Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, Samuel P. Bates, 1876 - Part 1, Chapter 16, 341-
361

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                         MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
                                       by
                                SAMUEL P. BATES.

                     PHILADELPHIA: T. H. DAVIS & CO., 1876.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 341

                            PART I.  GENERAL HISTORY.

                                   CHAPTER XVI.

          NUMBERS ENGAGED, LOSSES, AND BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT GETTYSBURG.

MUCH diversity of opinion has prevailed respecting the numbers engaged at 
Gettysburg, and the casualties on the part of the enemy.  The rebels were 
accustomed in stating the forces brought into battle, to give the muskets 
actually carried in the ranks, instead of the names found on the rolls, while 
the Union leaders estimated their strength according to the latter basis, which 
was rarely less than a third, sometimes a half, more than the muskets actually 
borne.  General Hooker, who was remarkably successful in keeping himself 
informed of the enemy's numbers as well as their designs, says: "With regard to 
the enemy's force, I had reliable information.  Two Union men had counted them 
as they passed through Hagerstown, and, in order that there might be no mistake, 
they compared notes every night, and if their counts differed they were 
satisfactorily adjusted by compromise.  In round numbers Lee had 91,000 infantry 
and 280 pieces of artillery; marching with that column were about 6000 cavalry.  
It will be remembered that a portion of the enemy's cavalry crossed the Potomac 
below Edward's Ferry and went into Maryland to join Ewell between me and 
Washington; this column numbered about 5000 men."  General Meade says: "I think 
General Lee had about 90,000 infantry, from 4000 to 5000 artillery, and 10,000 
cavalry."  This would give an aggregate of one hundred and four or five thousand 
of all arms.
  Longstreet says, that "there were at Gettysburg 67,000 bayonets; or above 
70,000 of all arms."  Lee was obliged to leave strong guards all the way from 
Winchester to Gettysburg;

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 342

besides, it is reported by the inhabitants, that the country was full of rebel 
stragglers, and when they heard that a great battle was in progress, believed 
that the rebel army was not half of it up. 
  According to the testimony of Butterfield, the strength of the Union army, as 
shown by returns made on the 10th of June, was 78,255, thus distributed: First 
corps, 11,350; Second, 11,361; Third, 11,898; Fifth, 10,136; Sixth, 15,408; 
Eleventh, 10,177; Twelfth, 7925.  To this should be added two brigades of the 
Pennsylvania Reserve corps, some 4000 men, which joined the Fifth, Lockwood's 
Maryland brigade of 2500 that was attached to the Twelfth, Stannard's Vermont 
brigade, whose time of service had nearly expired, of 2500 more, which joined 
Doubleday's division of the First corps, and 12,000 cavalry, which would give a 
gross sum of 99,000 men.  The force of 11,000 under French at Harper's Ferry and 
at Frederick, though under General Meade's orders, never joined the Army of the 
Potomac in Pennsylvania, and had no part nor lot in the battle, never having 
come nearer the field than Frederick, and should not therefore be taken into the 
account.  These 99,000 represent the numbers borne upon the rolls, but by no 
means show the true numbers standing in the ranks.  In this record the First 
corps is credited with 11,350; but we know that on the morning of the 1st of 
July it could muster but 8200.  If the difference in all the corps between the 
number borne upon the rolls and the number present to go into battle was as 
great as in this, the sum total of the army was reduced to 72,000. 
  General Meade testifies: "I think the returns showed me, when I took command 
of the army, amounted to about 105,000 men; included in those were the 11,000 of 
General French, which I did not bring up, which would reduce it down to about 
94,000.  Of that 94,000 I was compelled to leave a certain portion in the rear 
to guard my baggage trains. . . . . I must have had on the field at Gettysburg 
but little short of 300 guns; and I think the report of my Chief of artillery 
was that there were not more than two batteries that were not in service during 
that battle."  General Meade may have omitted in this estimate some portion of 
troops who joined him after receiving command of the army, probably those of 
Stannard and Lockwood.

NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG - 343

  The estimates of the numbers of Lee's army by both Hooker and Meade are 
substantially the same.  They make the aggregate vary from 105,000 to 107,000.  
After allowing for straggling, and for troops not up, the statement of 
Longstreet of the number actually upon the Gettysburg field tallies very nearly 
with these figures; for applying the same rule which we did above to the Union 
numbers, we have 76,300.  But there may have been, and probably was, more 
straggling on the rebel than on the Union side. 
  We may therefore fairly conclude that Lee crossed the Potomac with something 
over 100,000 men, and actually had upon the field in the neighborhood of 76,300, 
and Meade, rejecting the forces of French, with something less than 100,000, and 
went into battle with about 72,000.
  But in neither army was there at any one time this number of effective troops 
on the field.  On the first day, Doubleday had but 8200 infantry and 2200 horse, 
and when Howard came he brought an addition of 7410, making a total of 17,810, 
while the enemy had four divisions which could not have been less than 30,000. 
  On the second day the whole rebel army was up with the exception of Pickett, 
Stuart, and Imboden, whose several strengths subtracted from the gross sum would 
leave 63,800 upon the field, nearly all of whom were hotly engaged.  On the 
Union side, the whole strength was up before the close of the day's work; but 
the Sixth corps, having marched thirty-four miles, was unserviceable, was not 
used, and was practically off the field, as was also Buford's division of 
cavalry, which was ordered away to Westminster before the battle began.  
Deducting these from the Union aggregate, it would leave a force actually on the 
field of barely 59,000. 
  On the third day Lee had his whole force, with the exception of the small body 
of Imboden, on the field, as did the Union commander. 
  But on no day are the estimates here given veritable; for the two armies 
represented quantities that were constantly varying, the losses during every 
moment of the actual fighting being very great.  On the first day the losses of 
dead and wounded were

