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River campaign-in my opinion the regiment in its entirety would have gone just wherever it was ordered to go. To say less than this would be to reflect unjustly on the patriotic spirit, discipline and bravery of men who were tried in the fire of battle on many fields, and never found wanting in any of these necessary attributes of the true Union soldier. Stone River was a dear experience for us, and December 29, 1862, just beyond Overall Creek, towards Murfreesboro, will never be forgotten; for, in the twinkling of an eye, as it were, nearly one-third of our number engaged were either killed, wounded or captured, and among the dead were found both of our majors who commanded in that brave but unfortunate charge. Then came the period of reconstruction, reorganization. All I need say is that it was grandly accomplished, and during the time that the army lay at Murfreesboro we were frequently called upon and rendered efficient service, and when, at last, towards the close of June, 1863, the Army of the Cumberland moved out on the Chickamauga campaign, the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, as enthusiastic and perfectly an organized regiment of cavalry as could be found anywhere in the armies of the Union, with colors flying, was found in its appropriate place. From that time forward, until the close of the war and the pursuit of Jefferson Davis and our final muster out at Nashville, on June 21, 1865-under Colonel Palmer until his promotion, and afterwards Lieutenant Colonel Betts, who succeeded him in the command-the history of our regiment is the story of a succession of brilliant movements, well planned expeditions, and successful skirmishes and battles, that, for able direction on the part of its officers and bravery and endurance on the part of its men, will compare favorably, nay, is unsurpassed, by that of any other cavalry regiment of the war on either side.

I have already referred to the Chickamauga campaign. After the battle of Chickamauga came the siege of Chattanooga, and very soon we were cent to the Sequatchie Valley to protect the corn and provisions there until they could be gathered together and taken to Chattanooga for the support of the army. From that valley the regiment moved early in December to assist in the defense of Knoxville, and for two months were actively engaged in our first East Tennessee campaign. I regret that I cannot speak from personal experience of the service rendered in this campaign. The company to which I belonged had been sent to Chattanooga and arrived there just in time to be assigned to duty, with the other companies already there, in the battle of Missionary Ridge. We returned to our camp at Pikeville mostly on foot and with no serviceable horses, and, of necessity, were ordered to remain in the valley. The camFaign in front of Knoxville was one of the most brilliant in our regimental history, and I am sorry that time will not permit me to speak of it in detail from the record, but I have only to mention Mossey Creek, Dandridge, Sevierville, Strawberry Plains, Gatlinburg, to recall to those who participated the scenes of their great trials and triumphs.

The campaign having ended, the regiment, joined by the detachment

left in Sequatchie Valley, are again at Chattanooga, but with horses worn out and disabled. We are sent to Nashville to be remounted, and from there again start for the front, and are actively engaged in scouting the country in all directions from Chattanooga, and finally reaching Calhoun, Georgia, from which place we are ordered on September 5, 1864, on what we call our second East Tennessee campaign. We became the advance of the expedition in force under General Gillem to assist General Burbridge in his attack on the Salt Works at Abingdon, Virginia. The main body advanced only as far as Carter's Station, on the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, but the Fifteenth pushes forward as far as Bristol, on the state line, having been engaged with the enemy not only at Carter's Station, but also at Wautauga Ford. We moved to Kingsport and there the command was divided. Colonel Palmer, with seventy-five men, succeeded in joining Burbridge and the remainder retreating to Bull's Gapwere closely pursued by superior numbers and compelled to fight at Kingsport and Rogersville, in which latter engagement the enemy were so bravely repulsed that the pursuit was ended there. Again we are at Chattanooga, and are constanly employed in scouting for two months, meeting bands of the enemy and taking many prisoners. And then came the battle of Nashville, and while on our march north and within sound of the guns of that great battle, we are ordered in pursuit of Hood's defeated and demoralized army. Rapidly we moved to Decatur, Alabama, and on the last day of the year 1864, in Mississippi, overtook and destroyed all his pontoon boats, together with the necessary equipments and a large number of wagons and other property, returning to Decatur with many prisoners, after having routed what opposition Roddy could offer, and completely defeating Colonel Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry on the last day of our return march. From Decatur we moved to Huntsville, and if ever men were tired and worn out and needed rest, we were. But rest we were not to have, for news of the enemy crossing the Tennessee River reaching camp, we were again on the move, and on January 16, 1865, succeeded in capturing almost the entire command of General Lyon at Red Hill, Alabama, returning with one piece of artillery and more prisoners than we had men. Our active service still continues, and we are constantly employed in scouting, meeting and routing bands of the enemy on all our expeditions. Before the spring campaign of 1865, opens we are again supplied with fresh horses and again march to Chattanooga, and are ready for our closing campaign of the war. The Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry became one of the regiments of the First Brigade, First Cavalry Division, Department of East Tennessee. That division, about five thousand strong, left Knoxville the latter part of March, 1865. Moving over the mountains into North Carolina was begun one of the most extended and successful expeditions in which we were ordered to take part. We proceeded north as far as Wytheville and Christiansburg, Virginia, and one battalion of the Fifteenth as far as Lynchburg, making a demonstration that struck consternation and confusion into the ranks

