fact, the kernels that had been trodden into the ground as a waste by the horses and mule teams, were eagerly sought after, and, upon being washed and roasted, it was eaten with a relish and in a slight degree served to appease their ravenous hunger; indeed, the suffering here endured for want of ordinary food will never be effaced from the memory of those who participated in these memorable privations, the severity of which are made more apparent when you reflect that eleven crackers in seven days were the allotted portion as falling to some of the men during these trying marches.

The defeat of General Banks' troops made it necessary to retrace our steps. Returning to Petersburg, knapsacks were left, 'and the march immediately resumed. Moving rapidly onward through Moorefield and Wardensville, the rear of General Jackson's forces were encountered at Strasburg, when a short engagement took place, resulting in but few casualties.

The bridge at Mount Jackson having been destroyed by the retreating foe, our onward march was somewhat delayed, but on the 6th day of June, 1862, the column was enabled to move towards Harrisonburg, and two days later, or June 8th, the regiment was engaged at Cross Keys, where it received its baptismal fire. After this action the army moved to Mount Jackson. Here Major General Carl Schurz succeeded General Louis Blenker in command of the division, and General Frans Sigel attained to General John C. Fremont's command. The army being here reorganized, the Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania was assigned to the Second brigade, Third division, First corps, Army of Virginia. It participated in all the movements of the Army of Northern Virginia, from Mount Jackson, July 6, 1862, through Middletown, Front Royal and Luray, crossing the Blue Ridge through Thornton's Gap, and moving onward, August 8th, to Culpepper Court House on the occasion of the battle at Cedar Mountain, thence to the Rappahannock via Culpepper, and which general movement finally culminated in the second battle of Bull Run, August 29 and 30, 1862, in which the regiment took a most conspicuous part, gallantly charging the enemy against greatly superior numbers, and fighting under a most destructive fire until relieved by fresh troops when its supply of ammunition was almost exhausted. It was, without doubt, absolutely the last regiment that left the general field of battle, and crossed the Bull Run by wading through the stream. This was made necessary as the bridge had been burned in the night. It here sustained the loss of two officers and twenty-eight men in killed, and five officers and ninety-eight men wounded. Lieutenants William Froehlich and William Bowen were among the killed. Colonel Francis Mahler, Captain Rudolph Schwartz, Adjutant Theune and Lieutenants Ledig and Fromhagen were among the wounded. Of those conspicuous for coolness and courage, and deserving of especial honor, was Color Sergeant Robert Jordan, of company A, formerly an officer in the Schleswig-Holstein army. He fell gallantly bearing aloft the flag of his adopted country. Especial mention was, moreover, made in official reports of the

gallantry of Sergeants Charles Haserodt, of company A, color bearer; Eugene Wiegand and Jacob Maurer, of company B; John Emleben, who, though wounded, remained on the field and took the flag from the hands of Sergeant Jordan as he fell; Louis Mahler and Jacob Pauley, of company D; George Brueckmann, of company F; Henry Schnell, of company H, and Andrew Schmidt, of company I; also of Corporals Schweigert, Hanner, Abraham and Rosenthal, and Private Jacob Ullmann. The latter comrade we have the extreme pleasure of greeting here to-day, as a participant in these ceremonial exercises.

After the second battle of Bull Run the regiment remained in the defences about the capitol city of Washington, until November 1, 1862, when it advanced to Fairfax Court House, and thereafter participated in every general movement and action of the Army of the Potomac, including the march to Fredericksburg, the movement of General Burnside to Falmouth, when the army was so thoroughly "stuck in the mud" as to preclude the possibility of rendering an effective campaign; followed by the flank movement incident to the battle of Chancellorsville, and culminating with the grand marches northward, and the routing of Lee's army from the soil of Pennsylvania. The latter grand movement began on June 12, 1863, when the army marched from its camps, in the vicinity of Stafford Court House, Brooks Station, Falmouth, and, going northward, passed through Hartwood, Weaverville and Centreville. Crossing the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, on June 25th, it moved steadily onward through Middletown, Frederick City and Emmittsburg, finally reaching Gettysburg, on the morning of July 1, by way of the Taneytown road, after the most strenuous pursuit of a forced march of fourteen miles, with the marching column somewhat deflecting towards the Baltimore pike, and striking this highway near the southern approach to the town; the formation of the troops in marching order bringing the Second brigade of the Third division, Eleventh corps, in the advance for the day, with the Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania leading the marching column. Passing through the town the regiment took position in a field north of the village, and to the right of the Carlisle road, where it was almost immediately thrown into action, in which it was subjected to such an enfilading fire, inflicted on the part of two opposing rebel regiments, which in their aggregate strength more than thrice outnumbered its own complement of men, that within the brief space of fifteen to twenty-five minutes the regiment sustained the unprecedented loss of nearly seventy-five per cent. of its enlisted men, and more than fifty per cent. of its commissioned officers, out of the number actually engaged on the first day's battle line, and I unhesitatingly declare that this statement as to the regimental losses cannot be refuted by any one conversant with the actual facts in the premises. And it is therefore its proud claim that it here sustained a greater loss in the number of its killed and wounded, compared with those actually engaged in battle, than that incurred by any other regiment whose high laurels were achieved upon this pivotal field of carnage.

