Fiddler’s Green is a poem that discusses where cavalrymen go when they die. Not heaven, perhaps something like Valhalla or Elysium. It seems to me an appropriate title for biographies of dead cavalry leaders. This led to another thread, however. Where did it come from?

As mentioned previously, I first came across it during an assignment to a cavalry regiment in Louisiana. It was one of many items of cavalry lore, tradition and warfighting that troopers aspiring to earn their spurs had to memorize and demonstrate during a grueling 24-48 hour “spur ride.”

A few months later I was in an Irish pub (The Irish Rover in Louisville, to be precise) and heard a song called Fiddler’s Green about fishermen dying and going to heaven. Well, so much for originality, but I still like the poem. So where did it come from?

Fiddler’s Green is indeed heaven for fishermen, an opposite of Davy Jones’ locker, which probably came across with English or Irish immigrants to the US sometime in the early 1800s. At some point, the term was stolen and turned into this poem about the cavalry. Given how many immigrants served in the Army during this period, it’s not too surprising. ‘Garryowen’ of Custer’s 7th cavalry is still associated with that regiment and the US Cavalry as a whole. No one seems to know exactly when or how, although I have seen references attributing it to the 6th and 7th Cavalry in the late 1800s.

Its first appearance in print was in 1923, in The Cavalry Journal. An article in the November/December 1965 issue of Armor Magazine by Paul M. Crosby explores “The Legend of Fiddler’s Green”, but I haven’t as yet discovered a copy. Another explanation followed in the January/February 1968 issue of the same magazine by Leendert Verhoeff. Whatever its origins, here’s the poem:

FIDDLER’S GREEN

Halfway down the road to hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.

Marching past, straight through to hell,
The infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marine,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddler’s Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to hell
Ere he’s emptied his canteen,
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddler’s Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddler’s Green.

Sorry, folks, this entry doesn’t focus on who was where when doing what. While important for setting stages and understanding why things happened the way they did, the simple fact of the matter is that trying to cover too much too quickly results in shallow work. When I read my own entry and then ask myself, “Yes, but so what?”, there’s an issue. So, while feverish material gathering continues, I’ll be taking a little more time for analysis.

Part of the problem is that there’s so much material that turns up once one starts looking. I don’t seem to have a thread or two to trace, I have that ball of yarn that the cat’s been playing with. Sometimes, though, it seems like a thread is looking for you instead of you for it. We’ll take as an example one August V. Kautz, once of the 6th US Cavalry during the Civil War.

I first came across Kautz on US Regulars Archive, where I saw his Customs of Service for Officers of the Army and Customs of Service for NonCommissioned Officers and Enlisted Men. Interesting, but not what I was looking for at the time, so I moved on.

Last week when driving home from a business meeting, I saw the sign for the Five Forks battlefield visitor center and turned in. On the bookshelf was a book on Sheridan (I think) and Kautz’ cavalry raid of 1865. Hm, Kautz again, I thought. But I was in a hurry to get home. I didn’t linger long and I didn’t buy the book.

Last weekend as I was thumbing through the War Department’s General Orders from 1861 and 1862, he found me again. This time it was in the list of appointments for the original officers of the 6th US Cavalry. There, in General Orders No. 65, August 23, 1861, is the appointment to captain of First Lieutenant August V. Kautz from the 4th US Infantry. Hmm, there he is again. Odd, I wonder who he was. But I was trying to finish the 1st/4th Cavalry and start the 1st Dragoons, so I moved on.

Yesterday, I’m in the university library on my lunch hour looking through the Supplement to the Official Records. It’s an unwieldy, cumbersome resource, but there are occasional gems in there. As I’m paging through additions to the records from early 1862 on the battle of Valverde, I discovered a diary extract. Not just one, but several, that cover most of 1862 at a minimum. Whose? Why my stalker friend August Kautz, of course. So at this point I decided that I have two choices: either research the guy or get a restraining order against him. Since Option B isn’t viable, you’ll be reading about him here in the near future.

I’ve come across several officers so far that I’d like to look into more. Many interesting fellows served during the war in the Regulars, and several of them deserve attention. I wanted to think of a tag line for the biographies before I started them, however. JD Petruzzi has a Faded Hoofbeats section at Hoofbeats and Cold Steel, which I think is a great label. Then I remembered Fiddler’s Green, a poem troopers had to memorize during their spur rides in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. I’ll post about it more later, but suffice for now to say that it is a place where dead cavalry troopers go. Perfect. So now there’s a concept, we just need more entries. Back to work.

