General Pleasanton had under him ten thousand nine hundred and eighty soldiers. The best the Federal Army had in cavalry at that time was at Fleetwood. The generals in command were brave, able and experienced. They had been prodded about what Stuart had been doing. Their pride and courage were involved and aroused, and they were longing for an opportunity, which had now come, to have a real test of the spirit and grit of the Confederate cavalry.
The horsemen of the Union armies had now been taught both how to ride and how to shoot. They were well mounted and well armed, and their training made them formidable foes. The war had now been in progress for two years and the Federal cavalry drill and training had been brought to a very high standard. The Federal troopers had become apt scholars. They were anxious to demonstrate their valor, their discipline and their power.
On the Confederate side were nine thousand five hundred and thirty-six men, and these constituted the best horsemen the Army of Northern Virginia could send into battle—in fact, about all it could offer. Stuart himself had long since established a reputation as one of the most enterprising and successful of cavalry leaders, and he had with him lieutenants who were as brave and as able as any who could be found. The generals and men under him were superb horsemen and accurate shots when the war began. To great pride they had added wide experience in campaigning. Well educated, highly bred, and intensely patriotic, they were foemen the most intrepid men might justly fear.
WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE
Major General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee was a son of Robert E. Lee and was born on May 21st, 1837. Graduating at Harvard when he was twenty years of age, he was appointed second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry, and he served under Albert Sidney Johnson in Utah and California. In 1859 he resigned his commission to operate his farm, known as the “White House,” on the Pamunky River, which became not only important as a strategic position, but famous in the history of the war. At the beginning of 1861, he organized a company of cavalry and later became a major in the new-made Confederate Army. In West Virginia he was chief of cavalry for General Loring. In the winter of 1861 and ’62, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 9th Virginia, and in less than two months became its colonel. His regiment constituted a part of the brigade of General J. E. B. Stuart. In the Chickahominy raid he was one of the three colonels with Stuart, and his troops defeated the Federal cavalry on June 13th in this expedition. He suffered rough treatment at Boonsboro. He was knocked from his horse and left unconscious by the roadside; but reached Sharpsburg in time for the fight. He rode with Stuart in the Chambersburg raid. His courage and intrepidity saved Stuart, by protecting the ford at which he must cross. In November Lee became brigadier general. He was prominent at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and at Fleetwood he was captured after being severely wounded. He was carried to Fortress Monroe and subsequently to Fort LaFayette and was exchanged in March, 1864. At this time he was promoted to be a major general and commanded a division of Confederate cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was with General Lee, his father, to the end. After the war he returned to his plantation. He was a member of the Fiftieth, Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses from the Eighth Virginia District and died at Alexandria in 1901.
WILLIAM CARTER WICKHAM
Another prominent leader on the Confederate side was William Carter Wickham, who was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1820. He graduated at the University of Virginia in 1842. He was bitterly opposed to the war and voted against the Ordinance of Secession. He recruited, however, the Hanover Dragoons, was in the first battle of Manassas, and in September, 1861, was made lieutenant colonel of the 4th Virginia Cavalry, and in August, 1862, became colonel of that regiment. He rendered valiant service at the Second Manassas, at Boonsboro and at Sharpsburg. At Upperville he was wounded the second time, and took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 12th, 1862. Elected to Congress in 1863, he remained with his regiment until the fall of 1864. He helped to stop Kilpatrick’s raid on Richmond and Custer’s attack on Charlottesville. He was in the Battle of the Wilderness and at Spottsylvania Court House, and was with Stuart on May 11th, at Yellow Tavern. The last brigade order issued by General Stuart was to General Wickham to dismount his brigade and attack. Wickham was with Early in the valley. After the reverse at Fisher’s Hill, he stayed the advance so as to allow the reorganization of Early’s forces. On the 5th of October, 1864, he resigned his commission in the army, transferring his command to General Rosser, and took a seat in Congress. He died in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888. The state of Virginia erected a statue to his memory on the capitol grounds in Richmond.
BEVERLY HOLCOMBE ROBERTSON
Brigadier General Beverly Holcombe Robertson was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1849, and became second lieutenant in the Second Dragoons. By hard service in the West he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1859, and was under Edgerton of the Second Dragoons in the Utah campaign. He severed his connection with the United States Army and became a colonel in the Virginia cavalry. He was sent to take command of Ashby’s cavalry. In September, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the Department of North Carolina, and took charge of the organization and training of cavalry troops. Immediately preceding the battle at Fleetwood, he was sent to reinforce Stuart. He was at Gettysburg and in the raid through Maryland. After returning from Gettysburg, the regiments comprising his brigade were so reduced that he sought service in another field, and was given command of the Second Division of South Carolina. His cavalry forces were particularly prominent in the Battle of Charles City Cross Roads, and in the battles with Sherman’s troops, on their march to the sea, he bore a valiant and distinguished part.