The Irish standard., 1911-07-01

have made any other command i'm
mortal. The forty seven survivors
with Companies &C" and "F," which on
the day before had been detailed on
service apart from the Regiment,
were in the very center of the path
of Pickett's famous charge made by
fifteen thousand Of the flower of the
Confederate Army. The last survivor
OF the color guard bearing the tattered
flag of the regiment was shot down
and the flag staff shot in two. Cor
poral Henry ID. O'Brien, seized the
broken staff and carrying the flag
far in advance of any other color,
waved it on the very line of the ad-
vancing foe. 10 save it every soldier
of the First Minnesota charged the ad-
vancing enemy. The men behind the
first line, unable to use their bayonets
OF to fire, hurled over the heads of
their comrades boulders caught up
from the ground. The flag was saved
the charge was beaten back and Get
tysburg was won.
1 have frequently asked veterans of
the First to explain the efficiency Of
the regiment and give the reason of
its extraordinary service. They have
invariably given the credit to their
discipline and, training. They were
not only amenable to discipline, but
they were fortunate in their COM
handing officers. German, Dana, Sui
ly, Morgan and Colvill attained the
rank of Brigadier General, not only
because they were fit for it. but
chiefly by the valor and soldierlv
qualities of the men they led. When
the First stood firm TAT Fredericks-
burg amid rout. and panic General
Howard exclaimed "sully, your First
Minnesota doesn't run" mo, Gener-
al" said Sully, 1.-THE First Minnesota
never runs"
Other Minnesota Troops.
1t is not permitted me to narrate
the splendid service of other Minne-
sofa soldiers in the Civil and the In
dian War. We honor officers and en-
listed men alike on this anniversary,
when we recall that we have still
with us in strength and usefulness
James H. Baker, Christopher C. And
rews, Judson w. Bishop and Lucius
F. Hubbard, brave and brilliant COM
manders of Minnesota troops. And
it is with pride that we recall that on
April goth, 1898, exactly 81 years
after the mastering in of the
First Minnesota were mustered in
three gallant regiments of this state,
the first in all the nation, for the
Spanish American War.
Tho Day Belongs to the First.
Surviving Soldiers of the First Min
nesota: This is your day. For YOU
this Capital City dons its festal garb,
The marching Of men, the blessings
of fair women, the thunder of artil-
|ery, the plaudits of this multitude
are all for you. Fifty years ago to-
day with that glorious flag, torn and
tattered now, you started for the
front. Sad and sacred are the thoughts
that crowd the corridors of memory.
War and strategem, the march, the
bivouac, the fight, are in the misty
past. The comrades OF your youth
that day have fallen, nearly all, and
sleep the last. long sleep. The Re-
public is united and at peace. The
Blue and the Gray march side by side
under the starry banner of the Union.
The nations of the world salute and
court that flag. BY the deeds of you
and such as you the covenants of the
fathers have been kept. Human slav-
cry is banished forever from Ameri-
can soil and on this theater of the
western World mankind has found
its best and freest home. Mind not
what men may say, there never was
In all the tide of tides spot on earth
where man has been as free as here.
Beneath the folds of that fair flag the
poorest and the humblest of the