Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-23
They Were Confederates.

They Were Confederates.
At the battle of Hazel Grove,
during the Charlottesville campaign,
Gen. Pleasanton covered himself with
glory. AS Gen. Hooker expressed it to
President Lincoln, che saved the
Army of the Potomac" The Elev-
enth Army Corps was in full fight.
AS Gen. Pleasanton himself said,
in writing about the affair afterward,
in ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil
War;" he ''saw that something had
to be done, and that very quickly, or
the Army of the Potomac would re-
ceive crushing defeat" He pro-
ceeded to do the necessary ''some-
thing" and while he was doing it
there occurred an incident which is
thus wildly described by the man
who was principally concerned in it.
Major Clifford Thompson, of Gen.
Pleasanton's staff.
Gen. Pleasanton rode from gun to
gun, directing the gunners to aim
low, not to get excited, and to make
every shot tell. The enemy were
forming in line of battle on the edge
of the woods in our front. They
were scarcely 200 yards distant; yeti
such was the gloom they could not bd
clearly distinguished.
Gen. .Pleasanton was about givina
the orders to fire upon the party
when sergeant at one of the gunJ
said:
General, aren't those our troops3
[ see our colors in the line"
This was true, for where he pointed
our colors could be seen-trophieS
picked up on the field. General
Pleasanton turned to me and said:
'Mr. Thomas, ride out there and
see who those people are"
For myself, was not at all curious
about ''those people," being perfectlN
willing to wait until they introduced
themselves. But rode between two
of our guns, and galloped to within
thirty or forty yards of the troops in
in question. All along the line they
called out to me, "Come on; we're
friends"
1t was quite dark and I could not
make out their uniform, but 1 could
see three of our flags, and these
caused me to hesitate. 1 came to a
halt, and was peering into the dark
ness to make sure, when bullet
whistled by me, and there came the
''rebel yell"
The Confederate line charged up
the hill toward our guns, and 1 led
the charge! Lying down on my
horses neck, I gave him the spur, and
the yells of the ''Johnnies" behind
further stimulated him, so that we
| got over the ground in lively man
| ner.
With the report of the first shot
| fired at me Gen. Pleasanton had
opened fire, and those twenty-five
guns belched forth destruction at a
fearful rate. Although I was lying
down on my horse, kept an eye on
the guns and guided my horse be-
tween the flashes, and in less time
than it takes to tell it 1 was on the
safe side of them.
1t was load and fire at will for some
minutes. The enemy was moved
| down in heaps, and ran back down
the Sic. to the cover Of the woods
Old artillery officers have informed
me that they never before heard such
rapid firing. The roar was continu-
Gus and the execution terrific. After
it ceased rode up to Gen. Pleasan-
| ton and said:
General, those people out there
are rebels"
There was a grave twinkle in his
eye as he held out his hand and re-
piled: "Thomas, I never expected to
see you again. I thought if they
didn't kill you L should, but that was
no time to stop for one man."
l should have agreed with him more
| cordially if that zone man" had been
some one else.
Persia's Progress.
oru Z,