Buford's Cavalry

by CAVALRYMAN1863

"No you won't they will attack you in the morning, and they will come booming, with Skirmisher's three deep, you will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive. The enemy must know the importance of this position and will strain every nerve to secure it, and if we are able to hold it, we will do well." General John Buford to Colonel Thomas Devin

2. Fight like the Devil

As Trooper Ward slept, Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds sat with his Carbine on a log, he cleaned the breech of his Carbine to make sure it would be ready for today's fight. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost Seven, it had rained a bit that morning but the sky was clearing up and the sun was coming out. But as he was finishing up, he heard a faint noise, that he could only identify as footsteps, footsteps of troops marching, he looked straight over at Ward and shook him awake. Ward was about to shout his head off when he was shook awake by the Sergeant-Major told him to keep quiet and listen, the tow quickly broke their small camp, saddled their horses. But before they began to head back, the Sergeant-Major loaded his Carbine. Ward brought up his head and rubbed his eyes to see what the Sergeant-Major was doing "What are you doing?" The Sergeant-Major looked at him. "This." He loaded the gun, brought it to full cock and pulled the trigger, firing the bullet into the air. "I'm alerting the other picketts, we've all got to get moving back to hold the town." The two saddled their horses and proceeded back to Gettysburg as quickly as possible. They galloped down the Chambersburg Pike and found a small detachment of Dismounted Videttes from the 8th Illinois Cavalry at Herr's Tavern. They quickly rode to them to alert their commanding officer that Johnny Reb was coming down the road in force. They found a Sergeant and went to ask him who was in charge. "Say Sergeant, who's in charge here?" The Sergeant turned to look at the two. "Lt Jones, why?" The group of men here didn't even number half a platoon, thought Nathan to himself. "Let him know he's got Rebs marching this way, and you boys might have first crack at them." He dismounted and got his Carbine, Ward was confused, they were supposed to report back as soon as possible. "What are you waiting for Ward, get your Carbine and dismount, we're starting this battle from right here." Ward dismounted with his Carbine and knelt down by a rail fence with the Illinois Troopers in front of the white painted Tavern, then a Lieutenant walked up to the Sergeant and Sergeant-Major. "What the devil is going on Sergeant Shafer?!" The Sergeant saluted his superior, to which he returned it. "Sir, this Sergeant-Major said he heard the Rebs marching this way, and was riding back to Gettysburg to warn the rest of the Division." The Lieutenant turned to the Sergeant-Major. "Is this true Sergeant-Major?" The Sergeant-Major nodded, and they both looked down the road, and sure enough, half a mile away was the Rebel column. One of the men brought up their carbine to fire, but the Lieutenant stopped them. "Give me the honor of opening the Ball Trooper." He turned to Sgt Shafer. "Sergeant, let me have your Carbine." Sgt Shafer handed his Carbine over to the Lieutenant, there was an officer on a white horse in front of the column of gray troops. He knelt by the fence and aimed down the sight of the weapon and squeezed the trigger. The officer was still on his horse, but they were out of range, explaining why the officer wasn't knocked off his horse. "Looks like he's out of range Lieutenant." The Lieutenant nodded, then turned to the Sergeant-Major and Trooper Ward. "You two better get back to your Regiment, we'll be right behind after we give these Rebs a volley." The two Regular Troopers did not have to be told twice, they immediately went to their horses and rode back to McPherson's Ridge.

The men galloped another mile and a half back to their positions at McPherson's Ridge and soon were by the rail fence where their horses were being held, they gave their horses to one of the troopers and ran over to Capt Buckston and Lt Carr. "You rode in here like a bat out of hell Sergeant-Major, what's going on?" Nathan caught his breath from riding so hard back to their defense positions, he looked to see a battery of six 3-pounder ordnance guns were in place, with their limbers only a few feet behind hitched to their battery horses. "Sir, we heard the Confederates marching down the road from the west, so we alerted the other pickett posts by firing a shot in the air, we rode down to the Herr Tavern finding a small contingent of men from the 8th Illinois, then came here immediately after." The Lieutenant and Captain looked at each other. "Alright Sergeant-Major, you'll be in command of two squads of advanced skirmishers a few yards up on the slope of the ridge. Your responsible for delaying the Confederates as long as you can before pulling back here to the main line of defense." The Sergeant-Major saluted his commanding officer, and then ran towards his horse. He mounted his horse and rode down to another rail fence where the two squads were, he handed off his horse and ran down and knelt with the others and waited. But they didn't have to wait that long, for a Confederate Regiment was marching down the road right towards them.

