This regimental Rebel battle flag captured by Private Michael Crowley, Co. A, 22nd New York Volunteer Cavalry at the Battle of Waynesboro was manufactured by the Staunton clothing depot, Staunton, Va. late in 1864 to supply the Valley Army. The entire lower third of the flag was soaked in the blood of its bearer, which caused its eventual decay. Pvt. Crowley was awarded the Medal of Honor for the capture of this flag. Photo and information courtesy of "Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy" a Time-Life publication.
Bvt. Major General George A. Custer with his staff trailing behind him, rode up and down the streets of Waynesboro with the captured Confederate Battle Flags flapping in the wind. The cavalrymen lustfully cheer their beloved General as he rides past with his golden locks floating in the breeze to his favorite tune, "Garry Owen". Soon after, General Sheridan rides into town and the boys shout themselves hoarse.
General George A. Custer presents captured Confederate colors to Sheridan. Drawing by James E. Taylor, artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Civil War Times Illustrated December 1986.
Little did
the "Two-Twos" know, this was to be the last time that they would see either man. The
next day March 3 the men were ordered to take 1,350 prisoners, 9 cannon, 100
wagons and other captured goods to Harper's Ferry. The trip was a hazardous one with
organized and disorganized bands of Rebel cavalrymen trying to rescue their comrades. At
Mt. Jackson, the fight became quite ferocious with the saber and carbine butt being
frequently used. The plunder and prisoners were turned over at Harper's Ferry and the men
returned to the west of Winchester where they once more went into camp. Here they remained
till the end of the war where they accepted and paroled Rebel soldiers who wished to
surrender. Not all of the duties undertaken by the "Rochester Cavalry" were so pleasant
or benign. Robert H. Moore II, in his book Tragedy in the Shenandoah Valley: The story of the Summers - Koontz Execution
, tells an unsettling story involving Captain L. D. Lusk with Company H and a group of ex-Confederate soldiers.
Lycurgus D. Lusk as a Lieutenant. Just like Pvt. Nelson and many others in the "Two-Twos", Capt. Lusk served in the infantry before joining the cavalry having been discharged from the 17th NY Vol. Inf. in 1863. Captain Lusk was awarded a Brevet Major's Commission for his role in the fight at Waynesboro. Courtesy of the Lusk Family Collection.
The 17th of June camp was moved to a grove of trees on "Apple
Pie Ridge" near Winchester moving once more on the 17th of July to the
Berryville Pike just outside of Winchester. Remaining here until July 31 when mustered out
of Federal service by Lt. Whiteside of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry. Leaving the Valley
on August 1 by rail, the men reached Rochester on the 4th where they were
marched to their old camp at the fairgrounds south of Mt. Hope Cemetery. On the 9th
of August after all regimental, company and personal records were settled the men were
mustered out of State Service. None of the men had received any pay since December 31 when
the Army of the Potomac was last paid. Nor had all the men received all the bounties due
to them, so it is a credit to the government to let these men arrive home before paying
them their due (4). Many of these fellows had left Rochester as boys and had returned as men.
Instead of the 1200 that mustered in, or the 800 that left for Virginia or the 300 that
fought its way through the Shenandoah Valley, just 100 men were left to settle their
accounts with the government. Eighty-seven men from the Twenty-Second New York Cavalry died as
prisoners of war. This distinction places them as having one of the sixty highest Union
death rates for prisoners of war (5). Most of these men died in the Confederate prison at
Andersonville, Georgia. These troopers who went to war so unprepared, but under the
guidance of experienced and competent commanders, becoming "Second to none",
suffered a 43% casualty rate.