Ira Wallace Claflin was born in Vermont in 1834. He was appointed to West Point from Iowa in 1853. He graduated 27th in his class on July 1, 1857, when he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. He continued to serve at West Point as an Assistant Instructor of Cavalry from October 3, 1857 to May 13, 1858. He was ordered to join his regiment on the frontier, and was promoted to second lieutenant when he arrived at Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 14, 1858. Claflin accompanied his unit on several scouting expeditions over the next three years, serving the majority of his time at Fort Union, New Mexico. In 1859, he participated in an expedition against the Tuni-cha Navajos.

Lieutenant Claflin was still serving at Fort Union at the outbreak of the Civil War. He received a promotion to first lieutenant in the newly-created 3rd U.S. Cavalry on May 14, 1861 (re-designated 6th US Cavalry on August 3rd), but was unable to join his regiment due to ongoing operations in New Mexico. As one of the few professional soldiers in the region, he was directed by his old regimental commander to lead an artillery battery of four 12 pound mountain howitzers. He did so with distinction, earning a brevet to captain for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Val Verde on February 21, 1862. He also fought in the action at Peralta, New Mexico on April 15, 1862 before heading east to join his new regiment on the Peninsula.

He served on the Peninsula at Yorktown from June to August 1862, then as the regimental commissary officer from August 27th to September 5th. Claflin was temporarily assigned to Company A in September, then assumed command of the dismounted Company C and spent the next two months manning and equipping the company. In December he rejoined the regiment in camp at Falmouth, fully manned and mounted. He was promoted to captain on December 23, 1862.

Claflin continued to command Company C until April 1863, when he was assigned command of Company H upon the resignation of Captain John Savage. He remained with this company of and on for the rest of his career.

During the Gettysburg campaign, he once again served as the regimental commissary until the disaster suffered by the regiment at the battle of Fairfield. He assumed command of the remaining 200-odd troopers of the regiment, and led it into battle four days later at Funkstown, Maryland, where he was severely wounded in the shoulder on July 7, 1863. He was later brevetted major effective that date for gallant and meritorious services during the Gettysburg campaign. Claflin was absent on sick leave recovering from his wound until September. He resumed command of the regiment upon his return, which he held until May 1864. He commanded Major General Sheridan’s escort during the Shenandoah and Richmond campaigns from May 4, to November 11, 1864. He was then appointed a Special Instructor of Cavalry in the Department of West Virginia until July 21, 1865.

After the war, Claflin had a brief stint at West Point as an Assistant Professor of Geography, History and Ethics. He served in that position from August 31, to October 6, 1865, when he rejoined his regiment in Austin, Texas and took command of Troop H. He remained there until June 1866, when he took his troop on an inspection of frontier posts that lasted three months and stretched nearly 1,400 miles. He continued to serve in Austin with the regiment upon his return until January 20, 1867, when his troop moved to Mount Pleasant, Texas.

Ira Claflin died of yellow fever at Mount Pleasant, Texas on November 18, 1867 at the age of 33.

William Henry Forwood was born on September 7, 1838 at Brandywine Hundred, Delaware. He received his early education in local schools before attending Crozier Academy in Chester, Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861 as the war was beginning. Forwood received an appointment as a regular army Assistant Surgeon from civil life on August 5, 1861, and accepted the appointment on August 23.

Forwood was initially assigned to Seminary Hospital in Georgetown, District of Columbia, where he served as the hospital’s executive officer until December. Over the next ten months he served initially as the regimental surgeon of the 14th U.S. Infantry and then acting medical director of General Sykes’ division, V Corps, Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula campaign. He took part in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill before he was reassigned to the office of the Medical Director, Washington, D.C. in October 1862.

In February 1863, Forwood was assigned to the 6th U.S. Cavalry as an assistant surgeon. Although he served in the regiment for only eight months, it was a very lively time for him.

