UNWRITTEN HISTORY.
"What boots a weapon in a withered hand?"--A thunderbolt
wasted.--War upon hen-roosts.--A bit of unpublished history.--A
fierce fight with Hampton's cavalry.--"In one red burial
blent."--From camp to home.--Troubles never come singly.--The
combat.--The capture.--A superfluity of Confederate
politeness.--Lights and shadows.
While the events we have narrated were occurring, the "Harris Light" was
not idle. Under the command of their favorite Kilpatrick, they made a
dashing raid, and completely encircled the rebels under Lee, penetrating
to within seven miles of Richmond. Such duties as were assigned them
were effectively performed, and yet, General Hooker's object in
detaching his cavalry from the main army remained unaccomplished, either
by reason of General Stoneman's want of comprehension, or want of
energy. This general, instead of hurling his thirteen thousand troopers
like a thunderbolt upon the body of the Confederates, divided and
frittered away the strength under his command by detaching and
scattering it into mere scouting parties, to "raid on smoke-houses and
capture hen-roosts." General Hooker was very naturally exasperated by
this conduct. The detachment from the main army of such a splendid body
of horse, was a measure he had taken after mature deliberation, and with
the view of cutting off Lee's communications with Richmond; thus
precluding the possibility of his being reinforced during the grand
attack which Hooker contemplated upon that leader at Chancelorsville.
The Federal general attributed the loss of that battle in a great degree
to Stoneman's failure to carry out the spirit of his orders. In a letter
to the author, long after that field of carnage had bloomed and
blossomed with the flowers and fruits of Peace, when the heart-burning
and fever engendered by the contest had subsided, and it was possible to
obtain access to men's judgments, General Hooker wrote: "Soon after
Stonewall Jackson started to turn my right (a project of which I was
informed by a prisoner), I despatched a courier to my right corps
commander informing him of the intended movement, and instructing him to
put himself in readiness to receive the attack. This dispatch was dated
at nine o'clock A. M., and yet, when 'Stonewall' did attack, the men of
this corps had their arms stacked some distance from them, and were
busily engaged in cooking their supper. When the attack came these men
ran like a flock of sheep. _This_, in a wooded country, where a _corps_
ought to be able to check the advance of a large army. To make this more
clear, I must tell you that the corps commander, General Howard,
received the dispatch while on his bed, and, after reading it, put it in
his pocket, where it remained until after the battle of Gettysburg,
without communicating its contents to his division commander, or to any
one!!! My opinion is that not a gun of ours was fired upon Stonewall
Jackson's force until he had passed nearly into the centre of my army.
Judge, if you can, of the consternation throughout that army caused by
this exhibition of negligence and cowardice. One word more, in regard to
the cavalry. I had to have, under the seniority rule of the service, a
wooden man for its commander. If you will turn to the first volume of
the Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, you will find my
instructions to General Stoneman, and then you will see the mistake that
I made in informing him of the strength and position of the enemy he
would be likely to encounter on his raid, as that officer only made use
of the information to avoid the foe. He traveled at night, made
extensive detours, and did not interrupt the traffic on the railroads
between Lee's army and Richmond for a single day. As he was charged to
make this duty his especial object of accomplishment over all others, he
had twelve thousand sabres, double the force the enemy could collect
from all quarters. I had men enough with me to have won Chancelorsville
without the cavalry and other corps, but of what use could a field of
battle have been to me when the enemy could fall back a few miles and
post himself on a field possessing still greater advantages to him?
General Grant did this, and is entitled to all the merit of his
soldiership from a grateful country. I believe if he had sacrificed
every officer and soldier of his command in the attainment of this
object, the country would have applauded him. When I crossed the
Rappahannock I aimed to capture General Lee's whole army and thus end
the war, by manoeuvring, and not by butchery."
While his superior in command did little that was practically useful
with the cavalry, Kilpatrick covered his little band with glory, and
gave the people of Richmond, a scare as great as Stuart administered to
our Quaker friends in Pennsylvania during his famous foray into the
border counties of the Keystone State.
Their return was almost immediately followed by the second grand cavalry
battle of Brandy Station, June ninth, 1863, a struggle as hotly
contested as any that occurred during the war. In this encounter
Sergeant Willard Glazier took part, leading the first platoon of the
first battalion that crossed the Rappahannock. Matters were now assuming
a warlike aspect. The Valley of the Shenandoah groaned beneath the tramp
of the main army of the Confederacy, under Lee. The Federal general,
Pleasanton, and the Confederate general, Stuart, were in fierce conflict
among the Blue Ridge mountains.
[Illustration: Sergeant Glazier At Aldie. "Come On Boys! One
Charge, And The Day Is Ours."]
At Aldie, on the seventeenth of June, 1863, the "Harris Light" led the
division under Kilpatrick, Glazier's squadron again being the advance
guard--his place at the head of the long column which wound down the
road. As they came upon Aldie, the enemy's advance, under W. H. F. Lee,
was unexpectedly encountered. But Kilpatrick was equal to the occasion.
Dashing to the front, his voice rang out, "Form platoons! trot! march!"
Down through the streets they charged, and along the Middleburg Road,
leading over the low hill beyond. This position was gained so quickly
and gallantly that Fitzhugh Lee, taken by surprise, made no opposition
to the brilliant advance, though immediately afterward he fought for two
hours to regain the lost position, while the guns of his batteries
blazed destruction upon the Federal cavalry. The latter, however,
handsomely repelled the attack.
On the crest of the hill there was a field of haystacks, inclosed in a
barricade of rails. Behind these the enemy occupied a strong position,
and their sharp-shooters had annoyed Kilpatrick's lines to such an
extent as to prevent their advance on the left. It was well known to
the officers of the "Harris Light" that their regiment had not met
Kilpatrick's expectations on the field of Brandy Station, and on the
morning of this battle they had asked their general for "an opportunity
to retrieve their reputation." This chance came soon enough. Kilpatrick,
ordering forward a battalion of the "Harris Light," and giving the men a
few words of encouragement, turned to Major McIrvin and pointing to the
field of haystacks, said: "Major, there is the opportunity you ask for!
Go take that position!" Away dashed the "Harris Light," and in a moment
the enemy was reached and the struggle began. The horses could not leap
the barricade, the men dismounted, scaled the barriers, and with drawn
sabres rushed furiously upon the hidden foe, who quickly called for
quarter. Aldie was by far the most bloody cavalry battle of the war. The
rebel "chivalry" was beaten; Kilpatrick from this moment took a proud
stand among the most famous of the Union cavalry generals, and the fame
of the regiment was greatly enhanced. To quote our young soldier in
"Battles for the Union:" "Many a brave soul suffered death's sad eclipse
at Aldie, and many escaped the storm of bullets when to escape was
miraculous. In looking back upon that desperate day, I have often
wondered by what strange fatality I passed through its rain of fire
unhurt; but the field which brought a harvest of death to so many others
marked an era in my own humble, military history, which I recall with
pride and pleasure, for from the Battle of Aldie I date my first
commission. The mantle of rank which fell from one whom death had
garnered on that ground dropped upon my shoulders, and I was proud and
grateful to wear it in my country's service. I feel proud also of having
been a participant in the 'Battle of the Haystacks,' where the glorious
squadrons of the 'Harris Light' swept into the mad conflict with the
same invincible bravery that distinguished them on the field of Brandy
Station. Every soldier of the saddle who there fought under Kilpatrick
may justly glory in the laurels won at Aldie."
In the same month followed the engagements of Middleburg and Upperville,
in each of which the "Harris Light" participated with great eclat,
charging in face of the enemy's guns, forming in platoon under fire, and
routing him in splendid style. At Upperville, Kilpatrick received orders
to charge the town. With drawn sabres and shouts which made the
mountains and plains resound, they rushed upon the foe. The encounter
was terrific. The enemy's horse were driven through the village of
Paris, and finally through Ashby's Gap upon their own infantry columns
in the Shenandoah Valley. At Rector's Cross-Roads, where Kilpatrick
ordered the "Harris Light" to charge the enemy's battery, as they were
forming, a fatal bullet pierced Glazier's horse, and it fell dead under
him. Fortunately he was not dragged down in the fall, and as he struck
the ground a riderless horse belonging to an Indiana company came up.
Its owner, a sergeant, had been shot dead, and, rapidly mounting,
Lieutenant Glazier rode forward with his regiment as they valiantly
charged the enemy's position.
These actions were succeeded by the battle of Gettysburg (July first,
second and third), in which the disasters of Chancelorsville and
Fredericksburg were fully retrieved, and the rebel army, under Lee,
received a blow so staggering in its effects as to result in a loss of
prestige, and all hope in the ultimate success of their cause. Prior to
this battle the Confederates had warred upon the North aggressively;
thenceforward they were compelled to act upon the defensive. During the
progress of this great and (so far as the ultimate fate of the
Confederacy was concerned) decisive battle, the cavalry, including the
brigade to which our subject was attached, performed brilliant service.
They held Stuart's force effectually at bay, and while the retreat of
the rebel army was in progress their services were in constant
requisition. On the first day of the battle, General John Buford,
commanding the Third Cavalry Division, was in position on the
Chambersburg Pike, about two miles west of the village. Early in the
forenoon the vanguard of the rebel army appeared in front of them, and
our dauntless troopers charged the enemy vigorously, and drove them back
upon their reserves.
The second day of the battle was spent by the cavalry in hard, bold and
bloody work, in collision with their old antagonists, Stuart, Lee and
Hampton. Charge succeeded charge; the carbine, pistol and sabre were
used by turns; the artillery thundering long after the infantry around
Gettysburg had sunk to rest exhausted with the carnage of the weary day.
Stuart, however, was driven back on his supports, and badly beaten.
