volunteers, hurriedly brought against them, it was with ill-disguised astonishment they gazed on the dust-covered lines of veterans directly in front.

"The Army of the Potomac !" "The Army of the Potomac !" passed, in gasping tones, along the rebel ranks.

"Ah! they are here!"

That splendid army was indeed there; and right bravely did it prove its presence through every day and hour of the succeeding battle.

The limits of our volume, and the space necessarily occupied by other topics of interest to the general reader, will not allow us to narrate all the scenes we should be happy to place in these pages connected with this signal action. It began on the morning of the 1st and closed on the evening of the 3d of Julythe salvos of its glorious victory, in chorus with those of Vicksburg, appropriately ushering in the natal day of our nation's independence.

It is impossible, in this work, to do the justice they so richly deserve to all the parties who distinguished themselves on this memorable field. Meade, Reynolds, Sedgwick, Hancock, Slocum, Butterfield, Doubleday, Pleasanton, Couch, Gibbon, Graham, Sickles, Warren, and a host of others, are all worthy of honorable mention. The name of Reynolds de

serves especial remembrance; for it was he who was first to withstand the surging horde as it swept over the heights; it was he who gave the enemy his first decided check; and he was the first general officer who fell on the Union side. All honor to his memory

- and to that of the heroes who fell around him on that and succeeding days, and whose patriot dust has been so well enshrined in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

The lightnings may flash, the loud thunders rattle,

They see not, they hear not, they're free from all pain;
They sleep their last sleep, they have fought their last battle,
No sound shall awake them to glory again.

2d of July, the battle was resumed, by the opening of the rebel batteries on our nearest lines. General Sickles was wounded, and his command forced back. At this perilous juncture Hancock, surrounded by his associates, came to the rescue. The enemy was in turn driven from the field, and our success rendered complete. Every desperate attempt of the rebels to break our lines, and, especially, to possess themselves of our ammunition and supply trains, was bravely met and nobly overcome.

The morning of the third day broke over the field. At early dawn our artillery opened fire, which continued several hours; but near midday no movement whatever was made on either side. At this hour, following a silence more awful in such a spot than all the thunders of battle, the rebel batteries directed a deadly fire against the Corps of Hancock. Lee had vainly imagined this to be his most favored point of attack. Dashing from behind the woods of Cemetery Ridge, the flower of that part of the enemy's force swept onward to the very muzzles of Hancock's guns. His well-tried Corps, aided by Doubleday and Stannard, met the shock with all their wonted coolness and courage, and hurled the foe back in confusion.

It was at this moment the scene occurred of which

our artist has given the reader the graphic illustration that accompanies these pages. The Thirteenth Vermont regiment, Colonel Randall, was in a position to render assistance to one of our endangered batteries. General Doubleday, riding rapidly up, drew off a portion of the command. They quickly obeyed his summons, and rendered such support to the artillery that the guns were not only saved but enabled to continue to supply effective service. The remainder of the regiment was in line of battle, ready for action, at a moment's warning, when a rebel battery opened in a new and powerful position, doing us considerable damage.

General Hancock, perceiving the crisis at a glance, galloped to the Vermonters, through repeated showers of shot and shell from the enemy, and saluting and addressing Randall, as he pointed with his sword to the rebels and their guns, enquired:

"Colonel! can you take that battery?"

The Colonel lifted his cap, returning the salute, and quickly replied:

"I can, General !”

In a moment more came the Colonel's order: “Thirteenth Vermont! Forward! Double-quick!" The Green Mountaineers wheeled at the word, and, with fixed bayonets, rushed on the batteries of the