USA > Pennsylvania > The Seventh Pennsylvania veteran volunteer cavalry; its record, reminiscences and roster; with an appendix > Part 10
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NEARING ATLANTA.
Garrard's division moved from the great bridge across the Etowah on the 9th, its reconstruction be- ing completed and trains of supplies again coming forward. Moving toward Marietta, the enemy's pickets were soon encountered and driven back, un- til, as was to be expected, a line of fortifications was reached. Here they made a stand, but were forced to retire and fall back to a stronger position, heavily manned, at Big Shanty. Garrard's entire division now became engaged with infantry, artil- lery and cavalry of the enemy, and after a warm combat drove them from their fortified positions with considerable loss.
From this time on, until Atlanta surrendered, the fighting was almost continuous, and terribly se- vere-the Confederates resisting with all their pow- er, and the Unionists attacking determinedly. On the 11th the Seventh, then commanded by Major An- druss, had, with the rest of the brigade, a severe en- gagement with the enemy's cavalry at McAfee's Cross-roads, in which it lost five men killed and seventeen wounded. Here, in conjunction with the Fourth Michigan, it made one of its irresistible sa- ber charges, cutting through the center of the ene- my's line, and wheeling on the disordered mass, sent them flying in wild disorder. Capt. Schaeffer, of Company E, and Capt. Garret, of Company B, com-
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manded battalions in this fight, and displayed great daring and ability.
The brigade remained near the scene of this engagement, skirmishing almost daily, until the 20th, when it engaged the enemy at Noonday Creek and met with something like a check, although the Confederates had not the face to claim a victory. Knowing exactly the position of the brigade, and having at hand a much larger force, the Confeder- ate commander, (Gen. Wheeler ) planned to capture it. Vale says the forces engaged were fourteen hun- dred Union soldiers and four thousand five hundred Confederates, and he is probably correct. Without entering into details of locality and formation, which would possess but little interest at this re- mote period, it will suffice to say that the Seventh, which was commanded by Major JJennings, did some heroic fighting, particularly a detachment of it led by Capt. Newlin, of Company F, which gallantly charged a vastly superior force of the enemy, engag- ing them in a hand-to-hand contest for half an hour, and finally driving them back to their supports. While pursuing the disordered foe, Newlin's little force was attacked in flank by Allen's brigade. New- lin quickly formed his men to meet this onslaught, but was unable to repel the overwhelming numbers, and he, with five of his men, were taken prisoners. In fact this entire force of the Seventh was only saved from capture or destruction by the gallantry of the Fourth Regulars, who, perceiving the peril in which the Seventh was involved, rushed to their succor, under Lieutenants Fitzgerald and Davis, and after an hour's fighting, succeeded in driving back the enemy.
About this time the brigade was reinforced, but still was greatly outnumbered by the Confederates. It held the position it had taken, in spite of num- bers, until dark, when the enemy retired. In this encounter the Seventh lost one man killed and eight
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wounded, and one officer and five men captured. The Memphis Appeal, then published in Atlanta, printed the following account of this fight on the 25th of June:
"On the 20th instant, two divisions-Kelly's and Martin's-and one brigade ( Williams') of our cavalry went round to the left flank and rear of Sherman's army, it was said, to capture a brigade of Yankee cavalry stationed at McAfee's. We suc- ceeded in getting to the right place, where the ene- my (Minty's brigade) was vigorously attacked by Williams' and a portion of Anderson's brigade. After a sharp conflict the enemy was driven from the field, Harmon's brigade having come up and attacked them on the flank. The Yankees fought desperate- ly and fell back slowly, with what loss we are un- able to ascertain, as they carried off their wounded and most of their dead. To one who was an eye- witness, but not an adept in the 'art of war,' it seemed very strange that the whole Yankee force was not surrounded and captured. * * * This is one of the best fighting brigades the Yankees have, and to have captured or routed it would have added a bright feather to the plume of the successful hero accomplishing the feat."
The brigade remained in this vicinity until the 2nd of July, having almost daily skirmishes with the enemy. The position and movements of Garrard's division at this time were for the protection of the left flank of Sherman's army, then operating against Johnston's entrenched forces on Kenesaw Moun- tain. This flank was "in the air"-in other words, it had no natural protection, and was liable at any time to be attacked and turned by a movable body of the enemy, unless closely watched and strongly protected.