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 344 

greater on the rebel than on the Union side, while the loss by capture was 
somewhat greater on the Union.  On the second day the losses by killed and 
wounded, were nearly equal, with but few prisoners on either side.  On the third 
day the enemy lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, very heavily, while on the 
part of the Union it was an extremely economical fight, only a small portion of 
the army being engaged, and these under cover, so that the casualties were 
comparatively light. 
  The losses, in the aggregate, on both sides in the three days of fighting were   
immense.  On the Union side, General Meade says in his official report, they 
"amounted to 2834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6643 missing; in all 23,186."  Of 
the rebel losses no accurate report has been made.  General Lee says: "It is not 
in my power to give a correct statement of our casualties, which were severe, 
including many brave men, and an unusual proportion of distinguished and 
valuable officers."  It is estimated that the loss to the enemy in killed was 
5500; though Mr. Samuel Weaver, who was charged with removing the Union dead to 
the National Cemetery, places the number considerably higher.  He says: "In 
searching for the remains of our fallen heroes, we examined more than 3000 rebel 
graves. . . . I have been making a careful estimate, from time to time, as I 
went over the field, of rebel bodies buried on this battle-field and at the 
hospitals, and I place the number at not less than 7000 bodies."  General Meade 
reports 13,621 rebel prisoners taken.  Of the number of rebel wounded it is 
impossible to form a correct judgment.  Many were left on the field and along 
the roadside, all the way from Gettysburg to Williamsport, and large numbers 
were taken back in the trains to Virginia.  If we place the killed at 5500, and 
allow five wounded to one killed, which is about the usual proportion, we have 
27,500 wounded.  A. H. Guernsey, the author of "Harper's Pictorial History of 
the War," after the most patient research and careful observation, estimates the 
rebel loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners at Gettysburg, at 36,000 men.  "The 
entire loss," he says, "to this army during the six weeks, from the middle of 
June, when it set forth from Culpeper to invade the North, to the close of July, 
when it returned to the starting point, was about 60,000."  General Meade 
reports 

NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG - 345

the capture of three cannon, forty-one standards, and 25,000 small arms. 
  On the rebel side, Major-Generals Hood, Pender, Trimble, and Heth were 
wounded, Pender mortally; Brigadier-Generals Barksdale and Garnett were killed, 
and Semmes mortally wounded.  Brigadier-Generals Kemper, Armistead, Scales, G. 
T. Anderson, Hampton, J. M. Jones, and Jenkins were also wounded, Archer was 
taken prisoner, and Pettigrew was wounded, and subsequently killed in the action 
at Falling Waters. 
  In the Union army, Major-General Reynolds, and Brigadier-Generals Vincent, 
Weed, and Zook were killed.  Major-Generals Sickles, Hancock, Doubleday, Gibbon, 
Barlow, Warren, and Butterfield, and Brigadier-Generals Graham, Paul, Stone, 
Barnes, and Brooke were wounded, General Sickles losing a leg.
  A great triumph had been achieved by the Union arms. But at what a cost! and 
what a spectacle did that field present!  Amidst "the thunder of the captains, 
and the shouting," thousands of the gallant and brave, who three days before had 
marched as joyfully as the boldest, had been stricken down, and had poured out 
their life blood like water; and thousands, cold in death, were scattered on 
every conceivable part of that gory field.
  Professor Jacobs in his "Later Rambles," says: "For several days after the 
battle, the field everywhere bore the fresh marks of the terrible struggle.  The 
soil was yet red with the blood of the wounded and slain, and large numbers of 
the dead of both armies were to be seen lying in the place where the fatal 
missi1es struck them. . . . The work of interring 9000 dead, and removing about 
20,000 wounded to comfortable quarters, was a herculean task.  The rebel army 
had left the most of their dead lying unburied on the field, as also large 
numbers of their badly wounded, and had fled for safety. . . . There was 
considerable delay in properly interring the corpses that lay on the field of 
battle.  It was only after rebel prisoners, who had been taken in the vicinity 
after the battle, were impressed into this service, especially into that of 
covering up the bodies of their fallen comrades, that the work was finally 
completed.  Whilst some of these prisoners went into this work with reluctance 
and murmur- 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 346 

