My horse was shot while leading the three regiments on the right of the corps; later I was severely bruised on the left hip by a portion of an exploded shell, and a second horse was struck by a fragment of one which burst beneath him while I was trying to capture a battery posted on a hill at the south end of the main street of Winchester.
I quote again from my report:
"My brigade lost, in the battle of Opequon, some valiant and superior officers. Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Ebright, commanding the 126th Ohio, was killed instantly early in the action. He was uniformly brave and skilful. He had fought in the many battles of the Sixth Corps during the past summer's campaign. Captain Thomas J. Hyatt and Lieutenant Rufus Ricksecker, 126th Ohio, and Lieutenant Wm. H. Burns, 6th Maryland, also fell in this action. Each was conspicuous for gallantry on this and other fields upon which he had fought. Colonel John W. Horn, 6th Maryland, whom none excelled for distinguished bravery, was severely if not mortally wounded.(13) Colonel William H. Ball, 122d Ohio, received a wound from a shell, but did not quit the field. He maintained his usual reputation for cool courage and excellent judgment and skill. Captain John S. Stucky, 138th Pennsylvania, lost a leg. Major Chas. M. Cornyn, 122d Ohio; Captain Feight and Walter, 138th Pennsylvania; Captain Williams, Lieutenants Patterson, Wells, and Crooks, 126th Ohio; Captains Hawkins and Rouzer and Lieutenant Smith, 6th Maryland; Lieutenants Fish and Calvin, 9th New York Heavy Artillery; Captains Van Eaton and Trimble and Lieutenants Deeter and Simes, 110th Ohio, are among the many officers more or less severely wounded. (Lieutenant Deeter, 110th Ohio, has since died.)
"Captain J. P. Dudrow, 122d Ohio, and Lieutenant R. W. Wiley, 110th Ohio, were each slightly wounded while acting as A. D. C.'s upon my staff."
Colonel Ebright had a premonition of his death. A few moments before 12 M. he sought me, and coolly told me he would be killed before the battle ended. He insisted upon telling me that he wanted his remains and effects sent to this home in Lancaster, Ohio, and I was asked to write his wife as to some property in the West which he feared she did not know about. He was impatient when I tried to remove the thought of imminent death from his mind. A few moments later the time for another advance came, and the interview with Colonel Ebright closed. In less than ten minutes, while he was riding near me he fell dead from his horse, pierced in the breast by a rifle ball. His apprehension of death was not prompted by fear. He had been through the slaughters of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor; had fought his regiment in the dead angle of Spotsylvania, and led it at Monocacy. It is needless to say I complied with his request.
Incidents like this were not uncommon.
The battle was a bloody one.
The Union killed and wounded were:(14)
Killed. Wounded. Aggregate.
Officers. Officers.
| Men. | Men.
Sixth Army Corps (Wright) 18 193 111 1331 1653
Nineteenth Army Corps (Emory) 22 292 104 1450 1868
Army of W. Va. 6 98 34 649 787
Cavalry 7 61 29 275 372
—— —— —— —— ——
Totals 53 644 278 3705 4680
The casualties in my brigade were 4 officers and 46 men killed, 24 officers and 261 men wounded; aggregate, 335.(15) This was little less than the total loss in the three cavalry divisions.