Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-09-14

officers and men.
WON LASTING FAME.
During the twenty -one months of its
stay near Washington the regiment was
without any special history; but after
that it made history fast.
Within one month after leaving Fort
Sumner the larger part of its officers and
men had been killed, and its living and
dead had won fame as immortal as that
of the heroes of Thermopylae and Bala-
kaval In one action alone, that of
| O'Iiare's house, near Petersburg, June is,
1861. OF its survivors of the engagements
at Spottsylvania, Milford Station, North
Anna, Hanover Town, Tolopotomy, Cold
Harbor and Petersburg, June is and II,
not less than $40 went down, in killed and
wounded, loss OF 66 per cent, the larg-
est loss in single action OF any regiment
in all that war.
In fact, through all the wars Of history
there is recorded only a very few instances,
| in regular battle, of SO heavy loss in
single charge in proportion to the num-
Der engaged.
The regiments first baptism OF fire was
! at Spottsylvania, May 10. In that one
battle 1872 were killed, 231 wounded, and
two taken prisoners. The heaviest COM
pany loss, that Of company E-twenty-
four killed, forty -one wounded, and one
taken prisoner; a total Of sixty six.
In its nineteen subsequent engagements
Milford Station, North Anna, Hanover
Town, Tolopotomy, Cold IIarbor, Peters
| Ion, In MI
Road, Deep Bottom, Picket-Line Skirm-
ish, Squirrel Level Road, Goyden Road,
Weldon Raid, Fort Hell, Iutchin's Run,
| Near Five Forks, Sailors Greek, Farmville
from August /, 1864, to April I, 1868, It's
losses swelled the number to ''grand"
and sad total of 1,29S, of whom 423 were
killed, $40 wounded, and sixty-five taken
prisoners. Besides which, in the entire
period of service, PA died of disease, six
ty-four deserted, and eighty-seven were
not accounted for. Total, 800. Add the
two totals, and the figures show the mex
orable fact that the losses Of the regiment
aggregated / sos!
THE FATAL CHARGE.
In the fatal charge of the afternoon OF
/ u
won immortality their task was to carry
Colquitt's Salient, 500 yards distant, on an
open PLAIN The movement was ordered
/ by Gen. Brney, in temporary command
4 of Hancock's corps, and against the earn
est protest OF Gen. Mott, of the Third Di-
vision In that charge Col. Chaplin COM
manded the brigade; but when he gave
the command: "Charge bayonet, double
quick march," his beloved regiment alone
advanced, to fall like leaves under hall
storm Within ten minutes only a broken
remnant came back leaving two-thrds OF
the regiment wounded and dead on the
field
On the battle plain that night it was
| literal sbivouac of the dead. An attempt
was made to bring off the wounded;
| whcreupon the enemy opened and con
;inued desultory fire so that the humane
work had to be discontinued. All night
long could be heard groans Of the wounded
and their cries for help.
Next day the battle continued with in
creasng fury. And beneath hot sun,
and amid the rattle OF musketry and roar
ing of cannon, rose the cries of the dying
and wounded for 'water! water!' Alto
get her it was one OF the darkest chapters
in the annals of war.
RECOLLECTION OF HORRORS.
Says Lieut.. John w. Hubbard, then
private in company G, and in the front
rank OF the charging battalion
"When we had mounted the bank and
stated across the plain, l saw the smoke
and heard the crack of the first shot, away
to our left. Then Immediately followed
discharge along the entire rebel works.
All about me officers and men began to
fall, and presently l seemed to be left
alone. then threw myself at full length,
face downward, upon the grass The bull
lets kept whizzing past me, some Of them
cutting the grass close by on either side.
To lie there meant death; to get up and
run seemed scarcely less deadly alterna-
tive. l chose the latter course, and ran
for dear life to the rear, expecting every
instant a ball would lay me low. But,
strangely enough, reached our starting
point unhurt.
among the twenty-three of my COM
pany who were killed, were Capt. Frederic
c. Howes and Lieut.. James E. Hall;
among the fortyone wounded were Lieuts.
James A. Godfrey and Hudson Saunders.
This included all our line officers present
on the field.
81 can never forget the horror Of that
night, nor the sad task for which another
comrade and | were assigned-to dig a
grave and bury Capt. Howes, whose body
had b, en- rescued in the night time. His
eyes We're wide open and seemed to be
eagerly scanning the enemy. We lined
the grave with rough fence boards,
wrapped a blanket about him and laid
him to rest. He not long after was disin
tered and borne to the Marine burial lot.
''Can you wonder that when the night
I -.