TROOPER OF THE VIRGINIA CAVALRY, 1861.
T he battle of “Seven Pines,” or “Fair Oaks,”had been fought with no result. The tem-porary success of the Confederates early in theengagement had been more than counterbalancedby the reverses they sustained on the second day,and the two armies lay passively watching eachother in front of Richmond . At this time thecavalry of Lee ’s army was commanded by Gen-eral J. E. B. Stuart, and this restless officerconceived the idea of flanking the right wing ofthe Federal army near Ashland, and movingaround to the rear, to cross the ChickahominyRiver at a place called Sycamore Ford, in NewKent County, march over to the James River, andreturn to the Confederate lines near Deep Bot-tom, in Henrico County. In carrying out this plan,Stuart would completely encircle the army ofGeneral McClellan . At the time of this move-ment the writer was adjutant of the 9th Virginiacavalry. When the orders were issued from head-quarters directing the several commands destinedto form the expedition to prepare three days’rations, and the ordnance officers to issue sixtyrounds of ammunition to each man, I rememberthe surmises and conjectures as to our destination.The officers and men were in high spirits inanticipation of a fight, and when the bugles rangout “Boots and Saddles,” every man was ready.The men left behind in camp were bewailingtheir luck, and those forming the detail for theexpedition were elated at the prospect of some
excitement. “Good-bye, boys; we are going tohelp old Jack drive the Yanks into the Potomac,”-^I heard one of them shout to those left behind.
On the afternoon of June 12th we wont out tothe Brooke turnpike, preparatory to the march.The cavalry column was the 9th Virginia , com-manded by Colonel W. H. F. Lee, the 1 st Virginia ,led byColonel Fitz Lee, and the Jeff Davis Legion,under Colonel Martin. A section of the StuartHorse Artillery, commanded by Captain Pelham,accompanied the expedition. The whole numberedtwelve hundred men. The first night was passedin bivouac in the vicinity of Ashland, and orderswere issued enforcing strict silence and forbiddingthe use of fires, as the success of the expeditionwould depend upon secrecy and celerity. On thefollowing morning, at the break of dawn, thetroopers were mounted and the march was begunwithout a bugle blast, and the column headeddirect for Hanover Court House, distant abouttwo hours’ ride. Here we had the first sight of theenemy. A scouting party of the 5th U. S. Cavalrywas in the village, but speedily decamped whenour troops were ascertained to be Confederates.One prisoner was taken after a hot chase acrosscountry. Wenow moved rapidly to Hawes’s Shop,where a Federal picket was surprised and capturedwithout firing a shot. Hardly had the prisonersbeen disarmed and turned over to the provostguard when the Confederate advance was drivenin upon the main body by a squadron of Federalcavalry, sent out from Old Church to ascertain byreconnoissance whether the report of a Confed-erate advance was true or false. General Stuartat once ordered Colonel W. H. F. Lee, command-ing the regiment leading the column, to throwforward a squadron to meet the enemy. ColonelLee directed Captain Swann, chief of the lead-ing squadron of his regiment, to charge with thesaber. Swann moved off at a trot, and, turninga corner of the road, saw the enemy’s squadronabout two hundred yards in front of him. Theorder to charge was given, and the men dashedforward in fine style. The onset was so suddenthat the Federal cavalry broke and scattered inconfusion. The latter had a start of barely twohundred yards, but the Confederate yell thatbroke upon the air lent them wings, and only afew fell into our hands. The rest made theirescape after a chase of a mile and a half. Nowthe road became very narrow, and the brush oneither side was a place so favorable for an ambus-cade that Captain Swann deemed it prudentto draw rein and sound the bugle to recall his men.Stuart, who had been marching steadily onwardwith the main body of the Confederate column,soon arrived at the front, and the advance-guard, which I had all along commanded, wasdirected to move forward again. I at once dis-mounted the men, and pushed forward up a hill
•fe Stuart's raiders left camp ostensibly to go to Northern Virginia.— Editors.
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