Meanwhile

Up in the Cupola of the Seminary, General Buford and two other officers could see a Regiment of Infantry advancing with an officer on a white horse through his binoculars, Lt Calef's Battery was just getting the range, One of the shells went off in front of an officer on the horse and knocked him off, killing him in the process. The Regiment then pulled off the road and got onto the sloping ground at the bottom of the ridge, cannon shells exploding right in the middle of their ranks as they moved at the double quick to form a line of battle. Then came the fire from the men behind the rail fence and they began to open fire on them, the Rebs quickly formed into a line, but were still getting whittled down by relentless fire. The dismounted cavalrymen continued to fire, Troopers with Carbines and Officers with Pistols, he saw his forward skirmishers fall back to the main line and reinforce his main position. The Rebels fired their rifled muskets at the dismounted trooper, but as the lines on men continued to fall, they began to waver under the strain of the casualties. He watched as the Rebels attacked his position and grinned, the Rebs had no guns up yet and bringing a full Brigade up. "He's got a Brigade in position and that's all, he hitting me with one Brigade and I'm dug in, lovely, lovely." General Buford then looked off to the Southeast for any sign of John Reynolds and his Corps, but saw nothing. "Gentlemen, let's go down there." One of the officers opened a wooden hatch that revealed the stairs, they walked down to the bottom where the rest of the staff was waiting. He mounted his horse and started towards the defense with his staff and the Division color bearer carrying the Red and White 1st Cavalry Division Guidon right behind.

The dismounted cavalrymen continued to fire on the Confederate Infantry, the cannons fired right into their lines and the casualties of the Graybacks were mounting, gun smoke gathering around the Union cannons and Carbines creating a mist in front of the defenders, the Confederates were ramming bullets down the barrels of their muskets when they began to break and run from the field. From his position on the line next to Calef's Battery, Col Gamble saw the Rebels begin to fall back. "They're on the run." Just then, he saw General Buford and his staff riding down the pike and onto the field right towards him. Col Gamble saluted the General as he galloped up towards him. "Quite a scrap, huh General." The General looked up at his Brigade Commander "How are your loses?" The General took a moment to look at the men and how they remained there waiting, some others were just getting back from their pickett positions, dismounting and running towards the main line to take positions with the other men in the Brigade. "Not bad at all sir, we've really got a twist on them, they're arrogant people you know, they came right at us." The General looked through his binoculars to look out for more of the Rebs heading down the road to deploy in the field in front of them and their forward skirmishers. "Listen we took some prisoners, they're from Heth's of Hill's Corps, that's what I've got in front of me." The General looked back at the Colonel and then back at the road as more Regiments arrived against his men. "It's a new Division, I figure eight thousand men more or less, all within sound of this, just back up that road between here and Cashtown, just a little way's up the road." The General looked through his binoculars to see more Confederates moving down the road at the double quick. "It'll take them a while to get on line." Col Gamble then looked over at the General and nodded. "Yes sir, but, Hill's whole Corps is in front of me with twenty-five thousand, Longstreet behind that, Ewell over there to the North." Gen Buford continued to look through his binoculars as Gamble continued on. "I know Colonel, I know." He looked back at his Brigade Commander and also noticed men rushing around on horseback, probably couriers, and other men holding the horses of the men that were dismounted and firing. "The thing is this sir, when John Reynolds get's here he won't have the whole army with him, only part of it. The point is, as I see it, the Rebs will be here with everything they got, I just thought I'd mention it." The two looked down at the position of the men, another Confederate Regiment was on the run. "Now, what do you want me to do here sir." The General turned to look at the Colonel. "Well, Heth'll be back in a bit, if he's got any brain at all and he's not stupid, he's got to know by now he's got at least a Brigade in front of him. I don't think he'll wait to get his whole Division in line, that'll take half the morning." The Colonel looked over at the field where another Confederate Regiment was moving into line and back at the General "Sir, he don't need his whole Division." Gen Buford looked at Gamble once again. "That's right, does Devin report any activity on his front over to the right?" The Colonel shook his head. "No sir, not a lick." The General gave a small nod. "Right, I'l have Devin leave a cover in the north, pull the rest of his boys out and move in alongside you, lengthening your line, when Heth get's back he'll find two Brigades instead of one, that ought to hold them until Reynolds get's here." Col Gamble gave a nod. Col Gamble: "Right sir." He looked up at the sky. "Hmm, damn sure glad the rain's gone, don't want anything to slow up Reynolds." Gen Buford looked back at his Brigade commander. "Take care of yourself Colonel." Col Gamble smiled and saluted his commanding officer. "Don't worry about me sir, I'm the soul of caution." The General returned the salute and rode off down the line, he quickly told a young Lieutenant to send a second message to General Reynolds.

