rear, and as the dead body of General Reynolds was carried off the field, the captured Confederates manifested their marked respect for the fallen Union general. At the outset, Wadsworth's Division, with Hall's battery, were all the infantry between Gettysburg and two strong Confederate divisions, with large reinforcements coming in on the Carlisle road. Robinson's Division arrived in time to support the hard-pressed little force on the right. Doubleday's Division came in on the left, Stone's Brigade going into position beyond Seminary Ridge, Biddle's Brigade on the extreme left. There it maintained its position, and from 11 a. m. until 4 p. m. fought and manoeuvred until it, too, was forced to retire. About 1 p. m. the leading division of the Eleventh Corps took up its place on the right, followed by a second division, with the batteries on their right and left, another division and a battery being placed in reserve on Cemetery Hill.

Heth's Division of Hill's Corps was the advance of the Confederate force, and it was promptly followed by Pender, while Rodes' and Early's Divisions of Ewell's Corps came on our extreme right, Rodes, about 2 p. m., Early, about 3 p. m., meeting at the time and place above designated, after long marches from different points, with wonderful accuracy. The First and the Eleventh Corps of our army each numbered little more than some of the Confederate Divisions. General Doubleday points out that the Confederate army had but three corps, while the Union army had seven, so that each of their corps represented about a third, each of ours a seventh of the whole force, and the same proportion extended to divisions, brigades, and even regiments. General Doubleday, who succeeded Reynolds in command of the First Corps, says it took 8,200 men into action. General Heth says his division numbered some 7,000 muskets. The Compte de Paris says the Union forces numbered about 11,500 against more than 30,000 Confederate troops. Colonel Chapman Biddle, in his exhaustive study of the first day's battle, puts the Confederate force at over 30,000; the Union force was about 14,000, 8,200 in the First Corps, barely 1,000 in the Eleventh engaged. In spite of such odds and such inequality, the first day's battle was a succession of well-contested struggles at each point. Buford's cavalry held their position against Heth's Division from 8 to 10 a. m., relieved by the First Corps, that in turn held its own against Heth and Pender until nearly 1 p. m. About that hour the Eleventh Corps on the right fought Rodes' and Early's Divisions, and even after it fell back, the First Corps still stoutly resisted until past 4 o'clock, when, outflanked by the heavy force of the Confederate

army, it was obliged to retreat to Cemetery Hill. What might have been the issue if Reynolds had been spared can only be matter of conjecture, yet it must be borne in mind that on more than one hardly-contested field his presence had converted apparent defeat into victory. Of him it might well be said, he never can be deathless till he die. It is the dead win battles. Be that as it may, his place was finally taken by Hancock, who arrived on Cemetery Hill between 3 and 4 p. m., and promptly put the forces in hand into position-sent Wadsworth's Division and a battery to Culp's Hill, on the right, with fresh troops, and extended the lines to the left at Round Top.

The divisions of the Twelfth Corps, under Geary and Williams, took positions on the extreme left and right respectively, and Buford made a strong cavalry demonstration on both flanks. The timely arrival of Stannard's Vermont Brigade added fresh strength to the troops. Leaving Washington on the 25th at noon, after an exhausting march of seven days, rain falling every day, under orders to report to General Reynolds, it reached Gettysburg late on the afternoon of the 1st of July, and the tired troops were placed in position in column by regiments, connecting with the divisions of the Third Corps just hurried to the front, and in rear of the line of battle of the First and Eleventh Corps on Cemetery Hill. Thus the Confederate army, in spite of its successes, saw the Union army strong in its new position, and while General Lee conditionally ordered an advance, his corps and division generals were content to prepare for it for the next day. By midnight of the 1st the bulk of the Army of the Potomac was in its place, and General Meade himself followed soon after, and at once surveyed the field and prepared to hold it. Buford had sent word that here was the place to fight a battle, Reynolds had confirmed it, Hancock seconded it, Warren, too, found that they were right, and General Meade promptly gave orders for the concentration of his army there. The first day's battle had secured the position on which the succeeding days' battles were to be fought and won. It was thus on Pennsylvania soil that the great and decisive battle was fought, with a Pennsylvanian, Meade, at the head of the army, with another Pennsylvanian, Reynolds, leading the advance, and falling at the very fore-front at the outset. It was another Pennsylvanian, Hancock, who took his place and secured the line on which he himself fell desper. ately wounded later on; it was a Pennsylvania regiment, the Fifty-sixth, that opened the infantry fight on the 1st of July. In the First Corps there were twelve Pennsylvania organizations;

in the Eleventh Corps there were five, and eighteen more were in the Twelfth and Third Corps, whose timely presence counted for so much in the closing scenes of that eventful day at Gettysburg.

