It was April of 1863, the entire Army of the Potomac was under the command of General Joseph 'Fighting Joe' Hooker, and they were camped in the Wilderness in Virginia, near Chancellorsville, 'B' Company of the U.S Second Cavalry was ordered to a ridge in Northern Virginia called Tennessee Ridge, which was on the Virginia side of the Virginia and Tennessee Border, hence its name, the company commander Captain George McCord was ordered by Captain Wesley Merritt to wait for the rest of the Brigade under General John Buford to hold the position. Thomas Carter Reynolds was the company Sergeant-Major who was a good soldier and was good friends with every soldier in the company, he was once the company Guidon Bearer, promoted because the Sergeant-Major before him was killed by a sharpshooter during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. But this would be a day like no other for his company, and his friends in the company would suffer greatly that day because of one cowardly officer.

The men of 'B' Company were trotting down a dirt road with Captain McCord at the front of the column with the other officers and Sergeant-Major Reynolds next to his friend Sergeant Timothy Quincannon. "How long you think until Bobby Lee surrenders after this one?" Asked Sergeant Quincannon. "I figure a few days once 'Fighting Joe' beats his army." Replied the Sergeant-Major, he two laughed when Sergeant O'Ryan came up to talk. "Say, Sarge?" Thomas looked over at his friend. "What is it O'Ryan?" The younger Line Sergeant looked forward then back at the Sergeant-Major. "Tell me again why Captain Merritt decided to make us go up to Tennessee Ridge, we'll be riding back to Falmouth in a few days with the rest of the Brigade, so what's the point of all this?" Reynolds thought for a moment "Simple, that West Point wonder of an officer, wants to have one last engagement on his record before the war ends." They laughed, but just then, the company scout Corporal Fletcher galloped frantically over to Captain McCord. "Captain sir." The Captain called a halt to the advance. "What is it, Fletcher?" The Corporal panted frantically as he tried to speak. "The Rebs are ma..." He couldn't finish his sentence because he was shot right through the chest. The Captain saw this and took an immediate course of action. "FIRST PLATOON TO THE RIGHT, SECOND PLATOON TO THE LEFT, DISMOUNT,AND FIGHT ON FOOT!" The individual Platoons were commanded by one of two Lieutenant's, Lieutenant Middleton commanded Second Platoon, and Lieutenant Storm was in command of First Platoon, Sergeant-Major Reynolds' platoon.

The men formed battle lines behind rocks and fallen trees, their targets were the men in grey approaching them, but the Rebels were armed with muzzle loading shotguns, and musketoons and some carbines while the Union troopers were armed with Sharps Carbines. They fired on the approaching Rebels, it wasn't something that was new to them, that one company had been to Fredericksburg and other battles which involved the U.S Second Cavalry, and now Cavalry operations to cut Confederate supplies in Virginia. One advantage the cavalrymen always exploited was the fact they had breech-loading Carbines and could almost triple the fire of muzzle-loaders. The Sergeant-Major dismounted and joined two other Line Sergeants, he and his friends Sergeant Mulcahy, Sergeant O'Ryan, and Sergeant Quincannon were four great friends in 'B' Company. They were called the four Irish Sergeants since their families had all come from Ireland back during the days of 1776. Now they were fighting in their nation's greatest test to keep it a whole nation.

The men quickly dismounted, they spread out along the rocks and the underbrush, they quickly got their Carbines from their slings and watched and waited as the Rebels advanced in a line of battle towards them. Soon, the Stars and Bars of the Confederate Battle Colors blew in the wind as they appeared, soon, a long line of Graybacks approached, dismounted Cavalry, from the 1st Virginia. The men waited until they were four hundred yards from their position before they opened fire, once the Rebels finally closed the distance, the seasoned veteran cavalrymen carbine's crackled like a legion of rifles. The men began to fire at will as they hugged the ground, managing to avoid the majority of the fire of the Rebels. The left and center were holding strong under the Confederate attacks, but the right flank was in the air because Lieutenant Middleton was a by the book officer that didn't know a fight if he read it in one of his West Point books.

