I had one of those “Aha!” moments during my drive to work this morning. I was corresponding over the weekend with Tom about the skirmish at Williamsburg, and he had a partial casualty list. The odd thing was that his reference for many of the casualties was the microfilm roll from NARA with the regimental muster rolls. As mentioned in the original post, the returns for the month of may don’t list the wounded, only the one trooper killed.

What I hadn’t checked (and fortunately had printed in a binder in the trunk of the car), was the annual returns for the regiment for 1862. Among the other things listed on the annual return is a by-name list of all those killed or wounded in the regiment during the year. Here, then, is a more complete listing of the 6th Cavalry’s May 1862 casualties:

May 4, 1862 – Williamsburg, VA

Company A
Henry A. Pauli, Corp, wounded
Henry Vanmoss, Pvt, wounded
George Kraft, Pvt, wounded
James Alexander, Pvt, wounded
James Bonner, Pvt, wounded
Charles F.H. Roemer, Pvt, wounded
James H. Ortt, Pvt, wounded
John Maglett, Pvt, wounded

Company E
Suel Merkle, Pvt, killed in action

Company G
Parker Flansburg, Pvt, wounded
Andrew F. Swan, First Sergeant, wounded

Company M
George Baum, Pvt, wounded
Adam Cafoot, Pvt, wounded
James Allen, Corp, wounded
Martin Armstrong, Sgt, wounded
Joshua Kreps, Pvt, wounded
Henry Parks, Pvt, wounded
Robert McBride, Pvt, wounded
Andrew Schwartz, Bugler, wounded

May 9, 1862 – Slatersville, VA

Company E
Charles O’Harra, Pvt, killed in action
Able A. Irish, Pvt, killed in action

May 20, 1862 – New Bridge, VA

Company A
John Manice, Corp, killed in action
William Dickson, Pvt, wounded
James Brennan, Pvt, wounded

The regiment resumed active campaigning in May, moving up the peninsula as part of the advance guard of the Army of the Potomac. Companies C and L, not yet at full strength, remained in Washington under the command of Captain James Brisbin. The regiment’s assigned strength this month was 881 officers and enlisted men in the ten active companies.

Of the 42 officers assigned, 23 were listed as present for duty, including Assistant Surgeon J.H. Pooley. 16 of the missing 20 were still on detached service. Major Lawrence A. Williams continued to command the regiment. Two of the regiment’s companies continued to be led by lieutenants. Sergeant Tullius C. Tupper of Company E replaced John Lee as the regiment’s sergeant major on May 15th, with Lee moving to Company K.

Major Williams’ narrative of the month’s activities is listed at the bottom of the month’s muster rolls. The camp he refers to is simply listed as “Camp near Richmond Va.”

“Left Camp Winfield Scott on May 4, 1862 and engaged in the Battle of Williamsburg same day. 2nd Lieut. C.B. McLellan attached to A Co. Wounded. Marched from Williamsburg May 7 (two words too faint to read) with Genl Stoneman. Engaged in the Action at Slatersville on the 9th. Marched from there on the 10th to New Kent Court House, from thence to the White House, on the Pamunkey River, from there to New Bridge, and there a skirmish with the enemy, 1 corporal killed and 1 private wounded in Co. A. Marched to Mechanicsville. Engaged the enemy on the 23 and 24th. Left Mechanicsville May 27. Engaged in the Action same day at Hanover Court House. Left H.C.H. on 29th arrived this camp 8 miles from Richmond on the 30th.”

The regiment had 805 enlisted men at the end of the month, but only 670 present for duty. Health conditions worsened as the campaign renewed, with 50 troopers sick in camp and 106 sick in hospitals away from the regiment. 50 continued to serve on extra duties away from the regiment, mostly as teamsters for the Quartermaster Department. Two troopers were absent on leave, and two were absent without leave.

Nine soldiers died in May. Four died of disease in Yorktown, one specifically of typhoid fever. Five troopers were killed in action, one at Williamsburg on the 4th, three at Slatersville on May 9th, and one at Gaines Farm on May 20th. This is the engagement at New Bridge that Major Williams referred to in his narrative, and Captain Kautz’ diary confirms that a corporal was killed and a private wounded in Company A while reconnoitering a bridge across the Chickahominy. Ten men deserted from the regiment this month, one corporal and nine privates. No soldiers were discharged for disability in May.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the 6th Cavalry first combat engagement, and as such I present the following account of the skirmish.

