USA > Virginia > Clarke County > Clarke County > History of Clarke County, Virginia and its connection with the war between the states > Part 19
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derson, commanding the corps of General Longstreet, stating that he, with Longstreet's corps, was marching with all possible expedition to the position then occupied by Fitz Lee's division of cavalry; that it was necessary that the enemy should be held in check until his arrival, and that he should not be permitted to occupy the po- sition then occupied by the cavalry. Captain Breathed placed his guns in position at the edge of the woods, where, supported by Lee's division of cavalry, he kept up a con- tinuous and rapid discharge of shells upon the lines of the approaching enemy. This fire retarded their movements, but still there was reason for the gravest apprehension that they would get possession of Spotsylvania Court House before the arrival of Longstreet's corps of infantry. General Lomax, then commanding the brigade to which the 6th Virginia Cavalry was attached, approached the position occupied by the Clarke Cavalry and repeated to the men the contents of the dispatch above referred to from General Anderson. He said it appeared to be nec- essary that some diversion should be made to still further retard the steady advance of the enemy's infantry; that he had determined to order the Clarke Cavalry to charge full front on the enemy's lines, and that it was his purpose to lead them in the charge. He then ordered the company to detach itself from the regiment and to follow him to a position in the direction of the enemy from which the charge could be most effectively made. The company moved briskly forward a distance of about two hundred and fifty yards, where in a slight depression in the surface of the ground, it was drawn up in line of battle for the in- tended charge.
There was never an occasion when the courage of men and their readiness to sacrifice their lives for a cause were more severely tested. It was observed, however, that
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the men took the situation with great cheerfulness and evinced a readiness to devote their lives there to the de- fense of their country. There was not the least sign ap- parent of uncertainty in the mind of any member of the company as to what he should and would do. They sat erect in their saddles with the bridle lines firmly grasped in their hands, ready to rush upon the enemy at the com- mand from General Lomax, who sat a few paces in front of their line. The situation was most tense. The order to charge was momentarily expected, when suddenly a shout in the rear announced the arrival of Longstreet's corps of infantry, and a courier dashed up to General Lo- max with an order to withdraw the company and resume its place at the head of the regiment. The order to countermarch was at once given and the men were march- ed back and took the position which they had just before moved from.
On their arrival the head of Longstreet's corps marched up and the infantry was rapidly ranged across the front of the open field and the cavalry withdrew in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House. It may be safely said that at no period of the experience of this company in the war between the states was their courage and patriotism more severely tried, and it may be further said that there is on record no instance of men showing a more cheerful readi- ness to lay down their lives in defense of the cause which they were seeking to maintain.
On the arrival of the infantry the enemy's advance was at once arrested and on the field theretofore occupied by Lee's division of cavalry was constructed the angle in the light works that General Lee's army was able to provide for their protection, which became afterwards famous as the Bloody Angle. The day following information reached General Stuart that General Sheridan, with a body of cav-
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alry and artillery, numbering from twelve to fourteen thousand men, had moved out from near Fredericksburg on what is known as the Old Telegraph Road, and was marching in the direction of Richmond. Between Sheri- dan's corps and Richmond there were no Confederate troops, and his movement was a very serious menace to the safety of the capital of the Confederacy. General Stuart, on receiving this information, started in pursuit of Sheridan with Lomax's, Wickham's and Gordon's bri- gades of cavalry, numbering not in excess of five thousand men. The rear of Sheridan's corps was overtaken and sharply attacked at Jarrald's Mill. Here the enemy left the Old Telegraph Road and took that to Beaver Dam Station on the Virginia Central Railroad, where they cap- tured and burned some Confederate supplies. Here again they were struck by Stuart's pursuing column and a sharp fight resulted.
