Page images
PDF
EPUB

more, and Washington might be taken by his victorious troops.

Lee began his great movement of invasion secretly and shrewdly, and his advance troops were making their way up the Shenandoah Valley for a week before Hooker discovered what was in the wind. Then the Union army was put in the quickest possible motion, and during much of the month of June, 1863, the two powerful armies were racing each other up the two sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Hooker diligently seeking to protect Washington while making every effort to unmask the intentions of the foe. Meanwhile, as the news of these movements became divulged, a general alarm spread through the North. Forts were hastily built to protect Philadelphia and other threatened points, brigades from home guards were recruited and sent to the front, money was sent from the Philadelphia banks to places of safety, the drill rooms were crowded with volunteers, and so great was the alarm that "even the clergy assembled and to a man offered to drop both preaching and the pen and to take up either musket or spade."

In the midst of this march, after the Union army had crossed the Potomac and was pressing up through Maryland, a critical event took place. A force of eleven thousand men lay at Harper's Ferry, and General Hooker asked the Government to remove the public stores from that place and add these men, useless there, to his army. This General Halleck, commander-in-chief, refused to do, and Hooker at once resigned. General Meade was immediately appointed in his place.

This change of commanders, in front of a powerful enemy and on the eve of a great battle, was a perilous

[graphic][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

act, calculated to demoralize the best disciplined troops. With the veterans of the army Hooker was a favorite, a man whom they knew and loved, while they knew much less of Meade, who had commanded only a division of the army. And the change looked like a personal one directed against General Hooker, for the troops at Harper's Ferry, refused to him, were at once placed under Meade's control. In fact, the emergency was so great, that the new general was given absolute powers, and set free from interference of any kind.

It was on the 28th of June, 1863, that General Meade came into this position of responsibility. He lost not a moment in preparing to act. The army at this time had advanced as far as Frederick, Maryland, and Lee, whose advance had reached the Susquehanna and was threatening Philadelphia, ordered his advance troops back when he learned that the Union army was in force so near at hand. He prepared to concentrate his army in the vicinity of Gettysburg.

Meanwhile Meade had put his whole army in motion and had ordered the troops to leave Harper's Ferry and occupy Frederick. Seeking an advantageous position for his army in the terrible struggle that was impending, he selected the line of Big Pipe Creek, southeast of Gettysburg, with the hills of Westminster in the rear. This would have formed an excellent line of defence, but circumstances prevented its use. General Reynolds had been ordered to push forward towards Gettysburg, so as to mask the formation of the battle-line on Pipe Creek. Here, on the 1st of July, he unexpectedly came upon the van of the Confederates and soon found himself engaged in battle with a superior force. In the fight that ensued, Reynolds was

killed and his men were driven back, occupying the hilly ground called Cemetery Ridge. Meade, when he heard of what had taken place and of the strength of the new position, ordered the whole army to march with all haste to Gettysburg.

Both armies were now pressing forward with all rapidity, and during July 2 they continued to arrive and take position on the new battle-line. Meade, when he reached the ground, saw the strength of the position which Howard had secured and determined to stand on the defence, forcing on Lee the perilous alternative of attack. It was not until late in the afternoon of that day that the battle began and it continued along the whole line until night had fallen, not ending until ten o'clock at night. The struggle was one of frightful energy; never had those two veteran hosts fought with more desperate courage, and a large percentage of the two armies were killed or wounded. When the day's deadly work ended the Confederates had driven back the advanced Union line, but the whole length of Cemetery Ridge was still firmly held. This Meade determined to hold during the next day, while Lee, encouraged by his partial success, determined to continue the attack. Such was the position of the two armies when the day dawned on the 3d of July.

That day was the turning point in the war. General Lee saw how much depended on the day's work and determined upon a desperate effort for victory. The battle began with a frightful cannonade, in which, for two hours of the afternoon, more than two hundred cannon poured out their fiery hail. Then, when the Union cannon ceased firing and seemed as if silenced, a great line of infantry, led by General Pickett and

« PreviousContinue »