National Republican., 1884-12-06

corporal William May and pri-
vate whose name is not recollectod.
These two men fired the last round al the
discounted enemy. OF course the ability
Of this section Of battery TO Withstand
for so long the assaults of q gallant in
fantry column was owing to the fact that
that infantry had no artillery to hinder
or paralyze the aim of the guHners, for,
MS has been referred to above, Milroy had
abandoned every pioce of artillery and
every wagon attached to his army in order
to make his escape good.
At the ond of the fight 10 was found that
every officer and man, except two, had
beon put hors do combat In tho brief
space of half hour or SO. l don't rocol'
leot either reading or hearing of such
complete "cut-all-to-pieces of battery
or regiment, unless II be- Of that devoted
Prussian battery at the battlo of Grave
lotte, whero three-fourths Of the compile
ment of men and officers were disabled
before they were relieved. But they ac-
complished tho object which thoy were
ordered to do, and so did these Maryland
srtillerists at far greater loss Of brave
men. During tho last ten rounds fred
(only two men loading and firing tho
gum Corporal May (who 10 now
an employe Of tho United States senato)
was compelled to "serve the vent"--that
is to say, to place his thumb upon the
touch-hole while the sponge staff was
being Withdrawn from the bore Of the
cannon and to put out latent sparks
with his bare thumb, because the man
whose dnty IL was had been killed and
his leather thumb-stall lost. As conse-
quence, Mays thumb at the end of tho
fight was burned by the heated metal Of
| the cannon to tho bone
But the glory Of the Marylanders Is that
after tho fight was over Gen. Ewell sent
TO get the names Of every officer and pri-
vate Of the gallant section and incorpo-
rated their names in his official report
| Of operations, as may be seen in
| tho coming volume of tho IRE
| bollion Record" at the war depart
ment. Such thing was never done in
any other corps generals report during
the war. II was unique. Perhaps th o
crowning glory of all was when, aftor the
war, Gen. X. Il. Lee visited Baltimore, and
said to prominent citizen who had lost
son In the fight: "You ought not to
grieve for your son. As for as high-so
devotion to duty was concerned, though
the corps was small in number, tho heroic
self.sacrifice of those brave men was a
second Thermopyle,"
may say that Gen. Milroy, at the out.
set of the contest, abandoned his COM
msnd, and, with squadron of cavalry,
mnde his way across the country to the
Potomac into the federal lines. He left
his senior brigadier general to surrender
his men.
/ think IL no moro than fair that
should add this transcript from Ewelpt
official report, on file at the war depart
mont Of the United States.
Lieut.. @. s. Contee, wounded in charge
Of tho section.
First gun: Sergeant, John G.. Harris
corporals, William =. Compton, Samue
Thompson; privates, Robert Chew. Will
lam Koesler, Charles Pease, A. Jamel
Albert, jr., William T. Wootop, John II
Yates, jr.; II. j. Langsdale, and John L
Buchanan.
Second gun: Sergeant, John L. Glas.
cooke; corporals, VIM. II. May and Charles
Harris; prlvates, Thomas Moore, William
German, +. Frayser, NJ. w. Wilson, Sam.
uel Thomas, r. T. Richardson, William
Sherburne, James Owens, William Dsllam
and Joseph Mockabee.
| THos. j. MURRAY,