Jeb Stuart, The Last Cavalier

by Burke Davis

  Windows, doors and sidewalks were jammed from one end of Richmond to the other as Stuart's men passed. Women and children waved, handkerchiefs fluttered and flowers were tossed. Many men broke ranks to greet families and friends, but officers pulled them back, and the command went into camp east of the city. For a night cavalrymen swarmed through the city.

  The stay was short, for the troopers were soon with the infantry at Yorktown. There was idleness from the first, with little to do but stare out over the water. A few miles to the east was the growing Federal invasion post at Fortress Monroe. Attack might come any day.

  In the very face of the enemy threat, the Confederate army gave itself over to reorganization. In the throes of a new democracy, officers of all units were to stand for re-election. Hundreds of men left the service and others were turned out by upstart candidates from the ranks who promised their men everything. Blackford recalled that discipline disappeared this week. He walked down a line of tents as roll was being called, but not a man reported for duty. All were lying abed, aware that no officer would force them to stir while elections were on, grandly answering to their names from their blankets, while an orderly sergeant passed meekly down the tent rows. Blackford noted that candidates were telling men that, if elected, they would see to it that the soldiers would not be "ex-posed"--in short, they would not have to fight. In his own company, a Sergeant Litchfield campaigned for captain, telling the troopers he would take them from under Stuart's harsh command and into the artillery, if elected. Blackford could not bring himself to solicit votes, and lost his place to Litchfield. The erstwhile captain returned to Richmond, to find a place in the engineer corps.3

  The enemy did not stir while Johnston's army was torn apart by this remarkable reorganization, and for more than a month the big armies lay watching each other. Johnston was anxious, and his dispatches to Richmond betrayed his urge to fall back to the capital itself. Johnston had been in this frame of mind from his first glimpse of the Yorktown trenches and the dispirited troops of General J. B. Magruder. In mid-April, Johnston had hurried back to Richmond and called President Davis into a day-long conference. Johnston wanted to abandon the entire Peninsula, falling back to Richmond, sacrificing Norfolk and all else in the area. He would then concentrate Confederate troops from all over the South around Richmond, to stand off McClellan. Generals Lee, Longstreet and G. W. Smith debated the plan before Davis and Johnston, finishing at one o'clock in the morning. When it was over, the President ordered Johnston to defend the line of the lower Peninsula.

  It was the same Johnston who had so easily given up Harpers Ferry at the opening of the war, and then literally run from the line at Manassas this spring. Yet Stuart remained loyal to him, and in the cavalryman's estimate of this time, Johnston was "in capacity head and shoulders above every other" Southern general. He was also Jeb's "dearest friend."

  Life was dull around Yorktown in April, and there was little duty for cavalry or infantry. There was a bit of relief in news from the Shenandoah Valley, where a little army under Stonewall Jackson was attacking Federal forces with reckless daring, but as yet no pattern of campaign had emerged there. At Yorktown, the army waited for McClellan to jump.

  McClellan hardly got the chance. On May first Johnston announced to Richmond headquarters that he would abandon Yorktown, come what may. He feared that Federal boats would move up the rivers on his flanks. On May fourth, without notifying Richmond further, the infantry left the trenches and marched up the few muddy roads toward the capital.

  The Federals were so astonished that they did not pursue until noon. They first had to deal with Stuart's cavalry screen.

  The main artery up the Peninsula was the Telegraph Road, leading through Williamsburg to Richmond. There was a river road, along the south bank of the York. Otherwise, there were only lateral roads crossing the tongue of land. Stuart defended a line almost from river to river.

  He sent the ist Virginia under Fitz Lee westward to guard the banks of the upper York, at Eltham's Landing. On the Telegraph Road he concentrated his strength under Williams Wickham. Smoke rose over the swamp in the early hours of the morning.

  Stuart had Captain Pelham's battery placed on his left, where it could command the Telegraph Road. He ordered Pelham to fire as long as he found targets. The guns soon opened.

