CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Gift of 
 
 NEWTON C. FARR 
 
 Class of 1909 
 
E601 .M^""" ""'™™">' Library 
 Cfvjl War experiences 
 
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 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
CIVIL WAR 
 EXPERIENCES 
 
 UNDER 
 
 BAYARD, GREGG, KILPATRICK, CUSTER 
 RAULSTON, AND NEWBERRY 
 
 1862, 1863, 1864 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY G. MEYER 
 
 CAPTAIN 24TH NEW YORK CAVALRY 
 BREVET-MAJOR NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1911 
 
 y^^ 
 
 ,c-<'"<<, 
 
 
 
The Knickerbocker Press 
 
 (g. p. PUTNAM'S Sons) 
 
 N ew Yo RK 
 
INTEODUOTION 
 
 r^UEING December, 1895, I received a letter 
 
 ■L-' from General Wal|;er C. Newberry, of 
 
 Chicago, who during the Civil War commanded 
 
 the 24th New York Cavalry. In this the General 
 
 wrote : 
 
 " My Dear Major Meyer : 
 
 " You will remember how urgent the boys were 
 last summer for a history of the Eegiment to 
 be prepared. I resolved then to gratify them 
 and am engaged on it now. I want you to aid 
 me to the extent of giving me a detailed account 
 of yourself — nativity, date of birth, former ser- 
 vice, engagements that you were in that led up 
 to your promotion, your service with us, your 
 wounding and incidents accompanying it, your 
 period of treatment in the Hospital, your civil 
 record since, and be kind enough not to be at 
 all modest in setting it all forth. I shall not 
 use your language, neither shall I give you 
 credit for the biography, and you may drop all 
 modesty with me and give it to me in full. You 
 may have kept something of a diary or there 
 may be some old letters that you have written 
 which will give me some record by dates of the 
 Eegiment's service. I want it all." 
 
 In 1896 I complied with this request to the 
 extent of giving a brief account of my service 
 
 iii 
 
iv INTRODUCTION 
 
 in the Army. Since then, members of my 
 family and a few personal friends have asked 
 me to incorporate in this account incidents that 
 I recalled, some of which they had heard me 
 relate, asserting that they would be of interest 
 to my grandchildren. 
 
 The following story is my attempt to accede 
 to these requests. I am naturally proud of hav- 
 ing had the privilege of serving under the Gen- 
 erals I have mentioned, and the story recited 
 in the following pages is in accordance with my 
 recollection of events that occurred over forty- 
 five years ago. 
 
 Henry C. Meyee. 
 New York, May, 1911. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter T 1 
 
 Enlistment; Journey to Regiment; First Picket 
 Duty; Raid to Fredericks Hall. 
 
 Chapter II 8 
 
 Night after Battle of Cedar Mountain; Death of 
 Captain Walters at Rapidan; Retreat from 
 Rapidan; Battle at Brandy Station. 
 
 Chapter III 13 
 
 Second Battle at Bull Run; Destruction of Sey- 
 mour's Squadron; Death of Compton; A 
 Wounded Soldier's Heroism; Fitz-John Porter's 
 Message to Kilpatrick; Longstreet's Assault 
 on Left of Pope's Army; To Alexandria to 
 Refit. 
 
 Chapter IV 20 
 
 Refitting at Ball's Cross Roads; Skirmishing 
 around Centerville; Advance after Antietam; 
 Soldier's Opinion on McClellan's being Super- 
 seded; Battle of Fredericksburg; Death of 
 Bayard. 
 
 Chapter V 23 
 
 Detailed at General Gregg's Headquarters; The 
 Stoneman Raid. 
 
 Chapter VI 27 
 
 Gettysburg Campaign; Battle at Brandy Sta- 
 tion; Wounded at Stuart's Headquarters. 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 PACE 
 
 Chapter VII 33 
 
 Battles at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville. 
 
 Chapter VIII 42 
 
 Crossing the Potomac; Scenes in Frederick and 
 Liberty; Girls' Boarding School at New Wind- 
 sor; March to Gettysburg. 
 
 Chapter IX 47 
 
 Second and Third Days of Battle at Gettysburg; 
 Gregg's Cavalry Engagement on the Right; 
 Repulse of Stuart. 
 
 Chapter X 54 
 
 Day Following the Battle at Gettysburg; Com- 
 pelling Citizens to Assist in Burying the Dead; 
 Scenes in Gettysburg; Nick Finding John 
 Bums; Following up Lee's Army; Wounded 
 Confederates Left Behind. 
 
 Chapter XI 58 
 
 Return to Virginia; Crossing at Harper's Ferry; 
 Battle at Shepherdstown ; Confederate Prisoner 
 Reporting the Condition of a Cousin in Con- 
 federate Army; Advance from Sulphur Springs 
 to the Rapidan. 
 
 Chapter XII 62 
 
 Transferred to General Kilpatrick's Head- 
 quarters; Battle on Retreat from Cul- 
 peper; Battle at Buckland's Mills; Granted 
 a Furlough; Recommended for a Commission; 
 Appointed a Second Lieutenant; Leaving Gen- 
 eral Kilpatrick. 
 
 Chapter XIII 71 
 
 Joined 24th New York Cavalry at Auburn, 
 
CONTENTS vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 N. Y.; Trip to Washington; At Camp Stone- 
 man; March to Join Army of the Potomac; 
 Experience at Battle of the Wilderness; First 
 Sight of General Grant. 
 
 Chapter XIV 78 
 
 At Spottsylvania ; Finding Confederate Dead in 
 Breastworks; Selected to Guide a Division to 
 a Position for Night Assault; Sent to Wash- 
 ington for Ammunition. 
 
 Chapter XV 86 
 
 Experience at North Anna and Cold Harbor; 
 General Grant and Confederate Prisoner; 
 Crossing the James; Assault on Works at 
 Petersburg; Wounded; At Field Hospital; 
 Journey to City Point and Seminary Hospital 
 at Georgetown, D. C; Removal to Dobbs 
 Ferry; Convalescence. 
 
 Chapter XVI 96 
 
 General D. McM. Gregg, General Kilpatrick, 
 Colonel Henry C. Weir, General Walter C. 
 Newberry, Colonel William C. Raulston, Qen- 
 eral L. G. Estes, General E. W. Whitaker, 
 Captain Theodore F. Northrop. 
 
 Appendix A 103 
 
 Appendix B 109 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Henry C. Meter . 
 Corporal Henry E. Johns . 
 General Judson Kilpatrick 
 Colonel Henry C, Weir . 
 General D. McM. Gregg . 
 General George A. Custer 
 General E. W. Whitaker . 
 Captain Theodore F. Northrop 
 General L. G. Estes . 
 Colonel W. 0. Eahlston . 
 General Walter C. Newberry . 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 6 
 16 
 24 
 34 
 48 
 62 
 66 
 70 
 72 
 93 
 
Civil War Experiences 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 /^N the day Fort Sumter surrendered I was 
 ^^ seventeen years old, having been born April 
 14, 1844. Like other boys, I proposed enlisting, 
 but my father refused consent ; and at that time 
 youths under eighteen years would not be ac- 
 cepted without the consent of parents. In July 
 of the following year, when the news of McOlel- 
 lan's retreat on the Peninsula was published, I 
 was satisfied that the Government would need 
 more men, and having carefully considered the 
 matter, and being then eighteen years of age, 
 T decided to go without my father's consent. 
 Seeing a newspaper item to the efifect that Cap- 
 tain Mallory, of the Harris Light Cavalry, had 
 arrived in New York, and proposed to enlist 
 some men for that regiment, I called upon him 
 at the Metropolitan Hotel and made known my 
 desire. He informed me that his recruiting 
 office was not then arranged, though he had 
 engaged a room a little farther up Broadway, 
 and his sergeant was preparing to open it. He 
 
 1 
 
2 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 seemed reluctant to take me, and talked to me 
 as though I were too young to go, and as if 
 I did not realize what I was about to under- 
 take. I assured him that I had considered the 
 matter well, and that I was physically strong; 
 and that if he would not accept me I would 
 try to enlist in Duryea's Zouaves, who were, at 
 that time, enlisting men. He then told me to 
 go up and see his sergeant and that he would 
 come up later. I found the room, but the ser- 
 geant, however, had not yet unpacked the papers. 
 On getting them opened he said he was unable 
 to make them out, whereupon I asked him to 
 let me examine them, and proceeded to make 
 out my own enlistment papers, the sergeant 
 watching me. While I was thus engaged, a man 
 with his arm off came in. He had just that day 
 been discharged from the hospital, and inquired 
 what steps he should take to get a pension, hav- 
 ing been attracted by the flag hanging out of 
 the office window. I noticed the sergeant was 
 particularly anxious to get him out of the room, 
 evidently not considering him a desirable ac- 
 quisition to facilitate recruiting. I explained 
 to the man what he should do. The sergeant, 
 when he saw me make out my enlistment papers, 
 remarked, " They won't keep you long in the 
 ranks, because they can get better work for you 
 to do," or words to that effect. I did not then 
 comprehend what he meant, but my subsequent 
 experience explained it. I was then sent to the 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 3 
 
 examining physician, examined, passed, and 
 sworn in for three years' service. 
 
 That night I went to my home, at Dobb's 
 Ferry, on the Hudson River, and reported what 
 I had done, intending to leave for Washington 
 the next morning, when I was promised trans- 
 portation. This interview with my parents was 
 quite unpleasant, as my father was very angry 
 and my mother in great distress. At that time 
 both my father and his friends regarded my 
 action as worse than foolish and almost as bad 
 as though I had done something disreputable. 
 Indeed, as I was afterwards informed, one gen- 
 tleman, remarked, "Well, that is too bad; that 
 boy has gone to the devil, too." 
 
 The following morning I bade my parents 
 good-bye, feeling that if I were wounded or 
 crippled I should not care to return home for 
 them to take care of me. Subsequent letters 
 from home, however, removed that feeling. The 
 following night, having received transportation, 
 I sailed as the only passenger on a freight trans- 
 port from a pier near the Battery to South 
 Amboy. I well remember my feelings as I 
 watched New York receding in the distance, 
 there being no excitement or hand-shaking or 
 waving of flags such as accompanied the de- 
 parture of the first troops that left New York 
 for thirty days' service the year before. From 
 Amboy I went on a coal train to Philadelphia. 
 
 On landing at Walnut Street wharf I went 
 
4 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 
 
 into the soldiers' refreshment room, maintained 
 by the citizens of Philadelphia, which was open 
 night and day, and at which all soldiers passing 
 through the city were fed free of charge. It 
 was about two o'clock in the morning, very hot, 
 and I was tired and depressed. Hence, when 
 invited to partake of some refreshments, I was 
 unable to do so but contented myself with eating 
 a few pickles. 
 
 I then walked across the city to the Baltimore 
 depot, which was then at the corner of Broad 
 and Pine Streets, and took a passenger train for 
 Baltimore, which I reached about seven o'clock 
 in the morning, sitting up, as there were no 
 sleeping-cars in those days. On arriving in Bal- 
 timore I walked to another part of the city to 
 take the train for Washington. Meanwhile I 
 wanted some breakfast. Groing into a place 
 which I supposed was a restaurant, I found that 
 the only thing they could offer me was ice-cream. 
 I thereupon ate some, and soon after took the 
 train for Washington. In a few moments the 
 Philadelphia pickles, the hot night, and the Bal- 
 timore ice-cream produced most severe cramps, 
 and I Avas in a very distressed state of mind, 
 fearing that I would never be able to reach the 
 front, but would have to submit to the mortifi- 
 cation of being returned home. 
 
 Arriving in Washington, I went to Willard's 
 Hotel, and, after a good sleep, was able to take 
 my dinner that evening. I had on citizen's 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 5 
 
 clothes and was not recognized as a private 
 soldier in the United States Army, so the head- 
 waiter assigned me to a seat at a table where 
 General Halleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Army, sat opposite. 
 
 That evening, my uncle, E. V. Price, who was 
 in Washington, met me at the hotel and took 
 me to General Pope's room. The latter had just 
 arrived in Washington to take command of the 
 Army of the Potomac. My uncle procured a 
 pass from him to enable me to go through the 
 lines and join my regiment, the Second New 
 York Cavalry (Harris Light). It was stationed 
 at Falmouth, Virginia. J. Mansfield Davies was 
 the colonel at that time, and Judson Kilpatrick 
 the lieutenant-colonel. My uncle, who knew 
 Colonel Davies, introduced me to him that even- 
 ing at the hotel. The following morning I ac- 
 companied him on the boat to Aquia Creek and 
 reached the regiment on the evening of that day. 
 
 In two or three days I received my uniform 
 and a horse was given to me. The fact that I 
 had been seen coming into camp with the Colonel 
 led some of the non-commissioned officers and 
 men of my company to assume that I did not 
 intend to serve in the ranks, but would likely 
 be commissioned shortly and probably be jumped 
 over them, who had already been out some time, 
 though they had not been in any battle, their 
 previous service being confined to drilling and 
 a skirmish or two. This made it very unpleas- 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENOES 7 
 
 night from our lines, because it was at the foot 
 of a deep ravine. I don't imagine any female 
 spy crossed at that point. If we had been 
 caught asleep, however, it would have been an 
 embarrassing position for both of us to have been 
 placed in. 
 
 A few days later the Harris Light Cavalry 
 made a raid in the neighborhood of Fredericks 
 Hall, Virginia, in which movement the command 
 marched some ninety miles in thirty hours. This 
 was hard on the men, and many of them were 
 confined to their tents on their return to camp, 
 from saddle boils and lameness, for a day or 
 two. I found it dif&cult to keep awake on the 
 march and picket, yet I was able to do duty 
 without interruption. 
 
 On this raid the regiment destroyed consider- 
 able property, and many of the men carried 
 away all sorts of things for which they had 
 no use. Indeed, I heard Colonel Kilpatrick 
 laughingly remark that one fellow, in his zeal 
 to have something, actually had a grindstone on 
 his saddle in front of him. After carrying it 
 about a mile he concluded, however, that he had 
 no further use for it, and dropped it in the road. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 A FEW days afterwards the regiment marched 
 through Culpeper and reached the battle- 
 field of Cedar Mountain late on the day on which 
 that engageihent was fought. We approached 
 the battlefield through what would be called the 
 rear, where we first saw the horrible sights 
 accompanying a battle, which are always dead 
 horses, broken caissons, bodies lying on the 
 ground, and the wounded. On the front line 
 these sights are not so prominent. 
 
 The regiment was pushed to the front and 
 placed on picket duty, I being posted on the 
 edge of a piece of woods overlooking a valley, 
 on the opposite side of which was Slaughter 
 Mountain, where Stonewall Jackson's army was 
 supposed to be. 
 
 While at my post on picket that night, an 
 incident occurred which made a deep impression 
 upon me, doubtless due to the time and place 
 and the incidents of the preceding two weeks. 
 Before leaving home, I had promised my mother 
 that I would read at least one verse in my 
 Testament each day. Not having done so that 
 day was due to the fact that we had been march- 
 ing and to the excitement attending the reaching 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 9 
 
 of the battlefield and being put in position. I 
 then took out my pocket Testament and went to 
 a picket fire near where I was, leaning over to 
 read a verse or two by its light, when I heard 
 a rustle in the bushes. Immediately I grasped 
 my weapons and was on the alert, when a colored 
 man crawled through the bushes and said to 
 me, " What 's that you got there, a Testament? " 
 On admitting it, he said, " Do you know the 
 chapter General Washington always used to read 
 before he went into a fight? " I told him I did 
 not, whereupon he said, " You turn to the Ninety- 
 first Psalm." " Now," he said, " you read it." 
 I then read aloud : 
 
 " Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare 
 of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. 
 
 " He shall cover thee with His feathers and 
 under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth 
 shall be thy shield and buckler. 
 
 " Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by 
 night nor for the arrow that flieth by day. 
 
 " Nor for the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
 ness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at 
 noon day. 
 
 " A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten 
 thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not 
 come nigh thee." 
 
 At the reading of each of these verses, he ex- 
 claimed, " You see, he did n't get hit." The con- 
 traband evidently was perfectly sincere in the 
 belief that if I read this verse before a battle 
 
10 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 I would never get hurt. He then went away. 
 This incident, coupled with the facts that I had 
 only been about ten days away from home, that 
 I had seen the horrible sights of the battlefield 
 the previous afternoon, that I could see the 
 enemy's camp-fires across the valley, and that 
 I was wondering what fate was in store for me 
 the following day, — all tended to impress this 
 incident upon my mind. 
 
 The next morning the regiment advanced to 
 the Rapidan River, presumably with the object 
 of searching for the flank of Jackson's army. 
 Just above the ford, which I think was Robert- 
 son's, was the residence of the Confederate Gen- 
 eral Taliaferro. Our picket line was between 
 the house and the river. Captain Walters of 
 my regiment had arranged with Mrs. Taliaferro 
 to have breakfast at her house. She and her 
 niece were engaged in a good-natured altercation 
 with some of the men of my company, she re- 
 peatedly remarking, " I want you men to under- 
 stand that I am the granddaughter of Chief- 
 Justice Marshall of the United States." When 
 she had said this several times an Irishman of 
 my company remarked, " And who the divil is 
 he anyhow? " The disgust on her face may well 
 be imagined. I had been polite in my remarks 
 to her when she turned upon me and asked, 
 " Are n't you from New Orleans? " I told her, 
 "No," that I was from New York, when she shook 
 her head sadly and said, " Well, I 'm surprised 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 11 
 
 that apparently such a nice young man as you 
 should be engaged in such a wicked cause as 
 this." The laughter of my comrades which 
 greeted this remark was followed by their teas- 
 ing me the rest of the campaign, calling me, 
 " The nice young man and the wicked cause." 
 
 About this time the pickets began firing, when 
 Captain Walters remarked, " I will go down and 
 see what the matter is." He mounted his horse, 
 started down the hill toward the ford, and in 
 a moment or two was brought back dead, their 
 sharpshooters having shot him through the heart 
 immediately after he left the house. This was 
 the first time I had heard bullets whistle. 
 
 That night Stonewall Jackson's movement to 
 the flank and rear of Pope's army resulted in 
 the recall of the cavalry and a night march 
 through Culpeper to Brandy Station. We bi- 
 vouacked for the night, but did not unsaddle. 
 About daybreak we were attacked. Although 
 I heard bullets whistle at the Rapidan River, 
 where Captain Walters was killed, this was the 
 first real engagement 1 was in. In the early part 
 of it we were supporting the skirmish line. 
 Later in the day the battalion in which my com- 
 pany was made a charge, led by Major Henry 
 E. Davies, in which a number were killed and 
 wounded, and some confusion ensued by reason 
 of a railroad cut, into which the command rode, 
 its existence not being known when the charge 
 was ordered. Prior to this, in the retreating 
 
12 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 movements of that morning, my horse, which 
 had become blind from the hard marching of 
 the night before, fell in a ditch with me. He 
 struggled out, and I was able to remount him, 
 though we were quite hard pressed by the 
 advancing enemy. 
 
