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[Illustration: Yours Truly
Henry C. Meyer]
CIVIL WAR
EXPERIENCES
UNDER
BAYARD, GREGG, KILPATRICK, CUSTER
RAULSTON, AND NEWBERRY
1862, 1863, 1864
BY
HENRY C. MEYER
CAPTAIN 24TH NEW YORK CAVALRY
BREVET-MAJOR NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS
_PRIVATELY PRINTED_
NEW YORK
1911
THE KNICKERBOCKER PRESS
(G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS)
NEW YORK
INTRODUCTION
During December, 1895, I received a letter from General Walter C.
Newberry, of Chicago, who during the Civil War commanded the 24th New
York Cavalry. In this the General wrote:
"MY DEAR MAJOR MEYER:
"You will remember how urgent the boys were last summer for a
history of the Regiment to be prepared. I resolved then to gratify
them and am engaged on it now. I want you to aid me to the extent
of giving me a detailed account of yourself--nativity, date of
birth, former service, engagements that you were in that led up to
your promotion, your service with us, your wounding and incidents
accompanying it, your period of treatment in the Hospital, your
civil record since, and be kind enough not to be at all modest in
setting it all forth. I shall not use your language, neither shall
I give you credit for the biography, and you may drop all modesty
with me and give it to me in full. You may have kept something of a
diary or there may be some old letters that you have written which
will give me some record by dates of the Regiment's service. I want
it all."
In 1896 I complied with this request to the extent of giving a brief
account of my service in the Army. Since then, members of my family and
a few personal friends have asked me to incorporate in this account
incidents that I recalled, some of which they had heard me relate,
asserting that they would be of interest to my grandchildren.
The following story is my attempt to accede to these requests. I am
naturally proud of having had the privilege of serving under the
Generals I have mentioned, and the story recited in the following pages
is in accordance with my recollection of events that occurred over
forty-five years ago.
HENRY C. MEYER.
NEW YORK, May, 1911.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I 1
Enlistment; Journey to Regiment; First Picket
Duty; Raid to Fredericks Hall.
CHAPTER II 8
Night after Battle of Cedar Mountain; Death of
Captain Walters at Rapidan; Retreat from
Rapidan; Battle at Brandy Station.
CHAPTER III 13
Second Battle at Bull Run; Destruction of Seymour's
Squadron; Death of Compton; A
Wounded Soldier's Heroism; Fitz-John Porter's
Message to Kilpatrick; Longstreet's Assault
on Left of Pope's Army; To Alexandria to
Refit.
CHAPTER IV 20
Refitting at Ball's Cross Roads; Skirmishing
around Centerville; Advance after Antietam;
Soldier's Opinion on McClellan's being Superseded;
Battle of Fredericksburg; Death of
Bayard.
CHAPTER V 23
Detailed at General Gregg's Headquarters; The
Stoneman Raid.
CHAPTER VI 27
Gettysburg Campaign; Battle at Brandy Station;
Wounded at Stuart's Headquarters.
CHAPTER VII 33
Battles at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville.
CHAPTER VIII 42
Crossing the Potomac; Scenes in Frederick and
Liberty; Girls' Boarding School at New Windsor;
March to Gettysburg.
CHAPTER IX 47
Second and Third Days of Battle at Gettysburg;
Gregg's Cavalry Engagement on the Right;
Repulse of Stuart.
CHAPTER X 54
Day Following the Battle at Gettysburg; Compelling
Citizens to Assist in Burying the Dead;
Scenes in Gettysburg; Nick Finding John
Burns; Following up Lee's Army; Wounded
Confederates Left Behind.
CHAPTER XI 58
Return to Virginia; Crossing at Harper's Ferry;
Battle at Shepherdstown; Confederate Prisoner
Reporting the Condition of a Cousin in Confederate
Army; Advance from Sulphur Springs
to the Rapidan.
CHAPTER XII 62
Transferred to General Kilpatrick's Headquarters;
Battle on Retreat from Culpeper;
Battle at Buckland's Mills; Granted
a Furlough; Recommended for a Commission;
Appointed a Second Lieutenant; Leaving General
Kilpatrick.
CHAPTER XIII 71
Joined 24th New York Cavalry at Auburn,
N. Y.; Trip to Washington; At Camp Stoneman;
March to Join Army of the Potomac;
Experience at Battle of the Wilderness; First
Sight of General Grant.
