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M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
An
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01073 4546
E
N. Y. REGIMENTS 18-1-95
llv. in 1
Norwich, N. Y. New Orleans, Oswego, N. Y. 1887-95
A SKETCH OF THE
8th
N. Y. CAVALRY.
Unwritten History of the Rebellion,
BY HENRY NORTON .. NORWICH. N.Y.
A MEMBER OF COMPANY H, 8th N.Y. CAVALRY.
PRICE 15 CENTS,
PUBLISHED JANUARY, 1888.
LIBRARY i
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م بعثرة
F 8349 .5025
N.Y. regiments. [Norwich, N. Y. , New Orleans, Oswego, N.Y., 1887-95] Ilv.in 1.
Binder's title.
CHELF CAD
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was talk that the government was going to discharge the whole regiment; but we were kept in the service. In May, '62, we went up the Shenandoah Valley with Banks' army, and marched the entire distance on foot. The boys did not like that, but there was no help for it, we had to go.
We had a nice little time at Winchester, when STONEWALL JACKSON'S ARMY
charged on Banks' army; they could not hold them in check. We got out of there on the double quick; we did not stop until we got to Harper's Ferry. That was the last of our fighting as infantry; we lost quite a number who were taken prisoners. Soon after the battle of Winchester we went into eamp at the
RELAY HOUSE,
in Maryland, at the junction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroads. Then it was camp duty and drill again. It was said by the generals that the 8th N. Y. Cavalry was the best drilled regiment in the saber exercise in the service.
In June, '62, Capt. Benj. F. Davis, of the Regular Army, was made Colonel of the Sth N. Y. Cavalry. He was a military man clear through. About the first of August, '62, the government
SENT HORSES TO US;
we were glad of that as we were getting tired of that kind of soldiering. Then came drilling horses; we had quite a time of it before we got them down to fine work and ready for business, but it was fun for the boys, just the same.
We had our horses in good shape when we were ordered to
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HARPER'S FERRY,
August 25th, '62. We arrived at the Ferry in good shape and ready to fight the "rebs," and found the 12th Illinois Cavalry there and parts of two or three other regiments of cavalry that I have forgotten the names of. Colonel Miles was in command of the Ferry. We used to go up the Shenandoah River as far as Charlestown, occasionally, scouting. We had not been at the Ferry long before we
SURROUNDED BY THE REBELS.
The Ferry is situated on the forks of , the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Across the Potomac River were Maryland Heights, where the Union Army had artillery planted, well fortified; on the south side of the Shenandoah River were Loudon Heights, in Virginia, where Stonewall Jackson had artillery planted. About every day they would shell each other. Stonewall Jackson would say to his men, " be careful and not drop any shells down there in the hollow, where the cavalry is camped, for I want those horses." All this time. Colonel Davis was busy, for he was going to
TAKE HIS REGIMENT OUT
of the Ferry and not stay there and be gobbled up by the rebels without making an effort to get away. Colonel Davis found out, in some way, when the rebels would take the Ferry. The rebels knew they could take it in short order when they got ready to make the attack. The Colonel made preparations to go ont the night before with his regiment and what cavalry remained there. The Colonel got one of the old settlers, a man who had lived there all his life, and knew the country well, to pilot him through
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Maryland, which was occupied by Rebel General Longstreet and his corps. The Colonel had a scout there to watch his movements, for he knew the only way to get out was to go through General Long- street's corps.
On the 14th. of September everything was in readiness for us to get out of the place, if we could. In the evening, about S o'clock, we were drawn up in line, and our sutler, knowing that he could not get out with his goods, went down the line and gave the boys what tobacco he had on hand. We crossed the Potomac River to the Maryland side on a pontoon bridge. Before we crossed, each cap- tain gave orders to his company that each man must
FOLLOW HIS FILE LEADER;
that no other orders would be given. We crossed the river in single file, the 12th .Illinois in front, the 8th N. Y. in the rear, while the Colonel, with his pilot and some twenty-five soldiers, went ahead to clear the road. When the head of the column got across the river they would start off at full speed, so that by the time the last man was across the head of the line was ten miles away. As I belonged to company H, Sth N. Y., I was near the rear of the line; the way we went was a caution; each horse went as fast as he could go. By that time it was dark-lark was no name for it. There were woods for a few miles, which made it all the worse. The only way we could tell how far we were from our file leaders was by the horse's shoes striking fire against the stones in the road, Sometimes we would be twenty yards from our file leaders, and then we
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would come up full drive; then we would hear some tall swearing. We kept it up in that way for some five or six miles. The Colonel came up to the
REBEL PICKET
some two miles distant from the river; the picket fired his gun off and then retreated. The
REBELS WERE SURPRISED
to see Yankees coming from that direction. They thought we were cooped up in the Ferry and did not dare come out.
