SURGEON MAYER MEDICAL PURVEYOR.

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manly traits, his heart overflowing with kind and generous feeling, it is difficult to realize that I shall feel the warm grasp of his hand no more."

Towards the end of October, the fever began rapidly to abate. The Fifteenth was temporarily divided between Slocum's Creek and Evans's Mills, outposts a few miles distant.

Newberne had had a terrible experience. The dreaded epidemic had broken out about the 1st of September in the lower part of the city; and, on the 3d, three deaths occurred at Foster Hospital. The disease raged thereafter for seven weeks with great violence and fatality. Three thousand persons soldiers and citizens were attacked, and thirteen hundred died. Very few who remained in the vicinity escaped. Of the eight surgeons who were stationed in the town at the time, four showed the white feather, and left for healthier latitudes. Honor is due to Surgeon Hand, the medical director, and Surgeons Cowgill, U.S V., Mayer of the Sixteenth, and Hendrick of the Fifteenth, Connecticut, the four who bravely remained on duty, and discharged their great trust alone till assistance came, some three weeks after the scourge appeared. Ten surgeons died during the epidemic. The officers and soldiers of the Fifteenth rendered constant and invaluable service in nursing the sick and dying, not only of their own afflicted regiment, but among the citizens.

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CHAPTER XLI.

Sheridan takes Command in the Shenandoah. - The First Connecticut Cavalry, Second Artillery, and Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Eighteenth Infantry.— At Winchester. Kearneysville. Skirmishes. - Battle of Opequan Creek. Casualties. Spring Hill. Cedar Creek. - Defeat and Victory. Heavy Losses. The Pursuit.Roll of Honor of Yale College and Wesleyan University. - The Seventeenth in Florida. - Battles and Raids. - Successes and Disasters. Incidents. — Casualties.

ESOLVED to push the enemy at all points, Grant ordered aggressive movements in the Shenandoah. On Aug. 1, 1864, Gen. Hunter was, at his own request, relieved of the command of that army; and Sheridan was appointed his successor. The new commander was given three infantry corps, the 6th, 8th, and 19th, and ten thousand cavalry. Of Connecticut regiments, there were the Second Artillery, still fighting as infantry in Wright's 6th Corps; the Eighteenth in Crook's 8th Corps; the First Cavalry in Wilson's division; the Ninth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth (which had joined the army again), from the Department of the Gulf, in the 19th Corps. The Second was commanded by Col. Mackenzie, assisted by Lieut.-Col. James Hubbard, and Majors William B. Ells, James Q. Rice, and Jeffrey Skinner. The Eighteenth was commanded by Capt. M. V. B. Tiffany. The First Cavalry was under Col. E. Blakeslee. The Twelfth was commanded by Lieut.-Col. Frank H. Peck, who became colonel Aug. 26, vice Ledyard Colburn resigned; Major George N. Lewis succeeding him as lieutenant-colonel, and Capt. Sidney E. Clark becoming major. The Thirteenth was still commanded by Col. Charles D. Blinn. Homer B. Sprague was lieutenant-colonel; and Apollos Comstock, major. The Ninth was led by Capt. John G. Healey.

SKILLFUL MANEUVER OF THE FIRST CAVALRY. 715

Brig.-Gen. Henry W. Birge commanded a division. Col. William G. Ely commanded a brigade, including the Eighteenth, under Crook.

Early was posted at or near Winchester: Sheridan had headquarters towards Harper's Ferry; and for weeks the two armies advanced and receded, each making feints, but hesitating to bring on a general engagement.

On Aug. 16, Sheridan had pushed forward to Winchester; and a brigade of Wilson's cavalry was stationed south of the town. The First Connecticut Cavalry was dismounted, and in the extreme front. About dusk, the rebels issued from the woods in double lines, and charged heavily all along the left of the position, driving in our pickets, and advancing on the east towards the town. The First was just west and south of a fort; and into this the enemy charged on a run, as the Union guard vacated it. The regiment held its post behind a stone wall, not knowing that the rebels had attacked on the west simultaneously, and driven in our forces there also. At last, they pressed forward to the stone wall in heavy force; and Col. Blakeslee withdrew his men up the hill. It was too dark for the enemy to distinguish whether they were friends or foes; and the silence was not disturbed. By the time the cavalry had reached their horses, posted in a little valley just back of the fort, the rebels had swung round on the fort as a pivot, until their line extended far towards the town, in which direction fighting was brisk. In this hollow, Col. Blakeslee found detachments of the 1st New-Jersey and 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry; and at their request assumed command. The enemy's infantry were within pistol-range; and his men could not mount. The colonel immediately made his arrangements. Major George O. Marcy concealed the men in some bushes; while Major Brayton Ives withdrew the horses carefully over the brow of the hill. By this time, the Confederates and "Yankees" had struck up a wordy war. "Who's in them bushes?" demanded a rebel. "First Connecticut Cavalry," shouted Capt. John B. Morehouse; while others added the names of a dozen other regiments.

