" Let it be our bounded duty and work, to bind up the wounds and build up the waste of war. God has softened the hearts of those who here on both sides fought with heroic valor."
Bvt. Brig. Gen. William Noble
Gettysburg, Pensylvania - July 1, 1884

17th

 

CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS

 

AT

 

GETTYSBURG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 30th, and July 1st, 2d and 3d,

 

1884

 

 

 

 

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.

THE STANDARD ASSOCIATION PRINTERS

1884

 

 

 

 

 

MEMORIAL TABLET COMMITTEE.

 

 

Chairman.

Col. HENRY ALLEN.

 

Secretary,

GEORGE W. KEELER.

 

Treasurer,

SERGT. PATRICK WADE, JR.

 

 

LIEUT. R. LORENZO ELLS,

SERGT. GEORGE A. SCOFIELD,

PRIVATE GEORGE S. PURDY,

CAPT. HENRY P. BURR,

LIEUT. WILLIAM A. KELLOGG,

PRIVATE PHINEAS C. LOUNSBURY,

PRIVATE LEVI DIXON,

SERGT. WILLIAM A. BAKER,

SERGT. ROBERT M. WILCOX,

LIEUT. WILLIAM S. KNAPP,

HON. A. H. BYINGTON.

 

Chairman of Executive Committee,

GEN. W. H. NOBLE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE GETTYSBURG EXCURSION

 

OF THE

 

SEVENTEENTH CONN. VOLUNTEERS.

 

THE MEET.

 

As early as half-past nine on the morning of Monday, June 30th, 1884, the Gettysburg excursionists began to assemble at the depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Jersey City, and each arriving ferry boat continued to add to the number, until by half-past ten there were at least fifty persons in waiting. Colonel Allen and Secretary Keeler appeared with the colors and guidons of the Association, and were met by Mr. L. P. Farmer, the New England Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Mr. J. F. Markley, a special agent of the same, who quickly opened the sale of tickets and guided the party to the special train which was in waiting. Gradually the party increased until half-past eleven, when the steamer Harlem, from Norwalk, arrived, adding a good one hundred, and at once insuring success so far as numbers were concerned.

The train as made up consisted of two Pullman drawing room cars, four passenger coaches and an eating car, where hot coffee, sandwiches, pie, etc., were served en route. The card were comfortably filled, there being over two hundred persons upon the train when it left the depot. The cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company probably excel those of any other road in the country. They are finished in light wood, nicely upholstered and thoroughly ventilated. There was plenty of room and each passenger seemed pleasantly located, when at 12.20 Mr. Farmer inquired of Col. Allen if all was ready, and being replied to affirmatively, at once gave the signal to start, and the Gettysburg excursion began.

THE JOURNEY.