He knew that if Heth committed his whole force, they would roll over them, his entire Division would be lost as well as the high ground, and the only person to blame, would be him. But he had sounded the bugle, and could not call a retreat, he knew the way to Washington would be open if they ran. He stuck around the line and sent another courier to Devin to tell him to immediately come towards Gamble's position and dig in, but in the General's mind he thought 'If this was a mistake, God help us'.

Meanwhile

The men forward of the rail fence commanded by Sgt-Major Reynolds were holding fast, the two squads he was given gave him a total of sixteen men in a skirmish line five feet in between each trooper and kneeling. The men brought up their Carbines and aimed at the line of rebels marching their way, the men were slightly intimidated by the number of Rebs approaching them now then when they came the first time, but now they had reformed and more were coming in force. "Ready!" Shouted Reynolds, some of the troopers were shaking at the numbers of Confederate Infantry that were marching in line of battle towards them. "Aim!" The Rebel Skirmisher's were three deep and approaching them quickly, the cavalry skirmishers were already down to ten rounds per man, but they were Regulars, they wouldn't break and run. "FIRE!" A volley of fire from the .54 Caliber Sharps Carbines hit the middle of the line of an advancing Rebel Regiment and a good section of their front rank, killing a color bearer and two others of the color guard, and several other line infantrymen. The Sergeant-Major was about to give the order to reload and give another volley, when he saw a battery of Rebel Cannon in place and about to fire, they were exposed where they were, and the main line was only a few yards to the rear. "ALRIGHT MEN, FALL BACK!" The men stood up straight and ran to the rear, gripping the scabbards of their sabers so they wouldn't trip over them while running. Some of the men quickly reloaded their breech loading carbines while running, two men knelt down and got a shot off before being directly hit by an artillery shell.

Nathan looked at their mangled bodies and was in shock, he turned and gave another volley, and realized his Carbine was not loaded, the other men were already ahead of him, some turned and fired before they were shot. He ran towards the fence, he could recognize Sgt Mulcahy waving toward him, he got to the fence and tossed over his Carbine to Mulcahy before jumping over the fence, be then, he felt something hit him just above his knee, like a bullet. He thought he was hit, right above his left knee. He felt no pain though, he didn't know whether that would be good or bad, he hit the dirt laid there for a minute or two, but the world seemed to slow down around him as he thought. No pain, but he felt something hit him, he started to check his left left leg and felt no bullet wound, no feeling of blood on his hand, nothing. He looked down, and saw a section of his scabbard was bent in. He pulled it up and saw a small round ding in it. "NATHAN! Are You Alright!" He showed his scabbard to Mulcahy who then looked him right in the eyes. "Well I'll be damned." The Sergeant-Major whispered loudly, The two gave a chuckle before Mulcahy gave Reynolds his Carbine, they both got behind the wooden fence and opened fire again on the Rebels.

