USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Gettysburg > Address delivered at the dedication of monument of the 14th Conn. vols. at Gettysburg, Penn., July 3d, 1884 > Part 3
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1 A slightly inclined, narrow ledge of ironstone ran along the whole front of the position of the 14th, a few feet from the wall. While this ledge served the regiment a " friendly turn," we fear the ricochetted shells had their revenge on the artillerymen in the rear.
2 Sergt. Benj. Hirst, Co. D.
3 Some estimate the number at from twenty to thirty thousand, but it is probably nearer the truth to say seventeen or eighteen thousand.
4 Only one gun of this battery remained not disabled. This demon- strates where the weight of the rebel fire was directed-the centre of the Union line.
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22
READY AND WAITING FOR THEM-" FIRE!"
your places and make your preparations. Your rifles (how many of you blessed the fates that you had the "Sharpes " that day !) you rest, ready charged and cocked, upon the wall, beside which you kneel after partially rebuilding it. The contents of your cartridge boxes you cooly empty upon the ground beside you, ready for instan- taneous handling. Grimly and eagerly you watch the oncoming foe, -- that immense wave of human vitality, purpose, and power. Brave Aleck Hays, your Division Commander, rides along your line and cautions you not to be hasty, but to reserve your fire until the enemy shall reach the fence along the Emmettsburg road, "and then give them --! " (Though rough of speech, he was just the man to fight under. ) The attacking line approaches the skirmishers. These fall back, stubbornly resisting as they come, until the order sounds, "rally on the reserve !" when they hasten to take their places here; and all of the 14th, what war's havoc has spared, are "elbow to elbow," brothers in line, again, breathlessly awaiting their chance.
General Gibbon, Acting Corps Commander, rides past, and you hear him say: "The fate of the whole army now rests with you. Don't fire until you get the word; then fire low and sure ! We must hold this line to the last man !" That settles it. \ You are men of iron now. Not one of you will leave this spot alive, except as a victor ! The ranks in grey are nearing the fence. So still is it becoming, as the artillery fire slackens where it endangers our own men, that you hear distinctly the voice of a rebel officer as he calls, "Steady there, men ? Guide centre !"1 They reach the fence, and quick the com- mand, " Fire !" "Fire !" "Fire !" rings along the line, and with emotion of inexpressible thrill you press the triggers and your rifles outblaze. That frontal, formidable line melts away as snowflakes that fall upon the sea. By the time the second line reaches the fence the Sharpes are all ready for them, and they go down.2 But the heavy supporting columns close in upon them on either flank and remnants of the lines form anew, a still formidable force. They are
1 We can understand the significance of the tactical orders heard as Picket's men were advancing upon us now that we know Lee's design to have been to keep his centre solid and strong, that it might strike near the centre of our corps with full weight and effectiveness.
2 In a statement made by Longstreet a few years ago, he says: " When that line of musketry by the wall rose and delivered their fire, a perfect sheet of flame, mortal man could not withstand such a fire as that." Lee brought the heaviest of his cannonading to bear upon our centre, and it is probable that he supposed all our infantry there had been destroyed or driven from the ridge, and that his assault could have but feeble resistance. Robert was mistaken.
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GLORIOUS FIGHTING.
over the fence now, pushing this way and firing upon you as they come. Wild impulse assumes control of you, and you spring to your feet regardless of danger. Your officers shout to you enthusi- astically. Your remembrance of occasions when the rebels had you at disadvantage makes ecstatic this opportunity to get even, and more than even, with them. You shout: "Now we've got 'em !" "Sock it to the rebels !" "Fredericksburg on the other leg !" " Hurrah ! Never mind who is hit, give it to them !" " Lay 'em out, boys !" -- and other things that we will not repeat here. And you, veterans, realizing the benefit of your previous hard training, can be excited and still load and fire automatically with the rapidity and pre-
cision of crack marksmen. The force in your front would charge directly upon your position, but your tempest of lead staggers them. Their officers rally them and urge them on, and their courageous color-bearers rush ahead of them and plant their standards, wave their hats, and cry to the men, "come on !" They essay to do it with fierce yells and imprecations, but cannot stand your pelting -- your pitiless volleys break them all up. At the left of yonder angle a des- perate struggle is enacting. The rebels in front of Webb's Brigade have broken over the wall, and pressing back the infantry, are among the guns.1 One color-bearer has mounted a piece, and is triumph- antly waving his flag. Your commander observes it and shouts to you, "Left oblique, fire !" At once your rifles play into the crowd, and presently they fall back. Up at the right a similar contest is waging. The enemy are charging in mass upon the batteries" there. The order rings out: "Right oblique, fire !" and your rifles play in that direction with like results. So have you helped your fellows. Now comes the moment for a counter charge. The Captain of Co. A. springs over the wall; his men and others quickly follow. The men in front resist a little, but see the game is up. Retreat to their own distant line is impossible. They fling down their arms, and some drop upon the ground crying excitedly, "Don't fire ! don't fire ! we surrender !" Down in front, on a line with yonder angle, a
1 Three guns had been run down to the front wall in the angle, to hold back the rebels with grape and canister. The brave Cushing, Com- mander, himself sorely wounded, holding together his great gaping wound with one hand, and crying, "I'll give them one more shot, Webb!" with the other hand discharged his piece, and fell dead beside it.
