Then swiftly Gordon and Kershaw moved together against the uncovered left and rear of Emory, while at the same time Early, who after seeing Kershaw launched, had ridden back for Wharton and the artillery, was bringing them into position for a front attack. Besides the sounds that had aroused Emory and Crook, Wright, from his more remote position, had listened to the rattle of Rosser's carbines,(5) but after a moment of natural doubt had perceived that the true attack was on the left, and accordingly he had ordered Ricketts to advance with Getty and Keifer to the valley road toward the sound of the battle. If this was to be of the least advantage, the valley road must be somehow held by somebody until Ricketts should come. Emory sent Thomas across the road into the ravine and the wood beyond, and bade him stand fast at all hazards. But the time was too short. Thomas, after a desperate resistance, was forced back by the overwhelming masses of Kershaw, yet not until this tried brigade had left a third of its number on the ground to attest its valor. About the colors of the 8th Vermont the fight was furious. Again and again the colors were down; three bearers were slain; before the sun rose two men out of three had fallen, that the precious emblems might be saved.(6) Thus were many priceless minutes won. Then, as there was no longer anything to hinder the advance of Kershaw on the left, and of Gordon on the rear, while Wharton and the forty guns of Early's artillery were beginning their work in front, from the left toward the right, successively the brigades of the Nineteenth Corps began to give way; yet as they drifted toward the right and rear, in that stress the men held well to their colors, and although there may and must have been many that fell out, not a brigade or a regiment lost its organization for a moment.
When the pressure reached Molineux and Davis on the reverse side of the entrenchments, both brigades began moving off, under Emory's orders, by the right flank to take position near Belle Grove on the right of Ricketts's division of the Sixth Corps, which had come up and was trying to extend its line diagonally to reach the valley road. To cover this position and to hold off the onward rush of Gordon, Emory had already posted the 114th and the 153d New York on the commanding knoll five hundred yards to the southward overlooking the road. When driven off these regiments rejoined their brigade before Belle Grove. Thither also came the detached regiments of Molineux, and there Neafie joined them with the 3d brigade, after a strong stand at their breastworks, wherein Macauley fell severely wounded, and the 156th and 176th had hard fighting hand-to-hand to keep their colors, at the cost of the staves. Birge retired along the line of works to the open ground beyond Meadow Brook, where Shunk joined him.
In quitting their posts at the breastworks Haley, having lost forty-nine horses killed in harness, had to abandon three guns of his 1st Maine battery, and Taft lost three pieces of his 5th New York battery at the difficult crossing of Meadow Brook. There, too, from the same cause, three guns of the 17th Indiana and two of the Rhode Island battery were abandoned. The losses of the infantry were to be counted in thousands. Grover was slightly wounded; Macauley, as has been said, severely. Emory had lost both his horses, and was for a time commanding the corps afoot. Birge rode a mule. Thus the Nineteenth Corps lost eleven guns. Crook had already lost seven, and the Sixth Corps was presently to lose six.
With Gordon on his flank and rear, every moment drawing nearer to the mastery of the valley road, Wright had to think, and to think quickly, of the safety and the success of the army he commanded. For it there was no longer a position south of Middletown. What security was there that Custer and Powell would be able all day long to hold off, as in the event they did, the flank and rear attacks of Rosser and of Lomax? What if the Longstreet message were true and yet a third surprise in store? Time, time was needed, whether to bring up the troops or to change front, to march to the rear past the faces of the advancing enemy, to hold him in check, and to re-form. Whatever was to be done was to be done quickly; and Wright, throwing prudence into the balance, made up his mind for a retreat to a fresh position, where his line of communications would be preserved and its flanks protected. Middletown and the cavalry camp pointed out the ground. Accordingly he gave the word to Getty, Ricketts being wounded, to retire on Middletown, guiding on the valley road, and to Emory to form on Getty's right—that is, on the left of the Sixth Corps in retreat. The battle had been raging for nearly an hour when Wright gave this order to abandon Belle Grove. The retreat threw upon Getty's division, now under Grant, the severe task of covering the exposed right flank of the army in retreat, while the left was gradually swinging into the direction of the new line. Getty, having handsomely performed this service, crossed Meadow Brook abreast with Middletown and took position on the high and partly wooded ground that rises beyond the brook to the west of the village and on a line with Merritt's camp. Here, on the southern edge of the village cemetery and on the crest behind it, Getty planted his artillery, posted Grant to hold the immediate front, and somewhat in his rear, under the trees, following the contour of the hill, as it rises toward the west, he placed Wheaton and Keifer.
To reach his position on the left of Getty in retreat, Emory had to gain ground to the westward, to descend the hill from Belle Grove, to cross Meadow Brook, and climbing the opposite slope to face about and re-form his line in good order on the crest of Red Hill. Here, before Dr. Shipley's house, nearly across the ground where the men of Wheaton and of Getty had slept the night before, for the best part of an hour Emory stood at bay. Kershaw followed over the Belle Grove Hill, across Meadow Brook, up the slope of Red Hill, and formed line facing north; but then, seeing the fighting part of Emory's infantry before him and the formidable array of Merritt's cavalry in close support, he refrained from renewing the attack until Early could send Gordon to his aid. Thus the bold stand at Red Hill gave the time the situation craved, and while Kershaw waited, Emory, following his orders from Wright, crossed over to the cemetery (7) and placed himself on the west of Getty. Thomas rejoined McMillan. Torbert meanwhile had moved over with Merritt to the left flank. Thus around the cemetery, about half-past seven, the unshaken strength of the Army of the Shenandoah was gathered, every eye looking once more toward the south.
While awaiting the general attack for which Early was plainly preparing, Wright deployed his lines, according to the ground, from the south wall of the cemetery overlooking Meadow Brook on the left, in a rough echelon of divisions to Marsh Brook on the right, in order of Grant, Keifer, Wheaton, Grover, McMillan. Between the arms of Marsh Brook, in front and behind the Old Forge road, on open ground nearly as high as Getty's, Emory formed his corps in echelon of brigades. Here, not doubting that the decisive combat of the day was to be fought, Emory began fortifying his front with the help of loose rails and stones.
To protect himself against the menacing movement of the cavalry on his right in front of Middletown, Early posted Ramseur with two batteries directly across the valley road, and when he saw Getty's stand near the cemetery, he brought Wharton directly down the road and sent him to the attack, but this Getty easily threw off and drove back Wharton in such confusion that before renewing the attempt Early waited to complete a new line of battle almost perpendicular to his first and therefore to the road. From the right at Middletown to the left at Red Hill the new line was formed by Pegram, Ramseur, Kershaw, and Gordon, with Wharton behind Pegram. On the right of this line also Early massed the forty guns of his artillery augmented by some of the twenty-four pieces taken from the Union army.
And now the increasing heat of the sun dissolved the fog, and revealed to the combatants the true situation of affairs. To Early the position of the Union army, its salient, as it were, lying directly before him where he stood, seemed so strong that he hesitated to hazard another attack until the concentrated fire of his artillery should have produced an impression, while to Wright, not only was the menace of Early's artillery very obvious, but the weakness of his own left flank, broken by Meadow Brook and adhering lightly to the valley road, was still present.
The force of Early's first onset was spent; his one chance of seizing and holding the valley road in the rear of the Union army had slipped away, while his cavalry had utterly failed to accomplish any part of the task confided to it. Time and strength had both been lost to the Confederates by the uncontrollable plunder of the camps and the sutlers' stores.
