GDG- 1st day

[Laurence Schiller]

Madison is in Dane county

Laurie Schiller

On Aug 5, 2007, at 5:46 PM, Richard & Sue Ann Schaus wrote:

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
> [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com] On Behalf Of MICHAEL DAVIDSON
> Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 12:32 PM
> To: gettysburg at arthes.com
> Subject: GDG- 1st day
>
> Hi,
>
> The source for Stine's narrative is PVT E. R. Reed, H Co, 2nd WI.
>
> Reed did not state that Davidson was wounded at Antietam.
> Reed related that Davidson "...had become surfeited with fighting, and
> would never go into another fight if he could find any honorable  
> way of
> dodging it."
> He went on to relate Davidson's grasping the colors from the fallen
> color sergeant and leading the regiment in the charge, and being  
> ten or
> fifteen yards in front of them.
>
> Reed said Davidson was made a sergeant on the field, and carried the
> colors until the end.  Reed also stated that, at the end of 1 July
> Davidson was the only one of the 33 men of H Co who was uninjured  
> in the
> charge.
>
> The H Co roster in Otis' Second WI history lists under SERGEANT:
> Davidson, Roslas E. b Ohio; farmer; s (single); r (residence), Spring
> Green; April 24, 1861.  Promoted Sergeant January 9, 1864.   
> Mustered out
> June 29, 1864. (pp 342)
>
> H Co., the "Randall Guards" was said by Reed to have been recruited at
> Madison, while Nolan's "The Iron Brigade" has it recruited in Dane
> County.
>
> The small book "The Flags of the Iron Brigade" states,
> "In the initial assault against Archer's Brigade, this entire
> color-party fell dead or wounded.  When the colors fell, Corporal
> Rasselas Davidson of Company H sprang forward and raised the  
> regimental
> color, and Corporal Paul V. Brisbois of Company G seized the national
> color from the wounded Wright.  (Miraculously, both men survived the
> three-day battle unscathed.)" (pp 32).
>
> There is a brief reference to SGT Davison holding the colors in
> Beecham's "Gettysburg" on page 88, and the info that what was left  
> of H
> Co became the color guard.
>
> Don Troiani's painting "For God's Sake Forward" depicts the charge of
> the 2nd WI into McPherson's Woods, and shows the first color guards
> probably seconds before they fell.  Davidson is probably included  
> in the
> scene seeing as how he picked up the regimental colors.
>
> VR, Rick Schaus
>
>
>
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
> <<Hi
>   I'm not on an ancestor hunt, but the name has enlivened my informal
> tours for family and friends.  But I haven't been able to confirm the
> story.  Shue attributes it to Stine, "History of the Army of the
> Potomac," pp 730-731.  I haven't found Stine on line.  I haven't found
> the story in any of many other books I have on the battle.
>
>   The Wisconsin roster of volunteers
> (http://www.wisonsinhistory.org/roster/) lists a Russalas Davison
> ("Rasselas" in the company roster), in the 2nd Wis., Co. H, who served
> from Apr. 24 '61 to June 29 '64.  The missing second "d" is not  
> problem,
> it's an acceptable spelling of the family name, and the folks who
> maintain the roster note that there are spelling discrepancies because
> of the difficulty of transcribing old, handwritten ledgers.  However,
> Shue says Davidson "fought at Antietam, Chancellorsville, and in both
> battles at Bull Run, and had come through all of them unscathed."  The
> Wisconsin registry says "wnd. Antietam."  Shue says he was a private,
> promoted to Sergeant for his actions on July 1.  The Wisconsin  
> registry
> has his ranks as "Corp., Sergt."   I don't know if the  
> descrepancies are
> Shue's, or Stine's, or whether for certain I have found "a most  
> unlikely
> private...R. E. Davidson."
>
>   I would be glad for any leads and suggestions.>>
>
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Dr. Laurence Dana Schiller
lds307 at northwestern.edu

Maitre d'Armes
Head Fencing Coach                       Department of History
Northwestern University
Commissioner, Midwest Fencing Conference
Midwest VP, US Fencing Coaches' Association
Vice-Chair USFA Illinois Division
Lds307 at northwestern.edu
847-491-4654
FAX 847-467-1406
Official Sports site: http://nusports.ocsn.com/
Student web site: http://groups.northwestern.edu/fencing/