Three Years in the Federal CavalryGlazier, Willard W.
History
Three Years in the Federal Cavalry
Glazier, Willard W.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
In less than fifteen minutes from the time the Rebels charged into the
village they were driven from it, leaving the streets strewn with their
dead men and horses, and the _debris_ which always accompanies such a
conflict. The dead of both parties lay promiscuously about the street,
so covered with blood and dust as to render identification in some
cases very difficult. The _blue_ of the Union and the gray of Rebellion
were almost entirely obliterated, and, in many instances, the contending
parties mingled their blood in one common pool.
This work of destruction had but just commenced when Generals Kilpatrick
and Farnsworth, who, though some miles distant at the head of the column
when the booming cannon announced the bloody fray, arrived in hot haste
and took personal charge of the movements. These were ordered with
consummate skill, and executed with promptness and success. Elder's
battery, well posted on the hills facing the Rebels, and well supported,
soon silenced the guns of the enemy, and drove him in the direction of
Lee's main army. He was thoroughly punished for his audacious attack,
and left many dead, wounded, and captured. The colors of the Thirteenth
Virginia Cavalry were captured by a sergeant of the Fifth New York.
About seventy-five prisoners, beside the wounded, fell into our hands,
including Lieutenant-Colonel Payne, who commanded a brigade.
The particulars of his capture are worthy of historic record. In one of
the charges made in the edge of the town, one of our boys, by the name
of Abram Folger, was captured by Colonel Payne, and marched toward the
rear. Just outside the town was a large brick tannery, the vats of which
were not under cover, and close alongside of the highway. Folger was
walking beside the Colonel's orderly. As they approached the tan-vats he
espied a carbine lying on the ground. Quick as thought he seized it,
fired, and killed Payne's horse. The animal, in his death-struggle,
plunged over towards the vats, and Payne was thrown headlong into one of
them, being completely submerged in the tan-liquid. Folger, feeling that
the Colonel was secure enough for the moment, levelled his piece on the
orderly, who, finding that his pistol was fouled and hence useless,
attempted to jump his horse over the fence, but not succeeding,
surrendered. It happened, however, that Folger had expended the last
shot in the carbine on the Colonel's horse; but, as the orderly did not
know it, it was just as well for Folger as though more ammunition had
been on hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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