GDG- Iron Men: Iron Will

[Dennis Lawrence]

From
Iron Men: Iron Will
by Craig Dunn

Private Abram J. Buckles looked forward to the coming fight. Buckles 
thirsted for all the honor and glory he'd seen others get; impatiently he 
sought the chance to do his duty. He thought he knew how he should seek it. 
"I had always had a great anxiety to carry the flag of my regiment and did 
not know how I could get the place of color-bearer, unless by serving in 
the guard until I could see a proper chance to pick the flag up, should the 
color-bearer be killed or wounded," he later recounted. As Buckles drifted 
off to sleep that evening, with full stomach and singleness of purpose, he 
could not have dreamed what the next day would hold. There would be plenty 
of opportunity for glory in Pennsylvania-in whatever form it was defined.

  Sergeant Major Asa Blanchard roused his men early on July 1. Blanchard 
was a deep-voiced, popular soldier--there was no one more positive, and at 
times even hilarious, in the regiment. From all indications, the regiment 
was in for a hard day, and Blanchard wanted the men ready when the time 
came to move out. The men were taking their own precautions. Privates 
William Roby Moore and William Level split everything they had right down 
the middle. Moore had a premonition that Level would be killed or wounded 
and he wanted his share of the utensils, blankets, food and supplies that 
they shared as tentmates. General Meredith had sent orders for the 
Nineteenth Indiana to fall in line of column as the Iron Brigade filed by. 
At 8:00 A. M., the column got under way, marching toward Gettysburg. First 
in column was the Second Wisconsin, followed by the Seventh Wisconsin. The 
Hoosiers were next in column, all 288 men and officers. The Twenty-Fourth 
Michigan followed; then the Sixth Wisconsin brought up the rear of the brigade.

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