ARMY OPERATIONS. 



117 



it would have placed infantry in front of works 

 armed with heavy guns. 



The danger of his position was soon demon- 

 strated to the commanding general. It was 

 determined in Richmond at this time, to pene- 

 trate the lines of the Federal army, and make 

 a full and thorough reconnoissance of its posi- 

 tion and strength. For this purpose, early on 

 the 8th of June, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, with the 

 1st, Col. Fitz Hugh Lee ; 9th, Col. F. H. Fitz 

 Hugh Lee ; and 4th Virginia cavalry, Lieut. 

 Gardner ; the Jeff. Davis troop, with two 

 pieces of flying artillery, a 12-pound howitzer, 

 and a 6-pound rifled English piece, numbering 

 about fifteen hundred men, left Richmond and 

 proceeded down the Charlottesville turnpike. 

 That night they encamped at Ashland, not 

 deeming it safe to proceed after dusk, and com- 

 municated by signal rockets with Richmond. 

 As soon as day dawned, they proceeded care- 

 fully and cautiously, and penetrated the Fed- 

 eral lines. Near Hanover Court House, two 

 or three small bodies of Federal cavalry were 

 met. and skirmishing ensued, but the latter, be- 

 ing unable to withsfand the heavy Confederate 

 force, were quickly routed. The camps of 

 these Federal outposts were visited and de- 

 stroyed ; wagons on the road were overtaken 

 and burnt, and the entire route from Ashland 

 by Hanover Court House to TunstalTs Station, 

 on the York River railroad, was to this force 

 a continuous scene of triumph and destruction. 

 Commissary and quartermasters' stores were 

 seized and burned ; prisoners and horses were 

 taken and sent to the rear. The amount 

 of property destroyed, however, was very 

 small. 



Upon approaching the railroad, cars were 

 heard advancing, and the whistle sounded. 

 By orders, every man was instantly dismount- 

 ed and ranged beside the track. Thinking the 

 force to be a friendly one, the train was stop- 

 ped, when one company of the troop opening 

 fire, disclosed its character. The train was 

 immediately started under full steam for the 

 Chickahominy, and despite logs placed on the 

 track, made its escape. It consisted chiefly 

 of uncovered platform cars, on which were 

 some soldiers who were fired upon and killed 

 or wounded. A detachment was immediately 

 sent toward the "White House on the Pamun- 

 key river, where a number of wagong loaded 

 with stores, and four transport vessels were 

 found. Two of the vessels with their stores 

 were destroyed, and a few wagons at Garlick's 

 Landing. New Kent Court House was made the 

 rendezvous whither the main body had gone, 

 and where they were soon joined by this de- 

 tachment. Here a halt was made until mid- 

 night. Some prisoners we taken, and sutlers' 

 stores consumed or destroyed. At midnight 

 they quietly moved by a lonely road toward the 

 Chickahominy, and passing near a considerable 

 bod\- of the Federal forces, they reached its 

 banks a little before dawn on Sunday, the llth, 

 and were ready to cross. They had arrived 



far below the bridges, and where deep water 

 flows, and knew not how to cross. Their per- 

 plexity is thus described by a Confederate 

 writer : " Here was an awful situation for a 

 gallant band ! Directed to Blind Ford, it was 

 fifteen feet deep ! The enemy had blocked up 

 all the main roads, and had thousands scouring 

 the country, eager to entrap or slaughter it. And 

 without means to cross ! Quietly taking pre- 

 cautions against all surprise, strict silence be- 

 ing enjoined upon the prisoners, first one 

 horseman plunged into the flood, and then 

 another at different points all too deep ; no 

 ford discoverable, no bridge ! The horses, it 

 was thought, would follow each other, and 

 swim the stream it was tried, and the horses 

 carried away by the current! Breaking into 

 small parties, the cavalrymen swam and re- 

 swam the river with their horses, and when 

 some fifty or more had been landed, a strange 

 but friendly voice whispered in the dark, 

 ' The old bridge is a few yards higher up it 

 can be mended ! ' 'Twas found, and mended 

 it could be ! Quietly working, tree after tree 

 was felled, earth and twigs and branches were 

 carried and piled up on the main props ; old 

 logs were rolled and patched across the stream ; 

 yet after long and weary labor the bridge was 

 built, and the long and silent procession of 

 cavalry, artillery, prisoners and spoils, safely 

 and quietly passed this frail impromptu bridge, 

 scarcely any sounds being heard but the rush 

 of wafers beneath. Once across and in the 

 swamps, all was industry and expedition. Ar- 

 tillery axles sank low in the mire ten Yankee 

 horses were hitched to each piece, and as the 

 first rays of morning crimsoned the tree tops, 

 the long line rapidly sought the shade of woods 

 away from the Federal lines. Yet the troops 

 had not proceeded far when the advance was 

 halted. ' TVho comes there ? ' cried the Fed- 

 eral horsemen in the swamp. ' Who goes 

 there ? ' calls another, and quicker than 

 thought the advance guard dashes away into 

 the open ground ; the Federals fire half a dozen 

 shots, and rush in pursuit. Into the thicket 

 some half dozen Federal horsemen dart and 

 are surrounded and made prisoners." 



The crossing was made thirteen miles from 

 Gen. HcClellan's headquarters, and five miles 

 from his pickets. They were now soon within 

 the lines of the Confederate army. The delay 

 caused by the vigorous skirmishing with the 

 enemy encountered, caused them afterward to 

 make so much haste to escape, that the amount 

 of property destroyed was small, and estima- 

 ted at fifty thousand dollars. Three hundred 

 mules and some prisoners were taken away. 

 This small force of the enemy's cavalry had 

 passed entirely round and in the rear of the 

 Federal army. The hope for the cooperation 

 of Gen. McDowell amid these perilous scenes 

 was again, for the third time, now rekindled 

 in the mind of Gen. McClellan, and not entire- 

 ly in vain. On the 10th of June, Gen. Mc- 

 Dowell wrote as follows : 



