o leave it. I did not believe in the
system, so prevalent at that time, of avoiding the enemy. I quite
agreed with Reynolds that it was best to meet him as soon as
possible, for the rebellion, if reduced to a war of positions,
would never end so long as the main army of the Confederates was
left in a condition to take the field. A retreat, too, has a bad
effect on the men. It gives them the impression that their generals
think them too weak to contend with the enemy. I was not aware,
at this time, that Howard was on the ground, for he had given me
no indication of his presence, but I knew that General Meade was
at Taneytown; and as, on the previous evening, he had informed
General Reynolds that the enemy's army were concentrating on
Gettysburg, I thought it probable he would ride to the front to
see for himself what was going on, and issue definite orders of
some kind. As Gettysburg covered the great roads from Chambersburg
to York, Baltimore, and Washington, and as its possession by Lee
would materially shorten and strengthen his line of retreat, I was
in favor of making great sacrifices to hold it.

While we were thus temporarily successful, having captured or
dispersed all the forces in our immediate front, a very misleading
despatch was sent to General Meade by General Howard. It seems
that General Howard had reached Gettysburg in advance of his corps,
just after the two regiments of Cutler's brigade, which had been
outflanked, fell back to the town by General Wadsworth's order.
Upon witnessing this retreat, which was somewhat disorderly, General
Howard hastened to send a special messenger to General Meade with
the baleful intelligence that the First Corps had fled from the
field at the first contact with the enemy, thus magnifying a forced
retreat of two regiments, acting under orders, into the flight of
an entire corps, two-thirds of which had not yet reached the field.
It is unnecessary to say that this astounding news created the
greatest feeling against the corps, who were loudly cursed for
their supposed lack of spirit and patriotism.

About 11 A.M., the remainder of the First Corps came up, together
with Cooper's, Stewart's, Reynolds', and Stevens' batteries. By
this time the enemy's artillery had been posted on every commanding
position to the west of us, several of their batteries firing down
the Chambersburg pike. I was very desirous to hold this road, as
it was in the centre of the enemy's lin