USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, together with a complete roster of the regiment and regimental officers > Part 17
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He then proceeded to Philadelphia and began recruiting, and, finding the expense beyond his means, he enlisted in Company C, Harlan's Regiment, on duty with regiment at Washington, D. C., Balls Cross Roads, Annapolis, and Camp Hamilton, Virginia. On the promotion of Captain Samuel Wetherill to major, he was commissioned first lieutenant of Company H, doing duty on .out- post, picket, and scouting. After the fall of Norfolk and our troops in possession, a squadron under command of Major Wetherill was ordered to Suffolk, Va., Lieutenant Fleming in command of advance guard again on outpost, picket and scouting.
On May 30th a detachment under command of Captain Armintor Davidson was ordered on a scout to Blackwater Bridge. They were ambushed, and after a sharp fight in which a number of the men were badly cut up, they were captured, Lieutenant Fleming receiving a saber wound in the right shoulder and his horse shot. Those taken prisoner were sent to Petersburg. Va .. thence to Saulsbury, N. C., thence to Belle Isle on the James River, thence to Libby Prison, Richmond. Va. . They got away on the flag of truce boat under the first cartel for exchange of pris- oners.
After a brief stay at Annapolis, Md., he rejoined the regiment at Suffolk, more outposts, scouts, and raids were then the order of the day. Lieutenant Fleming was ordered detached and to report to Colonel Alfred Gibbs, commanding brigade, transferred to staff of General H. D. Terry, who succeeded Colonel Gibbs. .
During Longstreet's siege of Suffolk, whilst delivering an
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order to Lieutenant Hasbrouck, Battery L, Fourth U. S. Ar- tillery, Lieutenant Fleming was wounded and fell in the arms of Lieutenant Hasbrouck.
Previous to the battle of Gettysburg, Lieutenant Fleming was made bearer of important dispatches to the Secretary of War at Washington by General John E. Dix. He accompanied the regiment on the raid to destroy the South Anna Bridge and was ordered in command of the detachment sent on to the bridge to burn it. With his men he crossed the bridge under a sharp fire of musketry from the block house and earthworks of the enemy; was with the advance at Hanover Court House when General Wm. Henry Fitz-Hugh Lee was captured. On the re- turn of the regiment he received orders to report to General Isaac J. Wister, with whom he served until the organization of the Eighteenth Army Corps, when he was ordered to report to Gen- eral Wm. F. (Baldy) Smith, commanding that corps, and when General Smith was succeeded by General E. O. C. Ord, Captain Fleming was ordered to General Ord's staff, taking part in all the battles under these generals in and around Petersburg, May 8th, May 16th, June 15th, and second Cold Harbor, among the most important.
On May IIth, Drewrey's Bluff (or Proctor's Creek), he was wounded in the right leg and horse shot while delivering an order to General Turner, commanding division Tenth Corps; he was at the side of General Smith in the hail of shot and shell at second Cold Harbor; with General Ord at explosion of the mine when Captain Butler, of General Ord's staff was mortally wounded.
In February, 1865, on account of wounds and physical con- dition attendant thereon, it was proposed to send him to Washing- ton, D. C., and given a command in the Invalid Corps, which he declined.
General Wister, writing of him, said: "In actual battle I relied, with a confidence that was never disappointed, on his energy, quick understanding, and dauntless courage, and in vexa- tious territorial administration with a truth, honor, and unselfish zeal that never failed."
General Smith to Governor Curtin wrote: "Captain Fleming is an officer whose energy, ability and courage deserves high consideration at your hands. He is an honor to his State and his country."
General Ord wrote, regretting the disability that detached
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GEORGE E. BOYLE, Clearfield, Pa.
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Captain Fleming from his staff, saying that he hoped the hon- orable scars which he carried home would give him as warm a reception there as he was wont to help give the enemy in the field.
If Captain Fleming was detached from the old Eleventh, his schooling whilst on duty with it fitted him for the staff duty in which he was distinguished.
At, or just before the close of the war, Governor Curtin wrote requesting him to accept the position of lieutenant-colonel and assistant inspector-general, but the war closed before he was mustered in.