  The Federal advance was led by General George Stoneman; it soon appeared that he had strong infantry regiments behind him. The enemy pressed hard against the Telegraph Road, expecting to approach Williamsburg and reach a Confederate earthwork known as Fort Magruder before Stuart could group his cavalry there. The Union troopers rode into Pelham's fire and took terrible losses. They were hemmed in at the roadside by marshes, and were forced back for a time.4

  Later the superior Federal artillery swept Telegraph Road and Wickham retreated; the Federals had now cleared the way to Williamsburg. Stuart was thus left far in the Confederate rear, separated from one wing of his force by miles of swamp and forest. Unknown to him the 3 rd Pennsylvania Cavalry had cut off his retreat, and a trap was opening behind him.

  The scout, William Farley, helped save the day, the blithe South Carolina boy who told John Esten Cooke, "I don't know how many of the enemy I've killed. I never counted. A good many."

  "A dozen?"

  "Oh, yes. I can remember six officers. I never counted the men."

  Today Farley was riding across country in Stuart's rear when he blundered into the enemy.

  Stuart had sent Colonel Thomas F. Goode and men of the 3rd Virginia to probe the rear. Goode was galloping in the swampy road when Farley broke from cover.

  "Yankees ahead, ready to charge you," Farley said. "You'd better get into the woods."

  Goode put his troopers into an ambush on the side of the road, and there was a brief skirmish in the swamp track, both parties sitting in the saddles, firing with carbines. The enemy soon fell back, leaving three or four bodies in the road.5 When the party returned to Stuart, the commander had found a new route of retreat toward Williamsburg.

  Unhesitatingly, as if he knew every pig track of this country, he led the troopers and their guns to the narrow beach of the river, and they dashed upstream with two mountain howitzers firing in the rear to keep the enemy at bay. Stuart led them into Williamsburg after dark. He learned that Williams Wickham had fought a heavy cavalry action in front of Fort Magruder in the afternoon. Wickham had a saber wound in his side and would be out of action for weeks.6

  The army had narrowly averted disaster. The bold Federal infantry had reached Fort Magruder at the edge of the village before Johnston could throw South Carolina infantry into the works. Furious artillery fire had pushed back the enemy at dusk. Weary Confederates slept everywhere in Williamsburg, but many were roused in the night: General Magruder led the advance of the retreat up The Peninsula in a torrential downpour. Johnston ordered the rearguard to hold during the coming day, to give rest to the army.

  Stuart was moving before daylight and at six o'clock, with rain still falling, heard the opening Federal artillery fire. It was a long day. The cavalry was not fully engaged, though in the fields and boggy swamps the green Confederate and Federal troops charged and countercharged for hours. The fighting was desperate, especially on the Confederate left, where Jubal Early and D. H. Hill led their men in reckless frontal assaults. Longstreet commanded the defense, and was proud of the repulse of the Federals. When the army straggled up the peninsula nearer Richmond, about four hundred wounded were left behind in the rain. Early's brigade had lost 600 men; the total was thought to be over 1,500.

  Difficult terrain and inexperienced officers had resulted in costly charges that won no advantage. Stuart was mentioned by Long-street in his report as "exceedingly active and zealous in conducting the different columns to their proper destinations and in assisting them to get properly into action."

  In the excitement, there had been informalities, however, and Stuart's men were not entirely idle. William Farley could not bear the inact
ion of the second day and had left his chief to lead an infantry regiment in an impetuous charge.

  The army left Williamsburg with the Federal tide seeping after it toward Richmond. Johnston had split his forces for the retreat. Magruder was on a road nearing the Chickahominy, and G. W. Smith, on the New Kent Road to the north, protected the flank along the York River. Johnston's fears were soon realized. Union troops poured ashore at West Point under the guard of gunboats and thus controlled the York to the limit of navigation. Smith could expect an attack on his flank, and the new threat must be met before the retreating army was mauled once more.

