Honoring VMI Students today

[Blazor]

Today is New Market day. The day that the brave students of VMI, fought against an invading army. There is a movie based on this event, called Field of Lost Shoes, which was a damn good movie. It was called that, because as they ran to meet the enemy, the field was so muddy, that it literally sucked the shoes right off their feet.

Today, I share their tale..........

Today is New Market Day. VMI observed the anniversary of the battle since 1866 for 154 years until 2020. A formal ceremony was in place for 142 years; from 1878 to 2020.
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ORDERS FROM GEN. BRECKINRIDGE
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On May 10, 1864, Gen. John C. Breckinridge ordered the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets to join his forces near Staunton, Virginia.
Institute Superintendent Maj. Gen'l Francis. H. Smith issued General Orders No 18 the next day on May 11, instructing and organizing the Corps for duty. The 257 cadets were organized into a battalion of four companies of Infantry and one section of Artillery.
Armed with 200 Austrian Lorenz rifles and the rest carrying the Model 1851 Cadet Springfield musket, our cadets left the Institute with only two days of rations on a journey that would take them four days.
After marching nearly 85 miles in rainy and sometimes drenching weather, our Corps of Cadets arrived at New Market on Sunday morning May 15.

MARCHING INTO THE BATTLEFIELD
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At 1 a.m., Capt. Frank Preston, a member of the faculty, led our cadets in prayer. He was the son of Institute founder Col. John Thomas L. Preston. After prayers, our Corps began marching into the battlefield.
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"PUT IN THE BOYS"
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There was a wide gap in the center of the Confederate line. Major Charles Semple, an aide to Gen. Breckinridge, suggested putting the cadets into line.
Reluctant, Gen. Breckinridge resisted but soon realized it was inevitable.
“Put the boys in,” he said,
“and may God forgive me for the order.”

CHARGING UP BUSHONG HILL
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Heading into the orchard below Bushong’s Hill, our Corps of Cadets sprung into action, charging forward with a loud yell, “The fire was withering,” recalled Commandant Shipp. “It seemed impossible that any living creature could escape.”
The heroism of our Corps of Cadets was in full display when it came under "the deadly fire of shells, grape, canister, and bullets" but our courageous cadets prevailed. The heavy fire "did not cause it to retreat, or even to fall back temporarily, but the cadets "ran forward."
They "laid down behind the fence, and began, for the first time, to fire upon the enemy," the Corps, by its rapid advance, having just gotten into the first line of battle and filled a gap," and immediately came under artillery fire.
First Cadet Sergeant William H. Cabell, Cadets Privates Henry J. Jones, and Charles G. Crockett "fell dead from the explosion of one shell."
A shell exploded and Cadet Private William McDowell was "pierced through the heart with a bullet." He was killed in action. Cadet Private J. Beverly Stanard was wounded with a shattered leg. He died in the field hospital on the battlefield that day.
Cadet Private Thomas G. Jefferson was shot in the stomach and died three days later. He was the great-great nephew of President Thomas Jefferson.

THE FINAL CHARGE
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Despite the artillery assault coming towards them, their fallen BRs around them, and their boots sucked from under their feet in the muddy battlefield, our Corps of Cadets remained resolute and courageously committed.
Continuing its advance, the Corps “moved promptly and most spiritedly," “driving the enemy in their immediate front from the field, capturing guns and prisoners.”
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VICTORY AND TOLL
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"Color bearer 2nd Cadet Sergeant, Oliver P, straddled the cannon and exultantly waved the Corps’ white battle flag," proclaiming victory! Their actions epitomized the Institute's valor and honor. They were forever memorialized as legends.
Other cadets who were wounded and later died on the Field of Honor included Cadet Corporal Samuel F. Atwill, Cadets Private Luther C. Haynes, Joseph C. Wheelwright and Alva C. Hartsfield.
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Ten cadets died.
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45 were wounded during the Battle of New Market.
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Our Corps of Cadets who fought in the Battle of New Market were aged between 15 - 25.
The average cadet was about 17 years old.
The youngest was Cadet Lewis S. Davis '867 who just turned 15.
The oldest was Cadet James S. Larrick '866. He was 25 years old.

