should be, as by the army it is, awarded to
the "_Old Second_." It did more fighting than any other corps, inflicted
severer losses upon the enemy in killed and wounded, and sustained a
heavier like loss, and captured more flags than all the rest of the
army, and almost as many prisoners as the rest of the army. The loss of
the 2d corps in killed and wounded in this battle--there is no other
test of hard fighting--was almost as great as that of all Gen. Grant's
forces in the battle that preceded and in the siege of Vicksburg.
Three-eighths of the whole corps were killed and wounded. Why does the
Western Army suppose that the Army of the Potomac does not fight? Was
ever a more absurd supposition? The Army of the Potomac is grand! Give
it good leadership--let it alone--and it will not fail to accomplish all
that reasonable men desire.
Of Gibbon's white trefoil division, if I am not cautious, I shall speak
too enthusiastically. This division has been accustomed to distinguished
leadership. Sumner, Sedgwick and Howard have honored, and been honored
by, its command. It was repulsed under Sedgwick at Antietam and under
Howard at Fredericksburg; it was victorious under Gibbon at the 2d
Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg. At Gettysburg its loss in killed and
wounded was over _one thousand seven hundred_, near one-half of all
engaged; it captured _seventeen_ battle-flags and _two thousand three
hundred_ prisoners. Its bullets hailed on Pickett's division, and killed
or mortally wounded four Rebel generals, _Barksdale_ on the 2d of July,
with the three on the 3d, _Armstead_, _Garnett_ and _Kemper_. In losses
in killed and wounded, and in captures from the enemy of prisoners and
flags, it stood pre-eminent among all the divisions at Gettysburg.
Under such generals as Hancock and Gibbon brilliant results may be
expected. Will the country remember them?
It is understood in the army that the President thanked the slayer of
Barton Key for _saving the day_ at Gettysburg. Does the country know any
better than the President that Meade, Hancock and Gibbon were entitled
to some little share of such credit?
At about six o'clock on the afternoon of the 3d of July, my duties done
upon the field, I quitted it to go to the General. My brave horse
_Dick_--poor creature, his good conduct in the battle that afternoon had
been complimented by a Brigadier--was a sight to see. He was literally
covered with blood. Struck repeatedly, his right th
|