From this point the enemy marched southward to what is known as the Old Mountain Road leading from Gordons- ville to Yellow Tavern, where it unites with the Old Tele- graph Road about twelve miles north of Richmond. The movement of Sheridan to the Old Mountain Road left open to General Stuart an interior line of march to Yellow Tavern, of which he promptly took advantage and leav- ing General Gordon to harrass the enemy's rear, he, with Lomax's and Wickham's brigades, pressed on rapidly to Hanover Junction, where the men and horses were allowed an hour and a half for rest. About two o'clock of the morning of the 11th, the command was again started in the direction of Yellow Tavern, reaching that point about 11 or 12 o'clock the following day and in advance of Sheri- dan. The march from Hanover Junction to Yellow Tav- ern was a very rapid one, the horses over much of the route passing at a gallop. Near Ashland General Stuart, act-
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ing upon information that he received of the enemy's movements, detached Wickham's brigade which he sent southward with orders if the enemy were not soon dis- covered in that direction, to return and follow his march to Yellow Tavern. General Wickham's brigade was greatly delayed in the execution of this movement, and the only command with which General Stuart reached Yellow Tavern was Lomax's brigade.
Shortly after his arrival there sharp cannonading could be heard in the direction of the Mountain Road, indicat- ing that General Gordon had overtaken the enemy's rear and was doing what he could to impede his march and ar- rest and break up his movements. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon the head of Sheridan's corps appeared in view from Yellow Tavern. The size of the command there with General Stuart was much too small to admit of his planting himself across Sheridan's front, so he withdrew from the point of intersection of the Old Mountain and the Old Telegraph Roads about a mile and a half along the Telegraph Road northward, where he dismounted the entire command, except the Clarke Cavalry. The dis- mounted men were placed in the cuts made by the road and in ditches that the farmers had made in connection with their fences. Of the Clarke Cavalry there were pres- ent about forty men; twenty of these were dispatched un- der command of Lieutenant Shumate to report to General Winder, in command of the city of Richmond, and to keep him advised of the movements of the enemy's column be- tween Yellow Tavern and that city. The remainder of the cavalry were deployed on horseback on an elevated piece of ground in rear of the dismounted men, the object being to make as large a display of force as was possible. General Sheridan dismounted his command and formed it in three lines of battle which were advanced to the at-
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tack on Lomax's brigade, numbering in all not over eight hundred men. Here a most spirited fight was waged and the enemy, notwithstanding the disparity of forces, was held in check until nearly or quite five o'clock in the after- noon, when by a spirited charge the Confederare line was driven from its position and retired behind the sparse line of mounted men above mentioned. During this engage- ment the Baltimore Light Artillery had been posted on the extreme right of the Confederate line and had rendered most efficient service in holding the enemy in check. When the dismounted men gave way General Custer, with his brigade mounted, advanced to charge this battery. At this time a courier rode up from General Lomax with the statement that the eighteen or twenty mounted men of the Clarke Cavalry were the only mounted Confederates on the field with which to meet Custer's charge. The men were directed to ride as rapidly as they could around to the right until they reached the Old Telegraph road and then to charge immediately down the road until they struck the head of the enemy's column, charging up the road. It took but a few minutes for them to reach the Telegraph Road, but before they did so, along their way they met General Lomax, who with great earnestness ap- pealed to the men to do what was in their power to save the Baltimore Light Artillery from capture, as it was being hard pressed by Custer. Reaching the Old Telegraph Road, the men at once turned to the left and dashed down it in the direction of the approaching enemy. About one hundred and fifty yards from the point where they reached the telegraph road they passed Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, who was seated on his horse a few yards to the west of the road and facing it. When the men appeared he waved his sword and cheered them. About two hundred yards beyond the point where General Stuart was passed, the men met
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two guns of the battery coming out at full speed. They opened to the right and left to permit them to pass and then resumed their charge. A short distance behind the battery the enemy appeared in sight coming at a charge. The dust raised by the retreating battery and the shadow cast by the trees which lined the road tended greatly to obscure the fewness of the Confederates, while the narrow road enabled them to occupy it from side to side and pre- sent as broad a front as that of the enemy. Like an arrow from a cross bow they struck the head of the enemy's col- umn, stopped it, turned it about and tumbled it down the hill up which it was riding and across a stream that flowed at the bottom of it. In the meantime the enemy had gathered in the timberland on both sides of the road and greeted the Confederates with a rifle fire as they pur- sued the fleeing cavalry. Two guns of the Baltimore Light Artillery had been captured, one with a broken axle and the other because it could not limber up in time to get out of the enemy's way, but the two remaining guns es- caped owing to the bold dash made by the remnant of the Clarke Cavalry that made the charge. These were compelled, of course, to retire after their first dash, but they charged and re-charged as the enemy attempted to mount the hill and held it in check until the arrival of a mounted squadron of the 1st Regiment which then took up the fight, and the enemy was enabled to get a very short distance beyond the point where its charge was first arrested by that of the Clarke Cavalry.
