Newark post., 1915-07-28

Miss Harriet L. Dean, Zion City,
III.
Leon C. Garrett, Strickersville, Pa.
Second Delaware Volunteers
Eyes, Delaware sent a full
share of soldiers to the Civil War
battlefields." Some such remark
with a reference to the service
rendered by Delaware troops on
the famous Wheatfield of Gettys-
burg, to many readers, makes up
the sum total of knowledge of Del
aware's Civil War history The
gallant regiment concerning which
our references have been made
and officially listed as the Second
Delaware Volunteers" was organ
lied on May 21, 1861. The ranks,
however, owing to lack of state
appropriations, were not filled un-
til five months later. Captain w.
H. Wharton, of the regular army |
was commissioned colonel, and the |.
regiment encamped at Camp |
Brandywine, near Wilmington,
Del. Col Wharton was soon sue
ceeded by Col. w. P. Bailey, cool,
brave, and experienced officer, who
possessed the confidence and af-
! fection of his men.
In May, 1862 the regiment join
ed the Army of the Potomac, un-
( der General Mcclellan. This mark
ed the beginning of actual field
service which continued incessant-
ly during the Siege of Richmond.
The Delaware men in the years
that followed were found in the
thickest of the fray and the blood
lest of battles. At the Battle of
Antietam, the regiment won the
recognition of General Mcclellan,
who in his report gives us the fol-
lowing: "a change of front by the
52nd N. Y. and the Second Della
ware y y y drove the enemy from
the cornfield and restored the
lines"
The Battle of Fredericksburg
has been declared the most event
full incident in the history of the
regiment, which formed part of the
Third Brigade, stationed in the
forward part of the battle. The
regiment covered the retreat from
the hotly contested field so ably
that it attracted the attention of
the army. General Hancock, in
his report of the battle says, "Col-
onel William P. Bailey, command
ing the Second Delaware, was
wounded. The strength of this
regiment when it went into action
was 10 commissioned officers and
225 enlisted men. \ \ 4 4 The Sec
:, ond Delaware had three comman-
! ders during the battle, the first
, two having been wounded"
! Again in the Battle of Chancel-
, lorsville, the men saw and eXper-
, fenced all those horrors of war
D WHICll CdllSu loI III 1Iolil kollSl ma ~
n the words, "War is Hellw Here
n the regiment encountered de-
. structive fire of artillery, which
. riddled their lines. Soon after
. the regiment had swung into po
+ sition the Chancellor House, fillet
with wounded took fire-an Incl
: dent which one of the men has de
scribed as "one of the most appal
q ling scenes of the war" In the
y strenuous effort expended in thu
removal of the men from the burn
0 ing building, Captain Mccullough
- of the Second Delaware was dan
/ gerously wounded, and Lieutenan
% Jordan was mortally wounded
- while engaged in the same work
20 20 In the Battle of Gettysburg th
20 % regiment was in the same brigade
- as at charlottesville. On Jul.
End the brigade charged through
% the Wheatfeld (now historic), AM
the woods beyond, driving tn
Confederates before them, an
3 reaching the farthest point gaine'
by any of the Union troops durin!
II the day. This charge meant tn
,6 loss of nearly half the brigade.
|s The regiment also figured in tn
Battles of Auburn and Bristol Sta
70 ton, in the Mine Run campaigr
and at Spottslyvania.
At the conclusion of their teri
FL of service the remnant of the reg
30 ment-75--was mustered out o