Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-07-31

The -hs N loss Sustained IA any one
BATTLE couirSsng the percentage ON the
number erGalusi, occurred In the First
Minnesota at Gettysburg, july 2. 1861 Ia
a most desperate orisls Con. Hancock OF
dcred the regiment, numbering only 1b2
mon, to charge on an advancing brigade of
Confederntee and take its oolors. The decd
WIS CALAMITY accom- plshed, bat with loss
of u killed, ~ per cent. OF those engaged.
The wounded numbered In
Next to the First MINNESOTA in high per
centages of killed in u atue+e betalo stands
the Fifteenth New Jcrsey, which lost "a
per cent at ttJottsylvanta. Following this
is the Twenty fifth M.ssachlus,tta which
lost ~ Per cent. in killed at Gold Harbur.
The Twenty-ffth charged upon breast
works lined with men whose rnu sisgrH were
kept loaded and handed uI-In relays The
One Hundred and Furty.ffrst pennsyivania
also loNt "a per cent 10 Killed at Gestys-
burg. 1t fought m the Peach Orchard.
Records az brilliant, III some respects, as
those have cited might DO continued M
til hundreds had been accorded place OF
honor. But this would display only one
side Of the sacrifice that saved the Union.
Tho triumph did not come through for
l0rn hopes alone, nor did Victory stand at
the beck of those only who stood ready to-
yet themselves killed most beautifully
in order to win her smfles
The war Was one Of invasion and con
quest, az well as OF desperate lighting.
Weary miles had TO be marched under
burning sun and through winters storm.
Sieges were laid where deadly mtasma
Killed more than bullets did; marvellous
works Of engineering. Of intrenching of
running saps in tho face of incessant fire,
Of climbing mountains, of building calEse-
ways I'm guns aud ammIniti0n trains. OF
patient labor day by day for weaIs and
months to yet ahead a foot ut a stroke to-
ward the skilltuliy defended stron2hoids
Of the enemy; all this wns accunpl tsbed
by voluntary exertion from men not tn
ured 10 the u.xpoeure and strain involved.
The proper lifework of the masses who
went to the front was laid aside and in
I thonsunds Of cases never resumed by tho
Survivors,, because of lack of strength
when the battle WAS won. Hale youths
. they were the two and a quarter mill rous
who proudly marched away at Father
Ahrahan's call-marohed away and disap-
pearrd. No one can say OF the spared that
the same luen came back, exactly the same
men. 10 tramp all day under load of
sixty to seventy pounds under q southern
/ sun, where the roads Hre thick With dust,
/ the water stag nc,nJ AIH. rank Wltu OeCaVlfi
matter, md keep at ituntil men fall, never
to rise out Of tie chill that strikes them ~
they reach the Garth; then to plunge into
sWampS and stand waist deep in water
while con4trUctinX TO Ls and bridges orpty-
ing oct gums and carriages from the mire-
To be dreuched in "a winter rain to the
skin ana then experience. a fall Of me rcury
below the freezing posnt without change
of clothing or IA iire TO thRw the ice that IN
cases the limbs like ul1nor; to maneuvei
and li1lt and foil The enemy under these
last conditions, aud feed meanwhile on
horse meat cut from carcassoe slaughtered
in battle in order to hold the grUund, as
was done at MurfrpesbJ ro to march by
NIGHT and eight by day for a week with
only tree days GOOD supply at the start, "A
wa, done in tie Seven Days" and was
almost parlueled in the Nicks burg and
Chattanooga campaigns, this would not
be laid down as a practical regimen fU'
young fellows Of twenty to twenty-five