USA > Pennsylvania > History of a cavalry company. A complete record of Company "A," 4th Penn'a cavalry, as identified with that regiment in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, during the late civil war > Part 6
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We found that he had no heavy force, east of the Blue Ridge, as yet. On the night of the 21st, we encamped in Upperville. In the last engagement our regiment suffered considerably, having made a severe charge, in column of four, up the road into Upper- ville, with stone fences along both sides, behind which the enemy awaited us. Col. Doster leading, we charged and routed their forces, driving them from the town, and re-capturing many of our own men, whom they had taken the day previous at Middleburg. I was here slightly wounded in the hand, but not severely enough to throw me off duty. Some of the members of our own regiment, whom we re-captured, had been fearfully wounded. One of them, Corp. Alexander Welton, of Company K, had a sabre gash, extending from the centre of the upper lip to his right car, laying the cheek open, severing his upper gum from the jaw, and cleaving his tongue in two. It was a frightful wound. This young man afterwards highly distinguished himself on several occasions during the war, while connected with our organization-and conspicuously at one of these times, while in company with myself. I shall have further opportunity of speaking of him hereafter. On the 22d of June we marched back to Aldie, and going into camp remained there until the 24th inst., when we marched to and crossed the Potomac at Elwards' Ferry on a pontoon bridge-forming then the rear of the Army of the Potomac, which during the few days previous had crossed into Maryiand. Marching thence to Frederick City, Maryland, we
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encamped near that place, June 27th, and found the Army of the Potomac in and around the city. Gen. Hooker had about then been removed from the com- mand, and Gen. Meade had succeeded to the same.
All was uproar and confusion. The enemy, with untold numbers, were invading Pennsylvania. Already his forces occupied Chambersburg, York and Mer- cersburg, and were actually threatening Harrisburg, with a " mildly villainous" eye even on Philadelphia and Baltimore. The loyal governors on the border, had issued their proclamations, calling out the emer- gency men. Farmers from Maryland and Pennsyl- vania were hurrying their movable stock away into more distant counties, and every patriotic son of the Union hastened to the aid of the general government. Consternation and dismay were pictured on every countenance, for it was well known that unless the innumerable rebel hordes were checked in their pro- gress and hurled back in disorder, the war, with all its devastations and horrors, would be transferred to our own soil. The plough and the sickle were hastily abandoned for the broad-sword and the bayonet-blade. The desk, with its papers in confusion, the counting- house, the school-room and the church even, were deserted abruptly for the field. A nervous activity trembled in every lineament of the state. It was while this excitement and chaos existed that the Army of the Potomac appeared on the scene of action-the army that had so often before, hotly contested! for the boon of victory with that same rebel horde, who were the very flower of Southern
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chivalry. Elated with success, it had now come to transfer the horrors of battle from the soil of Virginia to that of the Keystone State. Their advance had so far been victorious, and laden with the spoils of the rich sections of Maryland and Pennsylvania through which they were marching, they were literally gorged with plenty and triumph. The disorganized Army of the Potomac, on the other hand, had lately met with their series of reverses at Chancellorsville. They had just accomplished a long and fatiguing march, and, it were indeed surprising, if they had not been a little discouraged. With its new commander, however, they never halted to consider much, but continued the forward movement, to head off the enemy in Pennsylvania. With our cavalry corps on its flanks, advance and rear, the old army moved boldly forward, determined to drive the invader from loyal territory. Our division, being on the right flank, marched via New Windsor, Manchester, and Hanover Junction, at which latter place on the 30th of June, we met a force of the enemy's cavalry, for the first time on our free soil, and after a stubbornly- contested fight, forced him to retire.
