Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1910 — Gettysburg – Fredericksburg [ARTICLE]

Gettysburg - Fredericksburg

By JOHN KRESLER

It is now 47 years since the greatest battle of the civil war was fought. Gettysburg and Pickett’s charge has been considered the greatest of modern times, but when all is reviewed, the ground studied and the jpositions of both Union and Confederate forces considered, Gettysburg sinks far below the magnificent work done by the gallant men who charged again and again against the impregnable wall of fire that crowned the hill of St. Mary’s at Fredericksburg on the 13th day of December, 1862. I will try in my own way to describe the differences briefly. First, Pickett charged over clear, open ground, against a line that had no other shelter than that afforded by casual fences and stone walls. His front wq,s free from obstacles such as usually impede the progress of an assaulting column. He could not have found a better field for operations in the world. It was said our men were standing on a ridge; the truth is at that point the ridge sinks down until the rise in the approach is hardly visible. Pickett’s charge had been prepared for by the most terrific artillery fire even known, concentrated at the most effective cannon range on the objective of his assault. There was very much to give Pickett’s men strong hopes of success. The army of the Potomac had been terribly pounded for two days and its ranks forced

back far from their original position. On the other hand the men of the second and fifth corps assailed a perfectly, fresh enemy standing in a position for natural strength in any battlefield in the history of the world. It was impossible for our artillery to give more than feeble resistance. The dullest man in the army of the Potomac realized something of this and that the assault could have little chance of success, yet they made an attack that could not be ourpassed for desperate determination. Tesy did not go to pieces in <. ne assault like Pickett’s man did, but made six different charges and with the field covered witn their dean urd dying comrades for jad themselves forward within a hundred yards of the impregnable fortress. It was a feac of corageous daring equal to any charge ever made. In Hancock’s division of the second corps 2,013 men ware lost out of 5,006. Eight regiments numbering 2,548 lost 1,324. Not one regiment lost less than 45 per cent and one lost 67 per cent or two thirds of all who charged the fortress. Besides this, the army of the Potomac had a deep river to cross and not without being molested by the enemy on the opposite side. So, I say, all honor to the brave boys of the second and fifth corps who stormed the hill of St. Mary on Dee. 13, 31.62.