The Confederates began to advance slowly, but the men kept up their fire, while the Rebels had muzzle-loaders, the Federals had Breech loaders, that almost tripled the amount of fire of the Rebs. But then the artillery rained in behind them at Lt Calef's guns, the blast of which knocked down a entire cannon crew but luckily didn't kill them. The Sergeant-Major fired another shot and reached back to his Cartridge box to pull out another round when he looked back and saw Col Gamble himself with a pistol firing on the Rebs from his horse. The Sergeant-Major got out a paper cartridge and pulled the forward the trigger guard to open the breech of the Carbine, he placed the cartridge in the breech and closed it, tearing off the end of the cartridge exposing the powder inside. He pulled back the hammer to half cock and took off an old percussion cap, he got a new cap from a small pouch on his belt and placed it on the cone. He brought the hammer to full cock and aimed at a Confederate Infantryman reloading his musket and fired, dropping the Rebel like a fly. He reached back for another cartridge but felt nothing in his cartridge box, it was empty, he had run out of ammunition. He quickly ran back over to his mount to get some more from his saddle bags when he heard an artillery shell fly overhead. He braced himself for the shock of the cannon blast which came, but it didn't do much damage, flew over a Gun and knocked off the right wheel of a Limber. But when he grabbed more cartridges and stuffed them into his cartridge box he looked at the Limber again and saw that it had caught fire, he knew that it was loaded to the brim with cannon shells and powder, and the artillery gun in front of him was manned by six men in the ten man crew of the 3-pounder, the blast from the limber would kill the men manning the gun. Something had come over him, he didn't know what he was doing as he was acting on impulse, but before heading back to his position, he dropped his Carbine and ran over to the gun crew waving his arms. "GET AWAY FROM THAT GUN!" The men looked over at him, confused, maybe they couldn't hear him, or maybe they did but didn't understand why he wanted them to move away. "GET AWAY FROM THAT GUN!" He pointed at the limber which was half engulfed in flames, the crew saw and immediately ran a few feet and hit the dirt.

He looked back at the limber and saw that someone was on it, trying to get the battery horses to move the limber away, he immediately ran over to the limber and pushed the artilleryman off of it. He drew his saber and cut the reins before hitting the horses on their rear ends, making them bolt away towards the ordnance wagon. He then ran over to the artilleryman and helped him up, but he soon saw that almost the whole limber was aflame, he pushed down the artilleryman and he hugged the ground himself. They both heard the limber explode and stayed down as the wooden debris and shrapnel fragments fell around them, they both soon were helped up by other artillerymen, a Artillery Line Sergeant carried the Sergeant-Major's Carbine over to him and handed it to him, and took his right hand and shook it. "Thanks friend, you saved our lives, if it weren't for you, we would have been gotten for sure." The Sergeant-Major tipped his Black Cavalry hat and immediately ran back up to the line. As he moved up, he heard someone shouting over behind him, and saw a whole Brigade take up position over near their position and to the right. "FORM BATTLE LINES, GIVE'EM HELL!" He saw the men run forward towards the fences and then saw a high ranking officer get off his own horse and draw his saber, and he saw that it was Colonel Devin and his Brigade. He soon got back to his Company on the line and resumed firing, he then saw Capt Buckston run over to him wit his Colt Revolver in his right hand. "Sergeant-Major, keep up the..." He was cut off by a bullet hitting him in the throat, and was bleeding as he hit the ground. "Captain!" He lunged over to help the Captain and saw where he was bleeding. "STRETCHER BEARER!" He looked around, no one heard him. "STRETCHER BEARER!" A medical orderly ran over to him and looked at the Captain, he was dead.

Many thoughts went through his mind, especially what had happened the last time one of his officer's were killed, he thought of Capt McCord and how he had survived while several others didn't. He thought about his friends he had made before Gen Stoneman's raid into Virginia, his father who dies at Fredericksburg the year prior, he thought about how many people he cared for that this cruel war would take. "Sergeant-Major, take your position and fire your weapon." He had not noticed Lt Carr standing over him with a pistol in his left hand, he was angry and sweaty from the gunsmoke and heat. "I said, take your place on the firing line, THAT'S AN ORDER!" The Sergeant-Major didn't listen, he stayed where he was, he didn't notice how Lt Carr aimed his pistol at the back of his head before an explosion behind them.

Lt Carr was now rolling around on the ground, Shrapnel in his right leg, it had kept Nathan Reynolds from being killed, but also, had placed him in command. Another medical orderly had gotten a stretcher and with another man's help, carried the Lieutenant off the field. He then heard something that put fear into every soldier wearing the army blue, the Rebel yell. He saw the Rebels's coming closer and closer and the men were beginning to get nervous, the Sergeant-Major saw one man was about to break and run but he quickly ran towards him and caught him before he slipped away. The scared trooper had dropped his Carbine and Nathan picked it up. He opened the breech, pulled out a cartridge and helped the trooper load it, he then turned him around and got him back on the firing line, he picked up his own Carbine and waited for the Rebs to get so close they wouldn't miss. "Ready." The men made sure the hammer's of their Carbines were at full cock. "Aim." Some held the Carbine by the steel barrel, others by the wooden stock at the front, and others rested it on the fence. "FIRE!" The men all fired at once and the Rebs fell like dominoes, but they were still coming, so the men reloaded their weapons and fired again, and again, until the Rebs started to slowly fall back to reform once again.

