At daylight on the 9th, the command left the camp at Atlee’s Station, and took up the line of march along the Rail Road, encamping that night at Beaver Dam, where they drew four days rations of bacon and “hard tack,” making six days on hand, and on the 10th, at dawn, they moved slowly towards Louisa Court-house, where they arrived about 2 o’clock, P. M., and learned that Sheridan was marching with his whole force along the north bank of the North Anna river, and aiming for the junction of the Rail Roads at Gordonsville, where he was going to whip Hampton, and then branch off towards Lynchburg to co-operate with Hunter, who was moving his army from the Valley to take that city, and thereby cut off a large portion of Lee’s supplies, compelling him to give up Richmond, and either surrender or retreat along the Weldon Rail Road into North Carolina.
How all this information was obtained, nobody could tell, but nearly all the men accepted it as a fair statement of the problem to be worked out, and it will be observed that the success of the whole train of operations depended upon Hampton’s receipt of the prescribed whipping at Gordonsville, of which his “people” were extremely doubtful, for “old Wade” had never been whipped yet, nor did they think Sheridan was the man to do it, even though he had command of all the cavalry in the United States.
The night of the 10th Gen. Hampton’s own division, now commanded by Gen. Butler, went into camp near Trevillian Station, on the Rail Road, and in the early morning Gen. Rosser moved his brigade up to the road leading off to the left into the Green Spring Valley—the most lovely of all the beautiful Virginia country. Here he made a detail from the several regiments, and sent it, under command of Lieut. Col. Ball, 11th Virginia, towards Gordonsville, while with the brigade he halted very quietly, and waited for whatever duty circumstances might bring him. It may not be amiss here to give a statement, as the writer understood them in the light of after events, of General Hampton’s plans, and his reasons for them, as by this means the reader will better understand the operations about to be described, and which had such a mighty influence in prolonging the defense of the Confederate Capitol. In the first place, then, Gen. Hampton’s force was vastly inferior to Sheridan’s, not only in point of numbers, but in arms and equipments.
The United States cavalry was splendidly armed with the improved repeating rifles of Spencer and Henry, besides their revolvers, while the Confederates, as a general thing, carried only the ordinary Sharpe’s carbine and sabre, and many of them had nothing better than the common infantry musket; in fact, Rosser’s brigade was the only one in the division thoroughly armed with revolvers and improved carbines, and these they had captured from the enemy, as the Confederacy was too poor and unskilled in the manufacture of arms to keep pace with their wealthy and ingenious opponents, who also had open ports through which to receive the best supplies of the Old World, and money to buy what they wanted.
In view of all this, it was General Hampton’s policy to fight the battle in a position of his own selection, where, in some measure, the superiority of his antagonist could be matched by strategy; and after choosing that position, the next thing was to toll the “blue birds” into his trap, and in order to show how this was done we must go back to Rosser’s brigade, which we left above the junction of the Green Spring Valley road with the Rail Road, while Young’s Brigade lay some distance below. The Yankees crossed the river and came down heavily on Young’s people, capturing a great many and stampeding the remainder with the exception of one regiment which drew up in line some distance from the road and watched the Yankee chase after their comrades. As soon as the attack on Young’s men was known, Rosser started his brigade at a gallop to meet them, and arriving at the Green Spring road, found the Yankees loading their prisoners in captured ambulances while all along the road the victorious blue-jackets were chasing and “gobbling up” the scattered Confederates, and right here among the ambulances the fight commenced; Rosser’s boys going in, as the General said, “very heavy,” the Yankees breaking and trying to escape, while Young’s men sent up mixed yells of "don’t shoot this way," and "hurrah! you ’uns has saved we ’uns agin." Pretty soon the tide was turned, and in a perfect whirlwind of dust and smoke the “Comanches” pushed hotly after the retreating enemy, many of whom they captured and sent to the rear, and in the chase they passed the regiment before spoken off, still standing quietly in line apparently interested in the view they had of the little “mill” going on around them, but having no inclination to become mixed up with it.
