USA > Pennsylvania > The Seventh Pennsylvania veteran volunteer cavalry; its record, reminiscences and roster; with an appendix > Part 13
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Great difficulty was found at Louisville in pro- curing horses for the _ remount. Virtually all the cavalry and mounted infantry belonging to the three armies under Sherman in the Atlanta campaign were unhorsed. Only one small division-Kilpatrick's- remained in the field, and to fit out that for the "march to the sea," the others were deprived of their horses. The horse-breeding region of the northwest was drained by the four, years of war, and requisi- tions could not be filled. The authorities in Wash- ington were importuning Thomas to destroy Hood's army; Thomas deemed cavalry force essential, and urged his officers to hurry; and the officers pressed their subordinates. But horses could not be bought ; and at last the order was issued at Louisville to press into service the animals needed. How this was done is thus told in "Minty and the Cavalry":
"During the evening of December 7th, we re- ceived orders from General Long to pen and seize all the horses in the city of Louisville. Very early on the morning of the 8th the Fourth Michigan was sent out to picket every road leading into the city, with orders to allow all horses and wagons to pass through into the town, but to permit not one to go out. The Third Ohio and Seventh Pennsylvania were then ordered into the city, with directions to seize every serviceable horse they could lay their hands on, and bring them into camp.
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"When the citizens found out what was going on they were in a piece of mind about it and at- tempted to hide all the horses they could. Horses were taken out of stables, street cars, wagons and busses, and in the afternoon they were found in cellars, parlors, garrets, and all sorts of out-of-the- way places, where the owners had hidden them. When they attempted to run them out of town, they were stopped by the Fourth Michigan. The impress- ment was kept up during the 8th and 9th."
This method of procuring horses proved success- ful, and, harsh as it appeared, was justified by "mil- itary necessity." Twenty days later the division marched for Nashville, and the enemy pursuing very much the same route, portions of which it had marched over two years before, when General Buell made his advance. Being the dead of winter, much suffering from cold had to be endured, but the men bore their sufferings unmurmuringly, because they felt that they were approaching the end of the weary and trying contest.
An incident of this march, unexcelled in brutal- ity by any recorded in modern military history, must be told here. On the 29th of December the division was in the vicinity of Bardstown, Kentucky, where it was to halt for the night. Just before going into camp, Dr. John L. Sherk, Surgeon of the Seventh, and at that time Brigade Surgeon, and Captain Rob- ert G. McCormick, of Company G, of the Seventh, and Brigade Inspector, obtained permission to visit a Mrs. Grigsby, living about a mile from the town, who had very kindly cared for some sick officers and men of the regiment, when on the march in the winter of '61-2. What followed is thus related by Vale :
"It appears that Sherk and McCormick had dis- mounted and entered the house, leaving their horses under the care of an orderly After a short conversa- tion, while they were sitting in the parlor, and the young daughter of Mrs. Grigsby was playing on the
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piano, Captains Magruder, Davis and Summerland, with about fifteen guerillas, surrounding and enter. ing the house through the doors and windows, im- mediately commenced firing on them. Dr. Sherk an- nounced to them, while they were firing, that he was a surgeon, and McCormick offered to surrender and asked for quarter. It is also said that the young lady, then a child of about fourteen years of age, rushed between the brutal Magruder and one of the officers, declaring that he should not be murdered. The brave little girl was struck by the brute, with either his hand or a pistol, and knocked on one side, and pay- ing no attention to either the doctor's announcement of his pacific character, or the repeated offers to surrender, much less to the prayers, screams, and frantic efforts Mrs. Grigsby made to save them, the whole band of murderers continued firing. Dr. Sherk was soon killed by a bullet through the head-he had previously received one through the body, when Me- Cormick, seeing that his death was inevitable, ob- tained his pistol and defended himself to the last. He was shot twice through the body, and once through the left arm. * * The two bodies were brought to camp after dark, and that night sent to Louisville, and from thence to their homes in Penn- sylvania.
