The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-08-31

cAUOW Oh sCc!ieGcfy ILL W1GQ SURVIVORS OE a
combat waged 80 years ago, and that, too,
not as a humble and an accidental particle
pant, but as a hero, credited with having
saved the day in one of the crises of the bat
tie. The figures show that he had reached
the retiring age of the service when the
greatest day of his life dawned upon him.
The axiom about old men for counsel and
young men for war was frequently dis
counted in the late war. General Mans
field, who was killed at the front Of his
corps d'armee at IAntietam in 1862, was SO. 4
General Wadsworth, another New Yorker,
who fought side by side with Greene at
Gettysburg and was killed while gallantlyt
leading charge in the Wilderness in 1864,
had scored 81 Robert e. Lee had reached
the age when most men have done signing
for new worlds to conquer when he stepped
to the front to marshal the hosts of the
Confederacy, for he was 81 years old, and
what a page he made in war history! 1t
might be supposed that it would be a hard
destiny for a Greene Of the lineage of the
great Nathaniel, who had kept the tradi-
tions Of the family and been trained to
arms, to be shelved among the home guard
with Sumter's guns booming and the whole
north marching on to the border, even if
time had scored 60 telltale notches on his
birthday book. Though young men were
plenty and the trite axiom on every lip,
the gray haired old regular, a grandpa him
self, took down his grandpa's sword, a
blade stained with the rust Of Monmouth
and Brandywine and Eutaw Springs,
mounted his good steed and rode to Wash
ington as leader of the Sixtieth New York
volunteers.
The Sixtieth was rural regiment made
If
It hadn't the luck OF fortune to win place
among the famous fighting Three Hundred,
but was ready when called on and scored
the casualties on the other SIDE 1t missed
the exciting campaign of the Peninsula in
1862, because the corps in which it served
was retained in front Of Washington while
the main army was at Richmond. Before
the battlefield was transferred northward
Greene had become leader of the brigade
and commanded it at the battle of Cedar
Mountain in August, 1862. When the army
was reorganized by Mcclellan to drive Lee
from Maryland, Greene's brigade was as.
signed to the Twelfth corps, and Greene was
placed at the head of a division temporarily
At Antietam he fought the division over
five hours in the hottest portion of the field
where charges were given and taken il
quick succession with the most terrible
slaughter imaginable. His division as
saulted the enemy's line in a strip of woods
and routed it, then dashed after the retreat
ing Confederates into an open field raked by
artillery fire, met fresh division of the
enemy advancing to recover the wood
pressed it back in a close hand to hand strug
gle where the combatants crossed bayonet!
and used their musket stocks for warclubs
and penetrated the edge of a second strip O.
woods a quarter OF mile beyond the first
There the Confederates had made thei1
stronghold among Lodges of lime,rocks thai
formed q natural breastwork. From tina
, position the enemy was never driven ant
Greene's men went farther and staid long
, !. er on their charge than any troops engaged
in the assaults; One Of his regiments los
266 killed and wounded, the second highes
regimental loss in the battle. At time
while crossing the field between the tw,
strips of woods Greene's men and the Con
federates opposing them engaged in ferc
musketry duels at only so PAGES. Whel
Greene had carried his line of battle almos
to the second strip of woods, the Confeder
ates rushed out in @ fresh column and mad
for his batteries. He distributed his infan
) try between the guns in line dressed OF
the aXletrees of the cannon. The daring me-
of Hood and Stonewall Jackson marched o.
: in the face of the threatening storm t.
within 20 PAGES, and then the fire opened
canister belching forth at intervals and
: continuous stream of bullets from tn
spaces between the guns With terrii