Following the Confederate abandonment of the works at Yorktown, Brigadier General George Stoneman was given a composite force of combined arms and the assignment to pursue and harass the rear of the retreating enemy as the advance guard of the Army of the Potomac. His force consisted of four batteries of flying or horse artillery, four cavalry regiments (1st and 6th U.S., 3rd Pennsylvania and 8th Illinois), and Barker’s squadron of cavalry.

The advance of this advance guard on the Yorktown road was commanded by Brigadier General Phillip St.George Cooke, and consisted of the 1st and 6th U.S. Cavalry regiments and Gibson’s Battery (Company G, 3rd U.S. Artillery). Cooke’s organization was somewhat unusual, in that each of the regiments assigned to him was from a different brigade of the army’s Cavalry Division. Cooke’s advance, consisting of Captain Magruder’s squadron of the 1st U.S., with Captain Savage’s squadron of the 6th U.S. acting as flankers, rode about half a mile in advance of the column.

Cooke’s command departed the works at Yorktown on May 4th, and led Stoneman’s advance down the Yorktown road toward Williamsburg. Six miles from Richmond, according to Stoneman’s report, the force encountered and quickly drove off Confederate pickets. Two miles farther down the road, the column made contact with the Confederate rear guard, “about two companies, at a defile of a mill and dam and a breastwork across the road” (page 427). The battery deployed and fired, and the Confederate cavalry retreated before a charge could be made. After crossing the defile, Brigadier General William Emory was sent across to the Lee’s Mill road with the 3rd Pennsylvania, Benson’s battery and Barker’s squadron to cut off any force on that road retreating before the advance of Smith’s division of infantry. Cooke’s command continued down the Yorktown road. Over the course of the advance, a captain (Captain Connell of the Jeff Davis Legion (page 444)) was captured by Lieutenant Joseph Kerin, of the 6th Cavalry’s flankers, and five rebel privates were captured.

Two miles from Williamsburg, at the junction of the Yorktown and Lee’s Mill roads, the advance of Cooke’s force discovered a strong earthwork flanked by redoubts and manned by several regiments of Confederates about three o’clock in the afternoon. The area was ill-suited to deploy from the march, with thick forest and marshy ground, but General Cooke ordered the deployment of Gibson’s battery and the 1st U.S. Cavalry to attack the position. Captain Savage’s right flank platoon had located a track through the woods which led to the Confederate left flank. The 6th U.S. Cavalry, under Major Lawrence Williams, was ordered to make a demonstration down this road to prevent the enemy flanking Union forces on their right side. The remainder of his force Stoneman deployed in a clearing a half mile to the rear.

Captain Gibson manhandled his battery into position through deep mud and engaged the enemy, and Lieutenant Colonel William Grier placed his 1st Cavalry in position to support it. The earthwork, Fort Magruder, was manned by three regiments of infantry, a regiment of cavalry and a battery of artillery. Firing from Gibson’s battery caused return fire from two batteries within the earthworks and a Confederate sortie to drive them off. After a duel of some 45 minutes, Stoneman ordered his forces to withdraw. Increasing activity from the Confederate regiments to his front and a lack of infantry support caused by delays on the road behind him led him to believe that he could not hold his position. The battery retired by piece, and the 1st U.S. was ordered to cover its withdrawal in the face of the advancing Confederates. Four caissons and one cannon were abandoned due to the marshy ground and a lack of horses due to enemy fire. As the last squadron of the 1st U.S. retired at a walk, the emboldened Confederates charged. The U.S. squadron, Companies I and K, commanded by Captain Benjamin F. Davis and Captain Baker, wheeled by fours and countercharged to repulse them. Although composed of only 60 men, the squadron charged again to drive them off, taking a captain prisoner and capturing a “regimental standard with the coat of arms of Virginia” (page 430). Lieutenant Colonel Grier, accompanying the charge, lost his horse and was slightly wounded. This was most likely the 4th Virginia Cavalry, whose commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wickham was wounded in the side by a saber during the fighting and whose colors were apparently lost (page 444).

The 6th U.S. Cavalry proceeded nearly half a mile at a trot down the forest road, across a ravine, and up to the left flank of the Confederate earthworks. The ravine could only be crossed by file, and as the regiment reformed on its far side, Lieutenant Daniel Madden was dispatched with is platoon to reconnoiter the earthworks. He discovered a redoubt with a ditch and rampart, as well as the advance of more than one enemy regiment. Outnumbered, Major Williams ordered his force to withdraw by platoons across the narrow ravine, harassed the entire way by enemy fire. As the last company, Captains Sanders’ Company A, crossed the ravine, two squadrons of Confederate cavalry charged. Once they reached the far side, Sanders’ men, accompanied by Captain Hays’ Company M and Captain J. Irvin Gregg’s squadron of Companies F and G countercharged. The Confederates, now slowed in the ravine themselves, were driven off with reported heavy losses.