On May 13, 1863, Forwood was accompanying acting regimental commander George C. Cram and two enlisted orderlies from General Buford’s headquarters back to their camp when they were captured by a band of Mosby’s guerillas. The group’s leader, Lieutenant Fairchild, after securing their horses and equipment, offered to release them if they would give their parole. Cram and the two soldiers did so and were released. Since medical officers on both sides had the right to be released without parole if captured, Forwood refused. Fairchild refused to release him without it, and turned him over to a guard detail as a prisoner of war. Forwood escaped into the brush while being marched away and returned to the regiment later that evening. This was quite an embarrassing incident for Captain Cram, and might be the reason Forwood spent the rest of the month on detached service at the Cavalry Corps’ dismount camp near Dumfries, Virginia. He returned to the regiment before the battle of Brandy Station.

During the Gettysburg campaign, Forwood was captured again. He was left in charge of the regiment’s wounded following the battle of Fairfield, among whose numbers was the other assistant surgeon, William H. Notson. This time he was released without incident, however, and rejoined his regiment for the remainder of the campaign.

On October 11, 1863, the 6th U.S. Cavalry was caught in an exposed position near Brandy Station and engaged by superior numbers of Confederate cavalry. They were able to fight their way back across the Rappahannock, but among the wounded was Assistant Surgeon William Forwood. The severe gunshot wound to the chest that he received in this encounter ended his field service during the war.

Following his recovery from this wound, Forwood was assigned as the executive officer of Satterlee General Hospital in Philadelphia and served there until April 1864. He spent the next two months in charge of the medical stores ship Marcy C. Day in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In June 1864, Forwood organized and built Whitehall General Hospital near Bristol, Pennsylvania. He commanded the two thousand bed hospital through the end of the war, until September 1865. On March 13, 1865 he was given brevet promotions of captain and major for faithful and meritorious service during the war.

After the war, Forwood was assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he served until June 1867. He was promoted to captain on July 28, 1866, and fought a severe epidemic of cholera there later in the year. His service at Fort Riley was punctuated by several field expeditions of the 2nd Cavalry against hostile Indians along the upper Arkansas River.

Forwood was transferred to Fort Larned, Kansas in June 1867, where he served until July 1870. There was an incident at Fort Larned that says something about Forwood’s character. He apparently kept a wolf and a buffalo as pets. The post commander ordered him to get rid of the buffalo, terming it a “public nuisance.” On January 31, 1869, the post adjutant informed Captain Forwood that “complaints have also been made of the howling of the wolf at night. It is therefore directed that you have the animal removed to someplace where it will not be an annoyance to the garrison.” It is unknown what Forwood’s response was to this directive, but apparently he complied.

He was assigned to Fort Brady, Michigan until October 1872, but a good part of this period was spent on a leave of absence studying yellow fever at a quarantine station near Philadelphia. He was also married during this leave, to Mary Osbourne on September 28, 1870. He was then assigned to Fort Richardson, Texas until September 1876. The next three years brought brief assignments to Raleigh, N.C., Columbia, S.C. and Fort McPherson, Georgia.

In December 1879, Forwood was transferred to Fort Omaha, Nebraska as the post surgeon. During the next three years, he served as a surgeon and naturalist for the annual military reconnaissance and exploring expeditions ordered by General Sheridan. In November 1882 he was assigned to Chicago as the attending surgeon for the headquarters of the Division of the Missouri. He again accompanied the exploring expedition in the summer of 1883, this time in the company of President Arthur and Secretary of War Robert T. Lincoln. He published his observations from these expeditions in 1881 and 1882. He remained at Chicago until December 1886. Following another leave of absence, he then served for three years as the post surgeon for Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

On May 27, 1890, Forwood was assigned as n attending surgeon at the United States Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C., where he remained until December 12, 1898. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 15, 1891, and was appointed the professor of military surgery when the Army Medical School was organized in 1893. From 1895 to 1897 he chaired the departments of surgery and surgical pathology at Georgetown University. On May 3, 1897, he was promoted to colonel, ranking only behind the Surgeon General in the Medical Corps. He chaired the department of military surgery at the same university from 1897 to 1898 and received and honorary degree of LL.D. for his contributions.

Forwood departed the university in the summer of 1898 to establish a large hospital and convalescent camp at Montauk Point, N.Y. to deal with the huge numbers of sick soldiers returning from Cuba. He selected the site and oversaw the construction of a similar facility at Savannah, Georgia later in the same year. In December 1898 he was transferred to San Francisco as the chief surgeon of the Department of California.

