USA > Pennsylvania > A true history of the charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania cavlary at Chancellorsville > Part 2
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I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, PENNOCK HUEY, Maj. Comdg.
To COL. THOMAS C. DEVIN,
Commdg. 2d Brig. Ist Cav. Div.
The preceding report was made and for- warded on the ninth of May, less than one week after the close of the battle of Chancel- lorsville, by order of Colonel Devin, com- mander of the brigade, whose duty it clearly was to have returned it to me for correction
* There were but three regiments of cavalry and one six-gun battery left with General Hooker's army by General Stoneman when he started on his raid around the Confederate army, and General Pleasonton, the commander of the First Division, and Colonel Devin, commander of the brigade, left in command of them. This singular and inexplicabh arrangement left us a di- vision as well as a brigade commander.
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
had he or General Pleasonton discovered in it any inaccuracies, or to have ordered me in arrest for falsifying my report. One field officer cer- tainly was put in arrest for that very offence after the battle of Chancellorsville.
Extracts from Major-General Sickles' Testimony. :
General Sickles in his evidence (Conduct of the War, vol. i. page 5) says: "General Pleas- onton's cavalry was sent to me, by my request, for the purpose of co-operating in a flank at- tack on Jackson, which I asked permission to make. . I was holding General Pleasonton's cavalry in hand, desiring to make the attack with my infantry first, ... when an aide of General Howard (I presume he was an aide, although he did not at the moment so announce himself) came to me and reported to me to be. careful of my rear-that Stuart's cavalry was moving in my rear, and if I was not careful would cut me off; and he added that a strong column of Jackson's infantry was also very near me, and that our troops were retreating. I felt very indignant at this communication ; I utter- ly disbelieved it, for I felt assured that no such thing could have occurred without a serious en- gagement with General Howard's force, and
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
of course I would have heard the musketry and noise of battle. This officer left, having given his information, or, as I thought at the time, having failed in an absurd effort to stampede me. In a minute or two another messenger, an officer who announced himself as an aide- de-camp of General Howard, and who seemed to be much more self-possessed and methodical in his communication, arrived, and said that he came to me by General Howard's orders, begging me to send him a regiment of General Pleasonton's cavalry-that his corps had given way, and that our right flank had been carried by the enemy, and that JJackson was in my rear. I felt bound, of course, to give full heed to this communication, and did so."
How very different from the reliable, hon- est evidence of General Sickles are these ex- tracts from the flippant and egotistical testi- mony of Brigadier-General Alfred Pleasonton !
The Evidence of General Alfred Pleasonton (reviewed).
General Pleasonton says (Conduct of the War, vol. i. page 28): " When General Sickles desired me to go to the front. I went up, and found he had met with more resistance than he had expected. He then told me that I would not be able to get through. I then sug-
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Position of 8th Pa Cavalry ( S. P.M
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PLANK ROAD
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BROOK. ROAD.
= = = Sickles
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
gested to him that, as it was thiek woods there, I had better take my cavalry back to the open space I had left. . . . As I was going back at a trot, an aide-de-camp came up to me and said, 'General, the Eleventh Corps is falling baek very rapidly, and some cavalry is neces- sary to stop it.' I understood pretty well what that meant. I had only two regiments of cav- alry with me, one of them having been retained by General Sickles at the front to protect his right, and there was one battery of horse artil- lery with me."
In Supplement of the Conduct of the War, Part 2, page 7, Gen. Pleasonton says :
"It was in this battle that, with three reg- iments of cavalry and twenty-two pieces of artillery, I checked the attack of the rebel general Stonewall Jackson after he had rout- ed the Eleventh Corps."
On page 8, a few lines farther on (Suppt. Con. War, Part 2), General Pleasonton says : " My command of three cavalry regiments and one battery of six guns happened to be near this scene."
On page 29 (Conduct of the War, vol. i.) General Pleasonton says: "In fact, I was alone pretty much the whole time, working wherever I found anything going wrong. I
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
would say, however, that there were two squadrons of the Seventeenth Pennsylvania regiment left. This remaining regiment that I had was composed of raw men, new troops, and all I could do with them was to make a show."
