USA > Pennsylvania > The Seventh Pennsylvania veteran volunteer cavalry; its record, reminiscences and roster; with an appendix > Part 6
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The enemy fired but one volley and immediately retreated. They were pursued unavailable, and on the 16th the expedition returned to Murfreesboro.
On the 19th the brigade led the advance of an expedition, consisting of the Fifth Division, Four- teenth Corps, Major General Reynolds commanding, to McMinnville. Sweeping the country of minor Confederate posts, the cavalry arrived at MeMinn- ville early in the morning of the 21st. The advance guard, consisting of two companies of the Seventh commanded by Lieutenant Heber S. Thompson, met the rebel pickets about a mile and a half from the place, and immediately drove them into the town. Captain .Jennings, commanding the Seventh Pennsyl- vania, was ordered to unite with the advance, and
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the whole regiment to charge the enemy, numbering about seven hundred infantry and cavalry. The charge was entirely successful-the rebel cavalry scattered and fled, and the infantry, numbering over a hundred, was captured. The Seventh dashed on after a wagon train, guarded by infantry, which was retreating on the Sparta road. About eight miles out the train was overtaken, and three wagons and seventy-five of the guard captured.
In the charge Corporal Edward Shutt, of Com- pany A, Seventh Pennsylvania, killed Lieutenant Colonel Martin, of Johnson's Kentucky cavalry, in a hand to hand encounter, and Major Dick McCann, also of Kentucky, was wounded and captured by Sergeant John Williams, of Company F. The cav- alry, scoured the country in pursuit of the ene- my for several days, but could not bring them to a stand. After driving the commands of Wheeler, Forrest and Morgan behind Braggs' intrenched line, and capturing fully five hundred prisoners, Minty with his command, returned to Murfreesboro on the 26th. One man of the 7th was killed. The following officers and men of the regiment were mentioned in General Orders:
Captain W. H. Jennings, "for signal ability in handling his command, and for gallantry in pres- ence of the enemy." Lieutenant Heber S. Thompson, "for gallant conduct in the charge and services in command of the advance guard." Sergeant John Williams, Company F, "for wounding and captur- ing Major Dick McCann in a hand-to-hand conflict." Corporal Edward Shutt, Company A, "for gallantry in killing Lieutenant Colonel Martin in a single handed saber contest." Corporal Shutt was also awarded the Government "Distinguished Service Medal."
An expedition, which included the entire First Brigade, moved, on the 21st of May, toward Man.
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chester, near which a camp of the enemy was sur- prised and captured in the early morning.
On the 3rd of June an outpost on the Manches- ter pike, commanded by Lieutenant Getty, of Com- pany I of the Seventh, was attacked by a party of Confederates belonging to Wheeler's command. The enemy was driven off with some loss.
A similar attack was made the same day on a picket commanded by Lieutenant Vale, on the Wart- race road. This developed into quite an affair, in which Minty's Brigade, including Newel's section of artillery, became actively engaged with a large Con- federate force, comprising all arms, For a little while the enemy had the advantage, but in the end were forced to retreat with considerable loss. One man of the Seventh was killed.
On the 10th of June the brigade was ordered ont, at 3 in the morning, to meet a reported advance of the enemy on the Trinne road. The Seventh en- countered the Confederate pickets about half a mile from Versailles, and drove their force of about two hundred, three miles beyond the village.
On the 15th Minty, with four regiments, among them the Seventh, marched for Lebanon, where Duke's Brigade was reported to be, arriving the morning of the 16th, to find that the Confederates had, the preceding day, retired toward Alexandria. Promptly following, the brigade was sharply assailed while halted for a rest and to feed the horses. Quite a little skirmish followed, but the enemy retired as soon as the Union soldiers were mounted and ready for business. Vale's account continues: "Colonel Sipes with the Seventh Pennsylvania moved in col- umn across the fields to the right, and Major Mix with the Fourth Michigan on the left, while the Fourth United States and the Fifth Iowa moved in column on the road, with a battalion of the Third In- diana as a rear guard, The rebels fell baek, fighting
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stubbornly, until near Shoup's Spring, when Lieut- tenant O'Connell, Fourth United States, command- ing the advance, charged and drove them rapidly to the junction of the road leading from the Spring to Beard's Mill. Here Colonel Minty decided to camp for the night, but the entire absence of forage com- pelled a further advance. The march was resumed and fight continued to Walters' Mill when, having marched fifty-six miles, a halt in line of battle was ordered.