In the chase, many of the Yankees broke into the woods on the right of the road and endeavored escape, in consequence of which many of White’s men made a corresponding movement in order to catch them, so that the battalion was soon very much reduced, and on reaching a hill about a mile down the road and finding, as they supposed, a Confederate battery on the right in full play and apparently unsupported, the Colonel resolved to form his men along side of it, as a large number of the enemy were discovered in the wood below him, and a strong force posted behind a brick-kiln to the left, and with this view, he ordered the plank fence on the right of the road to be broken down; at the same time starting Irish Pat, of Company C, up the road in charge of a wagon and team which had been deserted by somebody just at this point. The battery was not more than two hundred yards away and the force behind the brick-kiln was every moment growing stronger, all of which made the Colonel more impatient for the fence to be opened, but it was a strong one and not easily broken, and while thus engaged, General Hampton galloped over the hill exclaiming, “Colonel White, what are you going to do?” “Going to support that battery,” said the Colonel. "Get away from here, Colonel, it’s a Yankee battery," replied the General, and immediately the Colonel commenced to “get away.”
Marching slowly back over the hill we found the brigade forming in a field to the right, and Chew placing his artillery in position just above them. Farther along, and just where we were to leave the road to join the brigade, lay a wagon that the Yankees had cut down, and out of which a barrel of apple-jack had rolled. Three dismounted men were at work on it trying to fill their canteens, and as the head of White’s column passed it, Captain Myers, who was just at the head, with Lieutenant Marlow on his right, Orderly Sergeant Bennett on his left, Will Edwards and Frank Lee immediately behind him and the bugler just before him, turned to Will Edwards and said, "Will, you’d better get Frank Lee’s canteen and fill it there, hadn’t you?" This was in allusion to Frank’s solemn resolution not to drink any more, caused by some of the boys having fooled him into taking too much a short time before. The words were scarcely uttered when a shell from the battery they had just left exploded within a yard of the Captain’s head, and leaving him untouched, mortally wounded poor Will Edwards, terribly mangled Ed Bennett, causing him to lose a leg, wounded Lieutenant Marlow, and cut Crone Phillips (the bugler) very severely in the arm and side, besides killing one and wounding badly two of the dismounted men at the barrel, killing Phillips’ horse and badly damaging that of Sergeant Bennett. Seldom has such execution been done by a single shell, or such an escape made as Myers.
As may be supposed, the calamity caused great excitement for a short time, and it was with difficulty that order was maintained under the incessant fire which now poured in upon them, but pretty soon the battalion formed her line, Major Ferneyhough displaying great coolness, as did all the officers and men who were left. The scene was one of wild confusion, shells and grape-shot whizzing and howling all around, riderless horses dashing frantically over the field, and ambulances rattling past at a gallop with their freight of wounded men screaming in agony, while high above all other sounds boomed and crashed the contending batteries; but amid all this the Major turned to count the men in ranks, and Orderly Sergeant Campbell, of Co. F, who had been severely wounded in the arm by a grape-shot while assisting to align his company, turned coolly to Captain French saying, “Captain, I am wounded and would like to have permission to go to the rear,” which was of course readily granted, but not many waited to ask permission to retire after being wounded; and this instance shows that panic did not reign entirely among the “Comanches” even under circumstances most calculated to inspire it.
The whole brigade had by this time retired to a more sheltered position beyond the woods, and now the Colonel ordered his battalion to fall back to the woods, which it did very quietly, and just here was the first actual view of flying cannon-shot we had ever enjoyed. A heavy battery beyond the Rail Road was throwing solid shot directly across our line of march, one of which, striking the solid ground the eighth of a mile to the right, bounded with a whirling motion just in our front, and so close to the Colonel’s horse that all who saw it were sure it would strike him, but it did not. After halting awhile near the woods, and being still in range of the grape, we were ordered to retire to the position of the brigade, where the battalion formed in front of the 12th regiment, and here we witnessed another freak of a round-shot which struck in front of the battalion, bounded over it, and striking again, went over the 12th, and from its third strike made another jump, clearing the led horses as it did so.
The operations of the day were evidently against the Confederates, and the men were blaming Hampton for allowing his men to be beaten in that way, by brigades, but he was working out his problem and baiting his trap for to-morrow, but some of his bait came near being carried off, for the enemy entirely surrounded Col. Chew, who immediately began fighting his guns all around him, and made his position so near “red-hot” that neither friend or foe could reach him, until without difficulty he could limber up and move back to his people again.