THE movements of the army preceding the battle of Gettysburg need not be dwelt upon.  Lee had invaded the North, a part of his command almost penetrating the suburbs of Harrisburg.  Hooker was keeping a vigilant outlook, and, while protecting Washington, was waiting for reënforcements before striking a decisive blow.  A force of over 10,000 men was in garrison at Harper's Ferry; General Hooker asked that these passive troops be added to the command of Gen. Slocum, in order that a large force might act directly against Lee's communications with Richmond.  Halleck positively refused this request.  Having before this refused to allow Heintzelman to report to Hooker, the latter finding himself thwarted in all his plans by the authorities at Washington, offered his resignation, which was accepted, and Maj. Gen. Geo. G. Meade was assigned to the command of the Army of the Potomac.  The new commander was undoubtedly a favorite of General Halleck, for when he, without any authority, ordered the troops from Harper's Ferry, he was not reprimanded, and in fact no notice taken of his action.  In addition to these reënforcements, General Couch, who commanded the department of the Susquehanna, was also placed under the order of Meade, a request which had been denied to Hooker.  Had the latter remained in command of the army, Lee's army would never have recrossed the Potomac as an organization.
     It was on the 12th of June, 1863, that the Regiment, with its corps, left camp to participate in the Gettysburg campaign, and the 29th of June found it at Emmettsburg, Pennsylvania.  Both armies were being rapidly concentrated, Lee having issued orders for his corps commanders to unite at Gettysburg.  On the date above given, the first and eleventh corps were at Emmettsburg, the third and twelfth at Middleburg, the fifth at Tanytown, the second at Uniontown, and the sixth at New Windsor.  On the 30th the army advanced nearer the Susquehanna, the eleventh corps still at Emmettsburg.  The first cops had been ordered to Gettysburg, but General Reynolds, its commander, had halted it at Marsh Creek, as the enemy were reported nearing his position.  At this time General Meade determined to make his defensive position on Pipe creek, about fifteen miles southeast of Gettysburg.  In looking over the map of the country around Gettysburg, it is difficult to conceive what Meade's idea could have been in selecting this position.  He could not have forced Lee to fight him on that line, and as it did not in any way interfere with the latter's communications, he might have kept up his depredations in Pennsylvania, retiring at his convenience across the Potomac.  But fortunate blunders intervened in favor of the Union cause, and a gallant Pennsylvanian, General Reynolds, was fortunately near the rebel forces.  Without orders from Meade, he determined to advance to Gettysburg, directing the eleventh corps to come to his support, and upon the morning of July 1st our corps was marching rapidly towards Gettysburg, General Barlow's division in advance.  Upon arriving at a church, four miles from Gettysburg, Barlow was to halt the head of the column and awaits orders.
     Before reaching the church heavy cannonading was heard in the direction of Gettysburg, and Barlow ordered one of his aids, Lieutenant Culp, to ride ahead as rapidly as possible, ascertain the cause of the firing, and to convey the information that he would not halt at the church.  The aid rode rapidly to Gettysburg, and met Captain Pearson, of General Howard's staff, who directed him to return to Barlow at once and request him to bring up the eleventh corps with the utmost dispatch; that the first corps had been engaged for three hours with a greatly superior force; General Reynolds was killed, and half his corps killed or wounded.  The eleventh corps pushed forward rapidly, and reached Gettysburg at 1 o'clock P.M.  Barlow's and Schimmelpfennig's divisions were ordered to prolong the line of the first corps to the right, on Seminary Ridge.  Steinwehr's division, with the reserve artillery, under Major Osborne, were placed on Cemetery Hill, in rear of Gettysburg.  This disposition was made under the orders of General Howard, who had preceded his corps to Gettysburg, and, upon the death of General Reynolds, assumed command of the two corps.
     It was evident that our forces were now engaged with over half of Lee's army, and unless help was soon at hand, would be compelled to fall back.  Howard selected the position on Cemetery Hill as a rallying point, and the next two days fighting showed the wisdom of the selection.  It was well adapted for a defensive position.  Its stone fences formed perfect works for the infantry, while its gentle slopes were admirably adapted for artillery.  Commanding eminences were on either flank, on which batteries could be posted to great advantage.  Its convex shape allowed reëforcements to move with great celerity to any point of the line.  Upon this hill General Howard made his headquarters during the afternoon.
