The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-07-14
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
A Heroic Charge.

1--WE ought to have Gettysburg Day
in our national calendar of patriotic
feasts," said a veteran New York Of
ficer to New York Sun representa-
tive, while strolling along Hancock
Avenue, pointing out the sights for a
party of pilgrims to the battlefield.
New England has her Bunker Hill
Day all right, though the Battle of
Bunker Hill was only starter in the
Revolution. Gettysburg was finisher
in the War of the Rebellion.
Why, there are object lessons to stir
American pride and patriotism at every
turn of the classic field. For instance,
there to our left, is the scene of the
deed commemorated by that inscription
you have just paused over on the
monument to the dead heroes of the
First Minnesota: All time is the mil
lenium of your glory You thought,
as have others, that those words were
placed upon enduring marble through
an outburst of extravaganza hyperbole.
What could not make clear to you be-
fore hope to now in telling you upon
the spot where it was enacted on July
2, 1863, Of feat of arms unparalleled
in the annals of modern wars.
"For nearly half century all the
world has wondered, just as Tennyson
meant it should, over the picturesque
ride of the Six Hundred
Into the jaws of death
| Into the mouth Of hell
at Balaklava. am not rabid lingo,
ordinarily, but it does make my Amer
lean heart beat faster than its wont
when must listen to the rhapsodies of
the crowd over the charge of the Light
Brigade, as though that incident made
Balkalava field to date from in sum-
ming up deeds of martial valor.
Frankly, the ride of the Six Hundred
down the Valley of Death isn't in this
contest by forty-fve points, all of them
scored on American battlefelds during
the Civil War.
"The little block OF marble you would
have stumbled over back there in the
shadow of the grand national pile, but
for its catchy inscription, is placed
above the graves of fifty-six Minneso-
tans who were killed outright in a
charge made by phalanx of only 262
men. There were nineteen MORALLY
wounded land buried elsewhere, and
140 wounded who recovered, leaving
AZ survivors out of 262, loss of 80 per
cent.
"Now the Light Brigade had PAT
killed and wounded out of 673 who
rode in the fight, loss of about 81 per
cent. A little elementary mathemat-
les shows gap confronting the Brit.
ishers of as stubborn units, and that
gap was bridged, point for point, on
the battletields of the civil war, all the
way up to 80, the highest on record in
ali the worlds showing.
"We'll come back to figures and
comparisons later, if you bear with me
while tell what they are all about, a
deed of which Gen. Hancock said:
There is none sublimer recorded in
the pages of history My figures say
there is none so sublime, counting the
gains on the bloody investment.
81 saw it with it's prelude and it's Sc
quel, for stood upon this ridge that
afternoon when Gen. Sickles's Third
Corps were overwhelmed there on
that high ground in our front. This
long ridge upon which we are now
standing was held by Hancock's corps,
and the defeat of 'Sickles threatened
disaster to this flank of Meade's army,
for that rocky mountain here on the
left, Little Round Top, had not yet
been seized by our troops. Hancock
stripped all this ground of infantry to
send to the aid of Sickles, leaving only
his batteries to defend Cemetery Ridge,
The movement of these troops from
Hancock's line away to the left could
be seen by the Confederates on our
front, and they were suddenly inspired
to rush forward and pierce the interval
between Sickles and Hancock. Han
cock remained near here, the point of
danger, and he saw through a rift in
the clouds of battle smoke that lowered
over the field a column of the enemy,
marching boldly with flying colors
within few rods of his line. If left
alone they would strike Battery G,
Fourth United States Artillery, which
stood upon this knoll supported by the
First Minnesota, There were no other
Federal troops in sight. Reinforce
ments were on the way from the ex-
treme right flank, a%ay on the other
side of the ridge, but it would take
time to get them here. Looking over
the little phalanx of couple of hun
bred or so, Hancock exclaimed:
"'What regiment is this?'
'Its leader answered, THE First
Minnesota
"Some who were near Hancock at
the time say that he also exclaimed,
Great Godl Is this all the men we
have hereP Then with sweep of his
eye toward the advancing confederates
and their menacing battle flags of red,
he shouted to the commander of the
First:
"'Col. Colvill, charge and take those
o0i0rs."
"Others say that he said simply,
Charge those lines Others still say
that he exclaimed, Do you see those
colors? Charge and take themP But
the strict wording of the order is i'm.
material; the idea was carried out to
the letter.
"There was no blunder about this
forlorn hope. What followed was mag
nifcent, and it was war. The men
knew the terrible situation all about
them just as we'll as their leaders.
They arose with will and advanced
quickly down the slope toward the plain
this side of Emmittsburg Road, first at