Early on the morning of the 20th we marched for the White House, but
before reaching that point met the enemy in heavy force of infantry,
cavalry, artillery, and gun-boats, and had a severe fight, which
lasted all the afternoon, during which the gun-boats did some of the
most magnificent shooting with their heavy guns ever witnessed,
exploding their shells at the precise point desired, at nearly two
miles. Nothing was accomplished by the fighting except to ascertain
that Sheridan was now safe, having reached navigable water, and met
strong reinforcements, as well as supplies.
For some days the battalion was on detached duty, scouting in King
William county, and trying to catch whatever scattered parties of
Yankees that might be ranging in that county, but with no success,
for Sheridan did not permit his men to scatter much, knowing the
danger of their being caught by the Rebels if they strayed too far
from their lines.
On Sunday morning, 26th June, the whole force of Hampton marched
quietly down to Drewry’s Bluff and crossed the James. Then there was
loud and deep complaints and curses heard among the “Comanches,” and
many prophecies uttered by the various wise men among them that they
were going to give up Virginia, all of which combined to make their
spirits sink from the hopeful blood-heat, to which their success at
Trevillian had raised them, far below the zero of disappointment, in
not being allowed to reach the mountain, and their hope of ever
again roaming along the Potomac and Shenandoah withered and almost
died in the freezing despondency of the hour; but all this was soon
over, for the reason that they were much better fed on this side of
the James than while operating on the north bank of it, but still
the battalion considered this move very much in the light that Cæsar
is supposed to have looked upon the famous crossing of the Rubicon,
and felt that the whole thing was reduced to the issue of “victory
or death” now, for no live man would be permitted to re-cross the
James until the Yankees were whipped, but it was not long until they
learned that Hampton’s object in coming on this side was to get at
the Wilson and Kautz raiders, who had been for some time devastating
the “South Side” country and trying to destroy the Rail Roads below
and west of Richmond. As the story of this terrible visitation has
already passed into history, together with the (to the raiders)
grievous conclusion of it, we will only tell as near as possible the
share taken by the “Comanches” in the winding up of the great raid.
On the 27th we passed through Petersburg while the Yankees were
shelling the place, and it was really refreshing to see ladies pass
coolly along the streets as though nothing unusual was transpiring
while the 160-pound shells were howling like hawks of perdition
through the smoky air and bursting in the very heart of the city,
but they didn’t mind it a bit; and even the children would stand and
watch, at the sound of the passing shells, to see the explosion, and
make funny little speeches about them, as if they had been curious
birds flying over their heads. Familiarity with the danger of the
bombardment had cured them of all their fears of it, and when it
would be told to people on the street, as was frequently the case,
that Miss or Mrs. So-and-so was killed in her house by a shell,
nobody was horrified at all, but all seemed to take it as a matter
of course and to care very little about it.
On the 28th the battalion reached Stony Creek Station, on the Weldon
Rail Road, where they drew corn and rations, and about dark took the
road to Sapony Church, where they came up with the raiders about 10
o’clock, who had fortified themselves near the Church, and while
General Hampton studied out the situation the men lay down to rest
for the busy to-morrow which they knew was before them, for if they
had hard marching to _find_ the Yankees it was evident the work was
not to be easy now they were before them.
During the night there was occasional heavy firing between the
advanced parties of the two armies, and just before dawn of the
29th, Gen. Butler took White’s Battalion through the swamps and
thick pines, around the left flank of the raiders, and at daylight
the Colonel formed “his people” exactly in rear of the fortified
line held by the dismounted raiders, whom he charged simultaneously
with General Hampton’s attack upon their front, when their whole
force broke and scampered off through the pines with the yelling
“Comanches” after them, but the “race is not always to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong,” and after White’s men had lost time
enough with the captured Yankees to give the remainder an
opportunity to rally, which they did about two miles from their
fortifications, to the number of about two hundred, it was found to
be decidedly hot work capturing a force larger than their own, who
availed themselves of every fence, house, swamp and pine forest to
form a square and blaze into their pursuers a volley of bullets from
their 16-shooting Henry rifles, and the “Comanches” being mounted,
in a fight where horses were only an encumbrance, had to watch their
points very closely for they had certainly waked up a batch of
extremely hard-fighting Yankees.
