SIX WEEKS IN UNIFORM.
355
don't they? as if they had been out for a year;” and I expect we did present a pretty rough appearance. We had lost all the regimental baggage, drums, tents, blankets, &c., and over two hundred men, and the remainder were dirty, stiff and foot sore, limping along like so many cripples. We were destitute of everything pertaining to comfort or convenience. Somewhere near two o'clock we came to the fort and halted at the foot of the hill. Here we saw Reddy and a man called “Jersey” who had been captured and paroled, and they narrated their adventures. Neither of them was able to tell me anything concerning Rolly, and I took it for granted he had been taken, his weight making an escape by running impossible.[1] We
- ↑
August 21st, 1881. I made a visit to Gettysburg on the 15th
inst., and learned from persons who were there in 1863, many
additional facts, and went on foot over the battlefield and over the
grounds occupied by our regiment near the town. Mr. Rufus E.
Culp, son of the owner of Culp's Hill, who was a member of Co.
A., tells me that our camp June 26th, 1863, was on the Marsh
Creek, to the right of the Chambersburg pike. The engagement
took place on the road from Mummasburg to Hunterstown, near
the Harrisburg road. The creek we crossed on a log, was the Conewago,
and the place about two and a half miles below the Harrisburg
road. Our camp the next day, where the men fired off their
muskets, was at Woolford's Mill, at the junction of the Bermudian
and Lattemore creeks. From there we went up the Lattemore
creek to the Harrisburg road. In the engagement, a rebel was
shot and carried into a barn. The farmers who were with us
through the night of June 26th, were J. W. Diehl and A. F. Gift.
Mr. Diehl says, that the rebels were on both roads upon the front,
and also in the rear, and that he could see no chance of escape for
us but to cross the Susquehanna near Golesborough. He also says,
that we left some dead rebels on our path.
Major Robert Bell was at the head of a company of horse from the town, under the direction of Major Granville O. Haller. He was in the room at the Eagle Hotel, when Lieutenant Mowry reported to Haller with our detachment, on the night of June 25th. The intention had been to send us out to occupy the pass in the South Mountain, a narrow defile where a few men would have a great advantage. This plan was abandoned, upon Bell's telling them that the rebels were already in possession of the pass. He rode out the next morning with Jennings to Marsh Creek. After we had camped, they rode further to the top of the hill, and there were the rebels, cavalry, infantry and artillery. “I do not see that I have any business with these men here,” said Jennings, “What shall I do with them?” “What do you want to do?” asked Bell. “I came from Harrisburg, and I guess the best thing would be, to try and get back again.”
It was a rainy day, and Bell pointed out the direction and ex- plained the roads. As he saw the end of the regiment marching off up the hill, he thanked the Lord that he was not on foot. They captured the company left as a rear guard. The force which struck us at Witmer's was two regiments of cavalry.
The brick house where the engagement took place mentioned in my narrative, belonged to Henry Witmer. About fifteen of our men, I am told by its present occupants, were captured here. One man who hid in a meat tub was finally discovered. Another fired from the garret window at a rebel cavalryman and shot his horse. He changed his uniform for an old suit belonging to Mr. Witmer, and made his escape. When the rebels came back by the house, there were two of them supported on their horses, supposed to have been shot. The Witmers found a number of bullet holes in the gate and fences afterwards.
At the house of William Wert, a half a mile above, a number of our men were captured. Our line of battle was formed in Wert's field.
Henry Witmer's house is about four and a-half miles from Gettysburg by the Carlisle road, about seven by the Harrisburg road.
