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at McConnellsburg been with this brave and dashing officer, the whole of that train might have been captured.

In this gallant affair about one hundred wagons-as many as this small body of cavalry could handle-with about one thousand wounded Confederates, who were in the wagons, were captured. The head of this captured train reached Mercersburg near evening, and the whole of it passed on through the town and out toward the Gap, from fear of being recaptured. At or near the Gap the head of the train met a large detachment from the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Colonel Pierce. Believing then that they were strong enough to protect themselves from recapture, the whole turned again and went back to Mercersburg, where the wounded were taken from the wagons and placed in the Theological Seminary buildings and other improvised hospitals. No sooner was this train and its inmates disposed of, than the brave Jones wanted to make another, dash upon the enemy, but he was overruled by Colonel Pierce. This was not the only instance in the history of war, in which brave and earnest subordinates were held in check, and great and important results prevented by timid, hesitating commanders.

It will be remembered that General J. I. Gregg with his brigade of cavalry had been sent in pursuit of this train. These cavalry-men had skirmishes with its guard at Caledonia Iron Works, in the South Mountain, and at or near Greencastle, capturing a large number of prisoners. The writer passed along the pike from Chambersburg to Gettysburg in the afternoon of Monday, 6th, and from Fayetteville to the top of the mountain passed hundreds of Confederate prisoners under charge of detachments of General Gregg's command.

CHAPTER XI.

PHENOMENA OF BATTLE SOUND.

LTHOUGH but twenty-five miles from Gettysburg, the inhabitants of Chambersburg were scarcely aware that a great battle was being fought at the first named place. A few of our citizens, who resided upon the outskirts of the town, heard the sound of the guns. These sounds, however, were very indistinct. The large majority of our people did not hear them at all. And yet, notwithstanding the reports of the cannon were scarcely heard here, the following indubitable testimony establishes the almost incredible fact that the reports of the guns were heard as far as one hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty miles away. This testimony is from men of undoubted intelligence and veracity, whose standing and character are widely known. The first is from Rev. C. Cort, a minister of the Reformed Church. Mr. Cort's statement is as follows:

MR. J. HOKE:

Dear Sir-As everything relating to the battle of Gettysburg will be of increasing interest as the years pass by, I hereby submit to you for insertion in your book the following singular phenomenon relating to the sound of the guns at that great conflict: On Friday afternoon, July 3d, 1863, I was returning to Somerset, Pennsylvania, from a trip to Mount Pleasant, in Westmore

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land County, same state. Rev. George H. Johnston, then pastor of the Reformed Church in Somerset, but now pastor of a congregation in West Philadelphia, was my traveling companion. We stopped for a late dinner at the hotel of a Mr. Hay, at the eastern base of Chestnut Ridge in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland County, and while we were at dinner the landlord entered the room and remarked that a terrible battle must be going on somewhere. We replied that the latest telegraphic dispatches received at Mount Pleasant before our departure indicated that the invading army under General Lee had met the Federal forces at Gettysburg, and a great battle would, no doubt, be fought there. Mr. Hay replied, "It must be going on now; we hear the cannonading." Expressing our astonishment at his statement, he led us out to the end of his porch, where we distinctly heard what we regarded as heavy and continuous discharges of artillery in an easterly direction. This was about two o'clock, and the precise time when the great artillery duel took place preparatory to Pickett's great charge upon the Federal line. Upon going out to the turnpike the sound was still more distinct. We listened to the portentous sounds for some time with great interest and anxiety, for we knew that to a great extent the destiny of our Government depended upon the battle then in progress. The following entry in my diary indicates the thought which was uppermost in our minds at the time: "May the Lord of hosts give victory to the army of the Union, and may the hordes of rebeldom be discomfitted in the valleys of our noble old Keystone Commonwealth."

Mr. Hay told us that the cannonading had been going on more or less for several days. We afterwards learned that hundreds of people had heard the same sound all along the south-eastern border of Westmoreland County, and that during the battle of Manassas the sound of the cannonading was also distinctly heard throughout the same localities. The distance from the place where we heard this cannonading to Gettysburg, in a straight line, was not less than one hundred and forty miles. The configuration of the intervening country, - the numerous transverse ridges of the Allegheny mountains, would seem to be unfavorable for the transmission of sound so great a distance. And yet, while the fact is established beyond dispute that the sound of the great conflict at Gettysburg was distinctly heard in one of the western counties of the state, it was not heard in many intervening localities not one third that distance from the scene of the conflict. Even in Chambersburg and Greencastle, but about twenty-five miles distant, but few heard the cannonading, and the few who did hear it say it was very indistinct. Here is a question for scientists to solve. Some military men to whom I stated the fact a few days later at Gettysburg, hooted at the idea of

what I said, and supposed, I have no doubt, that I was telling an untruth, or was mistaken. And yet the fact is true beyond question, and upon the strength of what I heard, I at once prepared to start for the scene of strife. Yours respectfully,

Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

C. CORT.

The following letter is from Rev. C. R. Lane, D. D., an eminent and well-known divine of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Lane, at the time of the battle of Gettysburg, resided in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. His statement is as follows:

JACOB HOKE, ESQ.:

CHAMBERSBURG, August 19th, 1884.

