Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-09-01
Z 4lGH-wATER MARK MoNUMENT.I

Remarks of Cot. w. G. Veazey. in Re.
spouse to "a Cali to Speak for tho First
Army Corps at the Dedication Of the
High Water Mark Monument at Gettys-
burg, june ., 1892.
when tho monument, consisting OF q
great opon book of bronze on granite
| base, bearing the names of the regiments
which received Picketts great charge at
| Gettysburg aud turned it back, was dedi-
| Gated, Judge Feazey of the inter State COM
merce commission spoke for the First Army
Corps. The report of his remarks, sent at
! the time to the FREE PRESS, was accident
ally lost and we have only now succeeded
in obtaining another copy.l
Judge Nea2ey said
Tho First Army corps spoke on this field
with their muskets 20 years ago better than
any man can speak for it now. This spot
would not have been the high water mark of
rebellion but for the battle which this corps
fought alone Except as aided by the
gallant Buford and his brave troopers
from 10 o'clock until on the first day of
July, 1868. The story is quickly told but
constitutes an eloquent fact. Assaulted in
OPEN field by nearly three to one, with, as
one writer truthfuliy says, "no other protec-
ton than the flannel bouses that covered
| their stout hearts, - the men of that corps
stood with unbroken front for three hours,
yielding not foot of ground, in
nctlng more injury to the enemy
than was received, capturing parts
of three brigades, and only forced to
retire when Ewell's corps, returning from
| the Susuuehanna came in upon the right.
The figures tell with more eloquence than
human lips can utter Of the stubborness of
the fight. With less than 5000 in action,
the loss in killed We're 1913, wounded 3209,
missing 1922, many Of whom were after
ward found to have boen killed or wounded {;
lotal loss COBB. 1t was this awful cost of
men under tho skilled leadership of
the heroic Reynolds until bis death, and
then of the gal ant Doubleday that enabled
Howard it'll unsrring Judgment to seize
and hold c. metery Hill a. the ra'lying point
for the armJ u the Potomac.
With varying language al historians ex-
press the same fact, which was concsely
stated by one, when he wrote: AT Gettys-
burg in the battle of the first day this
corps did some OF the best fighting Of the
war" give you the recent mar
vellous statement of most care
full gatherer. of military statistics.
He said the Union army lost moro men kill
ed in action during the war Of the rebellion
than England lost killed in action of her
own subjects during the last 500 years; and
the first Army corps lost more men killed
and wounded in proportion to its number
engaged in the battle of the first day OF
July than any other corps in all our armies
during the war in a single fight. / mention
these facts because although the lighting
: of the first corps in this battle has
been well appreciated in military circles,
yet in popular estimation it has in large
measure been lost sight Of This has doubt
less happened from the fact that the first
day battle was a defeat while the battles
of the subsequent days We're mainly victor
les for the Union army; and perhaps from
the further fact that early in 1854 the corps
was dissolved as an organization and its
brigRdes merged in the Fifth corps. This was
regarded as an act OF. injustice and naturally
tended, in connection with the formation OF
now associations, to lessen the pride of otli
GERS aud men in this old corps. Therefore,
since the war the corps has not had the Wig.
or Of corps organizations that other corp.
have maintained.
The services OF the corps did not end Will
the battle Of the first DAY. On the second
day one of its divisions successfully
repulsed a desperate assault oil Gem
etery Hill, and on the third day another
division participated in the final CRANE
repulse which made this spot the high water
, mark OF rebellion. 1t was q brigade Of thai
corps which performed what has been term
, ed one of the most brilliant foGts of tn,
whole battle, when it responded TO the cal
of the Immortal Hancock and the matches
Stannard and assaulted the right flank O.
Pickett in the ravine before Us where tn,
railroad is now located, at the very momen
when the brave Armistead leading tn,
e hosts tLat CDVarc1 the meadow hat ,va.,