THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 96, 2 October 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

(From the Special Correspondent of the New York Herald. ) Head-quarters, Third Army Corps, Near Gettysburg, July 4. The battle of Friday was the most desperate, most fierce and decisive of the war. It was commenced at early daybreak on our extreme left by a determined attack t>y the enemy with muskelrv aud artiUery. The attack was met by the Sixth corps and portions of the First and the Fifth, the Third lying close at hand in reserve. The battle raged fiercely at this point for nearly three hours, when the enemy fell back, yielding 10 us the whole oj ihe bottle field oj that morning, as well as of the previous day. Nearly simultaneously with the opening of the attack on the left, movements were discovered ou the right indicating that an effort was making to flank our position in thai direction. Our artillery on Cemetery Hill at once opened, throwing heavy vollies of shell over and to the north and east of the town At this point we had eight or ten batteries in position covered by earthworks. The enemy responded briskly to j our cannonading, but with poor effect, and were evidently much annoyed by our fire. They, however, pressed iheir columns on I to the right, and very soon our infantry poured on that flank and were earnestly engaged. The contest here was even more earnest and continuous than on the left. The Twelfth and portions of the Eleventh Corps withstood the shock giving never an inch of ground to their assailants. The fight raged here on the face of a lofty mountain, densely wooded, from the summit of which batteries could command our position on Cemetery Hill. It was evidently with a view of gaining this position that the enemy made the assault. For this purpose Hill's corps, that had fought on the left on the previous da)*, **as brought aiound to the right to reinforce Early, and as the scheme was developed it appeared that the early attack on the left was intended merely as a diversion to cover this movement. From a distance (he progress ofthe fight could be observed by the curling smoke r'sing above the woods, marking the line ofthe fierce contest. In this struggle our reserved artillery was brought into play, and did most cxc client service from impromptu positions on the elevated points back of Cemetery Hill, shelling the face of the mountain whore the enemy were supposed to be. This reserve fire of shell, added to the steady and unflinching oider of the glorious Twelfth corps, ultimately checked the vastly superior force of the enemy, who for an hour or two had been gradually advancing. At the critical juncture, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, one or two brigades of New York troops, supposed to be militia from Pennsylvania, arrived, and were immediately thrown into position to reinforce the right wing, which was being so badly pressed. This assistance determined the fate of the day. The enemy quailed before it, and soon the curling smoke that marked the line of the contest began to recede, surely indicating that the enemy were falling back ; but if they gave away at all it was but slowly, fighting at every step ; and thus the battle raged for hours, and until afternoon, when the enemy abandoned the field in that direction. But they did not yet yield the day. For a period hostilities seemed to be suspended ; but the suspension was very brief. The rebel columns seemed to be moved as if by magic and within an hour their whole force was massed directly. in our front, and once more the fieroe and deadly ( ontest opened. This time it was an assau 1 1 along the entire line — a last resort, the forlorn hope of the enemy. _ They were weakened in numbers and dispirited and utterly demoralized ; yet Lee had a reputation to save and a name to make, and at any sacrifice of life he seemed bound to win the day; but he strove in vain. The Union troops were fighting at home and among their own people. They fought like heroes, and, inspirited by success, they had no thought of defeat. They could have withstood three times the force the enemy hurled against them. It was mere play for them to drive back the columns of the rebels, and so they did drive them back, and at five o'clock, after more than twelve hours' constant fighting, the contest terminated, the national troops victorious at every point, and having nearly the entire battle field in their possession. Time fails me to dwell upon the details of this brilliant and glorious battle It would be interesting to state how we took thousands on thousands of prisoners, how the enemy were slaughtered, how our men fell by thousands, he/oically defending their national emblem ; but let all tbis be deferred : the day is ours, the victory is won, the country is saved. At the close of the action General Lee had the impudence tosend in a flag of truce asKing a suspension of hostilities, to give him time for the burial of.the dead and an exchange of prisoners. General Meade replied that he intended to recapture all the prisoners the enemy had taken, and that he would bury tbeir dead for them. Failing in this attempt to gain time, and badly worsted at all hands, the rebels had no other recourse but to avail themselves of the fast approaching night to fall back to the mountains. So precipitate was their retreat last night that their guards and sentinels in town were not relieved, and were captured. This morning upwards of eleven hundred stragglers were taken in Gettysburg, besides our wounded who ha-i fallen into tbe

daybreak General Pleasanton was started in pursuit of the rebels with his- artillery, and at last-accounts was pressing theni hard The summary of this battle it would be 'difficult to give at this time. Both sides have lost heavily. The country about Gettysburg is crowded with wounded men. Every house and barn is a hospital. Probably in the aggregate of both armies ' at least 50,000 men have been placed hors de combat. The apportionment of this loss would probably be twenty thousand Union and thirty thousand rebels. In addition to this, we have captured from twelve to twenty thousand prisoners, which i-i more than quadruple what they have taken from us, including our wounded who fell into their hands on Wednesday, and who were recaptured by us in Gettysburg this morning. it is exceedingly doubtful if we have taken either Longstreet or Hill, as reported, though the report is based upon statements of rebel prisoners. Other reports say that Longstreet is badly wounded, and some say that he is dead.