The National tribune., 1910-09-08
THURSDAY

Sheridan's raid. from May s to 12 and
later. / was Quartermaster-Ser in
Co. c, Sd Ind. Cav, under Chapman,
and in Wilson's Division. S1After our
where ]. E. B. Stuart was mortally
wounded. Sheridan moved on towards
Richmond, marching all night of the
11th and 18th. Gen. iSherfdhn, in his
Memoirs, says: Our march during the
night of the 18th was very tedious on
account of the extreme darkness and
frequent showers, but at daylight on
the 18th the head of my column, under
Wilson, reached the Mechanicsville
pike. Here Wilson encountered the
enemys works and batteries, manned
by Gen. Briggs, and endeavoIe ed to pass,
but failed
well do remember that night Our
company was the advance guard of the
regiment and the brigade. Corp'I Ben
Bledsoe and one man with him was in
front. He was followed by myself and
one more The guide was held between
Lieut. Rogers and some one of the
company with drawn revolvers, and
told that if he misled US he would be
shot. The night was so dark we had
to keep our horses nose to tair to keep
the road We knew that the rebels had
placed torpedoes along this road. Bled-
soc was selected as the advance on ac-
count of his GOODNESS and fearlessness
under all conditions. (He was after
wards killed ON Wilson's raid to Burks-
vile and Stanton River in June, 1S64)
Steadily we felt our way along that
road at a slow walk, expecting torpe-
does to explode at any time. Just be-
fore daylight suddenly We heard the
clank of sabers in front of us and
voices Bledsoe did not stop bat moved
on at the same gait we had been going
all night. The rebel videt called out:
Halt, Who goes there?' Bledsoe an
swered: The 9Th Va. Cav (This was
Col. Ashby's old rebel regimcnt.) The
picket sharply called out: 'Who?' Bled-
soc began to answer again. but the vi
diets fired directly at us and then gal
loped away. The column moved stead
lily on. In few. moments we could
hear men hurriedly getting on their
horses. There must have been Is or 20
men from the sounds. They did not
fire n single shot at us OF attempt to
check our advance. but hastily gal
loped off ,towards Richmond This was
surprise, as we expected a volley or
two at least. About daylight we ran
up against them in good earnest, but
they were too much for us.
II find in my diary the following:
May IL. The corps resumed its march
this morning towards Richmond. In
the afternoon we had a severe fight
" IL
two guns from them. This place is
known as Yellow Tavern. We drove
them away. j. f. b. Stuart was re-
ported killed in this fight, and at night
we continued our march towards Rich
mond. Our company had the advance.
and our regiment the advance of the
brigade
'.On the 18th I find as follows: Our
advance arrived in front of the second
line of works, just at daybreak, where
we were opened upon and driven back
to the road on w.sich we came to the
pike. The pike leads to Mechanicsville,
north of the Chickahominy.. where the
rebels have quite a force TO prevent our
crossing Our division fought them in
front of the city, and Gen. Custer, with
his brigade, assisted by thef Regulars,
charged and drove them 4, from the
bridge. All the cavalry crossed before
dark and we marched until late at
night That was Il wonderful raid. The
boys here found o4t what the Cavalry
Corps, as a whole acting together under
a General like Sheridan, could do"