FIRST CAVALRY.

The First Cavalry Regiment,. Which contained a considerable number of men from Genesee county, was organized in the summer of 1861, under Col. T. F. Brodhead. It left its rendezvous at Detroit, about eleven hundred strong, September 29^th in that year, proceeded to Washington, and thence to Frederick, Maryland, where it passed most of the winter. In the spring of 1862 it entered Virginia. During that year it was engaged in service on the upper Potomac, on the Shenandoah valley, and along the east slope of the Blue ridge, being engaged at Winchester, Middletown, Strasburg, Harrisonburg, Orange Court-House, Cedar Mountain, and second Bull Run, losing in these actions thirty killed or died of wounds, and fifty-eight wounded. It passed most of the inter at Frederick, Maryland.

In the early part of 1863, it was engaged in grand guard duty along the front line of the Washington defenses in Virginia. On the 27^th of June it moved towards Gettysburg; on the 3d of July at that place it met and charged Hampton's Legion of three regiments of Virginia cavalry, and beat it in six minutes, losing eighty men and eleven officers out of three hundred who went into action. It was again engaged at Fairfield Gap on the 4^th, and lost considerably. Again, at Falling Waters, Virginia, it was severely engaged and captured five hundred of the enemy, with the standards of the Fortieth and forty-seventh Virginia Infantry. It was in Kilpatrick's division and took part in all the movements and actions of that general during the summer and fall of 1863. In December nearly four hundred of the men re-enlisted as veterans, and received the veteran furlough. On their return, the regiment rendezvoused at Camp Stoneman, near Washington, where it was newly equipped, and was joined by a new battalion which had been mustered at Mt. Clemens in December, 1863. It took part in the movements of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac from the crossing of the Rapidan in May, 1864, to the early part of August, when it was moved to the Shenandoah valley, and joined to the army of Sheridan; it took part in the subsequent movements of that army, except the battle of Fisher's Hill, losing during the year, up to the 1^st of November, eighty-two killed in battle or died of wounds, and one hundred and two wounded inaction. It remained near Winchester, Virginia, till the 27^th of February, 1865, when it fell in with the other cavalry of Sheridan to move on the great raid to the James river. it reached White House on March 19^th and soon after joined the Army of the Potomac before Petersburg; with that army it remained till the surrender of Lee, taking part in many engagements, among which were those of Five Forks and Appomattox. After the surrender it moved to Petersburg and, a little later, to North Carolina with the other forces. From there it returned to Washington, took part in the great review of the army, May 23, and soon after was moved, via the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers, to Ft. Leavenworth. Then followed seven months of duty on the plains as far west as the base of the Rocky Mountains, during which the regiment was engaged in some skirmishing with Indians, and lost slightly in killed and wounded. It was consolidated at Ft. Bridger with the Sixth and Seventh Michigan Cavalry, forming an organization known as the First Michgian Veteran Cavalry, it was paid off and disbanded march 10, 1866.

The following interesting story of the First Michigan Cavalry at Second Bull Run, taking from the Detroit Saturday Night, is told by Capt. E. L. Negus:

On the 14^th of August, Reno joined Pope with eight thousand men, Pope, with his army, now numbering about fifty thousand men got a scare, fell back from Cedar Mountain and took up a strong position along the north bank of the Rappahannock. On the 19^th his army extended from Warrenton Springs eight miles east along the river. From this date until the night of the 30^th of August, Pope did not now where Lee's army was. He had lost it. Pope had established his headquarters with all his army train at Catlett's Station, ten miles in the rear of the center of his line. On the 22^nd of August, Stuart with two or three thousand cavalrymen crossed the river above Pope's extreme right and, gaining the rear of the Union lines, pressed down to Catlett's Station, capturing Pope's headquarters tent with all of his uniforms and the dispatch book containing the movements of the army. They also burnt several millions of rations, two trains of cars and all his wagons train, besides taking with them several hundred herd of mules and horses.