ing, others did it cheerfully, saying,  'It is just what we have compelled the 
Yankees to do for us!'  Although the field was thoroughly searched, the dead 
were not all discovered until it impossible to perform for them what humanity, 
under other circumstances, would have demanded.  In front of Little Round Top, 
amongst huge rocks, lay all summer long the decaying bodies of half a dozen or 
more of rebels, who had probably belonged to Hood's division, and, having been 
wounded on July 2nd, in their desperate effort to take Little Round Top, may 
have crept into the open spaces between these rocks for shelter or for water.  
There they died undiscovered, and when found they were so far gone in 
decomposition that they could not be removed.  And such also was the position in 
which they lay that it was impossible to cover them with earth. 
  Great surprise is sometimes expressed by visitors because they do not find so 
many graves as they had expected to see.  'You tell us,' say they, 'that there 
were about 3500 Union, and about 5500 rebel soldiers killed in this battle; but 
we do not see so many graves.  Where were they buried?'  The answer has 
uniformly been, 'The whole ground around Gettysburg is one vast cemetery.'  The 
men are buried everywhere.  When they could conveniently be brought together, 
they were buried in clusters of ten, twenty, fifty, or more; but so great was 
their number, and such the advanced stage of decomposition of those that had 
lain on the field for several days during the hot weather of July, together with 
the unavoidable delay, that they could not be removed.  In gardens and fields, 
and by the roadside, just where they were found lying, a shallow ditch was dug, 
and they were placed in it and covered up as hastily as possible.  The ground 
is, consequently, all dotted over with graves; some fields contain hundreds of 
places indicating by the freshly turned up earth, and perhaps by a board, a 
shingle, a stick, or stone, that the mortal remains of a human being lie there. 
. . . Rose's farm, especially a wheatfield, and Sherfy's peach orchard, were 
points of desperate and bloody contest.  The wheatfield was strewn with rebel 
dead, and one grave near Rose's garden alone contains 400 of them. . . . Their 
remains will probably never be removed from the spot they now occupy, and 
doubtless in future time the

NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG - 347

plough will turn up their crumbling bones, together with the remnants of the 
weapons they used in the atrocious warfare. The vicinity of Gettysburg will thus 
remain a vast charnel-house, and for years to come will be visited by mourning 
friends." 
  A few weeks after the battle the writer passed over the field.  It was not 
difficult then to trace the lines of the two armies, for the grass and even the 
turf was completely worn away for considerable breadth throughout their whole 
extent.  Cartridge-boxes, knapsacks, bayonet-sheaths, haversacks, coats, caps,  
and tin cartridge-cases were scattered in profusion over the whole ground, and 
trodden into the mud which the rains of the fourth day caused.  None of the dead 
had then been removed, and they lay as they were left by the burying parties of 
the two armies.  Many had never been moved from the places where they fell; all 
the burial they received being a little earth thrown upon them, and  where earth 
could not be got, loose stones and fragments of rocks were used.  As the rains 
came the earth was washed off, and in many places the extremities of the limbs 
were exposed.  At one point, in front of Little Round Top, was a boot with the 
leg in it just as it had been torn from the body.  Dead horses still lay thick 
on all parts of the field.  The citizens had piled rails around some and burned 
them.  Near the grove where stood Stannard's brigade, was a pool of stagnant 
water, in which were the carcasses of nine horses. 
  The roar of artillery, and the sulphurous smoke ascending heavenward, had 
scarcely told that the battle was on before the agents of the Sanitary 
Commission began to arrive upon the field with stores for the hospitals.  Dr. 
Steiner, in charge of two wagons, well loaded, left Frederick on the 29th of 
June.  One of them, accompanied by Dr. McDonald and the Rev. Mr. Scandlin, fell 
into the hands of the enemy, and these gentlemen, bound on errands of mercy and 
heavenly consolation to the wounded of friend and foe alike, were taken to 
Richmond, where they were subjected to the hard lot of rebel imprisonment, from 
the effect of which Mr. Scandlin died.  He was a protegé of Father Taylor, of 
Boston, the sailor's friend; was a native of England, and had served in the 
British navy.  He received his professional education at the theological school 
in Meadville, Pennsylvania. His

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 348

treatment by the enemy is one of the foul stains upon the conduct of the rebel 
authorities.  The other wagon reached the field on the evening of the first day.  
"As soon," says Dr. Steiner, "as the wounded began to come in, I started out 
with the wagons to distribute the stores.  We reached five different hospitals, 
which were all we were able to find that night, and early in the morning three 
others, which exhausted our stores.  We were just in time to do the most good 
possible, as the government wagons had been sent back ten miles, and many of the 
hospitals were not supplied with material sufficient for immediate use.  These 
stores consisted of concentrated beef soup, stimulants, crackers, condensed 
milk, concentrated coffee, corn starch, farina, shirts, drawers, stockings, 
towels, blankets, quilts, bandages, and lint, articles in immediate need among 
the suffering."  Other supplies came by the way of Westminster, and before the 
railroad was open to Gettysburg, twelve wagon loads had been brought up. 
  The work of this commission, from long experience, was efficiently done.  
Every part was thoroughly systematized, and reached to the inmates of the most 
insignificant hospitals.  Not the least useful was the system of visitation, 
which had for its object examination into the wants of the inmates, and the 
making complete lists of the names of the wounded, which were forwarded to 
Washington, enabling the authorities to promptly and intelligently answer any 
inquiries made there respecting them.  Of the hospitals on the rebel line there 
were those of the divisions of Hood, McLaws, Anderson, Early, and Johnson, on 
the Fairfield road; of Johnson, on the Hunterstown; of Heth, at Pennsylvania 
College; of Rodes, on the Mummasburg road; of Pickett, on the Chambersburg; of 
Pender, on the Cashtown, containing in all 5452 wounded.  On the Union side the 
hospital of the First corps was divided, part being in the town, and the 
remainder two and a half miles out on the Baltimore pike, and contained 260 
rebel and 2779 Union wounded; that of the Second corps was on the banks of Rock 
Creek, and contained 1000 rebel and 4500 Union; of the Third corps, near the 
junction of White and Rock Creeks, and contained 250 rebel and 2550 Union; of 
the Fifth corps, in three divisions, and contained 75 rebel and 1400 Union; of 
the Sixth corps, also in three divisions, and contained 300 Union;