" Woodruff's Battery was run forward and turned to the left, where it swept the valley with canister. Playing upon the flank of the enemy, it made great slaughter, and the rebels made desperate efforts to cap- ture it.
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VICTORY !- A REGRETFUL REB.
rebel battle-flag is still defiantly flying, defended only by the color- bearer. Capt. Broatch and Sergt. Maj. Hincks, and perhaps others, start for it, bent on its capture. Some of the enemy still sheltered by that wall open fire and make it hot for the approaching ones, but the flag is reached and surrendered to the Sergeant Major.1 Prison- ers? are gathered in like berries from the bush, and battle-flags enough to make a whole brigade happy. All the enemy not shot down or captured are in full flight, and the battery just arrived to replace Arnold's sends a few rounds after the fugitives. 3
What a victory was that, my comrades ! What an hour of glory for you ! Your rifles were hot in your hands from the fifty or more rounds sped from them on their death-dealing mission; but your hearts were hotter with their exulting, overwhelming joy. Wounds, hunger, home-longings, prospective hardships and dangers were all lost sight of in that supreme hour of your victorious rejoicing. But what a small band you had become reduced to ! In numbers scarcely equaling one maximum Company of those ten maximum Companies that entered the field ten months previously. What wonder that a sturdy prisoner, as he stepped over your wall and saw your thin line, inquired, " Where are your men ?" And when told they were here, said, "I mean those you had here who gave us such volleys as we advanced ?" When assured that all were here except the disabled, he said, with emphasis, "We could have gone through if we had another line of men !" Then, taking another look, he exclaimed, "My God ! we could have gone through as it was if we'd known how few you were !" He added, with a regretful tone and an oath, as he
1 This act of Comrade Hincks was a notably brave one, for which he received the immediate congratulations of his associates in arms, and subsequently a Medal of Honor from the Government.
2 Final count made more than two hundred prisoners and five battle- flags. Hancock says: "Our troops took about thirty or forty colors." These to a corps. Five to a little regiment reduced to about 100 men is a good proportion.
3 Gen. Hancock, in his testimony, says: " The shock of the attack fell upon the 2d and 3d Divisions of the 2d Corps, assisted by a small Brigade of Vermont troops, together with the artillery of our line; these were the troops that really met the assault. No doubt there were other troops that fired a little, but these were the troops that really withstood the shock of the assault and repulsed it. The attack of the enemy was met by about six Brigades of our troops, and was finally repulsed after a terrific contest at very close quarters, in which our troops took about thirty or forty colors and some four or five thousand prisoners, with great loss to the enemy in killed and wounded. The repulse was a most signal one, and decided the battle.". Good enough for our Division!
25
LEAVING, AND RETURNING
went off over the hill, " I'd like to try that over again !" Well, the 14th would have been willing. What a happy night you spent here, albeit the cries of the wounded in their agonies, 'way in your front, smote your hearts with pain ! And what a glorious "Inde- pendence Day" dawned upon you here the next morning ! 'Tis true you apprehended another attack, and you built anew your shattered wall, rather desirous that it should come. But your foe was too wise; he had received too bitter a lesson to be willing to renew his former attempt. You tarried here until the 5th,1 during which day some of you were among the details to bury the dead, -those vast hecatombs slain at the altar of Mars in the interest of a wicked and cruel rebellion !- and then you left Gettysburg to return to it no more until now.
