The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1898-03-16
EpNEsDAY., MARCH Is, 1898
A GOOD

But the Author Would Dc a Poor Man
to Write History.
"Tho most desperate personal act I
witnessed during the war was perform
ed by a Wisconsin cavalryman, said
G. j. Hilton Of Madison. lit was at
Fleetwood Hill, and the man discounted
the capture made at Ciudad Rodrigo by
Charles O'Malley's man, Mickey Free.
The Wisconsin man rode out between
two great cavalry forces-Union and
Confederate-and attacked a lieutenant
and two men belonging to Jeb Stuart's
force, and after a hand to hand saber
fight, lasting fully ten minutes, cap
tured the three and brought them in. It
was the prettiest fight of the kind ] aver
saw, and the Wisconsin trooper was
cheered by every man on our side who
witnessed his act and by some of Stu.
arts riders / don't know who the man
was, but my recollection Is that he be-
longed to the Second Wisconsin,
A man who wore. the Loyal Legion
button said he did not think the Second
Wisconsin was IN tho fight with Stuart
at Brandy Station and Fleetwood Hill
He asked for the story, however,:
s"I wasa member Of the Eighth New
York, ".said Mr.. Hilton, land our fegi-
ment was part of the cavalry command
sent under Pleasonton to look up Jeb
Stuart just before Gettysburg. We
found Stuart-yellow. sash. black hat
plnmes, gold spurs and all that-at
Brandy Station, and with him were oil
his riders. Thefight was.a hot one, and
we came very near being beautifully
whipped, although we claimed the vic
tory ON the ground that we learned
what we wanted to know-where Stu
art was and what Lee was about. Some
of the heaviest, f ghtingio the Gay was
at a spot called Fleetwood Hill, and it
was there that the Wisconsin trooper
captured his three men.
1--WE had Eeen at it hammer and
tongs for two or three hours, when
there came one Of those let ups you all
have seen-for all the world like two
bulldogs looking for a fresh hold. While
both sides We're waiting for the order to
advance u Confederate lieutenant and
two men rode cut from their tents,
moving toward us as if searching for
something on the field. Everybody ON
n side watched them and wondered
what they were looking for. The two
lines wero fully two-thirds of a milo
apart, and the three had got about a
third Of the way across toward us.
Then over on tho right of our line was
a stir and connection, and the excite
ment spread along until it reached us.
THE right of our line was concealed
from us by a little grove of oak trees.
A trooper in blue, mounted on a big bay
that looked and carried himself like a
thoroughbred, was riding ont to meet
those three men in gray. He sat on his
horse like a riding school master. When
within 100 yards of .Stuart's three men
be halted, saluted with his saber and
dropped his carbine and revolver. The
three men from the other side had been
watching him, and, understanding the
challenge, dropped their arms.
Then came the fight. 1t wash saber
contest, with three against one. That
Wisconsin man disarmed that lieuten-
ant in two passes, hamstrung the horse
of another and put his blade through
the shoulder of the third. He brought
the three into ou lines.
"Whatd do you think of that?" he con-
cluded.
1.-The story is al right" esd one of
the listeners, but I don't ink You
would Go to writo history. "-Milwau-
kee Sentinel.