NUMBERS ENGAGED, AND LOSSES AT GETTYSBURG - 349

of the Eleventh corps, at George Spangler's, and contained 100 rebel and 1900 
Union; of the Twelfth corps, at the house of George Bushman, and contained 125 
rebel and 1131 Union, an aggregate of 16,370.  Of these there were 7262 rebel, 
being the desperately wounded, all others having been removed, or gone back with 
the retreating columns. 
  As the Union army was obliged to follow immediately the fleeing enemy, but a 
limited number of medical officers could be left upon the field, and but few 
rebel surgeons remained behind.  At first these were severely tasked but 
volunteers soon began to arrive, many of the most eminent physicians of the 
country flocking to the field, and freely giving their services.  "The labor," 
says J. H. Douglas, associate secretary of the Sanitary Commission, "the 
anxiety, the responsibility imposed upon the surgeons after the battle of 
Gettysburg, were from the position of affairs greater than after any other 
battle of the war.  The devotion, the solicitude, the unceasing efforts to 
remedy the defects of the situation, the untiring attentions to the wounded upon 
their part, were so marked as to be apparent to all who visited the hospitals.  
It must be remembered that these same officers had endured the privations and 
fatigues of the long forced marches with the rest of the army; that they had 
shared its dangers, for one medical officer from each regiment follows it into 
battle, and is liable to the accidents of war, as has been repeatedly and 
fatally the case; that its field hospitals are often, from the changes of the 
line of battle, brought under the fire of the enemy, and that while, in this 
situation, these surgeons are called upon to exercise the calmest judgment, to 
perform the most critical and serious operations, and this quickly and 
continuously.  The battle ceasing their labors continue.  While other officers 
are sleeping, renewing their strength for further efforts; the medical are still 
toiling.  They have to improvise hospitals from the rudest materials, are 
obliged to make 'bricks without straw,' to surmount seeming impossibilities.  
The work is unending both by day and by night, the anxiety; is constant, the 
strain upon both the physical and mental faculties unceasing.  Thus after this 
battle, operators had to be held up while performing the operations, and fainted 
from exhaustion, the operation finished.  One completed his labors to

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 350

be seized with partial paralysis, the penalty of his over-exertion.  While his 
duties are as arduous, his exposure as great, and the mortality from disease and 
injury as large as among staff officers of similar rank, the surgeon has no 
prospect of promotion, of a brevet, or an honorable mention to stimulate him.  
His duties arc performed quietly,  unostentatiously.  He does his duty for his  
country's sake, for the sake of humanity.  The consciousness of having performed 
this great duty is well nigh his only, as it must ever be his highest, reward. 
The medical corps of the army is well deserving this small tribute." 
  Whoever has followed the phases of this battle, must have been impressed with 
the stubborn valor displayed on both sides by the common soldiers.  The 
dauntless resolution exhibited in the attacks made it a terribly bloody and 
destructive conflict, and the unyielding and resolute front of the defence 
brought victory.  But there was no possibility of achieving on either side such 
sweeping and complete triumphs as are recorded of wars in other countries, and 
in other days, in a contest between two armies where the common soldiers were of 
such a temper and in such earnest as were these. 
  It is a sad spectacle to see the manhood of two, claiming to be Christian 
peoples, thus march out to a field, like trained pugilists, and beat, and gouge, 
and pummel each other until one or the other, from exhaustion, must yield.  It 
is revolting and sickening, and it is hoped that the day will come when disputes 
arising among nations may be settled by conference, as two reasonable and 
upright men would decide a difference, governed by the golden rule, instead of 
resorting to blows where right and justice must be subordinate to brute force.  
But in a great battle like that which we have been considering, it is not the 
soldiers themselves who are responsible; but the parties which make the quarrel.  
Hence, while the mind revolts at the scenes of destruction which the field 
discloses, the immediate actors are not to be held accountable.  They go in 
obedience to the dictates of duty and of patriotism, and while they may indulge 
no personal hatred  toward those who for the time they call enemies, they must 
in battle inflict the greatest possible injury upon them. 
  In all ages the highest honors have been reserved for those 

BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT GETTYSBURG - 351

who have fought the battles of their country. And this is right. For if there is 
any deed in the power of a mortal, which can sway the feelings or soften the 
heart, it is that of one man laying down his life for another.  The breast 
heaves, and the eye is suffused with tears, at the spectacle of Damon putting 
his life in jeopardy only for his friend, and to how many sou1s have come the 
agonies of repentance, and the joys of sins forgiven in contemplation of the 
Saviour dying upon the cross.  There is a halo of glory hovering about the 
profession of arms.  It has its seat in the sacrifice of self, which is its 
ruling spirit.  The man who stands upon the field of battle and faces the storm 
of death that sweeps along, whether he merely puts his life thus in jeopardy, or 
is actually carried down in death, torn and mangled in the dread fight, is 
worthy of endless honors; and though we may class the deed with the lowest of 
human acts, prompted by a hardihood which we share with the brutes, and in which 
he most ignorant and besotted may compete with the loftiest, yet it is an act 
before which humanity will ever bow and uncover.  Who that walked that field of 
carnage, and beheld the maimed and mangled, and him cold in death, could 
withhold the tribute of honor and respect? for, could he make that dying 
soldier's lot his own, or that of his nearest and dearest friend, he would only 
then justly realize the sacrifice. 
  When, therefore, the friends of the dead came sorrowing, to seek their 
lifeless remains, they were struck with horror at the imperfect manner in which 
the burials had been executed.  No one was more strongly impressed with the duty 
of immediately providing for the proper interment of these fallen patriots than 
Governor Curtin, the Executive of Pennsylvania.  He intrusted the business of 
maturing a plan to Mr. David Wills, of Gettysburg.  Acting under the instruction 
of the Governor, this gentleman purchased a plot of some seventeen acres on 
Cemetery Hill, adjoining the village cemetery on the north and west, where the 
centre of the Union line of battle had rested, and where the guns of Steinwehr 
and the men of the Eleventh corps fought.  The eighteen states, whose troops 
gained the battle, joined in this enterprise. By an Act of the legislature, the 
title to the ground was vested in the State of Pennsylvania, in trust for all 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 352 

the states having dead buried there, and a corporate body was created consisting 
of one from each state, to serve without pay, to whom its care was entrusted, 
the expense to be borne in proportion to the representation in Congress. 
  The work of laying out the grounds, and suitably adorning them, was performed 
by an eminent landscape gardener, William Saunders.  His suggestions upon the 
subject, accompanying the drawings, were eminently just.  The great disparity in 
the number of the dead from the different states to be interred, demanded a plan 
that should obviate criticism as to preference in position.  To this end a 
semicircular form was adopted, the head of every body pointing towards a common 
centre, which should be made the site for the monument.  "The prevailing 
expression," he says, "of the Cemetery should be that of simple grandeur.  
Simplicity is that element of beauty in a scene that leads gradually from one 
object to another, in easy harmony, avoiding abrupt contrasts and unexpected 
features.  Grandeur, in this application, is closely allied to solemnity.  
Solemnity is an attribute of the sublime.  The sublime in scenery may be defined 
as continuity of extent, the repetition of objects in themselves simple and 
commonplace.  We do not apply this epithet to the scanty tricklings of the 
brook, but rather to the collected waters of the ocean.  To produce an 
expression of grandeur, we must avoid intricacy and great variety of parts, more 
particularly must we refrain from introducing any intermixture or meretricious 
display of ornament.  The disposition of trees and shrubs is such that will 
ultimately produce a considerable degree of landscape effect.  Ample spaces of 
lawn are provided.  These will form vistas, as seen from the drive, showing the 
monument and other prominent points. . . . As the trees spread and extend, the 
quiet beauty produced by these open spaces of lawn will yearly become more 
striking." 
  A contract was entered into with F. W. Biesecker, for disinterring the dead 
and reinterring their remains in their last resting place, a work which was 
commenced on the 27th of October, 1863, and completed on the 18th of March 
following.  The whole number thus buried was 3512.  The entire work was done 
under the superintendence of Samuel Weaver, who executed

BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT GETTYSBURG - 353

his arduous trust with great care and judgment.  "Through his untiring and 
faithful efforts, the bodies in many unmarked graves have been identified in 
various ways.  Sometimes by letters, by papers, receipts, certificates, diaries, 
memorandum books, photographs, marks on the clothing, belts, or cartridge boxes, 
have the names of the soldiers been discovered.  Money, and other valuables have 
frequently been found, which, when the residence of the friends is known, have 
been immediately sent to them.  Those not returned are carefully packed up and 
marked, and every effort will be made to find the friends of the deceased, and 
place these articles in their possession.  Words would fail to describe the 
grateful relief that this work has brought to many a sorrowing household!  A 
father, a brother, a son has been lost on this battle-field, supposed to be 
killed, but no tidings whatever have the bereaved friends of him.  Suddenly, in 
the progress of this work, his remains are discovered by sure marks, letters, 
probably photographs, and they are deposited in a coffin with care, and buried 
in this very appropriate place, on the battlefield where he fell, the Soldiers' 
National Cemetery."
  Of the condition in which the remains were found Mr. Weaver says: "Where 
bodies were in heavy clay soil, or in marshy places, they were in a good state 
of preservation.  Where they were in sandy, porous soil, they were entirely 
decomposed."  Of the articles found upon the bodies of the dead the following 
may be cited as examples:  "G. W. Sprague, the grape-shot that killed him, two 
knives, two rings and comb;" "James Kelley, company K, Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania 
regiment, ambrotype, sixty cents, comb, medal;"  "Unknown, pocket-book, and hair 
of father, mother, sister, and brother."  Of the entire number interred, 3512, 
Maine had 104; New Hampshire, 49; Vermont, 61; Massachusetts, 159; Rhode Island, 
12; Connecticut, 22; New York, 867; New Jersey, 78; Pennsylvania, 534; Delaware, 
15; Maryland, 22; West Virginia, 11; Ohio, 131; Indiana, 80; Illinois, 6; 
Michigan, 171; Wisconsin, 73; Minnesota, 52; U. S. Regulars, 138; Unknown, 979. 
Several of the Western States had but few troops in the Army of the Potomac, and 
hence their loss was correspondingly small, while New York, which had the 
greatest number, suffered most severely.  The Cemetery is enclosed on the

