lines.
After that fateful day, May 11, 1864, when the bullet of the enemy took from the cavalry corps its great commander,
J. E. B. Stuart, at
Yellow Tavern, that man who
Longstreet said was the greatest cavalryman America ever saw; that man upon whom
Jackson threw his mantle, like Elijah of old; that man upon whom
General Lee depended for eyes and ears—
General Lee did not have to look for his successor; no, he was close at hand, and had carved his name with his sabre high in the list of the world's great soldiers.
It was
Wade Hampton upon whom the mantle fell, and who was worthier?
We have heard and do know of the achievements of this command and that command, from the pens of officers and privates, and I am glad it is so. I read everything of the kind I come across.
I have read of
Stuart's great ride around
McClellan's army on the
Chickahominy, and it was a wonderful performance.
I know it is considered by military men as an unique feat.
I wish I were able to describe it. I recall the enthusiasm it created, and also remember the fate of the gallant
Latane, the only casualty.
It is not of this that I would write.
I was not with the boys then.
It is of
Hampton's great ‘cattle raid,’ in September, 1864, that I propose to write in my own plain way, just as I remember it, and just as I read of it, now that it is all over.
Zzzthe Mise en scene.
In the early part of 1864
General Lee's army was facing
General Grant's at
Petersburg, and his infantry lines extended from the
Appomattox on the east to about Dinwiddie Courthouse on the southwest.
South of this the cavalry held the lines.
I