 The Harris Light Cavalry was one of the regi- 
 ments of General George D. Bayard's brigade, 
 which for sixteen successive days was under fire 
 and engaged in most arduous service in covering 
 the retreat of Pope's army and watching the 
 fords on the Rappahannock River to detect the 
 crossing of General Lee's troops. This con- 
 tinuous service terminated with the second 
 battle of Bull Run, where Lieutenant Compton, 
 the only remaining officer with my company, was 
 killed. This occurred the evening before the last 
 day of the battle. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THERE had been some very severe fighting 
 on the part of King's division. We ap- 
 proached the field from Manassas Junction, 
 arriving about nine o'clock. As we were riding 
 through this division, the men called out, " What 
 regiment is that? " When we told them they 
 arose and cheered us, for we had been with 
 them on a former occasion. Then, as we were 
 approaching the Centerville pike, Kilpatrick 
 rode down the column calling out, " General 
 MacDowell wants the Harris Light to take a 
 battery." " Draw sabres." We drew sabres, put 
 our cap bands under our chins, and turned into 
 the pike, then to the left, moving a short dis- 
 tance, and then into a field, also on the left, 
 forming in column of squadrons. It was then 
 too dark to see any distance ahead. My position 
 was within one or two of the flank of my 
 company, where I heard Kilpatrick order my 
 squadron to go out into the road to charge this 
 battery, which we could not see. As we were not 
 the last squadron in the column, which happened 
 to be Captain Seymour's, he said, " Never mind, 
 take the last one," which was fortunate for us. 
 In a moment or two we heard the clatter of 
 
 13 
 
14 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 the horses' hoofs on the pike, and then saw a 
 sheet of fire from the enemy's lines some distance 
 ahead, which I understood was on the edge of 
 a piece of woods. This fire was also doing dam- 
 age to our columns exposed to it, when the order 
 was given for us to "wheel and retire," where 
 we could get under cover. 
 
 From this unfortunate charge only eleven men 
 came back that night. It was said that they 
 were subjected to not only the fire of the enemy 
 but also from our infantry on the right of the 
 road, who, hearing the clatter of the horses' 
 hoofs, and unable to see what caused it, assumed 
 it to be a charge of the enemy's cavalry, when 
 they also opened fire. It was felt at the time 
 that the ordering of this charge was a blunder, 
 and yet it was one of the many blunders from 
 which our volunteer army constantly suffered 
 in the early years of the war. Kilpatrick was 
 severely criticised in the regiment for it that 
 night and the next day; little, however, was 
 ever said about it in the reports. Whether Kil- 
 patrick acted under superior orders or on his 
 own initiative, I never learned. 
 
 A few minutes after the regiment had retired 
 a short distance. Sergeant Griswold came up 
 and reported to Kilpatrick in my hearing that 
 the enemy were advancing their lines, that our 
 wounded were being captured, and that Lieu- 
 tenant Compton of my company had been killed, 
 and he showed where a bullet had passed through 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 15 
 
 the collar of his coat as he wheeled when asked 
 to surrender. Kilpatrick called for somebody to 
 go with him as an orderly, as he wanted to find 
 General Bayard and General McDowell. This 
 I did, holding his horse while he was in con- 
 ference with these generals that night. 
 
 The next morning we recovered the body of 
 Lieutenant Compton, of whom we were very 
 fond, and we succeeded in making a coffin out 
 of three cracker-boxes from which we took out 
 the ends; wrapping him in a blanket we buried 
 him in this cracker-box coflSn at the corner of 
 the old stone house on the Centerville Pike. 
 His friends subsequently recovered his remains. 
 We all felt rather blue over the loss of comrades 
 in the affair of the night before, which had 
 seemed to us so needless. 
 
 Among the pathetic incidents of that morning 
 was one which indicated the unselfish heroism 
 of a young soldier. Early in the day some of 
 our men were looking over the battlefield of the 
 night before for missing comrades, and one, I 
 remember, spoke of having found a young boy, 
 apparently not over eighteen years of age, lying 
 with his shattered leg in a pool of blood. My 
 comrade spoke to him saying, " I will go and 
 get somebody to help carry you off," whereupon, 
 the wounded boy faintly remarked : " I do not 
 think you can do me any good, but during the 
 night I heard groans coming from over the hill 
 vonder, and I think if you go there you may 
 
16 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 be able to save some one; but if you will give 
 me a drink of water I will be much obliged." 
 The man gave his canteen to the wounded boy 
 and started off for help. On his return he found 
 the boy, with the canteen clasped in his hands, 
 dead. 
 
 During the morning the armies were getting 
 in position for the final struggle of the after- 
 noon of that day, which, I think, was the thirty- 
 first of August. Our regiment was lying in 
 column of fours awaiting orders. That after- 
 noon, with a view to saving our horses from 
 the effect of shells dropping near us, Kilpatrick 
 got permission to move the column to the right 
 a little, so as to be out of range. While we 
 were making this movement he happened to be 
 riding alongside of me, I being in the ranks, 
 when a staff-officer approached and greeted him, 
 evidently some friend that he had knowa at 
 West Point or in the regular army. This officer 
 leaned forward and said in an earnest manner, 
 " Whose cavalry is this? " Kilpatrick told him 
 it was his. I then heard him say, " General 
 Porter," meaning Fitz-John Porter, " is fearful 
 that there is going to be a break. I wish you 
 would deploy your cavalry in the rear of our 
 lines and do not allow a man to pass through 
 unless he is wounded." Whereupon Kilpatrick 
 gave the order " By fours, left about wheel," and 
 moved the regiment left in front and then into 
 line, with the men at intervals in close skirmish- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 17 
 
 ing order. We no sooner had gotten into line 
 and advanced toward the woods in which Fitz- 
 John Porter's corps was, on the left of our 
 army, than I heard the most terrific crashes of 
 artillery and then the rattle of musketry. This 
 was Longstreet's corps opening on us. In a few 
 moments Porter's men came swarming out of 
 the woods. After them came the Confederates, 
 with their batteries close up with their infantry. 
 Several times I saw our regiments rally, but 
 they were completely overpowered and swept 
 away, resistance being apparently impossible. 
 It was this attack of Longstreet's with a su- 
 perior force which Porter had predicted and 
 which General Pope had refused to believe pos- 
 sible, which resulted in the crushing of the left 
 of our army, and the defeat of General Pope at 
 the second battle of Bull Run. 
 
 Having overhead the anxious message of Gen- 
 eral Porter's stafiE-oflEicer to Colonel Kilpatrick, I 
 assumed that it was my duty to carry out in- 
 structions literally, that is, I tried to stop every 
 man I could from passing to the rear. When 
 all our guns at that part of the field had lim- 
 bered up, except those of one regular battery, I 
 met a squad of men with a major making for 
 the rear. I rode up and told them to go and 
 lie down beside this battery until I could get 
 more men to act as a support. He demurred, 
 stating that it was no use, and at my remon- 
 strating with him, one of his men, an Irishman, 
 
18 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 spoke up and said, "Who the divil are you to 
 be talking that way to our officer? " However, 
 the major and his squad went with me and lay 
 down alongside the battery, when I started for 
 another squad. I had gone but a few rods when 
 the major got up and went over the hill with 
 his men. In the light of what I learned after- 
 wards, the major and those who had seen fighting 
 on the Peninsula had a better idea of the proper 
 thing to do than I did with my boyish inexperi- 
 ence; for that was no place for them to remain 
 at that time. 
 
 I then discovered that my regiment had with- 
 drawn. When I rode up to the commander of 
 this battery, as he was limbering up his guns 
 to retire, the enemy being almost up to him, and 
 told him that I had been instructed to keep back 
 stragglers, and asked him what I had better do, 
 he smiled and replied, " The best thing you can 
 do is to get out of here." I then proposed to 
 stay with him until I found General Bayard. 
 Pretty soon I met General Pope with his staff, 
 and subsequently General Bayard, who com- 
 manded our brigade. Riding up to the latter I 
 asked him if he knew where my regiment was. 
 He turned and inquired where certain members 
 of his staff and orderlies were, and on being told 
 that some had had their horses shot, and reasons 
 being given for the absence of others, he said, 
 " You stay with me." I then rode with him 
 over to the right, to the railroad cut, where 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 19 
 
 Sigel's men had been flgliting. I well recall 
 how angry General Bayard was, talking to him- 
 self and shaking his fist, evidently in a rage at 
 the bad management which had resulted in the 
 defeat of our army. About ten o'clock that 
 night Major Henry E. Davies of my regiment 
 reported to General Bayard where the regiment 
 was, and asked for instructions. It was back 
 somewhere on the Centerville pike. I then asked 
 the General if I might go back with Major 
 Davies, as my little gray horse had only one 
 shoe on, to which he consented. 
 
 The next day the regiment marched to Alex- 
 andria and reached the hills behind that town 
 at night during a terrific rainstorm. I suc- 
 ceeded in getting into a barn, where I slept 
 soundly in my wet clothes until the sun was 
 up the following morning. I well remember the 
 sensation when I awoke and saw the dome of 
 the Capitol at Washington in the distance. 
 
 Going into the town I got weighed in front 
 of a sutler's tent, and, to my surprise, I had 
 gained five pounds since I had enlisted six weeks 
 before. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AT this time the regiment had one hundred 
 and fifty-two inen, as I recall it, present for 
 duty; there were eleven men and no officers in 
 my company. We were ordered to Ball's Cross 
 Road to refit, where we got new clothing and 
 horses; a number of recruits were sent to us, 
 and some of our sick and wounded men returned 
 to duty. We were then sent out in the neigh- 
 borhood of Centerville, where we were engaged 
 in scouting and skirmishing with the enemy's 
 cavalry while the Army of the Potomac was in 
 Maryland during the Antietam campaign. 
 
 On the return of Lee's army to Virginia, my 
 regiment in Bayard's brigade was engaged in 
 the various movements on the advance to Fred- 
 ericksburg. The incident I most readily recall 
 during this movement was the relieving of Gen- 
 eral McClellan from the command of the army 
 and superseding him by General Burnside. At 
 that time the army idolized McClellan. I went 
 to a stream for water one night, where I met 
 an infantryman. He looked so badly that I 
 asked him what the matter was, when he re- 
 plied, " Haven't you heard the news? " I said, 
 " No." He then told me that General McClellan 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 21 
 
 had been removed, whereupon he began to cry. 
 I went back to our bivouac, as we were on the 
 march, and reported this. I recall that we sat 
 up in groups till well into the night discussing 
 this, and our conclusion was that we were being 
 used as an examining board to try candidates 
 for the next presidency. Of course, in writing 
 of our impressions from our limited point of 
 view at that time, I do not wish to convey the 
 idea that I now think McClellan should not have 
 been superseded. The only mistake was in 
 selecting the man that superseded him. 
 
 In due time the captain of my company, J. 
 F. B. Mitchell, finding out that I had some 
 clerical ability, as the sergeant who was present 
 when I made out my enlistment papers prophe- 
 sied, detailed me to make out the company's 
 pay-rolls and do whatever company writing there 
 was to do, in consideration of which I was, for 
 the time being, relieved from doing guard duty. 
 This fact was known to the members of my com- 
 pany who were then very friendly to me. 
 
 The night before the battle of Fredericksburg 
 I was on picket on the river's bank opposite the 
 town, where I heard the enemy's artillery being 
 put in position and men making speeches to the 
 troops. During the battle, the regiment was on 
 the field in reserve, occasionally under fire from 
 shells but otherwise not actively engaged. Gen- 
 eral Bayard, our brigade commander, was mor- 
 tally wounded by a shell, dying the next day, the 
 
22 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 date set for his wedding, lie having requested a 
 postponement of his leave of absence when he 
 learned there was to be a battle. When our 
 regiment recrossed the Rappahannock I had no 
 idea the army had been defeated; indeed, until 
 we saw the New York papers we were ignorant 
 of the fact. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CHOETLY after the battle of Fredericksburg, 
 *^ Captain Henry C. Weir, the adjutant- 
 general of the division to which General D. 
 McM. Gregg had then been assigned, asked an 
 orderly who happened to be a member of my 
 company, and who was then engaged carrying 
 a despatch to his headquarters, if he could sug- 
 gest a man in his regiment whom he could detail 
 to act as clerk to make out returns and reports, 
 his former clerk having gone home with the body 
 of General Bayard. The man suggested me, and 
 was told to request me to report to division 
 headquarters. I remember being quite startled 
 at this order, and, anxious to look as present- 
 able as possible, I stripped and bathed in a 
 brook, on the edges of which the ice had formed, 
 before calling on Captain Weir. He questioned 
 me as to my occupation before entering the 
 army, which had been that of a clerk in my 
 uncle's firm, T. B. Coddington & Co., metal im- 
 porters, whom he knew by reputation. He also 
 stated that he knew of my father's home on the 
 Hudson River. Indeed, he manifested an in- 
 terest in me, and, after giving me a copy of 
 a tri-monthly report to look at, asked me if I 
 
 23 
 
24 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 thought I could consolidate the several regi- 
 mental reports, copies of which he showed me. 
 I made the attempt and succeeded, whereupon 
 he said he would ask General Gregg to have me 
 detailed at his headquarters. That detail was 
 made out in December, 1862. Though my rank 
 was still that of a private, my position was much 
 improved and my surroundings much more pleas- 
 ant. I was treated with great consideration by 
 Captain Weir, and was thereafter busily en- 
 gaged while in winter quarters in performing 
 the duties of an adjutant-general's clerk, which 
 included such writing as General Gregg required 
 of me. 
 
 At the time of the battle of Chancellorsville, 
 Gregg's division went on what was known as 
 the Stoneman raid to Richmond. On this move- 
 ment and subsequently on the march, and in all 
 engagements as long as I was with the General, 
 I was sent with messages and orders the same 
 as a staff-officer. 
 
 On this raid I attracted the attention of Gen- 
 eral Gregg and the headquarters staff by my 
 ability to sleep on horseback when on the march. 
 Captain Weir had given me a fine horse, which 
 happened to be a very fast walker. It was Gen- 
 eral Gregg's custom to ride alone at the head 
 of his staff, occasionally inviting Dr. Phillips, 
 the medical director of the division, to ride along- 
 side of him. As soon as I would fall asleep, 
 the bridle reins would naturally slacken and the 
 
BREVET LIEUTENANT COLONEL H. C. WEIR 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 25 
 
 horse begin to forge ahead. My position in the 
 column was in rear of the officers of the staff, 
 and with the General's orderly and bugler. In- 
 stead of restraining the horse, my comrades and 
 the staff officers would open the way and urge 
 him along while I, sitting upright but fast asleep, 
 would ride alongside of our dignified General 
 and sometimes ahead of him before he noticed 
 me, when invariably he would wake me up, grab- 
 bing me by the arm and saying, " Meyer, wake 
 up." Chagrined I would return to my place, the 
 staff officers and orderlies greatly amused. This 
 incident occurred so frequently on this Stone- 
 man raid that it evidently made an impression 
 on the General, because, meeting him some 
 twenty years after the war at a reunion in Phila- 
 delphia he, on greeting me, introduced me to a 
 group of officers and immediately recalled the 
 fact of my so often being asleep on horseback. 
 One day my horse strayed from the road and 
 followed a fence up a bank until he came to a 
 point where the slope reached the fence and 
 he could go no farther, when the General called 
 out, " Wake him up, he will break his neck." 
 The jolt of the horse, however, sliding down the 
 slope into the road awakened me, though I did 
 not fall off. The only penalty I suffered from 
 sleeping on horseback was the occasional loss of 
 a cap and the scratching of my face by the 
 branches of trees, but it undoubtedly had much 
 to do with my being able to withstand the 
 
26 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 fatigue incident to our campaigns, since the fact 
 is that I never was ofE duty for a single hour, 
 by reason of sickness, during my whole term of 
 service. 
 
CHAPTEK VI 
 
 /^N the 9 til of June, 1863, occurred the battle 
 ^^ of Brandy Station, in which more cavalry 
 were engaged than in any battle of the Civil 
 War. General Buford's division had crossed the 
 Eappahannock Eiver at Beverly Ford early in 
 the morning. General Gregg's division crossed 
 at Kelly's Ford, and General Duffle farther 
 down the river, the latter being under General 
 Gregg's command and supposed to accompany 
 him. As we were approaching Brandy Station 
 we heard the heavy cannonading of Buford's 
 attack, when General Gregg, with the brigades 
 of Colonel Windham and Colonel Kilpatrick, 
 hurried to the battlefield. Around the station 
 and between Culpeper and the Rappahannock 
 the country was open and favorable for cavalry 
 engagements. Indeed, there was one there at 
 every advance and retreat of the army during 
 1862 and 1863, I being present at three of them. 
 As soon as we emerged from the woods near 
 the station we saw the enemy on a hill near 
 the Barber House, which was General Stuart's 
 headquarters. We were approaching them prac- 
 tically in their rear; their artillery, however, 
 firing at us. General Gregg at once ordered 
 
 27 
 
28 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 Colonel Windham to charge with his three regi- 
 ments — the First New Jersey, the First Pennsyl- 
 Tania, and the First Maryland; Kilpatrick's 
 brigade at the time was coming on the field 
 to our right. Windham charged this hill in 
 columns of regiments, and it was a very thrill- 
 ing sight to see these troops going up the slope 
 in the bright June sun, their sabres glistening. 
 As they neared the enemy General Gregg showed 
 an enthusiasm that I had never noticed before. 
 He started his horse on a gallop toward the 
 house, swinging his gauntlets over his head and 
 hurrahing, at the same time telling Captain 
 Weir to ride over and direct Kilpatrick to 
 charge at once. Captain Weir happened to be 
 riding a horse that would always refuse a fence 
 unless another went first. At this critical mo- 
 ment his horse shied twice, when mine took the 
 fence and I started to carry the order. As soon 
 as my horse went over Captain Weir's im- 
 mediately followed. As he was the adjutant- 
 general and directed to take the order, I rode 
 up the hill supposing that when Kilpatrick's 
 brigade got there the enemy would be routed 
 and I might get a prisoner. On arriving at 
 Stuart's headquarters I found Windham's bri- 
 gade in a hand-to-hand fight around the house. 
 Here I met a flanking party of the enemy, who 
 were driving back a portion of General Wind- 
 ham's command, Kilpatrick's men not then 
 having reached that point. 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 29 
 
 In the fight about these headquarters I saw 
 a Confederate officer sabre a man who I be- 
 lieve belonged to the Maryland regiment; and 
 although the man begged for quarter, I saw this 
 officer strike him twice after he offered to sur- 
 render. I tried to shoot him, but the ball from 
 my pistol missed him and struck his horse. This 
 did not take immediate effect. Finding that I 
 was about to be cut off, as Windham's command 
 had been repulsed and Kilpatrick had not ar- 
 rived, and having only one charge left in my 
 revolver, I had to allow the officer to ride up 
 to strike me, so as to be sure of my aim. As 
 I presented the pistol, it missed fire, and as soon 
 as he could recover his seat in the saddle he 
 struck at me. I had, however, fallen down on 
 the neck of my horse, so the point of the sabre 
 cut into my collar-bone, but the weight of the 
 blow cut a two-quart pail, that I had borrowed 
 that morning to cook coffee in, nearly in two. 
 Before either of us could recover control of our 
 horses, I had gotten my sabre in my hand, which 
 had been hanging by a knot from my wrist, as 
 was the custom. He then struck at me the 
 second time, which blow I parried. His horse 
 then sank under him. I was then being crowded 
 in a corner, where a fence joined a building, by 
 four of his followers, one of whom was dis- 
 mounted. The latter I saw shooting at me. Urg- 
 ing my horse he jumped a fence and then a ditch 
 beyond it. This enabled me to escape with only 
 
30 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 the loss of my hat. I was particularly anxious 
 not to be captured, because before going into 
 the action the General had confided to me, for 
 safe-keeping, all his despatches and instructions, 
 which it was my custom to carry about my per- 
 son, as, wearing a private's uniform, in the event 
 of capture, there would be less liability of my 
 being searched than in the case of a staff -officer 
 wearing the uniform of an adjutant-general. I 
 finally joined some of our men near the rail- 
 road station, but could not find the General ; so, 
 for the time being, I reported to an officer of 
 the First New Jersey cavalry, whom I knew, 
 and remained with him until we were again cut 
 off by a force of the enemy. Later in the day 
 I found General Gregg, who, I was told, had 
 been quite anxious lest I had been captured, for 
 some one had reported that he had seen me hard 
 pressed by the enemy, and he supposed I was 
 captured, and the General knew I had his papers 
 in my pocket. 
 