The Old Forge road is but a country lane that crosses the field from the north end of Middletown. It afforded no position, its chief value being as uniting the wings of the army, and Wright's object in taking up this line was simply to gain time to develop a better fighting line still farther to the rear. Now, seeing that Getty had accomplished his purpose in holding on at the cemetery, Wright ordered him to move slowly, in line of battle, toward the north, guiding on the valley road, with Merritt's cavalry beyond it following and covering the operation, while Emory, taking up the movement in his turn, was to look to Wheaton for his guide. Wright's order found Emory's men in the act of completing their hasty defences, while Emory was moving about among them strongly declaring his purpose not to go back another inch.
Getty began by withdrawing Grant, and when Grant had passed for some distance beyond the left of Keifer, his right in retreat, Keifer followed, while on his left, in retreat, Wheaton, and on Wheaton's left Emory marched, as nearly as may be, shoulder to shoulder in a solid line. Thus Keifer formed the centre of the retreating line of battle, with Ball on his right and Emerson on his left. Having to pass over rough ground and among trees, the line was broken to the reversed front by the right of regiments, the head of each guiding on its right-hand neighbor. Thus it happened (8) that in passing through a thick wood, Keifer's division was split in two, his brigades losing sight of one another, so that on coming once more into the open field, Ball found himself alone with no other troops in sight on either hand; but soon hearing the sound of Getty's guns over the right shoulder, he faced about and marched back to a stone wall upon a lane, where he found Getty already in position. Emerson, however, moving more quickly through the wood, because the ground was easier, continued his march toward the north, continually bearing to the right as he went, in order to regain the lost touch with Ball, while on the left Wheaton and Emory, knowing nothing of the break, naturally and gradually conformed to the movement of Emerson. Finally, when the left of the line once more entered the woods, Emerson, gradually changing the direction toward the right, drifted Wheaton away from Emory, and when this was perceived by the commanders, each began to look for his neighbor. It is also probable that when the separation took place the interval was gradually widened by Emory's movement with his right resting on a road that, while apparently following the true line of direction, really carried him every moment a little farther toward the left. However that may be, when almost at the same instant Wheaton and Emory halted and faced about, they found themselves about eight hundred yards apart, a thousand yards behind the line that Getty had just taken up, on the westward prolongation of which Keifer had joined him with the brigade of Ball.
The affair had now lasted five hours; the retreat was at an end; a tactical accident had carried it half a mile farther than was intended; as it was, from the extreme front of Emory at daybreak to his extreme rear at eleven o'clock, the measured distance was but four miles. Every step of the way had been traversed under orders—under orders that had carried the Nineteenth Corps three times across the field of battle, so that its march, from Belle Grove to the Old Forge road, might be represented by the letter N.
When Early saw the Union line retreating, he moved forward to the cross-road beyond the cemetery, and posted his troops behind the stone walls. Wharton extended the line on the east side of the turnpike, with three batteries massed between him and the road. Pegram covered the turnpike, his left resting on Meadow Brook, and beyond it Ramseur, Kershaw, and Gordon carried the line to the east bank of Middle Marsh Brook. Early had now two courses open to him: one was to extricate his army from its position, with its enemy directly in front and Cedar Creek in rear, before the Union commander could take the initiative; the other was to attack vigorously with all his force before the Union infantry should be able to complete the new line of battle now plainly in the act of formation. In either case, although he could easily see than on both flanks the line of his infantry far overlapped that of his antagonist, Early must have perceived that he had to reckon with the whole mass of the Union cavalry, unshaken and as yet untouched. Moreover, his men had already done a long and hard day's work after a short night.
Depleted as were the ranks of the Union infantry by the heavy battle losses of the early morning, and the still heavier losses by the misconduct of the stragglers of all the corps except the cavalry, it was not to be doubted that the men who stood by the colors on the Old Forge road meant to abide to the end. As all old soldiers know, the fighting line, granting that enough remain to make a fighting line, is never so strong as the moment after the first shock of battle has shaken out the men that always straggle on the march and skulk on the field. When, therefore, the first compact line faced about, it was with determination and with hope; yet scarcely had the fires of resolution been relit and begun to kindle to a glow than they were suddenly extinguished and all was plunged in gloom by the unlooked-for order to retreat. Upon the whole army a lethargy fell, and though every man expected and stood ready to do his duty, it was with a certain listlessness amounting almost to indifference that he waited for what was to come next. In the sensations of most, hunger was perhaps uppermost, and while some munched the bread and meat from their haversacks and other waited to make coffee, many threw themselves upon the ground where they stood and fell asleep.
Far down the road from among the crowd of fugitives, where no man on that field cared to look, came a murmur like the breaking of the surf on a far-off shore. Nearer it drew, grew louder, and swelled to a tumult. Cheers! The cheers of the stragglers. As the men instinctively turned toward the sound, they were seized with amazement to see the tide of stragglers setting strongly toward the south. Then out from among them, into the field by the roadside, cantered a little man on a black horse, and from the ranks of his own cavalry arose a cry of "Sheridan!" Through all the ranks the message flashed, and, as if it had been charged by the electric spark, set every man on his feet and made his heart once more beat high within him.
This was Wednesday, and Sheridan, before finally setting out for Washington, had told Wright to look for him on Tuesday. Rapidly despatching, as has been seen, his business at the War Office, Sheridan left Washington by the special train he had asked for at noon on the 17th, accompanied by the engineers charged with the duty of selecting the position that Halleck wished to fortify. They slept that night at Martinsburg, and rode the next day, the 18th of October, to Winchester. There Sheridan learned that all was well with his army and was also told of the reconnoissances projected for the next morning. He determined to remain at Winchester in order to go over the ground the next morning with the engineers. Aroused about six o'clock by the report of heavy firing, he ascribed it to the reconnoitring column, and thought but little of it until, between half-past eight and nine, having finished his breakfast, he became uneasy at the continued sound of the cannon. Then mounting "Rienzi," accompanied by his staff and followed by his escort, he rode out to join his army where he had left it, fourteen miles away, on the banks of Cedar Creek. The fight of the morning had come to an end an hour ago. Riding at an easy trot half a mile out on the hill beyond Abraham's Creek,(9) he was shocked to see the tattered and dishevelled head of the column of stragglers, every man making the best of his way toward the Potomac, without his arms, his equipments, or his knapsack, carrying, in short, nothing but what he wore. Most of these must have been shaken out of the ranks when Kershaw surprised the camp of Thoburn. If this be so, they had travelled more than thirteen miles in little more than three hours.
This appalling sight brought to Sheridan's mind the Longstreet message, "Be ready when I join you, and we will crush Sheridan." Should he stop his routed army at Winchester and fight there? No, he must go to his men, restore their broken ranks, or share their fate. How he rode on has been made famous in song and story, yet never so well told as in the modest narrative, stamped in every line with the impress of the soldier's truthful frankness, than in the entertaining volumes that were the last work of the great leader's life.(10)
Once arrived on the field, about half-past ten or perhaps eleven o'clock, Sheridan lost no time in assuming personal command of the army. Establishing his headquarters on the hill behind Getty, he proceeded to complete the dispositions he found already in progress. He saw at a glance that the line on which Wright had placed Getty was well chosen; and though knowing nothing of the break that had taken place during the accidental loss of direction by the left wing of Getty's corps, and so wrongly inferring from what he saw that Getty was a mere rear-guard, he yet adopted the position for his fighting line, sent his staff officers with orders for the rest of the troops to form on that line, and thus actually completed the arrangements begun by Wright. It sufficed that Emerson, Wheaton, and Emory should face about, as they were already about to do, and should form on the prolongation of Getty's line. This they did promptly and in perfect order. Wright resumed the command of the Sixth Corps and Getty of his own division. Then feeling his left quite strong enough under Merritt's care, Sheridan sent Custer, for whom he had other designs, back to the right flank.