This deliberate murder, for it could be called nothing else, was characteristic of the guerillas in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. They were of the "scum that bubbles up when nations boil," and made the great war a pretext for gratifying their thirst for blood and plunder. Some of them were men of education and intelligence, and the leader of the band that murdered Dr. Sherk and Captain Mc- Cormick is thus described by a correspondent of the Louisville Journal :
"The man among them all who most, belied his looks was Magruder, who was the most affable and gentlemanly man in his outward manners that I ever
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saw. He was rather tall and slenderly built, with a handsome, almost effeminate, face, light blue eyes and curling auburn hair. In spite of his gentle face and polished manners, he was one of the most cold-blood- ed and cruel men of the whole band." The same cor- respondent gives this account of the murder of Sherk and McCormick :
"Rushing to the door with cocked pistols, and without a moment's warning, they commenced firing at the officers. Two of them fell dead, and, coolly putting his pistol close to the other helpless man, fired. Some of the blood splashed out on the pistol barrel, he placed the weapon to his lips and kissed the blood off the polished barrel. Mrs. Grigsby re- mained in the room almost paralyzed with terror, and, approaching her, this outlaw coolly tipped his hat, and with a polite bow apologized in his polished manner for being compelled to kill the men in her house."
It is with feelings of justifiable satisfaction that one reads that this guerilla, Magruder, was publicly hanged in Louisville, on the 20th of October, 1865, for the murder here detailed and other similar erimes.
Submitting to the demands of his superiors, Gen- eral Thomas attacked Hood on the 15th of December, and on the day following sent the fragments of his badly beaten army hurrying in retreat from Nash- ville. The cavalry Thomas wanted was not ready, hence his victory was not as complete as he would have made it had he been permitted to manage mat- ters in his own way.
On the 8th of January, the cavalry division reached Nashville. Here it remained until the 12th, and then moved southward, in Hood's wake, to Gravelly Springs, in Alabama, where it arrived on the 25th. Here it halted to wait for better weather -the march from Louisville having been very heavy
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work-and quarters were constructed for the men and stables for the horses. But trouble was not over yet. The supply of provisions which the command carried with them was soon exhausted, and the rail- road behind them not being repaired, rations became decidedly short. This condition did not last long, however, and by the middle of February the railroad was in running order and supplies plentiful. Then began preparations for the final campaign.
THE FINAL CAMPAIGN.
The coming of spring started into activity the host that had, for two months, been resting and pre- paring on the bank of the Tennessee, and the timo thus spent had evidently not been wasted. With par- donable enthusiasm Vale speaks of Wilson's ten thousand cavalry, fully mounted, armed, and equip- ped, with its twenty pieces of artillery, a pontoon train of fifty wagons, a train of one hundred and fifty wagons of ammunition and supplies, and a train guard of two thousand dismounted men. This great armament was designed to sweep away the fragments of the Confederacy remaining in Alabama and Mis- sissippi. All the known force with which it had to contend was that commanded by General Forrest, said to consist of about seven thousand mounted men and some conscript garrisons gathered for the de- fense of fortified cities and posts. Forrest was in supreme command of the entire section to be covered by Wilson's movements, and, with characteristic en- ergy, had "robbed the cradle and the grave" to fill his ranks.
On the 12th of March, Long's division crossed the Tennessee and marched to Eastport, where it re- mained until the 22nd. Resuming its movement southward then, it advanced through a difficult coun- try to the Black Warrior river, which was crossed by swimming the horses, losing one man and forty hors-
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es drowned. Still advancing, Locust river was cross- ed in a like manner, and the Catawba by utilizing the railroad bridge.
Pushing forward his divisions with celerity, and moving them in parallel columns, Wilson prevented a concentration of Forrest's forces. Some skirmish- ing occurred, in which the Union troops were uni- formly successful; and thus advancing and fighting, Selma was reached by Minty's brigade about 3 P. M., of the 2nd of April. Here the enemy were prepared and determined to make their stand. Dornblazer, in his "Saber Strokes in the War," thus tells of the fight that followed :
"Early in the afternoon Long's division was in line across the Summerfield road, not more than six hundred yards from the enemy's works. From our position we had an excellent view of the defences of Selma. In our front were three batteries of artillery; strongly posted behind heavy parapets, projecting from the main line of earthworks. To charge the enemy at this point it was necessary to pass over an open field enfiladed by artillery and swept by muske- try; to break through a stockade of cedar posts five feet high and sharpened at the top; to pass over an- other open space, fifteen yards wide, into the broad deep ditch, under the flaming muzzles of the enemy, then to climb an embankment whose slant-height was fifteen feet to the top of the parapet, lined by a head-log, behind which the enemy stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to deliver their well-directed volleys into the breasts of the advancing battalions. It was scarcely presumed, by officers or men, that General Wilson would order dismounted dragoons to make an assault upon such formidable earthworks. Never- theless, after careful reconnoissance, he ordered the assault to be made. A signal gun from Rodney's hat- tery, on our left, was to designate the moment for a general advance. We were waiting for Upton's di-
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vision to get into position on our left. While stand- ing in line of battle, we saw a train-load of prisoners, Union soldiers, who were in prison at Selma, go- ing south on the Alabama and Mississippi railroad. They cheered and waved their hats to us as they sped out of sight.
