Creating a history of the regiment known as the 7th Virginia Cavalry requires looking at a veritable quilt encompassing the whole of the southern people's social experience as it existed in the years leading up to and struggling through the War of Northern Aggression. A study of one company, or even one regiment, cannot be fully undertaken without considering the entire brigade or even the division to which it was assigned. It is indeed a quilt stitched with love and worn with pride and cared for with honor. The men who rode with the regiment rallied to the call in defense of Southern rights from five Virginia counties and one from Maryland. They were gentleman farmers, dirt farmers, merchants, doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, and former soldiers. Some, though not most, were slave owners. A few were black freedmen. Other Africans were man-servants and teamsters. All had come to defend their homes from a bullying federal government and a presumptuous and hypocritical Northern people.
The companies formed and gathered under Colonel MacDonald
at Romney, Virginia in June of 1861 ranged from Turner Ashby's mounted
militia company, late of the 2nd Virginia Militia Cavalry and formed in
1852, which would become Company A of the 7th Virginia Cavalry, to Doctor
John Q. Winfield's company, originally a militia infantry unit, late of
the 4th Virginia Militia Infantry, who's January 1860 organization was
a "hobby and a pet" which grew like the ugly duckling into a
first rate cavalry company. Ultimately twenty-nine companies would gather
to serve under the regiment's first commander of note, Brigadier General
Turner Ashby. After his death, they were reorganized and broken apart
to meet the needs of the Confederacy. Companies of the 7th Virginia Cavalry
would become "Chew's Battery" of J.E.B. Stuart's elite Horse
Artillery, the 12th Virginia Cavalry Regiment, the 14th Virginia Cavalry
Regiment, the 17th Virginia Cavalry Battalion which itself would become
the 11th Virginia Cavalry Regiment. Many of these formations would serve
together again as the much acclaimed "Laurel Brigade". The legacy
and spirit of the men organized and led by Turner Ashby would have a long
reach and be felt, and rightly feared, by the Federal Army throughout
the bloody war.
Ashby's
horsemen fought with a wide variety of weaponry and accoutrements. The
companies were initially described by one contemporary as "poorly
uniformed, armed and equipped for military service. Many of them still
wore civilian clothes, or uniforms made of gray, without regularity of
color or make…" Initially, the arms carried by the regiment
into battle ranged from Austrian rifles to flintlocks and Mississippi
rifles to shotguns. The former militia companies fared better with their
Enfield muskets, Sharps and Merrill carbines and Colt Army and Navy pistols.
Three Henry repeating rifles also graced the regiment's ordnance roster.
The "standard" long arm carried by the troopers of the 7th appears
to have been the Sharps carbine, with all but one of the companies possessing
them in some number. A few newly raised companies lacked side arms at
the beginning of the conflict. However, all companies would eventually
wear the Colt Army and or Navy pistol, with at least two being carried
for mounted combat by the middle of 1862. Both the 1840 "wrist breaker"
and the lighter 1860 model cavalry sabers were deployed by the regiment
to good effect during the Civil War.
The uniform of Company A of the 7th Virginia was medium gray in color, made of either jean wool or wool and sported black piping around the top of the collar of the shell jacket, edging the epaulets, and as a chevron along the cuff. When available, the buttons were of brass and bore the Virginia State Seal. The trousers were piped in black. Both Brogans and civilian boots were worn, as were captured U.S. Artillery Driver's boots. A gray 1861 style kepi with a black band was also worn; later slouch hats became more common. Leather was dyed black and a rectangular Virginia belt plate held the sword belt together. Around mid 1863 the Richmond Depot Type II shell jacket was worn for the rest of the War. This jacket lacked the piping of the earlier jackets. Trousers without the piping and captured Federal trousers were worn later. Some Type III or Tait jackets may have been issued at the end of the war.
Early horse accoutrements generally consisted of the Jenifer,
Hope, or Grimsley saddles. Civilian English styled, plantation and wagon
saddles were also used. Later, these were replaced with captured Union
McClellans or imitations of Confederate manufacture. When the Union's
blockade of the south began to make itself felt in shortages of material
and equipment, the regiment did what the majority of the Confederate forces
had came to rely up on, they took what was needed from their defeated
enemy. The Federal Army became the primary supplier of the Confederate
Army for many items. One of Ashby's troopers had actually been seen riding
barebacked into battle armed only with a wooden club!
The
martial record of the 7th Virginia is a remarkable one, and began with
picket duty guarding a 125 mile line along the Potomac River from Martinsburg
to Harper's Ferry. Skirmishes occurred nearly every day from June through
October of 1861. Ironically, the regiment's first battle casualty taken
at Romney, Virginia fell not to lead shot or steel, but to nature, an
unidentified trooper of Company D drowned in the Potomac River. In November,
the regiment was assigned to the command of Major General Thomas "Stonewall"
Jackson. It is in the annals of Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign,
in 1862, that the 7th would first ride towards the renown. Ashby was to
Jackson as Stuart became to Lee. Jackson's goal was to occupy the Federals
in the Valley and not allow them to march on Richmond. To this end, he
hounded and harried them. The 7th Virginia Cavalry acted as Jackson's
scouts to locate the multiple enemy commands and as a screen to the movements
of the Confederate forces. Ashby's troopers also participated in one of
the first uses of the railroad to move troops during this successful campaign
culminating in the Battles of New Market and Cedar Mountain. Southern
arms saw the resounding defeats of Union Generals Landers, Milroy, Banks,
Shields, Fremont and Pope. This magnificent campaign is still studied
in military academies around the world today.
