USA > Indiana > History of the Third Indiana cavalry > Part 13
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to the headquarters of the Second Brigade of Wilson's division as escort to Colonel Chapman, in command of the brigade. Late in the evening the command moved to Drainsville, where it arrived at 2 a. m. of the 14th and waited for the wagon train to come up. At 3 a. m. of the 15th the command moved on by way of Goose Creek, Leesburg and Snickersville, arriving at the latter place at 9 p. m., where it went into camp. On the morning of the 16th the command crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains at Snickers Gap, moved on by way of Berryville to White Post and camped at 9 p. m.
"Here the course of the command was changed northwest to Winchester, where it arrived about noon of the 17th. Soon after our arrival the rebels began driving in our pickets. The Third Division at once threw out its lines and a brisk skirmish followed, until dark, when the division began falling back in the direction of Charlestown on the Harpers Ferry railroad. Company A of the Third Indiana was sent with a message to General Averill thirty miles north of Winchester at Martinsburg, where it arrived on the morning of the 18th at 3 a. m., and by daylight Averill's command was on the move to Shepardstown on the Potomac. About noon of the 18th Company A, Third Indiana, and the Sec- ond West Virginia proceeded to Williamsport on the Potomac, fifteen miles north of Shepardstown. On August 12th marched to Harpers Ferry, reported to general headquarters and were ordered to Shepardstown, and remained over night.
"At 3 p. m. on the 20th we joined our division on the Win- chester railroad six miles beyond Charlestown, where the rebels attacked our lines on the following morning. We skirmished for about an hour and fell back on the Nineteenth Corps, on the Charlestown and Winchester pike, the Third Division camping for the night about a mile northeast of Charlestown. At daylight on the morning of the 21st the rebels were on us again and we con- tinued falling back to our infantry lines about Harpers Ferry.
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About 1 p. m. Company A was sent out on a scout to feel the enemy, and attacked a rebel patrol when about two miles outside of our lines. We followed them a short distance and returned to camp. We remained in camp on the 23d and 24th of August in comparative quiet.
"Early on the morning of the 25th of August General Wilson's Third Division moved out of camp at Harpers Ferry, struck the Martinsburg pike two miles from Shepardstown, where it was joined by the First Division, and moving four miles farther out the pike, met the enemy and fought him two hours, retiring to camp with 500 prisoners. The rebel loss was severe, but a number of the Union forces were also killed and wounded. George Lee and several other men of Company A, Third Indiana, were wounded in this engagement. Following our return to camp we fortified our front in anticipation of an attack by the enemy, but this proved unfounded, and scouts coming into camp during the night reported that the rebels were threatening a raid into Mary- land. On this information, at 3 a. m. of the 26th of August, Gen. Wilson's Third Division crossed the Potomac at Harpers Ferry and proceeded to Boonesborough, by way of Sandy Hook, and went into camp at South Mountain Gap near Boonesborough at 3 p. m. on the afternoon of the 26th.
"On the morning of the 27th of August, 1864, Company A, which had been doing regimental duty alone since Company B had been detailed to the Second Brigade headquarters, was ordered to report at Gen. James H. Wilson's headquarters for escort duty. Under these circumstances both companies were performing escort duty, one at the headquarters of the Third Division and the other at the headquarters of the Second Brigade of the division. At division headquarters I and eleven others were detailed as mounted orderlies for service there. From camp at South Mountain Gap the division moved to Sharpsburg and camped north of that town on the Williamsport pike. On the 28th we recrossed the Potomac
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below Shepardstown and reached Charlestown about 4 p. m., where we went into camp near the spot where John Brown had been hung. On the 29th of August I was detailed to accompany Lieutenant Yard, of General Wilson's staff, to Sandy Hook with a part of the Second New York Cavalry, which was to be mustered out there. We returned on the 30th and overtook the division at Berryville, where it was in camp. Berryville is about ten miles east of Winchester, where General Early was supposed to have his headquarters, and about fifteen miles southwest of Charlestown, where General Sheridan had his headquarters.
