Historical Fiction

June 27, 1863

I finally finished my last test to see if I can go be a cavalry officer. Today I am going to be given my horse chosen by one of the generals. I have seen the line of the horses and they all are tall, fit, and handsome. Walking to the mounting post was the most amazing moment of this training. As my great friend Earl is assigned a stallion named King I notice I am next in line. As George Gregg comes to me he sees the excitement in my eyes and seems to know exactly which horse would suit me, then he calls to bring over Scout a solid black, gentle yet aggressive on the battle field, mare who was a great honor to get because she was Old Baldly, Meade’s horse’s daughter. The relatives of his horses are only given to a select few. After he passes to the next person I feel a tap on my shoulder,

“Wow you got Scout Kevin”
“Yeah I guess so”
“That is awesome”
“I know”
“I would do anything to get one of Baldly’s foals”
“Well soon I will get to see how she moves”
“I’m excited to see how King goes out on the field”
“You’ll find out soon”

June 29, 1863

All the generals have been ordered by Meade to go to the Gettysburg area. They say that it is not well defended and needs to be guarded because if there were to be an invasion than that could end the war badly. The whole time I am worried because I am going on an unprotected area but we are told that the rest of the army of the Potomac will be waiting for us. So far we are pretty far away from that small town but we will be there in a few days.

June 30, 1863

We just got word from one of our spies that they found the confederates heading toward Gettysburg. What’s worse is their master General Robert E. Lee is with them. It is also horrible because the Army of the Potomac is outnumbered. We are still miles away from Gettysburg.

July 1, 1863

The biggest problem with the four cavalry groups is our moral, we have not won one victory in so long. But now the battle has started and we are expected to be there very soon. So far we know that about 400 men died and thousands injured. We are hoping we can get there at night so we won’t be slaughtered on our way there.

So far Scout has been a wonderful horse. She can run as if she has wings on her feet. She is incredibly brave and strong, yet very sweet. I am excited to see how she does in the battle and everyone is telling me that if I’m riding Scout both her and I will make it through the battle with no injuries.

July 2, 1863

We got to Gettysburg in the dead of night. And boy were they happy to see fresh solders. The horror I saw was ghastly and gruesome. All I heard were moans and crying. There were so many dead and dying men out there. Oh how it was upsetting and painful to look at. I cried when I heard that over 6000 men were dead, dying, wounded, or captured. Even Scout dropped her head when she saw that Baldly was hit in the neck. I have a good feeling that she is just as upset as I was. Both of us saw the camp area littered with horse and mule carcasses, I was told that there was about 3000 mules dead and 1200 horses were dead.

When I woke up that morning there was very little time to eat. Custer was hustling us to go faster and faster. It was that morning that I fought the worst person for a new recruit to fight, a confederate general. His name was Junius Daniel. He was riding a magnificent stallion named Bucky. At first when we attacked I saw him and he saw me. I wanted him dead so I could say I got a Confederate general. But when he saw me the look in his eye showed that he thought I was easy prey. I was nervous at first but I knew what had to be done. I heeled Scout and yelled for her to go, we took off toward them like lightning and even he looked surprised on how fast this horse could go. So fast in fact I missed him and hit another solder with my bullet. But then I sharply turned Scout around and took another shot, he returned one back to me, luckily though it whizzed right by me. Then acting like the 18 year old hooligan that I was I screamed,

“You missed old man”

After that he whipped Bucky around but before he could aim I had fired a shot and it hit him clean in the head. The screech he let out seemed to stop time as he fell to the ground. I was horrified yet pleased with myself. After that I hit and killed 13 other men that day. Custer was very pleased with me and moved me up a rank because I killed a general. That night we knew that we still had a vital area unprotected and that we would need it so the next morning we knew that some 16,000 soldiers would be heading to Little Round Top.

July 3, 1863

The losses so far are unbearable so many soldiers are dead or missing. We know though we are winning as of yesterday and that has boosted our moral a lot. The hardest part though is I don’t know if my old friends are alive or not. I know Earl is fighting here in Gettysburg but I can’t find him and I fear the worst. We are planning to stage the final blow around 1:00pm in the afternoon. We still have a defensive stronghold around Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill. My cavalry group is in the back making sure no one can come up behind us and force a surrender. On top of the hill we can watch out on the field for any Confederates. Soon One of the men sees thousands of them running toward us in a last resort attempt to break our lines. I am ordered to race down on Scout and warn the men at the foot of the hill. I quickly gallop down the steep hill and tell Full General Meade about the upcoming charge. He tells me,

“Thank you we saw some of them on horseback around here a few minutes ago but were waiting for a confirmation so we weren’t running into a death trap”.
“Your welcome”
“One question why did Custer send you and not another man”
“Because Scout can out run every single one of them”
“All right then”

After that I raced back up the hill just in time to see the Confederates running toward us. They were all in a line and were very easy to pick off. All I heard was the sounds of guns and screams of men being hit. Within minutes thousands of them were lying in an assortment of positions, bleeding, moaning, and crying. Often horses would enter the cloud of dust filled with bullets and when they came out their riders were gone and they were covered with blood. We caught these horses to use as ours. When the Confederates started to retreat it had a bitter sweet feeling; we were glad because we won but upset because so many men on both sides lost their lives I believe there were around 7,000 dead total.

July 4, 1863

When the Confederates are packing up to leave someone saw General Robert E Lee telling them this was his fault. He was sitting atop Traveler his lead horse. I stayed away so they could not see me at all. As I was cantering back I looked around on the land and saw all the bodies laying in pools of their own blood. The worst sight to me was seeing the some 5,000 dead horses. I am overjoyed when I see King galloping up to me with Earl on him. I was so glad he was actually alive.

July 7, 1863

Most of the cavalry are heading back including me but the others get to go on to pursue the Confederates. Personally I am glad to leave after all the death and sadness. But I will always remember this battle.