Sadly,
Brigadier General Turner Ashby never tasted the sweetness of this victory;
he fell with a pistol ball in the breast during the fighting around New
Market. Ashby's command was reorganized as a full brigade under Brigadier
General Robertson and assigned to J.E.B. Stuart. Command of the 7th Virginia,
now reduced to ten companies, and passed to Colonel William E. "Grumble"
Jones. It was under Jones' watchful eye that the 7th Virginia Cavalry
would finally learn military discipline. One of Jones' first acts was
to have a number of grindstones brought into the camp. This done, he ordered
the men to sharpen their sabers, admonishing, "If you want to cut,
have something you can cut with. If you want to bruise, better get a club."
The men responded derisively, surmising they would have need of neither
saber nor club as they would never close with the enemy while commanded
by the old infantry colonel. They soon learned the error of their assumption
at 1st Brandy Station and Gainesville.
In August 1862, the 7th earned their place in the line, holding the position of honor on Jackson's right at 2nd Manassas. Colonel Robertson left the Department of the Valley at this time and Colonel Munford took command of the Brigade. On September 17th, the 7th Virginia and Munford's Brigade found themselves posted near the Potomac River yet again, securing the right of General Robert E. Lee's line as it advanced into Northern territory for the first time. The regiment lost one man killed, one man wounded and two troopers captured during the drawn Battle of Sharpsburg, on the bloodiest day of the War Between the States. "Grumble" Jones was promoted to Brigadier General, taking command of the Brigade and Colonel Richard Dulany assumed command of the 7th Regiment.
The year 1863 began with a daring raid into Maryland. The strength of every regiment in the brigade was reduced. Large numbers of men were on furlough to obtain fresh horses. On campaign, cavalrymen who lost their mounts to enemy action were assigned to "Company Q." They were tasked to fight on foot as light infantry or to act as guards to the supply wagons. When the fighting along the front had died down to a lull, they were then sent home to procure mounts and recruit for their units.
The Hardy County raid was unique from the raids in which Stuart's cavalry was praised, in that it culminated in provoking a retaliatory, sharp see-saw fight at Middletown at the end of the endeavor, where Jones' training and drill paid off. One Lieutenant was mentioned in dispatches for leading a squadron of the 7th in a charge and personally wounding four of the enemy with his saber.
Raiding continued into Maryland and western Virginia until the spring. The strength of the 7th Virginia Cavalry had fallen to about 450 men due to illness, combat, or the worn down condition of the horses. Colonel Marshall accepted command of the regiment after Colonel Dulany's horse was shot out from under him and he received a severe wound to his arm at Greenland Gap on a raid on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The vicious nature of the fighting during these raids was shown in an account by one 7th Cavalry officer as he reported a Federal attack against Charles Town in which the raiding Union cavalry had accidentally shot down five of their own men who had been held prisoner in the Confederate camp.
The
raiding and counter-raiding of the spring gave way to summer and the boys
knew something "big" was in the air. A fight the likes of which
they had yet to encounter was about to break upon them. Soon after reveille
on the morning of June 9th, 1863 the thunder of gunfire rolled into camp.
The regiment took post and began to envelope towards the left of the firing,
dismounting to deploy as skirmishers and hold a line along a fence at
the edge of the woods. It was from this position they seized the Federal
advance for a time. Union artillery fire forced the thin gray line back
to their mounts and Colonel Marshall maneuvered the regiment to a new
line of battle on top of a hill at Brandy Station. Orders came to retake
the position held that morning. Marshall threw forward a dismounted screen
of sharpshooters to scour the woods to his flanks and advanced his mounted
companies. Union cavalry hove into view and the 7th charged. The Yankee
riders fled in disarray from the sudden and bold assault before contact
could be made. The Federals fell back upon their supports and again severe
artillery fire pushed the Virginians back to cover behind a hill where
the 7th joined W.H.F. Lee's Brigade. They rode under Lee's orders back
to Brandy Station as the regiment had been cut off from Jones' Brigade.
Jones found them on the way to that point and ordered them to rejoin his
command. Their orders were to advance by squadrons and charge the enemy
should they try to take the Confederate artillery firing nearby.
Before any Union forces could be encountered, the 7th was ordered to go to W.H.F. Lee's assistance on the left. After checking the Federal assault against W.H.F. Lee, the regiment turned around once more and rode hard to the aid of Robertson's Brigade. Later in the evening, the regiment acted in support to the infantry skirmishers and they manned picket posts for the rest of the restless night. The 7th's losses at Beverly Ford and Brandy Station were twenty-four men were killed, wounded, or captured.
