Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-04
NO FEAT OF ARMS LIKE IT
The Ride of the Six Hundred 0utdone
at Gettysburg.
HEROIC CHARGE OF THE FIRST MINNESOTA
Only Forty-Scvcn Men of 262 Passed
the ordeal Jnscnthcd-A Record
Unparalleled In the Annals
of Modern Wars.

our national calendar of patriotic feasts"
said a veteran New York officer to a New
York Sun representative while strolling along
Hancock avenue. pointing out the sights for
a party OF pilgrims to the Gettysburg battle
field. New England has her Bunker Hill
day ell right, though the battle of Bunker
Hill was only starter In the revolution.
Gettysburg was a fnisher in the war of the
rebellion.
why, there are object lessons to stir
American pride and patriotism at every turn
of this classic field. For instance, there. to
our left, is the scene of the deed commem-
Grated by that inscription you have just
paused over on the monument to the dead
heroes of the First Minnesota: AN time is
! the Millennium of your glory You thought,
as have others, that those words were placed
upon enduring marble through an outburst
of eXtravngant hyperbole. what could not
make clear to you before | hope to now in
telling you upon the spot where it was en-
acted on July . 1868, of feat of arms un-
paralleled in the annals of modern wars.
For nearly half century all the world
has wondered. just Tennyson meant it
should, over the picturesque ride of the Six
Hundred:
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of he'll.
at Balaklava. l am not a rabd jingo. or
dinarily, but it does make my American
heart beat faster than its wont when | must
listen to tho rhansndios of tho crowd oyer
the charge of the Light Brigade, as though
that incident made Balaklava a field to date
from in summing up deeds of martial vaOr.
Frankly, the ride of the Six Hundred down
the Valley of Death isn't IN this contest NV
forty-fye points all of them scored on Amer
ican battlefelds during the civil war.
"Tne little block of marble you would have
stumbled over back there in the shadow of
inscription, is placed above the graves of
tifty-siX Minnesotans who were killed out
right in a charge made by a phalanX of only
262 men. There were nineteen mortally
wounded and buried elsewhere and 14O
wounded who recovered leaving forty-seven
survivors out of 262, loss of 81 per cent.
THE HIGHEST ON RECORD
">-o,,. ,bo i,bt pri,o,o no, oa7 ,,u,od aud
wounded out ~ go ,,ho roda In tho fybt n
los.s of about o. nor cont 4 N,tia oIorsntgrv
matbnmatirS sbnws a gan cnnFronting tho
RIitishnrs or rortv.fva Stnhhorn nnits and
tbat gan was hridEed noint for noint on tbe
battlefields of the civil war. all the way up
TO eighty-two the highest on record in ali
the worl6s showing
Well come back to figures and com
parsons later if YOU bear with me while
tell what thev are all about a deed of
which General Hancock said: There is none
sublimcr recorded in the pages of history
NV figures say there is none so sublime
counting the gains on the bloody invest
ment
Il saw it with its prelude and its sequel.
for | stood upon this ridge that afternoon
when General Sckles' Third corps was over
"heiheu ouL theTe Oh that hlsh ground IN
our front ms 'ohS rluse upon mhich we
are now stahuihs was heiu by Hancock
corps ana tne ueleal OF olckieS thfeatehed
uISaSter 10 lhlS hahk ol meade army lor
Lilat @ loCh! iliou,llall nete On tne iei', Lllte
ROUND Top had not yet been selZed by our
troops. Hancock STRIPPED all this ground OF
infantry to SEND to the AID OF Sickles, leaving
only only MS batteries TO deiend cemetery ridge.
me movement Oh tntse troops from
iiancoeN iiiie away u 'he ieit coulu pe
seen py the cohieuerates on our 'front.' ana
'hey were suuuehiy inspired TO rush lot
Ward ana pierce the interval between Slckles
ana iahcoch' hahcock remained near mere
tne point oil danger ana ne saw through
rHt IN the clouaS OF pattie smoke that
hoNefeu over the "e'u column Vi 'he
enemy marching polaiy with nylng coiors
Withlh lew rods OF MS line. II left alone
they would strike Battery q, Fourth United
states aftllierS, whlch STOOD upon TINS Knoll
supporter by the first Minnesota lhere
were no o'her FEDERAL troops IN sight. Re
| Inducements were on the way from the
eNtrehe right nahk' away on the other side
vi the IluSe' put IL "oulu tahe Iile 10 get
them mere. Looking over the little pha!anX
I
claimeu'
nat regiment Is ths!
ltS Ieader answered, the First
Minnesota
| A FORLORN HOPE.
Some who were near Hancock at tbe
| time say that he also exclaimed great God,
| Is this all the men we have bereq' Then
| with a sweep of his eve toward the advanc-
ing confederates and their menacIng hattie
flags of red. he shouted to the commander of
the First:
"'Colonel Colyill charge and take those
colors'
"Others saw that he said simnlv .rhargo
these lines, Others still saw that he ey-
claimed DO Won see those coIors0 CHARGE
and take ihcmr But the strict wordng NJ
the order Is immateriaI. the idea was carrioI
out to the letter.
There was no blunder about this for,orn
hone. What followed was magnificent and II
was war, The men knew thc terrible situ,-
tion all ahnut thon inst as vol os tbni,
leaders They rose with a will ana adyonceJ
ouirlIv down the sIone tnward the nIair m .
side Of Emmittsburp ROAD FIRST at a Lone
! then AZ double ouick-musl,ets at riaht
| ghoulder-sbift-tben intn run at their mtl
/ mnst snoe1
There were exactly 2G2 officers and men
| in the Flrst Minnesota that dov and tbp
| confederates were a whole diyision led Inv
Willcox's brigade Shot and shoII from tho
| confedorote cannon tore oror tba satd ona
~ N"""D" va '''' '"' '''u' anu