Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

by Willard W. Glazier

March 3.—This is the first bright day we have seen in more than three weeks. The mud around our camps, especially in the neighborhood where we water our horses, is terrible, and the roads are almost bottomless. However, long trains of forage and commissary-wagons may be seen passing to and fro, with horses and mules in mud from "stem to stern." Cavalcades of mudded horses and riders traverse the camps and adjoining fields in various directions.

Large flocks of crows—the most soldier-like bird in the world—with their high-perched vedettes when alighted, and their military line of march when on the wing, afford some lessons of diversion and instruction. It would seem as if all the ravens of the United States had congregated here, having been attracted by the carrion of battle-fields and the refuse of camps. Turkey buzzards, birds which are always on the wing, and that none of us ever yet saw alighted, wheel through the air like eagles, gazing down upon us with seeming defiance. The sights are of daily occurrence.

KILPATRICK.

To-day several details were made from the regiment for brigade headquarters, where Kilpatrick, the senior colonel in the brigade, now commands. In the afternoon we raised the "stars and stripes" in front of his tent, after which three cheers were given for the flag and three for the Union. Kilpatrick was then called upon for a speech, and responded in his usually felicitous style. He is certainly an orator as well as a warrior. He speaks, too, as he fights, with dash and daring. What he has to say he says with such perspicuity that no one doubts his meaning. Frequently there are flashes of eloquence worthy of a Demosthenes. His voice and diction seem to be well-nigh faultless. His speech to-day elicited frequent outbursts of applause, and the men cheered him enthusiastically at the close, and left his quarters with a deeper affection for him than before. Strict as he is to enforce discipline, and thorough, yet he is not severe; and the men love him for his personal attention to their wants, and for his appreciation of their labors. If he gives us hard work to do in march or battle, he endures or shares with us the hardship. If by the losses of men he has sustained he is truly entitled to the nickname of "Kill Cavalry," which has been quite generally accorded to him, his men know that these casualties have fallen out in the line of duty, in bold enterprises that cost the enemy dearly, the wisdom of which will ever exculpate our loved commander from the imputation of rashness with which, by uninformed parties, he is sometimes charged.

In preparation for, and during, a battle, none can excel him. His plans are quickly made and executed, while all possible contingencies seem to have been foreseen. His selection of positions and disposition of forces always exhibits great sagacity and military genius. He generally holds his men under perfect control. His clarion voice rings like magic through the ranks, while his busy form, always in the thickest of the fight, elicits the warmest enthusiasm. His equanimity of mind seems never to be overcome by his celerity of motion, but are equally balanced. Rarely is so great prudence found blended with so undaunted courage. He has an indomitable will that cannot brook defeat. The word impossible he never knows, whatever difficulties intervene between him and duty. He feels like Napoleon, "that impossible is the adjective of fools."

Added to all these mental qualifications, is that perfect physique, which makes Kilpatrick the model soldier. As an equestrian we have never seen his superior. He rides as though he had been made for a saddle. Rocks, stumps, fallen trees, brooks, and fences are nothing before him. His well-trained steeds understand him perfectly, and are never at a loss to know what is meant by the sharp spurs on their sides, whatever obstacles stand in their path. We have seen him leap over barriers where only few could follow him. To accomplish such feats the horse must have confidence in the rider as well as the rider in the horse. While in a charge, Kilpatrick has more the appearance of an eagle pouncing upon his prey, than that of a man pouncing upon a man. Then, too, he has a wonderful power of endurance. Though somewhat slender in form and delicate in mould, with complexion and eyes as light as a maiden's, yet it would seem as though his bones were iron and his sinews steel, while the whole is overlaid with gold. He is certainly compactly built. He has undoubtedly his faults, but his men fail to see them, so that to them he is as good as perfect.

What so young a champion of the right may yet achieve for his country, is a matter of much hopeful conjecture among us. He is now only twenty-five years of age, having had his birth in the beautiful valley of the Clove, in Northern New Jersey, in 1838. He entered the Military Academy at West Point on the twentieth of June, 1856, and graduated with honors in 1860, just in time to be ready for the great conflict then impending. He was present at Baltimore when the mob endeavored to stop the trains for Washington, and the blood of Massachusetts men was spilt upon the streets. He there exhibited that bold intrepidity which has ever characterized his actions. He was wounded at the battle of Big Bethel, one of the first engagements of the war, where as a lieutenant he commanded Duryea's Zouaves, June eleventh, 1861. He had just recovered from his wound when he entered upon the organization of the Harris Light, and became its lieutenant-colonel.

March 5.—We had regimental drill at the usual time this morning. I rode my black pony recently drawn in place of my little black mare, deceased. This was his first experience in cavalry discipline; and I infer that the men in the front rank of the platoon, which I commanded, hoped it might be his last entry; for it must have been most emphatically evident to those who followed him that he was determined to introduce a new system of tactics, in which heels were to go up in no gentle manner at every change of movement. He is certainly the most ungovernable horse on drill I ever mounted; and nothing but long marches and raids can effectually subdue his kicking propensities. I am encouraged, however, with the consideration that such fiery metal, when properly controlled and moulded, is usually very valuable.

The rain fell so fast on the sixth, that we were prevented from drill, and recall was sounded immediately after drill-call.

Sunday, March 8.—Details from the regiment were ordered out on picket. The night had been stormy, but the day has been lovely. At such times, were it not for the mud, we would feel that we are very comfortably circumstanced.