Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-04

desperate charge as described by me. His
words aroused my Indignation, Tor l could
not doubt my own senses SO | set to work
TO prove II by official evidence and II was
all so fascinating that I kept on until I
have become something OF 4 crank on Ameri-
can valor
81 consulted the United states muster rolls
OF the First Minnesota and verified them by
those in the adjutant generals Office at st.
Paul; also the morning report OF the COM
panies for July ?. 1868 There l found the
names OF the killed and wounded in that
memorable charge and copied them as a
souvenir Of the most glorious bit OF valor
ever witnessed. The names show a sprink-
ling of foreigners In the ranks Scandi-
navians. Germans and Irshmen, but the
majority were young fellows from is to 25
years and born on American soil.
The most OF those Killed aud the same
can be said of the wounded. had been pre-
Nlously wounded in some OF the desperate
battles OF the Army of the Potomac, for this
was not a mere chance affair for the First
Minnesota. 1t was a regiment with his
tory before 1t broke all records on the field
OF destiny. Governor Ramsey of Minnesota
was in Washington when the dispatch came
on April l3, 1861 that Major Anderson was
to evaCuate Fort Sumter the next day, aud
he Immediately rendered 1000 men to up
hold the flag. Lincoln accepted the offer
before he wrote GU, the call for $4,000 volun-
teers. This was wired TO st. Paul and dur
ing Sunday, April IA. the city was thronged
with patriots anxious to shoulder muskets
in Minnesota's first regiment. One of them
who signed his papers that night claims the
honor OF being the fst to volunteer for the
civil war.
OUTFITTED FOR FIGHTING.
IA oil hal M a., 81 %, l,n ~
but furnished them each a blanket, a pair OF
socks and a red flannel ss+rt. Those red
flannel shirts flashed out the field around
the Henry house at Bull Run. where the
Minnesotans supported the batteries of Rick
etts and Griffin when they were trying to
hold the field in the face of Jacksons Stone
wall Brigade 1t is a fact that this regiment
did not retreat to Washington at the close
of the battle. but the men laid their bivoulcs
and went to sleep, expecting renewal of the
fight next day.
I'm the charge on the stone wall at Fred
erlckshurg the First Minnesota stood fast
when the regiments on its right and left
gave way. General Howard said to its COM
mander
i" Colonel, your First Minnesota doesn't
run
Somewhat tartly. the colonel replied
General Howard, the First Minnesota never
runs.
This regiment was the only one from
to have selected her first born. the cEild
of the awful travail of Fort Sumter days,
baptized at Bull Run, and glOrited on all
the intervening battlefelds of the Potomac,
to be immortali2ed at Gettysburg. Many of
those wounded at Gettysburg, as also some of
those who came out unscarred that day were
wounded in the later battles. And after the
term of the regiment had expired IN 1864.
veteran battalion of two companies was
organized from the survivors, and it served
,,,,t No, -
fought in thirteen battles, and the little vet
eran battalion in six, which included more
than 200 days passed under fire in the
trenches at Petersburg. Altogether the
command lost 5Si men killed and wounded.
Now, l have enlarged my theme of this
being the bravest deed ever saw, and chal-
lenge the world to produce its equal in mod
ern times. The claim of the Light Brigade
has already been considered and / am not
unmindful of the famous death ride of the
Uhans at Mars -la-Tour; nor of the Sixteenth
Prussian which lost over 40 per cent in that
same battle; nor the Guarde-SChuetzen bat
talon at Metz, which lost over 4G per cent;
nor of terrible Plevna where the Twenty
sixth Russian, storming fortifcations manned
by hordes of Turks armed with long range
rifles, lost 10 per cent.
Il have also considered Mad Anthony
Waynes brilliant feat at Stony Point in the
Revolution; PiCketts charge against the
bloody angle over thsre by that monument
to the right of us; the storming of Marye's
Heights, and the wild battle charge of the
First Maine Heavy Artillery at Petersburg
where the men fell like the leaves OF forest
before hailstorm."
with a single exception OF the Russians
at Plevna the percentage of losses in single
battles in foreign wars not only fell below
that of the FIRST Minnesota, but also below
that OF fourteen other federal regiments on
this very battlefield. There were fifteen in
all which lost here over so per cent Of their
numbers in killed and wounded, and also five
confederate. These were beside the First
Minnesota. the One Hundred and TOrty-first.
the One Hundred and FoTty-eighth and
Twenty-siXth Pennsylvania: the One Hun
dIed and Eleventh, Eightieth and One Hun
dred and Twenty-sixth New York; the
Twentyfourth Michigan, the Fifteenth Mas
sachusetts the Second Wisconsin, the Third
Maine. the Seventeenth Regulars, the Elev-
enth New Jersey, the Second New Hamp-
| shire and the Nineteenth Indiana federal
the Third and Twenty-siXth North Carolina,
the Second North Carolina Battalion, and
the Ninth and Fifteenth Georgia, confed-
crate
Speaking of confederate regiments. il |
had any exception to make in this challenge,
1t would be that of the Twenty-siXth North
Carolina at this very battlefield on the LIST
and Sd of July, or the First Texas in the
cornfeld in Antietam, September H. 1862.
The First Texas lost a trine over SO per
cent that day, but it was in a long fight, a
charge forward, a desperate stand and a
dis lstrous retreat under fire 1t was also
done with the regiment in line of battle
supported upon the right and upon the left
The case OF the Twenty-siXth North Carolina
was unparalleled in its way. The loss in
| that case was incurred in two days fighting
In one company of the regiment only three
escaped out of eighty seven. The charge
of the First Maine Heavy artillery at Peters
burg was gallant deed but it was a use
n pf Il
in seven minutes.
OTHER DEEDS OF VALOR.
cover there on Cemetery Ridge, in front
of US and a little to the right. the Twenty
fourth Michigan forOmed six lines of battle
one after the other, and nine OF its color
| bearers were killed while attempting to up
| hold the flag at the center Of the line.
Gettysburg had its Balaklava feature also
| in the fororn charge Of Farn9wOrth's 300
| who rode to the mouth of the cannon among
| the boulders lying thick at the base of Big
| Round Top, ana finally bursting through a
| wall Of confederate bayOnets formed across
| their pathway. In that last wild dash the
| noble Farnsworth received five mortal
wounds. Why, America even had her
| Winkelreds men who barred their breasts
| to the enemy's weapons in order to oprr
| a pathway for their comrades to dash
/ through to victory.