The National tribune., 1899-12-14
7Qr1TiC 4 LiQht
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of the regiment were over 100 in killed and
wounded. including Walter G. Hull, Its
gallant Colonel.
The Army of the Potomac closed its cam
paign of 1864 with the engagements al
Nineveh, Mt. jackson. Harrisonburg and
Lacy Springs Then followed in the Spring
of 1865 Charlottesville, White House
Landing, Dinwiddie Court House, FIVE
Forks, Fall of Petersburg, Deep Creek,
Amelia Springs, and finally, Appomattox,
1 where the Harris Light, at that time under
Col. Birdseye, in Clusters Division OF Sheri-
dams Corps, played an important part IL
the closing scenes of the war
st RECORD OF THE REGIMENT.
! Official records show that the I'd n. Y.
Cav. participated in nearly 200 raids,
battles and skmnlishes, and it is doubtful II
tits list of casualties was exceeded by any
! regiment in the service. Frederic PMS
tefer, late Captain, U. S. a., and now
assisted by Capt. Marlin F. Hatch, OF the
Harris Light" gives the following figures,
| complied from New York in the Rebellion:
Killed, wounded and missing, 92S officers
and men, from its .muster-ln during the
month of August, 1861, TO its muster-out'
June %, 1865.
When we consider that the total enlist
ment of the regiment was 130 officers and
2. .S37 men, il will be readily seen that nearly
one-third of the entire organization perlShed
in battle, died in camp and on the march, or
languished in Southern prisons.
| The mere presentation of names in the
death and prison roll of the I'd n. Y: Cav.
would occupy more space than is allowed
| this article, and for this reason can do no
more than mention those officers who fell In
| battle. died from wounds and other causes,
or were incarcerated in rebel prisons.
The first officer of the regiment to fall in
action was Lieut.. Nelson j. Decker, who
was killed near Falmouth, Va, April II,
1862, during the first advance of Union
troops to the Rappahannock; Capt. Samuel
| G.. Milligan died from diseases contracted
, in service May % of the same year; Capt.
Cbas. C. Walters was killed Aug. IS, during
McDowell's retreat from the Rapidan;
Lieut.. Frederick Compton was killed at
Groveton, Aug. 80, 1862; First Lieut..
Daniel Whitaker and Second Lieut.. August
7. Martenson were killed at Aldie, June IL,
I, 1863; Second Lieut.. Robert Stewart was
drowned near Warrenton, Va, July 81,
following; Second Lieut.. Murt Cunning
ham died July II, 1864, from wounds re
ceived at the battle of Stony Creek; Col.
Walter c. Hull, killed at Cedar Creek Oct.
10, 1864; Maj. James O'Keefe, died April
6, 1865, from wounds received at Five
Forks.
The losses of the Harris Light" by cap
ture in battle, on the skirmish-line and
during its various raids were nearly.if not
quite equal to its roll of killed and wounded,
and the graves of our martyrs at Richmond,
Danville, Macon, Savannah, Charleston,
Columbia. Millen, Salisbury and Anderson
vile will fully corroborate the statement
made in my Capture, Prison-Pen and
Escape that the carnage of the battlefield
was not exceeded by the mortality Of the
prison-pen. Being unable to obtain a
record oI captures after my escape from
Columbia, the following list includes only
those officers who were confined in Libby
and other Confederate prisons during my
l own incarceration, extending from October,
1863, TO November, 1864. These were: Col.
Z. F: Cooke, Maj. Samuel Mclrvin, Capts'
Charles Hasty, ii. III. Mason and o. j.
Downing, Adj't p. Owen Jones, Lieuts.
VIM. Nyce, Butler Coles, Henry Temple,
Geo. c. Houston, j. A. Richardson and
Willard Glazier.
Five Generals, 10 Colonels and score of
field officers who were accounted among the
best and braveSt soldiers of the Union
| Cavalry Corps began their career in this
well-known regiment. Fitzpatrick, who
rose from the rank of Lieutenant-Co Colonel to
that of Major-General and the command OF
1 the cavalry under Sherman; Duffie, a
| graduate of the military school at st. Cyr,
France, who was promoted from the Cap
taincy of a company to Brigadier-Generali
Henry E. Davies, IT., who rose from the
rank of Major to that OF Major-General and
the command of the cavalry under Sheri-
dan; Clarence Buel, who advanced from the
command of the Troy company to the
Colonelcy of the 169th n. Y; Capt. Robert
Loudon, the oldest survivor of the regiment
who served eight years in the English cav.
airy, and distinguished himself in a hun
dred actions and who with battalion cut
his way through the columns OF Stuart
Lee and Hampton on the Plains of Brandy
Station; Col. Hull, who fell while leading
the regiment in the Valley of the Shenan
doah; Randol, who won his star in front oi
Richmond; E. w. Whitaker, who entered
the service an enlisted man and left it 3
Brigadier-General; Col. Birdseye, who rode
with Custer at Cedar Creek and fought with
Sheridan at Five Forks and Appomattox
clearly establish that men of true metal LED
and were moving spirits in the Harris Ligh
Cavalry.
i (The end)