Report of Captain Samuel Thomas Player, Forty-ninth Georgia, of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862.
[August, 1862.]
I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Forty-ninth Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, in the battle at Cedar Run on August 9.
The regiment was gallantly led into action by Lieutenant-Colonel [Seaborn M.] Manning, who was wounded severely in the right arm soon after the regiment emerged from the skirt of woods to ascent the range of hills, which it subsequently occupied during the battle.
It would be invidious to particularize the gallantry of officers and men of this regiment where nearly every one acted his part so nobly, yet I cannot forbear to mention the gallant conduct of Captain James Wilcox, of Company B, who was seriously wounded, and of Captain [John Haynes] Pate, of Company K, who with courage worthy of emulation directed fire of his men with such precision that the effect was visible to the men in the ranks. The latter, with a part of the regiment, had been deployed to support the left of the Thirty-fifth Regiment Georgia Volunteers and did gallant service there. Captain [James T.] Chappell, of Company G, distinguished himself by taking up a gun from a wounded soldier and setting an example to his men by keeping up a continued fire into the ranks of the enemy.
My acknowledgements are due to Adjutant [Mark] Newman, who by order of Lieutenant-Colonel Manning had taken charge of the right wing of the regiment and so effectually aided him and the undersigned, on whom the senior captain the command of the regiment devolved after [Lieutenant-] Colonel [Manning] had been carried from the field, that I commend his gallantry to your notice.
My thanks are due and hereby tendered to the other officers and men for their heroic conduct on this occasion. The latter had fired every cartridge they had, when they were supplied by the officers with cartridges taken from the boxes of the wounded and dead, and when these had been exhausted, they men stood with fixed bayonets and maintained the exposed position on the hill, which the regiment occupied until darkness ended the contest and victory had been gloriously achieved by our arms.
Respectfully,
PLAYER
Captain, Commanding Forty-ninth Georgia.
Colonel [Edward Lloyd] Thomas,
Commanding Third Brigade.
[From the Central Georgian, newspaper, Sandersville, Georgia, August 27, 1862]
Hewett, Janet B., Trudeau, Noah Andre, Suderow, Bryce, A., eds., Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Part 1 – Reports, Volume 2, Serial No. 2., Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1994, 710-711.
Transcribed by Michael Block.
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