After the close of the war Captain Fleming engaged in the shipping and commission business at Newbern, N. C., which lo- cality was infested by a band of outlaws. General Daniel E. Sickles, commanding the department under the reconstruction acts and prior thereto, commissioned Captain Fleming sheriff, with instructions to destroy the band. The captain organized a body of ex-Confederate soldiers and soon captured and brought to trial the notorious leaders, Louis Albritton, Wash. Hicks, and George Davis, who were promptly tried, convicted, and executed, driving the others out of the country.
"It was said that gold watches could have been hung on the trees without fear of their being disturbed, after Captain Flem- ing's administration."
In 1873 he came North and was sent by the Wilkes-Barre Coal & Iron Company to Newark, N. J., to organize and take charge of their business in that city, where he has resided ever since, occupying occasionally public positions, member of the city council and board of freeholders, member of and treasurer of the board of trade, member of the board of managers of the State home for disabled soldiers, is also a member of the Army and Navy Club of New York, and of the New York commandery of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States ; member of and governor of the Essex County Country Club, and of the Essex Club in the city of Newark.
In June, 1890, he organized, with the assistance of Lieutenant- colonel Frederick Frelinghuysen and Mr. R. Wayne Parker, the Essex Troop of Light Cavalry, and commanded it for five years, of which organization it was said by competent military authority, in the Columbian parade in New York city. October, 1892, "that it was the finest troop of cavalry ever seen in America." -- Captain Charles King. Chicago Inter-Ocean. Army and Navy Journal, New York Herald.
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He infused the spirit that animated himself into the men of his command, and, being ably seconded by Messrs. Freling- huysen and Parker, with the splendid material of which the troop was composed, he was determined that they should carry off the honors in 1892, as the New Jersey Infantry had at the Yorktown Anniversary.
Private, September 11th, 1861; first lieutenant, December 27th, 1861; captain, January 14, 1861. Was with regiment March 17th, Franklin, Va., Deserted House, etc.
We also publish a letter sent by Captain Fleming to Captain Tripp, which goes into details of his capture, etc.
Captain J. E. Fleming describes his capture in the following letter :
You ask me about my capture? Well, if you remember when we marched on Norfolk, Colonel Powell T. Wyman was detached with a command to march on Suffolk. That command consisted of his own regiment. the Sixteenth Massachusetts; a section of the Fifth United States Artillery, Lieutenant Whitney, a squadron of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, Major Wetherill, Companies E and H. I was given a platoon and ordered as the advance guard. Nothing of mo- ment occurred. Occasionally we sighted a Confederate cavalry- man, but never got within pistol shot of one. We took pos- session of Suffolk in the most quiet way, posted pickets, sent out patrols, and went into camp. Next day scouting was begun. We went to the Blackwater and returned unmolested time and again, but on the morning of May 30th, Captain Davidson was ordered with a detail from Company E and H (twelve men, six from each company) to go to Blackwater Bridge and see what the Johnnies were up to, as an "intelligent contraband" had arrived during the night with the information that the rebels were "gwine" to build a bridge and cross in force. We started at early dawn. It had rained during the night, and, as Davidson remarked, he guessed Mr. Contraband lied about rebel cavalry being on the east side of the river. As soon as it was light enough to see, I found tracks on the grass at the edge of the road, indicating that a considerable number of horsemen were recently on the road. I then went forward to the corporal in the advance to caution him. We reached Andrews' Cross Roads. Mrs. Andrews came out and one of the advance came back and said she wanted to see me (as I had made her acquaintance on previous scouts). I rode up to her house. She told me "there
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were two companies of rebel cavalry in the vicinity and for God's sake to return as she didn't want to see a massacre in her neighborhood." I told Davidson, but he allowed "it was only some of the Rebs. who were visiting their friends, and what's more," he replied, "my orders are to go to Blackwater Bridge and I am going there." Davidson was suffering from diarrhoea and had no business to go on the scout at all. Every few min- utes he was out of the saddle. We started forward and a quarter of a mile from the cross roads were ambushed. Davidson was then out of the saddle. The men broke, but I soon reformed them, when a short, sharp fight occurred, some of the men being badly cut with sharpened sabers. We killed their surgeon and wounded some of them. I was disabled with a saber thrust in the right shoulder and my horse shot, and when I saw that it was useless, I ordered the men to make their escape as best they could. My horse ran a short distance and fell. The Jobnnies were on me in short time with pistols and sabers. Of course I yielded. One man, Jerry Noonan, I think was his name, had several ugly cuts across his face.
