CHAPTER IV.
But little of moment occurred after the engagement at Hagerstown; and crossing the Potomac with the army, the First Maryland repaired to Winchester to recruit. It was here that the company under the command of the noble Schwartz joined it.
After a stay of ten days at Winchester, the battalion was ordered to join the brigade of General Fitzhugh Lee, then encamped near Leetown. Soon after, on the promotion of that General to the command of a division, it was assigned to the brigade of General Lomax.
From this time to the 11th of October the battalion was occupied with picket duty, enlivened by an occasional skirmish with the enemy.
A few days prior to this date, General Lee’s movement to gain the rear of Meade’s army, then confronting along the line of the Rappahannock, had commenced.
On the 9th the cavalry division of Fitzhugh Lee broke camp, and sent the baggage to the rear, but bivouacked on the same ground until three o’clock on the morning of the 11th, at which time they moved out towards the Rappahannock, Lomax’s brigade marching upon Morton’s Ford, while Wickham’s brigade marched to Raccoon Ford.
General J. E. B. Stuart personally superintended the movement of the whole cavalry column higher up the river, advancing by way of Culpepper Court House. These dispositions were designed to cover General Lee’s movements, by interposing the cavalry between his line of march and the enemy.
Before Lomax’s brigade reached Morton’s Ford, reports from pickets represented the enemy as advancing in force, and upon reaching the river a heavy column was found occupying both sides. The collision between the hostile forces was abrupt and sudden, for to both it was unexpected. In a very few minutes the First Maryland was formed, and engaged heavily. The fight soon became general, and continued for more than three hours, the enemy using artillery freely, whilst Lomax was without a single piece. At length, by a sweeping charge of the whole line over the plain lying between the contending forces, the struggle was ended at that point, the enemy retiring slowly towards the river, followed by the victorious Confederates. About half way down to the river’s side the rear of their cavalry turned and covered the retreat of the main body by making a gallant charge, that struck the Maryland Battalion, which held the extreme left of the line, but it was handsomely repulsed, the brave officer who led it falling mortally wounded in their midst.
The main body retreated across the river, rapidly pursued by Lomax, who came up with them within a few miles, when a running fight ensued to Brandy Station, often before the scene of heavy cavalry fighting. Before reaching Brandy Station, the brigades of Lomax and Wickham united, as had also the two columns of the enemy, for Wickham had been heavily engaged at Raccoon Ford. Here the enemy’s cavalry met the infantry sent to support them, when they turned upon their pursuers, and the fight was renewed with redoubled fury, and charges and counter charges were made, until both sides paused from sheer exhaustion.
The left of the Confederate line then crossed the road leading from Culpepper C. H. to Brandy Station, and the battle was resumed. Whilst it was raging fiercely, a short time before dark, a heavy dust arose in the direction of Culpepper. This was soon ascertained to be the enemy’s cavalry, rapidly advancing from that town. Fearing an attack in the rear from this new enemy, General Fitz Lee immediately drew back his left, which was then in danger, and reformed parallel to the road by which they approached. Down he came in splendid style, his sabres drawn and flashing in the rays of the declining sun, and to an inexperienced observer it would have seemed as though everything would have been swept from before it. Not so the gallant men who stood in his way awaiting the attack. But the enemy was evidently not seeking a fight, for suddenly he moved to the left, upon discovering the Confederates in his path, and sought to pass without a collision. But this did not suit General Lee, who immediately ordered a charge, and Yankee and Confederate were soon dashing along in most admirable confusion, until the infantry was reached, when General Lee was compelled to retire out of range.
A short time after, General J. E. B. Stuart, with Hampton’s division, came down the Culpepper road, and then was ascertained the reason why the Yankees had wished to pass so rapidly. That General had defeated them at Culpepper, and was then in hot pursuit.