In the meanwhile General Stuart had imprudently left the position mentioned above and ridden in the direction of the enemy, when a Yankee who had been dismounted and who was running through the woods to escape to his friends, saw him and fired at him with his pistol, giving him a wound from which he died the following day.
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The loss of General Stuart was second only to that of General Jackson, as it was not possible to replace him.
After the enemy was halted, as above described, it with- drew back toward Yellow Tavern and thence marched to- ward Richmond until it reached what is locally known as the Lafayette Road, which cut the road to Richmond at right angles, and which is said to have been originally made by General Lafayette when he marched from a point on the James River above Richmond to Yorktown to take part in the capture of Cornwallis. Turning to the left the enemy took this road in the direction of the white house on the Pamunky river. After marching in that direction for twenty-four hours it suddenly turned to the right and moved to the James at Harrison's Landing. Throughout this march it was greatly harrassed and annoyed by at- tacks from the Confederate cavalry under the command of General Hampton, who on the death of General Stuart succeeded to the command of the cavalry attached to the army of Northern Virginia.
The 6th Virginia Cavalry remained below Richmond for the next thirty days. Early in the month of June General Hunter, who was then commanding the Federal forces in the Valley, was directed to move up the Valley, to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains, seize Charlottesville, do as much damage to the railroads there as he could, and then to march across country to join Grant below Rich- mond. To aid him in making this march General Sheri- dan with two divisions of cavalry was detached by Gen- eral Grant and directed to make a wide detour to avoid the detection of his movement and its arrest by the Con- federate Cavalry, and to endeavor to unite with Hunter in the neighborhood of Charlottesville, from which point he was to aid him in his march to Grant's army. General Lee was promptly advised of this movement and dis-
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patched General Hampton with his own and Fitz Lee's division to intercept Sheridan and prevent his meeting with Hunter. General Hampton had the inside road and marching rapidly reached Trevillian Station on the Vir- ginia Central Railroad ten or fifteen miles east of Gordons- ville, and there bivouaced on the night of the 10th. Fitz Lee's division following, spent the same night at Louisa Court House, six or eight miles distant and to the east. On this day, the 10th of June, Sheridan crossed North Anna River. General Hampton's purpose was to unite Fitz Lee's division with his own and thus combined to de- liver battle to Sheridan on the following day, and to this end he directed General Lee to march by a road that led from Louisa Court House to Clayton's store, just north of which Sheridan had gone into camp; with his own di- vision he marched from his position near Trevillian by a road which, gradually converging with the road General Lee was ordered to march by, united with it at Clayton's Store. This proved to be an unfortunate movement. The two columns of Confederate cavalry were moving on lines which started at a distance of six or eight miles from each other and gradually converged as above stated, un- til they met at the store above mentioned. Before this movement could be fully executed, and before the two moving Confederate columns had gotten near to the point of destination, Clayton's store, Sheridan sent General Custer with his brigade by a route which passed his, Cus- ter's column, between the two columns of Confederate cavalry and enabled him to take a position near Trevil- lian Station from which he attacked the rear guard and baggage wagons of Hampton's division. As soon as in- formation of this was obtained by General Hampton, both his own and Fitz Lee's division were so directed as to catch Custer between them, and General Rosser was or-
