Reporting The Battle of Gettysburg

**** G E T T Y S B U R G D I S P A T C H ****

* Franklin Square, New-York City, August 15, 1863. *

TO ALL OUR LOYAL READERS, PATRONS, AND SUBSCRIBERS:

I am pleased to report that Mr. JAMES ALLEN DAVIS and
Mr. ALFRED R. WAUD, our Special Artist/Correspondents
in the field, have returned safely from the arduous
Gettysburg Campaign in Pennsylvania. There, after
three days of horrendous and desperate fighting, our
gallant National forces under General Meade
successfully repulsed the Rebel army under General
Lee. President Lincoln has congratulated Gen'l Meade
on his great victory, and it seems highly unlikely
that the Rebel hordes will ever again muster the sand
to invade Northern soil.

Mr. Davis and Mr. Waud have filed their dispatches and
submitted some fine sketches for engraving in the
upcoming edition of our publication. Both men have
also commended the work of their gallant comrade of
the LOUISVILLE EXAMINER, Mr. Ephraim Gantt, whose
accounts of the battlefield will no doubt be counted
among the great annals of war. Davis and Waud have
informed us that there were other correspondents
representing various and sundry of our competitors on
the field, such as J.S. Halliday of the New York
HERALD, and numerous photographers and image-makers.

Our Special Artist Correspondents arrived in the main
encampment of the Army of the Potomac on Friday
morning last, whereupon they were required by the
Brigade Provost Marshal (a Unionist man from East
Tennessee) to reaffirm their Loyalty Oath to President
Lincoln and the Union. Given that Davis and Mr. Gantt
both hail from Border regions (Davis is from
Cincinnati and Gantt from Louisville), and Mr. Waud is
an Englishman by birth, said Provost officer sought to
erase all thought of suspicion in permitting these
three civilian observers to pass through the Federal
lines. After receiving their Oaths and Passes, the
three correspondents proceeded to bivouac with the
gallant lads of the 2nd Kansas and 9th Kentucky (U.S.)
Volunteer Infantry Regiments, who had formed a
combined company under a shared command. They were
also joined by 2nd Lt. M.D. Neal of Company "D," 28th
Massachusetts Vols. of Meagher's Irish Brigade, who
was assigned as a staff officer to the Mifflin Guard
of New York.

The army was soon engaged with advance elements of the
Rebel General Heth's Division, and later by
Confederate units under Gen'ls Early and Longstreet.
The first battle on Friday was observed by our
correspondents from a hilltop vista, where Davis and
Waud drew some panoramic sketches of the action.
After a brief respite, a second fight erupted along
the same ground, with our men viewing the action from
the northern edge of the field, adjacent to the Union
camps. Between the engagements, a veritable regiment
of Sutlers descended on the camps to lighten the
purses of our brave troops, and our correspondents
patronized the studio of a Mr. Szabo of Ambrotype
Fame.

The action of the second day was more desperate and
bloody, with our correspondents viewing the Rebel
position from a line of trees on the western edge of
the field. Several other correspondents and local
civilians joined them during this battle. The Rebels
became saucier in the afternoon, driving the Federal
units east across the field and, for a while, swarming
within yards of the small grove of trees in the center
of the battlefield where our correspondents had taken
refuge to create their sketches and dispatches. By
the end of the day's fighting, the Army surgeons,
stewards and nurses were busy at work, and our
correspondents were forced to retire to the sanctuary
of the Farnsworth House in Gettysburg town to refresh
their spirits with tavern fare and grog. Said Gantt:
"There is no conflict which cannot be settled over the
right beverage."

The third and final day of action was quiet in the
morning, with the exception of a cavalry clash east of
town between our regiments and Stuart's Rebel
horsemen, who had arrived late the previous day. In
the afternoon, a massive artillery duel was followed
by a grand infantry assault by the Rebel General
Pickett's Division, which was repulsed with great loss
by our own 2d Corps under General W.S. Hancock. Mr.
Waud had been compelled to leave earlier in the
morning, and so missed the afternoon engagement, and
Davis and Gantt had difficulty securing a proper
vantage point from which to view the action.
Nonetheless, the Army sealed its victory and sent the
Rebels reeling back to Virginia, where our forces will
surely pursue them until the Union is fully restored.

With fond appreciation for your continued support and
subscription, and with ardent prayers for the success
of our National Forces, I remain,

Fletcher Harper, Publisher, HARPER'S WEEKLY: A JOURNAL
OF CIVILIZATION, New York.

Special artist Alfred Waud (aka Mike Farnsley ) and Correspondent James Allen Davis (aka Torin Finney ) pose near the Gettysburg battlefield.

Special artist Waud and Mr. Gantt of the Louisville Examiner get a close look at the action.

Mr. James Allen Davis reports from the battlefield.