 My wound was not dangerous, though painful, 
 and that night, after it was plastered up by the 
 doctor, I sat up and made out a list of the 
 casualties of the division during the day. When 
 it was suggested by Adjutant-General Weir, that 
 I include my name, I remarked that I thought 
 I would not do it, as seeing it in the news- 
 papers would needlessly alarm my mother, and 
 that it did not amount to anything serious, and 
 was n't worth while. After the war, however, 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIBNCES 31 
 
 on the advice of friends, I reported this circum- 
 stance to the War Department and had it cer- 
 tified by both General Gregg and Colonel 
 Weir,^ who are still living, merely to make it 
 a part of my record there on file. 
 
 Kilpatrick's men soon reached the house, cap- 
 turing Stuart's adjutant-general and his papers. 
 The .fighting was desperate; charges being made, 
 repulsed, and repeated by our men against a 
 much larger force, as DuflBe's brigade had failed 
 to report. Finally, the Confederates bringing 
 infantry from Culpeper, our commands were 
 withdrawn, without molestation by the enemy, 
 across the Rappahannock, the purpose of the 
 movement being accomplished; which was to 
 cripple Stuart's cavalry, to prevent his starting 
 on a raid to Pennsylvania which was contem- 
 plated, and also to ascertain if Lee's army was 
 still in that vicinity. It was also a great bene- 
 fit to our troops engaged, in giving them experi- 
 ence in fighting in large bodies mounted, with 
 sabres, and added much to their confidence, as 
 was demonstrated in later engagements. 
 
 After the battle, meeting the man who loaned 
 me his tin pail which had been destroyed by the 
 sabre blow I described, I explained to him how 
 it happened, when, to my surprise, he complain- 
 ingly remarked, "Well, how do you suppose I 
 am going to cook my coffee? " Whereupon, I 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
32 CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 
 
 remarked, "Well, I can't help it, but I will 
 give you a new pail as soon as I can buy 
 one." Evidently the loss of his cofifee boiler 
 was of more consequence to him than my narrow 
 escape. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 IN about ten days General Gregg's division 
 ■•• marched towards Aldie, tlie object being to 
 discover the movements of Lee's army; the idea 
 being that our cavalry should find their cavalry, 
 attack and drive them back on their infantry, 
 thus obtaining the knowledge the commander of 
 the army required. On this march to Aldie Gen- 
 eral Pleasanton, the corps commander, was rep- 
 resented at General Gregg's headquarters by one 
 of his staff officers, Captain George A. Custer, 
 afterwards General. When Custer appeared he 
 at once attracted the attention of the entire com- 
 mand. On that day he was dressed like an 
 ordinary enlisted man, his trousers tucked in 
 a pair of short-legged government boots, his 
 horse equipments being those of an ordinary 
 wagonmaster. He rode with a little rawhide 
 riding whip stuck in his bootleg, and had long 
 yellow curls down to his shoulders, his face 
 ruddy and good-natured. 
 
 While on this march we came to a stream be- 
 side the road, in which a full battalion could 
 water their horses at once. As the headquarters 
 staff and the troops following us had gone into 
 line to permit their horses to drink, Custer, for 
 
 33 
 
34 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 some reason, concluded to go in on the other 
 side of the stream, riding in alone to allow hi>s 
 horse to drink. He did not know how deep the 
 water was, and after his horse was satisfied, in- 
 stead of returning by the way he went in, con- 
 cluded to cross the stream and come out on our 
 side. The water was deeper than he anticipated 
 and his horse nearly lost his footing. However, 
 when he got to our side, he urged his horse to 
 climb out at a point where the bank was steep. 
 In this effort he fell over backward, Custer going 
 out of sight in the water. In an instant, how- 
 ever, he was up on his feet and the horse 
 struggled out amid the shouts of the spectators, 
 when, mounting his horse, the march was re- 
 sumed. The dust at this time was so thick that 
 one could not see more than a set of fours ahead, 
 and in a few minutes, when it settled on his 
 wet clothes and long wet hair, Ouster was an 
 object that one can better imagine than I can 
 describe. 
 
 In a short time, Kilpatrick, at the head of our 
 column, met Fitzhugh Lee's command at Aldie, 
 and. drove it through the town, where a desperate 
 fight occurred just beyond it, the enemy being 
 strongly posted there behind stone walls. As 
 soon as the first shots were heard, General Gregg 
 hurried to the front and took his position on 
 a hill just beyond and to the right of the town, 
 upon which Kilpatrick had posted a battery. It 
 was then found that Kilpatrick was outnum- 
 
BREVET MAJOR GENERAL D. McM. GREGG 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 35 
 
 bered, all his command had been charging and he 
 had no reserves. General Gregg then directed 
 me to go back and bring Colonel Irwin Gregg, 
 commanding the Second Brigade, by a short cut 
 back of the town, through the woods, to this 
 part of the field as quickly as possible. Just as 
 I went over the ridge to carry this order, I met 
 the First Maine cavalry, with Colonel Doughty 
 at its head, coming onto the field. As I passed 
 him, the Colonel, who knew me, laughingly re- 
 marked, " You are going in the wrong direction." 
 I replied : " Yes, I know it, but I will be back 
 in a few minutes." Very shortly I returned to 
 this spot with Colonel Gregg at the head of his 
 brigade, when I saw a man leading a horse upon 
 which was a body, evidently dead, as his arms 
 were hanging on one side and the feet on the 
 other, a man supporting it. Inquiring, " Whom 
 have you got there? " the man replied, " Colonel 
 Doughty." The Colonel, who was a most gal- 
 lant man, as soon as he arrived on the field 
 at a moment most critical for Kilpatrick, charged 
 at the head of his regiment, routing a charge of 
 the enemy that had repulsed the Fourth New 
 York, and then charged upon dismounted men 
 behind stone walls, where he received two bul- 
 lets through his breast. It was reported that 
 night that some of the prisoners we had taken 
 had said that the old fellow riding at the head 
 of his regiment seemed so brave they hated to 
 shoot him. This charge, however, routed the 
 
36 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 enemy, and, Irwin Gregg having arrived with 
 his remaining regiments, they withdrew. 
 
 That night was rather a blue time for us. 
 Lieutenant Whitaker, a &ne officer of my regi- 
 ment, was among the killed, and the First 
 Massachusetts cavalry had suffered severely. 
 Our men induced a wheelwright in the village 
 to work that night making coffins for some of 
 the officers who had been killed. 
 
 On the second day after occurred the fight 
 at Middleburg. On this occasion Colonel Irwin 
 Gregg's brigade had the advance. The enemy 
 had been forced back to a strong position on a 
 ridge, their lines occupying the right and left 
 of the turnpike in the edge of woods covering 
 the ridge on both sides of the road. On the 
 right, in front of the enemy, was a cleared field, 
 on the far side of which were also woods in 
 which Colonel Gregg had two of his regiments, 
 one dismounted, and one mounted ready to 
 charge at a favorable moment. The Tenth New 
 York cavalry was dowm the road in reserve. 
 The enemy's battery was posted on the left of 
 the pike and on our right as we faced them. 
 Just below^ this battery, the ground receding, 
 was a large wheat field and behind a stone wall 
 parallel to the pike they had a line of dismounted 
 men, their battery firing into the woods where 
 Colonel Gregg's two regiments were. General 
 Gregg was with our battery on a ridge some 
 distance back. As the enemy were making a de- 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 37 
 
 termined stand General Gregg turned to me and 
 said : " Ride up to Colonel Gregg, present my 
 compliments, and ask him why he does not drive 
 those people out of there." As I rode to de- 
 liver this message I wondered how Colonel Gregg 
 would receive it from me, who was not then a 
 commissioned officer, though he knew me as the 
 General's clerk. 
 
 When I reached the woods in which his com- 
 mand was, I started to ride in, when an orderly 
 holding a couple of horses called out, " Here, 
 you can't go mounted through there." Asking 
 him then if Colonel Gregg was in there he re- 
 plied that he was, and that he was holding his 
 horse. Leaving my horse with this man I walked 
 through the woods on the edge of which was 
 Colonel Gregg's line. He was standing with his 
 shoulder against a tree at the very front of it. 
 As I approached him he reached out, grabbed 
 me by the arm, saying, " Keep back, they will 
 hit you," and drew me up alongside of him where 
 we were somewhat protected by the tree. He 
 then said, " Well, what is it? " I then repeated 
 General Gregg's message, expecting an irritated 
 reply, since it seemed to imply a censure. In- 
 stead of that, he, in the mildest manner possible, 
 said : " I will tell you. You see their line across 
 this clearing? " Replying " Yes," he continued: 
 " You see where their guns are on the right of 
 the road covering this, and you also see a line 
 of dismounted men behind that stone wall at 
 
38 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 the wheat field. Now, if I order a charge across 
 there it will be subjected to an enfilading fire 
 from those men behind the wall and it will be 
 very expensive of men." He then asked me if 
 the General had a spare regiment that he could 
 send around in a ravine beyond the wheat field, 
 have them dismount and crawl through the 
 wheat unobserved and attack the men who 
 were facing him from behind the stone wall. I 
 told him there was, and he asked me to go back 
 and explain the matter, saying, " If the General 
 will send some men to get those fellows started 
 behind that wall I will charge." I returned 
 and described the situation to General Gregg, 
 who directed a battalion of the Harris Light, I 
 think, to make a detour, crawl through the wheat 
 field, and attack the men behind the wall, who 
 were practically right under the guns of the 
 enemy, which were, however, firing over their 
 heads across the road into the woods from which 
 they were expecting a charge to be made. The 
 General then directed me to return and tell 
 Colonel Gregg to charge as soon as the men 
 behind the stone wall were attacked. In due 
 time the Harris Light suddenly appeared only 
 a few rods in the rear of the Confederates behind 
 the wall, who, without any warning, received a 
 volley in their backs. They were at once in 
 confusion and at that moment the bugle sounded 
 the charge and tlie First Maine and Fourth 
 Pennsylvania from the woods, and the Tenth 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 39 
 
 New York in column on the turnpike, charged 
 and took the ridge, the Confederate battery get- 
 ting away just in the nick of time. I recall see- 
 ing the body of one of their colonels lying out 
 in the turnpike just near where their guns had 
 stood. This finished the fight for that day. 
 This incident is mentioned somewhat in detail 
 because I think that Colonel Gregg's coolness 
 and solicitude for the safety of his men, where, 
 by the use of a little strategy a needless loss 
 of life was saved, deserve recognition. 
 
 The following day, which I think was Sunday, 
 the three divisions of the cavalry corps, includ- 
 ing General Gregg's, drove the enemy steadily 
 back without much resistance on their part 
 until we reached Upperville. There was open 
 country at the outskirts of the town, and to the 
 left as we approached it were woods. As our 
 men attempted to charge down the main street 
 they were met by a murderous fire from behind 
 a high hedge, and at the same moment the enemy 
 charged from the woods on the left and drove 
 them back. For a few minutes the situation 
 seemed most critical, and just then a piece of 
 shell struck General Gregg's horse in the stomach 
 behind the saddle girth, grazing the General's 
 leg. The horse sank under him and in an in- 
 stant one of his orderlies dismounted, gave the 
 General his horse, and took the saddle from the 
 wounded animal. At this moment General Gregg 
 ordered a cavalry regiment, I think the Sixth 
 
40 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 Regulars, who were nearby in a field, to make 
 a counter charge, which, after a little delay 
 caused by the presence of a stone wall, they 
 did. This charge, with our men, who rallied, 
 co-operating, resulted in driving the enemy back 
 into and through the town. To our surprise, 
 the General's wounded horse had struggled to 
 his feet and was running beside him with his 
 nose against his leg, his entrails dragging on 
 the ground. Noticing this, he exclaimed, " For 
 God's sake, somebody shoot him ! " Whereupon 
 I discharged my pistol in the horse's ear, which 
 killed him. 
 
 Just then, as we approached the entrance to 
 the town, I heard Nick, the General's bugler, 
 calling me to come and help him. Looking 
 around I found Nick trying to ward off the 
 blows of an infuriated German of our army, 
 who was trying to sabre a Confederate boy who 
 had been wounded and was lying down on his 
 horse's neck. I immediately interfered, and with 
 my sabre parried a blow intended for the boy, 
 when the German excitedly exclaimed, " Vy, he 's 
 a Reb," when I replied, " Suppose he is, can't 
 you see he 's done for? " Whereupon, after a 
 brief altercation the German rode on. Nick 
 then led the boy's horse out, and the command 
 moved on, the enemy having broken. We soon 
 met one of our doctors, and being anxious to 
 know if the boy was mortally wounded, we took 
 him to a nearby house where three ladies came 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 41 
 
 to the gate, and, when they saw it was a Con- 
 federate soldier, began to cry. We carried him 
 to a room, turned a chair up for him to recline 
 on, when the doctor opened his shirt and found a 
 bullet had entered his breast. The boy turned to 
 the women who were standing around, jwinted 
 to little Nick, and faintly remarked, " There 's 
 the only friend I had to-day." We then left the 
 doctor with him, mounted our horses, rode on, 
 and soon joined the General. 
 
 The enemy were driven to Ashby's Gap. This 
 battle and those of the preceding days demon- 
 strated the fact that Lee's army was on its way 
 to Maryland. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 GENERAL HOOKER, commander of the 
 Army of the Potomac, having been satis- 
 fied, as a result of the cavalry engagements here 
 described, that General Lee intended to invade 
 Maryland, Gregg's division, as did the rest of 
 the army in a few days, crossed the Potomac at 
 Edward's Ferry at night. It was moonlight, and 
 I, in common with others, experienced a strange 
 sensation as we watched our columns crossing 
 the pontoon bridges, the bands playing, Maryland, 
 my Maryland. We then marched for Frederick, 
 reaching that city before noon of the next day. 
 As we rode down its main street we witnessed 
 a sight the like of which we had been unfamiliar 
 with, since in Virginia, being the enemy's coun- 
 try, the people when we entered a town either 
 concealed themselves, or, when seen, showed by 
 their demeanor that they either detested or 
 feared us. In Frederick, however, every house 
 was decorated and the porches filled with peo- 
 ple enthusiastically waving and making every 
 demonstration of delight. We soon after 
 marched through Liberty and to New Windsor. 
 In the former place we met our infantry pass- 
 ing through the town as we rode in. Here we 
 
 42 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENOES 43 
 
 saw ladies with servants standing in the streets 
 beside the marching column, handing out cakes, 
 milk, and lemonade to the tired and dusty in- 
 fantrymen, who were not permitted to halt, one 
 lady remarking in my presence, " Is n't it a 
 shame that they won't allow them to rest." 
 
 Later in the day we stopped at New Windsor, 
 where the General made his headquarters at the 
 little village hotel. Near this hotel, Johns, the 
 General's orderly, and I were offered refresh- 
 ments by a lady who kept a young ladies' board- 
 ing school. At this school were about fourteen 
 enthusiastic young girls who overwhelmed us 
 with attentions. Indeed, they took the ribbons 
 from their necks and braided the manes of our 
 horses with them, and mine had a red, white, 
 and blue rosette attached to his forelock. We 
 soon moved on, but that night the General was 
 ordered to return to this town. On getting this 
 information I mentioned it to my comrade Johns, 
 and suggested that as soon as it got a little dark 
 we should ride on ahead of the column, when 
 we might again meet the schoolgirls, which we 
 subsequently did. The General made his head- 
 quarters at the little hotel beside the school- 
 building, and we took our horses inside the 
 village cemetery adjoining the school-grounds 
 and tied them to the fence, taking off the sad- 
 dles, and spreading our blankets on the ground. 
 As we were drawing them over our heads on 
 turning in for the night, we heard a call from 
 
44 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 one of the upper windows of the school, which 
 was filled with faces, telling us to remember 
 our dreams, for dreams dreamt on a strange 
 pillow often came true. We knew no more till 
 about daylight, when we awakened and found it 
 had been raining. While we were feeding and 
 grooming our horses, a servant came to us with 
 an invitation from the mistress of the school, 
 stating that breakfast would be ready for us 
 in a few minutes, and that we would find water, 
 soap, and towels on the back porch where we 
 " might refresh ourselves." We soon repaired to 
 the porch where we found two white china 
 basins, and fresh water, soap, and towels. This 
 was a novelty, as hitherto a piece of a grain 
 bag which we carried in our saddle-pocket was 
 what we used when a towel was necessary. The 
 breakfast-table was spread on the back porch. 
 Noticing the General's horse saddled, we ex- 
 pressed a fear that he might start while we were 
 at breakfast, when the lady proposed to have the 
 table removed to the front porch where we could 
 see the General when he came out to mount. 
 This was done and at this most bountiful meal 
 we had about a dozen girls to wait on us, each 
 with her album for us to write our autographs in. 
 The General soon appeared, when, thanking the 
 ladies for their hospitality, we moved on. As 
 soon as Captain Weir, the adjutant-general, saw 
 me he began to censure me for being absent that 
 night as he had a lot of writing to do which I 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 45 
 
 should liave done, when one of the staff-oflEicers, 
 noticing my horse's mane and the rosette on his 
 forelock, pointed them out to him. He, evi- 
 dently appreciating the situation, withheld any 
 further comment. 
 
