Down below, in the valley, there is another swell of ground, hardly
worth dignifying by the name of ridge, yet assuming a certain
importance, nevertheless, first because it starts from the town
close under Cemetery Hill, thence crossing the valley diagonally
till it becomes merged in Seminary Ridge, at a point nearly opposite
to the Round Tops, and next because the Emmettsburg road runs on
it. In brief, its relation to the battle was this: it ran from the
Union right into the Confederate right, so traversing the entire
front of both armies. It had an important part to play in the second
day's battle, as we shall soon see, for, though occupying three
days, Gettysburg was but a series of combats in which neither army
employed its whole force at any one time.
[1] Gettysburg is the county seat of Adams County; is one hundred
and fourteen miles west of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania College is
located here.
[2] The National Cemetery was dedicated by Abraham Lincoln, Nov.
19, 1863; it is a place of great and growing interest and beauty.
The National Monument standing on this ground, where sleeps
an army, was dedicated by General Meade in 1869. The monument
itself was designed by J. G. Batterson, of Hartford, Conn., the
statuary by Randolph Rogers. In 1872 the cemetery was transferred
to the national government. A large part of the adjoining ridge
is in charge of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association,
a corporation formed under the laws of Pennsylvania for the
preservation of the field and its landmarks. No other battle-ground
was ever so distinctly marked or so easily traced as this.
[3] Shells remain sticking in the walls of some buildings yet. A
memorial stone at the steps in front of the Lutheran church, on
Chambersburg street, indicates the spot where Chaplain Howell, of
the 90th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was shot dead while entering the
church, then being used as a hospital.
[4] The Lutheran Seminary was used both as a hospital and
observatory by the Confederates. Lee's headquarters were in a little
stone house quite near the seminary buildings, which are not more
than half a mile from the centre of Gettysburg.
[5] In 1863 all these hills were much more densely wooded than now,
so forming an impenetrable screen to their defenders.
[6] The bowlder-strewn strip of ground lying between Devil's Den and
Little Round Top is the most impressive part of the field, I think.
II
THE MARCH INTO PENNSYLVANIA
[Sidenote: Lee in Maryland.]
It is in no way essential to relate in detail how Lee's army,
slipping away from ours on the Rappahannock,[7] and after brushing
out of its path our troops posted in the Shenandoah Valley, had been
crossing the Potomac into Maryland since the 21st of June, by way of
the Cumberland Valley, without firing a shot.[8]
[Sidenote: His Bold Strategy.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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