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

752 SEVENTIETH REGIMENT —-SIXTH CAVALRY. 1865
cient to span it, he decided to strike a, base at the White House. At Rockfish
River the bank of the canal was blown up, and at New Canton the guard-lock
was destroyed. This let the James River into the canal, changing its sluggish
stream to a raging torrent, sweeping away its banks. At White House the
infantry, sent out by General Grant in anticipation of his coming, was met,
and on the 25th of March Sheridan joined the army before Petersburg. Here
Lieutenant Colonel Leiper re-joined the regiment and resumed command, and
was soon after mustered as Colonel, Major Morrow as Lieutenant Colonel, and
Captains A. I. Price, Charles B. Coxe, and B. H. Herkness as Majors.
Moving around to the extreme left of the infantry line, General Sheridan
stood ready on the 29th for his final ride. The Sixth could muster but a hundred mounted men. The meagreness of the number was owing to lack of
horses; for at dismounted camp were plenty of men. "A man," says Chaplain Gracey, "may ride from Winchester to Petersburg, through rain, and
mud, and cold, and get little to eat and little sleep, and yet not suffer in health
very much. After one ample dinner and one good night's rest, he will, very
likely, be getting uneasy and bored with the quiet life, and be longing for more
rides; but the horse that carries him on the trip is apt to reach his journey's
end in pitiable plight. Hunger and cold have starved him, the pitiless rain
has pelted him, deepening mud has mired and tired him. His back has been
galled with pinching saddle or frozen blanket; he is leg weary and foot sore;
decrepitude is in his gait and dejection in his eye; great scars are scalded on
his weather-beaten front, and on his ribs and rump famine might hang her
banner. Some indomitable wills bear up through it all though, and these deserve to be rewarded of their country, for they rendered possible the deeds
of Sheridan's Cavalry."
Sheridan had been ordered to move upon the enemy's right and rear.
At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th, General Merritt's Division, which
had the advance, came upon the enemy at Gravelly Run, near Five Forks.
After crossing the run, Colonel Leiper, who was at the head of the column,
deployed his men in line, and was soon joined by the Second Massachusetts,
First United States, and Seventh Michigan. With this impromptu brigade,
he advanced against the enemy lying quietly in the woods, and by a sudden
charge scattered his lines, and drove them in upon his infantry supports awaiting in rifle-pits an attack. On the following day the battle was renewed, and
the Sixth, dismounted, fought the enemy's infantry, in a thick wood, near the
Dinwiddie Road. The ground was stubbornly contested on every part of the
line; but, by skillful dispositions, Sheridan was triumphant, successfully holding his position until joined by the infantry, when the enemy sullenly withdrew. The loss in the Sixth, was Lieutenant Magee killed, Lieutenant Colonel
Morrow and a considerable number of men wounded. Pursuit was immediately given, and the column soon came upon the rebels sheltered behind his
strong fortifications, on the White Oak Road. And here the Sixth Cavalry
dismounted to fight in its last battle. There stood in the ranks but forty-eight
men bearing carbines. Through the day the position fronting the enemy's
works was held, the men keeping'up a brisk fire and diverting his attention
from other parts of the field, where our infantry was moving for his overthrow.
The victory was complete, and the regiment rested that night upon the field.
After this battle, the remnant of the regiment was ordered to General Merritt's headquarters for escort and guard duty. With Sheridan's column it