The Oregon Daily Journal from Portland, Oregon • Page 35

THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 10, 1903 1e Cpw PSSSSsMJ TKp Storv of Miller Dash that Turned the (Jfl1 of tbe farm, dragged thirty dead horses out of the lane, which was only a few hundred feet in length. Exciting an? interesting incidents occurred within the next half hour, but the real battle was now over. The head of the Confederate column, losing the support of the rear third, was soon drifting back in disorder. The attack had failed, and when Pickett's charge struck the Union center the men in the cemetery had nothing to fear from the rear, and after one of tho most desperate fights in history, repulsed the Confederate attack.

If Captain Miller had determined to obey orders at all hazards and hold his position, the full force or tho cavalry charge would have struck Gregg's front The right of the Union line would probably have been forced, and in this event the battle would undoubtedly have been lost, for the defenders of Cemetery Ridge jthcmselyes threatened 4n -the when assailed in the front. Lee would have marched triumphantly to Philadel- i phla, Washington or Baltimore, as he desired. European nations, eagerly wafting to assist the Confederacy, would have found the opportune moment for Intervention. Tfie Union would have been divided, perhaps ghat-1 tered into small fragments. Slavery would have been.

established permanently, and the destiny of America would have been shrouded in doubt and gloom. TACTICIAN VS. POET 1 ide to Victory launched against the Union center, the Con federate cavalry, under btuart, was sent By Frederick Fortes against the Union "'rights ThejecTwas to lINCE time, of which man has kept no break through at this point and menace' the i record the cardinal principle of the rear of the center. If the cavalry charge had -f soldier has been obedience. Blindly been successful Pickett would have taken obeying mistaken or fatuous orders, armies Cemetery Ridge, for Hancock, attacked in have given themselves up tQ useless slaughter front and menaced in the rear, could not have and annihilatpn.Celebrating one such famous held his ground.

1,. incident, a great English poet said, ''Theirs When the cavalry charge on the right not to reason why, Theirs hut to do and die." struck the Union lines it was halted for a Implicit obedience has been exacted as moment. Just at this time Captain Miller, that without which no army could exist. Death under orders to- hold a position in the woods is the usual penalty for disobedience of orders at all hazards, disobeyed his orders and com in the face of the enemy. manded his squadron to charge.

Striking the And yet the United States has conferred enemy at right angles, his little company of upon a soldier its highest decoration, a medal eighty men went right through the Confeder of honor, for disobedience. ate column. Wagner, In his book on "Organization and Tactics," a standard textbook in the military schools, speaks of the conduct of Lord Cardigan, the commander of the British Light Brigade, at Balaklava. Cardigan was at one time stationed at a post which ho was ordered not The officer is Uaptatn tVtutam Muter, in tne confusion tnus created me union charge on the Union right was ordered on a preconcerted signal that also was the signal for the attack on the center. Following the retirement of Fitzhugh Lee's Virginians, Stuart launched hjs main body against Gregg's front.

Wade- Hampton commanded the charge. Miller's squadron was still deployed In the woods, with orders not To move out of the position. Captain Miller had a full view of the advancing enemy. Writ-lng about It afterward, he said: "They were formed in close column of squadrons and directed their course toward the Spangler house. A grander spectacle than their advance has rarely been beheld.

"They marched with well-aligned fronts and steady reins. Their polished saber blades dazzled in the sun. All eyes were turned upon them. Chester on the right, Kinney in the center and Pennington on the left opened fire on them with well directed aim. "Shell and shrapnel met the advancing Confederates and tore through their ranks.

Closing the gaps as though nothing had happened, on they cape. As they drew nearer canister was substituted by our for shell, and horse after horse staggered and felt Still they 'came on. Our mounted skirmishers rallied and fell into line. The dismounted men fell back, and a few of them reached their horses. "Tho First Michigan, drawn up in close column or squadrons near Pennington's battery was ordered by Gregg to charge.