"Strong detachments were sent out two miles toward Alexandria, under Colonel Sipes, consisting of the Seventh Pennsylvania and two companies of the Fifth Iowa, and another to the right under Colonel Kline. It soon became known to Minty that Morgan, with four thousand men and twelve pieces of artillery, was at Alexandria, four miles distant, and an almost constant skirmish was maintained in front and on both flanks. Colonel Sipes returned about 7 p. m. with information that Morgan was ad- vancing in force, and immediately afterward the en- emy opened with artillery. Minty held his position until 9 p. m., when he withdrew." When Colonel Minty decided to withdraw he directed Colonel Sipes to call in the pickets and then follow. This took hours of weary waiting, not free from anxiety, as no one could tell how soon an attack by an over- whelming force might be made or the route of retreat be closed by the enemy. At last the pickets were all in, and the Seventh retired by a cross trail-not a road-reaching the Lebanon pike just as the sun was rising. The other regiments had not waited for the Seventh, and it took the route for Murfreesboro, where it arrived in the early afternoon, almost ex- hausted by fatigue and the heat. General Turchin. who at the time commanded the Second Division of Cavalry, asked the commander of the Seventh to point out, on the military map, the route that had been traversed by the brigade, and the distance was
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estimated at more than a hundred miles-Vale says one hundred and five. "If an account that such a march, by a body of cavalry had been made, was published in St. Petersburg or Vienna, no officer in Russia or Austria would credit it," was Turchin's comment.
The Confederate force, which Minty came so near encountering, was that prepared for the inva- sion of Indiana and Ohio by General Morgan, and was at the time on its way to put the ill starred ven- ture into effect.
About this time Colonel Wynkoop resigned and Lieutenant Colonel Sipes was promoted to the com- mand of the regiment. Other changes were made among the officers, all of which will be found in the roster.
ROSECRANS' ADVANCE.
With the exception of a few minor affairs, the infantry and artillery of the Union and Con- federate armies had been resting and prepar- ing for six months. Only the cavalry had been active, and its movements have been followed in preceding pages. The time had now come for a general advance, and on the 24th of June this forward movement was begun by General Rosecrans' entire army. General Stanley was in command of all the Union cavalry, which was in good condition, notwithstanding the hard service it had performed. Stanley under orders, first demon- strated on Bragg's extreme right, at the base of the Cumberland Mountains; then, by a quick counter march, appeared on his left in front of Shelbyville. These demonstrations on both wings of the enemy were intended to prevent his concentration, and re- sults proved that they were effective. No intention exists to make this a description or a criti- cism of the "Tullahoma Campaign." Our in-
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terest centers in one regiment, and our busi- ness is to faithfully chronicle its services and sufferings. Stanley halted his calalry on the Shelbyville pike, in the rear of MeCook's corps, on the morning of the 25th. When the order to march was given, theFirst Division and the First Brigade of the Second Division moved as written. They had not proceeded far when an order came for the First Brigade to move to the front. As they were passing the infantry, the 7th Pennsylvania he- ing in the advance, a tall sergeant, leaning on his ri- fle, very audibly remarked to the men standing near him, "Boys, there's going to be a fight. When them fellows are hurried to the front it means business." And it turned out that the sergeant was a true pro- phet.
The First Brigade advanced at a trot on the turnpike for about seven miles, when the enemy were seen in a field to the right of, and some distance from, the road .* The Seventh was sent to meet them, but they did not show fight, retiring at once to their line of entrenchments. The Seventh was then recalled to the turnpike, where General Stan- ley and Colonel Minty, with the brigade, were halt- ed in front of the enemy's entrenchments. A battery of four guns was stationed here, firing harmlessly down the hill at the halted Union soldiers. While thus waiting, some men of Company A, of the Sev- enth sat down around a rock and, producing a much soiled deck of cards, commenced a game of "draw poker." Stanley looked at them quizically for a mno- ment and then remarked to Colonel Sipes, "Did any- body ever see such cool impudence? Sitting down to gamble under fire of a battery of artillery."
