Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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experiences which has always made the Corps of f. ' afJcLs a body greater in total strength than the individual contributions of its nieinbcrs woidd pcrinil. ' i ' liis spirit, devotion, and all ' -gian ' r; uhich served the y%i:w .Market r ' adots so well on May l. , I8fi4, is the most precious gift that any system can iujpart, to its members. - -iTSa ' i ' ' - ■ ' a f ■ 1i •C« The hen, ir dead are hoTioreil in Mav l,-,th rerei

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Cadet Minge, First Captain of the Corps and Commander of tlie Cadet Artillery Section at the battle. Cadet I?. M. Colonna, a typical cadet of the Sew Market Corps, was author of one of the first accounts of the battle. halted by the combined fire of Federal artillery and musketry. This lag in the advance saw the Corps of Cadets in an orchard just beyond a farmhouse named for Bushong, its owner. It was here in the orchard beyond the Bushong House that Federal fire took its heaviest toll of the cadets. Here the Commandant, Colonel Scott Shipp, was wounded and carried from the battlefield. Seeing that the Confederate advance had been blunted, Siegel used this opportunity to launch his counterattack. The Federal troops now advanced through the same fields from which the Confederates had been driven only moments before. They too were exposed to heavy musket fire and were driven back from the very edge of the Confederate positions. The cadets, still in the orchard, held firm against the 34th Massachusetts and finally broke the force of its advance. Then came the moment of the battle for which the Corps has been most widely recognized. Advancing from the orchard across the open field, made treacherously muddy by a sudden cloudburst, the cadets charged the guns which had halted their advance. Charging up the last few yards of hill which separated them from the cannon, the cadets routed, captured, or killed the artil- lerymen and captured two pieces from the Federal battery. Fro m here on the battle consisted merely of the pursuit of the routed enemy. Thus these young soldiers came, suffered, charged, and captured. Their services on the day of battle are obvious, but does commendation, even glorification, for one event cover the entirety of their contribution. We must consider the fact that the availability and eventual employment of the Corps helped to stave off the inevitable Confederate defeat in the Valley. Aside from their achievements in the charge, the Cadets could be com- mended for their discipline as revealed through the march to New Market and through the firm stand against the Federal counterattack. And what of the cadet artillery section? Its achievements were not so spectacu- lar, but no less solid. With the achievements of the Corps in the Battle of New Market in view, a larger question arises. How could a group of young men whose average age has been comput- ed to have been eighteen j-ears, two months, and twenty- seven days have managed to displaj ' a spark that has eluded many a unit? The key to success lay in a system which made these boys a Corps rather than a loose band of individuals. It was the same devotion born of shared

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