Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 223, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1912 — WAR REMINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR REMINISCENCES

TALE OF WINCHESTER BATTLE Col. Mulligan Met Death During Fight Near Winchester—Several Thrilling Incidents Told. Comrade B. M. Clayton, Twentysixth Ohio, speaks of a light near Winchester as happening July 20. It was the first or second Sunday in August. The command I was in was on its way back from the battle of Monocacy Junction, near Frederick, Md., through Virginia. We crossed the Shenandoah river near Snicker’s Gap, and there got with Mulligan’s brigade and the First New York cavalry, which was very good company, writes Wm. C. Eckman of Atlantic City, N. J., in the National Tribute. We went around Winchester and struck the pike at Kernstown on Saturday. The command to which 1 belonged was a detachment of Cole’s Rangers, under Captain Link. He was in the advance. The First New York cavalry did picket duty that night. On Sunday many were cheated out of breakfasts. Just at that that old familiar call, “Boots, and saddles,” sounded. The rebs had sighted us, and opened fire on us with three small guns. We were ordered to charge. We drove them back, but we did not get back to our breakfast. That started the fun for the day. We bad a few chargers and skirmishers with Cole’s cavalry. About 3 p. m. the enemy came out of the woods on our left and front, and it was there that Colonel Mulligan was killed and left in the hands of the enemy. He and Captain Link were leading us and the First New York cavalry, but the rebs were too much for us. I did not see any other command but Mulligan’s and Cole’s men. On Wednesday of that week some of Captain Link’s men escaped, and Mrs. Mulligan, under a flag of truce, went through the lines to Winchester and brought her husband’s body to Martlnsburg. We covered the retreat through Winchester on the north of town. I was sent along with 25 or 30 men out behind a stone fence to hold the rebs in Winchester until General Averill’s cavalry came from Beiryville. But we were cut off between the two lines. We had a guide with us, and he led us through woods and brush and swamps till we struck the old dirt road to Mar-

tlusburg. It was night then, and we bad not had time to eat our breakfast yet. It was a beautiful moonlight night, very quiet. Lieutenant Wesley Mann was in command. We came in contact with a squad of Imboden's cavalry, and I had my horse killed. Cole’s Rangers came in, well armed. I ran along a deep gully until I thought it safe, then I same out. I was not long without a horse. My new mount was an old swaybacked horse, but nevertheless she took me to Martinsburg. I got there Monday about 3 o’clock. I had had nothing to eat since Sunday night except a few pieces of hardtack. Early's men were leaving there, and I slipped through to Williamsburg, Md., and there I found my comrade*. They thought I had been killed or captured.

He Led Us Through Woods and Brush and Swamps.