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Show SICKLES TELLS HOW HE LOST ONE OFJS LEliS Also Relates How He Disobeyed Meade; Holds He Was Justified Gettysburg, Pa., July 2. My heart beats faster tonight. The thronging hordes who have motored and walked and trolleyed to my camp today have swept their hats off and balled It as "Sickles day." And so I have always regarded July 2. It was on this day a half century ago that God gave me strength to servo my country and my Mker better bet-ter than I had ever been able to serve them before. It was upon this day In '63 that I lost my leg and did my little part, by tho mercy of God, to preserve tho union. July 2, 1863, broke hot and clear. Just as in the enfrly hours today h molten sun poured out of a sky but a trlflo overclouded. I bad retired shortly after midnight the previous evening and slept the quiet dreamless dream-less sleep that is generally nttrlbubted to Innocent babes. Disobeys Meade's Order For A Conference Last night I onjoyed just tho same kind of sleep. But that Is to be expected ex-pected of a young fellow who at 93 li still ablo to read without his glasses, glass-es, oh? Many men who came today to shake my "hand told me they were too busy to do so fifty years ago that their whole hearts and minds were wrapped up In the conflict to coma. I know that a conflict of tho utmost Importance to our country wa at hand. And something told mo the fight would begin about 3 o'clock. So It proved. A fow minutes before 3 o'clock General Meade, In command, sent word to mo that ho desired to see mo Immediately. I replied that I could not como, as the enemy was about to attack. Meade had never been In favor fav-or of giving battle at Gettysburg and I know that ho would order to leave my position and move to PIpo Creek, where ho intended to battle. At this time I held tho advrmco line extending extend-ing from Dovll's Den to the poach orchard. or-chard. I had also forced our further lino on the Emmttsburg road, which passes In front of tho Rogers houso here. Hell Broke All Along Line. I had hardly given spurs to my horse In response to my superior's summons when tho enemy's attack opened, I Immediately sent word to Mcada that I could not obey his commands com-mands became I was actually being attacked. In a fow minutes hell had broken loose along my lino. My 10, 000 men wero attacked with devilish .ferocity by two of Longstreet's divisions di-visions and Anderson's division of Hill's corps 20,000 men tn nil. Let mo call attention right here to the fact that If Ihad not taken tho Initiative our left would hnve been lost. Longstroet said I won the battle bat-tle by my advanco move. Sheridan said so and Grant Indorsed tho former's for-mer's opinion. The fight was the most desperate, the most severe of my life. It was far moro Intense than Chancollors-vllle. Chancollors-vllle. My total losses wero 4200 men while the enemy's whs approxlmatsty 7,000 or 8,000. The cannonading was tho heaviest I havo oyer heard. I think nothing In tho world's history could approach tho second and third days' battle at Gettysburg. And now I como to tho description of tho second day's battle, in which 1 am moro poignantly Interested . 1 refer to tho loss of my right leg. As I rcll b.-e'vt'-'o tnbhts of my momory every dotall of tho Incidents surrounding sur-rounding that loss nro present In my mind. It occurred between 6 nna 7 In the ovonlng. Owing to tho small number of my men compared with that of tho enemy I knew that Is was only through force of personal leadership lead-ership that I could hold them together, to-gether, so I rode constantly up and down on my horse, up and down my lino of battlo. I have been criticized for this, but It was the only way I could prevent my men from being overpowered. And so I paid no attention atten-tion when thoy cried: "Sickles to the rear! Sickles to tho roar!" The loss of a limb or the loss of a llfo meant nothing to mo then. Nor has It since. I had but ono thought to win the battle. At First Unconscious of Shattered leg It wns aftor tho victory had been in-actlcally won that tho pieces of shrapnel that almost cost mo my llfo came along. At first I did not know I was hit. My thoughts, hs I said before, woro solely on tho battlo and' so I am unable to tell oxactly at yhat point I was struck. It was soraowhore bstween tho peach orchard and tho wheat field. I mhdo tho discovery i that I had been hit as I was riding j bock from the Immediate front to m i headquarters flag. I looked down ant i found that my kneo and leg wero also wet and damp. I slipped my leg ove: tho back of my horso and saw that 1 was bleeding a great deal. Then 1 knew my leg was badly fractured, instantly in-stantly I slipped from my horse's back and sent for a surgeon. I was still bleeding a great deal and I saw that I would bleed to death beforo the arrival of a surgeon unless something some-thing wns done. So I ordered ono of my staff to take a Bmall strap from his blanket and buckle It about my leg. The strap wns pulled Into a t'ght tourniquet and tho rapid flow of tho blood was stayed. Tho doctors said beforo they amputated yio leg thnt not even ono of my sturdy constitution constitu-tion could havo stood the terrific lews of blood. Meade Still Dubious At End Of the Day At tho end of ttho second dnj' General Gen-eral Meado was still pessimistic. Ho still believed It would bo better to rotreiit and fight at Pipe Creek. Tno council of war however, would not hear of it. Slocum s ringing resolution, reso-lution, "Stny and light," was unanimously unani-mously adopted. Results proved Its wisdom. I personally havo always entertained doubts whether Leo would havo followed us to Pope Creek and offered battle." |
