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 308the “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 c?sar 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.
309on 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.
310during the night there was occasional heavy firing between the advanced parties of the two armies, and just before dawn of the 29th, gen. butler took white’s battalion through the swamps and thick pines, around the left flank of the raiders, and at daylight the colonel formed “his people” exactly in rear of the fortified line held by the dismounted raiders, whom he charged simultaneously with general hampton’s attack upon their front, when their whole force broke and scampered off through the pines with the yelling “comanches” after them, but the “race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,” and after white’s men had lost time enough with the captured yankees to give the remainder an opportunity to rally, which they did about two miles from their fortifications, to the number of about two hundred, it was found to be decidedly hot work capturing a force larger than their own, who availed themselves of every fence, house, swamp and pine forest to form a square and blaze into their pursuers a volley of bullets from their 16-shooting henry rifles, and the “comanches” being mounted, in a fight where horses were only an encumbrance, had to watch their points very closely for they had certainly waked up a batch of extremely hard-fighting yankees.
two of white’s men, john marlow, company a, and aaron bevans, company c, were severely wounded, and several of the enemy were killed 311and wounded, but after reaching the heavy body of timber which spread along the nottaway river, the brave boys in blue had earned the right to continue their retreat unmolested, and the colonel called off his men and returned to the brigade which he left five or six miles behind him.
on reaching the line of retreat followed by the main body of the raiders, it was discovered that through the failure of the confederates to push forward and seize the bridge over which the yankees must pass, the most of them had escaped, with the loss of six pieces of artillery and about seven hundred prisoners. the remainder of the day was spent in gathering up the arms and plunder thrown away by the flying raiders, among the latter of which was a large quantity of ladies’ clothing which they had stolen from the citizens’ houses, and the men would come in with bonnets, shawls, silk dresses, mantles of velvet and many other things, looking, in fact, as if they had broken up all the millinery establishments on the “south side,” but the most curious scene of all was the troops of negroes of all sizes and ages, from the three-day old baby to the gray-wooled hag of ninety, which were found hid in the woods. they had been persuaded by the yankees to leave their homes and go with them to their land of “liberty and glory;” and nearly every negro in the country, especially the women and children, had joined them, but now when they had fallen 312in evil times, and as the confederates were picking them up, the first thing they would say was to tell the names of masters or mistresses, and beg piteously to be permitted to go home, declaring, “fore god, we neber will beliebe de dam yankees agin.” for two days the battalion was on picket in this country and during that time the men were constantly picking up the scattered raiders and negroes, who were wandering in the pines almost starved and yet too much afraid of the rebels to come out of the woods. they had passed through a fiery ordeal during the raid, having been badly whipped by militia at staunton river, then cut up severely by w. h. f. lee at blacks and whites, and in endeavoring to escape at reams’ had been met by fitz lee’s cavalry and worse handled than before. while at stony creek hampton had completely ruined them, but their generals, wilson and kautz, managed to escape with a small portion of their wretched command, and this was their last raid during that campaign on the “south side.”
up to the 1st of july the colonel had been without an adjutant since the 6th of may, but now lieutenant sam baker, of frederick county, va., who had been an officer in the disbanded company d, came over and took upon himself the responsible duties of that position, which he held until the close of the war, performing all his duties to the entire satisfaction of colonel white and the whole command.
313it was now midsummer, and in the hot climate of that piney, sandy country, where good water was a rarity, many of the men got sick, and the resting days of this month were very gladly accepted by these border men, who had never in their lives known any other than the pure mountain air and water under the shadow of the blue ridge; but col. white was entirely too restless in disposition to let his people lie quietly in camp when there was a chance to operate in his partisan style, so taking with him a detail of 80 men, he left the camp on the evening of the 8th, and marched to the blackwater, in sussex county, with the intention of trying a raid on some negro cavalry, who patrolled the road leading from grant’s army, by cabin point, to the james river.
