Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-06-22

individuals was put to supreme test, and
American valor come forth from the shock
of battle crowned anew for its splendid
achievements Whatever may be said of the
generalship that placed soldiers in the desper-
ate situation, where Life must be freely sacri-
feed in order to win slight advantage, the
devotion of the soldiers themselves to the
wishes of their leaders was such that the
world hears with wonder and admiration the
story of their deeds. When Reynolds pushed
his single corps out on the Chambersburg
road. as a breakwater to restrain the waves
of Confederate invasion, he trusted the men
who followed his banners to be bold and
brave as himself; and when Sckes advanced
his column to the debatable position on the
Emmitsburg road-a position of which both
armies stood in need and one the Confed-
crates were fastening TO seize-isolated and
exposed as he was and enveloped by superior
numbers, he asked great things of his men
when he called upon them to stand to their col
ors through such a crisis And so it was over all
that field and in every contest, men fought
as they had never fought before and for the
simple reason that such desperate work had
never before been required of them. Gen.
John C. Robinson, division leader in the
First corps Reynoldso, says that the fighting
of his men during the short time they were
engaged at close quaIters-a couple of hours
was the severeSt that he ever witnessed.
He spoke too, from an experience of three
years in the Army of the Potomac, from the
FIRST Bull Run to the Wilderness.
RALLYING on THE FLAG.
The Iron brigade under Meredith, with
Cutters brigade of the same division, opened
the infantry battle on the Union side. Mere
dith led his men in to the support of Cutler,
and while passing their commander, Gen
Doubleday, who was second in command to
Reynolds, he told them to hold their ground
"a grove on the bank of Willoughby Run
at all hazards. The response to this call was
"If we can't do it, where will you find the
men who canln AS they entered the grove
from one edge the Confederates of Heth's
division came filing in from the opposite side,
having forced their way over the stream on
the flank of Cutters line. One volley from
the Iron brigade staggered the men in gray,
for they had been told that they would meet
only raw militia on the road to Gettysburg.
But when the smoke cleared away from
Meredith's line they saw a familiar sight and
exclaimed:
"'Taint the militia, neitherl It's the
Army of the Potomac. There's the black
hated fellows again"
Col. Morrow. of the Twenty-fourth Michi.
gan, in his official report, tells story as
strange as any romance. After reforming
his lines twice and making desperate resist
ance, he was compelled to fall back to a third
line, and here the third color bearer of the
regiment was killed. There were not above
one-fourth of his men in the line now, and
one of the color guard was ordered Il
''plant the colors" 1t was done, and tn,
brave fellow fell beside the upright staff
Morrow now seized the standard and waved
1t to rally his remnant, and Private Kelly, o.
Company b, rushed to him, and said: 18th,
colonel of the Twenty Fourth shall never
carry the flag while am alive" He graspec
the staff and fell instantly under a sharp
shooters bullet. Private Spaulding mex
took the flag, and Morrow signaled his mel
to rally around it, but was soon woundes
himself and borne from the scene. At las
there were only lifeless hands to hold tn,
staff, and so the colors of the Twenty-fourtl
were found at the barricade where the las
stand of the line was made preparatory t,
the retreat from Oak Ridge to Cemeter,
Hill. A dying soldier had chung to them an,
dragged himself back until he could go N,
further, and there he delivered them to hi
own comrade, Capt. Edwards. On this fiel,
- the deeds of heroism were numberless, ant
20 one regiment or brigade can be single,
out for an example The record of the Irol
brigade, as inscribed on the monument of tn
Nineteenth Indiana erected on this field
shows loss of l,2l2 men out of !, SS3 that en-
tered the fight.
Cutlers brigade lost 97j men. One of tn
regiments here was the Fourteenth Brooklyl
Eighty fourth New York volunteers. Whe
the Confederates began to advance down Ga
Ridge on the flank of the line formed alon
tln ADJ
charged a sweep of over quarter of a mile
and afterward swung in at one end Of tn
railroad cut, heading off Davis Mississippi
brigade and capturing nearly the whole CON
mand, The story of all these regiments
not told by the losses, heavy though the
were The glory lies in the work they did
bravely contesting the ground inch by inch
and keeping at it after every second man il