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General Wadswortli’a division was sent to occupy aheight to the right and rear of our position. I11 passingthrough the town we lost many prisoners, but the enemy,Perceiving the strength of our position on the heights,hiade no further attempts to renew the engagement that
evening.
“About 7 p. M. Generals Slocum and Sickles arrived atthe cemetery. A formal order was at the same time putmto my hands placing General Hancock in command ofthe left wing. But General Slocum being present, andsenior, I turned the command over to him, and resumedthe direct command of the Eleventh Corps, whereuponGeneral Hancock repaired to the headquarters of Gen-eral Meade . The eventful day was over. The First and■Eleventh corps, numbering less than eighteen thousand"leu, nobly aided by Buford’s division of cavalry, hadengaged and held in check nearly double their numbersfrom 10 in the morning until 7 in the evening. They gaveti'ny, it is true, after hard fighting, yet they secured andhold the remarkable position which, under the able gen-eralship of the commander of this army, contributed to‘he grand results of July 2 d and 3 d.”
In a letter to President Lincoln, dated Near Ber-«u, July I 8 tli, 1863 (“Official Records,” Vol.XXVII., p. 700), General Howard says:
“The successful issue of the battle of Gettysburg wasdue mainly to the energetic operations of our present
commanding general prior to the engagement, and tothe manner in which lie handled his troops on the field.The reserves have never before during this war beenthrown in at just the right moment. In many caseswheu points were just being carried by the enemy, aregiment or brigade appeared to stop his progress andhurl him back. Moreover, I have never seen a morehearty cooperation on the part of general officers assince General Meade took command.”
Li a resolution dated January 28th, 1864, thethanks of Congress were tendered to GeneralJoseph Hooker and his army for the movementcovering Washington and Baltimore ; “and toMajor-General George G. Meade, Major-GeneralOliver O. Howard , and the officers and soldiers ofthat army, for the skill and heroic valor which, atGettysburg , repulsed, defeated, and drove back,broken and dispirited, beyond the Rappahannock,the veteran army of the Rebellion.” On May30th, 1866, the thanks of Congress were givento Major-General W. S. Hancock, “for his gal-lant, meritorious, and conspicuous share in thatgreat and decisive victory”—meaning Gettys-burg . Editors.
CITIZENS OP GETTYSBURG IN THE UNION ARMY.
BY H. M. M. RICHARDS, COMPANY A, 26TII PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
piOR twenty-three years we have heard it assertedthat the people of Gettysburg were lacking inPatriotism because they did not spring to arms enWassc, and assist in repelling the invaders. In TheEntcry for November, 1886, Charles P. Weakleyls mentioned, in addition to old John Burns, as one^o volunteered; but these are not all.
Gpon the first indication of an invasion of Penn-sylvania , the 26th Regiment, P. V. M was organ-^d and mustered into the United States serviceHarrisburg , under the command of ColonelJennings of that city. Company A of thisSnnent, to which I belonged, was composed of® “dents from the Lutheran Theological SeminaryIhe Pennsylvania College of Gettysburg , andf,. 0ltize ns of the town; one other company cameHanover, but a few miles distant,to I 1 ^ Ulle 23d we l e -H Harrisburg for Gettysburg ,be used, I believe, as riflemen among the hills. ai ' Cashtown. A railroad accident preventedfls S f^ an ^ rom I )e: > :n g' carried into effect, and keptWh' m 1 ' ea °l 1 l 11 g Gettysburg until the 26th, byIn ^ ^ me General Early had reached Cashtown.n ^ ace ordance with orders received from Major^rauviiie O. Haller, 4 . in command of the post, weA 10 Marched out on the Chambersburg pike at 10June 26th, for a distance of about three andWl] ^ accompanied by Major Robert Bell,
Und COmmail ded a troop of horse, also raised, Icol ers ^ ari| !> In Gettysburg . Having halted, ourhr ° ne ^ accompanied by Major Bell, rode to the°' v of an elevation distant several hundred yards,
and there saw General Early’s troops a few milesdistant. Early says in his report: “I sent GeneralGordon with his brigade and White’s battalion ofcavalry on the pike through Cashtown toward Get-tysburg , and moved with the rest of the commandto the left through Hilltown to Mummasburg. Theobject of this movement was for Gordon to amuseand skirmish with the enemy while I should geton his flank and rear so as to captui’e his wholeforce.” We, a few hundred men at the most, werein the toils; what should be done? We wouldgladly have marched to join the Army of the Po-tomac, under Meade , but where was it? Ourcolonel, left to his own resources, wisely decidedto make an effort to return to Harrisburg , and im-mediately struck off from the pike, the Confeder-ates capturing many of our rear-guard after a sharpskirmish, and sending their cavalry in pursuit ofus. These latter overtook us in the afternoon atWitmer’s house, about four and a half miles fromGettysburg on the Carlisle road, where after anengagement they were repulsed with some loss.After many vicissitudes, we finally reached Harris-burg , having marched 54 out of 60 consecutivehours, with a loss of some 200 men.
It should be added that Gettysburg, small town as it was, had already furnished its quota to thearmy. Moreover, on the first day of the battlehundreds of the unfortunate men of Reynolds’s gal-lant corps were secreted, sheltered, fed, and aidedin every way by the men and women of the town .
^ Acting