Chapter 13 – Charge of the 1st Minnesota – Day 2
Chapter 12 – This poem, Charge of 1st Minnesota, focuses on how this regiment, led by Colonel Colvill
Union General Sickles
Took his III Corps fleeting
Out to the Peach Orchard
Commanding General Meade was seething
Sickles offered to Meade
To bring his men back
But rebels were already upon them
They must brace for the attack
III Corps had orders to guard
Where the Center Line wound
From Cemetery Ridge crest
Down to that Little Top Round
Now the III Corps stretched too thin
So, on their right flank grew
A widening gap between them
And General Hancock’s Corps II
Sickles’ men were taking a beating
Retreating in disarray
Sickles himself had lost a leg
Not going at all well today
For Confederate Rebels
Were on an offensive quest
To seize the undefended opening
On Cemetery Ridge Crest
This could be disastrous
For the Union line would split
Right down the middle
Whole battle they could lose it
Reinforcements were coming
Hancock needed ten minutes at least five
He looked around for soldiers to fight
Until more fresh troops arrived
Everything was in chaos
Smoke filled the air
Musket balls streaming
Soon Anderson’s brigades would be there
Hancock rode upon some soldiers
Already with fixed bayonets drawn
Guarding Battery C 4th US Artillery
He desperately needing their brawn
Hancock asked Colonel Colvill
In the moment of battle worst
“What regiment is this?”
Colvill replied, “Minnesota’s First!”
“Is this all the men we have?”
So few were the soldiers blue
Colonel Colvill replied
“We are now only two hundred-sixty two”
There was no alternative
Hancock the Superb
Ordered them to charge
That day at Gettysburg
“Advance Colonel, and take those colors!”
All knew their situation
They had just been ordered
On a suicide mission
But without hesitation
They descended towards Plum Run
Bayonets blazing flashing
Outnumbered more than three to one
They staggered the Alabamians
Stopped them in their tracks
Loading and firing and falling
Time now to give it back
But there were too many
Enveloped soon in gray
Still they needed to keep fighting
To keep the rebels at bay
Retreating was not an option
They desperately needed more time
To thwart General Cadmus Wilcox’ men
And save the Union line
Bayonets clashed with bayonets
Rebel yells did scream
Blood gushed and flowed
Forming a rippling reddish stream
Hancock stared in disbelief
He thought they’d last five minutes maybe ten
Still fighting like wild tigers
“These are mighty Minnesotan men”
Hancock then sent orders
The job for them was done
82nd NY reinforcements had arrived
Fall back from Plum Run
Forty-seven finally made their way
Carrying the wounded on their backs
Back to the Union Center Line
They had stopped the Rebel attack
Thermopylae brave heroes
1st Minnesota saved the line
These brave soldiers didn’t die in vain
For they had bought the Union precious time
