History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

1863 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 323
July, companies A, H, and K moved to Frederick to gather up stragglers, the
balance of the regiment moving with General Meade to Gettysburg. On the
morning of the 3d the three companies, sent to Frederiekc re-joined the
regiment on the field. It was immediately ordered to duty in checking the tide
of stragglers crowding to the rear. At a time when the fate of the Republic
hung trembling in the balance, every man able to bear a musket was needed
at the front. The battle raged fiercely along the entire line, and the earth
trembled with the shock of the contending hosts. But victory at last was with
the army of the Union. The regiment was sent; at 12 P. M., to conduct a body
of twenty-five hundred prisoners to Westminster, which duty was successfully
accomplished and the command returned to Gettysburg on the 5th. It did
provost duty upon the field and in the town until the 7th, when it moved via
Frederick and joined the army near Middletown. Lee having escaped into Virginia at Williamsport, on the 18th the regiment crossed the Potomac and encamped near Lovettsville. It moved, in pursuit of Lee, through Upperville,
and passing through Manassas Gap reached Warrenton on the 25th. On the
following day Lieutenant Alfred Biles, of company B, was surprised and killed
by guerrillas, at the house of Mrs. Campbell. Frequent reconnoissances were
made during the months of Atugust and September, the regiment acting principally as guard at the headquarters of General Meade. On the 11th of October a spirited attack was made at Culpepper, in which Pleasanton's Cavalry disputed the advance of the enemy from Stevensburg. It gradually retired
before superior force to the Iappahannock, where fortifications of a formidable
character had been constructed, and the infantry was drawn up in line of battle.
The regiment bivouacked at Bealton, and on the 13th retired to Catlett's. The
race for Bristoe Station now became exciting, and before the command reached
the Centreville Road, the battle opened and raged furiously until evening.
Mainy prisoners were taken and the enemy's advance effectually checked. The
main body of the army was now entrenched on the heights of Centreville, a
position in too close proximity to the defences of Washington to allow the
enemy to gain its rear.
lOn the 19th, the regiment moved to Fairfax Station, and was assigned to
the Second Brigade, * Second Division, Cavalry Corps. The movement towards
the rbappahanmock and Mine Run began on the 21st, and passing through
Thoroughfare Gap the command moved to Warrenton, where on the 22d the
regiment was detailed to picket the Rappahannock from Kellyss, to Beverly
Ford. Approaching the railroad the enemy was discovered engaged in destroying the track. An attack was immediately made, the first batallion in advance,
in which Majror Taggrt wa mortally wounded while leading the charge. The
regiment moved forward and a brisk fight ensued, which was continueduntil late
in the evening. The enemry's cavalry under Fitz Hugh Lee, with a regiment of
infantry and a section of artillery, was driven in confusion from Bealton to the
* Organization of Second Brigade, Colonel J. Irvin Gregg, Second Division, Brigadier General D. M'AI. Gregg, Cavalry Corps. Fifty-ninth (Second Cavalry) Regiment Pennsylvania
Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph P. Brinton; Sixty-fourth (Fourth Cavalry) Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel George H. Covode; Eighty-ninth (Eighth Cavalry) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Pennock Huey; One I-undred and Seventeenth (Thirteenth Cavalry) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Michael Kerwin; One Hundred
and Sixty-first (Sixteenth Cavalry) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel
Lorenzo D. Rodgers; First Regiment Maine Cavalry, Colonel Charles H. Smith; Tenth Regiment New York Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel WVilliam Irvine.