USA > Ohio > Four years in the saddle. History of the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 24
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Said he, "Don't look back!"
"Oh, I have no business back there."
Then having reached a safe distance, both Major and orderly trotted along toward the gap; when they reached it they gal- loped off and the Major reported to General Kilpatrick that he had not gone into Stevensburg as he found the road occupied by a company of rebel pickets that he didn't feel able to capture with a single orderly, and he thought he would come back before they captured him.
In a few minutes thereafter Kilpatrick's division, with the squadron at its head, made a gallant charge that drove Stuart's cavalry from Culpepper and down toward the Rapidan.
It is needless to say that they were not stopped at Stevens- burg, because the Michigan regiments were not there.
In the latter part of November, 1863, while Grant was fight- ing at Chattanooga, and Sherman was pounding the rebel right, and Hooker was fighting his battle above the clouds on old Lookout, and Sheridan and Woods were storming over and break- ing Bragg's centre at Mission Ridge, Meade, who had been lying in front of Lee's intrenched lines at the Rapidan, threw his in- fantry corps across the river by one of its lower fords in the endeavor to force Lee out of his intrenchments and compel him to give battle. This was only partially successful; Lee tem- porarily abandoned the intrenched line directly in front of him, leaving only his cavalry in occupation thereof, but Meade found him thoroughly intrenched at Mine Run, and refusing battle except behind his works. The cavalry division of Kilpatrick, after some maneuvering, crossed the Rapidan and occupied the intrenchments vacated by Lee. The squadron led in this opera- tion, and while it all seemed easy at first, within two hours we got into a fight with Stuart's cavalry, such as an Irish enthusiast would have described as "perfectly beautiful." The fight and the trial of metal between these two bodies of cavalry soldiers was almost the sole result of this movement, for Meade found Lee's new line impregnable to assault, and it was deemed best by him and his corps commanders to withdraw to our old line across the Rapidan.
The following winter Kilpatrick conceived the idea that Richmond might be taken and burned by a sudden dash on it by a cavalry column. From spies it was ascertained that it was almost stripped of troops. The Confederate government relying
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upon Lee's army in front and a few Confederate brigades to the south and not thinking of any such operations as that proposed by Kilp trick, had withdrawn and sent to the front nearly all the garrison. A part of Meade's cavalry, supported by infantry, made a strong demonstration on one flank, drawing away Stuart's cavalry, leaving the road open for Kilpatrick on the other flank, who cut loose and made one of the most rapid marches on record. When his cavalry appeared in front of the same a few troops had been recalled from the works south of Richmond; this dis- heartened Kilpatrick, but it is still believed by many who were with him that he might have been successful, if he had not lost heart and faith in the enterprise. Some of the squadron entered the suburbs of Richmond and Jake Miller, a private of Company A, who had always a keen eye for a piece of rebel horse-flesh, captured a fine horse in the outskirts.
Kilpatrick finally gave up the attempt, proceeded down the peninsula, pursued by rebel cavalry and infantry, which had been hastily drawn to Richmond. He found the bridges gone across some of the rivers, and was compelled to countermarch and fight the rebel columns, and was in an almost desperate situation when a division of negro troops from Butler came to his rescue.
It was on this expedition and in connection therewith that Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, in command of a small party of cavalry, was fired on by rebel bushwhackers and murdered. Dahlgren was a son of Admiral Dahlgren and one of the most chivalrous and knightly men that ever rode at the head of embattled squad- 'rons. It was he who, with a small party of men, while Lee was at Gettysburg, captured and destroyed his pontoons at Williams- burg, Md., and forced him, on his return, to rebuild the same, causing him an almost fatal delay and one that would have been fatal had he been opposed by a more enterprising General than Meade. As it was, he crossed his army during the night before and the early morning of the day that Meade moved to assault his lines. In the performance of this brilliant service Dahlgren, who was then but a Captain, lost a leg. When he was fired on and wounded on this last fatal expedition one of the rebels attempted to pull off his boots, when Dahlgren, with that indomitable courage of which he was possessed, resented the insult, took off the wooden leg and struck the rebel over the head with it, who then completed the murder. Here fell in this midnight foray a man by nature and a genius formed for cav- alry operations, and who, if he had lived, would have been one of the great cavalry leaders of the war.
In the spring of 1864 General Wilson relieved General Kil- patrick of the command of his division, and the latter was sent West to 'Sherman, and the squadron which had been so long his body guard and the leaders in many of his most brilliant
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charges, was at the same time ordered West, and their history thereafter became merged in the history of the regiment.