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 354 

south, west, and north sides by a solid wall of masonry, surmounted with a heavy 
dressed coping stone, and on the east by an iron fence separating it from the 
village cemetery.  The design for a monument by J. G. Batterson, of Hartford, 
Connecticut, was adopted by the commissioners, after an examination of a large 
number submitted.  "The whole rendering of the design is intended to be purely 
historical, telling its own story, with such simplicity that any discerning mind 
will readily comprehend its meaning  and purpose.  The superstructure is sixty 
feet high, and consists of a massive pedestal, twenty-five feet square at the 
base, and is crowned with a colossal statue representing the Genius of Liberty.  
Standing upon a three-quarter globe, she raises with her right hand the victor's 
wreath of laurel, while with the left she gathers up the folds of our national 
flag, under which the victory has been won.  Projecting from the angles of the 
pedestal are four buttresses, supporting an equal number of allegorical statues, 
representing respectively WAR, HISTORY, PEACE, and PLENTY.  War is personified 
by a statue of the American soldier, who, resting from the conflict, relates to 
History the story of the battle which this monument is intended to commemorate.  
History, in listening attitude, records with stylus and tablet the achievements 
of the field, and the names of the honored dead.  Peace is symbolized by a 
statue of the American mechanic, characterized by appropriate accessories.  
Plenty is represented by a female figure, with a sheaf of wheat and fruits of 
the earth, typifying peace and abundance as the soldier's crowning triumph.  The 
panels of the main die between the statues are to have inscribed upon them such 
inscriptions as may hereafter be determined.  The main die of the pedestal is 
octagonal in form, panelled upon each face.  The cornice and plinth above are 
also octagonal, and are heavily moulded.  Upon this plinth rests an octagonal 
moulded base bearing upon its face, in high relief, the National arms.  The 
upper die and cap are circular in form, the die being encircled by stars equal 
in number with the states whose sons contributed their lives as the price of the 
victory won at Gettysburg." 
  By the unanimous voice of the agents of the several states, Edward Everett, 
the eminent orator, statesman, and publicist, was invited to deliver an oration 
upon the occasion of the con-

CONSECRATION OF THE GROUNDS AT GETTYSBURG - 355

secration of the grounds.  In his note accepting the invitation Mr. Everett 
said: "The occasion is one of great importance, not to be dismissed with a few 
sentimental or patriotic commonplaces.  It will demand as full a narrative of 
the event of the three important days as the limits of the hour will admit, and 
some appropriate discussion of the political character of the great struggle of 
which the battle of Gettysburg is one of the most momentous incidents."   The 
ceremonies occurred on the 19th of November, at which time the address, modelled 
upon the plan sketched in the above sentence, was delivered in presence of the 
President of the United States, Mr. Lincoln, the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, 
the Ministers of France and Italy, the French Admiral, the Governors of many 
States, Members of Congress, and a vast concourse of citizens, among whom were 
many representatives of the Army and Navy."  One of the most sad and impressive 
features of the solemnities," says Mr. Wills; "was the presence, in the 
procession and on the grounds, of a delegation of about fifty wounded soldiers 
of the Army of the Potomac, from the York Hospital.  These men had been wounded 
in the battle of Gettysburg, and were present in a delegation to pay this just 
tribute to the remains of their fallen comrades.  During the exercises, their 
bronzed cheeks were frequently suffused with tears." 
  Mr. Everett's oration was one of the most eloquent and well wrought of his 
many addresses on important events in the national history which have made his 
name illustrious.  The opening passages were in his peculiar vein, and are so 
beautiful, so apt, and so ornate that they will ever be recalled with delight."  
Standing beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields, now reposing 
from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before 
us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I 
raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature.  But the 
duty to which you have called me must be performed; - grant me, I pray you, your 
indulgence and your sympathy.  It was appointed by law in Athens, that the 
obsequies of the citizens who fell in battle should be performed at the public 
expense, and in the most honorable manner.  Their bones were carefully 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 356 

