ARMY OPERATIONS. 



105 



erly and westerly, they forded the North Anna 

 River at Anderson's bridge, two miles below 

 Beaver Dam, about dusk. Gen. Custer's bri- 

 gade took possession of the railroad station and 

 captured a train of cars having on board three 

 hundred and seventy-eight Union wounded and 

 prisoners on their way to Richmond. These 

 prisoners had been captured by the enemy 

 during the late operations. The trains of cars, 

 with the depot of supplies, were quickly set on. 

 fire, and two locomotives, three long trains, and 

 a large quantity of bacon, meal, flour, and other 

 supplies for Gen. Lee's army, were destroyed. 

 The ties and bridges were burned, and the rails 

 twisted so as to become useless. Meantime the 

 enemy came up and attacked the fiank and rear 

 of the column, and captured many prisoners of 

 the 6th Ohio. At night the column bivouacked 

 on both sides of the North Anna. 



Early on the next morning the enemy began 

 to shell the camp, and the column moved south, 

 the advance being annoyed by the enemy as it 

 proceeded. The South Anna was crossed at 

 Ground Squirrel bridge, and the bridge de- 

 stroyed. The bivouac at night was near Good- 

 all's, but the sharpshooters of the enemy caused 

 some annoyance. Early on the next morning, 

 the llth, the 1st brigade of the 2d division un- 

 der Gen. Davies was sent seven miles east to 

 Ashland, on the Richmond and Fredericksburg 

 Railroad. There the depot was burned and a 

 considerable quantity of stores destroyed ; also 

 six miles of railroad, three culverts, two trestle 

 bridges, several Government buildings, a loco- 

 motive, and three trains of cars. On the return 

 the force was fired upon from the houses, and 

 about thirfy men were left in the enemy's 

 hands. In the mean time the column had ad- 

 vanced and destroyed the track on the same 

 road at Glen Allen station. The nearer it ap- 

 proached Richmond, the more opposition was 

 made to its progress. At Yellow Tavern the 

 cavalry of the enemy, concentrated under Gen. 

 Stuart, made an attack on the advance under 

 Gen. Devin. A sharp contest ensued, dur- 

 ing which the brigades of Gens. Custer, and 

 GUI, and Wilson came to his support, and the 

 enemy were driven toward Ashland. Ad- 

 vancing still further toward Richmond, the 

 picket defences were entered, and in a charge 

 by Gen. Custer's brigade a hundred prisoners 

 and a section of artillery were captured. la 

 the conflict Gen. J. E. B. Stuart and Col. Pate, 

 of the enemy, were fatally wounded. On the 

 next morning the column turned toward Mead- 

 ow Bridge, on the Chickahominy. It had been 

 destroyed, but was rebuilt under a galling fire 

 from the enemy, and crossed. The column 

 next reached Mechanicsville and Coal Harbor, 

 and encamped toward night at Gaines's Mill. 

 On the next day the march was pursued by the 

 way of Bottom bridge to Turkey Bend, where 

 supplies wereobtained from Gen. Butler. 



Two'movements were made by the forces in 

 the Shenandoah valley and Western Virginia, 

 which were designed to act against Lvnchburg. 



The first, in May, miscarried, and the plan was 

 afterwards altered. It was determined to carry 

 it into effect in June. According to the origi- 

 nal plan, at the time when Gen. Grant crossed 

 the Rapidan, May 4th, Gen. Sigel was in motion 

 upon Staunton, Gen. Crook upon Dublin depot, 

 and Gen. Averill upon TVytheville, with the 

 design, after destroying that town and the I'ead 

 mines, to unite with Gen. Crook at Dublin de- 

 pot, for a march toward Lvnchburg in con- 

 nection with Gen. Sigel. A movement by the 

 Big Sandy, under Gen. Burbridge, upon Abing- 

 don, and to prevent the advance of the enemy 

 from the southwest, was not ready. The 

 enemy, upon the advance of Gen. Sigel, ordered 

 Gen. Breckinridge to move in haste further 

 east, with all the troops he could collect, to 

 oppose him, thus leaving Gens. Jenkins and 

 McCausland, with a scattered force of fifteen 

 hundred men, to resist Gen. Crook. Further 

 to the southwest, on the line of the Lynchburg 

 and Tennessee Railroad, the enemy happened 

 to have a larger force than anywhere else on 

 that route. Gen. "W. E. Jones, in command, at 

 once despatched Gen. Morgan further east. 

 By making a forced march from Saltville, he 

 arrived at Wytheville in advance of Gen. Av- 

 erill. The latter, with a cavalry force of t-n o 

 thousand men, left camp at Charleston, Ya., 

 on May 1st, with three days' rations and two 

 days' forage, and moved day and night over 

 mountain paths until the evening of the 8th, 

 when a cavalry force of the enemy was encoun- 

 tered near Jeffersonville, Ya. This force was 

 repelled, and a detour made by way of Prince- 

 ton. On the 9th Gen. Averill left Tazewell 

 Court House for Wytheville, in order to cut the 

 railroad thirty miles lower down than it was to 

 be cut by Gen. Crook. Cove Mountain Gap, 

 near AYytheville, Avas reached on the 10th, and 

 the enemy found to be in possession of the lat- 

 ter place. A conflict ensued, which, it is as- 

 serted by the enemy, resulted in the defeat of 

 Gen. Averill, with a heavy loss in killed, 

 wounded, prisoners, and horses, and prevented 

 his reaching Dublin station and forming a junc- 

 tion with Gen. Crook before the latter had re- 

 tired from that place. The following is Gen. 

 Averill's address to his command, made some 

 days later : 



IlEADQrAETEKS CAVALRY DEPARTMENT, ^ 



WEST VIKGIXIA, Monday, May -iB, li-tM. ) 

 General Order So. 5 : 



The Brigadier-General commanding Cavalry Di- 

 vision, desires to express his sincere thanks to the 

 officers and men of the division, for the uncomplain- 

 ing fortitude with which they have endured the terri- 

 ble vicissitudes incident to their recent march of 

 three hundred and fifty miles, over mountains with- 

 out roads, and the unwavering courage with which 

 they attacked and held a superior force of the enemy 

 near Wytheville, on the 10th, thereby enabling an- 

 other command to accomplish its purposes without 

 the opposition of overwhelming numbers. Your 

 country will remember your heroism with gratitude ; 

 and the noble sacrifices and sufferings of our fallen 

 comrades will be cherished forever in pur memories. 

 The 14th Pennsylvania and 1st Virginia cavalry first 

 received the shock of battle, while the 2d and 3d Yir 



