Office of Public Affairs

2006 Veterans Day Speech

Our speaker today is Mark Kinders, the director of public affairs here at UW-River Falls. A member of the United States Marine Corps from 1968-1972, he served in the Third Marine Aircraft Wing, and was a member of the Presidential Security Detail on Air Force One for President Richard Nixon.

            He is from a military family. His father was a rifleman in the 35th Infantry Division in Europe in World War II. His brother was a member of the 101st Airborne in Viet Nam. His son Casey is an artilleryman now serving with the 1st Marine Division.

Veterans Day, 2006

            One month ago I stood in awe on the hallowed ground of the battlefield know as Antietam.

            It is nestled in the extraordinarily picturesque countryside of western Maryland. In the shadow of South Mountain, its draws, forests, farms, and rivers rival the beauty of the St. Croix Valley.

            Historians tell us that what happened there on Sept. 17, 1862, makes it the second most important date in American history following the Fourth of July. After 18 months of disastrous defeats suffered by the Army of the Potomac, Antietam gave President Abraham Lincoln the narrow victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, starting the process that led to the end of slavery, and changing this nation forever.

            By day's end on Sept. 17th, the 11-hour battle had resulted in more bloodshed than any single day in American history: over 23,000 killed or wounded. A number four times greater than those suffered by all American forces during D-Day in World War II. Antietam through its ferocity gave us landmarks that echo through history with such names as the Cornfield, the Dunker Church, Bloody Lane and Burnside's Bridge on Antietam Creek: each a site where thousands of men fell in windrows.

              Today we are gathered to honor the dedication and the sacrifice of the millions of American men and women who have served our nation. So it's only fitting that we recall what happened at Antietam because it encapsulates all that is noble about a commitment to duty, courage, and loyalty to the brothers in arms who stand beside us. It also reminds us of the tragic consequences of strategic blunders. To steal a line from Pulitzer-prize winning historian Barbara Tuchman, Antietam is our distant mirror.

            That battle is especially relevant to we who are from Wisconsin and Minnesota because of an opening engagement that occurred at Turner's Gap in South Mountain three days before Antietam. That resulted in the naming of the most famous unit in the Civil War: the Iron Brigade. It was comprised of the 2nd , 6th and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiments, who were joined by the 19th Indiana Volunteers.

            Among the units of the 6th Regiment was Company B, which called itself the "Prescott Guards." 31 men from Prescott were joined by their neighbors from Clifton, Trimbelle, Rush River, El Paso and Martell Townships; from Beldenville, Diamond Bluff, Maiden Rock, Durand, and Pepin; as well as from Taylors Falls, Stillwater, Hastings, Red Wing, and St. Paul. Also a member of the 6th Regiment was 2nd Assistant Surgeon Dr. Abraham Andrews of River Falls, who later served for a decade as the Regent to the State Normal School at River Falls.

            The Brigade earned its name as it carried out the main assault of heavily entrenched Confederate positions in Turner's Gap to force a passage through South Mountain as the Army of the Potomac was aggressively trying to locate the invading army of General Robert E. Lee. The position wasn't secured until after nightfall, with the Brigade members having scrounged cartridges from the dead and wounded to carry on the hot fight, and then sleeping on their muskets with bayonets fixed to hold the battlefield. Union generals who witnessed the battle declared the Westerners to be made of Iron.

            "Iron Brigade" replaced another name grudgingly bestowed on them by Confederate soldiers who recognized the Wisconsin men on the battlefield by their unusual formal dress headgear. Through the Westerners' valor on such battlefields as Bull Run, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas and Brawner's Farm, where they slugged it out with and defeated the famed Stonewall Brigade, the rebels called them "that damned Black Hat Brigade."

            On Sept. 17 the Westerners opened the battle of Antietam as the 1st Army Corps of General Fighting Joe Hooker advanced across the fog-shrouded Miller Farm toward a 30-acre plot of corn.   As they neared the rows, a furious fight erupted that raged around that field as charge and counter-charge and crushing fusillades tore through the 2nd and 6th Regiments. The 7th and 19th, flanking the cornfield, poured musketry into the Confederates who attacked their comrades. Then those two latter units joined in a renewed assault that punched a hole into the Corps of General Stonewall Jackson. The decimated 6th retired from the conflict to reform its ranks, and to be called into action shortly again to repulse a final futile charge as the Confederates tried to retake the battlefield.

The executive officer of the 6th recalled the ferocity of the Black Hats in that contest, " There was, on the part of the men, great hysterical excitement, eagerness to go forward, and a reckless disregard for life, of everything but victory."

Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Cornfield was Private John Johnson of the 2nd Wisconsin. An infantryman, the 20-year-old Johnson was pressed into service as a cannoneer and was cited for valor, when personally aided by General John Gibbon, Johnson manned a cannon to desperately drive off a furious Confederate attempt to overrun the Iron Brigade's artillery battery. Private Johnson's recognition also cited his action at the Battle of Fredricksburg in December of that year. In that bloody killing field of Union soldiers, young Johnson participated in a deadly artillery duel with Confederate gunners. A shell that exploded above Johnson's gun sent a piece of shrapnel tearing through his body, and severing his right arm cleanly at the shoulder.

