CHAPTER VI.
On the 9th of May, 1864, Sheridan began his raid around Richmond. Colonel Johnson, had gone on a scout towards Yorktown, and left Colonel Brown in camp in command of parts of four companies. On the afternoon of that day Colonel Brown received information that a portion of the enemy’s cavalry were raiding in the rear of Lee’s army, and had cut the railroad and destroyed the cars and provisions accumulated at some point above Hanover Court House. He immediately assembled his little command of one hundred and fifty sabres, and set out to ascertain the truth of the report. Shortly after passing Hanover Junction the gleam of camp fires in the distance, (it was just after dark,) along the line of railway in his front, seemed to confirm the rumor. The battalion pushed on at a trot, taking the usual precaution to throw out an advance guard and flankers, and about 11 o’clock, P. M., arrived at a point about a mile from Beaver Dam, when it became evident that they were in close proximity to a large force that was taking no pains to conceal their presence. The battalion was halted, and Colonel Brown himself dismounted and went ahead on foot to reconnoitre. He found the enemy in great glee, laughing and shouting at the top of their voices, whilst at the same time they were busily engaged in burning railroad ties, and generally seemed to feel the existence of an enemy to be an absurdity. So close did Colonel Brown get to them, that he came near surprising a party in a cut, and from where he could see, by the light of the burning cross-ties, for a mile or two along the road, whilst he was invisible to the enemy. After having taken a good view, he quietly returned to his command, which had been silently awaiting him, and dismounting all the men that could be spared, amounting to some eighty or ninety, he advanced on the railroad. Silently the little band crept on, carbine advanced, and ready to begin the work of death at an instant’s warning. Not a word was spoken; and the men held their breaths in anxious expectation, until right upon the bank of the railroad, when a whispered exclamation announced that the enemy had gone. Not far, though; for they could be plainly heard a short distance up the road. The skirmish party was then formed in column, and moved by the left towards the county road, not a hundred yards distant, with the intention to again deploy and advance until the enemy was found. Not half the column had crossed the fence which bounded the road, when there was a challenge and shot, almost simultaneous, followed by a volley from both sides. In the darkness, blinded by the fires the enemy had lighted, the head of the column had come suddenly upon a Yankee picket, at a point which Colonel Brown, not an half hour before, had found entirely unguarded; but during his absence they had finished their work and gone to bed, posting pickets, in the meantime, from habit more than anything else, as the picket was only a few yards from the main body, which appeared to be resting in a continuous line along and on both sides of the road.
Colonel Brown deployed at once, and advanced rapidly, the whole line keeping up a vigorous fire, which was made more effectual, because, while being in the shadow themselves, the confused enemy was distinctly visible by the light of the fires they had built. This could be plainly seen, as in driving the Yankees back they passed over the ground which had been held by them, and found many dead and wounded men and horses. Still pressing the enemy back, Brown came to a skirt of woods, about half a mile from the point where he first met them, when a cavalry charge was made upon his thin line, which, however, was handsomely repulsed, and the enemy driven back in confusion. Passing through this woods, he found them posted in great strength on both sides of the road, in open fields, awaiting his attack. Upon observing this, Colonel Brown slowly withdrew his command unmolested.
He now ascertained, from evidence before him, and from prisoners taken, that instead of fighting, as he supposed, a small raiding party, he had engaged the advance of Sheridan’s army of thirteen thousand men. Mounting his men, he held his ground until daylight, when a dispatch was received from General J. E. B. Stuart, directing Colonel Brown to harrass and delay the enemy as long as possible, as he was in pursuit. Accordingly, he at once advanced upon the enemy’s pickets and drove them back, when they were reinforced, but again driven back several times in succession, until Sheridan pushed forward heavy reinforcements, when Colonel Brown deemed it advisable to retire a short distance, the enemy manifesting no disposition to pursue. Thus for some time the opposing forces watched each other in silence, when Brown moved his men some distance to the rear to feed the horses, but leaving a force of twenty men, under command of Lieutenant C. Irving Ditty, to observe their movements.