After
the fighting at Brandy Station, Lee approved Stuart's latest raid around
the Army of the Potomac. The ANV began to move north one more time. Two
brigades of cavalry remained with General R.E. Lee, those of Wade Hampton
and "Grumble" Jones. These cavalrymen would be Lee's only eyes
for the coming Gettysburg Campaign until Stuart rejoined the Army of Northern
Virginia. Advanced skirmishing began almost immediately on June 21st,
1863. The army moved into Pennsylvania on July 1st, 1863. On the 2nd the
7th Virginia Cavalry met its first severe reverse of the war. The 6th
U.S. Cavalry ambushed them while they were trapped in a narrow rail-fenced
lane. The Unionists had deployed dismounted skirmishers to either side
of the lane and awaited the Virginia horsemen's arrival. In his report,
Jones wrote: "A failure to rally promptly and renew the fight is
a blemish in the bright history of this regiment. Many officers and men
formed noble exceptions." The next day, at Fairfield, the 7th would
again live up to its reputation on the Emmitsburg Road and at Hagerstown.
Near Funkstown the 7th met the 6th U.S. again. The Federals advanced with a company deployed forward as a screen. The Virginians charged immediately, driving in the skirmish company upon the head of the advancing Union regiment, still in columns of four. The 6th U.S. broke and ran, hotly pursued by the 7th Virginia. In a fit of revenge they Confederates ignored the recall order. Before they responded to the order, they rode headlong into a Federal cavalry division. A running fight ensued and a number of troopers from the regiment were taken prisoner when their blown horses and limited ammunition gave out.
The 7th was joined in the fight by the 11th Virginia Cavalry and the Federals withdrew to avoid a similar fate. A Lieutenant of the 7th recalled that a heavy rain had fallen during the previous night, soaking the revolvers, cartridge boxes and carbines of the regiment. With ammunition scarce, the saber was the weapon of the day. Sabers were used with more effect here than in any other fight the 7th ever participated in during the war. Two Virginians of the 7th had been wounded and nine taken prisoner during the fighting at Funkstown. Federal casualties were not known but said to be much heavier--as much as three times the number of southern horsemen laid low. Once again drill and training had paid off.
Skirmishing continued around Boonesboro and Hagerstown. The fighting at Gettysburg and in Maryland had cost the regiment thirteen killed, forty-one wounded, and 12 missing or captured. Thirty-seven horses were killed, forty-five wounded, and nine captured. The remains of the summer would be spent on picket duty.
The Fall of '63 would see another cavalry clash at the Culpeper Courthouse, where a severe fight would take place against Union Brigadier General Buford's Federal First Cavalry Division. Colonel Lomax commanded the brigade in place of "Grumble" Jones, and drove off the union cavalrymen. Grapeshot had taken a terrible toll upon the troopers and horses of the regiment. Two were killed, nine wounded, and sixteen wounded and taken prisoner. Another sharp fight at Jack's Shop and a third battle near Brandy Station were soon to follow. The 7th Virginia Cavalry was again mentioned in Stuart's dispatches as "having fought with its accustomed gallantry."
Jones was under arrest and being court marshaled by Stuart. Charged with disobeying orders, conduct prejudicial to good order, and for using disrespectful language to a superior officer, Jones was acquitted of the first two charges and requested and received a transfer away from Stuart. Command of the regiment would remain with Lomax. Colonel Funsten held the reins of the Jones' Brigade.
During the Fall of 1863, the brigade and one other under
Colonel Gorden had ridden on a scout to Catlett's Station. While near
the Station a large force of Federals moved into their rear and cut them
off from Confederate lines. The southern cavalry swiftly and silently
moved a half mile from the road and settled in to the deep woods for a
cold night spent with no fires and no talking. The Union Army lay all
around them. Many men spent the tense crisp night with the horses and
mules to keep them quiet. Riders were dispatched to inform General R.E.
Lee of their plight and the enemy's movement. Lee attacked the next morning
and Stuart led the trapped cavalry in the fighting. The men of the 7th
were deployed dismounted and acted as sharpshooters throughout the day.
The regiment followed the retreating Federals and went into camp at Manassas
that night where they were joined by their new Brigade Commander, Brigadier
General Thomas L. Rosser.
Much
marching and skirmishing followed. Stuart attacked the Federal cavalry
of General Kilpatrick, which included the brigade of one George Armstrong
Custer at Buckland Mills on October 19th, 1863. The 7th found itself operating
on one of the flanks again with two squadrons mounted and three others
dismounted. The southern riders were looking for an opportunity to attack
the Yankee battle line from the rear and Kilpatrick obliged them of the
opportunity when he moved his division forward to support Custer's Brigade.
The Union riders were thrown back by dismounted Confederate cavalry which
Kilpatrick at the time believed were infantry. The Confederate mounted
squadrons exploited the confusion and the Federal horsemen broke and ran.
The event became known as the "Buckland Races." Custer would
not forget his humiliation at the hands of Rosser's horsemen. The fighting
moved towards Haymarket, where a pushing Stuart drove off the Yankees
in a night attack. In another night attack, Rosser surprised escorting
Pennsylvania cavalry near Stevensburg and routed them, capturing sixty
Federals, one hundred horses and many wagons.
Operating near Fredericksburg, Virginia, Rosser battled with Union General Gregg's 2nd Cavalry Division, This resulted in the capture of several more supply trains over the course of the autumn of 1863, and included one march of 230 miles in three days.