This next series of entries will examine the paths taken by each of the different regiments from January 1st, 1861 to their first battles. Consolidation of the regiments themselves will likely be discussed at a later date, as I know of at least one of the initial five that didn’t have all of its companies together until the battle of Middleburg in June, 1863.

As states seceded and the likelihood of war increased, the nation’s cavalry and infantry regiments were thinly spread on small posts throughout the west. The only regular army units east of the Mississippi at the beginning of 1861 belonged to the artillery. As one looks at the distribution of the various regiments below, it is important to note that regimental commanders did not necessarily command their entire regiment. The authority of the department commander superseded that of the regimental commander. The two companies of the 2nd Dragoons in New Mexico, for example, belonged to the Department of New Mexico commander, not to Colonel Cooke. Colonel Cooke at the time commanded both the 2nd Dragoons and the Department of Utah. Both dragoon regiments were spread across three departments, and the others were each contained within one.

The 1st Dragoons were stationed primarily in the far west, with regimental headquarters and four companies in the Department of Oregon. Companies C, E and I were at Fort Walla Walla, Washington, and Company H was relatively nearby at Fort Dalles, Oregon. Four more companies (A, B, F and K) served in the Department of California. Companies B and K were at Fort Tejon, California and Company F served at Fort Crook, California. Company A was located at Fort Churchill, Utah (which is within 100 miles of Reno, Nevada). The Department of New Mexico commanded Companies D and G, who were both stationed at Fort Breckinridge, New Mexico (I’m still looking for this one).

The Department of Utah was headquartered at Camp Floyd, Utah. Colonel Cooke changed the name to Camp Crittenden on February 6, 1861. Three companies of the 2nd Dragoons (B, E and H) were stationed there with him. Companies G and I served in the Department of New Mexico at Taos. The remaining four companies served in the Department of the West, which comprised roughly the ground between Independence, Missouri and the Rockies. Companies C and K were stationed at Fort Scott, Kansas (later Nebraska). Companies D and F served at Fort Laramie, Nebraska (later Wyoming), with Company A at Fort Kearny, Nebraska.

The entire Regiment of Mounted Rifles served in the Department of New Mexico. Four companies were at Fort Union (D, E, H and K), with two each at Fort Craig (A and F) and Albuquerque (G and I). Company B served at Fort Stanton, and Company C at Hatch’s Ranch.

The 1st Cavalry occupied only four posts in Kansas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territories (modern day Oklahoma). Four companies (F, G, H and K) and the regimental headquarters were at Fort Wise, Kansas. Companies D and E served at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The other four companies were stationed in the Indian Territories, with a squadron of cavalry each at Fort Arbuckle (A and B) and Fort Washita (C and I).

Last in seniority was the 2nd Cavalry, which served entirely within the Department of Texas. A squadron each served at Fort Mason (A and F) and Camp Cooper (D and H), with the rest on company-sized posts. Company B was stationed at Camp Colorado, Company C at Fort Inge, and Company K at Camp Wood. Company E occupied Camp Hudson, Company I Camp Ives, and Company G served at “Camp on the Rio Grande.” This regiment was the first to move east in its entirety, as they were forced to depart rather summarily when Texas seceded.

I’m a little leery of posts forecasting upcoming events, but will try one and see how it turns out. This week I’ll be exploring the roads to war taken by the various regiments from January 1861 to their first battles. I initially didn’t think there would be too much info on the Regulars in 1861 since there were so few battles, but once one starts pulling on a thread….

I’ll continue to look at officer turnover in the other regiments, but each won’t receive the in detail treatment that the 1st/4th did. Preliminary looks show that the dragoon and mounted rifles regiments fared better with resignations than the two cavalry regiments, but this was to be expected given the accusations of preference for southerners in the 1st and 2nd Cavalry.

I’ve also discovered that the first time the Regular cavalry fought together was not on the Peninsula in the McClellan’s Cavalry Reserve, but at Bull Run in a Regular cavalry battalion under Major Innis Palmer. I don’t think there’s a great deal of information there, but we’ll explore what there is. And at the end of the week the first batch of info from the researcher at Carlisle should appear.

