|
The
Last Full Measure
by Keith Rocco
1st
Minnesota Regiment at Gettysburg
Image
size: 24 in. by 17¼ in.
500 signed and numbered Fine
Art Prints UK Price £115 (US Price $150.00 )
A secure order form is available on this link:
secure
order form
General
Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the Union Second Corps was
trying to avert a disaster on the Union center. The exposed Third
Corps was overrun and fleeing the battlefield, with the victorious
Confederates in pursuit. This breakthrough opened an avenue to the
Union rear that threatened the whole army. Hancock needed men to
buy him time to bring reinforcements up to plug the gap in the
Federal line. The general observed a body of men lying in a slight
hollow, just behind the crest of Cemetery Ridge, to the left of
the cemetery. He spurred his horse to this position.
Hancock
spied Colonel William Colvill’s 1st Minnesota Infantry, 1st
brigade, 2nd division, Second Corps. These men were in reserve,
but they had been watching the battle unfold through the dense
clouds of gunsmoke that clung to the ground on this sultry summer
day. The 1st Minnesota was understrength, shouldering but 262
muskets this day. The regiment had been bloodied on every field,
from First Bull Run through Chancellorsville, and was further
weakened by detachments. This single, undermanned regiment was the
only Union force at hand.
“My
God!” exclaimed Hancock when he saw them, “Are these all the
men we have here! What regiment is this?”he demanded. “First
Minnesota,” replied Colvill. “Charge those lines,” Hancock
ordered, pointing in the direction of the Peach Orchard and Plum
Run.
Hancock
and Colvill looked at each other, Hancock knowing what he had
ordered and Colvill realizing both the necessity and the grim
implications of it.
|
“Forward,
double-quick,” Colvill barked to his men. With bayonets fixed,
and rifles at right-shoulder shift, the 1st Minnesota charged down
the slope toward Cadmus Wilcox’s Confederate brigade, which was
then reforming its lines in the marshy terrain along Plum Run.
The
Minnesotans advanced along a hundred yard front, with both flanks
in the air. Losing men at every step, they continued forward. As
the Federals neared the enemy, they leveled their bayonets and
charged. The ferocity of this assault stunned the Confederates,
driving back the first line of defenders, staggering their
advance. Then, as both lines steadied, they exchanged volleys at a
distance of thirty yards. Though his line continued to melt away,
Colvill’s Minnesotans traded their lives for the precious
minutes Hancock required.
In
just fifteen minutes it was over. Only 47 men, commanded by a
sergeant, rallied to the 1st Minnesota’s banner. Two hundred
fifteen of their comrades, all of their officers, including
Colvill, lay on the field.
|
