Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-11-30
THE HORSE m WAR THE.

i Very little has ever been written
about the cavalry horses during the
civil war. Now and then You will
m old soldier of either army say
something about them. heard one
say that in a fight the cavalry horses
lin the Army Of the Potomac broke
loose one night aud formed into line
Iof battle. Such story is absurd.
As | straddleG twenty-three horses
and two mules during the war,
claim to know something about the
cavalry horse in those day.
/ During the Sinmer Of 1862, our
regimeHt-the Fourteenth Hnneyl-
vania Cavalry-was organized in
Western Pennsylvania. There were
twelve companies, and each COM
pany had one hundred men. We
were ordered to Hagerstown, Nd,
| Tin fact Hagerstown had only one
4 horse left and that was Mr.. Robert
Warmers steed.) Horses of nearly
one color were given to each COM
pany, until the whole 1900 were
given out.
drew the worst one in the COM
pany. / went straight to the cap
tain and told him | would not keep
such a horse. Just then a man
named Hankey said Le had drawn
the worst horse in the company.
Hankey and traded at the captains
quarters, sight unseen The horse
he got from me died in few days.
The one | got turned out to be
crazy. Our regiment soon left
Hagerstown, and arrived at Har-
per's Ferry where. we remained for
some time. | was fully convinced
by what the soldiers said and by the
actions of my horse that he was
crazy.
In the latter part of December,
about one hundred of our men were
sent to Leesburg, Va, on a scout
ing expedition. We returned by
Way of Point of Rocks. We left
Harper's Ferry in the morning and
returned late at night, distance of
sixty-four miles. Going and re-
turning my horse kept frothing at
the mouth and rearing up. On our
return, Lear Lovettsville, he became
unmanageab,e, and carried me in the
dark down into the Potomac river.
Two infantry pickets of the Mary
land side, at Point of Rocks, think
ing | was an enemy trying to ford
the river, fired at me. This horse
also died few days afterwards.
The night before the battle of
Droop Mountain, in November,
1868, | was very tired and sleepy.
As soon as | was relieved from
picket duty, / came in from the
outer post reserves. fell asleep;
our pickets We're attacked, and when
made rush for my horse fright
ened him, and he ran away. While
the rest of the boys were at the out
side picket post fighting the enemy
was way down in the pasture field
hunting for my old horse found
him and got back to the reserves
about the time they did. They
never missed me. In a fight at
Milford, in the Luray Valley Va. =.
in 1864 | was mounted on an old
plug; he was wounded in the fight,
and as thought he would die at
once / turned him loose. Our bri-
gade came back twelve miles, and
encamped near Front Royal that
night. l was surprised the next
morning when l got up to find my
old horse standing in front where !
had slept.
In fight at Martinsburg, W.
Va, horse belonging to sergeant
of our company reared up and then
lay fat down.
| After the fight we looked for the
wounds, and there was not one tn
be found. During engagements |
have seen horses get into nests oi
bees and hornets. The riders think
ing they were wounded would dis.
mount and hunt for the wounds.
Not every horse can swim. When
General Lee was retreating from
Gettysburg, our brigade, command
ed by Ayerill, was ordered to cross
the Potomac river at Hancock, Md.
The river was high. The men
crossed in boats. The horses were
turned loose in to the river and
made to swim. Out of three thous.
! and horses, only six were drowned
Excitement had much to do with
keeping up the spirits of the