USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania volunteer cavalry which was recruited and known as the Anderson cavalry in the rebellion of 1861-1865; > Part 22
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On Sunday morning a white frost covered the ground, every- thing was white, the grass was stiff and we were all cold. Field headquarters were moved from Widow Glenn's to the hill south of and a little to the rear of the Dyer house, in front of a thicket. A road had been cut through the thicket for artillery. None of the saplings was over fifteen to eighteen feet high thien. On visiting that place in September of 1895 I found the trees fifty feet or more high, and from one to one and a half feet through. This was just thirty-two years after our first visit.
We dismounted and everything was as silent as the grave. The sun came out warm and bright. There we waited, during that awe-inspiring silence, for over an hour. We asked each other, "Will the fight begin?" Someone said that General Rose- crans would not begin the fight on Sunday. Our lines were in the woods, where the undergrowth was very thick. Staff officers and dispatch orderlies were the only ones who appeared to be moving.
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The ammunition train was in a corn field just to the left and a little to the front of the Dyer house. About 10.20 A.M., if my memory is correct, the firing began at the left of the line-a light volley-then a deafening roll of musketry came down the line like a great ocean wave. It was like a hurricane. The cannon shots sounded like thunder and the lines could be traced by the smoke. A few minutes after the battle started you could see the wounded coming to the rear. The hospital corps were busy. Thus it continued until about II A.M., when Wood's division was with- drawn to reinforce Thomas, and the men began to retreat. Just . then the ammunition train started to move to the rear. A battery rushed out of the woods into the corn field, where a reserve force of Van Cleve's division lay in front of the ammunition train, throwing it into disorder. Then our whole line from there to the right was forced into a rout, followed by the rebels.
General Rosecrans and staff, with orderlies, mounted. The General sat a minute, looked over the field, then rode through the gap. Colonel Palmer rode up to him and asked him if he should charge with his Regiment. The General said, "No," and ordered him to go to the left and rear with him. Ever after that my confi- dence in Colonel Palmer as a brave and farseeing soldier was unalterably fixed-I trusted his judgment. Had he had four regi- ments that knew him as well as we did, and charged then, we could have caused a panic among the enemy as bad as our men were in then.
Being a dispatch orderly I was in the rear, and looking over the field as far as I could see I felt that the rebels, in their anxiety to catch our men, were so scattered that we could have ridden them down before they could have formed a line. We went back to the Glenn house just in time to meet McCook with Davis' and Sheridan's divisions, utterly demoralized. They could not be stopped. I saw the battery at the Glenn house captured, and our guns were turned on us as we rode up the ridge to the rear. They threw canister and shrapnel all around us, and the shells crashed through the trees. General Rosecrans, after giving orders to the officers, turned and rode down, obliquely to the left and front, into Dry Valley and up to McFarland's Gap. There the wagons filled the gap. About 100 yards below the gap a Johnnie had got so close to where we passed that when he fired at us the wad of his gun
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With General Garfield at Chickamauga.
burned the hair off the side of Maj. Frank Bond's chestnut mare, and she nearly threw him.
My horse stumbled and fell, throwing me on my head and shoulders, but I got him up, and mounted. The rebels cheered when he fell, but I had the laugh afterward.
We could not get to General Thomas by way of the ridge, as the Johnnies got between us and that wing. We then crossed the ridge, into Chattanooga Valley, and rode down opposite to Ross- ville, and halted. After General Rosecrans and General Garfield had talked matters over, General Garfield took two of us orderlies and Captain Gaw, of General Thomas' staff, and went by way of Rossville Gap to the Lafayette road. We tried to overtake Major- General Granger with the reserve corps, he having left Rossville to go to General Thomas' relief. We pressed on. Not noticing that they had turned off the road at the Cloud house, we rode on down the Lafayette road, and were going at a good lope when, within 200 yards of the rebel lines, which crossed the road at an angle near the road leading to Reid's bridge, a rebel fired at us. We jumped our horses up the bank and over the fence. Captain Gaw's horse fell on the bank. The Captain thought the horse was shot, and hopped over the fence and pretty nearly outran the horses. He commanded me to give him my horse. I appealed to General Gar- field, and he told me to let him have the horse and go and get the Captain's horse, which had run back toward the Cloud house. We were then inside Col. Dan. McCook's skirmish line.