Meanwhile

"That flank, Hold it!" The General saw Devin's Brigade move in and take a position on the flank next to Gamble's Brigade. "STAND FAST, KEEP UP YOUR FIRE, POUR IT INTO THEM BOYS, POUR IT INTO THEM!" His men soon knelt behind the fence and opened fire on the advancing Rebels. General Buford moved down the line with his staff behind him, he then saw a Captain ride up towards him and saluted. "Gamble's down sir, Colonel Gamble, but he's not hurt bad sir!" The General quickly trotted over to where Col Gamble was, he and two aides were dusting him off. "I'm alright, I'm alright." he looked over at the General. "Close, that's all." The General shook his head with a grin as Col Gamble mounted his horse again, he looked through his binoculars again. He didn't notice and officer, a young First Lieutenant, and an older possibly in his early 40's Line Sergeant ride up to him and his staff, until he spoke. "Sir!" The General put down his binoculars and looked at the Lieutenant who gave him a salute, he immediately returned it. "Col Devin's compliments, there was a problem on the right, they came up close, we put in the reserve, but we didn't put it all in sir, he wishes to know if you have any further orders." The General took a short pause that seemed longer than it was, and thought about Devin's situation, they had not broken through, but they came close to breaking. "Tell Devin all reserve forward, NOW!" The Lieutenant saluted the General and took off with the Sergeant right behind him, leaving General Buford and his staff to watch the line. He looked through his binoculars yet again and could see Devin waving his saber, having the men keep up their fire on the Rebels lines of Infantry.

Artillery is traded between both North and South as Lt Calef's Battery continues to fire on the Rebel Infantry and the Confederate Batteries fire on the dismounted Cavalrymen and their horse artillery. The General see's one Company from the 3rd West Virginia Cavalry galloping back towards the main defense line behind the fence, while Confederate Artillery rained around them. Once behind the slight safety of the fence, the men dismounted, filling any gaps in the line and started to blaze away with their Carbines. One shell knocked of a horse holder from his own mount and caused his mount to run off a few feet, while the other mounts merely stood there.

The General had decided to go back to the Seminary to check for Reynolds, but when he looked to the south, there was nothing, sign of Gen Reynolds. He looked again to the West, the men were battered and bruised, but not beaten, but ammunition was beginning to run low within the ranks, little to nothing in the ordnance wagons. Yet he still saw the guidons of different companies of different regiments continue to wave, then he heard something from one of the officers that he thought he would never hear. "Sir, It's General Reynolds!" He quickly turned his head and looked through his binoculars to see General Reynolds and his staff cutting across fields and farms, moving toward the Seminary. Gen Buford smiled and took out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. "Thank god." Soon enough, Gen Reynolds was right below the Cupola, one man was holding the Colors of the 1st Corps and the rest of the men were his staff officers. "What goes John?" General Reynolds looked up at General Buford and General Buford looked down at General Reynolds. "There's a Devil to Pay." General Reynolds cupped his left hand around his mouth and shouted up to Gen Buford. "Can you hold?" The General looked to the west again to see his two Cavalry Brigades fighting Confederate Infantry, battered and bruised but still fighting on, he looked down at Reynolds again. "I reckon I can." One of the General's Staff officer opened the hatch in the floor and started to walk down to General Reynolds, as General Reynolds gave orders to his staff officers. General Reynolds wheeled his horse to face the officers on his staff. "Captain, you will ride as fast as you can to General Meade, tell him the enemy is advancing in strong force and I'm afraid they will make it to the heights beyond the town before we will. We'll fight them here, inch by inch through the town if necessary." The Captain saluted and rode off south towards Taneytown, Maryland. The General then turned to a Lieutenant and gave him a set of orders. "Lieutenant, go into town, tell the people to stay in off of the streets, especially children, there's liable to be a a fair sight in this feud here today." Like the Captain before him the Lieutenant saluted and rode towards the town. General Reynolds then turned to an officer with glasses filthy as a dirt road. "Joe, how can you see anything with those things on?" The officer quickly took off his glasses and began to clean them with his blouse. General Reynolds walked his horse forward as General Buford came outside, Buford saluted Reynolds and Reynolds returned the salute before dismounting, the two shaking hands. "General, damn glad to see you." Reynolds grinned. "The First Corps' coming up, the Eleventh is right behind." He pointed at the Emmitsburg Road and Gen Buford could see the column of Infantrymen marching down the road, the Black Hat boys, the Iron Brigade. A crack Brigade of Westerners from Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan under Gen Meredith. General Reynolds then looked at General Buford again and smiled "Good job John." The Cavalry officer gave a small smile "Thank you, I don't think they knew until now what they were up against, now that your here they still won't know." The Corps Commander gave of a slightly cocky grin. "Then they'll be coming back, very good, Heth will come in here thinking he up against two tired Cavalry Brigades, instead he'll be hitting two Corps of Fresh Union Infantry." General Buford smirked. "Yes sir, poor Harry." "You can pull your boys out as soon as we set up, put them out on my flanks, good cavalry on both flanks."Gen Buford nodded. "Yes sir. Well John, most of my life I've been leery of the appearance of high command, John I sure am glad to see you." Gen Buford went over to his staff to get his horse, and Gen Reynolds looked at his staff. "Gentlemen, place the troops!" The two rode down to the west where Gen Buford's Cavalry was engaged in the fighting, even if just barley through the smoke and gunfire, the two old soldiers talked on their way down, with the sound of Infantry marching behind them.