It was past noon before all this was accomplished. Then Sheridan, content with the position and appearance of his own army, and perceiving that Early was getting ready to attack him, acted on the suggestion of Major George Forsyth, his aide-de-camp, and rode the length of the line of battle in order to show himself to his men. A tumult of cheers greeted him and followed him as, hat in hand, he passed in front of regiment after regiment, speaking a few words of encouragement to each. Sheridan possessed in a degree unequalled the power of raising in the hearts of his soldiers the sort of enthusiasm that, transmuting itself into action, causes men to attempt impossibilities, and to disregard and overcome obstacles. Almost from the moment of entering the valley he had gained the confidence of the infantry, to whom he had been a stranger. By the cavalry he had long been idolized. The feeling of an army for its general is a thing not to be reasoned with or explained away; once aroused, it belongs to him as exclusively as the expression of his face, the manner of his gait, or the form of his signature, and is not to be transferred to his successor or delegated even to the ablest of his lieutenants, whatever the skill, the merit, or the reputation of either. The mere presence of Sheridan in the ranks of the Army of the Shenandoah that day brought with it the assurance of victory.
Emory at first formed his corps in two lines, the First division under Dwight, whom Sheridan had released from arrest, on the right, and Grover on the left; but soon the whole corps was deployed in one line in the order from right to left by brigades of McMillan, Davis, Birge, Molineux, Neafie, Shunk.
When the line of the Old Forge road was abandoned by Wright, Early moved forward and occupied it. Between one and two o'clock he advanced Gordon and Kershaw to attack Wheaton and Emory. Seeing that the weight of the attack was about to fall on the right, Sheridan sent Wheaton to the support of Emory. However, Gordon's onset proved so light that no assistance was needed, for, after three or four volleys had been exchanged, the attack was easily and completely thrown off. Kershaw's movement was even more feeble.
Several causes now delayed the counter attack of Sheridan. Crook was endeavoring to re-form the stragglers on his colors behind Merritt. Apprehension of the coming of Longstreet was only dissipated by the information gained from prisoners during the afternoon, and finally arose a false rumor of the appearance of a column of Confederate cavalry in the rear toward Winchester; and this seemed plausible enough until at last word came from Powell that he was still holding off Lomax. Then Sheridan gave the signal for the whole line to go forward against the enemy, beginning with Getty on the left, as a pivot, while the whole right was to sweep onward, and, driving the enemy before it, to swing toward the valley road near the camps of the morning.
About four Getty started, and the movement being taken up in succession toward the right, in a few minutes the whole line was advancing steadily. From that moment to the end the men hardly stopped an instant for anything. The resistance of the Confederates, though at first steady, and here and there even spirited, was of short duration. For a few moments, indeed, the attack seemed to hang on the extreme right as McMillan, rushing on even more rapidly than the order of the combat demanded, found himself suddenly enveloped by the right wheel of the brigade of Evans, forming the extreme left of the division of Gordon and of the Confederate army. But while McMillan was thus attacked and his leading troops were called to meet the danger, this, as suddenly as it had come, was swept away by the swift onset of Davis directly upon the front and flank of Evans. To do this Davis had not only to act instantly, but also to change front under a double fire; yet he and his brigade were equal to the emergency, and McMillan joining in, together they not only threw off the attack of Evans, but bursting through the re-entrant angle of Gordon's line, quickly swept Evans off the field. Knowing this to be the critical point of his line, because the wheeling flank, Sheridan was there. "Stay where you are," was his order, "till you see my boy Custer over there."
Then upon the high ground appeared Custer at the head of his bold troopers, making ready to swoop down upon the broken wing of Gordon. Almost at the same instant, the whole right of the line rushed to the charge, and while Custer rode down Gordon's left flank, Dwight, with McMillan and Davis, began rolling up the whole Confederate line. Meanwhile, on the left centre the Union attack likewise hung for a moment, where Molineux, on the southerly slope of a wooded hollow, saw himself confronted by Kershaw on the opposite crest, only to be reached by climbing the steep bare side of the "dirt hill." But the keen eye of Molineux easily saw through the difficulties of the ground, and when he was ready his men and Birge's, rising up and together charging boldly out of the hollow, up the hill, across the open ground, and over the stone wall, in the face of a fierce fire, settled the overthrow of Kershaw and sent a panic running down the line of Ramseur. Wright attacking with equal vigor, soon the disorder spread through every part of Early's force, and in rout and ruin the exultant victors of the morning were flying up the valley.
"Back to your camps!" had been the watchword ever since Sheridan showed himself on the field. Dwight's men were the first to stand once more upon their own ground, but by that time Sheridan's army had executed, though without much regard to order, a complete left wheel. While the infantry took up its original positions, the cavalry pursued the flying enemy with such vigor that an accidental displacement of a single plank on a little bridge near Strasburg caused the whole of Early's artillery that had not yet passed on, to fall into the hands of Sheridan. Thus were taken 48 cannon, 52 caissons, all the ambulances that had been lost in the morning, many wagons, and seven battle flags; of the artillery 24 pieces were the same that had been lost in the early morning. From every part of the abandoned field great stacks of rifles were gathered. The prisoners taken were about 1,200, according to the reports of Sheridan's officers, or something over 1,000 by Early's account. Early also gives his loss in killed and wounded, without distinguishing between the two, as 1,860, and reports the capture of 1,429 prisoners from the Union army in the early hours of the day. Of these he had made sure by sending them promptly to the rear. Ramseur was mortally wounded in the last stand made by his division, and died a few days later in the hands and under the care of his former comrades of Sheridan's army.
Sheridan's loss was 644 killed, 3,430 wounded, and 1,591 captured or missing; in all, 5,665. Of these the Sixth Corps had 298 killed, 1,628 wounded—together, 1,926; the Nineteenth Corps 257 killed, 1,336 wounded—together, 1,593. Crook lost 60 killed, 342 wounded —together, 402; the cavalry 29 killed, 224 wounded—together, 253. The missing were thus divided: Wright 194, Emory 776, Crook 548, Torbert 43. The greatest proportionate loss of the day was suffered by the 114th New York, which had 21 killed, 86 wounded, including 17 mortally, and 8 missing—in all, 115 out of 250 engaged. Its fatal casualties reached 15.2, and the killed and wounded 42.8 per cent. of the number engaged. These figures are from the corrected reports of the War Department. The missing exceed the captured, as set down in Early's report, by only 132. Among the killed and mortally wounded were Bidwell, Thoburn, Kitching, and that superb soldier and accomplished gentleman, General Charles Russell Lowell, who, although severely wounded in the morning, at the head of his brigade held fast to the stone wall until, in the last decisive charge, his death-blow came. Grover received a second severe wound early in the final charge that broke the Confederate left. Birge then took his division.
Without a halt and with scarcely a show of organized resistance, Early retreated to Fisher's Hill. Merritt and Custer, uniting on the south bank of Cedar Creek, kept up the pursuit until the night was well advanced, but soon their captures became so heavy in men and material, that help was needed to take care of them, so, barely an hour after going into camp the jaded infantry of Dwight once more turned out and marched with alacrity to Strasburg.
Toward morning Early withdrew his infantry from the lines of Fisher's Hill, and marched on New Market, leaving Rosser to cover the movement. In the morning, upon Torbert's approach, Rosser retired, closely pursued to Edenburg, sending Lomax to the Luray to guard the right flank of the retreating Confederates.
