was followed, and I supposed it was by
my own troopers. Not so, however. Vinton either did not hear, or was too
much "under the influence of a pardonable excitement and zeal" to heed
the order to halt, and continued on down the road to and beyond the
station, where he overtook the rear of the Fifth and proceeded to assist
in the endeavor to bring away the captured property. He was attacked by
Rosser who made a lot of his men prisoners. The detachment that went
with him did not rejoin the regiment until late in the afternoon and
then less the men who had been captured.

The word, "Surrender" uttered in imperious tones saluted my ear and,
glancing over my left shoulder to find whence it came, I found that a
well mounted and sturdy confederate officer had come up from my left
rear and, addressing me in language both profane and apparently designed
to cast reflections on my ancestry, declared that if I did not comply
instantly with his polite request he would complete the front cut on my
head. His men circling around in front with their carbines in the
position of "ready" seemed to hint that they considered his demand a
reasonable one and expressed a purpose to assist in enforcing it. Now,
it is a maxim that no cavalry officer may surrender so long as he is not
unhorsed. But in the situation in which I found myself there did not
seem to be an available alternative. I surrendered, gave up the black
horse and the jockey saddle, and never saw either of them afterwards.
After the experience described I was glad to be rid of them on most any
terms. Several others were captured at the same time and in the same
way. One of them after being dismounted tried to run away but was
quickly brought to a halt by a shot from a confederate's gun which
wounded him.

It appears that when we went through their line the rascally
confederates rallied and, leaving Custer's front charged our rear.
Custer says in his report that after "the Sixth Michigan charged the
rebels charged that regiment in rear." When he wrote that report he had
forgotten that it was only a portion--less than a third of the Sixth
which charged. Two-thirds of the regiment was still back where he was
and not yet in the action. There were two squadrons, one commanded by
Captain Manning D. Birge, the other by Captain Don G. Lovell in reserve.
In using the term squadron here I mean what in the civil war was known
as a battalion (four troops). Vinton's squadron did not all take