Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-04
COL. M%UNCHAUSEN GILMOR.
A Southern Cavalry Officers Hair
breadth Escape from Death.

Colonel Harry Gilmor, who died recent
" in Baltimore, republishes a number
of anecdotes from his book ofmemories,
which made such a sensation on their
publication. In a hand-to-hand fight
below Harrisonburg-for most of Gill
mor's adventures occurred in the Shen-
andoah Valley-he captured Adjutant
Hasbrouck. The two approached on
the charge, and emptied their pistols at
each other without effect:
"As l ranged up alongside, | made q
right cut, which he defended by a fierce
parry; but, before he could recover, l
made a mouline, which carried the sabre
out of his hand, and, as l raised mine to
cut him down, he threwup his hand ana
surrendered"
,Gilmor, however, was soon Com
pletely cornered by seven of the enemy
render, eve ceased firing"
''Thc fence before me was very high,
but l determined to make my horse
jump it OF break it down; so. touching
my cap to the Feds, ! struck him Sc
verely with the spur, and he cleared the
fence without touching a hair, Know
ing now what l had to depend upon, l
took it quite leisurelv. While they
were pulling down the fence, I reload
ed three chambers of my revolver.
and, and as they closed upon me, l
wounded n very severely and dis
abled another. This they thought did
not pay, so they left me to myself"
In September, 1862, Gilmor was clp-
tured, while visiting his friends near
Baltimore, but wa exchanged the fol-
lowing February, and after the cavalry
fight at Kelly's Ford received his
commission as major. Ewell captured
Winchester, and Gilmor, riding thence
alone toward Berlyville, encountered
one of Purdy's Union scouts, dressed
in gray. Gilmor had taken the precau-
ton to put a white handkerchief around
his throat, after the custom of the
Jessie Scots" so-called, and pretend
ed to belong to q Pennsylvania COM
pany. After riding together for a time,
an opportune moment arrived:
cat the anne instant my sword went
through his body. he fell off, dead, III
less than five minutes, but not before
he said: "You sold me pretty well, but
] don't blame you" gave him whisky
and water out of my flask, and tried to
save him, but my blade went to nearthe
heart: He had a very good saddle, that
suited me better than my own"
Near Summit Point, in the Shenan-
doah Valley, ten of his men were sud-
denly charged by a company of union
cavalry, sixty strong, under Captain
Somers. The latter officer engaged Gill
MOI in person with his pistol:
81 reserved my fra till hn corna with
in twenty PAGES, steadied my horse with
the bit, took a long, sure aim, and Somers
tell from his horse. The ball entered
the side of his nose, and came out at the
back oi his head.n
HIS men, calling out, cts q shame to
leave tie major there by himself" now
Joined him, and jumping his horse over
the dead body OF his opponent, he pro-
ceeded with the work Of slaughter:
Setting myself well in the saddle, I
dashed in among tie blue jackets cut
ting and thristiDg right and left, and
borrylng a blow when necessary. They
We're from Michigan and Maryland, and
for a while fought well. Observing an
officer fighting like a Turk and cheering
his men on, | made for him. He was a
man If my own size, wore d heavy beard
and looked, | thought, very savage, as
he yelled out: Come on, you damued
rebel; I'll O fix your flint This
promised good sport l closed with him,
making q powerful front cut, which he
parted, and at the same instant made n
right cut at my neck. BY bringing my
sabre down in time, my side caught the
blow. Now had the advantage. Quick
as a flash | cut him across the cheek.
inilictlng a large cash, and he fell 10 the
ground. | gave him in charge of one Of
my men,"
Gilmor and the ten men captured
eighteen prisoners in this affair, and on
beng reinforced secured five more. In
a subsequent attack on Charlestown he
was wounded, but mot till after the
battle did | discover that | bad a buck
shot in my leg, l rode into town to see
some of my old acquaintances mong the
ladies', and found all very enthusiastic
in their reception otus." Almost imme-
diately, however, a retreat was sounded.
and in moving back Gilmor chad three
horses wounded'-one of them while
assisting a trooper, which he did bv
driving Oft the captor, "killing him with
my second shot"
During the following August, on Sher-
dams first retreat from Strasburp, Gill
NOR took part in the attack upon the
Union rear guard at Winchester on the
evening Of the 18th. Here he performed
the somewhat notable feat of capturing.
unalded thirty men. This he did in the
following manner:
II kept ahead of the s,airmishers. hon
ing to capture a good horse to replace
the n had lost. l had hardly got
out of the line when I came suddenly
upon twenty-five or thirty infantry, "
ing down behind a stone fence. was
too near them to think of rctreating, so
| rode bodily in amongthem, and roareG
out, IN as angry voice as | could com
mand, to lay down their arms and snr-
render, crying out at the same time to
an imaginary force behind me: "Boys.
don't firel don't fire! they'll surrenderl"
And they did surrender without a mo-
ment's hesitation, and l marched them
back to the skirinish line"
Confident that there was plenty more
such game in the bushes, he %immediate-
ly sailed forth again, and soon "caupht
another soldier" but meanwhile heard
q whole troop of cavalry moving on the
wildwood turnpike:
"Having but one, I let him 20, and
went toward the road to explore. There
seemed to be not more than fifty, so /
halted them, and asked what company
that was. The First New Jersev,' was
the reply. can right" said /, moving