The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-05-07

hapnaned to BIO the advance of Ersnlr-
Inns Sixth corps, sent out in manic
| from Washington to find out what, had no.
come of Pope, as the telegraph and rsil-
road had been cut between him and the
capital. The four regiments mustered univ
| LOO men. Gen. G. w Taylor was in COM
| mand. The instructions were go And
Pope or the enemy" and the brigade nro-
ceeded alone BY rail without Opposition nm
til it crossed Bull Run bridge. where it
was fred upon by battery in position.
| Gen. Taylor put his men in line and
| charged. The troops held their fire relv-.
| ing upon the bayonet. When within 400
yards of the guns two other Confederate
batteries and four brigades of .Tackson,s
infantry, under A. p. Hill, opened from
masked positions upon the gallant column
| As a matter of course disaster followed
Taylor drew the men back in good order in
| the face of Hills pursuing regiments. and
| in making stand at the bridge he was NOR
| tally wounded. Stonewall jackson witt
| messed the fight, and in his official report
praised the Jerseymen for their gallantrv
! The affair cost the brigade loss of 40
| about half the number killed and vuopnd.
| ed, but it taught the war department. that
| Washington was in danger, and led to the
| speedy relief Of Pope.
The next fight of the Jerseys is likewise
| unknown to fame. 1t was the stormino of
Crompton's Pass, South Mountain. Nd.
| Sept IA, 1862. The brigade formed the.
| third line, and whenthe enemy was most
| defiant charged. over rail fences and Stone
| walls, all the time under a peppery fire
from the mountain side, and at last scaled
| the rocky slopes over 900 feet high. where
| the men had to go on all tours. The Fourth
regiment, just out OF Libby prison. can
| tured two stands OF colors and enough
| Springfield muskets to rearm the whole
command. The work was done at a squirt.
but the loss was ia killed and wounded.
At fredericksburg, three months after
the Maryland campaign, the brigade took
| the field REINFORCED by the Fifteenth New
| Jersey and the Twenty-third Nine Months
regiment. The Fourth regiment. led by
| Col. w. B. Hatch, and numbering 300
muskets, charged under fire of grape
and canister upon an enemy posted in a
| railway cut, carried the point. losing
| 80 men in the attempt, among them Col,
| Hatch, mortally wounded Just over
the crest OF Marye's Heights, in front of
| which this dash was made. the whole COM
mand charged on the Sd of May, 1868, in
the Charlottesville fight. The Jerseys
were reserve to the column that storlned
Marye's Heights, and following up the
successful assault they ran into heavy
force of the enemy that stood at bay be-
hind breastwork of logs and brush at
Salem Church, three miles back of Marye's
crest. The brigade, with the exception of
the Fourth regiment, was engaged for two
| hours and half in wrestle with superior
numbers. The commander, Col H. w.
Brown, was wounded; Col M. w. Collet,
of the First was killed; Col, Buck, of the
Second, wounded, and the total loss was
over 500. It was hopeless fight, but a
plucky one, and the new Fifteenth regi-
ment gave notice that New Jerseys fight
ing timber hadn't been exhausted by the
draft of Kearny's original 4,000 1t lost
$50 killed and wounded.
Gettysburg, following Charlottesville,
the Jerseys missed so far as fighting was
concerned, but they made the famous
forced march of thirty-fve miles which
put the Sixth corps on to the field in nick
O. time. After Gettysburg came the long
wait until the Wilderness, May, 1854.
Meanwhile the Twenty-third regiment
was discharged and the Tenth took it's
place. Col. Torbert had won spurs too
big for plodding infantry to keep bright,
and was given cavalry division under
Sheridan, so for the third time the brigade
lost dashing commander. Col. Brown,
Of the Third regiment, succeeded him.
Two years OF steady fighting had reduced
the original four regiments to mere bat
talions. Each had had it's colonel killed
in battle. With only month yet to serve
they entered the bloodiest campaign of the
war and every step they took toward
Richmond was marked with dead Jersey
boys of the brand Of 1861. In the first day
at the Wilderness Col. H. o. Ryerson, OF
the Tenth, was shot to death as a sort of
Initiation sacrifice to place the regiment Oh
footing with the old hands. The hard
est fighting Of the Wilderness, May and
Z, was shared by these men, and at Spott-
sylyania, the 8th, 9th, 10th and 18th, the
different regiments were fated to get into
every grand charge, now with the heroic
Warren, now with the fiery Upton, and
again with Hancock, the superb.
In nine days-May to 1.-THE First reg
iment lost 224. of which 40 were killed; the
Second SO, Ia of them killed; the Third 14S,
Of which ~ were killed; the Fourth 1856, of
which So were killed; the Tenth 146, % of
them killed, and the Fifteenth, that en-
tered the shambles with Is officers and 429
men, emerged with only officers and 1876
men. It's kil,e6 a.o2ai1 five days of the
unequal slau sshter reached the enormous
total of 11e, or over rs per cent, dead on
the field This regiment came out with
the highest roll of honor IN the state. Its
killed numbered 240, and 1870 of them be-
longed to the original 947 that joined the
old brigade in 1862.
The original four regiments of Phil
Kearny's day we've discharged at Cold
Harbor in June. Their death rolls were as
follows: First, 1853; Second, 90; Third, 157;
Fourth, ISL Hexamer's battery made a
wonderful record for execution, but it was
fortunate enough to place the big death
roll on the cnemys side, way those SOL
diers have who substitute science for dash
in fighting. GEORGE L. KIIMEK.
First Kodak, Then Gun.
Devotion To fayOrite purs77iA cs,, Ger.