here he halted and made his arrangements, which were not completed until the 13th, when, with about 90 men, the battalion having all moved down in the meantime, he crossed warwick swamp and the blackwater, into surry county, and marching quietly through the pines reached cabin point an hour before day, and halting in the woods a mile beyond the town, on the telegraph road, made his dispositions for the attack, by placing major ferneyhough with twenty men armed with double-barrel guns, in ambush along the road, and leaving the remainder, under capt. myers, in readiness to charge, while the 314colonel himself scouted and watched for the enemy to make their appearance.
the usual scouting party consisted of about sixty mounted negroes, and generally passed up a little after sunrise, from a camp of about ten thousand troops of all arms, near the old surry court-house, and all the negroes in the country were in the interest of the yankees and would do anything, short of breaking their necks, to give information of any movement of the rebels on their side of the blackwater. so, to render the situation of white’s men still more interesting, they had discovered some cabins near them, filled to overflowing, almost, with negroes, and the colonel had posted some men to guard them, but one or two of the small ones had already escaped to the woods with the knowledge that southern troops were on the road, and under these circumstances it was to be presumed that the patrol would not come as usual, this morning, but after awhile they were discovered quietly advancing, and all thought the affair was to be successful, and prepared themselves for what promised to be genuine sport, but bye-and-bye the colonel discovered that the negroes were only used this time as a bait, and that while about 3,000 infantry were following them, a body of about 1,000 cavalry was moving through the pines to gain his rear and cut him off from the bridges over the blackwater. these bridges were his only mode 315of escape, and if the yankees succeeded, he knew that his raiding would be ended forevermore, unless there should happen to be war in the elysian fields of glory beyond the jordan, where all good soldiers hoped to go, but just now the colonel had no intention of crossing that last named river, where it is said boats are used instead of bridges, so hastily leaving the telegraph road, he made a quick march to the blackwater, and reached it just in time to save his raiders.
the boys, who all fully understood the situation, were perfectly satisfied with their experience by daylight behind grant’s lines, and had no desire to make any further expeditions in that quarter, provided the colonel would be satisfied too; but on their return to camp, and learning that “old jubal” was thundering at the gates of washington, every man immediately became possessed of an almost insane desire to desert and go to him, in fact, co. b did go on the night of the 15th, without leave or license, and left scarcely a man from maryland to tell the tale of what had become of his companions. they said companies a and c had done the same thing before and not been punished, and now that maryland was open and their homes inside of the confederate lines they intended, if possible, to go to them.
the colonel sympathized deeply with his men and would never enforce the penalties for violations of the army regulations, when it was possible 316to avoid it, and to this one fact belongs the reason why a brigadier’s stars and wreath never adorned his collar. when he was recommended by the military committee of the confederate congress, by such men as gov. letcher and judge brockenborough in private life, and by a multitude of officers in the ashby brigade and other portions of the army, gen. lee refused to endorse him, simply because his men ran away and went home and the colonel did not punish them; and so, because he had too much heart, he was not promoted to a position that no man in the army could fill as well as he after general rosser was made major-general; but all this is going too far ahead of the events we are trying to describe, and it is time to go back to the “comanche” camp on the nottaway.
this camp was about ten miles from the brigade, and in a really good country, with prime spring water, plenty of fruit, vegetables, and melons, and the people very kind and hospitable, and for the reason that no troops except the yankee raiders had ever been among them, there was plenty of forage there. game, such as turkeys and squirrels, was abundant, deer also, but they had to be hunted in large parties, with hounds, while the river had plenty of fish, so that the battalion would have considered itself literally “in clover” only for the tantalizing reports of the brilliant success of gen. early’s operations on the potomac. 317this made the boys restless and dissatisfied, and some of them even expressed satisfaction when “old jubilee” was compelled to retire to the south bank of the potomac.
on the morning of the 20th the colonel started with thirty men for cabin point again, this time to intercept dispatches on the telegraph, and for this purpose took with him an expert operator.
