4 Responses to Veteran’s Day Quotations

1. pino says:

   Friday, November 11, 2011 at 21:40

   The story of Col. William Colvill and the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry is too well known to need extended repetition. When President Lincoln called for volunteers to prevent the dissolution of the Union, this was the first regiment offered. It gave valiant service upon many a resolutely contested field, but its most conspicuous record was made at Gettysburg on the second day of that decisive battle. When the forces under the command of General Sickles advanced into action a little after noon, the First Regiment, of which only eight companies were present, numbering 262 men, took the position they vacated. The overwhelming forces of the Confederates under Longstreet and Hill repulsed and drove back the command of General Sickles and were advancing on the left flank of the Union Army, which was in grave danger of being rolled up in defeat. It was at this juncture that General Hancock ordered this depleted regiment to charge the advancing Confederates.

   The gallant First Minnesota, led by Colonel Colvill, at once responded with an impetuosity that broke the first and second line of the enemy and stopped the advance. When the action was over but 47 men of the 262 who began the charge were still in line. The remaining 215 lay dead or wounded on the field. In all the history of warfare this charge has few, if any, equals and no superiors. It was an exhibition of the most exalted heroism against an apparently insuperable antagonist. By holding the Confederate forces in check until other reserves came up, it probably saved the Union Army from defeat. What that defeat would have meant to the North no one can tell. Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and the whole heart of the North would have been open to invasion, and perhaps the Union cause would have been lost. So far as human judgment can determine, Colonel Colvill and those eight companies of the First Minnesota are entitled to rank as the saviors of their country.

   Reply
   • Sean Patrick Hazlett says:

     Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 22:32

     One of my ancestors graduated with Picket from West Point, and was killed by a Confederate bullet on Little Round Top. He even has his own monument there.

     Reply
     • orthovoxwritings says:

       Monday, November 14, 2011 at 07:52

       Was your ancestor in the 16th Michigan, the 44th New York, the 83rd Pennsylvania, or the 20th (augmented by the 2nd) Maine?

       “The word was enough. It ran like fire along the line, from man to man, and rose into a shout, with which they sprang forward upon the enemy, now not 30 yards away.”
       Joshua Chamberlain
       http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joshua_chamberlain.html

       I learned more that I had not know before here: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-history-articles/defense-of-little-round-top.html

       Reply
       • Sean Patrick Hazlett says:

         Monday, November 14, 2011 at 09:55

         I had ~23 ancestors (or at least folks with some variant of my last name), so it is possible that my family had representation in all three units. That said, the ancestor I am speaking of was Lieutenant Charles E. Hazlett, who commanded Battery D, 5th US Artillery. He is not in my direct line, but is kind of a distant cousin.

         Reply

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