90 Series I Volume XII-II Serial 16 - Second Manassas Part II
Page 90 | OPERATIONS I N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV. |
structed to support Colonel Kilkpatrick if he needed it. I sent and order to Colonel Jones to form his regiment just beyond the timber, so that he could charge the enemy should they get beyond the timber.
From the hill on which was drawn up the Harris Cavalry the long columns of the enemy's cavalry could be marked by the clouds of dust arising, and the quick, sharp report of the carbines proved that our skirmishers were already engaged. Our skirmishers drove back those of the enemy, but thinks was but a temporary success. I had the general's orders not to bring on a general engagement, or I should have brought into action the whole of my force.
As soon as the leading regiment of the enemy came up they formed, and quickly charged with loud shouts and wild yelling. They caught Colonel Kilkpatrick executing a maneuver, and his men at the time had their backs to the enemy. The sudden charge and the yells of the enemy seemed to strike panic in the men, so that they soon began running. They were rallied by Colonel Kilkpatrick and Captain H. C. Weir,my assistant adjutant-general, both of whom displayed their usual bravery and coolness. Colonel Karge from his flank position had a fine opportunity to cut the enemy to pieces, and gave the order to charge, but he was followed only by his adjutant, Lieutenant Penn Gaskell, and Lieutenant William Bayard, my aide-de-camp. They rode into the scattered enemy, and here Colonel Karge was shot through the leg, making a painful and serious wound.
The enemy now charged the Jersey cavalry, and I regret to say that, contrary to their previous history, they, too, began running. I, as soon as I saw this, ordered Captain Broderick, commanding the rear Broderick, commanding the rear battalion of the Jersey cavalry, to place his men in the timber just in his rear and let his men use their carbines, from which position he repulsed the enemy. Seeing the enemy going around the timber, I quickly rode through it, and hastened the formation of the Pennsylvania cavalry. As soon as the enemy appeared I ordered Major R. I. Falls to charge them with his battalion, and he quickly cleared the enemy from sight. The enemy now withdrew, and the fight closed. I inclose lists of killed and wounded and missing.* The Maine cavalry recrossed the river, and were formed just in rear of the Pennsylvania regiment. As soon as I gathered together all the men to be found I crossed the river.
The next few days following all my cavalry force was employed reconnoitering and picketing along the Rappahannock River. Two days afterward I was ordered to proceed to Lawson's Ford and hold it if possible. I placed the main body of my force of the road where the Freeman's Ford and the Fox's Mill road join the one to Lawson's Ford. At Lawson's Ford there was some skirmishing, but nothing that amounted to anything. The next morning I was relieved by General Sigel's forces, and was ordered to move to the right to feel the enemy in that direction. I pushed my skirmishers to the small stream to the east of Warrenton Spring, but I there found the enemy in force. As I had orders not to engage the enemy I halted, and planted my battery upon commanding ground.
It rained very hard this night, and in the midst of it General Buford arrived with his brigade, and declared his intention of going through to the Springs. The next morning, however, I found him in my front, having been unable to force his way through. The next night I staid in Fowville, and the following day joined General Sigel in his advance on Warrenton Springs.
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*Embodied in revised statement, p. 139.
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Page 90 | OPERATIONS I N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV. |