THE CHARGE OF THE EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.
187
II. BY J. EDWARD CARPENTER, MAJOR, 8TH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY. j)
pHEE® n0 confusion at Hazel Grove wlien
vp the regiment received its orders and left that
P ace. jj 0 enemy was in sight. Indeed, until after
® 8th Pennsylvania had left the place there was
ot the slightest evidence that the enemy was in
R immediate neighborhood, excepting, perhaps,
a t the musketry-firing seemed to be drawing
carer, The c ] la rge of the regiment was made on
„ 6 Plank road, about three-quarters of a mile
where Pleasonton was at Hazel Grove, and
as ft rst or ^ eret j -[,y the commanding officer of
6 regiment at the moment when the emergencyarose.
in^f 16 Wl ‘iter of this, although himself a participatorpj the charge, was unable to recognize Generalcasonton’s description of it and the surround-scenes attending it. [See p. 170.] A letterthr 11 Wl ’iter to a member of his family, writtenp r 66 after the charge, is now before him.
°mthis letter the following is extracted:
ce^® tost, however, I regret to say, three gallant offl-'i ,n ‘ Keenan, Captain Arrowsmith and Adjutant^ a °ck. Major Huey and . . . were tlie only ones\v ei e a®e out from the head of tho colmnn. All the resthilled, wounded, or prisoners.”
When this letter was written on the 5th of May,1863, there was no thought of controversy. Itwas intended only for the eye of the person towhom it was written, with no idea that it would bepreserved.
General Pleasonton’s report of the operations ofhis command at Chancellorsvine, da ted May 18th,1863, makes no mention of Keenan, but com-mends Huey as the commander of the regimentand indorses his report. In Major Huey’s reportof the operations of the 8th Pennsylvania cavalry,dated May 0th, 1863, he states that he wasordered to report, with his command, to GeneralHoward , and no mention is made of any orderfrom General Pleasonton to charge. This reportwas before Pleasonton when his own report wasmade, and no exception was ever taken to it.In Colonel Thomas C. Devin’s report of the 2dbrigade, dated May 12th, 1S63, he states thatthe 8th Pennsylvania cavalry was sent to the sup-port of General Howard , and Major Huey is com-plimented as the commander of the regiment. Nomention is made of an order to Keenan to charge,and Keenan is only referred to as having gallantlyfallen.
III. BY ANDREW B. WELLS, CAPTAIN, CO. P, 8TII PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY.])
(^) UR regiment, on the second day of May, 1863,ivas awaiting orders in a clearing of woodedcalled Hazel Grove. We had been there6 little time. Everything was quiet on ther ''^ le men were gathered in groups, chattinghin , sia °kiug, and the officers were occupied intn» ^ le same manner, wondering what would
Ak * P ” eXt -
Pok 0U ^ ^ I suggested a game of draw
6r- An empty cracker-box, with a blanketWavT 11 ° Ver serve d as a card-table. The party■See ^ ^ m i stil ke not, was composed of MajorC aT i lan ’ Adjutant Haddock, Captain Goddard,pj a . 8,111 W. A. Daily, and myself. We had beeng about two hours—the game was a big oneit all absorbed in it—when, about 6p.h.,
of 8 brought to an abrupt end by the appearance^bh'ited officer. Hiding up to where we wereeoi hlr^’ ^' 6 as ^ e< ^ i Jl au excited manner: “ Who is inai1 ^ °f this regiment ? ” Major Keenan, whoa i 0 i, S - ea ^ e< ^ beside me, turned his head and said, in'J'S Way: “lam; what’s the trouble?” Ourf ®8im re ^ le< ^ : “ General Howard wants a cavalryhUojj,. 611 *'” And before we had time to ask furtherall or ° ns was off, and the next moment we were^erjf ° Ur feet, and our game was ended. I remem-May.r^yweU, fori was out of pocket on theWig g ^ ■'•ye regiment was mounted, I mounting at''hen ^ 6 ^rue and alongside of Major Keenan. We^aihjo °ut of Hazel Grove by twos. Keenan,°k, Arrowsmith, Huey, and Carpenter moved
out with the first squadron. 1 remember distinctlyseeing that group of officers, and did not see Gen-eral Pleasonton at the time.
I was under the impression, and believe that theother officers also were, that we were on our roadto report to General Howard . Anyhow, I fell inwith the second squadron, Captain William A.Corrie being in command, and he and I rode to-gether at the head of it. When we passed out ofthe clearing there were no officers or men on onrflank, all was in order ahead, and the commandwas moving at a walk. The command enteredthe woods and was still moving on a walk, when,at the distance of about one mile from wherewe had mounted, Captain Corrie and myself sawthe first squadron take the trot, leaving a spacebetween us of about twenty-five yards. At thesame time we heard the command, “ Draw sabers,”and saw the first squadron draw them. We thenheard the musketry-firing. It was given in con-tinuous but distant volleys.
We of the second squadron knew that our timewas at hand, and Captain Corrie gave the order todraw sahers and charge. Taking a trot, we foundthat the road took a hend as we proceeded. Whenwe turned the corner of the wood-road a sight metour eyes that it is impossible for me to describe.After charging over the dead men and horses ofthe first squadron we charged into Jackson’s col-umn, and, as luck would have it, found them withempty guns — thanks to our poor comrades ahead.
4) ij,
w \ ^ ,y PermisHion from the “ Philadelphia Weekly Press,
.L Wells has elsewhere said that at 6:20 by his wa■hhiToug.
October 13 th, 1886, and condensed. —Editors.watch, Major Huey rode up and gave the order to