As usual Sherman succeeded, after a hard and protracted struggle, in flanking Johnston out of his position, and the division, being relieved, on the
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4th moved up the Chattahoochee river-the Seventh being in the advance-and on the 6th captured the village of Rossville, where were located extensive cotton mills engaged in the manufacture of cloth for the Confederate army. These mills were subsequent- ly burnt by order of Gen. Sherman.
On the 9th of July the First and Third Brigades crossed the Chattahoochee, meeting with some re- sistence from a force of the enemy posted on the op- posite bank. As has been stated the First Brigade was armed with Spencer repeating carbines carrying metallic cartridges, and these could be loaded under water as well as in the air. In crossing, which was accomplished by fording the river dismounted, the men would keep down in the water, only exposing their heads, put the seven cartridges in the magazine, then rising, would pour the water from the muzzle, and blaze away at the astonished enemy. Never had they seen guns that could be loaded in this way, and Vale says that their curiosity got the better of their devotion to the "cause," and over two hundred of them remained on the bank and surrendered to learn how the Yankee guns worked. The brigade remained at Rossville until the 16th, scouting up- ward on the river, but meeting with no particular ad- venture except the following, which is quoted from Vale:
"We had halted over night near a plantation house, where there were a large number of sceps of bees. Now, the boys always liked honey, and the labor of these bees was not only appropriated, but their fu- ture usefulness as honey-producing colonies sadly marred. We started next morning on the march be- fore daylight, and some of the Seventh Pennsylvania boys contrived to get a forage bag over one of the hives, thus securing both bees and honey for future nse, smuggled it into the column, and by supporting it on the horse in front, relieving each other in turns, and having it covered by an overcoat or something
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of the kind, carried it along until well in the fore- noon. Somehow in the march the bag worked off the end of the hive, and the bees, maddened by the jolting and the confinement, rushed out in an angry swarm, attacking indiscriminately officers, men and horses. For a time it looked as if the division would be scattered all over the Southern Confederacy, but by getting far enough away from the hive, now left by the purloiners in the middle of the road, the col- umn renewed its march in pretty fair order. The only casualty noted was the literal fact that one horse of Company G was stung to death.
Still operating on the left of Sherman's army, the division, on the 19th of July, by a night march, reached the Atlanta and Augusta railroad, near De- catur, where some five miles of track were destroyed after the guards had been driven away. Moving on, Decatur was occupied after some skirmishing, and the Confederate forces driven about ten miles south- east. The cavalry-particularly the First Brigade -was very active in these movements, and after some spirited conflicts with the enemy, succeeded in burn- ing the bridge and some stores at Covington, and in destroying the track for five miles east of that place. On the 27th the division again moved eastward from Decatur, for the purpose of covering a raid by Gen. Sherman on the Macon and Atlanta railroad. Gar- rard was successful in his part of the movement, and returned unharmed to Decatur; but Stoneman failed to accomplish all that was expected of him, and surrendered himself and seven hundred of his men to the enemy. Gen. McCook's division, operat- ing against the same railroad, was at first success- ful, but finally was repulsed; and, as Sherman ex- presses it, two of his cavalry divisions were badly demoralized. In the re-organization of the cavalry which followed, Gen. Kilpatrick was made command- er of the Third Division, and before the end of the war won for himself a national reputation as a cav- alry leader.
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Garrard's division had a brisk little fight at Flat Rock on the 29th, where it was attacked by a large Confederate cavalry force-said to consist of nine brigades-but successfully resisted them and finally drove them off. In this fight the Seventh bore the heaviest part and suffered most, losing three killed and twenty wounded. Lieutenant Brandt, of Company M, was shot through the body and left for dead on the field. He was picked up and cared for by the enemy, carried east, and finally exchanged. Weeks later he reached the reserve post at Columbia on crutches, and reported to Col. Sipes, then in com- mand there. He was a brave, modest, reliable of- ficer.
On the 1st of August the First and Third Bri- gades, sending their horses to the rear, entered the trenches in front of Atlanta, relieving the Twenty- third Army Corps. They remained in this duty un- til the 15th, being almost constantly under fire from a Confederate battery of sixty-four pound siege guns. The shells thrown into the trenches from this and some invisible batteries made things lively, but little damage was done by them, as the majority buried themselves in the sand without exploding. There were exceptions to this, however, and Vale tells of one such.