*The writer of this tells the story of the celebrated cav- alry battle of Shelbyville as he saw it and participated in it. Probably no single contest in the war has been more com- mented upon, and these comments are varied-differing in de- tails, but rather uniform in essentials. Of course no single witness sees an entire battlefield, covering miles of territory; and even in describing what is seen, accounts will differ.
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Determining that something must be done to move the enemy from their cover, Captain Davis, of the Seventh, was ordered forward, with the Third Battalion dismounted, to attack the entrenchments. This he did, the dismounted men, to the number probably of one hundred, advancing as skirmishers. At the same time the 4th Michigan was sent to the right to attack the entrenchments in flank, and the Third Indiana to the left, with instructions to en- gage the enemy there. The Confederates showed little inclination to fight at close quarters, and gave way in front of Davis' skirmishers. Seeing this Lieutenant Heber S. Thompson, commanding Com- pany F, was ordered to take his company in column up the road on the trot, and after passing a bridge strike the gallop. This he did gallantly, being cheered as he passed the line of intrenchments by Davis and his men. Observing that the fortified and obstructed line was approachable by mounted men, Colonel Sipes charged with the remainder of the regiment-the First and Second Battalions-and the enemy's line was completely broken and scat- tered. Vale says in his "Minty and the Cavalry," that about three hundred prisoners were taken in the trenches. The enemy succeeded in saving his artillery and withdrew it into Shelbyville. An ac- count of this charge, written by John A. Wyeth, a soldier in General Wheeler's command, and pub- lished in Harpers' Weekly of June 18, 1898, says : "The Seventh Pennsylvania and the 4th United States Regulars* rode out and over us in the most brilliant cavalry maneuver the writer ever wit- nessed. They formed, and were in view for at least half a mile before they came within firing distance. On either side of the highway, in columns of fours,
*The writer is mistaken as to the Fourth Regulars. They were not in this charge, which the 7th Pennsylvania made alone. His mistake probably was caused by the fact. stated, that Lieutenant Thompson charged separate from the First and Second Battalions,
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they advanced at a steady gallop, until they passed into the opening in the line of earth works, through which the main road led, some two or three hundred vards in our advance. As soon as they reached this point inside the works, still on the full run, they de- ploved from column of fours into line of battle, like the opening of a huge fan. The movement was made with as much precision as if it had been done in an open plain, on dress parade, or in some exhibition of discipline and drill. Huddled there as we were, knowing what fate was impending, we could not refrain from expressing our admiration, not only of the courage which they were displaying, but of the marvellous precision in the change of formation. Our orders were to stand until they approached within fifty yards, when we were to empty our rifles, draw our pistols, and then saure qui pent! The Union troopers, with sabers high in air, made no sound whatever, beyond the rumbling tattoo which their horses' hoofs played upon the ground. It was only a short space of time, probably the fraction of a minute, until they were so near that we could dis- tinguish their faces, and in fact their individual fea- tures. Leveling our guns at them we fired our final volley, and by the time our horses' heads were faced to the rear, they, coming at full speed, were upon us. In an incredibly short space of time the writer found himself on the ground and well in the rear of the charging line. No more gallant work was ever done by any troops than was done this day by the Seventh Pennsylvania and the Fourth Regulars." The charge thus described by a gallant enemy, was continued for some distance in pursuit of, and over the broken Confederate lines. Many prisoners were taken; how many is not known, because no one had time to count them, but the number certainly ran into the hundreds. In retiring the enemy made what resistence they could, but were given no time to rally. A considerable force, said to have been an entire regiment, concentrated in a field to the left of the
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road, surrounded by a palisade fence. Here they were hemmed in by a portion of the charging column of the Seventh, threw down their arms, and surren- dered. These arms were broken and smashed on the ground by the excited soldiers, who had no time to waste in gathering them. Not in serried ranks did the Pennsylvanians now appear, but in squads and groups, all guarding prisoners, actually in great- er numbers than their captors. Just as these strange- ly mixed groups reached the turnpike, the Fourth Michigan appeared there, having successfully accom- plished their flanking movement, and Colonel Sipes ordered all the prisoners taken by the Seventh to be turned over to them, as that command was in a condition to guard them, which was not the case with