Skirmish on the Western road.
We have obtained some particulars of the skirmish with the enemy to which we referred on yesterday, on the
Plank Road, about three miles West of
Richmond, on Tuesday evening. The troops engaged on our side were composed wholly of our city
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organizations, who, on this occasion, had their first encounter with the enemy.
The forces of the latter were about five hundred picked men, of five regiments of
Gregg's cavalry, with two pieces of artillery.
The artillery was not brought into action.
The Tredegar Battalion,
Maj.——, was the first to come into collision with the enemy.
As the battalion was ascending the hill which descends from Benjamin Green's house, the
Yankees, who were coming over it, suddenly appeared close at hand.
The meeting was unexpected, and found our men unprepared for it, many of our guns being unloaded.
The enemy deployed under the shelter of a piece of wood, and our men got into such line as they could in the open field.
Volleys were exchanged, from which the
Yankees suffered most, and were made to give ground.
They subsequently made a charge under which the battalion recoiled and made a rapid and broken retreat, and took no further part in the operations.
The enemy pressed vigorously, making an attempt to cut off the men, but with indifferent success.
Some were captured, but afterwards released, as the enemy could not afford to be encumbered with prisoners.
Five horses and two dead soldiers left on the field show that the fire of our men was not without effect.
On our side
Lieutenant John Sweeney and
private Blunt were killed.
Much allowance is to be made for the circumstances under which the battalion went into action.
As it was, the enemy were the greatest sufferers.
The enemy's column now came forward with celerity, expecting to find no further obstacle to their progress.
The departmental and quartermaster's battalions, who were following the march of the
Armory Battalion, suddenly beheld the approach of the enemy.
Capt. John McAnerny, of company B, Departmental Battalion, who was in command of the whole as ranking officer present, swiftly deployed his lines to the right and left of the road, and had barely time to order out his skirmishers before the cavalry charged him. They charged down on both sides of the road.
They came yelling, and rattling their sabres and firing their carbines, their officers vociferating to them to ‘charge the ——rebels!
Cut them down!
They are nothing but melish!’
It was already quite dark, and growing more so.
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so that objects were with difficulty distinguished.
Our skirmishers' line waited until the enemy were very near, and, pouring in a beautiful fire, retreated to the main line.
The enemy pressed on, our men reserving their fire until the word of command, when they delivered it at close quarters and with admirable effect.
The enemy was checked and broken, and a couple of volleys more drove him from the field in flight.
Our troops deserve very high praise for making so gallant a debut under circumstances so perplexing and a call so sudden.
They repulsed and drove back a greater number of the enemy's picked veterans.
Our loss is stated in the following:
Officers—Killed:
Captain A. Ellery, Co. D.
Wounded:
Lieutenant R. A. Matthews, Co. D, slightly;
Acting Lieutenant R. A. Tompkins, face and arm slightly.
Privates—
D. T. Carter, Co. A, slightly;
F. M. Cary, Co. D, slightly in face;
J. W. Burson and——McIndoe, Co. D, both slightly;
S. M. Levin, Co. F, slightly in leg;
R. B. Green, Co. F, in hand; Miles
Cary, Co. K, sabre cut on shoulder;
Gray Doswell, Co. K, shot through the thigh (flesh wound). Missing:
Private T. Y. Catlett, Co. I.
The fierceness of the charge which the
Departmental Battalion met in line of battle is evidenced by the sabre cuts received.
Several of the enemy rode through our lines, and were shot down or captured.
Of the loss of the enemy we cannot speak with positive precision.
They collected eighteen of their wounded at
Mr. Green's house, in the rear of the fighting.
Seven of these they afterwards carried away with them.
Four of their dead were picked up on the battle-ground yesterday morning, as also several wounded.
Of the latter, three died in a few hours, and another is evidently mortally wounded.
Some indication of the casualties is given in the ten dead horses that lay near here.
The loss of the enemy in the two skirmishes may be set down at ten killed, one mortally wounded and seventeen disabled by their wounds, of whom ten are prisoners.
Besides these a number of prisoners were taken, fifteen horses killed, and several captured.
A pretty fair start, for
Henley's Battalion fought
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against a superior force of veterans, in the dark, and without notice, or time to get ready!
They had no support from regular troops, for, though some were near at hand, they did not arrive till the fight was over.
After their repulse the enemy went back by the road they had come until they reached the
Ridge Church.
Here they struck off to the right and made for Hungary Station, on the Fredericksburg railroad, reaching that point about daybreak.
They seized a citizen of the neighborhood and demanded that he should pilot them; but leading through a piece of pines he made his escape, and left them to find their way out as best they could.
The
Yankees unquestionably hung a negro, belonging to
Mr. Weems, whom they had as a pilot, but who led them astray by getting lost himself.
As an incident of the fight near
Richardson's farm, and of the darkness which prevailed, we may mention, that a Yankee charged the fence just where it passed on the edge of a deep pit of an abandoned ice-house.
Horse and rider went in; the former was killed by the fall, the latter drawn out a prisoner the next morning.