Here we may well pause to think what a wonderful officer is General Alfred Pleas- onton ! We can learn from his own sworn evidence how he achieved a great victory at Hazel Grove, although he "was alone pretty much the whole time"! Did Wellington or Napoleon ever, under such adverse circum- stances, pluck such victorious laurels from defeat and disaster ? 1
Conduct of the War, p. 28: "When I came to the open space which I had before left, I found it filled with fugitives, caissons, guns, ambulances, and everything. I saw the mo- ment was critical, and I called on Major Kec- nan of the Eighth Pennsylvania, and gave him his orders. I said to him: 'Major, you must charge in these woods with your regi- ment, and hold the rebels until I get some of these guns into position.' Says I, 'You must do it at all cost.' He replied with a smile on his face, ... 'General, I will do it.' . .. I immediately ran up this battery
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
of mine at a gallop, put it into position, or- dered it to unlimber, and double-shotted it with canister, and directed the men to aim at the ground-line of the parapet. . . . I then set to work with two squadrons of the re- maining regiment to clear the field of fugi- tives. . . I managed to get twenty-two guns loaded, double-shotted ; ... the whole woods appeared alive with large bodies of men. This was just at dusk. There was an immense
body of men. . , I said to one of my aides, 'Mr. Thomson, ride forward there at once, and let me know what flag that is.' He then went to within about one hundred yards, and those people cried out,''Come on; we are friends.' He started to move on, when the whole line of woods blazed with musketry. . . , About the same time I saw from eight to ten rebel flags run up along the whole line. I immediately gave the order 'Fire!' and the fire actually swept the men away; it seemed to blow those men in front clear out of the parapet."
From the foregoing evidence we must rea- sonably suppose that the Confederates were very much afraid that " Mr. Thomson " would take them all prisoners were he allowed to come near enough. . They may well have
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
feared it, as the sequel proves, for they were unable to hit him even with the whole fire of an immense body of infantry! General Lee says: "One of the most wonderful things of this most wonderful battle is this state- ment, that a mounted officer fifty yards from Rhodes' line should be fired at by the whole line, and live to tell it." He has lived to tell it ! and, furthermore, fixes the hour at between eight and nine o'clock." (At this hour what was left of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry was formed across the roads near the Chancel- lorsville House.) General Pleasonton says: "I immediately gave the order to fire, and the fire actually swept the men away "! What a con- trast in the effect of the two fires! General Rhodes' whole line of Confederate infantry blazing away at fifty yards' range on one soli- tary officer (Mr. Thomson) without the slightest effect, yet General Pleasonton in returning the fire " actually swept the men away " ! ! ! !
When questioned by the Committee, who evi- dently had grave doubts as to the correctness of some of his statements, the general seems to have feared that he had not sufficiently im- pressed them with the great deeds he had per- formed, and that perhaps they did not believe that he had taken command of all the reserve
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
artillery when there were artillery officers there who had as much ability, and certainly much more experience in that arm of the service than he had.
" Question by the Committee (Conduct of the War, page 30) : You are a cavalry officer, and yet you took charge of the artillery there; how was that ?
"Answer : From the simple fact that I saw that if somebody did not save that field at once, it was not going to be saved at that point. I considered it my duty to go in and do whatever I could, and that we were all up and would be driven into the river if I did not do it. When I came to count the artillery I had there, I found that I had the artillery of three corps in that line. I took it by force of circumstances and necessity."
Again we are forced to stop and admire the wonderfully ready, self-possession of an officer who under such very trying circumstances could so coolly stop and count his stock of artillery on such a disastrous field as he rep- resents it to have been.
