Quiner Scrapbooks: Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865, Volume 8

              li^i-:;
3J3
matched in all of tho Annies of thc l.'ni- on. The history of Napoleon's immortal "Old Guard," is not richer with in.stances of stubborn heroism in thc face of inevita¬ ble disaster than is that of this now sadly decimated  brigade.    Yet  wc have  often
although our Fif^h Regiment lod the van, ' wc wcro unablo to find any Fja.stem account which mentioned thi.s fact Otber regi¬ ments, occupying less dangerou.s positions in this movemont, wore mentionc^l in the most glowing terms, but ours was neglect¬ ed.
thflWcfltcrn troopa?    Sadly enough.
By half-past three, as thcy counted the time, tho whole of A. P. Hill's corps, acting ia concert now with Ewell, prccipitatoil itaolf upon their lino. Tho.>id men aro aa old and tried soldiers as there are in the war, and they describe tho fire that followed aa the moat terrific thoy havo over known. In a ainglo brigade (Cutler'a) iu twenty minutes, ovcrv staff ofK.-i»i.  Kn.i   u.--  ¦-
I« move aa tbe one of June and July. Tihey have learned hy esiperieoee tkat rebels ar* j not raen of tft« nortb. One more invasion like Ibis last on* woold uterly ruin the ar¬ my of Northern Virginia. They have loit since the 30tfa of June, 46,000 men by cas- aahies of war, desertion, fto., and of thie k I can safely say 15,000 are wounded and in our hands. Ths morning of tha first waa snltry and
althougnu^l^^/KlS"^^^^^^^^                  ''^">^-o';'ft^em^"jotdt^S.*''?.^rrL^•namberIthinl wo wort ..„.Ki„r._^e""«l't led   the van.   S^'j,\^°»,f^''«^"^« was  left  tT Goneral Jr ¦ ''-' —* ''
—had hia tall almt offV^oln' CuUer^'htalsTlf .'• **""' '« ^»'i Orders to maroh at day-break, Few;'roorrn"'"\'^^^ '""   bnt for some cause we did nol move   nntil
Corps could not"  iSeutiV the" thi'^r*'^"r ' snrxrxso.    The flrst corps moved from near r and bond »,wi "".._V.'^..°'^ Green Mount on the road to  Gettysburg, t onr first division io (he lead.    When with- j in on'> mile of the  town   firing began  on onr left and front.   The rebels  were  driv¬ ing in Bnford's cavalry which  had   moved forward on the Ghamberabnrg road.    Leav¬ ing the road passing throagb a wheat field and through a  pieoe of timber,  some  80 rods ahead were oar eavalry and flying  ar¬ tillery, eonteetlng the advance of the  reb¬ els, who were pushing forward to  gain  a thigh eminenee in our fVont,  eommanding
Thu.s wc find in the rcporrof^-Acatc"     , '^''•'' ^"^^ ^eaporato attack  lasted ««wi. a^" 1°*** V ^'""^ 7*  ''"^  approaching,
the well-known correspondent of the Pin     "l^-''^ '•^° "°« o^«rTortv miMuLsf.wu''''™     ^* *•*" P°'"* *° '^«'" «»"• *lo°8 ^h* line cmnati  Oazett^ whose description of  the'   ."k '' ^'^'^'^ ''«'^«« 'ong    One^fnelTbri^"^'' 'i^ fo' battle of, Shiloh remains thrirosrn^Lna' I SY    o^o^%V''' "^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^
4 -' ^ ""^""P     " ^t'ue out witl, 700 men.
 .v.iiuiiio mc ocsi newspa¬ per  battlo sketch  of tho  war, that this Eloventh   Oorps stood well  until Ewell's Corps, "Stonewall's" veterans, camo  up, I but then—to give bis own words :
Small resistance is made on our right The Eleventh docs not flee  wildly   from its old ."»ntagon!atfl, aa at   their last meeting  when StoPcwall Jaokaon scattered them aa if they had beeu pigmies,  foolishly  venturing iuto tho war of tho Titans.    It oven makes stout resistance for a little whilo, bnt tho  advan¬ tage of position, as of numbers,  is  all with ' thc rebels, nnd tho lino ia forced tp^retire.  If is done deliboratoly and without  confusion, till tliOy reach tho town.   Horc thc ovilgenluf of the Eleventh falls upon it again.    To save the troopa fVom   the  terrible  enfilading fire through tho streets, the oflicers wheeled them ; by dotachmonts iuto croas streets,  aud  ot-i tempt to narch them thus around one squara| after anothor diagonally, through  thc town. The Ocrmaus are confused by tho maneuvre; perhaps tho old   panic at the   battle-cry  ot Jackeon's flying corj^ conios ovor them ; a t any rate, thcy break in wild confusion, como
A fow wcre prisoners; n few concealed them selves in liouacs and escaped—noar a thou sand of them wore killed and wounded. Ita follow brigade went in fifteen hundred strong; it oame out with forty-nine ofncers and five hundred and forty-nine men killed and wound¬ ed, and six oncers and five hundred and eighty-four men missing and thoir fato un¬ known. Who shall soy that tbey did not go down into the very volley of the shadow of death on that terrible afternoou.