Custer, who was near, placed himself at the head, and off they dashed. "As the two columns approached each other the pace of each increased, when, suddenly, a crash like the falling of timber betokened the crisis. So sudden and violent was the collision that many of the horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them." Thus the balance of battle wavered. Stuart's men outnumbered any force that Gregg could bring to oppose him by two to one. If the line had been forced, the way would be open to Hancock's rear and the Army of the Potomac would have been cut in two.

The head of the attacking column had long since passed the spot where Miller and his eighty men were hiding In the woods. Miller grasped the situation. Turning to his lieutenant William Brooke Rawle, of Philadelphia, Captain Miller said: "I have been ordered to hold this position, but if ycu will back me up in case I am courtmartialed for disobedience, I will order a charge." Captkln Miller's orders, like those of other officers on that barb, were not to leave his position, for it was highly Important that no par.t of 'the Confederate cav- "alry be permitted to break through and get at the wagon trains and the rear of the center, which was defending Cemetery Ridge, Opposite to Gregg was General J. E. B.

Stuart, who after the shelling of Carlisle had hurried to Join the main body of Lee's army about Gettysburg. A happy chance brought Custer from the extreme left of the line to the extreme right, and he was placed by Gregg on the battle front The great artillery duel with which the third day's battle opened on the center and left had Its echo on the right. Ammunition of some of the regiments giving out, the wbofe line was driven back to some extent Fitzhugh Lee, seeing his opportunity, ordered a charge by bis cavalry. The Seventh Mfchlgan, which had been somewhat out of the light, moved forward to meet the attack of Lee's Virginians. The regiments met face to face, only a fence separating them.

The usefulness of the squadrons deployed in the woods now became evident They opened a flank fire on the Virginians. These were halted for a time, hut, the First North Carolina Cavalry and the Jeff Davis Legion coming up, they swept the Seventh Michigan back, A DESPERATE CRISIS forces in front rallied and drove the enemy 'back. There tuas no diversion in Hancock's rear, and Pickett was repulsed, the army was saved and the fate of the Confederacy was decided. of Carlisle, Pa. The disobedience svas committed on the field of Gettysburg, when the battle wavered at the crisis of the third day.

Military authorities say that Captain Miller's disobedience tufneltlHe tide of battle. Just as Pickett's famous charge was HISTORIANS and tutSenti of mUUrr have long noted the many striking parallels between the' two great decisive attlea of modern times, the two conflicts th Issue of iwhlch had more influence in shaping- the course of the iworld's events than had any other conflicts since the fall of feudalism. Gettysburg and Waterloo are both notable for the complexity of the conditions surrounding them and the However, the enfilading fire from the woods, in which Miller's men were 'very active, was too much for the to leave. A body of Russian cavalry, charging the allies, was brought to a dead standstill. Cardigan a position from which he could have struck tho Russians at right angles, and a they were stopped dead, he couM have cut their column in two.

But ho was under not to move from his position, so he let the opportunity-go by. A short time afterward, through a misunderstandln-of orders, Cardigan sent his men on their famou charge on the Russian guns, which, says tbe military writer, "furnished a theme for poets, but was not model for a cavalry general." Wagner compares Cardigan's course with that Miller, as follows: "In the great cavalry battle at Gettysburg, Captah Miller, of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalryt seeing a opportunity to strike Wade Hampton's column in flan! as it was charged in front by Custer, turned to his firs lieutenant with the remark: 'I have been ordered hold this position but if you "will back me up In cast 1 am courtmartialed for disobedience, I will order 'The charge was opportune and effective, and mention of a courtmartlal was ever made. conduct on this occasion, is in striking contrast with that or Cardigan at Balaklava." The certificate of Captain Miller's congressional medal of honor states that it was awarded for "most distinguished gallantry in action at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, as reported: "This officer, then captain of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry and commander of a squadron of four troops of his regiment, seeing an opportunity to strik in flank an attacking column of the enemy's cavalry that was then being charged in front exceeded hi own instructions and without order led a charge cC his squadron on the flank of the enemy, checked ht attack, cut off and dispersed the rear of his column." As showing the sacrifice at which Captain Miller made this heroic charge, when he had pierced th enemy's column he turned toward Breathed's batteries. These, the very guns which only two days before had shelled Captain Miller's own town of Carlisle, were on an eminence above Huminel's The uns were silenced, because the receding wave of Con -ederates made It impossible to operate the battery without sweeping the southern lines themselves. Miller didn't see any of his own men around him, but he thought that If he charged up the hill lowr I ther battery, his men would see him and follow.

