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
_July 6._--This morning, at an early hour, Kilpatrick's crowd of
prisoners were turned over into the hands of General French, and then
his command marched to Hagerstown, taking possession of the place in
advance of Stuart, whose approach about eleven o'clock was met with
determined resistance, and, at first, with great success. A heavy battle
was fought, in which Kilpatrick's men showed their usual prowess and
strength. Had not Rebel infantry come to the aid of his cavalry, Stuart
would have suffered a stunning blow. For several hours the contest was
wholly between cavalry and light artillery. Charges of great daring and
skill were made. One reporter says: "Elder gave them grape and canister,
and the Fifth New York sabres, while the First Vermont used their
carbines."
In one of those charges, made in the face of a very superior force,
Captain James A. Penfield, of the Fifth New York, at the head of his
company, had his horse killed under him, and, while struggling to
extricate himself from the animal, which lay upon him in part, he was
struck a fearful blow of a sabre on the head, which came near severing
it in twain. Thus wounded, with blood streaming down upon his long beard
and clothes, he was made a prisoner. In a similar charge the gallant
Captain Ulric Dahlgren lost a leg, though not his valuable life.
It appeared as though the Rebels were afforded an opportunity to avenge
themselves in part for the shameful losses which they had sustained in
this very place by the strategic operations of a Union scout, by the
name of C. A. Phelps, during the incipient step of the invasion. We will
let the scout relate his own story, which is corroborated by a
signal-officer, who, from one of the lofty peaks of the mountains,
witnessed the exciting denouement. The scout proceeds to say:
"I was very anxious to learn all about General Stuart's force and
contemplated movements, and resolved to see the general himself or some
of his staff-officers, soon after he entered Hagerstown.
"Accordingly I procured of a Union man a suit of raglings, knocked off
one boot-heel to make one leg appear shorter than the other, and put a
gimblet, a tow-string, and an old broken jack-knife in my pockets. My
jewelry corresponded with my clothes. I adopted the name of George Fry,
a harvest-hand of Dr. Farney, from Wolfetown, on the north side of the
mountain, and I was a cripple from rheumatism. Having completed
arrangements with Dr. Farney, Mr. Landers, and other Union men, that
they might be of service to me in case the Rebels should be suspicious
of my character, I hobbled away on my perilous journey, and entered the
city by leaping the high stone wall which guards it on the north side
near the depot. This occurred just as the town-clock struck one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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