290


ION    CAVALRY  ON   THE    FLANKS


der  had  with  him  about  five  thousand  sabers —
for  about  two  hours  there  was  a  most  spirited  and
sment  conflict  in  which  close  encounters  with
)1  and  saber,  advances  and  retrogressions,  mag-


L


Gregg's  fight  with  stuart

;ent  charges  and  retreats,  and  many  displays  of
ional  gallantry  and  soldierly  sldll  took  place,
i  Stuart  succeeded  in  his  venture  the  conse-
nces  would  have  been  serious  for  the  Union  Army ;
cavalry  would  have  created  confusion  and  dam-
in  the  very  midst  of  the  artillery  reserves,  the
pitals,  and  the  trains  which  were  located  near  the
timore  pike,  not  far  from  which  the  struggle
Ltrred.  The  net  results  of  the  contest  were  that
20  291


GETTYSBURG

the  effort  of  Stuart  was  arrested;  each  force  with-
drew to  the  edges  of  the  disputed  territory,  and  that
night  Stuart  drew  back  within  the  lines  of  Lee's
main  army.  In  this  fight  Wade  Hampton,  in  a  hand-
to-hand  encounter,  was  wounded  by  a  saber  cut  on
the  head — a  very  narrow  escape  from  instant  death.
