Page:History of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry in the War Between the States.djvu/95

Rh the hilts of their sabres, from which the blades had been cut, as they were warding off the blows of their antagonists. The brim of Carroll's hat had been neatly parted with a sabre, and a gash inflicted along the roots of his hair on the forehead. He said his foeman's weapon was again uplifted to cleave his head, when the pistol of a comrade planted its ball in the heart of his partner in the bloody game.

For the numbers engaged, our losses were heavier than on any previous day's fighting. Private W. A. Richerson, of Company B, was mortally wounded, and his brother, Sergeant-Major Reuben Richerson, remaining with him, was captured in Gettysburg. Private Burdett B. Ashton, of Company C, was missing, and though a party was sent over the battle-field in search of his body, it was not found, nor was it ever heard of afterwards.

On hearing the next day of Pickett's glorious charge, we wondered that our fight had not been made simultaneously. Diminished as our numbers were, if we met all whom General Meade had on that flank, we might have ridden through his line of communication in the morning more easily than we hurled back his attack upon us in the evening. We moved back early in the night, and bivouacked on a road leading into Gettysburg.