St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-06-24

Joseph jackson BafUietb, whose QeslLn IN re
tirement was recently announced, and who
arose from a volunteer private TO the rank
of breyet major-general without a particle
of back stair influence or a friend at court
and also without the eclat and social pres
tige of West Point training to give him a
start.
At the first Bull Run Andrew Porter's
Union brigade was in the column that won
es-eslccess in the beginning of the action and
wasas2t surprised and overwhelmed by the
subsequent disaster, like some of the troops
taken unaw;tres in the famous flank attack.
One regiment in the brigade, the Twenty
seventh New York volunteers after losing
heavily at close quarters and making a
desperate charge was at rest on the edge of
the whirling fight when the stampede to
the rear began Before it, toward Wash
ington, lay comparatively open road, into
which regiments and batteries of the re-
serve were hnrTying to seek safety in fight.
On the other side the battalions in the field
were rapidly going to pieces and a mob
such as only n field of disaster can turn out
was surging over the plain toward the
road
The colonel of the regiment, FL. w. Slo
cum, had been disabled by Il wound The
lieutenant colonel was one of the kind never
mentioned on the roll of honor, and Major
Bartlett, recently promoted from captain
of Company G, was the sole field officer on
hand. He was a novice in war from whom
little would be expected in an army Off
cered by regulars and to whom much would
be excused, and he might have done as he
saw other leaders do in the emergency
called TO his men, s.Savequi aeutt' and hus-
tied to the rear Instead Reformed a line OF
battle on Il conspicuous knoll, faced the en-
emy and stood there in view of that dis
heartened and formless throng, a spectacle
to rally the latent manhood in the hearts
of all whose fault WAS not eowartiice, but
inexperience. It was a Union tstonewall"
counterpart of Jackson's renowned brigade
line on the Confederate side.
After waiting until thousands had passed
behind the wall and broken regiments had
been reformed, Major Bartlett took his
place at the head of the line. and with col
ors flying and well ordered ranks marched
off the field. On the way back, finding the
pressure from the rear irresistible for his
ranks, he halted and again formed line
for broken battalions to rally on.
Now, the man who did this had stepped
out from his law Office three months before
into the town square at Binghamton, n. Y,
and enrolled as one of I.ineoln's $4,000 vol
unteers. Without "A particle of the soldier
habit or experience common among volun.
teer officers at that date, who were chiefly
militia or Mexican war veterans, he took
hold with such energy aud coolness that he
was elected captain of his company, and
later chosen major By ballot over the heads
OF some who had already worn epaulets.
Bull Run was his opportunity. He was
commended in general orders by that stern
old regular, Porter, for enthusiasm and
valor ia action, and when Colonel Slocum
was promoted To general the major jumped
into his place.
Colonel Bartlett never led his own regi
ment directly in battle, for soon after the
army reached the Peninsula he was given
command of the brigade under his rank as
colonel. His first important fight was
Gaines Mill. Sloeuin's division Of the
Sixth corps was sent to the field Mt afcrisis
In the battle to re-enforce Fitz John Porter's
corps The brigades fought independently.
Bartlett marched his men along the en-
tire battle front under fire to hurry to the
support of the General Sykes regular diyi.
sien--the right wing. The key to Sykes
position, where the brunt of StonewalI
Jackson's attack fell, was a hill around
the McGehee house. A battery that had
been taken from the regulars was being
used against them, and Bartlett ordered the
Sixteenth New York to reeaptureit, while
the rest of the brigade formed for attack
upon a line Of infantry on II ridge along
side
The Sixteenth retook the battery, and the
brigade, going in regiment by regiment,
took the ridge at a loss of 500 killed and
wounded General Bartlett went in each
charge beside the colonies of heregiments.
Generals Sykes, Porter, Franklin and Nc
Clellan all praised him for his work that
day, bat promotion was withheld for
months, although he was the only colonel
In the Sixth corps assigned permanently TO
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