USA > Maine > History of the First Maine cavalry, 1861-1865, V. 1 > Part 5
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
and was driven off after a sharp skirmish and a change in the formation of the column.
When Col. Douty's battalion, which had left its camp beyond Strasburg during the night before in the darkness and rain, arrived at Middletown, it was prepared for hard marching and fighting by sending all sick men and disabled horses to the rear. An incident which occurred here will serve to illustrate the sort of stuff of which the Maine cavaliers was composed. As Capt. Cilley passed down the line of his company (B) to cull out disabled men and horses, he saw in the ranks Charles A. McIntyre, of Warren, with both sides of his face terribly swollen, and suffering severely with the mumps. He was ordered by the captain to fall out, to which he replied: "I came here to fight, captain; this is the first chance we have had; I want to go in." He went in. When these preparations were completed, it was learned that Col. Douty, with his bat- talion and two companies of the Vermont cavalry, had been ordered to reconnoitre along the dirt road to the Front Royal pike, to ascertain if the enemy was in force in that vicinity, gain all possible information of his movements, report often, and, if he met the enemy advancing, to hold him in check as long as possible. The little force proceeded a few miles when it encountered Ashby's force, consisting of some three thou- sand cavalry and a battery, and which was en route for Middle- town by this very road. Ashby found a determined foe in the little force under Col. Douty, "stubborn as mules," he after- wards expressed it, who held him in check gallantly for some hours, and was driven very slowly back to Middletown only by the guns of the battery, sustaining no loss. The persistence with which the men resisted his advance, and the skill with which they were handled, led Ashby, as he afterwards said. to believe that there were plenty of troops behind the little force, and gave Jackson an idea that Banks might, perhaps, have been re-enforced by MeDowell. At any rate, it was best to be on his guard, so- he hastily sent dispatches to Ewell, who was well on his way to Winchester, to halt his column and wait further orders, causing him some delay, and materially changing his plans, to the great advantage of Gen. Banks. The benefit of
35
COL. DOUTY'S DELAY OF JACKSON.
this delay and change of movement on the part of Jackson will be evident, when it is considered that, had he marched directly forward on the Front Royal pike, and left only an equal force to meet Col. Douty's battalion, he would have struck Banks at the junction of the two pikes at Newtown, in advance of the wagon train, and Banks' inferior force would have been obliged to form for battle with their own immense wagon train and impedimenta between them and the enemy, and confusion would have been the result. As it was, the enemy reached Newtown in season to bring on a severe engage- ment there, which lasted till after dark, and which necessitated sending troops back to check them; but the trains were, by that time, safe and out of the way, while Ewell's force, which arrived in the vicinity of Winchester before the force of Banks, did not, owing to the loss of time by the halt spoken of, reach there in time to secure the town, or so good a position as it otherwise would have done. Gen. Ashby afterwards told Surgeon Haley, of the regiment, who was captured later on the same day, that the delay of Jackson, in going through the mud road instead of pressing on through the pike, saved Banks' army.
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Fighting stubbornly for every inch of ground, Col. Douty's force finally reached Middletown, having delayed Ashby for hours, and having lost no men and but one horse. Here they found Gen. Hatch, with the whole cavalry force, or rear guard, waiting for the Fifth New York and a portion of the First Vermont Cavalry, which had been cut off at Cedar Creek, and who were compelled to save themselves by a detour and a forced march to Martinsburg, by a road near the mountains. Gen. Hatch, who was momentarily expecting the arrival of these regiments, his rear guard, and did not like to proceed without them, kept Col. Douty's battalion on the skirmish line in front of the village, where it had a lively time. In the meantime, the enemy, quietly and without being perceived, moved a large force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to the pike, thus getting in front of Gen. Hatch's force, and between him and the main column. The enemy also brought up addi- tional guns, and was making hot work for the skirmishers,
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
when Gen. Hatch. seeing his danger, remarked to Col. Douty : "We must cut our way through." To assist in carrying out this intention. the battalion left the skirmish line, to take posi- tion on the pike for a charge.