June was a quiet month for the regiment. 2ndLt Charles C. Campbell, one of the West Point graduates from the first class of the year, was dismissed from the service for “resigning his commission in the face of the enemy.” This was apparently different from other resignations, as it was listed under dismissals instead of resignations in War Department General Orders No. 62. Joseph C. Audenreid, a cadet from the second class of 1861, replaced him on June 24th. Audenreid subsequently vacated the commission for an appointment as a 1stLt in the forming 6th US Cavalry.

Captain John A. Thompson transferred from Company K to command of Company F on July 1st, in place of Captain Eli Long. Long, though still nominally assigned to the regiment, had been appointed Colonel of the 4th Ohio Cavalry earlier in the year. Captain Frank Wheaton of Company A was appointed LtCol of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry on July 10th. Companies A and E participated in the crossing of the Potomac and first battle of Bull Run later in the month. On July 31st, Captain Henry B. Davidson of Company H was dropped from the army’s rolls for absence. He started leave on July 1st and never returned.

August was another turbulent month for officers of the regiment. On August 3rd, the regiment became the 4th US cavalry by an act of Congress consolidating all six mounted regiments under one arm. Two days later, three more civilians were appointed second lieutenants in the regiment. Copley Amory of Massachusetts and Anson O. Doolittle of Wisconsin joined Company B. Joseph Hedges of Ohio filled the vacant second lieutenant position in Company A. Two second lieutenants were assigned to Company B because the 1stLt, George G. Huntt, was assigned as the regimental adjutant the same month. Captain William N.R. Beall of Company A resigned on August 20th. George Bayard assumed this position the same day, his first lieutenancy in Company D filled by Tillinghast L’Hommediu of Company E.

Three of the regiment’s officers were appointed brigadier generals of volunteers in August as well. Major Samuel D. Sturgis was first on the 10th, followed three days later by Major George Stoneman through presidential appointment. Colonel John Sedgwick followed on August 31st. All three continued to be carried on the regiment’s rolls. Two of the regiment’s companies fought in the battle of Wilson’s Creek in August as well.

George Bayard departed in September to accept the colonelcy of the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. Eugene B. Beaumont was promoted to 1stLt of Company B on September 14. Two enlisted men were commissioned second lieutenants in October. First Sergeant William O’Connell of Company B was assigned to Company E, and First Sergeant Henry Gordon of Company C was assigned to Company H. LtCol Wood and Captain David S. Stanley of Company C were appointed brigadier generals of volunteers on October 11 and September 28 respectively

The regiment didn’t feel Wood’s loss too keenly, as he was promoted to Colonel of the 2nd US Cavalry on November 12th. He was replaced by LtCol James Oakes of the 5th US Cavalry. Oakes had also been appointed as a brigadier general of volunteers on May 17th, but turned down the appointment due to the lingering effects of injuries received fighting Indians prior to the war.

At the end of the year, only five of the thirty four officers assigned to the 4th USCavalry are still with the regiment. Three of them were first lieutenants and the other two were second lieutenants at the beginning of the year. The colonel nominally in command of the regiment and both majors were serving with volunteer units. Five of the ten company commanders, technically present with the unit, were also with volunteer units. Lieutenants lead six of the ten companies. Although 34 officers are assigned to the regiment, only 25 are present. Officer assignments as of December 31, 1861 are listed below:

Colonel John Sedgwick (BG, Volunteers)
Lt Col James Oakes
Maj Samuel D. Sturgis (BG, Volunteers)
Maj George Stoneman (BG, Volunteers)
Adjutant (1Lt) George G. Huntt

Company A
Capt George D. Bayard (Col, 1st PA Cav)
1st Lt Thomas H. McCormick
2nd Lt Joseph Hedges
Company B
Capt Frank Wheaton (LtCol, 2nd RI Inf)
1st Lt Eugene B. Beaumont
2nd Lt Anson O. Doolittle
2nd Lt Amory Copley
Company C
Capt David S. Stanley (BG, Volunteers)
1st Lt Charles S. Bowman
2nd Lt Michael J. Kelly
Company D
Capt Eugene W. Crittenden
1st Lt Tillinghast L’Hommediu
2nd Lt Edward D. Baker
Company E
Capt James B. McIntyre
1st Lt Samuel W. Stockton
2nd Lt William O’Connell
Company F
Capt John A. Thompson
1st Lt Thomas B. Alexander
2nd Lt VACANT
Company G
Capt Elmer Otis
1st Lt Walter Wilson
2nd Lt Edward M. McCook
Company H
Capt VACANT
1st Lt John A. Wilcox
2nd Lt Henry Gordon
Company I
Capt Eugene A. Carr (Col, 3rd IL Cav)
1st Lt Napoleon B. McLoughlin
2nd Lt Malbone F. Watson
Company K
Capt Eli Long (Col, 4th OH Cav)
1st Lt Clarence Mouck
2nd Lt William W. Webb

