Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-11-02

nant of his army. There did not appear to
be much organization. except in the adj
vanced troops under General Gordon. whom
we had been fighting. and a rear-guard I'M
der General Longstreet still further up the
valley. Formations were Immediately be-
gun to make bold and sweeping charge
down the grassy slope when an aid de-
camp from Custer, filled with excitement,
hat in hand, dashed up to me with the mes
sage from his chief: Lee has surrendered.
Do not charge: the white flag is up!" Or
ders were given to complete the formation.
but not to charge.
Looking to the left to Appomattox Court
house. q large group was seen near by the
lines of Confederate troops that had fallen
back to that point. General Custer had not
come back, and, supposing that he was with
the group ut the courthouse. I moved on
gallop down the narrow ridge. followed by
my staff. Tho courthouse was. perhaps,
three-fourths of a mile distant. We had not
gone far before heavy fire was opened on
us from skirt Of timber. to our right. and
distant not much over 800 yards. halted
out that the flag was being violated but
could not stop the firing. which caused us to
take shelter in a ravine running parallel to
the bridge we were on, and down which we
then travelled. AS we approached the court
house a gentle ascent had to be made. was
| in advance. followed by sergeant carrying
my battleaag. Within 100 to $50 yards from
| the courthouse and Confederate lines some
Of the men in their ranks brought their guns
to aim on US, and great effort was made
from firing. ! Halted. a and. h esrl
Ing some noise behind. turned IN
the saddle and saw Confederate soldier at
tempting to take my battleflag from the
| color bearer. This the Sergeant had no
idea OF submitting to-. and had drawn his
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 after these events; then, calling
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 superior
! officers met were General J. B. Gordon and
| General Cadmus NJ. Wilcox. the latter an
| old army officer. AS soon as tho first greet
ing was over. a furious firing began in front
OF our own cavalry. from whom we had
only few minutes before separated. Gen
| eral Gordon seemed to be somewhat discon-
| certed by it. I remarked to him. General
coming, over here. and undoubtedly they
Clusters comm ands We might lust
as well let them fight it out" TO
this proposition General Gordon did
not send a staff officer and have your people
cease firing? They are violating the flag!"
| He said. Il have no staff officer to send" I
replied. / will let you have one of mine,"
and calling for Lieutenant Vanderbilt Allen
he.was directed to report to General Cor
don and carry his orders. The orders were
to go to General Geary. who was in com
mand of q small brigade of South Carolina
cavalry. and ask him to discontinue the
firing. Lieutenant Allen dashed off with
the message, but on delivering it to General
Geary was taken prisoner. with the remark
from that officer that II did not care for
white flags; that Soutft Carolinians never
| surrendered.
1t was about this time that Merritt, getting
inpatient at the supposed treacherous fir
ing. ordered a charge of a portion of his
command. While Generals Gordon and
Wilcox were engaged in conversation with
me cloud Of dust wild hurrah. q flash
ing of sabers, indicated Il charge. and the
CALCULATIONS ofmy staff officers were heard;
Look! Merritt has ordered charged"
Tho flight Of Geary's brigade followed;
Lieutenant Allen was thus released. The
last gun had been fired and the last charge
made in the Virginia campaign.