SHERIDAN’S TREVILIAN RAID.

BY THEO. F. RODENBOUGH, BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL, U. S. A. j

CentralHunter, if

yA/ r Hn J E Torbert aud Gregg had been engagednear Cold Harbor, Wilson had been operatingn our right flank. He fought at Mecliump’s Creekt? May 3Xst, 1864; Ashland, June 1st; andTh' VeS ' S ^ 10 P arL< ^ Totopotomoy Creek, June 2d.^ e fight at Ashland was brought on by McIntosh,th a SUeces sful dash at the railroad bridges overlii] 6 Anna. The permanent injury of Lee’s

® s of supply was an important element in Grant’sw r P°ses. To this end, on the 26th of May, Hunterto 8 ? Erected to move down the Shenandoah Valleyr ^y^ohburg, cut the canal, and return over thelo ^burg branch of the Virginia Central to Char-cj, l ' esv ille, where it was expected he would meetbll ®ridan.

That officer was again to “cut loose” from theand, after tearing up the Virginia », r gordonsville, to cooperate with Hidaii 1 ° a ' ; ’^ e ' °h e( li ence to instructions Slieri-h„ .’ Wl th the divisions of Torbert and Gregg, num-th exe l' i sive of non-combatants, about eighton°ti Saad IQ en, started (June 7th) from New CastleUj 16 Pamunkey, crossed that river on pontoons,hu/ 6 ^ Ia P^®y via Aylett’s, Polecat Station, Cliiles-e ro^’ ^ ew Market, Mt. Pleasant, Young’s Bridge,bi v SS6t ^ the South Anna at Becker’s Store, andon the evening of the 10th at Buckthe S S ’ three miles from Trevilian Station. Onr a jjJ Uare h, whenever the column passed near the't was cut in several places. The weatherthe a0t; ’ an< t tlle ™ads heavy with dust, causingthi s Wea ^ ei ’ horses to drop out; in all cases wherethe i ° 0eun ’ed the disabled animals were shot byPort^ 1 ~§ Uft rd. As on the Richmond raid, trans-mit 1011 and supplies had been reduced to aW a ltailn b the entire train, including ammunitionhjpjp 118 aa d ambulances, not exceeding 125 ve-Sa d(ll' ^ Wo days’ short forage, carried on theof e ’ three days’ rations, and one hundred rounds^hl] 1111111111 ^ 01 ! were carried by each trooper.Shoj-^ m °ving along the north side of the river,ty ag 1 au heard that the infantry of Breckinridgeof rou te to Gordonsville, and" that the cavalryShp^Pton and Pitz Lee were in pursuit ofre ac , ail ’ s column, and straining every nerve to®her' i 6 °hj ec tive point first,the V , , aa ' s intention was to cut the main line ofLy^ .^inia Central at Trevilian Station, and theth e Ipbranch at Charlottesville. At dawn ofhhfiset ^ June shots were interchanged by theti^gad near Trevilian. Custer was sent with liisLoui g 6 a wood-road to the left to strike the^tst-T] 8 House road, and move up to the

^Mnder 16 ^ s ^ ation f rom the east, while the re-I'oiixtf, Torbert’s division approached thate ° 1 hina l0 <i n ^ 16 :nor th-east. The hulk of Sheridan’sr itp S ) 11 ’ Preceded by the Reserve Brigade (Mer-^flinJh 8,88 . 6 ^ hhroii^H our picket line, and as thetrot it r6K * men t, 2dUnited States Cavalry, took the^countered a patrol, or advance-guard, of

the enemy. This was driven hack, and several pris-oners taken, who stated that they belonged to thebrigade of General M. C. Butler, of Hampton’s cav-alry. The Reserve Brigade advanced a quarter ofa mile farther, when it found the enemy in force,dismounted, in a piece of timber, which extendedacross the road for some distance. Our cavalrywas partly dismounted, and the entire First Di-vision became engaged. Merritt reported that“the enemy was driven through a thick, tangledbrushwood for over two miles to Trevilian Station ;hut not without serious loss to ourselves, thoughwe inflicted heavy punishment on the adversaryin killed, wounded, and prisoners. Among hiswounded was General Rosser ; a colonel command-ing brigade was killed,— his body, together withmost of the enemy’s killed and wounded, fallinginto our hands. Few less than two hundred pris-oners were taken by the brigade. The enemy’s re-treat finally became a rout; led horses, mountedmen, and artillery all fled together in the wildestconfusion. Williston, with his battery, did excel-lent practice with his guns, planting shells in themidst of the confused mass of the enemy. Trevil-ian Station was thus gained. In this retreat partof the enemy went toward Gordonsville, whilst frag-ments were driven off on the road to Louisa CourtHouse. In their headlong career these latter camein contact with the First Brigade, which, being en-gaged toward its rear by the advance of FitzhughLee ’s division, coming from Louisa Court House,was compelled to abandon some captures it hadmade from the led horses and trains of the forcethat was engaging the rest of the division.

General Custer ’s operations are described byColonel A. C. M. Pennington , then commandingHorse Battery “ M,” 2d United States Artillery :

“ We moved out about 6 :30 A. m.. the battery follow-ing the leading regiment. As the command struck theroad we discovered the impedimenta of a cavalry col-umn, pack-mules, ambulances, wagons, etc., all of whichwe captured and sent to our rear a short distance. Theenemy, which turned out to ho Hamilton’s division go-ing toward Gordonsville ahead of us, halted and beganto form. I was ordered to bring two guns forward to aposition selected by General Custer; found Custer at ahigh board-fence, which separated him from the station(Trevilian). He told me to bring one gun on the roadand bring the other to where lie stood with his staff,mounted. I took up the gun and placed it in position,pointing at the hoard-fence, from which wo w r ere toknock the hoards to enablo us to enfilade a battery ofthe enemy. Number one at the gun had liis axe upliftedin the act of striking, when we discovered a line of dis-mounted rebel cavalry getting over a rail-fence, abouta hundred yards on our right, Custer ordered everyone ‘ to get out of there,’— and we lost no rime.”

In the meanwhile part of Hampton’s force at-tacked Custer , killing some of the men and horsesof the battery before it could gallop into a more fa-vorable position and open on the enemy. ColonelAlger, 5th Michigan Cavalry, got in betweenHampton’s dismounted men and their led horses,

f See

Vo L .

Sheridan's Richmond Raid,” p. 188 , of which this article is a continuation, for a map givingSheridan’s route in the Trevilian raid.— Editors.

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