Among une officers killed during this day's conflict were Lieutenants Henry Hauschild and Louis Mahler. The former, having for some time been a resident of Gettysburg, was heartily greeted by his friends and neighbors as we rapidly moved forward through the town to take up our position in line of battle. First Lieutenant Wm. J. Sill was severely wounded and after suffering the amputation of one of his legs died on July 21st, in the field hospital. Captain Charles Saalmann, Lieutenants Jacob Maurer and John J. Brandt were of the wounded.

Colonel Francis Mahler, the gallant officer in command of the regiment, whose horse had been shot from under him during the earlier part of the action, and in falling heavily to the ground, caught the Colonel's left foot under it, by reason of which mishap he sustained a very painful injury, and who had, moreover, been twice wounded, the latter time mortally, while momentarily occupying a very exposed position in advance to that of the actual battle line, at a small gap off from the left of the regiment, whither he had, in a hobbling manner of walk, gone to sustain the now seriously threatened flank, was extricated from his perilous position by the personal efforts of your humble speaker and with great difficulty brought to the rear, after the retirement of our men from the actual line of battle. While in the serious predicament of this hazardous position we were both furthermore personally subjected to the direct fire of the enemy, then still comprising the opposing forces of the two aforesaid rebel regiments, which were then in closer proximity than ever, and moreover very steadily moving upon the location of our position. Many of the men leveled their guns; some of them, however, very graciously withdrew them, while others were still active in doling out their death dealing missiles, being evidently intent upon the continuance of a transmission of their rifle balls as a gentle reminder of their companionable greeting and soldierly appreciation (?) of my friendly actions in aid of a most worthy and sorely wounded officer, which fiery attention, in point of fact, I confess to have regarded with stoical indifference and contempt, and as offering the most disdainful act that even an ungracious foe could possibly commit, much less a presumably intelligent and generous one, for no matter how seriously they knew the Colonel to be wounded they were determined to end his life, as well as mine, if possible, by continuing the flight of their death bearing bullets. At the great pivotal battle of Gettysburg the Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania stands unexcelled in the record of its personal bravery and the severity of its losses. This German regiment, although thrice ordered to withdraw, was the last to retire from the field, and was, in fact, still performing yeoman service on the battle line while some of the distinctively American troops were actively engaged in beating a precipitate retreat and through their indiscretion and lack of stability, though they could readily have maintained their position, caused our regiment exceptionable loss; and yet, strange to say, there are those among our English speaking companions who are want to speak in terms of derision

and ofttimes find themselves inclined to stigmatize the "Dutch" as lacking in the staying qualities of good soldiers.

