After Pope retreated across the Rappahannock River, foiling Lee’s plan to turn his left flank, Lee would now engage in a series of battles and maneuvers to try and get around Pope’s right flank. He would send Jackson on a march to the northwest along the south shore of the river to look for a place to cross and get to the rear of Pope. At the same time Lee would also need to protect his right flank to ensure that Pope would not get around it and make a move toward Richmond. This led to a series of small battles collectively referred to as the First Battle of Rappahannock Station. They occurred at multiple potential Rappahannock River-crossing sites including among others: Freeman’s Ford; Rappahannock Station; and Fauquier White Sulphur Springs. There is little interpretation at these sites. One marker referencing the battle at Fauquier White Sulphur Springs is located on Springs Road just outside the Country Club (shown below).
Another shown below is located about a mile from Waterloo Bridge.
A map of Rappahannock Station, now called Remington, and the fords referred to is shown below.
On August 20th the Confederates broke camp and Longstreet crossed the Rapidan at Raccoon Ford and headed for Kelly’s Ford and Jackson crossed at Summerville Ford and moved toward Rappahannock Station.
Raccoon Ford from the Orange County side shown below- 38.3618520, -77.9415852
Summerville Ford is a short distance to the right in these images from the Orange County side of the Rapidan shown below- 38,3512580, -77.9747310
Pope sent a cluster of McDowell’s regiments and batteries south across the bridge at Rappahannock Station. Lee noted that the banks of the Rappahannock were higher on the Union side and that any crossing would be difficult. Pope had pickets in place for the river crossings north of Rappahannock Station which from south to north were Beverly’s Ford, Freeman’s Ford, Fox’s Ford, Faquier White Sulphur Springs Bridge and Waterloo Bridge.
On the 21st Lee thought that the Federal line only extended north to the Rappahannock Station Bridge so he planned to attempt a crossing upstream at Beverly’s Ford. He would send Jackson, Stuart and the 5th VA cavalry under Colonel Thomas Rosser to cross Beverly’s Ford, while Robertson’s Cavalry would cross further upstream at Freeman’s Ford and sweep down on the Union right in a joint attack. Taliaferro’s Division of Jackson’s Corps arrived at the ford and scattered the Union troops on the north bank which were a New York Battery and the 3rd MD infantry of Banks’ Corps. General McDowell on the Union side rapidly put his men in motion northward toward the ford. Captain Ulric Dahlgren, Sigel’s Chief of Artillery, rode to Pope’s headquarters to report that the Confederates were trying to outflank them. Pope ridiculed him but told Sigel to keep an eye on the place. Fortunately for the Union, Major General Sigel did much more than that, he sent General Robert Milroy’s brigade to the ford. As Robertson was coming down the north bank on the Union right, he saw Milroy approaching and quickly notified Stuart who withdrew back to the south side of the river. There was heavy artillery fire all along the line during the day. At 5:45 PM General Hartsuff, who was in the Union salient on the south side of the Rappahannock Station Bridge informed Pope that Confederate infantry was passing across his front headed north in large numbers. As the day ended the crossing at Beverly’s Ford had failed. Lee would continue moving northwest.
On the morning of the 22nd Stuart started north with Ewell’s division to examine Freeman’s Ford. When he arrived at the ford he found that Milroy had moved further north with infantry and artillery. He called up his best artillerist, John Pelham, to bring up his four guns and test Milroy’s strength on the opposite bank. After a brief artillery duel with Milroy’s brigade, Lee, Jackson and Stuart decided that the ford was too strongly held.
At 10:00 AM Lee approved a plan that Stuart had presented to him the day before to strike with his cavalry in Pope’s rear. Stuart with seven companies of cavalry, a total of about 1,500 men, would head northwest and cross the Waterloo Bridge. The marker below summarizes the raid.
The marker below is near where Stuart turned north to cross the Waterloo Bridge (38.6724833, -77.9743167). He would then turn east toward Warrenton, and then strike on the railroad somewhere beyond Warrenton. It took most of the day for Stuart to reach Warrenton, he left there for Catlett Station at 5:00 PM. He chose Catlett Station because while in Warrenton he was told that Pope’s supply train was there and that it was lightly guarded. It was raining heavily when the head of his column neared the station around 7:30 PM.
View from the south side of Waterloo bridge and of the Rappahannock River from the bridge.
There they surprised a small Union force, burned supplies and took 300 prisoners. They attempted to burn the Orange and Alexandria Railroad bridge over Cedar Creek but failed due to the heavy rain. Stuart was able to obtain Pope’s file of orders and correspondence, as well as his dress uniform. Now Lee was in possession of Pope’s battle plan which confirmed most of what he already knew or suspected. Stuart, in retaliation for Pope’s men stealing his cape and plumed hat, donated Pope’s uniform to the State Library in Richmond where it was publicly displayed.
