The head of the reorganized column, Colonel Donnelly commanding,
encountered the enemy in force at Middletown, about thirteen miles
from Winchester. Three hundred troops had been seen in town, but it
soon appeared that larger forces were in the rear. The brigade halted,
and the forty-sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Knipe, was ordered to
penetrate the woods on the right and dislodge the enemy’s skirmishers.
They were supported by a section of Cochran’s New York battery. Five
companies of the enemy’s cavalry were discovered in an open field
in the rear of the woods, and our artillery, masked at first by the
infantry, opened fire upon them. They stood fire for a while, but
at length retreated, pursued by our skirmishers. The twenty eighth
New York, Lieutenant Colonel Brown, was now brought up, and under a
heavy fire of infantry and artillery the enemy were driven back more
than two miles from the pike. Colonel Donnelly being informed at that
point by a citizen, in great alarm, that four thousand men were in the
woods beyond, the men were anxious to continue the fight; but as this
would have defeated our object by the loss of valuable time, with the
exception of a small guard, they were ordered to resume the march.
This affair occurred under my own observation, and I have great
pleasure in vouching for the admirable conduct of officers and men. We
lost one man killed and some wounded. The loss of the enemy could not
be ascertained.
This episode, with the change of front, occupied nearly an hour, but
it saved our column. Had the enemy vigorously attacked our train
while at the head of the column, it would have been thrown into such
dire confusion as to have made a successful continuation of our march
impossible. Pending this contest, Colonel Broadhead, of the first
Michigan cavalry, was ordered to advance, and, if possible, to cut his
way through and occupy Winchester. It was the report of this energetic
officer that gave us the first assurance that our course was yet
clear, and he was the first of our column to enter the town.