Colonel J. F. Huntington, in a letter pub- lished in the Boston Evening Transcript, March 8, 1882, says: " In a letter written by General Sickles to the Adjutant-General of the Army,
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
a copy of which I have, after an allusion to the abrupt departure of the chief of artillery, he says : 'Captain Huntington, next in rank, as- sumed command, and, notwithstanding the stream of fugitives from the Eleventh Corps, put the batteries in position in time to resist the farther advance of the enemy at that point, and held the ground, an object of the greatest importance, till I arrived. On my arrival I sent for the commanding officer, Captain Hunt- ington, and warmly thanked him,' etc. etc. etc. This shows who General Siekles recognized at the time and place as the officer commanding the artillery, and indicates the period of his arrival at Hazel Grove. Neither I nor any other battery officer ever heard of Pleasonton's claim that he rallied or commanded the artil- lery on that occasion till long after the war." (See Appendix.)
" Question by the Committee ( Conduct of the War, page 30) : You assumed command of the artillery ?
"Answer : I assumed command by virtue of being a general, and I fought it as a general of artillery. Some of the cannon I stopped from the flying column. I put it into line too. Jack- son had thirty-five thousand infantry, and I knew that nothing but an immense shock of
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
artillery without a corresponding force of in- fantry was the only thing to stop him. That was my only chance, and I had to do it instant- lv. And I had to sacrifice my regiment of cav- alry to do it. Circumstances combined and achieved the result, and the officer who com- manded that cavalry aided me more than any- thing else. It was just the same as saying to him, ' Yon must be killed.' When I ordered him to make that charge he said with a smile on his face, 'General, I will do it.' I knew when I gave the order that he would do it; I felt confident of it, and I selected him for that purpose."
In an endorsement upon a communication referred by General Pleasonton to Major-Gen- eral Rawlins, chief of staff, dated May 29, 1866, which letter (placed there by General Pleason- ton himself) is now on file at the Adjutant- General's office in Washington, General Pleas- onton says: "General Huey commanded the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry under my or- ders at the battle of Chancellorsville, and charged the head of Jackson's column, by my direction, at the time it was causing the rout of the Eleventh Corps. General Huey was distinguished for gallantry, energy, and fidel- ity in his reports."
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
In a letter to the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, also on file at Washington, General Pleasonton says :
" PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 25, 1864.
" Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Sec'y of War :
" It gives me great pleasure to be able to present my testimonial to the gallant, able, and efficient service rendered by Colonel Huey of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry for the two years he served under my command in the Army of the Potomac. At the battle of Chan- cellorsville he led the charge of his regiment, which so materially assisted in the repulse of the attack of the rebels under Stonewall Jack- son. And throughout the campaigns of the Peninsula, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Get- tysburg his conduet won for him the commen- dations of all his commanders. I recommend Colonel Huey as an efficient brigade com- mander, and consider he is entitled to that position. .
"A. PLEASONTON, Major-General."
In the official report of Colonel Devin, com- mander of the brigade, bearing date May 11, 1863, he says : " In the mean time the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry had been sent to the sup-
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
port of General Howard, and, finding his line of battle broken and retired to the rear, had charged on the enemy's lines between them and the brick house, which they succeeded in reaching, losing Major Keenan, Captain Arrowsmith, Adjutant Haddock, and about thirty men and eighty horses. The charge, however, had the effect of disordering and checking the advance at that point. The regiment then formed as provost in front of the brick house, where it remained all night." .
Major J. Edward Carpenter, formerly of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry, in a let- ter published in the Grand Army Scout and Soldiers' Mail of May 12, 1883, says: "Gen- eral Pleasonton testified before the Committee that he gave his orders to Keenan and directed him to charge. There is probably not a single officer in the regiment who does not know that this is incorrect. No charge was contemplated when the regiment left Hazel Grove, and there were no indications of any rout, no straggler -. . But for the unfortunate embellishment which General Pleasonton gave his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, I do not believe this question would ever have been raised."
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
General Pleasonton, in a letter dated March 23, 1881, says : . . . At Chancellorsville, in May, 1863, he (General Huey) was in com- mand of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry, which charged the advance of General Stone- wall Jackson's attack on the Eleventh Corps with such success as to contribute materially to the repulse of Jackson on the second of May. For his distinguished services on this occasion he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry."
