leg amputated, grave and stoical, his cap drawn over his face, and a cigar in his mouth. The enemy opened at daylight with artillery. At dawn General Slocum made an attack on Ewell; he commanded, it will be remembered, Stonewall Jackson's men, and the fight was maintained with equal spirit on both sides, Slocum being aided by Sykes' division of the 3d corps and Humphreys. Ewell's forces were at length driven back, and at 11 o'clock, a. m., there was a lull and quiet on the bloody field.

It has been stated that the key to the Union position was Cemetery Hill. Lee determined to make a desperate effort to get possession of this hill. With this purpose he concentrated upon that hill the concentric fire of more than 100 guns, ranged in a half circle. The lull had continued until near 1. p. m. Meade, Howard, and other leaders were watching for the attack, when at 1 o'clock the thunder of an hundred heavy guns burst upon the position. It was held by the 11th and 12th corps. The storm came suddenly. Soldiers and officers worn with battle and seeking rest were scattered upon the grass. Many were struck as they lay; some died. with cigars in their mouths, some at their dinners on the crest of the hill, and some with letters and photographs of friends in their hands, taking a last fond look before the battle which all knew was to be decisive, and fatal to many. Horses were shot down as they stood quietly waiting for the riders to mount. The air in an instant was filled with missiles and splinters; the earth and rocks torn up and shattered, filled the air with clouds of dust; the branches of trees were torn off, and the grave stones and monuments scattered in wild confusion. Within five minutes after the terrific rain of death began, the hill was cleared in all its unsheltered places of every living thing. All but the dead sought shelter. For an hour and a half, this terrible concentrated fire on Cemetery Hill was continued, and was replied to with equal vigor by the batteries on the ridge and range of hills. After the cannonade had continued about three hours, General Howard slackened his fire to allow his guns to cool. It was supposed by the enemy that our batteries were silenced, and that the time for an irresistible charge had come. The divisions of

Virginians, under General Picket, led the advance, supported by large bodies of other troops. As the leading columns of the advance emerged from the woods and became fully exposed to the Union fire, it wavered. But Picket's brigades did not falter; although they were exposed to the terrific fire of grape, canister and shell, from at least forty guns, with a bravery worthy of old Virginia they still held on their way steady and firm, closing up their ranks as their comrades were cut down. They crossed the Emmettsburg road, and approach the masses of infantry. General Gibbon, now in command of the Second corps, bare headed, walks along his line, shouting, "hold your fire, boys, they are not near enough yet." Still they came on, and with fixed bayonets sweep up to the rifle pits. "Now fire!" thundered Gibbon. A blaze of death all along the line of the Second corps followed; down go the rebels, but the survivors do not yet falter; they charge on the pits, -on they press, up to the muzzles of the artillery; but here they are met with such storms of grape and canister, that the survivors throw down their arms and surrender, rather than run the gauntlet of the retreat. Three thousand prisoners were taken. The result is thus stated by General Meade in a dispatch dated at 8.30. P. M.:

"The enemy opened at one o'clock, P. M., from about one hundred and fifty guns. They concentrated upon my left centre, continuing without intermission for about three hours, at the expiration of which time they assaulted my left centre twice, being upon both occasions handsomely repulsed with severe loss to them, leaving in our hands nearly three thousand prisoners."*

When the repulse was complete, whole companies and regiments threw down their arms and surrendered, to avoid the terrific fire to which they were exposed. The battle was The army of the Potomac had again vindicated its bravery and its endurance. As General Meade rode proudly yet sadly over the bloody field, a band passing struck up "Hail to the Chief."

over.

* Military and Naval History of the Rebellion, page 404. Vide Meade's Report.

The next morning was as sweet, fresh, and balmy as though the storm of death had not been sweeping for three long days over these quiet, pastoral Pennsylvania hills and valleys. Alas! must the historian forever, to the last period of recorded time, recount these terrible scenes of slaughter suffering and death!

Lee was in no condition to renew the attack. His ammunition was short, the spirit of his army broken, and yet Meade made no vigorous pursuit. The rebel loss was 14,000 prisoners, and probably 25,000 in killed, wounded and missing. The Union loss was about 23,000 in all. Few battles in ancient or modern times have been more severely contested; few where greater numbers were engaged, and where there was a greater loss of life; none where more heroic valor was displayed on both sides. Had Sheridan, or Grant, or McPherson, commanded in place of Meade, it is believed Lee's army would never have recrossed the Potomac.

