THE CONFEDERATE CANA TRY IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN. 2S3
II. BY BEVERLY H. ROBERTSON, BRIGADIER-GENERAL, C. S. A.
Colonel John S. Mosby has seen proper to makeMention of my command in the cavalry of the Army°£ Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg cam-Paign, and as a means of defending General J. E.
Stuart from an imaginary attack, has misrepre-seuted a portion of General Stuart ’s cavalry.Colonel Mosby knows very little of Stuart ’s ehar-?°ter if i le supposes that so true a soldier wouldfl ave silently passed over such disobedience of®Wlers as Colonel Mosby imputes to me. The factPat Colonel Mosby has “lately discovered docu-ments in the archives” at Washington, which are. 0 1 set at rest ” something that has not been set’ a motion, will not excuse him for attempting into prove by argument that in 1863 Stuart 'd. not know whether I had obeyed his orders inPe Gettysburg campaign.
j ■PP® orders left with me by General Stuart , datedPne 24th, were exactly obeyed by me, to his en-' re satisfaction as well as to that of General R.
. ' Gee. These orders embraced the duty of hold-Ashby’s and Snicker’s gaps, to prevent Hooker„ interrupting the march of Lee ’s army; andl o case of a move by the enemy on Warrenton,”0 c °nnteract it if possible. I was also orderedPen 1 withdrew from the gaps to “ withdraw to the^est sih e of the Shenandoah,” to cross the Poto-Piae where Lee crossed, and to “follow the army,l ee l’i'ig on its right and rear.” The full text of$ oi'ders was as follows :
Headquarters, Cavalry Division, Ar.iiy Koktu-N VIUOUNIA, June 24tll, 1863. BRIGADIER-GENERALy' ([ Robertson, Commanding Cavalry , General:f t ur °wu and General Jones’s brigades will cover the°f Ashby’s aiul Snicker’s Gaps, yourself, as senior„ D y r ' being j u command.
as T “nr object will be to watch the enemy, deceive himret i°, <)l n'designs, and harass his rear if you And he isy rill K. Be always on the alert; let nothing escapet 0 ,f °bscrvation, and miss no opportunity which oilers“ A? a ^ e enemy.
sunpRer the enemy lias moved beyond your reach, leaveiVes+ CIe - nt Riekets in the mountains and withdraw to theI eli'il i^ 6 o£ s h enal >doah and place a strong andcr 0 s ^ Picket to watch the enemy at Harper’s Ferry ,wA? £' le Potomac and follow the army, keeping on its
and rear.
Uui e 8 k >n g as tlie enemy remains in your front, in force,tenant °£* ler 'vise ordered by General R. E. Lee , Lieu-ivhi, PRoneral Longstreet, or myself, hold the gapsby C], , e °£ Pickets reaching across the Shenandoah
•< jj kHestoivn to tlie Potomac ,
'’"’eentJ 1 ^ l0 c0I *iingcncy mentioned, you withdraw,cr oss , j® valley clear of what pertains to the army and“ y Q u ’ Potomac at the different points crossed by it.the i n U instruetGeneral Jones from time to timeasiepov/ ,V(jmr ” | i H progress, or events may require, andL° n „ , an yt'iing of importance to Lieutenant-Generalby r(1 , tre et, with whose position you will communicate“ 1 a ays through Charlestown.
I'eafl ®Pd instructions for General Jones, which pleaseAvail yourself of every means in your power to
increase the efficiency of your command and keep it upto the highest number possible. Particular attentionwill be paid to shoeing horses, and to marching off of theturnpikes.
“ In case of an advance of the enemy you will offersuch resistance as will be justifiable to check him anddiscover his intentions, and if possible you will preventhim from gaining possession of the gaps. In case of amove by the enemy upon Warrenton, you will counter-act it as much as you can, compatible with previous in-structions.
“ You will have with the two brigades two batteriesof horse-artillery. Very respectfully, your obedientservant, J. E. B. Stuart , Major-General Commanding.
“ Do not change your present line of pickets until day-light to-morrow morning unless compelled to do so.”
The only road by which the orders (which par-ticularly specified the avoidance of “ turnpikes ”on account of the difficulty and delay of shoeinghorses) could be complied with, carried my com-mand to Martinsburg; at which place, and not inthe gaps of the mountains, as Colonel Mosby insin-uates, a courier from General Lee met me. Mycommand was hurried from there to Chanibers-burg, and thence by forced march, on the night ofJuly 2d, to Cash town, where it arrived at about 10A. M. on July 3d. Ascertaining at Cashtown thatGeneral Pleasonton was moving from Emmits-burg directly on the baggage and ammunitiontrains of General Lee ’s army, which were exposedto his attack without defense of any kind, I pressedforward with my command and intercepted theadvance of General Pleasonton, under the com-mand of Major Samuel H. Starr. A severe andgallant fight was made at Fairfield, in which MajorStarr of the 6th United States Regular Cavalrywas wounded and captured with a large portion ofhis staff, while his regiment was severely damaged.Adjutant John Allan and three others of the 6thVirginia Cavalry were killed, 19 were wounded,and 5 were reported missing.
That fight at Fairfield, on the last day of the fight-ing at Gettysburg , refutes the imputation intendedby Colonel Mosby to be conveyed in his remarkthat my command “ did not reach the battle-field.’’
From that fight at Fairfield I was ordered byGeneral R. E. Lee to cover his wagon trains, andin obeying the same my command was engaged inrepeated skirmishes, particularly at Funkstown andHagerstown, after which it returned to Virginia —the last command that recrossed the Potomac .
If there existed the least ground for ColonelMosby’s statements, there would he found amongthe reports of general officers some reference to theimputed dereliction of duty on my part. As nosuch reference is made, and no imputation of dis-obedience of orders is there intimated, it may beassumed that neither Stuart nor Lee had anyreason to complain of my command.