We were taken to Petersburg, Va., and put in the custom house. My shoulder had been dislocated by the fall of my horse and a rebel surgeon was sent to replace it. Well! I feel it yet. Davidson said that "he had often heard of being caught with one's breeches down, but he had lived to realize it in person, and all he could say was, well, I'll be d-d."
The rebel General Walker, formerly U. S. A., came down to the custom house, sent for Davidson and self, offered us and our men parole, which we refused. He was very courteous to us, "rd told us we "deserved good treatment as he was informed that we had fought like the devil." He gave us an excellent break- fast, sent the men to the provost marshal and Davidson and myself to the Jarret House, where he had his headquarters. We were in charge of Lieutenant Galt, of Texas, of General Walker's staff. We were supplied with fruit, brandy, and cigars, ate at the hotel table, and were, indeed, guests of the Confederacy. We were treated in that way for three days, when General Walker was relieved. and ordered with his command to the front at Rich- mond. He was succeeded by one General Bod Ransome, who yanked us away from breakfast table, double-quicked us to the cars, and hustled us off to Salisbury, N. C. I was sent to the hospital, but begged to be let out, which the rebel surgeon, Hall, allowed.
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We breakfasted, dined, and supped for over two months on spoiled bacon and sour flour, and soon got down to funeral weight. We were sent from Salisbury to Belle Isle, thence to Libby, where we got the first fresh meat we had eaten since leaving Petersburg. At Libby, I found a Confederate surgeon, who came in to see me. He had been a prisoner and well treated by friends of mine, who had asked him to look after me, which he did, bringing into the prison one morning a basket of oranges, bananas, a bottle of brandy, and a box of cigars, which I at once divided with poverty mess, No. I, that being our designation at Salisbury. In a few days we heard rumors of exchange. Also a rumor that two officers of a cavalry regiment were to be held as hostages for something their regiment had done beyond the rules of civilized warfare, whatever that meant, as I had, up to that time, never seen anything civilized about it, unless it was our treatment by General Walker.
So one bright Sunday morning the superintendent of the prison, Lieutenant Peacock, said there were orders to send us to Varina Landing, but before the order came to fall in (over seven hundred officers, some of them prisoners from the first Bull Run). the Confederate surgeon came to Davidson and me and told us we were the ones to be held as hostages. Zero wasn't in it with our feelings, but he said in such a significant manner, that two officers, one a captain and the other a lieutenant, had been sent to the hospital in a dying condition with typhoid fever that morning, and their names would be called for exchange. We caught on, answered to the names, and got away on the flag of truce. On our arrival at Washington, we were inspected by General Halleck, given ten days' leave, and ordered to report at Annapolis, Md. I went home, had my shoulder operated on and joined Davidson at Annapolis where I was put on duty as assist- ant inspector-general. General Thomas, adjutant-general of the army, came to Annapolis to select some officers to send out to the Indian Territory, and informed Davidson and myself "as we had not been properly exchanged and having been carried off on the flag of true boat in a surreptitious manner and belonging to the cavalry arm, we would have to go West," which honor we declined, but instead left Annapolis without orders on a transport for Norfolk, rejoined the old Eleventh, and were taken upon the rolls and reported doing duty. All was overlooked. After a few weeks with the Company I was ordered to report to Colonel Gibbs, commanding a provisional brigade, who was re-
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lieved by General H. D. Terry. When I asked to be relieved from staff duty and rejoin my regiment, General Peck refused to do so and I remained with General Terry, receiving a wound at the earthworks on the Nansemond, where Battery L, Fourth - United States Artillery, was stationed, Lieutenant Hasbrouck commanding a section, and into whose arms I fell when hit. It was only a slight flesh wound and I remained on duty after it was attended to by the surgeon, Dr. Harlan. This was during Longstreet's siege of Suffolk. Some time after the siege was raised, you will remember, we followed to the Blackwater under Terry. On our return General Terry was met by an orderly with despatches. He told me my regiment had been ordered to Ports- mouth on a secret expedition. I importuned him to allow me to join it. He refused, and after some angry words I put spurs to my horse, reached Suffolk, and as the regiment had already marched, I changed horses there and arrived at Portsmouth as the last company was embarking. That was the raid on which we cap- tured General Lee's son. I had command of the advance guard at the time. We returned from that raid and found General Dix with his headquarters on the steamer at the White House. General Van Buren, his chief of staff, sent for me and told me General Terry had preferred charges against me, but he, Van Buren, had issued an order for me to report to General Wistar, gave me a boat and sent me down the York to West Point where Wistar was with his brigade. I served on Wistar's staff until ordered to report to Gen. Wm. F. (Baldy) Smith, command- ing Eighteenth Army Corps, and when he was relieved, General Ord, who succeeded him, had me detailed on his staff, refusing to allow me to join my regiment.