The whole cavalry force of the Union army was at once put in pursuit of the raiders. The First Michgian Cavalry found them on the night of the 23d on the south back of the Robinson river. We threw out pickets along the north side of the stream and went into camp. Early the next morning there came a call from the "Johnnies": "Don't shoot, Yanks, we have something to show you." "What is it, Johnny?" we asked them. "It’s Pope's headquarters in the saddle." "All right, we won't shoot." And In a few moments they trotted out a bit buck negro dressed in Pope's uniform, and mounted on a big white horse, saying, "This is Pope's headquarters in the saddle." Now it has always been a question in my mind which one of the two had the greater military ability, Pope or the buck "nigger."

On the morning of the 24^th, General Buford, who commanded our brigade of cavalry, received notice that Pop had lost Lee's army, number some thirty thousand men, and that the should send his troopers out to find them. So the brigade was sent out in different direction to find them. The First Michgian was ordered to go on the west side of Bull Run mountains and keep a sharp lookout for the lost army. On the morning of the 28^th we reached a little town called White Plains, about three miles west of Thoroughfare Gap. It was here that we found the rebel's trail. Longstreet's corps was encamped some two miles to the west of this town, where it had been for the night, and they set out at once to make it hot for us. Our command fell back, taking the road that Jackson had gone over the day before, picking up many of his stragglers. Here an incident occurred that I will never forget. I was riding along with my bugler by my side--his name was O'Keefe, and he was a typical Irishman--when he said to one of the Johnnies, "Johnny, you don't wear very good clothes." At once there came back the sharp and not over delicate retort, "When we go out to kill hogs, we don't put on our best clothes."

The "rebs" came on in force and drove us back through the gap, but we contested every foot of ground and did not retreat until we were outflanked on both sides. The command passed though the gap and took up a strong position at Haymarket. If we had had one brigade of infantry with us we could have held the gap against the whole of Longstreet's corps until this time. And the battle of Bull Run would have been written very differently on the pages of history.

At Haymarket we could see the advance of the rebel army as it came through the gap. They filed to the left and took the road that led down to the right of Jackson's corps. On the morning of the 30^th Buford received orders to report with his command to Pope's headquarters, then in the saddle on the ridge near the Henry House, which was already famous from its association with the first battle of Bull Run. This ridge slopes off in a gentle plain toward Groveton, some three miles to the west. It was on this plain that Pope had massed his army of forty thousand men, not one of them in line of battle, and all ready for the slaughter. To the south and west of this plain was a wooded ridge, and behind these woods Longstreet had formed his line of battle unbeknown to Pope. From this ridge the southern general saw the mass of men on the plain below and it was here that he placed his artillery of sixty guns, all ready for the slaughter when the time came. Pope still supposed Longstreet to be a day's march away. At three o'clock a deserter was brought to Pope, who stated that Longstreet was there in force, but Pope would not believe it and at four-thirty sent off a courier to Washington to announce that the battle was won. Believing this, Pope ordered Buford with his brigade of cavalry to mass around the left of the Union Army and strike Jackson's retreating corps on the road leading to Thoroughfare Gap, which we proceeded to do. Not finding any Johnnies, we retraced our steps and had proceeded some distance when we ran into the right of Longstreet's army composed of a brigade of cavalry made up of the First. Third and Fifteenth Virginia, the very flower of the confederate, "chivalry" and outnumbering us two to one. Our regiment charged that great force and drove them behind their guns, the brigade holding the field for some time, when we retired to the north side of the Bull Run. This charge, as will be shown after, saved a large part of Pope's retreating, bleeding army.

For Pope to win at Bull Run was not in the destiny of the nineteenth century. There were other series of events preparing in which Pope had no place. Lincoln had not issued his emancipation proclamation and the time was not ripe. Let us return to that part of the field where the First Michigan fought. At the time of the charge, Longstreet had unmasked his artillery. Sixty cannons thundered and flashed against the brave men belong on the plain. A masked battery had opened on our left, not twenty rods away. But the enemy was taken by surprise, as we were, and at first their shots went over our heads. Then they depressed their guns, which were double-shotted with grape and canister. The charges struck the ground half way between our line and the guns. It was a monstrous sight. The shot made craters in the earth, and the cannon seemed like a volcano throwing forth molten lava. The brigade had taken up a strong position on a ridge, where the First Michgian joined them on their right, ready for service. We had not long to wait, for soon there was seen a large body of cavalry moving out from a little piece of woods on our front. From a distance they might have been taken for a huge serpent stretching toward the crest where we were formed. Nothing like it had been seen since the taking of the grand redoubt at Moscow by Napoleon's cavalry. We saw the oncoming three thousand horsemen at full trot and heard the rattling of their sabers and the fierce road of the charging host.