WITNESS ACCOUNTS
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One cadet recounted an officer's insurmountable attempt to rally his shattered command: “I shall never forget his language—‘Rally men and go to the front. Here you are running to the rear like a lot of frightened sheep. Look at those children going to the front. Rally and follow those children!’”
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Union Major David Lang conceded, “I never witnessed a more gallant advance and final charge than was given by those brave boys on that field. They fought like veterans, nor did the dropping of their comrades by the ruthless bullets deter them from their mission.”
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Cadet John S. Wise, son of the Governor of Virginia Henry A Wise would forever remember this moment. “The order was given to the cadets to advance upon the enemy, and they moved promptly and most spiritedly,” he said, “driving the enemy in their immediate front from the field, capturing guns and prisoners.”

LEGACY
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"Beyond question, this was the crisis of the battle." Our Corps of Cadets "filled a wide gap at a critical moment" and turned the tide of the battle with heroism and courage under fire. Our cadets were also credited with capturing the guns and "60 - 100 prisoners."
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This Battle of New Market marks the only time in U.S. history where an entire student body fought as an organized unit in combat during battle.
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The winter overcoats of our cadets are lined in red, unlike the standard blue for the other Senior Military Colleges such as the West Point and the Citadel. It’s an honor bestowed in recognition of the contribution of the Institute at New Market. The color is symbolic of the blood that was shed by our cadets who "died on the Field of Honor."
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The grey coatee that our cadets wear are made of heavy wool is styled in Confederate uniforms. The tails on the coatee are cut. It is not hemmed. This is symbolic of the bandages our cadets tore from their clothes during the War.
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Our Corps of Cadets is the only group of cadets among the Senior Military Colleges that carry rifles with bayonets affixed to the end. This is symbolic of their courageous bayonet charge across the Battlefield of New Market.

PAST OBSERVANCES
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In the past, a group of First Class Cadets carried on the tradition of the annual march to New Market to honor the valor of the New Market cadets. They make the nearly 85 miles annual march from Lexington to New Market, retracing the march the Corps of Cadets made in 1864.
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Cadet representatives from each company and each organization from the Institute carrying the shoulder boards for the RATs will arrive in time for the New Cadet Oath Ceremony held at the New Market Battlefield.
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As a rite of passage, after reciting their new Cadet Oath, our matriculant RATs will charge across the battlefield as our New Market cadets did on May 15, 1864.
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VMI observed the anniversary of the battle with a formal ceremony from 1878 to 2020 to honor the selfless sacrifice and legendary valor of our Corps of Cadets.
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During the then New Market Parade, the Institute honors a custom dating back to 1887. It is a roll call of the names of the cadets who lost their lives at New Market.
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After the name of each cadet who died is called, a cadet representative from the same company in today's Corps will solemnly answer, "Died on the Field of Honor, Sir."

This observance used to be held in front of the monument "Virginia Mourning Her Dead" at the Institute. The monument sculpted by Alumnus Moses J. Ezekiel '866 is a memorial to the New Market Corps. The names of all of the cadets in the Corps of 1864 are inscribed on the monument, and six of the ten cadets who died are buried at this site. The VMI Board of Visitors has annouced changes to the inscribed names on the monument.
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New shoes used to line the monument, symbolic of the many cadets who lost their footwear during the Battle of New Market, as several days of rain turned the field into thick mud. That section of the battlefield became known as the “Field of Lost Shoes.” A movie bearing the name title also tells their story of courage.

FIRST CLASS TRADITIONS
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Graduation week at the Institute is filled with many traditions for our First Class cadets. One of the traditions is for First Class cadets to leave their shoes behind on the parade field, after the New Market Parade. This is a tribute to the New Market cadets, symbolic of the many who lost their footwear during the Battle of New Market, when several days of rain turned the freshly plowed field into thick mud. While VMI no longer recognizes New Market Day, shoes were still seen in the parade field this year.

 

[Blazor]

May 15, 1864 - charge of the VMI Cadets at New Market, Virginia. Written by John Sergeant Wise, one of the cadets --

The command was given to strip for action. Knapsacks, blankets, — everything but guns, canteens, and cartridge-boxes, was thrown upon the ground. Our boys were silent then. Every lip was tightly drawn, every cheek was pale, but not with fear. With a peculiar, nervous jerk, we pulled our cartridge-boxes round to the front, laid back the flaps, and tightened belts. Whistling rifled shells screamed over us, as, tipping the hill-crest in our front, they bounded past. To our right, across the pike, Patton's brigade was lying down abreast of us.

