CAPTURE OF THE AUTHOR.
1863.--Fight at James City.--Music of Retreat.--Fourth Cavalry Fight at
Brandy Station.--Critical Situation.--Kilpatrick Undaunted.--Davies
and Custer.--The Grand Charge.--The Escape.--The Scene.--Subsequent
Charges and Counter-charges.--The Cavalry Routed.--The Rappahannock
Recrossed in Safety.--Infantry Reconnoissance to Brandy Station.--
Comical Affair at Bealeton Station.--Thrilling Adventure of Stuart.
--His Escape.--Battle of Bristoe.--Casualties.--Retreat Continued.
--Destruction of Railroad by the Rebels.--Kilpatrick at Buckland
Mills.--Unpleasant Surroundings.--Sagacity and Daring.--The Author's
Capture.--Fall, Insensibility, Change of Scene.--The End.--Introduced
to Prison Life.
Early in the morning of October tenth the enemy, in heavy force, came
down upon our pickets along the Robertson River, driving us back in
haste and occupying the fords. The flank movement of General Lee was
fully understood. He had crossed the Rapidan, advanced to Madison Court
House, and was lapping around our right wing, threatening it with
destruction. Quick work on our part was now necessary. Swift messengers
from officers high in command brought orders to retire with promptness,
but in good order, if possible. Our boys, in many instances, were
compelled to leave uneaten and even untasted their palatable
preparations for breakfast of roast lamb, sweet potatoes, fine wheat
bread, milk and honey, &c., to attend to the stern and always
unpleasant duties of a retreat, with the enemy pressing very closely
upon us.
Sharp skirmishing took place at the river, and the successive crack of
carbines afforded the music of our march to James City, where the
conflict deepened into a battle, which raged with fury and slaughter.
The enemy, conscious of having outgeneraled us in this instance, and
having at least a temporary advantage, was bold and defiant. He was met,
however, with corresponding vigor. Those contesting legions, which had
so often measured sabres in the fearful charge, and hand-to-hand
encounter, again appealed to the God of battle, and wrested with
Herculean strength for the mastery. Night came on at length to hush the
strife, and the weary men and horses sought repose from the bloody fray.
_October 11._--With the first pencilings of the morning light we took up
our line of march toward the Rappahannock. Skirmishing continued nearly
every step of the way. On the Sperryville pike to Culpepper we were
closely pursued and heavily pressed. At Culpepper the corps separated.
Gregg, who had come by way of Cedar Mountain, passed out on the road to
Sulphur Springs. Buford moved in the direction of Stevensburg, leaving
Kilpatrick alone on the main thoroughfare along the railroad line.
Kilpatrick, accompanied by Pleasonton, had scarcely left Culpepper, when
Hampton's Legions made a furious attack upon his rearguard, with the
hope of breaking through upon the main column to scatter it, or of so
retarding its progress that a flanking column might fall upon him ere
he could reach the safe shore of the Rappahannock. Our infantry, which
yesterday occupied this ground, had retired, leaving the cavalry to
struggle out of the toils of the enemy as best it could.
Gallantly repelling every attack of the enemy, our command moved on,
without expending much of its time and material, until opposite the
residence of Hon. John Minor Botts, where a few regiments suddenly
wheeled about, and, facing the pursuing foe, charged upon them with
pistols and sabres, giving them a severe check and an unexpected
repulse. On arriving at Brandy Station Kilpatrick found himself in a
most critical situation, with an accumulation of formidable difficulties
on every hand, which threatened his annihilation.
Buford, who had been sharply pursued by Fitzhugh Lee's division over the
plains of Stevensburg, had retired more rapidly than Kilpatrick, and,
unaware of his comrade's danger, had suffered Lee to plant his batteries
on the high hills which commanded Kilpatrick's right, while the Rebel
troopers, in three heavy lines of battle, held the only route by which
Kilpatrick could retreat. Lee's sharpshooters also occupied the woods in
the immediate vicinity of Kilpatrick's columns, where they were making
themselves a source of damage and great annoyance. To increase the
danger of the situation, Stuart, by hard marching, had swung around to
Kilpatrick's left, and had taken possession of a range of hills, planted
batteries, and was preparing to charge down upon the surrounded division
below.