"Now John, Heth probably has ten thousand men coming down that road, have you sited?" Gen Buford nodded. "Yes sir, and there'll be a lot more behind him." Gen Reynolds looked back at the men marching forward and then back to the field/ "We we have about twenty thousand we can put in the field, we're in very good shape I think." General Buford agreed. "For a while sir." "I'm sending messages to all my commanders to come to this place with all possible speed." Gen Reynolds looked at the ground for a moment or two. "Lovely ground." Gen Buford looked at it himself, he had made the right decision. "I thought so sir." Gen Reynolds face Buford. "Now let's go surprise Harry Heth." The two General and their Staffs galloped down there, with the first columns of Infantry Regiments marching down the road, soon Reynolds took off to hurry the Infantry along to relieve Buford. The General soon went back over to the field to see how the men were holding up close once more, and to pull the men out as soon as the Infantry had set up.

Later

At this point, he was leading the men and keeping them firing, Sgt-Major Nathan Reynolds had his saber drawn and was firing with his pistol, like many an officer on the line. His Carbine on his sling and the ammunition on his person given to a trooper who needed it, he walked back and fourth down the line of his Company, which was not in the best shape. Two officers killed, as well as twenty-nine enlisted men, twenty-four Privates, three Corporals, a line Sergeant, and a bugler were killed in the fight, and twelve other men wounded leaving him with fifty-seven men under him, a non-commissioned officer. But the men did as they were told by him and kept up there fire, but ammunition was running low, the men were down to fifteen rounds a man, even from what they got off the dead and wounded, it still wouldn't be enough. The ordnance wagons were already running dangerously low, soon the men would have to fight with their sabers and rocks, but the men noticed something, the men to their left were not Cavalry, but Infantry, then the Sergeant-Major looked behind and saw more men moving at the double=quick were Infantry. The men didn't show it, but they were relieved and ecstatic, they had held on for General John Reynolds and the Infantry to arrive, the men continued fighting on, with even more confidence than they had before, they weren't going to leave yet. Then the Sergeant-Major saw an officer, a Captain ride over to Gen Buford who was dismounted with his Division Color bearer and staff around him looking through his binoculars. He could just barely hear what they were saying, but it was clear enough. The Captain handed one of the General's staff officers a note, who read it back to the General. "Sir, Compliments of Colonel Devin, Rebels are coming down the road from the north, he asks for instructions sir." The men the General had left in the north had seen the Rebel advance by Ewell's Corps, one Regiment would not hold for long. "That'll be Ewell's Corps, trying to flank us, we've got to met him, force him to go on line." He turned to the mounted Captain. "Seek Col Devin, tell him to get up that way as quick as he can, we'll get Gamble's boys back in the saddle and be there shortly." The Captain saluted and rode off, as more Infantry moced down the line, now they were going to replace the Sergeant-Major's position as an officer walked up to him "Who's in charge of these men?" The Sergeant-Major saluted. "I am, our officers were..." The Infantry Captain cut him off. "I don't want your life's story, just get these men out of here and make room for us, we're taking over!" After hearing that, the Sergeant-Major got what was left of the men, off of the line to make room for the Infantry. He told the men to get their mounts and wait for him, he returned his saber to his scabbard and his pistol to his holster and quickly jogged over to Gen Buford. One of the General's officer's noticed him tried to stop him, but he went straight to Gen Buford. "General Buford sir." He saluted his Division commander. "Request permission to take B Company of the 2nd United States Cavalry, to the north, in support of Col Devin." He looked straight at the General. "Aren't you the Sergeant-Major I spoke with last night?" Nathan Reynolds quietly nodded. "What about your officers trooper?"