he succeeded in gaining the desired point before daylight on the morning of the 21st, and his operator at once proceeded to cut the telegraph wire and attach his instruments, so that he was enabled to read every dispatch that passed, and to keep the thing all right he sent them on to their destination as soon as copied; but after carrying on this amusing process for about two hours he became satisfied that from some cause the enemy suspected the line was tapped, from the fact that some ridiculous and foolish dispatches were passed, and communicating his suspicions to col. white, the latter decided that it was time to be traveling, for he knew that if the enemy really did suspect anything wrong on the line they would soon send an investigating committee, so calling in his pickets he started for the blackwater. before going far he discovered that a force of infantry was following him, having reached his position on the telegraph road shortly after he started from it, and on reaching the bridge over the blackwater the colonel halted his party to see if 318the yankees would attack. in about half an hour they came up and skirmished with him, but would not advance into the swamp, although they had fully ten times his number. during the skirmishing james atwood, of co. e, who was on the bridge to the rear, had his leg broken by a stray ball, and the colonel retired through the swamp, the enemy going back at the same time.
on the 27th the battalion was ordered by col. dulaney to report to the brigade, then fifteen miles off, at freeman’s ford, on the nottaway, and on arriving there was sent to reams’ station to picket, where we remained until the 1st of august, without any incidents other than the usual routine of such duty, except that on the night of the 30th the yankees were very active and annoyed the pickets exceedingly all night, and when, just before dawn of day, they grew quiet and allowed the tired men to lie down to rest, the great mine fiasco which grant had been preparing at petersburg for a month, broke with a terrible explosion on the morning air, and shook the solid ground for miles, the “comanches” scrambled up and mounted their horses without a word, but after awhile some of them begun to talk, and wonder “whether it was the day of judgment or an earthquake,” but pretty soon, in the distance could be heard the yelling and shouting of the charging columns, as they rolled like a billow 319upon the confederate works, and then white’s boys dismounted, saying it was "some new-fangled yankee mill or other that they didn’t know anything about, but they did know beaureguard and uncle bobby could attend to it."
capt. dan. hatcher, of 7th regiment, relieved the battalion on the evening of 31st, and on the 1st of august it moved to stony creek and encamped, drawing forage by wagon trains from north carolina, and for several days did nothing but rest, having plenty to eat, and for a rarity, when col. dulaney commanded the brigade, no drilling to do.
on sunday, august 7th, the first sermon the “comanches” had heard this year was preached in camp, by the rev. lieut. strickler, of co. e. the religious training of the battalion was very loosely conducted, as a general thing, and yet there were some bright and working christians in it, especially in companies c and e, some of whom would engage in prayer before going into battle, and it was remarked by all, that these men made none the worse soldiers for bending the knee to god, and commending their souls and their cause to his keeping, but generally, religion in the ranks was unpopular, and many who had been members of church endeavored to hide the fact from their comrades that they ever prayed.
a state of war, and life in camp is always demoralizing; but the soldier always honors the man 320who bravely stands by his principles, and even though they might jeer and laugh at the one who carried his religion openly, into the camp and on the march, with him, yet in their hearts the most reckless and profane would count him who did it a double hero, in that he both conquered his own pride and lived down—as live down he would—the scoffing of his comrades.
on the 8th maj. ferneyhough went on a scout into surry county, to capture some yankee pickets, but returned without accomplishing anything; and now the command encamped on the nottaway again, and luxuriated on the many delicacies of the season again, such as watermelons, potatoes, roasting-ears, tomatoes, cucumbers, and last, but not by any means least, the prime spring water, all of which they had in abundance, and the memory of the pleasant days spent on the nottaway will be a bright one in the hearts of white’s battalion while memory exists; and they were all willing to spend the summer there, and enjoy the good fare and the boating and fishing excursions on the river, but these days couldn’t last; and on the 12th the brigade joined the division and took up the line of march for richmond. everybody thought this move had some connection, in some way, with early’s operations on the shenandoah, and immediately the brigade had dreams of heaven and the valley, which brightened more and more each mile that they advanced, until they 321were once more on the north bank of the james, and securely booked, as they thought, for over the mountains. passing through richmond, the whole division halted on main and broad streets, and from the endless supplies of melons which lined the sidewalks, the men eat, until watermelons and cantelopes lost their flavor and were no longer fit to it, and then marched to the south anna and encamped for the night, moving early in the morning to beaver dam, on the rail road, where three day’s rations were issued, and the whole command laid over until next day, when the column took the telegraph road to ashland, passing that place and going into camp on the chickahominy, seven miles from richmond, and still nobody could form an idea of what we had started to do, but there was now considerable doubt, to say the least of it, about going to the valley right away.
