ne
and, scenting the first note of danger, turned his horse's head toward
the point where he had hidden his Wolverines in ambush and, bursting
into view from the woods beyond the field, we saw him riding furiously
in our direction. When he neared the edge of the woods, circling to the
front and curbing the course of his charger as he rode, he bade the band
to play and, with saber arm extended, shouted to the command, already in
the saddle:

"Forward, by divisions!"

As the band struck up the inspiriting strains of "Yankee Doodle," the
First Michigan broke by subdivisions from the right, the Sixth following
in line, regimental front and the two regiments charged with a yell
through the thick underbrush out into the open ground just as the
confederate troopers emerged from the woods on the opposite side. Both
commands kept on in full career, the First and Sixth inextricably
intermingled, until they reached the edge of the ravine, when they
stopped, the confederates surprised by the sudden appearance and
audacity of the Michigan men and their gallant leader; Custer well
content with checking Rosser's vicious advance. Some of the foremost of
either side kept on and crossed sabers in the middle of the ravine.
Among these was Lieutenant Cortez P. Pendill, of the Sixth Michigan, who
was severely wounded among the very foremost. One squadron of the
confederates, possibly a small regiment, charging in column of fours,
went past our right flank, and then, like the French army that marched
up a hill and then marched down again, turned and charged back, without
attempting to turn their head of column towards the place where Custer
was standing at bay, with his Michiganders clustered thick about him.
Pretty soon the confederates ran a battery into the field and opened on
us with shell. Every attempt to break Custer's line, however, ended in
failure, the Spencer carbines proving too much of an obstacle to be
overcome.

Meanwhile, the Fifth and Seventh had been doing excellent service on the
left, forging to the front and threatening the right of the confederate
position.

But it was evident that our own right was vulnerable, and Custer ordered
Major Kidd to take the Sixth, move it by the rear to the woods on the
right, dismount to fight on foot and, to use his own words: "Flank that
battery."

The regiment had become much scattered in the charge, but the "rally"
was sounded, and as many men as could be quickly assembled on the