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98 Series I Volume XLIII-I Serial 90 - Shenandoah Valley Campaign Part I

Page 98 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.

December 28.-Marched at daylight, passing through Millwood and crossing Opequon Creek. Arrived in old camp at 1 p. m.

December 31.-General Gibbs assumed temporary command of the First Division in the absence of General Merritt, Major McKendry, Second Massachusetts Cavalry, commanding brigade.

The weather during the expedition was exceedingly cold, snowy, and rainy, rendering the roads in such an impassable and slippery condition as to cause many horses to be worn out and consequently abandoned. Some thirteen enlisted men were captured and shot by guerrillas. Brigade re-enforced by the First Rhode Island Cavalry; reduced by the detail of the First U. S. Cavalry at Cavalry Corps headquarters.

Third Division.

August 1 to 4.-Encamped near Jerusalem plank, the command picketing the left of the army before Petersburg.

August 5.-Broke camp and marched to City Point; began to embark the command to Giesborough Point.

August 12.-The entire division being together again, received orders to march to the Shenandoah Valley, via Leesburg, through Snicker's Gap; arrived at Winchester August 17, in time to cover the rear of the army, falling back toward Berryville; were attacked at Winchester by the enemy's infantry, cavalry, and artillery; hotly engaged until 9 p. m., when the division fell back through Winchester; marched to Summit Point; remained there until August 21, picketing the Opequon.

August 21.-The enemy attacked in force; retired through Charlestown, takign position on the extreme right of the army near that place.

August 22.-Fell back to near Halltown, Va., taking position again on the extreme right of the army, picketing to our front and right.

August 25.-Joined in a reconnaissance with the First Division to Kearneysville; met a large force of the enemy coming up the pike on a reconnaissance toward Shepherdstown, consisting of Breckinridge's division of infantry and some cavalry; a severe engagement ensued, in which the enemy was driven about half a mile, but he rallied, developed his force, and we fell back leisurely and in good order to our former position.

August 26.-Broke camp at 1 a. m., crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, marched through Pleasant Valley to Boonsborough Mountain, picketing the river at Antietam Ford and near Sharpsburg.

August 28.-Recrossed the river at Shepherdstown and marched to Charlestown, Va.

September 2.-Moved into Berryville and went into camp, picketing to the front and left; daily reconnaissances sent out either toward Millwood and White Post or to the Opequon on the Berryville and Winchester pike.

September 13.-Sent four regiments, under Brigadier-General McIntosh, of the First Brigade, on an expedition toward Winchester across the Opequon; by a gallant charge of the Third New Jersey and Second Ohio Cavalry the capture of the Eighth South Carolina Infantry Regiment, with their battle-flag, was handsomely effected; the regiment consisted of 14 commissioned officers (among them the colonel) and 92 enlisted men; besides this 2 commissioned officers and 35 enlisted men belonging to several Virginia cavalry regiments were taken.


Page 98 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.