This conference ended in Stuart posting off to see what had become of the enemy, and it wasn’t long until that enterprising cavalier had found out all about him.
In the operations which followed, Gen. Ewell moved with his division to Despatch Station, on the York River Rail Road; and as a matter of course White’s cavalry went with him. On their way to that place they passed Yankee camps where the fires were still burning, the camp-kettles of old ham and vegetables, and the coffee, still boiling; while at many of them there were wagon loads, in some instances houses full, of supplies of all kinds on fire; but what created the greatest excitement of all, was a report that the Yankees had poisoned the wells all around their camps by throwing into them the supplies of medicines which their surgeons could not carry away in their hasty retreat.
These rumors grew out of the fact that large quantities of powder and cartridges had been tumbled into some of the wells, and those who drank the water readily imagined it to be poisoned, not only from the taste, but also that several of them were made sick by it; and all threatened summary vengeance on the prisoners, but the true state of the case was soon discovered and the excitement quelled.
On arriving at the Station Gen. Ewell caused the railroad bridge over the Chickahominy to be destroyed and a part of the track torn up, and being now between McClellan and the White House, waited for whatever force might come down the road.
About 4 o’clock in the afternoon a sound as of an enormous train of cars was heard on the railroad, and every man was on the lookout for something interesting to occur, supposing that the Yankees did not know the road was cut and were attempting to run some trains through, and knowing that if this should be the case they would certainly meet a bloody overthrow at the bridge. The 13th Virginia infantry was lying on the railroad, and White’s boys gathered on the bank of the river, when soon, in the distance, appeared the most singular looking affair any of them had ever seen on a railroad track. It was a train of cars certainly, but high up over the locomotive was built an affair that looked very much like a barn, being made of plank and very long.
The general impression of the men at first sight was that it was a contrivance from which the Yankees could fire at any rebels they might discover, and thus keep the track clear; but there was very little time to think much about it, for the iron-horse, under a full head of steam, was carrying it at a rapid rate towards them, and pretty soon the infernal machine leaped from the track into the Chickahominy, and at the same moment a blaze of fire went up from it that seemed to meet and melt into the blue of the sky, while an explosion, so terrible that men lying on the ground a hundred yards distant were lifted bodily, and in some cases had the blood forced from ears and nostrils, broke out on the evening air. Just as soon as they got their senses together White’s boys walked quietly off to their horses, which had been feeding in an oat field a quarter of a mile distant, and concluded they didn’t want to be around when McClellan run his trains to the White House. This curiously contrived affair must have contained three or four tons of powder and artillery ammunition, for shells were exploding constantly from the time the machine blew up until dark, but fortunately did no damage.
The next day Col. Bradley T. Johnson, of the 1st Maryland, (afterward Brigadier General of the Maryland Line,) and Capt. White were prospecting along the river for the enemy, the Colonel having with him a rifle cannon with which he occasionally “felt the woods” on the opposite side, and in the evening elicited a reply from several batteries, whose smoke rolled lazily up through the trees in white, foggy-looking masses, and showed that the “Young Napoleon” still had a line of battle there. During the firing Gen. Ewell, accompanied by White’s company, rode out to Col. Johnson, who showed him the Yankee positions, remarking, at the same time, “and by the way, General, I think I heard the long roll.” By this time the Colonel’s one iron gun was attracting considerable attention from the Yankee artillery, and their shells were flying very plentifully around him, when Gen. Ewell turned his horse, and remarking to his escort "we’ll go back now, boys," rode over the hill towards Despatch Station, and in so doing passed in full view of the enemy’s line, who now opened warmly upon him, and just before reaching the woods a heavy shot passed between the General’s head and his horse’s neck, causing the old fellow to make a very sudden backward motion, but he instantly righted up, and noticing that the shot had struck a large pine tree about twenty feet from the ground, and cut it off so clear and sudden that the upper part of it came down perpendicularly and stuck in the ground beside the stump, he exclaimed "wasn’t that beautiful; wasn’t that well done!" but some of the boys remarked afterwards that they didn’t know exactly whether he had reference to his dodge or to the cutting of the tree, and they were afraid to ask him.
On the 30th of June Gen. Jackson’s corps crossed the Chickahominy at Grapevine bridge, and pushing on after the retreating Yankees came up with them at White Oak Swamp, where he had to fight them several hours with his artillery before his army could get over. During the arrangement for this fight Capt. White marched his company along the battle-line with “Old Stonewall,” and after the latter had gotten his seventy guns in position, we halted to watch the result. The enemy was firing constantly, but Gen. Jackson made no reply until he had everything arranged to his notion, when he gave the signal to commence firing, and it was soon evident that he was more than a match for the Yankees. While the roar of the guns was waking the echoes of swamp and forest, Gen. Jackson rode along the line, where the shells from the enemy’s batteries were flying the thickest, and, greatly to our wonder, held one hand up as high as his shoulder nearly all the time, but wonder turned to reverence when found that our hero was praying to the God of battles to spare the lives of his men and crown their arms with victory. Before long the bridge over the swamp was uncovered, and Jackson’s infantry went across, capturing several of the enemy’s guns and many prisoners. Here White’s men got into a snap with some of the Pennsylvania Bucktail riflemen, but the Captain led them in a charge, in which they captured a whole set of German-silver wind instruments for a band, and several prisoners, killing and wounding some of the “Bucktails.” They also got a splendid suit of armor belonging to a Colonel, over which they had a great deal of amusement, but in their experiments with the breastplate they learned that it was bullet-proof against Colt’s army revolvers and all the guns they could find, with one exception, and that was the Maynard rifle, which tore a hole in it large enough for a hen’s egg to pass through.
On the 1st of July we went to Malvern Hill, and the company was busy enough during all of that long and bloody afternoon, carrying dispatches for the several Generals operating in connection with Ewell, and acting as provost guard to stop the soldiers from straggling.
At the close of the battle, which continued until dark, Capt. White took a detail of his men to Gen. Ewell, who had sent for him, and found that officer, in company with Gen. Whiting, lying on the ground to the left of the road, and with the advanced vedettes of the army, conversing in whispers, the enemy being so close that they could not talk in an ordinary tone without being heard by them; and when White and his boys had crawled up to the General, finding him with great difficulty, he sent them back, saying he was going to advance his infantry line pretty soon, and had no scouting to do, as he had found the enemy and they were in his front—so close that he could throw a stone over their line.