his own regiment. The Seventh, with the ex- ception of the Third Battalion, which had attacked the entrenchments dismounted, was by this time much exhausted-their horses having been ridden hard, with no rest, since early morning. Colonel Sipes directed his own horse to be unsaddled and rubbed down by a servant, and this was being done when a soldier informed him that the Third Battal- ion, under Captain Davis, had been ordered to lead in a charge of the town. Ordering his horse to be resaddled he went to Davis' command, which was formed in column of fours on the Murfreesboro turnpike, one mile from the Shelbyville Court House. From where the little column stood, and it certainly did not number more than one hundred and fifty men, made up of Davis' freshly mounted men and the other companies broken by the casualties of the first charge, the road was perfectly straight, and the street which it formed through the village was about sixty feet wide. At first the road was level, but for two-thirds of the mile it ascended gradually, until the grounds surrounding the Court House were reached, when it turned sharply to the left, passing by the railroad station and one or two other brick buildings, and a line of small frame residences on
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one side of it, while on the other side was the "Pub- lic Square." It then descended sharply to the bridge across Duck river. At the head of this street, and pointing down it, the Confederates had planted their four pieces of artillery, and this battery was supported by probably a thousand men. In the light of these facts, the charging column of the Sev- enth could only be looked upon as a forlorn hope. It has been asserted that this little column was sup- ported by a regiment charging on a street to the right, and another on a street to the left, and pos- sibly regiments were so sent, but they were not visi- ble from the street which the Seventh's charging column followed, and at the head of which all the enemy's force was concentrated. Colonel Sipes did not interfere with the arrangement made by the bri- gade commander, but went with the charging column into and through the town. As a signal for the charge two small pieces of artillery, attached to the cavalry command, were placed, one on each side of the road, and simultaneously discharged. Starting at a hand gallop, the solid column advanced at an unbroken pace. As the commencement of the ascent was reached the enemy's artillery fired, but the shells passed harmlessly over the men on horseback. A moment more, and the big guns spoke again; but again their missiles were in the air. A third time their report was heard, and a single horse, struck by a shell in the breast, was torn asunder, and the soldier upon him hurled to the ground. Before an- other round could be fired the charging column was upon the guns, and the supporting troops were fly- ing in confusion. Like a field of grain bending be- fore the wind, the Confederates bent in the retreat- ing race towards Duck river. From the railway sta- tion building, and another brick structure, a heavy rifle fire was poured into the Union ranks. Noting this, Colonel Sipes directed Lieutenant Thompson to take his company down the street in rear of the sta- tion, in the expectation that the enemy, when at-
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tacked on both sides, would join in the retreat. The movement had the desired effect, but not until Lieu- tenant Rhodes, of Company B, and Lieutenant Reed, of Company A, and four men, had been killed. At this point two pieces of artillery were captured; a little further on the third piece was taken, and at the bridge the fourth piece was abandoned by the enemy. This piece was passed by Captain Davis, and a number of the Seventh's men, who followed the flying Confederates across the river, but as it was unmanned, they did not stop to claim it, and in consequence it was "captured" by another regi- ment. The same thing happened with General Wheeler's battle flag. It was dropped by its bearer at the entrance to the bridge, was ridden over by men of the Seventh, and was picked up and hailed as a "captured trophy" by a different command. Up to the time the recall was sounded, and the men who had pursued the flying enemy beyond the river had returned, no Union troops but the men of the Seventh were visible in the town, and the first to appear were the 4th Regulars, who came upon the river bank above the bridge. Captain Burns, Adju- tant General of the First Brigade, joined a group of the Seventh's officers near the bank of the river, at a point where the swollen stream could be plain- ly seen, with the retreating Confederates plunging into it. Some of them were hauled out of the water by the Union soldiers; some struggled through and escaped, and many were drowned. All the prisoners secured were sent to the Court House in the Public Square.
Mr. Wyeth, already quoted, in the same article speaks of this second charge as follows: "The guns were hastily thrown into position, but the charges had scarcely been rammed home when the Union troops came in full sweep down the main street. When within a few paces of the muzzles of the guns they were discharged, inflicting however insignifi- cant loss. With their small force of 500 men, Gen-
MAJ. JOHN E. WYNKOOP.