"The hour of suspense, in waiting for the signal, was terrible. Lieutenant Sigmund, of Company E, Seventh Pennsylvania, turning over his horse to his colored servant, said : 'Good bye, Morgan; I am not sure that I shall see you again.'
"Before Gen. Upton was ready to assault the enemy on the left, a sharp skirmish began on our right and rear. Chalmer's brigade of Confederate cavalry was trying to eross Valley creek, on our right, and join Forrest within the defences of Selma.
"Fearing that this attack in rear might compro- mise the general assault upon the town, General Long strengthened his rear guard, and determined to wait no longer on the signal gun, but with fifteen hundred dismounted men, out of the Seventh Penn- sylvania, Fourth Michigan, Fourth Ohio, and Sev- enteenth Indiana, charged the enemy's works directly in his front.
"The line advanced over the brow of the hill, down through the open field, receiving the raking fire of the double-shotted batteries. The officers gallant- ly led their men on foot. Lieutenant Sigmund was at the head of his battalion, going straight for the works, on the open Summerville road. There were no trees, no bushes, no logs, no rocks, behind which to seek shelter; there was no alternative but to face the fire. The fence on the left of the road was splin- tered and shivered by grape-shot. We reached the stockade. Sigmund was the first in the line to lift a stake and pass through. Some leaped over the stock- ade, others passed through the small openings. Sig- mund did not stop in the ditch and wait for the bat-
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talion to come up. He clambered up the embank- ment, and just as he reached the top of the parapet, the first out of fifteen hundred, he received a charge of twenty buckshot in his face, from a muzzle less than twenty inches from him. The brave lieutenant rolled back and lay lifeless at our feet. Col. Minty ordered the brigade to reform in the ditch, and all move over the embankment at once. The boys crawl- ed to the top, and one volley from the 'Spencers' scattered the rebel hosts, and Minty's brigade stood victors on the first line of earthworks. At this mo- ment General Wilson rode upon the field, with the Fourth Regulars, and ordered a saber charge to be made on the second line of earthworks, but the charge was repulsed. At this stage of the battle heavy firing was heard on the left. General Upton had penetrated the works on the left, and was driv- ing the enemy before him into the streets of Selma. Simultaneously with this movement, Minty's dis- mounted regiments made another charge on the right and carried everything before them. They did not stop until the town was captured and Forrest's com- mand completely routed."
Dornblazer relates that he and four others of Company E went back in the night to find and re- move to a place of shelter -- as the night promised to be stormy-the body of Lieutenant Sigmund. On their trip they heard groaning in the bushes, and found a Confederate soldier with a shattered leg. He said a Yankee boy had, to his surprise, left a canteen of water with him-that he had been conscripted a few hours before the battle, and rushed into the breast- works as the battle opened. "We proposed," says Dornblazer, "to carry him to the nearest shanty, and have his wound dressed, for which he was very grate- ful. We attempted to lift him on a board, and find- ing him heavier than we had calculated, asked him his weight. He said his average weight was three hun- dred and twenty, but that he had lost some since he had joined the army."
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They succeeded, notwithstanding his avoirdu- pois, in carrying the giant to a shanty, and subse- quently, when on the march to Montgomery, were able to assure his family that the husband and father had not been killed, as had been reported to them. Next day they buried Sigmund on the field where he fell, but a few days' later the Masonic fraternity of Selma reinterred him in the public cemetery, with all the honors of war.