In that case it would havo been an easy task to take the guns. But so great had been the havoo in his squadron while cutting through Hampton's column and In th-fight In the lane that only four of his mm were lei to support him In the charge on the battery. The men were John Nicholson. Lawson 8 peatman, Geo ft W. Heagy and another whose name was not recalie 1 when Captain Miller made a record of tbe fight.

(seeing the hopelessness of the attempt to tsk the battery, Captain Miller made his way through -retreating Confederates bark to his old position, fro which he had been ordered not to move. There was joined by a few more of his old command. I i waited In suspense to hear of the courtmari'al t' he expected to try hint for disobedience, which, as afterward proved, had saved an army. number of situations that have been cited as th supreme crisis In each. It Is diflJcult in a theater of action so vast and complicated as were both these gigantic conflicts for any one to put his finger on any' spot and say, "Here was decided the fate of the crashing armies." But the testimony of the duke of Wellington has been Interpreted to maan that- the transcendent military gfenlus of Napoleon was brought to destruction by the "courage and quick thought of James MacDonnel in closing the gates of the Hougomont Castle, a trifling turbable North.

Behind him came the flower of southern chivalry under the? command of his Fitshugh Lee had reason to believe that somewhere across the mountains lay a great army of recruits, over which McClellan was working with his genius for organization, desperately trying to whip them into shape, to meet the Army of Virginia, if Lee should eltide or defeat Hooker. The mystery of the mountains decided Fitzhugh Lee. To cover the movements of the main body of Confed- erates, he determined that it was necessary to shell Carlisle. Of all his tender memories of the town only- one intervened. Using a Union prisoner as a messenger, he sent word to a young woman of Carlisle whom he had known during his garrison days, offering her assurance of her personal safety.

The reply was a hitter rebuke. In her ardor for the Union she told Lee that she could not accept safety from a man who would Are on his country's flag. The' general In after days, when he was serving under that flag in the Spanish War, laughingly told of the censure he received, and added a few words about what he would do then to the man who would Are on the flag of his reunited natio'n. But in 1863 it was different. A body of Union troops occupied Carlisle.

General J. B. B. Stuart cams personally to command the Confederates before the town. These consisted of Lee's troopers and Breathed's batteries.

Both cavalry and artillery were later to play a prominent past in the critical moments at Gettysburg. In the meantime Hooker had been superseded as commander of the Army of the Potomac, aqd General George G. Msade was put la his place. The Arny of the Potomac extended from Chamber-- on the south to Carllsls on the north. Stuart's, cavalry before Carlisle was the extreme northern power of the Confederacy.

Facing the unknown quantity of McCleUao's sup circumstance In a great military dramaf HISTORIC PARALLELS "ALWAYS READY TO PITCH IN" The lieutenant replied that' he was "always ready to pitch in." The captain gave orders to rally his men. and as soon as the line was formed the little squadron fired their Carbines, dashed out of tbe woods and hit the enemy's column about two-thirds down from the head. Miller's charge struck the Confederates at full right angles. So unexpected was it, and so Impetuous, that It went right through the gray it Into confusion and cutting off, for a time, one-third of the strength of the supporting force. The" shock was so great that the Confederate columa wavered.

Custer rallied his men In front; Hart of the First New Jersey, who had been In the woods at Miller's left, ordered a charge similar to that which he had Just seen, and -Treichel and Rogers, on tbe other side of the Confederate column, with squadrons of the Third Pennsylvania, attacked the enemy's right flank. In a short time the gray squadrons, broken and discomfited, were streaming back to their old position, and Wade Hampton was wounded. Miller's squadron, which had cut off the rear of the attacking column, was carried by Its own force through the enemy's line to Rummers lane. Here a hand-to-hand encounter occurred between some of Miller's men and Confederates who were slow about leaving. After the battle, Mr.

