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The Battle of Gettysburg… an intimate look…

I would imagine, as a journalist, an eyewitness is the “rare pearl”. Research is all well and good but interviewing someone who saw it with their own two eyes will most often give the very best information. So it was for the journalist who wrote for the DAILY RICHMOND EXAMINER, July 17, 1863 [1] issue.  The article…

“The Invasion of Pennsylvania–The Battle Of Gettysburg–The Retreat To Hagerstown” features an eye-witness account of the retreat and is prefaced with: “…the only connected, intelligent and intelligible account that has yet been given to the public of the movements of General Lee…after the Battle of Gettysburg.” This lengthy & detailed accounting by one of the soldiers begins with the Confederate advance from Virginia into Maryland on June 18, then continues with: “On Friday, 26th, we took up the line of march through Chambersburg on the Harrisburg road. The splendid band in the 4th Louisiana brigade…proceeded the column playing ‘Dixie” and the Marseillaise…We passed through Shippensburg to the sound of martial music again & went on to Carlisle…Harrisburg was in a panic…”.

A report from a soldier who was more than an eyewitness of the battle; rather, one who experienced it first-hand… From a journalist’s point of view, it just doesn’t get any better.