New Ulm review., 1913-07-02

1sWuO WOO SAIASA 5OlAASSI WuSIl sA11S D&s'
gan his second invasion Of thesN grti
learly in the summer of 1865. 8 Y B
Word came to the Union Army Of
the danger threatening Washington
and Hartmann and his comrades
were ordered in June to take four
days. rations and form reconnoit.
ering party to locate the invaders
There were 5000 cavalry troops in
the party and by rapid advances
they moved to intercept the enemy.
At o'clock the afternoon of July
LIST they came upon the sharpshoot-
ers of Lees army and as the cavalry
company had orders to hold the reb-
els they engaged them in battle.
The confederate advance guard was
seven miles ahead of their main body
and these sections of the two great
armies struggled back and forth un-
til 8 o'clock that night, sometimes
one, sometimes the other having the
better Of the argument.
Hartmann and his comrades did
not expect the infantry for "a hours,
but their commander ordered them
to put on a bold front. A thousand
campfres were built to deceive the
enemy as to their strength and they
were told to stick to their guns to
the last moment, spiking them be-
fore surrender. On that hot July
morning, hostilities had barely re-
commenced when 5000 of the regu-
lars arrived, half dead from the
forced march they had endured. They
were ordered into battle at once with
the volunteer army coming up to
join the fray as fast as they could.
The real struggle now began. The
line of battle extended 9 miles with
several points of vantage to defend
or attack. Near the center of the
field lay Little Round Gap and to it
a third of Co. IL" with two of their
six 12-inch guns were ordered. They
gained the eminence and planted
their artillery but when the confed-
crates attacked them, their inme-
diate commanding officer, a young
West Point Lieutenant, lost his head
and failed to give the command to
fire and it remained for the Sergeant
who had been an officer in the Ger
man army to take charge tempo
rarily. Fortunately the rebel fire
flew too high and Co. IL" was ready
for them.
The battle ragged about them
hercely all day but by night their Two
good guns had silenced whole rebel
battery and killed all the horses be-
sides exploding a caisson.
Back and forth surged the battle,
sometimes one side, sometimes the
other, but at the close of the third
day the Confederates were definitely
replused and could not rally again.
General Lee asked for twenty-four
hours time to bury their dead, but
General Meade refused the request
and Hartmann's company was sent
with other cavalry to follow the re-
bells off the field. They trailed them
to Falling Waters where the Con-
federates faced their pursuers and
gave battle but after short skir-
mish again retreated and the cavalry
returned to the field of Gettysburg
to help bury their comrades. Each
side had lost in killed, wounded and
missing some twenty thousand men.
Several days were spent at the task
and President Lincoln and his staff
came from Washington and dedicat-
ed the battlefield as sacred ground.
Hartmann repeats Lincoln's speech
on that occasion with deep feeling
and realization of the cost to the
country that the victory had entailed.
The only wound suffered by Hart
mann during his five years of SER
vice was flesh wound in the left
foot inflicted probably by a piece Of
a shell during the engagement on
Little Round Top. He was not con-
scious Of his hurt until he found
the blood oozing from his boot. The
wound proved simple and while it put
him in the hospital for three weeks
had no other effect.
Two more of the Hartmann fam
lily, John and Peter, served during
the Great Rebellion, John as a black
smith in the ordnance department,
and Peter was member of Capt.
Nix's company. Both of them an
swered the last roll-call years ago.
Vincent Hartmann is seventy-six
years old and lives in his home on
North Broadway. Last year h. at
tended reunion of the First Min
nesota at St. Paul, but only so of
The 1900 men were there and none of
hem were his old close comrades. |
He did not feel strong enough to !
make the long journey to Gettysburg
his year.
A detailed report of the part tax
N by the 1st Minnesota at Gettys-
'urg made by Capt. Henry c. Coates,
lst Minnesota Inft., to Governor
Ramsey practically tells the same
tory that Hartmann tells, and states
hat out of $50 men and officers en-
:aged 232 were lost. The gallant
first was in the thickest of the fray
nd it was their final repulse of the
Confederate forces that decided the
ate of the day and turned the tide
f war back to the South.
lodges history of the battle says:
In the afternoon of July 1st the bat
lie increased in intensity, the Union
ines were broken and the trodps
riven back in confusion. Hancock's
;n,alv arrival restored order and in