terms that words could express. He called the department commander's attention to the gallant conduct of this handful of men, requesting that his report of the fight be transmitted to the Commander-in-Chief. General Kelley, in complying with General Sullivan's request, indorsed upon the report: "I cheerfully comply with the request of General Sullivan in calling the attention of the Generalin-Chief to the gallant conduct of Major Henry A. Cole and his brave command. His repulse of the murderous attack made by an overwhelming force at 4 o'clock in a dark morning evinced a watchfulness and bravery most commendable." The following commendatory order was at once issued by the General in-Chief:

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 20, 1864.

Major-General B. F. Kelley, Cumberland, Md.

}

GENERAL: I have just received from your headquarters Major Henry A. Cole's report of the repulse of Moseby's attack upon the camp on Loudoun Heights on the 10th inst. Major Cole and his command, the battalion of P. M. B. Cavalry, Maryland Volunteers, deserve high praise for their gallantry in repelling this rebel assault.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief.

This order was read to the army, and a copy forwarded to Major Cole. It was the only instance during the Rebellion that such conspicuous commendation was awarded from the headquarters of the army to anything like such a force as that commanded by Major Cole.

There were a thousand thrilling incidents connected with this barefooted fight on the mountains, in the snow, worth relating, and the conspicuous instances of almost unexampled bravery would include almost every man in the command. But there is one touching incident necessary to join the woof and warp of this narration.

When daylight broke upon the scene there was a young Confederate soldier lying upon the field with a fatal wound in the neck, near the jugular vein. He was not more than twenty years of age, and a boy in appearance as well as in years. The officer who appears at the cross-roads in the beginning of this story, found him. He raised up dying lad and asked him his name.

"My name is Paxton," replied the boy, in broken tones.

the

"My God! are you Mr. Paxton's son who lives at the cross-roads towards Waterville?" eagerly inquired the officer.

"I am," was the simple response.

The humane act of his father in 1862 was recalled, and, full of emotion, the officer picked the lad up, carried him to the hospital, laid him upon an easy couch, and summoned the doctor, who replied, petulantly:

"We can't care for those men until we look after our own wounded." "But this boy must be cared for," said the officer; and in as few words as possible he told the story of 1862, when five of their men belonging to Cole's Cavalry lay wounded upon Paxton's farm at the cross-roads.

There was no more parleying, and the boy was at once carefully attended to, but he was beyond human aid. All that could be done for him to ease his last moments, was done. All the command felt, terribly as they themselves had suffered and were suffering, that this boy was entitled to every attention that could be shown him.

"I do this," said Mr. Paxton in 1862, when he assisted in taking the wounded men toward the river, "because I would want others to do the same by my boy, who is in the Confederate army, if he should be wounded."

The same officer and the same men who heard these words and received that favor, dealt the death-blow to that son. Yet his dying moments were made easier by them for the favor his father had done.

For this fight the battalion was raised to the dignity of a regiment, and Major Henry A. Cole was made its colonel, and Captain Vernon its lieutenant-colonel. The other officers were promoted to various positions in the regiment, but neither oflicers nor men, in their advanced places, lost an opportunity to refer with pride to the "old battalion" and its record.

CHAPTER XII.

SUMMONED TO WASHINGTON.

HARD SERVICE AFTER CHATTANOOGA

THE

GRANT PUTS HIM IN COMMAND OF ALL CAVALRY IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC DISGUSTED AT BEING ORDERED EAST-THE CONFIDENCE HE INSPIRED ROSTER OF THE CAVALRY CORPS-DISPUTE WITH MEADE CHANGING SHERIDAN'S ORDERS AND ITS RESULTS.

AFTER Chattanooga, what? Hard service without cessation. The little soldier welcomed it unhesitatingly. He had won commendation. on all sides; most ungrudgingly from General Grant, who had from the first appreciated the young general, blunt of speech and bold of deed, untiring in action, persistent of pursuit, and fertile of resources under all conditions. He still further appreciated him when he saw at Chattanooga, how his valor and energy could not alone secure victory for himself, but repair also the breaches made through others. Adam Badeau says in his volume on the military life of Grant, that when first made brigadier, the young commander eagerly seized on the opportunity to participate in the pending campaign of General Buell, which terminated for that officer at Perryville. Grant, says Badeau, was "nettled" at Sheridan's willingness to leave the "Army of the Tennessee, then (1862), by Halleck's removal to Washington and acceptance of the post of General-in-Chief, under Unconditional Surrender's' immediate command." Badeau adds: "Grant followed Sheridan later to the same field, and again at Chattanooga the fiery spirit and genius of Sheridan commended him to his superior. Grant always spoke in

glowing language of Sheridan's charge at Missionary Ridge, and still more warmly of his pursuit of the enemy afterward. He already saw that quality so rare, even in an illustrious soldier the power to make the most of a victory.

