America At 250: Gettysburg

 

 

 

This first day of July commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg,
 fought between Union and Confederate armies on the sprawling farmland in
 and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between July 1st to July 3rd in 1863. 

Considered the turning point in the war, and leading to an ultimate victory for the Union
forces, this battle alone claimed over 50,000 American lives and has long been considered
  not only the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, but of any battle ever fought on American soil.

"Gettysburg" a poem by Irish-born American poet John Jeffrey Roche (1847-1908) 
was composed for the dedication of the High Water Mark Monument, which
   took place at Gettysburg National Military Park on July 2, 1892. 

 

 

The Bloody Angle*
(1912)
N.C. Wyeth
(1882-1945)
American illustrator and painter
Image courtesy/Fine Art America

 

There was no union in the land,

Though wise men labored long

With links of clay and ropes of sand

To bind the right and wrong.

There was no temper in the blade

That once could cleave a chain;

Its edge was dull with touch of trade

And clogged with rust of gain. 

The sand and clay must shrink away

Before the lava tide:

By blows and blood and fire assay

The metal must be tried. 

Here sledge and anvil met, and when

The furnace fiercest roared,

God's undiscerning workingmen

Reforged His people's sword. 

Enough for them to ask and know

The moment's duty clear-

The bayonets flashed it there below,

The guns proclaimed it here: 

To do and dare, and die at need,

But while life lasts, to fight-

For right or wrong a simple creed,

But simplest for the right.

They faltered not who stood that day

And held this post of dread;

Nor cowards they who wore the gray

Until the gray was red. 

 

For every wreath the victor wears

The vanquished half may claim;

Every monument declares

A common pride and fame.

We raise no altars stones to Hate,

Who never bowed to fear:

No province crouches at our gate,

To shame our triumph here. 

Here standing by a dead wrong's grave

The blindest now may see,

The blow that liberates the slave

But sets the master free! 

What ills beset the nation's life

Too dangerous to bear,

The sword must be the surgeon's knife,

Too merciful to spare. 

O Soldier of our common land,

'Tis thine to bear the blade

Loose in the sheath, or firm in hand,

But ever unafraid.

When foreign foes assail our right,

One nation trusts to thee-

To wield it well in worthy fight-

The sword of Mead and Lee. 

 

 

 

The High Water Mark Monument at Gettyburg National Miltary Park lists the commanders
and their military units at the high water mark of the battle.
Image courtesy/Wikipedia

 

* "The Bloody Angle" refers to an area around a clump of trees that was used as a landmark for
  Confederate Major General George Pickett's ill-fated Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg. 
 The Confederate forces were soundly defeated in the attack, resulting in a hard won victory 
 for the beleaguered Union Army.  Considered "the high-water mark of the Confederacy" the
decisive Union victory forced Confederate General Robert E.Lee and his remaining Army
 to retreat back to Virginia.