families of those who have died, have found in him a friend. That he is not with us to-day is at least fortunate in this that it enables us to give free utterance to our respect and affection in terms that his modesty would forbid if he were himself present on this occasion. The One hundred and twenty-first learned from both Colonel Chapman Kiddle and Colonel Alexander Biddle, to let its actions speak for it, and from the outset it has made little claim for public notice. Even now it is content to point to the brief history recorded on its monument as em- bodying the most important events of its career. It can, however, fairly claim that it did its whole duty from the time it first entered the field until it was finally mustered out, that it fully justified the commenda- tion of those under whom it served, and merited as it received the due praise of Meade and Reynolds, of Warren and Wadsworth, of Coulter and Crawford, of Stone and Chamberlain, of every general officer in whose command it took part from Fredericksburg to Five Forks. From its line officers it supplied many staff officers to the various brigade, division and corps headquarters of the army, and from its ranks came many of its best officers, and from them in turn officers of other regiments, and of the regular army, so that it was in its way a training school in that best of all schools, the actual experience of successive campaigns. Made up by the consolidation of companies from different parts of the State it has been difficult to secure such reunion of its scattered elements as would give its regimental association its full strength. On this occa- sion, almost for the first time, 'is there an opportunity for meeting once more those who were once united in its organization. For that we may well return thanks to the State, which has thus enabled its soldiers to renew their old association. In the common service rendered by the regi- ment, its members share alike, and when its history comes to be published, it will be seen how strong was the tie that bound together its members in the past, and how little time and separation have weakened it. It needs only an occasion like this of Pennsylvania Day, to revive the old affection that binds together the scattered survivors in a love of the old regiment, in a common testimonial of pious regard for the memory of Colonel Chapman Biddle and of the other officers and men who have answered at the last roll call. To us is left the sacred duty of renewing the memory of their good P 6717181/1 vania at Gettysburg. 079 deeds, aud the regiment has no need of other praise than the names of Chapman Biddle, James Ashworth, William White Dorr, Harrison Lamb- din, Barclay Collett aud that long list of officers and men who are still affectionately remembered by all of us. By their deeds it won the right to the monument which marks its place on this field, and Gettysburg is but one of the battles in which it did its duty and did it thoroughly. Here, then, at the foot of this memorial, we may fairly recount the events of that great struggle which practicallj turned the tide of the rebellion and forever stayed its progress. Small as was the part of any single regi- ment in the great contest, still the One hundred and twenty-first bore its share in the heat and burden of that first day, and may well take part now in the celebration which has brought us here once more, perhaps for the last time, to mark the final dedication of the State's memorials of its regiments. Let us, then, in conclusion, join in a resolve, that we will try to be worthy of the One hundred and twenty-first and of its colonel. Chapman Biddle, and of those who shared with him and with us in its trials and hardships, in its honors and its history. Not the least marked of his characteristics was his modesty and his reticence, qualities that perhaps were not without effect on the regiment and the place awarded it in general estimation. It is, however, enough for us to know that it did its duty thoroughly and well, to the satisfaction of its leaders and to the advantage of the cause for which it enlisted. Its best reward was the final triumph of the Union, and beyond that, it is plain that the regi- ment and its members have asked nothing and have got less. Perhaps all the more is it dear to the survivors, because from the colonel down, no man ever made any personal claim for what he or the regiment did, but all looked on it and its services as part and parcel of the Union army, freely sacrificing for the Union, strength, and health, and life, aud con- tent with the final result as the full return for every loss. The real test of success is the result after all these years, when, with- out discussion or question, the place of the regiment is freely awarded to it on the post of most danger and of severest trial, and its share in the events of the day fully secured alike in the history of the battle and in the reports of its commanders. The comparison of the accounts given by Colonels Chapman Biddle and Alexander Biddle, and of those of the officers on the Confederate side, show such a general and unconscious agreement, that taken together the parts are clearer and almost without difference. The One hundred and twenty -first was in a post of great danger, and pitted against largely overpowering numbers, yet with the rest of the brigade, it firmly held its own, falling back slowly from posi- tion to position, and only at the last, retreated in good order to the last rallying point. Cemetery Hill. The events of that long day of succes- sive fights earn for the One hundred and twenty-first its distinctive monu- ment, and to that we may point in justification of our right to be part of the events of to-day and with our fellow-regiments renew the memories of the Gettysburg of 186.3. Nearly a generation has passed since then, and how few are left of the little band that survived the day; how changed, and yet how strong in our devotion to the flag, to the Union and to the cause for which we stood together there. There is little occasion for the (580 Pctinsylvauia at Gettysburg. veterans who make part of the pilgrims of to-day, to renew their pledges of patriotism, they made their proofs when the battle was at its hottest, and time has not lessened their devotion to the country and their love for it. The men who gather together around their regimental monuments are relighting the fires of youthful devotion at the altars on which were sacrificed so many lives that the Union might live. While this still stands, supported by men of all sections of the country, who can fail to find in it the best return for all the losses, all the hardships, all the trials of the war? What greater lesson of patriotism than that which is taught by such a reunion as that of to-day, and this is but one of a long succession of such days. We and all who have gathered here will go home better citizens for having been good soldiers, and the government, bought by the sacrifice made on this and on so many other battlefields, will be purified and elevated, whUe it will be maintained at any cost, by those who remember the trials and the hardships of the war for the Union. Nor are we without friends in the soldiers of the Confederacy, for they too are now citizens and loyal and true and little likely to be misled again. The lessons learned here are not for us alone, but the generation that has grown up since the war may well take to heart the example of those who arc now fast passing from the scene, and while they may never need to submit again to a test of battle, none the less is it incumbent upon them to preserve good government that the country may not suffer from evils woi'se than war, from corruption and dishonor, from lax rule and loose administration. Great as were the hardships of the war for the Union, they were none too much to pay for the salvation of the country. M DEDICATION OF MONUMENT I39TH REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 11, 1889 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN WM. P. HERBERT Y OLD comrades of the One hundred and thirty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers: — It is with -pleasure I greet you this afternoon. And what a great pleasure it is to look into the faces of so many old friends, some of whom we have not met or grasped hands for a score and more of years. And the passing years have made their imprint on each and every one. Your young and manly beauty, if you ever possessed any, has given place to more rugged and stern features, and the irosty hand of time has touched black, brown and red locks you used to wear, and given them a silvery tinge; while in others he has shorn them entirely. I never saw so many gray heads and bald heads gathered before, in any of our reunions. Alas! how many familiar faces are missing among those ♦Organized at Pittsburgh September 1, 18G2, to serve three years. It was mustered out of service June 21, 1865. Pennsylvania at Oettysbiirg. 681 we were wont to meet at our reunions. How our hearts are saddened as the news comes of the death of one after another of our loved comrades. Ah! how true it is, we are growing old and passing rapidly away. But let us thank God for to-day ; and for this privilege of meeting once more with so many pleasant friends and surroundings. It will not be so difficult a task to attempt to recall to your memories the stirring events which crowded those summer days of 1863, just prior to and including the memorable battle of Gettysburg. Early in June the Army of the Potomac was encamped on the north banks of the Rappahannock. The able military chief of the rebel army, thinking it time for an aggressive movement, decided to move towards our capital and our own State of Pennsylvania. But the old warrior, General Joe Hooker, was quick to discover the movement. He said to our gallant Sixth Corps leader, General Sedgwick: "John, take your boys and go over the river and see if Lee is still there in force." The Sixth Corps always ready, was soon in motion. On the 8th of June we crossed on a pontoon bridge below Fredericksburg, threw up rifle pits, moved to the right and then the left, found the John- nies were still in force, and then recrossed the river. On the 10th of June we went back again, and after sundry movements to the right and left, and receiving the attentions of the rebel batteries, during the three days we remained, we again returned over the pontoons, about midnight on the 13th of June. After a few hours rest, we commenced that never-to-be-forgotten march through the Occoquan country, in Virginia, by way of Stafford Court House, Dumfries, Fairfax Court House and Dranesville. The sun was sending down its warmest rays, and the roads were ankle deep with dry sand and dust. But with the true spirit that actuated the Union volun- teer, the army marched cheerfully on, caring not for the torrid heat or other discomforts of those summer days. I see the faces of Company I's boys before me, who, after their shoes were worn out, tied up their feet in cloths to protect them from the hot sand, and tramped cheerfully on. Some of you will remember big Joe Walker, of Company C. Corporal Walker had been most liberally en- dowed by nature in a physical way, and had equally large "understand- ings." Joe and his chum, Sam Grinder, had made requisition upon the quartermaster, each for a pair of number "twelves;" but as every case of shoes did not have usually more than one pair of that size, the quarter- master was not able to honor their order just at that time. Joe's shoes had given out. One day he was stepping out in as soldierly a way as possible with bare feet. He was on a little path by the roadside. One of his comrades called out, "Hello, Joe, how are you getting along with those feet? That is pretty hard luck." The old veteran replied promptly; "Oh, I am all right. If the Johnny rebs are going up to Pennsylvania, they will find me there too, if I have to wear these feet up to the stumps." Joe got there, and did his duty too. Poor fellow, he afterwards left one of his legs down in that same Occoquan country. The first day of July found us at Manchester, Maryland. Lee's ?rmy was massing north of us, in Pennsylvania. The brave Reynolds had fallen 082 Prnnsylvania at Gettysburg. that day, near Gettysburg, and our comrades of the First and Eleventh Corps had suffered severely in the first day's fight. General Meade, now our commander, was pushing the Army of the Potomac to the support' of Howard and Hancock. At 9 o'clock in the evening, we fell in and moved off with eager step. The old Sixth Corps must have a share in the fight. Old "Pap" Sedgwick had a dozen Pennsylvania regiments in his command, and then it- had been said and sung: "In the thickest of the battle,. AVhen the cannon's fiery breath, Smites many a strong heart, pressing, On to victory or to death. The foremost in the conflict, The last to say ' 'tis o'er,' Who linow not what it is to yield, You'll find the Old Sixth gorps." Pennsylvania had been invaded, and the heart of every Keystone lad was eager to assist in driving the invader from her soil. All night we marched. A very short halt sufficed for coffee and hard-tack. Through- out the day, from under a brazen dome, the sun pours down his melting rays on that hard and solid white road, and yet the compact column marched on. When we reached and crossed the Pennsylvania State line, a hearty cheer passed along the lines, and caps were waved in air — we were in our own State again. At 3 p. m. Rock creek was reached. We had marched thirty-two miles, and we were now within supporting distance. .Our brigade, which was now under command of Colonel D.J. Neviu, of the Sixty-second New York, turned to the left of the road into a big field on the south bank of Rock creek. After stacking arms, it was but a few minutes until our boys were on the bank of the creek, bathing their feet in its cool running waters, which were so soon after darkened with the crimson blood of brave comrades. When we reached the creek, we discovered that the Fifth Corps was massed just above us ; and some of our boys soon had visits from brothers and neighbors of the Sixty-second Pennsylvania and other regiments of that corps. Alas I in several instances the visitors of that afternoon were sleeping their last sleep ere the sun went down on the bloody field. "Very soon after we had halted the roar of artillery broke upon our ears. The Fifth Corps fell in and moved rapidly off to the front. The rattle of musketry, sharp and piercing, grew louder and louder. A staff officer rode hurriedly into our field, seeking the brigade commander. He was fol- lowed (luickly after by our glorious old corps commander. General Sedg- wick, who, without waiting for brigade or regimental officers, sung out, "Fall in, boys, move quickly." Instantly the lines were formed, arms were taken, and following the old general right through the creek, over the field and up the hillside, we were soon at the road to the right of r.ittle Round Top. Our brigade was fortunate enough to be in the lead of the corps that day; and our regiment, I am glad to remember, led the brigade and thus came our honor of being engaged in that brilliant action ; and adding in some measure to the glory of the Sixth Corps. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, 683 As we reached the crest of Little Round Top, and obtained our first sight of the battle, we knew that we had not arrived too soon, for the enemy was gaining ground. The brave and dashing Sickles had been wounded, and his splendid Third Corps, with broken and bleeding lines, had been forced back. Half of the First Division of the Fifth Corps had been slain in the wheatfield. The gallant Vincent and the soldierly Weed had been killed on yonder rocky hillside and the rebel Longstreet, emboldened by his success, was pressing vigorously on, anxious if possible, to capture this strategic key to the whole position. That splendid soldier, Genei'al G. K. Warren, of Meade's staff, was watching the conflict from Little Round Top. With his quick perception he saw the danger menacing the Union army. By his acute energy, re- inforcements were rushed into line. The Greek Cross banner of the Sixth Corps was planted on the heights along side the INIaltese Cross of the Fifth Corps, and the tide of the battle is changed. Just at this time a scene occurred which many of you will remember. General Sedgwick, when we reached the crest, directed Colonel Nevin to form his line extending from left to right. The impetuous and fiery New Yorker, in executing the order, found General Crawfoi'd and his division of the Fifth Corps in his way and unwilling to move. We will never forget how Colonel Nevin relieved his mind in language more vehe- ment than elegant, giving no attention to the rank of the offending general who doubtless overlooked the offense considering the exciting and sulphur- our surroundings. Without waiting as long as I have taken to relate this incident, we advanced, touching elbows on the left with the gallant Pennsylvania Re- serves; and with exultant cheers we are soon in the conflict. With well- directed fire and steady lines, the enemy reels and staggers, and soon is driven from our front, discomfited and defeated. The victory is ours . The rebel yell is no longer heard ; but the Union cheer, loud and victorious, rolls along the lines. As we pushed down the north side of Little Round Top, it was the fortune of Company "D"' to recover two brass guns from the hands of some of Longstreet's men who were ready to turn them on our lines. Company "D" not only got the guns, but captured the Louisiana Tigers, who were laying their disloyal hands on them . Our regiment turned over some twenty prisoners after interviewing them. They said when they saw the Sixth Corps cross and Captain Munroe, they knew the day was gone, for them. They had met and traded tobacco for coffee with Company "D" and their captain on the Rappahannock during the previous winter. We halted at the base of Little Round Top, where we now stand; and here we remained all the next day, the famous 3d day of July, ready to repel any attack, or execute any movement. We were compelled to lie prone on the ground to escape the balls of the annoying sharpshooters of the enemy, who were perched in every corner and nook of that rocky Devil's Den yonder to the left and the high trees that stood in our front. A number of our best marksmen went out cautiously to good positions and returned the compliments as best they could. During the afternoon a 684 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. rebel ball struck the old veteran, Captain Jeremiah Sample, of Company "E," giving him a death wound and robbing us of one of our bravest and best. Here, too, that afternoon, a most unfortunate accident took from us our loved Colonel Collier. As he was borne away to the rear, many a heart drooped and was sad, that we had thus suffered the loss of two of our oldest and most valued officers. The commanding position we occupied that day gave us a view of the grandest sight of our whole military experience. The terrific cannonading which commenced about 1 o'clock p. m., in which over three hundred guns joined their deafening crash and roar, made the earth beneath us fairly tremble. The scream of shells overhead, as the artillery on the Round Tops took part in the awful chorus made the hours and place something indescribable, and never to be effaced from our mind and memory. Then when those brave men in gray, under the lead of their gallant Pickett, came in solid ranks, seventeen thousand strong, over yonder Seminary Ridge, marching steadily on in the face of death, the sight was grand and inspii-ing; but when those brave boys in blue, under Gibbon, and Hays, and Stannard, and that invincible soldier, Hancock, opened their deadly fire on the oncoming foe, and the Union guns to the right and to the left and in the center, opened their iron and brass throats, and poured their hot shot and shell into the ranks of the enemy, scattering death and de- struction, the scene became one of awful grandeur. The victory was won. Baffled and beaten, with bleeding and broken ranks, Pickett's grand division is defeated, and falls back in great con- fusion. Still the enemy shows a stubborn disposition, and annoys our lines by occasional firing. About 6 o'clock that evening the right wing of our regiment received orders to move forward and clear the woods in our immediate front. Under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Moody, we advanced about half a mile, driving the rebel skirmishers to the line of the Emmitsburg road. A brisk firing was kept up for nearly an hour. During this time a number of our men were wounded — some of them fatally. Of those are Dorn of Company "I," Parks of "C," and Ferguson of "A" Company, who are among the thousands that are quietly sleeping in the beautiful cemetery yonder, which a grateful Nation has set apart for the slain of Gettysburg. The point to which we advanced is now marked by the Grecian cross, which our regiment, through much effort, secured and set up on this field three years ago. It has been often said that republics are ungrateful ; but the sentiment is not true. Our presence here to-day, in such large numbers, testifies to the contrary. Through the love and appreciation which the loyal citizens of this great Commonwealth bear towards her sons, who were her defenders when her soil was invaded, we have been summoned to meet once more on this sacred spot, where so many hundreds and thousands of our brave comrades laid their lives upon the altar of their country We nre here to join in the dedication of these scores of beautiful tablets and monuments which a great State has provided and set up as a lasting memorial in honor of the noble dead, as well as a tribute to the sur- vivors of the regiments who helped to drive the invader from her borders. Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. 685 Much as we have cherished our glorious Keystone State, and her loyal people, the action which has made this occasion possible has deepened and strengthened the ties of affection. Our gratitude goes out towards the patriotic men who have thus testified their appreciation. But, above all, we are grateful to that merciful Providence who has permitted so many of us to gather together, to look into one another's faces and grasp hands once more on the famous field. The uptorn earth where shot and shell plowed great rents, has been healed by the green of nature. In place of the thunder of cannon and the rattle of musketry, there may be heard the rustle of the winds through the leaves and the song of birds. As we gather here again, our thoughts go back to our last meeting, three short years ago. Yet we miss the musical, deep, bass notes of Benitz ; and the manly, warm-hearted Tom Armstrong, who stood before you then, and spoke with so much feeling. Alas, they have fallen and we miss them. Who shall be the next? Of all our number, none excelled in his devotion to the perpetuation of the historical part of our regiment's share in the great battle of Gettysburg, than did the lamented Sam Harper. No one has done more to secure all the benefits of a Commonwealth's bounty in marking this historic field or preserving its memories with accuracy, than did our comrade. Harper. His interest in his comrades of the One hundred and thirty-ninth was warm and abiding. How proud we all were of his grand and eloquent utterances at the dedication of our Greek Cross. But, alas! alas! he too has been summoned to his rest, by the Great Commander ; and we mourn his absence to-day. I could not conceive of anything more appropriate this afternoon, nor could I possibly prepare anything nearly so beautiful in language, as to adopt the sentiments expressed by our lamented comrade in the dedica- cation, three years since, as follows: I dedicate this beautiful monument in memory not only of our comrades who fell on this field, but also those who fell on all the battlefields of the war. I dedicate it In memory of a regiment, which shared all the fortunes of the Army of the Potomac from September 1, 1S62, until the end of the war ; and whose spotless record renders it unnec- essary that I should speak its eulogy. I dedicate it to all that is noble in human na- ture ; to courage and valor ; to the spirit of self-sacrifice in the cause of humanity ; to a loyalty and patriotism that never faltered ; and to a faith In the Nation's cause that was never shaken; even in the hour of peril and disaster, I dedicate it witli all the rev- erence of a frail and erring heart, to that merciful and living God, whose protecting power has so continually overshadowed this beloved land, and who led the Union army to victory ; and I pray that in all time to come. He will hold this Nation in His heart and guide it on to the highest and grandest destiny. GSO Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 140TH REGIMENT INFANTRY* Septemhek 11, 1889 ADDRESS OF FIRST LIEUT. & ADJT. W. S. SHALLENBERGER COMRADES of the One hundred and fortieth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry:— This day will be forever memorable in your history. Six and twenty years have elapsed since you stood upon these rocky heights, in the terrible conflict of arms. Much has been written in depreciation of the brilliant victory achieved by the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, but I think it may be safely assumed that in the years to come, other great battles of the war will be more or less observed in the shadow of forgetfulness, while Gettysburg will shine more and more resplendent, the central figure of the great civil conflict, the most conspicuous and picturesque battlefield of modern times. Under the fostering care of so many of the States of the Union, rein- forced by the helping hand of the National Government, these long-ex- tended battle lines will be peopled by a multitude of imperishable shafts in granite and bronze, each telling in eloquence and pathetic story the purchase price of national unity and lasting peace. The victories we celebrate to-day have their crowning glory in the fact that victors and vanquished may sit together on equal terms, and enjoy, as never before, a feast of national prosperity and power hitherto un- known . The magnanimity of Grant at Appomattox, was worthy the greatest gen- eral of the greatest Republic the world has ever seen. We compromise no principle when we give full credit to the courage and skill of those who fought so fiercely for the cause they thought was right. The cause for which they fought is lost forever. The battle lines of Gettys- burg, both Union and Confederate, will remain in the custody of loyal hands and hearts. When your children and mine shall come to view the places where we stood facing the leaden tempest that swept these hills, I want them to see and know the location and losses of the serried hosts we overcame I hope to see the day when every Confederate command will have an appropriate marker on this field, paid for by the National Govern- ment, and planted by the P.attlefield Association, to restore lines of battle, to illustrate history, to attest the prowess of the Union army and to record treason's losses. Here picture rebellion rising to its supremest effort and falling fatally wounded. Comrades, your contribution to the Gettysburg of 1889 is honorable and conspicuous, as it was to the Gettysburg of 1863. The polished granite that you have selected to tell the story of your location and losses, is beautiful in design and magnificent in proportions. •Organized prinoipnll.v at Pittsburgb aiul HarrisbnrR in August and Soptt^nibor, 1S62, to servp thrro yrar.'i. It was mustered out of service May 31, 1865. I40IH :^N^;& ISrg^- Pennsylvania at Getty shurg. 687 The number of survivors answering your roll call to-day is larger than at any foi-mer annual reunion since the war and is evidence of sterling loyalty to the memory of your comrades. Again you may congratulate yourselves on having been a pioneer regi- ment in the work of educating our great State to the point of extending her generous aid to the beautiful and comprehensive plan of State repre- sentation . More than five years ago you undertook to erect a memorial block of granite, cut from the hills on which we fought, to the memory of the fallen comrades. By voluntary contributions from all the companies the work was easily completed, and the monument standing to our left was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, August 11, 1885. The legend which we inscribed on the larger monument unveiled to-day, was in part inscribed upon it. We treasure it because it evidenced our prophetic faith in this monumental battlefield, and because many of our comrades who gave it most valued support have since gone to their reward and we associate their names with the heroic company of spirits whose fame it perpetuates. On the monument we dedicate to-day you are permitted to inscribe the losses you sustained during all the period of your service. This record is eloquent and pathetic. Only three other regiments of in- fantry, in all the armies of the Union, exceed your percentage of casual- ties. The morning of July 1 found you at Union town, Maryland, more than thirty miles from Gettysburg. In order of march the Third Brigade, First Division, in which you served, had the rear as guard to the wagon tinin. The day was hot and the roads dusty. The baitings and delays were numerous and rumors of battle exciting. Soon the wagon train was faced about and ordered into park. Artil- lery and ammunition trains claimed the right of way and hastened to the front. At noon smoke was observed rising in the direction of Gettysburg. A little later wild stories of severe fighting and heavy losses came back along the lines. About 8 o'clock in the evening you had orders to halt for coffee, but few of your number were quick enough to avail yourselves of the brief time allowed and secure a cup. Forward march cut short many a tempting treat. The air was full of the restless activity of great preparations. Tramp, tramp, tramp, until 1.30 o'clock that night, when you were ardered to lie down until early daybreak. Not all the stories of fighting beyond Gettysburg, not the disastrous repulse of our troops and the death of General Reynolds, not even the certainty of a sanguinary conflict next day, could chase away sleep from your eyelids. Utterly exhausted you sank to sleep only to be rudely awakened again at 3.30 o'clock and ordered to march forward without breakfast, six miles to the front. More exhausting than the battlefield is the weariness of such a march. At about 8 o'clock on the morning of the 2d, you reached the field of 45 G88 Pennsylvania at Gettyshurg. Gettysburg and took position in line on the left center, stacked arms and rested with accoutrements on. A most surprising quietness settled down upon the field and for hours you napped upon the grass, and otherwise enjoyed the summer day. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon lively picket firing was heard on the left center. A division of the Third Corps was seen moving forward in line of battle by brigade. Beautifully the movement was executed— flags flying and bayonets glistening in the sunlight as they march against the foe. Soon the enemy appear in force. Rebel batteries open on the flank of our advancing line. Now a shot is heard on our extreme right. Turning about we see the smoke rise and shot follows shot in quick succession. Battery after battery awakes out of sleep and succeed in hurling back the terrific onset of the enemy who aimed to turn our right flank. Foiled in the attempt his forces are heard slowly passing around the long line of battle to engage in the desperate fighting now culminating on our left. A battery near the right of the enemy's line now gets the range of our pleasant resting place and treats us to a shot or two. Quickly we fall back to the right and rear out of range, but our batteries soon silenced the rebel guns. The fighting grows more and more exciting and desperate on our left. Smoke rises in dense clouds from Little Round Top. The rattle of musketry, the crash of grape and canister through the dense woodland tell the story of the conflict. Orders come to our First Division — fall in and follow the staff officer across the field to the left. At quickstep we go — and every moment the noise of battle deepens. Our lines are weak. The gap ot the left of Sickles is alarming. Crossing the edge of the wheatfield we enter the rocky woodland and try to wheel into line. Forward over dead and wounded, over and around huge boulders, passing over the prostrate forms of troops exhausted whom we are expected to relieve, through stifling heat and smoke we push our way until we sight the enemy and find the Irish Brigade fiercely engaged to our left and lapping our front. Extending our line to the right until it emerges into the open field, we give three loud cheers and press the enemy close. Load and fire at will the order comes. Terrible beyond words to picture the tempestuous rattle of the musketry, as it sweeps over our heads in the heavy timber and plows through our ranks. A rebel battery gains position and pours its enfilading fire down our lines. With intrepid courage and reckless daring our colonel rushes in front of his regiment to lead it by the right flank and by change of line to meet and check if possible the flanking party coming against our right, but before he reaches position to command he falls to the ground fatally pierced by several bullets. Loving hands carry him back a short distance and the fight goes on. Looking down our line to the left we see our division rapidly retiring and our own left quickly following. None too soon indeed, for already the rebel infantry is turning our right and passing down our rear. Sweeping across the wheatfield, in shattered detachments, almost sur- rounded by the exultant foe, the remnant of our strong, proud regiment is Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 689 seen to fly, in the dusk of that eventful dny. Where our line would rally we dared not guess. The wounded in large numbers were soon collected at a little farmhouse skirting the wheatfield, and the rebel-soldiers passed on. Two of the Phillips Legion, North Carolina troops, as they told us, were left to guard those of us who, wounded, had been aided by com- rades to reach the house. For fifteen minutes perhaps, visions of southern prisons flitted before many of us, but see, the tide of battle turns! Up come the Pennsylvania Reserves and back in hot haste come the rebels. They pass us by, not even calling off our guards who fall willingly into our hands, prisoners of war, heartily sick of it they say. Never was the old flag more welcome. Darkness closed in upon the field of carnage, and the sickening story of the wheatfield, the brilliant rescue of the Round Tops, had passed into history . It was just 6 o'clock by the watch I carried when we crossed the corner of the wheatfield going into action. By count of the regiment which I made that day, we numbered twenty-five oSicers and four hundred and ninety enlisted men at that moment. Less than two hours later we had lost in action, by oflicial records, fourteen ofiicers and two hundred and twenty- seven enlisted men. Your own lieutenant-colonel was left the ranking officer of the brigade. Sad and sorrowful was your duty that night rallying the remnant of a splendid regiment. On the morning of the 3d you were given position on left center which you held during the terrible conflict of that day, without firing a shot and without further loss to your decimated ranks. Very imperfectly I have thus sketched your part in the battle of Gettys- burg, my comrades. Other armies of the Union were equally brave, and other victories equally brilliant, but, nevertheless, Gettysburg will ever remain the most interesting battlefield of the great civil conflict. Here was the high tide of rebellion, here the focus of sacrifice and suffering for the preservation of the Union. Here let our children and our children's children make their pilgrimages, my comrades, to learn from these thickly peopled lines of battle and from legends in granite and bronze, how lurid the days, how dark the nights, how bloody the way, through which the flag of the Union was carried to victory. And such a victory! Lasting peace and marvelous prosperity for all the land, north and south, east and west. Here let us dedicate ourselves and our children to the great respon- sibilities and privileges that lie before a people so highly favored. Penn- sylvania has dealt generously with her citizen-soldiers. May righteousness and peace abide with her evermore. 690 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT Ul^'^ REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 12, 1889 ADDRESS OP CHAPLAIN DAVID CRAFT rj^HIS rogiment was composed of six companies from Bradford county, two from Susquehanna, one from Wayne, and one partly from Brad- 1 ford and partly from Sullivan counties. The men were enlisted the early part of August, 1862, and the regiment was mustered August 28, and immediately sent to Washington, which was reached the following day. After a halt of a few hours, the men were sent to Arlington Heights, and then on a night march to Chain Bridge, which was reached in a pouring rain on the morning of the 30th. At the request of both officers and men, the command was given to Henry J. Madill, formerly a lawyer in Towanda, Pennsylvania, but at that time, major of the Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves.* The regiment was joined to the First Brigade of the First Division of the Third Corps, which was then occupying the defences about Washington. " The early part of October the brigade was sent to Poolesville, a little later became part of the Army of the Potomac, and in December took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, where its loss was only one killed and four wounded. At Chancellorsville the regiment, which was on the left of the brigade, was under very severe fire several times and suffered heavily. Out of four hundred and eighty-four officers and men who went into the en- gagement two hundred and fifty were either killed, wounded or missing. On the afternoon of July 1, the regiment was halted on the Emmitsburg road. While eating their suppers, orders were received to hasten to Gettys- burg, which was reached about 10 o'clock in the evening and bivouacked in the field near George Weikart's house. During the forenoon the regi- ment was moved into line towards the house of Abraham Trostle. Early in the afternoon the brigade was advanced to the eastern side of the Em- mitsburg road, and formed in line of battle. The Fifty-seventh Pennsyl- vania Volunteers on the right, the Sixty-eighth on the left, the One hun- dred and forty-first in the center, with the One hundred and fifth and the One hundred and fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers supporting. The line was doubled on the center with Hart's Battery in the front. A little after the line of the brigade was changed, the One hundred and fiftli Pennsylvania Volunteers connecting with the left of Humphreys' Di- vision, and the One hundred and forty-first occupying a position on the Millerstown road on the left of the Second New Hampshire Regiment, which was at the intersection of the Emmitsburg and Millerstown roads. Here the regiment supported Hart's Battery, which had been moved for- ward and repelled an attack of the Eighth South Carolina Regiment, in which it suffered considerable loss. *nignnized at Harrislnirg from August 26 to Soptomber 2, 1862, to servo tliroe years. It was mustered out of service May 28, 1865. ^^ssassy if. Pennsylvania at Gettyshurg. 691 The battery having retired, the regiment took position in the rear of the Wcutz house from which it retired to another position near a cherry tree. Here it was assailed by a South Carolina and Mississippi Brigade, when, after heroically maintaining their position for several minutes, they were compelled to retire before the greatly superior force of the enemy. The loss of the regiment was terrible. Out of two hundred men and nine commissioned officers, the loss in killed, wounded and missing, was six officers and one hundred and forty-five men. Of these it was found by actual count that forty-nine were either killed or mortally wounded, ninety- five wounded and seven were captured or missing. The day after the battle the colonel reported twenty-five men killed, ninety-seven men and six officers wounded and twenty-one captured or missing. On subsequent investigation it was found that most of those reported "missing" were either killed outright or severely wounded. Of the former, twenty-nine were found dead on the field and twenty subse- quently died of wounds received. Among the latter was the beloved and patriotic major of the regiment, Israel P. Spalding. Captain Horton was the only commissioned officer, except the colonel, who was unhurt, and he had been stunned by the concussion of an exploding shell in the early part of the engagement. Every man in the color-guard was either killed or severely wounded, and the colors were carried from the field by the colonel . On the 3d of July the regiment was not actively engaged, occupying a position in the second line during Pickett's charge. Upon the breaking vip of the Third Corps, the regiment became a part of the Second Corps, and was frequently engaged until the close of the war, when it was mustered out of service with a record for gallantry and suffering second to no Pennsylvania regiment during the war. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 1421^ REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 11, 18S9 ADDRESS OF COLONEL H. N. WARREN COMRADES: — We are here to-day to perform one of the most solemn duties of our lives^o dedicate this monument to the sacred memory of our brave and faithful associates who, a quarter of a century ago, marched with us shoulder to shoulder in the line of duty, and who did more than we, for, as Providence would have it, they gave up their lives that their country might live. This beautiful monument of granite erected, paid for and presented by the grand old Keystone State, is a fitting and eloquent testimonial of the "Organized at Harrisburg in August and September, 1862, to serve three years, niu.stered out of service May 29, 1865. 692 Pennsylvania at Gettyshurg. kindly feelings of love and charity she has always entertained and dis- played for her loyal sous. Comrades, it becomes us as survivors of the One hundred and forty -second Pennsylvania Volunteers, this day and upon this public occasion, to thank, in our inmost hearts, the loyal citizens of this Commonwealth, through our distinguished comrade who governs them, for kindness and liberality in erecting upon this sacred soil, this lasting tribute to our old regiment of whose services we are all justly proud, and to our fallen comrades who were, by the casualties of war, trans- ferred from our muster-rolls to the muster-rolls on high. This monument, comrades, will tell the world— yes, generations yet un- born, that the men who composed the One hundred and forty-second Penn- sylvania Volunteers were patriots; it will be a silent yet potential monitor proclaiming our sacrifice to loyalty, our love for the Union, and our devotion to the stars and stripes. It will impress our children when we are gone, with the fact that their fathers dared to die that their country might live, and that the blessings of civil liberty might be perpetuated and handed down to them unimpaired, and, unless I go far astray in my prophecy, it will inspire them with the same spirit of loyalty manifested by this generation when it gave over half a million of lives to make true and complete the declaration of our forefathers that "all men are created equal." This monument, comrades, will live for ages after we have been laid to rest "under the shade of the trees." It will be an evidence that the One hundred and forty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers was one of the regiments of the old First Corps which, on the 1st day of July, 1863, under the gallant Reynolds, first intercepted and gave battle to the great army of invaders who were then, with almost superhuman efforts, trying to transfer the seat of war into Pennsylvania, lay waste her beautiful homes, and, if possible, capture and take possession of her populous cities, when they could reasonably sue for a peace such as might be agreeable to them- selves. The result we all know, and we of the Union army who still live, cannot but rejoice that the issue terminated as it did, and that, to us in the outcome, "The lines are fallen in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage." ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN GEORGE R. SNOWDEN. COMRADES:— We have gathered here to-day from distant parts, even from beyond the borders of the State, to dedicate the monument raised by a grateful Commonwealth to commemorate the services of our command. We assemble on this spot sacred to the memories of our fallen friends with feelings blended alike with joy and sorrow It stirs us with joy unspeakable to see again our associates of other days, our companions on the march, in bivouac and in battle, and to grasp the outstretched hand which nourished us when ill or supported us when Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. G93 wounded, and to renew old recollections and friendships; with sorrow to observe that the "moving accidents by flood and field" have left so few to tell the tale of great events now long gone by. The eye overflows and the voice halts in effort to speak forth the emotions of the heart. While kindly nature has with tree, and bush, and flower covered gaping rents made in the rude conflict of arms, the lapse of time leaves its in- delible marks upon those whom the fortunes of war and of peace have left to survive. In the quarter of a century elapsed since you were mustered out, slender youths have become stalwart men, "bearded like the pard," and those a little older have advanced beyond the line of middle age; upon many the frosts have left their traces, and, alas! others who escaped the perils of battle have gone to join the silent and ever-increasing majority . It remains for us to renew the story of the regiment, and while we may not recall our absent comrades from their silent abodes, we may pay fit tribute to virtues which led them to noble service in behalf of the cause for which they fell. While they perished in restoring a broken Union they established the enduring fame of this beloved regiment. Re- grets are vain that they lived not to see the day when, as now, the char- acter of the One hundred and forty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers for heroism, devotion and other martial qualities is acknowledged to be the highest type of the American Volunteer. Modest, patient, obedient, it did its work for no motives other than those of patriotism and fidelity to duty in whatsoever shape it might assume, regardless of whatsoever consequences might ensue, knowing only the oath of fidelity to the Gov- ernment and the noble impulses of hearts which had rather calmly face death with feet to the foe than ignominously turn the back. As much could have been expected and foretold from the character of the men who filled its ranks, for they represented the diverse pursuits and the composite character of the American citizen. Among them were the followers of the learned professions, men in business, bankers, ar- tisans of all kinds, drillers of oil wells, miners of coal and iron, farmers, clerks, producers and manufacturers of lumber, teachers, in fact of al- most every branch of industry, and generous and spirited boys from school, college and the shop. The sturdy Pennsylvania Dutch were there with their simple ways and honest hearts; the stern and resolute Scotch-Iiish, the indomitable Welsh, the pertinacious English, the gallant and impetu- ous Irish, the steadfast Scotch and the American of every extraction, Protestant and Catholic, all met on the level of citizenship and of patriot- ism. Made up of such elements the regiment formed a fit type of the State and of the country at large and consequently in no other organiza- tion was the sentiment more prevalent and powerful which led every one to feel that the war was his personal fight. Inspired, then, with the con- viction that their individual interests, their future prosperity, their homes, above all the honor, welfare and perpetuity of their country, native and adopted, were at stake, no sacrifice, no hardship, no danger was too great for them patiently to meet and successfully to undergo. With the cheerful spirit of obedience, the bowing of the neck to the voluntary yoke of discipline, was the lofty emotion of rivalry with other regiments. (jlJ4 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. the resolution not to be outdone in feats of valor when tending to useful ends, for they had not the gaudium certaminis, the joy of conflict— few in either army felt it— and to hold the reputation of the command not only free from reproach but clear, bright, luminous with deeds of heroism and endurance. Officers and men alike entered the army wtih little or no preparatory training. The number of officers who were instructed in tactics could be counted on the. fingers of one hand. As an illustration of the ignorance which prevailed of the simplest details, a lieutenant in temporary command, on the first formation of the regiment, put the right of his company where the left ought to have rested, and seeing the other troops with their arms at an order- those Belgian rifles of sorrowful memory— to conform to the movement innocently directed his men to "ground arms !" But the colonel had been captain of Company A, Tenth Reserves, and the major had seen some experience in the three months' service. Drilling, however, persistent and intelligent, soon brought the mass of raw recruits to a high state of discipline and efficiency which enabled them to make an illus- trious record and to stand with credit and distinction by the side of older and more experienced organizations. Aware of its own merits it never sought popular applause, and it was satisfied with the consciousness of duty well done. Sensible to pj-aise and grateful for approval in those quarters where criticism was just and valuable it was content to rely upon the truth of impartial history for its place in the niche of fame. If, on the one hand, it was seldom that a newspaper writer or an army correspondent mentioned it in the pages of the press which were too often used for the glorification of favorite leaders and pet regiments, on the other it escaped, for it did not deserve, animadversion or censure. Now, however, that the merits of the various commands are being reviewed and carefully weighed in the public prints by accurate and careful writers, we should be unjust to our departed comrades, to ourselves and to our children did we not proudly and confidently assert our claim to a superiority which is being tardily and somewhat reluctantly conceded. Far be it from us in any way to detract from the well-earned reputation of other regiments, our gallant comrades in arms, but it can do them no wrong confidently to assert our right. Nor is it inconsistent with the modesty which sought no especial distinction but was content to do its full duty unheralded by the blare of trumpets which attended the exploits of our fellows, now that the books are open and the accounts being audited and settled, to ask no mo-re and to accept no less than that which is justly our due. Of individual and personal gallantry instances enough might be cited to fill a book ; they were common to all grades from the commanding officer to the private in his blouse. The simple soldier in the ranks rivalled his colonel in exposure to danger, in fervid and romantic devotion to the honor of his flag, in resolute advance upon the enemy, in firm, sullen, aye, defiant retreat before a foe for the time too strong to be overcome, ready at a favorable moment to turn and restore the fortunes of the hour. The men whose first experience of marching was on that memor- able October day when they moved from Sharpsburg to South Mountain, Pennsylvania at Octlyshnrcj. 695 in a storm lasting without iutennissiou from one morning until near the dawn of the next, too tired and sleepy to stand about the feeble fires spluttering and sizzling in the rain, too wet to lie down, were the same who, when Lieutenant-Colonel MeCalmont, in his stirring speech before they moved against the heights of Fredericksburg, regretted the absence, from illness, of their beloved colonel, and asked them well to do their duty as became citizens of Pennsylvania and soldiers of the Republic, responded with ringing cheers, to the amazement of the Reserves and per- haps to the wonder of the Confederates whom they wore on the way to meet. *Later, in the thick of the fight wlien, risen from a sick bed at Washington, hastening to the field on hearing that the army had crossed the Rappahannock, Colonel Cummins rode up at a furiotis gallop and was received with another burst of applause, such as must have convinced him, if need were, of the affection of his regiment and of their coolness in time of battle. On that disastrous field, where it first met the enemy and experienced its baptism of fire, two hundred and fifty of our comrades, more than one-third of those who went into action, including our gallant major, Bradley, attested by their blood, their heroism and devotion to the cause. The sacrifice was vain, for although the division under Meade broke the hostile lines and threatened to turn their right flank, the only one which accomplished so much, not being supported by other and fresher troops within easy reach, the One hundred and forty -second slowly fell back, with a solid front opposed to the advancing foe. Passing with credit through the Chancellorsville campaign, where at Pollock's Mills and elsewhere on the left it Avithstood a severe artillery fire with calmness and fortitude, and afterwards, on the extreme right, it con- fronted "Stonewall" Jackson's veterans, and, with the First Corps, covered the retreat of the army. On this fateful and bloody field, the regiment gained imperishable re- nown and shed additional lustre upon the country and the flag. The story of the battle cannot be told without alluding to this very spot where you stood on that disastrous first day of July, and, unflinchingly, faced an adversary flushed with recent victories and greater in strength and posi- tion. How well you performed your part cannot be known alone from dreary records, which, in figures, coldly speak of losses, but, history, as yet anwritten, when fully unfolded, will reveal to your admiring countrymen, a contest against largely superior forces, w^hich will reflect glory upon your name as long as the Union and civilization shall last, longer far tiian this stone shall stand unbroken before the elements. Urged by the necessity of reaching the ground at an early hour, wearied by a forced march from Marsh creek, you promptly formed line and opened fire. Only when Reynolds had fallen and you were outflanked were you pushed back. Your brigade commander grasped your colors and led you to a hopeless charge, an act of personal gallantry, no doubt, but unwise, rash, leading to misfortune which might not othet-wise have oc- curred. Your colonel, the heroic Cummins, borne off in faithful arms, 'It was like Labienuv addressing the legion in the ateence of C;rsar: "Now. soldier.s,'| he said, "Show the same courage for me as you have often displayed before the general." Praestate eandem nobis ducibus virtutem. qnani saepe Immers imperatori praestitistis. Balli Gallieo, vi, viii. 696 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. gave up his noble life as a seal to his devotion. Forming a barricade in front of yonder seminary, you still faced outward, and only when again outflanked, did you slowly retire under McCalmont, flag in hand, through the town, fighting, resolute, defiant; like Caesar's legion,* you put all hope of safety in your own courage* On reaching the cemetery, preserving your organization, observing the long lines of hostile infantry encircling your position, you held it until relieved by reinforcements of fresh troops. On the 2d and 3d you firmly kept the dangerous and responsible places assigned to you, and while not again exposed to great loss, you well per- formed your duty and supported your comrades who were more actively en- gaged in winning the final victory which burled back the invader never more to lift his head north of the Potomac. To this brief and imperfect review of your conduct on this field must be added figures taken from yonder inscription, which has been verified by the oflicial records. Out of a total of three hundred and thirty-six ofiicers and men, one hundred and twenty-five only escaped casualty, and two hundred and eleven fell in action, were wounded or carried into captivity, a loss of sixty-three per centum, greater, I am confident, than that sustained by any other regiment however much it may have suffered or however conspicuous it was in these sanguinary conflicts. Many other men equally brave died with the lion-like Cummins, and others, as one may see about him, offered up their limbs, glowing with youth and strength, sacrifice upon the common altar of patriotism. Well may a writer, to this day unknown, in the editorial columns of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, on the 11th of July, 1863, remark: Pew regiments in any circumstances or service could show a noliler record than tliis. All honor to the memory of these brave men, who left all their hopes and prospects of life, not for fortune or for fame, but from a sense of duty to their State, their country, and not these alone, but to the free institutions and principles therein represented ; principles in which are bound up the noblest feelings and dearest interests of humanity. From this place, in rapid pursuit of the Confederates, the regiment re- turned to the Rappahannock, swiftly withdrew to Bull Run and Center- ville, arriving at the latter point by forced marches, one of which was from Kelly's Ford to Bristoe, a distance of thirty-one miles, in time to seize the heights before the enemy's cavalry could occupy them. Going back to the Rapidan, it passed the winter in quarters at Culpeper. In the spring of 1864, on the reorganization of the army under General Grant, and the disruption of the old First Corps, long famous for heroic deeds, a matter of lasting and profound regret to all who had served with it, the One hundred and forty-second became part of the Third Brigade, First Division, General Wadsworth, and Fifth Corps, General Warren. Time wiU not sufiice and the approaching storm will not permit, to name and describe all the battles, movements and sieges in which it afterwards en- gaged. For to do so would be to recapitulate the history of Grant's cam- paigns in Virginia. It is enough to say that in the closing scenes at Five Forks and Appomattox, it Avas ever in the advance, and wound up an eventful and memorable career in a blaze of glory. Through your ranks went the flag of truce which led to the surrender, and Grant rode to the final ♦Tamen omnem spem salutis in virtute ponebant. Bell. Gall. v:34. