dashed into the village and took it without loss.

There were but few of the enemy there, and they escaped, minus their shootingirons, however. The inhabitants were very much astonished at the appearance of this Yankee force in their midst, and it required a great deal of persuasion before they became assured that their persons and property would not be harmed.

When the remainder of the regiment came up, the boys were set to work cutting the telegraph wires and tearing up the rails. A quantity of boards were piled in the trestle-work of a railroad bridge south of the town, which, being ignited, made an immense fire, and soon consumed the entire structure. While at this work, a train of cars approached the village, was captured, and brought in for inspection. It proved to be an ambulance train from Fredericksburg, of seven cars, filled with two hundred and fifty sick and wounded officers and soldiers, with a guard. Among those captured were an Aid to General Letcher and several officers of high rank. Colonel Davis, after receiving from them their version of the battle of Chancellorsville, paroled them and let them go, leaving the cars for the benefit of the poor fellows who were more seriously injured. The engine and tender of the train, together with another found in the town, were rendered completely useless by a mechanic from the ranks.

After destroying a wagon train and a quantity of harness, and taking about eighty mules, the regiment moved out of Ashland. When about five miles from the town, word was brought that eighteen wagons were camped in the woods near by; Captain Roder, with Companies B and C, was sent to destroy them, which he did. The Central Railroad was struck at Hanover Station on the afternoon of the 5th. Although wearied and exhausted by the day's march, Colonel Davis thought it best to complete the duty assigned him, and break all the enemy's connections before going into camp. Thirty officers and men were captured and paroled at the Station. Captain Shears was ordered to destroy the trestle-work, which reached about ten rods to the south of the depot. The work was effectually done by the same process as at Ashland, and by its blaze could be clearly discerned the Confederate guards passively standing at the other end. The boys also burned a culvert and cut the telegraph wires, and burned the depot buildings, storehouses, stables

and a train of cars, all belonging to the rebel government and filled with property.

By the light of the burning buildings the regiment left the station and marched for the Court House, which had been previously occupied by Captain Fisher with Companies A and G, who had placed pickets there and taken a Captain and four men prisoners. Passing on through the Court House, and marching on down to within seven miles of Richmond, the regiment bivouacked till eight o'clock the next morning, when it marched for Williamsburg.

At Tunstall Station (near the White House and the Richmond and Yorktown railroad), a train of cars filled with infantry and a three-gun battery, was run up, with the intention of debarking there and giving battle to the 12th. Colonel Davis at once took measures to break through this force before the men could be got out of the cars or the battery in position. He therefore brought up the two foremost squadrons, and ordered a charge, which was executed, Captain Reans, with Companies D and F, taking the lead. This charge was made most gallantly. The infantry filled the embankment of the railway and poured upon the boys a severe fire, but the brave fellows dashed up to the embankments in splendid style, and with carbines and pistols responded to the fire with equal effect. It was impossible, however, to break through. There were formidable riflepits to the left of the road, which the enemy soon filled. The 12th retired from the conflict with a loss of two killed and several wounded; among the latter Lieutenant Marsh, who was one of the foremost in the charge.

Failing to penetrate the enemy's lines at this point, Colonel Davis determined to cross the Pamunkey and Mattapony rivers, and make for Gloucester Point. In this movement he had nothing to guide him but a common map of the State of Virginia, and he also was in entire ignorance of the position of the enemy's force, except that the line before him was closed. The only information he could gather was from ignorant contrabands. He selected Plunkett's Ferry, over the Pamunkey, and occupied it after driving away a picket on the other side, with whom the regiment exchanged shots. The regiment was crossed in a boat holding fifteen or eighteen men and horses, which was poled across the river. In the same manner the passage of the

Mattapony was made, at Walkertown, after driving away the pickets. The 12th captured fifteen rebels, and destroyed a quantity of saddles at Kings and Queens Court House. From Walkertown the regiment marched to Gloucester Point, having traveled a distance of over two hundred miles, much of it through Southern homes never disturbed by the presence of the enemy. Not far from Saluda the regiment captured and destroyed a train of eighteen wagons loaded with corn and provisions.

The total loss sustained by the 12th in this most remarkable raid was two commissioned officers and thirty-three enlisted men, while the regiment brought with it, as results of the expedition, one hundred mules and seventy-five horses, captured from the enemy. A much larger number of animals were captured in the course of the march, but they could not be brought along. The amount of property destroyed was estimated at over one million dollars.

While a portion of the 12th remained at Gloucester Point, one battalion was sent to General Dix, commanding at Fortress Monroe, and the remainder reported at Alexandria. The detachment which reported to General Dix made frequent forays into the interior counties, for the purpose of suppressing a band of smugglers who infested that district. On one of these expeditions a rebel General, William H. Lee, a son of Robert E. Lee, was captured and taken to Fortress Monroe.

