The Portland daily press., 1889-10-04

the will of the commanding officer; to the men
who, grasping sword or musket. awaited the
coming onset with swiftly flashing, agonizing
thoughts of home and friends and sweet famil-
lar haunts OF peace, and Of the dread POSSIBLE
tiles OF the minutes close upon him. nerving
his being to do and dare as country, honor and
duty called; and who met the foe with a
fierce hatred, sickening fear that thew might
prevail in spite of all that he aud his comrades
could do to overmaster them, and wild long.
ing to command some fell destruction TO sween
them from the face Of the earth. Let this oc
easion, comrades, inspire you with the purpose
10 give enduring form to your recollections OF
your army life that posterity NAV have fuller
knowledge of the splendid army to which you
belonged, OF the character and spirit of the
men who composed it and of their deeds and
sacfihces. Such testimony giving as it must,
an insight to the tolls and sufferings of the
individual soldier, will show how dreadful a
thing is war and enforce the lesson that it can
be glorious only when it serves cause so high
and noble as to countervail the extreme of hu-
man misery. Many notable instances will
occur to you of comrades who have done their
duty well with tongue and pen as once with
sword or musket They should be many times
multiplied in the few years of life and memory
that remain to the army Of the Potomac.
On the morning of July LIST Gen. Buford
with his cavalry command encountered the ad-
vance of Hills corps of Lees army. He
CALAMITY held them in check and sent back for
aid TO Reynolds who was promptly ON the
field with Wadsworth's division to which was
attached Halls Second Maine Battery. There
was work at hand for the new corners and at
once. The Second Maine Battery was placed
by Reynolds in person in position from
which battery of the cavalry division had
just been withdrawn, and there for half an
hour Hall held his ground with his six guns,
returning the fire of seventeen pieces which
the enemy brought to bear upon him and, in
default of infantry support on his right, de-
Tending himself against the enemy's infantry
with double shotted canister. The contest
became too unequal to continue. Rained upon
by artillery and musketry Hall withdrew all
his guns, the enemy so close upon him that six
horses of the rear piece were bayoneted and the
gun would have been lost but for
the timely advance of infantry.
Eighteen men wounded, thirty-eght horses
killed, the commanders own horse shot under
him, and three pieces disabled, proved more
eloquently than any words how we'll they held
their post in the forefront of the desperate
fight on that brave day when the gallant Rey-
nolds met soldiers death, and the First Corps
stubbornly held the field against overwhelm-
ing numbers, confident that their comrades of
the army of the Potomac were pressing forward
to aid them.
The Sixteenth Maine was on the extreme
right Of the line of the First Corps. Such a
position is sufficiently trying under ordinary
circumstances, subject as it is to being over
Tapped by the enemy and thus to be exposed
to a fire in flank and reverse. The Sixteenth
not only had this danger to encounter from
Hills forces in 'front.' but when Ewell came on
the field from the north his forces bore down
directly upon its flank with the fire of thirty
pieces of artillery supporting his attack. The
Eleventh Corps, formed at right angle to the
line OF the First. left gap between its left and
the right of the First and through it Ewelrs
men poured in. The devoted regiment, thrust
like lance head into the very midst of the
enemy swarming from the west and the north
remained steadfast at its post. Tilden and his
men were surrounded and swept away to
undergo the horrors of Southern prisons. Re-
treat, when practicable, would have been dis
honor. Who will deny to them a generous
share in the final victory over an enemy thinned
by their volies and taught discretion by their
frmnessi
When the shattered battalions of the First
and Eleventh Corps were driven back through
the town, Halls battery delivered a Parthian
lire from time to time as it retired through the
streets, and kept the pursueYs at a respectful
distance. AT the same time Stevens's Fifth
Maine Battery which had been posted near the
seminary, found the opportunity it had been
waiting for and wrought fearful execution up
on the lines of the advancing enemy. saving
precious time for the formation of the new line
on Cemetery Heights, though a. great cost to
ITSELF
The Fifth Battery withdrew through the
town and ascending Cemetery Hill was met by
Hancock who called out for "the captain of
TINS brass battery" and ordered him to plant
his guns where he could stop the enemy from
coming up the ravine. HIS six Napoleons were
not long in opening fire and they maintained
1t SO diligently and effectively as to check the
advance of the enemy in that quarter. Col.
Bachelor has properly recognized the great
service done by this battery on the frs. mud
second days by bestowing the name of its
commander ON the ground it occupied-the
spot now known as "Stevens' Knoll"
On the second day the long expected blow
fell heavily on Birney's division of Sickles'
Corps comprising the bngades of Graham,
Ward and DeTrobriand. Maine was nobly
represented in that fighting line though our
State had but single regiment in each brig
ade. Lakeman with his Kennebeckers, the
Third Maine, the regiment which Howard took
to the front and Heath was promoted from to
meet, as lieutenant colonel of the Fifth, an
early and lamented death at Gaines Mill was
temporarily detached from comradeship with
the Fourth in Wards brigade, and assigned to
Graham. With him they held the Peach Or
chard, the famous angle of Sickles's much
criticised line, until crushed by converging
and cross fires, wrapped in a vortex of fire."
says the Comte de Paris, outfanked and over
whelmed the remnant of the defenders of an
untenable position was driven back, scastered
and confused, to recover the touch of elbows
on the true line of battle. The centre of Bir-
ney's line was held by DeTrobriand, with
whom was the Seventeenth under Merrill; and
Wards brigade completed the line to the foot
of Round Top, the Fourth Maine constituting
the extreme left. No intelligent follower of the
events of the battle can fail to concede to these
two brigades the high praise accorded to them
with unanimous voice by every historian of the
fight. If Longstreet had succeeded at his on
set in breaking Birney's line, the way was open
to him to lodgment in the centre of Meade's
position. But he had to do with Kearney's
men, and the wearers of the red lozenge were
not accustomed to break at the touch of the
enemy. 1t was their line and they proposed
to stay by it, though there was not regiment
in reserve to which they might look for help.
The confident onslaught of Hoods brigade
was as confidently met. Not until the rebel
reserves were brought forward did those
staunch brigades give way, and then only as
they were compelled by sheer weight of out
numbering assailants, who were made to pay
dearly for every inch of ground gained. So
stubborn was their resistance that Meade, who
had not looked for the attack to fall upon his
left and therefore had no provision to meet it,
was afforded time to bring up reinforcements.
Our two regiments did their full share of the
good work of their brigades. In the annals of
the Seventeenth the wheat field which they
occupied until taken in the flank and reverse
and grievously torn, has conspicuous place.
The regiment which had been trained by Berry,
that capable soldier whose merits had gained
him high command, and would have advanced
him to greater distinction had not Chancellors-
vile numbered him among its victms-the
Fourth Maine, formed the left of the line and
wrought havoc with their blazing rifles among
the gray clad swarms that sought to dslodge
them from the weird rocks and hollows of
DEVILS Den.
There are sometimes in the affairs of men
occurrences which so tend to favor some end
of supreme moment, as to forbid the thought
that they are merely accidental, ana to cause
them to seem the direct offspring of super
human intelligence, signal manifestation
Of divine purpose, and are therefore styled
"providentiaL" In this high sense of the
word the series of happenings on Little