The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-01-09
sHER1DAN's RIDE.
What Came to the Eyes and Ears Of a Busy
Man About camp-An Historical Group
Sheridan n Torbert-The Fight at

What Came to the Eyes mi Ears Of a Busy
Man About Camp-An Historical Group
Sheridan and Torbert-The Fight at
Cedar Creek.
Philadelphia Times.
/ have seen a painting representing
the General coming on the Scene on
that occasion riding his black horse
(Which was given him by some Michi-
gan friend) and, by the way, I have
heard the cavalrymen curse that horse
in vigorous terms. He was the fastest
walker in the army, and when the
General was riding at the head of the
column on the march, the rest of the
command would be kept on o little
log-trot about half the time, and any
cavalryman knows how trying that is,
especially for the non-combatants, such
as cooks, camp carriers, ETC., who are
loaded down with camp and garrison
equipage. I could always tell at night
when l heard our cavalry marching
near me if the General was in lead by
the jingle of the tin and iron kettles as
they closed up in the rear. Well, this
painting that I mention shows the
General with sword in hand, a broad
brimmed, stiff regular hat, with waving
plume on his head and looking very
much excited, as, Of course, he had a
right to be under the circumstances.
But the artist drew very largely on
his Imagination. 1t would be hard to
sxaggerate the beauty and majesty of
The horse-big, black, vigorous. champ
.ng his bit. nostriis red and dilating,
MS long tail swinging to and fro like q
banner; it would be hard to picture
anything more striking or grand than
The big black on that occasion. But as
to the General, excepting that his eyes
were blazing and fierce, there was not
much sign of excitement shown by him.
He wor some of the regulation uni
form, but not much. On his head was
alittle round CAP, such as German stu
dents wear. In his right hand he held
a small riding whip, which, Judging by
the welts on his horses TANKS, had been
industriously u.-i. He was splashed
with mud, and had d big daub Of it just
under one eye, which gave him a sort
Of "been-to-a-wake" look. If he had
any gauntlets they were in his pockets.
AS he rode on the hill beyond Middle
ton he was met by one of General Tor
bert's aids, who was mounted or a big
gray horse, nearly as large as Rienzi.
The officer jumped the stone wall and
joined the General just as he came in
sight of the field, and rode side by side
toward o group heal the woods on the
right of the pike in The rear of the sixth
corps, where Generals Wright, Emory,
and Torbert and their stats were gath.
cred.
l asked the aid afterward what the
General said when he joined him. He
replied: well the Generals first
words were, Now is not this h--l,' and
then he said, 1T was just such a id
mess out West as this that gave me
my brigaadier star in the regulay army,
and | am going to make it a double star
this time He then asked, Where is
Wright?'" and soon after Joined the
other Generals. [ had been riding
along behind as fast as my little mare
could jump, when the General looked
back md said: "Scout, hunt up the
ammunition wagons and order them up."
Back in the rear on the valley pike the
Generals staff were making their way
up as fast as they could. I transferred
my orders to n of the aids, for knew
the demoralized treamsters would not
pay much attention to a man in a
blouse, and then turned and rode back
after the General.
When | reached the group on the
hill / saw General Wright sitting on
the ground; the tip of his chin had
been cut away by a bullet early in the
morning, and he was otherwise harmed.
pro badly. as he seemed to be dazed
and not to have his wits about him for
the time. General Emory. "Old Bull of
the woods" as some of the wild Young
cavalry staff called him, commander Of
the nineteenth corps, stood by with his
hands crossed behind his back, looking
down at General Wright. General
Torbert leaned on his horse and pulled
at his mustache, and General Sheridan
was quietly asking questions from all
of them. In a few moments he knew
all they could tell him, and pulling a
dispatch book from his pocket, began
by writing something which he put in
a little dispatch envelope and addressed,
and then looking up, his eye fell on me
and blaZed up a moment. He said:
"What the devil are you doing here? I
thought [ sent you after the ammunition
wagons" ] explained matters to him.
He gave me a sharp look and said:
"You've got a healthy gall to order my
staff officers about. Take this dispatch
to Winchester quick as you can J" and
then away he rode down the line.
Presently one of the staff came gallop-
ing after me before l had gotten more
than a mile beyond Middletown and
took the dispatch and told me to go
back, and said he was to go to VIM
chester and order up all the stragglers,
and would attend to the dispatch him
self.
So back I went and rode about all
the rest Of the busy day, getting what
information l could and carrying orders
for any n who wanted me. I gave
the newspaper correspondents consider
able information, which they worked
up to suit themselves. The best ac-
count of the fight was written by the
correspondent of the World.
If General Early had not been SO
greedy, and had withdrawn his forces
after the success of'the morning and
carried away his guns and his prisoners.
General Sheridan would not have won
the double star that day. After the
fight 1 was with the party that captured
the confederate signal officer on Masa-
hatten mountain, and I now have the
telescope that was used by Generals
Gordon and Early to look down in our