THE
GETTYSBURG
PARTY
Washington
and Its Nearer Battlefields
Home Again
A Collision On the Sound
[Correspondence
of the Gazette]
Leesburg
,
Va.
,
June 6, 1886
-The 15th Regiment battlefield excursionists were at
Washington
yesterday. The greatest
part of the day was occupied in seeing the city.
Almost all visited the Capital and were fortunate in seeing
the Congress of the Nation in session.
Senator Hoar and Congressman Rice were very kind in their
attention; also Congressman Whiting of
Holyoke
whose district includes many of the towns in the north part of the
county, and ex-Governor Long. Many had not seen the capitol building
since the war, and such a change!
It is a place of great distances from one extreme to another.
It is located on Capital Hill 890 feet above the
Potomac
in a park of over 51 acres. The
building is 751 by 324 feet and covers three and one half acres.
The Dome-----feet in diameter.
The distance to the top of the lantern on top of the Dome is
288 feet, while above there is the statue of Freedom 20 feet high.
The cost of the building up to the present time is
$15,000,000. This does
not include the marble terrace which is being built on the north,
west and south sides, neither does it include the statues about the
grounds.
An interesting point was the Navy Yard, and it was visited by
many. At the dock was
the U. S. Ship Albatros, which is being renovated.
This ship is used in sounding for the purpose of making a
chart of the bottom of the sea, also for dredging the bottom and
getting for the United States Fish Commission for scientific purpose
the products of the sea. They
had but few specimens on board, the most of their findings being at
the Smithsonian Institution; They are very curious as well as
interesting. At one of
the shops in the Navy Yard many stopped to look at the making of
steel guns, the first of the kind in this country.
There were two eight inch and
one ten
inch gun in the lathes. The
ten inch gun when completed will weigh 55,000 pounds and be about 25
feet long. They start
with the steel in the rough, and from it comes the polished barrel.
The putting of it together is called “assembling” and is
very interesting.
The steel tubes for the foundation are first made, they are
oil temperd; then pieces or “jackets” as they are called when
ready to be put together are put in a fire made of pine wood and
heated sufficiently to expand to about three one-hundreths larger
than the outside diameter of the tube on which it is placed; adjust
the right time it is slipped on and clamped and is first cooled at
the point nearest the muzzle by means of a gentle stream of water.
As it cools it clasps the tube welding itself there.
Another point of much interest was the Washington Obelisk or
National Monument, the loftiest human construction in the world.
It was open to the excursionists, their badge being a pass to
the top, which was so far heavenward for many to desire to climb
without something more than human aid.
Of course all wanted to look at the White House or
Executive
Mansion
, as it is called in
Washington
. Then there was the
several department buildings, the Washington Barracks, Botanical
Garden, the Government Printing office, the
Corcoran
Art
Gallery
, and many other points. But
far too soon to see all, came the time for the advance on
Virginia
.
The impressions respecting
Washington
of today is that it is one of the cleanest of clean cities, that no
pain has been spared to make it pleasant and attractive.
Then the marked contrast since we were there during the war..
The we noticed the swine wallowing in the mud in the streets
about the Capital as well as on
Pennsylvania Avenue
, now we see smooth concrete road beds. then the increase of massive
and costly buildings is very noticeable.
We left Washington for Leesburg from the station where
President Garfield was shot, and passed out of the district of
Columbia via Long
Bridge, which many of us had crossed in full as cheerful spirits 22
to 25 years ago, but how changed all is since then.
Many of us saw the place where we first had a taste of war,
and an experience with
Virginia
mud. Upon our arrival
here the people were but as one man to receive us.
On every hand was a cordial Southern welcome, and every
moment since they have been evidently trying to make our stay as
pleasant and enjoyable as possible.
Until the
midnight
hour they were around the Reamer House, our headquarters, and the
air has been constantly filled with army songs and plantation
melodies. Of course the
battle was the great subject of talk and comment.
Many relics of Union men were shown us.
It was the privilege of the writer to see a picture found on
the battlefield, which was evidently of a man, his wife and child.
This was in a case made by his father in the city of
Worcester
in the fifties. It is
hoped too, before we leave, that we shall find who it is a picture
of. The writer also had
a talk with a lieutenant of Moseby’s Cavalry, who captured the
train in which he was on his way to
Fredericksburg
after he was wounded.