The strength of the contending forces in this remarkable battle may always give ground for dispute. No official figures exist to determine the question directly; therefore on either side the numbers are a matter of opinion. The author's, formed after a careful consideration of all the authorities, is that when the battle began, Wright commanded an effective force of not more than 31,000 officers and men of all arms, made up of 9,000 in the Sixth Corps, 9,500 in the Nineteenth Corps, 6,000 in Crook's command, and 6,500 cavalry. The infantry probably numbered 23,000: Ricketts 8,500, Emory 9,000, Crook 5,500. Of these, therefore, the hard fighting fell on 17,500. The losses in the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps, nearly all incurred in the early morning, being about 4,500, the two corps should have mustered 13,500 for the counter-attack of the afternoon, yet the ground they then stood upon, from the road to the brook, measures barely 7,400 feet. With all allowances, therefore, Sheridan cannot have taken more than 8,000 of his infantry into this attack. This leaves out Crook's men bodily, and calls for 5,500 unrepentant stragglers from the ranks of Emory and Wright —one man in three. After all is said, unhappily there is nothing so extraordinary in this, but strange indeed would it have been if many of these skulkers had come back into the fight, as Sheridan considerately declares they did.
As to Early's force, the difficulty of coming to a positive conclusion is even greater. General Early himself says he went into the battle with but 8,800 muskets. General Dawes, perhaps the most accomplished statistician of the war, makes the total present for duty 22,000; of these 15,000 would be infantry. The figures presented by the unprejudiced statistician of the "Century War Book" (11) call for 15,000 of all arms. Of these 10,000 would be infantry.
Early may be said to have accomplished the ultimate object of his attack at Cedar Creek, yet at a fearful cost, for although all thought of transferring any part of Sheridan's force to the James was for the moment given up, on the other hand Early had completed the destruction (12) of his prestige, had suffered an irreparable diminution of numbers, and had seen his army almost shaken to pieces.
Grant once more returned to his favorite project of a movement in force on Charlottesville and Gordonsville, but Sheridan continuing to oppose the scheme tenaciously, it came to nothing. His own plan, eventually carried out, was to hold the lower valley in sufficient strength, and to move against the line of the Virginia Central railway with all his cavalry. The rails of the Manassas Gap line, so often relaid, were once more and for the last time taken up from the Blue Ridge back to Augur's outposts at Bull Run, and so this will-o'-the-wisp, that had danced before the eyes of the government ever since 1861, was at last extinguished, while from Winchester to the Potomac the railway, abandoned by Johnston when he marched to Bull Run, was re-constructed to simplify the question of supplies.
(1) Strictly southeast, for the course of the turnpike toward Winchester is about northeast.
(2) The present bridge is a short distance above where the old one was.
(3) Dwight having been in arrest during the past fortnight by Emory's orders under charges growing out of criticisms and statements made in his report of the battle of the Opequon, McMillan commanded the First division, leaving his brigade to Thomas. Beal had gone home on leave of absence when the campaign seemed ended, and Davis commanded his brigade.
(4) Being actually three days past the full, the moon rose October 18-19, 1864 at 8.5 P.M., southed at 2.25 A.M., and set at 8.45 A.M. Daylight on the 19th was at 5.40 A.M.; the sun rose at 6.14, set at 5.16; twilight ended 5.50 P.M.
(5) This was probably the first sound heard that morning.
(6) According to the regimental history (p. 218) over 100 were lost out of 159 engaged; of 16 officers 13 were killed or wounded. The monument erected September 21, 1885, says 110 were killed and wounded out of 164 engaged. The revised official figures are 17 killed, 66 wounded—together 83 (including 12 officers); besides these there were 23 missing; in all, 106.
(7) The official map, accurate as it is in general, errs in some important particulars; for one, in representing Emory as retreating in a direct line toward the north from Red Hill to the Old Forge line. This would actually have carried his force through the ranks of the cavalry.
(8) "The Battle of Cedar Creek," by Col. Moses M. Granger, 122d Ohio, printed in the valuable collection of "Sketches of War History," published by the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, vol. iii., pp. 122-125. The author is likewise indebted to General Keifer for the opportunity to use in this manuscript his paper on Cedar Creek, prepared for the same series.
(9) Called Mill Creek in Sheridan's report and "Memoirs." There is a mill on the north bank.
(10) "Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan," vol. ii., pp. 75-83. The distance from Winchester to Getty's position is ten and three quarter miles.
(11) Vol. iv., pp. 524, 532. And see appendix for the valuable memorandum kindly prepared expressly for this work by General E. C. Dawes.
(12) Justly or unjustly; unjustly I think, being unable to see how any one could have done better.
CHAPTER XXXV. VICTORY AND HOME.
On the 7th of November, on the battle-field of Cedar Creek, Emory passed his corps in review before Sheridan. Sheridan spoke freely and in the highest terms of the soldierly bearing and good conduct of the officers and men. On the same day the President broke up the organization of the remnant of the various detachments, still known as the Nineteenth Corps, left under the command of Canby in Louisiana and Mississippi, and appointed Emory to the permanent command of the Nineteenth Army Corps in the field in Virginia.
The corps staff, mainly composed of the same officers who with lower rank had been serving at the headquarters of the Detachment, so called, since quitting Louisiana, included Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan S. Walker, Assistant Adjutant-General; Lieutenant-Colonel John M. Sizer, Acting-Assistant Inspector-General; Captain O. O. Potter, Chief Quartermaster; Captain H. R. Sibley, Chief Commissary of Subsistence; Captain Robert F. Wilkinson, Judge Advocate; Surgeon W. R. Brownell, Medical Director; Captain Henry C. Inwood, Provost-Marshal; Major Peter French, Captain James C. Cooley, and Captain James W. De Forest, aides-de-camp.
On the 17th of November Emory adopted a corps badge and a new system of headquarters flags. The badge was to be a fan-leaved cross with an octagonal centre; for officers, of gold suspended from the left breast by a ribbon, the color red, white, and blue for the corps headquarters, red for the First division, blue for the Second. Enlisted men were to wear on the hat or cap a similar badge of cloth, two inches square, in colors like the ribbon. The flags were to have a similar cross, of white on a blue swallowtail for corps headquarters; for divisions, a white cross on a triangular flag, the ground red for the First division, blue for the Second; the brigade flags rectangular in various combinations of red, blue, and white cross and ground, the ground divided horizontally for the brigades of the First division, and perpendicularly for those of the Second division.
On the 9th of November Sheridan drew back to Kernstown, meaning to go into winter quarters. Early eagerly followed as far as Middletown, intent on discovering what this might mean; but when, on the 12th, Torbert once more fell upon the unfortunate cavalry of Rosser, on both flanks of the Confederate position, and completely routed it, while Dudley, advancing with his brigade (1) in support of the cavalry, showed that Sheridan was ready to give battle, the Confederate commander became satisfied that Sheridan had sent no troops to Petersburg. Sheridan made all his arrangements to attack Early on the morning of the 13th, but Early did not wait for this, and when the sun rose he was again far on the way to New Market. It was during Dudley's movement that the Nineteenth Corps suffered its last loss in battle, the 29th Maine having one man wounded, by name Barton H. Ross.
When the approach of winter made active operations in the valley impossible, Lee, who had already detached Kershaw, called back to the defence of Richmond and Petersburg the whole of Early's corps, and at the same time, almost to the very day, Grant called on Sheridan for the Sixth Corps. Thus in the second week of December Wright rejoined the Army of the Potomac. Soon afterward Crook's command was divided and detached to Petersburg and West Virginia, leaving only Torbert and Emory with Sheridan in the valley. Early, his force reduced to Wharton and Rosser, went into winter quarters at Staunton, with his outposts at New Market and a signal party on watch at the station on Massanutten.