But Gettysburg has lived in your memories and conversation all the intervening years, and now you come to see" it once more and bid it a final good-bye. You once more look on the fields and posi- tions that have been pictured in your memories, upon this wall that has almost a sacred significance to you, and the old thrill comes back to you; and you will carry away that thrill with you and keep it- aye, forever !
You place here where you stood, by battle's tide begirt, on Gettys- burg's immortal day, your historic and symbolic Monument, -pur- chased largely3 by the contributions of you who are poor, and poor because you gave your best days and best strength to save your nation from disruption. Your stone is not mortuary, but historic; not reared in honor of only those who fell here or fought here, but to commemorate the regiment and its history as a whole. Its granite substance felt the shock of the battle which you helped make a vic- tory for the Union, and its base will hold for you through ages the position you held. Its upper base will give to passers by your Regi- mental designation, of which you can never be ashamed, and the commands you were connected with. One of its tablets will tell,
1 The 2d Corps moved in the afternoon of the 5th July, and at evening, as our Diary shows, " bivouacked near Two Taverns, on the Baltimore pike.'
: Our men had not "seen " Gettysburg itself, except from the skirmish line, nor ever entered it, until the visit in 1884. The town was more than one-half mile from our position on the ridge, and was hidden from our view there.
3 About one-fourth of the money raised for the Monument was con- tributed by interested friends of the Fourteenth in Middletown, New Britain, and Rockville.
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THE MONUMENT WILL HOLD THE POSITION.
in epitome, your history, with your numbers, your losses, and the great battles you fought in set forth: and the other will tell what you did here on this world-renowned field. Its finial is the badge of the grand old Corps with whose work and fortunes you were con- nected during all your army service-the symbolic trefoil, which you so delight in still. Its polished sides will flash in the sight of passers on distant roads, and here on the line denominated the "High- water mark of the Rebellion "1 will help indicate where the highest, mightiest surge of the slave-holders' Rebellion was shattered and overcome at the stern front of the 2d Army Corps; while the legends on your shaft will show that you, my comrades, men of the 14th Conn., were a part of the living bulwark that broke it.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT
A Monument on the Gettysburg field should be durable. We wished that ours should be massive, simple, and expressive. Its durability is vouched for in its material; its massiveness appears in its dimensions and weight; its simplicity in its lines, most of which are right lines, and its surfaces, most of which are planes; its expres- siveness in its location, its every inscription, and its prominent sym- bolic finial.
The Monument is constructed of Gettysburg granite, quarried near the place of the Cavalry engagement at the right of the Union army. The stone is fine and dense of construction, and handsomely marked.
The base is five feet eight inches square and fifteen inches high, the sides being rock (or "rustic ") dressed. On the wash is cut: "Left Centre of Regiment." The upper base is four feet square by two and one-fourth feet high. On the east side is cut in large letters: " 14th Conn." -- on the south side, "2d Brig."-on the north side, "3d Div."-on the west side, "2d A. C." The Die is three feet square by four feet high. On the east and west faces are tablets, each twenty-two by twenty-six inches, having regimental historic inscrip- tions (see page 29). The tablets are of White Bronze, manufac- tured in Bridgeport, Conn. Their blueish gray surfaces have a harmonious and pleasing effect in conjunction with the granite
1 Longstreet admitted the appropriateness of the expression-that after the Confederates' repulse at this place their fortunes, which until then seemed constantly rising, steadily declined.
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DESCRIPTION OF MONUMENT.
surfaces into which they are sunk. The cap-stone is thirteen and one-half inches high, and is surmounted by the trefoil, cut from granite. This is four inches thick, fourteen inches wide, and seven- teen inches high, and has polished sides. The height of the whole is ten feet, plus one half inch. The builder was Mr. J. W. Flaharty of Gettysburg, a comrade whose heart is enlisted in such work, and who is a capable, careful, and conscientious workman.
Many memorials erected on the field are simply, or chiefly, mor- tuary records. It seemed to us that our stone should be a historic record; as becoming the field, which is not a cemetery but a great battle-field park; and as becoming our regiment, which saw such an extensive service. This battle was but one of many great engagements in which the 14th participated and lost heavily. To put our full mortuary list on this one shaft would be impossible, while to put the casualty list of this one battle on a monument to the whole career of the regiment seemed not becoming.
