bria has been considered as a unit of the great armies therein assembled. The company is followed from the beginning to the end, giving the names of the soldiers, the details of the wounds inflicted, their capture or death, and their military service so far as is possible. However, while the company is engaged on the field or on the march the smallest unit is usually a regiment or a brigade.
Ordinarily a regiment was composed of ten companies, of which at that time each completed company consisted of 105 men; four regiments formed a brigade; four brigades, a division; four divisions, a corps. And two or more corps, the army.
A captain made no report of the actions of his company while in battle or on the march; that duty rested upon the colonel, the brigade commander, or the superior official. Where there was more than one company in the engagement, it has been endeavored to give a concise view of the battle in its larger scope, and to follow each company through it, showing the part of the field on which it was located and what it did. For instance, in the great conflict at Fredericksburg there were six companies from the county; therefore, the history of these companies will be found under the title, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” and not in the consecutive order of the service of the company. This rule does not apply to Company C, 19th U.S. Infantry, from Ebensburg, inasmuch as it was the only one from the county in the western armies, and its history is continuous, beginning at Shiloh and ending at Atlanta.
October 19, 1864, was probably one of these nerve-racking days for Mr. Lincoln, of which all the world now knows. It was the occasion when Col. Stuter's 54th Regiment was with Maj. Gen. Sheridan in the most brilliant battle of the war, when the latter made his famous ride from Winchester. The telegraph offices nearest to the field of Cedar Creek were Rectortown and Harper's Ferry, and the distance was too great for a practical messenger service to keep the government advised of the progress of the conflict. Mr. Lincoln knew a battle was raging at a very early hour in the morning, and the only indication whether it was for victory or defeat were the sounds of the artillery firing, of which the officers at these places wired to the President. When faint, hope reasoned that it was farther away and the enemy was probably retreating; however, in a short time the fierce cannonading indicated a renewal of the fight with its uncertainties. Several telegrams of this character were sent to the War
|
