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

[713]

Terrific fighting now commences on the left, and General Jackson sends for a division of Longstreet's command.

To General Jackson:

Do you still want reinforcements?

(Signed,)

General Lee.

Some half hour elapses, and General Jackson replies:

No; the enemy are giving way.

(Signed,)

General Jackson.

General Lee now prepares to move, and sends the following to General Jackson:

General Longstreet is advancing; look out for and protect his left flank.

(Signed,)

General Lee.

General Lee having moved his headquarters, I also removed the signal station.

Colonel: I have the honor to report, that on the evening of the thirteenth August, 1862, having just returned from Clarke's Mountain, a very elevated point, three miles east of Rapidan Station, I reported to Major-General Jackson the following as being the position of the enemy's forces on the opposite side of the Rapidan. The main body encamped around the slopes of Garnett's and Slaughter's Mountains; one division one mile north of Culpeper Court-House, on the Brandy Station road, and a small force between Mitchell's Station and Lime Church. General Jackson then directed me to examine, and, on the following day, to report to him the most desirable route for passing around the enemy's flank and reaching Warrenton, Fauquier. I advised that the corps should march from its encampment just west of Toddsburg, through Orange Court-House, thence down the Fredericksburg plank road to Dr. Terrill's, then turn to the left, pass Pisgah Church, and cross the Rapidan at Summerville's Ford, thence by Lime Church, Stephensburg, Brandy Station, and Beverley's Ford, to Warrenton. This route being approved, the march was commenced on the evening of the fifteenth, and on the sixteenth the three divisions of Taliaferro, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, encamped near Pisgah Church, where they remained for three days, awaiting the arrival of a portion of General Longstreet's command, till the morning of the twentieth.

On the morning of the eighteenth, a body of the enemy drove our pickets from Clarke's Mountain, and found out the position of our troops; and on the nineteenth they commenced their retreat toward the Rappahannock. I was on Clarke's Mountain at the time that the retreat commenced, and immediately gave the information to General Jackson.

At dawn on the following morning, (twentieth,) the corps moved forward in the following order: Generals A. P. Hill, Ewell, and Taliaferro. I was ordered by General Jackson to remain at Summerville's Ford, where the corps crossed the Rapidan, till all the divisions had crossed, to see that there was no delay in fording the stream. This being accomplished, I rejoined General Jackson about two miles beyond Stephensburg, on the Brandy Station road, where the corps bivouacked for the night. I here found that General Stuart, with Robertson's brigade of cavalry, had engaged the cavalry of the retreating enemy near Stephensburg, and driven them across the Rappahannock at the railroad bridge.

Early on the morning of the twenty-first, the command resumed its march in the following order: Taliaferro, A. P. Hill, and Ewell. Passing Brandy Station, the front of Taliaferro's division emerged from the wood a quarter of a mile south of Beverley's Ford about ten A. M. Finding the ford guarded by a body of the enemy's cavalry, General Taliaferro brought up two pieces of Poague's battery and drove them off; General Stuart then crossed the run with the first Virginia cavalry and two pieces of Poague's battery; but the enemy advanced a heavy force, and compelled them to retire. A desultory artillery fight was kept up during the entire day between the batteries of General Taliaferro and those of the enemy on the opposite side of the river. I was ordered by General Jackson to take a position on the right, from which I could see Rappahannock Station, and to report to him any movement on the part of the enemy. I stationed myself on a high point a little to the right of the railroad, and about three quarters of a mile from the river. From this point I could see that the enemy were in heavy force around Rappahannock Station, and that a small body of infantry occupied two very high bluffs on the south side of the river, and a few hundred yards above the railroad bridge. I communicated these facts to General Jackson, and suggested that the enemy might be driven from those bluffs, though they were somewhat higher than any point on either side of the river, by placing a large amount of artillery on the ridge east of Glassell's house and on the hill which I then occupied. Colonel Crutchfield was sent by General Jackson to examine the position with me, but we did not meet until it was so late that nothing could be done.

On the following morning, (twenty-second,) the three divisions, in order, Ewell, Hill, and Taliaferro, left their encampment near Beverley's Ford, marching by farm roads and across fields to Welford's Mill, where they crossed Eastham River, thence to Freeman's Ford, but finding this ford strongly guarded by the enemy, General Trimble's brigade was left to prevent a crossing, and the remainder of the troops moved across the country, keeping as much as possible under cover, to Dr. M. P. Scott's farm, just opposite Lee's Springs. General Early's brigade and a portion of Lawton's brigade were advanced across the Rappahannock, and took position respectively on