the next morning the division again marched through richmond and passed out on the charles city road to malvern hill, where general w. h. f. lee was fighting the enemy, and here the “comanches” were ordered forward to cut off some yankee pickets to the left, but they left so quick we had no chance at them at all.
after this the brigade moved over to the williamsburg road, and encamped at savage station on york river rail road, leaving white’s men on picket at the chickahominy, where they remained 322until the 19th, when they again marched to the charles city road and encamped until the 22d, when it was found that the yankees, who had caused all this trouble by trying to steal richmond, had gone across the james, after losing about one thousand of their men; and at midnight hampton moved his people over to the “south side” again, and kept on to reams’ station, where, on the 23d, he met the yankees and commenced to fight in earnest about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. here the battalion was divided, captain myers being sent with the first squadron to report to general butler on the right, while the colonel with the remainder moved to the left with rosser, who, to-day, resumed the command of his brigade. the first order of general butler to myers was to “find the yankees in his front and tell him how many there were,” and in order to do this the captain took five men—jim oneale, frank lee, john white, billy lee, and lum wenner—and deployed them at the edge of the woods, from where they rode out into a field covered with tall sedge grass and small pine bushes, in which a thousand yankees could have lain in line, without being perceived, but they had not advanced far when a long blue line raised up and commenced firing. this was enough and the captain rode up to the general with the report that he had found about twelve hundred yankees on the left of the road. “very well,” said gen. 323butler, "i know what’s on the right," and ordering forward a brigade of dismounted men, this wooden-legged general led them in a furious attack upon the enemy, galloping along full fifty yards in front of his line, and exposed to the fire of both friends and foes. this settled the question on that part of the field, for the yankees ran, and butler followed them half a mile, when they met reinforcements and made a stubborn resistance for some time, but general rosser came in on the left and they were again forced back.
the battalion now united again, and formed, by general butler’s order, on a hill in the road, prepared to charge when the enemy attempted to advance, and here from six o’clock until dark they stood exposed to a hot fire from the yankee line below them, but fortunately not a man was injured, although seven horses were struck and killed. about dark hancock’s corps of infantry moved up from the rail road and joined in the fight, when general butler, who was sitting on his horse a short distance from the battalion, and under a very hot fire, called for a courier to go to his line of dismounted men below and order them to retire. the man who was sent to him displayed evident signs of much perturbation under the storm of bullets that whistled around, and the general said to him, "young man, you’re scared; go back to captain myers and tell him to send me a courier!" upon which the fellow returned instanter, 324and the captain sent sergeant everhart, whom the general asked if he could carry a dispatch down to the dismounted men; to which everhart replied, "i god! i’ll start! don’t know so much about going," when the general replied "you’ll do," sent the order, and withdrew his line from the fight. it was evident that grant had made a heavy lodgment on the rail road at reams’, and that general hampton couldn’t make him give it up with his cavalry, but the latter was compelled to send wagons to stony creek to get forage, which was twenty miles further away than reams’, soon the morning of the 24th, before day, captain myers was ordered to mount his squadron and escort the battalion train to that place, where they arrived about 11 o’clock. here they found big, luscious watermelons from north carolina by the car-load, which they enjoyed to their utmost until late in the evening, when they pushed on after the wagons which had loaded and started back by two o’clock, and having overtaken them, the squadron moved with them over the dangerous part of the road, and it being now midnight and the trains safe, the escort bivouacked in the pines while the wagons drove on to camp.
an hour before daylight col. white, with a few men, came down the road, and halting with the 1st squadron informed capt. myers that a. p. hill was coming down during the day to drive the yankees away from reams’; that hampton 325was going to draw their attention and amuse them until hill could get his position; that the colonel was going on a scout for hampton, and would be gone all day, and that myers was to take charge of the battalion for that length of time.
