The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-04-11
THE list CONN. H. A.
The Part In the Final Assault Upon
Petersburg,

IetcESUEES.
Editor National Tribune: In your is
sue of January 10 instant you publish
very interesting letter from Comrade
B. S. Philbrick, of Washington, of the
9th Mich, describing the charge on
Fort Malone at the time of the closing
scenes before Petersburg, April 1, 1865,
when the Confederate General, A. P.
Hill, was killed, Comrade Philbricii
mentions the work of the artillerymen
who accompanied the infantry line on
that charge, but says they belonged to
the 9Th Conn. H. A. There was no 9Th
Conn. H. A, but the men who accom-
panied the charging columns were vol
nnteers from the 1sr Conn. H. A., whose
heavy guns had for months before been
pounding away on that obstinate line
OF Confederate works, under Grants
order to fight it out on that line if 1t
took all Summer"
As the regimental historian of the
glorious old 1st Conn. H. A., I feel
bound to "butt in" and insist that our
boys shall not be cheated out of any
part of the glory which they SO hero
ically earned in those strenuous days
when every hour made a shining page
of our country's history. when fame
and death went hand In hand. Was it
Byron who defined fame as being
killed in battle and having your name
mlSSpelleQ IN the GdZeIte!
The facts in reference to our boys
taking part in that miX-up at Peters
burg are as follows (permit me to
quote from my history of our regi-
ment):
THE story of the ending of that long
war is a familiar one; for months the
Union army had occupied the trenches
about Petersburg with close and
weary siege At midnight on the first
NV snH
arrangement, hundreds of cannon
blazed forth along our lines, hurting
their terrible messengers of death into
the rebel army.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and Numbered"
'In every battery on that line the or
ders that night were simple and brief
only this: Load, fire; load. fire; load,
fire." and so on until near daylight, and
then at daylight came the splendid
charge. The white faces. the firm set
lips. the bright bayonets, the flashing
sabers, the waving flags, the loud cheers
as the infantry columns accompanied
by LIST Conn. H. A. with lanyards and
friction primers to promptly man any
captured cannon) charged over the
Confederate works. captured and turned
the rebel cannon upon the retreating
enemy, and so quickly was this per-
formed that in some cases the very
shot which had been loaded into the
cannon by rebel hands were fired by
our boys Into their retreating ranks;
the hasty flight of the Confederate Gov
eminent from their capital, the occu-
pancy of Richmond by our trot ps, Sher-
idan's cavalry sweeping out on to the
- hoty Atyin nd
the firal act-the complete surrender
of Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of
Northern Virginia at Appomattox. But
even in the face of these glorious re-
suits which I have so imperfectly
eketched for you, when all the North
was ablaze with joy. the croakers were
heard from again.
During the war, in our darkest
hours, these croakers had comforted us
with their assurances that the rebellion
could never be subdue6 by force, and
they kindly advised compromise; but
when II was all over. they said, What
are you to do now with this great army?
Here are over a million of men, used
for years to the license of the camp
and the field, and now flushed with
great victories; they cannot safely be
discharged upon society and they pic
tured the eirible results which, in their
opinion, would follow the disbanding of
the Union army and the re- al Of the
restraints of stern military discipline.
What was done? Let us recall that
scene In front of the White House at
Washington a reviewing stand was
erected, covered with the Stars and
Stripes, the flowers of May, and the
names of great battles for the Union;
the streets were thronged with thou
sands of spectators, every window was
filled, even the roofs were covered with