In connection with the readiness of some of our American troops to cast every odium and look of disdain upon their German companions in arms, it may be said that much of this adverse criticism of the conduct of the German soldier, in action, is due to the incidental retirement of the troops comprising the Eleventh army corps, mostly composed of Germans, when it receded in disorder in consequence of its utter unpreparedness to stem the terrific onslaught of that dashing assault born of the desperation of General Stonewall Jackson's intrepid and resolute fighters at Chancellorsville, Va. This corps was, by mere accident due to the apparent disregard of all precautionary measures on the part of those more directly responsible for the movements of the army, placed in the very unfortunate position of being suddenly confronted with an assaulting column of greatly superior numbers that for the desperation of its onslaught could scarcely have been exceeded in fierceness through any encounter between mortal man. The attacking column came like the raging of a great torrent, dashing headlong into the unsuspecting troops that lay in bivouac along an approximate battle line, with arms stacked, wholly unprepared to resist such a desperate and terrible charge; in fact, it is within the bounds of every consistent regard for the valor of these troops to assert, that no body of men, in the category of nations, Christian or heathen, not directly prepared in expectation of an attack, could have successfully withstood this tremendous onslaught, that came upon these unsuspecting troops, in desperate leaps and with overwhelming power, the enemy ever pressing onward with the velocity of an avalanche, and alike irresistible force. Thus they swept everything before them, breaking in upon its position with scarcely any semblance of military order, but rather running along in a helter-skelter sort of fashion, four lines deep, and amidst the terrific yell of veritable demons, pounced upon our bivouacking line then serenely resting with muskets stacked which many of the men, in the confusion and turmoil that ensued, failed to recover, and struggling with the fury of maddened men, they fought like Trojans, in close combat, for the supremacy of their cause. That they were imbued with the spirit of desperation fomented through alcoholic inspiration goes without saying, and was a matter of current statement at the time, for no ordinary inclination could have impelled them to enter upon such a wild and desperate assault, which from the extreme dash and forcible manner of its execution, much to our regret, won for them the day and battle.

In thus briefly reviewing the deplorable situation of the Eleventh Army Corps and its unavoidable action or disaster at Chancellorsville, under the distressing circumstances attending its actual surroundings, it may not be amiss to remind our English speaking companions, who are so readily inclined to deride the soldierly qualities of their German associates, that even amidst all this unfortunate occurrence it is perhaps well to remember that the English regiments of the Corps were among the first to give way under the ever pressing dare devil onslaught; while

it was left to the exclusively German commands to stem the tide of the ferocious assault and temporarily, at least, arrest its swift onward progress.

With these facts so vividly before us may we not hope that a fairer construction be put upon the ostensible shortcomings of the troops comprising the make up of this unfortunate corps and may they not, moreover, merit a release from the imputation of any dereliction in the performance of their soldierly duties? Truly, it would seem that a more consistent consideration should be accorded to these sorely pressed soldiers by their English speaking comrades, for among fair minded men there was certainly much to be said in justification of a release, at least in a large measure, from the odium so unjustly heaped upon these troops for their overwhelming defeat by many of our extreme selfishly disposed American compatriots.

While there were many regiments who suffered terrible and naturally sustained great loss in this action, yet we claim that the magnitude of its loss, here sustained, as made manifest in its shrunken ranks, was painfully evident to all as the regiment proceeded on the march from Gettysburg to follow the retreating troops of the Confederate army, when its largely depleted ranks presented an object lesson of grim significance. For such was the decimation in its ranks that the little band of men, numbering but fifty-two survivors, evoked the tender sympathy of the troops of the emergency corps, whom we passed drawn up in line as we went through the village of Middletown while on the march in pursuit of General Robert E. Lee's retreating army, which was then with rapid strides moving back into old Virginia. These troops viewed with amazement the passing column of battle scarred men and not a few of these horny handed sons of toil were moved to tears as they beheld our battle torn flags and the little band of men trundling along the roadway, which in themselves practically constituted the remnant of this regiment as it emerged from the battlefield of Gettysburg. Notwithstanding all this prestige in attestation of the soldierly qualities of its men, no historian has yet essayed to do them justice. Colonel Bachelder, the Gettysburg battlefield historian, very indifferently designates this regiment as having occupied a position in the reserved line of action, though in point of fact it was in the front line of battle from the outset of the advancing column, and so continued its relative position during the entire three days of this battle. It was at no time a secondary line, notwithstanding the assertion of any one to the contrary or in refutation of this emphatic statement as to the actual facts pertaining to our movements in this great battle.

Arriving at Williamsport on July 14th, it was found that General Lee's army had successfully escaped across the Potomac. The command thereupon returned to Hagerstown, and on the 19th crossed the Potomac at Berlin, into old Virginia, moving by successive stages through Lovettsville, Waterford, White Plains and New Baltimore to Warrenton Junction, where it arrived on the 25th of July and encamped, performing the usual routine duties until September 24, 1863, when the troops of the