Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-07-16

tum to 1t by the time we had closed on
the advance and begun the charge or
chase. Meanwhile the messenger and
reserve had closed on the first set Of
tours and begun firing IL they saw any
thing to fire at. Should the advance
halt, they began firing ut once; If they
turned to run. they parted and gallop-
ed down either flank In single file, so
the troop they unmasked could clear
the road by firing or charging. Il new
er had the melancholy satisfaction Of
seeing the advance break to the rear.)
Whenever we found the enemy In
line. even behind breastworks-for not
all Of them were cavalry-we would
deploy as skirmishers in the woods or
fields on either side of the road and ad-
vance at the gallop. firing rapidly as
we rode. don't believe carbine firing
at the gallop at mark 200 or 800
yards away ever did much damage,
but the successive puffs Of smoke
made our horsemen difficult marks to
hit In such dashes the bugle general.
ly sounded the recall before the skir-
mishers were upon the enemy's line.
Even II 1t didn't. most of the horses
turned suddenly and dashed back. but
an occasional good rider with horse
under perfect control would get far
enough within the line to estimate its
strength and see IL 1t had any artillery.
Quite as often poor rider with an OBJ
stinate horse would get within the line
and find himself unable to return. The
horse that knew him would know him
no more forever, and the rider would
take up his abode for an indefinite sea-
son at the Hotel Libby, Richmond, Va.
A single man surrounded by enemies
Mt short range was seldom killed or
even hurt unless he refused to recog-
nize the inevitable. The general mass
of our men regarded n skirmish dash
against infantry with very little ap-
prehension. A trooper and his horse
generally are one for practical pur-
poses. the animal seeming to know
what is in his riders mind. Besides,
the enemy had only muzzle loading
weapons, which could not be reloaded
and fired more than once during the
forward rush Of cavalry skirmishers,
while the rapid fire of our breechload-
ers and revolvers had disturbing eff
fect upon foot soldiers hand and eye.
Our advantages and precautions be-
Ing SO many, we felt entirely secure in
the scout Of which have begun to
tell. Yet things did not turn out at all
as we had expected. We struck the
enemy's outpost during the middle of
the afternoon and drove 1t in without
any casualty on our side. We dis
mounted, took cover behind some trees
and exchanged shots with skirmishers
across small river, and we had our
horses far enough to the right and left
to avoid the round shot or two that
were fired down the road by a cannon
which guarded the bridge. Then we
remounted. retired through the woods
and fields until out of artillery range,
after which we took the road for home,
with the cheering hope that we would
be out Of camp only about half the
customary time.
Just about sunset, as we were an.
preaching long bridge over one Of
the wide. high banked, but shallow
creeks peculiar to the tide water re-
gion of Virginia, the word was passed
back from the advance:
CLOSE up! Quick! Send the major
upv'
The major commanding the battalion
dashed toward the front, and the. rest
of US followed rapidly. AS my COM
pany was the second in. column we
soon saw what was the matter, and it
didn't please us much. A body of the
enemy's cavalry was approaching the
bridge from the other side.
This was something we had not
counted upon. 1t was engaging. 1t