The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-25

Gaines Mill closed up the gaps III tne
ranks and counted files under firc-when,
caught at Manassas with Hazlett's battery
between two advancing lines Of the enc
my, they shielded tho cannon with their
bodies until one by one the pieces were
hauled away and left 119 dead comrades
stretched in irregular rows around the
wheel ruts and trail prints on the spot
where the guns had stood,
1t is plain that only when foemen OF
equal mettle sustain the combat can such
heroism be born, and so we read how Cor
don's Alabamians at Fair Oaks, when
caught in the angle between two lines IN
the same manner as Duryees men at Ma
nassas stood their ground in spite of Or
ders to retreat until whole companies had
been annihilatcd and the roster OF officers
completely wiped out.
Closer still may the rivalry between
northern Drawn and southern blood be
traced in the careers of individual com
mands. Two such | shall refer to in an
other class.
The heaviest losers at Gettysburg were
two opposing regiments-the Twenty
fourth Michigan and the Twepty-
North Carolina. They met on the first
day almost man for man, and in the des-
pcrate dueling Of Mcpherson woods bat
tied until nothing remained of either ex-
cept their thgs and two pitiful squads of
men. Michigan lost 397 out Of 40G and
North Carolina GSS out of $50, yet the
remnant of the latter joined Pickett's
charge on the third day, retiring with so
men in line, while the Michigan fragment
turned out in the ropulso of Ewell's bat
talions ON the other front of Cemetery Hill.
For deeds lest ghastly and which charm
by their more pleasing features of personal
valor we turn to the lake raider Beall and
his daring and all but successful plan to un
loose the prison bolts at Johnson's island
and ultimately conquer the lakes and
northern border for the Confederacy; to
Andrews and his % i'll starred Ohio COM
rades, penetrating the Georgia Wilderness
and soizing from the enemy a locomotive
and train to blockade the railway against
Confederate 70 endorsements passing
through to western battleiclds; to the
seven southern tars who volunteered to go
down in the submarine torpedo boat at
Charleston after five crews had been smOth-
cred to death in her and although meeting
the same fate yet justifying their valor by
carrying the Union ironclad Housatonio
to the bottom with them; to Major Kee
nan, fighting to gain time at ChancellOrs-
vile and driving the leading squadron Of
his column of troopers into tho enemy's
solid squares to be cut down to the last
man, leader and all, by pistol shot and
saber blow; to Stuart, cncircling the Union
armies with his raiders, and to Kilpat-
rick's band outmatching that by riding
100 miles through Lees armed camps and
charging the Richmond Notifications on
horseback; to Lees brave boy colonel,
Willie Pegram, handling his cannon on
the front line with the sauciness Of an
urchin sporting popgun; to Corsc in
AllatOona Pass, signaling now to his SUI
perior Il am short cheek bono and an
ear, but able to whip all hell yeti" and to
his chivalous antagonist, 1--WE are pre-
pared to continue this needless cffusion
of blood indefinitely" to Colonel Multi
gan, with his 5000 famishing men, nour-
ished on rainwater wrung from their
soaked blankets, pent up in Lexington by
$4,000 as3ailants and hurting the same de-
fant sentiments at the foe; to. the two gen
tlemen spies, Colonel Williams and Cap
tain Peters, who strolled calmly about
| the Union forts in Tennessee in the guiso
Of loyal engineer inspectors and as calm
ly paid the penalty of their rash dar-
ing on the day of their detection.
Likewise fresh glories have our gallant
tars added to the daring deeds Of the sea.
Not to dwell upon the ofttold tales, as of
Farragut lashed in the rigging that he
might see over the clouds of battle smoke;
of Worden, blinded in action, yet fighting
on in his pygmy Monitor until the monster
ram fled from the Roads, and of Morris in the
sinking Cumberland when hailed to strike
the flag shouting: "Neverl I'll sink along
sidel' there was u Confederate Captain
| Brown plunging the ram Arkansas down
the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers through
| three hostile fleets, and stern old WinslOw
bounding tho dreaded Alabama from ref
uge to refuge and leaving not shred OF
her canvas, not an arm of her rigging,
not plank from hull or deck of that re.
nowned commerce destroyer as memento
Of her marvellous career.
And for purely personal valor who can ri
val Cushing on the PROV of his frail picket
boat within 30 feet of the muzzles of rifles
and cannon blazing on the deck Of the AL
bemarlc, and there with wounded hands
adjusting by intricate mechanism his tor
pedo lance and exploding the terrible mis-
sile directly under the hull Of the rami
| For Spartan coolness where the man tC
challenge the brave veteran Ellet, lying in
his blood on the deck of the Queen at
Memphis while ordering the feet of rams
! in the lclosing attack and sending from
| his &dGhis son, q boy Of 49, to hoist the
flags Of victory upon the spires of the van
quished city? And for nobility of soul,
combined with heroic mettle, can the world
| produce a greater than Craven, who at
Mobile begged Of Farragut the post OF
honor in tho fight, and, when his vessel,
the unlucky Tecumsch, was sinking in q
hopeless depth, gave way for the pilot to
precede him up the single turret ladder,
the sole means of escape, saying as he
waved his hand toward the exit, already
taking in water in sheets, After you,
piloti"
OF exploits like these so briefly sketch
ed, for the scores that have become cele-
brated hundreds are scarcely known.
From the stories of the campaigns of the
300 fighting regiments, each of them, Il
stirring war drama might be evolved. In
20 Of those regiments more soldiers fell
fighting in battle by from 10 to 20 per
cent than in the crack German regiments
i'll the Franco-Prussian war with its
bloody Grayclotto and Mars la Tour Fa-
nous brigades arc fully represented in
these fighting battalions, a fact which
proves that their unique distinction was
not accidental in origin, but was earned
where the bullets flew like hail. If it
takes a mans weight in lead to kill one in
battle, then between 80 and 40 tons of
missiles fly past the mark when 100 are
struck dead out of a body of 400.
The regiment leading all the northern
army in battle losses at Gettysburg, tho
Twentyfourth Michigan named above,
fought there and throughout its service
in the company of four crack regiments,
the five constituting the Iron Brigade -