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 697 meeting with Lee. You received your late foes with open arms, and, generous and considerate as you were brave in the last irretrievable victory, you divided with them the contents of your haversacks. Thence by marches, easy to you but severe to others of less training, you came to Washington, where, after the grand review . K £ M W K £ M W Fredericksburg, .' 66 Cold Harbor 1 Picket, Va. 21, Feb. 63 1 Petersburg 3 Gettysburg 49 Boydton Road 2 Catlett's Station, Va 1 Dabney's Mills ", Wilderness 12 Five Forks, 2 Spottsylvania 9 North Anna 4 Total lHo |)ici1 of disc It is well to remember that ^yhile the losses after Fredericksburg and Gettysburg seem to be small, the strength of the regiment was greatly reduced by the casualties of war. and the table represents a percentage of loss equal or nearly so to those of the battles just named. Fox does not give the aggregate wounded and missing. But the inscription, prepared no donlit witli great care and to lie regarded as accurate, records: Killed and died of wounds 7 officers (Fox says, .' 7 officers Wounded 21 f "apt ured and missing 2 Died of disease, etc., Total casualties, 133 men 140 14S men 1.^5) 409 430 156 15S 81 SI SOO n percentage of 8G.5, sliowing that only 124 escaped 'he accidents of war. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 699 These enormous fatalties are distributoa luiimig the field nnd staff and the various companies, viz: ITield and staff Company A, .. ("ompuny B, .. I'dinpany C, .. Company D, .. Company E, .. ('ompany F, .. Com|iany G, .. Company 11, .. Company I, .. Company K, .. Aggregate, ^ a v a s« V §iR .0 a Ui H On the enrollment of 935 it is 16. & percentum. Fox, p. 299. The regiment Is ninth in the list of Three Hundred Fighting Regiments whose losse.s are given by Colonel Fox, exceeded by a small percentage by two others only from the State, the 11th Reserves and the l-Wth. This brief review of a noble record, beginning with defeat at Fredericlisburg, but closing with victory at Appomattox, is enough to show the regiment's preeminence ; if it failed to gain greater, but well-deserved fame, it was not from lack of earning it, but because it was without patrons in power, without partisans in the metropolitan press. Hut the newspapers at home, conscious of its merits, were prompt to extol them and to publish the news, personal or otherwise, of the regiment, for the companies stood high 111 the counties whence they came. It was orderly, sober, obedient; its discipline firm, {■vin, efficient. Not noted for superiority on drill, or for splendor on parade, it was prompt to go forward at whatever cost, to the critical point, firm to hold it, slow, the last to withdraw before overwhelming force. It obeyed and loved its officers, gave few occasions for military punishment, then only of a trivial kind. One officer was tried for hasty words, in a moment of forgetfulness, to a superior temporarily in command, but his record corrected by Congress he received an honorable discharge. While it con- tributed with a generous liand to the statistics of honor, it gave none to the records of shame or crime. It performed a noble duty on every field, it carried its flag aloft with pride, it has passed into history confident of a just estimate by a grateful country, of its merits and of its achievements. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 143^ REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 11, 1889 ADDRESS OF M. D. ROCHE, ESQ. VETERANS of the One huudred and forty-third, ladies and gentle- men: — Our revolutionary fathers had bequeathed to us a Union of States, baptized in their blood. They launched the ship of State out into the waters of time, supported by the most beneficent Consti- *Organized at Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre from August 26 to October 10, 1862, to serve three years. It was mustered out of service June 12, 1S65. 700 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. tulion, and directed by the eternal principles of right and justice. They bade a generous welcome to the down-trodden serfs of every land ; that here was an asylum for the oppressed ; that here was a flag whose pro- tecting folds would wave alike above the Celt, the Teuton, and the Gaul; that here was prescribed no religious creed but freedom of conscience, and in return they asked loyalty to the Union. The first rumbling of State disaffection manifested itself during Jack- son's administration, but the grand document called the Nullification Proclamation sounded like a clarion throughout the land and hushed the threatening spirit of disunion. Conspiracy was still lurking in the breasts of the people of South Carolina, which of all the States was the least republican, being exclusive and aristocratic. October 5, 1860, is the date of the inception of organized rebellion. On that day Governor Gist, of South Carolina, despatched by special messenger a circular letter to the Governors of the cotton States, resulting in a programme of insurrec- tion — treason to the flag of this fair land ; a land which the Goddess of Freedom was at last -pleased to make her abiding place ; a land where the citizen of the world laid down his burden of cares and plighted his allegiance ; a land to which the exile of old world despotism turned his longing gaze. The enormity of that crime the entailed sufferings attest. Armed rebellion confronted the Government, but the magnitude of that revolt was greatly underestimated until the battle of Bull Run, when the northern heart was thoroughly aroused at the impending danger. It was during the darkest period of the war, and while the South was elated over its early successes, and the spirits of the North were corres- pondingly depressed, that here, in this old historic valley of Wyoming, sanctified by the blood of our Revolutionary sires, sprang into life one of the most honored, one of the most effective regiments that battled for the Union. It was meet indeed that this immortal valley, enshrined in the hearts of Americans for over a century, should be the rallying ground of such a gallant force. Twenty-three years ago to-day, after an encampment of four months, during which, under the instruction of Major Andrews, a thorough oflicer of the regular army, military discipline was imparted, the One hundred and forty-third Regiment, numbering one thousand and one hundred men, turned its front towards the seat of war; and, veterans, as you contem- plate that November day back in 1862, commingled sentiments of pleas- ure and of pain suggest themselves. The proud hopes, the lofty purposes of doing honor to yourselves and regiment, and of finally participating in the glory of its achievements animated every breast. You were com- manded by a soldier who had won distinction during the Mexican war ; and equipped with a knowledge of discipline that gave you confidence, you offered your lives at the altar of your country's liberties. The ter- rible exactions made upon you during that sanguinary conflict will appear in the sequel. This spot, where you received your birth as a regiment August 26, 1862, where you spent your longest encampment, is hallowed by the memories that cluster around it. Here you were all together, and the bones of many of those who left here with you are scattered from Gettysburg to Richmond. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 701 Let us follow the boys who carried the banner of the One hundred and forty-third Regiment, and with them trace, in spirit, the scenes which have been the theatres of immortal deeds; those fields of carnage where the lives of comrades were the holocaust; where the smoking guns, the din of musketry, the roar of cannon, and the clash of saber were the music they used to hear. We will learn, on scanning its record through this tremendous war ; in following it in those forced marches through the pesti- lential swamps of the South ; in viewing its decimated ranks after a Gettys- burg or a Wilderness campaign, why comrades of the One hundred and forty-third Regiment make this annual pilgrimage to Camp Luzerne. Many of those who gathered here at the trumpet call of Father Abraham are sleeping the quiet sleep of eternal rest along the banks of the Rappa- hannock, Potomac, Rapidan, James and Chickahominy. Virginia is the Gethsemane of America : her soil has been moistened with tears of blood ; and Columbia has wept over the graves of her sacrificed children. How beautiful is this reunion of old memories ; how touching this communion of spirit, in which those left upon the battlefield seem to join. What a glad smile lights up the veteran's face as he grasps some comrade's hand. Aye! and what a tender, eloquent sentiment that is: "We've drank from the same canteen." After receiving guns at Harrisburg, and being fully equipped, your course, like the rebel cry, was "On to Washington." Camp Seward, beyond the Potomac, now became the school for more complete military discipline ; there squad drill and the manual of arms were mastered, while the boys, although familiar with the use of the gun at home, at first wearied of the manipulation in drUl. After this you were reviewed by Casey; the ofiicers and men still take pride in the fine appearance you made. Camp Slocum, east of Washington, became your next destination; located in a muddy corn stubble many of the regiment sickened and died. Next you were engaged on fatigue duty ' in the erection and extension of Fort Slocum, whose invaluable importance was demonstrated in 1864 in repelling the rebel advance under Early. In a few months you were directed to Belle Plain, assigned to Doubleday's Division of the First Corps of that grand Army of the Potomac, and brigaded with the One hundred and forty-ninth and One hundred and fiftieth Pennsylvania Volun- teers in February, '63. The mud march down along the Rappahannock was your first and ever-memorable movement. The first time you were under fire was below Fredericksburg, and your first important duty of honor and responsibility was when the First Corps, under Reynolds, was stationed in an advan- tageous position during the battle of Chancellorsville, in order to support the army in case of disaster and cover its retreat. A veteran of the One hundred and forty-third tells me that one of the diversions of that night was a serenade from some hungry mules. Next comes the Gettysburg campaign in the summer of '63. The great cities of the North were now sought as the rebel's prey. The watch dog of the Capital, the Army of the Potomac, was imme- diately upon the rebel's track, and overhauled him at Gettysburg. The First Corps, under Reynolds, after the most severe forced marches, was 702 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. earliest on the field. The morning of July 1 is now destined to become ever memorable for the gallant stand made by that corps in this prelimin- ary struggle in which the noble Reynolds, the architect of the battle, fell. Aware of the importance of checking the invader until Meade's army could come up and take advantage of the natural positions of the country, he threw himself and his gallant corps into the breach, where the odds were three to one, like the three noble Romans, Horatius, Spurius Lartius and Herminius, who held the bridge across the Tiber against the whole Tuscan army, that Rome might be saved. General Doubleday, a soldier of fine military attainments and personal courage, assumed command of the corps, while shortly after Colonel Dana, of the One hundred and forty-third, took command of the brigade. The duty thus devolved upon him at a most critical moment. The charges and countercharges of that day make up the record of one of the most fierce and desperate encounters of modern times. In. the field near the Seminary, Dana's Brigade used up throe separate rebel brigades, repelling their attacks individually. In speaking of the crisis of the first day's fight, when the Union troops were retiring from the unequal field, Carleton, the historian, says: "Back towards the town, pouring into the road leading to the public square, came the retreating troops, turning around in the field north of the town, delivering their volleys, loading while retreating, turning to fire once more, contesting every inch of ground; A. P. Hill gazes with admiration upon the retreating Union troops ; Lieutenant-Colonel Freemantle, of the English army, is with Hill as a spectator, riding by his side. This is what he says: 'A Yankee color-bearer floated his standard in the field and the regiment fought around it, and when at last it was obliged to retreat, the color- bearer retreated last of all, turning around now and then to shake his fist in the face of the advancing Confederates. He was shot. General Hill was sorry when he met his fate.'" This regiment was the One hun- dred and forty-third, and the color bearer Sergeant Ben Crippen, to whose heroic conduct the' survivors of the One hundred and forty-third are about erecting a monument upon the spot w^here he fell, to be chiselled from marble, life size, and in that defiant attitude in which he met his death. May success greet the enterprise, and may the citizens of this valley, who boast of the achievements of the One hundred and forty-third, see that these few survivors are not compelled to bear the burden alone. The statue will serve to mark the spot where this regiment fought its brave fight. The fate of the young soldier will stimulate the patriotism of future generations who will envy us the privilege we have enjoyed in our time, of receiving from the lips of the veterans the record of his experience, and contributing our mite to the erection of this memorial. When Crippen fell the advancing enemy was but a few yards distant; yet when the attention of Major Conyngham, on the right, was called to the fallen colors the command, "One hundred and forty-third rally on .vour colors," was obeyed with a ru.sh, and the battle-flag saved. Its tat- tered remnants occupy a post of honor still in the military cabinet of the State. In this conflict Lieutenant L. R. Nicholson, Lee D. Groover and (/. W. Betzenberger were killed. Pennsylvania at Qettyshurg. 703 After this figlitins, retreat aud back through the town the corps took up its position to the left of the cemetery, on Cemetery Hill. After camp- ing here for the night, on the morning of the second day the three divi- sions were assigned to different parts of the line, and although not en- gaged, Dana's Brigade was subjected to a galling artillery fire. Having been ordered out to support the left, it halted opposite the left center, and the men laid upon their arms for the night, which position was prac- tically maintained during that fierce contest of the next day. The ominous preparations, the sullen activity of July 2, was suggestive of a general consciousness that ere the morrow's sun had withdrawn its rays from the hills of Gettysburg, the world would stand amazed at the gigantic encounter. The morning was signalized at earliest dawn by the Union right re-captur- ing the positions abandoned to the enemy the night before. After a long and painful stillness, suddenly the rebel batteries of 115 guns on Seminary Ridge, began to pour a "cataract of iron" upon the left center, where Dana's Brigade is posted. Now the Union artillery respond with 80 cannon, and the earth trembles with the rapid, indis- criminate fire of 200 guns. Now rages the fiercest artillery duel of the present century. What a sublime, what a terrible, what an awe-inspir- ing scene ; horses and men are being piled in heaps of dead and wounded ; the heat is oppressive ; men stand by their guns, stripped to the waist, the sweat oozes from every pore ; the earth is plowed and torn up by shrieking shell, and the sulphurous battle cloud ascends steadily towards Heaven like the incense of a sacrifice. The battalions of infantry are prostrate upon the sheltering earth to avoid as much as possible the storm of fiery missiles, that screech and burst like demons in the air. Suddenly the crest of the ridge opposite is covered with the tremendous host of the enemy moving over the right towards the center. On, on like the angry and countless waves of the ocean, they push with brave and gallant determination. They close up the gaps made by the Union artil- lery and press on, elbow to elbow, their own artillery playing over them. Lee is in the field, and is the high priest of the sacrifice. Suddenly, as if from the bosom of mother earth, the prostrate Union troops arise, and in response to the command of "fire !" a death-dealing crash is heard along the whole line, and in swaths of death, thousands fell to rise no more; yet these brave men close up their ranks and moved on with the irresistless impetuosity of an avalanche; and now they reach the crest of Cemetery Ridge, force back Hancock's line, and for a moment the issue is in doubt. The Confederacy reaches its "high water mark." Now the ebb sets in when Staunard's Brigade, of Doubleday's Dlvisioq, of the First Corps, makes a right wheel and charges the right flank of Pickett's Corps. A hand-to-hand fight ensues, and the rebels finally break away and retire from