Conrad, with a few men, followed a part of them nearly to their camp, and on their return met another portion, who had made a circuit towards the Cross Roads at the first fire, and were now going full tilt towards camp with Crown and his boys right behind them.
Conrad and the few men with him were encumbered with prisoners and horses, but attempted to halt the Yankees, and fired into them as they came, but they only called to the Confederates to “clear the road,” and passed on with their sabres flashing so dangerously that their foes gave them room.
The whole force now returned to the Cross Roads, having taken about twenty-five prisoners and thirty horses, besides killing and wounding about ten of the enemy, with no loss to themselves except the two horses before spoken of.
Strange as it may appear only one man was killed by the fire of Chiswell’s men, although they had a rest and the distance was scarcely twelve yards, but that one man had seven bullets through him.
That was the usual result of ambuscades, for under the most favorable circumstances they seldom did much damage; and it would appear, (so miraculous did the escapes from them seem,) that Providence guarded in a special manner the unsuspecting party who became entangled in the murderous snare of a hidden enemy, no matter how cunningly devised the plan might be; and it must be confessed that such a mode of fighting is a poor school in which to learn lessons of chivalry and honor, the old adage that “all is fair in war,” to the contrary notwithstanding.
After Barbour’s Cross Roads, there were many attempts to strike the enemy’s scouting parties, but they always came in such force it was impossible to do anything with the slightest show for success, and the Colonel turned his attention to the camps of the foe in Fairfax and Maryland.
About the last of August, he learned that a force, entitled "Scott’s 900," was stationed at Edwards’ Ferry, and crossing the river some distance above the ferry about midnight, with one hundred and fifty men, the Colonel hid his force along the bank to wait until the patrol which passed up and down the tow-path of the canal, every half hour, should go down, and at the same time he placed two men near the tow-path, with instructions to notice closely the patrol, and if they appeared hurried or excited, to stop them, for that would be evidence enough that they had learned something of his presence on the Maryland side, and they must not be permitted to reach the camp, but if they came along quietly, as usual, to let them pass, for they evidently would know nothing of his movement; but it so happened that old “Uncle” Charley Butler was along, and moreover that he was about half drunk, and when the patrol of two men came riding very leisurely along, “Uncle Charley” sprang up and caught the bridle of the leading Yankee, who raised his gun to fire on Butler, and to save him the other boys had to shoot the Yankee, and of course the firing alarmed the camp.
Col. White now urged his people across the canal as rapidly as possible, and coming up in rear of the camp, (which he knew to be fortified in front,) halted long enough to form his line and ordered a charge, in which they received a volley from the enemy that badly wounded one man, and several slightly; and on reaching the camp found that it had a regular fortification all around it, but the men spurred their horses on, leaping the ditch and riding recklessly over the breastworks. Most of the enemy, thanks to Butler’s drunken blunder at the canal, had escaped, and the daring and desperate assault only resulted in the capture of about a dozen, but their whole camp equipage fell into the hands of White’s people.
The wounded man, Robert W. Jones, a splendid soldier of Company A, was so badly hurt that it was impossible to move him, and he was left at the house of a citizen near by where he was kindly treated, even by the Yankees; and up to this time, (1870,) although more than seven weary years have passed, he is still unable to walk, the bullet having lodged near the spine.
This, and the affair at Barbour’s Cross Roads, was acknowledged by Gen. Lee, in the following letter to Gen. Stuart: