USA > Pennsylvania > The Twenty-second Pennsylvania cavalry and the Ringgold battalion, 1861-1865; > Part 27
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But, to return to the cavalry, Lieutenant Cargo says: "On this night of July 3rd, at Shepherdstown, I was placed on picket in command of Company D, above town, on a high bluff covered with pine trees. After stationing the pickets and leaving Sergeant Sutton in command, I lay down to rest, as I had already been on picket twice during the week and it was almost impossible to keep awake any longer. At about midnight, we were ordered from our post to the river bank, where we found our forces crossing into Maryland. We saw that our turn would not come for some time, so we lay down and slept; some time after daylight we were awakened with an order to cross the river immediately, as the enemy were almost upon us. On awakening, I found that part of my men had been ordered back to the picket post on the bluff, where they remained until driven away by the enemy. We hardly got fairly across the river until the Johnnies were firing at us from the Virginia side of the river. After crossing, we (our cavalry) were ordered into a grove behind a knoll from the river, where
263
EARLY'S ARMY IN THE LOWER VALLEY.
the firing of the enemy did not affect us, except to cut the branches of the trees above us. This was 'Freedom's Natal Day,' the day we celebrate.
" Sigel's forces that crossed the river last night have gone on toward Maryland Heights. We, the cavalry, marched on, going by way of Sharpsburg, and then crossed Antietam Creek by the Burnside Bridge, and continued on to Pleasant Valley. After dark, we moved on down to Sandy Hook, and bivouacked in the road all night, listening to the regular fire of the big gun in the fort on Maryland Heights."
General Max Weber was in command of Harper's Ferry with a force of four hundred men. The enemy's skirmishers at- tacked him early in the forenoon of July 3rd and kept up a fusil- lade all day. Early had sent Gordon and Ramseur that way, ex- pecting to cause our forces to evacuate Maryland Heights. About 7 P. M., Weber withdrew from Harper's Ferry, crossing to Mary- land Heights, taking up the Pontoon bridge, and destroying the trestle work at the Virginia end of the railroad bridge. The enemy's forces could not occupy Harper's Ferry on account of our artillery on Maryland Heights. They demonstrated against the place on - the 4th and 5th, but as soon as they made their appearance in force they were shelled out.
On the morning of the 5th, Early wrote Breckenridge: "The enemy has not evacuated Maryland Heights and has destroyed the railroad and pontoon bridges so that we cannot cross. Move Gordon's division down towards Harper's so as to compel the evacuation of Maryland Heights. The enemy only has a force of 800 or 1,000 heavy artillery. Sigel has not come down this way, and you will endeavor to find out where he has gone."
Sigel was safely established on the Heights at this time, having arrived at 9 p. M. the night before, and his force consisted of Mulli- gan's two veteran regiments with our dismounted cavalry, and four regiments of the Ohio National Guards, besides two battalions of heavy artillery, and with Stahel's force of some 1,200 or 1,500 cavalry at the base of the mountain, in Pleasant Valley.
Whenever the enemy attempted to plant a battery on Loudon or Bolivar Heights, our big guns from Maryland Heights would begin to drop shells among them. They abandoned any further attempt from the Virginia side to dislodge our troops from Mary- land Heights, and moved up and crossed the Potomac at Antietam and Shepherdstown fords into Maryland. Their cavalry had crossed
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264 TWENTY-SECOND PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
the river on the 4th. On the 6th, McCausland marched into Hagers- town and threatened to burn the town unless they paid him $20,000.00. The money was raised and paid.
Moseby's command had crossed the Potomac at Point of Rocks on the 4th; cut and destroyed the telegraph and robbed the citizens and stores. A detachment of the Sth Illinois Cavalry, sent up from Washington to find out who had broken the telegraph, drove Moseby's men back to the Virginia side. During the next
Harper's Ferry, Va.
day their sharpshooters and their small cannon stationed on the Virginia shore fired across the river on every passing engine or train.
On the 5th, strong cavalry scouts were sent out to the north to locate the enemy. Our detachment went out Middletown Valley. passing through Knoxville, Petersville and beyond in the direction of Frederick, but did not collide with the enemy ; returned to Pleas- ant Valley and camped for the night. Next day. the enemy in force demonstrated vigorously against Maryland Heights. All
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REBEL ARMY IN MARYLAND, July, 1864.
of our brigade advanced up the mountain at Solomon's Pass. There we dismounted, leaving our horses in charge of the fourth man; we formed a line of battle and marched down the north side of the mountain, which was covered so thickly with timber and un- derbrush that we could not see more than fifty yards in front of us until we reached a cleared field about one hundred and fifty yards wide, enclosed by a high rail fence, and there we found the enemy strongly posted in the woods; as we reached the fence, they fired into us, when we were ordered to lie down and return the fire. * The fight was sharp for a little while; then the enemy advanced on both our flanks, when we fell back, capturing several prisoners. Night coming on, firing ceased and we remounted and moved back to our camp of the previous night, being lulled to sleep by the music of the big guns in the fort.
The next morning, July 7th, the artillery firing which had been kept up through the night became pretty lively; it was Brecken- ridge's corps making a final effort to make Sigel evacuate the Heights. Our cavalry brigade moved up the same valley again and found the enemy; after skirmishing with him for some time, he fell back. "Finding his lines shelled for a long distance by Sigel's batteries, whch prevented his own from getting into position, Early at length drew off across South Mountain toward Frederick." He had spent three days " skirmishing around the Heights " attempting to secure a repetition of the disgraceful surrender of that strong- hold to " Stonewall " Jackson in 1862.
MOVEMENTS OF THE DISMOUNTED DETACHMENT.
In the meantime, our dismounted detachment was kept busy, as follows, from Sergeant Gehrett's journal :
Tuesday morning, July 5th, we fell into line and moved off in the direction of Sharpsburg; the cry at once ran from one end of the line to the other, " We are going to Pennsylvania," but the expectation was soon nipped in the bud, as we filed off to the right of the road and formed in line of battle, but no enemy putting in an appearance, we broke ranks and put in the time as best pleased us.
Next morning. fierce cannonading was heard in our front. and we were ordered into line and moved out into the rifle pits which had
Max Weber and Sigel received the following in a telegram from General Halleck 4: 11 :00 A. M .. on the 5th in the fortifications on Maryland Heights : " The first man who proposes a surrender, or retreats, should be hung.'
* Sergeant J. W. Elwood of Company A was wounded here.
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266
TWENTY-SECOND PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
been formed by some other troops. At twelve o'clock that night, we went out on the skirmish line and remained until the next morning, when we were relieved; marched back to the intrenchments, ate breakfast and watched the firing of the skirmishers. During the forenoon, General Sigel ordered a family out of a brick farmhouse, in which he posted a part of Company K as sharpshooters. When night came, we were ordered to lie on our arms and be in readiness any moment for an assault by the enemy. Between dark and mid- night, the whole country about was illuminated by the burning of some buildings by the Confederates.
The morning of July 8th, we recrossed the river and marched up Bolivar Heights. The Confederates had arranged a number of very convenient places for their sharpshooters, one of whom had been shot and left.lying under the railroad and, when observed, was in an advanced state of decomposition. In the afternoon, we re- crossed the Potomac and marched down the Middletown Valley several miles and halted for the night.
July 9th, we resumed our march and advanced within a short distance of Petersville. A detail from Company K was sent out on the skirmish line. The end of our line joined the 23rd Illinois (Colonel Mulligan's Regiment) ; during the night, an officer of the 23rd found one of his men asleep on post and roused him by giving him a brutal kick in the face, which caused him to howl as if Old Early's army was after him. Several prisoners were brought in, but no attack was made. In the evening. the regiment marched back about a mile and camped in a piece of woods where we re- mained for several days.
THE BATTLE OF MONOČACY.
