“It must not be supposed that the space between the ridges is an even plain, shaven with, the scythe and leveled with the roller.  It rises and falls gently, and with little regularity, but in no place is it steep of ascent.  Were it not for its ununiformity and for the occasional sprinkling of trees over its surface, it could be compared to a patch of rolling prairie in miniature.  To the southwest of the further ridge is seen the mountain region of Western Maryland, behind which the Rebels had their line of retreat.  It is not a wild, rough mass of mountains, but a region of hills of the larger and more inaccessible sort.  They are traversed by roads only in a few localities, and their passage, except through, the gaps, is difficult for a single team, and impossible for an army.

“The Theological Seminary was the scene of a fierce struggle.  It was beyond it where the First and Eleventh Corps contended with Ewell and Longstreet on the first day of the engagement.  Afterward, finding the Rebels were too strong for them, they fell back to a new position, this building being included in the line.  The walls of the Seminary were perforated by shot and shell, and the bricks are indented with numerous bullet-marks.  Its windows show the effects of the musketry, and but little glass remains to shut out the cold and rain.  The building is now occupied as a hospital by the Rebels.  The Pennsylvania College is similarly occupied, and the instruction of its students is neglected for the present.

“In passing from the cemetery along the crest of the ridge where our line of battle stood, I first came upon the position occupied by some of our batteries.  This is shown by the many dead horses lying unburied, and by the mounds which mark where others have been slightly covered up.  There are additional traces of an artillery fight.  Here is a broken wheel of a gun-carriage, an exploded caisson, a handspike, and some of the accoutrements of the men.  In the fork of a tree I found a Testament, with the words, ’Charles Durrale, Corporal of Company G,’ written on the fly-leaf.  The guns and the gunners, have disappeared.  Some of the latter are now with the column moving in pursuit of the enemy, others are suffering in the hospitals, and still others are resting where the bugle’s reveille shall never wake them.

“Between the cemetery and the town and at the foot of the ridge where I stand, runs the road leading to Emmetsburg.  It is not a turnpike, but a common dirt-road, and, as it leaves the main street leading into town, it makes a diagonal ascent of the hill.  On the eastern side, this road is bordered by a stone wall for a short distance.  Elsewhere on both sides there is only a rail fence.  A portion of our sharp-shooters took position behind this wall, and erected traverses to protect them from a flanking fire, should the enemy attempt to move up the road from Gettysburg.  These traverses are constructed at right angles to the wall, by making a ‘crib’ of fence-rails, two feet high and the same distance apart, and then filling the crib with dirt.  Further along I find the rails from the western side of the road, piled against the fence on the east, so as to form a breast-work two or three feet in height—­a few spadesful of dirt serve to fill the interstices.  This defense was thrown up by the Rebels at the time they were holding the line of the roads.