The enemy retired to the second line of works, about half a mile in rear of the first which Hancock had captured from Johnson. This was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war; and the Union army there gained its first valuable victory in that campaign, fighting from early dawn until midnight.

There was no movement of the army on the 13th; but that night Warren and Wright were moved to the left of Burnside, in a heavy rain. Warren's corps led the march, in intense darkness, over muddy roads, sometimes having to corduroy them in order to pass. They crossed the Ny River, which was swollen from the rains. Many of the troops gave out from exhaustion and lost their way. Mounted men were posted as guides; but even this precaution could not keep the troops on the proper line of march through the dense forests and swamps. But Warren succeeded in getting to the designated place with a part of his command, while those who had given out came up the next day, when they were able to see their way and gain a little strength.

Wright's movement was detected, and Upton was attacked; but with the aid of Ayres' brigade the enemy was repulsed. The next night, Lee moved in front of Warren and Wright, which left Hancock with no enemy in his front. He therefore moved his position to the rear of Warren and Wright.

On the 15th both armies remained quiet, except a demonstration in front of Burnside, which was not carried into execution, perhaps on account of the rain.

The ground was so soft from the continued heavy rains that the infantry could scarcely march, while it was impossible to move the artillery. On the 18th Wright and Hancock were moved back to the right of Burnside, to strike Lee on his left flank; but he was advised of the movement in time to check it.

Warren had been ordered to open with his artillery so as to deceive Lee as to the movements of Warren and Han

cock. Colonel Coulter, commanding a brigade under Warren, was severely wounded. Warren remained stationary while the army marched past him and took a position on his left. This movement induced Ewell to attack Warren's right flank, which would give him possession of the road from Spottsylvania to Fredericksburg, over which the supplies of the army were received. Kitching's and the Maryland Brigades, with Tyler's division of new troops, just arriving from Fredericksburg, met the attack of Ewell, and repulsed him with considerable loss. Crawford's, Birney's, and Gibbon's divisions came to the support of Warren's right. Grant, seeing the movement, ordered Warren to advance and prevent Ewell from returning to his intrenchments. But he (Warren) was unable to do that. A division of colored troops, under General Ferrero, guarded the road to Fredericksburg. It was evident that Lee was attempting to get possession of that road to cut off Grant's supplies. Ferrero was ordered to throw forward his cavalry, and, if he was defeated, to fall back toward Fredericksburg, When Ferrero's division was attacked, his colored troops fought most gallantly, and retook some twenty-five or thirty wagons which had been captured by the enemy by a sudden dash at the commencement of the action. This division belonged to the Ninth Corps, but had been detached for that special duty.

Thus ended the battle of Spottsylvania; for Grant, seeing that Lee held a position naturally very strong, which would cost many lives to take, resolved to move again by the left, in the direction of Richmond, with the hope of meeting him on an open field.

CHAPTER XVII.

SHERIDAN'S GREAT RAID FROM SPOTTSYLVANIA TO

THE JAMES.

MAY 9 TO MAY 24, 1864.

AFTER the successful passage of the Rapidan, on

May 4, 1864, and the subsequent terrific fighting on the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, in the Wilderness, in which the cavalry bore its full share, Sheridan, in obedience to orders from General Grant, concentrated his divisions in the vicinity of Aldrich's, on the plank road; and, on the morning of the 9th, moved out on his famous expedition around the right flank of General Lee's army, with the view of cutting his communications with his base, destroying the lines of railroad by which his army was supplied, and with the expectation and hope of drawing after him the enemy's cavalry, which he thought he could, if opportunity offered, defeat and destroy, and thus inflict irreparable loss upon the Confederacy.

Worn out and exhausted as the men were by four days of constant fighting, there was not much rest for them during the night of the 8th. Horses were to be shod, forage and rations drawn, and the numberless little things to be attended to on the eve of a protracted march looked after; besides all this, a constant succession of ambulances, filled with wounded men, were passing over the plank road along which, on either side, our bivouacs were stretched for miles; and this evidence of the tremendous fighting that had been going on beneath the somber shadows of the dense thickets of the Wilderness, filled the minds of all

with sadness, for many of our comrades were among these sufferers.

The night passed, and with the first faint streaks of the dawning day the camps were instinct with life and motion. "Reveille," "Boots and Saddles," and "To Horse" followed each other in rapid succession, and the first rays of the rising sun saw the heads of columns, divisions, and brigades moving from their several camps; along the plank road they moved in the direction of Fredericksburg as far as Tabernacle Church, thence crossed over to the Telegraph road by Childsburg to Anderson's Crossing of the North Anna River. The First Division, Gen. Wesley Merritt commanding, was in advance, followed by the Third Division, Gen. James H. Wilson, and the Second Division, Gen. D. McM. Gregg, bringing up the rear.

The march was without incident until the rear-guard, consisting of the 6th Ohio Cavalry, which arrived about four o'clock p. m. near a small place called Davenport, was rather fiercely attacked, and a stubborn little fight occurred, resulting in the repulse of the Confederates, after a loss of one officer, Captain Abell, of the 6th Ohio, killed, and 47 men killed and wounded from the 6th Ohio and Ist Massachusetts. The advance brigade of General Merritt's division, commanded by General Custer, forced the crossing of the North Anna at Anderson's Mills, and before reaching Beaver Dam Station, on the Virginia Central Railroad, he recaptured a train of ambulances and about 400 of our men, who had been taken during the fights in the Wilderness; among these were a large number of officers, one of them being Gen. W. C. Talley, of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, commanding brigade, also Colonel Phelps, of the 7th Maryland Regiment, and Capt. George Michaels, of one of the Pennsylvania regiments.

Pushing on, Custer got possession of Beaver Dam Station, together with three large trains heavily laden with supplies for Lee's army, two new locomotives, and a large amount of stores of various kinds, including hospital tents

and several hundred stand of arms; all of these, except so much as was required to supply the immediate wants of our own troops, were burned or otherwise destroyed, while a happier set of fellows than the 400 recaptured prisoners, it would be a difficult matter to imagine.

The Second and Third Divisions bivouacked in line of battle on the north side of the river where they were feebly attacked on the morning of the 10th. The attack was soon repulsed, the divisions crossed the ford, and on reaching the station the Second Brigade, Second Division, took the advance, the 1st Maine Cavalry leading; the command had proceeded but a short distance until the enemy were encountered in some force, and quite a brisk skirmish occurred, in which Major Boothby, 1st Maine Cavalry, received a wound in the shoulder, from the effects of which he died in a few days.

Notwithstanding this opposition, the march of the column was not delayed or retarded, but moved steadily on, crossed the South Anna at Ground Squirrel Bridge, and went into camp near an old church of that name, about one mile south of the river. The entire corps crossed the South Anna on the evening of the 10th; during the night the First and Third Divisions, and the First Brigade of the Second Division, moved in the direction of Richmond, crossing the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad at Negro Foot Station, destroying the road for a distance on both sides of the station. General Davies proceeded to Ashland, where he encountered the enemy, captured and destroyed a train of supplies for Lee's army, and a locomotive, and, after destroying the railroad for some distance, rejoined the main force at Allen's Station, on the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad.

From this point the entire command moved on Yellow Tavern, where Stuart, with his main force in a strong position, which he had gained after an exhausting march round our left during the day and night of the 10th, awaited our attack. The First Division had the advance, followed by