Sword and Pen: Ventures and Adventures of Willard GlazierOwens, John Algernon
History
Sword and Pen: Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier
Owens, John Algernon
Glazier, Willard W., 1841-1905; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
"During these days of deadly strife and of unprecedented slaughter, our
cavalry was by no means idle. On the morning of the first, Kilpatrick
advanced his victorious squadrons to the vicinity of Abbottstown, where
they struck a force of rebel cavalry, which they scattered, capturing
several prisoners, and then rested. To the ears of the alert cavalry
chieftain came the sound of battle at Gettysburg, accompanied with the
intelligence, from prisoners mostly, that Stuart's main force was bent
on doing mischief on the right of our infantry lines, which were not far
from the night's bivouac.
"He appeared instinctively to know where he was most needed; so, in the
absence of orders, early the next morning he advanced on Hunterstown. At
this point were the extreme wings of the infantry lines, and as
Kilpatrick expected, he encountered the rebel cavalry, commanded by his
old antagonists, Stuart, Lee and Hampton. The early part of the day was
spent mostly in reconnoitring, but all the latter part of the day was
occupied in hard, bold, and bloody work. Charges and counter-charges
were made; the carbine, pistol and sabre were used by turns, and the
artillery thundered long after the infantry around Gettysburg had sunk
to rest, well-nigh exhausted with the bloody carnage of the weary day.
But Stuart, who had hoped to break in upon our flank and rear, and to
pounce upon our trains, was not only foiled in his endeavor by the
gallant Kilpatrick, but also driven back upon his infantry supports and
badly beaten.
"In the night, Kilpatrick, after leaving a sufficient force to prevent
Stuart from doing any special damage on our right, swung around with the
remainder of his division to the left of our line, near Round Top, and
was there prepared for any work which might be assigned him.
"Friday, July third, the sun rose bright and warm upon the blackened
forms of the dead which were strewn over the bloody earth; upon the
wounded, who had not been cared for, and upon long glistening lines of
armed men, ready to renew the conflict. Each antagonist, rousing every
slumbering element of power, seemed to be resolved upon victory or
death.
"The fight commenced early, by an attack of General Slocum's men, who,
determined to regain the rifle-pits they had lost the evening before,
descended like an avalanche upon the foe. The attack met with a prompt
response from General Ewell. But after several hours of desperate
fighting, victory perched upon the Union banners, and with great loss
and slaughter, the rebels were driven out of the breast-works, and fell
back upon their main lines near Benner's Hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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