Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-18

Here it remained until September s.,
when the regiment received marching
of the Potomac, then on it's way to
what proved to be the Battle of An
tetam. After that battle, which was,
as will be remembered victory of lit
tie advantage, the regiment encamped
with the remainder of the Army of
the Potomac on the bank of the river
near Sharpsburg, Va.
Here the boys remained until Novem-
Der 2, when the army moved, and with
il the 10th Maine, across the Potomac
down through Virginia to Fredericks-
burg. Their knapsacks having been
left at Washington and not yet re-
covered, the regiment being well to
the front suffered severely from want
of proper clothing and food, during
this long and strenuous march of near
~ two hundred miles. Many days We're
passed without food and but little wa
ter. Thus that month of November
reduced the ranks of the regiment over
one half, many of the boys being near
ly barefoot and without change of
clothing. With all the hardships en-
dured, Commander McCausland was
able to bivouac every night with his
company.
In the Battle of Fredericksburg, De
.eember II and 10. the regiment lost
heavily in a Commute charge.
The charge was one of the most
Spectacular of the many brilliant move
ments of the Civil War. The loyal
forces wore stationed on the famous
Bowling Green pike, and from the
w n1al frinUa nf q largo cOcntipI1 a
force of several thousand Rebels was
pouring fire upon the soldiers of the
North On the hills above, so pieces of
artillery were laundering and scatter
ing death in the Union ranks below.
ordered to charge, the 18th Maine per
formed it's duty unflinchingly, but the.
expected supports did not arrive and
facing certain humiliation, the Union
forces retreated back across the river.
The army then recrossed the river
and later went into winter quarters.
After F;hanteiHrsville, May and a,
1863, tile regiment lay waiting, until
the middle of June, when the army
was ordered to march, and returned
over very nearly the same route,
through Maryland to Pennsylvania.
And then came Gettysburg, that bat
tie whose story has been told and re-
todd and told again. the glory of which
Will go down in history beside Mara
thOn and Salamis, Crecy, Waterloo and
Ealaklaya. ;>e3sg ttss4,f = ss,e :.f4s
The 10Th Maine went into that bat
tie July ], 1863, as a part OF brigade
of $500 men. Under the command of
Gen. Robinson and the undaunted Col.
Tilden they were ordered to hold at
all hazards" and did hold. the ridge at
Johannesburg road with both right
and left TANKS driven back, leaving
them a tattered remnant in a horse
shoe formation.
1t was an unequal conflict which
might have dismaycd Titans; flesh and
blood could not withstand it. The bril-
gade was forced to fall back through
the famous railroad cut, and was slow
w but surely surrounded by the enc
my Nearly afl were taken prisoners,
with the exception of $40 men, among
whom was the present department
commander of Maine. These cleared the
gap by desperate fighting and the sec
ond day of the fight were formed into a
battalion and again ordered onto the
field at Cemetery ridge.
Here AUGUSTUS W. McCausland. at
the mature" age of IL years, ended
his battlefield service A shell explod-
ed in front and within few feet OF
him and piece of the projectile plow-
ed its way along his left thigh
The lad lay two days and nights be-
meath an apple tree, while overhead
screamed the fearful messengers Of
death. Once a shell exploded IN the
tree and it's branches fell upon and
about the suffering soldier boy. AS he
RENE mbers it now, the fear of death
did not come upon him. Fear there was,
but it was the fear of capture by the
Rebels and the prospect of suffering the
torments of a Southern prison in ad-
dtion to the pain of his wound.
The great battle was over, and Pick
etts charge, the wave which touched
the high-water mark of the Great Re
bellion, was turned back in disorder.
out upon the field came surgeons and
nurses and details of soldiers to pick
up the wounded and bury the dead. Au-
g,stus McCausland was among those
who were found and taken to field
hospital and later to other hospitals.
once a board of seven surgeons decid-
ed at a consultation to amputate his
leg, but a friendly Southern surgeon.
who was caring for Rebel prisoners.
nterceded in his behalf, because The
admired his pluck.
From the action on the battlefield he
was forced to change his mode of HE
to the inaction of the hospital cot ana
the haunting fear that the surgeon
would amputate his leg. With emotion
now, the man whom the Grand Army
of the state of Maine delights to honor,
recalls an incident of those dreary
DAVIS in the hospital. An aged woman
OF Hibernian extraction, used often to
call and try to allay his fears BelleV-
ing that the limb would be amputat-
ed while he was unconscious, he be
came a prey to sleeplessness. and only
when the aged woman would take the
boys head in her lap and tell HIM that
nothing should harm him while she was
at hand, did sweet, refreshing sleep
come to him. What wonder is it thar
Augustus McCausland today blesses
that unknown womans memory.
period of II months, nine OF
! which were spent in bed: comprises the
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