But a few moments elapsed before the enemy became restive, and could be seen forming a strong column in the road, with heavy masses on each side of it, and clouds of mounted and dismounted skirmishers taking position in front. The fact was at once communicated to Colonel Brown. A bugle sound now announced the enemy’s approach, and the heavy columns moved forward in imposing array upon Ditty’s little force of twenty men. At this instant Brown came up at a gallop, and a spirited fight ensued. A dozen times did the column of mounted men attack, but a dozen times they were foiled and driven back in confusion, until the dismounted men moved through the woods on Brown’s flank, and compelled him to retire; and at last, about midday, they forced him back beyond the woods into the clear country, where Sheridan could see the insignificant force that had for so many precious hours kept his army in check. Then, and not until then, could his cavalry be brought to a charge, which the First Maryland, from its better knowledge of the country, easily avoided, not, however, without a parting volley, which emptied several saddles, two riderless horses running into their ranks.
The battalion then hurried on rapidly to Hanover Junction, whither it was supposed Sheridan was moving, where they united with the Second Maryland Infantry and Baltimore Light Artillery, when all prepared to give a good account of themselves should the enemy make his appearance.
It was but a little band of brave men opposing an immense army, and their destruction seemed inevitable, for General Lee had dispatched them to hold the point to the last, and that he had no reinforcements to give them. Quietly, as they stood in line of battle, they discussed the matter, and determined that the Maryland Line of ’64 should reflect no disgrace upon their hereditary name. But they were saved the sacrifice, for Sheridan, passing six or eight miles in their rear, marched directly upon Richmond.
In this affair at Beaver Dam, Captain A. H. Schwartz, of Company F, and Lieutenant J. A. V. Pue, of Company A, were painfully but not dangerously wounded, almost by the first fire. During the lull of hostilities, and before daylight, they were removed to the house of Mr. Redd, a kind Virginia gentleman, living about five miles from the scene of conflict. Here they were kindly cared for and rapidly improved, when General Lee fell back in the direction of Richmond, and they were left in the enemy’s lines, who immediately sent a force of two hundred cavalry to capture them. Upon an examination of their condition by the surgeon with the party, he declared it his belief that they would die if removed; but the officer in command, who seemed really ashamed of his brutal mission, said those were his orders, and he must obey them. However, he at last yielded to the entreaties of the ladies of the family, and reported the facts to General Gibbons, who, like the brute he is, gave imperative orders for their removal. This was done, and the two poor, suffering men were placed in an ambulance and started off, the guard stealing the covering thrown over them by the ladies of Mr. Redd’s family, before they had gone five miles. Being taken across the country to Fredericksburg, they were there placed on board a transport and conveyed to a Washington hospital, where, soon after their arrival, the gallant, whole-souled Captain Schwartz died, in great agony, and Lieutenant Pue suffered months of excruciating pain.
This is but another instance of the many thousands of Yankee brutality to Confederate prisoners, and yet these people prate continually about Confederate cruelty to prisoners of war.
On the day after the fight at Beaver Dam, General J. E. B. Stuart came up, and ordered Colonel Johnson to watch General Lee’s flank with the First Maryland cavalry, whilst he with twenty-five hundred horse threw himself between Sheridan and Richmond.
Stuart met the enemy at Yellow Tavern, and after one of the most dreadful cavalry combats of the war, he saved the capital, but lost his life.