The losses of the Seventh in this battle were: Lieutenant Sigmund and one man killed; Col. Me- Cormick and forty-seven men- wounded. Vale says the regiment lost twenty-five per sent of the men en- gaged, and that the loss of the brigade aggregated nine officers and one hundred and fourteen men. The highest praise was bestowed upon all engaged by the officers in command, and a number of special acts of courage and efficiency were mentioned. Among these was the following :
"Major Charles L. Greeno, Seventh Pennsylva- nia, Acting Assistant Inspector General, was among the first to enter the enemy's works. At about seven o'clock, with about fifty men, he drove a considerable force of the enemy from, and took possession of the railroad buildings and the cotton-bale defences sur- rounding them." Vale says: "Every officer of the Seventh Pennsylvania and Fourth Ohio regiments was complimented by name, and received a subse- quent brevet of rank for 'distinguished services in the battle and capture of Selma, Alabama, April 2nd, 1865'."
Among those of the regiment who fell on this bloody field was Sergeant John Ennis, of Co. A, the color bearer of the regiment, who was shot down in the moment of victory with the flag, he so much loved, in his hand. The standard was seized by Sergeant Bickel, Co. I, and by him planted on the fort.
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It is worthy of remark here that the name and memory of the brave Sergt. Ennis is perpetuated by his comrades in the naming of the Grand Army Post of St. Clair, Schuylkill Co., JJohn Ennis Post No. 44, and it is a coincidence that the other G. A. R. Post of this county at Pottsville is named for an- other brave Schuylkill County sokhier who fell the same day, April 20, 1865, before the entrenchments of Petersburg, Va., Col. George W. Gowen.
And the Post at Girardville, Pa., is named for a gallant soldier, brave officer of our regiment, Maj. William II. Jennings, whose saber flashed in front in every engagement from Rover, Tenn., to Rome, Georgia. Capt. Clinton W. Boone was severely and dangerously wounded at the head of his company, as he was leading his men on the enemy's fort. He was supposed to be injured beyond recovery, but his men carried him from the field. He was care- fully nursed by his friends, and when the regiment left Selma, was taken along in a large carriage, im- provised as an ambulance. In the same manner Col. McCormick and many of the wounded were cared for, and taken with our command to Macon, Georgia.
Owing to the severe wound received by the gal- lant Col. McCormick, the official report of the regi- ment in this engagement was made by Lieut. Col. Andress, which is as follows:
Report of Lieut. Col. James F. Andress, Seventh
Pennsylvania Caratry, of Operations April 2.
HEADQUARTERS SEVENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY, April 9, 1865.
MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the follow- ing report of the part taken in the engagement of the 2d instant in front of Selma, Ala .:
The regiment went into action with 3 field and staff officers, 10 line officers, and 353 enlisted men. We formed on the left of the brigade, covering the
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Summerfield road. As we advanced, the enemy from his entrenchments poured deadly volleys into our ranks, but without a check the works in our front were carried and the rebels driven in confusion before us. Portions of Companies E and I, led by Lieutenant Sigmund (who was killed just at the moment of victory), were among the first to enter the works, taking possession of a fort with one piece of artillery, caisson, and twelve prisoners. We followed closely after the discomfited enemy, but a dense and swampy woods prevented our in- flicting much damage. Emerging from the timber we found the rebels under shelter of some interior works, cotton bales, and old buildings. They were soon flying from this point, and we were in posses- sion of six additional pieces of artillery, including one 30-pounder and one 12-pounder Parrott, with many prisoners. At this juncture we were directed by Colonel Minty, commanding division, to halt and reform, and were afterward held in reserve. The fort containing the Parrott gun mounted seven oth- ers, which were taken by the men of the Seventh Pennsylvania and Fourth Ohio, but are not included in the captures of this regiment. Sergeant Sieg- fried, Company F, was the first in the fort, followed closely by Sergeant Bickel, Company I, with the regimental colors, Sergt. John Ennis, standard- bearer, having fallen mortally wounded in the charge on the outer works. In the works most of the gunners were taken with their pieces. The regiment captured 198 prisoners, 7 pieces of artil- lery, and 240 muskets and rifles. The latter were destroyed on the field. Our casualties were 1 line officer killed, 1 field officer and 3 line officers wound- ed, 1 enlisted man killed and 47 wounded.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. F. ANDRESS,
Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment. [Maj. ROBERT BURNS,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.]
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Naturally such a crushing defeat, within works deemed almost impregnable to ordinary assault, had a depressing effect upon the remnant of the Confed. erate army left after the rout of Hood. Forrest's losses in the battle were very heavy, and his com. mand was so utterly demoralized that he made no effective resistance to Wilson's further movements.