Some two miles after the pickets were driven in the rebels blockaded the road to stop us. The Colo- nel knew what the rebels would do, so before he got there he went aeross lots and gave them the slip. The pilot knew every foot of the ground through Maryland, and the scout knew how Longstreet's corps was situated, having come from there about an hour before we started from the Ferry. The Colonel had his route all maped ont before he started; he was bound to go through or die in the attempt. He managed to avoid the rebels until he got to Sharps- burg, where the advance guard had a brush with the rebels. It was nothing but a pieket force, and it was all over when the rear of the line arrived. It did not last long, as the Colonel soon drove them back, and the rebels retreated to camp, giving the alarm that the
WHOLE YANKEE ARMY
was upon them. We learned afterwards, by some prisoners taken at Antietam, that the whole of Long- street's corps stood in line all the rest of the night , expecting to be attacked every minute. As I was
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riding along, trying to keep up with my file leader, my horse kept shying every little while. Come to find out, there were horses laying in the road; they had been ridden so fast that they had
DROPPED DOWN DEAD
in the road. Some three or four miles out we began to go through the fields; we would go in the fields for a while, then back in the road again, then into the fields on the other side of the road again. At one time we were so close to their camps that we could see the rebels plainly by their camp fires; on we went at full speed. I did not think, at first, that they were rebels. I said to my file leader: " Bill, what is the use of the Colonel going any further, here are our troops." Bill said: "They are not our troops, they . are rebels." He must have guessed at it, but he guessed right, for they proved to be rebels. I said to Bill: " We are a gone goose, for we will all be cap- tured." There was no more said then, as we had all we could attend to about that time, for we were. crossing a creek, the banks of which had become so muddy, by so many horses' feet trampling them down, that it was almost impossible to get through. When the rear of the line got to Sharpsburg we began
TO CLOSE UP;
then we had a chance to walk our horses; they were pretty neatly winded, for they had been on the keen scoot ever since we left the river. We had
GONE THROUGH LONGSTREET'S CORPS.
A great many would say that it was an impossibility . -a force of about 1,500 cavalry. We could not have done it had it not been in the 1
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night and the Colonel having managed just as he did. The rebels were taken by surprise, for they thought we had a large force, so they waited for us to attack them; but we had other business about then; all we wanted was to get out of there, and if they would let us alone we would them. On the 15th of September, after some hard fighting, Harper's Ferry surrendered to Stonewall Jackson. Some eight or ten of our boys were left behind, when we went out of the Ferry, because they had no horses. When Stonewall came into the Ferry the first thing he said was, " Where is that cavalry that was here yesterday?" Some one said to him: "They left here last night." "Which way did they go?" "They went over into Maryland." Stonewall Jackson said: " They
CAN'T GET AWAY;
Longstreet is up in Maryland and he has got them before this time."
After we left Sharpsburg we did not come across any more rebels until we struck the
HAGERSTOWN PIKE,
about four miles west of Hagerstown. The pike runs east and west. Just before we got to the pike we halted in a piece of woods; we could hear wagons rumbling along on the road ahead of us. The Colo- nel went ahead to reconnoitre, and when he got to the road he soon found out that it was a
REBEL WAGON TRAIN.