In the latter part of May, Lee’s army fell back before Grant, and made Hanover Junction a point of defence. Sending for Colonel Johnson, he directed him to take Brown’s battalion and pass around Grant and see what he was doing, and especially his base of supplies. The little Command crossed the North Anna, below Lee’s right, and pursued its way around to Penola Station, on the Fredericksburg railroad, where Johnson discovered a heavy column moving down from Bowling Green, and at the same time ascertained that the enemy drew his supplies from Tappahannock. Turning to retrace his steps, he found the whole of Sheridan’s cavalry moving up through King William, in his rear, and all the fords on the lower Anna in his possession. This compelled him to cross higher up, which was effected by throwing the horses into the stream from a high bank, whilst the men crossed on a raft hastily constructed. He finally reached the main body in safety, having captured several couriers, from whom it was ascertained that Sheridan was coming up and Burnside moving down from Bowling Green.
On the 27th of May, Colonel Johnson was ordered to report with his cavalry to General Fitzhugh Lee, who was then at Hanover Court House. A short time after his arrival, the enemy crossed at Dabney’s Ferry, when by order of General Lomax he was directed to go down and drive them back. Upon his arrival, he found Colonel Baker, of the Fifth North Carolina, in command of Gordon’s old brigade, skirmishing with a force not far from the Ferry. Believing it to be a small body, it was arranged that Baker should hold them where they were, whilst Johnson passed around to their flank, by which movement it was hoped they would capture the whole of them. Taking a side road, he had not gone more than a mile before he encountered Baker’s pickets retiring in good order, followed by the enemy. Before he could deploy his men on some open ground on the side of the road, they were upon him in overwhelming force. The greater part of the battalion had unfortunately just passed through a gate into a field when the enemy attacked. A dreadful hand to hand fight ensued, and before the gate could be reopened for them to retreat, many were killed and wounded, among the latter the brave Brown, by several sabre cuts over the head. Being at length extricated from this dilemma, the command was drawn up on more favorable ground, and a determined stand made for thirty minutes. But it was soon perceived that the enemy were wrapping around the little battalion and threatening it with destruction, and the order was given to retreat. This was conducted for a time in an orderly manner, but the enemy pressing them hard, a rout ensued, in which every man was expected to look out for himself.
The battalion lost in this unfortunate affair between fifty and sixty men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Colonel Johnson and Lieutenant Colonel Brown made narrow escapes, the former having his horse killed and his sabre shot away, whilst the latter received several severe cuts over the head. If unfortunate for the Maryland battalion, however, it was fortunate for Baker, whose brigade of North Carolinians would most assuredly have been cut to pieces had the enemy not been held in check for a full half hour, thereby enabling them to escape. The force encountered turned out to be Custer’s brigade of four thousand men, supported by the rest of Merritt’s division of cavalry.
Among the officers captured at the fight at Pollard’s Farm, as it is called, was First Lieutenant George Howard, of company C, the particulars of which are too good to be lost, although it does seem near akin to profanity to laugh when so many were made to weep.
It appears that the Lieutenant, who could never be induced to don a uniform or ride a fast horse, finding himself hard pressed in the general rout, quietly dropped off unperceived, and concealed himself in a strip of woods that skirted the roadside. The pursuers passed by without observing him, and he began to congratulate himself upon his narrow escape, when unfortunately two or three straggling troopers stumbled upon his place of concealment. It was instantly suggested to him to pass himself off as a farmer of the neighborhood, and his appearance and dress indicated as much. To an inquiry of one of the Yankee soldiers as to “what he was doing there?” he replied that “a fight had taken place on his farm between their fellows and some Rebs, and he had sought the woods for safety.”
The party believed it, and in company they rode down to the scene of conflict, when the first object that met his gaze was one of his own men sitting in a fence corner, severely wounded. Forgetting himself, and the enemy with him, and yielding to the impulses of his generous nature, he threw himself from his horse, and advancing to the side of the suffering man called him by name, and inquired if he was much hurt.
“Pretty badly, Lieutenant,” was the reply, and the next minute he found himself seized, and a prisoner in the hands of his late companions.
“Lieutenant, ah!” exclaimed one of them, in utter amazement, and glancing first at rider and then at horse, “well, I must say that some of you Reb officers do beat the devil on a make-up!”