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On May 22, 1864, General Sherman's Army began crossing the Greenbriar River in West Virginia under a deadly hail of fire from rebel sharpshooters. While crossing below the falls, Private Watson Karr was swept from the saddle by the current and was in danger of drowning. Colonel Henry Capehart, an excellent horseman by all accounts, dove into the swift current on his horse, both going under water twice but emerging on the raging surface as Colonel Capehart grasped his mount's mane in one hand and the pommel of the saddle in the other. "When I came up a second time," he recalled, I found I was close to Karr and also that Mini balls were uncomfortably numerous. I reached out and grasped him, drew him across my mare's neck, and turned her head towards the south shore. The north bank was quite near to us, but so rocky and precipitous, with heavy current fretting against us, that I had no alternative but to swim my mare to the south side. Fortunately, I struck a bar and drew my man along until we stood upon firm ground, where we were a little under cover from the enemy's fire and could take a much needed rest." Colonel Capehart was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in rescuing a drowning man of his command. Henry Capehart's brother, Charles Capehart, also earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War. |
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