On the evening previous to this day, with several other scouts, I was detailed by orders from Army Headquarters, to proceed on secret service inside of the rebel lines, accompany them on their line of march, and convey information to division Head- quarters whenever practicable. In the guise of citi- zens of the State, the three of us proceeded to where Gen. Ewell had his corps, which was mostly in Cham-
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bersburg, a great majority of it being stationed in the main square of that town. We were present, and heard a portion of Ewell's fiery harangue to his troops as he stood up in his carriage in the square. He told them in effect, that they had nothing in their advance to meet, but the raw militia, and emergency men of Pennsylvania and New York State, and that the Army of the Potomac was yet many days' march in their rear. All they had now to do, he remarked, was to march forward to spoils and victory, and Harrisburg would in a day or two fall their prey. This created
much enthusiasm among his troops. It was turned to blank dismay, however, when on the heights of Seminary Ridge, after the fearful rebel charge, which proved unavailing, they turned to one another with faces awry, and ejaculated, with blank amazement : " The Army of the Potomac ! by thunder ! ! " I heard that very remark from one of the rebels, and similar expressions were quite general. One of the rebel officers afterwards, on being captured, came in and said, evidently with astonishment: "Why! what troops were those ?" HIe was answered by one of our men, that "they are old troops, and I guess you've met them before!" when he at once ex- claimed, " The Army of the Potomac! by -. " He was utterly astounded. He could not realize the fact, that the army had reached there by rapid and forced marches. On the 2d of July, we were again with our own commands, having discovered the actual fact that the whole army under Lee was en- tering Pennsylvania, as had also many other scouts.
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Our reports were only confirmatory of those of many others. On the 2d of July our division arrived at the Army of the Potomac, now posted in a strong position in front of Gettysburg. We were ordered to take position, on the extreme right of the army, which was accordingly done. During the day we were attacked by Stuart, fighting steadily until night, several charges being made on both sides. He was forced back from our front until evening, when we kept up our line of battle all night, with strong picket lines posted in advance. Very heavy attacks by the enemy had been made along the entire lines during the day, but our army maintained its position at all points. It was fighting on the defen- sive, on our own soil. Every man was now a hero. The army formed a wall of granite, a mountain of fire, a bulwark of steel between their own loved ones and beloved homes, and the traitorous legions who strove to desecrate them. The spirit of Bozzaris was general :
"Strike! till the last armed foe expires ! Strike ! ! for your altars and your fires ! ! Strike ! ! ! for the green graves of your sires, God and your native land ! ! ! "
On this field of battle our armies dealt death and destruction to their foes for three long and weary days-finally forcing them to abandon their plan for carrying the war into free soil-among the more bounteous fields and comfortable homesteads of the North.
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The third day of the battle of Gettysburg must be forever memorable. It is one of the most brilliant in American History. Its memory will be cherished by every advocate of freedom, in the whole civilized world, as a terrible and decisive encounter. From this time, the rebellion began to perish. Step by step it now receded to final defeat. Treason's back- bone was broken on the heights of Seminary and Cemetery Ridges. The rebel forces grew weaker and weaker from this day, although they still man- aged to keep up the struggle, and to maintain a bold front. But their cause was palpably lost, their fate inevitable, their doom already scaled-both by Meade at Gettysburg, and Grant at Vicksburg, on this same, doubly immortal day. On the 3d of July we were again operating on the right, and although not very hotly engaged, we had skirmishing all day. On the morning of the 4th, our division moved towards the right of Gettysburg on a reconnoissance, but meeting no enemy entered the town. Finding it deserted by all but stragglers and wounded, we discovered that the enemy were in full retreat, to- wards the " Mother of Statesmen," the sacred soil of Virginia. Our army was also in motion, and marching by Frederick City, to intercept the flying enemy. The cavalry division was ordered to follow up the enemy, on the same road on which they were retreating, it being the only Federal foree in their close pursuit. Passing through Gettysburg, and along over the field that the 1st and the 11th corps had stubbornly maintained on the 1st of July, we there
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beheld a sight horrible and revolting in the extreme. All of our men, who had been killed on the 1st inst., were still lying in the same position, in which they had fallen, with the exception that they had been stripped of all the clothing they had had on, by the rebels, who were in need of almost everything they had worn. There they had lain during those four scorching, sultry days of midsummer, exposed to the broiling and blistering sun by day, and to the heavy dews at night. Imagination can scarcely reproduce their shocking condition, and language is far less adequate to the purpose. They were bloated up, puffed out, purple with putrefaction, and in a rapid state of decomposition -- the maggot and worm already battening on their ghastly remains. The air for miles around was infected with the fotid miasm of dissolution. Such was the condition of our dead pa- triots! They, the heroes, in fact of Gettysburg, who had contested every inch of ground with the whole rebel army, and by whose strenuous exertions our forces had been enabled to secure that position, whence they had hurled back the tide of treason, con - quered and dismayed, to their own distant strong- holds. Having friends among the number, and barely recognizing their mangled and decomposing remains, I could not repress the silent tear of affec- tion and regard, when I remembered the happy days we had once passed together, and their tragic but heroic end.
