The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-03-02
AT CEDAR CREEK.
HOW SHERIOANS RIDE LOOKED TO
A SPECTATOR
The Roar That Passed Along the Line
"a Good Thing'-A Battery Playing
Havoc with an Amnuni-
ton Train.

tGen. James NJ. Com!ey IN The Enquirer
the following account of how "Saeriian's
Gi te" looked to spectator at one end of it
vas corial by Mr.. Nhiteaw Reid from my
private liary lem him for "Ohio in the War"
ll,I l know it is true: Crock was lying a rod
IL two 10 our left. Hayes and ! were to-
tata,r VITA our commands tie WAS badly
lril Sd ny hi, fall when his horse was killed
.iler him, AM had several slight wounds
'e> IL. lie WAS teasing mt and grumbing
acCtu; we lid rot advance, in q a OF wait
~ .or tae enemy.
81 !enly tanre is dust IN Tho roar on
the " .nches,ar road, ami almost before we
are aware a iiary-tooking, impatuOuS, dash
ing young man in fun ma or generals uni
form, and riding furiously a magnificent
black horse, literally flecked with foam, and
10 poetic license about it, rCins up and
springs oil 10y Gen. Crooks side There is q
perfect roar as everybody recognized Sher-
idan. lie talks with Crook a little while,
cutting away at TIE to3 of the weeds with
his ridin y-whip. Gen Crook speaks half-a-
dozen sentences that sound Il great deal like
the whip, and by that time some of the staff
are up. They ara sent flying in different
directions Sheridan and Crook lie down
| AMI seem to he talking, and all is quiet
again, except the vicious shells OF the differ
ent batteries and the roar of artillery along
the line After awhile Col. [JameS W. For
syth comes down to our front and shouts to
| the general; The Nineteenth corps is
closed up sir Sheridan Jumps up, gives
one more cut with his whip, whirls himself
around once, jumps on his horse and starts
up NE line Just as he starts he says TO our
!
On them now, boys 1t don't sound like Cic-
| 5ro OF Daniel Webster, but it doubled the
force at our end of the line II may say,
| now, that it don't sound even like Buchanan
Read
And so he rode of, n long wave of yels
rolling up t. the right with him. We took
our post, the line moved forward-and the
balance Of the day Is already history
| lsuppose there is no necessity for huricn-
| ing you with a description Of our part in the
| advance, as there is no dispute az to our be
| ing there, or as to our place in the limo. One
! incident may be of interest. AT one of the
pauses in this forward movement our com
pany was delayed by a very high raiI-feAce
| Il can hardly believe such a fence was left,
| but it was Crook was on bis horse, and had
passed the fence when Hayes climbed up,
and by holding TO one of the stakes AMI
| standing on the rider" was more elevated
| than Crook and could use his glass more eff
| fectively He WAS able thus to give Crook
| some important information, which did not
| hear. But the result was that Hayes mounted
| his horse and dashed to the front at a hadd
| long gallop, ahead of MS infantry l have
| learned since that he found Capt. Dupont,
who was moving down the pike and under
| his Immediate order, Capt. Dupont pas-el
| through Middletown at a swinging trut,
with his own battery. going to tue front.
| Hayes, being very we'll mounted AMI free
| TO "cut across" got ahead out Of sight, and
| on the emineaCe nsar where our camps hal
been founi Gan. Sheridan, entirely alone,
| using his glass in tine most excited manner.
As soon as n saw II ayes he yelled at him:
"If had a battery here we could knock
h-ll out Of their train and capture all their
artillery Hayes answered: "Au right,
| General: I've got Just " lat you want COM
IN. a fast rs ii cam H gJiIopai back to
| Dupont, who imma iia5'y sSartel all his
horses at a gallop. and came down tho pike
| Ike "a y7Lirlwinl TIE iifs5 shell h. firel Ii
| in the very midst of q narrow place where
the head Of the enamvs rstroltirg column
| had got gorIed b; attempting TO pass TOO
many abreast Gen. Hays has described
the scene to me vividly, and it is enough 10
make one get up and give tdr'e cheers all
alone by himself to think OF il p he de cribss
it-shelI after shell dropping in the tticko5t
of the throng, drivers cutting traces AM
| scanpering out of it, teams, ANN milton
caissons and cannon abandoned aud left lit
| orally piled up by TIE gorge