I found some interesting information on manning within the Regulars at the beginning of the war in the OR the other night. On page 22 of Series III, Volume 1 is an abstract of returns by arm of service from December 31, 1860. While Robert M. Utley (Frontiersmen in Blue) briefly discussed absenteeism in Regular units on the frontier before the war, to see actual statistics really brought the point home.

The returns for the cavalry included all five mounted regiments and those working at the general recruiting depots. The returns list 82 officers and 3,123 enlisted men present, for an aggregate of 3,205. Even setting aside anyone who might have been stationed at one of the depots or schools, the regiments are badly shorthanded. Quick division renders the numbers to 16 officers and 624 enlisted men per regiment, and one officer and 62 enlisted men per company. The same returns list 100 officers and 482 enlisted men as absent, for an aggregate of 582. This breaks down to 20 officers and 96 enlisted men per regiment, and two officers and nine enlisted men per company. Again, these numbers assume no one from the cavalry at the depots, and so must be considered optimistic.

These averages, while general and somewhat arbitrary, seem to bear out. Company E, 2nd US Cavalry is listed in returns by General McDowell on July 16, 1861 with 4 officers and 56 men present for duty (OR, Ser I, Vol 2, pg 309). Even at the first battle of Bull Run one of the seven companies of Regular cavalry was commanded by a lieutenant. Just before the battle of Wilson’s Creek the four companies of the 1st US Cavalry under Major Sturgis are listed at a combined strength of 250 (OR, Ser I, Vol 3, pg 48).

The true extent of the shortages will be revealed by the muster rolls, but these numbers in the meantime are themselves revealing. And this is before the resignations and battles started.

I’ll have Part IV of 1861 for the officers of the 1st Cavalry completed by the weekend. I’ll need to do something similar with the other regiments to gain an idea of relative strength and experience of the Regulars by the end of the year. Since I haven’t seen any comments on the series as yet from readers, I have a question — do the lists of who is where at the end of each segment help at all, or should I drop them?

They help me keep things straight, particularly in the heavy resignation months, but if they don’t help the entry there’s no point in listing them here. I keep them on a spreadsheet or two in order to keep them straight enough in my head to write about.

One thing about tracking by ‘eachs’ is that it has led to several interesting match-ups of officers formerly of the same unit on opposing sides early in the war. McIntosh as a Confederate regimental commander against Sturgis with part of the 1st US Cavalry at Wilson’s Creek, for example.

I haven’t looked at enough material yet for any conclusions, but it’s beginning to appear that the experience level of the Regulars by the beginning of the Peninsula Campaign wasn’t much better than that of the volunteer regiments around them. Time will tell.

Comments, incidentally are certainly welcome in case I failed to mention that before.

On April 17th, LtCol Emory was directed to proceed with all of his troops to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Captain Sturgis evacuated Fort Smith, Arkansas and marched to Fort Washita at roughly the same time. (Rodenbough, Army of the United States, pg 214). On the 22nd, the exodus resumed with the resignation of Captain George H. Steuart of Company K. 1stLt James E.B. Stuart assumed the captaincy and command of the company.

Regimental command changed again on April 25th, with the resignation of Colonel Robert E. Lee. LtCol John Sedgwick, again following in Lee’s wake, returned from the 2nd Cavalry to command the regiment. 1stLt Lunsford L. Lomax resigned the same day, replaced in Company C by 2ndLt Charles S. Bowman.

The president appointed two new second lieutenants to the regiment from civilian life on April 26th, but only one reached his unit. Walter M. Wilson of Massachusetts joined Company A, but Thomas T. Turner of Missouri declined his assignment to Company K. Wilson was promoted to 1stLt in Company G less than three weeks later, on May 14th.