[The letter from which the above is an extract is in my possession, in General Pleas- onton's handwriting. His other letters may be found in the Department at Washington.]
The quotations previously given from the evidence of General Sickles are an exact sum- mary of what really did occur up to the time the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry left Hazel Grove, and it shows a desire to give the inci- dents as they occurred, without embellishment. General Pleasonton, on the other hand, seems to have become very much "mixed," seeming to be under the impression, at the time his evidence was given, that the whole responsi- bility of the army was resting on his shoul- ders, as is shown by his testimony, which is largely made up of advice given to generals
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
of higher rank than himself and to the gen- eral commanding the army-not of orders and incidents that actually occurred, but of orders and incidents he would like to have occurred.
His whole evidence, so far as the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry is concerned, is one complete tissue of misstatements, and most unmistakably conveys the impression of hay- ing been given for a personal purpose. It is certainly a very great contrast not only to the correct testimony of General Sickles, but to that of other officers who were at Hazel Grove and had every opportunity of seeing what actually was happening at that point. The real facts can be proved, not only from his own contradictions, but by the surviving officers and men who were present, and who knew as much about what took place during the afternoon of the second of May, 1863, at Hazel Grove as General Pleasonton could have known, whose evidence and reports are so conflicting and inaccurate, and so very much at variance with all other reports, as to make them entirely unreliable. 1758109 Almost immediately after General Pleason-
ton had reported to General Sickles with his brigade, the Sixth New York Cavalry was ordered to the front to report to the officer in
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
command there, and the other two regiments and Martin's battery were ordered back to Hazel Grove, with instructions to dismount and stand to horse till further orders, General Pleasonton remaining with General Sickles (where he had been for some time), when an aide-de-camp rode up and reported to General Sickles, who immediately started back at a walk, accompanied by General Pleasonton and other officers, myself included. General Sickles evi- dently doubted the rumor the aide reported, as he states in his evidence, but went back to learn for himself if anything was wrong in his rear. Both of the staff officers reported to General Sickles, one of them before he and General Pleasonton started back; the second one met us just as we reached Scott's Run, a rivulet that crosses the southern edge of the opening.
General Pleasonton, in his report to General Sickles, dated May 11, 1863, makes another romantic statement : "On my return to the small plateau north of Scott's Run and ad- joining the wood which extended to the plank road, . .. an aide-de-camp* of General War- ren, of General Hooker's staff, came up to say that the Eleventh Corps was falling back
* This aide seems manufactured specially for this occasion, as only two staff officers reported at Hazel Grove before we left there.
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
rapidly, and a regiment of cavalry was needed to check the movement."
General Pleasonton did not "go back at a trot," as he states in his evidence, except in his own imagination ; he rode quietly back with the party of officers to the edge of Hazel Grove, when the second staff officer met us, and where he received his orders from General Sickles to send a regiment of cavalry to General Howard ; which order was at once obeyed, General Pleas- onton remaining with General Sickles till after he had given me instructions and I had left him. Both aides, as before stated, reported to General Sickles (see evidence), and not to"Gen- eral Pleasonton : Sickles being the command- ing officer, it was the duty of the staff officer to report to him.
When General Pleasonton came to the open space, he did not find it filled with " fugitives, caissons, guns, ambulances, and everything," as before stated in his evidence. He was then with General Sickles. It was here that the second staff officer spoken of in General Sickles' evi- dence reported. Everything was quiet. The men were lying around on the ground, not dreaming of danger, some playing cards, others doing whatever they most enjoyed at leisure times.
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVIL.I.E.
General Pleasonton did not "call on Major Keenan and give him the orders." The major was some distance away, under a tree playing cards, neither in sight nor hearing.
Major Keenan was not in command of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry for one moment during the campaign of Chancellorsville, and I am of the opinion that he never was at any time; nor is there anything on record to show such to be the fact, but abundant evidence to show the contrary. I was in command of the regiment and received all the orders that were given, being with General Pleasonton when General Siekles ordered him to send a regi- ment of cavalry to General Howard.
