Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1888-07-24
When Shall Their Glory Fade.
Tux FIRST NAME ARrILLERY's CuARoE
AT PErERsBuR0.
Latter To N.r York re.,l

letter to New York Pos,l
In your paper Of July S. your CORES
pondsn, "E l.. o." referring to Pieks,t'
famous charge a, Gettysburg. is unable
to "recall anything In military history
which can quite match H."
II your valuable space will admit, |
shall be glad 20 recall for him one heroic
charge fully matching. II no, surprising,
,ha, Of Pickett. men. mean the
charge Of the lat Maine Heavy Artillery.
acting as infantry. near Petersburg, on
the 18th Of June. l6i. and in doing 80
mus, expire. surprise and regret ,h.,
such = splendid exhibition ofvalOr should
so long remain unsung by the poets and
generally unknown TO the public.
Kindly permit me to quo,e one Who
took an active par, 10 ,hs, desperate al
fair
AT length. abop, o'clock r ~. the
order va. heard. Charge bayone,s. for
word double quick The frs, battalion
began TO climb the bank Of earth border.
Ing the roadside. over which they seram.
blsd and started with yell. the seeond
battalion followed. aud close on their
heel. wen, the third. The instant the
frs, battalion showed themselves, the
Confederate line opened on them. A
cloud Of smoke burs, from their ride. all
along their line. far overlapping our short
line to the righ, and lefi.
The air was literally fall Of lead and
iron. The yell which we attempted died
away in a minute. for there were few
left to yell. The hr, battalion had
melted away az soon s they rose over the
bank. The second ". dissolved Ia
mInu,e. and the third wa. melting like
fro.. before the sun but We kep, on. Ia
the mid. Of the FIRE. no, only from di-
rec,ly in front. but an enflsde fire OF
bullets and sho, and she'll and grape and
canister. from right aud LEI, up and down
the rebel works. looked about me I"
Iran forward. aud | though, every man
va. falling down. KEEP, on At the
double quick. passing by constantly fall
ins men. pas, George Hunter. who lay
With five bullet. in him, looking up 20 me
~ passed. Still KEEP, on, wondering
how 80 many bullet. and mi..el. could
Nv around and 90 near me and all Of them
mis-. me. soon | found myself well up
70 the abai,is in from, Of their works. |
stopped and looked abou, me. 10 front
aboa, ten Zee, were two men OF my com.
plny. They had halted. Hooked back
and saw twenty or thirty men running
back and leAping over the bank into the
road. Between them aud myself the held
was literally blue with the bodies Of men.
They lay covering the ground ,hiekly from
the road clear up TO where ! stood, sing.
ly and in heap, Of four or five. l,urned
again and looked a, the men 10 my front.
aud could see no other man standing up
on tha, field.
"Our charge ended in = miserable fail.
ure. occupied less than ten minutes. and
in that time 6Oi hsroe. from eastern
Maine lay dead and dying on the field.
OF thir,y..iI officers ba, .iI were leii un'
hurt. And here must again diifsr with
several historians who state ,ha, The
veteran regiment advanced In our sup
port. say no, /. man Of any regimen,
In the brigade advanced one foo, in our
support. In less than ten minutes We
had more men killed and wounded than
any regimen, Of the Union armies, in any
battle during the war.
"whsn Il il taken into aoeoun, that
hundred. Of regiment. bad been in bat.
tie. which occupied from one 10 two days
and nights in sueoession-Ffederiek''
burg. Gs,,y.burg. Shiloh. SPo,sylvahia.
Cold HArboi. ETC.. e,e.--and no one OF
them had lo., 10 killed aud wounded 90
many as the frs, Maine los, inside OF
ten minutes. the desperate nature OF the
undertaking can be more fully realized.
There were So men and oth,er who
wen, forward. OF the So men. 6Oi
were killed and wounded. none missing.
When the heroic COO horemen under
Lord Cardigan made their gallsn, charge
AZ B.l.SlAya, all the world wondered.
and Tenny.on has immor,Alilsd them,
but the equally desperate attack by the
Let Maine Heavy artillery acting /. in
fantry on the ls,h Of June. 1864. IL
known 20 but few. The g.llan, 600
Hagli.h soldiers were mounted; there
were no ear,hworks in front OF the guns
upon which they charged for them to
climb over l26 rode back unhur,, los.
in, 2iT out Of the 673 some authorizes
say there were 500 Of them. We were
on foot, had strong line Of aba,,i. TO
ge, through, = deep ditch half full OF
water TO hlundsr across, then the steep
bank Of the e.rihwork TO climb up, be.
fore we could reach the enemy. Two
hundred and twenty-eish, Of Us escaped ;
6Oi killed and wounded out OF s32-a
larger proportion Of a somewhat larger
number"
No, further to tax your patience. for
bear to enlarge upon this remarkable in'
eident Of the late war, but will simply
refer soldier. and other. interested to
Msjor General Rober, McAlli',er'. record
or the affair; also those Of General Mott,
Major Houshton Of the 18th Mdne. In
hi. history Of th., regiment. aud letter
from General McAllistsr Of Bsldivere. y
j., October Is, 1886, to General Charles
Hamlin Of Bangor. Maine. Copies OF
their letters are now before me ,hrillingly
descriptive Of ,ha, memorable slaughter
Of the faithful it Maine "Heavies,
from which would quote II my limit Of
space had no, been reached here.
LOWELL TALB)r.
New York. July I.