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| A temporary Army bridge.1 |
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| Stuart's Headquarters near Brandy Station.2 |
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These were placed under the command of General Hooker, and sent to re-enforce the Army of the Cumberland in Southeastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia.
Meade was now, in turn, placed in a defensive position for awhile, but, finally, when new recruits came in, and troops, which had been taken from his army and sent to New York, to prevent interference with the draft, returned, at about the middle of October, he resolved to make an offensive movement.
Meade's cavalry, meanwhile, had not been idle.
On the 1st of August, Buford, with his division, crossed the Rappahannock River at Rappahannock Station, and with great gallantry pushed Stuart's cavalry back almost to Culpepper Court-House.
So sudden and unexpected to Stuart was this dash of his foe across the river, and so vigorous was the assault and pursuit, that he and his staff came very near being captured at his Headquarters, on an eminence a short distance from Brandy Station.
They were about to dine at a table sumptuously furnished by the family of Henry Miller, the owner of the house, when the near presence of their foe was announced.
The daring leader and his followers instantly decamped, and left the dinner to be enjoyed by the Union officers.
Buford pursued
to the vicinity of Auburn, the residence of John Minor Botts,3 where he was confronted by Stuart's strong infantry supports, and compelled to retreat, fighting as he fell back, when he in turn, was re-enforced by the First Corps, and the pursuing foe halted.
In that engagement Buford lost one hundred and forty men, of whom sixteen were killed.
1 this picture is given to illustrate the method of construction of those temporary bridges which the armies were continually erecting over small streams. This is a view of one over the Mattapony River.
2 this is a view of the place, from the shaded lane in front, as it appeared when the writer visited and sketched it in October, 1866, when it was occupied by W. A. Stewart. The house was in a shattered condition, and bore marks of the battle near it. The porch had been torn away b a shell, and at the dark spot seen between the two windows in the sketch, was the fracture made by a round shot that passed through the house.
3 Mr. Botts's beautiful seat, called Auburn, was about a mile from Brandy Station, on a very slight elevation, with a little depression between his house and gentle cultivated ridges at a little distance. The writer and his friends already mentioned (Messrs. Buckingham and Young), visited this stanch Virginia Unionist, when on our way homeward from Staunton, mentioned on page 401, volume II. We had passed the preceding night and part of the day before at Culpepper Court-House and in visiting the battle-ground at Cedar Mountain. See page 448, volume II. At Culpepper Court-House we hired a carriage to convey us to Brandy Station, and our route lay across Mr. Botts's estate. We found him at home, and were very cordially received. The region just about him was a sort of neutral ground for some time, detachments from each army frequently meeting upon it and skirmishing. He told us that he had seen no less than nine of these engagements from his piazza. On one occasion his house was placed in great peril, between large bodies of the contending armies, who were about to fight. In front of his house General Rodes drew up fifteen thousand men in battle order, evidently with the design of bringing the mansion in range of the guns of the combatants, and thus effecting its destruction without its being done in evident wantonness. Botts went out to Rodes, told him that his house was filled with the women and children of the neighborhood (and his own family), who had sought shelter there, and warned him that, if these were all destroyed, the crime would rest forever as a stain on the Confederate general's name. Rodes was unwilling to incur the odium, and, changing his position, the mansion was saved.
The reader is referred to page 94, volume L, for an extract of a letter from Mr. Botts, to “H. B. M.,” of Staunton. At the time of our visit, he showed us another letter to him from the same writer, in which he denounced the rebellion as a crime, and declared that the traitors should be punished. He went into the war and had his skull fractured, and lost a little portion of his brain, that protruded, in one of the battles before Richmond. In his reply, Mr. Botts told him he believed his was the first case on record of a man being brought to his senses by having brains knocked out.
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