gathered up from the funeral pyre, where their bodies were consumed, and brought 
home to the city.  There, for three days before the interment, they lay in 
state, beneath tents of honor, to receive the votive offerings of friends and 
relatives, -  flowers, weapons, precious ornaments, painted vases, (wonders of 
art, which after two thousand years adorn the museums of modern Europe,) - the 
last tributes of surviving affection.  Ten coffins of funeral cypress received 
the honorable deposit, one for each of tribes of the city, and an eleventh in 
memory of the unrecognized, but, not therefore unhonored, dead, and of those 
whose remains could not be recovered.  On the fourth day the mournful procession 
was formed: mothers, wives, sisters, daughters led the way; and to them it was 
permitted by the simplicity of ancient manners, to utter aloud their 
lamentations for the beloved and the lost; the male relatives and friends of the 
deceased followed; citizens and strangers closed the train.  Thus marshalled, 
they moved to the place of interment in that famous Ceramicus, the most 
beautiful suburb of Athens, which had been adorned by Cimon, the son of 
Miltiades, with walks and fountains and columns, - whose groves were filled with 
altars, shrines, and temples, - whose gardens were kept forever green by the 
streams from the neighboring hills, and shaded with the trees sacred to Minerva 
and coeval with the foundation of the city, - whose circuit enclosed 

      'The olive Grove of Academe, 
    Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird 
   Trilled his thick warbled note the summer long;' - 

whose pathways gleamed with the monuments of the illustrious dead, the work of 
the most consummate masters that ever gave life to marble.  There, beneath the 
overarching plane trees, upon a lofty stage erected for the purpose, it was 
ordained that a funeral oration should be pronounced by some citizen of Athens, 
in the presence of the assembled multitude. 
  "Such were the tokens of respect required to be paid at Athens to the memory 
of those who had fallen in the cause of their country.  For those alone who fell 
at Marathon a peculiar honor was reserved.  As the battle fought upon that 
immortal field was distinguished from all others in Grecian history for its 
influence

CONSECRATION OF THE GROUNDS AT GETTYSBURG - 357

over the fortunes of Hellas, - as it depended upon the event of that day whether 
Greece should live, a glory and a light to all coming time, or should expire 
like the meteor of a moment, - so the honors awarded to its martyr-heroes were 
such as were bestowed by Athens on no other occasion.  They alone of all her 
sons were entombed upon the spot which they had forever rendered famous.  Their 
names were inscribed upon ten pillars, erected upon the monumental tumulus which 
covered their ashes, (where, after 600 years, they were read by the traveller 
Pausanias,) and although the columns, beneath the hand of time and barbaric 
violence, have long since disappeared, the venerable mound still marks the spot 
where they fought and fell, -  

      'That battlefield where Persia's victim horde 
    First bowed beneath the brunt of Hellas' sword.' 

  "And shall I, fellow-citizens, who, after an interval of twenty-three 
centuries, a youthful pilgrim from the world unknown to ancient Greece, have 
wandered over that illustrious plain, ready to put off the shoes from off my 
feet, as one that stands on holy ground, - who have gazed with respectful 
emotion on the mound which still protects the dust of those who rolled back the 
tide of Persian invasion, and rescued the land of popular liberty, of letters, 
and of arts, from the ruthless foe, - stand unmoved over the graves of our dear 
brethren, who so lately, on three of those all important days which decide a 
nation's history, - days on whose issue it depended whether this august 
republican Union, founded by some of the wisest statesmen that ever lived, 
cemented with the blood of some of the purest patriots that ever died, should 
perish or endure, - rolled back the tide of an invasion not less unprovoked, not 
less ruthless, than that which came to plant the dark banner of Asiatic 
despotism and slavery on the free soil of Greece?  Heaven forbid! And could I 
prove so insensible to every prompting of patriotic duty and affection, not only 
would you, fellow-citizens, gathered many of you from distant states, who have 
come to take part in these pious offices of gratitude, - you, respected fathers, 
brethren, matrons, sister, who surround me, - cry out for shame, but the forms 
of brave and patriotic men, who fill these honored graves, would heave with 
indignation beneath the sod." 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 358

  A single clause from the peroration will illustrate the happy manner in which, 
with a few master strokes, he glorified the field and the dead who there fell, 
whose last resting place he was aiding to consecrate.  "The spots on which they 
stood and fell; these pleasant heights; the fertile plain beneath them; the 
thriving village whose streets so lately rang with the strange din of war; the 
fields beyond the Ridge, where the noble REYNOLDS held the advancing foe at bay, 
and, while he gave up his own life, assured by his forethought and self-
sacrifice the triumph of the two succeeding days; the little streams which wind 
through the hills on whose banks in after times the wondering plowman will turn 
up, with the rude weapons of savage warfare, the fearful missiles of modern 
artillery; Seminary Ridge, the Peach Orchard, Cemetery, Culp, and Wolf Hill, 
Round Top, Little Round Top, humble names, henceforward dear and famous, - no 
lapse of time, no distance of space shall cause you to be forgotten." 
  The dedicatory address was reserved to President Lincoln, who after the 
conclusion of Mr. Everett's oration, delivered the following: 
  "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a 
new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.  We 
are met on a great battle-field of that war.  We are met to dedicate a portion 
of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that this 
nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.  
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow 
this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.  The world will little 
note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did 
here.  It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished 
work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here 
dedicated to the great task remaining before us, - that from these honored dead 
we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full 
measure of devotion, - that we here highly resolve that the