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erals Wheeler and Martin stood up as best they could under the pressure of this charge. They held their ground manfully as the cavalry rode through and over them, sabring the cannoneers from the guns, of which they took possession, and then passed on and secured the bridge, leaving the two Confed- erate generals and their troops well in the rear. Generals Wheeler and Martin escaped by swimming with their horses across the river."
Evening was closing in as the Seventh was col- lected together near the Court House. As stated, two lieutenants and four men were killed; Captain Dartt, Sergeant Peck and ten men were wounded. The losses in the Seventh equalled the aggregate losses of the other four regiments composing the bri- gade. The regiment buried its dead; secured a con- veyance for its wounded, who, with others in like condition, and the prisoners, were despatched that night, under guard, to Nashville. Many of the pris- oners escaped under cover of the darkness. An aid of General Stanley came to the Seventh's command- er at dusk, and informed him that the orders were for the cavalry to remain saddled ready to march. To this Colonel Sipes replied : "Please give my com- pliments to General Stanley, and say that the horses of the Seventh are greatly fatigued, and we would like permission to rest them as much as possible."
In a short time the aid came back with the mes- sage: "General Stanley presents his compliments, and says the Seventh Pennsylvania can do exactly as it pleases."*
*General Stanley considered the Seventh Pennsylvania worthy of praise for its conduct in this engagement, and never hesitated in his commendation. In a paper prepared for the "Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States." on the Tullahoma Campaign, he says: "On the part of the Union soldiers there can hardly be in- stanced a finer display of gallantry than the charge made that day by the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, backed by the Fourth United States Cavalry. I have read of nothing more admirable.
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The following officers and men of the Seventh were specially mentioned in orders:
Lieutenant Heber S. Thompson "led the first charge of his regiment in his usual gallant style."
Captain Davis "led the grand charge on the rebel battery. He rode into the very teeth of the guns in the most fearless manner and captured the entire battery". In addition, Lieutenants White, Steahlin, and Vale; Sergeants Peck, Keenan, Somers, Wilson, Quaid, Snyder, Shutt, and Ennis; Corporals Devens, Lane, Williams, and Mason; and Privates Andrews, Johns, Watkins, Williams, Benson, Longwell, Heller, and Wilcox, all of the Seventh, are honorably men- tioned, as were also all the regimental commanders. Vale says that Shelbyville, and the county of which it is the county seat, was strongly Union, and that while the fight was in progress, women and children cheered and shouted encouragement to the Union soldiers.
While these operations were progressing on his right, Rosecrans was pressing the enemy heavily in the center, at Hoover's Gap, and the result was that Bragg retreated from Tullahoma, his central posi- tion, on the 29th of June, thus evacuating the en- trenched line, extending from Shelbyville to Man- chester, which he had held and strengthened ever since the battle of Stone River.
The First Brigade moved from the right to the left of the Union advance, and on the 1st of July had
To face a battery ready loaded and waiting; supported on either flank by riflemen; to ride at the nuzzles of the guns and through them, is no baby's play, and this was done by a regi- ment of Pennsylvania blacksmiths backed by soldiers of the Regular Army. Their small loss in this charge only illustrates how superior nerve-force unnerves an enemy." In a letter writ- ten to Adjutant Steahlin, of the Seventh, Stanley says: "After the Mexican war the country rang with the praises of Captain May for his charge at the battle of Resaca de la Palma. It was heard in songs and story, and yet May's charge was no more to be compared to the Seventh Pennsylvania's at Shelbyville than are the Falls of Minnehaha to those of Niagara."
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a skirmish with Forrest's cavalry, compelling him to retreat across Elk river. In this engagement Colonel Starnes, of the Eighth Texas, commanding a brigade under Forrest, was killed. Advancing on the 2nd, the First Brigade joined the Second at the river, where it had been engaged for two hours with the enemy, without effecting a crossing. Stanley order- ed the First Brigade to the front to force a passage, says Vale, "when, noticing the movement, one of the Ohio boys called out: 'What are they going to the front for? Are the First Brigade the only men who know how to fight?" And as the First approached the river, the Fourth Ohio dashed across ahead of it, charged Forrest's lines furiously, and drove him off." The First Brigade pursued the retreating Confeder- ates until they reached the mountains .*
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