"For about three weeks Berryville was the camping ground for the cavalry forces on the left of General Sheridan's lines. His infantry lines extended north from Berryville to beyond the Win- chester & Harpers Ferry railroad, while Early's occupied the west bank of Opequan creek, which was five miles west of Berryville. The First and Third Divisions of cavalry were kept actively em- ployed harassing Early's flanks and driving his cavalry back from the Potomac. After camping a few nights around Berryville, we realized that we were within the haunts of Mosby's guerrilla bands. Suspicious characters were noticed prowling through our camps, and one of them was believed to be Mosby himself. They never interfered with our front, but confined their operations to our rear, attacking our supply trains when not sufficiently guarded. They were concealed in the homes of various residents of the country, and in more than one instance our men were murdered in their own quarters by these cut-throats and assassins. This was the occasion of General Sheridan's order to sweep the valley with fire. On the morning of September 2 our division moved out of camp to look after some of Mosby's men who had been interfering with our rear along the pike between Berryville and Charlestown. We followed them to Hammonds Ferry, but they had fled to their mountain retreat, and we returned to our camps to find them occupied by Early's cavalry. A few shots from our advance sent
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the rebels back to their own quarters, and we took possession. We moved to Millwood on September 3 and remained over night, and when we returned to our camp at Berryville on the evening of the 4th we again found the rebel cavalry in possession. After a short skirmish we again drove them out and took possession and remained until the morning of the 7th, when we again moved in the direc- tion of Winchester.
"At the crossing of Opequan creek the Second Brigade met the rebel cavalry pickets, and drove them back to their infantry within two and a half miles of Winchester, where a slight skirmish oc- curred and General Wilson ascertained the position and strength of the enemy. After this we drew off, closely followed by the enemy's cavalry, until we reached the crossing of Opequan creek, when our battery stationed there opened on them and ended their pursuit. On the morning of the 13th of September General Wilson made a reconnoissance with the First Brigade to the crossing of Opequan creek, where he encountered the enemy's cavalry. He made a charge and captured fifty prisoners, after which the Third New Jersey was brought up and charged the Eighth South Carolina Cavalry, capturing 150 more prisoners with their colonel and sixteen line officers. We then returned to camp at Berryville. Early on Monday morning, September 19, the Third Division moved from camp at Berryville on the pike in the direction of Winchester. At daylight at Opequan creek we were on the enemy's pickets, and our advance at once made an attack and drove them back on their reserve. The division was soon across the creek and in position for a general advance, which was pushed without delay, driving the enemy back on their main position on the elevated ground along the south and east banks of Abrahams creek, where they had a considerable force of infantry in line protected by earthworks. Our rapid advance seemed to take them by surprise; we captured their earthworks at the first dash and held them against repeated attempts of the enemy to
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regain them, until General Wright with the Sixth Corps came up and relieved the Third Division of Cavalry.
"At this point Corp. Reuben Clemens of Company A, Third Indiana, was killed. General McIntosh, commanding the First Brigade, was wounded, losing a leg; and General Chapman, com- manding the Second Brigade, was struck with a rifle ball on the plate fastening of his sword belt, making a considerable indenture and defacing the eagle on the brass plate, but causing no serious injury to the General.
"The Sixth Corps, which had relieved us, pushed on and drove the rebels we had been fighting back on to Early's main line two miles from Winchester and about two miles from where the pike crossed the creek. The course of Abrahams creek from near Win- chester bears directly due east, parallel with the pike which runs north of it about three-fourths of a mile, except at the point where the Third Division made its stand; here its course was nearly north for a short distance, and then it resumes its original course, flowing into the Opequan a half mile or so below the crossing of the Berryville pike, where we first ran on the rebel pickets.
