Abigail Elizabeth Reynolds, War Correspondent, New York World
July 2, 1863
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
I find myself caught in the midst of much angst and tribulation in the sleepy Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. Traveling here from Charleston in Western Virginia just a few days earlier, I arrived here to visit my old friend, Reverend Schumacher of the Gettysburg Seminary. It was within two days of my arrival that news came of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia having been sighted near Chambersburg with possible movement towards Harrisburg. Also news reached us that General Jubal Early, CSA, had taken York, Pennsylvania on the 28th of June. I was told by my Editor, Mr. Martin Marbles, to delay my departure to Washington City and await further developments in the region. On June 30, news that Lee had advanced near Gettysburg had reached us and we were notified that Gen John Buford, USA and his Calvary were near by and would attempt to engage the Confederates as soon as practical.
On July the 1st, General Buford engaged the Confederates just west of the Seminary on the Chambersburg Pike and the conflict began. Fierce fighting with what appears to be heavy losses on both sides of the conflict has already occurred. The Seminary has been turned into a surgeons butchering house. The limbs of helpless lads are piling up on all sides of the building. Both Federal and Confederate troops are care for here, or left to die on the slopes of the grounds. Both Federal and Confederate Surgeons work side by side to crudely care for the injured. The smell of death and cries of the dying are already felt every where throughout the town, but none so much as here in this place of the sacred and the profane.
Word has reached us that General John Reynolds, USA, fell in battle not far from this place in the fighting of July 1st. General Buford held the ground as long as possible before being ordered to withdraw to the Cemetery on the south side of the town. Now the town and Seminary are in the hands of the Confederates yet the Federal Surgeons continue on in caring for the wounded, both from the North and South.
The sounds of weapons, artillery, horses and wagons, charging, fighting, dying men can be heard though out the entire town. Civilians are huddled in their basements or have fled to neighboring town and farms in hopes of avoiding the catastrophe at hand. Additional word has been received that there is already a civilian causality of one Jennie Wade, killed this morning by a snipers bullet as she was tending to her sick sister in the home on the edge of town near the Federal Lines.
I have attempted to venture towards the center of town with little success, constantly stopping to avoid being run over by racing horses pulling Confederate artillery towards the Cemetery. It seems to me that a Cemetery is a strange place indeed to hold a defensive line by the Federals. I am told that this is good ground however, because of its height and advantage to see over the entire area of Confederate advance.
As of yesterday, Generals Winfield Scott Hancock, John Buford and John Reynolds were commanding for the Federals. General Reynolds is reported dead, General Buford has been pulled to the rear for reserve and General George Meade has arrived on the field to take command. General Hancock remains by General Mead’s side. Who else is here we do not know, but we have been able to decipher that as many as 40,000 Confederates are here along with as many as 50,000 Federal troops. More Federal troops appear to be arriving as the day wears on.
General Lee is commanding the Confederates at this time with General Longstreet and others by his side. How many Confederate commanders overall we do not know.
As this day is drawing to a close, the fighting continues and death remains a constant. The stench of death is already rising high above this town and the heat and humidity of July presses in with oppressive heaviness. There appears to be not advance on either side, and the bloody contest will continue when the sun rises over Pennsylvania in the morning.
As darkness falls on these killing fields, the fighting has at last, if only for a small respite, stopped. Yet the cries of the fallen, wounded and dying can still be heard from the place where they fell. Will this place ever hold peace for those who reside here again? Will the fallen of battle find their eternal peace in this place? I think not.