CHAPTER XIV 78
At Spottsylvania; Finding Confederate Dead in
Breastworks; Selected to Guide a Division to
a Position for Night Assault; Sent to Washington
for Ammunition.
CHAPTER XV 86
Experience at North Anna and Cold Harbor;
General Grant and Confederate Prisoner;
Crossing the James; Assault on Works at
Petersburg; Wounded; At Field Hospital;
Journey to City Point and Seminary Hospital
at Georgetown, D. C.; Removal to Dobbs
Ferry; Convalescence.
CHAPTER XVI 96
General D. McM. Gregg, General Kilpatrick,
Colonel Henry C. Weir, General Walter C.
Newberry, Colonel William C. Raulston, General
L. G. Estes, General E. W. Whitaker,
Captain Theodore F. Northrop.
APPENDIX A 103
APPENDIX B 109
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
HENRY C. MEYER _Frontispiece_
CORPORAL HENRY E. JOHNS 6
GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK 16
COLONEL HENRY C. WEIR 24
GENERAL D. MCM. GREGG 34
GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 48
GENERAL E. W. WHITAKER 62
CAPTAIN THEODORE F. NORTHROP 66
GENERAL L. G. ESTES 70
COLONEL W. C. RAULSTON 72
GENERAL WALTER C. NEWBERRY 93
Civil War Experiences
CHAPTER I
On the day Fort Sumter surrendered I was seventeen years old, having
been born April 14, 1844. Like other boys, I proposed enlisting, but my
father refused consent; and at that time youths under eighteen years
would not be accepted without the consent of parents. In July of the
following year, when the news of McClellan's retreat on the Peninsula
was published, I was satisfied that the Government would need more men,
and having carefully considered the matter, and being then eighteen
years of age, I decided to go without my father's consent. Seeing a
newspaper item to the effect that Captain Mallory, of the Harris Light
Cavalry, had arrived in New York, and proposed to enlist some men for
that regiment, I called upon him at the Metropolitan Hotel and made
known my desire. He informed me that his recruiting office was not then
arranged, though he had engaged a room a little farther up Broadway, and
his sergeant was preparing to open it. He seemed reluctant to take me,
and talked to me as though I were too young to go, and as if I did not
realize what I was about to undertake. I assured him that I had
considered the matter well, and that I was physically strong; and that
if he would not accept me I would try to enlist in Duryea's Zouaves, who
were, at that time, enlisting men. He then told me to go up and see his
sergeant and that he would come up later. I found the room, but the
sergeant, however, had not yet unpacked the papers. On getting them
opened he said he was unable to make them out, whereupon I asked him to
let me examine them, and proceeded to make out my own enlistment papers,
the sergeant watching me. While I was thus engaged, a man with his arm
off came in. He had just that day been discharged from the hospital, and
inquired what steps he should take to get a pension, having been
attracted by the flag hanging out of the office window. I noticed the
sergeant was particularly anxious to get him out of the room, evidently
not considering him a desirable acquisition to facilitate recruiting. I
explained to the man what he should do. The sergeant, when he saw me
make out my enlistment papers, remarked, "They won't keep you long in
the ranks, because they can get better work for you to do," or words to
that effect. I did not then comprehend what he meant, but my subsequent
experience explained it. I was then sent to the examining physician,
examined, passed, and sworn in for three years' service.
That night I went to my home, at Dobb's Ferry, on the Hudson River, and
reported what I had done, intending to leave for Washington the next
morning, when I was promised transportation. This interview with my
parents was quite unpleasant, as my father was very angry and my mother
in great distress. At that time both my father and his friends regarded
my action as worse than foolish and almost as bad as though I had done
something disreputable. Indeed, as I was afterwards informed, one
gentleman remarked, "Well, that is too bad; that boy has gone to the
devil, too."
The following morning I bade my parents good-bye, feeling that if I were
wounded or crippled I should not care to return home for them to take
care of me. Subsequent letters from home, however, removed that feeling.
The following night, having received transportation, I sailed as the
only passenger on a freight transport from a pier near the Battery to
South Amboy. I well remember my feelings as I watched New York receding
in the distance, there being no excitement or hand-shaking or waving of
flags such as accompanied the departure of the first troops that left
New York for thirty days' service the year before. From Amboy I went on
a coal train to Philadelphia.