If there is a great deal on the tablets, it is because the 14th had a great deal to put on them. There is not one item that is not signifi- cant, one thing the regiment could vish omitted.
The Monument and the wall by which it stands are conspicuous objects from all the field front-from along the Emmettsburg road, the fields beyond, the Bliss premises, and the Confederates' position far away. From the latter position our wall (the. Fourteenth's oren), seen rising in bow-like form sharply defined against the sky, its only background, appears, with the Monument towering above it, the most prominent part of the Union position between Cemetery Hill and Round Top. Viewing it from the rebel position, we can under- stand why the Confederate Commander-in-Chief selected it as the point for the concentration of his heaviest artillery fire.
CARE OF THE MONUMENT.
The Monument stands on ground now owned by the Gettysburg Battle-Field Memorial Association. "This Association was formed for the purpose of holding and preserving the battle-grounds of Gettysburg, with the natural and artificial defences thereof, as they were at the time of the battle, and to perpetuate the same, with such memorial structures as might be erected thereon in commemoration of the heroic deeds and achievements of the actors thereon." The
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CARE OF THE MONUMENT.
Association was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. It has "power to take and to hold, by gift, grant, devise, purchase or lease, such personal property and effects and all such portions of the battle-grounds as may be necessary, or conve- nient, to promote the object of its incorporation." The Association "holds the land in fee simple, and is charged with the care and pro- tection of memorials thereon." Severe penalties are enacted against any who shall "wilfully mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, column, statue, memorial structure, or work of art that shall be erected or placed upon the battle-ground held, or which shall be held, by the said Association; or shall wilfully destroy or remove any fence, railing, enclosure or other work for the protection or orna- ment of said battle-ground or any portion thereof." These penalties are extended against such as shall in any way "wilfully injure trees or shrubbery," "remove or destroy breast-works, earth-works, walls, or other defences or shelter constructed by the armies or any portion of the forces engaged in the battle of Gettysburg." A standing advertisement offering a reward for the detection of any persons doing injury to memorials, &c., upon the field is kept in the local news- papers. The Association rigidly refuses to permit any of the defences to be at all altered-not a stone to be taken away from our wall. The officers of the Battle-Field Association and the people of Gettys- burg are intensely interested in the object of the Association, and thoroughly enlisted in carrying out the protective provisions of the legislative enactments. The 14th may therefore rest assured that their Monument and their wall will be carefully protected, though they themselves are so far away from them.
The Battle-Field Association now holds, including Crawford's Glen now under its care, nearly three hundred acres of the old battle-field, embracing the most important positions occupied by the Union troops during the engagements of the 2d and 3d of July. An Avenue, nowhere less than sixty feet wide, "has been opened from Cemetery Hill along the line of battle as established July 2d and 3d, 1863, as far as to Little Round Top, a distance of about two miles." This Avenue is a favorite driving place, and all memorials erected along its course are brought immediately under the notice of those passing. Our wall forms the west boundary of this Avenue, along the position held by the 14th, so that our Monument stands directly upon its margin, about twelve or fifteen feet from the road, -a conspicuous object attracting the attention of all passing tourists.
The treasury of the Association is fed principally by appropriations
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INSCRIPTIONS.
of State Legislatures. Let us hope that Connecticut, a State that had so many gallant sons at the battle of Gettysburg, and whose regiments are placing costly memorials on the grounds of the Asso- ciation, will respond to an appeal which may yet be made, and furnish a liberal appropriation to further the patriotic and worthy objects of the Association.
INSCRIPTION ON EAST FACE OF MONUMENT, FRONTING THE TANEYTOWN ROAD.
THE 14TH CONN. VOL. INF. Left Connecticut August 25th, 1862. Was assigned to the Army of the Potomac Sept. 7th, 1862, And was mustered out May 31st, 1865. The Regiment was engaged in thirty-four great Battles and severe Skirmishes of the War,
Including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania. Petersburg, Cold Harbor, &c., To Appomattox. Loss in killed and died in the service, 366; in wounded and disabled, many hundreds, Original Muster, 1,015=Recruits, 697. Final Muster of original members, total present and absent, 234. PRO PATRIA. This Monument erected by the Survivors, July 3, 1884.