I gave him my horse very reluctantly and struck across the field into the woods. Near the Cloud house I met Chaplain Sanders, of an Illinois regiment, mounted on the horse. I told him that I was after that horse. At first he refused to give him up, but finally, seeing that I was determined to take him, he asked me if there was anything about the horse by which I could identify him. I told him that there was a saber without a scabbard fastened to the pommel of the saddle. He at once dismounted. I then started toward where the firing was very heavy, and rode through one of the hottest places I was ever in for about 500 yards, to the rear of our line. I kept on and rode right up to General Granger's field headquarters, in a ravine, about forty yards in the rear of the line of battle.
General Garfield and the other orderly were there, but Captain
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Gaw was not there. I went to General Garfield and asked about the Captain. He told me that he had gone to General Thomas and that he would be back soon. After waiting some time I went up to General Garfield, where he was sitting on a log talking to General Granger, and asked permission to go to General Thomas' headquarters. I wanted my horse, as the Captain's was a plug and mine a No. I. When over near the field headquarters of General Thomas I met him, riding at his usual gate, a walk, and only about seventy yards in the rear of our line. On the ridge the air seemed to be full of bullets, but old "Pap" never noticed them. Our line was then all heavily engaged, except Dan. McCook's brigade, which had formed on our extreme left. General Thomas held the line till after dark, and then the battery, just to the left of General Granger's headquarters, fired the signal to fall back; it was six shots, one-half minute apart. Then we fell back, and the line formed on Missionary Ridge.
The headquarters for the night was the old Ross house, at Rossville. There I saw the Captain and got my horse back after some trouble. On the 21st, with General Garfield and some others, I went into Chattanooga.
THE BREAK AT CHICKAMAUGA AND THE RIDE IT COST ME.
GENERAL WILMON W. BLACKMAR, FIRST SERGEANT, COMPANY K, BOSTON, MASS.
I WAS First Sergeant of Company K, Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, at that time, and we were on escort duty with Gen- eral Rosecrans.
The battle of Chickamauga began in earnest Saturday morning, September 19, 1863, and we more than held the enemy that day, although the fighting was terrible and the slaughter on both sides something awful. We took many prisoners that day. I make this extract from my diary: "Saturday, September 19, 1863. The ball is opened in earnest-cannon and musketry rattling like hail against us. We are only holding our own. Many prisoners coming in. A fine-looking young man from Springfield, Mass., a Captain commanding a Texas regiment, was among the number. The wounded are passing in squads. Musketry terrific. Old soldiers say they never saw such a number of wounded in so short a time."
I remember perfectly how bitterly I felt toward this young rebel Captain from Springfield, Mass. I told him he ought to be ashamed of himself, because he had been born and educated in Massachusetts, and hence knew better than to be fighting in such a wicked cause as a rebel against his country.
The heavy fighting ceased about dark, both armies being terri- bly worn and many regiments on both sides having been shattered in the deadly conflict. We had almost no fighting during the night, but both armies lay on their arms, in close contact. There was an ominous silence in the morning, both giants making changes and preparations for the death grapple which was soon to begin.
About 9 A.M. Sunday, September 20th, the battle opened again, and if possible more fiercely than on the day before. General Longstreet with his fresh corps, right from the cars on which
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they had arrived from Lee's army to reinforce Bragg, succeeded in breaking through our line of battle. Again I quote from my diary : "Longstreet's men broke our line, and then, oh, my God ! what a sight! The General (Rosecrans) hated to move back. He ordered us (the escort) to try to rally the retreating infantry. He tried by personal daring to turn the tide as he did at Stone River, but it was no use. He was right in a cloud of bullets."
General Rosecrans' Adjutant General, Colonel Goddard, called to me, saying, "Sergeant Blackmar, which is the best horse in the escort?" With all a cavalryman's pride in his horse, I an- swered, "I am riding him, sir." "Well, pick out the two next best horses. The General desires the three best mounted men in the escort to ride for their lives and not spare their horses. Find General Granger, in command of the reserves; tell him what has happened here, as you see it. It is the General's order that he move up as rapidly as possible and cover our rear. General Granger is off here somewhere," pointing to our left.