The moral effect of this battle was enormous in its inspiriting power on the North, in its discourag-
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ing effects on the rebels, and its lesson to the world at large. Parties that hal not been entirely welded as one, after the fall of Sumter, were now united in the State against a common foe, a common in- vader. All forbearance trenchantly disappeared here, even from the mildest of Unionists, and the determination became fixed and settled once more, and finally, to follow up the victory until the last traitor would be sent reeling and reeking to the dust. The spirit of the clarion call to the American people, became doubly assured, as the North re- organized and recruited its shattered ranks, for the remainder of the conflict.
" That late in half despair I said : ' The nation's ancient life is dead ; Her arm is weak, her blood is cold; She bags the peace that gives her gold,- The shameful peace that sees expire Each beacon light of patriot fire, And makes her court a traitor's den, Forgive me this, my countrymen!
"O, in your long forbearance grand, Slow to suspect the treason planned, Enduring wrong, yet hoping good For sake of olden brotherhood, How grander, how sublimer far At the roused. Eagle's call ye are, Leaping from slumber to the fight, For freedom and for Chartered Right!
" Throughout the land there goes a cry ; A sudden splendor fills the sky : From every hill the banners burst ; Like buds by April breezes nurst ;
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In every hamlet, home and mart, The fire-beat of a single heart Keeps time to strains whose pulses mix Our blood with that of Seventy-Six.
"The shot whereby the old flag fell From Sumter's battered citadel, Struck down the lines of party creed, And made ye one in soul and deed,- One mighty People, stern and strong, To crush the consummated wrong : Indignant with the wrath whose rod Smites as the awful sword of God !
"The cup is full! They thought ye blind : The props of state they undermined, Abused your trust, your strength defied, And stained the nation's name of pride. Now lift to heaven your loyal brows, Swear once again your father's vows, And cut through traitor hearts a track, To nobler fame and freedom back!
"Draw forth your million blades as one; Complete the battle then begun ! God fights with ye, and overhead Floats the dear banner of your dead. They and the glories of the past, The future, dawning dim and vast, And all the holiest hopes of man Are beaming triumph in your van!
"Slow to resolve, be swift to do! Teach ye the false, how fight the true! How bucklered perfidy shall feel In her black heart the patriot's steel; How sure the bolt that Justice wings; How weak the arm a traitor brings ; How mighty they, who steadfast stand For Freedom's Flag and Freedom's Land!"
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Passing through Gettysburg we came upon a con- tinuous encampment of rebel wounded, disabled and stragglers. They were found in such vast numbers, that we could hardly realize that so enormous had been the results of the late three days' battle. Mis- erable indeed did they appear. Only a few attend- ants had been left them-such as usually straggle after an army. The country between Gettysburg and Cashtown, a distance of twelve miles, was literally covered with the rebelsick and wounded. Most of the elegant homes on the way had been vacated by their tenants, and were now full of these dejected and miserable wretches. What had been once a beautiful farming district, smiling with plenty and content- ment, a most flourishing section of our beloved state ; now presented a sad picture of desolation. It seemed as if the world had actually changed hands, as if a Paradise had been suddenly transformed into a Pan- demonium.
"Strange! that where nature loved to trace As if for gods a dwelling-place, There, man enamored of distress, Should mar it into wilderness."
The fences had all been broken down ; the houses were filled with wounded rebels, who sat on the win- dow sills with their legs dangling out, and wretches crowded the door-ways: the fields of grain were all trampled into dust, the garden despoiled into bare commons, and the trees were the centre of gangs who lay under the shade and recklessly condoled on their late reverses.
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CHAPTER XI.
THE REBEL WATERLOO.
