USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 13
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drive the enemy from his intrenchments, Colonel Young was ordered to charge with his brigade of cavalry. Gallantly was the command executed, and the intrenched line before which the infantry had recoiled the cavalry carried. Colonel Young was complimented, in the presence of the entire division, by General Gregg for this heroic action. The rebel General John Pegram was killed in this encounter. Colonel Young was active through- out the entire final campaign of Sheridan's cavalry, from Five Forks to the surrender, in which the movements were remarkable for rapidity and skill. He led a charge of his brigade even after the surrender had been consummated, though not known upon the front, routing a rebel brigade and capturing its colors. For this action he was brevetted Brigadier-General. At the conclu- sion of the war he was appointed to a lucrative position in the Revenue Department of the General Government, but refusing to sacrifice his principles to party purposes, he was removed by President Johnson. He was soon after appointed Second Lieu- tenant in the Twelfth infantry. At the reorganization of the army, in July, 1866, he was commissioned a Captain in the Eighth United States cavalry, and with one exception has achieved re- markable success in every campaign against the hostile Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, whither his command was ordered.
OHN MARKOE, Colonel of the Seventy-first regiment, and Bre- vet Brigadier-General, was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 9th of January, 1844. The family came from Denmark to St. Croix, and afterwards to Philadelphia. His great-grand- father, Abraham Markoc, was the first Captain of the Philadel- phia Troop of Light Horse, which acted as escort to Washington in the battle of Trenton. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1860. He was fond of athletic sports, and held the bow oar in two races by the Univer- sity boat. When recruiting of the Washington Grays for the three months' service commenced, he was the first man to affix his name upon the books as they were opened, and served as a private in that regiment throughout that campaign. He proved himself a good marksman, having been excused from guard duty for a time for having made the best shot at target practice.
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JOHN MARKOE.
While in camp at Kalorama, near Washington, he was tendered the position of Second Lieutenant in Colonel Baker's California regiment, Seventy-first Pennsylvania, then being recruited for the war, which he accepted, and was soon after promoted to First Lieutenant of Company A. At Fort Schuyler, New York har- bor, where the regiment was encamped before taking the field, he drilled officers and men in the manual of arms and skirmish practice. The regiment was first ordered to Fortress Monroe, where he was promoted to Captain. After the first battle of Bull Run, it moved to Washington, and in the night advance to Munson's Hill he commanded the skirmishers, which were fired into by other United States troops, and had several killed and wounded.
In the action at Ball's Bluff, where Baker fell, Captain Markoe was selected to lead two companies of skirmishers upon the left wing. "Captain Markoe," says Colonel Wistar, " had a company I could trust, an excellent company, and I sent it out. . .. They had got about ten paces in the woods, and I was about thirty paces behind with the second company, when the whole of the Eighth Virginia regiment arose up from the ground, about thirty paces off, and ran right at them with the bayonet, without firing a shot. Captain Markoe held his men steady. I ran up with my company, and a very hot fire immediately commenced on our part. ... I put these two companies in charge of Captain Markoe, and ran back as hard as I could to take command of my regiment. Captain Markoe, with his two companies, held his position there for about fifteen minutes, during which time they lost all their officers, all their sergeants but two, one of them wounded, all their corporals but three, and two-thirds of their privates, when the rest of them, under the command of the only remaining sergeant unwounded, fell back in pretty good order, bringing with them a First Lieutenant and fourteen men of the Eighth Virginia regiment prisoners, under the fire of the whole regiment." Captain Markoe received a severe wound in the shoulder and fell into the enemy's hands, after having himself taken Lieutenant Berry and three privates prisoners. His men did fearful execution in this engagement, as the enemy, being in greatly superior numbers, were much exposed, while his own
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stood in open order. For four months he was a prisoner in Rich- mond. During that time his name was twice deposited with those from which hostages were to be drawn; but he fortunately escaped the fate of the victims of retaliation.
