The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-11-19

-lf2aGA6SE7g the companion
tXEI SsxaNA4e ship of heroes
responsibility placed before me. have
examined critically the details Of sew
eral hundred brilliant deeds Of arms
which, having been gazetted officially,
are therefore worthy to be classed as
true, and it is needless to say that the
position of umpire in this contest
among giants is not an easy one
First, as to a definition of heroism.
Heroism in the civilized soldier springs
from his devotion to some great cause.
In the course of time discipline takes
the place of individual conscience, and
he acts strictly at the call of duty. As
an example of the highest discipline
have found nothing sublimer than the
ride of the Six Hundred at Balaklava.
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Others have gone in as gallantly,
others have accomplished more, but
when have men ridden so firmly down
long ''valley of death" into the
mouth of hell?
Msd Anthony Wayne's capture of
Stony Point during the Revolution was
pronounced the most brilliant feat of
arms up to that time. The spirit of
Wayne's men throughout that affair
was worthy the leader who had said to
Washington, ''I'll storm hell if you
will only plan itp' The fighting itself
was short, but sharp The Americans
literally hewed their way into the for
rress, and that after picking their path
in the darkness through the swamps
and up the hillsides, counting upon
blind luck to save them from being
moment the ramparts were gained
The steady and unf1inching march of
French's soldiers against the stone wall
at Marye's Heights, and especially that
of Hancock s men in the wake of French
and over field strewn with dead cut
down in regular alignment, was never
excelled upon any battlefield Of modern
times Francois and Won Woyna's Ger
man brigades, in their struggle under
the heights of Speichern, in the Franco
Prussian war, were equally heroic. For
a long distance while crossing the plains
these intrepid Germans felt the sharp
fire Of chassepot and mitrailleuse and
field gun from the top of the mountain.
Some of Francois men staggered up
through the storm of shot to the shelter
of rock supporting the plateau above,
and, unable to go farther, remained
within few feet of their foes. A mi
trailleuse was balanced upon the edge
of cliff by Frenchmen, who chung to
the wheels and trail while it's honey
combed muzzle poured bullets into the
struggling Germans below. Francois
and many other officers were killed, but
their men refused to give up Stay there
they would, alive or dead, and stay
some of them did, to go over the crest
with cheer when the heights were
flanked and taken.
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg has
few parallels in all history for sublim-
ity Of daring displayed. The day was
lost when the Union cannon, supposed
to have been silenced, opened upon the
columns with grape at afew yards The
last dash of Armistead and Garnett
against the wall and the Bloody An
gle" was the most remarkable of all in
the unfinching determination to reach
the goal prescribed in the battle orders.
Garnett fell in front of the stone wall
after sounding the rallying cry for the
last mad plunge. Armistead, with his
cap on the point Of his sword, sprang
over the wall, and with him rushed 100
of his followers, bearing all the flags of
his brigade. They leaped to their death
and found it quickly under the muzzles
of the rifles of Webb's Philadelphians.
In grand charges like that of Pickett,
the storming of Marye's Heights, and the
struggle on the slopes of Speichern,
courage derives no slight stimulus from
the atmosphere Of the battle and from
the fact that numbers are marshaled for
the blow and success may be counted
among the possibilities. But when SOL
diers know that the forlorn hope is in
deed utterly hopeless as did the Six
Hundred after realizing that their
march was due to mistake, there is a
loftiness Of heroism displayed which
compels the world to stand uncovered
at the recital. In this class belongs the
charge Of the First Maine heavy artil.
lery at Petersburg in 1854. It is story,
when told in colorless language, to test
the credulity of the reader, yet no lam
guage could do justice to the theme.
After several attempts to carry a GER
tain Confederate salient had failed be-
cause, as the general said, ''the men fell
like the leaves Of forest before hail
| storm, the Maine men were ordered to
charge alone. The regiment went for
ward 900 strong. It faced the hotteat Of
the FIRE poured upon IL seven minutes,
all the time marching toward the enc
my's rifles. The official hat gives $50
killed and wounded. Seven men were
slsos down in trying TO keep the colors