0 N the 5th, after a close pursuit, we came up with the Rebel rearguard, near Thaddeus Stevens' Furnace, between Cashtown and Fayetteville, in the mountains. Being for a short time, in advance of the division, we engaged with the enemy's rear, losing several men killed, but capturing many prisoners. We completely routed them. We then went into camp, near Thaddeus Stevens' Fur- nace, which, as might very reasonably have been ex- pected, the rebels very carefully destroyed. They had always had a bitter grudge against the stern old Commoner, which was ever reciprocated by the old man with "a theologic hatred." On the following morning we resumed the line of march, passing through Fayetteville to Franklin, our regiment being again in the advance. I had charge of a portion of the advance guard in person. On entering the small town of Franklin, with only one companion, we cap- tured, from time to time, many straggling rebels, who being well equipped but worn-out with fatigue, surrendered to us on demand. They were armed
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with beautiful Enfield Rifles, which they had proba- bly stolen. On occupying these towns, a halt was ordered, and picket stations were placed around town. We had captured, since leaving Gettysburg, 2500 able-bodied prisoners, who were straggling in the rear of Lee's army. These did not of course in- clude those encamped between Gettysburg and Cash- town, who suffered from the effects of the battle. We found many caissons, several pieces of artillery, and many army wagons, broken down and abandoned by the enemy on their retreat. During the halt at Franklin we received orders to proceed to Chambers- burg, which we did, along with the brigade, entering that town in the evening, and bringing the first in- telligence to the inhabitants, that the enemy were retreating. They were overwhelmed with joy at this information, and as we were the first Union troops to enter the town since the rebel army passed through there under Ewell, we were received with most marked demonstrations of delight. We marched through Chambersburg, encamping in the suburbs of the borough, being out of rations. But the people soon came to the rescue. If there was shortly afterwards any hunger among the men of our command, it was their own fault, for the people supplied with alacrity, all the demands from the wearied troops of Gregg's Cavalry Brigade-although the enemy had robbed them by the wholesale. We did not again have the pleasure of visiting Chambersburg, but we were much chagrined and incensed at McCausland's needless
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burning of the town afterwards, out of a pure spirit of revenge.
On the morning of the 7th of July, we again took up a line of march, for the Army of the Potomac, and encamped during the night at Quincy. Thence we marched over the mountains to Boonsboro', by the way of Wolfeville and Middletown, near which place we again encamped for the night. On the 10th of July, arriving at Boonsboro', we again re- joined the Army of the Potomac. Lee's rebel forces still occupied Williamsport, Md., and held a strong position in that vicinity. It was not at this time, however, deemed practicable or prudent by Gen. Meade, to attack the enemy. He called a council of war of his corps commanders, but it was finally concluded not to risk a battle by resuming the offen- sive on our part, since the chances of defeat were great, and less than victory would again place the enemy on a footing to continue his efforts at carrying the war into the North-when, too, we might not be so able to cope with him as heretofore. While our com- manding officers were hesitating and consulting, Lee was making good his escape, as during the year be- fore he had done at Antietam, which he finally suc- ceeded in effecting, transferring his army back to the sacred soil, with the loss of about one-third of it in the recent campaign.
It is not within our power to add anything that is new or interesting to the details of the general move- ments of this battle and campaign, both of which are already recorded in the pages of history .. Nor can
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we add one ray of glory to the crown, which encircles the cold brows of such heroes as Reynolds and his immortal confreres. Of him, and of each individual hero, who perished in this battle, we can apply the lines of Edward Everett, on a Revolutionary patriot, the noble Warren :-
"Can you not see him, not cold and pale and mo- tionless, the blood of his gallant heart streaming out of his ghastly wounds, but riding resplendent over the field of battle, with the fire of liberty in his eye, and the rose of heaven on his check ?
Cold in the dust, the perished heart may lie,
But that which warmed it once can never die."
In the multiplicity of literature which the battle of Gettysburg evoked, we find much that is admirable ; but not the least interesting, is a poem by the Quaker Poet, John G. Whittier, which explains itself, on " The Hive at Gettysburg. " It reads as follows :-
"In the old Hebrew myth the lion's frame, So terrible alive,
Bleached by the desert's sun and wind, became The wandering wild bee's hive ; And he who lone and naked-handed, tore Those jaws of death apart, In after time drew forth their honeyed store To strengthen his strong heart.
