The Washington times., 1911-11-30
Incident of the War That
Occurred In the
Year 1864.
WAS CHASING UNION x
FORAOING PARTY
Fiery Tempered Horse Made a
Hero Of Him and Almost
Caused His Death.

TN the latter part OF November. 1884,
active hostilities between the two
u armies in the Shenandoah valley had
ceased; the larger portion of each
army had been transferred to the lines
tround Petersburg. Sheridan remained
with his large force Of cavalry at
Winchester. where he had defeated
Early on the 18th Of September. But
the partisan corps which commanded
old not suspend operations on aceount
OF the weather. but kept up an inces-
rant war on the outposts. At that
time I had an adventure that came
near being my last. although little
harm resulted from It after It was
over. When we thought that Fate had
done It's worst and that our f3nal hour
had come. there didn't seem to be any
fun In It to us; but In the retrospect
IL Is only an amusing comedy. With .
half dozen men, crossed the 6hen-
andoah-''the daughter OF the stars''-.
and had spent the night at Greenway
Court. which was the homo In Colo
nial days Of that Lord Fairfax who
was the friend and patron of q young
surveyor, George Washington. The
next day Capt. william Chapman
Joined US with thirty or forty more men.
The. smoke from sheridan's camp fires
could be seen a few miles in the dis
tance. The fact Is. we often bivou-
acked at night and built fires In the
midst OF Sheridan's troops; they
couldn't distinguish our hres from
their own. Chapman had Just got on
the trail OF a foraging party with
wagons that were hauling or farm
ers corn. There was Q cavalry guard
with 1t. We overlook the wagons tust
as they were entering q dense pine
forest. where q strong picket was post
ed. and were SO intent to capture them
that we took no notice OF the smoke
ascending from the camp fire not far
lehind the picket. was riding some
distance IN adyance Of my men. re-
RecHham were riding with me. A charge
was ordered; the picket and train guard
nred few shots and fed. They took
care of themselves and left the teams
with us. Most Of the men stopped and
None suspected that q brigade of cav
airy was camped q few hundred yards
on IN the pines. was riding that day
z fiery young sorfel horse that had not
bride bit broke. and / couldn't hold
him back. He passed by the wagons
like Hash OF lightning. and bore me
Into the pines on the heels Of tho nying
my men followed me. Now. this was all
against my wishes. but had no control
over my young horse. who seemed de-
terrnined to make q hero Of me. and
chase as Mazeppa was when he crossed
the desert on horseback to q throne.
Away! Away! Ny steed and I.
Upon the pinions Of the wind.
We speed like meteors through the sky.
Couldn't Control Horse.
OF course. If had known Of the prox-
Unity of the camp would not have at
tempted to capture the wagon train
The horse carried me through the for
est, and when he stopped I found myself
in the midst Of the camp Of Tibbett's
cavalry brigade. II was the afternoon
OF Thanksgiving Day. and all around
me were boiling camp kettles. coffee
pots and turkeys roasting over blazing
fires. The hungry soldiers were lying
around waiting for the feast. They were
surprised at the apparition of the
unbidden guest. and before they could
collect their senses and get their arms
j had managed to wheel my horse
around. and. driving my spurs into his
tanks. rode out OF the camp a. fast as
I had ridden In. Not a. shot was fired
at the strange visitor who had alarmed
the camp: they never invited me to stay
Were driving on theN teams when / got
back to the wagons, and again my horse
carried mo by them as fast as no had
run into the Yankee camp, The men fol-
lowed me with drove Of mules. My
away from the Yankees as he had been
when he carried me among them. But
the bugles had sounded and the camp
was aroused. Very soon bareback
pouring out OF the weeds, and then there
was a race to get over the Shenandoah
with our mules before the Yankees
could catch us. But we lost all our CAP
the mules couldn't run as fast as our
horses; three of my men were made
prisoners. My loss would have been
more, but Chapman ard Beattie rallied
the men several times and checked the
their camp; in turn they had chased
me out Of II. but when they got home
they found their turkeys ali roasted to
cinders. 1t would have been better for
them to have invited me to stay and eat
then let me go. On the whole, think
got the best Of them; or, rather, they
got the worst of II. The next spring
met General Tibbetts under a nag of
ttuCC ~ NNI"oOo ouo We tou8hCu oNCI
my narrow escape.
Dined With General Lee.
Early in December I went to Peters,
burg to see General Lee. Capt. VIII
liam Chapman was left In command
OF my battalion The lines Of the two
Armies at Petersburg were SO close to-
gether that the soldiers could talk to
each other. There was a continuous
roar OF musketry to prevent desertions
and surprises. I happened to get to
General Lees headqua tiers on my
acknowledgements 6. 1S64-and dincd
with him. 1 was thirty-one years old
that day. The dinner consisted of a
leg OF mutton, some cabbage. and po-
tatoes. General Lee slyiy intimated
that one of his stan had stolen that
sheep. In the published war records
IS a letter OF mine OF that date ac-
dressed TO General Lee recommending
two of my officers for promotion-Chap-
man and Richards, II was pot long
after the adventure on Thanksgiving
Day that we got even with Tibbetts-
that IL, II our accounts were not already
balanced. Although absent for two
weeks from my command. II seems
from the war correspondent that I
was not forsotten. On the day was
al General Lees headquarters Colonel
Gamble, commanding at Fairfax Court
House. reported to General Augur In