Notes on the battle of Cedar Creek.
By Major G. B. Gerald, Eighteenth Mississippi Regiment.
Colonel Sims was killed in a few seconds after we halted, and the command devolved on me. On our left were a few hundred men of our division in irregular order, on our right General Ramseur's division (or part of it, rather) formed. I passed up and down the whole length of my brigade, seeking to inspire among my men a confidence of holding them in check and of repairing the disaster. About an hour after we had halted, General Ramseur rode up to me and asked if I thought I could hold my men in their position until night. I answered I could, I thought, if my ammunition did not fail, and that I had sent several couriers to the rear for the same and none had returned. He proposed to send some of his, and turned to ride to his command, and, as I afterwards learned, was mortally wounded before he rode fifty yards from the right of my line. His men soon gave way, and the enemy pressing upon the disordered line on our left, they retreated in the utmost confusion. I gave the order for my brigade to retreat, and designated a piece of woods as a point for the regiments to rally, but before the retreat was advanced fifty yards the men began to break into squads and hurried away. All efforts to pursue order now became useless, and in a few moments the organization of the brigade was gone; myself and staff were on foot, and I had been wounded twice (slightly) in the arm and once in the foot, and from the latter I was suffering a great deal. I attempted to form a skirmish line of a few scattering men that still remained with me, and partially succeeded in presenting some show of resistance until I [392] reached the hill overlooking the creek, and I then halted with the squad, placing them in some Federal breastworks, hoping and believing that there had been enough men rallied and formed, or would be, to prevent the enemy from crossing.
I had been here but a few moments when an officer, riding rapidly from the left towards the bridge, informed me that I had better leave unless I wished myself and men captured, as the Federal cavalry had crossed the creek. I then ordered those who had stood by me to the last (about forty men) to get away the best they could, and leaning upon the arm of a faithful soldier (private Bass) of my own regiment, I hobbled off the field thoroughly disheartened, crossed the bridge under the fire of the advancing infantry and passed in twenty yards of the Federal cavalry, who were hurrahing over our captured artillery, and made the best of my way through the rapidly and, to me, most welcomely approaching night by a circuitous route to Fisher's Hill, having picked up upon the road almost half of what was left of my brigade.
I do not know the strength of my brigade when it entered the fight, but I don't think it could have much exceeded five hundred; my regiment I know went under fire that morning with ninety-two muskets. I am also fully satisfied that when the brigade was formed behind the stone fence referred to, after the first retreat, that it contained as many men as Ramseur's whole division (I think my brigade at this time contained two hundred and fifty men), and the crumbling ashes of the gallant dead of my own brigade who fell behind this wall, bravely defending their country, their liberty and their flag, will not permit me to remain silent when opportunity offers to controvert the report of General Early, which, as well as I remember, says that Ramseur's division and some scattering men of Kershaw's were all that halted after the first retreat and attempted to retrieve the disaster. As to the amount of straggling in the morning, referred to by him, I can only say in regard to my own regiment that upon the retreat that evening there was from its ranks less straggling than I ever saw before in battle. I don't pretend to deny but that the last scene was a disgraceful one, but ‘render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.’ I had on that morning sought to impress on my men the necessity for remaining at their post and gaining a victory, and to their credit can I say that until the last retreat they obeyed me.
Very truly yours,