The Sergeant-Major managed to keep his bearing when he mentioned his deceased officer, and a wounded one. "One dead, the other badly injured, and we're just barely above half strength, but our spirit's are high." The General nodded and looked directly at the battle weary Sergeant-Major. "Permission granted." The Sergeant-Major saluted the General who returned it and quickly ran over to his own Company, where Sgt Festus Mulcahy held his horse. "Where to Nathan?" The Sergeant-Major turned to him. "North, to the Carlisle Turnpike, we're going to help Devin's boys." Mulcahy and others within earshot heard what he had said and were in surprise. "What, but why?!" The Sergeant-Major merely looked at him and gave him a simple response. "We're in the army Festus, and this is what we get paid thirteen dollars a month for." He looked back at the other men and gave the order to march. "FORWARD, AT THE GALLOP, HO!" The men galloped in a ragged column of twos with their Company Guidon fluttering in the wind as they moved east back into the town before heading north. The men galloped hard and were soon on the line with Col Devin's men, who were also running low on ammunition, the men quickly dismounted and took their position holding back the Rebs, they were in a skirmish line with other New York Regiments who were surprised to see a Company of Regulars fight with them, but were glad nonetheless. The forward Brigade videttes had fallen back behind the skirmish line and left the rest up to the men of the 2nd Brigade, even though ammunition was low, the men managed to hold on for more than an hour. Soon enough, the men of the Eleventh Corps under General Carl Schurz took over, allowing the cavalrymen to mount up and ride to the rear towards the hill to the south.

The men soon found themselves with Col Gamble's Brigade and the rest of the Division when they reached the hill with the cemetery, they finally felt as if they could breath after holding the enemy all morning. Their job was done, for now, but soon, by late afternoon, the men heard that the army was in retreat through the town, how the Eleventh Corps broke and caved in on the flank of the First Corps. It was Chancellorsville all over again with the German soldiers of the Eleventh Corps running again from the fight. Now they heard that the First Corps was now on the run, and that General Reynolds was killed and General Doubleday had replaced him in command of the Corps. The men were both mounted and dismounted, scattered fighting had happened with both Brigades as they moved to the rear and flanks, battered, bruised, and exhausted the men began to rest, now a Staff Officer from Doubleday rode up and could be seen by the men of the Regular Cavalry, he rode up to Gen Buford at the base of the hill with the cemetery. "General Buford sir, General Doubleday has asked me to tell you to do anything you can to stop the pursuit of the Rebels against the First Corps, so the men can deploy on the ridge next to this hill without fear of being attacked." The General looked tired, stressed, and above all else, quite a bit angry, he pointed to the men of Hill's Corps on the Ridge with the Seminary. "WHAT IN HELL AND DAMNATION DOES HE THINK I CAN DO AGAINST THOSE LONG LINES OF THE ENEMY!?" He rode off toward Gamble's position and some of the men remounted, including the Regulars, and followed him to the high ground to the west. The men were just beyond rifle range of the Confederates, when the General gave the order that no one thought he would give that day. It was to draw sabers, the men did as they were told, but to charge into that line of men would have been suicide, but the order to charge didn't come. "What's the General waiting for, are we gonna charge or not?!" Asked Quincannon, the Sergeant-Major looked down the line, he knew what the General was doing, it looked like they were going to charge, but they weren't. "It's a faint." His friends, Sergeants Mulcahy, O'Ryan, and Quincannon looked at him is confusion. "He's tricking the Rebs into thinking we're gonna charge, but we're not, we're stalling for time. It's a faint." The men were amazed at the strategy choice of the General, and also relieved. The action had the effect the General had hoped for, it had stopped the Rebs, forcing them to brace themselves for a mounted attack to their front which never came. They waited there until the men of the First Corps where on Cemetery Ridge, soon, Gen Buford gave the order to counter march back towards back towards Cemetery Hill, showing enough might and menace to make the Ridge beyond the town secure.

General Hancook of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac, later called that the most daring sights he had seen in the entire war.