In 1901 he was assigned to duty in the office of the Surgeon General in Washington, and that fall was made president of the faculty of the Army Medical School. When Surgeon General Sternberg retired in June 1902, Forwood was promoted to the post on June 8. He served as the Surgeon General for his last three months before compulsory retirement for age on September 7, 1902. He lived the rest of his life in Washington, dying after a prolonged illness on May 12, 1915.

Author’s note: Regular cavalry regiments were not authorized a surgeon of their own, but were authorized two assistant surgeons who were doctors. I’m treading a little close to Jim Schmidt’s territory here, but Forwood was a cavalryman before he was the Surgeon General and served with two different regular cavalry regiments.

Daniel Madden was born in England, and immigrated to the United States prior to his enlistment in the 2nd Dragoons on December 9, 1850. He served as a private in Company E, 2nd Dragoons at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania until March, 1852, when he transferred to Company H, 1st Dragoons. He served with this regiment in New Mexico until December 9, 1855, where he participated in expeditions against the Navajo and Apache Indians.

Madden rejoined the 2nd Dragoons in May 1856 at Fort Riley, Kansas. He served as a private, corporal, sergeant, and eventually first sergeant of Company B, 2nd Dragoons from May 1st, 1856 to April 28, 1861. He served with his company in Kansas until September 1857, when the regiment was ordered to Utah. He participated in the winter march of the Utah expedition, and served with the regiment in Utah until 1861.

Madden marched east with the regiment at the outbreak of the war, and was transferred to the newly forming 6th US Cavalry as the Regimental Commissary Sergeant. He served in this capacity until November 1st, when he received an appointment as a second lieutenant, 6th US Cavalry. He accepted the appointment on the 3rd, and was discharged the next day. He was assigned to Company M on November 5, 1861. He commanded the company in December, as Captain Hays was still recruiting the rest of the company in Pittsburgh.

Lieutenant Madden served with his company during the first half of 1862, moving with them to the Peninsula. He was commended by his regimental and brigade commanders for bravery during the battle of Williamsburg, and participated in actions at Slatersville, New Kent Court House, New Bridge, Mechanicsville, and battle of Hanover Court House. He also served as an aide de camp to General McClellan during the Seven Days’ Battles. Madden participated in actions at Falls Church, Charlestown, Hillsboro, Philomont, Uniontown, Upperville, Barber’s Crossroads, Amissville, and Sulphur Springs with the regiment through the spring of 1863.

He was absent with leave sick in Washington during September 1862 before returning to service with his company until January 1863. He commanded Company E in February, 1863, as Captain David McMurtry Gregg had taken command of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry and First Lieutenant Hutchins was absent. He was absent for a brief leave in March before commanding Company D in April, still as a second lieutenant. Of the officers assigned to the company, Captain Abert was serving on General Banks’ staff, and First Lieutenant Brown was absent sick in Philadelphia. He returned to Company M the following month.

Lieutenant Madden fought with his company at Beverly Ford during the Battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863, where he was wounded. He was later brevetted first lieutenant effective the same date for gallant and meritorious services during the battle. He was absent recovering from his wounds until September, when he returned to service as a mustering and disbursement officer in Boston, Massachusetts until May 1864.
Madden was promoted to first lieutenant on May 4, 1864, and returned to service with the regiment. He participated in the Army of the Potomac’s 1864 campaign, serving at the battle of Trevillian Station, the action at Darby’s Mill, and the battle of Deep Bottom. When the 6th Cavalry was assigned to the Army of the Shenandoah, he was assigned as the army’s Assistant Provost Marshall, and served in that position from November 1864 to February 1865.

He was detached from the regiment in March 1865, and served for the remainder of the war on the staff of Major General Casey in Washington DC. He was brevetted captain on April 9, 1865, “for gallant and meritorious services in the campaign terminating with the surrender of the insurgent army under Gen. R.E. Lee.”

Following the war, he accompanied the regiment to the frontier where he served in Texas and other posts in the southwest until he retired. He was promoted to captain and the command of Company C, 6th Cavalry on May 10, 1867. Madden was promoted to Major, 7th Cavalry on May 21, 1886.

