The Last Full Measure

Since Larry and I visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania earlier this week it seemed appropriate to post these pictures on Memorial Day in remembrance of all those who have given "the last full measure of devotion".

I've selected one of the many moments that occurred on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863 which exemplify Abraham Lincoln's sentiment.
On the first day of the battle, Confederate troops drove the Union forces from their initial positions to the northwest and north of Gettysburg, back through the town and onto Cemetery Hill.  On the second day, Robert E Lee directed General Longstreet to lead an assault against the Union Army's left flank in order to roll it up and approach Cemetery Ridge and Hill from the south.  Longstreet launched the attack around 3:30 on the afternoon of July 2.


By early evening the two armies had been engaged in fearsome combat for four hours during which 17,000 men were killed or wounded at places like The Peach Orchard, The Wheatfield, Devil's Den and Little Round Top.  Federal troops had finally been swept from The Orchard and Wheatfield and there was disarray on the Union side north of Little Round Top where the Federals still held on.

As the sun neared the horizon, the 1,600 Alabamians of Wilcox's Brigade attacked the south end of Cemetery Ridge.  Union Corps Commander Winfield Scott Hancock (who would be seriously wounded the next day) had only one regiment available to block the advance, the 1st Minnesota with 262 men.  More than anything, Hancock needed to buy time to bring up reinforcements or the Confederates might swarm over the ridge with potentially calamitous results for the Union. Minutes counted.

The 1st Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, was the first voluntary regiment tendered up to President Lincoln in response to his call for 75,000 volunteers in 1861.  The regiment had already seen action at Bull Run, Seven Days, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

Hancock rode up to the regiment and its commander, William Colvill, and asked "Colonel, do you see those colors?" pointing out the rebel flags.  Colvill said he did and Hancock ordered "Then take them".  Colvill and his men, outnumbered five to one, had to know it was an impossible objective.  Nonetheless, the Minnesotans fixed bayonets and charged.  Wilcox later wrote that just as Cemetery Ridge seemed within his grasp a "line of infantry descended the slope in our front at a double-quick".  It was the 1st Minnesota.  In the next few minutes somewhere between 178 and 217 of the 1st Minnesota's men were killed or wounded - but the Confederates were stopped and the crisis was averted - for that day.  Colonel Colvill was wounded three times and walked with a cane for the rest of his life.  The regiment's Lt Colonel, Major and all but three of the captains also became casualties with command devolving to one of the survivors, Captain Nathan Messick.(1st  Minnesota Monument)

The picture below is taken from the spot on Cemetery Ridge very close to where Pickett's charge briefly breached the Union lines on the following day in the final crisis of the battle.  To the left of the tallest monument is a large domed monument and it is from approximately that location that the 1st Minnesota started its charge moving towards the trees on the right side of the picture.  But July 2 was not to be the end of action for the regiment at Gettysburg.

 On July 3, the regiment was asked to give more, for on that day they were stationed in the area where this picture was taken from and ended up helping to repulse Pickett's charge. In doing so the regiment suffered a further 17 men killed or wounded, including its acting commander, Captain Messick.  When he died, command fell to Captain Farrell who a few moments later was mortally wounded with command ultimately falling to Captain Henry Oates, the only captain left alive and unwounded.

The picture below is taken at the angle of the wall where the brunt of Pickett's charge fell and the breach of the Union line occurred.

Two soldiers from the regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions on those days, Corporal Henry O'Brien and Private Marshall Sherman.  On July 3, the regiment captured the battle flag of the 28th Virginia, which remains in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society to this day.

Memorial Day (then called Decoration Day) was first widely observed (in the Northern states) in 1868 as a memorial for the Union war dead.

For a book that eloquently conveys "the last full measure of devotion" I recommend you read Eugene Sledge's account of his Marine service in WWII in the invasions of Peleliu and Okinawa, With The Old Breed.