 Within the next day or so we marched to 
 Westminster and to Manchester, leaving the 
 latter place by daylight for York, where it was 
 reported the Confederate cavalry were, and 
 Gregg was sent to attack them. We reached 
 the hills beyond York some time that afternoon 
 and saw their pickets. Just at this time a de- 
 spatch was received from the corps commander 
 stating that fighting had begun at Gettysburg 
 and that General Gregg was to report there with 
 his command with all possible speed. He there- 
 upon started the column for Gettysburg by way 
 of Hanover. We marched the rest of that after- 
 noon and through the night, reaching Hanover 
 about two o'clock in the morning. As in many 
 Pennsylvania towns, this had a public square, 
 at one end of which was a market-house with 
 a road on either side of it, and the General had 
 to awaken some of the citizens to ascertain 
 w^hich was the direct road to Gettysburg. We 
 noticed dead horses in the streets of Hanover, 
 and the citizens told us of the fight Kilpatrick's 
 division had had there the afternoon before, in 
 -which he succeeded in driving away the Con- 
 federate cavalry that attacked him as he was 
 passing through the town. While the General 
 
46 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 
 
 Was waiting to ascertain the right road to 
 Gettysburg, I fell asleep sitting on a zinc-covered 
 fish stall, my bridle rein in my hand. On awak- 
 ing I discovered the command had all moved 
 on; learning the road they took, I hurried on 
 and soon overtook them. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 GENERAL GREGG reached the battlefield 
 of Gettysburg about noon and reported to 
 the commanding general, whose headquarters 
 were not far from the cemetery, where I noticed 
 that the sod and the graves were much torn 
 up by artillery wheels. The General was ordered 
 with his division to take position on the right 
 of our army. During the day a portion of the 
 command did some skirmishing, and our artil- 
 lery occasionally fired when the enemy appeared, 
 but we were not heavily engaged. This was the 
 second of July, the day on which the fighting 
 was so severe on the left of our line, where 
 Longstreet's corps made such desperate attempts 
 to break through in the vicinity of the Round 
 Tops. 
 
 The weather was extremely hot and it was on 
 this, the second day of the battle, that the Sixth 
 Corps made a march of about thirty-two miles 
 to reach the field, their exhausted and sun-struck 
 men lying for fifteen miles on the road. The 
 following, the third and last day of the battle, 
 General Gregg's division was, at his suggestion, 
 moved to a position farther to the right and 
 rear, to guard against the enemy's breaking 
 
 47 
 
48 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 through to where our reserve artillery and am- 
 munition were parked. About noon a despatch 
 was sent to him stating that General Howard 
 reported that heavy clouds of dust were seen 
 rising above the trees on his right, indicating 
 that a large force of cavalry was moving in that 
 direction. General Custer with bis brigade, 
 which belonged to General Kilpatrick's division 
 but had been under General Gregg's orders, was 
 about to return to Kilpatrick, who was on the 
 left of the army, when General Gregg proposed 
 to Custer that, in view of an attack from a 
 strong force which now seemed imminent, he 
 remain with him, which Custer gladly consented 
 to do. 
 
 I described Custer as he appeared when, as a 
 captain, he was with us at Aldie about two weeks 
 before, where, after his ducking, he voluntarily 
 led repeated charges of Kilpatrick's men, attract- 
 ing the attention of every one present by his 
 conspicuous gallantry. Within that two weeks 
 he, with Farnsworth, Merritt, and Kilpatrick, 
 had been made brigadier-generals. Kilpatrick 
 was given the command of Stahl's division, 
 Farnsworth one of his brigades, and Custer a 
 brigade of four Michigan regiments. In marked 
 contrast with Custer's costume on the day of the 
 fight at Aldie, he now appeared in a uniform 
 consisting of a black velvet jacket and trousers, 
 with a gold cord on the seam of his trousers 
 and the gilt stripes of a brigadier-general on his 
 
MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENOES 49 
 
 arm. He wore a man-o-war's man's shirt with the 
 wide collar out on his shoulders, on each point 
 of which was worked a silver star indicating 
 his rank of brigadier-general. The neck was 
 open, just as a man-o'-war's man has his, and he 
 wore a sailor's tie. On this day he wore a small 
 cap. It was said at the time, that some months 
 before, soon after he came out of West Point, 
 friends tried to secure for him the colonelcy of 
 the Fifth Michigan cavalry, at this time com- 
 manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kussell A. Alger, 
 but, like many volunteers of that period, the men, 
 in their inexperience, preferred oflBlcers from the 
 civilians who came out with them, and declined 
 to have Custer. It therefore happened that the 
 man they refused to have as their colonel was 
 sent to be their general, and under his leadership 
 the Michigan cavalry brigade became famous. 
 
 The enemy had placed some batteries on our 
 left and front, and advanced from the woods in 
 our front. Colonel Mcintosh's brigade met their 
 attacks, a part of his command being dismounted. 
 His entire force soon became hotly engaged, and 
 also the Fifth and Sixth Michigan regiments. 
 General Gregg stationed himself near his bat- 
 teries, where he could see the field and direct 
 the battle; one of these was Randol's and the 
 other commanded by A. C. M. Pennington, both 
 famous batteries, Eandol's to the right and Pen- 
 ington's to the left. In this engagement the fire 
 of these batteries, especially Pennington's, was 
 
50 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 remarkably accurate, compelling the enemy at 
 times to shift their guns, and contributed in no 
 small measure to our success. 
 
 After the fighting had been in progress for 
 some little time, Custer took off his cap, placed 
 it in his saddle-pocket and led the Seventh 
 Michigan cavalry in a charge, his yellow hair 
 flying and his uniform making him a conspicuous 
 object. The Seventh was a new regiment and 
 was armed with a Spencer rifle which carried 
 one cartridge in the barrel and seven in the 
 breech; this was the flrst time I had seen this 
 weapon. This charge was over a very consid- 
 erable distance, with the result that the lines 
 were somewhat extended so that when they came 
 close to the enemy behind a fence and were met 
 by a fresh body of Confederate cavalry char- 
 ging them, they were repulsed. Being a new 
 regiment, many of the men rode wildly past 
 Mcintosh's command and up to and beyond our 
 guns. I think it was during this affair that 
 General Custer's horse was shot. I heard him 
 remark after the fight that he would have been 
 captured except for the fact that one of his 
 buglers caught a horse for him and held off the 
 man who wanted him to surrender. Meanwhile 
 I had been sent to Colonel Mcintosh and was 
 with him when the Seventh Michigan men came 
 back past his dismounted lines. He was making 
 heroic efforts to rally them, fairly frothing at 
 the mouth and yelling, " For God's sake, men, 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 51 
 
 if you are ever going to stand, stand now, for 
 you are on your free soil ! " 
 
 It was just before this that we discovered 
 Stuart's final advance, by Hampton's and Fitz- 
 Hugh Lee's brigades, which Hampton led past 
 Mcintosh's dismounted men, charging right up 
 to within about fifty yards of our guns. Believ- 
 ing that, if the guns were taken, there was 
 nothing to prevent the enemy from getting at 
 the reserve artillery and ammunition trains in 
 our rear, it seemed the crisis for us, as it was 
 also about the time Pickett was advancing 
 against the centre of our army's line of battle. 
 I' took a position between two guns, which I 
 think were in charge of Lieutenant Chester, who 
 excited my admiration by his coolness, and there 
 awaited the expected struggle over them. The 
 effect of Pennington's and Randol's firing on 
 Hampton's brigades was soon noticeable, for the 
 momentum of their charge seemed to be checked 
 when they were about one hundred and fifty 
 yards from our guns. Our batteries were then 
 firing canister into them. 
 
 Two gallant charges were made into Hamp- 
 ton's columns as they came on. Captain Trichel 
 with about sixteen men of Mcintosh's brigade, 
 including Captains Walter Newhall and Rogers, 
 suddenly appeared and charged into them from 
 the right, creating some confusion. Newhall 
 tried to make for a color-bearer, who lowered 
 his staff, striking him in the mouth, knocked him 
 
52 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 from his horse, and tore his face open. Trichel, 
 his officers, and nearly all of his men were 
 wounded. About the same time Captain Miller 
 of the Third Pennsylvania with his company 
 charged right through the rear part of the 
 column from the left. Hampton had led his 
 men to within about fifty yards of Chester's 
 guns, when suddenly the First Michigan cavalry, 
 a veteran and very fine regiment, led by Colonel 
 Towne, with Custer by his side, appeared. The 
 Colonel, in the last stages of consumption it 
 was said, required assistance to mount his horse. 
 This regiment, which from my position I had 
 not seen, struck the enemy in front and flank, 
 right before our guns, which only then ceased 
 firing. Immediately staff-officers, orderlies, and 
 the men that a moment before had been coming 
 to the rear joined in a hand-to-hand fight in 
 front of the batteries. In a few minutes the 
 enemy broke to the rear and our men, joined 
 by the First New Jersey, Third Pennsylvania, 
 Fifth and Sixth Michigan which had mounted, 
 chased them nearly to the woods from which 
 they had emerged some three quarters of a mile 
 in our front. 
 
 This ended General Gregg's cavalry fight at 
 Gettysburg, the fortunate outcome of which un- 
 doubtedly contributed greatly to the victory. 
 Immediately word was sent to headquarters of 
 our success and in a short time a brief note 
 was received from, I think. General Butterfield, 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 53 
 
 General Meade's chief of staff, written on a slip 
 of paper about the size of an envelope. The 
 words, as I recall, were : " Congratulations upon 
 your success; attack here repulsed. Longstreet 
 wounded and a prisoner." The reference to 
 Longstreet was a mistaiie, Armistead was meant. 
 Riding along the lines I called out the contents 
 of this note to our men, who began cheering, for 
 we then knew that the battle of Gettysburg had 
 been won. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE following morning our burial parties 
 were at work, when a man from a Michi- 
 gan regiment came and asked me if I would 
 help him look for some of his comrades in a 
 wheat field; the wheat being about three feet 
 high it was not easy to notice a body in it un- 
 less one stumbled right on it. In a few minutes 
 he called out that he had found one and then 
 he said he had another. As the burial party 
 was digging a trench on the ridge just beyond, 
 I suggested that he stay where he was to mark 
 the location and I would ride over and get some 
 of the citizens, whom we noticed plundering 
 the battle-field of horse equipments, to help carry 
 the bodies over so they might be buried. I rode 
 up to two or three men who had harness, saddles, 
 and horse equipments in their possession and 
 told them to drop them and come over to help 
 me carry the bodies that we might bury them, 
 as we had to move on shortly. They were a 
 type of Pennsylvania Dutchmen that lived in 
 that county, who seemed utterly indifferent to 
 the war and anything pertaining to it, beyond 
 securing such spoils as they got on the 
 battle-field. They at once demurred and said 
 
 54 
 
CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 55 
 
 they had no time, whereupon I flew into a rage 
 at their heartless conduct, drew my sabre, and 
 threatened to sabre them if they did not come 
 at once. They then sulkily complied. When 
 we got back to where the bodies were I told 
 them to take some fence rails and carry them 
 as though they were a stretcher. We put the 
 bodies across the rails, the men holding the ends 
 of them. When we had two bodies on this im- 
 provised stretclier I discovered a Confederate 
 soldier, a sergeant, with a bushy head of red 
 hair and a red beard. A sabre had split open 
 the top of his head so you could put your hand 
 in the gash. I suggested that he be cared for 
 too, and when we attempted to put him on the 
 stretcher they complained that they could not 
 carry the load. Then I rode after some more 
 citizens whom I also compelled to come over 
 and help us. With their assistance we suc- 
 ceeded in getting a number of bodies up to 
 where the burial party was at work. When I 
 told my Michigan comrade of my experience 
 with these men he became so angry that I 
 thought he would shoot them then and there. 
 
 The General then moved into the town of 
 Gettysburg, where, in contrast to the heartless 
 conduct of these men, we found patriotic women 
 at work in every house pulling lint and doing 
 what they could to alleviate the suffering that 
 was all around them. One lady, who, I was 
 told, was the wife of a physician killed on the 
 
56 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 Peninsula, came out on the front porch and 
 asked every soldier she saw to come in and have 
 hot coffee and biscuit. The men gave her coffee, 
 which she made in a wash-boiler, but the bis- 
 cuits were made from flour she possessed, which 
 by this time was about exhausted. As it was 
 likely to be several days before normal condi- 
 tions could be restored in the town, I suggested 
 that she had better cease baking biscuits and 
 save the little flour she had for her family, when 
 she replied that she would take the chance, that 
 as long as she had any she was going to give 
 it to the soldiers. 
 
 About this time Nick, the General's bugler, 
 came to me and reported that he had found a 
 citizen who had fought with our troops and been 
 wounded, an old man, and Nick wanted a doctor 
 to go and see him as he was in his own house 
 nearby. This citizen proved to be the famous 
 John Burns, an old man of seventy, who fought, 
 I think with a Wisconsin regiment. Whether 
 anybody else had discovered Burns before Nick 
 did I am not sure, but my recollection is that 
 Nick's discovery first called the attention of our 
 people to the fact. 
 
 General Gregg's command then moved out on 
 the Chambersburg pike, where for miles we saw 
 the distressing evidences of the battle in the 
 shape of the Confederate wounded, who were in 
 every barn and building and lying beside the 
 road. It had rained heavily the night before 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEKIENOES 57 
 
 and the fields in which these men lay were 
 flooded with water. Those able to do so had 
 secured rails, upon which their helpless com- 
 rades were placed to keep them out of the water. 
 I think the division that day captured, including 
 the wounded, about four thousand. General 
 Gregg sent back a report of the condition of 
 these poor Confederate wounded whom Lee had 
 been obliged to leave behind, and asked that 
 ambulances be sent out to take them in where 
 they could have the attention of our surgeons, 
 then overworked and exhausted caring for the 
 thousands of wounded among our own men. 
 
 From Chambersburg we marched back to 
 Gettysburg and thence to Boonesborough, arriv- 
 ing there about the ninth. In the neighborhood 
 of Boonesborough we met the Seventh New York 
 militia, whose fine band of about sixty pieces, 
 led by Graffula, that night serenaded General 
 Meade. The square in front of his headquarters 
 was thronged with men listening to the fine 
 music, the like of which we never heard in the 
 army. One man, I think from Indiana, re- 
 marked to me : "I tell ye the bullet hain't 
 run that will kill a fellow when that band's 
 a-playin'." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 WITHIN a feAv days General Gregg was di- 
 rected to cross the Potomac at Harper's 
 Ferry and move out to the vicinity of the road 
 leading from Martinsburg to Winchester, which 
 was General Lee's line of communications, to 
 do what was possible to cripple his wagon trains. 
 We moved through Charlestown and the next 
 day reached Shepherdstown, where the Confed- 
 erates had large stores of provisions. The 
 people there were divided in sentiment, some 
 sympathizing with the South, and a few with 
 the Union army. With a view of rewarding the 
 Union sympathizers, some of us took flour and 
 bacon from the Confederate stores and presented 
 it to the families that we believed to be in sym- 
 pathy with the Union, to the disgust of those who 
 favored the South. This proved to be an un- 
 fortunate performance on our part for the recipi- 
 ents of our favors. While this was going on 
 the enemy attacked and drove in our pickets and 
 advanced in force. Fortunately the First Maine 
 cavalry was mounted and on the road, going 
 out for forage. Colonel Smith, their com- 
 mander, at once deployed his regiment and 
 checked the rapid advance of the enemy until 
 
 58 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 59 
 
 General Gregg could get out the rest of the 
 command and occupy a good position. 
 
 That morning some prisoners were brought in 
 and as they were talking a squad to the rear I 
 asked one of the men what regiment he belonged 
 to. Upon his reply that it was the Twenty-eighth 
 Louisiana and that it was from New Orleans, I 
 asked him if he knew any one by the name of 
 Sykes. He inquired if he was one of the auction- 
 eer's sons. On telling him he was, he replied 
 that they had two in his regiment and that one 
 of them had been wounded and left back at some 
 place, which I do not now recall. This Sykes 
 was a second cousin of mine. On writing home 
 I reported the circumstance to my mother, whose 
 brother, my uncle, shortly after visited New 
 Orleans and was thus able to give information 
 to Sykes's mother in New Orleans regarding her 
 son, she up to that time having had no word 
 as to his whereabouts or condition. He sub- 
 sequently recovered. 
 
 About this time General Gregg received word 
 that Lee's army had entirely recrossed the 
 Potomac, so it was too late to accomplish any- 
 thing with two brigades. He also found that 
 they were moving around to surround us, as 
 several couriers were captured on the way from 
 Harper's Ferry, the main, roads leading there 
 then being occupied by the enemy. General 
 Gregg, as usual under such conditions, made 
 a splendid fight, the enemy making repeated 
 
60 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 efforts to drive us, but were every time repulsed 
 by Irwin Gregg's brigade and the fire of our 
 battery. They kept up their attacks until dark. 
 That night the wounded who could be moved 
 were started back for Harper's Ferry by a road 
 close to the river's edge, the only one not occu- 
 pied by the enemy, the General and his staff 
 leaving some time after midnight, and our rear- 
 guard about daylight. Within due time we 
 reached Harper's Ferry with no losses other 
 than the killed and those so badly wounded that 
 we were unable to move them. These were left 
 in a church with a surgeon and the ladies of 
 Shepherdstown, who were zealous in their efforts 
 to assist in alleviating the suffering of our men. 
 During August and September, the division 
 was kept busy watching the movements of the 
 enemy. Several skirmishes and engagements 
 occurred. The most notable that I recall was 
 one during the advance from Sulphur Springs 
 to Culpeper and thence to the Rapidan, which 
 I think was in September. Kilpatrick's division 
 came by way of Brandy Station while we moved 
 from Sulphur Springs, the two divisions meet- 
 ing about midday at Culpeper. After stopping 
 to feed, the advance was resumed when, just 
 beyond that town, the enemy made a sharp 
 counter attack, but we finally, when our reserves 
 were brought up, drove them back. Later in the 
 day we went into camp in an abandoned corn- 
 field, when it began to rain and we remained 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 61 
 
 there in the rain for I think forty-eight hours. 
 Indeed, my clothing had been wet through for 
 probably sixty hours, because on the morning of 
 the advance before we arrived at Culpeper we 
 reached a bridge which the enemy had set fire 
 to, thus temporarily checking our advance. As 
 the General rode up some of our men were 
 pulling off the plank. I noticed that this would 
 not save the bridge, since the combustible ma- 
 terial was suspended from below. Riding into the 
 stream and under the bridge I began pulling 
 down the burning material thus suspended, 
 others following and helping me, and within a 
 few minutes we had the fire out, the planks 
 restored, and, with our mounted men fording the 
 stream, we were able to take our artillery across, 
 when the enemy fell back. As we were liable 
 at any moment to meet with a counter charge, I 
 was afraid to take time to get off my horse and 
 take my long cavalry boots off to pour the water 
 out of them, consequently I rode with about half 
 a pail of water in each boot-leg for a good part 
 of the day. This fact and the rain coming on 
 later was the reason why my clothing was wet 
 for the period mentioned. No ill results, how- 
 ever, followed this, for when the sun finally came 
 out my clothes were soon dry. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE following September General Kilpatrick, 
 having become commander of a division in 
 July previous, applied to have me ordered to 
 my regiment in his division in order that 
 I might be detailed for duty at his head- 
 quarters. General Gregg wrote a letter to 
 General Pleasanton, the corps commander, re- 
 questing a " suspension of the order," because 
 of the absence, by reason of illness, of his 
 adjutant-general, Captain Weir, in which he 
 stated substantially that he had no stafiE-offlcers 
 familiar with the adjutant-general's duties and 
 that my services Avere then " invaluable to him." ^ 
 The order was thereupon suspended until Cap- 
 tain Weir's return, when I reported to General 
 Kilpatrick. About this time. Captain Weir 
 recommended me for a commission, which rec- 
 ommendation was endorsed by General Gregg.^ 
 I was very sorry to leave General Gregg's head- 
 quarters, for I had come to have great admiration 
 for him and Captain Weir, both as soldiers and 
 high-toned, patriotic men. 
 
