As the sun finished rising over the battlegrounds of Gettysburg, the air was thick with the echoes of carbine blasts along with the cries of wounded soldiers. During the clash at McPherson’s Ridge, Shelby Foote’s account takes us on a gripping journey through a crucial moment in the Civil War.
Foote walks us through the harrowing speech presented by Reynolds. Reynolds exclaimed he would “fight them inch by inch, and if driven into the town I will barricade the streets and hold them back as long as possible” about the enemy making a powerful advance.
Reynolds rode to Wadsworth’s division, which was leading the march up Emmitsburg Road and guiding it over Seminary Ridge and up the Chambersburg Pike toward McPherson’s Ridge, where Buford’s troops were drawing near. With a race against the clock, Reynolds ushered the forces, crying out “Forward! For God’s sake, forward!” before being fatally shot by a rifle bullet.
Reynolds’s death sent shock waves among soldiers with Foote reporting a quote stated by a young lieutenant explaining that “His [Reynolds] death affected us much, for he was one of the soldier generals of the army.” However, war does not stop at death and the soldiers pushed on until faced with an ambush headed by the Iron Brigade armed with muskets.
The survivors attempted to escape before they were caught by a high fence where most survivors escaped but 75 Confederates were captured. The battle was a moving chapter in the greater story of Gettysburg, where that tragic day’s events of bravery, sacrifice, and the harsh realities of war played out.
(Pages 72-76)
- Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”
- I omitted needless words of ease of understanding.
- Strunk & White’s Elements of Style
- I made sure the readers knew who was speaking and I avoided fancy words.