Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 2.

[141] toward Leesburg; and a party of the Van Alen cavalry, led by Major Mix, were ordered to scour the country in the direction of that town,. and after gaining all possible information concerning its topography, and the position of the Confederates, to hasten back to the cover of the Minnesota. skirmishers. These movements were well performed. The scouts came suddenly upon a Mississippi regiment, when shots were exchanged without much harm to either party.

At a little past noon, Devens and his band were assailed by Confederates under Colonels Jenifer and Hunton, in the woods that skirted the open field in which they had halted. Infantry attacked the main body on their left, and cavalry fell upon the skirmishers in front. His men stood their ground firmly; but, being pressed by overwhelming numbers, and re-enforcements not arriving, they fell back about sixty paces, to foil an attempt to flank them. This was accomplished, and they took a position about half a mile in front of Colonel Lee.

In the mean time Colonel Baker had been pressing forward from Conrad's Ferry, to the relief of the assailed troops. Ranking Devens, he had been ordered to Harrison's Island to take the chief command, with full discretionary powers to re-enforce the party on the Virginia shore, or to withdraw all of the troops to the Maryland shore. He was cautioned to be careful with the artillery under his control, and not to become engaged with greatly superior numbers.

When Baker found that Devens had been attacked, he decided to reenforce him. It was an unfortunate decision, under the circumstances, and yet it then seemed to be the only proper one. The task was a most difficult and perilous one. The river had been made full by recent rains, and the currents in the channels on each side were very swift. The

E. D. Baker.

means for transportation were entirely inadequate. There had been no expectation of such movement, and: no provision had been made for it. There was only one scow, or flat-boat, for the service, between the Maryland shore and Harrison's Island, and at first only two skiffs and a Francis metallic life-boat were on the opposite side. To these were soon added one scow; and these four little vessels composed the entire means of transportation of several hundred troops and munitions of war.

McClellan had not ordered more than a “demonstration” by a small portion of Stone's troops, in conjunction with those of McCall; but Stone, to whom the chief had not intimated his object in ordering “heavy reconnoissances in all directions” in that vicinity, and who knew that there were forty thousand troops within easy call of his position, naturally considered that they were to complete the expulsion of the Confederates from the Potomac. He therefore made what disposition he might to assist in the