The literal fact in the case was, that Sheridan had been most splendidly outgeneraled, and most terribly beaten by half his number, and not a solitary infantry soldier was engaged in the fight, nor did he get in sight of Gordonsville, but no one blames him for thinking that he met infantry, because the “new issue” certainly did act infantry up to nature, but they were raw recruits, and had never been under fire but once before, while Sheridan’s were all veteran troops. Pollard, in “The Lost Cause,” makes the same unfounded assertion, that Sheridan was “repulsed by infantry in the rifle-pits,” but it is probable he drew his information from the official report of that General, instead of the one made by General Hampton.
During the fight of to-day, Lieut. Nich. Dorsey, of Co. B, who had been a prisoner, closely confined in Fort McHenry for several months, reported to the command for duty, having made his escape by cutting through the slate roof of his prison with a barlow knife, and at once assumed command of his company.
Early on the morning of the 13th, the army of Hampton started in pursuit of the Yankees, and about 3 o’clock came up with their rear guard at the North Anna, when some skirmishing took place, but the enemy moved rapidly, and could not be brought to a stand long enough to make a fight of it, and at night Hampton’s men went to the Rail Road, where they drew three double handfuls of corn for their horses, which was the first grain they had eaten since the 8th. In the morning the pursuit was continued through Caroline county, but Sheridan marched rapidly, taking every horse in the country he passed through, and killing his own as fast as they gave out. It was estimated that in his retreat of one hundred miles his army left, on an average, twelve dead horses to the mile; that besides his losses in horse-flesh at the battle, twelve hundred were shot, by his order, on his retreat; but he took quite that number from the citizens along his route, and in a manner that no other man than a Sheridan or Sherman would have done.
On the 16th, Col. White started with a picked party to intercept a courier with an escort of thirty-eight men, taking dispatches from Sheridan to Grant, but failed to catch them, although he had a brush with a party from the 6th Pa. Cavalry, in which he captured several prisoners and horses, and rejoined the battalion on the 19th, near the White House on the Pamunky.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Early on the morning of the 20th we marched for the White House, but before reaching that point met the enemy in heavy force of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and gun-boats, and had a severe fight, which lasted all the afternoon, during which the gun-boats did some of the most magnificent shooting with their heavy guns ever witnessed, exploding their shells at the precise point desired, at nearly two miles. Nothing was accomplished by the fighting except to ascertain that Sheridan was now safe, having reached navigable water, and met strong reinforcements, as well as supplies.
For some days the battalion was on detached duty, scouting in King William county, and trying to catch whatever scattered parties of Yankees that might be ranging in that county, but with no success, for Sheridan did not permit his men to scatter much, knowing the danger of their being caught by the Rebels if they strayed too far from their lines.
On Sunday morning, 26th June, the whole force of Hampton marched quietly down to Drewry’s Bluff and crossed the James. Then there was loud and deep complaints and curses heard among the “Comanches,” and many prophecies uttered by the various wise men among them that they were going to give up Virginia, all of which combined to make their spirits sink from the hopeful blood-heat, to which their success at Trevillian had raised them, far below the zero of disappointment, in not being allowed to reach the mountain, and their hope of ever again roaming along the Potomac and Shenandoah withered and almost died in the freezing despondency of the hour; but all this was soon over, for the reason that they were much better fed on this side of the James than while operating on the north bank of it, but still the battalion considered this move very much in the light that Cæsar is supposed to have looked upon the famous crossing of the Rubicon, and felt that the whole thing was reduced to the issue of “victory or death” now, for no live man would be permitted to re-cross the James until the Yankees were whipped, but it was not long until they learned that Hampton’s object in coming on this side was to get at the Wilson and Kautz raiders, who had been for some time devastating the “South Side” country and trying to destroy the Rail Roads below and west of Richmond. As the story of this terrible visitation has already passed into history, together with the (to the raiders) grievous conclusion of it, we will only tell as near as possible the share taken by the “Comanches” in the winding up of the great raid.
On the 27th we passed through Petersburg while the Yankees were shelling the place, and it was really refreshing to see ladies pass coolly along the streets as though nothing unusual was transpiring while the 160-pound shells were howling like hawks of perdition through the smoky air and bursting in the very heart of the city, but they didn’t mind it a bit; and even the children would stand and watch, at the sound of the passing shells, to see the explosion, and make funny little speeches about them, as if they had been curious birds flying over their heads. Familiarity with the danger of the bombardment had cured them of all their fears of it, and when it would be told to people on the street, as was frequently the case, that Miss or Mrs. So-and-so was killed in her house by a shell, nobody was horrified at all, but all seemed to take it as a matter of course and to care very little about it.
On the 28th the battalion reached Stony Creek Station, on the Weldon Rail Road, where they drew corn and rations, and about dark took the road to Sapony Church, where they came up with the raiders about 10 o’clock, who had fortified themselves near the Church, and while General Hampton studied out the situation the men lay down to rest for the busy to-morrow which they knew was before them, for if they had hard marching to find the Yankees it was evident the work was not to be easy now they were before them.