| "When we were relieved from the front we moved along the south side of this creek, which had a high bluff bank. From this point we watched the Sixth Corps form and move forward amid a roar of artillery and musketry. Early made a desperate effort to hold his position, and even tried to break the center of the Sixth Corps line, but Sheridan was there and our division was ordered to push the rebel cavalry on Early's right. We moved forward parallel with Abrahams creek and with the lines of the Sixth Corps, and were fast swinging around on to the valley pike which was Early's line of retreat, while Torbert, with Merritt's and Averill's cavalry, was pushing back his left to the west of Winchester and threatening his rear from that direction ; thus pushed on the center by the infantry and both flanks by the cavalry, Early fell back without much regard to military organization. Our division was
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ordered to attack and harass the left flank of the rebel column as it hurried out of Winchester on the Strasburg pike. A mile out of town the rebels had wheeled two or three guns into position and were shelling our cavalry as we came up, whereupon one of our batteries was ordered up and took position within 400 yards of the rebel guns and were soon hurling shot and shell into them, Com- pany A, Third Indiana, being ordered to form up in our battery's rear for support. The position was very uncomfortable but the rebel guns overshot us, as their attention was diverted by the First and Second Brigades of Cavalry that were harassing the flank of their broken column as it rushed up the valley pike. Late in the evening the Second Ohio and the Third New Jersey Cavalry closed in on their rear and repeatedly charged them to beyond Kerntown, near which place the Third Division went into camp for the night, some four miles south of Winchester.
"At daylight on the morning of September 20th our Third Division moved out on the Strasburg pike as far as Newtown, where we left the pike and started towards Front Royal. We camped for the night half a mile from the north fork of the Shen- andoah river, near its junction with the South Fork. At daylight on the morning of the 20th we crossed the North Fork and arrived at the South Fork three miles from Front Royal, where we found the rebels in position on the opposite side of that river. The First Brigade charged the ford several times before effecting a crossing, after which the division crossed over and drove the rebels about four miles beyond Front Royal, when they disappeared from our front. We camped at Front Royal for the night and on the 22d moved up the Luray Valley ten or twelve miles to Milford, a village on the east bank of the South Fork of the Shenandoah, at the mouth of a small creek. There was a high ridge on the north bank of this creek, which was abrupt where it extended along the river ; the roadway was graded around the point of this ridge to a bridge fifty rods or more up the creek. Here we found the
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rebels that had left our front the day before ready to receive us. We skirmished some with them and fell back four miles, camping on the east bank of the river for the night, on the road leading to Strasburg. On the morning of the 23d we forded the river and continued our march, passing around the Massanutten Mountains, and halted about noon on the south bank of the North Fork of the Shenandoah river, some seven miles from Strasburg.
"Soon after halting General Wilson ordered a detail of three orderlies from the escort to carry a message up the valley of the North Fork to General Sheridan. Robert Grey, - Ward and myself were chosen to carry this message. We soon set out at a forced march gait, our route being by way of Middletown to Stras- burg. On arriving at Strasburg our infantry there informed us that Sheridan was twelve miles farther up the valley near Wood- stock. With a smooth pike, we pushed on at a lively gait, the twenty miles we had traveled since leaving General Wilson's com- mand telling on the wind of our horses, especially Grey's and mine. Four miles from Woodstock Grey and I abandoned the chase, while Ward continued ahead with the message. After rest- ing our horses Grey and I returned to Strasburg and camped for the night with a squad of infantry and four cavalryman who be- longed to our division.