It would be almost impossible to follow the history of the regiment in detail from the time it was broken in detachments up to the time these scattered fragments were again combined, which occurred in June, 1863. Immediately after the battle of Beverly Ford, the 12th cavalry joined Pleasanton, and was assigned to the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division.

Buford's division, without waiting to recover from the fatigue consequent upon its recent severe engagements, marched toward the Potomac from Aldie Gap, and, following its windings, crossed into Maryland at Point of Rocks, and continued on in a northeasterly direction to Gettysburg, where it arrived on the 3d of June. General Buford, with his usual quickness, perceived the necessity of taking possession of a horse-shoe ridge of low, uniform hills, running just beyond the town of Gettysburg. The position was a most for

midable one, as both ends of these ridges terminated in steep, sugarloaf peaks, which would thoroughly protect the flanks of the force occupying them. Disposing the greater part of his force of cavalry and his horse batteries on these eminences, Buford, on the 1st of July, at an early hour, fell upon the flanks of Longstreet's corps, which was moving south from Carlisle, charging and recharging, and still repeating the operation, forcing a portion of the enemy at every onslaught to halt and form line of battle. In this manner the rebels were not only sorely damaged by the loss of a large number of men killed and wounded, but their movements were impeded greatly, which gave General Meade an opportunity to push forward his lagging infantry and get them into position for resistance. A brigade of Pennsylvania militia and a battery of artillery, commanded by "Baldy" Smith, which had got into Longstreet's front, and were being hotly pressed with every indication of falling prisoners, were rescued from that unhappy fate by the daring Western roughriders under Davis, Medill and Chapman, who charged right into the face of the rebel infantry, and forced them to give up the pursuit. After this feat, the brigade fell back on the main body of the division, and until ten o'clock Buford continued to hold his position against Longstreet's entire corps of infantry. At that hour he was relieved by the celebrated "Iron Brigade," of Wisconsin infantry, and other troops of the 1st Corps, under the lamented Reynolds, who was killed while standing near General Buford, taking observations of the enemy. Immediately after being relieved by General Reynolds, the cavalry under Buford fell back to the rear of our army, and for the two succeeding days were engaged in guarding our supply trains from the attacks of Stewart. On the 4th of July, when Lee's army made its last grand attempt to retrieve its fortunes, the brigade was hastened off toward Williamsport, with orders to sieze the ford and hold it against the enemy.

In the march from Gettysburg to Williamsport the boys succeeded in capturing upward of two thousand demoralized rebels, who were endeavoring to make their way back to the "sacred soil," and over two hundred wagons and teams. The wagons were destroyed, and the mules driven down to Washington. On the 6th of July the cavalry reached the vicinity of Williamsport, and being informed that the

place was guarded by only one regiment of Stuart's cavalry, the 8th Illinois and a portion of the 12th rushed forward for the purpose of driving out the enemy.

After the defeat and retreat of Lee at Gettysburg, the 12th Illinois and other regiments of the brigade followed the fortunes of the Army of the Potomac. It was present at the cavalry battles which occurred at Falling Waters, the Rapidan, and at Stevensburg, in all of which it acquitted itself with its usual bravery. On the 20th of November, 1863, the 12th was relieved from duty with the Army of the Potomac, and was ordered home to Illinois to re-organize as veterans. This distinguished privilege was awarded to the regiment, by the Secretary of War, "for brilliant services in the field."

On the evening of the 28th of November, the regiment reached Chicago, and was received, from first to last, with one grand burst of patriotic admiration and enthusiasm. At Bryan Hall the most ample provision had been made for its accommodation. Kind and bright eyes spoke a sweeter welcome to the tired and hungry boys than could be extracted from whole dictionaries of words. Everything pertaining to the entertainment passed off without the least flaw to mar the general joy which prevaded all hearts and shone from all eyes.

At the conclusion of a brief season of rest, the regiment, which had been recruited up to the maximum number of 1,256 officers and men, re-assembled at Camp Fry. On the night of January 2, 1864, a snow storm of unparalleled violence. set in and raged with uncontrolled fury for three days. Cognizant of its irresistible power, the storm visited, in the course of its triumphant march, the camp of the 12th Illinois, causing much suffering and hardship. The brave men who had unflinchingly faced the rebels were taught that they could not successfully cope with the Northern Boreas.

On the 9th of February the regiment started for St. Louis, and went into camp there. In the early days of March it embarked on transports for New Orleans, and shortly after arriving there, was ordered to join General Banks, on his retreat down the Red River, participating in the different engagements of the retreat, and losing