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Col Manning Davidson Birge

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Col Manning Davidson Birge Veteran

Birth
Bradford County, Pennsylvania, USA
Death
20 Sep 1908 (aged 69)
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Burial
Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, USA Add to Map
Plot
Section 9, lot 31, w 1/2
Memorial ID
View Source
Manning Birge entered service in Co. A,6th Michigan Cavalry in 1862.Commissioned Capt. on June 10,1863,then Major on June 6,1864.He was discharged at Fort Levenworth,Kansas on June 21,1865...
"Four confederate cavalrymen undertook the duty of escorting myself and a
young Sixth cavalryman who had been trapped in the same way to the rear
through the woods. Anticipating that our attack would be followed up, we
managed to delay our guards as much as possible, and had gone not more
than a hundred yards when a yelling in the road proclaimed that the
curtain had risen on the second scene of our little drama. Custer had
ordered Birge to charge. Birge's advance put the confederates to flight,
what there were left of them. The noise of the pursuit disconcerted our
captors so that we took the chances and made our escape under cover
of the thick undergrowth. They fired at us as we ran but did not succeed
in making a hit. Fortunately Birge directed his course through the woods
out of which the enemy had come and into which they had gone in their
flight. In a minute we met him coming with a squad of men. He was
greatly rejoiced to find that he had rescued me from my disagreeable
predicament and, looking back across the years, I can see and freely
acknowledge that to no man on this earth am I under greater obligations
than to Manning D. Birge. But for his approach it might not have been
possible for us to successfully make our break for freedom. That was the
only time I ever was a prisoner of war and then only for about ten
minutes. Custer, referring to my capture, says that I was rescued by a
charge of my own regiment led by Captain Birge." James Kidd,Trivilian Station 1864.. (1908)
Manning Birge entered service in Co. A,6th Michigan Cavalry in 1862.Commissioned Capt. on June 10,1863,then Major on June 6,1864.He was discharged at Fort Levenworth,Kansas on June 21,1865...
"Four confederate cavalrymen undertook the duty of escorting myself and a
young Sixth cavalryman who had been trapped in the same way to the rear
through the woods. Anticipating that our attack would be followed up, we
managed to delay our guards as much as possible, and had gone not more
than a hundred yards when a yelling in the road proclaimed that the
curtain had risen on the second scene of our little drama. Custer had
ordered Birge to charge. Birge's advance put the confederates to flight,
what there were left of them. The noise of the pursuit disconcerted our
captors so that we took the chances and made our escape under cover
of the thick undergrowth. They fired at us as we ran but did not succeed
in making a hit. Fortunately Birge directed his course through the woods
out of which the enemy had come and into which they had gone in their
flight. In a minute we met him coming with a squad of men. He was
greatly rejoiced to find that he had rescued me from my disagreeable
predicament and, looking back across the years, I can see and freely
acknowledge that to no man on this earth am I under greater obligations
than to Manning D. Birge. But for his approach it might not have been
possible for us to successfully make our break for freedom. That was the
only time I ever was a prisoner of war and then only for about ten
minutes. Custer, referring to my capture, says that I was rescued by a
charge of my own regiment led by Captain Birge." James Kidd,Trivilian Station 1864.. (1908)


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