On landing at Walnut Street wharf I went into the soldiers' refreshment
room, maintained by the citizens of Philadelphia, which was open night
and day, and at which all soldiers passing through the city were fed
free of charge. It was about two o'clock in the morning, very hot, and I
was tired and depressed. Hence, when invited to partake of some
refreshments, I was unable to do so but contented myself with eating a
few pickles.
I then walked across the city to the Baltimore depot, which was then at
the corner of Broad and Pine Streets, and took a passenger train for
Baltimore, which I reached about seven o'clock in the morning, sitting
up, as there were no sleeping-cars in those days. On arriving in
Baltimore I walked to another part of the city to take the train for
Washington. Meanwhile I wanted some breakfast. Going into a place which
I supposed was a restaurant, I found that the only thing they could
offer me was ice-cream. I thereupon ate some, and soon after took the
train for Washington. In a few moments the Philadelphia pickles, the hot
night, and the Baltimore ice-cream produced most severe cramps, and I
was in a very distressed state of mind, fearing that I would never be
able to reach the front, but would have to submit to the mortification
of being returned home.
Arriving in Washington, I went to Willard's Hotel, and, after a good
sleep, was able to take my dinner that evening. I had on citizen's
clothes and was not recognized as a private soldier in the United States
Army, so the head-waiter assigned me to a seat at a table where General
Halleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, sat opposite.
That evening, my uncle, E. V. Price, who was in Washington, met me at
the hotel and took me to General Pope's room. The latter had just
arrived in Washington to take command of the Army of the Potomac. My
uncle procured a pass from him to enable me to go through the lines and
join my regiment, the Second New York Cavalry (Harris Light). It was
stationed at Falmouth, Virginia. J. Mansfield Davies was the colonel at
that time, and Judson Kilpatrick the lieutenant-colonel. My uncle, who
knew Colonel Davies, introduced me to him that evening at the hotel. The
following morning I accompanied him on the boat to Aquia Creek and
reached the regiment on the evening of that day.
In two or three days I received my uniform and a horse was given to me.
The fact that I had been seen coming into camp with the Colonel led some
of the non-commissioned officers and men of my company to assume that I
did not intend to serve in the ranks, but would likely be commissioned
shortly and probably be jumped over them, who had already been out some
time, though they had not been in any battle, their previous service
being confined to drilling and a skirmish or two. This made it very
unpleasant for me, and for a short time I was subjected to some little
annoyance.
As I wore to the front the best suit of citizen's clothes I had, a man
in our company by the name of Rufus West proposed to buy them and agreed
to pay me eleven dollars for them. That night he deserted and joined
Mosby's command, having made the remark before leaving that he did not
"propose to fight to free niggers." He owes me the eleven dollars yet.
In a day or two I was assigned to picket duty with a man of my company,
on the Rappahannock River, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout, as
they said a female spy was expected to cross at that point. My comrade
was Henry E. Johns, who enlisted from Hartford, Connecticut. He appeared
to take pity on me, and that evening we discussed our families and our
affairs; and at that time a warm attachment was formed, which lasted
throughout the war, and since. As we were to remain on guard all night,
he suggested that we should take turns, each being on watch, two hours
on, and two hours off. Before morning I found it extremely difficult to
keep my eyes open, and several times walked to the river and washed my
face in order to do so. Just before daylight it was my turn to go to
sleep; when I awoke and looked around, I found no one on watch. Looking
beside me I found my comrade, also asleep. The place at which we were
posted was inaccessible in the night from our lines, because it was
at the foot of a deep ravine. I don't imagine any female spy crossed at
that point. If we had been caught asleep, however, it would have been an
embarrassing position for both of us to have been placed in.
[Illustration: CORPORAL HENRY E. JOHNS]
A few days later the Harris Light Cavalry made a raid in the
neighborhood of Fredericks Hall, Virginia, in which movement the command
marched some ninety miles in thirty hours. This was hard on the men, and
many of them were confined to their tents on their return to camp, from
saddle boils and lameness, for a day or two. I found it difficult to
keep awake on the march and picket, yet I was able to do duty without
interruption.
On this raid the regiment destroyed considerable property, and many of
the men carried away all sorts of things for which they had no use.
Indeed, I heard Colonel Kilpatrick laughingly remark that one fellow, in
his zeal to have something, actually had a grindstone on his saddle in
front of him. After carrying it about a mile he concluded, however, that
he had no further use for it, and dropped it in the road.