" Dead seemed the legend; but it only slept To wake beneath our sky. Just on the spot whence ravening Treason erept Back to its lair to dic.
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Bleeding and torn from Freedom's mountain bounds, A stained and shattered drum Is now the hive, where, on their flowery rounds, The wild bees go and come.
" Unchallenged by a ghostly sentinel, They wander wide and far,
Along green hillsides, sown with shot and shell, Through vales once choked with war. The low reveille of their battle drum Disturbs no morning prayer ;
With deeper peace in Summer noons their hum Fills all the drowsy air.
" And Samson's riddle is our own to-day, Of sweetness from the strong,
Of union, peace, and freedom plucked away From the rent jaws of wrong. From treason's death he drew a purer life, As, from the beast he slew,
A sweetness sweeter for his bitter strife The old-time athlete drew !"
The Union loss in the battle was upwards of 30,000 killed and wounded. How this compares with the loss sustained, at some of the other great battles of the world's history, may be observed by the following paragraph :-
" At Konniggratz the Prussians lost in killed, wounded and missing, 359 officers and 8, 794 men, and the Austrians 1,147 officers and 30,224 inen. The proportion of losses to the total force engaged on each side was one in twenty-three. for the Prus- sians, and one in seven for the Austrians, and for both armies one in eleven. In the battle of Mal-
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plaquet, fought in 1709, the proportion of losses to the forces engaged was one in five; at Rossbach, fought in 1757, one in twenty-five; at Leuthen, fought in 1758, one in eleven ; at Zoundorff, in 1758, three in eight. During the wars of Napoleon I, the losses at Austerlitz and at Eylau, were one in four ; at Wagram, one in eight; at Borodino and at Waterloo, one in three, and at Leipsic, one in five. At Solferino, during the Italian war of 1859, the losses were one in eight. The total number of troops engaged at Leipsic was 400,000; at Konniggratz 430,000, and at Wagram 330,000. At Leipsic the number of men lost was 90,000, at Borodino 74,000, and at Waterloo 61,000."
By the above statement, it will be seen that the Battle of Gettysburg resembled Waterloo, in the number of men lost, number of troops, engaged and proportion of loss, as well as in being the death-blow to the enemy, whose aggressions had made the con- flict necessary.
On the 14th of July, it was discovered that Lee had recrossed the river. Our cavalry division was then ordered to proceed to Harper's Ferry, cross there, and hover about his flank. Accordingly we went over at Harper's Ferry on the 15th inst., and encamped on Bolivar Heights. On the 16th of July, we marched to Sharpstown, Va., met a few of the enemy west of that town, and proceeding ouly a short distance, encamped. In the morning, we were attacked bright and early by the enemy under Fitz Hugh Lee. He made several dashing and desperate
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attacks upon our lines during the day, assisted by a body of Infantry, and nearly forced us from our posi- tion. We, however, maintained our position until evening, when the enemy having been re-enforced, rather began to close in on our forces. Night coming on, we were enabled by the darkness to withdraw on Bolivar Heights. It so happened that the rebels, during the night, did the same thing-their killed and wounded, along with ours, being all that was left on the field the next morning. In this engagement our regiment suffered more severely than they had done in any previous action-many of the men and several of the officers having been killed or wounded. After the battle of Sheppardstown, we went into camp on Bolivar Heights, and remained there for several days. While here we mustered for pay for the months of May and June, 1863. No changes of · any description appear on these rolls ; there, however, being quite a number of absentees, comprising many that were sick in hospitals, on detached service, in dismounted camp, etc. There were only. forty-four present at muster, out of eighty-one still belonging to the company. On the 20th of July, we broke camp at Bolivar, marching to Lovettsville, and encamped for the night. On the following day we resumed our march to Bull Run, encamping for the night where, just two years previous, great issues had been staked on this immortal ground. We marched thence vie Manassas, Bristow and Cattlett's Station to Bealton Station, where for several days we remained in camp. In the latter part of July we proceeded to
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