Lieutenant Middleton was sweating bullets, he was nervous and scared of what was happening, he couldn't bring himself to bring up his pistol and shoot the Rebels. Sergeant Mulcahy came over to him with his Sharps in one hand and shook the Lieutenant out oh his trance. "Lieutenant Sir, are you alright." Middleton looked at the Sergeant, with a panicked look in his eyes and sweat pouring down his face. "We're surrounded Sergeant, WE'RE SURROUNDED, WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!" The Lieutenant ran for his horse, he mounted up and rode like the wind away from the battle. After seeing that, the other enlisted men started to do the same, they believed the Lieutenant that they were surrounded and started to get on their horses to leave. Despite trying to stop the other troopers from fleeing, Sergeant Mulcahy wasn't able to, so he ran over to the position of First Platoon to tell Sergeant-Major Reynolds. "Tom, TOM!" The Sergeant-Major turned to see who was shouting his first name when he saw Mulcahy galloping on his horse towards them. "What is it Festus?" The middle-aged Line Sergeant dismounted and appeared out of breath. "Lieutenant Middleton has lashed out." he wheezed, Sergeant-Major Reynolds was in shock. "HE WHAT?! NOW THE RIGHT IS IN THE AIR!" The Sergeant had to think of something fast, then it came to him. "QUINCANNON, O'RYAN, GET YOUR CARCASSES OVER HERE, ON THE DOUBLE!" The two of them ran over to Sergeant-Major Reynolds. "What is it Tom?" "Yeah, what's wrong."Asked O'Ryan and Quincannon respectfully. "Lieutenant Middleton has run off with the majority of Second Platoon." Stated the Sergeant-Major dryly, the two other Sergeants were in shock and disgusted. "Why the coward." "He's a disgrace to the uniform." Thomas quieted down the rowdy troopers. "Alright, calm down, the lot of you, now the four of us will secure the right." Mulcahy was in a slight bit of surprise. "Just us?" Tom nodded. "Just us, Festus, if we get out of this fight, we'll see about Lieutenant Middleton."

The four of them got up and rushed about 700 yards to the right, they saw some Reb skirmishers heading up, and knew that the rest of their force was behind them, so the four Sergeants got on their bellies and opened fire with their Sharps Carbines. They kept firing into the Reb ranks from different positions, making them think there was plenty of men there to stem the tide of their advance. The four veterans blazed away at the Johnnies, their Carbines made them think that they had the strength of a full Company. The line of the Confederate troopers had several holes in it where their men used to stand, the Rebs hit the ground, making themselves harder to see, but the four men shooting at them had the advantage of looking down their throats. The Graybacks started to retreat in order, but an officer got up and tried to rally his demoralized men. Thomas looked down his gunsight and got the gray-clad officer right between the eyes. That had done it, soon the Confederates ended up breaking their ranks and running towards the base of the ridge in retreat. It turned from a fighting retreat to a disorganized rout, the four Sergeants got up and cheered. "LOOK AT THEM RUN!" "There running like Jack Rabbits." "They won't mess with us anymore." Sergeant-Major Reynolds began to quiet down "Good work lads, let's get back and report to Captain McCord." The men jogged back to where the rest of the company was holding, but when they got up there, the rest of them were all dead.

They looked at the bodies of their comrades in arms, names like Allen, Moore, Harrington, Lewis, King, Baker, Roberts, Turner, and Young were staring at them with cold dead eyes. Sergeant O'Ryan found the body of Lieutenant Storm near the company guidon and was in shock, they all wandered the sea of soldiers in dirty shirt blue. But Sergeant-Major Reyolds found the dying body of Captain McCord. "Captain!" The Sergeant ran over and knelt next to his commander. "W-Where were y-you S-Sergeant-M-Major?" Sergeant-Major Reynolds reached for the Captain's arm and checked his pulse, it was getting weaker by the second. "On the right sir, Lieutenant Middleton had pulled back. So me, Sergeants Mulcahy, O'Ryan, and Quincannon went to see what we could do to stop them sir, and we did." The Captain looked up at the face of the Sergeant-Major. "G-good man, Middleton was always a bit of a..." The Captain stopped in the middle of the word, he had died right next in front of the young Sergeant-Major, Sergeant-Major Reynolds was lost for words, he couldn't cry, yell, talk, or breath even. It was as if every sense of reality just left and he was simply no where in the world at that point. He was adrift in a see of blood from what happened to his Company, he felt as though it was his fault.

Sergeant Mulcahy went over to him and put his hand on his shoulder, and gave him a somber smile, he patted the Sergeant-Major on the shoulder and got him up. The Sergeant looked down at his commanding officer and gave him a salute. "Rest well sir." He then turned to Sergeant Mulcahy. "We'll go back to camp and if we see the Squadron Commander, we'll tell him what happened, then hopefully we can bring a burial detail." The men then went over to their horses, that managed not to be captured by the Confederates and grabbed the Company Guidon to bring back.