As heretofore stated, Grant and Halleck, up until late on the 5th of July did not credit the reports as to the strength of the enemy about Harper's Ferry. On the 3rd, General Lew Wallace, in command of the Department of Maryland, began to gather together his forces to resist the advancing enemy. He withdrew from the de- fenses of Baltimore his few experienced troops and sent them forward to. the vicinity of Monocacy Junction and substituted in their places at Baltimore National Guardsmen. He sent forward Alexander's Battery, with six pieces of artillery, and attached to his command a battalion of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Clendenin, a very gallant officer. He also brought forward one regiment of the Ohio National Guard. He
LEW WALLACE SAVES WASHINGTON, July, 1864. 267
had these on the ground by the 4th. By the next day, Grant and Halleck became convinced that Early with Ewell's old corps was also with the invaders, and that owing to the rapidity with which they were advancing, Hunter's army could not reach Maryland over a crippled railroad in time to reinforce Wallace. At midnight of the 5th, Grant telegraphed Halleck that he had ordered to Baltimore by boat one division of infantry, Ricketts (of 6th corps) and was also sending to Washington some 2,500 dismounted cavalry, odds and ends and convalescents. The first installments of Ricketts' division were disembarked at Baltimore at 9 P. M., on the night of the 7th, and forwarded to Wallace at Monocacy; other installments con- tinued to arrive during the next day and were sent forward, but the last three regiments only arrived in time to cover the retreat after the battle of Monocacy. On the 9th, General Grant ordered the re- mainder of the 6th Corps to embark by boat for Washington, and later, ordered part of the 19th Corps, which arrived on board a vessel from New Orleans, to proceed on to Washington instead of landing at Fortress Monroe. The country was now thoroughly aroused. The States of New Work, Pennsylvania and Ohio were called on for many thousand more 100-days' troops for defense.
On the afternoon of the 7th, Colonel Clendenin, of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, with a force of 450 mounted men with three pieces of artillery, was sent on a scout a few miles west of Frederick, where "he. met Colonel Bradley T. Johnston's Maryland Rebel Cavalry, which he attacked vigorously and drove back, but the enemy's whole brigade coming up, Clendenin was compelled to fall back to Fred- erick, where he made a stand and repulsed them, when the enemy fell back through the mountain. Clendenin was then reinforced, when he pursued the enemy and fought and drove him back. Wal- lace had determined to make his stand on the south bank of the Monocacy River, where he could command both the turnpike to Washington and that to Baltimore, and ordered Clendenin to fall back to this position.
The next morning, July Sth, General Early entered the City of Frederick and demanded a cash ransom of $200,000, or he would destroy the town. The money was raised and paid. He proceeded to supply his army with clothing, shoes and provisions from the stores. Bradley Johnson, with his brigade of cavalry and some ar- tillery, was assigned the mission of menacing Baltimore, destroying the railroad bridges in that vicinity and releasing the Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, which he proceeded to attempt to do.
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268 TWENTY-SECOND PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
destroying the bridges, but did not find the way clear for releasing the prisoners. General Early spent the day in and about Frederick, expecting to move forward on the next morning to Washington ; he was not troubling himself about the opposition Wallace would give him, as he knew the inferiority of the latter's forces.
General Wallace, fully realizing the peril of the National Cap- ital, determined to fight and hold the enemy in check as long as possible, in the hope that reinforcements from Grant's army might reach the .city before the arrival of Early's army. On the night of the Sth, Wallace crossed all his forces to the south bank of the Monocacy River, taking advantageous position on the higher ground, placing on his left, the 3,300 6th Corps veterans of Ricketts' di- vision, for he rightly judged that the brunt of the enemy's attack would fall upon that flank. Clendenin's battalion of the 8th Illinois Cavalry was assigned to the left of Ricketts; on the right, Wallace placed the remainder of his force, some 2,500 men, half of whom were National Guards, who had never been under fire; General Tyler was in command of this force on the right. Next morning, the enemy advanced with a strong skirmish line, at the same time opening with his artillery, the principal attack being made upon Ricketts. Brisk fighting was kept up until past the middle of the day, when McCausland's cavalry, which had crossed the river some distance to our left, dismounted and made an assault upon the flank of Ricketts and Clendenin. Our men repulsed this attack handsomely, driving McCausland's men back upon their infantry. Gordon's entire corps was then crossed over and thrown upon Ricketts' flank, which, unable to withstand such overwhelming num- bers, was obliged to fall back. Tyler's forces were then fiercely attacked and driven ; several hundred National Guards, defending a bridge, held their ground too long, were cut off and captured. Our forces fell back toward Baltimore. the enemy pursuing for but a short distance. Gordon reported a loss of 698; Ricketts lost §4 killed and 511 wounded. This, from the Union standpoint, was one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and was one of the most, prob- ably the most, important.
