A BATTLE OF CENTAURS.

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soon did the same. Canister and percussion shell were put into the steadily approaching columns as fast as the guns could fire. The dismounted men fell back to the right and left, and such as could got to their horses. The mounted skirmishers rallied and fell into line. Then Gregg rode over to the First Michigan, which, as it had come upon the field some time before, had formed close column of squadrons between and supporting the batteries, and ordered it to charge. As Town ordered sabres to be drawn and the column to advance, Custer dashed up with similar orders, and placed himself at its head. The two columns drew nearer and nearer, the Confederates outnumbering their opponents as three or four to one. The gait increased, first the trot, then the gallop. Hampton's battle-flag floated in the van of the brigade. The orders of the Confederate officers could be heard by those in the woods on their left: Keep to your sabres, men, keep to your sabres!' for the lessons they had learned at

There the

Brandy Station and at Aldie had been severe. cry had been: 'Put up your sabres! Draw your pistols and fight like gentlemen!' But the sabre was never a favorite weapon with Confederate cavalry, and now, in spite of the lessons of the past, the warnings of the present were not heeded by all.

"As the charge was ordered the speed increased, every horse on the jump, every man yelling like a demon. The column of the Confederates blended, but the perfect alignment was maintained. Chester put charge after charge of canister into their midst, his men bringing it up to the guns by the armful. The execution was fearful, but the long rent closed up at once. As the opposing columns

drew nearer and nearer, each with perfect alignment, every man gathered his horse well under him, and gripped his weapon the tighter. Though ordered to retire his guns, towards which the head of the assaulting column was directed, Chester kept on until the enemy were within fifty yards, and the head of the First Michigan had come into the line of his fire. Staggered by the fearful execution from the two batteries, the men in the front line of the Confederate column drew in their horses and wavered. Some turned, and the column fanned out to the right and left, but those behind came pressing on. Custer, seeing the front men hesitate, waved his sabre and shouted, 'Come on, you Wolverines!' and with a fearful yell, the First Michigan rushed on, Custer four lengths ahead.

"McIntosh, as he saw the Confederate column advancing, sent his adjutant - general, Captain Walter S. Newhall, to the left with orders to Treichel and Rodgers to rally their men for a charge on the flank as it passed. But sixteen men could get their horses, and with five officers they made for the battle-flag. Newhall, back once more with the men of his own regiment, who, as he knew well, would go anywhere, and sharing the excitement of the moment, rushed in by the side of Treichel and Rodgers at the head of the little band. Miller, whose squadron of the Third Pennsylvania was already mounted, and had rallied, fired a volley from the woods on the right, as the Confederate column passed parallel with his line, but one hundred yards off, and then, with sabres drawn, charged down into the overwhelming masses of the enemy.

"The small detachment of the Third Pennsylvania, under Treichel and Rodgers, struck the enemy first, all

"KEEP TO YOUR SABRES, MEN!"

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making for the color-guard. Newhall was about seizing the flag when a sabre blow, directed at his head, compelled him to parry it. At the same moment the color-bearer lowered his spear and struck Newhall full in the face, tearing open his mouth and knocking him senseless to the ground. Every officer and nearly every man in the little band was killed or wounded, although some succeeded in cutting their way clear through. Almost at the same moment Miller, with his squadron of the Third Pennsylvania, struck the left flank about two thirds of the way down the column. Going through and through, he cut off the rear portion and drove it back past Rummel's, almost up to the Confederate battery, and nothing but the heavy losses which he had suffered and the scattering of his men prevented his going further, wounded though he was.

“In the meantime, the two columns had come together with a crash - the one led by Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee (for he, too, was there,) and the other by Custer-and were fighting hand to hand, McIntosh, with his staff and orderlies, and such scattered men from Michigan and other regiments as he could get together, charged in with their sabres. For minutes, which seemed like hours, amid the clashing of the sabres, the rattle of the small arms, the frenzied imprecations, the demands for surrender, the undaunted replies, and the appeals for mercy, the Confederate column stood its ground. Captain Thomas, of the staff, seeing that a little more was needed to turn the tide, cut his way over to the woods on the right, where he knew he could find Hart, with his fresh squadron of the First New Jersey. In the melee, near the colors, was an officer

This column marks the place where the great cavalry engagement behind the right of the Federal line occurred in the afternoon of the 3d, simultaneous with Pickett's (From a Photograph by Tipton.)

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charge in front.

THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY RETREAT.

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of high rank, and the two headed the squadron for that part of the fight. They came within reach of him with their sabres, and then it was that Wade Hampton was wounded.

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By this time the edge of the Confederate column had begun to fray away, and the outside men to draw back. As Hart's squadron, and the other small parties who had rallied and mounted, charged down from all sides, the enemy turned. Then followed a pell-mell rush, our men in close pursuit. Many prisoners were captured, and many of our men, through their impetuosity, were carried away by the overpowering current of the retreat.

"The pursuit was kept up past Rummel's, and the enemy were driven back into the woods beyond. The line of fences and the farm buildings which constituted the key-point of the field, and which, in the beginning of the fight, had been in the possession of the enemy, remained in ours until the end. All serious fighting for the day was over, for Pickett's simultaneous assault had also been repulsed, and the victory along the line was complete. Skirmishing and some desultory artillery firing was kept up at intervals by both forces until after nightfall, these disturbances being caused by the enemy's endeavor to recover their killed and wounded, who were lying thickly strewed over the field in our possession. At dark Stuart withdrew to the York pike, preparatory to covering the retreat of Lee's army toward the Potomac. In the evening, Custer's brigade was ordered to join its division. Gregg remained all night in possession of the field, and in the morning started in pursuit of the retreating enemy."

The force under General Gregg in this engagement