 At General Kilpatrick's headquarters I per- 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
 62 
 
BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL E. W. WHITAf<ER 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENOES 63 
 
 formed the same duties as at General Gregg's, 
 acting largely in the capacity of private secretary 
 to him when in camp, and doing a stafE-officer's 
 duty in the field, until the following February. 
 I was present with him at all the engagements 
 the division took part in during that period ; the 
 most important of which that I recall was on 
 the retreat from Culpeper, and later at Buck- 
 land's Mills near Warrenton, about October 
 20th. The former was on the occasion of the 
 retirement from Culpeper and Brandy Station. 
 After leaving Culpeper General Custer's bri- 
 gade- had the advance and General H. E. Davies, 
 Jr., was covering the rear. General Pleasanton, 
 the corps commander, and his staflf and escort 
 happened to be riding near General Kilpatrick 
 and his staff, and Custer with three regiments 
 was, I think, in column of squadrons moving 
 on the open plain between Culpeper and Brandy 
 Station and to the left of the railroad. The 
 wagons of the two brigades were in the advance, 
 as we were retiring. It was a bright October 
 afternoon and one could see for a considerable 
 distance ahead. A stream called Mountain Eun 
 had to be crossed and we noticed confusion at 
 it, though it was probably a mile ahead. Pres- 
 ently some one appeared and reported that the 
 enemy were in position directly across our line 
 of march on the opposite side of the run. To 
 their left they had a battery which had the range 
 of the little bridge over which our entire column 
 
64 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 must pass to cross Mountain Run. It thus 
 seemed that we were likely to be cut off and 
 the only alternative was to charge right through 
 this force directly in our front. Kilpatrick gave 
 orders to Custer to charge with his entire com- 
 mand and we then advanced in practically five 
 columns. This was a fine sight and a thrilling 
 moment. Pleasanton's staff and escort, Kil- 
 patrick's staff and escort, and Custer's three or 
 four regiments. When we arrived within a rea- 
 sonable charging distance of the enemy posted 
 as I have described, Custer ordered his band to 
 strike up Yankee Doodle; the men on hearing 
 this began cheering when the bugle sounded the 
 charge. The five columns rushed forward and 
 the enemy broke before we reached them, moving 
 into the woods on their left and our right, across 
 the railroad. I remember one gallant Confed- 
 erate riding out in an effort to rally their men, 
 standing in plain sight with his battle-flag stuck 
 in the ground, holding it off from his horse at 
 arm's length, but it was of no use, and he finally 
 was obliged to retire. 
 
 Meanwhile tlie enemy appeared on our left and 
 rear, and part of our force had to turn and meet 
 them, Davies, who was covering our rear, being 
 also strongly pressed as he was retiring from 
 Culpeper. Repeated charges were made and the 
 enemy held back until our wagons, ambulances, 
 and artillery were gotten over the little bridge 
 previously referred to at Mountain Run. Ulti- 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 65 
 
 mately the entire command crossed at this point. 
 The enemy had such an accurate range of this 
 crossing-place that they dropped their shells on 
 and in the immediate vicinity of the bridge dur- 
 ing the crossing of our men. Just as I passed 
 it, the man who was riding ahead of me, whose 
 horse mine could touch, had his head taken off 
 by a shell just as though it had been severed by 
 an axe; the remarkable fact was that his head- 
 less body remained straight in the saddle for 
 an instant or two, finally toppling over. When 
 we reached Brandy Station we made a junction 
 with Buford's command, which we found had 
 been coming up in rear of the line that was 
 drawn up to cut us off. This doubtless had 
 something to do with their breaking before we 
 reached them in the charge I have described. 
 We then crossed the Rappahannock and camped 
 for the night. This was the third engagement 
 that I had been in at Brandy Station. 
 
 On October 19th occurred the engagement at 
 Buckland's Mills, near Warrenton. In this Kil- 
 patrick's command was defeated. In the ad- 
 vance toward Warrenton there was an interval 
 of about two miles between General Davies's 
 brigade, which had the advance, and General 
 Custer's. We had been driving the enemy dur- 
 ing the morning toward Warrenton, and had 
 halted to feed when a force of the enemy came 
 unexpectedly in between Custer's and Davies's 
 brigades, overwhelmed General Custer's com- 
 
66 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 raand, and drove it back across Broad Run; and 
 by taking possession of the bridge and the War- 
 renton pike, had cut off General Davies's com- 
 mand, which was then vigorously attacked by 
 Hampton's force, which Davies had been pushing 
 toward Warrenton up to this time. 
 
 Kilpatrick, when he found Custer was thus 
 attacked, had sent one or two staff-officers to 
 Davies with orders for him to fall back and 
 make a junction with Custer. These apparently 
 were unable to reach him, and Kilpatrick, when 
 he found that Custer could not hold his position, 
 became very anxious that word should be gotten 
 to Davies of the real situation and the danger 
 that his brigade might be cut off and a large 
 portion of them captured. As he crossed the 
 bridge with the rear of Custer's command he 
 turned to me, as I was riding near him, no 
 staff-officer being at the moment about, and re- 
 marked : " Meyer, somebody must get to Davies 
 and let him know that Custer has been driven 
 across Broad Run and that the enemy have got 
 this bridge." On turning my horse to go back, 
 he called out : " Tell him to make his way the 
 best he can to Haymarket where he will find 
 General Newton's corps." 
 
 I was unable to return across the bridge, as 
 the enemy had the other end of it and were 
 moving up the stream so as to intercept Davies, 
 whom they knew was being driven back on them. 
 Riding until beyond their line I saw some of 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 67 
 
 Custer's men, who had been cut off, come out 
 of the woods at that point and cross the stream 
 to escape, when I took advantage of the con- 
 fusion to cross to the west side, trusting I would 
 not be noticed and that the woods at that point 
 would screen me from observation. Being fa- 
 miliar with the country I made my way around 
 their flank and rear, having the sound of Davies's 
 firing to direct me to his whereabouts. I soon 
 reached him and found him hard pressed. When 
 I reported the situation, his men were rallied 
 for another charge, which was led by Captain 
 J. P. B. Mitchell, so as to gain time to permit 
 a withdrawal, as directed. We then galloped 
 across the country, the forces opposing follow- 
 ing on our flanks, until we crossed Broad Run 
 farther up towards Haymarket. Davies's artil- 
 lery had meanwhile been conducted away in 
 safety under the guidance of Doctor Capehart, 
 of the First West Virginia cavalry, who knew 
 the country well. The brigade was thus saved 
 from serious loss; indeed, none other than the 
 casualties in fighting. Custer's and Davies's bri- 
 gades formed a junction when they reached the 
 First Corps commanded by General Newton, and 
 the enemy withdrew. 
 
 General Kilpatrick was quite chagrined that 
 evening OA^er the surprise his command had been 
 subjected to and the defeat it met, and claimed 
 that he never would have separated Davies's and 
 Custer's brigades and given the enemy a chance 
 
68 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 to get in between tliem by means of the road from 
 Auburn through the woods, had he not supposed 
 that this road was being looked after by some 
 one else, whose name I do not now recall. 
 
 Custer's command, which was feeding when 
 attacked, made a gallant fight under very great 
 disadvantages. The remarkably accurate firing 
 by Pennington's battery, however, checked the 
 enemy's advance and Custer's personal efforts 
 saved his brigade from much greater losses. 
 Stuart, the Confederate commander, in his re- 
 port, claimed that it was " the greatest rout that 
 any cavalry had suffered during the war," and 
 the Richmond papers described the fight as the 
 " Buckland Races." This I think is an exagger- 
 ated statement. Of course we were defeated, but 
 as soon as Custer got across the stream his 
 men were rallied and as fit to take the offensive 
 as they were in the morning. Davies's brigade 
 fought gallantly to resist Hampton's assaults, 
 which began as soon as the firing on Custer in 
 the rear was heard. It was only after I gave 
 Davies the information that Custer had been 
 driven across Broad Run and that the enemy 
 had the bridge and were in his rear, moving 
 towards Haymarket to intercept him, that he 
 started his command on the gallop across the 
 country to that village. When he had made a 
 junction with Custer, both brigades were ready 
 to take the offensive; at any rate the enemy 
 withdrew. 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 69 
 
 An amusing incident that occurred after Cus- 
 ter's men had gotten over Broad Eun and were 
 being rallied was told me, to the effect that an 
 Irishman rode up to Kilpatrick, who was rid- 
 ing his horse called " Spot," a speckled roan 
 with a white rump, saying : . " I say, ' Kil,' stop 
 here, and the boys will see your horse and they 
 will rally round you, so they will." This the 
 General did, resulting as the Irishman had 
 predicted. 
 
 In December General Custer was temporarily 
 in command of the division, and on his recom- 
 mendation I was allowed a furlough of ten days. 
 During that ten days I dined one evening with 
 Admiral Hiram Paulding, then in command of 
 the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (His son had been 
 a schoolmate and the Admiral had known me 
 before the war.) He questioned me as to my 
 position in the field, and expressed considerable 
 surprise when I told him I was not a commis- 
 sioned officer, and quite embarrassed me, as there 
 were a number of prominent officers at the table, 
 by slapping me on the back and in a loud voice, 
 to attract the attention of all present, stating 
 that he was proud to sit alongside of a private 
 soldier of the United States Army, and a gen- 
 tleman. He then asked me to call upon him 
 the next morning, when he gave me a letter ad- 
 dressed to the Hon. John Potts, the chief clerk 
 of the War Department and an old friend of 
 his, which recommended me for a commission. 
 
70 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 I never presented this letter/ however. He sub- 
 sequently wrote letters ^ to Governor Seymour, 
 and Adjutant-General D. Townsend, U. S. A., 
 copies of which he gave me, and to General 
 Kilpatrick. General Kilpatrick later gave me 
 a copy of the one he received.^ 
 
 About this time, General Kilpatrick, hearing 
 that my friends at home had interested them- 
 selves in the matter of procuring me a commis- 
 sion, -RTote a letter to the Hon. George T. Cobb, 
 an influential member of Congress from New 
 Jersey, a copy of which Captain L. G. Estes, his 
 adjutant-general, gave me.^ In February an 
 order from the War Department discharging me 
 as a private from the Harris Light Cavalry to 
 accept a commission in the Twenty-fourth New 
 York cavalry was received at General Kilpat- 
 rick's headquarters at Stevensburg. I did not 
 care to leave the General and went to him for 
 advice; yet the idea of going home on a furlough 
 with promotion was quite attractive, and the 
 General told me that he thought, on the whole, 
 promotion in a new regiment was more apt to 
 be rapid since there would be a good many 
 changes during the first campaign, and, " in any 
 event," he remarked, " if your regiment comes 
 anywhere near where I am I will have you de- 
 tailed on my staff." Thanking the General and 
 bidding him and my friends good-bye, I left his 
 headquarters for my new field of duty. 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 I RETURNED to New York, procured my 
 uniform, and immediately reported at Au- 
 burn, where the Twenty-fourth cavalry was ren- 
 dezvoused. To my surprise, I found that they 
 were under orders to proceed at once to Wash- 
 ington. When I reported to Colonel Raulston, 
 commanding, he told me that he proposed to 
 assign me to Company D, as this company had 
 no captain, and he did not think the first lieu- 
 tenant, who had recruited most of the men, was 
 likely to remain long in the service and was 
 unable to enforce the necessary discipline. 
 Though I was a second lieutenant, he expected 
 to hold me responsible for the safe conduct of 
 the men to Washington and the drilling and 
 care of the company. It seems that the first 
 lieutenant, who was a well-meaning man, was 
 not suited for military life; he did not realize 
 what was required and expected of him, was in- 
 capable of securing the confidence of the men, 
 and totally ignorant of the duties of a company 
 commander; and consequently with his concur- 
 rence and with perfect good feeling between us, 
 I took charge of the company, drilled them, and 
 had practically charge of them until compelled 
 
 71 
 
72 CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENCES 
 
 to leave thera by reason of wounds, as will be 
 explained later. 
 
 The regiment left Auburn for Washington via 
 Elmira and Baltimore. It rode in passenger- 
 cars from Auburn to Elmira, and at Elmira, not- 
 withstanding the season of the year, February, 
 the regiment was placed in freight-cars and was 
 thus transported to Baltimore. As the men had 
 received large bounties I was, I assume, in com- 
 mon with the other company commanders, told 
 that I would be held responsible should any of 
 my men desert while en route to Washington, 
 The train made frequent stops and was held at 
 stations to allow other traffic to pass, and I 
 think we were something like forty-eight hours 
 en route. It seemed to me hard to keep the 
 men cramped up in these cars in which they 
 simply had planks to sit on, so I told them that 
 at each station we stopped at I would allow a 
 certain number to get out and take a little ex- 
 ercise, but that in accepting this privilege if 
 any of them took advantage of it to desert I 
 would have to suffer for it, yet I would take 
 the chances that they would be fair to me. This 
 they were, since none of them deserted. 
 
 Before reaching Baltimore an amusing inci- 
 dent occurred that illustrates a volunteer sol- 
 dier's idea of discipline on joining the army. 
 At one of the stopping-places where my men 
 were out walking on the platform, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Newberry remarked that he noticed my 
 
COLONEL WILLIAM C. RAULSTON 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEEIENOES 73 
 
 men out at every station, intimating that I was 
 not holding them well in hand. I replied that 
 I thought it a hardship not to let them take some 
 exercise, the weather being cold, but that if he 
 directed me not to allow them to leave the cars 
 I would carry out his instructions. At this he 
 turned and made no reply. A couple of Irish- 
 men of my company overheard the conversation, 
 one of whom exclaimed : " I say, Lieutenant, if 
 you say the word we will belt hell out of him, 
 so we will ! " Ordering the men to get in the car, 
 I had great difficulty to refrain from laughing. 
 If the Colonel heard the remark he doubtless 
 was amused at it; at any rate he ignored it. 
 He had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and no 
 officer could be more considerate of his men than 
 he subsequently proved to be. When the train 
 conveying the regiment reached Baltimore, the 
 sides of many of the cars had been stripped of 
 their covering, which had been used to make fires 
 en route. We finally reached the old Baltimore 
 and Ohio station in Washington at night, it being 
 very cold. From there we marched to Camp 
 Stoneman, a cavalry camp of instruction across 
 Potomac Creek, where the regiment was drilled 
 and put in shape for the campaign that began 
 in May. 
 
 Having had experience in a cavalry regiment 
 and being familiar with cavalry tactics, and also 
 with the various details of camp duties, I was 
 able to suggest how my inexperienced men could 
 
74 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 be comfortable in camp, as soon as we reached 
 Camp Stoneman. The regiment was, in May, 
 assigned to Burnside's Ninth Corps, and joined 
 the Army of the Potomac, after a hard day's 
 march, the afternoon of the second day of the 
 battle of the Wilderness. As soon as our regi- 
 ment advanced into the woods, I was selected 
 to take command of a skirmish line that was 
 to cover, as I remember, the front of our bri- 
 gade. I assumed that I was selected for this 
 duty, though only a second lieutenant in rank, 
 because of the fact of my prior service with the 
 Harris Light Cavalry and with Generals Gregg 
 and Kilpatrick. Nothing serious occurred, how- 
 ever, to my command that day. 
 
 On the evening of the last day of the battle 
 of the Wilderness we built a new line of breast- 
 works, which were in close proximity to the 
 enemy's lines. With a view to sparing my men, 
 who were then much exhausted, I had the works 
 in my front built by stragglers from other regi- 
 ments, of whom there were a large number, re- 
 leasing them when the work was finished. At 
 dark, in order to prevent a surprise, as it was 
 extremely difficult to keep the men awake, we 
 placed a line of pickets about fifty yards out- 
 side of our works. A short time after, some one 
 on our line fired a shot, when immediately the 
 whole line arose and began shooting. Believing 
 that it was a false alarm, I jumped up to look 
 over the breastworks to see if I could see any 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 75 
 
 firing from the enemy's lines. At that moment 
 I heard our pickets outside, who were subjected 
 to this fire, calling out, " For God's sake stop 
 firing, you are killing your own men ! " Eunning 
 along the line giving orders to stop the firing, 
 I had a narrow escape from one excited fellow 
 who fired his carbine off, the muzzle of which 
 was close to my ear as I was in the act of grab^ 
 bing another man who, in his excitement, was 
 about to shoot. The line, however, soon quieted 
 down. 
 
 Presently a messenger came to me and speak- 
 ing in a low tone directed me to keep a sharp 
 lookout and when I saw the troops on my right 
 move, to have my men follow as noiselessly as 
 possible, and he enjoined me to see that the men 
 carried their canteens and tin cups in their hands 
 in order that no noise might he heard by the 
 enemy whose lines were so close by. I was soon 
 notified, " They are moving." Quickly walking 
 along the line I awoke the men and cautioned 
 them to be as quiet as possible. In this manner 
 we moved out and for some moments were in sus- 
 pense lest the enemy hear the movement and, by 
 attacking, stop it. After a while we reached a 
 place where we could form in column of fours, 
 and all that night we marched through narrow 
 roads in the woods of that region, halting every 
 few minutes because of obstructions due to teams 
 and other troops in our front. This fatiguing 
 process continued until about daylight, when we 
 
76 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 reached the main road where the country was 
 open. We were all greatly depressed, since after 
 the three days' desperate fighting at the Wilder- 
 ness no apparent advantage had been gained, 
 and we assumed that the army had been unsuc- 
 cessful and that it was an attempt to retreat. 
 We soon came to a house outside of which I 
 saw a colored woman apparently dressed up, 
 since it was Sunday. I called out to her and 
 asked what road we were marching on. Upon 
 hearing her reply, *' The road to Spottsylvania 
 Court House," a thrill of satisfaction instantly 
 passed through every man in the column, since 
 then we realized that we at last had a general 
 and that our movement was south and towards 
 the rear of Lee's army. From that time until 
 the end of my service I never had any mis- 
 giving as to Grant's capacity to lead us to final 
 victory. 
 