I knew I had already lost five good horses from my Company, but I knew both men and horses perfectly, and calling to Sergs. John Lingerfield and Chris. Miller to follow me, I dashed off in the direction in which Adjutant-General Goddard had pointed. After riding at breakneck speed several miles we came to an old dirt road leading in the general direction we were trying to follow, and after riding along on this a few miles farther we reached the top of a small hill, where the road forked. One road led straight ahead in the direction we were riding, the other led down the hill considerably to our right. We pulled up for a moment, for con- sultation, and decided that the road bearing to the right was prob- ably the one leading to General Granger's position.
Just at that moment we saw quite a number of Johnnies step into this road at the foot of the hill, but they did not notice us, as their attention was directed to the fields in front of them, where heavy firing could be heard. I said to my companions : "Miller, you ride straight ahead, and if you find General Granger deliver our message to him, as you heard it from Colonel Goddard. Lin- gerfield, our duty is to ride down this other road. One of us must get by those Johnnies and deliver our order to Granger."
We got off our panting horses, looked to straps, tightened our girths, remounted and started quietly down the hill. I told Linger-
BAR
FIRST SERGT. WILMON W. BLACKMAR
Promoted an Officer in the Army of the Potomac National Commander Grand Army of the Republic in 1904
The Break at Chickamauga and the Ride it Cost Me. 261
field we would pretend to surrender, we would parley, we would do almost anything except get off our horses, and when they threatened to or began to shoot we must give our horses the spur and one of us must ride through or over them. We rode toward them slowly, to save our horses for the final dash, but what was our astonishment and relief, when we reached them, to find that they were citizens and negroes, dressed in gray and butternut, following in the rear of the rebel army. We had actually ridden round the left flank of the rebel army and were then in the rear of it.
We asked the negroes where the Yankees were, and they told us the situation and where we were. They said there were Yankee troops up there-pointing in the direction in which I had sent Sergeant Miller-and they showed us a short cut to the road Miller had taken, so we lost no time in riding to find it.
We rode into General Thomas' lines before long, and found that Sergeant Miller had delivered his message to General Granger, who, hearing the heavy firing indicating the desperate fighting in his front, had not waited for orders, but had pushed forward and joined the "Rock of Chickamauga," in time to help him hold our left.
I have always supposed that the order we bore from Rosecrans to Granger was the last he gave on the battlefield of Chickamauga.
ORDERLY DUTY AT HEADQUARTERS DURING BATTLE.
HOWARD A. BUZBY, COMPANY E, GERMANTOWN, PA.
T HE Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry is immortalized by a large boulder, weighing in the neighborhood of twenty tons, with an appropriate inscription and the figure of a cavalryman mounted, with a dispatch in his belt. The Pennsyl- vania Legislature appropriated the money, and General Palmer, Colonel Betts, John F. Conaway, John Tweedale, of the War De- partment, and Judge Over, of Pittsburg-all of them "Andersons" -saw that it was well done and set up on the exact spot where the Regiment stood at the critical moment of the battle of Chicka- mauga.
The ten days previous to the opening of that battle were very anxious ones to everyone in the Army of the Cumberland, and Colonel Palmer with his Regiment was intrusted with important work. First, they were to find out where the enemy was, and second, keep up communication with the different corps of our army commanded by Generals Thomas, McCook and Critten- den. To get General Bragg out of Chattanooga it was necessary to distribute our army over a great deal of territory ; so General Thomas crossed over Lookout Mountain fourteen miles below Bragg, at Chattanooga, and McCook was thirty-five miles still farther southward. This and the purpose of permitting Longstreet's Corps from Lee's Army to effect a junction with him caused him to retire from Chattanooga, and Crittenden marched in and took the place. The Fifteenth had to carry all the messages between these parts of our army, and when Rosecrans found that he had to get his army together it was pretty hard work for us, but we carried safely all the messages and the army was barely concentrated in time.