"On the 13th of August, a few shells from the sixty-four pounders in the rebel works," he says, "were again dropped into our camp. One of these, passing through the shelter of Major Jennings, Sev- enth Pennsylvania, knocked to pieces a table, around which were seated at the time the Major, Lieutenant Perey White, Capt. C. C. McCormick, and either Capt. Garret or Lieutenant Edward P., Inhoff, all of that regiment. After passing through the shelter, the shell struck the logs of the breastworks against which it was built, exploded, prostrating the entire group, and mortally wounding Robert Bridgens, of Company E, who was sitting on the works nearly
ROBT. H. G. MINTY, Col. 4th Mich. Cav. Author of "Minty and the Cavalry."
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over the shelter. Capt. McCormick was so stunned by the concussion of the thunderous explosion, oc- curring as it did within one foot of his head, that, although not struck by any fragment, he lay for nearly an hour unconscious, and, but for a slight breathing, apparently dead. The efforts of Dr. Sherk to restore him prevented immediate attention being given to Bridgens, who lost so much blood as led to a fatal end when his wounded leg was amputated during the night. Capt. McCormick never fully re- covered from this injury, although he continued with the command, doing active duty, became colonel of the regiment, and was discharged a brevet-brigadier general of United States Volunteers, vet from this time on he was subject to terrible attacks of vertigo, followed by periods, ranging in duration from one to five hours of morose stupor, verging on dementia. * He was one of the bravest men and best officers, Pennsylvania furnished to the service of the coun- try."
Skirmishing continued while the cavalry were dismounted, and their horses were improved by the rest, although the supply of forage was short. When relieved from the trenches, the two brigades regained their horses, and resumed the duty of scouting and picketing on the left of the army. Hood, the impet- uous, had succeeded Johnston, the cautious, in com- mand of the Confederate army, and had, while the cavalry was performing the duties indicated, three times attacked the Union forces, and in every con- test had been disastrously defeated. He had lost nearly half his army, and his course, then and after, would seem to indicate that the man was without the power of reasoning. There could be no doubt as to the condition of despondency prevailing in his army. Vale says the men in the entrenchments were hailed by the Union skirmishers: "How many men have you got now?" "Only enough to stand one more good licking," was the reply. Looking back through
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the years that intervene, and recalling conditions that prevailed then, the wonder is that these hopeless soldiers resisted so long and fought so well.
Intimations have been made in this narrative of the sufferings to which the horses of the cavalry were subjected. These sufferings were unavoidable, and resulted from the duties performed and the nature of the country traversed, not from any neglect or cruelty on the part of the men. A cavalryman, if he is worthy the name, becomes attached to the ani- mal that shares his dangers and privations, and upon which his usefulness and safety depend; and he will risk much and labor hard to secure comfort for his inseparable equine companion. Instances have been known in the Seventh Pennsylvania where, in severe weather, a man has put his only blanket on his horse, that he might be comfortable, and suffered himself through a shelterless night.
The country from Chattanooga to Atlanta is rough and poor, a small proportion of it only being cultivated. As a rule it is covered densely by a growth of serub-oaks and other bushes, and is desti- tute of nutritious vegetation. Transportation limit- ed the forage to five pounds of grain per day for each animal. Scarcely anything could be gathered by the way to add to this insufficient supply, and when, from any cause, it failed, the horses died. Dorn- blazer, in his narrative, "Saber Strokes in the War," tells how at one time on this campaign, when the cavalry was protecting the right wing, "we," (mean- ing the Seventh ), "established our line well to the front, and during the night we built breastworks with logs, rails and brush. In this position, surrounded by a barren wilderness, we lay in line of battle four days without a grain of horse feed." His narrative goes on to tell that, while in this position and condi- tion, the command had to resist severe assaults of the enemy, and relates how the brigade, being ordered
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to take position three-quarters of a mile further to the rear, to avoid the enfilading fire of the enemy's artillery, moved through the dense forest at mid- night, and adds: "We sat on our horses until day- break, then dismounted and extemporized a line of breastworks. Our horses were starving for want of feed. Five days without a mouthful of grain or hay. They peeled the bark from the trees. They ate dry leaves. They chewed at the bridle-reins and the picket lines." Over fifty horses, he says, dropped from exhaustion in the Seventh alone, and some of the other regiments lost still more. It need not be said that every effort was made to save the lives and alleviate the sufferings of these animals, but the task was impossible of performance. The writer of this narrative gave a citizen, who visited the lines, a silver dollar for a pint cup full of wheat for his horse, and Dornblazer tells of feeding a quart of corn to each horse in Company E-two of the company, Else and Zimmerman, having found it in a crib and carried it eight miles to the regiment. These facts being stated, and others of similar import known, it will cause no surprise to state that the Seventh, which had joined Sherman's army on the 9th of May, twelve hundred strong, on the 18th of August report- ed present for duty sixteen officers and three hun- dre and thirteen men.