This is but a brief and imperfect sketch of the services of this remarkable squadron. It is written without memoranda, and the writer has had no opportunity to consult with his com- rades, who could undoubtedly refresh his memory as to many heroic events in which they were engaged. It is only the mos+ notable of them that came to the memory of the writer more than thirty years thereafter that are here given. Company A was particularly distinguished for the high grade of intelligence pervading its ranks, and many of its privates had left colleges to carry sabers in the defense of their country; they served in all the important campaigns of the valley with Shields and Lan- der; with Pope on the Rappahannock; with Mcclellan at An- tietam; with Hooker and Meade on the Gettysburg campaign, where the Confederate cause reached high water mark. Such confidence was reposed in them, their courage and intelligence by the Generals for whom they acted as escorts and bodyguards, that they were used almost constantly to do the duty of staff officers to carry orders both on the march and in battle. It is doubtful if any like body of men ever performed so varied and distinguished services.
LIST OF BATTLES OF COMPANIES A AND C, FIRST OHIO VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
Greenbrier River, Va. . October 3, 1861
Bloomery Gap, Va. February 14, 1862
Kearnstown, Va March 23, 1862
Port Republic, Va. .June 9, 1862
Cedar Mountain, Va.
August 9, 1862 Five days' battle along the Rappahannock River.
Second Bull Run, Va August 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, 1862
Chantilla, Va August 29 and 30, 1862
Antietam, Md . September 1, 1862
Hanover, Pa
.September 16, 1862
Shepherdstown, Pa . June 30, 1863
. July 1, 1863
Gettsburg, Pa
July 1 to 4, 1863
Monterey Gap, Pa.
Smithtown, Md . July 4, 1863
July 5, 1863 Boonsborough, Md
Hagerstown, Md July 8 to 10, 1863
July 11, 1863
Williamsport, Md
July 14, 1863
Falling Waters, Md .July 14, 1863
King George Co., Va August 24, 1863
Brandy Station, Va. September 6, 1863
Culpepper C. H., Va September 12, 1863
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James City, Va. October 10, 1863
Raccoon Ford, Va.
. October 19, 1863
Robinson River, Va. October 10, 1863
White Sulphur Springs, Va October 12 and 13, 1863
Brandy Station, Va. October 17, 1863
Briston Station, Va. October 19, 1863
Stevensburg, Va November 7, 1863
Richmond Raid, Va. February 28 to March 4, 1864
Nashville, Tenn
. December 16, 1864 Wilson Raid through Alabama and Georgia, and capture of Jeff. Davis. . March and April, 1865
The enclosed is to the best of my knowledge and a truthful statement of the principal engagements of Companies A and C, First O. V. Cavalry.
Kindly yours,
NOAH JONES,
Late Captain Company A, First O. V. Cavalry.
.
Reminiscences and Incidents Written by Comrades of the Regiment --- The Capture of Jefferson Davis.
I have been frequently asked to write the history of the capture of Jefferson Davis, and especially that part pertaining to the men under my command. I have always refused on the ground, that while such a narrative ought to be made a part of the history of the times, if fully written by myself it would seem to be too personal; but in justice to the men who were under my command, and to complete the history of the opera- tions resulting in the capture of Jefferson Davis, I have concluded to write it. It must in its nature be largely personal; more so than I would desire, but its complete details ought to be given, and my excuse for the narrative and especially the personal part that I took therein, are given above.
On the twenty-first of April, 1865, the great cavalry expedi- tion commanded by General Wilson, having stormed and cap- tured the fortified cities of Selma, Ala., and Columbus, Ga., occu- pied Macon, and there for the first time learned that we were playing but a minor part in the great tragedy of the Civil War, that great events had occurred in the East, that Lee had surren- dered to Grant at Appomattox, and Johnson to Sherman in the Carolinas. This was news to us, and good news, too. There was only one thing left to mar the happiness of our command and the completeness of our victories, and that was that Davis himself, with his cabinet, had escaped from Richmond, evaded the armies both of Grant and Sherman, and were somewhere in the Carolinas with a cavalry column estimated at four or five thousand, determined on making another stand, if possible, in the Southwest, which Wilson had just rendered impossible, or on joining Kirby Smith in the trans-Mississippi department. General Wilson, ever active and alive to the interests of the Gov- ernment, sought every source of information that he could con- cerning the probable location and destination of the rebel chief. He received various information from citizens and others who arrived at Macon, who had seen Davis at Charlotte, N. C., a few days before.
