Show SABER AND PISTOL PISiIOLI I The Grand Cavalry Accompaniment Accompani-ment to Picketts Charge I DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGHT How Jeb Stuart Disputed the Road to Meads Rear While Lee Charged the Front EX GREGGS cavalry battle with Stuart Gettysburg Get-tysburg July 3 fi 1863 is often I called the one cavalry fight of i the war The combat though brief was desperate 1 desper-ate the losses r though comparatively compara-tively light were L inflicted at close quarters with pistol pis-tol and saber The result was incalculable incal-culable An ideal cavalry action is where mounted fir 7 columns rush upon dc up-on defeated infantry l < t fr + 1 infan-try and cutting right and left turn a momentary wavering into a disastrous panic In the affair between Stuart and Gregg cavalry met cavalry and struggled hand to hand for the mastery The hour was simultaneous simultane-ous with that of Picketts charge and Stuart Stu-art was attempting to aid Pickett by a fire In the rear of the Union line Since that time Gen Gregg has resisted every effort to draw the story from his pen and his lips remained closed until he met the Count of Paris on the battlefield last autumn and recounted the particulars He was marching on to Gettysburg he said on July 2 and his route led to the right rear of 3kleades army He saw some important points exposed to the Confederates I Confeder-ates guarded them until nightfall skirmished skir-mished with Lees infantry put out pickets and stationed artillery and then reported to headquarters The instructions given him for the next day the 3d were based upon what he had reported about his action of the 2d and he was told to go back and hold the ground he had so wisely seized Greggs force consisted of two brigades of the Second cavalry division as follows First brigade CoL J B McIntoshThird Pennsylvania First New Jersey First Maryland Third brigade Col J Irwin Gregg Sixteenth Pennsylvania Fourth Pennsylvania First Maine and Tenth New I York Company A Purnell troop Maryland Mary-land Company A First Ohio Battery E First United States M Second United States and a section of the Third Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania artillery were attached to the Second Sec-ond division The Second brigade Third division was also serving with Gregg It was led by Col George A Custor and consisted con-sisted tJie First Fifth Sixth and Seventh Michigan The troops with Gregg including inclu-ding Custer numbered 5000 men About 1 oclock on the 3d an order came from headquarters for Custer to rejoin his division some miles away on the Union left flank His brigade at the moment was deployed on the extreme front a danger noint and it was while relieving his men by other troops that the action about to be described was brought on Gregg says that when Custer came in in person from the outposts he said General youll have a fight here Gregg then asked Custer stay and he was well pleased to remain Some of Stuarts troopers were engaged in skirmishing with Custers men when the attempt was made to relieve the latter Stuart had four brigades of cavalry and three batteries about 7000 men in all and his position was somewhat higher than Greggs and was well screened with woods Between the two was an open space a mile long and half a mile wide which soon became be-came a bloody lane of strife Greggs batteries bat-teries commanded the field The brigade of Col McIntosh had taken position on the ground vacated by that of Custer on retiring and the carbine ammunition ammu-nition of these men was exhausted in coping cop-ing with the enemy When Custers men returned to relieve McIntosh and resume their place on the front line the Confederates Confed-erates began to force the fighting and the retiring men and their relief both had their hands full for a time Finally a Virginia Vir-ginia regiment swept down from Stuarts line along the open space directing its course upon Greggs batteries Near the center of the field the Fifth Michigan of Custer and the First New Jersey of McIntosh McIn-tosh stood in line across the pathway and not being able to withstand the Virginians Vir-ginians separated in the middle swinging backward like double gates and left a gap for the enemy to dash through I I I I Y 44I r I I P s t I I i i I COME OK YOU WOLVEKIKES lIt the moment Custer was drawing toward to-Ward this very spot with the Seventh Michigan Mich-igan and seeing the emergency he hastily formed the regiment in close columns and advanced to meet the Virginians The latter were already between two fires the Fifth Michigan and First New Jersey having hav-ing deployed parallel to the route of march of the enemy and opened upon them Cus ter swept on with the Seventh until he found his way barred by a stone fence Across this barrier his men opened with carbines and the Confederates gallantly faced the music forced their way to the opposite side of the wall and returned the fire with pistols The battle waged forborne for-borne time at arms length but the Confederates Confed-erates were quickly reenforced and Cus ter had to give ground followed by the Virginians The Confederates were at last over half way across the open space but they were drawing nearer to Greggs cannon can-non at every step and were made to suffer terribly for their boldness They were in fact running a gantlet of fire on both sides and facing a fire on the front something some-thing human nature cannot endure forever for-ever and at last they had to give it up and retire Thus far the fighting had been only a byplay on the part of the Confederates Confeder-ates Stuart intended to occupy my attention at-tention here with only one of his brigades Enid Gregg to the Count of Paris as the battlefield tourists stood in the center of the open ground where Custer met the Virginians With his main column he hoped to slip unobserved between me and our army at Gettysburg and get into our rearBut Greggs men fought too hard to be trifled with and regiment after regiment of Stuarts was