In making this change, Capt. Cilley, who was riding at the head of his company (B), near an orchard, through the trees in which the shells were crashing, assuring his men that the sound of shell and canister was much worse than the actual danger, was hit by a shell, and fell from his horse in much the same deliberate manner in which a squirrel falls to the ground when shot. This was the first shot that had taken effect in the regiment, and the first sight of a man wounded and apparently dead, caused some confusion in the ranks, which was fortunate for Co. B, as the delay occasioned by it prevented the company from joining in the disastrous charge on the pike which followed. It is reported that the orderly sergeant of the company at this time took shelter in rear of a brick church near by, and, when asked what he was doing there, replied frankly that he didn't know what else to do.
The order was given to advance; Gen. Hatch, who with his staff and escort was at the head of the column, some distance in advance of Col. Douty's battalion, seeing a battery of the enemy with a strong support in the road, which at that point was narrow, with a high wall on each side, turned off on a road leading to the left, and passing along a parallel road, after sev- eral ineffectual attempts joined the main column. A blinding cloud of dust hid this sudden movement from Col. Douty's view, and at the same time prevented him from seeing the obstruction in his front until too late to avert what is known as the " Middletown Disaster." Rushing forward in rear of the two companies of the First Vermont Cavalry then in Col. Douty's command. at a rapid rate of speed, in column of "fours," and supposing they were following the general. the battalion, with the exception of Co. B. came suddenly upon this battery before they were aware of its presence, and in a narrow road where " maneuvering was out of the question. The consequences were frightful ; the head of the column was instantly stopped, and the men next, unalde to halt their horses in season, and in
37
THE MIDDLETOWN DISASTER.
turn pushed forward by the horses in the rear, rushed on, till men and animals were piled up in a mixed mass of humanity, horse-flesh and cavalry arms and equipments, in the utmost confusion ; some of the men were wounded by the drawn sabres of their comrades, others were crushed by the horses and unable to extricate themselves.
But few could escape, and the loss to Cos. A, E, and M was severe, a large number of men being wounded or taken pris- oners, while the loss in horses was equally large. (It is a remarkable fact that but two men of this battalion were killed or mortally wounded.) Cos. A, E, and M were terribly cut up. When Co. A arrived at Winchester it had but eighteen men, though thirty or more succeeded in escaping capture or eluding their guards, and rejoined the company in a day or two; and the same is true of the other companies. Cos. B and H lost but few men. Capt. Cilley (who had been commissioned major rice Maj. Douty promoted, but was still serving with his com- pany, not having been mustered into his new grade), was left on the field wounded, and taken prisoner. Surgeon Haley, who remained with Capt. Cilley, was also taken prisoner, as were two men left with the captain; Capt. Putnam of Co. E was wounded, and Lieut. Estes of Co. A was taken prisoner. The wagon belonging to Co. E. with the company books and papers, and the private effects of the officers, fell into the hands of the enemy.
Escaping from his perilous position, Col. Douty with his battalion, now reduced to a mere handful of men, fell back on the pike, and by taking an intersecting road, and making a Artour to the left. after a hard march, rejoined the main column early the next morning, and was immediately ordered to sup- fort a battery. The terrible work of the day before had greatly exhausted the few men who were left, but orders were impera- tive, and, after a single hour's rest, they were aroused at five o'clock in the morning by the rattle of musketry, and the roar of cannon, to bear their part in the battle of Winchester, where Banks decided to test the enemy's strength, and for some time by hard fighting, held in check Jackson's whole force. But further retreat was inevitable, and it was continued through
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
Martinsburg and across the Potomac to Williamsburg, Col. Douty's battalion acting a portion of the time as rear guard, and Cos. B and H winning new laurels while covering the retreat of the Tenth Maine Infantry at Winchester, by keeping a formidable regiment of cavalry at bay.