The night before the battle several privates, of whom the writer was one, were detailed from the Company for special service as
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Orderly Duty at Headquarters During Battle.
orderlies. The duties were the same as those of a messenger in a bank in times of peace. No command, no responsibility, but merely to safely deliver the dispatches and orders that are given. The opportunities for seeing and hearing were great. On account of the excitement and roar of cannon, the rattle of the musketry, the loud "hurrah" of our side, the yelling of the other, the anxiety and the strain on the nervous system becomes intense. The rider must not think. "We'll win" is all he must know. The first day every- thing went well with us. Every charge was met and counter- charges made, and some ground was gained, and when night closed on the scene our General and army were sure we would be in Dalton, Ga., in the early morning.
It was 3 o'clock the next morning when the General mounted his horse, and with the staff officers, orderlies and couriers visited the different parts of our line of battle. Lieut. Anthony Taylor carried under his arm a big roll of maps, which were carefully examined from time to time and compared with the field in front. The infantrymen were all in line, and as "Old Rosey" was recog- nized he was cheered to the echo, to which he replied with little speeches "to hold fast, as reinforcements were coming." After visiting all his Generals he rode back to a little eminence over- looking the field. This was about a half mile from where his headquarters, at Widow Glenn's, had been the day before. Soon the booming of cannon over to our left, where General Thomas was, told that they were at it again, and the firing gradually ex- tended down toward our center. It was about II o'clock when it seemed that all the furies had been let loose. Longstreet's Corps had been massed, and just in front of where we were, charged our lines. Our brave men, composed of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and other Western troops, did their best, but had to fall back. General Rosecrans rode in among them, to encourage by his presence and his words of cheer.
Colonel Palmer sent for our Regiment, and what was left of those who were not away on some special duty were formed in line by its commanding officer. The first battalion was under Capt. Chas. M. Betts; Capt. Adam Kramer had the second, and Capt. Wagner the third. They were ordered to draw sabers. The writer watched them closely. He was a Pennsylvanian and a Philadel- phian, and so were they. He knew the stuff they were made of,
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and in his simplicity thought the tide of battle would be turned. The order ran down the line to encourage the infantry to stick to it, as General Granger with 10,000 fresh men would soon be up. Colonel Palmer, seeing all was hopeless, turned his attention to saving the artillery and wagon train, a purpose he accomplished to a great degree.
Colonel Palmer with the Fifteenth Pennsylvania, in good order, crossed the field under a shower of shot and shell to a road run- ning into Chattanooga, which was jammed for over a mile with artillery and wagon trains, all in confusion. I do not mention the fact of anyone getting hit, maybe because I was not hit myself, but there were some hit in every kind of manner. Many thou- sand were hit in an area of a few acres. One was hit close beside the writer, and in the excitement hardly knew it till the blood went streaming down his arm. My attention was called to him, but he kept his horse. He must have suffered great pain, as he fairly groaned at times. It was General St. Clair Morton, of the Engi- neer Corps, and I did not know, what I have since learned, that he was a resident of Germantown, Phila.
The Regiment crossed the road where the wagons and artillery were blocked. The wounded General and the writer also crossed it and went up into a woods, but had not gone 300 or 400 yards before they came suddenly on General McCook and his staff. General Morton was game. He wanted McCook to make a stand right there and rally his corps, but McCook said it was no use. While the Generals were talking together I was talking to Mc- Cook's orderly. I asked him for the cause of the break, for an orderly is the best authority. I was one myself. He told me they had been fighting the Army of Virginia and Bragg's army for two days, and now had but two good regiments left out of their whole corps of 15,000 men. This attack was made on our right, but where General Thomas was, on the left of our army, they had none of it. The rebels could not follow us and leave Thomas there, and now they began to move up to clear him out. Many of our broken brigades and divisions moved up that way to his aid, and with these he held on to his position.
The round shot and shell flew over our heads, tearing off the tree tops, when General McCook said, "On to Chattanooga !" and "on" was the word. We took to the fields, keeping parallel with
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the road, and as we passed along I looked down on the road on the artillery and wagons jammed there, and saw my own gallant Regiment, with their sabers glistening in the sun, trying to keep the teamsters on their mules, for they were being shelled to some purpose. Now and then a wagon would be struck, and you could see our fellows dismounting to throw it out of the way, to keep the train in motion. They could be distinguished from all the rest by their nobby caps, and the peculiar cut of their jackets made by Rockhill & Wilson, of Philadelphia, but now in the last stages of goneness.