All at once this scene changed. The bugle sounded the charge, the First Michigan started forward with drawn sabers raised high above their heads, glistening in the setting sun. It was a sight to behold. It was like the beginning of an earthquake as the First Michigan hurled itself at the front ranks of the enemy. The shout of the men and the shock of the two columns coming together could be hear above the road of the battle. Horses and riders were hurled to the ground to be trampled under foot by the rushing hosts.

There are moments in battle when the soul hardens and the soldier seems to become as firm as a statue. With a yell that spread before them, the first battalion of the First Michigan, led by Colonel Brodhead, with Major Town by his side, and keeping their alignment as if on parade, rode upon the first rank of the enemy, sabering all who came within reach. The first battalion was nearly annihilated, but on came the next battalion. The enemy could not withstand our heavy blows and gave way into a disordered rout to take shelter behind the rebel guns. We held possession of that part of the field until dark, when re retired to the north bank of Bill Run.

Meanwhile, hammered by Longstreet's artillery, the Union army fell back from Groveton, from the railroad cut, from the plain. A disbanding army is like a spring thaw. The whole bends, cracks, snaps, floats rolls, falls, crushes, hurries, plunges, is one struggling mass. Rout is the worst of all conflicts. Friends slay each other in their mad flight. The artillerymen rush off with their horses and the guns are left to the care of themselves. The soldiers of the wagon train unhitch and take their animals for escape. Wagons are upset with their four wheels in the air, blocking the road and helping the massacre. As they crush and crowd the trample on the living and the dead alike. A rushing mass fills roads, paths, bridges, fields, hills, valleys, woods--all are choked up by this flight of sixty thousand men. Knapsacks, muskets, cartridges, boxes and belts are cast away. No more officers, no more generals. Bull Run was filled with a struggling mass of human beings. Such was this flight. At one narrow gorge the bodies were so packed that they formed a foot bridge for the living. Until this day the muddy stream has not given up the dead that were covered by the sand washed down by the streams of human blood spilt on the plains of Manassas.

The First Michigan Cavalry was sacrificed at Bull Run to save a portion of Pope's army. When the rebels were seen forming for the charge General Buford ordered the regiment to charge, saying that he would support us with the Fourth and Fifth New York Cavalry, the First made the charge and drove the enemy back, and held them in check while the rest of the brigade and that portion of the army on that part of the field fell back to the north bank of Bull Run. Buford never came to our support, but fled across the stream, saving himself and the rest of his command. The First Michigan was left to be massacred. I now this, for I took the order from General Buford to Colonel Brodhead to charge, and was in the front rank of the charge, myself. I lost every man in my company, but five, all the rest being killed, wounded or taken prisoners in that fight. The next morning there were just five who answered the roll-call. The regiment's total loss was one hundred and thirty-three.

I cannot close this report of the battle without mentioned of some of the brave men who laid down their lives at second Manassas that their country might live. Brodhead, who led the charge, great in all the grandeur of expected death, bared himself to every blow in the tempest. He had his horse killed under him, and received two gun-shot wounds through his breast from which he died.

While weltering in his life's blood on that disastrous field he wrote these lines to his wife in Detroit: "I die a martyr to my country through Pope's imbecility and McDowell's treason, but the old flag will triumph yet."

This letter was published in the Detroit papers at the time and created a great deal of excitement at the war department at Washington. Every means was taken to suppress it.

All in all, I challenge the annals of warfare to produce a more brilliant and successful cavalry charge than the one made by the First Michigan at Bull Run. That regiment saved Pope's bleeding army there, as it saved the day at Gettysburg.