"At-ten-tion-n-n I Battalion forward! Guide center-r-r!" shouted Shipp, and up the slope we started. From the left of the line, Sergeant-Major Woodbridge ran out and posted himself forty paces in advance of the colors as directing guide, as if we had been upon the drill ground. That boy would have remained there, had not Shipp ordered him back to his post; for this was no dress parade. Brave Evans, standing six feet two, shook out the colors that for days had hung limp and bedraggled about the staff, and every cadet leaped forward, dressing to the ensign, elate and thrilling with the consciousness that this was war.

Moving up to the hill crest in our front, we were abreast of our smoking battery, and uncovered to the range of the enemy's guns. We were pressing towards him at " arms port," moving with the light tripping gate of the French infantry. The enemy's veteran artillery soon obtained our range, and began to drop his shells under our very noses along the slope. Echols's brigade rose up, and was charging on our right with the wellknown rebel yell.

Down the green slope we went, answering the wild cry of our comrades as their muskets rattled out in opening volleys. "Double time!" shouted Shipp, and we broke into a long trot. In another moment, a pelting rain of lead would fall upon us from the blue line in our front.
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Meanwhile, the troops upon our left performed their allotted task. Up the slope, right up to the second line of infantry, they went; a second time the Federal troops were forced to retire. Wharton's brigade secured two guns of the battery, and the remaining four galloped back to a new position in a farmyard on the plateau, at the head of the cedar-skirted gully. Our boys had captured over one hundred prisoners. Charlie Faulkner, now the Senator from West Virginia, came back radiant in charge of twenty-three Germans large enough to swallow him, and insisted that he and Winder Garrett had captured them unaided. Bloody work had been done. The space between the enemy's old and new position was dotted with dead and wounded, shot as they retired across the open field; but this same exposed ground now lay before, and must be crossed by our own men, under a galling fire from a strong and well-protected position. The distance was not great, but the ground to be traversed was a level green field of young wheat.

Again the advance was ordered. Our boys responded with a cheer. Poor fellows! They had already been put upon their mettle in two assaults, exhausted, wet to the skin, muddy to their eyebrows with the stiff clay; some of them actually shoeless after struggling across the ploughed field: they, notwithstanding, advanced with tremendous earnestness, for the shout on our right advised them that the victory was being won.
But the foe in our front was far from whipped. As the cadets came on with a dash, he stood his ground most courageously. The battery, now shotted with shrapnel and canister, opened upon the cadets with a murderous fire. The infantry, lying behind fence-rails piled upon the ground, poured in a steady, deadly volley. At one discharge, Cabell, first sergeant of D Company, by whose side I had marched for months, fell dead, and with him fell Crockett and Jones. A blanket would have covered the three. They were awfully mangled by the canister. A few steps further on, McDowell sank to his knees with a bullet through his heart. Atwill, Jefferson, and Wheelwright were shot at this point. Sam Shriver, cadet captain of C Company, had his sword arm broken by a minie ball. Thus C Company lost her cadet as well as her professor captain.

The men were falling right and left. The veterans on the right of the cadets seemed to waver. Colonel Shipp went down. For the first time, the cadets appeared irresolute. Some one cried out, "Lie down!" and all obeyed, firing from the knee, — all but Evans, the ensign, who was standing bolt upright, shouting and waving the flag. Some one exclaimed, "Fall back and rally on Edgar's battalion!" Several boys moved as if to obey. Pizzini, first sergeant of B Company, with his Corsican blood at the boiling point, cocked his rifle and proclaimed that he would shoot the first man who ran. Preston, brave and inspiring, in command of B Company, smilingly lay down upon his remaining arm with the remark that he would at least save that. Colonna, cadet captain of D, was speaking low to the men of his company with words of encouragement, and bidding them shoot close. The corps was being decimated.

Manifestly, they must charge or fall back. And charge it was; for at that moment Henry Wise, "Old Chinook," beloved of every boy in the command, sprang to his feet, shouted out the command to rise up and charge, and, moving in advance of the line, led the cadet corps forward to the guns. The battery was being served superbly. The musketry fairly rolled, but the cadets never faltered. They reached the firm greensward of the farmyard in which the guns were planted. The Federal infantry began to break and run behind the buildings. Before the order to limber up could be obeyed by the artillerymen, the cadets disabled the teams, and were close upon the guns. The gunners dropped their sponges, and sought safety in flight. Lieutenant Hanna hammered a gunner over the head with his cadet sword. Winder Garrett outran another and lunged his bayonet into him. The boys leaped upon the guns, and the battery was theirs. Evans, the color-sergeant, stood wildly waving the cadet colors from the top of a caisson.