Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-03-06

tAC nag VI the DeldNdEe regiment OF
infantry. 1t had remained there full
hour as it had fallen from the hands
of the color sergeant who lay dead be-
side the huddled folds of color. 1t was
the flag they had carried in dozen
pitched battles. Now and again a blue
company started out from the cornteld
at its back and cheering rushed for
ward; but Lees veterans knew how to
shoot and inevitably the line crumb!ed
to pieces and the survivors were whip
ped back into the sheltering corn.
The sacred coiors would assuredly
have been dlsgrara' by capture had 1t
not been for the daring bravery of a
private soldier Tanner who making a
desperate attempt to regain them sue
ceeded in doing what the whole regl-
ment had failed to accomplish,
II happened at Antietam In the mid
die of the morning close by the famous
Sunken Road. Bloody Lane as this
rocky cash in the surface OF the pas
toral country is now called was at this
hour the scene of some Of the most
fearful fighting of history Regiments
lost all their higher officers, companies
fell TO the command of sergeants and
corporals, the Union battle line was
broken in a hundred places and all but
shattered by the deadly accurate mus
kerry of the gray soldiers. In the midst
Of the charging and slaughter the
struggle over those fallen colors took
place like an aside in the greater ira
gedy. Few knew exactly what was GO
ing on even the name Of the hero
would easily have escaped remem-
brance If his colonel had not happened
TO be there to see it all to promote
! Tanner on the spot for his gallantry
and to secure him the Medal of Honor
| (from the meager record of which In
the War Department this story comes
| down to u.s..
| Early ON the morning Of Sept II,
| 1868, Tanners regiment was astir, and
| Tanner who was about twenty years
| old, wandered a short distance to the
| rear, where he could see the prepare
| tons for the battle. The CLINT of the
| late summer sunshine on thousands of
! rifle barrels. as immense masses of
| troops moved across the wooded ridges
down into the valley OF the Antietam,
showed that the fighting would be on a
much larger scale than any battle in
| which he bad taken part
Tanners heart throbbed the unique
excitement which springs solely from
| battle firing began to be felt by him ,
! and when he heard in few moments
| the shouts of his officers forming the
| men he FASTENED TO his company and
! awaited with feverish impatience the
/ command to march. 1t came at last,
| and the regiment found Itself moving
| in line of battle. forming the right of
| the brigade in the first line Of SUM
ner's army corps. Fate had assigned
them position where the battle was
| about to rage with iuconceivable fury.
They turned into an old dirt road
| which led through the woods. at the
edge of which they came out abruptly
on the tall Southern corn Across this
| field they plunged The drifting smoke
| hung over it; the steady roar of mus
| kerry, the cheering and yells of the
| fighters, sounded about them; bat as
yet no bullets came, save feeble pat
teriug fire from the few Confedcrates
they were driving back by their adj
vance. With a shout the foremost files
sprang into the clearing, which was
an open pasture. And then II burst
upon them
The Confederate musket balls swish
ed through the battle line in a murder
Gus hail dropping the men with such
terrible rapidity that those In front
turned to run back. pressing against
their comrades in the rear, and throw
ing the regiment into confusion.
"Close up, men. close up shouted
the officers, rushing hither and thther
Charge Their determination was
communicated to the men, who. having
Strengthened their front, spraug for
ward, dauntessly facing that insuffer-
able rolling destruction
Nevertheless, the Delaware regiment
kept on and on. With set jaws and
whitened faces, giving no heed 10 their
comrades who fell wounded and dying
at every step, the soldiers fought their
way toward the line of leveled muskets
The great gaps in their formation open.
ed wider and wider. Seventy yards
from the cornfeld-withln thirty Of the
Sunken Road-the survivors halted.
There they hung, wayer!hg; and sud
denly, as II the truth dawned on each
man that the regiment was being cut to
pieces and they were destined simply
10 be slain, they turned and ran for
their lives
Half the regiment regained the corn
field: the rest were left on the bloody
slope between the hostile armies. ont
Of ten company commanders, eight had
been struck down. The colOneIs horse
had been shot under him; the lieuren-