These reductions of force, together with the increasing severity of the winter, made it desirable to occupy a line nearer the base of supplies at Harper's Ferry, and, accordingly, on the 30th of December, after living for six weeks in improvised huts or "shebangs," as they were called, roughly put together of rails, stones, and any other material to be found, the Nineteenth Corps broke up its cantonment before Kernstown, called Camp Russell, and marching over the frozen ground, took up a position to cover the railway and the roads near Stephenson's. Here, at Camp Sheridan, it was intended to build regular huts, but on the last day of the year, when the men were as yet without shelter of any kind, a heavy snow storm set in, during which they suffered severely. As soon as this was over, the men fell to work in earnest, and with lumber from the quartermaster's department and timber from the forest, soon had the whole command comfortably housed.
Meanwhile Currie's brigade, which had been so long detached, engaged in the arduous and thankless duty of guarding the wagon-trains, rejoined Dwight's division. Brigadier-General James D. Fessenden having succeeded Currie in command the 5th of January, 1865, the brigade was again detached to Winchester; McMillan was at Summit Point; and Beal, as well as the headquarters of Dwight and Emory, at Stephenson's.
On the 6th of January Grover's division bade farewell to the Nineteenth Corps, and, embarking upon the cars of the Baltimore and Ohio railway, set out by way of Baltimore for some unknown destination. This presently proved to be Savannah, whither Grover was ordered to hold the ground seized by the armies under Sherman, while Sherman went on his way through the Carolinas. On the 27th of February, Sheridan broke up what remained of his Army of the Shenandoah, and placing himself at the head of his superb column of 10,000 troopers, marched to achieve Grant's longing for Lynchburg, Charlottesville, and Gordonsville, and to rejoin the Army of the Potomac.
Hancock now took command of the Middle Military Division. Of the Army of the Shenandoah there remained only the fragment of the Nineteenth Corps. On the 14th of March the men of Emory's old division passed for the last time before their favorite commander. A week later was published to the command the order of the President, dated March 20, 1865, by which the Nineteenth Army Corps was dissolved. Then bidding them a tender and touching farewell, on the 30th of March Emory quitted the cantonment at Stephenson's, and went to Cumberland to take command of the Military Department of that name.
In the early days of April the tedium of winter quarters was relieved by the good news of Grant's successes before Petersburg. It was evident that Lee's army was breaking up, and to guard against the possible escape of any fragment of it by the valley highway, on the 4th of April Hancock sent Dwight's division back to Camp Russell, but on the 7th the troops were drawn in to Winchester and encamped on the bank of Abraham's Creek. Here, at midnight on the 9th of April, the whole command turned out to hear the official announcement of Lee's surrender. The next morning, in a drenching rain, Dwight marched eighteen miles to Summit Point. On the 20th of April the division moved by railway to Washington, where it arrived on the morning of the 21st, and with colors shrouded in black for the memory of Lincoln, marched past the President's house and encamped at Tennallytown on the same ground the detachments of the corps had occupied on the night of the 13th of July the year before. Here the duty devolved upon the division of guarding all the ways out of Washington toward the northwest, from Rock Creek to the Potomac, in order to prevent the escape of such of the assassins of the President as might still be lurking within the city. This was but a part of the heavy and continuous line of sentries that stretched for thirty-five miles around the capital. A week later Dwight moved to the neighborhood of Bladensburg and encamped on the line the division had been ordered to defend on the afternoon of its arrival from New Orleans. In the first week of May heavy details were furnished to guard the prison on the grounds of the arsenal where the assassins were confined.
The armies of Meade and Sherman were now concentrating on the hills about Washington, preparatory to passing in review before President Johnson; and Dwight being ordered to report to Willcox, then commanding the Ninth Army Corps, and to follow that corps on the occasion of the review. Willcox inspected the division on the 12th of May on the parade ground of Fort Bunker Hill.
Sheridan, although he had brought up his cavalry for the great review, had been ordered to take command in the Southwest, and as Grant deemed the matter urgent, because of French and Mexican complications, Sheridan was destined to have no part in the approaching ceremonies, yet he could not resist the chance of once more looking at what was left of the infantry that had followed him in triumph through the Shenandoah. When the men saw him riding at the side of Willcox, mounted once more upon "Rienzi" and wearing the same animated smile that had cheered and encouraged them in the evil hour at Winchester, before the cliffs of Fisher's Hill, and in the gloom of Cedar Creek, they were not to be restrained from violating all the solemn proprieties of the occasion, but broke out into a tumult of cheers.
On the 22d of May, Dwight broke camp near Bladensburg, and, marching to the plain east of the Capitol, near the Congressional Cemetery, went into bivouac with the Ninth Corps. Here the men, after their long and hard field service, gave way to open disgust at hearing the order read on parade requiring them to appear in white gloves at the great review. On Tuesday, the 23d of May, the review took place. The men were up at three, and were inspected at half-past seven, but it was half-past ten before Dwight took up the line of march in the rear of the Ninth Corps, followed by the Fifth.
On the 1st of June, 1865, the breaking up began. The 114th and 116th New York were taken from Beal's brigade, and the 133d from Fessenden's, and ordered to be mustered out of the service of the United States. The 8th Vermont had already gone to the Sixth Corps to join the old Vermont brigade. The rest of Dwight's division embarked on transport steamers, under orders for Savannah, where they landed on the 4th of June. There they found many of their comrades of Grover's division.
To return to Grover. Embarking at Baltimore about the 11th of January, after some detention, the advance of his division landed at Savannah on the 19th of January. The rest of the division gradually followed, and at Savannah the troops remained doing garrison and police duty until about the 4th of March, when Grover was ordered to take transports and join Schofield in North Carolina, in order to open communication with Sherman's army, then advancing once more toward the sea-coast. Wilmington had fallen on the 22d of February. Then Schofield sent a force, under Cox, to open the railway from Newbern to Goldsboro, on the south bank of the Neuse. D. H. Hill met and fought him on the 8th, 9th, and 10th, on the south side of the river; but, the Confederates retreating to Goldsboro to oppose Sherman's march, Schofield occupied Kinston on the 14th and Goldsboro on the 21st. In these movements the 3d brigade, formerly Sharpe's, now commanded by Day, took part, while Birge's brigade was posted at Morehead City, and Molineux's at Wilmington.
On the 1st of April, Schofield's force, composed of the Tenth Corps, under Terry, and the Twenty-third Corps, under Cox, was reconstructed by Sherman as the centre of his armies, and designated as the Army of the Ohio. The next day the troops of Grover's division, then in North Carolina, were attached to the Tenth Corps, reorganized into three brigades, and designated as the First division; the command being given to Birge, and the brigades being commanded by the three senior colonels, Washburn, Graham, and Day. Some time before this, Shunk's 4th brigade of Grover's division had been broken up and its regiments distributed; the 8th and 18th Indiana to Washburn, the 28th Iowa to Graham, and the 24th Iowa to Day. The 22d Indiana battery formed the artillery of the division. All active operations coming to an end with the final surrender of Johnston on the 26th of April, about the 4th of May the division went back to Savannah. On the 11th of May it marched to Augusta, leaving Day with all his regiments except the 24th Iowa and the 128th New York to take care of Savannah.
Meanwhile, orders being issued by the government for disbanding the regiments whose time was to expire before the 1st of November, and the re-enlisted veterans of Dwight's division beginning to arrive in Savannah on the 5th of June, Birge's brigade came down from Augusta on the 7th and Day marched on the 9th to replace it.
From this time the work of disintegration went on rapidly, yet all too slowly for the impatience of the soldiers, now thinking only of home, and soon sickened by the weary routine of provost duty in the first dull days of peace. What was left of the divisions of Dwight and Grover continued to occupy Charleston, Savannah, and Augusta, and the chief towns of Georgia and South Carolina.