"We had been given no instructions about returning to our command and consequently on the morning of the 24th of Sep- tember we started out to find our division where we had left it, accompanied by the four comrades of our division. All went well until we arrived at the place where we had left our command and found it gone. After a consultation we started out on a forced march, supposing we could overtake the command some fifteen or twenty miles up the valley, where we had camped on the night of the 22d. We pushed forward at a rapid gait to our old camp and found it vacant. We made inquiry at a nearby farm house of a 'Virginia widow' as to when our cavalry had passed up the valley,
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and she replied the evening before. This meant that we were twenty miles or more in the rear. We now came to a sense of our situation. Twenty miles in the rear of our command in the Luray Valley, the home of Mosby's guerrillas, was a serious matter. After consultation we decided to push ahead after the division if we had to fight. But our advance was more deliberate than it had been. We re-primed our revolvers and carried our carbines un- slung across our saddles ; we had proceeded but a few hundred yards when, at a sharp turn in the road, we discovered two men in rebel uniform crossing the road a few rods in our advance. They had discovered us about the same time and were making for some bushes a short distance from the road. As they appeared to be unarmed we called them to halt, which they obeyed. We inter- viewed them and they claimed to be deserters from Early's com- mand on their way to their homes somewhere down the valley. We wished them success and continued our journey. A half mile or so farther on we came to a camp which our command had likely vacated that morning. Several 'plugs' of horses were feeding around, and had no doubt been abandoned; one of them seemed to me a better horse than the one I was riding, so I decided to ex- change, and did so. After which we were on the move again up the Front Royal and Luray pike, but soon my new horse gave out from a weakness in his back and loins and I had to abandon him. Stowing my saddle and other effects among some bushes, I took to the woods and soon heard shots, from which I inferred my five comrades, who had left me, had encountered a squad of rebels. After an all day and night march on foot I came up to the com- mand at Mill river, where I was remounted just as they were pre- paring to move out.
"The five comrades who left me when my horse gave out were captured by the rebels and taken to Richmond, where they were held until the close of the war. The command proceeded to New Market and joined Sheridan, who was still following close on
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Early's rear. On the 25th we left New Market and marched to Harrisburg, and on the 26th went to Staunton, which is at the head of the Shenandoah Valley, forty-five miles from Gordonsville, in direct communication with Richmond. On the 27th the division saddled up and moved eleven or twelve miles to within a mile of Waynesborough, where we went into camp. The next morning the rebels came down the mountain and drove in our pickets. A severe skirmish ensued, in which several of the orderlies had their horses shot from under them while carrying dispatches. We fell back through Staunton to Spring Hill where, after a halt, we fell back again, crossing North river to Bridgewater, about three miles below Mt. Crawford, and lay in camp two days.
"Here on the 30th of September General Wilson was relieved and ordered to Sherman's army in the West, and Gen. George A. Custer of the First Brigade was assigned to the command of the Third Division. On Sunday morning, October 2, we moved camp three miles to Dayton, but had hardly become settled until the rebels attacked our pickets and drove them in, but after a slight skirmish we drove them back through Bridgewater across North river, capturing some prisoners. During the few days we re- mained in this camp the rebels carried on a bushwhacking war- fare around us after night, and one night an officer of General Sheridan's engineer corps was shot by a bushwhacker near Sheri- dan's headquarters. He was captured and executed the next morning. Others were found secreted about the dwellings in and near the various camps and General Sheridan, in order to terrorize the inhabitants, issued an order to burn every dwelling within five miles of Dayton. This looked like wanton destruction, but was the only safeguard to our lives.