On the 16th of May at Proctor's Creek (Drewrey's Bluff), whilst carrying an order to General Turner, Tenth Corps, I was struck on the right shin bone by a musket ball, and my horse killed. The wound gave me much trouble, but I remained in service until ordered on the invalid list, which I refused and had the alternative offered me of either going to Washingon in the invalid corps or resigning. Washington I hated, and resigned. Governor Curtin wrote me and asked me to accept an appoint- ment at the recruiting station at Harrisburg as lieutenant-colonel and assistant inspector-general, but the week I was to report there the end came. and Uncle Bob threw up the sponge.
When at Yorktown, through General Wistar, General But- ler offered me the coloneley of the First Regiment United States
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Colored Cavalry, which I refused as I was opposed to the negroes being used as soldiers, and I inadvertently remarked that I would sooner serve the balance of my natural life as an enlisted man in white troops than be made a major-general of negro troops. Of course that reached Butler's ears. He remarked that who- ever accepted it would be made a major-general within a year. Sure enough Captain Cole, of a New York regiment, received the promotion as Butler had said. When Wistar, Smith, and Ord recommended me for promotion, Butler barred it, quoting my words about black and white troops.
Perhaps you are not aware that I raised and took to Wash- ington forty odd men for Harlan's independent brigade, which the Government refused to accept as an independent brigade. I had done this at the expense of family and friends and no ex- pense to the Government. These men were afterwards put in various other Pennsylvania regiments. My funds gave out and I could not take them to Philadelphia. While waiting at Wash- ington to learn where Colonel Harlan was with his command, we were camped near the railroad station. One morning an officer rode up to us and said the command we were looking for was in camp on Old Capitol Hill. I had the men fall in and marched them there, halted them-a fine body recruited from the iron works.
Pretty soon a wiry little Frenchman came bounding toward us with a captain's uniform on. I asked him if this was Har- lan's command. He replied, "No, it is the Ira Harris's Light Cavalry from New York." I said at once that I had been mis- informed, but he said, "Not at all. You are to turn over your men to me." I told him they had been recruited for a Pennsyl- vania organization and I would not put them in to fill up a New York regiment. In a dramatic manner he called, "What. ho, ze guard! ze guard!" I told him the men were not sworn in yet and they should not be into his command; that if we were not allowed to leave camp peaceably we would fight our way out. He fell back and said, "Leave ze ground and quick, too." He was then Captain Duffia, afterwards Brigadier-General Duffia. We met after the war and had a hearty laugh over the affair.
Faithfully,
Your old comrade, J. E. FLEMING.
CAPTURE OF MOSBY'S HORSE, "ROMEO."
After the surrender of Lee's Army at Appomattox Court House, on the ninth of April, 1865, in which the Eleventh Penn- sylvania Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Franklin A. Stratton, took a conspicuous part, the regiment was ordered to Lynchburg, Va., and subsequently to Staunton, Va.
While at Lynchburg, Va., for a few days, Captain Euphronius P. King, of Company A, took a notion to do a little scouting on his own account, the result of which was the capture of a beautiful dun horse, with black mane and tail-a fine pacer and of the celebrated Logan breed so prevalent in Virginia at that time.
The horse was turned into the quartermaster's department by Captain King, and subsequently purchased on appraisement by the adjutant of the regiment, Lieutenant Samuel R. Strat- tan.
When the regiment later on was sent from Richmond, Va., to Charlottesville. Va. (where it remained until final muster out, August 13th, 1865), the horse was recognized by the family of Dr. Poindexter, of the latter place, whose wife was a sister of Colonel Jack Mosby, and the name of the horse, "Romeo," given to Lieutenant Strattan.
