The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1894-01-12

(
Union post at Earpers Ferry on Sept. l3,
1862. He had 20,00o men. The garrison of
! Harper's Ferry numbered over 1900. The
position is low ground on a neck of land
formed BY junction Of the Shenandoah and
+. Potomac rivers and Is surrounded at close
range by n series of heights from COO to ,UO0
feet above the water. jackson planted his
cannon on the heights ready to lombard
the works, but delayed opening fire for
some time.
The officers Of the garrison, rs is usual in
such cases, were divided 20 10 what ought to
be done TO save the pest, or at least the men
and theirarms. The commandant, Colonel
Dixon S. Miles, urged that fighting would
be Il waste of life and that he had no au-
therity to abandon the place, having been
ordered to hold it One Of those who dis
sented from this view was Lieu anant Colo
mel b. +. Davis, leader of the EIGHTH ew
York cavalry, q regiment forming part Of
the cavalry force Of $50 horse included in
the garrison Late on the 18th Colonel
Davis. known in he service as Grimes Da-
Wis, with Colonel Hasbrouck Davis of the
| Twelfth Illinois cavalry, devised a scheme
to save their commands "Grimes" Davis
was a native Of Alabama ard may have had
q 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 arrayed against him at
Harper's Ferry. In the early days Of the
war the scGtherner who stuck by the Union
fats was considered by the south traitor
| to his people
The iGea OF escaping from Earper's Ferry
as things stood was q bcld one The Nir-
] Cri,1 lbp oil =
and the Maryland region just north OF Har-
| per's Ferry was occupied b. the main army
/ of Lee. The details Of the escape are told
] in plain soldier language in a sketch Of the
i Eighth New York cavalry written by Henry
Norton. After a brief account Of the open
ing of the siege by jackson s army the mar
/ rator says:
The colonel made preparations to 90 out
! with his regiment and what cavalry re-
I malned there-tWo regiments and two
detachments. numbering l,3C0 in all He
I got one of the old settlers who knew the
country well to pilot him through Mary
| land, which was then occupied by the Con
/ feder&te General LongstGeet corps. He
had a scout watching the enemys move
ments, for he knew the only way to get out
was through Longstreet's lines
"On the 1Ath Of September everything
was ready for us to get out Of the Ferry il
| we could In the evening about o clock
we We're drawn up in line and our sutler.
! 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 a 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 tssos, while
! the colonel with his pilot went ahead to
clear the road When the head of the
! column got across the river the men would
start off at full speed SO by the time the
/ last man was across the head of the line
| was 10 miles away. was Eear the rear Of
/ the line, and the way we went vas eau
] tlon. Each horse went as fast rs he could
/ go. BY the time all had crossed it was
| dark. Dark was no name for it. 1t was
/ just the right kind Of Il night for such an
/ undertaking. The only way one could tell
/ how far we We're from onr file leader was
! by the horses' shoes striking fire on the
stones. Sometimes we would be 90 yards
! away from our file 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 enemys pickets in soon after crossing
/ the river. The Confederates were surprised
! to see Yankees coming from that direction.
! They thought we were cooped up in the
| Ferry and did not dare come out