"On the morning of the 7th of October Sheridan resumed his march down the valley, taking or destroying everything that would be of any special benefit to the rebels. Our division, the Third, moved by the left flank along what was called the mountain road,
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our rear being hard pressed all day by Rosser's cavalry. About 3 p. m. they made a sudden dash on our wagon train, capturing two forges and several wagons loaded with refugee families leaving the country. The rebels showed no mercy to these poor wretches. About dark we crossed the north fork of the Shenandoah and camped for the night. The next day we moved on, passing through Columbia Furnace, and camped three miles beyond at Narrow Passage creek. The next day we marched back opposite Stras- burg on the mountain road without interruption, but on October 10th Rosser appeared in force on our rear at Fishers Hill. Gen. Sheridan ordered the First and Third divisions of cavalry to wheel about and attack him. General Custer managed to get two regi- ments of his division in Rosser's rear, where they charged; the rebel front being pressed by the First Division they were soon stampeded, our cavalry following them to beyond Woodstock, cap- turing six guns, all of Rosser's wagon train and a number of pris- oners. The six guns captured were the same our division had abandoned on the 29th of June on the Wilson raid, when we were cut off from making our lines at Reams Station on the Weldon railroad. On the evening of October 11th we fell back across Cedar creek and camped two miles west of Middletown. Here we remained in camp with no other interruption than an occasional cavalry dash, which was easily repulsed, until October 19. On that date Early made an attack on the Eighth Corps, commanded by General Crook, on our left at 4 o'clock in the morning, and so completely surprised the men of the Eighth Corps that the first they knew of the enemy's movements was when they were in their camps, and many of our men were bayonetted before they could get out of their tents. So fiercely was the attack followed up that our center and right was soon driven back on the reserves. The rebels pushed on almost without opposition until they reached the front of Gettey's division of the Sixth Corps, which bravely re- ceived the exultant rebels and checked their advance. The rebels
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pressed forward and Gettey's division was compelled to fall back, although it maintained a steady front. Our front lines were fleeing to the rear by thousands; General Custer ordered several cavalry regiments to deploy and form a line just north of Middle- town to stop this stream of stragglers, but the stragglers were so panic stricken that neither horses nor sabers could check them, and we were withdrawn. About noon General Torbert was or- dered to form the First and Third divisions of cavalry on the left of the pike about a mile north of Middletown with Gettey's divi- sion of the Sixth Corps on the right, and here the cavalry was dis- mounted and took the front as infantry, bringing the advancing rebels to a stand for several hours while the broken ranks of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were reforming behind the right and rear of Gettey's division.
"While we held this position General Sheridan came up from Winchester and at once began to strengthen his lines. The strag- glers returned to their places and the Sixth Corps was ordered up. When the rebels made their next assault on our right and center they were repulsed with so much damage to the enemy that Early drew off and began entrenching himself. By 4 p. m. Sheridan had so far reorganized his routed forces that an advance was made along our entire line. The cavalry charged the flanks of the enemy while the infantry pressed their front; for a time the struggle was fierce, but the rebels were soon forced to abandon their breastworks and began to lose ground, closely followed by our troops. General Custer charged with his entire division and the infantry charged at the same time, forcing the rebels to the creek, followed by their complete rout. General Custer at the head of our division charged at the crossing of the creek, and there was such a jam of wagons and artillery caissons that it was diffi- cult for the cavalry to effect a crossing. But we continued along the flank of the retreating rebels, passing disorganized bodies of rebel infantry, wagons and whole batteries which were left with
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detachments of provost guards. We charged through the ranks of the retreating rebels, capturing battle flags, and single horsemen were bringing in bands of rebel stragglers. A rebel battery of several guns trying to escape on a byroad was ridden down by one man of the escort, brought in and sent to the rear. It seemed like Custer was bent on capturing the whole of Early's army, and only darkness put a stop to our pursuit.
"Such was the Battle of Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, 1864. The number killed on each side was about the same for the day. We lost twenty pieces of artillery in the morning and about 1,000 prisoners, but we captured 2,000 in the afternoon, recap- tured our lost guns and fifty pieces besides, forty-seven of which were taken by Custer's cavalry, together with a number of wagons and a large number of prisoners. That night we fell back to our old camp and the next day the Third Division moved along the mountain to beyond Fishers Hill, where Custer halted and sent companies in different directions to look for rebels, but they re- turned without finding any.
"We moved back to near Kernstown, where we went into camp, General Custer making his headquarters at the house of a Mr. Glass. Soon the rebel cavalry appeared in our front; but we did not move out until the next morning, when we found the rebel cavalry in possession of both roads leading up the valley west of the main pike from Winchester to Strasburg. The mountain road was five miles west of the main valley pike, and leading along the foot of Little North Mountain ; while the middle road was between the mountain road and the valley pike. The Second Brigade, under General Chapman, moved up the middle road, while Gen. Custer with the First Brigade, under Colonel Bryan, with his escort marched along the mountain road. Sharp skirmishing en- sued as the First Brigade advanced, but by a charge of our men the rebels were forced back in disorder, and Custer followed them up so closely that they did not make a stand, being driven five
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