  Fitz Lee's 1st Virginia was screening Smith's regiments, and its pickets were first to detect the Federal move near West Point. On May seventh, with the enemy pushing inland from that point, Smith sent Generals Hood and Wade Hampton to halt them with two infantry brigades. The reckless young Hood forced his way into the lead.

  Hood ordered his men to unload their guns for fear of killing his own troops in undergrowth near the river; he led the column to Fitz Lee's front, and there stumbled onto the enemy. Firing broke out. Hood exposed himself by walking within a few yards of bluecoat skirmishers, and was saved as he fled by a disobedient soldier: A Union corporal lifted his rifle to shoot Hood, when a Texan in the ranks, having disregarded the order to unload his gun, dropped the enemy marksman. The Confederates thrust through thickets and pushed the Federals to the landing, in close range of the protective artillery. Smith's procession was safe, and the enemy was at bay.

  The further retreat toward Richmond was uneventful, and Smith gave credit to the cavalry: "The comfort and quiet with which the march of the troops has been conducted ... is largely due to the admirable dispositions and watchfulness of the cavalry rear-guard, first under Colonel Fitz Lee and more recently under Brigadier General J. E.B. Stuart."

  Two days after this little affair, with Johnston's army settling against the outer defenses of Richmond, Stuart wrote Flora of his part in the battle of Williamsburg, including incidents not easily found in official reports. He wrote from his "Headquarters in the Saddle":

  My Darling Wife-Blessed be God that giveth us the victory. The battle of Wmsburg was fought and won on the 5th. A glorious affair.

  ... On the 4th my Brigade distinguished itself, and on the 5th by its attitude and maneuvering under constant fire prevented the enemy's leaving the woods for the open ground—thus narrowing his artillery scope of fire. 7 consider the most brilliant feat of the 5th to have been a dash of the Stuart Horse Artillery to the front.

  For myself I have only to say that if you had seen your husband you would have been proud of him. I was not out of fire the whole day.

  The day before (4th) the Cavalry made several charges— and Lawrence Williams told the bearer of a flag of truce that I came within an ace of capturing my father-in-law. Our Cavalry charged their Cavalry handsomely and, even they were entirely routed—their artillery captured, the Cav. flag of the enemy was captured—but the 4th Va. Cavalry lost its standard bearer and flag....

  God bless you—

  The army's morale was low as it lay in camps before Richmond. Norfolk must be abandoned, and the historic ironclad Merrimac, now the Virginia, must be scuttled after her fight with the Federal Monitor, because the James was too shallow to carry her to safety. Enemy gunboats were perilously near Richmond. Defenses at Drewry's Bluff on the James were hurriedly strengthened, but no one knew whether they could halt the enemy. With Captain Blackford's aid engineers had thrown a bridge over the river there, and Richmond headquarters could now more easily maneuver forces.

  In northern Virginia, along the line of the Rappahannock, a big Union army under General Irvin McDowell threatened the smaller Confederate force in its front. In the Shenandoah, Jackson and General Dick Ewell were marching, but faced great odds.

  McClellan inched forward until his line was in places five miles from Richmond. Spies said he had more than 120,000 men. In face of this General Johnston fought a small war of his own with Richmond authority. He declined to advise the hostile President Davis of his plans; his refusal to reply to urgent dispatches stung Davis and General R. E. Lee to investigate in the field.

  Lee and Davis were not cheered by what they saw. The President pointed out that a main road lay open to the enemy. On May twenty-fourth this road was used by McClellan as his advance to Mechanicsville, a village five miles from Richmond. Johnston promised an early attack.

  There was a brief flare of hope. Jackson and Ewell had surprised the Federals at Front Royal, in the Valley, and on May twenty-third chased them through Winchester. The campaign there continued.

  There was little relief in sight; it seemed there was nothing to prevent McDowell's joining McClellan to open the gates of Richmond. But the Federal government had fears of its own, and when Jackson pushed north through the Shenandoah, McDowell was held in check. Richmond got a breathing spell.