General Early remained to bury his dead and place his wounded in the hospitals at Frederick, and did not resume his march on to Washington, until the morning of the 10th. He was thus delaved twenty-four hours, suffered a severe loss of men and his men were physically exhausted with an all-day battle. Had General Early's march been undisputed at this time, he would have arrived before
LEW WALLACE SAVES WASHINGTON, July, 1864. 269
the Capital full twenty hours before General Wright's divisions occupied the defenses of the city, and the Nation, in all probability, would have suffered the humiliation of having the Capitol captured by the enemy. The effect of such a calamity upon the result of the great conflict can only be conjectured.
During the month of June, Lieutenant Joe Lane, of Company C. had been in command of a body of dismounted cavalrymen at Martinsburg, a dozen or so of them being Ringgold Battalion men, who had lost their horses. On the morning of July 2nd, Lieutenant Lane was ordered to conduct a train of 175 wagons to Maryland. In the excitement of the approaching enemy, his command fell away until he only had remaining his Ringgold Battalion boys and a few dependable men from other regiments.
With great difficulty, he held the drivers to their work and got the train through to Frederick, where he parked it and reported to General Lew Wallace. With his command, he was first assigned to provost duty, gathering up stragglers and attaching them to his command; later he was ordered to report to Lieutenant Colonel Clendenin, of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. At one time his com- mand numbered 200 men, but by the morning of the battle of Monocacy, it had diminished to 37, nearly half of whom were from his own regiment; his report of losses during the few days pre- ceding was, " Killed, 0; wounded, 1; missing, 163.
His remnant of 37 men were of the right sort and were hotly engaged in the battle. They, with some other cavalry, were as- signed to the right to patrol the pike; here they were charged by Major Gilmor's Cavalry and driven back on the main force. They were again ordered out the pike, and were again charged and driven back toward Baltimore, giving the enemy a running fight all the way back to Ellicott's Mills. These were the only 22nd Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Cavalrymen engaged in the battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1864.
General John B. Gordon (Confederate), in his report of the battle of Monocacy, says :
" I desire in this connection to state a fact of which I was an eye witness, and which, for its rare occurrence and the evidence which it affords of the sanguinary character of this struggle, I consider worthy of official mention.
"One portion of the enemy's (Union) second line extended along a branch from which he was driven, leaving many dead and wounded in the water and along its banks. This position was occu-
270 TWENTY-SECOND PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
pied in turn by a portion of Evans' Brigade in the attack on the enemy's third line. So profuse was the flow of blood from the killed and wounded of both these forces that it reddened the stream for more than a hundred yards below."
EARLY MARCHES ON WASHINGTON.
At daylight next morning, July 10th, the enemy marched out the turnpike for Washington, and notwithstanding the intense heat of that July day and the choking dust, he made twenty miles, camp- ing that night near to Rockville, fifteen miles from the defenses of Washington. Many of his men, overcome by the heat, fell out by the way. Ramseur's Division had tarried at the Monocacy to com- plete the destruction of the railroad bridge; here Sigel's Cavalry came up and attacked them. Our regiment, which had been de- tached for scout duty the previous day, rejoined the brigade this morning of the 10th, and set out after the enemy. We charged into the city of Frederick, driving out the rear of the Confederate forces and capturing a number of prisoners, and passed on through to the Monocacy River; fording the river, we passed through the battle-field of the previous. day, where many of the dead and some wounded were still lying. * We advanced about three miles when we came up with the enemy and attacked them, capturing about eighty prisoners, many of them stragglers who had fallen behind as the day was excessively hot, the roads very dusty, and their army was making a forced march to reach and capture Washington be- fore reinforcements could arrive. Learning. that his men were straggling and being captured, Early ordered a strong rear-guard to prevent this. They soon opened on us with artillery; as we had no artillery and only about 150 men, we fell back a little be- hind a hill until some reinforcements arrived, when we again ad- 'vanced about two miles, but not finding the enemy, we returned to
On the 0th, almost our entire force went to within a few miles of Frederick City, where we encamped, or rather, lay on our arms all night. On the morning of the 10th, bright and early, our cavalry moved on to the City, through the streets of which we charged, driving out the rear of the Rebel forces. In this charge. Captain MacDonald of the 20th Pa., Cavalry was killed. He was a brave man and fell while leading his men in the charge that drove the rebels headlong from the streets of the city. We followed the enemy some distance beyond the Monocacy River in the direction of Washington City. On coming up to the main body of the enemy, we were forced to fall back. We cap- tured in all, about 80 prisoners that day, and from what we could learn of them, they are heartily tired of the war .- Lieut. Crago.