We have seen with how grateful a heart Lincoln returned thanks to Grant and his brave officers and soldiers in the West. He received the intelligence of the victory of the army of the Potomac with emotions not less warm. On the 4th of July he issued the following announcement:

"The President of the United States announces to the country, that the news from the army of the Potomac, up to ten o'clock P. M., of the 3d, is such as to cover the army with the highest honor-to promise great success to the cause of the Union-and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen; and that for this he especially desires that on this day He whose will, not ours, should ever be done,' be everywhere remembered and reverenced with the profoundest gratitude." *

Mr. Lincoln had been made devotional, reverential, humble, by the great events in which he lived; and his State papers, his letters and addresses, indicate more and more even to the day of his death, a consciousness of the Divine Government.

On the evening of the 4th of July, the popular exultation over these successes found expression in a serenade to the

• Military and Naval History of the War, p 505.

President. Mr. Lincoln said: "I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion of this call;" and ever mindful of the principles of the Declaration of Independence, which were the basis of his political creed, he said: "How long ago is it? Eighty odd years since on the 4th of July, for the first time in the history of the world, a Nation by its Representatives, assembled and declared as a self-evident truth, that all men are created equal: That was the birth day of the United States of America." He then alluded to the other extraordinary events in American history which had occurred on the 4th of July-the death of Jefferson and Adams on that day, and said: "And now at this last 4th of July just passed we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an effort to overthrow the principle that all men are created equal. We have the surrender of a most important position and an army on that very day." And then he alluded proudly and gratefully to the battles in Pennsylvania, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of July, as the victory over the cohorts of those who opposed the Declaration of Independence.

On the 15th of July, the President issued his proclamation, breathing throughout a spirit of grateful reverence to God, of supreme love of country, and of liberty, and sympathy with the afflicted and the suffering. He said:

"It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the army and the navy of the United States victories on the land and on the sea, so signal and so effective, as to furnish reasonable ground for augmented confidence, that the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But these victories have been accorded not without sacrifice of life, limb, health and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal and patriotic' citizens. Domestic affliction, in every part of the country, follows in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of His hand, equally in these triumphs and these sorrows."*

He then invited the people to assemble on the 4th of August, for thanksgiving, praise and prayer, and to render

• Military and Naval History, p. 408.

homage to the Divine Majesty, for the wonderful things He has done in the Nation's behalf; and he called upon the people to invoke His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which had produced, and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion; to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the councils of the Government with wisdom, and to visit with. tender care and consolation those who, through the vicissitudes of battles and sieges have been brought to suffer in mind, body or estate, and finally to lead the whole Nation through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine Will, to unity and fraternal peace.

With these most important victories, East and West, a load was lifted from the troubled heart of the President. The form bowed and almost broken with anxiety, once more was erect; his eye grew visibly brighter, and his whole aspect became again hopeful. But it is not proper to suppress the fact that he was greatly chagrined that Meade permitted Lee and his army again to escape across the Potomac*.

In the Autumn of this year of battles, the State of Pennsylvania purchased ground adjoining the Cemetery at Gettysburg-a part of the battle-field, and consecrated it as a National burying ground for the gallant soldiers who fell in the great battles there fought. On the 19th of November this ground was dedicated to its pious purpose, with solemn and impressive ceremonies. The President, members of the Cabinet, Governors of States, and a brilliant assemblage of officers, soldiers and citizens, gathered to witness the proceedings. Edward Everett, the venerable statesman and world renowned scholar and orator was selected as the most suitable person to pronounce the oration. It was worthy of the occasion, the theme, and of New England's most polished and graceful speaker. President Lincoln while on his way

*Mr. Carpenter States in his "Six Months at the White House, page 219," That the President in reply to an enquiry, whether he had ever thought that better management on the part of the commanding General might have terminated the war, replied, "Yes, at Malvern Hill where McClellan failed to command an immediate advance upon Richmond; at Chancellorvilie, when Hooker failed to re-enforce Sedgwick, after hearing his cannon upon the extreme right; and at Gettysburg, when Meade failed to attack Lee in his retreat at the bend of the Potomac:" "But" he added, "I do not know that I could have given any different order if I had been there, etc."