Two of White’s men, John Marlow, Company A, and Aaron Bevans,
Company C, were severely wounded, and several of the enemy were
killed and wounded, but after reaching the heavy body of timber
which spread along the Nottaway river, the brave boys in blue had
earned the right to continue their retreat unmolested, and the
Colonel called off his men and returned to the brigade which he left
five or six miles behind him.
On reaching the line of retreat followed by the main body of the
raiders, it was discovered that through the failure of the
Confederates to push forward and seize the bridge over which the
Yankees must pass, the most of them had escaped, with the loss of
six pieces of artillery and about seven hundred prisoners. The
remainder of the day was spent in gathering up the arms and plunder
thrown away by the flying raiders, among the latter of which was a
large quantity of ladies’ clothing which they had stolen from the
citizens’ houses, and the men would come in with bonnets, shawls,
silk dresses, mantles of velvet and many other things, looking, in
fact, as if they had broken up all the millinery establishments on
the “South Side,” but the most curious scene of all was the troops
of negroes of all sizes and ages, from the three-day old baby to the
gray-wooled hag of ninety, which were found hid in the woods. They
had been persuaded by the Yankees to leave their homes and go with
them to their land of “liberty and glory;” and nearly every negro in
the country, especially the women and children, had joined them, but
now when they had fallen in evil times, and as the Confederates were
picking them up, the first thing they would say was to tell the
names of masters or mistresses, and beg piteously to be permitted to
go home, declaring, “fore God, we neber will beliebe de dam Yankees
agin.” For two days the battalion was on picket in this country and
during that time the men were constantly picking up the scattered
raiders and negroes, who were wandering in the pines almost starved
and yet too much afraid of the Rebels to come out of the woods. They
had passed through a fiery ordeal during the raid, having been badly
whipped by militia at Staunton river, then cut up severely by W. H.
F. Lee at Blacks and Whites, and in endeavoring to escape at Reams’
had been met by Fitz Lee’s cavalry and worse handled than before.
While at Stony creek Hampton had completely ruined them, but their
Generals, Wilson and Kautz, managed to escape with a small portion
of their wretched command, and this was their last raid during that
campaign on the “South Side.”
Up to the 1st of July the Colonel had been without an adjutant since
the 6th of May, but now Lieutenant Sam Baker, of Frederick county,
Va., who had been an officer in the disbanded Company D, came over
and took upon himself the responsible duties of that position, which
he held until the close of the war, performing all his duties to the
entire satisfaction of Colonel White and the whole command.
It was now midsummer, and in the hot climate of that piney, sandy
country, where good water was a rarity, many of the men got sick,
and the resting days of this month were very gladly accepted by
these border men, who had never in their lives known any other than
the pure mountain air and water under the shadow of the Blue Ridge;
but Col. White was entirely too restless in disposition to let his
people lie quietly in camp when there was a chance to operate in his
partisan style, so taking with him a detail of 80 men, he left the
camp on the evening of the 8th, and marched to the Blackwater, in
Sussex county, with the intention of trying a raid on some negro
cavalry, who patrolled the road leading from Grant’s army, by Cabin
Point, to the James river.
Here he halted and made his arrangements, which were not completed
until the 13th, when, with about 90 men, the battalion having all
moved down in the meantime, he crossed Warwick Swamp and the
Blackwater, into Surry county, and marching quietly through the
pines reached Cabin Point an hour before day, and halting in the
woods a mile beyond the town, on the telegraph road, made his
dispositions for the attack, by placing Major Ferneyhough with
twenty men armed with double-barrel guns, in ambush along the road,
and leaving the remainder, under Capt. Myers, in readiness to
charge, while the Colonel himself scouted and watched for the enemy
to make their appearance.