May was a tumultuous month for the 1st Cavalry, as nine more officers resigned. Captain William S. Walker of Mississippi and 2ndLt Oliver H. Fish resigned on the 1st. 1stLt Edward Ingraham followed the next day. Captain James McIntosh of Company D resigned May 7th, as did 2ndLt Andrew Jackson Jr of Company E. 1stLt Richard H. Riddick of Company K resigned on May 9th. Also resigning on May 9th was LtCol William H. Emory, another blow to the regiment’s senior leadership. Captain James E.B. Stuart resigned May 14th, only 22 days after taking command of Company K. He was followed on the 24th by Captain Robert Ransom Jr.

These resignations spurred another series of promotions in the regiment. Major Delos R. Sackett was promoted to LtCol in the 2nd Cavalry on May 3rd, replacing Sedgwick. Major Thomas J. Wood was promoted to LtCol on May 9th, replacing Wood. Captain Samuel D. Sturgis was promoted to one of the major positions, and Captain George Stoneman of the 2nd Cavalry was advanced to the other. 1stLts Crittenden, Long, Otis, Thompson and McIntyre were all promoted to captain and took command of companies. 2ndLts Bowman and Taylor reached 1stLt, and Taylor was promoted again to captain in the 3rd Cavalry on May 14th. By May 31st, only three officers in the regiment, Captains William N.R. Beall, Henry B. Davidson and Eugene A. Carr, occupied the same duty positions that they held January 1, 1861. All six of the second lieutenants appointed to the regiment in February and March from civilian life were promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.

Newly appointed officers continued to flow into the regiment. The first West Point class of 1861 graduated on May 6th, and the 1st Cavalry received three of its members. Cadets Charles C. Campbell (24th in class), Malbone F. Watson (25th), and Eugene B. Beaumont (32nd) were assigned as second lieutenants in Companies F, I, and H respectively. 2ndLt Campbell was ordered dropped from the rolls of the army on May 22nd for tendering his resignation in the face of the enemy. 2ndLt Tillinghast L’Hommediu of Ohio was transferred to Company E from the 6th Infantry on May 7th. He had been appointed a 2ndLt from civilian life only eleven days before.

Five more civilian appointees were assigned to the regiment in May. Samuel W. Stockton of New Jersey was assigned to Company B as a 2ndLt on May 4th, only to be promoted to 1stLt in Company E on the 24th. Three more were appointed to the regiment the next day: Michael J. Kelly of the District of Columbia, Edward M. McCook of the Colorado Territory, and Edward D. Baker of Illinois. On May 17th, William W. Webb of the District of Columbia was appointed to the position in Company K declined by Thomas Turner the month before.

On May 29th, two companies were ordered to Fort Kearney, Nebraska to hold hostile Indians in that region in check. The remainder of the regiment closed on Fort Leavenworth, evacuating and abandoning Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Forts Gibson, Cobb, Arbuckle and Washita, Oklahoma before beginning to move east (Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, pg 212). Officer assignments as of May 31, 1861 are listed below:

Colonel John Sedgwick
Lt Col Thomas J. Wood
Maj Samuel D. Sturgis
Maj George Stoneman
Adjutant (1Lt) Albert V. Colburn

Company A
Capt William N.R. Beall*
1st Lt Thomas H. McCormick
2nd Lt VACANT
Company B
Capt Frank Wheaton
1st Lt George G. Huntt
2nd Lt VACANT
Company C
Capt David S. Stanley
1st Lt Charles S. Bowman
2nd Lt Michael J. Kelly
Company D
Capt Eugene W. Crittenden
1st Lt George D. Bayard
2nd Lt Edward D. Baker
Company E
Capt James B. McIntyre
1st Lt Samuel W. Stockton
2nd Lt Tillinghast L’Hommediu
Company F
Capt Eli Long
1st Lt Thomas B. Alexander
2nd Lt VACANT
Company G
Capt Elmer Otis
1st Lt VACANT
2nd Lt Edward M. McCook
Company H
Capt Henry B. Davidson
1st Lt John A. Wilcox
2nd Lt Eugene B. Beaumont
Company I
Capt Eugene A. Carr
1st Lt Napoleon B. McLoughlin
2nd Lt Malbone F. Watson
Company K
Capt John A. Thompson
1st Lt Clarence Mouck
2nd Lt William W. Webb