This was the first cavalry fight in which the Spencer repeating carbine was used by the enemy, but notwithstanding this advantage over the old muzzle loading gun, they were badly beaten, having been driven upon their infantry, and engaged from early dawn until night put an end to the conflict.
The loss of the First Maryland was severe, as they were engaged almost continually during the fight, both mounted and on foot.
The enemy acknowledged a loss of one thousand men in killed and wounded.
On the day after the fight at Morton’s Ford, the cavalry corps crossed the Rappahannock at Warrenton Springs, and moved down the Warrenton and Alexandria pike, and breaking into several columns, marched by different but nearly parallel roads in the direction of Centreville. Fitz Lee’s division moved towards Catlett’s Station, on the Orange and Alexandria railroad. At a small place on Cedar creek, called Aubren, Lomax’s brigade (the reader will bear in mind that the First Maryland was attached to this brigade) made a dash at the enemy’s wagon train then passing, but finding it protected by a corps of his infantry, Lomax withdrew. This affair, though brief and unsatisfactory, gave occasion for a complimentary order from General Lomax to the First Maryland, which was well deserved, for by their gallant bearing, they materially assisted in extricating that General from a most perilous position.
By this time Meade had divined the object of General Lee’s movement, and his whole army was in retreat towards Washington, in order to prevent that General from gaining his rear. During this retreat, the cavalry made several attacks upon his flank, in all of which the Maryland cavalry were actively engaged. But little was effected, however, owing to the careful and compact order in which the enemy retired.
Finding his prey had escaped him, General Lee fell back to the line of the Rapidan, leaving the cavalry to guard his rear, which also fell back slowly—Hampton by the Warrenton pike, and Fitz Lee by the Orange and Alexandria railroad, the two running parallel.
The enemy’s cavalry, under Kilpatrick, thinking retreat meant defeat, pressed after Hampton, and his advance and Hampton’s rear soon became engaged. Hampton continued his retreat until he reached within two miles of Warrenton, when the trap he had prepared for Kilpatrick was sprung. So eager was that officer to immortalize himself, and so confident was he of success, that he never stopped to think of the danger that might be lurking behind the range of hills on his left. Fitz Lee was there, and when he thought to crush Hampton at a blow, and drive him into the Rappahannock, the sound of a few cannon shots on his rear and left suddenly put a new phase on affairs. With the sound of these guns, Hampton ceased his retreat, and turned and charged, while at the same moment Fitz Lee struck him in flank at Buckland. The fight which ensued was short, bloody, and decisive, and Kilpatrick’s exultant pursuit was converted into a precipitate rout, and his troopers scattered over the country in all directions.
During this fight, the First Maryland fought on foot, but when the rout commenced, they mounted and pursued to near Gainsville, where the enemy met his infantry. It was now dark, and Colonel Brown could not see what was in his front; but halting a moment to rectify his line, he gave the command to charge, when both cavalry and infantry broke and fled in the utmost confusion. Many were killed, wounded, and captured; and Brown, now aware that he was in the presence of Meade’s army, withdrew to Buckland, where was assembled the commands of Hampton and Lee, and where they congratulated each other on the signal victory they had achieved over the bully and blackguard leader of the “Buckland racers.”
After this affair, Mr. Kilpatrick’s thirst for glory perceptibly subsided, and the Confederate army marched peacefully and uninterruptedly to the vicinity of its old line on the Rappahannock.
Nothing of moment occurred here beyond the usual picket duty, until the First Maryland was ordered to join Colonel Bradley T. Johnson at Hanover Junction, where that officer had been ordered to assemble the Maryland Line, and picket along Lee’s line of communication with Richmond.
Before the separation, division and brigade orders were issued and read at the head of the regiment, highly complimentary to the gallant little command; and I will here state, that it was the fate of the First Maryland to serve, at different times during the war, with many of the divisions and brigades of the cavalry corps, and the fact can be referred to with pride, that no General with whom it served suffered it to pass to another command without publicly complimenting them in general orders.