The Yankee force in the road was driven back for two hundred yards, but the flank firing compelled the battalion to retire, and now the whole Confederate line, from the Valley pike to the back road, gave way, and what had before been a boasting advance of Rosser’s men, turned into a shameful rout and stampede which continued for several miles, although only a comparatively small force of the enemy pursued. The battalion lost severely in wounded, among whom was Orderly Sergeant Thomas S. Grubb, of Company A, who was mortally wounded, and died one week afterwards.
He was one of the first to join the old company and no more faithful soldier, or honest, conscientious Christian gentleman ever lived to defend the stars and bars, or died to consecrate its memory.
When the lines commenced to give way the artillery of Captain Thompson was firing rapidly upon the advancing columns of the enemy, and made desperate efforts to check the Yankees long enough to give Rosser a chance to rally his people, but nothing could bring anything like order out of the confused mass of fugitives that fled so wildly from the field. They had been flanked, and without seeing more than the skirmish line of the enemy, gave way to a panic that increased each moment, and unaccountable as such things were, every soldier knows that it only requires a shout in the rear to keep a stampeded force on the run, and it was so now, for the author saw fully six hundred veteran Confederate troops flying madly along the “back road” with no pursuers but about thirty Yankees who were afraid to ride closer than a mile to the demoralized crowd in their front, and in this miserable retreat the gallant Thompson lost his guns, but he held them until the main body of the enemy was around him. Every wagon and ambulance that Rosser had brought down with him, and every piece of artillery, fell into the Yankees’ hands. And on this subject General Imboden got off a rather sharp specimen of satire at the expense of Gen. Rosser. At the opening of the campaign in the Wilderness in May, the brigade of Rosser had been highly complimented by Generals Lee and Stuart for its desperately gallant fighting, and General Rosser had christened it the “Laurel Brigade,” in a General Order, which prescribed that the battle-flags should be trimmed with laurel and the members should wear a badge of three or five leaves of laurel. The brigade of Gen. Imboden had made a very poor reputation for fighting, simply because it had not been in a situation where much could be accomplished, as the enemy’s cavalry in the Valley was all the time in vastly superior force, and well handled.
When Rosser’s men were going down the Valley they flourished their laurels proudly, and declared they were going to whip the Yankees and then chase Imboden’s brigade to the mountains.
On the day of the stampede, when Rosser lost all his artillery, the Yankees made an advance on Imboden in the Page Valley, who drove them back and captured two guns, after which he sent his compliments to Gen. Rosser, with a polite request to know how he would “trade laurels for artillery.” The “Laurel Brigade” shouted “Bully for Imboden,” and they never said any more about “chasing him into the mountains.”
After the stampede, the Yankees went back towards Winchester, and for ten days nothing was done but picket and scout, but on the 19th Gen. Early made his advance on the enemy, in which he surprised and routed Sheridan’s army, capturing a great quantity of artillery, arms and camp equipage, with many prisoners; and was himself surprised, his army routed, his artillery captured, and his wagon train destroyed, all in one and the same day, constituting one of the most remarkable cases on record, and the only one that ever occurred in the war, where a Yankee army, after being routed, returned the same day and inflicted a loss on its foe.
In this affair Gen. Rosser operated along the “back road,” to Early’s left, and succeeded in whipping the Yankee cavalry there, with small loss in men to himself.
White’s Battalion was engaged in skirmishing, but the enemy did not press their right wing forward until Early had been driven on the turnpike, and when that was known, Rosser retired also.
The battalion was engaged in no special service of much consequence, for some time after the battle, and it was, in fact, hardly a good squadron, so many of the men being absent, some on detail to procure fresh horses, some on furlough, and many on sick leave, while others again were absent without leave; but they were the lucky ones who always avoided the fights, kept clear of camp duty and court-martial, and yet had a reputation as soldiers, were doted on by the ladies, and could make eloquent parlor speeches about their devotion to the “Sunny South,” and tell of daring deeds performed by themselves, which, like themselves, possessed but one thing upon which the listener could rely, and that one thing was falsehood.
About the 1st of November Col. White took his battalion to Loudoun, and for several days was engaged in collecting cattle and sending them to the army, an operation which he also performed in the counties of Fauquier and Rappahannock, by which means the scarcity in the Valley was counterbalanced and the troops furnished with meat.