First New York (1st NY) Ind Battery at Gettysburg - "Hurrah for the Ould Flag"

Description

"Hurrah for the Ould Flag !"
The True Story of Captain Cowan and the
First New York Independent Battery at Gettysburg
Written and Published by R. L. Murray, 1998.  First Edition
(a second edition was published by "Benedum Books" and states "Second Edition")
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Condition : Pamphlet with Stiff Paper Covers.
Overall Good or Better.
Covers have light wear, spine shows very slight creasing from reading.
Text is clean.
141 pages, with many illustrations & maps.  Indexed.
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While the title might lead you to believe this book is just about the battery's service at Gettysburg,
it actually tells the story of the battery - from recruiting in 1861, to the Battle of Gettysburg.
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The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.
Mustered in: November 23, 1861.
Mustered out: June 23, 1865.
Captain Terrence J. Kennedy received, October 18, 1861, authority to recruit this battery. It was recruited and organized at Auburn, and there mustered in the service of the United States for three years, November 23, 1861. At the expiration of its term of service, the men entitled thereto were discharged and the battery continued in service.
It left the State December 4, 1861; received its numerical designation December 7, 1861; served near Washington, D. C, from December, 1861; in W. F. Smith's Division, Army of the Potomac, from January, 1862; in same division, 4th Corps, Army of the Potomac, from March, 1862; in the 2d Division, 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac, from May, 1862; in the Artillery Brigade, 6th Corps, from May, 1863; with the Army of the Shenandoah from October, 1864; in the 22d Corps from December, 1864; in. the 6th Corps, with the Army of the Potomac, from January 25, 1865.
Commanded by Capt. Andrew Cowan, it was honorably discharged and mustered out June 23, 1865, at Syracuse, having lost by death, killed in action, 1 officer, 12 enlisted men; of wounds received in action, 1 officer, 6 enlisted men; of disease and other causes, 38 enlisted men; total, 2 officers, 56 enlisted men; aggregate, 58; of whom 1 enlisted man died in the hands of the enemy.
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The title is taken from the following letter thier local newspaper, telling about the battle :
From Cowan's Battery.
Camp at Middletown, Md.,
July 9, 1863.
MR. EDITOR:—In my hurried scrawl the day after the battle, many interesting items concerning the Battery were necessarily omitted.
Capt. C. with two batteries, supported by Webb's Brigade, of the 2d Corps, (Hancock's) received the desperate charges of Rickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps. Our line was weak there, and nothing but the most determined resistance saved it from being pierced at that point. At one time, the enemy got within thirty yards, and some of them within ten yards of his guns, which were pouring double charges of cannister into their ranks, making huge gaps every moment, but they closed up, and came on, till Gen. Webb rallied his men, fired his revolver into the nearest of them, and by a desperate charge drove them back.
It was while they were so near, that in one minute, five of Cowan's men were shot, one falling with three balls in his brain, as he was putting in a charge of cannister. The man who shot Lieutenant Wright was not fifteen yards distant; and another made a hole in Capt. C.'s coat at the same time. Both were cheering on their men, who with loud cries, were shouting for "more cannister;" "Give it to 'em." Not a man flinched, and the brigade who supported them bear witness to their bravery, at the time when it was necessary to be brave. Just after the charge, when it was necessary to advance the guns a few yards, to pour in a galling fire on their backs; the boys say Capt. C. rushed them on, shouting "Come on boys!" "Come on quick, and give it to 'em!" "Sweeten 'em!" "I'll give every one of you a gold medal." And they did "come on" and "sweeten 'em." After the charge had been repulsed, these men, begrimmed with powder, their tongues cleaving to the roof of their mouths; drank eagerly from the dirty sponge buckets; and some were even thirsty enough to drink water from a basin where the wounds of some poor fellow had been washed.
When the 9th Mass, (Irish,) went past the battery on a charge, as Cowan was moving up his pieces, Mike Smith—a driver—seeing the green flag, rose up in his stirrups, the balls flying around him, tossed his cap in the air, shouting "Be jabbers! give it to 'em boys, hurrah for the auld flag."
The Battery remained in front till morning of the 5th inst., when it was relieved, and two hours after, started with the Corps after the retreating enemy.
We overtook them about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, near Millerstown, seven, miles from the battle field, and shelled them until their wagons went through the Gap, protected by Ewell's Corps. We were up before daylight on the 6th inst., ready to follow them, but as they held the Gap in force, we did not go through the town of M. until 5 P. M. Marched all night and the next day, (yesterday,) passing through Emmettsburg, and stopping in the mountains last night; came on this morning in a drenching rain, and reached here the middle of this afternoon.
The Battery has been unharnessed twice within eight days, about two hours each time.
We have marched thirty miles within forty-eight hours; the roads muddy, and for the last ten miles, rocky and mountainous; the rain falling heavily most of the time. Horses nearly shoeless; and ready to drop with fatigue. Men tired, but cheerful as ever. Yours in haste,
J. W. C.
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