Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-09-29
1nerCSsr CHARGE.


War at AppOmaatsx.
Beyond us, In q low valley (near Apo
nattox court house, after my hapkmove-
ment), lay Leo and the remnArA Of his
army There did not appear 10 be much
organization, except In tho advanced
troops under Gen. Gordon, whom we had
been fighting. and rear guard under
Gen. Longstreet, still further up the val
ley. Formations were immediately begun
70 make bold and sweeping charge down
tho grassy slope, when an aide-de.csmp
from Custer, flied With excitement, hstin
hand, dashed up to me with the message
from his chief. lee has surrenderedl Do
not charge; tho whitefag Is upl" Orders
were given to complete the formation but
not 20 charge.
Looking TO the left. TO Appomattox
courthouse. large group was seen near
by the lines of Confederate troops that
had fallen back TO that point. Gen GUS
ter had not come back. and supposing that
he was with the group Mt thecourt house,
moved on q gallop down the narrow
ridge, followed by my stan. The court
house was perhaps three fourtbs Of . milo
distant. We had not gone far before
heavy fra was opened on us from skirt
much over 900 yards. halted for mo-
ment, and, taking of MY hat, called out
that tho flag was being violated, but could
not stop tho firing, which now caused us
all to take shelter in ravine running par
allel TO the bridge we were on, and down
which we then travelcd.
Az we approached the court house q
gentle ascent had TO be made. was In
advance, followed by o sergeant carrying
my battle flag. Within 100 TO 100 yards
from the court house and Confederate
lines, some of the men In their ranks
brought down their guns to an aim on us.
and great effort was made by their officers
to keep them from firing. halted. and
hearing some noise behind, turned In the
saddle, and saw Confederate soldier at
tempting TO take the battle flag from the
color bearer. This the sergeant had no
idea Of submitting to and had drawn his
saber to cut the man down. A word
from me caused him to return his saber
and take the flag back to the staff officers,
who were some little distance behind. i
remained stationary moment after these
events, then. calling u staff officer.
directed him to go over to the group OF
Confederate officers and demand what
such conduct meant. Kind apologies
were made and we advanced. The supe-
rior officers met were Gen. j. B. Gordon
and Cen Cadmus NJ Wilcox, the latter
an old army officer,
As soon as the first greeting was over,
furious firing began In front of our own
cavalry from whom we had only o few
seemed to be somewhat Disconnected by
II. remarked to him, "Gen. Gordon,
your men fred on me as l was coming
over here. and undoubtedly they have
done tho same to Merritt's and Clusters
commands. We might lust as well let
them Aght 1t out" To this proposition
Gen. Gordon did not accede. then asked,
"Why not send staff officer and have
your people cease fring2 They are vio-
iating tho fng" He said, II have no
staff officer to send" replied, Il will
let you have one Of mine, and Gallilisfg fo
Lieut. .Xsaideii Ait Allen, I directed him t.
report to Gen. Gordon and carry hi
orders. Tho orders were to go to Gen
Geary, who was In command of smal
brigade of South Carolina calvary, an,
ask him to discontinue the firing Lieut.
Allen dashed of with the message, but
on delivering 1t to Gen. Geary, wes take
prisoner, with tho remark from that Off
Ger that no did not care for white flags
that South Carolinians never surrendered
1t was about this time that Merritt
getting impatient at the supposed treacf
erous firing, ordered charge of portio
of his command. While Gems. Gordo
and Wilcox were engaged in converse
tion with me cloud Of dust, wild hun
rah flashing Of sabers, indicated
charge and the calculations OF my sta
officers were heard, "Lookl Merritt ha
ordered charge" The fight of Geary
brigade followed; Lieut.. Allen was thu
released. Tho last gun had been fire
and the last charge made in the Virgini
camnai e. NORTH American Review.