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Hero Tales from American History by Henry Cabot Lodge;Theodore Roosevelt
page 111 of 188 (59%)
it fell to the lot of this regiment to bear the brunt of carrying
a certain strong position. Moving forward at a run, the South
Carolinians were swept by a fierce and searching fire. Young
James Taylor, a lad of sixteen, was carrying the flag, and was
killed after being shot down three times, twice rising and
struggling onward with the colors. The third time he fell the
flag was seized by George Cotchet, and when he, in turn, fell, by
Shubrick Hayne. Hayne was also struck down almost immediately,
and the fourth lad, for none of them were over twenty years old,
grasped the colors, and fell mortally wounded across the body of
his friend. The fifth, Gadsden Holmes, was pierced with no less
than seven balls. The sixth man, Dominick Spellman, more
fortunate, but not less brave, bore the flag throughout the rest
of the battle.

Yet another occurred at Antietam. The 7th Maine, then under the
command of Major T. W. Hyde, was one of the hundreds of regiments
that on many hard-fought fields established a reputation for dash
and unyielding endurance. Toward the early part of the day at
Antietam it merely took its share in the charging and long-range
firing, together with the New York and Vermont regiments which
were its immediate neighbors in the line. The fighting was very
heavy. In one of the charges, the Maine men passed over what had
been a Confederate regiment. The gray-clad soldiers were lying,
both ranks, privates and officers, as they fell, for so many had
been killed or disabled that it seemed as if the whole regiment
was prone in death.

Much of the time the Maine men lay on the battle-field, hugging
the ground, under a heavy artillery fire, but beyond the reach of
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