The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-08-15
so4 Krlied and Wounded.

Lowell Talbot writes as follows - the
New York Era'5g Post
In your paperofJuly 5 your correspond
eut "E. l.. O." referring TO Picketts ia
nous charge at Gettysburg, is unable to
recall anything in military history
which can quite match it." If your waltz
able spacelwill admit | shall be glad TO
recall for him one heroic charge fully
matching, if not surprising, that OF flck-
ett's men. | mean the charge OF the
First Heavy Artillery, acting a. infantry.
near Petersburg, on the 18th Of June
1864: and in doing 50 ] must express
surprise and regret that such a splendid
exhibition of valor should 50 long remain
unsung by the poets and generally IN
known 10 the public. Kindly permit me
to quote one who took an active part in
that desperate affair:
"At length. about ! o'clock p. n, the
order was heard. Carge bayonets, forward
double quick - The first battalion began
10 climb the bank of earth bordering the
roadside. over which they scrambled and
started with a yell, the second battalion
followed, and close on their heels went
the third. The instant the first battalion
showed themselves the Confederate line
opened on them. 4 cloud ofsmoke burst
from their rifles all along their line, far
overlapping our short line to the right and
left.
"The air was literally full of lead and
iron. The yell which we attempted died
away in a minute, for there were few left
to veil. The first battalion had melted
like frost before the Sun but we kept on
in the midst ofthe fire not only from d.
rectly in front but an enflade Of bullets
and shot and shell and grape and CAMS
ter, from right and left up and down the
rebel works. / looked about me as ! ran
forward, and | thought every nan was
falling down. | kept on at the double
quick, rushing by constantly falling men,
past George Hunter, who lay with five
d DQlfttc III liAiAls lDNEAhE VIZ At ht a.
passed. Still | kept on, wondering how
so many bullets and missiles could fly
around and so near me and all of them
miss me. Soon | found myself well up
TO the abattis in front of their works. |
stopped and looked about me. In front
about ten feet were two of NV company.
D. Vf..- Ill l,fsal \ 1w-lral I,oI avl Al
twenty or thirty men running back and
leaping over the bank into the road. Be-
tween them and myself the field was
literally blue with the bodies Of men.
They lay covering the ground thickly,
from the road clear mp to where | stood,
siugly and in heaps of four or five. /
turned again and looked at the two men
in my front and could see no other man
standing up on that field. Our
charge ended in a miserable failure, oc-
cupied less than 10 minutes, and in that
time 604 heroes from eastern Maine lay
dead and dying on the field. OF thirty
six officers but six were left unhurt. And
here ] must again differ with several his
torians who state that the veteran regi-
ments advanced TO our support. ! say
not a man of any regiment in the brigade
advanced one foot in our support. d.
In less than ten minutes we had lost
more men killed and wounded than any
regiment of the Union armies, in any
battle during the war; When It is
taken into account that hundreds Of regi-
ments had been in battles which occcu-
pied from one to two DAYS and nights in
Observation-Disclosures, Gettysburg,
shiloh, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, etc,
etc.-and no one of them had lost in kill
ed and wounded so many as the First
Maine lost inside of ten minutes, the des-
perate nature of the undertaking can be
more fully realized. There were so men
and officers who went forward. Of the
$50 men Goa were killed and wounded,
none missing When the heroic Goa
horsemen under Lord Cardigan made
their gallant charge at Balaklava, all the
world wondered and Tennyson has i'm
mortalized them, but the equally desper-
ate attack by the first Maine Heavy Ar
tillery acting as infantry on the 18TH of
June, 1864, is known to but the few.
The gallant 600 English soldiers were
mounted there were no earthworks
in front of the guns upon which they
charged for them to climb over; 47g
rode back unhurt, losing Pa out OF
the 673+ some authorities say there were
500 of them. We were on foot, had a
strong line of abattis TO get through, a
deep ditch half full of water to founder
across, then the steep bank Of the earth
work to climb up before We could reach
the enemy. Two hundred and % of
us escaped Goa killed and wouned out
SEA larger proportion of a somewhat
larger number"
Not further TO tax your patience, / for
bear TO enlarge upon this remarkable in
cident of the late war, but will simply
refer soldiers and others interested to
Major General Robert McAllisters record
ofthe affair. also those Of General Mott,
Major lIoughton, Of the Seventeenth
Maine, in his history Of that regiment,
and 4 letter from General McAllister, OF
Belvidere, y. j., October Is, 1856, to GEN
eral Hamlin Of Bangor. Me. Copies of
their letters are nov before me, thrilling
ly descriptive of that memorable slaugh-
ter Of the First Maine "Heayies,' from
which would quote if my limit of space
had not been reached here.
General Francis 4. Walker, in His
tory Of Second Corps" Also CENTURY for
May. fkinglake.
Worth their Weight in Gold.
The New York Mad atd Express gives
the following list of women who are