about sunrise gen. hampton came along, and putting white’s men in front ordered them to go to wyatt’s crossing, about a mile from reams’, and wait further orders.
gen. rosser was now at the head of the laurel brigade, and he soon came up and remarked to myers that he wanted “his people” for advance guard again to-day, to which the captain replied that he "didn’t mind the hanging half as much as he did the being told of it so long beforehand." on reaching the crossing they found some yankee pickets who retired towards reams’, and with the exception of an occasional shot, everything was quiet until 9 o’clock, when the enemy opened fire with artillery upon rosser’s men, and pretty soon chew commenced to reply, but no advance was attempted on either side.
during the cannonade generals rosser and butler sat on their horses just in front of white’s battalion, which, as a matter of course, stood by chew’s artillery, and once, when the shells flew low over their heads, and some of the men dodged, gen. butler remarked, “they are disposed to be rather familiar this morning,” to which rosser 326replied, "yes, politeness is in order this morning, but don’t bow too low, boys, it isn’t becoming;" but henry simpson exclaimed, "yes it is; it’s becoming a little too dam hot here, if that’s what you mean," and most of the boys were of henry’s opinion.
the day passed in constant marching and counter-marching; sometimes the “comanches” would be dismounted and ordered to pile up rails for breastworks, and then ordered to mount quick and charge; but no fighting was done until about 3 o’clock in the evening, when the heavy firing on the left showed that hampton had “amused” the yankees long enough, and now a. p. hill was at them.
the yankees were strongly fortified at the station, and in their front had an abattis of trees felled with their tops from the works, and all the branches trimmed sharp, so that it was almost impossible for hill’s infantry to get through at all, and in fact two brigades were repulsed with heavy loss, but when gen. mahone, the builder and president of the rail road, came up with his brigade; he took his people through and up to the breastworks, but the enemy was still there, and now both parties lay along the works, so that neither could fight or retreat, but pretty soon mahone’s men out-yankeed the yankees, and taking up some heavy cross-ties and rail-bars that were convenient they threw them high over the 327fortifications, causing them to fall with telling effect upon the heads of the yankees, forcing them to leave their defences, and as they retired mahone’s men, with the works now completely turned upon them, raised up and poured a terribly destructive fire upon the retreating enemy, causing tremendous slaughter, and at the same moment gen. hampton charged them in flank, capturing four guns and many prisoners.
gen. hill’s infantry took twelve pieces in the works, making sixteen guns captured, and about three thousand prisoners, besides five hundred killed and many wounded, making their loss in this day’s fight certainly reach very near five thousand in all, while the confederates lost about seven hundred, killed, wounded and missing.
at dark, gen. rosser ordered capt. sipe, commanding the 12th regiment, and capt. myers, of white’s battalion, to report to gen. hampton, who instructed them to move their commands to reams’ and relieve the infantry in the fortifications, which they did about midnight, in the most terrible storm of rain, thunder and lightning it is possible to imagine. the vivid streams, not flashes, of lightning danced and glanced along the rail road track and over the captured guns, which still stood there, while every moment the crashing thunder just overhead pealed out as if the inky sky was being torn to splinters, and in sheets and torrents the floods of rain poured 328down, while through the thick blackness of the storm and night could be heard all around the shrieks and groans of the wounded and dying federals, who, totally unable to help themselves, were gasping out their lives in agony, without one friend to shelter them from the raging of the fierce tempest or stop the ebbing life-tide that poured from their mangled bodies, and in the morning light there lay many corpses along the ground at reams’ whose souls had gone up to the judgment-throne amid the bursting storm and thunder of that horrible night.
among those who survived was a captain of infantry, who had cause to bless the genius of freemasonry, for by aid of its mystic signs he found a brother in the ranks of his foes, who helped him as only a brother would have done and gave him back to life again.
