The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-07-14

neaVles rOue INTO the solid squadron
OF 5000 Russian cavalry. The Con.
federates were brought to halt by
sheer astonishment at the valor of the
little band of bluecoats. The Mime
sotans gave the enemy their first volley
at arms length, and in recoiling from
that and hating to close ranks the i'm
petus of Wilcox's line was fatally
broken.
"Before Wilcox could rally his men
Hancock's fresh batteries on the right
and the left were at work upon him.
His supporters wandered away in the
confusion and meanwhile Hancocks
reinforcement came to the scene, end.
ing the terrible crisis on Cemetery
Ridge.
" But the First Minnesota was gone.
only forty-seven men came back with
their regimental flag and the captured
Confederate colors. Fifty-six were
dead or dying there on the field and
three times that number we're living
wounded or dragging themselves back
TO the shelter of the battery saved by
their valor Now the Light Brigade
lost more heavily in prisoners than it
did in killed and wounded; but in this
affair of the Minnesotans not one was
missing, not one wounded, not one
lodged the ordeal and left the ranks.
Forty. seven heroes marched back to the
ridge, and the blood marks of Confed-
crate shot were the certificates to &C.
count for the absence of 215 brave men
left behind"
Are you from Minnesota, Colonel?"
said listener.
mo-" retorted the Colonel, CT
never was in that state even. This in
cident, told in bare outline, became my
stock story of the bravest deed I ever
saw. Once, one Of my auditors called
me down, saying that he had had two
brothers in the First Minnesota, and
had never heard them speak of making
the desperate charge as described by
me. His words aroused my indigna-
ton, for could not doubt my own
senses. So set to work to prove it by
official evidence, and it was all so fas-
cinating that kept on until have be-
come something of crank on Ameri-
can valor.
81 consulted the United States mus
ter rolls of the First Minnesota and
verified them by those in the Adiutant
Generals Office at st. Paul; also the
morning report of the companies for
July 2, 1868. There found the names
Of the killed and wounded in that mem
orable charge and copied them as
souvenir of the most glorious bit of
valor 1 ever witnessed. The names
show sprinkling of foreigners in the
ranks, Scandinavians, Germans and
Irishmen, but the majority were young
fellows from eighteen to twenty-five
years, and born on American soil.
"The most of those killed, and the
same can be said of the wounded, had
been previously wounded in some of
the desperate battles of the Army of
the Potomac, for this was not a mere
chance affair of the First Minnesota.
1t was regiment with history before
it broke all records on the field of des-
tiny. Gen. Ramsey of Minnesota was
in Washington when the dispatch came
on April II, 1861, that Major Anderson
was to evacuate Fort Sumpter the next
day, and he Immediately rendered 1000
men to uphold the flag. Lincoln &C.
cepted the offer before he wrote out
the call for $4,000 volunteers. This
was wired to st. Paul, and during Sun
day, April ID, the city was thronged
with patriots anxious to shoulder mus
kets in Minnesota's first regiment. One
of them who signed his papers that
night claims the honor of being the
first volunteer of the Civil War.
"The city had no uniforms to give
the men, but furnished them each
blanket, pair of socks and red fan
mel shirt. Those red flannel shirts
flashed out on the field around the
Henry House at Bull Run, where the
Minnesotans supported the batteries of
Ricketts, and Griffin when they were
trying to hold the field in the face Of
Stonewall Jackson's Brigade. 1t is a
fact that this regiment did not retreat
to Washington at the close of the bat
tie, but the men bivouaced and went to
sleep, expectinga renewal of the fight
next day.
Sin the charge on the stone wall at
Fredericksburg the First Minnesota
stood fast when the regiments on its
right and left gave way. Gen. Howard
said to its commander:
"Colonel, your First Minnesota
doesn't rum
Somewhat tartly, the Colonel re-
piled: seen. Howard, the First Min.
nesota never runs
"This regiment was the only one
from Minnesota in the battle here, and
fate seems to have selected her first
born,the child of the awful travail of
Fort Sumpter days, baptized at Bull
Run, and glorified on all the interven-
ing battlefields of the Potomac, to be
immortalized at Gettysburg. Many of
those wounded at Gettysburg, as also
some of those who came out unscarred
that day, were wounded in the later bat
ties. And after the term of the regi-
ment had expired in 1864, veteran
battalion of two companies was organ
lied from the survivors, and it served
until Appomattox.
The regiment proper fought in 10
battles, and the little veteran battalion
in six, which included more than 200
days passed under fire in the trenches
at Petersburg. Altogether the com
mand lost 5S4 men killed and wounded
"Now, l have enlarged my theme of
this being the bravest deed ever saw,
and challenge the world to produce its
equal in modern times. The claim of