Rummel. the owner It was years after the fate of Europe had been decided and the restless Corsican had at last found peace that the berolo action, of James MacDonnel was brought to light. And years after the gray flood had broken Itself In vain against the blue walls on It is brought out that In all probability the fate of the Confederacy was sealed at Gettysburg by the heroic disobedience of a young Pennsylvania cavalry officer. Thus this great battle, too, hinged on an incident that was at first overlooked as unimportant In after years a grateful government bestowed upon Captain William E. Miller, of Carlisle, a medal of honor for gallantry in "exceeding bis orders, as the certificate state.

It is probably the only instance in history In which a government bestowed especial distinction on a soldier for gallant Virginians, and after a desperate effort to hold their they were driven back on their original position. And now it was that the supremo moment came to Gettysburg, the crisis which balanced not only the Issue of that battle, but the fate of the nation. The grand charge of Pickett's division on the center of the Union line was but part of the plan to. cut Meade's army in two and annihilate it In sections. The spectacular assault on Cemetery Ridge has always engaged the imagination.

Those gray columns coming out of the woods, marching down the slope, across the valley of death and steadily up the ridge in the face of the sweeping fire from the desperate defenders is one of the most thrilling pictures In all warfare. It was, perhaps, tha greatest, as it was the last of the grand maneuvers In which an army was sent in solid formation against an intrenched enemy. And Is was almost successful. So nearly did the gray projectile come to piercing the blue armor belt that many of the Confederate warriors fell inside the Union breastworks. The blue line was almost severed.

There was Just one thing lacking to have made that famous charge a success, and that was a diversion In the rear of tha Union line. A few shots would have sufficed. If, at the moment when the Federal lino was bending under the Impact of the blow delivered by Pickett and his supports of Long-street's command, the desperate defenders had been dismayed by the knowledge that the enemy were In the rear, there can be little doubt that Pickett's men would have severed the Union front and cut the army In two, to be destroyed piecemeal by the victorious Lee. And ft would be violence to tbe memory of one of tbe greatest military geniuses that the world has produced to think that he had not provided In his plan for the very diversion that would nave mads him victor. What more natural than that he should hsve selected tbe dashing and daring troopesa of Stuart to turn the trick This Is exactly what ha did.

The charge of Pickett was launched at a preconcerted signal, which was also aa order for Stuart to chargw en tho extreme Union right tbe point of the fishhook. By breaking throaXb or turning tho Union right Stvert would bsve had the ammunition trains at his merry, and wmiid have been directly in tho rear of tbe CITY OF ARABIAN NIGHTS posed army. Stuart ordered a bombardment of Carlisle, and almost simultaneously the Confederates and Federals opened fire on each other In tbe streets of Gettysburg. In tbe two days of desperate fighting that followed both armies concentrated about Gettysburg. When tbe mOrnlng of the third day came It found the Union army drawn up in battle line, the shape of which could not be better illustrated than by a fish book.

Tbe eye of the hook was the famous Round top, on the extreme left of tbe Union lino. Then, with a long stem and a big curve, the battle front swept around AGDAD of today suggests none of the romance1 and witchery ef 4he famous Arabian Nights' tales," remarks aa English traveler who has Just returned from a cemetery tudge ana cemetery Miii. eurved back on disobedience. By an odd circumstance, the first 'shots In the campaign that ended so disastrously to' Lee's hopes in the defeat at Gettysburg were fired la Captain Miller's own home town. The shelling of Carlisle was the beginning of tbe battle of Gettysburg.

Fiuhugh Lee with a body uf cavalry in the last days of June, 1863, swept up tae Hhenandoah valley Into Pennsylvania. General Robert K. Lee, the stainleas knight of the South, was following with his victorious veterans of ChaneellorsvUle and Fredericksburg. The beaten and dismayed Army of the Potomac under Hooker, seemed helpless to stop tbe advance of the gray leslona. Wa-tnttoa, Baltimore.

