The
next instant he fell mortally wounded, and the flag, bloodstained
and torn, was trampled under foot.
The Confederate success was only the success of a moment. The
handful of heroic men who had reached the Federal guns could not
hope to hold them. They died gallantly. That was all.
A storm of shot and shell tore its way through the still advancing
ranks. It became an ordeal of fire too great for even the bravest
to face. The lines at length wavered, they broke, and the men were
scattered in flight. Thousands lay dead and dying on the field, many
surrendered and were taken prisoner, and of the fifteen thousand
gallant soldiers who had set forth so gaily, only a pitiful remnant
of thirteen hundred blood-stained, weary men at length reached
their own lines.
This gallant and hopeless charge brought the battle of Gettysburg
to an end. It brought victory to the Federal side, and the Confederates
slowly retired into Virginia once more.
Yet the victory was not very great nor in any way decisive, and
the cost of life had been frightful. Indeed, so many brave men
had fallen upon this dreadful field that the thought came to the
Governor of the state that it would be well to make a portion of
it into a soldiers' burial place and thus consecrate it forever
as holy ground. All the states whose sons had taken part in the
battle willingly helped, and a few months after the battle it was
dedicated.
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