The accounts of losses thus far received confirm tbis account, which, being given by a western man, does justice to the docda •f western men.
pouring  through   tlie-town r;o^^^^^^^
with dimculty  formed agaiu on  lho hoighla Armv ot the PotoniL     T 1 f .^'^^
tothe southward. Thoy loat over twelve or Sfo't tho flnlT-^ Ihey oaiu.ot alter hundred priaonera In Icii thai, twenty >nia- hLto^ l uMbi^ lodgment of impartial utos. Ono of their Ocnorals.Scbempolfeuuig, X. !?^' L ^ may succeed m partially on old officer in the Russian service in tho Sn ' Vk*' People of the We.st, if they- Crimean war, is cutoff, but he shrewdly takea',,. ^'^^^^ correspondents to syslomatic- lo cover, conceals himaelf somewhcro in tho 'j.^ 'gnore the achievements of our sjI- town and finally escapes, ^^rs. o^,^p,„,.„o. or th. Oss^tu. ' . The reports wc havo subsequently re-i|i|^, P,,,^ ,^^Bi«v«iktik o»rps at ait* ceived incline us to believe that this account B*tUe *r Oettjrs^urf. is Kubstantially correct        _    ^,,      .
Now let us soo what troop.s stayed tho """^iSSoVpt'^^ylT.}
onset of tboso hitherlo irresistible veterans     «v       ,. . ^  ' j^  vip«inift.
ofthe rebel army.    Says "Agate:" 3^^ '^^ •""^  ^ *?'      '" J ^   "j
•^ "^ •* The aoil of Pennaylvania and  Maryland
But while our right ia thusauddonly wipec ^.^ .   ^^ ^^     j,.^, i,.^.,
out, how farea  it  with  tho  loft—Robinson "*" ""* """ "*""" •««>«», j .        ,   '
and Doubleday, and aturdy Wadsworth, witlj, ed by their raahnefls in making so fool-hardj
non-eombatant« to the rear.   Tbe eon- irabands  understood il  and   made  them- • selves scarce.
I About thai time the division moved on ' and entered a field a qaarter of a  ntile tu
C the left of Oettysbarg seminary, the Ist ( brigade being in the advance, in the follow- , ing order: 2d Wiseonsin, Tth Wiscon- ^ sin, I Sth Indiana, 24th Michigan  and   6th
f   Wiseonsin.    The rear waa brought  up  by < Major Wright of tbe Z4th Michigan with a
II guard of 100 men. At thia point we were I ordered to donble-qeiok In line loading onr
_ ^^^^^ *"c deeds   I guns and fixing bayonet* »• we wenl.   As
VVe havo brought up this matter as d 3^ °*"® ^  *^*  ""^^  °^ ^* **'''*  *°"*
to the matchless valor of tho bravo'sons of *   ™e«88nger« oame whislUn^ along.    Direct-
Tlxt^i'' who have on so many hard fbucrht ^^ Ij >» our fronl and about 40 rods away was
and the CS^rsS It^ '^^"'^ '* '««''°«°» ''  "'«'  skirmishers.    They
we jyish, as far as poSe VmnedTZ ' ''"" ad'aHcl^g -o rapidly thai h  wa.  ne-
aeglect of Eastern journals,    Wc would '^^""''T *° "•'^« * «'"»'•«• **> "P**''  ^^^ *^-
urge upon them tbat it is neither fair nor vantageous position they had gained.    With
^ur wlsSrL^^""-*''i^*®. *^<i ^^^'•« «f ¦'' » y«"» *•»• *>"«»^«  ''««• <*<>*'» through a
piece of timber as if a neet of horneta had got loose. At this point I fell wonnded, being atmck below the kaee by a Minnie ball, wbich had the tendency of stopping my fan for a brief spaoe of time, aa my limb has since been amputated.    With the
! help of two rifles I got off the field to the seminary, where my wound was dressed, shortly after being teken  to  town.    Since
I then I bave not seen the brigade nor heard of the exact loss, bnt I know it was very heavy.    Onr three field ofiioere were wound-
. ed and taken froox the field., l4e«V CoL
-4-