drawn to the scene By the time the First Virginia retired before tne scorcning nre that received it far aown the field the three brigades of Wade Hampton Hamp-ton and the two Lees were in the vicinity A curtain of woods skirted the Confederate Confeder-ate end of the long narrow field The I Union end was an open farm region and on one side there was a wood the whole distance of the Union position and on the other a sheltering crest along a stream To dislodge Gregg from the wood on one side and the ridge on the other while his batteries bat-teries stood at the end of the space raking I the ground between was too hard a task for Stuart to think of Yet a quick ride down that open ground into thQ batteries might carry Greggs key position and ruin his line Scarcely had the Virginia regiment quit the field when a mass of their fellows several sev-eral regiments in all moved out in splendid I splen-did order from the woods and started to I repeat the march of the vanguard just defeated I de-feated They moved in close column in full view of their opponents and marched as calmly and as proudly as on a parade I Their sword blades shone in the high summer sum-mer sun their horses moved neck and neck and like a small avalanche of warrors the body rolled resistlessly on across the open space between the thin IjXion lines that still clung to the ridge and to the wood on either side Gregg saw what was upon him Custer saw it every man on the field saw it A thunderbolt of war was coming and must be met Hero and there a picket or a dismounted man cutoff from his company com-pany rushed to the nearest body of his friends gripped his weapon tighter and prepared to be one of a host to meet the onslaught Aids dashed to and fro picking pick-ing up squads and detachments and forming form-ing irregular bands Mclntoshs brigade was divided part on one side of the lane like space part upon the other The Third Pennsylvania regiment had two squadrons on the ridge on the left and two in the wood nearly opposite the enemy marching between Custers men were along the ridge by the stream and at the end of the Held facing the advancing enemy The First Michigan stood in close column behind the batteries and Gregg at once ordered it to charge Custer dashed up at the moment fresh from 1m late battle bat-tle at the head of the Seventh and placed himself w front of the First I 2 r x r a L o HORSE MET HORSE The Confederates rode on unmindful of the canister and shell that soon plowed their splendid line The ranks closed up the gaps the officers admonished and encouraged en-couraged their men Keep to your sabersl keep to your sabersl was the caution in the couth ranks overheard by Greggs troopers on either side of the pathway Yade Hampton ride at the head of tho column his well known banner in the van Under the combined power of the peppering pepper-ing carbine fire from either side and the artillory missiles in front the Confederates at length wavered The horses reared and jumped the men shouted and gestured Seeing the confusion in the front ranks of the enemy Custer swung his saber in the air and shouting Come on you wolverines wolver-ines ted the First Michigan full tilt at Hamptons line Then came a scene seldom sel-dom witnessed in modern war Both sides were moving at a mad gallop and when they met the crash resounded above the roar of carbine and cannon Hampton and Custers men were formed in columns of squadrons and their fronts were thus about equal in breadth When they struck horse met horse and reared and the heavier bore down the lighter Horses and their riders rolled over andover and-over beneath the trampling hoofs of those following Men were pitched from their saddles against their mounted opponents and carried them down in the struggle togo to-go on fighting it out on the ground Cries of surrender were heard on all sides and horses were shot in order to prevent their riders from escaping There was little I attempt at orderly formation said Gen Gregg but as fast as one squadron was broken another rode to the front The Confederates i Con-federates used their pistols chiefly but my men relied upon the saber Hampton was wounded by one of Custers men who used his saber on him While Custer and Hampton fought on the front the long Confederate column stretching backward on the open ground offered the men of McIntosh a chance to assail it from either side Capt W E Miller led his squadron of the Third Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania asainst the rear of the Confeder ate line and pushed through followed byi some of the First New Jersey Capts Treichel and Rogers of the Third Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania accompanied by Lieut Newhall of Mclntoshs staff put their squadrons in from the other side and hewed their way toward a Confederate flag Newhall attempted at-tempted to cut down the flag bearer but his sword was met by that of an opposing trooper and the man with the flag thrust the pike of the staff through the daring lieutenants face The Confederates had the odds with them everywhere but the persistent attacks of Greggs little bands on the sides and Custers splendid battle in front left them no chance to rally for a grand lunge Their column gradually spread out under the pressure of fighting in so many directions and Greggs men broke into it in many places At length it gave way and a retreat as mad as the forward for-ward march had been begun Again enemies ene-mies were on the right and on the left Every trooper of Greggs battalions rushed up to the border of the field and fought on his own hook Many squads and individuals individ-uals as well became involved with the Confederate mass and borne on in the retreat re-treat fought so long as there was hope Stuart retired his column to the original position and kept up a fire until darkness dark-ness fell but made no further attempt to pierce the Union rear Picketts charge had failed Lee was repulsed at all points and the battle of Gettysburg was over GEORGE L KILMEE |