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“ You were the last general ofticerof General Porter'scommand on the held on the left, General Porter him-self leaving before you did; you had, therefore, anexcellent opportunity of seeing what was going on.”
Colonel G. A. H. Blake, United States Army ,wrote me, June 16th, 1879;
“ About sundown you advanced the brigade under awarm lire and I deployed the 5th and 1st Cavalry intwo lines, and a little to the rear of (the interval of)reserve batteries of artillery, which had opened a rapidlire. The infantry of the left wing had then disappearedfrom the top of the hill. You then rode oh to a batteryfurther to the left, where Kush’s Lancers had beenordered. The 5th Cavalry soon charged, and I saw nomore of them. You had ordered me to support them ;there was a warm lire, and the smoke and dust madeeverything obscure. I saw none of the 6th, after it wasbroken, pass through the battery, which was very near.It was soon forced to retire, and was followed by the1st in its rear.”
Finally, General William N. Grier, United StatesArmy , wrote me, July 19th, 1879 : I
“ The reserve was stationed on the hill, ... in fullview of the slopes of the hill, down to the timber throughwhich the enemy debouched in large numbers. TheUnited States batteries were on the slope of the hill, alittle to our right front. You ordered the 5th to makea charge, directing me to make a second charge afterthe 5th would rally. I never saw that regiment, againon that day, after it was enveloped In a cloud of dust,making the charge — but soon after saw a battery or twoemerge from the dust, . . . withdrawing from thecontest. I then wheeled my squadrons into column offours, at a trot along the top of the hill, until getting inrear of the batteries — receiving the enemy’s tire at a lossof an officer and many men and horses — and, as I thensupposed, saving the batteries from further loss.”
The orders actually given were to support thebatteries to the last moment, and then charge, ifnecessary, to save them.
Remembering clearly the incidents connectedwith the cavalry charge, I wish to clear up a pointin regard to that charge, so far as the regiment(the 5th Regular Cavalry) with which I had thehonor of being connected was concerned.
The battle did not begin tillnoon. We were sta-tioned on the left of our position. As the hourspassed, the battle became more and more furious.About 5 p. M. we were moved up near to the crestof the hill on our left, and within some 20 rods ofthe 5 or 0 batteries planted on the crest of the hill.
It was something marvelous to watch those bravemen handle their guns; never a man flinched orwas dismayed, though a most withering fire ofmusketry and artillery was poured upon them.
Just before dark, -when we could tell, by thesound of the musketry fire and by the constantlyadvancing yells of the charging foe, that he wasgetting near the guns in our front, General PhilipSt. George Cooke , commanding the cavalry, rodeto our front. I was on the right of the front lineof the first squadron, and I heard his order to Cap-tain Whiting, commanding the five companies ofour regiment that were present on the field. Hesaid, “Captain, as soon as you see the advancingline of the enemy rising the crest of the hill, chargeat once, without any further orders, to enable theartillery to bring off their guns.” General Cooke then rode back around the right of our squadron.
Captain Whiting turned to us and said, “ Cavalry!Attention! Draw saber!” then added something tothe effect, “Boys, we must charge in five minutes.”Almost immediately, the bayonets of the advancingfoe were seen, just beyond our cannon, probably'not fifty rods from us. Captain Whiting at oncegave the order, “ Trot! March ! ” and as soon aswe were fully under way he shouted, “Charge!”
We dashed forward with a wild cheer, in solidcolumn of squadron front; but our formation wasalmost instantly broken by the necessity of open-ing to right and left to pass our guns. So furiouslywere our brave gunners fighting that I noticed thisincident: The gun directly in my front had just
been loaded ; every man had fallen before it could 1be fired. As I bore to the right to pass thisgun, I saw the man at the breech, who wasevidently shot through the body, drawing himselfup by the spokes of the wheel, and reaching forthe lanyard, and I said, “He will fire that gun,”and so kept to the right, and almost immediatelyfelt the shock of the explosion. Then I closed into re-form the line, but could find no one at myleft, so completely had our line been shattered bythe musketry fire in front and the artillery fire inour rear. I rushed on, and almost instantly myhorse reared upright in front of a line of bayonets,held by a few men upon whom I had dashed. Myhorse came down in front of the line, and ran awaypartly to our rear, perfectly uncontrollable. Idropped my saber, which hung to my waist by thesaber-knot, and so fiercely tugged at my horse’s bitas to cause the blood to flow from her mouth, yetcould not check her. The gun I had passed, nowlimbered up, was being hauled off at a gallop. Icould direct my horse a little to right or left, and ;so directed her toward the gun. As she did not iattempt to leap the gun, I gained control of her, !and at once turned about and started back upon :my charge. After riding a short distance I paused.The firing of artillery and infantry behind and ofinfantry in front was terrific. None but the deadand wounded were around me. It hardly seemed !that I could drive Lee’s battle-scarred veterans 1alone, and so I rode slowly off the field. The regi- !ment had only about 250 men in action. Ourcommissioned officer was the only one not wounded,except some who were captured. Only about 100returned from that bloody field for duty the nextday. Some were captured, but a large number fellin that terrible charge, and sleep with the manyheroes who on that day gave their lives for theUnion. So far as those of the 5th Regular Cavalrypresent in this charge were concerned, we certainlydid our whole duty, just as we were ordered. Wesaved some guns, and tried to save all.
Fairview, III., June 13th, 1885.