The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-02-27
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HEROIC SPIRIT is DISPLAYED
Members Of tho Thirteenth Massaehu-
setts Had to Be Forced Back In
Noted Fight at Gettysburg.

George II. Lehman. employed as an
| electrician at the CharlestoWn navy
yard, was a sturdy young man or
twenty.one years, 90 years ago. Al
though he had seen hard service as a
private In Company Il, Thirteenth
Massachusetts infantry, Mr.. Lehman
weighed 1870 pounds when he went
into the battle OF Gettysburg. Mr..
Lehman had the advantage OF knowl-
edge OF how 10 take care OF himself,
and, as he says, he never failed to
get enough TO eat.
ION the night OF June 30 we were
at Emmetsburg, camped at Marsh
creek, IA miles from Gettysburg said
Mr.. Lehman. About s a. m. on July
we got orders 10 start for Gettys-
burg at double quick We covered the
IA miles ct a dog-trot and It was the
toughest road ever Travelled, up and
down hill. with dust up to our ankles.
MY recollection is that we reached
the line OF battle at Gettysburg about
uoon. The Twelfth Massachusetts had
been ahead OF us and they had been
through some hard fighting before we
arrived. They had lost many OF their
men and when we lined up in the po-
sition they had been holding the able
bodied men of the Twelfth staid with
US.
1T was hot work from the first min
ute, The rebels were coming up the
road in column OF fours just as fast as
they could come. There seemed to
be a swarm OF rebels stretching out
farther than we could see.
The boys all knew that there were
fully five of the Johnnies to every ons
OF us, but that only made our boys
aght harder We we're firing Just as
.ast as we could reload and aim, and
our men were falling fast
The rebels aimed at the men near
est the colors, so the men who were
about the colors were hit first our
company was stationed to the left OF
our colors and as rapidly as the men
near the colors we're hit We moved up.
Our color bearer, brave Charlie Nor
ris, was killed. Our regimeDtal monu-
ment at Gettysburg, by the way, is
soldier in full uniform, and the tguro
was modelled after Morris.
so many OF the color company had
been killed and wounded that our
company, the next one to the colors,
had moved up to the position about
the regimental flag. | was close to
the colors when a bullet struck my
left leg. 1t was only flesh wound
and / kept on fighting.
About 2:30 or p. m. was wound
ed again, and this time the ball shat
tered a bone in the right leg. That
put me out of action and l was or
dered to the rear to the field hospital.
had been able TO bandage my right
leg with a towel and stop the flow Of
blood and could just barely walk.
Before l was hit and was ordered
to the rear l knew that we would have
to retreat But the boys did not want
to retreat. When 1t was impossible to
hold the position longer and the Off
GERS ordered them 10 retreat the boys
had TO be driven back before they
would stir. In all my experience l
never saw such heroic spirit as the
men of the First corps showed that
first day at Gettysburg.
"As soon as Stuart's cavalry rode
away told Kelly to run up the road
and intercept Buford's cavalry and
tell the general which way the rebels
had gone. He did so and pretty soon
we heard the Union cavalry in pursuit,
Stuart's rear"
Mr.. Lehman on returning to Massa-
chusetts applied for a commission in
the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts infan-
try, but the examining surgeon de-
clared that his wound made further
service impossible.