Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3.

[62]

at this juncture, Rodes, near the northern extremity of Seminary Ridge, occupied the key-point of the entire field; and when, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Early had pressed Barlow back, and there was a general advance of the Confederates, Rodes dashed through the weak center of the National line, and, aided by an enfilading battery, threw into confusion the right of the First and the left of the Eleventh Corps. Then the Nationals fell back in some confusion upon the village, in which they became entangled, when Early, dashing forward, captured about three thousand men, chiefly of the Eleventh Corps. The First Corps, whose left had been held firmly by Doubleday, now fell back. It brought away the artillery and ambulances from Seminary Ridge, and took position on Steinwehr's left and rear on Cemetery Hill, while the Eleventh

Position of the Army of the Potomac, July 1.

halted in its retreat on Steinwehr's right and front. Buford's cavalry had well covered the retreat, and when, toward sunset, Ewell's corps quietly occupied Gettysburg, and Hill's lay on Seminary Ridge, the sorely smitten Nationals were in a strong position on Cemetery Hill, anxiously awaiting the arrival of re-enforcements from the scattered corps of the Army of the Potomac, then on the way. So ended, in the defeat of the Unionists, the severe engagement

July 1, 1868.

preliminary to the great battle of Gettysburg, for the cautious Lee, ignorant of the number of the