  Johnston's relations with Davis were so strained that General Lee once felt it necessary to make peace by riding to the front and appealing for more information. At last, on May thirtieth, Johnston felt himself ready to meet McClellan. The scene was Seven Pines, an insignificant settlement in the marshes east of Richmond. As he fell back from Williamsburg on the retreat, soldiers had heard Joe Johnston humming the Stephen Foster melody, "Camptown Races,"7 but there was no such gaiety now. On May thirty-first, the very morning serious fighting opened, headquarters officers saw Johnston leap into his saddle and ride away at the approach of President Davis and General Lee, as if to avoid them. The future was not promising.

  On the eve of the fight at Seven Pines, cavalry headquarters staff acquired one of its most colorful officers: Heros von Borcke.

  The newcomer was a German who spoke the most rudimentary English. He was just off a train from Charleston when Richmond first glimpsed him: An attractive young man of six feet two inches, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, but so light and graceful in movement that he did not seem large. His polished manners were as impressive as the huge cavalry sword he carried.

  Von Borcke had been a Lieutenant of the Guard in Berlin, but had quarreled with his father over money and come to America seeking adventure. He had burned his identification papers at sea when his ship was boarded by a Yankee crew—but had already persuaded Secretary of War Randolph to give him a letter of introduction to General Stuart.

  An intelligent Richmond diarist, Constance Cary, saw him: "A giant in stature, blond and virile, with great curling golden mustaches, and the expression in his wide-open blue eyes of a singularly modest boy."8

  Near sunset on May thirtieth von Borcke came to the camp of Fitz Lee's 1st Virginia: "Lee assured me that it would be next to impossible to find General Stuart that night, and kindly offered me the hospitality of his tent."

  The camp scene was striking to the eyes of a stranger: "The horses were not picketed in regular lines as in European armies, but were scattered about anywhere in the wood, some tethered to swinging limbs, some tied to small trees, other left to browse at will.... In the Colonel's tent, where the officers of his regiment had assembled, and where the lively strains of the banjo alternated with patriotic songs and animated discourse,..." supper was served.

  The main dish was made of terrapin eggs found in a nearby creek and prepared by one of Fitz Lee's Negro servants; von Borcke found it a "work of art" equal to the best Parisian cuisine.

  In the morning von Borcke rode with Fitz Lee's regiment toward the enemy. This, Lee told him, was the way to find Stuart. The German inspected his new companions: "It was marvellous to see how readily these unmilitary-looking troopers obeyed the orders of their colonel, and with what rapidity the breaking up of the camp was managed. . . . The men were all Virginians, whose easy and graceful seat betrayed the constant habit of horseback exercise, and they were mounted mostly on blooded animals."

  Fitz Lee soon pointed out Stuart, "a man galloping rapidly on an active, handsome horse ... a stoutly-built man, of a most frank
and winning expression... his eye quick and piercing."

  Stuart was riding into the battle, but read von Borcke's letter from Secretary Randolph and invited the German to accompany him. He introduced him to General Longstreet. Von Borcke had vivid impressions of the stolid infantry general: "He was a stout man of middle height... his long brown beard gave something leonine to his appearance; an engaging simplicity... in manners and dress...

  a small black felt hat, a tunic-like gray coat, much faded ... a pair of gray trousers and military boots with Mexican spurs; a small sword was his only weapon."

  Von Borcke could see little of the battle. He rode with Stuart, who was in reserve at the center, since his cavalry could be of little service on the overgrown field.

  It seemed to von Borcke that Stuart, though he did not lead a charge, was "in the thickest of the fray, giving assistance, counsel and encouragement to the rest, and letting nothing escape his observation."

  Johnston attacked the enemy south of the Chickahominy, hoping to cut off an exposed wing before reinforcements could cross the swollen stream. Longstreet, Magruder, G. W. Smith and D. H. Hill commanded his troops, which were ordered to move in concert. Something went wrong. Longstreet misunderstood or disobeyed orders and left his assigned position, blocking commands behind him and delaying attack.