It was an impressive scene,—the long line of silent soldiers dimly seen in the gloom of night, as they gained new courage and determination from the brief, brave, and soldierly words of their leader.
The troops in front of Chain Bridge constituted a division under General W.F. Smith (Baldy Smith), of the Army of the Potomac, forming under General George B. McClellan, and Colonel Stevens was placed in charge of the First Brigade, consisting of the 2d and 3d Vermont, the 6th Maine, and his own regiment, and was intrusted with building Fort Ethan Allen, a strong and extensive earthwork on the left of the Leesburg turnpike, and of felling the woods in the vicinity. The Maine men, all expert woodsmen, armed with axes and deployed in a long line at the foot of a wooded slope, worked upwards, chopping every tree nearly through, so that it stood by only a narrow chip, until they reached the top of the slope; then at the signal of the bugle the last few quick strokes of the axe resounded against the top row of trees, which fell crashing on those below, and they on the next lower, and so on, until the whole forest crashed down together in thundering ruin.
The troops were kept hard at work, thus felling forests and digging forts, and also in outpost duty, for a strong picket line to cover the front, posted nearly a mile in advance, had to be maintained. Alarms from this line were frequent, and on one occasion the enemy were reported as advancing in heavy force, and the troops were hastily gotten under arms. Every one expected to take post in the fort, but Colonel Stevens led his brigade out nearly to the picket line, deployed them on a commanding position on both sides of the road, and coolly awaited the attack. This movement, so promptly but deliberately made, visibly raised the confidence and morale of the troops; and when, the alarm proving unfounded, they marched back to camp, they felt able and eager to encounter the enemy on equal ground.
On the 11th, under orders from General Smith, but with strictest injunction not to bring on a general engagement under any circumstances, Colonel Stevens, with two thousand troops, made a reconnoissance in force of Lewinsville, a hamlet six miles in advance of Chain Bridge. His force comprised the Highlanders; the 3d Vermont, under Colonel Breed N. Hyde; two companies of the 2d Vermont, under Lieutenant-Colonel George J. Stannard; four companies of the 1st Chasseurs or 65th New York, under Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Shaler; five companies of the 19th Indiana, under Colonel Solomon Meredith; four guns of Griffin’s battery, 5th United States artillery, Captain Charles Griffin; a detachment of fifty of the 5th regular cavalry, under Lieutenant William McLean; and one of forty volunteer cavalry, under Captain Robinson.
With skirmishers in advance, and exploring the ground on both flanks to the distance of a mile, the command advanced steadily to Lewinsville, the enemy’s cavalry pickets falling back without resistance, and occupied the village at ten A.M. Cavalry pickets were thrown out on all the roads; three guns and some five hundred skirmishers were posted well out to command the approaches on all sides; and the position was held for five hours, during which Lieutenant Orlando M. Poe, of the engineers (afterwards General Poe), and Mr. West, of the Coast Survey, made a topographical map and sketch of the place and vicinity. Colonel Stevens, with Captain Griffin and Lieutenant Poe, thoroughly examined the whole position of Lewinsville, of which he reported, “It has great natural advantages, is easily defensible, and should be occupied without delay.” During this time small bodies of the enemy were seen observing the Union force at a safe distance, and a cavalry picket, or reconnoitring party of fifty men, was driven off by Lieutenant McLean.
The accompanying sketch shows the roads and dispositions of the force to cover the reconnoissance. Colonel Meredith, with three companies of his regiment and one gun, held the road leading north to the Leesburg pike. The same road, running south of the village to Falls Church, was guarded by one company of the same regiment with one gun. Colonel Hyde, with the 3d Vermont and one gun, held the road leading westward to Vienna, and also the new road to Vienna, which fell into the Falls Church road half a mile south of the hamlet. The remaining gun, with the two companies of the 2d Vermont, was kept in reserve at the cross-roads; while the Highlanders and Chasseurs were held in reserve a third of a mile back from the village, and two companies of the former were thrown out as skirmishers to cover the left flank and rear, and connected with the Indiana skirmishers on the Falls Church road.
About three in the afternoon the skirmishers were called in, and the column formed for the return march. Just as the bugle sounded “Forward!” a section of artillery, which the enemy, stealing up under cover of the woods as the Highlanders’ skirmishers retired, had adroitly planted on the left rear, opened a brisk fire of shells over the head of the column as it marched back; and simultaneously a considerable force of their skirmishers from the Vienna and Falls Church roads advanced on the village and commenced firing on the withdrawing troops, but were directly repulsed, and gave no further trouble. For a few minutes there was some flurry in the column under the shell fire at a turn in the road where it was most exposed. Some of the officers and men threw themselves flat on the ground at every missile that burst or hurtled overhead, and once twenty men ranged themselves in line behind a tree barely a foot in diameter. But this confusion was over in a few minutes; the excitable ones, under the jeers and laughter of their comrades, resumed their places in the ranks, and the column was not broken or delayed.
RECONNOISSANCE OF LEWINSVILLE, SEPTEMBER 11, 1862