The usual scouting party consisted of about sixty mounted negroes,
and generally passed up a little after sunrise, from a camp of about
ten thousand troops of all arms, near the old Surry Court-house, and
all the negroes in the country were in the interest of the Yankees
and would do anything, short of breaking their necks, to give
information of any movement of the Rebels on their side of the
Blackwater. So, to render the situation of White’s men still more
interesting, they had discovered some cabins near them, filled to
overflowing, almost, with negroes, and the Colonel had posted some
men to guard them, but one or two of the small ones had already
escaped to the woods with the knowledge that Southern troops were on
the road, and under these circumstances it was to be presumed that
the patrol would not come as usual, this morning, but after awhile
they were discovered quietly advancing, and all thought the affair
was to be successful, and prepared themselves for what promised to
be genuine sport, but bye-and-bye the Colonel discovered that the
negroes were only used this time as a bait, and that while about
3,000 infantry were following them, a body of about 1,000 cavalry
was moving through the pines to gain his rear and cut him off from
the bridges over the Blackwater. These bridges were his only mode of
escape, and if the Yankees succeeded, he knew that his raiding would
be ended forevermore, unless there should happen to be war in the
Elysian fields of glory beyond the Jordan, where all good soldiers
hoped to go, but just now the Colonel had no intention of crossing
that last named river, where it is said boats are used instead of
bridges, so hastily leaving the telegraph road, he made a quick
march to the Blackwater, and reached it just in time to save his
raiders.
The boys, who all fully understood the situation, were perfectly
satisfied with their experience by daylight behind Grant’s lines,
and had no desire to make any further expeditions in that quarter,
provided the Colonel would be satisfied too; but on their return to
camp, and learning that “old Jubal” was thundering at the gates of
Washington, every man immediately became possessed of an almost
insane desire to desert and go to him, in fact, Co. B did go on the
night of the 15th, without leave or license, and left scarcely a man
from Maryland to tell the tale of what had become of his companions.
They said Companies A and C had done the same thing before and not
been punished, and now that Maryland was open and their homes inside
of the Confederate lines they intended, if possible, to go to them.
The Colonel sympathized deeply with his men and would never enforce
the penalties for violations of the Army regulations, when it was
possible to avoid it, and to this one fact belongs the reason why a
Brigadier’s stars and wreath never adorned his collar. When he was
recommended by the Military Committee of the Confederate Congress,
by such men as Gov. Letcher and Judge Brockenborough in private
life, and by a multitude of officers in the Ashby Brigade and other
portions of the army, Gen. Lee refused to endorse him, simply
because his men ran away and went home and the Colonel did not
punish them; and so, because he had _too much heart_, he was not
promoted to a position that no man in the army could fill as well as
he after General Rosser was made Major-General; but all this is
going too far ahead of the events we are trying to describe, and it
is time to go back to the “Comanche” camp on the Nottaway.
This camp was about ten miles from the brigade, and in a really good
country, with prime spring water, plenty of fruit, vegetables, and
melons, and the people very kind and hospitable, and for the reason
that no troops except the Yankee raiders had ever been among them,
there was plenty of forage there. Game, such as turkeys and
squirrels, was abundant, deer also, but they had to be hunted in
large parties, with hounds, while the river had plenty of fish, so
that the battalion would have considered itself literally “in
clover” only for the tantalizing reports of the brilliant success of
Gen. Early’s operations on the Potomac. This made the boys restless
and dissatisfied, and some of them even expressed satisfaction when
“Old Jubilee” was compelled to retire to the south bank of the
Potomac.
On the morning of the 20th the Colonel started with thirty men for
Cabin Point again, this time to intercept dispatches on the
telegraph, and for this purpose took with him an expert operator.
He succeeded in gaining the desired point before daylight on the
morning of the 21st, and his operator at once proceeded to cut the
telegraph wire and attach his instruments, so that he was enabled to
read every dispatch that passed, and to keep the thing all right he
sent them on to their destination as soon as copied; but after
carrying on this amusing process for about two hours he became
satisfied that from some cause the enemy suspected the line was
tapped, from the fact that some ridiculous and foolish dispatches
were passed, and communicating his suspicions to Col. White, the
latter decided that it was time to be traveling, for he knew that if
the enemy really did suspect anything wrong on the line they would
soon send an investigating committee, so calling in his pickets he
started for the Blackwater. Before going far he discovered that a
force of infantry was following him, having reached his position on
the telegraph road shortly after he started from it, and on reaching
the bridge over the Blackwater the Colonel halted his party to see
if the Yankees would attack. In about half an hour they came up and
skirmished with him, but would not advance into the swamp, although
they had fully ten times his number. During the skirmishing James
Atwood, of Co. E, who was on the bridge to the rear, had his leg
broken by a stray ball, and the Colonel retired through the swamp,
the enemy going back at the same time.
