Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 9.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[598] with which Jones soon became engaged with unequal force. I knew the country to be too much intersected by ditches to render operations free, and considered it necessary, therefore, to advance along the road. Robertson, who was now sent for in haste to support his advance regiment, was found to have mistaken the direction, and borne too much to the left; but, as the enemy did not profit by this mishap, nothing was lost by the delay, and the remaining regiments were hurled in rapid succession, in column of fours, upon the enemy's main body. It was perfectly plain that the enemy's force was superior in numbers to ours; but as Pope had evidently, with his main body, reached the other side of the Rappahannock, it was not probable, therefore, that a fierce onset of such cavalry as ours — animated by such incentives and aspirations — could be withstood; and sure enough, before the clash of their sabres could make havoc in his ranks, he turned in flight, and took refuge close to the river, under the protection of his batteries planted beyond the river. Our squadrons rapidly re-formed for a renewal of the fight; but having no artillery yet up, the ground was such that cavalry alone could not have attacked the enemy under such protection without sacrifice inadequate to the risk. General Fitzhugh Lee's brigade was sent for to reinforce Robertson as soon as the enemy was found in force here. It arrived just at this time with Pelham's battery of horse artillery; but the enemy had safely passed the ford before a battery could be placed to interfere with his progress, and, there being now no enemy south of the Rappahannock, except those in our hands, the remainder of the day was devoted to rest. The advance of Jackson reached the vicinity of Brandy that night. I kept the commanding General notified of my whereabouts and the enemy's movements during the day. In the mean time, Munford had advanced to Culpeper, where he found a number of prisoners. In the action at Brandy Station, our troops behaved in a manner highly creditable, and Colonel Jones, whose regiment so long bore the brunt of the fight, behaved with marked courage and determination. I regret his report has not yet been furnished. The enemy, occupying woods and hedge-roads, with dismounted men, armed with long-range carbines, were repeatedly dislodged by his bold onslaughts, while Flournoy and Harman nobly supported the Seventh in the critical moment, when confronted by two brigades of the enemy's cavalry. General Robertson had cause to be proud of the command which his superior discipline, organization, and drill had brought to the stability of veterans. Major Heros Von Borcke, my Adjutant-General, was conspicuous in the charge, and led an important flank attack at the critical moment of the engagement. While that brave soldier and venerable patriot, animated with the fires of youth, Captain Redmond Burke, while among the foremost in the fierce onset, received a severe wound in the leg, disabling him for some time from active duty. Brigadier-General Robertson's report accompanies this, and will give some interesting information, (marked D.) He reports a loss of three killed and thirteen wounded, while the enemy left several more dead on the field, and sixty-four were taken prisoners, wounded included, and several commissioned officers, together with their arms and equipments, and a number of cavalry horses. Thus ended the operations of the twentieth August, the enemy's operations having materially modified the original plan. During the night, outposts were kept up by the cavalry along the entire front. It was ascertained, by my command, during the day, that Burnside had effected a junction with Pope before the retreat, and that the enemy had crossed principally at Kelley's Ford and Rappahannock Station Ford, (the main body of his cavalry crossing at the latter place,) and that the retreat began the night previous, the wagon trains having been sent off early in the day, corroborating the conclusions arrived at by the commanding General, on Clark's Mountain. Accompanying this report will also be found a map of the country traversed in the operations described, drawn by Captain Blackford, my topographical engineer.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

General : I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my command with the Army of Northern Virginia, continuing the series from the morning of the twenty-first August, when the army was near Brandy Station, with my command in front along the Rappahannock, until its return to the south side of that river from a successful expedition to the enemy's rear at Catlett's Station:

In my last report I committed an error in saying that Lee's brigade joined me at Brandy Station on twentieth August: only two regiments of that brigade, First and Fifth Virginia cavalry, did so, under command of Colonel T. L. Rosser, Fifth Virginia cavalry. Brigadier-General Lee with the remainder continued in observation of the enemy at Kelley's and below.

In pursuance of the plan of the commanding General, I directed Colonel Rosser to move, at daylight, with his command for Beverly or Cunningham's Ford, as advance guard to the army, to seize the opposite bank by a sudden attack, and hold as much of the country beyond as possible. This duty was nobly performed, and by the time I reached the spot, Colonel Rosser had accomplished the object, capturing a number of prisoners, fifty excellent muskets, stacked, (his sudden dash having frightened the enemy away from their arms,) and held enough of the bank beyond to make a crossing by our infantry practicable. All this was promptly reported to General Jackson, who supplied me with two pieces of artillery, which