The Confederates occupying the works belonged to Brigadier General Paul A. Semmes’ brigade of McLaws’ division initially, reinforced after Gibson’s battery opened fire by Kershaw’s brigade and another artillery battery. Major General McLaws was present on the field to observe the 6th Cavalry’s exit from the woods on his left flank, and it was he who ordered the charge of Colonel J. Lucius Davis’ Wise Legion into the 6th U.S. Cavalry at the ravine (page 441).

General Stoneman withdrew his forces half a mile to the clearing and awaited the arrival of infantry support. Union losses totaled some 35 killed, wounded and missing, according to his report. The army’s medical director, Charles A. Tripler, reported that Stoneman’s command suffered 3 killed and 28 wounded in the day’s fighting (page 184). How these were divided among the units engaged is unknown. Captain Gibson reported losses in his battery of one officer and 4 men wounded, 17 horses killed, and 5 horses wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Grier’s and Major Williams’ reports don’t address casualties, other than that Lieutenant Curwen McLellan, Company A, 6th Cavalry, was severely wounded in the leg by a shell while crossing the ravine (page 437).

General Stoneman singled out the conduct of several in his official report on the engagement, including Captain Gibson of the 3rd Artillery, Lieutenant Colonel Grier, Captain Davis and his company of the 1st Cavalry, and Major Williams, Captain Sanders and his squadron of the 6th Cavalry, as well as generals Cooke and Emory (pg 425).

Sergeant John F. Durboran of Company M, 6th Cavalry, reportedly killed two rebels in the engagement, and was praised in General Cooke’s report (page 428). First Sergeants Joseph Bould of Company A and Michael Cooney of Company M were also singled out for praise by Captain Sanders (page 439). Captain Gregg mentioned Sergeant Andrew F. Swan of Company G, Sergeant Emil Swartz of Company F as “especially deserving of praise for their gallant bearing.” Sergeant Swan and Private Parker Flansburg of Company G were wounded, and three horses lost in Gregg’s squadron (page 440).

Casualties from the 6th Cavalry’s first combat action are difficult to determine. Private Suel Merkle of Company E was the regiment’s first and only trooper killed in this action on May 4th. Lieutenant McLellan’s, Sergeant Swan’s and Private Flansburg’s wounds were mentioned in reports, but the regimental muster rolls make no mention of the wounded for the month, only those killed and desertions. I don’t yet have access to the 1st Cavalry’s muster rolls to know what they say about the engagement.

Other than the regimental muster rolls, the primary source for this entry is the Official records, Volume 11, part I, pages noted in parentheses as appropriate. As well as I have been able to determine, other accounts such as Carter’s in From Yorktown to Santiago simply rely on these reports for their information. Captain August Kautz’ diary contains no information, as he was still sick in the rear, and Captain Savage commanded his squadron in his absence.

The majority of the regiment spent the month at Camp Winfield Scott, near Ship Point at the mouth of the Poquoson River. Companies C and L, not yet at full strength, remained in Washington under the command of Captain Brisbin. The regiment’s assigned strength this month was 881 officers and enlisted men in the ten active companies.

Of the 42 officers assigned, only 21 were listed as present for duty, including Assistant Surgeon J.H. Pooley. 16 of the missing 20 were on detached service. Major Lawrence A. Williams continued to command the regiment. Major J.H. Carleton, newly assigned to the regiment but never to serve a day with it, was in Los Angeles in command of the southern district of California. Captain Taylor of Company F was serving on General Sumner’s staff, and Captain Brisbin was in Washington with Companies C and L. Captain August Kautz was sick at Camp Winfield Scott, and 2nd Lt Andrew Stoll was still sick in Washington. 1stLt Frederick Dodge was serving as an aide de camp to General Craig, and 2nd Lt Stephen Balk was serving as the Deputy Provost Marshall for the brigade. The regiment had not yet heard a shot fired in anger, and two of its companies were already commanded by lieutenants.

The regiment had 840 enlisted men at the end of the month, but only 762 present for duty. Health conditions continued to improve with only 38 troopers sick in camp, though 52 remained absent sick in hospitals away from the regiment. 21 continued to serve on extra duties away from the regiment, mostly as teamsters for the Quartermaster Department. Seven troopers were in arrest or confinement within the regiment’s camp. Two troopers were absent on leave, and three were absent without leave.

Four privates were discharged for disability in April, three in Washington and one at Camp Winfield Scott on the peninsula. Five men deserted from the regiment this month, two from Alexandria and three from the peninsula. No soldiers died in April.