The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-07-26

i"nh-ihe Events Preceding tho Surren-
oe' ioid by an Eye-Wituess.
by 5; Eliot Webb, First Liemenam 0,rpony 4, and
Ton Weekly Netr, ''''''"' - "'''''-
The Weekly Ncus of June 9th con.
tanned Gen. i. Ii. Sheridan's accom-, of
Tue surrender of Lee, which is well writ
ten ana In much better temper than was
10 oe expected of one who has shown
such decided partisanship against every.
thing belonging to the South, but there
are several statements made, calculated
10 niisiead the general reader and not in
strict accordance with facts-in other
words, the difference in the statements of
an eyewitness at distance, and one
VINO took part in the scenes. These mat
ters should be set right, especially as they
reflect upon n gallant officer who has
crossed the river and rests under the
shade OF the trees" and as brave body
OF men rs ever drew sword in any cause ::
zen. NJ. w. Gary and the Brigade under
ms command, consisting of the Seventh
south Carolina, Twenty fourth Virginia,
seventh Georgia Battalion of cavalry,
ana the Hampton Legion, mounted in.
fantry.
Gen. Sheridan says: FORMATIONS were
Immediately commenced to make bold
and sweeping charge down the grassy
slope, when an aide. dc-camp from Gus.
ter dashed up with the mes
sage from his chief, Lee has surrender
ed DO not charge,
THE WHITE FLAG Is Upr"
And further on, that soon after the greet.
inSss were over with Gems. Gordon and
wilcox OF our army, that "a furious
hrlng commenced in front of our own
cavalry" which somewhat disconnected"
Gen: Gordon, who was requested to dis.
patch q staff officer to stop it, but having
no one to send, Gen. Sheridan directed
Lieut.. Vanderbilt Allen to carry Gen.
Gordon's orders, which were "To 20 to
Gen. Gary, who was in command of a
small brigade of South Carolina Caval-
ry, and ask him to discontinue the firing.
Lieut.. Allen dashed off with the mes
sage, but on delivering it to Gen. Gary
was taken prisoner, with the remark from
that officer, that he did not care for white
flags; that South Carolinians never sur
rendered" "AIerritt, getting
impatient at the supposed treacherous
firing, ordered charge of portion of
his commando cloud of dust, wild
hurrah, a flashing Of sabres indicated
charge, and the CALCULATIONS of my staff
officers were heard Look Merritt has
ordered charged The flight of Gary's
Brigade followed; Lieut.. Allen was thus
released"
Now for the facts: We did fire upon
Merritt, but in total ignorance that ne
gotlatlons of any kind were going on.
Lieut. Allen was not taken prisoner, but
commanded to go back where he came
from. Gen. Gary was, as all who ever
met him know full we'll, very indepen-
dent man in what he said and did, but
he knew the rules of war and always re-
spected white flag, unless convinced
that it was raised to deceive him. In
this particular case he had seen no such
flag, did not know of the existence of
one, and did not make the remark attri-
buted to him. Merritt did charge us,
but
THE FLIGHT OF GARY's BRIGADE"
did not follow.
These occurrences took place ON the
9th of April, 1865, the morning of the
surrender; but if not encroaching too
much on your time and space, permit
me TO 60 back to the Sth of April in
order TO make this sketch more con-
nccted one and relate the part taken by
Iary's command. at dawn we were up
and hurried from point to point to pro-
:ect the wagon trains, which were being
attacked from every branch road leading
10 our left-a day Of hard riding and in
,t Il h.
noon a squadron was detached and sent
1own o road to the left Of Appomattox
Court House, for picket duty, while the
main body Of the brigade passed through
The village to a shady lane beyond.
Here Gary halted tine command, an
bounced to them that he was in advance
of Lees army and that there was moth.
ing between us and Lynchburg save the
Washington Artillery Battalion, of New
Orleans, and small wagon train.
The men were allowed to dismount
and rest till the infantry could overtake
Is. In the meantime few men were
'ent out to gather some forage for the
amished horses and food for the starving
troops. Scarcely had they gone when a
heavy artillery fire opened down The
road. Mount and follow me-" was the
Generals shrill cry, and headlong down
The hill every one went. To dismount
and deploy was short work, and we had
our hands full
FIGHTING CUsTER's DIVISION.
Our right and left aanks being pro.
tected by the hills, we repulsed three at
tacks, but the enemy greatly outnumber-
ed US, our flanks were turned, and when
out the BEST way we could and form on
the road crossing the hill. Night had
fallen, and, though bright moonlight, it
was impossible to distinguish friend from
foe, so dense was the smoke in the thick
timber land. Under these circumstances
a large part of the Brigade was captured.
Those who reached the road found it
blockaded with wagon and artillery
horses, which had been cut loose and
stampeded. On they came, some with
but most without riders, in the widest