Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-07-19

the most resolute and determined
courage. The Gath Michigan in
which he enlisted was one of six
regiments that composed a
brigade that had, on Sept, 14th,
1862, carried South Mountain
pass in a valorous charge and
held it like an iron wall till fresh
troops arrived. For this act it
received from General Mcclellan
the title of the Iron Brigade"
A brigade that won enduring
fame in every battlefield of note
in which the Army of the
Potomac was engaged, from
Bull Run to Appomattox and
which was found when the war
closed to have sustained, in
proportion to its numbers, greater
losses than any other. 1t was
composed of the Second, Sixth
and Seventh Wisconsin, the
Nineteenth Indiana and the
Twenty-Fourth Michigan regi-
ments. This brigade held rela-
lively the same position to our
army for valor, constancy and
endurance, that Cromwell's Iron
sides regiment, Caesars Tenth
Legion, the old Guard of Ma
poleon, and the Light Brigade
at Balaklava did to their re-
spective armies and sustained
greater per cent of loss than did
either of them. History says
of it.
This brigade by its intrepidity at
GAINESVILLE i'll Pope's campaign saved its
division from utter rout and ruin and to
it must be credited the chief burden of
the Confederate assault at Gettysburg
It's record in this battle is a central point
in war histories. Its dress was unique,
being dark colored and tall black hats
somewhat bell shaped with broad brims,
by which they were always recognized
by friend and foe. At GAINESVILLE and
Second Bulls Run this brigade lost So4
out of 900 engaged and at Gettysburg
it lost 1883 out 1888 engaged or III
per cent"
You may be better able to form
some idea of this awful loss when
| tell you that the Light Brigade
immortalized in song and story
for its famous charge at Balakava
lost but 81 per cent while the
greatest loss sustained by any
regiment in the Franco-P russian
war was 40 per cent or II per
cent less then the Iron Brigade
at Gettysburg.
Recurring to the part it bore
on that imm ortal field where
"The tattered standards of the South
Were shriveled at the cannons mouth
And all her hopes left desolate."
A public war Journal of those
days said:
at was to the Iron Brigade more than
any other that the nation owes its saliva
ton at Gettysburg, and we say not more
than history will verify, that of all the
heroic regiments that fought there, the
Twenty Fourth Michigan stands pre-
eminent for its heroism and valor.
Against the overwhelming hordes of the
enemy it stood for hours wall of granite
which beat back, again and again, the
resolute and baffled foe"
1t is a remarkable coincidence
that the Iron Brigade of the
Northern, and Pettigrew's Bri-
gade of the Southern armies that
were opposed to each other in
this battle sustained the greatest
loss in proportion to their num-
Der OF any engaged.
"And what whitening tempest blew
Against the front of Pettigrew,
A Kansian wind that scorched and singed
Like the internal flames that fringed
The British squares at Waterloo.
In vain the Tennesean set
| His breast against the bayonet,
| In vain Virginia charged and ragged
A tigress in her wrath uncaged,
| Till all the hill was red and wet
For three days the contending
hosts struggled, charged and
fought until of both armies 49,
240 lay dead and wounded on this
historic field and North and South
"Babes were crying.
And wives were signing,
And strong men watched and wept. y
For the statistician and gener-
ally accepted authority for losses
sustained Ill the civil war says,
of four hundred regiments en-
gagged at Gettysburg The mel.
ancholy honor of sustaining the
greatest loss belongs to the oath
Michigan" Five of its color
bearers were instantly killed,
three were mortally wounded and
two others were wounded that
subsequently recovered. Out OF
400 men of this regiment engaged
at the close of the fight but 90