While Stuart was off striking at Pope’s rear Lee and Jackson continued to try and find a way to flank Pope. After the crossing at Freeman’s Ford failed Jackson moved north toward Fauquier White Sulphur Springs. Ewell was in the lead, followed by Hill. Taliaferro would follow once Longstreet’s forces replaced him at Beverly’s Ford. Both armies continued to shift northwest amid lively artillery duels.
Freeman’s Ford
The rest of Sigel’s Corps arrived at Freeman’s Ford and then around 3:00 PM on August 22, the cannon fire on the south bank suddenly stopped. This puzzled Sigel so on his own authority he decided to investigate. He ordered Brigadier General Carl Schurz, one of his division commanders, to send a regiment across the ford to discover the enemy’s movements and if possible disrupt them. This would be Schurz’s first experience in combat. Below are pictures taken from the present-day bridge (38.5830564, -77.8757118).
Schurz selected Colonel Alexander Schimmelfennig’s 74th PA of General Henry Bohlen’s brigade to cross. They waded across the river and climbed a hill and saw a large wagon train moving slowly north that was lightly guarded. They captured 11 mules and a handful of infantry. Sensing an opportunity to attack the wagon train Schurz ordered the other two regiments of the brigade to cross, the 61st OH and 8th WV (shown in the map of the battlefield below from Dan Masters blog post in the sources). Jackson had anticipated this possibility of his wagons being vulnerable as his army was strung out, so he had lagged behind Isaac Trimble’s Brigade of Ewell’s Division to guard the wagons and the ford.
Trimble’s Brigade was positioned in such a way that the Federals could not see them. As the Union soldiers advanced Trimble attacked with three regiments. At the same time Hood’s Division of Longstreet’s Corps was arriving to relieve Trimble. Two brigades of Hood’s men joined in the fight (Law’s Brigade and the Texas Brigade) and quickly routed Bohlen’s men. Union artillery across the river opened fire to help cover the retreat. Schenk and Milroy’s men also helped cover the retreat.
Shown below is the area where the 21st NC would have attacked the Union left flank. They would be coming down the hill toward the camera and the 74th PA and 61st OH. It is on private property. Pictures taken from the road at the truck entrance to the Lakota Ranch (38.5816138, -77.8807172).
The pictures below were taken from where fighting occurred on the Union right where the 15th AL and the 21st GA attacked the 8th West VA Infantry (38.5859172, -77.8812915).
General Bohlen was killed near the river while trying to rally his troops. The 74th PA had 12 men killed, 37 wounded, 3 drowned and 16 missing. The 61st OH was thought to have about 100 casualties. Colonel Newton Schleich led the 61st OH across the river but shortly after the fight began he and seven of his lieutenants disappeared and the regiment was led by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen McGroarty. Schleich did not resurface again until August 24th and resigned from the army on September 20th.
Fauquier White Sulphur Springs
Jackson continued on to Fauquier White Sulphur Springs and arrived on the opposite bank of the river about 4:00 PM in a rainstorm. The bridge over the river there had been destroyed by Sigel a few days earlier. A sketch of the Springs before the war is shown below.
Jackson ordered Ewell to cross the river along with Alexander Lawton’s Brigade and two batteries of artillery and take the springs. Below is a view taken from the bridge crossing the Rappahannock River on Springs Road (38.6485466, -77.8716634).
Early’s Virginia brigade was to cross about a mile farther downstream at an old dam that dated back to the days of the old Rappahannock Canal followed by Colonel Henry Forno’s Louisiana brigade. The river was starting to rise and Early was concerned that it would soon become unfordable. The rain slackened and the crossing began at 5:00 PM. Lawton’s 13th GA along with Dement’s Maryland and Brown’s Virginia batteries forded the river and captured the Union pickets. Early crossed his seven-regiment brigade over the narrow dam. Darkness prevented Forno’s brigade from crossing. Soon after Early finished crossing it started to rain heavily again. The river rose six feet and the troops that had crossed were now stranded. Pope learned of the crossing by 9:00 PM.
At this point the high waters of the river became Pope’s ally because he no longer needed to protect the fords since neither side could cross. This applied to Early and Lawton and the rest of the Confederate force stranded at Fauquier White Sulphur Springs. At 7:00 AM the morning of the 23rd Pope headed there. Sigel, Banks and Reno were ordered to march there. McDowell was ordered to destroy the Rappahannock Station bridge and march to Warrenton with his corps and Reynolds newly arrived division from the peninsula. Jackson needed to build a bridge across the river quickly to rescue Early and Lawton before Union troops got there. When Sigel destroyed the bridge on the 20th they left the abutments intact. Jackson ordered Early to march the mile north to join Lawton at the springs and construction began on the new bridge.
