Camp Brightwood, June 20, '63.
We are lying here anxiously expecting orders, — two
squadrons are just back from over the river collecting stragglers from the Army
of the Potomac. The First Massachusetts Cavalry had a severe fight at Aldie on
Wednesday afternoon. Captain Sargent and Lieutenant Davis (not Henry) reported
killed, — Major Higginson wounded in four places, not seriously, — Lieutenant
Fillibrown wounded, — Jim Higginson captured, — loss killed, wounded, and
missing, 160 out of 320, according to Major Higginson, who is at Alexandria, —
but this is evidently a mistake.1 The loss in prisoners is great,
because Adams's squadron was dismounted and was supposed to be supported by the
Fourth New York, which neglected to support at the proper moment and left our
fellows unprotected.
_______________
* Major Caspar Crowninsbield of Boston, noted in college for
his great strength and rowing prowess in victories of Harvard over Yale, had
done good service in the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry. Thence he was
commissioned Major of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, took the field in
command of the First Battalion, and continued in service throughout the war.
After Colonel Russell's promotion to the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry he became
lieutenant-colonel, and, as such, commanded the regiment from the moment that
Colonel Lowell commanded a brigade. After the colonel's death, he, for a time,
commanded the Reserve Brigade.
1 Major Higginson's wounds from shot
and sabre proved so severe as to necessitate his resignation, after a long
period of suffering. His brother was, as here reported, taken prisoner on the
same field. Captain Lucius Manlius Sargent, left for dead on the field,
recovered, and did active service until December, 1864, when he was killed in
action at Bellfield, Virginia. Captain Adams, the son of our minister to
England, has since become well known as a good citizen and author.
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 262, 427
