USA > New York > History of the Tenth regiment of cavalry New York state volunteers, August, 1861, to August, 1865, pt 1 > Part 24
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The loss of Battery M in this engagement was as follows : Four caissons, bat- tery forge, forty-five men killed, wounded, and missing (mostly taken prisoners), and sixty-six horses. I was acting No. 5, first piece, Battery M, Second U. S. Ar- tillery.
Lieutenant Edson, of Company D, relates the following incident :
There was a recruit in Company D, by the name of Pendall, only seventeen years old, who measured six feet in height. The boys had joked him consider- ably, and he told them the first fight that he participated in he would show them some "tall " fighting. Trevillian was his first opportunity, and he was one of the earliest ones to start in the charge. There was a small house a short distance in advance, and Pendall made direct for it. The first thing the boys saw was Pen- dall chasing a reb, even taller than himself, both bareheaded. It was as even a race as I ever saw. Pendall ran the reb around the house and into it, and, when the rest of the company came up, they found Pendall standing in the doorway, holding eight rebs prisoners, with an empty revolver! Pendall served with the Regiment to the close of the war, with credit to himself and his company.
In the Rev. Joseph H. Bradley the Tenth possessed a model chap- lain. The Regiment hardly needed the services of a chaplain. It
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HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
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was made up of good fellows. Before his assignment to it the Tenth had established a reputation for itself as a " preying " regi- ment. But the boys found in the new chaplain a man of a kind and sympathetic nature, practical and earnest in bis endeavors to do good. He mingled with the men, learned their needs, and endeavored to supply them; sometimes went with them on their foraging ex- peditions, to see that the preying was properly done. He recognized the stern necessity which called for the taking of food from the peo- ple through whose country the soldiers passed, but he would have Christian forbearance in the execution of the duty, giving practical application to the scriptural injunction, "These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." That he was the right kind of a chap. may be learned from the following interesting incidents contributed by him :
Chaplain's Reminiscences.
The most interesting episode in the history of the Tenth New York Cavalry, during my connection with it, was the Trevillian raid. At least to my thinking I say it. The Cavalry Corps were then keeping company all by themselves (a fact of course highly appreciated), and were carrying on a little war of their own. The three weeks spent on this raid, when we visited the heart of the enemy's ter- ritory and had almost daily conflicts, began the very day, and within an hour, of the time I reported for duty. It was a sudden and thorough introduction to the true inwardness of cavalry life, in which I speedily took a just pride, and main- tain it till this day.
Major H. K. Clark, surgeon, and myself were naturally thrown together, and I was deposited on his hands by Colonel Avery's direction, through the interme- diary services of an orderly upon reporting my arrival in camp. I flatter myself that the Surgeon never regretted the fact, nor repented of his fatherly care, except it might have been once, and that quickly, when we bivonacked the first night. The dear and good Surgeon loved a good and soft thing as well as I, and during our first ride, having kindly inquired about my provision in the way of blankets for night covering, was (as I afterward heard him relate) much gratified and inwardly congratulated himself in having such a richly provided bedfellow, when I informed him I had three large blankets in my train. He expected fair play from me in their use, but at bedtime was dismayed when he saw me pulling those blankets over myself like a great bag; for they were doubled lengthwise, and were sewed up at one end and almost the full length of one side. It was a splendid arrange- ment for me (a trick learned in my previous campaigning), but affording small satisfaction to an outside party. I do not know that he ever got over his disap- pointment, for he never lost an opportunity to poke fun at me generally during the whole of our association till the close of the war.
One of his proddings, assaulting my pure and innocent soul, was brought into play whenever he chanced to quote Longfellow's Excelsior (the Surgeon had a poetic soul-and I hope still has it, for I love him still-and often relieved his
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CHAPLAIN'S REMINISCENCES.
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heart with poetic bursts-not always original, however). When he came to this use of " Excelsior" he would stop at the close of one of the verses and solemnly inquire, "Chaplain, do you think the young man did right in that ?" (I shall not identify the verse but leave that to the reader.) Or he would ask, "Chaplain, do you think you would have done anything so unfeeling as that?" I always as- sumed a proper show of propriety and dignity under these inquisitorial fires, and enjoyed them no less than did my would-be tormentor. He was a great tease, but found me an unprofitable subject. He had a great habit of scribbling on the margins and blank leaves of books, and I treasure (mainly for his sake) & little book of Psalms which he subjected to this treatment.
