INTRODUCTION. No battle field on earth is so well preserved and marked as is that of Gettysburg. Little and Big Round Top, East Cemetery Hill and Ridge Culp's and Wolff Hill, Seminary and Oak Ridge, have become immortal, and will endure while time itself lasts. The lines of the two great armies, the positions occupied by the various corps, divisions, brigades, and regi. ments, and the places where heroic deeds were performed and where distinguished men fell, are being marked by tablets and monuments of enduring marble and granite. In this commendable work, it affords us pleasure to state, Confederates as well as Federals are engaged. The stone fences and huge boulders, used as defenses, and many of the breast-works thrown up at the time, also remain, and will be preserved as long as time and the elements of nature will permit. The various states whose troops participated in the memorable battle which occurred there, as well as brigades, regiments, and companies, are vying with each other, not only to mark for future ages where gallant men fought and where patriots died, but to make as beautiful as possible the entire field where the life of our great Government was assured. It is eminently proper, then, that every fact of historic value connected with the great episode which culminated upon that field should not only be preserved but placed upon record in its proper connection. This the survivors of the period of those stirring events owe to the generations who are yet to come. The author of this work has attempted to discharge, in a measure, the duty indicated in the foregoing. His qualifications for the task he has undertaken may be stated thus: he resided in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during the entire period of the War of the Rebellion, and for a score of years previous and ever since; he not only witnessed all the armed hosts, Federal and Confederate, which passed through that place, but had access to their camps and hospitals; he preserved important papers, and kept an account of events with the dates of their occurrence; he visited the field of battle and noted facts and incidents; he has corresponded with others, both Federals and Confederates, competent to impart important information; and he has made it a point to read and preserve everything relating to the subject, which has come under his notice. The material thus carefully gathered he has compared, classified, and placed upon record in the following pages. He has been especially careful to be exact in the facts stated, and in the dates given. Errors may have crept into this record, but every precaution has been taken to secure entire accuracy. If he has not succeeded in giving the public such a history of the subject as its importance demands, he has at least rescued from oblivion much valuable historical matter, which, without this humble effort, would have been forever lost. It will be seen in the perusal of this work that the published statements of both Federal and Confederate writers, relating to the invasion of Pennsylvania and the battle of Gettysburg, have been used. This has been done that the fullest and fairest history of the whole may be secured, for both sides are equally entitled to a hearing. Besides this, events which transpired within the Confederate lines, and which Confederates only could detail, are of equal importance in an impartial and reliable history with those which occurred within the Federal lines, and which Federals only could narrate. For the reasons thus stated, as well as to preserve in a permanent form some of the many excellent and interesting articles, written for the newspapers and magazines, by eye-witnesses and participants, I have drawn largely upon this class of writers. In matters of dispute, or where differences of opinion have prevailed, I have endeavored to be impartial; and in every case, where it was at all possible, both sides have been accorded a hearing. The writer has not only sought to be impartial, but also unpartisan For those who He could not, however, conceal the fact that he wrote from the standpoint of a Unionist, and that his sympathies were, and ever must be, with those who stood for the maintenance of the Government. arrayed themselves upon the opposite side, he has but feelings of kindness. The time has come for all ill feeling to be entirely laid aside and forgotten. In this spirit this history has been written; and its author disclaims any other reason for the task he has undertaken, than to place upon record a fair and truthful account of events in which both the late contestants have an equal interest. If, then, in the following pages, any injustice has been done, or if a feeling or expression inconsistent with an impartial history, intended for the whole country, and for all time to come, has found place, the reader will kindly attribute it to inadvertence rather than to any disposition to perpetuate the bitterness and estrangement of the past. Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. J. HOKE. |