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On the morning of the third of May, General Alexander came into my tent, where I was preparing the inspection rolls of the brigade for transmission to corps headquarters, and stated to me that Davis had been at Charlotte, N. C., some days before and was supposed to be at that time somewhere near the south- ern border of South Carolina, and that General Wilson had directed that six or seven of the best scouts of the brigade be sent out in rebel uniform to penetrate the rebel lines and send information to the General commanding, who would dispatch troops from the nearest and most accessible point to intercept his line of retreat and effect his capture. I presume that General Alexander came to me rather than to any other of his staff from the fact that during the campaign I had been with the advance of the brigade, which was, with one or two exceptions, at all times in the advance of the army, and had had charge of the scouts and was better personally acquainted with them than with any other. I took it as a mark of high personal regard that I should have been first consulted in the matter; and after listening to him I said, "General, I should like to make a sugges- tion, if you please." He answered, "I will hear you, Mr. Yeo- man." I said, "As this is the last and most important service that can be rendered our Government by Union soldiers, it is a matter that ought not to be left entirely to enlisted men. I know that the enlisted men whom I would choose are men of great individuality, extreme courage, and loyal to every call of duty; and yet the very individuality of the men would make them but illy brook receiving orders one from the other; each man whom I would be likely to send would be very likely to have his own notions about the matter. Some officer should go who would have general charge of the expedition, whom the men had confidence in, and who they would implicitly obey; he should have enough men with him so that he would be able at any time to detach some of them as couriers to carry dispatches to the commanding General, and in case Davis should be found with an escort of not to exceed one hundred and fifty to two hundred men, to effect his capture. This command should mingle with the rebel commands, be under the command and eyes of this officer, be scattered and concentrated at his pleasure and act as he might at the time determine." He said to me, "Who will go on an expedition of that kind?" I said, "If you will relieve me from the duty of perfecting these rolls and assign another officer thereto, I myself will go." He answered, "Ride over to General Wilson, explain your plan to him, tell him it meets my approval, and that I will vouch for you that the duty will be performed if it is in the power of any officer to do it." In ten minutes I was in the saddle, rode over to General Wilson, and told him my plan. He smiled and said he liked the plan, but he said that he had never thought of an officer commanding
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an alien body within the enemy's ranks, and claiming to be a part of their army. "You will find it a very difficult feat to perform; and you understand that if taken in rebel uniform you will be tried by drum-head court martial and executed within twenty-four hours. So you see that it is a very dangerous service and that you must not be taken." I told him "that I had antici- pated all that, and that I should, under no circumstances, be captured, and I was confident that the men whom I took with me would avoid capture by fighting to the last, if it came to a clash of arms." He directed me to make my detail, use my own judgment in making the same, to make it as large or as small as I pleased, to call on the Quartermaster of the corps for cap- tured clothing or any other thing that I could properly use, and called in the Quartermaster and. instructed him to honor any demands that I might make.
I had never at any time in all my life performed any service that in any manner required me to doff the Union blue and encase myself in the rebel gray. I knew that while spies were necessary to the success of every army, that the service performed by them, while extremely hazardous and dangerous, was never regarded as highly honorable. But this, it seemed to me, was an unusual service. To effect the capture of the man who for years had maintained armies in the field against the Government I loved, who had been responsible almost more than any other man for the original acts or secession, seemed to justify to my youthful mind at the time any ruse that promised success. I did not feel as if I were performing any ordinary scout or spy service, or that there was anything dishonorable in penetrating in this manner the rebel lines to make the capture of Davis certain. More than that, I felt that the extraordinary hazard and danger would, at least with my comrades, compensate for any feeling that they might have in this respect as to the character of the service. The expedition that I proposed was unique and stands single and alone of its kind. Individual scouts and spies have been common in all species of warfare; but never before to my knowledge had any person attempted in ancient or modern war- fare to transform an entire company of men, penterate the lines of the enemy, march with and mingle with their various com- mands as a part thereof. But the magnitude of the prize justified the attempt; the very danger itself, in requiring an alert intel- lect and cool action, made it fascinating. But much as such an expedition was desirable, it would have been impossible in any other stage of the war than that of which I am now writing. The rebel columns themselves were rapidly disintegrating and the few brigades that had remained loyal to the rebel chief were rapidly breaking up, discipline was but slightly maintained, and the usual precaution but slightly observed. The first matter of importance upon my return to brigade headquarters was the
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selection of the men. While the Congressional Report shows but twenty-seven men with me, there were actually thirty-three, as I now remember it. Three of these were chosen by me from the Fifth Iowa, men who had been constantly with me in the advance, whom I had noticed as cool, courageous men, ready to undertake any desperate enterprise. Their names were Thomas H. Wright, Company E, Fifth Iowa, and two others whose names were unknown to me at the time of making the report to Congress, but who afterwards proved their identity. The reason I do not know them all was that at the time of making the detail it was an oral one, with no expectation that their names would afterwards be required for any purpose what- ever. There were chosen by me from the Seventh Ohio: John Gotts, Corporal, Company E; a private of Company L, name unknown; and Lee Wood, of Company E, now a resident of Ripley, O., and one of the coolest of all men of the command, and one who rendered an important and distinguished service, of which I shall hereafter speak. There were of my own regi- ment twenty seven men, the names of many of whom I did not remember, when called upon by the chairman of the committee on claims to make my report; nor can I now give them in full. Eight of them were from my own Company A, and were as fol- lows:
U. S. STATUTES, VOL. 15, PAGES 400, 402.
"Detachment First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry accompanying Cap- tain Joseph A. O. Yeoman in pursuit and capture of Jef- ferson Davis."
George P. Barnes . Sergeant, Company A-
John H. McElwaine Q. M. Sergeant, Company A
Samuel Robertson . Corporal, Company A
Ripley L. Walm Corporal, Company A
Henry T. Ressler Private, Company A
Samuel J. Rice. Private, Company A
Spencer C. Phares Private, Company A
George W. Blair Private, Company A
John Camm
Sergeant, Company A
William Hampden Private, Company C
John W. Newlove.
William Power Sergeant, Company D
Bushrod W. Click. Private, Company D
Private, Company F
Thomas R. Kennard Private, Company I
William Place Private, Company I
John F. Young Private, Company K
William Van Houten .Private, Company F
Robert Peters Private, Company E
John Malone Private, Company H
William Schwartz Corporal, Company H
Seremcial is Bence Ferree
Sergi- 11
Frank Harner Co
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There were others of the First Ohio Cavalry, also, whom I cannot, for the reasons above given, now name.
At least three of these, viz .: Samuel J. Robertson, George W. Blair and Bushrod W. Click, were of the recruits that had entered the army in the spring of 1864, and were but seventeen years of age at most. It was a great compliment to them to be chosen; and I placed no greater reliance in any one, so far as mere courage and the standing by me in a desperate place was concerned, than in these three boys that were not beyond the age of school-children.
Lee Wood, Thomas W. Kennard, John W. Newlove, Ripley M. Walm, John W. McElwaine and Samuel J. Robertson and John Camm were among the most faithful and loyal of these men whom it was safe to say that better and more courageous soldiers never set foot in a stirrup or carried a saber in a charge. But where all were so cool and courageous, it seems invidious to especially mention any one.
The service of next importance was to prepare the disguise in which we should march, and determine what arms and equip- ments we should carry. Unfortunately for us, General Upton, who was a very conscientious officer, acting in the interests of the Government, had, a few days before, had every captured horse in the command branded, so that our expedition was ren- dered more difficult and dangerous from the fact that every man had to ride a horse branded U. S. We had nothing but Spencer rifles, and as the rebels had no Spencer rifles, and no ammunition therefor, it was thought, in view of the fact that our disguise at best was not as good as it should be, that we discard rifles and carry only our revolvers, and do what fighting we might have to do, if any, at close quarters. There was another diffi- culty here because we could get no Confederate belts, and the U. S. was plainly to be seen upon the belts that carried our revolvers. As the rebels themselves had little to eat, and their haversacks were somewhat different from ours, and seldom con- tained hardtack or the food which we had, it was deemed best to march without haversacks, trusting to our genius for foraging to procure supplies.
We found plenty of rebel clothing amongst the stores that we had captured at Macon. These were taken and distributed amongst the men. I was at the time a First Lieutenant, holding a Captain's commission, however, but not yet mustered, and as I had been known simply as a Lieutenant in the campaign, I .chose a handsome gray Lieutenant's uniform. In order that no word might escape from the camp and be borne ahead of us by spies or otherwise, there were but three persons who knew our purpose or our destination while we were preparing for the march; these were General Wilson, General Alexander, and myself.
