GDG- At the wall with the 69th Pa - July 3, 1863

[ernscave at aol.com]

The time is 2:30 PM on the afternoon of July 3, 1863..... 144 years ago.

293 men of the 69th Pa "Irish volunteers" stand at the wall in front of the copse of trees awaiting
the fury of Pickett's Division. The bombardment has begun to slow....? Colonel Dennis O'Kane, their
commander, who served in the Philadelphia neighborhood Irish militia before the war and then as their Lt. Colonel and now their Colonel climbs?on the wall and addresses his men......

"Men, the enemy is coming, but hold your fire until you see the whites of their eyes. I know that you are as brave as any troops that you will face, but today you are fighting on the soil of your own state, so I expect you to do your duty to the utmost. If any man among you should flinch from that duty, I would ask the man next to him to kill him on the spot." O'Kane reached down with his right arm, unsheathed his sword and raised it above his head. "And let your work this day be for victory or to the death." 



At The Wall
The 69th Pa "Irish Volunteers at Gettysburg"
Don Ernsberger

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