the field in disorder. The charging column numbering about 18,000 men, picked from the field, under the lead of tried commanders. The charge eclipses the famous charge of McDonald at Wagram, and that of the Old Guard at Waterloo. The rebels are thrown back upon the wounded 46 704 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Confodonipy, and the heart of the Uniou is saved. The rebel loss in this charge is estimated at seventy per cent., or about 12,000 men. It has been erroneously stated that the One hundred and forty-third played no part in repelling this famous charge. Every survivor here knows that Dana's Brigade opened fire upon Wilcox and upon the advancing column under Pickett, as it hove in sight across the plain during which Berdan's sharpshooters, running up from behind, clamor for a "chance at them." As the advancing column approaches, Stannard's men in front below, warn those in the rear to desist as the fire was endangering them. After Stannard Avheeled to the right, the brigade and Berdan's men resumed the fire upon Wilcox. The old First Corps holds the honor of the first day's gallant stand and it was a fitting termination of this trying ordeal that Doubleday's Division of that corps should strike the decisive blow. The high tension to which the nerves of the Union soldiers were strung, now relaxed at the rebel retreat in one great spontaneous cheer, that was deafening as the roar of the cannon, and echoing long among the hills of Gettysburg. It was the glad outburst of the Union heart. Having averted the rebel dagger from the Union heart, the Army of the Potomac turns towards Virginia and resumes the guard of the capital. After a series of most severe marches, which filled up a campaign of manoeuvers, the army went into winter quarters at Culpeper. The One hundred and forty-third had not been in camp over a week at a time until the winter of '63. At this camp the shattered regiment was recruited up to eight hundred and fifty men, and these recruits and volunteers were ever animated by that esprit de corps which at all times characterized the One hundred and forty-third. On the night of May 3 the army broke camp and reached the Rapidan, which they crossed on the morning of the 4th and marched into the Wilder- ness, stopping at Wilderness Tavern for the night, bivouacking near the enemy. The terrible battle begins on the morning of the 5th, in which the One hundred and forty-third is one of the first to open the fight. After a stubborn engagement in the tangled wood, the regiment falls back into the field after sustaining a heavy loss which includes Colonel E. L. Dana, who is wounded and captured, and Lieutenant John C. Kropp, a brave ofiicer, who is killed. Lieutenant-Colonel Musser now assumed command of the regiment, and about 4 p. m. the brigade made a charge, driving the enemy for over a mile, where it was engaged en masse and fought until dark, lying upon their arms for the night. On the morning of the 6th, the most desperate conflict in which the regiment ever engaged takes place ; the charging and counter-charging was terrific; the advantage seemed now on one side, now on the other; lines wavered, ammunition became exhausted and the cartridge boxes of the dead and dying were searched for supplies ; bayonets were eventually used to keep the enemy in check. The regiment is here relieved by the Fifty-tliird Pennsylvania Volunteers, but soon afterwards, having drawn ammunition, the combat is renewed with increased fury. Lieutenant-Colonel Musser was mortally wounded early in the fight; a brave and gallant soldier he was, loved and mourned Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 705 by the regiment; Captain Michael Kcenan, of Company H, was also killed; General Wadsworth falls mortally wounded, and the division is at this moment hard pressed; Lieutenant Vaughan, of Company K, is wounded but refuses to leave the field and fights on. The crisis of the battle was now reached and the Union troops yielded the ground back to their old position. A portion of the brigade, includ- ing a large portion of the One hundred and forty-third, came out across Hancock's line, and General Osborne, then major in brigade staff, hung out the brigade colors at the cross roads, in the rear of the line. Five or six hundred men rallied here and stacked arms ; about one hour later Longstreet charges Hancock's line, forcing his men back in a precipitate flight and plants his colors along to the left of the batteries which he captures. Hancock, riding up, ordered Major Osborne to bring the brigade to the rescue. With Colonel Irvin in command of the brigade. Major Conyngham having succeeded Colonel Musser in command of the One hundred and forty-third on the right, the command is: "Fall in, take arms, right face, double-quick!" and the head of column rushes up the hill and recaptures the line, after a desperate charge, and the fiercest hand-to-hand fight the regiment ever experienced. Above the din could be heard the voice of Major Conyngham: "Go in. One hundred and forty- third !" The guns were recaptured when about to be turned against the brigade. The credit and glory of this achievement is given by Swinton to Carroll's Brigade. The One hundred and forty-third is one of the three which suffered the greatest losses during the battle of the Wilderness. On Sunday, May 8, at Laurel Hill, a desperate fight for position took place, in which the ground was taken and retaken by both parties several times, and finally taken and held by this division. The fight continued here for several days, and the loss was tremendous. The bodies of many of the dead and dying were consumed by the flames of burning timber. Here Lieutenant Charles Reilay fell; his dying words Avere: "Give it to them boys!" Here Major Conyngham, who was in command of the regiment, was severely wounded, as was also Major Hughes who succeeded him in command. Major Glenn next commanded the regiment and was succeeded by Colonel Reichard. The regiment fought next at Spotsylvania, North Anna, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor and Chickahominy, crossing the James on the 15th of June, reaching Petersburg on the morning of the 17th, joining in the general attack upon Petersburg on the afternoon of the 18th, in which Lieutenant Ezra S. Griffin was mortally wounded. The assault upon Peters- burg is one of the most desperate upon a fortified position of all assaults of modern history, eclipsing the siege of Sebastapol and the assault upon the Malakofi:. The regiment continued with the besieging army until the night of August 16, 1864, when it moved back and joined the movement against the Weldon railroad, participating in the three days' fight conse- Oiiient on holding that road. Next was the battle of Hatcher's Run in the movement against the South Side Railroad; then the long and terrible march to complete the destruction of the Weldon railroad The regiment went into winter quarters in the rear defenses of Peters- 706 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, burg. Early in February the spring campaign opened, and the One hun- dred and forty-third was engaged in a campaign of ten days' duration, in which it fought the second Hatcher's Run, where the gallant Captain Gaylord, of Company D, was killed while charging the fortifications. The Secretary of War now ordered this brigade to be relieved for con- tinuous and meritorious service and sent to Hart's Island. Justly proud of the achievements of the One hundred and forty-third, the people of Wilkes-Barre requested the Governor to allow it to pass through the city on its way to Harrisburg to be mustered out. The ova- tion given to the faithful regiment was generous and unstinted. No Roman conqueror on returning from battle was ever accorded a more brilliant triumph. Caesar at the head of his victorious legions never re- ceived a prouder welcome. The father and mother were there to greet their son ; the sister her brother ; the wife her husband ; and some came to learn what fond mes- sage the dying soldier sent to his loved ones at home ; some came in the hope of seeing, after all, the mourned one return with his regiment. Twenty years have gone since then, and those who passed safely through the vortex of war are one by one being placed upon the muster-roll of death. A few years hence and this old hill will resound no more with the glad reunions of the One hundred and forty-third. Since your last reunion the two most celebrated officers who were con- nected with the Army of the Potomac, of which you were an important factor, have passed away — McClellan and Grant. McClellan who breathed into the unorganized legions of the army the soul of military order and discipline; Grant, who led it to final victory — Appomattox. "Distance lends enchantment," and the veteran is becoming more dear to the Nation's heart as the years roll on. Generations yet unborn will make offerings at the soldiers' shrine ; and the proudest boast of the sol- diers' posterity will be that an ancestor carried a musket to preserve the integrity of the Union, that Americans might stiU exclaim proudly: "Lib- erty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." DEDICATION OF MONUMENT 145™ REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 11, 1889 ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN JOHN C. HILTON WE have assembled here to-day to dedicate this beautiful combination of bronze and granite to the memory of those brave heroes who sacrificed their lives in one of the greatest battles that history records. These martyrs deserve more than a passing notice; they gave 'Organized at Erie in August ami September, 1862, to serve three years. It wag mustered out May 31, 1865. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 707 up their lives upon the soil of their own native State that the Nation might not to be destroyed ; they made this long and famous eharge after witnessing the complete route of thousands of men of the Third Corps before an enemy crowned with brief victory, who charged on until he struck the First Divi- sion of the Second Corps, when, after firing round after round, he was compelled to take the cold steel or turn his back. He chose the latter, closely pursued by the veterans of Brooke's Brigade and others of the Second Corps. May this monument stand msmy years to mark where they so gallantly fell dead that their country might live, and on each Decoration Day may their graves be strewn with flowers even after the present genera- tion has passed away. The One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers was mustered into the United States service at PZrie, Pennsylvania. Six com- panies were recruited. in Erie county, two in Warren county, one each in Crawford and Mercer counties. Hiram L. Brown was selected as colonel, he having served as captain in the Eighty-third Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers and having been severely wounded at the battle of Gaines' Mill. The regiment had been engaged in the battles of Antietam, Fred- ericksburg and Chancellorsville, and was in cnmp near Falmouth, Virginia, when it was discovered that General Lee had started his army north. On June 14, 1863, the regiment was sent to Bank's Ford with the bri- gade, where they did picket duty until daylight, when they brought up the rear of the Second Corps. The weather being intensely warm and the marches so long that many of the veterans dropped down by the way- side sunstruck and dying, some of whom fell into the hands of the enemy. On June 17 the brigade reached Fairfax Station, and after a severe march through deep dust they halted at Thoroughfare Gap on June 20, and from there marched to Edwards' Ferry, crossing the river at midnight, June 26, and marching through Frederick, Maryland, also through the villages of Liberty, Johnsville and Uniontown, arriving at Gettysburg and going on picket duty at midnight. The last march was the longest and most fatiguing the regiment had then made, being over thirty-two miles. July 1, General Reynolds reported killed, the First and Eleventh Corps are repulsed, when the Second and Third Corps are brought to the front, well knowing that this would be one of the hottest battles yet known. Early in the morning the Second Corps took position to the left center and silently awaited the enemy's arrival. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon the First Division of the Second Corps was sent to support the Third Corps, which was being driven back through the peach orchard; the rebels, elated with their success, followed up the victory and came cautiously through the wheatfield until they met the veterans of the Second Corps and the command was given to fire. • Colonel Brown repeated the command and after a few rounds were fired moved to the center of the wheatfield, and, lying down, several volleys of buck and ball were poured into Kershaw's Brigade. Then the order was given to charge. The gray-coats would not stand in front of the bayonets of the Second Corps veterans, but retreated through the wheatfield and meadow heyond, up the ravine, and into the hornet's nest of rocks and underbrush where they halted and sent a deadly 708 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. fire of lead into the Union ranks before tboy were dislodged. Half of them escaped, the other half threw down thtir arms and were taken pris- oners. The One hundred and forty-fifth sent to the rear over one hundred prisoners under charge of the sergeant-major It seemed but a few moments when the order was given to fall back, and not a moment too soon, as the brigade Tyould have been outflanked and captured in five minutes more. After retiring they reformed in rear of where they first met the enemy. The Confederates made several more charges but were met by the Pennsylvania Reserves and again repulsed, after which they retired to the old Emmitsburg road broken up and dispirited . The third day's fight finds the One hundred and forty-fifth with the brigade to the left of the Second Corps preparing to resist the greatest charge the Confederates ever made. About 1 o'clock the whole artillery of the enemy blazed forth round after round, and the shells are sent whizzing through the air into the Union ranks. Then the Federal guns reply, sending whistling shells that burst and deal death upon every side, making such havoc that it amazes the coolest heads. The Federal fire now ceases, the enemy interpreting this to mean that we are out of ammuni- tion. Pickett orders his men forward, they advance with a steady meas- ured step, confident of success, but alas! in each step they are nearer their destruction. The Federal batteries play into their ranks with a charge of grape and canister, thinning out their ranks; but, not discouraged, another line comes up and on they come in their mad career until they have met hand to hand their old foe, and the Second Corps infantry pours volley after volley into their scattered ranks until they waver, yet go on to meet their doom, led by General Armistead who falls mortally wounded, his men falling back in confusion, young Cushing firing a parting shot before he falls dead beside his gun. The brave Hancock also falls wounded after fairly winning the name, "The hero of Gettysburg." But feeble resistance is now made by the enemy and they fall back cowed and discouraged, thus virtually breaking the backbone of the rebellion. The enemy starting on their fatiguing journey back to Vii'ginia, thus ending the greatest battle ever fought, and wiping out of existence that foul blot, slavery in the United States. What a frightful cost! however. Thousands of brave men lay dead upon the field, and thousands are groaning and d.ving from wounds received dur- ing the terrible conflict, leaving many widows and orphans to struggle through the world alone. The One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment went into the battle with two hundred and twenty-eight officers and men. Killed and mortally wounded, three oflicers and twenty-one men; wounded, six officers and fifty men; captured and missing, ten men. Captain George G. Griswold, Lieutenants H. F. Lewis and G. H. Finch mortally wounded. Colonel Brown, Major Reynolds, Lieutenat Black, Captain J. C. Hilton and Lieu- tenant J. Birtcil were severely wounded, while Taylor, Marsh, Cochran, Kennedy, Corbin, Rosa, Talmadge, Aken, Kuhn, Triscott, Mohr and Stephenson lay dead upon the field, and Gray, Dorman, Linnegar, Spencer, Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 709 Simpson, Sawdy, Mowor, Brown, Allen, Dougherty and Taylor were mortally wounded. The total enrollment during the war was 1,460. Killed and mortally wounded, eighteen ofhcers and one hundred and seventy-five men; died of. disease, etc., three ofBcers and two hundred and twenty-four men; wounded, twenty-three officers and three hundred and sixty-four men; captured and missing, seventeen officers and three hundred and sixty-seven men . Some of those reported missing have since been found to have died ■ in rebel prisons from effects of wounds. The regiment can emblazon upon her ensign the following list of battles: Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spotsj'lvania, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg (June 15), Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, Siege of Petersburg (assault, 1864), Reams' Station, South Side Railroad, Petersburg (March 25, 1865), Sutherland's Station, Po River, White Oak Road, Sailor's Creek, Farmville and Appomattox. ADDRESS OF BREVET BRIG. -GEN. D. B. McCREARY. ON behalf of the survivors of the One hundred and forty-fifth Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, I accept this monument which has been here erected to commemorate the part taken by our regiment in the battle of Gettysburg. I can only regret, in common with you all, that our old colonel, H. L. Brown, who shed his blood on this and many other battlefields of the war, cannot be with us to perform the duty which the Committee on Arrangements have seen fit to assign to me. I know that your thoughts, with mine, will go this day to his grave on the shore of the great lake where he quietly rests. This monument not only commemorates the gallant deeds of the One hundred and forty -fifth in that memorable conflict, but its location shows that no troops belong- ing to any organization reached a point farther to the front or nearer to the position of the enemy than did the One hundred and forty-fifth. Among all the deeds of daring performed in that battle, and there were many, all along the Union lines, none were more conspicuous, in the fierceness of contest and importance of results upon the final issue of the battle, than the celebrated and now historic charge of the Fourth Bri- gade, First Division, Second Corps, of which the One hundred and forty- fifth was part, across the wheatfield, through the wooded ravine and up and over the rocky slope to the point where we now stand, and which for all time will be marked by the monument we to-day dedicate. I have spoken of the importance of the results of that charge on the final issues of the battle; for if that charge had not been made, or, being made, had not been successful, the Confederate forces under Longstreet, inspired with their success when the Third Corps, overwhelmed by numbers, retired from its advanced position in more or less disorder, must neces- sarily have swept around the base and right of Little Round Top into the rear of the Union line, from the latter point to Cemetery Ridge and 710 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Gulp's Hill, making an entire chango of the Union line a stragetic neces- city, and this too with I.ongstreet cm their left and rear and Ewell and Hill confronting them on their right and center. Under these circum- stances the Confederate army must have won the victory. Little Round Top would have been valueless to thi; Union army with the Union line broken anywhere between that and Cemetery Ridge, and such would have been the results but for that charge through the wheatfield on the after- noon of July 2. When the historian of the future comes to write the decisive battles of the world's history, high up in the list, along with Marathon, Australitz and Waterloo, will be written the name of Gettysburg; and it will be matter of just pride to children and children's children yet unborn, that they are the descendents of those who belonged to a regiment that bore its colors so bravely in the face of the enemy in that great conflict. Comrades and survivors, this is to us a grand and memorable anni- versary day. Twenty-seven years this very day, yea, this very hour, our regiment broke camp in the city of Erie and started for the front, in answer to the call of the Government which so deeply felt the perils and dangers following the reverses and disasters to the Union army on the Virginia peninsula and at second Bull Run. In less than forty-eight hours after leaving the blue waters of Lake Erie we heard the roar of the enemy's guns not far distant at South Mountain ; and within six days from the time we left our homes, we stood in line of battle on the battlefield of Antietam. Neither time or the propriety of this occasion will permit me to nar- rate the history of our regiment from that time until the close of the war; it is sufficient to say that, immediately upon entering the service, it be- came a part of the grand old Army of the Potomac under McClellan. Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant, sharing in all its victories and defeats ; in all its marches and contests with the best disciplined army led by the most renowned field marshals of the Rebellion, and inscribing upon its colors the name of every important battle of the Army of the Potomac from Antietam until the Union flag waved in triumph over the foe at Appomattox. Comrades, over a quarter of a century has passed since our regiment stood for the Union amid the tumult and carnage of battle, where we stand to-day. As we look down the beautiful valley, over the quiet village and upon the green summits of the distant mountains, our hearts fill with i-apture that peace, triumphant peace, spreads her benign shadows and sunshine over our beloved land, and that liberty and Union are still and forever will be one and inseparable. Many of our' comrades in arms fell upon this and other battlefields of the war; many, since then, have halted in their life march, and crossed the broad river, to rest upon the unseen and eternal shores beyond. For the last time for many, and perhaps for all of us, we are holding our annual reunion upon the field of Gettysburg. In the years to come, as the shadows of life's close gather about us, the scenes which we here behold and in which we are participating, will be a pleasant memory to us all, and may we return to our homes inspired with an enlarged loyalty to our common Pennsylvania at Oettyshurg. 711 country, and to our good old Coinmonwoalth, on whose soil we have to- day dedicated this monument to perpetuate the memory of the devotion and valor of our regiment for the preservation of free government. It now only remains for me to turn this monument over to the care of the Commission whose duty it is to take charge of this and all other monuments erected on this battlefield. The labor and assiduous atten- tions which the gentlemen composing the Commission have already given to the preservation and marking of the main lines and positions of both of the contending armies during the time of the terrible conflict, and the excellent taste and judgment shown by them in the supervision of the various monuments heretofore erected upon these grounds, afford to us the most ample assurance that they will guard and watch over the trust which we this day commit to their hands with the utmost devotion and fidelity . M ADDRESS OF THOMAS OSBORNE, ESQ. R. President and survivors of the gallant One hundred and forty- fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers: — A soldier's first duty is to obey orders, and this must be my excuse for attempting to address you on this historic occasion. I am ordered to do so by the chairman of your monumental committee, appointed by the regimental association. My comrades, I appreciate the duty assigned to me with great difiidence and with a deep sense of distrust in my ability to do justice to the merits of my gallant comrades. I shall, however, as briefly as possible, outline the history of the regiment. Companies A, B, C, D, I and K were recruited in Erie county, E and F in Warren county, H in Crawford and G in Mercer. On the 5th of September, 1862, a regimental organization was effected with the following field oflScers: H. L. Brown, of Erie, colonel; D. B. McCreary, of Erie, lieutenant-colonel, and John W. Patton, of Crawford, major. Colonel Brown had seen service in the Wayne Guards, and as captain of Company I, Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which he was wounded at Gaines' Mill, from the effects of which he had not recovered. Lieutenant-Colonel D. B. McCreary had also served in the Wayne Guards and in the three-months' service. A better ofiicered regiment or a finer body of men were never mustered into the service. At the time of the organization of the One hundred and forty-fifth there was pressing need of troops. The Army of the Potomac was returning from the fruit- less campaign on the Peninsula, and the Army of Virginia under Pope was retiring, broken and dispirited, from the disastrous field of Bull Run. We were accordingly ordered to the front without arms, and with scarcely any knowledge of military duty. We left Erie on September 11, and in thirty-six hours were within sound of the enemy's guns as he was pushing his way toward South Mountain. We halted two days at Camp McClure, near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and were supplied with arms— the old 712 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Harper's Ferry musket, what miserable old smooth-bore guns they were, things evidently made to kill, judging by the enormous quantity of powder, bullet and buckshot they carried. Yes, they would kill at both ends, but each and every one of us felt better satisfied and braver with one of those old muskets than you would now feel with a whole cannon. From Camp Maguire we moved under orders of General John F. Rey- nolds, in command of Pennsylvania, in the direction of Hagerstown, Mary- land. With but a partial outfit, and men and officers fresh from civil life, the command experienced much suffering from exposure and the lack of supplies . At daylight on the morning of the 17th of September, the One hundred and forty-fifth was under arms, the heavy booming of cannon on the field of Antictam ten miles away, being distinctly heard. That sound awakened intense excitement in every breast, and all were impatient to march to the theatre of conflict. This desire was gratified. Though isolated from the army and liable to fall victims to the enemy's cavalry, which was mani- festing the greatest activity, our colonel led us forward, and a little after noon arrived upon the extreme right of the Union line, now desperately engaged with the corps of Stonewall Jackson, the hostile shot and shell falling thick on every hand. We were immediately moved into position, tilling a gap between the Union right and the Potomac river. Survivors of the glorious old One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment, how distinctly I remember our dusty march from Hagerstown to Antietam. I can almost hear the ringing voice of the heroic Brown as he gave the command to halt ! front ! load at will ! Our position prevented the enemy from flanking our right, and on the night of the 17th, the regiment did picket duty within hearing of the enemy as he was quietly recrossing the river. I think I can safely give to Private Nye, of Company B, the honor of capturing the first prisoner. Private Nye, early on the morning of the ISth, being on the picket reserve, spied a house, and being in need of supplies, thought it a good chance to slip out and get his breakfast; but judge of his .surprise, on entering the house, to find a rebel lieutenant leisurely eating his breakfast. Nye, however, demanded the surrender of the lieutenant, which demand was complied with, and the rebel handed over his pistol and sword. Nye marched his prisoner into camp feeling bigger than the commander of the army. On September 21 the regiment was sent out to bury the dead and care for the wounded. For four days they had laid where they fell, and the stench that filled the air was terrible. The severe duty of the regiment upon this polluted field .resulted in wide-spread sickness. Within a month over two hundred were disqualified for duty. Many died or were perma- nently disabled and discharged. Soon after the battle of Antietam the regiment went into camp on Bolivar Heights, back of Harper's Ferry, v/here it was assigned to the Irish Brigade, but was finally assigned to the First Brigade, First Divi- sion, Sumner's Corps, the division being commanded by General W. S. Hancock. The regiment here was engaged in severe drill and picket duty, and was soon recognized as one of the best drilled regiments in the corps. On the last of October the regiment left Bolivar Heights, and marched Pennsylvania at Oettysiurg. 713 dovm the Loudoun Valley to Warrenton, where it halted; at this time Major-General McClellan was relieved of the command of the army and JMajor-General Burnside appointed to the command of the same. From Warrenton we moved to Falmouth, where the regiment was again engaged in drill and picket duty. On the afternoon of December 12, 1862, the regiment crossed over the upper pontoon bridge laid by the Seventh Michigan into Fredericksburg and formed in line on Front street, running parallel with the river. On the 13th it moved forward two squares, and formed line of battle with its right resting near the court-house. The regiment unslung knap- sacks and piled them in an old foundry. The order to advance was given and the One hundred and forty-fifth, moved forward with the steadiness of veterans, out of the streets and out upon the plain between the city and the battery-crowned hills that encircled it beyond, forward over the deep ditch and smooth plain, over the hill and up to the stone wall, rushed the regiment led by the immortal Brown. I shall not attempt a descrip- tion of this battle, you know it by heart, but of the eight companies that were engaged in the battle ninety-one were killed or died of their wounds and one hundred and fifty-two wounded . On the morning of the battle five hundred and sixty-six men reported for duty, and, deducting those upon the skirmish line, probably, five hundred were engaged. The One hundred and forty -fifth lost more men at Fred- ericksburg in killed and wounded than any other regiment, and a heavier percentage also. Colonel Von Schack, of the Seventh New York, and Lieu- tenant-Colonel D. B. McCreary, of the regiment, were the only field ofiicers not killed or wounded in the brigade. After the battle the regiment again returned to its quarters and did picket duty along the Rappahannock river until Burnside again attempted to cross the river and was, unluckily or luckily, stuck in the mud. The regiment again returned to camp and remained there until the latter part of April, when General Joseph Hooker, then in command of the army, com- menced his operations for the Chancellorsville campaign. The One hun- dred and forty-fifth was detached to construct corduroy roads and to assist the engineer corps in laying the pontoon bridge. At the United States Ford, on the 1st of May, the first gun of the Chan- cellorsville campaign was fired. On the morning of the 3d a detail of about one hundred and fifty men from the regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel McCreary, was ordered to the relief of the skirmish line left in the works thrown up on the night of the 1st; the balance of the regiment was engaged in support- ing the batteries around the Chancellor House, which had been massed to resist the troops of Jackson, now led by Stuart. It was exposed to a severe fire of musketry and artillery. Here Major Patton was struck with a shell and mortally wounded. The troops under Colonel McCreary were hotly engaged on the skirmish line and successfully resisted repeated as- saults of the enemy under McLaws and Anderson, and completely foiling every attempt to turn the left and reach the rear of Hancock's main line of battle. When the army fell back the troops upon this skirmish line failed to receive the order to retire and fell into the hands of the enemy. 714 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. From this time to June 15, the regiment was engaged in drilling, picket dutj' and recruiting its shattered ranks. The corps was reorganized and W. S. Hancock placed in command of the coi-ps. General Caldwell of the division and Colonel John R. Brooke of the Brigade. On June 15 the regiment broke camp and moved from Falmouth to near Aquia creek, on the 16th to Wolf's run, on the 17tli to Sangster's, on the 20th to Centreville, on the 21st to Gains ville, and on the 25th reached Gum Springs, and on the 26th crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and on the 29th reached Unioutown. General Hooker was now removed from the command of the army and General George G. Meade placed in com- mand. Day was just dawning on July 2 when the Second Corps marched from behind Round Top within hearing of the firing along Reynolds' and Howard's line. The corps formed line of btittle, the right resting on or near the cemetery and the First Division on the left of the corps with the left near the base of Little Round Top. About noon, from our posi- tion , we see troops moving towards the Emmitsburg road . We do not know what it means, but soon learn that it is the Third Corps under General Sickels advancing to occupy the high ground over which passes the Emmitsburgh road at Shei'fy's building near the spot that afterwards became so famous as the peach orchard. Sickles reaches his position and forms his line of battle, his right along the road to the peach orchard facing west, his left swung back or refused and extending from the angle made at the peach orchard to the Devil's Den, facing south, or nearly so. The formation is hardly made when Longstreet hurls his battalions .against Sickles' left with impetuosity and determination and then began one of the most remarkable encounters known in the annals of warfare. The resistance of Sickles was stubborn and determined, but at last finding himself sorely pressed he is obliged to call for help, and the First Division of the Second Corps by General Hancock is detached from the corps and hurried to his assistance. As the description of this battlefield, and the part taken by the One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment has been assigned to another, I will simply add that in the memorable charge by Brooke's Brigade, the One hundred and forty-fifth allowed no regiment in the army to surpass it in heroism. I will simply quote from General Hancock's official report. "The Fourth Brigade, General John R. Brooke command- ing, was directed to advance. With his accustomed gallantry and energy Brooke pushed his line further to the front than other of our troops ad- vanced during the battle, and gained a position impregnable from an at- tack in front, and of great tactical importance, but, owing to the right flank being exposed, the brigade was compelled to fall back. In this fearful charge of the division Generals Zook and Cross, two brigade commanders, were killed and Brooke and Kelly wounded." I notice among the killed the names of Captain Griswold, Lieutenant Lewis and Finch, and among the wounded Colonel Brown, Major Reynolds, Adjutant Black and Captain John Hilton. Major Reynolds and Captain Hilton are with us to-day, the latter minus a leg which he lost near this spot. The regiment went into this battle two hundred strong and lost twenty-seven killed and mor- tally wounded and sixty-six wounded and eight missing. The regiment was but slightly engaged on the 3d, but held its position in the first line of Pennsylvania at Gcttyshurg. 715 battle but at the left of Pickett's charge. The regiment shortly after the battle at Gettysburg received about three hundred recruits, but being mostly bounty jumpers did the regiment but little good except to swell the aggregate of our muster-roll, many deserted and many more claimed to be sick and were sent to the hospital and never returned. For this the old regiment was duly thankful . In October the regiment moved out towards the Rapidan river and then fell back across Bull Run, having participated in the fight at Auburn and Bristoe Station, the former better known to the One hundred and forty- fifth as Coffee Hill. At Auburn and Bristoe the regiment lost eight killed and several wounded. On the 26th of November the regiment set out on the Mine Run cam- paign, and upon arriving at Germanna Ford it was found that the pon- toons were insufficient to construct a bridge. Colonel Brooke volunteered to cross the river with his brigade and dislodge the enemy. It was wintry weather and the stream was swift and waist deep, but without a murmer the men plunged in and soon had possession of the enemy's works which he had but a few days before elaborately constructed. The regiment was one of the regiments chosen by General Warren to charge the enemy's works, but owing to the condition of the run and the impregnability of the enemy's works, the assault was abandoned. The regiment was the last to leave the line of battle and the last to recross the river and went into what we suppposed winter quarters near Brandy Station, but was hardly settled when we were ordered to proceed to Germanna Ford, to cover the approaches from that direction. Here we again built winter quarters, but was again ordered to move, this time back a mile. Here, for the third time, the regiment built winter quarters, and remained until May, 1864. During the winter many changes took place in the army. General Grant was made commander-in-chief of the army. The Third Corps was consolidated into two divisions known as the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Second Corps. The old Second Corps was consolidated into two divisions known as the First and Second Divisions of the Second Corps. The corps commanded by Major-General W. S. Hancock, and the First Division by General Barlow, and the brigade in which the One hun- dred and forty-fifth belonged by General John R. Brooke. The regiment had been recruited by about one hundred and fifty good and true men mostly from Erie county, Pennsylvania, besides many who had been away sick and wounded had returned. The Army of the Potomac was destined to enter upon the greatest campaign in the history of the world. Its previous experience had been a varied one, of victories and defeats, suc- cesses and reverses. In 1861 the only battle fought was Bull Run. In 1862 this magnificent army fought the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, the seven days before Richmond, Second Bull Run, Antietam and Fred- ericksburg. 