On being exchanged he returned to his regiment in time to go with Mcclellan to the Peninsula. He was at Yorktown, West Point, and in the fierce fighting at Fair Oaks was severely wounded in the left thigh and right hand. For nine weeks he was unable to move. After the healing of his wound he was ap- pointed by President Lincoln to the additional corps of aids, with the rank of Captain, and for a time served on the staff of General McDowell. But he soon tired of inactivity, and again returned to his regiment, of which he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and had the active command. He led in a reconnoissance to Charles- ton, and in the battle of Fredericksburg, on the 13th of Decem- ber, 1862, was of the column under Howard, where his troops were exposed in open ground to fire of infantry and artillery behind intrenchments, and were terribly cut to pieces. Colonel Markoe himself suffered greatly from his old wound which was still open, the weather being intensely cold. He was ultimately compelled on this account to resign, which he did on the 27th of February, 1863. He was subsequently brevetted Colonel and Brigadier-General. Few more resolute or heroic soldiers faced the enemy in the late war than John Markoe.
OHN BAILLIE MCINTOSH, Colonel of the Third cavalry, Briga- dier and Brevet Major-General, was born at Tampa Bay, Florida, on the 6th of June, 1829. His father, James S. McIn- tosh, was a Colonel in the United States army, and a native of Georgia. His mother was Eliza (Shumate) McIntosh. He was educated at Nazareth Hall, Pennsylvania, at S. M. Hammill's School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and at Marlborough Church- ill's Military School at Sing Sing, New York, receiving a good classical and English training. His tastes were military, and efforts were made to have him appointed a cadet at West Point ; but having one brother there already, they were unsuccessful. On concluding his studies he entered the navy as a midshipman, in 1848, at the age of nineteen, but after two years of experience,
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JOHN B. McINTOSHI.
resigned. On the 2d of October of that year, he was married to Miss Amelia Short, of New Brunswick, New Jersey. In person he is five feet ten inches in height, and of robust health.
Soon after the opening of the Rebellion he was appointed Sec- ond Lieutenant of the Fifth United States cavalry, his commis- sion bearing date 8th of June, 1861, and on the 27th of April, 1862, was promoted to First Lieutenant. With this regiment he served upon the Peninsula in the summer of 1862, and won the rank of Major by brevet in the affair at White Oak Swamp. On the 26th of September, 1862, he was appointed Colonel of the Third Pennsylvania cavalry, which he led in the campaigns under Hooker. In the battle of Kelly's Ford, he led a brigade under General Averell, in which Fitz Hugh Lee and Stuart were defeated and driven. "To the intrepidity," says General Averell, "promptitude and excellent judgment of McIntosh on that occa- sion our success was chiefly attributable. Although off duty from illness, he voluntarily joined his brigade in the field and dis- played all the vigor of an indomitable soldier." After the battle of Chancellorsville he was placed in command of the First brigade, Second division, of the cavalry, Army of the Potomac. At the battle of Gettysburg, and subsequently in pursuit of the rebel army, he won for himself an enviable reputation as a leader. When the fighting at Gettysburg was ended, McIntosh's brigade of cavalry and Neill's of infantry were detached to follow up the line of rebel retreat, while the main body of Meade's army marched down on the south side of the Blue Ridge. On the 10th of July, McIntosh fell in with the rebel force at old Antietam Forge, where a brisk engagement ensued. In recognition of his services throughout this entire campaign he was brevetted Lieu- tenant-Colonel in the regular army, having been previously bre- vetted Major, and in the December following he was promoted to the full rank of Captain.
