The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-08-06

q. and tell in, taking the places Of those &c
i ftancock,s men killed on the way mn the
4 slope kimball $ survivors, still cling
4 ing 70 their colors, were the last to fall
Il "a. Cooks soldiers recoil before the
stone wall after going within pistol
shot, and then comes the Irish brigade
] with 9 cheer. From the heights above
4 the green flag Of Erin is1recognized. AT
] the outskirts of the town that morning
1 the line halted near a lockwood hedge.
1 and Colonel Meagher took sprig Of
j green and placed it in his cap. Every
d man IN the ranks initiated the leader.
i thus unconsciously putting on badge
A by which the dead would be recognized
at once as belonging to the Irish brigade
] A good line of them lay among the fore
most near the stone wall After the
4 W.earers OF the green Caldwell's men
swept onward, gathering to their ranks
men from all the other commands and
pressing to within 30 and even Is yards
|of the stone wall. There was the dead
line. Not that to cross it meant death;
none crossed it, for it was a line of dead
at the point where the Confederate fire
1smote without sparing smote to the
earth and spared none. There dead men
OF the four brigades Of Kimball, Took,
Meagher and Caldwell were found at
the time Of the burial.
Other charges We're made by Towards
division of the Second corps and by
Sykes and Humphreys of the Fifth.
Gallant struggles were they in the face
OF the dreadful havoc that had gone be-
fore. but the deeds Of French and Han
cock could not be surpassed. Their he
roic dead marked the limit Of the Fed
teral advance. No establishment could
be added to this simple record more
startling than the actual figures Of losses
in Hancock division by regiments.
Three Of Took s regiments lost 10 per
cent or over in killed and third or over
in killed and wounded The Fifty
seventh New York entered the charge
with 1879 officers and men. Out Of Il
officers 9 We're shot down, Q regimental
commanders among them. The killed
Numbered 20, the killed and wounded
l87, about 45 per cent Of the fighting
force. In the same brigade was the
Sixty sixth. New York, mastering 1913
officers and men. Three regimental com
manders We're shot down, and the killed
and wounded numbered IS, a little less
| than 80 per cent In this command "a
officers and men were killed. looks
banner regiment was the Fifty third
Pennsylvania. There were 2S3 fighting
men in this regiment, including 4 Off n
GERS. Only one man was counted among
the missing; 154 were killed or wound
ed. OF the IA officers 8 were shot down.
The total casualties Of the Fifty third
Amounted to almost 55 per cent. The
killed numbered 80, almost II per cent.
b Meagher's Irish brigade followed
Took on that bloody march toward the
stone wall and closed up to him at the
dead line. In the Sixty ninth New York
there We're 238 officers and men on duty.
In the charge forward four regimental
commanders were shot down one after
another; among 10 officers only three
escaped the enemy's bullets. The total
loss in killed and wounded was 1913,
about 53 per cent. The death list was
| "a, which was IA per cent Of those en-
gagged. In the same brigade the Eighty
O1hs C1lIl LII {6OS LuSu
and lost 1877 killed and wounded The
total casualties of this regiment were SO
per cent Of the muster and the deaths
on that field about Is per cent. The One
Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania
lost So per cent killed and wounded.
Caldwell's brigade, marching up after
the others had been swept from the field,
met with the seyerest loss. No better
evidence could be given that the strug-
gle in front Of the stone wall grew fercer
every minute. The Confederates threw
fresh muskets into the fray and had lit
tie concern except to use cool marks
manship. The foe was at their mercy,
only arm S length away. Caldwell's Sew
enth New - rk lost 10 officers out of 25
and a total of 217 killed and wounded
in a muster Of 488 electives. The killed
Numbered Sc. In the same brigade the
One Hundred and Forty fifth Pennsyl-.
vania lost 45 per cent Of it's fighting
force, the killed reaching the extraor-
(,