The severe engagement at Hawe's Shop occurred a few days before the Tre- villian fight. There was a farm-house alongside where our battery was at work, and Dr. Clark had taken possession of a small out-building to operate on a wounded soldier. While performing the amputation of a leg (I believe), a rebel shell came through one wall and striking the other fell back upon the floor. There was a moment's spell-bound silence anticipating the bursting of the shell; then Surgeon Clark found strength to say, "Johnny (Cowles), take that shell out !" It was done. The surgical operation was at its most critical point, that of tying up an artery, and it would have been death to the wounded man to have run and left him, or have loosened the hold on that artery. This will evidence the kind of "stuff" our surgeon and hospital steward were made of.
On this Trevillian raid, when the column was halted at noon, Surgeon Clark and I started to visit a house in sight and about a mile distant. Those were days when provisions were scarce and the variety limited, hence the temptation great to pick up something and anything in the way of a new diet. We knew the country around was infested with bushwhackers, and bodies of the enemy were constantly on our flanks and ready to take in or hang up any stragglers or wan- derers who might fall into their hands. Nevertheless the temptation was great to try our luck at the distant farm-house in sight of our column. We started "across lots." in the usual cavalryman way, and soon after jumping over a ditch found ourselves in a drained field and where the ground was very light and po- rous. The horses several times went down in holes to their bellies, and we found ourselves compelled to slow up our pace on account of this treacherous soil. But haste was imperative and we steered for the farther side of the field, the Surgeon leading the way. and the horses repeatedly struggling in these holes of spongy earth. The Surgeon reached the ditch on the farther side, which was about six feet deep and wide, but the soft soil failed to give his horse a good foothold for the jump, so that he came short, with only his fore-feet striking the opposite side. I was compelled quickly to rein in my horse, or I would have gone on top of the Surgeon, whose horse was scrambling up the opposite side of the ditch. Riding back a few feet to get headway for my own jump, I made again for the ditch, but the horse refused the leap. I tried him several times, but always with the same result. In the mean time the Surgeon had gone on and was out of sight; our column of troops was then also out of sight ; and I was left alone, in a sense im- prisoned in this drained quagmire, through the confirmed stupidity of my steed. The situation presented itself to my mind in most desperate and an alarming light in view of the probability that bushwhackers were around, and my solitary and defenseless plight would deliver me into their hands. The possibilities of
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HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
the situation filled me with dread, and a tumult of thought rushed through my mind, for I imagined every minute of delay was fraught with dangers, and vis- ions of a " short shrift " or the back road to a Richmond prison confronted me. Wildly casting about for some means to extricate myself, I espied a pile of fence- rails on the opposite side of the ditch. My inventive faculty, which would have made the fortune of an engineer officer, I do not doubt, like a flash suggested my only means of escape. Quickly dismounting and leaving my horse standing (he calmly went to grazing), I clambered to the pile of rails and began with might and main to throw them down into the ditch, and with perspiration pouring out of me in streams and treinbling with anxiety, after a little time had half filled the ditch with these rails. Then easily catching my horse I led him without difficulty across this substitute for the bridge or causeway. With nervous haste I mounted, and, finding myself on good ground, sped after the column whose whereabouts were unknown. The farm-house larder had lost all its charms, and a safe return to my place in column was the one devoutly desired attainment. How or when I got back I do not remember, but somehow I got there. The rear- guard welcomed me with some wonder as I reached them; and I bestowed after- ward a due amount of reproaches on the Surgeon for leaving me alone in the midst of so many perils. I have an indefinite remembrance that he professed surprise that I had not followed closely after himn.
