Allen Ripley Foote

“ The heart can endure the strain no longer. He is snatched from the ranks and embraced amidst the cheers of all observers.
Words!! There are no words for such moments! But the entry written by the recording angel that day will forever read—“Thank God! My boy, my brother, my lover has done his duty.”
The days of trial and victory are passed, but memory causes them to live forever in the eternal NOW.
Such memories are the true reward of loyal duty courageously performed. They can be possessed only by those who have earned them. ”

“ Above the roar of musketry and cannonading came the cheers from the charge Hancock was making. The New Jersey boys again manned their battery and began to play on the rifle pits and on Fort Magruder. The Fort answered and every Confederate rifle in the pits was speaking to us. No one who lived through those moments of strife and sacrifice will ever forget the scenes, the exaltation and the devotion of life to patriotic duty that was there manifested. ”

“ I will stop my story here, only adding that after returning home I re-enlisted as a private in Company B. 21st Michigan Infantry, then with the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga. I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant before I left the State to join that regiment. By chance, that commission was dated on January 26, 1864, my twenty-second birthday.
Such memories as these are among the most precious products of my life.
The gains of life are various. Some objects we pursue disappear as we grasp them. We are children, chasing with excited delight beautiful bubbles floating free in air. ”

“ We ate our dinner and then lay on our arms for some little time, just out of range, tracing the course of the action by listening to the firing and watching the increasing number of wounded making their way to the rear. To be thus held in reserve, expecting every moment to be called into action, is the supreme trial of a soldier’s courage. ”

“ On the next day we were ordered to establish a picket line between Centerville and Bull Run. When marching out from our camp toward the Run, we could see cars loaded with Confederate soldiers as their train crossed the road we were on. When they disembarked and formed in line the glistening of their bright gun barrels gave the impression they were aiming at us. This excited one of our boys terribly. He jumped out into the centre of the road, swinging his hat and yelling as loudly as he possibly could—“Don’t shoot this way!! There are folks in the road!!” ”

“ Remember, your life is worth a whole regiment to the army.” Turning to him like a flash, Gen. Kearny said—“If you do not want to go, stay here.” At that he reined his horse into the road and started toward the Confederate lines, waving his sword and shouting back—“Come on boys!” and every man followed, on both sides of the road, pell mell, without order, wading through mud and climbing through slashings up to the rifle pits in order to get there. How I came to be there I do not know, but I do know that I went up that road with my right shoulder next to Gen. ”

“ These memories stir within old soldiers their best manhood, and thrill them with noblest pride as they look into each other’s faces. They only are capable of appreciating at their true value the comrades of the campaign, the veterans of the battlefield. ”

“ The sentiment on the one I caught read—“The women of Ohio are for the Union—to a man.”
Our first camp was at the Maryland end of the Chain Bridge, which crossed the Potomac above Washington. We marched from this camp to Centerville, Va., to engage in the first battle of Bull Run. The first sight we had of war was on the morning of the second day’s march, when we came upon some camp fires where the Confederates had cooked their breakfast that morning before leaving for Bull Run. ”

“ We were on the left of the road, the New Jersey troops on the right. In the middle of the afternoon, when Gen. Hancock was prepared to make his famous charge on the Confederate left, Gen. Kearny, mounted on a white horse and dressed in full uniform, as conspicuous a figure as can well be imagined, came dashing up to the Michigan Second regiment and [Pg 7] called out—“What regiment is this?” Col. Poe, a regular army officer, immediately saluted the General and said—“The Michigan Second Infantry, Col. Poe commanding.” General Kearny said—“I want this regiment.” Col. ”