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

66 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.

"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

numbered about five thousand men; while Stuart's force has been estimated by reliable Confederate authority as between six and seven thousand. The Count of Paris,

however, who is generally conceded to be entirely reliable, estimates Stuart's force as considerably greater than the Confederate estimate. It is needless to say that had not Stuart been defeated in his purpose and driven back, the results of the battle of Gettysburg would have been entirely different from what they were.

But this brilliant, affair behind the Federal right was not the only occasion in which their cavalry did excellent service during the series of engagements upon this historic field. The left was the scene of the following dash upon the foe. General Longstreet had given orders to that part of his corps which was opposite Round Top, to make a demonstration upon that position for the purpose of preventing reinforcements being sent from there to meet Pickett's charge. In accordance with this order, the brigades of Benning, Robertson, and Law advanced to the attack, when they were unexpectedly called to meet a dash of the Federal cavalry. The brigades of Farnsworth and Merritt, accompanied by Graham's and Elder's batteries, under the gallant Kilpatrick, came sweeping around Big Round Top, screaming and yelling like demons, and dashed upon the astonished foe. A terrific fight ensued in which General Farnsworth was killed. He had been promoted to the command of a brigade on the Sunday previous, at General Meade's request, and now thus early fell at the head of his brave troopers. Kilpatrick not only came near capturing Longstreet's ammunition train, but compelled the troops, who were advancing towards