 It was on this morning that I first saw General 
 Grant. The road ahead was blocked and our 
 men were lying in it when some one called out, 
 " Get your men to one side to allow General 
 Grant to pass." Grant, however, gave direc- 
 tions not to disturb the tired men, many of whom 
 were asleep, and turned into a field. We were 
 all up, however, anxious to see him. He ap- 
 peared riding a small black horse with his feet 
 not more than two feet from the ground. He 
 had a couple of staff-officers with him, one of 
 whom was Captain Parker, an Indian, and an 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 77 
 
 orderly. His unpretentious appearance excited 
 the comment of all, and had we not been told 
 who he was he would have attracted no more 
 attention than an ordinary line officer. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A LITTLE after noon the regiment reached 
 a position in the vicinity of Spottsylva- 
 nia, where details of men were given me and I 
 was instructed to go into the woods and estab- 
 lish a line of skirmishers in a favorable location. 
 We found the underbrush in these woods on fire, 
 so using a portion of the men to beat out the 
 fire I placed the remainder on a line which we 
 occupied until the next day, when we were moved 
 to another part of the field. It was so difficult 
 to keep my men awake that, in order to avoid 
 a surprise, I went along the line at frequent in- 
 tervals during the night, sometimes being obliged 
 to wake up some of them. 
 
 While in front of Spottsylvania Court House 
 I was in command of a force that held the line 
 of works on the road to that town. We were 
 under fire most of the day until, towards even- 
 ing, the enemy retired. With the desire to 
 have my men get a little refreshment, I sug- 
 gested that some part of the men cook coffee 
 while the others remained in the trenches in 
 line. There being no firewood I suggested that 
 some rails be pulled out of a breastwork that 
 ran at right angles to one that we had been 
 
 78 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 79 
 
 occupying. On lifting these rails a man re- 
 ported that he saw the body of a Confederate 
 soldier in the breastworks. I then had a con- 
 siderable portion of the breastworks uncovered, 
 and found that they had placed in them a num- 
 ber of dead Confederates and piled rails and 
 dirt on top of them, thus forming the breast- 
 work behind which they had fought. Reporting 
 this on being relieved, I saw it afterward com- 
 mented on in some of the Northern papers. 
 
 It will be remembered that the battle of Spott- 
 sylvania was a very sanguinary one, the enemy 
 being strongly posted behind breastworks in a 
 rough-wooded country, and the assaults made on 
 these works had cost our army a loss of nearly 
 twenty thousand men, killed and wounded. A 
 night or two before the army moved from there, 
 I was called from my place in the line of breast- 
 works and directed to report at division head- 
 quarters. On arriving there I was introduced 
 to an officer who, I was told, was a topographical 
 engineer from army headquarters, and that I 
 was to go with him. It was a dark night with 
 a drizzling rain falling. As we mounted our 
 horses he told me that I was selected to conduct 
 a division later in the night to a position from 
 which they were to assault the enemy's works, 
 the attack to be made before daylight, hoping 
 to surprise them, previous assaults in the day- 
 time having proved so disastrous to our men. 
 He stated that he wanted to have me familiarize 
 
80 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 myself thoroughly with the ground where the 
 division was to be placed in position for the 
 charge so that I could explain it to the general 
 in command, and thus avoid a chance of con- 
 fusion among the troops and failure of the 
 attack. 
 
 On hearing what was expected of me I was 
 naturally greatly impressed with the responsi- 
 bility, fearing that if I made a mistake it might 
 be very disastrous in its results. We soon 
 reached a small corduroy bridge, about wide 
 enough for a column of fours to cross, from 
 which a roadway passed through a piece of 
 woods, as I remember it, a few rods, to a clear- 
 ing. We left our horses with our orderlies at 
 this bridge and walked till we came to the clear- 
 ing. He told me that a few rods in front the 
 ground began to ascend, and farther up on this 
 slope was the line of works the division was to 
 attack and attempt to surprise. He then walked 
 with me along the clearing to the right, explain- 
 ing about how many yards it extended in that 
 direction from the opening by which we had 
 entered, and told me about how many could 
 be placed in line there. We then returned to 
 the opening and walked to the left of it, where 
 he explained about how many men could be 
 placed there. On our return to this road, I 
 suggested that we had better move up the hill 
 a little more so that I could familiarize myself 
 with the character of the ground over which the 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 81 
 
 assault was to be made. This was done and 
 we lay on the ground where we could hear 
 sounds from the enemy's lines. We then re- 
 turned to our horses. In my anxiety not to 
 make a mistake, I suggested that we go all over 
 it again and that he let me show him the way 
 in the manner I was expected to direct the 
 general, to make sure that I correctly understood 
 what I was to do. He assented to this, and 
 at its conclusion expressed himself as satisfied 
 that I understood the duty assigned to me. On 
 the ride back to headquarters I think nothing 
 was said. I was naturally thinking over what 
 would be the result of this night attack and 
 wondering whether I would ever see daylight 
 again. Eeaching headquarters, this officer, 
 whose name I never learned and whose face I 
 could not even recall, as it was dark the entire 
 time I was with him, told me I had better lie 
 down and get a little sleep and that I would 
 be called when wanted. Then taking me by the 
 hand he said, " Good-bye and God bless you ! " 
 and withdrew. 
 
 When I awoke the sun was up, and upon in- 
 quiry I was informed that about two o'clock in 
 the morning a message was received from head- 
 quarters countermanding the order for the as- 
 sault. After the war, I read in some of General 
 Grant's writings that after assenting to this 
 proposed assault he was awake in his tent think- 
 ing over the prospects of its success and decided 
 
82 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 that the chances in the darkness were against 
 it. Therefore, soon after midnight, he directed 
 that the order for it be countermanded. I 
 assume that the contemplated assault was to 
 include other troops than the division I was 
 detailed to accompany. 
 
 One night, while with my company in the 
 breastworks, I was sent for and informed by 
 Colonel Eaulston that General Burnside had re- 
 quested him to recommend an officer whom he 
 could send to Washington to bring back with 
 him, at the earliest possible moment, some car- 
 bine ammunition for our regiment, it being of a 
 different calibre from that used by the other 
 regiments of the division, which were infantry. 
 Colonel Raulston told me he had decided to 
 detail me for this duty and directed me to re- 
 port to General Burnside. I rode to the latter's 
 headquarters, where he gave me a letter to the 
 War Department and one addressed to his wife. 
 The latter he requested me to mail in Washing- 
 ton, mail communication with the army at that 
 time having been temporarily cut off. 
 
 I started immediately in a dense fog for Belle 
 Plain, riding all night, and was obliged to pro- 
 cure a fresh horse in the morning at Fredericks- 
 burg. I sailed from Belle Plain for Washington, 
 arriving the next morning, and as soon as the 
 War Department opened for business I pre- 
 sented my letters, and was informed that the 
 necessary ammunition would be placed on a tug 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 83 
 
 which would be ready to sail for Belle Plain 
 that afternoon. 
 
 I was told that a permit had been given to 
 the late Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio, and George 
 H. Stuart, the president of the Christian Com- 
 mission, to go on the boat with me, they having 
 been granted permission to go to the front to 
 look into the practical working of the United 
 States Christian Commission. When the tug 
 sailed, I being the only United States officer or 
 soldier on board, Mr. Stuart introduced himself 
 to me, and then presented me to the Bishop. 
 Later he came to me and said that it was pro- 
 posed to have a brief prayer-meeting in the 
 cabin, at which were present the Bishop, Mr. 
 Stuart, and one or two representatives of the 
 Christian Commission, and a lady, who, I was 
 told, had a pass from Mr. Lincoln permitting 
 her to go to the front to see her son, who was 
 wounded. It impressed me as an exceedingly 
 pathetic and remarkable incident, and I re- 
 member that, being brought up a Presbyterian, 
 I was a little curious to see whether the Bishop 
 would read his prayers from the prayer-book or 
 would make one extemporaneously. He, how- 
 ever, made what seemed to me then one of the 
 most affecting and beautiful extempore prayers 
 I ever listened to. When the little steamboat 
 reached Belle Plain, the Bishop's party were 
 put into an ambulance and had an escort of a 
 part of a regiment to take them to Fredericks- 
 
84 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 burg, as the intervening country was raided by 
 Mosby's men and all wagon trains between 
 Belle Plain and Fredericksburg had to be heavily 
 guarded. 
 
 No transportation being provided for me to 
 take my ammunition to the front, I took the 
 responsibility of taking some wagons belonging 
 to General Potter's division, none of my own 
 being available. I did this without authority, 
 but under stress of circumstances. When I got 
 them loaded I found it was imjwssible to start 
 that afternoon, as no escort could be furnished 
 until the next morning. I concluded, however, 
 the General would be anxious to know that the 
 ammunition was en route, and I decided to start 
 on alone for Fredericksburg. Putting my pistol 
 in my lx)ot-leg, I started off in a very severe 
 thunder-storm, and, keeping a good lookout, 
 rode to Fredericksburg without meeting any of 
 the enemy's roving cavalry. 
 
 That night I spent with Captain Corson, 
 quartermaster of General Gregg's division at 
 Fredericksburg, and started the next morning 
 for the front, where I reported to General 
 Crittenden when he might expect the first 
 wagons containing the ammunition, and then 
 rode back to Fredericksburg to hurry them for- 
 ward. When I returned with the first two 
 wagons the regiment was in action, and I was 
 obliged to get details of men to break open the 
 boxes and carry the cartridges in blankets to 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPEEIENCES 85 
 
 supply the men along the line. I remember be- 
 ing verbally complimented for getting back some 
 twelve hours sooner than it was thought pos- 
 sible, and shortly afterwards General Crittenden 
 detailed me on his staff, but I declined the posi- 
 tion, as my men expected me to stay with them 
 and I had intimated that I would stay with them 
 through the campaign. It was a few days after 
 this that I was commissioned captain. 
 
 I might add that I understood General Potter 
 was very angry, as he needed his wagons to bring 
 commissary stores for his troops, and proposed 
 to prefer charges against me for unwarrantably 
 taking them. If he did so, I never heard any- 
 thing from it. I took for granted that the 
 necessities of the case justified my action. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 FROM Spottsylvania, until the army reached 
 Petersburg, some portion of the regiment 
 was under fire every day. During this period 
 occurred the engagements at the North Anna 
 River, Pamunltey, and Cold Harbor. The most 
 fatiguing march that I ever experienced was 
 that made by our brigade on its withdrawal from 
 the south bank of the North Anna River, in 
 which we had a similar experience to that dur- 
 ing the withdrawal from the lines at the Wilder- 
 ness, the men realizing that if we were attacked 
 then it would be on the brink of a rapid running 
 river we were about to recross. We crossed the 
 North Anna River sometime between darkness 
 and midnight, and then moved by a circuitous 
 route, as the more direct lines were occupied 
 by other troops. We marched, without any halts 
 other than those occasioned by blockades ahead 
 of us, all the next day and following night. In 
 order to prevent my tired men from falling out, 
 and not having the heart to urge them to keep 
 up while I was riding my horse, I dismounted 
 and walked at the rear of the company, feeling 
 that so long as I was able to walk I could with 
 propriety urge the men to do likewise. It was 
 
 86 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 87 
 
 reported at the time that some of our men died 
 of exhaustion in the middle of the night; at 
 any rate, when the command finally halted and 
 stacked arms fully one half of it were not able 
 to answer the roll-call. During the following 
 twenty-four hours, however, our stragglers kept 
 coming in. 
 
 In a day or two the battle of Cold Harbor 
 occurred. Our regiment went into line in an 
 unfavorable position, it being in an abandoned 
 cornfield, the woods beyond being held by the 
 enemy. As was the custom whenever we went 
 into line at night to throw up temporary breast- 
 works, we were directed to do so here. The soil 
 was sandy, there were no timber and no rail 
 fences, and we had few intrenching tools, con- 
 sequently it seemed impossible with the facilities 
 at hand to construct any sort of temporary 
 breastworks. Within a few rods of my com- 
 pany's position in the lines stood a large house, 
 from which the family had hastily departed. 
 As there was no timber, the only alternative 
 that suggested itself to me was to take the roof 
 from the house and break it up for our purpose. 
 I therefore sent a detail of men who in a short 
 time removed the roof from this building, while 
 others soon knocked down the rest of the struc- 
 ture. This material was broken up, the sand 
 piled on it, and thus were provided the breast- 
 works that protected us the next day. This 
 seemed a hardship to the occupants of this 
 
88 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 dwelling, but it was justified by the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 During the battle of Cold Harbor I had a 
 second opportunity to see General Grant, hav- 
 ing been sent to General Meade's headquarters 
 where General Grant happened to be. When I 
 reached headquarters, I found General Meade 
 sprawled out on the ground with his face buried 
 in a map, he being very near-sighted. StafE- 
 officers were constantly riding up and reporting, 
 and about fifty feet from where he lay I saw 
 General Grant sitting alone on a stretcher. He 
 had nothing to say to any one and seemed un- 
 concerned. While waiting for my instructions, 
 I intently watched him. Presently an officer 
 brought up a Confederate of&cer, who was a 
 prisoner. Looking up. General Grant quietly 
 asked, " I assume you have questioned him? " 
 The officer replied, " Yes, but he does not tell 
 anything." Grant then remarked, " Ask him if 
 he has a recent Richmond paper." The Con- 
 federate officer said that he had and took one 
 from his haversack, giving it to the officer, who 
 handed it to General Grant. Grant nodded his 
 head in acknowledgment, and remarking, " You 
 may take him back," opened the paper and 
 began to read. Just then General Sheridan 
 rode up. Grant arose, greeted him warmly, 
 and seemed deeply interested as Sheridan 
 began earnestly telling him, I assume, the 
 results of his recent movements. Receiving 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 89 
 
 my instructions I then returned to the regi- 
 ment. 
 
 The crossing of the James River by the army 
 on pontoon bridges, as is known, was a mem- 
 orable movement, the river being about two 
 thousand feet wide there. Our march from the 
 James River to Petersburg was a very hard one, 
 since the roads were sandy and it seemed that at 
 every two steps forward we would slip one back- 
 ward. However, towards evening, we reached a 
 position near Petersburg, when, tired as we were, 
 it seemed to me a favorable moment for us to 
 advance and try to capture the town. We could 
 see trains of cars coming in, their infantry be- 
 ing hastily unloaded, and everywhere were evi- 
 dences that they were hurrying up forces to 
 resist us. The failure to attack that afternoon 
 was a great disappointment to General Grant, 
 as one reading his Memoirs can ascertain. The 
 next day, the 17th of June, was my last day of 
 active service in the field. 
 
 About the 8th or 9th of June orders had been 
 read out behind the breastworks in which my 
 appointment as captain was announced. Though 
 I had always been doing duty as a captain, I had 
 never held the rank of a first-lieutenant. Sub- 
 sequently, Adjutant Hill having been wounded, 
 I did temporary duty as adjutant; and on the 
 17th of June was with the regiment in the as- 
 sault of the enemy's works near the Norfolk 
 road, in which it suffered so severely. My 
 
90 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 wound was not received in the assault but im- 
 mediately after, and under the following cir- 
 cumstances. The assault had been unsuccessful 
 because of the failure of some troops on our 
 right to support us properly, and the command 
 had secured the protection of a line of breast- 
 works. Acting as adjutant that day I had been 
 carrying an order, when I noticed lying on the 
 field Lieutenant Randall, who was lying on his 
 face, and about him were our killed and 
 wounded, among others, General Morton, Gen- 
 eral Burnside's chief engineer. I turned back 
 to see if Randall was alive, and found him lying 
 with his face buried in the dirt of a corn-hill, 
 the field being a succession of ridges, and the 
 corn being about eighteen inches high. He had 
 a hole in his neck and was apparently dying. 
 I brushed the dirt out of his face so that he 
 could breathe, propped him up on the dirt ridges, 
 but was unable to carry him into our lines, be- 
 cause I had been suffering for some days from 
 intermittent fever and was almost too weak to 
 walk when I went into the engagement. While 
 thus stooping over and in the act of starting for 
 our lines, a ball struck me alongside of the spine, 
 just above my sabre belt, and, as afterwards 
 turned out, ploughed up in the neighborhood of 
 my shoulders. Realizing that I was struck in 
 a bad place and not wishing to lie there in the 
 sun during the afternoon, I started for our 
 breastworks, the bullets striking the ground 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 91 
 
 around me as I crawled. I asked a man who I 
 believed belonged to the Eighteenth Corps if 
 he could pull me over, as I was unable to get 
 over. He remarked, " I will, if my partner will 
 help me," and in a moment these two men 
 jumped upon the breastwork, took me by the 
 collar of my cavalry jacket, jerked me over, and 
 dropped me inside. It had not occurred to me 
 that I was in plain sight of the enemy, and it 
 was not until after I was lifting Randall that 
 I noticed the bullets were striking in the ground 
 around me and subsequently in the breastworks, 
 as I lay outside of them, when I asked the man 
 to help me over. 
 
 Just after I was pulled over. General Walter 
 C. Newberry, then the lieutenant-colonel of the 
 Twenty-fourth cavalry, who that day com- 
 manded the regiment, came up to me. I showed 
 him my wound and remarked that I thought I 
 had a " thirty-day wound." He sent two men 
 who lifted me on my feet, and, with my arm 
 about their necks and their arms supporting my 
 body, I walked a considerable distance before I 
 could reach an ambulance, which took me to the 
 field hospital. On my way to the field hospital 
 I noticed a corporal, Frederick Gundlach, a 
 brave and honest soldier, who was walking hold- 
 ing his hand, which seemed to be shattered. I 
 hailed him and he immediately ran along by the 
 ambulance in which I was, stayed by me, and 
 waited on me during the afternoon and night. 
 