Of course, on this raid we were compelled to live off the enemy, and daily foraging parties were sent out to scour the country for provisions. The thrilling tales told around our camp-fires of the adventures encountered stimulated my de- sire to see for myself the methods of these operations, which were not unaccom- panied with dangers in going miles away from our line of march, and I requested permission to go with a foraging party. The experience was certainly interest- ing. At one quiet and neat little white framne house we found several middle-aged maiden ladies and one old man. All were very respectable in appearance, and as though dressed in expectation of company. They were much alarmed upon our appearance and demands for provisions, and assured us that they had nothing in the house, I took a chair in the sitting-room to listen to their denials and to quiet their fears of harm and convince them of our peaceable and orderly inten- tions. The others of the party had scattered over the house, some going up-stairs ; and while the family were protesting to me that they were destitute of supplies even for themselves, an ominous noise was heard above, and immediately a barrel of flour began a hasty and unceremonious descent of the stairs into the room where I was. The family were speechless in the face of such a contradiction of their plea of barrenness. The head of the barrel came out by the time it reached the bottom of the stairs, scattering much of the contents on the floor. Our limited means of transportation necessitated the confiscation of several lace-edged (not imported lace though, but home-made) pillow-cases from the beds to carry the flour to camp.
We afterward the same afternoon went to quite a pretentious country man- sion. A flock of sheep were seen feeding in a field close by. Instantly several of the detail were chasing those sheep, firing their revolvers at them from horse- back. It was great sport for the cavalrymen, but not for the terrified sheep nor for the occupants of the mansion. A good many women were at this house, who came out on our appearance as we rode into the front yard and under the shade
Brent. William F. Graves, Reg'l. Quartermaster.
Chartes HT. Spencer, Reg'l. Quartermaster S'g't.
Lieut. Noble D. Preston, Reg'l. Commissary of Subsistence.
Captain Joseph H. Bradley, Chaplain.
lent. Henry K. Clarke, Assistant Surgeon.
A PORTION OF THE STAFF
AND NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF.
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CHAPLAIN'S REMINISCENCES.
1864
of splendid trees. A troop of negroes also put in an appearance. The women naturally were excited and enraged, and most roundly abused us. I undertook my usual part of pacificator, but with poor success, as may well be imagined, for a number of the men had dismounted and without ceremony began skirmishing for provisions around and within the house. I surmise that they went through that house indiscriminately. The inhabitants were pale with rage, and poured out their vials principally upon me. I was able to bear it with much equanimity. Complaint was made of unnecessary pillage, and I requested a sergeant to exam- ine the nature of the proceedings up-stairs and restrain any undue extravagance on the part of the men ; but the virulence of the people shown (not that it was unnatural or unpardonable under the circumstances) greatly mitigated any sense of indignation the acts of any of our party might otherwise have awakened. The resources of this plantation were quite various, and speedily the men began to come back from their several directions with wonderful and strange supplies. I most distinctly remember one man came to me with the inquiry, "Chaplain, do you like preserves?" I was touched on a tender spot. Then he handed up to me as I still sat in the saddle a tall stone jar (such as we are accustomed to see in · our own well-stocked homes). No spoons nor dishes came with the jar of pre- serves, and the exigencies of the service required the use of my fingers to extract its contents, which I accordingly did forthwith. It was very toothsome after the usual fare of such a campaign, but there was little dignity or style about the means of making that jar of preserves available while balancing it with one hand on the pominel of the saddle and rescuing its contents with the other without the aid of the usual adjuncts of civilized and polite living.
This one experience in foraging satisfied all my curiosity and finished my education as a cavalry raider.
What a dusty time we had of it on this Trevillian raid ! Toward the close of it men and horses went into bivouac in one common coating and blending of yel- low tint. The clouds of impalpable dust rose up as we marched, and on the last day of our outward course among the thick woods the slowly rising dust which enveloped us rose above the tree-tops and clearly `exposed our progress to the enemy, who shelled the column from this indication of our position. As we neared the battle-field we passed a wounded Confederate lying on the edge of the road. The enemy's shells were flying about us, but compassion for this boy drew me aside for a moment to help him. Dismounting at his side I did what I could for his comfort. He seemed badly hurt, and I took his name and the address of his family and promised to write to his home for him. IIe lived in Norfolk, Va., if I rightly remember. I sent a letter to his relatives.