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At about four o'clock in the afternoon of May 3 we marched through the outposts of the Wilson cavalry corps on our hazard- ous expedition. We marched steadily and passed through the little town of Clinton sometime between midnight and morning. It then became daylight in that latitude at about five, and we halted at about three A. M. at a large manor house to get some forage for our horses. I knocked at the door of the house and inquired how far it was to Macon, stating that I commanded a company of the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry; asked if the Yankee raiders were there, and said that I wanted some forage for my horses. This was given me rather reluctantly; but I said I had to have it, and told them I would give them an order on the Quartermaster-General of the Confederate army therefor; and so I did. And if the good gentleman who furnished us the last feed our horses had for two or three days still preserves · it, he has a beautiful order written by an ostensible Confederate Lieutenant, receipting to him for so much forage as given to a company of the Eighth Kentucky Confederate Cavalry. It was not a very valuable voucher, but as good at that time as if it were genuine. We fed our horses in a grove near the house. As the men had nothing to eat, they lay down. Myself and a Sergeant or two sat up, and just as day was breaking I called them into line. Then for the first time I told them the object of our expedition; that it was given to us before any other troops in the army to effect this capture; and if we did it, we would achieve enough of honor for all the risks that we might take. I told them how I intended to march, what I intended to do; that I expected to penetrate the rebel columns, and that if I found Davis with two hundred men or less, I expected to break up his column by a sudden dash, capture and carry him off. And I said to them, that with the men that I have chosen here, and the attack coming seemingly from their own soldiers, I think it can be done. At least it will be tried. If there are more than this number, I shall detail some of you as messengers to carry what actual news we may obtain to the General command- ing, so that he may act. I further instructed them that they were to be Company A of the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry. During the campaign, while we were operating against Forest, we had captured some officers from this regiment and I knew the roster of the regimental officers thoroughly. I cannot give them at this late date, but this knowledge served me well in an adventure that occurred during the expedition, of which I shall hereafter speak. I instructed them where the regiment had served; but said, as the regiment and the brigade (Roddy's) with which it served, are hundreds of miles from here, it will be necessary to say that we were detailed a year or two ago for special service upon the Coosa, guarding against deserters and runaway niggers, and that we had been down there since that time. I instructed
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them also that they must use the broad speech so common amongst the soldiers of the South, and never at any time forget or neglect its peculiarities. I myself was very proficient in it, for I had been born in a little town in Southern Ohio that be- longed to the old Virginia military land district and that was settled largely by Virginians and Kentuckians, and was overrun with the Randolph and other negroes who had been fed by kind- hearted masters before the war. Being brought up amongst these people I had naturally a little of the brogue, so with my swarthy complexion and the long hair that I wore at that time, I made a fairly passable Confederate officer. General Wilson, in the Century for February, 1890, describes my personal appear- ance in the following manner:
"This party was placed under the command of Lieutenant Joseph A. O. Yeoman, of the First Ohio Cavalry, a brave and enterprising young officer, at that time serving on the staff of Alexander as Acting Assistant Inspector-General of Brigade. He was tall, slender, and of a somewhat swarthy complexion, which, with hair that for lack of a barber's services had grown long enough to brush back of his ears, and a Confederate Major's (Lieutenant's) brand-new uniform, gave him such a close resem- blance to his erring but gallant countrymen of the South that his most intimate friend would not have suspected him of being a Yankee. His men were quite as successfully fitted out in captured clothing, and after receiving instructions at my own headquarters to report frequently by courier, he gaily set off on what afterwards proved to be a most successful expedition." · Having given this explanation to my men we resumed the march at daybreak and marched rapidly through Monticello and reached the Oconee River at Park's Ferry at sundown of. the fourth. We marched over the same road that was taken by one of Sherman's columns in his march to the sea, and it is needless to say that we found neither forage for our horses nor food for ourselves; and only here and there was there a house left. In most places there were only chimneys standing that spoke most emphatically of the horrors of war. What few women and children we saw looked pale and wasted; and I would not have had the heart to have taken food from them if any could have been found, which I very much doubt. When we arrived at Park's Ferry we found it to consist of but a single ferry boat, capable of holding only two men and two horses at a time, and it required at least fifteen or twenty minutes to make the trip and return. There was a part of a Texas cavalry regiment that had been crossing during the day still crossing and lying in camp near the ferry. Jenkin's Mill, I think it was, was near this ferry. The officers were up there. But as we had to wait some time in order to cross, I avoided conversation as much as possible and remained with my men at the ferry. The
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