The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-09-07

battle. Stonewall jackson surrounded the
Union post at Harper's Ferry on Sept. 10,
1861 He had 10000 men. The harrison Of
Harper's Ferry numbered over i3,OO0. The
position Is low ground on a neck Of land
formed by junction Of the Shenandoah and
Potomac rivers and II surrounded at close
range by a series Of heights from eco to goo
feet above the water. jackson planted his
cannon On the heights ready to lombard
the works. but delayed opening Ere for
some time.
The officers of the garrison. US is usual in
such cases. were divided este what ought to
bedonc tosave the post, or at least the men
and theirurins The con,maniant, Colonel
Dixon S. Miles, urged that fighting would
be waste of life and that he had no au-
thority to abandon the place, having been
ordered to hold Il One Of those who dis
scnted from this view was Lieu enant Colo
mel B. r. DAVIS, lender of the Eighth New
York cavalry, n regiment forming part Of
the cavalry force Of ECO horse included In
the garrison. Late on the 14th Colonel
Davis. known in the service as "Grimes" Da-
Wis, with Colonel Hastrorck Eavis Ct the
Twelfth Illinois cavalry, devised scheme
to save their commands. Grimes Davis
was n native q Alabama and may have had
\ personal incentive in not wishing to be
taken prisoner. He was an officer In the
regular army and had served In the south.
west before the war with many OF the Con-
federate leaders nrrayed against him at
Harper's Ferry. In the early days Of the
war the southerher who stuck by the Union
Gag was considered by the south q traitor
to his people.
The idea Of escaping from Harper's Ferry
~ things stood was q bold one The vir-
~[~xr- ~ Ill n
and the Maryland region just north Of IIar-
per's Ferry was occupied by the main army
Of L e. The details CT the escape are told
in plain soldier language In a sketch Of the
Eighth New York cavalry written By Henry
Norton After u brief account Of the open
Ing Of the siege by Jackson's army the mar
rAtor says;
The colonel made preparations TO go out
with his regiment and what cavalry re-
manned there--two regiments and two
detachments. numbering LEO in all. He
got one Of the old settlers who knew the
country well to pilot him through Mary
Land. which was then occupied by the Con-
federate General Longstreet's corps. He
had scout watching the enemys move
snents. for he knew the only way TO get out
was through Longstreet's lines
ION the 18th Of September everything
was ready for us to get out Of the Ferry IL
we could IN the evening about o'clock
we were drawn mp In line, and our sutltr,
knowing that he could not get out with his
goods, gave the boys what he had on hand.
We crossed the Potomac to the Maryland
side on u pontoon bridge. Before we
crossed each captain gave orders that each
man Of his company must follow his file
leader, and that no other orders would be
given. We CROSSED the river by twos, while
the colonel with bis piet went ahead to
clear the read. When the head of the
column got gcross the river. the men would
start OF ut full speed, so by the time the
last man WINS across the head OF the line
was 10 miles away. was near the rear Of
the line. and the way we went was eau
tion. Each horse went as fast as he could
60. By the time all had crossed it was
dark Dark WAS no name for II. Il was
just the right Kind Of night for such an
undertaking. The only way one could tell
how far we were from our Gle leader was
by the horses shoes striking fire on the
stones. Sometimes we would be 90 yards
away from, our Gle leader and then would
come up full drive. Then we would hear
some tall swearing. That was the way we
went for several miles. The advance drove
the enemy's pickets In soon after crossing
the river. Tae Confederites were surprised
to see Yankees coming from that direction.
They thought we were cooped up In the
Ferry and did not dare come out.