The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1900-09-13
PISTOL. AND SABER.
A Stoneman Raid and the Cavalry Fight al
Aide.

| Knowles was one of four brothers who
| fought for the Union in the great conflict
OF the four, three gave their lives in their
country's defense They were born in the
little town of Hampden, in Penobscot
County, and enlisted from that locality,
benjamin joining the 1st Me. Cav. Be
| fore this, however, tho young man had
[ seen something of life in the South, hav
ing taught school in Il Mississippi town.
| He was still in that position when the
Confedcratcs began drilling every day in
! front OF the school house. He stuck to
his post until Sumter was fired upon, and
then made his way North, glad to escape
with the loss of years pay. His next
experience in the South was when he re
turned there as u trooper of the LIST Me.
Cav. Twice he was forced to make
longer sojourns among tine COnfcderatcs
| than he desired to do. The first time was
when he was captured and taken to Libby
! Prison, but there his stay was short. His
second visit was Mt Andcrsonville. He
was at last exchanged and returned North
TO marry the girl with whom he had cor
responded all through the war, Miss Mary
| Il. Cobb, of Hampden. Knowles lived
only three years after the war, dying from
effects of his prison service. 1t is no won
der that his widow chcrishes his wartime
| letters.
Writing from near Aqua Creek on May
II, 1863, he said:
You have heard of Stonemans' cavalry
raid, of course. l took an active part in
that, as l am well aware. | have never
| seen such hard time since | have been
in the service, but it was mostly on ac-
| count of loss of sleep. l never suffered
worse in my life than / did on some of
those nights. l was so tired that l ached
in every joint, and sleepy, too. For three
| days we got only about one to two hours
sleep, and you know that tired men want
oil ho, oil
we have made one of the most sue
| cessful raids ever made in this war.
"Our fun commenced IN May morning
| 1.-THE 1stl, after crossing the Rapidan
River. 1t was lovely day. The trees
were all in bloom, the fields had plenty
of wild flowers in them, and once, when
we halted to take q look Mt some rebel
cavalry that hung on our flank, | picked
a fine little bouquet and thought of the
times l had formerly had on just such
| beautiful May mornings; but there was no
fair lassie to give it to, and | soon threw
| it away. But the day was Il
merry one. We took prisoners, chased Il
wagon train, captured some of them, and
| had a grand bonfire. Later in the day
we captured a whole train of ID wagons
and all the teams and drivers to boot.
We marched all night, reached Louisa
| Court House before morning, and charged
| in. We captured the town and spent all
that day in tearing up the railroad and
| telegraph. We took -four salt, ham and
sugar, and Stonemans cavalry drew ra-
| tons May 2 in Louisa County, Va, but
we met with little loss that day. A de
| tachmcnt of 4S men of our regiment found
the rebels, charged them and drove them
five miles. They then came upon n regi-
| mcnt Of rebels mounted upon fresh horses,
and they took their turn and stove our
Inr oil 10 MIC 10 thai,. 1.
horses they captured nearly all of our
boys. There were 33 or 81 killed, wounded
and prisoners, out of the 4S in the party.
We drove them back again and found the
body of one of our boys. His name was
| Perkins, of Go. L. He had one ball
through his head and two through his
breast. He was the only one that we
to our regiment on the raid except one
man of Go. Il, who was wounded during
the night by a guerrilla.
One night | was with the train when
the rebels tried to get it. A mans horse
was shot dead within eight feet of me.
| We went to within 10 miles of Richmond,
| and some of our cavalry got some miles
nearer. We tore up the railroad in a
good many places, captured railroad
train with u lot of prisoners, and also
smashed the James River Canal all TO
| pieces, so that it will take weeks to re-
pair it. | went with 200 picked men from
the LIST Me- and 10th n. Y, while we We're
near Richmond, and tore up the Rich
mond e Fredericksburg Railroad. We set
Il station house, depot, lots Of Govern
ment stores and mighty lumber pile on
| fire, and you better believe we made one
rousing blaze. You would have thought
| the whole COnfederacy was on fire if you
| had seen it.
I'VE then moved up to the railroad
III boz
| found 500 infantry and body of cavalry
waiting In line Of battle near the bridge.
We moved out and fired volley into their
| ranks, but could not draw them out SO the
| Colonel concluded that 200 poor, tired,
| sleepy cavalrymen were not equal to the
task, and l think that he was right, for
we were entirely worn out by hard
marches and loss of sleep. l have now
got back safe and sound, and am expect
| ing to stay here for few days, as our
horses are in bad condition"
Knowles was captured In the fierce
| fight ut Aldie, and taken to Richmond to
| be released after n short detention there.
Upon reaching Annapolis he wrote the
| following account of his experiences under
date of July 20:
II could fill large volume with what
/ heard and saw before and after my cap
| ture at Middleburg. | suppose the papers
have given n full account of the fights at
Aldie and Middleburg on June II and 10.
AT Aide, at very critical period Of
the fight, we were ordered to charge the
rebels, who were driving two regiments
of our cavalry before them as chaff be-
fore the wind. Col. Doughty boldly led
| the charge, and we drove them back near
ly n mile, holding the ground ami captur-
ing a great many prisoners. We lost our
gallant Colonel, which was very hard for
us. He was very highly esteemed by
both officers and men. He was brave and
not afraid to lead.
Again, on the 18th, our regiment was
| ordered to charge on the enemy, who
| were driving our skirmishers in and cap
| turing many of them. They then came
on with fresh cavalry and we, being seat
tered, they drove us through the woods,
but we rallied and drove them back.
| II charged right up within few PAGES
of the rebel battery. There were but a
| few with me. The rebels were trying to
rally around the guns to save them. l re-
turned my saber. took my revolver and
| fired every shot (siy) right in their faces.
| They We're in terrible confusion, hardly
knowing what to do, and could not fail to
hit some of them, but as there was so
much excitement l could not see what
did do.
"Then / raised my carbine. and with
good aim / rolled one big rebel out Of his
saddle dead as log. l. then turned and
dashed back as fast rs l could. l found
some of our boys rallying at the edge of
the woods, but the most of them forming
| 100 yards or so farther back in u field.
l never felt more like fighting than 1 did