This was a situation to try the stoutest hearts. Nothing daunted,
however, by this terrific array of the enemy, Kilpatrick displayed that
decision and daring which have ever characterized him as a great cavalry
leader, and he proved himself worthy of the brave men who compose his
command. His preparation for the grand charge was soon completed.
Forming his division into three lines of battle, he assigned the right
to Davies, the left to Custer, and, placing himself with Pleasonton in
the centre, he advanced with unwavering determination to the contest.
Having approached to within a few yards of the enemy's lines on his
front, he ordered his band to strike up a national air, to whose
spirit-stirring strains was joined the blast of scores of bugles ringing
forth the charge.
With his usual daring Davies was foremost in the fray, leading his
command for the fourth time on this memorable field. To his men he had
addressed these stirring words: "Soldiers of the First Brigade! I know
you have not forgotten the example of your brave comrades, who, in past
engagements _here_, were not afraid to die in defence of the old flag."
Custer, the daring, terrible demon that he is in battle, pulled off his
cap and handed it to his orderly, then dashed madly forward in the
charge, while his yellow locks floated like pennants on the breeze.
Pennington and Elder handled their batteries with great agility and
success, at times opening huge gaps in the serried lines of the enemy.
Fired to an almost divine potency, and with a majestic madness, this
band of heroic troopers shook the air with their battle-cry, and dashed
forward to meet the hitherto exultant foe. Ambulances, forges, and
cannon, with pack-horses and mules, non-combatants and others, all
joined to swell the mighty tide. Brave hearts grew braver, and faltering
ones waxed warmer and stronger, until pride of country had touched this
raging sea of thought and emotion, kindling an unconquerable principle,
which emphatically affirmed every man a hero unto death. So swiftly
swept forward this tide of animated power, that the Rebel lines broke in
wild dismay before the uplifted and firmly-grasped sabres of these
unflinching veterans, who, feeling that life and country were at stake,
risked them both upon the fearful issue.
Kilpatrick thus escaped disaster, defeated his pursuers, captured
several pieces of the enemy's artillery, and presented to the beholders
one of the grandest scenes ever witnessed in the New World.
"By Heaven! it was a splendid sight to see,
For one who had no friend or brother there."
No one who looked upon that wonderful panorama can ever forget it. On
the great field were riderless horses and dying men; clouds of dust from
solid shot and bursting shell occasionally obscured the sky; broken
caissons and upturned ambulances obstructed the way, while long lines of
cavalry were pressing forward in the charge, with their drawn sabres,
glistening in the bright sunlight. Far beyond the scene of tumult were
the quiet, dark green forests which skirt the banks of the Rappahannock.
The poet Havard, in his "Scauderberg," has well described the scene:
"Hark! the death-denouncing trumpet sounds.
The fatal charge, and shouts proclaim the onset.
Destruction rushes dreadful to the field
And bathes itself in blood: havoc let loose,
Now undistinguish'd, rages all around;
While Ruin, seated on her dreary throne,
Sees the plain strewed with subjects, truly hers,
Breathless and cold."
The Rebel cavalry, undoubtedly ashamed of their own conduct and defeat,
reorganized their broken ranks, and again advanced upon Kilpatrick and
Buford, whose divisions had united to repel the attack. For at least two
long hours of slaughter these opposing squadrons dashed upon one another
over these historic fields. Charges and counter-charges followed in
quick succession, and at times the "gray" and the "blue" were so
confusedly commingled together, that it was difficult to conjecture how
they could regain their appropriate places. Quite a number of prisoners
were made on both sides. It was a scene of wild commotion and blood.
This carnival continued until late at night, when the exhausted and
beaten foe sank back upon safer grounds to rest, while our victorious
braves, crowned with undying laurels, gathered up their wounded and dead
companions, and, unmolested, recrossed the Rappahannock.