On the 10th of April the corps took the direct road from Selma to Montgomery, where, four years before, the "Southern Confederacy" had been organ- ized by representatives of seven seceding states, three of which had participated in the formation of the Union they were then endeavoring to destroy. All the Union soldiers expected to meet with resistance there, but to their surprise the command was met by the city authorities bearing a flag of truce, on the morning of the 12th, and the city surrendered with- out a shot being fired. Dornblazer says, "Wilson's column marched through Montgomery, greeted by many demonstrations of joy on the part of freedmen and loyal citizens. Not a soldier was allowed to break ranks. No private property was molested."
Portions of Wilson's corps, after a day's rest. outside the city of Montgomery, assaulted the Con- federate works at Columbus, Georgia, capturing fifty guns and twelve hundred prisoners. Dornblazer re- lates the following rather remarkable incident con- nected with that capture: "The covered bridge over the Chattahoochee was saved from the torch. The bridge was lined inside with cotton saturated with turpentine, so that one match would put the entire bridge in a blaze; but the enemy was so completely surprised and utterly routed that no one seemed to think of a match."
The next move was toward Macon, after the cap- ture of which the command intended to dash on to Andersonville and rescue the Union prisoners confin- ed in that hell, created for their torment by such
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fiends as Winder and Wirz. Minty's division was in the advance, and on the 20th of April was met thir- teen miles from Macon by General Robinson, bearing a flag of truce and a message from General Howell Cobb, in command there, apprising General Wilson of Lee's surrender, and of the armistice existing between Sherman and Johnston. Before General Wilson could satisfy himself of the correctness of this information, Minty's division had reached Macon and received the surrender of the place. In a short time the report that Lee had surrendered to General Grant was confirmed; this was soon supplemented by the information that Joshnton had surrendered to Sherman, and that all Confederate forces east of the Mississippi were included in the last mentioned ca- pitulation.
THE END.
The war was over; hereafter the men of the North and of the South would meet in amity, and tell how fields were lost and won. The straggling remnants of the great Confederate armies that had met the Union soldiers on scores of battlefields, and held them at bay for four years, were now wearily wending their way, singly and in squads, to desolat- ed and impoverished homes throughout the South. Dornblazer says many of these paroled soldiers "were ragged and barefooted. Some carried an arm in a sling, others limped from bullet wounds yet unheal- ed. This mournful procession was the funeral march of the 'lost cause.' In their weary journey these dejected, battle-worn veterans halted in our camps, rested peacefuly in our tents, shared our cof- fee and hard-tack, and, seated around our camp-fires, they spoke freely of their blasted hopes and broken fortunes."
Their condition was pitiable, and the Union sol- diers deeply sympathized with them. Similar feel-
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ings controlled their action toward the non-combat- ants, and before their sojourn in Georgia terminated, friendly intercourse was established between them and many of the residents. To illustrate how com- plete this reconciliation was, it is only necessary to record the fact that several of the "Yankee boys" took unto themselves wives of the daughters of the Sonth.
An incident that figures conspicuously in the histories of the time, and in which the Seventh Penn- sylvania actively participated, may appropriately be related here. Grant's movements in the spring of 1865 rendered the possession of Richmond-the cap- ital of the Southern Confederacy-insecure, and con- sequently Jeff. Davis, the President, fled from the city on the night of the 3rd of May. He took with him his family, and he was accompanied by several members of his cabinet and officers serving on his personal staff. At first he was attended by a consid- erable guard of soldiers, but these dwindled away un- til but few remained. When his flight became known the President of the United States offered a reward of one hundred thousand dollars for his capture. It was generally presumed that Davis was endeavoring to reach Texas, or, failing in that, some port on the Gulf of Mexico, from which he could reach a foreign country. Knowing the course he must necessarily take, the Union cavalry forces south of Richmond were immediately on the alert to intercept and cap- ture him. These forces consisted of Stoneman's com, mand, operating in upper North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and Wilson's corps, covering the southeastern portions of the same states and Ala- bama. For several days Davis, having been compelled to abandon the railroad, succeeded in secreting him- self and party, by traveling on by-ways and camping in secluded localities. His trail, hide as he might, was always found, and at last the First brigade was ordered to pursue it and capture the fugitives, who
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