Quickly sped the train through the thrifty towns and cities of New Jersey, until at half-past two o'clock, we are at the railroad crossing at Philadelphia, near the old Centennial grounds. Here we find a car containing members of the 27th Pennsylvania Volunteers and their ladies, which is attached to our train, and with no unnecessary delay we are soon again speeding our way to Harrisburg. And now begins the admiration of those who are inclined to agriculture. Large farms, under excellent cultivation, denote the fertility of the soil and the thrift of the Pennsylvania farmer. Fields of rich grass and golden grain nod their heads at the flying train and its occupants only have time to exclaim, "what a funny barn," when, whiz-z we fly past an iron foundry or rolling mill and when the novelty of the sight has ceased to attract constant attention the company settle down to "talk." Gettysburg is the subject of conversation, and it is one which will never be exhausted nor cease to be interesting. Roughly and hastily drawn sketches are brought into requisition as one veteran endeavors to explain to another the "position on the first day." "Do you remember poor------?" "Yes, I saw him when he was hit and I helped him to get to the barn." Here is where you get the accurate account as regards the fight where these men fought. They do not pretend to know all about the entire battle of three days' duration, but they do know what they saw. Old army stories are burnished up and sound as fresh as when first told, years ago. Seats are turned over and "groups of four" are formed, and one simply wants to gaze upon one of those "groups" to immediately "guess" what is going on. For instance, Captain McQuhae has Captain Wood and Lieutenant Mills for an audience, and he is explaining to them how he and Captains McCarty and Allen prevented the Chaplain and Doctor Gregory from cutting down Colonel Noble's tent on Folly Island, one night. Captain Kellogg and Lieutenant "D" Peck, (so called to distinguish him from Lieutenant Peck of Company I,) are trying to settle the cause of the "smoke in their tent" on Folly Island. Plenty of time to talk, so all took a hand. Sergeant Patrick Wade and Fred McKay, together with other members of George Ruggles' "Sunday-School," make their teacher the subject of their long and frequent chats. "Poor George!" how many times that was repeated on the trip, and how much it expressed. The name of George Ruggles will be remembered as long as the Seventeenth Regiment is thought of. If you get a good opportunity ask Wade to tell you about that train of cars which Ruggles and Allen were running once. Up in the corner of the car you will find the genial Tom McCorkell telling how "he put Colonel Wilcoxson in arrest once." The jolly Paddy Ford, of Company A, is brought to mind by the "half-assht foive" of Tim Donovan. Sergeant Loomis, of Company F, tells of Keyser, "our Bill," on the muster roll, William K. Keyser. On a march to Volusia, Florida, once, night was approaching and the Seventeenth Regiment was cross; "cross all the way through." Colonel Noble was riding near the right of Company "F," when "our Bill," spied him, remarking at once "I wish I was in my father's barn!" The Colonel looked at Keyser and said: "Tut, tut! what do you make that wish for?" "Why, I'd go into the house darned quick." This reader, is a specimen of what is going on in every car, and time passes so pleasantly and swiftly, that before we realize the fact, it is 6.25 and we are at Harrisburg. The train containing the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York Excursion has just left for Gettysburg as our train rolls into the station. Mr. Markley says "twenty-five minutes here," and instantly all hands are out of the cars taking a stroll upon the platform. Comrades Huss and Keeler tell Wade who has been suffering with rheumatism that "there is a Bridgeport man wants to see you," and in this way Sergeant Patrick Wade, Jr., of Company K, is brought out of the car and instantly surrounded by his friends, that means the entire party, and is confronted by the Chaplain who appropriately presented a handsome gold badge, very prettily prefaced with allusions to the great interest which Treasurer Wade had always taken in the Association of the Seventeenth Connecticut, and to this meritorious service during the dark days of war. The speech was followed by three cheers for "Wadey" and then he waded in. He spoke of the feelings of his heart, manifested much pride at the gift, and felt so good that he offered to take a "side hold" with Sergeant John Porter, spite of rheumatic ankle. He closed by inviting the Seventeenth Association to hold their Sixty-third Reunion at his house.

All aboard and away we start for Carlisle and Gettysburg. The old Government barracks at Carlisle are now used as a training school for Indian children, and the committee were inclined to make a stop here long enough to allow the excursionists to visit the school, but the stop would have been the cause of great delay, as we would not have been able to make connections with the train on the Cumberland Valley road.

A sunset in the Cumberland Valley is worth seeing at any time, but taken with the beautiful mountain scenery witnessed from our moving train, it called forth the remark, "that sight is worth the cost of the trip," from more than one of the party. It was simply grand.

The train is slowing up and we hear the discharge of cannon and cheers of the citizens which tells us that Gettysburg is reached. It takes but a few minutes to unload, and although the hotel is but half a block away, yet here we find the Grand Army boys with torches and a band of music.

 

AT GETTYSBURG.

There was some little delay upon arrival at the hotel, in securing rooms, notwithstanding names had been sent on several days in advance, but the sudden appearance of two hundred people, each one demanding their room instantly was a partial excuse. Every one was soon provided for without any trouble, many securing accommodations in private families, which, to judge from reports, was the means of forming some very pleasant acquaintances. Supper was eaten and in spite of their long day's journey and the late hour, several of the Seventeenth boys started out to find Cemetery Hill and "get their bearings" before they slept.

