The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1891-12-03

bdO AhoAhNs EON AhahAhloN hNH NAGAgAA
laurelS are for the men who held the
Bloody Angle" at Gettysburg, July 8, 1858.
They repelled Pickett's charge.
They held Cemetery Ridge.
They fought with Hancock.
They beat back rebellion's tide at "High
Water Mark"
Very good. Hurrah for themi
But bow came they TO be on Cemetery
Ridge that lucky day and hourl
Lee wanted that stretch Of uplands a. q
vantage ground to buffet Meade.
A. P. Hills corps dashed for Il.
The COnfederates Of Heth, PettiRrew and
Fender struggled and died TO seize It on
Julyl.
Why didn't they take iti
Ask Reynolds. He IL dead, but E.S deeds
talk.
Ask Doubleday.
Ask wAdsworth, also dead, but living In
his record.
Ask gray haired Robinson.
Ask the Iron Brigade
Yes; ask the Twenty-fourth Michigan
men, who should know little about 1t.
That regiment lost more men killed At
regiments engaged there.
~ lOaL LuOI0 klllcu huu lllOElAlll NuDuuuCu
there than any other Union regiment;
more killed and wounded altogether, and
more killed, wounded and captured than
any other The captured didn't figure
very heavy, by the way. The Confederate
general, Ewell, tried to bag all Of them
that walked, at one stage Of the fight, and
commenting on his experience 10 the col.
onel commanding, Henry A. Morrow, after
. l.Na IL Ii i.
prisoner, he said that the Twenty-fourth
Michigan was foolish In not surrendering
before 1t was 40 badly cut up.
Gen. Ewell, the Twenty fourth Michi-
gan, came here to fight, not TO surrender" /"
was the reply.
The sound men who surrendered num-
bered 81; the sound men that stuck 10 the
flag and carried II out for another day, %.
The killed and mortAlly wounded were 90
and the wounded In addition, 2SS. Gen.
EwelfthOuRht such fighting was foolhardy.
That was because his men faced 1t. The
opposing generals had different views.
Wordsworth, who commanded the division
to which the Twenty fourth belonged, said
10 Its leader; "Col. Morrow. the only fault
| hnd with you Is that you fought too long.
But God only knows what would have be-
come Of the Army Of the Potomac II you had
not held your ground As long as you did"
1t will be idle, Of course, TO look any
farther than Gettysburg to get a good ac-
count Of the Twenty-fourth Michigan In
the war, but back Of every grand deed lies
q cause, and back Of Oak Ridge, Gettys-
burg, lie some important factors In the
making Of the history Of that day.
The regiment was raised with a hurrah
In ten days, In Detroit and Wayne county,
and an incident that led to It's formation
gives q clew to its makeup. When Lin.
coin called for 10000 men In the summer
Of 1862 there was riot and talk Of resist
ance in Detroit To reassert loyalty It was
proposed to raise regiment on the spot,
and after some delay Governor Blair. yield.
ing It is said to his wife's solicitation, gave
authority for q new regiment when there
were several Others In the state still short
Of men.
The ranks were filed speedily by the
best blood in the county, 84S Of the men
being Michigan born. S57 Americans born
In other states and $50 foreign born. Its
colonel was Virginian by birth and had
fought In Mexico. He was a judge In tho
recorders court. The lieutenant colonel
was sheriff, a man standing feet inches
In his boots.
The regiment went direct TO the Army Of
the Potomac, reached there after Antie-
tam and had its baptism Of blood at First
fredericksburg. Previous to that fight the
regiments brigaded with It Stunned Its
camps. They were the old, war worn, bat.
tie battered, victory winning Iron Brigade
Of the First Army corps. The Twenty.
fourth men were fresh faced, clean and
polished, and their trousers were sky blue
and innocent Of Virginia mud. The Iron