Upon the third day the sun rose bright and warm upon the bleached forms
of the dead strewn over the sanguinary field; upon the wounded, and upon
long, glistening lines of armed men ready to renew the conflict. Each
antagonist, rousing every element of power, seemed resolved upon victory
or death. Finally victory saluted the Union banners, and with great loss
the rebel army sounded the retreat. "Thus," says Glazier in his "Battles
for the Union"--"the Battle of Gettysburg ended--the bloody
turning-point of the rebellion--the bloody baptism of the redeemed
republic. Nearly twenty thousand men from the Union ranks had been
killed and wounded, and a larger number of the rebels, making the
enormous aggregate of at least forty thousand, whose blood was shed to
fertilize the Tree of Liberty."
During this sanguinary battle; the cavalry were in daily and hourly
conflict with the enemy's well-trained horse under their respective
dashing leaders. The sabre was no "useless ornament," but a deadly
weapon, and "dead cavalrymen" and their dead chargers, were sufficiently
numerous to have drawn forth an exclamation of approval from even so
exacting a commander as "Fighting Joe Hooker." Haggerstown, Boonsboro',
Williamsport and Falling Waters, all attested the great efficiency of
the cavalry arm, and at the end of the month it was an assured,
confident and capable body of dragoons, that, according to Captain
Glazier, "crossed the Rapidan for, as they believed, the purpose of a
continued advance movement against the enemy."
And here, parenthetically, we may observe, that he, and other recent
writers (Mr. Lossing being an exception), are scarcely accurate in so
designating the river crossed by them as the Rapidan. It was the _chief
tributary of the Rappahannock_, while two sister streams, which together
form the Pamunkey, are known to local topography as the North and South
Rapid Anna rivers.
It was a pleasant locality, and the "Harris Light" encamped there for
several weeks, having no occupation more exciting or belligerent than
picket duty. Duties of a more stirring character, were, however,
awaiting them, and as these are intimately associated with the career of
the subject of this biography, the delineation of whose life is the
purpose of the writer, we will give them something more than a cursory
notice.
We will first, however, take the opportunity of introducing a letter
from our young cavalryman to his parents, illustrative in some measure
of his intelligence and soldierly qualities, while it is no less so of
his sense of filial duty:
Headquarters Harris Lgt. Cavalry,
Near Hartwood Church, Virginia,
_August 22d, 1863_.
Dear Father and Mother:
Another birthday has rolled around, and finds me still in the army.
Two years have passed since we were lying quietly in camp near
Washington. Little did I think at that time that the insurrection,
which was then in process of organization, was of such mighty
magnitude as to be able to continue in its treacherous designs
until now. Newspaper quacks and mercenary correspondents kept facts
from the public, and published falsehoods in their stead.
Experience has at last taught us the true state of things, and we
now feel that the great work of putting down the rebellion is to be
accomplished only by energy, perseverance and unity. Our cause
never looked more favorable than to-day. It is no longer a rumor
that Vicksburg and Port Hudson have fallen, but a stern reality, an
actual and glorious victory to our arms, and a sure exposure of the
waning strength of the ill-fated Confederacy. Charleston and Mobile
must soon follow the example of the West, and then the Army of the
Potomac will strike the final blow in Virginia.
Kilpatrick's cavalry is now watching the movements of the enemy on
the Rappahannock--his head-quarters being near Hartwood Church. I
have seen nothing that would interest you much, save a few
expeditions among the bushwhackers of Stafford County.
It may not be uninteresting to you to learn that I have just been
promoted to a lieutenancy, my commission to date from the
seventeenth of June. I have received four successive promotions
since my enlistment. Your son can boast that his Colonel says he
has earned his commission. Political or moneyed influence has had
nothing to do with it. I have been in command of a platoon or
company ever since the thirteenth of last April, and have very
frequently been in charge of a squadron. I conclude by asking you
to remember me kindly to all my friends,
And believe me, as ever, your dutiful son,
Willard.
It will be remembered that the greater part of the spring of this year
(1863), that is, from the time the Federal army moved from its
winter-quarters in Stafford and King George counties, and all the early
summer, were passed by the belligerent forces in efforts to compel their
adversaries to fall back on their respective capitals. The people and
the press on both sides were clamoring for the accomplishment of
_something definite_, and when Vicksburg fell, and on the stricken field
of Gettysburg, victory perched upon the Union banners, our hopes seemed
on the point of realization, but the fall of the leaf found the hostile
armies still confronting each other. Lee's force, though fearfully
shattered, maintained its organization, and to all appearance had lost
little of its former self-confidence. General Meade, perhaps the most
scientific strategist of all the generals who had held the chief command
of the Army of the Potomac, was severely criticised, simply because he
declined by "raw Haste, half-sister to Delay," to hazard the ultimate
fruition of his well-laid plans; and Captain Glazier, it must be
admitted, was one of his adverse critics. We think the censure was
uncalled for. Wellington had but one Waterloo, and although to him was
due the victory, it was the fresh army of Blucher that pursued the
retreating French, and made defeat irretrievable. But whenever Lee, or
McClellan, Jackson, or Meade obtained a hard-earned victory, the people,
on either side, were dissatisfied because their triumph was not followed
up by, at once and forever, annihilating the foe!