_October 12._--To-day a portion of our infantry was thrown across the
Rappahannock. They advanced by a forced march to reconnoitre as far as
Brandy Station, where they met the enemy in force and engaged him in a
sharp contest. They returned, however, without serious loss. Our main
army is retreating toward Washington.
On the evening of the thirteenth, while bivouacking near Bealeton
Station, a serio-comical scene diverted for a time the attention of our
officers and men. By a strange accident an ammunition wagon took fire,
which caused the rapid explosion of its contents. Shells flew and burst
in every direction, and the apparent musketry was terrible. The
consequence was a widespread alarm, which brought every trooper to his
horse ready to engage the foe, who was supposed to have made a furious
onset. Great merriment and relished rest followed the discovery of the
cause of disturbance, especially as no one was seriously hurt.
Since our last reconnoissance to Brandy Station, Stuart has been very
active, following our rear very closely, and committing all the
depredations possible. In his hands have fallen many stragglers, who, it
is true, were of very little use to us, but who would count as well as
true men in the Rebel lists of exchanges of prisoners. Some of Stuart's
performances were exceedingly hazardous, as the following well-described
narrative from a well-known pen will clearly show:
"Stuart, with two thousand of his cavalry, pressed our rear so eagerly
that, when near Catlett's Station, he had inadvertently got ahead, by a
flank movement of our Second Corps, General Warren acting as rearguard,
and was hemmed in, where his whole command must have been destroyed or
captured had he not succeeded in hiding it in a thicket of old
field-pines, close by the road whereon our men marched by: the rear of
the corps encamping close beside the enemy, utterly unsuspicious of
their neighborhood, though every word uttered in our lines, as they
passed, was distinctly heard by the lurking foe. Stuart at first
resolved to abandon his guns and attempt to escape with moderate loss,
but finally picked three of his men, gave them muskets, made them up so
as to look as much as possible like our soldiers, and thus drop silently
into our ranks as they passed, march awhile, then slip out on the other
side of the column, and make all haste to General Lee, at Warrenton, in
quest of help. During the night two of our officers, who stepped into
the thicket, were quietly captured.
"At daylight the crack of skirmishers' muskets in the distance gave
token that Lee had received and responded to the prayer for help, when
Stuart promptly opened with grape and canister on the rear of our
astounded column, which had bivouacked just in his front, throwing it
into such confusion that he easily dashed by and rejoined his chief,
having inflicted some loss and suffered little or none."
BATTLE OF BRISTOE.
The above manoeuvre was a great and unexpected or unsought risk,
which, however, did not prove disastrous to the authors, but which might
not again be ventured with similar results. A performance resembling it
somewhat was enacted by the Rebels, but with very different issue. Early
in the morning of the fourteenth A. P. Hill's corps left Warrenton, with
orders to strike our rear at Bristoe Station. They moved up the
Alexandria Turnpike to Broad Run Church, where they deflected on the
road to Greenwich, and soon after struck our trail just behind the
Third Corps, and eagerly pursued it. They were busy picking up
stragglers and making some preparation for an attack upon our
unsuspecting corps, when about noon General Warren's Second Corps, which
was still behind, and bringing up the rear, made its appearance on the
tapis, and materially changed the programme of the scene. Hill, finding
himself nicely sandwiched or trapped by his own indiscretion, turned
away from the retreating Third Corps, to fight, and, if possible, drive
back the advancing Second. Warren's surprise in finding an enemy in
force before him was not less than Hill's in finding one behind him; but
it took Warren only about ten minutes to adjust himself to this
unexpected position of affairs, when his batteries opened with such
precision and effect, aided by the musketry of his infantry, that the
Rebels fell back in much greater haste than they had advanced, leaving
six of their guns in our hands and multitudes of dead, wounded, and
prisoners. Five of the captured guns, still serviceable, were at once
seized and used against the disappointed foe with telling power. One
historian says, "Our loss in killed and wounded was about two hundred,
including Colonel James E. Mallon, Forty-second New York, killed, and
General Tile, of Pennsylvania, wounded; that of the enemy was probably
four hundred (besides prisoners), including Generals Posey (mortally),
Kirkland, and Cooke, wounded, and Colonels Ruffin, First North Carolina,
and Thompson, Fifth North Carolina Cavalry, killed."