Dear Sir-The facts referred to in our late conversation, as I understood the matter at the time, are the following: The sound of the artillery at the battle of Gettysburg, was heard on a mountain in the south-western part of Wyoming County, a distance measured in a straight line of at least one hundred and twenty (120) miles. Supposing the alleged fact to be true, this was a very remarkable propagation of sound and requires,

Ist.

A very favorable state of atmosphere for the propagation of sound. 2d. A favorable current of air; and

3d. Perhaps there was a cloud so situated as to reflect the sound to the particular locality where it was heard.

Thanking you for your efforts to collect and preserve information in regard to the war, I remain, C. R. LANE.*

Yours truly,

* That the phenomena stated by Rev. C. Cort and Rev. Dr. Lane were not confined to the battle of Gettysburg alone, but occurred at other great battles, will appear in the following statements by Rev. Bishop J. J. Glossbrenner, D. D., of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, a resident of Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia, and by Hon. F. M. Kimmell, at the time referred to a resident of Somerset, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and at present residing in Chambersburg. Judge Kimmell was formerly presiding judge of this district, and is a man well known all over the State. Bishop Glossbrenner, by reason of his age, extensive travels, and undoubted integrity, is known from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Coast. The statements of these gentlemen therefore, are beyond dispute.

The statement of Bishop Glossbrenner is as follows:

MR. J. HOKE:

CHURCHVILLE, VIRGINIA, June 19th, 1884.

Dear Sir-In your note you desire me to state in writing what I communicated to you verbally some time ago. That fact is as follows: During

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Deeming the fact of the phenomenon authenticated beyond a doubt, and desiring to know the reasons why this sound was heard at such great distances, and so indistinctly at Chambersburg and at other intervening places, I communicated the facts to the officers of the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, D. C., and asked for an explanation, to be used in my history. The following are the replies.

the great battles about Richmond, which is upwards of one hundred miles from here, we distinctly heard the report of the cannonading.

Respectfully yours,

The following is Judge Kimmell's statement:

MR. J. HOKE:

J. J. GLOSSBRENNER.

CHAMBERSBURG, September 12th, 1884.

Dear Sir-On the 21st of July, 1861, I lived at Somerset, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, distant from Cumberland, Maryland, thirty-seven miles by turnpike road. This latter place is one hundred and ninety miles by rail from Baltimore, and as I now understand the geography of the country one hundred and ninety miles would carry you from Cumberland to either Washington or Bull Run in Virginia. This would make a distance of some two hundred and thirty miles by the roads from Somerset to the battlefield, or as the bird flies, or as sound carries, two hundred miles. Standing on a hill which overlooks the town, in company with others, we distinctly heard the "thuds" of the cannon of the battle, not once only nor for a short time, but often and at intervals extending over hours. We, having previously learned of the army having moved South, conjectured that a battle was being fought between the Federal and Confederate forces, and we were on the tip-toe of expectation. When the news came we found our conjectures fully verified, as to time and direction. Somerset lies on the west of the main ridge of the Allegheny Mountain, fourteen miles from the summit. The waters of the eastern slope of the mountain at that point are carried by Wills Creek to the Potomac at Cumberland, and thence flow to Washington City, D. C. The clouds during the day were impending so far as we could see. We learned that this was the case along the river, and my theory was, whether right or wrong, that the clouds confined the sound to the valley of the Potomac, and sent them to the mountains upwards, as through a funnel. Along the Alleghenies above Cumberland, the sounds were heard by multitudes. Our congregation near the summit adjourned the sermon to listen. On the days of the Gettysburg fights I lived at Chambersburg, twenty-five miles from the contest, in which there was immense cannonading, and never heard it at all. I don't remember the condition of the clouds, and only remember the facts of the first fight, because the matter was the subject of discussion.

I have heard or read somewhere that the sounds of Waterloo were heard two hundred miles away. F. M. KIMMELL.