I well remember the look of disgust and dis- appointment that came over General Pleason- ton's face at the thought of sending off another regiment, leaving him, a brigadier-general, with only one small regiment and a battery of artil- lery, in all probably not five hundred men.
General Pleasanton could not order off' a regiment to report to another corps commander without the consent of General Sickles, he being at that time subordinate to General Sickles and subject to his orders, by command of Major- General Hooker.
General Pleasouton did not order Major
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
Keenan "to 'charge in these woods with your regiment and hold the rebels,'" because there were no rebels to charge on or to hold! At this time the enemy were in the vicinity of the Old Wilderness Church, and Howard's troops (between us and them) were falling back down the plank road toward the Chancellorsville House. Nothing had occurred at Hazel Grove to lead any one to suppose that the enemy would get there.
General Pleasonton did not "know pretty well what that meant," nor did he suppose that there was any serious trouble at all on Howard's line when he ordered the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry to report to General Howard at or near the Old Wilderness Church, or he would have given very different orders.
He did not call on the second officer of that regiment, as he states in evidence, and have a private conversation with him, telling him what great risks he must run, thus causing the Major to smile; though it might, and probably would have, caused a smile had it occurred, because it would have been so ut- terly absurd, unmilitary, and out of place that the Major, with his quick wit and keen eye for the ludicrous, would certainly have enjoyed a good laugh. Even General Pleas-
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
onton must smile when he recalls his testi- mony, and blush to think that he gained his promotion to the command of the cavalry corps solely through the reckless misstate- ments and deceptions perpetrated by him in his sworn evidence and in his reports of the battle of Chancellorsville.
His report to General Sickles, dated May 11, 1863, makes no mention of ordering a charge, he knowing full well that Sickles knew what orders he gave to him, but mere- ly saying, "I ordered the Eighth Pennsylva- nia Cavalry to proceed, . .. " etc., etc., etc., etc. And in his report to Adjutant-General Seth Williams, dated May 18, 1863, he mere- ly says, "I ordered the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry to proceed," etc., etc., etc., etc.
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It must be clear to every thinking mind knowing anything at all about military affairs that had such an order been given, the regi- ment would have come back to Hazel Grove, or most likely would not have left there.
A cavalry charge does not mean that the troopers are expected to ride through the enemy for miles. The most that could have been expected, had the charge been ordered and made at Hazel Grove, would have been
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THE HISTORY OF THE CHARGE.
to have made a bold and daring dash at the enemy, and to have driven them back into the woods, where they would be under cover and hidden from view, beyond which mounted troops could not move them.
It seems to be an admitted fact that General Pleasonton did not see the regiment again till the next day after he had given his orders to it, as he distinctly says in his evidence that there were " but two squadrons of the Seven- teenth Pennsylvania Cavalry left." If he had ordered the charge at Hazel Grove, cer- tainly some of the officers and men would have returned there. Or had the enemy made his appearance at Hazel Grove before the regiment left, it never could have gone through them to the plank road (about one mile distant) and had one platoon left. Had he not ordered me to report to General How- ard, it was clearly my duty to have reported to him again after the charge was made, as he was accessible from the point where we then were, in rear of Colonel Best's artillery at Fairview, on the left of the plank road. Instead of so doing, we fell back and formed across the opening near the Chancellorsville House (see preceding reports of Huey and Devin), covering the roads that led to the
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THE CHARGE AT CHANCELLORSVILLE.
river and different fords. Here we spent the night in stopping and collecting the stampeders and stragglers who were rushing to the rear.
The whole of General Pleasonton's evidence bears improbability on its very face. It is not for one moment to be supposed that he would have sent three hundred mounted men through a narrow wood-road running parallel with our artillery line, and within two hundred yards of it (though not in sight), yet on the same level plain with it, the woods, as described by Gen- eral Pleasonton, being filled with the enemy, thus placing us in such a position as to pre- vent our artillery from opening fire, even had the enemy been actually rushing on the guns. Had the enemy been at Hazel Grove, we cer- tainly would have been kept there to support the guns, and our artillery would have opened a deadly fire on them, as they did some time after we left.
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