     The two divisions of the eleventh corps were under the enemy's fire before they were well in position, and shortly afterwards Col. Williams received orders to support Battery G, 4thU. S. Artillery, and the 25th took its position under a most trying artillery fire.  Soon, however, the entire division moved forward, but met a fresh division under Early, which had just arrived on the field.  The battle waged fiercely and obstinately for an hour, and two-thirds of Barlow's division were killed or wounded.  Barlow himself was severely wounded, his horse killed, and all his staff officers and orderlies but two dead or wounded.  Teh first corps had been fighting sine 10 o'clock, and was almost annihilated; the two divisions of the eleventh corps were reduced to one-third their number, when a general retreat was ordered to the cemetery, which was rapidly accomplished.  the official account of the battle shows that on the first day the 25th Ohio had four commanding officers, viz., Lieut. Col. Williams, Capt. Manning, Lieut. Wm. Maloney and Lieut. Israel White.  Capt. Nat. Haughton was upon General Ames' staff, and wounded severely.  Capt. John T. Wood, Company E, was staff officer with Gen. Barlow, and severely wounded.  Lieut. E. C. Culp was also with General Barlow.  Upon Arriving at Cemetery Hill, the Regiment, then under command of Lieut. White, and numbering only sixty men, was deployed as skirmishers in the outskirts of the town.  The regiment remained on the skirmish line all that night and until 2 p.m. of the next day, sustaining an additional loss of fourteen men from rebel sharp-shooters who were posted in the houses fronting our position.  At that hour it was ordered to the support of a battery on the hill, and remained exposed to a terrific artillery fire until evening, when the firing ceased, and under cover of the smoke the rebels made a desperate charge and succeeded in gaining the very crest of the hill.  Among the batteries the fighting was hand to hand, and for a few minutes it was the most sanguinary of the campaign.  The rebel charge was led by Hays' and Hole's brigades of Early's division, with Gordon's division in reserve.  They first struck Von Gilsa's brigade, which was posted behind a stone fence at the foot of the hill.  Ames' brigade was driven back to the batteries, where it made a stand with the artillery men, the latter fighting with hand-spikes, rammers and staves.  The smoke of the battle was so thick that with the increasing darkness it became difficult to distinguish friend from foe; at this juncture Carroll's brigade came to Ames' relief, and the enemy finding they were about to be overwhelmed, retreated in confusion.  Our guns opened a most destructive fire, and the slaughter was terrific.  Out of 1,750 men of an organization known as the "Louisiana Tigers," only 150 returned from the charge.  Within thirty minutes from the time the charge was made, the smoke had cleared away and the moon had risen with great brilliancy, flooding teh battle field with mellow light.  Gen. Ames re-formed his lines, and extended aid to the hundreds of rebel soldiers lying wounded inside out lines.  It was a ghastly battle field.
     The history of the third day is well known; the terrific musketry, the deafening roar of artillery, the desperate assaults of they enemy, will never be forgotten by those on Cemetery Hill.  Then Regiment suffered severely from sharp-shooters, as it still occupied the advanced line.
     At daylight on the morning of July 4th, the 25th led the advance into Gettysburg.  All of the officers had been killed or wounded, and the regiment was commanded on the 4th by First Lieut. John H. Milliman, who was wounded on the first day.  The Regiment went into the battle on the first day with 220 officers and men, and sustained a lost of 179, and had eight color sergeants killed or wounded.
     The following is a list of the casualties during the three days fighting:

KILLED:
Co. A:
Private James E. Clifford
Co. B:
Privates:
Joshua T. Brown
William Elliger
Co. C:
First sergt. John W. Pierce
Corporal John Frey
Private Martin V. Barnes
Co. E:
Sergeant Chas. Ladd
Privates:
David Highman
Samuel Twaddle
John Tweedle
Co. G:
William H. Gulick
Charles V. Harrison
Co. H:
Hiram M. Hughes
Co. I:
Edward T. Lovett
Co. K:
Lieut. Lewis E. Wilson
Private Thomas Dunn

MISSING:
Lieut. Col. Jere. Williams, also wounded.