The year of 1864 was seen on picket duty. The winter of
1863-1864 was a harsh one. A few men were lost to frozen feet which had
to be amputated. At the end of January, Rosser's Brigade had recaptured
Petersburg from the Union and captured yet another Federal supply train
of ninety-three wagons and a large number of sheep and cattle through
the combined use of artillery, mounted and dismounted men. Rosser had
embraced Napoleon's concept of the combined arms battle group. He utilized
the concept to great effect--even when consistently outnumbered on the
battlefield. Rosser's entire brigade did not exceed 400 men during this
period of raiding and maneuver. Of these, were 181 hard men rode in the
ranks of the 7th Virginia Cavalry. These hardy veteran soldiers reenlisted
for the duration of the war in February, 1864.
The end of the winter freeze saw the regiment moving with the brigade
to the grounds of the University of Virginia. A hasty camp was set-up
in the woods on the campus grounds. Under the shelter of split fence rails
and stretched oilcloths, a meal of fat backed bacon and hardtack was prepared
in a driving rain. During this early spring period the 7th responded with
their brigade to many requests for aid around Richmond. Many of these
turned out to be false alarms.
While
in another such camp at Brownsburg, in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Rosser's
Brigade became known as the "Laurel Brigade." A yellow patch,
with green laurel branch embroidered upon it, became a part of their uniforms.
The men usually chose to wear this badge of honor on their hats.
A lull took place in the fighting as draft riots overtook New York and a Presidential election campaign based upon the merits of peace rose against Lincoln that spring. During this time the regiment and the brigade regained their strength as convalesced wounded or sick soldiers and new recruits replenished the ranks. The Laurel Brigade's rosters rose to tally a strength of 2,300 men. The tranquility, however, was not to last.
In May of 1864, the Laurel Brigade marched to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia then engaged in the battle of the Wilderness. Philip Sheridan's Cavalry Corps, including one Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer, was waiting for them. Custer had not taken the beatings he had received at the hands of Rosser's men very well. He had spent the winter seething and making his men's lives miserable. Now, on May 5th, he had his chance for vengeance! Union cavalry advanced up the Catharpin Road ahead of Union General Warren's Fifth Corps. Near Todd's Tavern they ran into the vedettes of the 35th Virginia Cavalry, who raised the alarm. The 7th Virginia mounted quickly as "To Horse" was blared by the brigade's bugler.
The roadside was thick with wooded undergrowth, forcing the two opponents to engage in columns. As the men of one regiment were worn down and used up, the regiments behind would push forward to take their turn with "the elephant". Fighting in battle was called "seeing the elephant" by the troops, who considered a battle a beastly affair, strange and filled with the unknown. Soon, it was the 7th Virginia Cavalry's time at the front.
Custer's luck had held and he managed to find a break in the foliage along the road. He deployed his Michigan Brigade into line in an old overgrown field dotted with scrub pine, sage grass and other brush: good concealment for his men. The 7th charged forward, and were met by a hail of fire from Custer's troopers. The Virginians recoiled, driven back by the galling fire of the Spencer repeaters and Sharps breach loaders. Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, commanding the regiment, stood in his stirrups and rallied his men with the cry; "This is the Laurel Brigade! You have won laurels and can win them again. Come on 7th Regiment with the yell!" A private of the regiment recorded in his diary, "This day all of the regiment followed Colonel Marshall." As Marshall led his regiment's charge, the sharpshooters of the brigade, coupled with the assigned battery of horse artillery, opened with telling effect upon Custer. The Michigan Brigade, boastfully known as the "Wolverines," broke when hit by Marshall's 7th Virginia as they fell back to get away from the Virginia artillery fire.
The pursuit continued until Custer's men regained support just beyond Todd's Tavern. Our chronicler of the 7th's "death or glory" charge wrote in his diary, "our loss was greater than it had ever been in any previous engagement this brigade had ever been in and many old timers say it was the hardest fight they have ever been in." The 7th Virginia Cavalry had a known loss of nine men killed and thirty-eight wounded in the fighting around Todd's Tavern.
Clashes continued throughout May with engagements all along the line. The Laurel Brigade was transferred to Wade Hampton's Division and remained with him until September. They first rode into battle under his command at Haw's Shop against Sheridan's raiders. The Virginians were forced to fall back under orders. Hampton's Division had been out flanked by union infantry reinforcing Sheridan after a day long fight. Scouting, patrolling and grazing the horses filled the days when the command was not fighting.
Both sides were growing very tired of the War. This is borne out in June of 1864 when the Laurel Brigade overtook a reconnaissance in force by a brigade of Wilson's Cavalry Division. The men enthusiastically chased away the interlopers and charged the Union horsemen on sight. Both brigades burst apart at meeting and individual regiments found themselves alone and facing a foe in similar straits. So it was when Rosser found himself halting to reform his scattered brigade. A lone regiment of Federal cavalry was spotted approaching him. Taking the men on hand, including the remnants of the 7th, Rosser met the Federals. Upon closing with each other, both sides halted. The Union officer ordered the charge! Rosser ordered the charge! Neither side moved, much to the consternation of their officers. Finally a private of the 11th Virginia seized his regimental colors and tilted into the Federal ranks with a Rebel yell and a curse upon those who would not follow! The men of the Laurel Brigade charged and flung the Yankee horsemen to the winds. Six men of the 7th were wounded, one mortally. Colonel Dulany was among the wounded-he had just returned to the field after recovering from his previous wounding.
