The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-08-15

18th, and till the sun was nearly hall
down the western sky, lie lay watchin.
the battle flags of regiment after regi
ment marching up TO reinforce the Con
federate line on his front, and awaiting
the six guns from Orchard Knob" that
we're to be his signal fJr attack. At last
they came. What followed has been
told by thousand pens, and has gone
into history as the most brilliant specta-
Gle of the great war. Never before had
Sheridan been 50 brilliantly conspicuous.
In other battles he had proved him.
self good officer in the eyes Of his su-
periors on the deathly front Of Mission
Ridge he famed out the inca, nation OF
soldierly valor and yigor in the eyes OF
the whole American people.
After Chickamauga followed the rapid
march for the relief of Knoxville, under
sherman, and then the long rest of the
winter, not to be broken til the advance
for the Atlanta campaign was sounded.
TIE FRTIrioS OF his soLDIERLV CAREER.
In March, 1864, Grant, who had just
become Lieutenant General Of the Army,
secured Sheridan's transfer to the East,
and made him Chief of Cavalry 10 the
renowned Army of the Potomac. In
three weeks he was covering the flank of
the Army as il moved upon the Wilder
ness. The next eleven months were 10
Sheridan the seed-time and fyuitioE Of
all his soldierly career, and at their close
I he was able to say:
We sent to the War Department from
/ 9Th May, 1864, to 9th April, 1865 the
day on which the Army Of Northern
Virginia surrendered, two hundred and
1--WE ba;tle-fags, captured in open field
F.. fghting-nearly as many as ali the ar
mics Of the United States combined sent
there during the rebellion The number
of field-pieces captsred in the same peri
Cd was between one hundred and sixty
and one hundred and seyenty-all in
open ield-fghting.
OF the operations Of his immediate
arm, the cavalry, he was able, with prop
er pride in It's performance, that still
never overstepped the bounds Of scrupu-
lous narration, TO say:
We led the advance Of the army TO
the Wilderness; on the Richmond raid
We marked ont its march to North Anna,
where we found it on our return we
again led It's advance TO Hanoyertown,
and thence to Cold Harbor; we removed
the enemy's cavalry from the south side
Of Chickahominy by the Trevillain raid,
and thereby materially assisted the army
in its successful nIarclLto the James Riv-
er and Petersburg, where it remained
until we made the campaign in the val
ley: we marched back TO Petersburg.
again took the advance an ! led the army
to victory. In all these operations the
percentage of cavalry casualties was as
great as that Of the infantry, and the
question which had existed-"Whoe ever
saw dead cavalryman WAS set at
rest
How brilliantly he led the cavalry
these ringing sentences of his own may
suggest. But the weight of the ponder
Gus strokes which he dealt in those clos
ing campaigns, with cavalry and infantry
rs well, must be told by other pens
Summoned in an hour of peril to a great
department, he drove the last rebel or
ganization from It's borders. His presence
gave added strength TO his forces in his
absence .his army vas driven. Planting
himself across the enemy's path, he tore
great rents in its ranks and forced it to
brilliant campaigns, he never issued
congratulatoTy order to the troops that
wrought such deeds, never assumed that
they or he had done aught but what duty
required, and at last turned his back
upon the dazzling pageant in which gen
erals and privates were to see how their
country admired them, to hurry to fresh
fields of duty and danger
sEvENTY-sx BATTLES N ELEVEN MONTHS.
In these busy eleven months he fought
&c batt,es-from Parker's Store, May ),
1864, to Appomattox Court House, April
., lS64-all fought by the troops of his
command, and all but thirteen under his
own orders. The history Of these battles
is the history Of by far the larger part Of
the cavalry operations Of the war; it is
likewise the history Of the greatest of
modern cavalry generals. MIME muskets
and rifled cannon had abolished the old
functions Of cavalry. The day for grand
cavalry chlrges which might decide the
fate of pitched battles was past, and 50
high an authority as Gen. Sherman had
declared that he had lost faith in cavalry
raids. In effect the cavalry was reduced
to the drudgery OF furnishing picsets for
the army. Ii was without Is pr;t de corps
and the men were the target for alternate
abuse and railery frou the fighting in
fantry. Sheridan's first move was to
have his cavalry released from a large
share of the picket duty His broken
down horses were then nursed into some
degree of fitness FOR active service, and he
sought to impress upon Grant his own
idea of the work before the cavalry Of
the army Of the Potomac In that coun-
try Of dense woods and numerous streams
he held, "our cavalry ought to fightt the
enemy's cavalry, and our infLntry the
enemy's infantry" He found it difficult
to overcome the custom of wasting caval-
" for the protection Of trains and the es-
Enlistment of cordons around sleeping
infantry. He did not believe war to be
simply that lines should engage each 9TH
er in battle. as that is but the duello part
"A part which world be kept up 50 long
as those who live at home in peace and
plenty could find the best youth Of the
country to enlist in their cause. Believing
war to be something more than a duel,
he did not regret the system OF living on
the enemy's country" These men and
women" he said, did not care how
many were killed or maine /. so long
as war did not come to their doors but
a soon As it did, in the shape OF loss OF
property, they earnestly prayed for its
I termination" War being punishment,
and death the maximum punishment, he
! declared, :. if We can, by reducing its adj