On the 27th the battalion was ordered by Col. Dulaney to report to
the brigade, then fifteen miles off, at Freeman’s ford, on the
Nottaway, and on arriving there was sent to Reams’ Station to
picket, where we remained until the 1st of August, without any
incidents other than the usual routine of such duty, except that on
the night of the 30th the Yankees were very active and annoyed the
pickets exceedingly all night, and when, just before dawn of day,
they grew quiet and allowed the tired men to lie down to rest, the
great mine fiasco which Grant had been preparing at Petersburg for a
month, broke with a terrible explosion on the morning air, and shook
the solid ground for miles, the “Comanches” scrambled up and mounted
their horses without a word, but after awhile some of them begun to
talk, and wonder “whether it was the day of judgment or an
earthquake,” but pretty soon, in the distance could be heard the
yelling and shouting of the charging columns, as they rolled like a
billow upon the Confederate works, and then White’s boys dismounted,
saying it was "some new-fangled Yankee mill or other that they
didn’t know anything about, but they _did know_ Beaureguard and
Uncle Bobby could attend to it."
Capt. Dan. Hatcher, of 7th Regiment, relieved the battalion on the
evening of 31st, and on the 1st of August it moved to Stony Creek
and encamped, drawing forage by wagon trains from North Carolina,
and for several days did nothing but rest, having plenty to eat, and
for a rarity, when Col. Dulaney commanded the brigade, no drilling
to do.
On Sunday, August 7th, the first sermon the “Comanches” had heard
this year was preached in camp, by the Rev. Lieut. Strickler, of Co.
E. The religious training of the battalion was very loosely
conducted, as a general thing, and yet there were some bright and
working Christians in it, especially in Companies C and E, some of
whom would engage in prayer before going into battle, and it was
remarked by all, that these men made none the worse soldiers for
bending the knee to God, and commending their souls and their cause
to His keeping, but generally, religion in the ranks was unpopular,
and many who had been members of Church endeavored to hide the fact
from their comrades that they ever prayed.
A state of war, and life in camp is always demoralizing; but the
soldier always honors the man who bravely stands by his principles,
and even though they might jeer and laugh at the one who carried his
religion openly, into the camp and on the march, with him, yet in
their hearts the most reckless and profane would count him who did
it a double hero, in that he both conquered his own pride and lived
down—as live down _he would_—the scoffing of his comrades.
On the 8th Maj. Ferneyhough went on a scout into Surry county, to
capture some Yankee pickets, but returned without accomplishing
anything; and now the command encamped on the Nottaway again, and
luxuriated on the many delicacies of the season again, such as
watermelons, potatoes, roasting-ears, tomatoes, cucumbers, and last,
but not by any means least, the prime spring water, all of which
they had in abundance, and the memory of the pleasant days spent on
the Nottaway will be a bright one in the hearts of White’s Battalion
while memory exists; and they were all willing to spend the summer
there, and enjoy the good fare and the boating and fishing
excursions on the river, but these days couldn’t last; and on the
12th the brigade joined the division and took up the line of march
for Richmond. Everybody thought this move had some connection, in
some way, with Early’s operations on the Shenandoah, and immediately
the brigade had dreams of heaven and the Valley, which brightened
more and more each mile that they advanced, until they were once
more on the north bank of the James, and securely booked, as they
thought, for over the mountains. Passing through Richmond, the whole
division halted on Main and Broad streets, and from the endless
supplies of melons which lined the sidewalks, the men eat, until
watermelons and cantelopes lost their flavor and were no longer fit
to it, and then marched to the South Anna and encamped for the
night, moving early in the morning to Beaver Dam, on the Rail Road,
where three day’s rations were issued, and the whole command laid
over until next day, when the column took the telegraph road to
Ashland, passing that place and going into camp on the Chickahominy,
seven miles from Richmond, and still nobody could form an idea of
what we had started to do, but there was now considerable doubt, to
say the least of it, about going to the Valley right away.
The next morning the division again marched through Richmond and
passed out on the Charles City road to Malvern Hill, where General
W. H. F. Lee was fighting the enemy, and here the “Comanches” were
ordered forward to cut off some Yankee pickets to the left, but they
left so quick we had no chance at them at all.
