Courage at Gettysburg
...on the left side of Hancock Avenue, stands one of the most impressive and moving monuments on the battlefield. It depicts a soldier running forward atop a high pedestal. The monument commemorates the attack by eight companies (262 men) of the First Minnesota against an entire Alabama brigade of 1,500 men. The First Minnesota had been in service longer than almost any other regiment in the Army of the Potomac. It had fought in nearly all of the battles since First Bull Run in July 1861, suffering some 260 killed and wounded before Gettysburg. There it would nearly double that total.
As the sun was setting on July 2, the First Minnesota was in line supporting an artillery battery (six guns) near the spot where the monument stands. Fragments of retreating Third Corps [Union] units streamed toward the rear while out of the haze of gunsmoke appeared a line of Alabama troops emerging from a thicket three hundred yards away. All other Union infantry in this sector had gone to the Wheatfield earlier. In a few minutes the Alabama brigade would breach this crucial position unless it was stopped. Hancock galloped up and shouted, My God! Are these all the men we have here?" Reinforcements were on the way, but they could not arrive for ten minutes. Hancock needed to buy that much time, even if it cost every man in the regiment. Turning to Colonial William Colvill, Hancock pointed to the Alabamians and yelled, "Advance, Colonel, and take those colors."
Without hesitation, the 262 men fixed bayonets and began double-timing forward. "Every man realized in an instant what the order meant - death or wounds to us all," wrote Colvill, who was wounded in the attack, "and every man saw and accepted the necessity for the sacrifice." With a yell they tore into the Alabamians and bought Hancock his ten minutes and more. The Confederates made it no farther. Seventy Minnesotans didn't make it at all, and another 145 were wounded or missing. This casualty rate of 82 percent of those engaged was the highest of the war for any Union regiment in a single action.
James M. McPherson, Hallowed Ground: A Walk At Gettysburg. New York: Crown Publishers, 2003 The above passage appears on pages 86-87.
...on the left side of Hancock Avenue, stands one of the most impressive and moving monuments on the battlefield. It depicts a soldier running forward atop a high pedestal. The monument commemorates the attack by eight companies (262 men) of the First Minnesota against an entire Alabama brigade of 1,500 men. The First Minnesota had been in service longer than almost any other regiment in the Army of the Potomac. It had fought in nearly all of the battles since First Bull Run in July 1861, suffering some 260 killed and wounded before Gettysburg. There it would nearly double that total.
As the sun was setting on July 2, the First Minnesota was in line supporting an artillery battery (six guns) near the spot where the monument stands. Fragments of retreating Third Corps [Union] units streamed toward the rear while out of the haze of gunsmoke appeared a line of Alabama troops emerging from a thicket three hundred yards away. All other Union infantry in this sector had gone to the Wheatfield earlier. In a few minutes the Alabama brigade would breach this crucial position unless it was stopped. Hancock galloped up and shouted, My God! Are these all the men we have here?" Reinforcements were on the way, but they could not arrive for ten minutes. Hancock needed to buy that much time, even if it cost every man in the regiment. Turning to Colonial William Colvill, Hancock pointed to the Alabamians and yelled, "Advance, Colonel, and take those colors."
Without hesitation, the 262 men fixed bayonets and began double-timing forward. "Every man realized in an instant what the order meant - death or wounds to us all," wrote Colvill, who was wounded in the attack, "and every man saw and accepted the necessity for the sacrifice." With a yell they tore into the Alabamians and bought Hancock his ten minutes and more. The Confederates made it no farther. Seventy Minnesotans didn't make it at all, and another 145 were wounded or missing. This casualty rate of 82 percent of those engaged was the highest of the war for any Union regiment in a single action.
James M. McPherson, Hallowed Ground: A Walk At Gettysburg. New York: Crown Publishers, 2003 The above passage appears on pages 86-87.