The official account of this days' work, as found on the annual return of the regiment for 1862, on file in the adjutant general's office in Augusta, says : -
On the morning of the twenty-fourth of May, Lieut. Col. C. S. Douty, with his command, was ordered by Gen. Banks to proceed, with two days' rations, from Strasburg. Va .. across towards Front Royal, on the dirt road intersecting from Middletown the pike from Front Royal to Winchester, to ascertain if the rebels were in any force near the Front Royal and Winchester pike, to learn what was possible in regard to their movements, and to send frequent messengers back with all the information gained. (The distance from Middletown across to the Front Royal and Winchester pike on this dirt road was seven and one-half miles. The dirt road inter- sects the Front Royal and Winchester pike about one and one-half miles from Front Royal. and runs nearly southeast from Middletown. The Stras- burg and Winchester pike and the Front Royal and Winchester pike run north in the form of a triangle, forming a junction at Winchester. The distance from Strasburg to Winchester is nineteen miles, and the distance from Front Royal to Winchester is eighteen miles.) Col. Douty accordingly moved his command across on this dirt road to within one and one-half miles of its intersection with the Front Royal and Winchester pike, when he met the advance guad of the rebel Gen. Jackson's army, which he drove back, following them to within a half mile of the pike, where he was met by an old woman who entreated him to turn back, informing him that rebel Gen. Ewell with a strong force had passed along the pike towards Winchester, and that Jackson was commy across on the dirt road to get in rear of Gen. Banks, and that his (Col. Douty's) command would be captured unless he turned back to Middletown. (Jackson's object evidently was to send Ewell on to Winchester with ten thousand men. to arrive there in advance of Gen. Banks, who was retreating on the Strasburg and Winches- ter pike, while he - Jackson - would march his force across on this dirt. road and get in rear of Gen. Banks' command.) Col. Douty told the old woman not to be alarmed for his safety: that he had forty thousand Yan- kees to back him. He then drew up his command - about four hun- dred cavalry -in line of battle in front of a large belt of timber which extended on both sides of the dirt road, sending out his skirmishers, who met the advance of Jackson - army at portion of Ashby's cavalry), and attacking it, drove it back, checking the advance of the rebels. Jackson and Ashby, having come up within sight of the line of battle, and having received the communication from the old woman in regard to the " forty thousand Yankees," an offer was immediately forwarded to Ewell, who turned his force to rejoin Jackson. Ashby, immediately bringing up his
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39
THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT.
force of three thousand cavalry and a light battery, began to reconnoitre with his cavalry in the vicinity of Col. Douty's line of skirmishers, who shot two of the enemy, causing them to be very cautious in their manner of approaching. In the meantime the battery had taken its position and began shelling the line of battle and the timber in its rear, thinking, per- haps, to annoy the " forty thousand Yankees" that Jackson supposed were supporting the line, which was forced to fall back " inch by inch only as it was shelled " (as Gen. Ashby afterwards stated to one of Col. Douty's officers who was taken prisoner), but improving every advantageous spot of ground in checking the advance of the entire rebel force on the dirt road to Middletown. This force was held in check at intervals for four hours, which gave almost the entire train of Gen. Banks time to pass through Middletown towards Winchester in advance of the rebel force. Col. Douty with his command fell back to Middletown (with only the loss of one horse) where he met Brig. Gen. Hatch, commanding the cavalry brigade, who ordered him to "remain in line of battle at Middletown until Maj. Gen. Banks passed through," he not being aware that Gen. Banks had already passed through. Col. Douty remained here with his command until it was cut off by the rebels, who then commanded the pike leading towards Win- chester with infantry and artillery, when an order was given to charge. Supposing this order to have originated from Gen. Hatch, Col. Douty with his command immediately charged towards the enemy's line, receiving several volleys of musketry from the rebel infantry, who arose from behind the stone walls that lined the pike, while the shells from the rebel artillery broke in and about their ranks, killing fifteen horses and wounding many more, men and horses falling in a mass. The command succeeded in charg- ing through the line and joining the main body of Gen. Banks' force, near Newtown, with a loss of sixty-four men. wounded and prisoners, and one hundred horses killed and captured. At Newtown the command remained supporting a battery, until being ordered to fall back it proceeded to Winchester. Had Ewell not been turned back by Jackson's order in conse- quence of the intelligence of the " forty thousand Yankees." which the old woman conveyed to Jackson, he would have arrived at Winchester at least four hours in advance of Gen. Banks' force, and Gen. Banks' whole com- mand would have been cut off.