The early summer was a nightmare of swirling small, yet constant engagements; Hanover Town, Trevilian Station, and Gordonsville.
At
Gordonsville, the regiment's old nemesis, Custer, again outflanked Hampton's
Division and worked his way to Hampton's rear, captured the Confederate
wagons and the horses of a dismounted brigade. General Hampton, being
discomfited, called for the Laurel Brigade to attack Custer. Rosser and
his troopers responded promptly, kicking Custer away so fast he had to
skedaddle without any of the purloined property! Rosser's Brigade then
formed line with Hampton's other two brigades which had fallen back to
a ridgeline and repulsed multiple attacks by Sheridan's combined forces.
Unfortunately Rosser received a severe wound and Colonel Dulany led the
brigade. The men lay through the starry night in expectation of renewed
horrors upon the morrow. The morning rose quiet, and reinforcements in
the form of General Fitz Lee's Division arrived. Finally, the long awaited
Union attack came in about three o'clock in the afternoon. Sheridan made
a series of charges upon Hampton's Division. The battle raged until darkness
cloaked the hideous field from view. Sheridan fell back under cover of
darkness to Grant's position.
More fighting followed that long tedious summer of 1864. The 7th participated in the battles of Samaria Church and Sappony Church, sleeping on their arms with horses saddled. At last, in August, the Laurel Brigade was moved back to Richmond via Culpeper. The short rest of a week was sorely needed. R.E. Lee hastily recalled Hampton's Division to aid W.H.F. Lee's Division which Grant was pushing back with overwhelming numbers. Cavalrymen from Lee's and Hampton's Divisions stopped the attack. On August 18th, they assaulted Grant's forces and threw him back at Ream's Station: charging over Union breastworks to do so. They pursued the fleeing Federals two miles. On the 23rd Grant returned with Hancock's Corps and Gregg's Cavalry Division. Meeting the enemy head on the blunted Federals withdrew back through the forest until they reached an open field. Here they deployed and stood their ground. The Confederates pressed their assault but were forced back to the shelter of the woods from the galling fire.
Now it was the Federals turn to try. They advanced against
the dismounted Confederate cavalrymen, ensconced behind an old fence in
the tree line. A hot fight begun anew. The federal firepower was enormous.
They began to advance in "Indian rushes" using their repeaters
high rate of fire to sweep the graybacks away from the makeshift breastwork
and back into the trees. Confederate General Butler's Brigade came up
in support and together the southern horsemen regained their former position.
Fighting with carbine butts, knives and pistols, individual men fought
hand to hand at pointblank range in the dense confines of the forest.
The Federals fled back to their breastworks: the field spotted with bits
of gray and blue colored piles--the dead and dying of both side's futile
attempts to best the other. Firing continued until well after dark. General
Butler praised the horsemen of the 7th Virginia for their uncommon valor
in the savage fighting at Ream's Station. General Rosser resumed command
of the brigade and ordered Colonel Dulany to resume command of the 7th
and report to General D.H. Hill. Hill requested the cavalry regiment to
clear the obstinate enemy from his front, so that he may move his infantry
and artillery forward unmolested. Dulany's thoughts on this order are
not recorded but can be well surmised by the reader.
Dutifully, the Colonel ordered Lt. Colonel Marshall to take his squadron
forward and lead his troopers in a mounted charge against the Union earthworks.
A half an hour later Marshall was returned on a liter badly wounded. Dulany
then led the remainder of the regiment forward picking up the remnants
of Marshall's Squadron and drove the Federals behind their works; two
of his men actually leapt their mounts into the works where they were
captured. General Hill had the time he needed to position his men. The
next morning, August 25, Hill had the 7th Virginia protect his flanks
while he made his own attack against the Federal fortifications. Federal
cavalry made three attempts to take Hill's assault in the flanks. All
three attacks were beaten back by the men of the 7th, using captured Henry
repeating 16 shooters. The end of the second days fighting at Ream's Station
saw the men of the 7th collecting the cannon, arms and equipment left
on the blood soaked field by the defeated enemy.
After a short period of rest during which a minor brush with some Yankee
infantry was used for amusement, orders came for a raid towards Brandon
Church. The objective; a great herd of cattle to be captured for General
Lee's hungry soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia. And thus began
the "Great Cattle Raid". Rosser's men arrived to find the herd
exactly where it was supposed to be, peacefully grazing under the eyes
of the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry, 400 men armed with Henry repeating
rifles. Supporting them were members of the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry
nearby. An abatis, a barricade of logs and sharpened stakes, protected
the Union camp next to a wooden church and a small wood. The Laurel Brigade
moved by night to within a mile and a half of the herd, and then waited
for dawn. As the sun rose two companies of the 11th Virginia charged through
a small gateway in the camp's defenses against a withering fire from the
blue-bellies. While the men of the 11th sacrificed themselves the men
of their sister regiment, the 7th, removed the abatis to allow the men
of the 12th Virginia to charge home. The fight was ended quickly with
more than 300 Union prisoners in Confederate hands. After a short skirmish
with the herd guard, the cattle, numbering almost 2,500 head, were turned
southward by eight o'clock in the morning.