92 CIVIL WAK EXPERIENCES 
 
 During the night I was placed in a tent with 
 five other seriously wounded officers, including 
 Colonel Raulston of the Twenty-fourth and Cap- 
 tain Burch, the latter dying in the arms of his 
 men as he lay directly opposite me in the tent. 
 During the night it was reported to us that an 
 officer outside had been obliged to have his 
 clothing cut off to get at his wounds, as he had 
 five bullets in his body, in various places, and 
 a blanket was wanted to put around him. As 
 Corporal Gundlach had given me his blanket 
 to lie on and my overcoat was wrapped around 
 my sabre hilt and pistol, so as to make a pillow 
 for me, I gave them the coat to wrap around 
 this badly wounded man, who proved to be none 
 other than the Lieutenant Randall that I had 
 assisted when I received my wound. It was 
 assumed that by brushing the dirt out of his 
 face and turning him over so he could breathe, 
 he regained consciousness, and when the enemy's 
 position was taken in a later assault that after- 
 noon, he, with the other wounded, was brought 
 in. At any rate, he lived several years after 
 the war, though I never met him again. ^ 
 
 The day after I was wounded I am unable 
 to account for. I may have been insensible; at 
 any rate, it was the second day after, that the 
 ambulances and army wagons were filled with 
 
 1 After the war, a medal of honor was awarded to me 
 on the recommendation of General Newberry; see corre- 
 spondence in Appendix A. 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPEKIENCES 93 
 
 wounded and started for City Point, whence 
 steamboats conveyed them to Washington. I 
 was fortunate in being placed in an ambulance 
 with another badly wounded officer, as these 
 vehicles had springs, while many of the wounded 
 had to ride in the army wagons that had none, 
 hence when going down hill or over rough roads 
 the jolting caused great suffering. A whole day 
 was consumed in making the trip to City Point, 
 delays constantly occurring because we had to 
 pull out beside the road to permit supply and 
 ammunition wagons to pass, it being the custom 
 in war always to give the right of way to sup- 
 plies for the front. The heat and the dust set- 
 ling down on us made it a very trying day, and 
 when the teams reached City Point a number of 
 the wounded were found dead. 
 
 We were placed on a large steamboat, where 
 the cots were arranged on the decks as near 
 together as they could be placed and permit 
 nurses to pass between them. These were clean 
 and there was an abundance of food and drink 
 for those able to partake of it. We were on this 
 steamboat that night and the following day, 
 reaching the wharf at the foot of Sixth Street 
 in Washington about sundown. By this time I 
 was suffering considerably. Because of the na- 
 ture of my wound I was the last man removed 
 from the boat, it then being nine o'clock. It 
 was decided that the best way to handle me 
 was to carry me on the mattress, so a number 
 
94 CIVIL WAK EXPEEIENCES 
 
 of men held it over the stair-well, as I was on the 
 upper deck, while others took it from below. 
 The journey in an ambulance through the streets 
 of Washington, then not paved, was a painful 
 one. I finally reached the Seminary Hospital 
 at Georgetown, where I was bathed and my 
 soiled clothing replaced by clean linen, and 
 placed in a comfortable cot which I occupied for 
 nearly four months. 
 
 There were, during that period, usually six 
 wounded officers in the room at a time. Dr. 
 Ducachet was the surgeon-in-chief and Dr. Finn 
 the assistant surgeon ; the latter had charge of 
 me. He took good care of me, and I am doubt- 
 less greatly indebted to him for my recovery. 
 For three weeks repeated attempts were made to 
 find the ball by probing, but without success. 
 One day a large swelling appeared on my back, 
 and in turning me over in bed to dress the wound 
 a sudden discharge occurred with great force, 
 whereupon the surgeons were summoned and 
 concluded that this violent discharge must have 
 forced the ball from its lodgment, which had 
 been beyond the reach of their longest probe, 
 and it was decided to attempt to get the ball 
 out. After sundown, when the day was cooler, 
 the weather at that time being excessively hot, 
 the operation was successfully accomplished. 
 The ball was flattened against my ribs; two of 
 them were splintered, and pieces of them occa- 
 sionally worked out through the wound during 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 95 
 
 the ensuing eight months. Because of the frac- 
 ture of my ribs and the wound in my back, I 
 was obliged to lie on one hip, with the result 
 that I suffered from severe bedsores, and for 
 weeks was able to get sleep only by taking 
 morphine. 
 
 In October of that year the surgeons decided 
 that it would do to remove me to my home at 
 Dobbs Perry on the Hudson. 
 
 During the following winter I was confined 
 to my bed at intervals by abscesses forming 
 preliminary to their discharging pieces of bone 
 or cloth, the last particles coming out the fol- 
 lowing March or April. The wound healed in 
 June, though my body was bent and one leg 
 contracted; Hence I was obliged to walk with 
 a cane for nearly another year, although I was 
 able to perform clerical work that summer. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 GENERAL D. McM. GREGG was a West 
 Point graduate and had seen service in 
 the army before the war. He was dignified in 
 manner and that winter I was more or less 
 in awe of him, when in his presence. One day he 
 sent for me and asked me if I knew of a certain 
 special order from the War Department bear- 
 ing on a certain subject. Replying, " I think it 
 is number so and so," he said : " You should not 
 think, sir, you should know. Go and find out." 
 To a layman this might seem needlessly severe, 
 but it was just the kind of training the young 
 volunteer soldiers needed. Indeed, my after ex- 
 perience demonstrated that one could not have 
 been under a more considerate and finer com- 
 mander. His coolness whenever we were in 
 action and his thoughtfulness in looking out for 
 his men, sparing them needless risks and taking 
 precautions to protect them from surprises, se- 
 cured for him the absolute confidence of every 
 one in his command. He was averse to news- 
 paper notoriety and I do not recall an instance 
 when he seemed willing to give information to 
 
 96 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 97 
 
 reporters. His idea was to confine wliat he had 
 to tell to his official reports, and let the records 
 testify to the character of his service. Indeed, 
 on one occasion he remarked to me, " Meyer, I 
 do not propose to have a picture reputation." 
 As I am A\Titing these lines he is still living, 
 beloved by the survivors of those who served 
 under him and respected by the people of Penn- 
 sylvania, the State in which he lives. 
 
 General Judson Kilpatrick, also a West Point 
 graduate, was of slight build, wiry, apparently 
 incapable of fatigue, and physically just the man 
 for a cavalry leader. He was of a highly ex- 
 citable and nervous temperament. Whenever 
 we reached camp and every one else seemed to 
 think that men and horses should have a rest, 
 Kilpatrick was writing letters and asking for 
 authority from his superiors to start out on a 
 reconnoissance or a raid, or to give him a chance 
 to get into a fight. I was told that when at 
 West Point he was noted for making speeches. 
 With us he would frequently harangue the men, 
 but his good-natured dash and personal mag- 
 netism made him popular. He had capacity for 
 rallying his soldiers and getting them into a 
 charge. His usual method when meeting the 
 enemy was to order a charge. Sometimes this 
 was very successful, and at other times it was 
 not so much so and very costly of men. It 
 was because of this that he secured the nick- 
 name of " Kil-Cavalry." He was good-natured, 
 
98 CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 
 
 approachable, and not inclined to be mucli of 
 a disciplinarian. 
 
 He was not disposed to punish his men if 
 they took a horse from citizens, which they 
 occasionally did in 1862, unless they were caught 
 at it. 
 
 One day when we were in camp near Fal- 
 mouth a citizen called on him to complain that 
 a horse of his had been stolen and to ask per- 
 mission to go through our companies' streets in 
 search of it. The man rode into camp and tied 
 his horse to one of the stakes to which the 
 General's tent was attached. Kilpatrick courte- 
 ously invited him in, listened to his story, and 
 gave him permission to go through camp looking 
 for his horse. On emerging from the tent the 
 man found, that while he was inside some one 
 had taken his saddle from the horse he rode in 
 on. My recollection is that he recovered neither 
 the saddle nor the horse he was in search of. 
 
 Kilpatrick was energetic, brave, and patriotic, 
 and as a cavalry leader had a splendid record, 
 and I understood that his services after he went 
 to Sherman's army were much appreciated by 
 that commander. 
 
 Among the fine officers with whom it was my 
 privilege to serve and whose friendship has 
 grown and still exists, were Colonel Henry C. 
 Weir, adjutant-general of General D. McM. 
 Gregg's cavalry division and his chief-of-staff, 
 and General Walter 0. Newberry, the lieutenant- 
 
CIVIL WAE EXPERIENCES 99 
 
 colonel commanding the Twenty-fourth cavalry 
 in June. It was the former who took me from 
 the ranks and secured for me the position at 
 General Gregg's headquarters, which brought me 
 under the eye of the General and gave me op- 
 portunities that probably secured the promotion 
 I ultimately obtained. 
 
 Weir was about twenty-one years of age in 
 1863, and with a most attractive personality. 
 He had a wide acquaintance among officers of 
 the army who had graduated from West Point, 
 since his father was Professor Weir, the famous 
 artist on duty there, some of whose paintings 
 are in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. 
 Weir was adjutant-general of General Bayard's 
 brigade when the latter was killed at Fredericks- 
 burg, and then continued as such with General 
 Gregg's division to the end of the war. He was 
 intensely patriotic, high-toned in character, and 
 one of the bravest men I ever knew. Indeed, 
 General Gregg once remarked to me after the 
 war that Weir was so uniformly brave that he 
 found it difficult to recall a particular instance 
 in order that he might recommend him for a 
 Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor was, 
 however, awarded to Weir later and no man 
 better deserved it. 
 
 General Newberry, to whose kindness and con- 
 sideration I am so greatly indebted, had been 
 an officer in one of the New York State infantry 
 regiments that went out for two years' service. 
 
100 CIVIL AVAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 On returning in 1863, he, witli Colonel W. C. 
 Raulston, raised the Twenty-fourth New York 
 cavalry. These officers were hoth fine soldiers. 
 
 General Newberry was a man of sound 
 judgment, exceedingly cool in battle and in 
 emergencies, and a fine executive. He was most 
 considerate of his men and quick to appreciate 
 any man or officer who tried to do his duty. I 
 doubt if any colonel of a regiment laiew, more 
 of his men personally than did he. He kept a 
 record in which he described the character of 
 every officer's service, noting his impression of 
 them both as men and officers. Since the war 
 he has been a man of affairs, holding prominent 
 positions, serving his city. State, and nation, 
 yet with all his large interests he has kept him- 
 self informed of the whereabouts of many of 
 the survivors of the Twenty-fourth cavalry, and 
 I cannot imagine any regimental commander 
 more beloved by his men than he. During my 
 short term of service with the Twenty-fourth 
 cavalry, which was from about the latter part 
 of February till the 17th of June, the last forty- 
 five days of which covered the campaign from 
 the Wilderness to Petersburg, my intercourse 
 with General Newberry was mainly official, and 
 it was not until I received a sympathetic letter ^ 
 while in the hospital that I realized how good 
 a friend I had in him. In later years this letter 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 
CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 101 
 
 was followed by a report to the Secretary of 
 War recommending that a Medal of Honor be 
 awarded me, which was accordingly done.^ 
 
 In October, the 24:th New York cavalry was 
 mounted and assigned to General Gregg's di- 
 vision, which in the spring of 1865 was com- 
 manded by General Crook. Except when 
 commanding a brigade, General Newberry com- 
 manded the regiment from June 18th, when 
 Colonel Raulston was wounded, until a few days 
 before the end of the war. He was wounded 
 twice in the summer of 1864, but retained his 
 command until March 31, 1865, at Dinwiddle 
 Court House, where he was severely wounded, 
 this preventing further active service. Lee's 
 surrender occurred ten days later. He was 
 brevetted brigadier-general for gallant and dis- 
 tinguished service at Dinwiddle Court House, 
 March 31, 1865. 
 
 I count the friendship of Newberry and Weir, 
 begun during the war and continuing up to the 
 present time, one of the greatest privileges I 
 have ever been able to enjoy. 
 
 Colonel William C. Raulston, who commanded 
 the Twenty-fourth cavalry until he was given 
 the command of a brigade, also treated me with 
 great courtesy and consideration. It was he 
 who suggested that I be selected to go to Wash- 
 ington for ammunition, and I assume he also 
 
 1 See Appendix A. 
 
102 CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCES 
 
 recommended me for other special duties which 
 I was given an opportunity to perform. He was 
 an exceedingly gallant officer, was wounded on 
 the day after I was, recovered and returned to 
 duty, and was subsequently captured. In an 
 unsuccessful attempt to break out of prison at 
 Danville, in which he was a leader, he was shot 
 by a guard and died a few days after. 
 
 Among the many gallant men with whom I 
 at different times served, I remember especially 
 Captain L. G. Estes, adjutant-general to General 
 Kilpatrick, and afterwards Brevet Brigadier- 
 General, and his aides, Captain, afterwards 
 Brevet Brigadier-General, E. W. Whitaker and 
 Captain Theodore F. Northrop. No cavalry 
 officer had braver staff-officers than were these 
 three men. Whitaker and Northrop repeatedly 
 carried out successfully missions involving un- 
 usual hazards and requiring great daring. 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 LETTER RECOMMENDING AWARD OF MEDAL OF HONOR — • 
 
 WAR department's ACTION THEREON ^EXTRACT 
 
 FROM GENERAL NEWBERRY'S RECORDS 
 
 Chicago, III., 
 
 April 11, 1898. 
 Hon. Eussell A. Alger, 
 
 Secy, of War, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I believe there are still some Medals of Honor 
 awaiting oflficers and men of the late War who by 
 some special act of bravery or the saving of life 
 or enhancing the safety of the Army have earned 
 such a reward. 
 
 I desire to call your attention to the case of an 
 offlcer of my own Eegiment, the 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
 who has suffered greatly, and who has achieved most 
 honorable position in the scientific world as a citi- 
 zen since the War. I speak of Capt. and Brevet 
 Major Henry 0. Meyer, now Editor and Proprietor 
 of a publication known as the Engineering Record 
 of New York City. He has two sons who were 
 raised in the same honorable manner and promise 
 the very best of American citizenship to their coun- 
 try that their father has, and I should very much 
 like to see the father's heroism and suffering re- 
 warded as they deserve and as I believe the Govern- 
 ment intended by these Medals of Honor. 
 
 Meyer as a boy, against his father's desire, enlisted 
 in '62 in what was known as the " Harris Light " 
 (2nd New York Cavalry). Being of good education 
 
 103 
 
104 APPENDIX A 
 
 and writing a fine hand, he was subsequently detailed 
 as a clerk at Headquarters of General D. McM. 
 Gregg of the 2nd Division of Cavalry. On the 9th 
 of June, '63, at Brandy Station, noticing some 
 men hard pressed, he rushed into the thickest of 
 the iight and was wounded by a sabre across the 
 shoulder. He made light of the wound at the time 
 and induced Adj.-General Weir not to report his 
 name as wounded on account of needless alarm to 
 his mother. Within the last few years, however, 
 both General Gregg and Colonel Weir reported this 
 circumstance to the War Department, which you 
 will find on file under date of November 19th, '91, 
 addressed to the Adj.-General of the Army and 
 certified by those officers. Later, in an engagement 
 at Buckland Mills, where General Kilpatrick's Di- 
 vision met with a reverse, General Davies's Brigade 
 was imperilled by reason of the fact that General 
 Custer's Brigade had been driven to the north side 
 of Broad Run, and the enemy had gotten in between 
 General Custer and his command, which was hard 
 pressed some two miles near Warrenton. General 
 Kilpatrick expressed his desire that somebody get 
 to Davies that he might be made aware of the 
 situation. Without waiting for further orders 
 Meyer rode up the river and crossed the stream 
 above the enemy and made his way around their 
 flank and in their rear to Davies, who was thus 
 enabled, without serious loss, to escape across the 
 country to Haymarket. Meyer was recommended 
 by Generals Gregg and Kilpatrick for a commission, 
 and early in '64 was assigned to the 24th New York 
 Cavalry, then just ready for the field. Coming to 
 us with a 2nd Lieut.'s commission and being fa- 
 miliar with cavalry tactics he was a great addition 
 to our efl:'ectiveness. From the Wilderness through 
 that entire campaign the 24th N. Y. fought dis- 
 mounted, and Lt. Meyer was most efficient from 
 the fact of knowing the country so well, and was 
 frequently detailed to guide troops to positions, es- 
 
APPENDIX A 105 
 
 peciallT about Spottsylvania. The Regiment being 
 armed with special Star Carbines used a special cart- 
 ridge unobtainable except by special requisition, and 
 the Regiment being in constant service at the front, 
 the ammunition was likely to be exhausted. Gen. 
 Burnside was requested to send an officer to Wash- 
 ington for these cartridges, and he by special letter 
 detailed Lt. Meyer, who showed great efficiency m 
 bringing the ammunition to the front, seizing a 
 wagon of Gen. Potter's (another Division) to save 
 time and distributing the cartridges in blankets 
 along the line of battle when the supply was nearly 
 exhausted. On the 8th of June Meyer was com- 
 missioned Captain, and on June 17th, in that terrible 
 assault upon the line before Petersburg, where he 
 lost one third of his Company, he was fearfully 
 wounded very near the position where Gen. Morton, 
 the Engineer Officer of the Corps, was killed. He 
 had escaped wounds through the most serious part 
 of the charge, when later he discovered an officer, 
 Lt. Randall, very badly wounded, Randall having 
 been shot in five places and lying with his face 
 buried in the dirt between our lines ; Meyer turned 
 back, going fifty to seventy-five yards out of his way, 
 and in plain sight of the enemy, turned Lt. Randall 
 over, brushed the sand and blood from his mouth 
 so that he could breathe, thus saving his life, when 
 he himself received a most dangerous wound. I was 
 in sight of him, and he, after crawling in, was helped' 
 over the works just in advance of me by two men, 
 and as soon as I reached him I detailed men to 
 carry him back. For many months he lay in the 
 Hospital and was not able to be removed to his 
 home until the following October, and was a great 
 sufferer for eleven months. 
 
 I should claim that this act alone of saving the 
 life of a brother officer, being an act beyond his 
 regular duty, entitled him to a Medal of Honor. 
 His service and his honorable character as a civilian 
 and the high position he to-day holds in the scien- 
 
106 APPENDIX A 
 
 tiflc world seem to point him out as a proper person 
 to receive such high and distinguishing honor from 
 the Government. I earnestly recommend that the 
 Medal of Honor be conferred upon Captain and 
 Brevet Major Henry C. Meyer of New York City. 
 With continued high regard, 
 I remain, 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Walter C. Newberry, 
 
 Late Col. 24th N. Y. Vet. Oavl. 
 
 Brevet Brig. Genl. 
 
 E. L. 
 
 Subject: Medal of Honor. 
 
 WAR DEPARTMENT, 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 File No. R. & P. 517,138. 
 
 March 14, 1899. 
 
