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Show fa HE tragic death of Gen. John F. Reynolds occurred J less than an hour after the beginning of the battle of Gettysburg. The best account of this has been given by a member of the 7 Union army signal corps. He was watching from the tower of the Theological seminary on the edge of the town. "The engagement was desperate," he declared, "and the Union forces seemed to be getting the worst of it when I suddenly saw the corps flag of General Reynolds. I had no one to communicate with, so I sent one of my men to Buford, who rushed up and seized my glasses, and on seeing see-ing Reynolds said, 'Now we can hold this place.' Very shortly after this General Reynolds and his staff came up and, seeing Buford in the cupola, he cried out, 'What's the matter, John?' 'The devil's to pay!' and going go-ing down the ladder he met General Reynolds, who said, 'I hope you can hold out until my corps comes up.' 'I reckon I can,' was Buford's reply. I'.eynolds then suggested that they ride out and see about it. 'General, tlo not expose yourself too much,' said Buford, but Reynolds laughed and moved nearer still. After giving some directions to Buford, which showed his determination to concentrate and to fight, General Reynolds again mounted his horse and rode away to meet the head of his column. The woods at this time were full of Confederate Con-federate sharpshooters who were picking pick-ing off men here and there. When General Reynolds, accompanied by his aids, Captains Mitchell and Baird, and Orderly Charles H. Veil, rode up one of the Union regiments was approaching approach-ing the woods. Reynolds exclaimed, 'Forward, men; forward, for God's sake, and drive those fullows out of the woods!' He turned to look for his supports and to hurry them on, but before he could speak again the bullet of a sharpshooter had penetrated penetrat-ed his brain and he fell forward, dying, upon his horse. His fall was not noticed no-ticed by the troops, who swept on and compelled Archer's brigade to surrender. sur-render. General Reynolds' horse carried car-ried the body a short distance, when it was borne to the rear in a blanket just as Archer himself was being brought in a prisoner." The death of General Reynolds was a severe blow to the Union 'forces, and no casualty of the war brought more widespread mourning. His monument is one of the finest on the field today. |