General Gregg's union cavalry pursued with a vengeance,
riding straight into the captured Henry repeating sixteen shooters of
the Laurel Brigade. Hampton had ordered the Laurel Brigade to prepare
an ambush at Ebenezer Church to prevent any pursuit from interfering with
his cattle drive to Ream's Station and the issuance of the cattle to the
various commands of Lee's Army. The fighting against Hampton's rearguard
became so fierce that a reinforced full brigade had to be sent to the
Laurel Brigade's assistance to keep the again humiliated and enraged Federals
in check. As night drew near the sorely pressed but deeply satisfied Confederate
rearguard withdrew across the river and the safety of their lines. The
"Great Cattle Raid" was over. The 7th Virginia Cavalry suffered
six dead and sixteen wounded in the raid and rearguard action.
The fall of 1864 brought orders to return to the Shenandoah Valley. These
were received with much rejoicing by the men. On October 5th, the Laurel
Brigade became part of General Fitz Lee's Division of Cavalry, now under
the command of Rosser. Union General Sheridan's force had invaded the
Valley and Rosser's Division followed it down what became known as the
"Black Road" as Sheridan burned his way through the Shenandoah
Valley. Burning farms, houses, towns and crop filled fields banished all
thought of fatigue from the southern soldiers. Only a desire to close
with and destroy the hated enemy remained in Rosser's troops. They caught
up with Sheridan's rearguard, led by none other than Custer, on October
6th near Brock's Gap. Custer held a hill with artillery support. It was
dusk, so only one assault could be made and a spirited skirmish took place
with the artillery tipping the game in Custer's favor until full dark
when Custer's men fell back. The Laurel Brigade pressed Custer closely,
forcing him to turn and fight again on the 7th at Mill Creek.
The
7th Cavalry Regiment was able to cross the creek unopposed, by a rarely
used and probably unknown ford to the Federals. However, they soon ran
into Custer's rearguard. The 7th's 1st Squadron, led by Captain Hatch
of A Company, in their trademark flanking attack, struck home into Custer's
position just as the balance of the regiment charged against its front
across the cut of the stream. The stunned and out maneuvered Yanks put
up only token resistance before fleeing back to Custer's main force. The
rest of the Laurel Brigade now struck the main Union rearguard with Rosser's
Division. The fighting continued until nightfall when Rosser drew back
to place some space between himself and the battered Federals. Custer
chose discretion rather than valor and withdrew quietly in the night.
A running fight continued during the next day until Custer turned down
the Valley Pike and rejoined Sheridan. Sheridan returned with Custer in
tow and fighting resumed at the Battle of Tom's Brook. Custer redeemed
himself in his master's eyes through repeated charges and turning movements
until he finally managed to outflank Rosser and capture a battery. About
this time Colonel Dulany was shot from his horse and Colonel Funsten took
command of the Laurel Brigade. Rosser was compelled to retire under the
pressure of numbers with Custer in pursuit. This was the first fight that
Rosser had ever lost. It was handed to him by the sheer weight of men
and material thrown against him. The war had become a game of numbers,
simple math, and Rosser's men knew it, as did confederate forces everywhere.
Yet, they grimly, and nobly, fought on.
The unrelenting blue storm continued to break upon the South. Turning
as if at bay, General Early's forces counter-marched to attack Sheridan
at Cedar Creek on October 19th, 1864. Rosser, now in command of both the
Laurel Brigade and W.C. Wickham's Brigade, moved to assault Custer's camp
near Marlboro. The charge went in under cover of the autumn morning's
mist at 5 AM. Rosser's men rolled Custer's troopers back into Sheridan's
main encampment, where a vastly superior number of Federal soldiers had
formed. A lull fell over the field as both sides paused to consider their
next moves. The Federals shifted their now reformed cavalry over to cover
their left, where Early's men had routed the Union infantry from the field.
This redirection of troops passed unnoticed by either Rosser or Early.
At 3PM the Federals counterattacked. They commenced a concentrated bombardment
with their massed artillery upon the Laurel Brigade in Rosser's front.
Sudden and heavy shell fire burst around and over the dismounted and resting
men causing great confusion as the men attempted to remount. Rosser ordered
the men to fall back out of range, as he did so Custer seeing the hasty
withdrawal ordered his brigade to attack. Only 50 of Rosser's men met
the charge and incredibly drove it back!
After dark, the Laurel Brigade held the trenches on Fisher's Hill until dawn, when they formed the rearguard of General Early's retreating army. The Brigade suffered losses of two men killed and seven wounded at Cedar Creek. Orders were given on November 10th, to march. Sheridan was reported to be falling back from the Valley! Early was going to see that he went as quickly as possible. Skirmishing against Sheridan's rearguard occurred from November 11th until November 20th. Colonel Marshall was shot in the back during one of these skirmishes at Brent's House and his body was stripped and robbed by the Federals. The Colonel's body was found by members of the 7th clad in only his trousers, with the pockets turned out and wearing a blood soaked holed flannel shirt. Everything else had been stolen by the Yankees. While Sheridan had destroyed the Shenandoah Valley, there were still abundant supplies in the South Branch Valley, and it was here that Early's Army turned to rest. This they did after Rosser's men had captured 800 prisoners, 400 horses, and large quantities of Quartermaster and Ordnance supplies, including more cattle and sheep from the Union garrison which had been stationed there.