After this the brigade moved over to the Williamsburg road, and
encamped at Savage Station on York River Rail Road, leaving White’s
men on picket at the Chickahominy, where they remained until the
19th, when they again marched to the Charles City road and encamped
until the 22d, when it was found that the Yankees, who had caused
all this trouble by trying to _steal_ Richmond, had gone across the
James, after losing about one thousand of their men; and at midnight
Hampton moved his people over to the “South Side” again, and kept on
to Reams’ Station, where, on the 23d, he met the Yankees and
commenced to fight in earnest about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Here
the battalion was divided, Captain Myers being sent with the first
squadron to report to General Butler on the right, while the Colonel
with the remainder moved to the left with Rosser, who, to-day,
resumed the command of his brigade. The first order of General
Butler to Myers was to “find the Yankees in his front and tell him
how many there were,” and in order to do this the Captain took five
men—Jim Oneale, Frank Lee, John White, Billy Lee, and Lum Wenner—and
deployed them at the edge of the woods, from where they rode out
into a field covered with tall sedge grass and small pine bushes, in
which a thousand Yankees could have lain in line, without being
perceived, but they had not advanced far when a long blue line
raised up and commenced firing. This was enough and the Captain rode
up to the General with the report that he had found about twelve
hundred Yankees on the left of the road. “Very well,” said Gen.
Butler, "I _know_ what’s on the right," and ordering forward a
brigade of dismounted men, this wooden-legged General led them in a
furious attack upon the enemy, galloping along full fifty yards in
front of his line, and exposed to the fire of both friends and foes.
This settled the question on that part of the field, for the Yankees
ran, and Butler followed them half a mile, when they met
reinforcements and made a stubborn resistance for some time, but
General Rosser came in on the left and they were again forced back.
The battalion now united again, and formed, by General Butler’s
order, on a hill in the road, prepared to charge when the enemy
attempted to advance, and here from six o’clock until dark they
stood exposed to a hot fire from the Yankee line below them, but
fortunately not a man was injured, although seven horses were struck
and killed. About dark Hancock’s corps of infantry moved up from the
Rail Road and joined in the fight, when General Butler, who was
sitting on his horse a short distance from the battalion, and under
a very hot fire, called for a courier to go to his line of
dismounted men below and order them to retire. The man who was sent
to him displayed evident signs of much perturbation under the storm
of bullets that whistled around, and the General said to him, "Young
man, you’re scared; go back to Captain Myers and tell him to send me
a COURIER!" upon which the fellow returned _instanter_, and the
Captain sent Sergeant Everhart, whom the General asked if he could
carry a dispatch down to the dismounted men; to which Everhart
replied, "I God! I’ll _start_! don’t know so much about _going_,"
when the General replied "you’ll do," sent the order, and withdrew
his line from the fight. It was evident that Grant had made a heavy
lodgment on the Rail Road at Reams’, and that General Hampton
couldn’t make him give it up with his cavalry, but the latter was
compelled to send wagons to Stony Creek to get forage, which was
twenty miles further away than Reams’, soon the morning of the 24th,
before day, Captain Myers was ordered to mount his squadron and
escort the battalion train to that place, where they arrived about
11 o’clock. Here they found big, luscious watermelons from North
Carolina by the car-load, which they enjoyed to their utmost until
late in the evening, when they pushed on after the wagons which had
loaded and started back by two o’clock, and having overtaken them,
the squadron moved with them over the dangerous part of the road,
and it being now midnight and the trains safe, the escort bivouacked
in the pines while the wagons drove on to camp.
An hour before daylight Col. White, with a few men, came down the
road, and halting with the 1st squadron informed Capt. Myers that A.
P. Hill was coming down during the day to drive the Yankees away
from Reams’; that Hampton was going to draw their attention and
amuse them until Hill could get his position; that the Colonel was
going on a scout for Hampton, and would be gone all day, and that
Myers was to take charge of the battalion for that length of time.
About sunrise Gen. Hampton came along, and putting White’s men in
front ordered them to go to Wyatt’s Crossing, about a mile from
Reams’, and wait further orders.
