Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-05-28
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
"sTRuck WITH THE sARER."
How SILK Handkerchief Saved a Soldiers
Life,


How n SILK Handkerchief Saved Soldiers
Life,
From the time we reached the state
rendezvous until we went into camp on
the peninsula it was drilll drill! drill!
with the saber. A corporal would take
half a dozen--the captain the whole
company, and for an hour and'a half we
would go through the cuts and thrusts
and parties. There was the front cut,
the down cut, the savage thrust, the
baclS-hand-cut and dozen others, and
we were told that our lives depended on
knowing how to give and receive each
particular one. 1t was good exercise,
perhaps, but on the very first day we
went into fight as cavalry all of us
came to see the absurdity of it.
I was in thirty cavalry fights during
the war and in none of them did wit
ness or have use for anything like the
saber exercise. Not that 1 did not see
men struck with the saber, but they
were struck during the confusion and
melee when the other party could claim
no credit For instance, our regiment
drove full tilt into about six hundred
confederate cavalry at Brandy Station.
used my revolver until it was empty
and then gripped my saber. The smoke
was very thick and men and horses were
greatly excited. In the mad whirl q
confederate rode upon me and made a
savage slash with his saber. 1t missed
my head and cut the pommel of my
saddle. Before he could get away
'swiped" at him and know the edge of
the saber struck his face. may have
knocked out some of his teeth, but the
edge was as blunt as hoe and could
not have cut the skin.
AT Shepardstown we were charged
about the same way. There were a
great many sabers flashing as they
came on, but by the time the shock
came the revolvers and carbines were
doing the heft of the work. l had a
fair show in that fight to give thrust,
and it was a lamentable failure. / got
the point of the saber in under the enc
my's upraised right arm, but l doubt il
drew blood; simply pushed him hall
out of his saddle, and he retaliated
with side cut which uncovered my
head and did no further damage.
There were probably more men hit
with the saber at Gettysburg than any.
where else during the war. The main
reason for this was the equality of mum
bers, together with the fact that very
few of the union cavalry had revolvers
We charged with our carbines slung tc
our backs, and it was saber or nothing
had heavy silk handkerchief inside
my new hal that day as preventive
of sunstroke. 1t prevented a confeder
ate cavalryman from splitting my heaG
open. had young, green horse, ant
he gave me no end of trouble. While
was trying to prevent him from going
out of the fight backwards confeder
ate approached me from the rear ant
administered the down cut 1t dazet
me for a moment, but the heavy ha
and handkerchief, backed up by thicl
growth of hair, saved my head. III,
drew blood, and / had sore heat
for week after, but he had wasted hi
blow.
After the first ten minutes of tina
cavalry encounter nothing but saber
were used. We thrust, hacked and cut
hitting both horse and man, but doub
If any one was killed outright on eithe
side with the steel. To make sabe
effective it must carry a keen edge
During my three years in the army
did not see above a dozen sharpene,
sabers. We had no orders to grin,
them, and so we carried them with
hoe-edge.
Then it takes strong armed man t.
WELD a common cavalry saber so as t
strike an effective blow. His hors
must be reasonably steady, so he ca
control him with the bride arm, an
there must be plenty of muscle in tn
arm to give weight to the blow. Wit
a sharp saber man weighing on
hundred and sixty pounds might spli
a mans skull, but man weighin
thirty pounds less, with dull weapor
would only make play towards it.
fact, realizing his incapacity in tha
direction, he wouldn't try it.
In n cavalry encounter at Kelley
Ford l struck n confederate fair on tn
neck with my saber, and struck as har
as / could. He tumbled from the sat
die and was captured. / did not eve
draw blood. l gave him such blow {
to stun him for few minutes, the sam
as if l had struck him with club, b,
aside from a stiff neck he was all righ
Big, strong men, with keen-edged 81
bers, would do some awful cutting, an
they would inspire fear wherever the
charged, but average men and averae
weapons accomplish very little outsit
of the moral effect.
Quantrell proved that there was som
thing far more effective than the sabe
Each of his men was armed with
least two revolvers. Each one cou
shoot right and left-handed. A squs
of thirty of them thus armed never he
itated to charge hundred regular ca
airy, and they never charged witEo,
infiicting terrible destruction.-Det
Free Press.
"REMINISCENCES BY MOSBY.
Why the Famous Guerrilla Supported Ge
Grant for President.
Col. John Mosby on a recent visit