Major Madden retired at his own request on October 5, 1887, with over thirty years of service. I have not been able to determine when he died or where he was buried.

I’ve determined that one needn’t have been famous or a general to be eligible for a Fiddler’s Green, merely a member of one of the regular cavalry regiments. It is a place, after all, where the shades of ALL dead cavalrymen go. Volunteers are included also, but other people write about them. It is much more difficult to find information on the lesser known troopers, though.

During the course of my research, I recently discovered 13 troopers of the 6th Cavalry who were captured and died at Andersonville. I haven’t yet discovered when they were captured, though the dates make it unlikely that any of them were captured at Fairfield. Since I’m in the process of trying to transcribe that list from the muster rolls now, I should be able to confirm that by the end of next month. The troopers are listed below. I haven’t found any data to suggest that the two deaths on the same day were anything other than coincidence.

Bird, Morris H. Private Co. E August 23, 1864
Blossom, Charles Private Co I May 22, 1864
Bradman, Alvah M. Sergeant Co M August 23, 1864
Clifford, Jeremiah Private Co B September 17, 1864
Doney, John W. Sergeant Co C May 21, 1864
Dunn, John Private Co A May 6, 1864
Ferguson, Joseph Private Co E March 13, 1864
Furl, George W. Private Co D July 7, 1864
Johnson, Peter Private Co F May 15, 1864
McClellan, Jonathan Private Co D March 31, 1864
Meadow, John Private Co E June 25, 1864
Miller, Charles H. Private Co E July 5, 1864
Robinson, William R. Private Co H June 30, 1864

Today is the anniversary of the skirmish at Funkstown, Maryland between the 6th US Cavalry and the 7th Virginia Cavalry on July 7, 1863.

Thoroughly defeated at the battle of Fairfield a few days before, the 6th Cavalry consisted of about 200 troopers under the command of Captain Ira Claflin. Claflin had been serving as the regimental commisary prior to the disaster at Fairfield. With him was Lieutenant James F. Wade’s squadron of Companies D and K, who had also missed the battle of Fairfield while serving at Cavalry Corps headquarters, as well as the remaining veterans of Fairfield.

The 6th Cavalry was dispatched on a reconnaissance along the Funkstown Road. On arriving in the vicinity of the town, they encountered elements of the 7th Virginia Cavalry, one of their foes from Fairfield. Captain Claflin drove in the enemy’s pickets and deployed the regiment for battle, seeing his unit outnumbered by large numbers of the enemy in the town. He positioned himself with the advance guard about 150 yards in front of the main body of the regiment.

Two companies of the 7th Virginia were initially sent forward against the skirmishers of the 6th U.S., who fired a volley and then fell back upon their battleline. During this part of the engagement, Captain Claflin was wounded in the shoulder, and Second Lieutenant Nicholas Nolan of Company B assumed command as the senior remaining officer present. Ironically, he had rallied and retreated with the remnants of the regiment as the senior remaining officer at Fairfield.

The 7th Virginia then charged as a regiment, striking the 6th U.S. both on its front and on its right flank. Nolan describes the remainder of the action in his official report as follows.

“I immediately proceeded to the front, where my advance guard was posted, when I saw the enemy preparing to charge my command. I then made preparations to meet them, but, being overpowered by superior numbers, was forced to fall back; inflicting, however, great damage to the enemy in a running fight of 4 1/2 miles, my command losing 59 men in killed, wounded, and missing; 10 of the above men were brought in dead by the First U.S. Cavalry same afternoon.”

The 7th Virginia maintained the pursuit until reaching the area occupied by Buford’s 1st Cavalry Division, where they drew up and fired a volley. The volley was answered by a charge, and the 7th Virginia then withdrew at the double-quick, pursued by Union troopers. Buford’s troopers gave up the chase when the 7th Virginia was joined by reinforcements from the 11th Virginia.

The actual losses of the 6th Cavalry were 85 killed, wounded and missing. Outnumbered and overwhelmed twice in four days, the remnants of the regiment participated in the battles at Boonsboro, Funkstown and Falling Waters. Interestingly enough, Lieutenant Nolan was appointed assistant inspector general of the Regular Reserve Brigade in brigade Special Order number 43 on August 11, 1863.