As soon as he saw them it came into his head to capture the train. About half a mile west from where we were was a fork in the road, the road that
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branched off running north into Pennsylvania. The Colonel went on ahead and got to the forks before the train. It was yet dark, for it was about three o'clock in the morning. The train was guarded by -five or six hundred rebel cavalry, who were in the rear of the train. When the head team came along the Colonel told the teamster to turn his team off on the right hand road, so the whole train began to move off in that direction. The rebel teamsters never mistrusted but what everything was all right. It was a big undertaking, for the Colonel might lose his whole command by doing it. As soon as the train began to move off on that, road the Colonel sent back for the Sth N. Y. Cavalry. We went for- ward and took possession of the train; the 12th In- ' inois Cavalry was with us. They kept the rebel cavalry in check while we imwried the train on. It was done
NEAT AND SLICK.
It was a big thing. The rebels had quite a large force within two miles of us, which they could have sent after us and routed us out of that; we hurried the train along as fast as we could, expecting to be attacked. every minute. We had got the train along a number of miles before daylight. When it began to grow light enough so the rebels could see they kept staring at us: one fellow said, " What regiment do you belong to?" I replied, "The 8th N. Y."
" THE HELL,
you say." When the rebel teamsters found ont they were prisoners, were they mad ?- mad was no name for it. They tried every way they could to stop the
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train; one follow got off from his mule and began to unhitch them from the wagon; another fellow set the straw on fire that the shells wow packed in. They tried every way they could to stop the train; they thought if they could delay the train it would give the- rebels a chance to retake it; we put a stop to that. After that each man took a team and rode along by- the side of the driver, with a revolver in hand, and each one bad orders to shoot the first man who did not obey orders. That quieted them down; so on we went. We were " not out of the woods yet," as the saying goes; the rebels had force enough to have seut on and retaken the train, but they did not come. We got the train through all right.
We arrived in Greencastle, Pa., about nine o'clock in the morning, We had seventy-five wagons, and each wagon had six nice mules hitched to it. We captured between two and three hundred prisoners that had crawled into the wagons to ride; the wagons were loaded with flour and ammunition-mostly ammunition. We took a lot of it. The rebels did not have so much to throw at us at the battle of Antie- tam. When we arrived in Greencastle the inhabi- tants would not believe at first what we had done, that we had marched from Harper's Ferry, gone through Longstreet's corps, and taken seventy-five wagons from the rebels, in twelve hours.
After we had turned over the train and prisoners to the authorities of the place, we went into a piece of woods to feed of horses and rest up. We were about played ont; we were hungry and sleepy; some laid down on the ground, while others sat down with
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their backs leaned against a tree. Many were asleep iu no time. We had not been there more than an hour when there was
AN ALARM GIVEN
that the rebels were coming, and the bugle sounded " to horse." For all that we had been up all night, we were out in line in less than five minutes. We stood there in line for a while, and as no rebels came we went back again. Some said it was a false alarm to see how quick we could get out in line. I never learned whether there was any truth in it or not. The people about there were scared when they saw us coming; they thought that we were rebels. When they found out who we were and where we had come from, and what we had done and what a long ride we had taken, they were not long in getting there with wagons loaded with provisions for us to eat, almost everything anyone could think of, and told us to help ourselves, and we had a
GOOD SQUARE MEAL
and some left over for another time. The boys thought that soldiering wasn't so bad after all. " .. From that time on the Colonel put a great deal of confidence in the Sth N. Y. Cavalry. He knew that where he went they would follow him. The boys would follow him, for they thought the Colonel could go anywhere and take them through all right. We stayed there until the next day and then started south again. We were at the
. BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
It has since been stated, upon good authority, that the escape of the cavalry from Harper's Ferry and
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the capture of the train referred to, induced the War Department to order General MeClellan to make an immediate attack on Lee's army, which resulted in the memorabie battle of Antietam. I will not state the particulars of that battle, for it is down in history. The union army whipped the rebels and drove them back across the river; when they began to retreat we were ordered forward. We had quite a lively time
PICKING UP STRAGGLERS.
When we came in sight of them, the Captain said: " Corporal, take five men and go off to the right and take those tive rebels over there prisoners," and away we would go after them; we would come down on them heavy. When we got to them we would say: "Surrender, Johnies," and they would throw down their guns and throw up their hands and yell ont:
"DON'T SHOOT, I SURRENDER."