That June night after the fight at Trevillian I think I came nearer to freezing to death than ever in my life. The Regiment bivouacked on a slope of ground and the rain began falling. It seemed to enter to and chill the very marrow in the bones. We built fires and laid ourselves so close to them that the one side of the body almost roasted while the other froze. The enemy, seeing our fires, shelled the position, and in the black darkness and with considerable confusion we vacated that place. I imagine everybody felt altogether miserable and wretched. Somehow after a while I found myself with the 'Regiment in the neighborhood of a farm-house, but the darkness was so intense and the rain still falling that it was impossible to make out where we were or hardly to identify our
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own selves. Take that whole night through and I would put it down as the worst spent one of my whole army life. About midnight I managed to find room in the partial shelter of what I believe was a half-full corn-crib along with a miscel- laneous company of others, where rank and previous conditions seemed to count for little. The farin-house and barn, etc., constituted a sort of universal head- quarters for all ranks and departments of the service, a large number of officers and men being mixed up in the same conditions of deplorable difficulties.
Toward morning it was reported that the Cavalry Corps would begin the re- turn march, and it moved off in the night, leaving the Tenth New York as rear- guard, with orders to remain on the ground till daylight. The remaining hours were anxious ones while we were alone before the enemy. The rain had ceased and the sky cleared and our eyes watched for the coming day, expecting that the enemy would discover our situation ; but the morning slowly-very, very slowly- drew on and everything was in readiness to move the moment our appointed time came. The day broke gloriously. Never was morning light more welcome or beautiful to my eyes! When the order came to move we went. A bridge near by was torn up after we crossed it, and, with a lightness of heart like a bird's, I took a cross-cut over the field to the head of column.
All my memories of the Tenth New York Cavalry are full of pleasantness. No dearer anticipation could gladden my heart than the possibility of sitting down in the midst of the whole Regiment once more gathered. For every man in it I cherish a tender regard. My service as chaplain was one of the brightest episodes of life, and which I would gladly live over again. Were that possible the dearest desire of my heart would be to serve the comrades as their chaplain far better than I did in the " lang syne," and which the added years and experience of life would enable me to do.
Colonel Theo. F. Rodenbough, brevet brigadier-general United States Volunteers, whose gallantry on the field of battle is attested by an empty sleeve, says in regard to the Trevillian Station engage- ment of the 11th :
The Tenth New York, of Davies's brigade, also distinguished itself in the assault .*
Of the relative strength of the opposing forces at Trevillian Gen- eral Sheridan estimated his own effectives at eight thousand, while General Butler, temporarily in command of Hampton's division in that engagement, says :
The strength of Hampton's forces can not be given accurately, but is esti- mated at about five thousand all told.t
It would seem that General Hampton's force must have been greater, since he reports a loss in his division (General Butler in com- mand) of 612, an excessive loss for one division.
* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv, p. 234. + Ibid., p. 239.
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1864
GENERAL SHERIDAN ON THE RETURN MARCH.
General Sheridan commenced the return march on the night of the 12th of June. The Tenth was engaged in tearing up railroad track part of the night. Moving out it took its place in the column of march at 2 A. M. on the 13th, and, after crossing the North Anna, did some foraging. On one of these expeditions some of the mem- bers of the band had a skirmish, in which Burt Orser was captured and Thomas L. Townley barely escaped keeping him company. On the 15th the command passed through Spottsylvania Court-House, and over the scenes of the fierce struggles between the two armies the preceding month. The next day Sergeant Nelson Washburn, of Company L, was wounded while on a foraging expedition. Then on the 18th Sergeant Major Farnsworth, with eight men from the Regiment, went out to try and obtain forage, and was attacked by a superior force from the Fourth Virginia Cavalry, and lost five men, two of whom, Clarence Newmire and Orange Egbertson, were killed. Elias Evans, Julius Moak, and Silas Ostrander, were taken prisoners, the latter wounded and afterward recaptured.
Crossing the Mattapony at 7 A. M. on the 20th, the Regiment set- tled down at White House at four o'clock. All was quiet at the time. In the morning the Confederate cavalry had attacked the immense wagon-train of the army parked there, but had been driven off and kept at bay by the gunboats.
