About ten o’clock on the morning of the 28th, Ewell’s division was
ordered to move on the York River Railroad, and destroy it at Dispatch
Station. As we advanced the enemy set fire to his stores to prevent them
falling into our hands. Vast quantities were captured, however, and for
many days we lived on desiccated vegetables, and indulged in an
occasional cup of coffee. But little resistance was offered our advance,
under General J. E. B. Stuart, and without the loss of a man we reached
our destination about three o’clock in the afternoon. Working parties
were at once detailed from the various regiments, and set to work
tearing up the track.
Whilst thus engaged, General Ewell and staff went out to reconnoitre,
but presently returned at full speed. Riding up to Colonel Johnson, he
directed that officer to send some men to “drive those fellows off who
had given him chase.” I was ordered to take a dozen men of my company,
and the Colonel prepared to accompany me. After crossing a ravine by a
narrow path I came into a large open space, when to my surprise, not
over a hundred yards in front of me, I observed a mounted officer and
two attendants. Commanding my men in a low voice to make no
demonstration, we walked quietly towards them. Not to be caught in this
way, however, they wheeled their horses and slowly rode off. Being in
advance of my men, and seeing they were about to escape me, I levelled
my Mississippi, which I invariably carried on such occasions, and fired.
The shot was hastily aimed, and instead of taking effect upon the
officer, for whom it was intended, it struck the man behind him, who,
raising himself convulsively in his saddle, fell forward on his horse’s
neck, and would have rolled to the ground had he not been caught and
held by one of his companions. My men then fired, but without effect. At
this instant Colonel Johnson, who had not yet overtaken us, dashed
through the woods, exclaiming as he approached: “Look to your left,
Captain, look to your left!” I did so, and what was my surprise to
behold a heavy column of cavalry drawn up but a short way off, and
apparently deliberating whether to charge or retire. I was in a bad
scrape. A half mile from the main body, with a dozen men, and they, too,
with unloaded guns. For a moment I thought I was gone; but Colonel
Johnson, whose presence of mind never forsook him in the midst of the
most trying difficulties, wheeled his horse towards the woods and cried
at the top of his voice: “Come on, my brave men, here we have a whole
regiment of them!” This had the desired effect, and the gallant troopers
went off like the wind, nor did they stop until they had ridden a mile,
when again halting they drew up in line.
General Ewell, hearing the firing, soon after joined us, when Griffin
was ordered up with a section of the Baltimore Light Artillery. Scarcely
had he fired the first shot, however, when there issued from the woods
in the rear of the cavalry three or four puffs of smoke, and as many
shells came shrieking over and around us, and almost at the same time a
battery on our right opened an enfilading fire that made the position
untenable.
“Some things can be done as well as some others!” exclaimed the General.
“Captain Griffin, you will limber up and go to the rear.”
By twelve o’clock the next day, Sunday, the 29th of June, the railroad
had been destroyed for a considerable distance, and we suspended our
labors.
During the afternoon I took a stroll through the enemy’s deserted camps,
and feeling fatigued, I laid down on the railroad bank and commenced to
read a chapter from a little Testament I had picked up in my rambles. I
had been thus engaged perhaps half an hour, when on raising my head I
was astonished to behold, about two miles up the road on the other side
of the Chickahominy, a locomotive and train of cars standing upon the
track. Returning immediately to camp I reported the fact to Colonel
Johnson, who informed General Ewell, and he, with General Trimble and
several others, repaired to the spot. Glasses were brought into
requisition, but to save us we could not make out what they were doing.
During my absence a tree had been cut down and rolled in front of the
engine to conceal their movements. For half an hour we were lost in
conjecture, when suddenly the tree was removed from the track, and the
train, all enveloped in flames and smoke, came rushing with fearful
speed directly towards us.
That it was an infernal machine of some sort instantly suggested itself,
and a general stampede ensued, we forgetting at the moment that the end
of the bridge towards the enemy had been burned the evening before, and
therefore the impossibility of the train reaching us. On the fiery mass
rushed, every moment increasing its speed, until it reached the bridge,
when it plunged headlong into the shallow stream, and a vast pillar of
white smoke sprang upwards into the sky, which rose higher and higher,
and continually unfolded itself from within in waves of snowy vapor,
until the sun was hidden from our view. The sound of the explosion
instantly followed, and the earth shook and trembled as though riven by
an earthquake. It was a spectacle of inexpressible grandeur, and one
never to be forgotten by the few who witnessed it. For a moment we were
held spell-bound; when General Ewell, who was the first to recover his
presence of mind, exclaimed “That was an ordnance train. Have the troops
formed immediately, for the enemy is retreating, and we will be of no
further use on this side of the Chickahominy.” And his conclusion seemed
correct, for now in every direction could be seen the smoke from burning
stores.
In the midst of a drenching rain which set in soon after, the troops
retraced their steps until midnight, when we went into bivouac. Early
next day our march was resumed, and soon after we crossed the
Chickahominy near where McClellan had had his headquarters.
Now at every step something left by the enemy was encountered to attract
our attention. Pontoon trains, wagons, cooking utensils, barrels of
beef, and boxes of crackers; a balloon with apparatus complete for
manufacturing the gas; towers, lookouts, &c., &c. Upon the Charles City
road we found a great many of his dead, still unburied, killed the day
before in an encounter with Magruder. That McClellan was retreating
towards Harrison’s Landing by way of Malvern Hill was well known to our
General-in-Chief, and in that direction we were ordered to direct our
steps.