This Bristoe fiasco was a stunning blow to the Rebel pursuit, and
greatly checked their incursions. But our soldiers held the field so
lately won only until dark, and "then followed the rest of the army,
whose retreat they had so effectually covered."
General Meade continued his retreat to Centreville, and then, seemingly
ashamed--as well he might be--of his flight, would have retraced his
steps and pushed back the insolent foe, but he was prevented from
executing his plans by a heavy rain-storm, which began on the sixteenth.
While he was awaiting the arrival of pontoons to enable him to recross
Bull Run, which was enormously swollen, the enemy, after some daring
skirmishes along his front, and some feints of attack, retreated quite
rapidly, completely destroying the Orange and Alexandria Railroad from
Manassas Junction to the Rappahannock. A more thorough work of
destruction was never witnessed. Scarcely a tie even remained. The ties
were generally heaped together, and set on fire, and the rails were laid
upon the heaps cross-wise. As the middle of the rails became heated, the
ends lopped down, forming a graceful bow. They were thus effectually
ruined. In many instances the rails thus heated were twisted around the
trees. The road and the telegraph lines and posts were utterly
demolished.
For a few days the Harris Light was bivouacking near Sudley Church, and
the cavalry was picketing, scouting, and patrolling on either side of
Bull Run; and, on one occasion, while endeavoring to ford the swollen
stream, several men and horses were drowned.
_October 18._--To-day Kilpatrick advanced with his division, which
consists of Custer's and Davies' brigades, to within a half-mile of
Gainesville, where we bivouacked for the night. A terrific rain-storm
raged nearly all night, making our condition very uncomfortable, and
rendering the going impracticable, except upon the turnpikes. At this
time of the year these night-storms in Virginia are very cold, and the
sufferings of men mostly unsheltered, as we were, are beyond
description. On such a night one will naturally recall such passages as
the following, from Byron's "Childe Harold:"
"The sky is changed, and such a change! oh, night,
And storm, and darkness, ye are wondrous strong,
Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light
Of a dark eye in woman! far along
From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,
Leaps the live thunder! not from one lone cloud,
But every mountain now hath found a tongue,
And Jura answers through her misty shroud,
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!
And this is in the night: most glorious night!
Thou wert not sent for slumber! let me be
A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,--
A portion of the tempest and of thee!"
It is true that the poet, looking out upon the storm and listening to
its mutterings from his comfortable studio, may call such a night
"glorious," and may find in it depths of inspiration and delight; but to
us poor soldiers it seemed more appropriate to take up Shakespeare's
lines:
"The tyranny of th' open night's too rough
For nature to endure,"
while every one felt to say,
"The gathering clouds, like meeting armies,
Come on apace."--_Lee's "Mithridates."_
All night long our pickets along Cedar Run were confronted by Stuart's
pickets, though no disposition to fight us was manifest in the morning.
Dripping with wet and somewhat stiffened with cold, we were ordered in
battle array early in the morning, and the command, about two thousand
strong, advanced toward Buckland Mills. The Rebel pickets were quickly
withdrawn, and their whole force slowly and without resistance retired
before us. With some degree of hesitation, yet unconscious of imminent
danger, we advanced on the main turnpike toward Warrenton. Our
advance-brigade had just passed New Baltimore, when Fitz-Hugh Lee, who
had surprised and cut his way through a small detachment of our infantry
at Thoroughfare Gap, then had swiftly swung around our right by an
unpicketed road, fell upon our rearguard at Buckland Mills, and opened
upon our unsuspecting column with a battery of flying artillery. At this
signal Stuart, who had hitherto retired before us quietly, now turned
about and advanced upon us in front with terrible determination. Thus
unexpected troubles were multiplying around us. Scarcely had we time to
recover our senses from the first shock of attack upon our rear and
front, when General Gordon, with a division of infantry, until now
concealed behind a low range of hills and woods on our left, appeared
upon the scene, and advanced upon our flank with a furious attack, which
threatened to sever our two small brigades and to annihilate the entire
command. We were now completely surrounded by a force which outnumbered
us at least four to one.