Sigel was in the lead of the Federal’s army’s march north and he moved slowly. It was late in the day when Milroy approached Great Run a mile southeast of the springs. Early was able to hold off Union skirmishes until darkness set in. It is thought that fighting occurred down Opal Road (route 687). The pictures below were taken at the intersection of Springs Road and 687 (38.6494532, -77.8695190).
The men of Jackson’s 23rd engineers completed the bridge. Rather than withdraw Early at that point Jackson sent the rest of Lawton’s brigade across to support him. Early sent a note back to his division commander, Richard Ewell, explaining his predicament. Ewell crossed over and after a discussion the troops were withdrawn to the southern shore of the river. Jackson had placed cannons on the hills above the bridge. The pictures below were taken from the area of the Fauquier White Springs Country Club clubhouse looking toward the Rappahannock River. One can see the high hills on the opposite side where Jackson would have had a clear view of the springs.
Early and Jackson had avoided disaster, but the time wasted in the process gave Pope a chance to catch up to Lee’s movements on the opposite bank of the river.
A short distance up the Springs Road from Fauquier White Sulphur Springs is the Jeffersonton Baptist Church shown below (18498 Springs Rd) which was used as a field hospital. We’ll cover the church in more detail in a separate post.
Lee still planned to move around Pope’s right but he needed to make sure Pope would not cross the river at Beverly Ford or Rappahannock Station and attack him in his own right and rear as he planned to do to Pope. He ordered Longstreet to attack both locations on the 23rd (see Rappahannock Station below).
Rappahannock Station
The action here began on the morning of the 23rd with one of the fiercest small artillery duels of the war. The picture below was taken at the top of Buford’s Knoll on the Brandy Station battlefield. The small circular depressions in the ground in the mid left of the picture are where Longstreet had placed cannons to bombard Beverly’s Ford.
There are at least two more sites on the Brandy Station battlefield related to the first Battle of Rappahannock Station. At the St. James Church site (38.5232717, -778686516) there is a small cemetery. In that cemetery is the grave of a soldier from the 3rd company of the Washington Artillery organized in New Orleans on May 26, 1861.
The picture below was taken at 38.5228707, -77.8681879. The road leads to the site of the grave shown above which is off a path to the right. This road is the Old Winchester Road. It would be the road that Jackson would have taken with his army to begin his movement to the northwest after the attempt to cross at Beverly’s Ford on the 22nd failed.
Longstreet’s artillery did not succeed in driving the Union salient back across the river at Rappahannock Station (see map below). Longstreet then sent his infantry forward spearheaded by the 11th GA of George C. Anderson’s brigade (Jones’ Division) and Holcombe’s Legion of General Nathan G. Evans brigade. The Confederates had to cross 800 yards of open ground. The two Union cannons crossed back over the river before they could get there. Evans tried to set up cannons on the knoll, but Union fire drove them off.
What Longstreet didn’t know was that McDowell wanted to leave and get to Warrenton. The Union withdrew to the north side of the river and set about to destroy the bridge. The rear guard under General Zealous Tower tried to knock the span down with 12-pounder cannon fire but that didn’t work. Next, they tried burning it and the trestle fell into the river around noon. The destruction of the railroad bridge now made all other activity in the area meaningless and artillery skirmishing ended a few hours later. All the subsequent action would now focus on the northern flank.
The pictures below were taken at the Rector Tract Park (12233 River Road- land preserved by the American Battlefield Trust). On the left is the modern railroad bridge. On the right is a picture of what appears to be an old stone abutment just to the right of the modern bridge- perhaps from the old railroad bridge.
Two interpretive markers for Martin’s Grist Mill are down a path by the river in the park. As shown in the Martin’s Grist Mill marker the mill was present at the time of the war.
The most interesting thing to me about these markers is that on each there is a picture taken on August 19th during the time that the Union Army was retreating across the Rappahannock River after Pope became aware of Lee’s plan to move around his vulnerable left flank. The pictures were the subject of the last post.
Pope had missed his chance to capture Early and he ordered Sigel to move four miles further north to cover the Waterloo Bridge. Both armies sat across the river from each other, and the artillery duels continued as before only now from Fauquier White Sulphur Springs to Waterloo Bridge. Pope was content to delay as each day brought him more troops from McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Reynolds was with McDowell, Kearny’s division of Heintzelman’s Corps was at Warrenton Junction, Hookers division would arrive the next day, Porter’s Fifth Corps was at Kelly’s Ford, but no one had told Porter where Pope was. Longstreet was headed for Jeffersonton to join Lee and Jackson.
On August 24th Lee, Jackson, Longstreet and Stuart would meet alone at a table with four chairs in a field in Jeffersonton to decide what came next.
Next- Remington, Virginia
Sources
Standing like pillars of adamant: the 61st Ohio at Freeman’s Ford
1862 Rappahannock Station Battlefield in Fauquier and Culpeper Counties, Virginia
The history of Fauquier Springs Country Club
The First Battle of Rappahannock Station – August 19-26, 1862
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