Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-06-07
A oAvALRYMAN's fAaM.
Unvarnished Account OF n Michigan Troop.
er's War Experiences.

In September, 1861, l enlisted in the
Third Michigan Cavalry, and spent the
winter ut Camp Benton, Mo. i went
home on furlough, sick, and joined the
regiment again in Tennessee. The first
dead rebel l saw was little thin boy
found in the woods torn to pieces by q
shell. My first soldering was charge
on rebel battery. l well remember
pulling out my pistol, then my saber,
then pistols again; but the rebels had
fled before we reached them. picked
up cake of baked dough, which, with a
drink of rum Major Miles gave me, kept
me alive until we reached camp.
My next experience was the battle OF
Pennington, near Corinth. The rebels
drove us off the field into narrow lane
through a swamp. Cavalry, artillery
and infantry became considerably mixed
up. Major Miles stayed until they were
all through. was his orderly, and of
course had to stay, too. l recollect
Lieutenant Childs coming in among the
last, and rather excited. lie had lost
his horse. Orderly, Orderly" he said
to me, 'can't l take your horse?" "Oh,
yes, surely, Lieutenant" l said. / lost
nothing by the offer, for l saw splen-
did horse tied to some shrubs out in the
open. The bullets were rattling
through the trees pretty sharply, but l
made rush for the horse, mounted him,
and escaped in safety.
After that | was detailed as orderly to
General John Palmer, who was after
ward Governor of Illinois. He was
quite willing to chat with me. In that
long, wearisome waiting before Corinth,
l used to say to him: General, why
don't we go in and take that place? We
can do it like book" "Ah," said he,
''red tape, red tape" / received my dis
charge that summer and went home to
Kalamazoo County.
In the fall the Seventh Calvary was
organized. My two young Ays enlisted
and many of my neighbours boys. The
neighbors wanted me to enlist again,
perhaps to see to the boys. We went
down to Virginia. One of the
boys, o handsome fellow, was taken
sick and watched him
night and day till he died. Our surgeon,
DIR. Littlejohn, had detailed me to the
hospital.
|
not stay in the hospital. Corporal Post
came one day and said he had orders to
take me dead or alive. l told him the
Surgeon ranked the Major, and l should
not go. My Oldest boy was then nearly
dead in the hospital. Then the Major
sent for me to come to his tent, and told
me that the 'Surgeon-General said L
must CO." l went, but on the way to the
company met the Surgeon-General,
who said he had given no such orders.
If l could have obtained pass to re-
turn, l think l could have shot the
Major.
had splendid ride to Gettysburg as
part of an escort to General French. We
galloped past regiment after regiment
of infantry, and used to compare them.
1 know 1 thought the Pennsylvania
regiments made the best show.
The charge of the Seventh Michigan
Cavalry at the battle of Gettysburg has
been frequently spoken of as a fine
sight / presume we did look pretty
well, twelve companies galloping one
behind the other, affording a pretty
good chance for bullets to hit some one
or other by the time they reached the
last company. / could see the boys in
the company ahead of me hit once in a
while. No doubt it was pretty sight,
but it was something like the charge of
the 600, for pretty soon our regiment
was nowhere. A splendid gray horse,
which the Captain of Company B had
just bought at great price, was stand
ing on his fore feet, hit, / supposed.
through the loins. All the fighting, 1
could see, was at the upper end of the
stone fence.
During the fight I dismounted from
my horse to pick up flag as trophy,
when rap! came ball against my sad
die. Looking up, saw two rebels bear
ing down upon me. They chased me
out Of the field, through gap in the
fence, and then turned and made for
their own lines. Then / turned also,
and thought would play the free lance,
as there were no officers to check me.
My bald-face horse knew how to ruI.
caught up with them, rode right into
their lines, put pistol ball through
one sandy-bearded fellow, and theE
was laid out upon heap of stones, with
my head badly hurt and my neck cut. ]
presume they thought that the best
place for such headlong old Yankee.
But they did not hit hard enough. Some
time in the night | crawled into a barn,
where rebel surgeon fixed my cuts az
we'll as he could. Next day our men
found me. The rebels concluded not to
be bothered with me when they left.
was sent to Jarvis Hospital in Balti-
more, and was delirious about month.
1t finished my soldering. When l had
partly recovered, they gave me a fur
Tough home. On my return, while
waiting at the Detroit depot, DIR. Far
rand, of Detroit, saw me and examined
me. "Ah," said he ''I'm not going tC
let you go back to Baltimore. / shall
keep you here" "But," said I, my
furlough shall be deserter if don't
go back" "Never mind" said he, 'I'll
see to that" He did not trepan, but
from time to time lifted out the frag