THE BATTLE OF NEIV MARKET.
485
seen General Breckinridge since the figlit began, Irode to the left in search of him. He was soonfound at about one hundred yards immediately inrear of McLaughlin’s guns, on foot and muddyto the waist. I learned that he had been much ofthe time off his horse during the whole day, min-gling with and cheering his brave, tired, hungry,drenched, and muddy infantry and artillery, towhose lot had fallen the hard fighting all the daylong. The general explained the reason for hishalting. Nearly every cartridge-box had beenempty for an hour. He had sent back for theordnance-wagons, but kept on pursuing the enemytill the wagons should overtake him. The wagonshad come up and the line was halted, and the menwere engaged in filling their cartridge-boxes, pre-paratory to a final charge on Rude’s Hill. WhilstWe were talking over the events of the day, severalshells, aimed at McLaughlin, passed over him andexploded in the orchard near us. I expostulatedWith the general for so unnecessarily exposinghimself, when, by moving one hundred yards tothe right or left, he would be out of the line offire. He laughed and said it was too muddy any-where else than in that orchard, where the groundWas covered with a dense, closely grazed green-sward, and that he would rather risk stray shellsthan wade in the mud again, and that he had sentfor his horse to be brought to him there.
At this moment he was informed that all hismen had been supplied with ammunition and atonce ordered the whole line forward, directing meto oblique the cavalry to the left and move towardRude’s Hill, to which he ordered McClanahan’sbattery to proceed rapidly down the turnpike. Assoon as Sigel discovered this general forwardmovement on our side his troops disappeared overRude’s Hill and were lost to view in Meem’s Bot-toms. McClanahan’s battery, under LieutenantCarter Berkeley, charging like cavalry, on the hardroad, reached the hill first and was unsupportedfor some time, we having a greater distance to go,a ll the way up to our horses’ knees in the mud.When his battery reached the hill the enemy’srear-guard was crossing the bridge over the river.He fired a few times at them, but it was gettingtoo dark to see with what effect. In a little whileflames shot up from dry combustibles that hadbeen brought to the bridge and set on fire. Thebridge was completely destroyed and further pur-suit rendered impossible that night.
If Sigel had beaten Breckinridge on the 15th ofHay General Lee could not have spared the men tocheck his progress (as he did that of Hunter, amonth later) without exposing Richmond to imme-diate, and almost inevitable, capture. In view offhese probable consequences, there was no sec-ondary battle of the war of more importance thanthat of New Market. The necessities of GeneralLee were such, that on the day after the battle heordered Breckinridge to join him near Richmond ^itlithe brigades of Echols and Wharton and whatremained of my (!2d regiment, leaving me with buta hout one thousand men at New Market to con-
\ The official records say 8500 .—Editoks.
But General Vaughn telegraphed to Bragg on June
front the force we had with so much difficultydefeated on the 15th, causing it to fall back toStrasburg, where, however, it began to reorganizeand recuperate for a more formidable advance twoweeks later.
We picketed on Rude’s Hill, but sent smallscouting parties as far as Strasburg, and even be-yond. On the 21st General Hunter had super-seded Sigel, and at the close of May his advanceappeared at Mount Jackson just beyond the burntbridge at Meem’s Bottoms. The enemy placed apicket at the river.
On the 1st of June Hunter, with his army reen-forced to at least eleven thousand \ men of allarms, drove me out of New Market with my hand-ful of cavalry and six guns. I again reported theperils of the valley to General Lee. Over eleventhousand men were driving me before them upthe valley. Generals Crook and Averell, with tenthousand more, were known to be rapidly comingdown upon my rear from Lewisburg, and wouldform a junction with Hunter at Staunton withinfive or six days unless sufficient reenforcementswere sent to the valley at once to defeat one orboth of these columns. General Lee replied, as hehad done in May, that he could not immediatelyspare any troops. He directed me again to callout all the “ reserves,” and to telegraph Brigadier-General William E. Jones, then in south-west Vir-ginia, beyond Lynchburg , to come to my aid withall the men he could collect from that part of theState or in east Tennessee . Jones respondedpromptly that he would join me via Lynchburg andStaunton by the 4th with about three thousand men.
Late in the afternoon of June 2d I was driventhrough Harrisonburg with some loss. That nightI took position on the south bank of the NorthRiver fork of the Shenandoah River at Mount Craw-ford, eight miles from Harrisonburg and seventeenfrom Staunton. On the 3d Hunter rested at Har-risonburg . That night Jones’s troops began to ar-rive in small detachments, just as they had beenposted at many points along the line of the Vir-ginia and Tennessee Railroad west of Lynchburg .My staff and I were up nearly all night organizingthese detachments into two small brigades.
At sunrise of the 4th General Jones and staffrode up, having traveled from Staunton duringthe night. An hour or two later Brigadier-GeneralJ. C. Vaughn came up with less than one thousandof his Tennessee brigade of cavalry. The reservesof Augusta and Rockingham counties had assem-bled to the number of five or six hundred. We thushad, of all sorts of troops, veterans and militia,something less than 4500 men. -fa Of artillery,we had McClanahan’s six guns, and an improvisedbattery of six guns from Staunton, manned by acompany of reserves under Captain J. C. Marquis.
On comparing dates of commission with Jonesand Vaughn they were both found to be my seniors.Jones, holding the oldest commission, took com-mand. On the 5tli our forces were concentratedabout half a mile north-east of the village of Pied-mont. Without going into details it suffices to say
Ctli: “ Went into the fight yesterday with an aggregateof 5(500.”— EMTOliS.