The Portland daily press., 1892-08-27

and won Cne DAY. Inc regiment was 4OO
strong when it charged, and 70 dead, with
131 wounded, was the price of it's daring.
The heaviest loss occurred in front Of
Capt Del Kemper's Virginia battery.
Two companies, E and H, that were al
most at the mouths of Kemper's guns, lost
30 men at one discharge, and the bodies
Law on the field in perfect line as though
sleeping On their arms. In Company e, 40
out of Sc were struck down, 25 of them
killed.
-Four brothers-Hiram, Silas, William
and Edward Cummings-their cousin, w.
H. Cummings, and brother-in-law,
Horace CLAYTON, lay among the dead, and
fifth brother, Henry Cummings, was Sc
yerely wounded. There was an incident
for a poem or q statue had it but found it's
setting on one of the famous battlefields.
Unlike some regiments that seem to be
marked for deaths own plaything, the
Fifth enjoyed a long respite. Not that it
was retired from the fighting columns;
simply that.it did not hit the drawing In
another bloody lottery for time. 1t
charged up the sleeps at South Mountain,
Maryland, in September, and was at An
tietam and fredericksburg. AT the second
storming of Marye's Heights, in May, 1858,
it belonged to the reserve of the Light
division in the march against the stone
wall of CORY memories
One month later, at the head of recon-
noitering column, the regiment fought It's
way across the Rappahannock river in the
face of heavy fire from the enemy's rifle
pits on the opposite bank. At signal the
Vermonters dashed to the rivers brink,
launched number of pontoon boats,
scrambled in and pulled across. On the
other side the men in the foremost boats
charged up the bluffs and overpowered the
Confederates who were paying attention
to the boatloads yet in the stream. 1t was
adaring feat, carried by holiness and nerve.
At Gettysburg these Vermonters were
in reserve. 1t was STANDARDS Vermont
militia that was immortalized in the re-
pulse Of Picketts charge. After Gettys-
burg, in the pursuit of Lee to the Potomac,
the Fifth was away to the front on the heels
of the cavalry. At Funkstown, Md, near
Antietam, on July TO- the Confederates
turned on their pursuers, and the Yer
monters again displayed their valor on an
obscure field. Col. T.. A. Grant. of the
Fifth, commanded the brigade, and, noting
that the ehemy was making for ridge
between the lines, he thought it would be
a good scheme to get there first with his
Vermonters.
The position was so extensive that his
troops only made fair skirmish line when
deployed. The outwitted enemy tried to
carry by force what they had let slip by
dalliance and charged again and again.
But the Green Mountain boys were "grit"
to the bone and didn't bulge an iota The
main Union army and trains were yet far
in the rear, and the skirmishcrs were left
unaided whole afternoon and night.
they held out, though, and after firing
away their supply of bullets sent messen-
gers to fetch up more on stretchers. In
one Of the charges made upon the Yer
monters Col. Grant counted seven regi-
ments in the column. Yet they fell back
before the deadly skiEmish fire.
AT the close of the Gettysburg campaign
and it's sequels the plucky souls of the
army began to re-enlist. The Fifth was
the first Vermont regiment to go in for
second term. After holiday trip to
the old green hills as reward for re-
enliating, the regiment took its place in
the Sixth corps, numbering 500 muskets.
At the WILDERNESS, May 5, 1864, it was in
Gen Getts's line, touching elbows with
Haucock's men in the Plank Road fight.
Tho lieutenant colonel, ]. A. Lewis, was
wounded at the outset, and Maj. c. p.
Dudley stepped to the front to lead. Col.
Grant was still brigadier of the Vermont
ers, and discovering, as he thought, that
the Confederate line was thin in front Of
the Fifth, ordered Dudley 10 charge. The
men dashed ir with cheer, carried the
point and looked around for supports.
The latter had weakened and left the
brave boys In tight place, for the enemy
kept strong reserve and fanked Dudley's
little band, forcing it to retreat. The reg
iment got out of the Wilderness with an
even half of its men on their legs, and
three days later the dashing Upton CHEESE
it as one Of twelve picked commands to
make up astorIning party at Spottsylvania.
That famous assault was only step
around the corner from the scene OF Han
cocks bloody game little later, and was
aimed at the same stronghold, the angle
on McCool's farm. The breastworks were
high and solid, topped out with loopholed
headlogs, but the stormers went over them.
capturing and dispensing two lines of Con-
federates and spiking their cannon. Once
more the Union supports skipped the ap-
pointment. Lees generals rallied their re-
serves and drove Upton from the works.
The Vermonters refused to back out and
said that If rations and cartridges were
supplied them they would figE it through
to finish. But headquarters took a diff
ferent view and recalled them. The Fifth
lost 70 IN all, u OF them morOally aurG.
Maj. Dudley arose from a sick bed to lead
his boys and received wound that aggra-
waited his disease and death followed.
In the Petersburg and Shenandoah CAM
paigns the regiment fought as a battai-
ion. At the final assault on the works at
Petersburg, April 3, 1865, it led the Sixth
cops line and planted its colors first upon
the Confederate works. 1t lost 10 killed
that day, making q grand total Of 2l3
deaths by the enemy's bullets, besides 472
wounded. GEORGE L. KILMER.
Nrtr ANN MIIcDoM