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No. 2.
General Breckinridge's arrival at
Hanover Junction was opportune.
General Lee was still at Spotsylvania Courthouse, thirty-five miles north.
The railroad from
Hanover Junction was that to which he looked for supplies of all kinds and communication with
Richmond.
Knowing this,
General Grant had sent
Sheridan, with a large cavalry force, to make a raid in
Lee's rear and to destroy his communications — particularly to burn the large bridge over the
South Anna river, near
Hanover Junction.
It was in this raid that
General Jeb Stuart was killed.
Breckinridge's arrival secured the bridge, and
Sheridan returned without having effected other material damage.
On the 22d of May,
General Lee, having fallen back from
Spotsylvania, arrived at
Hanover Junction, and in person thanked and complimented
General Breckinridge for his victory.
In fact the whole Army of Northern Virginia was full of his praise.
The veterans of
Lee and
Jackson greeted him with cheers whenever he came within sight, and wherever he moved among them, in camp or in line of battle, it was a perfect ovation.
At
Hanover Junction began that series of splended strategic movements by
General Lee to check
General Grant in his advance on
Richmond, which culminated in the defeat of the latter in the bloody battle of second Cold Harbor on the 2d of June.
General Breckinridge continued with
General Lee during this time, preserving his separate command.
He was in various engagements of more or less moment in the interval, and in the battle of the 2d occupied a portion of the line which received probably the heaviest assault.
A salient occupied by his troops was carried by the bayonet, but retaken with great gallantry.
During an engagement on the evening of the same day,
General Breckinridge's horse was killed under him, by a cannon ball which pased through him, just missing the
General's left leg. The horse was killed instantly, and in falling caught his rider under him, producing the impression for the moment in the minds of his staff that he was himself killed.
It required the strength of several to disengage him, when it was found that, though not wounded, his thigh and leg were so bruised that he was unable to ride for several weeks.