On December 20th, Custer launched a raid on the Virginia
Central Railroad. The 7th Virginia Cavalry rode with Rosser and the rest
of the Laurel Brigade to counter this threat, traveling through rain and
mud to do so. The men met Custer in the early morning hours. Custer's
men lay encamped near Lacey's Springs in the fading starlight before them.
Cold and covered in ice, the Laurel Brigade charged their weary, thin,
and indifferent horses forward without a shouted order or even a bugle
call. The silent wave of gray horsemen crashed into the sleeping arsonists'
first camp before firing a shot. After this, a stiff fight began as the
now roused Federals fought for their very lives. They fell back firing
towards Sheridan's position and Rosser's exhausted men pursued them for
about a mile. This minor, yet bitter-sweet victory was the last angry
shot heard by the men in 1864.
1865
dawned with another period of raiding by the Confederate cavalry. The
remount situation had become so bad that there were fewer horses available
than volunteers to ride on the raids. Still, victories were won. Rosser
captured 600 Federals in under 25 minutes for a loss of three men killed
at Beverly Ford on January 11th. The Laurel Brigade returned with much
needed clothing and supplies. Many of the men were suffering from frostbite.
Following the return from this raid, the Valley defenders were reduced
until only Rosser's Brigade and Wharton's Infantry Division were left
to hold the Valley. The only fight for a time, was against hunger, cold,
and desertion. Many men were deserting the colors to be with their families
during these hard times brought on by Sheridan's destruction of the Shenandoah
Valley in 1864. Many of the civilian population were without homes and
left to the harsh elements and wretched starvation by the hard hearted
northerners.
In late February, Sheridan again renewed his advance on the Virginia Central Railroad up the Valley. Rosser met Sheridan at the North River Bridge with 500 men. Sheridan's Army held 10,000 with in its ranks. The Laurel Brigade constructed breastworks across the end of the bridge and to both sides and actually held Sheridan there for over a day! Rosser was trying to buy time for General Early to form a defense against Sheridan's onslaught. High water had checked Sheridan's attempts to outflank the small ragged band of soldiers defying him, but the water receded the next day and Rosser was compelled to retreat or be overwhelmed. Rosser left forty-two brave men in Sheridan's hands. Sheridan's losses in this action are not known but claimed to have been much higher than this.
Early ordered Rosser's cavalry to harass Sheridan's march by striking at his flanks and any depots left on his supply line. Sheridan caught Early at Waynesboro, capturing 1,300 men. Rosser launched many raids designed to free as many of these southern soldiers as possible, and indeed his attacks allowed many to escape. Southern morale was beginning to fail and many of the prisoners simply could not carry on. They were used up and when captured, were happy to have survived the conflict in 1865. Rosser had to accept this and gave up trying to free any more of Early's men. He moved his command to Hanover Court House and joined Fitz Lee's Division.
Ordered
to Petersburg, a 7th Virginia Private wrote, "I would have wrote
you sooner but we have been marching very near day and night. We are faring
badly. Our horses got corn plenty, but we get sometimes a little bacon
and a little cold corn bread. It is 'nough to kill the Devil for you know
that I do not like to eat corn bread and fat meat…" Rosser's
Division continued its march and joined Fitz Lee at Five Forks on March
30th, 1865. Together, they attacked Sheridan's Army at Dinwiddie Court
House. They met Sheridan's men on the banks of Chamberlain's Run. The
cavalry fought dismounted alongside the infantry in this assault. The
men of the Laurel Brigade fought like demons and forced Sheridan back
for several miles in a sharp fight. Rosser's men were bowed, but far from
beaten.
The morning of April 1st found Rosser's men guarding the Army's wagon train at Five Forks. Around three in the afternoon, a Federal infantry corps rapidly attacked the Confederate left flank, collapsing it in upon the southern center. Rosser watched helplessly from across Hatcher's Run as the Union collected prisoners. The Yankees tried to continue on to the railroad but Rosser and his men drove them back. Rosser acted as Fitz Lee's rearguard from this point until the end. They skirmished with the Federals continually. Rosser succeeded in recapturing a bridge Union cavalry had grabbed ahead of the Confederate's retreating column. The Laurel Brigade retook the bridge only after defeating a Federal infantry brigade which had come up in support of the Union cavalry at Deep Creek.
His wagon trains threatened, General Robert E. Lee ordered Rosser to protect the Army of Northern Virginia's supply trains. The 7th, along with the remainder of Rosser's men, grimly fought off the Federal cavalry with their sabers, ammunition being critically low. The Federals roamed the area like packs of hunting blue wolves. They again beat the blue horsemen in this manner at Amelia Springs on April 5th. On April 6th Fitz Lee ordered Rosser to join Longstreet in defending Rice's Station to hold a bridge vital to the Army's retreat.
