Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-09-04

men VINO came to participate in the re-
union. The speech of Gen. Gibbon was
listened to with the closest attention.
and is as follows:
GEN. GIBBONS SPEECH.
C0mradeS: lis it necessary TO remind
the old gray-headed, bald headed" boysn
here assembled, what took place %
years ago to-day? will not humiliate
you by calling you "boys'-young
boys. Bragg, apparently because he
has not got his full growth himself,
seems to have a disposition to forget
that nearly quarter of century has
elapsed since any of us could be prop
erly called boys that is, qoufsg
''boys"; though he may have acted on
q different principle, and because the
devil is sometimes called the "old boy''
he might have meant that you were old
boys. (Laughter) And l can certify
that you fought like the deUl. Is it
necessary TO recall to you how this
brigade was placed p years ago to-day?
Don't you all recollect how quietly and
peacefully we were marching along the
Wnrrenton turnpike on that beautiful
bright afternoon, the 28th of August.
1862? The sIn was shining, the birds
were singing, and the boys were march
ing along, and "a some one said here
last night, spelling for fight
Little did any of us think we would
get all the fight we wanted that after
noon. As we marched thus quietly
along, this brigade leading the 3rd of
the division (tor Hatch's brigade had all
already preceded us and got out of .ight)
/ happened to be riding Il little ahead,
and looking off on the left, about mile
distant, SAW some horses coming out
OF the woods. | looked closely, and
one thing struck me as peculiar-there
were good many light colored horses
and we had gotten all over that delu-
sion then that all of the cavalry of the
South was black horse cavalry, as at
Bull Run. The next thing [ noticed
was the size of the horses knew the
guns were coming Unto battery" |
turned around and said to a staff Off
Ger, ride back and bring up Battery
b on gallop." had hardly got the
words out of my mouth when / saw the
guns 60 into position, and bangl bang!
bang! came the shells shrieking and
bursting over our heads.
Was this command surprised? Well,
l will venture to say there never was
one more surprised. 1t is not neces-
sary to tell the outside world how aw-
fully scared we were We know that
just as well rs they can tell us. know
it, for there was no worse scared man
in that brigade than | was. When
this Smelling commenced | realized that
the enemy, in ,earch of whom we had
been marching for days and days, were
right there, and somebody ought to have
known it. CA voice-that's ~ Some
body ought to have known it!
The troops laid down in the road.
There is wonderful disposition when
you hear shell coming along to lie
down. Then Battery b, commanded
by Capt. Campbell, came up and called
to the men ito tear down that fence"
and away went the fence. Before the
rebels had fired two rounds our battery
had gone into position and commenced
firing. Subsequently | heard away off
on the left and rear the sound of gun.
Haskell was with me. | was in the
front and ia little to the left of where
our battery was firing and | think
was near the enemy's picket line, but
fortunately they didn't see me. | don't
suppose more than half a minute had
elapsed before | got impatient Q some-
times do)and rode back to meet the
regiment coming through the wood.
said, "that is one of Jeb. Stuart's
batteries" and if we can get you up
quietly we can capture the guns. The
regiment moved to the front and fol-
lowed right after it. When we got to
the top of the hill there was q shot or
two. Some one rode back and said,
''the grass is full of sklrmishers. re-
piled, tell Col. O'Connor to deploy his
skirmishers and push them out of the
way. Then the worst infantry fire be-
gun that | ever heard. Then | was
more afraid than ever, and afraid that
the regiment was scared, but it was not.
TIE 9th, 9TH, and 10Th Indiana were or
dered up to its support, and for an hour
and forty inmates there was an unin-
terrupted roll of musketry. That ac-
ton in throwing the brigade into posi-
ton under those circumstances has
been criticised. Well, 1 presume it is
open to fair criticism, but fortunately
the reports of the rebel officers have
come out since that time, written before
they knew anything of our side of the
question, and this fact is developed:
jackson had got his troops into position
and he proposed to stay there. His
main point was to keep his right flank
(his troops then facing to the south).
open and protected, so that the main
force of Lees army coming in should
join on to his right. We interfered
with that. He made preparations for
attack. The principal part OF his force
was on the right flank, including his
own brigade. When he saw our troops
marching along the turnpike and or.
dered an attack on them, his picket
line was out, when 10 his establishment
this brigade was hurled into the force
of the assault. What was the effect?
They made no attack; they stood and
received ours, and after we got into
certain place we staid there and rcceiv-
ed theirs, and staid there until the fight
was over, and in one hour and fifty min
utes one-third of this command lay
dead and wounded on the ground.
don't know how many of you had the
opportunity had, months afterward of
going over that ground, and thinking
what took place there. The line of
battle was just rs plainly marked by the
bodies that laid there, as straight as a
line on dress parade. In one third, one
quarter of the time we occupied in that
fight, il that brigade had not been
thrown into position Jackson would
have crowned that hill with his infantry
and artillery, and cut our column in
two. There. rs you recollect. we fought
until night put an end to the conflict,
and at one or two O'Clock that night
we loft the turnpike and marched to-
wards Manassas junction.
The next morning, between and 10
o. clock, the head of Longstreets 1000
men marche q in and took the ground
we had held the night before, aud there
are present here now, think, members
of the briga de left in charge of the
wounded who saw them come IN. What
was the result? The point we left was
the turning point in that campaign.
Had the fighting of this brigade been
Reinforced. as il should and could have
been REINFORCED, there would have been
a force of ours between Lee S two wings,
and that junction could not have been
made the next morning, as it was. The
next morning, the 29th. Lees army,
with the exception of one division,
which marched from Warrentown, was
all together. and he was prepared to as
sumo the offensive His army was con-
centrated. Ours was not; 1t was strung
from Bristow Station, through the
T....a..,,, =, l,autravilIp and Out DeYOnd