Service
Organized in Detroit, Michigan, the 5th Michigan Cavalry was mustered into service on August 30, 1862, and left for Washington, D.C., on December 4 of that year. The regiment served in the defenses of the capital until June 1863, when it joined the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Over the next month, the 5th Michigan Cavalry took part in a several major battles, including the Battle of Hanover on June 30, the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 to July 3, and the Battle of Williamsport from July 6 to July 14. The regiment then participated in a series of smaller engagements followed by the Battle of Mine Run from November 26 to December 2.
Early in 1864 came the Battle of Morton's Ford, on February 6 and 7, and three months later the Overland Campaign began. The 5th Michigan saw action in several battles of this campaign, including the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6 and 7, the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek from May 28 to 31, and the Battle of Cold Harbor from May 31 to June 1. After the First Battle of Deep Bottom on July 27 and 28, the unit was ordered back towards Washington, D.C., to take part in Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign from August to October. The 5th Michigan saw action in the Battles of Opequon, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. The next spring, in late March and early April 1865, the regiment took part in a series of battles of the Appomattox Campaign: at Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Sayler's Creek, Appomattox Station, and finally Appomattox Court House, which ended with the surrender of the Confederate Army. After participating in one last expedition, the regiment headed to Washington in May, where it took part in the Grand Review of the Armies.
The regiment was moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on June 1 before being mustered out of service on June 23, 1865. Veterans and recruits were transferred to the 1st Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment.
Read more about this topic: 5th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“We too are ashes as we watch and hear
The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
The service record of his youth wiped out,
His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or “broken heart,” is excuse for cutting off one’s life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“In the early forties and fifties almost everybody “had about enough to live on,” and young ladies dressed well on a hundred dollars a year. The daughters of the richest man in Boston were dressed with scrupulous plainness, and the wife and mother owned one brocade, which did service for several years. Display was considered vulgar. Now, alas! only Queen Victoria dares to go shabby.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)