Gen. Rosser was now at the head of the Laurel Brigade, and he soon
came up and remarked to Myers that he wanted “his people” for
advance guard again to-day, to which the Captain replied that he
"didn’t mind the _hanging_ half as much as he did the being told of
it so long beforehand." On reaching the Crossing they found some
Yankee pickets who retired towards Reams’, and with the exception of
an occasional shot, everything was quiet until 9 o’clock, when the
enemy opened fire with artillery upon Rosser’s men, and pretty soon
Chew commenced to reply, but no advance was attempted on either
side.
During the cannonade Generals Rosser and Butler sat on their horses
just in front of White’s Battalion, which, as a matter of course,
stood by Chew’s artillery, and once, when the shells flew low over
their heads, and some of the men dodged, Gen. Butler remarked, “They
are disposed to be rather familiar this morning,” to which Rosser
replied, "Yes, politeness is in order this morning, but don’t bow
too low, boys, it isn’t becoming;" but Henry Simpson exclaimed, "Yes
it is; it’s _becoming_ a little too dam hot here, if that’s what you
mean," and most of the boys were of Henry’s opinion.
The day passed in constant marching and counter-marching; sometimes
the “Comanches” would be dismounted and ordered to pile up rails for
breastworks, and then ordered to mount quick and charge; but no
fighting was done until about 3 o’clock in the evening, when the
heavy firing on the left showed that Hampton had “amused” the
Yankees long enough, and now A. P. Hill was at them.
The Yankees were strongly fortified at the Station, and in their
front had an abattis of trees felled with their tops from the works,
and all the branches trimmed sharp, so that it was almost impossible
for Hill’s infantry to get through at all, and in fact two brigades
were repulsed with heavy loss, but when Gen. Mahone, the builder and
president of the Rail Road, came up with his brigade; he took his
people through and up to the breastworks, but the enemy was still
there, and now both parties lay along the works, so that neither
could fight or retreat, but pretty soon Mahone’s men out-Yankeed the
Yankees, and taking up some heavy cross-ties and rail-bars that were
convenient they threw them high over the fortifications, causing
them to fall with telling effect upon the heads of the Yankees,
forcing them to leave their defences, and as they retired Mahone’s
men, with the works now completely turned upon them, raised up and
poured a terribly destructive fire upon the retreating enemy,
causing tremendous slaughter, and at the same moment Gen. Hampton
charged them in flank, capturing four guns and many prisoners.
Gen. Hill’s infantry took twelve pieces in the works, making sixteen
guns captured, and about three thousand prisoners, besides five
hundred killed and many wounded, making their loss in this day’s
fight certainly reach very near five thousand in all, while the
Confederates lost about seven hundred, killed, wounded and missing.
At dark, Gen. Rosser ordered Capt. Sipe, commanding the 12th
regiment, and Capt. Myers, of White’s Battalion, to report to Gen.
Hampton, who instructed them to move their commands to Reams’ and
relieve the infantry in the fortifications, which they did about
midnight, in the most terrible storm of rain, thunder and lightning
it is possible to imagine. The vivid streams, not flashes, of
lightning danced and glanced along the Rail Road track and over the
captured guns, which still stood there, while every moment the
crashing thunder just overhead pealed out as if the inky sky was
being torn to splinters, and in sheets and torrents the floods of
rain poured down, while through the thick blackness of the storm and
night could be heard all around the shrieks and groans of the
wounded and dying Federals, who, totally unable to help themselves,
were gasping out their lives in agony, without one friend to shelter
them from the raging of the fierce tempest or stop the ebbing
life-tide that poured from their mangled bodies, and in the morning
light there lay many corpses along the ground at Reams’ whose souls
had gone up to the judgment-throne amid the bursting storm and
thunder of that horrible night.
Among those who survived was a Captain of Infantry, who had cause to
bless the genius of Freemasonry, for by aid of its mystic signs he
found a brother in the ranks of his foes, who helped him as only a
brother would have done and gave him back to life again.
There was no attempt on the part of the enemy to come back to
Reams’, but they established their vedette lines along the pines and
old fields of tossing sedge to the right of the Rail Road, towards
Petersburg, and on the 26th Col. White placed his battalion on
picket in front of them and scarcely three hundred yards from their
lines, but there was no firing, and both sides, in act, agreed to
the childish proposition of "I’ll let you alone if you’ll let me
alone."