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dered to attack Custer from the west. Custer escaped the trap thus set for him, although he had to abandon what he had captured from Hampton and a number of caissons of his own artillery. Sheridan, with the balance of his command, moved toward Trevillian where there was heavy fighting which lasted during parts of the 12th and 13th of June. During the progress of this fighting a battery of the enemy well posted on a hill caused much annoyance to the brigade of General Lomax, of Fitz Lee's division, as it marched from the direction of Louisa Court House upon Trevillian Station, and General Lomax or- dered the squadron, composed of the Clarke Cavalry and a small remnant of Company H of the Regiment, to de- tach itself from his line, to march, moving as quietly as it could, through the timberland intervening between him and the troublesome battery and when in proper position to charge and if possible capture it. Captain Joseph McK. Kennerly, of the Clarke Cavalry, commanding the squadron, moved as directed for some distance through timberland which concealed from the enemy his approach, until he reached the edge of the field in which the battery was posted and three or four hundred yards from the guns. There a difficulty presented itself that was most discour- aging. A piece of swamp land, it was found, separated the timber land from the solid ground of the field mention- ed above, which was only passable by men riding in single file. Captain Kennerly led his men across this swamp and formed them in line on the side next to the enemy's bat- tery, which in the meanwhile had turned its fire upon him and his men, directing Lieutenant Duncan, commanding Company H, to follow, form his men likewise and then take up the charge, he ordered his line to charge upon the battery. A more gallant charge was never made by soldiers. The men of the Clarke Cavalry present num-
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bered twenty-eight or nine. They dashed upon the guns, cutting down the gunners, and then seeing a regiment of dismounted men, the support of the battery, lying on the ground in rear of it, they pressed forward against it, routed it and put it in retreat, but here an unexpected trouble arose. A regiment of mounted men which had not been before visible, and which were posted to the right of the battery, came down at full charge on the small handful of Confederates, scattering them, their organization be- ing already broken by the charge they had made, and swept them back, recovering the guns. This charge was most fatal to the men of the Clarke Cavalry in killed and wounded, and in wounded horses; but few of them got off unhurt or with horses unhurt. Many were left upon the field, some to die and some too badly wounded to be re- moved. What remained of the Clarke Cavalry re-joined the Regiment and took part at the subsequent attack on Sheridan, who was finally driven from the field and the purpose of his movement broken up. Sheridan in his report of this fight states that he pressed Hampton's Cavalry until he reached a line of infantry in rifle pits when he thought it prudent to retire. In point of fact no infantry took part in the fight, and no organization of Confederate infantry was nearer General Hampton's force than twenty or thirty miles.
From the Trevillian fight Sheridan retreated precipi- tately, re-crossing the North Anna River and marching as far eastward as the White House on the Pamunky, closely pursued by Hampton and his cavalry. Sheridan crossed the Pamunky and took a position on the right flank of Grant's army. Hampton followed and for the ensuing weeks there was frequent contact between him and the enemy in which he inflicted upon it much loss and damage. Sheridan finally moved across the James River
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and took position on the left flank of Grant's army, and about the latter part of June, Hampton followed with his cavalry and took position on the right of General Lee's army. About the time this movement was made by Hampton, General Wilson of the Federal army, with a division of cavalry, marched down into Southern Virginia, destroying much private property and doing some damage to the railroads. One object on the part of General Hampton in moving to the south side was to intercept Wilson on his return from his raid. This he succeeded in doing at Ream's Station, where about the 1st of July he encountered Wilson returning, his men loaded down with plunder and eagerly anxious to get un- der shelter of Grant's army. A fight ensued in which Wilson's division was very badly used up, a large number of prisoners, about eight hundred, were captured and the field was strewn with articles of female apparel, jewelry and every kind of valuable that could be found in the houses of the people that had been raided by the enemy on their excursion into the interior of the State.