Co. A:
Sergt. James Mellon
Privates:
Elias Bail
Theodore Carter
Wilson S. Colby
Philip Gable
William Gallaher
Thomas Gallaher
Joseph Gallaher
William Hughes
John Kent
John McConnell
Isaac C. Patterson
Co. B:
Sergt. Slater B. Brock
Corporal John H. Twaddle:
Privates:
John C. Duff
Augustus Fierhelder
Abraham Hayden
William M. Lowther
Samuel Prescott
Co. C:
Privates:
William Hamilton
Alex. E. Holland
Co. E:
Sergts. Elisha Biggerstaff
Hiram Odell
Co. F:
John H. Saunders
Basil C. Sheilds
Sergt. John F. Thompson
Corporal Josiah O. Curl
Corporal Gustav Kilby
Corporal Thomas Nolan
Corporal John Tucker
Privates:
Thomas Burchfield
Patrick Burk
George W. Cooper
Samuel Crawford
Henry Grier
James McConnell
Wilson H. Patterson
David Scott
James L. Shields
Co. G:
Sergt. William J. Kyle
Privates:
Eli F. Beard
John J. Cummings
Leonard Gaddis
Ephraim H. Lewis
Jacob Lips
John A. Perky
Co. H:
Lieut. H. H. Moseley
Lieut. William Maloney
Corporal John T. Painter
William L. Smoot
Privates:
William Chadwick
William Davis
Maurice Donahue
Oscar J. Dunn
James A. Roland
John W. Stephens
Isaac N. Young
Co. I:
Sergt. Howard Hallett
Corporal John Bunting
Privates:
Kins. Davis
Reuben E. Gant
John S. Rhodes
William Shaw
Co. K:
Corporal John Baker
Privates:
Sumner B. Felt"
George S. Frazier
Thomas O'Neil
Jonathan Raney

WOUNDED:
Co. A:
Capt. Nat. Haughton
Corporal Michael Murray
Sergt. Samuel R. Stewart
Privates:
James E. Clifford
Robert Creighton
Thomas W. Fowler
John Lebold
Samuel McCrumb
John McKirahan
James Russell
Daniel L. Tyrrel
Simon L. Voorheis
Nathaniel Wallace
Adolf Weidebusch
William White
James G. Whittle
Co. B:
Lieut. George M. Martin
Corporal Samuel B. Hurd
Privates:
Fred J. Bick
William B. Bowman
Duncan Highman
William N. Long
John J. Moore
Samuel N. Rhynard
James Snyder
Sylvanus Ullum
Anthony Wheeler
Co. C:
Capt. Nat. J. Manning
Privates:
Jesse W. Campbell
Joseph Dixon
James B. Henthorn
Francis Schonhart
Marion T. Thornbury
Co. E:
Capt. John T. Wood
Sergt. Vincent Carroll
Sergt. Alex. Pemberton
Privates:
James Bacon
Samuel H. Deselms
Samuel Edgar
Thomas Howell
Peter Molyett
Bennager Odell
Richard D. Phelps
Frederick Schultz
Henry Smuck
Abednego Stephens
William R. Stump
William R. Taylor
Lewis Zeigler
Co. F:
Corporal Edward Barrett
Privates:
James Conway
James Saunders
David Williams
Hugh Wilson
Co. G:
Lieut. John H. Milliman
Sergt. Andrew D. Stewart
Thomas Cuthbertson
Joseph Dyerman
Oliver C. Longmore
Adolphus Meyer
William Miller
Co. H:
Sergt. John Hyler
Sergt. James B. Hyler
Corporal John S. Dunn
Privates:
Michael Danforth
John Gellespie
Newton Livezey
Levi McLaughlin
Co. I:
Sergt. Jacob L. Barnett
Sergt. Samuel J. Brooks
Sergt. John H. Johnson
Corporal Joseph Cunningham
Corporal Samuel G. Shirk
Corporal Zachariah Dailey
Corporal John M. Rhodes
Privates:
James E. Bigford
Samuel T. Calland
William Gant
Isaac M. Harper
Lorenzo D. Hill
Archeleus Lingo
Stephen Loveall
Harrison Shaw
Henson True
Archeleus Wiley
William F. Wiley
Co. K:
Sergt. G. H. Palmer
Corporal Reuben Drippard
Privates:
Charles Chollette
Charles H. Conger
Christ. Evans
Charles T. Melhollen
Charles Oeckel

     Many of the missing were killed or after wards died of wounds.
     On the afternoon of July 5th the Regiment, with its division, left Gettysburg in pursuit of the rebels, and marched through Emmettsburg, Frederick City, Middletown, Boonsboro and Hagerstown.  At the latter city the division supported General Kilpatrick's cavalry, in a lively skirmish, driving the rebel cavalry and infantry through Hagerstown to their main army.
     From Hagerstown the Regiment marched to Williamsport, and from thence via Hagerstown to Berlin, where it crossed the Potomac on the 19th day of July, and reached Warrenton Junction on the 25th, having marched 160 miles since leaving Gettysburg.