“In the center of a space inclosed by an iron fence, and containing a half-dozen graves, a few rails are standing where they were erected by our soldiers to form their shelter in bivouac.  A family shaft has been broken in fragments by a shell.  Stone after stone felt the effects of the feu d’enfer that was poured upon the crest of the hill.  Cannon thundered, and foot and horse soldiers tramped over the resting-place of the dead.  Other dead were added to those who are resting here.  Many a wounded soldier lives to remember the contest above those silent graves.

“The hill on which this cemetery is located was the center of our line of battle and the key to our position.  Had the Rebels been able to carry this point, they would have forced us into retreat, and the battle would have been lost.  To pierce our line in this locality was Lee’s great endeavor, and he threw his best brigades against it.  Wave after wave of living valor rolled up that slope, only to roll back again under the deadly fire of our artillery and infantry.  It was on this hill, a little to the right of the cemetery, where the ’Louisiana Tigers’ made their famous charge.  It was their boast that they were never yet foiled in an attempt to take a battery; but on this occasion they suffered a defeat, and were nearly annihilated.  Sad and dispirited, they mourn their repulse and their terrible losses in the assault.

“From the summit of this hill a large portion of the battle-ground is spread out before the spectator.  In front and at his feet lies the town of Gettysburg, containing, in quiet times, a population of four or five thousand souls.  It is not more than a hundred yards to the houses in the edge of the village, where the contest with the Rebel sharp-shooters took place.  To the left of the town stretches a long valley, bounded on each side by a gently-sloping ridge.  The crest of each ridge is distant nearly a mile from the other.  It was on these ridges that the lines of battle on the second and third days were formed, the Rebel line being on the ridge to the westward.  The one stretching directly from our left hand, and occupied by our own men, has but little timber upon it, while that held by the rebels can boast of several groves of greater or less extent.  In one of these the Pennsylvania College is embowered, while in another is seen the Theological Seminary.  Half-way between the ridges are the ruins of a large brick building burned during the engagement.  Dotted about, here and there, are various brick and frame structures.  Two miles at our left rises a sharp-pointed elevation, known to the inhabitants of the region as Round Hill.  Its sides are wooded, and the forest stretches from its base across the valley to the crest of the western ridge.