Early in the month of August the brigade, embracing the 6th Virginia Cavalry then commanded by Gen. Wm. H. Payne, was ordered to the Valley to join Early, who at that time had retired from his march to the neighborhood of Washington City. General Payne joined General Early in the neighborhood of Winchester and his brigade took an active part in the marching and countermarch- ing adopted by General Early to deceive the enemy and in the many cavalry engagements that occurred at the time. The battle of Winchester was fought on the 19th of September, 1864, the 6th Regiment participating in the fight. This battle was disastrous to General Early, his right flank being turned by the enemy's cavalry, and he was forced to retreat, which he did as far as New Market
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where he halted his army. A large part of Sheridan's army consisted of a body of well-mounted and well-equip- ped cavalry armed with repeating rifles. The Confeder- ates cavalry had had an exceedingly arduous campaign. Begining with the fighting in the Wilderness early in May, it had been fighting and marching throughout the entire summer and when Payne's brigade reached the Valley, both men and horses were thoroughly exhausted and in no plight to encounter the enemy's cavalry. In the bat- tle of Winchester, Gen. Fitz Lee was wounded and General Rosser, who had remained with General Lee's army, was ordered to move with his brigade first to Culpeper Court House, where General Anderson was posted with a body of infantry, and shortly after to the Valley where he took command of the cavalry attached to General Early's army. On the 19th of October, General Early made his attack upon Sheridan's army at Cedar Creek, just north of Strasburg, marching by night, moving by concealed roads, he took the enemy completely by surprise and Sheridan's army was panic stricken and fled. In a flank movement along the base of the Massanutten Mountain the Clarke Cavalry had the lead and had the distinction of being the first of the Confederate troops to ride into the enemy's camp and to spread terror in their ranks. One corps of Sheridan's army, occupying a position on his right, preserved its organization intact, and falling back near Middletown made a stand, re-enforced by as many of the fugitives from the fighting in the early part of the day as he could gather to his standard. General Early attacked Wright's corps, but his army was very much scattered, the men were nearly starved and the temptation to stop in the abandoned camp of the enemy to supply themselves with food and clothing was too great for them, and yielding to it General Early found his line very much
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decimated when he undertook to drive Wright from his position at Middletown. He failed in the attack and the enemy moving forward with great spirit, having a large mass of cavalry on its right, put Early to rout, capturing many of his men and much of his artillery and wagon train. General Early retreated to New Market, and Rosser massed the cavalry on his left on what is known as the Middle and Back Roads. The Valley had been thor- oughly swept and garnished of all supplies for man and beast, and it was found impossible to supply either men or horses with food at New Market, and General Early withdrew to Staunton, a position on the Virginia Central Railroad, where supplies could reach him. This exposed the Valley northward of Staunton to the advance of the enemy's cavalry, which moved up to Harrisonburg and out to the southwest as far as Dayton and Bridgewater. Here it engaged in a systematic plan of destruction by fire of dwellings, barns, mills, hay and grain stacks, so that the country presented the appearance of a general conflagration for many miles. While engaged in this work, Rosser moved down and attacked them, driving them back, killing a great many, but no prisoners were taken. The men, highly incensed by the sight of the burning dwellings, barns, etc., and of the women and children who had been rendered homeless, showed no quarter. They drove the enemy beyond Harrisonburg and on down the Valley, General Early moving his small body of infantry in support of the cavalry. Rosser's men were rendered reckless in their courage by the scenes they had witnessed and often pressed the enemy to the point of imprudence and suffered punishment in consequence. A fight that occurred on the Back Road in the month of November resulted in the defeat of Rosser and the cap- ture of some of his artillery. He then withdrew his com-
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mand to the neighborhood of Timberville in Rockingham County. The need of supplies for the men caused Gen- eral Rosser to turn attention to the counties lying west- ward of the Valley, where there still remained large num- bers of cattle and horses and on the 26th of November he moved with his command through Brock's Gap and on the 27th reached Moorefield.
At New Creek Station, now Keyser, a point on the Bal- timore & Ohio Railroad about twenty miles southwest of Cumberland, the enemy maintained a force of infantry and cavalry numbering from twelve to fifteen hundred. It had constructed two forts on elevations near the Sta- tion, one of which was equipped with heavy artillery and the other with a battery of field guns. Here was kept a large quantity of supplies for use by the force at that point and for the raiding bodies of cavalry which were sent out from that point into Hardy and other counties lying southward. When General Rosser started on his march to Moorefield and westward of it, he thought of the possibility of attacking and capturing the forces at New Creek, together with the supplies stored there. He knew very well that if this was to be accomplished it was to be done by surprising the enemy. Just below Moore- field, a few miles, the advance of Rosser's command en- countered a body of Federal cavalry on a raiding expe- dition. In order to conceal if possible the fact that he was present with his cavalry command, he sent Captain McNiell, who commanded a company of rangers enlisted in the neighborhood of Moorefield, to attack the enemy, at the same time sending one or two squadrons of men taken from either his own or Payne's brigade, to get in rear of the enemy. MeNiell moved forward promptly, attacked the enemy with great spirit and dash, captured a large number of them and put the rest to flight. This
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