1863 opened with the disaster at Chancellorsville, the victory at Gettysburg, Auburn, Bristoe Station, Rappahannock and Mine Run. Great and bloody as had been the battles just named and heroic as had been its conduct under severe trials, it was about to enter upon a campaign in which it should fight more days, lose more men, and suffer more sacri- fices io two months than it bad in all its two years' operations. 716 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. It was to cross the historic Rapidan and move southward into the enemy's country, not to retrace its course until a year hiter, it marched homeward with the crowning victory of Appomattox inscribed upon its banners. During the year was fought the battles of the Wilderness, Spot- sylvania Court House, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Trevilian Station, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Petersburg Mine, Deep Bottom, Reams' Sta- tion, Hatcher's Run, Fort Steadman, Second Petersburg, Boydton Road, Dinwiddie Court House, Five Korks, Amelia Court House, Sailor's Creek, High Bridge, Farmville and Appomattox, in which it lost in killed, 17,400 men and 85,500 wounded, making a total of 102,900, besides those lost by the Sixth Corps in the Shenandoah Valley, all inside of a year. On the night of May 3 the One hundred and forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, with the First Division, crossed the Rapidan and was soon confronting the enemy. Colonel Brown was here assigned to the command of the Third Brigade and Major Lynch assumed command of the regi- ment. The regiment was hotly engaged on May 10 across the Po river, and many of the wounded were left behind and were, in all probability, consumed by the flames, as the woods through which we fell back was one sheet of flame. My comrades, who of the One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteers can ever forget the 12th day of May, 1864. I quote from an unknown author: "Early on the evening of May 11, Hancock assembled his division commanders and gave his orders. The night was pitchy dark and the rain beat down mercilessly upon the unsheltered troops, whether in the tangled forest or open field. It was 9 o'clock when Barlow called his brigadiers to council, in a dense and gloomy forest, in a secluded spot cleared for the purpose. The desultory firing of the day had ceased, no sound came from the bivouac where the weary men were snatching an hour's rest after the marching and the fighting of the Wilderness. Bar- low's Division was to be honored with the position of great peril and im- portance, and now his brigades were to be assigned to their work. The flickering light of a lantern shed its dim uncertain rays over the dreary woods and on the little group huddled together in the dismal storm to map out the plan of the morrow's desperate battle. By the lantern's faint un- certain beams, now flaring its red glare upon a thoughtful face, now almost ben ten out by the wind and rain, General Barlow traced upon the moist- ened earth the plan of the morrow's deadly assault. It was a rude map, but the brigadiers followed each outline with eager eye, and when the lurid, council was over, each understood the part he was to play, and hastened to his command to summons his comrades to a similar council. Brooke called his colonels together, and among them Major Lynch, .and gave them their instructions for the charge. Brooke and Miles were to lead the charge, each regiment forming double column on the center. At 10 o'clock the order came to march, and never did troops start under cir- cumstances more dispiriting." To the inky darkness of the night was added a chilly rain which soon wet the men to the skin and covered the country with a dense fog and made the tangled forest through which the troops had to march doubly difii- cult to penetrate. From 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock the troops struggled on over Pennsylvania at Gcttyshnrg. 717 the difficult way. The story of that night's inarch cannot be pictured. Si- lently the men struggled on over the tangled and torturous path. Now and than one would whisper to a comrade or touch an elbow to make sure he was still there. Not a word was spoken or a noise made to show an army corps was on its way to desperate work. At last the column halted, and at 4.35 a. m. the order to advance is given. Through the clearing, up the rugged ascent, facing without response, a hot fire from the enemy's pickets, the One hundred and forty-fifth broke through their line and in an instant was in the rifle pits of his skirmishers. Not a shot had been fired by the Union troops. The One hundred and forty-fifth was half way up the slope, almost on the enemy's works. Not a sound from the veterans strictly disciplined and mindful of orders but a new regiment, thinking the victory won when the picket rifle pits were taken, broke into a cheer. The fire had been kindled and the shout rang through regiment after regiment until the whole force were yelling like mad. The One hundred and forty-fifth dashed forward on the double-quick, down from the rebel works poured a withering fire, a deadly blast that tore great rents in the advancing ranks, but on they pressed for one of the bravest, bloodiest charges in the annals of v/ar. On, on, they pressed the enemy thinning their ranks as they advanced. But the torn ranks closed as those immortal heroes fell and when the crest of the slope was reached Barlow threw himself upon their works. Now began one of the boldest and dealiest hand-to-hand combats of the war. With sword and bayonet our troops cut their way. With sword and bayonet and handspike the rebels replied until, overborne by the fury of the assault, the enemy broke and gave up their works, leaving dead and dying heaped in piles. In one little spot, said General Brooke, I saw sixty bodies lying every one of them pierced with a bayonet. In this charge the corps captured about four thousand prisoners, twenty pieces of artillery, thirty colors and several thousand stands of small arms. In this battle, among those killed were Captain Deveraux, Lieutenants Baker, Sampson and Brockway^ and Captain J. Boyd Espy and Lieutenant Free were among the wounded. Our total loss in killed at this battle was forty and a large number were wounded. The regiment was next engaged at Totopotomoy where two were killed and seven wounded. Our next engagement was at Cold Harbor, where the gallant old Fourth Brigade, led by Brooke, captured the rebel breastworks, about three hun- dred prisoners and several guns, but, being the only brigade on the line that crossed the enemy's works, it was necessary to fall back. In this charge fourteen men of the regiment were killed. Lieutenant Snell among the number; Captain Harvey was wounded, losing a leg. This charge struck from the roll of Second Corps the intrepid Brooke, Tyler, Byrnes, McMahon, Morris of the Seventh and INIorris of the Sixty-sixth New York, two generals and seven colonels. General Hancock said of this battle: "In an hour's assault, 3,024 men fell." General Hancock might well speak of it as a loss without precedence. Indeed, since the army crossed the Rapidan, the losses of the Second Corps had been without precedent. Grant had used it as the hammer-head Avith which he had pounded Lee for four weeks. Was it a wonder that Hancock should have said, when 718 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. asked wlioro his corps was: "It lies buried between the Rapidan and the James." Colonel James A. Beaver, afterwards General Beaver, and now the honored Governor of the old Keystone State, now assumed com- mand of the bi-igade. Colonel McCreary having returned to the regiment, now took command of the regiment. The next engagement in which the regiment was engaged was at Peters- burg, in which nine men were killed and twenty-four wounded. Colonel Beaver, in command of the brigade, was wounded and Colonel McCreary was again taken prisoner. The Fourth Brigade, or the handful left, was now commanded by Colonel Frazer, and on July 22 was attacked by a superior force and a number were killed, wounded and captured. The regiment participated in all the battles to the close of the war in which the Second Corps was engaged and returned to Washington to join in the grand review, and returned to Erie early in June, 1865. My comrades, I find, upon careful examination of the records, that the One hundred and forty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers lost eigh- teen commissioned officers on the field and three died, only one regiment in thie service, viz., the Sixty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers lost more; they losing nineteen killed and one died. I find the regiment lost in killed, 205; died of exposure, etc., 227; wounded, 446; missing, 384; making a total loss of 1,262, out of an enroll- ment of 1,456. I have before stated that in 186.3, the regiment received about three hundred recruits that were of no use to the regiment only to swell the aggregate of our regimental roll. In justice to the old regi- ment the losses should be figured on an enrollment of 1,156. Comrades of the One hundred and forty-fifth, we have met here to-day to dedicate this bronze statute and imposing pile of granite. It stands here, not alone as a tribute to your valor and services rendered upon this historic field. You participated in many other weary marches, and fought many other bloody battles from Antietam to the surrender at Appomattox. Your presence as. an organization was felt in the grand old Second Corps, and in no campaign, on no march and in- no battle in which you were en- gaged, whether upon the skirmish line or line of battle in the midst of the fray, can it ever be said that you ever shrank from the full performance of your duty. My comrades, at all times and under all circumstances the old One hundred and forty-fifth had the respect and confidence of those in com mand, for well they knew you would never fail them in the hour of trial and danger. The record of our regiment is a proud one and this monument will tell the story to generations yet unborn. The question will be asked — how (•a me this brigade here? Then shall the historian tell of Brooke's head- long charge through the wheatfield, driving everything before him and of his gaining this spot far in advance of the position of any other command on the field, and that the One hundred and forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volun- teers led the brigade. Our death roll proves that our lot was not cast in soft places in the rear but testifies with emphasis to your presence on many a hard-contested field. My comrades, let us thank that merciful Providence which led so many Pennsylvania at Gcttijshurg. 719 of us through danger with our lives, dangers in which four hundred and thirty-two of our comrades who marched and fought with us, were left behind . Let us pray him that our beloved country with its glorious free institu- tions and form of government may be purified and made stronger by the toils, suffering and sacrifices of the Union soldier and that our country may ever be safe from another unholy rebellion. Let us also be thankful that after a lapse of more than twenty-six years so many of us are still alive and that so many are permitted to gather around this monument, and join in the exercises of the day. It has done me good to look you in the eye, to greet you, to clasp you by the hand and to be wished God speed and to do the same by you. I thank you for your kind attention in this drenching rain, and pray God's choicest blessing may rest upon each and every one of you during the remainder of your days on earth, and when you shall be called upon to answer the last great roll call, may you be ushered into a country where there is neither war nor rumors of war. My comrades, I bid you adieu. DEDICATION OF MONUMENT I47TH REGIMENT INFANTRY* September 12, 1889 ADDREkSS of captain JOSEPH A. MOORE COMRADES of the One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment Pennsyl- vania Veteran Volunteer Infantry: — To-day we have assembled on this hallowed battlefield, dear to the hearts of every living member who participated in the great struggle, now more than a quarter of a century ago, to perform a duty we owe to the living and the dead, the solemn and impressive dedicatory ceremonies of the monument to the One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer In- fantry. The formation of the One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment carries us properly back to the actual organization of the Twenty-eighth Regi- ment, when companies L, M^ N. O and P, constituting part of that or- ganization, were mustered into service in August and September', 1861, *Cos. A, B, C, D and E were originally organized at Philadelphia from August 6 to October 15, 1S61, as Cos. L, M, N, O and P of the 28th Penna., and transferred to this regiment in September, 1862. Cos. F, G and H were organized at Harrisburg from September 29 to November 20, 1862, Co. I at Philadelphia, October 10, 1S63, and Co. K in February, 1864, all to serve three years. Co. K was broken up in March, 1864, and the members thereof distributed among the other cos. On the expiration of the terms of service of Cos. A, B, C, D and E the original members (except veterans) were mustered out and the organization composed of veterans and recruits of tliose Cos., together with the remaining four Cos. retained in service (except Cos. F and G, which were mustered out June 6, 1865), until July 15, 1865, when it was mustered out, 47 720 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. taking prioritj' by fully one year of the next numbered Pennsylvania regi- ment in line, or the One hundred and forty-eight Pennsylvania Volunteers. Only the immediate operations of the One hundred and forty-seventh on the battlefield of Gettysburg will be dwelt upon in my connection with these services, but it is not without just pride to emphasize here that the veterans of the older, as well as those of the newer companies, have a grand stretch of veteran service equaled by few, and surpassing a large number of Pennsylvania regiments. With the combination of the new sturdy companies, the newly-numbered regiment, already a veteran body, was rechristened the One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers on October 10, 1862, on Bolivar Heights, Virginia. With this introduction I will proceed to give the operations of the regi- ment upon this historic field. From a standpoint on the crest of Cemetery Hill, looking down the Bal- timore pike, about 5 o'clock on the evening of July 1, 1863, an observer could have been seen approaching, amid clouds of curling dust, a column of Union troops, carrying aloft the stars and srripes, the emblem of our Na- tional sovereignty. The day was hot, sultry and cloudless, but the sun's rays were fast losing power, and the great orb of day was gradually settling behind the summit of the distant South Mountain. Then, as the column drew nearer to the crest of the hill, it filed off to the left through open fields, and continued the march until Little Round Top was reached. It was the advance of Slocum's Twelfth Army Corps with Geary's Second Division in the lead, whose headquarters flag of dark blue with its in- spiring big white star emblazoned in the cmter, was at the head. The First Brigade, consisting of the Twenty-eighth and One hundred and forty- seveuth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the Fifth, Seventh, Twenty-ninth and Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteers, had the right of the line, and were in front. It was at this supreme moment that the shattered command of the late lamented Reynolds, under General Howard, had fallen back from sheer force of overwhelming numbers of the enemy, through the town of Gettysburg, and had just taken position on a defensive line on Cemetery Hill. The battle of the first day was ended The enemy held the town and were keeping up a brisk skirmish fire on the outposts of Howard's line of battle. His brave yet overpowered and defeated veterans stood like an iron wall awaiting the rebel onset, until reinforcements would ar- rive. This brave general and his veteran soldiery may have had in their minds at that critical moment, the words imputed to the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo. When Bonaparte had pressed him sorely, and the crisis appeared to be turning in favor of the French, the Duke set on his faithful charger under an old apple tree peering anxiously through his field-glass in the direction of his expected reserves, and exclaimed, "'I wish to God that night or Blucher Avould soon come !" The Twelfth Corps was the first to arrive to Howard's relief, and Geary's Division was stretched on a thin line from Little Round Top to the southern confines of Cemetery Hill, and connected with Howard's left, while Williams' First Division swung over to the right of Howard on Gulp's Hill. Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 721 As night dosed on the scene that evening Geary's Division occupied the precise position on which was fought the final third day's struggle on the left and center of the Union line of battle. There had been no troops of either army on this portion of the line pre- vious to Geary's occupation. It was the master mind of General Hancock, who was at this hour per- sonally on the field— (in the absence of General Meade and his (Hancock's) own Second Corps)— that marked the prolongation of the future line of bat- tle from Cemetery Hill to Little Round Top ; and this position was the cor- rect one, as the closing struggle of the third day's fight proved. The common assertions made by early historians, lecturers, writers and critics of this great battle, that the Second Corps first came to the relief of General Howard on the afternoon or evening of the 1st of July, are proved to be incorrect and without the shadow of fact. General Geary's Division arrived on the left, and held this position nine hours before the Second Corps came up, or from 5 p. m., July 1, to 2 a. m., July 2. Williams' First Division of the Twelfth Corps at the same time swung around and occupied Gulp's Hill on the right. With these reinforcements happily on the ground' the enemy made no further attempts to follow up his successes of the first day's operations. In position at the northern base of Little Round Top, the One hundred and forty-seventh was ordered out on picket duty for the night. It was advanced several hundred yards to the front, and right of its regi- mental position in line, in the direction of the Emmitsburg road, on rough, rocky ground, and occupied a stone fence as a protection. Here the regiment — with the exception of the reserve in the rear — though tired and weary by long and forced marches, stood alert and vigilant against the coming of the old enemy. No one that night in the weird darkness which hung like a pall aroiind the lonely picket post would have dreamed that on this spot, and to the right, left and front of it, sanguinary struggles would take place in the next two succeeding days — parallels of which for desperate and reckless bravery, on both sides, have had few equals in ancient or modern warfare. To the left, up a dark ravine, skirted by frowning forest trees, stood the great rocks of the Devil's Den , gaping in wild grandeur ; from whose deep crevices the daring rebel sharpshooters, with unerring aim, made sad havoc with many brave ofiicers and men of the Union army. Near by loomed up the rock-ribbed, forest covered sides of the Round Tops, which were great objective points of the enemy — and for the posses- sion of which both armies desparately contended for the mastery. Then to the front were the open fields extending to and beyond the Emmitsburg road, where General Sickles met the onslaught of Longstreet's •and Hill's forces of the rebel army. Then again to the right lay the long stretch of open country, extending from Little Round Top to Cemetery Hill, on whose sodden soil Hancock and a host of brave leaders and veteran soldiers rolled back the mighty and seemingly irresistible columns of Pickett, and Heth, and Wilcox. The night wore on, and the boys of the One hundred and forty-seventh were not disturbed by the enemy at their picket post. 722 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. Quietly, about 2 o'clock a. m., a column of Union troops advanced to our picket line and relieved the One hundred and forty-seventh from further picket duty on that iMrtion of the field. It was a detail of the Second Corps which had just arrived at the front. Morning dawned, and the regi- ment with the division moved cautiously over to the right — taking position on the east crest of Culp's Hill, facing the wooded ravine, through which flowed Rock creek. Greene's Third Brigade was placed on the left and joined Wadsworth's Division of the First Corps, at the angle and apex of the hill, and extended his right southward along the crest, forming a right angle with Wadsworth, and connecting with Candy's First Brigade, while Kane's Second Brigade continued the line of battle to the right until he connected with the left of Williams' First Division. The One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment lay in position next to Greene's New Yorkers, and directly on their right. And, now, in this position, on the morning of the 2d of July, the regi- ment was engaged in its front in completing a line of breastworks facing the enemy who were in the ravine below. The Twenty-eighth Pennsyl- vania Volunteers held the ground directly to our right, overlapping some- what our position, and that regiment alternately assisted with the One hundred and forty-seventh at the works. As usual in the hasty prepara- tions for defense, the pioneer corps was not at hand, and bayonets, tin pans, tin cups, etc., were improvised as implements in the construction of earthworks. The day wore on without any incident transpiring to break the monotony of preparation on either side. Stillness on the part of the combatants to a painful degree was felt throughout the whole operations of the vast field of forces. From our standpoint scarcely the report of a picket gun could be heard. Meade and' Lee were rapidly yet quietly hurrying to the front their be- lated battalions, to this vortex at which each must stake the superiority as well as the very existence of their respective armies. It was 3 o'clock p. m., when the enemy's artillery broke the ominous silence, and the struggle of the second day began in terrible earnest on our left and center. As Sickles met the onset of Longstreet's and Hill's Corps, the over- whelming forces of the enemy induced General Meade to order two of Geary's Brigades, the First and Second, to the aid of Sickles, leaving the Third Brigade to spread out in a thin line to cover the ground vacated. Williams' First Division on the extreme right was also taken away, witli the exception of one brigade, leaving the right flank exposed. This move- ment the enemy soon discovered, as the sequel proved. The One hundred and forty-seventh, in its brigade, was moved to the left and rear of Ceme- tery Hill, and near to what is now known as Zeigler's Grove. Here the regiment lay in reserve, in close column by brigade, for several hours, await- ing orders for action. It had left its position on Culp's Hill between 3 and 4 p. m., and had- held its place at Zeigler's Grove for at least four hours without any movement, but its services were not needed at the front. This point about midway between the extreme right and left had many regiments laying en masse, and from here any point of the Union line could be quickly supported in a very short time. It has been stated by numerous critics that General Meade erred in Pennsylvania at Qettyshurg. 723 taking away the greater portion of the Twelfth Corps from Gulp's Hill, leaving it but partially protected, yet, when it is known that these and other troops were massed as reserves in the rear of General Sickles, who was fighting desparately to hold his critical position and drive back the enemy, it will be seen and readily admitted that the commander of the Union army held this as the key to his position. If Ewell's forces had advanced on Gulp's Hill and taken the position vacated by our corps, or had still further advanced in the direction of Spangler's Spring and the Baltimore pike, they would have been com- pelled to lengthen their line of battle correspondingly, and would have fatally exposed their extended line to the attack of this heavy reserve force. Thus, certainly, reasoned General Meade at that period of the evening of July 2. The battle continued with unabated fury until 9 p. m. Geme- tery Hill and Gulp's Hill had frequently been charged upon by the enemy who was as often repulsed by the stubborn bravery of the Union soldiery, until overwhelming darkness drew the veil over the scene and both com- batants had then nearly the same ground which they at first occupied. The enemy had partially gained the position vacated by Williams' Divi- sion, and had driven back from the earthworks a part of the thin line occupied by a portion of Greene's Brigade, which had stubbornly fought, inch by inch, to hold the works vacated by the First and Second Brigades of Geary's Division, a few hours previously. They battled bravely against great odds, securely holding the left of the line, but retreated only one hun- dred yards on the right, and held the enemy outside of our breastworks which he failed to take. The battle of the second day closed, and at 10 o'clock p. m. the One hun- dred and forty-seventh, in brigade, together with Kane's Second Brigade, were ordered back to confront the enemy, and retake the position par- tially lost during their absence. The task of such a movement, in utter darkness, amid heavily-timbered ridges and ravines on Gulp's Hill, was one of extreme danger and uncertainty, and the responsibility devolving upon the commanders of divisions, brigades and regiments required the utmost care and ingenuity in the manoeuvres. It seemed to be a night of bewilderment to all, for I have failed to discover any two members of the One hundred and forty-seventh whose views coincided on the route traversed. It was a night of slow, tiresome, round-about manoeuvering, through fields, over fences, now on the pike; then a whispered halt! a rest for some minutes; the men asleep! Wake up! a forward, march! came from the officers and non-commissioned officers of companies, in low hurried tones. Then, again, began the slow, silent movement forward, over rough, stony, stumpy ground, through bushes and briars, over stones, ditches, gullies and marshes, until near daybreak, when the regiment was faced in line of battle for the- third and last day's fight. This position was about three hundred yards to the right and rear of the one held by the regi- ment and vacated on the previous day. The night's march may be summed up about in this wise; draw a ziz-zag line from Ziegler's Grove to a point where the Baltimore pike crosses Rock creek, in the direction of Taneytown, then draw a sinuous line with numerous backward curves from that point to the Gulp's Hill position. 724 Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. ^•here daylight found us, and j'ou have the outline of the ground oT«r which the One hundred and forty-seventh marched that night. The position of the One hundred and forty-seventh on the morning of the third day's battle was facing a wooded ravine, with an open, unculti- vated field in the rear. Through the thin sldrt of trees in our front was seen a small triangular field, ascending upward from us to the timbered hill beyond. To our left and front, running diagnonally to the woods, a stone fence slanted, forming an apex at the works, in which the enemy was posted. This was Johnson's Division of Ewell's rebel corps. The One hundred and forty-seventh was only divided from the enemy by this small triangular field, of which our regiment formed the base, while the enemy was on much higher ground and apparently had the best position. Our command was so prostrated by want of sleep and continuous duty, day and night, since its arrival on the first day, that, at this hour of day- break, when the order for firing was given (lying prone so as not to draw the attention of the enemy), many of cur men sank to the ground, and, unconsciously, fell asleep, but were soon awakened to the realty of battle and joined in the continous music, earnestly with their rifles. "We can see no rebs to fire at," said the boys, rubbing their eyes. "Our orders are," replied the commanders of companies, "to keep firing con- tinually and without intermission, through these trees in our front, over that little field and into the woods beyond." It was soon discovered that the woods in question were full of them, for the enemy soon began to respond in a lively manner. The wooded ravine in our immediate front, offering better protection, while the skirt of trees at the base of the open field, added a safer position and a clearer range on the enemy, and the regiment was soon ordered forward to occupy the advantageous ground. Nature formed an abrupt rocky bluff in the rear, which, some hours later, proved a valuable defense against the enemy's artillery. On the immediate left of the One hundred and forty-seventh, and ex- tending up the wooded ravine, were Kane's Second Brigade, consisting of the Twenty-ninth, One hundred and ninth and One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, one or two of the Ohio regiments, and the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers of our brigade, and Lockwood's Marylanders, closing up the gap to General Greene's right, thus complet- ing the formation. on our left around Gulp's Hill. To our right one of the Ohio regiments of the brigade was posted, which extended the line of our division to near Spangler's Spring, and connected with the left of Williams' Division. The regiment, together with the whole Hue of Geary's Division, kept up a constant fire into the woods directly in front during almost the entire forenoon, and boxes of ammunition were frequently brought up to re- plenish the cartridge boxes. Occasional silence would ensue, then the enemy would sally out of the cover of the woods and charge upon our line, but the well-aimod rifles of the boys in blue invariably sent leaden hail into his ranks, cutting his advancing columns down with frightful carnage. The enemy from his high ground shot over us, causing comparatively light loss on our side, while our fire inflicted great loss to the rebels. It was about li o'clock a. m. when Johnson's rebel division, in our Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 725 immediate front, uncovered from their retreat in tlie woods, where our persistent fire had all the forenoon held and completely kept them, and with astonishing deliberation moved on cur position. The One hundred and forty-seventh and the troops on its right and left very calmly withheld their fire until the enemy came within easy rifle range. The enemy advanced steadily and in splendid order, and was certainly under the impression that Lee's hopes depended upon their success in driving back the right of the Union line. Their columns reached a dis- tance of less than one hundred yards from our position, when the long line of the division of General Geary poured a deliberate and most deadly fire into their ranks. This was done with cool and well-aimed precision, such as old veterans alone could do, and the destruction of the rebel column was almost complete. One stalwart rebel alone was left standing among the mass of killed and wounded in our direct front, and as he gazed perplexed and amazed at the terrible carnage around him, looking for the concealed foe in front, and pointing his gun aimlessly, in the act of firing, he too, in another instant lay among his dead and wounded comrades. Another wounded man in our front was observed laying on his back reloading his gun, and our men, surmising that he intended to shoot at them, raised their guns to dispatch him before he could have the chance to fire, but by persuasion they desisted. The wounded rebel was watched, when he deliberately placed the muzzle of his gun under his chin, and with his ramrod forced the trigger and shot himself through the head. By mutual consent apparently, but from other reasons after- wards explained, there followed a general cessation of hostilities on both sides. It was no>v near noon. All along the line fighting had ceased. It was an ominous silence in the fury of battle. Its meaning to the old veterans of the Army of the Potomac indicated that the cunning Lee was incubating some piece of strategy of terrific proportions, to break the Union line at some unknown point, and, as a last desperate effort of the third day's fight, to put to rout the grand old army which he had faced so often before. We had not long to wait until the mysterious silence was broken. A solid shot from a signal gun of the enemy's artillery whistled over Cemetery Hill, and sailed down the Baltimore pike, over- head, with an air of defiance. Then was ushered in the famous and his- toric two hours' cannonading. The whole rebel artillery was directed along the Union line of battle, while General INIeade answered back with the greater portion of his ar- tillery. The scene now became terrific and indescribable. Projectiles of all sorts rained mercilessly above us, among us and all around us, as if the infernal regions had broken loose. The stories of the ancient mythical gods of war could not have exaggerated the description of this awful scene. Shells, solid shot and every kind of ammunition known to American and English gunnery were hurled from rebel batteries. They came whistling, shrieking, moaning, whirling, fluttering, bouncing, bursting and crashing with fearful force and rapidity. It was indeed a time for the infantrymen to hunt protection or be annihilated, for it was the artillery- men's fight. Fortunately for the One hundred and forty-seventh, the abrupt bank in our rear, with rocks and trees for shelter, formed a natural barrier which greatly protected us. 72G Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. The strange anomaly of firing at the enemy , in our front, and yet re- ceiving his heavy cannonading by the rear, seldom occurs in great battles, as was the case at Gettysbui-g. After nearly two hours of artillery duel- ling, quiet once more followed, but it was the precursor to Lee's last great charge with his whole army against the Union position. It was the final prelude, the hurling against Meade's army of Lee's cavalry, infantry and artillery, from the extreme right to the extreme left of his line of battle. ' Pickett's famous charge began the coming desperate struggle, and all along the Union left and center the great and sanguine hosts of the South advanced on our grand army as if their success was a certainty. The enemy on Gulp's HUl had been silenced so completely by the destruc- tive fire from Geary's Division just previous to the great cannonading, that no attempt on his part to obey Lee's last general order to advance all along his line was made in our front. While thus watching the incidents following the last attack on our position by the enemy's artillery, the welcome order rang out, "forward and charge the enemy !" Eagerly the whole lint of division pressed for- ward, and in a few minutes our whole front was cleared and not an able- bodied rebel was left on Gulp's Hill. They retreated into the ravine along Rock Creek, and before night withdrew wholly from their shelter to join their comrades who were equally worsted on their right. Guriosity was now directed to this strange suicide before mentioned, and it was found that the rebel had been previously shot in the leg, but by no means fatally, and the reason for taking his own life was never probably made known. Late in the afternoon the One hundred and forty-seventh was moved to the extreme left of the division, and stationed on the highest point or apex of Gulp's Hill, at an angle where the right of Wadsworth's Divi- sion of First Gorps met the left of Greene's Brigade. Geary's Division was now concentrated on a much shorter line, owing to a brigade of the Sixth Corps having reinforced the One hundred and forty-seventh and other regiments of the division, about the time the final charge of our forces had been made. As darkness grew apace and veiled the bloody battlefield, it was the luck of the One hundred and forty-seventh to be placed again on duty to the front, and without sleep for the third successive night. First, at Little Round Top; the second, hustling and movdng all night in the very short space of a mile or two ; and, the third, to again watch the uncertain but dangerous movements of the enemy. However, details were only required, alternating in the usual manner, while the reserve slept with hands grasping their loaded guns. With all the depressing effects resulting from the wear and tear of battle on the average soldier, still grotesque and ludicrous incidents occur in every fight which are as lasting in his memory as the most vivid encounters with a desperate foe. The veteran seldom permitted despondency or the dark side of war to give him the dumps or make him of a melancholy turn of mind. In the midst of terrible reverses or calamitous loss in battle, the commonplace jest, the chance of foraging, and the satisfac- Pennsylvania at Gettijshi(r