ld on until they came to our relief.

To relate an incident of what cavalrymen could do before a reward was
offered for a dead one: During the afternoon a battery of four guns
belonging to General Banks's command was left in a very exposed
position. In front of these guns was an open field, and on the other
side some woods in which a brigade of rebel infantry had formed in
regimental front, four lines deep, and was moving out to capture the
battery. General Banks asked General Bayard if the guns could be saved.
Bayard, taking in the situation, ordered Major Falls, of the First
Pennsylvania Cavalry, to charge his battalion upon the enemy's
infantry. The charge was made, but only one company succeeded in
reaching the enemy. Some men of the company passed through the lines
and returned, while the balance of the battalion was repulsed before
reaching the open field. The captain of the company was wounded in five
places, the second lieutenant killed,--in fact, the company came near
being wiped out of existence; and when the first lieutenant, Warren L.
Holbrook, came to rally the remnant of his company he found but a
corporal's guard. Knowing the modesty of that gallant officer, I take
the liberty of mentioning his name. Eighty-eight horses were left dead
on the field. The celebrated charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry
at Chancellorsville is familiar to all; but this charge of the First
Pennsylvania Cavalry even excelled that in boldness, for when the
Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry made its charge it was in column of fours
and in the woods, and it came upon the enemy unexpectedly. But the
First Pennsylvania cavalrymen at Cedar Mountain saw what was in their
front: a clear, open field and death staring them in the face,--cannon
in front of them and cannon to the left of them,--and theirs was a feat
at arms not unlike the charge of the Earl of Cardigan and his six
hundred, made immortal by Tennyson.[2]

[2] The charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry was made
historical by General Pleasonton's official report after the
battle of Chancellorsville. Reports like that sometimes cover up
a multitude of blunders and give credit only to those who are
killed. They also sometimes make great newspaper generals of
their authors, and the millions who read the newspapers at home
thus get their impressions as to who are the great fighters at
the front.

We remained in the vicinity of th