The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-09-02

"a, 1OOl, SC1uu-
e<~\ ~ lated the war
@1aY y W. feeling in the
/. !: ] \: !
pI/EAC&> north quite as
81 Xxx much as the fir
LA1AVM NJ ing upon Sum-
~ IN MIN eegE} ter. It belongs to
"a N 4 Hs;OfTh the history of the
EEfTTS1l BaIpTNgZ/( For ty f o urth
" SAUL wv New York volun-
- ~N teers, which took
~ the field as Ellis
worth s Avengers. to recall the chief
incidents of this hero's career. Just be-
fore the war broke out Ellsworth organ
lied fine body of zouaves and gave ex-
hibitions of their peculiar and pictur-
esquc drill throughout the north. He
was "a years old. With some of his
zouayes he escorted President Lincoln on
his memorable secret tour to Washing
ton. Subsequently he was made colonel
of the Eleventh New York volun-
teers, also known as 1.-THE First Fire
Zouaves,' a body Of men which he re-
cruited from among the tiremen in New
York city. When the Federal army
crossed to the sacred soil of Virginia on
the 24th of May, Ellsworth's zouaves
marched into Alexandria. The colonel
with a sergeant's squad was going to-
ward the center of the town when they
saw hostile flag floating from little
tavern called the Marshall House. Tho
sight stirred the blood of Ellsworth,
whose generation of Lincoln and the
cause he represented amounted to pas
sion. With some Of his mpanions he
started for the roof to haul down the
defiant banner. Ellsworth went to the
very top, tore the flag from its staff and
was going down stairs when the keeper
of the hotel shot him through the heart
The body of the hero lay in state sew
eral days at the White House. It was
also exhibited in the city of New York.
The excitement which followed was un-
paralleled. An organization known as
"The Ellsworth Association of New
York; was formed, and one of it's first
proceedings was the recruitment of a
regiment to take the field as ELLIS
Worth's Avengers. " A call was issued
for one man from every ward and every
town in the Empire State. Volunteers
came forward rapidly, and reported in
dlyldually at Albany, where the ranks
were formed. They were the elite of
"the flower of YOUTH" all unmarried,
OF good moral character and averaged
20 years of age. The average height
among them was 5 feet 1917 inches.
Being admirers of Ellsworth and sworn
to avenge his death, they adopted the
brilliant zouave uniform associated with
his name, not a full Turkish uniform,
but a modification of that worn by the
French chasseurs.
The first battle Of the "avengers''
was one little known to history, but the
simple story of the action given in the
official report of Lieutenant Colonel
James @. Rice shows that it was an
affair bloody enough to give these nov
ices thrilling baptism The action
was at Hanover Court House, in front
Of Richmond. It was in the nature of a
vagrant attack by force sent out to
reconnoiter. The Forty fourth was iso-
lated from it's division and placed at a
crossroad to guard. against an attack in
the rear. The enemy came on in over
whelmlng numbers and the regiment
was broken up into detachments.
Scarcely had the line of battle been
formed around the artillery before three
or four Confederate regiments opened
upon it with deadly fire. Bullets
swept through the ranks of the Forty
fourth like storm of hail. Its BATTLE
flag was pierced by over twoscore mis-
siles. -Four times the colors were struck
down, and as soon as they fell they
were again raised by volunteers
hands.
Fortunately the regiment had a posi-
ton with a fence and an embankment
IN its front. The enemy often attempt
ed to leap these barriers, but was stead
lily repulsed by the fire of the zouaves'
muskets. When it was seen that the
cartridges were running low, the men
proceeded to fix bayonets, in order to be
ready to stand charge. For more than
an hour the struggle was desperate
one. The muskets became so hot that
the soldiers used water from their can
teens to cool them. The wounded
zouaves who had not been totally dis
abled lay On the ground and loaded
muskets which they passed up to their
comrades in the ranks to use against the
enemy.
The best Of it was that the zouaves
scored victory. They saved the artil-
lery, drove off the enemy, cared for the
wounded lying On the field, buried their
dead and biyCuacked overnight Oh the
scene Of their struggle. Colonel Rice
took particular pains to mention in his
report the deeds of bravery which came
under his personal notice that day. AS
he wrote on the day after the battle it
is needless to say that the incidents
were not raked up as afterthougbts to
help some one to catch medal of hon
or. Adjutant E. B. Knox stood beside
the colonel waving his sword and cheer
ing on the men, when a musket ball
shattered his sword arm, breaking both
bones. He hound up his arm with his
handkerchief, seized his sword with the
unlnJured band and continued cheering
on the men until he tainted from the