Later

They four Sergeant rode into camp near Charlottesville in Northern Virginia, they first went over to the tent of their Squadron Commander, Captain Clermont, to report what happened on Tennessee Ridge. The Sergeant-Major stepped into the tent and saluted the Major, who returned it, he was puzzled to see Reynolds and not McCord "Captain, do you have a moment?" The Major opened his mouth to speak. "What is it Sergeant-Major, where's Captain McCord?" The Sergeant-Major "Is Lieutenant Middleton here?" Now the Captain was even more puzzled "Yes, he's here with his platoon, but Reynolds, where's the Captain?" Tom looked down at his boots. "He's dead sir, and Lieutenant Middleton abandoned the right, so we were overpowered in the center and on the left, leaving everybody dead except me, Sergeant Mulcahy, Sergeant Quincannon, and Sergeant O'Ryan. Sir." The Captain was confused, and in awe, he didn't expect the Sergeant-Major to say that. "Are you sure Sergeant?" Thomas nodded. "Died right in front of me sir, with your permission, I would like to lead back a burial detail back." The Squadron Commander shook his head "Request denied Sergeant-Major, I'll take the detail, you and the other Sergeants go arrest Lieutenant Middleton, I'll report this to General Buford up at Headquarters." The Sergeant smirked when he heard he was to arrest Lieutenant Middleton, he had been a pain in the rear of the Company since he was given command of the 1st Platoon of 'B' Company. "Yes, sir." He saluted his superior and walked out of the tent. The other three Sergeants were waiting outside for him with smiles on their faces. "What are the three of you smiling at?" Sergeant Mulcahy stepped forward. "Sidearms or Carbines Tom?" The Young Sergeant-Major smirked again and looked at the other two Sergeants. "Sidearms, Colts already drawn and cocked, Lieutenant Middleton is not going to put up a fight, but you never know." The four Sergeants did pull out their sidearms and then went marching over to the Lieutenant's tent, when they arrived, Sergeant-Major Reynolds huddled with the other three Sergeants to discuss the tactics of bringing the Lieutenant along peaceably, Thomas turned to the others. "Alright, I'll go in, but if you hear any shooting, come in fast." The Sergeant then walked into the Lieutenant's tent and saw him looking at some maps on the table. "Lieutenant Middleton." The Lieutenant turned to the Sergeant-Major "Yes Sergeant-Major?" Even though the Sergeant-Major had on a straight face, he seethed with hatred for the coward in front of him. "Under the order of the Squadron Commander sir, your being placed under arrest." The Lieutenant shot up from his position of looking at the maps and turned to face the Sergeant. "On what charges?" Thomas was surprised the Lieutenant was still keeping up with the act. "Desertion in the face of the Enemy, and Cowardice. Are you coming peaceably?" The Lieutenant didn't argue, he grabbed his saber and his kepi with crossed sabers. "Well, I don't see how I can do anything here, I'll have this mess sorted out in no time, and then I'll command the Company as it should." The Sergeant-Major merely looked at the Lieutenant. "I wouldn't bet on it Lieutenant."

And the Lieutenant didn't, when Captain Clermont returned with the burial detail, he arranged for the court-martial of the lieutenant at the earliest moment to General Buford for the General Court-Martial. The Lieutenant was found guilty of his accused crimes and was dishonorably discharged from the service, and drummed out of the army a coward. On May 17th of 1863, Lieutenant Middleton was escorted to the front of the Regiment in his dress uniform when Captain Clermont approached him and read a piece of paper out loud. The men of the Regiment sat silently in their saddles as the Middle-aged Squadron Commander read the finding of the court and sentence. "Lieutenant James Middleton, you have been found guilty of violating the 52nd Article of War, running away and abandoning your post in the face of the enemy, you are warned you are liable to the death penalty, if you should trespass upon any military post or reservation, HENCEFORTH!" He rolled up the paper and put it in his coat. He threw off the kepi of the ex-Lieutenant, then proceeded to rip off his shoulder boards and all the buttons from his jacket, and lastly, the Major pulled the ex-Lieutenant's saber out of its scabbard and proceeded to break it in half and throw it on the ground, as well as remove his belt with the scabbard and have it fall to the ground. What was left of the First Platoon of Company 'B' watched with pleasure as he was branded a coward, they thought that the Lieutenant deserved nothing less than this. Soon, after the Major walked away, they were ordered to march out, they paraded past the dishonorably discharged officer and scowled at him, the Lieutenant eyed the Sergeant-Major in particular, giving a look of hate and remorse for the Non-Commissioned Officer, all Sergeant-Major Reynolds did was scowl and he trotted by on his mount.