At half past six on the morning of the 5th of May, 1864, he held Parker's store with a single regiment of cavalry, and re- ceived the first attack of the enemy in the battle of the Wilder- ness. It was made by the advance of a whole corps, but it was withstood with all the stubbornness and determination of which so small a force was capable, and was finally driven down to near
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
the intersection of the Brock road, where it was relieved by a division of the Sixth corps under General Getty. On the 8th of May McIntosh charged with his brigade into Spottsylvania Court House, took the town and captured many prisoners. Moving forward he attacked the rear of Longstreet's corps, and only withdrew upon the order of General Sheridan. Having defeated W. H. F. Lee's brigade at Hanover Court House on the 31st of May, he achieved a brilliant success on the following day at Ashland, where, with only three regiments, he withstood for two hours the combined attack of three brigades of rebel cavalry, and finally retired with the loss of only a few led horses. For his gallantry here he was brevetted Colonel in the regular service and made Brigadier-General of volunteers. He had already won a reputation for skill and bravery as a cavalry leader before entering with Sheridan upon the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and when that skilful General sought men for desperate and daring work, he chose McIntosh and was not deceived. The Shenandoah Valley, previous to the advent of Sheridan, had been literally the "valley of the shadow of death " to the Union arms. From the start, he was determined to turn the tide of disaster, and at once initiated an active campaign. By adroit manœuvres he succeeded in drawing his opponent, Early, for- ward to the Opequan creek. Then did he believe had come his time to act, and falling upon his adversary with the whole weight of his force, he scattered those legions which before had been invincible, as the wind drives the dust of the summer threshing- floor. In that marvellous achievement, Colonel McIntosh bore a conspicuous part. " Although the main force," says General Sheridan in his report, "remained without change of position from September 3d to 19th, still the cavalry was employed every day in harassing the enemy, its opponents being principally infantry. In these skirmishes the cavalry was becoming edu- cated to attack infantry lines. On the 13th one of those hand- some dashes was made by General McIntosh, of Wilson's division. capturing the Eighth South Carolina regiment at Abram's Creek." And of the great battle of the 19th, he further on in his report says : " Wilson, with McIntosh's brigade leading, made a gallant charge through the long canon, and, meeting the advance of
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JOHN B. MCINTOSH.
Ramseur's rebel infantry division, drove it back and captured the carth-work at the mouth of the cañon. This movement was immediately followed up by the Sixth corps."
But though triumph could not have been more complete or glorious, it proved a costly victory to General McIntosh. He was struck, in the heat of the battle, in the leg, and so mangled was the limb that amputation had to be resorted to. If wounds must of necessity be received, an action could not have been chosen in which to have had them inflicted, more full of joyful and proud recollections, than this. "For distinguished gallantry, and good management at the battle of Opequan," such was the language in which the distinction was conferred, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General by brevet. In reviewing his record, General Averell said : "I beg to remark that there are few subal- terns thoroughly capable of leading an advance guard. I do not remember above six in the cavalry, and McIntosh stood at the head of the list. As a brigade commander, either in camp or in action, he had no superior." And General Stoneman said : "His bravery, loyalty, and integrity are equal to his capacity, and all are conspicuous." On the 28th of July, 1866, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-second United States infantry, Veteran Reserve corps, which position he held until the reduc- tion of the army. In the summer of 1869, he was retired upon the rank of Brigadier-General.
CHAPTER IX.
INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, Major-General in the United States Army, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of February, 1824. He was educated at West Point, where he graduated in 1844. He entered the service as Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Sixth infantry, and distinguished himself in the war with Mexico, receiving the brevet rank of First Lieutenant for gallantry at Cherubusco, and subsequently becoming the Quartermaster, and afterwards Ad- jutant of his regiment. He was made First Lieutenant in 1853, and on the 7th of November, 1855, was promoted to Captain in the Quarter- master's Department, and ordered to duty in California, where he exerted his influence in retaining that State in the Union.
Possessed of a thorough military training, enriched by experi- ence in active warfare in Mexico and against the crafty savage, he entered the volunteer service on the 23d of September, 1861, as a Brigadier-General. Youthful in appearance, modest in demeanor, with a countenance frank and open, he held the hearts of his associates and won the confidence of the stranger. He was fortunate in his first battle. Hooker had arrived in front of the rebel forces in their intrenchments at Williamsburg and had promptly attacked; but soon found his single division, though fighting gallantly, overmatched. Messenger after mes- senger was sent for reinforcements, first to Heintzelman and then to Sumner, who had that day superseded Heintzelman. Sumner, a true soldier and a skilful, sent Hancock with his brigade to the extreme right of the line. At the outset Hancock found himself outnumbered and was unsupported. It was a perilous situation ; but that resource which never failed him-cool courage -- proved
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OWEN JONES. Col 1 ** Pa (Reservel Cav?
SAMUEL M.JACKSON. Col.ll" Feg* Br vt Brig Gen.
