Mower County transcript., 1899-08-16

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Confederates and charge whatever he
came upon, bringing up on Sheridans
front on the main battlefield. II he
could not get through, he was to 20 as
far as he could, even at the sacrifice
OF his command. At the end of an hour
Sheridan charged with his main line,
and the enemy broke and ran from the
field. This precipitous retreat was due
to Alger's fierce attack in the Confed-
crate rear. Sheridan says so himself
IN his memoirs and admits that the
| battle which won for him a star was
decided by the heroism Of Volunteer
Captain Alger of the Second Michigan.
Alger, at Rienzi, cut his way in, saber
In hand. There were exploits of cut
ting out during the war, but one Of the
most daring and successful deeds of
the kind was the ride of 'Grimes'' Da-
vis' cavalry out of Harper's Ferry
when it was surrounded by Stonewall
Jackson in September, 1862. The in
fantry surrendered to Jackson at that
time considered it a useless sacrifice,
and the cavalry being Of the same way
Of thinking put spurs to their thoughts
and rode away at sundown, notwith~
standing the fact that Lees army lay
across the pathway Of flight
Colonel Davis pushed on at the head
Of the cavalcade and after riding
through Longstreet's corps charged
and captured a wagon train guarded
by more men than he commanded and
took the prize north to Pennsylvania.
This was no chance exploit of Davis,
the desperation Of a man in a corner
He was shot down at arms length in a
personal combat with Confederate Of
ficer when far ahead Of his regiment in
q desperate cavalry charge at Beverly
Ford, Va, the first great saber battle.
Both Dahlgren and Farnsworth be-
long to the galaxy of cavalry heroes
who did things in the fashion followed
by Funston. Both met the romantic
fates Of heroic souls. Young DahlgrA
ut Hagerstown, Md, charged the ene-
my with handful Of troopers, getting
wound which put him on a wooden
leg for the rest Of his career. With his
wooden leg he rode at the head of one
Of kilpatrick's detachments on the raid
to Richmond and was killed while try
ing to cross the enemy's country to a
junction with the main force.
| Farnsworth was truly hero Of the
meteoric stamp. Unknown to the army
In general, he received his brigadier's
star and command on the field Of Get
tysburg. On the morning of July 3
General Fitzpatrick ordered Farms
worth to charge with his troopers into
the lines of the enemy near Round Top
as feint to cripple Longstreet in his
attack upon Cemetery ridge. Farms
| worth had 300 men, and his course lay
over rough ground strewn with bowl
ders and swept with artillery, besides
being hedged in with rows Of infantry
bayonets. The bold troopers made a
circuit, stampeding the Confederate in
fantry and riding so close to the bat
teries as to pass unharmed under the
| range where the guns bore. After set
ting the whole Confederate army in an
uproar Farnsworth led the ride out, and
in SO doing struck deeper into the ene-
my's meshes. Bursting through two
lines of infantry, with 80 sabers at his
heels, he fell dead full stretched on the
ground, having seven bullet wounds in
his body.
The south developed it's meteoric
hero in front of Richmond in 1862,
when Captain Willie Pegram, the boy
artillerist, astonished both armies by
his gallantry with the guns. He be-
| came the toast at theaters and all pa