"In Simple Obedience To Duty"
Inspired uords of appreciation for the Con¬
federacy's fighting men and a perceptive ac¬
count of the Hattie of Gettysburg.
Appropriate sentiments for Vet¬
erans Day were expressed in the
remarks of Senator En in at the
dedication of the Memorial to the
Army and Navy of the Confederate
States of America at Gettysburg.
Pennsylvania, August 25. 1965 . —
Ed.
Wfe meet at Gettysburg upon the bat¬
tlefield hallowed for all time on the first
three days of July. 1863. by the blood
and valor of the Army of Northern
Virginia, which was captained by
General Robert E. Lee and fought for
Southern independence, and the Army
of the Pbtomac. which was commanded
by General George G. Meade and
fought for the preservation of the
Union.
We meet here to dedicate a beautiful
"Memorial to the Army and Navy of
the Confederate Slates of America."
This monument was designed by the
gifted sculptor. Donald DeLuc. and was
erected at this spot by the eleven Con¬
federate States. Alabama. Arkansas.
Florida, Georgia. Louisiana.
Mississippi. North Carolina. South
Carolina. Tennessee, Texas, and
Virginia, and the three Border States.
Kentucky. Maryland, and Missouri, in
remembrance of their sons who fought
for the Confederacy in countless
engagements on land and sea and now
rest in peace on Fame's eternal camp¬
ing ground.
These fourteen states were persuaded
to unite in this undertaking by members
of various patriotic organizations, such
as the United Daughters of the Con¬
federacy and the Sons of Confederate
Veterans, who are devoted to the truth
that nothing so strengthens the nation
as reading the nation's history1, whether
that history is recorded in books or in¬
scribed upon monuments.
The Gettysburg Battlefield affords an
altogether appropriate site for this me¬
morial. This is so because of the
heroism displayed and the losses suf¬
fered by the soldiers of the South in the
most celebrated battle of the War
Between the States.
The Battle of Gettysburg was brought
THE STATE. NOVEMBER 1984
By SAM J. EH VIM, JR.
about by Lee's daring invasion of the
North, w hich marked the heyday of the
Confederacy. Lee had defeated the ar¬
mies of McClellan. Pope. Burnside,
and Hooker in succession in defending
Virginia against invasion.
To be sure, the Confederacy paid an
agonizing price for Lee's defeat of
Hooker at Chancellorsville a few weeks
before Lee marched northward when
Lee’s matchless lieutenant. Stonewall
Jackson, suffered accidental wounds
which necessitated the amputation of
his left arm and caused his death a few
days later. Lee besunved upon his
wounded lieutenant the supreme ac¬
colade when he stated that Jackson “has
lost his left arm. but I have lost my
right."
The invasion of the North by the
Army of Northern Virginia was
prompted by diplomatic and political
considerations as well as by the military
consideration that final victory seldom
North Carolina's own memorial lo II* war dead at
Gettysburg wa* dedicated on July 3. 1929. (photo
by John Gilbert)
adorns the banners of an army which
restricts its activities to defensive opera¬
tions. It was this military consideration,
however, that explains and justifies
Lee's conduct of the Battle of
Gettysburg.
The battle began somewhat unex¬
pectedly on the morning of July 1. 1863,
when Heth's division of A. P. Hill's
corps and Buford’s Federal troopers
clashed on the roads northwest of the
Town of Gettysburg. Both sides were
soon reinforced, and a furious fight de¬
veloped between the Confederate corps
of Hill and Ewell and the Federal First
and Eleventh Corps. The fight lasted
until dark when the Confederates drove
the shattered Federal forces onto the
heights south of Gettysburg.
Meade spend the night consolidating
the artillery and infantry of the Army
of the Potomac upon these heights. The
part of the heights known as Cemetery
Ridge, which ran southward from Cem¬
etery Hill to the craggy Round Tops, af¬
forded the Federal s a good defensive
position against the main body of Lee's
army stationed along Seminary Ridge
to the westward, and the part of the
heights, which ran eastward from Cem¬
etery Hill to Culp’s Hill, offered the
Fcderals a good defensive position
against Ewell's corps stationed in the
lowlands to the northward.
Despite its strength. Meade's position
would have become untenable if the
Confederates could have obtained con¬
trol of any of the hills occupied by the
Fcderals, and this fact is the key to the
tactics employed by Lee on the second
and third days at Gettysburg.
The battle was resumed in full fury
on the afternoon of July 2. In conform¬
ity with the orders of their corps com¬
mander. Longstrcel. to whom Lee has
assigned the task of turning Meade's
left
Г
Hood's division marched around
the Union left, overran Devil's Den.
and fought to gain control of Little
Round Top; and McLaws' division shat¬
tered the Federal troops in the Wheat
Field and the Peach Orchard and under¬
took to reach Cemetery Ridge, beyond.
As the fighting moved northward, the
9