Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1902-03-12

togetnes In small clearing under cover
OF the woods, the rank and file believing
for night OF sleep and rest. While the
other regiments were fling In, the adiu-
tant OF the First Maine seemed uneasy,
and slowly paced back and forth In front
OF the regiment, when one Of the boys
called out:
swell, sdiutant, we are going to be re-
iieved, eh?o
with significant gesture OF the head
and still more significant tone In his
voice, he replied: "How are you re-
lievedfn
Matters began to look serious. One of
the captains stepped out and asked the
adjutant what 1t all meant.
! His reply was: 1--WE are all gone to
hell" and passing out his canteen, said:
"Here, Cap'n, take sonnet hing"
NO." replied the captain, ''If / am GO
ing to hell am going sober"
That captain is still selling coal in Ban
gor, but the adjutant
Passed over
The cold stormy river,
Mid the roar and the rattle
OF a nation in battle"
The brigade was soon marched back
and massed just in rear of the road and
far enough to the right to clear the Hare
house when 1t should advance. The First
Maine, being larger regiment than the
others OF the brigade, was divided into
three battalions which were placed one
behind the other, and the other regiments,
! each In line, still in its rear, SO that 1t
formed the first three lines at the head OF
the column, and, in fact, they were the
only troops who went onto the field, as all
the other regiments threw themselves fiat
on the ground along the road and behind
the breastworks as soon as the column
started.
Guns were loaded, bayonets fixed, KNAPP.
sacks thrown off In piles and good-byes
said. Instructions were given for the
| first line TO lead off and for each succeed
ing line to follow at distance OF twenty
feet, and for no man to fire a shot until he
was inside the Confederate works. The
| enemy could be seen standing in line be-
hind their works, $50 yards distant across
the level field. Every man in the com.
pany foresaw the result, yet most OF them
no doubt, hoped, In the general saug hter,
they might be the fortunate ones to es-
cape. II was time to try mems nerves.
Cheeks might have blanched, hands may
have trembled, but on every face was
| fixed determination to do or die.
During these preparations the guns
were silent aud a hush had settled on that
part of the field, so strange in great bat
tie that the silence seemed oppressive. 1t
was like the hull In the winds just before
the tornado breaks forth on the face OF the
earth. The command forward" was a
relief to the almost unbearab BILE suspense,
and the quickly succeeding order "dou BILE
quick" sent q thrill along the line, yet
with firm and measured tread, the regi-
| ment moved forward, sullen and silent
and without cheer. First scattering
as OF leaden rain drops, and the men in
| voluntarily pulled down their cap visors
| over their eyes aud with bowed heads ad-
vanced against the In creasing storm.
In a moment all had changed. The
| booming OF a hundred cannon rent the air
aud the bursting shells carried destruction
| III every direction. The constant roll of
musketry, now high, now low, like the
fluctuations OF peaIing thunder, as it
echoed and re-echoed from the not far
away hills, made dread music on the ear
| Half way across the field and as the regi-
ment cleared the hrubbery which skirted
| 1t on either flank, a six-gun battery with
dou ble-shotted canister opened on it
| disgonaiiy from the right and All instsH al
| ia:er he same thing was repeated on the
| eft. Hundreds ieii but the Survivors
rushed msdIy on through the everin
cressing nusketry aud artillery fire until
near the line of abattis, when the officer
la command ordered a retre,t.
| The result may be better imagined than
described. Dat OF 900 who went into tue
charge, more than two-thirds were down.
The field was literally strewn with the
dead and dying, the injured crawled
painfully to the rear, while those unhurt
sought safety in flight. Many of the
more seriously wounded remained on the
| field and died after hours and even days
OF suffering, tortured by thirst under the
boiling summers sun. Tine Union forces
| could not and the Con tederates would not
| remove them. With so fearful loss and
withal so sudden, the whole affair seemed
| like some horrid dream. 1t was as though
the rushing waters had engulfed them CIR
the cyclone had swept them from the face
OF the earth. No such havoc was wrought
in any other regiment during the entire
war.
THE DEATH RECORD.
During the thrt Q days. battle the Second
Army corps, composed of eighty-fou reg
imsnts aud fourteen batteries, lost fifty
nine commissioned officers in killed and
MORALLY wounded, fourteen OF whom or
| twenty-four per cent. nearly, were
| mem bers OF the First Maine