The arduous duties expected and required of the cavalry during this campaign cannot better be con- veyed to the reader than by quoting here the definite and explicit order given by General Sherman to Gen. Kenner Garrard, who commanded the cavalry divis- ion of which the 7th Pa. Cav. were a part.
The following is an exact copy of Gen. Sher- man's order, given at midnight, July 20th, 1864:
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HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. In the field, near Atlanta, Ga., July 20, 1864-midnight.
GENERAL: After destroying the bridge at Me- Afee's, which I suppose is already done, you will send to General MePherson's guard at the bridge at Rosswell your wagons, led horses, and baggage, and proceed rapidly to Covington on the main wagon and railroad east-distance about thirty (30) miles from Decatur-take the road by Latimer, touching the road at or beyond Lithonia, and thence substantially along the railroad, destroying it effectually all the way, especially the Yellow river bridge this side of Covington, as well as the road bridge over Yellow river after you have passed. From Covington send detachments to destroy the rail and road bridges east of Covington over the Ulcofauhatchee. Try and cap- ture and destroy some locomotives and cars and the depots and stores at Covington ; but of private prop- erty only take what is necessary for your own use, except horses and mules, of which you will take all that are fit for service, exercising, of course, some judgment as to the animals belonging to the poor and needy. On your return select your own route, but I would suggest that by way of Sheffield, Rock bridge, and Stone mountain, or even further north if you pre- fer. I want you to put your whole strength at this, and do it quick and well. I know it can be done. By passing Yellow river by the road bridge, and then pushing for the railroad bridges right and left, the guards will run or even burn their own bridges. You ought to catch some trains about Covington, as there is no telegraph to give them timely warning. I be- lieve that the cavalry is mostly withdrawn from that flank of the enemy, and that you can ride roughshod over any force there; at all events, it is a matter of vital importance, and must be attempted with great vigor. The importance of it will justify the loss of one-quarter of your command. Be prepared with
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axes, hatchets, and bars to tear up sections of track, and make bonfires; when the rails are red-hot, they must be twisted. Burning will do for bridges and culverts, but not for ordinary tracks. Let the work be well done. The whole thing should be done in two days, including to-morrow. I will notify General McPherson, that he may look out for his rear and trains.
I am, with respect, yours truly, W. T. SHERMAN, Major General Commanding.
General GARRARD,
Commanding Cavalry Division.
The expedition was entirely successful, as will be seen by this report of Gen. Garrard, made on the 24th July, 1864 :
HEADQUARTERS SECOND CAVALRY DIVISION.
Decatur, July 24, 1864.