INSCRIPTION ON WEST FACE OF MONUMENT, FRONTING THE FIELD. THE 14TH C. V. Reached the vicinity of Gettysburg at evening, July Ist, 1863, And held this position July 2d, 3d and 4th. The Regiment took part in the Repulse of Longstreet's Grand Charge on the 3d, Capturing in their immediate front more than 200 Prisoners And five Battle Flags. They also, on the 3d, captured from the enemy's Sharp-Shooters the Bliss buildings in their far front, and held them Until ordered to burn them. Men in Action, 160. Killed and Wounded, 62. Total loss, 66.
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JULY, IS8.4.
Trip of the 14th C. V. to Gettysburg,
JULY 1-3, 1884. BY
COMRADE J. W. KNOWLTON.
At the reunion held in New London, September 16th, ISS2, Chaplain Stevens offered a resolution that a committee be raised to solicit subscriptions, to receive and examine designs, for a suitable monument to be erected at Gettysburg, on some part of the position held by the Fourteenth Regiment during the battle of July 2d and 3d, 1863, to commemorate the history of the regiment, and particu- larly its connection with the battle of Gettysburg.
The resolution was adopted with enthusiasm. The committee was appointed, and entered upon its duty with such zeal that at the next reunion, held in New Haven, September 17th, 1833, it was voted that the report of the committee be adopted, the committee con- tinued, and that the monument be unveiled at three o'clock in the afternoon of July 3d, 1884, the anniversary of Longstreet's historic charge, and the Fourteenth's immortal firmness and victory.
Under the authority thus conferred, sub-committees were appointed to contract for the monument, to arrange for transportation and for the care of the regiment while at Gettysburg, to prepare an order of exercises, and to collect the subscriptions which had been so freely made. By the first of May it was clear to the committee that every obstacle had been surmounted, and that there would be nothing to prevent the fulfillment of the project in every detail; and the com- rades of the regiment were informed of the fact, whereupon applica- tion for tickets and allotment to quarters in Gettysburg began to come in.
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١ ٥.عشر العين
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ON THE WING-AT GETTYSBURG AGAIN.
On Monday, June 30th, the excursionists turned their faces toward New York City, and on Tuesday morning at seven o'clock the regi- mental colors were unfurled in the Pennsylvania Depot in Jersey City, and as comrade after comrade arrived he was heartily greeted and supplied with a badge, than which none more honorable ever hung upon the breast of man, an emblem of heroism. Without confusion, places were secured in three luxurious cars assigned for the use of the party, and at eight o'clock the train moved out and on over the State of New Jersey, passing cities, villages, and fertile farms without stop; along the west bank of the Delaware with unabated speed, until Broad Street Station in Philadelphia was reached and more comrades joined the throng. While the long train stood in this vast station no breath of air tempered the midday heat, and Chase's "double-canned " brought no relief.
The beauty of the country through which " the best railroad in the world " passes, is proverbial, and every feature was enjoyed to the fullest. An hour at Harrisburg for dinner, and the long bridge over the Susquehannah was crossed, and soon the Cumberland Valley opened up in all its richness, reminding every comrade that less than fifty miles away lay the Mecca of the pilgrimage-as peaceful and as quiet as these vales in the slanting rays of this July sun. And this reminder led to the other thought, of another July evening, when, footsore, hot, and dusty, the Fourteenth was nearing Gettysburg to interpose a bulwark of flesh and blood, which should hurl back the tide of devastation that was rolling high and threatening to engulf the Nation in dire disaster. The song, the jest, the laughter ceased. Thoughtful, calm, and wistfully expectant, all watched the mile-posts as they passed, and then, the fruition of the hope of years! The Fourteenth was again at Gettysburg!
Warm words of welcome and hearty cheers were given by comrades of the Seventeenth Connecticut Vols. assembled at the station to receive their sister regiment. By a short march a square was reached, where many of the good people of the town were gathered to receive their alloted guests and to escort them to the several homes provided.
That evening in more than two score homes in Gettysburg, the story of the Fourteenth's years of service was told, and prayerful thanks were extended by the heads of families to their guests of to- day, -their defenders then. But these quiet heartlistones were not alone in doing honor to the visitors. An enthusiastic meeting of the Grand Army Post was held, and the comrades of the visiting regi- ments were made to feel that they were among friends indeed. At
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