On the morning of July 1st, the streets were early filled with excursionists, all of whom seemed refreshed by their nights rest and ready for a day of sight-seeing. The soldiers were searching for a particular barn, house, or church, where they were treated when they were wounded at the time of the battle, and many of them had visited the scene of the engagements on the first day, before they ate their breakfast.

At 8.45 A.M. the ladies were placed in carriages and sent out to "Barlow's Knoll," where the exercises were to take place. A stand large enough to accommodate one hundred persons had been erected and covered to protect the occupants from the hot sun; a barrel of ice water also being provided. These arrangements were made by the committee three months previous, and Comrade W. H. Curtis, of Company C, to whom the contract for furnishing the Tablet was given, went to Gettysburg about June 22d, and personally attended to all details.

Promptly at 9.15 A. M. the line was formed in front of the Eagle Hotel, and at 9.25 all was in readiness to march for the battle-field, in the following order:

 

Gen. J. M.Brown, Grand marshal.

Lieut. C. E. Doty, Aide.

Private John E. Beck, Orderly, carrying Headquarters Flag of

"Ames Brigade."

Warwick Band.

One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Regiment New York Volunteers.

Twenty-Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.

New Oxford Band.

Col. Henry Allen, commanding Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers.

George W. Keeler, Adjutant.

Sergt. Selah G. Blakeman, Adjutant.

Rev. W. k. Hall, Chaplain.

Memorial Tablet Committee.

Lieut. R. L. Ells, Sergt. Patrick Wade, Jr., Capt. H. P. Burr, Private George S. Purdy, Sergt. G. W. Scofield, Private Levi Dixon, Private Phineas C. Lounsbury, Lieut. W. A. Kellogg, Lieut. W. S. Knapp, and Hon. A. H. Byington.

First Company, Capt. Enos Kellogg.

Second Company, Capt. John McQuhae, Jr.

Third Company, Capt. James E. Hubbell,

Fourth Company, Capt. Enoch Wood.

Right General Guide, Master J. W. Nichols.

Left General Guide, Master Max Huss.

GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION IN CARRIAGES.

Hon. D. A. Buehler, Vice-President; Col. J. B. Bachelder,

Superintendent, &c.; Hon. J. M. Krauth, Secretary; Col.

Charles H. Buehler, J. Lawrence Schick, Treasurer;

Sergt. N. G. Wilson, Charles Horner, M. D.,

Maj. Robert Bell, and Sergt. W. D. Holtzworth.

 

Upon the march to the scene of the exercises, Gen. Brown halted the column for rest, at a point near the Poor House, which brought the Seventeenth Association directly at the field where they first halted and formed, on the right of the road, on the first day of July, 1863. It was at this point that the four Companies (F, K, B and A), were detached as skirmishers. At ten o'clock, the head of the column reached the top of "Barlow's Knoll." The "steel piece" of the Grand Army Post belched forth a salute, the escort halted and the veterans of the "old Seventeenth" marched up to and formed around the Tablet. It was an imposing sight, there being about seven hundred people congregated in the neighborhood, all of whom closed up to the stand and remained attentive witnesses to the ceremonies, notwithstanding the severe heat of the day.

Gen. W. H. Noble, presided, and, after music by the band, announced the opening exercises of the day with

Prayer, by Rev. W. K. Hall, D.D., Chaplain Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers.

 

Almighty God, Ruler of Nations, Arbiter of battles, we bow before Thee in grateful acknowledgment of Thy mercies to our country. We thank Thee for the victory that crowned our arms on this field of strife whereby the Union of these States was secured and the institutions of Liberty bequeathed by our fathers were preserved. We thank Thee for the noble examples of valor and heroism that were here given and which make this ground so sacred to us. And we pray that a fresh inspiration of loyalty to duty and to country may come to us from the memories which these scenes and these associations revive. May the spirit of self-sacrifice be engraven deeper upon our hearts and our lives.