We arrived at Chattanooga, and found that Rosecrans had got there ahead of us. Anxious faces were those we looked into around headquarters. General Morton, now looking very pale and weak from the loss of blood, said, "Come with me!" and we rode straight to the river. Every scow, boat and everything that could carry a man he ordered to the other side. Returning to headquarters, where a surgeon was waiting to dress his wounds, he passed into a side room, and I saw him no more.
No man could have been interviewed more persistently than I was. We had been' the latest arrivals from the battlefield, and everyone wanted to know what was going on there. General Rosecrans and his staff and about one company from the Fif- teenth came out of headquarters, mounted their horses and rode directly over to the foot of Lookout Mountain. Riding through the field around Chattanooga to a fort on a little ridge, a Fif- teenth man was stationed about every half or quarter of a mile. Wagons were scurrying out, loaded with picks and shovels, and a part of Granger's Corps, which had been our reserve, had formed a line along the line the General had laid out and picketed with our men. The hundreds of stragglers who had lost their regiments were stopped right here. Picks and shovels were put in their hands, for they were about to do some "sewer work." The Gen- eral rode back into Chattanooga. The writer did, too, and went into the yard, took the bit out of his horse's mouth, stole some oats out of a headquarters' wagon for him, and then lay down at his feet and in a minute was asleep.
I didn't even keep a diary, so I don't know if it was this night or the next that I was awakened by a gentle shake on the shoulder, and looking up saw a staff officer. We had seen each other often
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during the last few days and something seemed to bind us to- gether. "Saddle up and come with me," said he, and we were soon riding through and out of Chattanooga. On the way he toid me much that has since gone down in history. We were going on a certain road. Thomas was falling back, and he was to await our coming with instructions. A change had come over the face of things. Since I had been out there, a few hours before, a dark mound of earth had been thrown up, stretching from the foot of Lookout Mountain all around Chattanooga. Men were still busy throwing out the dirt, and a certain stillness reigned, most dis- tressing. The sound of our voices as we went chatting along was the most we heard. We passed the entrenchments out on a road some three-quarters of a mile, when the officer suddenly halted, saying, "This is the place." We dismounted and sat on the fence, with bridle reins in hands, thinking of what had passed and what was to come.
Soon that "thud" upon the earth familiar to the ears of men awaiting the approach of troops was heard. "Here they come!" and we both mounted. The officer challenged them. A mounted orderly came forward with the countersign. The word "For- ward !" rang out on the still night. The yellow martingales and the trappings of a General's horse came into view, as did a large dark figure with a slouch hat and a blue mantle. It was General Thomas. He and the staff officer had a conversation in an undertone, when several officers were sent off with orders. General Thomas gave directions how to place the divisions and brigades, right and left, inside and back of the mounds of earth which made our entrench- ments ; then with his staff he rode straight into Chattanooga.
The writer having been told he was at liberty to see the troops file in, concluded he would. A clear voice rang out in the still- ness of the night, "First brigade, second division, forward !" and on they came, looking like spectres in the darkness. Then again, "Column to the left !" and when the last of the first brigade was inside the entrenchment and in position the word came sharp and quick, "Halt!" and the thud of several thousand muskets was heard upon the ground. In this way brigade after brigade filed past until I got tired of looking at them, and feeling that nature was giving out, rode toward headquarters at a gallop and soon arrived there.
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It was not yet daylight, but Generals and staff officers were coming and going. Determined faces were seen on every side, and as I rode into the yard some of my acquaintances in the Fifteenth cried out, "Where have you been ?" I told them that Thomas and his Corps were safe inside the entrenchments. "We'll win! we'll win !" they cried, and we did. Tying my horse to the nearest hitch, I lifted the saddle from his poor, tired back and took the bit from his mouth-he had done his work for the last three days without the saddle being removed. Although having seen the wreck of our right wing, the falling back of our left under General Thomas, worn out with the excitement of the last three days I spread my blanket on mother earth, and with faith in the Army of the Cumberland was soon asleep.
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