General Lee reached the field before Hancock came, and watched the retreat of the First and Eleventh Corps, and Hancock's movements and dispositions through his field-glass. He was not deceived by this show of force, and sent a recommendation—not an order—to Ewell to follow us up; but Ewell, in the exercise of his discretion as a corps commander, did not do so. He had lost 3,000 men, and both he and Hill were under orders not to bring on a general engagement. In fact they had had all the fighting they desired for the time being. Colonel Campbell Brown, of Ewell's staff, states that the latter was preparing to move forward against the height, when a false report induced him to send Gordon's brigade to reinforce Smith's brigade on his extreme left, to meet a supposed Union advance in that direction.
The absence of these two brigades decided him to wait for the arrival of Johnson's division before taking further action. When the latter came up, Slocum and Sickles were on the ground, and the opportunity for a successful attack had passed.
In sending Hancock forward with such ample powers, Meade virtually appointed him commander-in-chief for the time being, for he was authorized to say where we would fight, and when, and how. In the present instance, in accordance with his recommendation, orders were immediately sent out for the army to concentrate on Cemetery Ridge. Two-thirds of the Third Corps, and all of the Twelfth came up, and by six o'clock the position became tolerably secure. Stannard's Second Vermont brigade also arrived, and as they formed part of my command, reported to me for duty; a very welcome reinforcement to my shattered division. Sickles had taken the responsibility of joining us without orders, knowing that we were hard pressed. His command prolonged the line of the First Corps to the left. Slocum's Corps—the Twelfth—was posted, as a reserve, also on the left.
Hancock now relinquished the command of the field to Slocum and rode back to Taneytown to confer with Meade and explain his reasons for choosing the battle-field.
Longstreet's corps soon arrived and joined Ewell and Hill; so that the whole rebel army was ready to act against us the next morning, with the exception of Pickett's division.
At the close of the day General John Newton rode up and took charge of the First Corps by order of General Meade, and I resumed the command of my division. Several incidents occurred during the severe struggle of the first day which are worthy of record.
Colonel Wheelock of the 97th New York was cut off during the retreat of Robinson's division, and took refuge in a house. A rebel lieutenant entered and called upon him to surrender his sword. This he declined to do, whereupon the lieutenant called in several of his men, formed them in line, took out his watch and said to the colonel, "You are an old gray-headed man, and I dislike to kill you, but if you don't give up that sword in five minutes, I shall order these men to blow your brains out." When the time was up the Colonel still refused to surrender. A sudden tumult at the door, caused by some prisoners attempting to escape, called the lieutenant off for a moment. When he returned the colonel had given his sword to a girl in the house who had asked him for it, and she secreted it between two mattresses. He was then marched to the rear, but being negligently guarded, escaped the same night and returned to his regiment.
Another occurrence recalls Browning's celebrated poem of "An Incident at Ratisbon." An officer of the 6th Wisconsin approached Lieutenant- Colonel Dawes, the commander of the regiment, after the sharp fight in the railroad cut. The colonel supposed, from the firm and erect attitude of the man, that he came to report for orders of some kind; but the compressed lips told a different story. With a great effort the officer said, "Tell them at home I died like a man and a soldier." He threw open his breast, displayed a ghastly wound, and dropped dead at the colonel's feet.
Another incident was related to me at the time, but owing to our hurried movements and the vicissitudes of the battle, I have never had an opportunity to verify it. It was said that during the retreat of the artillery one piece of Stewart's battery did not limber up as soon as the others. A rebel officer rushed forward, placed his hand upon it, and presenting a pistol at the back of the driver, directed him not to drive off with the piece. The latter did so, however, received the ball in his body, caught up with the battery and then fell dead.
We lay on our arms that night among the tombs at the Cemetery, so suggestive of the shortness of life and the nothingness of fame; but the men were little disposed to moralize on themes like these and were too much exhausted to think of anything but much-needed rest.