Philadelphia appeared to lie at tbe tnercy of tbe invader. Beyond lay Tork, honeycombed with disloyalty. It was not too much to hope that within a few wk Culo's Hill and ran out to the point on the extreme rirht. fountains aad dancing slaves? Where aro the sr't dll hasars of tha merchants who deaf la the i of the West and th East "Alas for rem ac We mast leevo it at ths -for Bagdad, has aoa of thta things. It la a without beauty or distinct).

dull, drab city ef houses and narrow streets deep la tho entre. the baaara are dlmal-llrs Of Carepean warsa had aad th Calender are dead." la tbe bend of this fishhook tbe ammunition trams and the reserve artillery were parked. SKIRMISHERS ACTIVE Skirmish line and deployed eavalry sworg from tho rolet cf the fiseaoek like a barb on the outside of tbe ook. These were to protect tbe right flank and to bo en, the alert If any attempt Were made by tbe Confederates to gt in the rear of tbe Union lines from that sua rter. 'This barb of the fishhook extended out toward Wolfs HIIL An Organization of Bear defeftders of Cemetery cidge.

thine thai tar manr It is a curious years after tbe journey through Arabia. "Bagdad! What romance clings about the name! At the sound of it time rolls back, and we see, mounting toward us out of the dim ages, the hosts of Tlmar and Kaealm.of Bailsman and Shah Abbes, the splendors of tho Abbasldes and the1 ravages of tho Mogula Surely wo have here a city worthy or fame strange and beautiful and wonderful as Its history. The brown river, sweeping like a sea between hrosd are- -see of stately palms and white bouses, is majestic. Tha ooracles that spla a ashore literally star resnd basket ef wicker revered with pitch. -8st where aro th palace ef tha caliphs, the gratd windows tfcrnueh which rsdat feres pV tbe Iron doors bMM hich" on- Iroartoea dsrk-y4 analdarls JaglhT Where) are th gardee )rar KCEXTLT a novel sneotlrg ws at hatUe ef Gettysburg the operations' of tbe.

cavalrr re ne confederate leader might delate terms of peace in Srosdway. Tbe hopes of secession were hick hlsher than they ever bad been before; hlcher. as tbe Issue proved, than they erwr were to be asaia. so Kitsbugb Lee led his careering troopers to the ceived so Uttte comment that many casual readers were Franc, when th beggars an) got together sad forma a tr'n Tbe task of tha right ef Meade's army tea Osaeral D. McM.

Orrt, wit had about n. unir the Impreeetoa that Lbs bat tie was between the aru'iery ad Infantry on'y. Qeneral Loagstreet, tn bis Apologetic article 4es'Tlbtrg tbe rfcere ef Pickett says that be favored mnrnhT plan far rrrJ reasons, among which was that bad wo eavatry, Ftuart being at Carlisle. And jet. Ptusrt wa at Getlraborg with sneei.

Mainr reriieus of Carlisle, tbe ancient gateway ef Fens? I- fm tttes eras tbe Tfclrd Peoneylvarta weary. wb janlae frontier, la Carlls.e the dasaiag cavalry W4er wre deployed Rir the Kerf ef tse fskbar-e end r- yyd sprr-t many happy months be was eidr eVr4 te bold their pwttMnt fa the weooe at ail hoserde, fe nlted Stales t0ned at the army there. remeiM of of thw anuatrna th protect lea ef tkeir Is tare at eng. it iwrsee-its ef A rgs ar s'ttr was i tfft aad t-e'sh-p. "ft Ke and tvt ta roan try to wars) tfc r'' i.i" He hsd mint tender a 4iatina tbe rroat Wliliant K.

Mi lr, tb a fcovtott Mi-alrr rfBrr emnnd of foer Anleal oreate. V'leiis. of fMuarr nmtf, rwertJy atm'ts It his botfc. I'tUe citr Of the valley, the st war admit ef regrets. Before hii a exlgenriee of lay th lsBper did mm ausseer ajrerw -than eigr-y effective rosea- oi Oleander immw, mi my "Te Campaigns of tmrt a Cavalry." tbe cavalry and I.