Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-05-07

that had fallen back to that point. Gen.
era1 Custer had not come back, and,
Supposing that he was with the group
at the courthouse, I moved on a galIop
down the narrow ridge, followed by
my staff. The courthouse was, perhaps.
three-fourths of a mile distant We
had not gone far before a heavy fire
was opened on US from q skirt Of tim
Der to our right, and distant not much
over 800 yards. l halted for moment
and taking off my hat, called out that
the flag was being violated, but could
not stop the firing, which caused us to
take shelter in a ravine running para]-
lei to the bridge we We're on, and down
which we then travelled AS we APP
preached the courthouse gentle ascent
had to be made. l was in advance,
followed by a sergeant carrying my
battle flag Within 100 to $50 yards
from the courthouse and Confederate
lines some of the men in their ranks
brought their guns to aim on rs, and
great effort was made by their officers
to keep them from firing | halted.
and hearing some noise behind, turned
in the saddle and saw q Confederate
soldier attempting to take my battle
fiag from the color bearer. This the
sergeant had no idea Of submitting to,
and had drawn his sabre to cut the man
down. A word from me caused him TO
return his sabre and take the flag back
to the staff officers. who were some lit
tie distance behind. I remained sta
tiOnary after these events: then, calling
a staff officer, directed him to go over
to the group Of Confederate officers
and demand what such conduct meant.
Kind apologies were made, and we adj
vanced. The superior officers met were
General J. B. Gordon and General Cad
mus NJ. Wilcox, the latter an old army
officer AS soon as the first greeting
was over. furious firing began in
front of our own cavalry, from whom
we had only a few minutes before sep
arated. General Gordon seemed to he
somewhat disconnected by 1t. l re
utdfK0u 10 Hill, ISueIdI NoAdOh' SN't
men fired on me as I was coming over
here, and undoubtedly they have done
the same to Merritts and Clusters com
mands. We might just as well let
them have it out" To this proposition
General Gordon did not accede. | then
asked, "Why not send a staff officer and
have your people cease firing? They
are violating the flag"' He said, Il
have no staff officer to send" re-
piled, at will let you have one Of NINE
and calling for Lieutenant Vanderbilt
Allen. he was directed to report to Gen
eraI Gordon and carry his orders. The
orders were to go to General Geary,
who was in command Of a small brl-
gade of South Carolina cavalry, ana
ask him to discontinue the firing. Lieu
tenant Allen dashed off with the mes
sage, but on delivering it to General
Geary was taken prisoner with the re-
mark from that officer that he did not
care for white flags; that South Caro-
linians never surrendered.
1t was about this time that Merritt,
getting impatient at the supposed
treacherous firing, ordered charge OF
a portion Of his command. While Gen
erals Gordon and Wilcox were engaged
in conversation with me a cloud OF
! dust a wild hurrah, a flashing of sa-
bres, indicated a charge, and the ejac-
ulations of my staff officers were
heard: Look, Merritt has ordered
charge!' The fight Of Geary's brigade
followed Lieutenant Allen was thus
released. The last gun had been fired
and the last charge made in the Vir-
ginia campaign.