The National tribune., 1910-04-07

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extreme right and partly in reserve
would have been the last to be strucl
| by the enemy. This regiment being 81
/ favorably situated was unmoved by the
stampede of the troops on their left
which came streaming down past then
in perfect stampede, and, forming a
right angles with the works by left
| half wheel, part of the regiment be-
| ing on the outside and part on the
inside of the works. they awaited the
clearing of their front from our fleeing
| troops and the approach of the enemy
| The moment this was done Gen. Miles
noting the steadiness of this unbroken
| line and recognizing his own old regi-
ment, placed himself at their head and
| ordered them to advance. This was
| done with the utmost steadineSs and
determination. The enemy was checked
and astonished at the development OF
| this line and shaken by its first volley
Advancing rapidly under Miles's direc-
ton, it swept back up the line, driving
the enemy, who was somewhat scat
tered by the very greatness of the VIC
tory they had won, recaptured Nc
Knights Battery, swept past them, and
continued driving the enemy until they
had been forced back up the line be-
yond the railroad cut, where the enemy
had broken thru. Here the 61st formed
a line, from which il was not driven or
forced and from which it did not retire
until darkness had ended the battle,
and they were ordered so to do. When
Gen. Miles and his staff officers, Gen.
Hancock and his staff officers. Lieut..
Douchey and other officers noted the
steady formation of the 61st before it
advanced, they succeeded in gathering
perhaps two or three score struggling
men and forming them on the line Of
the 61st, so that there were men from
other commands who assisted in this
movement, but there was no represen-
tative of the 5th y. H. among that
number. In this charge of the regi-
ment under the immediate command
of Gen. Miles, with a few heroic spirits
who had been rallied TO their assist
ance, there was no stopping at the point
where the guns were located, but
continued advance up the line, as has
been stated, to the point on the rail-
road near where the breach in our lines
had been made but a little while be-
fore. Thus it can readily be seen that
the line of battle after recapturing the
guns and sweeping past them to point
4 considerable distance in front and
there holding the enemy at bay for
three hours or until dark, how easy it
was for this gallant Major, with a band
nary run hing overtaken and induced to
return. was able to "recapture' an
already captured battery without fir
ing gun or being fired upon.
The Evidence.
The records of the Veteran Associa-
ton of the 61st bear this testimony
from Maj. Willard Keech, who was dur
ing this battle a staff officer in the First
that Gen Hancock, on seeing
this line fighting so steadily and driv-
W
troops those were that Miles was lead
ing. and when told that it was the 61st
\. Y. said: THAT regiment always knew
how to fight" That some scattered
troops after fleeing from the field in
the rout did return toward dark and
assist the provost guard in the removal
Of the guns we had recaptured may not
be improbable. but the 61st N. Y. were
not broken, did not fall back, did not
lose for moment their steadineSs,
were not at any time in a panic, and
he fact of their countercharge, as CIV
en- above, the rout of the enemy, recap
ure of the line of works and the three
guns of Meningitis Battery are truth
July recorded in the official reports of
he corps, the division, the brigade, the
'egimental commanders and by Lieut.. |
Douchey, commander of the battery in
question. by other officers and by the |
historians Swinton, Humphrey, De Tro-
BRAND, Walker and Badeau, as follows: |
Swinton, in his History of the Army |
Of the Potomac, page 537. referring to |
he battle of Eeam's Station, says:
miles, however, succeeded in rally |
ng a portion of the 61st N Y, and, |
'orning it at right angles to the breast |
works, arrested the progress of the |
retook Meningitis guns. |
md recovered a considerable part of |
he lost line. The behavior of the other |
troops was despicable-"
De Trobriands -Four Years With the |
Army of the Potomac" page 63S. says: |
'At the same time Miles, with intrep- |
d coolness, was everywhere rallying his |
regiments. He thus succeeded in bring |
pg back two or three, with which he |
retook three guns, and formed the nu- |
;leus of a new line, to which the others |
rallied"
Maj.-Gen. Humphreys. Chief of Staff |
Of the Army of the Potomac, in His |
of the Virginia Campaign of |
IS64-65, says on page PSI:
THE moment was a critical one, and |
zen. Hancock says would have ended |
still more disastrously but for the |
'teadincss Of part of the First Division |
md the fine conduct of its commander,
Gen. Miles Footnote-And the histo-
ian must in justice add, and the bear
ng of Gen. Hancock himself). who sue
-t'h'u III IHS ii SIIIdll IDTcc OF the /
list y. Y, and, forming line at right |
,ngles with the breastworks. swept off |
he enemy, and retOok Meningitis guns
md a considerable portion of his own
inc"
Official Reports.
From the official report of Gen. Miles.
lated Aug. 80, 1864, headquarters of
he First Division, Second Corps, pub
ished in the Official Records of the
War Of the Rebellion, Vol. XIII. Part /
!, page 253, is extracted the following:
The panic had become somewhat
general, and it was with the greatest
that any line could be formed.
Dnc regiment, the 61st n. Y, was OBJ
erved fighting with determination. 1t
lad changed front after the rife pits
lad been fianked, and, with its right !
'esting on the. works, was contesting
very foot of ground gained by the enc
ny. j rallied line on this regiment
to the line Of works,