We beseech Thee to regard in Thy tender mercy and kindness those whose beloved ones here fell, and who realize afresh their great loss, because of this memorial service in which we are here engaged. Bless the widow and the fatherless. We pray for our whole land, for its continued peace and prosperity. May it be exhalted by righteousness. May Religion and Education everywhere over its vast area flourish. May truth triumph. May the right prevail.

Pardon our sins, and be pleased to accept us and bless us in this holy work we now perform. And to Thy Name be all the Praise. AMEN.

 

Col. Henry Allen, Chairman of the Memorial Tablet Committee, then presented the Tablet to the Association in the following address:

 

ADDRESS OF COL. HENRY ALLEN.

 

General Noble:

At the last annual re-union of the surviving members of the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers, a committee was appointed under a resolution to "provide for the erection of a Monument upon the battlefield of Gettysburg." The resolution was somewhat brief and inexplicit, yet your committee feel that they properly sensed the intention of the Association.

Of that committee, sir, I had the honor of being chairman, and in that capacity it devolves upon me to-day to present to you and through you to the members of the Association, a Memorial Tablet, hewn and carved from the granite of our mother State, its adamantine solidity being emblematical of the firm loyalty of her sons. We have caused it to be erected upon this spot to evidence the fact that twenty-one years ago, upon this great battle-field, thirty-five loyal sons of dear old Connecticut-and our gallant comrades of the Seventeenth Regiment-gave their lives for the preservation of the best and grandest government upon the face of God's earth. (Applause). Sir, it was the proud privilege of the immortal Andrew Jackson to proclaim the sentiment "The Federal Union, it must be preserved!" It is the proud privilege of these illustrious spirits, looking down from their Heavenly home to join with their living, Union-loving comrades throughout this broad land and proclaim "it was preserved." (Applause).

Their's was a glorious death:

"Died on the field of battle,

'Tis noble thus to die;

God smiles on valiant soldiers,

Their record is on high."

 

On behalf of the committee I would say, that if the result of their efforts shall prove entirely satisfactory to their comrades, then we have consumated the highest desire of our hearts.

It only remains to disclose to view the Memorial Tablet of the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers."

 

At a signal given, the two flags covering the Tablet were removed by Miss Minnie Moore, daughter of the late Capt. James E. Moore, who fell on this spot during the battle of July 1st, 1863, and Miss Fannie Noble, a daughter of Gen. W. H. Noble, while a large national ensign was drawn to the top of a thirty-six foot pole erected near the Tablet. At the same time one gun was fired from the cannon of the Corporal Skelly Post, G.A.R., and the band played the Star Spangled Banner, amid great applause.

As Chairman of the Executive Committee, Gen. Noble then accepted of the Tablet in the following speech:

 

ADDRESS OF GEN. WM. H. NOBLE.

"Colonel Allen:

In behalf of the Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment I accept with pride and pleasure from your gallant Committee, this superb memorial to our brethren who fell, here, and on this battle-field.

To your full hearted and zealous work we owe not only this chaste and fitting monument, but this good assembly of patriotic citizens and comrades in arms, among whom we greet with fond remembrance the Twenty-Seventh and One Hundred and Fifty-Third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth New York, the Adjutant-General of the old Second Brigade, Gen. J. Marshall Brown of Portland, Maine, who while with us and afterwards in command of his regiment so distinguished himself in the Army of the Potomoc and General Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, our comrade in arms, whose distinguished career in and since service, we have all followed with pride.

The regiment will ever remember you and the associates of your committee as faithful ministers in this work of love.

In posture and expression this Monument is worthy of the heroes whose names these tablets immortalize, it is worthy of a regiment which never flinched from, and was always ready at the call of duty.

Standing on this knoll, it marks the spot, at or near which the regiment had their bitterest loss and struggle in the three days fight. Here, or near here, it gave to the enemy a resistance so staunch and vigorous, that the Confederate General Gordon in years after named to your Lieut.-Col. Allen, its plucky struggle against his fire and charge. Near here fell Lieut.-Col. Fowler and Capt. Moore and the most of those whose names are there enrolled.