there was no attempt on the part of the enemy to come back to reams’, but they established their vedette lines along the pines and old fields of tossing sedge to the right of the rail road, towards petersburg, and on the 26th col. white placed his battalion on picket in front of them and scarcely three hundred yards from their lines, but there was no firing, and both sides, in act, agreed to the childish proposition of "i’ll let you alone if you’ll let me alone."
it was now apparent that gen. hampton’s style of fighting was a decided success, for he had so 329invariably whipped the enemy’s cavalry that they were afraid to come from behind their infantry lines, and as a consequence his own people had much less duty to perform than at any time during the long and arduous campaign.
on the 11th of september the general became impatient to hear the news from the presidential conventions in the north, and as the southern papers were deficient, he took a detail from the “laurel brigade” and made a raid to the rear of grant’s lines at petersburg for yankee newspapers, in which he attacked and whipped a brigade of cavalry from their camp, with considerable loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to them, but none whatever to himself, and brought out enough papers to supply his camps for a month with reading matter.
major ferneyhough, who commanded the detail of white’s battalion on the expedition, incurred gen. hampton’s displeasure because of a misconception of orders, in consequence of which he resigned on the 13th, and a few days after capt. myers, of co. a, was selected by colonel white, and by generals rosser and hampton, to fill the vacancy.
on the 14th of september general hampton marched with a division of his cavalry in the direction of grant’s left wing, and succeeded in gaining, unobserved, the rear of his army, an operation which was comparatively easy, from the 330character of the country, which was low and flat, with many swamps and vast bodies of dense pine forest, through which an army might have marched without being discovered, except by accident, as there were few inhabitants in that region, they having been compelled, from the proximity of the two armies, to refugee or starve.
about daylight, on the 16th, when the raiders had reached a point about one mile from the james river, and not more than six miles in rear of the main line of the federal army, a strong party of dismounted cavalry was discovered behind some barricades, near an old church, and the 7th and 11th regiments, of rosser’s brigade, which was in front, were dismounted and sent forward to dislodge the enemy, which they did after a severe fight, and now the general ordered the battalion forward at a brisk trot, which soon brought them in full view of an immense drove of beef cattle, guarded by a federal brigade, one regiment of which, the 1st d. c. cavalry, was mounted near the cattle pens. gen. rosser sent a flag of truce demanding the surrender of this force, but the officer commanding, returned for answer, “come and get us, if you want us,” and at the same time told the truce-bearer that if he came there any more with “that damned thing,” (the flag) he would shoot him. the general at once turned to the battalion, and in his short, solid tone, that always had something of the 331wicked ring of a whitworth in it, when he meant fight, exclaimed, “come down on them, white!” and the “comanches” did it with such splendid effect, that the yankees were scattered in wild flight, in less than five minutes, pursued in every direction by the men of the battalion.
some prisoners were taken, and a large quantity of camp equipage and arms, among the latter quite a number of the “henry rifles” or “sixteen-shooters,” fell into the hands of the “comanches,” but what pleased them most and really made this one of the grandest raids of the war, was the capture of the immense herd of broad-horned western beeves, averaging over fifteen hundred pounds, and numbering two thousand five hundred and thirty-five head, all of which were brought safely out.
on the return, col. white was sent with a portion of his command to sycamore church, on the jerusalem plank road, to guard that point until the cattle could be driven over the blackwater, but on reaching his position he was assailed by a force of the enemy numbering about five thousand cavalry and artillery, and after a stubborn engagement, was forced to retire a mile from the plank road, but by strategy in keeping his men concealed, and by moving his flag from one point to another, he succeeded in deceiving the enemy and holding them in check until the arrival of 332gen. rosser with the remainder of the brigade, some two hours after his first meeting with them.
while contesting the yankee advance the colonel caused his men to throw up rail fortifications at monk’s neck bridge, and here the enemy used artillery upon them severely, by which two men of company a were killed, viz.: samuel t. presgraves, of loudoun, and william brown, a native of north carolina, both excellent soldiers.
after holding the yankees here until the safety of the cattle was assured, the brigade flanked them and quietly returned to camp near reams’, highly elated with the splendid success of the expedition, and more than ever convinced of the ability and generalship of their great commander, general hampton.