Moving across the Pamunkey at an early hour, the boys expected to have a brush with the enemy, but finally recrossed the river about 8 A. M .; then, two hours later, passed over the pellucid waters of the Pamunkey again, and succeeded in stirring up a little quarrel with the enemy, but nothing serious resulted. The Regiment was relieved from the skirmish-line on the evening of the 22d, and retired to the bluffs, went into camp and drew rations. At two o'clock, again on the road. The Confederates were attacked and driven to Baltimore Cross-roads. They took the aggressive, however, on the morning of the 23d, which ended in slight skirmishing. The Regiment reached Jones Bridge, on the Chickahominy, and crossed at 11 A. M. Here the trains passed over in safety, the sharp crack of the carbines on the right, meantime, denoting the presence of the Confederates in force in the woods there. The men were standing to horse when the even- ing shades came on.
To the members of the Second Cavalry Division the 24th of June, 1864, will always stand out in bold relief. This was the day on which the battle of St. Mary's Church occurred. The enemy chivalrously allowed time for breakfast, and then the music began.
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By ten o'clock the skirmishing became quite general and continued until afternoon. About four o'clock the enemy attacked in force with both cavalry and infantry. The Second Division, which had advanced on the Richmond road, to protect the moving trains, bore the shock of the onset alone and unsupported, the First Division having moved on the direct road as escort to the trains. The contest was so un- equal-the Confederates outnumbering Gregg three to one-that our line was broken, and in the confusion which followed in the woods and undergrowth, regiments became mixed up and all semblance of
organization was lost. It was the first and only time the colors of the Second Division were lowered. But its action saved the trains, which were safely passing along while the engagement was in progress.
Captain George Vanderbilt, of Company L, furnishes the follow- ing account of the operations of the Regiment from the 20th to the 25th of June, including the actions at White House Landing, Chicka- hominy, and St. Mary's Church :
Sheridan, with his First and Second Divisions of Cavalry, returned from the Trevillian raid, reaching White House Landing Monday, June 20, 1864, at 4.30 P. M., where he found some transports and the gunboat Iola.
Some colored troops were across the Pamunkey, fighting rebel cavalry, assist- ed by the gunboat. Tuesday, June 21st, our brigade crossed over at 3 A. M., dis- mounted, and lay formed on the sand till 10 A. M., then returned across the river.
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CAPTAIN GEORGE VANDERBILT'S ACCOUNT.
Here we had breakfast, mounted, crossed over again and took a hand in the frce fight, and fought till darkness put a stop to it, our Regiment supporting J. I. Gregg's Second Brigade on the extreme right of the line. My squadron, Compa- nies A and L, supported a battery. Stood to horse all night. Wednesday, June 22d, was a dark and cloudy day. We were relicved from the Second Brigade and reported back to our First Brigade, General H. E. Davies, on the left of the line, at 6 A. M. At 2 p. M. moved out to Baltimore Cross-roads three miles and camped. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Squadrons, under Major Wecd, were ordered on picket half a mile out on the Bottom's Bridge road; they had a very unpleasant time, as there was continuous firing along the line. Thursday, June 23d, was clear and bright. In the early morning five men of Company K, who had been captured during the night, within twenty rods of Captain Snyder's picket reserve, came in, stripped of everything. We moved out at 8 A. M. to Jones's Bridge over the Chickahominy River, and saw there an immense wagon-train and real- ized that we were expected to guard it safely to the James River. Our brigade Band was drawn up beside the pontoon bridge and played inspiring airs as we crossed the famous river. We no sooner reached the opposite side than our brigade with the First Division and some colored troops got into a big fight. We, how- ever, forced the rebs back some distance ; by evening all became quiet and we went into camp and unsaddled. It was extremely hot, day and night. We had our fru- gal supper prepared and just commenced to eat it, when a volley on the line cansed a big scrabble. "Saddle up and stand to horse," and so we lost our much- needed meal. Some of the boys were guilty of saying disagreeable things about the Johnnies, for which I did not chide them.
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