When at last the final separation came, and little by little the old corps fell apart, every man, as with inexpressible yearning he turned his face homeward, bore with him, as the richest heritage of his children and his children's children, the proud consciousness of duty done.
(1) Beal's, of Dwight's division. Dudley, having rejoined November 2d, commanded it till November 14th, when Beal came back and relieved him; again from November 18th to December 7th, when a dispute as to relative and brevet rank was ended by Beal's receiving his commission as a full brigadier-general.
APPENDIX.
ROSTERS.
I.
DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.
As of March 22, 1862.
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. John W. Phelps 8th New Hampshire Col. Hawkes Fearing, Jr. 9th Connecticut Col. Thomas W. Cahill 7th Vermont Col. George T. Roberts 8th Vermont Col. Stephen Thomas 12th Connecticut Col. Henry C. Deming 13th Connecticut Col. Henry W. Birge 1st Vermont Battery Capt. George W. Duncan 2d Vermont Battery Capt. Pythagoras E. Holcomb 4th Massachusetts Battery Capt. Charles H. Manning (1) Capt. George G. Trull A 2d Battalion Massachusetts Cavalry Capt. S. Tyler Read
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Thomas Williams 26th Massachusetts Col. Alpha B. Farr 31st Massachusetts Col. Oliver P. Gooding 21st Indiana Col. James W. McMillan 6th Michigan Col. Charles Everett 4th Wisconsin Col. Halbert E. Paine 6th Massachusetts Battery Capt. Ormand F. Nims 2d Massachusetts Battery Capt. Henry A. Durivage (2) Capt. Jonathan E. Cown
Third Brigade: Col. George F. Shepley 12th Maine Lt.-Col. W. K. Kimball 13th Maine Col. Neal Dow Col. Henry Rust, Jr. 14th Maine Col. Frank S. Nickerson 15th Maine Col. John McClusky Col. Isaac Dyer 30th Massachusetts Col. N. A. M. Dudley 1st Maine Battery Capt. E. W. Thompson B 2d Battalion Massachusetts Cavalry Capt. James M. Magen
(1) Resigned October 20, 1862. (2) Drowned April 23, 1862.
II.
TECHE AND PORT HUDSON.
As of April 30, 1863.
FIRST DIVISION.
Maj.-Gen. Christopher C. Augur
First Brigade: Col. Edward P. Chapin 116th New York Lt.-Col. John Higgins 21st Maine (1) Col. Elijah D. Johnson 48th Massachusetts (1) Col. Eben F. Stone 49th Massachusetts (1) Col. William F. Bartlett
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Godfrey Weitzel 8th Vermont Col. Stephen Thomas 75th New York Col. Robert B. Merritt 160th New York Col. Charles C. Dwight 12th Connecticut Col. Ledyard Colburn Lt.-Col. Frank H. Peck 114th New York Col. Elisha B. Smith
Third Brigade: Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley 30th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. William W. Bullock 2d Louisiana Col. Charles J. Paine 50th Massachusetts (1) Col. Carlos P. Messer 161st New York Col. Gabriel T. Harrowee 174th New York Col. Theodore W. Parmele
Artillery: 1st Maine Capt. Albert W. Bradbury Lt. John E. Morton 6th Massachusetts Capt. William W. Carruth Lt. John F. Phelps A 1st United States Capt. E. C. Bainbridge
SECOND DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. T. W. Sherman.
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Neal Dow 6th Michigan Col. Thomas S. Clark 128th New York Col. David S. Cowles 26th Connecticut (1) Col. Thomas G. Kingsley 15th New Hampshire (1) Col. John W. Kingman
Second Brigade: Col. Alpha B. Farr 26th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. Josiah A. Sawtell 9th Connecticut Col. Thomas W. Cahill 47th Massachusetts (1) Col. Lucius B. Marsh 42d Massachusetts (1) Lt.-Col. Joseph Stedman 28th Maine (1) Col. Ephraim W. Woodman
Third Brigade: Col. Frank S. Nickerson 14th Maine Lt.-Col. Thomas W. Porter 177th New York (1) Col. Ira W. Ainsworth 165th New York Lt.-Col. Abel Smith, Jr. 24th Maine (1) Col. George M. Atwood
Artillery: 18th New York Capt. Albert G. Mack G 5th United States Lt. Jacob B. Rails 1st Vermont Capt. George T. Hebard
THIRD DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. William H. Emory.
First Brigade: Col. Timothy Ingraham, 38th Massachusetts 162d New York Col. Lewis Benedict 110th New York Col. Clinton H. Sage 16th New Hampshire (1) Col. James Pike 4th Massachusetts (1) Col. Henry Walker
Second Brigade: Col. Halbert E. Paine 4th Wisconsin Lt.-Col. Sidney A. Bean 133d New York Col. Leonard D. H. Currie 173d New York Col. Lewis M. Peck 8th New Hampshire Col. Hawkes Fearing, Jr.
Third Brigade: Col. Oliver P. Gooding 31st Massachusetts Lt.-Col. W. S. B. Hopkins 38th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. William L. Rodman 156th New York Col. Jacob Sharpe 175th New York Col. Michael K. Bryan 53d Massachusetts (1) Col. John W. Kimball
Artillery: 4th Massachusetts Capt. George G. Trull F 1st United States Capt. Richard C. Duryea 2d Vermont Capt. Pythagoras E. Holcomb
FOURTH DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover.
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. William Dwight, Jr. 6th New York (2) Col. William Wilson 91st New York Col. Jacob Van Zandt 131st New York Lt.-Col. Nicholas W. Day 22d Maine (1) Col. Simon G. Jerrard 1st Louisiana Col. Richard E. Holcomb
Second Brigade: Col. William K. Kimball 12th Maine Lt.-Col. Edward Illsley 41st Massachusetts Col. Thomas E. Chickering 52d Massachusetts (1) Col. Halbert S. Greenleaf 24th Connecticut (1) Col. Samuel M. Mansfield
Third Brigade: Col. Henry W. Birge 25th Connecticut (1) Col. George P. Bissell 26th Maine (1) Col. Nathaniel H. Hubbard 159th New York Col. Edward L. Molineux 13th Connecticut Lt.-Col. Alexander Warner
Artillery:
2d Massachusetts Capt. Ormand F. Nims
L 1st United States Capt. Henry W. Closson
C 2d United States Lt. John L. Rodgers
(1) Nine-month's men. (2) Detached for muster out May 20, 1863.
OUTSIDE OF THE DIVISIONS.
1st Louisiana Native Guards (1) Col. Spencer H. Stafford 2d Louisiana Native Guards (2) Col. Nathan W. Daniels 3d Louisiana Native Guards (1) Col. John A. Nelson 4th Louisiana Native Guards (1) Col. Charles W. Drew 13th Maine (2) Col. Henry Rust, Jr. 23d Connecticut (3, 7) Col. Charles E. L. Holmes 176th New York (3, 8) Col. Charles C. Nott 90th New York (4) Col. Joseph S. Morgan 47th Pennsylvania (4) Col. Tilghman H. Good 28th Connecticut (5, 7) Col. Samuel P. Ferris 15th Maine (5) Col. Isaac Dyer 7th Vermont (5) Col. William C. Holbrook
Artillery: H 2d United States (5) Capt. Frank H. Larned K 2d United States (5) Capt. Harvey A. Allen 1st Indiana Heavy (1) Col. John A. Keith 12th Massachusetts (1) Lt. Edwin M. Chamberlin B 1st Louisiana N. G. Heavy (2) Capt. Loren Rygaard 13th Massachusetts (2) Capt. Charles H. J. Hamlen 21st New York (2) Capt. James Barnes 25th New York (2) Capt. John A. Grow 26th New York (2) Capt. George W. Fox
Cavalry: 1st Louisiana C and E (1) Capt. J. F. Godfrey 1st Louisiana A and B (6) Capt. Henry F. Williamson 2d Rhode Island Battalion (6) Lt.-Col. A. W. Corliss 2d Massachusetts Cavalry Battalion A (2) Capt. S. Tyler Read B (1) Capt. James M. Magen C (2) Capt. Jonathan E. Cowan 14th New York Cavalry Col. Thaddeus P. Mott 1st Texas (2) Col. Edmund J. Davis
(1) With Augur. (2) Defences of New Orleans. (3) La Fourche District. (4) Key West. (5) Pensacola. (6) With Weitzel. (7) Nine-months' men. (8) Partly nine-months' men.
