About five o'clock that afternoon, April 5, the First Pennsylvania Cavalry were standing to horse, when Sheridan, Crook, and a number of other general officers, both infantry and cavalry, came riding up to examine the captured battle-flags. Among the colors was one presented to General Fitz-Hugh Lee by his lady friends of Richmond, which, by the way, I made a present to General Davies. The enemy, seeing these officers around the colors, sounded the charge and came upon us with a rush. Sheridan ordered me to mount my men and check the enemy until he could send in more regiments to my support. Then ensued a phenomenal display of shooting-stars by daylight, for the generals all scattered to their various commands. We mounted and charged the enemy and commenced a hand-to-hand fight, using pistols, sabres, and clubbed carbines. The heaviest of the fighting was around our colors. The brave old color-sergeant of the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, Antoine Wolf, carrying aloft the colors of his regiment in one hand, and with his sabre in the other cutting his way right and left, followed close at my horse's heels. Many a good trooper fell in the track made by us that day. That was my sixth and last charge during the engagement, and I lost a horse killed in every charge. While lying under my horse with my leg shattered by a carbine-ball, Colonel Janeway, at the head of the First New Jersey, passed by at full charge, saying, "Cheer up, Tommy, we are here with you," then instantly exclaimed, "My God!" and fell dead from his saddle but twenty feet from me. Our brigade started that morning with sixteen field officers, and at sundown but one was left, the other fifteen having been either killed or wounded. After I was wounded I turned my command over to Captain Holbrook, who led it through several charges on the 6th, 7th, and 9th of April. He had the satisfaction of planting the regiment across Lee's front on the Lynchburg pike, with its colors in the middle of the road, there to witness the surrender of the rebel army.
This ended my experience as a cavalryman.
And now I trust that I will be excused when I say that we cavalrymen soon taught the other arms of the service to respect us and stopped that old slurring remark, "Here comes the cavalry back; now there is going to be a fight." Although we were criticised sharply at the beginning of the war, yet at its close we of all the branches of the service proved ourselves the most efficient under the command of that prince among soldiers, "Cavalry Sheridan."
Colonel Hampton S. Thomas.