THOMAS J. JORDAN. Col 9 Pa Cavy Brvt Brig Gen. Ma Gen Pa Nat Gd
-
CWC STRAWBRIDGE Col 7: "-
ROBERT C COX. Col 207h Pegt Brvt Brig Gen Mại Ger. Pa. Nat Gd
Lim- Jeg 5 Perce NYeric
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WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.
equal to the emergency. He at first retired as if in trepidation, but with his force well in hand, and when the enemy came on pell-mell with overweening confidence, he gave them several heavy volleys, and then turned upon them with the bayonet, routing their entire force, killing and capturing 600 of their number, with a loss on his own part of only thirty men. It was the turning point in the battle, and assured the victory. It was a gallant exploit, and it glorified the name of the actor. Hancock was henceforward a household word.
The reputation thus early won was maintained, and when, at Antietam, General Richardson fell, Hancock succeeded to the command of his division and led it to the end of the battle. It consisted of the brigades of Zook, Meagher, and Caldwell, which he continued to lead in the battle of Fredericksburg, having in the meantime been promoted to Major-General of volunteers, and brevetted Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel in the regular army. He followed French's division in the assault of the famous Marye's Heights, which bristled with artillery, and along the foot of which, screened by a stone wall, crouched the rebel infantry. French's men could effect nothing. Hancock moved rapidly to his assistance, and though his men displayed heroic bravery-returning again and again to the assault, Meagher's Irish brigade manifesting a reckless daring-he could effect no more than French. Two other divisions, those of Howard and Humphreys, followed ; but no earthly power could stand against the storm of shot and shell, and the deadly missives which poured like ceaseless hail upon their defenceless and unsheltered heads. The day was lost, but through no want of valor. In the battle of Chancellorsville Hancock held the left centre, and with Geary's division of the Twelfth corps-at a moment when the enemy, having seized some key positions, was bearing down all before him, and the Union lines to right and left were crumbling-checked the rebel onset until the new line could be taken and the integrity of the army could be secured. After this battle he succeeded to the leadership of the Second corps.
When General Meade relieved General Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac, and commenced the movement into Pennsylvania in pursuit of Lee, he kept the Second corps on the
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centre of the line of march ; and when on the morning of the 1st of July he found that the left wing of his army had struck the enemy, and Reynolds had fallen, reposing great confidence in Hancock, he sent him upon the field to assume supreme com- mand. Upon his arrival he found affairs in great extremity. The First and Eleventh corps had alone been pitted against a full half of the rebel army, and broken and bleeding were retreating through the town to Cemetery Hill, where the well- planted artillery of Steinwehr formed the nucleus for rallying, and where he saw at a glance was a favorable point for making a stand. It was with a thrill of gladness that the weary and begrimed soldiers hailed the face of the good chief. Howard, the leader of the Eleventh corps, who had been in command, was already there. Hancock made known his instructions from Meade. "You cannot take command over me," says Howard, " for I rank you." This was true, and by the organic law of the army General Meade had not the power to put a junior officer over a senior. " Well," says Hancock, "then I must return to General Meade." "No, no," says Howard, the nobility of his nature being aroused, "in this moment of dire necessity Aga- memnon and Achilles must not quarrel. Stay and let us prepare to meet the common foe. I will not stand in the way. Our country at this hour needs us both." Soon General Sickles came upon the field, riding in from Emmittsburg; and he like- wise ranked Hancock. But in the spirit of Howard he also waived his right and they all went resolutely to work.
Hancock had an excellent military eye. He could take in at a glance the advantages and defects of a great battle-field. The character and composition of the army, too, were perfectly familiar to him. His first care was to secure immediate safety, and to preserve it until darkness should come, when he could retire to a new position, if necessary ; for as yet General Meade had not decided where he would fight. Hancock was instructed before leaving head-quarters to watch for good positions as he rode up. He was pleased with the Gettysburg ground and so notified Meade, though he detected its inherent weakness in its liability to be turned upon the left. His dispositions were wisely made. The resolute Wadsworth was sent to Culp's Hill
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to cover the little ravine that makes up in rear of Cemetery Hill, and there also he posted the artillery of Stevens. To the indomi- table Geary was given the vulnerable ground stretching towards Round Top. The Eleventh corps was disposed upon the crest of Cemetery Ridge. Along the open ground on the left flank he placed the watchful Buford, and in rear of all, as a reserve, the dauntless Doubleday, with the remnants of the First corps, grim veterans who had all day long received unmoved a baptism of fire.
