Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-06-15


The poor misguided wretehes Thought
they would all be killed. for they had been
told so by their liberators. After tbey
Were collected together they were sent "a
Richmond in the same TRANSPORTATION i'm
which they had been captured in. do
not know what became Of them. but
suppose they were reclaimed by their old
owners. They no doubt went back wiser
eooEs. Wilson says that quite number
OF them were killed by the rebels. This
= not SO, | only know of one that was
killed, and his taking of was justifiabIe.
The manner in which this black wretch
was killed will be told later. The first
charge made by the 2nd and 4th Va, cav
airy, the enemy broke and ran. and did
not again reform. They scattered i'm
such manner that rarely more than 80
or 10 men would be togethe... Wilson
withdrew BY way of the double bridges
TO Jhrret's Station on the Weldon r. r.:
making a wide detour TO the right flank,
continuing in an easterly direction until
they came to Peters Bridge. on the Not
toway river, fording the river Mt that
point. Thence bearing to- the north
marched rapidly towards Blunt = bridges
on the Blackwater, reaching there about
midnight. The bridge had been DESTROY
ed, but after half an hours work was
made passable, the command crossing at
daylight. After burning the bridge they
marched in the direction of Cabin Point.
ON the James river, having covered :l3J
miles-l35 of them between 3 n. IN, of
the 2Sth and 2 p. IN, of the Both. This
movement was very much accelerated
by Fitz Lee. kautz made detour to the
right, passing around the left flank of
our command between Ream's station
and Rowanty Bridge, reaching the Fed
erai lines after dark. kautz states: We
pursued no road. but marched by com
pass, passing most Of the way through
timber and heavy underground. The
artillery had to be abandoned. The loss
in my division will not he ascertainedfo for
some time, as the men continue To come
in, most OF them dismounted." What n
motley crew. to be sure How different
from the starting on the 22nd. With
colors flying and bugIes sounding the ad
vancel kautz lost .569 men Fitz Lee
does not make any report of this action.
| have to depend on my memory and
Others whose judgment | have perfect
confidence in for the data of this histori-
cal narrative. LIT. j. W. COsgrove, of
Breathed's battery, n man and soldier
whose record stands second to none i'm
the artillery branch of the service, and +.
ii. % Brien, of the same command render
ed me valuable assistance in getting the
details OF this expedition. Ed O'Brien
was particularly fortunate in seeing n
great deal of the running fight when we
chased Wilson to Stony Creek. The horse
artillery did not have much chance to
distinguish itself on this occasion but in
dividual members of Breathed's battery
when they found it impossible to keepup
with the flying Yankees latter the battery
was packed) followed with the cavalry
and were in at the death. was one Of
those individuals who took advantage of
the situation to join the cavalry pro tenn.
Breathed when he found his artillery
could not he of any use packed the artil
lery near Stony Greek joining his fortunes
with the 9th Va, cavalry, who were nj
ways glad to see him, continuing with
them until he was shot down ut the head
Of the regiment. His wound was a very
severe one, being hit i'm the stomach by n
pistol ball. Our horses were very much
jaded, we had been ON the move since
about May 9th, when Grant crossed the
Rapidan on his march to Richmond. We
had captured over 2OOO prisoners and
had defeated and routed two of the most
formidable and well organized expedi-
tions of the enemy, driving them back
pell NELL into their lines, i'm each instance
leaving their dead and wounded on the
field. No wonder that our poor faithful
horses were exhausted and could hardly
drag their tired bodies along.
l.. ii. OIL Brien states that he and Cor
pOral Al Hopkins rode on after the cav
airy, as did the others" We had not
hal I,
he wonld give n good account of himself
when we did see him. After galloping
down the road mile or two we saw a
small group standing near the road On
reaching them we discovered our much
loved Breathed lying on the ground se-
verely wounded, his old battery around
him as il to receive his dying benediction.
His sufferings were intense, and as we
gazed on our hero We thought his hours
were few; that but short time his soul
would go to meet his commanders, Gen
j. h. Ii. Stuart and the gallant Pelham
As we bent over him he said BOYS they
hae got me this time" While we were
trying to comfort him Surgeon Leigh
who, after making an examination told
Breathed that the wound w - not fatal,
and that by good care and nursing he
would be able to- worry the W KEGS n
good many times yet. The ball had not
penetrated the bowels, but was lodged
in the walls of the stomach. This en-
couraging diagnosis cheered Breathed
very much. An ambulance was procured
and In 1t we placed him. lie ordered
OBrien and Hopkins to ride on. as he
had heard that some OF the enemy = guns
had been captured and they could be Of
some service there. This shows the spir-
it of the man. Badly wounded as he was
his thoughts were how to help the cause
he loved so well. Riding two miles fur
ther on we found two captured cannon.
which were turned on the skedaddIing
Yankees.
Lieutenant j. W Cosgrove in a letter
to me in 1902, just before his death. gives
an account Of the killing of the negro al
luded to in the first part of this article
He says, in part: after Major Breath
ed was carried in the ambulance to the
house of Mrs. Malone, he was placed in n
bed on the first floor and verything was
done for his comfort that our limited re-
sources would permit. The next even
ing DIR. Bill Murray (the battery SurgeOn)
and myself went over To see how he was
getting along. Mrs. Malone met us at
the door in the most cordial manner,
telling us that Major Breathed had just
shot a negro who had insulted her, and
that the negro was lying to the left of
the door steps. Thinking perhaps she
had made mistake, we went To the left
entrance of the porch and discovered the
dead negro Asking Mrs. Malone for the
particulars, she stated that the negro had
come to her house with a negro woman,
had taken possession of one of her rooms.
and in the most insulting manner had
ordered her to get something for them to
eat at once, saying that he was going