St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-22

to melt away. Like rocks the WiScOn-
sin boys stood in their tracks, and
when the day was over and the bat
tie won they were knee deep in the
paper that they had bitten from their
cartridges The windrow bore silent
testimony to their valor
That was the way the Wisconsin reg
iments fought. But Of ell gallant men
who left the Badger state to fight for
the Union none were Drawer than those
who made up the regiments that COM
posed what was known as the Iron
brigade. The veterans of these regi-
ments formed a permanent organiza-
ton after the war, and have elected
as their chief officers the commanders
who led them in so many brilliant
dashes during that great struggle. At
recent meeting held by the Iron
Brigade association, Gen. Edward S.
Bragg, Of Fond du Lac was elected
commander to succeed the late Gen.
Gibbon, and he is now making arrange
ments for a grand reunion of the vet
Grams of his famous brigade.
The Iron brigade was originally COM
posed of the Second, Sixth and Seventh
Wisconsin regiments and the Nine
teenth Indiana. It's first commander
was General Rufus King, who took
charge in 1862 but who was afterward
given command of a division and was
succeeded in the command of the
brigade by Gen. Lysander Cutler. The
latter held it for two months and then
came Gen. John Gibbon, who, equally
with Gen. Bragg, was beloved by the
brio 10
other commanders, among them being
Col. Henry A. Morrow, whose regi-
ment, the Twenty-fourth Michigan,
was added to 1t; Col Sol Meredith. of
the Nineteenth Indiana; and Col. w.
w. Robinson, who was severely in
jured at Gettysburg, and who then
turned the command over to Col
Bragg, who was made brigadier gen
eral.
Bragg was always in the thick of the
fight. When he left Fond du Lac at
the first call for troops, it was as cap
tain Of Company u, known as Bragg's
rifles. In civic life Gen. Bragg is a
quiet, inoffensive looking man. He is
rather under medium height, docs not
talk much, and when he does speak it
is in a low tone. But in battle he
seemed an entirely different man. His
fighting, raving and storming at his
men and urging them on to the most
daredevil acts, himself leading the way.
Once he saw Pennsylvania regi-
ment that had lost it's commander
and was in full retreat Turning over
his own regiment to his lieutenant
colonel, he jumped in before the break
Ing ranks Of the disorganized COM
mand and let loose a volley Of anathe-
that hn Nd
him recall to this day. He stormed
up and down before them like a per-
feet Whirlwind, threatening them with
all sorts OF vengeance If they did not
stop. Four thousand men heard him
above the din and roar of battle They
felt that he was worse than the fire
or the Confederates, and so they re-
formed and followed the small but
resolute man with the awful vocabu
larry back into the smoke. Some of
them fell, but those that emerged at
the end of the day found themselves
famous
A short time after that Rev. DR.
Clark, Massachusetts clergyman.
was making a tour through the Arm
OF the Potomac. When he came to the
Sixth Wisconsin, he confided to the
chaplain, DR.. Hall, that he was much
pleased with the general appearance
or the men OF that command He found
them clean and orderly set. who
drank and gambled much less than
the soldiers in some of the other regi-
mentS.
II think it must be due to the example of
your colonel, BROTHER remarked DIR. Hall
They feel the force of his beautiful Christian
spirit, and they are afraid of shocking him by
the use OF profane language. or what denom-
ination Is Col. Bragg member?''
The honest chaplain, recalling some OF the
highly picturesque explosives which his col
onet was apt to use while in action and the
sultry anathemas which the men of the Sixth
directed at the enemy along with their bull
lets, coughed violently to smother laugh
and stammered:
We'll, really, Brother Clark, I don't know
to what church Col. Bragg belonged. / never
asked him, and have never heard him say
anything that would give me hint
1t was at South Mountain that the command
won it's title of the Iron brigade, but a little
affair at Gainesville, which was one of the
deadliest of the minor battles OF the war. had
already paved the way for the comforting of
this honor. When the brigade went into the
fight there the Second Wisconsin was far in
the lead Before them was battery planted
on hill, and under cover of it's muzzles were
the strong forces of Ewell and Taliaferro
Without waiting for the rest of the brigade 70
come up, the Second, with hair-raising
shout, dashed toward the advancing enemy.