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The hour of

we could strike terror into our foes. peril was to be an hour of triumph; and, 'perhaps,' said each of us inwardly-'perhaps this is a day when the fate of the nation shall be fixed.' 'The enemy is ours,' shouted a general, as he heard their cry. The host moved onward up the hill, over the rifle-pits, dashing upon the guns, treading down the gunners. Yet they rushed only to their ruin; for, at a given signal, our guns on the western slope blazed upon them, and we-the men behind the barricades-leaped forth like wild beasts uncaged. In a few moments-or what seemed such to us-all was over; the grand array had faded, the mass broken into worthless fragments. Hundreds threw up their hands in sign of surrender; scores of regiment colors were taken, while such disordered groups as could be gathered went back over the way they had come so proudly, and the Army of the Potomac had won the battle. How gratefully do I write the words!

"In this last scene of the battle the rebels suffered overwhelming losses. Three of their generals fell— Garnett, Armistead and Kemper; only one field officer came out of the assault uninjured; threefourths of the men were killed or captured. At Round Top I was stunned by the butt of a rebel's musket, but was saved from being trampled to death by my right and left-hand comrades, who carried me to a sheltering ledge, where I lay till

consciousness returned. I remember that instead of recalling the events of the day, my first thought on recovering consciousness was of my rifle, whose battered aspect gave me a dash of the blues. Three days before, the barrel was bright enough to serve for a looking-glass; the eagle shone glossily in the steel plate, the walnut stock was as polished as oil and rubbing could make it; now its beauty was gone-perhaps its usefulness, too, I thought; and then began to wonder whether I also was 'played out.' 'You're trusty yet, aren't you, good Bess?' I asked aloud, raising the piece to my shoulder, and springing the lock. She was all right, so we went back together, and worked withal as if nothing had happened,

"The officers speak of this battle as our Waterloo. The numbers engaged, they say, and the losses are about the same as are recorded of that engagement, and the disaster to Lee is assuredly a very grave one, if not so ruinous as Waterloo proved to Napoleon. Our Fourth of July was passed mainly in attending to the wounded and. slain lying in winrows or unshapely masses in wood and field. The flower of our nation's manhood perished on these ridges; twenty-three thousand two hundred men suffered capture, wounds or death; an appalling number which, think of it, repeat it often as we may, still surpasses our power to estimate it. The Confederate loss we

presume is about thirty thousand, nearly half of whom are prisoners. And we may henceforth consider it as an assured fact, that rebel battle-flags can never remain on Northern soil, except as trophies. If I live to pass through Washington again, I shall go to see the thirty-one that we wrested from clenched hands on these hills.

"But as I write, the men are getting ready to 'fall in' and pursue the enemy. I must close, therefore, leaving much unwritten till next mailday, but sending more love to you all than any

mail can carry.

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE SEQUEL OF THE BATTLE

THE heart of the nation was stirred in these glorious, terrible days. The army had celebrated the Fourth of July at Helena, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg, in such a way as to render it more than ever memorable; for on that day, Kilpatrick, with his cavalrymen, completed the latter victory by a successful blow upon the enemy's rearguard; and President and people rendered thanks, in obedience to the Proclamation, which exhorted the nation to remember God, its Deliverer. The Warrens were still re-reading Daniel's letter to the neighbors who came to hear of him and the great battle, when another letter,

marked Gettysburg, arrived, this time from Aunt Ellen,

She wrote:

"Good nurses were abundant at the hospital, and when word reached us that thousands of our wounded needed care at the front I came directly here, in company with others, bent on a like errand. We found an army not only of heroes, but of ministering servants, among whom are Sanitary and Christian Commission agents, deputies from 'Aids' and Soldiers' Reliefs, and members of many a Northern family, all welcomed and urgently needed by the twenty-five thousand men, loyal and disloyal, lying on these fields. Daniel, God be thanked, is not here, nor is his name on the lists. I trust, then, he is safe with the army that has gone forward. The condition of these who remain would be hopeless but for the field hospitals, lodges, store tents, cook-houses, cauldrons, and other appliances, that have been in use night and day for their relief; for since breaking camp, in the middle of June, the rank and file have been on what may be termed a continuous forced march, ending in a four days' battle; and part of the medical corps have accompanied the army. But such abundant

resources for the disabled I am sure were never gathered in a similar place before. Down near the railroad station is a Sanitary lodge, where various

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