On the morning of the twenty-fifth of May the command was in line of Fattle below Winchester, and was ordered to charge back and forth through the city for the purpose of keeping back a scattered rebel force which was harassing our force. This was accomplished under the musketry of the rebels from the windows of the houses without any loss. The command thus covered the retreat of Gen. Banks' command until it arrived at Williamsport.
Gen. Cilley, in an address at the grave of Col. Douty, in Dover, on the occasion of the regimental reunion in that town, in 1881, thus speaks of this engagement : -
The problem presented to Banks was, who should reach Winchester first. A broad highway, or macadamized pike, led from either army, and found a
40
FIRST MMAINE CAVALRY.
junction near Winchester. A dirt road from Middletown connected the two pikes, and with their lines formed a triangle. On this road, in the early morn of May 24, 1862. Lieut. Col. Douty, with five companies of the First Maine and two companies of the First Vermont Cavalry, advanced through fields and oak groves, as peaceful in their verdure as a dream-day in May. · Capt. Summat, with his company- was detached to our right to watch a ford of the Shenandoah, while the remaining six companies pressed on to the Front Royal pike. As we neared the pike, a few shots in front caused the colonel to deploy his force. In the brief interval required to make known the proximity of two hostile forces, Col. Douty, with quick activity, im- proved by drawing from citizens information of the movement and number of Jackson's army, very adroitly left the impression that he was the advance of Banks' army, which was following to attack the flanks of the rebel force. None of this cavalry were armed with carbines, pistols and sabres being their only weapons. Frequent belts of wood, with fields intervening, afforded opportunity for skirmishing, but prevented mounted charges and use of sabre and pistol. Powerless to attack with advantage, Douty's only course was to amuse the enemy, deceive them in regard to the numbers opposing them, and delay them as much as possible. Wisely and well he performed this part. Jackson halted his army on the Front Royal pike, and sent all his cavalry, one battery, and a portion of his infantry, over to the dirt road, to repel Douty's attack and ascertain his strength. In front of this force Douty manœuvred his men, and drew the enemy slowly after him. Co. H, under Capt. Summat, rejoining on our right flank, made a charge with perfect alignment. It was brilliant and inspiring, but for what object made I never understood, except to show the enemy we were drilled horsemen. Slowly back toward Middletown Douty drew his men. Ashby's cavalry with artillery and foot followed. Douty's object was effected. Jackson was halted. and waited information on the Front Royal pike, and his cavalry, diverted from the direct road to Winchester, and obliged to march around two sides of the triangle, thus lost much valuable time. No more timely service could Gen. Banks require, or any officer render. We claim it saved Banks' army from an attack on its flanks before it could reach Winchester, an attack on an army encumbered with its baggage and drawn out in a straggling manner on the Strasburg pike. This claim is fully substantiated by Jackson's Litter denunciations on the absence of his cavalry. Gen. Dick Taylor, in his sketches of the Valley Campaign. reverts again and again to the fact that Ashby and his cavalry were in the rear when Jackson approached Winchester. Ashby himself said to our surgeon, Haley. "I could only drive your cavalry step by step by my artillery." The First Maine, under Douty. occupied his entire attention, and kept him employed. The blood spilled in the streets of Middletown was a vicarious sacrifice for the rest of Banks' army -a tribute to Douty's leadership and to his military honor. Of the disastrous charge at Middletown I have little to say; it was not ordered, or in any way directed by Douty. The two companies of the First Vermont Casaby charged down the pike without orders. The First Maine followed in the attending clouds of dust like fellow champions, and were involved in their ruin as they fell on the obstructions and the enemy's guns occupying the road itself. Nothing could have been
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41
MAJ. CILLEY'S EXPERIENCE.
more nicely wrought than the work of the morning up to this charge. The full credit of the work was due to Douty's hand and Douty's leadership, but that hand was for a moment withheld, that leadership a moment diverted for a wounded comrade's sake, and the disaster itself shows its previous value and true quality.
In Gen. Banks' official report of this retreat he speaks in the highest terms of the services of the whole cavalry force, saying : " By confession of friend and foe it was equal, if not superior, to the best of the enemy's long trained mounted troops."