III.
AFTER PORT HUDSON.
August, 1863.
FIRST DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. Godfrey Weitzel. (1)
Brig.-Gen. William H. Emory. (2)
First Brigade: Col. N. A. M. Dudley Col. George M. Love 30th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. W. W. Bullock 2d Louisiana Col. Charles J. Paine 161st New York Lt.-Col. W. B. Kinsey 174th New York Col. Benjamin F. Gott 116th New York Col. George M. Love
Second Brigade: Col. Oliver P. Gooding Col. Jacob Sharpe 31st Massachusetts Col. Oliver P. Gooding Lt.-Col. W. S. B. Hopkins 38th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. Jas. P. Richardson 128th New York Col. James Smith 156th New York Col. Jacob Sharpe 175th New York Lt.-Col. John A. Foster
Third Brigade: Col. Robert B. Merritt 12th Connecticut Col. Ledyard Colburn Lt.-Col. Frank H. Peck 75th New York Capt. Henry P. Fitch 114th New York Col. Samuel R. Per Lee 160th New York Col. Charles C. Dwight Lt.-Col. John B. Van Petten 8th Vermont Col. Stephen Thomas
Artillery: Capt. E. C. Bainbridge 1st Maine Capt. Albert W. Bradbury 18th New York Capt. Albert G. Mack A 1st United States Capt. Edmund C. Bainbridge 6th Massachusetts (3) Capt. William W. Carruth
(1) To December 9th. (2) From December 9th. (3) From Artillery Reserve, in December.
SECOND DIVISION.
Broken up July 10th.
THIRD DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. William H. Emory.
Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover.
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Frank S. Nickerson 14th Maine Col. Thomas W. Porter 110th New York Col. Clinton H. Sage 162d New York Col. Lewis Benedict 165th New York Lt.-Col. Gouverneur Carr Capt. Felix Agnus
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. James W. McMillan 26th Massachusetts Col. Alpha D. Farr Maj. Eusebius S. Clark 8th New Hampshire Col. Hawkes Fearing, Jr. Capt. James J. Ladd 133d New York Col. L. D. H. Currie Capt. James K. Fuller 173d New York Col. Lewis M. Peck
Artillery: 4th Massachusetts Capt. George G. Trull Lt. George W. Taylor F 1st United States Capt. Richard G. Duryea Lt. Hardman P. Norris 1st Vermont Capt. George T. Hepard Lt. Edward Rice
FOURTH DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover.
Col. Edward G. Beckwith.
First Brigade: Col. Henry W. Birge 13th Connecticut Capt. Apollos Comstock 90th New York Col. Joseph S. Morgan Lt.-Col. Nelson Shaurman 131st New York Col. Nicholas W. Day 159th New York Col. Edward L. Molineux
Second Brigade: Col. Thomas W. Cahill 9th Connecticut Lt.-Col. Richard FitzGibbons 1st Louisiana Col. William O. Fiske 12th Maine Col. William K. Kimball 13th Maine (1) Col. Henry Rust, Jr. 15th Maine (1) Col. Isaac Dyer 97th Illinois (2) Col. Friend S. Rutherford
Artillery: 25th New York Capt. John A. Grow 26th New York Capt. George W. Fox C 2d United States Lt. Theodore Bradley L 1st United States (3) Capt. Henry W. Closson Lt. James A. Sanderson
Cavalry: 3d Massachusetts (4) Col. T. E. Chickering Lt.-Col. Lorenzo D. Sargent 1st Texas (5) Col. Edmund J. Davis 4th Wisconsin (6) Col. Frederick A. Boardman Maj. George W. Moore
Reserve Artillery (6): Capt. Henry W. Closson 2d Massachusetts Capt. Ormand F. Nims 6th Massachusetts (7) Capt. William W. Carruth L 1st United States (8) Capt. Henry W. Closson Lt. Franck E. Taylor
OUTSIDE OF THE DIVISIONS.
Headquarters Troops Companies A and B (9) Capt. Richard W. Francis
Troop C Capt. Frank Sayles
DEFENCES OF NEW ORLEANS. 24th Connecticut (10) Col. Samuel M. Mansfield 31st Massachusetts Capt. Eliot Bridgman 170th New York Col. Charles C. Nott Maj. Morgan Morgan, Jr. 1st Louisiana Cavalry Lt.-Col. Harai Robinson A 3d Massachusetts Cavalry Lt. Henry D. Pope 14th New York Cavalry Lt.-Col. Abraham Bassford 12th Massachusetts Battery Capt. Jacob Miller 13th Massachusetts Battery Capt. Charles H. J. Hamlen 15th Massachusetts Battery Capt. Timothy Pearson 91st New York (11) Col. Jacob Van Zandt
PORT HUDSON. Brig.-Gen. George L. Andrews 1st Michigan Heavy Artillery Col. Thomas S. Clark 21st New York Battery Capt. James Barnes Battery G 5th United States Lt. Jacob B. Rails 2d Vermont Battery Capt. P. E. Holcomb
(1) In 3d Brigade, 2d Division, Thirteenth Corps, December 31st. (2) December 31st, from 2d Brigade, 4th Division, Thirteenth Corps. (3) From Artillery Reserve, in December. (4) At Port Hudson. (5) At New Orleans. (6) At Baton Rouge. (7) In First Division, December 31st. (8) In Fourth Division, December 31st. (9) Raised in Louisiana; re-enlisted nine-months' men. (10) Nine-month's men. (11) Heavy Artillery.
IV.
RED RIVER.
As of March 13, 1864.
