THE FIRST DAY AT GETTYSBURG.

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but was soon severely wounded. Colonel Wister, who succeeded him, metthe same fate, and Colonel Dana took command of the brigade. Ramseur,"who followed Daniel, by a conversion to the left, now faced Robinson andCutler with his own brigade, the remnant of Iverson’s, and one regiment ofO’Neal’s, his right connecting with Daniel’s left, and the fighting became hot.East of the ridge, Doles’s brigade had been held in observation, but about3:30 p. m., on the advance of Early, he sent his skirmishers forward anddrove those of Devin—who had gallantly held the enemy’s advance in checkwith his dismounted troopers—from their line and its hillock on Rock Creek.Harlow, considering this an eligible position for his own right, advancedbis division, supported by Wilkeson’s battery, and seized it. This made itnecessary for Schurz to advance a brigade of Schimmelfennig ’s divisionto connect with Barlow, thus lengthening his already too extended line.

The arrival of Early’s division had by this time brought an overwhelmingforce on the flank and rear of the Eleventh Corps. On the east of RockCreek, Jones’s artillery battalion, within easy range, enfiladed its whole linea nd took it in reverse, while the brigades of Gordon, Hays, and Avery in line,with Smith’s in reserve, advanced about 4 p. m. upon Barlow’s position, Doles,°f Rodes’s division, connecting with Gordon. An obstinate and bloody con-test ensued, in which Barlow was desperately wounded, Wilkeson killed, andthe whole corps forced back to its original line, on which, with the aid ofCoster’s brigade and Heckman’s battery, drawn from Cemetery Hill, Schurzondeavorod to rally it and cover the town. The fighting here was well sus-tained, but the Confederate force was overpowering in numbers, and theHoops retreated to Cemetery Hill, Ewell entering the town about 4:30 r. m.These retrograde movements had uncovered the flank of the First Corps andllUl de its right untenable.

Meanwhile, that corps had been heavily engaged along its whole line; for,011 the approach of Rodes, Hill attacked with both his divisions. There werefhus opposed to the single disconnected Federal line south of the CashtownPike two solid Confederate ones which outflanked their left a quarter of aHide or more. Biddle’s small command, less than a thousand men, after aRevere contest, was gradually forced back. In McPherson’s wood and beyond,tei'edith’s and Dana’s brigades repeatedly repulsed their assailants, but asiddle’s retirement uncovered their left, they too fell back to successive posi-i°ns from which they inflicted heavy losses, until finally all three reached the

airtR™ T0 CuT ’ p> 280 -— The death of Lieuten-t’o i!a l’ ar< ! Wilkeson, who commanded Battery G,err , 1 S. Artillery, was one of the most heroic

0 l(l So< l es of the fight. He was but nineteen yearscor . au ^ was H ie son Samuel Wilkeson, who, as^elnT 0 ” 11611 ! of the “New-York Times, ” was atWilt 6 S Headquarters during the fight. Youngte r ? son > by his fearless demeanor, held his bat-Gef ln an ex P° se( l position on the Union right,afly 6ral 'Hrtu 1 B. Gordon, finding it impossible to\yj]^ llee bis Confederate division in the face oft]^ es °n’s fire, and realizing that if the officer on° rse could be disposed of the battery wouldV °L- in. 19

not remain, directed two batteries of his com-mand to train every gun upon him. Wilkeson wasbrought to the ground, desperately wounded, andhis horse was killed. He was carried by the Confed-erates to the Alms House (or dragged himself there— the accounts differ), where he died that night.Just before he expired, it is said, he asked forwater; a canteen was brought to him; as he tookit a wounded soldier lying next to him begged, “ForGod ’s sake give me some! ” He passed the can-teen untouched to the man, ■who drank every dropit contained. Wilkeson smiled on the man, turnedslightly, and expired.— Editors.