When the troops had been posted and all seemed secure, he turned over the command to Slocum, who had now arrived, and who also ranked him, and returned to head-quarters. His action was approved, and his dispositions were carried out in every partic- ular by Meade when he came upon the field. On the afternoon of the following day, when the tornado of battle burst upon the army, and Sickles was wounded and his corps crushed, Meade called for Hancock, and put him in command of the whole left wing, which by vigorous efforts he succeeded in bringing into form and comeliness. On the evening of this day, when the Louisiana Tigers made their furious charge upon Cemetery Hill, without waiting for orders- knowing that peril was imminent-he sent Carroll's brigade to the rescue, which, advancing upon the run, came in time to repel the assault. In speaking of this event afterwards, Hancock said that he felt in his bones that there was urgent need of help. On the third day of the battle the grand charge of Longstreet fell full upon Hancock's corps ; and gallantly was it met and its massed columns swept away as flax by fire. In the midst of this ter- rific onset, and when the whole heavens were wrapt in flame, while dashing over the ground unheeding danger, he was struck and severely wounded. He was laid in an ambulance but refused to leave the field until he saw the enemy beaten, and victory perching upon his standards. Nor was the bleeding hero yet content. " When I was wounded," he says, "and lying down in my ambulance and about leaving the field, I dictated a note to General Meade, and told him if he would put in the Fifth and Sixth corps, I believed he would win a great victory." By a joint resolution of Congress he received the thanks of that body for "his gallant, meritorious, and conspicuous services in that great and decisive victory."
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In the battle of the Wilderness, in May, 1864, his corps, now recruited and enlarged beyond its pristine strength, was early in the fight and drove the enemy, inflicting great slaughter, until Hill, who was in his front, was reinforced by Longstreet, when he was in turn obliged to fall back. But it was at Spottsyl- vania Court House, on the morning of the 12th of June, that he achieved his greatest success and won his proudest trophies. The two armies for several days had been hurled against each other with terrific violence. The slaughter had been terrible. The keenest strategy had been employed on either side to gain an advantage, and the commanders had grown wary and vigilant. Not a soldier threw himself upon the ground for a half hour that he did not cover himself with a rifle-pit. Failing in his frequent endeavors to break the enemy's line, General Grant determined to strike a heavy blow upon the rebel right centre, nearly at right-angles to the opposing main line. Hancock was chosen to deliver it. On the evening of the 11th, marching quietly to the rear, he made a circuit to the designated point and at midnight was in readiness to move, having come in close upon the rebel position. At a little before daybreak the signal was given; and, moving forward under cover of a dense fog, he came upon the enemy unawares, capturing nearly 5000 prisoners with their battle-flags, and twenty pieces of artillery. But the resist- ance became more determined as rebel supports were hurried to the scene of the disaster; and finally, on reaching a new and main line of works-well manned and supplied with artil- lery-it became impossible to push farther, and preparations were made to hold what had been gained. This was now no easy task, for the enemy, nettled by his loss, was intent on regaining his works; and charge after charge, at each time by fresh troops, until five had been delivered, was made upon Hancock's ex- hausted men. But in each assault the foe was thrown back with great slaughter. Encouraged by the first successes, Hancock in- dulged the hope of winning a still greater triumph, and sent this message to Grant: "I have captured from thirty to forty guns. I have finished up Johnson and am going into Early." But he was soon after checked. It was subsequently discovered that he had come close in upon Lee's head-quarters, and had the rebel
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army nearly cut in two. The troops captured were General Ed- ward Johnson's, of Ewell's corps. Johnson and General George II. Stewart were among the captives. The latter had been an old army friend and companion of Hancock, and when he was brought in, Hancock in a friendly way held out his hand in recognition, saying, "Stewart, I am glad to see you." But Stew- art persisted in showing his teeth, and drawing back replied, " Under the circumstances, sir, I cannot take your hand;" to which Hancock quickly replied : "And under any other circum- stances, sir, I would not have offered you my hand." He was made a Brigadier-General in the regular army, to date from this action. .
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