CONSECRATION OF THE GROUNDS AT GETTYSBURG - 359

dead shall not have died in vain, that the nation shall, under God, have a new 
birth of freedom, and that Governments of the people, by the people, for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth."
  Short and simple in sentiment and structure, it is yet a most impressive and 
appropriate piece of composition.  So well does it embody the thought which 
seemed struggling for utterance in every breast, that a word added to, or 
subtracted from it, would mar its harmony and faultless conception.  But, 
however perfect its formation, its delivery was more solemn and impressive than 
is possible to conceive from its perusal.  Major Harry T. Lee, who was one of 
the actors in the battle, and who was present upon the platform at the 
dedication, says that the people listened with marked attention throughout the 
two hours that Mr. Everett spoke; that his oration was finished, grand, lofty, 
though as cold and unimpassioned as the marble which pressed the forms of the 
sleeping dead; but that when Mr. Lincoln came forward, and with a voice burdened 
with emotion, uttered these sublime words, the bosoms of that vast audience were 
lifted as a great wave of the sea; and that when he came to the passage, "The 
brave men living and dead who struggled here," there was not a dry eye, and he 
seemed bewailing the sad fate of men, every one of whom was his brother. 
  When he had concluded, Mr. Everett stepped forward, and taking him by the 
hand, said in a manner which showed how fully he felt what he uttered: "Ah! Mr. 
Lincoln, I would gladly give all my forty pages for your twenty lines."  The 
Westminster Review, one of the most dignified and scholarly of the English 
quarterlies, always chary of praise for literary excellence in an American, and 
which during the late war preserved an attitude of little sympathy for the cause 
in whose interest the battle was gained, said of this address:  "His oration at 
the consecration of the burial ground at Gettysburg has but one equal, in that 
pronounced upon those who fell during the first year of the Peloponnesian war, 
and in one respect it is superior to that great speech.  It is not only more 
natural, fuller of feeling, more touching and pathetic, but we know with 
absolute certainty that it was really delivered.  Nature here really takes 
precedence of art, even though it be the art of Thucydides." 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 360

  The monument, above described, was completed in 1868.  It is of granite 
procured from Westerly, Rhode Island.  The four figures about the base, and the 
colossal one upon the summit, are of marble, and were cut in Italy.  The whole 
was constructed by Mr. Batterson, the designer.  The names of the dead are not 
inscribed on the monument, but on granite headstones, which mark the place where 
each reposes.  Dedicatory services were held upon the ground on the 1st of July, 
1869, when General Meade delivered a brief address, Governor O. P. Morton, of 
Indiana, an oration, and Bayard Taylor an ode.  General Meade alluded in 
touching words to the bereaved by that battle, and earnestly urged in conclusion 
the propriety and the duty of gathering the remains of the Confederate dead and 
giving them burial in some suitable ground to be devoted to that special 
purpose, justly observing that the burial originally was from necessity very 
imperfect.  Mr. Morton described briefly the course of the battle, and traced 
the progress of freedom since the memorable era of 1776, deducing the conclusion 
that the triumph of the Union cause was due to its devotion to the principles of 
liberty.  Mr. Taylor dwelt in a chaste, and well conceived poetic vein upon the 
fruits which should be gathered from the struggle, and concluded in these 
fitting lines: 

  "Thus, in her seat secure,
  Where now no distant menaces can reach her,
  At last in undivided freedom pure, 
  She sits, the unwilling world's unconscious teacher;
  And, day by day, beneath serener skies, 
  The unshaken pillars of her palace rise - 
  The Doric shafts, that lightly upward press,
  And hide in grace their giant massiveness. 
  What though the sword has hewn each corner-stone,
  And precious blood cements the deep foundation?
  Never by other force have empires grown;
  From other basis never rose a nation! 
  For strength is born of struggle, faith of doubt, 
  Of discord law, and freedom of oppression.
  We hail from Pisgah, with exulting shout, 
  The Promised Land below us, bright with sun,
  And deem its pastures won,
  Ere toil and blood have earned us their possession!
  Each aspiration of our human earth 
  Becomes an act through keenest pangs of birth;

DEDICATION OF THE MONUMIENT AT GETTYSBURG - 361

  Each force, to bless, must cease to be a dream,
  And conquer life through agony supreme; 
  Each inborne right must outwardly be tested
  By stern material weapons, ere it stand
  In the enduring fabric of the land, 
  Secured for those who yielded it, and those who wrested!

  This they have done for us who slumber here, 
  Awake, alive, though now so dumbly sleeping;
  Spreading the board, but tasting not its cheer,
  Sowing but never reaping; -  
  Building, but never sitting in the shade 
  Of the strong mansion they have made; -  
  Speaking their words of life with mighty tongue,
  But hearing not the echo, million-voiced,
  Of brothers who rejoiced, 
  From all our river-vales and mountains flung!
  So take them, Heroes of the songful Past!
  Open your ranks, let every shining troop
  Its phantom banners droop, 
  To hail Earth's noblest martyrs, and her last!
  Take them, O God! our Brave, 
  The glad fulfillers of Thy dread decree; 
  Who grasped the sword for Peace, and smote to save,
  And, dying here for Freedom, died for Thee!"