FIRST DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. William H. Emory
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. William Dwight, Jr. 29th Maine Col. George L. Beal 114th New York Col. Samuel R. Per Lee Lt.-Col. Henry B. Morse 116th New York Col. George M. Love 153d New York Col. Edwin P. Davis 161st New York Lt.-Col. W. B. Kinsey 30th Massachusetts (1) Col. N. A. M. Dudley
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. James W. McMillan 12th Connecticut (1) Lt.-Col. Frank H. Peck 13th Maine Col. Henry Rust, Jr. 15th Maine Col. Isaac Dyer 160th New York Col. Charles C. Dwight Lt.-Col. John B. Van Petten 47th Pennsylvania Col. Tilghman H. Good 8th Vermont Col. Stephen Thomas
Third Brigade: Col. Lewis Benedict 30th Maine Col. Francis Fessenden 162d New York Lt.-Col. Justus W. Blanchard 165th New York Lt.-Col. Gouverneur Carr 173d New York (2) Col. Lewis M. Peck Capt. Howard C. Conrady
Artillery: Capt. George T. Howard 25th New York Capt. John A. Grow L 1st United States Lt. Irving D. Southworth 1st Vermont (3) Lt. Edward Rice 1st Delaware (4) Benjamin Nields
SECOND DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Frank S. Nickerson 9th Connecticut (1) Col. Thomas W. Cahill 12th Maine (1) Col. William K. Kimball 14th Maine (1) Col. Thomas W. Porter 26th Massachusetts (1) Col. Alpha B. Farr 133d New York Col. L. D. H. Currie 176th New York Col. Charles C. Nott Maj. Charles Lewis
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Henry W. Birge Col. Edward L. Molineux 13th Connecticut Col. Charles D. Blink 1st Louisiana Col. William O. Fiske 90th New York (5) Maj. John C. Smart 131st New York (6) Col. Nicholas W. Day
Third Brigade: Col. Jacob Sharpe 38th Massachusetts Lt.-Col. James P. Richardson 128th New York Col. James Smith 156th New York Capt. James J. Hoyt 175th New York Capt. Charles McCarthey
Artillery: Capt. George W. Fox 7th Massachusetts Capt. Newman W. Stores 26th New York Capt. George W. Fox F 1st United States (7) Lt. Hardman P. Norris Lt. William L. Haskin C 2d United States Lt. John L. Rodgers
Artillery Reserve:
Capt. Henry W. Closson
1st Delaware (8) Capt. Benjamin Nields
D 1st Indiana Heavy Capt. William S. Hinkle
(1) On veteran furlough. (2) The 174th consolidated with the 173d. (3) In Reserve Artillery, April 30th. (4) In Reserve Artillery, March 31st. (5) Three companies. (6) In district of La Fourche, Col. Day commanding the district. (7) With the Cavalry, April 30th. (8) In the 1st Division, April 30th.
V.
SHENANDOAH.
From June 27, 1864.
FIRST DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. William Dwight
First Brigade: Col. George L. Beal 29th Maine Col. George L. Beal 30th Massachusetts Col. N. A. M. Dudley 90th New York (1) Lt.-Col. Nelson Shaurman 114th New York Col. Samuel R. Per Lee 116th New York Col. George M. Love 153d New York Col. Edwin P. Davis
Second Brigade: Brig.-Gen. James W. McMillan 12th Connecticut Lt.-Col. Frank H. Peck Capt. Sidney E. Clarke Lt.-Col. George N. Lewis 13th Maine (2) Col. Henry Rust, Jr. 15th Maine (2) Col. Isaac Dyer 160th New York Col. Charles C. Dwight Lt.-Col. John B. Van Petten 47th Pennsylvania Col. Tilghman H. Good Maj. J. P. Shindel Gobin 8th Vermont Col. Stephen Thomas
Third Brigade: Col. L. D. H. Currie 30th Maine Col. Thomas H. Hubbard 133d New York Col. L. D. H. Currie 162d New York Col. Justus W. Blanchard 165th New York Lt.-Col. Gouverneur Carr 173d New York Col. Lewis M. Peck
Artillery: 5th New York Capt. Elijah D. Taft
SECOND DIVISION.
Brig.-Gen. Cuvier Grover
First Brigade: Brig.-Gen. Henry W. Birge 9th Connecticut Col. Thomas W. Cahill 12th Maine Col. William K. Kimball 14th Maine Col. Thomas W. Porter 26th Massachusetts Col. Alpha B. Farr 14th New Hampshire Col. Alexander Gardiner 75th New York Lt.-Col. Willoughby Babcock
Second Brigade: Col. Edward L. Molineux 13th Connecticut (3) Col. Charles D. Blinn 3d Massachusetts Cavalry (dismounted) Lt.-Col. Lorenzo D. Sargent 11th Indiana Col. Daniel Macauley 22d Iowa Col. Harvey Graham 131st New York Col. Nicholas W. Day 159th New York Lt.-Col. William Waltermire
Third Brigade: Col. Jacob Sharpe Col. Daniel Macauley 38th Massachusetts Maj. Charles F. Allen 128th New York Lt.-Col. J. P. Foster 156th New York Lt.-Col. Alfred Neafie 175th New York Lt.-Col. John A. Foster 176th New York Col. Ambrose Stevens (4) Maj. Charles Lewis
Fourth Brigade: Col. David Shunk 8th Indiana Lt.-Col. Alexander J. Kenney 18th Indiana Col. Henry D. Washburn 24th Iowa Col. John Q. Wilds 28th Iowa Col. John Connell Lt.-Col. Bartholomew W. Wilson
Artillery:
A 1st Maine Capt. Albert W. Bradbury
Reserve Artillery:
Capt. Elijah D. Taft
Maj. Albert W. Bradbury
D 1st Rhode Island Lt. Frederick Chase
17th Indiana Capt. Milton L. Miner
(1) On veteran furlough in August and September. (2) On veteran furlough in August and September, at Martinsburg afterward. (3) On veteran furlough in August and early September. (4) From November 19, 1864.
DETACHMENTS LEFT IN LOUISIANA. The following troops served under Canby in the siege of Mobile, March 20 - April 12, 1865: 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery. 31st Massachusetts, as mounted infantry, from Pensacola, with Steele. 2d Massachusetts Battery. Also engaged at Daniel's Plantation, Alabama, April 11, 1865. 4th Massachusetts Battery. Afterward at Galveston. 7th Massachusetts Battery. " " " 15th Massachusetts Battery. " " " 4th Wisconsin Cavalry. Afterward on Rio Grande in Weitzel's corps. 1st Michigan Heavy Artillery. 161st New York, in Third brigade, First division, new XIIIth Corps, Kinsey commanding the brigade. Loss: 2 killed, 1 wounded. Afterward in Florida. 7th Vermont, in First brigade, Third division, new XIIIth Corps. Loss: 18 wounded, 43 captured. Afterward on Rio Grande in Weitzel's Corps of Observation. 18th New York Battery. 21st New York Battery. 26th New York Battery. Battery G, 5th U. S. Artillery.
8th New Hampshire, as mounted infantry, served at Natchez and at
Vidalia, opposite.
91st New York, after returning from veteran furlough, September,
1864, went to Baltimore as part of Second separate brigade, VIIIth
Corps. March, 1865, joined First brigade, Third division, Vth
Corps, Army of the Potomac. Fought at White Oak Ridge, March
29-31, and Five Forks, April, 1865. Loss: 61 killed and mortally
wounded, 152 wounded, 17 captured or missing; total, 230.
110th New York, at Key West, Florida, from February 9, 1864.
3d Massachusetts Cavalry, detached to remount December 26, 1864; with Chapman's brigade; in cavalry review May 23, 1865; afterward in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado.
LOSSES IN BATTLE.
BATON ROUGE. August 5, 1862. Killed Wounded Captured or missing COMMAND O E O E O E Aggregate General Officers 1 1 9th Connecticut 1 9 4 14 21st Indiana 2 22 7 91 4 126 14th Maine 36 7 64 12 119 30th Massachusetts 1 2 3 12 18 6th Michigan 15 4 40 1 5 65 7th Vermont 1 9 5 15 Troop B Massachusetts Cavalry 1 1 2d Massachusetts Battery 4 1 5 4th Massachusetts Battery 1 5 6 6th Massachusetts Battery 3 1 8 1 15 __ ___ __ ___ __ ___ ____ Total 4 80 23 243 1 32 383
GEORGIA LANDING. October 27, 1862. Killed Wounded Captured or missing COMMAND O E O E O E Aggregate 12th Connecticut 3 16 1 20 13th Connecticut 1 5 1 7 1st Louisiana Cavalry, A, B, and C 1 18 1 20 8th New Hampshire 2 10 1 34 1 48 75th New York 1 1 2 __ ___ __ ___ __ ___ ____ Total 2 16 1 73 1 4 97