Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-05
FAMOUS CHARGE RECALLED
Heroic Action of Fist Minnesota Regiment
at Gettysburg.
A Monument Ereated to Commemorate
lt-Discu"sed hS Commander Nc
ElrOy-VeteRRnE a. Visitors.

Gov. David M. Clough Of Minnesota, with
his star and the survivors of the battle
SCARED 1st Minnesota Regiment have their
headquarters at the Ebbitt House. having
arrived Ii The city Saturday morning. The
governor and his party came east to at
tend the unwilling of the handsome monu-
ment erected at Gettysburg recently to
the memory Of the gallant 1st Minnesota
Regiment whose famous charge at Gettys-
burg rivals that of Pickett's
Inc unwilling of the monument took place
Friday, at which speeches were made by
Gov. Clough, Reconnaissance of Pensions
Lochren, Senator Davis. Representative
martin McGinEis of Montana and repre-
sentatives in Congress from Minnesota
Inc monument is a tall shaft of granite,
surHiounted by life-size figure of a SOL
dier running at the double quick. This Is
70 commemorate the regiments charge on
the enemy. in which all but AZ out Of 2G4
were Killed or wounded.
Colonel McElroy's Tribute.
Col. John McElroy, editor of the National
tribune, knows much about the history of
the whole war of the rebellion, and knows
1t well. He was in the army of the Poto-
mac, and knows all of it's evolutions like
BOOK. Very naturally, the survivors of the
ISL minnesota now in the city called upon
Gated on the thirty-fourth anniversary of
the day in which the flower of the young
manhood of Minnesota went down before
the not blast OF war, brought to mind the
aW1ul scenes of that blood-emblazoned July
2 1863. ''
Il believe" said the colonel, that the
men of the LIST Minnesota as actual actors
in feats of arms. have few EQUALS and GER
tainly no superiors, in the history of war.
since men first began fighting in organized
armies. Inc whole world thrills with adj
mirat1on at the gallantry of the Light
Brigade at Balaclava when
'Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode, and WELL
Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell
But, as Marshal McMahon grimly OBJ
served on that occasion, "c'est magnifique
mails ce' n'pas la guerre.'
wi lille we admire the magnificent spirit
of the noble six hundred, the charge was
Ioolhardy except in the display of the
dead gameness of the British soldiers to go
anywhere ordered regardless of carnage
and certain death. On the other hand,
while the action of the list Minnesota was
surely as magnificent in dash and daring
war in the highest sense of the word,
and Marshal Mcmahon would have recog-
niZed it as such, too.
Hancock's Dilemma.
During that tumult- ous afternoon Of the
ID of July at Gettysburg, when the whole
left of the Army of the Potomac was a
seething furnace of battle. in which regi-
ments and hrigades melted away like paper
in the flames. Hancock found the left of
the I'd Corps fearfullyi Enenaced by a pow
erful column of assault which Longstreet
was forming to sweep everything before
him. 1t was moment Of mortal peril to
that portion of the. army. Hancock, with
the eye of a true commander. 1.-The peril,
ana saw, also. that 1t VS. vitality imper-
ative to gain five min utes in which to make
disposition of his tOruss to meet the i'm
pending storm. He turned to the regiment
nearest him AMI ordeheG it to assault the
head of the rebel column. He expected to
sacrifice the regiment, and the few mo-
ments he hoped to gain were worth a
dozen regiments to the Union cause
The men understood perfectly well the
exigency, and the Elortally desperate ma
ture of it, and that 1t was intended to sac
rifice them but they were soldiers, and
that was what they were there for, to die
al the moment that dying would benefit
the cause; and it is to- the infinite glory of
the 1st Minnesota that when its colonel
gave the order every man picked up his
musket and rushed forward after the color
bearer.
Effect of Daring.
They dashed against the head of the
rebel column with such impetuosity that.
Hancock had calculated. it threw the
whole column into confusion and delayed
the assault for several precious moments.
A frightful conflict ensued at the point of
contact, and when the gallant regiment
was finally beaten off it left 222 killed ard
wounded out of the 26i who had obeyed
Gen. Hancocks orders. But they brought
back with them theiI own colors, and also
the coors of the rebel regiment which had
run up against their muskctS.
when the roll was called after the fight
every man in the regiment was accounted
for Those who were not killed or wound
ed or otherwise deployed were in their
r,lcp witt hair
in it's mad charge lost 36 per cent of killed
and wounded. of which 16 per cent were
actually killed. The LIST Minnesota lost
over 80 per cent of its number. Further
more, the charge of the Light Brigade was
the only serious engagement 1t had ever
been in. The LIST Minnesota, on the other
hand, had been fighting from First Bull
Run, where it lost heavily, in every en-
gagement of the Army of the Potomac up
to Gettysburg, and it continued to take
part in all other engagements till its time
of service expired.
I'VE are so cvershadowed In our ideas Of
military proves by the trumpetings in
English, French and German literature of
the achievements of their soldiers that we
are apt to overlook the fact that constant
ly in cur own great war plain American
boys performed acts Of heroism which
stand on a level with the most Wanted
acts of the worlds greatest champions of
the art of war, and oftentimeS throws them
clear in the shade.
CoIOneFs Desperate Wounds.
Colonel Colville of the LIST Minnesota
who is with his boys this memorable
trip, was himself wounded desperately a
number of times, and is now aged and in
firm, but it is worth a year of mans life
to see the devotion of the survivors to their
old commander. At the time of the battle
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