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Survivors of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry with their Wives and Daughters, Dyer Field, Chickamauga, Georgia, November 13, 1897.

of the enemy, occurring, as it did, just about the time Grant was closing in around Lee at Appomattox. From there we marched south through Patrick and Henry Court Houses, Virginia, to Salem, Sálisbury, Statesville, Lincolnton, Rutherfordton, Asheville, North Carolina, destroying railroads and burning bridges to cut off Lee's communications and render his retreat impossible. At Asheville orders were received to start in the pursuit of Davis at once. General Palmer took command of the division and the pursuit was pushed with vigor. From Asheville we marched to Rutherfordton again, and from there to Spartansburg, Abbeville and Anderson Court House, South Carolina; then across the Savannah River to Athens and Madison, Georgia, to Montgomery and Huntsville, Alabama, and finally to Nashville, where our service closed.

During all this grand campaign of five thousand cavalry, the Fifteenth Pennsylvania performed its share of duty under Colonel Betts, in a manner to win the admiration and commendation of the government it had sworn to uphold and defend. What a grand campaign it was! It would require much time to give all the details of the movements in which our regiment took part from its beginning to its close, and after these many years it must seem to all of us more like romance than reality.

My comrades, this, briefly and I know very indifferently told, is the story of our soldier life. During our nearly three years of service we met with reverses and we had our losses. Our dead were left along our line of march and on our scouts, and on the fields of our skirmishes and battles, from Antietam to Lincolnton, North Carolina. Some of them were killed and some died of wounds and disease in our hospitals, and some at Andersonville and other places in the south. We hold every one of them in honored and grateful remembrance. Let me ask, "Have we come to this place to dedicate this monument in a spirit of exultation and pride, that in the terrible conflict to suppress the great rebellion of the Nineteenth Century, we were fortunate enough to be on the victorious side?" Not entirely so; for, although the south fired the first shot and began the war, and although we ever expect to believe and maintain that we were right and our opponents wrong, still our enemies of that day were our countrymen, we think misguided, but still our countrymen, and they are our countrymen to-day, and we have the best of feeling, under the stars and stripes, for every good, honest citizen of the Republic, no matter where he may be found. We fought to sustain the integrity of the Republic, because we believed it to be the best government in the world and we believe so to-day.

And so, my comrades, on this bright November day, so peaceful and so beautiful, in what was to us, thirty-four years ago, the very heart of the enemy's country, and to our youthful minds the far south, we studied and dreamed of in our early school boy days, we dedicate this monument in commemoration of the service, living and dead, of as faithful, intelligent, patriotic and brave a body of young men, taking them all in all, as ever enlisted in defence of human liberty, under any government or in any age of the world's history.

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