Even so, Private Johnson continued to man his artillery piece until he collapsed from a loss of blood. Remarkably, he survived his grievious wound.

By 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 17th , 90 minutes after the opening shots at Antietam, an estimated 10,000 casualties were taken as the battle raged around what is now known as the Cornfield. At the conflict's end, the Iron Brigade held the bloodiest section of the bloodiest battlefield in American history. Of the 800 Westerners in the Iron Brigade at the start of the battle, that proud unit lost 352 of their comrades killed or wounded.

In his report a few days later, General Hooker wrote, " Every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the slain lay in rows precisely as they stood in their ranks a few moments before. It was never my fortune to witness a more bloody, dismal battle-field."

            A decade ago a Washington Post journalist who wrote about the Antietam Battlefield reported the questions that visitors to the Cornfield and Antietam are compelled to ask:

            "How could they have done it?"

            "Could we do it today?"

            "Could I?"

            The reporter noted that many of the visitors he talked to thought that the answer was "no." Americans today wouldn't fight for deeply held beliefs. America was too polarized to be unified when our nation is threatened. They thought that individual Americans are too self-centered to place themselves in harm's way for the sake of our democracy.

            I resoundingly reject those opinions.

            I've read widely about the Civil War, including the diaries of Union soldiers. Their recollections sound much like those that I experienced in my service days, and reflect the kinds of conversations that my father, my brother, and my son have shared with me about their experiences.

            All veterans know that it is the God-given right of those in the military to bellyache and complain about the vexations of military life: inadequate food, boredom, homesickness, busy work, questionable leadership. But that criticism also is strictly considered to be the sole province of those in uniform. They believe that those who haven't borne the burden of military service haven't earned the right to criticize military service. That aspect of American life is one to which freedom of speech does not universally extend.

            What also has remained true is the unwavering commitment of our men and women in uniform to duty, honor and country: to what America represents as the shining beacon of freedom and democracy. Another enduring tradition is that the personal loyalty to the man or woman who is a part of your battalion, your squadron, your ship, is unbreakable.

            These beliefs are as true now as they were then for the men of the Iron Brigade. Fortunately for us, for America, these truths have never changed, and, I believe, that that will always be the case.

            The distant mirror of Barbara Tuchman's also reflects much about Antietam in other ways. The commanding General of the Army of the Potomac was George McClellan, also known as the Young Napoleon. Historians have grave problems with his strategic conduct. The reason: four days before Antietam, two of McClellan's soldiers stumbled upon a piece of paper wrapped around three cigars as they were lazing under a tree in a pasture. They quickly recognized the importance of the message: Special Orders 191 outlined the entire troop dispositions and future plans of Lee's army, which had been divided into three parts. McClellan's army outnumbered Lee's by 2-1 and he was closer to each of those parts then they were to each other. The lost orders represented the perfect battle plan to overwhelm and defeat in sequence the three separated Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, and bring an absolute end to the Civil War.

Despite confirmation that the orders were authentic, McClellan hesitated for 18 hours. If he had marched immediately, and kept moving, it would have had dramatic consequences: the Iron Brigade would have passed through Turner's Gap unopposed, without taking 318 casualties; some 12,500 federal troops at the Union encampment of Harper's Ferry just 8 miles away wouldn't have been encircled and taken prisoner by Stonewall Jackson's Corps; Lee's divided three corps would never have had the time to regroup into a single army at Antietam, leading to 23,000 casualties. And at Antietam, the timid McClellan held 30,000 of his troops in reserve and never committed them to battle at crucial moments. The result? Lee's battered army escaped to fight on for 2.5 more years, leading to several hundred thousand more American deaths.

            On Tuesday of this week, Americans sent a message about the grand strategy in our conduct of the War in Iraq. They want strategic change.

            But what Americans also have been saying daily since September 11th is that we will always support our nation and our warriors. We are as thankful to those who are serving today as we are to those millions who have joined the ranks since the days of the Continental Army.

            That is as it should be.

            I personally want to applaud those men and women in uniform who are here with us today. We are grateful to you for your service. Our freedom remains safe in your strong and capable hands. America will never forget your service.

Thank you, too, to the friends and family members of our service men and women who are here today. Your love and support for them, as well as for their comrades, is keenly felt and appreciated by every veteran who is part of this assembly today.

            In closing, I would like to leave you with the words of Brigadier General John Gibbon, who commanded the Iron Brigade at South Mountain and Antietam. The Pennsylvanian's comments speak to our veterans and our service men and women today as much as they did to the Black Hatters of 1862.

After a distinguished career as one of the most competent of Union generals, Gibbon said of the Black Hats: "I was not a Wisconsin soldier. But at the judgment day I want to be with Wisconsin soldiers."

Thank you to our compatriots from the American Legion Post 121for your presence at this ceremony. Your participation adds immeasurably to this commemoration.

            Also, I would again this year like to extend a special "Semper Fi" greeting to my fellow Marines who are here today, on Nov. 10th , the 231st birthday of the Marine Corps.

            Finally, t hank everyone who is here to recognize the service of our veterans. Your presence honors us.

God bless America.