Two Years Later

On April 9th, 1865, General Grant had accepted the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, but only five days later, President Lincoln had been assassinated at Ford's theater by John Wilkes Booth. The Union Army of the Potomac was being disbanded, and the units in the Regular Army were being redeployed to their posts on the frontier. Sergeant-Major Reynolds, Sergeants Mulcahy, O'Ryan, and Quincannon were in their tent within their regiment's camp at Fairfax Courthouse shining their boots, they had decided to stay in the army. With many different officers take command 'B' Company, the original 100 officers and enlisted men were now 51 enlisted men, Sergeant-Major Reynolds was in charge since he was the senior Non-commissioned officer of the company. He was relatively tall at 6'0 with dark black hair and a clean shaven face, he wore a regular cavalry uniform and wore a black stetson with a yellow hat cord he was given from a friend during Christmas of '61. For his action at Gettysburg, for saving a artillery crew and rallying and leading the remainder of the men in his company, he received the Medal of Honor from President Lincoln himself for actions above and beyond the call of duty, when he heard that the President was killed, he was in his tent alone, the others didn't know he was crying his eyes out. He didn't think he deserved the medal in the first place, but he hid his feelings from his friends. After Tennessee Ridge, he fought at Brandy Station, Aldie, and was with General Buford holding ground in Gettysburg for General John Reynolds and 1st Corps. Now, after a short leave and visiting his brother and close friend back in Brooklyn, he was in a camp in Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia waiting for reassignment, "I don't know how you talked us into it, Tom, but you did, now were with what's left of the Original 100 men of 'B' Company and were heading west." Sergeant-Major Reynolds grinned a cocky grin "It's for the sake of adventure Festus, what would you be doing back in Brooklyn?" O'Ryan spoke up. "Probably getting drunk off his rear end and tear up Ol'Fitzgerald's Bar." The four of them let out a hearty laugh, O'Ryan was young, a year younger than Tom, with dark golden brown hair, in the same uniform they all wore with a kepi, Quincannon and Mulcahy wore the exact same, except they were older and more plump, Mulcahy being bald and Quincannon having a slight bit of ginger red hair with a thick mustache that ran from his upper lip to his the mid section of each cheek., they continued to gest but deep down, Sergeant-Major Reynolds wasn't in a great mood, he still felt to blame at what happened at Tennessee Ridge, even after two years of war, but instead, the Army commended him with holding the ridge with his fellow Non-Commissioned Officers, and being the last off the field. Thomas then took out a small box, containing a photo and his medal, it was of him and his family, his Father in his uniform of an Infantry Major in the 69th New York Infantry Regiment, part of the Irish Brigade under General Thomas Francis Meagher's command, and him in his new Sergeant-Major Stripes he got a few months before in the Spring of 1862, five months before his father was killed at Fredericksburg. While reminiscing, footsteps got louder as someone approached the tent. "Permission to enter?" The Sergeant-Major "Who is it?" An officer walked into the tent, the four Sergeants shot up straight to attention. "At ease, my name is Captain Kirby York, I've been assigned as temporary regimental commanding officer, and permanent commander of 'B' Company, who here is Sergeant-Major Thomas Reynolds?" The Sergeant-Major stepped forward. "I am sir." Captain York put out his hand and smiled. "Glad to know you Sergeant, I served with you father, he told me a lot about you, he was good man." The Sergeant extended his hand to shake his new commanding officer's. "Thank you sir, I'll try to live up to the same expectations." The Captain nodded "I know you will, there's two new Lieutenants and many new enlisted men given to us by JEB Stuart's old command, so we're back up to full strength of 100 Officers and men, we'll saddle up in two hours Sergeant-Major." The Sergeant-Major saluted the Captain with a bit of a smile. "Yes sir."

Soon, the company was formed, and they started to ride to the train station for the men to go on a ten day furlough to visit their families. Sergeant-Major Reynolds younger brother who was in his second year at West Point. Then, when the ten days were up, he took another train to Fort Leavenworth were he and the rest of his company took a Train to Santa Fe in the New Mexico Territory, and rode the long lonely miles to reach Fort Apache in the Territory of Arizona.