This was a critical situation; but "Kil" (as the general is familiarly
styled among us) seemed to comprehend it in a moment. All thought and
effort now centralized into a plan of escape from the snares which the
enemy had laid for us, and into which we had too easily thrown
ourselves. Kilpatrick is supposed by some to have unnecessarily exposed
himself, in which he suffered his first defeat, though escaping with a
remarkably small loss.
Quickly ordering his force to wheel about, he led them back in a
determined charge upon Lee's columns and artillery, now planted on the
banks along Cedar Run. This timely order, executed with masterly skill,
saved his command from utter disaster, and justified his course. As it
was, however, he lost nearly three hundred men, including quite a number
who were drowned in the creek while endeavoring to escape. The scene was
one of great confusion and distress.
THE AUTHOR'S CAPTURE.
By the sudden evolution of the command, when the order was first
executed, the Harris Light, which was in front, while advancing, was
thrown in the rear, and was thus compelled to meet the desperate charges
of the enemy in pursuit, and to defend itself as best it could from fire
on the flank. Having reached a slight elevation of ground in the road,
we made a stand, and for some time checked the advancing columns of the
Rebels by pouring into their ranks rapid and deadly volleys from our
carbines and revolvers. Stuart, who commanded in person, saw clearly
that the quickest and almost only way to dislodge us was by charging
upon us, and, consequently ordering the charge, he came with a whole
brigade amid deafening yells. Our men stood firmly, almost like rocks
before the surging sea. We were soon engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand
conflict with the advancing columns.
In Byron's "Corsair" we find a description of the scene:
"Within a narrow ring compressed, beset,
Hopeless, not heartless, strive and struggle yet,--
Ah! now they fight in firmest file no more,
Hemmed in--cut off--cleft down--and trampled o'er,
But each strikes singly, silently, and home,
And sinks outwearied rather than o'ercome,
His last faint quittance rendering with his breath,
Till the blade glimmers in the grasp of death."
At this important juncture my faithful horse was shot under me, and we
both fell to the ground. Meanwhile our little party, outnumbered ten to
one, was hurled back by the overpowering shock of the Rebels, who rode
directly over me. Injured somewhat by the falling of my horse, and
nearly killed by the charging squadrons, which one after the other trod
upon me, I lay in the mud for some time quite insensible. How long I lay
there I cannot tell; but when I returned to consciousness the scene had
changed. I was in the hands of a Rebel guard, who were carrying me
hastily from the hard-fought field. My arms had been taken from me, and
my pockets rifled of all their valuables, including my watch. I was
unceremoniously borne to the vicinity of an old building, where I met a
number of my comrades, who with me had shared the misfortunes of the
day. And thus ended three years and more of camping and campaigning with
the Harris Light.
What I saw and endured, thought and experienced, during a little more
than a year among the Rebels, in several of their loathsome prisons, may
be found recorded in a volume I published in 1865, entitled "The
Capture, Prison-Pen, and Escape."
FINIS.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in |
| the original document have been preserved. |
| |
| Typographical errors corrected in the text: |
| |
| Page xii Hull's changed to Hall's |
| Page 21 pic-nic changed to picnic |
| Page 41 Leesburgh changed to Leesburg |
| Page 41 patroling changed to patrolling |
| Page 73 Fredericksburgh changed to Fredericksburg |
| Page 74 Gordonville changed to Gordonsville |
| Page 99 Pleasanton changed to Pleasonton |
| Page 100 Pleasanton changed to Pleasonton |
| Page 175 Bristerburg changed to Bristersburg |
| Page 182 bad changed to had |
| Page 189 mast changed to must |
| Page 193 Pleasanton changed to Pleasonton |
| Page 238 Heintzleman's changed to Heintzelman's |
| Page 241 Stahil's changed to Stahel's |
| Page 257 shrapnell changed to shrapnel |
| Page 263 Hallech changed to Halleck |
| Page 300 Leesburgh changed to Leesburg |
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