The horse was taken to Strattanville, Clarion County, Pa., the home of Lieutenant Strattan, and became a great favorite on account of his history and adaptability as a ladies' riding horse. He finally met with an accident in which he broke his leg and had to be shot. Years after that Lieutenant Strattan met Colonel Mosby on the street in Washington city after his (Mosby's) return from Turkey, where he had been appointed minister by General U. S. Grant, then President of the United States.
The whole story was given to Mosby concerning the capture and subsequent history and death of "Romeo," to which Mosby listened attentively, after which, he drew a long breath and said: "So your are the man that got 'Romeo.' Well, he was a fine little animal and your story is true in every particular. I am sorry you told me of his death. Had you notified me after you got home that you had him, I would have given you three times the amount you paid the Government for him, but such is the fate of war, and all I can say is that I hope poor old 'Romeo' is in horse heaven, as he deserves to be. Good day!" And he was gone.
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HEIN YOUNG.
One of the odd characters of the Eleventh was Henry Young, 'of the band. He was familiarly called "Pop Young." by reason of his age and many peculiar traits of character. While he did not look aged in the sense of decrepitude, yet he had an air of suavity and tender solicitude for everybody's wel- fare which earned for him the sobriquet of "Pop." His head was as bald as a billiard ball, with the exception of a heavy fringe of long hair at the sides. A large gray mustache adorned his upper lip, and he wore blue spectacles which he called his "nose yoke."
He hailed from York, Pa., where in his younger days he had followed the profession of music. He could play the flute, fife, fiddle, horn, and piano, though not an expert on any of them at the time he enlisted for a "sojer." His style of performance was painfully old-fashioned. While he was not deaf, yet when spoken to quickly he seemed to rouse from a kind of reverie and would always respond by an "Heigh, Heigh!" which was cor- rupted into "Hein." He was known as "Old Hein Young." He loved his cup and flowing bowl, and the boys of the band kept him supplied with "B commissary whiskey" just to see him go through his antics-of which he had many-sometimes snorting like a wild beast, talking Pennsylvania Dutch, beating his breast with both hands, tossing his head, whistling, yeodling, winding it up with a yahoo and various other capers always in- tensely amusing.
Long use of the "ardent" had made him rather absent- minded. He blamed one of the members of the band of stealing a $20 bill from him; a year later he found it in the watch-pocket of his trousers. He blamed another of stealing his flute and subsequently found it in his saddle-bags. Yet with all his vagaries he had a good heart and would do anything for the man he liked. The boys got him to sit for his photograph, prom- ising him they would pay the expenses. When the bill was presented he forgot the promise of the boys and borrowed money to pay the bill from Colonel Spear. And yet in an hour after he got the pictures all had been begged from him.
When the regiment was in winter quarters at Camp Getty the boys erected a long log structure in which, under the lead
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of Wilcox, an old minstrel, they improvised a "nigger" show. As Young could play the fiddle they desired him to blacken up and lead the music on the stage. The old man stoutly de- marred, but four or five swiggers and the assurance no one would recognize him in his disguise finally caused him to yield to the disgrace as he termed it. Wilcox did the blacking and inten- tionally left a bald spot on the top of the old man's head, about three inches in diameter, which shone as brilliantly as a piece of polished ivory. When all was ready, Young led off with the overture, but only two or three joined in as he had the. wrong tune. He fiddled away for some time all alone. It was fierce music, but everybody laughed. As yet he had not been recognized. Finally, when all got quiet and Young settled down to business, staring at the audience with the butt of the fiddle resting on his knee and his mind off in a reverie, Wilcox, know- ing the old man's weakness, without any warning slapped the old man on the knee and shouted, "Well, Bones, how do yo' feel dis ebenin'?" The old man jumped to his feet in an instant and impulsively screamed out, "Heigh, Heigh?" In a moment the house was convulsed shouting, "Hello, Pop. How are ye? Play us up a tune on the fiddle," etc. When the actors retired to the green room the old man had to have two or three swiggers to steady him. He said he had never acted the nigger before and, God helping him, never would do so again.
One morning afterwards, orders had been sent to the band that there would be no inspection, so the members, except Young, who had not heard the news, scattered. Biah Borden, who was watching the old man, walked up to him and said, "Mr. Young, didn't you hear the call for inspection? The band has gone: you had better hurry up or you will be in the guard house. I'm excused." The old man immediately seized his horn and made for the parade ground on a gallop. Borden found him there an hour later waiting for the band and the inspection.
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