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

ABOUT two miles Irom where the enemys
| pickets were driven in the Confederates
bar loaded the road TO stop U.s. The colonel
. knew what they would do, so before we got
there he went acrGls lots and gave them the
slip. The pilot knew every foot Of the
ground in Maryland, and the scout knew
how l4Oagstreets corps was situated, haV-
ing come from there about au hour 1fnEc
we started from tie Ferry. The colonel
I had his route mapped out before we start
ed He was bound to go thran'-h Cf lie IN
the attempt He managed to >tyu.& it,
! Confederates until he reached Sharps burg,
10 miles from Iarper's Ferry, where the
advance had Il brush with them 1t did not
last long, as the colonel ordered a charge
and drove the enemy back. They Ictreated
TO camp, giving the alarm that the whole
Yankee army wtsS upon them. We learneG
afterWard from some prisoners taken that
the whole of isou%strtct's corps stood in
line the rest OF the night, expecting to te
attacked.
"As was riding along trying to keep
up to my file leader rsy horae kept shy
ing every li5tle while Come 10 Gal oat,
there were cavalry horses lying in the road
They had been ridden 50 fast that they had
dropped down dead by the waysida
About two miles out we LtE,an TO no
through the fields We would ~ i'll the
fields for awhile ana then bac. IN Tie road
again. At enc time Ne were SO close tie
enemg's camps that we could sec taa Cos
federates plainly by their camphrca On
we went at full speed. | did not think st
first that they were Eoafederatcs | said
to my file leader, William Il. GGiIe: 'B.ll.
what is the use of the colonel going TAR
ther? Here are our troops Bill said:
They are Tot oar troops. They are Cot.-
felerates. | said to Fill, We are goncss,
for we will all be captured
When the advance reached Sharp9Gure,
10 miles from l[arper's Ferry, they made a
halt, SO that we could close UP and let Our
horses set their wind, for we had been o. Il
Keen scoot ever since we left the river We
did not stay there long, perhaps half an
hour. Then we went on again across fats,
over fences, through creeks, as usual We
had to travel on byroads, for the enemr
had pickets on all main roads. We had
gone through L0ugstrcets corps. 4 great
many would say that it was an impossible
ity for a force Of l,.G0 cavalry TO do that.
Had il nos been IN the nig4t, and had the
colonel not managed jUst ~ he did, We
could not have done il. Tie ConfeGeratea
were taken 10y surprise, for they thought
we had large force. 50 they waited for
Us to attack them. But we had other busi-
ness about that time. All We wanted was
to get out of there II they would let Us
alone, we would them.
After we left Sharpsburg we did not
come across any more Confeescrates Until
we struck the pike running from Iazcrs.
town, Nd, west to Nlliamsport on the
Potomac just before we reached the pike
yts no n1 in - 11iac, IN no woods Ia
hear wagons rumbling along the road ahead
Of us The colonel went forward to recon
noiter, and when he got To the road he soon
found that it was Il Confederate wa@al
train As soon as he saw them it came into
his head to capture that train. The train
was guarded By 81 or 60l cavalry and some
infantry. The cavalry was in the rear Of
the train, the infantry in front.
''W hen tie advance Of the wagon train
came along to tile crossroaa, the colonel il
sisted that they should turn to the right on
the pike that ran north into Pennsylvania.
After he got the train started on that road
he sent fer the Eighth New York, This
was just before daylight. We went ahead
and took possession of the train. Tie
! Twelfth Illinois cavalry kept the Coafet!-
crate cavalry in cheek while we were pass
ing by the teams to take our places. One CT
the Confederate teanlSters said to ME, To
what regiment do yea Deon2?'
"'Ihe Eighth New York. replied.
1.-The hell you say,'
"Only the drivers Of few of the head
teams knew then that they were prisoners.
The rest did not know it until after day
.yD''1, 1Da\a