"When Grant became (as lieutenant-general) the General-in-Chief, he at once put Sheridan at the head of the eastern cavalry.

man.

"I remember asking him about the new commander, who at that time I had not seen, and his praise was enthusiastic when he described the energy and ability, the promptness and persistency of Sheridan. Grant always became eloquent when he talked of Sheridan or SherHis face would flush with generous ardor, his eyes gleamed, and he even gesticulated a little when he spoke of the feats of the two men who could ever, by any chance, become his rivals. After a very short time I can testify to the confidence, the chivalrous admiration, the commendation, which Grant bestowed on his cavalry commander

"In the Wilderness campaign the young general (barely thirty years of age) was constantly given the most difficult and dangerous tasks. When he was sent off on a distant expedition his formal orders went through Meade, but Grant always saw him in person, and added verbal instructions, but leaving all detail of execution to Sheridan. They understood each other easily, they had so much in common." Grant himself says in his Memoirs, that it was Halleck who suggested Sheridan's name. Here is what Grant wrote:

"In one of my early interviews with the President, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the little that had been accomplished by cavalry so far in the war, and the belief that it was capable of doing so much if under a competent leader. I said I wanted the very best man that could be had.

"Halleck was present and spoke up, saying: 'How would Sheridan do? I replied, The very man I want,' and the President said I could have any one I wanted. Sheridan was telegraphed for that day, and took command of the cavalry corps. This relieved General Alfred Pleasonton."

taste.

Sheridan, however, did not receive his new assignment without disHe had been promised command of his old corps. The battlefields of Virginia had proven the grave-yard, in character, of so many rising soldiers, that it was not to be wondered at, that a brilliant young soldier like Sheridan should feel distrust at a command which might, in its results, ultimately cloud his own splendidly growing reputation. So it was, however.

There were yet over four months of toilsome work before Sheridan, ere he was to flash, meteor-like, over his new field of action. Immediately after the battle and victory of Chattanooga, Grant had to be assured of the temporary prostration at least, of the rebel forces his armies had so completely driven from their chosen positions. It was soon found that Bragg had fallen rapidly back to Ringgold, Georgia, and beyond. This southward movement relieved Tennessee. The head-lines of the New York Tribune's dispatches of November 27th, give in staccato sentences a picture of the condition of affairs which is worthy of reproduction. Here they are:

"Panic flight of the rebels!

66

They burn the bridges behind them, all their depots and stores, and abandon everything that retards their flight!

"Three thousand prisoners taken - fifty-two cannon --5,000 stand of arms and ten battle-flags!

"The rebels fly, leaving Longstreet to take care of himself!" A dispatch of the 26th, says:

"Sheridan reached Chickamauga Station at 4 P. M. He captured 500 prisoners, four guns, and a number of pontoons."

Quartermaster-General M. C. Meigs, in a most brilliant dispatch, wrote that "the battle extended six miles along Missionary Ridge and for several miles along Lookout Mountain. No better ordered or directed battle has taken place during the war."

The condition of affairs that followed is shown by this dispatch of December 3d: "Generals Hooker and Palmer evacuated Ringgold this morning [Tuesday, December 1st]. There is no enemy within twentythree miles. But they are in force at Tunnel Hill." That was at least sixty miles south of Chattanooga.

Sherman, however, with part of the Army of the Tennessee (McPherson held Northern Alabama with the balance) and two divisions of the Fourth Corps (Granger's), Army of the Cumberland, was immediately sent after Longstreet, and to relieve East Tennessee entirely. Sheridan and his division were part of this command which, in the slush and snow of early winter, marched over the mountains to Knoxville. Longstreet with all of the regular Confederate forces under his command, made a hasty retreat and complete evacuation of the entire region, falling back eastward into Southwest Virginia. The relief thus afforded had a great effect on the preponderating Union sentiment, and