We captured a good many rebels in squads, any- where from two to ten. They were almost every- where-in barns, behind fences and in the woods. When we got to the river the rebel army was across it, but they had left all of their wounded, that could not be moved, in our hands. It was a fearful sight, every building being full for six miles around. After the battle the army went into camp to rest up. The 8th N. Y. went near Hagerstown to camp for a while. It was not long before the rebel cavalry began to make raids in the rear of our army, to capture trains and tear up the track, and get all the horses and cat- tle they could; then we were called upon to go for them. We would follow them around for a while,
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then we would be sent to some point to head them off. When we got there the rebels had been gone about an hour; they were too sharp for us, they would escape us every time. That was the way we had it until November, when we started for Virginia again.
ON TO RICHMOND, NOVEMBER, 1862.
On or about the fifth of November the army com- menced to move; the cry was: "On to Richmond," again. After we crossed the Potomac River into Virginia we soon began to come upon the rebel cavalry piekets. Our cavalry was in advance of the army, while the rebel cavalry covered the retreat of their army. All the fighting that was done was cavalry against cavalry. As soon as the Union army commeneed to advance the rebel army fell back to Fredericksburg, Va .; the cavalry fell back slowly. They would fall back until they found a good place, then they would wait for us. The first brush we had with them, after crossing the river, was near the Blue Ridge Mountains. The rebels had not got acquainted with the Sth N. Y. Cavalry, but it was not long before they found out who they were.
The first year of the war the rebel cavalry was superior to ours, but the union cavalry gained on them from that time out, so that the rebel cavalry was nowhere. When we came up the rebels thought it was going to be an easy job to drive us back, by the way they pitched into us. Colonel Davis knew how the Sth N. Y. could handle the saber, so that when the rebels charged on us the Colonel ordered
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A COUNTER CHARGE,
and when we came together the rebels were nowhere. We drove them back with a big loss of killed, wounded and prisoners; our loss was only a few wounded. The rebels outnumbered us two to one, and after that we conkt not get them to stand if they had four men to our one-not in a charge. They knew the Sth N. Y. Cavalry, after that. as far as they could see them.
That was the way we had it day after day. The rebels would fall back, then we would come up and go for them, and then they would fall back again. We would sometimes fight on foot. At one time, when we came upon the rebels, we halted in a piece of woods. The order was given for two companies to dismount, every fourth man to stay with the horses, while the rest went to fight on foot. We marched along until we came to the edge of the woods, where there was a stone wall. When we got up to the wall one of our men saw a rebel off about half a mile and . tired at him withont orders. There was a rebel bat- tery off at our right, and when they heard the shot they turned their guns that way and commenced firing. We must have been just the right distance off, for the shells exploded right over our heads, the pieces flying around there so that we were ordered to lie down by the wall. I lay hugging the wall as close as I could, while one of the sergeants lay stretched ont a few feet from the wall. He said to me: " What makes you hug the wall so?" About that time a : shell exploded, and a piece came down and struck so close to his legs that he got up to that wall in a
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hurry. He did not say any more. Soon we heard a yell-it was the Colonel with the rest of the regiment charging the rebels. We went back to where our horses were, mounted, and on we went; the Colo- nel, when he came up where the rebels were, would east his eyes over the field, and he could tell in a minute what to do. He would take them on the flank and would go for them heavy, and would rout them in a hurry. So on we went towards Fredericks- burg.