It was now apparent that Gen. Hampton’s style of fighting was a
decided success, for he had so invariably whipped the enemy’s
cavalry that they were afraid to come from behind their infantry
lines, and as a consequence his own people had much less duty to
perform than at any time during the long and arduous campaign.
On the 11th of September the General became impatient to hear the
news from the Presidential Conventions in the North, and as the
Southern papers were deficient, he took a detail from the “Laurel
Brigade” and made a raid to the rear of Grant’s lines at Petersburg
for Yankee newspapers, in which he attacked and whipped a brigade of
cavalry from their camp, with considerable loss in killed, wounded,
and prisoners, to them, but none whatever to himself, and brought
out enough papers to supply his camps for a month with reading
matter.
Major Ferneyhough, who commanded the detail of White’s Battalion on
the expedition, incurred Gen. Hampton’s displeasure because of a
misconception of orders, in consequence of which he resigned on the
13th, and a few days after Capt. Myers, of Co. A, was selected by
Colonel White, and by Generals Rosser and Hampton, to fill the
vacancy.
On the 14th of September General Hampton marched with a division of
his cavalry in the direction of Grant’s left wing, and succeeded in
gaining, unobserved, the rear of his army, an operation which was
comparatively easy, from the character of the country, which was low
and flat, with many swamps and vast bodies of dense pine forest,
through which an army might have marched without being discovered,
except by accident, as there were few inhabitants in that region,
they having been compelled, from the proximity of the two armies, to
refugee or starve.
About daylight, on the 16th, when the raiders had reached a point
about one mile from the James river, and not more than six miles in
rear of the main line of the Federal Army, a strong party of
dismounted cavalry was discovered behind some barricades, near an
old church, and the 7th and 11th Regiments, of Rosser’s brigade,
which was in front, were dismounted and sent forward to dislodge the
enemy, which they did after a severe fight, and now the General
ordered the battalion forward at a brisk trot, which soon brought
them in full view of an immense drove of beef cattle, guarded by a
Federal brigade, one regiment of which, the 1st D. C. Cavalry, was
mounted near the cattle pens. Gen. Rosser sent a flag of truce
demanding the surrender of this force, but the officer commanding,
returned for answer, “Come and get us, if you want us,” and at the
same time told the truce-bearer that if he came there any more with
“that damned thing,” (the flag) he would shoot him. The General at
once turned to the battalion, and in his short, solid tone, that
always had something of the wicked ring of a Whitworth in it, when
he meant fight, exclaimed, “Come down on them, White!” and the
“Comanches” did it with such splendid effect, that the Yankees were
scattered in wild flight, in less than five minutes, pursued in
every direction by the men of the battalion.
Some prisoners were taken, and a large quantity of camp equipage and
arms, among the latter quite a number of the “Henry rifles” or
“sixteen-shooters,” fell into the hands of the “Comanches,” but what
pleased them most and really made this one of the grandest raids of
the war, was the capture of the immense herd of broad-horned Western
beeves, averaging over fifteen hundred pounds, and numbering two
thousand five hundred and thirty-five head, all of which were
brought safely out.
On the return, Col. White was sent with a portion of his command to
Sycamore Church, on the Jerusalem plank road, to guard that point
until the cattle could be driven over the Blackwater, but on
reaching his position he was assailed by a force of the enemy
numbering about five thousand cavalry and artillery, and after a
stubborn engagement, was forced to retire a mile from the plank
road, but by strategy in keeping his men concealed, and by moving
his flag from one point to another, he succeeded in deceiving the
enemy and holding them in check until the arrival of Gen. Rosser
with the remainder of the brigade, some two hours after his first
meeting with them.
While contesting the Yankee advance the Colonel caused his men to
throw up rail fortifications at Monk’s Neck bridge, and here the
enemy used artillery upon them severely, by which two men of Company
A were killed, viz.: Samuel T. Presgraves, of Loudoun, and William
Brown, a native of North Carolina, both excellent soldiers.
After holding the Yankees here until the safety of the cattle was
assured, the brigade flanked them and quietly returned to camp near
Reams’, highly elated with the splendid success of the expedition,
and more than ever convinced of the ability and generalship of their
great commander, General Hampton.