July 10, 1864.
* Major-General Breckenridge,
General: General Rameur reports a body of several hundred cavalry following and annoying him. Send word to Gordon and also to Echols and let them picket well. Let a battery be sent to Gordon to-night to be placed in position commanding the road from Frederick. Let him also put out pickets covering our wagon-trains.
J. A. EARLY, Lieutenant-General.
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REBEL ARMY BEFORE WASHINGTON, JULY, 1864. 271
the Monocacy River, crossed it at dark and stayed there all night. Next morning a detail of cavalry was burying the dead and re- moving to the hospital the wounded that remained.
On the morning of the 11th, Early marched on, coming within range of the fortifications of Washington about noon. He made a reconnaissance and determined to make an assault after his exhausted troops could rest sufficiently and the remainder of his forces, which were strung out for miles, would arrive. His rear did not arrive until 6 P. M.
At this time, noon, July 11th, the troops in the fortifications around Washington were mostly " emergency men," 100-days' Na- tional Guardsmen, men of Veteran Reserve Corps, the dismounted cavalry, city militia, made up of Government employees, and num- bers of odds and ends. The fortifications encircling the city for a distance of more than thirty miles were very strong and well mounted with artillery, but the forces assembled in them for de- fense when distributed throughout the long line of forts, were entirely insufficient in number, even had they been experienced troops; the number of trained artillerymen in the fortifications was entirely inadequate.
The city was in a state of high tension. At twelve, noon, of the 11th, Halleck telegraphed Grant: "General Wright has just ar- rived and part of his corps will soon be in. Enemy close to our lines on Rockville Road, skirmishing with our cavalry and pickets."
President Lincoln went down to the landing to greet the 6th Corps boys as they landed. The people of the city gave them a great ovation as they marched through to the forts on the north side where the enemy was advancing. Shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon, General Wright had reached Fort Stevens, in front of which there had been some lively skirmishing.
General E. P. Alexander, in his book, " Military Memoirs of a Confederate," sums up the situation briefly as follows :
" Never before, probably, had Washington been as bare of troops as when Early arrived before it on the afternoon of July 11th. But there were regular garrisons of infantry and artillery at many of the permanent forts-District of Columbia volunteers- regiments of Veteran Reserves-many miscellaneous detachments at the camp of instruction and about 2,000 organized employees of the quartermaster's department. These troops alone, without aid, could have defended the city indefinitely and forced Early to un- dertake a siege. That night, there arrived the two remaining
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272 TWENTY-SECOND PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
divisions of the 6th Corps and 6,000 men of the 19th corps, under Emory, from New Orleans. In the afternoon, Early had recon- noitered, and in consultation with his officers, had ordered an as- sault in the morning. It is scarcely credible that he would have made more than a demonstration, for any real attack would have been but a bloody farce."
General Early had contemplated making an assault on the for- tifications as soon as his somewhat tardy columns would arrive, but the arrival of the two divisions of the 6th Corps veterans, some two hours before his rear came up, caused him to reconsider his de- termination. Here the situation was almost the same as at Lynch- burg on the 18th of June, only that now Early was on the outside of the defences, and the arrival of reinforcements to the defenders of the beleaguered city, before he could make an assault, left him no chance of success.
In his report to General Lee, he says: "When we reached the
. right of the enemy's fortifications (on the 11th) the men were al- most completely exhausted and not in a condition to make an attack. The works, we found to be very strong and con- structed very scientifically. They consist of a circle of enclosed forts, connected by breastworks, with ditches, palisades and abatis in front, and every approach swept by a cross-fire of artillery. I determined to make an assault, but before it could be made, it became apparent that the enemy had been strongly reinforced, and we knew that the 6th Corps had arrived from Grant's army ; I therefore reluctantly determined to retire, and, as it was evident, preparations were being made to cut off my retreat. I de- termined to retire across the Potomac before it became too late. Sigel was at Maryland Heights, Hunter was making his way to get in my rear, and Couch was organizing a militia force in Pennsylvania."
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