One day, after we had been in Virginia some twelve days, we had been following the rebels up all day, until about three or four o'clock in the after- noon, when we came to a place called Barber's Cross- roads. General Pleasanton was with us that day. When we came within a mile of
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BARBER'S CROSS-ROADS
we went into the fields. The Sth N. Y. Cavalry went to the right, while the rest of the cavalry took the left of the road. The rebels had taken a stand there to hold us in check. Some fifty rods from the rebel battery was a knoll that hid us from view; there we halted, and the Colonel dismounted two companies to fight on foot. The Colonel was quite a smoker; he had an okl clay pipe, and when he got engaged he would keep his pipe in his mouth for an hour after it had smoked ont. The boys knew there was going to be business that day, for he had his pipe in his month bottom side up. There was a stone wall that ran from where we were to within about twenty yards from the rebel battery. The Colonel was bound to . take that battery, but he did not quite do it. The
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dismounted soldiers could. by stooping over, work themselves along the wall and not be seen by the rebels, they were to go such a distance, and draw the attention of the rebels, while the Colonel would CHARGE THE BATTERY
with the rest of the regiment. After the mon on foot had gone on, the Colonel marched the mounted portion of the regiment. by twos. over the knoll. straight at the rebel battery; when we had gone about half way to the battery, the Colonel halted ns and went off to "see how the land lay." as the boys used to call it. As soon as we came in sight the rebels commenced to fire at us; but we were so close that the shells went over and be- Soud us. before they exploded, and there we had to stand and let them shoot at us. The shells went straight over our heads. We expected every minute that a shot would take the whole line, but for some reason, we could not tell what. the rebels could not get their guns to bear low enough; there was nothing in the way as we could see. There we sat on our horses, expecting the next shot would take down through us. Standing as we were, in a straight line, if a shot had got low enough it would have been fear- ful. It would have gone through the whole line and would have killed and wounded about every one. We were so close to them that we could see the rebels work their guns plainly. We would watch the man when he pulled the lanyard. and when he gave the string a yank we would
DUCK OUR HEADS
and lung our horses necks as close as possible. I know that I made myself as stuall as I could; it was
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rough to keep us there and to be shot at in that way. If the Colonel had given orders to charge the bat- tery. we would have liked it better; in fact, all that saved as was in being so close to the battery. The man on the left of me would sit up straight as a bean pole on his horse when a shot would come over. He said to me: " What makes you bend over so, you will get hit just the same." I replied to him: "I can't help it; those shells are coming pretty close." It seemed that the shells did not go over two feet from our heads. We were there abont fifteen minutes, although it seemed a great deal longer than that. Off to the right of us was a regiment of rebel cavalry in line watching the firing; they must have laughed a little when they saw ns ducking our heads. We were glad when the Colonel came and marched us down under the knoll out of range. The Colonel found more rebels there than he expected to: the Sth N. Y. Cavalry were the only troops there, the rest being on the other side of the road and having the battery with them. The Sth N. Y. was
FIGHTING THREE REGIMENTS
of rebels and a battery of four guns. After we went under the knoll and ont of range the rebels lost track of-us. They had found out where the dismounted horses were and made a charge on them; then the Colonel got one of his counter-charges in. The Colonel had been watching the rebels; we could not see them, but heard them yell. It was not long be- fore the Colonel came over the knoll and gave the command to " right wheel and come on." We went up over that knoll kiting; we came together heavy;
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it was eat and slash. When the rebels saw us they were under sach headway that a good many of them could not stop their horses, and rode past us and were taken prisoners; those that could wheeled their horses and dug out; we went for them heavy and killed and wounded a good many, and took about one hundred prisoners. While we were all mixed up together the rebel artillery kept throwing shells in among us, but all the execution they did was to their own men. Our Orderly Sergeant of Company Il got after a rebel Major; he did not quite get him. He got close enough to give him a saber wound across the shoulder: the rebel escaped. We had only three or four men wounded; the dismounted soldiers be- hind the wall got in
A CROSS-FIRE
on the rebels and gave them " Hail Columbia." The other two regiments of rebels were in line some forty rods away. I guess that they were afraid of us or else they thought we had more troops there some- where. The rebels had abont twenty-five hundred men in their three regiments, while we had five hun- dred and fifty in our regiment. All that saved the 8th N. Y. was the Colonel's counter-charge; if he had waited until the rebels had proceeded any farther, it would have been all day with the Sth N. Y.
Off on the hill, about a mile from there, General Pleasanton was watching the 8th N. Y., when the rebels made a charge on us: the General said to one of his aids: "The Sth N. Y. is a goner." When he saw that we had driven the rebels back, he slap- ped his hands and yelled out: "Bully for the 8th N. X." When he first saw what shape we were in, he
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THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
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sent a regiment to support ns. They arrived just as we had finished with that regiment of rebels, so the
REBELS DUSTED OUT
of that in a hurry. It was so near night that we did not follow them any farther.
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