Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1913-06-13
For the Shenandoah HERALD.
Fifty Years
Ago To-Day.

Ago To-Day,
June 9th 1913.
Fifty years ago to-day w
bivouacked in a grove close t
Brandy Station. The day be
fore we had taken part in tn
greatest cavalry review of til
army of Northern Virginia. TIL
brigade of Gen. VIM. E. Jone
which had wintered in the Shen
andoah Valley, after making
raid through West Virginia o
nearly one thousand miles. wa
in fine condition and was attach
ed to Gen. Jeb. STARTS cavalry
corps. It was beautiful day
the sun shone brightly, as Gen
eral Lee accompanied by some Of
the higher officers of the cav.
airy reviewed the marching col
umns. One regiment had been
selected from each brigade to
make charge in the presence of
General Lee while the other reg
iments followed in a fast gallop.
A battery of artillery was firing
blank cartridges from a nearby
hill. AN infantry brigade or
two sat on the railroad and wit
messed the evolutions of the cay
airy. That was playing war, to
be followed this morning by The
most sanguinary battle between
the cavalry of the two armies.
1 was sick that morning. /
had tried to eat breakfast with
success; the horses
were unsaddled and were enjoy
ing the tender grass in a nearby
field, when my attention was at
tracted by the firing OF revolvers.
My first impression was that
some of the soldiers were merely
preparing to clean their arms,
but the sounds soon convinced
me that it was the firing of OPP
posing squadrons. With out or
ders, l ordered the horses to be
brought in at once and saddled.
Before this was done, the bugle
sounded Mount your horses"
and those that were ready pro-
ceeded in a gallop to the plain a
short distance from Beverly Ford.
Chew's battery was on the rising
ground aud a battery of the
enemy was in the woods just be-
yond the plain. The twelfth reg
iment went forward but was soon
to fire of grape and
canister while a regiment of the
enemy charged. Whites bat
talon followed, but with the
twelfth regiment fell back a short
when the battalion was
rallied and it charged a small
force of the enemy who had fol-
lowed us. When we reached the
woods, l halted my company
which had become broken IN the
charge in order to get them to-
gether and entered the woods,
following the column in front. l
had not proceeded far, when a
soldier rode up to me and said:
Captain, do you know there is
no officer in front of your l at
once hurried to the front and
found a part of a company with
put an officer. I enquired of
them as to how they became
from the battalion, but
their explanation was not salts
factory. One of my company
II saw command in
front of us, which l suppse is the
battalion" l sent two men to
70 see. They returned very
quickly with a prise ner and in
iormed me that concealed by the
1nderbrush, was a brigade Of
Federal cavalry supported by in
fantry not thirty yards from us.
[ proceeded to give my commands
IN a very low tone and filed to
the rear, getting under the fire
Of our own battery. I was great
Iy relieved to find that the bat
TALON had fallen back for l
feared that we were de serting
them.
While we were in the woods, a
body of Federal cavalry had
pushed forward on our left and
charged the forces in the plain;
they were repulSed and entered
the woods ON our right. We had