Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-06-25

~ WORTH's trag-
II 10 deati, at Alex
~ andria, w., May
-, 1881, ssiuiu.
! ! ] ! !. !"
-\N lated the war
Aw WV feeling in the
SE2A<I north quite as
~1R& 49, much as the FIR.
NN/ASM MI ing upon Sum-
"a MNN ~ ter. It belongs to
%M KIN x@f1S the history Of the
NfSf1 BdkKEU Forty-fourth
~X<JH wv New York volun-
~ ~ 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 q fine body of zouaves aud gave OK.
hibitions Of their peculiar and pictur-
esque drill throughout tho north. He
was "a years old. With some Of his
souaves 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 firelnen in New
York city. When the Federal army
crossed to the sacred soil Of Virginia on
the 24th Of May, Ellsworeh'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. The
sight stirred the blood Of Ellsworth,
whose generation Of lincoln and the
cause no represented amounted to a pas
sion. With some Of his companions he
started for the ro:3 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 ut the White House. 1t was
also exhibited in the city Of New York.
The excitement which followed was un-
paralleled An organization known rs
"The Ellsworth Association Of New
York" was formed, aud ono of its first
proceedings was the recruitment OF
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
dividually at Albany, where tho ranks
were formed. They were the elite OF
"the flower of YOUTH" MI unmarried,
of good moral character and averaged
% years of age. The average height
among them was feet lOH inches.
Being admirers of Ellsworth and sworn
to avenge his death, they adopted tho
brilliant zouave uniform associated with
bis name, not full Turkish uniform,
but q modification of that worn by the
French chasseurs.
The first baltic of the "avengers"
was one little known to history, but tho
simple story of tho action given IN tho
official report of Lieutenant Colonel
James @. Rice shows that 1t 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 tho nature Of
vagrant attack by force sent out to
reconnoiter. The Forty fourth was iso-
lated from its division and placed at q
crossroad to guard against an attack in
the rear. The enemy came on IN over
whelming numbers and the regiment
was broken up into detaohments.
Scarcely had the line Of battle been
formed around the artillery before three
or four Confederate regiments opened
upon it with a 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 rs they fell they
were again raised by q volunteers
hands.
Fortunately the regiment had posi-.
ton with q fence and an embankment
in its front. The enemy often attempt
ed to leap these barriers, but was stead.
:ly repulsed by the fire Of the zouaves'
.ausketa 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 20 hot that
the soldiers used water from their can
teens to cool them. The wounded
xouaves who had not been totally dis
abled lay on the ground and loaded
muekets which they passed up to their
comrades in the ranks to use against the
enemy.
Tho best Of IL was that the 0ouaves
scored q victory. They saved the artil-
lery, drove of the enemy, cared for the
wounded lying on the field, buried their
dead and 'bivcuacked overnight ON the
soene Of their struggle. Colonel Rice
0uok particular pains TO mention in his
report the deeds Of bravery which came
under his personal notice that day. AZ
be wrote on the day after the battle 1t
IL needless to say that the incidents
were not raked up az afterthoughts to
help some one to catch medal Of hon
on. Adjutant e. B. Knox stood beside
the colonel waving his sword and cheer
ing on the men, when musket ball
shattered his sword arm, breaking both
honoa He honnd mn his arm with his