Pennsylvania Day, by its very name, recalls their presence and their services. But the forces that took part in the first day's battle included men of New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey, and the regular army, so that no state lines, no local history, limits the interest of the first day. Pennsylvania has always recognized its duty as guardian of the field of Gettysburg, and while it honors its own sons who fought and fell here, it honors equally the memory of those of other states, for all alike fought in defense of the Union. The State of Pennsylvania invites its citizens to meet here again to consecrate themselves in the presence of all these memorials, testifying better than any words can tell, the loyalty of its sons to the Union, and the tender regard piously cherished for all who died that the Union might live. The years that have passed since the battle are full of great events, but much of their importance is due to the issue of that contest, and that issue is in turn largely due to the events of the first day and its influence on the result. Reynolds set the example, sealing a glorious life by a glorious death, and his men were worthy of him. No more preg nant tribute was ever paid than that of General Meade, when, in his dispatch of July 4, he said: "We have been engaged with the enemy for three days-July 1, 2 and 3. On the 1st our forces met and we lost Reynolds." Thus he puts the loss of Reynolds by itself, showing that even after the successes of the second and third days, the death of Reynolds was a heavy price to pay for the final result of a crowning victory. On another occasion he said: "Reynolds was the noblest, as well as the bravest, gentleman in the army. When he fell at Gettysburg the army lost its right arm." That Reynolds was appreciated as highly by his own soldiers as by the commanding general is testified by the fact that here his old First Corps erected the heroic bronze statue that stands in the National Cemetery. The State of Pennsylvania has marked, by a suitable memorial, the spot on which Reynolds fell, and near it are the memorials of the organizations that fought on the first day in the front on the lines he formed.

The death of Reynolds led General Meade to do an act which exhibited his best qualities as a commander. Himself but three days at the head of the army, he selected General Hancock, who had but three days before left his division to take command of a corps, and sent him to assume the command of the left wing in

succession to Reynolds. The result fully justified the choice, but to make it required moral courage, insight into character, and rapidity of decision. Hancock on his arrival at the front did just the work which was needed-rallying the troops, addressing and encouraging them, assigning positions to those already there, hastening into line the fresh troops as they arrived. Anticipating Lee's order to Ewell, he sent Wadsworth to occupy Culp's Hill, and having put all in order, reported to General Meade that he could hold the position till nightfall, and that here was the place to fight our battle, and received a prompt reply that the army was ordered there. Thus Buford and Reynolds and Hancock all united in the work that made the first day's battle so momentous. *

It was not a surprise nor an accident-it was the opening engagement between two contending armies. Over the Army of Northern Virginia General Lee exercised supreme command for more than a year, during which he had won four great victories. Over the Army of the Potomac, General Meade had been in command for three days, and he was hampered by orders from Washington, and the necessity of conforming to them. He was looking for the enemy, his main point, as he said to Halleck, "to find and fight the enemy." He sent Reynolds on that errand, and Reynolds in turn despatched Buford with his cavalry to be the eyes of the army. He found them, and with his clear prescience saw the opportunity and the occasion, and quickly seized it, and Reynolds in turn helped to bring Lee's forces out of their mountain shelter, to hold them, and, in conformity with Meade's orders, bettered in their understanding by Buford and Reynolds of what was before them-an enemy rapidly concentrating at a position of great importance, they held on for the whole of that first day, while General Meade was enabled to prepare for that offensive defense which he had at the outset determined on.

Even as great a military writer as Lord Wolseley speaks of the first day as a surprise to the Confederate army, and not to the Union army, but he is not borne out by the facts. General Lee says, in his report, that his whole force was ordered to concentrate at Gettysburg. Two divisions of General Hill's Corps were sent to Gettysburg by the Chambersburg road, and the Third Division was held in reserve. The two divisions of Ewell's Corps, Early's and Rodes', were ordered there, and coming, one from York the other from Carlisle, their concentration was effected

*General F. A. Walker in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.

with admirable precision. Of the Union Army, Buford's Division of cavalry was sent through Gettysburg on the 30th of June to observe the enemy, and his movements were closely watched and fully reported both to Reynolds and Meade. Reynolds put his own corps, the First, into action on the morning of the first day, and under his orders the Eleventh Corps came up to its support, while the Third Corps, later on, followed, and by nightfall, with the Twelfth Corps and the Vermont Brigade, were on the ground and in position. Surely, then, there was no surprise in the battle, and it was fought just at the time and place where it best effected its object. True up to the 1st of July, the Confederate Army had met little but militia, and the people of Pennsylvania might well have asked:

Why have they dared to march so many miles upon her peaceful bosom, frighting her pale-faced villages with war, and ostentation of despised arms? Richard II., act 2, sc. 3.

But the end to the invasion came when the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia met in front of Gettysburg. It may be true that some of the Confederates expected to encounter only militia, yet the general officers, its leaders, knew that General Meade was looking for the enemy and for a place to fight, and both were found at Gettysburg. There the Army of the Potomac for three days contended for the supremacy which finally crowned the long struggle, and the issue was largely due to the sturdy valor of the small body of troops that on the first day withstood double their number Both Meade and Lee were manoeuvering for positions on which to deliver battle; General Lee, to gather the fruits of his invasion of the north, to mass his forces before the Union Army could be concentrated, and, fighting it in detail, to win a victory which should enable him to exact terms that would give a new lease of life to the Confederacy; General Meade, to protect Washington and Baltimore, to relieve Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and to drive Lee across the Potomac. Buford, with his cavalry, the eyes of the army, saw at a glance that Gettysburg was the best point for concentration and for a decisive battle. Reynolds, its right arm, saw that the time had arrived, and, with his corps, struck the first blow, meaning to follow it up with the help of the Eleventh and Third Corps. Hancock, in turn, seized the position on Cemetery Ridge, and by nightfall secured it, so that at the close of the first day, although the enemy had largely outnumbered our force, yet the substantial advantage was ours, for here Lee was brought to bay, and the successful battle of the second and third days were largely the outcome of that of the first day.