Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1862-01-03
New England Never Runs.
o. T. STILES.

New England Never Runs.
Through the tears with which friends
and lovers read the story of Edwards
Ferry they still smile upon the steadfast
bravery of the Massachusetts boys. In
the front Of fearful fire, with no means
of retreat, with every chance against
them, those young men stood serene {;
each man a hero, each man showing the
quality of which invincible armies are
made. Col Lee refuses to retreat and
is made prisoner. Major Revere and
Lieut. Perry share his fate Lieut. Put
nam falls MORALLY wounded; Captain
Dreher falls by his side; Captain Put
nam loses his right arm; Captain
Schmidt is dangerously wounded Lieut.
Lowell is disabled Lieut.. Holmes, said
the first dispatch, wounded in the
breast" not in the back no, not in the
back in the breast is Massachusetts,
wounded, if she is struck. Forward she
falls if she falls dead. OF twenty-five
officers of the Massachusetts Twentieth
who went into battle nine only returned,
And all New England boys are the
bright peers of the Massachusetts,.
Rhode Island at Bull Run stood fast and
steady through the whole; retired when
the word came, to rest upon their arms,
as they supposed, and then renew the
battle. but when the order came to
retreat" said one of them, eve were
COMPOUNDED, cursed Mcdowell, and want
ed him hung"
AT Edwards Ferry the Rhode Island
battery was said to have been deserted
by its men. They were not there it was
reported, and Baker came to serve
piece. No, they were not by the gun;
they were under it. They were at their
posts stll-but the brave hearts would
beat and the strong hand serve no more
forever.
Not less ready, not less steady are the
other sons of New England. From the
pines of Maine, the granite hills of New
Hampshire, the green hills of Vermont,
and the soft valleys of the Connecticut,
they have marched to the battlefield,
and every rifle in their hands is loaded
and rammed down with an idea. They
are no: machine soldiers they are men
soldiers. And on the field their hosts
are swelled with brothers from California,
from New York, from Michigan, from
Indiana. They all stand there embat-
tied, and stuff so tried and true that the
sea might as hopelessly dash against
Gibraltar as rebellion against their
ranks.
From the day at Edwards Ferry,
which to so many loving hearts will be
forever day of sacred sorrow, there is
an inspiration and cheer which breaks
.joyIully from every patriotic heart. Dis
aster, casualty, death are inevitable.
Brave hearts that weep, you know it
well! But the heroism of your dar-
lings plucks the stings from sorrow, and
conqueys disaster. They fall-but they
fall prophesies. They debut, though
dead, they speak, they smile. 1t is they
who are "last in the trenches" 1t is
they who teach us that the same old
heart that has won all the victories Of
history still beats. This time it is New
England that points the truth. All are
brave, thank God New York and the
West do not falter; California stands
where Baker stood the men of Penn
/ sylvania bring arms of iron and nerves
of steel. And the men of New Eng
land never run.-Harper's Weekly.
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