The experience of Maj. Cilley, the first man to be wounded in the regiment, as he was the first man enlisted in the regi- ment, is thus told : -
Personally he knew nothing about being hit, or of any pain. His first consciousness was two or three days afterwards, when the knowledge came to him that he was lying on a lounge, with inability to move, and that he could now and then hear the steps of a woman crossing the room. His first idea of the feeling of his wounded arm was an indefinite impression that the arm felt as though it looked green, and seemed something foreign to him. On his return to consciousness. the doctor considered it his duty to inform him that he could not recover; but, reluctant to break the unpleasant tidings, the doctor sought the lady of the house, who, however, was not attracted to the task, so at last he applied to the major's orderly, Isaac B. Harris, who had been detailed to remain and take care of him. Harris thereupon went to Maj. Cilley, and announced: "Captain, do you know that you are mortally wounded. and cannot recover?" The orderly was somewhat astonished when the major replied: "Thunder! I am not going to die - what do you mean?" Harris stammered: " The -the doctor - told me so." " Well. the doctor doesn't know as much about it as I do - I intend to see this war finished." was the answer. When this was reported to the doctor, he had increased hopes of the major's recovery. An assist- ant surgeon of the First Vermont Cavalry, who had been left at Strasburg, hearing of Maj. Cilley's wound, went to the house where he was with a connnon handsaw and a butcher knife, and insisted that the aim should be unputated. alleging as his best reason and as a elincher to his other argu- ments, that he had " been in the service six months, and had not seen a wingle amputation performed." Archibald Spaulding, sent by Gov. Washburn to attend to the wounded Maine soldiers, from the best reports he could oMain, informed the governor that Maj. Cilley had been mortally wounded. wul died immediately after being taken prisoner, and the major had the unusual experience of reading his own obituary. Maj. Cilley always felt that he owed his recovery to being carried immediately to the dwelling of John W. Wright, a merchant of Middletown, and receiving there the motherly care and nursing of his wife, Mrs. Wright. Indeed, his comrades atributed his chivalrous esteem of the women of Virginia to Mrs. Wright's kindness, as he was inclined to damn the men of that state, especially when
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
near any portion of Wise's command. Nearly three months he lay at Middletown, unable to be moved, and then was carried by easy stages to the Union lines at Winchester, and thence to Washington, where he received leave of absence to visit Maine. In December following he was again car- ried to Washington, with his wound still unhealed, and had an operation performed on it at Armory Square Hospital by Dr. Bliss, under whose treatment he remained till the April following. During this time of suffer- ing and weakness at Washington, he formed the acquaintance and won the friendship of the lady who, after the war, became his wife. More than forty pieces of bone were taken from his arm in different surgical opera- tions, and it did not heal till September, 1863. One of the last times his wound was dressed was when Gen. Meade fell back from the Rapidan to Centreville, and while a part of the brigade was under fire in front of Culpepper Court House.
Sergt. Alanson M. Warren, of Co. M, who was taken prisoner in this engagement, and went to Richmond with forty-one others of this regiment (though these were not all of the regi- ment that were captured on that day), furnishes these extracts from his diary : --
We were captured on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth, and a portion marched to Front Royal, where we remained until the twenty-sixth, during which time we had only one small ration of bread.
May twenty-sixth. - Marched to Winchester. nineteen miles, without anything to eat. Here we joined another squad of prisoners, making in all about 1,100. Remained here till May thirty-first, our numbers increasing, until there were about 1.800.
May twenty-seventh. - Received one ration.
May thirty-first. - On the road for Lynchburg. Marched as far as Stras- burg. Nothing to eat.
June first. - Marched to Woodstock. This is the second day without a mouthful to eat, and no water, except such as we could get from the puddles in the road.
June second. - Forward to Mount Jackson. One ration.
June third. - To Newmarket. One ration. Camped on the ground, with no shelter. in a heavy fall of rain.
June fourth. - On to Harrisonburg. Nothing to eat, and still raining.
June fifth. - The citizens of Harrisonburg provided rations for one day. for which they received only the good will and hearty cheers of the prisoners. Thomas Knight. of Co. M. escaped last night by crawling under the floor of the meeting-house, in which part of the prisoners lodged. Marched twenty- one miles to-day.
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