Col. Fowler was a soldier, from the very first gun on Sumpter to his death. Capt. Moore was equally early and constant in the field, and besides a soldier in the Mexican war, and stormed up the heights of Chepultepee. All here enumerated, were gallant and true men.

But this is not merely a Regimental Monument. It is a part of the bed-rock of Connecticut, planted here, among her other Regimental Memorials, to immortalize her dead on this battle-field. It will forever stand as a worthy tribute of honor to that gallant little State, which sent us to the front, and put into the war 53,000 of her sons, near one half of her fighting men. It will too, link memory to that glorious old Fairfield County, which in thirty days from my commission as your Colonel, put more than one thousand of her sons into this her County Regiment, ready for the field.

Such memorials are deserved by those who here died for the Land and the Flag. Like all who here fought they builded better than they knew. They, and all here, faced death, that when victory dawned on the night and gloom of the dire struggle, the cry might ring along the lines, "our Flag is still there." What Gettysburg meant, for our country and the world in the logic of events, first rang out on this battle-field, in that grand Saxon sentence of Abraham Lincoln, "That under God and the people's will, the Nation should have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people should not perish from the earth."

War lives on a terrible sacrifice of life, and waste of substance. Yet greater evils can befall a people than the sacrifice of either upon the tented field. Though Peace hath her victories, she has her defeats a well. Blunder, often worse than crimes, are such. Blunders in public policy, a corrupt government upheld, places of trust and honor, put on the market to the highest bidder, a moral gangrene in public and private life, eating out and corrupting the hearts of men. Purity, public or private, hooted at as political or social prudery. All these are worse than "war, pestilence, and famine, battle, murder, or sudden death." They sap the foundation of human life and civilization, and drifts us back towards the cave-man.

From the arbitrament of this battle-field few at this day dissent. All over our wondrous country blue-coat and gray-back own and swear by that flag which from both its sides looks upon a people wholly free.

Let it be our bounded duty and work, to bind up the wounds and build up the waste of war. God has softened the hearts of those who here on both sides fought with heroic valor. All through the land a miracle of tender brotherhood, has made of this people in the silent years since Appomattox, a record of reconciliation and peace, of which no other nation has a history. Let the good work go on. By private effort and the Nation's treasury let us repair in all that makes a people, the desolations of the war.

But when the North and the South clasp hands in forgiving brotherhood over their dead in battle and swear in their souls fealty to the flag, they have not done all their duty. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." There are worse foes to this people than those in arms, against whom we must hold watch and ward.

Remember that there are castes, not of inheritance or color, there is bondage, not of chains or the slave-whip. There are princes and potentates with no generations of ancestry. There are kings and barons, besides those who hold their power by the bayonet or the bullet. There are monarchs and ministers, Richelieus and Bismarks, in the money marts, and among the industries of men. Such handle the appliances of civilization, and control, and sap and siphon, the stores of honest toil and capital to their own hoards. There is repine on the exchange, there is plunder in the stock-boards, and in stock issues. Those who engineer all this machinery of greed and power, and their abettors, having a conquering purpose and a sway of more dire portent to our future, than armed array. Victories or defeats in the struggle with these foes, are bloodless, but they are followed either by more blessed, or more disastrous results, than either defeats or victories in arms.

Such, and their followers, and all who hunger and thirst after riches to the neglect of duties social or political, all who use the machinery of civilized life and public trusts, to glut their greed of wealth, are neither "of the Kingdom of Heaven," nor do they make a Nation. Neither here nor any where on earth has a nation stood and lasted on any such flimsy bed-rock. A nation can only ride and live on the stamina and broad foundation of the whole people. It was the common people of this land, that made the nation, or saved it, and only they will keep it, livin down the ages, the glory of humanity, the grand achievement of the world, "a nation of the people and by the people and for the people."

 

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