Gunnison news-champion., 1912-12-27
A Wartime New Years
o. tpdioaue

Nv New Years morning. 1ss;4,
when the thermometer was
below Zero. probably the
~ most undisciplined body Of
troops In the whole Onion army march
ed into camp at Martinsburg. W Va.
The men looked careless. fatigued.
sleepy and cold Some of them were
bareheaded. which showed that they
had travelled day aud night aud had
fallen asleep on their horses Many
had lost their hats and caps by their
heads coming In contact with the
limbs Of the trees IN the woods. some
had the front and back parts burned
out of their overcoats and trousers,
which had probably happened while
they were dozing before the fire A
few Of them wore some Confederate
clothing indicating apparently that
they had captured some Confederate
quartermaster's stores and had re-
placed their own damaged garments
with their enemy's clothing Others
had their feet tied up with pieces of
blankets and sheepskins.
Many of the men were dismounted; !;
others were mounted on wagon horses
and mules, with the harness still on
the animals. This showed that their
wagon train had been destroyed and
that some of the men. who had lost
their cavalry horses. had mounted
these animals
The infantry and the citizens Of
Martinsburg gathered around and star
ed at these troops in wonder This
was General Averill's command four
regiments Of cavalry aud battery that
had just returned from the Salem raid
The raiding party left New Creek now
keyser city. w vaD. Dec s. 1863:
marched 10 Salem. Va. thence back to
Martinsburg w Va, arriving there
Jan. 1. 1854. travelling twenty four
days. During this time the party trav-
eled several hundred miles. tore up the
Virginia and Tennessee railroad tracks
to prevent General Lee from re e-enforc-
ing General Longstreet. who was fight
ing General Burnside at Knoxville,
Tenn. At Salem the Confederate quar-
termaster and commissary stores were
destroyed
On our retreat a dozen or more Con
federate brigades were after us and
tried to head us of at every crossroad.
At Covinston. Va. after the bridge
over Jackson river was burned. our
regiment. the Fourteenth Pennsylva-
mia cavalry, which was the rear guard,
and a few diSmounted men of other
regiments that were with the wagon
train were surrounded on the south
side Of the river One Of the Confed-
crate generals sent in a flag of truce.
demanding a surrender. but we fought
our way through After we burned
our wagon train we 81, am the jackson
river
On our retreat We travelled through
severe snowstorm and slid down lev
mountains Our artillery was saved
by pulling il over the mountains with
ropes
Our brigade host on this raid killed,
Drowned. frozen and captured. LAG
men and Eve officers
few men were SO badly frozen that
they died shortly afterward
Thus on that New Years morning
we were cold. hungry. tired. sleepy,
dirty and shabby Cacle sam soon
hea I'd Of our condition and came to us
with outstretched arms. for on Jan 10
he presented every one u Us with a
brand new outfit. which included over
coat. dre~~ coat. blouse. hat. cap. shirt.
dra wers. stockings. boots and blankets.
We soon commenced to get conceited.
for we believed that we were the only
brigade in the whole Union army that
had ever received such magnificent
gift from the United States govern
ment-James r. Hays in Baltimore
American