 Captain Henry C. Meyer, 
 
 The Engineering Record, 
 277 Pearl Street, 
 New York City. 
 Sir: 
 
 I have the honor to advise you that, by direction 
 of the President and under the provisions of the Act 
 of Congress approved March 3, 1863, a Congressional 
 Medal of Honor has this day been awarded to you 
 for distinguished gallantry in action near Peters- 
 burg, Virginia, June 17, 1864, the following being 
 a statement of the particular service rendered on 
 that occasion: 
 
 " During an assault upon the enemy's works, this 
 officer rendered heroic assistance to a helpless 
 brother officer in the face of a heavy fire, thereby 
 
APPENDIX A 107 
 
 saving his life, and in the performance of this 
 gallant act sustained a severe wound." 
 
 The Medal will be forwarded to you, by registered 
 mail, as soon as it shall have been properly 
 engraved. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 G. D. Meiklejohn, 
 Assistant Secretary of War. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM GENERAL NBWBERRT'S RECORDS 
 
 Chicago, April 11, 1898. 
 Henry O. Meter, Jr., 
 
 New York City. 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 Soon after the close of the War of the Rebellion, 
 finding myself in possession of the Descriptive List 
 Eoster of my Regiment — the 24th N. Y. Veteran 
 Cavalry, — and appreciating the effect of time upon 
 my memory and judgment, resolved to go over the 
 list of officers and make record of my unbiased 
 conclusion as to their ability and character. 
 
 I have had frequent occasion to consult that 
 record since, and knowing how much you would 
 appreciate this recorded opinion of your Father's 
 character and service I will quote my endorsement 
 as therein written thirty-three years ago. 
 
 "Henry C. Meyer, 2nd Lt., Jan. 26, 1864. Pro- 
 moted to Capt. June 8, 1864. 
 
 " Assigned to Co. D. Wounded June 17, 1864. 
 
 "Discharged Sp. Order War Dept. Oct. 13, 1864; 
 Disability. 
 
 " This officer was among the finest officers I have 
 ever met. Cool, cautious, and brave as a soldier, 
 he was generous, true, and sincere as a friend. 
 
108 APPENDIX A 
 
 He was fearfully wounded and was discharged in 
 consequence. 
 
 " W. C. Newbbrey, 
 
 " Col." 
 May you deserve such commendation after as 
 many years of experience. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Walter 0. Newberry. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 [The following letters and copies of special orders 
 are here reproduced as having some bearing on my 
 promotions, and to indicate the opinions of those 
 with whom I actively served in the Civil War of 
 1861-1865.— H. C. M.] 
 
 fiest promotion 
 
 Head Quaetees Cavalry Division. 
 
 Left Grand Division. 
 Dec. 29th, 1862. 
 Special Order ) 
 No. 7. j 
 Private Henry 0. Meyer, of C Company, 2nd New 
 York Cavalry, is hereby detailed as Clerk in the 
 Adjt. Genl's office at these Head Quarters and will 
 report immediately. 
 By command of Brig. Genl. Gregg. 
 
 H. C. Weir, 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 (Official Copv.) 
 H. C. Weir, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 
 recommendations for commission 
 
 Head Quarters 2nd Div. Cav., 
 Ass't Adj't Genl's Office, 
 Sept. 5th, 1863. 
 Hon. Geo. T. Cobb, M. C. 
 
 Sir: It gives me pleasure to recommend Private 
 109 
 
110 APPENDIX B 
 
 Henry C. Meyer, 2nd N. York Cav., for a commission. 
 He has been a faithful soldier and excellent clerk, 
 and is eminently qualified mentally and morally for 
 a commission, especially as an adjutant of a Eeg't. 
 I am very respectfully. 
 
 Your ob't sVt, 
 
 H. C. Weir, 
 
 A. A. G. 
 
 Head Qrs., 2nd Div. Cav. Corps, 
 Sept. 6th, 1863. 
 The within recommendation of Capt. H. C. Weir, 
 A. A. G., of this Division, is fully concurred in. I 
 have known Private Meyer, 2nd N. Y. Cavalry, for 
 nearly two years and can attest his faithfulness as 
 a soldier, his moral, mental, and physical qualifica- 
 tions for the position of Commissioned Officer. 
 D. McM. Gregg, 
 
 Brig. Gen. Vols., 
 Com'g, 2nd Div., 
 Cavalry Corps. 
 
 Headquarters 2nd Division Cavalry Corps, 
 
 September 9th, 1863. 
 Lieut. E. B. Parsons, 
 
 A. A. A. O. Cav'y Corps. 
 Lieut. : I have the honor to request the suspen- 
 sion of the order from the Major Gen'l Commanding 
 directing me to return Private H. C. Meyer, 2nd 
 New York Cav'y, to his Regiment. Private Meyer 
 has been serving for a year as clerk at the Hdqrs. 
 of the 2nd Division, the former 3d Division, and 
 Bayard's Brigade. He is well instructed in his 
 duties, and is familiar with all the records of the 
 Adjutant-General's office of this Division. Capt. 
 H. C. Weir, A. A. G., of this Division, is now 
 absent sick, and at this time the services of Private 
 Meyer are invaluable. I respectfully request, there- 
 fore, that I may for the present be permitted to 
 retain Private Meyer. Private W. H. Bubier, 2nd 
 
APPENDIX B 111 
 
 N. Y. Cavalry, was taken prisoner at the battle of 
 Brandy Station, and has not returned to these 
 Hdqrs. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 D. McM. Gregg, 
 Brig.-Gen'l Vols., 
 Oomdg 2nd Divsn., 0. 0. 
 (Oflficial copy) 
 H. 0. Weik, 
 Capt. A. A. G. 
 
 Head Quarters 3rd Division, 
 Cavalry Corps, 
 
 Octr. 5th, 1863. 
 Special Order } 
 No. .38. f 
 
 Private Henry C. Meyer, Co. C, 2nd N. York 
 Cavalry, is hereby detailed on special duty as Clerk 
 in the Adjt. Genl's Office at these Head Quarters, 
 and will report for duty without delay. 
 By command of Brig.-Genl. Kilpatrick. 
 
 L. G. EsTES, 
 A. A. Genl. 
 (Official) 
 
 L. G. EsTBS, 
 A. A. G. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROMOTION TO A COMMISSIONED 
 OFFICER 
 
 Head Quarters, 3rd Division, C. C. 
 
 December 31st, 1863. 
 Hon. Geo. T. Cobb: 
 
 I understand that you are about to make an effort 
 to secure a Lieutenancy in one of the regular Cav. 
 Regiments for Henry C. Meyer, now a private in 
 Harris Light Cavalry. I hope you will be success- 
 ful; he fully merits and will fill with honor the 
 position to which he aspires. He was for a long 
 
112 APPENDIX B 
 
 time a clerk at General Gregg's Hd. Qurs., and after 
 I was given a Division transferred to my Head 
 Quarters. He is energetic, well educated, and a 
 Gentleman, and possessing as he does a thorough 
 knowledge of all papers, accounts, and reports which 
 pertain to a regiment, brigade, or division, acquired 
 by one or two years' service in the field, he is better 
 qualified to discharge the duties of a subordinate 
 officer than many of our West Point graduates on 
 leaving the Academy. If you think this letter will 
 aid in your efforts you are at liberty to use it. 
 Very Respectfully 
 
 Your Obed't Serv't, 
 
 J. KiLPATRICK, 
 
 Brig. Genl. Vols. 
 
 letter accompanying my commission while in 
 seminary hospital 
 
 Hd. Qts. 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
 Near Petersburg, Va., July 22, '64. 
 My Dear Capt : Your commission has arrived and 
 I have forwarded it to your address at the Metro- 
 politan Hotel, Washington, D. C, thinking it would 
 be more safe than at the Hospital, for we 're not 
 certain where you are now. I congratulate you on 
 the promotion and am happy to acknowledge that 
 you deserve it and much more than a bleeding, suf- 
 fering country like ours can ever give. These honors 
 but illy pay a man for the suffering endured, where 
 horrible wounds like yours are the penalty of brav- 
 ery. Yet the consciousness of having done one's 
 duty is much reward. 
 
 We all look for your return with much interest. 
 Lt. Raulston is to-day mustered to your Company. 
 I enclose a morning report of your Co. 
 
 With many wishes for your health, I am, 
 Yours, 
 
 Newberry, 
 Capt. Henry C. Meyer. Lt-Col. Comdg. 
 
APPENDIX B 113 
 
 FINAL DISCHARGE ON ACCOUNT OF DISABILITY FROM 
 WOUNDS 
 
 Wak Department, 
 Adjt. Genl's Office, Washington, D. C. 
 
 October 13th, 1864. 
 Special Order ) 
 No. 345. I 
 
 (Extract.) 
 
 51. The following named officers are hereby 
 honorably discharged the Service of the United 
 States on account of physical disability from 
 wounds received in action, with condition that they 
 shall receive no final payments until they have 
 satisfied the Pay Department that they are not 
 indebted to the Government. 
 
 2nd Lt. H. C. Meyer, 24th N. Y. Cav'y.i 
 
 * « » » » 
 
 By Order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 E. A. TOWNSEND, 
 
 A. A. Gen'l. 
 Hd. Qrs. 2nd Cav. Division, 
 Oct. 23rd, '64. 
 (Official.) 
 A. H. Bibber, 
 
 A. A. A. Gen'l. 
 
 Hd. Qrs. 24th N. Y. Cavly., 
 
 Feb. 20th, 1865. 
 0. P. Williams, 
 (Official Copy.) Lt. and Act. Adjt. 
 
 [1 1 was discharged as 2nd Lieutenant because no oppor- 
 tunity occurred to permit my being mustered in as Captain 
 before I was wounded. Congress, however, recognized all 
 such cases, and subsequent legislation gave all officers the 
 rank they were eligible to — mine being Captain. Subse- 
 quently I received a commission as Brevet Major, stated to 
 be for " gallant and meritorious services." — H. C. M.] 
 
114 APPENDIX B 
 
 [The following letter was never presented.] 
 
 Navy Yakd, New York, 
 
 Deer. 23d, 1863. 
 My Dear Mr. Potts : 
 
 The bearer of this is Henry C. Meyer, my young 
 friend who has gallantly served in the field with 
 Generals Kilpatrick and Gregg. 
 
 He is to my knowledge a gentleman by education 
 and association, and in every way calculated to fill 
 the place of a First Lieutenant. 
 
 I have given a letter to the Adj't-General, and if 
 you can speak a good word for him you will do me 
 a great kindness. 
 All his attributes are those of a gentleman. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 H. Paulding. 
 John Potts, Esq., 
 
 Chief Clerk, War Department. 
 
 Navy Yard, New York, 
 
 Dec. 23rd, 1863. 
 
 Sir: I take leave, most respectfully, to com- 
 mend to your Excellency's consideration my young 
 friend, Henry C. Meyer, a private in Second N. Y. 
 Light Cavalry. He is intelligent, of a highly inter- 
 esting and unexceptionable character, well educated, 
 and in all his attributes of a gentleman well cal- 
 culated to fill the place of an officer. 
 
 He has been serving in the field with Genls. Kil- 
 patrick and Gregg for eighteen months, and his 
 commanding oflScers testify to his gallantry and his 
 manly bearing. 
 
 In speaking thus highly of Mr. Meyer I do so 
 from personal knowledge, having known him from 
 a child. 
 
 I trust your Excellency may be able to advance 
 this young gentleman to a position worthy of his 
 merit, feeling assured it will be for the interest of 
 the public service. 
 
APPENDIX B 115 
 
 With high respect, your Excellency's most ob'd't 
 serv't, 
 
 H. Paulding, 
 
 Rear Admiral, 
 
 His Excellency, 
 
 Horatio Seymour, 
 
 Governor of the State of New York. 
 
 Navy Yard, New York, 
 
 Deer. 23rd, 1863. 
 Mr Dear General : 
 
 My young friend, Henry C. Meyer, of the 2nd 
 N. York Light Cavalry, has been serving in the field 
 with Generals Kilpatrick and Gregg for eighteen 
 months as a private, and his gallantry and manly 
 bearing are well attested. 
 
 I have known him from childhood as estimable 
 and charming in all his attributes as a gentleman. 
 
 He is well educated, high-toned in character, and 
 in every way a young gentleman of great merit. 
 
 He entered the service from the love of a soldier's 
 life and motives of patriotism. 
 
 He has won advancement by his service in the 
 field and will make an excellent oflflcer. 
 
 If you can give him a helping hand, I am sure 
 you will. I have no acquaintance with the Sec. of 
 War or General-in-Chief, and therefore commend the 
 young gentleman to you as one of our fraternity 
 when the Rebellion commenced. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with high respect and 
 esteem, your friend and most obdt., servt. 
 
 H. Paulding, 
 Rear Admiral. 
 To Genl. E. D. Townsend, 
 Adjt. Genl., U. S. Army, 
 
 Washington. 
 (True copy.) 
 
116 APPENDIX B 
 
 War Department, 
 
 Adjutant-General's Office, 
 
 Washington, Feb'y 10th, 1864. 
 Special Order ) 
 No. 66 f 
 
 (Extract.) 
 
 14. At the request of the Governor of New York, 
 Private Henry C. Meyer, 2iid New York Cav'y, is 
 hereby honorably discharged the Service of the 
 United States to enable him to accept an appoint- 
 ment in another Regiment. 
 
 By order of the Secretary of War, 
 
 E. D. ToWNSENDj 
 
 Ass't Ad'j't Gen. 
 H'd Q'r's Cav'y Corps, 
 
 Feb. 12th, 1864. 
 (Official.) 
 
 E. B. Parsons, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. A. G. 
 
 Head Q'r's 3rd Div. C. C, 
 
 Feb. 12th, 1864. 
 (Official.) L. G. EsTES, 
 
 Capt. and A. A. G. 
 
 admiral paulding to general kilpatrick. 
 
 Navy Yard, New York, 
 
 Febr'y 16th, 1864. 
 My Dear General: 
 
 Without a personal acquaintance, I respect and 
 honor you for gallant service in the field. 
 
 You have had my young friend Henry Meyer with 
 you and have learned to esteem him. I have known 
 him from a boy, as an interesting youth, and as a 
 gentleman by education and association, and know 
 that when he entered the Army as a Private he was 
 honored and beloved, and from zeal and love of 
 country he left a comfortable home and lucrative 
 place. 
 
APPENDIX B 117 
 
 I am very fond of him for his personal merit and 
 have confidence in commending him to you in every 
 way in which he can serve you in our sacred cause. 
 
 He is now a 2d Lieut, in a New York Regt. and 
 will doubtless be able soon to fill a more prominent 
 place. 
 
 For the favor you have shown him, and for your 
 gallant and distinguished services to the country, 
 I entertain the highest respect for you and thank 
 and honor you and beg to subscribe myself your 
 friend and most obd't serv't. 
 
 H. Paulding. 
 Rear Admiral and Comdt. 
 
 To GeNL. J. KlLPATElCK, 
 
 Army of the Potomac. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF NON-MUSTER AS CAPTAIN. 
 
 I hereby certify that Henry C. Meyer, late 2d Lieu- 
 tenant 24th N. Y. Cavalry, was severely wounded in 
 action on the 17th day of June before Petersburg, 
 Va., 1864; that there was a Commission from the 
 Governor of New York making said Meyer a Captain 
 in said Regiment, and that owing to an irregularity 
 in the mails said Commission did not arrive at the 
 Head Quarters of the command until about the 
 20th inst. ; and further, that said Meyer was acting 
 in the capacity of Captain by authority of the Col. 
 commanding, and that he was absent and prevented 
 from being mustered by no fault of his; that said 
 Meyer was a gallant and meritorious officer and 
 deserving said promotion. 
 
 W. C. Newberry, 
 Late Col. 24th N. Y. Cavalry. 
 Bvt. Brig. Gen, 
 Sworn subscribed to before me ^ 
 this 19th day of June, 1866, at 
 this city of Petersburg, Va. y 
 Chas. Stringfbllen, I 
 
 [seal] Notary Public. J 
 
118 APPENDIX B 
 
 [The following letter is highly prized as coming 
 from Corporal Gundlach, of my Company, who, al- 
 though wounded himself, waited on me until re- 
 moved from the field hospital.] 
 
 West Seneca Centre, N. Y. 
 
 October 14th, 1868. 
 Capt. H. 0. Meyer, 
 
 New York City. 
 Dear Sir : A few days back I was in Buffalo and 
 stopped at Mr. Flach's store ; I learned that you got 
 married. Permit me, dear sir, to give you my best 
 and sincere congratulation. 
 
 I always must and will respect you for your 
 honesty, bravery, and your good moralic advices, 
 which you used to give your subordinate. When 
 others did their duty, you used to do three times 
 more than you was obliged to do. 
 I would ask you for your likeness. 
 
 Your most obt. servant, 
 
 Fred. Gundlach. 
 
 [The following statement with its endorsements 
 was placed on iile in the War Department.] 
 
 New York, November 19, 1891. 
 To THE Adjutant-General of the Army, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Dear Sir: At the solicitation of friends I de- 
 sire to place on record the fact, not heretofore of- 
 ficially reported, that I received a wound from a 
 sabre at the battle of Brandy Station on the 9th 
 of June, 1863. 
 
 I was then a private in the 2nd N. Y. Cavalry, 
 detailed as clerk in the Adjutant-General's Depart- 
 ment of the 2nd Division Cavalry Corps, Army of 
 the Potomac. 
 
 That this circumstance was not reported at the 
 time was due to the fact that I personally made 
 
ArPlCNDIX B 119 
 
 out the list of casualties occurring in the Division 
 on the evening following the battle. My wound was 
 not a severe one, though painful. 
 
 When it was suggested that I include my name, 
 I declined to do so on the ground that its publica- 
 tion in the papers would needlessly alarm my 
 parents, and consequently withheld it. 
 
 I was subsequently severely wounded at Peters- 
 burg and mustered out in consequence, which is a 
 matter of record. 
 
 In making this request to have this circumstance 
 go on record, I disclaim any permanent injury or 
 any desire or intention of claiming any pension 
 because of that wound. 
 
 This statement is corroborated herewith by Gen- 
 eral D. McM. Gregg, commanding the Division, and 
 H. C. Weir, Capt. and Asst. Adjutant-General at 
 the time. 
 
 EespectfuUy, 
 
 Henry C. Mbyee. 
 Late Capt. and Bvt. Major 
 
 24th New York Cavalry. 
 
 The above was endorsed as follows : 
 
 The foregoing statement is correct and worthy of 
 record, and I heartily recommend the same. 
 Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 
 Henry C. Weir, 
 Late Bv't Lt. Col. and Major, 
 Ass't Adjt. Gen'l, U. S. Vols., 
 2d Division, Cavalry Corps, 
 A. O. Potomac. 
 Brooklyn, L. I., Nov. 25, '91. 
 
 Reading, Pa., Dee. 5th, 1891. 
 I fully concur in the recommendation of Colonel 
 Weir, as I readily recall the fact mentioned within, 
 D. Mc.M. Gregg, 
 Late Brig, and Bv't Maj. Gen'l Vols., 
 
 Com'd'g 2d Cav. Division, A. P. 
 
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