Rosser's
Division struck a large body of Yankees on their flank as they advanced
upon Rice's Station near High Bridge. The Laurel Brigade hit the Federal
flank while Munford's Brigade tore into their front and savage hand to
hand fighting evolved. The Union men were driven from the field and the
bridge was saved. It was here that General Dearing, commanding the Laurel
Brigade fell. Lieutenant Colonel White assumed command of the Laurel Brigade
as Dearing lay dying. Another rearguard action occurred at Farmville,
ending with Rosser's cavalry being forced to cross two miles further up
the Appomattox River. In attempting to rejoin Fitz Lee's command, Rosser's
men again struck Federal cavalry in the form of a brigade commanded by
General Irvin Gregg. Attacking in what had become Rosser's trademark single
envelopment assault; an unknown trooper of the 7th Virginia Cavalry dismounted
Gregg and captured him. The retreat to Appomattox Court House continued
with the Laurel Brigade acting as rearguard. The weary command rode night
and day until Appomattox was reached on the early morning of the 8th.
At daylight the last line of battle was formed by the 7th Cavalry and
the troopers of the Laurel Brigade. They, alongside of General Gordon's
men, attacked along the Lynchburg Road. The attempt to breakout of the
Yankee encirclement started at sunrise and drove the surprised Federals
back, making a number of them prisoners. The assault ground out as it
butted against two full Union Infantry Corps. General Fitz Lee, seeing
the futility of continuing the assault in this direction sent word to
Headquarters. Soon after the men saw the white flags fluttering around
them and knew that it was over. Thirty-four remaining members of the 7th
Virginia Cavalry finally surrendered at Appomattox Court House with Robert
E. Lee.
OBSERVATIONS AND QUESTIONS TO PONDER
The four years of the American Civil War saw advancements in military technology which covered over one hundred years. 1861 saw the antagonists fighting by the dictates of Napoleon, written in 1815. The main arm of the cavalry was the saber and a stout heart. Infantry carried smoothbores with an accurate rage of around fifty yards. Artillery was predominantly of the smoothbore variety as well. By 1863 the War's weapons had outpaced the troops' tactics. Long arms were rifled as was the artillery. Repeating weapons became available in ever larger numbers. The South, however, could not reproduce the brass cased ammunition for this weapon, so southern troops only had the use of such fine weapons until they ran out of captured ammunition.
The technology had made warfare expensive and deadly to the soldiers marching shoulder to shoulder into the guns. Regiments were raised locally; almost every man was somebody's neighbor. And in the Victorian age, it was far better to die in battle than return home to be known a coward.
By 1864, commanders like Rosser were using combined arms to successfully complete their missions. Gone were the days of wholly mounted combat. The mounted trooper with pistol and saber, combined with dismounted troopers armed with carbines were the order of the day by 1863, unless a lack of ammunition dictated otherwise. Infantry combat had seen the evolution of looser formations and the use of earthworks and trenches. The last nine months of the War closely resembled the trench warfare to be seen in 1916. Sadly, the lessons of the War Between the States would have to be relearned in the muddy battlefield of Europe by America's fighting men in 1917-1918. The actual numbers of casualties suffered by both sides in the American Civil War can only be estimated. Over 600,000 lay moldering in the dust, more than a million and a half carried scars somewhere upon their bodies. Almost every living American had emotional scars and every family knew someone who had died in the conflict. The most important thing to remember about that damned war is that every single soldier, both north and south was an American.
The obtaining of early war uniforms for the Southern soldiers was accomplished with a system left over from the days of the War of 1812: called commutation. The soldiers purchased their own and were reimbursed at a set rate. The enlisted uniform rarely looked anything near what the regulations called for. Virginia had uniform regulations, but militia companies were allowed to keep their pre-war attire. The uniform worn by most Confederate regiments was left to the discretion of the unit's commander. Southern industry was producing large quantities of jean wool material, which many in the Confederacy proudly wore as a symbol of southern self-reliance and independence from the North. Many of the uniforms worn by Confederate companies of the 7th Virginia Cavalry tried to meet the commander's dictates; however, a medley of shades of gray could not be avoided. In some instances a company's coats and trousers would have several interpretations of "medium Gray" and only be uniform in the placement and color of their trim, if any was worn. Pre-war militia units had both wool and jean wool uniforms, as did a portion of those regiments whose commanders paid for the manufacture of the uniforms.
The darkened bloodstains of the war's wounded and dead can still be seen on the creaking wooden steps, weathered porches, and aged floors of many period structures which had been temporarily converted to serve as field hospitals near the now quiet scenes of the conflict. Many visitors today have no idea of what lay beneath their feet or of the stories and bravery of which those stains tell.
One can only ponder "the what if" had Ashby not fallen to an accidental shot by one of his own men. If he had survived, would it have been Jackson reconnoitering his lines that evening at Chancellorsville, or Ashby? And if Jackson had lived what, if anything, would have played out differently at Gettysburg or in the war for that matter?
Published Sources
Armstrong, Richard L., 7th Virginia Cavalry, H.E. Howard, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia, 1992
Longacre, Edward G., Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia, Stackpole Books, 2002
McDonald, William, A History of the Laurel Brigade: Originally the Ashby Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia and Chew's Battery, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002
Editors of Time Life Books, Echoes of Glory, Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy Time Life Books, 1991
Knopp, Ken R., Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment,
Publisher's Press, Inc., Orange, VA, 2001
Union & Confederate Officers, Editorial Staff of "The Century
Magazine", Battles & Leaders of the Civil War, Volumes I - IV,
Castle Books, 1984
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