Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1903-07-08


soldier. bat had an unfortunate
habit of getting wounded. and
thus the younger got ahead i'm the
line of promotion. Tom was living
: IN prison while Dolly was winning
: his spurs.
To avoid the continuous strain on
hiS strength, caused by the in
ceSSant annoyance of the partisan
corps IN his rear. Sheridan deter
mined TO detail Il picked body of
men whose special duty should be
To look afteruS. Ii this force should
attract our attention away from his
army and draw us in pursuit. the
the diversion would effect almost
aS much by naturalization a. if il
had DESTROYED us. The Eighth
Corps, under General Crook. had
lately come from campaigning in
West Virginia, and was now under
Sheridan in the Shenandoah Val
ley.
President Mckinley was ON
| Crooks staff, and Rutherford b.
Hayes, who was afterwards Presi-
dent of the United States. was col
onel of one of his regiments.
Crook had been greatly annoyed
IN the wild and mountainous region
of West Virginia by irregular
bands, and had organized n body
of Il hundred men selected from
different regiments for the pur-
pose of pursuing and suppreSSiny
them. They were put under the
command of a Captain Blazer.
who had once been in charge of a
steamboat ON the Ohio. and who
had won considerable reputation
by his bOldneSS and success. In
the Eighth Corps it was regarded
aS being a great "A badge of dis
tlnctlon to belong to Blazers band
n to wear the cross of the Legion
of Honor. Crook had brought
the chosen band with him i'm the
expectation of their winning fresh
laurelS in the valley. They were
exempt from all the drudgery and
ignoble duties that fall to the COM
mon lot of Il soldier. To scout. To
fight, TO watch and To guard the
army from surprises. was all that
was expected of them. The fol-
lowing despatch from Sheridan
shows the confident hopes with
which he accepted their service:
+ Headquarters Middle Military Division.
CharlestoWn. August 9lih. 1854.
Mai ten. G. q. Aulmr Commanding De
Iartment. Washington.
have one hundred men who will take
the contract Go clean out Musbv's gang I
want one hundrct spencer rifles send
them To me IL they can De found i'm Wash
ingion. There is no news here The enemy
are about Winchester. they have not gone
towards the Potomac. although left the
. road orcn.
>ign~i 4. II. SHERIDAN.
Maior-General Commanding.
Endorsement
Approved. BY order Of the Secretary Of
/ War DANA
Assistant Secretary Of War.
Notwithstanding the fact that
Blazer was brave and active par
tisan. | never allowed him to di-
vert my attention from my objec-
tive point. which was Sheridan's
army. To haraSS and impede the
operations of the main body of the
enemy was the end sought To ac-
compliSh, and did not intend to
be led off in pursuit of secondary
object. | would not go around
chasing shadow when there was
an army of fifty thousand men sur
rounding me. If | had done SO.
then Blazers command would have
been an offset 10 niue. OF course.
if At any time our paths had crossed.
the collision would have come.
and somebody would have been
hurt. Blazer was brave com
mander, but at the same time a
wary one. He would move rap
idly from point To point. go into
biyouac about midnight, and start
off about daybreak. I'm this way
he once saved himself from encoun-
tering me.
was returningin October. 1864,
from a successful raid on Sheridan 5
line. when about daylight | got in
formation that Blazer was camped
a few miles off, at CabIetown. In
stantly the head of the column was
turned that way. and we started
of at trot. Blazer had been
rowing about the valley so long
that my men were anxious to get
TO close quarters and have hiIt
TO hilt fight with him. had ex-
actly eighty men with me, and il