The horses were promptly got in line; the men, at the

whispered word of command, stole out of the bushes; the rebels followed like shadows. This would not do: Col. Blakeslee posted a squadron of his men behind a stone wall, while the rest mounted. They, in turn, were then defended by the horsemen wheeled to the front; and the force took a hasty retreat across the fields. The enemy had advanced from the east and west, and was now fighting our infantry in the very streets of Winchester. The regiment took a circuitous route, passed to the west, and, without the loss of a man, joined the column in retreat north of the town. Gen. McIntosh was surprised and delighted at the apparition; for he supposed the force was cut off and captured. There was much comment on both the skill and good fortune of the escape. The whole brigade fell back towards Harper's Ferry.

Early on the morning of Aug. 25, Wilson's cavalry division marched from Halltown towards Winchester in column by brigade. Near the railroad station of Kearneysville, the advance met the rebel outposts. Col. Blakeslee of the First said in a narrative at the time, "As the head of the regiment rose over a little hill, a scene presented itself more like the book-fights than any other I ever saw. In front was a large plain, without fences, one-third of a mile across; a large tract of tall, old woods beyond the farther edge. The wood was ringing with the sharp crack of muskets; and out of it our mounted skirmishers were skurrying across the field towards us. The plain was full of mounted men surging backwards, followed by the sharp 'ping' of musketballs. On our right, Custar's brigade battery, six guns, was showering shot and shell into the woods. His fine brigadeband was arrayed on white horses, playing 'The Starspangled Banner' at the loudest; and his men stood with sabers drawn and colors flying, ready to charge."

The regiments were now dismounted, and moved forward to fight on foot. The men of the First were all eager excitement. Across the plain they charged, into and through the woods, close on the heels of the flying enemy. The latter made a slight stand in a cornfield, but broke when down the line rolled out a terrible volley from the Spencer

RESIGNATION OF COL. ELY.

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carbine. They rallied no more until reaching their reserves, - Early's main force, when, the object of the reconnoissance being effected, the cavalry retired.

During the next few weeks, the regiment was in the saddle almost constantly, reconnoitering and skirmishing daily in the vicinity of Berryville, Millwood, White Post, and Winchester; the most important affair being on the 14th of September, on the Winchester Pike, where Capt. Joab B. Rogers's squadron assisted a detachment of the 3d NewYork and 2d Ohio in surrounding and capturing an entire regiment of South-Carolina infantry with their colors. Sergeant Charles Griggs of Woodstock was killed at this time.

The Eighteenth continued with the 8th Corps until Sept. 12; when, after the sharp and successful skirmish at Berryville, it was detached to recuperate. Its recent severe service under Hunter had sadly diminished its numbers, and impaired its efficiency; and it was ordered to Martinsburg, and was not engaged in the succeeding battles of the autumn. Col. William G. Ely, who had been a brave and skillful officer, and who had retained in a marked degree the confidence of the regiment, here resigned, and received the compliment of promotion to the rank of brigadiergeneral by brevet. He had served more than three years faithfully. Capt. M. V. B. Tiffany, commanding the regi ment in the temporary absence of Major Peale, wrote of Gen. Ely,

"I can not but express in behalf of the regiment the sincere regret we feel in parting from one who has so long been our champion leader, and endeared himself to us by his many ennobling qualities. On the long, weary march; in the sanguinary engagement; when the enemy surrounded, and danger on every side threatened, he has ever been present with us. He has been most faithful to his trust; strict in discipline; firm, resolute, but just, in the exercise of his authority. By his undaunted courage, by his calm and deliberate judgment, by his own patient endurance of hardships and sufferings, and his ever-cheerful willingness to comply with the requirements of his position, he has won for himself the entire confidence, respect, and esteem of his command; in a word, we have always been proud of our colonel. It has filled us with admiration, strengthened our courage, and inspired us with renewed confidence, as we have seen him in the impetuous charge, dashing forward on the leading flank, and cheering on his men by his own enthusiastic bravery. During the latter part of his term of service, he has been in command of the 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Army of West Virginia; in the exercise of which command he has