Today we have been to the battlefield and again crossed and
recrossed the Potomac, and climbed the steep and rugged Bluff, and
this too, with the people of Virginia, for they were as much
interested as we were today, with a plan for a battle, a brink as
hard to climb as much of the borders of Mt.
Wachusett at home, and with nothing but water at our feet.
At the place where the first stand of the 15th was
made, is the National Cemetery, 53 unknown and one known grave, that
of James Allen of Northbridge and of Co. H, 15th
Regiment. All their
graves were today decorated by the ladies of the party, under the
direction of the wife of their much beloved Colonel Ward.
Others of the party went to Poolesville and Conrad’s Ferry.
During our stay here we have met many that we--- of and some
that we met during the war. One
member of the party is stopping with the man who was placed as guard
over him after he was captured at the battle; then they met as
enemies, now as friends.
Home, June 8.-We left Leesburg yesterday morning at 6;30
o’clock, on the start for
Washington
, where the grand rounds of the veterans? and their guests ended.
It was a novel sight as the visitors to the number of about
80 gathered around the little station.
The people of the town were there and all had a kind word at
parting. It was very
interesting to see the colored men, many of them boys who came into
the camp of the 15th in 1861, and remained as servants.
We left Leesburg loaded down with---- of war.
nearly every man had one of the canes he cut the day before
on---- some of us had
other relics, such as swords, canteens and, one man, a
Confederate----, in one instance the gun which is---- Heart of the
Commonwealth, was----as one carried by the 15th, and
from-----it is hoped that the man who carried it can be ascertained.
On return trip a card of thanks to the
---- was prepared and signed by every one there? and then
presented to the committee Chair?
Mr. A. J. Bartholomew. It
was as follows, “Members? and guests of the 15th
Regiment party hereby extend to the committee arranged for same, and
especially to Capt. David M. Earle and General John W. Kimball, who
have in person attended and directed it, their most cordial
congratulations for the success that has attended it, and their
sincere thanks for their
uniform courtesy and personal attention to all details of the wants
of members of the party. We
assure them we have appreciated all this, and that we feel that the
excursion has been both interesting and instructive to all, and
afforded much pleasure from beginning to end.”
At
Washington
came the general breaking up. Some took the train just starting for
home, some are to remain at
Washington
until today, while others have gone back to visit the battlegrounds
from the Wilderness down to
Petersburg
and
Richmond
. The trip has been a
delightful one from first to last, and one that will long be
remembered. Said an
official of Leesburg to the writer: “This place has never been
visited by so many
Northern men before, except in 1861.
Then we saw you in one light, today you come here with your
wives and children, you greet us with a cordial grip of the hand and
a pleasant kind word. Your
visit will be of untold benefit to this town and we hope it will be
of great good to you.”
Those
of the party who came directly home arrived in
Worcester
this morning. On the
trip from
New York
on the steamer City of
New York
they had a state of excitement which will be remembered for many a
day. We were in the
East River
, and had just passed the Navy Yard, when we noticed a lighter of
about 50 tons ahead. The
lighter had just tacked
and was passing on the left of the course the City of
New York
was taking. The Captain
of the New York at once slowed down and bore of to his right, when
for some unknown cause the lighter made another turn or tack,
caused, it appeared to us, not used to the water, by the man on the
lighter deserting the helm. As
a result the lighter swung about and its bow came around just in
time to be struck by the bow of the
New York
In
the meantime the engines of the
New York
had been reversed, and all that was possible to be done , has been
done to prevent the collision. The
lighter was cut half in two, filled with water and was settling when
the three men took to the single mast.
They had ascended but a few feet when it careened over and
the men went into the water and for an instant out of sight.
They soon were seen on the mast which lay on the water.
The captain ordered the lifeboat lowered and soon the men
were put ashore and after the
New York
had been carefully examined a second start for
New London
was made.
The man at the helm of the lighter was evidently frightened,
as his boat made a course like an inverted S directly in front of
us. An old sea captain
who has been afloat for 25 years said that the captain of the New
York could not have done any different; that he did all he could to
prevent the accident, and that the lighter would have been all right
if it had kept on the course it took after passing the stem (stern)
of the steamer ahead.
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