GENERAL: I have the honor to report that your instructions have been carried out. My dispositions were such as to enable me to take every point by sur- prise and insure my safe return, with a loss of only 2 killed. Results: Three road bridges and one rail- road bridge (555 feet in length) over the Yellow river, and one road and one railroad bridge (250 feet in length ) over the Ulcofauhatchee, were burned. Six miles of railroad track between the rivers were well destroyed. The depot and considerable quantity of quartermaster and commissary stores at Covington were burnt. One train and locomotive captured at Convers and burnt. One train (platform) was burnt at Covington, and a small train (baggage) at station near the Ulcofauhatchee captured and burnt. The engine to the last train was detached across the river. Citizens report a passenger train and a con- struction train, both with engines, cut off between Stone Mountain and Yellow river. Over 2,000 bales
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of cotton were burnt. A large new hospital at Cov- ington, for the accommodation of 10,000 patients from this army and the Army of Virginia, composed of over 30 buildings besides the offices, just finished, were burnt, together with a very large lot of fine car- penters' tools used in their erection. In the town of Oxford, two miles north of Covington, and in Cov- ington was over 1,000 sick and wounded in buildings used for hospitals. The convalescents able to walk scattered through the woods while the firing was go- ing on in town, and I did not have time to hunt them up before dark. Those in hospital, together with their surgeons, were not disturbed. Having received no reports from my brigade commanders, I am un- able to give any further particulars. Yesterday at 12 m. I sent one brigade a little to the north to come to this place by Blake's Mill. It has not yet ar- rived. From the two other brigades I have received 140 prisoners and 11 officers, and about 200 negroes, who have been sent to the provost marshal, Army of the Tennessee. I cannot mention too highly the zeal and promptness of my whole command, and to their good conduct and earnestness I am indebted for this success. Since leaving Marietta this division has been so constantly in motion it is now very much out of condition, and I would be pleased to have a few days' quiet to shoe horses and repair equipments. I was absent from Decatur less than three days, and as a division marched over ninety miles, and at the time of the receipt of the order, twelve hours before starting, was scattered from MeAfee's bridge to De- catur, guarding all the roads to the east and south of this flank of the army.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
K. GARRARD, Brigadier-General,
General SHERMAN, Commanding Army,
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THE FIGHT AT LOVEJOY
The fiery and impetuous Confederate General, Hood, took advantage of our absence from the left flank and threw Hardee's Corps in the rear of Gen. McPherson, and having no cavalry pickets to report the presence and location of the enemy, the brave and gallant MePherson rode against Hardee's pickets and was instantly killed. A bloody battle ensued in which the loss to the Union army was 3,500 and to Hood's army in killed, wounded and prisoners, 10,000 men.
THE FIGHT AT LOVEJOY.
Sherman in his Memoirs states that the next raid of the cavalry, on the Confederate line of com- munication was ordered by him, and that the object he had in view was, first, the complete severance of these lines, and, second, in consequence of such in- terruption, the compelling of Hood to come out of his entrenchments and meet him in open fight. He directed Gen. Kilpatrick to take his division of cav- alry, the Third, and, reinforced by the First and Sec- ond Brigades of the First Division, proceed to break up the Macon road about Jonesboro. The expedi- tion started with an aggregate force of fifty-four hun- dred men and eight pieces of artillery. Several ac- counts of this important cavalry movement, with its resultant desperate battle at Lovejoy, have been pub- lished, but none is more full and fair than that writ- ten by Captain Robert Burns, of the Fourth Michi- gan, acting assistant adjutant general of the First Cavalry Brigade, who participated in it and had ex- cellent opportunities or observing it all. His account is, therefore, copied here in full :
"On the 18th, at 1 A. M., our's and Colonel Long's brigade, the First and Second, all under Col. Minty, left our Peach Tree Creek camp, on the left of our army, and at seven the next morning reported to General Kilpatrick at Sandtown, having, during the
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night, passed in the rear of ous army to its right. We remained quietly at Sandtown during the 19th, and at sundown started to cut the rebel communications south of Atlanta. Two well-equipped expeditions, Stoneman's and MeCook's, had been totally ruined in attempting the same thing. We, however, imag- ined we were made of sterner stuff, and started off in good spirits. * * * The whole was commanded by General Kilpatrick, and a good deal of a little man he is, too; not at all afraid to be in the fight himself. Away we went, Colonel Murray's division being in the advance. It was a bright, beautiful moonlight night, and we should have enjoyed it more if we had not been up all the night preceding. We had not gone more than three miles when we ran into the enemy's pickets. Then we had to go slowly, driving them be- fore us, dismounting to feel the woods on both sides, &c., so that it was morning before we reached the Atlanta and West Point railroad, near Fairburn, at Red Oak. We had torn up about half a mile of track, and were moving on, when the rear battalion of the Seventh Pennsylvania was suddenly attacked by a force of dismounted men and artillery. (The column, you must know, was four or five miles long, and the rear or front might be fighting briskly and the other end know nothing about it, except when the artillery was opened.) Just back of where the rebels struck our column were the ambulances, and the darkies. leading officers' horses, pack-mules, &c. They, of course, skedaddled, each nigger and ambulance driv- er bolted for the woods. Several shells exploded among the colored brethren, and they thought the kingdom had come. Three, ambulances were smashed to pieces. and about fifty of the sneaks who hang around the doctors' shops were scattered into the woods. I thought my lead horse was gone, but finally my contraband came crawling out of the woods. scar- ed almost white. The Fourth Michigan, which was in the rear of the ambulances. soon came up and drove
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